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City council reins in plan to offer housing loans to city employees
By Oakley Brooks
While city council members expressed concern recently about Saratoga's high-level staff living outside the city, the council was hesitant to commit to a comprehensive plan to assist employees with housing.
Instead, the council asked Community Development Director Tom Sullivan to look into programs in surrounding cities that assist directors with housing.
Currently, only one of Saratoga's five city development directors--Recreation Director Joan Pisani--lives in the city, while other directors commute from as far away as Capitola and Moraga.
Council members were concerned at an Oct. 3 meeting that if an earthquake or other major disaster occurred over a weekend, the majority of key city officials would not be in the city to run the Emergency Operations Center in city hall. Officials in the center would coordinate relief efforts in the event of a disaster.
The absence of directors would force city council members to coordinate crisis response, something they are not trained to do.
According to Sullivan, Los Gatos is one of the few cities to aid its directors with housing loans. The loans were made on an individual basis to three different directors over the past several years, according to Los Gatos officials. Only one director still works for the city.
As an alternative to housing aid for directors, several Saratoga council members suggested that they go through "cross training," as Vice Mayor Nick Streit put it, to enable them to aid at the operations center during a crisis. Councilman Stan Bogosian told Public Works Director John Cherbone that he would be willing to go through some instruction on tractor operations that could allow him to clear roads with the city's tractors after an earthquake.
In general, housing for employees is "not a burning issue," at city hall, according to Sullivan.
On Oct. 3, the council put aside the idea of a loan program for a broad range of city employees. That sort of program, supported by Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith, has been put into place by several Bay Area cities. Sullivan brought examples of programs of varying sizes and success from 20 different cities to the council.
But Bogosian and Councilman Evan Baker said they believe a broad loan program is inappropriate for Saratoga.
"This is a minimum services city, and we cannot afford to provide for every constituency," Baker said.
Several city workers, such as Assistant City Manager Lorie Tinfow, said they would welcome both loan assistance and a home in Saratoga.
But Tinfow acknowledged that it may be difficult to find housing solutions in Saratoga and the rest of the West Valley for employees while the area's real estate market remains pricey.
"When you're looking at how far your dollar goes," said Tinfow, "You find the same problem here as in surrounding areas."
Like other directors, Tinfow is still out of Saratoga on the weekends. She rents an apartment in the city for use during the week and returns to her husband and home in Walnut Creek on the weekend.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
