TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Quinn M. Barrow, City Attorney
Gregory S. Borboa, Risk Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Petition to File Late Claim for Refund of Underground Utilities, or, Alternatively, Petition for Reconsideration (City Attorney Barrow).
CONSIDER REQUEST AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council consider the request and provide direction.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications unless the Council accepts the petition(s).
BACKGROUND:
In 2006, Brian A. Sweeney offered to contribute $80,000 to pay for underground district engineering costs in connection with proposed Undergrounding District 8. At the City Council meeting on November 21, 2006, the City Council accepted the offer. As reflected in the minutes from that Council meeting, the Council "moved to approve District 8 moving forward to a Proposition 218 vote and to accept the residents' contribution of $80,000 toward District 8 engineering costs." The City spent in excess of $80,000 for the pre-Proposition 218 engineering costs. The City Council did not present District 8 to a Proposition 218 vote. According to Mr. Sweeny's letter, District 8 was dissolved.
On November 15, 2010 Sweeney presented a claim for damages, seeking a refund, on the basis that the "City never put the underground issue to a Prop 218 vote of District 8, as promised when the gift was made for that purpose."
By letter dated November 16, 2010, the City Attorney returned the claim because, according to the City Attorney at the time, "the claim had not been filed within a year of October 6, 2009, the date that the claim accrued." The November 16, 2010 letter states, "Your only recourse is to apply, without delay, for leave to present a late claim."
By letter dated May 9, 2016, Sweeney petitioned to file a late claim for...
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