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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1992-08-19 Mayor John R. Penna Council: Jack Drago Joseph A. Fernekes Roberta Cerri Teglia --~,obert Yee AGENDA ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING CALL TO ORDER: (Cassette No. 1) ROLL CALL: Discussion and direction on Council priorities on the 1992-1993 ~/~ Operating Budget. MINUTES City Council City Council Conference Room City Hal 1 August 19, 1992 ACTION TAKEN ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING 7:13 p.m. Mayor Penna presiding. Council present: Council absent: Drago, Fernekes, Yee, Teglia, and Penna. None. City Manager Armas stated that the intent of the meeting was for Council to con- tinue the discussion on providing direc- tion on cutting services or other reductions that staff should look at so that once there was clarity with respect to State actions staff could come back with material for Council to consider. He stated that the chart identifying the 3%, 4% and 5% figures was not intended to impose those or recommend all of those within each of the columns but only to indicate dollar values within each of the departments, etc. He spoke of the fax received Monday from the League with respect to the Governor's budget proposal of cuts of $200 million to cities and $100 million to Redevelopment Agencies, as well as addi- tional cuts to other entities. He stated that he had heard on the radio today that that Bill was defeated in the Assembly, and Speaker Brown had been quoted as saying that he expects the proposal by Hill and Eisenberg to be defeated by the Assembly and would then come forward with his own compromise. Councilman Yee stated that he did not have any items to cut or not cut, and felt that type of discussion should be reserved for Council, either as a whole or Council and staff. He stated that he felt very uncomfortable with the material 8/19/92 Page i A6ENDA ACTION TAKEN 263 Discussion - Continued. received last week from the City Manager as to what the Council had before it. He stated that the material was basically in general terms as far as how many dollars to be cut from departments and the kind of services we are not going to get, but he could not put his finger on what posi- tions were to be cut - and perhaps that was the intent. He stated that each one of the memos say, well the library is going to close at a certain time, but there is really nothing definitive as far as where the dollars come in and genera- lities as to what is going to happen. He stated that the memos made him very uncomfortable. City Manager Armas stated that was true, however, when the specific amount was known from the State, staff would come back to Council with specific recommendations on positions proposed for elimination. Councilman Yee stated that if $1 million or more was to be cut then the Council needed an action plan already set up on how we are going to do it. He stated that one of the memos from the Assistant City Manager dealt with a 15th reduction in a mid-management position, yet he did not know what that was talking about or what money that was going to save. City Manager Armas stated that it was because there had not been discussions in terms of guidance on specific service areas that the Council did not want to see adversely affected, so staff had only provided a spectrum carried over for discussion tonight for Council to provide guidance. Councilman Yee stated that if the memos had said that we are going to save $38,000 by doing X, Y, Z, then he could understand that, but here was a memo that said service reductions include elimina- tion of two employee annual recognition, events, Giant's Night, and a picnic. He questioned what the dollar amount was, because that was what would help him to 8/19/92 Page 2 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 264 Discussion - Continued. understand it better. Mayor Penna stated that Councilman Yee was saying that he did not have the background information to know what it all means financially. Councilman Yee stated that the Giant's Night was not a good example, but if you are going to eliminate six positions in the Police Dept. or people on the street he wanted to know the positions being talked about or he had problems. Vice Mayor Teglia stated that she did not have a problem with the memos because they were not implementing them. She stated that the 3%, 4%, and 5% proposed cuts were presented by the Departments to show what would affect them in the least painful manner in their judgment. She stated that she presumed that once the State budget has come back, then the Council would discuss the cuts with each Department and the rationale used for reduction of personnel, rather than a program cut and that could be discussed with the Departments tonight. Councilman Yee stated that he thought he was here tonight to come up with a con- tingency plan for any State cuts, rather than wait for State action and have another meeting because a plan was not in place. He stated that it bothered him to see a memo that said the Manager was doing away with $38,000, and would not tell the Council where. Councilman Drago stated that he agreed on what Councilman Yee had touched on, and cited his own concerns with the memos that were not his priorities and once this was approved the concept was across the board and now was the time to say no. He cited his concerns: six positions eliminated in the Police Dept. for $275,576 that had not been identified; 8/19/92 Page 3 A6ENDA ACTION TAKEN 265 Discussion - Continued. the comment that access to the public and emergency calls would not be answered within the prescribed time periods, and looking at one mid-management position in the City Manager's Dept. with emergency calls not being answered; did it mean that the Communications Supervisor or communications people would be elimi- nated. He stated that he wanted to know the positions being proposed for elimina- tion in the City as a whole as proposed by the Manager and Department Heads. He stated that he did not believe that across the board cuts were fair for the community or good for the departments. He stated that he believed the Council was going to give direction to the Manager for whatever State cuts, and he should show us what positions were recom- mended to be cut. City Manager Armas reiterated that the 3%, 4% and 5% were not necessarily across the board cuts or uniformly applied, and if Council said tonight that public safety was untouchable, then that would be the direction followed. Councilman Yee related the following: that Council direction had been that there would not be across the board cuts in the City as a whole; questioned why the City Manager had not come up with a plan for the Council to set priorities; questioned if the Council would rather cut a policeman or a custodian. Councilman Fernekes suggested using the remaining $1 million of PERS money to balance the State cuts. Councilman Yee reiterated the need for a plan to cover any amount of State cuts with a prioritized list to reference which was where the $1 million would come into to play. Councilman Drago related concern: about the $2 million deficit before State cuts; 8/19/92 Page 4 AGENDA ACTION Discussion - Continued. that the 1992-93 budget shows a $1.1 million shortfall, and on top of that the City could lose an unspecified amount from the State. Vice Mayor Teglia related: that the eco- nomy would not be better in a year; that departments were over staffed, and ser- vice levels to be provided to the com- munity should be determined for the next four or five years; questioned what the real costs of the cuts that have hidden costs; what are the costs for services to be provided to this community that are reasonable; getting department heads involved as a partnership so they can tell us professionally from their particular points of view what the Council was to do was really sensible and answered needs; didn't mind spending the $1 million if it meant it would keep the City running for a number of years because the economy would not get better for a number of years. Councilman Yee agreed with prioritizing with a three to five year plan, and if they not cut there would be greater cuts next year, and we would not have the $1 million of PERS money. He stated that cuts may not have to be in positions, but if they were it would be a very, very painful process. Mayor Penna related: that the Council should focus on revenues; the peaks and valleys of the recession; did not want to see building permit fees raised; the City was losing money because of its land use policies; inspectors come into a home to inspect a new heater and look at everything else for permits, so people are not coming in for permits and the City is losing thousands of dollars; that the engineers are doing nothing about code violations found on noise insula- tion; people coming to the City for a home addition are being referred to the Design Review Board and Planning for a cumbersome process so the improvements are not being made, and the City suffers 8/19/92 Page 5 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 267 Discussion - Continued. no revenue because of no permits; the paramedics program fees were too low and subsidized insurance agencies; could set a lower fee for those without insurance and higher rates for those with insuran- ce; to look at cost effectiveness of ser- vices other than police and fire; look at the market area on what people are pre- pared to afford; opening paramedic ser- vices to competitive bidding; charging hall rentals at rates comparable to pri- vate industry rates; doing away with the Design Review Board. Vice Mayor Teglia related: that if parking restrictions were rela~ed for room additions it could be the degrada- tion of neighborhoods. She expressed agreement with paramedic fees being raised. She stated that recreation ser- vices were supported 50% by fees paid by the public, and the City was not a busi- ness, however, perhaps it was time to look at contracting out the paramedics program. Mayor Penna remembered when the City contracted out services through VTN which had become a threat to the entire com- munity. City Manager Armas stated that if he understood the Council he could deal with affecting some cuts immediately alongside the longer examination. He suggested the following ranking: 1) public safety in all areas; 2) maintenance and preserva- tion of our infrastructure of our invest- ments, meaning facilities; 3) leisure and cultural, recreation and library. Vice Mayor Teglia felt there should be a fourth ranking - thinkers, for future planning for our best interests. Police Chief Datzman stated that he had watched Department Heads cringe tonight when their department was mentioned, and felt uncomfortable because they could not offer input. 8/19/92 Page 6 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN . 268 Discussion - Continued. He stated that in his meetings with his staff, if he did not ask at the end of the meeting what they felt - then he could have just sent them a note. He stated that he could go back two to four years ago, and we talked about long range plans, and do we have the money. He stated that while away on vacation some decisions had been made on large blocks of money and cuts and the employees are highly concerned. He stated that he had been upfront with his people on the impacts and who was affected by the cuts, and had told them not to worry about it but do their job. He stated that his job was to find a way to try to save that job and keep the services up, and come back and tell Council how we are going to do it without arbitrarily laying anyone off. He stated that if there was going to be long range planning, then we would not be sitting here and talking about how many positions we were going to lop off. He stated that the departments should be examined in such a way that department heads can feel open to make a recommen- dation up and down the line to find a way to have a balanced budget next year. He stated that our community is dif- ferent, and we offer top quality services and the employees don't worry about that. He stated that he had seen a marked departure from that and it was awkward to be a part of that as well as being a resident - to say what are we doing, where are we going; and did not feel com- fortable, and did not think the atmosphere was conducive to opinions being expressed. He stated that the employees were all worried about the cuts, who is going, and do the people do a good job. He felt that the atmosphere should have more par- ticipating management heads to discuss how these cuts are going to affect the various City services. He stated that in his Department he had been up front with his people, and felt that the Council should 8/19/92 Page 7 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN . 269 Discussion - Continued. allow the Department Heads to develop a cut list and a balanced budget, otherwise if there are arbitrary cuts there could be a backlash. He reiterated the need to utilize the Department Head resources with open dialogue before making these very important decisions Vice Mayor Teglia stated that she pre- sumed that these percentage cuts were a product of the Police Chief and were offered up as the least damaging, least punitive, and most cost effective. Police Chief Datzman likened it to "if you had to lose an eye - which one?" He stated that in the past eight years he had not had the resources in personnel or equipment and had to cut his resources in overtime and other things, and still the expectation has been there that cer- tain service levels be there. He stated that that had been painless because the process had been internal, however, there comes a point where there is no place to go in making real hardball decisions like coming before the Council and saying we won't be doing more traffic accidents for the public unless someone is severely injured; and this had never been done, and it bothered him to be pushed to that threshhold. Vie Mayor Teglia stated that one recom- mendation was to not have records open 24 hours a day, which would not bother her rather than something else. Councilman Drago stated that he would like to know how many record requests were made during given times before a determination was made, and maybe have the library open Sunday afternoon. Mayor Penna stated that he agreed with Chief Datzman with the professionalism in the room, and assumed that the Manager was going to each for input - that is the 8/19/92 Page 8 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 270 Discussion - Continued. Councilman Fernekes left the Podium at at 9:05 p.m., and did not return to the meeting. Motion to authorize letter to the 5-~ San Francisco Airports Commission commenting on proposed mitigations to be included in the San Francisco International Airport Master Plan Mitigation Program, and discussion of direction on draft of proposed amendment to the Roundtable MOU re: SFIA Master Plan noise mitigations. structure. Police Chief Datzman stated that he was not being critical of the Manager, but wanted open dialogue. Vice Mayor Teglia made reference to cuts from Prop 13, and the many meetings with Department Heads, and wanted their pro- fessional opinions again on where the money was going. Councilman Yee stated that the Chief was saying that no one was asking staff to be a party to the discussion, and felt it was up to the Mayor to ask for comments. Discussion followed: police records not be open 24 hours a day; setting an interim contingency plan rather than waiting for State action, and then another 45 days for the Manager's report; that employees were scared because of the economics; whether the employees knew who was on the hit list; that the City Manager would get back to the Council on the timetable. City Manager Armas understood that the Mayor was satisfied with the letter pre- sented in the packet, and the MOU was generally satisfactory with a couple of changes. Mayor Penna stated that he was. He stated that our City's position was to insist on the deletion of the language that references dwelling units moved into since Feb. 1983, and deletion of the reference to vacant dwelling units. He stated that with respect to Exhibit D, to make it clear to the Roundtable that the listing of items to be studied was just that, and we are willing to look at it but no endorsement. Councilman Drago stated that he wanted to discuss a letter received from Mr. Dell'Angela, and questioned if his points were valid. Vice Mayor Teglia stated that she had 8/19/92 Page 9 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN . 271 Motion - Continued. gone through the letter and there were some points, but she did not think Mr. Dell'Angela knew they had been addressed. She stated that she took exception to the section under noise: no departure at stage 2 after a certain hour. She questioned the down side of this on cities and the county as a whole. Mayor Penna stated that was a part of the mitigation process, that the Airport close their runways except for Runway 10, and to move flights up so that when they take off S.S.F. doesn't get a backlash. He stated that Runway I is not going to be used after nightfall so that Millbrae, Burlingame, and Hillsborough are relieved of backlash noises, he stated that they had recommended that they close the Airport between midnight and 6:00 a.m. for international flights so we don't have jumbo freighters taking off over S.S.F. creating a single event that exists at 2 or 3 in the morning. He stated that these were part of the C/CAG negotiating points. Vice Mayor Teglia replied, not exactly, those are the points that they were recommending to the Roundtable work program for study, but were not being asked for straight out. Mayor Penna stated that it was very con- fusing because they were dealing with C/CAG, the Roundtable, EIRs already approved, and responses to the mitigation. Councilman Drago stated that the Roundtable was nothing, just a forum for the Airport Director. Mayor Penna related that C/CAG says that the Roundtable will become the voice for C/CAG for the public comments. City Manager Armas stated that to a large extent what the Mayor said was true, the Roundtable was largely a forum for exchange of information between the com- 8/19/92 Page 10 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 272 Motion - Continued. munity and the Airport, and C/CAG in law is also the Airport Land Use Commission and has an ALUC Committee that is advi- sory. He stated that the important thing being talked about here was the agreement between C/CAG and the Airport which essentially in some fashion is going to get attached to either the EIR or Master Plan or both as a way of assuring that the Airport has to adhere to those conditions. He stated that to the extent that the Airport has some reservations about attaching it to the EIR, and it does, because it has been cer- tified already and they don't want to reopen the issue. He stated that C/CAG's alternate position has been to enter into a contractual agreement between C/CAG and the Airport which will have some contractual protection. Vice Mayor Teglia related that C/CAG was very new and was focusing on traffic and congestion, and has not gotten into the Airport issues and allowed the Roundtable to be the Body to review and recommend to C/CAG the noise mitigations that were being included in the package sent to C/CAG. She continued, which included comments and requests from public meetings and workshops for future study. She stated that the Airport is being asked to fund up to $100,000 a year for the Roundtable to come up with infor- mation on each one of those items, and hopefully an implementation program, etc. Discussion followed: City does not want funds diminished for homes that are vacant or for homes sold after 1983; Councilman Drago did not want financial penalties put in the letter; the Kopp Bill and C/CAG negotiations; the Airport variance; FAA controls the Airport's hours; C/CAG's recommendation for a com- munity housing fund to provide for construction of affordable housing and its restrictions; housing was not one of the significant impacts identified, and if that stands the Airport is not under 8/19/92 Page 11 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN_ 273 2. Motion - Continued. Closed Session for the purpose of discussion of personnel matters, labor relations, property negotiations and litigation. any lawful obligation to do extraodinary mitigation in the area of housing; that S.S.F. was the area for the housing because other cities did not want it; look at the E1Camino Real Corridor and redevelopment funds; State strategy to take away the housing set aside money and channel it to schools, and access the redevelopment dollars to the General Fund; not supporting any bill out of Sacramento that would cost the City money, such as Assemblywoman Speier's permit bill, etc. City Manager Armas stated that the second letter responds to the Mayor's concern that there was not someone independently verifying the accuracy of the noise data, and the letter asks Roger to put this on a future Roundtable agenda for discussion. He stated that Senator Kopp's SB1589 had introduced another Bill that has to do with the extent that a City has not satisfied the housing element basically, and allows an interested party to go to the Courts and cause the Courts to rezone areas that are not residential for resi- dential development. He stated that the Local Government Committee was to con- sider it, but at the Author's request did not hear it. He stated that any bill has to be adopted by the end of August - and was probably in limbo. Vice Mayor Teglia felt that when it came up the City should oppose the Bill. City Manager Armas stated, then as he understood it from the Council, both let- ters were okay and the agreement with the modifications described were satisfactory. Council adjourned to a Closed Session at 9:57 p.m. to discuss labor negotiations pursuant to GC 54957.6 on AFSCME, pro- perty negotiations on the Mazzanti pro- perty pursuant to GC 54956.8. 8/19/92 Page 12 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 274 'RECALL TO ORDER: ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Penna recalled the meeting to order at 10:37 p.m., all Council present, no action was taken. M/S Teglia/Drago - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 10:37 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, City of South San Francisco ~John R. Penn~a~ MayorP~ - '~y of South]~an Francisco The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communications, arguments, and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the Office of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 8/19/92 Page 13