Special Concurrent City Council and Redevelopment Agency Meeting December 21, 2009

0:00:11welcome to the ELO city council meeting uh we will begin with um the um Pledge of Allegiance led by council member Bill Jones please join me I put allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and

0:00:38justice for all thank you and we will start out with uh Council staff Communications I'll start out by mentioning that we had a six o'clock meeting where we held uh interviews for the Planning Commission and we have uh decided on on uh the appointments for the Planning Commission there will be

0:01:04three and the appointees are Michael Albert Tim Pine and Lisa uh mama and um I'd like to thank everybody who applied we had a an outstanding group of candidates to select from and um a difficult decision but uh we appreciate all those who applied and um we will you know have ongoing openings

0:01:34in the future and um thank you are there any other um Council Communications bill just like to wish everybody a good holiday season um and uh you know a good New Year to everybody thank you just wanted I I did have one other thing okay I've been debating whether to cuz you usually I

0:02:00try to leave the federal federal issues to a different form but uh I was watching 60 Minutes last night and they featured wilington Ohio I don't know if anybody caught that and uh Wilmington is in the throws of uh the depression quite heavily and they had to uh close a medical clinic this week um

0:02:24which served about 2third of the the children in Wimbleton uh Wilmington and I was just saying you know uh the debate's coming to a head uh at the federal level on healthc care whatever finally comes up we need we need a we need a program and if you want to see

0:02:43why check out the 60-minute presentation last night um It Whatever form it takes we need one and and and that'll show why so thank you okay thank you canc no no no well that's getting a quick start and uh I believe that we have AE uh a presentation uh from staff no

0:03:18Jerry he was trying to find the actual article so I'm sorry he he heard you but thank you uh Jerry Bradshaw Public Works director uh every year California construction magazine um conducts a program to recognize excellence in Construction and design in California uh and they they every year

0:03:47they convene a jury of independent experts to review projects submitted for awards and they um have two complete sets of awards one for Southern California and one for Northern California our architect BSA architects of San Francisco submitted our city hall project as being completed in in U this

0:04:07past year and we were given the award of Merit in the government uh category for that uh we were up against the likes of uh the Richmond Civic Center which actually was the winner in the same category and they uh also U Richmond Civic Center also happened to take the

0:04:26overall top project for Northern California so some tough competition but um we're very pleased to have received this award and uh mayor Abelson you and I and Mitch o shinsky went to the awards ceremony last week and we're happy to receive it so at this point I'd like to

0:04:44go ahead and present that to the council formerly uh for the award of Merit for California construction magazine for best of 2009 in the government category okay great so how should R do this shall come down there that's okay yeah you're very welcome Jerry Jerry oh oh okay there we

0:05:25are awesome thank you L like a red brick she was holding and uh one of the reasons that we received this award was for the design and use of materials In This Very Room that we're in right now and um a particular um item that was mentioned is the the sustainable uh Douglas spur that was

0:05:50used in the um in in this room and if you look at the ceiling you'll see some of it up there and then some of it around the rest of the room and I know when I come into this room I really uh see the warmth that that creates and I appreciate the fact that it is sustainable material that's being used

0:06:09for the Mater in the building of the uh room as well as a number of other materials so um it was really pretty exciting to get this award and I think we will cherish it and um and look forward to our next building uh the recycling center I just uh go ahead I just wanted

0:06:29say that we know that this elero city hall is such a great accomplishment of the whole community and the city manager and the staff as well as the many councils who's came before and it's just really wonderful to also be acknowledged from the rest Greater Community for uh

0:06:45the success of our uh new city hall and Civic Plaza so great news and thanks Jerry for working with the uh Architects on the sub thank you I I will take this opportunity to thank all the the councils prior to the one an and I are serving on um and certainly want to

0:07:04highlight the opening sentence of this article for those that have doubted our our commitment and sustain to this the $1 million City Hall project uh culminates a six-year process that span visioning 10 million is the thing I want to key on we were in a beautiful

0:07:20building uh not too long ago out in Lafayette a library that was $40 million um and was not necessarily nearly as environmentally conscious as this building so I I really want to commend um our our prior commissions our prior councils and our staff for bringing a us

0:07:40a award-winning building at an affordable price thank you any other uh staff Communications okay with that we will move on to item number three which is oral Communications from the public which is an opportunity for members of the public to speak on items that are not on the

0:07:58agenda do we have any speakers I have one speaker slip Al Miller good evening mayor Abelson and council members take a while to get used to different chairs you're sitting in now but I wanted to come to you tonight with ackn two acknowledgements and thank yous uh the first is for the city

0:08:19council for the leadership you showed in inviting the school board to come into this chamber and have a meeting with you last uh last week also for your character uh the work you've all put in to be familiar enough with what's happening in the community to know what

0:08:37questions to ask them and for your strength of character and courage in not bowing under to some of the uh Stronger what some people might call bullying or intimidation tactics that are too often present at Schoolboard meetings uh I'm find it almost uh ser real that a school

0:09:01board comes to a city council meeting to learn alternatives to a very important decision that they're going to make that they hadn't even considered before they made that decision so I like to thank you for your leadership and creating the opportunity and making them aware that

0:09:19there are better solutions to portala than the elero high school campus the second acknowledgement and thank you is to the firefighters of elero and Kensington uh on Friday I think the 18th was that a Friday anyway they were up there again uh leading the charge and bringing the

0:09:40magic of the Elso sunders shotti Christmas holiday display out of the storage sheds and onto the hillside at moer and SE viw uh it's interesting to see them work uh because I think that I don't know how they approach this volunt tier activity when it started but it

0:10:02appears that uh not only have they learned where things go now but that they sincerely enjoy uh doing what they're doing and making that contribution uh to us in the city so I just wanted to thank uh them for their continued participation and that display will be shown every night from 5: to 10:

0:10:22p.m. ending December 26th December 27th which happens to be a M day I believe the firefighters of Elo and Kensington and other members of the community will be out there returning it to the storage sheds for another year thank you thank you and that was the only uh communication thank you uh with

0:10:44that we'll move on to item number four which is a presentation on the results of the Godby uh research on the voter survey on possible future Revenue measures thank you mayor members of the council as you might recall in August you authorized me to enter an agreement

0:11:02with Godby research to conduct a uh statistically valid phone survey on two specific areas excuse me uh one is for Capital Construction specifically we focused on the uh potential for a new library in a new public safety building and the second area they looked at in a

0:11:27split survey was a general tax in the event that the economy and potential State takeaways continue to really detract on what we're able to do here and the council's forced uh as we get into budget season to look at the possibilities of potential Cuts versus potential Revenue enhancements um at

0:11:50this point we're not asking for any direction and I'll get a little more into that in a second um what we're planning to do is return in February TP as we typically do uh with not only a midyear budget review this year but also we're are we're going to attempt to

0:12:07bring you next year's budget also so you have a better sense of where we are today as well as what we think the future holds based on that uh budget information we would then be looking for you for possible Direction on um how to proceed at this time we just we are not

0:12:27in a position to make any recommend found uh and it's our hope that uh we can continue to hang in there uh in spite of uh everything going on around us and maintain the current level of service without any um either Cuts or Revenue enhancements but we mostly wanted to do the front end work in the

0:12:44event uh something becomes necessary um tonight um Godby will go through his um their actually their results and what we're looking for is are your general feedback observations um if there's anything in there that is of concern anything that you might prefer uh and really they're here to

0:13:07answer any questions you may have about the climate out there the election climate and specifically what they found in their discussions with uh residents so with that um I'll turn it over to them and then both of us U are here if you have any questions on on where we go from here

0:13:27so thank you Scott Madam mayor members of the council we're pleased to be here again to present uh the results of data as Scott indicated uh the way we're going to proceed if it meets your pleasure is Dr Davidson will walk us through the details of the presentation

0:13:43you can ask questions as we go or at the end and both of us will answer whatever questions you might have about the data all right thank you cby research was commissioned to conduct a survey of Voters to a assess potential support for two distinct Revenue measures a bond

0:14:03measure to upgrade or replace the main police station and fire station and the library uh this measure would require 2third voter support in an election and a general sales tax measure to protect and maintain city services and Facilities which would require a simple

0:14:20majority support in a regularly scheduled ccil election such as November of 2010 for both survey versions questions were asked to help the city prioritize services or projects to be funded test the influence of informative statements and also identify any differences in

0:14:37voter support due to demographic or voter behavioral characteristics data collection for the study took place through telephone interviewing of likely November 2010 voters which also included a subset of likely June 2010 voters Fielding took place in mid-september and on on average

0:14:59the interviews were 18 minutes long a total of 500 voters completed the survey to avoid potential voter confusion and provide a more accurate estimate of potential support the voter sample was split such that each half heard one distinct Revenue measure more specifically 250 voters were asked

0:15:19questions related to the bond measure and the other 250 voters were asked questions related to the general sales tax measure this produced a margin of error of Plus or minus 6% for the revenue measure related questions in the survey at the beginning of the survey

0:15:40voters were presented with a list of six local issues and asked to rate the importance of each here we have recoded and averaged the responses such that the higher the score the more important that particular issue to voters as a whole we've then ordered the issues from the

0:15:57relatively most important to relatively less important shown in this chart overall voter voters prioritize a number of city services above preventing local tax increases in particular maintaining police fire and Emergency Medical Services also ensuring earthquake and

0:16:15disaster preparedness maintaining and improving Library services and Facilities protecting local property values and maintaining City Parks for these issues three out of four voters or more rated them as very or extremely important in comparison for preventing local tax increases relatively less

0:16:34important yet still 47% of Voters rated this as extremely or very important turning first to the split sample of 250 voters who heard the bond related items to test potential voter support for a bond measure to upgrade or replace the police station and fire station and elero Library the voters

0:16:58were read a summary of the $25 million measure and asked whether they would vote Yes or No in an election shown in this chart are the responses of the voters in the final ballot test which occurred at the end of the survey after they had received additional details on

0:17:13the potential projects to be funded and information on the measure here 62% of Voters expressed support for the measure below the 2third majority required with 34% saying definitely yes and 28% probably yes in comparison 133% of Voters reported that they probably would

0:17:31vote no and 17% definitely no the remaining 8% of Voters were undecided those shown in the gray slice of this chart label dkn for don't know or no answer to summarize the portion of the survey devoted to the bond measure the results indicate that there is not adequate support to move forward with a

0:17:53measure to upgrade or replace City facilities at this time more specifically approximately 66% of the voters expressed support for the measure at the beginning of the survey however in a test of the associated annual tax rate which was $74 per 100,000 in assessed value support was at

0:18:1253% although many of the potential projects to be funded and arguments in support of the measure resonated strongly with voters in that final ballot test which you saw on the previous slide support remained at 62% Godby research recommends an extended voter information act efforts

0:18:28to communicate the need for these projects in order to build support for a measure prior to placing it on the ballot Dr Davidson this um this recommendation or result is as a result of needing a 2third majority for any bond measure item correct that is correct thank

0:18:52you let's now turn to the other 250 voters who did not hear any details of the bond measure but heard only sales tax uh related items voters were read a summary of the half cent sales tax to protect and maintain city services and facilities in this chart we're showing

0:19:09both the final ballot test and the initial ballot test in the initial ballot test which occurred at the beginning of the survey before giving voters any information on the protect uh potential services to be maintained or information on the measure support was at

0:19:2467% with 39% definitely yes shown in the the red portion of the chart and 28% probably yes shown in the beige Tan in the final ballot test after voters had heard a list of potential services to be maintained as well as benefits and Regulatory features of the measure

0:19:42support remained statistically level at 66% with 37% definitely yes responses and 29% probably yes responses additional analyses revealed that support was higher among Democrats than Republicans and also higher among voters who have a more more optimistic Outlook

0:19:59of the economic future the following slides provide information on the questions that were positioned between the initial ballot test and the final ballot test voters were read a list of 21 city services and Facilities that would be maintained by the measure and for each

0:20:18they were asked if they would be more or less likely to support the measure if that particular service were maintained again we have recoded and averaged the scores in this case the higher the score the more likely voters are to support the measure if that particular service were maintained again

0:20:35we've ordered the services from those that are most effective in garnering voter support or a higher voter priority to those that are relatively less effective or a relatively lower priority which continue on the following slide uh as you can see fire protection

0:20:51emergency services and Public Safety emerged as priorities as well as city parks and facilities and after school programs for children and teens to put these mean scores in perspective in response to the eight Services shown in this chart approximately three out of

0:21:06four voters indicated that they would be at least somewhat more likely to support the measure I would add to that as general sales taxes go having this many items that are at the 1.0 level that Dr Davidson referred to or above is very encouraging uh We've certainly been

0:21:25involved in a whole variety of measures that have been ultimately been successful where we don't have as many features that are as important to the voters shown here are the 13 uh city services and Facilities that were relatively less influential on support for a general sales tax but at the same

0:21:44time several of these also emerged as a priority including at the top of the chart senior services and Facilities library programs and hours and neighborhood watch and gang prevention in response to these roughly 2third of Voters indicated that they would be at least somewhat more likely

0:22:01to support the measure if the funds were used to maintain [Applause] them the survey went on to test 11 informative statements regarding the general sales tax measure here as well we've calculated mean scores where the higher the score the more influential that uh particular piece of information

0:22:22is on voter support and the more likely voters are to vote Yes for the measure again we've ordered them from uh relatively resonating relatively more strongly with voters to less strongly which are continued on the next slide overall the informative statements resonated strongly with voters and the

0:22:39top nine made the average voter at least somewhat more likely to support the measure this included information that the measure would maintain rapid response time for emergency services also provide local control over local funds for local needs city services for

0:22:54children and teens are critical particularly given the recent state budget cuts to education also that the measure would maintain current levels of Public Safety and information that the city has reduced Staffing by 10% in response to this roughly 2third of Voters or more indicated that they would

0:23:12be more likely to support the measure after hearing the information here's a continuation of the results on the informative statements tested in the survey and you can see here as well that several of these statements have resonated strongly with voters making the average voter at least

0:23:32somewhat more likely to support the measure uh in particular uh requirements of oversight Audits and yearly reports also the amount of funds that have been taken away uh from Els Sero by the state and that all residents businesses and visitors would pay their fair share as

0:23:48well as the city has mandated uh fur days and cut two million dollar to operate as efficiently and fiscally responsible as possible here as well roughly two thirds of Voters indicated that they would be more likely to support the measure finally to explore how economic

0:24:08Outlook May influence support for the measure the voters were asked whether they think the economy will be better about the same or worse a year from now overall voters were optimistic about the economic Outlook with 54% of Voters indicating that things would be better

0:24:2530% reporting that the economy would stay about the the same a year from now and 10% indicating worse the remaining 6% were uncertain and indicated that they didn't know support for a sales tax measure was indeed stronger among the voters who had a more optimistic Outlook

0:24:41of the economy more specifically the voters who indicated that the economy would be better that group showed 75% support for the general sales tax measure versus those who thought it would stay the same or Worse where we saw 54% support and 47% support respectively these results suggest that

0:25:00changes in the economy May influence voter support for the measure uh with improvements in the economy being beneficial the survey results indicate potential voter support for a general sales tax and suggests that the city should consider placing a measure on the

0:25:18ballot in a future election uh more specifically the survey revealed that city services are a high priority to elero voters each of the tested Serv was rated as significantly more important among voters than preventing local tax increases the initial and final ballot

0:25:34test found 67 and 66% support respectively for a half cent sales tax to protect and maintain city services given the 6% margin of error current support for a sales tax among all likely November 2010 voters could be as low as 60% which is still above the requisite

0:25:52simple majority threshold the results indicate the following critical consideration a concerted voter information effort and substantial Communications by an independent Campaign Committee are needed to maximize success also head off voter concerns around elero sales tax

0:26:09becoming the highest in the county and the spending of funds generated by the measure inart by emphasizing that the funds will stay local and also the oversight that it would be required and clearly explain the necessity of the measure to maintain city services the ballot question should

0:26:28feature funding needs that are the highest priority to voters in elero and in keeping with a general sales tax measure a variety of services and Facilities resonated with voters including fire emergency services and Public Safety as well as disaster preparedness city parks after school

0:26:45programs senior services and library programs for children and teens in the charts shown earlier in the report we have a breev abbreviated the informative statements that were tested in the survey and here they are presented word for word we recommend that an education campaign emphasize

0:27:06these key statements that speak to why a general sales tax measure is good for the community they speak to maintaining services that are a priority to Residents also local control for local funds and the oversight that would be required restoring City Staffing levels

0:27:22and also information that everyone will pay their fair share including residents V and visitors that brings us to the conclusion of our presentation we're happy to return to any slides if you'd like additional details and um if you could just talk a little about um how you chose your

0:27:45sample um of who was called and if you were able to guarantee certain demographics were represented from an age perspective or family type or um yeah so kind of those kind of details thanks absolutely uh previous voting history is used to identify the voters who are likely to participate in a

0:28:06particular election with the November uh 2010 election we're anticipating approximately 70% turnout we then cluster and stratify the sample and dial randomly within those clusters so that we are ensured a representative but also random sample once that uh sample is

0:28:23collected we then compare the demographics of the sample with the Dem Graphics of that particular voter population again looking to November 2010 to ensure that the age breakdown and also the political party type gender uh the best estimate that we have for voter ethnicity that all of those are in

0:28:41line from the sample to the voter Universe great thank you okay in both cases there was erosion between the initial and final um positions in one it was 1% and the other it was multiple percents is that Ty typical um as voters become informed they um are not as enthusiastic about

0:29:04the U position as they did when you started the phone call the 18 minutes uh it's it is and it isn't uh it is typical in 2009 it was not necessarily typical in previous years uh where we uh might have started at lower levels when you are a lower level support and then you explain what you

0:29:28might be funding we often see support go up if you're in the 60s for a simple majority uh it's not unusual for it to go down it's particularly not been usual in the last 18 months really uh we've seen that happen a lot there was a uh the the between the bond measure and the

0:29:46uh tax measure there the same Services were discussed but they were presented slightly differently one was more the one the screen you have up for example the tax it was more of a rapid fire short um Services type oriented presentation in the other it was essentially two large uh aspects that

0:30:05were presented um is there a uh was there is your recommendation capturing feedback on how these two messages were received um it's not clear to me that the the way the message was presented necessarily U was captured mhm I I think the fundamental issue here is the difference in the two types of

0:30:33ballot questions there are some legal requirements in what you can say about a bond measure and what you have to say about a bond measure you don't say for example the specific tax rate that any given taxpayer would be uh faced with you have to talk about the gross amount

0:30:48so in that case we've got 25 million uh If This Were a partial tax by comparison that's a different kind of measure and that the ballot question question actually shows the tax rate um in this particular case we talk about facilities that would be funded uh and the bond

0:31:05measure has to speak to the facilities not why you would need the facilities um whereas when we're looking at a sales tax first of all we're talking about a general sales tax under the uh constraints that ailia was referring to uh in terms of a general tax that means

0:31:25City can use the money for anything in the general fund essentially and so it just becomes a listing of all of the things that the city actually might use the money on there's a priority order based on what we've seen in the past and based on what we've now found here as

0:31:43well uh but but it is essentially everything in the general fund uh and I'm sure that your legal council could comment on that as well but so you got two distinctly different kinds of ballot questions um and so that's why they look different um I'm confident that these

0:32:01are reflective of what would happen on Election Day given the fact that this is the same format that we would have to be in in those contexts as well so I don't see any difference or dissonance between the results and what would happen election given the fact that these are

0:32:14two different C measures thank you um I have two questions the first one I kind of hate to ask but I wonder if you can speculate about whether if the um Bond question was asked only on the police and fire building project and not on the library because later we saw

0:32:34the survey results a little bit of less enthusiasm on that project could have possibly brought the um value dollar down from the $74 per thousand assess value if you can um give your opinion of if you think that might have made a difference in that option before they answer just to

0:32:57clarify that the dollar amounts assume one or the other oh okay so we're we're we're assuming very broadly that one or the other of those buildings would be in the $25 million range more more or less okay well that answers that then okay so my other question has to do with the sales

0:33:19tax um I'm wondering if you can remind us the state regulations on sales tax and the flexibility that we have as a local agency to implement these kinds of um sales tax increases given that we have a half cent on the roads and that the county may have some and the state

0:33:37has temporary ones which I'm not sure how long they go to if you were to overlap this if you could speak to that I I just uh tra your glances with your City attorney and I think that's something he should probably answer actually okay I'm happy to respond to that um the way that state law is set up

0:33:55um between the city and the county um there is a total 2% of transactions in use tax that's allowed to be levied so as long as the cities plus the C's components are less than 2% then um it's consistent with state law regardless of what the state is doing in terms of the

0:34:12temporary increase so do you know where we are now or we I should ask where we would be the first of 2011 with city and county 1% we have City and then we have hent sales for yeah so I think we're I think you're at 1% right now so there's um a comfortable margin there to um raise that local

0:34:35Revenue okay thank you can I ask a followup to that what about um other taxes like Bart abent sales tax for Bart doesn't it isn't that doesn't count is included it's a that that's a special district tax so it's not it's it's treat Lally the city and the county state law treats

0:34:56that separately separately for the local tax it's between the city and the county and the Transportation Authority I think that falls under the county um because it is actually the jpa of of agencies within the county okay um thank you uh I have some questions but

0:35:16probably I'm going to ask you um for your best professional judgment given that you also survey a lot of other jurisdictions in a lot of different environments but uh what is your feeling you talked a lot about that uh for those people who feel good about the economy

0:35:34that they're more enthusiastic U about their support but what happens uh what's your feeling that if the economic news does not improve over the course of the next six months do you have any feeling on how that would skew uh maybe fur future surveys on the same

0:35:55thing I mean do right here um support among the voters who indicated that the economy would be worse was at 47% uh in that final uh ballot test for the sales tax measure so it certainly was lower which suggests that it's possible that if the economy were to worsen it would slightly degrade voter

0:36:17support for the measure at the same time several of those arguments speak to community and local funds uh local control uh those types of things the response to uh the cuts that have may made or the fund takeaway uh as a result of the state budget deficit all of those

0:36:35pieces of information resonated very strongly with voters so it's possible that that sentiment could offset any decline in the economy uh if there's that type of a shift voter survey is a snapshot in time and although we can certainly make educated guesses about

0:36:52what would happen to voter support um we cannot be certain okay it's also I would add a a two-edged sword a as the economy gets worse there's a group of people who says well I can't afford this but then that same group sometimes and we're projecting here and speculating because

0:37:11we're assuming it gets worse they also say well I need those Services more uh and sometimes those services are they're all the Myriad of general fund Services uh including things as simple as Park and Recreation if the economy gets worse precipitously I can't afford

0:37:28the vacation to Hawaii so the vacation to the park uh becomes uh more critical to me so there there's a strange relationship in there as well and as we as we look well we don't have a crystal ball as milia said this is a snapshot what we do know is that the numbers are

0:37:45a little bit lower than they were when we did the sales tax for the roads now there's three things that could have happened one the economy two the roads were quite well supported and three there was an extra 1% sales tax but these numbers on this sales tax are

0:37:59lower than they were when we were talking before we put that measure on the ballot for February of 2008 so there is some impact you could say of the economy going going down the question becomes do you think it's going to get worse than it is now are we at the bottom or are we somewhere on the

0:38:17V okay and and a related question um excuse me if if conditions stay about the same what would your expectation be that these percentages that tested uh would hold for June or November have any thoughts on that I think we're in pretty good shape and the reason I say that so quickly uh is we've

0:38:43got a cushion uh if we're talking about a general sales tax which requires a simple majority uh that's 50 plus one we're well above that uh and so whether you look at it as an error rate difference from the sampling perspective or whether you take those probably yeses

0:39:00and say we're going to lose half of them either way of an analyzing it we still wind up with a 52 or 53% win now I think if the economy falls off another Cliff between now and and that election that bet is not going to be a good one to take but I think that you know if things

0:39:19stay the way they are now I think we're in pretty good shape I think that there always has to be that communication effort that the city and independent efforts have engaged on engaged past okay and then my last question is um the sales T would I didn't see it and maybe

0:39:40I missed it the did any of the questions or any information given to the people who took the survey explain that the sales tax increase if it is half cent for instance would push it over 10% um and what was the response on that um we have tried to pull the key findings

0:40:03from the survey for you this evening as you can see the full report is quite dense right uh and we uh we did present voters with information uh that the sales tax would be the highest in the county and understandably voters expressed some concern over that um having the overall effect of making them

0:40:20somewhat less likely to support the measure um but certainly not to the strength of those other informative statements that you saw that resonated so strongly with voters and were effective in garnering support okay and that question that uh Dr Davidson's referring to happened just like the the

0:40:37rest of the informative statements between the first and second ballot test so when you're when the voter is weighing the positives with those less positives let's call them uh we're still getting uh well over the simple majority that we need um and that makes us

0:40:53confident enough to say what I just said earlier that I feel pretty good about the result results thank you appreciate yeah you're treating the June ballot and the November ballot essentially simple the same both assuming that we do simple majority in both however the the June

0:41:08ballot I think you alluded to the fact that the June ballot is um requires some findings on our part I was wondering if you could educate us on what those findings are you know what is the definition of an emergency and also answer the question um if you have experience with public opinion backlash

0:41:29as a result of something being declared an emergency um so I was just wondering so so I I see Scot getting ready to to answer this question but certainly the the second part would be to to direct it to you guys yeah sure yeah um so the difference is that um under proposition

0:41:48218 um which which created this requirement for us um a vote on a uh what they they call a regular a general tax which is one that can be used for any public purpose has to be Consolidated with a City Council election unless uh the the city council by unanimous vote first declares an

0:42:10emergency so um next November is the next City Council election um if you scheduled it for the November election um that would be fine if you wanted to schedule it for the uh June election you would first have to make findings unanimously that there was an emergency that justified

0:42:29calling the election earlier what's an emergency uh there is no case law on this matter proposition 218 did not Define it and the authors of proposition 218 did not have anything to say about it um are reading through case law about um other situations in which local

0:42:48government bodies are required to make emergency findings tell us that it is typically something that is um unexpected um requires an immediate response um and does pose some threat to the public health safety and Welfare um but it does not necessarily mean um even

0:43:07under case law and other situations that that I think are analogous that um there has to be like a natural disaster or a fire or some sort of Calamity um there really are economic emergencies and other types of emergencies that the courts have said um although they would necessarily I

0:43:27think in some people's um Minds immediately be thought of as an emergency nevertheless the courts have said that they satisfy um the requirements for U making legislative findings um so that's sort of where things are in terms of why the difference between the November and and

0:43:44the June processes uh to answer the second part of that we have not seen a backlash uh on measures we put on the ballot the closest one uh to you would be the city of Hayward which declared a fiscal emergency before putting their uut uh tax on the ballot back in May in May

0:44:03which was on the same ballot with the Statewide special um we've been very careful about that we've also uh recently in Half Moon Bay declared a fiscal emergency and put a measure on ballot now they all know about halfon Bay which by the way is also where I live so um but in neither case have we

0:44:19seen uh seen a backlash and I think because we're being careful uh and there is a Justified emergency people aren't asking the question if we had done this in 2004 and said ah fiscal emergency we need some more money yeah I bet you there have been a backlash but I think given the

0:44:38economic climate in the world in the nation in the state the state budget problems and the impacts on cities it is fairly easy for people to understand that there is in fact a fiscal emergency going on around us I just add one more note on that is that besides the the

0:44:53political backlash um there are several cities in the last um four years I'd say but certainly more so in the last 12 months um have actually gone this route um and thus far I'm not aware of any challenge that's been filed to any local measure on the basis that um the

0:45:11emergency findings were um improper um and I would say that actually from since I have assisted a couple of other cities with this that some of them are um in you know I think you could say objectively worse finan situations than El ceritos but some of them are actually

0:45:28on very similar Financial footings um so just to give you some sense of the fact that this is not an issue that has been heavily litigated for the most part I think that there's been a fair amount mostly because I think that there's a fair amount of Jud judicial Defence made

0:45:42to local legislative bodies when making these types of findings okay so I had a couple of other uh questions and that had I guess to do with um the process we might go through if we went forward on the sales tax um measure on the ballot um if we were going to do it especially if we were

0:46:04going to do it in November which is you know a full years off really um then that's a lot of time and things might have changed um would it would there be some point at which we might want to do a um a shorter um check on the pulse of the voter and there are some you know a simpler

0:46:28version of it or that we might test where we could find out if things have changed that's my first question yeah uh I think that if we do wind up in a a November scenario that we need to be care pay careful attention to what's going on around us in the economy and if

0:46:45things look like uh they're slipping if the jobs picture doesn't get better for example then there it might be very important to do that I think it we also need to look at not only the economic climate we also need to look at the political climate and what other things

0:46:59might be on the ballot competing for uh the voter and the taxpayer's attention um I think in November that might happen and that's similar to what we did before we put the sales tax on the ballot as you what if things got a lot brighter somehow if things got a lot brighter um

0:47:16that' be great that would be great wouldn't it yeah um I think if things got brighter for November we might say well is how does that impact the city's budget first and do we need the sales tax measure and maybe that brings back a conversation or at least an analysis of

0:47:38whether the bond measure becomes the priority so I think there's a couple moving pieces in there U and it gets actually more complicated than just a tracking survey because if you'll recall when we did the road sales tax we first looked at a partiel tax for roads and

0:47:53then a sales tax but we narrowed it down and we knew where we're going so it was a shorter uh more compact tracking survey if it gets better the economy gets better I think that that may put the bond measure back on the table um but I'm not certain of that at this the

0:48:08other question I had had to do with the amount of the sales tax before when we put measure a on the ballot I think we if I remember correctly various amounts were tested like a um probably a um quarter Cent sales tax and then a half cent sales tax was the most that voters

0:48:27um were willing to support um that looked like it could uh Garner the votes uh did you test anything here or just this one um number half sent uh at the end of the survey with the 250 voters who had heard the sales tax related questions uh for a half cent their

0:48:45support level was at 66% we then posed uh a question regarding support for a one4 cent sales tax and support increased to 71% with 46% definitely yes roughly half of Voters definitely voting yes and 25% probably yes at the same time you still have adequate support uh for that half

0:49:05cent sales tax okay thank you are there any uh last minute questions of the council yeah um quickly just wanted to hear if you had comparison of sales tax um totals for kind of our competitor cities along the East Bay quarter that are not in the county um just to get a gauge of what their

0:49:28total taxes are yeah I don't I don't have the other City's sales tax rates their total rates um there are some in the East Bay that are in the same situation you are that are looking at sales tax increases that put you the 10% Stanley Andre is one of them uh and uh

0:49:48but I'm not sure what the whole list of sales tax rates are on a cityby city basis okay thanks but we can great thank you um M more was Madame mayor was more of a discussion for us um as L onto the financial Advisory Board um I certainly would like to take direction to them uh

0:50:07if we are going to have the financial Advisory Board review this so so my question is more towards uh those of us sitting up here at the dis than than uh Godby Associates okay I think at this point we're not actually going to make any recom are we going to make any

0:50:23recommendations tonight you looking for I didn't not necessarily but I think what uh council member lyman's getting at and I actually suggested this to him in uh email today is in preparing for the budget I think it would be a good idea to at least put this presentation

0:50:39for staff if not got Brian or his staff um to let them know that this is something that's out there that's being considered because depending on what direction we go um we could go very quickly so I okay I think that would be apprpriate okay we're into the discussion stage I

0:50:58think it it's important to know that we haven't made a decision on this one way or the other this is just a tool that's correct I think it's a forward-looking tool we asked for this uh several months ago and um we can monitor at least what this survey gives us compared to how the

0:51:17economy is shaking out and I think it's critical after the first of the year um so I would uh I would want to just remind people including if it gets into the press or people listening now is that the council really hasn't even be began the discussion on what we're going

0:51:36to do if we want to do it and why but I I agree that the um the Fab I I think this would be a good subject matter for them to start looking at also personally um that they can begin to start thinking about it and uh be able to help us out as we go through through

0:51:56this so I have uh one request if there's going to be followup information the two things I'm really interested in is the sales tax rate for the other cities in the corridor both in Alam and Contra Casta County but also the difference in the revenue that would be generated from

0:52:12a quarter Cent versus the half cent tax I could I could just tell you that and and this obviously depends on the T you know how our sales tax overall is doing but uh and using measure a and as as example half cent is probably um and Jerry correct me but it's probably

0:52:31between a million to a million two and a quarter Cent would be essentially half of that 500 to 600,000 quarter Cent thanks okay um are there any further questions at this time before I I wanted to see if there are any public comments there are no public comments

0:52:50okay um so we're not really looking for any direction today as as as I understand it okay well thank you very much that's really very interesting information and um um we'll look forward to seeing what happens and thank you very much it's a pleasure once again to

0:53:08present you uh I'll leave you with one other thing research is like peeling an onion so when you get down some other layers if there are other questions we're always available to answer those thank you for coming okay with that we're going to move on to the next

0:53:23item on the agenda um which is adoption of the consent calendar and um I would like to remove item 5G is there anyone else who would like to remove anything g g i move uh that we adopt the consent calendars items 5 a through 5f as in Frank and item 5H I second it okay all

0:53:53in favor I I any objection the exension motion carries unanimously now on to item 5G and the reason I removed this is to clarify um the intent of uh changing our meeting on the 4th of uh January of 2010 next month and the regular meeting was canell cancelled because we're going

0:54:18to convene the intent was to cancel excuse me to convene a special meeting on the date for the sole purpose purpose of conducting uh commission committee and board interviews so um um that I just wanted to mention that one item are there any other comments on that

0:54:39item I guess have we confirmed that we it will be the fourth that we do that meeting well that's that's what we're that's what it that's what the item is saying okay so then we would um need to decide whether or not we want to actually go ahead and do that that's the purpose for which is on the

0:54:58agenda well I think there's um is the question now then now since we are probably counseling the fourth as a regular meeting to meet for the commission uh interviews and I think well I I think we have it's my understanding we may have at least one member that's not available

0:55:20right I was going to ask if we have confirmation that the interviewees are available my understanding was everyone was is available for the fourth of the people being interviewed yes oh okay um except for one one single drb okay so I I guess what I would ask at this point is um that agreeable with

0:55:45council members uh are they available in particular willing I would prefer the 11th because I may have a conflict and we already have one person that uh may have a conflict that would leave three members which I'm perfectly I don't need to be at the meeting um but um if you're

0:56:05looking we're down you're not available on the 4th we do have possibility I won't be yes we do have eight people scheduled that are available on that evening to interview I see so they so um the interview were scheduled for the 4th and they weren't asked if whether the

0:56:234th or the 11th were possibilities they were and with the exception of one um one thought that he wouldn't be able to make the 11th either but possibly the 19th okay but everybody else can both make the fourth and the 11th except but for one I'd have to check again again on

0:56:41the 11th okay if we have one person who couldn't make whatever date we decide upon that one person could be interviewed a different day right we could probably fit it right before some council meeting um you know for one person it isn't very difficult to do that um the the

0:57:00difficulty we have is when we uh get real far behind on doing interviews so um what's the pleasure of the group so I personally would like to say I'm available on the fourth but I would also prefer the 11th okay I prefer the 11th and I just want to confirm that due to

0:57:16the Martin Luther King holiday our next council meeting would be on the 19th which is the Tuesday so it gives a little time in between I I have no preference between the 4th and the 11th I I don't have a preference either how about you Bill 11th would be said I

0:57:33think so are we're you we're completely available on the 11th yes okay um so I don't know if we need a motion here or how about a motion let's see um I think you could just direct okay so I'll just direct um the city clerk to prepare a notice for a meeting on the 11th at 6:00

0:57:54p.m. I believe is that the 6:30 what time 6:30 6:30 and you convey our um hope we we don't have any inconvenience and thank the people for being available on the 4th but they would have a better audience on the 11th it sounds like and possibly if there are folks who can't make the 11th if we're

0:58:16agreeable to offering a few slots on the 19th if the agenda could accommodate that okay um therefore I move item five we didn't need to do that we do need to move cancelling the meeting I believe that's the item that's on our agenda I'm sorry well I clarified what the item the

0:58:35amendment to the item I don't know second you like to do let's it will go quickly I move that we cancel the city meeting council meeting on January 4th the regular meeting and re and the next council meeting would be held on Tuesday January 19th the next regular meeting correct

0:58:54next regular meeting okay and there was a second to that council member Jones okay all in favor I I I think that was unanimous okay and um we will have a special meeting on the 11th at 6:30 for the purpose and sole purpose of um conducting interviews for boards and

0:59:15commissions thank you okay with that we will move on on the agenda to item number six which is the proposed integrated way management fees and East Bay sanitary collection rates and there is a script for this one e I had one quick one car how old is the current recycling

1:04:11center on the order of about 50 years I think the facility I believe was constructed in 1950 or 1960 and it's been the recycling operations have been operating there since the early 70s right okay good and uh I know a little bit about one part of the uh the rate but is

1:04:35it safe to say that um we're playing catchup on these uh rates a little bit I would say that's safe after 13 years of no increases to the rate I would say that's the case and and also with the recycling and the green waste uh I know we're we're coming off of a 10-year

1:04:55contract which had limited amounts of increases on the rates and so that kind of kicks it up a little bit also not for this specific rate for the Integrated Waste Management fee but for other parts of the rates that are before you in attachment three that's correct correct

1:05:10okay thank you um it this 10% increase is part of a 10e plan correct and what are the future increases are they all 10% every year of that 10year plan or or what are some of the what's the crystal ball of the future on this I wish I I wish I had a clear Outlook um the in terms of the

1:05:3310-year plan that the council adopted with this current Year's budget the iwm revenue line reflects 10% increases for three additional years going out in a nine however that I believe is a utmost worst case scenario and I believe we should be able to beat that significantly

1:05:54um one example is that as you remember from last year we reduced material sales revenues a significant amount with the assumption that if we had amounts above that line in materials Revenue that that would offset future rate increases and we are already seeing this year that the recycling Market is

1:06:12bouncing back and also relatively quickly um which means that we're going to beat our projections for in uh recycling sales revenue by $660,000 or more this year which would have the result of offsetting future rate increases other examples such as cost reductions um potentially in the future

1:06:32would have a reduction in the overall rate increases in coming years thank you quick question just about the um I'd heard on NPR that the Cal the state department of recycling is upside down in their funding of redemption values and I'm just curious how that's impacting our recycling behaviors or

1:06:56just our yeah what what's the impact locally that's a that's a good question and I'm not super well versed in what the department of or the Department of Conservation division of recycling reports on that um what I do know is that the the rates that they're speaking

1:07:12about are to beverage container Redemption only which is a small small portion of the waist stream it doesn't affect for us uh significantly the prices that we get for our material and if anything part of what it does is if they aren't paying out as much or aren't

1:07:26paying out as quickly it actually has a a disincentive to people taking recyclables out of the bins over time um so overall I don't anticipate a huge impact one way or the other from what happens on that level thanks yeah okay any other comments okay at this time

1:07:45then I would like to um move to the public testimony and officially open the public hearing and hear comments from the public do we would you please announce the speakers are there any no speakers no speakers I move I move to close the public hearing second okay all in favor of

1:08:04closing the public hearing I I all I think that was unanimous um are there any additional comments from the uh Council yeah oh nobody else no yeah I I I look at this I know um we haven't had Fairly uh big rate increases for several years but um I just wanted to

1:08:31point out a couple things here one is the uh IW or the recycling rate is consistent with a plan that we had set out for 10 years staff had set that out we had accepted it last year and it's cons we're staying consistent with that we even heard some testimony that if the

1:08:54uh collection for recyclables keeps going up we won't have to uh go a 10% increase so uh or hopefully won't so that's pretty good the uh the collection for the the garbage and the and the green waste is under a pre pre-negotiated index based methodology that uh we

1:09:17negotiated I think it was what two years ago so that's fairly well set for us I mean we we can't really argue too much it doesn't uh there's no conditions here that would reopen or um reopen negotiation on on any of that so we're pretty well set with that and the uh

1:09:37other one the disposal of uh the green waist stream um is not set by the city council it is it is set by the Integrated Waste Management of West Conor Costa so that rate is pretty well set so I personally uh I think it's in line there are safeguards in all those things um so I

1:10:00think we can be fairly uh happy that uh whatever rates that we're looking at negotiate are are the good rates and uh we have safeguards for the future so I anyway I just wanted to clarify though one thing uh the report staff report had on the new recycling center and it states that the design

1:10:23build method advocated by Green Building Advocates as the most effective and inexpensive way of achieving a high performance Green Building or green project I just want to clarify Green Building is not inexpensive yet it it's coming down but it it's not inexpensive

1:10:43but what so the material itself and the construction itself I don't know that you can say it's an inexpensive way of building but what the the Des design Bill does is um it benefits in the preconstruction planning for a building and so long as the design team and the

1:11:03building team and the owner are on the same page throughout and work together time and money can be Stay Saved in that preconstruction period which is which is really the critical period so um I just wanted to clarify that it's not necessarily an inexpensive way of doing

1:11:23things okay are there any other uh comments from the council GRE I will I think we're we we're taking the uh the collection rate potentially a little out of out of sequence but I do want to make sure that the I agree with council member Jones that the uh disposal fee which is going

1:11:41up by almost 133% is not set by this Council and so that that the total fee that's being charged to our residents is going to go up um quite a bit but it's the largest component of that increase or the largest rate increase is 133% is not controlled by us this 10% is within our

1:12:02plan that we've had and in a minute we'll be discussing the collection rate which is um only going up by a little over 2% so I concur with Mr Jones's comments about the the rates um with that if there's no other comments I'll make a motion I move to adopt a resolution fixing and setting rates for

1:12:22the integrated waste management fee as identified in the enacting Clause of the resolution effective January 1 2010 there second second okay all in favor please say I I believe that was unanimous um with that we will move on to the second part um which is a um public hearing on the

1:12:46topic of the East Bay sanitary collection rates and we're going to begin with the staff report thank you again G Schultz indeed thanks again mayor abson and council members I'm also G Schultz uh this public hearing is to discuss the collection rates for green waste and

1:13:09garbage from ebace sanitary and we're here to ask you to conduct that hearing and adopt a resolution setting the maximum malal rates for services provided by the company effective January 1 2010 as you know East Bay sanitary is the city's franchise hauler for garbage

1:13:26and green waste as per the franchise agreement and the municipal code the city sets the maximum rates the company May charge these rates cover the collection of garbage and green waste from Els Sero residents and businesses rates for processing and Disposal as um

1:13:42council members Jones and Lyman already discussed are charged um though they're charged as a part of East space sanitaries bills they're set by the West County Integrated Waste Management Authority and you see them there in attachment three listed as the Earth rate or integrated resource recovery

1:13:58facility rate just a a side note um the 200 rate uh 10 Earth rates adopted by the Waste Authority board include um increasing the processing cost for green waste that's the yard waste currently going into the green bin at people's residences um and as council member

1:14:17Jones highlighted it hadn't been increased enough over time and there was a significant bump to that rate this year as a part of a new contract but a new service will be available as a part of that available to elaro Residents and businesses starting in July which is

1:14:33namely the ability to put mixed organic material such as food waste and compostable food wear into their yard waste bins for composting we'll be back later this year to discuss the implementation of that program and to give you some more details back to the Eastbay sanitary

1:14:50rates per the Second Amendment to the franchise agreement East Bas sanitary May request annual maximum rate adjustments as per an index-based riew methodology uh that accounts for changes in labor wages changes in diesel fuel expenses changes to other operating

1:15:07and franchise expenses as well these the proposed rates um before you were calculated via this methodology would be effective January 1 2010 are listed in an active Clause of your resolution and are also posted now on the screen in the bottom table the proposed rates are on

1:15:26average about 2.2 or so% higher than the rates currently being charged East Bay sanitary is also requesting that the council set maximum rates for collection and disposal of compacted garbage or refug as it's listed in the the resolution these rates for compacted

1:15:44collection and Disposal specifically have not been adjusted since 1997 and between 1997 and now the cost of disposal has approximately doubled The Proposal before you includes setting collection rates for compacted Refuge as the per the same methodology outlined

1:16:02for regular refu that I just discussed and increasing the disposal rate for compa uh compacted waste to be in line with the current cost of disposal at the landfill all of the proposed rates were publicly posted in the designated City facilities on December 10th were

1:16:20published in the West County Times editions on 11th December 11th and the 16th thank you again for your consideration and once again I'm happy to answer any questions you might have okay so now we'll move to uh questions from the council yeah I have a question on that

1:16:38disposal rate um 5775 uh one of the questions is what was it last year because I see the overall increases 3360 um but also um you're asking us to set it that when we just got done saying that that column is being set by another entity so I'm trying to understand why

1:17:00we're setting a disposal rate for compacted refu excellent question and it it is a bit confusing and it took me quite a while to get through it the West County Integrated Waste Management board sets the disposal rates for residential collection for commercial collection of

1:17:17uncompacted waste only it is specifically left out mostly because it's a little bit complicated to deal with compacted waste um and we have Chris Leon who's the executive director of the Integra Waste Management Authority here if he cares to comment any further on that and especially if I

1:17:34get anything incorrect but it is not included in the way they set their Earth rates um and it has been historically called out as a separate collection rate by past councils in terms of what it was last year there was no specific rate set for it last year since 97 and I and I

1:17:52apologize actually collected to bring what the cost was set at a 97 but the the total collection cost for compact a yard of compacted refu was on the order of somewhere believe about $59 to $65 a yard somewhere in that range which was at the time about 2 and a half times the

1:18:13regular per yard bulk Refuge collection rate the proposal here is in line with that ratio it brings the total cost of disposing of compacted refu up to about 2.27 times the amount to comp or to dispose of uncompacted refu thank you thank okay um any further questions okay um with that I would like

1:18:48to move on to the public hearing are there any speak and open the public hearing no speakers there are no speakers so um is there a motion to close the public hearing to close the public hearing second okay all in favor of closing the public hearing please say I I I I believe that was

1:19:09unanimous um and um are there any additional comments or questions from the council just one I ju u g made a very very good point we're not there is an in increase in in rates but we're also getting value added with the um the collection of of food waste um in in the

1:19:32green stream we've been doing this Elso has been doing this on an experimental basis um it'll improve and increase as time goes goes on but it becomes a standard service now uh throughout our area which is real important because other other areas are doing it um as a

1:19:53standard service and we're coming up to that that point and I think uh you we'll see again we'll be getting reports in another couple of years how this has uh helped out the uh uh the garbage stream that goes into the landfills so okay any other questions or comments okay um I I

1:20:14think that some of our uh businesses will uh be caught off guard by this increase this it's a pretty substantial increase of of $33 $33.60 um so their bill is going to go from something on the order of $25 to $58 um and so I think that'll catch a couple of businesses off guard but to

1:20:39look at it over a 12year period from 20 1997 to 2009 um I think that if we had had these increases keep step with the disposal cost that the percentage wise it would be in keeping with it um and that they it they should be grateful for the fact that they've gotten 12 years of

1:21:00uh economical disposal and um hopefully we'll look at it that way okay thank you also I think uh should be understood it's 10 basically 10 customers correct where are we yeah so it's a manageable I think it's a uh a manageable number if they need to come in to discuss that

1:21:23yeah and and if it's $33 a month over 12 months we're looking at something on the order of $600 additional cost a year so not exactly sure how this is calculated if it's a per pickup or it's per okay yeah so great um yeah and as you say it's 10 customers so okay you ready for

1:21:44a motion your motion um I'll make a motion I move to adopt a resolution setting maximum allowable rates that the Eastbay sanitary company May charge for services provided by the company as identified in the enacting Clause of the resolution effective January 1st

1:22:042010 second it okay all in favor please say I I I was unanimous uh thank you and thank you for the excellent staff work okay with that we will move on to the next item on the agenda which is item number 7A which is interim police chief Services thank you uh mayor members of

1:22:36the council um as you're aware um Chief Kirkland uh gave his intent to uh retire in November and what you have before you is a resolution authorizing me to to enter into an interim employment agreement with him to remain on as police chief while we transition to a new Chief

1:23:03um as as you've heard um as the agenda Bill mentions um the announcement came probably at least a year if not longer um sooner than we had hoped but because of some personal reasons um the chief felt he just couldn't continue indefinitely uh with the city after uh

1:23:23more than 30 years um it's tied of course to the consent calendar item where uh I got authorization uh to use a recruitment firm uh to see to um oversee the process which we think will take plus or minus uh four months the chief has agreed to stay on um up until the

1:23:46end of June if necessary but it it's his desire to start reducing his hours as soon as possible um so that's something uh we'll be dealing with over the next few months he will be on as an hourly employee it has no impact on his pension uh I want to be really clear about that and uh his

1:24:07salary is based on his hourly rate uh plus his special pay that he's entitled to um additionally uh the only thing other thing I would say is um there'll be other opportunities he unfortunately couldn't be here today uh because of a planned vacation uh before uh this

1:24:29essentially all came down um so there will be other opportunities where we will have him here to uh discuss uh his time with the city and uh hopefully embarrass him immensely um at a council meeting um but to that end uh what we're here for is to get your authorization uh

1:24:46to do an interim agreement um which will allow us to conduct a uh National recruitment for a new police chief Greg is there a maximum number of hours that that uh he can be employed for in in a calendar year N I believe it's 960 okay thank you that that's not that's not clear in in either the

1:25:12resolution or the agreement um the reason I'm asking is that we could burn through those 960 in the first 6 months and if we still haven't picked a police chief and we want him to continue those Services we would we would need to meter those out okay um yes so uh again we would

1:25:35have to watch it um and um essentially just deal with it as we got closer to that period um but we are we are restricted um I mean he is essentially restricted under Cowper's rules right he's only allowed a certain amount of hours and there really is no flexibility

1:25:52there's there's none which is why I wanted to point it out that uh as much as our resolution um one of the whereas Clauses uh talks that we might have a new police chief in four to six months that could be difficult and so I wanted to make sure that we were aware of that

1:26:08limitation in our planning I think again in in talking to him um about this I just I don't I think there's a if it if it were entirely up to him and vacuum uh he would be here uh fulltime for the whole year uh I just don't think even if the hours I don't think the

1:26:29hours will become an issue because I just don't think he'll stay beyond June 30th okay thank you okay any other comments questions a motion had a comment here um well it's about this but also it's about what we uh pass on consent that ties into this uh we do need a

1:26:51recruitment and that's outlined here a little bit uh the chief staying on until that's well till June 30th or until the recruitment is is completed and I I I think a recruitment's necessary I'm not trying to uh argue that luckily this will save us this program uh will save us about

1:27:12$50,000 that will offset the cost more than offset actually the cost of recruitment but I did want to caution that um it is initially coming out of the fund balance uh and we have to continue to watch that because we're we're eating away at it a little bit and again uh this is money well spent it's

1:27:35going to be offset by the savings so it's it's not critical here but just want to again caution uh going into the to the midyear budget review in February that um we pay attention to that a little bit also I think uh that we did not at least publicly uh state that there are no benefit costs here U

1:28:00with this contract correct so um it's uh just so you know it's it's about $43 less per hour than he would made if he stayed on as a regular full-time benefited employee great so I appreciate them uh being going to be able to be around a little longer and uh we'll see

1:28:21what happens okay thank you I'd like to move a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an employment agreement with Scott Kirkland to provide interim police chief Services through June 30th 2010 second all in favor please say I I okay that was unanimous I just also

1:28:40wanted to um note that Chief Kirkland has served the city of El Sero for a really long time in fact he has served for his entire law enforcement career here in elero and he has has provided outstanding leadership he's recruited and hired well trained and highly

1:28:57educated and a diverse police force and I think the great professionalism and level of service that we see today is um a tribute to him I know that we'll continue to work with him for the next six months or so but I do want to um congratulate him and wish him the

1:29:13best okay and I'd like to also mention that he started a number of innovative um programs within the department that I think are uh noted around the state so I think we will have another time to honor him um and I think we'll all look forward to that day and um wish him

1:29:32well okay with that we will move on to item seven b um see here has a script which has a script and um um second here the um this item is the introduction of an ordinance amending the Elso Municipal Code section 2.04 point3 which is the financial Advisory Board um and if anyone is here

1:30:06and is interested in speaking on this item they should submit a speaker slip to the city clerk and uh remarks are limited to 3 minutes per person and um now we'll start um and uh we'll start with a presentation from staff I believe yes Mary good evening mayor members of the council I'm Mary

1:30:29Dodge administrative Services director and I'm here tonight to uh introduce an ordinance amending the municipal code regarding the financial Advisory Board this is a relatively minor change the factors reviewing their their wording and determined that a few things could

1:30:44be clarified so that their duties and responsibilities were better reflect what they were doing for them and for future members so I'd like to request your review and uh approval if you have any questions any comments um if I may I will say that the financial Advisory

1:31:04Board takes their uh their Direction very seriously and does refer to this document every meeting to make sure that that what they're doing is inside the purview of their uh scope and to that end uh I believe this would allow them a fair amount of clarity uh to what

1:31:22they're supposed to be doing do I support this there were a couple of items that were requesting that they develop documents and in the course of their business they normally do not do that we present them to them for recommendations and we also in a manner of how we develop the

1:31:37agenda so the new reading appears to be consistent with with historically and currently the work that they do and staff has reviewed this and concurs that it provides that clarification yes I do this is is further clarification of the process that they have in place today

1:31:52okay okay any comments or questions hey we ready for a motion we have one speaker oh I'm sorry we have a speaker Al Miller you good evening good evening again AL Miller the ghost of committee's past but I did want to uh remind you that de mayor Aon is the only member of the

1:32:16council that was around in the days of the committee of the whole but things have changed staff-wise and Council wise so much since those days that it would be unfair I think to the staff to have even a little Milestone like this go unacknowledged the Fab was recommended

1:32:38by the committee of the whole of one of the series of recommendations that were made uh and it was primarily uh recommended because of the distrust that a significant number number of the people in elero had in their city council and staff and the way the financial matters and Redevelopment

1:32:58agency matters were being managed at the time but I think the fact that you're here tonight considering a revision is a a testimony to the effectivess of the Fab the way they have operated of the staff the way they have acknowledged that and and implemented that

1:33:18recommendation and kept it alive and kept the uh intent of the recommendation current uh as opposed to like sometimes happens in less talented staffs where you have something that's rules are set up and then they just keep working without continually reviewing what's

1:33:37needed and modifying uh the policy or the direction or the rules as as indicated uh and I just wanted to again thank uh the financial staff and the City Manager for growing or building on those long long ago recommendations uh we don't have a very active citizens Alliance

1:34:03that is very angry about the direction of the city that I'm aware of anyway and I think it's uh entirely a tribute to the attitude and not only the councils but the way the staff is helping you run the city thank you and thank you are there any other speakers no mayor okay um with that

1:34:24we'll um um is there a motion to close the public hearing so move all in favor I I okay that was unanimous with that we'll move on to consideration by the council any comments or questions no okay I'd be proud to move by Title Wave further reading and introduce an ordinance of the city of

1:34:50elero amending elero Municipal Code section 2.04 3000 Financial Advisory Board second okay this is this requires a roll call vote can I ask the city clerk to do that council member Jones uh yes council member abson I council member Lyman I mayor proam Chang hi and

1:35:18mayor mayor Aon I you already called me I did yeah I motion passes okay thank you I'd be happy to vote twice but I don't think it's quite regular okay I passed um then that moves us to the uh item 7 C and um this is a uh list of uh Council liaison assignments and I have a couple of

1:35:48Corrections to that I noticed in uh developing the list uh which is pretty much as it was last year I questioned a couple of um items on there and I'm going to point you to I questioned a few but we have a couple of answers to a couple of them so the first one was the

1:36:06West County Regional Library board uh which was apparently eliminated a number of years ago I guess no one told us um so so there are no Liaisons to that because it simply doesn't exist anymore um so that needs to be removed from the list and then the other one is the

1:36:26disaster preparedness Council which is apparently supposed to be the mayor and the mayor proam so I have it listed as U Potter and Jones but it should be apparently ablon and Chang and uh those are the only two Changs or the only two items there are a couple of items that we're still

1:36:43checking on because um I certainly don't ever remember them um meeting or hearing about it so um but meanwhile this will be the list that we will go with and um with that we will move on to um item eight which is the um Council assignments and reports um we'll start out with um uh

1:37:15council member Potter so I just wanted to report that the human relations commission has not been able to meet due to lack of Quorum that continues to be something that they're struggling with um and also the arts and culture commission is continuing in their selection process

1:37:33for the public art component to the sanabo Avenue Improvement plan okay and um Council me member Chang uh no reports thanks Jones no reports at this time okay Lyman um the financial Advisory Board met on Tuesday the 8th of December continued our discussions for

1:37:54the um Financial policy uh specifically around the general fund reserves and I believe we'll be finalizing that at our next in the January Financial Advisory board meeting to bring It Forward uh in February and the crime prevention uh committee met on Wednesday uh December

1:38:159th um was pleased to uh propose a new member which we did uh adopt during consent calendar um and is looking forward to planning the um couple events this year so they're moving forward with their planning efforts okay and I only have uh one report which is to say that I got a uh

1:38:39letter um saying that I had been chosen to be a member of the administrative services policy Committee of the league of Cal the California League of cities so I will be attending those meetings um and with that we are adjourned and um be convening a special Redevelopment agency

1:39:06meeting um which will meet in close session there I just wanted to ask if there's anyone interested in speaking in the public comment part of the re the closed session for the Redevelopment agency could we could could we we mention something so people don't get

1:39:24excited about this we're meeting on technical terms and uh not on any grave issues uh about the success or failure of the operation I guess I would prefer to do that when we report out but oh okay seeing no public on that item I think we'll recess into close session