Saratoga News

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Garbage rate issue postponed till July

A hearing before the City Council to consider a raise in residential, commercial and industrial garbage rates has been postponed until the next council meeting July 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers at 13777 Fruitvale Ave. The issue was originally scheduled to go before the council last week.

Search firm seeks residents' input

Representatives from the recruitment firm Hughes, Perry & Associates of San Francisco plan to conduct a town hall meeting from 7 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 8, at the Saratoga Senior Day Care at 19655 Allendale Ave. The representatives want to hear what qualities residents are looking for in a new city manager.

The firm, hired June 4 by the City Council to find a replacement for ousted City Manager Harry Peacock, will use the information gathered from the meeting, and from individual meetings with councilmembers, in its search.

City assessments ballots tabulated

Ballots were counted at last week's City Council meeting to decide the issue of proposed increases in fees for some of the city's landscaping and lighting districts. Six of the eight districts in which increases were proposed approved the new fees. In zones 14 and 18, which include properties off Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road between Blauer and Miljevich drives, a majority of residents voted not to increase their fees, leaving the city to decide if it should try to maintain the district at last year's fee level or discontinue maintenance. Councilmembers asked staffers to consider working with last year's fee level and report back Aug. 6.

Landscaping and lighting district assessments are conducted annually in areas of the city in which residents pay the city to maintain the neighborhood. In the past, any residents protesting proposed increases could address the city at a protest hearing; residents who didn't contact the city to protest or speak at the hearing were counted as supporters. But under Proposition 218, passed in November, the city must mail out ballots to residents and can only count--for or against--those ballots that were returned.

Two districts did not receive ballots in the mail in time and will be counted at a later date.

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