Photograph by Paul Myers

New parks commissioner: Logan Deimler




A new wave of citizens joins city's advisory commissions

By Oakley Brooks

The city council will have new eyes and ears throughout Saratoga due to a significant turnover recently on several of the city's advisory commissions.

Three new parks and recreation commissioners were sworn in Oct. 17, along with two new finance commissioners. In previous weeks, the city also added two other finance commissioners and one public safety commissioner. Those four-year appointments by the city council followed the annual turnover on the city's youth commission. Each youth commissioner serves a one-year term.

Each of the city's seven commissions allows more public discussion and exploration of specific policy issues before the issue heads to the city council. Except for the planning commission, any votes taken by commissions serve as recommendations to the council.

Of the recent vacancies, the public showed the most interest in the parks commission, for which the city council had five applications for three seats.

The parks commission continues to be a main forum for the city's ongoing conversations about accommodating the myriad recreational groups and neighbors seeking outdoor refuge.

The latest discussion centers on El Quito Park in the northeastern corner of the city. Residents have complained that the park is over-used and under-maintained, but local youth soccer and baseball groups would like to gain field improvements in the park and use it regularly.

The city is currently forming a citizen task force to shape a design plan for El Quito.

"El Quito is going to be a major challenge," says Judy Alberts, whose term with the parks and recreation commission ended last month. "It's going to take patience, diplomacy and a lot of effort."


Photograph by Paul Myers

New parks commissioner: Greg Gates




One of the most outspoken El Quito neighbors, Greg Gates, earned a recent council appointment to the parks commission. Gates, who has criticized the city for not communicating clearly with El Quito-area residents, says that his interests extend beyond El Quito.

"The draw in joining the commission is to be involved," says Gates, a software and network consultant. "In the next five years, the challenge is being able to balance the needs of the city with limited space."

According to Mayor John Mehaffey, every commission appointee doesn't have to be in "lock-step" with the council on specific issues. But he says that through council interviews and short essay questions on the city commission applications, city officials try to weed out those with a narrow agenda.

To draw quality applicants for commission seats, Mehaffey says he and other council members will often put the word out through their own social networks when vacancies come up.

And once appointed, Mehaffey says the commissioner's role is an important one.

"The council takes the recommendations of commissioners very seriously," he says.

Mehaffey credits the finance commission in particular with lending the council wise advice in recent years.

But the relationship between the council and its commissions isn't always harmonious, according to Alberts, who sat on the parks commission for three years beginning in late 1998, and chaired the commission for a year beginning in November 1999. Alberts says that three years ago when residents had reservations about the parks commission's exploration of play fields at Blue Hills Elementary School/Azule Park, Marshall Lane Elementary School and Foothill Elementary School, the city council put the plan aside and short-circuited a full exploration of the issue.


Photograph by Paul Myers

New parks commissioner: Angela Frazier




"I do believe that there are some times that the city council doesn't appreciate the work and effort of the commission," Alberts says.

Alberts says she thinks the council has a tough job balancing the sentiments of citizens and commissions with the city budget. However, "communication between the commission and the council can always be better," says Alberts.

Before building a relationship with the city council, new commissioners will work with city staff and fellow commissioners in the coming weeks to get up to speed on their commission's specific issues as well as city government protocol.

Cary Bloomquist, the city's liaison to the parks commission, says he's given each new member a copy of the state's Open Meetings Act, rules of public meeting decorum, and a copy of the city's parks and trails master plan. Eventually, the new members will receive a tour of all of the city's parks.

But Bloomquist says the new commissioners' adjustment to their new civic role is ultimately self-motivated.

"They have to be sharp enough to be able to use judgment when they come in," says Bloomquist. "And they have to be prepared to vote in a couple of weeks."

On the parks commission, Gates, Logan Deimler and Angela Frazier filled the vacant seats.

Richard Allen, Emily Garbe, Jim Hughes and Alex Tennant filled the finance commission's empty seats.

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For a full list of the commissions and their monthly meeting times, visit the city's website at www.saratoga.ca.us.

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