HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.1 ABAG Membership Presentation 140-10
CITY OF DUBLIN
AGENDA STATEMENT
Meeting Date: August 9, 1982
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SUBJECT: Association of Bay Area Governments Membership
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EXHIBITS ATTACHED: Letter from Revan Tranter, Executive Director of ABAG,
dated June 2, 1982
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RECOMMENDATION: Consider
FINANCIAL STATEMENT: Amount budgeted $725
Cost of membership $725
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DESCRIPTION: As part of the 1982-83 budget, the City allocated $725 for ABAG
membership dues. At that time, the City Council indicated that the allocation
of funds was not a commitment to join ABAG, but rather a. means of making the
funds available for membership should the City decide to join ABAG in the future.
Attached is a letter from Mr. Revan Tranter, Executive Director of ABAG,
identifying those services which are provided to cities by ABAG. Mr. Tranter
or a representative from his office will be present at the meeting to answer
any questions the Council might have.
Copies To:
ITEM NO. / 7 /
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Association of Bay Area Governments
Hotel Claremont • Berkeley, California 94705 • (415)841-9730
June 2, 1982
Mr. Richard C. Ambrose
City Manager
P. O. Box 2340
Dublin, CA 94566
Dear Rich:
As you requested, I'm setting out a few reasons for Dublin to consider joining
the other 88 cities and eight counties in ABAG membership.
1. Cost savings through centralized information services that reduce
your needs for staff and resource expenditures.
ABAG offers its members free technical information and advice on
demographics, economic development, housing, energy, air and water
pollution control, earthquake preparedness, airport noise and environ-
mental study information necessary for grant applications. We are a
one-stop center for information unobtainable from other sources. Each
day our staff members provide help to city planners, managers and other
officials.
We also run conferences, workshops and training courses on subjects of
concern to local officials, such as affordable housing, energy conser-
vation, hazardous spills, erosion control and cost-saving measures.
Where a charge is levied for such events, member governments receive a
healthy discount. Local officials also receive free copies of many
ABAG publications and discounts on all others.
2. Computerized services that are beyond the financial capability of
most local governments.
Our Automated Retrieval for Environmental Assessments (AREA) is a
new feature that can streamline the EIR process and save local juris-
dictions money. It is an outgrowth of the Bay Area Spatial Information
System (BASIS) which contains geological and environmental information
about every square hectare of land in the Bay Area. BASIS has helped
in providing the information needed for siting of facilities such as
landfills and airports. The Federal Aid Programs Retrieval System
(FAPRS) helps our members find out instantly what grants are available
for a particular program or project.
In addition, over 30 cities in the Bay Area are participating in our
REC and SHARE programs, started with seed money from the San Francisco
Foundation. These programs, ICMA award winners last year, allow cities
to share equipment and personnel, which can both bring in income and
save on capital expenditures (see the enclosed leaflet) .
Representing City and County Governments in the San Francisco Bay Area
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Mr. Richard C. Ambrose
June 2, 1982
Page 2
3. Low-cost Consultant Services of high quality.
In the past nine years, our staff have won 26 regional, state and national
awards for the caliber of their work. As the enclosed brochure indicates,
this expertise is now available for technical assistance in many fields.
Inside the Bay Area we confine this work to member governments (besides
agencies not eligible for membership) . Our most popular service to
date is CRIS, the Cost Revenue Impact System (ICMA innovation award
winner in 1979) . Provided through our non-profit subsidiary, DIAMETRICS,
to date it has been used by over 30 local governments, from Pasadena to
Ukiah.
4. Legal factors affecting Dublin regardless of ABAG membership.
Under the A-95 review system, by law ABAG must review and comment on
applications for federal assistance. Nora-members pay a fee for this
service, which can rise to 110% of what the jurisdictions' membership
dues would be.
ABAG must also grant its consent to any amendments of the Bay Area's
air and water quality plans. And it prepares the population, employment
and housing projections which the State and regional agencies are
obliged to accept. If we did not do this work, the State would do it
for us, which would take away the local control for which ABAG was
organized over 20 years ago.
5. Clout from acting together
Five years ago, through AB 3141, we got rid of the Bay Area Sewage
Services Agency, a useless organization, after a tremendous battle.
It was spending $600,000 a year of local taxpayers' money.
SB 445 and 555, spearheaded by ABAG, reduce local governments' tort
liability for any actions taken to prevent major earthquake damage.
That could be worth millions some day to our members.
SB 2167, obtained with the aid of both business and labor, after a
fierce fight with the State bureaucracy, prevents the Bay Area's
locally-devised air quality and water quality plans from being altered
unilaterally by the State. We're the only region in the country with
that protection.
Altogether, we think ABAG gives its members unbeatable value. Our dues are
minimal--actually less than they were ten years ago: We operate on a shoestring,
yet have a reputation as one of the finest of the nation's 650 regional councils.
What we practice is local power exercised at the regional level. Obviously we
can only keep local control with local understanding and local support, and we
very much hope that we can make the City of Dublin welcome as our newest member.
1 The cost (based on population) for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would be
Mr. Richard C. Ambrose
June 2, 1982
Page 3
$725: The City would appoint a member and an alternate to our General Assembly,
which meets twice annually. On our Executive Board (which meets about six times
a year) the Alameda County Mayors' Conference appoints two city representatives
(currently Mayor Valance Gill of San Leandro and Mayor Dale Turner of Livermore)
and two alternates (Councilmember Shirley D. Sisk of Newark and Vice Mayor Steve
Eigenberg of Piedmont) . In addition, our policy committees (such as the
Regional Planning Committee) are composed largely of local elected officials and
we keep a list of those who are interested in serving when a vacancy occurs.
I would be glad to answer any questions you may have, or to appear before the
Council if they would find it helpful.
With all good wishes.
Si rely,
Q/v
Revan A. F. Tranter
Executive Director