Thumbnail image courtesy of Crescent City Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting: RCTA’s new transit center: City councilors entered into an agreement with the Redwood Coast Transit Authority as it moves forward with plans to build a transit center at Front and K streets. The agreement comes more than two years after councilors decided that the parking lot near the Del Norte County Library was a suitable home for a transit center. RCTA is building the facility using $2.85 million in grant dollars from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. The transit authority’s total grant award was $7.6 million. “The key reason we have this agreement now is because RCTA needs [it] to move forward with their design and their project steps,” City Attorney Martha Rice told councilors. “We want something in writing that says this is going to be the site, however prior to completing the required environmental analyses they can’t enter into a binding lease agreement. We’re coming to terms on what the basics of the lease agreement will be.” Once it’s constructed, the facility will include public restrooms, a ticket kiosk and building, parking and loading stalls for RCTA and non-RCTA buses as well as parking for the general public, Rice said. The ticket center will be staffed, she said. RCTA will pay the city a nominal lease fee and the City Council will be able to approve the final conceptual design, Rice said. “We’re thinking that the city will most likely provide general maintenance services, but we’re going to do that under a separate contract where RCTA will pay us the actual cost of the employees,” she said. “Most of the meat [of the arrangement] will be in the lease agreement itself. RCTA would like a long lease considering they’re putting roughly $3 million into the project.” The RCTA Board approved its side of the agreement with the city on Aug. 25, according to the city’s staff report. City Council stipends: Though their monthly stipends are about $340 less than the maximum they’re allowed under California law, Crescent City councilors decided not to give themselves a raise. “I would feel uncomfortable asking for any of that money that’s already needed to come to me when I stepped up to volunteer for this,” Councilor Candace Tinkler told her colleagues. “This may be naive, but I didn’t know we got paid until after I was already [elected].” City councilors currently receive $610.92 per month, according to a staff report from City Attorney Martha Rice. This stipend was established in January 2009 and in the 16 years since its value has decreased as the cost of goods and services have increased, according to Rice. According to Rice, since California lawmakers adopted Senate Bill 329 in 2003, the maximum amount city council members are paid is based on a city’s population. A small city with a population of up to 35,000 people can pay its councilors up to $950 per month, she said. Rice said that in Humboldt County city council monthly stipends range from zero in Rio Dell and Ferndale up to $935 in Arcata. Eureka offers a $500 stipend plus a $350 vehicle allowance with the mayor receiving a $600 stipend. Mayor Ray Altman had to discuss Council stipends last month, saying he was hoping to find out when they had last been increased. On Monday, he noted that since 2009 inflation has increased and he was especially concerned about a lack of candidates vying for the position during elections. “If there’s more of an incentive for someone to run for Council, that’s where I’m at,” Altman said. “The thought process is it would be an incentive for people to be more involved in their community and [we would] have something that is keeping up with inflation.” However, Altman said if stipends are increased, he thinks those increases shouldn’t take effect until after the next election. Mayor Pro Tem Isaiah Wright pointed out that Crescent City is behind Arcata and ahead of Eureka when it comes to monthly City Council stipends. “I think that’s fine personally,” he said. CCPD Pursues Grant: The Crescent City Police Department is pursuing a $16,900 grant from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. If successful, the money will be used for minor shoulder-tap operations, which targets stores selling alcohol to minors as well as holiday enforcement and saturation patrols, CCPD Chief Richard Griffin said. The grant program starts in October, Griffin said. The funding will be used to cover labor expenses as well as travel for training in Sacramento, he said.