By Robert Haugh

Last Week

Last Thursday, the Council held a special meeting. Councilwoman Patty Mahan called in from 13845 Pine Street, Bigfork, Montana – her and her husband’s vacation/second home. Councilman Pat Kolstad telephoned in from 22200 East Bennett Lake, Liberty Lake, Washington – his Washington residence/permanent(?) home. These are the two councilmembers who would not vote last month to appoint qualified candidates to replace disgraced former Councilmember Dominic Caserta. That made at least one of the candidates, Dr. Mohammed Nadeem, publicly unhappy with them.

The Council unanimously approved moving forward with drafting ordinances to pursue a cannabis tax on the November ballot. They also voted 5-1, Mahan opposed, for introducing a new ordinance that’ll amend the job descriptions and salaries for the elected City Clerk and assign certain Clerk responsibilities to the Assistant City Clerk.

Items for This Week

• Assigning the job duties of City Auditor to the Assistant Finance Director. This saves the City money since former Clerk Rod Diridon, Jr., was receiving compensation as both the Clerk and Auditor. Really. Most people we talk to never could figure out what the value was. This move is possible because Diridon suddenly and somewhat mysteriously resigned.
• The Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Silicon Valley has submitted a request to be placed on a future agenda regarding establishing Korea Day.
• Interviews and an appointment to the Cultural Commission. The nine applicants are: Kelly Gonzalez, Maria Horwich, Luis Lecanda, Jonathan Marinaro, Anousheh Mortazdivi, Kirankumar Shinde, Teresa Sulcer and Snehalata Vedula.
• Results of a satisfaction survey of the police department will be presented.
• Public hearing for a townhouse project at 1900 Warburton.
• Declaring a vacancy on the Planning Commission. Mike O’Halloran submitted his resignation.