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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-11-1997 City Council Minutes MINUTES SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, March 11, 1997 - 6:30 p.m. PLACE: Senior Day Care Center, 19655 Allendale Avenue TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Joint Meeting with Public Safety Commission 6:30 p.m. - closed session pursuant to Government code section 54956.9(a): CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-EXISTING LITIGATION Name of case: San Francisco BaykeeperS vs. City of Saratoga Administration Conference Room, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue The Mayor announced that no action had been taken. 1. Roll Call- 7:25 p.m. Councilmembers Bogosian, Jacobs, Shaw and Mayor Moran were present; Councilmember Wolfe was absent. Also present were Acting City Manager/Public Works Director Perlin, City Attorney Riback and Public Safety Commissioners Biester, Frederick, Heerwagen, Hexamer, and Lemmon. Commissioners Andreson and Dippel were not present. Other staff members present were Assistant to the City Manager Britton, City Codes Administrator Oncay and Administrative Analyst Loft. 2. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda Pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on March 7. The notice of adjournment from the March 5 Council meeting was properly posted on March 6. 3. Oral Communications from the Public on Non-AgendiZed Items Elmer Szanto speaks concerning traffic on Miller Avenue. Mayor Moran distributes a Miller Avenue Traffic Committee letter dated March 5. ~he Committee is encouraged by Wildan and Associates letter report. However, they feel there are problems not addressed by the report. They wish to know what will happen next. The City Council requested that the Public Works Director prepare a report in two' weeks with recommendations on how best to proceed to address Committee concerns. 4. Joint Meeting with Publlc Safety Commission The Public Safety Commissioners are briefly introduced, and Chairman Hexamer explains the role of each commissioner. Lt. Slack is introduced as Acting Captain with the statement that Captain Wilson will return on Monday. Mike Van Leydar, normally Administrative Officer, is introduced as Acting Lieutenant. Also present is Steve Blaylock representing ALTRANS. A. Publlc Safety Program Priorities Class A Roofing Ordinance - Two concerns of the Public safety Commission are large fuel load and difficulties of containing fires. It is reported that the Fire Chief says that the dividing line for Class A roof area along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road was chosen because of its ease of identification. He also says that the Class A roof area should extend further into the flatlands of the City. The Chief is concerned about the District's ability to contain a fire if 3-4 houses caught fire at once and also about the increasing potential for fire- related problems due to the urban forest growing in the City. COPS Funding Protocol is discussed for compiling data from SMART Radar Trailer. The Public Safety Commission will download and manipulate data to reduce the burden on City staff. ALTRANS Trip Reduction - Fourteen schools and 10,000 students will be served by the program. $162,000 grant from AB 434 Program has been City Council Minutes 2 March 11# 1997 awarded to the City to develop the program. Solutions tailored to fit the needs of each school will be developed. Program will be looking at staggering class start times in Fruitvale/Saratoga area as initial step to deal with congestion problems. Process improvements - Public Safety Commission to work with staff on this to improve the processes for responding to resolving traffic matters. Route 85 - TETAP grant application submitted to coordinate signal timing along Saratoga Avenue from Fruitvale to Cox. Fire Safety Center - Current station is not earthquake-proof. Three options are under consideration: 1) Strengthen building. 2) Build new station. 3) Build combination facility to house Fire and Sheriff. Fire Chief says seri6us discussions to occur in mid-1997. Budget Priorities - Community Services Officer Program has been identified as "Nice to Have" as opposed to "Essential." Following up from earlier budget meetings, staff asks Sheriff to consider costs of providing 1,500 hours of Code Enforcement and what could be provided for $100,000. Concerns are expressed about cost effectiveness of utilizing the Sheriff for Code Enforcement, including control of costs in future. Also discussed are citizens' reaction to having Sheriff deputies respond to code violations and the lack of respect for "toy" cops. The only way to cut costs with City-provided program is to reduce personnel. Perhaps Sheriff would be more efficient at providing code enforcement, since this is their only business. Look at ways to create a blended option', such as using Sheriff to do field work and City staff to handle clerical and'administrative functions. Also consider options such as turning over City vehicles and office space to the Sheriff. Because Saratoga has little crime, code violations are of great concern to the residents. This is important and is a quality of life issue. Citizens expect to have their complaints resolved and not to fall into a black hole or to get passed around. On the other hand, most of the time (evenings and weekends) there isn't a CSO on duty to respond. Staff is authorized to continue to work at developing a proposal utilizing the sheriff's Office. Also, the Public Safety Commission is asked to explore how current program could be re-engineered. Assistant to the City Manager Britton provides an update on responses to letter to schools asking for input on School Resource Officer Program. Three schools have responded so far. Staff is requested to get back to schools with usage statistics and related costs so schools can determine whether to provide matching support for SRO. The Mayor calls 'a five-minute break. B. Public Safety Accomplishments - 1996 It is noted that the accomplishments were distributed in the packet. No further discussion takes place. 7. Further Discussion of Possible Date for Presentation by Dr. John Rosenblum Acting city Manager Perlin distributes a preliminary draft agenda for March 19. Concerns are expressed about the n,~mBer of items already on the agenda. BOGOSIAN/SHAW MOVE TO INVITE DR. ROSENBLUM FOR MARCH 19. Failed (Jacobs, Moran opposed). Staff is requested to call Mr. Whetstone and advise that March 19 is not available for Dr. Rosenblum, but future dates would be. 5. Resolution designating Agents for City of saratoga Disaster Relief Applications SHAW/BOGOSIRN MOVE TO ADOPT RESOLUTION 97-12. Passed 4-0. City Council Minutes 3 N~ch 11, 1997 6.Appointment of Acting City Manager to FaAR Board SHAW/JACOBS MOVE TO APPOINT THE ACTING CITY MANAGER TO THE KSARBOARD. Passed 4-0. 8. Self-Evaluation of Previous Meeting - No comments. 9. Agency Assignment Reports Selection of Bay Area Air Quality Management District representative from Santa Clara County Cities. Consensus is to vote for Trixie Johnson of San Jose. 10. Other The City Council decides to hold a closed session evaluation with the Acting City Manager on March 18. Also to be agendized are negotiations with the Saratoga Employees Association. 11. Adjournment The meeting is adjourned at 10:00 p.m. to Tuesday, March 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the Administration Conference Room, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue. Respectfully submitted,