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CITY
COUNCIL
MINUTES.
November 5, 1973
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date at 7:30
p.m. in a special meeting with Mayor Comstock presiding,
Present: Berwald, Clay, Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum,
Sher
Absent: Beahrs, Norton
Pub1•ic Heari:a -;€ tility Under round District No, 16
Mayor Comstock announced that the public hearing on the Utility Under-
ground District No. 16 which was originally scheduled for this evening
has been rescheduled to November 12 at 7:30 p.m, and notice will be
posted as required.
Palo Alto Communit Drug A� e Pro~raTM Evaluation
Mayor Comstock noted that the meeting tonight represents a continuation
of the disc=ussion and some of the matters considered at the Committee
of the whole meeting of October 9. He noted that Council has received
the minutes of the October 9, 1973, meeting and t t. t they have been
available to the public. He advised that Committee of the Whole
minutes, as other Council committee minutes, were not formally approved
or corrected, but added that if any Council member wished to make
any cents or ilari fications, to do so at this time.
Councilman Henderson referred to page 19, first paragraph, ninth line
down, and stated the sentence should read as follows, "He thought
a space should be cleared on a large bulletin board for information
about ongoing programs, but said he was not hung up about the other
material on the bulletin board." Then, in the second paragraph, the
first sentence should read "In reference to Hr. B.ahrs` figures on
property taxes, Councilman Henderson roumented that property taxes
constitute only twenty percent of the city's general fund revenue
or actually two and a half percent of total fund revenues go to the
drug program." In that same paragraph, sixth sentence from the bottom,
to read, "Ewa commented that he felt great tonight to have the first
Unity douse graduate stand up and speak to us."
Mayor Comstock noted that Council is also in receipt of a staff report
dated November 1, 1973 (CMR:958:3) end a letter dated November 1,
1973, from Agnes C. Robinson, chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee
to prepare goals and objectives with the PACDAB goals and objectives
attached. He said it was his thought that Council would pursue the
discussion regarding questions that Council .had, then ask representa-
tives of PACLAB to speak to the goals which will generate questions
by Council members and then whatever action Council may wish to con-
sider in terms of evaluation and in terms of goals.
Councilman Sher said he thought it would be helpful to hear responses
from the staff and the Board on points raised at the last meeting.
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Joel Davidson, PACDAB Chairman, said the first question was, "How
does staff handle diverson cases and what is happening to the diver-
sion program?" He said he would ask staff to talk on their philosophy
as to what is happening with the diversion program.
Donna Taylor, staff member of the Collective, said she had worked
with the diversion program from its beginning and explained that the
Probation Department met with the Collective and tole' them its re-
quirements for the diversion program•: progress report, what people
attended and when they did not, three-month progress report and also
a six-month final evaluation. She seed from the beginning the Collec-
tive let it be known that it would not submit reports directly to
the Probation Department because it was their feeling this vas the
responsibility of the client. The collective did not want to be put
in the role of junior probation officers. It was made clear that it
would be the client's responsibility to turn in the reports to the
probation officer, and secondly, that if the Probaticcz Department
called, the Collective would not deal directly with the Probation
Department. She said the Collective did not want to be connected
in any way with the Probation Department or 'pith law e-sforcerent
agencies. She said the Collective was willing to do this service
because it felt there was a need to help diversion clients. She
commented that after a few months, she found it just was not working
because they could not keep track of people for nix months' tine,
so they met again with representatives of the Probation Department
and it was agreed upon at that tine the Collective would do one-mo' th
contracts only. This was mere a concentrated contract with the client
coming once a wear: for a month and then a final progress report at
the end of that month. She explained what would happen, noting that
tf a client had a six-month diversion from the court, then at the
end of one month, the Collective would give the client its final evalua-
tion which the client would turn in to his probation officer. At that
time his probation officer would determine what would happen with
that client -whether he would need to be sent on to another program
or whether he had fulfilled all the requirements the probation officers
thought necessary for that particular person. She said the type
of contract made with each of the clients involved taking into consider-
ation whether that person had a family, worked full time, or was
going to school. Copies of the contract were gieen to the client
and the Collective let it be known that the client was involved with
his Contract and could at any time terminate his contract. So could
the Collective if it felt the client was not living up to his contract.
The client was also told that the Collective would not report back
to the Probation Department whether that person was showing up or
not. However, the client was informed that if he did not show up,
that at the and of the month the Collective could not cooperate in
giving that person an evaluation report. So basically the responsibility
was put on the client.
Donne Taylor stated that most of the Probation Department's complaints
about the diversion contracts centered around this willingness to
report to these even though the Collective had laid out its relation-
ship at the very beginning and this had been accepted by the Probation
Department. She commented that one reason it was accepted by the
Probation Department vas because of the lack of facilities for diversion
and because the Collective is open for a maximum number of hours.
She noted also that another reason was because some diversion programs
charge money and the Collective cannot. Generally, the Collective
felt a lot of its time and energy that was being put into the diver-
sion programwas not really putting its energy into the best places
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because most of the clients being gent to the Collective were for
marijuana -related busts. The Collective felt that its job is educating
and counseling around drugs where people have lost control of their
lives. They also felt that to give a person a concentrated program
because the client was busted for a quarter of a joint would make
that bust valid in people's eyes and make them feel it was valid in
the eyes of the Collective. She said they had had constant hassles
from the Probation: Department ¶bout the reporta;rhe Collective had
done what they agreed to do, these reports were turned in to the client.
Whether the client took the responsibility or not in getting ':hem
to the probation officer was beyond something the Collective felt
it had control over. She said basically that is what happened to
the drug diversion program. Also, during the summer there were very
few people being sent at all and there are very few people being sent
on the diversion program in general, it is decreasing.
Councilman Sher said it seemed to him the diversion of drug users
from the criminal justice system to the Prevention Center was a worth-
while objective for the program to pursue and this was why he was
concerned about the statement in the report that the Probation Depart-
ment is not sending diversion clients because of the problems run
into at the Center in regard to these reports. He commented that
apparently the Collective does not regard that as a very high priority
item in view that it takes energy and time away from things that they
think have a higher priority. He said if that is true, then it is
good to know about that and then not to worry about the failure of
that particular program.
Mike Fox, member of the Collective, said he wished to emphasize that
all those complaints about the reports was something the Probation
Department had agreed upon. Councilman Sher replied that if it is
a valuable program, it seemed to him that this question of who is
going to carry the report is a minor point on which to let a valuable
program, break down.
Claire Smith, Collective staff member, said that she thinks diverting
people from the criminal justice system is a priority, but added
that the way the Collective was approached about the work was not
diverting people from the criminal justice system, but duplicating
the effort of the criminal justice system. She said they wanted
the Collective to do their jobs for them.
Joel Davidson referred to the next question --"The relationship of
the Board to staff with staff rather than the Board leadership." He
said he was one of the original Task Force members whose general
consensus had been that they wanted to have client leadership first
which would break down to staff leadership with Board guide)ines.
He explained that what happens is that a client comes in with what
he considers some kind of problem. Staff talks to the client about
that and that ie the development of the leadership role. The staff
offers alternatives —counseling, community action, schools, detoxifica-
tion pr .grama. Staff discovers from the number of clients coming
in what kinds of things people are looking for and passes on to the
Board what kinds of things they have to work with —community, Council,
different agencies. Joel. Davidson said that slim answers the next
queution about "Council's consultants are really the Board." He paid
the &erd then tells the Council what it is doing as far as running
the drug program from the staffs direction to the Board as to what
the clients need. That is the original way the leadership hierarchy
goes ---from client to staff to Board.
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Councilman Sher said he would like to emphasize that Council's rela-
tionship to the program is obviously to the Board and he noted that
the evaluators suggested the Council's real consultants in connection
with the city -funded program is the Board. He said his own expectation
is that the Board should be defining the program and exercising leader-
ship. For this reason he was concerned about the statements on page
20 of the evaluator's report, that staff, rather than Board leadership
is the actual practice. }e said he did not have any quarrel with
staff recognizing problem areas of the program that will best serve
the client in reporting to the Board as long as he could be confident
that the Board evaluates and makes decisions as to what is best in
the drug program, taring into account what is best for the client
and the community as a whole. He said this_led to his other question
that he did not believe that the drug program can reach its full poten-
tial :srtd succeed without broad -based community support. He said he
would expect the Council, working through the Board, with the Board
receiving proposals and programs with that kind of objective in mind
and noted there are statements in the evaluators' report suggesting that
is not happening.
Agnes Robinson, PACDAB member, said she would speak: to the Board -staff
relationship. She explained that when the Board meets, it sits with
the staff and they make decisioi-is together. She said. the Board member
who is not a professional receives input and guioance from staff which
helps him take action which is most beneficial to the client. She
reviewed the makeup of the original Task Force which worked very hard
to persuade the Council to fund it and said they worked for a good
year after the program had started. She commented that after con-
tributing a great deal, some of these original members got tired and
began to move away from the program. The Board was a little slow in
recognizing that it must get new members but ncee they have brought
onto the Board some people of excellent strength, character and moti-
vation and expect to work out with staff the best coweee of action
for the program to go.
Mike Fox commented that the whole question of leadership had come
history to it. He said it was the people in the community who gave
leadership to the Council to initiate the program, the Council did
not initiate the drug center, it was initiated by a group of consumers
and past consumers. He said it was his thought that the working
relationship between the Board and staff constantly has to undergo
change and one of the changes that staff really sees is now that
the Board is a little more settled, staff expects the Board to do
a lot more work in the community. He added that that has been one
of the criticisms of staff and added that they are going to try to
help give the Board some direction in areas that staff thinks they
need to put input into. As for the decision -making, he said it has
been a constant flow of ideas from the bottom up and there has been
no heavy conflict between the Board and staff because people recognize
that practice is the test of truth,
Councilman Sher replied that in a complete sense of history, one
has to recognize there are many programs in the city that are initiated
by members of the public it various groups who come to the Council
with proposals. If they are good prograasaa, sometimes they get imple-
mented and once the city doe's get involved and funds the program
then tt is the city's responsibility to make sure that it is raking
policy for that program. He said the Council has made this contract
and is concerned about the goals and objectives and about community
acceptance. Mike Fax agreed that that is important and said that
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they are as concerned as the Council is and have worked long hours
on how to communicate wLet they are doing to their clients and getting
their ideas across to people. He said he felt that tonight is a
positive way to answer those questions.
Joel Davidson said the next question concerns political philosophy
and he asked Councilman Sher if he wished to clarify that question.
Councilman Sher said the question appears most clearly on page 23
of the evaluator's report. In the report a number of questions are
raised about political philosophy being reflected through the program.
He enumerated the questions on page 23:
1. Is the anti-establishment political philosophy necessary for
Collective organization?
2. Are the risks of community alienation -justified by increased
credibility of the street culture?
3. Does the staff need the excitement of political struggle to
sustain its enthusiasm?
4. Can its philosophy be sufficiently stimulating so that greater
communication occurs within the entire community without
alienating sincere members of the power structure, whomever
they may be?
He commented that questions like that are obviously of concern. to
Council, He said the kind of feedback Council gets from the public
relates to these public stances and public activity relating to the
so-called political philosophy and its concern to Council. He said
he wondered if the goals and objectives could not be accomplished
without dramatic instances of reflections of these kinds of questions.
Claire Smith, staff member of the Collective, said that one of the
goals of tha program is to encourage people and to provide resources
so that people can regain control of their own lives in making decisions
for themselves and how they are going to live those lives. She said
that is a very political statement. That goal is implemented because
the Collective helps people struggle through and -organize around that
goal by standing on its position and resistance to those institutions
or those ways of living which offer people no control over their lives.
She referred to the question in the evaluation report as to whether their
political philosophy is required in order to maintain their energy.
She said that in her opinion the energy is behind their work, in the
sincere dedication on the part of the staff, the Board, the community,
and people who are involved in the program to finally create alternatives
to the way people are 1ivin3 in this society. It is their opinion
that drug addiction camas out of the way people have to live. She
said they had never denied that they are very political but. added
that they era not standing anti --anything and if there is any anti-
establishment it is on the part of the establiehment who refuse to
join them in their struggle. She said their political approach is
very poeit'eve in that it moves them towards their goal which is to
provide different alternatives for people to live in other than what
exists now.
Joel Davidson said he thinks it has to be recognized that they also
threaten certain parts of the community with the political force
that they had, but he did not know how they could go about getting
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Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and different church groups involved in their
program. He said they have to be more open to what it is they are
doing to shut them out and added that that is the question the Board
and staff will be dealing with this year.
Councilman Sher said that in response to Claire, he thinks this is
something Council would get back to when they get to the goals and
objectives and particularly the goal on education of the greater
community, the first objective which states: " Educate the community
as to the political, social, and economic causes of drug abuse add
what they can do to change those causes." He said obviously before
the Council wants to build that into a contract with the Drug Abuse
Board as a goal and objective., he was sure they would want to know
what they see as political and social causes and decide whether the
Council wants to give their stamp of approval to that kind of educa-
tion program. He said the Council may not agree at all and may think
it will only serve to alienate the larger community. Re said that
at some point, the Board is going to have to tell the Council speci-
fically what those are and the Council has to decide whether it wants
to see those incorporated in the Council contract.
Mike Fox said would like to wake a couple of points. One thing which
was clear is that the client really dug the program and the staff
has been able to help. He said their political ideas are directly
tied to their ability to reach people. Second, over the last year
t'aeir practice has shown that political ideas are not abstract. They
are directly related to people's lives. He said it seers strange
to him that politics becomes a dirty word when the Council are poli-
tician:: sitting up there asking whether politics is going to enter
.into Lt. He said in order for the Council to say that these politics
cannot be used, they will have to show how the collective's practices
are wrong and then he said he nay change his politics.
councilman Sher replied he was not asking anyone to change his politics.
He said his ua.ay concern is in entering into a contract with a non-
profit corporation that es going to carry out a city -funded program.
He said tnat he, as representative of the people of ralo Alto, wants
to bee certain objectives accomplished. One of the objectives statea
was co educate the greater community as to the political, social and
econ c causes of drug abuse. he saa1d at some point he needed to
have tnea state what those causes are ana if, for instance, staff
should tell hem it is a representative form of government with City
Councils like this, he did not know wnether he would want to enter
eato a contract with them to carry out tnat objective with which he
might not agree. Re said his version of tne political situation es
quite different trom theirs but added that obviously he would not
be involved in politics if he found it aietastetully dirty. He said
in fact he found it uplifting. The question for the Council is what
It would want to buiid into a contract as the goals it would want
to see this city -funded program accomplisn. He added that if tne
goals being, suggested are ones ne thinks will alienate the community
and undercut tne program which is useful, tnen he would not want to
enter ento a contract ,to accomplish those goals.
Joel uaviason noted that the next question is on unity House and
whether it is coming around. He said he would ask staff to speak
to that and seed he would also say a few words.
Sharon Spencer, member of unity House staff, said that et is their
feeling it is coming around. She noted that they have one graduate
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who is going to school now and people in the process of going to
school and looking for jobs. She said they would speak to that in
more detail when the goals and objectives cone up.
Joel uavidson said ne is not sure tnat Unity House is coming around
altnough it does seem tnat it is beginning to work closer with the
total program. rte said he was concerned with the census right now
and was not sure whether the clients were out there for the to be
serving. He asid the Board is beginning 'to talk to staff about
different avenues of approach for getting different people into that
program or different ways of using tree Unity House program and Whether
Unity House is going to oe a -viable program or not
Councilman sher said that those comments really do not respond to
the question he had. Ha said he realizes the problems that existed
in unity House, changes that are being mace to correct those prob.tems,
effectiveness." The question raised was vet happens if tt;ose problems
cannot be solved. He said he really wanted to know if that was viewed
as an essential part of the program and whether the Prevention center
and its activities could go forward and carry on effectively even
it there were not any Unity House.
Joel. Davidson said it comes to a question that he started worrying
about, a conspiracy from Council. He said he was able to be a little
objective nimeelf and look at whether Unity rouse is a necessity
to the whole program or not and whether both are needed together..
He said he knows that they worked long, hard hours on the Task Fore
in developing both programs. unity House was a sort of stepchild
or stepsister program to the Collective. tie tormented it is a nerd
program to say they cannot use it or it is not necessary, since they
would tike to see it work and they know there is a need. He said
they are just not putting it all together the right way and altrtougn
they know a lot of residential treatment programs have had the sate
problems, they thought they wouid do oetter. He commented that itt
the next two or three months, the Board will nave to answer whether
they are going ahead with both programs or cut back and just use
tne drop -in center.
Mike Fox explained how the Collective- here were -working to help
the Unity House program and said it is almost impossible to remove
it from all the things that have happened. He said, however, they
would rather have no program than a bad one. Halfway housea he said
are a stab at trying to do something, aa it is a chance, for people
to gat clean.
Joel Davidson said he thought that answers the next question; " Does
the Board have control over Unity House?" He said the answer is
no, the control is shared with the staff and clients.
Councilman Clay said he would like to hear if there are significant
differences of opinion with the evaluator's report. Was the -Collective
philosophy question and others of great concern, was there agreement
with the evaluator's report :te submitted or were there significant
differencsa'r'
Mike Fox responded that there were a few differences. He said staff
thought there was more youth knowledge than came out in the report.
They felt there was an error about trying to separate the Collective
philosophy from the Collective practice. He said overall that was
the significant difference and commented that there is no way you can
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be humanitarian, helpful and help make a significant change in people's
lives without general ideas, which they called their politics, to
help guide them. He said that overall the Collective thought the report
had a lot of information which staff has used and can use for reevalu-
ating next year.
Joel Davidson commented that the evaluators tried to cover all the
bases on any other differences themaelvee. He said the only difference
that he as a Board member had was that the report was not in depth
enough and he was a little skeptical about the sampling. He noted
that the evaluators said that themselves in the report.
Councilman Henderson, PACD?AB liaison, said PACDAB/staff relationships
had been discussed and at the Collective he heard many comments related
to greater client involvement --for • example, having clients or former
clients on the Board. He said he wondered if that is important to
have or whether it is objectionable in any way and said he would like
to have comments from the Board or the evaluators on that.
Doug Garrett, Board member, advised that very few of the original
Board are left. He said it is hard to f111 the Council requireienta
of residency and noted that the Board also has categories they wish
to fill. He said it is a matter of finding someone able to make the
time commitment and ha• ing the space open on the Board. He say- no
problem as far as the Board is concerned in client mer:bership.
Councilman Henderson said he had another qu:3tion regarding Board
approval.of expenditures. He said he had heard some statements about
pre -approval of vouchers and said he would like to have the feeling
the Board has control over the flew of bills c:�m.ing in and that the
Council nerd not be concerned about pre -approvals or anything that
is not good practice.
Doug Garrett replied that he could only speak for himself but said
that he did not sign anything blank. In regard to the audit or other
matters he said he is looking into as many things as he possibly can.
He said he wished to commend staff as being very prudent in how they
spend money and how they approach money in regard to budgeting in
general. He said there had been a few problem areas that have been
highlighted but they are on their way to working them out. Mike Fox
explained that in the Collective when they spend anything over fifty
dollars they have to get signatures and approval of three people.
Speaking to the Board -staff relationship, Councilmsrs Berwald said
he could understand Councilman Sh€r's concern. He said he would not
want to prejudge or second guess the style of organization or management
as long as the following three conditions were met: 1. that it is
affective, 2, it stays within the boundaries of its goal objectives,
city policies, funding, and general boundaries of agreement in the
coetract, 3. maintains an awareness that the City Council is going
to deal with the Board and looks to the Board for responsibility.
He said he realizes hierarchical organization is just an acere ent
of the Collective idea. He pointed out that bottoms -up management
is really not new or novel. It may be novel in application, haver,
but if it works he said that is fine with him. He asked Councilman
Shea if it was his general understanding that he would expect that
type of organization if these conditions or maybe some others were
met.
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Councilman Sher replied that he does not argue with the organization
as such. He agreed that the important thing is whether the goals
and objectives they agree on in the contract are being accomplished.
He said Councilman Berwaldrs third condition did give him some concern
because he thought a good, strong Board that recognizes its function
of working with the Council is needed. He said his interest is in
a strong Board, whether from the bottom up or the top down, eventually
is making the policy decisions. One specific example that came up
at the last discussion was the type of thing that concerns him, this
was discussion about the organization at Unity House in connection
with the problems being experienced. He said the indication was that
that question was going to be resolved within Unity House by the staff)
and that they were moving more toward a collective system. That had
been decided by members of the staff and really was not something
the Board had tackled and decided on as the best way to proceed.
Councilman Berwald asked if there is understanding on the part of
everyone that the city is going to look to the Board and not deal
with the staff directly.
Phil Bliss, Board member, said that he did not know what that means
any more than ha knew what bottoms -up management rant. He said
he does think that the Board is a heck of a strong Board because it
recognizes that the people who are on the staff are the people who
are dealing with the problems. He said that does not mean that the
Board is not making policy. He agreed with the Council that the Board
are the Councfl.!s experts. He said he was wondering if the Council
means it wante to see the Board do dramatic things in terms of telling
the staff how to run the business it knows how to run best, and if
it is not what the Council is saying, then the Council has what it
wants --a strong Board, In response to a further question from Council-
man Berwald, he said he thinks that it has been recognized for a long
time that it is the Board who deals with the Council and he did not
think there has ever been a question about that.
Joel Davidson said he thought tte 3oard had been remiss in the beginning
to spend a lot of time with only the Collective program but have now
picked up the Unity House part of it and are doing a study by a Board
committee of five, They had an executive session where they talked
with the Collective staff and the Unity staff and are now getting
the Board much more involved actively in Unity House. They are watching
it on a daily and weekly basis, ate talking with the staff about how
to run the program and what ways they can get more census in there.
Phil Bliss advised that he had recently indicated to the Board in
executive session that he was ready to move on to other things than
being a Board member. He said part of that was really because he
did not like attending City Council meetings, He pointed out that
since he had joined the Board he had put in over sixteen hundred hours, 1
which represents a lot of free labor. He added, however, that it
has been a labor of love and said he thinks it has been that kind
of indication of love and desire on the part of many people and that
those are the kinds of things that do not get said, realized or appre-
ciated, . He said he & ao agreed with Joel that the Unity House issue
is a new one and that the Board was -having to deal with that in a
time of change and atreea, but said he thinks that they have really
come together over that.
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Agnes Robinson said she would like to speak to Mr. Beewald's question
as to whether the Board had effective management in drug abuse counter-
action and if it is understood that the Council is dealing, directly
with the Board and vice versa. She said that in her opinion, it is
inevitable that the Board would always deal with the Council in con-
junction with its staff and Council will somehow have to take them
all as a piece. She stated that she was not in anyway a professional
able to make judgments as to the, beat way a program is run and needs
the input from staff. She said when the Board meets with the Council,
she knows it will want the staff and staff will want to be included
in the discussion.
Councilman Berwald said his other question has to do with the other
part of Councilman Sher's question, and that is the matter of philosopher.
He referred to PACDAB's goals and objectives and noted in the appendix
of definition it talks about taking control over one's life which
seems to be more of an overall philosophy than the collective philo--
sophy. He said he did not disagree with it as he thought everyone
should take control over his own life within whatever lifestyle he
wants to have, but said he could assume that soma people who take
control over their lives might do it in a more destructive way and
others in constructive ways. He read the definition in the appendix
and said ':he idea presented here tonight is that collectivism is not
the main structure Or philosophy, but it is taking over control of
one's life. He said he would hope they would add "in a positive,
constructive way." He asked if the collective idea proves out to
be not effective as a counter measure for drug abuse whether PACDA.b
would be willing to accept an alternative type philosophy as alterna-
tives to drug use or would it hold onto the political philosophy,
even though it is not effective in handling the drug abuse problem.
Agnes Robinson responded that that is a kind of open-ended question.
She asked who can say before something happens what direction you
will take.
Mayor Comstock stated that they would take a short break after which
Mrs. Robinson would make the presentation of the Board's goals and
objectives after which there would be questions, comments and possible
action by the Council.
(Council recessed from 8:50 to 9:10 p.m.)
Agnes Robinson reviewed that she has been on the Board just over a
year and came on through her experience on the School Board. She
said she had felt very strongly that this is a problem that has to
be tackled !y both the community and the school districts and since
she had supported the Task Farce in the beginning, she said she felt
she should join PA DAZ when she vas asked. She commented that she
had a lot of learning to dq in becoming an effective menber and noted
that my new Board members have to go through a period of learning
before they. can contribute. She eaentiezed the book "Licit and illicit
Drugs" as recommended read:Lug and noted that it given a great deal
of useful information. She commented that she has come more and more
to understand the kind of strength cowing out of the Collective method
of working on drug abuse. From the appendix of definitions, she read
"leadership in a Collective is developed according to which individuals
are able to assume leadership in a given situation," She said she
wanted to stress that this overriding goal "control over one's life"
has always been seen by the Collective and PACDAB as a very positive
action Arid' she has no trouble with this part of the philosophy.
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11/5/73
Mrs. Robinson then reviewed PACDAB's goals and objectives, stating
she would read them for the benefit of the audience who die not have
a copy. The first goal: Development of Unity House to help individuals
by providing the leadership and support they need in the struggle
to become and remain drug -free. She then reviewed the objectives,
stating that PACDAB perceives Unity House and its development as being
of primary importance in the next year as it is needed and the most
important part of any drug abuse program. She read the last objective
"Help residents become drug -free, able to move into a stable living
situation, into productive activity beneficial to the individual."
She said the great problem here is that many people go through all.
kinds of programs, remain drug -free for a period of time, and then
regress. She noted that the staff memo said something about putting
numbers to this and said that is very difficult to dos when they are
just developing Unity House. She commented that at the end of this
year when Unity House is a viable and moving situation, then they
will be able next year to give an idea of how many people they think
will become involved and able to benefit from the program.
Mrs. Robinson react the second goal: "Increase implementation of Collective
structure and principles within the programs." She noted that the
word "collective" is defined in the appendix of definitions and said
she hoped as people read the definitions they would be less troubled
by the words and realize that they can bt translated into everyday
common words which indicate rather sensible practices. She noted
that one of the objectives of the original Task Force was to develop
a volunteer staff. She said that this has not yet cone about to any
great measure but noted one program in particular that has done very
well with volunteers and that is the hotline. However, PACDAB feels
they can do better on this objective and will be working on it. She
read the objectives, noting the next one will help them move the program
forward in terms of helping people stay away from or recover from
drug abuse; self-criticism goes on all the time in the Board ani staff
meetings and they find it very beneficial; good programs will be con-
tinued and the last one stresses the importance of Board members working
with the staff. Regarding this last objective, he said the profes-
sionals on the Board have spent many hours working with staff, gioSeo
their professional expertise and help to them while the rest on the
'hoard who are not professionals must find other ways in which they
can help.
The third goal: "Outreach to third world people," Mrs. Robinson noted
is alluded to in the cover letter. She read the objectives and said
they were quite excited to give some help and expertise to East Palo
Alto to get their own drug program going. The Board feels that it has
not been responsive enough to the needs of third world people and in
getting their active participation. She said the Board is looking
for another third world person as a Board member. She noted that
there are areas In both East Menlo Park and Mountain View in which
they have not had time to reach out to.
The fourth goal: "Education of the greater' comity," Mrs. Robinson
noted contained the objective Councilman 8er°wald referred to, i.e.,
educate the comity as to the political, social, and economic causes
of drug abuse and as a program do what we can to change those causes.
An example of the meaning of this objective is the proposal the Collec-
tive just made t4 Elmwood Prison to work with the worsen in prison
and give them a: history of drug abuse, discuss the role of women in
our society and the problems they have with drugs and see how they
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can help them when they get out of prison to take control -of their own
lives. Anothereexample is the Street Theater in which about six hun-
dred people are involved, bringing to attention the powers of drug
abuse in a large society through satire and comedy. She reviewed
the objectives under this goal, noting that two staff members bave
been going into the Palo Alto schools with etograme and discussions
regarding drug abuse. She commented that: collectivisardoes not mean
something bad; it means people. working together -iu. a constructive
way. The Board wants to.work with community organizations any way
in which they can be effective -in reachingthem for better:understanding.
She said she thought a good many of the Board members would feel
very free to -speak to community groups and -give the some very good
information,
Hrs. Robinson read_ the fifth: goal.:. "Internal. evaluation of existing
pavograma and services." In reviewing the: objectives, she said the
criticism and. ael£-criticiam_goes. on. anyway. She painted out that
they do not permit a program to stuy that is not beneficial. She
noted that the hot line program. is working very well with twenty-four
hour service; that there is a need for more beds than are available
in the detoxification.program;•staff has been working with groups
of parents, groups.of yoeng women andalso prison groups, and she
noted this may change from time. to time; that the Tecato (junkie
collective) are a group.of clients who have gone through e detoxifica-
tion program but are not going. into Unity House. The Tecato meets
in a counseling group to reinforce each other and to get help from
the Collective to stay clean. The Board expects to continue and
expand.its involvement iu the schools.
Mrs_ Robinson concluded by- sayiag. she- thinks this program deviates
se mach from the traditional_ kind of program-setup such as those
referred to in the hook "Licit and Illicit Drugs." It is a new way,
comfortable for people.. The findingsthat went into the program
;how that clients want to become not drug dependent. She said that
they hoped that at the end of the year it can be show that the Collec-
tive is an effective way to work with addict and that they will. -be
able to give figures showing,numbers of people who have been success-
ful in going through the program. and others who have been persuaded
from getting into drugs. because-ef.the Collective work. She said
she thought then the Council.. will be able to meet with, the Board
and feel comfortable that they have brought a great deal of credit
to the city. She said she felt very optimistic for the future.
Mayor Comstock. complia.nte.d Mra.. Robinson - and her colleagues for
their efforts -in -putting together the goals and objectives, Be said
he would like to ask a question he has been asked and it has to do
with the business of.how -do you establish quantitative as well as
qualitative measurements as to how well. you are doing. He suggested
an objective for the next six months, that could produce a number of
certain assumptions. He added . thatthe rasseaaptionseould-be_ canaiderable--
the house stays clean all the lime„-it.is completely occupied at
all times, so many clients stay there three months,.etc. He said
he would like to know and he- was -sure. that the Board would also like
to know boar wellthey are doing.. -This is something the Board is going
to have to deal with at aome.point and hopefully the Council could
get some discussion and commitment at some. point to that.
Joel Davidson said he vase riot sure he had an answer. but he wanted
to ask what use this quantitative aver. would be. Ile suggested waiting
3 1 8
11/5/73
until the end of the year.to findout what they did and then they
would know if they.had_say fifty people -in the program with a certain
number going through it.. He said all such a number_would do would
make them good predictors.
Mayor. Comstock replied that,it may not -even _make. them.. good predictors
as the number may -not. come_ out. right... He.commentedethat at the end
of the year - you.. cauealuays say what you did. •She. suite he was trying
to get at. some point where what: its_ done. is judged,- what .o you judge
it against and at wb.at point.in.time.do you judge it -again. He ques-
tioned whether. you try. to. reach some. point. or. just judge what was
done at the end.
Mrs. Robinson poinrmd_out. the Coun.iI.dens-getrsonthly reports and
these reports have. figures in them. She asked:Mayor Comstock how
he reacts when he reads thy... MayorComstock replied- that he reacts
differently depending on the figures. He said he_is•very interested
in where the people come. from. who.- show.up. in the 'prograsr, -particularly
at the Collective, and is very interested: in their. ages. He said
there are two things he does not_get very clearly out. of the report
and that is any kind -of trend --how does that compare to.6-S-12 months
ago. Secondly, the numbers are a little dry in term. of -some reflective
comment on them.
Mts. Robinson said it takes staff an extraordinary amount of time
to prepare these reports and that is why she wanted to ask Council
if they really find that report in that statistical arrangement very
helpful to them. Mayor Comstock replied certain parts of the report
are helpful to him and are probably helpful to other Council members
in other ways.
Bill Baumgartner, Unity House staff member, referred to the consultant
they ►tad a few mantes ago who said in regard to Unity House in general
that something lice ten percent of their clients stayed clean and
improved, fifty to sixty percent showed some change ---they usually
go hack to drugs, and the rest of the clients showed no change.
He said he did not know whether those statistics applied to Unity
House, but he said they would hope to do better than ten percent.
Their biggest priority is to get people into the program but he said
he found they were not known in thq community and regional agencies
do not know theme,. They are going to work to get the word out that
Unity House is viable and working.
Sharon , Unity House member, commented that in talking about numbers,
at this point Unity House is pretty successful with one graduate
out of five clients. She said that would be considered a success
rate. She said that most traditional programa that are established
have a success rate of eighteen to twenty percent out of fifty to
sixty people participating. She reviewed some of the things they
were trying to do to get people into the house. She added that the
Collective had come down to Unity House and helped the out in areas
in which they have had problems.
Bill Baumgartner said he would be curious to talk to other drug programs
to see if they predict successfully. He said that they have been
looking into other agencies to see what is available in the way of
vocational programs and jobs and commented they will be talking to
the Council as they go along in the program.
3 1 9
11/5/73
In response to a question from Councilman Betaald, Sharon replied
that the capacity at Unity House is fifteen and they are trying to
reach that capacity.
Councilman Berwald said what he noticed missing in all of the objec-
tives, and as it pertains particularly to Unity House, is self -development
and learning for the staff. He said in his opinion, one of the objec-
tives would be to continue to expose staff to other programs any:
develop staff to get as much training as possible. He asked hoar
much of that is going on and also asked if they are in contact with
other residential treatment centers.
Mr. Baumgartner replied that it is happening through practice and
work and he did not think formal education would help a great deal.
He commented that the biggest difference is in getting more aggres-
sive and getting through to the community, getting more residents
and getting the program going and through all of that they will have
a lot of self-criticism. Regarding contact with other treatment
centers, he said that he has been talking to them and will be going
to some o3: they:
Councilman Rosenbaum said he was sort of puzzled by what they say
about difficulty in getting residents. Possibly Unity House got
a bad reputation because of the earlier incident, but he pointed
out that the Drug Prevention Center has a very good reputation and
contact with a great many people. He said he had visualized it as
one cohesive program with people coming through the Collective in
a natural way and caning to Unity House. Sharon replied that staff sees
it as one of the responsibilities of Unity House and did not feel
they should put it all on the Collective. She comet .ented that to date
Unity House is the least known and that Is one of the reasons why
they want to get publicity so people do know about them.
Mike Fox stated that ono clear difference between Unity House and
other programs is that a very high percentage of people to other
programs are court referral cases directly from jail to the program.
He pointed out that it is s natural tendency for anybody in jail
to want to get out, but it was felt this vas not the beat motivation
to get people to Unity House. Because of this, a new thing was tried
which is the seven day intake and that excludes court referral for
the most part because the courts will not release someone to come
to a seven day intake where they could split, He said another problem
was getting women to Unity House because they have acids and it is
almost impossible for them. He said it is hoped to develop a ~:ray
to get women into the program with maybe vise kind of day program
instead of living there. They could fill the house in three days
with court referrals, but they are trying to get people with more
motivation than that. He said that at the present tine they are
working with a woman in jail who is going to come to the program
for help when she gets out. Councilman Rosenbaum agreed that if
the program is going to be a success, it is necessary to have people
who are highly motivated.
Councilman Clay asked regarding the real concern about the residency
rate at Unity House; the impact on not having full residency now;
that they are not carrying out the program they would like to; were
they most concerned about making most efficient use of the house.
Be asked if Unity House is staffed now to work with fifteen people.
Ee also questioned if they are working as well with the present four
residents as when they had eight.
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Bill Baumgartner replied that Unity House needs more people coming
through the program. He noted that in the last six weeks they have
lost four residents and one of the reasons is because they are requiring
more --more work, more commitment, and less playing around of the
residents. He said Unity House is not staffed at the present time
to work with fifteen people and the reason for this is because they
felt it hard to justify filling three positions for such a small
number of residents. He pointed out that they have throe openings
but it was the feeling of the Board and the staff of both the Collective
and Unity House that it would be better to gat the program on a more
solid basis before bringing new staff into a very eptight situation.
He said they are doing quite well operating the house with the existing
number of residents, but Said an additional four people would bring
in more energy and he thought they could work better with more people,
Vice Mayor Pearson commented that one of the big reasons for the
failure at Unity House was because it was not a clean house: She
asked if it is a clean house now> Bill Baumgartner replied yes,
absolutely.
Vice Mayor Pearson referred to a statement to the effect that there
are no programs or vocational or educational facilities for people
who are addicted. She said she wondered if this might be an area
in which the school district could be approached to assist these
people and asked if they were going to work in that area, She said
that what she is suggesting is that perhaps the school district should
spend some money to develop a program for adult closes to educate
not only that particular person but also to educate potential employers:
Bill Baumgartner replied they were finding that if a person is disabled
physically, he can get a job, but a person disabled by drugs, it
is not so eaey to get that help, He said the staff at Unity House
will follow up on Mrs. Pearson's suggestion and any other help anyone
night be able to suggest:
Vice Mayor Bearscn asked regarding the third goal "Outreach to third
world people" and noted that in speaking of the objective to explore
avenues of cooperation with third world people in surrounding communities,
Mrs, Robinson touched lightly on chicanos in Mountain View and blacks
in East Menlo Park, She asked Mrs. Robinson if in talking about
exploring avenues of cooperation, was she talking about approaching
the Mountain View City Council, for instance, as to whether or not
they have a program, Regarding East Menlo Park, for instance, she
said perhaps Menlo Park should be funding in a different direction
than they are presently She asked exactly what the Board is planning.
Mrs. Robinson replied that the way she understood it, she had thought
in terms of the same sort of outreach the staff is duing now for
East Palo Alto and working with people in the community rather than
Councils. She said she did like Mrs. Pearson' idea, however, and
questioned whether any of the staff would like to speak to that.
Alfred Butler, somber of the Collective staff, described how they
are working with the East Palo Alto program and said they had also
had contact with community agencies. He said that basically it is
in its planning stages.
Vice Mayor Pearson suggested that for East Palo Alto and Menlo Park,
perhaps another contact would be the San Mateo County Board of Super-
visors whom she thought had been totally lax in cooperating,
3 2 1
11/3/73
Mayor Comstock advised that he and Mrs. Pearson had met with several
members of the East Palo Alto Municipal Council and had related the
same thing to them and pointed out Palo Alto has all this program
going here just waiting to be of as much help as possible. He said
he thought they would be quite receptive to any contact.
Manuel Diaz, member of the Collective staff, spoke of the different
programs in the region that they work with and said that he works
with the chicano people and that in talking to people the big problem
is the detoxification services. He said he thinks that that is the
'jay they will be developing and- set up detoxLi ce.&. - He
Said they do not see governmental bodies as their responsibility,
but see themselves as advisors to others to approach these bodies.
Vice Mayor Pearson replied that however it is done, she felt that
the San Jose City Council) the Santa Clara Board_of_Supervisors",_
and the different drug commissions should all be approached more
aggressively, so Palo Alto is not the only program going on in these
two counties around here.
Mrs. Robinson stated that she thinks this is a matter that will have
to be taken up at the Board meeting. It was her feeling that some
of them on the Board would probably enjoy doing that and could handle
that while staff is working with people in need. She said they could
make presentations to governmental bodies and added she thought it
was a fine idea,
Vice Mayor Pearson referred to the fourth goal, page two, "Education
of the greater community" and said she had no problem with the first
objective, Regarding the dissemination of correct information about
drugs, she said she felt one of the chief abusers of drug abuse is
the television where the adve--isements give the impression that
for any problem all you have to do is take a pill. She said that
in her opinion the TV people have to be educated that the cemmunit)
does not like that kind of thing and the drug companies that their
goal is not to sell drugs but to help people in need. In the third
objective regarding increasing involvement in relationships with
school=, she asked if they had considered using the Street Theater.
Regarding the last objective of utilizing Board member leadership
more, she said she would urge the Board to approach all the newspapere
in the area and particularly those responsible for headlines and
articles and try to get same ongoing articles about what the program
has really accomplished.
Councilman Henderson spoke of the fact that the City Council of Menlo
Park has put $5,000 out for drug support and said he would .tike to
see Palo Alto go after that money because it is obviously serving
Menlo Park people. He read two motions he said he would be submitting,
one concerning accepting the goals and objectives, and the second
being an attempt to cover the concerns and desires that he said he
kept bearing from Council members and city staff members.
MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved, seconeed by Pearson, that the
Council accept the goals and objectives submitted by PACDAB as an
amendment to the contract between PACDAB and the city:
Councilman Rosenbaum sal.d he had some objection to goal number two
"To increase isplementation of collective structure and principles
within the program." He said he did not really see that as a goal
3 2 2
11/5/73
relating to the drug program, but one relating to the process by
which the program operates. He said that as he sees it the goal
that belongs there and which relates to the objectives under it is
simply to increase community participation in the program. He said
all the objectives would fit within that heading and he does nut
believe the real nature of that goal is to implement the collective
structure.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Rosenbaum moved, seconded by Berwald, that
the title of the second goal be changed to read: "Increase community
participation in the program,"
In response to questions from Vice Mayor Pearson, Councilman Rosenbaum
said he does not hae any argument with the collective structure
since there is indication it is working well. He said it was just
his opinion fram the point of view of writing down goals and objectives
which the Council is going to approve and add to the contract, that
that is really aiot the goal and should be phrased differently. He
added that how they work out an effective program is something else.
Mrs. Robinson said she was a little puzzled regarding the procedure.
PACDAB wrote the goals and objectives ani she said while she could
understand the Council recommending changes to the Board and staff,
she could not understand their just going ahead and making the on
their own. She felt any changes should go back to the Board to see
how they feel about them and then back to Council.
Councilman Rosenbaum said._that if Councilman Henderson wishes to
change the main motion to return any changes to the Board, he would
certainly agree.
Councilman Clay said that as he understands Councilman Rosenbaum's
statement, Council really has no quarrel with the way they are going
about their program but feels it would probably be more consistent
if they were more general and more specific. He commented when you
talk about goals and objectives, in a sense you are talking about
predictions. He said of equal importance is the yardstick ---having
something the Board can measure as well as something the Council
can measure. He said he did not think anyone would expect that the
projections made in a goals and objectives statement would be identical.
He commented that if they were unable to meet some of the goals,
the Board would be inclined to ask why and he said he thinks that
is more the type of thinking the Council is looking for.
Councilman Sher said that he thinks the amendment is more consistent
with what the Board -and staff members told the Council earlier, that
they do not want the Council to tell them how to go about accomplishing
these goals and objectives, and that the important thing is the results.
He thought it wrong to bring into the contract as a goal and objective
of the Council through the contract to increase implementation of
collectivism. He said what the Council really grants and what the
specific objectives relate to is this increase for voluntary participa-
tion. The Council has to decide what kind of results it :Ls trying
to achieve by entering into this contract and funding this prog;a ,
what the Council sees as important and of value to the community,
He said he does mot view it as a prediction, he views it as goals
of the Council in getting into and appropriating the Money to support
this program: Re said he elan thought as part of the Council's recoag-
men.dationss that ifthere are some goals thet are not reflective here,
he want to see thoae added by the way of recotaeesendation.
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11/5/73
Claire Smith said (he would like to talk about Councilman Rosenbaum'.s
wanting to take away the goal of implementing collectivism as though
it had nothing to do pith the other goals stated. She said the basic
premise of the program, particularly the collective program, is that
the most effective way to implement the goal of getting more volunteers,
etc., is to implement the process of collectivism. She said they
feel it is the most effective as well as the most productive and
it very much is a goal of the Collective to implement collectivism
in whatever work they are doing, either inside the program or out
side the program. She said the Collective would object to the Board
removing that as one of their goals.
Mike Fox said he did not think there was any way they were going
to come to ag°:eement: on what they were trying to do because there
are drastic areas of: disagreement between Council and the Board,
there are differences between the Board and the staff, etc. He said
he did not think they were going to come up with goals -and objectives
that they agree to and which they pledge they will implement what
the Council tells them to implement. He said whether or not the
Council understands, staff does not see the Collective as joist a
structure, it is a goal of the Collective to .implement collectivity
outside the program and not just an internal thing. He said whether
or not that is what the Council is contracting them for, that 1s
a goal and objective of theirs and they intend to try to implement
it.
Joel Davidson said he would like to give a specific example of what
members of the Collective staff mean and what the Board means. He
said in doing family counseling, the;' try to get the parents to give
up the authority role and clue the children on the process of how
they are going to run their lives rather than telling the or hoping
that they will follow in the parents' footsteps: He said they try
titmakc the family a mere collective process rather than that the
parents are better than the children and they will teach the children
the way. of Life, He said they try to get the family to confront
their children about behaviors they do not like rather than let those
behaviors go on; They are trying in family consultation to develop
collectivity among families:
Vice Mayor Pearson said she thinks there is a problem with saying
"increased implementation of collective structure and principles
within the prograewithout any further objectives further down below.
She said it seemed to her that what Joel, Mike and Claire said are
things that ought to be in the objectives. Perhaps the title is
simply not clear as to what they are trying to do. She said she
would expect the .Board to come back to the Council to it can under --
stand exactly what it means and so the objectives are clear for every-
body else who read:; the goals and objectives.
Mayor Comstock suggested that perhaps the main motion should be restated.
Councilman Henderson agreed that if there are changes to the goals
and objectives that they should go back to PACDAB for their approval.
MOTION RESTATED: Councilman Henderson, with the consent of his second,
changed the main notion to read "that the Council accept the goals
and objectives submitted by PACDAB and incorporating changes made
by the Council as an amendment to the contract between PACDAB and
the city subject to approval by PACDAB.
Mayor Comstock noted that the amendment to the motion is now before
Council.
The amendment passed on a unanimous vote.
3 2 4
11/5/73
Councilman Clay said instead of it being a semantic problem, he thinks
there is a basic philosophic difference. He said he thought at first
it did not make any difference that implementation of the collective
structure was not an objective but rather an alternative means by
which they would achieve the objective of participation and that
among the alternatives there would be an implementation structure
plus anything else that caused greater participation of people in
the program. He said he could accept participation in the collective
structure as an alternative to that but said he could not accept
the collective structure as an objective and in his opinion that
is where the real difference is. He said it does not have the same
meaning.
Mrs. Robinson said it does not change anything from what they have
been doing for the last year. She said the Council's understanding
of the PACDAB philosophy actually bas been one in which Council assumed
they went on many tasks and now they are corning back to the Council
and saying the path they really go down is the Collective path and
this is how they help people who are involved with drug abuse. She
said she thought perhaps the Council worried too much about the word
"collective" and impugn the word as some mysterious and bad way to
go. She commented that one has to sake a choice in life and this
is the way PACDAB has chosen as the way to go-. She said it has not
been trial in other programs and it may well be effective.
Councilman Clay said that as he sees the amendment it was to have
the collective structure as an alternative means of getting participa-
tion, but they also might use other means. He commented that there
are leaders and there are followers and the collective structure
implies that everybody is going to be a leader: One has to recognize
that there are dependent relationships among people and this does
not recognize that. He commented on the statement about the child
being a part of decision making, He said that is fine but he also
thinks that if there is a dependent relationship of child to parent,
that has a very significant meaning and that same type of relationship
has meaning.
Councilman Berwald said he could see nothing in the objectives that
would indicate that one of the goals of the Board is to try to use
every dollar as effectively as possible. He asked Mrs, Robinson
for comment Mrs. Robinson replied she would have no objection at
all to putting that in because it seems self-evident to her, but
if the Council thinks it ought to be in there, she would take it
back to the Board as a recommendation and she felt it was a reasonable
thing to ask,
Councilman Berwald said he had some concerns over the goal "Outreach
to third world people:" He said the drug program was started as
a program for the general area described as the Raio.Alto School District
He said if they are getting into counseling women in Elmwood, going
into East Palo Alto with more than a modect expenditure of time,
going to the Board of Supervisors, putting on street theaters, and
going to the San Jose City Council, etc., several things could happen.
One, it could diffuse their energy of funds and human energy, duplicate
efforts, and take attention away from the primary job of reducing
incidence of drug abuse in Palo Alto, Re said he was not suggesting
that they not do anything outside at all, but it should be considered
is terms of certain priorities. Getting back to collectivism and
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education of the greater community, he said if by explaining the
principles of collectivism is to be taken by the community that that.
education is to educate society to reconstitute itself in a collective
manner, that is one extreme. The other would be to explain the prin-
ciple of collectivism as an internal operating style of PACDAB.
He said he thought the letter is what they meant because to begin
to try to convert society to that is way beyond the means of PACDAB.
He said he would like to see that clarified as the means of carrying
out their activities and not as a means of changing society. He
said he was not being facetious when he asked if they would give
up collectivism if it did not work and whether they would perhaps
consider that it is just one alternative and there are others.
Mrs. Robinson replied that the goals of the program are to help the
clients who need it. What would happen if that program failed with
its use of a collective method is there would have to be a reevaluation.
She said, however, that she dii not think that would happen,
Councilman Sher said thst in terms of the contract Council is trying
to come up with a statement of goals and objectives that the City
Council in a contract is bargaining or negotiating for in terns of
goals and obieetiven in return for the tax dollars that they are
devoting to this program. He said they are not trying to come up
with a statement of operating principles or goals and objectives
that reflect all the principles and philosophies of the people who
serve on the Board or the staff members. He commented that if the
collective structure is the most effective way to accomplish it and
they believe in it and it accomplishes the goals and objectives,
he would say fine, go to it. He said he recognized that they have
goals and objectives besides those the City Council as a group may wish
to bargain for and they may want to implement these: He said there
were several statements that do not reflect what it is he wanted
the City council to bargain for as the goals and objectives it is
seeking to accomplish. The first one is under the fourth goal "education
of the reater community". He said he would like to have stated specifi-
cally what the causes of political, social and economics causes are as
the Board sees them that relate to drug abuse. He would also like
to know specifically what it is the Board proposes should be done
to change those social and economic causes. He said he did not want
to bargain for those as a goal and objective and did not want to
set it out in this program even though he realized they are going
to do it.
AMENDMENT: Councilman Sher moved, seconded by Barwald, to delete
entirely the first objective "Educate the community as to the political,
soul and economic causes of drug abuse (and as a program do what we
can to change those causes.)" under the fourth goal: "Education of
the greater community."
The motion failed on the following vote:
AYES: Bervald, Rosenbaum, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson
ABSTAIN: Clay
AMEND: Councilman Sher moved, seconded by Berwald, to delete
the fourth objective "Explain the principles of collectivism" under
the fourth goal "Education of the greater community."
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Councilman Sher said that he recognizes that may be the most efficient
way to accomplish the goals and objectives hug said he did not think
that is part of the program he wants to buy with the city's tax dollars.
Joel Davidson stated that he did not see any reason for the Board
being present any longer.
Mayor Comstock advised that the amendments will becoming back to
the Board.
The motion failed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Clay, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum
AMENDMENT: Councilman Sher moved, duly seconded, that in the last
objective of the fourth goal that the word "especially" be deleted
and add the words "both in setting policy for the drug program and"
with the last objective reading: "Utilize Board member leadership
more, both in setting policy for the drug program and in reaching
out to the community."
The amendment passed on the following vote:
-AYES: Berwald, Clay, Pearson, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Rosenbaum
AMENDMENT: Councilman Sher moved, seconded by Berwald, under the
fifth goal "Internal evaluation of existing programs and services",
the last objective, to delete the language "to reflect the broad
philosophy of PACDAB" and insert the words "to implement the goals
and objectives specified above" with the last goal reading: "Design
new programs as appropriate to implement the goals and objectives
specified above."
The amendment passed on the following vote:
AYES: Barwald, Clay, Henderson, Rosenbaum, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Pearson
Councilman Henderson referred to the last objective of goal number
three at the bottom of page one and wuggsated that the word "surrounding"
be changed to "neighboring." He said he still has hopes that this
will go back to PACDAB and be approved with changes. He noted however
that the collective structure is obviously a goal of PACDAB and he
said he would like to compromise with two amendments.
AMENZ NT: Councilman. Henderson saved, seconded by Pearson, that
under goal two "Increase community participation in the program"
that the following objective be added: "Continue to isp1 .t.._.tbe
collective structure within the program."
The amendment failed on the following vote:
AYES: Henderson, Pearson
NOES: Berwald, Clay, Comstock, Rosenbaum, Sher
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AMENDMENT: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Pearson, that
under goal number four "Education of the greater community" the fourth
objective "Explain the principles of collectivism," add the words
"as it relates to the drug program".
The amendment passed on the following vote:
AYES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum
NOES: Berwald, Clay, Sher
AMENDMENT: Councilman Berwald moved, seconded by Sher, that in goal
number five "Internal evaluation of existing programs and services"
the first objective, to delete the words "in a collective manner."
The amendment failed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Clay, Sher
NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum
Mayor Comstock stated that the main motion as ax ended is naw before
the Council:
Councilman Clay said he was going to oppose it because he did not
believe the Council has what it wants, particularly on the point
of collective -philosophy and where it stands in order of priority.
He said it is right out front as an objective. He did not think
that is what the Council is saying it wants_ He said it seems to
him, instead of a drug abase program, Council is approving a program
to support a philosophical theory.
Mayor Comstock stated that his view of the goals and objectives as
amended -is to produce a set that neither passes affirmative or negative
judgment on the internal operations of the program. He said he believes
that the actions Council has tekeri left that to the discretion of
the Board and the staff as a matter of their operation,
Councilman Sher said he agreed about the problem of the collectivism,
but said his greatest reservation at this point is not that but rather
the first objective listed under "Education of the greater community"
(goal four). He said he really t►•.inks that that is conveying a kind
of blank check to bargain for something the Council really does not
know about. That is, the review of what these causes are and what
should be done to eliminate the causes. He commented that the amendment
will go back to PACDAB and it was his hope that in the meantime the
Council would get more specifics as -to what the Board and staff view
as the social, political, and economic causes of drug abuse and what
they think must be done to change those causes.
Vice Mayor ?eareon commented it was her thought thet to vote against
this would be a renouncement not only of collectivism, but also a
renouncement of democracy. She said she thought it only polite to
send the amendments back to the Board for review and comment.
The main emotion as amended passed on the following vote:
AYES: Berwald, Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher
IO S: Clay
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MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved, duly seconded, that Council
request PACDAB to submit along with its 1974-75 budget request to
staff, an assessment of its performance relative to its goals and
objectives, including measurements where possible, and updating and
modification of these goals and objectives to reflect current program
direction and suggested means for measurement of effectiveness of
ehe program.
In response to questions from Mrs. Robinson, Councilman Henderson
said the preliminary budget is due about February 1, 1974, that he
would suggest that the Board talk to staff about whether it needs
to be in with the preliminary draft. He said if the Board comes
back at that time and says there have been no changes in the goals
andobjectives in that short time or whatever, he said that 1a up
to the Board, but added he did think the statement needs to be made.
Councilman Rosenbaum commented that one of the reasons Council spent
so much time on this is because it is a contracted program that is
not being run by city staff who normally take -care of these things.
He said he thought perhaps a great reluctance on the part of PACDAB
Is the possibility to rate the program based on success; how many
graduates are they going to have in Unity House or the Collective.
Council probably has to understand that is an impossible thing to
do. He said he would like to suggest a different approach and would
point out a few of the areas and why he thought Council might want
to put some numbers. He noted that one of the objectives under the
second goal is to develop and train volunteer staff in the program.
He commented that that is a very time-consuming thing to do and if
it is going to be successful, somebody iu going to have to put himself
out and one way to determine whether you really mean you want to
do that is to say you want a certain number more volunteers- He
said this is something under the control of PALTAB, whereas whether
someone is cured of drugs may well be beyond that control, Another
objective is to expand ongoing volunteer projects or start new ones.
He said if the Board really means that, then it can say it wants
to start one new program the next month and attempt to do that.
Other obvious ones are increasing the involvement with the schools.
This also requires time. He said perhaps when the Board sets all
these down, they will come to the conclusion. _that .they cannot really
meet all the objectives they set out to do, but by putting numbers
next to them, they really are forced to think where they are going
to put their resources. He said that with the understanding that
this is something the Council is going to expect in three months
or so, he thought this was a good motion.
The motion carried on a unanimous vote.
Ad j ournmesnt
r ,� v��
The meeting adjourned at 11:10 p.m -
ATTEST:
APPROVE:
Mayor
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