The City of Gilroy will have its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in Council Chambers, located at 7351 Rosanna St. Here are some of the upcoming items on the agenda.
Out with the old, in with the new?
Staff will recommend that City Council approve a motion to engage an independent auditor for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013 and the next two fiscal years. The costs associated with the audit services is within the City’s budgeted amount of $68,618 for the City’s financial statement audit and $13,285 for the South County Regional Wastewater Authority’s financial statement audit. Usurping long-time City auditing firm Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C., could prove difficult, however.
The nationwide auditing giant has been with the City since 2004 and, according to report from city staff, is doing sterling work and ranked highest among the three available options during the technical review and oral interviews undertaken by a Council subcommittee.
Still, It’s not uncommon for cities to switch out auditors periodically to get a new perspectives on fiscal paperwork and Council can consider selection of the second ranking firm if it chooses to go down the route of “audit rotation.” Will a fresh pair of eyes from Irvine-based White Nelson Diehl Evans LLP get to view the City’s books? Could third place dark horse San Jose-based Gallina LLP surprise everyone? Tune in Monday to find out.
Go Kids or No Kids
Staff will recommend that Council approve by motion a request from Go Kids, Inc. – a California nonprofit – to sublease one of the kitchens at Gilroy Gardens. The deal would be worth around $30,000 to the City – which owns Gilroy Gardens – and is expected to continue beyond the current lease expiration date of February 2015. Go Kids, Inc. would also be responsible for any upgrades to the kitchen that they or Gilroy Gardens need.
Go Kids, Inc. provides comprehensive child development services with an annual budget of $9 million with service centers in South Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. The Gilroy Gardens kitchen that Go Kids wants to use as its central commercial location isn’t currently being used by the horticulture theme park. Will Council rustle up some extra cash by subleasing the facility? Find out Monday.
Where do we go from here?
Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner will present her long-awaited status report on homelessness in Gilroy. Almost three years since the last report, Turner aims to enlighten the dais about what is really happening on Gilroy’s streets and seek collaborative solutions to the problem at hand. Her report – a 10-page, all-encompassing snapshot of Gilroy’s transient and homeless issue – runs the gamut in examining how everyone in the City is being affected. Time and money spent by GPD, the Gilroy Fire Department, Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Code Enforcement, businesses and the community at large is quantified and explained in the report. The Chief’s report goes further still by taking a holistic look at the situation, recognizing work that has been done since 2010 and examining possible initiatives to run until 2016. Will the Chief open people’s eyes to life on the streets? Find out Monday.
Can’t buy me love…
…But you could buy a lot of other things with a “Quality of Life” bond measure that Council will discuss Monday.
The “Quality of Life” bond measure would provide the City with a massive cash injection to tackle capital improvement projects – such as downtown’s unreinforced masonry buildings and playground improvements – in one fell swoop. A bond measure in the order of what Mayor Don Gage has in mind – anywhere from $25 to $35 million – would likely be levied as an assessment added to homeowners’ property tax bills for 30 years. Gage wants to put the subject before voters on the November 2014 ballot.
At Monday night’s meeting, Staff will outline potential projects that could be funded by the proposed “Quality of Life” bond issue and explain the different funding mechanisms available.
Outreach programs, a feasibility analysis and contracting a specialized polling firm to gage the public’s appetite for such a bond measure could range from $95,500 to $126,500, according to City documents. That money would come from the General Fund.
If appetites are suitably whetted by the prospect of a wholesale rejuvenation of Gilroy, then the City will have to pay approximately $54,300 to the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters to get the measure on the ballot in November 2014.
Suggestions for capital projects that could be funded by the measure range from rehabilitating the Interim Center for the Arts ($1 million), to Big League Dreams ($14.4 million) which would see four, small-scale replicas of professional league ballparks constructed. In this project, the City would fund the construction and Big League Dreams – a for-profit company – would operate the park, coordinate adult and youth tournament play and operate the concessions stands. A percentage of the profits would then be funneled back to the City. Visiting players staying in hotels and eating locally could provide additional revenue streams for the City. Will the bond measure discussion get beaned? Or will Gage hit a homerun? Tune in Monday.
