Council to Look Tonight at Curfews, In-N-Out, New Contract for Tait

After postponing its vote in December, the City Council is slated tonight, Tuesday, to decide whether minors should be subject to intended to keep them in schools and make San Juan Capistrano’s .  

If the council approves both the daytime and nighttime curfews, barring a list of exceptions, it would be to be out and about only between 2 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends. Parents would also bear legal and financial consequences if their children violate the proposed ordinances.

Council members are also scheduled to determine whether the lot where the vacant Sizzler sits, at 31863 at Del Obispo St., is an appropriate location for a future In-N-Out, which is proposing to demolish the restaurant and build a new 3,700-square-foot, drive-thru burger joint.

Meanwhile, may be kept on as a consultant following the end of his current contract, which expires March 31.

If approved by the council, a new agreement appointing him the city's primary consultant would become effective April, 1, 2011, and last through March 31, 2012. According to a staff memo, he would oversee Utilities Department strategies, the expansion of the groundwater recovery plant, MtBE remediation and negotiations with Chevron and serve as San Juan's representative on the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

He would be compensated $225 per hour  during the duration of the contract. The city will also provide him with a car in lieu of mileage charges.

An agenda item to appoint former City Manager James Mocalis Tait's interim replacement between April and June 2011 has been removed from the agenda. According to a staff report, no longer available online but posted on the Capistrano Dispatch's website, Mocalis was willing to do the job at no cost.

Mocalis was in the spotlight in the mid-1990s when, according to the Los Angeles Times, a judge cleared him of accusations by the Orange County Retirement Board that he had increased his retirement checks by inflating his salary with sick leave and vacation time.

Also on Tuesday's agenda, the council will:

• Address requests from two San Juan Hills East neighborhood residents asking the city to extend parking restrictions on the south side of San Juan Creek Road, west of Avenida Larga, in front of the .
• Discuss the possibility of ordering a forensic audit of the city's financial state.
• Discuss the Open Space Foundation's request that the foundation, under the direction of Tim Neely, use private funds (a donation from Capistrano Animal Rescue Effort) to build a $430,000 dog park in Northwest Open Space.

Editor's Note: This version of the article correctly identifies the proposed nighttime curfew hours as between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.