City of San Carlos 2009 in Review

As we end another year in San Carlos, it's time to review the major achievements and key projects that the City experienced during 2009. Here are some of this year's highlights: 1. San Carlos General Plan: 2030 Approved After an extensive 2 year process involving several community meetings and review by the 21-member citizens General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) and the Planning Commission, the City's new San Carlos General Plan: 2030 was approved by the City Council in October. The new General Plan Update was led by Community Development Director Al Savay, Planning Manager Deborah Nelson and their staff and features a document that is written in a more user-friendly fashion and consolidates several earlier area specific plans into the General Plan document to facilitate future development in the community. A copy of the San Carlos General Plan: 2030 document is available on the City Web Site. 2. Addressing City Budget Challenges During 2009, the City once again faced challenges in the General Fund portion of the City Budget. In June, the Council took several steps to address the shortfall including shifting the Infrastructure Contribution from the City's Shoreway Center Host Fees to General Fund, delaying Equipment Replacement Funding, giving the Arguello Park Tennis Court back to the School District for maintenance and cutting other areas of the budget. The City Manager and Administrative Services Director worked with employee groups to obtain a series of salary and benefit givebacks that included a tiered retirement system and reductions in retirement health benefits for new hires, increased employee contribution to health insurance, elimination of pay for performance for management, police and confidential staff and a number of other changes that put City salaries 5% to 15% below salaries and benefits of comparable jobs in neighboring cities. In December, the Council ratified additional reductions that were initially approved in June if a proposed revenue measure did not pass. These included additional cuts in the Parks and Recreation, Police and Administrative departments in the City and also included transferring the Healthy Cities School Tutoring Program to the School District and ending the Special Needs program at the end of the budget year on June 30, 2010. The Council asked City Manager Mark Weiss, Administrative Services Director Jeff Maltbie and City Department Heads and Staff to look at all areas of the City Budget as well as agreements with the Fire JPA and other agencies for additional budget savings to be considered in the next City budget to help close the remaining $3.6 million budget shortfall in the General Fund. 3 . New Solid Waste Hauler and Single Stream Recycling Coming to San Carlos In October 2008, the City Council authorized the City Staff to negotiate a new Solid Waste Franchise Agreementand to authorize the issuance of bonds for the new Shoreway Environmental Center. Work on these projects continued in 2009 when the City Council along with 2/3 of the agencies in the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) gave final approval to new Solid Waste Franchise Agreements with Recology San Mateo County (formerly known as NorCal Waste Systems), an agreement to turn the operation of the Shoreway Transfer Station and Recyclery over to South Bay Recycling and to issue bonds to convert the recycling facility on Shoreway Road in San Carlos to a Single Stream Recycling facility. The City is now working with the SBWMA on these programs which will significantly enhance the Solid Waste and Recycling services that San Carlos residents receive. 4. Federal Recovery Act Funds Improve Infrastructure and Soon - Energy Efficiency San Carlos participated in the national American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) program's infrastructure grants in 2009. The result is now being constructed on the streets of San Carlos with the addition of curb ramps at a number of intersections throughout the community. Public Works Director/City Engineer Robert Weil put together the City's grant application and was able to fund both the curb ramp workand an upcoming road improvement project on Crestview Drive with these funds. A second ARRA grant for energy efficiency will be coming to the City Council in January 2010 for approval. It will use "Small City" energy efficiency funds to make City Buildings more energy efficient as well as convert a number of City Street Lights to more energy efficient LED Street Lighting. 5. San Carlos Climate Action Plan Approved and Wins Planning Award Along with the development of the General Plan Update, the City also put together the community's first Climate Action Plan (CAP) in 2009. The CAP was developed by a 3 member citizens subcommittee of the General Plan Advisory Committee with staff support from Planning Manager Deborah Nelson and Assistant City Manager Brian Moura. The CAP was funded through a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board (BAAQMD) and included several innovative features including a link to the General Plan 2030 document and a very quantitative and measurable approach to Climate Protection measures. The San Carlos Climate Action Plan received an Innovation in Green Planning Award from the Bay Area Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) and was also nominated for an award by Sustainable San Mateo County. Since that time, a number of cities around the Bay Area and the State have requested information and presentations by the San Carlos staff on the CAP and how a similar plan could be developed by their agencies. 6. Artificial Turf Project at Lower Highlands Field Progresses In early 2009, the City Council approved a Mitigated Negative Declaration Environmental Report and authorized Parks and Recreation Director Doug Long and Public Works Director/City Engineer Robert Weil to retain the landscape firm of Callendar and Associates to develop plans and specifications to install an Artificial Turf field at Lower Highlands Field and to explore turf systems with virgin rubber and organic fill materials. The project will reduce the City's annual maintenance costs for the field as well as improving the field's condition, reducing water usage and increasing the number of play hours for San Carlos children and residents. In November, this work led to a Call for Bids for an Artificial Turf field at Lower Highlands Field that included the use of coconut husk based infill materials in use in Europe and at one local site. Extensive contractor and bidder interest at the project's pre-bid meeting led to an extension of the bid deadline to facilitate more bids on the project. 7. Police Department Neighborhood Watch Program & Town Hall Meeting In 2009, the San Carlos Police Department partnered with a new neighborhood group in the White Oaks Neighborhood to establish the City's first formal Neighborhood Watch program. Chief Greg Rothaus, Commander Jon Read and the Police Services Technicians worked with neighborhood leaders to start the program which included a series of meetings in the neighborhood on crime avoidance measures. The Police Department also held a Town Hall Meeting at City Hall to discuss the department's crime prevention activities and to field questions from San Carlos residents and businesses. A video of the Police Town Hall Meeting was shown on the City's Cable TV Channel, Cable Channel 27 to further share this information with the community. 8. San Carlos Green Programs Continue to Deliver Results Once again in 2009, the City's Green Programs continued to move San Carlos towards being a more sustainable community. San Carlos businesses continued to participate in the Chamber of Commerce Green Committee as well as the San Mateo County Green Business Program which now includes over 20 certified green businesses in San Carlos. Expanded programs in the recycling area led to the City meeting and exceeding its AB 939 and SB 1018 targets for the first time. This included stepped up documentation and enforcement of the San Carlos Construction and Demolition (C&D) Ordinance, Free eWaste and eShred events during the year and Compost Giveaways in the Spring. Community events including the Art and Wine Faire and Hometown Days featured outreach by the resident-based San Carlos Green group. In March the City began the first weekly residential food scrap and yard clippings recycling program in the SBWMA service area in San Mateo County. In December, the work that the City of San Carlos, SBWMA andLook Design put into the marketing and rollout of this program was recognized with the International Davey Gold Award for marketing excellence. 9. City of San Carlos Joins Twitter and Facebook to Disseminate Information to the Public During 2009 the City continued to expand its methods of sharing information on City programs and projects by entering the world of social media. In July, the City created a Twitter feed which quickly grew to over 300 followers which was then followed by the creation of a Facebook Fan Page in October that picked up over 1,900 fans. Assistant City Manager Brian Moura added an Economic Development angle to the City's Twitter and Facebookofferings by linking San Carlos based businesses with current business registrations to the City's social media pages. The result was added traffic for these local firms with over 50 San Carlos businesses linked to the City's Facebook Page and almost 90 San Carlos businesses linked to the City's Twitter Feed. The San Carlos Chamber of Commerce participated in the program by offering a Pulse of Business Workshop for San Carlos firms on how to use social media for their firm's marketing and outreach. 10. Carly: The Virtual Receptionist at City Hall Recognized with Technology Award In May, the City's Information Technology Division received a Technology Achievement Award for their development of Carly: The Virtual Receptionist. Due to the City's chronic budget shortfall, a full time receptionist position at City Hall was eliminated. To assist the public with City Services at the City Hall Counter, Senior IT Analyst Jasmine Frost used an on-line software service to develop an avatar named "Carly" to provide these services. The new centralized information station for the public saves the City over $100,000 per year and led to inquiries from cities and counties around the nation asking how they might develop a similar cost saving system for their community.