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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1995-04-19 Mayor Robert Yee Council: Jack Drago Joseph A. Fernekes --Iohn R. Penna Roberta Cerri Teglia M!_NUIES City Council Municipal Services Building Community Room April 19, 1995 AGENDA ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING CALL TO ORDER: (Cassette No. 1) ROLL CALL: 1. Resolution authorizing amendment to the C/CAG Joint Powers Agreement. ._6~/.b-' 3 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN AMEND- MENT TO THE JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING THE CITY/COUNTY ASSOCIA- TION OF GOVERNMENTS Afl!!ON TAKEN ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING 7:46 p.m. Mayor Yee presiding. Council Present: Council Absent: Drago, Fernekes, Penna, Teglia and Yee. None. Discussion followed: this is being referred to each of the cities for adoption; the County Board of Supervisors wants to see the five year sunset clause reduced to two and a half years to match with the Congestion Management Plan and C/CAG does not have a problem with that; according to State legisla- tion the County cannot pull out of C/CAG, how- ever cities can pull out; whether the sunset clause is five years or two and a half years, the Council has to examine it and decide if it is going to continue. MIS Penna/Drago - To not join C/CAG. Discussion followed: the people sitting as the Board of Directors of C/CAG who did not accept this City's recommendations, other than on the sunset clause; Councilman Drago feels the Supervisors have too much say in C/CAG matters and it could wind up with four Supervisors on the C/CAG Board; changes to the existing JPA; the purpose of the JPA is to stop duplication and the elimination of committees, yet this adds more bureaucracy; the old JPA recognizes they may enter into contracts, but not about their assuming liabilities; C/CAG has a Closed Session on litigation and it got down to who is going to pay for the litigation because the cities are not going to enter into it; there are consequences if the City gets out of C/CAG by duplicating every- thing they do because of obligations in the Conges- tion Management, Stormwater, MPDT, Vehicle Abatement Program, AB434 Clean Air and Hazard- ous Materials and lose our vote; fees are collected 4/19/95 Page 1 _.L C/CAG Joint Powers - Continued. Study session on the draft ordinance amending the gaming code provision of the Municipal Code. b--z/O~ on July 1; there is no effect on the Aircraft Noise Program if the City pulled out of C/CAG; stay in C/CAG, watch it for two and a half years and get support from northern cities when the Council knows what is coming down the pike; there was talk of C/CAG's involvement in the BART Project; etc. Motion and Second were withdrawn. M/S Teglia/Drago - To adopt the resolution with a two and a half year sunset clause or whatever the County is requesting on the sunset clause. RESOLUTION NO. 22-95 Carried by unanimous voice vote. City Manager Wilson related: this is a modification to the gaming ordinance to cover both the regulatory and revenue portions of the gaming issue; it sets forth definitions on the card clubs, revenue, permits and licenses pertaining to ownership and operators; the revenue portion has been split out from the security issue to get ahead of State law and establish a tax; contains an auditing requirement that indicates who is responsible for paying for an audit; there will be a study session for the regulatory ordinance; the State would like the local agency to have the respon- sibility to do the backgrounds checks and the City wants to keep that control; usually the State does not attach local revenue; etc. Discussion followed: appears the draft ordinance is site specific; no, not this ordinance; using a per- centage for a tax rate; Council can amend Policy 47 which will protect the legitimate land use; the reve- nue portion can be drafted where it affects different income levels and revenues; the Paseos have ten tables in each place; Councilman Fernekes wants to know when the time comes to differentiate between one use and another; staff is looking towards a graduated basis; the Council was not looking to penalize anyone; Mr. A1 Pasco agreed and did not want the card rooms to be penalized; Councilman Drago noted that the existing clubs are included in the ordinance; they are not included at their existing level of 10 tables; border revenue issues; Council- man Drago is concerned with a proliferation of small clubs; focusing the revenue on gross receipts; the City will also get sales tax and should not look at double taxation; Section 9 will be redefined; the 4/19/95 Page 2 2. Study Session - Continued. 4/19/95 Page 3 tax should only be on the gaming; ordinance should allow for publicly owned corporataions; the owner, by definition, is the card club operator; disclosures on 5% or greater stock holdings of public corpora- tions, by majority consensus, should be incorporated into the ordinance; there are pending legislative bills to allow public corporations to operate gaming clubs; Councilwoman Teglia feels 5% is too high for a disclosure; the application fee is apart from the gross receipts tax and covers investigation costs; the definition for point holder bothers Councilman Penna; fees will be set by resolution; ordinance should re, ad that cardroom applications are appro- priate; this is a different kind of license to operate a gaming club; the application should be for a site specific; a neighboring city has a fiat fee per card table and it could be per seat, others are based on gross revenues; it could also be on a graduated basis; some cardrooms put money up front and the tax is reduced for six months; Councilwoman Teglia supported having the police and auditing needs in place as a commitment to the City; that could be made part of the use permit; police need a six month lead time to hire and do background checks; cover the City's cost up front and then work up a percentage on the profits; staff wants authority for a simplistic formula to get this moving and advertised to meet the deadlines; make it simple like gross revenues with the understanding that it will be struc- tured; an annual license tax will be on top of the gross receipts; if the total City service cost is $600,000, then work on the percentages; using 13% of gross revenues for the figure, see how this is received by the operators and build it in as a guar- antee; what percentage is Hollywood Park operating at now; Mr. Ito, Hollywood Park, said the percent- age goes from 9%-11%; in Inglewood they put $3 million dollars in the General Fund; the City should select the auditor; the City Manager will have 24 hour access to the books; Councilman Fernekes wants it to include access to the video tapes; Title 31 will replace the IR3200 for any gaming; why aren't other cities doing an ordinance like this; the lan- guage should include accessing ability of records; Mr. Datzman asked if there is an assumption these funds would flow into the General Fund; this is general tax funding to the General Fund and the Council has the ability to direct how it will be spent; this will be in an enterprise fund like the hotel tax is and will not be co-mingled; it can be used for one AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 2. Study Session - Continued. 4/19/95 Page 4 time expenditures for capital improvements and only the interest will be used for enforcement; how to tie up the revenue so it is not used for General Fund activities; an enterprise fund is a special tax; City Attorney said the only way to control a General Fund revenue is through the budgetary process, otherwise it is a special tax even if you call it a general tax; Finance Director said to bring the reve- nue into the General Fund and set up a fund or delegate it to another area; etc. Councilman Drago stated next month he plans to come to the full Council to create a charter for the City and wondered if this could tie up the revenue from a casino, because any expenditure of $1 mil- lion has to go to the charter. Mr. Datzman related: the Council is talking about going out and seeking support of the casino and one of the premises on that is the parks get fixed and buildings get remodeled; he feels then people can stand behind it, but not if it is going to be changed. City Attorney Mattas suggested the Council get lump sum payments, then it will have budgetary authority. Mrs. Barbara Pasco stated she wanted to be assured this ordinance does not apply to the existing eardrooms. City Attorney stated recitals could be put in of statements of the Council's intent. Councilman Fernekes stated it is the intent of Coun- cil that the existing cardrooms will not be affected by this ordinance. Mayor Yee stated the Pasco's will have a copy of the next draft. Discussion followed: May 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 23rd will be special town meetings with presentations by staff on the cardroom proposals; City Manager will contact the schools to hold the meetings at school sites; the 5/8/95 town hall meeting will be held with the Oldtown Homeowners regular meeting at Martin School; Chamber of Commerce made a request for a town meeting with the business community and that could be held during the day; the business communi- 2. Study Session - Continued. ty can attend one of the six town hall meetings; staff will conduct a meeting with the business community and Chamber rather than the Council; etc. ADJOURNMENT: M/S Fernekes/Drago - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 9:40 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITrED, APPROVED. Barbara A. Battaya, City City of South San Francisco Robert Yee, Mayor City of South San Francisco The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- tions, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the ffice of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 4/19/95 Page 5