QUESTIONS 2010

RPOA Candidates Night Questions April 28, 201

1) Many residents are concerned about parking in front of the Post Office, bicycle traffic and the lack of adherence to traffic laws by both drivers and bikers. As a town council member what would you do to improve the enforcement of existing laws?

2) What is your view of the Town’s current structure of government and its departments? Explain what changes you make if any and why.

3) How would you address the problem of our aging town, police,

and fire facilities?

4) What is your position on the Hillside Lot Ordinance (HLO)?

4) DISCO-- Ross’ Disaster Plan is only in its infancy. How would you increase participation in disaster awareness and preparedness by town residents’?

5) The current town Council sets goals each year. What goals would you propose for the next 4 years and how would you accomplish them?

6) What is your position on the Marin Energy Authority (MEA)?

7) Ross has a downtown Plan. What do you think of this plan? Do you have any items that you would like included or removed from the current plan? How would you fund this plan?

8) Variances have been a “hot” topic for years. What do you think of the current council’s interpretation of the Floor Area Ratio recommendations? Should basements/decks attics be included in the FAR?

9) It is important to residents to maintain a small town character and community spirit. As a Town Council member what steps would you take to maintain Ross’ character?

10) As you have talked to town residents, what have you found to be their issues and concerns? How would you address these items?

11) Ross is a participant in the Ross Valley Flood Protection and Watershed Program. What actions would you take to advance these efforts and provide improved flood protection for the town?

12) Ross has a new Downtown Plan- but the downtown area of Ross has always struggled to be successful. What would you do as a town council member to help it become a better draw for attracting interesting and varied retail businesses?

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED

The ability to collaborate and at times compromise is essential to a smoothly running council.  On a scale of 1 to 5, with "5" being the highest, how would you evaluate your own collaborative skills, and give us an example of how you used them successfully in a professional setting.

Many residents are concerned about parking in front of the Post Office, bicycle traffic and the lack of adherence to traffic laws by both drivers and bikers. As a town council member what would you do to improve the enforcement of existing laws?

What is your view of the Town’s current structure of government and its departments? Explain what changes you make if any and why.

How would you address the problem of our aging town, police?

And fire facilities?

What is your position on the Hill Side Lot Ordinance (HLO)?

DISCO-- Ross’ Disaster Plan is only in its infancy. How would you increase participation in disaster awareness and preparedness by town residents’?

The current town Council sets goals each year. What goals would you propose for the next 4 years and how would you accomplish them?

What is your position on the Marin Energy Authority (MEA)?

Ross has a downtown Plan. What do you think of this plan? Do you have any items that you would like included or removed from the current plan? How would you fund this plan?

Variances have been a “hot” topic for years. What do you think of the current council’s interpretation of the Floor Area Ratio recommendations? Should basements/decks attics be included in the FAR?

It is important to residents to maintain a small town character and community spirit. As a Town Council member what steps would you take to maintain Ross’ character?

As you have talked to town residents, what have you found to be their issues and concerns? How would you address these items?

Ross is a participant in the Ross Valley Flood Protection and Watershed Program. What actions would you take to advance these efforts and provide improved flood protection for the town?

Ross has a new Downtown Plan- but the downtown area of Ross has always struggled to be successful. What would you do as a town council member to help it become a better draw for attracting interesting and varied retail businesses?

Hillside Lot Ordinance, impending hiring of a Town Engineer, stormwater control, fiscal priorities, replacing fire, police and administrative facilities, limits on monster homes, and the selection of the next mayor. 

Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal a study from Stanford noted that the unfunded liability of the state of California ( and the cities ) would be much larger than previously revealed. The study found that the liability would be greater than $500 billion. The assumption of Calpers was that there would be an 7.75% return on investment but the Stanford study assumed only a 4.14% return which is the rate of a 10 year treasury bond. The Stanford study suggested the obvious solution which is a 401K pension for public employees rather than a defined benefit plan which is currently in place. Do you support correcting public employee pension plans to prevent a state and city financial
catastrophe?

I have lived in Ross on and off since 1958. I  enjoy Ross.
My Number 1 concern
I am fed up with  bicyclists riding in our town, who ignore basic courtesy and flaunt the law. They ride on shady ln and the commons  side by side, use cellphones while riding, use ear phones while riding, ride without hands on the handles through the center of our town, ignore stop signs, fail to yield right of way, fail to yield to pedestrians, fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, blah, blah, blah
you know exactly what I am talking about
And when you try to ask the bicyclist to show some respect, a upright middle finger and profanities emanate. I am fed up with the lack of local police agency enforcement of the laws of the state of California. Ross PD, the sheriff, all the law enforcement agencies along the Ross Valley. Supervision Hal Brown seems to be of no help either. I have contacted his office number times. I shall vote for the candidate who adopts a platform that requires Ross PD to enforce strictly existing California laws violated by bicyclists, motorized vehicles. I wonder if the fine dollar amount could be increased and if a larger percentage of that fine could go to the town of Ross. Ticket, Baby, Ticket.

What do you consider to be your top priorities as a TC member

What current town policies, rules or regulations would you like to see changed or repealed?

What improvements would you make to problems or issues facing the Town?

Is the Design review process fair?  How can it be improved?

Where do you stand on the Hillside Lot Ordinance?

How should the town manager's compensation be determined?  Follow-up:  Do you feel that our town manager's current compensation is appropriate?

Do you think the town survey was done fairly, and that the results were fully utilized by the current TC? Follow-up:  Do you think town surveys should be taken on a regular basis (if so, how often) and what, if anything would you do differently

What are the most important qualities for a TC member to have?

What, in your background, makes you prepared to serve as a TC member?

Why should I vote for you?

 Will you actively pursue an agenda to eliminate the flooding in Ross Valley by acquiring funds for increasing the capacity for moving the rainwater to the bay as distinguished from the flood mitigation proposals that only address the effect and not the cause of flooding?

Do you support the  "renovation " of downtown Ross and if you do why do you think it is necessary or a good idea?

Have you taken a Get Ready or CERT class?

-What are the 2 most pressing short-term issues/concerns for the and
the 2 most pressing long-term issues/concerns for the Town of Ross?

-What do you want to accomplish if elected to the town council?

What would they like to see in the HLO?

How do they intend to elicit and respond to citizen suggestions? Continue the survey or use another method?

What are their priorities for spending our money and how will they use citizen input to rank those priorities?

What is their view on facilities renovation, the downtown plan and hiring new staff (new town engineer)?

What is their view on the current structure of the town management? What changes, if any, would they make?

Why are they running?

What makes them different from the other candidates?

What is their view on growth in the town of Ross?

What is their view of the current pension liabilities for staff/employees?

What is their view of conflict of interest?

What is their view of ADR? What is it's function? Does it work? What changes, if any, would they suggest?

How will they make town government fair and transparent?

How will they report town business to the citizens without the bias in the morning after?

How will they keep the small town character and community spirit of Ross alive?

What is your position on MEA

What are the most important things the Town Council should do to
address flooding issues?

3.  How would you handle labor negotiations with regard to salary,
pensions and other benefits?

4.  What is your view of the proposed Hillside Lot Ordinance?

5.  What goals should the Town Council accomplish over the next four
years in order of importance?

6.  What are your views on the Downtown Plan?

7.  What should be done to address our deteriorating Town buildings?

8.  Should our fire department consolidate with another jurisdiction?
If so, with whom and how?

9.  How do you view the performance of Town administrative, fire and
police employees and what changes would you make, if any?

10. Under what circumstances should the Town Council approve improving
unfinished basements and/or attic spaces into living spaces that exceed
the allowable FAR but do not alter the building envelope?

What is your view on variance requests

What is your view on HLO and un-built sites

Ross has a reputation for being one of the most difficult towns for getting housing approved. What should be the attitude of the council toward applicants

How would you imagine ways that Ross could be sustainable . How would you bring “green” issues into town

For the first 96 years of the town’s existence, Ross was managed by the Mayor and Council. In 2004, during a closed personnel hearing with the Town Administrator, the Council, at the Town administrator’s suggestion, decided to change the fundamental structure of governance. The council during that closed session delegated its direct authority to the newly created position of Town Manager, which was then filled by the Town Administrator. Do you believe that this process was transparent, democratic and legal? If elected would you revisit this issue?

Are you concerned with “monster size” homes being built in town? Is there a way to contain this problem.

What is your experience contributing to the council

What are you adding?

Why is it that a community like Ross cannot take the steps to underground the utilities?

Especially our main street, Shady Lane looks os tacky.

At its March 2008 meeting the council approved a project at 36 Glenwood, which allowed for demolition of 16,048 of development and the construction of 23,689 square feet of total new development. Do you believe that an approval of an additional 7641 square feet more than the existing development of 16,048 met the 10,000 feel maximum guideline adopted by a previous council extensive hearings and public debate.

Is the current strong town manager/weak town council model good or bad for the future of Ross? Why?