HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/5/2002 (2) Special Meeting Minutes
December 5, 2002
Town of Los Altos Hills
City Council Special Meeting
Thursday, 6:26 P.M.
Town Hall, 26379 Fremont Road
1. CALL TO ORDER,ROLL CALL
Mayor Fenwick called the Special Meeting of the City Council to order at 6:26 p.m. in
the Council Chambers at Town Hall.
Present: Mayor Fenwick , Mayor Pro Tem Cheng and Councilmembers
Kerr, O'Malley and Warshawsky
• Absent: None
Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, City Attorney Steve Mattas,
Planning Director Carl Cahill, City Engineer/Director of Public
Works Mintze Cheng, Administrative Services Director Sarah
Joiner and City Clerk Karen Jost
Press: Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News; Christina Bellantoni,
Palo Alto Daily and Scott Wong, Los Altos Town Crier
2. NEW BUSINESS
2.1 Consideration of expanding the current Town Hall Committee of Breene
Kerr and Dean Warshawsky to include citizen members and discussion of
selection process for selecting additional members.
Councilmember Kerr reported that he and Councilmember Warshawsky had spoken with
Architect Ron Goldman. Kerr reported that Goldman had stopped all work relating to the Town
Hall project and that he was amenable to revisiting the design of the building and incorporating
as much of his previous work as possible. Kerr added that it would be beneficial to enlarge the
membership of the New Town Hall Committee to include citizens.
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Councilmember O'Malley volunteered to serve as Financial Liaison to the Committee.
Mayor Pro Tem Cheng requested clarification from the City Attorney regarding possible
Conflict of Interest issues that could arise from residents who serve on the Committee and reside
within 500 feet of the Town Hall. The City Attorney noted that he would need to have a better
understanding of the specific charter of the committee and to review the Conflict of Interest
regulations that have been adopted by the Town to definitively advise on this issue.
Mayor Fenwick suggested that the committee be comprised of three Councilmembers and seven
citizens. The citizen members would be selected by the process used for the Town's Standing
Committees. He added that the committee would be responsible for setting its own charter and
time line. Mattas advised Council that if three Councilmembers serve on this committee it
would fall under the regulations of the Brown Act. Fenwick acknowledged that meetings of this
committee would all be noticed as Special Meetings of the City Council.
Councilmember O'Malley suggested the committee consider the budget and financial
limitations for the new Town Hall as one of their primary agenda items at their first or second
meeting.
Following discussion it was determined that the selection of the committee would be agendized
for the next Council meeting.
• OPENED PUPLIC COMMENT:
Collette Cranston, 27080 Fremont Road, suggested that Council should start the process over,
develop an RFP for this project and open it to public competition.
Beverly Bryant, 27060 Appaloosa Way, would like to see a choice of different architectural
styles for the new building.
Yetse Couperus, resident, explained the limitations of the RFP process adding that the
Committee should use very broad terms in defining the project.
William Downey, 14330 DeBell, noted that the previous Town Hall Committee had received
RFP responses from three architects and these designs are in the archives and we should use
them.
CLOSED PUBLIC COMMENT
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously that a Committee of ten members - three City Council Members and seven
citizens determine the potential design, cost and timeline for the "New Town Hall". The public
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members would be selected from a pool of applicants at the next Regular City Council Meeting
scheduled for December 19, 2002
2.2 Consideration of Process for receiving additional public input regarding the
proposed Town Hall design.
Councilmember Kerr requested clarification on a budget for this committee noting that the
process of garnering public input and keeping the community well informed could be costly.
Mattas explained that a budget could be approved at the Committee Meetings which will be
noticed as Special Council Meetings by three AYE votes from the Council or budget requests
could be returned to the City Council for full approval.
2.3 Discussion and direction to staff regarding suspension of design work effort by
Goldman Architects and their subconsultants pending further direction from the
City Council.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Kerr, seconded by Warshawsky and passed
unanimously to direct Goldman Architects and their subconsultants group to suspend design
work until further direction from Council.
The City Attorney was directed to provide Council with an update on the contract status with
Goldman Architects at their next meeting.
•
3. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR
4. ADJOURNMENT
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Cheng
and passed unanimously to adjourn the Special Meeting of the City Council at 6:53 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned to the Regular City Council Meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
K n Jo t
City erk
The minutes of the December 5, 2002 Special City Council Meeting were approved at the
December 19, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting.
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