Council members set goals at retreat

The City Council put better customer service and employee relationships among the top priorities for 2007.

Council members announced their goals for the New Year and beyond at the annual retreat, held Jan. 27 at the South Coast Water District offices on West Street in South Laguna.

“I really want a receptionist for the front counter at City Hall,” said Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman. “It would present a better image to the public. I’ve wanted it for six years and I am putting it at number one.”

However, Kinsman’s second goal of hiring an additional planner came in first with a majority of the council.

“If the people behind the counter were trained to smile and we added a planner, we wouldn’t need Cheryl’s first goal,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider said.

The counter is officially open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., including the noon hour, to assist contractors or residents preparing projects for approval by the planning or zoning departments.

“I have talked to the employees and they said the hours that the counter is open are the most frustrating for the public, who have to wait in line just to ask a simple question,” Assistant City Manager John Pietig said. “Maybe the receptionist is needed most when the counter is open.”

A receptionist would relieve the employees of some of the tasks that swamp them and make them testy, Kinsman said.

Councilman Kelly Boyd opined that better working conditions might go a long way to make employees smile more. He suggested hiring a space planner to improve the warren of offices and storage spaces in which city employees work.

“We had a designer in when we went back into City Hall [after the remodel], but we kept hiring people,” City Manager Ken Frank said.

Kelly also said the city needs to address the problem of homeless people and their health issues.

“I stand outside of my business [Marine Room] because I smoke and I see them,” Boyd said. “There are new ones and a bigger population of [homeless] women and we need to figure out where they are coming from.”

Boyd said the county is surveying the homeless population to try to determine what is driving the increase. He has sponsored an item tentatively scheduled for a public hearing at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Councilwoman Jane Egly offered only one goal for discussion: making Broadway more pedestrian friendly.

“The more pedestrians, the better it is for businesses and Broadway has a problem,” Egly said.

Schneider set the goals of retaining art institutions, and retiring the voter-approved Measure A half-cent tax increase as soon as possible, perhaps with windfalls from higher tax revenue than expected.

In addition, Schneider wants to move forward on the Village Entrance project, get parked vehicles off neighborhood streets and provide adequate parking for the “hordes of people” coming to town.

Mayor Toni Iseman also is making parking fixes a top goal — no surprise there. Her worries include “phantom” spaces — credited to businesses but nonexistent, such as those “grandfathered” for properties before the parking requirements were established. Furthermore, she wants employees encouraged to use peripheral parking and any restricted neighborhood parking to be open to any vehicle with city shopper’s parking stickers.

Iseman voiced concerns about the care needed by city decision makers to avoid possible conflicts of interest. She has a related agenda item on Tuesday’s council agenda.

Her biggest issue is code violations and enforcement.

“We have every rule ever needed to make the town run,” Iseman said. “But we don’t enforce them.

“Ken [Frank] and I did a walk-around and identified some things that were not what they were supposed to be.”

Iseman said allowing violations of conditional use permits aren’t fair to businesses that live up to the city requirements.

Frank said the city goes after businesses with unapproved signs or outdoor displays, but code enforcement officers don’t inventory merchandise to determine if retailers are violating the terms of their permits by selling items they shouldn’t.

An increase in parking meter fees also was discussed by the council, possibly from $1.50 to $2 in the parking facilities with box meters, but not the street meters.

“It would probably bring in $800,000 a year,” Frank said.

The last time a parking meter increase was approved by the council, the business community nearly revolted and the increase was rescinded.

Boyd said meters should go back to zero time when the parked vehicle leaves, but Frank reported that it had been tried and abandoned in Newport Beach due to the adverse response.

The council also talked briefly about city funding for the day labor site, which is under legal challenge by two Laguna Beach residents who believe tax dollars should not be going to operate the facility.

“There are people who will help fund the nonprofit funding,” Schneider said. “Before the community assistance grants [are allocated], we should try to get donations because some taxpayers don’t support it.”

The retreat concluded with a closed session for council to evaluate Frank’s performance as city manager.

Only two members of the public attended the meeting. Both took notes, but neither spoke.