Council records votes on contracts, grants and local projects; staff to notice refuse-rate hearing

The Rolling Hills Estates City Council took formal actions on a series of items including vendor contracts, grant-related environmental work, and intercity letters of support at its recent meeting.

The council authorized a three-year contract to migrate the city’s agenda and meeting management system from Granicus to CivicPlus and approved associated implementation spending. It approved professional services agreements for environmental consulting tied to FEMA-funded undergrounding projects on Eastfield Drive and Crest Road, and accepted closeout work needed for grant reimbursement. The council also voted to receive and file an adopted planning commission resolution for zoning case 24-078 (a variance/conditional use request for a detached garage), and it authorized staff to proceed with noticing a public hearing on refuse-rate changes related to the contractor’s cost-of-living adjustment.

The council recorded a roll-call vote directing that the safe network residential units be paid by homeowners (rather than the city) after a discussion of vendor pricing, grant offsets and resident participation. The council also approved sending letters of support for nearby agencies seeking grants and federal earmarks, and adopted a resolution to preserve the city’s eligibility for Measure A park funds.

Why this matters: several of these actions involve outside funding and intergovernmental coordination (FEMA, Cal OES, county park grants, and a private trash contractor) and set near-term obligations that affect capital timelines and public noticing requirements.

Key formal outcomes (summary): - Approved transition to CivicPlus (three-year agreement; implementation fee and ongoing subscription). The city manager was authorized to execute the agreement. - Received and filed planning commission resolution for zoning case 24-078 (garage variance/conditional use); item received and filed by council vote. - Approved a professional services agreement with GPA Consulting for environmental compliance on the Eastfield Drive undergrounding grant (not to exceed $117,070 as proposed in staff report). - Approved a professional services agreement with Ryan Ecological Consulting for Crest Road post-construction biological surveys (amount not to exceed $2,000 per staff report) to support FEMA/Cal OES closeout. - Approved staff recommendation to place a public hearing on refuse-rate adjustments related to the contractor’s COLA (notice to be mailed per Prop.218 timelines). - Council voted that individual homeowners would purchase the HQE/Safe Network indoor units rather than the city fully subsidizing them (roll-call recorded in the minutes). - Adopted resolution to maintain eligibility and file for Measure A annual allocations and approved a letter of support for Rolling Hills Estates’ prior transfer of Prop 68 funds to a neighboring nature-center project. - Approved letters of support for Rancho Palos Verdes’ federal earmark requests (to be circulated and signed by neighboring mayors).

Next steps: staff will implement the CivicPlus migration and schedule the refuse public hearing (mailing and noticing timelines apply), move forward with environmental surveys required by FEMA for undergrounding projects and coordinate any further grant closeout deliverables.