CC Resolution No. 9826RESOLUTION NO. 9826
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CUPERTINO
OPPOSING THE SO-CALLED "GOVERNMENT COST SAVINGS AND
TAXPAYERS PROTECTION AMENDMENT"
WHEREAS, every day billions of dollars of critical building, engineering and
design projects are under way from seismic retrofitting to flood control to schools and
hospitals; and
WHEREAS, State, regional and local governments are currently allowed the
flexibility to contract with private firms, on a competitive basis, to design these projects;
and
WHEREAS, this process allows government the essential flexibility to use private
firms to deliver a project on time and cost-effectively; and
WHEREAS, the so-called "Government Cost Savings and Taxpayers Protection
Amendment" completely changes the process by giving the state bureaucracy a virtual
monopoly on designing every project; and
WHEREAS, this will thereby force cities, counties, schools, special districts,
regional governments and even many private businesses to use the state bureaucracy to
design roads, parks, hospitals, health clinics, schools, water treatment facilities, flood
control walls and other critical structures--including all engineering, design, geological
and environmental work;
WHEREAS, virtually every school and hospital has been designed by private
firms, not state government; and
WHEREAS, the proposed initiative eliminates local control and forces
communities to rely on the out-of-town state bureaucracy for their design work; and
WHEREAS, local governments would not be able to hold the state bureaucracy
accountable; and
WHEREAS, the initiative gives one state politician enormous power to decide
who gets tens of thousands of design and building projects worth billions of dollars; and
WHEREAS, the state controller would have to analyze tens of thousands of
proposed contracts per year costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not
millions, in additional expenses; and
Resolution No. 9826
Page 2
WHEREAS, to meet potential workload demands, hundreds, if not thousands of
state employees would need to be employed and paid, even if no projects were underway;
and
WHEREAS, taxpayers would pick up the tab for billions in extra costs for
projects, lost jobs and more state employees to evaluate projects; and
WHEREAS, this could mean more delays on important projects such as the Bay
Bridge retrofit and the Alameda Rail Corridor in Los Angeles County.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of
Cupertino opposes the so-called "Government Cost Savings and Taxpayers Protection
Amendment" that will cost our cities, counties, special districts and economy millions,
and we support the efforts of the growing coalition of Taxpayers Fed Up With More State
Bureaucracy (Fed Up)!.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of
Cupertino this 21st day of April, 1997, by the following vote:
Members _q_f the City Council
AYES: Burnett,
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Chang, Dean, Sorensen, Bautista
ATTEST:
Cit~~
APPROVED:
(~oi~, City of Cupertino