CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake City Council will discuss the award of Safe Routes to School projects to a contractor and consider an amendment to city rules governing pay for council members.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 25, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The Safe Routes to School projects are proposed for Austin and Arrowhead roads, according to City Manager Joan Phillipe’s report to the council.
The city received eight bids for the projects, ranging between $132,915 and $191,994. Phillipe reported that the low bid, which came from Robert J. Frank Construction Co. of Redding, is below the engineer’s estimate of $141,053. Approximately $169,100 has been allocated from the construction fund for the work.
She said the projects’ funding comes from the Caltrans Safe Route to Schools grant program.
Phillipe also will ask the council to consider amending Chapter 2 of the city’s municipal code relating to council member salaries.
She explained in her report that because the city has a population of less than 35,000, it has a per-month salary of $300.
City municipal code stipulates, “No compensation shall be paid for any partial month of service which results from assuming or leaving office.”
She said that means that a council member leaving office at the start of December, the month changeovers in seats usually takes place in election years, does not receive pay; neither does a new council member participating in just one meeting that month.
During the last election, with two council members leaving and two new ones coming on, “it came to staff’s attention that this provision existed but had not been adhered to for at least the last several elections,” Phillipe reported.
She said the interim finance director’s research found they had been paying the monthly salary both to outgoing and incoming council members in Decembers following elections.
Phillipe said staff is recommending striking that sentence in the municipal code in order to provide for the $300 payment, regardless of the partial month due to leaving or assuming office, “inasmuch as both outgoing and incoming councilmembers provide service to the community during that transition month,” she wrote.
On Thursday the council also will hear a proposal from Mayor Jeri Spittler regarding having the city co-sponsor a “trunk or treat” event in the city this Halloween.
Consent agenda items include adoption of a resolution approving the fee schedule for taxi cabs and other for-hire vehicles, based on the council’s final approval at its last meeting of a new ordinance governing such vehicles; minutes of the council meetings on Feb. 28, March 14, March 28 and April 11; and minutes of the March 13 Lake County Vector Control District meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
042513 Clearlake City Council - Safe Routes to School Projects
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