HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-02-08 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
PALO ALTOCITYCOUNCILM'.ETINGSARE BROADCAST LIVE VIA KM- FRE0UENCY90.S ON FM DIAL
Regular Meeting
February 8, 1988
ITEM
Oral Communications
Approval of Minutes of January 11, 1987
PAGE
59-209
59.212
1. Request for Additional Funding for Capital 59-212
Improvement Projects - Refer to Finance
and Public Works Committee
2. City of Palo Alto Health Plan Review
Refer to Finance and Public Works Commit-
tee
3. Contract with Paul Singer Floor Covering
for Installation of Floor Coverings on the
Fifth Floor of the Civic Center
4. Contact with Munkdale Brothers, Inc., for
Construction of Evergreen Park Traffic
Improvements
5. Ordinance Amending Section 18.08.040 of
the Palo Alto Municipal Code (The Zoning
Map) to Change the Classification of Cer-
tain Properties by Extending the (P)
Pedestrian Shopping Combining District and
Applying the District's Regulations in
Combination with Existing Zoning Regula-
tions to those Properties.
Ordinance Amending Chapter 18.47 of Title
18 (The Zoning Code) to Clarify the Appli-
cation of the P District Regulations and
to Enable .their Combination with the CD
District Regulations
59-212
59-212
59-212
59-233
59-213
59-207
`/08/88
ITEM PAGE
7. Ordinance Amending Chapter 1.08 of the 59-213
Palo Alto Municipal Code to Increase the
Maximum Fines for Misdemeanors or Infrac-
tions
Agenda Changes, Additions, and Deletions 59-213
7A. (Old Item 6) Ordinance Amending Title 17 59-213
(Hazardous Materials Storage)
8. Payment Schedule for Cable Television 59-216
Pedestals
Recess 59-228
9. Vice Mayor Larry Klein re Golden Triangle 59-248
Adjournment at 12:10 a.m. 59-248
59-208
2/08/88
Regular Meeting
Monday, February 8, 1988
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date
in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:35 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel (arrived at 7:37 p.m.)► Fletcher,
Klein, Levy, Patitucci, Renzel,
Sutorius, Woolley
ABSENT: Cobb
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Richard B. Bowden, 255 N. California Avenue, requested
the aid of the City Council concerning the adjoining
property at 2225 Ramona Street and the application for
Building Permit No. 87-3470 requesting a maximum second -
floor addition. He requested that an immediate morato-
rium be granted on that type of building; that the
subject be reviewed by the Council and staff with some
sense of urgency; and that the present rules be changed
by the Council or by initiative for the benefit of all
the citizens of Palo Alto.
2. Jim Chamberlain, 121 Byron Street, heard a rumor that
the City might consider a residential building morato-
rium. He was in the process of adding onto his house
and asked that the Council be sensitive to residents in
his position who planned according to the rules.
3.. Edmund Power, 2254 Dartmouth Street, spoke to usage of
Palo Alto Harbor and the meaning of "public access."
4. Ptah► 524 Middlefield Road, hoped the Council would con-
sider giving free space to people to practice their
art.
5. Helen A. Low, 1230 Emerson, addressed the subject of a
moratorium. She sympathized with Mr. Bowden but
believed things were getting out of hand, and she asked
the Council not to overreact.
6. Judy Peterson, 228 Fulton, spoke regarding a moratorium
and said many houses on her block had additions and
second stories, and the block was one of the most
charming in Palo Alto. She was concerned property
rights would be taken away.
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2/08/88
7. Glen Dodds, 588 Bryson Avenue, sympathized with Mr.
Bowden and believed the problem was bulk, but he dis-
agreed that a moratorium was needed.
MOTION: Council Member Patitucci moved, seconded by
Klein, to allowremaining members of the public two and one-
half minutes to address the Council or to wait until the end
of the agenda to speak for five minutes.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent.
Mayor Sutorius indicated a Citizen Committee was charged
with evaluating the single-family (R-1) home subject in Palo
Alto. They had been in operation since last fall. The
Committee was expected to provide a report and recommenda-
tions to the Council between March 1 and early April, 1988.
He met with the Committee that morning to get a benchmark as
to their progress and when they might schedule a workstudy
session with the full Council. Tentatively, he anticipated
the Council would have a workstudy session with the Citizen
Committee on April 4, 1988. Because of the keen public
interest, that type of a session would probably be conducted
in the Council Chambers. A workstudy session was not a
decision -making session by the Council, and there would be
an opportunity for members of the public to offer their
observations and concerns at the conclusion of the session.
Vice Mayor Klein emphasized the Council could not take any
action on an issue until it was placed on the agenda, public
notice was given, and the only way an item got on the agenda
was to be placed there either by, the City Manager or a mem-
ber of the City Council.
8. Nancy Caldwell, 575 Washington, said much of her concern
had been assuaged. She requested there be as much com-
munication to the public as possible.
9. Martin Bernstein, 617 High Street, was shocked to heal*
there might be the possibility of a moratorium and was
concerned about the future of Palo Alto.
10. Heather Silverman, 806 B. Greenwich Place, said a mora-
torium would be self-destructive and selfish.
Council Member Patitucci was totally surprised by what.. was
going on and asked if the Mayor was aware of any Council
proposal or any proposal or the part of any committees or
staff members of the City of Palo Alto that had recommended
or even hinted at a moratorium on ; building improvements in
the past two months.
Mayor Sutorius said he personally was not aware of any such
proposal.
Council Member Woolley said she had a conversation with Mr..
Bowden the previous day, discussed the large house going up
next door to him, and suggested he speak under Oral Communi-
cations that evening. The Ad Hoc Committee had conveyed its
concern about oversized buildings in the R-1 area. It was
important the Committee return to the Council with a report
as soon as possible.
Council Member Renzel also remained concerned about over-
building in R-1 zones and would be favorable toward some
sort of a moratorium such as enacted by Cupertino which
allowed reasonable building to go on, but she emphasized it
would not be an outright moratorium.
11. Robert Herriot, 2066 Byron, spoke to the moratorium
rumor. He wanted to be assured that the study would
proceed and be examined carefully, and there would not
be a sudden change of the rules midstream.
12. John Moussouris, 253 Fulton Street, hoped people with
large lots would try to put themselves in the shoes of
people with small lots who needed to build additions to
their houses in order to continue living in Palo Alto.
He believed there were many people in the same situa-
tion.
13. Wayne Horiuchi, 1821 Fulton Street, hoped Mr. Bowden
would be able to resolve his , problems and asked the
Council to consider the Committee's recommendations with
care.
Mayor Sutorius said procedurally there was a committee
appointed by the Mayor the previous fall, and its work was
nearing conclusion. The Council anticipated receiving
report of their work and recommendations, and that report
and dialogue about it with the Committee was tentatively
schedule to occur on Monday, April 4, 1988. In the interim,
staff or a Council Member might supply an agenda item. To..
his knowledge, staff had absolutely no work in progress, no
proposals, and no intention of placing an item on the agenda
of the nature described. Individual Council Members could
do as they elected to do. Generally,. when a Council Member
wished to place an item on the agenda, he or she would seek
the support of at least a second Council Member. That was
not mandatory but merely a guideline they had agreed to
among themselves. Such an item would appear as a •scheduled
agenda item, and any substantiating materials would be
included in the Council packet in advance of the Council
59-211
2/08/88
meeting. Additionally, beyond the packet availability at
the public libraries, the agenda of Council meetings for the
forthcoming week was published in the Palo Alto Times
Tribune. He assured the public that if such an item were
advanced for the agenda, Council Members individually and,
collectively would take special pains to have as broad an
awareness as possible.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 11 1988
Corrections were submitted corrections to pages 59-132,
59-133, and 59-138.
MOTION: Council Member Woolley moved, seconded by
Fletcher, approval of the Minutes of January 11, 1988, as
corrected.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Sutorus removed Item 6, Ordinance Amending Title 17
(Hazardous Materials Storage) .
Council Member Patitucci, Mayor Sutorius, and Council Member
Woolley asked to be recorded as voting "no" on Item 4,
Contract with Munkdale Brothers, Inc., for Construction of
Evergreen Park Traffic Improvements.
MOTION: Council Member Bechtel moved, seconded by Levy,
approval of the Consent Calendar.
Referral
1. REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL
PROJECTS - REFER TO FINANCE AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
(CMR:142:8) (810-02/810)
FUNDING
FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT
2. CITY OF PALO ALTO HEALTH PLAN REVIEW - REFER TO FINANCE
AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE CMR:1 : ( 1
Action
3. CONTRACT IN THE AMOUNT OF $30,128 WITH PAUL SINGER FLOOR
COVERING FOR INSTALLATION OF FLOOR COVERINGS ON THE
FIFTH FLOOR OF THE CIVIC CENTER (CMR:138:8) (810.02)
4. CONTRACT IN THE AMOUNT OF $129 61.85 WITH MU KDALE
BROTHERS NC I. . FOR CONSTRUCTION OF EVERGREEN PARK
TR IMP.R vEMENTS I CMR:I43: 8) (1041-701-01)
59-212
2/08/88
5. ORDINANCE 3791 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 18.08.040 OF THE PALO
ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE (THE ZONING MAP) TO CHANGE THE
CLASSIFICATION OF CERTAIN PROPERTIES BY EXTENDING THE
(P) PEDESTRIAN SHOPPING COMBINING DISTRICT AND APPLYING
THE DISTRICT'S REGULATIONS IN COMBINATION WITH EXISTING
ZONING REGULATIONS TO THOSE PROPERTIES' (1st Reading
1/19/88, PASSED 27-1, Levy "no," Klein absent) (701-03/
237)
ORDINANCE 3792, entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING CHAPTER 18.47 OF TITLE 18
(THE ZONING CODE) TO CLARIFY THE APPLICATION OF THE P
DISTRICT REGULATIONS AND TO ENABLE THEIR COMBINATION
WITH THE CD DISTRICT REGULATIONS" (1st Reading 1/19/88,
PASSED 7-1, Levy "no," Klein absent) (701-03)
7. ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO_ALTO AMENDING CHAPTER 1.08
OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE TO INCREASE THE IMUM
FINES FOR MISDEMEANORS OR INFRACTIONS" (-701-01)
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Patitucci, Sutorius, Woolley
voting "no," on Item 4, Contract with Munkdale Brothers,
Inc., for Construction of Evergreen Park Traffic Improve-
ments, Cobb absent.
AGENDA CHANGES/ ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS
City Manager Bill Zaner said Item 6, Ordinance Amending
Title 17 (Hazardous Materials Storage), would become Item
7A.
7A. (OLD ITEM 6) ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 17 (HAZARDOUS
MATERIALS STORAGE) (701-03)
Mayor Sutorius removed the item from the Consent Calendar
because there was 'additional correspondence which brought
into question the subject of the applicability of the ordi-
nance vis a vis whether an environmental f indino needed to
be made, and whether the ordinance came under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Senior Assistant City Attorney Sandy Sloan said the City
Attorney's office examined the letter from : Mr. Carpenter of
Alza Corporation and his attorney (on file in the City
Clerk's office) and their conclusion was still the same,
that the adoption of the ordinance was not a project under
CEQA. There was a specific exemption for policy and proce-
dure making of an administrative nature, and that was how
the City Attorney's office saw the ordinance. Basically.
59-213.
2/08/88
the ordinance set forth how the City would comply with State
law, so they were not creating a new law but taking a State
procedure and integrating it with an existing Title 17. One
point the letter made was that there was environmental
review and negative declaration when Title 17 was adopted;
however, more analagous to the situation was that when Title
11 of the Municipal Code was adopted, that. was the title
that explained that the City would comply with CEQA and set
forth their local procedures for doing so. When that ordi-
nance was adopted, it was deemed not a project, and that was
how the City Attorney's office saw what they were doing that
evening, if the Council proceeded. She pointed out there
was nothing stopping the Council from doing an environmental
review if they wished. They could direct the Planning
Department to conduct an environmental review if they wanted
it done despite the interpretation.
Colin Mick, 2130 Hanover Street, spoke on behalf of Mr.
Carpenter's request for a programmatic Environmental Impact
Report (EIR) for the City. One of the key problems was that
it was difficult to get information to evaluate hazardous
waste storage plants in context.
Bob Moss, 1040 Orme Street, spoke on behalf of a friend and
neighbor who requested the item be continued for a week so
he could be present to address the issue of a programmatic
EIR, which he believed was appropriate. He asked that the
Council either adopt the concept or postpone the second
reading of the ordinance.
Council Member Woolley was also concerned about the program-
matic EIR.
MOTION: Council Member Renzel moved, seconded by Bechtel,
approval of the Ordinance.
ORDINANCE 3793, Entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING TITLE 17 (HAZ-
ARDOUS MATERIALS STORAGE) TO ADD CHAPTER 17.34
(ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW) , AMEND CHAPTER 17.32
(APPLICATION FOR PERMIT) AND REPEAL CHAPTER 17.36
(DENIAL)" (1st Reading 1/19/88, PASSED 8-0, Klein
absent.)
Council Member Fletcher said the ordinance set a process in
motion whereby individual applicants would be providing
EIRs. She asked if that would conflict with any program-
matic EIR if the Council was to vote to do that.
Ms. Sloan said whether or not the Council passed the: ordi-
nance, the City was stilly legally bound to apply CEQA and
require environmental review of individual permit applica-
tions. The Council couldstill proceed with a programmatic
EIR while that was going on.
Council Member Renzel believed the ordinance did improve
public knowledge of chemical permits and was a valuable
ordinance in and of itself whether or not the Council pro-
ceeded with a programmatic EIR. A relatively small number
of people would be affected should they change and add a
programmatic EIR in the near future. The Council should
approve the ordinance in its present forma for second reading
so it would be in effect.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent.
MOTION: Councli1 Member Woolley moved, seconded by
Patituccf, to direct staff to return to the City Council
with a prioritized list and time frame for outstanding
assignments re Hazardous Materials; and a recommendation
regarding undertaking a programmatic EIR.
Council Member. Woolley said they were aware that the field
of hazardous materials had grown within the City organiza-
tion tremendously within the last few years. She knew the
City Manager had tried hard not to add staff but had Moved
staff around to take care of the new demands of the field.
However, it reminded her of her experience in the early days
of historic preservation when the technique they usually had
to employ was "lying down in front of the bulldozer." She
remembered putting in a whole year of extra time in order to
raise the $90,000 to save the Squire House. Then they
finally got smart and instead of saving one building at a
time, they were able to commit the City to do an inventory
and eventually an historic ordinance, and now had a frame-
work and controls within which they could work. She agreed
they certainly had a lot of framework and controls in place,
but she believed looking at the total amount of hazardous
materials in the City and handling it as a hazardous mate-
rials' inventory was the last step in the overall framework.
It would allow them to handle mitigations in a more reason-
able fashion. Since they had seen people from both the
residential and business sides who advocated the matter,
they should give it serious consideration. She realized
there were many assignments in the area for staff to carry
out and, therefore, her motion was to ask staff to let the
Council know their priorities and to make a recommendation
to the City Council.
Vice Mayor Klein suggested the motion also ask staff to
estimate the cost of doing the EIR, and whether they would.
recommend staff do it or consultants, and where the funds
would come from to pay the cost of the EIR.
59-215
2/08/88
MAKER AND SECONDER OF MOTION AGREED ,TO 111CLUDE LANGUAGE
"IAicLCIDIwa THE COST ESTIMATES MW SOURCES.'
Council Member Woolley believed those paints could certainly
be included. They also had an offer from Alza to be
involved, and that kind of consideration should be part of
the thinking.
Council Member Patitucct believed the motion was a good idea
and, if it could be worked into the Council's priorities and
maybe get the costs paid for by industry, they would all
benefit. He was concerned they were still groping for
appropriate types of regulation and control, and with the
current ordinance, everypermit was a project under CEQA,
and that could result in a lot of bureaucratic procedures
and legal entanglements. If a programmatic EIR established
some baselines, and the Council then focused on the real
program areas when proposals were made and permits applied
for, they would all benefit. In general, he supported the
motion and ultimately what resulted therefrom.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent.
8. PAYMENT SCHEDULE FOR CABLE TELEVISION
(CMR:146:8) (1141)
PEDESTALS
City Manager Bill Zaner said the staff report (CMR:146:8)
attempted to lay out a financing plan to deal with the
undergrounding issue in R--1 areas. At the last meeting, the
Council gave staff a series of criteria for use in devising
such an arrangement, but did not limit staff to those nor
require they use them all. Staff met . with Pacific Bell
(PacBell) and Cable Co-op and tried to fashion a compromise
solution which staff felt would be easy to administer and
would provide for the funds necessary to allow the project
to move forward without any undue delay. There' were recom-
mendations within the report that were subject to changing
at the Council's direction, especially with regard to the
Assessment District. Staff selected a two-year period in
the Assessment District, and there was nothing special about
that time period which could be one year or stretched out to
a longer period. The number of dollars to be raised by the
Assessment District was also subject to change. It was not
totally arbitrary but was a judgment call as to how much
money the district, or subsequent districts, should raise.
Representatives of pacBell and the Cable Co-op were prusent_
to answer questions.
Mayor Sutorius asked the source of the number of 1,750 pro-
perties in the R-1 undergrounded area.
59-216.
2/08/88
Mr. Zaner said in previous discussions, staff estimated the
number of homes they believed were in R-1 areas that were
undergrounded on the • basis of some percentage figures. To
make the figures more accurate, staff did a field count of
the homes and 1,750 was the number of single-family homes in
R --•I underground areas at the present time.
Council Member Renzel asked if the Assessment District
recommendation meant that all installations in underground
areas would be forestalled until an Assessment District was
enacted, or would the Council proceed and then form an
Assessment District.
Mr. Zaner said the Council would recall, at one point,
PacBell's concern was that there be some assurance on the
part of the Council that the costs of the installation would
be covered and, if they received those assurances, they were
prepared to move ahead and do the work. If the Council were
to give that assurance, it would make no difference when an
Assessment District was finally completed except, of course,
if an Assessment District were protested out, the Council
would have to cover the cost from some other place; to wit,
the General Fund. The Assessment District did take times,
probably several months at least, and if they were to tell
PacBell to proceed on the theory they would be paid in any
evert, If the Assessment District was not successful,
PacBe11 or Co-op would look to the City to make the costs
from some other source.
Mayor Sutorius asked for further clarification. Cable Co-op
was the franchisee and PacBell had a contract with Cable
Co-op. There was no contract between the City. of Palo Alto
and PacBell.
Mr. Zaner said that was correct.
Mayor Sutorius cla..tified PacBell from a contraceural relat-
ionship looked to Cable Co-op for payment and assurances of
payment.
Mr.. Zaner said that was correct.
Mayor Sutorius said if that were not the case, he would have
a conflict of interest.
Council Member Woolley asked about future underground
districts between now and the end of the 15 -year period of
the franchise, and how the installation differential between
the • pedestalsversus the underground vaults and the addi-
tional maintenance cost would be handled in future under-
ground districts.
59-217
2/08/88
Mr. Zaner said the future costs for the Co-op for future
undergrounding districts were already built into the figures
presented. The Co-op was prepared to assume all the future
costs of underground districts in the figures given to the
Council. That was not true for PacBell. Those costs had
not been included, and staff would have to determine those
costs, and then they would be spread through an Assessment
District over whatever period of time the Council deter-
mined, assuming a District was approved by the Council.
Council Member Woolley asked if Palo Alto was to have an
Assessment District to pay for the maintenance costs, would
the present undergrounded areas also be paying for the cost
for the future underground areas.
City Attorney Diane Northway injected a legal constraint;
that each district, whether it was a capital or maintenance
district, had to pay its own way. For instance, if they
were forming the first district where they currently had
aboveground pedestals, and that was going to be established
as a maintenance district, then whatever the cost of that
district would have to be assessed to the homes in that
district and not into other future districts, and vice
versa. The maintenance costs would not be fungible; each
district`. would have to stand on its own and be separate.
Mr. Zaner said at that point they would have to back out the
costs that Co-op had included for future undergrounding
districts and then assess the balance to the current under -
grounding district=.
Council Member Woolley asked for a ballpark figure of the
cost for satellite dishes. She was trying to compare the
alternative cost for the homes on Page Mill.
Director, Information Resources, Dianah Neff, said staff had
not investigated costs of satellite dishes. Co-op might
have that information.
Mr. Zaner said the figure he received from the Cable Co-op
was about $3,000 per installation.
Council Member Patitucci referenced the cost estimates, On
Page 2 of the staff report (CMR:146:8 ) a series of •sic items
totaled $821,000. He asked for clarification ofthe items.
He understood the replacement cost of $120,000 was a real,
one-time item that had been estimated to replace .the pedes-
tals that either were presently installed or tap pedestals
which would be installed for the areas currently underground
to convert them to vaults.
59.218
2/08/88.
Mr. Zaner said that was correct; it was a one-time capital
cost
Council Member Patitucci said the last item was $15,000
proposed as the cost;,of providing vegetation to surround the
larger pedestals, i.e., the amplifiers, line extenders,
power supplies, etc. The maintenance cost of $262,000; the
Cable Co-op service and marketing costs of $384,000 and
$40,000 respectively, were estimates of future costs based
on knowledge of what the incremental increase in cost would
be for maintenance of the system for the City's proposed
undergrounding areas.
Mr. Zaner said that was correct, with the exception that.
included in those costs were future costs for maintenance as
far as Co-op was concerned.
Council Member Patitucci asked if that was future costs that
Co-op would have if the entire system was placed under-
ground over a phased -in period, and what period they were
speaking to.
Mr. Zaner said those were future costs for undergrounding in
all the areas where the City would go underground with their
electric system over the next 15 years.
Council Member Patitucci said those costs were estimated at
a present value of 15 years worth of future costs.
Mr. Zaner said that was correct.
Council Member Patitucci said it was confusing that they had
also been told that, even though those costs were the pres-
ent value of the best estimates they could comae up with,
there really was no reliable way on an ongoing basis to
determine if the figures were right or wrong. Therefore, in
the future, they would not have the data to show whether the
costs were correct or not.
Mr. Zaner said that was accurate; staff could estimate but
had not found a method they could rely on to be sure they
were giving the Councilcompletely accurate actual costs as
time went on for undergrounding.
Council Member Patitucci had.a problem of accepting actual
estimates of costs they could not actually ever verify..
Mr. Zaner responded that the estimates were .based on the
experience of other jurisdictions. Those jurisdictions had
been in business for a. while and did not give a precise
59-219
2/08/88
number but gave eotimates on the cost of undergrounding, and
that estimate was the best staff had been able to get at
that point.
Council Member Patitucci asked if there was any methodology
from the jurisdictions as to how they came up with and veri-
fied those numbers on an ongoing basis so - they knew that, in
fact, an underground system cost them more by a precise per-
centage.
Mr. Zaner did not know that detail and believed the answer
should come from Cable Co-op or PacBell.
Council Member Fletcher referenced the future undergrounding
areas and asked if the installation costs of the vaults
would exceed what was budgeted for the aboveground pedes-
tals.
Mr. Zaner deferred response to PacBell.
Council Member Fletcher also wanted to know where the added
cost would be borne, if there was one.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, spoke as a home owner in an under-
ground area. His was a corner lot and would be getting
cable service from aerial. He vigorously opposed being
accessed for putting tap pedestals underground. Each under-
ground area had to stand on its own; therefore, if the City
went with an Assessment District, he urged each residential
underground district be asked tc vote separately on whether
they wished to be assessed and have the pedestals put under-
ground, and only those who voted to participate would do so.
His street was unique because the City did not own an ease-
ment.and did not have a spot to put pedestals unless they
putthem on the edge of the pavement. They granted an ease-
ment to the City for a lamppost in front of their house, but
it was not big enough to accept a pedestal. They would
resent being treated the same as other undergrounded
districts in the City.
Council Member Renzel said if Mr. Moss' neighborhood did not
offer up any easements for either pedestals or vaults, and
the City had to put them in the street right-of-way, was he
making a recommendation in favor of pedestals in any case.
Mr. Moss said the City would have to deal with individual
property owners. Based on the fact everybody granted ease-
ments for the light poles, he believed people would also
grant easements for pedestals. There were many places on
the street where the pedestals could be easily concealed and
would not be obtrusive. The landscaping allowance offered
59-220
2/08/88
by Cable Co-op would more than cover the pedestals. He
believer, people would be more amenable to having the pedes-
tals landscaped on their easements than paying $240 to have
them put underground.
Mayor Sutorius asked the City Attorney to refresh everyone
on the process associated with indicating one's agreement oz•
disinclination to participate in an Assessment District.
Ms. Northway said the method that the assessment law pro-
vided was one known as "Majority Protest." After property
owners in the district received notice that the Council was
considering forming a district.for a particular geographic
area, they would have to affirmatively file a written prot-
est with the City Clerk prior to five o'clock of the evening
of the hearing. It was not a vote in the sense of going to
the ballot box and actually voting, but was something a pro-
perty owner would do rather than a registered voter.
Katherine Barnett, 451 Alger Drive, voiced her opposition to
the placing of cable TV boxes underground. She believed a
number of Council Members had doubts regarding the issue and
perhaps had allowed aesthetic considerations to take prece-
dence. She asked why the word "image" seemed to be crowding
out the Council's usual good judgment and fiscal responsi-
bility to the community. She understood Menlo Park,
Atherton, and Stanford had turned down the idea of under-
ground boxes, and Redwood City reported they would have a
lot of maintenance problems if the system were used for data
transmission. She was interested in knowing the process of
funding. If problems occurred with an underground vault,
she asked if they would also adversely affect those custom-
ers with aboveground service and, if so, who would pay.
What bothered her was the feeling of a loss regarding their
priorities as they related to the quality of life in Palo
Alto. She had difficulty with voting that amount of money
from the General Fund when recently she was asked to donate
her State tax refund to local educational needs. She urged
the Council to reconsider the idea of placing cable boxes
underground, and to reexamine the City's budgetary prior-
ities.
Chris Salkeld, Project Manager : for the cable TV system for
Pacific Bell, said since September 1987 a tremendous amount
of time and research had been put forth on the issue, and he
applauded. the efforts of all those involved toward a final
resolution. He stated at the Council meeting on
December 21, 1987, that Pacific Bell had work scheduled
through January 15, 1988, and could continue through that
time without delay in construction. It was now three weeks
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past that date, and to avoid a delay in the completion of
the project as well as any additional costs associated with
such a delay, they must again start construction work in
Palo Alto. During that same meeting, he was asked by the
Council.if it was a possibility for Pacific Bell to continue
the underground work while a solution was worked out with
regard to how payment would be made for the additional work
required to place the taps in belowground vaults, and he
responded Pacific Bell wanted to do whatever they could to
put the issue to rest and complete the construction of the
system. He believed the Council had the appropriate
resources to close on the issue. There was still a sizable
amount of construction work to be done, and the scheduled
date of early June was only four months away. He requested
the Council consider the staff's recommendation for a solu-
tion to the issue of payment as closure on the item would
allow for continuance of construction. As discussed
earlier, Pacific Bell did not have a contract with the City
and was subcontracted by the Cable Co-op. At that time,
Pacific Bell had no assurance or guarantee of payment from
either the City or the Co-op and was concerned about the
outcome of that evening's proceedings.
Mayor',Sutorius referenced maintenance estimates and costs,
and said he found it difficult to understand how Cable Co-op
or PacBell would operate a communication system without a
good trouble -reporting, trouble -analysis, trouble -clearing
process that included identifying information that allowed
for both ventures to know what caused service to go out, the
location and nature of the cause, and the things a good
business would want to know in order to ensure the best
quality service on a continued basis at the lowest operating
cost. He started with PacBell in 1950 and there was spe-
cific identification as to where the trouble occurred and
the accumulation of outage time. That data was used in many
ways and introduced many changes into the industry to
improve service and control cost. He asked why cable tele-
vision was so uniquely different that an appropriate trouble
reporting and analysis process was not a critical part of
the business.
Mr. Salkeld did not believe PacBell said such a process
would not be a critical part of their business. The system
was being built with a sophisticated status monitoring sys-
tem that allowed PacBe11 to search out and repair those
areas of trouble in a very high-tech means. PacBell's con-
cern was with relation to tracking the maintenance visits
for the system. There was a question raised as to whether a
test area could be set up somewhere outside of the R-1' areas
and compare that area to those areas placed in belowground
vaults. PacBell contended it would be difficult in the case
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of trouble in an underground area to state what percentage
of the deterioration logged was attributable to the facility
being placed underground. Their biggest dilemma was how the
trouble was coded. Was it coded to a trouble report that
was specifically related to the tap being underground or to
maintenance caused due to the nature of the rest of the
business. Pacl3ell had put into place and would continue the
periodic status reports that they were requested to provide
to the City. Their maintenance system was such that they
would be able to tell when there were troubles in the
franchise area on a soon -as -possible" basis.
Mayor Sutorius said trouble analysis with respect to every-
day telephone service became the most significant assist in
scheduling limited, capital programming of converting from
aerial to underground because the data showed the trouble
rate, frequency, and outage time would all be improved. It
was ironic that the present situation was reversed, where
going underground apparently induced trouble. It seemed
certain that there was, in fact, a potential accommodation
between the City of Palo Alto, Cable Co-op, and PacBell for
trouble analysis information that would allow for a sub-
stantiation of the maintenance experience such that they
were not dealing with merely historical estimates, if the
project went forward.
Mr. Salkeld had a conflict of opinion with Mayor Sutorius'
statement as far as taking facilities that were aerial and
placing them underground .and receiving a much better mainte-
nance benefit. He was first hired by PacBell in the 1970s
as an engineer designing cable plant that was to be placed
in rural tract home subdivisions it Southern California.
One of his first tasks was to spend two years on a mainte-
nance program that was a rehabilitation program in replace-
ment of cable that was placed underground in the raid -1970s.
Millions of dollars were spent in Southern California alone
to replace the facilities that deteriorated in less than
half the time for which they had been put on the books. He
was not certain that placing facilities underground was as
safe as placing them in pedestals or in theair.
Vice Mayor Klein assumed the report reflected the thinking
of PacBell and Cable Co-op, and it seemed they were all
sayingthey had more faith in estimates than actual costs.
Mr. Salkeld said that was not correct. He believed. PacBe11
told the staff that PacBell was willing to go forward based
on the estimates they had to date. Those estimates were
based on the studies put together by PacBell in searching
out the information requested by the Council. They would
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like to see the issue put to rest to allow construction to
go forward and had been willing to take the upside risk that
in the future the costs would be more expensive.
Vice Mayor Klein still believed his statement was what
PacBell was advocating. Mr. Salkeld spoke earlier to the
difficulty of comparing one aboveground district with
another underground district and about the difficulty in
having the field person fill out the right code, but he
asked if that was necessary and why they could not take the
gross figures on maintenance for an R-1 neighborhood under-
ground and one a few blocks away for an R-1 aboveground.
Mr. Salkeld said the question would be different if the
Council was willing to assume the added cost of the tracking
mechanism.
Vice Mayor Klein understood the system was already in
place.
Mr. Salkeld said, there was presently no system in place to
separate a trouble report based on whether the facility was
in a pedestal or whether the deterioration was due to the
facility being placed underground.
Vice Mayor Klein asked if under the present system, PacBell
and Cable Co-op were not going to know the cost of mainte-
nance in a particular neighborhood.
Mr. Salkeld said he was not saying that.
Vice Mayor Klein asked why a comparison could not be made if
PacBell would know what the maintenance was in a particular
neighborhood.
Mr. Salkeld did not have the entire pro forma in front of
him that would tell him the steps necessary to compare spe-
cific neighborhoods with the franchise area. They would be
going forward with the maintenance reports requested by the
franchise. In discussion with the maintenance personnel
with PacBell, they understood it would be difficult to put
that type of information together.
Vice Mayor Klein asked whether PacBell was creating a system
that would enable Coe -op to know what its maintenance costs
were.
Mr. Salkeld replied PacBell would not put a system together
that let Co-op knew what its maintenance costs would: be.
PacBell was keeping its maintenance costs totally separate
from the Cable Co-op's.
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Vice Mayor Klein asked if the system would enable PacBell to
know its maintenance costs.
Mr. Salkeld said the system would allow PacBell to know what
its trouble report contained.
Council Member Fletcher asked if it was not easy to compare
the maintenance costs of the aerial versus the costs purely
attributable to the vaults because there would not be an R-1
neighborhood with pedestals.
Mr. Salkeld said no, there would be R-1 areas with pedestals
within the franchise. For comparison purposes, there would
be areas within Palo Alto with belowground vaults that would
be similar in design and number of households to areas out-
side Palo Alto with pedestals. He believed it was the
previous questions of the Council and staff that those two
areas be calculated against one another.
Council. Member Fletcher clarified the aboveground pedestal
area would be in another jurisdiction.
Mr. Salkeld said yes; per the current understanding, there
would be no R-1 areas with pedestals in Palo Alto.
Council Member Fletcher asked if the process of comparing
the maintenance costs in the jurisdiction with aboveground
pedestals versus the vaults was so complex or was it expen-
sive.
Mr. Salkeld said there were five trunk legs in the system.
A trunk leg might include not only underground residential
areas in R-1 with flush -mounted vaults, but also aerial
facilities and possibly industrial or business properties in
pedestals. The difficult process that would involve addi-
tional labor hours would be the delineation of separating
specific areas within one trunk leg.
Council Member Fletcher asked if it was difficult to locate
the specific attributable cause of the trouble spot because
of the wider area covered.
Mr. Salkeld believed they were assuming that if a facility
was in an R-1 area in Palo Alto and was underground, every
source of trouble in that area was attributed directly to
the vault being placed underground and, therefore, was dif-
ferent from an aboveground pedestal area
Council Member. Fletcher asked if the cost of undergrounding
the future undergrounded areas would be more expensive than
had been anticipated for pedestals.
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Mr. Salkeld said yes; the capital cost to build something
beyond the initial construction would be more expensive
because of the basic economy of scale. PacBell had subcon-
tracted to be done based on a 465 -mile cable system
inclusive of both the aerial and underground facilities. In
the future, when an Assessment District was formed, they
would not have the same contractor. Inflation would take
its toll on the rising of costs, and the economy of scale of
building perhaps only five miles rather than 120 miles would
add to the increasing costs.
Council Member Fletcher said the increasing costs must have
been anticipated in PacBe11's original projected plan of
putting the pedestals in. She wondered where the money
would come from to pay for the difference between the plan-
ned pedestals and the underground vaults in future under -
grounded areas.
Mr. Salkeld replied it was PacBell's understanding that the
difference would come from the same location as the current
costs, as the result of an action by the City Council.
Council Member Fletcher understood the home assessments were
only for the maintenance and marketing costs and not for the
capital costs.
Mr. Zaner said in the future an Assessment District would
have to cover both capital and maintenance costs.
Council Member Woolley asked about timing. Mr. Salkeld said
PacBell was ready to start putting in either the underground
vaults or the pedestals in the underground districts in Palo
Alto.
Mr. Salkeld believed PacBell in good faith started construc-
tion in Palo Alto that afternoon.
Ms. Neff said that was correct; street permits were
approved, the style of underground vaults was approved, and
PacBell began construction that day in the Colorado area.
Council Member Woolley had a problem with that. If the
Council had not yet set up the Assessment Districts, noti-
fied the property owners within the Assessment Districts,
and given them the opportunity for input, they were jumping
the gun. They had not taken that action yet.
Mr. Salkeld said PacBell understood the Council had not yet
made final resolution on how the costs would be associated
for the payment of the issue. They had taken the good -faith
effort that the Council would resolve that evening how that
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would take effect. It was a cause of concern that PacBell
did not have a guarantee they would be compensated for the
work.
Mayor Sutorius referenced Mr. Salkeld's remarks that PacBell
aicepted the upside risk that in experience maintenance
costs might turn out to be higher, and he asked about the
flip side if costs turned out to be lower.
Mr. Salkeld said if the costs turned out to be lower,
PacBe11 would not need to go through the process of the
increased computations to determine what those costs were.
They were not planning on going forward in calculating those
costs.
Council Member Levy asked where PacBell got the figure for
maintenance.
Mr. Salkeld said the figure was based on PacBell's contact
throughout the industry of additional cable systems that
currently had in place taps underground or had taps under-
ground in the past and converted them back to pedestal
facilities.
Council Member Levy clarified they took the gross mainte-
nance costs while the system was underground versus the
gross maintenance costs for pedestals, and the difference
was PacBell's judgment as to the cost of maintenance.
Mr. Salkeld said one of the difficult things for PacBell to
assimilate was specific data that gave absolute numbers in
"1l¢rs and cents. The two and one-half figure recommended
by PacBell to the Council was a conclusion of all the
industry sources.
Council Member Levy asked if the range was wide.
Mr. Salkeld said the range was anywhere from three-quarters
times up to three or three and one-half times.
Council Member Levy understood staff did some independent
checking of the maintenance estimate.
Ms. Neff said that was correct. Staff could not arrive at a
conclusive range because the estimates varied from 35 perc-
ent increase in certain cities to ten times in other cities
where they had to rebuild cable due to underground vaults.
Even cities that had nominal problems with underground were
rebui?ding. Staff's judgment was the two and one-half times
figure was as good as any to use.
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Allan Berman, 4032 Orme Street, said the 22 houses on his
street had no curbs, no easements, and no places to put
boxes. Both the electrical and telephone systems had
improved since they went underground, but it had only been
for two years. If pedestals were put in, the City would
need to renegotiate to get easements. The key note was
flexibility.
COUNCIL RECESSED FROM 9:45 p.m. to'9:55 p.m.
Council Member Patitucci said one issue was, ,the cost esti-
mates versus the real cost experience they would have in
Palo Alto. The problem was the costs they had been given
were the present value of estimated future costs with no
mechanism for determining what the real costs would be as
time went on. If the Council was to accept the proposal, it
would be paying up front the estimated costs which could be
too low, in which case PacBell or somebody else would lose
which might cause them to cut back on service in the future,
or they could be too high in which case there would be a
windfall. They knew the cost of converting the current
pedestals to vaults and the cost of landscaping. All other
costs were present -value future estimates. The second prob-
lem was there was not a clear differentiation between the
capital costs and the ongoing operating costs, which could
be addressed differently because of the nature. The pro-
posed special Assessment Districts would mix operating and
capital costs so the people would be paying over two years
not only the capital costs of installing but also the
present value estimate of their future maintenance costs
which were unknown. A third problem was the difference
between the process of converting the pedestals that would
be installed at present in the areas which had been under-
ground, and the problem of what to do about future
undergrounding. One of the concerns when the Council voted
to place the pedestals underground was not to discourage the
future underground program. The fourth issue was the allo-
cation of costs in terms of fairness. Homeowners, sub-
scribers, Cable Co-op, and the City were all candidates.
The last question concerned choice. The Council was asked
by residents to give them a choice and, if there was an
associated cost, to tell them what that cost would be. If
the residents chose to paythe cost, then they would choose
to have the benefit and, if not, then they could have the
system as proposed.
MOTION: Council Member Patitucci moved, seconded by
Klein, to direct City staff to work with Cable Co-op and.
PacBell to develop a financings program for underground
vaults that meets the following guidelines:
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MOTION CONTINUED
1 Capital costs of installing the initial vaults
(approximately 500 vaults, estimated. coat, $120, 000) will
be paid through the elimination of various requirements
of the franchise (e.g. Upper Page Mill access, insurance
coverage, etc.);
2. The City will postpone for five years the requirements
to provide cable service to Upper .Page Mill Road
(estimated at a savings to Cable Co-ap..of $245,000).
The City to determine if service to this area is neces-
sary after five years and, if so, if there.. is a less
expensive alternative to laying cable.
3,. Future capital costs for the undergrounding of service
taps in new underground utility areas willbe paid from:
(a) concessions from the City (if cumulative concessions
exceed the capital costs to that date),
(b) reduction in the City's franchise fes, or
(c) cash contribution by the City;
4. A.n Assessment District will be established in each area
that has undergrounding currently, or will have underg-
rounding in the future:
a) property owners in the area (all properties, not
just subscribers) will be assessed ...the .actual addi-
tional Maintenance and service costs incurred by
Cable Co-op and PacBe1I associated with underground
vaults;
b) assessment for the maintenance and service account
will be collected based on estimated costs and
reconciled to actual costs every three years; and
c) when voting on an assessment district, the neighbor-
hood affected will be voting to either pay the
ongoing additional maintenance costs of under -
grounding . vaults or to accept; the pedestals, and if
there is a majority protest to the formation of an
assessment district then the Council will construe
that to mean that . residents will accept pedestals
rather than undergrounding;
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MOTION CONTINUED
5. Cable Co-op's contribution to. the . uadergz oun,ding effort
($100,000) should be paid in theform of:
a) absorbing the estimates of, future, marketing costs
and other costs; and
b) the upfront costs of landscaping of the amplifier,
line extenders, and power supply _.pedestals.
Council Member Patitucci said the key points, of the motion
were the upfront costs would be paid through a process of
concessions or City contributions, and the assessments would
be paid on a real -cost, pay -as -you --go basis for the mainte-
nance part. Given the dollars PacBell had estimated, he
guessed they were speaking to between $1.50 and $3 per month
per property if they wanted to pay for the additional main-
tenance. A system would have to be developed to pass the
costs along. The City Attorney said the City. could only
have Assessment Districts that related to real costs. He
had full confidence that PacBei.l and Cable Co-op could comfs
up with a system that would give costs that the City
Attorney could certify as reasonable. The proposal sepa-
rated capital and operating costs and tried to allocate res-
ponsibility; and it assessed every home owner in an
Assessment District as a beneficiary, not just a.subscriber,
assuming everybody in the district benefited in terms of
property values and aesthetics from not having the pedes-
tals.
Vice Mayor Klein said Cable Co-op had offered $100,000 and
indicated it would absorb rb $21,000 of marketing. costs.
That was in excess of the allocation in the motion, and he
believed they needed to account for that money, . Cable Co-op
was offering $121,000 against the $55,000 in costs they
would incur, so they had a surplus of $66,000. He suggested
it be used to defray the cost of developing the cost -
accounting system that was being suggested. Tothe extent
that did not use up the $66,000, the money would be spread
against the Assessment District to defray the costs of main-
tenance.
AMENDMENT: Vice Mayor Klein. moved, seconded by Patitucci:
to amend <paragraph 5) to say the Cable Co -Op' s ._cuntcibution
to the .undergro€ ding effort ($121,000) .should . be paid in
the for of: a) absorbing marketing and the cost . accounting
attributable to tracking of the expenses for the. Assessment
Districts; b) landscaping of . the amplifier, line. -extender,
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AMENDMENT CONTINUED
and power supply pedestals; and c) tba.remainder, if any, to
be spread among the original Asseamment_,Diatricts...to defray
their maintenance costs.
MAKER MW SECONDER OF MOTION AGREED TO INCORPORATE AMEND-
MENT INTO MAIN MOTION.
Council Member Levy wanted to be sure of the difference
between Council Member Patitucci's motion and the recommen-
dations made in the staff report (CMR:.146:8) . The first
difference of critical importance was that part of the
motion would be based on actual costs for maintenance and
service while staff's was the present value of the estimate.
Secondly, staff recommended a City cash payment of $56,000,
and he gathered the motion did not do that.
Council Member Patitucci said no; the City's potential cash
payment came in if, through concessions, they were unable to
compensate for the capital costs of installation. The City
would then contribute and that would probably be in some
later district if the City had not been able to grant con-
cessions that would cover the capital costs.
Council Member Levy clarified the capital cost of under --
grounding all future districts would come out of the
$245,000 in savings from deferring Upper Page Mill.
Assuming .there were no other savings, the motion suggested
the $245,000 be the total amount available for capital
coats.
Council Member Patitucci said right. He felt in the future
those capital costs should be small. The undergrounding
process would require they go underground from the poles
anyway; therefore, it was basically just the cost of the
pedestal boxes. After paying $120,000, the City would have
an account of about $125,000 which could earn interest and,
at some point, that would be allocated toward the incre-
mental capital costs in the next district until the account
ran out.
Council Member Levy clarified the heart of the recommenda-
tion was that staff was saying the Assessment District
should be $10 a month for 24 months, and the motion said the
Assessment District should be an amount of money that would
be revised every 3 years for 15 years and would be based the
actual costs as determined by the cost accounting system.
In addition, the system in the motion would pay for the cost
accounting. He asked if Council Member Patitucci felt his
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system would provide a savings over staff's proposal, or was
the basis for his recommendation that it would be fairer
because the system would be based on actual costs.
Council Member Patitucci said the purpose was primarily to
try' -to be fairer in who paid the costs and. how those costs
were determined. Also, in talking to the City Attorney
about the process set in motion by the recommendation, he
was not certain the Council actually could have an
Assessment District in which they were gambling that
PacBell's costs would be higher or lower than 'some number
the Council chose to pay them. He believed they would have
to calculate actuals at some point. If his calculations
were correct, allocated over 30 years, the cost was only
about $2 per month per household, and that would be more
acceptable and fairer to households than $10 for 24 months.
Council Member Levy asked if the City Attorney believed the
staff recommendation was supportable .as far as the
Assessment District was concerned.
Ms. Northway believed it would have to be clarified in order
for her to believe that they could support an Assessment
District on the basis of the staff recommendation. She
believed that actual costs, i.e., not incremental actual
costs because of an underground district but all actual
costs, could be part of the maintenance district. She
believed the City Manager felt since the costs that the City
would be assessing would be less than that, that was suffi-
cient, but they still had to establish that the formula used
for those costs was based in some sense on actual costs. To
the extent the staff report did not address that, she had
difficulty saying that satisified the requirements for an
Assessment District.
Mr. ._Zaner believed the City could receive from Pacsell and
Cable Co-op the total cost of maintenance for the operation,
with no differentiati between aboveground and underground.
Once the City received those numbers, there was nothing to
keep the City Council from charging an Assessment District
less than the .,total cost, and the Council could determine a
formula upon which it wished to base that and, as long as
the formula was equitable across the district, he believed
they could support it. Council Member Patitucci's motion
essentially allowed each Assessment District area to select
whether it wished to have underground or not. That was not
an instantaneous process. At best, it would take staff
several months to go through the requirements of the Code
for an Assessment District. Paceel1 had indicated that
evening they were prepared to move ahead, and delay to them
had a .significant dollar value.
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Council Member Patitucci said staff's proposal was for an
Assessment District that would raise $420,000. He presumed
PacBell would have liked to have known whether that money
was available. The Assessment District with his proposal
versus one with the City's proposal was no different
Mr. Zaner clarified the Assessment District under the pro-
posal he gave to the Council assumed that if the Assessment
District was not successful, those costs would be paid some-
how. The Council made a policy decision several weeks ago
that said everything would go underground. Having made that
policy decision, the only question was who would pay for it.
Now the Council was making a different policy decision.
They were saying maybe some areas would go underground and
maybe some would not, depending upon what the districts
decided they wanted to do. If people turned down the
Assessment District, they would not go underground but would
go aboveground and those costs would not have to be covered
by the City.
Council Member Patitucci asked if the Council asked people
to approve the Assessment District recommended in the staff
report --$10 a month, $240 per home, 24 months, and an up-
front amount of money of $420,000 --what happened when people
decided to protest that and the Council did not come up with
the $420,000. There seemed .a higher probability they would
not end up with that than the probability they would end up
with something that would be based on actual costs and would
be easier to sell as fair and reasonable. People lived with
PacBell for years and knew it would be a reasonable cost
allocated over the life they would enjoy their TV. He did
not understand where the risk was between staff's proposal
and the motion.
Mr. Zaner clarified staff's proposal simply guaranteed that
the costs would be paid, and if the Assessment District
failed to do it, some other party had to pick those costs
up. There were only two parties left:., the City of Palo
Alto and Cable Co-op, and he did not believe Cable Co-op
would pick up the additional amount. If the Council wished
to retain its policy of going underground, the only party
left was the City of Palo Alto. Under Council Member
Patitucci's proposal, there was a change in the policy in
that people would have a choice. He was interested in
hearing from PacBell t boui the costs of a delay if the City
delayed for a long period of time, had assessment districts
and some of them were protested out, and Council elected not
to pay for the costs.
Council Member Patitucci said at $35,000 per week, ten weeks
of delay ended up being equal to the total cost being dis-
cussed on a present value basis over 15 years.
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As corrected
3/14/88
Council Member Levy said it appeared that under both pro-
posals the existing underground areas had to be under -
grounded, and the City could give the residents of future
underground areas a choice. In terms of PacBell and the
costs of delay, the City had to move ahead and underground
the existing proposed areas and figure out how to pay for
it. It seemed to him the fundamental differences between
the two proposals were staff proposed an assessment of $10
per month for two years and Council Member Patitucci pro-
posed $2 month for 15 years; staff was willing to accept the
estimated costs, figure out the present value of the esti-
mated costs and go with it. Council Member Patitucei wanted
to get the exact costs and was willing to pay, the additional
incremental moneys to set up some kind of an accounting com-
parison procedure. He assumed the figures would be audited
every three years and that every three years the figures
would be adjusted and then billed to the people in the
assessment districts. If those were the fundamental dif-
ferences, he queried whether it was better to charge people
$10 per month for 24 months and get it over with, or whether
the assessment district should last for the whole 15 years.
The total cost would be more because the $240 represented
the present value of a figure that would probably be closer
to $400 over the life of the 15 -year time frame. Over 15
years, the figure might be between $2 and $4 per month for
15 years.
Council Member Renzel referred to item 3(b) and the tradeoff
of the reduction in the franchise tee. She understood that
under the presently existing ruling, there could be some
changes in the terms under which a second franchisee might
operate in Palo M .to. Under Palo Alto's agreement with the
Co-op, the City was obliged to negotiate the same terms with
them. There was ra dependable fixed amount at that time to
apply under item 3(b).
Ms. tlorthway believed it could be assumed there would be a
franchise fee and the City might end up with two franchise
fees.
Council Member Renzel asked whether the terms of assessment
districts could have automatic adjustments or whether new
hearings had to be held whenever ther=e was an adjustment.
Ms. Northway believed it depended on the formula and how the
district was set up. If the district was set up such that
changes could be made and there could be a reserve fund, the
same assessment did not have to be made every year..
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Council Member Renzel said the changing assessment would
relate to the reconciled actual costs, and if the actual
costs were less, refund: or credits wog?ld be in order. If
actual cost: were more, the assessment would be raised. As
long as such terms were built into the initial district as a
formula under which people could protest, there was no prob-
lem doing so without additional hearings. People did not
ordinarily vote on assessment districts but rather received
notice and appeared before the Council and protested if they
desired but it was still Council's decision whether to over-
ride any protest.
Ms. Northway said that was correct, and it would require a
two-thirds vote to overrule the protests.
Council Member Renzel clarified that in Council Member
Patitucci's proposal if the majority of the neighborhood
protested, the presumption was that the neighborh000d
favored pedestals over vaults.
Council. Member Bechtel said Council Member Levy did an
excellent job of clarifying some differences between Council
Member Patitucci's proposal and the City Manager's. She
heard discussion as to the differences in the formation of
the assessment. district, Item 4c, and understood they were
willing to modify the proposal to say that areas which were
already undergrounded, i.e., the 1750 homes, would not have
a choice but would be undergrounded for the vaults, but as
assessment districts were formed, the future areas would be
able to make a distinction.
Council Member Patitucci clarified if the Council set-up an
assessment district, promulgated the formula, gave people
the costs, and they strongly protested, the Council could
read that protest as saying the residents would prefer
pedestals and could cancel the assessment district and
install pedestals. In the first scenario, they were saying
that if PacBell was installing the vaults, the Council did
not have that choice and should be prepared to impose the
assessment districts without taking into account the fact
the residents had a choice.
Council Member } echtel understood PacBell's schedule was to
be completed with all undergrounded areas by June, 1988. It
might take between the present and June to get the assess-
ment districts formed; however, all the construction for
cable would have been completed prior to formation of the
assessment districts. Therefore, Council Member Patitucci
was .agreeing with the City Manarer's proposal which was if
the assessment districts failed or there was a majority
protest which the Council did not override by a two-thirds.
vote, the City would absorb the costs.
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Council Member Patitucci believed it was easier to impose an
actual cost system over the life of the system than it was
to impose a $10 front-end cost.
Council Member Bechtel agreed with the proposal for $2
versus $10 a month for two years. The real question was,
would the cost of calculating the actual costs for mainte-
nance be worth the information obtained, or would the City
Attorney require that in any case to be able to form the
assessment districts in a reasonably accurate manner.
Ms. Northway opined, based on the cases she researched in
the limited time available, the only thing the Council could
assess for was actual costs, and they had to be able to sup-
port those in a reasonable manner. That was her concern.
She did not believed .the staff proposal really addressed
that point. Estimates were fine for an initial start-up,
but at some point the estimates had to be reconciled with
actual costs, which Council Member Patitucci's proposal
attempted to do.
Vice Mayor Klein believed Council Member Levy elucidated the
differences between the motion on the floor and the staff
proposal. In regard to Item 4c and the vote required, he
believed if the Council followed the staff proposal, home
owners who followed the matter would feel they had nothing
to lose by protesting. If they could persuade four Council
Members, the cost wouldbe transfered to the general public.
On the other hand, Council Members would feel they had to
overrule the protest, and it became a strange vote in that
regard. He believed the idea of giving the people a choice
was a good one.. It was different from what the Council
passed previously, but he liked the idea of people being
able to vote in that way. Council Member Bechtel pointed
out the process became moot because the votes would not get
through an assessment process prior to June. He suggested
sending out material within the next few weeks telling the
people in the 1750 homes in question what their choice would
be.
Council Member Woolley agreed it was an unusual way to go
about setting up an assessment district. Her original oppo-
sition to the proposal was based on the fact she was not
willing to support the underground until she knew who would
pay for it. When she spoke to Council Member Patitucci that
afternoon, she was supportive of his proposal because it
allowed a choice and made good sense. The people whowould
benefit could decide whether or not they would pay. How-
ever, if the City was going to absorb the costs if the
voters voted down the assessment district, they were back to
taking the funds out of the General Fund and having
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everybody in the City pay the costs, and she could not sup-
port that. The straw vote might be a good idea, but it was
still up to the final decision of the way each property
owner reacted to the proposal and the way the Council ulti-
mately voted. The proposal was. still too iffy" in terms of
who would pay.
Mayor Sutorius noted the capital costs were $120,000 in the
actual "vaulting" and $15,000 in vegetation for a total of
$135,000. The balance totaling $821,000 was maintenance and
servicing expenses. He preferred to address the capital
costs and see the processes develop an assessment district
to deal with the $125,000. He noted 1,750 properties worked
out to $77 per property. He believed people would respond
to such an assessment regardless of whether they intended to
subscribe to the service. They could then deal with a long-
term cushion to handle maintenance costs, i.e., the deferral
with a value of $245,000, the Cable Co-op contribution of
$100,000 which meant there was at least $385,000 that could
be pre -identified to offset maintenance costs for a pro-
longed period of time. Maintenance and servicing costs on a
present value basis were about $38,000 and, therefore,
$385,000, even accounting for inflation, had to be approxi-
mately an eight -year cushion. That would then allow for the
data availability and calculations to substantiate by a
formula what the appropriate assessment charge should be for
maintenance. He believed . that was clearer and more under-
standable.
Council Member Fletcher was opposed to the procedure both on
the technical grounds and on the financing: grounds even more
so. The procedures assumed approval of the assessment
district which she believed was highly questionable. For
one thing, only one .house in four was faced with a pedestal
on their front lawns. Based on the comments she heard,
Council seemed to be plotting to override any majority pro-
tests which might be received which was unacceptable. The
City was committing itself to make cash contributions -if
costs ran .higher and itdid not know what the .costs would
be. The maintenance costs would be lower in the first
couple of years and would probably escalate after years
three to five. From what she heard about other systems, the
entire system might have to be replaced in fiveyears espe-
cially since Palo Alto's system was so sophisticated and
sensitive to damage. Council .had not even considered who
would pay the costs of bringing all the equipment back above
ground in the future years, as the other cities were
gradually doing, because of unacceptable cable reception.
She believed Palo Alto was getting itself deeper into a
moms. The compromise offered was reasonable. The citizens
who protested the pedestals were barely aware of the
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alternative offered and it was never really addressed. It
was not too late to go back to it. She believed Council
should get out of the morass and was asking for trouble if
it went forward with either the staff recommended mechanisms
or the Patitucci motion.
Council Member Levy referred to the Patitucci motion and
queried what the estimated costs, assuming they were the
real costs, would translate to on a per month assessment
over a 15 -year period, adding to it whatever staff's best
judgment was for the cost accounting system.
Council Member Woolley clarified staff said the Cable Co-op
had included the costs for future underground districts,
which figure needed to be backed out of the Cable Co-op's
service figure before Council Member Levy's question could
be answered.
Council Member Levy was interested in a ballpark figure
because if they were talking about $10 per month for 24
months versus $5 per month for 15 years, the level of magni-
tude was important. Regarding Vice Mayor Klein's concept of
a straw vote, the concept was if the straw vote went against
the Council, i.e., a significant number of people were
unwilling to pay a reasonable assessment figure, then the
City could stop the undergrounding, reverse its concept, and
put everything into the above -ground pedestals. He queried
whether Vice Mayor Klein's proposal for a straw vote was
possible.
Mr. Zaner said a straw vote was possible. The City's expe-
rience with sending outsurveys to people was that an over-
whelming response was not received. There was some delay
built in but a straw poll could be taken.
Council Member Levy queried whether it could be done fast
enough.
Mr. 7aner .said a straw poll could be sent out quickly, but
he could not guarantee how fast responses would return.
Staff could probably deliver the surveys door-to-door.
Council Member Le. -pry supported .the straw vote concept. If
people were willing to make the payments, he was comfortable
with either the staff proposal or the Patitucci proposal
with the addition of the vote for the assessment district
being based on the straw vote proposal. He believed Mayor
Sutorius' proposal was too cumbersome.
Vice Mayor Klein believed another major difference between
Council Member Patitucci's motion and the staff proposal;: was
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whether Council wanted to go with the cost estimate figures
presently before Council in the staff report (CMR:146:8).
The advantage was the figures were absolutely fixed and
people would know with certainty that it was all they would
ever have to pay. The weakness to the approach was he
believed the n_ umbers were . based on soft data to start with
and ranged all the way from a 35 percent increase to a 1,000
percent increase and there was no way of verifying them.
Council Member Patitucci's motion went for certainty and the
extra costs would be figured out within a reasonable range
but we did not know the cap. Regarding the PacBell and the
Co-op proposal, the City did not know whether the numbers
were fair. If he understood the PacBell representative cor-
rectly, they would never know because they would not figure
it out. PacBell could end up pocketing some money under it.
He personally preferred Council Member Patitucei's motion.
AMENDMENT: Vice Mayor Klein moved, seconded by Levy, that
staff be directed to take & straw vote of, the. 1,750 homes to
find out whether the residents wished to pay the extra costs
of undergrounding or otherwise preferred the above -ground
pedestals in their neighborhoods.
AMENDMENT PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent.
John Kelly, 1868 mark Twain, said as be understood the
amendment, Council decided to again defer the decision for a
period of several weeks. The result might be that Pacific
Bell would stop construction which would add about $140,000
to the entire project. Instead of talking about an $821,000
figure, it would be close to $1,000,000. Pacific Bell
undertook the commencement of construction in good faith
based upon an understanding that Council would likely take
action that evening and. would at least clarify who the ulti-
mately responsible party would be. He tried to make reason-
able calculations about keeping track of the Co-op's service
technicians' and customer service representatives' time,
i°)resenting it in a form that was intelligible to an accoun-
tant and getting professional'assistance presented either to
City staff or the Council. He estimated it would cost. the
Co-op between $154,000 and $204,000, which was a net present
value figure, over 13 years and three months. He did not
know how much it would cost PacBell to keep track of similar
time. The question was raised by Mayor Sutorius about why
it was necessary to have some additional costs. He believed
that based upon the current operations, the only way to
generate an actual marginal coat of maintenance for the
vaults would be essentially to record everyone's time. His
estimates were based upon the timekeeper's spending only
five to ten minutes per day to do so. Sampling depended
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upon whether one wanted actual costs. There were two prob-
lems associated with sampling. The problems would not make
themselves apparent until a period of three to five years,
and the sampling approach was essentially half way between
the actual and the estimated costs. He suggested a more
expedient way to end up there was for the Coop to set a top
and a bottom figure for some of the costs and say the City
would guarantee a certain amount and would pay up to a maxi-
mum amount. He believed that would be more economical.
Vice Mayor Klein said there was no inference that Council
was delaying action.
Mr. Kelly stood corrected.
Council Members Fletcher said the staff report (CMR:146:8)
indicated the cable subscriber rates would be raised mini-
mally and she queried the amount of the extra costs to the
subscriber to defray most of the service and maintenance
costs,
Mr. Zaner clarified the assessment charge would represent a
small fixed amount --it would not be an amount charged by the
Co-op. The assessment amount he recommended was $10 per
month.
Council Member Fletcher believed the language referred to
subscribers. The assessments would be based on home owner-
ship and not on subscribers. She assumed it meant an extra
fee to subscribers.
Mr. Zaner said he tried to look at the average amount the
subscriber paid and the Cable Co-op said it was about $30
per month He wanted to find some amount of money that the
subscriber would not feel was exhorbitant when they looked
at their total bill which would be $30 plus the assessment
levied by the City.
Council Member . Fletcher clarified it was unrelated to sub-
scribers.
Council Member Levy believed Council did delay action for
three weeks because final decision would be delayed pending
the results of the straw vote. If the straw vote was not
definitely in favor of undergrounding, Council was going to
rescind its decision.
Vice Mayor Klein expected Council would take the results of
the straw vote and not do anything with them.
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Council Member Levy preferred to go ahead based upon the
public input already received which was overwhelmingly in
favor of undergrounding, but he shared the concern that when
it got down to how much it would cost a person, they might
change their mind. Mr. Kelly said a three-week delay would
cost ap rc imateiy $100,000.
Mr. Kelly deferred response in terms of the actual figure to
PacBell. PacBell said previously it needed to begin con-
struction immediately in order to not get out of contract
with their,subcontractor. The cost of keeping their con-
struction company on contract was $36,000 per week. He was
confused about what Council wanted.
Vice Mayor Klein maintained that Council was setting its
policy .and was not requesting PacBell to stop. Palo Alto
said it was going to go forward and find the funding and he
did not believe that had changed.
Council Member Woolley was appalled by the games she heard
Council playing that evening. Council Member Fletcher was
correct that Council was getting itself deeper into an
incredible morass. Council would end up ultimately charging
the General Fund and all of the people of Palo Alto the cost
of solving the problem. Council should back out immedi-
ately.
Council Member Patitucci said Council was back to where it
started. The reason Council was going through the detailed
process was because two months ago Council did not get spe-
cifics about how to deal with the costs when it wanted a
plan. The Council went through two cycles and had not
gotten cooperation or proposals that were in any way posi-
tive about how to measure costs, how to calculate them, or
how to set up an assessment district so Council was doing it
themselves at the Council level. He was appalled Council
had to do it but he believed it needed to be done in order
to act responsibly. Council heard repeatedly from a wide
range of the community that it wanted to have the pedestals
underground. Council never went ahead with an assessment
district with the intent of overturning an assessment dis-
trict because of protests. It was done because Council
believed it was appropriate public policy. Council should
eliminate the straw vote and move ahead with the plan as he
proposed and allow PacBell to continue and to have Cable
Co-op develop a reasonable system for estimating costs.
Council Member Renzel was willing to commit t to paying the
incremental part of the system placed in vaults between then
and the time Council acted on the straw vote if it turned
out Council determined there was no support for the assess-
ment district mechanism. She remembered Vice Mayor Klein
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specifically telling the residents _ who attended the Council
meeting that they should not have to pay for the under-
grounding. Council was now looking at a system where not
only the people with the pedestals but their neighbors as
Well would have to pay for the undergrounding. Council
needed to know whether the people were willing to pay before
it went too far with the system.
Council Member Fletcher said people's perception was they
either pay the assessment or they were stuck with the
present boxes, which was rot the choices she believed they
had. She was concerned people would not be given all the
information.
AMENDMENT: Council Member Fletcher moved, seconded by
Woolley, that the straw poll include that the choices were
between paying an assessment or having the present pedestals
removed and less obtrusive installed with landscaping.
AMENDMENT FAILED by a vote of 2-6: Woolley, Fletcher
voting 0aye," Cobb absent.
Mr. Kelly said the Cable Co-op needed to know what Council
wanted to do about upper Page Mill Road. He was still at a
loss about whether to continue with construction and if so,
with the underground vaults.
Mr. Salkeld wanted to be able to instruct PacBell's con-
struction crews tomorrow to either continue with the place-
ment of underground vaults as was suggested in two previous
meetings or whether to stop construction tomorrow pending
some type of straw poll that would state whether at some
future time PacBell would place pedestals aboveground as was
originally approved when the construction process first
began.
Council Member Bechtel did not believe Council made any
motions contradicting its previous motion which was to pro-
ceed with undergrounding. Until such a motion was made, she
presumed PacBell and the Cable Co-op would proceed. Council
clearly said three weeks ago that the upper Page Mill Road
area should be deferred.
Council. Member Levy said if Council wanted further under -
grounding deferred pending the results of the straw poll, he
queried whether PacBell could productively use its crews in
the interim three-week period.
Mr. Salkeld would be willing to find out from PacBell's con-
struction manager whether there was additional polishing
work which could be done elsewhere. He understood last week
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As corredted
3/14/88
that there was no major additional work to be done and he
needed to start work in Palo Alto which was done that after-
noon.
Vice Mayor Klein said the City's policy was not what PacBell
and the Cable Co-op wanted. He was giving up the straw vote
poll because he clearly recalled PacBell said it would go
forward with the construction.
NOTION TO RECONSIDER: Vice Mayor Klein moved, seconded by
Patitucci to reconsider the vote of the amendment re straw
vote.
MOTION TO RECONSIDER PASSED by a vote of 7-1, Renzel
voting "no,' Cobb absent.
Council Member Fletcher asked about a contingency plan to
cover the costs of undergrounding if no assessment district
was formulated.
Mr. 2aner said if the assessment district failed, Council
could either override the. protests and assess the persons in
the districts, or pay the costs out of the General Fund or
by some other means.
Mayor Sutorius said the construction work began that after-
noon and would proceed for whatever period of time it took
to conduct a straw poll. In the construction process, if
work was suspended, the contractor was paid to do nothing.
If the contractor was relieved from the contract, a new con-
tract had to be negotiated at some future time.
Council Member Renzel believed the straw poll would help
determine whether people were willing to tollow their aes-
thetic convictions with their pocketbooks. The straw poll
would ask the three of the four people in an underground
neighborhood not aggrieved whether they were willing to pay
to have the boxes out of their neighborhoods. She was
willing to pay the costs incurred for construction during
the interim period. She personally would support the under -
grounding regardless of whether she had a box in her yard
but was not sure everyone would support.
Council Member Woolley concurred with Council Member Renzel
that the straw poll appeared to offer an opportunity for the
City to cover its losses. The City would have to honor the.
work done by PacBell to that point but four weeks as opposed
to a couple of months would be a big difference in the
amount of undergrounding to have to deal with. She hoped
PacBeli was working in the areas where the City had the most
input, i.e., the Crescent Park III area as opposed to the
Gunn High School area where the City heard from almost no
one.
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As corrected
3/14/88
Council Member Patitucci believed a straw vote might have
been useful eight or twelve weeks ago for the range of ques-
tions being asked, including alternate pedestals. Council
made a decision and had to take the steps necessary to
implement it. In terms of a straw poll, there was a big
difference between an opinion and something one had to own
up to. There was not the time necessary to conduct a proper
polling process.
AMENDMENT FAILED by a vote of 4-4, Fletcher, Renzel,
Sutorius, Woolley voting 'aye,' Cobb absent.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION; Mayor Sutorius moved, seconded by
Woolley, to direct staff to develop an implementation plan
with the following elements;
1. Assessment district(s) formations with initial monetary
asses, ents limited to defrAaiig undergrounding the tap
pedestals, i.e., approximately $120,000 plus vegeta-
tion;
2. Upper Page Mill Road deferral, value of $245,000 and
Cable Co-op contribution of $100,000 reserved for ser-
vice and marketing, including acceptable cost accounting
tracking method and periodic reconciliation;
3. When reserve funds were expended in approximately eight
to nine years, maintenance and servicing would be
assigned into the appropriate assessment district;
Mayor Sutorius said the motion identified the specific capi-
tal costs at $135,000, and the assessment would work out to
approximately $77 per R-1 property. It allowed other
identified values to be assigned to main --.trance which was
still the disputed area where Council was relying on esti-
mates. In approximately eight to nine years the values
would have potentially been expended and there would be a
record that could more reliably be incorporated into an
assessment process that would be assigned to the property
owners for perhaps a period of about three and one-half to
four remaining years of the franchise period. He believed
that was a more credible way to assign costs if Council
wanted to go ahead with the undergrounding.
Council Member Levy believed the motion provided for.._a low
level assessment district at that point, and the initial
years of maintenance would be taken care of by the costs
related to the ending of the upper Page Mill Road area build.
out. Beginning in years 10 through 15, Council would have
to set up a new assessment district and develop costs at
that time which would be higher because of inflation. In
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eight or ten years people would wonder what was going on
since they would have had cable television for 10 years and
then an assessment was made. All of the history which went
back to the present Council would have been forgotten.
Mayor Sutorius said the costs being dealt with then were a
present value basis of $38,000 per year projected in order
to arrive at the total. Inflation would be calculated in
either case. Council was probably closer to a four-year
period it would be dealing with in terms of costs. Present
value was approximately $160,000, which he did not believe
was significant because if $135,000 in capital costs equated
to $77 total, something in the vicinity of $160,000 to
$200,000 would not be a sizable total figure. In the
assessment district process people still had the choice to
make a lump sum payment, which might amount to $120, and
alternatives were available. It was not a process of set-
ting up a new assessment district. The assessment district
was set up and the initial assessment was $77. There would
be several years of zero assessment but the district did not
go away. When there was something to assess, that was when
the assessment was levied. He believed the values being
applied to maintenance at that time would cover a great
period of time because in the initial years of construction
there would not be the high trouble rate. The bulk of the
dollars would be available for the middle and tail end of
the period. He also expected there would be service
improvements. He believed the total assessment to the prop-
erty owner was reasonable and fair.
Council Member Renzel was concerned that as maintenance
occurred, PacBell and the Cable Co-op would have to pay for
it and there would be a lag before the money was raised to
pay them.
Mayor Sutorius clarified maintenance would be paid by the
$345,000, which would be available to draw on to pay added
maintenance costs on a going forward basis. When the
$345,000 was exhausted, Council could establish the assess-
ment using more soundly based data than anything presently
available.
Vice Mayor Klein assumed the account with the $245,000 ear-
marked for undergrounding the Page Mill area and the
$100,000 from the Co-op would earn interest to the extent it
was not used in the earlier years.
Vice Mayor Klein said the motion was similar to Council
Member Patitucci e s but more refined. . He wo ;? d support the
substitute motion.
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Mr. Kelly believed the substitute motion made sense. It had
the effects of incurring the additional costs of keeping
track of the time which was a large percentage of the costs
Council was trying to estimate. He believed it was on the
order of 48 percent of the cost. Even if Council was right
about the actual costs being less than 2.5 percent, he
estimated about $15,000 per year to keep track of the Cable
Co-op's time.
Mayor Sutorius said the sequence was Council had values
based on a decision on Page Mill and a decision on the part
of the Cable Co-op which was being accepted. The reference
to an "acceptable cost accounting, tracking method and
periodic reconciliation," meant the City would have the time
and mutual ingenuity to make an appropriate level of payment
for the added maintenance costs on an estimated basis while
the reserve fund or value fund was the source of that pay-
ment., By the time the City was into several years, the
ability to provide an "acceptable cost accounting method"
would have experience. He did not envision that what was
transferred into an assessment district process would have
the kinds of costs Mr. Kelly was alerting the City to.
Mr. Kelly said apportionment of the $100,000 was never dis-
cussed.
Mayor Sutorius understood that the Cable Co-op made a deci-
sion to absorb $21,000 of what was previously a $61,000 cost
element and to contribute $100,000. He distinguished that
one was identified as contribution and the other was identi-
fied as an absorption.
Mr. Kelly said the Cable Co-op never offered to put $100,000
in the bank. It anticipated future costs and agreed, in
effect, not to charge the City for some of those future
costs. They were happy to discuss the allocation of future
costs but the Cable Co-op did not have $100,000 to put into
a bank account. 'The Co-op, in effect, assumed the costs
would be spread out over time.
Mayor Sutorius believed if the funds were applied to added
maintenance costs, it would spread out over time.
Council Member Patitucci referred to the upper. Page Mil/
portion of $245,000. It might not end up being a $245,000
savings after five years. He asked whether that was inher-
ent in the ' substitute motion.
Mayor Sutorius said yes.
Council Member Patitucci clarified the amount the Cable
Co-op had in the reserve accounts wouldcover maintenance
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in all areas undergrounded until depleted. Once depleted,
then all of the areas would be assessed.
Mayor Sutorius said yes. If three areas were undergrounded
at year three and four areas in year six, whatever dollars
were available, the values of those dollars would go against
maintenance costs which would then trigger when a mainte-
nance assessment kicked in.
Council Member Patitucci clarified each assessment district
would be established; there would be an initial $77 assess-
ment; and at some point in the future, the actual mainte-
nance costs would be picked up after there was a system in
place which provided accurate numbers, and after all of the
credits were depleted for all of the different districts.
Council Member Renzel referred to the majority protest as a
presumption that people did not want to pay for the vaults
and, therefore, would be agreeable to boxes.
AMENDMENT: Council Member Patitucci moved, seconded by
Renzel, to include that for future areas to be under -
grounded, in the event of a majority protest, Council would
assume that the neighborhood preferred the pedestals to the,
cost of undergrounding.
Council Member Renzel asked whether the costs included
capital and maintenance.
Council Member Patitucci said under Mayor Sutorius' pro-
posal, it would be both capital and maintenance.
AMENDMENT PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent.
Council Member Levy clarifiedCouncilwas postponing assess-
ments for a number of years at which time those assessments
could be significant. Council would be assessing people who
had not been subject to an assessment for eight or ten years
or even aware that they were in an assessment district. He
did not believe it was a responsible action for the City
Council.
Council Member Patitucci said the ultimate judgment was what
was more palatable, fair and reasonable to those who would
have to vote on the assessment districts --it seemed to him a
little cleaner and easier to explain to someone he would ask
to support the assessment that they would be paying the
additional maintenance costs which started immediately. The
substitute motion was good . but he was bothered by the date
at which the other payments would begin, the amount of the
payments, and having to deal with the down time in between
paying the capital costs. He would not support the substi-
tute motion.
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SUBSTITUTE MOTION FAILED by a vote of 2-6, Klein, Sutorius
voting °aye,1° . Cobb absent.
Council Member Renzel said while she was concerned about the
little pedestal boxes in R-1 neighborhoods, she hoped we
would also be equally concerned about the really big, over-
sized boxes being built in R-1 neighborhoods.
Mr. Zaner asked whether the Cable Co-op figure should read
$100,000 or $121,000.
Mayor Sutorius said $100,000.
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 5-3, Fletcher, Sutorius,
Woolley voting "no, °E Cobb absent.
Vice Mayor Klein was concerned about whether the Cable Co-op
construed Council's actions that upper Page Mill was not
included.
Mr. Kelly was unclear that the $245,000 was the present
estimate of the cost savings of not building upper Page mill
in perpetuity. The staff recommendation was clear that if
there was a decision at a later date to build upper Page
Mill, the City would bear the costs. If that was the sense
of the action taken, he understood.
Vice Mayor Klein said that was the sense of the motion.
Mr. Kelly also clarified that in the event the assessments
districts were rejected in the future, the City would pay
for the additional future costs. In 1. some sense, the General
Fund was behind the City.
9. VICE MAYOR KLEIN RE GOLDEN TRIANGLE (NPG)
MOTION TO CONTINUE: Vice Mayor Klein moved, seconded by
Levy, to continue the item.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Cobb absent.
ADJOURNMENT
Council adjourned at 12:10 a.m.
ATTEST:
APPROVED:
59-248
2/08/88
As corrected
3/14/88