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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-10-1999 City Council Minutes MINUTES SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. PLACE: Adjourned Regular Meeting, Adult Care Center, 19655 Allendale Avenue TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Joint Meeting with Public Safety Commission CALL TO ORDER - Vice Mayor Bogosian called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. in the Adult Care Center at 19655 Allendale Avenue. ROLL CALL - Councilmembers Baker, Streit, Mehaffey, Vice Mayor Bogosian Staff present: City Manager Perlin, City Attomey Taylor, City Clerk Ramos, Acting Director of Public Works Cherbone, Director of Administrative Services Walker, Administrative Analyst Reeve, Senior Administrative Analyst Jacobs. REPORT OF CITY CLERK ON POSTING OF AGENDA - City Clerk Ramos reported that pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on August 6, 1999. The Notice of Adjournment from the August 4 meeting was posted on August 5, 1999. At this time, Vice Mayor Bogosian addressed the issue of the Mayor and Vice Mayor seats, in light of the passing of Mayor Shaw last week. He commented that it would be his preference, as a tribute to the late Mayor Shaw, to defer this to the Council reorgnization in December 1999. He asked the opinion of the City Attomey. City Attorney Taylor replied that the Govemment Code allows the Council to proceed as is desired by majority of the Council. If it is the desire of Council to leave the Mayor seat vacant until December, the City Code states that in the absence of the Mayor, the Mayor's functions will be performed by the Mayor Pro Tempore. Therefore, Vice Mayor Bogosian would sign City documents in place of the Mayor. In addition, the Council might want to discuss how to proceed in the absence of the Mayor Pro Tempore. The City Code provides that the Council can make that decision on a meeting by meeting basis or come up with an alternative arrangement. Councilmember Baker commented he would prefer to appoint Vice Mayor Bogosian as Mayor and leave the Vice Mayor seat open until the reorganization in December; however, he would support preference of Vice Mayor Bogosian and the rest of the Council. There was consensus of the Council to leave the Mayor's seat open until December 1999, as a tribute to the late Jim Shaw. 1. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDIZED ITEMS - Any member of the public will be allowed to address the City Council for up to three (3) minutes on matters not on this agenda. The law generally prohibits the Council fi'om discussing or taking action on any such matters. However, the Council may instruct staff accordingly regarding Oral Communications. None 2. JOINT MEETING WITH PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION Members present: Commissioners Ballingall, Biester, Edel and Hexarner. a. Report from Sheriff on FY 98-99 activities and Plan of Service for FY 99-00 Sheriff Lori Smith offered her condolences on behalf of the Sheriff's department, and deferred the presentation of the report to Lt. Cola. Lt. Cola distributed copies of the budget review for FY 98-99 and noted that it has been a good year in Saratoga, with a significant reduction in crime. Discussion ensued regarding plans for increasing levels of service. Page I of 8 Minutes for City Council August 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission Lt. Cola commented that detective hours have been increased and there has been a consolidation of detective service in the community. Detective cases will be handled by the detectives in this community with the exception of homicides and domestic violence cases, which will be handled in the San Jose office. Discussion ensued regarding response times and how goals are implemented and performance measured. Sheriff Smith clarified that their goals are basically to improve response times. Although, they are not as measurable as the Council woUld like to see, the department is in 'the process of making upgrades to their crime analysis system and bring more computerized programs for better assessment. One way to reduce response times is to increase the number of people and deployment. In addition, plans are underway to bring a system into City Hall where it would have direct access to the number of calls and their response times. Secondly, the County has been involved in performance management systems for internal evaluation purposes and they will begin extending these performance systems for their contracts as Well. She noted that she will put together performance related documents for Council to look at in order to give them a better idea of how performance is evaluated and measured. b. Report from Saratoga Fire District Chief on Fire Station Renovation Project Chief Kraule extended his condolences for Mayor Shaw's passing and presented the staff report, noting that the report is for a six month period due to computer problems. Highlights of his report included: · Fire statistics (wild fires are down) · Saratoga Station calls and response. · Seven Springs calls and response (County Fire jurisdiction) · West Valley and Quito station calls and response · Structured fires · Medical calls with patients (about 82% of district calls are medical calls) In response to Councilmember Streit, Chief Kraule replied they have an expanded medical service consisting of trained EMTs, licensed paramedics and a doctor who acts as their medical advisor whom they meet with once a month. Chief Kraule added that because of their location, they receive drop ins or people who come in seeking medical aid fi.om major injuries or accidents and seniors who need blood pressure taken. Unfortunately, at this time, the station does not have a room to accommodate these needs, however, they are currently designing a room to take care of these cases. Commissioner Jay Getes expressed his condolences fOr Mayor Shaw's passing and presented a staff report. The fire station renovation project was moving along very well, the ballot statement was submitted to put it on the ballot this November, however, surprisingly their local union put an argument against the station. The Commission will be meeting tomorrow to discuss this matter. In response to Councilmember Baker, the concerns addressed[ in the Union's argument included space issues, layout of the building, and who's going to mn the Fire Department. c. Report from County Fire District Chief on various, issues Douglas Sporleder, Fire Chief, expressed his condolences for Mayor Shaw's passing and deferred presentation to Mike Roth, Director of Business Services to report on budget and Y2K issues, followed by Ben Lopes, Assistant Chief regarding paramedic services and the Request for Proposal for the paramedic contract. Mr. Roth's reported on the following budget and Y2K issues. The budget for 99-00 was approved and is a rollover budget due to pending legislation (AB 236 - Honda). The district is optimistic that the Governor will sign this bill. For Y2K concerns, the most critical element is the dispatch center and their vehicles, which are both in very good shape. Other areas of concern, i.e., accounting, computer data processing and network systems are also being brought up to speed to being compliant. Page 2 of 8 Minutes for City Council August 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission Asst. Chief Lopes provided a handout summarizing paramedic services and a background on the upcoming Request for Proposal for paramedic services and reported on their paramedic services and programs. In response to Councilmember Streit, Asst. Chief Lopes replied that the County is the regulating agency regarding who can get into transportation services and currently there is no possibility for cities to break away fi:om the County. To reiterate Chief Kraule's comments earlier, Asst. Chief Lopes commented that the 1999 fire season has been very mild. Douglas Spodeder, Fire Chief, concluded the presentation with a summary activity report on response times, dollar loss, number of calls, types of calls, etc. This report is submitted to the Public Safety Commission regularly and is a good tool for assessing performance and analyzing trends. d. Update on Animal Control issues including actions required in connection with AB 1482 (Alquist) Paula Reeve, Administrative Analyst, provided the staff report. In response to Councilmember Baker, Ms. Reeve clarified that after the summer of 2000, the cities would have to comply with SB 1785 (Hayden) and the Humane Society will continue to provide services and sheltering to their contract cities. However, beyond that time, the cities will have to provide their own services 'and sheltering without the assistance fi'om the Humane Society. The plan is to establish a JPA before that time, to set up a new facility which will handle all of the services and sheltering of animals for those cities that are presently not self sufficient. In response to Councilmember Mehaffey, City Attorney Taylor replied that technically until you have adopted the resolution the City would be subject to the requirements of the Hayden bill. So if the Humane Society isn't providing that extra sheltering time, the City would technically be in violation of the Hayden bill. It is important for the City to exercise good faith and adopt this resolution as soon as possible. e. Update on Emergency Medical Services contract renewal This was discussed under the County Fire District report. f. Report on status of Emergency Plan update Paula Reeve, Administrative Analyst, provided the staff report. The City is currently working with a consultant to develop the new revised emergency plan. Staff will receive training in late September and the City will be participating in a County-wide emergency exercise on October 13, 1999. After the plan has been tested, staff will bring back a final plan to the Council for approval. She invited the Council to attend the emergency exercise on October 13, 1999. g. Report on status of Safe Ride Program for 1999-2000 academic year City Manager Perlin presented the staff report. Councilmember Baker commented to expand the program to include Prospect and Westmont High Schools which serve Saratoga students. Mr. Perlin replied plan will eventually include all of the schools which serve Saratoga. h. Report on status of Crossing Guard Program for 1999-2000 academic year City Manager Perlin presented the staff report. Councilmember Baker suggested the City send a thank you letter to the Mayor and Chief of Police of the City of Campbell for prov!ding the training for the crossing guards. Council concurred. Councilmember Baker suggested the Public Safety Commission look into purchasing hand-held radios for the crossing guards. Mr. Perlin responded the City may be able to use some of the COPS funding to purchase these radios and said he would look into it. Page 3 of 8 Minutes for City Council August 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission In response to Councilmember Mehaffey, the agreement is rnore specific about what the funds can be used for. Additionally, the uniforms are turned into the school district at the end of the year. Vice Mayor Bogosian commented the crossing guard program is a very good program for the community. i. Report on status of Prides Crossing Area Traffic Study City Manager Perlin reported that staff will begin the work with the Circulation Element consultant and traffic counting when school and the normal traffic patterns resume. After which time staff will be moving forward on the work on this particular project with the project consultant, CCS Traffic and Engineering. There will be some progress towards the end of the year. j. Report on Commission's activities and projects Hugh Hexamer, Commissioner, in the absence of Frank Le, mmon, Chair, commented on the following: · The Commission meets with the Commander of the West Side station and the two Fire Chiefs every month. · They will be looking at the plans associated with the upgrades of the elementary schools. · They will be participating with the staff in the updating of the Circulation Plan. · Monitoring and advising ongoing items such as the Traffic Data Analysis program, Emergency Plan, Emergency Medical Services issue and any impact to the City on any of these changes. Tom Edel, Commissioner and liaison to the Code Enforc,ment Division, reported on code enforcement programs and commended the City's code enforcement staff. His only concem is that one code enforcement officer is paid through the COPS funding and if this program is eliminated or reduced, the City would be short one code enforcement officer. In response to Councilmember Mehaffey, City Manager Perlin replied that the state appropriates funding for the COPS program to be used for supplemental law enforcement. Brigitte Ballingall, Commissioner, extended condolences for the Mayor's passing and thanked the City for providing the additional funds for the crossing l[,mards. Ms. Ballingall reported on the probability of having a subscription school busing program for the City. The Saratoga Unified School District (SUSD) has taken the initiative to bring together all the school districts to talk about doing a cross-city provision of subscription busing, which means parents would carry the burden of the costs. A meeting will be scheduled in September, to be chaired by Dr. Gardner of SUSD. In addition, the Board of Education for the SUSD has made it a priority to campaign heavily with the parent community to get a carpooling initiative offthe ground. She also reported on the current busing program used by the SUSD this year. Commissioner Ballingall also commented that Dr. Gardner wanted to notify the Council that they are in the CEQA process for the Argonaut-Foothill schools and they have hired a consulting group, Pacific Municipal Consultants, to help them in this process. In response to Councilmember Streit regarding seat belts in the school buses, her assumption is that the program will go with whatever the cOnventional legal processes are for this area. In response to Vice Mayor Bogosian, the traffic calming prototype will be a product of the circulation plan study and the initial work that is done in cormection with the Pride's Crossing study about the end of the year or beginning of next year. In response t~ Councilmember Baker, the complaints fi.om citizens and traffic speeding is going down. The Commission tries to be as responsive to the citizens concerns. Vice Mayor Bogosian called a recess at 9:00 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 9:10 p.m. k. Other - None Page 4 of 8 Minutes for City Council August 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission 3. STATUS REPORT ON CITY'S Y2K COMPLIANCE EFFORTS Recommendation: Receive report. City Manager Perlin presented the staff report. Councilmember Mehaffey commented he would like to see timelines on the non-compliant items. 4. PROPOSAL FOR REPLACEMENT OF CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION STAGE SET. Recommendation: Receive presentation and direct staff accordingly. City Manager Perlin presented the staff report and introduced Craig DeManty of Stage Lighting Concepts, who provided a brief overview of their proposal. Councilmember Baker reiterated the poor audio system in the theater and feels that the city should fix the audio system first before replacing the furniture. He felt he cannot approve the furniture replacement without first replacing the audio system. Discussion ensued. City Manager Perlin explained that the audio system was not included at this time because they are two separate items. The proposal for the audio system will be more complex because it will have to meet the needs of the theater and the Council. The proposal for furniture replacement will adapt to or accommodate any audio system that will be put in place. Craig DeManty provided some options and suggested to package these elements separately. City Manager Perlin commented the furniture replacement is a specialized item and obtaining the two proposals was difficult. He asked Council to authorize staff to continue working with Mr. DeManty and come back with an expanded package. Discussion ensued to bring this back on the September 1, 1999 regular meeting. Vice Mayor Bogosian requested the proposal provide separate costs for furniture replacement and the audio system. City Manager Perlin recommended he will work with Community Development Director Walgren and Mr. DeManty and come back with recommendations. Council concurred. 5. PREVIEW OF CITY WEB SITE (www.saratoga.ca.us) City Manager Perlin provided a power point presentation of the City's website and introduced Daniel O'Connell, webmaster. Mr. Perlin indicated the website should be completed and online sometime in September. 6. PURCHASE OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND RELATED EQUIPMENT Recommendation: Authorize purchase of personal computers and related equipment bom CorpNet Information Systems for an amount not to exceed $15,000. City Manager Perlin presented the staffreport. In response to Councilmember Streit, Director Walker replied that there are enough funds in the MIS account to cover ovemms from the Y2K project. Discussion ensued. BAKER/MEHAFFEY MOVED TO AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASE OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND RELATED EQUIPMENT FROM CORPNET INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $15,000 TO INCLUDE THE Y2K COMPUTERS. MOTION PASSED 4-0. 7. ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA AND THE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE'S Page 5 of 8 Minutes for City Council Augus, t 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission RETIREMENT SYSTEM. Recommendation: Adopt ordinance. City Manager Perlin presented the staff report. ' BAKER/ME--FEY MOVED TO ADOPT THE ORDINANCE AS WRITTEN. MOTION PASSED 4-0. 8. STATUS REPORT ON SARATOGA CREEK SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ACTIVITIES. Recommendation: Receive report. City Manager Perlin presented the staff report and deferred to Councilmember Baker for updated information regarding the septic system process. Councilmember Baker provided an update fi:om the West Valley Sanitation District and Cupertino Sanitary District for the list of septic owners. Both districts have are working in good faith and have indicated that the City would have a list in three weeks. Discussion ensued. BAKER/MEHAFFEY MOVED TO ACCEPT THE REPORT. MOTION PASSED 4-0. 9. DISCUSSION ABOUT FILLING A VACANCY ON THE CITY COUNCIL Recommendation: 1. Appoint one person to fill the vacancy on the city Council by September 2, 1999 and direct the City Clerk to begin a recruitment process immediately; or 2. Direct the.City Clerk to prepare a resolution calling and giving notice of a special election on Tuesday, March 7, 2000 to fill a vacancy on the City Council as required by the provisions of the laws of the State of CalifornJia relating to general law cities, for adoption at the September 1, 1999 regular Council meeting. City Manager Perlin presented the staff report. ' Councilmember Streit commented that it is important for the citizens to know that it would have been appropriate for this to be an election if it would have met the November election which would have made it a one year term; but its probably not appropriate to do a special election because of the fact its only eight months till next year's election. Council concurred. BAKER/MEHAFFEY MOVED TO APPOINT A PERSON TO FILL THE VACANCY ON THE CITY COUNCIL BY SEPTEMBER 2, 1999. MOTION PASSED 4-0. Vice Mayor Bogosian announced he will be out of town on August 23~d, 24~ and 25th. Following discussion, Council concUrred on the' following: · Set August 23, 1999 at 5:00 p.m. as the application deadline. · Schedule special meetings for August 26 and August 30 at 10:00 a.m. to review the applications and conduct interviews with the selected applicants. · Following selection of successful applicant, notify the applicant for the appointment date and swearing in. · Make the appointment and administer the oath of office at the regular meeting of September 1, 1999. In response to Vice Mayor Bogosian regarding Public hearings, scheduled for September 1, City Manager Perlin replied there is a resolution regarding the animal control legislation plus two design review appeals. City Manager Perlin commented that the Code requires that the Clerk schedule the appeal at the next available regular meeting, however, the Council can continue appeal items and if Council is clear that this is your desire, staff can forewarn the applicants that it would be in their best interest to continue the public hearing to the following meeting. In response to Councilmember Mehaffey, City Attomey Taylor commented that the appeal will be scheduled at next available regular meeting to be consistent with 'the Code and advise the applicants Page 6 of 8 Minutes for City Council August 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission that it would be continued to the next meeting. Councilmember Baker suggested the City Manager contact the Mercury News for an ad in the appropriate section of their newspaper as a public service announcement. City Manager Perlin felt this type of advertising may have a cost and as long as Council understands that, he would make the arrangements. Council concurred. Councilmember Streit commented Steve Enders is present this evening and may be able to include an article in the Saratoga News regarding this recruitment. Vice Mayor Bogosian asked the pleasure of the Council with regards to the application form and questionnaire. Discussion ensued. A list of questions prepared by Council was submitted to incorporate in the application form. Council concurred to use the sample application from Santa Cruz and incorporate the last four questions on the Council list, to the application form. City Clerk Ramos asked clarification where the place of the special meetings are to be held; and how the Council would like to receive the applications after they have been validated. Council concurred to hold the special meetings in the Administrative Conference room at City Hall; and to wait until after the deadline to forward all applications to the Council at the same time on the following day, August 24~. 10. SELF-EVALUATION OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: July 21 and August 4, 1999 Good meetings. 11. AGENCY ASSIGNMENT REPORTS Alternate Association of Bay Area Governments Mehaffey Chamber of Commerce Board Shaw County HCD Policy Committee Mehaffey Emergency Planning Council Baker Mehaffey Hakone Foundation Liaison Shaw KSAR Community Access TV Board Mehaffey Baker Library Joint Powers Authority Board Bogosian Streit North Cent. Flood Cont. Zone Adv. Committee Bogosian Mehaffey Penin. Div., League of Cal. Cities Bogosian Shaw Santa Clara Valley Water Commission Baker Bogosian Santa Clara County Cities Assn./ City Selection Committee Baker County Cities Assn. Leg. Task Force Bogosian Baker SASCC Liaison Streit Mehaffey Saratoga Business Development Council Mehaffey Streit Sister City Liaison Shaw West Valley Solid Waste JPA Streit Bogosian Valley Transportation Authority PAC Streit Shaw West Valley Sanitation District Baker Streit Vice Mayor Bogosian suggested Council discuss Council representation on the agencies that Mayor Shaw represented particularly on meetings that might take place before the seating of the full Council on September 1, 1999. City Manager Perlin commented he could attend the Chamber meeting. Councilmember Mehaffey volunteered to attend the Hakone Board meeting. Discussion ensued regarding the Sister city meeting and upcoming festivities. Vice Mayor Bogosian announced he will be out of town on September 17 to October 8, 1999. Someone will have to cover the Sister City festivities on October 1 and October 2. Vice Mayor Page 7 of 8 Minutes for City Council ~ Augus! 10, 1999 Adjourned Regular Meeting/ Joint meeting with Public Safety Commission Bogosian commented coverage for these events will be determined after the new Council is seated. Councilmember Mehaffey reported on discussions at: · Hakone Board meeting regarding taking Hakone Gardens to the next level, increase staff and budget, enter negotiations with the City to 'see about disassociating the Board fi-om the City in order to increase donations, and making Hakone a state historical landmark. · SBDC meeting regarding the performing arts theater downtown, neon and directional signs, Mt. Winery expansion Councilmember Streit reported on discussions at: · Solid Waste JPA meeting regarding the approval of the transfer of the contract for disposal services , · VTA PAC will be meeting on Thursday. :Major issues include the Measure AB funds, West Valley Cities are still pushing to get Vasona Corridor all the way to Winchester. Councilmember Baker - none Vice Mayor Bogosian - none Councilmember Streit suggested whe.n the Council makes the next selections for Council representations at various agencies and boards, .the Council should also make the selections for the alternates. Council concurred. 12. OTHER Councilmember Baker commented on the letter fi-om Joe Simitian regarding a public hearing on West Valley Hillsides D1 ordinance and felt it is important th.at the Council or staff attend this public hearing. City Manager Perlin commented that he forwarded a copy of the letter to Community Development Director Walgren to obtain a copy of the status report. Councilmember Baker commented that he received information, that the item will be heard about 2:00 p.m. and if anyone was planning on attending, to be there by 1:30 p.m. Council concurred to ask Mr. Walgren to attend the meeting. Councilmember Mehaffey asked to put an item on the agenda regarding a request for a fee waiver for using the Community Center for a get together for Ray Rozzi, who will be ceasing his business operation after 90 years. City Manager Perlin reminded the Council of the meeting with Sen. Byron Sher this Friday at 8:00 a.m. in the Administrative Conference room at City Hall; and at 10:00 a.m. the exchange students fi.om Japan will be handing the City with a letter fi.om the Mayor of Muko and touring City Hall. He also announced that he will be on vacation the next three weeks, however he will not be out of tom so he can be reached at his home, if necessary. ADJOURNMENT - Vice Mayor Bogosian adjourned the meetirlg at 11:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, City Clerk Page 8 of 8 :