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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-02-12 City Council Summary Minutes Regular Meeting February 12, 1996 1. Joint Meeting with Supervisor Dianne McKenna..........78-193 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m............78-193 1. Presentation of American Public Power Association Honor Roll Award to Utilities Advisory Commissioner Fred Eyerly..78-194 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS........................................78-196 2. Request to Expend Asset Seizure Funds for Photo Imaging System 78-196 3. Contract between the City of Palo Alto and Milton J. Smith for Professional Services of Laboratory Technologist......78-196 4. Contract between the City of Palo Alto and B&B Concrete Construction Company, Inc. for the Cultural Center Courtyard Repair Project - CIP 19803............................78-196 AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS...................78-197 5. Conference with Labor Negotiator......................78-197 6. PUBLIC HEARING: Resolution Approving and Adopting the County of Santa Clara Integrated Waste Management Plan, Summary Plan and Siting Element Pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 41750 Et Seq..........................................78-197 7. Historic Resources Board re Approval of a Historic Property Preservation Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and the Owners of the Squire House, Located at 900 University Avenue 78-198 RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION 8:33 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M.............78-207 8. Ordinance 4328 entitled "Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 1995-96 to Provide a Housing Loan to the City Manager.........78-207 02/12/96 78-191 78-191 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m............78-207 02/12/96 78-192 78-192 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met in a Special Meeting on this date in the Council Conference Room at 5:40 p.m. PRESENT: Andersen, Fazzino, Huber (arrived at 6:10 p.m.), Kniss (arrived at 5:41 p.m.), McCown, Rosenbaum, Schneider, Simitian (arrived at 5:50 p.m.), Wheeler SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY 1. Joint Meeting with Supervisor Dianne McKenna ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Tony Spitaleri, Palo Alto Fire Department, spoke regarding the future of the Reid-Hillview Airport. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m. 02/12/96 78-193 78-193 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers at 7:08 p.m. PRESENT: Andersen, Fazzino, Huber, Kniss, McCown, Rosenbaum, Schneider, Simitian, Wheeler SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY 1. Presentation of American Public Power Association Honor Roll Award to Utilities Advisory Commissioner Fred Eyerly Mayor Wheeler said Utilities Advisory Commissioner Fred Eyerly was first elected to the City Council in 1975 and served for eight years. During all of those years, Mr. Eyerly was Palo Alto's Commissioner on the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA). For four years, he served as the NCPA chair. In 1991, Mr. Eyerly was appointed a member of the new Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) which was formed by the City Council. Mr. Eyerly showed his unique leadership style by being selected as the UAC's first chair. Mr. Eyerly had completed one full term on the UAC and was reap-pointed for a second three-year term. The honor that Mr. Eyerly had received was one of great distinction. Paul Grimsrud, 3955 Bibbits Drive, said Mr. Eyerly was dedicated to making excellence happen in the Palo Alto utilities. That was evidenced by both his work as a Council Member and as a UAC Member over the years and by Mr. Eyerly and his wife Moya's personal contribution toward funding an award to employees of excellence in the utilities. Mr. Eyerly had been generous in his contributions to the City, both in his time and in his resources. UAC's successes had been largely due to Mr. Eyerly's dedication and help. It was a pleasure to have worked with Mr. Eyerly in the past five years. Council Member Rosenbaum believed the award was richly deserved. Mr. Eyerly was in the NCPA in its formative stages. It was not generally known that Mr. Eyerly served as general manager for a short time during a difficult period. When people at NCPA meetings talked about the history of the organization, who provided the leadership, and who gave it the impetus to become the organization that it was at the present, Mr. Eyerly's name always came up. The City owed Mr. Eyerly a debt of gratitude. Mayor Wheeler presented to Mr. Eyerly the American Public Power Association (APPA) Honor Roll Award. Fred Eyerly was honored to be given the APPA award. He gave a brief overview of history and factual information points about Palo Alto's electric utility. The City provided valuable leadership to NCPA, which was facing increased competition of deregulation. Presently with deregulation, there was a number of critical issues that had to be solved. The Council in 1991 formed the UAC. Much 02/12/96 78-194 78-194 expertise had surfaced from the community, and the Council benefitted from the UAC's in-depth studies of utility issues and projects. He appreciated having been able to serve the community in different positions representing the electric utility, knowing that the successful utility had done much to provide a high quality of life in Palo Alto. Mayor Wheeler announced she attended the annual awards convention of the California Parks and Recreation Society in San Diego. Palo Alto was the first city in the state to win five Certificates of Excellence awards. One was an innovation award for the City's "Buddy Up Program" in which women were matched up to run, walk, or exercise with a partner in response to the serial rapist situation. Another award was in the agency showcase award category for the City's logo for "Opera Per Tutti." Another winner was Recreation's special event, the "Halloween Haunt," which included activities that were held at the Stanford Shopping Center that provided a safe environment for thousands of children and increased exposure for merchants at the shopping center. For the most outstanding program in California, the award went to "Safer Summer," in which 2,400 teenagers participated in late night summer activities. The activities occurred at a time when most youth crime was committed. Judy Kleinberg, who was the backbone of the program, was awarded the California Parks and Recreation Society Merit Award. Ms. Kleinberg devoted many hours, energies, and talent to the program=s success and that the program grew in scope. Ms. Kleinberg still had many ambitions for the future to take the program into its next phase. It was a pleasure to see Ms. Kleinberg recognized by a society of professionals in the field for her work as a volunteer, and it was extremely rare that a volunteer was recognized in that way. Judy Kleinberg, 722 Ashby Drive, said she was very honored that the Mayor, the City Manager, Recreation Division staff, and a board member from Kids in Common came to stand with her to receive the award and watch Palo Alto become the first City in the state to win five awards. Many heroes made the award happen--Council Member Kniss, City Manager June Fleming, Police Chief Chris Durkin, Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Jim Brown, and others. As the City headed into the third "Safer Summer," everybody wanted to copy Palo Alto, which was the highest praised city. Palo Alto was very unique and knew how to work together, to cooperate, and collaborate; but there were many other communities that were just learning that. She was proud that her dream could become a vision because of where she lived and because of her colleagues and neighbors. Council Member Kniss said Ms. Kleinberg almost single-handedly took an idea and made it work. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 02/12/96 78-195 78-195 The Queen of Hearts, City of Palo Alto Recreation Division, presented Council Members with a special deck of cards as a Valentines' Day reminder of the many special events that take place in Palo Alto. Ben Bailey, 343 Byron Street, spoke regarding the big half-pint wine caper. Odile Disch-Bhadkamkar, 369 Matadero Avenue, spoke regarding weapons in Palo Alto schools. Michael Bachmann, 159 Melville Avenue, spoke regarding raising the Tibetan flag on March 10, 1996. Michael Thompson, 621 Hawthorne Avenue, spoke regarding the plan check process in the City of Palo Alto. CONSENT CALENDAR MOTION: Council Member McCown moved, seconded by Schneider, to approve Consent Calendar Item Nos. 2 - 4. 2. Request to Expend Asset Seizure Funds for Photo Imaging System Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and Technology for Productivity Company for Photo Imaging System 3. Contract between the City of Palo Alto and Milton J. Smith for Professional Services of Laboratory Technologist 4. Contract between the City of Palo Alto and B&B Concrete Construction Company, Inc. for the Cultural Center Courtyard Repair Project - CIP 19803; change orders not to exceed $3,700. MOTION PASSED 8-0, Huber absent. AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS Mayor Wheeler announced that Item No. 5 would occur after Item No. 7. CLOSED SESSION The item might occur during the recess or after the Regular Meeting. 5. Conference with Labor Negotiator Agency Negotiator: City Council Ad Hoc Personnel Committee (Lanie Wheeler, Joe Huber, Dick Rosenbaum) and City Attorney Ariel Calonne Unrepresented Employee: City Manager June Fleming 02/12/96 78-196 78-196 Authority: Government Code section 54957.6 Public Comment None. PUBLIC HEARINGS 6. PUBLIC HEARING: Resolution Approving and Adopting the County of Santa Clara Integrated Waste Management Plan, Summary Plan and Siting Element Pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 41750 Et Seq. Mayor Wheeler declared the Public Hearing open. Receiving no requests from the public to speak, she declared the Public Hearing closed. MOTION: Vice Mayor Huber moved, seconded by Kniss, to adopt the Resolution. Resolution 7574 entitled "Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Approving and Adopting the County of Santa Clara Integrated Waste Management Plan, Summary Plan and Siting Element Pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 41750 Et Seq." MOTION PASSED 9-0. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS 7. Historic Resources Board re Approval of a Historic Property Preservation Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and the Owners of the Squire House, Located at 900 University Avenue Council Member Schneider said she would not participate in the item as the City Attorney advised her that her residence was within 300 feet of the subject property. Chief Planning Official Nancy Lytle said the item was a request from the owners of the historic Squire House for the City to enter into a Historic Property Preservation Agreement pursuant to the provisions of the Mills Act of the State of California. The Agreement was consistent with the Comprehensive Plan policy, in particular Program 8 of the Urban Design Element. The owners had agreed to conditions for interior preservation and an annual public tour as the terms of the Preservation Agreement, which would result in tax relief as the owners' incentive for such terms. Historic Resources Board Member Roger Kohler said the Historic Resources Board (HRB) had met and discussed the application. The HRB Members were very enthusiastic about the proposal and the Mills Act program. Some HRB members participated in a seminar about the 02/12/96 78-197 78-197 Mills Act and encouraged staff and the City to promote the program further because it helped save many older homes and provided financial incentive. HRB enthusiastically supported the Historic Property Preservation Agreement. Council Member McCown referred to the recitation in the Agreement of photographing parts of the interior and having those specified as part of what was being preserved; she asked if that were a typical provision. Mr. Kohler understood that within the Mills Act program, each city could write in the contract what that city wanted each applicant to do. In the case of the Squire House, the photographs would be part of the records. Council Member McCown clarified that since the facade easement was there, obviously the inside was the significant additional benefit. MOTION: Council Member McCown moved, seconded by Fazzino, to approve the Historic Resources Board recommendation to approve the Historic Property Preservation Agreement. Further, to direct the Planning Department staff to establish a written policy, applica-tion procedure, and fee as part of its Work Program but to continue to process agreements prior to establishing a procedure. Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and Ernest and Mildred Mario, Owners of the Squire House, Located at 900 University Avenue, for Historic Property Preservation Vice Mayor Huber asked how the City would go about establishing a procedure to establish what categories of houses the City might encourage to have preserved. Ms. Lytle said staff included establishing a procedure from Mills Act as an item in staff's work program that would be brought before Council simultaneous with the budget and Capital Improvement Program process. Establishing categories and encouraging preserva-tion could be discussed then. Council Member Rosenbaum asked if the Agreement would apply to future owners of the Squire House. Ms. Lytle said yes. Council Member Rosenbaum clarified that current owners made a considerable investment, and if they were to sell next year, the future owners who made no investment and had no obligation other than to open the house once a year would enjoy a property tax relief of $13,000 per year. Ms. Lytle said that was correct. However, in addition to the public tour, future owners would also be required to keep the 02/12/96 78-198 78-198 interior of the house the way it was at the present time, according to the terms of the agreement; future owners would not be allowed to come in, remodel, and eliminate historic portions of the home. Council Member Rosenbaum said most of the property tax went to Santa Clara County (the County) and the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD). He asked if those agencies had been consulted and what the general view was of the Mills Act given it was the County and PAUSD that lost money. Ms. Lytle said the PAUSD and the County had not been specifically consulted on the application, but she believed they were aware of the Mills Act provision. The County might have availed itself of its use for historic resources, since the Mills Act was a state program similar to the Williamson Act, which the County also participated in heavily for agricultural preservation. Mr. Kohler said the program was intended to encourage the improve-ment of historic homes which would increase the value of the house. One of the major points made at the seminar on the Mills Act was that an entire neighborhood, not just an individual, could benefit from those types of programs. Council Member Rosenbaum said there seemed to be some variability in the estimate as to what the tax reduction would be. He asked what the basis was for the amount of the Mills Act's property tax reduction. Ms. Lytle said the source for the range came from the County Assessor's Office. The Assessor's Office worked from a table, but it had not yet specifically made the assessment and would not until the Agreement occurred. Council Member Rosenbaum asked what the Mills Act said about how it was determined that the tax reduction in the case of Squire House was on the order of 80 percent and not 20, 30, or 50 percent. Guy Blase, 356 Coleridge Avenue, was an attorney interested in historic property. His family owned historic property on Addison Avenue and the house was built in 1912. He became aware of the Mills Act in the mid-1980s when a partner and he bought a historic property, the Merriman Winchester House built in the 1880s, in the City of Los Altos. The City of Los Altos was grateful that they wanted to preserve that house. A Historic Property Preservation Agreement between the home owner and the City was recorded, and the County Assessor was required under the Mills Act to reassess the property. The complicated reassessment formula in the Mills Act provided taking the fair rental value of the property and dividing it by an artificially high capitalization rate of about 15 to 18 percent, which would result in a very low rate of value. He and the Mario family, owners of the Squire House, would be dealing with the Assessor to determine the fair rental value. It was generally true that in a rental property, a decent return on investment in 02/12/96 78-199 78-199 rent was not received. The gross rent was not very high, but the operating expenses were. The result was a very low rental value. With a low rental value and a high capitalization rate in the formula, there would be a low value for property tax purposes which would last forever. The California Historical Preservation Society believed the Mills Act was the most important tool to encourage the preservation of historic properties in California. Council Member Andersen asked, if the property should resell, whether Proposition 13 would apply. Mr. Blase said the reason that there had not been many Mills Act applications in Palo Alto was that most historic properties were owned long term. Properties were owned before 1978 when Proposi-tion 13 became effective, and those owners enjoyed very low assessed valuations; there was not much incentive to enter into a Historic Property Preservation Agreement. The Marios bought the Squire House fairly recently, paid a very high price for it, and paid very high taxes. The Marios were the type of people who owned historic properties to ask the City for the tax relief. The Marios might sell some day, and the new owner would continue to enjoy the low assessment. Council Member Rosenbaum said there was a number of homes, particularly in the Professorville area, which had been very carefully fixed up and preserved out of a genuine interest on the part of the owners, without any anticipation of property tax relief. He asked whether the City would be receiving a hundred applications from people who had already fixed up their homes, many of whom had bought after 1978, for the identical tax relief. Ms. Lytle said the City would not be receiving a hundred applica-tions in the near future, but she believed that there would be additional demand in the future for that type of tax relief. That was a reason why staff recommended a procedure be established to enable the City to deal with that demand. Council Member Rosenbaum clarified the procedure would be simply to charge a fee and to approve the application. Ms. Lytle said the City could also do an assessment along with that assignment of how many homes would likely avail themselves of the Mills Act program based on the Assessor's information at the time of sale. A fiscal analysis could possibly be done of what that might mean for the Council to consider as it adopted the new procedure. In response to Vice Mayor Huber's earlier comments, discussion could take place on how much outreach the City would like to put into actually encouraging a Historic Property Preserva-tion Agreement. Council Member Rosenbaum asked staff to amplify why it was necessary to move on the Marios' application now rather than doing the study. 02/12/96 78-200 78-200 Ms. Lytle said staff had the same debate, and when staff reviewed the Comprehensive Plan, staff found the programs were so clear in terms of encouraging preservation applications. Staff did not feel that it could delay the request simply because there was no procedure in place. Instead, staff felt the policy direction was to encourage and facilitate it. Staff would return with a procedure for dealing with additional demand from other properties. Mr. Kohler said the Mills Act provided some modest fundings so that people who might not be able to afford immediate improvements could make some improvements in older homes without having to wait many years. The Mills Act not only was for owners who had already done improvements but also encouraged owners who had not. Council Member Rosenbaum said the City wanted to encourage those who had not done the work to do so with the caret of a property tax reduction. It was not obvious what was in it for the City to offer it to people who for good and sufficient reasons had done the work already. He was not prepared to move forward with it until he received more information on the whole subject. Council Member Fazzino agreed that if the Marios did the internal work to preserve the spirits of the original Squire House, that renovation would be reflected in the sales price of the home 10, 20, or 30 years in the future. For future property owners to benefit from that particular provision was appropriate. He believed the state and local governments did not do as much as they should to encourage historic preservation. Despite all the good talk in the City about historic preservation, the City had a fairly weak historic preservation ordinance compared to other communities interested in historic preservation. It was a very appropriate and fiscally conservative way to preserve historically important homes. He knew there was some concern about other approaches the City might take in the area of preservation that could impact property rights, but he believed the Historic Property Preservation Agreement avoided that concern completely. It provided a fiscal incentive for individuals like the Marios to preserve what were truly crown jewels for the community. He was very enthusiastic about the program. If 50 or 100 others came to the Council from the Professorville area and said they wanted to renovate the interiors of their homes to make them look the way they did in 1910 or 1912, the City might have fewer of the hideous plantation home types that had been built in that area over the past few years. He supported the proposal. Vice Mayor Huber understood that once in place, the Historic Property Preservation Agreement had 10 years to run. If either party wanted to end the Agreement, it would still run for the term, which he clarified would be 10 years or less. Mr. Kohler understood the Agreement was renewed automatically every year. 02/12/96 78-201 78-201 Vice Mayor Huber clarified that if signed, the term was 10 years, and then 6 months into the Agreement, if the Marios wanted to end it, they still would have 92 years to go. He asked if that was how the Mills Act worked. City Attorney Ariel Calonne could not speak to the state statute but said that Vice Mayor Huber was correct about the Agreement. Mayor Wheeler believed the questions Council Member Rosenbaum raised were valid. Before the City moved forward with a citywide program, the City should have answers to those questions. However, the Squire House was one of three crown jewels of residential properties in the City. Whereas many of the homes in historic districts like Professorville were very nice homes and the City would like to see more of them preserved, they were much more like their neighbors than the Squire House was like anything else the City had. The Squire House was unique, and she was very comfortable moving ahead with the application. Council Member Simitian supported the proposal. Talking about specific properties and specific owners invited trouble. He believed there were some underlying policy issues that should be highlighted before the Council took action that evening. The Council would be questioned as to why it was giving a substantial property tax break to the owners of a million-dollar estate. The answer was that the more substantial the historic resource to be preserved, the more valuable the property, the more significant the property tax impacts would be. The City struggled with the issue of interior preservation at great length and had modest success at the Varsity Theatre. The City tried to figure out how to get what it wanted in the way of protections for historic preservation on the interior, and the City struggled because it did not want to be in the business of imposing restrictions or prohibitions. However, the City wanted to see the protections that would preserve what was valuable in terms of historic features on the interior structures. The City had protection for 10 years, without regard to individual buildings or individual owners. The City was receiving, for its money, protection against somebody coming in and decimating the interior of a historic structure. Whether it was worth the money could be viewed differently. He believed the City had a structure in place that would provide more than 10 years= worth of protection. The discussion on the Tower Well site was about preservation, and the City did not have the money to pay for it, and then discussion followed about someone else paying for it. In the Mills Act case, there was a situation whereby foregoing revenue was a real cost; but by foregoing revenue, the City had the ability to do interior preservation without imposition of restrictions or prohibitions. He believed that was the right way to get there. If preservation could be done through incentives rather than through prohibitions, that approach should be taken. It was a lot of money because the structure was significant. There were smaller 02/12/96 78-202 78-202 structures that were less valuable, and the amount of money would be smaller. The system worked that way, given the fact there were real costs to those preservation issues, but he believed the City should not lose sight of the underlying policy rationale. Council Member Kniss said the Williamson Act had a defined way to get out of the confines of that Act, which was paying taxes and doing whatever with the property. She supported the proposal and greatly admired what the Marios had done. However, she asked what the response would be if she wanted to buy the Squire House and not have it open. She also asked how the City decided whether or not the Squire House had been restored to the point where it qualified for the Mills Act. It became difficult if houses had been substan-tially redone on the inside and there was little to tell what they originally looked like. Mr. Calonne said it was clear that either side could give notice of nonrenewal, and hence in 10 years the Agreement would go away. He did not know what would happen to the tax savings during the 10-year period or once it was done. He could not say whether that was repaid in any manner. He suspected the term ran the 10 years, and that was the period of the tax benefit. In answer to Council Member Kniss's second question, he referred to Section 3(a) of the Historic Property Preservation Agreement, which gave a standard of the December 1995 photo survey for the interior maintenance. From the way his office viewed it and what he gathered from the staff report (CMR:144:96), it would not establish any kind of policy precedent. One noticeable item was that the exterior was excluded. Page 2 of the Agreement made a reference to the facade easement, but he did not believe it expressly added it to the list of Mills Act requirements. Council would have ample opportunity to set up solid policy guidelines. The Council could direct staff to not bring anymore applications pending development policy. He believed the staff report suggested the opposite and that staff intended to continue bringing applications pending development of a policy. Council had the avenues open to deal with both the future and current applications. Council Member Kniss clarified that once the Agreement was entered into, regardless of how many times the property was sold in that period, whoever bought it had to agree to that provision. Mr. Calonne said the remedy was to give notice and then the owners would have something under 10 years remaining on the Agreement that they had to live with. MOTION PASSED 7-1, Rosenbaum "no," Schneider "not participating." MOTION: Council Member Andersen moved, seconded by Rosenbaum, to direct staff not to send any similar applications regarding the Mills Act to Council until policies and procedures have been developed. 02/12/96 78-203 78-203 Council Member Simitian asked whether the City had anything out there that was at risk pending completion of a policy and whether staff thought that having two or more similar applications might help in determining what would be the elements of a good policy. Sometimes when developing policies, it was helpful to have some practical experience with real-life case studies. On the other hand, if staff said it would continue to deal with them on an ad hoc basis until a policy were developed, then the motion would have merit. Ms. Lytle said staff did not know of any specific properties that were at risk but suspected there would be a few other very worthy applicants, in between the present and when a procedure could be put in place. Staff viewed that the experience would not be bad for the City in terms of processing prior to putting policy on the books. Mr. Kohler said the Mills Act applied not only to residential property but also to commercial property. Council Member Fazzino thought there were very few Category I structures in the Palo Alto Historic Inventory. His interest was to preserve the Category I historic structures, and he would not have a problem with looking at a policy which focused on Category I structures. He clarified that throughout the state, people were not rushing to take advantage of the property tax relief. Mr. Kohler had a list of the number of applications under the Mills Act. He said Redondo Beach had 19. The average was 1 to 3. A few had 10 or 12. There appeared to be about 80 to 100 applications total in the state. Council Member Fazzino asked what the time period was. Mr. Kohler said the list was revised officially in 1984. Council Member Fazzino said there was not a large number. He was sympathetic to Council Members Andersen and Rosenbaum in terms of the need to have a policy in place, but he was not as worried about the possibility of scores of others rushing to Council asking for property tax relief and, thereby, depleting the City coffers. His primary interest was to preserve both interior and exterior aspects of outstanding historic structures. He believed it was appropriate to use the tax system in order to achieve that policy objective; he would have serious problems limiting the ability of owners of truly historic structures from applying for the property tax relief. He would oppose the motion. Council Member Andersen did not believe it was good public policy not to have some system in place that was consistent with all applicants. There would be a question in the minds of the public of whether or not there was an issue of fairness. He was not 02/12/96 78-204 78-204 concerned about the number of potential applicants, but he did not wish the City to send mixed messages to potential applicants. He believed it was appropriate to have clear and understandable policy and procedure in place and then to move forward. Mildred Mario, 900 University Avenue, owner of the Squire House, said she had investigated the Mills Act thoroughly. The Mills Act gave the City Council the leeway to structure it the way the Council wished. The Mills Act was an agreement between the City and the owner. Each Mills Act was different, so the City Council had the ability to change the Mills Act for each property. In the instance of the Squire House, it was unusual for the Mills Act to have control over the inside of a building; but the reason she applied for the Mills Act was that much work on the inside of the House had been done. She wanted to keep it historical. She did not intend to leave the area for many years, but if for some reason the property had to be sold, she would feel badly about a new owner being able to tear out all of historic elements put into it. The house had been open five times in the current year to the public because the public thought the House was very special. The Squire House was Palo Alto. Not only the outside but also the inside should be preserved. The Mills Act achieved that and depended on the property that the City Council was making an agreement with. Council Member McCown opposed the motion. The City needed to develop some policy guidance but did not need to discourage people from putting together applications like the Squire House and bringing them forward in the meantime. She did not think the City would be flooded, and the Council would respond on a case-by-case basis even after the policy was developed. She preferred to not restrict potential applications. MOTION FAILED 3-5, Andersen, Kniss, Rosenbaum "yes," Schneider, "not participating." RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION 8:33 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M. The City Council met in Closed Session to discuss matters involving labor negotiation as described in Agenda Item No. 5. Mayor Wheeler announced that no reportable action was taken on Agenda Item No. 5. ORDINANCES 8. Ordinance 4328 entitled "Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 1995-96 to Provide a Housing Loan to the City Manager" MOTION: Vice Mayor Huber moved, seconded by Schneider, to adopt the Ordinance and authorize the Mayor to execute the City Manager's housing loan documentation. 02/12/96 78-205 78-205 MOTION PASSED 8-0, Fazzino absent. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m. 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. 02/12/96 78-206 78-206