By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 22. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/71684/72.
City Council members will meet as the Newport Beach Public Facilities Corporation at 4 p.m. This is a procedural annual meeting related to existing debt; no new debt is being issued.
A Study Session will immediately follow the Public Facilities Corporation meeting.
Agenda items include:
- A water and wastewater rate study. The Utilities Department is leading an effort to review the rates associated with the water and wastewater enterprise funds. The last evaluation of water and wastewater rates was conducted in 2019.
The regular City Council meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Agenda items include:
- A special event permit request by Volleyball Newport Beach Inc. to host a charity
volleyball tournament on a public beach. The item would permit the use of temporary volleyball courts and allow for alcoholic beverages. Volleyball Newport Beach is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote and support youth volleyball.
- A $1.6 million contract award to replace the grass soccer field and softball infield at Arroyo Park with synthetic turf and add an energy efficient LED lighting system. The artificial turf is expected to expand field use by about 30% by eliminating downtime due to wet conditions and grass maintenance, and save about $60,000 a year in water and maintenance. LED lighting will reduce annual lighting costs by 50-75%.
- Agreement for the temporary assignment of a fire engine from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to the City. Cal OES has purchased fire
apparatus and equipment to respond to incidents as outlined in the California Fire
Service and Rescue Emergency Mutual Aid Plan.
- A 5-year, $692,500 agreement with Newport Bay Conservancy for the Fostering Interest in Nature (FiiN) program. FiiN is an overnight environmental education program for low-income fifth-grade students in Orange County, held throughout the Upper Newport Bay. The Conservancy has been the primary operator of the FiiN program since it started in 2019. The program is funded by the City and in-lieu mitigation fees from construction of the Lido House Hotel.
- A contract amendment with Mind OC for the Be Well OC Mobile Crisis Response Team Program. The amendment would extend the contract term to June 30, 2024, and increase the amount by $956,775. In working with Newport Beach’s unhoused population, the City has found that many experience some form of mental illness or crisis, and additional expertise is needed to adequately respond to these types of calls for service. The proposed amendment would expand services to further assist the City with its homeless outreach program and helping individuals to exit the street.
City Council Meeting Information
The Newport Beach City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of most months (the exceptions are August and December). Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4 p.m. Study sessions are times for the Council to take a deeper look at a specific issue, or hear a presentation, that might eventually lead to a specific and more formal action. A closed session often follows the Study Session. Closed sessions are typically to address legal, personnel, and other matters where additional confidentiality is important.
The Regular (evening) Session typically starts at 6 p.m., and often has a specific listing of different items ready for formal votes. Items on the “Consent Calendar” are heard all at once, unless a Council member has removed (aka “pulled”) an item from the Consent Calendar for specific discussion and separate vote. If an item on the agenda is recommended to be “continued,” it means that the item won’t be heard nor voted on that evening, but will be pushed forward to another noticed meeting.
Public Comment is welcomed at both the Study Session and the Regular Session. The public can comment on any item on the agenda. If you want to comment on a Consent Calendar item that was not pulled from the Consent Calendar by a Council Member, you will want to do so at the time listed on the agenda – right before the Council votes on the entire Consent Calendar (it’s Roman Numeral XIII on the posted agenda). If an item is pulled, the Mayor will offer that members of the public can comment as that specific item is heard separately.
Additionally, there is a specific section of Public Comment for items not on the agenda, but on a subject of some relationship to the city government. If you cannot attend a meeting and/or want to communicate with the City Council directly, this e-mail gets to all of them: [email protected]. The City Manager also gets a copy of the email, because in almost all cases it’s something that the City Manager follows-up on.
The Council meets in the Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive, off of Avocado between San Miguel and East Coast Highway. There is plenty of parking in the parking structure. You are always welcome to attend in person, but you can also watch on TV, Spectrum channel 30 and Cox channel 852 or stream it on your computer.
This Insider’s Guide is not an attempt to summarize every item on the Agenda – just the ones that seem of specific interest to the City Manager. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you wish.
