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1993/03/09 City Council MinutesROHNERT PARK CITY COUNCIL MINUTES March 9, 1993 - Adj.Meeting- The Council of the City of Rohnert Park net this date in adjourned regular session in the City Offices, 6750 Commerce Blvd., Rohnert Park, California with Mayor Hollingsworth presiding. Call to Order - Mayor Hollingsworth called the adjourned regular session to order at approximately 5:05 p.m. Roll Call Present: (4) Councilmembers Eck, Gallagher, Spiro and Mayor Hollingsworth Late: (1) Vice Mayor Reilly - due to traffic congestion (arrival time specified later in these minutes) Absent: (0) None Staff present for all or part of the meeting: City Manager Netter and City Attorney Flitner. GRAND JURY REPORT WORK SESSION #2: Mayor Hollingsworth referenced copies provided to Council of 2nd working draft letter response to Sonoma County Grand Jury Final Report, 1992. He extended apologies for missing the previous work session held on February 23rd, 1993 regarding this matter because he was stranded out of town by inclement weather. Council confirmed review of the 2nd working draft as submitted and responded to Mayor's inquiry regarding the desire for further changes. Councilman Eck referenced item #7 pertaining to citizens' surveys and recomiended omitting the numerous initial comments of the response, since various interpretations of surveys really boil down to individual points of view, and simply re -word the last paragraph with more clarity. Discussion followed. Council concurred to eliminate paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of item #7 and re -word the concluding 5th paragraph as follows: "The City Council recognizes the importance of public input from citizens in setting broad range goals and planning and considers citizen input as an important part of all its policy making procedures. In reference to the use of surveys, the City will riot do in -house surveys, but will consider surveys by professional independent consultants using accepted survey methodologies. This procedure will maintain the integrity of the survey and separate potential influence from the City or other special interest groups." PUBLIC Mayor Hollingsworth opened the Council meeting to public comments CONMENTS regarding this matter at approximately 5:15 p.m. Keith Hallock, 1500 Baumgardner, Santa Rosa, Ca., said he had a couple of questions dealing with the statement on page 120 of the Grand Jury Report wherein Grand Jury comments included being told by staff about possible retaliation preventing staff from certain action and in hind- sight would have been done differently, etc. Mr. Hallock referred to the AICP Code of Ethics and said one would assume from reading the above- referenced type of comrent that certain observations were made Rohnert Park City Council Minutes (2) March 9, 1993 -Adj . I bet ing- when these people were interviewed and it should be assumed that there would be some digging into the matter to find out why such statements were made and what was actually said. There were no comnents made in reference to this at the previous meeting. In conjunction with Council convent pertaining to withholding of specific names, Mr. Hallock reviewed several examples in the report whereby specific Councilmembers were named relating to comments on annexation. Councilmember Eck responded that his previous comments simply pointed out that many times the names were withheld. Mr. Hallock distributed copies to Council of Press Democrat article dated October 12, 1977 and shared com ants therein regarding Mr. Hollingsworth's appointment to the City Council in 1977. Mayor Hollingsworth and Councilmember Eck acknowledged remembering some of the specifics related to this article and Mayor Hollingsworth confirmed he answered the questions that were presented that night. - Holly Blue, 1312 Gold Way, referenced Council comments at the previous work session two weeks ago pertaining to consideration of doing surveys by professional independent consultants and said she agreed with Councilmember Spiro convent that the provision of one survey per household does not work very well. Ms. Blue said she and her husband ended up not turning in the survey because of having totally different views. If surveys for citizen input are done in the future, Ms. Blue n reco ended a different way to enable husband and wife participation. She also agreed with previous statement by Councilmember Eck not to point fingers in the past, but to take out of it what can be beneficial. She said she was really tired of things being pulled up and criticized that happened over 16 years ago. If what people bring up is not part of the solution, then the criticizers are part of the problem. Ms. Blue said she did not think the situation is as bad as everybody seems to think it is. James M. Clark, 80 Walnut Circle, said he would like to direct a question through the Mayor to the City Attorney. The above- referenced incident was supposed to have happened in 1977. Is the City covered by statutes of limitation relating to such matters? Mr. Clark said this whole situation should be wiped out and forgotten. City Attorney Flitner responded that he recalled that this subject came up with regard to recent questions related to Planning Comnissioner Mike M.illins. City Attorney t_^nnfi- nw-ri statutes of limitation were i ^v years for California facilities and 5 years for real estate matters, therefore, the referenced 1977 issue is outside the statutes of limitation. There being no one further desiring to speak, Mayor Hollingsworth closed public comments at approximately 5:23 p.m. Mayor Hollingsworth queried what was the desire of the Council. A motion was made by Councilmember Eck, seconded by Councilmember Spiro, to prepare the appropriate responses to the Grand Jury Report with changes as reviewed tonight, and submit said letter to Sonoma County Grand Jury accordingly. Councilmember Gallagher said she planned to write her own letter of response to this report so would not be signing this response letter. She reviewed her concerns regarding this matter in that she was not Rohnert Park City Council Minutes (3) March 9, 1993 -Adj . Meet ing- on the Counc i 1 at the not want to look back knowing all the details would be coming up for some information t economic interests. time of the referenced happenings and she did on it later with any regrets because of not involved. She said she thought some things in the near future and she was still waiting hat has a lot to do with Council filings of Discussion followed including expression of Council concerns regarding the need to work as a team, the purpose of work sessions being to work through modifications together, and that the purpose of the response letter was to address specifically what the Grand Jury asked the Council to address. The Mayor pointed out that if there were other concerns a Councilmember desired to address, such as conflict of interest statements, this would be a separate matter from responding to the questions presented in the Grand Jury Report. Councilmember Gallagher responded that she did not think the referenced response letter takes the Grand Jury Report as serious as it should be taken and feels she takes it more seriously. In response to further Council statement regarding any additional comments Councilmember Gallagher has to make regarding this matter should be incorporated into the full Council response to the Grand Jury, especially since she sat through the work sessions and participated in modifications, Ms. Gallagher said the other information she is waiting for would be available within the timeline of the deadline for the Grand Jury Report and she would present her convents regarding same by next Tuesday which is the deadline for receiving Council packet items for the next City Council meeting. Vice Mayor Reilly Arrives - Vice Mayor Reilly arrived in the Council Chamber at this time being approximately 5:30 p.m. City Manager Netter confirmed to Council inquiry that the deadline for Council response to the Grand Jury Report is April 9th, 1993, therefore, it would be necessary for Council to finalize the response letter no later than the next Council meeting on March 23rd, 1993. Further discussion followed regarding the complexities of this matter. Councilman Eck withdrew his above motion and said the matter should be tabled until receipt of additional comments as reviewed above. Council agreed an additional work shop would not be necessary regarding this matter and the final approval of the response letter to the Grand Jury should be scheduled as an agenda item on the next regular Council meeting of March 23, 1993.