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CC 12-15-69 adjourned CITY OF CUPERTINO, State of California 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, California 95014 Phone 252-4505 MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL HELD DECEMBER 15, 1969 IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM OF CITY HALL, CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA The meeting convened at 7:11 P.M. in the Conference Room of the City Hall. meeting convened Those present were: Councilmen Beaven, Dempster (7:50 P.M.), Noel, Stokes Also present: City Clerk-Finance Director Ryder. roll call The meeting was called to order by Vice Mayor Stokes who stated that the specific purpose of it was for the discussion of the ambulance situation in Cupertino. He requested that the order of business be for Mr. Antonioli to be permit- ted to offer any further comments he might have to those previously made at the meeting of December 9, 1969. At the completion of Mr. Antonioli's remarks, Mr. Donovan, who represented AAA Ambulance Servic~would then hav the opportunity of replying. Mr. Antonioli commented that the signatories to the County contract do not respond outside their zone of responsibility if they receive an emergency call but are obligated to call the County Communications who will relay that call to the nearest ambulance. He said that Mr. Bell, or any new member of the Association who might be a party to the contract, would have to abide by this procedure. He said anything less would be a disservice to the community. comments by Mr. Antonioli Mayor Stokes queried if the AAA Ambulance Service would not automatically be abiding or be required to abide by this condition if they became party to the contract. Mr. Antonioli replied with a question as to how could they sign such a contract when the Santa Clara County Ambulance Association is the negotiat ing agent. Vice Mayor Stokes pointed out that this was the question at hand as this City Council did nothing but to adopt a resolution requesting the Board of Supervisors to consider the AAA Ambulance Company when they gave out the service for this zone of responsibility which is at issue or up for issue. He emphasized that no separate agreement or contract has been signed by the City with anybody. comments by vice mayor Mr. Antonioli stated that Cupertino now is in four different zones and four different ambulance compærles have the responsibility for serving at least a portion of the City. He suggested that the resolution of the City Council asked that the whole area be given to Mr. Bell. He said he wished to clear previous information to the effect that the Association does have nine members, not five, and that eight have County page 2 i i ¡Minutes of Adjourned City Council Meeting December 15, 1969 I contracts. He stressed the amount of work and the effort that went into the formulating of these contracts and the devising of the existing system. He requested that the Council not just take his word as to its effectiv~ness but to initiate independent investigation. further comments by Mr. Antonto Mr. Antonioli then produced a map on which the zones of responsibility were outlined and informed the Council that these zones may be changed by mutual agreement between the operators and the County. He said that permission to . operate within a zone is a matter of receiving a valid Business License from the jurisdiction involved but the obligation for responding to emergency calls is according to the County contract. He then cited statistics on national averages, indicating that a population of 40,000 was necessary to finance the staffing of a fully equipped ambulance twenty-four hours per day. He compared this to what he called the substan- tially less population of Cupertino which was one reason why zones do not follow City lines. He further pointed out 'hat the City of Los Altos is divided in two and that the City of San Jose was covered by two such zones. At this point Mayor Stokes recognized Mr. Donovan who offered the following comments: comments by Mr. Donovan He reviewed the zones of responsibility for which the Board of Supervisors enters into a contract with each ambulance company in return for which the County promises to reimburse the company for emergency calls if they cannot collect within a certain period of time. He said that the impor~ant issue now was that this was a new zone of responsibility and did not take anything away from anyone else. Mr. Donovan said that Mr. Mason of County Communications had said that the Cupertino-Saratoga area was not being served satisfactorily. He offered that CUl'ertino was involved in three different zones, not four, according to a map that Mr. Mason's assistants had drawn for him. Mr. Donovan stated that Cupertino now was being served by Fields Ambulance in Sunnyvale, San Jose Ambulance Company near Stockton and the Blgley Ambulance Company in Los Gatos. He contended that in early 1969 Mr, Mason had told Mr. Bell that there were three areas in the County that were not being serviced satisfactorily, one of which was the Cupertino-Saratoga area. Mr. Donovan said Mr. MaSGn had told him that he had contacte~ informally, the ambulance operators involved and indicated that he had wished they would take care of this area b~tter by the installation of a station or something similar. No response was made which brought his thinking to the creation of a new zone. According to Mr. Donovan, Mr. Bell had asked about his chances of being awarded the contract and Mr. Mason had said he would be given all due con- sideration. On the basis of the information given by Mr. Masoú,Mr. Bell had entered into an agreement to purchase the property and did get a Use Permit and spent thousaLds of dollars lí1 putting in telephone lines. Mr. Donovan contended that Me Fiflds had come into th<. ¡::icrure only after the Use Permit had been issup.d to Mr. BeJl. It was only at this point and for the first time in fiftc"o yeArs 'c'f admitted o¡ceration in the City or Minutes of Adjourned City Council Meeting December 15, 1969 page 3 Cupertino that Mr. Fields had come in to obtain a Busine8s License. Mr. Donovan said that Mr. Bell has filed an application for membership in the Association some three times in the last five years. On two pr~vious times he had been turned down with no response at all coming after the first filing. He gave as the reason for filing this time the clause in the County contracts that prohibits the varying of ambulance districLs without the consent of the Santa Clara County Ambulance Association whose members were those who had these zones. The president of this Association, Mr. Fields, already had two of the twelve zones in this immediate area. According to Mr. Donovan it was when the Association demanded Mr. Be~l's private contract rates such as he had with the Kaiser Hospital that ne withdrew his latest application. He contended that the public rates are a matter of record but that the private contracts are a competitive bid- ding situation. He felt that the County could ask for this information but the Association who is comprised of his competitors did not have the right to demand it. further com- ments by Mr. Donovan Mr. Donovan offered that the clause in the contracts of not varying zones without the consent of the Association was merely a form of courtesy aa to consider it anything else would be an unconstitutional delegation of authority by the Board of Supervisors and could not possibly be bindinø· He also said that there was another clause in the contract permitting a cancellation after thirty days notice which could permit the Board of Supervisors to enter into all new contracts if they so desired. It was the contention of Mr. Donovan that Mr. Bell had requested of the Council only a resolution of recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. He added, "We were surprised, as evidently Mr. Antonio1i and Mr. Fields were, the first time any mention was made of any contract or a franchise agreement but when we heard of it and when the meeting was continued we asked for a copy of it and saw a copy of it and since it really didn't say anything, we proposed the inclusion of a need and necessity clause for' an ambulance headquarters only within the City of Cupertino." He said there never has been any agreement or franchise entered into be- tween the City and Mr. Bell or the AAA Ambulance Company. His request was that Mr. Bell be rewarded for being the first to come into Cupertino. Councilman Beaven then requested of Mr. Donovan information relative to some previous statements he had heard on the responsiveness, or the lack thereof, of the AAA Ambulance Company to an emergency call for a local citizen. He remarked that this probably was the first test of efficiency to come before the Council. council comment Mr. Donovan replied that the gist of what happened was that there was an ambulance at the Cupertino station. Kaiser Hospital makes its calls through the Santa Clara station and at this particular time, at l2:43 A.M., there was a call received at the Santa Clara office. At 12:44 A.M. the dispatcher called Mr. Storer at home and Mr. Storer told him the call page 4 further com- ments by Mr. Donovan comments by Mr.Antonioli Minutes of the Adj ourned CUy Council Meeting Decembèr 15, 1969 was right behind the Cupertino headqua~ters and to alert the Cupertino ambulance. At 12:45 A.M. the Dispatcher called Cupertino. At 12:49 I A.M, the ambulance left the -:!rj,7eway in Cupertino. At that point both of the drivers heard an a",::,ulance sinon nearby which indicated to them that some other ambulance probat'ly already i\ad been alerted by County I Communications. I Mr. Donovan said what happened was that the Cupertino ambulance was hit by another car. He further ",aid, "There was a mistake made by the AAA Ambulance drive.r as to where McCle,llan was and he took off with the dis- patcher ready to try and locate where this particular location was. As I the drive.r kept going along he k'.pr. cllf.'cki.ng in and the dispatcher kept 'trying '.0 gJ.ve him the informatL,n. It 1." ordinarily the dispatcher who dirl.:cts the d1::"iver as to liherp th2: pHI tic\11ar location is.1I Mr. Donovan said M~\ is still inveBt.i.;¡¡tLlg to try and find out just what happened. Mr. Donovan requested that Mr. Anthony Lagorio, City Attorney of Mountain View, explain the events which had occurred there. Mr. Lagorio said that Mr. Bell wag mãde a par.y to t~e charge, against the ambulance driver of operat'.ng ,ntl>úut a BUSÍ1h,gS Liccnse. He explained that the charges against J1r. ¡¡ell "">Ie drop,>ed bt'ca~'" the ordinance was regula- tory instead of 'Evcnne produdng c.r.ly. He Sé Ld that Mr. Bell had not been granted .:} Ij.ceL-,::e pr'-,\<1..1\sly dat: to an exc1 usive franchise in the City of Me.nnt.ain vie:,.;:'. At this point Mr. Donovan reque.sted permission to interrupt with the interjectlo':~ that :tl1l.m.?,.1~ately w'}.thin one .:or C"NO minutEs after the AAA. Ambulance Comp"ny had rec.ei"ed the call for the person in question at 12: 43 A.M. t¡·;<c W. Amt>ula"ce '~,)mpany had cal] ~d County Communications and it was County {m:\ffiur·icatlons who evidently had dispatched Fields Ambulance. 1c "''"s (lOr t:,e case of AAA n0t gett i.rg there on time. ¡Mr. Antonioli was recognized by Mayor Stokes and reviewed the Fields " Ambula.nce COJ'prmy Y s recürd, compe'.:.ence and inter~s. t in E-:erving the Cupertino an,a on the basis of the past fourteen years of service. He I"aid that Mr Mason had never indic.ated that this area was being served I ¡ '1adequately. lie stat~d that 0n November 6, 1969 in a meeting between ,he Association and Mr. \'."ëtholet and other CO;Jnty repreóentatives I Ü" question WBE put to t.:'m if the area was beb,g served inadequately. iHe said that he. c0'Jd nct ''':' LI" it was bût ',)mæu.ted, "I think 1 that from n.2!W on \Ire TÑo\l~,d ~ ike t.< h3.ve more st:l:.iOi,,g out ~here." i Mr Antonioli Eald t.hat the ABSO;' iation was not co::;,cerned with whether lor nut Mr. Bell doe3 buslnésó ia Gupertino. T11eir concern is with I· the compliance by Mr. Bell "dth t,'1(.. Association's regulations. Re- feri.lng to Mr. Be] 1, hr. An:-_onloLi said that "Sanra Clara won't have him I a'ld !1ountain V,ew won't ',"ve hiff" I1r. AntonioU suggested that I CupeÎt~no do itc: c.,-tm invest i.gatJ n.g and to give Hr Bell a Business Licens~ but caut i.oned tbe Cn.or......l that they ShC:I1.~-,: not te 11 the Associa- i tion that the AF.Gociatiofl i-:; l5ojL~ to have to r'~~:, [11. Hr. Bell's word, 11 ,~l1en ~t has never b¿t''O g::..oc, ;:(/ t'1i'3 date." He cCI,t~nded Mr. Bell'.:.:: I I I Minutes of the Adjourned Council Meeting of December 15, 1969 page 5 primary motive is to have a station in between Kaiser Hosp~tal and Veterans Hospital. Mr. Antonioli further explained that rates with County are not based on private rates but on the whole rate structure. To do otherwise would look ridiculous. He further submitted that the Council would not learn anything by having opposing counsel arguing back and forth and that the Council should investigate on its own. The Mayor then recognized Mr. Fields who stated that in the case pre- viously referred to, that Fields Ambulance Company had been given the call by County Communications. He said that the Saratoga ambulance was coming back from a call at 12:43 or 12:47 that night. It started to respond and three minutes later County Communications called and said, "Be advised AAA also is rolling on the call." He stated that when the ambulance arrived a doctor from Kaiser Hospital was in attend- ance and the family was seemingly very upset after having made a number of calls to the Kaiser Hospital. Mr. Fields said that it was after, these calls that the call was made to County Communications. ~. '~iÉ!lds said that the doctor in attendance rode in the ambulaA~wi~·the·patient. comments by M¡:. Fields He offered further comments which he said could be verified by the local fire department that the Fields Ambulance had not been called for ten or twelve minutes after the emergency. It was stated that there was an am- bulance in the Manta Vista station but that there were no attendants. The other ambulance had responded from Santa Clara station and it was this one that hqd the accident at Highway 9 and Stevens Creek Boulevard. Mr. Fields then reviewed his past relationship with the Community and compared that to what had just happened with a new company. He intimated that Mr. Bell had not provided proper service in other areas and he, too, requested that an independent investigation by the Council be made so as to ascertain the facts in this situation. Mr. Fields stated further that Mr. Mason h~d been informed three years ago that the area would be served by Mr. Fields. He mentioned that the Association members, while in the same businèss, actually are competitors and fight with each other for business but that the result had bee,.. high quality service. He requested that the facts be obtained and newspaper articles be disregarded. Mayor Dempster made a motion that the matter be continued to the Council motion for meeting of January 19, 1970 to permit some private investigation to be continuance made. The motion was seconded by Councilman Beaven and passed unanimously. On the discussion of a question by Councilman Beaven as to the legality 1 of the Fields Ambulqnce being parked at the service station it was the co - census of the CouncIl that the question be deferred pending the return of the City Attorney, The Chair then requested that the City Clerk-Finance Director submit a further report on wt.r,tever his investigation revealed which report was report re- quested page 6 Minutes of the Adjourned Council Meeting of December 15, 1969 also is to include the action of the December 23, 1969 meeting of the Board of Supervisors on the question of ambulance service for the Cupertino area. It was moved by Councilman Beaven, seconded by Councilman Noel and so adjournment declared by the Chair that the meeting be adjourned at 8:10 P.M. ATTEST: APPROVED: ¡3¿ City Clerk