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The June 17 meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m., June 24, 1974.
June 24, 1974
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date at 9:20 p.m.
in a regular meeting with Vice Mayor Pearson presiding.
Present: Beahra, Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Norton,
Pearson, Sher, Rosenbaum
Absent: Comstock
Meeting_re Dumbarton Bridge
Councilman Henderson announced there would be a meeting of surrounding
conformities with regard to the Dumbarton Bridge, Wednesday, June 16,
8:00 p.m., Bellehaven Community Center, East Palo Alto.
Minutes of June 0,..191A
_19.7,
MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson Moved, seconded by Henderson, that the minutes
b approved as ;.ub-Ditted.
The motion passed on a unanirous vote.
Minutes of June 11, 1974
Councilman Henderson referred to the top line of page 532 and asked
that "Joel Davidson, staff" be corrected to read "Joel Davidson of the
City heczeation Staff and a PACDAB member". Councilman Henderson noted
that the first line of the fourth paragraph from the bottom of page
547 was missing and that it be inserted as follows: "Mr. Sipel asked
what the intention vas for the City Controller's role to be, and would
it . . ."
MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, that the minutes
be approved as corrected.
The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
Eubl i c u1400 : _ 1974-75 Arnnual. Bud&e1
Vice Mayor Fearacn noted that a thirty-three million dollar budget would
be under discussion, and this was the moat important meeting of the
year. This meeting was the culmination of months of -Finance and Public
Works Committee meetings which were devoted to reviewing the City Manager's
proposed budget. The budget is a working document of the Council..
All progress funded it this meeting in the budget hopefully would be
implemented by the hard-working staff. The budget eats the policy for
the Council for the next year. Vice Mayor Pearson expressed pleasure
at the number of people in the audience who case for this budget: study.
She said the budget adopted tonight would be passed by majority vote,
and that is significant. Any further funding of new programs during
the next year wi11 require a two-thirds vote of the Council. Fifteen
million dollars of the total budget was in the general fund which includes:
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such highly visible services as streets, park maintenance, police and
fire protection, libraries, recreation, running of city hall, arts,
administration, and support services. Two million dollars is in the
Capital Improvements Program which is a liating of descriptions and
costs of capital facilities or projects which are necessary to implement
the program outlined in the annual operating budget. For example, the
Children's Theatre improvements, the zoo improvements, Greer Park improve-
ments, trails and paths, tennis courts, paramedic vehicle, storm drainage
improvements, and the ramping of curbs for the handicapped. The sixteen
million dollars is the utilities budget. Palo Altc owns its own utilities,
and on the whole, the operating expenses of these utilities are less
than the revenues. Electricity is the big money maker, and it allows
Palo Alto to not only give the residents and businesses in the city
substantial savings in utilities, butalso allows the city to provide
many excellent services and programs. Thirty to thirty-five percent
of the profits from utilities go to the general operating budget. On
behalf of the Council, Vice Mayor Pearson thanked the staff for months
of hard work, and also the Finance and Public Works Committee for all
their time and effort devoted to reviewing the recommended budget.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated that this meeting was the official advertised
hearing for the 1974-75 annual budget, and she declared the public hearing
open. She said that if any member of the audience wished to speak in
general to any part of the budget, this would be the time to do so.
After the public hearing is closed, and Chairman Henderson of the Finance
and Public Works. Committee has placed the iten before Council, she would
recognize anyone who wished to address the Council on any of the amendments
that appear on the agenda, (a) through (z), (aa), (bh), and (cc), as
they are taken up. She added that if a citizen were planning to address
the Council on any of the amendmeets on the agenda, she would appreciate
it if that person did not speak during the public hearing. If someone
wished to speak to the public hearing or to any itet on the agenda,
he should fill out a card and give it to the City Clerk. Vice Mayor
Pearaon reminded the audience of the five minute time litit for speaking.
Frederick D. Smith, 525 university Avenue, speaking for the Palo Alto
Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber had reviewed in detail the proposed
budget and wanted to compliment the staff and the Finance and Public
Works Committee on the revised fort of the budget. The Chamber was
pleased to note that no tax increase was proposed for the coming year,
and they supported the proposed budget as presented to the Council.
E. David Uggla, 446 Forest Avenue, 02, spoke on behalf of the Western
Wheelers Bicycle Club, the West Bay Highwaymen Bicycle Club, and some
other Palo Alto cyclists who were unable to he present at this meeting.
He said he had not anticipated the action taken at the Finance and Public
Works Committee meting with regard to the staff proposed supplement -
the Bicycle Safety Program. The Committee recommended that this not
be included in the budget. In terms of bicycle safety, there are three
fundamental factors -education, enforcement and engineeering. Palo
Alto has been doing well in these areas, and there has been a decrease
in the accident rate over the last year. Hie concern was that without
the education program, the expenditures for facilities would not achieve
the maximum benefits. Mr. Uggla stated that education and enforcement
efforts were required to keep down the number of accidents involving
people under the age of fifteen. He hoped that Council, and in their
behalf the staff, could maintain an intensive effort in the field of
bike safety. If the Bicycle Safety Program is not funded, he asked
that Council remain open to further requests for funds during the year
as and when programa were proposed.
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Helene Wheeler, 362 Diablo Court, President of the League of Women Voters,
noted that the League each year since 1971-72 had taken time to review
the contents of the city budget and the Capital Improvements Program.
On behalf of the League, she commended the members of the Finance and
Public Works Committee who spent many hours ettempting to bring to Council
a budget representing the adequate expenditure of public funds to provide
facilities and services expected by Palo Al.tana. The League also wished
to commend the Planning Commission for establishing a subcommittee to
review the Capital Improvements Program, and the staff was congratulated
on its thorough and articulate presentation of departmental requests.
Vice Mayor Pearson declared the public hearing closed.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated she would call on the Chairman of the Finance
and Public Works Committee to present the Committee's recommendations.
She said that Councilman Henderson would present the City Manager's
preliminary budget for 1974-75 with Committee amendments as shown on
the agenda (a) through (y). She noted that (z), (aa), (bb), and (cc)
were not considered by the Finance and Public Works Committee and would
be addressed following the Committee's recommendations.
Vice Mayor Pearson ruled that the preliminary budget was now before
Council, and that Council wonl.d take up the amendments as shown in the
agenda one by one. If Council could agree on certain blocks of recommenda-
tions, for instance, (a) through (W), then that would be appropriate.
If any Council member had further amendments to the budget, they would
be recognized after considering the ones already an the agenda.
Councilman Henderson, Chairr n, Finance and Public Worke Committee, noted
that the budget was the result of a tremendous amount cif work by a large
number of people. It began with detailed requests from city departments
and a review by the City Manager culminating in a Capital Improvements
Program, a five year budget of 70 pages, a draft operating budget of
473 pages, and a utilities budget of 73 pages. The final result was
the present 156 page preliminary budget now before the City Council.
He said that the Finance and Public Works Committee held ten public
meetings where these budgets were discussed and the public given the
opportunity to participate. Each departmental budget was scrutinized
with department managers and other personnel on hand to answer questions
and to offer support data. Many changes were made, and a rather dramatic
picture of the nunnber of changes wade could be seen in the Capital. Improve-
ments .Prograa budget. The Capital Improvements Program for the coming
year, 1974--75, had 27 items deleted or transferred to other years with
a total of over two and three-quarters million dollars; on the other
hand, two items were added that totaled $784,000, most of that being
for Greer Park. For the other four years in the CIP, sixteen items
were deleted totaling $6,225,000. There were additions or transfers
from the coming year, ten in number, which totaled $1,334,000. Altogether
a net total of $6,383,000 was removed from, the five year Capital Improve-
ments budget.
Councilman Henderson thanked Anne Steinberg and Emily Renzel from )the
Planning Commission for their full partictpatou in the budget discussions.
They were very valuable participants, and he hoped that future Finance
Committees would continua the practice of involving Planning Commission
members in the budget deliberations. Re also thanked all of the Planning
Commission umbers who devoted portions of two meetings to discussing
capital improvements.
Councilmen Henderson felt sure that all of his colleagues on the Committee
sensed the name frustration that he did in not being able to deal with
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�, r
full. effectiveness on the budget. He pointed out that the time
pressure was tremendous, and the detail was overwhelming. In spite
of the ten meetings on the draft budget plus another meeting on the
preliminary budget, he felt he barely touched the surface of the
operating and utilities budgets. Most important t'teie simply was
not time available to speak sufficiently to the overall problem of
total revenues versus total expenditures. There is not sufficient
revenue in the budget to cover anticipated operations and capital
improvements expenditures. Fortunately, there are ample funds in
the various fund reserves to cover capital improvements projects that
are not covered by current funding;. but the city was no longer in a
position where half of the sales tax revenue could be applied to capital
improvements. The general fund, or operating budget, is a basic $15,765,000
which when reduced by credits for service provided through utilities
comes,to a net total of $14,177,000. Councilman Henderson pointed
out this figure does not include the amendments that would be considered
at this meeting. To provide sufficient revenue to cover the total
expenditures, approximately 88% of anticipated sales tax revenue will
have to be credited to the general fund. This means that the old goal
of having 50% of the sales tax revenue available for capital improvements
is far from suet since only 12% is available ,according to the budget,
although there would be some adjustments to that. The Capital Improvements
Fund budget for 1974-75 is $1,959,500 and with $430,000 available from
sales tax revenue, it means about one and a half million dollars would
have to be taken from the Capital Improvements Fund reserve unless
other change; take place. Councilman Henderson continued that :Another
half million dollars or so is budgeted for expenditures from the street
improvement fund, and the gas tax revenue is es r itated at around $300,000
so there would be $275,000 that would have to come from the street
improvement fund reserve. The utilities are self-sustaining with a
budget exceeding $16,000,000 and providing the general fund with about
$4,200,000 revenue. So many variables and t.stknowrts are present in budget
estimating that it is impossible to make accurate judgments of the
city's fiscal position a year in advance. Historically, the city has
underspent on its general funds, in that there are staff vacencies,
delayed projects, etc. The estimated revenues for the city for 1974-
75 are admitted to be conservative, and as an example, Councilman Henderson
made his own eatimate and case up with $400,000 more revenue than presented
to Council in the preliminary budget. There are budgets for certain
program expenditures that may be late in costing; therefore, it was
hia personal belief that the city would not have to drew from existing
fund reserves anywhere near the extent indicated in the budget documents.
Councilman Henderson stated that he did not feel pessimistic about
the city's financial status for the coming year. He said that many
people needed to be thanked for their efforts, and he mentioned that
Clayton grown of the staff deserved thanks for successfully masterminding
this huge project and for so promptly and efficiently responding to
the Committee's many requests for special information. He also thanked
the many staff members who appeared before the Committee, the members
of the public who came before the Cr ittee, and his colleagues on
the Committee - Councilmen Bervacld, Norton end Rosenbaum for their
dedication to this formidable task.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that Council approve the 1974-75 annual budget as presented
by the City Manager with such amendments as may be approved by the
Council at this meeting.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that Council a nd the 1974-75 preliminary budget by
approving the recomeendatione of the Committee for amendments (a) through
(m).
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a. Delete $19,400 from Equipment Maintenance, Equipment
Replacement Subprogram.
b. Delete $1,750 from the Personnel Department, Administrative
and General :,ubprogra.m, casual salaries.
c. Delete $2,000 of planned equipment purchasesunder
the Stores Subprogram of the Purchases and Stores Division.
d.. Delete $1,500 of the budgeted $2,500 for capital project
materials and euppl.es in the Administration and General
Subprogram of the Communications Division.
e. ITTete $1,000 of the budgeted $13,180 for new and replace-
ment equipment in the Maintenance Subprograms of the
Comiunicatiens Division.
f. Delete $1,000 of the $7,000 budgeted for professional
real estate services in the Real Estate Subprogram
of the Engineering Division.
g•
Delete $1,000 of the $2,000 budgeted for office furniture
and machines in the Administration & General Subprogram of
the Planning Department.
h. Delete $15,000 from several of the subprograms in the Police
Department.
i. Delete $1,000 of the budgeted $5,840 in casual assistance
for vacation relief in the Animal Control Subprograms of the
Animal Services Division.
j•
Delete $2,000 of the $12,975 budgeted for advertising and
publishing in Social Services Administration.
k. Delete $5,000 of casual salaries and related materials
and supplies budgeted for expansion of activities and
delete $2,000 of the $10,000 budgeted for additional
and replacement playground equipment in various sub-
programs of the Recreation Department.
1. Delete $5,000 from casual salaries budgeted to expand
classes and supervision at the Cultural Center, from
various sub -programs in the Nature and Science Division.
m. Delete $10,000 of the total budgeted ($25,980) to expand
the book collection at Mitchell Park, from the Ziblio--
grsiphicel Services Subprogram of the Library Department.
Councilmae Norton disagreed slightly with the way this matter was being
presented. Normally the manner for presentation of a Committee recom-
mendation is that the collective recommendation of the Committee is
placed before Council with the thought that if it is to be changed
then affirmative motions should be lade to chang it. The way this
is before Council either one by one or collectively the Committee's
recommendations have to be affirmatively, in effect, ratified by the
Council. Re felt there was a subtle, bet perhaps important, difference
in that nor$ iiy Councilman Henderson if he followed the usual format
would be moving (a) through (z) and Council would amend from there.
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It was Councilman Norton's opinion that it would take at least twice
as long to go about it the way it is proposed and would also take
a different voting pattern to do or undo things that the Committee
has already recommended.
Vice Mayor Pearson said she recognized what Councilman Norton was
baying, but she had gone bacf through past years to find out just
exactly what Council had done`; The last two years the budget was
presented to Council as Councilman Norton stated, but in 1971-72 when
he was the Chairman, he used the format that was suggested for tonight.
The other six years that Vice Mayors Pearson had been on the Council,
it was also handled in this way with the assumption being that the
preliminary budget was before Council and any changes are approved
on a one by one basis by the Council.
Councilman Rosenbaum commented that last year at this time he noted
that expenditures were increasing a good deal more rapidly than revenues.
At that time he thought it would be very educational to become a member
of the Finance Committee and find out what he could do to attempt
to bring revenues and expenditure increases in line. He said he did
become a member of that Committee, and it was his view that the budget
before Council was not at all responsive to the fiscal realities that
the city is facing. The budget process starts early in the year,
and two things happened which could not be anticipated when the whole
process began. One of these was the energy shortage which affects
the city in an unusual way since the city owns its own utility system.
The most profitable utility is the electrical one, and consumption
of electricity is down. In terms of the environment that is a very
good thing, but from the standpoint of the budget it is natural to
regret that electrical use is down because it has a severe effect
financially. Councilman. Rosenbaum stated that the city could count
on the sales tax and the property tax going up with inflation, but
the utility is simply not re'ated to inflation. The past year the
results have been that money from utilities is down, and this seriously
affects Palo Alto's ability - much more so than other cities -- to
keep up with inflation. The second thing that happened was the rise
in the cost of living. The city had signed a contract with its workers,
and it was quite understandable, to provide them with a cost--of-living
increase this coming year which has turned out to be 8.2%. The increase
in salary costs primarily, together with the reduction in utility
transfers, has produced the situation where the pay-as-you-go system
has been virtually eliminated for capital improvements, Page 1 of
the preliminary budget shows where the city has been heading. In
1971-72 the entire sales tax went to the Capital Improvements Fund,
and no sales tax money was required for the general fund. In 1972-
73, it was down to 2.2 million for the Capital improvement Fund.
In 1973-74, it is currently 1.3 million, which is a drop of one million.
This year it is shown in the budget to be $430,000. If Council looks
at that $430,000 closely, it will find that it pretty much just goes
away. litxt year is a fifty-one week year, and this means that one
week of next year's cost for salaries is being charged to this year's
budget and that is $170,000 that might rationally appear in next year's
budget. Another item had to do with the child care contract. There
wee some discussion as to haw to fund that, and the decision wee to
essentially put next year's child care funds into this year's budget.
If that had been done in a more reasonable manner, that would be another
$150,000 that is really going to be spent. $120,000 of the amount
to be transferred to the Capital Improvement Program was found by
delaying an underground project an San Antonio Road. Councilman Rosenbaum
said that in adding up thane three items you get a figure of $440,000.
He felt it was reasonable to say that given the budget figure, there
would be no transfer at all to the Capital Improvement Fund during
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the coming year. However, he noted there is a contingency amount
so there will be some money; but essentially, the city has been brought
to the point where it can no longer count on a pay-as-you-go system.
Furthermore, without some sort of a tax increase, it was not clear
how the city would be able to meet the expenses it would have the
year after next. Councilman Rosenbaum explained that he went through
all of this orally because it is possible to read through the entire
preliminary budget and find no comment of this so. -:t. The Chamber
of Commerce indicated it was happy there was no increase in the tax
rate, but clearly they had not had the opportunity to do the analysis
to show just how the city finances are deteriorating. Perhaps staff
made no mention of this fact because when they sake comments like
that Council accuses them at times of trying to make thinge look bad
for the Council members; also, they have projects of their awn to
pursue and it is difficult to do that if you are indicating that the
budget does not look good. Councilman Rosenbaum explained that he
brought up these things because he felt that on the part of the public
and on the part of some of the Council members there was a feeling
that Palo Alto was extremely wealthy and anything can be done that
is wanted, and he was suggesting this is not the case. Each program
needed to be looked at very carefully, priorities need to be chosen,
and some projects which appear very desirable may have to be eliminated
or cut back. He wanted to sake this point because he would be voting
in what could be regarded as a fiscally conservative manner, and these
were the reasons that he would be doing that.
Councilman Clay stated that he had a mild objection to the procedure.
The approach says to hire that someone has determined prior to the
meeting that some items should be taken in a black and some should
not, When he saw the report from the City Manager, he inferred that
his statement of possible deletions from the budget was an attempt
to establish some priority from which the Finance and Public Works
Committee could then go about doing its work of deleting budgets at
its set of priorities. He felt that by taking (a) through (m) as
a block, Council was not giving staff an opportunity to comment on
some of the recommendations it had made. If staff oared to comment,
he wanted to give it the opportunity to do so.
Vice Mayor Pearson responded to Councilman Clay's thought that perhaps
an agreement was made before the meeting. She said she talked to
the City Manager at the pre -council meeting to determine which items
were controversial and which were not. These were recommended by
the staff to the Finance end Public Works Committee, but she pointed
out that Councilman Clay was free to ask that the items be divided.
Further, if there were any items that anyone on Council wanted to
discuss or have the City Manager address himself to, this could be
done, The proposed method was simply a way of trying to expedite
the matters.
Councilman Clay reiterated that he simply wanted to be sure that staff
could respond to each item if i.t wanted to, and if it did not want
to, then ho was prepared to go on.
Mr. Sipel stated that in general he disagreed with all of the changes
that the Committee had aasde, and he believed strongly that the recommenda-
tions that he made initially would be the best course of action.
The Committee chose to make some changes, which he did not consider
to be substantial. Late in the game, he tried to bring to the Committee's
attention to some pric:ities which he fait were more important, basically
in the area of affirmative action. Mt. Sipel felt that if dollars
were questioned, there wore soma less important items which the Committee
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had already approved that might be reconsidered in light of the concern
to save money on the Affirmative Action program. It was in this light
that he prepared the memorandum with the list of deletions, for the
most part. He said he would be very willing to talk on any one of
the proposed deletions if the Council would like him to.
Cotncilmaa Sher commented there was a 6f,.9X decrease this year in
transfers to the Capital Improvements program, and he understood that
the city would either have to not have Capital Improvements in the
future or it would not be able to continue on a pay-as--you-go basis.
He asked Mr. Sipel to comment on the abandoning of the policy of allocating
one-half of the sales tax revenues to the Capital Improvements Fund.
He wanted to know if the city were moving to a position of having
annually funded programs replacing the capability to go forward with
Capital Improvements such as park acquisition or Lytton Plaza.
Mr. Sipel responded that the suggestion that Council has not been
properly advised as to the financial condition of the city and its
direction is an erroneous one, He recalled bringing this precise
gt.estion to the attention of the Council for the past four or five
years. Two and one-half years ago, staff prepared a report on a long--
term basis which indicated the direction the city is presently going,
which is one of more difficulty in funding day -to --day operating requirements,
He stated there is no doubt that is the case, and he had certainly
not tried to hide it. In fact, this was one of the things which he
highlighted in his State of the City message. Mir. Sipeiat that point
in time indicated that the city's financial condition was rather good,
but that tine good financial condition would be somewhat eroded in
the future. In his State of the City re€ssa ;e, he stated that any
tie the city takes on a new responsibility that makes it more difficult
to do other things such as Capital Improvements. For the last four
to five years, 'tali had indicated that in order to do all the things
the city wishe/ to do, it wo.id not be possible to transfer or estimate
the transfer sales tax to the Capital Improvements Fund in the
amount of SC%. In fact, because of better than anticipated utilities
earnings, funds left urerpended, that peecentaga had been ex,eeeded
every year since he had been with the city. Thi5 year, the, books
still have not been closed, but he expected that the figure of 1.3
million dollars mentioned will be substantially higher. Therefore,
he felt 50% would again be reached. This has been done for the past
couple of years, but the difference now is that there are some other
factors that have entered the picture causing some difficulty in making
an estimate. One of these is the energy crisis, and the other perhaps
more s.i$nificant one, is inflation. Mr. Sipel said that in general
he felt the city was very close to over-coasn1tting itself. Further,
he said the city was perhaps three or four years away from having
to fund Capital improvements Projects of any major nature in other
than a pay-as-you-go manner. He reminded Council that the city had
roughly ale million dollars unappropriated in the Capital Improvements
Fund which could be used for all Tanner of capital projects, and that
is a helpful situation. In the future, if the city is going to consider
major capital improvements, there would be a change in the way things
were done. He did not feel that change would be any different if
this budget were approved, or one that would be $125,000 less or more.
Councilman Sher noted that Mr. Sipel had mentioned the energy crisis
and inflation as two things that affected the city, and he wondered
about new programs with new staff positions.
Mr. Sipel responded affirmatively. He did not have a figure on the
cost of the new prof;rama, but he thought it was In the neighborhood
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of $500,000. While there seems to be a desire to reduce expenditures
or keep expenditures from increasing, there is no decrease in the
appetite of either the community or the Council for the new programs.
What the city wanted to do was to continue to do all the things that
had been done previously, add a few new ones that strike the community's
fancy, and do it with the same number of employees. Mr. Sipel felt
the staff was at the point where that could nn longer be done.
Councilman Sher asked if there were a possibility of eliminating some
old positions.
at. Sipel responded that staff had gone through a process of doing
that over the past several years. In fact for the past three years,
up until this year, the net increase in the number of employees has
been two out of 736. He said if Council wished, he would be happy
to run through the number of new programa that Are now being performed
and which require additional person power.
Councilman Henderson pointed out that last year at this time, it appeared
that 24% of the sales tax was being transferred to Capital Improvements.
As the year went on, adjustments were made, and the figure was up
to 42%, and it now appeared that it would go to 50%. He suggested
waiting for a year's experience, and if things started getting really
negative at the and of the year, then this subject could be talked
about. He pointed out the six million dollars in unexpended reserves,
and another four m_11io:: dollars appropriated that may be available.
Councilman Beahrs agreed wholeheartedly with Councilman ilman Rosenbaum's
comments. He felt Mr. Sipe' did much better a year ago on his statement
of the problem, and this year Councilman Rosenbaum did brilliantly
in stating it. In his opinion, the Council needed to learn to say
"no", and the town needed to learn that everything did not grow on
trees.
The motion to approve the Committee's recommended amendments (a) through
(r,) passed on a unanimous vote.
Councilman Henderson referred to Item: (r:) on the agenda regarding
the deletion of the Programmer B position from the City Controller's
Office. He said there was a situation of a Deputy Controller job
listed this year which was not filled. For next year the recommendation
of staff is to eliminate that position and add the position of Programmer
B. Councilman Henderson said he made the notion in Committee, and
it was passed unanimously, to remove that position. Mr. Mitchell, City
Controller, had stated in a letter the importance of this position,
saying that a management audit was being performed of the computing
activities, and there will probably be a recommendation in this study to
add this position. Councilman Henderson felt it would be prudent
to wait for the management recommendations to Committee, and the Council
would be making judgments then.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that the preliminary budget for 1974-75 be ascended to
delete the Programmer B position from the City Controller's Office (agenda
item 1(n).
The motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Norton, Sher,
Pearson, Rosenbaum
NOES: Beahrs
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Councilman Henderson referred to Item (o) on the agenda regarding
reducing the amount shown for contract keypunching under Data Processing
in the City Controller's Office from $4,990 to $2,000. He said that
this current year had nothing showing in the budget for contract keypunching
under Data Processing, and he and other members of the Committee questioned
the $4,990 figure. He pointed out that approximately $700 had been
spent so far this year on outside keypunching.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that the preliminary
reduce the amount shown for contract
in the City Controller's Office from
budget for 1974-75 be amended to
keypunching under Data Processing
$4,990 to $2,000.
The notion passed on a unanimous vote.
Councilman Henderson referred to Item (p) on the agenda regarding
the -deletion of transportation for senior adults from the Public Works
.driniatration Budget, pending evaluation of the Dial -?►-Bus system.
1e said that at the time of the draft budget there was a supplementary
program about transportation for senior adults involving the use of
taxicabs with a city subsidy per taxi trip. At the Committee's hearin;
of the supplelaental budget, Councilman Henderson moved to reduce the
amount from approximately $49,000 to $20,000 because of the desire
to see what happens with the dial -a -bus system that is to go Into
effect in October, He did want to retain enough in the budget to
cover senior citizens who would not be able to use buses, in other
words, those who were handicapped enough that they would need the
taxi service. Also, upon the end of the test period in February or
:larch, if the city decided to go into the taxi system, there would
be money available. At that point Councilman Berwa1d wade a substitute
motion, seconded by Councilman Norton to delete this particular program
at this time.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the ,Finance and Public
Works Committee to amend the preliminary budget for 1974-75 by deleting
the transportation for senior adults from the Public Works Administration
Budget, pending evaluation of the Dial -A -Bus system.
Joe Sieve, 1478 Kings Lane, President of the Senior Coordinating Council
in Palo Alto, said they had their annual ieeting recently and the
one disappointment was that a representative from the city came by
and mentioned the fact that this budget item was cut. In 1964 one
of the main items noted was the lack of transportation for senior
citizens in Palo Alto, and in 1973 it was noted that the lack of transpor-
tation was still prevalent. The Senior Coordinating Council asked
City Council to reinstate the money and to put the taxicab supplement
back into the budget. Mr. Sieve asked Council to reinstate the $48,000
and get started now. If the Dial -A -Bus system worked, then the taxicab
idea could be phased out.
Councilman Sher said this was one of the new programs he
to earlier as is the proposal for the senior center. He
the Senior Coordinating Council had any discussion about
among the possible new programs.
referred
asked if
priority
Mr. Sieve responded that they were given equal priority, and the programs
were discussed in much detail. He said they were disappointed at
the beginning of this maetinf,; that the Lytton Plaza idea was shelved
because they felt it was to ortant to get a seniors center. M4.r.
Sieve pointed out that it wits revenue sharing funds being discussed.
604
6/24/74
Wendy Comstock, 2137 Wellesley, was the Project Director in charge
of the study of senior residents in the Palo Alto area sponsored by
the Senior Coordinating Council. One out of every seven citizens
in Palo Alto is sixty years or older, and about one out of fourteen
of those sixty years or older need transportation. She said that
if Council had the money and the ability to approach this project
at all, it might want to think about using it before the Diai-A-Bus
comes because that would be a while, and the need is now. She added
that perhaps some of the funds could be appropriated to implement
the taxi program immediately and have the flexibility to phase out
later.
Councilman Rosenbaum commented that the Dial -A -Bug system was coring
in October, and it is a system where you call up and the bus comes
to your door to take you anywhere in Palo Alto for ten cents. He
questioned whether the city 'should be going into competition with
the county at this time, and he pointed out that the cab system would
not start until just about the same time as the county bus system.
In terms of priority, he did not feel this was the place to put money
until it can be shown that the county system can not fill the bill.
Councilman Rosenbaum said he had suggested consideration of the use
of taxicabs for the handicapped, those seniors who simply cannot use
the bus system. He noted Mr. Sipel had some objection to that because
he thought it would be difficult to determine just who would be eligible.
He did not feel this was an overwhelming problem, and he would be
willing to put the money in with the requirement that staff direct
the service to those who cannot use the bus.
Councilman Berwald agreed with Councilman Rosenbaum and commented
this was not a value judgment on the program, but a reasonable and
prudent deferral until there is an evaluation of the Dial -A --Bus program
before commiting large amounts of funds. Councilman Henderson had
recommended reducing the funds to $20,000, but Mr. Sipel commented
that he felt Council should wait. Councilman Berwaid explained this
was a deferral, not a cancellation, and certainly not a judgment on
the ultimate virtue of the program.
Councilman Clay asked if Dial -A -Bus would be on schedule and actually
be ready for use in October.
Councilman Rosenbaum felt reasonably confident about this. He explained
that the buses are coming into the county right now, and he had seen
the Dial -A -Bus setup, and the computers were there. The people installing
the computers are those who installed the first system in New Jersey
which had been very successful. The equipment and the expertise is
there, and operation should begin in October.
Councilman Clay asked Councilman Henderson what his rationale had
been for recommending the reduction from $►9,000 to $20,000.
Councilman Henderson responded that he would like to put in a program
now for the senior citizens who are handicapped.
Vice Mayor Pearson asked if it were correct that the taxi system would
not start before October. Councilmen Henderson responded that hie
felt it would start sooner than that.
Mr. Sipel stated that the program could_probably be gotten into operation
in the neighborhood of September 1, but perhaps a little later.
6.0 S
6/24/74
SUBSTITUTE MOTION; Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Rosenbaum,
that the transportation for Senior Adults in the Public Works Administration
Budget, be reduced from $48,000 to $20,000 for the elderly handicapped.
Councilman Sher asked if this money would be designated for the handicapped,
and was there some income limitation.
See pg; 24
7/15/75
See pg.-24
7/15/74
Councilman Henderson replied that it would be for any handicapped
senior citizen, and he supposed if there were fiscal limitations imposed
under the general program, then they would be applied to this program.
Councilman Sher asked if fiscal limitations were intended. Mr. Sipel
responded affirmatively.
Councilman Beahrs said that for the difference of one month, the proposition
as on the agenda should prevail.
Mx. Sipel in responding to the substitute notion presently on the
floor said he did not feel he could speak definitively to some of
the problems in administering a program for the handicapped elderly,
He knew there would be substantial problems, however, not the least
of which could be the difficulties of reaching some kind of an agreement
with taxicab companies. In order to iron out some of theoe problems,
the program would take longer to implement than the time schedule
he had given earlier. Mr, Sipel said he would like to have the opportunity
to bring the program back to Council to explain some of the problems
and staff's proposed solutions if this motion were to be adopted.
Councilman Rosenbaum explained that the county would not have a service
for the handicapped in October. There are people in wheelchairs and
people who cannot get up the bus steps, and county service for this
group would come much later.
Councilman Clay asked if the motion implied that the service would
continue after Dial -A -Bus. Councilman Rosenbaum responded affirmatively.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated support for the substitute motion because
she felt that regardless of whether or not the city has Dial -A -Bus,
there has to be some way to assist those people who are elderly and
who are handicapped. The object now was to get the money into the
budget, and when the report came back, decisions could be lade as
to how it would be implemented.
The substitute motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Clay, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher
NOES: Beahrs, Berwald, Norton
Councilman Henderson referred to Item (q) on the agenda concerning
the deletion of $18,000 of casual salaries in the Planning Department.
He said the draft budget did not have this figure in it, and when
the preliminary budget carve out there was an additional $18,000 for
two and the -half casual employees. The staff explained this was an
oversight at the time, but the motion was made in Committee to delete
the $18,000 for casual salaries in the Planning Department.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee to amend the 1974-75 preliminary }budget by deleting
$18,000 for casual salaries in the Planning Department.
Mr. Sipel said he wanted to draw Council's attention to the staff
report sent out on June 21 which indicated some of the: problems that
staff would have if this particular amount of money is not included
in the budget, One impact would be an elongation of the comprehensive
plan work schedule. It was anticipated that the completion date could
be moved back by anywhere from three to six months. The other effect
would be to change fairly substantially the assignments of current
personnel, moving them away from some of the programs in housing and
special studies. He explained that the precise impact in the second
area was not known, but he assured Council there would be a change
in the ability and capacity of the department to respond to the needs
of the Council., the Planning Commission, and the community.
Councilman Beahrs said he knew there had been considerable criticism
of the program of casual employees in the city, but he agreed with
the staff that it is better to have some employees on an hourly basis
than it is to engage some people as full time employees and have them
sometimes sitting with nothing to do. He felt Mr. Sipel had demonstrated
good economy over a period of years wa.th this program, and he was
disappointed to see it curtailed, particularly in this important area
of current interest.
Councilman Henderson said he was concerned about delaying the fompr-0hensive
General Plea.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Beahrs, that
the 1974-75 preliminary budget be amended by reducing the Planning
Depatt=ent budget for casual salaries by $6,000, to a figure of $12,000.
Councilman Berwald Stated that each Colnci1 member had hie own appraisal
of the work load in each of the depa.rtmsnts in the city, and he disagreed
with Xr. Sipel on this particular matter. His position was that the
members of the Committee spent a considerable amount of time reviewing
the budget, and this particular deletion was one that he looked at
very carefully because he did nut want to delay the Comprehensive
Plan or anything else. Councilman Berwald felt there was a rather
large planning staff, and his observation of their work load was that
this move would not delay the completion of the Comprehensive Plana
He supported the mrigina1 motion.
The substitute motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Beahra, Clay, Henderson, Pearson Sher,
Rosenbaum
NOES: Berwald, Norton
Councilman Henderson referred to Item (r) on the agenda having to
do with flexible staffing in the Police Department to more expeditiously
replace police officers who leave the force. This is a program to
train new police officers ahead of their need, and as replacements
are required, there would be trained people stepping in.
1
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that Council approve the reduction in flexible staffing
position* from six to four in the Police Department.
The motion paused on a unanimous vote.
6► 0 7
6/24/74
MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, that item
(5), a Hunan Relations Commission recommendation for funds for the
Affirmative Action program, be taken cut -of -order to be considered
along with item (s) recommending a reduction of funds for the Affirmative
Action program.
The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
Councilman Henderson referred to item (s) on the agenda concerning
the Affirmative Action Program and stated that at the original draft
budget ti e approximately $65,000 was put in for Affirmative Action
in the regular departmental budget, and another $59,000 was recommended
for a supplemental budget program. ;he Crsmmittee divided two to two
on the additional $59,000 so it failed. Mr. Sipel directed that the
full amount of $122,°300 be put in the preliminary budget, and this
then came before Committee for ratification of the full amount. Councilman
Henderson recalled that he made the notion for ratifying the full
amount, but it died for lack of a second. Councilman Berwald discussed
the breakdown of the program in relation to the minority program,
the women's program, and made the motion to reduce the proposed amount
by $50,000, so that the figure was rounded off to $73,000. Ht. Norton
stated that he did not want that to be considered a total elimination
of the women's program and that some positions for women should be
included in the $73,000. The $73,000 figure was passed unanimously.
At that meeting, Council -::an Henderson atated he did not support the
reduction but was voting :car the $73,000 because he wanted something
in there for Affirmative Action.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that the Affirmative Action Program maintained in
various departments be :educed to a total of $73,000.
Councilman Rosenbaum noted that in Exhibit B of the budget amendment
there is a list of specific additions a_!d programs under the Affirmative
Action Program which had been deleted, and he did not see that this
was the Committee action. He asked just how that carne about.
Mt. Sipel responded that was staff's reading of the Committee's intent
at the meeting when the change was made.
Kathy Henke, 1520 Awalt Court, Loa Altos, stated that NOW members
were present at this meeting not only to present their analyses and
reactions to Affirmative Action plans and related budget items, but
also to ask for action. She said that NOW members had been in maetinge
with the city staff fox three months concerning Affirmative Action
for Women. City staff had repeatedly advised NOW that the city's goals
for women are realistic, and that it is impossible to set them higher.
After repeated requests and a month's delay, turnover statistics were
ride available last week to NOW. It is now clear to the organization
why the goals are limited. The yearly turnover rate along female
city employees is triple that of males. Ma. Henke asked why women
left the city work force at such a high rate. It was NOW's belief
that it was frustration at finding themselves in low -paying, dead-
end jobs. NOW was told that not enough woman am applying, and yet
there was no effort until last v'eek to reach woman through such groups
as the Wr en' a Resource Center, New Ways to Work, NOW chapters, or
even the newspapers. The city needs to make it clear to all the women
in the area that they are now eligible for positions traditionally
denied them. NOW was not asking the City of Palo Alto to compromise
quality for quantity, since they were certain that there are many
educated, qualified, and even over -qualified, women in this area who
would be interested if approached or informed by an intensive recruitment
6 0 8
6/24/74
program. If the city needs help in this area, the San Francisco office
of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would be glad to respond
with their expertise. She noted that staff had preferred not to confer
with this respected agency. As to the question of creating training
positions in order to introduce women into such departments as Public
Works or Firefighters, NOW considered this an inefficient use of city
funds. It is not necessary to create new lower level positions, but
merely to aeek out and hire qualified women as positions become available.
She requested thee the $50,000 be reinstated in the Affirmative Action
budget and that it be utilized not for training positions but for
intensive recruitment of women.
Judy Andrews, 2253 Santa Ana, stated she would be presenting ;IOW's
position on the Affirmative Action budget and goals. She requested
that the $50,000 be reinstated in the budget, but more than that,
from the city's point of view, cutting out money for women and not
for minorities is illegal and is grounds for cutting off of federal
funding. She said this was especislly true in light of the fact that
Palo Alto's deficiency is nine times as bad for women as it is for
minorities. Ma. Andrews said that if a woman comes in on a lower
th:sn ordinary level, such as a trainee position, she would never quite
gain the status among her peers as she would if she came in under
ordinary means. She felt the training position assumed there were
no qualified women, and that was an affront to the capabilities of
women. NOW desired that the money be used for outreach recruitment
which may require additional staff and in advertising. She pointed
out that the California Highway Patrol got 1,500 fezale applicants
for forty jobs after doing an adequate !ecruitrent effort. MR, Andrews
expressed concern about the Affirmative Action goals. 'women comprise
38 of the labor force in Palo Alto which is the compliance goal for
federal funding. Palo Alto employs 202 women, aLd their goal of 262
in five years is 12% deficient. On the other hand in this area, Palo
Alto employs 232 minorities, and the planned goal for five years fro
now is 28 or 291. This was a laudable goal for minorities. The goats
for minorities had already been reached; however, there were spot
deficiencies of certain types of minorities, and male minorities ace
deficient in management. Banically, the major problem that faces
Palo Alto is its deficiencies for white and minority women. This
had been discussed a nember of times with members of the Personnel
Department and George Sipel. They had asked many times for figures
from Mr. Sipel to prove to NOW that his 262 figure was the highest
attainable, and they received the figures last week. The figures
revealed a 16.9% turnover rate for women, and a turnover rate that
high indicates a low morale problem. When NOW analyzed the figures,
they found some serious discrepancies. Page 4 of the staff report
states "Achievement of these goals is based on projected turnover,
and the assumption that approximately one of every two appointments
will be a woman or minority, and that the size of the work force well
remain constant. In the event that new positions are added to the
work force, it is suggested that at least 502 would be filled by minorities
or women". The handout from NOW shows there is no way that the Affirmative
Action goal that Mx. Sipel sets can be achieved given the 502 figures,
the reason being that because of the high turnover rate of women,
Palo Alto has to hire 422 women every year just to maintain a 202
figure of women in the work force. NOW had received a telephone call
the morning of the sheeting date saying there was a revision of the
figures. Mr. Sipel changed his maximum hiring rate for minorities
and women to 652 and to 452 for minority and white women. It would
be necessary for Palo Alto to hire 57.62 women in order to reach the
262 goal set up by Mx. Sipel. Ms. Andrews stated that unless the
city decided to create 130 more jobs .tn the next five years, this
figure is completely unreasonable. She said NOW representatives would
6=J 9
6/24/74
like to discuss this whole matter with city representatives in more
detail, and so she requested that the matter of investigating these
discrepancies and the development of a compliant Affirmative Action
goal be done by the city's Policies and Procedures Committee. With
help from Council, Palo Alto could have a viable Affirmative Action
program for minorities and women.
Robert Hopkins, 7 Fair Oaks Lane, Atherton, member of NOW, wished
to draw Council's attention to some of the enforcement mechanisms
that are aubstantial considerations in this matter. It appears that
the action so far has essentially considered the forcefulness of the
EEOC and the OFCC to be a trivial issue. Mr. Hopkins wanted to warn.
Council that as a matter of fact, it is sot. The EEOC has been building
it1 activities to a substantial degree, but more immediate is the
interest of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance which is the
office responsible for the compliance of holders cf contracts with
the federal government and receiving federal money. The OFCC Revised
Order Four sets out numerous considerations that are not accommodated
in the present Palo Alto Affirmative Action program. It was Mr. Hopkins'
point that this office did win compliance, and NOW was concerned that
Council recognise this as a matter of prudence. He summed up by saying
that job discrimination would end when companies find out that it
will cost more money in baekpay and litigation than to irnpler.ent fair
practices.
Joanne Cosmos, 642 Keats Court, stated that she had been employed
for the past twenty years and for the past fifteen years held management
positions. She noted that in the City Controller's Department, 68.
of the employes are female, yet there is not even one of those females
in a mat agement position. Ms. Cosmos wanted to know if this meant
there were no qualified female accountants in this area, or was it
a perpetuation of the myth that women make fine bookkeepers and men
make fine accountants. Furthermore, if a vacancy occurs, there is
no provision for promoting a qualified woman from that department
or from some other department or seeking a qualified woman from the
outside. :pis. Cosmos felt it was imperative that the city reinstate
the $50,000 to the Affirmative Action progr3.m and that it be earmarked
primarily for recruitment and outreach.
Dr. Donna Dental, 7 Fair Oaks Lane, Atherton, stated that the people
who made up the Affirmative Action program suffered from time lag,
which was a serious disorder because it had to do with decades. Dr.
Dental said this disease tended to infect middle --class males who are
in decision --making positions, but the resulting pain and suffering
is borne by the 51% of the population who fa female. She said the
City of Palo Alto is way back in about 1930 because it wants to increase
the women's work force in its employ from 20% to 26Z which is where
women were in 1930. One of the myths that people with this disease
has is that women just work for pin money. Two-thirds of women work
because they are widowed, divorced, separated, single, or their husbands
earn less than $7,000; in short, they need the money. Those who made
up the plan state they cannot find any qualified women; however, there
are 43% women with B.A. degrees, 30Z with M.A., and 12% Ph.D. Even
when women are qualified and have bachelor's degrees, the statistics
show that such women have jobs that pay approximately equivalent to
a man who has an eighth grade education. This is primarily due to
the fact that the traditional female jobs are the law -paying jobs.
Dr. Dental felt that advice given by the Palo Alto Chapter of NOW
should be followed; otherwise, there might be secondary complications.
Vice Mayor Pearson commented that even if a woman has the same job
as a man, she is often paid less; and this was something that she
knew from experience.
b 1 0
6/24/74
Ann Barone, 497 Westlake Drive, expressed concern about the Affirmative
Action plan. There are deficiencies, and there are obviously many
questions and points that need clarification. The matter needs further
discussion and community input and a lot of revision. She asked that
Council separate the Affirmative Action plan from the Affirmative
Action budget, and that it be made clear that the approval of the
budget in no way implies approval of the Affirmative Action plan.
She asked Council to refer the Affirmative Action plan to the Policy
and Procedures Committee where it could receive further consideration.
Vice Mayor Pearson felt strongly that the whole Council had never
really addressed this subject and it should be done in a public forum.
She hoped that the subject of the Affirmative Action program would
be referred to the Policy and Procedures Committee, first of all getting
the money into the budget, and then addressing this program where
there could be the kind of input presently being experienced.
Councilman Henderson noted that most of the time was being spent discussing
the Affirmative Action program itself, which in a sense is a mistake
because that should be discussed in detail in Committee. He would
like to see the program out of the way so that tonight's issue would
be budget.
REFERRAL MOTION: Councilman Bcrwald moved, seconded by Henderson,
that the Affirmative Action program be referred to the Policy and
Procedures Committee,
Councilman Clay asked if this would end the public presentation on
this item.
Vice Mayor Pearson replied that if it did not go to Committee, then
the public would go on with presentations.
Councilman Clay noticed that during statements made at this meeting
NOW separated women from minorities, whereas Executive Order Four
includes minorities and women. He said he did not see the minority
representation among the meTebers of NOW. Councilman Clay addressed
the motion by saying that Affirmative Action has to do with hiring,
firing, end promoting, and all of that was quite clearly within the
City Yaaaager ' s domain. He did not ;eal this utter had any business
before Council, let alone the Policy and Procedures Committee. Councilman
Clay indicated full support of a qualitative and quantitative Affirmative
Action program, but he took some exception to the suggestion that
the money requested ought to be allocated toward trainee positions.
To him, trainee positions imply inferior quality and that does disservice
to both parties, that is - the employee and the employer. If there
were any question about management or staff, city employee reorientation
with regard to accepting an Affirmative Action program, he felt that,
too, was part of the City Manager's responsibilities. NOW representatives
sad made a request that training positions be withheld and that the
money be put toward development of an Affirmative Action program.
Councilman Clay said he had difficulty reconciling not ,just the $122,000
but even the $73,000 with the recommendations that have been made
at this meeting regarding a change in the way -the money would be spent
in affecting a quality Affirmative Action program. He stated he would
be willing to support the $73,000 ou the assumption that the City
Manager needs resources to implement a program, the goals of which
he has laid out. Councilman Clay telt the implementation of this
is again, a City Manager's prerogative. It was his opinion that Council
should give support to the goals but should not get into the implementation
of them. He would like to accept the goals_ as set forth by the City
Manager, look again a year from now, and determine hog; well he has
done toward meeting those goals, thus measuring his effectiveness
6 1 1
6/24/74
as a Manager on that basis. He stated firm opposition to having this
matter go to the Policy and Procedures Committee.
Councilman Rosenbaum suggested that perhaps Mr. Sipel would lik' to
comment since the NOW organization was not happy with his original
program, and at least some Council members have said they are not
happy with trainee positions. He asked Mr. Sipel if he saw this as
a personnel matter.
Mr. Sipe' stated he appreciated the opportunity to respond. He said
he also appreciated the inputs received from varioue inte4ested parties.
In terms of where the responsibility lies, there was no doubt in his
mind that the responsibility was with the City Manager to implement
the program. There are some very important charter provisions that
relate to the administration of the personnel system, and they clearly
point out that the personnel system ana its administration Is the
City Manager's prerogative. It has been on that basis that he had
taken the initiative to develop the present program. He said he would
be concerned about a referral to the Committeeon the basis of what
would the purpose be of referral. If the desire is for further information
on the program, response to the many questions, allegations, and statements
that had been made tonight, then chat could certainly be provided
in the form of a written report. If Council wanted to talk abort
it taen, he would be happy to do so in a public meeting. However,
if the purpose of the referral is to do something with the goals,
he suggested that a Committee would not have that prerogative. In
his opinion, Council did not have the prerogative to change the goals,
since he felt that would be a violation of the charter. Mr. Sipel
pointed out that he had the responsibility to hire and fire people,
and that is what was being talked about. As far as the other details
of program administration go, whether there would be training positions,
how much they would cost, etc., he would be glad to have all the input
he could get. He would appreciate whatever funding was given him,
and he would do the best he could in achieving the goals. There should
also be no doubt as to what the goat is that of mirroring the relationship
of the work force. In respect to minorities, that would be 25%; and
with respect to women, it is 3E1. The difference is one of how fast
those goals would be met. Mr. eipe1 said he could not sit at this
meeting of on any other night and say he could do something that he
knows: he cannot do. Furthermore, nobody could tell him that he ought
to do it, and that included City Council. Mr. Sipel felt strongly
about that since nobody else has to administer the program, nobody
on the Council, and nobody in the audience. He alone was the person
who had to administer it, and he was the one who knew whether or not
it could be administered. Further, he was the one who was willing
to put himself on the line, so to speak, to administer the program
he had outlined. A lot of people think that it is a fairly aggressive
program; some people in the audience do not. However, it is the people
in the organization who are going to administer it. He apologized
for being a little emotional, but he explained that he felt very strongly
about the objectives of the program and the responsibilities that
he had as the City Manager of Palo Alto.
Councilman Henderson asaumed that Mr. Sipel would be welcoming the
support of Committee and Council, and he agreed that it is the City
Manager's program. He felt though, that the Council should understand
it since Council had to fund it. It had been presented as a supplemental
budget program, and therefore, Council members had been brought into
the act. In that sense, Council does get involed, and he thought
it would be advantageous to go to Committee and to understand what
the program is all about. Councilman Henderson said he wanted to
1
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6/24/74
mention the feelings he had in relation to the criticism that the
City Manager had been taking. He stated that he, too, felt quite
strongly about this subject and got very involved with it in the Finance
Committee, and he had talked to Mr. Sipel privately. Councilman Henderson
recognized Mr. Sipel's personal sincere dedication to this program,
and said he had never heard him come on more strongly about anything
in all the time he had been on Council. Mr. Sipel had given all kinds
of details as to where the shortages are in given departments and,
how the city cannot increase a certain number in five years without
actually dismissing people. He repeated that he was very supportive
of Mr. Sipel's efforts and felt he was going way beyond what mrst
cities are doing at this point. It was his hope that Council members
could be convinced to support this, since they should be behind the
program and working with the City Manager.
Councilman Sher asked Mr. Booth if Council had any jurisdiction over
goals of this kind, and could Council recommend adoption of a program
different from the one set forth by ;sir. Sipel.
Mr. Booth explained that Council's control weaves in and out of the
charter. Budgeting is one area of control, adoption of a merit system
is another one. The basic control over hiring, promotions, establishment
of salaries of nearly all the city employees is vested in the City
Manager; and the Charter specifically prohibits what is described
as interference and influence ir, administrative affairs. The basic
procedures for employment of personnel are vested in the City Manager.
Councilman Sher said than: in light of that respolase, if the matter
did go to Committee it should take the form that Mr. Sipel suggested.
There should be a further report from the City Manager about the program,
elaborating upon it and responding to points that had been raised
at this meeting. The Committee should consider that report and response,
and if it is not satisfied with the answers produced there; smatters
could be further discussed with Mr. Sipel. It does not go to the
extent of the Committee being able to recommend a different program
for Council to adopt. Councilman Sher said he would support a referral
to Committee in that form.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated she did not want to get into an area where
Council was not supposed to be such as hiring and firing, but she
did feel the matter should be aired publicly. She also felt Mr. Sipel
would be better off if he had Council and Committee support for the
program. Vice Mayor Pearson liked the way Councilman Sher phrased
it, and she would now assume the referral motion was in that vein,
Councilman Berweld noted that at the May 28 meeting, there was a motion
to approve the Affirmative Action Program and he made the comment
"he was proud of the staff's record thus fax and recommended the Committee
support the staff's proposal. He asked Aix-. Sipel to consider other
places in the budget where cuts could be made in order to include
the program." The motion to add the Affirmative Action Program to
the budget failed on a two -to -two vote, with Councilman Berwald voting
for it, along with Councilman Henderson. He said he wanted to mention
that because he did support Mr. Sipel on this program, and he felt
it was a very worthwhile program. His only pzoblen was with the budget.
Councilman Berwald said he made his motion with the idea of not directing
the City Manager to change his Affirmative Action Program but to ask
questions and to be able to understand it more, and to be able to
spread the various facts out on the record. Councilman Berwald pointed
out that all other personnel matters were talked about in Executive
Session, and he asked Mr. Booth why Council could net consider talking
about this one in Executive Session.
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6/24/74
Mr. Booth replied that he supposed this matter could be discussed
in Executive Session, but most personnel matters held in Executive
Session are normally for the ratification or consideration of an appointment,
or for the review of a performance of an individual employee as distinguished
from a discussion of general overall policies for the entire city
operation.
Coincilman Clay stated he did not feel Council could get part way
into this, tell the City Manager what he should do, expect him to
implement it, then came back in six months and criticize hire on a
program that was jointly devised between Council and the City Manager.
He saw no point in spending four hours in the Policy and Procedures
Committee and spending that much more time again at Council level
on something which according to City Charter, Council could not influence.
The referral motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher
NOES; Beahro, Clay, Norton
Ann Barone recommended that the recommendation of the Finance and
Public Forks Committee be rejected, and she wondered if the Committee
was aware of all the statistics when they made their recommendation.
She stated it was very important that the $50,000 be reinstated and
that it be earmarked for ;;oven and not for trair,i.ng purposes.
Council,:an Clay asked if NOW representatives were separating women
from minorities. Ms. Barone responded negatively.
Councilman Clay said that some of the co:; ents he had heard earlier
made hiss feel that NOW was aayirg minority enrollment should be held
where it now is. He stated the issue to be a very confusing one unless
NOW states that it is separating women from minorities.
TLi. Barone replied that goals for women and minorities should be pursued
with equal vigor.
Linda Gregory, representative for Service Employee's Local 115, stated
she was not present to represent one group of employees at the expense
of another. She said they had both minorities and women in their
membership, and their interests were represented equal°:y with all
the other members. Ms. Gregory urged the city to bring its work force
into some kind of conformance wi h the work force of the community.
She also urged that the proposed cut in the affirmative Action budget
be restored. Ms. Gregory said her group affirmed the trainee position
and considered it in the same light as an apprentice position.
Councilman Clay said that since this utter had been referred to the
Policy and Procedures Committee, and since Council was looking at
a dollar figure for "something", that "something" presumably would
not be determined until after the Policy and Procedures Committee
meeting and until it had made recommendations back to Council, Therefore,
he wanted to know how Council could rationally= appropriate a dollar
figure.
Councilman Henderson responded that Council web consulting itself to
a certain expenditure for this program and simply indicating that
it wanted to put money into the budget for Affirmative Action. If
you did not do this, and the program came along, then you gat into
the problem of a two-thirds vote. As far as he was co•acerned, this
was the way to say he wanted an Affirmative Action Program.
614
4;'/' '/ 6124/74
Councilman Clay asked if it were not irresponsible to allocate $73,000
as a specific amount without having a program defined.
Vice Mayor Pearson pointed out that a lot of things were put into
the budget at this time that are not really firmed up. There was
no reason to not get the money in there now, and determine later what
is needed to be known about the Affirmative Action Program.
Councilman Clay said he was being asked to approve the allocation
of a specific amount of money for something that is not clearly defined.
Hr. Sipel responded that last year staff began on this program, and
in the 1973-74 budget there were funds allocated for Affirmative Action
in the amount of $40 to $45 thousand dollars. In effect, they are
being requested for refunding.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Councilman Clay moved, seconded by Beahrs, that
Council act on the $45,000 for the Affirmative Action ongoing program
and everything else be deferred until after the Policy and Procedures
Committee has met and made ita recommendations.
Vice Maayor Pearson said she did not believe that was possible. It
was the recommendation of the Committee to reduce the Affirmative
Action Program to $73,000. She asked If she understood correctly
that Councilman Clay was reducing it further.
Councilman Clay responded affirmatively.
Vice Mayor Pearson ruled Councilman Clay's motion not in order because
you cannot undo something that you have already got going.
CHAIR CHALLENGED:
Councilman Beahrs challenged the chair on this point.
The challenge to the chair was upheld on the following vote:
AYES: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Norton,
Sher, Rosenbaum
NOES: Pearson
Vice Mayor Pearson steteu that Council now had before it a substitute
motion reducing the $]23,000 figure to $45,000 for the Affirmative Action
program.
Councilman Sher said he voted to sustain the challenge because he
felt it was in order to change the amount, but he did not agree with
Councilman Clay's analysis. The points raised related to whether
Mr. Sipel veto shooting too lot, and whether the $50,000 ought to be
in the budget, and if so, how it should be spent. If the $73,000
were approved, it would go for what had been proposed. If the $50,000
were approved, decisions Would have to be made as to whether it went
for training positions, intensive recruitment, etc. He felt there
was enough in the way of a program: for the money to be appropriated.
Councils Clay said the comment had been wade that the money should
be spent to intensify the effort to find qualified women, and he felt
that same thing should apply to minorities. If this matter went to
Committee, he wanted it to look et the total program for minorities
and women, because he did not want to separate the two. He commented
that if the program is intact, there is no reason to have referral
to Committee. If it is not, then it does not make sense to allocate
money for it. That was the contradiction he saw in the proposed action.
615
6/24/74
Councilman Norton stated he would continue to support the Committee's
recommendation. He sympathized with Councilman Clay's statements,
but he thought that Council was at this meeting to give an indication
of the level of what it thought would be appropriate for the Affirmative
Action purpose. Considering everything, he felt the Committee's recommenda-
tion was at an appropriate level; and he would continue to vote for
it.
Mary Cottrell., Chairman of the Human Relations Commission, said the
Commission endorsed the Affirmative Action Program. She felt all
of the commissioners would be in support of the referral motion, and
she expressed concern over the thought of bringing the funding down
to an even lower level.
Councilman Henderson wanted to clarify for Council that if they voted
"no" on the $45,000, the item would be back to $73,000 as recommended by
the Committee, and if they voted "no" on the $73,000, it would be
back'to $123,000.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated $123,000 was not too much when talking about
minorities, and she included women in that definition, since even
though they were the majority of people, they were treated like minorities.
She died not feel sure that training programs for minorities were not
necessary, since the City Clerk's office specifically was trying to
hire minorities and found that they really did need to be trained.
She agreed there were many highly qualified women in the area, but
perhaps they were qualified for the wrong types of }ohs; therefore,
perhaps they too needed some training when coming into another kind
of job. Further, she said she did not hear the p.opie in the audience
separating women from minorities. What she heard them saying was
that there was a great effort in Palo Alto on the part of minorities
but not such a great effort regarding women. You have to have money
if you are going to have a program, and she would not support $45,000
since that is going backwards.
Councilman Clay stated he was willing to accept the Committee's recommenda-
tion on the basis of having a program that Council was here and now
going to accept. Since that is not the case, as a responsible person,
the only thing he could do was support that part of the budget now
that he could identify. He was not saying, however,, that the budget
for Affirmative Action ought to be limited to $45,000; but that it
should be $45,000 now until the program was better defined.
Councilman Beahrs stated his total agreement with Councilman Clay and his
feeling that his position was a clear and absolutely realistic one.
The substitute motion to reduce the amount to $45,000 failed on the
following vote;
AYES: Eea.hrs, Clay
NOES: Berwalds Henderson, Pearson, Norton, Rosenbaum, Sher
Councilmen Rosenbaum stated he had suggested at one time a seduction
of almost the same amount as recommended by the Committee, but with
different positions eliminated. He had been willing to keep one training
position in the Fire Department and one in the Public Utility area,
and the Committee came up with another plan. He said he would like
to keep the amount the same but essentially eliminate the positions
deleted in Exhibit B and leave that to Mr. Sipel's discretion.
Mx. Sipel responded that he would appreciate such flexibility. One
of the hangups would be in terms of having one or more trainee positions
016
6/24/74
in the compensation plan which could then be used in the Public Works
Department or the Utilities Department as staff determined as opposed
to the Fire Department.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Rosenbaum moved, seconded by Sher, that a phrase
be added at the end of the Committee's recommendation saying that
the spending be determined by the City Manager.
Councilman Berwald said there had been some misunderstanding about
the intent of the deletion of the $59,000, Some people had said his
intent in making that motion was to reduce the program for women,
and that was not true. He did say that he felt the women would not
need as much training as minorities might. Councilman Berwald said
that statement was not acceptable to some, and he in fact somewhat
retreated from that position. He stated full support for Councilman
Rosenbaun's amendment. Councilman Berwald said ha wanted to comment
why he would approve the motion as le without any addition to the
$73,000. The fact of the matter is that the city has had a training
activity as long as it has been in existence, People are trained.
The job of a manager is defined as the development of men, not the
director of things. This is an ongoing task of management, and he
did not agree that the Affirmative Action Program could not be accomplished
with $73,000.
The amendment passed on. a unanimous vote.
See pg,24
7/15/74
The notion adopting the Committee's reco
on the following vote:
rendation, as amended, passed
AYES: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Norton, Rosenbaum, Sher
NOES: Henderson, Pearson
MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson coved, seconded by Henderson, that Item
No. 3 on the agenda with regard to a paramedic program be moved forward
on the agenda to be considered with (t).
The motion paaeed on a unanimous vote.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee that the 197,-75 preliminary budget be amended to add one
additional firefighter position to the budget and $126,320 to the
Fire Department budget to implement the Paramedic Program.
Councilman Sher asked staff how much of the $126,320 would be an annual
amount in the budget as distinguished from the first year cost.
Mr. Brown responded that the first year costs including the paramedic
van and equipment are $101,360, The total cost other than the first
year training costs and paramedic costs are $67,764.
Councilman Sher scid then that the first year non -recurring coat would
be the difference between $126,320 and $67,760, and the new program
costs would be basically for salaries, etc. He said as he understood
these discussions in Committee, the Fire Department position was that
they were in favor of the program, they vented to see it in operation,
and then they wanted it -reviewed to see whit the impact was on fire
fighting potential and whether there might be a ueed for additional
purposes.
Jay Gellert of the City Manager's Office, responded that thie was
everybody's position since it was a new program. It should be tried
and then evaluated after there was some experience.
6 1 7
6/24/74
Councilman Sher asked when staff would estimate the review would take
place.
Mx. Gellert said that if the operation was going on January 1, then
enough data could be available to snake an evaluation after ninety
days.
Councilman Sher said that if it turned out the program had a detrimental
impact on the fire fighting potential of the department, and more
employees are necessary, and the amount is raised considerably, was
the city irrevocably com ited to the program or would it be in a position
to back away.
Mx. Sipel stated there was no change in the coot of the paramedic
program, What is different is how much the rest of the fire fighting
services are costing the city. The paramedic program takes two persons,
staffed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The cost of that
has not changed from staff's earlier reports, and the cost of the
training has not changed, and the coat of the paramedic van has not
really changed. If the city is going to provide paramedic service,
then that level of staffing is needed. Staff suggested in its report
to reduce the on duty manpower strength from what it presently is
end then increase it again with the two persons, so they were dapping
into costs that were presently being incurred rather than reducing
the incremental costs of paramedics.
Councilman Sher asked if it turned out at a later date that the switch
fn manpower was not working out and it was necessary to hire more
fire fighters so that the total cost was more, was the city irrevocably
committed to the program.
Mr. Sipel felt he
have to come from
that if it turned
difficult to back
could not answer that, and part of the answer would
community response to the service. His guess was
out to be effective program, then it would be fairly
down on it.
Councilman Sher felt very uncertain about going forward on that bas's
when one of the conditions from the Committee was that they liked
the idea of the paramedic program but that the ataff4ng and costs
needed to be worked out, He said he would be voting for it viewing
it on a one year basis.
Vice Mayor Pearson pointed out that the Committee asked that there
be a review at the end of six months and also another review at the
end of one year, so there would be tin option to look at the program
and determine whether it was getting out of hand, or whether the city
wanted to continue. This subject was also contingent upon whether
aoaaa funding could be gotten from the county, which is about to launch
a program.
Adrienne Kwong, Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women,
said that in her last job she was a member of the Assessment Lab Teary
that provided an Assessment Lab for the City of Palo Alto to have
captaincy promotions. She hoped that when the position of a new firefighter
was considered that the city would take a vigorous approach to filling
that position with a minority person or a woman.
Vice Mayor Pearson stated that Me. Kwong might be interested in knowing
that she had wade a comment in regard to Affirmative Action saying
that she hoped someday there would be a paramedic unit consisting
of all win and that there might be personnel in the Fire Department
known as firewomen.
6 1 8
6/24/64
The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
1
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved on behalf of the Finance and Public
Works Committee re the paramedic program that Council direct (staff
to actively seek funding for training costs, equipment, and any additional
funding from the county and other sources and report to Council, and
that Council direct staff to provide more information as to the possibilities
of revenues from the county for the Barron Park area and by same type
of user charge method for receiving revenues.
Councilman Sher asked if there should not be some reference to the
possibility of revenues from Stanford.
Councilman Henderson said Stanford was not mentioned because of the
eervi+;ea the hospital will perform. It was a trade-off in that Stanford
would not be charging Palo Alto people for their involvement {n emergency
room, for example, and Palo Alto would be providing the paramedic
part of it to Stanford.
Councilman Sher asked for more information.
Mr. Sipel replied that Stanford was supplying the actwal staffing
in the emergency roots and as well, some fairly substantial capital
costs in the neighborhood of six or eight thousand dollars for cu?rrnunciations
equipment.
The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
Ajlournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:55
25, 1974.
a. a.
until 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June
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6/24/74