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Home My WebLink AboutTC Minutes 2015-02-24SPECIAL JOINT MEETING BELVEDERE CITY COUNCIL & TIBURON TOWN COUNCIL FEBRUARY 24, 2015, 6:30 P.M. MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM, REED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 1199 TIBURON BOULEVARD, TIBURON, CALIFORNIA BELVEDERE COUNCIL PRESENT: TIBURON COUNCIL PRESENT: BELVEDERE STAFF PRESENT: TIBURON STAFF PRESENT: IU il�lly_M �E: James Campbell, Sandra Donnell, Claire McAuliffe, Marty Winter, and Mayor Robert McCaskill Jim Fraser, Alice Fredericks, Emmett O'Donnell, Erin Tollini, and Mayor Frank Doyle City Clerk Leslie Carpentiers, City Manager Mary Neilan, and Police Chief Tricia Seyler Community Development Director Scott Anderson, Police Chief Michael Cronin, Town Manager Margaret Curran CALL TO ORDER OF SPECIAL MEETING Belvedere Mayor McCaskill presided and called the meeting to order at 6:36 P.M. Tiburon Town Manager Curran called the roll of both Councils: all members present. OPEN FORUM No one wished to speak. PRESENTATION AND PUBLIC COMMENT 1. Presentation by Town and City Staff, and the Yellow School Bus Challenge 2.0 Committee, regarding a proposal to reduce traffic and improve public safety through a school bus subsidy oroeram for the Reed Union School District 2015-2016 School Year Managers Curran and Neilan presented the staff report. Stacy Achuck, Community Member of the Yellow School Bus Challenge 2.0 Committee (YSBC2C) and Reed Union School District parent, asked the Councils to support the Committee's proposal and to particularly encourage ridership. The Council Members asked questions of the staff, assisted by Reed Union School District Superintendent and YSBC2C Member Steven Herzog. Among the points clarified were the following: Minutes of the Special Joint Meeting of the Belvedere City Council & Tiburon Town Council February 24, 2015 Page 2 of 3 The Committee's proposal is that all passes sold will be "one-way" for a specific route to or from school, which offers the greatest flexibility. At the current cost of $847 per child for a round-trip pass, discounted by 50 percent, the cost of a one-way pass for 2015-16 will be $211.75 per way per route. The children carry their pass when boarding the busses. To ensure children board the correct bus, the drivers will check passes and, in the afternoons, volunteer aides at the bus loading area will do the same. The Committee discussed selling a "rainy day" punch -type pass, good for a limited number of days during the year. However, this would have required buses to roll with empty seats most days in order to accommodate extra riders on peak days. It would have made it difficult to decide ahead of time how many regular versus rainy day tickets to make available and at what price in order to cover the cost of each route. Mayor McCaskill asked for comment from the audience Bob Doyle, 1300 Mar West, asked why the school district doesn't provide busses free of charge. Supt. Herzog responded that most school districts in California are not adequately funded to provide bus service and have cut it from their budgets. The following persons spoke in favor of implementing the YSBC2C's proposal: Allisa Goleson, Paradise Cay; Rosalind Brandt, Marinero Circle; Paul Luce, Spanish Trail Road; Elizabeth Ury, 18 Lagoon Road; Andrew Thompson, 18 Southridge Road East; Ms. Sharazi, 3 Rock Hill Road; Carl Crowley, Corte Madera; Matina Seremetis, at 60 Madrona Avenue; Leah Carp, Corte Palos Verdes; Martin Lauber, 1830 Lagoon View Drive. Bill Rothman, Cliff Road, spoke in favor of the neighborhood school system as the only way to lessen traffic that doesn't unfairly use the tax dollars contributed to the municipalities' general funds by seniors. He said the proposal should not go forward until specific criteria for its success are established, a funding source for the years beyond 2015-16 is clearly identified, and the Town of Corte Madera agrees to pay its share of the one-year ticket subsidy The following suggestions for lessening traffic on Tiburon Boulevard were made by the speakers: • Make bus riding a "cool" thing to do by having volunteers do an activity with the children during the ride. • Request that contractors not come and go to job sites during peak periods, or make it a condition on construction permits. • Improve the entire length of the Ridge Trail for walking and biking. • Have a police officer direct traffic at the lights during peak periods to extend the amount of time given to through traffic. • Install a pedestrian/bike under- or overpass from McKegney Green to Del Mar. • Rebuild the trestle at Trestle Glen for pedestrians and bikes. • Adjust the start of the morning session at St. Hilary's School to prevent the area from becoming a bottleneck. • Encourage bus ridership as a way to reduce the community's carbon footprint. • Issue partial passes good for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. • Push for more carpooling by parents. • From spring to fall, allow contractors to start sooner and finish later. When no one else wished to speak, Mayor McCaskill closed the public comment period. Minutes of the Special Joint Meeting of the Belvedere City Council & Tiburon Town Council February 24, 2015 Page 3 of 3 Council Member Donnell spoke in favor of the proposal because it addresses the real problem: getting people out of their cars. Council Member Fredericks said she has changed her opinion of one year ago and endorses the new plan; a year will give time to address inequities and there may well be County funding available when the time comes. Council Member Fraser thanked the Committee's parent volunteers. Council Member O'Donnell thanked Council Member Fraser and said that traffic on congestion has been identified by citizens as the community's largest problem, so spending taxpayer dollars to solve it is appropriate. Mayor McCaskill also thanked Council Member Fraser and the Committee. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 for the two Councils to conduct separate meetings to discuss the YSBC2C proposal. TIBURON TOWN COUNCIL CALL TO ORDER After a brief recess, Mayor Doyle called a meeting of the Tiburon Town Council to order. PRESENT: Councilmember Fraser, Councilmember Fredericks, Councilmember O'Donnell, Vice Mayor Tollini, Mayor Doyle ACTION ITEM I. Consider proposal to proportionately fund the Yellow School Bus Challenge 2.0 for the Reed Union School District 2015-2016 School Year (Town Manager Curran/Chief of Police Cronin) Councilmember Fredericks moved and Mayor Doyle seconded a motion to approve and fund the Yellow School Bus Challenge 2.0 proposal. [Funds were previously budgeted, so no actual budget amendment was necessary.] The motion passed by a unanimous vote of the Town Council. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Town Council, Mayor Doyle adjourned the special meeting at 7:56 p.m. FRANK X. DOYLE, MAYOR TOWN OF TIBURON I ATTEST: Qt it DIANE CRANE IACOP , TOWN CLERK