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City Council

The People's Business: Oct. 19, 2020

Tomorrow's regular meeting of the full City Council should be a relatively low-key affair, with only four discussion items, highlighted by a proposal to sell a piece of City-owned land on Ninth Avenue, Downtown, so that it can be turned into affordable housing.

If you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.

City Council -- Tuesday, Oct. 20

Tuesday's meeting officially starts at 9 a.m., when the Council will listen to public comment on any items on the closed-session agenda. Then they'll retreat to closed session and return to open session at 11 a.m. 

The open-session agenda includes three ceremonial proclamations and 10 consent items that are considered noncontroversial and won't be discussed unless a member of Council or a member of the public asks to have an item pulled out for conversation.

1449 Ninth Ave.Here are the items up for discussion:

  • Sale of Cortez Hill Family Shelter (Item S501): The City's Real Estate Assets Department is proposing to sell the vacant Cortez Hill Family Shelter, located at 1449 Ninth Ave. (pictured), to the affordable housing developer Community Housing Works (CHW). The plan is for CHW to buy the property for the appraised value of $11,593, demolish the three-story building, and build a new one with somewhere between 75 and 110 affordable apartments -- 44 of which would be reserved for households earning 30 percent of area median income or less. The property had previously been officially designated as "surplus land," which is required before it can be sold.
  • Lease for 525 B Street (Item 332): The City leases 128,201 square feet of office space and 5,239 square feet of storage space at 525 B St., Downtown. It's used by the Engineering and Capital Projects and Public Utilities departments. Real Estate Assets and the landlord have negotiated a deal whereby the landlord will take back 1,232 square feet of space on the ninth floor in exchange for a 50-percent rent abatement on the third floor, saving the City more than $520,000 through June 30, 2022, when the lease expires. 
  • Performance Audit of the City’s Public Liability Management (Item 331): In June, the City Auditor presented to the Council's Audit Committee a report on the City's management of risk and liability. The report found that the City’s approach to public-liability mitigation is "largely decentralized, reactive, and likely results in higher liability claims and costs than necessary" and that a more proactive approach "will enable the City to better anticipate and mitigate risks to the City’s major strategic goals." The Auditor detailed the findings and discussed the report's nine recommendations. On Tuesday, the full Council will get the same presentation.
  • Amendments to the City's Conflict of Interest Codes (Item 330): Every other year, all departments, agencies, and boards and commissions under the City Council's jurisdiction are required to either update their conflict-of-interests codes or state that no changes are needed. Dozens of these entities are submitting proposed changes. Dozens of others are not.

Members of the public can participate in the virtual meeting and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meeting on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream it online.

Next up will be a post on the policy committee meetings scheduled for this week -- the Audit Committee on Wednesday and the Economic Environment Committee on Thursday.


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