City Manager's Blog

The Atherton City Council meets twice per month. The first meeting is typically the 1st Wednesday of the month at 4 pm. At this meeting, the Council meets in “Study Session”. There are typically only two or three items on the agenda. The items are usually discussion and direction only, but no action. Occasionally there will be an action item, but these are rare and only when time is of the essence in taking action on a particular issue. Study Sessions usually last about 2 hours. The second meeting is typically the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 pm. At this meeting, the Council meets for their “Regular Meeting”. These meetings typically involve more routine items that are placed on the Consent Agenda (bills, treasurer reports, minutes, awards of contract, etc.). The Council also holds Public Hearings at their Regular Meeting. Public Hearings are generally for ordinances, land use matters, or financial matters. The Regular Agenda is reserved for larger, discussion, direction, and action items. A Regular Meeting typically lasts about 3 hours. 

Agendas can be found online in the website archive. There are some items that appear on the Agenda that are cyclical. For example, each February, the Council will review the Annual Budget at “Mid Year” - the Town operates on a fiscal year that runs from June to July. Following the Mid-Year review, the Council will begin budget season. During the months of March, April, May, and June, the Council Study Session are largely dominated by the Annual Budget Review Calendar. March is typically the Budget Kick-Off, followed in April by the Operations Budget. May is usually a review of Special Funds and the Capital Improvement Program. June is Budget Adoption. Also, the early months of the year will often involve bids and awards of contract for public works contracts that occur mostly over the summer months - street maintenance, street slurry, and drainage projects. The latter part of the year is usually dominated by annual audit processes, ordinance review, acceptance of work for various public works projects, and other miscellaneous issues. 

Staff maintains an internal Agenda Look Ahead that helps coordinate upcoming items for meetings. Here’s what’s next.

2019/2020 Budget Study Sessions - Operations Budget- this item involves a presentation by staff of the various departmental budgets for the coming fiscal year. The Council has an opportunity to review the budgets and the various departmental requests. No decisions are made, but staff takes input from the Council and incorporates that input into the budget document scheduled for adoption in June. The various departments are:

Historical budgets can be found online on in the website archive. 

Discussion of Committee Terms - this item involves a presentation by staff of the various Town committee members and the current terms of appointment for each member. The Council will have a conversation around how best to create staggered terms for each committee such that when terms expire, the Council is not faced with having to replace large swaths of a committee at a time. 

Award of Bid for the Middlefield Road Project (Class II Bicycle Lanes) and Construction Management Services - this will be an action item. This item was delayed from the March 20 Council Meeting because the bid received for the construction management services portion of the project was not ready to be approved. Time is of the essence to award this project as the construction bid is valid for only a limited duration. Staff has worked out the issues with construction management and is returning to the Council for award of contract. 

Items for this agenda are still in flux, but below are a few of the major items already scheduled. 

Review and Discussion of the Alameda de las Pulgas (ADLP) Traffic Study and Town-wide Traffic Mitigation Study - These studies were completed in the past several months and have been reviewed by the Town’s Transportation Committee for comments and feedback. The Council will have an opportunity to review the study results together with recommendations from the Transportation Committee. The ADLP Study focus on the Alameda - border to border - and reviewed the corridor for potential traffic improvements. The Council will discuss various recommendations for traffic control devices along the corridor. The Town-wide Traffic Mitigation Study focused on major roadways through Town and discussed ways to mitigate the impact of regional traffic - whether that be by traffic control devices, speed indicators, turning movement restrictions, or other methods.  

Adoption of Resolution and Funding Agreement for Participation on the San Mateo County Sea Level Rise Agency - San Mateo County has been working with all of the jurisdictions in San Mateo County to create a County-wide Sea Level Rise Agency. The goal of the Agency is to use the leverage of all of the agencies in the County in support of regional flood projects and programs. The Town’s participation requires an annual contribution of $25,000 for the first three years. It is anticipated that the Agency will eventually become self-funded. 

Other items may be added to the Agenda as the meeting approaches.