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Published on 09/22/1999 All articles from this issue

News Briefs

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Garbage rates down 2 percent

Garbage rates are going down. Beginning Oct. 1, the garbage rates for the city of Los Altos will decrease by 2 percent. Residential rates will change from $19.94 to $19.55. Commercial rates will also be down 2 percent.

The Los Altos City Council voted for the decrease at its Sept. 14 meeting, with no public comment, no comment from the Los Altos Garbage Company and no council discussion.

The city has three issues it has been negotiating with the garbage company since January: the employee stock ownership plan, disposal fees and equipment leasing. "These issues remain unresolved," said Starla Jerome-Robinson, finance director for Los Altos. "The city has corresponded and met with the Los Altos Garbage without coming to agreement," Jerome-Robinson said in a staff report.

In January the city approved a 13.13 percent rate increase for the garbage company. The council said to reduce the rates by 2 percent July 1 if certain issues had not been resolved between the city and the garbage company. After an extension to Aug. 31, the issues remain unresolved.

Software for PD for Y2K compliance

The Los Altos City Council, at its Sept. 14 meeting, OK'd a total of $330,032 for computer equipment to make the police department Y2K compliant. Of this, $300,000 was approved as part of the 1999-2000 capital improvement budget. The remaining $30,032 will come from the general fund operating reserve. The funds will be spent with $66,000 buying hardware and $264,032 buying public-safety software.

The current computer-aided dispatch and records management systems were bought in 1993. The vendor has gone out of business, said Chief Lucy Carlton in a staff report. Nine vendors submitted proposals for the new computer equipment. Vision Software, Inc. was chosen because it could provide the essential system requirements at the least cost to the city, Carlton said. Hillsborough, Foster City and Culver City also have recently bought and installed systems using Vision, Inc. CAD/RMS.

The system will be installed this fall and tested Nov. 19 to Dec. 30, when it will go on line.

City suspends requests for Sherwood study

In spite of requests from area merchants, there will not be a traffic study for the Sherwood area of Los Altos. At its Sept. 14 meeting, the Los Altos City Council voted to suspend indefinitely its plans for a traffic study for the Sherwood Gateway area of north Los Altos.

Following a March study session with Sherwood area merchants, the council OK'd $20,000 to $35,000 for a traffic study of the area. In April, the council sent the matter to the Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Task Force for its consideration in the overall context of traffic needs and goals.

In August, the task force voted that its main priority was the adoption and implementation of the neighborhood traffic management plan that has been developed during the past two years.

- Joanne Griffith Domingue