By Julie BUTCHER

Glendale City Council returned to the council chambers this week – city hall elevators were back in service after lengthy repairs – to tackle a long list of issues, approve a status quo contract with most of its employees, and extend most COVID-19 related emergency orders through the end of July.

First the council heard from Charter Communications – Spectrum in response to questions raised by Councilmember Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian about the company’s ability to respond to the dramatically increased demands of service due to the pandemic.

“Can you hear me now?” director of government affairs Stephen Sawyer asked at the beginning of his virtual presentation. Once the connection was secure, Sawyer ran through some history and detailed what is being done to meet the needs of the moment. For example, Spectrum Internet Assist is a low-cost program to get Internet access to students and seniors who qualify. The company said it has waived fees and late charges and maintained and expanded free Internet service to students. Spectrum News is offered for free, Sawyer said, and a couple of the council members have appeared on the local news programs.

Quoting Charter Communications Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge, Sawyer recognized the company’s 95,000 employees and detailed actions taken to support them including announcing a minimum wage of $20 per hour phased in over the next two years, retroactive pay increases and additional paid time off.

Responding to questioning from Councilmember Kassakhian and harsh criticism from a caller from the Rossmoyne neighborhood, Sawyer pledged to follow up on the congestion and quality issues raised.

“I do apologize. You should not have to go through 45 days of miscommunications like that,” he said.

During the general council comment period, Councilmember Paula Devine recognized Montrose’s Steve Pierce on his “reported retirement from volunteerism. I just want to wish him well.”

She also inquired about letting the senior soccer program at the Pacific Community Center resume for its walking soccer games and about the feasibility of Wi-Fi availability in the city’s parks.

Councilmember Ara Najarian reported that he was elected to the second vice-chair position at Metro, meaning that he is in rotation to chair the transportation organization that is aimed at increasing public transit. He hinted at projects pending, both long and near-term.

Najarian commended the staff at the Pacific Pool for doing “a great job” keeping the pool open safely.

He then asked city staff to do something about the property at the intersection of Victory and Winchester; “it’s a mess, quite an eyesore,” he said.

Councilmember Kassakhian requested support for a report on ways to increase city support for local businesses, specifically looking to enhance purchasing requirements to buy locally.

“Every week we approve contracts and expenditures and cities like Glendale spend a lot of money. I believe we need to give preference to local businesses when these procurement decisions are made to support and grow our local economy,” Kassakhian said. “Furthermore, we need to especially consider those businesses that are owned and run by women and minorities. It may be a small step but it’s about making choices and leading by example.”

Glendale Fire Chief Silvio Lanzas provided a COVID-19 update, starting by expressing his concerns as the numbers of those affected grow and the age demographics of those affected change. An estimated 500,000 people visited local nightlife starting on Memorial Day, he explained, and cases in those between the ages 18 and 34 are now on the rise. Lanzas called the numbers “troubling,” recalling his previous concerns about spikes he anticipated around June 20.

“There have been 2,500 new cases in Los Angeles County in each of the past seven days,” Lanzas continued.

Globally, there are now more than 10 million confirmed cases and more than 500,000 deaths. Of those, more than 2.6 million cases and more than 130,000 deaths are in the U.S. In California, there are over 230,000 cases and 6,000 deaths confirmed; in LA County, there are more than 100,000 cases and 3,300 deaths.

In Glendale, as of Tuesday, there were 1,432 confirmed cases and 106 confirmed deaths.

On Tuesday, in Los Angeles County, chief Lanzas reported there were 2,779 new cases and 45 deaths.

Encouraged at seeing the city’s seven-day average of new cases remain under 20, the chief urged the public to “heed the warnings and stay home unless you must go out so we can continue to keep these numbers flattening. Wear a face covering – so we can get on the better side of this pandemic.”

Answering questions about the reported uptick in cases throughout the local fire service, Lanzas affirmed the reports, sharing that Glendale firefighters would be participating in a procession to accompany a severely ill Torrance firefighter to another treatment site the following day, but that there has been only one positive case of COVID-19 in the Glendale fire service. He then knocked on wood.

The council debated extending emergency orders adopted to address the coronavirus crisis in consideration of actions taken at the county, state and judicial levels, and ultimately voted to extend protections against residential evictions and rent increases until July 31. The local provision requiring the wearing of facial coverings was also extended to July 31 by a unanimous vote.

The council allowed protections against commercial property evictions to lapse, effective immediately, acknowledging that state and other measures may remain in effect.

Noting the late hour and the length of the proposed staff presentation and following debate expected, City Manager Yasmin Beers suggested delaying the discussion until next week about the future of the city’s commercial and multi-family trash collection. Currently commercial and multi-family trash is collected by city workers. The franchising proposal would contract it out to four private haulers.

Finally, the council voted on a one-year contract with its largest union representing approximately 700 city employees. The Memorandum of Understanding maintains the contractual status quo, provides no additional pay raises, and adds nine hours of floating “diversity” holiday time that workers may use at their discretion.

Councilmember Daniel Brotman thanked the GCEA [the union of most non-management city workers] for understanding as the city moves forward with the existing terms.

“Although we’re signing a one-year agreement it is still possible if we face a dire economic situation that they’ll come back to the table and negotiate concessions,” he said.

  Julie BUTCHER