By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, February 27. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/73678/72.
A study session will begin at 4 p.m.:
- At the request of Mayor Will O’Neill, the Council will review the City’s membership in the League of California Cities association and discuss concerns and benefits.
The regular meeting will begin at 5 p.m. Agenda items include:
- Establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on Lower Castaways Park and appointing Mayor Pro Tem Joe Stapleton, Councilmember Robyn Grant and Councilmember Noah Blom to serve on the committee The committee would work with staff and make recommendations to the City Council regarding expanded use or potential redevelopment of the park.
- Distribution of cultural arts grants for Fiscal Year 2023-24. Every year, the City distributes funds for specific cultural or artistic programs as approved by the Council. The City Arts Commission reviews all requests and makes recommendations for funding to the Council. The Commission is recommending a total of $25,000 in funding for six organizations.
- Fiscal Year 2023-24 second quarter financial report. The Finance Department prepares quarterly financial reports to review the status of revenues and expenditures for the City’s General Fund and to monitor budgetary trends in other City funds.
City Council Meeting Information
The Newport Beach City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of most months (the exceptions are August and December). Typically, there is a Study Session that starts at 4 p.m. Study sessions are times for the Council to take a deeper look at a specific issue, or hear a presentation, that might eventually lead to a specific and more formal action. A closed session often follows the Study Session. Closed sessions are typically to address legal, personnel, and other matters where additional confidentiality is important.
The Regular (evening) Session typically starts at 6 p.m., and often has a specific listing of different items ready for formal votes. Items on the “Consent Calendar” are heard all at once, unless a Council member has removed (aka “pulled”) an item from the Consent Calendar for specific discussion and separate vote. If an item on the agenda is recommended to be “continued,” it means that the item won’t be heard nor voted on that evening, but will be pushed forward to another noticed meeting.
Public Comment is welcomed at both the Study Session and the Regular Session. The public can comment on any item on the agenda. If you want to comment on a Consent Calendar item that was not pulled from the Consent Calendar by a Council Member, you will want to do so at the time listed on the agenda – right before the Council votes on the entire Consent Calendar (it’s Roman Numeral XIII on the posted agenda). If an item is pulled, the Mayor will offer that members of the public can comment as that specific item is heard separately.
Additionally, there is a specific section of Public Comment for items not on the agenda, but on a subject of some relationship to the city government. If you cannot attend a meeting and/or want to communicate with the City Council directly, this e-mail gets to all of them: citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov. The City Manager also gets a copy of the email, because in almost all cases it’s something that the City Manager follows-up on.
The Council meets in the Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive, off of Avocado between San Miguel and East Coast Highway. There is plenty of parking in the parking structure. You are always welcome to attend in person, but you can also watch on TV, Spectrum channel 30 and Cox channel 852 or stream it on your computer.
