Council: Smoking Ordinance, Appointments to Budget Advisory Committee, Upgrade Planning Staff, Crime Report, Disaster Planning, October 20
At their October 20 meeting in City Hall starting at 7:30 p.m., the City Council will modify the charge and membership of the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee (BAFPC); make appointments to the committee; consider the smoking restriction ordinance; and upgrade the salary and job descriptions of the Planning Director and others in the Planning Department.
Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee
City Administrator Paul Benoit recommends reestablishing the BAFPC, which was recently permanently established by taking the following actions:
1) Modify the membership of the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee to seven regular members and one alternate member; 2) Clarify the role of the alternate member; and 3) Remove the option to appoint additional members for the purpose of studying the Special Municipal Services Tax.
2) Appoint the following residents to the Committee:
Three Year Term: William (Bill) Hosler & Dirk tenGrotenhuis
Two Year Term: Angela Carmel Michael, Shel Schreiberg, & Jennifer Cavanaugh
One Year Term: Karen Sullivan & Christopher Moore; John Chiang (Alternate)
Smoking restriction ordinance
The City Council has considered the matter once and the staff has returned with potential language for the ordinance. Read the staff report.
New job descriptions and increased compensation in the Planning Department
Following an outside consultants’ evaluation of Piedmont’s job descriptions, the Planning Department is identified for revisions in compensation and descriptions. For example, the Planning Director, who currently makes approximately $123,624 will become the Director of Planning and make $135,984 per year. The position is currently held by an employee hired under Piedmont’s prior retirement plan with a benefit of 3% of the average highest 3 years of compensation times each year worked. Retirement age is 60. Read the staff report. Read the budget .
Also at the meeting will be:
10/20/14 – Receipt of the 3rd Quarter Crime Report from the Police Chief
10/20/14- Update on Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Operations Center Evaluation
Read the full meeting agenda. The meeting is open to the public and will be broadcast via Channel 27 KCOM and streamed from the City website.
The City makes a lot of money from wedding receptions, meetings, gatherings and such from the Park. The attendees are generally not from Piedmont and some smoke. I have watched them leave the gathering and go out on the lawn area to smoke, away from people.
The City may lose lots of money by not allowing people to smoke where they are removed from others and OUTDOORS.
from the staff report on Disaster Preparedness:
“However, in the event of a large scale disaster or a major catastrophe, the City’s first responders will become overwhelmed within minutes.”
Last week was the Great California ShakeOut (http://www.shakeout.org/california/) and many municipalities ran community preparedness exercises to address just that point raised in the staff report – when 911 services can’t respond, what can citizens do to provide emergency response to their neighborhoods? These activities can range from simple emergency preparedness by creating a neighborhood roster and map to active search-and-rescue and first aid by trained citizens. Members of the Piedmont Public Safety Committee observed such exercises in Berkeley this past weekend and will be visiting Tiburon later this week to observe that city’s citizen EP program. Piedmonters interested in this topic should attend the next meeting of the Public Safety Committee, 5:30 Thursday, City Hall, November 6 where neighborhood disaster preparedness will be discussed.