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HomeMy Public PortalAbout19790822 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting 79-21 All= (MM MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Regular Meeting Board of Directors M I N U T E S August 22, 1979 7 :30 P.M. I. ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Vice President Barbara Green at 7 :40 P.M. Members Present: Daniel Wendin, Richard Bishop, Barbara Green and Nonette Hanko Members Absent: Katherine Duffy, Edward Shelley and Harry Turner Personnel Present: Herbert Grench, Craig Britton, Charlotte MacDonald, Jean Fiddes, Del Woods, Eric Mart, Cynthia DiGiovanni, Stanley Norton and Sue Herda. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Minutes of July 11, 1979 N. Hanko requested that on page 5, the statement "N. Hanko expressed concern regarding the structure of the committee and referred to past Palo Alto City Council experiences. She also said she felt a woman should be represented on the committee;' be placed after the vote on the motion. She also requested that the following be added; "N. Hanko stated that unless the committee is only to gather information, she opposed the committee concept and stated her concern that the entire Board be responsible for the review of appointees. " B. Green stated Board consensus that the minutes of July 11, 1979 be approved as corrected. H. Turner arrived at 7 :45 P.M. B. Minutes of July 25, 1979. B. Green stated Board consensus that the minutes of July 25, 1979 be approved as presented. Meeting 79-21 Page Two III. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS H. Grench advised the Board that the District received a $100 con- tribution from Lawrence Breed of Palo Alto and suggested that the Board send a Resolution of Appreciation. The Board concurred. IV. ADOPTION OF AGENDA B. Green stated Board consensus that an item, "Appointment of Sec- retary Pro Tern, " be added to the agenda under the category of NEW BUSINESS WITH ACTION REQUESTED. V. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Mark Schneider, 12100 Skyline Boulevard, Los Gatos stated that he concurred with the concern expressed by Robert Mark at the meeting of July 11, 1979 regarding an environmental impact report (fourth page, first paragraph) . M. Schneider asked for the time scale in relationship to generating an EIR, who would be requesting the documents and who would provide the EIR. D. Woods stated that an EIA was submitted along with the Monte Bello Plan to the City of Palo Alto. The EIA is a worksheet form which the City of Palo Alto is evaluating to determine if an EIR is neces- sary. VI. NEW BUSINESS WITH ACTION REQUESTED A. Proposed Land and Water Conservation Fund Applications H. Grench introduced report No. R-79-32, dated August 16, 1979 re- garding the proposed Land and Water Conservation Fund Applications by the District for two matching grants. One application is for the development of the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve and the other for acquisition of the proposed Sandstone Caves Park. Motion: R. Bishop moved adoption of Resolution 79-39, a Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District approving the application for Land and Water Conservation Funds - Monte Bello Open Space Preserve Develop- ment Project. H. Turner seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. There was general discussion wherein the Directors unanimously agreed upon their pleasure in the District' s decision to apply for Land and Water Conservation Funds towards the proposed Sandstone Caves project. Beverly Carter, Controller, Rancho Canada de Verde, 16060 Skyline Boulevard, Woodside asked when the matter of application for grant monies first came up as a District matter, and when the resolution was drawn and passed. Meeting 79-21 Page Three B. Green stated that this was the first time that the matter was up for Board consideration and that the resolution was available for her viewing. B. Carter noted that Rancho Canada de Verde is very selective about whom they let enter the property, and have placed logs across the trail to discourage hikers. Generally they only allow school groups to view the Sandstone Caves. She stated that they do have a patrol on the weekends, and she suspected that a lot of the deterioration was natural due to the harsh climate. Regarding the proposed pur- chase of 540 acres, she expressed concern about how many of those acres are specifically along Skyline Boulevard. D. Woods stated that the distance along Skyline Boulevard was a little more than one mile. Motion: R. Bishop moved adoption of Resolution 79-40, a Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District approving the application for Land and Water Conservation Funds - Sandstone Caves Park Acquisition Pro- ject. B. Green seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. B. Joint Project with San Mateo County on Surplus Edgewood State College Site H. Grench reviewed memorandum M-79-116 and recommended that the Board send a letter to the Board of Supervisors of San Mateo County reaffirming the Dis- trict' s involvement in the Edgewood State College Site project. Motion: R. Bishop moved that the Board authorize the Vice President of the Board to send a letter to the San Mateo Board of Supervisors. N. Hanko seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. C. Filling of Positions H. Grench reviewed memorandum M-79-118 , dated August 15, 1979 from E. Mart regarding the filling of two temporary Ranger Aide positions and memorandum M-79-121, dated August 17 , 1979 regarding the filling of a :Ranger vacancy. In addition, he noted that as an urgency mea- sure, he had to fill the vacant part-time Drafting Aide position on a temporary basis, and asked that the Board concur with his action. D. Wendin stated that there appeared to be some issues that the Bud- get Committee had not taken into consideration. One of them related to the effect of the CETA budget, or the lack of it, on the Land Management guidelines. He stated that he felt that after the new Land Manager was appointed, the Budget Committee should review the matter and determine whether or not an adjustment of the policy is necessary at the present time or whether to wait until next year. Meeting 79-21 Page Four Secondly, D. Wendin noted that the Budget Committee never considered the question of a recommendation to the Board on the policy relative to the Budget Committee reviewing staff replacements. He felt that it was intended that it was no longer necessary for the Budget Com- mittee to review all staff replacements. He stated that the Budget Committee should meet and review the situations and make recommenda- tions to the Board. Motion: B. Green moved that the Board approve filling the two tem- porary ranger aide positions and the regular ranger position, and that the clarification of the policy for Procedures for Hiring Regular and Temporary Employees be referred to the Budget Committee. R. Bishop seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: D. Wendin moved that the questions of the effect of the CETA budget on the Land Management guidelines and the analysis of the Board Policy for Procedures for Hiring Regular and Tem- porary Employees or Staff Replacements be referred to the Budget Committee, for consideration after the appointment of a new Land Manager. H. Turner seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. D. Personnel Services H. Grench reviewed Mr. Foss' activities with the District and expressed the District' s need to retain Mr. Foss for further personnel related services. He stated the necessity of having Mr. Foss available to aid the new Administrative Assistant in interpreting the new personnel sys- tem developed by Mr. Foss. He felt there was a need for ongoing consul- tation requiring someone with professional experience to handle the type of questions that wouldn' t be expected of an Administrative Assistant. He expected that the contract with Mr. Foss would be renegotiated in approximately four months. B. Green asked if the consultant was to be the Board' s consultant or the General Manager' s consultant. H. Grench stated that on a day to day basis, Mr. Foss would be a con- sultant to the General Manager, but would be available to the Board as the Board needed services and would do assignments directly for the Board also. N. Hanko expressed concern with the process the District was using. She said that at the time that the District chose the consultant, the District had an advertising procedure that it used, and it now seemed that the work being suggested for Mr. Foss was somewhat different from the original position. She wondered if the public resources code re- quired any specific type of advertising for such a position. H. Grench stated that he believed that the code does not require advertising for professional services, and Mr. Norton concurred. Meeting 79-21 Page Five N. Hanko continued, stating that she did not notice any date speci- fying when the work was to be completed. It appeared to be an open ended agreement which could imply Mr. Foss would be kept on as a full time employee, when in fact he is a consultant. H. Grench commented that he was anticipating 16 hours per month ini- tially. After that he said he thought it would equal about one day per month, on an ongoing basis. He pointed out that there are pro- cedures within the agreement for terminating it and that it will also be controlled in part through the budget process. N. Hanko made reference to a section referring to the District engaging the contractor and the District terminating the agreement, and asked for clarification concerning "who is the District, the General Manager or the Board?" H. Grench stated that under the agreement the General Manager is re- sponsible, however, the Board is always able to direct him. N. Hanko stated that the funds, at least for this year, were to come out of services, supplies and salaries and benefits budgets, but there is no mention as to where these funds are to come from after the new year. H. Grench stated that it would be a budget item and would have to be put in priority with other items as part of the budget process. N. Hanko stated she wasn' t sure what the District is expecting the personnel consultant to do. She noted that there are no special guide- lines as to what he' ll be doing or how the District can evaluate how he is performing his services. H. Grench stated that the guidelines were given in a general way as part of exhibit A, third paragraph down, where it mentions the person- nel services and lists various typical areas that would be covered under the agreement. He suggested that she refer to H. Grench' s report on implementation of the original study, which would give an idea of the details. N. Hanko expressed her view on the matter, stating that the District certainly needs to have the implementation of the study, but she'd like to see the Administrative Assistant trained and then have the District rely on the Administrative Assistant as the personnel person. Also, she stated that she would like for the Board to have more influ- ence in hiring a District consultant. She said she would prefer that the consultant be hired by the Board rather than the General Manager, and if the Board didn't agree, at least have the consultant report to the Board on a quarterly basis. D. Wendin suggested that H. Grench periodically report on the con- sultant' s progress. Meeting 79-21 Page Six N. Hanko stated she felt it would be valuable for the Board to retain a consultant for handling such matters, who is not otherwise working for staff. R. Bishop said that under the terms of the agreement with Mr. Foss, he did not feel there would be any conflicts. H. Grench stated that it was anticipated that the Board would be able to contact Mr. Foss at any time. Robert Mark, 725 Cowper, Palo Alto stated that there was an apparent, if not very real, impropriety surrounding the issue. Referring to the fact that Mr. Foss had just completed a review of the General Manager' s compensation, he questioned the fact that the General Manager was now recommending that the Board hire Mr. Foss for further work. He said he felt that if that sort of an arrangement were contemplated, then Mr. Foss should have declined the job of reviewing the salary of the General Manager. B. Green noted that Mr. Foss doesn' t review H. Grench, he merely distinguishes areas the Board needs to consider when they review the General Manager. G. Foss stated that his position was to provide the Board with technical information which was in conjunction with the report that he provided for all other District employees . Harry Kallishan, 59 Alma Court, Los Altos stated that he agreed with Bob Mark and that the District should be concerned about how outsiders see it. He suggested that the matter be viewed "at arms length. " Motion: D. Wendin moved that the Board authorize the General Manager to enter into the agreement with Wolf, Murphy and Foss for personnel services, with the proviso that the General Manager report to the Board on an every other month basis on the activities of the consultant. H. Turner seconded the motion. Ayes : D. Wendin, R. Bishop, B. Green and H. Turner Noes: N. Hanko N. Hanko stated her no vote reflected her opinion that the Board should hire the consultant and that he report to the Board rather than the General Manager. E. Appointment of Secretary Pro Tem to Sign Documents H. Grench stated that the Board needed to appoint a Secretary Pro Tem to handle signature of documents. B. Green stated the consensus of the Board that R. Bishop be appointed Secretary Pro Tem. Meeting 79-21 Page Seven VII. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS H. Grench noted that the District has agreed to the Town of Los Gatos' request to provide 50% funding on the Novitiate property appraisal. The original agreement anticipated that Los Gatos would fund all of the cost, but under the circumstances, he felt it seemed like a reasonable request. H. Grench stated that the San Carlos City Council passed the necessary resolutions scheduling a protest hearing for September 24th to determine whether or not the Hassler assessment district is to be formed. He also noted that he had sent the Board materials on Housing After Proposition 13. The information was relevant to a special assessment district that was set up and the legality of that following Proposition 13. Beez Jones, 19 La Vuelta, Vallejo asked if the District is anticipat- ing purchasing the Novitiate property. H. Grench stated that the project that the District is involved with is where the Novitiate winery is located, although the winery would not be included. Los Gatos secured a Land and Water Conservation Fund last year for the project which consists of approximately 300 acres, and the District Board agreed to put up 50% of the local share of the project. D. Wendin said that he noticed a barricade at the 280 Freeway entrance to the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, which could cause parking to backup into the neighborhood making the whole issue more visible. He asked how Santa Clara County was progressing on the fence bid. D. Woods replied that the county has finished their design specifica- tions, and after funding is approved by the Board of Supervisors, the county will go to bid and expect construction of the fence within six weeks. S. Norton recommended that the Board send a letter to the adminis- tration of the St. Joseph' s High School/St. Patrick's College stating the Board' s position on the barricade. The Board concurred with Stan' s recommendation and asked that he send the letter. VIII. CLAIMS Motion: R. Bishop moved that the Board approve the Revised Claims No. C-79-17 , dated August 22, 1979. H. Turner seconded the motion. N. Hanko abstained from item No. 187. The motion passed unanimously. IX. EXECUTIVE SESSION The Board recessed to Executive Session at 9 :00 P.M. X. ADJOURNMENT The Board reconvened to adjourn at 11:35 P.M. Sue Herda Secretary j CORRECTIONS TO MINUTES OF , /� :.21 i A. Minutes of August 22, 1979 E. Shelley stated Board consensus that the minutes of August 22, 1979 be approved as presented. �l CORRECTIONS MINUTES OF _ I l I I {