Mayor Stephen Cassidy fielded his first hour of public questioning from San Leandro residents on Friday, promising determination to balance the city's budget, and efforts to respond to the business community's needs.  

Cassidy held his first "Coffee with the Mayor" on the morning of Jan. 7 in the City Council chambers. Some 30 attendees took seats scattered throughout the chambers while Cassidy stood up front with a microphone - making the scene feel more like part of a lecture series than a friendly discussion.

But talk was candid and two-way.

The city's Community Relations reprentative, Kathy Ornelas, piped in on some long-standing dilemmas, like the Nexcycle recycling station in the Safeway parking lot at the corner of Bancroft and Dutton Avenues. 

The following are highlights from the question and answer session. (Some have been edited for space and clarity).

Q: In Estudillo Estates we have people going through our recycling every day, and it seems directly related to the recycling station in the Safeway parking lot. Can we get that removed?

A (from Ornelas): That has been a concern of neighbors in recent years, but state law says there must be a recycling station within a half mile of a major retail store like Safeway. The Bancroft site is within half a mile of both the Bancroft Avenue Safeway and the downtown Safeway, so it's very convenient. 

The state may be willing to wave that distance rule if the FoodMaxx in East Oakland is willing to take the recycling from the two Safeway stores. The city is talking to FoodMaxx to see if they'll accept it. 

Q: The City of San Carlos made the move to outsource their police department, and even Cincinnati, Ohio - which is much bigger - looked at it seriously. We should look at it seriously. Are there any plans to do so?

A (Cassidy): It's not a position I advocate presently, but it is a topic that needs to be under consideration. We need to do the numbers and see if it would actually result in savings. I would like to know the answer to that. I'm open to engaging in an inquiry about what the costs would be.

Q: Does the city plan for rainy days?

A: The city had a reserve fund, and has a reserve fund. It was about $20 million but it has been tapped into over the past four years. The reserve fund is now at about $1 million. The task is to rebuild the city's reserves, but we're in a time of declining or stagnant revenues for municipalities, so we have to watch every penny. 

Business development is the long-term solution to our economic woes. We need to make sure businesses here feel supported. We need to begin fighting to attract new businesses. The business development plan we have is from (State Senator) Ellen Corbett's time as mayor (1994 - 1998). We need to update that. But the priority is to get the budget balanced. 

Q: I tried to find a parking spot at the San Leandro BART station the other day, and I finally gave up and took my car back home. Are there any plans for building a parking garage at the BART station?

A: The transit-oriented development plan for the BART area does include a parking garage, but I don't think there would be an increase in parking spaces.

I would encourage you to contact the BART director for our district, Bob Franklin. In government the squeaky wheel gets the oil, at all levels. The city is just one level of government, but there's also ACTransit, BART, CalTrans. We can all try to make government more responsive to our needs.

Q: I would like for you to challenge the citizens of San Leandro to do more work ourselves. Maybe you can get free labor from all of us bitching here about what's going on. We need more volunteerism. 

A: There might be an under-appreciation of the talent that exists in San Leandro. 

Q: Why do we have to pay the city manager so much? He gets paid $202,000 a year plus health and dental benefits, and I understand that's 15 percent above the next-highest paid employee in the city. 

A: And that doesn't include his CALPERS contribution. But if you want top people, you have to pay a good salary. I don't believe paying $202,000 is unreasonable given the responsibility and the amount of funds that position oversees. The city manager is the chief executive officer of our city. He's in charge of all the day-to-day operations.

I don't want to have the highest paid city manager in the Bay Area, but we need to keep within the range of expected pay for the area. I also don't want there to be a Bell-like situation here. I want there to be transparency. 

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Cassidy said he would try to hold some future coffee sessions in the evening, or on weekends, so that others can participate.

He and Ornelas also reminded residents that they can always file complaints, questions, and suggestions through "San Leandro Assist" on the city's website.

Also, all city council meetings will be taped and the audio posted on the city's website. A recording of the Jan. 6 meeting is now available.