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Home My Public Portal About20010530 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Regional Open S. c 1 MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Meeting 01-13 SPECIAL MEETING BOARD OF DIRECTORS MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT May 30, 2001 MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING I. ROLL CALL Secretary Larry Hassett called the Special Meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Members Present: Larry Hassett, Ken Nitz, Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Nonette Hanko, Pete Siemens(arrived at 6:40 p.m.), and Deane Little (arrived at 6:55 p.m.). Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Craig Britton, S. Schectman, and D. Simmons. 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 recessed 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. No reportable action was taken. The Board announced that Closed Session Agenda Item No. 3 would be reconvened at the conclusion of the public session. III. OPEN SESSION P. Siemens called the Special Meeting public session to order at 7:36 p.m. and noted that no reportable actions had taken place in Closed Session. Members Present: Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Deane Little, Peter Siemens, Larry Hassett, Nonette Hanko and Ken Nitz. Members Absent: None. Additional Staff Present: John Escobar, Lisa Zadek, and Stephanie Jensen. 330 Distel Circle . Los Altos, CA 94022-1404 - Phone:650-691-1200 Fax: 650-691-0485 - E-mail: mrosd@openspace.org - Web site:www.openspace.org FREE$r Board of Directors:Pete Siemens,Mary C.Davey,Jett Cyr, Deane Little, Nonette Hanko, Larry Hassett,Kenneth C.Nitz -General Manager:L.Craig Britton Meeting 0 1-13 Page 2 IV. SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY C. Britton announced the Special Order of the Day, which was a resolution from the Board honoring Tony Look and renaming a portion of the Stevens Creek Trail within Fremont Older Open Space Preserve in his honor. Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board adopt Resolution No. 0 1-16. N. Hanko seconded and the motion passed 7 to 0. V. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS There were no oral communications. VI. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the agenda. L. Hassett seconded and the motion passed 7 to 0. V11. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Motion: L. Hassett moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including a draft response to a letter to the Los Gatos Town Council, Town of Los Gatos, 110 E. Main Street, Los Gatos; approval of the Minutes from the February 21, 2001 Special Meeting; Agenda Item 2, authorizing the General Counsel to give written notice to Pietro G. DeNevi that the claim dated April 19, 2001 was untimely filed and is being returned without further action; approval of revised claims. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. VIII. BOARD BUSINESS A. Agenda Item No. I —Adoption of Amendment to Land Use Regulation (Ordinance 93-1), Adopt the Attached Ordinance 01-1 Amending Ordinance 93-1, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Land Use Regulations Section 502.3: Bicycle Helmets - (Report R-01-66 S. Schectman summarized the staff report. She also stated that the effective date of the amended Ordinance would be June 8, 2001, after the Ordinance is posted in a newspaper of general circulation as defined by the courts. K. Nitz asked why there were no requirements for wearing other safety equipment such as knee pads. S. Schectman replied that ANSI focused on the most serious injuries, and that the consensus among consumer agencies, as a common accepted practice, is to, at least, wear a helmet. She added that wearing helmets is the"standard". Meeting 01-13 Page 3 K. Nitz asked what would happen if the state changed the law. S. Schectman replied that the District would amend its Rules and Regulations to follow the state law. K. Nitz asked where the language under section 502.3 came from. S. Schectman answered that this language parallels the vehicle code. I Cyr stated that he has noticed significant accidents. He noticed that there were significant occurrences of broken collar bones. I Escobar replied that clavicle injuries were the most common. I Cyr asked how the information was documented that is shown on Exhibit 2 of the Report. I Escobar explained that staff and volunteers read reports and input into a database. I Escobar thanked ROMP for their quick response in writing a letter of support for the amended ordinance. P. Ciesla commented on the proposed amended ordinance. She stated that paragraph E isge nerally true, but that there are people who live on pr oper ty which adjoins an open space preserve and that she wanted the Board to consider sentence inparagraph E. She stated that she knew of a neighbor to deleting a g whom she thought this ordinance would be a major burden. Now he would have to wear a helmet for the one mile he rides on a District preserve. i P. Siemens said that he did not think this was a major burden, but rather a minor burden for anybody riding on District trails. P. Ciesla also stated that she has spent time studying accidents at El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve and found that in cases of severe injuries these accidents occurred on fire roads at speeds in excess of 15 mph. She said that different features on trails cause different accidents. A ditch or drop-off can cause an accident where a bicyclist goes over the handle bars, but roots on the surface tend to cause side-way accidents. Ciesla suggested that the District reduce obstacles below grade and increase obstacles above grade. L. Hassett said that the person Ms. Ciesla referred to has been a resident on Skyline for many, many years and is, in fact, a mountain bike manufacturer, and, if anybody, he should be setting the example by wearing a helmet. Meeting 0 1-13 Page 4 Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board adopt the attached Ordinance 0 1-1 amending Ordinance 93-1, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Land Use Regulations Section 5023: Bicycle Helmets. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. IX. REVISED CLAIMS Staff answered several specific questions about Revised Claims. Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board approve Revised Claims 01-11. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 5 to 0. X. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS K. Nitz reported that the California Buckeye is blooming and that the flowers smell similar to plumeria. N. Hanko attended the going away party for Roger Meyer, a 20-year docent for the District, and said the event was very well done. Mr. Meyer was beloved by the docent community—both within the District and within Edgewood Park. He promised to come back to visit periodically. P. Siemens stated that he would be gone on vacation from June 12 and return on June 27. D. Little stated that he would be gone on vacation from June 6 and return on June 26 or June 27. L. Hassett said that as a part of the greening of America, he would be a co-speaker with Anna Eshoo (there will be four speakers) at a town meeting in Menlo Park to be held at the USGS offices on Saturday, June 2. They expect about 1,000 people to attend. J. Cyr said that he would be helping at the District's booth at Sunnyvale's Art and Wine Festival on Saturday, June 2. D. Little added that he hiked down the Canyon Trail at Monte Bello OSP and saw seven or eight smashed lizards, which he speculated were being hit by high speed cyclists. C. Britton (1) pointed out that there was a memo appointing J. Escobar Acting General Manager while he was on vacation from June 2 through June 24; (2) let the Board know that interviews for the Administration/Human Resources Manager had occurred the previous Friday, there were nineteen applicants, and there were four being interviewed. After meeting with the Administration staff, two finalists were chosen. S. Schectman brought to the attention of the Board that since both the President and Vice President of the Board were going to be on vacation at the same time, it was necessary for the Board to vote for apro tem appointee. Enabling Legislation states that in the absence Meeting 0 1-13 Page 5 of both the President and Vice President, that the Board can vote for a pro tem appointee. She said that by a majority vote of the Board was required. N. Hanko volunteered, stating that she would be in town during the month of June. S. Schectman requested that the Board move that, "there is a need to take immediate action and the need for action came to your attention subsequent to the Agenda being posted," and requested that someone make a motion of the above statement. M. Davey moved that there was a need to take immediate action and the need for action came to the Board's attention subsequent to the Agenda being posted. J. Cyr seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. D. Little nominated N. Hanko to be appointed as President pro lem to act as both President and Vice President of the Board of Directors during their absence and L. Hassett seconded the motion. The motion passed 7 to 0. J. Escobar(1) gave an update on the Ranger hiring process. They have interviewed 21 candidates. Sixteen candidates were asked back to do the skill assessment tests which occurred today. Of the sixteen candidates, six will have background investigations. After the background investigations, verbal offers will be made. He said that staff is very pleased with the quality of the candidates; (2) said the Planning Department hired a new Planning Technician, who is Sumudu Welaratna, and she will start June 11. S. Jensen (1) stated that the Nature Center would be opening for the season on Saturday, June 2, there will be refreshments; (2)thanked Jed for going out and meeting with the public at the Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival. X1. ADJOURNMENT At 8:20 p.m., the open session was adjourned and Closed Session was reconvened at 8:30 p.m. to continue discussing Closed Session Item 3. The Closed Session meeting was adjourned at 10:01 p.m. Lisa Zadek Recording Secretary