A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of San Ramon was called to order on January 28, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, 2222 Camino Ramon, Mayor Wilson presiding.

PRESENT: Councilmembers Cambra, Dickey, Hudson, Tatarka and Mayor Wilson

ABSENT: None

STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Gail E. Waiters, City Attorney Tom Curry, Police Chief Brian Lindblom, Parks and Community Services Director Jeff Eorio, Development Services Director Joye Fukuda, Assistant City Manager Jim Estep, Interim Public Works Director Doug Udell, Program Manager Kevin Carunchio, Division Manager, Parks and Community Services John Skeel, Recreation Coordinator Derek Schweigart, Economic Development Services Manager John Dillon, and City Clerk Judy Macfarlane

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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Junior Girl Scout Troop 1519 – Iron Horse Middle School led Council, staff and the audience in the pledge.

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Ben Laub, San Ramon Valley Rotary, He said the Rotary was proposing to marshal their resources to lead the project of renovating, furnishing and restoring the David Glass House by 2005 and to dedicate this resource and heritage as a museum for this community. In future discussions and collaborations with the City of San Ramon the Rotary offers to work to secure funds from grants, foundations and corporations, businesses, Rotarians and other individuals in effort to secure up to $500,000 in necessary funds and resources to insure that the Glass House, that reflects a part of our local heritage, is offered as a museum in perpetuity for the San Ramon community and the greater San Ramon Valley region. He asked for the Council’s consideration and support of the Rotary proposal by formalizing and endorsing their leadership and their joint interest in moving forward with this project.

Cm. Dickey thanked Mr. Laub for this generous offer of participation in this wonderful project. She said she would like to hold the draft letter of agreement until the City has received the report from the National Trust for Historic Homes which will outline the program as to what needs to be done with the property and the scope of the project is known.

The City Manager said the draft agreement in the Council packet was just an example of what type of things staff has preliminarily talked about with the Rotary. She said there will be an official letter of agreement with a number of provisions specifically spelled out when the City gets to the point of signing an agreement with the Rotary.

Mayor Wilson said on behalf of the Council and the residents he would like to thank the Rotarians for taking up this cause.

Mayor Wilson gave Inga Miller of the Tri-Valley Herald a San Ramon pen and wished her well in her new endeavor working at the County and covering San Ramon issues as they relate to the County.

The City Clerk announced there were two vacancies on the Economic Development Advisory Committee and two applicants had responded to the recruitment, Ron Clause and E. J. Simpson. Staff recommended the Council review the applications and make appointments to the Economic Development Advisory Committee for two year terms to run through January 2005.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to appoint Mr. Clause and Mr. Simpson to the Economic Development Advisory Committee was seconded by Cm. Dickey and passed 5-0.

The City Clerk said there were three openings on the Transportation Advisory Committee. She noted one of the four applicants, Shelly Lewis, had withdrawn her application.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to appoint Tom McClean, Philip Mouser and Kathy Stewart to two year terms on the Transportation Advisory Committee through January 2005 was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0.

The City Clerk said there were two openings and two applicants for the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Advisory Committee.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to appoint Jennifer Neves and Linda Pettie to the Transportation Demand Management Advisory Committee for two year terms to January 2005 was seconded by Cm. Cambra and passed 5-0.

The City Clerk said an application had been received from Garry Chaban for the position of San Ramon representative to the Contra Costa County Council on Aging.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to appoint Garry Chaban as San Ramon’s representative to the Contra Costa County Council on Aging was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0.

Deborah Yeoman introduced the Friends of San Ramon, a new group of residents and business people who have become increasingly aware of the importance of representation at City Council meetings. She said they firmly believe in the significance of their numbers to influence and act upon key issues affecting the community and their individual neighborhoods. She said the Friends of San Ramon is an organization that will provide accurate and timely information on key issues. They will be a resource for both the residential and business community. She concluded by saying their organization would meet quarterly and she encouraged new members to join.

Greg Carr said last year during campaigning there were a lot of character assassinations and innuendoes regarding certain people on the Council regarding their expenditures for trips. He said he had come before the Council in August or September 2002 asking to have an audit done on all the City Council expenditures going back to 1983. He said he would like to see a report that covers dollars spent per year in office. He asked the Council to please bring his request forward in the immediate future suggesting it be on the agenda for the first meeting in February for Council discussion. He said he would like to see if there was three votes to hire an independent auditor to come in and acquire the facts so that all the opposition groups can have the facts as to who spent what and how much over their tenure.

The City Manager said Mr. Carr’s request had been brought to her attention a couple of weeks ago and staff was doing research and looking at what the item was when it was brought before the Council originally to make sure when it is brought back before Council it is something the Council wants to review. She said she could not guarantee it will come back the first meeting in February.

John Youngblood, Bollinger Hills Association Board Member, gave a copy of a letter to the Council on behalf of the Bollinger Hills Homeowners Association. He said the letter was from Victor Petersen, President of the Bollinger Hills Homeowners Association to Robert Drake of the Contra Costa County Community Development Department asking for written confirmation that no portion of any house in the Norris Canyon Estates/ Weidemann Ranch development project will be visible from any of the Bollinger Hills homes. Mr. Youngblood requested the City schedule a focus community neighborhood meeting to talk about this issue and to give the residents an opportunity to discuss some of the other Westside open space protection issues.

Jay Vahalla, said he had opened a local business about a year ago and he had two requests; 1) for the City jobs that go out to bid to be listed on the City web site and, 2) that a seminar be scheduled in which local businesses could buy sponsorship for various events and meet certain buyers in a particular setting.

Mayor Wilson said the City would get in touch with Mr. Vahalla to follow-up.

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Cm. Dickey’s motion to approve the minutes of November 26, 2002 was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0.

Cm. Dickey corrected on the January 14, 2003 minutes on page 27, line 27 in the phase "when it is time for place" it should state "when it is time for placement".

Cm. Dickey’s motion to approve the January 14, 2003 minutes as corrected was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0.

Cm. Dickey asked that item 8.3, Creation of the Open Space and Conservation Advisory Committee be removed from the consent calendar. She said creation of the committee was a charge of our General Plan when it was approved on the March 2002 ballot. It is almost a year now that these people have not met and she suggested that at the next Council meeting the appointees be selected. The bylaws state that the committee is to meet every other month and she suggested amending the bylaws to say "meet every month".

Mayor Wilson said Joyce Gregory asked that item 8.5, Landscaping and Lighting District No. 1864-1, Special Assessment Zone, Twin Creeks, be removed from the consent calendar.

Cm. Cambra asked that item 8.2, Resolution accepting certain public infrastructure for maintenance (Braddock & Logan, Terrazzo Unit #1), be removed from the consent calendar.

Cm. Hudson made a motion to approve 8.1, 8.3, as amended, and 8.4 on the consent calendar.

Cm. Dickey seconded the motion.

Cm. Cambra said he thought item 8.3 had been pulled.

Mayor Wilson said item 8.3 had been amended.

Cm. Cambra said he would prefer to have 8.3 pulled and discussed.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to approve items 8.1 and 8.4 on the consent calendar was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0

REGISTER OF DEMANDS dated January 3, 8 and 19, 2003 in the amount of $463,094.27.

RESOLUTION NO. 2003-13 Authorizing an increase in the Ten Percent Contract Change Order Limit specified by Title A, Division A7 of the City of San Ramon Municipal Code to the agreement with White Oak Landscape for construction of Pine Valley Middle School Field Renovations and Parking Lot Project (CIP 8257), in the amount of $11,000.

The City Manager said that item 8.2, Braddock & Logan, Terrazzo Unit #1 had been removed from the agenda completely because staff needed to do more work on it and therefore it would not be considered at that meeting.

Cm. Tatarka asked for clarification on what had been pulled from the consent calendar.

Mayor Wilson asked the City Clerk to respond to Cm. Tatarka’s question.

The City Clerk said that items 8.2, 8.3 and 8.5 had been pulled from the consent calendar and noted that item 8.2 would be continued to the February 11, 2003 Council meeting.

The City Manager said once an item has been pulled and the consent calendar has been approved the pulled items can be considered right after.

Mayor Wilson said that 8.5, L&L District, Special Assessment Zone, Twin Creeks, would be the next item considered and called on Joyce Gregory to speak.

Ms. Gregory said there were three homeowners associations that own the land in the Twin Creek Special Assessment Zone and it was the idea to give this land to the City. She said however when the City is given the land the homeowners have to pay the City for the land. She said tomorrow the ballots would be sent out to the three homeowners associations and she felt because the homeowners would be paying for that particular area to be presentable to the public that they should have some more input. She said the public discussion part of the process should take place before the ballots are mailed so there could be input as to the type of landscaping. She said she would like to have an idea of the cost before she receives the ballot. She also said she would like to know how much square footage she owns of the special zone. She wanted to make sure the homeowners were adequately noticed regarding the cost.

The Development Services Director said the item before the Council, Landscaping and Lighting District No. 1984-1, Special Assessment Zone 18 – Twin Creeks. Resolution No. 2003-14, Approving the Engineer’s Report, Ordering the Mailing of Ballots and Setting a Public Hearing for March 25, 2003, was consistent with the Landscaping and Lighting District Act to form a new special zone. She said City staff had received letters of petition from the three homeowners’ associations asking the City staff to initiate this process. The process is being followed as defined by the Landscaping and Lighting District law and also with respect to Proposition 218 which is the right of voters to vote on any new assessment. Discussions with the Homeowners’ Association Board regarding the level of landscaping have been held and they are consistent with the City standards and also consistent with the L&L guidelines that have been adopted by the Council. The ballot measure that will be mailed out to the residents will include an assessment limit over which the City will not be able to increase their assessments without another vote of the public. As part of the process a public meeting will be conducted with all of the residents and they will all get invitations to attend. She said a meeting can be held with Ms. Gregory tomorrow if it is convenient for her to provide her with information.

Cm. Dickey said she would like to clarify that according to the staff report the estimated amount was not $350 it was $129.

Mayor Wilson said hopefully this information will help other residents and staff would work on a time when Ms. Gregory could meet with them.

Jeff Lawrence, Braddock and Logan, said item 8.2, regarding the acceptance of the Terrazzo tract, had been the last Council meeting’s agenda. He said it was pulled at that time and after speaking with staff, they had indicated all of the questions they had from Braddock and Logan had been answered so he was curious to find out why this item was being pulled again. Mr. Lawrence said the tract was completely sold out, houses were occupied, acceptance letters had been received from Parks and Public Works Departments with respect to all of the improvements being accepted. If there are questions of staff that need to answered by Braddock and Logan he would be happy to get together with them. Braddock and Logan had not received any complaints from any of the homeowners associations or any of the homeowners as it relates to the public improvements and/or any of the public improvements as it relates to the park.

Mayor Wilson asked the Council to conclude the discussion on the L&L District before a response was given to Mr. Lawrence.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to approve Resolution No. 2003-14, Approving the Engineer’s Report, Ordering the Mailing of Ballots and setting a public hearing for March 25, 2003 was seconded by Cm. Cambra and passed 5-0.

The Development Services Director said that staff would recommend that they get together with Mr. Lawrence and explain why the matter has been pulled. She said it was a staff initiated item that occurred during discussions late that afternoon.

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OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Kevin Carunchio said the creation of the Open Space and Conservation Advisory Committee was recommended by the City’s Environment Affairs Advisory Committee. Creating this committee will maintain the City’s compliance with the policy in the General Plan to establish an advisory committee to advise the City Council and Parks and Community Services Commission on setting priorities for open space acquisition and preservation in accordance with other policies contained in the General Plan. The purpose of the Open Space and Conservation Advisory Committee will be to provide input to the City of San Ramon during the implementation of the open space and the conservation policies of the General Plan 2020. The recommendation to create the Open Space and Conservation Advisory Committee will not only implement the policy requiring an Open Space Committee in the General Plan it will reduce any potential duplication of effort between the Environmental Affairs Advisory Committee and the Open Space Committee. He said while the bylaws state the minimum meeting frequency for the proposed committee is to meet every other month, he felt it was anticipated there would be monthly meetings.

Christy Tyler, Environmental Affairs Advisory Committee, said they would welcome new members to their committee. They look forward to the new members sharing their expertise, insight and ideas. The Environmental Affairs Committee is very excited to possibly be given the chance to expand their interests to include everything listed in Chapter 8 of the General Plan.

Tim Attoe, Environmental Affairs Advisory Committee, said the committee had been interested for many years in the issues of creeks, trails and watersheds. He said a larger committee has many benefits including turnover is easier to handle, larger subcommittees and more research can be focused on the hot issues.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to approve Resolution No. 2003-23, Creation of the Open Space and Conservation Advisory Committee was seconded by Cm. Dickey.

Cm. Tatarka thanked Mr. Carunchio for the thorough staff report noting it listed all the reasons why it would be a big benefit to not only the committee but to the staff and the Council as well. She said she was expecting great things from the new committee knowing the great things that have come out the Environmental Affairs Advisory Committee.

The motion passed 5-0.

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT

Michael Geib, Arts Advisory Committee Chair person, listed the committee’s accomplishments for the prior year which included; approved enhanced lighting for the gallery in the Community Center, reviewed and analyzed cultural events in the City and recommended changes, reviewed and analyzed City sponsored art classes, created a Public Art brochure, continued input to the discussions on the City Civic Center, approved art in public places, developed Art in the Business program, oversaw the renovation of the San Ramon Library mural and added new Performing Art programs.

Mr. Geib said they would continue next year to encourage Art in the Business program, continue to promote art in education in our schools, to create a Public Art program, to increase corporate sponsorship, to work with local foundations in subsidizing local programs, to continue to provide an opportunity for local performing art groups to perform within our community and to establish a direct mail for individuals interested in receiving information regarding art programs in San Ramon.

Mayor Wilson thanked the Arts Advisory Committee for all of their work and Cal High for taking on the project of cleaning up the mural in the Library.

Cm. Tatarka said it was an excellent report and thanked the committee.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to accept the Arts Advisory Committee annual report was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0.

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COMMUNITY AND YOUTH RESOURCES PROGRAM ANNUAL REPORT

Recreation Coordinator Derek Schweigart said staff would be making quarterly reports to the City Council and the Parks and Community Services Commission. He described the Program as a collaboration between the Police Department and Parks and Community Services Department as well as the San Ramon Unified School District, California High School, Pine Valley and Iron Horse Middle Schools. He listed the five components of the program; 1) Counseling and Prevention, 2) Training and Technical Assistance, 3) Employment and Job Training, 4) Community Service and Diversion, and 5) Recreation.

Officer Patrick Bowen, the Police Services Community and Resource Officer, gave an overview of the Counseling and Prevention Program.

Officer Bowen described the Training and Technical Assistance component of the program.

Renae Boone, Program Employment Specialist, spoke about the opportunities presented to the youth through the Employment and Job Training program and described the Community Service and Diversion component of the program.

Mr. Schweigart said the City’s Diversion Program had won a California Parks and Recreation Society State award last year. He said the collaboration between the Police Department and the Parks and Community Services Department takes the preventative nature of recreational programs to work with youth to continue to divert their attention into more positive things.

Cm. Tatarka asked for an explanation of what was being done during the over 4,000 hours of community service.

Mr. Schweigart said the youth were involved in many projects including park maintenance at the Community Center, city-wide events and working with the contractor at Memorial Park getting the BMX track ready.

Mayor Wilson said we are all one community and this is a perfect example of everyone getting together so services are not duplicated. He asked if any more grants had been received to help with the program?

Office Bowen said as far as he knew funding was still being received from the COPS program.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to accept the Annual Report of the Community and Youth Resources Program was seconded by Cm. Dickey and passed 5-0.

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Mayor Wilson called for a five minute break.

All Councilmembers were present when the meeting reconvened.

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CITY CIVIC CENTER PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES

The Development Services Director introduced a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Swinerton Management and Consulting for project management services to complete the conceptual design phase of the City Civic Center Project. She said the conceptual design phase extends over two fiscal years 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. The amount budgeted is $200,000 and is included in the Planning Services budget. The City Civic Center Project has four phases. The first phase was completed with a City Council unanimous vote on December 3, 2002 to approve the conceptual master plan. She said the next phase, the conceptual design phase, will include the schematic design preparation and a cost estimating and evaluation of implementation strategies.

Steve Fust, Swinerton Management Consultants, said it was their goal to get the fees approved and to move the project forward to the next level of design. At the end of the next design phase they will provide to the City and to the community floor plans of the four major buildings, drawings showing how these different buildings interface with each other, how they interface with the traffic and the surrounding streets, elevations of all four buildings and essentially a view of what the entire project will look like. By doing the added design work it gets them the next level of estimating detail that they need to be able to secure the estimate and allows them to do a more detailed review of the phasing and provide the City a more detailed review of not just the estimate and phasing but also possible financing options. He said he would review the master plan, where the overall cost of the project was going, schedules and Swinerton’s plans during the next design phase. As the project stands now the cost is in the range of $115 and $131 million. The big components that are not covered in this approximate cost are the aquatic center and a bridge going across Bollinger. Ultimately they will provide the Council a thorough detailed estimate on a conceptual drawing including potential phasing plans for the construction and potential financing plans for the project. He said he would anticipate presenting to Council along with the design team status updates in a public forum as the project moves forward. It is their goal to complete all the design phases of the project by June and go through the estimating phase and phasing and financing plans in July and August.

Cm. Hudson said he thought at a previous meeting the Children’s Museum had been moved to be part of the Library.

Mr. Fust said the Children’s Museum is only 20,000 square feet and has always been associated with one of the other buildings. He said this would work well as they would use a common entrance lobby and common restrooms.

Cm. Hudson said he wanted to clarify that what was being talked about with the approval of the resolution was a conceptual plan that could go to the voters in August.

Mayor Wilson opened the public comment period.

Patricia Boom said each time she saw the City Civic Center design it had changed and she felt this was confusing to the public. Her concern was the amount of money that was being used for the City Civic Center design. She asked the Council to not spend any more money until they had provided information to the public so that they will know how much it is going to cost the taxpayers to pay for the plan, per household, per year, over an extended period of time. She said by the time all of the conceptual plans are completed there may be a project that is so expensive that the public is not willing to pay for it.

Jim Blickenstaff said his concern was the acreage and he would like the phrasing to clearly state what is being done to the entire 18 acres. If the project does not encompass the 18 acres then Council should be honest enough to say the 11 acre City Civic Center project. He recommended looking at the concept in terms of the entire 18 acres, the potential there and the potential for impacts on the community. He stated any uncertainties in the minds of the voters as to what was happening on the entire 18 acres could potentially undermine the success of the project.

Michelle Cowles asked where the pool would be located. She believed the Council unanimously agreed that the pool be included on the conceptual design. People want the pool and she did not understand how it keeps getting left off the plans.

Greg Carr said the issue for discussion was not the plan but to talk about executing an extension to contracts for both the project manager and the architect. He said he felt that the $386,000 and $1.1 million listed in agenda items 11.1 and 11.2 were sums very well spent if they get the design done in a timely manner and they present a phasing to the Council so that the project could begin in late summer. He urged the consultants to pay attention to the City Council when they do their project design and when they do their project management. He said staff is ancillary and the Council are the people who are supposed to be handling the project. He urged the Council to execute both contracts.

Cm. Cambra asked Mr. Carr if he considered the June date put forward by Mr. Fust as timely.

Mr. Carr replied only if after Mr. Fust and the architect present the combined package and their conceptual and estimates. He said if you are able to have the construction drawings and to go through the process of getting a contractor to start construction but he did not think that would probably work out. He stated other concepts may have to be addressed such as fast tracking phases and Mr. Fust and the architect may have to work in concert to design it in a fast track mode so that you speed some things up.

Roz Rogoff said she felt a lot of people were very disappointed in the outcome of the process and recommended rather than giving them more money to look at what we are getting this far. When this started the objective was to try to make better use of both sides of the street, the eleven acre and the seven acre parcels, and that has not been done. The current plan looks a lot like the one that was done in 2001 and that is why she was unwilling to commit this amount of money until the public has a chance to determine whether or not they want to spend this kind of money on this project..

Mayor Wilson closed public comment.

Cm. Cambra asked Mr. Fust to address the issue with the pool and Mr. Carr’s issue regarding designing in the fast tracking mode.

Mr. Fust said it was his understanding that they had been directed to go ahead with the City Center plan keeping a placeholder for the pool only and to not include an aquatic design as part of the program.

Cm. Cambra said there were no funds in the contract being discussed associated with the pool.

Mr. Fust said the funds being discussed did not include the cost of doing an aquatic center or costs to build anything else in the pool area.

Mr. Fust said the issue of building out the entire 18 acres was discussed in detail with the design group and in their opinion the buildings that include the City Center project fit very well on the 11 acres. The buildings would all be close enough on the 11 acres so there would be the synergy and vibrancy that you would want for a community center. He said the seven acres had not been abandoned and part of their fees include looking at the seven acres and the potential alternatives for that site will be presented in August. If he had to estimate when construction would begin it would probably be in early 2005 and that was assuming things move forward and the funding becomes available toward the end of 2003.

Cm. Cambra said back to the issue of the contract he wanted clarification that the contract fees include some work in determining alternatives on the seven acres that are across the street.

Mr. Fust said that was correct but it does not include any detailed building programs on that site.

Cm. Dickey said she would like to go back to August 2001 when Turner was hired as the project manager for almost $454,000 to execute the project at that time. There was no one in the community that came forth and questioned that amount. When Turner was hired for the design phase for $130 million nobody came forth from the community and said that they objected to that. She said the City has been working on this project for a couple of years and all of a sudden people have a concern with what is being spent. She said the staff report states and it has been said that this amount of money has been budgeted. In order to get our City Civic Center going to the next phase and get to design is to approve the contract. She said she had not heard from anyone in the community that said they do not want the City Center. She said she would like to point out when Bob Diaz of Turner Construction was hired as the project manager he was charging the City $180 an hour. She asked Mr. Fust what he was charging the City.

Mr. Fust replied $135 an hour.

Cm. Hudson said he would like to point out that people were talking about financing.

Cm. Dickey said she had stated nobody objected.

Cm. Hudson said Curt Kinney had been screaming from day one. He said he was pretty certain that the Council had asked for the pool to be analyzed as an alternative on the 11 acre site and then a decision would be made later when the numbers were determined. He said that wouldn’t change anything to do with the contract and in fact it was analyzed as one of the alternatives on the 11 acre site. He asked Mr. Fust if there was anything he could see changing on the 11 acre site.

Mr. Fust asked if Cm. Hudson’s question was do we want to move the pool to the seven acre site.

Cm. Hudson said at the December 3 meeting we asked as an alternative what would it cost to put the pool there. He said he was asking would it change the contract at all if in fact they brought that back as part of the analysis.

Mr. Fust said for them to do a preliminary view of the pool would not be a major issue because they already have a good idea of the costs from the pool advisory group. He said as far as doing a detailed study on the pool and showing everything about it that is a big deal.

Mayor Wilson said the most important thing in looking at the project is, the residents need to know the cost. He said we arrive at that by having a plan, by showing what will be developed and that we bring them forth and everyone is on the same page. Residents have to know what they are voting on. The additional funds in the Swinerton contract approved by Resolution No. 2003-09 are what is needed to take this project to the next stage.

Cm. Cambra made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2003-09, Authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Swinerton Management and Consulting for project management services to complete the conceptual design phase of the City Civic Center Project in an amount not to exceed $386,000 including all reimbursables.

Cm. Tatarka seconded the motion.

Mayor Wilson said he wanted assurance these funds had been allocated for this project.

The Administrative Services Director said as the staff report outlines this amount will require an allocation in next year’s budget. He said what the Council would be committing to would be the remaining balance that would occur during next fiscal year which by his calculation is approximately $100,000 in next year’s budget and the Council would essentially be committing to that now. He said there is $300,000 budgeted this year so it is covered this year as long as you buy into the fact you also need to budget next year’s remaining amount.

Cm. Hudson said it is his hope some where, some way, that the changes get out to the people to see if this is really what they want. He said he would hope that as soon as Swinerton could get a breakdown on the costs that a study session is scheduled to bring people up to speed. He said come November somebody is going to have to make some choices because there is not $130 million on the tree.

Cm. Cambra said he thought they had seen in the limited time Swinerton had been onboard, they and Mr. Fust specifically had done a good job in keeping things moving, presenting information to the community and the Council. He said he wanted to thank both Swinerton and the architect publicly.

Cm. Tatarka said the advisory committee had held a lot of meetings and Swinerton and the design team of Fisher-Friedman-Ellerbe Becket have been constantly pushing and driving the project and doing what the Council asked them to do. She said this is going to be a team effort, which means it is going to be the architects, the project manager, the City Manager and City staff, moving forward with the citizens to get the project done. Approval of the contract is part of the process to move forward with the City Civic Center.

Mayor Wilson said it is imperative that we move this process along to the next stage.

By roll call vote the motion passed 5-0.

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CITY CIVIC CENTER ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES

The Development Services Director introduced a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Fisher Friedman – Ellerbe Becket for architectural services to complete the conceptual design phase of the City Civic Center project in an amount not to exceed $1,675,000 including all reimbursables and authorize a budget increase of $1.1 million. She said the conceptual design fees would start during FY 2002-03 and would be completed in FY 2003-04. She reviewed the budget for the architectural services scope of work for the conceptual design for completion of a schematic design and reviewed the approved funding in the FY 2002-03 Program of Services and the funding proposed for the FY 2003-04 Program of Services. She said the conceptual master design phase was completed with the Council’s unanimous adoption on December 3, 2002 and the scope of work that is included for the next conceptual design phase is for completion of a schematic design and to determine costs and evaluate implementation strategies.

The City Manager said she would like the Administrative Services Director to explain the fiscal implications on this item to the Council.

The Administrative Services Director said this item was somewhat different than the previous one. He reiterated the fact that the original funding budgeted in 2002-03 had been almost depleted and the $1.1 million requested was not in the current budget. He said it would be up to the Council to authorize the expenditure that would require dipping into the City’s General Reserve Fund. The project would carry over to FY 2003-04 and the balance would then be appropriated into that year’s budget. He responded to Cm. Dickey’s question that the current balance of the General Fund was approximately $30 million which is in the 90% range of the City’s total annual operating budget.

Dan Howard, Fisher Friedman Associates, said there were going to be seven different projects funded by this contract. He said the strategic operations plan provided by the original architects, designers and project manager had errors and omissions that needed to be addressed and that enhancements needed to be made. Mr. Howard outlined the remaining part of the project which included the design of the buildings and the integration of the buildings onto the 11 acre parcel. The second part of the project is to design the City Hall/Council Chamber, the Children’s Museum and Library, the Center for Arts and Retail and then integrating those buildings into the 11 acre parcel. The third project is the identification of the uses on the seven acre parcel. The last project is a combination one that supports all of the others which is financing, phasing and delivery method of the ultimate project itself. He said in order to get something else going they have to give the Councilmembers the information that they need to make decisions and give the citizens the information they need to tell the Council what they want.

Nathan Ogle spoke about a conceptual phase deliverables matrix. The matrix was about trying to get to the point to where this project could be priced legitimately with documents. He said they would give the Council an illustrative site plan, a site model to scale, all building floor plan, architectural narrative, structural narrative, landscape narrative, mechanical, electrical and plumbing narrative, Leeds narrative recommendation, narrative and recommendation based on meetings with the Council, the steering committees and the oversight committees, various phasing options, Leeds versus a non Leeds cost analysis and an architectural cost estimate to be reconciled against Swinerton’s construction cost estimate so that there is an agreement on the numbers and the price of the buildings as well as the total construction costs. He also said the Council would be receiving booklets and presentation boards.

Mr. Howard said it was his job once the deliverables were decided on to insure that the appropriate resources were engaged and provided as part of the team. He said many consultants have been engaged as part of the team including a landscape consultant, a specialty theater consultant, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, lighting engineers and a library consultant. He said the schedule is aggressive and they were ready to move forward.

Mayor Wilson opened the public comment period.

Patricia Boom said the amount of money that is needed for this contract is not budgeted and must come from the reserves. She said while we are fortunate to have had enough foresight to have provided substantial reserves, it is still going to cost a lot of money. She said people want the City Center but along with the amount of money being spent to provide the Council with information of how much the final costs are it would be a good idea if there could be a discussion with the public on the options for financing the City Center. She expressed concern that the money was not budgeted and the amount was coming from the City’s reserves.

Woody Hedman said he felt the Swinerton contract made a lot of sense and until we find out what this will be cost wise and maybe how it will be funded it is a little soon to start on the projects listed in the Fisher Friedman contract. He said to spend another $1.6 million at this time does not make sense.

Diane Schinnerer asked that the approval of the Fisher Friedman contract be postponed until the Swinerton design is completed and all cost estimates are known. She said she felt San Ramon citizens should be surveyed as to the strength of their support of this project and how much they were willing to pay per parcel over a 30 year period or however is chosen to finance it. She objected to spending $1.1 million of the City’s reserves for a project that may never be built because of financial constraints or possible lack of community support. She expressed concern about the red ink of the theater.

Greg Carr said Swinerton does not do design, Swinerton manages projects. He said in order to get a price for this project we need to do the conceptual design and a conceptual estimate and do the things that you need in enough detail to get the price close enough. The decision has been made by the Council to proceed with the City Center and in order to determine how much it is going to cost, who is going to pay for it, how it will be phased, you need to do this first step. He said the sums of money being spoken about that night plus the sums that have proceeded it are a good deal. He said the architect had given a very good description in detail of what they were going to provide for the money. He urged the Council to approve the contract and get on with the project.

Phil O’Loane said the City has to go through this process to figure out how much the project is going to cost. He said one thing that is unclear to him in the whole process is the one City building, the library, that currently exists in the area is going to be greatly impacted by the project. He said he could not understand if there is going to be a new library why the costs of the disposition of the previous library are not being discussed in the project budget. He says this makes sense to go through this process.

Mr. Hedman said he though the Swinerton contract was going to be able to give the Council a pretty good estimate of what it would cost and how it would be funded. He said it may not provide the fine detail but you are going to be within a ballpark figure and he did not feel an additional $1.1 million needed to be spent to find out whether or not the citizens are going to be willing to proceed. He said until the residents know how much it is going to cost them over a period of time it doesn’t make sense to spend the additional money.

Jay Vahalla said he was not in disagreement with the need for project management and architectural services but the total of the two contracts is $2 million. He said he did not want to dip into reserve funds unless absolutely necessary. He encouraged the Council to look at some phased approach if possible, perhaps some combination of the Swinerton and Fisher-Friedman contracts in the $750,000 range to give some kind of a number, some kind of a concept that can be taken to the voters.

Greg Carr said he felt it was inappropriate to have jack-in-the box speakers. He said if people speak once that should be it.

Mayor Wilson closed the public hearing.

Cm. Dickey said she felt there was a misconception as to what each person’s job is to get to the point so that we can estimate what this project is going to be. Mr. Fust and Swinerton are doing everything that they said they would but they are not designing the project, that is the purview of the architect. She said we can not get the cost estimating until the architects design the project. She said this City Council chose a project manager to be the lead to provide continuity. She said it was Fisher-Friedman’s job to design the project and we can’t go any further until we have that design.

Mr. Howard equated the project with a triangle where on one corner would be the City Council and City staff, on another corner would be the Swinerton Management group and on the third corner would be Fisher-Friedman, as a team working together. He said in order for the Council to get what they need to make a decision they need a combined effort to bring Swinerton and Fisher-Friedman together in a cohesive manner.

Cm. Hudson said he had asked what the Council would have to put before the people in August. He said Swinerton could provide the numbers to put before the people to make the decision that nobody seems to be talking about. He said sooner or later the people are going to have to be asked if they are willing to pay for the project. He said he heard in the discussions that night, that by August these numbers would be available to put before the people whether they want to do a bond, COP, cash whatever and he could not condone spending $2 million for eight months worth of drawings so that it can go before the people just to find out we can’t even get a 50% vote. He said the Council needs to hear from the people on whether or not they want to spend $130 million for a project with absolutely no revenue generation.

Cm. Tatarka said she he would like Mr. Howard to explain the process on how you get the numbers as to how it relates to his contract. She also asked him to explain the green building part of it and the reason why most of the project is on the 11 acres.

Mr. Howard said always in the back in their minds at the direction from the City Council was the requirement that the buildings be Leeds certified. In addition to that there was always placed on their shoulders the burden of you can tell us what it will cost but what is it going to cost to operate. The operating costs are a combination of capital reserves, personnel costs, building maintenance costs and he felt in terms of analyzing that, that is perhaps a larger question that is going to be an issue before the citizens of San Ramon and they need to answer that. He explained Leeds is a measure of energy efficiency and it is an indication by the City Council that they would like to be a model community in this area. He said as designers they are interested in the form and function and they felt very confident about placing the buildings on the 11 acre site and confident and excited about the residual spaces that would remain for large and small gatherings of the public. He said they also felt very good that what was going to result was a cohesive complex that had a critical mass to it, that was harmonious in esthetics while having a unique identity and at the same time trying to reach the highest level of Leeds possible. He said the question of the aquatics center came up and when he spoke about the master plan the comment there was there are lots of pros for an aquatic center but the controversy was where it should be located. He said he did not feel the numbers could be determined in isolation without understanding what the look, feel and texture is all about.

Cm. Cambra said in looking at the conceptual phase deliverables he had a concern. He said currently the programming shows a Library and a Children’s Museum as sort of a subset of one another yet in the deliverables the library’s elevations are full blown and the Children’s Museum only has a site plan and a site model. He asked how one section of the building would be dissected and not do elevations and still be able to apply for a library grant which calls for some very specific things about the entire building.

Mr. Howard said at the present time in looking at the deliverables we really don’t know where the Children’s Museum is going to go in relationship to the Library. What we have is a Library and a 20,000 foot shell because the City is providing the envelope for the museum and the Valley Children's Museum will do the inside. He said currently he can not answer Cm. Cambra’s question specifically because he didn’t know where the 20,000 square feet is going to go.

Cm. Cambra said he wanted to make sure that the deliverables will be able to get us where we need to go.

Cm. Hudson said the question of whether or not to have a new library and what it will cost has never gone to the citizens. He said the library was being designed without knowing what the library proposed for the Dougherty Valley was going to look like. He said he felt putting it before the people and what it will cost is a very important step before spending $2 million to design something that may not be wanted.

Cm. Tatarka said we have been talking about this project for a long time and it needs to happen. She said at some point we are going to have to make a decision about making the commitment to move forward. She said this project is going to cost a lot of money and it will be the largest project the City ever does in its entire history. She said since 1998 the citizens have been saying they want a gathering place, a place of synergy, a place with a library, a performing arts and a cultural center. She asked how could they move forward if they had no idea of what they were talking about in the design. The voters need to know what is going to happen and what needs to be there. She said this budgeted amount buys Fisher-Friedman in conjunction working with the management team what the various elements are going to cost. She said it is difficult for the City Council to spend the money in these bad economic times but it something for the citizens of San Ramon. She said $1.1 million is a lot of money but if we stop now we will waste more money. She said the City’s reserves a long time ago were built with the intention, and it is documented, for a Civic Center. That is reason some of the reserves were built up because we knew at some point we would be doing a Civic Complex. She said there were all kinds of other financial opportunities for the City Center that had not been explored.

Cm. Hudson said a lot of people over the last ten years made a commitment to have items in the City Center that would fund what is on the 11 acres. He said using the General Funds, the bond issues and COP's to build the buildings doesn’t keep them open, keep them maintained and keep them operating. He said the people also did not buy into some of the proposed changes. He said initially we started off with a gathering place that had some vitality and said libraries are not open at night and don’t have as much activity as some of the earlier plans. He said we are talking about spending $2 million in the next eight months to design something that nobody has said this is what they want. He asked what is so difficult about telling people this is basically what a 55,000 square foot library costs and asking them do you want to pay for it.

Cm. Dickey said the Council is charged with moving this project forward. She said she felt a responsibility to be very forward looking and not just 20 years from now when Dougherty Valley is going to there. She said if the Council keeps waiting it is going to be more and more expensive to accomplish. She said it has been abundantly clear for the last five to ten years that this is what the community wants.

Cm. Cambra said the community has been talking about this project for 10 years. He made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2003-10 Authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Fisher Friedman – Ellerbe Becket for architectural services to complete the conceptual design phase of the City Civic Center Project in an amount not to exceed $1,675,000 including all reimbursables and authorizing a budget increase in the amount of $1.1 million.

Cm. Dickey seconded the motion.

Cm. Hudson said a request from Paul Mitchell had been received asking the Council what the City’s General Fund was for the last ten years. He said the General Fund currently shows we are at $28 million, a year and a half ago we were at $38 million, and we are looking at a projected $5.6 million deficit in our next budget. He asked staff if we would be adding $1.1 million to that amount and would we still have to budget for a potential storm water drainage debacle and about $600,000 in staffing. He asked if the $5.6 million deficit that was projected by the previous City Manager included the $1.1 million or will this be an additional negative.

The Administrative Services Director said he was not familiar with the $5 million number projected for next year stating we have not gotten that far. He said however the $1.1 million would be in addition to anything that has been spoken to at this point.

Cm. Cambra confirmed the $1.1 million would be this current year fiscal year and not next year.

Mayor Wilson said the $1.1 million would be taken out of the General Fund this current fiscal year.

Cm. Hudson said so the $28 million reserve would become $27 million.

The Administrative Services Director said whatever the current reserve balance is will be $1.1 million less.

Mayor Wilson said it is not a question of whether or not we want a City Center and that has never been the question. He said the residents are demanding that we understand financial ramifications of the project and to him that was paramount. He said the Council has to be very aware of protecting the reserves. He said the Swinerton contract says conceptual design phase and to him that meant it would provide some numbers and basically tell him how much it is going to cost. He said his vote for the Swinerton contract was a vote for going ahead with the process to get the numbers out so the residents can say whether or not they want the library. The Mayor said he would like to put it on the ballot as soon as possible so that everyone is on the same page, so that there is an ongoing debate whether or not we should have a library, whether or not we should have a pool, whether or not we should have a Children’s Museum or a performing arts theater. He said the Swinerton contract said to him that they would have a ballpark figure to show the residents and they could respond. He asked the Council to think about spending $1 million in this economy and asked we want to take a chance before the residents have spoken. He said he was not prepared to vote for the Fisher Friedman contract and felt the contract with Swinerton would give the Council what they need to move ahead.

Cm. Cambra restated his motion to move approval of Resolution No. 2003-10 Authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Fisher Friedman – Ellerbe Becket for architectural services to complete the conceptual design phase of the City Civic Center Project.

Cm. Dickey restated her second of the motion.

The motion passed 3-2 (Cm. Hudson and Mayor Wilson dissenting).

* * * *

CITY CIVIC CENTER OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

The City Manager said the next issue regarding the establishment of a City Civic Center Oversight Committee was a housekeeping item that needed to be placed in the record. She said staff research could not find where Council had actually made a motion and voted on the establishment of the committee. She reviewed the following five recommendations and said she felt they would assist in bringing clarity to the Oversight Committee and the next step; 1) Council make a motion to establish the City Civic Center Oversight Committee, 2) Council confirm the authority of the Mayor to appoint Councilmembers to the City Civic Center Oversight Committee, 3) the Mayor appoint Councilmembers to the Committee, 4) Council reaffirm the role and responsibility of the City Manager for the City Civic Center Project and 5) Council direct the City Manager to establish regular study sessions for the Council to receive status reports on the progress of the City Civic Center Project. She said she was really concerned and anxious that the project move ahead in a timely manner and that the citizens of San Ramon do get a City Civic Center that they are expecting. She stated making sure that all of the information gets to the full Council is one of her concerns and felt that could be accomplished with monthly study sessions. She said the City’s Municipal Code, Chapter 11, City Manager A4-16 cites the powers and duties of the City Manager and the authority is as such "To negotiate all contracts for services which the City has a service responsibility to its residents and desires to provide such service by contract. The contract shall be approved by the City Council. After the Council approves the contract it shall be the duty of the City Manager to administer the contract and determine its provisions are carried out. The City Manager shall report to the City Council at such times as the Council may direct on the performance of the contractor". She said she restated that section of the Code so that the public is clear that she does get direction from the City Council on contracts. That is her duty and responsibility as City Manager to make sure that the contract is carried out as the City Council has directed. She believed if the Oversight Committee was combined with the study session then she would be comfortable that she was fulfilling her role as directed in the Code. Swinerton Management has been hired as a consultant and they are communicating with the City Manager and Fisher Friedman communicates with Swinerton. The City Manager said she was putting together a project management team composed of City staff that will include the City Engineer, recording staff, a Planning staff person and a project manager currently on board that has had experience in construction of not only other city halls but police buildings and fire buildings. This will ensure the City staff is looking after what is important to the community doing their job in protecting the fiduciary responsibilities of the community. She asked the Council to reaffirm her role in this project.

Cm. Hudson asked on the organizational chart in the report were all the arrows going the right way because it appeared that Swinerton and Fisher Friedman would go to the City Manager and that is where it stopped. He asked was that what was meant?

The City Manager said absolutely that is what she had intended and she was putting it out for Council’s direction.

Cm. Hudson said he would recommend double arrows going to the City Council and the Oversight Committee because he felt the Oversight Committee was moving toward planning and away from oversight. He said a year ago there was 20,000 square feet of retail on the 11 acres and 145,000 square feet somewhere else in the project and it disappeared. To him that was the job of the Oversight Committee to ask what happened to that component. He said to him it was imperative that if Oversight is going to go in that direction that all the Councilmembers get the information at the same time.

The City Manager said an additional way to make sure that information gets to the entire Council is do study sessions.

Cm. Dickey said in response to Cm. Hudson’s comments about the disappearance of the 145,000 square feet of retail going away, that was voted away by the Council on December 20, 2001 during a study session with Turner Construction and it was determined at that time the City offices were going there. She said retail has not been moved and it hasn’t even been studied. She said she took exception to Cm. Hudson’s comments that the Oversight Committee was doing planning instead of oversight.

Cm. Dickey confirmed the City Manager was just looking for an affirmation of her recommendations.

Cm. Hudson said he didn’t remember voting away 145,000 square feet of retail other than from earlier discussions that it wouldn’t be on the 11 acres. It obviously wouldn’t be voted away in a study session so if that is the case we need to go back and look at the minutes. He said there was consensus and charts from the first individual meetings with Dan Howard and said retail is just one example. The Oversight Committee is to make sure that all of the components are discussed. He said it is the Oversight’s job to make sure that those things do not disappear.

Mayor Wilson said there are misconceptions and this is exactly why a study session is needed.

Cm. Tatarka said the second and third recommendations on the establishment of the Oversight Committee were to confirm the authority of the Mayor to appoint Councilmembers to the Committee and authorize the Mayor to appoint Councilmembers to the Committee and asked the City Manager why she had made those recommendations.

The City Manager said the first recommendation was based on there has to be some official establishment of the Oversight Committee and from the research by staff it was not found that this had actually taken place. She said the second recommendation to confirm the authority of the Mayor to appoint Councilmembers was basically a staff recommendation based on what was interpreted as to how the appointments were made in the beginning and the discussion that has taken place while the Mayor was making the annual appointments. On number four, reaffirm the role and responsibility of the City Manager for the City Civic Center Project, she said the Municipal Code clearly states her responsibilities regarding her role as City Manager and she wanted to make sure that she was doing what she was hired to do. Number five states establish regular study sessions and that was recommended so that the full Council could have discussions and come to some recommendations as a full Council at the same time. This should not only clarify the issues but also help to move the project forward more quickly.

Cm. Tatarka asked the City Attorney to address the issue in regard to the City Charter and appointments made by the Mayor.

The City Attorney said neither the Charter nor the Municipal Code speak directly to the appointment power. The appointment power has traditionally been exercised for as long as the research shows by the Mayor subject to the ratification of the Council. That is the unwritten policy that the City has adopted. There is no written policy.

Cm. Tatarka said there was no reference in the City’s Charter or the General Law and asked for verification.

The City Attorney confirmed that neither the Municipal Code nor the Charter speak to that power. He stated that the Council has discretion to do want it wants and has traditionally allowed the Mayor to make appointments subject to the confirmation of the Council, similar to the process used to make advisory committee appointments.

Cm. Hudson questioned did we not just vote to have an elected mayor with the same duties and responsibilities of the Mayor as of January 1, 2001.

The City Attorney acknowledged that was the language of the Charter.

Mayor Wilson opened the public comment.

Greg Carr stated he did not think it was appropriate to funnel decisions regarding the City Civic Center through the City Manager and staff since professionals had been hired to perform the tasks. He said he felt it was appropriate for the City Manager to be a part of the team with Council in overseeing the project, and the City Manager be a conduit to the staff when the need arises. He stated it was too big a project and staff should concentrate on their numerous other duties.

The City Manager read from the City’s Municipal Code outlining the duties of the City Manager. She emphasized the portion of the code regarding contract administration.

Mayor Wilson closed the public comment section on this item.

Cm. Tatarka asked the City Manager what she envisioned as being accomplished at the study session.

The City Manager anticipated the study session would enable the Council to make decisions on moving the project forward. She described the typical components of a study session comprised of a full presentation regarding the status of the project, active dialogue between the Council, staff and consultants and, a hands-on exchange between the parties that are responsible for the project. Typically at the end of a study session, she said, consensus is reached as to the next-steps and on occasion decisions can be made. After the study session, the matter is placed before the full Council for a vote on the direction. She hoped that even if there was no decision made, there would be an opportunity for every Councilmember to have "give and take" with staff and the consultants, to ask pertinent questions, and have an understanding on where the project was going on a collective basis. She said there is a point where the Oversight Committee is going to be having similar discussions that will give a direction, and then that direction becomes what is discussed in the study sessions. She stated this process would allow all Councilmembers to participate in the project. She encouraged Council to have public comment section of the study sessions be conducted consistently, and the main focus of the study session is for Council to gain information from staff and from the consultant. It is a working period for Council to understand the project. Public comment should be after discussion so the public would have an idea of what was going on and be able to respond to it. After public comment, Council would then make their recommendations as to the next-steps. She said this is a very common practice with projects of this magnitude.

Cm. Dickey stated it was after 10:30 P. M., and made a motion to continue on this item.

The motion passed unanimously.

Cm. Tatarka inquired as to what makes a study session different from having a special meeting for the City Center.

The City Manager replied that the study session would be noticed as a special meeting, and that it was a workshop to present the information to the full Council. She said actual decisions or recommendations to move forward on items that had been discussed would be made at a regular Council meeting.

Cm. Dickey stated she concurred with all of recommendations, however she wished the arrows on the chart to reflect both directions.

The City Manager clarified Cm. Dickey’s request that there should be an arrow going to the City Manager from the City Council, and from the City Council to the City Manager; and an arrow to the City Manager from the Oversight Committee and an arrow from the Oversight Committee to the City Manager. She continued by saying the point was not necessarily to find what is appropriate to the organizational chart but rather to establish clarity regarding communication avenues and to define roles and responsibilities. She expressed concerns that if Council did not establish such clarity, there could be opportunities for Brown Act violations, and she felt this method could avoid being placed in that type of situation.

Cm. Cambra stated he agreed with No. 1, the establishment of an Oversight Committee. He was concerned that a few things had changed since the last time it was voted on, namely a new City Manager, Swinerton was now the project manager and Fisher Friedman was the design team. He said his original desire for an oversight committee was for the project to continue to move forward. He stated he was uncomfortable with the current structure of the Oversight Committee after reading the staff report which detailed the roles of Council and the Municipal Code outlining the duties of a City Manager. He said the additional arrows on the diagram seem to complicate the matter and expressed the feeling that the current structure of the Oversight Committee was fine. He stated that any Councilmember was welcome to attend the Oversight Committee meeting and bring any concerns to a Council meeting or study session. He stated he did not feel that there needed to be Council participation on the Oversight Committee as a functioning member. He felt it may simplify matters for the City Manager, it would definitely define the responsibility, and would help Council by having consistent information presented simultaneously. He said Council would have the opportunity to work through the City Manager, as the staff contact on the Oversight Committee, and staff could be dispersed on an as needed basis. He stated he was in favor of 1, 4 and 5, and the organization chart looked very simple, Council, Oversight Committee, then Swinerton and Fisher Friedman, just a straight line.

Mayor Wilson asked Cm. Cambra if he encouraged all Councilmembers to attend all committee meetings.

Cm. Cambra stated if a Councilmember felt something was wrong, they could attend an Oversight Committee meeting.

The City Attorney stated that was the point that raised his concern. He repeated the City Manager’s statement made earlier that there are some potential Brown Act implications. He said what the City Manager was recommending was, the Council create a separate legislative body and those meetings are appropriately held. Any time there is a likely hood likelihood that more than the majority of the Council will show up and be involved in the public’s business, you have Brown Act implications. It is far easier to monitor the situation where there is formalization so that staff is able to properly notice those meetings and business can be conducted with some assurance that you are in compliance with the Brown Act. If a majority of the Council shows up at a meeting where the public’s business is being discussed, if the Council is in any way participating in that discussion, the staff member would appropriately ask one of those Councilmembers to leave. We can’t have a majority of the Councilmembers showing up at a meeting concerning the public’s business without having it properly noticed under the Brown Act or a proper exemption. He stated it was his concern about getting the Council not formally involved but yet encouraging them to show up at a meeting.

Mayor Wilson verified that three Councilmembers attended the Finance Committee and Internal Operations Committee meetings this past week and all Councilmembers understood precisely what they could do and how they could interact at those meetings.

The City Attorney stated there was an express permission of the Brown Act for more than a majority of a Council to show up at an ad-hoc sub-committee of the Council because the Finance Committee and Internal Operations Committee are noticed. He expressed concern that a majority of the Council could inadvertently show up at a meeting that was not noticed as a Brown Act meeting and that could potentially pose a Brown Act violation.

Cm. Dickey asked Cm. Cambra if he felt that Councilmembers should not be on the Oversight Committee.

Cm. Cambra stated that according to the presentation made by the City Manager, and the difficulties of the organizational structure including the communication there, it may be more effective to not have Council membership on the committee. Additionally, he noted to the City Attorney, that the Oversight Committee meetings could be publicly noticed thus removing the potential for Brown Act violations, providing that Council did not talk, that they just listened.

The City Attorney stated that it was not just a matter of speaking, it would be in any way participating which could entail body language, such as a raised eyebrow. He stressed he had had many years experience with this topic and that he was trying to be very realistic. He said Councilmembers are designed to function in a very participatory manner and we can set up organizational ways to make sure the Brown Act is complied with by noticing. One of the things he really wanted to avoid was an inadvertent violation of the Brown Act because that is what it would be if a majority of the Council showed up.

Cm. Hudson said one thing he would like the Council to reconsider is that the City Manager is the representative of staff on the Oversight Committee. He said the City Manager should have the discretion to decide who she wants to represent staff at the meetings.

Cm. Tatarka said she felt the reason why the Oversight Committee was set up as an ad hoc committee instead of a standing committee was because it wasn’t always workable as to when the meeting would be. She said if the Oversight Committee meetings were formally noticed with set meeting dates a standing committee could be established and at some time it could be abolished. She said the results of the committee discussions have been brought to the full Council through the minutes. She asked the City Attorney if it is possible to formalize the committee rather making it an ad hoc committee.

The City Attorney said he felt it would be in everybody’s interest to formalize it. He said how this committee is set up is going to determine the degree to which you need to comply with the Brown Act. He explained if the Council were to set up the Oversight Committee as composed of only two members of the Council, in his judgment of the Brown Act that would not be a standing committee as Finance and Internal Ops are but an ad hoc committee as you look at a particular program. That committee under the Brown Act doesn’t have to comply with the Brown Act in terms of notice. The Council could set up a separate and distinct legislative body composed of members of Council. That creates a separate Brown Act legislative body which must comply with it. The other option is for the Council to set up a standing committee of the Council, but he did not think that was what the Council would want to do because the subject matter is not standing and on-going. Whatever is done needs to be formalized so that staff can respond and comply with the requirements of the Brown Act and make sure there is not a violation.

Cm. Tatarka said the only issue she saw was the omission of formally establishing the committee in the first place. The one element is that the Oversight Committee has not brought back information to the Council and that has been done through the minutes. She said she would like to formalize it and find the vehicle to do it.

The City Attorney recommended the committee be treated as a standing committee of the Council, composed of less than a quorum of the Council, with the charge to provide oversight and direct that certain people starting with the City Manager participate in the meetings of the sub committee of the Council. That would satisfy the Brown Act concern, it is an ad hoc committee and there would be no reason to notice it.

Cm. Dickey said it is an ad hoc committee composed of two Councilmembers and she was comfortable with the way it is organized. She said there is a give and take between the consultants, project manager and the design team and changing it into a standing committee would complicate things. She said she did not agree with the City Manager’s role but that could be discussed. Study sessions are a great idea and they would give the Council a chance to be brought up to speed with what was going on with the City Civic Center.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to approve the five recommendations made by the City Manager was seconded by Cm. Hudson.

The City Manager said the recommendations should be considered individually so we can make sure the Council is clear on what is being done.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to approve the establishment of the City Civic Center Oversight Committee was seconded by Cm. Hudson and passed 5-0.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to approve the authority of the Mayor to appoint Councilmembers to the Oversight Committee was seconded by Cm. Hudson.

Cm. Tatarka said she would like it with the affirmative like has been done in the past of the Councilmembers.

Mayor Wilson said that is what we do.

The motion passed 4-1 (Cm. Cambra dissenting)

Cm. Dickey’s motion to authorize the Mayor to appoint Councilmembers to the City Civic Center Oversight Committee was seconded by Cm. Hudson and passed 3-2 (Cms. Cambra and Tatarka dissenting).

Cm. Dickey made a motion to reaffirm the role and responsibility of the City Manager for the City Civic Center Project.

Cm. Hudson said he would second the motion with the addition of the provision as listed in the Municipal Code.

The motion passed 5-0.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to direct the City Manager to establish regular study sessions for the Council to receive status reports on the progress of the City Civic Center Project was seconded Cm. Hudson and passed 4-1 (Cm. Tatarka dissenting).

Mayor Wilson made a recommendation to Council that Ms. Dickey and Ms. Tatarka be appointed to the Oversight Committee.

It was the consensus of the Council that Ms. Dickey and Ms. Tatarka would be the Councilmembers on the Oversight Committee.

* * * *

The City Manager suggested the Mayor ask for a show of hands in the audience to determine which agenda items should be considered next.

* * * *

Mayor Wilson called for a five minute recess.

All Councilmembers were present when the meeting reconvened.

* * * *

VERBATIM MINUTES AT COUNCIL MEETINGS

The City Manager introduced a request for the approval of a two-month pilot for summary minutes of City Council meetings. She said there had been a request from a member of the Internal Operations Committee to do verbatim minutes and since that time there has been an opportunity to see the impact of verbatim minutes. Staff proposed to the Internal Operations Committee that different options to verbatim minutes be tried because of the time constraints on staff and the staff resources that it takes to do those verbatim minutes. It is also recognized the desire of Council for accurate timely minutes and that they represent each Councilmembers comments on each item on the agenda. A compromise from the Internal Operations is a two-month trial of summary minutes to see if that will lessen some of the burden on staff resources but also ensure that there is going to be accuracy in the minutes as they are transcribed.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to approve the trial of summary minutes for the next two months was seconded by Cm. Hudson and passed 5-0.

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CONSIDERATION OF CHANGE OF MUNICIPAL ELECTION DATE

The City Attorney introduced an ordinance that would change municipal election dates to even years. He explained under the San Ramon Municipal Code the City currently has its elections in November of odd numbered years. He said the suggestion to change to even numbered years had been received from Eric Wallis. He said the pertinent features as to what would occur if this ordinance were adopted is that the next municipal election would occur November 2003 as currently scheduled then the change of election would become effective immediately after that date so that the election after November 2003 would be November 2004. And then the elections would occur every two years in even numbered years.

Mayor Wilson opened public comment on this item.

Scott Miller said in the Measure H campaign last year it was stated the No On H Committee was opposed to even year elections and that was not true. They were in favor of even year elections and opposed to the method by which it was being accomplished. He said this was an initiative that does not need to go on the ballot. The Council has the authority to make the decision and he asked them to do so.

Greg Carr said it was on the ballot in November 2002 to go to even year elections and the voters said no. He said he thought this was a dead issue and no more City time should be spent discussing it. If the people who were for H or against H want to put something on the ballot they can do it through the initiative process. He said he had received a copy of a communication dated January 28 stating that Cm. Hudson had received a letter from Eric Wallis, dated December 23. He said he doubted whether the communication had gone to the Internal Ops Committee to see if there is any interest in putting it on the City Council agenda. He said he knew that it hadn’t gone through Written Communication or City Council Business for conversation to determine if there is enough interest of the majority of the Council to send it to staff to have staff spend our money to prepare an ordinance. He said he can perhaps find a person who will do the same thing for him each time he has a certain idea and he thought that was wrong.

Diane Schinnerer said the reason Measure H did not pass was because it extended Council terms and the public quite clearly did not want to do that. She said Mr. Wallis’ proposal does not extend any Council terms and she thought it should be passed by the Council and it should take care of and dispatch with this whole issue once and for all.

Roz Rogoff questioned whether or not this could even be done by ordinance because the City Charter amendment for the elected Mayor specifically says that the Mayor shall be elected by plurality every two years. If the Mayor is elected this year the next election can not be held in November 2004 because that means the Mayor would be elected for one year or the Mayor would have to be elected in 2006 which is three years. The only way that this can be changed to an even year election is by an initiative that will create a new amendment to the Charter. There were a lot of extraneous reasons why Measure H lost and to assume that the only reason was because the voters did not want even year elections is to not give voters the chance to vote for it again when you remove the opposition which was to term extensions and delaying the election of the Mayor.

Melody Lundgren said she is a member of the Friends of San Ramon and was a supporter of Measure H, the ballot measure to change San Ramon elections to even years. She said the opposition to Measure H always stated the change to even year elections was good but term extensions was not. She said there are several insurmountable problems to Mr. Wallis’ proposal 1) any proposed change of the first elected Mayor’s term by ordinance would be illegal, 2) it is not in the best interest of the City of San Ramon for the first Mayor to serve only one year and, 3) in reality no one knows for sure why Measure H did not pass. She said she personally believes that this item needs to go back before the voters, this time without the politically arguable position of either a term extension or shortening of any current Councilmembers terms. This would require a measure with language to change the San Ramon election to even years and change the Council positions elected in 2003 and 2005 to three year terms and be a Charter amendment changing the first term of the elected Mayor to three years. She said if disagreement continues for another 18 years on the method of changing San Ramon elections it will carry an unnecessary and added cost to taxpayers of approximately $750,000 especially once Dougherty Valley comes on-line.

Michelle Cowles said she was also a proud member of Friends of San Ramon and urged all residents to join. She encouraged the Council to look at every option available to and to make the decision to change to even year elections.

Mayor Wilson read a communication from Rena Waterson that said "I am sorry I can not attend this evening’s meeting but wanted to make a brief statement regarding even year elections. I was part of the group that was campaigning in favor of Measure H. I became involved because saving the residents over $50,000 each election year was important. Unfortunately Measure H failed and now we are again faced with the challenge of getting our City on an even track. The average San Ramon citizen does not get involved with the politics of the City based on the media coverage and the communications received during the elections. The Yes on Measure H group did not have the financial resources nor did we have equal coverage by the local newspapers that the opposing group had. We just could not compete. The residents voted based on the information they were given most of which painted a bleak picture of the future of our City under the current Council should they be given an additional year in office. Everyone wants to save money, especially now in these lean times. Please put forth the effort to find a way for our City to move to elections in even years. Please put this back on the ballot for November 2003."

Christa Freihofner said she was on the Yes on H Committee and unfortunately she really had a bad taste about what took place in San Ramon and the money spent. Measure H was to save money by having even year elections and the people voted on it. She said they voted on it, let it stand. She said she was not at all in favor of putting it back on the ballot.

Eric Wallis said during the discussion on the City Center Project a number of people had mentioned the need to put before the voters the ultimate decision as to whether to build the project and how it was to be paid for. He said given the scope of the proposed project and the decision to give the voters the ultimate choice was obviously the correct one. Electoral history in San Ramon shows basically without question that if you were to put a measure before the voters in November that no more than 25% of the registered voters would vote. Now as a legally binding matter 13% of the voters might decide yes or no on the project and stated he felt it makes a mockery of the idea of consent of the governed to have one in eight voters making a decision that will affect the history of this town, as has been pointed out, for maybe 50 years. He said everybody agrees that San Ramon needs even year elections. It is the Council’s duty and obligation to help the City move forward on the City Center Project and everything else that requires and that requires. He said that requires maximum participation in the electoral process of the people of the City and that can only be accomplished by even year elections. He asked the Council to move forward with even year elections by adopting his proposal.

Mayor Wilson closed the public comment period.

The City Attorney said he had taken a look at the issue raised by Ms. Rogoff and there is a problem. He said the problem is the Charter does specify that the elected Mayor’s term is two years. So literally to be consistent with the Charter the two year term should not be extended or decreased. The election at which the directly elected Mayor is to happen is the next election, whenever that is, when the Council has three seats up. He said it is the collision of those two principles that causes the problem. He said the potential with Mr. Wallis’ proposal is that it has the election in 2003 and under the Charter that is the election at which the Mayor would be directly elected. The term of the directly Mayor would be for the first time either one year or three years and that creates the potential problem with the Charter.

Cm. Dickey said when Mr. Kinney came before the Council asking that a bond measure be put before the people and wanted the City Council to ratify that so it could go on, it came before the Council for discussion and was voted down before any kind of legal opinion could be written. She said she felt a very dangerous precedent had been established impacting staff time when the Council hasn’t even had a change to decide whether in fact staff should be involved in something like this. She said if that should happen, anyone could contact one of us and we could have the staff working on everything. She said this Council sits to make policy and felt this was a violation.

Cm. Hudson said for clarification it was the Interim City Manager that changed the process because a lot of people were making requests. He said the Council had three, four or five ways they could have gone in the November 2002 election and they chose one. He said he was satisfied with the choice before the Council and if the Charter needed to be cleaned up afterward then there can be a Charter amendment to make it work. He said you are going to have to lose a year or gain a year to accomplish this.

Cm. Dickey said the City Attorney had just stated that the Council could not or should not because of potential legal problems shorten or lengthen the Mayor’s term. The Charter was voted on by the electorate and has to go back to the electorate to be amended.

The City Attorney said the Charter amendment would have to be approved by the electorate. It can be initiated by either the citizens or the Council but it has to have voter approval.

Cm. Cambra said he would like clarification that what was being looked at was Mr. Wallis proposal, nothing more, nothing less.

The City Attorney said what was before the Council was Mr. Wallis’ proposal in ordinance form.

Cm. Hudson asked if there were anything in the ordinance making it definitely illegal to proceed with Mr. Wallis’ proposal.

The City Attorney said he did not know of any correct decision that is on point. He said there are arguments that could be raised if it were challenged legally that you have got to read the Charter as a whole. He said he would have to do some research to give a definitive answer on what the chances are of sustaining any legal challenge to the proposed ordinance.

Cm. Hudson made a motion to amend the Municipal Code regarding the change in the municipal election date as outlined in the ordinance presented by the City Attorney.

The motion died due to a lack of a second.

Mayor Wilson said he would go on record to say personally that he would not have a problem with shortening his term. He said what concerns him was the possibility of incurring more legal expense.

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PARTICIPATION IN THE TRI-VALLEY CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU

The Economic Development Services Manager introduced a discussion regarding the City’s continued participation in the Tri Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau in 2003-2004. He said in terms of fiscal implications, in preceding years approximately $107,000 was spent in 2002-2003 for the operation of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The 2003-2004 Bureau is currently being prepared by the CVB staff and Board and it is anticipated the budget will come to the Board at its February 19 meeting. He said preliminary discussions with CVB staff indicate that the amount will be perhaps a little bit less than the 2002-2003 allocation and for purposes of this discussion he would ask that the Council assume something in the neighborhood of $100,000 as the anticipated funding contribution. He said the Executive Director of the CVB was present and asked that they be provided time to present their program for the coming year.

Cm. Tatarka said last year this item was brought before the Redevelopment Agency Board and this year it was coming before the Council four months earlier. She asked if the funds were coming out of Redevelopment funds or General funds.

The Economic Development Services Manager said last year this item was included in the Economic Development budget. He said it had been recommended that it be brought to the Council for discussion and staff was trying to get a feel for Council’s direction prior to the budget preparation.

Cm. Cambra asked on whose request this was brought forward.

The Director replied the City Manager had asked that this issue be looked at in advance of the budget process to get an indication for guidance in the budget process.

Amy Blaschka, Executive Director Tri-Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke about the highlights specific to the benefits CVB has provided to the City of San Ramon over the last fiscal year and year-to-date. She said the purpose of CVB was to act as a public relations and marketing arm for the Tri-Valley region. She said last fiscal year $277,916 came back to San Ramon in the form of economic impact which is nearly double the City’s contribution rate. She said San Ramon has 37 members an increase of seven over last year.

Ms. Blaschka described the funding allocation for the City.

Cm. Dickey asked how much members pay for membership.

Ms. Blaschka said it depended on the type of membership, a non profit would pay $50, hotels pay per room and meeting space which is an average membership of $175 to $225.

Cm. Dickey said she noticed on San Ramon’s membership list, Athan Downs and Forest Home Farms and asked if San Ramon pays membership in addition to our participation fee.

Ms. Blaschka replied no.

Greg Carr said the state has a $38 million short fall and is coming after monies from the cities. He suggested backing out of this membership and saving the membership fee for something else in the community.

Mark Bolton, Marriott Hotels, said this was the toughest time in the travel and tourism industry in the last 50 years. He said they have found the Tri-Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau to be a great resource to the Marriott Hotels in San Ramon. He said they need all the help they can get and feel the CVB is a small and wise investment. He asked the Council to support CVB membership this year.

Toby Brink, San Ramon Chamber of Commerce, said the whole definition of investment is that you get a return on your investment and he thought it had been shown in the last couple of years that there is a great return on investment in funding the CVB. He asked the Council to consider this as a worthwhile investment with a solid return on the investment.

Donna Kerger said she found the CVB a value not only for the large hotels but also the small businesses. She said the businesses in San Ramon could not participate in this and all of the services that are offered unless the City was part of it. She urged the Council to put money into the community and support small businesses.

Mayor Wilson said he would like to know how this benefits San Ramon. He said the funds would come from Redevelopment funds, the same as last year. He said the state took $200,000 last year of the City’s redevelopment funds and this year that amount was predicted to be $500,000 from unencumbered funds. If those funds are encumbered they won’t go to the state.

Cm. Hudson said for the record it is $2 million in transient occupancy tax (TOT) the City collects each year plus the sales tax from the people that stay here. He said there aren’t that many vehicles for small businesses to compete in the business world. He said the fact that it is redevelopment money means the City is only paying 5%. He said we should continue this way and be successful and put an emphasis on being more successful.

Cm. Tatarka said she had a concern on how this was being brought forth to the Council. She said last year they had received a very detailed report from the CVB which helped her to make a decision in moving forward. She said the analysis section of the staff report contained a lot of maybes and ifs and she was looking for what clearly did the City of San Ramon get for $107,000 this last year. She said she felt while the CVB was a worthwhile thing we need to be looking at the TOT. San Ramon has the lowest TOT of the cities that are involved in the Tri-Valley CVB. She said she would like to see a comparison from year to year of the past several years to see the negative impact, if any, from the declining tourism and travel and the City’s TOT. Also the difference between when we were members and when we were not a member and how long have we had a TOT of 7.25%. She felt it was really critical moving forward to have the facts to help quantify the impact of our participation. She had a real problem with approving it without a dollar amount.

The City Manager said she concurred with Cm. Tatarka’s comments and in fact that was the main reason why she had suggested that this item be on the agenda. She said that it was not an arbitrary decision for her as the City Manager to put it on the agenda. Staff came to her and said that the CVB was having a board meeting in February and they wanted to be able to go the Board with the support of the City and she was not to ready to do that until staff had brought forward what the fiscal implications were. Staff has stated that they believe the CVB is important to the City in a lot of respects but we do have a concern that continued support of it would be contingent upon what we expect, what the service level will be and what we can expect for our money.

Cm. Hudson said the question that should be asked after this presentation is how much are we going to lose if we don’t pay the $107,000. He said it had been suggested to raise the TOT and then cut out the source and asked where was the nexus.

Cm. Dickey said she was not comfortable without a number. She wanted a number before her and some other numbers before making a decision. She recommended knowing what was anticipated in participation fee before going any further.

Mayor Wilson said there was a consensus to table this item until the next City Council meeting.

The City Manager said the earliest this item could come back to the Council would be after the CVB Board meeting on February 19. If Council is looking for definitive numbers the item can not come back the first meeting in February and it would be more like March.

Ms. Blaschka said she typically presented it to the CVB Board first for buy off and then there is a four city budget meeting that includes City Managers from the four cities, Economic Development and that is typically where the budget is first viewed. She said she was not sure what the Council wanted from her following this meeting.

Mayor Wilson said more than anything else the Council needed the data received last year so there is a comfort level and also answers to the other questions posed by the Council that evening.

Cm. Tatarka said this gives our new City Manager an opportunity to go to the CVB meeting and to bring the information back to Council.

The City Manager asked Council to make a recommendation to table this item and staff could bring it back at the appropriate time with all the information the Council was looking for.

Cm. Dickey’s motion to table the recommendation until there is further information from the Tri-Valley Convention and Visitors’ Bureau was seconded by Cm. Tatarka and passed 5-0.

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PUBLIC HEARING – TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORDINANCE

Mayor Wilson said he apologized to everyone present in the audience for this item but he would like to continue it to the next City Council meeting on February 11, 2003.

Patricia Sausedo, Sprint PCS, said that she would be out of town on February 11, 2003 and asked that the public hearing be held on February 25.

After hearing from other members of the audience it was the consensus of Council to hold the public hearing on the Telecommunications Ordinance on February 25, 2003.

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CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The City Manager said she had been working on enhancing and providing consistency for the Council agenda. She said one of the items was adding a City Manager Comment section for the City Manager to report out information only on some items that have come before Council from the public that staff is working on but have not been completed. This is an opportunity to let the public know that staff is working on the items that they have some concerns about. She said there were three items she would like to bring the attention of the Council and the public, 1) concerns with flooding in Sunny Glen, 2) Thomas Ranch issues and, 3) no-parking signs on Reedland Circle. In regard to Sunny Glen, staff is working with Sunny Glen Villa to do a more thorough clean up on the creek starting January 24 and should be completed with the clean up in that area by February 15. Staff has been instructed to do an inspection of the part of San Ramon Creek south of Alcosta Boulevard prior to a forecast of a major storm. City permit fees are being waived for Sunny Glen residents, based on Council discussion, to repair their properties. Major comments is not getting direction from Council but moving forward. Contacted Royal Vista Golf Course regarding their responsibility in cleaning up a section of the creek. Attended a Sunny Glen homeowners association board meeting on January 16 and written responses to the questions that came up at the meeting are being prepared and forwarded to the homeowners associations. A January 29 meeting has been scheduled for Sunny Glen residents to ask questions of police and fire representatives as they relate to emergency preparedness and flooding and City staff regarding claim forms. Five Sunny Glen homes have been looked at by building inspection staff to determine the damage and what it would take to get those homes back in order according to code. A meeting has been scheduled with the president of the condominium homeowners association on January 31 to look at the common areas.

The City Manager said there are four major outstanding issues regarding the Thomas Ranch issue. Common Area Landscaping - the City Attorney sent a letter to New Cities, the developer, rescinding the City’s approval of the landscaping until staff has done further work on it. Looking at engaging an independent landscape architect to make an assessment on the area so that staff can move forward to finalize the City’s role in that item. Three items with potential legal implications are the water seepage in the roadway pavement, common area slopes and erosion and parcel deed restriction recordation.

The City Manager said on Reedland Circle, staff had met with Mr. Boyan to discuss his concerns and the matter would go to the Transportation Advisory Committee as a part of the City’s Residential Traffic Calming Program. The residents will be invited to address the committee on their concerns regarding the no-parking signs. The committee will bring back their recommendations to the full Council.

Mayor Wilson said the San Ramon Rotary has taken up the cause of working with Sunny Glen residents to assist them with the problems associated with the flooding.

Cm. Dickey said there was a lot of confusion among the elderly residents of Sunny Glen regarding this issue.

Mayor Wilson said the City and the Rotary will be assisting in this effort.

Cm. Tatarka confirmed that Sunny Glenn residents had been informed about the January 29 meeting at the Fire District offices and asked what staff was going to do at that meeting.

The City Manager replied that staff would be present to answer questions and give assistance.

The Police Chief said basically staff would be available to answer questions regarding the morning when the water rose and what transpired.

Mayor Wilson said the Senior Center had been discussed as a possible alternative location should the Senior Center recreation room be flooded again.

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CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS

Cm. Hudson said he had asked the City Manager to do some research on the Mayors’ Conference in July hosted by San Ramon regarding the feasibility of having the traditional golf game in conjunction with bringing back the Mayor’s Cup Tournament, the City’s 20^th Anniversary and the Chamber’s 20^th Anniversary. He said the money would go to a good cause, the Senior Center Operations Outreach Program.

Cm. Tatarka asked when another 20^th Anniversary meeting would be scheduled.

Mayor Wilson said Ms. Brooks would get in touch with Cm. Tatarka regarding this issue.

He also said staff would be directed to research the feasibility of Cm. Hudson’s suggestion holding the Mayor’s Cup Tournament in conjunction with the Mayors’ Conference in July.

Mayor Wilson said he had met with Congressman Pombo and discussed issues including vehicle license fees which could result in a $2.9 million reduction in revenue, the possibility of the state taking up to $500,000 in redevelopment fees from the City, the San Ramon Valley school bus demonstration program, the San Ramon Creek flooding, and the Dougherty Valley Affordable Housing Element.

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There being no further business to come before the City, at 1:15 a.m. Mayor Wilson adjourned the meeting.

Signed

H. Abram Wilson, Mayor
Judy Macfarlane, City Clerk

APPROVED FEBRUARY 25, 2003