MINUTES OF THE CITY OF SAN RAMON - COUNCIL MEETING
APRIL 27, 1999

A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of San Ramon was called to order on April 27, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 2222 Camino Ramon, Mayor Athan presiding.
PRESENT: Councilmembers Hudson, Kinney, Raab, Welm and Mayor Athan
ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Herb Moniz, City Attorney Bob Saxe, Police Chief Obie Anderson, Parks and Community Services Director Jeff Eorio, City Engineer Joye Fukuda, Planning Director Phil Wong, Economic Development Manager April Gray, Administrative Analyst Kevin Carunchio and City Clerk Judy Macfarlane

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After calling the meeting to order Mayor Athan said the Council had met in closed session to confer with the labor negotiator regarding negotiations with Service Employees International Union - Local 790, Public Service Maintenance Employees/ Government Code Section 54957.6.

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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Cm. Hudson led Council, staff and those present in the audience in the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The City Manager said the Contra Costa Tri-Valley Telecommunications Incubator Steering Committee would be meeting April 28 at 8:00 a.m. in the Terrace Room at the Community Center.

Cm. Raab said the DARE Triathlon scheduled for Sunday, May 2 had been canceled and he hoped it would be up and running next year.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

The Planning Director introduced Charles Mullen, the new Associate Planner and said he was a San Ramon resident.

Mayor Athan welcomed Mr. Mullen and gave him a City pin.

Mayor Athan introduced Rebecca Ruth Kelley and gave her a proclamation congratulating her for receiving the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Mayor Athan presented a proclamation to Chief Probert and Maureen Dawson of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, declaring May 1-7, 1999 Arson Awareness Week.

Mayor Athan presented a proclamation to City Clerk Judy Macfarlane declaring May 2-8, 1999 City Clerks Week.

Rob Stockberger , California High School, was introduced by Mayor Athan and presented a proclamation and plaque thanking him for his service as Cal High principal.

Rob Stockberger introduced Mark Corti, the new California High principal and said he was an outstanding educator.

Mr. Corti said he looked forward to continuing the positive relationship with the School District and the City.

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CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS

Cm. Kinney's motion to appoint Jeanette Bolles to the Library Advisory Committee was seconded by Cm. Raab and passed 5-0.

Cm. Kinney's motion to appoint Robert Alfred and Grace Wood to the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee was seconded by Cm. Welm and passed 5-0.

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PUBLIC COMMENT

Carol Hayek-Miller, 825 Ladera Corte, said two weeks ago she received a call that was a telephone survey regarding the effectiveness of the Councilmembers and the CAPP initiative and she wanted to find out if the survey had been financed by the City. She said she was a research professor and found the survey to be very biased. She said if someone reports this to the City as a valid study, be aware that it is a scientifically unbalanced study.

Richard Fahey, 152 Baltusrol Place, said he had served on the South of Montevideo Advisory Committee a few years and one of the main issues discussed was the undergrounding of utility poles. He said besides being unsightly the overhead utility lines were dangerous and encouraged the Council to take a serious look at the issue.

David Self, 18 Crow Canyon Court, said he was an attorney representing Digiray Corporation and requested the Council take up the matter on the next agenda if not before with respect to the City's notice that Digiray leave its present site on Omega Road by May 7. He said the matter began a year ago when the City purchased the property at 2239 Omega Road, which is at the intersection of Deerwood Road and is partially in the way of the street widening program for Deerwood Road. He said they were notified by the City Attorney that investigations would be made with respect to the structural and engineering feasibility of taking out 1/3 of the building for the street widening project and leaving the remaining 2/3 which Digiray could continue to occupy. He said he had recently been told the City planned to tear down the entire building leaving the City with a bare lot for the street widening project and no income from it. He said Digiray was requesting that they be allowed to continue renting the remaining 2/3 of the building or that they be allowed to purchase it.

Mayor Athan said the City had an appeal process and he questioned putting the item on the agenda and discussing it at a Council meeting was the ideal way to review the many factors involved in the issue.

The City Attorney said a letter had been received from Mr. Self but it had arrived too late for tonight's agenda. He said the letter specifically requested that it be agendized and he felt it was the intent to agendize it for the next meeting and probably there would be a closed session preceding the meeting. He said the matter described by Mr. Self was not really the action of the City Manager that would be appealed under that procedure but this simply a facet of the road widening project where the City Council has made a determination that the building would be demolished and Mr. Self was requesting that it be reconsidered.

Cm. Welm said he would like to hear what the technical data is that says the building can be retrofitted in a smaller version. He said if the Council is going to have a closed session to discuss this issue he would prefer to have the open session first and the closed session later after the Council has had the benefit of alternate options on how the building could be changed.

Mayor Athan said he was not contemplating a closed session he was contemplating that the Internal Operations committee would meet with the City Attorney and Mr. Self and then make a recommendation to the Council as a whole.

The City Attorney said the Council had given direction to staff and on the basis of the Council's actions the 90 day notice that is required under the eminent domain law and the 30 day notice required under the unlawful retainer procedure had been served. The 30 day notice expires in May and in order to comply with the Council's current directives in the event that the premises are still occupied the first part of May, staff would proceed with the service of an unlawful detainer complaint. He said unless there is a change he did not feel the message should be relayed that the Council is altering the direction already given.

Cm. Kinney said he had no problem with discussing the issue with Mr. Self and the Internal Operations Committee but he was not sure he wanted the issue to go to another Council meeting.

Mr. Self said he was requesting that the Council at least look at or hear from Digeray's engineers or construction people before a final decision is made.

Cm. Welm asked if there were any reason once the unlawful retainer complaint was served it had to acted upon immediately or could the eviction be held up without jeopardizing the City's position.

The City Attorney said there would be no reason in the world that the Council could not agendize this issue and discuss it in closed session at the next meeting without interfering with the ongoing process.

Cm. Welm asked that this item be agendized for the next meeting.

Mayor Athan asked if the Council would like to meet 30 minutes before the next meeting to give the item the attention it deserves.

Cm. Welm said he agreed to the earlier meeting and it was his intent that the City Attorney's admonition be followed that the process not be interrupted.

Mayor Athan said the Council would meet in open session at 7:00 p.m. on May 11 to discuss this item and, at the discretion of the City Attorney, the Council may also have a closed session to discuss the issue.

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APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Cm. Welm's motion to approve the minutes of the April 13, 1999 meeting was seconded by Cm. Raab and passed 5-0.

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CONSENT CALENDAR

The City Manager said there was a substitute resolution for item 8.4, supporting the EBMUD's effort to utilize its American River water that would clarify it.

Cm. Hudson's motion to approve the following Consent Calendar with the amendments recommended by the City Manager was seconded by Cm. Hudson and passed 5-0.

QUARTERLY INVESTMENT REPORT
City of San Ramon Quarterly Investment Report - January - March 1999

RESOLUTION NO. 99-42

ESTABLISHING A RATE OF $23 PER EQUIVALENT RUNOFF UNIT FOR FY 1999/2000 FOR THE NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM STORMWATER PROGRAM AND REQUESTING THE CONTRA COSTA COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT TO ADOPT AN ANNUAL PARCEL ASSESSMENT RESOLUTION NO. 99-43 APPROVING FINAL MAP FOR MINOR SUBDIVISION MS901-98, LOCATED WITHIN THE SITE OF SAN RAMON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER (TENET HEALTH SYSTEMS HOSPITALS, INC./ FORMERLY NME HOSPITALS) RESOLUTION NO. 99-47 SUPPORTING EAST BAY MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT'S EFFORTS TO UTILIZE ITS AMERICAN RIVER WATER AS A PART OF A JOINT PROJECT THAT PROVIDES THE GREATEST BENEFIT TO THE LARGEST COMMUNITY OF INTEREST POSSIBLE PUBLIC SCHOOL

FACILITIES REPORT
Introduction of Ordinance - Eliminating the Requirement for Preparation of a Public School Facilities Report by the City of San Ramon and set the public hearing for May 11, 1999

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WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

Mayor Athan said a letter had been received from Senator Richard K. Rainey regarding the progress of one of his bills, SB 3, the California Library Construction and Renovation Bond.

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SMOKING ORDINANCE DISCUSSION

The City Clerk said on January 12, 1999 the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 307 prohibiting smoking in and around "tot lots". At that time it was requested that the Council look at amending the City's Smoking Ordinance to bring it into conformance with the County's Tobacco-Free Youth Ordinance. She continued to say it was also requested at that time to look at prohibiting smoking at events in the outdoor amphitheater and on bleachers on city property.

It was decided these issues would be discussed at a later date.

It was recommended the City Council consider the report, receive public input and give direction to staff.

Pat Boom, 2567 Shadow Mountain Drive, said the youth of the county had been successful in promoting the Tobacco Free Youth Ordinance before the Board of Supervisors and now each group of youths from each city were working with the cities to amend their ordinances to include issues from the Youth Ordinance. She said she would like to strongly recommend the Council consider requiring licensing of tobacco retailers and this could be done in conjunction with the City's business license at no extra cost.

Dr. Lowell Kleinman said he represented over 400 family physicians in the county and asked the Council to support the Tobacco Free Youth Ordinance specifically the parts that talk about licensing and self-service displays. He said statistics show that 20% of the tobacco sales in the county are to minors.

Jim Karadais, Contra Costa County Health Department, said he worked with a program called TIGHT which stands for "tobacco industry gets hammered by teens". He said in this area of the county they feel the biggest way the tobacco industry targets the youth is through self-service displays.

Laurie Comstock said she had been working with the kids from TIGHT as a volunteer for the Tobacco Prevention Coalition, showed pictures of a van that goes all over the county displaying pictures of tobacco products and emblems. She said the self-service displays are a real problem because they are so accessible. She encouraged the Council to adopt a tobacco free youth ordinance and help keep kids away from cigarettes.

Dr. Wendell Bruner, Director of Public Health of Contra Costa County, outlined the provisions of the County's Tobacco Free Youth Ordinance and urged the Council to consider adopting it. He said the purpose of the ordinance is to reduce youth access to tobacco products and to enhance to enforcement of existing laws restricting tobacco sales to minors.

Lana Shotwell, Cal High/TIGHT member, said tobacco products are very accessible to minors. She said she felt the ordinance would be a good step in stopping tobacco use in the schools.

Cm. Welm said he was in favor of instructing the City Attorney to include in our ordinance the provisions 1) that tobacco products must be sold only with the help of the store clerk, 2) that there be no sale or give-aways of tobacco promotional items and 3) no tobacco advertising that can be seen outside of stores within 1,600 feet from a school or public playground. He said he would like to hear the opinions of the rest of the Council regarding licensing.

Cm. Raab said he liked the idea that as new stores come on-line that they be required to check a box on their business license application indicating whether or not they will be selling tobacco products and the old businesses can do this with license renewal.

Mayor Athan said he preferred the licensing requirement go into effect after a business has been found in violation of the Smoking Ordinance and had sold to minors. He continued to say he would suggest revocation of the license after a business had been found in violation of selling to minors for the second time. He said he agreed with everything that had been suggested by Cm. Welm and would like to include banning smoking at outdoor events or performances in the amphitheater and bleachers on city property.

Cm. Hudson said if the licensing was started now another aspect he would like to see added to the ordinance was the penalty or the fine if a business sold to minors and they were not licensed.

Cm. Kinney asked did the County ordinance address the scenario of an 18 year old buying cigarettes and then selling them to a 16 year old.

Charlotte Dixon, Tobacco Prevention Project, said the County ordinance did not address that issue. She said what the ordinance covered was the point of purchase between the store clerk and the minor.

Cm. Welm said from an administrative standpoint wouldn't it be easier to add a question to the business license application asking if that business was intending to sell tobacco products and that would print on their license. He said the next issue would be if the business violates that, how many offenses in a given calendar year. He said he thought it should be stated in the form of time, not just say the second offense which might occur at a much later date. He said the issue of no smoking at outdoor events was talked about at length during the January discussions and he still felt this was not necessary. He said he felt the vast majority of smokers particularly those that attend out-door events were very courteous and very sensitive to not wanting to annoy their fellow participants.

Cm. Raab said he felt it was important that the City set a policy or an ordinance specifically for our outdoor amphitheater events.

Cm. Kinney said the County ordinance was a youth free ordinance and the amphitheater discussion was talking about adults. He said he agreed the licensing of businesses should be done up front. He also said he felt there should be a penalty stating if a business gets caught selling tobacco products to minors they lose their license.

Mayor Athan said he felt the additional two items covering no smoking at outdoor events in the amphitheater and bleachers on city property were legitimate and we could be leaders in this field. He said he felt they could be self enforcing. He said he felt the Council was putting too much on the City resolving a problem that the kids were able to do themselves. There was a consensus to direct the City Attorney to draft an ordinance covering self-service displays, no sale or give-aways of tobacco promotional items, tobacco advertising and licensing of businesses that sell tobacco products.

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FEE RESOLUTION UPDATE

The City Clerk said that staff had recently completed the yearly review of the City's fee resolution and had recommended amendments. She said the Finance Committee had reviewed the changes at its April 6 meeting and recommended approval. She said a copy of the recommended changes was sent to a list of 33 businesses, property owners, San Ramon Chamber of Commerce and Building Industry telling them of the scheduled April 27 public hearing.

No one spoke during the public hearing.

Cm. Welm's motion to adopt the resolution approving the changes was seconded by Cm. Kinney and passed 5-0.

RESOLUTION NO. 99-40

ESTABLISHING FEES AND CHARGES FOR VARIOUS MUNICIPAL SERVICES The City Clerk said the new fee resolution would go into effect June 28, 1999.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS AREA CODE RELIEF

Ken Mintz, Contra Costa County Director of External Affairs for Pacific Bell, said on the last Council agenda there was an item with questions regarding the area code relief planning that was occurring within Contra Costa and Alameda Counties specific to the 925 area code. He said as a result of that discussion there was a request to bring subject matter experts before the Council to talk about the issues of area code relief for 925 and various available alternatives. He said April 22 there was a meeting referred to as the local jurisdiction meeting where government officials had a chance to address issues and get a chance to see what the various alternatives are for relief.

Cherri Connor, California Public Utilities Commission, said at the April 22 meeting there were two plans proposed by the area code administrator for relief for 925, an area code split and an area code overlay. She described the process used to develop area code relief planning in California and the function of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Cm. Welm asked why are numbers given out in 10,000 unit blocks?

Ms. Connor replied the Bell Core used to have control over the number administration and now it is with the North American Numbering Plan. She said administration of numbers have been developed on a 10,000 block basis and it affects not only California, it is implemented or orchestrated by the FCC and the North American Numbering Plan. She said if this were changed it would affect not only the United States but also Canada and the Caribbean Islands. She said FCC was evaluating a proposal called number pooling where you could give out numbers in 1,000 blocks or on an individual number basis. She said as of last Friday they had petitioned the FCC to allow the California State Public Utilities Commission to mandate number pooling.

Cm. Welm asked if the FCC were to follow its normal practices and timelines how quickly would they be coming back to the CPUC with a resolution on their requests and was there any chance at all of avoiding the split?

Ms. Conner said she did not know how fast the FCC would act but she hoped it would be within four to six months.

Cm. Kinney said everyone that attended the April 22 meeting with the exception of the vendors was not in favor of the overlay and spoke in support of the split.

Cm. Hudson said a third issue discussed at the April 22 meeting was that this should not happen again. He said each person who spoke asked why can't the projections be made for the next 20 years. He asked if there were any relief to the possibility of an area code change again in the near future or would the Council be looking at telling people in the next election we may have to do it again.

Ms. Connor said it depends on whether or not we get number pooling. She said while number pooling is not the be all and end all and won't save us from everything, instead of giving carriers blocks of 10,000 numbers and maybe the new carrier has only 50 to 300 customers give the carrier 1,000 numbers with 300 customers and have the remaining numbers available for some other carrier.

Mayor Athan asked Mr. Mintz when Pac Bell was going to realize Bishop Ranch was part of San Ramon and San Ramon was not part of Bishop Ranch?

Mr. Mintz said the names Mayor Athan was speaking of were associated with rate centers. He said the rate centers were based on central offices and were established prior to incorporation of the city.

Katherine Morehouse, President of the California Association of Competitive Telecommunications Companies, discussed the geographic split option and said she represented 45 competitive telecommunications companies who favor geographic splits. She said her industry feels that consumers hate overlays and they are not competitively neutral. She urged the Council to support geographic splits and said she thought Council's idea of putting pressure on the FCC was a good one.

John Banuelos, Pacific Bell Regulatory Manager, said Pacific Bell was in support of an overlay. He said the basic reason was given the number of splits that have taken place in the State of California and the amount of change placed upon people, the solution that Pac Bell can come up with, the one that is available today that doesn't anyone's telephone number is an overlay.

Cm. Hudson asked what would be the change in the rates with either one of the alternatives. Mr. Banuelos said the cost of a call whether it be split or overlay does not change. He said area code was not an indicator for cost, it was strictly distance. He also discussed the monthly fifty cent service provider affordability charge, stating it provides that the customer has the choice at any time of service providers.

Cm. Welm said this issue was going to cause a major change in the way we live our lives. He said he heard what the Pac Bell people were saying, that this is a convenience issue, but for a one time avoidance of disruption we are going to be stuck with a system that has a lot of detriment to it. He said he felt you would find the residences willing to suffer a one time disruption for the benefit of still being able to dial seven digits to reach their neighbor and to be able to know from the phone number where people are living and how far the business is. He said he thought the area code split proposal was excellent. He also said he felt the Tri-Valley area has an identify that we are proud to be a part of and he saw no reason that we should object to the split that is being offered. He said it is pretty clear that if we allow the overlay to happen in 925 we will never be able to reverse it. He made a motion that we need to put down our foot, we need to insist that we go to a split at this point in time and then start a lobbying effort with the appropriate people and argue for splits, argue for the service mode option that is the easiest one and to implement number pooling so we can get down to 1,000 allocations rather than 10,000.

Cm. Kinney seconded the motion.

Mayor Athan said it had been moved and seconded that Council strenuously and effectively lobby to get a split rather than an overlay and called for the question.

The vote on the motion was 5-0.

Cm. Raab recommended sending a letter to all of the Tri-Valley cities telling them what we are doing and encouraging them to follow our lead.

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SOLID WASTE COLLECTION

Jim Poyer, 612 Santander Drive, said he had experienced in the last 18 months very poor garbage service at least 10 times. He said the specific problem is the late pickup of recycling and the green waste. He said it was an inconvenience, a hassle and it an eyesore in the neighborhood to have the trash cans out for three or four days. He said he felt we should be getting a much better level of service and he would to see the City do something about it.

Mayor Athan asked is there were a penalty clause in our garbage contract?

Cm. Raab said he had been getting numerous complaints regarding missed pickups, trucks starting pickups prior to 6:00 a.m., spilled garbage and continuous busy signals when you call the garbage company to complain.

The Administrative Analyst said the contract with Valley Waste Management provided for liquidated damages. He said with regard to missed collections, after the first 10 missed collections annually it provides for fines up to $150, for missed collection of recyclables, green waste and solid waste and established accounts. It also provides for liquidated damages of $150 for the second consecutive missed collection on a regularly scheduled day as well as for not returning customer calls or carrying out special clean ups.

Cm. Raab said it was in Council's purview to implement these fines at this time with documentation.

The Administrative Analyst said the level of documentation that would be required would ultimately have to play out before the Council. He said he had documented all complaints and he received quarterly logs from the company. He welcomed residents to give him a call and gave his telephone number.

Cm. Raab said he would like the Council to get the process going and implement the fines as listed in the contract.

Cm. Welm said it was Waste Management's problem and they had to run their company to the satisfaction of the contract.

Cm. Raab's motion to authorize the City Attorney to take action to enforce the penalty clauses in the City's contract with the garbage company was seconded by Cm. Welm.

Cm. Hudson said he wanted to stress what the Council was trying to do was to get the garbage service back in line.

The motion passed 5-0.

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MAYORS' CONFERENCE AGENDA

Cm. Welm said he was expecting to see on the May 6 Mayors' Conference agenda an invitation to Caltrans to appear to discuss graffiti and their slow response. He said he would call the Executive Director and ask when that issue is going to be agendized.

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Y2K UPDATE

Cm. Hudson said there was a pretty good turn out for the last Y2K Committee meeting. He said the initial problems that were expected on April 10 did not materialize. He said the response shows that people are taking it seriously and that we are getting up to speed on compliance.

Mayor Athan said approximately 20 people attended the seminar that was held at the Community Center. He asked the City Manager to find out why Dublin San Ramon Services District did not show up at the Y2K seminar.

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There being no further business to come before the City, at 10:30 p.m. Mayor Athan adjourned the meeting.

Byron D. Athan, Mayor
Judy Macfarlane, City Clerk

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