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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20050727 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Regional Open Space MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Meeting 05-17 SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETINGS BOARD OF DIRECTORS July 27, 2005 MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING I. ROLL CALL President Larry Hassett called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. Members Present: Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Nonette Hanko, Deane Little (arrived at 7:00 p.m.), Ken Nitz (arrived at 6:35 p.m.), Pete Siemens and Larry Hassett. Members Absent: None Staff Present: Craig Britton, Sue Schectman, Sally Thielfoldt and John Maciel. II. CLOSED SESSION L. Hassett stated that the Board would adjourn to Closed Session to discuss Closed Session Agenda Items 1, 2 and 3. The Board reces sed to Closed Session at 6:35 p.m. and the Closed Session commenced at 6:35 p.m. The Board concluded the Closed Session at 7:30 p.m. REGU LAR MEETING III. L. Hassett called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:33 p.m. He announced that the Board had discussed Closed Session Agenda Item 2 in Closed Session and that no reportable actions had taken place. The Board would adjourn to Closed Session following the Regular Meeting to discuss Closed Session Agenda Items 1 and 3. Additional Staff Present: Rudy Jurgensen I IV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS—There were none. i Meeting 05-17 Page 2 Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the agenda. K. Nitz seconded and the motion passed 7 to 0. VI. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including minutes of the April 27, 2005; May 11, 2005; and June 22, 2005 Special and Regular Meetings; Agenda Item 4, Authorize Additional Legal Fees in the Matter of Fogarty vs. MROSD and MROSD v. Fogarty for the Law Firm of Miller, Starr & Reaalia i an Amount Not to Exceed $25,000, for a total of $35,000; Authorize and Appropriate Additional Funds in the Amount of $20,000 from the New Land Purchases Account and Include This Appropriation at Mid-Year Budget Review and Amendment; and Revised Claims 05-13. M. Davey seconded the motion. Discussion: N. Hanko noted that she was not present at the time the Consent Calendar was approved at the June 22, 2005, meeting. Vote: The motion passed 7 to 0. N. Hanko abstained on Claim#3171R. VII. BOARD BUSINESS A. Agenda Item No. I — Adoption of Electronic Communications Policy Applicable to Communications To and From the Board of Directors — (Report R-05-17). L. Hassett commended the Committee for its incredible work over a long period of time and many meetings. N. Hanko, Committee chair, presented the Committee's report. She recognized S. Schectman for capturing the language to convey the Committee's vision of the policy and staff member, Minh Tran, for his assistance. K. Nitz, Committee member, said he found it enjoyable and said staff was great. He said he thinks they have the best policy that exists. J. Cyr, Committee member, said he appreciated staff s patience and thought the end result would work well. N. Hanko said the report was beautifully written and spoke for itself. She asked for Board Members' input. Meeting 05-17 Page 3 P. Siemens said he thought the policy should be added to the general Rules of Procedure instead of being a separate document. He suggested the following changes to the proposed policy: • Page 2, Paragraph 111, D — Need to include a list of what is within each committee's jurisdiction or say "on the committee's agenda" instead of "within the Committee's jurisdiction." S. Schectman recommended keeping "within the Committee's jurisdiction." She thought this related to the next agenda item. She said there are several Board policies that are not in the Rules of Procedure. • Paragraph 111, E — When the District prints new business cards, include the infogopenspace.org address. • Paragraph 111, F — Add the words, "individually or as a whole" following the words "communicate with the Board" in the second line. Delete the last two sentences of the second paragraph. Board Members discussed this option at length. P. Siemens said he considered it a discussion when a Board Member sends a copy of his or her response to a constituent to other Board Members. Board Members and staff expressed their opinions on this matter. D. Little agreed with P. Siemens. N. Hanko said she thought it was appropriate to let other members know what their responses to constituents were. S. Schectman said this policy was patterned after the policy on written communications. L. Hassett said he had similar concerns regarding possible violations of the Brown Act. Following a lengthy discussion, L. Hassett spelled out two options: (1) the Board could vote on each proposed amendment, or (2) the Board could send the changes back to the Committee. S. Schectman noted that it was an individual Board Member's responsibility to avoid violations of the Brown Act. • Paragraph 111, G — Change to read, "Board members and staff shall communicate with each other on District business solely via their designated District E-mail addresses." • Paragraph 111, H — The second and third paragraphs of this policy should be separate policies. Change the first sentence of the second paragraph to read, "The District will not generally answer questions or respond to comments made in Internet forums." Change the second sentence to read, " . . . an interim response to the questioner and commenter will be sent as soon as possible . . • Page 4, Section VI—replace "they are" with "he or she is." Meeting 05-17 Page 4 S. Schectman said elected officials who participate in unintentional violations of the Brown Act could be responsible; however, a violation must be intentional to incur criminal liability. This is a rare occurrence. Board Members conducted a straw vote on the proposed changes as follows: Paragraph 111, F — Add the words, "individually or as a whole" following the words "communicate with the Board" in the second line— 7 to 0. Delete the last two sentences of the second paragraph — 2 to 5; 7 to 0 that it should be looked at again. Not eliminate—4 to 3. Paragraph 111, G — Change to read, "Board members and staff shall communicate with each other on District business solely via their designated District E-mail addresses."— 7 to 0. Paragraph 111, H — Change the first sentence of the second paragraph to read, "The District will not generally answer questions or respond to comments made in Internet forums." — 4 to 3. Have Committee look at it —7 to 0. Change the second sentence to read, an interim response to the questioner and commenter will be sent as soon as possible . . ....—7 to 0. Page 4, Section VI —replace "they are" with "he or she is."—7 to 0. Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board send the policy back to the Legislative, Finance and Public Affairs Committee with information on the amendments proposed by Board Members and the results of the straw vote. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. B. Agenda Item No. 2 - Procedural Recommendation for Assignment of Agenda Topics to a Board Standing Committee• Discuss and Direct Legislative, Finance and Public Affairs Committee to Draft Proposed Amendment to the District's Rules of Procedure for Assignment of Agenda Topics to Board Standing Committees—(Report R-05-83). N. Hanko noted that Page 27 of the Coastside Plan included information on the jurisdiction of each standing committee. P. Siemens suggested that they make it clear under what conditions staff refers things directly to standing committees. C. Britton said that most committee assignments come from work plans. Meeting 05-17 Page 5 K. Nitz said he would like to have a date by which the Board would like the item completed. N. Hanko said they would like to have it done by the end of September. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board direct the Legislative, Finance and Public Affairs Committee to draft a proposed amendment to the District's Rules of Procedure for assignment of agenda topics to Board Standing Committees; and change the charge to the Committee to define the jurisdiction of each standing committee. J. Cyr seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. D. Little said there is a Use and Management Committee meeting scheduled for August 11, and one of the items is the timing for Windy Hill. S. Schectman reminded them that under the Brown Act, Board Members can attend a meeting of a standing committee as an observer only and cannot participate. C. Agenda Item No. 3 - Authorize Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to Co-host the 2006 Special Park Districts Forum with East Bay Regional Park District—(Report R-05-17). C. Britton presented the staff report. He said the District cannot sponsor this event by itself From a workload standpoint, one day is probably about all they would want to do. He said they had been talking about this with East Bay for about two years before they went to the Michigan conference. He said they were proposing to focus on the coast. He passed out the results of staff discussions, including a proposed schedule of events for a day. Page 2 of the handout was a compilation of their brainstorming about what was good about the Michigan conference and what could be improved upon. He asked for input from the Board. He discussed the idea behind designating Jed Cyr as a Board liaison. It is really not for policy, but more for administrative input and advice. L. Hassett said that at this time he recommended not assigning this to a committee. He felt that it was important that there be Board liaison. He agrees with the recommendation of appointing Jed Cyr as the Board liaison, as stated in the report. C. Britton said they would be sending a survey to those who attended last year's conference. He talked about possible future events the District might conduct. D. Little agreed that they should do outreach to groups who have not been attending this conference, and should avoid "dumbing down" presentations. Meeting 05-17 Page 6 Motion: D. Little moved that the Board authorize the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) to co-host the 2006 Special Park District Forum with East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). N. Hanko seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. VIII. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS N. Hanko drew the Board's attention to the District Web site which has a number of new things. She thanked staff for their work on the site. M. Davey: (1) A Bay Area Open Space Council staff person did an analysis of Websites, and the District's was among the top four. (2) She received a call from a reporter from the Town Crier regarding the District's position on the De Anza Trail on District land. She referred her to C. Britton. L. Hassett said he and C. Britton had attended the JPIA annual meeting. D. Little: (1) A representative from the Santa Clara Department of Agriculture and a ranger from Palo Alto Parks had checked the sites where they inoculated star thistle with rust. He showed pictures of the results. (2) He had hiked some sites at Bear Creek Redwoods with people from the stables. They showed him a site where there were rocks with grind holes. He had photographs of them. He said they should take a close look at that site. (3) He had entered five photographs in the Committee on Green Foothills' annual art and photography contest, and he won the competition. There will be an auction of the art and photographs on October 2, 2005. J. Cyr: (1) He commended staff on the tour of Sierra Azul. (2) He visited the Bear Creek stables and will talk to J. Maciel about some of the issues he had about the area. He said there was a huge amount of broom on the ridge. C. Britton: (1) He distributed a map of the off-leash area at Pulgas. (2) He had received an invitation to the Muir Heritage Land Trust event. (3) He had information on POST's Under the Harvest Moon event on September 17. (4) John Woodbury has resigned from the Bay Area Open Space Council and recruiting will begin soon. (5) The FYls included the final letter on M. Davey's birthday celebration, which raised $25,600. S. Schectman: (1) The Santa Clara Open Space Authority case was appealed to the Supreme Court. She will let the Board know if they accept it. (2) The Fogarty litigation is proceeding. The trial date is September 13, 2005. (3) Settlement discussions with Saratoga Country Club are moving forward. J. Maciel reported that there had been a death on a District preserve. Meeting 05-17 Page 7 IX. ADJOURNMENT At 9:50 p.m., the Board adjourned to Closed Session to discuss Agenda Items 1 and 3. The Special Meeting reconvened and the Board adjourned to Closed Session to discuss Agenda Items 1 and 3. The Closed Session commenced at 9:57 p.m. and adjourned at 10:25 p.m. No reportable action was taken. Roberta Wolfe Recording Secretary i