A County-Wide Effort

Brisbane, as a part of San Mateo County, has a number of shared services in place with other cities in order to provide a high level of service (while keeping operating costs low) to the various communities. This is also referred to as the groups having a Joint Powers Agreement, or JPA. For instance, Brisbane is a participating city in the San Mateo County Library JPA. Formed in January 1999, and governed by the JPA Governing Board, it is comprised of the County, and City Council members from the 11 cities served by the Library (Councilmember Cy Bologoff is Brisbane's representative).

The JPA provides that the County fund the operations of the libraries and the centralized administration of the County Library System through the County Library Fund (which is primarily funded through property taxes - San Francisco Airport and the various airline carriers are a major source of funds for the library system). Did you know that as a Brisbane resident, you do not have to pay hold fees if you are requesting an item from a different branch? The theory behind this is that Brisbane has a small library with a small collection and therefore has a greater need to access materials elsewhere in the system. So, get on down to 250 Visitacion and visit the library!

While there, you may see a new face. The Board recently selected Carine Risley as the new Branch Manager of the Brisbane and Atherton libraries. Carine joined the San Mateo County Library last February as a Community Services Librarian at Foster City. Her previous library experience includes working at De Anza Community College Library, Santa Clary County Library and several branches of the San Jose Public Library where she was part of the branch's leadership team and leader of the system's cultural planning group. We welcome Carine to Brisbane and know she is a great asset for the community to have!

Additionally, the City of Brisbane - along with all other cities in San Mateo County - contracts with the County of San Mateo Elections Office. The County is in charge of counting and posting then the election results. They have, by State law, up to 28 days to certify the results from last week's Nov. 3rd election. The official results will be adopted by the Brisbane City Council on Monday, December 7th, 2009. And just a note: there are absentee and provisional ballots that were turned in at the polls that still need to be counted and included in the current totals. During the next few weeks the County will be updating the absentee numbers on their website. Therefore, the absentee numbers shown are expected to adjust slightly. Check their website, www.shapethefuture.org, for the latest results.

Please use this next weekend and upcoming week to gather together any fallen dead branches and unkempt plants in and around your property, as the 12th Annual Winter Clean-Up will be taking place the weekend of November 14th and 15th. During these 2 days, dumpsters ONLY FOR YARD TRIMMINGS will be placed throughout town, as close to each street and neighborhood as possible. Please remember,

• Do not place yard trimmings in plastic garbage bags and then into the dumpster, as this will make the entire load un-recyclable.
• All trimmings and branches placed into a dumpster must be less than 4 inches in diameter.
• If you need assistance or to arrange for pick-up, please call the Public Works Department (508-2130) between 10:00am - 3:00pm Saturday the 14th or 9:00am-1:00pm Sunday the 15th.
• For information regarding tree removal, please call the City Manager's Office at 508-2112.

Thank you in advance for your willingness and cooperation in this Citywide effort. If we all pitch in this year, we can prevent problems from occurring during the winter rains that will soon be upon us.

A reminder that City Hall will be closed next Wednesday, November 11th, in observance of Veterans' Day. Hours of operation for next week then will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm.