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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, Meeting 06-26 Page I 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. Meeting 06-26 Page 2 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. Meeting 06-26 Page 3 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 Meeting 06-26 Page 4 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. Meeting 06-26 Page 5 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. Meeting 06-26 Page 6 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 Meeting 06-26 Page 7 i 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. Meeting 06-26 Page 8 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. Meeting 06-26 Page 10 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 Meeting 06-26 Page 1 1