HomeMy Public PortalAbout20061025 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting 06-26
SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
October 25, 2006
MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
I. ROLL CALL
President Jed Cyr called the Special Meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
Members Present: Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Larry Hassett, K. Nitz, Pete Siemens, Curt
Riffle, and N. Hanko
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: C. Britton, S. Rice, S. Schectman, D. Simmons
REGULAR MEETING
11. J. Cyr called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:33 p.m. He said there were no reportable
actions from the Closed Session.
Additional Staff Present: G. Baillie, M. Newburn, R. Jurgensen, J. Maciel,
M. Newbum, D. Danielson, D. Sanguinetti, J. Lloyd,
L. Patterson, C. Barresi
111. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
A. Nancy Bovet, 46 Vista Verde Way, Portola Valley, CA asked to talk about a possible
off-leash dog area near the Betsy Crowder Trail at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve.
She said that the flora is not native and that the area is already partially fenced. She
asked how an idea such as this could be discussed by the Board. N. Hanko asked C.
Britton to reply. C. Britton said that this was a new request for this particular area and
that in the past there were discussions about dog-use areas and that a matrix had been
developed. He said that there was a review of the Windy Hill area but that it was a
difficult planning project as Portola Valley has a challenging planning procedure.
N. Hanko said that the Good Neighbor Policy Committee discussed the subject and
thought they should look at the dog usage on District preserves in the future,
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especially with the addition of the coastal area. C. Britton suggested that a dog and
wildlife study be considered first. K. Nitz said he thought the area may be a degraded
area and too close to the pond, adding that the current fencing would need to be
improved. P. Siemens asked Ms. Bovet if Portola Valley was already looking at off-
leash areas and she replied that they were. C. Britton asked Ms. Bovet to address a
letter to him on this subject and he gave her his business card.
B. Phillipe S. Cohen, Jaspen Ridge Biological Preserve, addressed the Board as a
follow-up to the presentation given by Debra Gordon about the Argentine Ants (June
2006). Mr. Cohen asked the Board to consider pursuing this project and he gave an
overview of some of the benefits he felt the Board should be reminded of, including
that the Argentine Ants are extremely damaging to the flora and fauna, and that the
Jasper Ridge study area was not a big enough area for a comprehensive study of the
ants. L. Hassett said that this idea had been initiated by past Board Member, Deane
Little, and said this was an important project and would like to have the Use and
Management Committee discuss the potential project. K. Nitz said he thought the
funding was outside of the District's budget. Mr. Cohen replied that the budget
could be brought down and that they should discuss it to see how a study could
benefit all parties. C. Britton suggested that L. Hassett address a memorandum to the
Board asking to agendize this topic for a discussion at a future Use and Management
Committee meeting.
IV. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board adopt the Agenda. N. Hanko seconded
the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0.
V. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR
L. Hassett asked that Agenda Item 3 be removed from the Consent Calendar for Board
discussion. K. Nitz asked that Agenda Item 5 be removed for Board discussion and he
asked that the Revised Claims be removed too. C. Britton asked if staff could answer any
questions regarding the Claims and K. Nitz agreed.
K. Nitz questioned the following Revised Claims: 5360, 5646, 5664, 5684, 5694, 5708,
5720, 5743, 5758, and 5745, which were explained by staff.
K. Nitz thanked everyone and said that he would be voting "no" on Revised Claims 5730,
5731 and 5736.
P. Siemens questioned Revised Claim #5685, which was explained by staff.
J. Cyr questioned the following Revised Claims: 5628, 5663, and 5667, which were
explained by staff.
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J. Cyr returned Revised Claims to the Consent Calendar.
Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including
Agenda Item 4 Resolution for Pre-Tax Benefit of Employee Paid
Retirement Contributions and Resolution Updating Employer Paid
Retirement Contributions to Meet internal Revenue Requirements;
Adopting Resolution No. 06-46 for Pre-Tax Benefit of Employee Paid
Retirement Contributions, and Adopting Resolution No. 06-47 for PERS
Compliance with the Internal Revenue Service and PERS law; Written
Communications; and Revised Claims 06-19. K. Nitz seconded the
motion.
Discussion: N. Hanko said she would abstain from Revised Claims 5639, 5640, and
5641. C. Riffle said he would abstain from both sets of Minutes approval
(August 23, 2006 and September 13, 2006) as he was not on the Board of
Directors for those meetings.
Vote: The motion passed 7 to 0.
VI. BOARD BUSINESS
A. Agenda Item No. I —Accept the Quarterly Ombudsperson Report and the
Ombudsperson Suggestions on the Number of Reports Provided Per Year -
(Report R-06-132)
S. Rice introduced Carol Joyce and said that her husband, Matt Joyce, was in the
audience. S. Rice said that C. Joyce was going into her third year as the District's
Ombudsperson.
C. Joyce thanked the Board for renewing her contract for another year. She
reported to the Board that there were not a lot of contacts, but those that she did
receive did not include any complaints. Any concerns she received she forwarded
to District staff. She did receive a few inquiries asking her to describe her job as
the District's Ombudsperson. C. Joyce said she felt this was an important job and
commended the District for developing this role.
C. Joyce recommended changing the frequency of her reports from quarterly to
semi-annually. N. Hanko asked S. Schectman if LAFCo would have an issue with
changing the reporting frequency. S. Schectman said she would review the
matter.
C. Riffle asked C. Joyce if she would forward a person with an inquiry directly to
a Board Director. C. Joyce replied that she would first direct that person to
District staff.
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S. Schectman responded to N. Hanko's question regarding any limitation by
LAFCo and said there was nothing in the service plan or LAFCo to restrict or
govern the frequency of reporting.
Motion: N. Hanko moved that the Board accept the quarterly
Ombudsperson report and the Ombudsperson suggestions on the
number of reports provided per year. K. Nitz seconded the motion.
Discussion: C. Britton and S. Schectman discussed the Ombudsperson's
procedures. C. Joyce said she had met with the Legislative,
Finance and Public Affairs Committee and discussed the policy.
J. Cyr said that the Board was very appreciative of C. Joyce's
work. M. Davey agreed by saying she was doing a really good job.
Vote: The motion passed 7 to 0.
B. Agenda Item No. 2 —Response to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District's Peace Officers' Association (MRPOA) Presentation; Direct Staff to
Work with MRPOA on Issues Which are Identified as Being,Appropriate for a
Staff-Level Response; Accept the Recommendations for Policy-Related Issues as
identified in this Report and Direct Staff to Work on the Issues Requiring Follow-
up Activities - (Report R-06-125)
C. Britton began by thanking G. Baillie for the work he did on the staff report. He
said they looked through the issues brought forth by MRPOA and determined
which are Administrative and which issues needed to be reviewed by the Board as
policy. He asked the Board for their questions or comments.
K. Nitz asked about page 2, paragraph 2 and wanted to know what went wrong
and what can occur to address the issues. C. Britton replied that nothing seemed
to have gone wrong, and that maybe things just weren't going (with management)
the way they wanted it. K. Nitz further asked why the issues were not reviewed
through the District's WEP process and voiced a concern that the WEP process
was not working. C. Britton replied that he did not believe that issues between the
Administration and staff were declining, but stated that they should hear from the
MRPOA if there is a communication issue.
N. Hanko said she interpreted the report differently and did not see it as a failure.
She agreed that it was a good idea for the Board to hear what the issues were. She
thought C. Britton did a good job of separating the administration matters from
the policy matters, but thought the group was creative in their approach.
L. Hassett addressed the question of striping on District trucks and he said he
thought there were more issues than just striping, such as looking at the logo and
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truck color. C. Britton said there was a prior decision to have a low law
enforcement profile for the trucks and field staff uniforms. K. Nitz read from the
MRPOA's hand-out from the May Board meeting about this issue. J. Maciel said
that staff did sample striping to see if it made the truck more visible and to
identify the truck as an emergency vehicle.
C. Britton asked the Board to review the issues and determine whether there are
any listed under Administrative that the Board thinks should be under Policy. N.
Hanko said the Administrative issues seemed reasonable. She also said she would
like to get a report on how each issue gets resolved. P. Siemens said he agreed
with N. Hanko's comments and wanted to know what the timing would be on
some of these issues.
K. Nitz asked what a Field Training Officer program was. J. Maciel said there is a
training outline for new employees. There is a draft manual currently being used
and there are four(4) trainers, the Supervising Rangers. They expect the manual
to be finalized by April 2007.
C. Riffle asked about staffing levels relative to driving time. J. Maciel said there
is a matrix that staff used to make sure that there is coverage for the late shifts and
minimum staff coverage. To accommodate the minimum staffing requirement,
overtime is approved if needed. Also, a supervisor is always on duty.
K. Nitz referred back to the staff report and asked if the trucks had GPS systems
in them. J. Maciel said they do not have GPS in the trucks.
L. Hassett returned to the minimum staffing and coverage issue. He asked if this
issue would eventually become a policy issue as any additional costs would come
before the Administrative and Budget Committee. C. Britton said it would as part
of the budget process.
Members of the MRPOA at the meeting were J. Lloyd, the MRPOA President, D.
Danielson, MRPOA Vice President, and C. Barresi, MRPOA Treasurer.
J. Lloyd thanked management for getting this report on the agenda for this
meeting; however, he said the MRPOA only had five days to review it. He said
he would be glad to meet with management. He also said that initially he noticed
some omissions, specifically the marijuana farms issue.
J. Cyr asked if the MRPOA thought any of these issues should be administrative
or vise versa. C. Barresi said that they could not answer that until the entire
MRPOA membership were able to meet and discuss what was in the staff report
before the Board. J. Lloyd added that they came to this meeting with an open
mind, but agreed that they needed to meet with the rest of the membership.
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J. Cyr said he saw this report as a"first cut" of the issues. He said that staff and
the Board would continue reviewing items one (1) through six (6). He also said
he agreed with N. Hanko and P. Siemens about remaining informed on each of the
bulleted items.
C. Britton said the plan would be to sit down to discuss the Administrative items.
He pointed out that there were certain items with recommended actions under the
Policy issues and asked if the Board would like to vote on those tonight.
D. Danielson said that some of the Administrative items were taken from the
Action Report. He also thought some items needed clarification. P. Siemens said
he thought that rather than correct the list, he saw this as a summary. C. Britton
agreed that this document was a means to open dialog. K. Nitz asked why some
of the issues were not brought up with the managers. D. Danielson replied that
some of the items were brought before managersi but were not resolved to their
satisfaction or slow to resolve.
J. Cyr recommended that the Board look at each Policy issue and vote on each
individually.
General Manner's Recommendation#1: Direct staff to work with MRPOA on
issues which are identified as being appropriate for a staff-level response.
Motion: P. Siemens moved to approve this recommendation. M. Davey
seconded the motion.
Discussion: N. Hanko said she would like to defer policy issues until the Board
hears more from staff. C. Britton said there would be an open
discussion. C. Riffle asked if Policy issues were identified that
those would come back to the Board. D. Danielson said that they
would like to meet with staff beforehand and C. Britton agreed.
Vote: The motion passed 7 to 0.
General Manager's Recommendation #2: Accept the recommendations for
policy-related issues as identified in the report and direct staff to work on the
issues requiring follow-up activities.
Discussion: N. Hanko said she would like to see all of the issues continued and
L. Hassett said he agreed with her.
S. Schectman asked about Policy issue#1 on page 3. M. Davey
said she thought the Board should review each policy issue
individually.
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J. Cyr said he would like to pull issue #1 and asked if staff was
okay with that decision.
Motion: N. Hanko moved to review the Policy items individually. K. Nitz
seconded the motion.
Vote: The motion passed 7 to 0. The Board then reviewed the Policy
issues starting on page 3 of the staff report.
Policy Issue 1: Enabling legislation and the scope of peace officer
authority need to be clarified. Also there was a need to
review the source of the Rangers' authority to ensure that
the correct code was being referenced.
Recommended Action: Direct District General Counsel to
re-submit the request to the Attorney General to clarify the
scope of District Rangers' authority, since the Del Mar case
had now been resolved.
Motion: N. Hanko moved to approve the recommended action. K.
Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0.
P. Siemens asked if Policy Issues 2, 3, 4 and 5 could be continued.
Policy Issue 2: The design of the District logo (patch) should be changed to
modernize it and to better reflect the District's mission.
Policy Issue 3: Extended response times for police/sheriffs (frequently 45
minutes to over I hour) continue to raise concerns about
staff safety.
Policy Issue 4: Public perceptions were that Rangers are armed. Rangers
would be safer with firearms.
Policy Issue 5: Staff would be safer if a rifle was available to deal with
vicious animals/mountain lion attacks.
Motion: P. Siemens moved to continue discussion on Policy Issues
2, 3, 4 and 5. N. Hanko seconded the motion.
Discussion: M. Davey said she thought staff would like to hear
discussion on Policy Issues 2 and 5. C. Barresi agreed, but
he said he supported tabling these items for now and until
the MRPOA had a chance to meet. C. Britton said he was
concerned about the timing and asked if they could return
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to these items at the December 13`" Board meeting. C.
Barresi said he thought a month was sufficient time.
Vote: The motion to continue discussion on Policy Issues 2, 3, 4
and 5 passed 7 to 0.
Policy Issue 6: The radio system needs to be improved especially in the
Bear Creek area. FCC mandated changes need to be
planned for and implemented.
Recommended Action: Direct staff to continue with
planning for necessary radio improvements, extended
coverage for the Coastal Protection Area, and for
compliance with Federal Communications Commission
legal requirements. Direct staff to return to the Board in a
timely manner, so that any necessary radio system upgrades
could be considered as part of the 2007/2008 budget
preparation process.
Motion: N. Hanko moved approval of Recommendation Action for
Policy Issue 6. L. Hassett seconded the motion.
Discussion: P. Siemens said he was lad to see this issue in the budget
g g
process, adding that it is critical that the District's radio
system coverage be upgraded.
C. Riffle asked what the timing was for the radio system
improvement. C. Britton said staff would need to get the
costs in the next two to three months and bring the item
back to the full Board, prior to the budget review for the
next fiscal year.
Vote: The motion passed 7 to 0.
C. Agenda Item No. 3— Scheduling Board Meetings in November and December
2006• Cancel Your November 8 2006 and November 22 2006 Regular Meetings;
Schedule Special Meeting for November 15, 2006 and November 29, 2006;
Cancel Your December 27 2006 Regular Meeting-, Reschedule Your Regular
January 10 2007 Meeting to January 17, 2007, Reschedule Your Regular January
24 2007 Meeting to January 31 2007 - (Report R-06-1311
C. Britton reviewed the dates outlined in the General Manager's recommendations
for Board meetings scheduled for the remainder of the year.
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L. Hassett said he would be gone on November 11 th and 18th and based his
schedule on the standard meeting scheduled. He added that in the future the
District should look at the November and December meeting dates earlier in the
year, perhaps in June.
C. Britton said staff reviewed future proposed agenda items and could move some
of these items to a meeting on November 9th.
Following further staff and Board discussion, it was decided that the November
Board meetings would be November 15th and November 29th.
C. Britton reviewed the January dates. Both N. Hanko and P. Siemens said they
would not be present at the proposed January 31 st meeting. After further
discussion, it was decided to keep the regular meeting schedule for January 2007.
Motion: C. Riffle moved that the Board only approve General Manager's
Recommendations 1, 2, and 3 and eliminate General Manager's
Recommendations 4 and 5. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The
motion passed 7 to 0.
D. Agenda Item 5 Appointment to Board Standing Committee; Approve
President's Recommendations for Appointment of New Director Curt Riffle to the
Use and Management and Real Property Standing Committees—(Report R-06-
127)
K. Nitz said he pulled this item from the Consent Calendar for the Board to
discuss. He said he thought C. Riffle should be on the La Honda Master Plan Ad
Hoc Committee.
J. Cyr said that both the Sierra Azul and La Honda Creek Master Plan Ad Hoc
Committees were moving forward, especially Sierra Azul.
P. Siemens agreed with K. Nitz's suggestion adding that this spreads the work-
load around.
Motion: K. Nitz moved that the Board appoint Curt Riffle to the La Honda
Creek Master Plan Ad Hoc Committee. P. Siemens seconded the
motion. The motion passed 7 to 0.
VII. INFORMATIONAL /COMPENSABLE MEETING REPORTS
C. Britton handed out several items, including the Tony Look information; the South
Skyline Newsletter; and the ESL Report on the workshop. He pointed out some items in
the FYI's, including the information on Tunitas Creek and the Predator Control Notice.
Meeting 06-26 Page 9
C. Briton announced that the Hayes deck is complete and that the North demolition was
completed.
S. Rice went over the possible compensable meetings and dates since the previous Board
meeting.
N. Hanko said her compensable meetings included the October 9th and October 25th
Board meetings and the October 24th Good Neighbor Committee meeting. She
announced that the Good Neighbor draft is ready and that a notice would be put on the
District's website announcing the workshop date and time to discuss the draft. She said
that the Board would need to discuss the policy. She added that the Committee
recommended having a meeting on the coast. N. Hanko asked J. Maciel about a horse
trailer and truck that was offered to the District. J. Maciel said that staff was looking for
a location to display it, but that they don't have a use for either vehicle.
K. Nitz said his compensable meetings included the October 9th and October 25th Board
meetings, the October 18th Sierra Azul Ad Hoc Committee meeting, and the October
24th Good Neighbor Policy Committee meeting.
M. Davey's compensable meetings were the October 9th and October 25th Board
meetings. She also attended the October 20th Property meeting and drove and walked the
Driscoll Ranch property. She said she, N. Hanko, J. Cyr and P. Siemens attended the
Coast Alive event and saw Paul Romero of the Department of Parks and Recreation's
educations program.
P. Siemens wanted to suggest that the Coast Alive group give a presentation to the Board.
He said his compensable meetings included the October 9th and October 25th Board
meetings and the October 18th Sierra Azul Ad Hoc Committee meeting.
L. Hassett's compensable meetings were the October 9th and October 25th Board
meetings, and the October 20th La Honda Creek Ad Hoc Committee meeting. He
announced that he would be hosting the South Skyline holiday party on December 17th at
6:00 p.m. and that it would be a pot-luck spaghetti feed. He was invited to and attended
the photograph exhibit unveiling by Deane Little at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic located
adjacent to the District's Administrative office. He said that D. Little donated eleven
photographs. He said he also attended the Committee for Green Foothills event in
Morgan Hill and that N. Hanko was also present.
C. Riffle said his compensable meetings were the October 9th and October 25th Board
meetings. He thanked the Board members for meeting with him and looked forward to
meeting with the rest. He said he was leading a task force to get Stevens Creek trail in
Los Altos. He would be spending the next two days with the Conservation Fund in Napa
County.
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J. Cyr's compensable meetings included the October 9th and October 25th Board
meetings, the October 18th Sierra AzuI Ad Hoc Committee meeting, the October 20th La
Honda Creek Ad Hoc Committee meeting, and the October 24th Good Neighbor
Committee meeting. He also said he attended the Committee for Green Foothills event.
He said he would be going on a ride-along with D. Sanguinetti. J. Cyr asked about the
controlled bum scheduled for tomorrow. G. Baillie replied that the controlled bum was
being cancelled due to low humidity. M. Newbum added that Wednesday,November I st
was the next possible date.
S. Rice asked Larry if he would like to report on the visit with Anna Eshoo.
L. Hassett said that he had a marvelous time and an extremely nice lunch. He said Anna
never wanted to leave. She kept it going for at least two hours and wanted to stay even
longer it seemed like. We had a great conversation and discussed a lot of things.
S. Rice gave a report on her trip to Washington DC and her meeting with Anna Eshoo
and her staff. S. Rice gave Ms. Eshoo a District green vest and other District items. She
said she learned how things worked in DC and said that Ms. Eshoo was very appreciative
of the District. S. Rice asked the Board members on the Administrative and Budget
Committee to review some dates for possible meetings. The Board members reviewed
their calendars and decided that November 28th from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. worked best.
M. Davey added that A. Koletzke had asked about December 7th and December 8th as
possible meeting dates for the Real Property Committee to meet.
J. Maciel reported that there were two Rangers at the Academy. He said that the black-
lining occurred in advance of the controlled bum(which was cancelled—see above). He
added that staff did a great job and that this was great training for them. M. Newbum
added that there were fourteen staff members, of which four had never been involved in a
live fire.
VIII. ADJOURNMENT
The Regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Lisa Zadek
Recording Secretary
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