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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-29-2012 City Council Study session minutes MINUTES SARATOGA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING SARATOGA CITY HALL ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE ROOM FEBRUARY 29, 2012 CALL MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Page called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT Council Members Manny Cappello, Howard Miller, Emily Lo, Vice Mayor Jill Hunter, Mayor Chuck Page ABSENT: None ALSO PRESENT: Dave Anderson, City Manager Crystal Morrow, City Clerk John Cherbone, Public Works Director Mary Furey, Finance and Administrative Services Director James Lindsay, Community Development Director REPORT OF CITY CLERK ON POSTING OF AGENDA City Clerk Crystal Morrow reported that pursuant to Gov't. Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on February 23, 2012. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS ON NON AGENDIZED ITEMS None COUNCIL DIRECTION TO STAFF 1. Strategic Plan Study Session Recommended Action: Accept report and direct staff accordingly. City Manager Dave Anderson shared that the purpose of tonight's study session is to define the Council goals and achieve Council consensus on the goals and their definitions. City Manager Dave Anderson then invited the Council to share their suggestions to the goals and their definitions. Council Member Emily Lo asked if the Council should also prepare a mission statement. The Council discussed the need for a mission statement, previous efforts to define a mission statement for the City, and possible language for a mission statement. Possible language included: 1 To uphold and enhance quality of life in Saratoga To protect and enhance quality of life in Saratoga Vice Mayor Jill Hunter indicated that a mission statement had been prepared several years ago and asked staff to check City records to see if the mission statement could be found. The Council agreed to place discussion on the mission statement on hold and discuss at a future meeting, if necessary. Council Member Manny Cappello proposed addition of a goal that reflects the City's efforts to respond to, adapt to, and take advantage of new technologies. The Council decided to table discussion on the addition of a technology related goal until the end of the meeting to determine if the importance of technology is reflected in the objectives of other goals. GOOD GOVERNANCE Council Member Miller expressed concern about using the term "Good Governance" for one of the City goals, as it implies that the City's governance is not good and the City is striving towards good governance. Mayor Chuck Page proposed that the goal be modified to reflect the importance of the City Council's leadership role in the community and City government. Council Member Emily Lo proposed the following language for the goal definition: "responsible, trustworthy government dedicated to delivering effective, high quality services to the community." The Council discussed the verbiage of the definition proposed by Council Member Emily Lo and the definition provided by staff and the title of the goal. COUNCIL DIRECTION The Council agreed to rename the goal as "City Leadership" and defined it as to "provide a proactive, responsible, responsible, inclusive, respectful, transparent, and trustworthy government dedicated to delivering effective high quality leadership for the community." FISCAL STEWARDSHIP Vice Mayor Hunter advocated adding education of the public on the City's budget and finances to the definition for Fiscal Stewardship or as one of the objectives for the goal. Council Member Howard Miller distinguished between meeting the legal requirements associated with government finance and proactively seeking ways to improve the City's finances. Council Member Miller suggested that the definition 2 of the Fiscal Stewardship goal reflect the City's efforts to be proactive in improving the state of the City's budget and finances. Council Member Lo suggested the following definition for Fiscal Stewardship: "ensure fiscal responsibility to maintain and strengthen fiscal health and stability." Mayor Chuck Page indicated that the definition or objectives for Fiscal Stewardship should include references to the City's reserve policies and economic development efforts. The Council discussed Council Member Miller's proposal to include language in the Fiscal Stewardship definition that reflects the City's efforts to proactively improve the City's financial status. COUNCIL DIRECTION The Council agreed upon the following language for Fiscal Stewardship: "ensure fiscal responsibility and transparency, proactively seeking opportunities for improvement." PUBLIC SAFETY The Council discussed the definition provided by staff and agreed to keep the existing definition. FACILITY INFRASTRUCTURE Council Member Miller expressed concerns about the lack of a replacement plan for City facilities and suggested that the objectives for the Facility Infrastructure goal provide for the eventual replacement of City facilities. Council discussed the definition proposed by staff and agreed to leave it as is. COMMUNITY PRESERVATION Mayor Page indicated he disliked use of the word "preservation," because it is frequently interpreted too literally. Council Member Cappello suggested that the word "respect" could be used as an alternative to "preserve" in the definition of the goal. The Council discussed the definition of "preserve" and whether it was an appropriate word to use as part of the goal name or definition. Council Member Lo suggested that the word "preservation" be used in reference to the character of the City, rather than the physical aspects of the City. Council Member Miller felt that the word "preservation" is too restrictive. 3 Vice Mayor Hunter advocated for keeping the word "preservation" in the definition in some fashion. Council Member Cappello proposed that the word "preserve" be used in relation to preservation of historical assets. Council Member Miller expressed that it is important to honor and respect the City's heritage. Council Member Lo said she felt that while honoring and respecting the City's heritage, the definition of the goal should use stronger language to reflect the need to maintain the City's character. Council Member Miller agreed that it is important to capture the desire to preserve neighborhood character and community feel. Vice Mayor Hunter requested that the Heritage Tree Program be added to the list of the goal's objectives. COUNCIL DIRECTION Revise the title of the goal to "Community Heritage" and change the language of the goal definition to "honor and respect Saratoga's heritage; preserve significant historical assets and small town character." Council also directed staff to add "Maintain Heritage Tree Program" as an objective and reflect the Hillside Reserve Policy as an objective or a strategy. COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT Vice Mayor Hunter suggested that historical and cultural assets, like Hakone Gardens and Montalvo, be emphasized under the objectives for this goal. Promoting and supporting local cultural facilities, assets, and events could be listed as a strategy under the objective, "Engaged and Vibrant Community." Council Member Miller proposed that Improvement of the Congress Springs Quarry Property be listed as an objective under the Community Enrichment goal. Council agreed to keep the definition of Community Enrichment provided by staff. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Council discussed the definition of Environmental Sustainability and agreed to use the definition proposed by staff. 4 [At this time, Council returned to discussion on Council Member Cappello 's proposal to include Technology as a separate goal and other additions to the Strategic Plan.] Council Member Miller expressed concern with Technology as a goal, as it overlaps with other goals already listed. However, if Technology is added as a separate goal, the definition might be worded as "apply new technology for the betterment of the community." Mayor Page added that "support community demand for data access" could be listed as an objective. Council Member Lo said she preferred the language "support community demand for technology needs" as an objective. Council Member Miller also suggested the following objectives: Use technology to improve City efficiency Employ new building standards and technology to improve building efficiency Implement technology that allows the City monitor and manage traffic in the Saratoga in real time Reduce waste through a zero waste plan Implement license plate readers on Sheriff's Office vehicles in Saratoga City Manager Dave Anderson suggested that Technology include real time Village parking status information for mobile devices as and making City operations paperless as objectives. Council Member Lo asked if the strategic plan reflected the City's interest in upholding services not provided by the City, such as waste water treatment or sewage. Mayor Page said he did not feel that it was necessary to add this as a goal, since the City does not have responsibility for these outside services. However, the members of the City Council may choose to serve as an advocate for residents when they are struggling with outside service providers. Council Member Cappello suggested that providing a business friendly environment should be listed as an objective under Community Enrichment, even though it is listed as an objective under Fiscal Stewardship. Council discussed follow up actions to the study session. 5 COUNCIL DIRECTION Include "foster a business friendly environment" within the Engaged and Vibrant Community objective listed under the goal Community Enrichment. Schedule another study session for Council to review the strategic plan materials. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Minutes respectfully submitted: UtjA-AC. OArYD.A1 Crysta Morrow, City Clerk 6