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1 <br />MINUTES <br />CITY OF PLEASANTON <br />SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />April 29, 2008 <br />CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Hosterman called the special meeting to order at 6:30 p.m <br />ROLL CALL <br />Present: Councilmembers Cook-Kallio, McGovern, Sullivan, Thorne, Mayor Hosterman <br />Absent: None <br />Mayor Hosterman discussed the special meeting speaker protocols and said the Council would <br />take public comments, adjourn to Closed Session and return to report on any action taken. <br />PUBLIC COMMENT <br />Kelly Cousins said it is the right of citizens to have the referendum process, over 5,000 people <br />spoke about putting the Oak Grove development to a referendum and encouraged the Council <br />to discuss with staff about appealing the decision by the judge. <br />Judith Seid spoke of the City's accessibility to government and the responsiveness by staff to <br />emails and letters. She believed the issue was one of listening to the people and not about <br />whether everyone agrees on the Oak Grove project, said the sense of the town will change if <br />the public voice is shut down, and asked the Council to support the appeal. <br />Michelle LaMarche questioned if there is any way that the Council could support the appeal in <br />spirit but hold back the issue of financing it to determine if there are other ways to finance it with <br />city government funding, and hoped the Council seriously consider what the previous speaker <br />said. <br />Scott Raty said he lives a few blocks away from the Oak Grove area and was speaking in his <br />capacity as the President of the Chamber of Commerce representing more than 800 member <br />firms that employ thousands of area residents. He urged the Council not to join the appeal and <br />urged Council not to spend any public money on it. Some would say that perhaps the Council is <br />denying the public opportunity of its right to vote, but this is the first real time to open up publicly <br />about this, and he looks at this as an opportunity tonight for the Council to go ahead and <br />celebrate and talk about a very healthy decision it has made for Pleasanton. He said the project <br />gives the community nearly 500 acres of new parkland, new trails, and new staging areas, $1 <br />million in traffic mitigation and a new four-wheel drive fire vehicle. Those who exercised their <br />right to petition assumed an obligation and a responsibility to follow the law. A judge has said <br />they didn't do that and the appeal should be at their cost and again congratulated the Council. <br />Jerry Pentin urged the Council to stay the course and continue support for the Oak Grove <br />project, encouraged the Council to remember why they voted for the project, and believed it is a <br />project that has been tested by the process and passed. He said he supports what the Council <br />has done in the past and hoped they continue. <br />Herb Ritter believed the Council has done a great job listening to the people of Pleasanton, said <br />the Council hears facts presented to it, and as a Commission member, he has learned to listen, <br />absorb and try to understand all information. He believed it was important to look at who was for <br />