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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/23/19791 1 L MINUTES SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1979 - 11:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL Roll Call Councilmembers PRESENT: Alan Bond, Jeff Jorgensen and Mayor Lynn Cooper ABSENT: Melanie Billig and Ron Dunin. . City Staff PRESENT: .Leland Walton, City.Administrative Officer;.J.H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; George Thacher, City Attorney; Roger Neuman, Chief of Police; Captain Englert, Police Department 1. The City Council considered matters relative to the June 30th rally to be held in San Luis Obispo County sponsored by the Abalone Alliance, a protest to the nuclear power plant. Lee Walton, Administrative Officer, reviewed for the City Council the proposal of Abalone Alliance and other national groups to hold a major ant.i.- nuclear rally in San Luis.Obispo County on June 30, 1979. Apparentl- yyarrangemersts have been under discussion with the County for a number of months. Since the pub- licity with the accident at Three -mile Island, it appears that between 40 and 80 thousand people will.be expected.at.the rally, depending on the weather and the gasoline situation. One of the problems involved in negotiations with the County Board of Supervisors, was that they required a million dollar insurance policy for liability and a.5 thousand dollar cash bond to insure clean- up..and restoration of the County park if used. The Alliance has accepted the insurance requirement but is refusing to meettthe 5 thousand dollar cash bond as being excessive and punitive. The issue before the Council then is whether the City in anticipation of the problem should take precautions to minimize the impact of the event on the City. If so, what are the alternatives? AlternativefNo. 1 - would be to deny the use of the facilities on the reasonable basistthat city parks are not designed for and cannot accommodate groups of the size anticipated. While there is no feasible method of preventing individual members from as- sembling within various city parks, the city can prohibit the use of sound equipment etc. He felt that all the denial would do would cause a confron- tation between the.City and the rally people. Such a confrontation could result in substantial damage to city facilities and a major burden to the taxpayers for overtime costs relating to police.and,fire services. Al- though the Abalone Alliance claims to be a non - violent group, the sheer size of the anticipated crowd introduces a substantial degree of uncertainty. With a little luck, there will be no major problem, but there is a major risk that a well - meaning, but frustrated group could get out of hand with rather serious financial consequences for the community. .Alternative No. 2 - would be to encourage..the.:All.iance and their.associated groups to utilize .the -.facilities .outsi.de.of San .Luis Obispo more suitable for the occasion::The only _feasible location�ap.pears to.be the E1. Chorro Regional Park. This park could handle the expected crowd, providing that adequate ar- rangements are made for traffic :control and.san.itation..Whi.le the Alliance and their associated groups .appear . we.l.l- organized and capable of. clean -up, -the crowd size suggests that new plantings in the park would suffer extensive. damage under the best-of circumstances. Thus, -while the 5 thousand City Council Minutes May 23,1979 . Page 2 dollar cash bond is far in excess of previous requirements for organizational use of the County park, it should be noted that the County has no experience or precedent in accommodating a crowd of this large size. If this appears to be the best practical alternative, it may be appropriate for the City to take positive steps to approve the probability of the site being made available by the Board of Supervisors. These positive steps might include the City's paying $605. for appottson of the required liability insurance and providing a City crew on the day following the event to assist the County in clean -up and restoration of the-park. The only drawback to this plan is the principle , involved. To many citizens, it may appear that the Council is capitulating to pressure or even encouraginghthearaYly. The Council should also be con- cerned with this direct assistance, alttiough.it may be in the best interest of the -City, that might seta precedent--for future events occurring outside the City. He felt that this was'eertainly a very real objection and must be weighed with the possible consequences. After analyzing all the alternatives, both pro's and con's, it was the Ad- ministrator's recommendation that.the City offer to share with the County some of the costs associated with holding the event at E1 Chorro Park to the extent of $700. plus the maximum of 32 man hours of labor. City Attorney, George Thacher, then submitted for the Council's information a memorandum opinion, number 79 -30, regarding the possible expenditure of City funds to.assure County approval of large public assemblies in County parks. It concluded that the offer of assistance in this situation, that is payment of insurance.premium and some clean -up costs to assure County ap- proval of a large group of people proposing to .assemble in the County park would be a legitimate expenditure..He. stated that without.. such County approval, there was strong possibility the assembly will take place wholly or partially in the City with potential consequence cost to the City of security, traffic, clean -up etc., far in excess .of. the minimum amounts . now proposed for payment. Incidentally, the organizers of the assembly and those assembled would be benefited but the City's dominant purpose is simply to spend a few dollars to save thousands. Given the motivation, the purpose of•the proposed expenditure is public and in his opinion would withstand judicial test. , Councilman Bond stated that. there was no issue of the funds . for the insurance as it was no longer pertinent, as he has been given in the amount of $605. .acheck by a private citizen to pay for.the insurance coverage for the event in order to keep the City out of the rally. He continued that.the private party does not wish to be known, to avoid any possible harassment. On motion of Councilman Jorgensen; seconded:by Councilman Bond, that the City offer to help .the .County by providing a-four -man crew to the El Chorro Park on Monday, July 2, following the -rally, to assist in the clean -up and restoration of the park. Also, this offer is made in lieu of the 5 thousand dollar clean -up deposit required by the County. To the extent necessary, the Police Department would.provide assistance to the Highway Patrol under the terms of the law en- forcement mutual aid agreements. Motion carried on the following vote: AYES: Councilmen Jorgensen, Bond and Mayor Cooper. NOES: None ABSENT: Councilmember Billig and Dunin 2. Sally�Punth6s-,- :CHai.rwoman of_the Prorrrotional. Coordinating.Committee:• and Dave Garth, Executive Manager of the Chamber. of Commerce, appeared before the City Council requesting a special expenditure:of Promotional funds in view of the current gasoline crisis which has drastically affected tourism in San Luis Obispo. Sally Punches stated that motels-have reported being off 10 to;20 percent and restaurants and retail establishments have reported being off 10 to 40 percent. They felt this would.obviously have a negative affect on sales and bed -tax .revenues. The Chamber of Commerce has instituted Operation Gasoline Watch, for both local people-and-tourists to inform them where gasoline City Council Minutes May 23, 1979 Page 3 can be procured. Sally Punches stated that on behalf of the Promotional Coordinating Committee ,.that she.-be allowed to begin a radio advertising campaign to inform tourists in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fresno that gasoline for the most part is available-in San Luis Obispo..She felt this campaign was necessary to allay fears of motorists in these areas about gasoline being available. She felt that funds are available in the con- tingency and advertising budgets. Also, they asked that the City approve a $300. grant.for the Durchase...of an.automatic answering machine to help handle the gasoline.,.nformation•-call.s. The Chamber of Commerce would pay the $131. for installation and all the monthly telephone line charges. The answering machine would provide basic information about-gasoline; availability 24.hours a day.and would be..an important part of the pro - motion campaign regarding gasoline. When and if the. gasoline crisis should abate, the answering machine could be used for things such as La Fiesta, Poly Royal, Rodeo, Mission.Plaza Events etc. Both Sally Punches, and Dave Garth asked.for $1,350. for emergency gasoline radio advertising, 2,000. for emergency gasoline radio ads and $495. for answering machine for operation . "Gas Watch The City Council discussed the request: of Sally Punches and Dave Garth and ruled the feeling that this was.not the appropriate time to be going on this type of.an advertising campaign, due primarily to the uncertainty of gasoline supplies.now and in the future. Also, Council did not feel that the City should use:tax; money in the amount of $2,845: to encourage use of gasoline when the go vernment.has been urging conservation. On motion of Mayor Cooper, seconded by Councilman Bond, the City Council approved $500. for the.answering machine, but continued consideration of any advertising on gasoline availability until the situation settles down. Motion Carried: All ayes, Councilwoman Billig and Councilman Dunin absent. 3. Mayor Cooper-announced to the City.Council that he-had been approached by an attorney representing..some.citizens' in San.Luis Obispo who wished to. contribute-to the City .$100,000. to $150,000.for use by the City in the Mission Plaza. One stipulation was that some type of a 6 to 8 foot statue-and fountain should be placed in the Plaza as part of this grant-The Mayor stated that the attorney who contacted him did not know.what size or of whom the statue was to represent. The City Council in general felt that this was a nice thought on behalf of the citizen to-leave money upon their death for use of all the citizens, but . would like to know a li.ttle.more about the statue conditions,;;.The attorney was asked to contact the. grantors attorney to continue negotiations and for clarifying the various conditions in the proposal. There being no further business to come before the City Council,at this Special Meeting, Mayor Cooper adjourned the meeting at 12:00 noon.. APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL June 19; 1979 Date '�J.H.. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk