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2002/04/10 City Council MinutesPresent: MINUTES /SUMMARY NOTES ROHNERT PARK CITY COUNCIL AND COTATI - ROHNERT PARK UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SPECIAL JOINT MEETING AGENDA Wednesday, April 10, 2002 6:30 p.m. Rohnert Park City Offices — Council Chambers City of Rohnert Park - Mayor Armando Flores Councilmember Jake Mackenzie Councilmember Jim Reilly, Jr. Councilmember Vicki Vidak- Martinez Joseph Netter, City Manager Steve Donley, Assistant City Manager Tim Barry, Recreation Director Tom Bullard, Director of Public Safety Nancy Kaufman, Planning and Community Development Director Cotati - Rohnert Park Unified School District Susan Baron, President Ed Gilardi, Trustee Eric Kirchmann, Trustee Karyn Pulley, Trustee Leffler Brown, Clerk Jan Heffron, Superintendent Ann Huber, Assistant Superintendent The meeting was called to order at introductions. by Mayor or Flores acknowledged the posting of the welcomed everyone and asked for Y meeting agenda and asked if there were unscheduled public appearances. _Unscheduled Public Appearances Mr. Brogdon expressed the following concerns: 1. An unintended consequence of closing a school and shifting the students to two other schools will be additional traffic on Lancaster Drive. 2. For two years, he has asked for improvements to Lancaster Dr. and nothing has been done; only promises and a late notice of a public workshop that he couldn't attend. 3. The job of looking at traffic mitigation on Lancaster should be assigned by the City Engineer to a junior staff member; bo the other schools, the parents need need to be educated to drive 4. When the students are shift slower. 5. Officers are doing a good job but more officers need to be assigned when school begins in the morning and gets out in the afternoon. 6. Many of the speeding offenders are people going to and from work and schools. Mr. Brogdon asked the Board and Council to take these issues seriously. Ms. Dunaway expressed the following concerns: 1 • It was only three weeks ago that the District decided to close Crane School and it has already been decided that City offices will be moved into the buildings. 2. There was no translator at any of the School Board Meetings and tonight there is only the Mayor to translate and that is not right. Latino parents have wanted to participate and have been unable to since all the meetings have been in English. 3. The teachers have never received a Council agenda before; why did they get this one and they just got them today. In response to Ms. Dunaway's concerns regarding the agenda and the item relating to the City's Building Department, Councilmember Vidak- Martinez explained that the items on the agenda tonight were for discussion only and no decisions would be made. She noted that the teachers probably got the agenda for this meeting since it was a joint meeting with the School Board. President Baron concurred with Councilmember Vidak - Martinez regarding the agenda and noted that the items on the agenda were primarily those suggested by the City. Councilmember Reilly stated each Council member and Board member was asked for suggestions regarding the agenda. The items were not put on the agenda by a full decision of the Council. Trustee Kirchmann noted that this was the first joint meeting of the gchonl Rnarrl and City Cmineil in f'1171- 17AQVQ 'o •) y vua u. [Mayor Flores translated this discussion for the audience.] Ms. Riccos expressed the following concerns: [Mayor Flores translated.] 1. In the decision to close the school, not enough consideration was given to the parents' feelings or the hardship on the students. 2. If parents were notified, they could have helped. 3. Meetings have been held in English and not all parents were able to participate. There was not translator at any of the meetings. They appreciate that there will be a translator at the next meeting. Ms. Telesforo expressed the following concerns: 1. She had suggested that the city offices be moved to Crane School and she was glad to see someone else thought so too. 2. She is glad that her La Fiesta School would not be closed and they are excited that Crane students will be coming to La Fiesta. 1 It would be good for City offices to occupy Crane School until the new City Hall is built. The offices could be consolidated and more citizens might become involved if the offices were closer to the neighborhoods. 4. She would like to know more about what she can do as a citizen. 5. She understands and is for the proposed school tax and city taxes; citizens need to realize that they have to pay for services. Use ofRichard Crane Elementary School /City Building Department Relocation Mr. Netter explained the City's current budget situation and the original proposal to move the City's Building Department to a portion of the City -owned Senior Center or to the Vision Teen Center as a cost saving measure. Both proposals were decided against due to the needs of the seniors and the cost of renovating the Vision Center. 1) Councilmember Vidak- Martinez asked if the School Board had any ideas for potential uses of the school and noted that several non - profits had expressed an interest in locating there. Trustee Kirchmann explained that the Board had not had time to consider the future use of the school and asked Ms. Heffron to explain the process the District must go through before the property could be re -used. Ms. Heffron explained that if the school site is considered to be surplus property by an appointed committee, the property must first be offered to the County Office of Education for their use, then to other government agencies. Trustee Kirchmann asked if an agency offered to rent the property for $1 would the District be obligated to rent it to them. Ms. Heffron replied no. Councilmember Mackenzie asked Mr. Netter when the City can expect to break ground on the new City Hall. Mr. Netter replied that the project was out to bid and that the low bidder should be known before the next Council meeting. Mayor Flores acknowledged the Board's hard work and decision regarding the closure of the school. He noted that the proposal to move City offices to the school was for consideration only and because it might provide some funds to the school, though they would be minimal. There was a general discussion amongst the Board and Council members regarding the closure of the school and surplus property processes. Enrollment Capacity at Rancho Cotate High School Ms. Baron asked Ms. Huber to explain the status of enrollment at the High School. Ms. Huber explained that there are 89 teaching positions at the High School. If you assume that 80 of those positions are regular teachers (excluding special ed and some gym teachers) and multiply by 30, it equates to a capacity of 2400 students. At this time, the projected enrollment for next year is between. 2,015 and 2,020 including 200 that could be going to the Tech School that may be held at SSU (decision to be made by the School Board). The current enrollment is a little over 1,900 and includes the Tech Students who spend half a day at the High School and the other half at SSU. These numbers do not include the special day class children. Councilmember Vidak- Martinez asked the Board to explain about the $9 million that has been dedicated to renovations at the High School and what work has been done. She stated that people come to the Council and comment on the School District's plans but that the Council is not always aware of what the District is doing. Ms. Huber explained that over the last seven years $11 million has been spent on the renovation of the High School. She stated that the work is done in sections until every room is remodeled and only one section is left which will be completed in 2003. This summer the Administration wing, the technology room will be renovated and the gym will be. Last year portables were added. Trustee Gilardi noted, with respect to the remodeling of the High School, that the interior is always renovated first so people do not see that renovations are taking place until the end when the exterior is done. Trustee Brown noted that its costs $50 million to build a new High School and the new middle school cost the District about $20 million. Referring to the City's General Plan, Councilmember Mackenzie commented that in 1999 the District was projected to have excess capacity in the earlier grades and more students at the High 0 School but not enough to justify another High School. He asked the District if the demographics had changed since 1999. Ms. Huber commented that the District has had a bigger drop in enrollment than anticipated and that the numbers will need to be re- assessed with the new development. Trustee Gilardi noted that the cost of housing is keeping families out of the community and that is similar to what happened in Marin. There is a discrepancy between salaries and housing costs. Mayor Flores concurred. Creekside Middle School Annexation In response to a request from President Baron, Ms. Heffron stated that LAFCO had continued consideration of their annexation application for no less than 60 days. Mr. Netter described the location of the school property. Councilmember Mackenzie asked if there had been discussion between Quaker Hill and the District. Ms Heffron responded that Kevin Pohlson of Brookfield Homes had been keeping the District informed of the plans for the University District Specific Plan area. Councilmember Mackenzie described the boundaries of the various specific plan areas and Councilmember Vidak- Martinez described the land use plans for the University District area included the plans for a mixed -use area across from SSU. There was a general discussion of the specific plan areas. Trustee Kiyr`rbmann nr%+pA 41,0+ 1,�„ f`'4 1. A L r 1 t ra• , , vwu Lll(LL w11G11 ..iLy Wullualles 1110ve, Ulu 3C:11001 District DOundaries don't necessarily move and students may go the CRUSD schools but the impact fees go to the Santa Rosa Districts. Councilmember Reilly suggested a mechanism for beginning discussions between the District and the City and the Santa Rosa Districts. Councilmember Mackenzie noted the City's General Plan policies relating to the school district boundaries and concurred with Councilmember Reilly that the General Plan Implementation Oversight Committee could facilitate those discussions. Trustee Brown commented that the Santa Rosa Districts wouldn't want to change the boundaries because they have budget problems as well and won't want to lose the funds. Councilmember Vidak- Martinez noted that there are moral reasons that the boundaries should be changed and that the politics may have to be changed. Councilmember Reilly concurred and stated that the City and the District should work together now. Trustee Kirchmann stated that the District appreciated getting a heads up early in the process and noted that the District gets less per student than students in Other districts due t0 an old 107n'q vlu i i v o formula. Councilmember Reilly noted that there were a number of issues including traffic from transporting students and equity issues. Mayor Flores noted that Trustee Brown is correct about the Santa Rosa District finances and asked if there had been informal discussions. Ms. Heffron stated that they had approached the Santa Rosa staff, but that the Santa Rosa staff had other pressing issues at the time. In response to a question from Trustee Gilardi, Mr. Netter noted that the current persons per household is 2.63. There was brief discussion of household sizes and student projections. *It is the intention of the City and the School District to work together to implement the General Plan policies dealing with school district boundary changes. ,CORRECTION ABOVE from 5/14/02 City Council meeting: Per Councilmember Mackenzie (addition underlined) Creekside Middle School-Field-Use Afterschool and Weekends Mayor Flores asked if there were still restrictions on the public use of the fields and courts. Ms Heffron_ stated that the original EIR addressed the issue of lighting the fields and due to controversy from the nearby residents, the EIR included a mitigation that that lights could not be used; there has not been another EIR. Ms Heffron responded that the Trustees have not discussed the University District. plans. In response to a question from Councilmember E Mackenzie, Ms. Kauffman noted that the University District Specific Plan EIR would have include the school district property in their EIR analysis at a program level but that the issue of lighting impacts from the existing fields has not yet been discussed in the context of the University District's EIR. President Baron noted that their consultant, who worked on the future use plans for the District property, died and they have not moved forward with any planning for the site. Trustee Kirchmann noted that the EIR issue came up at the LAFCO meeting. He also noted that any surplus school property would have to go through the same process noted earlier for Crane School. Mr. Barry stated that the City often hears from sport field groups regarding the need for fields and the use of the District fields and courts. He noted that there were two issues: (1) use by the community after school /weekends and (2) lighting. Councilmember Reilly stated that the planning for the District property should occur with the planning of the University District Specific Plan area rather than come back later after development has occurred. Mayor Flores commented that with the timing of the EIR on the University District, the Board should re- consider the issue of lights. Ater School Use ofPlay Equipment There was a brief discussion of the public's wish to use the play equipment after school hours. Trustee Gilardi stated that during the school year, the grounds should be for school use since there are often after school activities by organized school groups, but that perhaps something could be worked out in the summers. Other Matters /Concerns Mr. Netter noted that the City is hiring a pollster to survey residents to determine what they are willing to pay for and it would be helpful to know what plans the District and the County has for the November ballot in terms of ballot measures. He explained the City's need to include the validation of two taxes and the proposal to include a telecommunications tax on phones. There was a brief discussion of elections and the likelihood of tax measures passing on the November ballot. Councilmember Reilly thanked the Board for tonight's meeting, noting that it had been five years since they had a joint meeting. Councilmember Mackenzie concurred with Councilmember Reilly's remarks. Councilmember Vidak- Martinez concurred also and mentioned the specific plans that are currently being proposed noting that each Trustee should get a copy .of the plans. Mayor Flores commented that this forum was better than having only two members from each body meet. Unscheduled Public Appearances Ms. Meloche apologized for arriving late and expressed the following concerns: 1. The closing of schools and parks when the widening of Highway 101 will be bringing more people. 2. The moving of City offices to Crane School. 3. There has only been talk about moving students and no talk about moving teachers. 4. She wants her children to be able to mingle with children of other ethnic backgrounds. 5 5. She has heard that she can't send her children to Gold Ridge School because they need to leave space for the children from the new apartments. h. it is unfair and discriminatory to close the school and reduce the pool hours in the poorer neighborhood. The lower income residents are being harmed. 7. The City shouldn't be building a new city hall with all of the budget problems. 8. The closed school will be vandalized 9. The after - school programs have been cut and she can't afford to send her children to soccer league. 10. Why wasn't Waldo or LaFiesta Schools closed, they have fewer students and lower test scores. 11. The 12 -step program is also being kicked out of the Avram facility; what will the people do that depend on this program. In response, President Baron stated that the teachers will go with the students. She also noted that there is capacity in all of the elementary schools and parents have a choice to transfer to other schools in the District. Mayor Flores and Councilperson Vidak- Martinez responded that the Library and City Hall buildings are being built with non - General Fund monies that cannot be used for operating costs. Trustee Pulley responded that the District would be willing to talk about relocating the 12 -step program and stated that she appreciated the joint meeting. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Josep. Netter, City Manager Armando F. Flores, Mayor Prepared by Nancy Kaufman, Planning & Community Development Director 6