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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 06-10 CC MIN62 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY, CALIFORNIA June 10, 1975 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of National City was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Mayor Morgan. ROLL CALL Council members present: Camacho, Dalla, Pinson, Reid, Morgan. Absent: None. Administrative officials present: Bourcier, Campbell, Gerschler, Hoffland, McCabe, McLean. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG AND INVOCATION The meeting was opened with the pledge of allegiance to the flag led by City Manager Bourcier followed with invocation by the Rev. Dale Barizo, Paradise Valley Seventh Day Adventist Church. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Camacho, seconded by Reid, the minutes of the regular meeting of June 3, 1975 be approved. Carried by unanimous vote. Mayor Morgan called an Executive Session on Personnel at 7:32 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 7:43 p.m. ROLL CALL Council members present: Camacho, Dalia, Pinson, Reid, Morgan. Absent: None. PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS - None. MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS Mayor Morgan recommended the appointment of Malcolm C. Gerschler as the City's representative to the Advisory Committee for CPO to study activity centers/industrial locations. Moved by Camacho, seconded by Reid, in favor of the Mayor's recommendation. Carried by unanimous vote. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS SGT. WAYNE FOWLER, National City Police Officer's Association member, was present and said he was there at the direction of NCPOA to acquaint Council with a number of complaints NCPOA feels very strongly about as well as our position with the City's negotiating team on the salary and benefit negotiations for FY 1975-76; the City's negotiating team recently told our NCPOA's negotiating team "we are going to clean-up this Country Club"; NCPOA was and still is outraged at that statement; it epitomizes the attitude of the City's negotiating team throughout the negotiations; we are under -manned, under -staffed with an ever-increasing work load.... and we are a "Country Club"? Council knows we are not, we know that we are not, and the people of this City know that we are not and we are going to take it to the people to convince management that we are not a "Country Club". Sgt. Fowler continued, you will recall that the Police Officers Association came before this body for clarification on a City ordinance specifying who our Association could represent in negotiations, specifically the Dispatchers; the City's negotiating team interpreted that ordinance and decided before it ever came to the Council that the Police Officer's Association could not represent the Dispatchers; the City's team committed themselves to that decision and our Association was rightfully confused because we had represented the Dispatchers for the three previous years and there had been no change in that ordinance; we came before this Council for clarification of that ordinance on April 15, 1975; the City Attorney agreed that the ordinance was vague and should be clarified and this Council unanimously supported the position of NCPOA on that evening; an interesting sequence of events occurred 6/10/75 63 that following week; a negotiation session was scheduled prior to the next Council meeting, and on the day of that session Mr. McCabe called our Attorney in Chula Vista in the early morning and advised that Mr. Trowbridge was ill and that the negotiations session would have to be postponed; by coincidence, almost the exact same time, Mr. Trowbridge contacted our Association in person and stated that Mr. McCabe was unavailable and that the meeting would have to be postponed; to say the least, we were shocked at their honesty, or their lack of it; but we were even more shocked at the motive for such a tactic; just prior to the Council meeting of 4/22/75, we heard that the management team was contacting the Council in an attempt to reverse their decision regarding the Dispatcher issue; we were not too concerned as the Council had unan- imously supported our position the week before and the City Manager had stated in open Council meeting that "there was no objection to our position, it didn't make any difference who the Dispatchers were repre- sented by;" and we merely wanted clarification on the issue on the ordinance that covered it; we again sent a representative to the Council at your next meeting, and gentlemen, you did reverse your decision; it was obvious that the City Manager did have an objection although he did not voice it in open Council meeting; the members of his negotiating team committed themselves in interpreting the ordinance and it was man- agement's opinion that if you reversed the decision it would weaken the negotiation position, no matter whether it was right or wrong; that is the only logic that can be derived. from close examination of the minutes of both Council meetings; we are very much confused over that issue still and we are very disappointed in the candor of the City administration in the handling of the matter; we bargain in good faith with the City and we honestly attempted to arrive at an agreement; we do not feel the City bargained in good faith even on issues that were not of financial importance such as the Dispatcher issue; we believe they brought an attitude and a prejudice to the negotiating table that precluded them from bargaining in good faith. Sgt. Fowler said we have often been dis- satisfied with negotiations in past years, but none of us can ever recall leaving a negotiation table without mutual respect between the negotia- tion teams; that is not the case this year and it's not our fault; we prefer not to affiliate with a union for obvious reasons; we abhor sick- outs, slow -downs, or such other tactics that may jeopardize the commudty, but where do we go from an impasse; would you agree to mediation or arbitration, are we being less than reasonable?; the new City Manager of San Diego recently stated on a television program that the negotia tions in California are a charade due to existing legislation; in regard to our negotiations this year, we agree with the San Diego City City Manager; we have demonstrated in the past that we will reach an agree- ment for much less than we deserve or *hat we request, so it must naturally follow that that's not the main issue tonight; if the City is in financial stress, we realize the problems you face in balancing a budget ... we also balance budgets; if financial stress is the basis upon which limited salary increases are allowed, we are in a position to understand, but we do not understand the position which quotes our present salaries without also quoting dollar for dollar that we have lost significant purchasing power the past several years; we are not going to quote a lot of statistics tonight, but today to bear out a point, just consider these two figures: the percentage of salary increases since the fiscal year '73-74 through 74-75 totals 12.5%; the cost -of - living increase, according to the consumer price index, for that same period of time in percentages is 23.1%, leaving a deficit of 10.6%; in plain terms we have suffered a 10.6% decrease in salary and benefits; that figure certainly provides justification for our salary and benefit increase request; Mr. Bourcier recently announced to the news media that the City's educational incentive plan would be eliminated; Mr. Bourcier issued several statements to the press justifying his position; he flied to state that the original incentive plan providel5 percent salary in- crease for 30 college units and a 10 percent salary increase for a degreg at that time, National City led the State in educational incentive bene- fits; the Council adjusted that plan to its present form after many employees obtained their degrees; many employees' checks decreased by 5 percent at that time; they prefer the Council commit themselves to a program and keep that commitment; the incentive program is, in essence, a contract between the City and employee stating the employee will re- ceive compensation for obtaining a certain academic level; contrary to Mr. Bourcier's statement to the press, members of the Police Department 6/10/75 64 were required to study that field that is related to law enforcement to qualify for incentive pay. Sgt. Fowler read a portion of a Star -News article quoting Mr. Bourcier (saying he was quoting him out of context, however he didn't believe it was unfair to him because the statement spoke for itself) "We are paying a man or woman to do a job, 'Bourcier said,' and my feeling is that it makes no difference,"...NO DIFFERENCE 4.4 t"whether he is a high school dropout or a college graduate or whetter he has worked for the City 30 months or 30 years. Either he is doing the job or he isn't. Performance is what counts."; that statement refers to employees who are performing below standard; does Mr. Bourcier know that it makes no difference if an employee is performing satisfac- torily or he has been with the City thirty years or he is a college graduate or a high school dropout? we think not; the statement really relates to performance rating, not the education incentive plan; an employee did not qualify for incentive pay if his performance was below standard; the Council evidently adopted the incentive plan because they felt college attendance by the employee was beneficial to the City; we, the employees, have a vested interest...A VESTED INTEREST...in the edu- cational incentive plan and we ask you to honor and keep your commitment and agreement; we are willing to compromise on the adjusted plan, we will make that position known within the negotiations; if that compromise is immediate and the present plan is not eliminated before such compromise; as he stated earlier, we are going to take the quote "Country Club mat- ter" to the public and we are confident of their response. Sgt. Fowler said the fiscal responsibility for the City is the Mayor's and this Council's; Council delegated part of that responsibility to the City Manager and his staff, they conducted salary and benefit negotiations as a part of those delegated responsibilities and they have failed to meet that responsibility in good faith; we now ask you to assume that responsibility in bargaining directly with us; we realize that such an action is a poor practice, but we cannot be held responsible for the City being in such a position; as he stated, he came before Council tonight at the direction of his Association to make Council aware of the problem as we view it; we invite Council to investigate our complaints and trust that you will keep an open mind on negotiations until we can make a formal presentation to you on the Council meeting of June 17, R75. Mayor said we have a way of negotiations set down in an ordinance of National City; it's now time for him to say to follow those ordinance rules that are laid down in black and white; your attorney has it, you have them...and follow the rules. Sgt. Fowler said that is what they are trying to do. DORIS McKINNEY, Chairman, Civil Service Commission, was present and said she, too, was concerned about the article in the Sunday Star -News; she would like to cite the rules as they are set down in black and white; Mr. Bourcier is quoted as saying that he wants to eliminate the educa- tional incentive pay, he believes there are inequities in it and she agrees there are inequities; he also stated that: "...under the present plan the employee can take college credits in a field which has no connection with his job and does not improve the worker for that job;" may I quote to you Rule V, Section 513 of the Civil Service Rules... Mayor Morgan asked if he could say something; he doesn't know if she has ever been misquoted or kept up with newspapers following what takes place ... the incentive pay is not part of this...offer of this City. Mrs. McKinney said all that she wants to do is lay out what the concern of the Civil Service Commission is in this matter; she quoted from Rule V, Section 513, Sub -section 3, "Each college or university credit course must be approved by the City Manager and Department Head before credit may be earned or attained toward the fulfillment of completing the 18 requiredunits or credit course;" the City Manager has also stated that he will be the one to recommend to the City Council the exact salary (within a range) of a Department Head in the future; he said this would make the salary decisions more flexible and give the City an opportunity to award superior performance and indicate to a lacking Department Head the City is not happy; again, this looks as if the "spoils system" will come back into existence in National City and this worries her very much; the reason... Mayor Morgan asked if this was in the newspaper. Mrs. McKinney said yes, it was; now....let me finish if I may Mr. Mayor..,. we can say the Civil Service Commission learned after the fact that the City Manager's office is in direct violation of the Civil Service Rules ....and it happens to be Rule III that was violated; it concerns promo- 6/10/75 65 tional;. Promotional Examinations...I will quote...."Promotional examin- ations shall be open only to employees in the Classified Service who have permanent status;" yet, in violation of this Rule, the City Manager's office advertised and opened competitive examination for Police Lieutenant despite the fact that there are 5 Police Sergeants eligible to take the test and despite the fact that according to Rule III, Section 308 of the Civil Service Rules this is a closed examination now, Mr. Bourcier has also stated...and this is another thing that concerns her....that he will work out what he thinks is a better incen- tive pay plan and present it to the City Council; now, she would like to quote one more Rule and this is Rule XII, Section 1201 which states, "Amendments to the rules after at least 5 calendar days notice and after a public hearing, amendments to these rules may be made at any meeting of the Commission. All rules and amendments thereto shall be become effective upon the date of their approval by the City Council and shall, upon such approval and adoption, be reproduced for distribution and made available for public inspection." Mrs. McKinney continued, my reason for being here this evening is simply this, there have been by-passes of the Civil Service Commission repeatedly in the past four months; this concerns me very much; either we have a Civil Service Commission or we do away with the whole Civil Service system and go back to the spoils system of 1883; gentlemen, we have an obligation to the City employees who are hired under the Civil Service system to follow Civil Services rules and not to continually by-pass the Civil Service Commis- sion; we are appointed by you gentlemen to give citizens input to the City Council and that is all we are trying to do, but we come down here once a month and act as a rubber stamp; fortunately our salary is quite in keeping with a rubber stamp, but if you let us be continually by- passed, you have no reason to have Civil Service rules and no reason to call this a merit system because you have completely destroyed the Civil Service rules, the Civil Service Commission and in turn we have destroyd everything that people have worked through the years to try to build up throughout the United States; we fought a Revolution to overcome one-man rule; we fought a Revolution to build freedom and equality for all people; in 1883 the Federal government instituted the Federal Civil Service system to do away with the spoils system; ...the whole thing has been turned around and headed right back towards the spoils system and the citizens of National, City are going to suddenly realize what has been happening and they are not going to like finding out that the spoils system may very well be very much alive and living in National City, Mayor Morgan said this Lieutenant is not going to be hired that you advertised for. Mrs. McKinney said they (the Commission) didn't adver- tise for anyone. Mayor Morgan said you advertised for the.....to fill a Lieutenant slot. Mrs. McKinney said....Mr. Mayor, it still comes down to the fact that the Civil Service rules said that that was a closed - promotional examination and the City Manager's office without consulta- tion and without informing the Civil Service Commission advertised it as an open competitive examination in complete violation of Civil Service rules; either we have rules, either we are a country of laws, or we are a country of personalities. Mayor Morgan said they'll do it with the laws. ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS Moved by Camacho, seconded by Reid, these resolutions be presented by title only. Carried by unanimous vote. RESOLUTION NO. 11,796, "RESOLUTION GRANTING ZONE VARIANCE PURSUANT TO ORDINANCE NO. 962 (Z-3-75, 1902 Highland Avenue to reduce minimum site area required for a service station from 15,000 sq. ft. to 7,500 sq. ft. to allow development of an automotive drive-thru lubrication & tune-up establishment, Terry Rakov, County Assessor's Parcel No. 560-192-15)." Moved by Reid, seconded by Camacho, Resolution No. 11,796 be adopted. Carried by unanimous vote. RESOLUTION NO. 11,797, "RESOLUTION GRANTING COMMERCIAL PLANNED DEVELOP- MENT PERMIT PURSUANT TO ORDINANCE NO. 1077 (Terry Rakov, Permit #68 authorizing development of an automotive drive-thru lubrication & tune- up establishment at 1902 Highland Avenue, County Assessor's Parcel No. 560-192-15)." Moved by Pinson, seconded by Reid, Resolution No. 11,797 be adopted. Carried by unanimous vote. 6/10/75 66 RESOLUTION NO. 11,798, "RESOLUTION GRANTING CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NO. 1974-6 FOR THE OPERATION OF A PUBLIC SCALE AT 823 WEST 17TH STREET (Scrap Disposal)." Moved by Reid, seconded by Pinson, Resolution No. 11,798 be adopted. Carried by unanimous vote. RESOLUTION NO. 11,799, "RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 11,773 AND AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF ORDER TO VACATE AND CLOSE A PORTION OF 19TH STREET FROM THE WESTERLY LINE OF NATIONAL AVENUE TO THE EASTERLY LINE OF ROOSEVELT." Moved by Reid, seconded by Camacho, Resolution No. 11,79c, be adopted. Carried by unanimous vote. INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES Moved by Camacho, seconded by Reid, this ordinance be read for first reading by title only. Carried by unanimous vote. Ordinance No. 6/1O/75-1, "An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 962 and Ordinance No. 1213 to Provide Regulations Applicable to Unused or Abandoned Service Stations." ADOPTION OF ORDINANCES Moved by Camacho, seconded by Reid, these ordinances for second reading be by title only. Carried by unanimous vote. ORDINANCE NO. 1468 (6/4/?5-4), "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE 962, ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY TO PROVIDE FOR 'EXCEPTIONS IN REAR YARD SETBACK WITHIN SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE ZONES (A-5-75)." Moved by Pinson, seconded by Camacho, Ordinance No. 1468 (6/ /W6--2) be adopted. Carried by unanimous vote. ORDINANCE NO. 1469 (6/4/44-1), "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 962, ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY, CALIFORNIA (ZC-3-75, to rezone property at the southeast corner of 31st Street and National Avenue from C-4 to TRC-PD)." Moved by Pinson, seconded by Dalla, Ord- inance No. 1469 (44/74-1) be adopted. Carried by unanimous vote. REPORT OF CITY ATTORNEY CITY ATTORNEY McLEAN reported that Mission Cable TV asked the City Coun- cil to support their opposition to the Senate Bill 423 which would transfer regulation of Cable TV functions to the State Public Utilities Commission; if you desire to support them, he will transmit a letter to the Senate Committee hearing the matter; it is a matter of policy whdier you want to regulate Cable TV or whether you want the State to do it. There was discussion. Moved by Reid, seconded by Pinson, that we support Mission Cable TV and keep our own control. There was further discussion Carried by unanimous vote. CITY ATTORNEY McLEAN said they have been informed regarding the matter of the City Police being sued for false arrest by the Mitchell family the claim was defeated and a judgment has been entered in favor of the City according to the Clerk of the Courts. NEW BUSINESS Amended application by Hing Kwong CHUI, Helen & Stanley K. J. WONG, and Hau N. & Steve Y. YU, dba CHINA PALACE, 1630 E. 8th Street, for ON -.SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE LICENSE; and communication from Chief of Police stating there appeared to be no grounds for protest were preseded. Moved by Pinson, seconded by Camacho, in favor of the application. Carried by the following vote, to -wit: Ayes: Camacho, Dalla, Pinson, Reid. Nays: None. Abstaining: Morgan. LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN No. 18-1975, dated June 6, 1975 was presented. Ordered filed by unanimous vote. Communication from City Engineer and Director of Building and Housing stating they have no objections to approval of encroachment of an entrance ramp at 832 Hoover Avenue and attaching Encroachment Removal Agreement (ERICH WILD) was presented. Moved by Reid, seconded by Camachq 6/10/75 67 in favor of the City Engineer and Building and Housing Director's recom- mendations. Carried by unanimous vote. The City Treasurer/Finance Director's request for RATIFICATION OF BILLS and PAYROLL (June 3, 1975 - Bills in the amount of $124,007.87 [warrants 51353 through 51413]; June 10, 1975 - Bills in the amount of $75,364.13 [warrants 51414 through 51484] and Payroll for the period ending 5/31/75 in the amount of $152,528.45 for a total of $227,892.58) was presented. Moved by Pinson, seconded by Reid, the bills and payroll be ratified. Carried,by the following vote, to -wit: Ayes: Camacho, Dalla, Pinson, Reid, Morgan. Nays: None. Communication from Robert N. Moore, President, MOORE BROTHERS TRUCKING, INC., requesting refund of 1975 license fee in the amount of $50; com- munication from License Collector recommending a $35 refund be allowed were presented. Moved by Reid, seconded by Camacho, the License Col - lector's recommendation be approved. There was discussion regarding amending the ordinance covering refunds so it wouldn't have to come to the Council. Carried by unanimous vote. Moved by Pinson, seconded by Dalla, that staff look into this and bring it back to Council on trying to fix this ordinance where this will be one way or the other. There was discussion. Carriedlby the following vote, to -wit: Ayes: Camacho, Dalla, Pinson. Nays: Reid, Morgan. Communication from City Manager Bourcier recommending that NOTICE OF MOTION FOR ORDER AUTHORIZING PERPETUATION OF TESTIMONY in the Petition of FRANKLIN HILL GRAHAM and RODERICK EUGENE BILLINGSLEY be denied and referred to the City Attorney for processing was presented. Moved by Pinson, seconded by Reid, in favor of the Manager's recommendation. Carried by unanimous vote. A letter from Police Chief, dated June 2, 1975, advising that N.C.P.D. would be responsible for transporting prisoners to the new South Bay Municipal Court and recommending City jail be closed beginning July 1, 1975 (as there was neither manpower nor equipment for such procedures) and that a van be purchased for prisoner transportation and outlining anticipated savings to the City, and the City Manager's recommendation he concurred were presented. Moved by Camacho, seconded by Dalla, we accept this recommendation from the Chief of Police and City Manager. John Liesman, Chief of Police of National City, was present to answer any questions the Council may have; he said this recommendation was dictated by our present financial condition; we are the only City in the County that operates a jail on a full-time basis; the operation of a jail by an individual entity is not feasible; if it wasithe other cities would have continued to do it; it's a money -losing proposition for a city to run its own jail. In answer to a question relative to some pretty "rank" stories about the County jail, Chief Liesman said this should be viewed in perspective; maybe there were 15 or 20 cases at the County jail...research shows they booked over 65,000 prisoners through the County jail in 1974; the cases of abuse that you read about, and undoubtedly there are some, are very definitely in the minority. In answer to the question of using the City facility for just holding pur- poses, Chief Liesman said the tentative plan is to have one holding cell and two cells for emergency purposes; primarily when an arrest is made the arrested person will be run straight to County jail; there will be exceptions in the case of felony prisoners where a detective interroga- tion is part of the immediate events and perhaps where we want to photograph an individual or something; a time -motion study was made last weekend: in five bookings in the National City jail, officers were tied up for from an hour one minute to an hour and fourteen minutes; it aver aged one hour and ten minutes per booking; this exclusive of any report writing; at the same time an arrest was made out on Prospect Avenue, the arresting officer was directed to run the individual directly to County jail; twenty-seven minutes later that man was back in the City and work- ing, less than half the time it takes to book an individual into our own jail. In answer to the question would they still have the same paper work to fill out if the prisoners are taken downtown, Chief Liesman said no; we won't even be fingerprinting; the booking procedure itself is involved; you have to interrogate the person, you have to search him, you have to log their property, you have to secure their property, they are allowed a telephone call; running them to County jail all this will 6/10/75 68 be eliminated; the officer runs down, drops the prisoner off with a slip, immediately returns to the City and goes back into service. There was discussion of cities that did not include jails in their new facilities; the capacity of County jail was 600(sometimes they exceed that number) and they (the prisoners) are body to body; home rule; the time saved in writing reports and booking procedures; the moving of the Court, etc. Carried by the following vote, to -wit: Ayes: Camacho, Dalla, Morgan. Nays: Pinson, Reid. REPORTS City Manager - None. COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS VICE MAYOR DALLA asked City Attorney McLean about Item 8 (on -sale beer and wine eating place license) as he understands, there are other con- ditional use permits in that same area, several restaurants with beer and wine licenses. City Attorney McLean said this particular business is, but he can't speak for the other restaurants there. Planning Direc- tor Gerschler said the only restaurants that have Conditional Use Permits are restaurants that only involve some form of entertainment; the restau- rant that serves beer and wine as part of the menu does not require Conditional Use Permits. Vice Mayor Dalla said what he was trying to get at was the fact that we have several of these establishments congre- gated in one place and our experience in other parts of town shows that there are a certain amount of police problems involved or potentially involved; and if this were to take place, do we have any more'tay-so" leverage or anything that we could utilize in this particular area that we don't have for example along National Avenue. City Attorney McLean said the business in question is operating under a Planned Development Permit of some kind, if there are problems connected with the business that are in violation of a zoning permit, action can be taken against the business for zoning violation; if the problems are related to the use of the alcoholic beverage license, then you make a complaint to ABC to take action against the license; if the problem is a general police problem, then the police department is responsible to enforce the law; he thinks the problem is that you can't generally tie the problem on a street to a specific place of business; of all types of problems on 8th & National with drunks, it's hard to say'well,this particular drunk is the responsibility of that particular business;" he may have been to three places that night. VICE MAYOR DALLA said there are some outstanding zone violations.... 332 West 13th Street and that was the court that gave them apparently 60 days to abate that violation; it seems he has read this more than twice, in other words, 60 days have come and gone; perhaps the City Attorney could give the status on this one; in addition there is one at 305, 307, 309, and 311 East 27 Street is pending court action and it was referred to the City Attorney November of last year; one at 130 W4 30 Street was referred to the City Attorney; since he sees these fairly regularly and he doesn't see them disappear he was wondering if the City Attorney could give what their status might be. Mayor Morgan asked the City Attorney to make a report and give it to Council. MAYOR MORGAN said the City Manager brought up this Community Building sometime ago and he recommended raising the Community Building rent from $3 to $14 or something; he knows Council did not go along with that. Moyt4 l t, r gtterno 4ed by Pinson, that we raise the rent and go along with/the City Manager that we make it no harder to rent this... these buildings to the public, but the rent will be raised from $3 to $5 an an hour. There was discussion. City Manager Bourcier said the original proposal was to raise the fees to $14 per actual hour used and now it will be $5 per actual hour used, they will pay the actual cost of cus- todian fees...he would doubt that this would pay for the wear and tear on the building; it would have to be subsidized from the General Fund. Carried by the following vote, to -wit: Ayes: Camacho, Pinson, Reid, Morgan. Nays: Dalla. MAYOR MORGAN said there was great rejoicing in the State of California when they took the depletion allowance away from the gas; what it means is 6/10/75 69 that they won't give the oil companies a break on going out and getting new oil; there was great rejoicing that they saved $43 million, but the $43 million is going to come back to you in taxes...$1 billion in the State; they are going...it would cost the average homeowner between $18-$28 a year to have these people go and search for oil; we have never had this before; this is really bad; he wished someone would really search these things and search out the facts whenever they try to save $43 million; it's $1 billion it's going to cost us and people are out in the State running up and down the street saying, "Well, we got those big boys paying taxes now. We have them paying that $43 mil- lion." But the citizens are going to have to pay it; the State is richer by $43 million, but you're not; you are going to have to pay $18-28 for every man, woman and child in the State; it's going to paps this $1 billion; this is just the two oil companies to search for more oil for us; the publicity and TV cameras and all these things have the public wrapped up to where they don't really know what to do; if they would search and get the truth about some of these things, they wouldn't be so eager to jump in; it's time for some way to get these points over; they don't stop these people from getting gas; they are going to have to build...they drill 10 wells to get one to produce and the $43 million they save could go towards that; but the State just rakes in another $43 million and they just passed it on and see fit to say you pay, you pay. Moved by Pinson, seconded by Reid, the meeting be closed. Carried by unanimous vote. The meeting closed at 8:44 p.m. Ci Clerk Ci y of National City, California The foregoing minutes were approved by the City Council of the City of National City at the regular meeting of June 17, 1975. E.4( No Corrections 0 Corrections as noted below r City of National City, California 6/10/75