Hawaiian Gardens Council Approves Loan with Southern California Edison on Energy Project

By Jerry Bernstein

The Hawaiian Gardens City Council at its Feb 8 meeting, in a 3-1 vote, approved a loan with Southern California Edison Company in the amount of $250,000 with no interest to complete an upgrade of the city’s energy efficiency and related improvements to city facilities. At the same time the council approved a budget adjustment in the amount of $288,200 from the General Fund and authorized the Finance Director to transfer the funds to the project.
Councilmember Reynaldo Rodriguez objected to the agreement on the grounds it was too costly. He asked why some of the work couldn’t be done in-house and questioned why staff hadn’t reviewed the existing contract covering the city’s computers that he said included making the computers more energy friendly and would have been done at no cost under the existing contract. He said in this time of economic stress, he didn’t
feel the city should be allocating this amount of money now for a project that could have waited.
Councilmember Barry Bruce agreed but said he would vote for the agreement because a contract had previously been signed. The city had earlier applied for a grant involving the State but the application was not approved due to the lack of funds by the State. Bruce said before staff makes a recommendation to the council on the hiring of consultants there needs to be a review on whether they are needed.
Bruce suggested an ad hoc committee be established to make recommendations to the city administrator before a consultant is hired, especially for a major project. He said he understands the city will need to hire consultants in the future but some type of oversight was needed.
Councilmember Victor Farfan expressed concern about micro managing. “We don’t want that to happen,” he said. Assured by City Administrator Ernesto Marquez he had no objections to the proposed committee, the council voted unanimously to create a two-man committee, naming Bruce and Mayor Mike Gomez to serve on it. Councilmember Michi Oyama-Canada was absent due to the flu.
According to a report by Pacific West Energery Solutions, the consultants hired by the city can expect a net savings of $356,994 in energy costs over a 15-year period upon completion of the project. This translates to an annual savings of $23,000 or $1,983.30 per month. Southern California Edison is expected to invoice the city over a 10-year period monthly at $2,083.33. After the 10-year payoff to SCE, the city would realize a net gain of $106,994 for the next five years with the savings then expected to continue in perpetuity.
In other business the council approved new parking restrictions on 226th Street from Juan Avenue to Horst Avenue. In a report to the council Community Development Director Joseph Colombo said the Public Safety Commission at its Jan. 19 meeting reviewed a petition submitted by residents on Dec. 21 requesting the city to remove the “No Parking Any Time” signs installed on the north side of 226 St. between Juan Avenue and Horst Avenue.
Colombo said upon researching the placement of the signs, the City Engineer could find no record the council had authorized their placement. He said painted red curb exists on the south side of 226th St. between Juan Avenue and Joliet Avenue. Again no record could be found the council had authorized the red curbing. However, he said since a bridge was built over the Artesia-Norwalk channel red curbing might have been painted right after its completion, restricting parking or stopping on the bridge. He said the council at the request of the Hawaiian Garden Terrace Senior Apartments approved red curbing on the south side between Joliet Avenue and Ibex Avenue.
The council voted to maintain red curbing on the north side of 226th Street between the Artesia-Norwalk Channel Bridge and on the south side of 226th Street between the channel and Joliet Avenue.
The Council also voted to award an emergency construction contract in the amount of $54,220 to H.D.R. Construction Inc of Hawaiian Gardens to repair the existing shade and patio structure in the civic center between the administration building and the
C-Robert Lee Gymnasium. Colombo said an inspection of the structure found extensive damage to the existing structure and some areas of water ponding on the roof. In addition there were areas where workers had stepped through the roof.
He said the structure was built in the mid-1970’s when the civic center complex was completed. The structure covers the main pedestrian walkway between the two buildings.