By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, January 9. Items of interest are highlighted below. The entire agenda and reports can be viewed here: https://newportbeach.legistar1.com/newportbeach/meetings/2024/1/3713_A_City_Council_24-01-09_Agenda.pdf?id=86067877-9a07-4bcb-be51-bae45df9bb75.
The regular meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m. Agenda items include:
- A resolution to establish an Ad Hoc Transit, Transportation, Parking and Mobility Committee and confirm Mayor O’Neill’s appointments of Mayor Pro Tem Joe Stapleton, Councilmember Noah Blom, and Councilmember Lauren Kleiman to serve on the committee. The committee would work with City staff and make recommendations to the City Council regarding transit, transportation, parking and mobility improvements. The committee would also identify potential funding sources to help support the recommendations.
- An $11.9 million construction contract to Riverside-based International Line Builders, Inc. for utility undergrounding in central Balboa Island, a project previously approved by residents and funded through an assessment district (Underground Utility Assessment District No. 124 – Phase 1). The low bid was about 37 percent below original estimates, due to an improved bidding environment for this type of work and the relatively larger size of the assessment district. Construction work will be done in phases to minimize community impacts.
- A revised Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Newport Beach Library Foundation and construction contract award for the Central Library Lecture Hall Building project. The amended MOU revises funding conditions and other terms for the Foundation under a 50/50 cost-sharing agreement with the City. The construction award would approve a $19 million construction contract with AMG & Associates, Inc., of Santa Clarita, the low bidder. The total project cost is estimated at about $23.5 million. If approved, construction would begin in the spring and be complete in late 2025.
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.
This Insider’s Guide is not an attempt to summarize every item on the Agenda – just the ones that seem of specific interest to the City Manager. You are encouraged to read the full agenda if you wish.
