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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-08-1998 City Council Minutes MINUTES SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, December 8, 1998 - 5:00 p.m. PLACE: Adult Care Center, 19655 Allendale Avenue TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Joint Meeting with Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council Special Meeting for the purpose of a Closed Session Conference with Legal Counsel - 5:00 p.m. in Administration Conference Room, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9: Existing litigation - Names of cases: Warfel v. Saratoga; San Francisco Baykeepers et al. v. Saratoga; San Francisco Baykeepers et al. v. State Water Resources Control Bd. et at.; City of Saratoga v. West Valley-Mission Community College District; City of Saratoga v. Santa Clara County and Pursuant to Govemment Code Section 54956.9c: Possible initiation of litigation in one case and Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9b: Possible exposure to litigation in one case Mayor's Report on Closed Session - Mayor Shaw reported that no actions were taken by the Council in closed session. 1. Interview Applicant for Parks and Recreation Commission - The Council interviewed one applicant for the Parks and Recreation Commission. 2. Roll Call The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Councilmembers present were: Baker, Bogosian, Mehaffey, Strait, and Mayor Shaw. Staff present were: City Manager Larry Perlin, Adult Care Center Administrative Director Ciky Garcia- Rose, Administrative Analyst Irene Jacobs, SASCC and Senior Center Director Mary Richards. 3. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda Mr. Perlin reported that pursuant to Govemment Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly · ' posted on December 4, and the notice ofadjoumment fi'om the December 2 Council meeting was properly posted on December 3. 4. Oral Communications from the Public on Non-Agendized Items None. 5. Joint Meeting with Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council Ms. Richards presented a report on the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council (SASCC) and Senior Center, noting that the Center serves approximately 1800 active, local seniors, and 60-65 pement of them have low to moderate income. She identified the flee programs offered by the Center which include legal and housing assistance; vocational, financial, and medical insurance counseling; tax preparation assistance; blood pressure checks; and flee educational and informational seminars. A social worker also works with the seniors for information and referral and other in-home services that they might need. The types of activities provided at the center include classes in exercise, art history, painting. book reviews, memoir writing, bridge, needlepoint, etc. Other services include weekly nutritional lunch programs and support groups for widowed or bereaved persons, grandparents, and for those caring for elderly loved ones. Ms. Richards noted that the Center operates with a small paid staff and over 300 volunteers who jointly contribute more than 10,000 hours armually, thus reducing the cost of SASCC's operations. Ms. Richards thanked Mayor Shaw for his support and work as Council liaison to SASCC. Ms. Garcia-Rose reported that the Adult Day Care Center provides an environment for individuals who are too flail to lead an active, independent lifestyle, a;~.~ the Care Center's main purpose is to help keep flail adults in their homes and communities by providing mental and physical stimulation through structured activities, and by providing opportunities for socialization. City Council Minutes 2 of 5 December 8, 1998 Adjourned Regular Meeting Ms. Garcia-Rose described the accomplishments of the Center over the past five years and types of activities provided by the Center. She noted that at any one time the Center serves 34-40 families with participants in the Center, and 80 percent of the participants are over age 75. The Center served over 100 families with home visits, cotmseling, resource referrals and linkages to community services. The Center also has a Caregiver Support Group co-sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association which meets twice a month and serves between 10-15 caregivers every month. Ms. Garcia~Rose conveyed that SASCC has been denied county funding for the second year in a row, and the Center is unable to apply for county funding again until year 2000. Staff continues its efforts to obtain funding through govemment funds, grant dollars, community donations, and fund raising. Ms. Garcia-Rose thanked the Council for their support on behalf of staff, volunteers, and families served. A discussion ensued and Ms. Garcia-Rose responded to questions fi'om Council members. Ms. Peggy Corr, SASCC Board President, introduced Mrs. Gladys Armstrong and Mr. Wayne Dippel, both SASCC Board members. Ms. Corr provided a history of SASCC, noting it was first formed in 1978. The City received funds which were used to build a 30,000 square-foot building, dedicated in 1982, and SASCC raised $30,000 to fumish it. City staff helped SASCC in setting up its programs. SASCC has use of the building during the week and for special occasions on weekends, and the City has use of the buildings for rental or for their own use on week nights or weekends. SASCC later entered into an agreement with the City to obtain state funds for the Adult Day Care Center, and SASCC raised the funds for the furnishings. The City provides maintenance, security, and insurance for the premises. Ms. Corr conveyed that the City-SASCC union is a unique arrangement and that SASCC is an independent, non-profit, incorporated organization which does its own fundraising. A. Modification of the City of Saratoga SASCC Agreement, with inclusion of Saratoga AdultCare as a unit of the corporation. Mr. Perlin comxnented that the arrangement between SASCC and the City was semi-formalized in an agreement between the two agencies. The current agreement is about ten years old and needs revisions, modifications, and updating. He said that he, SASCC, and City Attomey Riback plan to review the agreement within the next couple of months. Responding to a question from Mr. Perlin, Ms. Richards said that the agreement was written before the Adult Day Care Center existed and part of updating the agreement would be to include the Adult Day Care Center. COUNCIL CONSENSUS WAS TO DIRECT MR. PERL1N TO MODIFY AND LIPDATE THE AGREEMENT. B. proposal in concept for rehab and use of CDBG funds for desired improvements for Senior Center and Saratoga Adult Care Center. Mr. Perlin conveyed that each year ihe City receives approximately $160,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, which are federal funds passed to the county to be allocated locally. He said only $32,000 of CDBG funds can be allocated to'human service programs. A few years ago, the Council made a decision to allocate the full amount of human sirvice funds to SASCC. Mr. Perlin noted the balance of $128,000 CDBG funds can be used for housing assistance, rental assistance, housing rehabilitation, and certain kinds of capital improvements to public facilities that are "' targeted toward specific groups in need, such as seniors. Funds were allocated to the Senior Center for making improvements, and funds are still available. He noted staff would be meeting with SASCC to develop a multi-year program for Senior Center improvements. Mr. Pe~in stated that the City has a surplus of housing money available, but insufficient money for haman service programs. He said staff was looking into whether the City could exchange for its housing City Council Minutes 3 of 5 December 8, 1998 Adjourned Regular Meeting money human service money with another CDBG recipient who has a need for housing programs. C. Proposal for maintenance of certain equipment and furnishings with a specific annual dollar allocation. Mr. Pe~in reported that last December the Council agreed to provide a $3,000 allocation of General Fund support to SASCC to help with the maintenance and repair of fixed assets and furnishings in the Adult Day Care Center and Senior Center. He said that the funds were in the budget again this year in addition to $11,500 of General Fund support. Mayor Shaw noted that the Council would be reviewing those fiscal items at budget time. D. Expectations of fiscal and program audit by City of Saratoga. Mr. Perlin reported that the agreement between SASCC and the City requires an audit, that questions arose last year regarding the level of auditing actually required, and it was agreed that a review instead of a full audit would be done. Ms. Richards reported that a review audit was done; however, in her efforts to seek funding, she learned the best practice would be to do a full audit every other year with a review audit in-between to comply with funding requirements ~-om corporations. Mayor Shaw thanked SASCC staff for a fine presentation. Ms. Corr thanked Council for their support and invited Council members to visit SASCC programs. 6. Presentation of informational/reference materials regarding Playfields Development Project Mr. Perlin reported that Ms. Irene Jacobs serves as staff liaison to the Parks and Recreation Commission and has been working over a year with the Commission to develop a master plan for allocating funds. One project in particular has been the Play fields Development Project which involves expanding the number of athletic and practice playfields available for soccer, Little League, and other sports in the community. He said the concept has been to make use of existing school site fields. A number of meetings have been held, a consultant brought in, a task force formed, and various stakeholders have been working toward developing the playfields project. Meetings have been held in the areas of Foothill School, Marshall Lane, and Foothills Azule Schools to present the concept to the neighborhood. Mr. Perlin stated that he, Ms. Jacobs, and the Commissioners have developed a reference binder to update new Council members. Ms. Jacobs distributed a binder to each Council member, described the project and its status, and responded to Council members' questions. She said it was anticipated a work study session with the Council would be scheduled in late January and that a conceptual plan would be brought before the Council in March. 7. Master Meeting Calendar for 1999 Mr. Perlin presented the master meeting calendar for 1999, noting that additional meetings might be added during budget thne. 8. Committee Assignments Assoc. of Bay Area Governments Chamber of Commerce Board County Cities Assn. Leg. Task i..3rce Cotrely HCD Policy Committee Emergency Planning Council City, Council Minutes 4 of 5 December 8, 1998 · Adjourned Regular Meeting Hakone Foundation Liaison KSAR Community Access TV Board Library Joint Powers Agency N. Cent. Flood Cont. Zone Adv. Bd. Penin. Div., League of Cal. Cities Santa Clara Valley Water Commission Santa Clara County Cities Assn./ City Selection Committee SASCC Liaison Saratoga Business Dev. Council Sister City Liaison Solid Waste IPA Valley Transportation Authority PAC West Valley Sanitation District Mr. Perlin reported that Council members .are assigned to committees by the Mayor. Individual Council members report to the entire Council on meetings of committees to which they are assigned and which they have attended. Mayor Shaw asked each Council member to submit to Mr. Perlin a prioritized list of their top six or seven committees of interest. Mr. Perlin asked whether a Council member would represent the City at the West Valley Sanitation District evening meeting on December 9, and Councilmember Streit volunteered to do so. 9. Self-Evaluation of Previous Meeting - 12/2 Mayor Shaw commented that the previous meeting was a great meeting; however, it was not televised live on Charmel 6 due to technical difficulties. 10. Recruitment for Library Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, and Finance Commission Mr. Perlin presented the staff report and referred to one applicant interviewed earlier tonight for the Parks and Recreation Commission. Councilmember Bogosian proposed re-advertising after the first of the year to encourage more citizens to apply. Councilmember Baker suggested a regular Open column in the Saratoga News for the City Council to communicate its "hot-ticket" items with the voters and hi advertising Commission vacancies. Mayor Shaw noted that he was planning to expand the City's use of KSAR to reach the community, Councilmember Mehaffey proposed publishing the Council agenda in the Saratoga News. Mr. Perlin noted that the Council's agenda printing deadlines conflicted with the newspaper's publication deadlines. Councilmember Bogosian suggested a website and asked for volunteers to establish a City website. COUNCIL CONSENSUS WAS TO EXTEND THE RECRUITMENT FOR THE LIBRARY AND F1NANCE COMMISSIONS UNTIL AFTER THE FIRST OF THE NEW YEAR. 11. Policy for Placing Items on Council Agendas Mr. Perlin presented the staff report, noting that staff had researched the records for previous Council discussion or actions regarding this issue and found that the Council has never established such a policy. Referring to Section 2-10.020 oft~e City Code, hc explained the current agenda preparation process. He said Council members can request iIxat items be placed on the agenda for discussion purposes, not for action, and the item would appear under City Council Items of the regular meeting agcnda. However, if a subsequent action were requested by a Council member, that Council member would have to secure the City Council Minutes 5 of 5 December 8, 1998 Adjourned Regular Meeting consent of at least one other Cotmcil member to have that item placed on a subsequent agenda for action and at that point, the Council could direct staff about what kind of background information, evaluation, or analysis or resolution should be prepared. He said this policy allows for an efficient and organized way of placing items on the agenda, and the policy is consistent with most other cities. Mr. Perlin referred to the Brown Act, the City Code, the City's policies and procedures, and discouraged the CounCil from adopting a policy wherein a Council member could directly request him to place an item on the agenda for action. He described scenarios of possible consequences should such a policy be adopted. A lengthy discussion ensued in which Council members commented on citizens' access to its government and considered alternatives. It was proposed that the Mayor decide whether or not to instruct the City Manager to agendize an item for action when requested by a Council member. COUNCiL CONSENSUS WAS TO DIRECT THE CITY MANAGER TO BRING BACK AT THE DECEMBER 16, 1998 COUNCIL MEETING A PROPOSED POLICY FOR PLACEMENT OF ITEMS ON THE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA. 12. Other i. Councilmember Mehaffey, noting he received a call from a resident who was unable to get more information from the County Fire Marshal regarding the Weed Abatement Program, requested that this issue be added to the agenda for the February 1999 meeting with the Fire Commission. Mr. Perlin indicated that the Fire Commission serves the Saratoga Fire District which did not implement the Weed Abatement Program. The program is administered by the County Fire District and their representative will be invited to the meeting with the Fire Commission. ii. Mr. Perlin reported that he received a call lirom the City of Cupertino indicating that the prospects of the Sheriffrelocating from the Westside station in Saratoga to Cupertino appeared to be slim. iii. Mr. Perlin reported that he has been unable to locate any information on the Request fo~ Qualifications utilized the last time a City Attomey was recruited. 13. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:17 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16, 1998, at Administration Conference Room, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue, Saratoga. Respectfully submitted, Lynda Ramirez Jones Minutes Clerk