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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-22-1992 Adopted CC MinutesADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING - October 22, 1992 An adjourned regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Dublin was held on Thursday, October 22, 1992, in the Council Chambers of the Dublin Civic Center. The meeting was called to order at 7:32 p.m., by Mayor Snyder. * * * ROLL CALL & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG PRESENT-. ABSENT Councilmembers Burton, Howard, Jeffery, Moffatt and Mayor Snyder. None. CONSENT CALENDAR On motion of Cmo Burton, Seconded by Cm. Jeffery, and by unanimous vote, the Council took the following actions: Approved Minutes of Regular Meeting of September 28, 1992 (Cm. Moffatt abstained from voting on the minutes); Approved Warrant Register in the amount of $388,751.79 ~00-40). PRIORITIZATION OF CITY SERVICES & CAPITAL PROJECTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1992-93 (330-20) City Manager Ambrose stated that when the State Legislature adopted the 1992-93 State Budget, approximately 9% of Local Property Tax and Trailer Coach In-Lieu Tax was taken from cities. The loss in General Fund Revenue to the City of Dublin amounts to $349,122 for FY1992-93 and places the City's General Fund Budget out of balance. Mr. Ambrose stated approximately $135,904 in budgeted expenditures will not be required that were anticipated in the Adopted 1992-93 Budget. Also~ the City will have approximately $29,606 which can be used to offset 1992-93 expenditures as a result of increased SB 300 Grant Funds and the Countywide Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Program° If the Council agrees to reappropriate funds for those expenditures carried over to 1992-93 from the 1991-92 year end surplus, the City would need to address a short fall of $183,612. In addition to this 1992-93 shortfall, it appears that the economy is not improving and the State of California will be facing another budget deficit in June 1993~ which may once again impact cities. Mr. Ambrose explained the proposed action plan to balance the 1992-93 and 1993-94 Budgets. Staff recommended that the City Council prioritize City services and capital projects in order that the City has an orderly plan to reduce services, if this option is selected ~s a means to balance the Budgets. The next step would be for the Council to review the desirability of implementing operational changes CM - VOL 11 - 371 Adjourned Regular Meeting October 22, 1992 which will result in savings. Next the Council should review revenue enhancement options, and finally, review those one-time measures which can be taken to balance the Budget. Mr. Ambrose explained that this would probably be the first of two or more meetings dealing with the above listed items. Following discussion this evening, the Council will need to schedule another meeting at which time Staff will prepare a final report once the Council has finalized their rankings. The Council began to review the multi-page Summary of Departmental Services. Lou Ann Texeira, Assistant to the City Manager, presented the City Council Budget, and Personnel for both the City and DRFA. Kay Keck, City Clerk, presented the City Clerk's portion of the City Manager/City Clerk Budget. City Manager Ambrose and Assistant City ManagerRankin presented the City Manager Budget, Legal Services, Finance, Data Processing, Building Management, Insurance, Non- Departmental, Crossing Guards, Animal Control, Traffic Signals & Lighting, Disaster Preparedness, Public Works Administration, Paratransit Service, Waste Management, Community Television, Engineering, Economic Development. Acting Police Chief Lto Norm Gomes presented the Police Budget. Fire Chief Diekman presented the Fire Services Budget. Public Works Superintendent Steve Loweree presented the Street Tree and Landscape Maintenance and Sweeping Budgets, and Park Maintenance. Recreation Director Diane Lowart presented the Library Services, Cultural Activities, Heritage Center and Recreation Budgets. Larry Tong, Planning Director, presented the Planning Budget° Vic Taugher~ Building Official, presented the Building & Safety Budget. city Manager Ambrose then went over the Capital Projects Budgets for General, Community Improvements, Parks and Streets. Rayme Meyer, Branch Manager of the Dublin-Library, stated there were several students present who wished to speak related to Library services. Ms° Meyer reported that Library usage continues to go up° Michelle stated she attends Dublin High School and if she is given assignments to do the next day and she cannot have access to the Library, she would get an "F" in that project. A lot of people do not have enough money to get books at the book stores, and they therefore, use the Library. A lot of people will be disappointed if the hours are cut. The Library is practically the only place she can go and get together with friends, and it is certainly the cheapest. Anthony stated he is also a student at Dublin High School. He goes to the Library to relax and it relieves his stress. The Deputy County Librarian who is a resident of Dublin stated the City can be very proud of supporting its Library with the additional hours° The County is facing the same budget reductions, and she urged the City to continue to provide funding for additional hours. eM - VOL 11 - 37Z Adjourned Regular Meeting October 22, 1999- Ms. Meyer stated the only time they are open that the main branch is not is Thursday evenings. Circulation has increased in the last year over 23% on ThUrsday nights. Cm. Burton questioned if the County's hours could be shifted to perhaps close on a morning when the Library might be used less. Ms. Meyer discussed scheduling impacts. Cm. Jeffery questioned if it was likely that Alameda County will cut hours. Ms. Meyer stated they are not planning to cut hours this year, but they don't know what the State will do next year that may impact them. City Manager Ambrose asked if during the State's budget discussions, the Library looked at and considered any contingency plans such as a possible County Service Area for Library service. The Deputy County Librarian stated there is a group looking at every possible means of providing Library services. Mary Gibbert stated she hopes the City won't have to cut back hours, but if it has .to be done, she was sure it would be done in the best way possible. Lynne Baer with the Dublin Fine Arts Foundation advised that the City Council had received a letter from DFA President Ron Nahas. She stated she knew the Council is faced with difficult decisions. They hope that what they do in putting art in and around the community enhances the quality of life and that the City would be able to continue funding their programs. Dr. Zev Kahn stated the DFA has increasingly been built to its current level and if the City lets go at this point, it will be very difficult to rebuild. If they lose their level of funding, it would be near impossible to catch up in the future° Georgean Vonheeder, President of the Dublin Historical Preservation Association stated she felt that the Measure AA money is not part of the issue for the Heritage Center. This money was to acquire and renovate. They have been working very hard in the last 4 months to do cosmetic and repair work. The renovation work is badly needed. They have always felt that the estimate for the maintenance and operation on a long-term basis if far too high. If the building goes, it goes and will never be able to be brought back up to any acceptable level. This is all we have left of Dublin's history. Cm. Moffatt asked if some kind of foundation or community group could help maintain and provide docents and volunteers at the Heritage Center. CM - VOL 11 - 373 Adjourned Regular Meeting October 22, 1992 Ms. Vonheeder stated DHPA has always said they want to continue to be the docents and would be the ones to do the maintenance. They are just looking to the City to renovate the facility. Mr. Ambrose stated by taking Measure AA funds, this places some obligations on the City. It must be open and accessible to the public on a daily basis and must be maintained in a condition that doesn't create any hazards or liability to the City. Once the City acquires it, the City is responsible for the liability and hazardous exposure. Ms. Vonheeder stated she didn't feel there is a requirement that it must be accessible to the pUblic on a daily basis. Recreation Director Lowart advised that this is something that has been.discussed quite a bit. If we use Measure AA funds, a question has been raised as to whether an entity other than the City can operate it. It is Staff's interpretation that it cannot be' leased out to another non-profit foundation. Donna Miller Stated they give a number of tours to the school kids. They're very interested and it would be a shame to not have this available. An audience member discussed the mulching program and stated there is more to the program than just mulching trees. There is some net benefit to the City associated with the goodwill of doing a recycling program. The way they are approaching the problem, the pine oils have some value in terms of doing weed abatement. There's some fairly minimal costs associated with this, and they are asking for the City's support through MCE to provide them with some equipment and labor. They would need a feeder and an operator. That would be the extent, and they would actually do all the work. Thirty + parents will be involved this year. He didn't see another alternative plan. Rick Wendling suggested that something be added to the list and that was upper management cuts. Mayor Snyder advised that Mr. Wendling must have arrived at the meeting late, as personnel had already been discussed. Darla Stevens with CTV indicated that in 1984 franchises were signed by the 4 valley cities. Since 1988 when they got new equipment and launched the 580/680 News program, they have put the equipment to good use. Their job is to put local information on the air. Mayor Snyder suggested that the listing distributed by CTV of the previous months' schedule was of no interest to him, because it was after the fact. He would rather see what the programming is beforehand. They could save money on copy costs by eliminating distribution of this document. Cm. Burton stated he has noticed that CTV is starting to do more than just local programming. nl [] [] · I · · I I I · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · [] · n CM- VOL 11 - 374 Adjourne4 Regular Meeting October 22, 1992 It was pointed out that the programs they produce themselves are local in nature, but they get tapes to run which may not necessarily be local. Cm. Burton stated in trying to rank the services, he approached it from a slightly different angle than the other Councilmembers. He felt that every service could be reduced somewhat, and that reduCtions would be considered right across the board. He questioned if a 5%, 10% or 15% cut for some of the recreation programs would be realistic. Ms. Lowart advised that they recover about 46% of their costs overall. Mary Gibbert stated during the week of October 12-16, seniors were asked to review how reductions would impact senior services. She read a number of the responses and stated she hoped cuts would not have to be made which would greatly impact seniors. Dan Downey stated he concurred with Ms. Gibbert. People in Dublin are very pround of the Senior Center. An unidentified lady in the audience stated she is the parent of 2 children and provides daycare for 6 children. She supports the afterschool program. If this is cut, the communitY will have to pay in other areas if kids are left alone. An unidentified lady in the audience stated she has 3 children in the afterschool program at Nielsen School. This. is an excellent program and if hours are cut, there will be a lot of kids at home alone. Barbara Dailey stated she has 4 daughters and if the afterschool program is not offered, she would be out on a limb. She is a single parent and cannot afford daycare. This program is a Godsend and her kids benefit greatly. An unidentified audience member stated the second most expensive sport is the swim program and those in the program appreciate 2/3 of the bill that is picked up by the City. A lot of kids want to continue in this program. A petition of support for this program was given to Cindy Cobb-Adams who is on the School Board at their meeting the previous night. RECESS A short recess was called. Ail Councilmembers were present when the meeting reconvened. Carolyn Morgan stated with regard to the LAFCO issue, if Dublin pulls back, thousands of dollars would be saved. The fight against residents who don't want to be annexed will cost a lot of money and Dublin should just let the land sit there for 30 or 40 years. Dublin should take East Dublin in smaller bites to decrease impacts in the future. CM - VOL 11 - 375 Adjourned Regular Meeting October ZZ, 1992 Mr. Ambrose stated information contained in and quoted by Ms. Morgan in the fiscal impact report is out of date. Cm. Burton stated while he realized the Council couldn't fully discuss it at this time, he questioned what kind of influence the City has with regard to how the Dublin San Ramon Services District operates and how they staff. The City is their biggest customer, and their overhead seems outrageous. Could we look at other options such as providing it ourselves? Mr. Ambrose advised that the City Council might be interested in looking at taking over water services. When this was reviewed in the mid-1980's, their overhead was a lot lower. DSRSD had 4 1/2 people in the finance department and they provided fire, park and recreation services. Their service .area has not grown any since then. They now provide only water and sewer and have 14.4 people doing the same job. Because they operate from an enterprise fund, they pass that on as the cost of doing business, and it gets directly cranked into the rates. The question would be whether we could pull just the water service away, and do it more cost effectively. There seems to be no control over what they are doing over there, and the community might be interested in looking at this. Cm~ Burton stated this is certainly a controversial subject. Mayor Snyder advised that there was an interPretationby members of the DSRSD Board that there was a gentlemen's agreement when the study was completed that the City would not pursue taking over other services for 5 years. This happened when the City took over Fire Services and the parks and recreation areas. Cm. Jeffery pointed out that the 5 years is almost up. Cm. Burton questioned if State Law would allow us to do this. Mayor Snyder stated there is a process that we would have to go through. Mr. Ambrose indicated there would be some fairly difficult legal obstacles that would have to be overcome because the District serves communities across a County line. They are constituted under the Community Services Act of State Law. This was one of the main issues raised last time; trying to untangle ito The .District is being very aggressive toWard trying to supply water service to the Dougherty Valley. Cmo Burton stated he was told way back at the time prior to incorporation by the District's Financial Officer that the City should try to get water services, because it is a real money maker. Cm. Jeffery stated with regard to delaying street projects, we should be very careful, because of potential costs if we let them go. CM - VOL 11 - 376 Adjourned Regular Meeting October 22, 1992 Cm. Burton thought there might be some way to defer maintenance somewhat on streets that are not as heavily traveled. Bob Fasulkey suggested that the City should take advantage of the opportunity to use volunteer work by the people living in the area of the Topaz Circle Landscaping assessment district project and also to correct the oversite of the developer money being deferred to the Kolb Park tennis courts. Mr. Loweree stated standard levels of service have been used in treating these areas. Mr. Fasulkey advised that the homeowners have voluntarily contributed $7,000 to this area and there is a window of opportunity to accomplish a very much needed project at a minimal cost. The Council reviewed and revised their rankings where appropriate and presented the final rankings to Mr. Ambrose° The CoUncil established a special meeting date of Thursday, November 5, 1992, 7:00 p.m., for consideration of cost savings associated with lower priority services and projects, operational savings options, revenue enhancement options, and one-time savings options. Mayor Snyder stated this date would be subject to Staff having enough time to cost out the lower priority services and projects. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 12:25 a.m. ATTEST: [] [] [] [] I ~ [] In [] n Il I [] · [] · · · [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ! ! [] [] [] [] [] [] I Adjourned Regular Meeting October 22~ 1992