Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1994-08-29 Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes Council: Jack Drago John R. Penna --Roberta Cerri Teglia Robert Yee MINUTES City Council Municipal Services Building Community Room 089 August 29, 1994 SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO AUGUST 29, 1994 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 Monday, the 29th day of August 1994, at 9:00 a.m. in the Municipal Services Building, Community Room, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting: 1. Further consideration of the 1994/95 Operating Budget, including proposed revisions to the Fire Department Organizational Plan and revisions to achieve balance in General Fund recurring income and expenditures. 2. Resolution approving Parcel Maps for the Avalon and Alta Loma Schools land acquisition and authorizing recordation of same. A RESOLUTION APPROVING TWO PARCEL MAPS AND RECORDATION OF SAME RELATING TO THE SALE OF SCHOOL SURPLUS PROPERTIES LOCATED AT THE ALTA LOMA AND AVALON SCHOOL SITES Closed Session, pursuant to GC 54957.6, to consider and provide instructions to the City's Negotiator regarding contract with Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver and Wilson for City Attorney Services; pursuant to GC 54956.8, regarding negotiations with Jesus Armas for sale of 368 Conmur St.; and pursuant to GC 54957, to conduct the twice-yearly performance evaluation of the City Manager. 4. Adjournment. Dated: August 24, 1994 City Clerk City of South San Francisco r ~ALL TO ORDER: :OLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) ACTION TAKEN 9:09 a.m. Mayor Fernekes presiding. Council Present: Drago, Teglia, Yee and Fernekes. 8/29/94 Page 1 A~ENDA ACTION TAKEN ~RAL COMMUNICATIONS 8/29/94 Page 2 09O Council Absent: Penna. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Victor Feudale, Historic Preservation Commis- sion, spoke with concern about the Council taking funds away from their budget last year and felt the Commission had to have an incentive to encourage people to dedicate their property as historic resourc- es. He stated the Commission was trying to get the Mills Act funds, however, that will only benefit new homes - while the other historic homes are under Proposition 13. So, he felt the City should give the Commission grant monies to keep going, otherwise they could disband - because they do not have an incentive to have people dedicate their homes. Discussion followed: whether the City could use CDBG funds for this purpose; there are CDBG funds for restoration programs but the City Manager did not know if it would apply to historic resources; staff should see if $30,000 could be given to the Historic Preservation Commission from CDBG funds; these funds have been coming out of the General Fund for the last several years; Vice Mayor Yee would rather the Commission designate a pro- ject and then the Council authorize the money. Mr. Feudale stated this was his last year on the Commission, there will be new people on the Com- mission who do not have his background and will have to go out and research potential resources. He felt that young people will be approaching older citizens who own historic buildings for designations, which he thought will be difficult. Councilwoman Teglia felt that Council did have latitude - as demonstrated by a life time appointment of a Park & Recreation Commissioner, who has been on the Commission since 1940, because what the individual brought to that Body, she felt, could not be duplicated. She stated that when Mr. Feudale's term was up the Council might want to consider that. Assistant City Attorney Richard Chiozzo stated he wanted to come forward briefly in response to a memo circulated to Council by the City Manager in reference to a severance issue in the City Attorney's AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Further consideration of the 1994/95 Operating Bud- get, including proposed revisions to the Fire Depart- ment Organizational Plan and revisions to achieve balance in General fund recurring income and ex- penditures. .~ / 7_ t9 · - 091 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Office. He submitted a letter to the Council as a Body for tonight's record. Discussion followed: Mayor Fernekes asked whether Mr. Chiozzo wanted the item agendized; Assistant City Attorney Chiozzo stated he talked to Attorney Mattis this morning and ascertained it was not on tonight's agenda; Mayor Fernekes felt it would probably be better if it was agendized; Coun- cilwoman Teglia had a problem with that, because this man has wanted to speak to the Council for three meetings - why was it not agendized; Mayor Fernekes stated there had not been a request to have it agendized; City Clerk Battaya questioned, since Mr. Chiozzo's letter was going into the record shouldn't she have the letter from the City Manager also. Assistant City Attorney Chiozza stated he started with the City 9/9/91. Before he came on board he had a considerable discussion with the then City Attorney regarding stability in the office and longev- ity of service. At that time he was moving into senior trial positions in the Public Defender's Office in Solano County, was being considered by several District Attorneys in the Bay Area and made the decision to come here based on some of the repre- sentations made to him. Mayor Fernekes questioned, wouldn't it be more appropriate to agendize this so all of the information is before Council - the letter, and this letter, rather than just alluding to the letter from the City Manag- er. Mr. Chiozzo stated his letter was just about the notice - not a package or anything, just about the notice and the impacts it would have on the City, himself and his family. City Manager Wohlenberg related: Council re- ceived a report in the Spring about an alternative to affect changes in the Fire Department to enable them to focus more on emergency medical services and staff a new, second ambulance. The proposal included reducing minimum staffing levels to 19 and purchasing quint apparatus to support this staffing change. In adopting the budget, Council directed the staff to maintain a twenty person minimum 8/29/94 Page 3 AfiENDA Further consideration - Continued. 8/29/94 Page 4 ACTION TAKEN · . 092 staffing level and review the usage of quints. He stated staff is to come back with the options to cover the cost and work with the Union to reach an agreement, and that has been submitted to the Coun- cil in a report. He stated staff met with AFSCME on contracting out of the paramedic billing operation and recom- mended it would be advisable to save money and to increase billing income to the City. At the conclu- sion of Friday's meeting it was determined that the City cannot contract out anything that has been done by the members of the bargaining units. So, this provides a whole new situation - if you eliminate that from the budget and put in the 20 man staffing there is no savings. Fire Chief Stark related: following the 7/27/94 Council meeting he had a series of meetings with the Union; the Union submitted a plan, which was unac- ceptable to him in light of the cuts experienced already; he continued to meet with Ray Green to find something that was acceptable; they did clarify what was important - the second ambulance, defibulators and other cost savings to the Depart- ment; the Union was adamant on the quint; he was able to work with the configuration that could meet our needs by use of the quint, not our wants; the Union voted for staff to proceed with the new align- ment; he ended up with five companies, five engines (two were quints), two ambulances in service and minimum manning would go back to 20 persons; etc. He stated a compromise had been worked out to gain new revenue and enhance the ability to serve the customers. Mr. Green stated this was the first time the Union worked with the administration to eliminate staffing, with input on ambulance and fire fighting vehicles. He stated the new proposal does not save quite as much but does eliminate the quint. He spoke at length on the cost figures: there were cost savings from people who left since June; they lost the part-time Coordinator and the position will not be filled until October, yet they were not given credit for the savings to offset the $90,000; there were savings from two captains, one paramedic and AGENDA ACTION TAKEN · 093 Further consideration - Continued. 8/29/94 Page 5 an engineer leaving that will make up the shortfall; he appreciated the Fire Chief working with the Union, however, they did not come up with the same savings. Vice Mayor Yee expressed disappointment that Council did all this work and now we start all over again, and that does not seem like we know what we are doing. He questioned why the information in the memo Council received over the weekend re- garding AFSCME wasn't checked out before starting this process on contracting out the billing. He felt staff should have known AFSCME had to take a vote on contracting out. He related: Council had gone over the explanation of the quint, we end up changing our minds and now we are back to balancing the budget. So, if you guys can do it - great. He stated there would not be the $49,000 in revenue from the paramedic billing but the budget is out of balance by an addi- tional $100,000 from where we started. He stated they were working backwards and he did not have a solution. City Manager Wohlenberg stated both he and the Fire Chief believe in and support the original plan, which does not garner the full support of the Union nor AFSCME. However, staff would go in another direction if Council wanted. Vice Mayor Yee stated, he tries to envision running the City operations and Council does not have a recommendation - other than to take money from reserves. He stated he could do that, but that was not the direction and he cannot go in and try to figure out what to do with the Fire Department. He did not have solutions, other than to suggest taking money from the Capital Improvement Program and fix the hole. But, he was disappointed in the direc- tion in which the City was going. Fire Chief Start stated the goal was to provide the Council with another viable option, which he could not do, and had come back with this package. Councilwoman Teglia stated she did not have a lot of confidence in this, felt the Fire Chief was diplomatic and felt this to be a major leadership crisis. She felt the City was paying too much in management not to have better alternatives. She AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 1. Further consideration - Continued. 8/29/94 Page 6 stated Council had struggled for two years and this year the budget is a major mess. She stated we have a Police Department that had to do major reorganization - this was achieved and their plans came forward with a cost savings. She stated that the whole Department gave input and the program was implemented. She appreciated the efforts made but had a problem with the focus of the bargaining unit and wondered if they had given input into the plan from the begin- ning. She stated that Council made a decision on the billing and the elimination of a position, but that could be discontinued and the billing absorbed in- house and she did not care if a fireman did the bill- ing. She related: there is a big difference in an idea and reality, even though staff feels this is a good idea; the AFSCME stand on contracting work out has never been an unknown and wondered why it was not explored by staff; she did not believe Council had been given the support needed to be able to adopt a budget Citywide; she was looking for sug- gestions from staff, to whom we pay a ton of mon- ey, but she felt we needed more talent here to offer alternatives - other than running to the savings ac- count. Discussion followed: Councilman Drago would not vote for the budget tonight; he felt contracting out the paramedic billing had been the Union's original proposal; the Council was only seeing a watered down version and he wanted to see the Union's entire proposal; Mayor Fernekes was disappointed that changes had to be made; he had originally asked that the budget be balanced and now staff is saying we have to go back and change the budget; he felt that all of these facts and figures should have been checked out and rechecked out, so Council did not have these surprises; the budget should have been adopted in July, with these things checked out; he believed that had been made clear by Council in a myriad of six budget meetings; he wanted staff to come up with the right figure so Council could move on; Council and staff have spent a lot of time, especially Amy Margolis, with change after change; City Manager stated the change is from the billing and the $55,000 means we have to reduce the budget to get back in balance, in addition to the A~ENDA ACTION TAKEN, 095 Further consideration - Continued. Councilman Penna Arrived at the meeting at 10:02 a.m. additional man in the Fire Department for the mini- mum manning standard; there is a savings of $28,000 for the half time position in Finance that did the billing; the billing process is complicated because of Medicare; why couldn't someone take a class on the billing; Councilman Drago stated, twelve years ago there was discussion of hiring a part time person who was knowledgeable and could learn all things related to the paramedic billing - because the collection rate was only 80% and now we are down to 70% and staff wants to go to an outside firm for billing; Councilmembers Drago and Yee had sat as a Subcommittee on the permit pro- cess and were recommending hiring a $70,000 Permit Coordinator to streamline the process; Vice Mayor Yee stated the further recommendation from the Subcommittee was that the position will be under the City Manager and not any other Department Head; Councilwoman Teglia expressed concern that the recommendation is to hire a management posi- tion; Councilman Drago wanted a priority list of capital improvement items; there is a requirement that the Housing Element be updated every fire years, and next year is five years; staff was propos- ing to delay that for one year; the City has a revised Housing Element and was adequate if there is a challenge; if we go beyond the five year period we will stand to lose the certification but it does not mean someone will prevail; Councilwoman Teglia wanted to be certain the City was not at risk; staff recently received notice from the State that it could be put over for two years; if the City has a certified housing element, then you have a rebuttable argu- ment, in our favor, if we are challenged; if they denied someone, we would lose the rebuttable pre- sumption and could be sued and such a suit could involve affordable housing projects; etc. M/S Drago/Yee - To add the position of Permit Coordinator under the City Manager. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Mayor Fernekes stated the rest of these items will come back at the next meeting. City Manager Wohlenberg stated the CIP will come to Council in September. Councilwoman Teglia announced she would be out of the country from 9/5/94 - 9/23/94. 8/29/94 Page 7 AGENDA A2I!ON TAKEN L. 096 Resolution approving Parcel Maps for the Avalon and Alta Loma Schools land acquisition and authorizing recordation of same. .~O'g D A RESOLUTION APPROVING TWO PARCEL MAPS AND RECORDATION OF SAME RELAT- ING TO THE SALE OF SCHOOL SURPLUS PROPERTIES LOCATED AT THE ALTA LOMA AND AVALON SCHOOL SITES 2. Resolution - Continued. Closed Session, pursuant to GC 54957.6, to consider and provide instructions to the City's Negotiator regarding contract with Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver and Wilson for City Attorney Services; pursuant to GC 54956.8, regarding negotiations with Jesus Armas for sale of 368 Conmur St.; and pursuant to GC 54957, to conduct the twice-yearly performance evaluation of the City Manager. RECALL TO ORDER: ADJOURNMENT: Assistant City Manager Martel stated this matter was routine, in that the maps do reflect the direction given by Council. Mayor Fernekes stated the Subcommittee was in agreement with the two maps. Councilwoman Teglia stated there was discussion about the City paying for the maps, however, the City agreed to prepare the maps and pay for the recordation. The Subcommittee told the District to pay for the maps because they are going to reflect their changes and subsequently the District dropped the request. Mayor Fernekes stated he was disappointed in hear- ing the School District's comments, because the changes were theirs. M/S Teglia/Yee - To adopt the Resolution. RESOLUTION NO. 111-94 Carried by unanimous voice vote. Council adjourned to a Closed Session at 10:25 p.m. to discuss the items noticed. Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at 1:20 a.m., all Council was present, no action was taken. M/S Penna/Drago - To adjourn the meeting to Wednesday, 8/31/94, 12:00 p.m., City Council Conference Room, City Hall, for a Closed Session, pursuant to GC 54957, evaluation of the City Man- ager; pursuant to GC 54957.6, conference with the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Interim Assistant City Attorney Mattas and Director of Personnel, as Labor Negotiators, regarding the Assistant City Attorney. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 1:20 a.m. 8/29/94 Page 8 ~ENDA ACTION TAKEN ,, 097 RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara 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. 8/29/94 Page 9