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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-12-1996 City Council Minutes MINUTES SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, March 12, 1996 - 7:00 p.m. PLACE: City Mall Administration Meeting Room, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Joint Meeting with Public Safety Commission Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 1. Roll Call Councilmembers Present: Mayor Jacobs, Vice Mayor Moran, Councilmembers Burger, Tucker, Wolfe. Commissioners Present: Chairman Biester, Commissioners Hexamer and Fredrick, Commissioners-Elect Dippel, Lemmon and Shen. Staff Present: City Manager Peacock, Public Works Director Perlin, Assistant to the City Manager Hanlon. 2. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda The City Clerk reports that pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on March 8. The notice of adjournment from the March 6 Council meeting was properly posted on March 7, 1996. JOINT MEETING ITEMS 3. TETAP Traffic Study (Saratoga Avenue Corridor) and Recommendations from Public Safety Commission a. Signal at Scotland and Saratoga Avenue. = It was moved by Councilmember Burger, seconded by Vice Mayor Moran and passed 5-0, to approve the TETAP recommendation to install a traffic signal at Scotland and Saratoga Avenues, and directing that a transfer of $115,000 from the City Council contingency appropriation to the capital projects budget be prepared for approval at the March 20th regular City Council meeting. Public Works Director Perlin indicates that the goal is to have the signal installed and operational by the time school opens in the fall of 1996. It was discussed that, until the intersection at Fruitvale and Saratoga Avenues is completed as a part of this project and the crosswalk across Saratoga Avenue is moved to the south side of the intersection, the Commission consider ideas to make drivers who are turning right from Fruitvale Avenue onto Saratoga Avenue in the dual right turn lanes to carefully obey the NO RIGHTTURN ON RED restriction ab this area is a major cross whlk locatidn for Redwood School. Ideas wh/~Were presented which co~!d be~.Cons~der~d .included:' issu~g_.~ flyer with the parking permit~s issued by West Valley College and putting an article or articles in the West Valley College newspaper. b. Balance of the TETAP Report Recommendations. The City Council approved the balance of the recommendations in' the report and instructed the City Manager and the Public Works Director to include the cost of implementing these recommendations into the Fiscal 1997 proposed budget. 4. Data Collection equipment for Radar Trailer plus Radar Trailer Plan (Saratoga High School-Saratoga/Sunnyvale Rd. & Herriman) The Public Safety Commission requests that the City Council consider approving the expenditure of $3,500 in the Fiscal 1997 budget to acquire data recording equipment for the radar trailer. Public Works Director Perlin states that, if the results from this equipment are acceptable to the courts in setting radar traffic survey speeds, this investment would end up paying for itself, since the City would not have to secure the services of outside contractors to do speed zone City Council Agenda 2 March 12# 2996 surveys in the future. He wili check into this and make a proposal as to whether to budget for this equipment at the March 26th budget workshop. 5. Traffic Officer 8tafflng The Commission reports that it continues to be concerned that the cutting of the PM traffic car, from the budget last year means that there is no unit assigned specifically to traffic patrol during the PM peak commute hours during the Work week. The Commission asks the City Council to consider restoring this unit in the Fiscal 1997 budget. The City Manager indicates that it may be possible to have the current unit work a split shift so that a dedicated traffic unit would be available during both the morning peak hours and the afternoon peak hours with the general, radar equipped patrol units doing double duty during the middle of the day. The City Manager was instructed to make such an inquiry with the Sheriff's Office and to prepare a Decision Package on adding the second traffic unit on the same basis as it was previously budgeted for City Council review on March 26th. 6. Utilization of Radio 1610 The Commission indicates that it feels the Traffic Information Service radio system is not being used as effectively as it could be by the police and fire services to put notices out to motorists when streets are closed off due to traffic accidents, major law enforcement problems or fires. Two examples were given where motorists were not advised and streets were closed for several hours. The City Council requests that the Commission work with the Sheriff's Office and both the Saratoga and Central Fire Districts to encourage them to utilize the system more effectively. It was also agreed that eff6rts should be made to further educate the community concerning the existence of the radio System and its purposes. 7. Public Information/Citizen,s Emergency Plan The Commission explained to the City Council that, while the City has an effective plan and resoUrces. to deal with emergencies, the publicis generally not aware of this. Saratoga's efforts and resources in this regard need to be further publicized. One idea which was discussed was to have a table at the Farmers Market to provide information to the public. The Commission indicates its willingness to work on improving the public's awareness of the ~emergency response capabilities of the City. 8. Recommend Revision/Update of Emergency Plan; coordinate with Sheriff,s Office and Fire Departments The Commission expressed its desire to make certain that the staff was keeping the Emergency Plan up to date and current, including working on coordinative efforts with the public safety services to be certain plans are-~integrated and-coordinated-to the maximum extent possible. The City Manager indicates that the current standard is to have the plan updated annually by the staff person assigned that task and that it is in the work plan for completion in the current fiscal year. 9. Scheduled Training Events by County Emergency Preparedness -April 1996. Vice Mayor Moran indicates that the County Commission will be conducting a number of events ~in April toimprove emergency response throughout the county. Among the events planned is an information exchange on how various cities utilize their TIS radio systems and coordination of communications~between the various HAM radio groups in the different cities. She suggests that the Commission have Paula Reeve, the City's emergency preparedness staff person, brief the Commissioners on the upcoming events at their next meeting. OTHER ITEMS 10. Topics for April 20 Town]Hall Meeting. Council agreed that, other than talking about the proposed budgets, it City Council Agenda 3 March 12, 1996 would like to discuss with the community the utility users tax and the proposed ballot measure for the November election. If any member of the Council wishes to have other items added for discussion they should let the City Manager know in the next two weeks. 11. Moffett Citizens Group TheCity Manager was instructed to publicize the Council's desire to have someone from Saratoga interested in serving in such a capacity. Mayor Jacobs indicates that, while the flight path would not impact Saratoga to the extent it would impact Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, and Campbell, generally any allowance of such flights should be regulated to at least the extent that flights are currently regulated at San Jose International Airport. 12. Self-Evaluation of Previous Meeting No items were discussed. 13. Agency Assignment Reports Councilmember Wolfe reports on attendance at several meetings. Councilmember Tucker reports that she will attend the Sanitation District meeting tomorrow and that there has been a slide problem on a property on Congress Hall Lane which has impacted one of the district's sewer mains. Councilmember Burger reports on the assessment appeals process undertaken by the Library JPA Board and indicates that appeals of some $324,000 have been granted which exceeds the contingency set aside for this purpose which was $300,000. Vice Mayor Moran reports on attendance at several meetings and indicates that she will be attending an out of the area Air Quality Board conference the week of June 23rd. Mayor Jacobs reports on the meeting of the Independence Day Celebration planning committee meeting. Council discussed the requests it has received to oppose HR 2738 which has to do with the federal water project in California and asks that the Cities Association look into the provisions of this bill and what it may mean for the cities and people in Santa Clara County. Councilmember Tucker indicates she will make such a request. 14. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM. Respectfu~lly submitted,-. _. City Clerk