MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA THURSDAY,
OCTOBER 26, 2001
The Council of the City of San José convened in Adjourned Regular session at 8:15 a.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall to continue discussion of the City Council’s Policy Priority Setting Procedures.
Present: Council Members - Campos, Chavez, Cortese, Dando, Diquisto, LeZotte, Reed, Shirakawa, Jr., Williams, Yeager; Gonzales.
Absent: Council Members - None.
Documents Filed: (1) Memorandum from Wandzia M. Grycz, Information Technology CEO, dated October 26, 2001, revising the Staff Policy Analysis Form #43 on Self-Insurance Claims as follow: “No funds would be re-allocated from Council District’s Construction and Conveyance Tax funds or from any projects that have been budgeted and are not yet complete. (2) Policy Prioritization Form prepared by the City Manager’s Office at the conclusion of Council Members’ rankings, tabulating the score of each referral and providing the results of the Council’s prioritization ranking process.
Mayor Gonzales opened the meeting to continue discussion of the City Council’s Policy Priority Setting Procedures and resumed the Staff presentation with Aviation Services.
AVIATION SERVICES – Ralph Tonseth, Aviation Director and Team Leader, stated the primary functions of the Aviation Services CSA are within the Airport Department, and contributing partners are Public Works, Economic Development, Conventions, Arts and Entertainment, Fire, Police, and Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services. He stated the 65% recovery of airport activity which was lost following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center has not solved passenger service levels because the airport could not have handled the growth expected before September 11, had it materialized. He stated the loss of passenger traffic and the new security requirements necessitate establishing a new budget baseline, that the proposal for the new terminal development plan coming to Council in several weeks will embody all the requirements for a 21st century airport, and commented on the increased commitment to neighborhoods through the Airport Neighborhood Support Group.
Policy Referral #33 – Council Member Yeager stated the referral would prioritize between customer demand, future capacity development, and neighborhood effects in order to direct Staff regarding the maximum desirable capacity of the airport. Responding to Council questions about federal restrictions on the airport, including facility size, geographic, land and space considerations, Aviation Director Tonseth stated Federal regulations restrict airports from denying access to the airport to any air carrier wishing to service the demands in their community, and the Competition Plan which the Airport is required to file with the Federal Aviation Administration precludes the use of exclusive use agreements with carriers. However, he stated the referral is broader and deals more with demand for air service, not just airport capacity. He stated given the type of lifestyle and economy on which San José depends, as long as the City grows there will be a continuing demand for air service that may or may not be able to be met all the time and, in his view, all three Bay Area airports will soon run out of capacity and demand could exceed that capacity by the year 2020. Mayor Gonzales stated those issues would be discussed during the upcoming Master Plan process. Policy Referral #34 – Council Member Yeager stated #33 and 34 were related, but asked this item continue to be ranked.
Policy Referral #35 – Council Member Williams proposed evaluating the open versus the exclusive type of Airport concession service currently used. Mayor Gonzales stated Council should consider the reasons which the City initially went to the franchise process, suggested any study should include sending observers to other airports, and stressed the need to address all available options with the goal of ensuring better service to customers. Council Member Dando stated the referrals do not deal with security and asked about any security measures being considered and how they compare with other airports’ efforts and funding needs. Aviation Director Tonseth stated Staff will implement Federal regulations to the best of its ability when Congress determines those measures, that legality and civil liberty issues must be considered, and when the security issue comes to Council as part of the Master Plan in several weeks, Staff will recommend a balanced package representing a reasonable opportunity to provide a good level of security as unobtrusively as possible and a high level of customer service. Responding to Council Member Chavez’s inquiry about which CSA is responsible for taxicabs not at the airport, City Manager Borgsdorf stated taxicab issues are primarily airport and regulatory issues, that general issues related to taxicabs are not assigned to any CSA, and a Council policy discussion is needed to determine whether the issue should be broadened to focus on the taxicab industry as opposed to airport and concession issues. City Attorney Doyle advised that the regulatory function resides with the Police Department. Council Member Chavez requested the Administration take action to bring this issue forward for consideration.
STRATEGIC SUPPORT – Deputy City Manager Kay Winer, Acting Director of Human Resources and Team Leader for the Strategic Support CSA, which includes City Facilities and Equipment, Employee Services, and Finance and Technology. She stated City Facilities and Equipments’ primary partners are Public Works, General Services, Equality Assurance, and the Redevelopment Agency; Employee Services’ primary partners are Human Resources, Equality Assurance, Retirement, Employee Relations, and Finance, and Finance and Technology’s primary partners are Finance, Information Technology, General Services, City Manager’s Budget Office, and the Redevelopment Agency, and all City service areas are contributing partners to all three sections. She addressed trends and issues related to strategic support during the economic downturn, capital projects, and security issues, reviewed funding for `the 2002-2006 Capital Improvement (CIP) Program, the unfunded General Fund Operation and maintenance impact from new CIP projects.
Policy Referral #36 – Council Member LeZotte corrected her referral to delete the phrase “other than the Planning Commission”, stating the referral would apply to all boards and commissions, and recommended increasing the time limit to 5 minutes of speaking time at Council meetings on issues coming to Council on recommendations from City boards and commissions, with 5 minutes given to the Chair or designated representative of the Commission, and 5 minutes be given on request to a representative of the dissenting position, and for the time change to be indicated on the Council Agenda. City Attorney Doyle requested the opportunity to review the issue for due process concerns, such as allowing a commissioner to become an advocate when a looking at a de no-vo, and stated he would come back with recommendations for appropriate changes by going through the Rules Committee agenda process to change the resolution governing how City Council meetings are conducted. By Council consensus, this item was referred to the City Attorney and dropped from the referral list. Policy Referral #37 – Council Member Reed stated his intention was not to have a formal training program as described by Staff, but to coordinate the Staff training that currently exists in the departments and making those opportunities available to City Council’s staff. City Manager Borgsdorf stated he would take the responsibility for providing those opportunities as a regular function of his Office. With that understanding, Council Member Reed stated the item could be dropped from the referral list. Policy Referral #38 – There was no discussion on this item, which Mayor Gonzales stated was direction from the Council on May 2, 2001.
Policy Referral #39 – Council Member Campos stated she would like for Council to have the opportunity to revisit the living wage ordinance and review the findings of the Staff report coming in January 2002 pertaining to the impact and benefits of expanding the existing ordinance. Responding to questions from Mayor Gonzales, Equality Assurance Director Nina Grayson stated Staff is proposing to clarify the existing living wage ordinance to remove certain unintended consequences and gave examples of the changes to be recommended in Staff report due in January 2002. Regarding exemptions, she stated all franchise and grant agreements are currently exempted, that the ordinance does not apply to community based organizations unless it goes through a competitive process, with the exception of the category of recreation services program where the living wage does apply. City Attorney Doyle advised that leases are considered on a case by case basis, meaning the ordinance would apply unless Council formally exempts a facility. Mayor Gonzales expressed concern about impacting City service levels, and stated he supports good wages and benefits but does not support expanding the ordinance. However, should Council decide to move forward on an expansion, he wants to know the impact on operations. Council Member Dando expressed concern about whether Staff will have sufficient resources to provide a thorough and comprehensive analysis and suggested if other projects are delayed as a result, Council be apprised. Mayor Gonzales stated he supports clarifying the existing ordinance and making the current program more effective, but reiterated that he does not support expanding the ordinance to all the areas specified in the referral.
Policy Referral #41 – Mayor Gonzales stated his referral is for Staff to review best practices pertaining to construction projects and analyze what mechanisms exist to provide opportunities earlier in the process to resolve issues rather than ending up in litigation. Council Member Chavez suggested reviewing what other communities are doing in terms of identifying problems early in the process to provide better opportunities for resolution of disputes through the mediation process.
Policy Referral #40 – Council Member Williams stated the recommended limitations on smoking outside public buildings represents a health concern raised by constituents in his district and others in the City. Council Member Reed raised the issue of security compromises involved when workers congregate outside a facility, and suggested reviewing how placement of smoking areas impact security. Policy Referral #42 – Council Member LeZotte stated this referral is to ensure that the full Council received the debt profile report for the City and the Redevelopment Agency and not just the Finance & Infrastructure Committee, with possibly a Study Session for review. With consensus that a full Staff report will be made to the Council, Mayor Gonzales suggested the referral remain on the list and be assigned a low priority. Policy Referral #43 – Council Member Cortese stated the referral is intended to provide a predictable place to locate funding to pay the City’s insurance deductible when filing claims for vandalism. Policy Referral #44 – Council Member LeZotte explained her concerns that the Environmentally Preferable Procurement (EPP) policy is not strong enough to address the life cycle of computers and components and suggests requiring vendors to have a take-back polity and ensuring those components are not then sold to another country. She stated #45 would require the City to purchase from manufacturers who make efforts to minimize toxicity and increase the ability of their products to be recycled, as is required by European markets, in order for the City to be a force to move the industry in that direction. With Council Member LeZotte’s consent, Referral #45 was merged with Referral #44 and the number 45 dropped.
OPEN FORUM
Jim Cunneen, CEO, Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, spoke against the living wage proposal and suggested bringing forward specific proposals throughout the year, and objected to the wording of the proposal and urged a low ranking, and expressed concerns about impacts on City services and on small businesses. Christine Uribe, Political Director, South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, spoke in support and urged a high priority.
Deanna Santana, Assistant to the City Manager, explained the process for ranking the referrals which Staff will tabulate and provide results by the end of the meeting. Mayor Gonzales stated the City Manager would return to Council in December with a Workplan to address the priorities established by the Council.
ADJOURNMENT
The Council of the City of San José adjourned at 11:10 a.m.
RON GONZALES, MAYOR
ATTEST:
PATRICIA L. O’HEARN
CITY CLERK