A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of San Ramon was held on March 9, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chamber at City Hall, 2222 Camino Ramon, Mayor Wilson presiding.

PRESENT: Councilmembers Hudson, Livingstone, Perkins, Rowley and Mayor Wilson.

ABSENT: None

STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Gail E. Waiters, City Attorney Byron Athan, Public Works Director Joye Fukuda, Parks and Community Services Director Jeff Eorio, Finance Director Greg Rogers, Public Works Division Manager Dorn Driggs and City Clerk Judy Macfarlane.

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Mayor Wilson said the City Council met in closed session pursuant to 1) Government Code Section 54956.8 to meet with its negotiator. Property: APN 213-130-086 and APN 213-120-009. Negotiating Party: Gail E. Waiters, City Manager, and 2) Government Code Section 54957.6 to confer with its negotiator –Cheryl Wade and no action was taken.

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The Parks and Community Services Director led Council, staff and those present in the audience in the pledge of allegiance.

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The City Manager said there was one change to the agenda, staff would like to pull the appointments to the Transportation Advisory Committee and continue the item to the March 23, 2004 meeting.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to continue the appointments to the Transportation Advisory Committee to the March 23, 2004 meeting was seconded by Cm. Perkins and passed 5-0.

Cm. Perkins said he would like to give special recognition to the Tuesday, March 23, 2004 Dougherty Valley Community Center Ground Breaking ceremony.

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Mayor Wilson presented a proclamation to Fred Romer thanking him for service to the City of San Ramon and wishing him well in retirement.

Carol Lopez, Dublin San Ramon Women’s Club, presented a check to the Forest Home Farm Foundation to be used in the tractor restoration program.

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Melody Lundgren said she had come before the Council six weeks ago requesting the Council put an item on the agenda to consider a ballot measure to change San Ramon elections to even years. She said the request was discussed by the Policy Committee on February 25 and apparently no action was taken to place it on the Council agenda. She said they wanted a commitment from the Council to set a date when this item would be heard. She said the proposed change is an opportunity to save the taxpayers potentially millions of dollars with the added advantage of having more voters determining the outcome of vital elections.

Mike Conklin said within the next few months there will be a huge rotation of forces out of the war zone back home and many of them will be coming back to our local communities on leave. He asked the City Council to consider adopting the Sentinels of Freedom Welcome Home Program.

Michelle Cowles said she had recently attended a Danville Town Council meeting to encourage the inclusion of a small dog park in their new dog park. She asked the Council to let the Danville Town Council know that separating our dog park was a good decision and to encourage them to incorporate a small dog park prior to the park’s opening.

Ellen Rosenbluth spoke about the recent success of California High’s Mock Trial Team.

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Cm. Rowley made a change to the minutes regarding acceptance of the Library Advisory Committee’s annual report.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to approve the minutes of the February 24, 2004 Council meeting as amended, was seconded by Cm. Livingstone and passed 4-0-1 (Cm. Perkins abstained – he was not present at the February 24 meeting.)

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Cm. Perkins requested that the item regarding the donation to the City Police Services be removed from the Consent Calendar.

Cm. Livingstone said he had requested clarifications on the item regarding the adoption of Council Policies.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to approve the following Consent Calendar was seconded by Cm. Perkins and passed 5-0.

Resolution No. 2004-20 – Authorizing the Mayor to execute Amendment No. 4 to the Agreement with Parsons Brinckerhoff for additional Engineering Services for the Alcosta Boulevard/I-680 Interchange Project for an amount not to exceed $67,398.

Shapell Industries/The Bridges at Gale Ranch – Acceptance of Landscape Parcels

● Resolution No. 2004-27 – Accepting Certain Landscape Parcels in Subdivision 8105 and 8189, the landscape improvements on those parcels and all other landscape improvements contained in medians and parkways of public roadways within these subdivisions for maintenance (Shapell Industries/The Bridges at Gale Ranch.

● Resolution No. 2004-37 – Authorizing the Mayor to execute Amendment No. 2 to an Agreement with White Oak Landscape, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $16,753.

Resolution No. 2004-34 – Denying appeal of Planning Commission Resolution No. 09-03 Extra Mile/Chevron Gasoline Service Station.

Resolution No. 2004-35 – Authorizing Fiscal Year 2003-2004 City Membership in the Economic Development Alliance for Business (EDAB) and Supplemental Appropriation in the amount of $8,043.

Resolution No. 2004-36 – Upholding the San Ramon Mid-Management Association’s Appeal of Findings Regarding Overlapping Representation Petitions.

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Cm. Perkins said would like to publicly thank Computer Associates for their donation to the City’s Police Department for use in its canine program.

Cm. Perkins’s motion to approve the resolution accepting the donation was seconded by Cm. Hudson and passed 5-0.

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Resolution No. 2004-38 – Accepting a Donation from Computer Associates for City Police Services.

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The City Manager listed two changes to the proposed Council Policies as requested by Cm. Livingstone.

Cm. Hudson said he would like to have the Council consider the proposed Council Policies with the Sunnyvale Code of Ethics at a Council retreat. He said he did not see the policies as a simple document that someone could read and get a sense of what the Council was trying to do.

The City Manager said the full Council had reviewed these policies at the recent Council goal setting workshop and there had been consensus to move them forward to Council Policy Committee. Confirmation was received from the Policy Committee to bring the policies to the full Council for adoption. She said the items for consideration that make them different than a code of ethics is that they were standard operating procedures. She said that staff was trying to incorporate individual policies in a Council Policy Manual by which the Council would govern themselves. She also said the Council had not indicated that they wanted to have a retreat and therefore that issue had not been addressed by staff.

Cm. Livingstone said he felt his ability to communicate with staff would be impaired by the Council/Staff Relations policy and that the policies in general were a little stuffy.

Cm. Perkins said the set of policies was so important for the way the Council interacts with each other, with the public and with staff, that without being unanimous in its adoption they would not be effective.

Cm. Rowley said the policies might be more appropriate for a handbook rather than a policy manual. She suggested agendizing the issue for a future meeting.

The City Manager said this is important to the Council and staff as to how we move forward working in unison. She said she would provide the Council copies of what other cities had done in this area.

Cm. Hudson made a motion to continue this item and direct staff to return to the Policy Committee with examples from other cities.

Cm. Livingstone seconded the motion and it passed 5-0-.

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Mayor Wilson said the Council would be reading Mr. Shields’ letter and he would personally respond to it.

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The City Attorney said the Charter Amendment approved by the electorate provided for an elected mayor with the duties as they were prior to the election. He said after review of the statutes on the duties of Mayor and City Council he had incorporated all of them in one place. He said the Municipal Code also provides a salary of $500 per month which is consistent with the code for cities with over 50,000 population and that section would not take effect until after the next election.

Cm. Hudson said there has not been a Council salary increase discussed for sometime and he proposed instead of approving $500 per month, the amount be set at $650 for Council with a car allowance for the Mayor.

The City Manager said the item before the Council would amend the Municipal Code and that staff would like to work on the specifics of the compensation separately and bring it back to the Council with examples of what other cities are doing.

Cm. Livingstone agreed that the Mayor should have a car allowance because he does a lot of traveling around doing business for the City.

Cm. Perkins asked if a car allowance would be a separate action by the Council and not included in the ordinance.

The City Attorney said a car allowance could be included in the ordinance. He said it could also be included in a resolution because all that was being discussed at that meeting was salary. The code says that the Mayor can be given $100 more a month and that could not be changed without a charter amendment. He also said the code provides that all Councilmembers including the Mayor be reimbursed for any expenses they incur doing City business.

Cm. Hudson said it doesn’t make sense to continually request reimbursement for expenses incurred while on city business.

Cm. Rowley agreed that a survey from other communities would be helpful in making a decision.

Mayor Wilson said he was not comfortable until there is a survey and at that time there can be public comment.

Cm. Perkins’ motion to continue the item to a future meeting at which time a staff report will be presented on compensation from the East Bay Area was seconded by Cm. Hudson and passed 5-0.

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The Acting Community Development Director introduced an ordinance that would modify the appointment process of the Architectural Review Board (ARB). He said the current process was for the City Council to make appointments after reviewing applications. He said this proposal would streamline the process whereby staff would actually conduct audit interviews and make a recommendation to Council for ratification. He said the proposal has the approval of the Policy Committee.

Cm. Hudson asked if it would be more reasonable to list the Zoning Administrator in the oversight role rather than Planning Manager.

The Acting Community Development Director said that would be possible because he also served as the City’s Zoning Administrator and that could be clarified in the

Zoning Ordinance as well.

Cm. Hudson said he would like the ARB oversight changed to the Zoning Administrator because the way the roles are currently it could be confusing.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to introduce the ordinance, set the public hearing for March 23

and waive the reading was seconded by Cm. Livingstone and passed 5-0.

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Ordinance (first reading) Amending Municipal to Public Nuisance Definition.

The Public Works Division Manager said the proposed ordinance was an amendment to expand the definition of public nuisance and authorize the City Council to grant citation authority to other government entities. He said the emergence of the West Nile Virus has prompted the Mosquito and Vector Control District to be proactive in taking steps that will impede the transmission of this disease in Contra Costa County and the District has requested that local agencies assist them combating the spread of this disease.

The recommended changes will allow the District to work with the city to abate any problems that may occur within the city.

Gale Jirik, Operations Manager for the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, said in response to Councilmember Perkins questions, the West Nile Virus was detected in July 2003 in the Imperial Valley in southern California and traveled as far as the Los Angeles basin. He said it is a bird virus that is spread very quickly and it has been suggested that southern California could be the epicenter for the virus this coming year and it will spread statewide. He said there is a state hotline number that residents can call if they see a dead bird and his agency would pick up the bird if it is able to be tested.

Cm. Hudson asked for an explanation of the citations that would be issued by the Vector Control District.

Mr. Jirik said adoption of the ordinance would allow the District to go to a property owner stating they have a certain number of days to abate a problem and if this is not done a citation would be issued with an escalating scale of fines for non compliance.

To Mayor Wilson’s question regarding a timeframe for citation, Mr. Jirik said that is decided with each city. He said it was their goal to work with property owners to solve the problem but they could issue a citation immediately if they felt there was no compliance.

The City Manager asked if there was another mechanism of enforcement not available to the City for dealing with residents that are defiant and refuse to respond to citations and requests to clean up the problem.

Mr. Jirik said as a special district they are empowered under the State Health and Safety Code to do abatements and they can levy fines for up to $1000 a day. He said this would be a lien on the property taxes and due when taxes are due. He said with rodents they had to confirm there was an infestation on the property and an inspection warrant would be required to do certain things. He said it was not their plan to enter the property and do the cleanup but to use the administrative citation power to get the owners to bring the property into compliance.

The City Attorney explained the ordinance did not appoint the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control authority, it allowed the City of San Ramon to name the District or another public entity, allowing for flexibility.

Cm. Hudson’s motion to introduce the ordinance, waive the reading and set the public hearing for March 23, 2004 was seconded by Cm. Perkins and passed 5-0.

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Cm. Perkins said the members of the California High Winter Guard Flag Team had competed the past weekend in Fairfield and came in first in their division and would be competing every weekend through March and into early April. He commended them for their efforts and success.

Cm. Hudson said an interesting meeting was recently held by the I-580 study group. He said it was still the plan to not come down the Iron Horse trail. He recommended an item be placed on a future agenda to update the Council as to what was going on in regard to I-580.

Cm. Rowley thanked the students who participated in the Business Education Roundtable exhibit last week. She said she was very impressed with the level of talent in the school district.

Mayor Wilson thanked staff for the outstanding International Day held on March 7. He also said the San Ramon Symphonic Band would be holding its 100^th concert on May 21.

The Mayor described opening day of Little League, noting the excitement level was very high for participants, parents and spectators.

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There being no further business to come before the City, at 8:40 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.

Signed
H. Abram Wilson, Mayor
Judy Macfarlane, City Clerk

Approved: March 23, 2004