By Anne Gelhaus
A group calling itself "Citizens FOR Monte Sereno" mailed a letter last week to all citizens of Monte Sereno, lambasting the city's government for "arrogant leadership more concerned with process than how that process is impacting its citizens."
The unsigned letter addresses a wide range of topics, including the city's budget, its heritage and tree-preservation ordinances and its quest to save the Claravale Guernsey Farm.
The Weekly-Times first learned of the letter when approached by Joel Gambord, who ran into trouble with city officials in September while remodeling his home, formerly occupied by novelist John Steinbeck. Gambord provided a reporter with a list of the letter's approximately two-dozen authors.
Gambord's list included Bruce and Jan Bergman, whom the City Council denied permission to fill in a seven-foot ditch on their property; and former city manager Rosemary Pierce. Gambord said a representative of the group would present the letter to the City Council at its Jan. 16 meeting.
City Manager Carolyn Lehr said the letter contains many inaccuracies, particularly in those passages involving city finances.
The letter states that the city budget increased from $615,180 in fiscal year 1992-93 to $837,786 in 1995-96, an increase the authors believe is unjustified. But Lehr said the bulk of the new budget monies--approximately $200,000--went toward road repairs mandated by the City Council.
In the letter, members of the citizens group quote Monte Sereno's founder, Adm. Thomas B. Inglis, as saying that he envisioned the city clerk as the city's only salaried employee, and intimate that they share this view.
"This city was established . . . as a 'minimum government' city," the letter states.
But Lehr points out that the city planner was the last salaried staff member to be employed and that hire was made under Pierce's administration. Lehr said she hasn't hired any new staff in the two years she's been on board.
The citizens group posed 10 questions in the anonymous letter on topics that range from the personal experiences of Gambord and the Bergmans to the city's budgeting $33,000 this year for a review of the general plan.
"An annual updating by city staff would have been sufficient," the letter states.
Lehr said the general-plan review is being done largely in-house and is mandated under a new state law.
The letter also addresses what the authors say was misinformation published in a city newsletter. "We want to know why staff is misleading residents by stating that the city receives only $25,000 in property tax revenues when this year's budget indicates that the city expects over $150,000," the group asks.
Lehr said the city does expect to receive just $25,000 in property taxes in 1995-96, and the other monies referred to in the budget come from the state. "We never intended to represent [property taxes] as the only funding source," she added.
Two paragraphs of the three-page letter are devoted to the city's involvement in the pending sale of the Claravale Guernsey Farm on Bicknell Road. Owner Kenneth Peake is trying to find a buyer for two acres of his three-acre parcel, and Lehr has said that although the city doesn't intend to buy the land outright, Monte Sereno's $2.7 million reserve could cover the property's cost.
The letter states that the city is in a "headlong rush to sign a letter of intent to purchase this property and business" and questions the liability issues involved. But Lehr said officials are merely considering an option to purchase.
"The business would be privately held, and the city wouldn't be liable for the [farm's] production of raw milk," the city manager said.
Mixed into the letter with the references to Monte Sereno's business dealings are complaints about recent City Council decisions that have directly affected residents' homes and property.
"We are seeing . . . more and more intrusion, control and obstruction into one area of our lives after another," the letter states.
Former City Manager Pierce said she decided to get involved in the citizens group after checking out the ditch the Bergmans wanted filled.
"I couldn't believe the council would require people to live with that in their yard," Pierce said. "They're more involved in people's everyday lives than ever before."
Lehr said ordinances like the heritage and tree-preservation policies were enacted as a direct response to citizens' concerns.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 17, 1996.
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