Menlo Park calls one more hearing on child care center Menlo Park calls one more hearing on child care center (March 16, 2005)

** City Council addresses complaints about a violation of the open-meeting law.

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

Critics who called for a sweeping City Council cleanup after a Brown Act violation in Menlo Park have been bitterly disappointed.

Rather than creating a new child care task force to replace the one that met without sufficient public notice, the council has decided only to hold one more hearing on a plan to remodel the old police building into a child care center.

That hearing is expected to take place at the March 15 council meeting, after which the council may award a construction contract for the remodeling project.

In addition, instead of hiring a government consultant to do a study of City Hall processes to avoid future violations of the state open-meeting law, the council has asked city staff to look at more low-key approaches, such as having a staff training day on the Brown Act.

Both the cleanup actions were proposed by Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson, who found herself in the minority at the four-and-a-half-hour meeting on March 8.

Disturbed by City Attorney Bill McClure's admission that the council-convened task force had met in 2003 without notifying the public of its time, date and agenda, Ms. Fergusson questioned the validity of the group's recommendation to remodel the police building instead of creating a new $6 million child care center.

Heyward Robinson and other residents agreed. "The outcome of the task force meetings could have been different if the public was notified of the meetings," he told the council.

If it were possible, he said, he would seek a court injunction against the remodel. That cannot happen because the 90-day complaint window for Brown Act violations has long closed.

Still other residents urged the council to get going with the remodel, including Mary Gilles, who called remodel opponents "obstructionists" who were trying to shut down the government. She said the child care matter has been publicly aired, with the council discussing it repeatedly.

The city has received bids for the remodel that expire April 2. So Ms. Fergusson proposed having a new five-member task force hold two public meetings in the next two weeks on the pros and cons of the remodel.

Predictably, the council split 3-2, with only Andy Cohen supporting Ms. Fergusson, and the other three -- Mayor Mickie Winkler, Nicholas Jellins and Lee Duboc -- voting together, as they have in the past on supporting the conversion of the police building into a child care center.

No one seconded Ms. Fergusson's motion to hire a government consultant.

Rather than voting to accept the lowest construction bid of about $2 million, all the council members except Ms. Fergusson agreed to host the council hearing on the pros and cons of the remodel.

Mr. Jellins said it was worth providing one more arena for residents to bring forward concrete information and thoughts on the plan, especially since the March 8 meeting had gotten lost in "hyperbole, disingenuity and an overall bad smell."

He said the council is the best place for this forum, especially with City Manager David Boesch dubious about how valuable a task force would be if it had to come together so fast.

In light of the council majority's strong support of the remodel plan, though, it seems unlikely that the council will change course on March 15.
Accused, incensed

As Mr. Jellins observed, the March 8 council meeting turned heated and angry.

Supporters of a new center told the council they were "appalled" and "devastated" by the council's having sent out for bids on the police-station remodel.

Parks and recreation commissioner Paula Maurano then accused those residents of using the Brown Act complaint as a "smoke screen" to cause trouble, simply because they didn't agree with the task force's recommendation.

Ms. Gilles said Ms. Fergusson should recuse herself from the matter because her child is in the city's child care program. Incensed, Ms. Fergusson objected to having her family brought up, but the mayor allowed Ms. Gilles to continue speaking.

Mr. McClure later said that Ms. Fergusson has no legal conflict of interest in the matter.

Meanwhile, council member Duboc, who has called the Brown Act violation minor, appeared to grow angry that remodel opponents spent so much time on what she called "scab-picking of the past." In response, she launched into a 20-minute onslaught, giving a detailed history of the city's child care program, including her years on the Parks and Recreation Commission.

While many residents say the council promised them a new center, Ms. Duboc said such plans were raised during the economic boom and that the remodel is the sensible solution with the economy in a slump.

"This bid fulfills my campaign promise to build a child care center on budget," she said, adding, "It has absolutely been an open and exhaustive public process."

Some residents were on a different track altogether, saying the city shouldn't be providing child care at all. Richard Li said he had no trouble finding quality private care for his children, and that such care shouldn't be funded by tax dollars.

While the city does charge fees for child care, they don't cover all overhead expenses, Mr. Boesch said.
MEETING

The Menlo Park City Council is expected to discuss the pros and cons of turning the old police station into a child care center at its meeting on Tuesday, March 15. The meeting is scheduled to begin early, at 6:30 p.m., in the chambers at 701 Laurel St. For more information, go to menlopark.org.

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