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Administrative Analyst Maria Rodriguez presented the staff report.
Public hearing opened at 8:05 p.m.
Joel Wyrick, executive director of the Sunnyvale Downtown Association, stated he was present to answer questions.
Councilmember Whittum confirmed Wyrick supported Alternative 2 as opposed to the staff recommendation (Alternative 1) as it is his opinion that maintenance needs to continue downtown.
Vice Mayor Hamilton explained that the reason Council approved the Downtown Sunnyvale Business Improvement District (BID) was in order for the downtown to become more self-sufficient and she asked Wyrick when he thinks this will happen. Wyrick referred Vice Mayor Hamilton’s question to Joe Antuzzi, Downtown Association chairman. Antuzzi stated during the bid process, the association agreed to look at paying for the maintenance, but before the bid was approved, the association stated they would not be able to pay for the street sweeping. Antuzzi stated the association agreed to pay for the twinkle lights. Antuzzi stated currently, the members of the association are not able to afford to pay for any maintenance. Antuzzi stated the association never agreed to pay for street cleaning and in his opinion, he does not ever think they should have to pay for that service.
Vice Mayor Hamilton stated she would like to know what expectations the Council should have for this association. Antuzzi stated the association stated they would look at paying for the street cleaning in the bid process and that was done but the association is not able to afford to take on that expense at this time. Wyrick further explained that as of right now, the association is not able to afford to take on any additional expense. Closure of the Town and Country center has resulted in a decreased revenue stream for the downtown businesses. Wyrick stated as the mall opens revenue should substantially increase and the BID will again look at the possibility of absorbing the cost of street cleaning in addition to considering additional beautification efforts.
Vice Mayor Hamilton stated on page 2 of exhibit b, there is an error for the subtotal “other” as it should state $11,000 not $3,000.
Councilmember Swegles inquired if it is mandatory that public safety staff is used for events or may private security be used.
City Manager Chan stated the City prefers that trained Sunnyvale public safety personnel are used; however, if the organization were to provide advance notice of their request for private security, then public safety staff would provide the event organizers with the necessary criteria for outside security. Manager Chan reiterated that for obvious reasons, trained public safety personnel are recommended.
Councilmember Swegles inquired if Wyrick has looked at the cost comparison of using private security over public safety personnel. Wyrick stated the City is not competitive in that other cities charge almost half of what the City charges. Wyrick stated it is hard to compete with other cities in producing events due to the difference in cost of security and this issue is something Wyrick would like to speak to Council about in the future.
City Manager Chan explained that the City’s fees are based on a cost recovery system in which the fee charged only covers the cost to provide the service.
Public hearing closed at 8:20 p.m.
Councilmember Lee confirmed that should Council approve this item and continue to cover the cost of downtown maintenance, it will be an approval for one year only.
City Manager Chan clarified that enhanced street cleaning has not been budgeted for future years. Should Council decide to add this service, it would be added to the list of budget requests under the current budgetary process and Council would have an opportunity to weight how high this item would be on the priority list. Currently, staff is in the process of reviewing all of Council’s priority items. City Manager Chan explained that should Council approve one of the other alternatives instead of Alternative 1, then the motion would need to specifically identify that Council wants this item to be included in the upcoming year’s budget consideration.
MOTION: Councilmember Lee moved and Councilmember Swegles seconded to approve Alternative 2: Council approves the Business Improvement District Annual Report for FY 2007/08 and adopts the Resolution of Intention and schedules a public hearing for
April 8, 2008 to reauthorize the Business Improvement District for FY 2008/09 for Downtown Sunnyvale.
Councilmember Lee spoke in favor of assisting the downtown merchants for one more year, especially due to the current construction. Councilmember Lee stated having a clean Murphy Street is a high priority to the City. Councilmember Lee stated the success of the BID will weigh out once the construction is over and the merchants will be able to take this expense over.
Councilmember Swegles stated he agreed with Councilmember Lee. Councilmember Swegles suggested Wyrick start working with the developer to identify the new merchants coming in to the area in order that they can contact them now and subsequently increase membership within the association.
Vice Mayor Hamilton inquired if Alternative 2 is approved, would that represent Council’s request to add money for downtown maintenance for the fiscal year (FY) 2008/09, but not beyond that. City Manager Chan stated she did not hear that reference listed in the motion, but Councilmember Lee’s comments after his motion identified that his motion was meant to add a budget consideration to fund downtown maintenance only for one more year.
Vice Mayor Hamilton stated she agreed with the motion and Councilmember Lee’s comments; however, once the downtown center is open, she cautioned against the association counting on the City funding enhanced street maintenance in the future.
Councilmember Howe offered a friendly amendment to specify in this motion that enhanced cleaning on Murphy Avenue will be budgeted and included in the next fiscal year.
Councilmember Howe offered a friendly amendment that the BID association provide $100 toward enhanced street cleaning this fiscal year.
Councilmember Howe explained that one of the line items in the BID’s budget would be for street cleaning and this fiscal year their fee will be $100. Councilmember Howe stated it is unreasonable for the City to continue to pay for this maintenance indefinitely, but it is reasonable to assist during the downtown construction period. Councilmember Howe stated his amendment allows for as much street cleaning in the next fiscal year as was done during the current year. Councilmember Howe stated this motion provides direction to staff to continue with the street cleaning but that the BID will be charged $100.
Friendly amendment accepted.
Vice Mayor Hamilton offered a friendly amendment that the enhanced cleaning services would not be put into the budget; but instead the service would be considered along with all the other budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year.
Mayor Spitaleri stated Vice Mayor’s Hamilton’s friendly amendment cannot be accepted because it changes the original intent of the motion which was to fund the enhanced maintenance.
Vice Mayor Hamilton stated Councilmember Lee could decide to change his position and not accept Councilmember Howe’s friendly amendment.
Vice Mayor Hamilton questioned whether the City is able to require that the BID pay for street sweeping because it is her understanding that the BID is structured in such a way that the City cannot dictate what they do with BID monies. City Attorney Kahn stated without researching the BID, he cannot state for sure but Council could ask the representatives if they would be willing to accept that as a condition. City Attorney Kahn stated if they agree, then that would be legal.
Councilmember Howe requested that the mayor reopen the public hearing in order to ask the representative if they agree to pay $100 toward street cleaning.
Mayor Spitaleri reopened the public hearing at 8:30 p.m.
Wyrick stated in theory he would support the concept, but he would want to consult with legal counsel. Vice Mayor Hamilton suggested he check with his board and Wyrick agreed and stated he would also check with their legal counsel.
Mayor Spitaleri closed the public hearing at 8:31 p.m.
Vice Mayor Hamilton restated her friendly amendment to request the enhanced maintenance be a consideration within the upcoming budget process, rather than as a requirement.
Councilmember Howe stated this is a unique situation in that there are currently a number of businesses under stress due to the downtown construction. Councilmember Howe stated approving enhanced maintenance for the next fiscal year will assist the downtown businesses; however, further negotiations will need to occur after this point. Councilmember Howe stated he would support a change to his friendly amendment from a requirement to an advisory measure stating that the BID pay $100. Councilmember Howe stressed that his goal is to have the BID board of directors acknowledge that they understand that there will be further negotiations on this issue.
Vice Mayor Hamilton stated although she thinks the street cleaning and $100 fee are good ideas, she is concerned over the precedent it sets for putting things in the budget outside of the budget process. Vice Mayor Hamilton stated she supports everything about the motion, except the section where the enhanced maintenance expense will be budgeted and not required to go through the budget process.
Councilmember Whittum stated he supports funding this enhanced maintenance right away without delay.
Councilmember Swegles stated this item was approved outside of the budget process last year and this follows the direction given to staff last year.
Restated MOTION: Councilmember Lee moved and Councilmember Swegles seconded to approve Alternative 2: Council approves the Business Improvement District Annual Report for FY 2007/08 and adopts the Resolution of Intention and schedules a public hearing for April 8, 2008 to reauthorize the Business Improvement District for FY 2008/09 for Downtown Sunnyvale.
with
- Council directs staff to continue to provide enhanced cleaning services at the same level as this fiscal year, and
- Council requests the BID contribute $100 toward cleaning services. If the city attorney determines that it is illegal for the BID to make this contribution, this provision shall be dropped.
Vice Mayor Hamilton clarified that Councilmember Howe’s direction is to have the enhanced cleaning be at the same service level as last year regardless if the cost has increased per cleaning.
VOTE: 6-1 (Vice Mayor Hamilton dissented)
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