Loading...
101-Draft minutes.pdf DRAFT MINUTES CUPERTINO CITY COUNCIL Regular Adjourned Meeting Wednesday, May 30, 2012 ROLL CALL At 1:02 p.m. Vice Mayor Orrin Mahoney called the regular adjourned meeting to order in the Council Chamber, 10350 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, California. Present: Vice Mayor Orrin Mahoney, and Council members Barry Chang (1:03 p.m.), Rod Sinks, and Gilbert Wong. Absent: Mayor Mark Santoro. STUDY SESSION 1. Subject: Study session on the FY 2012-2013 Budget Recommended Action: Conduct Budget study session Written communications for this item included: • Email from Darryl Stow supporting funding for Cupertino Historical Society • Email from Donna Austin supporting funding for Cupertino Historical Society and flyer for German Weinfest fundraiser for Historical Society • Email from Peter Friedland, Chair of TICC, supporting funding for KMVT Community Television • Document from Diana Argabrite describing Euphrat Museum of Art 2012 Cupertino outreach • Letter and proposal from Shelley Wolfe, Executive Director of KMVT asking for funding for digital equipment • Staff PowerPoint presentation A. Budget Message Interim City Manager Amy Chan highlighted her FY 2012/13 Budget Message including: new reserves to deal with economic fluctuation and public employees retirement funds; one-time revenue suggested for one-time projects only; creating a fiscally sound structure to deal with day-to-day operational needs and any enhancement Council feels is necessary; the City is fortunate to see a once in a lifetime revenue phenomena with several developments coming in; and recommended funding in several capital improvement projects previously on the unfunded list. She thanked Council and the Fiscal Strategic Plan Committee for its leadership toward a financially sustainable future. She also thanked staff for their hard work and diligence in putting together the budget. Ms. Chan said that no specific action was required in this study session but to provide any May 30, 2012 Cupertino City Council Page 2 additional direction to staff as necessary. She noted that a budget hearing was scheduled for Monday, June 4 and budget adoption was scheduled for June 19. B. Overview of Budget:  Budget Projections 2011/12  Budget Projections 2012/13  Funded/New Programs  Unfunded Programs  Fiscal Strategic Plan Committee recommendations Director of Administrative Services Carol Atwood gave background on where Cupertino has been and where it is today financially. She highlighted the recession three years ago which resulted in a selective hiring freeze and deferred maintenance and ending the fiscal year with a $6 million shortfall and assuming a $2 million shortfall for FY 2011/12. She noted that by March, 2011, Cupertino was coming out of the recession and was seeing an increase in development activity, business to business sales tax was picking up, and property tax was gradually increasing. The City finished FY 10/11 year with a surplus of $3.9 million. She explained that Cupertino was still not out of the recession as of the FY 11/12 budget preparation dates and therefore needed to implement fiscal strategies to cover Redevelopment Agency (RDA) costs absorbed back to the General Fund and the HP sales tax loss. In November, Cupertino went to the voters to ask for an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) which was successful and will generate about $450,000/year for the General Fund. Also, the City just refinanced its $44 million of debt at a much lower interest rate saving $350,000 per year on the annual debt service cost, and the City is looking at moving the part-time employees out of social security and into another retirement system which would save $50,000 per year in retirement costs. She also explained that Cupertino is continuing to pursue the property tax inequity with the State through the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) and the Tax Equity Allocation (TEA) which would give the City $1.2 million. She said that the proposed budget being presented today is unprecedented due to several major developments coming in all at once resulting in operational and one-time revenues. She noted that this budget strategically manages those funds in order to put Cupertino in a secure financial situation next year and in the years to come. Recommendations include increasing the CIP and Infrastructure reserves, adding other new reserves, and pre-paying long-term obligations to free up annual expenditures of approximately $2 million a year. Finance Director Dave Woo went through the PowerPoint slides regarding General Fund Trends and Revenues highlighting the revenue assumptions. Director Atwood continued with the PowerPoint slides highlighting the General Fund Operating Expenditures; programs not included in the proposed budget; strategic placement of funds; and all reserves at policy levels or above. May 30, 2012 Cupertino City Council Page 3 City Council asked questions of staff and then Vice Mayor Mahoney opened the meeting to public comments for what had been discussed so far. Donna Austin distributed A Sip of History flyer regarding a fundraiser for the Cupertino Historical Society. She asked Council to put funds back in the budget to help with displays for the Historical Society. She thanked Council for continuing to support the Library hours. Diana Argabrite from the Euphrat Museum distributed a document which showed an overview of 2011-12 museum activities. She made a PowerPoint presentation as well showing some representations of art from the museum. She noted that the museum receives some funding from De Anza College and asked Council for an extra $5,000 to help fund the museum’s exhibits and activities. Shelley Wolfe, Executive Director of KMVT Community Television said that her group would like to provide more services to Cupertino by being more involved in school activities such as filming high school games and School Board meetings, Chamber of Commerce events, and being backup support to our local govt. channel. She explained that they would like to purchase new digital equipment to be able to stream content on demand and do live streaming. She asked Council for $65,000 as a one-time request to purchase a Digital Switcher. She distributed a hard-copy proposal to Council. Peter Friedland, Chair of the Technology, Information, and Communications Commission (TICC) said that Ms. Wolfe had made a presentation to the TICC and the commission urged KMVT to focus on Cupertino and encouraged live advertising of school sporting events, etc. He noted that the City already provides annual subsidy for the KMVT program, “The Better Part” and noted that changing the equipment from analog to digital would give Cupertino access to many more services. He said that the commission would be happy to review the proposal and make a recommendation to Council. Council directed staff to have the TICC work with KMVT to specify details of the proposal by June 12 and give an evaluation to Council. Mel Van Dusen, Producer at KMVT talked about the varied programming including showing coverage of complete events, rather than just short clips as mainstream television does. He noted that he has funded and produced 180 shows worldwide including translating a show into German. He said that National Geographic had contacted and interviewed him for a Veteran’s Village segment dealing with veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He explained he is also interested in scientific areas such as where does consciousness come from. Diane Sparks, Executive Producer, editor, camera person, etc. for The Better Part at KMVT thanked Cupertino for its support. She urged Council to support the monetary proposal for an equipment upgrade. She also noted that KMVT films the League of Women Voters before an election and has quality programs about authors. She said that they have many volunteers who put in a lot of effort. May 30, 2012 Cupertino City Council Page 4 Beverly Siegel, TICC member, said she is also a producer who uses the KMVT facilities and she said she gives full support for a digital upgrade. She noted that all the programs produced educate Cupertino about resources that are available. She said she will produce a program about how city govt works, what commissions do and how they work, and how residents can contribute their talents to city govt. She said she also runs classes that help producers give voice to public access TV, and classes for middle and high school students on producing programs. Jennifer Griffin gave some history about the Snyder Hammond House and was concerned about a potential fire to the old Victorian house. She said that it’s important to have a place in Cupertino where old buildings can be moved to since they are such an integral part of the history of Cupertino. Council recessed from 2:45 p.m. to 2:54 p.m. C. Departmental Budgets:  Council and Commissions  Administration/Attorney/PIO  Administrative Services  Law Enforcement  Parks and Recreation  Community Development  Public Works Director Atwood reviewed the Council and Commissions, Administration, Attorney, Administrative Services, and Law Enforcement department budgets. Public and Environmental Affairs Director Rick Kitson reviewed the PIO/Communications budget. Director of Parks and Recreation Mark Linder reviewed the Parks and Recreation budget. Director of Community Development Aarti Shrivastava reviewed the Community Development budget. Director of Public Works Timm Borden reviewed the Public Works budget. Assistant Public Works Director Roger Lee talked about street trees: proposing $40,000 to tag trees with smart read tags; educating the public on the responsibilities of street trees; and filling in vacant areas of street trees for the Tree City designation. D. 5 Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Director Borden reviewed the CIP budget PowerPoint slides highlighting completed projects, current projects to be completed, and current projects with multi-year funding. He also highlighted PowerPoint slides on Stevens Creek Corridor Park Phase 2. May 30, 2012 Cupertino City Council Page 5 E. Budget Timeline for FY 2013-14 Proposed Budget Director Atwood noted a PowerPoint slide regarding the 2013 budget timeline for when budget materials would be ready for Council review and when the budget study session would take place. Interim City Manager Amy Chan made a correction noting that staff had discussed a consistent annual schedule of having the budget material be available on May 1 each year and holding the budget study session each year on either the second Council meeting in May or the third week in May. F. Questions and Answers City Council asked questions of staff. G. Public Comments Vice Mayor Mahoney opened the meeting to public comments for what had been discussed since the last public comments section. Jennifer Griffin said that the budget presentations are helpful. She noted that because of the many developments going on, she hopes the City would focus on traffic congestion along Stevens Creek Blvd., Blaney, Wolfe, and Stern, to name a few streets and upgrade the intersections to be more efficient. She also urged Council for more traffic guards at Blaney. She thanked Council for the Lawrence Mitty parkland and is glad to see it as least on the unfunded list. She asked Council for a left turn signal at Perimeter turning left eastbound on Stevens Creek. Mark Fink, Cupertino Librarian thanked Council for funding and asked to have the funding continue at the same level in next fiscal year. He gave an overview of the Library’s success: circulated over 3 million items and expect 850,000 visitors over the year; from those numbers, 75% of items checked out are from Cupertino residents; Library has outstanding programs with an average of 3000 visitors a month for those programs. Some of the programs offered are Shakespeare, Small Business series, and an Arts and Culture program. They are currently working with middle school science teachers to introduce the students to the library databases and thanked Council for the contribution to the reading room which houses this program. He noted that the programs are funded by the Library Foundation and Friends of the Library. H. Council Comments:  Operating Budgets  Funded/New Programs  Unfunded Programs  Fiscal Strategic Plan Committee recommendations  5 Year CIP May 30, 2012 Cupertino City Council Page 6 Council directed staff to bring back more information on the following topics: Any solar projects proposed Recap of OPEB Trust and return on revenue Memo on estimated election cost savings - even yr Benefits of using a lobbyist for ERAF/TEA & cost Revised festival schedule Cost estimate to move the Snyder/Hammond House Information on the proposed Android app and cost List of IT projects IT charge backs - this year and last year Any mobile service improvements in 12/13 Summary of all legal budgets Department trend analysis Blue Pheasant expenditures - 4 years Possible storm drain cost reductions resulting from plastic bag bans History & recommendation re: Sports Center fence List of school partnerships Summary of Euphrat Museum funding Fire service summary Safe Routes to School summary Budget timeline McClellan Road sidewalk solutions Deer Hollow Farm notification of public hearing ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None ADJOURNMENT At 6:15 p.m. the meeting was adjourned to Monday, June 4 at 6:45 p.m. for the regular City Council meeting. ____________________________ Grace Schmidt, City Clerk Staff reports, backup materials, and items distributed at the City Council meeting are available for review at the City Clerk’s Office, 777-3223, and also on the Internet at www.cupertino.org. Click on Agendas & Minutes, then click on the appropriate Packet. Most Council meetings are shown live on Comcast Channel 26 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99 and are available at your convenience at www.cupertino.org. Click on Agendas & Minutes, then click Archived Webcast. Videotapes are available at the Cupertino Library, or may be purchased from the Cupertino City Channel, 777-2364.