Six people urged the council to set aside a specific time in a future meeting to discuss whether the United States should strike Iraq.

"It is the patriotic duty for each of us to state our opinions, whether the opinions are popular or not," said Muriel Marr, adding that the council should agendize "giving peace a chance."

Another man said the idea of an antiwar resolution, which had originally been proposed for last week's meeting, should never have crossed the minds of council members to begin with and was glad to see it pulled from the agenda.

Councilman Stan Bogosian had made plans to place an antiwar resolution before the council for the Feb. 5 meeting. But Vice Mayor Ann Waltonsmith, who at first seemed to support the move, pulled the item off the agenda at the 11th hour.

When Bogosian first approached her with the idea of holding a public hearing to discuss the looming war with Iraq, she thought she was only agreeing to allowing a public forum for debate and had no idea that Bogosian meant for the council to take a stance, the councilwoman explained. When she realized Bogosian's intentions were to pass an antiwar resolution, she said she "had to back away."

Sharing in her opinion were the other council members, who felt the national issue would be better left in the hands of those chosen to lead the country.

"I did not run on national issues; my [campaign] literature did not mention national issues," said Councilman Norman Kline. "For practical, legal and moral reasons," the council should not pass a resolution, since the city does not have adequate resources and information to help them make a decision with due diligence, he said.

Likewise, Mayor Nick Streit said the people of Saratoga elected him to make decisions on local issues. While open to having a discussion, he said he was not interested in passing any resolution. In the end, Bogosian failed to gain support from any of his colleagues to agendize discussion of the war for its next meeting.

As with the antiwar resolution, the breakdown in council members' positions for another item on the Feb. 5 agenda again had Bogosian on one side while the rest of his colleagues voted to approve a services agreement between the city and the Chamber of Commerce.

Subsequent to the Chamber's relocation of its office to a building on Big Basin Way last month, the Chamber and city settled on a contract for service fees, effective through June 2007. The new contract stipulates that the city will pay the Chamber $10,000 annually for providing services in the areas of tourism and information and the distribution of city materials. The Chamber will operate 35 hours a week during regular business hours.

Until now, the city had been paying $3,400 per year to the Chamber to support its operation. It had also been renting the city-owned McWilliams House to the Chamber for $1 per year, although the market rate is valued at $9,446 per year, according to a city survey.

Kline, the new council liaison to the Chamber and a Chamber member himself, reported that the new location is better suited to providing tourist information. He also said the Chamber will actually see a decrease in profits with the new services agreement, but they are willing to accept the agreement to better the relationship with the city.

"I'm glad that we're finally at the end of the road," said Chamber advisor Ray Froess, who was recently named the Chamber's 2002 businessperson of the year. "We don't have any real issues anymore."

While the rest of the council liked the agreement, Bogosian said he wished to see more services specified if the city is to pay $10,000 per year. Without the specificities, the $10,000 could also go toward hiring a crossing guard, for example, he said.

The services agreement eventually passed 4-1.