HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/19/2001 Minutes of a Special Meeting
May 19, 2001
Town of Los Altos Hills
City Council Special Meeting
Saturday, May 19, 2001, 8:30 A.M.
Mayor Finn's home: 12000 Finn Lane
1. CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor Finn called the Special Meeting of the City Council to order at 8:30 a.m.
Present: Mayor Finn and Councilmembers Casey, Cheng,
Fenwick and O'Malley
Absent: None
Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham Planning Director
Carl Cahill, Public Works Manager Jim Rasp, Finance
Director Carol Ferrell, Building Official Bill Carino,
Building Technician Jeanne Evilsizer, Office Manager
Beth Ebben, Assistant Planner Matt Weintraub and City
• Clerk Pat Dowd
2. RETREAT WITH CONSULTANT TO DISCUSS ITEMS OF GENERAL
INTEREST TO CITY COUNCIL AND STAFF
Council met with Dr. Marilyn Manning, the facilitator, and the City Manager
from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. to discuss items of general interest and to
establish goals. At 11:00 a.m. the discussion continued with other staff
members. Initially the discussion revolved around the personality profiles
which had been taken by all Councilmembers and staff members. The different
personality types were outlined and the methods of working and interacting
with the types were addressed. The facilitator commented that the overall view
of the personality types portrayed by Council and staff exhibited a good mix of
different types with different approaches to issues and problems.
A general discussion took place on what staff felt were current needs and
concerns in the organization and on what they considered to be pluses to
working at Town Hall. The needs and concerns raised included in part:
updating records retention; a new Town Hall; consistency in leadership,
direction and priorities; limited staff and thus limited time to get projects done;
and increased regulatory requirements in areas such as finance which required
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more time to complete. On the plus side the following were mentioned: having
a new City Manager on board; the teamwork and community feeling among
staff; the informality and flexibility of working at Town Hall; fast
paced/variety; and room for creativity.
The following goals as determined by Council as having priority were
discussed by Council and staff. First a new Town Hall. Staff expressed their
opinions about the new Town Hall noting space needs and safety concerns
among other issues. Council agreed that a new Town Hall was needed and
stated that they planned to approach this by way of donations. Details of this
approach were to be worked out by Council. Second, a review of the site
development ordinance. At the May 17th Council Meeting the Council had
established a new Site Development Ordinance Committee to work on this
goal. The third goal was a review of the Town's infrastructure needs. This
included the need for an established policy regarding paths, their maintenance,
implementation, etc. It also included drainage concerns and the need for a
Master Drainage Plan and an inventory of needs. The fourth goal was a review
of the current ordinances to determine inconsistencies. Council noted that a
couple of residents had already started working on this and the Council planned
to establish a committee to continue working on identifying such
inconsistencies and making a report to Council. The fifth goal was recreation
needs in the Town. Council noted that there were several parcels of Town
owned land and inquired whether any of these locations would be useable for
• recreation programs. The Public Works Manager was asked to present a report
on all such properties and whether or not they were sellable. Other comments
included staffing needs for such expanded programs and the possibility of
contracting out such recreation programs. One other note was the need for
neighbor input if warranted by the implementation of new recreation programs
in their neighborhood. The next goal was a review of the Town's website.
Council discussed the need for updating the webpage to include more
information about the Town such as the Municipal Code, epermitting, building
and planning forms, etc. It was noted that presently the consultant was
reviewing a list of suggestions as brought forth by the Community Relations
Committee for updating the webpage and this report would be coming to
Council in the near future. One caution was to also consider the maintenance
of the webpage if it was expanded to include an extensive amount of
information. Regarding epermitting it was noted that the Town does not
currently accept credit cards and this was something that should be looked into.
Staffing needs were also addressed. It was noted that the office specialist
position had been filled and the city engineer and engineering technician
positions were being advertised. Depending on the development of the
webpage a webmaster might be needed to keep the webpage up to date.
An exercise was also taken by all present on the importance of certain values.
After tabulating the results it was determined that the following values ranked
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4 highest in importance by those present: teamwork and camaraderie; leadership,
clear direction and vision; honesty and integrity; effectiveness and consistency;
and communication.
Council reiterated that they were quite pleased the retreat had taken place and
they thought that the getting together of Council and staff to discuss ideas and
goals was important. It was agreed that a retreat held once a year was sufficient
but that short retreats might be held to discuss upcoming issues such as Town
Hall, recreation programs, etc.
3. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR:
4. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further new or old business to discuss, the City Council
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia Dowd
• City Clerk
The minutes of the May 19, 2001 Special City Council Meeting were approved
at the June 7, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting.
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