14 Reconsideration Fee
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CUPEIUINO
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City Hall
10300 Torre Avenue
Cupertino, CA 95014-3255
Telephone: (408) 777-3220
Fax: (408) 777-3366
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
SUMMARY
Agenda Item No: I Y
Meeting Date: June 20, 2006
SUBJECT AND ISSUE
Consider deletion or modification of the fee associated with petitions for reconsideration.
BACKGROUND
A public hearing was held at the April 4, 2006 City Council meeting to discuss the citywide fee
schedule. As part of the fees for fiscal year 2006/07, a new fee for petitions for reconsideration
was proposed at $500. This fee was to cover a portion of the actual costs (9.8%) of processing
petitions for reconsideration as set forth in Chapter 2.08096 of our Municipal Code, without
imposing a large financial burden on the applicant. Council approved the fee that evening.
On April 12, 2006 the City Clerk's office received two Petitions for Reconsideration of this fee,
one from Keith Murphy and one from Darrel Lum. The City Council denied the Petitions for
Reconsideration, as they did not meet the requirements for a reconsideration hearing. However,
the Council asked staff to bring this fee back to them for possible deletion or modification.
Attached for Council's consideration is the analysis on the cost of prior reconsideration hearings.
The average cost of staff time to prepare for a reconsideration hearing is $5,102. We have had
five requests for reconsideration hearings in the past year. All five were denied.
Although some individuals may be in disagreement with a $500 fee, it is our responsibility to
guard against abuse of the public process. If this trend in unwarranted reconsideration requests
continues, the public at large is paying approximately $25,000 per year for a few individuals
(five hearings at approximately $5,000 each). We ask that you consider what you could have
purchased with the staff time involved:
.> Our part-time neighborhood watch coordinator, or
.> Our part-time disaster preparedness coordinator, or
.> Our part-time code-enforcement officer, or
.> Shakespeare in the Park, or the
.> City Council TV Public engagement program.
Printed on Recycled Paper
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RECOMMENDATION
Consider deletion or modification of the fee associated with petitions for reconsideration.
Submitted by:
Approved for submission:
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Carol A. Atwood
Director of Administrative Services
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David W. Knapp
City Manager
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Reconsideration Fee Analysis
Cost of Staff Time i
Gate of Heaven Greenleaf Drive T Wolfe Camera Toll Brothers Average Cost
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Robert Lindberg I Greg Bunker Keith Murphy of last fou r
i Kathy Helgerson i
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i hearings
60 min rehearing 45 min rehearing 25 min rehearing 20 min rehearing I
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City Attorney's Office - , i
Attorney prep - 18 hours i 2,192.07 2,192.07 2,192.07 2,192.07;
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Attorney - meeting , 121.78 91.34 50.74 40.591
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Secretary prep - 4 hours 190.29 190.29 190.29 190.29:
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City Clerk's Office - i
City Clerk - prep 99.43 71.81 66.281
Deputy City Clerk - prep 369.62 282.65 282.65 369.621
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Senior Clerk - prep 102.12 102.12 102.121 i
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Clerk - meeting 43.48 49.71 : 27.621 22.09
Planning Department. ,
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Director - prep - 3 hours 297.67 297.67 i 297.67j 297.67
Director - m,eeting ! 99.22 , 41.34i 33.07:
74.421
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Planner - prep I 468.94 1,012.921 1,012.921 281.37
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Planner - meeting ! 78.16 42,20 23.45 18.76
Secretary prep - 15 minutes i 10.87 10.87 10.87 10.87
City Manager's Office - I
City Manager - prep - 1 hour 132.84 132.84 132.84 132.84 '
City Manager - meeting 132.84 99.63 55.35 44.28
Public Works -
Director - prep - 10 hours 1,076.96
Director - meeting 80.77
Assistant Director - prep - 3 hours 256.85
Assistant Director - meeting , 28.54
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Total Staff Costs i 4,239.89 5,835.87 4,491 .73 3,985.19
Applied Overhead @ 10% 423.99 583.591 449.17, 398.52
Total Staff Costs & Overhead 4,663.88 6,419.46 4,940.90! 4,383.71 5,101.99
Proposed Fee 500.00 500.00 500.00i 500.00 500.00
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% of Recovery 10.72% 7.79% 10.12%1 11.41 % 9.80%
Council Decision Rejected Reiected Reiected Rejected
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