Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorials

How much gold is a facilitator worth?

The Monte Sereno City Council wants to hire a facilitator for its March 21 goal-setting session. The cost to Monte Sereno taxpayers? $3,000. Joel Gambord and Gordon Knight think the whole idea is an outrage.

We're not opposed to facilitators in general; often an outsider, especially one skilled in helping groups set goals and reach consensus, can be worth his weight in gold.

But we do have to side with Gambord and Knight on the question of just how much gold the city needs to fork over to ensure a productive goal-setting session.

Monte Sereno, after all, is a city of just 3,360 people.

While Monte Sereno, like other cities, must abide by state mandates and participate in special districts, this city--by its very definition--is far less complex than most.

Unlike most cities, Monte Sereno boasts no major corporations, no business district, no shopping malls, no business, period. There isn't even a Starbucks or a 7-Eleven in Monte Sereno.

Monte Sereno is a "city" of suburban homes. That's not to say there aren't issues of importance to the residents.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest issues has become the dissension and downright hostility within the council itself.

We don't doubt that an outsider would help make a goal-setting session more productive. The question is: Does Monte Sereno need a high-powered facilitator experienced in helping governments work on complex urban issues?

It sounds like overkill to us.

Breathing Easy

The direct-fill unit at the corporation yard on Miles Avenue wasn't the long-term solution the town was seeking when it proposed putting in a compressed-natural-gas fueling station at Winchester Boulevard and Lark Avenue.

But it's a step in the right direction. The town continues to get good deals on vehicles by opting for the more environmentally sound natural gas, or at least for making natural gas the first choice in a bi-fuel vehicle.

In fact, the city must outfit 10 percent of its fleet with the clean-burning engines by 1999.

The right time and the right place may come together eventually, and the town may be able to create a CNG fueling station that would allow town cars to fill up with natural gas as quickly as they can fill up with gasoline.

Meanwhile, the two new parks department trucks--purchased with a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District--will not have to be taken to Saratoga or Cupertino whenever they need to be filled.

The direct-fill unit isn't practical for cars in constant use, but it will work nicely for park service trucks.

And we'll all breathe a little easier.

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