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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution No. 1645 RESOLUTION NO. 1645 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DOWNEY MAKING APPLICATION FOR THE DISSOLUTION OF THE DOWNEY PARKS AND RECREATION DISTRICT WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Downey desires to initiate proceedings for the dissolution of the Downey Parks and Recreation District; NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DOWNEY DOES RESOLVE , DETERMINE, AND ORDER AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Application and a proposal hereby is made to the Local Agency Formation Commission of the County of Los Angeles for change of organization as follows: a This proposal is made pursuant District ( ) p p p t to the ist ict Reorganization Act of 1965 commencing with Section 56000 of the Government Code. (b) The nature of the proposed change of organization and the name of all districts and cities for which any such change of organization is proposed are as followV: The dissolution of the Downey Parks and Recreation District. (c) The names of all other affected counties, cities, and districts are: The City of Bellflower The City of Downey The City of Commerce The County of Los Angeles Downey Unified School District Cerritos Junior College District Central and West Basin Water Replenishment District •--. Metropolitan Water District Southeast Mosquito Abatement District Los Angeles Consolidated County Fire Protection District Los Angeles County Flood Control District Downey City Lighting District, Zone #1 The Bellflower County Water District Los Angeles County Flood Control District, Zone #1 County Library District Downey Cemetery District Downey County Lighting District Los Angeles County Sanitation District No. 18, No. 2 County Lighting Maintenance District Nos. 1400, 1741, 1565 Montebello Unified School District Los Angeles City Junior College District (d) The reasons for this proposal are as follows: (1) The Downey Parks and Recreation District is located entirely within three incorporated cities, the primary two are the City of Bellflower and the City of Downey. The City of Downey already has undertaken the development of a park program and a recreation service. The functions performed by, and the services provided by, the District can be performed and provided by the respective cities equally as well as by the District. A Dissolution of the District and the per- formance of the services rendered thereby by each of the respective cities will remove a duplication of governmental functions and services and will provide for a more economic administration. Whenever governmentalagencies of general powers, already in existence can be used for the performance of services now performed by an overlapping district, it creates a greater efficiency of operation and a saving to the taxpayer. (2) The City of Downey is a charter city with a population in excess of 93,000 and assessed valuation of over $177,000,000 and with a strong feeling 2 1 of community identity. The City has undertaken programs to remove an overlying water district and to establish its own integrated water system and it has been the desire and the purpose of the City to provkde all necessary functions for its citizens in relation to public utility services, recreation, cultural services, and the like. A more cohesive consistent recreation program identified with the P articular needs of the citizens of Downey and a development of park and recreation areas consistent with the needs of the citizens can be developed without extra cost to the citizens if the District istrict is dissolved. (3) The financial resources of the District are not adequate to pro - vide modern parks and recreation programs. There is a tax limit of $ .25. This limit was imposed by the people when the District was formed. The City of Downey has a municipal budget of six million five hundred thousand dollars with the provision of capital improvements of over a million dollars and with reserved funds in excess of three quarters of a million. With all of this, the City has been able to maintain a municipal tax rate of $ .29 ever since its incorporation and has been able to carry over a balance in excess of one million dollars as of June 30, 1965. The City by drawing upon the diverge sources of income available to the City, taxing procedures and methods under its charter and the economy of providing administrative s p g services will be able to provide increased stability and accelerated programming of the recreation and park functions without additional cost to the taxpayers affected. (4) The City of Downey has a complete administrative organization includ- ing purchasing and accounting departments, using modern IBM data processing equipment, and a personnel department. The holdover District must duplicate these functions which requires the District to carry out personnel, purchasing, and accounting chores which wastes funds and manpower which should be expended in recreational services to the public. ,^ (5) The City of Downey's Parks and Recreation Department encompasses all properties within the city limits, and therefore can provide park and recreation services to all Downey citizens. The holdover District does not include all properties in the city, and consequently many properties in the city are not con- tributing to the support of the District. Inequities in district boundaries and services will be eliminated when the District is eliminated, and all parks and recreation functions become the sole responsibility of the City of Downey. (6) The City of Downey and the Downey Unified School District are presently developing a "Joint- powers" agreement for cooperative use of the city's park and recreation facilities with the school district facilities. It would be cumbersome, uneconomical, and a virtual impossibility to attempt to also develop a role for a third party, the District, to perform in such a program. Full coop- eration of the District with the Downey school system has not been successful in the past. SECTION 2. The City Clerk of the City of Downey hereby is authorized and directed to certify to the adoption of this resolution and to file a certified copy thereof with the Executive Officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission of the County of Los Angeles and adopted this 8th day of November, 1965. APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 8th day of November, •• .. /,---- _......4ar ., , , "2" , - / ' '^ Mayor ATTEST: t Ciky Clerk 2189 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was duly adopted by the City Council of the City of Downey at a regular meeting held thereof on the 8th day of November, 1965, by the follwwing vote: AYES: 5 Councilmen: Corbin, Dickerson, Dunnum, Morton, Temple NOES: 0 Councilmen: None ABSENT: 0 Councilmen: None City Clerk ;;