HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2009-12-21SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 1
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL. MONDAY. DECEMBER 21, 2009 AT 8:00 P.M.
Regular Meeting:
San Rafael City Council
Also Present: Ken Nordhoff, City Manager
Lisa Goldfien, Deputy City Attorney II
Esther C. Beirne, City Clerk
OPEN SESSION — COUNCIL CHAMBERS — 6:30 PM
Mayor Boro announced Closed Session items.
CLOSED SESSION — CONFERENCE ROOM 201 — 6:30 PM
Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
Barbara Heller, Vice -Mayor
Greg Brockbank, Councilmember
Damon Connolly, Councilmember
Absent: Marc Levine, Councilmember
a) Conference with Legal Counsel — Existing Litigation
Government Code Section 54956.9(a)
Case Name: Windvand, Elizabeth v. Citv of San Rafael
Marin County Superior Court Case #CV074990
b) Conference with Legal Counsel — Existing Litigation
Government Code Section 54956.9(a)
Case Name: Cole, Janet & Richard v. Citv of San Rafael
Marin County Superior Court Case #CV092469
C) Conference with Labor Negotiators— Government Code Section 54957.6(a)
Negotiators: Jim Schutz, Leslie Loomis, Cindy Mosser, Lisa Goldfien, Ken Nordhoff
Employee Organization(s):
San Rafael Fire Chief Officers' Assn. Western Council of Engineers
San Rafael Firefighters' Assn. Local 1 - Confidential
San Rafael Police Mid -Management Assn. SEIU Miscellaneous & Supervisory
San Rafael Police Association SEIU Child Care Unit
Unrepresented Management
Unrepresented Mid -Management
Elected City Clerk and Elected Part -Time City Attorney
Deputy City Attorney II, Lisa Goldfien, announced that no reportable action was taken.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OF AN URGENCY NATURE:
8:14 PM
Police Resource Officer: - File 9-1 x 9-3-30
Dr. Harriet MacLean, Principal, Davidson Middle School, expressed concern with regard to the possible loss of a School
Resource Officer from the Police Department. While acknowledging budget cuts due to the fiscal crisis at the state level,
she also noted the sense of security that existed by having this position in place.
Any records relating to an agenda item, received by a majority or more of the Council less than 72 hours before the meeting, shall be
available for inspection in the City Clerk's Office, Room 209, 1400 Fifth Avenue, and placed with other agenda -related materials on the
table in front of the Council Chamber prior to the meeting.
American Sign Language interpreters and assistive listening devices may be requested by calling (415) 485-3198 (TDD) or (415) 485-
3064 (voice) at least 72 hours in advance. Copies of documents are available in accessible formats upon request.
Public transportation is available through Golden Gate Transit, Line 22 or 23. Paratransit is available by calling Whist/estop Wheels at
(415) 454-0964.
To allow individuals with environmental illness or multiple chemical sensitivity to attend the meeting/hearing, individuals are requested
to refrain from wearing scented products.
SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 1
Dr. MacLean wished to present former Councilmember Cyr Miller with a framed photograph from the Shadow Day at
Davidson Middle School, which he recently attended. Mayor Boro indicated he would ensure Mr. Miller received it and
confirmed that he (Mayor Boro) would be attending the January 29, 2010 Shadow Day.
Having spoken with Police Chief Matt Odetto, Dr. MacLean commented that he acknowledged how important the School
Resource Officer position was and how bad the budget cuts were projected to be.
Marin Square: - File 9-1
Barry Taranto, Terra Linda, indicated he had hoped to welcome new Councilmember Marc Levine this evening; however,
Councilmember Levine was absent due to a planned vacation.
Stating that Marin Square, owned by Sutter Health, was a necessary sales tax base for the City, Mr. Taranto commented
that he was unclear as to why a hospital corporation owned property that contained retail space.
Contempo Marin: - File 9-1 x 13-7-1
Keith Melonev, Contempo Marin, stated he had received notification of an increase in calls to the City Attorney's office
and to the City from residents asking various questions regarding the status of the Contempo Marin case. He indicated
that a status update had been drafted and residents were notified by email, hand delivery, magazine and through regular
meetings; however, there remained a sizeable group of people who do not participate in any of these vehicles, and it was
likely that these were the people who called the City. In the interest of reducing wear and tear on the City, they had
drafted a revised status update using slightly stronger language advising residents to call the Homeowners Association
(HOA) initially. He suggested that City staff redirect such calls to the HOA.
Mr. Meloney reported that the new management at Contempo Marin was viewed positively. They were very security
oriented and to that end there had been an increase in police presence, due partly to changes in and communication with
the Police Department. He thanked Police Chief, Matt Odetto, for being accessible and available to residents.
Mr. Meloney issued a reminder to the City Council that the Contempo Marin HOA offered manpower resources to the City
and the City should never hesitate to call on them.
Councilmember Connolly moved and Councilmember Brockbank seconded, to approve the Consent Calendar as follows:
CONSENT CALENDAR:
ALL MATTERS ON THE CONSENT CALENDAR ARE TO BE
APPROVED BY ONE MOTION, UNLESS SEPARATE ACTION IS
REQUIRED ON A PARTICULAR ITEM:
Approval of Minutes of Special and Regular City Council
Meetings of December 7, 2009 (CC)
Resolution Approving, Authorizing and Directing the
Execution of a Restated Project Operating Agreement, a
Continuing Disclosure Agreement and an Official Statement,
Approving the Issuance of Refunding Bonds, and Directing
Certain Related Actions in Connection with the Marin
Emergency Radio System Project (CM) —
File 4-13-102 x 9-3-30 x 9-3-31 x 9-3-40
4. Monthly Investment Report for Month Ending November,
2009 (Fin) — File 8-18 x 8-9
Resolutions: - File 2-12 x 2-4-39
1) Approving the Vacation of Portion of an Existing
Pedestrian Easement (DN 88-04713) on Lot 24, Map of
Oakwood Subdivision, Unit 3, Pursuant to Summary
Vacation and Abandonment Procedures — 400 Upper
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVAL OF THE FOLLOWING ACTION:
Approved as submitted.
RESOLUTION NO. 12898
RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING
AND DIRECTING THE EXECUTION OF A
RESTATED PROJECT OPERATING
AGREEMENT, A CONTINUING DISCLOSURE
AGREEMENT AND AN OFFICIAL
STATEMENT, APPROVING THE ISSUANCE
OF REFUNDING BONDS, AND DIRECTING
CERTAIN RELATED ACTIONS IN
CONNECTION WITH THE MARIN
EMERGENCY RADIO SYSTEM PROJECT
Accepted Monthly Investment Report for
month ending November, 2009, as
presented.
1) RESOLUTION NO. 12899
RESOLUTION APPROVING VACATION OF
PORTION OF EXISTING PEDESTRIAN
EASEMENT (DN 88-04713) ON LOT 24,
MAP OF OAKWOOD SUBDIVISION, UNIT 3
SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 2
Toyon Drive; and
(19 R.M.12) PURSUANT TO SUMMARY
2) Accepting Grant Deed of Easement for Roadway,
VACATION AND ABANDONMENT
Pedestrian and Public Utilities Purposes from Donald R.
PROCEDURES — 400 UPPER TOYON
Ham and Sharon L. Ham, Trustees, on Lot 24, Map of
DRIVE (APN: 12-121-28)
Oakwood Subdivision, Unit 3 — (APN: 012-121-28); and
3) Accepting Grant Deed of Easement for Roadway,
2) RESOLUTION NO. 12900
Pedestrian and Public Utilities Purposes from Harvey W.
RESOLUTION ACCEPTING GRANT DEED
Glasser, Trustee (APN: 012-121-03 and APN: 012-121-
OF EASEMENT FOR ROADWAY,
33) (formerly APN 012-121-21)) (PW)
PEDESTRIAN AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
PURPOSES FROM DONALD R. HAM AND
SHARON L. HAM, TRUSTEES, ON LOT 24,
MAP OF OAKWOOD SUBDIVISION, UNIT 3
(19 R.M. 12) — (APN: 012-121-28)
3) RESOLUTION NO. 12901
RESOLUTION ACCEPTING GRANT DEED
OF EASEMENT FOR ROADWAY,
PEDESTRIAN AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
PURPOSES FROM HARVEY GLASSER,
TRUSTEE (APN: 012-121-03 and APN:
012-121-33 (formerly APN: 012-121-21))
Acceptance of the Annual Report, Including a Blight Accepted Reports.
Progress, Agency Owned Property, Loan Compliance AB
987 Reports for the San Rafael Redevelopment Agency
(RA) — File 8-18 x 8-9 x (SRRA) R-62
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Brockbank, Connolly, Heller & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Levine
REPORT ON TIMELINE, PUBLIC OUTREACH AND DECISION MAKING REGARDING GENERAL FUND
BUDGET DEFICITS FOR FISCAL YEARS 2009-10 AND 2010-11, PLUS INITIAL FOLLOW-UP REGARDING
PROPOSED SERVICE LOSSES (CM) — FILE 8-5
City Manager, Ken Nordhoff, presented highlights from the report and sought direction from the City Council
concerning decisions regarding balancing the budget for this and the upcoming fiscal year. He indicated that as a
matter of background he had provided the City Council with a summary of accomplishments over the past year,
which was quite sizable when looking at the level of reductions that had occurred already with respect to the City's
budget. He noted that regular communications were taking place both with labor representatives and the
employees at large, which would continue.
Mr. Nordhoff reported that a workshop was held on December 15, 2009 to address the deficits to be faced -
currently $3.2 million and $3.5 million heading into next year. He indicated he had suggested at that meeting that
consideration be given to adding a half -million dollars to each of those numbers in order to create a buffer for what
could be even worse economic news or some unforeseen circumstance. The City's reserves had been depleted
down to approximately 3% of the General Fund, which was much below the 10% goal and he believed the time was
right to begin bending that intentionally in a forward direction.
Taking the deficits of $3.7 million and $4 million, Mr. Nordhoff reported that staff laid out at the workshop a number
of scenarios on how to get to that conclusion. Most of these involved reductions in service specifically tied to
staffing. Over 400 employees were currently budgeted in various positions across the organization, a great many
of whom sat in the General Fund -- the discretionary budget currently undergoing these large problems.
Mr. Nordhoff stated he noted in his staff report specific questions raised by the City Council regarding specific
services proposed to be reduced, altered, diminished, changed in some way and certainly lessened, and he and
staff were in the process of preparing responses. Examples of subject matters included issues related to Planning,
sign review, Library closures and reduction of hours, street sweeping -- what being eliminated or diminished in
particular neighborhoods might mean. Mr. Nordhoff stated he was working with the various departments to
generate thoughtful responses.
SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 3
Mr. Nordhoff noted that at the end of the meeting the City Council raised other issues, which was the reason for this
evening's report:
1) Timeline on how to move through the process;
2) Continue to work with labor relations groups and ascertain to what extent, if at all, the various bargaining
groups and management were willing to contribute to the solutions needed. Given the extraordinary
amount of decisions that needed to be made to tally the financial goals, it was pretty clear that some
contribution from employee compensation could certainly go towards minimizing the amount of layoffs to be
experienced over the next couple of months;
3) Timetable that involved public outreach and involvement — an outline was attached to the staff report laying
out steps the City Council could choose to issue direction on in order to get through the decision-making.
Mr. Nordhoff explained that in two weeks staff would present a report to the City Council of some items for
consideration in terms of cost -savings and reductions. It would not necessitate any lay-offs, rather would include a
variety of items, including some additional either external or internal resources to help cover costs, the elimination
of a number of vacant positions and potentially, other cost-saving measures that staff believed would probably
aggregate to $2 million for this year and next year. This report would be brought back for Council approval at the
January 4, 2010 meeting — Attachment A.
Mr. Nordhoff stated that during the week of January 4, 2010, staff anticipated scheduling an afternoon session with
the City Council to go into some level of detail on service items mentioned. Staff would provide thoughtful and
complete responses and answer other questions. Although the City Council would not be making any formal
decisions that day, it would be a chance to ensure they had the information needed from which to make future
decisions. Mr. Nordhoff also suggested in the week of January 11, 2010 inviting organizations, neighborhood
groups, Boards and Commissioners, etc. to attend a public workshop on public finances to assist people in
understanding the current situation and how it arose, and a more formal public meeting to discuss actions already
taken by the City Council, assuming this would be done on January 4, 2010, and other possible options. Staff
hoped to push out this invitation in as many ways as possible and encourage those invited to do likewise within
their organizations, using their mailing lists, etc., to try to maximize the level of participation.
Mr. Nordhoff stated that the two public process meetings in the weeks of January 4 and 11, 2010 would lead to
staff's returning with a formal response, to the extent possible, on the meet and confer process with the bargaining
units and management, and subsequently have the City Council consider additional options to possibly act on to
close the gap.
With a newly seated City Council, Mr. Nordhoff stated that there were a number of other matters which needed City
Council direction which were not specific to service delivery and public finance; therefore, staff would schedule a
half or three-quarter day retreat in late January. He clarified that even with current actions there still were a number
of months leading up to when the City Council must formally adopt the budget for the next fiscal year. He indicated
there could be an opportunity based on some of the issues raised at the workshop to take more time and provide
answers for issues with a longer-term response or need. These could be wrapped around public policy decisions,
etc.
Mr. Nordhoff stated that staff would like to receive acceptance of the report and, should the timeline generally work,
they would like to commence scheduling the meetings immediately. He would respond to questions, suggestions
or amendments appropriately.
Regarding the timeline, Councilmember Brockbank inquired as to why it was anticipated scheduling the session in
the week of January 4, 2010 for the afternoon rather than evening.
Indicating that it could be either, Mr. Nordhoff explained staff considered whether it was more effective to schedule
the meeting when people were more available or whether an evening meeting made sense.
Councilmember Brockbank stated he was not irrevocably opposed to an afternoon meeting, albeit he would prefer
an evening meeting, as it was easier for the public to attend; however, should the meeting in the week of January 4
be in the afternoon, he believed the meeting in the week of January 11 should in the evening. Mr. Nordhoff
confirmed that the meeting in the week of January 11, 2010 would be in the evening.
Councilmember Brockbank noted Mr. Nordhoff suggested that the meeting in the week of January 4 would be with
the City Council; however, this was not specified for the week of January 11, 2010.
Mr. Nordhoff clarified that both meetings would be with the City Council and scheduled according to City Council
4 SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 4
preferences.
Commenting on the overall timeline, Councilmember Brockbank suggested a little more flexibility. While on one
hand the City Council would like to handle the situation as soon as possible, last week he sensed, as did some of
his colleagues, that unless the public was given sufficient time, the City would not be doing them justice. Uncertain
as what sufficient time was, he indicated that a week ago he guessed a month to two months; however, a month
appeared somewhat short while two months could be on the outside end.
Referring to a recent Marin Independent Journal poll which posed the question: "Do you think cities are giving
enough time for the public to respond to their proposed budget cuts," Councilmember Brockbank stated that while
he did not pretend these were scientific polls -- in his opinion they usually were wildly inaccurate -- this was one he
did not have reason to believe was inherently inaccurate nor would people be likely to call in and stack it one way
or the other. He reported that 80% plus of those responding believed city councils were not giving sufficient time
for the public to respond, which strengthened his already held view that more time was needed, whether through
meetings, Internet polling (as he suggested last week), etc. He believed as aggressive an outreach as possible
should be conducted within the limits of staff time.
Generally agreeing with the timeline and following up on the week of January 11, 2010 meeting, Councilmember
Connolly inquired whether the public outreach meeting would be held at City Hall.
Mr. Nordhoff clarified that it would need to be in a facility that could accommodate a number of people in an
auditorium the size of the Council Chambers. While normally such a meeting would be held in the Council
Chambers, it could certainly be accommodated at a community center or other venue; it was not restricted to the
Council Chambers, but needed to be a venue that could handle the attendance.
Councilmember Connolly stated it could be worth considering, should there be some value, taking the meeting out
to the community, assuming such a venue was available.
Regarding the pre -meeting primer on public finance, Councilmember Connolly emphasized the importance of this.
While everyone was aware of the tough times, he believed it would be educational to dig deeper as to why. San
Rafael was subject to wildly fluctuating sales tax revenues, and the public could be curious as to why San Rafael
appeared to be more subject to this than other communities in the same county. His understanding was that there
was some historical aspect dating back to Proposition 13 and some of the parameters as to why San Rafael found
itself in the current situation could be fleshed out.
With regard to Item #8 in the Timeline — additional public input on City service reductions - Councilmember
Connolly inquired as to whether thought had been given to what that might look like in terms of how it would go out
to the community.
Explaining, Mr. Nordhoff stated he was invited to speak at the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods meeting on
January 20, 2010. He envisioned that overtures would be made through the San Rafael Connects program and
other venues to go out and talk to groups and put together a package of information that would explain what the
City had been doing, where it was going and the challenges to be faced. He envisioned that some of these would
be the City Manager or segments of the management group out meeting with various homeowner and other
organizations.
Councilmember Connolly believed this should be made robust and thought should be given to how it could be
done.
Councilmember Heller concurred with her colleagues. She appreciated what Mr. Nordhoff and staff had done and
believed January, 2010 would be a busy month.
Reflecting back on past budget meetings, Mayor Boro reported that the City Council had gone out to other parts of
town. In looking at the week of January 11, 2010, he suggested consideration be given to the feasibility of having
two meetings that week: one in the Council Chambers at City Hall or at the B Street Community Center, and one at
the Terra Linda Recreation Center.
Paul Carroll, SEIU Local 1021 stated that, having read the staff report for this evening's meeting, he was aware the
City would need to take steps. He had had discussions with Jim Schutz, Assistant City Manager, and Leslie
Loomis, Human Resources Director, concerning some of the problems, and from what he had heard, he believed it
could be time for the City Council to declare a fiscal crisis because what was being requested would constitute such
a situation. For what the union was being asked, Mr. Carroll felt that responding to the City Council on January 4,
SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 5
2010 could be premature, because of a process that needed to be undertaken:
1) Understanding what was at stake;
2) Since SEIU members were under contract currently, a lot of issues would need to be voted on. There were
major threshold issues on which the City Council would not receive closure by the weeks of January 4 or
11 meetings;
3) SEIU would like to see the City's fiscal report for 2009. Having looked at the 2008 fiscal report, Mr. Carroll
believed it would be interesting to see what balances there were in non-governmental funds for 2009. He
stated that adding the $500,000 annually to supplement reserves would increase the possibility of major
service reductions and lay-offs. Should there be revenues that were originally sourced from the General
Fund sitting in Vehicle Replacement Funds or Capital Improvement Funds, those could be redirected back
into the General Fund to buoy the City's reserves to avoid deeper cuts.
Indicating that the City Council should decide what type of City they wanted, Mr. Carroll questioned whether they
wanted a City that still maintained some of the services that residents wanted, or a City that was bare bones. He
believed the City Council needed to make that decision soon, because of facing three — five years of really bad
times. He noted the City had lost some of its revenue sources which would not be returning soon. Understanding
that the City would need to shrink, Mr. Carroll expressed the hope that it could be done as benignly as possible.
Addressing Councilmember Brockbank's comments, Mr. Carroll felt that the timeline could need some flexibility for
the employees. From his knowledge it was a process of acceptance in order to generate some keen ideas on what
they were willing to do. Employees would sacrifice if it saved jobs and they could see a direct nexus. He noted
each group would want to save jobs within their own group; therefore, should SEIU 1021 members make sacrifices,
they would need to see jobs saved in non -safety. Likewise, should safety sacrifice, they would want to see safety
jobs saved. He emphasized that, should there be sacrifices; members would need to know that these were going
directly to save specific jobs as much as possible.
Agreeing with Councilmember Brockbank's comments, Hollie Stanaland, resident and employee of the City of San
Rafael, believed the process needed to be slowed down, as the citizens needed time to hear what the potential cuts
to their services and programs would be and how this would affect their lives. She indicated there had been a
negative effect on her life by some of the cuts already made — she lived in the West End neighborhood where the
graffiti was horrible. Ms. Stanaland commented that, since sales tax was so important to the City's vitality, decisions
made must consider the effects; therefore, she would like to see the process slowed down to afford citizens time to
learn about some of the proposed cuts.
Barry Taranto commended the police officer who treated him with respect during a recent minor traffic violation. He
felt that the San Rafael Police Department exemplified community policing and believed that "someone was doing
something right" in the City. Mr. Taranto believed San Rafael Police Officers were being trained properly and
taught how to treat residents and visitors and different cultures. Even with the homeless population in San Rafael
he never felt threatened because of the good interaction and relationships between the homeless and San Rafael
Police Department, unlike San Francisco. He urged the City Council to leave certain departments alone, as
obviously something was working. Noting only one fire station in Terra Linda he believed there could not be
additional cuts to the Fire Department without affecting safety.
Regarding the Library, Mr. Taranto noted their hours were already minimal, relative to most libraries in the rest of
Marin County.
Mr. Taranto expressed dissatisfaction with the Traffic Division noting the long delays at a pedestrian crossing in
Terra Linda. He was pleased with the introduction of red light cameras.
Believing it premature to make a lot of judgments, Mr. Taranto suggesting waiting to see whether tax revenue
would increase, especially because of Northgate and more store openings. He urged the Council to hold one of the
workshops at the Terra Linda Recreation Center and suggested Mr. Nordhoff notify people through his online
newsletter, etc.
With regard to Mr. Carroll's comment regarding the audit, Mr. Nordhoff reported that the Finance Department had
almost completed it and would be glad to make it available to Mr. Carroll. He indicated that staff was always glad in
the labor negotiations process, if so requested, to produce financial information should it be helpful in the
deliberations.
Concurring with Mr. Taranto's comments, Mr. Nordhoff stated he also appreciated the fact that Northgate was
renovated, opening stores and well patronized. In revenue projections however, it would not make up for the
6 SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 6
losses experienced or currently being experiencing. He commented that auto sales, building and construction were
taking harder hits than general consumer spending.
Mayor Boro believed there would be consensus on having a second meeting in January, including one in the Terra
Linda neighborhood. He also believed there was general acceptance of Mr. Nordhoff's timeline.
Councilmember Connolly inquired whether the second meeting would be held before January 19, 2010.
Mr. Nordhoff stated he could work on trying to schedule the two public meetings involving the City Council during
the week of January 11, 2010. If not, it could take place the following week, which would necessitate moving some
items to the City Council meeting of February 1, 2010.
Mayor Boro suggested trying to schedule both in the week of January 11 and if not, the second meeting could be
held the week of January 19, moving the actions planned for January 19 to February 1, 2010.
Councilmember Brockbank clarified that in the week of January 4 there would be two meetings — regular City
Council meeting on January 4 and a subsequent meeting later that week, time to be determined, to be held in the
Council Chambers. In the week of January 11, an evening meeting would be scheduled, probably in the Terra
Linda Recreation Center.
Mr. Nordhoff stated he believed the suggestion was to have two night meetings to address the public outreach -
one to be held in the downtown area and the other in Terra Linda. The question was whether both could be
scheduled in the week of January 11, or whether the second meeting would be scheduled for the following week
week of January 18, 2010.
Councilmember Brockbank clarified that three meetings, not counting the City Council meetings, would be
scheduled: One later in the week of January 4, 2010 in the Council Chambers, and two meetings in the week of
January 11, 2010, both in the evening in two different areas of the City.
Mr. Nordhoff clarified that there would be three separate meetings regarding the budget specifically outside the
traditional City Council meetings held twice monthly.
Councilmember Connolly questioned whether it made sense to move one of the two meetings to be scheduled for
the week of January 11 to the following week.
Mr. Nordhoff stated it was a matter of Councilmember calendars - staff's calendars tended to be more flexible — and
where venues could be found. With Council direction he would work on this issue tomorrow and have clarity within
a week.
Mayor Boro clarified that the meeting to be scheduled in the week of January 4, 2010 would center around the
questions raised on December 15, 2009. This was separate from the meetings to be scheduled in the week of
January 11, which were more global and overarching, discussing what needed to be done and why.
With regard to Councilmember Connolly's suggestion to possibly move one of the two public evening meetings to
the week of January 19, 2010, Councilmember Brockbank noted this would not be possible if it were necessary to
make decisions on January 19; however, he realized that those decisions tentatively scheduled for January 19,
2010 could possibly need more time. In any event, these meetings needed to be scheduled fairly quickly, if
possible.
Mr. Nordhoff explained that, should it not be possible to schedule the two evening meetings in the week of January
11, 2010 and one needed to be scheduled in the week of January 18, item 6 on the attachment would be scheduled
for the meeting of February 1, 2010.
Councilmember Connolly concurred unless there was some value in moving it back based on input this evening.
With regard to Mr. Carroll's comments regarding current union contracts, Councilmember Brockbank clarified that
no one was considering abrogating any existing agreements. With regard to different phases, he clarified that the
items to be presented on January 4, 2010 would not include laying off anyone in current positions. He commented
that if in the various phases issues needed to be stretched out, this would be considered, and he favored receiving
as much input as possible on the difficult decisions in the second and third phases, some of which could take some
months.
SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 7
Mr. Nordhoff stated this would depend on the issues staff needed to bring back to the City Council in the week of
January 4 and whether or not Council believed questions had been answered. He noted street sweeping was a
topic which could need to be vetted out through the public process, and at some point Council would decide
whether to leave the service intact or reduce or eliminate it in some cases in certain parts of the community. He
believed there would be sufficient public input over the course of the meetings to get a sense of whether that was
more acceptable than some other options to be faced.
Mayor Boro noted that item #3 in the Timeline addressed approving potentially initial actions to close deficits on
January 4, 2010 and he clarified with Mr. Nordhoff that this was still on track and did not include layoffs. He noted a
meeting would be held sometime that week to deal with questions that had arisen. In the week of January 11, 2010,
one, and possibly two, meetings would be scheduled. Should that schedule not prove possible, the second
meeting would be held the week of January 18, 2010, which would necessitate rescheduling actions to be taken at
the City Council meeting of January 19, 2010 to the meeting of February 1, 2010.
Councilmember Heller moved and Councilmember Connolly seconded to accept the report — dates and times of
special workshops to be clarified.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Brockbank, Connolly, Heller & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Levine
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT:
None.
COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS: (including AB 1234 Reports on Meetings and Conferences Attended at City Expense)
9. Leaque of California Cities — Water Task Force: - File 9-11-1
Councilmember Brockbank reported that on December 8, 2009 he attended a PPIC (Public Policy Institute of
California) Water Forum in Sacramento which was very valuable in addressing the new report on the eight water
myths in California.
Sonoma/Marin Area Rail Transit:- File 245
Mayor Boro commented that last week, City Manager Ken Nordhoff hosted a meeting with the four major transit
agencies: SMART (Sonoma/Marin Area Rail Transit), Transportation Authority of Marin, Golden Gate Bridge,
Highway and Transportation District and Marin Transit to discuss planning for the downtown and North San Rafael
SMART stations. The City received an MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission) grant of approximately
$300,000 for downtown and approximately $150,000 for North San Rafael. He reported that the General Managers
were very pleased the City was taking this initiative on what would be a complicated issue. Mr. Nordhoff had
succinctly stated he wanted to ensure that when the train arrived passengers would know where to go to get a bus,
taxi or get to the freeway. While this information was available currently, a train would necessitate redirecting
busses, etc. Although all of this would need to be worked out, Mayor Boro stated it was a good start to a huge
effort.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Mayor Boro adjourned the City Council meeting at 8:57 p.m.
ESTHER C. BEIRNE, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF 2009
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
SRCC Minutes (Regular) 12/21/2009 Page 8