Special to the Town Crier
An eleventh-hour emergency action by the Los Altos City Council on Nov. 22 requires City Manager Phil Rose to get council approval before he can hire an economic development coordinator. And downtown business owners are fuming.
"I find a disturbing position coming out of city hall. This is a position that has been vacant for over a year and promised to the business community," said Dennis Young, moderator for the Chamber of Commerce monthly economic development meeting, held Dec. 6. "You make a decision at the eleventh hour that is not on the agenda and that is insulting to the people in the business community."
"There just isn't enough funding and after the Measure I defeat - we have to prioritize things again," answered Los Altos City Councilman King Lear, who brought the item before the council at the Nov. 22 meeting. "We passed an emergency measure because it's time to take a look at what our priorities are. The budget may be underestimated downstream, and maybe a better decision can be made."
The position of economic development coordinator has been vacant since Carol Curran left the job in October 1997. The city has budgeted $76,000 for salary benefits and resources for the position that would serve half-time as an economic coordinator and the other half as a management analyst.
"An economic development person isn't that important," King said. "The city has to look at the infrastructure and this isn't the same as paving streets and public safety. We can't say, 'let's spend $76,000 now because we will have more money in two years.' "
The council was expected to review the economic development position at last night's meeting in addition to other vacant positions that include associate planner, recreation supervisor and associate engineer.
Business owner and chamber member Mel Kahn said the council doesn't realize that Los Altos is in competition with other cities for business. "I can remember when things were much tougher than what we have now. They weren't good when we first hired the economic development coordinator."
Tom Smith, former owner of McWhorter's Stationers, said his company put $500,000 in improvements into its Second Street building when it moved to Los Altos.
"We were looking at Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos. The Los Altos economic development coordinator led a group of Los Altos business people and city staff, who made a presentation to us. That influenced our move to Los Altos," Smith said. "If sales tax revenues are flat, then something is wrong with Los Altos, with the economic boom we are experiencing."
Due to the Town Crier Monday press deadline, the council's decision on the economic coordinator position could not be included in this story.
Lear suggested funding priorities should be taken from a blue ribbon committee's list based on resident input, a list upon which Measure I funding requests were based. Measure H, asking whether citizens wanted this list of services, passed, while "I," the funding mechanism, was defeated in the Nov. 3 election.
Funding for more 911 communications personnel topped the list, Lear said.
He suggested three options of review: looking at current budget based on earlier projections; reviewing future revenues; or reviewing general funds expenditure priorities "across the entire city budget, rather than just acrross the unfunded services. This has not been done by council. The least painful review would be of jobs that are vacant, as opposed to considering layoffs."
He added the economic development coordinator position and any others that become vacant "deserve a public discussion and an informed priority decision by council."