Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPJTBH Minutes 1999-06-01SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 1 IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1999 AT 7:00 PM Special Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor/Chairman San Rafael City Council Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember/Member San Rafael Redevelopment Agency Barbara Heller, Councilmember/Member Cyr N. Miller, Councilmember/Member Gary O. Phillips, Councilmember/Member Absent: None Also Present: Rod Gould, City Manager/Executive Director Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk/Agency Secretary BUDGET HEARINGS - TWO YEAR BUDGET FOR 1999/2001 BUDGET - File 8-5 Mayor Boro announced this was the first of two special meetings with the San Rafael City Council and San Rafael Redevelopment Agency to review the 1999/2001 budget, noting this was the first time the City has taken the opportunity to attempt a two-year budget cycle. City Manager Rod Gould stated this was the first major budget -building session, explaining the City would like to attempt to adopt a two-year budget, with a 24 - month horizon in which to plan and provide services and projects to the community. He noted Assistant City Manager Kenneth Nordhoff would first summarize his report, which attempts to compare, in contrast, the results of the six San Rafael Choices meetings involving approximately 150 residents with the results of a survey done in January by the Townsend Group, to enable the Council/Agency to get a sense of the common themes being heard from the residents regarding where they would like to see improvements in services or projects. He explained the rest of the evening would be spent hearing Department Head reports, not on the amount of money they want to spent, but rather on what they want to do, explaining they wanted to focus on output, performance, goals and objectives for the coming year, and they want to make certain that what they submitting is complete and consistent with the Council's/Agency's vision and priorities for the coming two years. Mr. Gould introduced Assistant City Manager Kenneth Nordhoff, and asked him to summarize his report. Assistant City Manager Kenneth Nordhoff referred to the Summary Report which the Councilmembers/Agency Members and members of the Choices Committee had received last week, stating he wished to touch on a few of things contained in that report. He noted they had run six sessions during March and April, and had over 150 participants. He stated he was very appreciative of the staff members who put the meetings together, and felt they had made a lot of progress in terms of outreach regarding the budget. Mr. Nordhoff stated the purpose of this report was three -fold: to report what staff had heard at those meetings; to compare and contrast that information with the poll of voters which was done in February; and see how those two things compared with the draft priorities the Council/Agency has put into place, and hopefully will adopt next week at the June 7th City Council and Redevelopment Agency meetings. Mr. Nordhoff stated where he saw the poll and the San Rafael Choices meetings being very common in their results and comments included such things as positive support for public safety services, police patrol, community oriented public service, paramedics, fire suppression, and the like. He reported there was also large recognition that the City had improved services in a number of areas, including the Library, police protection, fire and paramedic, park maintenance, and in recreational and cultural programming. Mr. Nordhoff stated there was clearly a desire, in both cases, to do more in the areas of affordable housing, code enforcement, street repair and maintenance, and youth and teen programs. In addition, he saw a nexus between traffic management, parking and planning. He explained that both in the poll and in the meetings, staff heard a number of comments concerning traffic, noting some were neighborhood issues, some were downtown issues, and some were Countywide problems. In addition, he reported they had heard that maintaining City streets and walkways were of real concern. However, in both the poll and the meetings, the feeling was that, overall, the City was heading in the right direction. Mr. Nordhoff felt that where there might be variances was in the areas of medians and parkway maintenance, as they tend to be localized issues. He pointed out these had not been significant concerns in the polling, but were significant issues that came up at a couple of the neighborhood meetings. He SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 1 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 2 noted staff would address this further in the budget process. Mr. Nordhoff stated there had been very high marks of satisfaction for cultural and community events in the polling; however, there seemed to be some indication at the meetings that the City had to either have more events, or better publicity toward those events, or some means of de -centralizing those activities, so they can be out in the neighborhoods. Mr. Nordhoff reported there had been quite a few comments in the San Rafael Choices meetings regarding disaster preparedness, and he felt part of that related to the Year 2000 issue, and to what people see and hear going on in the rest of the world. He pointed out that issue had not been evident in the poll; however, staff recognized it as being important. Referring to Exhibit A, Mr. Nordhoff explained staff had summarized what they felt to be the important themes. In the area of Development, Housing and Safety, which includes Building, Planning, Code Enforcement, and the like, the common themes at the Choices meetings reflected the need to do more in affordable housing, stepped-up areas of Code Enforcement, and a means of providing additional parking downtown. He reported that in the area of Public Safety, they wanted to see higher levels of traffic enforcement, additional bike and footbeat patrols, and improved disaster preparedness. Regarding Public Works, they are looking for more sidewalk replacement, additional street re- surfacing, and improved traffic and parking management, which he noted ties in with the additional downtown parking issues he had just mentioned. He stated that in the area of cultural, recreational, and library activities, he reported that in spite of the City's efforts, there was still a demand for improved or increased Library services, they would like to see more activities directed toward youth and teen programming, and as mentioned earlier, more focus on cultural and special events. Mr. Nordhoff stated he had tried to identify where the comments from the San Rafael Choices meetings were being addressed, both in the documents before now before the Councilmembers/Agency Members from the various department heads, in which they set out their goals and objectives for the coming two years, as well as in some of the opportunities that will be presented at the Budget Hearings the following night, at which time they would be reviewing the financial picture. He explained staff would be bringing forward a series of service options, which are either new or enhanced services that could also address a number of these issues. Mr. Nordhoff stated he had additional copies of the detailed information and comments, which are available to any member of the public who might be interested in reviewing that information. He believed the report summarized that, over all, the City is moving in a very positive direction, although he acknowledged there were specific services the community would like the City to pay attention to. Mr. Nordhoff stated he felt the input had been very valuable in helping the Department Heads and Management staff in framing what is now before the Council/Agency, with respect to objectives and work plans for the next two years. Mr. Nordhoff thanked the staff members who participated in the poll and meetings, and also the community, for providing the input that helped frame the budget proposals. He also believed this input had complimented very well what the Council/Agency set as their priorities for the next two years, noting they could almost be matched -up verbatim. He noted the Councilmembers'/Agency Members' priorities likely confirmed what they have heard in the community, and this was just another means of validating that information. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated Mr. Nordhoff's report and summary were excellent, noting the report was concise and easy to understand. He felt Mr. Nordhoff had compiled a great summary, and that his idea to send it to all of the participants was excellent, noting it closed the loop, keeps people in formed, and invites them to continue to participate. He thanked Mr. Nordhoff for his efforts. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he had one question, although he noted that when Community Services Director Carlene McCart addresses the Council/Agency, it might be answered as part of her report. He pointed out he had attended all but one of the Choice meetings, and he had not seen many youth there. He stated he was concerned that as the City develops new programs, that programs are developed that the youth will be interested in, not just what the City thinks they might be interested in. He noted he would wait until Ms. McCart addresses the Council/Agency, asking that she also discuss how the City might get input from the youth as to what their needs are, and how the City can best meet them. Councilmember/Member Cohen referred to the chart in Mr. Nordhoff's report which indicated the Choices theme had been primarily Code Enforcement, and the actions included in the draft budget as a result of that specifically addressed increasing Canal apartment inspections, working with the Police Department, and educational training. Mr. Cohen believed that while those things were certainly a piece of the focus, it had not been his understanding, when he attended the meetings, that the comments regarding Code Enforcement were necessarily focused SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 2 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 3 on the Canal. He pointed out the City had already funded those positions, although they had not yet been filled, and he believed that was one reason that issue was boiling up again. He believed when the City had the people in those positions, which are already in this year's budget, there would likely be less of a concern. He pointed out Mr. Nordhoff had referred to the issue of medians as being regionalized within the City, and he believed some of these other issues were, as well. He noted that although it might not be as apparent, he believed that when the people in Gerstle Park were referring to Code Enforcement, they could be talking about entirely different issues. Mr. Nordhoff noted it had been his intention to address that in his report, pointing out where he addresses working closely with the Police Department with focused enforcement staffed to work cooperatively and hit those targeted areas, wherever they may be, not just limited to the Canal, but wherever code enforcement issues might arise. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen felt that perhaps that should be more clearly spelled out, noting someone could look at this and mistakenly believe that the focus was only on the Canal. He stated everyone he has spoken to agrees the Code Enforcement effort in the Canal is very worthwhile, was long overdue, and they are glad the City is doing it. However, at the same time, there has been a sense that for some time, other areas of the City have suffered, because that was the focus. He noted the City had just begun to undo that belief when Code Enforcement lost part of its staffing and suffered a set -back; therefore, he felt this was something the City had to remain focused on. Councilmember/Agency Member Heller referred to Public Safety on Exhibit A, noting that in four of the six sessions this was mentioned enough that Mr. Nordhoff included increased police presence in the downtown as a special line item. She asked if that was because there was a fear, or more as a preventative measure? Mr. Nordhoff stated that in some cases he had heard comments regarding the perception of fear, rather than the reality of it. He pointed out there were some activities scheduled in the budget, such as the Police Department working alternatives shifts, and spreading out some of the services longer than the traditional 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM time frames. Mr. Nordhoff stated he also felt that since so much work has gone into the downtown, people were seeing a night life begin to take hold, and they wanted to see the level of service that exists during the day spill over into the evening hours. Mayor/Chairman Boro noted that at one of the sessions he had attended, this issue had come up, and Captain Cronin had pointed out that especially as we are nearing summertime, the shifts of the downtown foot patrol officers would be changed, and there would be more presence during the evening hours. He noted Police Chief Sanchez would address this issue further during his report to the Council/Agency. Mayor/Chairman Boro referred again to the issue of Code Enforcement with regard to the Millennium Party, which all of the City's departments are involved in. He stated there were a number of issues he considered over -arching between departments, particularly Code Enforcement, Police, Fire, Public Works and Community Development. He felt perhaps there should be a, in these documents, to refer to that as a cooperative effort between the departments and how they link together, as an example of a goal and objective of those department managers to make sure they all pull together on common goals. He asked City Manager/Executive Director Gould to see what other areas might be identified as common goals. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to Terra Linda, noting an entranceway was getting a lot of attention from the VIA (Vision in Action) Committee, although it was not listed as a Public Works item in the report. He believed it held quite a lot of appeal, and he hoped that if it was relevant, with regard to the budget, that it could be included. He noted this is something that has been discussed before, and there was a lot of interest in the idea. In addition, Mr. Phillips referred to Youth Activities, which he noted was predominant throughout the listing under Recreation. He noted the City has heard that theme, and he felt the City had been fairly responsive with regard to the inclusion of youth in the development of whatever activities the City so wishes to support. He noted they had seen, time and again, that if they are behind it, it will work, and if they are not, then it is money wasted. Therefore, he hoped the City would not unilaterally decide what they consider to be of interest, but rather, whether it be a workshop or a meeting with the students of the School District, get the youth involved in the decision-making; otherwise, he believed it would just be a waste of money. City Manager/Executive Director Gould noted the City was engaged in a process of performance budgeting. He explained many government organizations simply lay out line items of expenditure and believe that suffices; therefore, their budgets simply become a spending plan. Others do program budgeting, where they SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 3 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 4 begin to organize their line items into groups, along functional lines, and think that is the best way to go. However, he explained most people in public administration today agree that performance budgeting is the preferred route, which is what San Rafael does, and staff hoped they had made positive steps in that direction this year. He stated they wanted to be explicit about the outcomes of the work, and whether it be ongoing activities or special projects, they wanted to make certain the Council/Agency and the community know what they intend to accomplish with the tax dollars. Mr. Gould explained the goals and objectives and performance indicators were verifiable and/or measurable, so at the end of six months or a year, or in this case the end of two years, the Council/Agency will be able to determine whether or not staff reached their goals and objectives, and how effective they were. He pointed out to the members of the public that there were copies of the budget submittals from each of the departments on the table in the lobby, and he invited them to take a copy so they could follow along. Mr. Gould stated he also wished to acknowledge the contribution of the Strategic and Financial Advisory Board, represented by John Gresham, in helping to guide staff in developing meaningful goals and objectives and indicators. He thanked Mr. Gresham for the work he and the Advisory Board had done to assist staff in that area. Mr. Gould stated he would like to have each of the department heads present the highlights and key objectives their department would like to accomplish during the coming year, in order to accomplish the mission of the department, the special priorities of the Council/Agency, and address some of the issues heard in the San Rafael Choices meetings and the poll. He stated it would then be up to the Councilmember/Agency Member to ask questions to satisfy themselves that what staff has proposed was complete and accurate, and reflective of where they want to go with the City. Mayor/Chairman Boro suggested following the same order as listed on the Agenda. CITY MANAGER City Manager Gould stated his presentation was the only one that was incomplete, but for a reason, explaining, as their City Manager/Executive Director, the Council's/Agency's wish was his desire, and their priorities were his objectives. He noted that in addition to providing policy advice to the City Council/Agency, his job was to ensure the City operates in an effective, efficient, and economical manner, and carry out the operations that will be described as professionally as possible. He stated that if the Council/Agency adopts the priorities at the regular Council/Agency meetings next Monday, he would craft a specific set of objectives to carry out those priorities and major over -arching goals the Council/Agency has emphasized. He reported Assistant to the City Manager Lydia Romero would be providing the Council/Agency Members with input regarding how staff would like to address public information and legislation in the coming years. In addition, he pledged staff would do a better job of making sure they track letters and correspondence that comes to the office for the Mayor and Councilmembers, to be certain timely and complete response are getting out to people. He noted that would be his staff's customer service goal. Councilmember/Member Heller asked about the correspondence that comes in for the Councilmembers/Members, noting this was something they have talked about every year, but nothing really seems to get done. She asked Mr. Gould if he had any plans to implement some kind of system to address this issue? Mr. Gould stated they currently had a paper system, which was not as effective as he would like. He reiterated this would be one of staff's big pushes in the next year, and show a better job of keeping track of it. He stated he did not think staff was dropping too many balls; however, he felt where it was lacking was that certain times the response does not come back through the system for the Councilmembers/Members viewing, or the response comes back and they are unaware of the letter that generated it. Therefore, he stated staff needed to be able to put the two together so they can see that there was a timely response, and they know what the response is regarding. Mayor/Chairman stated he was also concerned about the explosion of electronic mail, and people's expectations when they use it, noting they did not want to start receiving letters that they have received electronic messages and have not answered them. He stated he was concerned people would have those expectations; therefore, he thought perhaps they could borrow an idea from the Fire Department, which uses customer satisfaction surveys, some kind of an indicator so the City can track how they are doing with respect to this. He felt it was important to be able to have a sense that everything is being taken care of. He stated he knew it was the exceptions when it is not taken care of, but noted it was the exceptions that always brought up the nagging problems. He asked that there be something in place to take care of this, noting some kind of performance measurement might be helpful, especially in thinking about SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 4 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 5 electronic mail, and how the City is going to deal with that. Mr. Gould stated staff had "cracked" the electronic door, and now some residents were beginning to contact staff electronically. He stated staff was keeping up with it for now, but agreed it was going to become a deluge in the future. He reported one of the Information Systems Committee's priorities for the next year was to define the City's role, what the City will and will not do online, and what the expectations will be, so that the City does not fall short of the expectations of the public. Councilmember/Member Cohen stated one of the programs under Mr. Gould's department was Animal Control Services, noting, in particular, he had been reading the staff reports regarding the issue of cats. He acknowledged that was an issue that was not currently resolved, and it was his understanding that staff's proposal had come back to the Council with a recommendation that the City adopt further regulation involving a higher limit on the number of cats allowed. Mr. Cohen asked if that would fall within Mr. Gould's department under this program? Mr. Gould stated would, in conjunction with the City Attorney's Office. He explained he hoped to bring Council a proposal from the Humane Socity which recommends a limit on the cats, and above that limit a permit would be necessary, for which certain conditions would have to be in place in order for the Council or Planning Commission to grant such a permit. Mr. Gould stated staff was going to try to negotiate that within the next month, and bring it back to the Council. He noted the issue was fairly quiet at the moment, but with summer coming on, he believed the City would want to have that additional clear-cut authority to abate a nuisance, if it occurs. Councilmember/Member Cohen pointed out this was not a line item budget, and noted this was an important issue that was not referenced in this document. He asked if that was simply because the Council had not yet acted on it and, therefore, it was going to be an amendment to the budget, and whether or not staff saw this issue as having a bud get impact? Mr. Gould stated he did not believe it would have a budgetary impact, although he felt it should show up in the budget document. He stated staff would correct that, and make the development of an Ordinance the Council can approve, in order to prevent what has occurred on Las Ovejos, one of the departmental goals for animal control. Councilmember/ Member Cohen stated was not certain the Council should pre -judge the issue or the outcome by stating there would be an Ordinance or licensing; however, he felt some reference to dealing with that issue should be included. Councilmember/Member Miller referred to the issue of public relation, stating he did not find a focus for that issue, other than the concern of answering immediate concerns as they come along. He felt they should try to arrive at something that was a little more strategic and less of a "shot gun" effect. Mr. Gould stated he believed there was a huge difference between public relations and public information, and what staff was striving for was providing public information, which was simply facts and information about what is going on, rather than trying to sway public opinion, which is what public relations is all about. Referring to the public information program, Mr. Gould reported that in the past couple of years that program has been stepped-up with the City Newsletter, and Assistant to the City Manager Lydia Romero has been tremendously helpful in responding to press inquiries, and putting out information about major project. Mr. Gould asked if the Council/Agency wanted a strategic plan for public information? Mr. Miller stated his disagreement was what the term "public relations" means, noting he believed it was the management of those relationships with the various publics for the mutual benefit of one another. He believed that was something that had to be done strategically, noting it was not just trying to sway opinion, it was trying to manage those relationships. He wondered how that issue might become more strategic, in terms of the City's relationships with certain publics, in order to manage those relationships well. Mr. Gould stated he would like to meet with Councilmember/Member Miller to discuss this issue, noting he did not believe the City had done a lot of introspection on how to manage those relationships with particular interest groups. He suggested perhaps there should be a staff -level discussion, with Mr. Miller participating, and helping staff to think in those terms. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he was looking for staff to be able to close the loop on the things the City starts with, whether it be the cat Ordinance, or someone coming to a City Council or Redevelopment Agency meeting and speaking in Urgency Time with a problem, or whether it is a letter that comes in. He noted he was not stating that staff was not doing that now, and this was not a criticism; however, he felt there should be more of a system, and whether it be a letter or some other action, he wanted to make sure that this is taken care of. He pointed out that the City Manager's office was keeping the Council very well informed, as well as keeping the community well informed, and the Council/Agency was merely asking that there be something mechanically in place to address that. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked Mr. Gould to introduce the other City departments. SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 5 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 6 CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE Gus Guinan, Assistant City Attorney/ Assistant Agency Attorney, stated the City Attorney's Office was a department that was reactive rather than proactive, explaining his office provides the legal support for Council, Management, and staff at all levels of the City's government. He reported that as they go through their budget goals and objectives, they look at three primary goals over the next two years. The first is in the area of development issues, with the staff in the City Attorney's office continuing to provide all levels of assistance with issues of development, whether it be drafting agreements or negotiating details over the table, and providing legal assistance with regard to what can and cannot be done. The second area concerns Ordinance revisions, focusing particularly on the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance, which is currently being studied by his office, and revision of the Subdivision Ordinance, in coordination with the Community Development Department. Mr. Guinan stated the third area was the continued legal support his department has been giving for the Code Enforcement effort. He noted Deputy City Attorney Eric Davis spends 75% to 80% of his time involved with Code Enforcement, doing administrative hearings, and appearing in court on appeals of those hearings. Mr. Guinan reported this has been quite a successful effort. Mr. Guinan stated these would be the three areas his office would be looking at over the next two years as the primary goals and objectives of their department; however, that was not to say that they would not continue to do the day in and day out routine of providing "off the cuff" advice, drafting agreements and revisions to agreements, and other legal services. Councilmember/Member Phillips referred to Performance Measures, stated he did not understand the columns regarding the annual amount of fines, civil penalties administrative costs collected to date, noting in 1998-99 it was $95,000, and in 1999-2000 it is $10,000, and then in 2000-2001 it is $12,000. He asked for an explanation of those amounts. Mr. Guinan explained the Code Enforcement effort began in earnest a little over two years ago, noting the first year brought in a total of $161.00, as the major efforts in the administrative notice and order category, such as 30 Novato and some of the other properties Code Enforcement and the City Attorney's office support staff have focused on really did not get reach the area of collecting until this past year. He stated that was the reason for the figure of $95,000. He stated a good part of that represented 30 Novato Street, although there were other properties involved, noting his office had also pursued Mr. Farber and Mr. Evans, and although they were still in the process of doing that, but had collected approximately $20,000 from Mr. Evans. Mr. Guinan explained the upcoming years were only "guestimates", based on the fact that because of the lower staffing of Code Enforcement in the past couple of months, and because staff did not know what else was out there, and they did not want to give a false expectation that the City would be collecting another $95,000 to $100,000 in each of those years when they did not know that would be the case. Councilmember/Member Heller referred to the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance and the Subdivision Ordinance which are listed under the two-year objectives, stating she would like to see those moved to the top of the City Attorney's office priorities, as they have been a priority for two or three years, yet have not been resolved. She asked whether those could be moved up? Mr. Guinan stated they could. Mr. Gould explained the Subdivision Ordinance was going to take a fair amount of work in the Planning Department, and the City Council would have to appropriate additional funding to be able to accomplish that. He stated the City Attorney's office would be integral in that process. Ms. Heller stated this has been a concern of hers from her first years on the Planning Commission, pointing out it was also something the community did not understand. Mr. Gould stated staff was strongly suggesting that besides doing an entire revision of the General Plan, there be an update of the Subdivision Ordinance and the CEQA guidelines, doing them all within the next two years as a mega -project. Councilmember/Member Phillips stated it had not been his understanding that the two-year objectives were in priority sequence, and asked if, in fact, they were? Mr. Guinan stated they were not in any particular order. Mr. Nordhoff stated the goals and objectives were currently in a draft format, noting they would go through another round of editing, and were subject to input from the Councilmembers/Agency Members. Councilmember/Member Heller referred to the Performance Measures, noting the number of lawsuits opened and closed, and asking if Mr. Guinan had an estimate as to how many lawsuits were currently pending? Mr. Guinan stated there were SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 6 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 7 approximately fifteen active lawsuits, thirteen in which the City is the defendant, and two in which the City is the plaintiff. He noted there were also approximately fifty liability claims open, which he pointed out was down. Ms. Heller asked if that was high or low for a city the size of San Rafael? Mr. Guinan stated that was low. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he was pleased that the City Attorney/Agency Attorney was personally taking an interest in following through on the issue of the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room, noting he appreciated that very much, and asking Mr. Guinan to pass that on to the City Attorney/Agency Attorney. Mayor/Chairman Boro thanked City Attorney/Agency Attorney Ragghianti, Assistant City Attorney/Assistant Agency Attorney Guinan, Deputy City Attorney/Deputy Agency Attorney Eric Davis for the great job that they do, stating he knew they were constantly inundated with questions from all over City Hall, and they all pull together quite nicely for the entire staff. CITY CLERK'S OFFICE City Clerk/Agency Secretary Jeanne Leoncini stated the goal of the City Clerk's office was to provide accurate and timely assistance to the public, elected officials, and City staff relating to the duties and responsibilities of the City Clerk. She reported the two-year objectives were quite lengthy. The first was to coordinate a smooth -running general municipal election, noting there will be City and School Board candidates, including Mayor, two Councilmembers, City Attorney, City Clerk, and three School Board members. Mrs. Leoncini reported another objective will be the implementation of the City Council and Redevelopment Agency staff reports on the internet, noting the public has been asking for this, as have the Councilmembers, and staff will be working with the Information Services Department during the coming year, in hopes of having it online by Spring, 2000. She explained that by placing the staff reports on the internet, the public would have early access to the reports, as well as 24-hour availability. She stated they would have to work with internet consultant Bill Jacobson, who will help with software acquisition and subsequent training of staff. She noted one major impact would be that all City staff would have access to department head's staff reports, which would reduce in-house copy costs. Mrs. Leoncini stated her office creates the agendas and processes the Ordinances and Resolutions in a timely manner, as well as the minutes. Councilmember/Member Cohen noted there was also a two-year objective to implement the indexing of the minutes on the computer. He stated he would like to see that done in coordination with the website development because, ultimately, that was something the public was going to want, to be able to search and have some kind of efficient indexing system. He noted that when the first couple of staff reports are placed on, it was not going to be a big issue; however, if the staff reports are going to be kept on, that will be different. He asked if previous staff reports are going to be available, or only the current staff reports, and whether minutes were going to be available, and if so, for how long? He stated that if there was going to be any kind of archive on the website, and he believed they might want to consider doing that, then some kind of efficient indexing system of those documents would have to be part of the website, as well. He suggested that when the City Clerk's office looks at how to accomplish the goal of placing staff reports on the website, staff might also look at whether or not such a solution pointed to the web, and if not, how to deal with those same issues on a web basis? Mrs. Leoncini stated that would run into far more money than the amount being considered for placing current staff reports on the website. Mr. Nordhoff explained one of the goals for Information Services this year is to do a comprehensive policy and approach to the internet and the web, and what it is and is not going to be for San Rafael, because there will have to be some limitations, both because of dollars as well as staff time. He pointed out the City could put out infinitesimal amounts of information out there, however, it may be that no one is looking at it, and the City would not be interested in that. He stated this application would be just one of many issues they will discuss, noting they would keep it under consideration as they look ahead as to how the minutes would be indexed through the City Clerk's office. Mr. Cohen stated he was not suggesting the City put back documents on the web site; however, if staff reports are put on, and anything more than just the current staff reports are kept on, after a year or two there will begin to be a number of pages there, and people will need some way to be able to search that. Councilmember/Member Cohen referred to the implementation of staff reports on the internet was something he was very interested in, and something he felt the City really needed to do. As a follow-up to that, and something he wanted to SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 7 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 8 see, he believed it would be reasonable to be at least laying the groundwork for it within this two-year budget cycle. He felt that also made sense for the Community Development Department, noting staff reports to the Planning Commission should be available, as well, for many of the same reasons. Mr. Cohen believed that once the infrastructure of the web site and the software necessary to post the City Council staff reports to the web is available, extending that to the Community Development Department should be relatively straight forward. Mr. Gould stated that was in the works, and would be addressed by Community Development Director/Assistant Agency Director (Community Development) Bob Brown would address that issue in his report. Mayor/Chairman Boro agreed Mr. Cohen had raised a good point, noting it was one thing to begin putting this information out there so people can see it in a timely manner and have access to it if they so choose; however, he agreed the City had to look at the long-term and what staff expects to have out there three years from now, and whether they want to have everything on the website, or perhaps a file that people can access in the Library? He stated they had to think about how they wanted to do this, because it could be massive, and confusing. Councilmember/Member Phillips stated he had expected that under the two-year objectives the Councilmembers/Agency Members would see benchmarks, beginning from a certain point, and hoping to move to a slightly higher point regarding the objectives. Therefore, he noted the third item under objectives, which states "Handle public liability tort claims and lawsuits in a timely manner", and stated that while he had assumed that was happening, did the fact that it was listed as an objective mean that it was not happening? Mr. Gould and Mrs. Leoncini stated it was happening. Mr. Phillips asked if she meant that she would continue to make certain that occurs, and Mrs. Leoncini stated that was correct. Councilmember/Member Heller, noting Mr. Nordhoff might be the one to answer her question, referred to the subject of funding, noting the report states, "Implement the CC/RA staff reports and our new resources". She asked if the $5,000 estimated for this was in the budget, or whether the City would be looking for monies to fund this item? Mr. Nordhoff reported this would be one of the items presented to the Council/Agency at the budget hearings the following evening, noting Councilmembers/Agency Members will see that a fair majority of those requests that have been categorized as new resources are included in the reports for tomorrow evening. Mrs. Leoncini pointed out that when this particular item is reviewed tomorrow evening, the Councilmembers/Agency Members would see that it had been reduced to $3,000. Councilmember/Member Cohen asked what the $3,000 plus the $1,000 annual fee cover, and what was her current conception of how this was going to be implemented? He noted that in response to his question regarding whether or not this information would be left on the website, she had stated that was not within this budget, and that it would cost more. Mr. Nordhoff stated he understood this amount would cover the installation of the software and the training of staff, explaining the City Clerk's staff would be trained to put this information on the internet as the reports are done. He noted there were still issues to be worked out, such as how the reports will get to the City Clerk's office, and whether the inputting will include only the staff report, or all the attachments, as well. Mr. Cohen asked if the proposal included, for example, putting this week's staff reports on the website, leaving them there, and then adding another folder for each of the following meetings? He stated he did not believe it would be that much more expensive; however, he acknowledged that indexing it, and coming up with a way for a dynamic search of that information might a little technically complicated. Mr. Nordhoff stated all that was being planned at this time was putting the reports out there, and letting people know the reports are available for specific meeting dates. Mr. Cohen stated he did not believe that having them available and leaving them there for a period of time would not become a cost item. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated Mrs. Leoncini and the two ladies in her office do a great job, and the Council/Agency very much appreciates it. LIBRARY/CULTURAL AFFAIRS: Library Director Vaughn Stratford stated Library and Cultural Affairs had eight major departmental objectives, and they respond to City Council priorities, and community input generated by San Rafael Choices. Mr. Stratford reported San Rafael Choices had stated the community wants improved and increased Library services, and more Library services in the Canal and Terra Linda, while one of the City Council's priorities was to study the feasibility of expanding the SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 8 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 9 Downtown Library. He explained the Library's objectives addressed these issues in the following ways: First, the department is proposing a Vision and Planning process which involves substantial community input through six community meetings, and based on those meetings, the Library will publish a Vision and a Plan representing community consensus, and addresses the issues of branch service in Terra Linda and the Canal, expansion of the Downtown Library, and new Library services. He stated the Library would increase outreach to Terra Linda through City Hall at the Mall, and by outreach visits to 50% more Terra Linda classes than were visited last year. In the Canal they will realize a 30% increase this year in the number of children from the neighborhood participating in the Summer Reading Program. In addition, Mr. Stratford noted that at the meeting tomorrow evening, staff would discuss a proposal to significantly expand services and hours at the Canal Learning Center. Mr. Stratford introduced Falkirk Director Carol Adney, who presented the report on the Cultural Affairs budget. Carol Adney, Falkirk Director, recalled one of the City Council's priorities included developing funding alternatives for infrastructure needs. She pointed out that Falkirk was to be the beneficiary of the City's creative funding plan to sell Menzies Parking Lot to the Marin Community Foundation, and the proceeds of that sale are to be dedicated to the rehabilitation of Falkirk. She stated that for the first time, the City will be able to realize two of the original dreams for Falkirk; first, to open the third floor for public use, and second, to begin a major renovation. She reported that during the next two years, staff would be leveraging Marin Community Foundation monies with matching funds to further improve the estate, with the ultimate goal being to make Falkirk a first class jewel in the City's crown, to be shared by all the residents. Also within the coming two years, Falkirk will, for the first time, be open on Mondays, and public hours will increase from 35 hours to 42 hours per week. Ms. Adney explained these additional hours of staffing would be covered by new rental revenue from the lease agreement with Marin Agricultural Land Trust. Ms. Adney reported that for the past three years, attendance at Falkirk has increased a total of 30%, and for the next two years staff plans to increase attendance an additional 10% annually, and will include four new programs for the Canal by the year 2001. Councilmember/Agency Member Miller noted that from all Ms. Adney has indicated in terms of Falkirk and the Marin Community Foundation, he wondered whether that particular subject should be a prime matter in terms of the key result areas. Mr. Stratford stated it would be. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to the two-year objectives, which states that by April, 2000 they will conduct six community meetings and receive community input, and by September, 2000 publish and distribute a Vision and plan for the Library which addresses the issues of branch service in North and East San Rafael. Mr. Phillips noted it seemed to come to a halt at that point, and asked if there was more to the issue of the survey and its distribution, and what could be expected? Mr. Stratford stated staff had projected that the community meetings would be held in the Spring of 2000, noting they likely would have more time than they need to write and print the plan. He envisioned the meetings being held in April or May, and September was a projection of how long he felt it might take staff to develop the document. Mr. Phillips asked for more information concerning the meetings. Mr. Stratford stated they would want to have a wide geographic distribution within the community, and obviously they would want North and East San Rafael. Mr. Phillips noted the objective seemed to specify North and East San Rafael. Mr. Stratford explained those were the two areas they had been focusing on, based on staff's understanding of the Council's priorities for community -building in the Canal and the focus on services to North San Rafael. Mr. Phillips asked if there would be anything built into the budget within this two-year period, with regard to the outcome of the survey and community input? Mr. Gould explained that after staff has done more of the community outreach and the Library Board has worked with staff to reach some of its decisions, it would then return to the Council for policy- making. He noted there would be some funding opportunities that would come about in the year 2000, there may be a Statewide bond issue, there is talk at the County level of a sales tax to benefit Library services, and there are grant opportunities staff would like to pursue. However, before staff can go about any of that, they would have to bring options before the Councilmembers, and have them decide what the priorities should be, and how they would like staff to go about them. He stated that with that clear direction, staff could go about seeking opportunities for funding, and proceed from there. He clarified there was nothing else in the budget that carries on beyond the visioning, as described. Mr. Phillips asked if that meant they could expect funding in the budget to conduct the studies, but nothing beyond that? Mr. Gould stated that was correct. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen referred to Adult Services, asking for SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 9 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 10 clarification of the term "electronic reference resources". Mr. Stratford explained those were primarily online resources, which were previously available in hardcopy, and are now being published electronically. He noted those would now be mounted on the online system, and could be accessed from any of the public work stations. Mr. Cohen asked if those were subscription services? Mr. Stratford stated they would be subscription -based services. Mr. Cohen asked if that information would be accessible only from those work stations? Mr. Stratford explained that just as the Library's periodical index was accessible from home or other remote sites, some of these would probably be accessible if the user logged -on to Marinet. Mr. Cohen stated he would be interested in knowing how some of the providers set their pricing structure, to the extent that the Library could provide reference materials online to people. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen also asked about the two new resource items. Mr. Stratford explained he new resources were going to be funded by the Friends of the Library. He noted the large work station would have the online catalogue, with a larger screen and type, and would be for low -vision adults. The CCTV is a device which invites vision -impaired people to take any kind of document, such as a book, letter, or utility bill, and use this device to be able to read it. Mr. Cohen asked if the electronic resource items were budget items? Mr. Stratford stated they were, and would come out of the Library's "Materials Budget". Mr. Cohen asked if those items would be part of the Library's presentation at tomorrow night's meeting? Mr. Nordhoff explained none of the items they had just discussed would be presented as "New Requests", and Mr. Stratford explained they had added to the Materials Budget through State funds. Regarding Children's Services, Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated he was pleased to see performance measures calling for continuing increase in services to children. He asked for clarification regarding the goal to increase the number of children from the Canal neighborhood by 30% over the previous year. He asked what the overall goal was for the program, and if the goal was to keep the rest of the program the same, or to grow the other portion of the program for children from outside the Canal neighborhood? Mr. Stratford stated the overall program has grown in the last two years from approximately 600 to 650, with 750 children in San Rafael participating in the Summer reading program, to projections of at least that same number, and more likely a 10% to 20% increase. He stated they had particularly focused on getting children from the Canal involved, pointing out that three years ago there were 26 children from the Canal neighborhood who participated in the Summer reading program, and almost 100 last year. He stated they were hoping and working on getting at least 130 children from that neighborhood to participate in the Summer Reading Program. Mr. Cohen stated he believed this was a good goal, and he was gratified to hear about the increase last year; however, he would like to see some effort applied to an overall increase in addition to the increase in participation from the Canal area. He noted he believes reading is very important for young people, and, on a personal note, thanked Mr. Stratford for the having additional challenges and rewards in the upcoming year, beyond the base goal, for those children who participate in the Summer Reading Program. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen referred to Falkirk, noting increased attendance at Falkirk was a good goal, and a good key result area. However, he believed quality of service was something that needed to be addressed, as well, noting he felt that was something that may have risen to the level where it has a budget impact. He stated Falkirk was a wonderful place; however, it was also a difficult place to hold large public events, and he noted the City has, at several recent events, been overwhelmed by the success at Falkirk. He stated the City could not just continue to say it want to increase attendance at these events, or promote some of the events outside of San Rafael, without preparing for those promotions to be successful, even if that meant budgeting for some professional assistance, either with program planning or actually being there and staffing some of the ticketing lines. Mr. Cohen stated it was wonderful to have a resource to do this; however, the way it is structured, it was not very conducive to doing those kinds of events, and they are difficult to manage. He believed part of the goal needed to be not just an increase in attendance, but that the increased attendance be managed effectively, pointing out that really needed to be a key result. Ms. Adney agreed that was a good point, noting it might be that staff needs to hire people for the day of the event, as relying on volunteers alone was not enough at this stage. Mr. Cohen noted there is now an Events Management person on staff in another department, and a Police Department fairly well -versed in handling events, and while he did not know to what extent they were involved in planning or preparation of, for example, the Easter Egg Hunt, but that was not a good situation, and there clearly needed to be some better event planning and coordination between departments, which is not something volunteers can do. Mr. Gould stated there had been some discussion of this at staff level, and it was suggested that Events Coordinator Brigitte Moran work closely with Ms. Adney and her staff on those few events that occur at Falkirk which bring out large crowds. He acknowledged that staff needed to do SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 10 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 11 event planning in a much more comprehensive manner than has been done before with Cultural Affairs, noting it was fortunate there was someone on staff who is very skilled at that, pointing out it was a matter of cooperation between departments. He believed the thrust of the performance objectives was to get more people to Falkirk more evenly throughout the year; however, he recognized there were two or three events that have become very large now, and somewhat unwieldy; therefore, we need better planning for those events. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated he would like to see that be one of the two-year objectives. He stated he really appreciated what was being done at Falkirk, and what has been done in the past, noting in previous years he had spoken with Ms. Adney about really working to increase attendance at Falkirk and making it more viable, which she has done. He stated he greatly appreciated that; however, they now had to recognize when they move beyond what can be done with volunteers. He stated the volunteers have been great and, hopefully, will continue to be so; however, we needed to recognize success and respond to it accordingly. Councilmember/Agency Member Heller asked if Mr. Stratford had attendance figures for the Library on Sundays? Mr. Stratford reported the Sunday hours have been wildly successful; in terms of the number of books checked -out per hour, it is the Library's busiest day. He noted staff had thought it might be a very focused group of parents and children, particularly children doing homework for assignments that are due on Monday; however, he stated the attendance crosses all groups of people using the Library. He stated staff appreciated the Council funding that. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen noted adult circulation was 195,000, check- outs and check -ins are at 300,000, and asked if that was because check-outs and check -ins include children's services? Mr. Stratford stated it included all material checked in and out. Mr. Cohen asked if check out and check ins were supposed to be like airplane take -offs and landings, and at some point, the numbers should match up? He asked if these figures meant the Library had a 10% loss, pointing out that, again, 2000-2001 shows 330,000 going out and only 300,000 coming back. Mr. Stratford explained that because the San Rafael Library is a member of a consortium, and users of the San Rafael Library, the County Library, and the libraries of other cities can return their books to any location. He noted the San Rafael Library gets a sizeable number of books that are from other libraries, which we send to them through the daily delivery service among the various libraries. He believed the high number of check -ins reflected the high number of returns, and the fact that the San Rafael Library is well -located for people who are driving through the City on their way to other communities. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen referred to the circulation growth over time. He noted that in looking at the annual number of check-outs jumps by 30,000 in 1997-1998 to 1998-1999, jumps by 20,000 from 1998-1999 to 1999-2000, and then jumps only 10,000 from the end of the fiscal year 2000 to the final fiscal year of this budget, which is 2000-2001. He asked why the rate of increase was decreasing dramatically? Mr. Stratford stated part of the increases had to do with the Library's house, noting the it is open more, and more available to the public; however, he also felt the decrease had to do with the fact that people are getting more accustomed to the fact that Marinet is, in a sense, one big library. Therefore, the San Rafael Library is getting a lot more use by non- residents, and by the same token, San Rafael's residents are using other libraries more, as people become aware of more holdings and availability of materials. Mayor/Chairman Boro noted that as the City looks to place reference material on the website, he felt it was one thing to have it available internally, especially for people who do not have any other means to access it, and can come to the Library and use the work stations. However, he was not too excited about putting a lot of effort into taking a lot of the common reference material and populating the website, when there may be other websites that already have it. He believed staff really needed to think about duplication of effort in that regard. Mayor/Chairman Boro referred to the process staff would be undertaking regarding the meetings, noting Mr. Stratford had stated the Library Board of Trustees would be getting involved in that, and he thought was great. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated this was another example of having someone internally with the City, Linda Jackson. who has participated and done a lot with the visioning process, and he felt that if that is what this is really all about, that was a lot different than a Library Board going out and just holding some meetings to get input. He believed that if it is really going to evolve into a vision, what was really significant, at least about what the City has done to date in this town regarding visions, was that there are going to be so many people who have an ownership in this that when it comes time to make something happen Mr. Stratford will have the support for it, or at least lack of opposition. Mayor/Chairman SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 11 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 12 Boro believed it was important to think about how this was structured, as it was important to get community input and ownership. Mr. Stratford stated staff was hoping to be able to rely on a number of professional resources, including the considerable in-house resources, to help in developing that. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated Ms. Adney had made reference to renovation and the use of funds; however, there had really been any discussion regarding what the City is doing, how we are doing, what the Marin Community Foundation may or may not be doing, and how it will all tie-in to the new tenant on the third floor, noting that would all have to be worked out. Mr. Gould stated he hoped to bring that before the City Council at their meeting of June 21st, along with an amendment to the purchase option agreement and full discussion regarding what the possibilities may be. Mayor/Chairman Boro thanked Mr. Stratford, Ms. Adney, and their staffs for the great work they have done, along with their Commissions and Board. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Community Development Director Bob Brown reported there will be profound changes in Community Development during the next two years, stating the City will leap decades ahead in technology with the new permit tracking system and parcel data base. He noted the benefits of that were that not only would it make staff more efficient, it would also put all that information out on the internet, making it available to the public, which will be a great gain. He reported staff would finally implement the department's space plan, remodeling the counter area, work spaces, and improving file management. Mr. Brown stated the Community Development Department would reach closure on St. Vincent's/Silveira within the two-year budget timeframe, hopefully by the end of this year. He reported the department was also beginning what will be a two and a half year General Plan Update process, which will kick into high gear once St. Vincent's/Silveira is complete. In the meantime, he stated they would be preparing the background reports for the General Plan, completing the Land Use database, and assisting Traffic Engineer Nader Mansourian in completing the traffic model. Mr. Brown pointed out the City Manager and City Attorney had already mentioned the proposed re -writing of the Subdivision Ordinance and CEQA guidelines, and noted that with the economy charging along, the department would be busy with new developments, including processing the Marin Community Foundation headquarters and the Boyd Park Historic Museum. In North San Rafael, staff anticipated filings for the expansion of the Northgate Mall, redevelopment of the Fairchild site, and also a residential and public park proposal for the seventeen acre P.G.& E. property at Los Ranchitos and North San Pedro Roads. Referring to Code Enforcement, Mr. Brown reported staff intends to renew discussions with the County to consider shifting full responsibility and funding for the Canal apartment inspections to the City, thereby giving the City greater control and a revenue source. Mr. Brown stated that if they can get this revenue source from the County, which now charges for their apartment inspections, which the City does not do, then the City will be able to free -up some of the Code Enforcement activities elsewhere in the City and increase them without a hit on the General Fund. Regarding Code Enforcement revenues, Mr. Brown noted that while Mr. Guinan is quite correct that it is difficult to gauge what the City will be taking in during the next two years, he believed it was going to be significantly less than the City has seen. He explained that what the City has had in the past was a number of Canal apartment owners who had believed the City's Code Enforcement efforts were not particularly serious, and they put off making the necessary improvements, He noted that had cost them dearly, and he felt that message has gotten around to other property owners in the Canal. Therefore, he did not believe the City would see that kind of delay tactic in the future, and the revenues will be less. Referring to staff reports, minutes, and agendas on the internet, Mr. Brown stated the Community Development Department should have its site up in approximately a month, noting it will have only the current, upcoming meeting agendas and staff reports, and the previous meeting minutes. He explained what the City was paying for was a bridge program, which would essentially take a word processing document, turn it into a PDF file that anyone can read, and then post that on the website. He stated this was merely a transference program, and was not coupled with a data base that would store these documents for an indefinite period of time. He stated that at least initially, they would just be trying to get the information up for the coming meetings, but not try to archive it for the past. He acknowledged that was something that could be looked at, but was not part of what the City was paying for. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated that he would like to meet with Mr. Brown to discuss that issue if, in the future, the City were to decide to implement that, because he would like to hear more about it, and perhaps provide SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 12 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 13 a couple of suggestions concerning ways the City might think about implementing that. Referring to the budget impact of the General Plan, which was something that would come before the Council/Agency tomorrow night, Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated that was something that was not really a choice, as it was required by State law. Mr. Cohen asked if staff believed they had a handle on the numbers represented in that report, since it will bulk of that project will occur during this two-year budget? Mr. Brown stated that was correct, asking the Council/Agency to bear in mind that the "lion's share" of the funding for the General Plan will come from the surcharge the City Council approved two years ago on permits noting, therefore, there was a supplemental amount from the General Fund. He pointed out that in years hence, in a ten year cycle, this was something that would be funded entirely from permit revenue. Mr. Cohen noted there were a couple of large projects in Planning, and asked if Mr. Brown saw any of them actually getting to construction phase within this two-year cycle, particularly the projects in North San Rafael, such as the P.G.& E. site? Mr. Brown stated the P.G.& E. site was a possibility, but certainly the Fairchild redevelopment. Mr. Cohen noted he had wondered about project with more of a residential impact, noting that when they begin discussing plan checking and building inspection impacts, with some of the larger projects the City is going to have to anticipate for those staffing impacts, and since the City is on a two-year budget, cycle, staff will need to try to anticipate the time of those impacts, as well. Mr. Brown reported P.G.& E. could be just about ready for permitting by the end of the budget cycle, assuming a year and a half EIR process, and the Zappetini apartment complex, assuming that is approved, would be approximately the same number of units. Mr. Brown stated those were the two major projects he could anticipate. Mr. Cohen asked he was correct that Mr. Brown did not see either one of those projects hitting until the City is almost at the end of this budget cycle, which would allow staff and Council to discuss them if it appeared there would be a staff impact to cover that workload, either through an adjustment to this budget, or possibly even in the next budget? Mr. Brown stated that was correct, and certainly after one year. Councilmember/Agency Member Miller complimented Mr. Brown on his department's goals, noting they was worthy of Don Quixote and Pancho Sanchez. He noted that when he read the management book staff had worked from, there had been an item concerning stretch objectives; however, he stated he was unable to identify stretch objective, and asked Mr. Brown to identify one of his stretch objectives, and explain how he came to it? Mr. Brown stated it was actually a stretch goal, explaining the objectives might be a bit tamer than the goal itself. For example, he believed the department's Customer Service Plan, which the Planning Division would develop, would be a significant stretch, although it is not quantified in the objectives themselves, and completing the General Plan by 2001, although that seems like a long time, was probably going to be a very significant effort. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips noted Long Range Planning included key result areas including implementation of the vision for North San Rafael. He pointed out there was a lot of stuff in the vision for North San Rafael, in fact, he had attended a recent meeting with schools, school districts and superintendents, at which City Manager Rod Gould had pointed out that there was a lot in the vision that is not; therefore, he assumed that within the budget there were elements that were perhaps funded, and some that were not funded. He wondered if implementation of the vision for North San Rafael should be included in this document, being as broad as it is, and if, indeed, it does not include everything, what is and is not included? Mr. Brown stated that in terms of the Vision, staff's goal was to work with the VIA Committee. He noted it had not been anticipated when the Vision was created that it would result in significant CIP funding for the major items that have been identified; however, he felt there were a number of opportunities. First, regarding the entryways, Mr. Brown believed that with the requirements under PPP for some of the major development projects, particularly Fairchild, and possibly the Mall, there would be opportunities to get entryway upgrades from new development. Regarding the promenade, he reported that since there has been a charette, staff has some very lovely drawings that will be presented to the City Council in June. Mr. Brown pointed out there were a lot of grant funds available for such things as liveable communities, and he believed this project would fare very well, and staff would be able to get additional funds for some of the preliminary planning and engineering designing for the promenade. Concerning the Town Center, Mr. Brown stated the City would have a major opportunity with the Mall expansion to accomplish a real community focus as part of that expansion. Mr. Phillips stated those were all admirable; however, he wondered whether the City was setting itself up for a fall, characterizing it as broadly as it seems to be. Mr. Brown pointed out that none of those involve direct City funding, and while they involve a lot of work on the part of his department and the Public Works department, with the VIA Committee, and with the applicants; however, it was not SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 13 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 14 really a City cost item, per se. Mr. Phillips pointed out, however, this was a key result area, and he felt it was something that should be considered in the final document. He stated he would be a little concerned with it being that broad, when in fact the City knows it will not be able to accomplish it, noting someone could come back expecting implementation was of all the aspects. Councilmember/Agency Member Heller asked that sometime in the future staff return to Council with a report regarding the shift in the County Health Department, and how they interface with the Code Enforcement division, pointing out one of the goals was to increase the number of inspections of Canal apartments by 10% per year. She asked if that goal went along with the goal to investigate funding options for the Canal apartment inspections? Mr. Brown stated that was correct. Ms. Heller stated that program was excellent, and she applauded staff for developing it, and attempting to work it out. She asked if there was any way to get that inspection program from the County? Mr. Brown stated he had only just begun very preliminary discussions, although the County seemed amenable. City Manager Gould reported the Council also had the option to direct Community Development Block Grant funds to concerted Code Enforcement in the Canal, to further augment those efforts. He believed that getting back up to full staff in Code Enforcement would give the City the tools needed to go after this even stronger, noting that with three full-time Code Enforcement officers the City could really make a dent out there. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated Mr. Brown's enthusiasm had permeated his entire department, noting his efforts have been great, and his department reflected that. He thanked Mr. Brown for his work. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated that when the Community Development Department is dealing with customer service, they are focusing on the Design Review Board and their role with the public, and what might be done to strengthen that. He noted their are occasionally issues there to deal with, and the Design Review Board members put in a lot of time and effort, and he believed that whatever help staff could give them to understand the process and how they might interact with the public would be helpful. Mr. Brown stated staff was scheduling a special meeting with the DRB in June to discuss that process. Mayor/Chairman Boro felt traffic and parking was a great example of a over- arching issues, noting the way they operate in this City, through Public Works and Community Development, was a good example of how they work. However, he noted that especially as the City goes forward in the downtown, very close cooperation between Mr. Brown's staff and the Redevelopment Agency needs to continue, especially in the areas of traffic and parking, as he felt the City was reaching the point where those will become very sensitive issues. Mayor/Chairman Boro believed the City had the answers, and although it will take everyone working very hard to have those answers implemented, he felt the City had to show it had the answers, so that as these projects come on-line, these issues will be dealt with. He acknowledged it was not as if the parking problems are just going to go away, and that there will never be a parking jam downtown; however, the City would assess the issues and have a plan it can work toward and put into place. He stated he would be working very closely with Ms. Mackle and the Redevelopment Agency to make certain that happens. Pointing out something the Councilmembers/Agency Members would not see listed in the objectives for the coming year, Mr. Gould noted the Councilmembers had recently received a letter from the Chamber of Commerce urging the City Council to direct that the Sign Ordinance be overhauled within the next two years. However, he reported that after consultation with Mr. Brown and his staff, staff did not believe they could do an adequate job of that while at the same time revising the General Plan and updating the Subdivision Ordinance and CEQA guidelines. He noted it was so staff and community intensive that staff suggested the Councilmembers put that off to the next budget period. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen referred to one of the objectives in the staff report which states, "Conduct at least two town meetings related to the General Plan update". He stated he realized they were staff intensive and a lot of work for everyone; however, he pointed out that the City had done a lot of really interesting things with a new approach to the Planning process, before actually getting into the formal process, which have really allowed staff to be creative. He noted that while the General Plan update is a very structured thing, he would like staff to explore whether or not the City can merge some of the things it has learned with the General Plan update process, and get the community involved i a less structured format. He requested staff work on that during the next couple of years. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated he liked the Community Development Department's goal, and did not believe it was tilting at windmills, and felt this should also be the City's Goal. He stated he did not believe that was a stretch. He stated he travels around the Bay Area a lot, and would argue with SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 14 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 15 anyone that San Rafael is on the short list for being the most dynamic city, and the most beautiful environment in the Bay Area. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to Mr. Gould's comments regarding the Sign Ordinance. He stated he knew Mr. Gould had not meant to leave the impression that the City was going to do nothing about some of the signs that might perhaps be confusing, noting Mr. Gould had previously reported there would be an attempt, in certain cases, to clarify those. Mr. Phillips stated he was certainly willing to wait for two years for a comprehensive review of the Sign Ordinance, as he knew staff was going to address those certain areas of concern. FIRE DEPARTMENT: Fire Chief Marcucci explained the Fire Department's budget was predicated on six key result areas, and those key result areas were important in that they provided the performance criteria to be used in reaching their goals, and provide direction for the organization. He noted they ensure organizational balance, provide operational readiness, and ensure the Fire Department's core competencies are well done. He explained that based on those, the department had developed the objectives to provide the leadership and decisions necessary to direct the department into a future course of action they believe is important to ensure the operational readiness of all staff; to develop and then evaluate staff's core competencies; most importantly, to increase awareness in the community that the Fire Department is a community resource rather than just a fire department; to continue the concept of Community Fire Servicing; to maintain a high customer satisfaction rating; to ensure the readiness of the community relative to disaster preparedness, not only the neighborhoods but also the business community, and to teach them disaster survival techniques by having them participate in community meetings; to make sure there is a safe environment through the Household Hazardous Waste program and the Hazardous Material programs; to make sure the Fire Department is always available to conduct the Code Enforcement team inspections, not only in the Canal area, but in any area where those inspections need to be conducted; and to coordinate, on behalf of the City, the construction of the joint County/Fire Department dispatch center at the Civic Center; to plan, execute, and conduct emergency operation center exercises to make sure the Fire Department is competent if a Y2K incident does occur, and that the City has a very safe and enjoyable Millennium celebration; and the implement the MERA radio system so the Fire Department can get on board as soon as possible. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to the removal of the underground storage tanks, and asked, if there were still some tanks that had to be removed, were there any that were a present danger? Chief Marcucci stated there were no tanks that were a present danger. He explained there were still tanks that had to be removed; however, because of stipulations in the regulations, the tanks can remain in a kind of "limbo" status for a year until the owners decide whether they are going to update the tanks or remove them. However, he reiterated there were no tanks that were causing serious difficulties. Mr. Phillips asked if the fact that the City is going to remove them a couple of years from now was all right? Chief Marcucci stated the tanks probably would not last for two years, noting they would probably be taken out in 1999. Referring to CUPA inspections, Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips noted the numbers ranged from 206 in 1997-1998, 72 in 1998-1999, 70 in 1999-2000, and 206 in 2000-2001, and asked for an explanation of what this actually represented. Chief Marcucci explained the Department was backing off and doing one-third per year, then going back in 2000-2001 and again do the 206. Mr. Phillips asked if these were basically repeat inspections, and Chief Marcucci stated they were, and some were self -inspections. He explained they would do as they did in 1997- 1998, conducting a full 206 inspections, and then the following year the Fire Department would conduct some of the inspections, but there would also be self - inspections for those who have shown they are responsible, and then in 2000-2001 they would go back to the full inspections to ensure everyone is in compliance. Mr. Phillips verified that this was not a pattern necessitated by funding, and Chief Marcucci verified it was not. Councilmember/Agency Member Heller asked for further detail of the establishment of a Toxic Taxi door-to-door service program in 1999. Chief Marcucci stated the Fire Department has been working on the contract with Toxic Taxi through the City Attorney's office. He explained this service would be for seniors, or those who do not want to go to the Jacoby Street site, noting people could call Toxic Taxi, who will go out to the residence, collect the household hazardous waste, and then take it to the Jacoby Street site for disposal, noting a fee would be charged for this service. Ms. Heller asked if this has worked in other localities? Chief Marcucci reported the company the Fire Department is working with had just received an award for their program in another city. Ms. Heller noted this program sounded very interesting, and she would like to hear more SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 15 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 16 about it once it is in place, and see how it is working. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated the Fire Department just continues to become more outstanding, noting it was well appreciated by the community. He stated he continued to be impressed with Chief Marcucci's efforts, and appreciated the opportunity to work with him and his staff, and learn from all of them. Mr. Cohen referred to the performance measure regarding response time. He noted the Fire Department was projecting response times move from 4.0 minutes to 4.2 over the life of this budget, and while that was not a significant increase, it appeared Chief Marcucci seemed to perceive this is a trend into the wrong direction, and he felt that at some point, the City would want to react to that. He asked why Chief Marcucci believed response times were going to increase over the life of this budget, and at what point would he consider the City would have to address that, in terms of additional resources to get the response time back down to the 4.0 minute target? Chief Marcucci stated he did not envision the Fire Department coming before the Council and stating they need additional resources because the response time has increased. He explained they were sending up a "trial balloon", stating that as traffic becomes a little more congested in the community, response times are going to go up. He noted that was not to say a response time of 4.2 minutes was a bad response time, explaining that was a very good response time, and a lot of communities wished they had such a response time. However, he stated the Fire Department sees a trend developing, and while they do not know if that trend will continue to develop, they believe they have a responsibility to indicate that to the Council. Chief Marcucci stated he was not stating this was due only to traffic, noting there were other factors that come into play; for example, he pointed out the City Council has very little effect on what happens on Highway 101, noting that when there is an accident and all the cars come off onto the surface streets to avoid that accident, the Fire Department sees response times going up. He explained that what he was trying to point out was that there may be an increase in response times over the next couple of years, noting the Fire Department would track that and, hopefully, by the year 2000-2001, with what Traffic Engineer Nader Mansourian is doing with the Traffic Management Plan and other plans, the Fire Department may reach a higher response time than 4.2 minutes. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen asked for clarification regarding emergency medical services, noting he did not fully understand the measurement for the response time for emergency medical services. He pointed out there was a reference to 10 minutes in the two-year objectives, and then percentages of the times the Fire Department meets the goals established by the County. Chief Marcucci explained that in the paramedic program the County holds the City to a response time of 10 minutes in 90% of the requests for service, and because the Fire Department now has four units running, the response time is approximately 95% to 98% in all calls for service. He believed the County was going to be changing that response time, and because the County also feels traffic causing a problem, they are probably going to state that the units have to be out of the fire stations within 2 minutes, and then let the response time take care of itself from that point, because the paramedics have very little choice regarding the response routes they are taking, and they do not want them trying to rush to meet a response time. Chief Marcucci stated the Department was doing very well at this time. He noted the Engine Company response time for emergency response was 4.0 minutes in 90% of requests for service, and while that was a stretch, they believed they could make that in 90% of the requests for service. Mr. Cohen asked if they were using the same response time for the Engine Company across the board, looking at the same response time for calls for both fire and medical emergency? Chief Marcucci stated that was correct. Regarding the 10 minute response time, Mr. Cohen asked if that was a result of the ambulance not being available or being busy, or did it just take longer because there are few sites because there are paramedic ambulances? Chief Marcucci explained there are six Fire Stations and Engine Companies that are primarily for ambulances, and most of the time the Fire Department runs three. Therefore, there are three ambulances versus six, and those ambulances could be at the hospital, returning from the hospital, not in the station, on another detail, or in the station, and that was why there is a 10 minute response time for 90% of the requests for service. Regarding Hazard Material Management, Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated he had been struck by something when looking at the Choices Committee report. Referring to Exhibit D of that report, he noted most of the people had voted to maintain the level of effort in most areas, and a few where people stated the City needed to increase service. He pointed out there were a couple of instances where a decrease had been a factor, and while in the over scheme the number of votes for a decrease on Hazardous Materials Management versus maintaining the current level of effort was not significant, still, more people said "decrease it" than said "increase it". He asked if perhaps the City needed to do a little more education in this area, as he could not understand why SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 16 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 17 anyone would think the City needed to decrease Hazardous Materials Management? Chief Marcucci stated it would depend on who the 400 people were who were surveyed. City Manager Gould noted these responses were not from the 400, explaining what Mr. Cohen had referred to was the survey sheet handed out at the end of the sessions. Chief Marcucci stated the responses could have been because felt the City had been heavy-handed, and they wanted to see a decrease in the emphasis, and not quite so much energy in dealing with some of the issues. Other than that, he did not have an answer. Mr. Cohen stated it might be worth looking in. He noted it might well be that some of those responses had come from the business community's Choices session. Mr. Cohen acknowledged some people were just always going to feel the City had been heavy-handed, and that was unfortunate; however, the City needed to do what it needs to do to protect the community. Chief Marcucci stated that what they do not understand is that if it were not for the Fire Department, dealing with this in a proactive sense, then it would be heavy-handed because if the City is not implementing the regulations, the State is going to implement the regulations. He noted the City tries to help and offer different alternatives, and if the State were to step in, he believed the citizens would want to come back under the City's jurisdiction. Referring to the last page of the San Rafael Choices report, Assistant City Manager Nordhoff noted he had flagged only those items that showed either increases or decreases, and pointed out it should be recognized that this was completely unscientific, and that some people probably understood what was going on better than others. He believed that in a case like the Hazardous Materials Management, approximately 72 of 100 responses had replied that what the City is doing is okay, which to him meant there probably was not a lot that needed to be fixed, noting staff could go back and look at the comments in that area. He reported he and Lydia Romero had co -hosted the Chamber of Commerce session, and he did not recall that hazardous materials had come up at all, or if it did, it certainly was not anything negative. Mr. Cohen stated Mr. Nordhoff's point was perfectly valid, pointing out that 72% versus 28% had indicated that what is being done is good, with 11% stating they should go beyond what they are doing and push further; therefore, he believed there was clearly support for the direction in which the City is going. However, he noted that in looking at these responses, it was unusual that in this particular instance, there were more people who felt the service should be decreased than those who believed it should be increased, although it was very close, 11% versus 13%. He acknowledged this might simply be an anomaly, but he also felt that perhaps it was an area where there needed to be a little more public education if the City can identify where that response is coming from. Councilmember/Agency Member Miller noted the Fire Department had received great accolades for the Community Fire Servicing; however, what he felt people should know about were the accolades the people in the community give to Community Fire Servicing, stating that had been very evident at the session the Fire Department had with the Pickleweed Advisory Committee. He hoped every firefighter and paramedic knows how much the citizens really love and appreciate them. Referring to Disaster Preparedness Program, Mr. Miller stated that when looking at the objectives, he liked to see something more systematic, in this case, something such as organizing a network of neighborhood volunteer teams, energized by the Emergency Response Team. He stated he would like to see a network created so that in every neighborhood there is a team prepared for disasters, providing continued help and making certain that everything is in place. He noted, as Chief Marcucci pointed out in the DART training, people could be on their own for a few days; therefore, if one of the goals could be creating such a network, then the City would have something very important in place. He believed this took the place of the old volunteer Fire Department, only now it would be Disaster Preparedness Teams. He felt the key would be to have a network of them, and have them organized throughout the City, so the Fire Department could coordinate with them if and when there is a disaster in the City. Chief Marcucci stated that was the Fire Department's plan, noting there were now enough DART members so that the Fire Department believed they could begin to put them together in their neighborhoods and work with them. Mr. Miller asked that Chief Marcucci include this as one of the Fire Department's objectives. Chief Marcucci stated that he would. Mayor/Chairman Boro referred to the ultimate goal of the firefighters and paramedics of cross-over training, asking how Chief Marcucci saw that playing out. Chief Marcucci reported there were currently twenty-four paramedics, which he believed was appropriate based on the number of calls for service. He stated they have a Quality Assurance Program, under which each paramedic must have so many calls, and every calls is assessed to make sure he is performing correctly. In addition, they do a tabulation every month to see how many paramedic calls each paramedic is attending, and if they are not getting enough calls, they will be rotated back onto the ambulance more than then normally would be, in order to get their calls up. He noted that if they were to get many more paramedics, based on the current number of calls, then they were going to find themselves SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 17 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 18 with paramedics that are not being allowed to get the amount of experience they need to function at a very high level; therefore, he was very comfortable with the current level of twenty-four paramedics. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated the Fire Department had done a lot of things; however, their efforts internally within the City regarding Disaster Preparedness were to be commended, noting they had taken the lead in this area, and everyone greatly appreciated that. He noted that in addition to all the other accolades Chief Marcucci has received for his Community Fire Servicing, the City has now been awarded a National Honorable Mention by the U.S. Council of Mayors for this program. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated the program and the work of Chief Marcucci and his department was much appreciated. Mayor/Chairman Boro invited public comment on any of the reports that had been given to this point. There being no public comment, Mayor/Chairman Boro announced a short recess. COMMUNITY SERVICES: Community Services Director Carlene McCart stated the Community Services Department budget was actually an implementation budget this year. She noted staff had gone before the City Council and reorganized their department ten months ago, and during that period of time they re -assigned management staff, purchased and installed their software package, hired the Youth Services Supervisor, installed two child care centers, established cooperative use agreements with other youth serving agencies in the San Rafael area, produced a series of neighborhood events and programs, and laid the foundations for the programs staff had brought to the Council, and the systems staff had stated they would put into place in order to grow the Park and Recreation services in San Rafael. She noted her department was "putting up the brick and mortar" this year in the budget that is now before the Council/Agency. Ms. McCart stated staff had been encouraged that there direction was validated by the San Rafael Choices results, and also by the community poll. She recalled that when they met last year they discussed youth and teen programs, and those were common themes throughout all the citizen participation sessions during the past several months. Ms. McCart explained this budget would actually build programs for youth, teens, as well as seniors, in the area of performing arts; it expands aquatics and sports, enhances customer service substantially for registrars and customers renting park or recreation facilities; produces special events and neighborhood programs; develops plans for Pickleweed Park renovation and expansion of facilities; focuses on professional development within management, we well as line staff. Ms. McCart stated these areas had been highlighted in the Key Results section of her report. Mayor/Chairman Boro referred to child care, noting that when Police Chief Sanchez addresses the Council/Agency, he would be asking him about safety in the schools. He asked about the child care centers themselves, regarding the issue of safety, and what Ms. McCart and Assistant Director Bill Scharf might be doing in that regard, particularly with the current heightened awareness of the importance of safety at school facilities? Ms. McCart reported they have found that most campuses are developing alert systems and response systems to emergency situations, and Community Services was a part of that plan for each particular campus. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked if that meant Community Services was integrated right into each campus? Ms. McCart stated that was correct. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen noted the Department Objectives list a plan calling for the relocation of Short School Children's Center to be complete by February of next year, and asked what would come next, such as the timeline, and whether the implementation would be a budget impact? He acknowledged Ms. McCart could not be too specific at this time, because it is not know yet what the plan is going to be; however, he presumed that once the plan was completed, the City would have to start moving on it right away in order to be ready to operate the new services, in whatever the new facility is going to be, by the time the City has to vacate Short School. Ms. McCart reported the City had two years from this month to move out of Short School and into a new facility. She noted that for any kind of renovation or build-up construction option, they would have to allow at least nine months of actual construction time. Therefore, backing -up from that, getting community input, and actually narrowing down the options to either build-up construction, renovation of the "B" Street Community Center, or on-site modular installations at Sun Valley School. She stated that would have to be fairly well defined by early Fall. Mr. Cohen pointed out they also had to implement, and since this was a two-year budget, he believed that should be called out as a Department Objective, as a follow-up to having the plan in place. Mr. Gould noted the objective should include "design, contract, and construct". SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 18 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 19 Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen complimented Ms. McCart on what she has done with the Community Services Department, noting he liked a lot of what he sees, particularly the notion of customer satisfaction surveys for each program areas. He believed that was a good idea, and one that made good sense. He stated one issue he felt needed discussion was where the City actually is with regard to the actual costs of child care, versus the portion recovered by fees. He noted that for a number of years the Council had been told that child care paid for itself, and was fully fee-based and funded, and that the percent was moving up; however, they came to find out that was not true. He explained he was not necessarily stating the child care fees should be increased, nor that he was opposed to subsidizing child care; however, if the City was going to do that, they should at least look at how child care might be subsidized, and whether there might be a way of targeting portions of that, rather than simply stating the City is going to pay a flat percentage of the costs, which is what the City is doing across the board, without any regard to any of the issues, such as need. He felt that was what the City was doing, if it is recovering 90% of its cost through the fees. Ms. McCart stated the City does raise its fees, noting that has typically be 5% per year, and the City continues to do that. In addition, she explained there were State subsidies for approximately 10% of the participants. City Manager Gould explained that policy debate has been hanging, pending the revision of the Business Cost Study, recalling that when the City starting to look at this a year ago, staff did not have sufficient confidence in the figures; therefore, they held off further decision-making regarding the level of subsidy or subscription. He believed the update of the Business Cost Study that will be brought forward to the Council would provide a better sense of the subsidies still existing in child care. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen referred to Youth Services, from the standpoint of being a customer or potential customer of City services. He reported one of the things he had discovered as a potential customer was that the City's Summer programs were shorter than the school day, so not only did two -income families have to deal with the before school and after school issues, they had to deal with even more severe issues because the programs run from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, or 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and they just did not seem to work for working families. He noted one response that had been offered by a member of City staff had been that the programs seem to fill up, so it did not seem to be a problem, and he felt that person's understanding was missing the mark. He believed that if the City is managing to fill the service it is offering, that is great, but if the City is not providing service to a number of people because there are no options offered before 10:00 in the morning or in the afternoon before the programs end, then the City is missing the mark. He noted another comment in that same conversation had been that the City was working with contractors, bringing them in to do these programs, and they just do their thing. Mr. Cohen stated that if that is the case, then the City needed to find a way to deal with that, and a way to provide supplemental care in the morning or afternoon, noting that while it would be nice to be able to take advantage of those programs, the way he understood the way the programs worked, they did not seem to work for his two -income family. Ms. McCart stated there were several programs within the City's offerings this Summer that have before and after care for extended day care, most typically with the camps offered by the City. She explained they bring staff on in shifts, making sure staff arrive early and stay with the children during the morning and into early afternoon, and then other staff come on later and continue throughout the day after the day camps are finished. However, she acknowledged that not all of the programs offer that service. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen asked Ms. McCart to review that issue, and see whether that was something that could be done with some of the other programs, perhaps testing whether the demand would be there to do that, and what it would take to make that offer. He noted there were some programs that were very interesting, but because those options are not there, having to pay for the extended care in addition to the programs could make the programs unavailable. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen stated there was another anomaly in the San Rafael Choices balloting, and he wondered if Ms. McCart could comment or suggest how to approach understanding this issue better. He noted the one place where there really was a significant number of people who stated "decrease the program" was in Adult Recreation Services, although it was only one-third of the people versus two-thirds who believed the City was doing good. He asked if the City was missing the mark, or had programs that were klunkers? Ms. McCart did not believe this was a condemnation of the programs, she felt it was being viewed in terms of priorities. She noted that all over town people are talking about youth and teen services, and to a certain extent, senior services, although not as much as in the past. She felt this was a priority situation, reflecting limited dollars, facilities and opportunities, and the desire to give more of those things to the younger population. Explaining his hypothesis, City Manager Gould reported the City asked people, when they filled out this form, to act like City Councilmembers and assume a fixed pie, pointing out that for anything that was going to be increased, there had to be something that was SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 19 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 20 decreased. He noted most people utterly ignored the direction, but a few tried, and he believed that the few who did tried to decide which services they used least often, and voted with the thought that they could do with a little less of some items to get more of other items. Mr. Nordhoff felt this was also an outcome of a meeting that had focused on the business community and Chamber of Commerce, where they had discussed full -cost recoveries as related to fees and planning services, noting the comparison for some of those people had been that the City does not require that same mandate of Recreation programming, yet they, in the business community, have to pay "full freight" for development. He stated he had gone back and reviewed the no one at that meeting had favored increasing adult services, only six people felt it should be decreased. Mr. Cohen acknowledged part of the answer could also be the same as with his earlier question regarding child care fee structure, and while he agreed staff might have to wait on this issue, he believed one of the things that should be examined was how the City is doing at recovering costs. He took felt that within the view that these things had to be prioritized, this fell somewhere near the bottom in terms of what the City is expending tax money to provide. He believed that within the upcoming two-year budget, they needed to look at to what extent the City was providing Adult Recreation Services a subsidy, versus the extent to which the City is recovering the costs to provide those services. He believed this was an area in which the City should be entrepreneurial, looking at Adult Recreation Services and what is being spent to provide those opportunities versus what people are paying, and if it is not making money, then the City would need to look at whether there is a good public policy reason to provide it and, if not, perhaps discontinue it. Mr. Gould reported that similar to the child care question, that debate would likely be held when there were more valid numbers, probably after the Business Cost Study; however, he pointed out that tomorrow evening the Councilmember/Agency Members would be reviewing some very aggressive options, put forth by Ms. McCart and her staff, that would radically increase the youth and teen services in San Rafael, with no increase in General Tax fund subsidy to Community Services. He explained what Mr. Nordhoff had insisted upon was that the City would be providing the same level of tax services, and everything being proposed by Community Services would have to be supported by fees. He noted that according to staff's best estimates, Ms. McCart had been able to make it balance. Councilmember/Agency Member Miller addressed the issue of involving youth in their own programming, stating he believed that was absolutely essential, because the City could program until it was "blue in the face", but if they do not like it, they simply will not come. Mr. Miller noted this related to the general principal that the City's programs and services be designed and delivered with the advice of the participants. He noted that principal was not in the Key Result Areas, and he felt that if it could be included, things would become far more effective and acceptable. Mr. Miller stated his second suggested concerned Youth and Family Services. He stated that because of all the youth violence, he had been thinking a lot about that issue and where youth go astray, and it has been found that perhaps one of the most powerful forces to bring youth back on track and help them develop, rather than go astray, was with the afterschool programs. He pointed out that was the time when people are left alone, just wandering around out there, and he would like to see something in the City's own programming, within the two-year objectives, increasing afterschool programs. He stated he would like to see that as a major objective, and not just the City's delivery of those services, but with the City also acting in a mediator structure, bringing in others and cooperating with the Police Department and the schools, to really set this up so the community can use the City's Community Services Department as the mediating structure to bring this all to the youth of this community. Ms. McCart stated that could be called -out in their objectives. She reported Community Services had entered into an agreement with the Dixie School District to provide all of their afterschool programs on all of their campuses, which was a big step forward for the City. In addition, a program plan has been worked out with the YMCA, and Community Services will be using their staff, under a mitigation agreement, to go onto the high school campuses and actually produce noontime intermural programs. Mr. Miller asked for that to be included in her department's objectives, stating he would like to see that spelled out as it showcases exactly what the Community Services Department is doing. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to the last page of Ms. McCart's report, noting he liked her department particularly well because it was the "fun stuff". He noted one of the department objectives stated teen programs would increase by 30% each year, and asked what kinds of programs this referred to? Ms. McCart stated staff had begun preliminary discussions, noting Community Services was already doing teen programming, although obviously not enough. She explained the department sports programs, camps, classes, and the Young Performers' Theater Program was probably the biggest teen theater program in the County. She stated the Department was going to build on those successes, focusing on opportunities rather than facilities, trying to put the programs back into the community and back onto campuses, capturing the audience where SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 20 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 21 they live. She acknowledged staff was going to have to build -in some sort of advisory board, regular reporting, and a program development system that comes from the middle school and high school students within the community. She reported staff was contacting other communities to find out how they have done this successfully, but again, she pointed out they were talking about programs and opportunities, not building facilities, not setting aside and dedicating specific space, rather putting more program emphasis on their effort. Mr. Phillips noted this would be flushed -out for the meeting tomorrow evening, and with City Manager Gould's brief introduction, he stated it would be interesting to see how Ms. McCart would be able to work that kind of magic. Councilmember/Member Phillips stated he assumed they would also be discussing more the different types of programs, and he would like to be able to differentiate between the specific programs, and know which ones were new. Ms. McCart stated a full menu of programs would not be presented tomorrow evening, as that had not yet been developed; however, staff knew the areas where there have been requests, and there were partnerships already in place, so the Department could begin from those points to put the Community Services program together. She noted it would take awhile, it would likely be in place in December or January. Mr. Phillips felt it would be appropriate for staff to bring this item back to the Council at a later date. Referring to the community input, he noted it seemed as though everyone talked about that issue, and he believed the City would be getting more and more pressure in that particular area. He stated 30% was a large increase, and would take some real effort. He noted Mr. Gould had stated the budget, in and of itself, had not increased except for the department's outside efforts, and because there was so much emphasis on this, he hoped it would be adequately funded by the combination of efforts. Councilmember/Member Phillips asked for further explanation concerning the goal that all staff be trained to serve during the Millennium Party and post production, and respond to Y2K scenarios. Ms. McCart stated her department would probably be impacted over a longer period of time than most. She explained that as the date draws near, production companies will be using the "B" Street Community Center, and Albert Park will be a staging area, as will the parking lots; therefore, staff will be managing the buildings for this event, for approximately five days before the event and four days after. In addition, she stated they would have to staff up and make certain they are servicing the event, noting Community Services programs would be on hiatus during that period, as all emphasis will be on actually getting the event into and out of the facilities. She reported the Community Services Department was also responsible for care and shelter in an emergency response, and they want to make sure they are up to speed in the event it becomes necessary. Mr. Phillips noted the reference to responding to Y2K scenarios, and asked what type of possibilities were being considered? Ms. McCart stated her department needed to have contingency plans for child care, and for the possibility that the facilities might be used in response to an emergency, as well as providing regular operations at other locations, away from the normal facilities. Mr. Gould reported the City would be activating the EOC on the night of the Millennium Party, just to monitor the event and everything going on in San Rafael. He explained there would be several contingency plans that can be put into place, depending on the events that evening, noting those could involve Community Services activating emergency shelters. Mr. Phillips felt that if these contingencies were being planned for, staff must be defining them in order to plan what would be done if they should occur. As an example, Mr. Gould explained that if the City had to evacuate a large facility, such as a hotel or apartment building, due to a major malfunction of a system, that would require some emergency shelter, and could necessitate opening one of the community centers as a temporary shelter. Mr. Phillips asked Mr. Gould to list some of those scenarios in his Friday Memo to the City Council. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to the department objective which states staff will participate in at least one park renovation project annually, and asked for more detail. Ms. McCart explained staff was going to bring the three parks to fruition this season, noting Pickleweed Park would be next, where they will complete the third phase of the renovation, noting that project, along with the child care relocation at Short School, would be their main focus next year. Mr. Phillips recalled Ms. McCart's earlier memo regarding development at Freitas Park, and asked if that was going to require additional funding? Ms. McCart stated it would not, and explained that re -designing the water feature was actually go to save some money, and stretch the available dollars a little further into the project. Mr. Phillips stated people were starting to ask when they were going to see this project completed. Ms. McCart reported design problems had been found with the water feature, which will be the pivotal point of the entire project; however, she stated they know believed they were on the right path. Mr. Phillips asked if she had any idea when the project might begin and finish? Ms. McCart reported they were now planning to start in August. SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 21 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 22 Councilmember/Agency Member Heller referred to the performance measures for Youth and Family Services, pointing out the number of children served in child care was at 1,500 this year, and staff was estimating that would go up to 1,850. She noted that was a huge increase for the City to take care of, and asked where they were going to put the extra children? Ms. McCart stated this went along with staff's plan to provide more afterschool opportunities, thereby involving more families in child care. Ms. Heller asked if that meant that some of them would actually be on school grounds, and they were not all coming to the child care facility? Ms. McCart stated that was correct. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he felt that in all the youth planning staff will do, he truly believed the afterschool program was the most critical, at every economic level. He noted that when a child is home alone, whether they live in the Canal, Terra Linda, or Dominican, there is the potential for an issue to arise. He believed the City should do whatever it can, whether it be working with the schools, the YMCA, or whoever, to offer programs, noting that if it came to the point where the City had to subsidize some of those programs, he still believed it was something that would be worthwhile to pursue. He stated there is an issue with kids who are along between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, and from all he reads and what Police Chief Sanchez has told him, that is where the potential problems come about. He stated the City should do whatever it can to interact with those kids and give them something constructive to do, noting the schools are even offering tutoring and homework help, and there are many other things that could be done, and he believed that if the City is going to put effort into youth programs, that was an area where he felt the City could really help the community, and help the kids the most. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated Ms. McCart and Mr. Scarf have done a great job and the program has worked well, and he thanked them both for their efforts. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT: Economic Development Director Nancy Mackle stated that over the next two years the Economic Development Department would try to keep the momentum they have had going over the past few years. She noted the current projects were listed in the department's objectives, including such things as Macy's re -use, the hotel downtown, and the cineplex. She reported staff would be bringing bonds before the Agency next week, and there was a new list of projects that will be starting soon, including projects in the Canal area, as well as downtown parking and traffic improvements, the child care facility to replace the Short School site, and infrastructure improvements for the undergrounding of wires, drainage, and the like. Ms. Mackle reported staff would also be covering some administration costs from the bond, noting she would report on that in more detail at the meeting tomorrow evening. Beyond the existing projects, Ms. Mackle noted staff would continue the Economic Development functions in terms of technical assistance to developers, downtown parking management, and downtown management in general. In addition, she noted staff was always coordinating and looking for new Redevelopment projects, perhaps along West Francisco Boulevard after the freeway widening, or any other opportunities that may come about. In the area of housing, Ms. Mackle reported there would be rehabilitation of some of the housing in the Canal area, although she noted they may need to change the focus of how they go about doing that. She stated they would also be working on the Below Market Rate program in coordination with the Community Development Department, noting staff currently works with a consultant in this area, but will be doing more of this in-house. She stated that change would likely not be visible to the community, but doing it in-house would make a big difference in how they get things done. Ms. Mackle reported the Community Development Block Grant program would also be coming in-house, and her department would be taking a lead role in bringing projects to the City Council for them to set the priorities for the use of those funds. Referring to community events, Ms. Mackle noted there were over 60 events per year, with the newest being the Millennium Party and the Mercado, which will start in July in the Canal. Councilmember/Agency Member Miller noted his interests came from the Canal perspective, which he believed actually became a Citywide perspective when looking at the methodology behind it. He stated there were two items from the City Council's priorities, under the Canal Capacity Building, which he believed applied to the operations and effectiveness of the Redevelopment Agency. The first was the collaborative efforts of the Canal Development Team, and Mr. Miller stated that had the implications that the Redevelopment Agency was going to go into a very strong, heavy coordination effort with the other City departments. He felt this would have to be lifted far above the level of the present cooperation and collaboration, and that the Agency would have to use the SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 22 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 23 same model that is happening out in the Canal Development Team, and have that implemented through the Redevelopment Agency. He believed that should be one of the basic key result areas, as it would empower the Agency. Mr. Miller stated the second objective was to target development projects to support community - building activities. He noted that was the Agency's whole methodology, pointing out the way it is set-up is by law, and being determined that the project is going to go in. He stated that "can do" effort was exactly what made things go. However, he pointed out the model was already set up from the Downtown Vision, and he believed the reason the Vision for the Downtown had developed, and the reason they had been able to do all the economic development and all the good redevelopment "stuff", was because they pumped $400,000 into the process of bringing that community together. He pointed out they began with the community before they started with the actual projects, and he would like to see something a little more poignant and in which they do that again, in whatever community process they take. He acknowledged it did not have to be a visioning process, but it needed to be a community-based process. He believed that if the Agency did that first, then its as they have always said, "It's not what we do, it's how we go in there". Mr. Miller believed the Redevelopment Agency, by that process, had changed governance in this City, noting the influence of the Redevelopment Agency at this point was unbelievable. Councilmember/Agency Member Heller referred to the objective of rehabilitating one apartment property per year through the Canal Area Housing Improvement Program. She stated she had gotten the impression that perhaps they were going to have to look at a new way to implement that program, as it was just not working. She asked what was happening with BRIDGE, and with that program, and whether the Agency is moving forward on it, or instead, changing directions on it. Ms. Mackle stated the Agency was doing both, now that it had some new funding. She explained the Agency was still working with BRIDGE Housing; however, the problem was that the market is booming and they are not finding anyone motivated to sell, especially to someone related to the government. She pointed out that private buyers could buy much quicker, sometimes with cash, so the Agency was not in a competitive state to be able to buy a property, explaining the Agency needs several more months for relocation plans and the like. She stated the Agency was trying to see what advantages it could offer, and staff continues to work with a wonderful real estate broker in San Rafael. She stated the Agency has not yet given up, but the reality is that the Agency has come into this during a very tough market. Councilmember/Agency Member Phillips referred to the department objective to facilitate Citywide Economic Development, including North and East San Rafael in the downtown and Canal area. He noted those were distinctly different in many ways, and also because of the parameters of the Redevelopment Agency, which does not include North San Rafael. He asked for clarification regarding what some of the Agency's ideas are for the Economic Development in North San Rafael. Ms. Mackle explained they were thinking specifically of such things as the Northgate Mall expansion and the Fairchild site, noting many of these things would be in coordination with the Community Development Department, with the Redevelopment Agency traditionally working in a technical assistant mode, make sure they can shepherd some of these projects through the system. Mr. Phillips asked if this meant that someone has a problem or an area they would like to explore with staff regarding Economic Development, then staff has done that and will continue to do so? Ms. Mackle stated that was correct. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen recalled one of the things they had talked about in making this an Economic Development Department was to look at opportunities to work outside the boundaries of the Redevelopment Agency, noting great things are done within the boundaries of the Agency, but there were also other opportunities outside those boundaries, and he believed the City needed to be proactive in those areas. Mr. Cohen stated he would like to see the Economic Development Department become a little more proactive in those areas than simply providing technical assistance, which he felt seemed reactive; such as when someone comes forward with a project, and the Agency reacts and supports them through the process. He acknowledged that was an important role to play; however, he also felt it would behoove the Economic Development Department, to the extent it is possible, to do that and have influence without using the kind of tools used within the Redevelopment Agency, and to look at it from the prospective of what kinds of projects the City wants, what is going to fit in and enhance San Rafael's economic vitality, what kinds of uses does the City want to encourage from an economic development standpoint on the Fairchild site, and could the Economic Development Department help to shape that in terms of what the City's economic vision of San Rafael is. He stated he would like to see the department focus on this. He acknowledged it was hard for staff to find the resources to enable them to do that, and that was where he believed this became a budget issue. City Manager Gould stated he believed staff was already doing that. He pointed out the Commerce Clearing House development as a good example in which the developer came forward and stated he believed he had some entitlement to build additional office space, to which the Redevelopment Agency SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 23 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 24 had said, "time out", and told the developer they all needed to refer to the North San Rafael Vision and talk about what the developer needed to do for the community to make this acceptable, regardless of his entitlements. He reported staff had done the same thing regarding the Fairchild site, meeting with the property owner and shepherding him toward areas where the development would be acceptable, and the same is being done with the Macerich Corporation at Northgate Mall. Mr. Cohen stated that if he had not know that, and were to read this document, he would not find that anywhere in the document. He stated if that was what technical assistance meant to say, then that was good. Mr. Gould stated it was steering economic development outside the project area. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen referred to the comment concerning economic development and input to the General Plan Update, noting he saw that as needing to be beefed-up. He believed a lot of what was being talked about, such as the concepts the City is going to be including in the next General Plan, could be considered what is called "smart growth". He explained that increasingly around the Bay Area, people are agreeing that this is something that has to be taken seriously, and he felt that what San Rafael has done over the past several years could be a textbook on smart growth, with in -fill and mixed-use projects. He believed those projects needed to be incorporated into the General Plan, so as other people come to San Rafael seeking development opportunities and the City provides them with guidelines, an important leg of that concept will be economic development, along with environmental protection and equity or social issues. Mr. Cohen stated that understanding the local economy and the City's role was an important piece of that, and he looked to the Economic Development Department to play an important role, not just with technical assistance in community development, but also being an active partner in development. He believed the next General Plan needed to reflect a lot more of those economic concepts than was done ten years, noting the City had learned a lot since then. Councilmember/Agency Member Cohen felt there was one major objective that missing under the Economic Development Planning. He noted he had seen the movie The Phantom Menace, and it caused him to reflect that whatever happens with the Presidio Trust, the City was going to need to address that issue. He explained that if the Presidio Trust chooses the Lucas proposal, and five of Mr. Lucas' companies leave the San Rafael area, the City was going to want to manage that economic development opportunity, and that was not referenced in the Economic Development Planning. He stated he agreed with the confidence that those spaces were going to fill up, and fairly rapidly; however, he noted it would be nice to be able to steer that if the City has the opportunity to do so. In addition, he stated the City was going to have to look at the impacts that would spill over onto other departments, noting that if the City ends up with a lot of users in there, there may be some severe traffic impacts which may limit other economic development opportunities the City currently thinks it has. Therefore, he believed the City would really have to handle the situation if Mr. Lucas leaves. He felt that if the Presidio Trust chooses another proposal, the City would then need to look at the economic development opportunity that presents itself to retaining Mr. Lucas' firms here in San Rafael. He noted previous conversations have not addressed their desires, and he acknowledged that may not be possible, as the City did not have a Presidio Park available for that kind of campus. However, if Lucas is not chosen by the Presidio Trust, then the Economic Development Department is going to have to look at how the City and the Agency can be more proactive in trying to get to them and providing opportunities to keep firms like ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) in San Rafael. He believed that was something that should be reflected in the Economic Development Planning objectives. City Manager/Agency Director Gould stated he had attended a luncheon meeting at the Yale Club in San Francisco, where Richard Riley, past EPA Administrator and member of the Presidio Trust, and environmental lawyer Mary Murphy were speakers, and their message had been that while the decision had been postponed, it was imminent, and they were currently in secret negotiations with the chosen developer. Mr. Gould noted they had been very careful not to reveal the preferred developer, there had been two hints. One was that both speakers went out of their way to state they were not being influenced by lobbying, which they called a figment of the media's imagination. Mr. Gould reported they had been very sensitive regarding that, which he felt tended to indicate they favored Shorenstein. He stated they also pointed out that the need to provide workforce housing was important in the Presidio as a whole, and because the Lucas proposal does not provide any of that, and in fact draws on the additional inventory that is planned for development, that appeared to be a strike against them. Mr. Gould stated the decision would probably be made tomorrow or the next day. Mr. Cohen stated that whatever happens, the City cannot sit on its hands on this issue, and that would be an impact on the Economic Development Department. Mayor/Chairman Boro noted there are a number of parking spaces in town, under private ownership, that are locked -up at night, which are not being used but could be used. He stated the City needed to investigate who owns those spaces, what it would take to make them available to the public, and how that would SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 24 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 25 work. He pointed out there was a five -story parking lot, parking under the new building across from St. Raphael's and at Kaiser, and whatever may come up at the former Macy's site, noting those were resources that were already here, and the only cost would be for an attendant. He stated he really believed the City could do something with those spaces, at least in the short-term, and he hoped this would be included as part of the survey on parking needs and status, so the City can come to closure on what is there, what it would take to make those spaces available, and what kind of plan it would take to get those spaces into the public sector. Mayor/Chairman Boro wished Ms. Mackle good luck on her new efforts, stating the Council/Agency looked forward to many years of working with her with much success. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Police Chief Cam Sanchez stated the one constant in today's economy was change, and organizations re -organize, structure, and re-engineer at a furious pace, and then they begin the process all over again. He explained the anticipation of problems was the focus of the Police Department's budget, goals and objectives, noting their reorganization and goals and objectives reflect what they believe to be the best manner in which to address community policing issues, as well as employee development, and certainly management accountability to the City Council, the City Manager, and the people they supervise. Chief Sanchez stated the Police Department's goal is to keep the City safe, noting that included schools, parks, the business community, as well as the City's residential areas. He explained the Department's strategy included zero tolerance regarding gangs, drugs, and anything that would jeopardize or compromise the safety of everyone in the City. Chief Sanchez stated the Department's objectives were to develop a two-year strategic plan for the department; to develop long-term solutions by initiating the planning process by December, 1999, with projected completion by June 30th of next year; to prevent the presence of school violence, strength youth services programs in conjunction with the City of San Rafael Community Services Department, San Rafael School District, and community-based organizations as part of the San Rafael School Links Services Cluster; to secure safe and healthy neighborhood environments Citywide, focusing first on the Downtown and Canal communities; obtaining sufficient workspace for Department personnel by June 30th of next year, if at all possible; utilizing the Citizens Advisory Committee with enhanced community outreach through neighborhood surveys and continued community meetings; to develop a customer service training program for all department employees by June 30th of next year; and to really focus on suppression of gang activity by June 30, 2001. Councilmember/Member Heller referred to the performance measures for the traffic enforcement program, noting there was quite an increase in moving violations and citations. She asked if that was due to the two added Police Officers, or a reflection of the entire department? Chief Sanchez stated it was the entire department, noting they had both of the grant -funded motorcycle officers working, plus the one they already had, although they did not yet have the fourth motorcycle officer on the street because of injuries. He reported the department had changed a lot of the patrol protocols, so that now all officers in black and white police cars are also enforcing traffic, not just the motorcycle officers. Ms. Heller asked if that was a new, or improved, revenue stream for the Police Department? Chief Sanchez stated it was. City Manager/Executive Director Rod Gould noted staff would be recommending that a good portion of the anticipated revenue from fines and forfeitures related to traffic enforcement be used to fill some gaps in the Police Department; and to the extent that the revenues exceed the projections, that they be put aside into a building fund for the Police Department so that, in essence, it can pay for its own building needs in the future. Councilmember/Member Phillips stated he was trying to calculate how much they would get from 5,000 citations. Chief Sanchez stated he would be providing that information when the budget hearings continue tomorrow evening, noting they would be amazed. Ms. Heller asked if the Police Officers realized they were getting money back for a good purpose? Chief Sanchez stated all of the department's employees were aware of the stream and the change in formulas. Chief Sanchez pointed out that his first two years at San Rafael the biggest issue had been injury accidents, noting there had been several fatal accidents, and that was what had led to the Police Department seeking the grant, and to refocusing the enforcement effort to all employees, not just the motorcycle officers. He stated that was what had really driven where they are today. Ms. Heller asked if, when the grants are up for the two motorcycle officers, whether the new revenue stream would be able to pay for them to continue, and still be able to put aside money into the building fund? Chief Sanchez stated that was correct. Ms. Heller complimented Chief Sanchez on SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 25 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 26 his good planning. Councilmember/Member Phillips referred to the department objective to reduce gang -related offenses by 10%, and asked how they arrived at 10% rather than 50% or some other percentage? Chief Sanchez stated they wanted something that was attainable, noting the gang issues in the City were minimal, although the last two or three incidents had been of the violent sort. He stated they felt this was a good, attainable goal, noting there were four people who are focused and concentrating on gang issues, and the reason they left the goal at 10% was because the focus of the Street Crimes Unit has been changed, and they are now riding bicycles in the Canal, teaching in the elementary schools on the issues and consequences of violence and gangs, and meeting with parents. He reported that two years ago the Street Crimes Unit was totally focused on enforcement; now they are using the same number of people, but have added two more tasks. Therefore, the 10% seemed attainable and reasonable. Mr. Phillips asked how they would determine whether the goal had been met? Mr. Gould explained the information would come from the records management system, where the number of incidents tagged as "gang related" should fall by 10%, or more, during the next two years. Mr. Gould believed concerted effort against certain apartment buildings that were renting to gang members would help in knocking that number down, and the preventative measure the Police Department is initiating in conjunction with Community Services and the YMCA should also have a beneficial effect. Councilmember/Member Phillips referred to performance measurements for patrol, noting problem oriented policing projects went from zero to 50 to 100, with 100 in each of the budget years. He asked for examples of those kinds of projects, noting 100 seemed like a lot. Chief Sanchez explained the process was that when a Police Officer responds to a call for service, besides the call for service they have been asked to accomplish, they are also looking for other things, such as Code Enforcement issues, perhaps child safety issues, or fire issues. He noted the Officers were now beginning their own projects, pointing out they were now on steady beats, and part of the steady beat process was to stay in contact with the residents on their beats for six months. He explained all of the Officers had been introduced to all of the communities, and they have really begun to create their own projects for themselves and their team, noting they are a team for six months. He stated the Officers fill out a "POP" form, citing each project and who they are going to team up with, such as Code Enforcement or the Fire Department, and then the Officer and Sergeant Jim Kelly address the problem. Chief Sanchez stated the issue that concerned him was that they have not yet been able to track the projects and their completion as well as they could have, and they were now developing a way to track them better, and see that they are completed and accomplished. Chief Sanchez noted many of these projects actually come from people in Public Works or Code Enforcement, as they often see issues the Police Department needs to look at; therefore, many of the projects come from sources other than the Police Officer on the beat, and those projects are taken on as Community Policing projects. Councilmember/Member Phillips referred to the areas of staffing training, asking if Chief Sanchez was satisfied the budget he was going to propose would provide for adequate staffing and training? Chief Sanchez stated he was. Mr. Phillips noted overtime was dropping by 25%, from $470,000 in 1998-1999 to $330,000, which was static for the two-year period. He asked if there was any way to further reduce that? Chief Sanchez stated the biggest issue was that the Police Department currently had eight people out on long-term injuries. He noted they had gone to a new patrol schedule, which has helped, putting more people on the street and providing plenty of coverage. Chief Sanchez stated of those eight people out on long-term injuries, seven work Patrol, and three are not going to return; however, he believed that getting back to full staff would be a big cure for this issue. Councilmember/Member Cohen stated he understood the recommendation that would be presented tomorrow evening, and while he was all right with that, he felt the City needed to be cautious about viewing citations as a revenue source, and should stress that the incentive is not to write enough tickets to get a new building, suggesting that perhaps when the item is discussed tomorrow evening they might want to include a qualifier. Comparing this to Part I Crimes, Mr. Cohen noted the number of Part I Crimes went down not because the Police Department was being less effective in catching the bad guys or because incidents were not being reported, it was because the City wanted the number to incidents to go down. Similarly, like the approach to Part I Crimes and to the fines collected by Code Enforcement, he believed the long-term goals ought to be that citation revenue should go down because people know the Police Officers are out there and effective, and they slow down and stop at stop signs because they know if they do not they will be caught and have to pay the ticket. Therefore, he felt the long-term goal should be for those numbers to go back down again SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 26 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 27 because enforcement is effective, and the fear of enforcement is the most effective tool the City has. He stated that should be expressed as a long-term goal, and it should be explained clearly, as he was it could be misconstrued. City Manager/Executive Director Gould stated staff would do a better job of explaining that, noting that rather than commit all of the new revenue to ongoing expenses, whether it be personnel or additional recurring costs, they were thinking of taking a portion of it and assuming it was "one-time" funds, whether it is used for workspace, information system acquisition, or something else. He noted the key indicator in both Patrol and Traffic Enforcement is the steady decrease in injury accidents and traffic collisions. Ms. Heller pointed out that was the biggest concern in the neighborhoods. Mr. Cohen cautioned that when 7,000 constituents suddenly start getting traffic tickets, there is going to be a lot of complaining. Mr. Gould stated he did not believe that would be the case. Mayor/ Chairman Boro stated that even if they do not hear people complain, he would not want to see this portrayed as a way to make money. He believed it was important that the City is responding to such a big issue. He noted the State has been successful with the drunk driving law because people know there is a penalty if they get caught, and hopefully,if people understand San Rafael is tough on traffic violations there will be a decrease over time. Chief Sanchez stated the one thing that was constant was their goal to decrease fatalities and injury accidents, and they have done that. He noted he was not sure people would always stop at the stop signs to avoid a citation, but the bottom line was that fatalities were down to almost nil, and injury accidents were way down. He stated that goal, which had been a priority of the Council and the community, has been met, and will continue to be the driving force in the way the Police Officers do their job. Councilmember/Member Cohen stated that like the number of moving vehicle citations, the number of vehicle impounds projected from Patrol also caught his attention, which jumps from 90 to 350, and even more, the project number of impounds from Traffic Enforcement, which jumped from 120 to 500 next year and 600 the following year, which meant that taken together in those two program areas, impounds were going to jump from 120 to 850 next year, a four fold increase, and continue upward by another 10% the following year to nearly 1,000. He also was struck by one of the objectives under the Abandoned Vehicle Program, which states, "To develop a cost recovery system for towed and impounded vehicles by June, 2001". He asked if those were unrelated items, or if the City actually had a way to recover the costs of the fourfold increase in impounded vehicles? Chief Sanchez stated those were unrelated items. Mr. Cohen asked for more detail concerning the fourfold increase in impounded vehicles, and whose cars were being taken. Chief Sanchez explained they included unregistered vehicles on the road and vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers. He acknowledged the Department had not done a very good job with this so far; however, they believed that would improve because of the additional Motorcycle Officers and the current movement of Police Officers. He noted that prior to this, they had one of the Parking Enforcement Officers handling abandoned vehicles, and now the Department was moving toward having everyone available handling that. Mr. Cohen asked if it was Chief Sanchez' expectation that a high percentage of those vehicles would be reclaimed, and the fines would be paid, including the cost of towing and impounding the vehicles. Chief Sanchez stated that was correct, explaining the ones the Traffic Enforcement Officer takes now, for the most part, are never recovered, because she is usually picking -up vehicles that are unregistered, un -driveable, and have been abandoned for a long time. He noted the Traffic Enforcement Officer concentrates on those because those are the calls her supervisor receives; however, the entire Department is going to concentrate on the other types of vehicles even more. Mr. Cohen noted that this, much like the number of citations, was really a function of increased enforcement, and the Police Department's ability to do a higher level of service. Mr. Gould noted it was also due to the change in State law, because in the case of unregistered and unlicensed drivers, the law now allows the Police Department to take the car, and having found that there is a proportionate number of accidents are being caused by drivers who are unlicensed, this is a way of getting them off the road. Therefore, the Police Department will be employing the new tools under the State law, and impounds should be jumping up. Mr. Gould referred to another objective that had been described, noting the Police Department wants to investigate whether or not there might be a way for the City to develop its own impound yard, either through contract or ownership, in order to do a better job of providing that service and recovering additional costs. He pointed out that was something a number of police departments have done, noting it can be done in a public/private partnership or all public, although currently it is strictly a private operation. Mr. Gould noted that as the numbers increase, the City needs to plan for the future. Councilmember/Member Miller referred to two goals in the Key Result Area; one to refine or study patrol beat strategy to be able to respond to calls for service more effectively, and enhance Patrol Beat Officer problem -solving in their respective beats, and the other to strengthen communications within the SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 27 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 28 community through the enhancement of Neighborhood Watch, community meetings, and other presentations, and to develop a strong partnership with the churches, etc. He noted the gang related officers going into the classrooms also worked this. Mr. Miller stated he saw all this as an indicator of a Police Department that is fully engaged in Community Policing, and rather than having the Officers working on separate areas of concern, the Department has begun to successfully drive the entire Department into Community Policing activities, which he though was really marvelous, and for which he congratulated Chief Sanchez and his department. Mayor/Chairman Boro referred to school safety, noting he, City Manager Gould, and City Attorney Ragghianti had recently met with the two school boards and discussed the issue of safety. He reported they discussed doing something to reach the parents, and the suggestion was made that they try to plan something in the Fall, perhaps at Back to School Night, when many of the parents would be there. He noted the reaction had been mixed, at best; however, he stated there was an issue, and the parents were concerned about school safety, and since the Police Department has trained people who could help the parents, he hoped the Police Department would work with the two school superintendents to see if the City could maximize its presence working with them on a program of school safety this Fall. He believed the City owed that to the community. Mayor/Chairman Boro noted Chief Sanchez had not made much reference to the Millennium, and he assumed that was an oversight. Chief Sanchez stated that would be included. Mayor/Chairman Boro complimented Chief Sanchez on the Chaplain's program, stating it had really taken hold, and had brought another dimension to the Police Department, one that was quite effective. Regarding injured Police Officers, Mayor/Chairman Boro asked if there was any kind of required Department training or exercise programs of which the Officers might avail themselves to try to help with this situation, or were the injuries just something that happens in the line of duty, and whether they were preventable or something that just happens? Chief Sanchez stated all of them were unpreventable, noting most of them had occurred when an Officer was fighting or chasing a suspect, and one was caused by a hit and run, all circumstances that were not the Officers' fault. Councilmember/Member Heller asked if it was also the fact that the City has an aging police force, and whether the injuries were happening to the older officers, or to the younger ones, as well? Chief Sanchez stated it was happening to the younger officers. He noted the Department was not aging, pointing out the last twelve hires being quite young. He stated that of the seven injured Patrol Officers, most of them were under 30 years old. Mayor/Chairman Boro referred to the chart under Downtown Footbeat Patrol, which shows a substantial decrease in the calls for nuisance service between 1997 to 2001, down from 1,235 calls to 800. He asked, with the changing nature of the downtown and the activities that will be there at night and on weekends, whether that was realistic? Chief Sanchez believed it was, noting that as mentioned in earlier comments regarding downtown issues and the hours of the Police Officers, this was already changing. He pointed out the City was already seeing a lot of night life, but by changing the Officers' hours, he believed they would see that this was not a unrealistic goal. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked if Chief Sanchez believed the Police Officers' presence would cause people to behave? Chief Sanchez stated he did. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked whether the Parking Enforcement Officers were under the Police Department or Management Services? Chief Sanchez stated they were under his department. Assistant City Manager Nordhoff explained the Parking Enforcement personnel who ride the carts were under the Police Department. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked about garage maintenance, and Mr. Nordhoff explained that was under Economic Development. Mayor/Chairman Boro thanked Chief Sanchez for a great job and the hard work of his department. Chief Sanchez introduced Lynne Olsen, thanking her for doing such a good job of helping with the budget, working on grants for the department, and keeping him "on task". PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT: Public Works Director/Assistant Executive Director(Public Works) David Bernardi reported the Public Works Department was switching into a mode of maintaining the City's infrastructure. He stated Public Works had many Capital Improvement projects they would be working on, on a multi-year basis, including the relocation of the Corporation Yard; conducting an analysis of the street sweeping program;bringing to Council at the first meeting in June the selection of a consultant to conduct a vehicle replacement study to determine whether the City's vehicle replacement program is funded appropriately, how to pay for the SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 28 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 29 vehicles once they are in the fleet, and to develop a program to help in handling the cost of operating some of the equipment. Mr. Bernardi reported they were also conducting an Energy Audit of the City's facilities, and by calculating the amount of energy savings that might be achieved by making changes to the current system, the City will be able to pay for those changes with no additional costs from the General Fund or other funding sources. He stated other projects they would be working on included the Second Street widening, which would begin shortly; the Lindaro pump station; working with the Redevelopment Agency and Community Services Department to implement new and complex Redevelopment Agency projects, which will involve public participation as well as the design and actual construction. He stated dredging was another issue that had been raised by the Council, noting the Public Works Department was working to effect a disposal site, and working with the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the full Canal. Public Works is also working with Community Services on various park projects. Mr. Bernardi stated the Public Works Department was fully engaged on the "nuts and bolts" projects, and they were very excited about that. Councilmember/Member Phillips referred to the Performance Measures for the Garage, noting the number of times vehicles are being serviced increases rather significantly over the budget period, from approximately 560 to 700. He stated he presumed that was necessary, and that this would be in the budget, and asked if the City had been over servicing or under servicing in the past? Mr. Bernardi explained the department wanted to do a better job of servicing the vehicles it has, noting that Assistant Public Works Director Frank Prim has found, in looking at the maintenance records of the vehicles, that they have not been spending enough time maintaining them for the long haul. He explained that if they were going to keep the vehicles for ten years, which is the current policy, they needed to spend more time with them. Therefore, Mr. Prim has increased the amount of service and maintenance to make sure they last for ten years or 100,000 miles. Mr. Phillips asked if, on balance, this was a better economic decision than has been made in prior years? Mr. Bernardi stated that was correct. Regarding the two-year objective to maintain shop productivity and operating cost at levels that compare favorably with the private sector, Mr. Phillips asked what has prevented them from obtaining those levels in the past? Mr. Bernardi stated one of the objectives of this division was to look at that very issue, noting staff believed they compared very favorably with private industry in terms of the turnaround time on vehicles. He stated one of the issues Mr. Gould has raised in the past was whether that entire operation should be contracted out, and staff was going to look at the questions of how efficiently they are operating, at what cost, and if it could be done cheaper if it was privatized. Mr. Phillips asked how inefficient it has been in the past? Mr. Bernardi stated he would not characterize it as having been inefficient, although staff may have spent some of their time doing the wrong things. He noted, for example, that the department contracts out front-end alignments; however, the City could do front-end alignments for approximately $25.00, and spends approximately $60.00 outside. He stated that if the department could find a way to fund the right equipment and do it more efficiently in-house, then that was something they should be seriously looking at. Mr. Phillips asked if Public Works was going to try this and see if they can reach that level, and if they can, do it differently? Mr. Bernardi stated that was one of their objectives. Mr. Gould explained the goal was to look at the 40 or 50 operations that are done regularly in the in-house shop and determine which ones were the most cost effective to continue to do in-house, and which ones should be sent out. However, he noted that until they begin doing unit pricing and determining what each of those things cost, and then compare that to what it would cost to buy it from a local service station or specialty shop, they would not know. He stated they hoped that with a better work order tracking system, which Mr. Prim hopes to implement, they will be able to get a much better true costing of what some of the ongoing operations cost. Mr. Phillips asked if these measurement tools were in place to make that judgment? Mr. Gould stated there plan was to include that technology. Mr. Phillips asked if that would be included in the budget? Mr. Gould stated it would. Councilmember/Member Heller asked for an update regarding graffiti abatement. Mr. Bernardi stated Public Works had someone who has been doing graffiti abatement for the last month. Ms. Heller stated the downtown looked very good, and she had not noticed any graffiti in North San Rafael, noting she believed this was a very good program, and has made the community feel good about itself. Mr. Bernardi stated the numbers were fairly constant, based on past experience, and he noted they did not anticipate an increase unless something were to change drastically in the community. Councilmember/Member Cohen referred to the issue of sidewalks. He stated there was beginning to be money for infrastructure, noting there was a lot of grant money being used for the maintenance of City streets and roadways. He asked if SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 29 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 30 any of that money was available for sidewalks, or if there were other sources of money to deal with pedestrian issues? He felt that, clearly, the public was not satisfied, nor was he, with the policy that all the City was going to do is grind down tripping hazards and let the sidewalks continue to look bad. Mr. Gould stated staff would be providing the Council with a budget option tomorrow night that would begin to set aside increasing amounts of general tax dollars for infrastructure maintenance, and would further suggest the Council to allow a portion of that to be earmarked for a sidewalk replacement program. He stated that if they had to begin to bite -off $50,000 per year to begin to replace some of the worst sidewalks and ramps, then they should get started, noting staff fully concurred with Council's reasoning. Mr. Cohen stated he had always been curious about figuring out how much the City spends in terms of liability, defending itself against claims by people who have tripped on sidewalks. He asked what would happen if the City were to make a serious effort to match that in additional monies spent on addressing the condition of the sidewalks, and whether the City would have better sidewalks and fewer liability claims? Mr. Gould stated staff had looked at that question, explaining San Rafael was one of those lucky cities, and given the deplorable condition of its sidewalks, he was astounded the City does not have more trip and fall claims and lawsuits. He noted that even given the low incidence the City experiences in San Rafael, Mr. Cohen's point is well taken, because a good claim is worth $16,000 to $60,000, and the City could end up spending a lot of money. Mr. Gould pointed out the City's need is so great that he believed it would take many years of intensive spending before they could begin to further reduce what we have out there. He noted that across the country, cities with terrible sidewalks sometimes do not have many claims, while others with immaculate sidewalks get a lot of them, depending upon what the community expects. Mr. Cohen noted all that was mentioned in this budget was grinding the sidewalks, not replacing them, and that they were dropping from a couple of years ago when they did 3,400 lineal feet to 700 lineal feet. Mr. Bernardi stated that had been a value judgment on staff's part, noting they may ultimately end up doing more. He explained they would be spending more time on potholes a different way, and instead of just getting asphalt and filling the hole, they were going to actually dig up the pavement and make it a full -depth repair, which would mean they will not have to go back after three months and repair what has come out of the hole, instead, once they make the pothole repair, they are not going to have to come back again, which takes more time. He stated that was the kind of thing they had been looking at, noting that in the statistics for pothole patching, they were going to be spending more for asphalt and physical employee time in patching the potholes, which meant they had to do less sidewalk grinding in order to do the potholes, reiterating that had been a judgment call on staff's part. Mr. Gould noted the hours for temporary sidewalk repairs were also increasing, from 156 to 170. Councilmember/Member referred to traffic mitigation. He noted he had spoken with City Manager Gould about this issue, and Mr. Gould had assured him the City was doing all it could at this point. However, Mr. Cohen stated he was very concerned about the traffic model and the delivery date of the model. He felt the notion that the City could end up with the delivery date of the traffic model delaying the work product of the St.Vincent's/Silveira committee, for example, was something that really concerned him, noting that if it ended up that way, it would not put San Rafael in a very good light. He believed that if there were more resources that could move this up, that should be an option on the table, noting that while it would be a short-term impact, if they could bring an addition person in, or more counters to obtain the data, and if there was an option that involved more money but would ensure they would have the traffic model as soon as possible, he would like to see that. Mr. Gould reported staff had explored that at a meeting with Community Development and Public Works staff, noting they had felt they might be able to hire interns to come in and help input much of the data Community Development is currently capturing concerning the actual development on the 22,000 parcels that must be integrated into the model. He stated it had been explained to them that Senior Planner Linda Jackson would be actually writing the program the extract that data and put it into the model, so there would be no benefit to hiring interns, as most of that will be done automatically. Mr. Gould explained the time consuming part was checking it all for every intersection, and then re -checking it as it flows into other sections of the town. Mr. Gould noted Traffic Engineer Nader Mansourian was concerned because it had originally taken him a year and a half to build the model, and now they were essentially trying to rebuild the model in five months. He noted Mr. Mansourian was of the belief that to do it well, and have confidence in the output, five months was absolutely the narrowest timeframe in which to do his work. Mr. Gould stated that even with more money, he did not see how they could get it done any sooner. Mr. Cohen asked if there was anything Mr. Mansourian was doing for which they could bring someone in to assist him, perhaps to test the output of some of the intersections? Mr. Gould stated that was Ms. Jackson's job. Mr. Cohen asked if someone could come in to assist her, or if this was work that only one person could do? Mr. Bernardi stated that was correct, noting it was simply a SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 30 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 31 tremendous amount of data manipulation. He noted that with a grid system as big as San Rafael's, it took a lot of computer time and manipulation of the data to conform to what staff knows to exist in the field, explaining they had to balance the model. He stated the model itself was one that would take traffic as it is input into the model and distribute it, and staff has to check the computer as to how the distribution occurs, because if it does not occur the way the traffic counts taken in the field have indicated, the model will not be accurate. Mr. Bernardi explained they had to do a lot of trial and error runs, and be able to go through massive amounts of data and check each intersection to make sure the traffic is going where it should be going, and that just takes time. Mr. Cohen asked what the larger cities do, noting he was still not convinced that with additional human and computer resources they could not have more people doing the analysis. Mr. Bernardi stated some of the larger cities constantly update their model, continuously taking counts and traffic measurements, continually inputting that information and updating the model every couple of months. He noted that because of other workload issues, and the way San Rafael's land use development has occurred, the City has not updated its traffic model for a couple of years. Mr. Gould also pointed out the City's traffic model was highly precise, and much more detailed than many large city models; therefore, if the County were to say they would update their traffic model to help the City predict the results, it would be at a level of much less accuracy than what the City will get from its model. Mr. Cohen asked staff to take another look at this issue, acknowledging that five months might be all right, but asking where the contingency plan was? He noted these types of things always took longer than anticipated, especially when it came to something as complicated as this, and he believed that if this were to take six or seven months, the City would have the potential for a real problem. He asked staff to look at whether there were other resources they could bring to bear, noting it was a short-term hit that might be well worth doing if a way could be found to do it. Mayor/Chairman Boro noted he agreed with Mr. Cohen up to a point, but not completely. He stated he was interested in this committee coming up with the designation of locations where activity can occur on the St. Vincent's/Silveira site, noting the density would then be driven by the traffic capacity. He stated if that did not happen to be ready at the time they finished identifying where they could locate the development, it would be unfortunate, but the City was not going to update the General Plan until this data is completed, and then based on the nature of the traffic data, that will influence what is going to go in there. He acknowledged that might be a tough thing for people to grasp, but he saw the prime mission as coming up with the "where", and then the traffic will develop the "what" and "how many". He believed the committee should mainly be looking at where the development envelopes should be. He noted the flip side was that Mr. Mansourian was going to be challenged, as no one is going to believe it no matter how stringent it is, or the property owner is going to think it is too stringent; therefore, the city had to make sure that whatever they do will stand the test of third party scrutiny. Mayor/Chairman Boro felt perhaps they should be discussing this with Economic Development Director Bob Brown and the committee, telling them there was the potential that they would not have the traffic model at the same time they are determine the development envelopes; however, he noted that would be all right because they could always call the committee back, noting the main thing they needed to accomplish at this time was the designation of the space as to where development can go. Mr. Cohen stated his concern was probably more one of perception and public relations, noting he was concerned the committee might reach a point where they had to say they could not go any further because they did not have a functioning traffic model that could test their recommendations as to what the unit counts would be or what the fixes would cost. He noted the next thing he saw happening was someone asking how the City was doing any land use approvals, and if the City cannot predict the outcomes, how could the City let anyone build a department store, theater, or any other project if the traffic model does not work? He felt there was some potential downside, and while it may just be on the level of public relations, he was concerned about this, particularly when they had the St.Vincent's/Silveira process driving toward a conclusion. Councilmember/Member Cohen noted there was a goal in the two-year objectives to utilize data from the recalibrated traffic model to finalize the feasibility of the Freitas Interchange interim improvements for Caltrans by December, 2000. He felt, with the Fairchild site moving forward and Macerich apparently ready to get serious about an additional department store, that the City needed to have a much better idea of what will be feasible at Freitas, sooner than December, 2000. He acknowledged he might be overly optimistic about the timeframe of those projects; however, his expectation, and he believed the community's expectation, as well, would be that at the same time the City is looking at approvals of those projects, they will know what is going to happen at Freitas. He understood the interim solution needed reworking in light of what those two projects; and that was going to take a recalibrated traffic model and some serious work. He stated the City needed to be thinking that this was something that had to happen contemporaneous with those project considerations. He noted SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 31 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 32 that from a public policy aspect, it was not just that this was what the City was going to hear from the community, although he was convinced they would, it was also that there was a significant project on either side of that intersection, and they need to be able to look at what the future of that intersection is going to be. He believed now was the time to look at that, and if there are going to be mitigation fees coming from those projects, they would be looking at whether or not some portion of those should be applied to the improvements; and if so, they need to have some idea of what the improvements are going to look like. He stated that if the City was not going to go back to Caltrans to submit the City's data for their consideration until December, 2000, Caltrans was not known for moving quickly once they receive the data, and he was concerned about this particular objective. Councilmember/Member Cohen announced he had to leave the meeting for a flight to Washington, D.C. Mayor Boro asked Mr. Bernardi to explain the pump station with Caltrans, and why Caltrans is doing that type of project? Mr. Bernardi explained that next to RAB Motors there is a box culvert which goes under the freeway. A number of years ago that culvert was in a serious state of deterioration, and Caltrans went in and repaired it, adding six inches of concrete all the way around; however, in doing that, they made the hole smaller. Mr. Bernardi stated the culvert had always been inadequate, and once they added the extra concrete they made it even more inadequate. He stated Caltrans looked at a number of alternatives to replace that pipe under the freeway, and they could find no feasible alternative that would not back traffic up to Sonoma. Therefore, the cheapest alternative was to build a pump station, which the City would take over. Mr. Bernardi stated the current project is the replacement of what was originally fixing a box culvert under the freeway. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked how big the pipe was going to be? Mr. Bernardi stated the hole under the freeway will be 16 feet in diameter, and the pipe itself will be 9 feet on the inside. Mr. Bernardi noted that as another part of that project, the City has been working very closely with the Bridge District to develop a detour around the intersection. Mayor Boro asked if the reason Caltrans was doing all of this was because the drainage was under their freeway? Mr. Bernardi stated that was correct, and because their pipe was inadequate, and in terms of liability, they had to do this. Councilmember/Member Phillips noted others had mentioned Y2K, and he asked if they were doing things in the Public Works Department related to Y2K? Mr. Bernardi stated they had purchased generators, and the City was covered. Mayor/Chairman Boro thanked Mr. Bernardi for all the great work he and his staff do for the City. MANAGEMENT SERVICES: Assistant City Manager Kenneth Nordhoff noted Y2K would be an important issue for Management Services, and there were a number of projects they wanted to take on next year, such as updating the five-year financial forecast, as well as a number of policy issues they want to review and improve upon. Mr. Nordhoff stated a big change for his department would be to develop significant, quantifiable, useful customer satisfaction indices, noting they were largely internally focused, and had not done this in the past. He saw this as a "stretch goal", in that he did not know if staff was used to perceiving themselves as serving internal customers, and he was not sure to what extent they would welcome constructive criticism from their peers about how to do things better, although he believed it would be warranted. Mr. Nordhoff reported they would be working on improving a number of programs and activities to further enhance their customer service. He stated they would be monitoring this budget at 6, 12, and 18 month intervals, and trying to further improve the reporting given to the Council relative to what they approve as part of the budget process, providing them with useful information that he hopes will be usable in other formats for public information or other purposes. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he was intrigued by the Volunteer Program, noting he recalled once reporting there had been 1000 people contributing 66,000 hours, and now he sees there have been 3,150 people and 70,000 hours. He noted the total hours had not increased significantly, and asked how these numbers were derived, and how confident staff was in reporting them? He hoped that as the City goes forward with this program there could be some commonality as to how the various department record and report the volunteer time. Mr. Gould stated this was an anomaly from the volunteer program, and he would look into the accuracy of these figures. Mayor/Chairman Boro felt it was key for the City to recognize the people who volunteer their time, noting the Library, the Police Department, and Falkirk all do something for their volunteers, and he believed it would be good, as a City, to honor and recognize the people who volunteer, as it is a tremendous asset to have that many people willing to give their time and SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 32 SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 33 effort to the City. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he thought the Wellness Program was wonderful, noting it was a great program and was very visible. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked Mr. Nordhoff to explain his plan for becoming computer independent from BRC. Mr. Nordhoff stated this was something that was also highlighted in the Fire and Police Departments, noting the City had moved away from the contract with BRC in July, 1997. He reported the only major application, which is also the smallest of the group, was the replacement of the Recreation Facility and Reservation software in the Community Services package. He stated staff had not committed to any hard time, nor hard dollars to replacing those systems, noting the maintenance of those had continued to climb and would continue to do so. However, as BRC becomes less an entity that develops and implements its own software and more of an entity that is moving toward a consulting practice to help people purchase new systems, but not develop or manage those systems, that will put the City at greater and greater risk for finding people available to support what we currently have. Therefore, he stated one of the things the Council would see tomorrow evening would be a financial attempt at putting aside a fairly significant downpayment on trying to replace these systems. He stated staff felt that would give the City the tools to seek grants, noting there was talk at the State level regarding grant money for technology, particularly in the area of the Police Department, which might help the City if there were some matching funds available to do that. Mr. Nordhoff stated staff realized that within the next two years the City had to have comprehensive plans developed, and presumably most of the funding in place to move off these systems, and that was their intention. He acknowledged they might not have all of the conversions actually done, but they would certainly have a full plan in place, and now exactly how much it is going to cost. Councilmember/Member Miller noted his concern was with the volunteer program. He stated he was glad to see the City is moving a little more toward the community rather than only unpaid staff. He referred to the key result area which calls for the development of a database of volunteers for project events, and in the event of disaster. Mr. Miller asked if that was going to be coordinated with the DART program, so that in the event the City ever has to put it into effect, the City will have a decent network and decent organization? Mr. Miller felt this would be a perfect area for the volunteer program to move into, simply because it does cement itself back into the community very strongly. Mr. Nordhoff stated it would clearly be staff's intention to work with the Fire Department. Mayor/Chairman Boro stated he had received recent correspondence from Ray Bourheis, in which he writes about litter around the freeway and the high school, and the role of the City, Caltrans, and the School District. Mayor/Chairman Boro asked if Mr. Nordhoff could mention to the Volunteer Coordinator that as he looks toward doing a Clean -Up Day, whether he could discuss this with the high school, and see if perhaps they could get some of the kids from the high school and work something out for around the high school, and then respond to Mr. Bourheis' letter and inform him of those plans. JEANNE M. LEONCINI, CITY CLERK APPROVED THIS DAY OF 1999 MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL SCBH MINUTES (Special) 6/1/99 Page 33