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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1997-02-12Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes Council: James L. Datzman Eugene R. Mullin -lohn R. Penna Robert Yee M!_NUIE_S 2O4 City Council 224 Grand Avenue Buon Gusto Restaurant February 12, 1997 ~._P E C! A L MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO FEBRUARY 12, 1997 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 54956 of the Government Code of the State of California, that the City Council of the City of South San Francisco will hold a Special Meeting on Wednesday, the 12th day of February 1997, at 5:30 p.m. in the Buon Gusto Restaurant, 224 Grand Avenue, San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting at 5:30 p.m. at Buon Gusto Restaurant, 224 Grand Ave. 1. Council, City Clerk and City Treasurer to have dinner meeting to discuss items of mutual concern. 2. Recess. Purpose of the meeting at 6:50 p.m. at the MSB, 33 Arroyo Drive: 3. Recall to order. 4. Interview of applicants for the Park & Recreation Commission. 5. Adjournment. City Clerk City of South San Francisco Dated: February 6, 1997 CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) 1. Council, City Clerk and City Treasurer to have din- ner meeting to discuss items of mutual concern. ~l~'~ 2/12/97 Page 1 ACTION TAKEN 5:39 p.m. Mayor Fernekes presiding. Council Present: Datzman, Mullin, Penna, Yee and Fernekes. Council Absent: None. Mayor Fernekes invited discussion on any items. City Clerk Battaya passed out a resolution based on a salary survey by the City of San Bruno that was recently adopted. She asked Council to give it AGENDA _ACIIQN TAKEN 1. Council, City Clerk and City Treasurer - Continued. consideration for a similar survey to be done for City Treasurer Ford, due to the small salary that she did not feel compensates for the many hours she spends investing City monies. She stated, on occasion, residents come to her Of- fice for an application for a Board or Commission and seem to have great confidence the individual will be appointed due to breakfast or luncheon meet- ings with individual Councilmembers. City Treasurer Ford feels the Council spends too much money, it is not necessary for all Council to go to Chamber functions, only a representative should go and the wives should not be paid for by the City. Councilman Yee stated he was the one who encour- aged all, including Department Heads, to go to Chamber events for it is expected. He stated that Daly City Councilman Teglia's retirement dinner was expensive at $75.00, and agreed Council had to pick the functions to attend and when the wife is to attend. Councilman Penna feels many of these functions are a burden, but feels it is important for the wife to attend, for then the public has a chance to see anoth- er side of the Councilman. City Treasurer Ford related that Department Heads over use their credit cards, go to all seminars and meetings and use a car. She does not know how forceful Unions are, for the Police and Fire get raises and other employees don't. Her father told her that Mr. Yee was very careful, as a Department Head, and saved money, but that money was then given to other departments and he felt the money should have been carried over in the Department. She stated her father used to track money spent by Department Heads and was upset by the over spending. Councilman Datzman stated he was criticized in the newspaper, some years back as a Department Head, for spending money at the Leaning Tower. He had indicated he could go out and eat free every day, and then people would say they owned him. He appreciates the Treasurer's concerns, however, 2/12/97 Page 2 1. Council, City Clerk and City Treasurer - Continued. AC_TIQN TAKEN there is a certain responsibility in being an official and with what he makes a month, he is not going to dig into his pocket. City Manager Wilson stated that the City Attorney was preparing documentation on a raise for Council, which can only happen in an election year, and the documents will be forthcoming. City Clerk Battaya stated there was a recent isolated exclusion of an invitation to a recent Department Head meeting with a local Latino group, and she feels that she and the Treasurer each have something to offer for these meetings and should not be ex- cluded. City Treasurer Ford stated often things occur in the City of which she is not informed. Councilman Yee asked if there was a four member treasurer's board. City Treasurer stated that is not a State requirement. Councilman Mullin stated the CTA did not pay for spouses attending School District functions and he did not go if he had to pay for his wife. He stated, if the City does not pay he will not leave his wife at home on a Saturday night and feels there is a long term gain in having wives attend these functions. Councilman Yee wants the policy of wives attending functions, paid by the City, to be left as it is because it is not that much money. Councilman Datzman stated he wants to sit with the Treasurer, after sitting with the City Clerk, to learn what they do. Councilman Yee stated he would like more infor- mation also. City Treasurer Ford stated the City received $7 million for noise insulation, it was put in the vault for three days without her knowledge it had been received and she lost six days interest which con- cerned her greatly. Councilman Yee wants to have a study session with the Treasurer and Finance Director. 2/12/97 Page 3 A~NDA A~ION TAKEN 1. Council, City Clerk and City Treasurer - Continued. RECESS: RECALL TO ORDER: 2. Interview of applicants for the Park & Recreation Commission. ~ / ~'~ ADJOURNMENT: RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, City of South San Francisco 207 Mayor Fernekes directed staff to do a City Treasurer salary survey, use the City Clerk's salary survey Subcommittee and make a recommendation to Coun- cil. City Treasurer Ford stated State Code stopped her doing monthly financial reports to Council and asked if Council would like to have it resumed. Consensus of Council - To have the Treasurer re- sume the monthly financial reports. Mayor Fernekes recessed the dinner meeting at 6:40 p.m. Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m., all Council was present and the physical location was at 33 Arroyo Drive, Community Room. Council interviewed Mr. Haresh Gidwani, however, Mr. John Tamburini was a no show. M/S Penna/Yee - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 7:30 p.m. APPROVED. C rne&kes?Mav~or/~ The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- tions, 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. 2/12/97 Page 4 Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes Council: James L. Datzman Eugene R. Mullin lohn R. Penna Robert Yee MINUTES City Council ,. Municipal Services Building Community Room February 12, 1997 208 CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: INVOCATION: PRESENTATIONS -~oclamation - Year of the Reader - Library c~ardmember Marvier .5'o ~ 7 Building Division Inspection Program by Fire Chief Stark and Assistant Building Official Jim Kirkman .5'~ ~ ~ ACTION TAKEN 7:34 p.m. Mayor Fernekes presiding. Council Present: Council Absent: Datzman, Mullin, Penna, Yee and Fernekes. None. The Pledge was recited. Rev. Ken Jones, Good News Chapel, gave the invo- cation. PRESENTATIONS Vice Mayor Mullin read the Proclamation aloud and presented it to Library Boardmember Marvier. Fire Chief Stark related: as you recall, 18 months ago in an effort to streamline our code enforcement activities and development process we consolidated three separate divisions into a single unit - Fire Prevention Bureau, the Building Division and Code Enforcement; since that time there have been many changes in the service enhancements to make the system user friendly and Jim Kirkman will relate the activities. Assistant Building Official Kirkman stated the divi- sions became the responsibility of the Fire Depart- ment and this division became responsible for pro- viding fire prevention education, building and fire plan checking and inspection services, permit issu- ance and the City's code enforcement program. He related: goals were set by the Department and the plans have been successfully implemented; he introduced the key individuals in the Department - Fire Marshal/Chief Building Official Lagomarsino, Assistant Fire Marshal Mapes, Senior Building Inspector Aarons and Fire Education Specialist Kennedy; the enhanced services; the employees are 2/12/97 Page 1 PRESENTATIONS AGENDA REVIEW City Manager Wilson Requested: - Change the positioning of Item #4 to Administrative Business. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS ACI!QN TAKEN 209 PRESENTATIONS being cross utilized to cover vacations and illnesses; revenues have increased without an increase in fees; cross training of employees and the Department will continue to enhance their technology for the benefit of the public; etc. Mayor Fernekes stated he made the comment at a previous Council meeting, at which Mr. Kirkman was not present, where he made a tour of a new company in town that makes syrups in the industrial park, and received nothing but praises for this De- partment. He felt they all should be complemented for the owner said it was the best city he has worked with in years. AGENDA REVIEW So ordered. He announced: next Wednesday, 2/19/97, at 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the Conference Center, in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, will be a meeting similar to the Council's study session on the deregulation of the electrical industry. He sent notices to everyone with a City business license and to every homeowner group on record and he was using this to start to inform the community of what options we see on the horizon in the electrical arena where they can save money. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Ms. Eva Pitts, 905 Hemlock, expressed concern: she has been getting water from 13 houses; there have been three illegal storm drains put in; there are no easements for the storm drains to go in and people run their pipes halfway up their yards and not through the street and she is getting the water; the lower end of her yard is falling in - it is just like a big pancake where the water has pushed it up; her wall is ruined in front. Mayor Fernekes stated he talked to Ms. Pitts earlier, and later to Mr. Gibbs, who will investigate and get back to Council. Mr. Pedro Gonzales, 804 Olive Ave., stated he wanted to speak against the Wuhu, China agreement 2/12/97 Page 2 AQENDA A~!!QN TAKEN QRAL COMMUNICATIONS 2/12/97 Page 3 210 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS the City just approved. He felt it was wrong to become economic and trade partners with a city of the Peoples Republic of China. He stated we all know that China is in violation of human rights through their persecution of the church, mandatory abortions, increased political oppression, child and slave labor; etc. He related: there was an article in the Dallas News on a province in China on propagation and catholics net worth; today is a special day for catholics, Ash Wednesday, and when he received ashes on his fore- head he thought of the people in China who cannot practice their religion; there was an article on Harry Wu, a Chinese American, who spent 19 years as a political prisoner and who has repeatedly risked his life to expose criminal use of child and persons slave labor; Mr. Wu appeared on radio and urged people not to buy toys from China for they are produced under inhumane conditions; he spoke of the young Chinese who died in the square five or six years ago while they fought for liberty and democracy; Pres- ident Clinton won office by denouncing China's human rights record and switched sides in 1994 and allowed trade to flourish; China has jailed or exiled all major dissidents and these are the reasons he disapproves the agreement and wants the Council to reconsider the agreement; he wants to see more American made labels on garments, shoes, toys and many other products in our department stores; we have a welfare plan reform and if we want to put people to work, it is better to stop sending jobs abroad and it is time to bring the jobs back to Amer- ica. Councilman Penna stated he was part of the Sub- committee that met the delegation from China and before Council approved the agreement they made a diligent effort to try to determine if there were problems with that city. Now that we have this agreement it might be appropriate to maybe corre- spond the concern to the City in the spirit of open communication, but he did not know if that was proper or not. Ms. Penny Ferguson, Valley View, stated she had given the Council a packet that included information from Amnesty International that discussed specifical- ly Wuhu and the provence of Anhi. She related: AGENDA QRAL COMMUNICATIONS 2/12/97 Page 4 ACTION TAKEN - 211 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS she is a resident and an activist, but not in her own City; she read the Independent about the trade agreement with Wuhu which brought tears to her eyes in knowledge of the lack of human rights in China; Amnesty International is the leading orga- nization in the world on human rights and she quot- ed from the documentation in the packet on abuses in China on absolutely everything; the influx of immigration was for freedom and liberty; in China indictments are given without trial and hundreds and thousands of people have been put to death; she hoped that Council, after reading the material, will start taking these stands at the grass roots level; she described beatings and cruelty being inflicted on citizens by the government; she described the reli- gious persecution going on; she understood China does not want to talk about these issues, but the City should not do the same, for then nothing will be done about it; she would not get into the economic issue tonight where large American firms are manu- facturing in China but that will be another night, but the bottom line is we are burying our heads in the name of economy; Amnesty is not sure what hap- pened to the 282 women on the Golden Venture, but it appears 180 of these women are in prison as political prisoners just because they wanted to get away; she prayed that Council will invalidate the agreement with China for there needs to be a grass roots stand for our County and our Country; etc. Councilman Mullin related: he held up the vote on the agreement with Wuhu, specifically to address some of the concerns Ms. Ferguson addressed; he spent the period between the time this was on the agenda and two weeks subsequent to that doing all he could do to determine how this particular city, Wuhu, China, had handled the particular problems Mr. Gonzales and Ms. Ferguson made reference to; he found out nothing about Wuhu; it is in a free trade zone close to Shanghai, and he spent many hours reading the imernet and materials from Con- gress on the debates on most favored nation status with respect to China, for it is an economic issue; he noticed Amnesty International is on the internet; he looked at every reference and citation worldwide with respect to this particular community; if the speakers have any information on Wuhu in the packet, which is voluminous, he will read it in the next few weeks; etc. ~NDA ACTIQN TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNITY FORUM 2/12/97 Page 5 212 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS He stated, because China has historically been closed to the world, perhaps this agreement would open it up. Certainly no one here on the Council is condoning the atrocities, but the arguments in Con- gress indicate there is a case to be made on both sides with respect to keeping what has been histori- cally closed and allowing the atrocities to continue on unchecked and unnoticed or will you attempt to bring them into the community of nations, etc. COMMUNITY FORUM Councilman Penna related: at the last meeting he questioned ridership of BART; Council received a letter from Dave Madden, BART, who estimated 8,000 people per work day; this causes him concern, because right now we have 10,000 ridership at the Colma station with parking for 1,800 cars and he is concerned with the traffic impacts on S.S.F. streets from riderships; BART is a good system if it works and is good for this community, but it is bringing more traffic into this City; he does not want the neighborhoods to become parking lots for the BART ridership when it is without benefit to this City; people are going into S.F. rather than BART bring- ing people here to work; BART should be relieving traffic congestion on the highway rather than in- creasing the amount of congestion; there isn't an agreement yet with BART, and rather than signing an agreement - wait until they get their funding package; we seem to be in the middle between BART asking for an agreement before getting their funding; he feels the Council should wait and deter- mine impacts; etc. Mayor Fernekes related: he and Councilman Datzman met with representatives of BART last Tuesday and he was concerned for there was some confusion that arose over the news article guideline document; although the City Manager explained that the consultant's document was fundamentally sound, it failed to contain specific Council direction which emanated from a prior study session; the design guidelines were referred back to staff for correction and they will be on a subsequent Council agenda; it is important that the City and BART's fine working relationship be maintained and not confused by these articles; BART informed the Subcommittee that the City would be involved in the design of the new AGENDA ~OMMUNITY FORUM CONSENT CALENDAR Motion to approve Minutes of the Special Meeting of 12/27/96, Special Meeting of 1/8/97, Regular Meet- ing of 1/8/97, Adjourned Regular Meeting of 1/15/97, and Special Meeting of 1/22/97, Regular Meeting of 1/22/97 and Adjourned Regular Meeting of 1/27/97. 2. Motion to confirm expense claims of 2/12/97. 3. Resolution amending the Operating Budget for the Fire Department wage increase. ~'/ A RESOLUTION APPROVING BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 97-11 TO THE 1996-1997 OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO FACILITATE RETROACTIVE PAY- MENT OF SALARIES SPECIFIED IN THE MEM- ORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE INTERNATIONAL ASSO- CIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS LOCAL 1507 ACTION TAKEN - 213 COMMUNITY FORUM station in every step of the process; etc. Councilman Datzman stated he appreciates Council- man Penna's sincerity over ridership numbers and other issues, but after his meeting with BART he feels comfortable they are responsive to our con- cerns and questions. Vice Mayor Mullin again expressed concern over the December 1996 Examiner magazine article on South City Heros and related he wrote another letter and asked they print his or Councilman Penna's letter for the article was a community character assignation and the photos were from another City. He complemented the Cultural Arts Photo Session and photo submitted by Councilman Penna and numerous other artists, for it was a wonderful dis- play and he looked forward to more in the future. Mayor Fernekes stated he was fortunate enough to come Friday evening, for this was the second art presentation from this Commission, and this time there were more people who came to enjoy the artists in S.S.F. He wanted to continue to support this Commission in bringing art to this Commission. CONSENT CALENDAR Removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion by Councilman Datzman. Approved in the amount of $2,712,811.29. Removed from the Consent Calendar so Councilman Datzman can discuss it in Closed Session. 2/12/97 Page 6 A~E~A A~I!~N TAKEN I~ONSENT CALENDAR Motion to authorize staff to enter into contract nego- tiations with Blayney Dyett for revision to the Gener- al Plan and a budget amendment. 5'J 5. Resolution in support of the Devil's Slide Funding Coalition. ~ I A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE DEVIL'S SLIDE FUNDING COALITION Resolution amending the CIP to add $100,000.00 for a project to remove the Corporation Yard's under- ground fuel tank. ~' I "2, ~ A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM TO ADD $100,000 FOR A PROJECT TO REMOVE THE CORPORA- TION YARD'S UNDERGROUND FUEL TANK Motion to accept the Orange Avenue Storm Drain Improvements as complete in accordance with the plans and specifications. ,5'~ I~ '7 Resolution approving an operating budget amendment for the Conference Center. 5'/2E) A RESOLUTION APPROPRIATING $32,500 FROM THE CONFERENCE CENTER UNDESIGNATED FUND BALANCE TO THE CONFERENCE CENTER EXPENDITURE BUD- GET TO FUND APPRAISER AND EXPERT WIT- NESS FEES RELATED TO THE POTENTIAL PURCHASE OF THE CONFERENCE CENTER ($20,000) AND A CLASSIFICATION STUDY FOR CONFERENCE CENTER EMPLOYEES ($12,500) 1. Motion to approve Minutes of the Special Meeting of 12/27/96, Special Meeting of 1/8/97, Regular Meet- ing of 1/8/97, Adjourned Regular Meeting of __ 1/15/97, and Special Meeting of 1/22/97, Regular Meeting of 1/22/97 and Adjourned Regular Meeting of 1/27/97. CONSENT CALENDAR Removed from the Consent Calendar and heard 'as Administrative Business. RESOLUTION NO. 11-97 RESOLUTION NO. 10-97 So ordered. Removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion by Councilman Datzman. M/S Penna/Mullin - To approve the Consent Calen- dar with the exception of Items No. 1, 3, 4 and 8. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Councilman Datzman stated he removed the item in order to abstain on the Special Meeting of 12/27/96, for he was not present that night. Councilman Mullin asked that the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of 1/8/97, page 2, be changed to read Avalar rather than Va/ar, and on page 12 the last paragraph should have k added to the last 2/12/97 Page 7 AGENDA A~TION TAKEN 215 __~1. Motion to approve minutes - Continued. Resolution approving an operating budget amendment for the Conference Center. ,5'/~ O A RESOLUTION APPROPRIATING $32,500 FROM THE CONFERENCE CENTER UNDESIGNATED FUND BALANCE TO THE CONFERENCE CENTER EXPENDITURE BUD- GET TO FUND APPRAISER AND EXPERT WIT- NESS FEES RELATED TO THE POTENTIAL PURCHASE OF THE CONFERENCE CENTER ($20,000) AND A CLASSIFICATION STUDY FOR CONFERENCE CENTER EMPLOYEES ($12,500) ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Letter from David Connor, Chairman S.S.F. Hotel Assoc., requesting the Council fund the S.S.F. Hos- pitality Industry Sales/Marketing Program at a cost of $32,300.00 ,~ / 2. o word, and on Minutes of the 1/22/97 meeting, page 2 under Community Forum, it was Mayor Fernekes making the comments on the R. Torres Co., not Councilman Mullin. Mayor Fernekes agreed, and said the company also complemented the Building Division for the great job they did for the Company. M/S Mullin/Penna - To approve the Minutes with the corrections noted. Carried by unanimous voice vote, however, Coun- cilman Datzman abstained on the Minutes of the 12/27/96 meeting. Councilman Datzman asked who requested the $12,500 amendment and classification study, for he thought it would be part of the budget cycle under normal circumstances. Mayor Fernekes stated it was requested by the Au- thority after the budget was adopted. M/S Datzman/Penna - To adopt the Resolution. RESOLUTION NO. 12-97 Carried by unanimous voice vote. ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Assistant City Manager Moss stated at a prior Coun- cil meeting Mr. Connor discussed funding for the Conference Center Hospitality Industry Sales Mar- keting Program. He asked the Council to review the proposal and provide direction to staff on how to proceed on the request. Mr. Connor stated there has been open discussion several times on this subject and he was prepared to answer any questions on behalf of the Hotel Associ- ation. Councilman Mullin related: the City initially funded the San Mateo County Visitors & Convention Bu- reau in excess of $100,000; reduced that to $50,000 for a variety of reasons, primarily because we did not feel the services being provided to our communi- ty were sufficient; then a request came from the Conference Center to have the City fund an add- 2/12/97 Page 8 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 7. Letter from Mr. Connor - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 9 216 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS itional sales associate to try to generate business exclusively for our Conference Center; as part of that there was a consideration of the City or the hotel association funding a web site on the internet that would then allow people to access information about the various locations to increase the hotel's business, but also increase T.O.T. revenue; now, as he understands Mr. Connor's letter, he is saying he doesn't want to fund that - you want to send a bro- chure advertising the hotels and wants the City to fund it, and if anything is done at the web site the individual hotels will fund it; etc. Mr. Connor stated the Hotel Association decided to spend the money individually for the web site. They did not feel that $6,500 would make a significant brochure to do the job, and if it took $10,000 or $12,000 they would pay the difference over the $6,500. The City had asked the hotels to give their recommendation to the Conference Center and the Association felt the Center could administer it easier and the $6,500 was for a brochure advertising the City, what it has to offer, as well as the hotels and the area. It was the Hotel Association that wanted the sales representative and have it administered through the Conference Center. Councilman Penna came to us and said we are cut- ting the budget for the Bureau, so the Association came up with the idea of hiring a person to sell citywide conventions in our own community and have it administered through the Conference Center. Conference Center Director O'Toole stated, what the Conference Center distributes now has a very brief description of the hotels, but not in the degree of detail this brochure would produce. Councilman Datzman stated the immediate concern is how the $33,000 is going to be expended and what we will get for our money. Looking at it another way, because some good questions were raised a while back, a decision was made to reduce the Visitors & Convention Bureau's funding. So, okay, we saved there, however, because he is new on the Council he does not know where this is go- ing, for how do we know if we are successful. What happens next year, will there be a request from the Visitors & Convention Bureau, as well as a AGENDA ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Letter from Mr. Connor - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 10 ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS continued request for the $33,000. Mr. Connor stated the Hotel Assoc. viewed this as a one year trial, and they will say, here this is what we have done with the money and these are the results, but he could not speak for what the Bureau might ask for, for that is up to the Council. Conference Center Director O'Toole related: this is a trial period for the Conference Center; the pro- gram proposed is specifically for SSF, not the entire County and it will still allow S.S.F. to participate in the Countywide program; the program is based on sales and we will know that from sales calls that are made, the number of repeat calls made, the bookings that are made and the business specifically for S.S.F. which she can track through the hotels; she can come back to the Council with clear, quantifi- able results and decide if the Council wants to con- tinue with the program or not. Councilman Penna reiterated previous statistics from the Bureau in business brought to this City that resulted in the Council cutting the funding to $50,000, of which only $25,000 has been expended, etc. Councilman Mullin stated the Hotel Association was asking the Council to fund an employee of theirs, but what he wanted was a direct tie to our Confer- ence Center with direct accountability over that employee. He is uneasy in funding a sales represen- tative hired by a private entity in a city where they are one of 6,000 businesses in this community. Conference Center Director O'Toole stated the contract would be with the Conference Center, rather than the hotels and would work best with the Conference Center as an agreement with the public agency. Councilman Mullin did not have a problem with that, but he did have a problem with the brochure. He could understand the expenditure of public funds when it was directly tied to a public function, but not to fund a private brochure for a private group of businesses. If we fund yours, then the next time we will get a request from a gas station or another type of business, so he had a problem with the $6,500. AGENDA _ACT!QN TAKEN ,,. 218 ADMINISTRASTIVE BUSINESS Letter from Mr. Connor - Continued. RECESS: RECALL TO ORDER: Motion to authorize staff to enter into contract nego- tiations with Blayney Dyett for revision to the Gener- al Plan and a budget amendment. ~'O fig ADMINISTRATIVE Mayor Fernekes directed staff to place a $25,800 item on the next agenda for funding. Mayor Fernekes declared a recess at 8:48 p.m. Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at 9:00 p.m. Director of Economic & Community Development Van Duyn related: staff proceeded with the selec- tion and narrowed the list down to four from 30 firms; he requested direction to enter into an agree- ment to negotiate with Blayney DyeR; he, the Sub- committee and Consultant Jim Harnish were recom- mending this firm; requesting a budget modification of an additional $175,000 to conduct the update of the General Plan, the addition of an economic devel- opment element and the necessary environmental documentation to certify the document as environ- mentally complete; currently Council has authorized $100,000 for the current fiscal year for the General Plan based on the 3 year proposal there is $100,000 for next year's budget; our request is to increase the budget to $375,000 from the original $200,000. Councilman Yee stated the conclusion paragraph should be $100,000-200,000, for 1997-98 is the next fiscal year, not the current one being considered. Director of Economic & Community Development Van Duyn stated he did not want to get into negoti- ations without a budget, and yes, it should be 1997- 98 for the proposed fiscal year. Councilman Yee stated he sat in on the selection process and agreed with the selection for nothing is being changed for the current budget, and he is asking we consider $200,000 for the next fiscal year. Councilman Datzman asked why the economic element is an important addition to a general plan. Director of Economic & Community Development Van Duyn related: the primary purpose is to set down a policy decision for the next twenty years, the principle is land use, which covers impacts from air quality, circulation; and the economic develop- ment strategy is not a mandatory item under the 2/12/97 Page 11 AGENDA AC_TIQN TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS [. Motion - Continued. LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS 10. Motion to waive reading and introduce an ordinance as a result of the passage of Proposition No. 208. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO ESTABLISHING A VOLUNTARY CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE LIMIT FOR ELEC- TIONS TO CITY OFFICES AND ADDING SEC- TION 2.16.020 TO TITLE 2 OF THE SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL CODE .5' l 5¥ 219 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS State guidelines; El Camino Real was recently dis- cussed as affected by the economic strategy, etc. M/S Yee/Mullin - To authorize staff to enter into contract negotiations with Blayney Dyer for revision to the General Plan and recognize the project budget will be based on the results of those negotiations not to exceed $375,000. Carried by unanimous voice vote. LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS City Clerk Battaya read the title of the ordinance in its entirety. City Attorney Mattas stated the ordinance will allow the City to establish a voluntary expenditure limit level at an amount desirable to the City Council. The recent adoption of Proposition No. 208 has given cities this authority. It is important for the Council to consider as part of their deliberations, that this is voluntary and not mandatory. The Su- preme Court has held that the mandatory expen- diture limits are unconstitutional. Keep this in mind because everything Proposition 208 provides for inducement to satisfy the expenditure limits, are just that - inducements. There is a trade off, if you don't have an expenditure limit you agree to spend as much money as you please in the campaign, but you are only allowed to collect $100 per person per election in campaign contributions. If you accept the voluntary campaign limits, then the contribution rates go up to $250 per person per election. He passed out a chart and made it available to the audi- ence to explain the major implementation of Propo- sition 208 and the chart assumes a voluntary limit of $50,000. The limit can be set at any level below $1.00 per resident of S.S.F. or approximately $55,000 or less. If the Council goes above the figure of $55,000, it would require a vote of the people, etc. He stated, if there was a $50,000 limit and a candi- date did not accept the limit and accepts or spends more than 75 % of the voluntary expenditure limit then the voluntary expenditure for the candidate that voluntarily agreed to abide by the limit triples. So, 2/12/97 Page 12 AQENDA A~!!Q~ TAKEN LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS ~. Motion - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 13 220 LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS hypothetically the candidate who is not going to abide by the $50,000 limit who collects or spends more than $37,500, then the other candidate who voluntarily accepted the expenditure limit then goes from $50,000 to $150,000. His staff report also discusses the impact on voluntary expenditure limits if a candidate has contributions from independent committees for it works along the same lines as the tripling of expenditure limits he just discussed, but the percentages are different, it's either 25% or 50% in terms of an increase rather than tripling it. The staff report contains pros and cons on whether or not the Council wants to adopt expenditure limits and set them or have no expenditure limits. The limit can be set at any level below $1.00 per resident of S.S.F. or approximately $55,000 or less. If the Council goes above that figure of $55,000 that would require a vote of the p~ple, etc. Councilman Mullin stated he asked for a limit of $15,000 be set at the last meeting and offered his rational: he reiterated many of the things covered in the staff report; based on information from the City Clerk's Office on elections in the last 20 years there had been only 5 incidents, out of 63, in which they exceeded the proposed limit of $15,000; 3 of those five who did exceed the $15,000 were not elected despite the amounts that they spent; the other candi- dates spent less than the $15,000 proposed limit and in fact 58 of those 50 spent less than $10,000; he believes the community would benefit from the reduced expenditure level; in the proliferation of campaign signs illegally posted, usually by paid companies putting the signs high up on telephone poles, whereby the time you contact the owners of the property the signs sit there literally weeks or months providing a visual disservice to the commu- nity; the candidates would have to spend more time walking precincts rather than spending money on paid consultants or sending wave after wave of written material, etc. Councilman Datzman remembered that the Vice Mayor said $15,000 was a number off the top of his head, it could be $20,000 or $25,000 or some other number, for it was a concept, but asked if his recol- lection was correct. A_.~E N D A 1 ~EGISLATIVE BUSINESS Motion - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 14 · ACI!QN TAKEN LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS Vice Mayor Mullin said he may have said that, but he spent a great deal of time thinking about the $15,000 prior to that. Councilman Datzman stated he ran for County office 15 years ago which started out with two candidates and ended with ten, lasted a year and a half, and was a remarkable learning experience in terms of kinds of things that can happen to people when they get drawn into this process. A person with a lot of experience in government has an advantage over someone who wants to run and doesn't have that same experience and that may require that they spend more. He could go along with half of what Proposition 208 has, something like $25,000, be- cause there are a lot of unknowns in running a campaign and he wants to make sure it is fair to people who may require a greater expenditure of money to obtain the necessary guidance and expo- sure to run an effective campaign, etc. He questioned: if that level is set, is there any kind of an escalation clause for those seated now, who will run again two years from now or do we change the ordinance; when you are in the heat of the cam- paign with 30 days to go, how do you measure expenditures and get the word out; what is the pen- alty for violating the limit. City Attorney Mattas stated it would be a violation of the Political Reform Act, which could subject you to administrative penalties and enforcement by the District Attorney's Office or the FPPC. Proposition 208 does not give very good guidance on who the data collecting entity is who would feed that infor- mation to the enforcement agency. It is presumed it is the election official who will be the recipient of the campaign reports. That person would forward the report to the D.A. or FPPC for whatever action in terms of enforcement. Councilman Datzman did not think it unusual to see a flurry of fund raising and expenditure at the end of a campaign and thought that period is the most difficult to control. City Attorney Mattas stated the required reporting periods continue to exist under Proposition 208, so at the point where the election official, the City ~NDA ~TION TAKEN _.LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS g. Motion - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 15 9?? LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS Clerk, identifies through the campaign expenditure reports that a person who has not accepted the ex- penditure limits has collected or spent more than 75 % of the voluntary expenditure limit, then she would notify the other candidates and then their amount would triple. Councilman Yee related: if we set $15,000 as a limit, a candidate agrees, another does not then, he can spend any amount he wants, which doesn't make sense because the one who agreed to the limit is now exceeding it. He asked if this law applies to card room measures, because in that election a great deal more was spent on one side than the other. City Attorney Mattas stated no, it only applies to candidates in an election, not to initiative elections. Councilman Yee stated the advantage is to set a high limit, because if you set a low limit it would be a disadvantage for those candidates who agree to the voluntary limit. City Attorney Mattas stated those agreeing to the campaign limitation will have that information on the ballot. Mayor Fernekes related: there is a voluntary desig- nation of $15,000, and one candidate chooses not to go with the voluntary limit and spends $11,500 and doesn't even get to the expenditure limit, then that entitles the people who went with the voluntary limit to spend three times the amount; what happens from a city standpoint, for he understands that if a candi- date accepts the voluntary limit he cannot be charged for the candidates statement, and asked if that is correct. City Clerk Battaya stated, in the actual ballot on Proposition 208 that went to the people there was a phrase there that said he cannot be charged, and in another place it said it only applies to State candi- dates, so she really does not know. City Attorney Mattas stated the City Clerk had addressed this with the Assistant Attorney, his office reviewed the issue and it seems it is not applicable to local elections - it is a State election issue. TAKEN LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS ~,. Motion - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 16 223 LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS Councilman Datzman stated he was sure whoever sat down and designed this concept was well intention- ed, but the difficulty he has is in taking that and transferring that to the real world that exists with election campaigns. Most of the activity occurs between 30 and 60 days before an election, so he doesn't know where the monkey goes in terms of making sure there is accurate reporting during the time that is most confusing and to account for what you are bringing in, spending and getting that out in a timely fashion to candidates. Councilman Penna asked the City Clerk when the campaign reportings are. City Clerk Battaya stated it was 40 days before, 12 days before and on January 31, 1998 after the elec- tion. Councilman Penna questioned, how is anyone going to know after the 12th day, for if he accepted the limit, he would be jeopardized if someone else exceeded the limit between the 12th day and election day and he was not informed of it because the re- porting period isn't until after the election. City Attorney Mattas stated, as to the last 12 days, that is a potential difficulty and he would advise the Council that the FPPC, both at the regulation level and in all likelihood at a legislation level will be at- tempting to implement Proposition 208. So, you may have rules and regulations that deal with the issue because that is a real ramification of this re- quirement. Vice Mayor Mullin related: clearly there are many questions, but it does boil down to one essential question that is, if you initially agree to a $15,000 limit, and at some point in the last 5 days someone exceeded it who did not agree to that amount, then all of a sudden you could go up to $45,000; what difference does it make, who is going to raise $30,000 in the last couple of days; he chose $15,000 because 50 of the 63 candidates in elections in the- last 20 years spent less than $10,000; this is a 50 % increase in the overwhelming bulk of cam- paigns and he did not include figures of any of the uncontested campaigns; he understands Councilman Datzman's point is well made for the novice, and he A~NDA ACTIQN TAKEN LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS ;. Motion - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 17 LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS is the novice for he ran one campaign in his life in November 1995; he teaches government in a class- room, but it is not the same; it is a complicated and difficult process in a small community that lends itself to precinct walking and an amount of money with a cushion on top to run a campaign that will get your message out; if you don't have a message, you won't get elected regardless of how much you spend; if you don't have a background in community affairs then regardless of the money spent you will not be elected for this town is open to those who have spent time, who have invested time and activi- ties; he submits, you can hire campaign consultants, sign designers and a candidate can even hire people to put up their signs and still fall within the $15,000 bracket; years from now a Council through inflation may feel $15,000 is insufficient, then maybe it is time to look at an adjustment in the amount; in his opinion that amount of money is well sufficient to run a campaign for the incumbent or non-incumbent, the experienced or novice alike. Discussion followed: in-lieu contributions; Coun- cilman Datzman will feel more comfortable with consultant costs being defined; Councilman Penna realized that Councilman Datzman was involved in a County campaign which costs a lot of money, but his concept of a local city election is that typically there is a low turnout and the voters know the candidates, know the issues of the community and are very interested in the community; an in- cumbent has his record right in front of him, you can spend whatever kind of money you want to spend, but if the incumbent is not acceptable, be- cause of his record, then they are not acceptable; there are examples in the last 20 years where in- cumbents spent big money and lost; if an individual wants to challenge an incumbent they have to come up with an issue that the public accepts; he person- ally is not bothered by the limitation; Councilman Datzman felt the non-incumbent may need the great- er exposure to find a way to get their name out there; Councilman Penna feels the question for an incumbent is whether he has done a job the public approves of, then he will or will not be elected regardless of the money spent; the job only pays $300.00 a month, so why are we spending so much money for the job - why are we doing this; money always seems to be a way to put over a candidate; AGENDA ACTION TAKEN LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS [. Motion - Continued. 2/12/97 Page 18 225 LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS the more a candidate is not committed to monetary interests, the more the candidate can act for the public; Vice Mayor Mullin thought there were abus- es in the last campaign where there were paid sign placers with cherry pickers who put up signs on public property illegally - which is pretty expensive to do; so, if you have a limit and you look for a scale of economy to run a campaign, then those kinds of abuses would get close scrutiny; City Clerk Battaya stated the only city fee to a candidate is for the candidate's statement, which has historically been $250.00 and 30 signatures on the nomination form with 20 valid registered voters; she stated the County charges fifty cents per thousand signatures for registered voter indexes; Mayor Fernekes stated every election is different, he has been through 5 elections, 3 with the School Board and two on Council; the first time he ran, the big issue was the conference center, the second time the issue was the card room that was defeated a few months before his second election; incumbents and non-incumbents require different literature in every election and hoped that the card room issue did not over shadow their performance of three and a half year prior; he and the Vice Mayor put all of their signs on lawns in the last election and not on public poles; the abusers continued to violate the ordinance that was lacking some substance until after the election where we enhanced it some more; the lack of issues or the number of issues determines what the cost of an election will be; in a hotly contested race there are things a candidate must do to communicate with the public and he spent every day knocking on doors; so, he agrees there should be limits set, but he doesn't know what that should be after listening to Councilman Datzman; his first election flyer was designed by his wife and the second was done on the computer for one tries to display his commitment to the city in a professional manner; Councilman Yee stated it seems we have to find a number between zero and $55,000, so if the limit is high then the candidate with the most money has the advantage for at the last election the Mayor spent $21,000 which is not a lot of money for election materials; so, he thinks the limit should be $20,000, $25,000 or even $30,000 so the one accepting the voluntary limit has the advantage; Vice Mayor Mullin said setting a campaign limit higher than anyone has ever spent doesn't seem like much of a limit to him and is not AQENDA A~!!Q~ TAKEN · EGISLATIVE BUSINESS Motion - Continued. ITEMS FROM COUNCIL 1. Appointments to the Parks and Recreation Commis- sion. ~-t ~'~ GOOD AND WELFARE CLOSED SESSION 12. Closed Session - pursuant to GC 54957, for labor negotiations for all units. RECALLED TO ORDER: Resolution amending the Operating Budget for the Fire Department wage increase. ~,/2. 0 226 LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS campaign reform, but business as usual and they go and collect $250.00 a person rather than $100.00 a person each campaign; he would be willing to intro- duce this ordinance with a limit of $20,000 in order to reach a closure on the subject. M/S Mullin/Penna - To waive reading of the ordin- ance with a $20,000.00 limit. Councilman Penna stated at the last election he collected $3,500.00 in $25.00 contributions. Carried by unanimous voice vote. M/S Mullin/Penna - To introduce the ordinance with a spending limit of $20,000.00. Carried by majority voice vote, Councilmembers Yee and Datzman voted no. FROM COUNCIL A written vote was taken with the following results: Juan Bustos - 3 votes, Haresh Gidwani - 4 votes, Richard Ochsenhirt - 4 votes, Ed Remedios - 4 votes, Eva Wright - 5 votes. M/S Penna/Yee - To appoint the four top vote gett- ers - Eva Wright, Ed Remedios, Richard Ochsenhirt and Haresh Gidwani. Carried by unanimous voice vote. GOOD AND WELFARE No one chose to speak. CLOSED SESSION Council entered the Closed Session at 10:23 p.m. to discuss the item noticed and Item No. 3. Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at 11:30 p.m., all Council was present, no action was taken. M/S Yee/Datzman - To adopt the Resolution. RESOLUTION NO. 13-97 2/12/97 Page 19 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 13. Resolution - Continued. A RESOLUTION APPROVING BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 97-I 1 TO THE 1996-1997 OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO FACILITATE RETROACTIVE PAY- MENT OF SALARIES SPECIFIED IN THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWE- EN THE CITY AND THE INTERNATIONAL AS- SOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS LOCAL 1507 Motion to adjourn the meeting to Wednesday, 2/19/96, 6:00 p.m., City Council Conference Room, City Hall, 400 Grand Ave., for the purpose of a study session on the downtown economic performance strategy. Carried by unanimous voice vote. 227 M/S Yee/Datzman - To adjourn the meeting, but not to a particular time and place. Carried by unanimous voice vote. ADJOURNMENT: Time of adjournment was 11:31 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, narbara A. Battaya, City City of South San Francisco APPROVED. The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- tions, 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. 2/12/97 Page 20