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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-10-19 City Schools Liaison Committee Summary Minutes City/School Liaison Committee Meeting Page 1 SCHOOL/CITY LIAISON COMMITTEE PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT CITY OF PALO ALTO DATE: October 19, 2017 MINUTES FOR MEETING OF October 19, 2017 Opening The School/City Committee held a special meeting in the District Conference Room A at 25 Churchill Ave, Palo Alto. The meeting was called to order at 8:09 a.m. * All handouts can be viewed in the Business Services Office 25 Churchill Ave. Palo Alto Unified School District Representatives: Melissa Baten Caswell, Board Member, Committee Chair Ken Dauber, Board Member Cathy Mak, Chief Business Officer (Absent) City of Palo Alto Representatives: Liz Kniss, Council Member Eric Filseth, Council Member Rob de Geus, Community Services Director Oral Communications No requests were made to address the Committee. Approval of Minutes – August 17, 2017 & September 21, 2017 MOTION: The August 17, 2017, and September 21, 2017, meeting minutes were approved. Review of Recent City Council/PAUSD Board Meetings City: Filseth reported Council approved the tobacco ordinance. Another item discussed that is returning to the Council agenda is speed limits in town in proximity to schools. They discussed whether they should lower the speed limit near schools and would it extend to private schools. There will be changes to Palo Alto fire services; they are cutting positions and so forth. The issue is a combination of escalating costs in fire services and the renegotiation of the Stanford fire services contract. They are rebalancing between fire engine staff and ambulance staff because of the shift of service calls. This also happened because there are so many more people here in the daytime and less at night so they are adjusting staffing so there is less staff at night and twice as much during the day. The objective is to keep services the same. Caswell asked if they are expecting an influx of people needing housing due to the North Bay fires. Kniss mentioned she will reach out to a supervisor in that area to get an idea what they should expect. Filseth reported Council received a presentation on Monday from the County Planning Director on the Stanford General Use Permit (GUP) and most of the discussion was about Stanford’s commitment to the academic boundary. Council did ask Stanford how many more people they anticipate with the GUP extension. Their plan is another 1800 post-ops and faculty, 200 other staff, 1200 undergrads, 1700 grad students so about 9000 net people in total, of which some are part-time. They plan on building 550 units. A footnote in the report indicates that Stanford will build more housing, if needed. Council asked where this housing would be but Stanford does not know but it will be subject to the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The City is also looking at grade crossing options at Charleston Road, Meadow, Churchill Avenue, and Alma Street. The plan is to have a universe of options to pick from to filter down and study in more detail. The major ones will involve whether they do entrenching or they do an individual overpass or underpass. There a lot of challenges due to the train. They had a very detailed presentation from a consultant that oversaw the San Gabriel trench and it was very interesting. It is City/School Liaison Committee Meeting Page 2 MINUTES FOR MEETING OF October 19, 2017 doable and very complicated. Caswell asked about the timeline. Filseth said after filtering down the options, they should know more by the end of next year. Caswell asked if there is a committee for this and should someone from District staff be a part of it. Filseth said there is a Technical Committee. De Geus believes there is already someone from the District on that committee. Caswell asked if they could be informed who they are. Kniss pointed out there are two set of meetings: the committee meetings and the everyday meetings. The Rail Committee meets every three weeks. Caswell asked for the meeting schedules to be sent to the School-City Liaison Committee. Filseth mentioned they are also looking at how the funds from Measure B should be spent. Filseth reported Council directed the City Financing Department to look into the pension program. Essentially, the root problem is the difference between what Calpers projects on their invested returns, compared to what they actually receive. Caswell mentioned the State made an adjustment in their required contribution in order to bring that up and the projection on when they will break even is out beyond ten years. Filseth pointed out that when interest rates went up, Calpers followed it up, but when interest rates went back down, Calpers stayed where they were so they were projecting a return of 8%. The question is what Calpers is realistically going to make. The City believes it should be 6.2%. They asked staff to come back to Council in November or December with two different scenarios. One is the Calpers forecast and the other scenario will be 6.2% forecast. There might be a third scenario that will come from Stanford. District: Dauber reported they have a new Interim Superintendent Karen Hendricks. At the last Board meeting they discussed renovations at Hoover, Walter Hays, Escondido, and El Carmelo elementary schools and the discussion will continue at their next Board meeting. Caswell added the Board had asked the Facilities team to come back with the multi-purpose room expansions at the schools. They also gave Hendricks direction to reduce the number of goals for the year so the new list will be shorter. Dauber believes that is also on the next Board agenda. Caswell reported they are starting their superintendent search and there will be community meetings for their input. Discussion Regarding Shared Use of Playing Fields, Playground Space, Gyms, and Facilities (bus parking) The City’s Superintendent of Recreation Stephanie Douglas presented on the following slides: -Background -Current Shared Space -Agreement -Maintenance Expenses (City 50%/District 50%) -Revenue -Fee Schedule Caswell asked if the City is aware of the upcoming construction for the JLS pool. Douglas said yes. Kniss asked about the variation in numbers for water usage over the years. Douglas said her understanding is there was less water usage. De Geus added that during the drought there was a 35% reduction in water. Kniss pointed out the jump in numbers is extreme. Caswell mentioned water prices went up and there might have been some construction projects that contributed to the increase. Caswell asked how this program is working. De Geus said it is working well and it is an important partnership between the City and District. It is important to take care of the fields and make them available to the community. There is opportunity to do more and improve. They do not have access to the high school fields or pools and would like to in the future. The JLS pool represents a potential opportunity and it is a pool they rent every year but it is next to Mitchell Park so if they could think more creatively about the renovation to have more community access throughout the year, he would City/School Liaison Committee Meeting Page 3 MINUTES FOR MEETING OF October 19, 2017 be interested in having that conversation. The City just passed the Parks, Trails, Open Space, and Recreation Master Plan. Caswell asked for a copy to be distributed. De Geus added there is a part on goals that discusses partnering more with the District and Stanford on shared use space. City Assistant Director of Community Services Kristen O’Kane pointed out they are about to start their next maintenance agreement as the current agreement will expire at the end of this year. They are in the process of approving and looking at improving the agreement. It is important to consider opportunities for shared use space on both the City and District side. Caswell pointed out the presentation mentioned non-profit organizations using the fields but is the City summer program not one of the major uses of this use shared agreement. De Geus said yes, they use almost every park for summer programs and the elementary school fields. The City does not have access to any gym space so they are fortunate to have the Cubberley Center. The City does not own any community gymnasiums so it is a challenge and this is another area they can work on to bring some additional programs not just for youth but also for adults. Caswell asked if they do not have access to the gyms during the summer. De Geus said they might have access to Terman Middle School. The District’s Maintenance Manager Ron Ellis said as they look to expand opportunities, they have to keep in mind the District is preventative maintenance mode due to the aging facilities. They need the access to these facilities during the summer to take care of basic maintenance so they can be ready for the start of school. This is part of what is happening with the pools, they were not given enough time for proper maintenance and as a consequence they are running into emergency issues. The middle school gyms are rented out for summer uses by the District. Filseth asked if the fields are mostly taken up. De Geus said yes. O’Kane mentioned the master plan also mentioned a need for after school intermural sports for kids. This is something they would like to partner on. Caswell said this is something they can explore. She believes there have been some experiments with this and they have not been highly successful but that does not mean they cannot discuss it. Dauber asked if they have a venue for having these conversations. Caswell believes the high schools are having these discussions. O’Kane mentioned it is more ad hoc. Ellis added they do try to have these discussions during their District and City meetings. Caswell stated it seems they should be having these discussions with the high school principals. De Geus said they do not have a structured process to advance some of these programs. Dauber said perhaps Hendricks can communicate with City Manager James Keene and let him know this issue was brought up and they can work together to figure out how to staff this. Caswell and Dauber will mention it at the Board operations. Caswell added that this should not keep them from reaching out to site council to discuss further. Kniss asked who controls the Page Mill Road soccer fields. De Geus said the City does. Caswell said they are well used by AYSO. Future Meetings and Agendas The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 16, 2017. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 a.m.