The City Council of the City of Sunnyvale met in special session in the City Council Chambers, 456 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, California at 8:00 a.m., with Mayor Miller presiding.

Mayor Miller led the salute to the flag.

At 8:10 a.m., Mayor Miller excused herself from the dais and passed the gavel to Vice Mayor Risch.

Robert LaSala, City Manager, presented a brief overview of the City’s financial condition, actions to date on budget strategies, key findings for service level reductions survey, City Council and community scheduled meetings, and the recommended process for Council to follow. He summarized recommended reductions to services and levels of service for Community Development, Libraries, Finance and Public Safety.

Vice Mayor Risch opened the Public Hearing at 8:52 a.m.

Kelly Fitzgerald, Vice President of the Public Safety Officers Association, stated that not all the outcomes represent the activities that are performed. He expressed concern for reducing staffing and the affect on service and public safety.

Thom Mayer, a member of the public, urged Council not to eliminate Neighborhood Resource Officers and Neighborhood Preservation programs. He suggested raising user fees to fund the Neighborhood Preservation Officers.

Steve Fisk, President of the Sunnyvale Police Officers Association, expressed concern about maintaining a competitive edge and safety to the community and officers.

Vice Mayor Risch closed the Public Hearing at 9:05 a.m.

City Manager LaSala responded to questions from Council regarding set-aside funds, building maintenance, employee wages, public safety retirement costs, management staffing and budget reserve balances.

Councilmember Fowler requested that staff develop a work plan for the use of the set asides for building and city space purposes. He further requested an analysis of the agreement to determine if the $1.2 million cost of the memo of understanding with the SEA was the actual cost, and an analysis of the PSOA 3% at 50 enhanced retirement benefit to determine if the cost would be $750,00 to City.

Councilmember Howe requested that any changes to budget made since the Council meeting be highlighted.

Mayor Miller returned at 9:28 a.m. and Vice Mayor Risch returned the gavel.

Suzi Blackman, President and CEO of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, encouraged the Council to look at other alternatives to service cuts which could include outsourcing, and expressed concern about fee increases.

Mayor Miller read suggestions from Ron Swegles, a member of the public. Suggestions included implementing a fee for golf tournaments and re-negotiating with labor unions to reduce pay increases.

Robert Paternoster, Director of Community Development, responded to questions.

Program 230 Housing and Human Services – recommended reductions approved.

Program 242 Policy Planning – recommended reductions approved.

Program 243 Development Services

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, for staff to reevaluate their recommendation. The motion failed with Vice Mayor Risch, Councilmembers Valerio, Vorreiter and Walker dissenting.

Council requested that staff review the administrative portion of outside services versus front-line staff and review outside service contracts.

244 Economic Prosperity – recommended reductions approved

245 Neighborhood Preservation – recommended reductions approved

Victoria Johnson, Director of Libraries, responded to questions.

Program 636 Library Collection Management

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, to not charge for DVDs and tapes under Program 636. The motion failed with Mayor Miller, Vice Mayor Risch, and Councilmembers Valerio, Vorreiter, Walker dissenting.

Program 636 Library Collection Management – recommended reductions approved.

Program 637 Library Programs and Services – recommended reductions approved.

Program 638 Library Learning Environment – recommended reductions approved.

At this juncture, Mayor Miller recessed the meeting at 10:25 a.m., and reconvened at 10:40 a.m.

Mary Bradley, Director of Finance, and Elaine Wesely, Finance Manager, responded to questions.

Program 710: Financial Management and Analysis – recommended reductions approved.

Program 717: Compensation Management – recommended reductions approved.

Program 719 Accounting and Financial Reporting - recommended reductions approved.

Program 740: Procurement Management - recommended reductions approved.

Program 743: Budget Management - recommended reductions approved.

Program 744: Treasury/Cash Management - recommended reductions approved.

Program 720: Utility Business Management - recommended reductions approved.

Mayor Miller requested that staff track usage of Purchasing Cards.

Ernie Bakin, Director of Public Safety, Bill Bielinski, Administrative Assistant, Byron Pipkin, Public Safety Captain, and Kirk Sanfilippo, Public Safety Captain, responded to questions.

Program 432 Administrative Support (Management Structure)

Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Fowler seconded, to direct the City to maintain communications and records staffing level at 20 actual people for dispatch and 20 actual people for records, with City Manager coming back to the Council if the staffing levels fall below that level. The motion carried unanimously.

Vice Mayor Risch moved, and Councilmember Vorreiter seconded, to approve program 432 reductions per staff recommendation, incorporating the previously approved records and dispatch staffing levels motion by Councilmember Howe. The motion carried with Mayor Miller and Councilmember Fowler dissenting.

Councilmember Fowler requested that staff follow up with recruitment cost data.

Mayor Miller requested that Public Safety utilize Cogswell College in their recruiting efforts.

At this juncture, Mayor Miller recessed the meeting at 1:32 p.m., and reconvened at 2:12 p.m.

Program 422 Hazardous Material Inspector

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Vice Mayor Risch seconded, approval of staff recommendation on Program 422 with the exception of Proposal 9 - Hazardous Material Inspector.

Vice Mayor Risch offered a friendly amendment for the City Manager to bring back more budget information on the Hazardous Material Inspector position reduction if warranted. The amendment was accepted.

The motion carried unanimously.

Program 422 Fire Services (Emergency Medical Services) – recommended reductions approved.

Program 422 Fire Services – recommended reductions approved.

Program 412 Police Services (Detective)

Councilmember Fowler moved that the Detective position be retained. The motion died for lack of a second.

Councilmember Fowler requested staff consider eliminating the Office of Emergency Services (OES) Lieutenant position to save Detective/Inspector position.

Program 412 Police Services (Lieutenant/Vice & Narcotics)

Mayor Miller: So now we are going to move on to number two which is the Lieutenant/Vice and Narcotics, proposal five. Councilmember Howe, do you want to speak to this?

Councilmember Howe: I have a question on this one. Recently, and I think you call them personal businesses or massage parlors that are not legal. What is the term for them?

Chief Bakin: I call them houses of prostitution.

Councilmember Howe: Now, what is the polite term that you use for them?

Chief Bakin: Massage parlors.

Councilmember Howe: There have been a number of personal businesses that have been closed down and they closed approximately ten. And, I understand there is potentially as many as 30 still operating.

Chief Bakin: Just a correction. I believe we have closed substantially more than ten at this point. I believe it is 20 or 22 that we have closed.

Councilmember Howe: Then the first question is how many more are potentially out there and does this position directly impact that effort?

Chief Bakin: It impacts leadership in that area and that leadership would transfer to another lieutenant in investigations. We currently have 3 lieutenants, one for persons crimes, one for property crimes and one for vice and narcotics, and the persons crime detective would end up overseeing vice and narcotics. So they will be getting a little less direction and a little less oversight than they are currently. And I might add they have been very very focused in the last several months on prostitution activities. And that is one of reasons we saw the narcotics activities as low as we did.

Councilmember Howe: Thank you.

Mayor Miller: Thank you Councilmember. Councilmember Fowler.

Councilmember Fowler: Yes –the narcotics line item in the budget looks under spent. I just wanted to know if this lieutenant position is filled or vacant at this point?

Chief Bakin: Currently, it is filled.

Councilmember Fowler: Thank you very much.

Mayor Miller: Council what is your pleasure on this item. Councilmember Howe.

Councilmember Howe: Yeah – this is one I don’t think we can take the cut in myself, so my motion is to not accept the change.

Councilmember Fowler: Second.

Mayor Miller: Moved and seconded. To your motion.

Councilmember Howe: Thank you. We have seen, if you just look at the newspaper this week, you will find there is a tremendous amount of drug activity that the Department of Public Safety has been active in in arrests. In the Mercury News, there has been a tremendous number of people that have been arrested for narcotics and hard drug activity. In addition, we have these personal businesses that are starting to come under control and I happen to believe there is a fair number more out there, so I think that this is one that we should not allow to be reduced.

Mayor Miller: To your second.

Councilmember Fowler: Well again, this is an area in investigations and I think we are under funding it at this point and I don’t think that is appropriate, so I will not support a further reduction.

Mayor Miller: This motion is for no cuts for program proposal 15 Vice and Narcotics. Please vote.

Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Fowler seconded, to retain the Lieutenant/Vice & Narcotics position. The motion failed with Vice Mayor Risch and Councilmembers Valerio, Vorreiter and Walker dissenting.

Program 412 (Lieutenant – Internal Affairs) – recommended reductions approved.

Program 422 Fire Services (One additional Public Safety Officer – Fire Prevention) – recommended reductions approved.

Program 412 Police Services – recommended reductions approved.

Councilmember Fowler requested staff to look at expenditures in 41298 (allocated costs)

Program 422 Fire Services – recommended reductions approved.

• Reduce Fire Prevention PSO II Hours
• Reduce Fire Station-Based Public Safety Officer II Hours
• Reduce Hazardous Materials Inspector and Hazardous Material Coordinator Hours

Program 432 Administrative and Technical Services – recommended reductions approved.

• Reduce Uniform and Equipment Services
• Reduce DPS Records Public Contact
• Reduce Fire/Fire Radio Dispatching Hours
• Reduce Dispatch Training Hours
• Reduce Hours n Audio Tape/Electronic Record Production
• Reduce Records Division Hours
• Reduce Hours for Database Support
• Reduce 911 Call Answering Hours

Program 453 Animal Control – recommended reductions approved.

• Reduce $200,000 funding

Councilmember Fowler requested more information on the number of calls per officer and the cost per call for Animal Control.

Mayor Miller requested staff to come back to Council with a report on number of fires.

Councilmember Fowler requested that staff track the number of fire calls for the next three months.

At this juncture, Mayor Miller recessed the meeting at 3:55 p.m., and reconvened at 4:07 p.m.

City Manager LaSala, summarized recommended reductions to services and levels of service for Information Technology, Public Works, Parks and Recreation.

Mayor Miller opened the Pubic Hearing at 4:15 p.m. and, there being no public comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Shawn Hernandez, Director of Information Technology, responded to questions.

Program 760 Communications Systems and Office Equipment Support – recommended reductions approved.

Program 766 Information Processing - recommended reductions approved.

Mayor Miller opened the Public Hearing at 4:24 p.m. and, there being no comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Marvin Rose, Director of Public Works responded to questions.

Program 115 Transportation Operations – recommended reductions approved.

Councilmember Fowler requested staff report why Planning Studies, Traffic Signal Maintenance and Street Light Maintenance are under budget.

Mayor Miller requested the status of Blair Avenue Project.

Program 116 Pavement Operations – recommended reductions approved.

Councilmember Fowler moved that curb repairs not be included in the reductions. The motion died for lack of a second.

Program 215 Roadside and Median Right-of-Way Services – recommended reductions approved.

Program 302 Public Works Support Services – recommended reductions approved.

Program 306 Engineering Services – recommended reductions approved.

Program 312 Water Supply and Distribution– recommended reductions approved.

Program 322 Solid Waste – recommended reductions approved.

Program 342 Wastewater Management – recommended reductions approved with Councilmember Fowler voicing disapproval.

Mayor Miller opened the Public Hearing at 5:16 p.m.

Mayor Miller read comments from Ron Swegles, a member of the public, who suggested charging a golf tournament fee.

Mark Pool, Vice President of Sunnyvale Swim Team, spoke in support of keeping the Sunnyvale Middle School pool open.

Mayor Miller closed the Public Hearing at 5:18 p.m.

Robert Walker, Director of Parks and Recreation, Curtis Black, Superintendent of Parks, and Nancy Steward, Superintendent of Cultural Arts, responded to questions.

Program 221 Baylands Park - recommended reductions approved.

Program 265 Neighborhood Parks and Open Space

Councilmember Vorreiter moved, and Mayor Miller seconded, to accept the recommended reductions with the exception to retain the water features at the Community Center. The motion carried with Councilmembers Howe, Valerio and Walker dissenting.

Program 601 Parks and Recreation Management - recommended reductions approved.

Program 769 Facilities Management - recommended reductions approved.

Programs 640, 642 and 644 Leisure Services (including Golf Operations/Services)

Staff to report back on youth basketball and senior golf fees and consider retaining the Hands-on-the Arts event and a scaled-down version of the July 4^th event.

Mayor Miller asked staff to bring back a report on charging a fee for golf tournaments

Staff to report back on the affect of adding one recreation supervisor back into the budget.

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, to approve staff recommendation with the exception of adding in one recreation supervisor. The motion carried unanimously.

City Manager LaSala, summarized recommended reductions to services and levels of service for Human Resources.

Mayor Miller opened the Public Hearing at 6:09 p.m.

Mayor Miller read comments from Ron Swegles, a member of the public, who encouraged negotiation with the labor unions for a reduction in proposed pay increases.

Mayor Miller closed the Public Hearing at 6:10 p.m.

Mark Gregersen, Director of Human Resources, and Rumi Portillo, Human Resources Manager, responded to questions.

Program 753 Personnel Services

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, to approve staff recommendations for Program 753 with direction to the City Manager to look for further economies. The motion carried unanimously.

Council requested that staff provide a list of consulting services and report back on why costs in Human Resources have increased.

Program 784 Insurance, Retirement, and Incentives – recommended reductions approved.

Program 785 Workers Compensation – recommended reductions approved.

City Manager LaSala summarized recommended reductions to services and levels of service for the Office of the City Attorney.

Mayor Miller opened the Public Hearing at 6:28 p.m. and, there being no public comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Valerie Armento, City Attorney, responded to questions.

Staff recommended funding reductions of $154,569.00 were approved.

City Manager LaSala, summarized recommended reductions to services and levels of service for the Office of the City Manager.

Mayor Miller opened the Pubic Hearing at 6:36 p.m.

Rick Calendar, President of the Silicon Valley Branch of the NAACP, spoke in support of maintaining the Intergovernmental Relations position and maintaining a central contact person.

Mayor Miller read an anonymous letter urging a hiring freeze before layoffs and a reduction of management perks.

Mayor Miller closed the Public Hearing at 6:40 p.m.

City Manager LaSala and Amy Chan, Assistant City Manager, responded to questions.

Program 524 Child Care Services – staff recommendation approved.

Program 732 Council Policy Support and Assistance

Councilmember Walker moved, and Councilmember Fowler seconded, to approve the staff recommendation with staff maintaining a centralized Intergovernmental Relations contact in the Office of the City Manager. The motion carried unanimously.

Council requested staff to come back with an implementation plan for the IGR program.

Vice Mayor Risch directed that staff develop an allocation of staff resource and support budget for IGR assignments.

Program 734 Organizational Effectiveness

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Vice Mayor Risch seconded, that the City Manager report back to Council with further recommended reductions and justifications for maintaining funding that has not been recommended for reduction.

Mayor Miller offered a friendly amendment for the City Manager to identify the duplications for outside consultants and identify opportunities for work that could be done in-house. The amendment was not accepted.

Council to review performance outcomes of Organizational Effectiveness.

The motion carried unanimously.

Program 735 External Relations – recommended reductions approved.

Program 736 Official Records and Elections – recommended reductions approved.

Program 738 Executive Management

Council tabled this program and requested more detail on the components of the Executive Management budget.

Columbia Neighborhood Center

Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Fowler seconded, to approve staff’s recommended reductions. The motion carried unanimously.

Youth and Family Services – recommended reductions approved.

Integrated Neighborhood Services

Councilmember Walker moved, and Vice Mayor Risch seconded, for staff to review if there are any synergies with Neighborhood Preservation and identify cost sharing opportunities. The motion carried unanimously.

Program 739 Council Budget

Councilmember Vorreiter moved, and Mayor Miller seconded, that Council reduce their travel budget by 25%. The motion carried with Councilmember Howe dissenting.

Council requested a detailed report for Programs 738 and 739.

Vice Mayor Risch requested a Study Issue to consider a policy on the use of consultants.

Vice Mayor Risch requested that the City Manager bring back proposed additional reductions to offset the dollars that were not cut from the Council budget.

There were no comments.

Councilmember Howe requested the City Attorney bring forward a Study Session on the Brown Act. Councilmembers will advise the City Attorney on topics that they would like reviewed within one week.

Councilmember Fowler requested the issue of Appropriation Controls be addressed. City Manager LaSala responded this would be brought before Council on June 3^rd.

There were no comments.

Mayor Miller declared the meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Kitchens, City Clerk