City Manager Weekly Update - May 13, 2016

The main topic at this week’s Santa Clara City Managers Association meeting was the ability for cities to recruit and retain qualified staff. With the ever increasing cost of housing in this area, many cities are continually facing challenges to attract top talent to the region. The discussion focused on employee-friendly work environments – flexible work schedules, etc. – and opportunities for employee training that provide staff with the ability to continue to grow in their current positions and, ultimately, prepare for advancement. Human Resources Manager Debinique Watts-Blackburn and I discussed this further and will continue to explore options for improving the workplace environment for our employees.

The challenges that were discussed by the city managers group will be faced by Los Altos as we look to identify candidates to replace Administrative Services Director Kim Juran-Karageorgiou, who's last day will be June 15, 2016. Recognizing the difficulty of this task, I have asked Human Resources to request proposals from recruitment firms to assist in this process.

Airplane Noise Community Forum at Grant Park

Assistant City Manager

Community Forum on Aircraft Noise
The Los Altos City Council represented by Councilmember Jean Mordo, Alternate Member on the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals, hosted a Community Forum on aircraft noise in Los Altos on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Grant Park Multipurpose Room.

The purpose of the meeting was to provide an informational exchange on the topic of aircraft noise and impact on the community. Five noise groups presented their research and activities to an audience of over 150 citizens attending from communities in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, surrounding bay area cities, Atherton, Woodside, Pacific, Carmel Valley and Santa Cruz. Presentations were followed by an eight-person panel with Q&A from the audience. Also attending were staff representatives from City of Palo Alto, Congress member Eshoo’s office, Senator Jerry Hill’s office, Town of Atherton Mayor Elizabeth Lewis, Select Committee member and Los Altos Hills Vice Chair and staff reporter from the Town Crier.

The reactions from the audience and their comments after the Forum expressed strong appreciation to the City for hosting the highly informative and interactive event.

Next steps - the FAA will be releasing its report on aircraft noise in May as well as proposing a number of solutions or recommendations. Working groups will be convened throughout Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties with the FAA, members of the Select Committee and members of the public to provide feedback to the recommendations. The Select Committee held its organization meeting on May 6, 2016 and elected Supervisor Joe Simitian to chair the committee with Supervisors Leopold and Pine as vice chairs. The various noise groups will continue to be involved in the next phases of discussion and building solutions to this complex issue.

Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority (SVCEA)
SVCEA held its organizing meeting in April and its second meeting on May 11, 2016. Alternate Director and Environmental Commissioner Don Bray attended both meetings. The Environmental Commission will continue to follow the agendas and progress of the monthly SVCEA Board of Directors meetings and will provide support to SVCEA Director Bruins as needed.

CADRE Award
The CADRE (Collaborating Agencies Disaster Relief Effort) 2016 Excellence in Preparedness Award was presented to Los Altos CERT for its outstanding contributions to community preparedness and whole community resiliency at the eleventh annual Santa Clara County Disaster Preparedness Conference on May 4, 2016. Members from the community and City staff attended the conference and awards ceremony. The CADRE award and recognition will be presented to Council by the CERT and emergency preparedness community at its meeting on May 24, 2016.

Community Development

Showing a Story
At its meeting on May 19, 2016, the Planning & Transportation Commission will be considering a proposal for five-story 21-unit residential project at 4880 El Camino Real. In an effort to better inform the public that the project is under consideration and to help both the public and decision makers evaluate the proposal, staff required the applicant to install “story-poles”, which depict where the building will sit on the site and how tall it will be. These story-poles provide a reference that gives people an understanding of how the proposed project relates to neighboring properties and a sense of massing and scale for the proposed building. A large display depicting an architectural representation of the proposed building has also been placed at the front of the site. A visit to the site will provide one with an idea of the project the Planning Commission will be considering on May 19 and the recommendations they develop will be partially based on their evaluation of the project using this new tool.

Loyola Corners Community Meeting
At the April 26, 2016 joint study session of the City Council/Planning and Transportation Commission, several speakers suggested holding a community meeting to enable residents and commercial property owners to share their perspectives on new development in Loyola Corners. Staff believes additional communication may be helpful and has schedule a community meeting for Thursday May 26, 2016 to be held at Tom’s Depot Restaurant in Loyola Corners. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is anticipated to end at 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. The meeting is intended to be a conversation among property owners and residents about the policies to best guide new development including appropriate building heights, allowed uses, street improvements, and incentives to encourage local serving retail uses in the area. The “conversation” will be facilitated by Shawn Spano of Public Dialogue Consortium.

Recreation and Community Services

Summer Activity Guide
The 2016 Summer Activity Guide is now available. The Activity Guide contains programs, camps and classes for the summer season. The guide has been delivered to the post office and is expected to be in the mail for Los Altos residents starting on Thursday, May 12, 2016. The full schedule of our summer concerts is also included. The House Rockers will kick off the concert series on June 16, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at Grant Park.

Summer Camp Leader Recruitment
The Recreation & Community Services Department is currently in the middle of recruiting for the upcoming 2016 summer camps. The Department will be hiring an additional 20-25 part-time seasonal staff to cover the many summer camp offerings in Los Altos.

Facility Virtual Tours
Seven Los Altos facilities now have online virtual tours available. These tours can be accessed through the Google search engine. Virtual tours were created for the Underground, Garden House, Patriot Corner, Grant Park Community Center, Hillview Community Center, San Antonio Club and Los Altos Youth Center (LAYC). Staff is now in the process of embedding or linking the tours on the City website. These tours are intended to give the public and potential contract instructors an easier way to see what our facilities look like when considering usage.

Police

Nextdoor
After recently conducting a successful launch of the Police page on Nextdoor.com, Police personnel have communicated with several residents in an effort to inform and educate the public on the “ins and outs” of the 15mph School Zones. This communication was the second phase of an educational effort, following a traffic-focused educational seminar, hosted by police officers in April. Police also utilized the Nextdoor platform to issue a press release for the arrest of 2 auto theft suspects, as well as a request for assistance from the public in identifying a residential burglar caught on video surveillance. We are able to reach approximately 7,600 Los Altos residents, through Nextdoor.com, and anticipate this will be a tremendous tool for communicating with the public in the future.

Bike to Work Day
May 12, 2016 marked the San Francisco Bay Area’s 22nd annual Bike to Work Day with all nine Bay Area counties participating. Los Altos Police bicycle patrol officers joined members of the Los Altos Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC), who coordinated an “energizer station” at Lincoln Park to greet and count riders along Foothill Expressway. Mayor Bruins, Bicycle Officers, along with other city employees, stopped by for food, photos and fun discussing bicycle and pedestrian safety. Additional photographs can be viewed on the Los Altos Police Twitter page.

National Police Week
In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15, 2016 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. Next week, the Police Department will release officers’ accounts of “Why I Wear the Badge” via social media outlets. The brief testimony will be accompanied by the officer’s photograph.

Public Works

Fremont Avenue Bridge
The Fremont Avenue Bridge was successfully open to through traffic on Monday, May 9, 2016. Staff has been monitoring the traffic this week and found no issues.

Plaza 3 Driveway and Drive Aisle Resurfacing Project
This project will improve stormwater drainage and vehicular access for Parking Plaza 3 in Downtown. The project is scheduled for City Council award for construction at the May 24, 2016 meeting. Construction is scheduled for June 2016.

Annual Sewer System Repair Project
The Annual Sewer System Repair Project was awarded by the City Council at its March 22, 2016 meeting. Pre-construction meeting was held this week and construction is scheduled to commence on June 1, 2016.

Grant Road Rubberized Cape Seal Project
This project will improve pavement condition on Grant Road from Grant Road to Homestead Road. Class II bike lanes will be installed after pavement improvement work. The project was awarded by the City Council at the April 12, 2016 meeting. Construction of the project began this week.