The Town Council after interviewing four applicants for one position appointed Morgan Hall (Architect, President of the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Design Review Board) to the Planning Commission. After more than one hour of interviewing the four applicants the Council collectively agreed it was a difficult decision based on the high caliber of applicants. One of the applicants for the Planning Commission, Roxanne Ezzet-Lofstrom, was appointed to the Affordable Housing Committee. She had applied for both positions. The other candidates were Ryan O’Neil and Barbara Coler.
Other actions taken at the Regular Meeting on November 3, 2010:
• Accepted the Quarterly Report from the Town Treasurer, Barbara Petty.
• Adopted a Resolution creating a Town Theater Director and appointing Sam Parry to the position.
• Approved changing the regular Town Council meeting date to January 12, 2011.
• Adopted a Resolution to allocate funds ($100,000) for the Citizens Option for Public Safety (COPS) Program for 2010-11.
• Agreed to an amendment to the contract between the County of Marin and the Marin Human Society to forgo the scheduled four percent increase to the contract for the 2010-11 fiscal year and to extend the current contract to June 30, 2012 and to provide a two percent contract increase in fiscal year 2011-12.
• Adopted Ordinance 755 changing the regular time of the Town Council meetings from 7:30 PM to 7:00 PM.
• Directed staff to work with Marin Community Food Bank and the San Geronimo Community Center on locating a food pantry in Fairfax.
• Approved a resolution to send a letter to the five major banks in the United States requesting mortgage lenders to amend their home loan modification programs to better serve Fairfax homeowners
The Town Council will be holding a Fiscal Sustainability Workshop on November 17, 2010 to discuss eliminating the structural deficit in the budget which will include further cuts to the budget through a reorganization of the Town staff. This Council Workshop will include a discussion of escalating retirement and health care costs and the possibility of a further partnership with employees to share the burden with the Town to pay for these escalating costs. A discussion of new revenue sources will also factor into the five year fiscal sustainability plan.
