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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/15/1972CITY COUNCIL TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS • MINUMS OF A SPECIAL MES November 15, 1972 REEL 49 Week 1 Side 1 00-1105 Mayor Leslie A. Helgesson called the Special Meeting of the City Council of the Town of Los Altos Hills to order at 7:37 P.M. in the City Council Chambers of the Town Hell, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills with the following members answering roll call: Present: Councilman Davey, Grabowski, Kubby, Miller and Mayor Helgesson. SCHEDULED ITEM P.O. 1: ORDINANCE No. 203 Ordinance No. 203, Second Reading, an Ordinance establishing sewer assessment procedures. The City Attorney introduced and read the title of Ordinance No. 203, AN ORDINANCE OF THE 'TOWN OF IAS ALTOS HILIS ESTABLISHING SEWER ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES. MOTION, SECONDED AIM CARRIED: Mayor Halgesson moved, seconded by Grabowski to waive further reading carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Councilman Grabowski; Miller, Mayor Helgesson. Noes: Councilman Davey, Kubby, Councilmen Miller stated that although her vote remained the same (yes) she felt there possibly could have been alternatives presented to the Council that were not presented. MMON, SECONDED AIH) CARRIED: Councilman Grabowski moved, seconded by Mayor Helgessoe that Ordinance No. 203 be adopted carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Councilman Grabowski, Miller, Mayor Helgesson, Hoes: Councilman Davey, Kubby.. Councilman Kubby stated he voted "no" for all the reasons previously indicated at the first reading and expressed at the last meeting. SCHFV=D —0 -NO. 2: ORDINANCE 27 Ordinance No. 204, First Reading, an Ordinance emending sections of the Municipal Code relating to the powers and duties of the City Manager. The City Attorney introduced and read the title of Ordinance No. 204, AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF IAS ALTOS HILLS AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE LOS ALTOS HILLS MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE CITY MANAGER. MOTION, SECONDED AND CARRIED: Councilman Davey moved, seconded by Grabowski and carried by unanimous roll call vote to waive further reading. SCFE:I'.A.F.O ITEM N0. : DIS(:USSION AND POSSIBLE ANION ON REPORT FROM BAXTER MCDONALD & COMPANY Before beginning this scheduled item, Mayor Helgesson stated that on Tuesday following the last City Council meeting an article appeared in the Palo Alto Times which was partly factual and partly facetious. Mayor Helgesson read the article and pointed out the factual and facetious statements. The Mayor then read his and Councilman Grabowski's factual account. 6, SCHM11 D ITEM NO. 3 (Cont. ) Mayor Relgesson introduced Mr. Wm. Zion of Baxter, McDonald & Company, and asked him to begin reviewing the management consultant's report. Mr. Zion stated he expected questions in general as he progressed through the report and then gave a synopsis of the background of the Town before proceeding with the Overall organization. Mr. Zion next reviewed the report's recommendation of deleting the position of City N Clerk -Treasurer and combining those duties with those of the City Manager. Speaking from the floor, Mr. Wm, Roes Aiken stated that the City Clerk had a very heavy workload and asked if this wouldn't, in turn, overload the City Manager and then asked how did the consultants intend to decrease the City Manager's workload. Mr. Zion replied that it would increase the responsibilities of the City Manager and add to his workload; however, it would be the City Manager's responsib:Lllty to get this done through delegation. Due to the lengthy discussion at this time between Mr. Zion and citizens, Councilman Kubby stated he felt Mr. Zion should review the entire report and then open discussion up to the floor. General discussion ensued with Councilman Grabowski stating that he felt it would be beat for the audience to have the opportunity to ask questions as Mr. Zion progressed and felt the public should be granted every privilege the Chair could give them. Speaking from the floor, Dr. Grossman stated that Mr. Zion should be familiar enough with this report that if there were "tie-ins" he could refer to them easily enough and agreed with Councilman Grabowski. Councilman Miller concurred with Councilman Kubby to wait until the report was finished before hearing individual questions. Mrs. Schick asked if there were extra copies of the report so that the public could more easily follow Mr. Zion's review. Copies were distributed. It was derided to try to continue with the report and pause at intervals for questions,clerifications. Discussion resumed ;,h additional staff and the lightening of the City Manager's work- load by creating an additional position. Floor participation: 1. Mrs. Schick felt the Town would be loosing and not gaining by abolishing the City Clerk's position. 2. Mr. Wm. Rose Aiken asked if there would be the same, more, or fewer employees. Mr. Zion replied that the parttime recorder position would possibly be eliminated. Mr. Aiken then asked how could having fewer people and shifting around workloads help alleviate the problem and stated, for the record, that Mr. Zion's arguments did not make sense. 3. Mr. A.M. laws said he couldn't see any gross savings with the report's recommendations. 4. Mrs. Agnes Relgesson stated that the deletion of the City Clerk's position and the obtaining of volunteer help to take care of the financial aspects of the Town was ridiculous and didn't feel that the City Clerk should be removed. 5. Mrs. Carico felt, 1n the questions to Mr. Zion, that -Once there res -uc'i ;iublic concern, Mr. Zion should point out the inefficiencies --then perhaps the public could understand his report. -2- SCHMU ED ITEM R0. 3 (cont.) 6. Mr. Carico wanted to know the magnitude of the problems involving th= Manager and City Clerk. Mayor Helgesson asked for a delay in answering this question until the presentation of the report was finished. Councilman Grabowski disagreed with the Mayor stating that the problems should be realized before hearing a solution to them and this should be done at this time end any prohlems should be discussed before the public. 7. Mr. H. Hudson stated in no way should an important study be discussed in public when you get into personalities. 8. Mr. Raley felt,vhile the expert was here,the public should be able to ask questions and get answers. Mr. Zion continued on with the report and stated that the City Clerk Treasurer position had become "overblown" and more important than it need be --stating this position was strictly bookkeeping and record keeping. Mr. Zion then reviewed the Public Works section of the etudy; i.e., the City Engineer, maintenance crew, current .. and past building activity levels, Planning Commission Reorganization and Development Applications. Under the Business License Recommendations, Mr. Zion stated,if the revenue is to be maintained, the Council should decide the amount of enforcement and staffing required to do this and recommended Council reconsider the entire Business License Ordinance and gave three alternatives: 1) stick with present fees; 2) reduce the fees to be comparable with neighboring cities; 3) drop business licenses altogether General discussion ensued with Councilman Grabowski stating that there was too much emphasis placed on the business license and revenue than on other important business) �F with no commercial business in the Town,how did the Town expect to get money to operate, and,if the Council adopts the report's recommendations, then urbanization, higher density and commercialization may develop; believed business license fees should, if anything, be increased. Speaking from the floor, Mrs. Carico asked what the net loss of revenue would be if the Town did away with business licenses, The answer was $20,000. General discussion ensued regarding the services of the Wells Fargo Security Patrol and their part in obtaining and enforcing business licenses. Mr. Gene Smith stated he was baffled as to how the Wells Fargo Service was able to enforce business licenses. Staff noted there was a definite increase in revenue of business licenses while the Town employed the Wells Fargo Patrol. Mr. Wm. Ross Aiken asked if the Town did not require the business licenses, how much would the taxes go up and stated that the Town would be the only Town left in the area not requiring business licensee. Councilman Miller replied that Palo Alto did not require business licenses. Councilman Grabowski said that the sales tax revenue was one of Palo Alto's important sources of revenue. Mr. Zion then proceeded to outline the Citizen Committee section of the report. Mrs. Carico asked for clarification on the Pathway Committee comments. Mrs. Schick stated that the report kept referring to the Town as "the only City"-- `, and asked if it was correct to say this city is the only city not having any commerce; therefore, couldn't this city be unique in other respects. -3- SCHEDULED 1TEM NO. 3 (Cont.) Mr. Zion reviewed the Administrative, Fiscal and Procedural Matters section. General discussion ensued with regard to the separation of Clerk and Treasurer positions. Councilman Davey stated that the Town had an early history of an appointed parttime treasurer and that position had been with the Town for many years, but dropped a few years ago. In reviewing the Bonds and Sewer Hook-up Chargee item, Mr. Zion was asked for clari- fication of "running account" by Mr. Gene Smith. Mr. A.M. Laws stated it seem as Mr. Zion went deeper and deeper into the report there was more farming out of work -- this couldn't be done free -of -charge and was concerned with the report that it didn't give a cost breakdown. Mr. Carico asked the charge for farming out the sever hook-up services. Mr. Zion progressed through the next Item Personnel Policies'. Speaking from the floor: 1. Mrs. Spencer asked for clarification regarding the deletion of payment for over- time at termination of employment. 2. Mrs. Carico asked if overtime was being accrued from month-to-month. The City Manager replied "no". 3. Mr. Gene Smith asked questions regarding overtime. He then referred to the Council's statement of refusing to give Staff merit increases out of their dissatisfaction with employee performances. Councilman Davey felt this state- ment was fair, Mayor Helgesson disagreed. Councilman Grabowski stated that ,as he understood it, there was not going to be a salary recommendation at this time. as Council indicated that they were waiting for the Baxter- McDonald report before making salary recommendations. k. Mr. A.M. laws felt this was unusual; if you change content of position.then salary should be changed ,and this has nothing to do with merit or cost of living increase. General discussion ensued at which time it was pointed out that the City Clerk vee overqualified. Mrs. A. Helgesson stated even if the City Clerk was overqualified, this should be"a plus"in favor of the Town. Councilman Grabowski stated that when the "overqualified" term is used ,it usually leads to massive layoffs. Mr. Zion said that the City Clerk was very veli -qualified and this could lead to a "frustrated" employee. Speaking from the floor, Mrs. M. Gallo asked the definition of "frustrated". Discussion ensued,at which time Mayor Helgesson stated there was to be ''n nnitinn nr discussico of nersonalitics. Mr. Gene Smith commented on the City Council/Manager relationship and stated he would not have spent this amount of money in his business for this type of report. Lr. Grossman asked what was the question; what are the problems and difficulties that this report was going to core. Councilman Miller said that the Council had sent an outline to the consultants of the problems that should be considered. Councilman Davey read the guidelines which were agreed upon by the Council and submitted to the management consultants. Councilman Davey went on to say that Mr. Zion had done a good ,Job and fulfilled the guidelines -4- SCHEU= ITF3d H0. 3 (Cont. ) that the Council had asked. Councilman Grabowski stated that the thrust of;,the report appeared to be to eliminate friction between Staff members and Staff/Council; however, it appeared talking of efficiency was talking of saving money and not making money. However, the report was talking of spending money, i.e., buying more equipment, paying overtime, additional staff, eliminating business licenses, capital improvements, salary adjustments, etc., - everything to spend money but no way to make money for the Town. Councilman Grabowski said he would like a suggestion as to how to achieve a $100,000 General Fund. He stated there appeared to be a slight -¢ission---how the Town would accomplish a savings to reduce tax and savings to the citizens. Councilman Kubby felt Councilman Grabowski's premise was false. Council- man Grabowski stated he was reluctant to go along with the consultant's recommenda- tions. Councilman Kubby asked Staff the dollar amount of the General Fund. The City Manager stated as of June 30, 1971 there was a $60,000 reserve which was partly owed to the General Fund from land Acquisition. Councilman Davey felt Councilman Grabowski's concern with the deficit was not taken care of with the increase of the tax rata. General discussion ensued with regard to office space recommendations. Mayor Helgesson agreed with the recommendations of the report of needing larger office space but felt this should be done in a professional manner. Councilman Grabowsk} felt money should not be spent in anticipation of receiving some "revenue sharingV money but stated he felt an estimate should be made on a proposed expansion but this was out of place at this time. Speaking from the floor, Mr. R. Cheney made several comments regarding the report E and stated that he, or the City Manager, could have done the same type of ` report and gotten the same type of recommendations. He further stated he didn't see how the Town would ever get their money back from this report and that anyone could make recommendations but the implementation of this report would be much more difficult. Mr. A.M. laws stated that there was only one thing of great value in the report and that was in getting a free Treasurer. Dr. Grossman stated he agreed that this was a cookbook approach and he resented the implication that there was a good man which was overqualified, feeling the Town should then upgrade the title of this position and keep the City Clerk. He further stated he felt this report was solely used to remove the City Clerk and that the Town should keep Ted Kluzek as the City Clerk. Mrs. Spencer asked Mr. Zion how long each of the three majority Council members spent with him and how much time did he spend with the remaining two members. Mr. Zion replied that this was not relevant to the report. Mr. Gene Smith felt there should be full support of the Council for the City Manager and then the Town would be much better off. Councilman Kubby asked for a ruling on Mr. Smi'tl•'s comments. Mayor Helgesson felt Mr. Smith was out of order to talk of personalities. Councilman Davy concurred. Councilman Grabowski disagreed with Councilman Davey, Kubby and Mayor Helgesson saying he didn't believe Mr. Smith abusive and so couldn't call him out of order. -5- SCHEU= ITEM NO. 3 (Cont.) Councilman Davey moved to adjourn to Personnel Session. Councilman Kubby asked for the City Attorney to rule on the Personnel Session being an Executive Session. The City Attorney said min an Executive Session ,the public may be excluded. Floor participation: 1. Dr. Grossman gave a brief summary of the report. 2. Mr. A.M. laws commented on Mr. Smith's previous comment and stated that Council- man Kubby was not called out of order with his nomments on the Initiative Petition at the previous meeting. 3. Mrs. Carico asked enlightenment of Phase II. 4. Mrs. M. Gallo stated final words on the study saying there were feelings in the Town that this study was political and tied to political factions. 5. Dr. Schick asked if it was the intention of the Council to lose the services of Ted Kluzek and if so could anything be done to keep him on the Staff. The City Attorney said no, nothing could be done. 6. W. Getz stated he made a living as a management consultant and was concerned as a citizen that in the majority of the cases he had seen before the Council he had been appalled at the tremendous undercurrent of the Town as the Council always seemed to be divided and felt the Council did not represent the majority of the people. Councilman Grabowski stated he was impressed by the voice of the people heard tonight. They were all in general opposition of the report and he didn't hear one person in favor of the report"in toto"or portions of the report. He felt if the Council comes out with a finding in opposition of the assembly this would be the equivalent of a Roman tribunal judging Christians. Mr. H. Hudson stated just because people didn't speak at this meeting didn't mean they were not in favor of this report. Councilman Grabowski apologized stating he made a mistake in saying that everyone was in favor,as everyone did not speak out, and agreed with Mr. Hudson --here to make judgements and decisionsbut it was difficult to do so unless individuals spoke forth. Mrs. Ronsiek spoke in favor of the study. Dr. Grossman believed the voice of the Town would be heard. Mr. K. Young felt it was too soon to critize this report --it must be examined more and looked into in more detail. He suggested that this study should be suspended until further study had been done. Mr. A.M. laws stated that the public had had access to this study/report for two weeks. MOTION, SECONDED AND CARRIED: Councilman Grabowski moved, seconded by Mayor Helgesson that Personnel Session indicated on Item No. 4 of the agenda be held in the Council Chambers FAILED by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Councilman Grabowski, Mayor Helgesson. Noes: Councilman Davey, Kubby, Miller. Councilman Miller stated she voted no,as the City Manager had requested earlier that the Session should be handled in a private session and not before the public. 40 Staff was requested by the working press if they could attend this Executive Session. Mayor Helgesson stated that the working press would be barred. M R0Sai3S: 10:20 P.M. AT)WURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION? 10:25 P.M. �. RKAWOURN TO SPECIAL MEETING: 12:02 A.M. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 12:04 A.M. to: NKXT REGULAR MEETING: Monday, November 20, 1972, 7:45 P.M, at Town Nall. jd ir Respectfully submitted, Ted J. Kluzek City Clerk Treasurer Town of Los Altos Rills 4W .7-