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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 238-05needing policy direction (if any) as the CIP budget is reviewed by the Finance Committee each year. Following are the recommended criteria to be used to determine when a CIP project needs to be brought forward for policy direction: • Project would require an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan or other master plans . • ' Project would require a change in land use. • Project involves a significant change in service levels requiring additional staffing or other resources. • Project is not in planned General Fund IMP and/or does not have an identified funding source. • Project requires acquisition or disposition of property. • Project will probably requir~ an Environmental Impact Review. • Project requires the diversion of staffing and/or City funds due to outside funding opportunity (e.g., grants). • Project may require voter and/or property owner approval (e.g., libraries and storm drains). Using the above criteria, staff will be able to readily identify projects needing City Council policy direction with Finance Committee and Council approval during the budget process, staff would then agendize such projects during the upcoming fiscal year prior to expending any resources on them. RESOURCE IlVlP ACT The approval of the recommended project. screening criteria requires no additional City expenditures. POLICY IMPLICATIONS The recommended project screening criteria, if approved, will result in City Council policy direction for projects meeting any of the criteria prior to their inclusion in the Adopted CIP Budget. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Council approval of project screening criteria does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CMR:165:05 Page 2 of3 Chairperson Ojakian called the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Present: Kishimoto, Morton (arrived at 5:38 p.m.), Mossar, Ojakian 1. Oral Communications None. 2. Approval of a Resolution Adopting an Increase in Utility Service Call and Connection Fees Utilities Senior Project Engineer Roland Ekstrand said the fees were increased approximately 8 tol0 percent to cover costs for installation. Staff looked at instituting the capacity fees. The increase in cost covered the City's cost to increase the size of the system to cover the aggregate new customers'. The City of Palo Alto saw denser population with the increase in condominium complexes, which added a demand to the system. After time, the system had to be increased. Council Member Mossar said staff proposed a fee that vvas incredibly below what other cities. charged and asked vvhether Palo Alto collected enough to pay to expand the system. Mr. Ekstrand said the City collected enough to expand the system. The proposed increase was based on an accepted method of calcu'lating the fees. Council Member Mossar asked who accepted the method. Mr. Ekstrand said the increase was in conformance with a section of the State Government Code. The calculation was based on new customer buy in. The full value of the system, minus'depreciation, was divided by the total load and any new load had to pay its share to buy into the system. Council Member Mossar questioned why other communities charged nearly double what Palo Alto charged if the same methodology was used. Mr. Ekstrand said cities used different methodologies to calculate fees. Council Member Mossar clarified staff was comfortable that the fees charged were the appropriate fees. Mr. Ekstrand said after a few years, the City should have a consultant 'come in and do a thorough study. Staff did not have the available resources to do 03/15/05 FIN:2 · ' was compared. Maze & Associates had an advantage because they knew what they were dealing with. Council Member Kishimoto asked whether the City Auditor expected other firms that might specialize more in municipal clients. Ms. Erickson said at least one firm called with questions but di'd not submit a proposal. Firms had consolidated and were no longer in the business. In addition, auditing government was a specialized field with fewer firms available. Chairperson Ojakian said there was a time when big firms did City audits and then dropped cities as clients, which limited the firms that did City audits .. Council Member Kishimoto said the City did not want to have to choose between one or two firms but wanted to have a diverse market to choose from. MOTION PASSED 3-0, Kishimoto no. Director Of Administrative Services Carl Yeats said the item would not go on the Consent Calendar when it went to Council. . 4. Audit of Contract Contingencies City Auditor Sharon Erickson said the contract of audit. contingencies was completed. Palo Alto entered into a broad range of contacts for construction professional services and general services. Many of the contracts had a contract contingency, which was'typically 10 percent for unforeseen project tasks. The Auditor's Office found that contingency dollars were spent appropriately; in general. Palo, Alto's contingency and additional service levels were generally consistent with those of other area jurisdictions and the industry standards. The average amount of contingency spent against the 21 completed construction contracts in the Auditor's sample was only 54 percent. Given that Palo Alto's standard 10 percent contingency levels were consistent with other jurisdictions, the percentage was reasonable and a good thing. The Auditor's Office liked to bring good news about spending but also liked to find ways to improve the functioning. Recommendations included tracking, cumulative spent-to-date on contingencies, providing additional training to staff that monitored the contingency spending and authorizing it, and updating the records retention schedule. The Auditor's Office made recommendations to help streamline change order processing .. 03/15/05 FIN:4 Processing times for contracts were very long. The Audit of Contract Contingencies Report included 15 recommendations. Senior Analyst Renata Falk said a sample of 31 contracts, totaling approximately $60 million, with an additional $7 million in contingencies, were selected for review. Most were construction contracts: 23 were construction, five were professional services, and three were general services. Most of the contracts were from Public Works and Utilities Departments, which were the two departments that accounted for the largest amount of contract dollars in the City. Most of the work on the contracts was physically 'completed between 2000 and 2003. Examples included annual street and sidewalk work, water and gas main replacements, and construction of the Downtown parking garages. The Auditor's Office wanted to identify the reasons that drove the need for contingency spending. For that purpose, a general accounting office audit that had classified contingency spending into categories was reviewed. The categories were tweaked for the City's purposes, and documentation for $3.6 million in contingency spending in Palo Alto was reviewed. The spending was classified based on those categories. The classifications were more art than science and were considered as a way to get a broad overview of the reasons for contingency spending. The pie charts on page 13 of the Audit of Contract Contingencies showed the categories and how spending was broken out. Pages 14 through 16, and 18 and 19 showed examples of contingency spending. Page' 14 included an example of an item from the unforeseen category, which was the removal of abandoned underground tanks from an auto repair shop that was on the site of the Alma Street Parking Garage. Page 14 also included an example of a project-planning item, which was the need for a' site and design review at the Baylands, related to parking lot improvements. The need for that review was not realized until after the project went out to bid. Page 15 included examples of design items, which was a broad category used for errors, omissions and oversights. Examples were mismarked gas lines that resulted in the need for contingency spending. Page 16 included examples of upgrades, which were improvements beyond specifications of a contract. The final category on page 18 was expanded scope of work. Examples included additional sidewalk work due to a resident request. The Auditor's Office was asked several times during the process why contingency spending mattered and why it was different than spending the base contract amount if both were approved and authorized. The Auditor's Office response was that contingency. was essentially sole source purchasing. Assurance of receiving the best possible price by not including the work in the original bid was lost. With regard to Recommendation 1 on page 17, the Auditor's Office believed there was value for the City in knowing the underlying reasons for contingency spending. Without the ability to have a big picture sense of why the dollars were spent, 03/15/05 FIN:5 the ability was limited to figure out how spending might be reduced. Staff recommended that the underlying reasons be tracked as part of the routine documentation for contingency spending. Recommendation 3 on page 20 identified examples of' contingency spending for expanded scopes of work. Some examples included the repair of a broken water valve, additional landscape maintenance work, removing traffic calming barriers, and additional sidewalk work. The Auditor's Office found there were no clear, written criteria or guidance to staff with regard to the appropriate limits on such additional work. Enhanced internal controls would ensure that appropriate boundaries were clarified and communicated Citywide. Recommendation 4 on page 21 had to do with the fact that the Administrative Services Department (ASD) did project reporting with regard to the statu? of capital projects. There might be opportunities to enhance the reporting. Work on some of the 15 recommendations was under way, and staff's responsiveness was appreciated. Assistant Director of Administrative Services Lalo. Perez said staff was comfortable that an adequate review was done of the processes. Staff believed some of the changes could be accommodated within the system of SAP. To further provide clarity regarding the comment on reporting, staff did provide information on capital programs to the Council twice a year: at mid- year and at year-end; Information includes total funding from inception, the available budget for the current year, current fiscal year expenditures and commitments, remaining balance, percentage complete, the project status, and estimated completion date. At year-end, staff brought to the Council, a formal process of closing completed projects. Staff was in agreement with the Auditor's recommendations and would explore to' see what else could be done to enhance the reporting. Assistant Director of Public Works Mike Sartor was thankful for the audit and the work that the' Administrative Services Department (ASD) and the Auditor's Office did to support staff's efforts. Contingencies continued to be tightly managed. Council Member Kishimoto said it was helpful to receive project completion reports and asked whether the amount outstanding to be spent did not include the contingency amount. Mr. Perez said the contingency amount was included in the report where staff said, "total funding from inception" if the contingency were drawn down. Council Member Kishimoto asked about the process of finding out who was accountable in the event a contractor or supervisor made a mistake. 03/15/05 FIN:6 Mr. Sartor said a feasibility study or design was done in the beginning of a project to prepare construction documents. Contingencies were used in those contracts to cover, for example, an additional meeting with the Architectural Review Board (ARB) or an added scope of work item in the design. Council Member Morton said auditors liked the approval process and how a contingency was authorized even if it were not in the original contract. The City did not want to see a contingency line become more burdensome but. wanted control so that contingency was not only used for things that did not get budgeted. Ms. Falk said the Auditor's Office looked at approvals of contingency usage. When a department was ready to spend contingency, a change order for describing the project was prepared and submitted to Purchasing. It was incumbent on Purchasing to transfer the funds from the contingency line to the base contract amount. Prior to going to Purchasing, signoffs by Department Managers, Project Managers, and the contractor were necessary. , ". M'r.· Yeats said the pu~chasing Manager was the approving authority for additional encumbrances. Council Member Morton said there was a much change due to the SAP system and asked whether the City Auditor expected to do a follow-up review of how the implementations took place. Ms. Erickson responded that once a year, the Auditor's Office prepared an Audit recommendation follow up. During the summer, the Auditor's Office would bring a status of all recommendations to the Finance Committee. The Auditor's, Office conducted ongoing SAP reviews. Council Member Morton said the auditors were more than useful in ,that people knew how things were processed and how improvements were made to the process. . Council Member Mossar clarified when CIPs were budgeted, the project amount did not include the contingency unless it were encumbered. , Mr. Yeats said when an initial agreement was signed and approved; a purchase order for the amount of the agreement was created. Staff had the authority to spend 10 percent more, it it is part of the approval. 03/15/05 FIN:7 Ms. Erickson clarified that projects often had several contracts. Council Member Mossar asked why it was difficult to have the budget document reflect the actual spending of the contingency .. Mr. Yeats said there was a difference between the budget and the actual accounting process. Council Member Mossar said if the contingency were not spent, a cost savings was reflected; however, there was no savings. Mr. Yeats said the contract amount plus the contingency was in the budget. Council Member Mossar asked what the number was when the project was completed. Mr. Yeats said whatever the original agreement amount was plus any change Orders that were included in the contingency. There might be a savings or a reduction in the cost. Council Member Mossar asked if the contingency was spent, there was no savings. Mr. Yeats said the entire contingency might not be spent. Ms. Erickson said if someone came to the Council and said they were going to spend $1 million for a project, the Council might see a series of contracts that related to the project. . Council Member Mossar said she was interested in the CIP budgetary reporting. Contingency and project costs needed to be differentiated. From her view, the picture was not clear with regard to what was spent. Ms. Erickson said the Council would get the full picture of what was spent but might not know without the recommended additional reporting whether or not the approved contract actually delivered for the approved amount or whether 10 percent more was paid. Council Member Mossar said that was something the Council needed to know. Council Member Morton said the protection, from an auditor's point of view, of the contingency was that the contingency was not built into the contract. 03/15/05 FIN:8 Mr. Perez said the bids were looked at, and staff consulted with the Legal Department to make sure the City was in compliance with the findings and legitimate complaints were substantiated. Council Member Kishimoto asked whether staff was satisfied that a process was in place. Mr. Perez said staff was working on formalizing the process as part of the contract streamlining. Mr. Yeats said SAP was intended to be fully integrated in a document management system. In the future, staff would be able to attach an electronic copy of the resolution to problems'. Chairperson Ojakian understood locating contracts had been difficult to do. The City had a form of image technology, which might be used to scan contracts in to be used as a filing system. Mr. Yeats said the issue had to do with resources. Staff was busy doing the work of purchasing. The goal was to get to a full document management .' system. Council Member Morton moved, seconded by Kishimoto, that the Finance Committee accept the report and recommendations. MOTION PASSED 4-0. 5. Approval of Criteria that Would Identify Which CIP Require Policy Direction from the City Council Before They Are Included at in the Adopted Capital Improvement Budget Assistant Director of Public Works Mike Sartor said the staff report (CMF: 165: 05) was in response to a Colleague's Memo from Council Members Ojakian and Freeman requesting that staff come up with. criteria that could be used in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) development process to identify projects that required Council policy direction prior to being included in the CIP. The staff report contained criteria developed by a committee including the Utilities Department and Public Works. Criteria to be used to determine when a CIP project needed to be brought forward for policy direction included: 1) Project would require an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan or other master plans; 2) Project would require a change in land use; 3) Project involved a significant change in service levels requiring additional staffing or other resources; 4) Project was not in planned General Fund IMP and/or did not have an identified funding source; 03/15/05 FIN: 10 5) Project required acquisition or disposition of property; 6) Project would probably require an Environmental Impact Review; 7) Project required the diversion of staffing and/or City funds due to outside funding opportunity (e.g., grants); 8) Project might require voter and/or property owner approval (e.g., libraries and storm drains). The City used the criteria to screen projects that went into the CIP each year, and projects that met the criteria went to Council for policy direction prior to moving forward. Emily Renzel, 1056 Forest Avenue, said she was pleased to see the criteria. Staff did an excellent job outlining the criteria. Her understanding was that money would not be included in the budget without policy decision; however, there was ambiguity in that staff agendized projects during the upcoming fiscal year, prior to expending any resources on the projects. The money might be put in pending a policy decision. MOTION: Council Member Morton moved, seconded by Mossar, that the Finance Committee recommend to the City Council approval of screening criteria to be used to identify proposed Capital Improvement Projects that require Council policy direction before they are included in the Capital Improvement Budget each fiscal year. Further, to add language to bullet point #S "with the acquisition and disposition of real property/' and delete language "e.g. storm .drain,sand librariesll.in the last criteria. Director of Administrative Services Carl Yeats said the CIP was a budget- planning tool, and the policy direction had been on the CIP description since his arrival to the City in 1998. The major change was there was a clear definition of what the policy decisions might be. Staff worked on the phasing of projects and had the ability in SAP to indicate the distinct phases that a project was in. Preliminary work might need to be done as part of the CIP to get to the policy decision. Money could not be spent in some cases to get to the policy decision until there was a budget. The CIP process needed to be very clear that the adoption of a CIP was mUlti-year or multi-phase, and there might be initial work in the .budget where money would be expended to get to a policy decision. A placeholder was needed in the budget, and there needed to be a clear delineation between what was done up front to get to a policy decision and what was done after the policy decision occurred. The City did a multi-year CIP, and the Council only adopted the first year. There were no expenditures in the next year since the approval was in concept. Council Member Mossar asked where the criteria would reside after adopted by the Council. 03/15/05 FIN: 11 Mr. Yeats said the criteria would be included in the front of the CIP document. The table in the CIP included the policy decision. The last criteria shown in the staff report (CMF:16S:0S) should not include "(e.g., libraries and storm drains)" because that might seem irrelevant in future years. Mr. Sartor said staff would strike the language in the last criteria. Council Member Kishimoto clarified the Council would not see any expenditure of staff or money spent on anything beyond the minimum required to bring an item to the Council. Mr. Yeats said that was his intention. MOTION PASSED 4-0. Chairperson Ojakian said the item would go on the Consent Calendar. Mr. Sartor said the item would go on the Consent Calendar if approved by the Policy and Services (P&S) Committee. 6. Discussion for Future Meeting Schedules and Agendas Director of Administrative Services Carl Yeats said the April 5, 2005, meeting .included the HSRAP and Community Block Grant hearings, and the April 15, 2005, meeting included the two Transportation items on the Charleston/ Arastradero Transportation Plan. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m. NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.180(a) and (b). The City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are made solely for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of the minutes of the meetings. City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are recycled 90 days from the date of the meeting. The tapes are available for members of the public to listen to during regular office hours. 03/15/05 FIN: 12 Improvement Project (CIP) consisted of planned projects that spanned over five years. The Utilities CIP was based on a five to ten year replacement plan and consisted primarily of replacement of existing infrastructure such as water mains, gas mains, and sewer lines. The Infrastructure Management Plan (IMP) had a series of projects that were identified in a 1996 Adamson Study of city facilities and adopted by the City Council in 2001 as its CityWorks Program. The CityWorks program had ten or more year's worth of projects that were planned in the budget cycle. The staff report (CMR: 165:05) listed criteria to be used to determine when a CIP project needed to be brought forward for policy direction. The criteria was presented to the Finance Committee and approved by a 4-0 vote. Council Member Morton had suggested staff indicate "real" property when talking about acquisition or disposition of property. Council Member Mossar had suggested removing the reference to libraries and storm drains in one of the criterias. If the Council accepted the criteria, they would, be included in the CIP document in future years, so there was no need to list speCific projects. If the Council accepted the criteria, staff would include them in the capital improvement budget each year. There would be an indicator in the actual CIP clescription pages in the case a project might lead to future policy direction in the future. Council Member Cordell said one of the criteria required the diversion of staffing and asked whether a qualifier was needed. Mr. Sartor suggested stating "substantial diversion." Council Member Cordell questioned the criteria that indicated, "project may require voter approval." 03/15/05 P&S:2 Mr. Sartor said voter approval was needed, for example, if the Council did a feasibility study for the storm drain program. Vice Mayor Kleinberg referred tothe criteria that stated, "Project would require an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan or ·other master plans" and asked whether there needed to be a determination of compliance or compatibility if it were not certain that an amendment was needed. Mr. Sartor said if the project definition were at the point where staff had to go back and look at a plan, the project would go back to the Council for review. Council Member Freeman said part of the request in the Colleagues' Memo was that during the budget process, the Council needed to know that potentially, down the road, there might be some money that the Council needed to think about in the future. Vice Mayor Kleinberg asked whether language could be added to say, "The project would require a determination of compliance or compatibility and or an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan or other master plans." Issues of compatibility had been raised in past situations. The wording, "significant changes" in the criteria, "Project involves a significant change in service levels requiring additional staffing or other resources" was questioned. Mr. Sartor said a significant change would be the addition of a new building or budgeting $25,000 per month to maintain a system. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said someone told her the storm drain initiative included another staff person, which was believed to be significant and should be highlighted. The wording was too vague. 03/15/05 P&S:3 Mr. Sartor said the alternative was to say the "Project involves a change in service levels." Council Member Cordell said the language stated, "involves a significant change in service levels requiring additional staffing." Additional staffing was what was considered. Vice Mayor Kleinberg asked whether there was ever a project that did not require additional staffing to complete the project. Mr. Sartor said the IMP program was fully staffed. As the IMP program was managed, the $10 million per year worth of work was fully staffed. If a new police building or a $17 million storm drain program were added, those were unanticipated projects .. Vice Mayor Kleinberg clarified the Council was talking about an unanticipated new project not already included in a preViously approved CIP. Mr. Sartor said that was correct. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said she did not want to see staff return with every little project. Mr. Sartor said he believed the criteria were targeted at a major new facility or program that the community wanted to see that was not included in the existing planning. Council Member Beecham said the Council periodically retuned staff if needed. 03/15/05 P&S:4 Assistant to the City Manager Chris Mogensen said the wording was subjective on purpose, because it depended on economic factors such as staffing. One full time employee (FTE) might be significant at the current time but not in five years. Quantifying was difficult. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said the significance of the project was focused on rather than number of employees. Council Member Freeman said the criteria were for flagging. Some projects .. were approved by the prior Council but came to a point that required additional staffing. Vice Mayor Kleinberg clarified the criteria were for policy direction. Council Member Freeman noted the staff report (CMR: 165:05) indicated \\recommended criteria to be used to determine when a CIP project needs to be brought forward for policy direction." The. Colleagues Memo, authored by Council Member Ojakian and herself, was focused on the CIP budget docurnent being very clear for people who were on the Finance Committee and Council to understand their were some projects that potentially required additional staffing in the future. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said the Colleague's Memo talked about things that had to . do with policy direction or approval and were policy decisions that might or might not be determined by a budget matter. Council Member Freeman said the criteria all had to do with CIPs. 03/15/05 P&S:5 Council Member Beecham clarified the staff report (CMR:165:05), which mentioned, "agendize such projects during the upcoming fiscal year," meant the first year after the project was listed in the CIP. Mr. Sartor said that was correct. Projects were budgeted as a planning tool, but staff would not move forward unless there was· policy direction. Council Member Freeman said the prior year; Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison worked with the Finance Committee to streamline the budget in order i to not have a lot of things in the budget that the Committee was not able to get to. Mr. Sartor said staff did a major effort the prior year on the CityWorks team to eliminate planned projects and propose projects that could actually be .' accomplished. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said projects that included changes to the Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) or Master Plan or a change in land use should not go back from the budget Finance Committee hearings on the Consent Calendar. The projects needed to be specifically flagged and discussed where policy was being made. Mr. Sartor said the projects would be brought back to the full Council. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said she was happy for the Finance Committee to vet the issues but hoped that did not prevent the Council and the public from discussing the policy decisions. 03/15/05 P&S:7 Council Member Beecham said he assumed such projects would be agendized for the entire Council. Mr. Sartor said that was correct. Council Member Cordell asked what happened with the comments made that evening. Council Member Freeman said a motion would be made that would go back to the Council. Council Member Cordell asked whether the changes were in conflict in any way. Council Member Beecham said no. Council Member Freeman clarified the criteria would be clearly identified in the proposed budget. , . Mr. Sartor said the criteria would be considered in the front oftlie CIP, and any project that had the potential of coming up in the future would be flagged. MOTION: Council Member Beecham moved, seconded by Cordell, that the Policy and Services Committee approve project screening criteria to be used to identify proposed Capital Improvement Projects that require Council policy direction before they are included in the Capital Improvement Budget each fiscal year. In addition, modify the following language: 1) project would require a significant diversion of staffing and/or City funds due to outSide funding opportunities (e.g. grants); and 2) project would require a determination of 03/15/05 P&S:8 compliance or compatibility and/or an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan or change in land use. MOTION PASSED 4-0. Mr. Sartor said staff would most likely consolidate both the Finance and Policy and Services Committees' recommendations into One staff report to bring back to the full Council. Council Member Freeman clarified the item would return on the consent calendar. Mr. Sartor said that was correct. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said she wanted the Finance. Committee to be aware of the additional language. 3. Criteria and Process for Recognizing Individuals on a \\Wall of Honor" display. Senior Executive Assistant to the City Manager ChriS Mogensen said one-year prior the Council made a decision and 'formed a policy to recognize individuals in parks naming. There was discussion about alternative ways to recognize members of the community. Manager Open Space Division Greg Betts said there were not many opportunities for recognition of significant contributions to the community through naming of fields, parks, or facilities. The Council's direction the prior year was to find a way of recognizing people in the community who had 03/15/05 P&S:9 enriched the community creatively through the arts, supported programs through contributions, and supported the business community through innovation or new concepts. The League of California Cities was contacted to see whether citie~ had methods of recognizing individuals. One of the nicest programs was in the City of Foster City where there was beautiful display in the City Council lobby, and the public was encouraged to suggest people who were due recognition. Guidelines were drafted from bits and pieces from different cities, but there were questions that had not been answered such as how many people should be recognized. Different commissions as part of the selection committee were suggested which incorporated different aspects of ways that people contributed to society. When proposals were brought forward for the naming of a facility, there would be documentation that staff essentiaUy created a resume or outline that helped present the information to the Council for consideration and for the history of the recognition. The Palo Alto Historical Association (PAHA) was very involved in the naming of facilities. The tradition in Palo Alto tended to be that facilities were named after people who made significant historical contributions. The proposed change was that the selection committee was broader. Staff looked for a location for the display. One of the most fitting places was in the Council Chambers lobby haUway. Alternatives, such as Centennial Way, were looked at; however, some members of the PAHA did not feel that location was not actually in the Government seat or a place that was on par with the recognition of former Council Members and Mayors. Criteria to be used in selecting person included: (1) Ten (10) or more years of significant community service contributions; '(2) Sustained the quality of life or had a positive impact on the lives of Palo Alto citizens; (3) Created opportunities for the community through new facilities or programs; (4) Was a Palo Alto reSident during the time the nominee provided community service; (5) The individual has not been previously honored by other actions of the City, 03/15/05 P&S:10 · '. cities of Mountain View and Menlo Park had specific rulings for their parks and facilities that the person had to be deceased for five years. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said state parks had a similar rule. Mr. Betts said some people suggested that in order to recognize people while they can enjoy the merits of their work, it was nice to honor them. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) was a companion governmental agency, which broke ranks with virtually all the other school districts in the state by not nominating teachers of the year. The PAUSD chose not to single out one teacher because all the others were speCial, and there were differences of style and contribution. Council Member Beecham said his concerns related to the capacity of the wall and how much recognition was done annually. The proposed recognitions were for individuals rather than organizations. There were groups of people who made significant contributions to the City. Vice Mayor Kleinberg said Tall Tree recognized organizations in addition to individuals. Council Member Freeman said not every person would be honored. People who did great things in the City should be honored. The application required ten years of significant community service contributions. The contributions needed to be documented and referenced. "Significant community service contributions" needed to be clearer. Working on campaigns was a civic duty that might be conSidered. A representative of the PAUSD on the selection committee was suggested. The Palo Alto Neighborhoods Association president 03/15/05 P&S:12 " " was also suggested. A concern was that many people did not go to City Hall. Bricks in Heritage Park were suggested as a place for recognition. Mr. Mogensen said Mr. Betts did research on the brick option. Mr. Betts said normally bricks were used for fundraisers or a walkway were cast and done with a minimum quantify of 50 bricks at a time. An alternative included sandblasting a piece of slate or brick, and the expense was greater than the concept of a standardized plaque. An alternative might be using a bronze plaque, which cost from $200 to $1200, depending on size. Many parks had decomposed granite walkways, which worked like sandpaper on brick or slate. The PAHA had a difficult time choosing names for what was finally called Heritage Park. The vision was that benches in the park gave honor to historical figures. The PAHA had a strong sense of ownership on the future recognitions in the park. Council Member Freeman said Heritage Park was public. Bricks could circle a tree rather than be on a path. There were issues with bronze plates on the ground because they can be slippery. Council Member Beecham said he was less enthused about the project and probably would not support it. Council Member Cordell asked whether there was a limit on the amount of people who would be nominated in one year. Mr. Betts said the limit was not discussed. Council Member Cordell suggested there be a limit each year. 03/15/05 P&S:13 Mr. Betts said the City of Foster City honored one individual per year. Council Member Cordell said her concern was that there might be more upset in the community about who was recognized. Council Member Freeman said she would err on the side that citizens received recognition for the amount of work they due. The Tall Tree awards were given to two individuals and an organization. Honoring the. same amount was suggested. Vice Mayor Kleinberg expressed opposition to the Wall of Honor because not everyone would be recognized. Many people who were not well known to Council Members and Commission Members but who did small acts of public . service. Honoring a few people who were well known became a popularity contest. Cost of such an honor needed to be taken into consideration. Council Member Cordell clarified the Wall of Honor was a new idea. Mr. Betts said yes. Council Member Cordell asked whether there were other ways that the City honored people other than parks and facilities.· Vice Mayor Kleinberg said there was volunteer appreciation. Mr. Betts said there was a resolution process to honor people. The Wall of Fame could include resolutions. 03/15/05 P&S:14 " [' Council Member Cordell expressed concern about the City engaging in the business of honoring people. MOTION: Vice Mayor Kleinberg moved, seconded by Council Member Beecham, that the Policy and Services Committee not recommend to the Council adoption of a policy for the recognition of individuals on a "Wall. of Honor" display. MOTION PASSED 3-1, Freeman no. 4. Discussion for Future Meeting Schedules arid Agendas Senior Executive Assistant to the City Manager Chris Mogensen said the next meeting of the Policy and Services Committee was scheduled for April 12, 2005. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8: 16 p.m. NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.180(a) .and (b). The City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are made solely for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of the minutes of the meetings. City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are recycled 90 days from the date of the meeting. The tapes are available for members of the public to listen to during regular office hours. ·03/15/05 P&S:15 . I "