By Jacob Wilson/Garden Grove Journal
With Mayor Margie Rice out of town for a conference, the Westminster City Council took care of mostly routine business during its Oct. 12 meeting.
The council approved a franchise agreement with Plains West Coast Terminals, LLC, giving the company the rights to control some of the oil pipelines underneath Westminster streets. The city will receive $1620.45 per year in franchise fees.
The amount is set by the Public Utilities Commission and cannot be changed. The council held a public hearing before voting but nobody from the public spoke either for or against the agreement.
The council also read the city’s DUI Emergency Cost Recovery ordinance into the public record for the second and final time. The ordinance allows the city to collect up to $4000 in costs from DUI offenders. An ordinance go into effect one month after its final reading, so this ordinance will become city law on Nov. 12.
Mayor Pro Tem Tyler Diep said the Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors narrowly approved changes to its fire hazard guidelines on Sept. 29. Currently the OCFA has two fire hazard severity zone levels, one for areas with very high probability of fire and one for areas with little or no probability.
The OCFA voted to add two medium levels by a 12-11 margin. Diep voted no because adding new levels would negatively affect homeowners insurance rates, he said.
The council’s next meeting is Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. Council meetings are on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month and are held in the Council Chambers at 8200 Westminster Blvd.
