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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-19-1996 CC Adopted MinutesREGULAR MEETING - November 19, 1996 A regular meeting of the Dublin City Council was held on Tuesday, November 19, 1996, in the Council Chambers of the Dublin Civic Center. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m., by Mayor Houston. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Councilmembers Barnes, Burton, Howard, Moffatt and Mayor Houston. ABSENT: None PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Houston led the Council, Staff and those present in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. INTRODUCTION OF NEW EMPLOYEES 7:02 p.m. 3.1 (700-10) Administrative Services Director Rankin introduced the City's new Finance Manager, Fred Marsh who began his employment with the City yesterday. Fred comes to us from the City of Morgan Hill where they had quite a bit of development related accounting. Prior to that, he was with Maze and Associates, so he is somewhat familiar with our organization and the people here. Lt. Farruggia commented that he also grew up in Morgan Hill. Lt. Farruggia introduced two new Deputies with the Dublin Police Services: Joe England and Pat Johnson. He has had an opportunity of working with them in the past. Deputy England is a 9 year veteran of the Sheriffs Department and recently completed the 13 week field training program here in Dublin. Prior to that he worked 2 1/2 years at the Oakland Municipal Court. Deputy England thanked the City Council for giving him an opportunity to work in' the City of Dublin. His goal from the very beginning was to become a patrol officer for the City of Dublin. His wife also works with the Sheriff's Department as a Technician. CIT~r COUNCIL MIN~ VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, '1996 PAGE 533 Deputy Pat Johnson comes to us as an 8 year veteran from ETS where he was part of the AC Transit contract. He also worked at Bailiffs. Deputy Johnson stated he felt very fortunate to work with the City of Dublin. This is a community oriented department. He pledged he will do the best he can to make the City proud. PROCLAMATIONS 7:05 p.m. 5.2 (610~50) Mayor Houston read a proclamation declaring the week of November 24, 1996, as National Family Week and encouraged all residents to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and programs in appreciation of our families. The proclamation was presented to Scott Adams who thanked the City for support of this family issue. 7:07 p.m. 3.3 (610~50) Mayor Houston read a proclamation declaring Thursday, November 21, 1996, Education Day in the City of Dublin and urged all residents to recognize the importance of a quality public education system in our City. No one was Present to accept the proclamation. Child Care Program at Arroyo Vista (950-70) 7:10 p.m. Bonnie McCamon, 6700 Dougherty Road #109 stated she was on the Arroyo Vista Board of Directors. She passed out a proposal at the previous meeting (Dublin Housing Authority) and at this time passed out additional material on the subject of child care. She has been getting continued support throughout the City. They are trying to work for the whole community on child care issues. She requested that the City Council review and know that they want to move forward with child care. Request to Use Senior Center for Bingo Games (240-10) 7:13 p.m. Lee Carpenter, Director of Bands at Dublin High School reported that over the last 15 years the Dublin Guard has won numerous awards. They have performed in 6 states and 2 foreign countries, including Ireland. Over 1,000 Dublin students have CIT~r COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 534 participated in the Irish Guard. Two years ago the Band Boosters were forced off the campus with their bingo games when they went to non~smoking. They would like to use the Dublin Senior Center for their bingo activities. Their activities are in the evening. They also want to access the kitchen. They feel it is in the interest to have both the support of the School Board and the City Council. They requested that Staff be directed to work with them on this. Cm. Burton asked about the smoking issue as this facility is on school property. Mr. Carpenter said they would request smokers to go outside. They would have smoke breaks during the evening. Cm. Moffatt stated he had the same question. All the school's rules would certainly apply to this. This is still school grounds. Cm. Burton asked if they anticipated getting it free. Mr. Carpenter stated they would anticipate paying the standard fee that anyone else would have to pay. Shannon Center was discounted because it would conflict with too many other activities. They anticipate having between 125 and 135 people for each bingo night. They would like to have a continuous use contract for a year with provisions to bail out if they lose money. Cm. Moffatt pointed out .the restriction in the policy for booking more than quarterly. Mr. Ambrose stated there may be some regulations we need to look at including storage and also with regard to food service. Staff would need to take a look at the issues and how they could be dealt with. Mayor Houston stated he would like to see this looked into. It is a way to support the band program. City Staff could work with the school district and the band program. Mr. Ambrose stated it would be too short a time line to have this back to the Council on December 4th. Ms. Lowart pointed out a need to get input from the Senior Center Advisory Committee who make recommendations on the use of the senior center. This group meets monthly and will be having a meeting on Thursday morning. This issue is not currently on their agenda for the November 21 meeting. Cm. Barnes stated she felt it was important to run this past the advisory committee. Ms. Lowart stated it would have to be added as an emergency matter to their Thursday agenda. ClT~ COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 535 Mayor HoustOn requested that they add it to their agenda. By the second December meeting it could then come to the City Council. He questioned the bingo permit process. Mr. Ambrose stated it is issued by him and since he had not issued one in the last few years, he was rusty and would need to review the process. Water Service Regulations & Rates (1000~20) 7:19 p.m. Tom Ford stated he had an article from Georgean Vonheeder, on the DSRSD Board and he had hoped to make a presentation to the Council related to water rates, but his computer had problems and he had been unable to prepare his report. Mr. Ford felt her calculations are very misleading and stated he found 8 errors. urged the City to look closely at the water rates issue. He CONSENT CALENDAR 7:20 p.m. On motion of Cm. Burton, seconded by Cm. Moffatt, and by unanimous vote, the Council took the following actions: Approved (4.1) Minutes of Regular Meeting of October 15, 1996; Authorized (4.3 600~40/480-30) the Mayor to execute a contract with the Dublin Housing Authority for administering FY 1996~97 CDBG fund expenditures of $21,910, to make ADA modifications at Arroyo Vista; Approved (4.4 300-40) the Warrant Register in the amount of $1,068,732.19. Cm. Burton pulled Item 4.2 from the Consent Calendar and stated he felt it was important to give this item more attention than a Consent Calendar item. Dublin children going to Dublin schools should be emphasized. It is 7 or $ miles to get to £ivermore from East Dublin and no buses are to be provided We have room in Dublin and they would have to build more facilities in £ivermore. We should add suggestion to the resolution of the fact that we will be driving 100 or so cars to £ivermore and then going to pick them up in the afternoon. This is a substantial environmental impact. This will be significant because of congestion on the freeway. He requested that we include environmental consideration in the terms of the resolution. Cm. Burton pointed out that on the back page of the resolution we state we will support the petition to the Alameda County Office of Education. He stated he had not seen this petition. CITY' COUNCIL MINIR~,S VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 536 Mr. Ambrose stated the petition was submitted directly from the property owners Io the County Department of Education. The City is not directly involved in this. Senior Planner CirelIi stated it is basically the property owners of the recently annexed area of eastern Dublin. The Alameda County Surplus Property Authority also signed the petition. To her knowledge no one refused to sign it. On motion of Cm. Burton, seconded by Cm. Barnes, and by unanimous vote, the Council adopted, with the inclusion of a paragraph about the traffic impacts, (4.2 515-20) RESOLUTION NO. 128 - 96 SUPPORTING THE PETITION TO TRANSFER TERRITORY FROM THE LIVERMORE VALLEY JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT TO THE DUBLIN UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT I~580/I~680 LOCAL MATCH CREDIT FOR FUTURE MITIGATION MEASURES AND COMMITMENT TO CURRENT PROJECT LOCAL MATCH SHORTFALL 7:35 p.m. $.1 (800-30) Public Works Director Thompson presented the Staff Report and stated Alameda County Transportation Authority (ACTA) has prepared an environmental document for the proposed 1-580/I-680 flyover project. In that document, two potential roadway mitigations were identified on Dublin Boulevard due to increased traffic to and from the new ramps into downtown Dublin. One of these improvements is the potential need for an additional right turn lane from eastbound Dublin Boulevard to southbound Village Parkway, which leads to a northbound on-ramp for 1-680. The other is the need for a second left turn land from westbound Dublin Boulevard to southbound Amador Plaza Road, which leads to a southbound on-ramp for 1-680. These improvements will be needed if and when the West Dublin BART station opens at the south end of Golden Gate Drive. Mr. Thompson stated it is proposed that Dublin receive $150,000 local project match credit for accepting the responsibility for constructing two future potential mitigation lane projects on Dublin Boulevard and that Dublin commit to fund the existing $116,760 local match shortfall from the $150,000 credit. Mr. Thompson stated Francis Ix>we and Christine Monson were present to answer any questions the Council may have. Cm. Burton commented in the real estate business, they call this creative financing. Mayor HoustOn felt the important thing is we want all the money we are entitled to. CIT~ COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 537 Christine Monson stated it was a pleasure to be here. Dublin's Staff has worked diligently with ACTA staff to resolve this issue for a year now. Credit is due to the City of Dublin for stepping forward and resolving this. The final ACTA action will be at their December Board meeting. All of the jurisdictions in the Tri~Valley have committed at some point. Danville has said they prefer to pay as part of a fee. On motion of Cm. Burton, seconded by Cm. Moffatt, and by unanimous vote, the Council adopted RESOLUIION NO. 129 - 96 ACCEPTING $150,000 FROM ALAMEDA COUNTY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (ACTA) IN 1-580/I-680 PROJECT LOCAL MATCH CREDIT FOR DUBLIN'S AGREEMENT TO FUND POIENIIAL FUTURE PROJECT ROADWAY MITIGATIONS ON DUBLIN BOULEVARD, AND COMMIIlING TO FUND THE CURRENT $116,760 LOCAL MATCH SHORTFALL Mayor Houston requested that a letter also be sent to all member jurisdictions of ACTA so they are aware of this as soon as possible. Cm. Burton agreed to add this to the motion. ADOPTION OF RADIO AMATEUR CIVIL EMERGENCY SERVICE (RATES) PLAN 7:40 p.m. 8.2 (520-30) Community Safety Assistant Johnson presented the Staff Report and stated in accordance with State guidelines and the. City's own emergency operations plan, Staff has developed an operational plan for the use of amateur radio equipment. In the event of a major disaster, this equipment will be used to make contact with surrounding agencies and emergency shelters. The equipment will be operated by licensed volunteer radio operators. Mr. Johnson pointed out that Ed Deimer was present to handle any technical questions that may arise. Cm. Moffatt commented he felt this was an absolutely fantastic idea. The volunteers should be exalted for stepping forward. This is a wonderful plan. Mr. Johnson reported that we have 73 licensed radio operators in this area. They responded to the Loma Prieta disaster. Mayor Houston requested that the City's emergency exercise incorporate information about this. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, '1996 PAGE 538 Mr. Ambrose advised yes, Staff would consider this as part of the simulation exercise. Cm. Burton asked about the assignment and how this would work. Mr. Johnson stated as a City employee, he would coordinate with the operational area. He explained how the process would work. On motion of Cm. Moffatt, Cm. Barnes, seconded by and by unanimous vote, the Council adopted RESOLUIION NO. 130- 96 ADOPTING A RADIO AMATEUR CIVIL EMERGENCY SERVICE (RACES) PLAN TRAFFIC IMPACT FEE AGREEMENT FOR 1-580 FREEWAY INTERCHANGE IMPROVEMENTS 7:46 p.m. 8.3 (110-30/600-40) City Manager Ambrose presented the Staff Report and advised that in January .of .this year, the City Council adopted an 1-580 freeway interchange fee for Eastern Dublin to pay back the City of Pleasanton for the oversizing of the 1-580 interchange at Hacienda Drive and at Tassajara Road. An agreement is now proposed between Dublin and Pleasanton to condition and set parameters for the transfer of these fees, once collected. Mayor Houston stated he and Cm. Burton will serve on the subcommittee to work with Staff to develop and negotiate a Dublin/Pleasanton Agreement for the handling and transfer of funds collected under the East Dublin I~580 Interchange Fee. Mayor Houston requested that times be set up for them to get together. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT, AND WEBSITE DESIGN SERVICES 7:48 p.m. 8.4 (180-I0) Administrative Assistant Honse presented the Staff Report and advised that the City Council has expressed an interest in developing a City Website on the Internet. Mr. Honse explained the benefits of the Internet with regard to communication, public relations and information dissemination. Under system requirements, Mr. Honse explained: 1) individual workstation access via modem; 2) Internet access via LAN; and $) need for assistance to evaluate options and to develop cost estimates. CITY' COUNCIL ML.NUTES VOLUME t 5 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 539 Mr. Honse stated Staff requested that the City Council authorize Staff to circulate the 'Request for Proposal for Computer Consultant Services and the Request for Proposal for Website Design Services. Once Staff has identified recommended providers and costs are known, a budget amendment will be required to proceed with service agreements. This will be presented at a future meeting. Mr. Honse stated the City of Livermore spent $5,000 on a Website. Fremont did one more elaborate and paid over $10,000 for the design costs alone. This is a situation that you get what you pay for. It is a time intensive area and while Staff could do it, it would take them from other duties. We have a whole list of goals and objectives and Staff is very busy. Mayor Houston stated he would like Staff to make it clear that the consultant can't sell us the equipment. This is not acceptable. Cm. Burton admitted he is one of the most ignorant people about computers. An expression going around is wait until next week because it will be obsolete. Why would we go to the top of the line now rather than as we need it. A serious question is 5 years from now what would we be looking at. Mr. Honse stated we know going in that equipment will become obsolete. We have been pretty careful. A great number of cities jumped in in the beginning, but we are not moving like that. We are not first in. We have cities we can look at as case studies. We want to buy equipment that has a life cycle of at least 5 years. The router and the dataline is really the backbone and we can make yearly decisions. A router is to a computer as a foundation is to a house. We can make some pretty logical conclusions about capacity. We can determine which router is appropriate. We would like to phase this in over time. The consultant can advise us on certain other technical aspects of this. Cm. Burton commented that not long ago the server was the critical part. Mr. Rankin stated we would look at actually renting space on someone else's server, even to host the Website. It becomes quite complicated to maintain this. Mr. Ambrose stated we do have a server for other applications. .Mr. Rankin explained that the router is like a big modem. We will request that the consultant come up with package a and package b. Our life cycles for equipment is typically longer than in the private sector. We will hang on to the 486's. Mayor Houston reported, that just updating one part of his office has created a lot of problems. Phasing may be a difficult thing to do. We may need to do the lion's share in the beginning. CIT~ COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 540 Cm. Moffatt felt it is a great idea to move ahead with a consultant and get some expertise that we need to understand how to develop the system. He would not want to jump immediately to the most expensive system. We could start with a simple webpage and then move up if our needs increase. Mayor Houston would like to see us get an RFP for the most advanced system. It's exciting to see what the City can do for the citizens. It will be efficient for City Staff as well. In the future, it may be the only avenue for information gathering. There are more and more applications to make it more economical for us. Mr. Rankin reported on a seminar he attended on permitting and stated this would not be our first project to undertake. Cm. Burton felt we should be careful as we proceed. He agrees with the RFP for both areas. Mr. Ambrose stated we would come in with options. On motion of Cm. Moffatt, seconded by Cm. Burton, and by unanimous vote, the Council authorized Staff to circulate the RFPs. CIVIC CENTER HOLIDAY DECORATIONS 7:26 p.m. 8.5 (200~30) Economic Development Manager Reuel presented the Staff Report and explained that in order to establish a theme to make the City inviting to visit during the holidays, per the direction of the Council as a high priority, an amount was included in the 1996- 97 CIP for holiday decorations at the Civic Center. Staff solicited proposals from a number of firms. Based on the two proposals received, the cost for installing and dismantling holiday lights at the Civic Center by Sierra Display is $3;000.84. Electrical work needed for extra roof mounted outlets by Richardson Electric is $315. Also included is $300 for miscellaneous lighting and equipment. The total cost for installing and dismantling holiday lights for the Civic Center will be $3,615.84. The first year operating costs will be approximately $500 for electricity. The annual operating costs are estimated at $2,100 for future years which include electricity, maintenance, set-up and take down. Sufficient funding has been included in the budget. Cm. Burton asked if we would be buying the lights. Mr. Reuel stated we would be buying them and they would store them for us. If we don't like the color, we could change them from year to year. CITY' COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME t 5 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 541 Cm. Barnes felt we could add to and/or change the decor in future years. Cm. Barnes stated her original proposal was to light the clocktower but this would not be practical in light of the winds. This proposal will give a nice holiday feeling. Mayor Houston stated he had not thought of who would be assigned this project and commented it was interesting that it was assigned to Mr. Reuel in Economic Development. Mr. Reuel stated we have one of the best areas in front of our Civic Center of any location he has seen in the Bay Area. In the future, we could ask companies in Dublin to sponsor portions of the display. Many cities in the U.S. have been very successful with programs of this type. Mayor Houston stated he has been on record all year that this should be supported by the business community and/or service clubs should pay for this. Cm. Moffatt stated he felt all green lights might be too dark, but maybe an assortment would be better. Cm. Barnes felt red, green and white would be the best since these are holiday colors. On motion of Cm. Barnes, seconded by Cm. Burton, and by majority Vote, the Council authorized Staff to enter into a contract with Sierra Display for the lighting of the Civic Center per their proposal dated November 12, 1996. Mayor Houston voted against the motion. Mr. Ambrose advised that when Mr. Reuel was in Redding, he won awards for decorations on his own home. Mr. Reuel stated Brighton Court will be brighter this year with Christmas lights on his house. OTHER BUSINESS 8:13 p.m. DSRSD Liaison Meeting (610~05) Mr. Ambrose reminded the Council that he, Cm. Barnes and Mayor Houston had a DSRSD liaison meeting tomorrow at 4 p.m. They will be talking about restaurant connection fees. CIT~ COUNCIL M~UTES VOLUME t5 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 542 DRFA Dissolution (540~ 10) Mr. Ambrose stated the DRFA Board met to talk about critical issues of dissolution. now important for both full Councils to be kept apprised. A special DRFA meeting should be scheduled which would include alternates. The DRFA Board last night identified December 9, at 6 p.m. for this special meeting. It is Storm Damage (550-80) Mr. Ambrose felt the Council had probably gotten calls about storm damage on November 16 and 17. One of the major problems was up at VCC and the contractor has been up there pumping concrete in to stabilize. Mayor Houston thanked Mr. Thompson for coming out Sunday morning on the floods. City Tree Lighting Ceremony (950~40) Cm. Howard asked if the tree lighting was being held on December 2. Mayor. Houston stated it would and he had 6:30 p.m., on his calendar. This was verified. Civic Center Office Availability (200~ 10) Cm. Moffatt noted that we have an empty office upstairs and has asked if there ,were any plans to rent this to the new Congress Lady. It is to our advantage to have somebody in the building here. He requested that we look into inviting our State or Federal representative to have an office at the Civic Center. Mayor Houston requested that Staff make an overture to our new congressional representative to utilize this space. We should do this asap. Water Services within City of Dublin (1000~ 10) Cm. Moffatt reported that there is a window of opportunity now if the City wants to establish a water agency. There has been a lot of interest in water costs and he felt it will get to a point where other local cities are going to start splitting up the basin and CITY' COUNCIL ~IINUTF~ VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 543 wanting a percentage of it. The City might want to get more involved in water issues in this area. The City Attorney might outline how this could take place. There are statutes in the code and there can be a lot more action taken by the City. We are in full control of this if we want to be. The new Council might want to think about this and look into it. Cm. Barnes requested that the City Attorney prepare something for the Council on what is required in taking over water. Mayor Houston felt we need to define what the issue is before we take it over. Cm. Barnes felt if we can do it better for our citizens, we should look at this. Mayor Houston felt we should define what the pros and cons are and work with DSRSD and maybe another consultant. The Council requested that this issue be agendized for discussion at a future meeting. Cm. Burton agreed with the idea of pursuing what can be done with the water situation. There is a public perception that the City is responsible for water. They don't understand what DSRSD is all about. Fireworks (650~60) Cm. Barnes stated she would like to bring back the fireworks ordinance to define a little more tightly who is entitled to take out a fireworks permit. Maybe we should look at allowing the permits to only go to the youth organizations. The adult organizations have other ways of raising funds, but apparently, this is the only means that the youth have of raising money. We could look at limiting it. Bring the issue to a future meeting. I~ 580 Freeway Cleanup (800~ 30) Cm. Burton stated the planned cleanup on I~580 is off because they couldn't get enough people to make it worthwhile. He advised Mr. Thompson and stated he had canceled with Caltrans. ClT~ COUNCIL ~IINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 544 Appointment (110-30) Mayor Houston advised that he will be resigning his alternate position through the Mayors' Conference on ACTA and going in as alternate for Mary King on the work committee. Demographic Information (420~60) Mayor Houston advised that he had talked to Dawn Mayhan of Dublin Little League and they may have to split their league. In talking to the Williamsport people and her, they may need to work with the Planning Department to get some kind of estimates on projected growth numbers in order to split the league. He requested that Planning provide information to DLL. Mayor Houston stated also on the baseball front, Ed Cornelius of Dublin Pontiac/ Toyota told him theY have a problem with dust coming from our fields at the Sports Grounds. It costs them a lot of money to keep having to wash their cars. Is there any other alternatives? They are certainly helping our City so if we could work something out it would be appreciated on all sides. Police Statistics (580~60) Mayor Houston commented on the report from Chief Rose related to crime statistics. We are down 7% from the previous year. He had questions about the reduction in stolen vehicle category, and asked for an explanation. Lt. Farruggia stated he would specifically ask the detective who handled this and will report back at the next meeting. Mayor Houston stated we seem to be going in the wrong direction on robberies. Cm. Burton asked about the reported crimes with feet and hands. Lt. Farruggia elaborated on this and stated this is a figure that's easy to track. CITY' COUNCIL MINILITES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November 19, 1996 PAGE 545 Televising of Upcoming Council Meetings (1050~50) Mr. Ambrose reminded the Council of the 2 City Council meetings scheduled for December $ and December 4. He asked if the Council felt both should be taped for 'televising. Mayor Houston did not feel that the December 3 meeting would need to be televised. The Council agreed. ADJOURNMENT 11ol There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 8:31 p.m. ATFEST: Mayor CITY' COUNCIL MINUTES VOLUME 15 REGULAR MEETING November '19, 1996 PAGE 546