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Monte Sereno City Hall set to get landscaping upgrade By Jeff Kearns
Perhaps now Monte Serenans can stop blushing as they drive by the meager landscaping in front of City Hall in the South Bay's most exclusive city. Instead, however, they might blush about the price the City Council agreed to pay for a more attractive upgrade.
After a spirited but friendly debate at their March 2 meeting, councilmembers voted 3-2 to allocate $63,200 for a new landscape job around the city buildings on Highway 9. The amount is more than double the $30,000 that councilmembers originally budgeted.
City Manager Brian Loventhal said the work, for which the city only received one bid, was more pricey than expected because of high construction costs and the prevailing wages the city must pay. The estimate topped $70,000, but council and staff pared some costs from the proposal.
Suzanne Jackson and Barbara Nesbet were the two nay votes.
"I'm appalled at the high cost," Jackson said. "It is absolutely outrageous, and I don't think it's necessary."
"[The landscape] needs work, but it's too expensive for our little town where funding is so uncertain," Nesbet said.
The approval comes almost two years after Joel Gambord started pushing for new landscaping at City Hall, which was a major source of friction between him and former City Manager Gay Strand, who resigned last summer.
Gambord agreed that the cost was higher than he expected, but said it was time to move on the project after kicking it around for two years. He said, "It's the very least we can do" to set an example for the residents, which the city exhorts to beautify their own yards.
"It's an investment in this piece of property that will be here for many years to come," he added.
Gordon Knight agreed. "I'm sorry the cost is so high, but City Hall needs to be spruced up," he said.
Jack Lucas, too, called the exterior "a little seedy."
City Hall will get new lawn and plantings in front, and some shrubs along the rear edge of the parking lot in back of the building. A concrete retaining wall along the front of the property by the highway will be replaced with a stacked "gravity block" wall. The two live oaks in front of City Hall will stay, but some juniper bushes will be torn out.
The landscaping includes new sprinklers and drainage. One of two flagpoles, which flies a Red Cross flag, will also be removed. The Red Cross no longer operates out of the building.
A new walkway will be be built from the rear parking lot to the entrances of the city offices at the front of the building. Visitors to City Hall frequently come in the back door through the Council Chambers or walk into the small post office that shares the city building.
Work is scheduled to start by the end of April and wrap up in about eight weeks, Loventhal said.
The council also considered including a sculpture by Monte Sereno artist William Cunningham, who offered to display it in front of City Hall, but councilmembers dropped the idea, which they said was muddying the waters of the debate. The council may bring up the sculpture issue later this year.
The city bought the building at 18041 Saratoga--Los Gatos Road from the Red Cross in 1991, and since then has been continually updating the facilities.
The Council Chambers got a new dais, chairs and carpeting last year, and the interior got a fresh coat of paint before that. City workers also got a new air conditioner and a skylight in recent years.
Later this year, the council will consider hanging a city seal that's approximately 4 feet in diameter on the wall behind the mayor's chair, and possibly hanging historic photos around the Council Chambers.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
