MINUTES
SUNNYVALE CITY COUNCIL 
June 8, 2004

The City Council of the City of Sunnyvale adjourned from a 5:30 p.m. Closed Session regarding Personnel Matters – SEA Labor Relations Pursuant to Government Code Section 54957.6, a 6:00 p.m. Joint Study Session with the Santa Clara Unified School District, and met in regular session in the City Council Chambers, 456 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA at 7:30 p.m. with Mayor Howe presiding.

Mayor Howe led the salute to the flag.

ROLL CALL

SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY

Mayor Howe was joined at the podium by Norm Betts and Betty Betts of the Kiwanis Club, and Captain Mark Stivers, who presented Smruthi Sriram with a new fire extinguisher in recognition of the Sunnyvale Fire Safety Program.

Captain Mark Stivers recognized four members of the SNAP (Sunnyvale Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) Steering Committee who completed the Train the Trainer for the Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Vice Mayor Chu made the following announcements:

·         The Council met in continued Closed Session regarding Town Center Mall Negotiations on June 1.  Direction was given and no action was taken.

·         The Council met in Closed Session regarding Potential Litigation, Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority on June 1.  Direction was given and no action was taken.

·         The Council met in Closed Session regarding Personnel Matters, City Attorney on June 1.  Direction was given and action was taken.

·         The Council met in Closed Session regarding Personnel Matters – SEA Labor Relations at 5:30 p.m.  Direction was given and no action was taken.

·         The Council had a joint Study Session with the Santa Clara Unified School District at 6:00 p.m.

Councilmember Swegles made the following announcement on behalf of the Council:

Effective June 2, KSUN, Channel 18, will move to Channel 15 and the Sunnyvale Public Access Channel will move from Channel 60 to Channel 26. For more information, call the Sunnyvale Communications Office at 408-7320-7535, or Comcast Customer Service at 800-945-2288.

On Sunday, July 4, Mayor Howe and the City Council invite the community to the 2004 State of the City, at Washington Park from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. In addition to the Mayor’s address on the State of the City, the Mayor and City Council will present awards to outstanding members of the Sunnyvale community, including Businessperson of the Year, Environmental Achievement and Distinguished Citizen of the year. For additional information, call (408) 730-7535.

Councilmember Hamilton announced she and her husband are expecting their first child in October.

Councilmember Miller announced her recent nomination and selection to attend the National Security Forum Air Force War College at Maxwell Air Force Base.

Margaret Lawson, Chair of the Leadership Sunnyvale Board, announced a Dinner at the Dump event on June 19 at the Corporate Yard at Specialty Solid Waste and Recycling.

Mayor Howe announced that Councilmember Lee has to leave the meeting early and changed the order of the Public Hearing agenda to begin with item number 4.

CONSENT CALENDAR

Councilmember Miller requested item 1.C. be pulled from the Consent Calendar and considered separately. Vice Mayor Chu moved, and Councilmember Swegles seconded, approval of the Consent Calendar with the exception of 1.C. The motion carried unanimously.

Fiscal Items

Councilmember Miller announced that former Vice Mayor Tim Risch made a claim against the City.  The City paid Mr. Risch a total of $7,820.35.

Mayor Howe opened the Public Hearing at 7:52 p.m. and, there being no public comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Councilmember Miller moved, and Vice Mayor Chu seconded, acceptance of the list of bills and claims to be paid.  The motion carried unanimously.

Personnel Items

Contracts

Other Items

CITIZENS TO BE HEARD

Ken Jorgensen, a member of the public, asked that the Sabercats not be forced to plant trees at Peterson School if they plan to leave.  He opined that a way to save money is to reduce the salaries of the highest paid City employees and selling City owned land.

PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS

Note:  Items were taken out of order.

Peter Gonda, Senior Management Analyst, assisted by Mary Bradley, Director of Finance, presented the staff report. 

Staff responded to questions posed by the Council pertaining to a single access line and a trunk line, approval in concept, hospitality and DSL business charges, cell phone, cable modem lines, ISP, voice over IP, and pager account charges, multi line charges per site, define what constitutes a location, State funding for 911 communications systems, and reimbursement for wireless infrastructure.

Mayor Howe opened the Public Hearing at 8:09 p.m.

Leon Beachman, a representative of SBC, gave a brief history of the 911 fee, reviewed the status of cities that have implemented this fee or plan to implement it, clarified the trunk system, and addressed concerns about multiple line charges.

City Manager Chan clarified that staff’s proposal is for a fee concept, and if it is found to be a tax, staff would not bring back an ordinance to the Council.

Tim Theil, President of the Sunnyvale Employees Association (SEA), requested that the Council not take action and to consider other options for generating new revenues.

Tim Risch, a member of the public, stated he felt this is a tax and there is no way for anyone to opt out of this charge.  He stated this is a regressive tax that impacts seniors and low income citizens the most, that there was not enough public contact, and this fee should get voter approval.

Director Bradley clarified 17.4 percent of the lines are exempt for seniors and low income citizens.

City Manager Chan clarified that this new fee was proposed last year by the former Council.  Staff is presenting a concept, not implementation, and this was included in last year’s budget.

Arley Marley, Chair of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, inquired about cost recovery.  Staff responded with cost recovery income thresholds.

Mayor Howe closed the Public Hearing at 8:42 p.m.

Councilmember Hamilton moved to approve Alternative 3, Council does not approve the fee in concept.  The motion died for a lack of a second.

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Councilmember Lee seconded, to approve Alternative 1, Council approve the fee in concept as proposed and direct staff to return with the draft ordinance to amend the Sunnyvale Municipal Code; and look at the issue of multiple lines in order to give Council options for fairness.

Councilmember Lee offered a friendly amendment to look specifically into the issue of multiple lines in residential areas.  The amendment was accepted.

Vice Mayor Chu offered a friendly amendment that the draft ordinance to amend the Sunnyvale Municipal Code not be returned to Council until after the litigation and the courts have decided whether it is a fee or a tax. The amendment was accepted.

Councilmember Swegles offered a friendly amendment to direct staff to look at raising the low-income threshold from $20,000.

Councilmember Fowler clarified Councilmember Swegles amendment to direct staff to come back with options in terms of income thresholds. Councilmember Swegles accepted the clarification.  The amendment was accepted.

The motion carried with Councilmembers Miller and Hamilton dissenting.

At this juncture, the City Clerk retook the attendance. All present except for Councilmember Lee who was absent.

Coryn Campbell, Neighborhood and Community Services Manager, presented the staff report.

Mayor Howe opened the Public Hearing at 9:04 p.m.

Darab Ghaffary, a member of the public, commented on cultural and language barriers.  He said that two recommendations by the Task Force were not supported by staff, one of which was the formation of a board or commission focused on multicultural issues.  He commended the Council for entertaining the idea of addressing these issues.

Pradeep Joshi, a member of the public, thanked the Council for their initiative.  He advocated for an advisory committee to monitor multicultural diversity issues and activities.

Prabhakar Tenneti, a member of the public, stated more interaction is needed which is possible though a multicultural commission to interact with ethnic groups, get issues from citizens, and report back to the Council.

Harriet Rowe, a member of the public, inquired about costs to staff a commission.

Mayor Howe closed the Public Hearing at 9:33 p.m.

Councilmember Miller moved, and Councilmember Swegles seconded, to accept Alternative 1, direct implementation of all staff-recommended activities and schedule a Study Issue for ranking in December to explore feasibility of creating a Multi Cultural Diversity Advisory Commission.

Councilmember Hamilton offered a friendly amendment to direct staff to report back in a year on the status and results of the implementation of the recommendations. The amendment was accepted.

Councilmember Fowler offered a friendly amendment to direct staff to ask the current task force to look at the issue of flushing out the proposed board or commission’s role. The amendment was not accepted.

Councilmember Fowler made a substitute motion, and Vice Mayor Chu seconded, that in addition to Councilmember Miller’s motion, to also direct that staff resources be allocated to work with the task force to look at the issue of flushing out the proposed board or commission’s role.

The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Lee absent.

Cathy Merrill, Assistant to the Director of Parks and Recreation, presented the staff report.

Staff responded to questions posed by the Council related to other names considered and  outreach to the public.

At this juncture, Mayor Howe declared a recess at 10:07 p.m. and reconvened at 10:12 p.m.

Mayor Howe opened the Public Hearing at 10:12 p.m.

Robert Lawson, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, reported the Commission recommends the downtown plaza be named the Sunnyvale Plaza.

Mayor Howe closed the Public Hearing at 10:16 p.m.

Councilmember Hamilton moved, and Councilmember Fowler seconded, to consider naming  the Plaza “Benner Plaza” or the “Trubschenck Plaza”.

Councilmember Fowler offered a friendly amendment to narrow it down and retain Trubschenck Plaza.

Vice Mayor Chu made a substitute motion, and Councilmember Miller seconded, to name the downtown plaza the Sunnyvale Plaza for now (as a placeholder), announce a contest to name the downtown plaza on July 4 at the State of the City Event, promote the contest through the City’s Quarterly Report newsletter and KSUN and make the selection of the official name in a regular Council meeting sometime in late Summer or early Fall.

Vice Mayor Chu amended his substitute motion to also direct the Parks and Recreation Commission review all of the names submitted and narrow them down to ten names for Council consideration at the appropriate future Council meeting. Councilmember Miller accepted the amendment.

The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Lee absent.

NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS

COUNCIL

Councilmember Miller congratulated the Sunnyvale Public Safety SWAT team for their fourth place win in the World SWAT Challenge.

Councilmember Fowler reported he is taking a trip to China for the next nine days.

Councilmember Swegles reported that the City of Sunnyvale participated in Sports Day with the Military.

STAFF

There were no comments.

ADJOURNMENT

Councilmember Swegles adjourned the meeting in memory of Corporal Bum Lee at 10:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Ramos, City Clerk