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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 1993-06-07SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 1 IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1993, AT 7:00 PM CLOSED SESSION 1. DISCUSSION OF LITIGATION AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS - File 1.4.1.a No. 93-10(a) - #1 - John G. Martina, M.D. vs. City of San Rafael No. 93-10(b) - #7 No. 93-10(c) - #1 - Charles A. Bullock vs. City of San Rafael No reportable action was taken. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1993, AT 8:00 PM Regular Meeting: San Rafael City Council Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember Joan Thayer, Councilmember Absent: None Others Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager Gary T. Ragghianti, City Attorney Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OF AN URGENCY NATURE I.LETTERS TO CITY COUNCIL RE: RELOCATION OF FIRE STATION #6 AND/OR LOSS OF MUNSON PARK - File 12-3 x 9-3-31 x 9-3-66 Mr. George Orr, President of the Friends of Munson Park Association, handed letters to the Council regarding the value of the Park, after reading them. He stated these letters were from new and long-time voters and set forth neighborhood opposition to the idea of moving the current Fire Station #6 and/or the loss of Munson Park as a park and open space for the surrounding community. He noted the number of letters being presented to Council is an indication of their deep convictions regarding the value of Munson Park as a public park facility. II.REQUEST FOR COUNCILMEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN CARAVAN TO STATE CAPITOL RE: STATE BUDGET - File 8-5 Mr. Coleman Persily, representing SEIU, informed the Council there was to be a caravan on June 16, 1993, to Sacramento State Capitol to stop the State from attacking the city budgets and county budgets. He requested the San Rafael City Council and the Marin County Board of Supervisors lead the caravan to Sacramento for this issue. CONSENT CALENDAR Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to approve the recommended action on the following Consent Calendar items: ITEM 2a. Approval of Minutes of Special & Regular Meetings of May 3, 1993, and Special Meeting of May 17, 1993 (CC) 4. Resolution Authorizing Below Market Rate (BMR) Housing Agreement Between the City of San Rafael, Housing Authority of the County of Marin and Robert B. Ham, Inc., for Loch Lomond Unit 10 (Pl) - File 5-1-297 x 229 6. Resolution Amending Resolution No. 8771 Authoriz- ing the Chief of Police to Apply for a State of California, Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP) Crime Prevention Grant (PD) - File 4-10-262 x 9-3-30 RECOMMENDED ACTION Approved as submitted. (Pulled from agenda and put over to meeting of 6/21/93) ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8926 - RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 8771 AUTHORIZING THE CHIEF OF POLICE TO APPLY FOR A STATE OF CALIFORNIA, OFFICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLANNING (OCJP) CRIME PREVENTION GRANT (in the amount of $63,332.00) SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 1 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 2 7. Resolutions Approving One -Year Contracts with Police Rotation Tow Permittees to Tow Abandoned Vehicles: (PD) - File 9-3-30 x 9-10-2 x 11-8 a. Redhill Towing and Auto Body, Inc. b. Terra Linda Tow Service C. Valley Tow 10. Approval of County Health Screening Van to Visit Pickleweed Park Twice a Month (Rec) - File 13-1 x 9-3-66 11. Approval of Special Meeting Dates for 1993-94 City Budget (CM) - File 8-5 x R-103 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8927 - AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT WITH REDHILL TOWING AND AUTO BODY, INC. (thru 6/30/94) ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8928 - AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT WITH TERRA LINDA TOW SERVICE (thru 6/30/94) ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8929 - AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT WITH VALLEY TOW SERVICE (thru 6/30/94) ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8930 - APPROVING MARIN COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES MOBILE HEALTH SCREENING CLINIC TO VISIT PICKLEWEED PARK TWICE A MONTH Approved staff recommendation to set Special Meeting dates for 1993-94 City Budget Hearings - Wed., July 7; Thurs., July 8 & Mon., July 12, 1993 - all meetings starting @ 7:00 PM. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSTAINED: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen (from Minutes of Special & Regular Meetings of 5/3/93 only due to absence from meetings.) The following items were removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion: 2b.APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF MAY 17, 1993 (CC) Councilmember Breiner requested an amendment to the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 17, 1993, on Page 8, paragraph 3, fourth sentence, "Fire Chief Marcucci responded staff could only speculate at this time, but felt if this were done (bridging over the ditch at Del Ganado) it might decrease times anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds. rather than ". . .increase response times. " Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 17, 1993, as amended. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None 3.AUTHORIZATION TO CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO FILL TWO POSITIONS ON THE PLANNING COMMISSION DUE TO THE EXPIRATION OF TERMS OF COMMISSIONERS RICHARD O'BRIEN AND JOHN STARKWEATHER (CC) - File 9-2-6 x 9-3-17 Councilmember Shippey stated he would not be able to attend the Council Special Meeting of July 6, 1993, at 6:30 PM, to interview applicants for the San Rafael Planning Commission, and asked if this could be postponed to the subsequent meeting, July 19, 1993. Mayor Boro stated it was the policy of the Council on Planning Commission appointments that there is a full Council in attendance, so he requested staff seek a date when there would be a full Council in attendance and to publish the date accordingly. Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to set a date subsequent to July 6, 1993, to have the entire Council present to interview applicants for the Planning Commission, at the earliest possible date. SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 2 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 3 AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None S.RESOLUTION GRANTING SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT TO MICHAEL CRAFORD AT 10 MORGAN LANE, SAN RAFAEL (PW) - File 2-3 x 9-3-40 Councilmember Breiner asked with regard to the enclosed letter from Mr. Robert Riley, President of the Homeowners' Association, if there is a shorter connection that would require less construction work in the street, why were they not requiring that? Public Works Director Bernardi responded the request was made of the City because it was the easiest way for the Crafords' to proceed. He stated he had discussed this with Mr. Craford's engineer and to go the other way, as Mr. Riley suggests, would mean that Mr. Craford would have to obtain a number of easements and dedicate those to the San Rafael Sanitation District because they are in the County at that location. He stated the only other consideration Mr. Craford has was that, according to his engineer, he would have to pump the sewage from his property up into Morgan Lane, so there would be extra maintenance costs associated with that. Mrs. Breiner asked about the concern stated in 1984 that Villa Real was told that the sewer line system was inadequate to handle additional connections? Mr. Bernardi stated he had a sanitary engineer, Mr. Ed Nute, review the existing sewer lines within the area and analyze that question. He stated Mr. Nute's letter was attached as part of the Council packet in which he stated, "It is my conclusion that even with an allowance for infiltration/inflow, these sewers have adequate capacity to accept the sewage from the house at 10 Morgan Lane". Mr. Bernardi stated one of the other concerns Mr. Riley had was that once Mr. Craford connects to the sewer, that opens the door for the other properties to come down through Villa Real, as opposed to going out through Country Club. He noted the easement is being granted by the City to Mr. Craford directly and if it was going to be a public easement, the City would be granting it to the Sanitation District for a public main. He stated this is Mr. Craford's own sewer main and no one else would have access to it. Mrs. Breiner asked if other property owners on Morgan Lane wanted to come into the City and, then be non-specified, should the City put in a provision that if, in the future, the people desiring to annex would not have to pay to do so? Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively and stated the other issue was that in order for anyone else to use Mr. Craford's sewer line they would have to go through his property. He then pointed out on the enclosed map where the easement was located and stated this really only abuts the Craford property and not any other adjacent properties, so no one else can connect into that line without either getting the City's permission to cross over other City lands or to cross over the Craford property to get into that easement. Mrs. Breiner suggested the Council restrict this easement to this one property owner, with conditions so that if there is a future annexation, these property owners would not have to pay Mr. Craford for it. Mr. Bernardi stated the way this could be set up is that any other use for this easement, other than by Mr. Craford or any of his successors in interest, would require additional City approval. Mrs. Breiner stated that requiring the City's approval could be one condition and the other would be that the City would determine what the cost would be. Councilmember Cohen clarified what they were stating was Council was not granting Mr. Craford an exclusive easement. He stated he understood this meant the City would not have any control over who Mr. Craford grants access across his property, but by granting him an easement across City property, they were not making that exclusive and if someone else can make use of that grant, the City would transfer the rights. Mr. Bernardi stated also that if Council felt the price that has been suggested by Mr. Craford is insufficient, that can be brought back to Council in terms of an appropriate cost. Mrs. Breiner stated she felt they should pursue this further. Councilmember Shippey stated he agreed with Mrs. Breiner, noting they have seen other easements of this type from the Sanitation District to the City that seem to cost much more. He stated he felt some explanation of what a reasonable fee was would be in order. Mr. Craford stated currently this was a power line right-of-way and the developer of that area did not pay taxes on that property so the City picked it up. He stated the property really has no use because of the high tension power lines over that area and also a fairly large Marin Municipal Water District easement was located over that particular piece of property, approximately 45' by 20' at the narrowest part of the property. Mayor Boro stated his concern about the cost of the appraisal being more than the value of the easement and suggested, if Mr. Craford agrees to the suggestion made by Mrs. Breiner as far as future use on this and it is stipulated by Council, that possibly the current price would be acceptable. Mrs. Breiner stated she agreed with SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 3 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 4 that and asked if there was a way to structure this to make it a non-exclusive ease-ment? Assistant City Attorney David Walker responded if there was a desire for the City to reserve a right to an easement for their purposes or for future annexations, they could reserve and accept the easement from the grant to Mr. Craford. Mrs. Breiner asked if this meant the City was not giving this easement up totally and Mr. Walker responded affirmatively. Mayor Boro asked Mr. Craford if he would like to take more time to look at this information it would be acceptable to bring this back. Mr. Craford asked if Council could give him a firm proposal and Mayor Boro indicated they could not at this time and suggested staff sit down with Mr. Craford between now and the next Council meeting to work out these details. Mr. Craford agreed with this. Councilmember Cohen suggested Mr. Bernardi could, in the meantime, get more information on how they have set value on similar types of easements in the past without going through an appraisal, which would be more than the amount they were discussing tonight. Mr. Bernardi agreed. Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to bring this item back to the next Council meeting on June 21, 1993, with more information after meeting with Mr. Craford. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None 8.RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING BOYD/FALKIRK CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND (Cult.Affs.) - File 139 x 9-3-84 x 9-3-66 Mayor Boro stated this item was pulled to allow Mr. Curt Hayden, Chairman of this group, to speak on this issue. Mr. Curt Hayden stated on behalf of the committee working to establish the fund- raising campaign for the Boyd Gate House and the Falkirk Cultural Center, they wanted to express their appreciation to the City Council for their deliberation on this important Resolution and, at the same time, express their gratitude to the City of San Rafael for all that has been done already in the past years to keep up both of these important facilities. Mayor Boro, on behalf of the entire Council, thanked Mr. Hayden and his committee for their personal commitment and Mr. Hayden's personal donation to this, as well. Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to adopt the Resolution establishing the Boyd/Falkirk Capital Improvement Trust Fund. RESOLUTION NO. 8931 -RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL ESTABLISHING A FUND TO BE KNOWN AS THE BOYD/FALKIRK CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND FOR PRIVATE DONATIONS, GRANTS, AND OTHER MONIES CONTRIBUTED TO THE BOYD/FALKIRK CAPITAL FUND- RAISING CAMPAIGN AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None 9.STATUS REPORT ON LIBRARY SEISMIC REPAIR PROJECT (Lib) - File 9-3-61 x 9-3-40 x 13-1 Councilmember Shippey stated the staff report indicated it would take five weeks to move back into the Library, and noted his concern that the public did not realize how long the Library will be closed. He asked what method was being used to publicize this to make the public more aware of how long this process will take? Library Director Stratford stated staff has been informing the public that it will be five to six weeks that they will be closed and as soon as this recommendation is approved they would get signs and flyers out to the public and noted it would be helpful if there was an article in the newspaper about these dates. Councilmember Cohen stated he did not want to see the Library closed for even five weeks and asked if this was the shortest time frame possible? Mr. Stratford responded affirmatively and stated if they were able to complete this work any sooner, then it would be open sooner. Mr. Stratford stated there was a lengthy list of tasks that needed to be completed prior to the Library opening up again after the remodeling is finished and they also wanted to make sure the Library was safe and in good condition and reconfigured prior to the reopening. Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to accept the staff recommendation to close the Library from July 20, 1993 to August 24, 1993 to move SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 4 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 5 from temporary location at 901 "E" Street to permanent location at 1100 "E" Street, and to set up and reconfigure the interior of the Library in its permanent location. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None 12.PRESENTATION OF CANAL AREA INSPECTION PROGRAM CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE TO GARY AND JOYCE RIFKIND, PROPERTY OWNERS OF 55 CANAL STREET (Pl) - File 10-2 x 9-3-17 x 13-1 Mayor Boro stated over the past year the City Council has started a program in the Canal area with respect to Code Enforcement and after the Code Enforcement Officer inspects the property, the Council recognizes those property owners who have cooperated with the City and have their units completely brought up to code. He also congratulated Mr. Tom Norman, part-owner and manager of this property. Mr. Gary Rifkind congratulated the City on the manner in which they have set up this program, because it has been done in a way that encourages property owners to review their property, improve it and the program has been designed not to be punitive, but to work with the owners. He commended and thanked Code Enforcement Clare Machado for her cooperation and help in this program. Code Enforcement Officer Machado stated it helped to have owners like Gary and Joyce Rifkind to work with in the Canal area and hoped that other owners will follow this example and continue to work toward progress on all of the other properties. 13.PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL AMENDING TITLE 10 OF THE SAN RAFAEL MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 10.85 ENTITLED, "POLICE ROTATION TOWING SERVICES" (PD) - File 9-3-30 x 9-10-2 x 11-8 Mayor Boro declared the Public Hearing opened and continued the Public Hearing to the next Council meeting, June 21, 1993. 14.UPDATE ON JOB CENTER (CM) - File 231 x 9-2-43 x 218 x 9-3-11 City Manager Nicolai stated that staff has been proceeding with all the details necessary to open the Job Center after the Council's approval for the Use Permit. However, she felt the more critical issue is that since those hearings, both before the Planning Commission and the City Council, it has become evident through the press and actual enforcement activities by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) that they not only had almost a one-third increase in INS manpower, as stated in the newspaper articles, but carried out enforcement actions in San Rafael during the last few months greater than the four or five years previous to that all combined. She noted in keeping track of what the original agenda has been, that the City's goal was to relocate the job seekers from the City streets to another location and that has been their agenda, what staff has stated in the past is that the only reason they were having to address this problem is that the INS was not staffed nor had it determined that San Rafael was a high enough priority to carry out their enforcement actions and help deal with the problem from a Federal level. Ms. Nicolai stated as they proceeded ahead with this and met with the INS over nine months, the INS reiterated that they were unable to do their job and, in spite of the fact that they have verbally and vocally opposed the idea of the job center, they have also reaffirmed that they do not have the manpower to do enforcement actions in San Rafael, and now this seems to have changed. She stated she felt that because of the changed circumstances there is a significant increase even though it is actually only five enforcement officers, when it is added to the nine the INS had on duty and their concerted effort in getting to San Rafael and dealing with this problem, basically they are addressing the same issue that we wanted to address only coming from a different tact. Ms. Nicolai stated her feeling was that the Council should reconsider, in the sense that if the INS continues a concerted effort at coming to San Rafael and dealing with enforcement actions, not only with the job seekers themselves, but with the employers who are violating Federal law by hiring undocumented workers, that the number of job seekers on the streets will go down; however, that effort has to be somewhat consistent and an ongoing basis. She stated if this does happen the problem has been solved and she did not feel they needed to address this through the alternative of the Job Center. She stated the staff recommendation was to defer actually implementing the Job Center and this does not suspend or undo the approval of that, but delays the implementation of that approval for approximately six months because for any shorter period of time it will be impossible to get a sense of how committed the INS is to continue their enforcement in San Rafael. She stated a letter was included in the packet from the Regional Director of the INS Office stating their philosophical approach and their commitment to being in San Rafael; however, the truth will be in their actual actions over the next several months and in order to SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 5 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 6 determine if there will be an on-going commitment, they will need enough time. She noted the INS was being diverted almost on a weekly basis by the boats that have been coming in to this country on the West Coast and their resources are thin, but she noted they have stated they have an increased level of manpower and if the public will continue to keep pressure on the INS office and the Federal legislators, Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Diane Feinstein and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, this issue will become a national issue and not just a local one. She stated staff's recommendation was to consider deferring the implementation of this Job Center for a period of three to six months. Her personal recommendation was six months because three months would probably be too short to monitor an ongoing commitment and see what happens. Mayor Boro stated after the prior meeting approving the Job Center and once they saw the increased effort by the INS, they felt it worthwhile to initiate conversation with regard to it. He noted, for the record, this is at least the third time San Rafael has had contact with the INS, who met with staff and discussed specifically that in order to be effective, the INS needed to have a regular presence in the City. Mayor Boro stated he agreed with the original letter they received from the INS Regional Director that it was their business to decide how to report their progress to the City so as not to compromise their activities. Mayor Boro noted they wanted them to do this in a legal fashion and were looking for more presence, because the City has seen this, especially with the Special Crimes Task Force in the Canal and the downtown Police Department foot patrol. He stated they stated this to the INS who assured staff they would attempt to do this. He stated that both he and Ms. Nicolai agreed that if there was a way to solve the problem of job seekers on the streets through the INS, then it would make sense to let that happen and he supported the staff recommendation, but emphasized that if this does not work then the Council will have no other recourse than to go forward with the Job Center. Councilmember Shippey stated the debate about the Job Center has been whether it is going to be successful or not in taking workers off the streets, but he felt that the most effective course of action was for INS to continue their enforcement activities. He stated he wanted to dispel the idea that the City has not been cooperative with the INS by stating the City has always worked cooperatively with the INS and will continue to do so. He stressed the fact that the reason Council was agreeing to take this action was that the INS has made a semi -commitment to be present here due to the pressure put on the INS from the public through phone calls and letters. He urged the public to continue this pressure because that was making the whole process work better. Councilmember Thayer stated she agreed with Councilmember Shippey and Mayor Boro, and stated a few years ago when they contacted the INS their response to the City was that they could not be there because there was a limited number of agents and it was through citizens' involvement that forced a bigger INS presence in the last two months. She stated previously the INS has been to San Rafael three times in the past three years and in the last two months they have been here four or five times which did make a definite difference. She stated she could not see going forward with the Job Center if this presence was going to remain; however, her only fear was that should the Job Center disappear completely then the INS might not be here. She asked the citizens concerned about this problem to keep up the pressure on the INS office for more presence here. She stated she could not see wasting CDBG and Marin Community Foundation funds on something that might become unworkable, given the changed circumstances; however, she did counsel those who are in this country legally and who are looking for work, to encourage EDD (Employment Development Department) to expand their operations with regard to casual employment and this is a source where employers could go to employee job seekers who are in this country legally and those who are already citizens, for work for a day or two. She thanked staff for a very good report. Councilmember Cohen stated he has had some concerns about the Job Center and probably will continue to have these concerns whether or not the INS is effective. He noted he felt Council should find some way to be proactive and there were some existing agencies out there whose charge is to do employment referrals, specifically the State of California's Employment Development Department. He stated that mechanism for employment referral satisfied all of his concerns about labor standards and he noted that Councilmember Shippey was probably right that if the INS responds to public demands for service, he felt they should attempt to focus some of that same effort in getting EDD to do their job and to provide this type of referral service and publicize both to the workers and the people that hire them that services are avail- able through the Employment Development Department, in the Canal, and try to encourage that process in the next three to six months. Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to accept the staff report and take no action on the Job Center for a period of six months and review that decision at that time. SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 6 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 7 AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None Under discussion, Councilmember Shippey asked Assistant City Attorney David Walker if they were making progress on researching an anti -solicitation ordinance? Mr. Walker responded he believed so, but this was being done by City Attorney Ragghianti and he did not know the current status at this time. Mayor Boro suggested the City Attorney's Office continue to pursue this, because Council needed to keep all their options open and added he discussed this with Assistant City Manager Suzanne Golt about the City initiating some discussions with EDD and some of the social providers in the Canal, at least to direct them to refocus some of their activities and some of their interests towards EDD and attempt to encourage EDD to reach out to the community to serve these needs. Ralph Merola asked if the City Council has done anything towards writing to Federal legislators with regard to this issue. He stated approximately one month ago the Marin County Board of Supervisors initiated correspondence to the President, two Senators and this area's Assemblywoman Woolsey. He noted the recent news about the large number of people who were attempting to enter the Country illegally and stated this was an appropriate time for this City Council to adopt a Resolution or whatever documents were needed to send to these Federal legislators. Mayor Boro responded he has had discussions with members of two of the staffs, one of the Senators and the Assemblywoman, and now that Council has made the decision to put the Job Center on hold, he will explain what Council has done and, at the same time, address the issue of immigration. Mayor Boro stated when staff talked to the INS they admitted that the problem was because they did not have the resources to do the job at the borders, not necessarily here in San Rafael. Mayor Boro stated he intended to relay that dialogue and concern, that this issue is an issue of concern to the City and the entire State, and he would look for the Congressional Delegation to come together on this issue and address it. Mr. Merola asked if there would be more weight to this issue if the City Council sent letters to the Federal legislators regarding this issue? Councilmember Thayer stated she has sent letters, starting in 1992 when all of these candidates were running for the various offices, requesting their views on this particular topic because it was of great concern to her along with other citizens of California; however, she stated she never received a reply from any of the candidates who did not want to address it. She stated she attempted to talk to some of them personally, but did not get any response. Mrs. Thayer stated that maybe, with the recent occurrences of illegal immigrants being brought into the San Francisco Bay Area on ships, the Federal legislators will be more responsive at this time. Councilmember Shippey stated he agreed with Mr. Merola's suggestion with regard to writing to Federal legislators to make them more aware of this problem locally. Ms. Nicolai stated staff has been in contact fairly constantly with Congresswoman Barbara Boxer's office for the last couple of years, before she was elected to the Senate. She noted these legislators do respond more to calls from their constituents than they do to fellow public entities. She stated that what we need to understand is the impact that this immigration problem is having on this country is only affecting six states and when addressing this issue on a local level, it is important to get input from other State legislators, as well as our own, to make the other states more aware of this problem and possibly assist in stopping it at this time before it spreads to the unaffected states. Councilmember Breiner stated she agreed that individual letters and calls from constituents mean a lot, but felt Council should pass a resolution or have Mayor Boro send a letter representing the Council on this issue to all Federal legislators. Mayor Boro stated he would draft a letter for all Councilmembers to review and then send it out to the Federal legislators with regard to this issue. 15.DISCUSSION OF CLOSURE OF FIRE STATION #3 (CM) - File 12-3 x 9-3-31 x 9-3-66 Mayor Boro noted there were many people in the audience from the Friends of Munson Park Association and stated that the Fire Station #6 issue is not related to the closure of Fire Station #3. He stated whatever decisions are made on one issue will not have an influence on the other. He stated Council had received the letters from the Friends of Munson Park group and that issue will be pursued and dealt with at a later meeting. Councilmember Shippey asked if there was a date that could be given to the Munson Park Association, indicating when this issue would be brought to Council? City SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 7 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 8 Manager Nicolai responded she had originally asked that it come back to the second meeting in June; however, based on some of the letters staff has received, they are attempting to do some time estimates and analysis of alternative sites to Munson Park, which will take some time. She stated they also wanted to have neighborhood meetings, once this data is put together. She stated the decision to move Fire Station #6 is independent from the issue on Fire Station #3 and noted she did not want to rush the issue on Station #6 because it is basically a 30 year decision, which is the amount of time they are foreseeing that this station will be at its new location. She stated she wanted to give the community time to gather all the information and discuss this with staff before making a decision on it. Councilmember Shippey then asked if Ms. Nicolai was thinking of bringing this back to the second meeting in July? Mayor Boro responded with the suggestion that the City Manager and Fire Chief work on gathering the timing information and then meet with the community groups before bringing this back to Council. Ms. Nicolai stated the time analysis could probably be done in the next week or more for a couple of the alternative sites and then when the data is pulled together they need to schedule the meetings with the community. She stated the time needed for this item was not as urgent as the Budget, at this time, and Station #6 is not related to the budget issue. Mr. Shippey stated his concern about advising the citizen groups as to when they will be meeting with staff and the Council. Mayor Boro stated Council has received a letter from the Friends of Munson Park asking that they be informed and receive minutes of meetings, and this has been put in place. Ms. Nicolai then summarized the staff report for possible closure of Fire Station #3. She stated that in the process of developing the City Budget this year it has been one of the more challenging to date and several factors have gone into the reason why the City is at the point is at now. She stated one issue was that these budget issues have been developing over the last four or five years with a combination of factors. She stated not only has the economy had an impact on the City's revenue sources, but the State budget balancing exercise has had very direct impacts on the City of San Rafael, many of which have been unpredictable, very swift moves at taking local property tax and shifting it out of the City's control into the State arena. She stated they have always considered through the budget reductions that staff has dealt with over the last several years that Police and Fire are top priority and there is no way that policy has changed; however, in looking at how staff has basically destroyed other areas of the City's services in dealing with anticipatory steps that staff took to addressing this problem, they have been able to somewhat project some of these difficulties and freeze vacant positions. She stated this last year they offered early retirement as an incentive to create vacancies and some employees have availed themselves of that. She stated staff has met with all the bargaining units in an attempt to negotiate a furlough program, which was accepted by the Miscellaneous Employees and Management and Mid -Management, but not the Police and Fire non -management employees. She stated every effort has been made to attempt to create opportunities and vacancies and downsize the organization through mechanisms that did not result in actual firings and/or lay-offs. She stated that while this has had a long-term disseminating impact on some departments, it has not been through actual pink slips and laying off people, it has been through anticipating the problems and creating those opportunities. Ms. Nicolai stated in looking at this year's budget, because of the magnitude of the cuts that staff was facing, it did not seem possible to not evaluate what was happening in the Safety Services departments. She then emphasized that dealing with the Safety Services, particularly in the Police Department, has been done in the past to a large extent. She stated they have shifted a significant extent in the past in two major areas - going from a strict beat structure in the Police Department to a more directed patrol, which basically uses a computer analysis of the times and the numbers of calls for service, and then the resources are reallocated to cover those peak times and start shifting all the schedules to better utilize the manpower. She stated, in addition to that, they have evaluated things that were done by sworn officers who tend to be the more expensive employees and found certain kinds of workloads can be carried by non -sworn Police employees. She stated, for example, sometimes when Police Officer vacancies occurred they created a Police Services Aide and let them do certain things such as taking burglary reports and non -emergency, non -sworn types of activities. Ms. Nicolai stated, in addition to this, there have been cuts in service levels in that the type of issues that call for a police report has diminished in magnitude of what officers will respond to which might require a report to be taken. She stated in the Fire service staff has been monitoring in the last few years, there has been a dramatic shift in the nature of the Fire service and in looking at the statistics of what is happening in the Fire Department, Council has been made aware that a significant amount of the calls are now revolving around the medical services area, as opposed to the fire response, which has forced staff to look at what is occurring in the nature of those services and stating there might be a better way to deal with this changing environment with regard to calls for service and maybe the SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 8 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 9 traditional way these services have been provided in the past is not the most cost effective way. Ms. Nicolai stated staff has looked at all the Fire stations, the location and response times of which has as much to do with geography as anything else, and they have always felt that the placement of Fire stations has also historically evolved, not necessarily out of a fire science approach. She stated many of these were, for example, dedicated by a developer and placed where it is for various reasons, not all of them related to the response time configuration. She stated they have a situation in Terra Linda where staff has been looking at relocating Fire Station #3 for several years. She noted that recently as a development project went through on Smith Ranch Road, a condition of that development was that a piece of their property was dedicated to the City as a future fire station location because of full knowledge that Fire Station #3 and Fire Station #7 are too closely located and it would better serve the community, particularly as development occurred further north, to relocate that station farther north. She stated the City has also had a 20 year agreement with Marinwood where they have provided first response into the northern part of San Rafael, west of the freeway, so that the Twelveoak Hill and the Mont Marin area have Marinwood as their first responding units. Ms. Nicolai stated that in looking at the fact that the City was considering relocating Station #3 to farther north, there would be, even with that maneuver a diminution in service in any areas right immediately adjacent to the Fire Station. She stated relocating this station to Smith Ranch Road would bring the response time from one minute to three minutes on Joseph Court and Professional Center Parkway, but Fire Station #7 in that area is able to respond between a two and a four minutes response time, all of which are well within quality standards of any response time arena. Ms. Nicolai stated that in addition to this, what they needed to look at was rather than being tied to Fire Stations as the only way to provide service, that the real analysis shows that the dramatic increase in calls for service throughout the community is in medical. She stated rather than feeling completely attached to fire station locations, the issue is how do we shift and do a better job of emphasizing the change that is occurring in the nature of the calls and deal with the medical responses which do not need to be done purely through fire station locations; they can be done through Paramedic units, through private ambulance services, etc., which is where we should be putting our resources and addressing the shift that is occurring in the environment of fire services. She stated the combination of all those factors has lead her to feel that closing Fire Station #3 would not, in any way, diminish beyond a quality level of service, the service that is being provided in the Terra Linda area with an expansion of the City's agreement with Marinwood for that part north of Joseph Court, expanding the District from Station #7 up to Joseph Court and west of the freeway near Drakes Terrace, and spreading some of the response up to Fire Station #6. Ms. Nicolai stated Fire Chief Marcucci has some statistics on the total volume of calls and noted what they will find is that with the total volume of calls that Fire Station #3 is handling right now and, in looking at the historical distribution, the distribution would lead to an additional call every other day, or a half a call per day, to the three other locations. She stated the question has been raised, "What will happen if you get a call simultaneously?" and noted that could occur in any department of any size with any number of stations, which is the function of dispatch and mutual aid and other types of situations where there is one particular unit, including Paramedics, on a long type of call and there is another unit that needs back-up. She stated the volume of calls being handled by these stations at this point in time does not show that there will be a large magnitude of simultaneous calls. She stated the real critical factor in the simultaneous calls is probably more related to Paramedic services and/or medical services and she felt there were other ways of addressing that service level than just maintaining existing fire stations. Ms. Nicolai stated her overall feeling was that the budget situation the City is facing with the State is creating and forcing us to re-evaluate the way the City is providing services. She stated the message she was hearing from the community is that the City should constantly be looking at more efficient and cost effective ways of doing business and providing services to this community. She stated she felt this was her responsibility as the City Manager, but she did not feel comfortable recommending to the Council something that she felt would in any way jeopardize the public safety and health, which is her priority. She stated that the nature of the services being provided by the City has changed and the City needs to re-evaluate how they are providing these services. She stated the recommendation being presented to the Council tonight is a viable one and they have provided an alternative to that. She stated the big difference is that the fire station closure, while she felt it was a reasonable one, will not put the public's lives in jeopardy in any way. She noted they could go to a two -person company at Fire Station #3 and keep it open; also go to SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 9 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 10 a two -person company at Fire Station #2. She stated both of these stations have primarily first response to medical calls and many other jurisdictions function with two people on an engine company in most of Marin, except for Novato. She stated they strongly encouraged that some of the other Fire Stations remain three-person engine companies because of the nature of the equipment being used, as well as the primary service areas that are being served, but this alternative does require that the City meet and confer with the Firefighters' Association, and fire unions throughout the State and maybe nationwide have traditionally fought going to two -person engine companies or have fought to go up to three-person engine companies. She stated that in looking at the history of those two stations and the nature of their fire responses and medical, for the last two years the majority of the first responsi-bility in their district has been even 100% medical, that can be handled in those two areas quite well with a two -person engine company. She stated the longer term solution was to address the fact that the City does not need to have Fire Station #3 open to deal with the nature of the service level in that area, but we do need to seriously look at reconfiguring the way we are providing medical services throughout our community. Councilmember Thayer stated she had a concern with regard to the number of calls indicated in Fire Chief Marcucci's report which stated approximately 68% of all calls for services in Fire Station #3's District were medical in nature, 32% were miscellaneous and there were no structure fires since 1992. She stated that if the difference is that dramatic regarding the Paramedic services, she felt that one of the issues Council should be looking at is putting some type of Paramedic service north of the "hill", as well as south of the "hill", because it was her understanding that the engines respond with the emergency medical crew on -board and then they have to wait for the Paramedics. She asked what the response time was for the Paramedic unit that comes up from downtown San Rafael after the EMT unit arrives? Chief Marcucci responded the assumption cannot be made that a Paramedic unit is in a specific fire station the entire day or a fire engine, too, waiting for these calls to come in. He stated the fact was the Paramedic unit might be at Kaiser Hospital or Marin General or any other fire station, so the response time is normally from the fire station to the emergency center. He stated the standard that Marin County imposes on the Fire Department is that the Paramedic unit must be on the scene in 10 minutes in 90% of requests for service and they have been able to accomplish this with the exception of approximately seven or eight times a month and at those times they are responding from Kaiser or Marin General Hospital which would make that a longer response time. He stated that from the average, they are arriving on the scene if dispatched simultaneously probably within three to four minutes after the engine arrives on the scene. Mrs. Thayer asked was it also possible that all of the engine companies could be elsewhere? Chief Marcucci responded affirmatively. Mayor Boro asked Chief Marcucci to describe for the Council's benefit, as well as the audience, the difference in the level of care that is provided by the engine company arriving first on the scene. He stated it was his understanding that all the engine companies had some medical training to start medical treatment prior to the Paramedics arriving and taking over the treatment. He noted the engine companies and Paramedics work well together. Chief Marcucci stated all the engine companies have EMT1 personnel, along with the Automatic Defibrillators, so on the emergency scene the firefighters, if they find a person with a certain heart rhythm, can put a defibrillator on them that is automatic in nature. He stated the Paramedics do not need the Automatic Defibrillator because they are trained to read rhythmias, but the engine company personnel can defibrillate. He stated what the engine companies cannot do, that the Paramedics can do, is administer the medications and the competency of the Paramedics is higher than that of the firefighters simply because of the more extensive training they have gone through. He stated the firefighters are very adequate in their ability to handle 90% of the calls. He stated of all the medical emergency calls they respond to, one-third are transported by the Paramedics. Councilmember Cohen stated he felt it would be helpful if Chief Marcucci could do a rough response time map showing the change in response time with the station closure, to see what the overall impact will be with this possible closure. He stated it would be interesting to get some idea of the number of calls, over the past couple of years, that have gone through Fire Station #3, and what the number of calls have been at the other stations and what the distribution of those calls would be to the other stations. He stated Ms. Nicolai indicated to him there were approximately 600 calls to Station #3 and asked if Chief Marcucci would be able to tell how many of those would go to what location under this closure proposal? Chief Marcucci responded in 1991 Fire Station #3 responded to 734 calls and in 1992 to 631 calls. Chief Marcucci stated for the first five months of 1993, Station #3 responded to 258 calls. He noted after calculating these numbers, he found 619 calls in 12 months as an approximate projection. He stated that of those 258 calls during the five month period, 195 or 76% were medical in nature and 24% or 63 were of other types of calls. He stated that if they closed Fire Station #3, Marinwood would handle about 186 of these calls which would increase their response .46 times a day. He stated Fire Station #7 at the Civic Center would handle 180 which would increase their call SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 10 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 11 volume .50 and Fire Station #6 would handle 204 which would increase their response per day to .56. He noted these were rough calculations. Mr. Cohen asked if .56 indicated one-half a call per day and this would average 1 call every other day? Ms. Nicolai responded affirmatively. Mr. Cohen stated, in order to weigh this information, it might be helpful to know where the number of calls that are generated now and assigned to Fire Station #6 come from? He stated the projection of an increase on Station #6 by 200 in one year, how many are they handling now? Chief Marcucci responded he did not have that information with him tonight. Mr. Cohen stated it would be helpful to know that and a related question then is the issue of simultaneous calls. He stated if they would be going from four engines to three engines, did Chief Marcucci have an historic record of how many times two out of the three engines from Terra Linda have been out on different calls, not as back-up? Chief Marcucci stated he did not know if they could get those statistics, but would try to do so. Mr. Cohen stated, as Ms. Nicolai stated, this was going to happen no matter how many stations there are and how many engine companies are available, there will be some times where everything happens at once, and noted it would be helpful to know with the four stations how many times this would happen and whether they could predict this activity and how much of an impact that would have. Councilmember Breiner asked Chief Marcucci what the nature of the miscellaneous calls were and, if they are not medical, how are they described? Chief Marcucci responded, for example, a baby locked in a car with the engine running, someone fell out of bed with no injuries, a smoke scare, an alarm sounding and after arrival find it is a malfunction, etc. He stated these are not structure fires or vehicle fires, but more of a miscellaneous type that do not belong in any particular category. Councilmember Shippey asked if the information was correct from Chief Marcucci that one out of three calls through the Fire Department requires Paramedic attention? Chief Marcucci responded every medical call that comes into the Fire Department is prioritized. He stated some calls require Paramedics to go and other calls require an engine company to go backed up possibly by an ambulance, but the majority of the calls that come in require the Paramedics and engine companies respond simultaneously. Mr. Shippey asked if three-fourths of all calls were medical? Chief Marcucci responded that one-third of all those calls Paramedics respond to require transportation to medical facilities. Mr. Shippey then asked how does this work out numerically overall? Chief Marcucci responded the County of Marin keeps these statistics and the Paramedics in 1992 transported a little over 2,000 times. Mr. Shippey stated the City has eight Fire Stations, counting Marinwood, and only one Paramedic unit, which seems out of balance. He stated that, as Councilmember Thayer stated, we need some type of Paramedic service (north of the "hill") and although it is correct that they cannot assume where this unit will be at all times, it was logical to him it should be located in northern San Rafael in the Terra Linda area simply because that is the other major geographical division of the City from where the current service is located now. He stated he hoped they would look at how this might be obtained, but it does not necessarily mean we need to establish a new unit, but there might be other ways. Ms. Nicolai responded we should look at how to expand Paramedic capabilities and not necessarily through the traditional procedure. She noted the only personnel who could do that are fire engine companies. She stated while the City has a high volume of category calls, there is also evolving, to a certain extent, an abuse of this as a public service. She stated if the medical calls are monitored, a huge amount of these are coming from senior residential care and/or convalescent hospitals that are basically becoming somewhat reliant on the City's Paramedics to do what, she felt, their staff should be responsible for. She noted there is not only an increase in the number of calls for service, but these calls should be monitored to regain some control over what the nature of those calls are, because it can be as simple as someone in a senior residential facility falling out of a wheelchair and instead of the staff assisting them to get back into the wheel chair, they are calling the Fire Department for assistance as they have been directed to do. She stated this needed to be fixed and when discussing duplicate calls, when the Paramedics or an engine company are tied up dealing with these kinds of calls, this is not appropriate use of the Paramedic services when they should be handling life safety issues. She stated one of the Fire Commissioners is working on developing some educational criteria and standards to work with the senior residential homes and convalescent hospitals in setting up some standards that could possibly be monitored through dispatch and/or dealt with through another mechanism. She stated this could become a financial problem because the liability is being moved from them to the City. She stated she did not feel this was the City's responsibility and then the Department SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 11 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 12 could focus on not only bringing the number of calls down, but also the type of calls where the Paramedics are most critically needed. She stated the growing problem with the overall medical care in the community is that many people are no longer able to afford medical insurance and there are a significant number of calls for the Paramedics and engine companies to respond to calls that are similar to doctors' check-ups. She stated that as Paramedic services expand as a component of the public sector, the City needs to find methods of containing this before it becomes too expensive to provide. She stated it was important to maintain some controls over this to keep the expenses from escalating. Councilmember Shippey stated he still felt the community needed Paramedic service north of the "hill". Ms. Nicolai stated this was needed throughout the City. Mayor Boro stated the City has a Paramedic system that was established and voted on by the residents, which is funded by a special tax. He stated if this is to be re- evaluated, this is the procedure to use to determine if a re-evaluation is needed. Councilmember Shippey stated Chief Marcucci looked at possibly closing other fire stations, particularly Fire Station #2, which is mentioned in the staff report. He asked Chief Marcucci why Fire Station #3 was selected as the primary station for closure? Chief Marcucci responded the location of Fire Station #7 at the Civic Center is 1.5 miles from Fire Station #3, whose response time is approximately two minutes. He stated because of this, it did not seem necessary to have a fire station 1.5 miles from another, due to the area around these stations. He stated Fire Station #3 needed to be moved further north or another form of service level needs to be increased further north. He stated that Fire Station #3 was built in 1960 and some years later when they entered into the contract with Marin County for CSA -19 Fire Protection, the Civic Center site was part of the agreement that the Department entered into with the County Board of Supervisors. He stated this was not the best site at the time, but due to that agreement the station was built at the Civic Center. He stated now in looking at Fire Station configurations, the Department needs to move Fire Station #3 further north or contract with Marinwood Fire Depart- ment or another scenario that would improve the level of service to the total citizens of San Rafael. He stated he felt they should concentrate on the entire City and not just one location. He noted the property taxes residents are paying include coverage of the entire City. Councilmember Shippey stated the alternative Chief Marcucci stated actually was not to close a fire station but to go to two -person crews. He then asked what the safety issue was in decreasing the calls responded to, particularly if they are medical in nature? Chief Marcucci responded the two -person station proposal is an alternative for Council to view. He stated closing a fire station is a major decision for this Council to make and a two -person fire station might be a better route to go because nobody will lose their job and everyone retains their rank structure. He stated with regard to the safety issue, there are many fire departments in Marin County operating with two people. He noted when the calls are predominantly medical in nature, there can be a system put in that results in more engine companies being called for a structure fire, for example, to put more people at the scene. He stated the safety issue occurs on a fire call when they enter the structure, which means there should be a fairly fast response time for back-up units. He stated this was not an easy decision to make, but had to be made due to the upcoming budget restraints. Mr. Shippey stated he understood that, but what he understood Chief Marcucci stated was that if they decided to go to two -person crews this would result in adequate back-up and the ability to keep a fire station open, as well as more flexibility. Chief Marcucci responded affirmatively. Councilmember Shippey asked if they do go with the two -person crews, would staff be able to come to a consensus with the Firefighters' Association in four weeks? Chief Marcucci responded that if they wanted to maintain the rank structure and all their jobs they will agree, but if they do not then there will have to be a closure of a station. Councilmember Breiner commended City Manager Nicolai and Chief Marcucci for a very good report on a difficult issue. She suggested looking at studies that have already been done with other jurisdictions for methods to approach the medical calls. She stated, to a certain extent, some of the medical calls for service are a result of a change in the Smith Ranch Homes from the original intent of it being a full spectrum of care on-site; whereas, now, the Skilled Nursing Facility is many blocks away and if that were closer by it would probably increase the availability of use of nurses, which is included in many other nursing facilities in Marin County where there is the full range of medical care available. Councilmember Breiner stated she was pleased to see a reasonable alternative proposed for Council and will be supportive of the alternative which would give a few stations two -person crews and filling some of the four floating positions that were frozen which would mean that there would be more personnel at Fire Stations #2 and #3. She SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 12 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 13 stated she would like more information about this. Chief Marcucci stated he felt they were fortunate to have on the Fire Commission a physician who is assisting in dealing with the convalescent hospitals in ways that the Department itself is not able to handle. Mr. Christopher Desmond, President of the San Rafael Firefighters' Association, stated the Firefighters' Association was disturbed by the reports from the City Manager and the Fire Chief, not because of the specific content, but more about the process by which this is all being done. He stated they felt, like the Friends of Munson Park, these alternatives are too narrow in scope and the report before the Council is biased and not objective, with significant inaccuracies in it. He then gave Council a letter from the Association indicating their concern with regard to the process with which this issue is being considered. He stated the San Rafael Firefighters' Association is not opposed to the closure of Fire Station #3 or the down -sizing of the Fire Department; however, because this is a very serious step to take they felt the scope of the considerations here and the options before Council are far too narrow and a broad-based approach needs to be considered. He then addressed some of the inaccuracies that the Association observed in the City Manager's report. He noted on Page 2, second paragraph, it states, "The Police and Fire Associations (unions) did not agree to the package offered in January. . ." which refers to furloughs, and stated the Firefighters' Association was never offered a furlough package in January. He stated a letter was sent to them reiterating the City's furlough proposal of October 30, 1992. He stated the 1993-94 furlough proposal offered at that time contained the unacceptable condition of forcing the Association to accept the City's last best offer for the 1992-93 contract as a part of a two-year package containing these furloughs. Mr. Desmond stated this was the only furlough package that was offered to the Association and it was implied in the City Manager's remarks that this station closure would not have been necessary, had the Association accepted the furloughs. He stated Ms. Nicolai has characterized what had occurred. Mr. Desmond stated the reference to the Hughes-Heiss report was also misleading. He stated the Hughes-Heiss report's recommendation in respect to the closure of Fire Station #3 can be found on Page 17 in the Fire Department Section of the Hughes-Heiss report, which states, "Relocate and consolidate Stations #3, #7 and convert one engine company to a Paramedic unit." He stated this idea has obvious merit, as reflected tonight by Councilmembers Shippey and Thayer. He stated that nowhere did the Hughes-Heiss report recommend the closure of Fire Station #3 in the manner proposed by the Fire Chief and City Manager. He stated on Page 2, the fifth paragraph, the City Manager stated, ". . fire -related (calls) have significantly diminished." He referred Council to Page 5 of the Hughes-Heiss report, where it was clearly shown that fire calls were increasing over the past few years, with the most dramatic increase in the area of structure fire responses. He noted on Page 3 of the staff report, the third paragraph which states, "The closure of a fire station does not require that we meet and confer . . .". He stated what the City Manager is referring to in this paragraph was that it does not require the City to "meet and confer" with the Fire Association. Mr. Desmond stated that, while technically correct, if viewed narrowly enough, this statement is also very misleading. He stated the Firefighters' Association agrees that there is no "meet and confer" requirement over the decision of management to close a fire station; however, the City is obligated to "meet and confer" on the impact of such a decision. He stated this "meet and confer" obligation will have to be resolved prior to implementation, like any other "meet and confer" obligation. Mr. Desmond stated that in Chief Marcucci's report he also attempted to add credence to his proposal by referring to the Hughes-Heiss report on Page 2, the fourth paragraph of his report. He stated the Fire Chief fails to point out in this report that the difference between his approach and the Hughes-Heiss report's approach is so great that it makes these two approaches incomparable. He stated the difference was one approach contains the Paramedic unit, additionally north of the "hill" and the other does not, which is very, very significant. He noted this was what Hughes-Heiss recommended. Mr. Desmond stated the fifth paragraph on Page 2 uses percentages in a misleading way to down play the fire threat to the City and the fire costs have not been reduced, but in fact continue to rise. He noted Page 5 of the Hughes-Heiss report states this clearly. He also stated that in the fifth paragraph, the Chief stated, ". . there were no structure fires . . ."(a two year period of 1991-92). He stated in 1991 there were two structure fires in Fire Station #3's district and, in addition, Engine #53 responded as a part of the first alarm assignment to an additional nine structure fires. He noted in 1992, instead of 0 structure fires, as stated by the Fire Chief, there were actually 6 structure fires in Station #3's district. He stated that in the first six months of this year, alone, there have been 4 structure fires in this district, with an additional 4 first alarm responses. He stated this included the SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 13 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 14 apartment house fire on February 1, 1993, that resulted in a fire death, that was in Fire Station #3's district. Mr. Desmond stated the Firefighters' Association has carefully considered the proposals presented to the Council tonight by their two administrators and they believe that many other alternatives exist to substantially reduce the Fire Department's budget without the reduction in service levels provided in the safety to the public, such as recommended by the Fire Chief's proposal. He stated while they continue to work on developing alternative options to this proposal, the Firefighters' Association wanted to point out that everyone - management, Council, staff and the Firefighters' Association - are working at a severe disadvantage. He stated they were speaking of the lack of long-range planning, the lack of goals, objectives and City-wide inter- departmental priorities. He stated the City Manager and the Fire Chief readily refer to the Hughes-Heiss report and "isolated" recommendations for specific changes that happen to coincide with their agenda, while for the past year they have taken no action to implement the more meaningful and fundamental changes that their report repeatedly calls for. He stated the Hughes-Heiss study was costly, but valuable. He noted it was thorough, accurate and professional in its preparation, and was accepted by the City upon its completion. He asked why, then, have the City Manager and the Fire Chief ignored the most fundamental recommendations? He stated in the Hughes- Heiss report it calls for a "comprehensive 5 -year plan to be developed", and though this is in the financial section of the report, it has direct reference to every department in the City. He stated this plan would include a comprehensive evaluation of "levels of staffing" - City services, the need for their continuation, expansion, reduction or other modifications. He stated the Hughes-Heiss states, ". . important policy decisions should be driven by this 5 -year financial plan". He stated the study asserts that this is essential to the proper management of this City and goes on to recommend that updates and revisions to this plan should be accomplished on an annual or a bi-annual basis. He noted that while they acknowledge that the current financial situation of the City has been changing rapidly and accurate levels of projects for the future are difficult, at best; however, it is precisely because of this that the City needs to develop a priority base, in addition to the financial base in the Long -Range Plan. He stated they needed to establish priorities for the entire City. Only with carefully established, philosophical based priorities, he noted, can anyone make important decisions such as those affecting the public safety and be assured that their decisions are consistent with the overall community needs, desires and, above all, life safety. He stated in the absence of such established priorities, the Association felt it was unwise to make hasty and substantial changes; however, the Firefighters' Association is working hard to develop several cost-saving alternatives and requests a serious forum in which to present these and have their ideas considered. Mr. Ben Ross, member of Friends of Munson Park, requested time for his daughter, Maurika, to speak on saving Munson Park. Maurika asked Council to save her park. Ms. Mary Hallman, member of Friends of Munson Park, stated, with regard to the discussion centered around Fire Station #3 and the availability of Paramedic services in the Terra Linda area, in their discussions with Fire Chief Marcucci he talked about locating a Paramedic unit in Fire Station #6 if it was relocated to Munson Park. She stated if this did occur, then the calls would go from 200 to 500 or 600 calls per year. Councilmember Cohen asked Fire Chief Marcucci for a clarification on the issue regarding if Fire Station #6 is relocated to Munson Park or another alternate location will there be provisions for a structure that would accommodate a future Paramedic unit. Chief Marcucci responded affirmatively. Mr. Cohen asked whether the idea of Fire Station #6 getting a Paramedic unit was not tied to the move to Munson Park, like Fire Station #3. He stated it made sense to build a structure that could accommodate a Paramedic unit, if the funding became available at a later date. Mayor Boro stated the staff, Fire Chief and City Manager have undertaken this effort because the upcoming budget will take an additional $1.8 million out of the City's budget as a result of take-aways and the recession. He stated everyone needs to keep in mind that the City's goal was to find approximately $400,000 in the Fire Department and find it in a way that does not compromise the level of service to the public. He noted the effort made by the Fire Chief and City Manager has been predicated on the first premise that safety is first. He stated the next issue is how to accommodate the savings and he felt government today cannot continue to do the job the way it has been done in the past. He noted citizens keep saying they want change in government, which is being forced to change in many ways because of the funding structure. He stated the City needs to find better ways to do the same job and as good a job with less resources. Mayor Boro stated the City received a letter from the League of Women Voters regarding consolidation of services throughout Marin County, which discussed the duplication of school districts, fire districts, sanitary districts, police, etc. He noted he was surprised that of the 112 respondents to SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 14 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 15 this report, 58% were in favor of consolidation of districts and their first choice was fire districts. He stated they have had a form of cooperation with another district within Marin County and San Rafael in providing response. He stated he would be reviewing the letter from the Firefighters' Association, but the main issue was to start dealing with the funding issue. He noted they had two proposals for this project and, if the Council and staff has to "meet and confer" this will be a long process and he recommended both parties put these issues in the past and look towards the future and how this problem can be resolved to the benefit of the public safety. He suggested the Fire Chief and City Manager meet with the Firefighters' Association to review these issues and get back to Council as soon as possible with responses to what has been brought up at this meeting. Mayor Boro noted that they wanted to maintain a high quality of service and the safety of the citizens of San Rafael takes priority, but at the same time Council needs to find a better way to do this job with less resources. Councilmember Shippey stated he thought both he and Councilmember Cohen, as well as the other two Councilmembers, had raised some questions they would like answered at a later date. He then stated he wanted to clarify if the two alternatives mentioned would give the same level of safety coverage as keeping Station #3 open. He stated that as Councilmember Breiner stated, they would not like to close a fire station, but wanted to explore all the alternatives carefully. Councilmember Thayer stated she wanted to explore the possibility of two -person engine companies, but would also like some input with regard to the Firefighters' Association's concern about possible alternatives and suggestions that they may have in this process. She noted the staff report was very good and offers two alternatives. City Manager Nicolai stated she did request through a message to the Firefighters' Association a month ago if they had any alternatives, they should be submitted to her in writing so she could review them and nothing has been forthcoming as yet. She then noted because she has more than one department to address with regard to the upcoming Budget, she has had "Brown Bag" lunches for the employees about this subject where the Firefighters did not attend and if special mechanisms have to be set up to deal with all the issues in one department when there are many similar issues in other departments with a greater degree of cooperation, she requested through the Chair that before the "meet and confer" with the firefighters, staff has a chance to review this issue, as well, to save time. Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to accept the report, and, as part of the motion, if there are Firefighters' Association ideas that they want to bring forward as additional information, that those should be brought to the City Manager within a week. Councilmember Cohen stated Council needs to make a decision on this anyway and if the Firefighters' Association has information on this it should be brought to Council as quickly as possible. He stated he felt that if any other ideas come from them after one week, they should be considered, too. He stated he understood why these decisions should not be made in haste, but unfortunately Council has been put into a position where they have to evaluate and ask questions they have not had to ask in the past of what level of public safety is acceptable and what level of public safety can the City afford. He commended Chief Marcucci for taking a serious, hard look at this and suggesting this station closure, but if it is a more efficient way to deliver service and protects public safety, they were obligated to consider this. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None 16.REVIEW OF THE COUNTYWIDE PLAN DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (EIR) (Pl) - File 191 x 10-2 Planning Director Pendoley stated the Council has been tracking this issue for approximately two years and staff was at the point where Marin County has issued a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). He stated staff has reached an agreement with Marin County whereby they developed an interim policy for the St. Vincent's/ Silveira property which essentially allowed it no development, and that was a way of recognizing that the City has an ongoing study underway that will be included in the General Plan Amendment. He stated a problem that related to this was that the County also did not allow any traffic capacity to this property and thus the property has no recognition at all in the EIR. He explained that what this means was that a year from now staff will be attempting to negotiate upwards from 0 trips or 0 traffic impact. He noted CEQA gave them a way to do that, which is this property should be studied for its traffic impacts in that part of the EIR that deals with cumulative impact. He stated that if Council agrees with this assessment, they propose to send a letter to Marin County to that affect. SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 15 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 16 Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to accept the report and transit comments to the County. AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None 17.RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE VARIANCE APPLICATION TO OPERATE PERMANENT HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY (FD) - File 4-3-32 x 13-2 x 115 City Manager Nicolai stated staff has been working with Marin Sanitary for the last several years to develop a master use permit for all of their properties and initially said to them they should pursue getting the permit or having as part of this Master Use Permit the idea of accepting household hazardous waste because that seemed to be the wave of the future and the City should go through this process once, rather than numerous amendments. She stated that in the interim in order for Marin Recycling to accept hazardous waste, Patty Garbarino of Marin Recycling and Forrest Craig of the Fire Department have been working together on a variance application to get a permit from the State of California and this variance application will, in affect, give them that permit. Forrest Craig, Deputy Fire Marshal, San Rafael Fire Department Fire Prevention Division, stated his division has been working conceptually with Marin Recycling to expand the existing battery, oil and paint program and create a permit household hazardous waste collection and consolidation facility under a cooperative agreement. He stated what the Council had before them at this meeting was a resolution which would authorize the City Manager to execute a variance application with the State of California, Department of Toxic Substances Control, to operate a permanent household hazardous waste collection consolidation facility in cooperation with Marin Recycling. Mr. Craig stated under the Permit Variance as proposed, the City would act as a generator for all household hazardous waste received from San Rafael residents. He noted as a generator for that household hazardous waste, the liability is minimized in that most waste collected is to be recycled, negating them being disposed of as a hazardous waste. He stated in addition, the anticipated household collection facility would further reduce liability by implementing a waste exchange program whereby residents could pick up latex paint, pesticides, aerosol paints and other consumer products in their original packaging for reuse. He noted this would again minimize waste disposal and long-term liability on the part of the City. Mr. Craig stated the Tanner Legislation also provides an immunity clause for governments when acting as the generator for household hazardous waste programs. He stated by approving the Resolution, it would enable the City and Marin Recycling to jointly apply for the required variance from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, avoiding costly variance application fees of approximately $10,000. He noted potentially the City should receive approval to operate prior to anticipated implementation of more stringent regulations and permit application processes scheduled to take place before the end of this year, 1993. He stated that the Hazardous Materials Division, in the decision to continue this program, would work with staff and Marin Recycling to develop a facility operations plan, a government industry cooperative agreement and budget proposal to be presented to the Council for consideration at a future date. Councilmember Breiner asked if this would cost the City anything other than Mr. Craig's time and involvement? Mr. Craig responded negatively. Councilmember Shippey stated he felt this was a great idea and asked if this Resolution would tie the City to the Countywide JPA for solid waste management, but would allow the City to go ahead with its own Hazardous Waste collection site, regardless of whether the City is acting on its own or with the rest of the County? Ms. Nicolai responded that this is completely independent of the JPA, but not inconsistent with whether or not the City wants to participate. She stated this gives the City an option to have a facility in San Rafael that can serve the City only and/or be an approved location in a permanent site to be part of the County JPA; so she stated this keeps both options open. Mayor Boro stated this was consistent with the proposal that was put together with Novato that the City would pursue on a "cafeteria" basis those things the City wanted to do and the City found it more beneficial to do it on its own, and we would have that ability and facility to do this on our own. Ms. Nicolai stated she found that this was one of those services where a cluster of five defined jurisdictions served by Marin Sanitary might choose to do it in this manner. She stated the large benefit that this particular permit would give Marin Sanitary and the City that other applicants and competitors for this Countywide Household Hazardous Waste program SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 16 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 17 would not be able to provide the same way is by having this facility where the garbage is actually hauled to. They can do delayed checking which is set up in an independent location where the loads are not brought in, but people would just bring their household hazardous waste and then have the expense of that operation separate from the ability to use the similar staff at that same location to be checking the loads and really dramatically reducing what is in the waste stream for the safety of the workers at the landfill itself. She noted this was why she felt this was a great thing to pursue jointly with the County and later on, the implementation of this would come back as a separate program including the cost. This was just a suggestion and not a commitment to any program at this time. Councilmember Cohen stated he felt the City was fortunate to have an operation like Marin Recycling in this County and commended Forrest Craig for his work on this project. He stated this was a very good example of public and private partnership. Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolution. Under discussion, Councilmember Thayer stated this was an excellent report and felt this was a significant move toward San Rafael meeting its AB 939 requirements. She stated the Household Hazardous Waste Collection days given by the County now are totally ineffective and she would not like to rely upon them as the City's sole vehicle in reducing the hazardous waste stream. She asked with regard to small business generators, if there will ever be any move in the future to deal with some of the waste from small businesses that have a real problem in shipping hazardous materials? Mr. Craig stated Patty Garbarino and he have discussed this and found this has been discussed as a part of the Master Use Permit. He stated it is an accepted practice and an encouraged practice under the permit variance to do this and he believed that Marin Recycling would be very interested in doing this as an additional phase of this project. Mrs. Thayer stated this was brought to Council with regard to the liability issues whenever they were dealing with any type of hazardous material. Mr. Craig responded this would happen under the agreements and the proposal before it is brought to Council. Councilmember Shippey asked for clarification from the Executive Summary that Mr. Craig referred to with regard to commercial small quantity generators, and are there provisions specifically addressed to that type of generator? Mayor Boro stated this would be addressed at a future date. Ms. Patty Garbarino, Marin Recycling, thanked Fire Chief Robert Marcucci for this idea and for the window of opportunity and his support, and Forrest Craig for his able assistance in this proposal. She stated this project has been five years in the works and they have not made any progress at the County level. She stated they are continuing to work on this project because it is ruining the environment, and the small commercial generators are the largest cost to the City in terms of illegal dumping. She stated it was important that some site for this dumping be found at this time. RESOLUTION NO. 8932 -AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A VARIANCE APPLICATION WITH THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL TO OPERATE A PERMANENT HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTION AND CONSOLIDATION FACILITY IN COOPERATION WITH MARIN RECYCLING AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ADD ITEM: I.RESIGNATION FROM EAST SAN RAFAEL NEIGHBORHOOD TASK FORCE - File 9-2-43 x 218 (VERBAL) Councilmember Breiner informed Council that Lynn Davis was resigning from the East San Rafael Neighborhood Task Force and expressed her surprise that this was still continuing to be staffed to a great extent by City staff members, and she felt that if this Task Force wanted to continue, they should be continuing on their own. She noted she hoped that the City could withdraw itself from this Task Force. Mayor Boro responded that he and Councilmember Shippey are still meeting with this Task Force the first Tuesday night of each month and this group is now working on bylaws, which include the role of the City, and the consensus seemed to be that this group would like to be independent, but would like to withdraw from this relationship with the City over the next year. He noted they are aware that the City will start removing staff fairly soon within this year and he and Councilmember Shippey will probably continue to attend over the next year, but the group is looking for a representative of the Council on this committee with no actual City staff support. He stated this will be brought back to Council once they have a set of bylaws to review. SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 17 SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 18 Councilmember Shippey stated his understanding from this group was that they would like a continued City presence, but at the same time they are willing to separate themselves from the City which he agreed with. Mayor Boro stated he disagreed with Councilmember Shippey's remarks in that he understood the group's desire was to have the City continue giving input to them, but overall the feeling was that they wanted to function like any other neighborhood association, which was their goal. II.ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY DINING ROOM - File 9-2 x 10-2 (VERBAL) Councilmember Cohen gave an update on this item, stating St. Vincent's Advisory Committee was exploring a new concept and rather than taking the existing facility with its attendant problems, or perceived problems, and relocate them to another neighborhood which may be an unpopular concept in that area, they were looking at the possibility of St. Vincent's changing the model of how they deliver their service. He stated there were some that are very successful. St. Vincent de Paul Society has a program in Phoenix, Arizona, which has been very successful where they have done a distribution food service and, in addition to solving some of the problems here in San Rafael, it could lead into a future vision of homeless service in Marin County where they might eventually have the five-day service centers distributed throughout the County and they can deliver food to those locations, instead of bringing everyone together at one location. He stated the group had a meeting recently with a couple of the service providers and there was some real interest expressed. He noted it was clearly not going to be efficient and possibly not economically feasible for St. Vincent's to rent and operate five different dining locations, or perhaps find people willing to provide space and maybe some staffing so they can then deliver the food. He stated they had a few people interested and are trying to set up another meeting for this upcoming Friday, 6/11/93, to determine whether they can get all the players involved and if it seems like there is interest and support among service providers, then they will probably have some type of public forum on this to put this to the community and see what type of support the group will get for this approach. He stated the Committee was trying to build some support from the community before they discuss any specific locations. He stated St. Vincent's ultimate goal was to move away from "B" Street. Councilmember Shippey stated this was a large concern with the residents of San Rafael. Councilmember Cohen stated they were, in fact, looking for another site and, for example, if Hamilton Field was to become available, it would be ideal for this service. Mr. Cohen stated there was a suggestion from the media of a location in southern Marin which would combine some new homeless service with kitchen facilities and St. Vincent's has been encouraged to look at that location. Councilmember Thayer asked Mr. Cohen if he was talking about several locations throughout Marin County? Mr. Cohen responded they were looking at locations through- out San Rafael; however, he stated they have the right to operate at their present location and they own the building and it would be difficult if the City tried to abate a location that has been in place for 12+ years. Mr. Cohen stated one of the understandings the committee has is that St. Vincent's is in a stable position now and the committee needed to find another stable location and the only locations that we control are those within the City of San Rafael; however, the problem is Countywide and St. Vincent's would rather distribute the food out on a Countywide basis, but the committee has not control over that because they are dealing with the situation in San Rafael. Mr. Cohen noted his focus was that they have 200+ people coming to the "B" Street dining room in what could be a prime retail district and he would like to relocate this in many different locations, instead of one location. Councilmember Cohen stated the problem remains that there are the hard-core homeless, maybe 100 of the population, who use the dining room who enjoy harassing people and create the problem for the retailers and customers. He noted that they would like to relocate that service and the satellite operation that serves those people food is going to be a problem no matter where it is located, but this has to be done at some point. He noted ideally this operation will not be located in downtown San Rafael. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:45 PM. JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk APPROVED THIS DAY OF , 1993 MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL SRCC MINUTES (Regular) 6/7/93 Page 18