HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-11-13 City Council Summary Minutes
Regular Meeting November 13, 2000
1. Resolution 8006 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the
City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Robert Peterson for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Architectural Review Board”.................................111
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS..............................................111
APPROVAL OF MINUTES..............................................111
2. Proposed Revised Fiber to the Home Project – Refer to Finance Committee...........................................113
3. Resolution 8007 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Approving the Execution of a Contract For Electric Service Base Resource 00-SNR-00336 with the United
States Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration”.............................................113
4. Resolution 8008 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Utility Rate Schedule E-16 Pertaining to Unmetered Electric Service”...................113
5. Resolution 8009 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Sections 302 and 403 of the Merit System Rules and Regulations Regarding Nepotism”......113
6. Resolution 8010 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Section 1801 of the Merit System
Rules and Regulations Regarding the Memorandum of Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Fire
Chief’s Association”........................................113
7. Resolution 8012 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Declaring Weeds to be a Nuisance and
Setting a Public Hearing for Objections to Their Proposed Destruction or Removal”.....................................113
8. Resolution 8013 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Authorizing the City Manager or his Designee to Submit to the California Coastal Commission a
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Grant Application for Funds Which the City Intends to Expend on Educational Exhibits at the Lucy Evans Baylands
Nature Interpretive Center”.................................113
9. Resolution 8014 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Establishing Parking Spaces for the Use by Electric Vehicles Only at City Parking Facilities and Authorizing Towing of all Other Vehicles from Such Spaces”..113
10. Ordinance 4663 entitled “Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000-01 Adding a 2.5 Full-Time Equivalent Positions in the
Planning Department for the Zoning Ordinance Update”........114
11. Ordinance 4664 entitled “Ordinance of the Council of the
City Of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000-01 to Provide an Additional Appropriation For CIP 10020, Office Space Renovation Project in the Amount of $156,000 and to Approve a Transfer of Equal Amount from the Electric Fund Public Benefit Program”.......................114
12. Contract Between the City of Palo Alto and Suk Yong Choe, DBA C-Way Custodian Service in the Amount of $323,400 Per Year to Provide Custodial Services at the Listed City Facilities..................................................114
13. Request for Authorization to Increase the Amount of the
Existing Contract for Legal Services with the Law Firm of Richards Watson & Gershon...................................114
14. Contract Between the City of Palo Alto and United Design Services in the Amount of $195,000 for Three Years for Providing Engineering Drafting Services.....................114
15. Contract Between the City of Palo Alto and Burns & McDonnell for Engineering and Inspection Services as the
Amount of $195,000 for Three Years for Utility Pole Attachments Design and Construction.........................114
16. Request for Authority to Participate as Amicus Curiae in
the United States Supreme Court in Lim v. City of Long Beach (9th Circuit Court of Appeals) ........................114
17. Rejection of Bids for the Avenidas Roof Replacement Project, Capital Improvement Project 10006..................114
18. Revision to Change Order No. 2 to Contract No. C0121253 Between the City of Palo Alto and Monterey Mechanical Company to Amend the Change Order Amount from $220,000 to
$315,000....................................................115
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AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS.........................115
18A. (Old Item No. 22) Summary of Results of Public Forum for
Infrastructure..............................................115
18B. (Old Item No. 23) Update on Search for New Community Center.121
19. The Utilities Advisory Commission Recommendation for Approval of the Utilities Strategic Plan, and Direction to City Manager for Staff to Return with an Implementation
Plan........................................................126
20. The Utilities Advisory Commission Recommendation for approval of the Operations Plan for the continued
development and growth of the Dark Fiber Leasing Program and the Concept of the Fiber to the Home Approval Process...133
21. Ordinance of the Council Of The City Of Palo Alto Amending Section 10.60.010 and Adding Chapter 10.47 to the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Permit the City Manager to Designate “No Large Vehicle Parking Zones.................................146
24. Vice Mayor Eakins, Chair, CAO Personnel Committee, Council
Members Beecham and Burch re Discussion of Interim City Auditor and Request for Authority to Negotiate a Contract with an Interim City Auditor................................148
25. Council Comments, Questions, and Announcements..............148
ADJOURNMENT......................................................149
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The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers at 7:10 p.m.
PRESENT: Beecham, Burch, Eakins, Fazzino, Kleinberg, Kniss, Lytle, Mossar, Ojakian SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY
1. Resolution 8006 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Robert
Peterson for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Architectural Review Board”
MOTION: Vice Mayor Eakins moved, seconded by Mossar, to adopt
the Resolution. MOTION PASSED 9-0.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Ben Bailey, 600 Homer Avenue, spoke regarding the big swallow-of-beer jury trial caper of Paddy’s Piddlecops.
Tom Jordan, 474 Churchill Avenue, spoke regarding the Stanford
General Use Permit (GUP) and Community Plan. T.J. Watt, homeless, spoke regarding current events and people
affecting the City of Palo Alto.
Roxy Rapp, P.O. Box 1672, spoke regarding 800 High Street. Sophia Dhrymes, 483 Hawthorne Avenue, spoke regarding democracy
and vandalism.
Ed Power, 2254 Dartmouth Street, spoke regarding politics. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Council Member Mossar said requested the City Clerk review the
Council minutes of September 18 and October 10, 2000, for clarification. BY A CONSENSUS OF THE COUNCIL the Council Minutes of September
18, and October 10, 2000, will be reviewed by the City Clerk and
brought back to the Council. CONSENT CALENDAR Council Member Mossar said the staff report (CMR:389:00)
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referred to the additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to handle the zoning ordinance update as temporary positions for
two years under Item No. 10. A method of tracking “temporary” staff increases was requested. City Manager Frank Benest said staff would add a budget footnote to the Table of Organization in the budget document, which would
be reviewed at the end of the 2001-03 budget cycle to reflect the deletion of the positions through attrition. Other vacant positions would not be filled until staffing levels were back to
normal.
Council Member Lytle understood the nepotism policy was being amended for all employees as referenced in the staff report (CMR:406:00) under Item No. 6, Mr. Benest said staff was developing a nepotism policy that was
consistent for all the different units and departments in the organization, based on an arbitration decision, which indicated that the City rule for the Fire Department was inappropriate in terms of nepotism. The older standard was then reestablished. In the face of the tight labor market and promoting workforce
diversity, the prior consistent policy was appropriate for all the units. Safeguards were also in place to prevent any
favoritism in hiring or promotions. Council Member Lytle understood family members were not allowed
to hire, promote, fire, or be involved in personnel actions, but asked whether it possible for a husband and wife, mother and
daughter, father and son, to work in the same division and section on the same project.
Mr. Benest said yes. In addition, as part of any hiring action, a relative could not supervise another relative. However, two
relatives could be in the same department or division. Council Member Lytle asked how the other members of the team sorted through what might be misinterpreted as “family issues” among the family members versus work-related issues.
Mr. Benest said everyone brought issues into the office place, including family issues. All the executive and employee groups
felt the consistent standard was appropriate for all divisions in the City.
Council Member Kleinberg requested that in the future when the Council received an exhibit that started, “not withstanding section 301,” that staff include section 301.
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Mr. Benest agreed. MOTION: Council Member Fazzino moved, seconded by Ojakian, to approve Consent Calendar Item Nos. 2 – 18. 2. Proposed Revised Fiber to the Home Project – Refer to Finance Committee
3. Resolution 8007 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Approving the Execution of a Contract For
Electric Service Base Resource 00-SNR-00336 with the United States Department of Energy, Western Area Power
Administration”
4. Resolution 8008 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Utility Rate Schedule E-16 Pertaining to Unmetered Electric Service” 5. Resolution 8009 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the
City of Palo Alto Amending Sections 302 and 403 of the Merit System Rules and Regulations Regarding Nepotism”
6. Resolution 8010 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Section 1801 of the Merit System
Rules and Regulations Regarding the Memorandum of Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Fire Chief’s Association” Resolution 8011 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the
City of Palo Alto Adopting a Compensation Plan for Palo Alto Fire Chiefs' Association Management Personnel and Rescinding Resolution Nos. 7848, 7900 and 7965”
7. Resolution 8012 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the
City of Palo Alto Declaring Weeds to be a Nuisance and Setting a Public Hearing for Objections to Their Proposed Destruction or Removal”
8. Resolution 8013 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the
City of Palo Alto Authorizing the City Manager or his Designee to Submit to the California Coastal Commission a Grant Application for Funds Which the City Intends to
Expend on Educational Exhibits at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center” 9. Resolution 8014 entitled “Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Establishing Parking Spaces for the Use by Electric Vehicles Only at City Parking Facilities and Authorizing Towing of all Other Vehicles from Such Spaces”
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10. Ordinance 4663 entitled “Ordinance of the Council of the
City of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000-01 Adding a 2.5 Full-Time Equivalent Positions in the Planning Department for the Zoning Ordinance Update” 11. Ordinance 4664 entitled “Ordinance of the Council of the
City Of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000-01 to Provide an Additional Appropriation For CIP 10020, Office Space Renovation Project in the Amount of
$156,000 and to Approve a Transfer of Equal Amount from the Electric Fund Public Benefit Program”
Ordinance 4665 entitled “Ordinance of the Council of the City Of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000-01 to Provide an Additional Appropriation for CIP 10020, Office Space Renovation Project in the Amount of
$255,000”
12. Contract Between the City of Palo Alto and Suk Yong Choe, DBA C-Way Custodian Service in the Amount of $323,400 Per Year to Provide Custodial Services at the Listed City
Facilities
13. Request for Authorization to Increase the Amount of the Existing Contract for Legal Services with the Law Firm of Richards Watson & Gershon
Request for Authorization to Increase the Amount of the
Existing Contract for Legal Services with the Law Firm of Littler & Mendelson
14. Contract Between the City of Palo Alto and United Design Services in the Amount of $195,000 for Three Years for
Providing Engineering Drafting Services 15. Contract Between the City of Palo Alto and Burns & McDonnell for Engineering and Inspection Services as the Amount of $195,000 for Three Years for Utility Pole
Attachments Design and Construction
16. Request for Authority to Participate as Amicus Curiae in
the United States Supreme Court in Lim v. City of Long Beach (9th Circuit Court of Appeals)
17. Rejection of Bids for the Avenidas Roof Replacement Project, Capital Improvement Project 10006 18. Revision to Change Order No. 2 to Contract No. C0121253
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Between the City of Palo Alto and Monterey Mechanical Company to Amend the Change Order Amount from $220,000 to
$315,000 MOTION PASSED 9-0 for Item Nos. 2 – 4 and 7 – 18. MOTION PASSED 8-1 for Item Nos. 5 and 6, Lytle “no.”
AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS
City Manager Frank Benest announced that Item Nos. 22 and 23 would be moved forward ahead of Item No. 19 to become Item Nos.
18A and 18B. REPORTS OF OFFICIALS 18A. (Old Item No. 22) Summary of Results of Public Forum for
Infrastructure City Manager Frank Benest said in the aftermath of the recent defeat of the storm drain fee, the Mayor and Council conducted a community forum on the City’s infrastructure on October 30,
2000, for the purpose of soliciting citizen input on infrastructure needs and funding. Approximately 150 people
attended the forum. Participants were each given a card consisting of three questions The first question was, “What are your priorities in infrastructure and public facilities?” More
than half the participants indicated a desire to take care of the basics with better maintenance of streets, sewers, storm
drains, and equipment related to emergency services. Strong support was voiced for libraries, the Art Center, and the Junior Museum and Zoo. A number of people supported the need to
enhance technology and telecommunications, especially Fiber to the Home (FTTH). Other priorities included flood control
projects, traffic calming, parks and open space improvements, shuttle service, a new police building, a proposed performing arts center, and affordable housing for police officers and firefighters. The second question was “To make informed choices, what kind of information do you need from the City?”
For infrastructure projects, people wanted to know the details of the projects, including the cost, benefits, timelines, cost of inaction, and alternatives to any City proposals. People were
also interested in the City’s budget. Citizens wanted to know in an understandable form where dollars came and went. People were
also interested in the cost of services in Palo Alto versus other nearby cities, the level of staffing, and the use of consultants. Residents wanted information about City finances for projects, directly from the City as well as second-hand information from newspapers. The third questions was “What else
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would you like to tell the City as we prepare to engage Palo Alto citizens in the infrastructure challenge?” Some citizens
urged the City to explore creative financing options, establish partnerships with businesses, and mobilize residents with particular interests to help fund special projects. In terms of follow-up to the forum, staff planned to host a number of community dialogues on budget and infrastructure needs in
January and February throughout Palo Alto. Several special meetings with the Chamber of Commerce and service clubs would also be held. In addition to community and special meetings,
staff planned to conduct five family room dialogues hosted by residents in their homes. The meetings would bring together
neighbors to informally discuss City finances and priorities in the community. The first issue of the new community newsletter, due in January 2001, would focus on infrastructure and budget issues. To facilitate community discussion on budget issues, the Administrative Services Department (ASD) would produce a “budget
primer” to summarize revenue sources and expenditures and analyze how money was spent. A web site and video related to infrastructure was in the process of development. Finally, an infrastructure fair was planned at the Municipal Services Center (MSC) to educate the public “hands-on” about City
infrastructure. As a result of the outreach, citizen themes from the dialogues and other efforts would be used to drive the
upcoming budget process and the infrastructure priorities. The Finance Committee would begin considering the budget in the spring, with the final budget proposal to the Council in June
2001. The purpose of the outreach and citizen engagement was to identify broad themes that drove budget decision making and
infrastructure priorities. The City Manager’s report was mailed to everyone who gave staff e-mail addresses or mailing addresses. In addition, staff was willing to work with anyone
who wanted to hold a family room dialogue.
Mayor Kniss asked whether any of the 150 people present at the forum expressed interest in sponsoring a family room dialogue. Mr. Benest said a number of people were interested in hosting a family room dialogue, either in their home or at a local church
or school. The key was people inviting neighbors, family members, or co-workers in an informal setting.
Council Member Ojakian said during the past several years, the City worked on the infrastructure in setting policies, putting
out reports to examine the existing infrastructure, and identifying the funding. Many people at the forum were unclear about those issues.
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City Manager Benest said staff was working to get the message out to the public. During the following two months, staff needed
to develop the “budget primer” and make sure the budget information was more understandable. Many people were unaware of the amount of infrastructure in the City. Council Member Ojakian wanted to be sure there was a clear
distinction between existing infrastructure and new infrastructure.
Mr. Benest said much of the basic infrastructure was invisible and not easily seen by the community, while other infrastructure
was quite visible. The question was how to communicate to residents about the infrastructure, via the web site and other ongoing communications in public facilities. Staff worked on “branding,” for instance logo or other graphics that marked the City’s infrastructure to delineate it from a telecom company
tearing up the street. If the public did not see the City’s “brand,” staff hoped the public would know City work was not being done. Council Member Fazzino commended the City Manager and staff for
the forum, which was well presented. Regardless of what was done with respect to a primer or how much the public was
educated, people would not get stirred up or engaged until they were facing a choice that impacted their daily lives. It was extremely important, after working through the primmer process
that, when the Finance Committee was in the process of making decisions with respect to the budget the following year, staff
alert the public as to the policy options. The community needed to understand how critical that juncture was for many policy decisions facing the City. It was frustrating when the only time
the standing committees drew an audience was when a contractual issue affected a group. Staff was encouraged to prepare the
public for the policy issues going before the Finance Committee. Before staff went to the public on any issue, no matter how small or oriented to streamlining, it was essential that a citizens group led the effort. Going to the public with a set of issues was important.
Council Member Lytle said future long-range infrastructure financing would not be possible for the massive capital
renovations needed for the libraries, community centers, and other civic facilities without an additional revenue source. It
would not be possible to do a Measure A and Measure B like San Jose in their last election without a citizens group to sponsor the initiatives. A window of opportunity in the healthy economy might be lost in which such questions could be asked of the voters. It was frustrating that San Jose, who started later
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than Palo Alto’s Library Advisory Commission, had already passed their measure with an overwhelming vote of the community. She
asked how a bond measure fit into staff’s outreach process or some kind of financing to obtain voter approval to move ahead with infrastructure upgrades for libraries and public amenities. Also, she asked where some of the other ideas raised by Council Members over the past several months regarding citizen
involvement fell into staff’s vision of the outreach communication and budgeting process.
Mr. Benest said the effort in anticipation of the 2001-03 budget was the first phase of reaching out to the community. Although
the budget process, infrastructure priorities, and long-range financial plan were public, it was important to engage people in friendly, neighborhood settings so people felt a sense of comfort with the City’s finances. If the public did not have a sense of comfort, the issues would become part of the 2001-03
budget process. Only after that occurred would staff begin to examine a second or third phase, in anticipation of further funding for the additional basics. It was frustrating for staff that other cities moved ahead while Palo Alto did not. Slowing down and engaging people in the most fundamental issue of City
finances and basic priorities was essential.
Council Member Lytle wanted a process chart and timeline for how staff would eventually deal with the long-range financing questions that the library advocacy groups worked on for many
years. She asked whether there was a way to map the process to show how staff would involve the citizenry and how launch the
initiatives. Mr. Benest said staff needed to get involved in the meetings as
a first priority to see what would happen. At some point, the City wanted to raise more money to reinvest in the public
facilities that needed upgrades. Mayor Kniss thought Council Member Lytle wanted staff to provide the Council with a more definitive guide map.
Council Member Lytle said the Council needed some kind of structure into which the process could be folded showing when various stages would be addressed. The Citizens Advisory
Committee (CAC) recommendation the Mayor made, the auditor’s recruitment, and other pieces needed to be fit together. The
City needed to address some of the questions raised by the community, such as how the answers would come and where the community could become involved which were important in identifying the public participation aspects. She suggested a study session.
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Mayor Kniss asked the City Manager to return to the Council with
a more definitive timeline, The Council could offer some ideas. Council Member Lytle’s suggestion about bringing in a CAC was encouraged. Vice Mayor Eakins asked whether City staff would be spray
painting on the pavement along with the branding. Mr. Benest said staff had not made a decision but was open to
suggestions.
Vice Mayor Eakins said spray painting on the pavement eventually became familiar. Mr. Benest suggested signage.
Vice Mayor Eakins said the public needed a glossary describing who was putting the signs that preceded the trenches on the streets. At the forum on infrastructure, one of the criticisms was the constant digging up of the street, fixing the street, and digging it up again the following day.
Council Member Kleinberg thought the forum turned out better
than expected. The acceptance and implementation of her suggestions for the budget primer and newsletter were appreciated. However, the newsletter would be more beneficial
if placed on-line to facilitate “chatting” with the public. The numbers of people who came out to speak should not be confused
with prioritization. Groups came out with planned speeches. The sense of the City Manager’s notes should not reflect improperly on the groups that did not “stage” a presentation.
Mr. Benest said one of the profound aspects of the forum and the
participants was the array of interests. His priority about libraries, the golf course, FTTH, or the Junior Museum was not shared by everyone. The notions were not shared uniformly in the community.
Council Member Kleinberg said public’s interests and passions were interesting. It was harder for the City to create a sense of community as days and years went on in the sense of pulling
together for the “common good” and having a sense of shared interests in the enhancement of lifestyle for everyone, whether
library, golf, or airport. As the City went to the family room meetings and put things in the newsletter and spoke with the community, she wanted to inspire the community to examine how to share in the enjoyment that others had in something they did not particularly enjoy. The number of people who spoke about the
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schools asking for monetary expenditures was confusing. Many seemed to be confused about “which pocket was paying for what.”
Educating the public about what the City did and did not fund for would be helpful, particularly where lines overlapped. Many people did not understand the extent to which the City helped the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) in terms of financial support.
Mr. Benest said that information would be part of the primer because a key revenue source of $7 million was the Utility Users
Tax (UUT), most of which the City supported for the PAUSD.
Council Member Kleinberg said the second question in the staff report (CMR:415:00) on page 2 asked, “To make informed choices, what kind of information do you need from the City?” The responses were placed in three categories, but she suggested two “bookends,” of history and a future wish list. The history of
how the City got where it was, was important. Knowing why decisions were made helped the public to be more educated. The wish list aspect went with Council Member Lytle’s comment regarding how some of the decisions were made; for example, how the City decided to carve out money for open space preservation,
to purchase the Bressler property, or on housing for City workers or teachers.
Council Member Mossar thought two things were going on at the same time. One dealt with the existing infrastructure and the
other was new ideas for new infrastructure, or the wish list. On the existing side, the City needed to clearly address the
plans and ideas for funding. A number of things were available in the larger environment, for example, telephone taxes and the new state sales tax cut, both of which pertained to the City’s
ability and flexibility to maintain existing infrastructure. On the new infrastructure side, the decisions could not be
“piecemeal.” Not every Palo Alto resident had the funds to pay for what each group wanted, even though the ideas were reasonable. To that end, staff needed to prioritize and give the community a mechanism by which to choose between the projects.
Mr. Benest said Council Member Mossar’s suggestion would be best addressed after the City wrapped up of the 2001-03 budget. Some of the ideas on freeing up dollars for the infrastructure
reserve and investing more money would be used. People would then have a sense about what was being done. Staff could then
ascertain the public’s preferences. Council Member Mossar said the amount of money added to a property tax bill could change a person’s decision about what they wanted. Good ideas were easy to generate and discuss.
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Mr. Benest suggested dealing with the issue after the first
phase. Council Member Lytle struggled with the issue, but agreed with Council Member Mossar’s comments regarding the need to find the community’s priorities. What was common in the community for
Palo Alto was difficult because other cities had achieved the point what was common in their communities. Council Member Fazzino thought Palo Alto citizens were too well educated, too
politically opinionated, too politically sophisticated, and there were too many experts. Palo Alto was a difficult
community in which to build consensus. Involving the public from the start on the initiatives was essential, so it was not perceived as a staff or Council-driven exercise. The successful initiatives in Palo Alto during the past 50 years were driven by citizen groups as opposed to staff or the Council.
Mayor Kniss said when the community could see with clarity what a difference infrastructure made, it was easier to support. Citizen involvement was crucial. She suggested creating an infrastructure commission.
Mr. Benest said part of the outreach effort was to find people
who wanted to be involved. Vice Mayor Eakins said the issues were that residents had
opinions and good questions, which she hoped would be captured in the process.
Mr. Benest said the real challenge for the community was to move from being critics to being active.
Council Member Burch expressed an interest in being involved in
as many community meetings as possible. No action required. 18B. (Old Item No. 23) Update on Search for New Community Center
City Manager Frank Benest said the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) wanted to reacquire the Terman site as the
third middle school because of increasing enrollment. The PAUSD’s reacquisition of Terman displaced the City’s Community
Center, including the Jewish Community Center (JCC). The loss of Terman as a Community Center was only the first among many losses the City would face. As the PAUSD acquired other school sites that the City currently leased or owned, the community would suffer the loss of space for other nonprofit agencies that
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provided key health and human services for Palo Alto residents. As the PAUSD took Terman back, the City sought another site for
a community center. The JCC was a long-term tenant at Terman and would be relocated to a new City community center site as an anchor tenant. The JCC was a non-sectarian, United Way agency that provided important health and human services to the Palo Alto community like the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
or Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and other United Way agencies. In the long search for a new Community Center site, Stanford University offered to provide a site at the
corner of Page Mill Road and El Camino Real. The six-acre parcel was known as the Old Mayfield School site and would be
provided to the City at a cost of $1 a year for 51 years. While the offer of the Mayfield site was contingent upon a number of issues, including a satisfactory conclusion to Stanford’s ten-year General Use Permit (GUP). It was assumed that the City would secure that site and, consequently, the City began to move
forward on a number of fronts. First, staff began to conduct an environmental analysis, including traffic studies, and established tours of other premier community centers in the western United States. The ability to build a community center from scratch on a prime piece of property was an extraordinary
opportunity. Staff was analyzing a number of uses for the site and beginning to develop a service plan for the community
center. Staff considered other sites either as a back up plan if Mayfield fell through or as sites for other community services and nonprofit organizations. The Mayfield site was not free. As
an anchor tenant, the JCC had to raise millions of dollars to design and construct its own part of the larger community
center. The City faced a number of significant costs. An environmental analysis would have to be conducted, including traffic studies, ground water contamination mitigation, site
planning for the parcel, mitigating traffic, and building structure parking. The City would spend money for dedicated City
recreation and community service space. For instance, if the City were to design and construct 25,000 square feet of dedicated City space for recreation and community services, the cost could range from $5 to $7.5 million. Given the costs, the City sought “just compensation” for the Terman site. The
proceeds from the sale of Terman would help pay for the costs of the new community center. Staff worked well with the PAUSD, the JCC, and Stanford in ongoing meetings and was encouraged by the
progress being made.
Council Member Mossar thought the public was confused about the “City Budget 101” process, choosing priorities, etc., because it was moving forward on a project that was not inexpensive. Projects such as the Mayfield site should be discussed in the larger context so the public was clear. The perception was that
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the City moved forward with the Mayfield project at the expense of fixing storm drains. Staff was encouraged to put together a
clear explanation. Mr. Benest said the short answer was that the City was replacing the existing community center at Terman because the PAUSD was taking the land through eminent domain. The revenue from the
sale of Terman would be used to pay for a replacement community center. Staff believed that during the process some extraordinary opportunities would fit with the partnership.
Council Member Mossar thought the answer should be more
contextual with the larger infrastructure questions. Mr. Benest agreed. Council Member Ojakian said the City had ongoing discussions
with the PAUSD over the joint use. The City/School Liaison Committee would meet the following Monday to begin the process about how the plan and the joint use would be ironed out. The Committee recently expanded to have larger Council representation. Council Members Lytle and Burch would sit on
the committee to deal with the bigger issue.
Council Member Kleinberg asked the City Manager to repeat the statement about the City seeking “just compensation” for Terman.
Mr. Benest said the Council directed staff not to seek “maximum compensation” based on the market value of the land, but to seek
what the citizens of Palo Alto thought the City had invested in the existing property.
Council Member Kleinberg said when the public voted on the matter, the context was of the City having to purchase property.
The circumstances under which the Mayfield offer changed the compunction for the City to exact compensation was in question, for example, if there was another strategy by which the City did not have to give up Terman as its own property, but lease it to the PAUSD, so the value of the property was not lost, it would
be a different scenario and an important change for the Council to consider.
Mr. Benest said staff would hold ongoing discussions about the process. Council Member Kleinberg’s statement was a legitimate
issue. His concern was that currently the City could take advantage of the property being offered with anticipated revenue. Without the anticipated revenue, the City would be unable to seize the opportunity, nor would there be opportunities for other community service organizations.
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Council Member Kleinberg understood. However, the Council would
be presented with opportunities in the following weeks to spend money. There seemed to be a lack of prioritization, such as the City had not examined what it thought were the most important, current priorities and needs, and there was no matrix to help filter what was communicated from constituents. The Council
needed a way to make decisions and prioritize what the community needed and wanted with a sense of time.
Council Member Burch asked whether the Elks Club issue was off the table.
Mr. Benest said staff was involved in ongoing discussions with the Elks Club. Recently the Elks Club membership voted not to sell a portion of their land but to lease it. There might be some opportunities for the City. The Elks Club was thanked for
its openness with staff. In the following months, as the City finalized the Mayfield site, opportunities would be opening up to address the City’s community service challenge. Council Member Burch asked whether the City had made the final
payment to purchase the Terman site.
Mr. Benest said the City recently made its last payment of $350,000 or $400,000.
Council Member Burch asked how much was paid for the Terman site.
Mr. Benest said the total costs for the land and improvements were approximately $17 million.
Council Member Burch clarified there was something to be
recouped if the PAUSD took back the land through eminent domain. Mr. Benest said the City invested approximately $17 million in the Terman Community Center and hoped to recoup a like amount of money to replace the site.
Council Member Burch said if the City turned over the site to the PAUSD for a small amount of money, it would be subject to
criticism from constituents as to what was being done with the money.
Mr. Benest said the City would not escape criticism but agreed that would be one element.
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Council Member Burch said in addition, the City was trading improved property for unimproved property, and the City would
have to start from scratch. Mr. Benest agreed. A number of good improvements were made by the City to the Terman site, particularly in the area of health, wellness, and child development. The JCC had done a good job in
that regard. Council Member Burch asked whether the Roche property was still
a consideration.
Mr. Benest said staff held discussions with the Roche property owners and with Stanford. There were opportunities and obstacles. There was no perfect solution or perfect site; the City had to make the best judgment in terms of priorities and the best call for the community for the long-term needs.
Council Member Lytle said the Council needed to understand both long-range needs in a financial context and the costs of the various alternatives presented. The Mayfield site, although touted as being free, with the PAUSD and JCC approaching the
City with a negotiating position that there were no land costs, previous offers of contributions could be rescinded. However,
the predevelopment costs of Mayfield and the cost to capitalize the eventual development of the site should be rightfully used to its potential and was a far greater alternative than others
the City may consider for a community center. She asked staff how it would present the various cost alternatives. Three were
raised by Council Member Burch, but there were other choices and options for the City. The cost information needed to be presented to the Council so it could make the judgments.
Mr. Benest said assuming there was clarity in the near future
about the offer, the City needed to hire a project manager to identify the necessary steps and costs involved. A judgment could be made about the true cost of the land versus the other sites and some of the political costs versus other sites.
Council Member Lytle said because the City made a commitment to the JCC, working on the issue linearly made more sense. The concern was that the Mayfield site could end up in litigation,
referendum, entitlements, etc.
Mr. Benest said staff was moving forward on the Mayfield site as outlined, and staff continued to explore other sites. In that process, staff would gain some sense of what was possible and where it might recommend consideration of other sites, including
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identifying predevelopment costs and entitlement costs. Some sites were barely adequate.
Council Member Lytle asked when the Council could expect to examine the alternatives staff was developing. Mr. Benest said staff would have a clear picture after the first
of the year. Council Member Kleinberg said as the City went through the
process, it should remember to be creative and consider all the possibilities. The City might want to consider not giving up
the title to Terman at all and maintain it as a community asset, sharing with the PAUSD for a while. Council Member Mossar thought keeping Terman would not change the way the project “penciled out,” because the City still
needed the cash. If a use was removed from the City, that asset had to be replaced elsewhere. It might look okay on the books, such as the City would not lose any money but would not have the cash to develop a new community center if cash was not received for Terman.
No action required.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS
19. The Utilities Advisory Commission Recommendation for Approval of the Utilities Strategic Plan, and Direction to
City Manager for Staff to Return with an Implementation Plan.
Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) Chairperson Rick Ferguson asked the Council to approve the mission statement, key
objectives, and strategies in the strategic plan for the utility business as a whole. The UAC supported the staff recommendation unanimously for three reasons. First, the strategic plan represented the first time in the history of the Utility that it was examined as an integrated whole, as a single business
operating in a competitive environment, and not only as an operating department inside a city government. Secondly, the document addressed business opportunities for the Utility rather
than the maintenance of the transfers to the General Fund and the Utility plant as a whole. One line in the mission statement
talked about becoming the “preferred full-service” utility provider. The notion of a bundle of utility services was the key to the health of the utility in the future. When all details, energy prices, and Fiber of the Home (FTTH), were stripped away, the issue that counted was that the City had
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30,000 connections or trust relationships, throughout the City with multiple dimensions. The strategy was about new ways to add
new services. Third, the UAC supported the staff recommendation because the strategic plan was a joint effort. The UAC worked closely with Council Member Beecham and the Council liaison on the strategic plan. The long list of bullets reflected to some extent the “Christmas Tree” nature of the topics and components
that everyone thought were important in the future of the Utility, but it was a good integrated plan and a good point of departure for the Utility as it turned into a business in a
competitive environment instead of a City department.
Director of Utilities John Ulrich said the Council was given an opportunity a few months prior to see the first draft of the strategic plan. Since that time, staff held a number of meetings to fine-tune the plan. On November 1, 2000, the UAC reviewed the recommendation, the input of which was presented to
the Council, along with what staff learned from talking to other members of City staff and its competitors. Areas connected with fiber and FTTH would be addressed in the following agenda item. The role of the strategic plan was not to present an implementation strategy, costs, savings, or measures of success,
which would be part of the implementation, a portion of which staff would address following approval of the concept for the
strategic plan. The strategic plan was the blueprint for the next five years, to provide a basis of focus on where the utilities were going, where money should be spent, and the types
of services Palo Alto should provide. The City faced a significant amount of competitive challenges and faced the
threat of other companies wanting to take a portion of the business. The organization faced strengths and weaknesses and needed to make changes along with the customers. Palo Alto
should anticipate its customers’ needs and respond to those needs. The Utility recently finished a stage one electric
emergency alert because there was 17,000 megawatts of electric generation off line in California. Future challenges included the unprecedented demands for a wide range of utility services from its customers. During the recent power shortages, customers indicated numbers between $.5 and $5 million in expenses for
every hour and day they were without power. While some businesses were office complexes, some had servers and laboratory equipment and production facilities that were state-
of-the-art with expectations that the Utilities Department would be able to provide its needs. There was significant price
volatility and risk. New technology was emerging, such as distributed generation, where generation could be placed right at the location of the business, e-business technologies, and fiber optics, all of which would transform the industry. It was unclear when the items would transform the industry, but staff
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needed to reorganize and focus on what it should do to meet the competition. Environmental protection and how business was
conducted in Palo Alto was important for the future. The price trend, discussed with the Council in May 2000 had not become any clearer. The same spike of costs had not been the same recently, but a month prior, prices were very high. Surprisingly, although the temperature had become cooler and
demand for energy reduced, prices did not fall dramatically. The same applied to the Gas Utility. In August, staff asked the Council for a price increase for the Gas Utility that was passed
along to customers. Staff would again request an additional rate increase for gas, effective January 1, 2001, because of
significant price increases natural gas faced. In the long run, staff believed prices would decrease. Certain issues had eroded Palo Alto’s advantages over recent weeks, months, and years, including the price advantage with the Western Area Power Agency (WAPA) contract that would start in 2005. Although the contract
was excellent and would last for 20 years, the price advantage was significantly less than what Palo Alto had relied on for the last 40 years. Also, the price of electricity had increased 300 percent, however, not in Palo Alto. In addition, the industry saw a sudden 100 percent increase in natural gas prices. City
revenues became at risk because customers would begin to have choices of different service providers and had the option to
transfer electricity from Palo Alto. Customers demanded unprecedented levels of reliability and power quality which would put a demand on the utilities to work harder and provide
more novel and technological improvements to the infrastructure. The City currently spent $25 to $28 million a year. The
Utility’s strengths included a skilled and experienced work force, a power allocation from the federal government, a solid financial position, extremely low debt, strong reserves,
stranded costs had been fully paid, for which $70 million was set aside, customer satisfaction was high, gas and electric
reliability was above average, full service community owned utility, and infrastructure for electric, gas, water, and fiber optics already existed. There were also significant weaknesses; the distribution system was aging, the supply cost advantages was declining, organization and protracted process
inefficiencies slowed response to customers, the organization and process was designed as a government entity would work. Staff suggested organization changes be made to allow the
utilities to be more responsive. The product and service portfolio was limited, and the retention of key personnel was
increasingly difficult. Efforts should be made to strengthen the competitive position, including expenditures for additional capital investments on the infrastructure, secure new supply arrangements, expansion of products and service offerings, new and expanded fiber services, internal streamlining, governance
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changes as appropriate, and creation of attractive job opportunities. The staff recommended approval of the mission
statement, key objectives, and strategies, and directed the City Manager to complete an implementation plan including proposed governance, policy and organization changes, financial projections and impacts, resource requirements, performance standards and measures, and business planning efforts such as
the upcoming fiber optics plan. Staff would develop the implementation plan through March 2001, outlining expanded products, including fiber optics utility products, demonstrate
specific personnel retention issues and solutions, address commodity supply issues and solutions, outline internal business
streamlining, describe the strategic capital investments, and propose necessary governance changes. Staff would make a presentation to the UAC in April 2001, return to the Council in mid-April, and incorporate relevant plan changes into the 2001-03 budget cycle. Implementation would begin in July 2001.
City Manager Frank Benest said from his perspective, four points needed highlighting. First, the time was right to conduct a strategic plan, especially before competition hit in full force and while the City still had a price advantage from the federal
power contract. Secondly, to be competitive, the utility needed to become more nimble and business-focused while preserving the
benefits of the municipally-owned utility for its customers and community. Third, the strategic plan was critical to preserving the financial benefits of the utilities for the City’s General
Fund, which financed most of the services to the community. Finally, as technology evolved and customer demands changed, the
strategic plan would help to identify and deliver new products and services such as the fiber utility.
Council Member Fazzino complimented staff and the UAC for the work it had accomplished. The crown jewel of Palo Alto’s City
services was the Utilities Department, which differentiated Palo Alto from many other communities. He asked how Palo Alto compared with other municipal utilities at retaining its pre-deregulation customer base.
Mr. Ulrich said Palo Alto did a good job retaining its customer base. The predecessors who signed the 40-year contract with the federal government in 1964, when it was not considered the right
thing, signed up for a high percentage of federal power. With the exception of federal institutions, such as prisons,
hospitals, and military bases, Palo Alto had one of the highest percentages of federal power for the load. Palo Alto was also fortunate because of the low growth, whereas the other utilities in the south faced extreme growth at 6 percent a month.
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Council Member Lytle asked about the relationship between the new fiber utility and the strategic plan. The fiber utility took
on an enormous initiative and effort in competing in one of the hottest private sector areas. She asked whether the City was spreading itself beyond its core services at a time when it needed to focus on what was most important to City services. Questions were just raised about how the City would finance
storm drains, public service buildings, libraries, and community centers, which were core responsibilities. Expanding efforts and spreading the organization into a new frontier required some
justification.
Mr. Ulrich said the fiber business was new in some ways, but the City also gained a tremendous amount of expertise over the last several years. More detail would be presented during the presentation of the next agenda item. Under the strategic plan, examining other products and services that were part of the
City’s core values and core competency was important. Infrastructure installation, ownership, and maintenance were things Palo Alto did superbly well. Palo Alto was one of the few utilities in the State of California that managed gas well. The City was also good at water and wastewater installation,
maintenance and repair, and overhead and underground electric construction. Palo Alto was managing a 30-mile plus dark fiber
system which saw no outages since installation. He would not recommend the City do something it had no knowledge of. The FTTH trial was an appropriate next step to learn more with
minimum risk to determine whether the City should become a full-fiber business. Staff had no illusion or interest in being a
content provider, but was more interested in fiber ownership with open access by which entities could lease and utilize the fiber with a fair return to the City. The proposal was similar
to the time Palo Alto entered into the electric business.
Council Member Beecham said many discussions were held about the strategic plan, which was a work in progress. Staff was commended for handling all the work entirely in-house, without the use of consultants, and it was a creative approach. The success or failure of the strategic plan was in its
implementation. The implementation would involve many difficult issues. Finding a replacement supply for the WAPA contract was a tremendous challenge. The City was blessed by having it in the
past, but it would be a challenge to find ways to fill the load. The drop in power would expose the City to many of the risks
other utilities in the state faced. However, Palo Alto would still have a base load from WAPA, as well as other water resources, but would still be faced with a greatly increased open market risk. Staff addressed how to find the supplies, manage the risk, and streamlining. For example, staff addressed
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getting competitive prices for services. If staff found a service for less than the City charged, it would take advantage
of the price. Staff also addressed structural changes and governing. One issue in utilities was how quickly it could move. Palo Alto also discussed a new attitude toward its customers. Over 70 percent of the load was used by commercial users, many of whom were very sophisticated. Other methods of delivery would
be explored by the customers, and Palo Alto needed the ability to provide more than only “electrons” but other services the customers wanted. The City had a good public benefits program
and needed to place an increased emphasis on conserving and managing the load. Luckily, the growth in Palo Alto had not
been as other cities, but conservation was needed to manage growth, strandability, and greenhouse gases, which would be increasingly important in the future. During the prior year, he went to Washington, D.C., and met with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo on issues related to the Northern California Power Agency
(NCPA). Congresswoman Eshoo mentioned, in relation to the competitive marketplace in electricity, how municipal utilities expected to exist in the future, particularly when competing with Enron, Calpon, PG&E, and others. His response to her at the time was that on one hand some utilities would fail because
of the lack of leadership, skills, and strength. Palo Alto’s utilities would pull the City into the future. The pressure of a
competitive marketplace on the Utilities Department could push its form of government to greater heights. The internal operations and techniques that would be developed to shorten the
process and the attitude toward the customer and basic civic management strategies would all bring a learning curve to the
City. MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Vice Mayor
Eakins, to approve the staff recommendation as follows:
1. Conceptually approve the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) mission statement, key objectives and strategies, and 2. Direct the City Manager to return with an
implementation plan that included proposed governance, policy and organizational changes; financial projections and impacts; resource requirements and
other related proposals to enable the CPAU to continue to function effectively as a customer-driven and
competitive business operation. Council Member Ojakian said Palo Alto had a full-service utilities function, a position few cities enjoyed. Financially, the utilities were such a vital function and, although it
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represented two-thirds of the expenses, 15 percent of revenue was sent to the General Fund. Palo Alto was fortunate to be able
to set aside reserves to cover the fluctuations that occurred in such a volatile type of business. The City faced a combination of deregulation and a huge demand on supply resulting in volatile and fluctuating prices. Therefore, it was essential to come up with a strategic business plan and start to examine the
operation as if it were a business. The plan was only the beginning; the challenge was in its implementation. Before the Council could discuss which routes or avenues to go, the first
step needed to be taken. The City needed to know the implications in financial projections and changes in governance,
which were critical issues. When alternative supplies were examined for electric, the City should not forget the issues around gas, which were as volatile and important to Palo Alto’s overall financial makeup. The concept of bundling could be used to the City’s advantage over other suppliers who might be
single-source or single-item suppliers. The infrastructure and the distribution system were also critical. Although the supply side was deregulated, Palo Alto had control over the distribution system, which was where it could still make money. The Council needed to take a serious look at that particular
item to provide the most effective system possible. The implementation aspect would involve “ironing out” some of the
issues. Vice Mayor Eakins said former City Manager June Fleming prepared
the Council for some of the changes that were coming, as seen in Strategy 3, “streamline and manage business processes to allow
CPAU to work efficiently and cost-effectively.” Palo Alto would be challenged to make all of the changes from the standard ways of government operations to accommodate the competitive
environment. The strategy was the changing environment with the tremendous demands of the Internet economy and the weather the
Internet created. Everything was related: the Internet, the type of super-reliable power that was expected in the Internet economy and environment, and customer expectations. The Council never discussed special services and products before.
Council Member Lytle supported the motion and thanked staff and the UAC for their hard work. The changes in Strategies 6 and 7, which came in the last review, were much stronger. Council
Member Beecham was thanked for his effort and inspired comments.
City Attorney Ariel Calonne said one of the points in the strategic plan on page 5, Strategy 3 was legally of interest to him legally. The efforts at the ballot with the storm drains, Measure J, had been in part unsuccessful due to lack of direction from Council. Concern was expressed about reviewing
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the charter for governance and having it happen solely as a staff-driven initiative. The Council needed to find a method of
staying involved in the process. Mayor Kniss thought Mr. Calonne’s recommendation could be woven into the motion and would be a portion of what happened in the plan.
Council Member Kleinberg thought the program would improve the quality of the environment in a sustainable fashion through
Strategy 7. The strategic plan seemed thin; usually in sustainable environmental programs, there was a conservation
bend to it as well as an implementation. The Utilities Department should take a more proactive position on creating sustainability through conservation and energy programs. The Utilities Department should set the pace for creating a sustainable environment. At some point, the City needed a
timeline or staging. MOTION PASSED 9-0. 20. The Utilities Advisory Commission Recommendation for
approval of the Operations Plan for the continued development and growth of the Dark Fiber Leasing Program
and the Concept of the Fiber to the Home Approval Process Utilities Advisory Commissioner Dexter Dawes said the Utility
Department’s strategic plan confronted the major and difficult governance issues head on. The prospect was exciting, and there
were as many potential benefits for the utility company as there were hazards. Palo Alto was moving from an area of little risk to considerably more risk. The risks could be mitigated, and
staff had done well in analyzing the issues. Regarding the dark fiber issue, the City’s fiber business was profitable and cash
positive. Although slow in coming on, staff marketed it well. It was time to build on what had already been done with more people to accelerate the development of filling the capacity of the dark fiber ring. The capacity was currently, small but there was room to grow and serious money could be made in the
future. The FTTH trial would involve more risk to implement but was supported. The issue was one of setting the stage for the fiber utility, which was elevating the activity to the stature
of the Electric, Water, and Gas Utilities as a sub-business in the Utilities Department, not establishing a utility at the
current time. Mayor Kniss asked whether Mr. Dawes would put his own money into FTTH.
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Mr. Dawes said his decision depended on the price. A profitable digital business was worth a lot of money and he would love to
invest. The $30 million step of two glass wires to every home was a different issue. Many services were available that filled different niches. He would not want people beaming television into his computers and would not want to pay for it. On the other hand, people with home businesses felt there was a huge
need for it. He was not persuaded bandwidth was necessary for every home in the community, but some people felt it was.
Mayor Kniss said the issue was difficult in a fast-moving technology.
Mr. Dawes said clearly two glass wires into every house would not become obsolete. The electronics were obsolete but not a trivial expense. If Palo Alto only invested in the “roadway,” the maintenance of the fiber roadway would not be that high.
Today, the money was in providing the services and whether economics of leasing fiber capacity to individuals without the service component in it was difficult. Whether the City could advertise a $30 to $35 million investment by only selling the access without the ancillary services was difficult. The City
could team up with others because the City had low cost to capital, tax efficiencies, and things others did not have.
However, others did not want the City to specify open access. Director of Utilities John Ulrich said staff’s recommendation
was not to form a full fiber utility that would go to every home and business in Palo Alto, but the City should have an objective
to examine the option to determine whether there was a business proposition to do so. It was not something staff would currently recommend; however, staff recommended expanding the
City’s focus on the asset it already owned. The City saw a positive cash flow from its $2 million investment into a 31+
mile dark fiber ring. The way to make money and provide the service people wanted was to market it, focus on it, provide the quality of service people wanted, and make a business out of it. Later, staff would discuss the FTTH trial, which was separate from the proposed issue.
Utilities Telecommunications Manager Leo Creger said the mission was to make Palo Alto the premier provider of fiber optic
services in the City with a high level of commitment to the community. Staff wanted to offer services with a high customer
value, and a quality of service that exceeded its customer’s expectations. The City had a product and a service that was in high demand and stood to have a great financial benefit to the City. The idea was admittedly new for a fiber utility, a municipal utility, and dealing in fiber optics. In light of
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decreasing financial advantages, fiber optic services could become a service that generated new revenue for the City. The
City’s solid financial strength should allow it to build a long-term economic solution, whether it was expanding the dark fiber services or a FTTH program; reliability on the City’s financial strength was needed. To stay competitive the City should continue to model the best utilities. Many had heard of
William’s foresightedness to put fiber in their gas lines. There was not a demand when that was done, but the company looked ahead to see what was coming. The focus should not be to
compete with content services. Instead, the City should be a network provider that promoted and supported open access for
service providers, and a choice of services for the end users. In view of numerous customer service complaints, service limitations, and service degradations, the City should build on the synergies with its Electric Utility to provide a highly reliable communications infrastructure for both businesses and
residents. If possible, the City should be proactive in limiting the proliferation of other networks being built in the City. Not only were networks being built, but there was the possibility the companies would not support future bandwidth requirements. Competitors could also compete with the City in
the way they conducted their business. As equipment continued to evolve, the equipment would become obsolete. The City’s
business had been running for three years with customers and to date had seen no service failures. However, there could be issues with inadequate customer support. There was also the
financial risk that the City would not see a return on its investment. The fiber-leasing program was cash positive and the
City was doing well. The City had leases in place that were strong for many years. The City was at an advantage because it offered a secure dedicated fiber connection for the customer.
Secondly, the bandwidth desired by the customer was entirely determined by the customer. The customers were responsible for
their own equipment. If their bandwidth requirement increased, it was the customer’s responsibility to increase it. The customer had a one-time cost to purchase new equipment and to utilize the dedicated fiber in place for them, which remained at a fixed cost to them, and the customer was able to get the
increased bandwidth requirement met. The competition’s model leased a pair of fiber strands from the City. It was intended when the program first became known a few years prior, that
telecom carrier service providers would lease large quantities of fiber. However, that did not happen because between the time
the idea came about and where the City currently was, equipment went through major technology shifts to support competition supporting multiple customers on limited fiber. The number could increase to a thousand customers on a pair of fiber. The City leased two strands of fiber and one customer connected to the
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City. The City would approach the customer with the direct fiber concept, showing the benefits of having the fiber, and what the
fiber did for the City in terms of connecting the customers for a long-term lease. To minimize the risk of service failure, the City needed to meet the customer’s demand and further the growth of its fiber utility. Personnel resources were utilized from other City departments to advance the business to where it was.
Staff was needed to maintain a high level of growth. There were a number of competitors with aggressive marketing teams that were getting to the customers faster than the City could.
Establishing a staff that was dedicated to fiber would provide the core team, thus minimizing inefficiencies associated with
transient personnel. Having sufficient staff resources in place who were already dealing with fiber, was a strong benefit. The current leases were sufficient to cover the initial investment made in the project. Revenue projections were based on a conservative 20 percent growth projection. Because the City had
other competitors, it also had a limited resource of customers. To expect continual high levels of growth was an undertaking the City was not prepared to make. For proving the concept as financially sound, a conservative measure of 20 percent could be used. Revenue projections accounted for increases in personnel
and associated support costs. Revenues for the year 2000, at a little over $1.1 million, was actual. Through the year 2005,
assuming a 20 percent growth per year, staff estimated a positive balance of $4 million. The goal was to incrementally pay back to the General Fund or Electric Fund, the amount of
revenue put forward to fund the project. The effect of adding labor might mean that instead of having the total balance
available 2002 or 2003, it would be a year or two more. In the near term, the City needed to build the staff and evaluate the issues of developing a fiber utility. The City also needed to
market, focus on unsolicited businesses, and proceed with the FTTH trial. A number of issues came into play in the FTTH trial
program, one of which was the ability to evaluate construction methodologies. The City also needed to determine whether a citywide rollout was feasible and determine what was required to maintain a high level of reliability. Cost models and business plans needed to be developed to determine whether it was
financially sound and work with service providers. Many people believed the only service available was the Internet, but there were other service providers without platforms from which to
test their services. Until the platforms were available, the providers had a hard time determining whether their ideas were
economically feasible. The City had a distinct advantage in the ability to step ahead of its competition. While the competition focused on “today,” returning profits to shareholders, and getting high revenues, the City had the ability to look forward and could “future proof” a solution to provide more than was
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needed. Thinking ahead about scalability and the ability to have an infrastructure that supported future demands was important.
The image Palo Alto wanted to maintain was as a leader of technological change which was one of the reasons a group of people pushed FTTH. Lastly, the FTTH trial was beneficial for the City to market the lessons it learned. The City should evaluate its outsourcing and in house capabilities. One of the
bottlenecks was construction. A good construction vehicle was needed to expedite the projects customers had. Developing beneficial partnerships and alliances was discussed. Staff had
been in discussion with other providers who did not necessarily want to support open access and were probably not building the
“future proof” network. Any growth meant added revenues back to the City. A fully capable consulting staff was needed to work with customers who did not have the resources or the knowledge. A portion of the revenues should be used to continue to expand services in the areas of Palo Alto. The City currently did not
want to be an Internet service provider because there was too much competition. The focus needed to be on the infrastructure. Council Member Lytle said a risk was not identified in the risk assessment, such as taking the time and attention of the Council
and organization away from current services and responsibilities. She had a problem protecting the City’s high-
tech image when it had not positioned itself with core City services to support future population growth. The City also did not have any idea how it would finance the aging infrastructure
improvements that were needed. If the Utility’s strategic plan was already in place and the City was well positioned to move
forward with the FTTH trial, all the other risks would not be of concern. The issues were quality of life, expectations the community had, and whether the trial would spread the City thin
in other objectives.
City Manager Frank Benest thought the City had the leadership in place in the Utilities Department to implement the fiber utility vision. Support from the City Manager’s Office, the Administrative Services Department (ASD), and the City Attorney’s Office was needed, but the City had the appropriate
personnel to lead it down the path. It would not distract the staff from other issues.
Council Member Lytle said if the trial required staff time, then it would require time from other challenges. Mr. Benest seemed
to intimate that while it would consume staff time, the City would not be prevented from taking care of the other things. Mr. Benest said the trial would not consume his personal time. The Utilities Department had sufficient leadership to handle the
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trial and needed some support. Staff’s focus would not be diverted from the rest of the organization; however, there was
no guarantee. Mr. Ulrich said staff would put its focus into the project but questioned the Council’s reluctance and inability to believe that staff could accomplish what it set out to do. The 31 miles
of dark fiber was already owned by the City. Staff was only recommending expansion and to obtain as much revenue and provide services to customers from the facility. The City should have a
vision of where it wanted to go. He took issue with waiting for the completion of the strategic plan because there was
tremendous interest, and the business model was available to proceed without waiting until something else happened. Staff would not try to do something for which it was incapable. The work on the fiber would be conducted parallel with other work. The City was in the infrastructure installation business,
maintained its facilities, and knew the right time for replacement. The installation of fiber and other substructures could be integrated along with staff’s other work. Vice Mayor Eakins said the main idea was to find a way to lease
the dark fiber. The idea had been ongoing for some time. The difference in the current situation was having a program with a
larger staff. She asked whether the vision was for a utility. Mr. Ulrich said the vision was for fiber utility, only if the
City could build a business plan that would justify doing so.
Vice Mayor Eakins asked whether the City had not been as successful in expanding the sales activities of dark fiber because it had no vision, staff, or continuity.
Mr. Ulrich said no matter what decisions were made, staff
learned a great deal and knew how to proceed. The $2 million investment made a few years ago resulted in staff knowing enough to make money on the dark fiber. The City needed to add resources so it could not only continue, but expand the amount made by having an ability to serve the increasing number of
customers wanting service. Vice Mayor Eakins clarified that money could be made in
providing the connections, pulling the fiber, and hooking it up, not only leasing strands.
Mr. Creger said the City currently leased the strands or infrastructure. In order to do so, staff had to connect the customer to the fiber. City crews had to provide the connection for the customer.
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Vice Mayor Eakins thought that was added value.
Mr. Creger agreed. The other added value was bringing staff on board to market more quickly than the City was able to do currently.
Vice Mayor Eakins asked whether a potential customer could call in and have the call returned in three or four weeks.
Mr. Creger said the issue staff currently faced was the increase in demand. It previously took three weeks to turn around a
proposal to the customer for a connection to the fiber ring, which was now taking closer to five weeks. The number of demands could not be processed with current staffing levels. Staff was unable to process the demands with the existing staff. In 1997-99, the City received approximately 45 interconnection
requests. An interconnection was a customer seeking to be connected to the dark fiber ring. In the first three months of 2000, the City received 60 requests. In the following five months, an additional 130 requests were received. The demand being placed on a temporary, borrowed staff had increased
significantly. Consequently, the time to process was increasing, construction time was increasing, and the time to complete
projects in an acceptable amount of time from the City’s standard was increasing. The increases made the City non-competitive. If there were no resources in place, the situation
would continue to worsen.
Vice Mayor Eakins said when the City installed the fiber ring, it thought it would be the only one in town. Currently, many other companies were tearing up the streets and pulling fiber,
most of which were for large businesses. The City’s opportunities with smaller businesses were not targeted by the
companies. Mr. Creger said in the beginning when it was perceived that customers would come in with large fiber counts, customers would lease a large fiber count, and the utilization would be
significantly higher. Given the fact that the competition leased a pair, the City’s utilization remained low while the competition attracted customers through either marketing efforts
or strategic alliances. Some of Palo Alto’s competitors operated in other Bay Area cities working to provide
interconnections for businesses in Palo Alto that had facilities in other cities as well.
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Vice Mayor Eakins said the City’s business opportunity climate changed significantly since it first followed through on the
innovative idea to build the fiber loop. Council Member Kleinberg asked whether the fiber ring was complete.
Mr. Creger said the fiber ring was not completed according to the original design. One of the questions was when the stretch across Middlefield Road would be completed, for which there was
not yet a great demand. The potential customers along Middlefield Road, from a dark fiber-leasing program perspective,
were primarily residential. No requests had come from the area. If a customer asked for dark fiber, staff would work hard to figure out a solution. Council Member Kleinberg asked about East Meadow Road service.
Mr. Creger said the City had money in the budget to expand the ring as needed. The issue was that if there was an interested customer and an economic benefit for the City to put the infrastructure in that place or some cooperation between the
two, then staff would do so.
Council Member Kleinberg said the staff report (CMR:419:00) indicated a sufficient number of long-term lease agreements were in place to cover the initial funding of the dark fiber network
project, but it was unclear whether the funding included the extra staff or the wish list, and whether it was enough to do
the job correctly. Mr. Creger said if there was zero growth and no new staff was
hired, the leases generating revenue for the program would be able to pay back the initial funding for the program by 2003-04.
By bringing on the additional staff and promoting the continual growth of the program, the payback might still be 2003-04, or even longer. However, additional revenue and additional business would result, which was the intent as revealed in the projections in the chart.
Council Member Kleinberg clarified the principle was that the project could pay for itself as it went along.
Mr. Creger said that was correct.
Council Member Kleinberg said the staff report (CMR:419:00) also said, “If the staff pursues establishing a fiber utility, the action would result in changes to current City policies.” Before establishing any utility, staff followed existing City
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policy with respect to laying the fiber ring and doing the interconnect activity, but the next step of establishing a fiber
utility would require a change in City policy. Mr. Ulrich said a new fiber utility could change City policy. When the Council approved the FTTH trial program several years prior, the capital expenditure to install the fiber was
approved. A budget had not been set aside for the ongoing maintenance, operation, and marketing of the dark fiber. Staff took the initiative to utilize existing staff that were doing
other work, as well as people focused on it directly. All the money was taken from revenues from the Electric Utility. If the
fiber ring was expanded, the City needed to recognize where the money was coming from and decide whether it was the right time to have a specific enterprise fund or find another way of financing the fiber business. It was unnecessary to discuss the possibility of a fiber utility at the current meeting, because
the City could continue to utilize the Electric Fund in the same manner it had been utilized. In the short run, the fiber ring would pay for itself; but expanding the fiber system to all the homes and businesses in Palo Alto was different. The decision would be based on how quickly the job would need to be completed
and the kind of payback. A significant amount of capital investment with a longer-term payback before the City would see
a positive cash flow would result. Council Member Kleinberg asked whether the changes in all the
potential utilities and the whole telecommunications explosion meant putting in a building block that could grow into a
telecommunications utility, not just a fiber utility, that is, whether Palo Alto might be a player in some larger telecommunications sense.
Mr. Ulrich said staff’s vision did not include having Palo Alto
as a major player in telecommunication in the sense of seeing other big players coming into the City. Council Member Kleinberg clarified Palo Alto would not become an Internet Service Provider (ISP), but in terms of controlling the
“toll roads.” Mr. Ulrich said yes. The analogy of a highway and paying a toll
to Palo Alto to come onto the highway was appropriate. However, the City would not decide what went along the toll road.
Council Member Mossar thought the City needed to be careful. Council Member Lytle made a comment that the City had no clue as to how it would finance its infrastructure needs, which was untrue. The Council had a responsibility to communicate clearly
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to the public about what it had done, what it understood as opportunities for financing, the money that was being put away,
why money was being put away, and what the ten-year infrastructure plan was as distinguished from new infrastructure projects and ideas. Utilities staff was making a proposal with the best management possible and that would generate money for the City to do some of the new things for the future. The
proposal represented an opportunity to generate money and had nothing to do with competing with developing a new library program or a new performing arts center; rather, it was an
opportunity for the City to generate money.
Council Member Burch asked what some of the competitors mentioned by staff, including Williams and Enron, were afraid Palo Alto might do. Mr. Ulrich said the companies probably did not have a fear of
anything the City might do and could actually be an ally. The advertisement stated the company wanted to be a consolidator and marketer of bandwidth. There was no reason why the companies could not utilize fiber and bandwidth in Palo Alto to get from one place to another. The City could have alliances and do
business with the so-called “competitors,” just as those companies were probably doing business elsewhere where there was
a benefit to utilizing someone else’s fiber. Council Member Burch asked whether the companies would have any
reason not to make an alliance with Palo Alto.
Mr. Ulrich said no. The big issue for staff to consider was whether the business was viable and profitable business and whether it was in the long-term best interest of the utility
customers and the City.
Council Member Burch clarified that nothing the competitors did could cut off or harm the City. Mr. Ulrich said the companies could consider Palo Alto a model rather than a competitor. If other companies had sufficient
funding, it was possible. Palo Alto would not be a threat, but a complimentary relationship.
Mayor Kniss declared the public hearing open.
Randy Okamura, 345 Hamilton Avenue, Area Director for Pacific Bell, spoke about Pacific Bell’s views on telecommunications. With its investment of over $2 billion in Santa Clara County, including $130 million in Palo Alto, Pacific Bell was concerned that the City would leverage its dark fiber to minimize the
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proliferation of other networks being installed in the City. He underscored his concerns that Pacific Bell competed with a
regulator. Market competition in Palo Alto for telecommunication service saw a dramatic increase in the past five years, both in the number of competitors delivering the quality products and services and in the intensity in order to survive in a competitive market. As the market prices for telecommunication
services became competitive, there was a concern that subsidies could come from the City as it competed with regulator in the market place. The Council was asked to consider the impact of
property taxes, normally paid by telecommunication providers investing in the City with facilities and equipment and network
infrastructure, and market competition that could be affected as a result of competing with subsidized services. Pacific Bell was willing to move forward in developing dialogues in terms of its willingness to warrantee its work in the streets for up to 15 years and meet cordially with other telecommunication
providers working in the street to coordinate the work. Mark Heyer, 726 Marion, supported the City’s dark fiber leasing program and establishment of a municipal fiber utility. The information needs of small businesses in the City were not being
met. According to the staff report (CMR:419:00), a majority of small and medium sized businesses were not being solicited. As
a result, small businesses were forced into unsuitable consumer services which had little or no ability to accommodate the needs of business users. Reliability was key for small businesses.
When the municipally-enabled business services reached the small businesses combined with the knowledge gained from the FTTH
trial, the City would then be prepared to spread the system to encompass all homes as a true universal service information utility. No project the City could undertake would have a
greater impact on the social and economic vitality of Palo Alto.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme Street, said at the last count, nine companies had fiber trunks laid in Palo Alto; three along Bayshore Freeway and two along East Meadow Drive. None would offer service to homes or small businesses. In addition, Pacific Bell would not offer FTTH because every place where SPC
had purchased a company that had fiber, it was removed. Between 10,000 to 15,000 homes with small businesses would love FTTH. Utilities in Europe used drain lines to string fiber throughout
the city. The City had an opportunity to create a real utility that would provide not only financial return, but a social
return to the community. High-speed fiber could take cars off the roads through telecommuting. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) could use high-speed fiber access to allow doctors from all over the world to communicate with each other during operations and give advice. When Cable Co-op asked a
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consultant what it would cost to put fiber in the entire cable system, the estimate for 1,000 “home nodes” was $16 million, for
500 homes the cost was a little over $17 million, and 100 homes would cost $25 million. The City’s expenditure would return many times over. John Easter, 1175 Stanley Way, spoke regarding the poles behind
his house, two of which were replaced but one had not. Mayor Kniss declared the public hearing closed.
Council Member Beecham said the City needed to recognize that
the FTTH trial was an experiment. The staff recommendation had not been done before; however, the City had assets in the ground and personnel. The assets would have to be cultivated in order to reap a potential reward. Staff requested two things. Additional staff was requested for the marketing and support of
the dark fiber currently in the ground. The example in the staff report (CMR:419:00) was persuasive. In 1999, the City received 45 engineering requests, and so far in 2000, 180 were received. One thing staff did not include in the financial charts was the finances for the past years where the revenue growth was 100
percent a year. The staff’s recommendation of 20 percent growth in the short term was probably conservative. The second request
was for conceptual approval of a fiber utility contingent upon returning to the Council with an appropriate implementation plan. A separate utility was needed for fiber because the group
needed a different mindset from the rest of the utilities, had to be adept and responsive, and the Council needed a clear
economic report on what was happening. The Council needed to see goals and a defined assessment of how the City was doing toward reaching the goals. Staff was not asking for FTTH,
although it was something staff wanted to see. Staff was also not asking for additional capital.
MOTION: Council Member Beecham moved, seconded by Mossar, to
approve the recommendation of the Utilities Advisory Commission as follows:
• Approve expanding the organization and staff to support the Dark Fiber Leasing Program contingent upon staff returning to Council with a Budget Amendment Ordinance
outlining the additional staffing requirements and any other operational support costs that may be identified.
And to approve the staff recommendation as follows:
• Conceptually approve the Fiber Utility Strategic/Operations Plan contingent on staff returning
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with a comprehensive implementation plan for establishing a Fiber Utility and modifying the presentation to include
strategies from the Utilities Department Strategic Plan. Mayor Kniss supported the motion, but with some trepidation. The first time the City was introduced to the idea of FTTH was in 1994, when it was not enthusiastically received. The fiber
arena was “tricky” at the current time, and moved very quickly. Staff’s presentation was good but, at the same time, it would take monitoring. Council Member Beecham was appreciated for his
consistency in the role of monitoring the City’s progress.
Council Member Lytle supported the motion based on assurances from the City Manager and her colleagues, particularly the Finance Committee Chairperson. Also, it would not consume staff time and distract key staff from other core services and infrastructure modernization projects. Time and the
organizational attention were the primary issues. The distinction Council Member Mossar made about the aspects of the City’s infrastructure repair financing was important. Comments about not knowing how the City would finance certain projects were made concerning the expectation in the community that the
City would modernize facilities that were used and considered to be community assets, not the basic repair and upgrade for which
the City had a good and solid plan. Council Member Ojakian clarified the Council agreed to expand
the staff and to “conceptually agree” until it came to the implementation plan, i.e., the Council was not giving a final
“sign-off.” He asked whether the plan would fall into the same timeline as the strategic plan.
Mr. Ulrich said it was difficult to know; a business model would have to be built for the larger expansion. Staff would be able
to move ahead with the dark fiber expansion within the timeline. He preferred returning to the Council with a more detailed plan on how long it would take. Council Member Ojakian asked whether staff thought it might be
soon. Mr. Ulrich thought the City would have to move forward fairly
soon, but he also had to be responsive to the resource needs to put the plan together.
Council Member Ojakian said the City had a tremendous amount of capacity left in the current system, even given the number of potential new customers, to lease capacity. The figures indicating sales versus cost indicated a profitable endeavor.
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The key was in the business plan. Mr. Moss was correct in the sense that there were other benefits the community could gain.
MOTION PASSED 8-0, Fazzino absent.
ORDINANCES
21. Ordinance of the Council Of The City Of Palo Alto Amending Section 10.60.010 and Adding Chapter 10.47 to the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Permit the City Manager to Designate “No
Large Vehicle Parking Zones MOTION: Council Member Beecham moved, seconded by Ojakian, to introduce the ordinance. Ordinance 1st Reading entitled “Ordinance of the Council of the City Of Palo Alto Amending Section 10.60.010 and Adding
Chapter 10.47 to the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Permit the City Manager to Designate ‘No Large Vehicle Parking Zones’ Council Member Mossar would not support the motion. She could not conceive of declaring a “no large vehicle” place without
having the large vehicles somewhere else. Unless huge neighborhoods were declared “no large vehicle areas,” the
vehicle parking issue was such a problem in the Downtown neighborhoods, the ordinance seemed ridiculous.
Council Member Ojakian had worked with the City Attorney’s Office on the issue for some time as a direct outcome of people
parking large commercial vehicles in neighborhoods, in some cases as many as six or seven at one time and even double parking. The Police Department was called in to request the
companies cease such behavior, but the behavior was to park in front of other houses. The intent of the ordinance was to let
the companies know the behavior was unacceptable and that some other arrangement had to be made. The ordinance contained a contingency that the City Manager would work with the offenders to find more appropriate places to conduct activities. The City should not accept people carrying on commercial activities in
front of residential homes and condone the behavior based on the fact the offender would move elsewhere. The City should tell the people the action was unacceptable and needed to find other
locations.
Mayor Kniss thought the ordinance was for specific needs and would not generally be applied across the board because it was too complicated. For the specific needs and specific complaints, it was not unlike other times ordinances were put in place when the need arose. The Police Department would probably
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not drive around looking for offenders but would respond to complaints.
City Attorney Ariel Calonne said the City Manager had to designate the zone, and there was a mini-warrant process. The ordinance was not intended “willy-nilly” but would require some thinking for transportation before an area was designated. The
ability of the City Manager to apply the no-parking zones in different places was directly responsive to Council Member Mossar’s concern that the problem would shift around. The City
Manager would be able to follow the problem, with the Police Department’s assistance, if it occurred. The ultimate objective
was to get the offenders off the streets and into appropriate parking or loading facilities. Council Member Ojakian said the City of San Jose used the same technique to address the same issue.
Council Member Kleinberg asked where the ordinance would be applied in residential areas; for example, would the ordinance apply in a situation where a worker drove his truck to her house to do repairs. The City should not hamper the normal,
acceptable, appropriate kinds of commercial services that residents needed.
Mr. Calonne said the ordinance was not self-executing but required City Manager action to designate an area. Parking would
be affected unless the City Manager designated the area.
Council Member Kleinberg thought that was not the way the ordinance read. Section 10.47.040 stated “the prohibition will not apply to certain situations.” The situation only described
was not prohibited.
Mr. Calonne said the area where the hypothetical construction was happening would have to have already been designated as a “no large vehicle parking” area. Presumably, the City Manager would have had a reason for doing that. If the need changed, the “no parking zone” could change also. If the Council wanted more
specific exemptions for construction parking or other exemptions, it would be added. Given the fact the City Manager had the authority to apply the ordinance, staff thought the
situations would be addressed individually depending on the needs.
Council Member Kleinberg said if the City bothered to put some exemptions into the ordinance that were very specific, it narrowed the ordinance by being specific. She asked why the power was given to the City Manager.
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Mr. Calonne said many no-parking authorizations were in the Palo
Alto Municipal Code (PAMC) that the City Manager applied. In the City of San Jose, the decision was made by the Director of Traffic. There was no reason why the action could not be a City Council action.
Council Member Burch called for the question. Call for Question Vote Passed 5-3, Lytle, Kleinberg, Mossar
“no.” MOTION PASSED 6-2, Kleinberg, Mossar “no,” Fazzino absent. COUNCIL MATTERS 24. Vice Mayor Eakins, Chair, CAO Personnel Committee, Council
Members Beecham and Burch re Discussion of Interim City Auditor and Request for Authority to Negotiate a Contract with an Interim City Auditor Vice Mayor Eakins said the Council/CAO Ad Hoc Committee
requested an Interim City Auditor be appointed. MOTION: Vice Mayor Eakins moved, seconded by Beecham, to authorize the Council/CAO Ad Hoc Committee to negotiate and execute an interim auditing services contract with a qualified
accounting and auditing firm in an amount not to exceed $25,000.
Vice Mayor Eakins said the hiring of a firm could be done quickly. Firms and individuals were already interested in serving as Interim Auditor, and an appropriate decision could be
made expeditiously. Should the permanent auditor search take a long time, for example, more than four months, an expansion not
only of the amount of the scope of services, but the interim auditor would facilitate finishing up the audits in place at the time the former City Auditor left. Other interim auditing services could be provided as needed by the Council and City departments.
MOTION PASSED 8-0, Fazzino absent.
25. Council Comments, Questions, and Announcements
Council Member Ojakian thanked staff for the notice of sandbagging and some improvements in the Council Chambers.
Council Member Lytle congratulated Mayor Kniss on her victory
for Santa Clara County Supervisor and asked a question of her
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colleagues and staff about the eventuality of replacement for Council Member. She asked that the item be agendized
immediately. If the Council could not agree on an appointment, she asked whether it would be possible to combine a special election with the next regular election. Council Member Beecham spoke on the subject of fluoridation.
Council Member Kleinberg asked the City Manager about Roxy Rapp’s project and how the timeline could be resolved.
City Manager Frank Benest said staff would explore the
prescreening of his project and get back to the Council. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 11:45 p.m.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Mayor
NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.180(a) and (b). The City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are made solely for
the purpose of facilitating the preparation of the minutes of the meetings. City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are recycled 90 days from the date of the meeting. The tapes are available for members of the public to listen to during regular office hours.
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