CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Thursday the Clearlake City Council voted to make some necessary updates to the city's skate park rules and approved adding a charge for credit card transactions used to pay for city services and fees.
City Manager Greg Folsom introduced to the council the first reading of an ordinance to update the rules for the city's skate park.
Government code provides public agencies with immunity when a “hazardous recreational activity” results in injury to people or damage to property, he reported.
He said the law mandates that skateboard park operators require helmets, elbow pads and knee pads, and skateboard facilities like Clearlake's that are operated by a local public agency and not supervised on a regular basis can meet that requirement by following certain rules, including adopting an ordinance that requires the use of that safety equipment and posting signs notifying users of that requirement.
Folsom said that in 2015 AB 1146 was passed, which adds nonmotorized bicycles, scooters, inline skates, roller skates and wheelchairs under the liability protection as long as they are included to the ordinance requiring safety equipment and the associated signage.
The city's current ordinance also doesn't allow the use in the park of skateboards and bicycles at the same time. Folsom recommended that the provision be removed because it's not being enforced and, as a result, is creating a liability for the city.
Michele Bush, whose son Ricky grew up riding at the park, urged the council to remove language that closed the skate park during regular school hours, and asked instead that it be open from sunrise to sunset.
Bush said there are older riders who use the park and it wouldn't be fair to close off the park to them.
She also pointed out that there is a new generation of children coming up now – her little grandson included – who will soon be riding bikes, skateboards and scooters, and there is interest in developing a part of the park for the younger children to use.
Retired Councilman Chuck Leonard said some of the same problems for the park exist now as when he was on the council several years ago.
“I just don't understand why we're still going through the same thing,” Leonard said, adding that he wanted those who use the park to show more respect with regard to the rules.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton agreed with Bush's request to remove the language to close the park during school hours.
Councilman Bruno Sabatier said he also wanted to keep the park open from sunrise to sundown, noting there is definitely an older crowd of people who use the park and they don't deserve to have it shut down.
He said he also would like to see age limits changed, as currently 12 is the youngest age for park users. Sabatier said he realized that age limit was based on state law, and that he wanted to take that issue to state Sen. Mike McGuire.
Sabatier said he also found the maximum fine for a violation at the park, at $1,000, to be too high, and asked to see it reduced.
During the discussion Mayor Russell Perdock said he remembered when Andy Johnson – the young man for whom the park was named – and a group of young people came to the council a decade ago to ask that the city build the park. He said they took great pride in the park and took good care of it.
Perdock said he felt some of that care has been lost since then, but he applauded the young people and adults who are still trying to take care of the park. Noting recent vandalism, he said abuse of the park only takes it from the community.
He added of the park, “It is one of the positive things that we have to offer our youth.”
The council reached consensus to lower the maximum fine from $1,000 to $500, with Lt. Tim Celli, the city's acting police chief, noting that the change in fine amount actually would remove a conflict with the city's police code, which has a maximum fine of $500.
Another of Thursday's main items of business was a resolution to adopt a 2.1 percent transaction fee for cumulative credit card charges in excess of $1,999.99 per customer.
City Finance Director Chris Becnel explained that in June the city finally began to accept credit cards for payment of services the city provides as well as various taxes and fees owed to it.
He said credit card usage typically results in a fee being charged to the merchant – in this case, the city – that ranged from 0.5 percent to 2.65 percent, depending on the credit card used.
Originally, the expectation was that most of the charges would be significantly less than $1,000 and the city would be willing to absorb those fees, he said.
“What in fact has happened is that there have been a few fairly significant transactions, in the thousands of dollars. Not very many, just a few,” Becnel said.
From Sept. 1 through Jan. 31, approximately $120,068.20 was charged, incurring fees to the city of $2,437.18. Becnel said the vast majority of the cost to the city came from nine transactions totaling $102,339.48 that incurred a 2.1-percent fee plus $0.90 for a total of $2,150.03.
The amount of fees the city is having to absorb has gotten “a little larger than we thought it would be,” Becnel said.
Councilwoman Denise Loustalot, who owns a business, noted, “This is a pretty standardized thing that most businesses do by charging a fee” for using a credit card.
The council approved the fee resolution unanimously.
In other business council members approved the adoption of a resolution declaring an intention to move forward with granting Golden State Water Co. an updated franchise with the city.
“We're not adopting the franchise this evening,” Becnel explained, noting an additional discussion of the proposed franchise would take place next month.
Becnel said Golden State Water has had a franchise to provide water in the city since incorporation and even before.
“The only real modification is that we're putting in the franchise fee,” he said.
The updated franchise would allow for a franchise fee of up to 2 percent of the company's gross annual receipts, which is expected to generate $20,000 annually, according to Becnel. He said the franchise fee percentage is set by the state.
There was no public input nor comment from a Golden State Water Co. representative, and the council approved the resolution 5-0.
The council also gave additional direction to staff regarding a proposed warming center ordinance that the planning commission is to take up at a future meeting, reached consensus to direct staff to draft a resolution to put before voters this fall the questions of whether the city clerk and treasurer positions should be elected or appointed, received the 2015 annual solid waste and recycling report, presented a proclamation for March for Meals month and voted to approve Overton and Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson being appointed to a new city ad hoc marketing committee
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Clearlake City Council approves updated skate park rules, transaction fee for credit charges
- Elizabeth Larson
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