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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007/03/21 - Minutes - Special March 21, 2007 CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING A. CALL TO ORDER A special meeting of the Rancho Cucamonga City Council was held on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, in the Council Chambers of the Civic Center located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. Mayor Donald J. Kurth, M.D. called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. Present were Councilmembers: Rex Gutierrez, L. Dennis Michael, Sam Spagnolo, Mayor Pro Tem Diane Williams, and Mayor Donald J. Kurth, M.D. Also present were: Jack Lam, City Manager; Pamela Easter, Assistant City Manager; James Markman, City Attorney; Marsha Godwin, Assistant to the City Manager; Kimberly Thomas, Management Analyst III; Trang Huynh, Building and Safety Official; Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director; Nettie Nielsen, Community Services Superintendent; Paula Pachon, Management Analyst III; Deborah Clark, Library Director; Robert Karatsu, Assistant Library Director; Michelle Perera, Library Services Manager; Manuel Pilonieta, Information Services Manager; Shelly Munson, Information Systems Specialist; Donna Austin, I.S. Secretary; Captain Pete Ortiz and Sergeant Fred Price, Rancho Cucamonga Police Department; Deputy Chiefs Mike Bell and Mark Hartwig, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District; Shirr'I Griffin, Office Specialist II; and Debra J. Adams, City Clerk. B. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS No communication was made from the public. C. ITEMS) OF BUSINESS C1. DISCUSSION OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR THE CULTURAL CENTER Jack Lam, City Manager, stated there was an unfortunate incident that occurred last Friday, March 91h, at the Rancho Cucamonga Cultural Center in Celebration Hall where someone attending a party fired a gun at the ceiling. He stated staff has been working to make sure this doesn't happen again and hopes to solve the case soon. He stated a report about the incident will be given by Pamela Easter, Assistant City Manager, and the recommendation for a change of policies will be given by Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director, with Chief Ortiz present to answer any other questions. A staff report of the incident was presented by Pamela Easter, Assistant City Manager. Mayor Kurth stated the Council was informed of everything that happened with this incident. Councilmember Michael asked the age requirements of the chaperones. Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director, stated they had to be 18 and up with no alcohol being served, which this event had none. Special City Council Meeting Minutes March 21, 2007 Page 2 Mayor Pro Tem Williams asked if the tickets could have been duplicated by the people that rented the facility. Pamela Easter, Assistant City Manager, stated staff provided the people with the tickets the day of the event in order to avoid duplication. She stated when the guests arrived, they paid their $8.00 and were given a ticket. Then the ticket was torn in half and half given to the person coming in and half back to the City. Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director stated only 300 tickets were given out. Councilmember Michael asked if the email from THE BUSINESS LLC was the root of all the bad information that went out. Pamela Easter, Assistant City Manager, stated some of the information was misstated or distorted. She stated the television crews had their story as well. She stated everyone had different versions of the story. Councilmember Michael asked how many deputies were present before the incident. Sergeant Price stated two (2). Councilmember Spagnolo asked if we are sure a shot was fired and if this was confirmed. Chief Ortiz stated this has not been confirmed. He stated there is a hole in the ceiling to indicate it was a shot, but that no bullet was found. Councilmember Gutierrez stated the City hosts over 1500 events per year without any incident. He stated he doesn't expect this to happen again because of various actions taken since the event. He pointed out various ways with the reservation that would have raised a "red flag" to him. He felt there were things that could have occurred to prevent this from happening. He stated we need to get the message out that if people cannot behave lawfully, then they are not wanted. He stated he wondered how all the television crews heard about this. He felt law enforcement was on this situation. He stated he has heard this might have been a bit of an over-reaction. He stated he is very happy with the response. He asked if the restroom is locked so that people cannot go into the playhouse lobby. Pamela Easter, Assistant City manager, stated yes. Councilmember Gutierrez stated some of the restaurant owners are unhappy about what happened, and felt they lost.business. He stated he felt law enforcement should have seized the video tape. He questioned the use of metal detectors at events. He felt the mall people were doing a great job and that the mall is very safe. He felt it would be good for the mall to close the streets on weekends. Guy Eisenbrae hoped there should be cost recovery of what happened and hoped this was in the rental person's contract and should be held responsible for what happened. John Lyons of Etiwanda stated he lives two blocks from Victoria Gardens, and felt the Police Department did a good job handling this. Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director, gave a report on the recommendations to improve our policies and procedures for rental of indoor facilities. He stated staff feels these recommendations will help a lot. Mayor Pro Tem Williams felt the applications should be done neatly and legibly, and that this should be in • the policy. She stated no one can be blamed for things when they are blatantly lied to. She stated we did already have a lot of good procedures in place. She asked if the Police Department has a calendar of all events going on at the mall. Special City Council Meeting Minutes March 21, 2007 Page 3 • The police department stated that is already being done. Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director, stated there is a report that goes to the Police Department, and that staff will be including more information in this report that goes to them. Mayor Pro Tem Williams felt the rental rate of Celebration Hall should also be looked at and not used as a high school gym. Councilmember Michael hoped the cancelling of events in progress would be the exception and hoped we would be proactive instead of reactive to upcoming events. He felt shutting down an event with 300- 400 people in progress could also create a disturbance. He felt the age of the person renting the facility is very important. He commended the Police Department on their decisions and felt it was better to have too much security rather than not enough. He hoped staff will continue to evaluate policies and modify them as necessary. Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director, stated staff is looking for the Council to approve the policies tonight, and then it will be reviewed with the Park and Recreation Commission and then brought back to the Council for any other changes. Mayor Kurth asked if we should have more security cameras so that we might have seen the gun shooter. He stated he questioned using metal detectors. Kevin McArdle, Community Services Director, stated they have been thinking about more security cameras and are also evaluating metal detectors. He hoped we could get the Park and Recreation Commission involved in these decisions. Councilmember Spagnolo stated it is easy to see the City was mislead in this application, and we would not have handled it like we did if we had known all the information. He felt there should be reimbursement to the City for what happened. He hoped this one bad event would not overshadow all the good things that have happened there. He stated we do not want a bad element of people coming to our facilities. He felt everyone acted in a very good way. He thought it was good that we are tightening up our policies/procedures. He thought people need to know the Council is not happy with what happened and will take all precautions to see that it doesn't happen again. Jack Lam, City Manager, we have received and have also placed an order for more Segways to be used at the mall. He stated administration feels the Police Department did a good job with this situation. He stated this is an opportunity to determine what we can do to prevent something like this from happening again. Guy Eisenbrae stated it would have been nice if this were shut down when the Police Department suspected something was going wrong. Councilmember Michael felt everybody did a good job. Mayor Pro Tem Williams stated she has talked to a lot of people and that at first people were alarmed and wanted information. She stated people want to see law enforcement's presence. Mayor Kurth stated we were all angry that this happened at the Cultural Center. He stated he was very proud of Community Services and the Police Department and the actions they took. He stated the Council wants the public to know as much as the Council knows. He also felt it was a good thing for the Park and Recreation Commission to review the policies/procedures. MOTION: Moved by Williams, seconded by Michael to adopt the policies/procedures recommended by staff. Motion carried unanimously 5-0. Special City Council Meeting Minutes March 21, 2007 Page 4 C2. PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION REGARDING MUNICIPAL WIRELESS NETWORKING . This item was not discussed due to time constraints. The item will be discussed at a future meeting. D. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, a D bra J. Ad CMC City Clerk Approved by City Council: April 4, 2007 w •