Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Citizens group might field candidates for council race

By Anne Gelhaus

While city officials are trying to close the book on the Citizens FOR Monte Sereno, members of that group are thinking of starting a new chapter.

The saga began in January, when the citizens group mailed an unsigned letter to all Monte Sereno residents, lambasting the city's government for "arrogant leadership more concerned with process than how that process is impacting its citizens."

Since the letter was mailed, City Council members and staff have addressed the myriad issues it raised, including questions about the city's budget, its heritage and tree-preservation ordinances and its quest to save the Claravale Guernsey Farm. In answering these questions both by letter and at council meetings, officials believe they have done all they can to appease the citizens group.

"Things like this are never completely resolved," said Mayor Nancy Hobbs. "They're never going to be completely satisfied, but at least they're calmed down a bit."

The concerns of the citizens group were addressed yet again at a Feb. 20 council meeting, but Hobbs said afterward that those who spoke were less antagonistic than at previous meetings.

"They felt we were doing better," Hobbs added. "They're just going to have people there at each council meeting to make sure we keep improving."

But according to group member Rosemary Pierce, the Citizens FOR Monte Sereno are thinking about sponsoring candidates in November's City Council elections, when Hobbs' and Councilmember Pam Bancroft's seats will be open.

"We've talked about getting a committee together to find two people to run," Pierce said, "but I don't think anyone's been named."

City Manager Carolyn Lehr said the group's plan to run candidates falls in line with Hobbs' request to its members to get more involved in the process of city government.

"The mayor is trying to direct citizens to work within the process that's already in place, like the annual budget hearings," Lehr said. "You can't just take a quick hit from the outside and expect things to fall into place."

As former city manager, Pierce has been on the inside of the process before, and she said she's attended Monte Sereno's budget hearings under Lehr's administration.

"One year, I asked about an item that was considerably over budget," Pierce said. "I was told that . . . as long as the bottom line matched, that's what counted. I don't like that thinking much."

Pierce raised some questions about the city's current budget in a letter she presented to the council at last week's meeting. In her letter, Pierce stated that until this year, the city had always managed to save some of the Tax Equity Allocation monies it receives under a property-tax agreement. The TEA is due to sunset in 2008, and Pierce argued that the city's current level of spending doesn't provide for this impending loss of revenues.

But Lehr said that since TEA monies aren't put into one particular account, it's impossible to track the funds to verify Pierce's assertion of an annual savings. Lehr added that Monte Sereno has almost $3 million in reserves--enough to fund the city's operating budget for three years.

"I couldn't find any logic in [Pierce's] argument," Lehr said, "because the two revenue sources she chose to track to demonstrate long-term financial trends for the city are unrelated, and neither are indicative of the city's financial future."