April 2008 Meeting Summaries

City Selection Committee:

• Airport Land Use Commission: Appointed Jack Morton, Palo Alto, and Aileen Kao, Saratoga, to four-year terms that will expire the first Monday in May, 2012.
• ABAG Representatives to the Executive Board: Appointed Dan Furtado, Campbell, and Joe Pirzynski, Los Gatos, to two-year terms that will expire June 30, 2010.
• ABAG Alternate Representatives to the Executive Board: Appointed Aileen Kao, Saratoga, as the Alternate Representative to a two-year term expiring June 30, 2010.  There is still a vacant seat to be filled at the next City Selection Committee Meeting. Anyone interested should contact Al Pinheiro or Joanne Benjamin.
• LAFCO: Appointed John Howe, Sunnyvale, as the Representative and Al Pinheiro, Gilroy, as the alternate to four-year terms that will expire May 2012.

Board of directors:

• Received the Draft 2008-09 Budget and Dues Proposal.  Noted there will not be an increase in dues. Action on approval of the budget will be at the May 8 meeting.
• Received a report on the audit, the issue of accrued payroll taxes on the health allowance of the previous Executive Director, and thanked the City of San Jose for its work and completion of the audit.
• Received a report from Dean Chu, the Cities Association’s Representative to MTC. Dean discussed the updating of the Regional Transportation Plan (2035), the Reopening of the Western Approach of the Bay Bridge, and how the subprime mortgage market has affected the Public Bond Market and in particular the $10 million per month in higher interest costs to MTC. To a question posed, Dean responded that Santa Clara County has only 2 representatives to MTC while it is the largest county in the Bay Area.  In the past there have been discussions to increase the number to three, but there are counties opposed.
• Rick Callender, Government and Public Relations Director for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, discussed AB 2212 and answered questions.  A motion was made and passed to place AB 2212 on the agenda for consideration of support at the May 8 Board Meeting.
• Betsy Shotwell, San Jose, updated the Board on legislation of concern to cities moving through the legislature. Some bills cities may be interested in reviewing include: AB 2097 (Coto) – Supportive Services Funding: Permanent Housing for Homeless; AB 2466 (Laird) Government Energy Producers; AB 2513 (Caballero) – Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006: Allocation of Funds: Regional Housing Need Share; SB (Alquist) – CalHome Program: Mobilehome Parks; and SB 1357 (Padilla) – Beverage Containers: Processing Payments: Grants. Betsy used AB 1985 (Strickland) Sidewalks, Repairs, as an example of proposing a major change in California law that could affect local ordinances that address the issue. Betsy distributed a list of Proposition 1B allocations and those cities which have received their allocation. Betsy asked Board members to make sure their city has filed the appropriate applications in order to receive the funds. There are several cities in Santa Clara that have not yet received allotments.
• Policy Priorities for 2008:  Two priorities of the three priorities are ABAG Housing Allocations and Solar Permitting/Fees. Larry Klein is chairing the ABAG focus group and Sam Liccardo is chairing the Solar focus group.  Time will be allotted at each Board Meeting to work on these issues with presentation and recommendations to the Board in November.
• Sam Liccardo shared that in San Jose there are several buildings and projects being built to LEED standards. First Community Housing has built a project that is Gold certified. The River Park Tower project recently had its groundbreaking and will be either LEED Gold or Platinum certified. The City of San Jose is filing to have the City Hall certified as LEED Platinum.