HomeMy WebLinkAbout06111974CITY
COUNCIL
MINUTES
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PALO
ALTO
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on June 11 at 7:30 p.m. in
the second evening of a special meeting with Mayor Comstock presiding.
Present: Beahre, Berwald, Clay, (arrived 7:45 p.m.),
Comstock, Henderson, Norton, (arrived 8:17 p.m.),
Pearson, Sher
Absent: Rosenbaum
Continua n .�of,tioof Sea
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Dru$ Abuse Control Proxram
Ron Luyet, PACDAB, asked some of the members of the evaluation teats who
were at The Collective on a daily basis to offer some evaluation past the
point of what was contained in the report in terms of their rerceptions
of how staff dealt with people who care in off the street and asked for
help. Mr. Luyet did not feel the report with its numbers and statistics
gave Council or other citizen:: any flavor for either the kind of difficult
problems people have vho co:; to The Collective or how competent the staff
was iri dealing with those problems.
Miss Linda Putnam of the Evalttition Team responder' that the building new
has a sign on the front door which specifies "office" so that people know
they should go there. Also, the persons coping in are greeted by someone
who asks if they can be of help. Sometimes it is a chaotic situation with
two or three people coming in for detox, phones ringing, and other people
doing various things in the office. The range of the needs of people coming
in is quite broad from people walking in just wanting to know if something
they have is pot, to persons coining in for detox and everything in between.
Mr. Luyet asked if it were true that from data received people who came
into close contact with The Collective were more than satisfied with the
services received.
Miss Putnam responded affirmetively, saying that generally people felt
very 'Helped by their contact with The Collective, Extremely few people
felt they had not been helped at all. The results in the report show that
the single thing that was most important to the clients who came to The
Collective was the staff, their concern, understanding, and interaction,
and this was particularly true for detoxification patients.
Mr. Luyet asked the team to explain a little further the staff's perception
of the role of the board.
Miss Putnam said that in the beginning since the board worked very closely
with the staff, the staff showed its ability to take group directorship
of the attegram. They were then accountable to the board fur whatever directions
they set. In the case of The Collective, the staff as a whole served as
director of the program. The staff saw that rather than the board being
a heavily directored body, which would be natural in the absence of a director,
it was liaison, advocates, and a public relations group.
Mr. Luyet asked if it was the team's perception that the staff would like
PACDAB members to provide leadership and input. Miss Putnam responded
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affirmatively and said that the board had been invited to staff meetings,
and when this was done it was found to be quite helpful.
Mr. Luyet said then that it went beyond the staff simply wishing the board
to serve in a public relations capacity.- Miss Putnam replied staff wanted
the input of the beard.
Mr. Luyet asked if the staff's desire to have PACDAB members involved
with the program was motivated by a sincere desire to have them know
what is going an so they are better able to provide input or by a desire
to influence them in such a way that they would not disagree with the
staff.
Miss Putnam replied she did not feel it was a matter of not disagreeing
with the staff. The staff has what they refer to as a "struggle attitude"
and they are Willing to deal with differences between themselves and
their people, and also just between themselves.
Michael Fox, The Collective, stated that when staff asked board members
to be involved in the collective process, it was not an effort to get
board members to rubber-stamp staff actions. soh at was found was that
the Board of Directors had changed from one that was really involved
in the program to almost a new Board of Directors at this point. The
staff's asking the new board members to be involved in the collective
process is based on the fact that staff wants theta to really understand
the program so they can better form ther own criticisms and suggestions.
The program Is a very confusing one for a new board ce per to walk into,
so staff asks -board members to Coe to staff ; eetings and see the collective
process. With regard to community :impact, Mr. Fox felt it would have
been useful to compare how much the community knew about The Collective
with how much they knew about something like Family Services. It was
his feeling that citizens' perce,)tions of a lot of community services
simply axe not very high. He further stated that efforts are made to
insure that the The Collective program not be a cocoon ,here a person
is asked to become part of a program and six tenths later fly out a butterfly.
Mr. Fox pointed out that the collective process could not be construed
to be a protective environment. The rehabilitation is based on the clients
being involved in the ' ommunity the entire time. The program requires
that people deal with themselves with the highest level of responsibility
that they have, to themselves, their families, and their communities.
He said the staff does not encourage regular callers on the hot. -line,
and they do not encourage anyone to hang around the program for two years
and get addicted to it. Be pointed out that The Collective was not trying
to create a Shangri-La where people could come and escape frcn the real
world, but was a means of support in dealing with the real. world.
Mr. Luyet asked Dr. Cohen if in his perception this was a program that
had been unusually examined in comparison to other drug programs around
the country.
Dr. Cohen responded that the program had been looked at very, very carefully.
One of the complaints that he personally had was that there was not a
great deal of emphasis on drug programs being evaluated. This drug program
has been instensively scrutinized.
Mr. Luyet asked how Dr. Cohen would compare the success of this program
with other drug programs across the nation.
Dr. Cohen replied that obviously there are different goals and objectives
in msny different kinds of programs. The team was not asked to compare
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success rates, and most social agency ratios of success are very dependent
upon the goals and objectives with attention to cost and efficiency.
Mr. Luyet asked if based on ehe goals and objectives in this report,
Dr. Cohen would feel safe in paying that The Collective has been successful
in terms of the evaluation.
Dr. Cohen pointed out that the report shows mixed findings. In some
areas there were findings of success, and in sorR areas there were needs
for improvement. Dr. Cohen asked what area Mr. Luyet was most interested
in.
Mt. Luyet responded he wanted to know if the findings shored that The
Collective had been successful in helping clients.
Miss Putnam said that clients tended to feel that they had been helped
by their experiences at The Collective, and this feeling of having been
helped was corroborated by the changes in behavior. Drug use significantly
decreased; criminal justice involvement seemed to go down; productivity
tended to go up, and people changed from nonproductive lifestyles to
productive lifestyles. Income patterns also changed for the better in
that there wau less illegal income, more legitimate income, and increased
public assistance. The conclusion is that there were positive changes
in the clients and they felt they were helped_
Mr. Luyet felt that one of the recommendations of the team might rave
been to recommend a consultant who would have been able to answer questions
as a consultant rather than an evaluator, With revrd to educational
impact, involvement in the schools, etc., Mr. Luyet said he would like
Jane Hiatt go over some of the statistics from the staff in terms of
their involvement. He felt it was important for this kind of information
to be clear for the Council,
Jane Hiatt, 324 Emerson Street, said she would like to clarify what The
Collective had done in the schools and perhaps explain t)e seemingly low
level of k:aowledge on the part of the student body regarding the Collective.
The first and most general kind of presentation that the staff makes is
just going into the classes at the invitation of a specific teacher.
The class might be one in sociology, biology, government, or family life.
Any number of different types of topics might be covered depending upon
what the class is studying and what the teacher has asked us to come
in and talk about. The staff person always explains that he or she is
from The Collective, explains what The Collective is, and what kind of
services are offered. Four or five high school classes are spoken to
in a month. Miss Hiatt said she has gone to classes and talked about
the women's movement, abortion, sex, rape, and by far the most she has
talked about drugs. When they talk about The Collective, they always
tell how they approach the clients and how they are dealt with in tens
of their strength rather than their weaknesses. The clients are confronted
with and forced to deal with reality and not to continue to rely en the.
drugs that they are using, Pretty much the same thing is done in the
junior high schools. In the last year, some member of The Collective
was able to speak to every ninth grade student at Wilbur Junior High
School because they had been working closely with Phil Bliss, They were
able to go in and talk about The Collective, get some feedback, and find
out a little bit about what is happening on that campus in terms of drug
usage. Miss Hiatt said she had spoken to at least fifteen sixth grade
classes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Mountain View about drugs. These
talks involved informstioma about The Collective, drugs, and decision
snaking surrounding drugs. She also has worked at Mayfield, having gone
in once a week in the fall.
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See pg. 595
Joel Davidson of the staff is also working regularly at Mayfield, speaking
about drugs and working with the students. Miss Hiatt and another staff
member have been extensively involved with peer counseling. This weans
not only leading a weekly group of twelve to fifteen high school and
junior high school students but also visiting several different groups
of kids who have been trained to work with other kids who have problems,
talking about drugs, and talking about how they might deal with a classmate
who might be coming to class stoned every day. Miss Hiatt reported that
she is presently teaching an eighth grade family life class at Tertan
Junior High School, which has gone on the entire semester. The primary
subject cf the class is the prevention of drug abuse. This came about
specifically out of recommendations in the Palo Alto Citizens' Task Force
on Drugs. The content of the class has been sex education and drug education
with a lot of focus on family and peer relationships, on decision making,
and on helping these kids become responsible adults. Mike Fox has worked
extensively with Phil Bliss at Cubberley and has visited in a drug class
there twice a week, encouraged the kids to become involved in very active
projects, and has seen them develop s whole video tape project. He has
been continually involved in dialogue with those students. Members of
the staff work with individual counselors at the schools, and this has
resulted in some students who have had something of a problem getting
exploratory experience credit for doing volunteer work at The Collective.
Specific client referrals have been taken from the counselors at the
high schools and the junior high schools. Then there is the whole realm
of the drop -in populaticn that is dealt with at The Collective. Since
the addition of the pool table and other factors, there can be twenty
to forty young people there at one time. These are young people who
have grown up in Palo Alto and are mostly Between the ages of fifteen
and twenty, some in school and some not, some working. They spend a
lot of time there and there is much informal counseling. Another staff
member has been working in Mountain View with the Chicano students every
week and has worked intensively with those particular students, Staff
members have worked in the Ravenswood District in the family life program
speaking about drugs. Miss Hiatt has done several presentations at different
church groups for junior high and high school students, specifically
talking about The Collective and then focusing on drugs. The Street
Theatre has done assemblies at every high school in Palo Alto and has
had approximately 300 students in attendance at each assembly. The staff
members in a class situation will speak about drugs and also the conditions
in society which staff feel cause drug abuse to develop. Sometimes drug
intervention is discussed, and sometimes a staff member will tell of
his experiences in working with drug users. A lot of the focus on the
sixth grade level is on decision making, and also focusing on the individual
drug user's responsibility in making choices. Alcohol has always been
emphasized because it is a drug. In twenty or thirty sixth --grade classes
where Miss Hiatt has made presentations, every student has at least tasted
alcohol, and usually at least half of the class has been drunk at least
once. Alcohol is important to be included because it is so readily.available
and there is much more social acceptance of it. A brief explanation
for the lack of knowledge among students about The Collective would be
that staff has not been able to get to every class and every student.
The emphasis in the last six months has turned to working with junior
high and high school people. They launched an investigation, went into
the campuses, got to know the administration, got to know some of the
students, and tried to find out what kind of work the staff could best
do there. The spring was mostly devoted to getting a feel for the campuses
and deciding how The Collective could fit in, and what they could contribute
that would be unusual and helpful. The survey that was done was done
early in the spring before sore of the speaking was done and before the
assemblies were held., This partially explains the lack of knowledge
but not totally and the staff accepts the criticism that they have not
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6/11/74
reached all of the young people that they would like to reach. With
regard to next year, Miss Hiatt, is working with Sandy Snodgrass, the
family life coordinator for t1i►6 district, so that The Collective will
be able to participate in the drug education unit in all of the sixth
grade classes in the Palo Alto school district. The staff is also planning
to work in the seventh and ninth grade drug education unite. Ron Luyet
at Paly and Phil Bliss at Cubberley are working up a plan of reaching
all the sophomore and junior classes with a week long drug education
unit, and The Collective staff will participate in that unit. She reported
that the staff members were excited about the plane for the kind of prevention
and education work that can be done next year.
Councilman Sher thanked Miss Eiiatt for a fine explanation of what the program
is doing in the schools. It came across clearly that way as compared
to the report that had been received. She had mentioned The Collective
members talked in some of the programa about the politics of heroin use.
She also said they talked about conditions in society that caused drug
abuse to develop. To what extent in the presentations in the junior high
schools and the high schools does The Collective talk about the social,
political, and economic causes of drug abuse.
Misa Hiatt said this would depend upon the class that has invited them
to come in, and else the specific staff person making the presentation.
The heroin rap is one that Mike Fox has researched, and he talks specifically
about the facts of the development of heroin traffic based on a lot of
research. He points out the kind of big money that is -being made off
of heroin.
Councilman Sher asked why_ it was important that students being talked
to about drug abuse also hear about the heroin traffic and the big money
that is being made because of it.
Mike Fox responded to Councilman Sher and stated that 70% of the heroin
on the streets today comes from Viet Nam, and that is a fact proved by
a United Nations survey. The staff believes in telling people that it
comes from a region known as "The Golden Triangle". These things and
others like them are told because they are factually true. The objective
is to tell people how heroin happens to be on the streets today, and
why it is so readily available.
Councilman Sher said then that it was not designed to deal with a problem
they might have but is designed more in a generaleducation sense. Mr.
Fox replied it is one way of helping people to understand why certain
things happen to them.
Councilman Sher asked if there were some discussion about what individuals
can do about the problem. Mx. Fox responded that the students are told
not to buy it, and they explain what is done to people around The Collective
who are caught selling dope. The students are told they have to know
how to deal with people who are selling poison.
Councilman Sher asked if the facts Mr. Fox uses in hie presentations
were unchallenged facts. ifr Fox said no one had challenged the facts,
but if they were ever proved to be wrong, the story would be changed.
Councils Sher asked if the collectivist philosophy was talked about
in the schools. Miss 'Platt responded that this is sometimes done and
when it is, the staff talks about the advantages they see in the structure
and the fact that it effects how they deal with clients. -
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Vice Mayer Pearson asked if the staff members felt they were comfortable
with the assistance they were getting from the School Board and the administra-
tion in enabling then to do the things they pelt were important.
Miss Hiatt responded this was a very hot issue. On a lot of levels they
had received nothing but assistance, but there is a whole political thing
going on in the school district with regard to how the money is going
to be divided up. She felt they had received very few roadblocks in
terms of getting on to the campuses. She herself had worked very closely
with the Family Life Education Department, and they are always helpful.
while there are a couple of schools The Collective would like better
access to, by and large everyone had been fairly helpful,
Councilman Berwald asked Miss Hiatt if some of the teachers in social
sciences in the Palo Alto Unified School Distriet presented information
that The_Collective might also talk about.
Miss Hiatt replied that there is a sixth grade, seventh grade, and ninth
grade unit which treat` the drug education situation with a combination
of materials, film strips, records, etc. The teachers present the. material
how they best know. There is no kind of comprehensive drug education
on the high school level at all. This is specifically the reason why
Phil Bliss and Ron Luyet are hoping to develop a week's unit that would
happen next year. Drug abuse is a field which very few teachers feel
qualified to talk about, and that is why they like to have people such
as staff from The Collective corn: in. They eight be able to talk about
drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, barbituates, and tranquilizers, because
they have some familiarity with those. Teachers should be taught facts
about drugs first, and secondly how to deal with students whom they believe
are using drugs.
Councilman Fernald wondered if in discussions in classrooms about trade
for instance, if they might get into talking about the trade of illicit
materials. Miss Hiatt felt this might happen on rare occasions.
Miss Hiatt read a poem written by a Tetuan Junior High Student. "'They
say we are searching, we experiment with drugs to try to find 'it', we
think we have found 'it', but 'it' isn't 'it' after all, in our search
for 'it' we drop cut of school, live in communes, and generally rebel,
but we still haven't found 'it'. I wonder if we know just what 'it'
is. I don't. Unless maybe it is peace and freedom, and stripping off
the layers of roles and expectations and finding out who is underneath
le a1.1."
Ron Luyet commended the staff for the fine presentations they do slake
in the schools, and he noted there is nothing more difficult than talking
about drugs with junior high and high school students. Mir. Luyet asked
the evaluation team if they came to the conclusion that in terms of operation
and efficiency, the staff proved effectiv. operating as a collective.
Miss Nowlin responded affirmatively.
Miss Nowlis wished to clarify something thet was in tha city staff report
where it said the team felt one of the weaknesses was administrative.
The only administrative weakness found was client recordkeeping, which
is by not any means the total scope of the administration done by the
staff.
Mr. Luyet asked Dr. Cohen if he did not agree that it would be traditionally
true of drug abuse services treating people off the street to maintain
confidentiality, thus making rocordkeeping a major difficulty.
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6/11/74
Dr. Cohen responded that programs that feature voluntary self referral
have confidentiality as one of their primary goals. This has been a
traditional gcal. However, he felt the lack of efficiency in record -
keeping was due equally to disinterest. Street programs have such a
high priority in meeting what they see to be perceptible needs that
recordkeeping and evaluation do not receive high priority.
Donna Taylor, staff member at the Collective, spoke to the issue of the
cost effectiveness part of the survey. She felt first it was necessary
to say that you could not put a cost value on a human life. She said
sbe talked with the person on the evaluation teams who did the cost effective-
ness survey, and there were some things which he told her that bad not
been included in the report. Miss Taylor said the national -guidelines
for cost for client per year totaled about $1900, and the cost for client
per year at The Collective had been $239. The national average of cost
per contact was listed as $25.00, and The Collective's figure was $24.38.
Mr. A. B. Cropper of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell 6 Co., presented comments
on his company's audit. He said the primary purpose of the examination
was to give an opinion of the financial statements as to whether they
were in fact reasonable representations of the expenditures that took
place. As a by-product of the examination, the company rendered a letter
in which recommendations were made pertaining to internal control and
accounting procedures. file expenditures for the period from inception
to April 30 were approximately $300,000 in costs, and of that $300,000
about $170,000 was payroll and related benefits. About 90% of the $300,000
figure was looked at, and eliminating the payroll of $170,000, 70% was
looked at. This means that out of approximately $100,000 of non -payroll
type expenditures, approximately $5,000 was listed as not having what
would normally be considered proper documentation. That does not mean
that the expenditures were not proper or warranted, but merely that they
did not have the documentation. Each expenditure bore the approval of
a member of the board. it was assumed that the propriety of the expenditure
would be passed up)n by the board when they approved that particular
expenditure: Mr. Cropper said that if he were an IRS agent and this
were a profit organization, the expenditures listed would not have been
allowed as deductions because of the lack of proper documentation.
As an example, he said there might be a piece of paper saying "gas and
oil - $25.00" without stating business purpose or anything of that nature.
The letter attached to the audit report is a common practice for the
accounting profession to include as a by-product of a financial audit,
and the letter is oriented toward management in order to make constructive
criticism as to what should be done in the future. In this case, more
documentation, more invoices, and the like should be added in support
of the expenditures.
Councilman Henderson stated he agreed with, the points made concerning
internal checks and approvals. He asked if the assignment in this case
differed in the usual kind of audit assignment, and were there additional
requests made of him.
Mr. Cropper replied that in conjunction with this audit, he was looking
mainly at expenditures. The balance sheet is almost nothing in that
there is a little bit of cash in the bank and some fixed assets totaling
$20,000 or so. In view of the fact that the expenditures were the primary
concern, his company concentrated on approvals and things of that nature
to see that the documentation and support of the expenditures was proper.
Councilman Henderson asked if it were common practice in a financial
audit to list so-called unusual expenditures with no attempt to research
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them. His own experience with Peat, Marwick, and Mitchell had been 1.hat
if they found somethirg that is questioned, they would come then to the
person in charge and attempt to determine what happened and where the
documentation might be.
Mr. Cropper responded that his organization had made such lists in the
past. In this case, every expenditure bad the approval of a board member,
and the only thing lacking was an actual invoice. He did not feel there
was much chance of gaining an invoice for gas and oil a year after the
fact, so the only thing to do was to list it.
Councilman Henderson ref.erred to the major item of consulting services
where there were about 42,000 worth of consulting charges, and also to
the statement made that the company could be fictitious. A brief checkout
would prove that the companies were not fictitious and there were documents
available.
Mx. Cropper replied that it was their intention to list all expenditures
where there was a question and put them in a letter to be answered by
management. Since there was no documentation for this particular expenditu•::e,
it was listed for Council's explanation.
Councilman Henderson asked if this would be a common practice in audits
to ;sake a listing like. that with the implication that these could he
erroneous payments or that the companies could be fictitious.
Mr. Cropper replied that it was a colon practice for his company to
list such items and put them in letter form. Perhaps it would not go
to the board first, but it would go to management, and management would
look into it.
Councilman Henderson said that was what was missing then because management,
PACDAB in this case, did not ha.re the opportunity to respond to the list.
Mx. Cropper emphasized that his company had no problem as far as the
propriety of the approval of the expenditures, but rather it was the
lack of documentation in support of the expenditure. The company did
not feel there was anything :to gain by not lilting it. It is hard to
come up a year later with actual docuTentation, but once listed, it can
be answered by someone.
Councilman Henderson asked if Mr. Cropper had seen the response or Ole
PACDAB board to this matter through Mr. Lincoln Mitchell. Mr. Cropper
replied affirmatively.
Councilman Henderson asked if that answered sufficiently tee questions
that would be raised by the list.
Mr. Cropper responded affirmatively, but recommended that in the future
if possible, the business purpose along with documentation be provided.
Councilman Henderson asked if Mr. Cropper had not tested a far greater
number of items than in a aortas', audit, more in the neighborhood of eighty
percent as oppoeed to the usual ten to fifteen percent.
Mr. Cropper replied that they tested seventy percent of the total expenditures
excluding payroll, which is a higher percentage than they normally would
do.
Councilman Henderson asked if Mr. Cropper would agree that this was an
unusually thorough audit. Mt. Cropper agreed but pointed cut that it
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was an expenditure audit as opposed to a financial statement audit or
a balance sheet audit.
Councilman Henderson asked if the total amount of money for expenditures
not sufficiently documented was high enough for the auditors to have
any serious concern about misappropriation of funds.
Mr. Cropper replied that $5,000 would not be considered material in relation-
ehip to the total sum of $300,000.
Councilman Henderson commented that he was stressing this because there
had been accusations of misappropriation of funds not only against PACDAB
but against himself as liaison.
Mr. Cropper said this was why the company looked at seventy percent of
the expenditures. He added that in an audit you would rely upon a random
sample which may include five or even less percent of the total expenditures,
and if you did not run against anything that would be in need of documentation
you would not feel it necessary to extend your scope. When you see there
is a lack of documentation, then you want to satisfy yourself that the
total of such documentation lack would not be material in relation to
the total expenditures.
Councilman Henderson noted that one of the areas where people can dip
into the till is petty cash, and he asked how 'ACPAB's details supporting
petty cash disbursements would compare with private industry in general.
Mr. Cropper said PACDAB compared favorably. Petty cash is normally an
area where you do find leek of documentation and that is why petty cash
funds are less and less in amount, In this case, each reimbursement of
petty cash is documented tothe extent that no lack of documentation
was found, and each reimbursement is approved by a board member. Further,
the amount of the petty cash is not great.
Councilman Henderson said that knowing now the payments to consultants
were valid and there were no fictltioue companies or someone walking
off with the funds who had not: done some service, he wanted to know if
Mr. Cropper was in a position where he could state that fiscal responsibility
had been shown by the organization. Or on the other hand, is there any
evidence of misappropriation of funds.
Mr. Cropper replied there was no evidence of misappropriation of funds;
however there still retains some fixed assets that need to be located.
A recommendation was made in the letter pertaining to fixed assets so
that some improvement would be spade as to location, etc{
Councilman Henderson reiterated that the thing he was most concerned
about because of innuendoes that had been made was whether Mr. Cropper
a.tw evidence of people getting off with PACDAb funds, or any evidence
of misuse or misappropriation of city funds aside from some documentation
that is not 100% there.
Mr. Cropper replied that other than the items listed, nothing was found.
Councilman Berwald asked Mr. Cropper if in his audit he was leaking for
misappropriation of funds, and was chat one of his directives by the
City Manager, or was it one of his goals in making the audit.
Mr. Cropper said that in an expenditure audit you cannot help but somewhat
be looking for misappropriation of funds. The company relied somewhat
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6/11/74
on the validity of the invoices rendered and the fact that delivery was
made of those services. They were passing upon the fact that a board.
member had approved the expenditure and that there was in fact an invoice
from a business or a consultant for services rendered. As far as misappropriation
is concerned, there are all kinds of ways to misappropriate funds. He
stated they found no evidence at all of misappropriation.
Councilman Berwald asked if Mr. Cropper felt his audit to be a complete
audit of all PACDAB operations.
Mr. Cropper replied that they considered their audit a complete audit
of the expenditures of PACDAB without regard to the effectiveness of
the expenditures. He noted that the federal government is beginning;
to push for effectiveness audits, but this was not an effectiveness audit,
but a financial one.
Councilman Berwald asked if Mr. Cropper had thoroughly investigated the
circumstances surrounding the loss or damage to real ant personal property
located at Unity House and elsewhere within the program.
Mr. Cropper replied they were unable to satisfy themselves with regard
to the real and personal property.
Councilman Berwald said the auditors mentioned that because of the closure
of the treatment center, they were unable to satisfy themselves as to
the physical existence of the furniture, vehicles, aid equipment charged
to the treatment center and so therefore did not express an opinion on
the existence -of those assets. He said that puzzled him since the closure
of the treatment center could be remedied by a key in the door, opening
it, going in, and looking inside. He asked if that were done.
Mr. Cropper said inquiries were made as to the existence of the assets
at the Unity House and were told they were not there, and that efforts
were being made to recover theca if possible.
Councilman Berwald asked if the premises had been inspected. Mr. Cropper
said they inspected the other assets but not those of the residential
treatment center.
Councilman Berwald asked if the type of audit were made where food purchased
for Unity House was paid for and used with relation to the number of
clients in the house, or did they make any kind of analysis of this sort.
Mr. Cropper said he did not analyze the number of clients in the house,
but analyzed the expenditures on their behalf.
Councilman Berwald asked if this meant he had not been eble to determine
if purchases were made in excess of need or in accordance with the need
for the particular purchase,
Mr. Cropper replied that they did not attempt to make that determination.
He reiterated that all of the expenditures were approved by board members
and presumably, as the year progressed they would not approve an expenditure
if it were out of line.
Councilman Beaters said he would judge with the exception of Unity House's
problems th1t this was somewhat typical of a lack of moral responsibility
by, most standards. You generally say that the whole problem is characterized
by a remarkable laxity in outlook op accountability, there being no real
moral involvement in your opinion.
5 3,8
6th/7i
Mr. Cropper said there was an attempt to put a description of what the
item was, such as gas and oi.l, mileage, or whatever, but no attempt was
made to explain the nature of the business. He said that in his experiences,
he had seen a lot worse situations;, and again, $5,000 out of $100,000
just was not that bad.
Mr. Lincoln Mitchell said he sent his letter to Council members with
the intention of not unnecessarily discussing things tonight that could
be covered ahead of time. It was his feeling that The Collective had
been an extremely responsible program financially. He said he would
like the auditor to listen to everything he said and correct anything
that was in error in any way. The program has been extremely responsible
and has more accountability for their funds than most businesses in town,
including his own. There is.nothing wrong with PACDAB except that they
seem to apend more of their time with Council than they do with the staff.
The money is spent in three ways. The first is through the use of the
city's /standard purchase or payment request form. This is a document
standardly used by the city, which is a requisition form filled out by
the staff or by a board member. It lists the description of an item that
PACDAB wants to buy or is making a request to the city for payment of.
It contains a budget category and it contains a price. It has been without
exception signed by a member of the Executive Committee of the Board
of Directors of the Drug Abuse Program. If the t xpendi_ture is in any
way questionable or controversial, it is brought to the full Executive
Committee of the board for approval. When that document is prepared
and signed, it is submitted to the city. The City is PACDAB's fiscal
agent, so the form is submitted to the Controller's Office, and that
office issues a check. The Controller's Office does not exercise discretion
as to whether to approve or not approve. No cash changes hands since
the city check is issued to the appropriate entity from which PACDAB
is buying services or goods or making payroll directly. The second way of
expending funds is through use of a city standard form which is a "stores
requisition". It is submitted to the city warehouse for office supplies
and things of this nature, the goods are received, the form is submitted
to the City Controller's office, and the budget is charged accordingly.
Neither one of the two forms mentioned involve any funds passing through
PACDAB's hands. The third method of expending funds is through the petty
cash fund. This is presently maintained at the Bank of America in a
checking account identified as PACDAB and The Collective. At no time
since that account was opened has there ever been a balance in excess
of $100. This fund is utilized in the typical means of petty cash for
things where staff does not want to bother with a form, or bother getting
signatures, and submitting it to the city to buy $10 worth of stamps,
or to buy something at Hubbard and Johnson's to fix a window, or other
such minor matters. This fund was started with slightly under $100.
As that balance is drawn down by writing checks, it is replenished from
the funds on deposit with the city by use of the city's standard request
for payment form. In order to get any funds for petty cash, a cancelled
check has to be submitted or a receipt for goods purchased. Mr. Mitchell
mentioned that the auditors listed a number of items which they found
questionable, and most of it was lack of supporting backup. As an example,
they listed a numbed of postage items. PACDAB has bought stamps in only
one way, and that is by issuing a petty cash check to the postmaster
and so they have the cancelled check, or have issued a payment request
to the city and the city has issued a check to the postmaster and the City
has the cancelled check. The auditors list insufficient documentation
for postage in their list of items. The auditors list some $2,000 of
their $5,000 in questionable checks issued to consultants. There is
a budget item for consulting services, aid those services were used when
Unity House was closed and there was a need for cutside help, and that
5 3 9
6/11/74
refers to the first closure. The checks were issued to those individuals
by the city after PACDAB had submitted a request for payment form to
the city signed by a board member. The checks were delivered to the
people, but the suggestion was nude that the company could be fictitious.
He said he had a copy of the articles of incorporation of the California
Comounity Clearing House and their specific and primary purpose was to
provide technical support and assistance in program design for governmental
agencies and nonprofit groups engaged in drug treatment, prevention,
and amelioration. A number of other items were listed, and for each
one of them there is a cancelled check or a request and purchase form
to the city. There is one item that PACDAB acknowledges it does not
have proper documentation for, and that is reimbursement for gasoline
in the amount of $23.08. Out of a $300,000 budget, PACDAB acknowledges
that it cannot: give tha proper backup documentation for that one amount.
There were a number of items concerning pub_!ication expenditures. Again,
a reasonable number of publications have been purchased, and in each
case he understood there was a cancelled check or a request payment form
to the city, and the city has the cancelled check to back up these expenditures.
Mr. Mitchell said he reviewed these in his letter and did so again orally
tonight only because he felt it was critical that the public understand
that it is the position of the PACDAB board that they have acted responsibly
in all respects. Mr. Mitchell said that The Collective had been absolutely
responsible in his judgment. He said he would welcome questions about
sty expenditures that were not felt to he appropriate.
:'ayor Comstock said the impression he had from Mr. Cropper and from Mr.
Mitchell and from the city staff report was that there was a pretty common
understanding as to what the points wery that were raised by the auditor
and what the ways were to deal with them. He asked if these comments
were taken to heart and dealt with procedurally, would this impose any
serious operational problems for the board or the staff or the city.
Secondly, he asked if these kinds of questions had been raised in an
audit six months ago, could he presume that procedures could have been
effectuated that would have responded to these points, therefore making
the records from that point in time sufficient.
Mr. Lincoln Mitchell replied that PACDAB would respond to any kind of
recordkeeping that the city desires. PACDAB tries to balance the desirability
for adequate records against the time required to maintain then. If
the city wants in addition to a cancelled check to the postmaster, a
receipt from the postmaster, PACDAB will get it; however, that seemed
to him to be ridiculous. PACDAB is willing to adjust its recordkeeping
in any reasonable way, only pointing out that all records require time
and effort, and they would like not to be buried in a bureaucratic red
tape.
Mr. A. 3. Mitchell, City Controller, said he felt soma changes could
be made to the accounting procedures to comply with some of the auditor's
recommendations. He had spoken with Mrs. Bedwell about some changes to the
contract that would perhaps enable the expenditures to be more visible
to the board. Mr. Mitchell said he did not foresee any difficulties
in this matter.
Councilman Berwald expressed some concern over the following expenditures:
56,860 for food how many days did this cover for instance, and for how
many people; $430 for a trip to Mississippi; $200 for two employees to
go to Los Angeles; $337.85 for expenses for a Yosemite trip; Laguna Seca
tickets; and tickets to a Watts Festival. He said these were the only
ones that concerned hies, and he realized there may be a very good explanation
for them.
540
'6711/74
Mr. Mitchell replied that with regard to food supplies, the statement
of expenditures would show that $718 was spent for food supplies at the
prevention center and $8,150 at the treatment center in the period August
28, 1972 to April 30, 1974. As far as expenditures for food at the prevention
center were concerned, it was his understanding that was for food during
all day staff meetings. These expenditures were authorized by a board
member, although there was not an analysis done of per resident consumption,
which would also include staff members when on duty. The travel to Mississippi
involved one individual who went to a Black Power Conference which involved
a drug seminar. The attempt here was to develop outreach into the black
community. At the same tine this staff member visited drug programs
in New York City and Washington, D.C. Two people went to Los Angeles
to visit a drug program there; it was felt that it was important to learn
from what others were doing and to communicate what the staff in Palo
Alco was doing: One staff member went to Seattle for the same purpose,
and those were the three educational purpose trips. The Yosemite trip
was one undertaken by all of the residents of Unity House, and the total
expenses were $337.85 for the entire population of Unity House, some
Unity House staff, and one member of The Collective. The purpose was
to get out -of --doors, get a little different perspective and to continue
group conversations which were occurring during that period. Mr. Mitchell
felt it was possible to take a position for or against such recreational
kind of trim, but the amount of expense invoivcd for the number of people
who went was not a high figure. Xt.. R'.1tchell asked that if there were
anyone who felt there was any suggested izip;opriety in the way funds
had been zanaged, he would like it to be discussed now.
PACDAB's Financial Secretary thanked the City Controller's Office for
their help in PACDAB's accountability. He pointed out that things had
already begun to change, since only one of the things pointed out by
the auditor was al expenditure in the 1974 calendar year, and approximately
90Z of them occurred before August of 1S'73. This is due to the help
of the City Controller's office and also to the training of the staff,
Mayor Comstock noted that a letter had been received from PACDAIi dated
May 16 with a report attached to it of goals and objectives for 1974-
7,5. He recommended finding out what review was needed of this material,
taking a short recess, and then Council would be at a point where action
was very much in order.
Mrs. Agnes Robinson stated that the very fact that the program was getting
two evenings of this kind of scrutiny vas the best way to bring the whole
problem of drugs and their abuse before the public, and that is was well
worth taking the time. She noted that goals and objectives had been
an evolving matter, just as recordkeeping had been; and she felt that
the present list of goals and objectives were much clearer than the original
ones presented in 1972. One of the goals which heed changed from the
original was the way in which The Collective and PACDAB hoped that outreach
could be done to the Third World people. It turned out thac it was much
better to work with the young people in the schools than to go out into
another community as evangelists presenting a program. Mrs. Robinson
felt that the work in the schools was one of the most exciting things
that had happened, and she was delighted that it had received a good
deal of discussion. The new goals and objectives are the result of very
careful planning on the part of The Collective staff. The goals cover
counseling of clients that need help, and the training of volunteers
who have to be just as committed as the staff itself. Continuing work
in the schools was, of course, a goal, along with education and prevention
in the broader community. Mrs. Robinson spoke especially about the Steet
5 4 1
6/11/74
Y
Theatre because she felt often it was possible to reach people much more
effectively if you bring information to them about dangers of drug use
by humor and satire. The report shows that the staff are concerned about
how they do use their time, and a fiscally responsible program. Persons
on the board feel they have gotten things together in terms of membership
and in terms of interaction with The Collective in a manner which has
probably not been the case since the original task force began and the
transit>.on period had been gone through. It was her hope that Council
members interest in refunding PACDAB had become greater and greater as
they had listened to the two days of presentations.
Councilman Sher stated that he tried to amend out of the goals and objectives
those activities which he did not feel the city should be contracting
for, and he was gratified that most of those had been deleted. Most
of the goals and objectives reflect things that he felt the city would
want to contract for in any drug program; however there was still one
iteme which gave him some concern. He was referring to the item under
-C with regard to educating the community concerning the social, political
and economic causes of drug abuse. He said he knew the staff and the
board had strong views about this flatter, and he realized that in their
activities they would inevitably reflect those views. Councilman Sher
said he had no quarrel with that, but on the other hend, he did not feel
those views were necessarily shared or accepted by everyone, and he did
not feel the views were unchallenged and were controversial. Therefore,
he did not feel the city should be contracting with PA.PAB or anyone
else to educate the comr:unity about this largely undefined. social, political,
and economic causes of drug abuse. He asked if it were essential to
the viability of the program that Council in a sense confirm that particular
activity, or would it in fact undermine the goals and objectives if that
line were deleted.
Mrs- Robinson replied it would be impossible to do education about drug
abuse without showing how the whole thing came about, through deductive
reasoning. She felt that if you understand how you have gotten into
a mess, it is easier to start understanding how to get out of it.
Councilman Sher said he would want a list of what Mike Fox told people
were the social, political, and economic causes of drug abuse, and if
he then did not agree with thew, then he would not want to contract for
it.
Mayor Comstock explained that Councilman Sher wanted to knew if Council
deleted the words with regard to social, political, and economic_ causes
of drug abuse from that part of the program, what would the response
of the board be.
Mrs. Robinson felt that if you did not explain causes in an historic
way, you are really not teaching; and this is a matter of education for
the broader community. She said if she went to speak to Kiwanis, for
example, she would bring out that inequities in society have a good deal
to do with drug abuse, but not all,
Councilman Sher explained he was trying to find out whether if those
particular words were taken out of the goals and objectives, and the
city made it clear it was not contracting for that particular service,
would that so cut out the heart of the program that there would be no
point in going forward with it.
Ron Luyet said he would be more concerned if lee had heard a lot of irate
teachers or other people coming up with concrete instances with which
$ 4 2
6/11/74
they were very uehappy_ in terms of analysis. He said he did not mind
if those worda were deleted, but it should:be recognized that it is very
difficult to carry on a conversation with anyone involved in drugs and
not move to the level under discussion. PACDAB felt it was one of their
primary obligations to do more than work with clients. Any program working
in this kind of an area where so little,is known has an obligation to
its funding agency to state whatever they see is going on, so that perhaps
Council would want to look at some of those sorts of things in the rest
of the City budget. If a group is going to work on prevention, then
it 1s inevitable that discussions will be held regarding what can prevent
drug abuse. It is the staff's feeling that such an analysis has a lot
of potential, and it is not an analysis that would not be subject to
long debate and change.
Vice: Mayor Pearson asked Mrs. Robinson if Council were indeed to support
CAPS for another residential treatment center, would the board feel it
could support CAPS, and would PACDAB be willing to work actively toward
a cooperative venture and not fight, perhaps, over patients.
Mrs. Robinson, speaking for herself, said she would wane to cooperate
with any gro :p that carte in working for the same cause.
Vice Mayor Pearson asked what the PACDAB board would feel about the possibility
of an established liaison between the two boards or two etaffe.
Ron Luyet pointed out that in all fairness it would be the staffs of
the two agencies that would have to get together. PACDAB does feel a
need for a residential treatment e=nter. Looking toward the future, the
board felt it had an obligation to provide feedback to the city about
the Unity House experience once they have the time to evaluate and analyze
it. After one failure, the board felt concern about moving into that
area again; but at the same time, it is a very real need. Therefore,
questions about CAPS are for PACDAB premature, e,-eci&iIy since the two
groups had only one discussion about CAPS views and program plans.
Vice Mayor Pearson asked if he were saying that staff and Council should
have_scome response from PACDAB because they had the experience of running
Unity House and having it fail, and they would like to share their feelings
with staff and Council, and possibly CAPS, in order that there may be
mere of an assurance that any residential treatment in the future would
succeed. She asked Mr. €syet if his board would be willing to have
a liaison member from the board of any residential treatment center and
work with them.
Mr. Luyet said this was a hypothetical situation, but it would be their hope
they could work with any agency. To be honest though, they would gust
have to see in day to day experience how that would work out.
Councilman Norton stated he was not satisfied with the answer. It seemed
to him that PACDAB had abandoned any residential treatment operation
and has had at least two months to give Council their thoughts, and it
seed late in the game to him for the to ask for additional time.
The question Vice Mayor Pearson raised was simply whether PACDAA was
willing to attempt to get along with some new group such as CAPU. He
painted out that Council night decide to create a diffferent operation
tor a residential treatment center, and the question simply is one of
whether PACDAB would try to work with them.
Mike Fax responded ch*t one of the criticisms that Council had made of
The Collective staff was that sometimes they did not thoroughly investigate
something before taking action. First of all, however, the staff tries
5 4 3
6/11/74
to get along with anybody; and secondly, they do make mistakes in how
they work with people. They try to develop relationships that are honest
and include an honest exchange of ideas. The proposal from CAPS had
been received just the night before; so they knew little about that group.
The staff would try to get along with everyone, but if they thought some
group was wrong, they would publicly deal with that.
Councilman Clay asked if it
economic reasons for drug ab
for drug abuse.
were implied that the social, political and
use were exhaustive and are the only reasons
Mrs, Robinson replied that it e
people in the community who are
suffered from the use of drugs.
ncompasses many reasons, such as the young
well-to-do and not deprived who have
Councilman Clay said he was thirki
and evade them available to prospect
ng primarily of those who sold drugs
ive and actual users.
Mrs. Robinson said the people who pus
h the drugs are exhaustively discussed.
Councilman Clay said a part of the goat
Collective would continue to work with g
communities with four staff days per mon¢
asked why that objective was there,
e and objectives stated that The
roups of people in Third World
h spent in such efforts. He
Alfred Butler stated that drug use is very
and one of the major priorities was to go in
View and_ develop programs.
high within Third World communities,
to East Palo Alto and Mountain
Councilman_Clay said he felt the drug abuse problem was a phenomenon
of affluence which has cure to do with the middle -upper income white
community than any other bracket of income. He stated he had been reared
in a one hundred percent black community, and the use of drugs was rare,
His contention was that the drugs used in black communities had to do
with the affluent community that pushes the drugs, and it was his suspicion
that the real pushers are not black people. He said if you are going
to get at the cause, you would have to deal with those persons who thrust
the problems on to communities.
Afar. Butler said he eam€ from New York where there was a
use of drugs, in fact more nee than in the affluent white
He said Councilman Clay's comments about who pushed the dr
and that was why The Collective dealt with the politics of
high level of
communities.
ugs were true
drug traffic.
Mayor Comstock recommended that members of the audience speak to Council
at this time, hopefully limiting their comments to one or two minutes.
Mr. Fred Eyerly, 877 Sharon Court, spoke as President of Univer
Park Homeowners' Board of Directors. Ee said they do not oppose
drug abuse program. Regarding Unity House, they opposed the spot
two years ago at 851 University Avenue; and the Council agreed tha
'the project did not prove successful the house world be returned to
zoning. i.f Council decided to refund such an establishment, they
that it be located in zoning of R-2 or R-4 nature nearer to co rcia
zoning. They recomaended that if there were a new residential treats
center, the contractor be fiscally responsible and administratively cap
He felt the auditor's report allowed poor and questionable use of taxpay
unds with the unaccountability of assets at Unity House being the prime
aca ple. His group did not recommend the refunding or PACDAB but suggest
interviewing of other eontractors if the drug program is to be continued.
urther, funds should be generated from county, state, and federal. govarnae
5 4 4
6/11/74
sity/Crescent
a sensible
zoning
t if
R-1
asked
1
nt
able,
ors'
ed
1
tits.
Dr. Pearl said that he and other physicians have used PACDAB as a referral
source for detoxification and education. He felt that in areas of medicine,
which drug abuse is, there is no place for politics. He felt further
that the medical profession had failed in their work with the drug abuse
problem. Dr. Pearl said the problems were difficult, and the people
who worked in the field required certain attributes. They have to be
a little bit crazy, dedicated, and ready to put up with failure; but
most important, they must be in favor of a change in the status quo.
Any organization with those attributes is certain to be politically offensive
to people in the medical profession, city government, and business.
The efforts to deal with the problem through indoctrination and through
governmental problems have failed. Palo Alto is a wealthy city and is
filled with intelligent people, and he hoped that Council would vote
beyond the politics of the experience for refunding of the program since
it is only through dedicated people such as the ones he knew at PACDAB
that the problem of drugs could be dealt with.
Aaron Margianello stated that Unity House was one of the tc;st important
anxieties that moat of the people preaent shared. He said he was the
only person ever designated to be the director of the residential treatment
center. In his opinion, Unity iosae was in come cases a crash pad for
drug addicts and a dispensary for illicit drugs. He said that some of
the money used for food, in effect went for drugs, since residents would
self the food and buy drugs. He wondered if another residentia treatment
center were created if it mould he able to coexist with The Collective
and its style of working, since this was not -the case at Unity House.
There were no job descriptions so that you got paid whether_or not you
came to work, Some people worked twenty-four hour shifts because no
one else came to work. His conclusion was that if Unity House had been
able to get along with the board, it would be open today and functioning
well.
Linda Moralis, 3611 Bryant Street, member of YAC presented a resolution
passed unanimously by YAC in support of the continuation of funding of
The Collective by the city.
Ran Anderson, Cubberley High School Family Life Teacher, stated that
he did not necessarily subscribe to some of the political views of members
of PACDAB, yet he strongly felt that drug problems are people problems,
and people problems are generally social, economic, and political. Once
a person clarified his position, whether it be conservative or -eadical,
he has a much better focus on what he considers to be the reasons for
not abusing drugs. It is actually confusion that creates drug problems,
and that needs to be clarified through examination of various positions.
Fred Coleman, Recreation Supervisor, City of Palo Alto, working with
teens in the community, stated that The Collective is a very important
thing to Palo Alto. He stated The Collective should be allowed to continue
to exist and to exist with freedom.
Charles Lusk, 1085 University Avenue, stated he felt a drug abuse program
was probebly in order in Palo Alto. His concern, however, was the existence
of a residential treatment cents- sponsored by the taxpayers money in
Palo Alto, and he felt the programs maintained by the county, state,
and federal agencies where there is a highly trained professional staff
were much better equipped to render remedial treatments to restore abusers
of drugs to society. His recommendation was that the residential treatment
center be completely divorced from the activities of The Collective,
This would permit the restoration of 851 University to residential zoning.
Marion Steeg, 757 College Avenue, teacher of the state pre-school program
in Palo Alto, said she was in very close contact with low income families
and neighborhoods in the community which are very often forgotten in
the programs aimed toward the middle income white families that dominate
Palo Alto. She said her students, three and four years old, were very
closely affected by the drug problem because their parents are drug abusers,
or because they live in Palo Alto ghettoes where drugs are being pushed
on three and four year old children, and parents are keeping them locked
up in apartments to keep theta away from pushers. She strongly felt that
these people deserved a pro'sraai such as PACDAB provides. If these people
are not allowed to consider the source of their socio-economic problems,
then they are being deprived of the right to make decisions about their
coon lives and the lives of their children. She felt it was ironic that
Council members felt if they agree with the goals and agreed with the
social, economic: and political causes of drug abuse, then it should be
a goal, but if they don't agree with the members' philosophy, then maybe
it should be deleted. It was Council's decision to make whether such
goals should be included so there could be a very effective educational
program, or should they be deleted because they are not their politics.
Alan Leavitt, Director of North County Mental Health Center, stated there
are very serious problems with drug abuse in the north county area having
to do with prevention and early intervention with regard to young people,
and various kinds of intensive treatments for heavy drug users. He said
you could not count on existing public programs to do a decent job iu
either of these areas in Palo Alto. He pointed out that the methadone
treatment centers were useful for a small number of people who had been
addicted to heroin for a number of years. It is not usef'tl for prevention
and early intervention, He felt his own staff were not qualified or
nearly as competent to do the intervention and prevention programs as
the kind of off -beat people who run The Collective, It was his opinion
that a residential treatment center was needed to complement The Collective,
and he was impressed with the people from CAPS. He urged Council to
use the resources available to them, and he added that however the staff
of The Collective dressed, or however they look, or whatever their politics
are, he believed these people could do the job.
Councilman Henderson stated he did not have to prove his_ support of a _.
city drug program, and that he had supported it from the beginning.
He noted that he had been on the receiving end of all kinds of negative
comments and charges, including several letters to the editor holding
him responsible for alleged misappropriation of funds, Through it all
he had been close to the program and convinced of the benefits to the
community that resulted from the work of The Collective under the direction
of PACDAB. He felt his support of the program at The Collective had
been totally vindicated by the very positive report from the evaluation
team. On the other hand, Cou..cilmnan Henderson was aware of problems
at Unity House, and he spoke to some PACDAB members as an individual,
not a Council representative, urging closure of Unity House. He noted
that he voted to close Unity House, whereas some members of Council insisted
that it remain open. He stated it had been unsettling to hear continual
negative comments from Council members who make no effort to go to The
Collective to wee for themselves. To his knowledge, Vice Mayor Pearson
was the only other Council member who maintains regular contact with
the program through visits to The Collective and talking with staff and
board members. It was his hope that the rest of the Council would take
more interest in the comitlg year, assuming that the program is reinstated.
He further hoped that the press would now recognize success and begin
to give the public a balanced and informative view. it seems so typical
that the article of June 6 that appeared in the Palo Alto Times describing
546
6/11/74
the favorable evaluation report appeared on page eleven of the leisure
section. He could not help but wonder where the story would have been
placed had the evaluation been negative. Councilman Henderson said there
had been some very good articles in the past few days, and he urged the
media to continue this fair, unbiased coverage. Along the same vein,
he hoped that PACDAB members would take on responsibility for better
public relations by such acts as writing letters to the editor and appearing
before civic groups. He stated that his support for the program was
not blind and not without criticism. Councilman Henderson had been quite
dieturbed at times over what he considered to be unnecessary hassles,
and he saw no reason for some people to retain attitudes of hostility
toward the police. They seem to exude a posture of never cooperating
with them. He also felt it was wrong for some people in the program
to expect city staff members and the Council liaison to be robot advocates
of the program, when those persons are obligated to being objective and
independent. He would like to see better care given to the physical
facilities to eliminate some of the negative first impressions that were
noted in the evaluation report and create an atmosphere that will attract
an even broader clientele. in spite of all the sniping from outside,
the program is a proven success. Councilman•Henderson was proud to have
played a small part in that success and to have been associated with
those who have had major roles In that success. He was even more proud
co learn that 7IX of Palo Alto's residents support use of their tax funds
to operate a drug abuse program, proof that this is a community where
a majority of the people care about those who have fallen into unfortunate
ways, and who think in terns of helping people in trouble rather than
penalizing then.
MOTION: Councilman Henderaon moved, seconded by Pearson, that whereas
the Palo Alto City Council and other interested citizens recognize that
drug abuse continues to be extensive among local youth and adults and
whereas the City of Palo Alto acknowledges the need to maintain leadership
it responding to the problem, that Council state its intent to renew
its agreement with r.CDAB for an anti -drug abuse program for the fiscal
year beginning July 1, 1914 and that Council direct staff to prepare
the appropriate contract for approval by PACDAB and the Council.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Comstock, that Council
direct staff co add to the Agreement under the subsection on Payments
that all payment requests from PACDAB must be accompanied by supporting
documents (invoices, sales slips, payment request forms, etc.); must
specify the expenditure category to be charged and the nature of materials
or services received and meat be approved by a member of PACDAP. Furthermore,
the City Controller must inspect and approve each payment request prior
to processing.
See pg. 595 be just what it is now - pay upon proof of adequate documentation. Councilman
Henderson responded affirmatively.
Councilman iierwald aa'eed what the role of the Controller was in terms
of other contracts.
Mr. A. J. ?Mitchell, City Controller, responded that he would compare
this proposed system with the arrangement there is in the city, in which
both the City Manager and the Controller by direction of the Charter
must jointly approve all expenditures. he Controller approves them
on the basis of there being an existing appropriation; whereas the Manager
looks ac them in terms of programs and effectiveness. Something similar
to that would be appropriate for the drug program.
Councilman Serwaid asked then if it would be necessary for the motion
to include the need for the City Manager's approval also.
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Mr. Mitchell replied that he wore two hats, and one of them was that
of City Controller and the other of Fiscal Agent of PACDAB: As Fiscal
Agent of the Board, he would be making a disbursement based on there
being an appropriation and the documentation being in order. As to the
program relationship, that ought to be attested to not by the City Manager
but rather by a representative of the PACDAB board,
Councilman Clay stated that he was in basic disagreement with the main motion
that the City should have basically the same contract. He would like
the responsibility to be given to the Board, that is contract with PACDAB
to provide services, and then lcok at the results of those services as
is stated is the agreement. Then would be the appropriate time to determine
what the conditions are that they should operate under.
Mayor Comstock responded to Councilman Clay that the auditor's report
would probably have prompted some similar recommendations from the manager's
office in terms of developing a new contract even if Council had not
suggested them. This is really expanding somewhat on language that is
somewhat already implied and contained in the contract. IC is a problem
that was faced a year ago and two years ago as to how such specificity
there should be in the contract. Councilman Henderson is elaborating
on existing language in the contract in response to specific comments
that came from the auditors.
The amendment passed on the fcllcwing vote:
AYES: Beahra, Berwald, Co:istc'ck, ucnderson, Norton,
Pearson, Sher
NOES: Clay
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Pearson, that Council
direct staff to include in the Agreement a statement concerning the requiremen
for adequate recordkeeping.
The amendment passed on a unanimous vote.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Comstock, that Council
direct staff to add to the Agreement, under the section on Property, a
subsection yequiring the corporation to establish and maintain fixed
asset records,
The amendment passed on a unanimous vote.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson saved, seconded by Pearson, that Council
direct Staff to add to the Agreement a section stating that the corporation
will cooperate to the fullest extent deemed possible by the corporation
with the Santa Clara County Probation Department and on the County's
juvenile diversion program.
The amendment passed on a unanimous vote.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Comstock, that Council
direct staff to change the Agreement Section on Composition of Corporation
to specify that the Board of Directors of the Corporation shall consist
of nine members, no less than six of whom shall be resdents of Palo
Alto.
Mr. Lincoln Mitchell of PACDAB spoke in favor of retaining fifteen members
on the board.
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Councilman Sher spoke in favor of having enough members on the board
to insure a broad reflection of different backgrounds, and he did not
feel this could be done with nine persons.
Councilman Berwald spoke in favor of having a broad representation on
the board.
Councilman Norton felt this was a matter that should be decided by the
board and not by Council, but he did wonder if the requirement of eight
affirmative votes to take action had been an impediment..
Mr. Lincoln Mitchell responded that
be hung up by just one individual.
or five hard working committees and
there were only nine persons on the
there had been times when they could
He added that the board needed four
you just would never get that if
board.
Mayor Comstock commented tat there has been a lot of discussion about
turnover, short terms of service, lack of attendance to meetings, etc.,
and he recommended that the board in looking for people to fill vacancies
advertise vacancies in the newspaper. This method had worked very well for
the Council in filling vacancies on commissions.
The amendment failed on the following vote:
AYES: Henderson
NOES: Beahra, Berwald, Clay, Comstock, Henderson,
Norton, Pearson, Sher
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Pearson, that the
Council approve the May 16 Statement of Coals and Objectives sub -pitted
by aACi AL for attachment to the Agreement a: support for the Section
on Scope of Services.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated that in her opinion the goals and objectives
are excellent. She said that somewhere in the evening there would be
recommendations that something be done in the direction of CAPS proposal.
She felt it was necessary that PACDAB address itself to the particular
objectives which are 5, 6 and 7 on page 5 under Counseling and Training
and has to do with heroin detoxification of patients. It was her opinion
that PACDAB's and CAPS first concern would be toward their clients and
the proper handling of that situation. There should be some cooperation
and compassion and certainly no quarreling as to which group would have
a particular client, It was her opinion that if The Collective vigorously
attacked all the goals and objectives that it had set out, then it would
have more than a full time job. She asked PACDAB and CAPS, if they were
involved, at a later date to re-examine the objectives numbered 3, 6,
and 7 with the idea that they should work out and develop a mutually
acceptable set of procedures.
Councilman Sher said he had to ask again what the city was contracting
for, or what the city was paying for. He said he believed that The Collective
should be allowed to function with freedom as had been suggested, and
that Council should not put restraints on what they do and what they
say; bet he still had those questions. He said he did not think that
in good conscience he could vote to contract on the part of the city
for the dissemination of views about certain basic underlying causes
of drug abuse not related to individual drug abuse prevention by individual
persons, particularly when he was not fully aware of what those views
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6/11/74
are. He did know, however, that they were controversial and he did not
agree with some of them.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT: Councilman Sher moved, seconded by Berwald,
to delete "and will educate the community to the social, political and
economic causes of drug abuse" from Page Seven, Section C, of Goals and
Objectives, and delete "the ceuses-and" from Objective Six under Section
C, Page Seven, of Goals and Objectives.
Vice Mayor Pearson opposed the amendment for many of the reasons cited
by Mrs. Robinson and also because she had strong feelings that the city
had many contracts with various consultants and corporations that contained
many sentences she disapproved of as far as what their wording implied.
She said that in many contracts it was not clear that the contractor
was going in the directions she felt they ought to be going, and yet
she supported the contracts. It was her opinion that you cannot go into
a contract and pick at it to make sure that it is absolutely satisfactory
to every member of the Council, but that contracts had to be supported
on a broad base and remembering that the goal was what was wanted. Vice
Mayor Pearson felt that to strike from the contract phrases such as educating
the community to the social, political and economic causes of drug abuse,
you are striking out those kinds of causes that occur right in her own
house. She felt it was a political situation when she told her children
that their rooms were a mess and she wanted them cleaned up. There were
also all kinds of social and economic things that need to be recognized
as a cause of people using drugs. She said she did not feel Council
should strike out this one little sentence and then say it is okay if
you go out and do it since that sounds hypocritical,
Councilman Henderson said he could not support eliminating reference to
the causes of drug abuse, and he felt that simply had to be in there
somewhere.
Councilman 13eahrs strongly supported the amendment to the amendment, since
he did not feel it was possible to categorize the causes of drug involvement.
He felt Councilman Sher's amendment would enable PACDAB to broaden their
horizons, which he hoped they would do.
Mayor Comstock said he would vote against the amendment, but he felt
he could probably argue that leaving in or taking out the words would
be beneficial. The ultimate test of the proposed goal as offered, or
as amended, is really how the educational program should be carried out,,
how successful they are, ho' effectively they reach people, etc. Surveys
done through the evaluation had been favorable with regard to those points.
One of the questions raised was whether or not there had been any indication
of political indoctrination and the report comes back with a strong no
to that question. He said that they were now trying to find out, by
voting for or against this, what the impact would be on the operation
of the program, and what the impact would be on the community as they
see the Council's attitude.
Ed Everett said that one concern to be considered before voting was a
fear that people have when they write goals and objectives, and some
of the commenta he had gotten was that the process is a game. If you
do not want PACDAB to do something, then it should be stated specifically.
He did not feel there should be two goals, one of which would be public
and one which is internal to PACDAA themselves. To remove something
from goals knowing that it will be done anyway tends to weaken the idea
of goals and objectives and trying to measure those later on and report
on them.
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Councilman Clay stated support of Councilman Sher's reasoning and his
amendment. He agreed that social, political, and economic conditions
were causes of drug abuse but they were not exhaustive and so there was
no reason to be so specific. Putting an emphasis on this very idea in
fact, would be like handing a crutch to those very people PACDAB hoped
to help.
The amendment to the amendment passed on the following vote:
AYES Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Norton, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson
Councilman Berwald said there are a number of secondary functions performed
by PACDAB that are not directly related -to drug abuse. He felt that
it was necessary to limit the community prevention activities to the
kinds of priority functions that will enable PACDAB to concentrate on
what will really provide the greatest service and drug abuse counter-
action for the dollar. -He did not feel the Council should be funding
for such things as counseling on abortion, sex relations, rape, self
defense, etc Councilman Berwald recommended that the staff be directed
to, in their usne l manner of addressing Council priorities, attempt to
limit the activities of PACDAB to actual drug related activities.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT; Councilman Berwald moved, seconded by Beahrs,
that directions be referred to staff to make certain that the contract
as written limits the functions of PACDAB to priority drug related activ{ tes
and to eliminate the non -related drug abuse functions.
Mayor Comstock asked if staff had enough information here to follow through
on the assignment.
Mr. Sipel replied that he had some problems in understanding how staff
could do this. fie said that what was being talked about was what is and
what is not drug related, having, to do with drug education, He said
he did not really know what staff would do if this amendment were passed,
but he guessed he could ask The Collective to list with specificity all
the things they do and justify how those things related to the basic
;unction of drug education. Those things could then be presented
to Council in order to determine what falls into the category for the
Council.
Councilman Berwald said this was the kind of answer he expected, and
he was disappointed iii" i t. He felt this was the job of city management
and cited as an example that when the staff wrote a contract for paving
a street, he told the contractor what was to be done and what the specifications
were. He said staff had made very thick reports to Council._ lately about
the drug program, and he felt they should be most eager to work with
PACDAB to develop a priority list of subjects and to eliminate those
that were not drug related.
Councilman Sher said he agreed that they should not contract for things
they did not want to in the name of the city, but he felt this motion
moved in the direction of putting those things in the contract that the
city did not want to contract for which could go on all night. What
is being contracted for basically is a drug abuse prevention program,
but it is clear that the staff gets into ether things. In reality they
will continue to do that. He felt that it was not possible to list everything
that they as individuals would not want The Collective to get into, and
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further there was no indication that these other activities detracted
frc.m the services they were providing in the drug abuse program. He said
he would probably vote against it.
Councilman Berwald said he understood that what Councilman Sher did not
want included in the contract were political, social and economic education;
so he asked for some specific things to be deleted. He, on the other
hand, was asking that abortion counseling be deleted.
Councilman Clay said he would support the motion if the specifics were
removed.
Councilman Berwald reworded his amendment as follows:
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT RESTATED: Councilman Berwald moved, seconded
by Norton, that there be a clause in the contract that the services rendered
will be directly related to drug abuse..
Councilman Beahrs said he supported the motion and believed there should
be some limiting statement in the contract. He said his analysis of
the statistics showed that only about ten percent of the effort was in
the area of drug abuse.
Councilmen Henderson stated he always understood the basic agreement
to cover drug related activities. Now if Council was going to add a
state gent to refer only to drug related activities, then it would be
necessary to spell out each one of them because each person would have
a different definition of what is drug related. He sad that a family
life program in his opinion was totally related to a drug abuse program.
Councilman Sher eaid he felt the rephrased amendment was more or less
what the original contract said which was that the city retain a corporation
to provide and operate a comprehensive program directed toward the preventio
reduction, and elimination of drug abuse in the Palo Alto community.
He was prepared to vote for it, although '.e felt it was a little bit
superfluous.
The rerised amendment to the amendment passed on the following vote:
AYES: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Norton, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson
The amendment as amended passed on the fallowing vote:
AYES: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Comstock, Sher,
Pearson, Norton
NOES: Henderson
AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Pearson, that Council
request PACDAB to add alcohol as a drug to be included in the program,
with special emphasis on education and prevention pr:agraMs in the ,schools.
The amendment passed on a unanimous vote.
Councilman Sher referred to the relationship between the board and the
staff, and Council's expectations to the board's functions.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Sher moved, seconded by Beahrs, that the: contract
should reflect that Council look to the PACDA.B_Board to make policy for
the running of the program.
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6/11/74
The amendment passed on a unanimous vote.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Sher moved, seconded by Berwaid, that the contract
provide that the City Staff should assume the function of evaluating
and monitoring the program, utilizing information provided by the Board.
Councilman Henderson said he needed to know to what extent Councilman
Sher wanted Staff to monitor and evaluate the program, and was he contemplat-
ing a full time staff person.
Councilman Sher said he felt that when it came to allocating funds, it
might be well to allocate some staff member's time to this particular
function.
Councilman Henderson responded that he accepted the present relationship
where there is a liaison from the city to the drug program, and there
is the independent input through the city staff and to the Council.
He felt there was adequate information from the staff, and he would vote
against this amendment, thus keeping the evaluating at the approximate
present level.
Mr. Sipel said there was an ongoing evaluation unit which was rather
small. If this were to be taken on, some staffing arrangement would
have to be worked out. He would not see a necessity for any major increase
in staff since perhaps it could be ac:ompiished with just a moving around
of the staff's resources; on the other hand, it could cost a modest amount
of money.
Vice :'ayor Pearson wanted to be sure that Councilman Sher was not really
asking for a continual monitoring similar to the one that Council had
before. She felt that staff was extremely busy keeping up with Council's
directions in many areas such as Human Relations and many others, and
it sewed that the Finance and Public Works Committee may not be willing
to give the.:, additional help. It was her feeling that if this went through,
then Council had better be prepared to give them one more person.
Ed Everett explained that monitoring done would be of items probably
picked out with PACDAB on certain objectives such as workload or effectiveness
measures on how they are doing with one or two of their objectives.
The amendment passed on the following vote:
AYES: Beahrs, Berwald, Comstock, Henderson,
Clay, Sher, Norton
NOES: Pearson
Al OE T: Councilman Berwald moved, seconded by Clay, that the ongoing
relationship between PACDAB and the Council be conducted through the
City Manager and that the City Manager be responsible for administration
of the contract.
The amendment failed sin the following vote:
AYES: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Norton
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Sher
The main motion ao amended passed on the following vote:
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6/11/74
AYES: Comstock, Henderson, Sher,
Pearson, Norton
NOES: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Pearson, that the proposed
PACDAB budget for the fiscal year. 1974--75 be referred to the Finance
and Public Works Committee.
The referral motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Clay, Comstock, Henderson,
Pearson, Sher, Norton
NOES: Baahre
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Pearson, that the Council
approve in principle the proposal for operation of a Drug Rehabilitation
Center in Palo Alto submitted by Combined Addicts and Professionals Services
and that Council direct Staff to prepare an evaluation and recommendation
accompanied by a proposed contract agreement for such services for approval
by CAPS and the Council.
AMENDMENT: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, that the motion
he amended to add that PACDAB objectives, S:_ctioa A, Page Five, numbers
5. 6, and 7 be re --examined before adding to the contract, and that PACDAB
and CAPS work together to develop a mutually acceptable set of procedures
for assisting patients requiring detoxification who rake contact through
The Collective; further, that these mutually acceptable procedures be
included in PACDAB and CAPS contracts.
Mr. Sipel recalled that the evaluators suggested there be a very thorough
determination of need prior to moving ahead with this type of program,
and he asked Councilman Henderson whether the motion contemplated an
evaluation of need or whether it assumed the need was there.
Coenci".man Herderson responded that his motion assumed the need is there.
Mr. Sipel said that in that case staff would not conduct any evaluation
of need. Secondly, he felt it was very important to pin down the relationship
between The Collective and CAPS and PACDAB, and that direction should
be given to staff.
Councilman Sher stated he would vote against the amendment and also the
main proposal because it does call for an indication of approval is principle
of the CAPS program. His opposition was net due to the proposal itself,
but his reasons were that it was questionable for the city to contract
for and fund a residential treatment center in Palo Alto when the clients
would be coming from all over the county. Secondly, he doubted that
the great majority of clients would be persons who had a substantial
length of residence in Palo Alto. Finally, he felt there was a considerable
question about the degree of success of residential treatment centers.
Even if there are separate boards running the two programs, inevitably
they tend to be identified as one drug abuee prograa±, and the failures
of one tend to reflect on the other. It was his opinion there was a
successful preventive program going in Palo Alto, and he felt concentration
should be kept on that area.
Councilman Clay said he felt there had been an assumption that Council
would support a residential treatment center, but they were not going.
554
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to support it with PACDAB. He would like to have seen it brought out
in discussions with PACDAB why that component should or should not be
part of its program. Secondly, when you look at a contract that might
be drawn up with CAPS, then he would ask if the same conditions would
be stipulated such as number of people on the board, kinds of services
and the like. It seemed to him Council was proposing that two contracts
be drawn with essentially comparable service but that they would be radically
different,
•Councilman Henderson said there would be two separate contracts because
they were working with two separate nonprofit organizations.
Councilman Clay asked why not have all of the other conditions be part
of this.
Councilman Henderson responded there may be a lot of conditions that
Council would want to add to whatever contracts came back to them.
Councilman Clay said the contract which was not amended had Unity House
under PACDAB which operated under all the conditions that were just approved.
Councilman Henderson replied there might have been an oversight in that
all specific references to Unity House were not removed, but a new contract
was being written speaking strictly of PACDAB and The Collective. program.
All of the amendments talked about in this meeting had to do with The
Collective, and nothing was put in about laity House or any residential
treatment center.
the amendment passed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Comstock, Pearson
NOES: Beahrs, Norton, Sher
Mr. Sipel said that Council should be aware that staff had received a
number of other inquiries about running a residential treatment center,
and his interpretation of the main motion was that it would rule out
any consideratic, : of any other programs; therefore, essentially staff's
evaluation would be one of CAP's proposal only.
Vice Mayor Pearson noted that CAPS stated that those persons admitted
would be given priority if they were Palo Alto residents, and it was
also noted there was a great need. She also took issue with calling people
who are addicted to drugs, transients, and assuming they are not necessarily
Palo Alto residents. It was her opinion they were Palo Alto's own children
and young adults. Those people who want to try to become drug free should
not be written off, but should be given the opportunity,
Councilman Henderson said that as part of the staff recommendation he
would consider very seriouely a recommendation that Council consider
some alternative program proposed by someone else.
Mr. Sipel felt that Council was moving too fast on this proposal. He
pointed out that there had been a failure, and it would be a good idea
to learn from history and go a little bit slower. He said it may turn
out that CAPS is the beat program, and it may turn out that the need
is there fag this type of program. He recommended, however, that in
a sixty to ninety dale period staff could evaluate the need, be sure that
need exiuts, and then move to solicit proposals from anyone who wished
to submit them. By that time perhaps PACDAB could give an evaluation
5 5 5
6/11/74
of their program, and then would be the time to make a decision. That
decision would not preclude putting some money in the budget for this
purpose. Taking a little bit of extra time at the outset would hold
the city in good stead.
Councilman Beahrs supported Councilman Sher's opposition and agreed with
Mr. Sipe1's comments.
Councilman Clay said he would oppose it for the same reasons saying that
at least there should be a statement of needs.
The motion as amended failed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Comstock, Henderson, Pearson
NOES: Beahrs, Clay, Norton, Sher
Councilman Berwald said he would take advantage of the procedures of
Council since this was a one -item agenda. It had been his hope that
there would be an integrated program, and a complete program, in Palo
Alto and that all the Council mernbera would have voted for the Residential.
Treatment Center. He said he voted for PACDAB with many reservations
because he was convinced the board was on the road to bringing together
a meaningful program. He asked that his vote on PACDAB be changed from
a "yes" to a "no" vote. (See page 554)
(Councilman Norton left at 12:30 a.m. and did not return.)
Mayor Comstock said he shared Councilman Berwald's conviction of a need
for a residential treatment center and would offer the following motion.
MO'T'ION: Mayor Comstock moved, seconded by Berwald, that it be the sense
of the Council that there exists a need in the community for a residential
treatment center and that Council direct staff to develop a request for
proposals from interested agencies to provide services to meet these
needs, which proposals would be returned to Council with a recommendation
as to who should provide these services to the City, and a draft contract
as well.
Councilman Berwald said he supported this wholeheartedly but he would
still ask that his vote be changed on PACDAB.
The vote on the motion with regard to PACDAB-was therefore changed from
six -to --two to five -to -three, with Councilman Berwald changing his vote
from "yes" to "no".
The motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Comstock, Pearson, Henderson
NOES: Beahrs, Clay, Sher
ABSENT: Rosenbaum, Norton
MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Beahrs, that City Council
direct the Mayor to urge that the Palo Alto [nified School District Board
give high emergency and continuing priority to methods of educating students
(grades 4 through 12) on the uses and abuses of drugs through more active
use of (1) school drug counselors; (2) Collective and PACDAB; (3) any
5 5 b
6/11/74
other means available -- assemblies, special classes, use of other classes
on a regular basis - and that the City convey to the PAUSD Board the
results of the evaluation of PACDAB and the report "Indication of Need
for Drug Services".
The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
AIourament
.��sw�uwir.w.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m.
ATTEGT: APPROVE:
d)rtitti,
Mayor
e
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