HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-07-25 City Council Summary Minutes Regular Meeting July 25, 1994 1. Public Employee Performance Evaluation ................ 73-276 1. Presentation by Palo Alto Bobby Sox ................... 73-277 2. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to Thomas W. Flynn Upon His Retirement ................................... 73-277 3. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to John A. Busterud for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force ..................................... 73-277 4. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to Mike Cobb for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force ..................................... 73-278 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS ........................................ 73-278 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 6, 1994 ........................ 73-279 5. Resolution 7342 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Larry Horton for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force ............................ 73-279 6. Resolution 7343 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Larry Hootnick for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force ............................ 73-279 7. Arbitration Award and Compensation Plan for Police Non-Management Personnel .................................. 73-279 8. Memorandum of Agreement, Local 715 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Compensation Plan for Classified Personnel .................................. 73-279 9. 8:00 p.m. - The Finance Committee/Blue Ribbon Task Force Recommendation re Acceptance of the Organization-al Review Report from Hughes, Heiss & Associates and Direction to the City Manager to review the results and return with a plan for implementation in September 1994 73-280
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10. Council Comments, Questions, and Announcements ........ 73-291 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m. ........... 73-292
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The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in a Special Meeting in the Human Resources/Council Conference Room at 5:35 p.m. PRESENT: Andersen, Fazzino, Huber (arrived at 5:40 p.m.), Kniss, McCown, Rosenbaum, Schneider, Simitian (arrived at 5:45 p.m.) Wheeler ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. CLOSED SESSIONS 1. Public Employee Performance Evaluation Subject: City Auditor William Vinson
Authority: Government Code ∋54957 Conference with Labor Negotiator Agency Negotiator: City Council Ad Hoc Personnel Committee (Ron Andersen, Liz Kniss, Dick Rosenbaum) Unrepresented Employee: City Auditor William Vinson
Authority: Government Code ∋54957.6 Mayor Kniss announced that there was no action to report with respect to the Closed Session. ADJOURNMENT
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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: Andersen, Fazzino, Huber, Kniss, McCown, Rosenbaum, Schneider, Simitian, Wheeler SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY 1. Presentation by Palo Alto Bobby Sox Council Member Wheeler was pleased with the public private/partnership between the City and youth sports organizations, particularly bobby sox. Carol Thompson, representing the Palo Alto Bobby Sox Girls Softball, presented the City with a $1,000 donation to the Cubberley athletic fund. 2. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to Thomas W. Flynn Upon His Retirement MOTION: Vice Mayor Simitian moved, seconded by Fazzino, to adopt the Resolution. Resolution 7340 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Thomas W. Flynn Upon His Retirement" MOTION PASSED 9-0. Police Chief Chris Durkin said Tom Flynn gave a new meaning to the term "volunteerism." His contributions were remarkable, and he had unselfishly given 43 years of voluntary service to the City and the community. Police Reserve Officer Tom Flynn said Palo Alto was a wonderful City and had a wonderful Police Department. He had thoroughly enjoyed his work during the 43 years. He appreciated everything the City and his colleagues in the Police Department had done for him. 3. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to John A. Busterud for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force MOTION: Mayor Kniss moved, seconded by Simitian, to adopt the Resolution. Resolution 7341 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to John A. Busterud for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force" MOTION PASSED 9-0. John A. Busterud said receiving the Resolution was very important
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to him. He said being part of the Blue Ribbon Task Force Commit-tee (BRTF) had been a learning process at a different level of government than he had had before. He hoped the BRTF contributed a different dimension to the review of the work being done by the consultant. He believed the Hughes, Heiss & Associates' report was fair and well done and he hoped it would receive favorable consideration by the Council. Council Member Wheeler said the members of the BRTF were selected for particular skills and experience in their professional lives to enhance the skills of the Finance Committee members. John provided a wealth of experience. He was member of the original task force and was a faithful attendee from the beginning and until the conclusion of the study. She thanked John for his wise advice and support throughout the process. Council Member Fazzino echoed the comments of Council Member Wheeler. John was an active and faithful member of the BRTF. The City was fortunate to have obtained John's involvement on the BRTF. He said John once served with great distinction in the California State Assembly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He expressed his deep gratitude to John for his outstanding service and thanked him for devoting his time and effort on an important issue. 4. Resolution Expressing Appreciation to Mike Cobb for Outstand-ing Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force Council Member Fazzino requested that the motion to adopt the Resolution of Appreciation to Mike Cobb be continued until he was available to personally receive the Resolution. MOTION TO CONTINUE: Council Member Fazzino moved, seconded by Wheeler, to continue the adoption of the Resolution to a future meeting. MOTION TO CONTINUE PASSED 9-0. MOTION: Council Member Fazzino moved, seconded by Simitian, to adjust the time of the hearing of the item regarding the Organiza-tional Review to begin no later than 8:00 p.m. MOTION PASSED 9-0. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Lynn Chiapella, 631 Colorado Avenue, spoke regarding street trees. Edmund Power, 2254 Dartmouth Street, spoke regarding fair play (letter on file in the City Clerk's Office). Harry Merker, 501 Forest Avenue, spoke regarding the Veterans Memorial. Tony Badger, 381 Hawthorne Avenue, spoke regarding the Sand Hill Road draft measure.
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Claudio Martinez, P.O. Box 273, Palo Alto, spoke regarding past Council minutes. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 6, 1994 MOTION: Council Member Wheeler moved, seconded by Andersen, to approve the Minutes of June 6, 1994, as submitted. MOTION PASSED 9-0. CONSENT CALENDAR MOTION: Council Member Andersen moved, seconded by Simitian, to approve Consent Calendar Item Nos. 5 - 8. 5. Resolution 7342 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Larry Horton for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force" 6. Resolution 7343 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Expressing Appreciation to Larry Hootnick for Outstanding Public Service as a Member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force" 7. Arbitration Award and Compensation Plan for Police Non-Management Personnel Resolution 7344 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Adopting a Compensation Plan for Police Non-Management Personnel and Rescinding Resolution No. 7013" Resolution 7345 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Section 1601 of the Merit System Rules and Regulations Regarding the Memorandum of Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Peace Officers' Association" 8. Memorandum of Agreement, Local 715 Service Employees Interna-tional Union (SEIU) and Compensation Plan for Classified Personnel Resolution 7346 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Adopting a Compensation Plan for Classified Personnel (SEIU) and Repealing Resolution Nos. 6986, 7108, 7178, 7198, 7222, and 7333" Resolution 7347 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Section 1401 of the Merit System Rules and Regulations" MOTION PASSED 9-0. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS
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9. 8:00 p.m. - The Finance Committee/Blue Ribbon Task Force Recommendation re Acceptance of the Organizational Review Report from Hughes, Heiss & Associates and Direction to the City Manager to review the results and return with a plan for implementation in September 1994 Mayor Kniss said to put the issue into perspective, the last organizational review prior to Hughes, Heiss & Associates (HHA) was Booz Allen Company in late 1969 or the early 1970s. Council Member Wheeler said approximately 18 months ago, the City Council retained the firm of Hughes, Heiss & Associates to conduct an organizational review for all General Fund departments and functions. The review, started in December 1992, and was a two- phase project. The purpose of the review was to save money, provide substantive review of organizations that had not been reviewed for a long period of time, and assure Palo Altans that the funds were wisely and efficiently spent. The first phase consisted of a broad, overview analysis of General Fund opera-tions. The objective for the first phase was to identify areas that were operating well which warranted no further work and to identify areas to be considered for detail review and analysis in Phase II of the project. Phase 1 results were presented to Council in July 1993. The report presented that evening repre-sented the results of the second and final phase of the Organiza-tional Review. She noted the issues contained in the report had been previously reported to Council and had been discussed in detail in a series of joint Finance Committee/Blue Ribbon Task Force meetings between December 1993 and June 1994. The minutes from the meetings were included in the packet. MOTION: Council Member Wheeler for the Finance Committee moved to accept the Organizational Review report from Hughes, Heiss & Associates and direct the City Manager to review the results and return with a plan for implementation in September 1994 John Heiss, Hughes, Heiss & Associates, provided an overview of Phase II findings and recommendations. He said the significant changes were to expand private contracting in parks, trees, and finance; consider reducing fire suppression staffing; upgrade urban forestry program; improve code enforcement; close the Terman Branch Library; and adjust the City plan of organization, e.g., create an Administrative Services Department and transfer some functions within departments; provide efficiencies in administrative and program staffing in Community Services, Equipment Management, Finance, Planning and Community Environment, Police, and add staff resources in the areas of library services, Fire, and Planning and Community Environment. He said the areas that had no changes were Human Resources, Public Works Engineering, and Informational Resources other than the minor operational changes suggested. It would be counterproductive to try to address the principal categories of findings in Phase II given the extent of the analysis and the detail with which the report had been reviewed by the Finance Committee/BRTF. Council Member Fazzino thanked Messrs. Heiss and Brady for their
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efforts. When the study began, there was a bias on his part that the City could achieve significant efficiencies in the area of middle management. He preferred to reduce City Hall middle management by five or ten positions than to reduce the library hours. There were not many specific recommendations to eliminate middle management positions. He asked how the City's size of middle management staff compared to other comparable cities, factoring in Utilities. Mr. Heiss said Phase I profiled the City organization in detail, e.g., specific units, departments, and programs, so that everyone could understand what everybody did. The benchmarking exercise considered the proportion of middle management staff in the City compared to "benchmark cities." The comparison showed that Palo Alto was a little below the average of the other cities. Every position in the middle management and supervisory structure in the City was tested as they went through the review. Many of the internal adjustment areas involved primarily middle management and supervisors. Many of the people in middle management positions in the City were not only managers but program people who carried specific workloads that related to operating programs. The study proposed the changes that could be done without negatively effecting services. The middle management staffing was efficient. The areas where change could be made and efficiencies achieved had been highlighted and were relatively limited. Richard Brady, Hughes, Heiss & Associates, said in the situation where issues were raised regarding the numbers of middle managers in Community Services, a corresponding need to add staff was found; and the savings associated with the reduction of staff was reinvested in staff that performed administrative clerical, financial, or analytical duties. Mr. Heiss said an issue that arose during discussion at the Finance Committee/BRTF meeting related to the recommendations in the Community Services area. The comment was that that was a lot of change to save approximately $30,000 but that was only the bottom line impact. The proposal was for over $200,000 to be reinvested in position changes which translated middle management into program level areas. Council Member Fazzino asked for justification of the introduction of community services officers or comparable-type personnel and for clarification of the suggestion that the City move toward policing, as the need increased, rather than replacing current levels of need handled by sworn police officers. Mr. Brady said the study did not recommend that the Police Department move toward community policing. The City had been in the process over the last several years of converting from a traditional kind of law enforcement approach to community polic-ing. The recommendation was that as the City developed its plan of how to use the people and how to evaluate the effectiveness of proactive assignments, that it be done in a formal way with advanced analysis and planning which had not been done in the past. It had been difficult for the Police Department up to that
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point in the absence of an information system. The community services officer issue was whether to employ non-sworn field personnel at the present time or at some point in the future. The question was whether sworn personnel needed to respond to lower priority activities, but there was not enough activities to substitute sworn personnel at the current workload level. If staff were converted to non-sworn personnel, the City would reduce its capabilities to perform some of the things done in community policing and respond to crimes and other service calls in the community as well as the potential officer safety. The City could increase the level of service by adding community services officers, but it was not justified by the analysis of the present workload and it was not one of the areas where an increase of service levels was needed. The service levels were high in comparison to benchmark communities. However, as the workload increased in the future, the study recommended that the City consider adding personnel in a mix of sworn and non-sworn that would not compromise the service or the officer safety aspects while being able to differentiate workloads among highly-trained police officers and non-sworn personnel. Council Member Fazzino asked for Mr. Brady to differentiate between what was meant by community policing versus community services officers. Mr. Brady said the highly-trained police officer would be used to respond to crimes in progress and in areas where their training could be used the best. The less highly trained non-sworn personnel would respond to non-crimes or crimes that had happened previously. Community services officers responded to minor activities. Community policing was an effort being strived for by many police departments in the country as a different way of looking at how police officers were used during the daytime. Community policing targeted the proactive time to address known problems in the community, e.g., traffic, after school, late night. It was a different way of using both sworn and non-sworn personnel. Council Member Fazzino said throughout the study, it pointed to the strange mix of services reporting to the Director of Community Services, but there was no new recommendation regarding a manage-ment position with responsibility for all community services. He had expected it to end up as part of Administrative Services reporting to the Assistant City Manager. He asked for justifica-tion for lack of action in that area. Mr. Heiss said as they learned how the department worked and how the pieces of the department functioned together, they became convinced that it was not a bad idea and could not think of a better way to do it. Within that context, there were several issues related to areas that were part of Community Services that did not fit which was why the proposal suggested that Park Mainte-nance be transferred to the Public Works Department. The better course for the Community Services operation was to try and strengthen the program at the program level.
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Mr. Brady said the study found that the Community Services model was still valid and represented a lot of opportunity for the City. The question related to how well it worked in a number of areas, particularly the areas associated with the duplication of service between the Recreation, Open Space & Sciences, and Arts and Culture as well as duplication of programs. Over time, the two parts of the organization had evolved into a separate life that did not necessarily provide better service to the community. It could be fixed internally with the existing organization, which had been tried in the past, or the organization could be reorganized and the two parts of the organization merged so that problems associated with the analysis of what had been done, clerical, and financial management side could be resolved. Council Member Huber clarified that Council's acceptance of the report only meant that the Council had received the document and that it would be forwarded to the City Manger for review and it was not approval of anything in the report. Council Member Wheeler said that was correct. Council Member McCown asked whether there were any other changes being made by HHA to the Council to findings or recommendations as a result of anything that had been heard during the Finance Committee/BRTF meetings and other sources of input other than the code enforcement position issue that had been mentioned earlier. Mr. Heiss said clarification was the major issue that HHA had been asked to address as a result of one of the meetings. Council Member McCown clarified the essence of the factual basis and the findings arrived at and the recommendations made to the Council were the same notwithstanding whatever input was heard through that process other than clarifications. Mr. Heiss said there were some clarifications, but the recommenda-tions were basically the same. Council Member Andersen asked how the savings was determined between outside contracting and full-time equivalents. Mr. Heiss said the tree maintenance was a good example. He worked in detail with the tree people and tried to figure out what it cost to do the job with in-house staff. Several sources were used to guesstimate how much it would cost to contract the work. The City had already entered into existing contracts for comparable work, and he contacted several cities on the Peninsula to find out who delivered the services for the tree area and what the cities paid for comparable work under large contracts. The information was factored to determine what it cost to have the work done through a contract, how much time would be removed from the in-house staff, and how it translated into a staffing reduction in that area. The amount of savings was based on the number of employee hours involved in the process; and if the City used a private contractor, what the current contracts were for comparable services delivered in terms of work quality for a certain number
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of units and the range. The estimate for each of the areas was based on contract costs either represented by people who provided the service or the actual experience of other cities that were currently contracting for comparable services. Council Member Andersen asked the percentage difference for the contracting. Mr. Heiss said it was approximately 25 percent on a unit basis. Council Member Andersen asked whether there would be any savings if the City insisted in the contract that the health benefits be provided for employees. Mr. Heiss said the City of San Mateo had a requirement in its contract that the contractors provide health insurance, not comparable benefits. The labor costs were less, inclusive of the benefit question, and the equipment costs were less because of the higher levels of utilization. Most contractors had to provide basic health coverage or not compete in the public sector. Council Member Schneider asked whether the report would have looked different if HHA had had the same amount of contact with other organizations in the community as it did with the Tree Task Force. Mr. Heiss said the contact was with the Public Works Department staff that were involved in delivering the service. Representa-tives of the Tree Task Force came to the meetings and made comments, and he received one written communication from the chairperson of the Tree Task Force. Some members of the BRTF felt that the real charge was to look at efficiency, effectiveness, etc., and raise questions about whether or not a service level increase was in the charge of the study. He referred to the benchmarking that was begun at the beginning of the study and said the City provided very high service levels in almost every area, especially in the Community Services and public safety areas. Tree maintenance was an area where there was a big difference between industry standards and the comparable practices in other communities. It was the one area where a substantial service area was found, and HHA felt the issue should be raised since a substantial amount of money and pieces could be done and still improve the urban forest. Council Member Wheeler said the Finance Committee/BRTF had considerable discussion regarding the use of benchmarks, particularly in Phase I. The work done with the benchmark cities was obvious in Phase I. The work done with the cities or with other cities was less obvious in Phase II. She said the comments that evening regarding the tree area and the recommendation to the Council reflected that HHA felt that Palo Alto had shortcomings in certain areas and also reflected the examination of the delivery of similar services in other public jurisdictions whether it was specifically identified in benchmark cities or in other cities in the area.
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Mr. Heiss agreed. The tree example went beyond the benchmark cities employed in the beginning. The study looked at the standards for tree care, e.g., trimming and replacement, proposed by professional tree people, both public and private, and whether there was a deficiency and what it would take to correct it. The study looked at other cities that had an effective reforestry program and what was being done compared to the national standards which were often standards that could not be achieved. There were a number of cities with not as large an urban forest who were able to take care of the urban forest and trim trees at a greater frequency than Palo Alto. A variety of sources were used to make the recommendation. Mr. Brady said Council Member Wheeler was correct when she characterized the influence of Phase I and the benchmark as being subtle in the way Phase II was conducted. The major conclusions of the benchmarks were that Palo Alto was in the top group in terms of service levels in most of the categories reviewed and was in the middle in terms of organizational levels regarding proportions of management staff and staff devoted to internal support types of operations versus line operations. Ideas were generated and applied in the some of the organizational analysis in the Police Department, Community Services, etc., because of the amount of information obtained from the benchmark communities. Mayor Kniss said it appeared that an even weight had been given to the savings identified. She asked if the savings were weighted against community values. The study indicated the playground equipment was good to excellent throughout the City, and she was surprised since the community had indicated differently. She was also puzzled about the tennis courts since citizens in the community had indicated that the tennis courts were not in great shape throughout the City. Mr. Brady said the findings were based on physical observations of approximately 50 percent of the park network and were compared with a quality rating checklist. The study looked at whether the equipment was reasonably maintained and safe. He said the tennis courts were rated on cleanliness, maintenance, and whether they were well surfaced. The quality of maintenance was evaluated and not the quality of the facilities. Mayor Kniss clarified the maintenance of the facilities was good. Mr. Heiss said the City had a plan in place for renewing and renovating the equipment during the next several years. HHA had not criticized the City for having poor equipment that was going to be replaced in the near future. The maintenance for the existing structures was good. The Parks Maintenance Section covered ways of directing the dollars. Mayor Kniss asked whether the closing of a library was a logical way for the City to save money and whether it was compared to the City's value system. Mr. Heiss said the team understood the community's expectations
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for high levels of service in a number of areas, but it could not be automatically accepted that the way the City spent money on some things was consistent with that high level of expectation. The Terman Library was an example of money being spent in an area that was illogical. The majority of the people in the neighbor-hood never used the Terman Library because the services were limited. Mr. Brady said the space and books were limited at Terman Library and the hours of operation were half what was offered by the other libraries. The service per capita was far below what it was at the other libraries and the use had declined about 20 percent. The recommendation made sense since the two libraries were close and had needs to maintain the hours of operation and service provided, and it supported the community values issue. Council Member Fazzino asked whether the possibility of merging the Gunn High School library and the Terman Library in the future had been investigated. There had been discussion between the City staff and the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) regarding that possibility. Mr. Brady said yes, but there seemed to be a clash of values concerning the library's operation, having people on a school campus, collection requirements, etc. Vice Mayor Simitian asked whether there were some areas that were singled out as obvious savings as distinguished from other areas that were worth pursuing but would be a judgment call. Mr. Heiss said the savings proposed could be implemented without a negative impact on the residents of the City. The recommendations were equally weighted from that point but some were more controversial than others. Vice Mayor Simitian asked how much had been spent on the effort by HHA since its inception. City Auditor Bill Vinson said the contract was for a fixed fee $167,000. Vice Mayor Simitian asked whether there were costs in the City Auditor's Office associated with the study that could be quanti-fied. Mr. Vinson said the costs associated with the City Auditor's function would be arranging meetings, coordinating interviews with the consultants and City staff, and printing, except for the 20 original copies provided by the consultant. Vice Mayor Simitian asked whether staff time devoted to the project could be quantified. Mr. Vinson replied no. City Manager June Fleming said staff was heavily involved, but the
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time was not documented and she could not give an estimate of the dollar amount. Susan Wexler, 805 Tolman Drive, thanked the Council for listening to the Public Art Commissioners and the community at the last open meeting. She was confident the Council would not weaken the arts in Palo Alto by moving forward with the recommendation of the HHA report regarding the division of the Arts and Culture. Palo Alto was seen by the rest of the area as a cultural mecca. The quality of life was not bottom line concerns but the society, community, and the civilization's arts and ideas. Arts issues were related to bottom line issues, and the savings of $32,000 would not come close to what would be lost by weakening the arts in the community, e.g., people and businesses moving to Palo Alto and what the City offered to people that brought in tax revenue. A rich cultural environment supported and resulted in a healthy fiscal community. It was important to have an art professional as the Director of Arts and Culture as a separate division whose leadership conceptualized programs and projects and put them into effect. Tony Spitaleri, President, Palo Alto Firefighters Union, referred to the motion which stated the City Manager would implement the recommendations in the report. He spoke on behalf of the Fire Department regarding the creditability of the report and its comparisons. The Fire Department had previously asked for specific cities in benchmarking which cited certain areas of service levels, but the information had not been received. Mayor Kniss clarified the intent of the motion was that the City Manager would review the results and return to the Council with a plan. The Council would vote on the City Manager's plan and the implementation schedule of that plan on September 26, 1994. Mr. Spitaleri said the Fire Department disagreed with the state-ment in the report that staffing could be reduced without any negative impact on the community. During previous discussions, statements were made about not crossing the line of reducing service in Palo Alto. The line had been crossed with the Fire Department with the recommendation to reduce the levels of service provided to the citizens of Palo Alto. He had not seen many reductions in the upper or middle level management. It appeared that the projected savings recommended would be made at the expense of the firefighters and reduction of service to the community. He said HHA should have been honest about what was happening in its own company. He said the Fire Department was an insurance that was called upon by citizens when there was an emergency. The Fire Department had not been increased for 18 years, and it provided more and more service. A reduction of staff in the Fire Department would jeopardize the citizens of the community. Council Member Andersen asked whether a one-page report that listed the cities in the area that had the same level of support and size of operation as Palo Alto could be provided to the Council.
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Mr. Spitaleri said yes. Bob Moss, 4010 Orme Street, said there were factual errors in the report regarding the libraries. The Terman Library had had a reduction in circulation of 20 percent because the hours had been reduced by one-third, and the collection and size were limited. He suggested the size of the Terman Library be doubled, the Friends of the Library and storage be moved to Wing 30, the hours of operation increased to 20 or 24 hours per week, and add a computer center to draw patronage from the Stanford Research Park. The amount of savings by closing Terman Library was trivial, and the amount of annoyance for the people in southwest Palo Alto losing any vestige of services would be enormous. He said there was no bus service from Barron Park to the Mitchell Park Library, and it was inconvenient to go to College Terrace Library. He agreed that professionals should be in charge of various facilities. He said being a firefighter was one of the most hazardous occupations, and if the staffing in the Fire Department were reduced, it put the public at risk and the firefighters. Claudio Martinez, P.O. Box 273, Palo Alto, spoke regarding consultants and the libraries. Herb Borock, 2731 Byron Street, believed the Finance Commit-tee/BRTF had asked the consultants to report on the fee for service to pay for the work done by the code enforcement officer. He hoped that question would be included in the report brought back to the Council from staff. He said it would cost $53,000 not $43,000 to hire an additional code enforcement officer. The City Manager acknowledged the recommendation to add staff to the Planning Division merely restored staffing levels that already existed. The reorganization suggested for the Planning Division might result in the same number of people for less money, but it was stretched very thin and more non-management professional planners and support staff should be added in future budgets. He referred to statements on pages 21 and 26 of the report and said combining the two divisions would not result in efficiencies. He referred to page 5 of Interdepartmental Issues which listed the categories of the Transportation Division and said if the capital projects plus the traffic signal upgrades, which were 37 percent of the workload, were moved to Engineering and the remaining 63 percent moved to the Planning Division, one middle management position could be eliminated. Marion Hill, 4270 Pomona Avenue, said the Terman Library did not operate at optimum levels for many of the reasons outlined by Mr. Moss. Several years before, he had showed how the library had the same level of use as College Terrace Library based on the number of hours open. The Terman Library was envisioned as an anchor to the community center when the Terman Specific Plan was developed. The closure of the library would create a void in the efforts of the forthcoming committee to implement the Terman Specific Plan with respect to the community center. He suggested the services be improved at the library, and the library not closed.
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Lynn Chiapella, 631 Colorado Avenue, hoped that when the level of services were decided, that something would be included regarding Arastradero, Foothills Park, and the Baylands which were part of the park services. It would be more efficient to contract for the tree trimming. She believed a voice-activated system for code enforcement would allow residents to leave a message about a problem or complaint, and a simple form would help prioritized the work. Jim Coffman, President, Palo Alto Peace Police Officers' Associa-tion, was opposed to any plan that would reduce any police services, e.g., the transfer of officers from the midnight shift to days and the elimination of the property crimes detective. The police staff had worked hard in their efforts to refute some of the findings and recommendations of the HHA report. He was certain the City Manager would take the information into consider-ation and pass it along to the Council in her final recommenda-tions. The dispatchers were the lifeline in the City and were the people who dispatched and coordinated calls for ambulances, paramedics, etc. During the past month, the majority of the Police Department had worked 12-hour days because of the World Cup, and the fatigue and moral was very low. The HHA report stated that in many departments that had started the 12-hour day, the employee burnout and moral had improved and the sick leave had been reduced. He would be willing to eliminate two police officer positions in order to keep a 10-hour day for the dispatchers. Vice Mayor Simitian said the real cost of the report was approxi-mately $250,000 which included the consultant's fee of $167,000 and the amount of staff time involved. It would be approximately three years and nine months since the start of the process in October 1991 before the Council saw an annual budget that re-flected some of the recommendation and potential savings. AMENDMENT: Vice Mayor Simitian moved, seconded by Fazzino, to direct the City Manager to return to the City Council in September 1994, using the HHA report as a starting point, and recommend a savings equal to or greater than 1 percent of the 1994-95 General Fund Budget which would include proposed changes that would have a limited impact on the public. Vice Mayor Simitian said the Council had a set of recommendations from the consultant that indicated a potential savings of approx-imately $1.5 to $1.6 million. The figure suggested in the amendment was below that amount. The question was whether the Council was committed to some savings through the process after three plus years' worth of discussion by the Council. It had been his view that the process should lead to some real, tangible savings. The Council needed to send a message to the City Manager and her staff that it was prepared to impose some cost-saving measures. It would be disappointing, after three years' worth of study, that the City could not realize at least a l percent savings based on the HHA report and the City Manager's professional judgment. Council Member Andersen said many of the recommendations involved
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negotiations with employee organizations, and he asked whether those recommendations were included in the percentage. Vice Mayor Simitian said yes. He expected the City Manager to return to the Council with her own recommendations that were either triggered by the study or that reflected her own experience and judgment in the organization. He used the phrase equal to or greater than 1 percent and to use the HHA report as a starting point since the City Manager might return with a lesser amount of savings from the document or perhaps propose additional savings. Council Member Andersen opposed the amendment. He did not want to lock the City Manager into a percentage. He reminded the Council that another purpose of the study was to demonstrate to the community the extent to which the City was operating efficiently. There were some significant savings that could be implemented and perhaps that figure would come about in the City Manager's efforts. If the City Manager recommended less than a 1 percent savings, the Council could determine that it was a result of the conclusions presented by the study that the City was doing a good job. That confirmation was an important element for the Council's policy considerations in the future. Vice Mayor Simitian said the amendment would not lock the City Manager into a percentage, but the Council would want a minimal level of savings of 1 percent. It presupposed that there was not an organization in the world, no matter how well run it might be, that after 25 years without an outside review, could not find a 1 percent savings if it put the best efforts of its management team, its Council, its Finance Committee, its BRTF, and an outside consultant team to work. If the City could not find a 1 percent savings after going through all that effort, the message to the community would not be that the City had an outstanding organiza-tion but that it refused to make improvements where it could and instead wanted to keep a lid on staff salaries, cut real services, or look for new revenues. He hoped that was not the message the Council would send and hoped the Council would send a message that the other things would be done only when the Council was prepared to look inside the organization. The Council had to ask itself whether it was prepared to face up to the need to make the savings without affecting services, and the City Manager had indicated in the past that she could do that. The dollar amount was a reference point for the September 1994 report back from the City Manager. Mayor Kniss asked whether 1 percent would be defined by the City Manager before the September 26, 1994, City Council meeting. Vice Mayor Simitian clarified the motion indicated the City Manager would review the results and return with a plan for implementation in September 1994, and the amendment stated that as part of that plan for implementation the City Manager would return with savings equal to or greater than 1 percent of the budget. Council Member Wheeler opposed the amendment. She wanted the City Manager to have the freedom to use her best professional judgment,
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and she did not want the effectiveness of the City Manager's process to be lessened by a figure stipulated by the City Council. She did not want the City Manager to have less of an opportunity than the consultants had to comment about the organization. When the City Manager returned during the budget process with her list of potential savings to the organization, she indicated to the Council that beyond the level proposed of approximately $400,000 to $500,000 that any further cuts made to the organization would have an impact on service levels. A suggestion of $700,000 to $800,000 would have that kind of impact. Mayor Kniss associated with the comments of Council Members Andersen and Wheeler and opposed the amendment. The study would be used as a snapshot, and she anticipated that it would be used, both in the implementation and the next budget cycle, to identify possibilities in a number of areas. Council Member Fazzino said it was reasonable to ask the City Manager to use the 1 percent General Fund savings as a goal after three years of effort. He recognized that when specific service alternatives came before the Council, it would be very difficult for the Council to vote to implement recommendations put forth by HHA or the City Manager. AMENDMENT FAILED 2-7, Fazzino, Simitian "yes." MOTION PASSED 9-0. Council Member Wheeler thanked Messrs. Heiss and Brady for the tremendous effort in the City's organizational review. COUNCIL MATTERS 10. Council Comments, Questions, and Announcements Vice Mayor Simitian expressed concern regarding the condition and appearance of the Downtown public areas and suggested a need for improvement. He addressed a process question regarding the state of the Downtown, e.g., benches, alcoves, etc., and asked what the appropriate venue was for discussion. City Manager June Fleming said she could address the issue if it were a general maintenance issue; but if it were a larger issue, she would suggest the City Council agendize the item. Mayor Kniss asked that the item be agendized. Council Member Andersen asked whether the City Attorney could provide information regarding contract health care services in San Mateo. City Attorney Ariel Calonne said yes. He also indicated that there was a broader issue that he would address with the Council. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
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ATTEST: APPROVED: City Clerk Mayor NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.200 (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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