HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1997-05-07 Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes
Council:
James L. Datzman
Eugene R. Mullin
--Iohn R. Penna
Robert Yee
MINUTES
City Council
City Council Conference Room
City Hall
350
May 7, 1997
SPECIAL MEETING
CITY COUNCIL
OF THE
CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
May 7, 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 7th day of May 1997,
at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Conference Room, City Hall, 400 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California.
Purpose of the meeting:
1. Information Service Update.
Capital Improvement Program.
Closed Session, pursuant to GC 54957.9, conference with legal counsel on pending litigation - Molieri vs.
City of S.S.F.
4. Adjournment.
City Clerk
City of South San Francisco
Dated: May 2, 1997
CALL TO ORDER:
ROLL CALL:
AGENDA
(Cassette No. 1)
Closed Session, pursuant to GC 54957.9, conference
with legal counsel on pending litigation - Molieri vs.
City of S.S.F. ~'/~'~
ACTION TAKEN
5:04 p.m. Mayor Fernekes presiding.
Council Present: Datzman, Mullin, Yee and
Fernekes.
Council Absent: Penna.
Mayor Fernekes stated this item would be taken
first.
Council entered a Closed Session at 5:05 p.m. to
discuss the item noticed.
5/7/97
Page 1
~ENDA ~TION TAKEN
Councilman Penna Arrived at 5:10 p.m.
KECALL TO ORDER:
1. Information Service Update.
5/7/97
Page 2
351
Councilman Penna arrived at the meeting at 5:10
p.m.
Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at
5:58 p.m, all Council was present, no action was
taken and direction was given.
Assistant Manager Moss related the proposal: the
present telephone system - Pac Bell Centrex System
in concert with San Bruno, SSF School District and
the SSF Conference Center, City portion managed
by Communications, parts and equipment not avail-
able to continue with current system, inefficient and
cosily; proposed telephone system - needs assess-
ment completed by Wolf & Assoc., RFP for a mod-
ern PBX network, voice mail available for all City
Depts, substantial long-term savings through reduc-
tion in cost of centrex lines and easy auditing of
long distance calls, to be managed by the proposed
Information Technology Division; proposed system
costs - $420,000, seven year lease-purchase with a
payback in 42 months and we would own the system
free and clear; presently - Public Safety has a net-
work of E-mail and Internet access, Library partici-
pates in the Peninsula Library Network, other depts.
use PCs only as stand alone workstations, Finance
supports rest of City and has no resources to support
a Citywide network, no master plan; options - main-
tain status quo, develop master plan and provide the
management and personnel to implement it; right
now there is no master plan in the City, no one
source in the City knows the equipment and what we
want - that is crucial to move with any plan;
master plan considerations - Who will handle the
project? What is needed to implement the plan?
Where will personnel be located? When can it be
implemented? Why do we have to do this?; Pro-
posed Information Technology Division: Captain
Haskins, Director of Information Technology Jones,
Telephone Maintenance (new), Information Technol-
ogy Manager Barroso, Clerk (new) Systems Support
Technician Wilborn, S.S.T. (new), S.S.T. (new);
we need focused responsible personnel and time to
get the work done and user participation with ade-
quate funding to do what has to be done; they will
use the present work space available in the Police
Dept., but in the future if this division grows in size
and responsibility, then that space is not adequate
and they will need more; we can start developing it
July 1st in the budget year; this is a more effic-
ient operation throughout the City during the time
~ENDA ~TION TAKEN
Information Service Update.
5/7/97
Page 3
352
it takes to get work done and is more efficient in
effort; ultimately it will permit public access avail-
ability to City Depts., which he feels is high on the
City Council's agenda on technology citywide;
I.T.D. Costs (year 1) - total comp. increase
$66,422, first year capital $15,000, training for
I.T.D. staff $5,000, misc. supplies, vehicle mainte-
nance, etc. to be determined, data cabling $25,000
= $111,422; computer maintenance from Finance
$53,441; total compensation change - 4 existing
positions +$47,922, 1 new tech. 12 months
+$65,000, 1 new tech 6 mo. +$32,500, 1 new
clerk 1/2 time +$25,000 minus Finance position
eliminated of $70,000 and minus Comm. Contract
Svcs. $34,000 = $66,422; Citywide computer net-
work advantages - E-mail with a gateway to the
worldwide Internet, Internet access for all City
Depts. and Councilmembers; public access to City
Dept.'s information via web pages, improved access
to City financial info for City personnel, ability for
employees to electronically move documents
throughout the City, allows for sharing of expensive
computer peripherals and software, minimizes the
use of modem phone lines for improved perfor-
mance at less expense; year one projected accom-
plishments - develop a master plan, establish user
groups, place data cabling throughout City, devise
enterprise fund charging criteria; community-wide
networking grant application - through Dept. of
Commerce, $511,552 requested, community com-
puter center in Old Town, City Depts. linked with
public access sites.
Discussion followed: will staff create the web pag-
es; that is part of the grant; Capt. Haskins stated
there is no provision now for any budget where it
enters the picture is through the grant; this will
improve access for City personnel and eventually we
will not have to work with the access limitations
with the present prime system which will be im-
proved; this will eliminate a lot of City mail going
from Dept. to Dept. for comments; saving will be
through sharing of expensive computer peripherals
and software; the network connection will eliminate
the need for modems and cut down on the cost of
the systems; Mr. Jones made a parallel to a
sprinkler pipe in a garden compared to a pipe with-
out modems that provides faster access to the com-
puters; Capt. Haskins stated user groups will be
established upfront to note their needs and wants
and place cabling throughout the City, establish the
AQENDA A~!!QN TAKEN
1. Information Service Update.
5/7/97
Page 4
353
infrastructure and devise interfund charging criteria
for year two; for year one the funding is going to be
fragmented; Assistant City Manager Moss stated, on
3/27/97 he submitted an application to the Dept. of
Commerce to establish the network and community
center and that money will go far to pay the first
year costs for a higher level of technology instead of
just PCs and individual work stations; he requested
direction to include this in the upcoming budget, so
they can get started on the budget; the grant applica-
tion has not yet been approved, and maybe at the
end of summer they will make the award; the grant
will offset a lot of the money for the networking
citywide, for it only applies to technology assis-
tance; Councilman Yee wanted another study session
to further understand that they were giving the right
direction; what is the cost to do the entire system;
Lt. Haskins stated there is a phone system
($420,000) that the grant does not cover; for the
first year $111,000 in new funding and that will
provide the basic personnel to run the system; the
cabling and infrastructure he does not know the cost,
because there is not a master plan at present; City
Manager estimated a half a million dollars; around
$650,000 including the telephone lines, but not the
voice telephone for ours are 20 and 30 years old and
that will be funded by a lease when a master plan is
done; City Manager felt it was reasonable to suggest
it cost upwards to a million dollars and $150,000 a
year; $750,000 and the continuing support costs
more; this would give every PC access to the
Internet and to other cities in San Mateo County; the
master plan will be a team effort with funds avail-
able for outside assistance on a limited basis; Daryl
Jones has the expertise to develop the master plan;
the plan is a living document and is revised every
year without disturbing the employees; what happens
if the grant is not given; that is based on the evalua-
tion and that is the reason for the grant rider; if the
master plan is developed we will come back to the
Council with the master plan for funding; Council-
man Penna wants to know how much the entire plan
will cost, how long to implement and if we are not
going to do the whole thing who takes priority and
why; Assistant City Manager Moss stated that is one
of the goals in the first year; Councilman Penna gets
concerned when he hears we are going to be coming
in piecemeal and that means we never get a handle
on the whole operation; Lt. Haskins stated that is
where they find themselves today and they are sug-
gesting that someone has to get a handle and deal
AGENDA A~TION TAKEN
_.1.. Information Service Update.
5/7/97
Page 5
35.
with that, because we don't know how much it will
cost; what they are asking for in the first year, in
essence, is keep going and expand by developing the
master plan; we need to have this citywide whether
you get a grant or additional funding, we need the
investment to protect the investment; if at the end of
year one, where we have developed enough informa-
tion for suggestions to Council, it's up to Council to
decide if there is money available, and the Council
can start and stop this system at any place just by
committing to this, doesn't mean it's a million dol-
lars; Councilman Mullin is supportive of something
like this, but his concern is the organization chart
and do we need two system technicians or is that pie
in the sky or is that the number of folks needed, for
once you hire people they are on board; he wants to
make sure the organization chart takes care of that,
and the second is the public access, he knows the
value of that and we are way behind; he wants to
make sure whatever system used is going to be
accessible to the public to keep the traffic out of city
hall for the printing of documents, for then you will
see savings; he would like to have had this two days
ago to peruse for a broader outlook; Councilman
Datzman complemented staff on the thoroughness of
the report; he questioned if this means we would no
longer be tied to the School District and San Bruno
on centrex; second, is whether the system would be
user friendly; San Mateo has a similar program; San
Mateo and Sunnyvale both have good systems;
systems have failed in the past because they were
not well thought out, no one person was given the
responsibility, made accessible and accountable to
Council; this will effect a fully automated city;
Mayor Fernekes noted this has been needed for a
long time and thanked staff for a good presentation,
so he would like the City to move ahead with the
telephones and the computer system; he agreed that
more information should be brought forward to
answer questions raised and more time to read the
documentation; he suggested having another study
session in a few weeks; he wants a justification of
positions; Vice Mayor Mullin stated the School
District is also building a system and he is con-
cerned with two parallel systems; it seems to him on
a couple of points we could access one system to the
other, but he does not know how that fits with the
master plan for each system to access the other;
Assistant City Manager Moss stated the Courts used
to be in centrex, however, they pulled out; Vice
Mayor Mullin does not want to have two satellite
AQENDA AgX!QN TAK~
1. Information Service Update.
RECESS:
RECALL TO ORDER:
2. Capital Improvement Program.
5/7/97
Page 6
355
systems out there; Mr. Jones will talk to the School
District about what they are doing; the Conference
Center may be on the web page; Wolf & Assoc.
took one look at the telephones and decided the
system needed to be replaced; staff will need Pac
Bell to do the installation for the entire system; there
are sufficient funds in the budget to start this; there
is a PC replacement fund; etc.
Mayor Fernekes declared a recess for dinner at 7:00
p.m.
Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at
7:28 p.m.
City Manager Wilson related: the draft CIP is
updated to reflect what has transpired; some projects
have been deleted and some dollars redefined, and
the City Engineer is the author of the document.
City Engineer Wong related: projects have been
moved forward, such as the Oyster Point Widening
until the funds are available; he spoke of the list of
projects underway or had the design completed.
Discussion followed: North Canal Street improve-
ments, will that project be done in front of the Cor-
poration Yard; yes, staff is looking at the developer
to do their portion; will the developer develop that
portion with the City at one time; that issue can be
raised; if North Canal is not going to be extended to
Orange, but instead it terminated at Magnolia and
extended to Railroad - that is one concept to elimi-
nate traffic on Orange; the City cannot have trucks
and street sweepers go around the railroad to Mag-
nolia; the Hillside and Chestnut signal is 95% com-
plete and will be coming to Council; the Director of
Public Works is planning a study session on Chest-
nut to look at the whole street; the flyover for Oys-
ter Point is in the CIP; Alta Loma park improve-
ments will be paid for by the developer but are
identified in the CIP by the City Engineer even
though there are no City funds that will be expend-
ed; City Manager talked to the developer and dis-
cussed the Director of Parks & Recreation's plan to
improve the school property at the same time and he
thought it would be a mutual advantage in the cut
and fill if the School District will allow some of the
school fees to be used at substantial savings; that is
on the agenda of the School Liaison meeting; some
balances are zero because when we get the money
AQENDA A~!!QN TAKEN
_2. Capital Improvement Program.
5/7/97
Page 7
356
we balance the project out and staff does the same
with developers fees; staff received input from all
departments, from that prioritize, review it with the
City Manager and Park & Recreation; streets and
sewers; how can a negative be reflected in the bud-
get; if a specific project is to be deferred, then staff
takes that away as an accounting feature; in this
instance the PUC authorized a railroad crossing and
then abandoned that, so we are taking the money out
and putting it elsewhere; can that money be used to
buy railroad right-of-ways; Councilman Yee stated,
so the Council approved $70,000 from the Gas Tax,
so you put $70,000 in the bank and decided to take
out $25,000 and put it back into Gas Tax and that is
why the $25,000 shows up here; so, what staff is
asking for is a budget transfer; without an explana-
tion what was done would not be known; Council-
man Yee stated when he got on Council there was a
lot of concern on Appian Way and Gellert, specifi-
cally the lower portion was broken up and we fixed
that, but because of the water and development
taking place it's going to pot; this is the lower por-
tion of Appian Way in front of the condos - it's torn
up from truck traffic and trees; his concern is that
the developer is still on site and can we make
a claim that he has contributed to the problem;
Director of Public Works Gibbs stated they will look
at it and report back to Council, also in a month, a
report on Oyster Point Blvd.; they have run all of
the traffic numbers for the whole street and the
problems with the intersection; money-wise the cost
for the widening is $23 + million and there is
not enough money there; most of the costs will be
born by the Shearwater Development and another
developer is developing further down and will bear
their fair share of the costs; staff identifies all costs
for a project during the current year for the funding;
where is Gull Road in the CIP; the final version will
have them all identified; miscellaneous storm drains;
the Westborough Blvd. sewer is located at El
Camino and there have been problems with the line;
Caltrans has been working on it in jerks and spurts;
Shaw Road Pump Station - there is no gravity and
there was a break and we made repairs, but we
noticed several cracks on the top the City Engineer
wants to repair; the Director of Public Works
is going to meet with the Public Works Director of
San Bruno on Friday to get the two Subcommittees
together and go through the program for the capaci-
ty has changed and more is being requested; loans
are available and staff is going for a $40 million
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
2. Capital Improvement Program.
5/7/97
Page 8
357
loan, $20 million for us and $20 million for San
Bruno; funding will not be given until the contract is
in place; we have sufficient funds in the sewer fund
to begin and that would be in the spring of next year
and expect construction next year; there will be two
phase financing and we have to get into the econom-
ics of that, and when we can get the whole loan and
use the interest to retire the debt; will the proposed
general plan amendment affect the capacity; it could,
but it would be subtle; if the Council wanted to
change the zoning on the other side of East Grand,
then the capacity could change again; with a two
phase process that will give an opportunity to see if
that materializes; as you pull out warehousing and
put in manufacturing you will increase the load on
the Plant; with Genentech wanting more capacity
and San Bruno needing more, it went to 11.9; the
City Manager thinks the sewer rate will be the same,
but we have to look at rates for the next 3 to 4
years; Councilman Yee does not think you can get
more than 13 GED with the expansion and that has
to be protected; City Manager is exploring the possi-
bility of creating a one stop permit facility; we have
City Hall and the Annex and the Depts. were allo-
cated space years ago and from an initial study it
appears we will be relocating Engineering, Building
and Planning and put them all in the Annex, so
someone comes in they can go in one building and
all their services can be met at one time; then we
examined City Hall, preliminarily staff has come to
the conclusion that it is possible and have put it in
the CIP; if the CIP is approved does that mean it
approves the moving of people; no, staff has not
even reviewed that; is the telephone system a pro-
gram that was reviewed tonight; yes; all single
walled tanks are going to be replaced with double
walled underground tanks at the Fire Stations; up-
grade ventilation in the Fire Stations which is de-
ferred maintenance in Station 4, but at this time
there is no plan to renovate the Fire Station; bring
up whether the School District has matching funds
for the Alta Loma park at the Liaison meeting;
Mayor Fernekes stated the City has put the Airport
Director on notice that this City will be coming back
for more ANIP funds; Foster City is willing to give
up their $6 million; the funds are based on the foot-
print; the question is can we use that money and the
Airport says they don't like to shift money; San
Bruno has insulated all of their homes; Councilman
Penna noted this City did not get its proportionate
share of insulation money for the Airport underesti-
2. Capital Improvement Program.
ADJOURNMENT:
ACTIQN TAKEN
. 358
mated our share because our city was difficult to
estimate because of the largeness of the footprint;
Councilman Yee thinks staff can get more money
from the Airport; staff will take the CIP to the
Planning Commission after they clean it up; etc.
MIS Mullin/Penna - To adjourn the meeting.
Carried by unanimous voice vote.
Time of adjournment was 8:45 p.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Barbara A. Battaya, City Clerk ~/
City of South San Francisco
APPROVED.
Jo~_ h A. ~ernekes,~Pa~r
C t~, of South San Francisco
.__..~e entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral eommunica-
ans, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the
ffice of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying.
5/7/97
Page 9