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- . . . . accomplish. And yes, a resolution to move forward to make an offer to the County so we can put something on the table" and everyone could vote on it. He said this was going on - too long and people were getting frustrated with the process. Council Member Claire said the information he had received from the County and the School District involved Garfield and Fair Oaks Schools, both beyond the City's borders. He asked what the rest of the Council felt about spending money on school facilities that lie within the County's jurisdiction. He said the argument seemed to be that the County would use their federal block grant monies to build the facilities but would take no responsibility for any maintenance. He asked Vice Mayor Ruskin for his comments. Vice Mayor Ruskin said, "I guess I'm stuck in time about three minutes back. I don't like a fellow Council Member to talk about back room dealings and not have the guts when asked what he means by that, to state exactly what he means by that. I was asked by various people in the community, including Dave Stuart who is in the audience, who represents private schools and independent sports leagues, to attend informal sessions, to see whether there were some ways in which we could look toward a partnership. Various people were there: Jack Greenalch from the Chamber and Redwood City 2000, Mr. Stuart representing the independent leagues, people from the County Board of Supervisors, Council Member Hartnett was there, I was there, there were others as well from the School District, from the School Board. When you talk about back room dealings it has a very serious connotation. And I suggest you stop throwing around slanderous remarks. And the efforts that we made were in good faith; so much so, that we came back to the Council - and talked about what had occurred at those meetings. To let the full Council know, so that the Council was able at that time to say, don't go on. We don't want to do it that way. But you didn't say that then. And we went on and are continuing to make improvements, to try and reach an agreement with the various other agencies in the County, and we are doing that fully within the authorized scope of City Council, as representatives of the City/School Liaison Subcommittee of which Council Members Claire, Hartnett and myself are members, and which I'm chair. And it was in that capacity that I believe Council Member Hartnett and I were asked to attend. There are no back room dealings going on. If you would like some more information about it, there are positive ways to ask for it." Council Member Hartnett said, "First of all, I agree with Vice Mayor Ruskin's comments completely. With respect to Council Member Claire's question, a number of issues have arisen with respect to contributions from respective parties that might benefit by an increased number or better school fields. The meetings that Vice Mayor Ruskin and I attended as Council Members, there was not an offer on the table from the County to spend either County money or federal money to improve fields. The offer that was on the table was to spend federal money towards expansion of multi-purpose rooms so that they would be actual gymnasiums. There was discussion about the need for fields, and it appeared that all parties, including community representatives, school board representatives, school staff repre~entatives, County representatives, County policy - making representatives, and private parties ail agreed that there ought to be something done about fields if something could be done. And there still are discussions in that REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 JUNE22,1998 MINUTES Page No. 579 PAGE 17