By Julie BUTCHER

At an uncharacteristically short meeting of the Glendale City Council on Tuesday evening, the Council voted to accept federal and state grants to purchase five electric buses and the charging infrastructure to support them along with six electric minivans for the City’s Beeline and Dial-A-Ride services. The action of the Council included dispensing with the competitive bidding process typically required in municipal contracting. Instead, the grants allow the city to “piggyback” onto contracts with the State of Washington (for the buses) and the City of Anaheim (for the chargers) to save funds by taking advantage of the economies of scale allowed by the larger contracts. The minivans will be purchased “using the federalized CALACT/MBTA Cooperative Procurement Agreement,” according to the staff report.

“It’s great to see how much money staff was able to secure through grants to do this,” said Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian.

The city’s Beeline runs nine Glendale routes as well as the La Cañada Flintridge shuttle service utilizing 41 buses (three for the LCF) as well as the Dial-A-Ride demand response/paratransit service for adults over 65 and people with disabilities of any age using a variety of 10 vehicles.

Earlier in the meeting, the Council issued a proclamation celebrating International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.

“Women’s History Month is a national celebration of women’s achievement and the ongoing pursuit of gender equality and International Women’s Day serves as a reminder of the imperative progress in gender equity worldwide,” Commission on the Status of Women chair Diane Lambillotte said, accepting the recognition.

The Commission on the Status of Women, the City of Glendale and Glendale Arts announced an event honoring International Women’s Day today, Thursday, March 7 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the ace/121 Gallery at 121 N. Kenwood St.

Councilmember Elen Asatryan expressed her dismay at seeing the wall of pictures of past mayors in city hall completely without women then went on to share admiration and appreciation for the long and distinguished service of Councilmember Paula Devine, particularly in her advocacy for women. Devine will be leaving the Council at the end of her current term in April.

At an equally brief special meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the Council approved the concept of pre-approving a set of plans for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to “improve the processing and approval process,” Community Development director Bradley Calvert explained.

State legislation AB 1332 requires the city to adopt this kind of streamlining by Jan. 1, 2025, one of numerous measures passed to attempt to spur the building of all types of housing.

Standardized ADU plans would be available for the various types of ADUs that are legal: studio, one and two-bedroom units. Homeowners would work directly with an architect/engineer to purchase, finalize and submit plans for city review and permitting.

“It’s sad that it takes the state forcing us to do this,” said Mayor Dan Brotman. “I suggested it years ago and was told that Glendale wasn’t interested in doing this.”