Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-07-09 City Council Summary MinutesITEM CITY COUNCIL MINUTEs Special Emergency Meeting Thursday, July 9, 1981 CITY O, PALO ALTO PAGE Ordinance No. 3290 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE 1 0 3 0 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO ADDING CHAPTER. 9.58 TO THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE, REGARDING THE MEOFLY EMERGENCY" Special Meeting Thursday, July 9, 1981 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in a Special. Emergency meeting, in the Council Chambers, at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 5:00 p.m. PRESENT: Bechtel (arrived at 5:15 p.m.), Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Klein, Levy, Renzel, Witherspoon The reason for calling the emergency meeting was to discuss the current Medfly crisis and adopt an ordinance pertaining thereto; In accordance with Govern -dent Code Section 54956.5, the.foilowing persons were notified in advance that this Special Emergency meeting was scheduled: 1) All Councilmembers listed above; 2) The Peninsula Times Tribune; 3) Palo Alto Weekly; 4) San Jose. Mercury; 5) KZSU Radio. Also in accordance with Government Code Section 54956.5, a copy of these minutes was posted in the Council Chambers as soon after the meeting as possible. Mayor Henderson commented on what had happened regarding the Medfly situation since Monday night. Assistant City Manager, June Fleming had gone into action and sent out a considerable amount of correspondence. The eleven member Technical Advisory Committee met Tuesday and Wednesday in Los Gatos and Council - members Renzel and Bechtel attended. Assemblyman Byron Sher met with Governor Brown on Tuesday. Mayor Henderson had a telephone conversation with Governor Brown on Tuesday afternoon and advised him that the Council was witnessing the most emotional response from Palo Alto residents since the_ Vietnam War. .Wednesday after -- noon, there was a Mayors' meeting',,in San Jose with the press and the public. Governor Brown was commended on his courageous stand.. Everyone felt he made quite a fight talk and made it quite. clear that the program must succeed or aerial spraying would be mandatory. Most of the Cities seemed extremely respon- sive. There appeared to be much more of an effort than there was earlier. Thursday morning, there was another meeting in San Jose. Friday, the legislature was going to meet in a special legislative session, and try to force aerial spraying by law. The Mayor said the period from 9:00 a.m. to 12;00 p.m., Friday morning, was being set aside for public input and that 11:00 a.m. was going to be set aside for input from the Cit , - of Palo Alto. Mayor Henderson commended - dune Fleming for her outstanding efforts in getting the emergency rush program under way. He also thanked Ann Tanner for her valuable help. Assistant City Manager, June Fleming said that staff had done a remarkable job. The program was being coordinated by Larry White and Jeff Paulsen, Who ,had worked with the Medfly stripping pro- gram previously. Ms. Fleming said staff was making an effort to communicate with every resident of Palo Alto to inform them that all of their fruit must be stripped, to tell them what assistance - was, available in the event they could 'not do : it themselves, and to give them the'tel ephcne numbers of the hot lines that 'had ,been set up.. . She said this was being done through : a flyer :.a copy of which had been given to the Council. She said the 'Post Office was going to deliver the flyer to every doorstep in Palo Alto on F'riday. Couno i irnember Bechtel arrived 'at 5:15 p.m. Ms. Fleming said that members of the community had been calling volunteering to help with the program. The staff had reported to her that more people had called to volunteer than they had in the last stripping, which to her indicated the level of concern in the community. She said the effort was to remove all fruit, nuts and vegetables which were designated. as "host." She said she had received a complete listing. She said that the City would .:provide assistance to people who could not strip their trees either because the fruit was too high, or they were -elderly people or the handicapped. The effort would- be to complete the stripping by Sunday because at 5:01 p.m. Monday, everything must not only be stripped; but there must be some enforcement plan. Staff was currently working out the details of the enforcement part of the stripping. She said that all appropriate City staff would be used in this effort. The Police Department, Fire Department, Public Works and other departments would be coordinating the enforcement. The Director of Personnel had met with the representatives of the .various unions and they had pledged their cooperation, and employees understood that they were working with an emergency situation and that —it would have to be done over the -;weekend, Ms. Fleming said that she had attended the meeting on Thursday afternoon, July 9, together - with the Mayor and Larry White. She said that information was shared among the cities as to the approaches that would be taken. She -felt good about Palo Alto's program, she felt that Palo Alto had thought ahead to enforcement and giving assistance where some cities had not.: Many cities had asked Palo Alto to share its information, She said that Friday, Palo Alto would begin to respond to other cities. She said that. California Conservation Corps staff were in the area and avail- able to help Palo Alto; that a crew would be sent to Palo Alto and that the city was prepared to receive them. Equipment was avai l.abl e for the Corps, and the equipment for the residents was ready, and disbursement of the crews would be to wherever the assistance was heeded. Ms. Fleming said she had been informed that ground spraying would take place in areas where larvae had been.. found and that the spraying would be fora nine --block radius. The intensity of -that spraining.. would be equivalent to what would have happened if the aerial spraying had taken place. Persons in areas which were inaccessible to regular spray crews were asked to notify the ledfly Program Coordin ator of such areas. The only area in Palo Alto which might not be accessible would be Foothills Park, and the coordinators were aware of .the sensitive areas, such as the lake, and they would . look to see if that area needed to be sprayed at all. Ms. Fleming said the program was in place, the staff was ready to give.. information to citizens as to the "ho'st° for...the fruit fly, they were prepared to give assistance to those that needed, it, there were a bank of telephones, each household would be noti- fied, and extra copies of the, flyer and .some equipment would be available in the libraries.. Mayor Henderson commended Ms.... Fleming. Counc i lme''ber Fletcher commended Ms.' Fleming for her efforts. She asked if the flyers would have the numbers on them. Ms. Fleming said yes. Councilmember Fletcher asked if the telephone numbers would b active over the . -,weekend. fantastic tel ephone Ms. Fleming said yes. 1 0 3 1 7/9/81 Councilmember Eyerly asked Ms. Fleming what the process would be when the bags were picked up and taken to the dump. Ms. Fleming said staff understood that effort to come in and pick up bags although staff was not going to depend Palo Alto Sanitation Company (PASCO) had any bags not picked up by CalTrans :would the regular pick Up date. CalTrans would make an deposited on the curbs on that. She said that been contacted, and that be picked up by PASCO on Councilmember Eyerly asked how the dump was going to handle dis- posal of the bags. Ms. Fleming said she had spoken with Dale Pfeiffer and that they were prepared to cover it --not spray. Councilmember Eyerly doubted that the entire County would be able to respond as Palo Alto, and .thought that perhaps staff's respon- sibility was not only with Palo Alto but trying to activate or have input on whoever was in charge. He thought- that perhaps the _County areas would be weak as to how they would report what areas were i n access i bl a for them to help and whether there were other means to handle it. He thought there were a lot of outlying orchard areas, and the danger -of infestation within the hills and canyons, -which would not be stripped by anyone. He wandered -- whether any type of a contact group from the North County cities would have any impact or be any political help as far as watching what directions were carried out and what.parameters were being worked under for the total area. Ms. Fleming responded that in terms of fruit stands, commercial orchards and grocery stores, the State was assuming responsi- bility. She said that was clear and that the State was bringing in -enough staff to take -care of it. In terms of inaccessible areas, each city was to contact the Medfly Project Coordinator to let them know which areas within their cities were were inacces- sible. Rod Diridon, respresenting the County Board of Supervisors, had said - the County would designate inaccessible areas within their jurisdiction and assistance would be given through the State in reaching those areas, perhaps by aerial spraying in those areas only. Councilmember •Eyerly said that the politics of aerial spraying had a lot of ramifications which was why he had wondered whether some committee representing the cities might not be able to politically help the situation if that was where the State headed in inaccessible areas. He wondered- whether there should be a staff person, or a liaison, or a committee, to help the direction to move rapidly with some idea as to what was feasible. He felt that in the past State officials did not have proper reading or even proper information to di-sseminate. ilayor Henderson responded that with tt'e short time period, the State has mobilized very quickly and he thought that, at this point it would be difficult to try to come in with any other committees or ideas. 'He said the State was .really being har- assed, and that they were working around the clock.' All the indications were that this time they had a better handle on the situation --far better than in January or February. In certain areas, the State did plan to do aerial spraying ` if there was not access to those areas. Councilmember Eyerly asked what the State legislature might be doing ana whether there might be a ten-day to two-week lag in which to get more input. Mayor' Henderson said the legislature would meet Friday, and if they Were able to pass a law which required aerial spraying, the Governor then had the opportunity to veto and if he did, he could hold the Bill on his desk for up to twelve days. That would not delay, the stripping. Mark Chandler of Assemblyman Sher`s Office, said if the Governor derided to sign the Bill, then aerial spraying could take place almost immediately. Further, he said that Thursday afternoon, -the Governor refused to commit himself to vetoing the Bill. He felt the Governor was very much putting himself in the position of waiting to see what the legislature did and what the mood was. He emphasized the importance of Palo Alto sending one or more Councilmembers to Sacramento on Friday. The Assembly would sit as the committee of the whole to take testimony. Assemblyman Sher was bringing Dr. Cowman of Stanford to testify before the Assembly. Further, Assemblyman Sher. had polled a number of members of the Assembly Thursday afternoon and there, were a couple of.members who would not be there, which was good, because it would take two-thirds of the number of members in the Assembly, 54 members, to vote out an emergency measure, and that there were other members from urban areas who said they would support the ground program for the time being. Mr. Chandler felt it would be very important for the Assembly, particularly those members who were waivering,•.to have confidence that the commeni- ties in this area had the resolve and ability to carry eai the ground stripping program in a manner which would take care of the problem. He felt that would take the Governor out of the posi- tion of trying to balance things. Mayor Henderson asked Mr. Chandler to clarify his understanding that if the City Council made a presentation in Sacramento on July 10 that indicated_ that the City of Palo Alto felt that it could accomplish the program that the Governor had set forth, that would be significant, Mr. Chandler said he felt that would be significant in addition to the evidence that Dr. Cowman had. The pressure that was being applied by the interests that would like to see aerial spraying occur immediately was enormous and the results in the Assembly could not be guaranteed, bu* the closer the vote in the Assembly, the better the Governor would feel about sitting on the Bill for several days while they waited to see what happened with. the stripping program about to be implemented,: -- He responded to Councilmember Eyerly`s concern and said that Mountain View and Sunnyvale had else put together very solid programs in the last 24 -hours in tens of making bags available in fire stations and libraries thoughout those -communities, and that -they had generated volunteers and they also seem to be well -organized. Ms. Fleming said it was indicated at the meeting Thursday after- noon that the Governor _would make every effort to. be -at the . meeting oh Sunday at 4:00 p.m., in the Board of Supervisors Chambers in San Jose, so that he could get a personal feel for how successful the stripping program had been to date, The pur- pose of that -meeting,, would be to review where cities- were at. that point and Lorevew vrhat plans' cities had for enforcement. Councilmember Fa zz no .said he would :be Willing eto go to Sacramento on Friday -and represent, the City of Palo Al to if nec essary'. .He .asked Ms. Fleming what the_ main telephone number was for residents :.to call during the .weekend. Ms. Fleming responded that it was 329--2250, which would be avail able until 5;00"p.m., and after that, Communications (3292311) would have all the necessary information. Councilmember l azzino asked if a chairperson had been designated to coordinate the effort among. staff ;people.. Ms. Fleming said she had been fulfilling that role, bud:. that the remainder of of the work was getting the program implemented. Dave Adams, Director of Public Works, was the Project Executive and Larry White and Jeff Paulsen were the coordinators. l 0 3 -1 . 7/9/81 Councilmember Witherspoon asked if anyone had contacted Stanford to see if they wanted to coordinate with Palo Alto, or if they were going to go ahead with the County coordination. Mayor Henderson said he had asked about that, and was told that the County was handling it. Councilmember„Fletcher asked Mark Chandler if it would be useful for several (.ouncilmembers to go to Sacramento, or would one be expected to give a statement. Mr. Chandler said it was suggested to him that as many as would like to go would be welcome. He did not know how many statements would be desirable. He thought that June Fleming's statement was a very effective one, and wondered whether it would be desirable to break her comments into a couple of components that could be testified to by a couple of people. Councilmember Fletcher asked how much time was set aside for Palo Alto. Mr. Chandler felt the hearing in Sacramento would probably be held in the way Palo Alto holds Oral Comrnunicati'ins. City Attorney, Don Maynor, said that one of the things the Governor was looking to to deal with the Medfly problem was local agencies using their local ordinances. He had drafted an ordi- nance which specifically approached the Medfly emergency. He felt it notified the people what was expected of them, and there was a telephone number in the ordinance which would help inform people as to how to deal with the problem. He said there were three components to the ordinance. First, there was a duty imposed on all property owners or persons in lawful possession of property within the City to remove and dispose of all fruits, nuts and vegetables, and the ordinance contained exceptions to certain types of vegetables. He said the fruit, nuts and vegetables could be disposed of by consumption, freezing, pre- serving or bagging them in a tightly sealed bag and placing it on their front curb for pickup. Handicapped persons or people who were unable to do the stripping and the bagging should call. 329-2250 for assistance. lie also thought that the people in Palo Alto who were aware of neighbors who were on vacation should call the City and inform them that their neighbor was on vacation, so that the City could serve the function of removing the fruits, nuts, and vegetables. The ordinance also permitted City employees to have -access to property in order to inspect or if necessary to remove the fruits, nuts and vegetables. Violation of the ordinance would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 or six months.' imprisonment. He said that ordinance was effective immediately and must be adopted by a four -fifths vote. It would become ineffective once the Council determined that the emergency no longer existed in Palo Alto. Mayor Henderson commended Mr. Maynor for moving And developing the ordinance so quickly. Councilmember Klein Asked Mr. Maynor about the - liability of City employees going on people's land. Mr. _ Maynor responded that 4f the::. City was =.negligent on peoples' land, he assumed the City wouldbe liable. As far as homeowners' -being liable to a City employee, he did not see that as a problem unless they were aware of a known dangerous condition on their property -and did not inform the ..Cit.y employee. He did not ,see 1 a liability problem as far as homeowners were concerned. MOTION: Councilmember Levy, seconded by Fazzino, intro- duced the following ordinance and moved its approval, to become effective immediately. ORDINANCE 3290 entitled "EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF -7-Ta7 CITY OF PALO ALTO ADDING CHAPTER 9.58 TO THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING THE MEDFLY EMERGENCY" Councilmember Levy said that the City of Palo Alto had the responsibility .to cooperate and counter-attack the Medfly. He thought that the Governor acted courageously in affirming the views of the residents of this area. He said that the ordinance simply pint into code what the majority of Palo Alto residents believed in and would act to do. He believed that everyone who could volunteer in the broader community_ effort should do so, and that the alternative to the City's action represented a serious -danger to the public health of the community. Councilmember Bechtel said that as a gardener it was hard to pick fruit that would not be ripe for maybe three weeks, but. she .felt citizens should console themselves that if the effort was done now, they may lose this year's crop of -fruit or vegetabl es , but next year they :-:ould have fruit that would not have Medfly in it and would not be rotten at the -core. MOTION PASSED unanimously. MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by Renzel , that staff be commended for the excellent job they had done so far in mounting an excellent attack on the Medfly. MOTION PASSED unanimously. Mayor Henderson said it was not the end of the line, that the Councilmembers had no specific plans of how -- they would be involved in the effort, but he suggested that they keep in touch. and take part in whatever ways they were best able to do sa. Further, he said the Council would stand -ready if for any reason another emergency meeting was needed. ADJOU1t.NM j The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m. ATTEST. City C APPROVED: