| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:20.48 | Jill Hoffman | All right. Good evening and welcome to the November 15th, Tuesday, November 15th, 2016 closed session Sausalito City Council meeting. Debbie, would you please call the roll? |
| 00:00:34.02 | Debbie | Thank you. Councilmember Weiner. |
| 00:00:36.28 | Unknown | present. |
| 00:00:36.30 | Debbie | Thank you. Council member Theodores? Present. Council member Pfeiffer? Here. |
| 00:00:37.81 | Unknown | present. |
| 00:00:38.30 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:00:39.69 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Whitty. Here. And Mayor Hoffman. |
| 00:00:40.70 | Unknown | Here. |
| 00:00:41.04 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. present. Item D1, which is conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. In the case of Whitman versus Sausalito, will be discussed in closed session. Do we have any public comment on closed session items? Seeing no one, I am now closing the meeting for closed session. |
| 00:01:05.20 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:01:17.49 | Unknown | OK. |
| 00:01:21.71 | Jill Hoffman | Good evening and welcome to the regular meeting for the Sausalito City Council for Tuesday, November 15th. Debbie, could you please call the roll? |
| 00:01:33.60 | Debbie | Council member Weiner. |
| 00:01:34.77 | Unknown | President. |
| 00:01:35.80 | Debbie | Councilmember Theodores? Present. Councilmember Pfeiffer? Here. Vice Mayor Withey? |
| 00:01:37.00 | Unknown | Present. Here... |
| 00:01:40.72 | Debbie | Thank you. Mayor Hoffman. Presently. |
| 00:01:49.09 | Jill Hoffman | No. The pleasure of the ladies. Wendy Richards, if you'd like to. for the ladies and gentlemen. All of you. |
| 00:01:55.51 | Unknown | Here we go. |
| 00:01:56.59 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:01:57.14 | Unknown | How's it going? |
| 00:01:58.90 | Unknown | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. |
| 00:01:59.24 | Unknown | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:02:03.78 | Unknown | and to the Republic for which it stands. |
| 00:02:05.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:02:06.09 | Unknown | you |
| 00:02:06.32 | John Cooper | . Thank you. |
| 00:02:06.91 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:02:07.03 | Asaf Ophir | nation. Under God. Indivisible with liberty and liberty. |
| 00:02:13.78 | Unknown | Why don't we take a knee? |
| 00:02:17.29 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:02:17.36 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:02:17.98 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, all right, on to the next. Closed session announcements. We have no announcements for closed session. Do we have any public comment on closed session items? See no one approach. Do we have a motion for approval of the agenda? |
| 00:02:30.44 | Unknown | So moved. |
| 00:02:31.48 | Jill Hoffman | Second. All in favor? Aye. |
| 00:02:33.46 | Unknown | Hi. |
| 00:02:38.06 | Jill Hoffman | Moving on to communications, public communications. This is a time for city council to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes council from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. However, the Council may refer matters not on the agenda. City staff are direct that the subject be agendized for a future meeting. Please make sure you have completed a speaker's card and turn it into the City Clerk. I have several cards up here. I believe these are all for matters not on the agenda. Is that right, Debbie? All right, so I'm going to read off three or four names, and you guys can just line up. First one I have is Wendy Richards. The next one's Peter Glazier. And the next one is Kevin Kiefer. |
| 00:03:30.26 | Jill Hoffman | No worries, no worries. |
| 00:03:37.97 | Unknown | you you Thank you. So I came tonight as a result of the national election to make a specific request of our city council here in Sausalito. And my request is that we, as a community, dedicate ourselves to civil discourse. I believe strongly that the changes we want to see in our society need to start here at home. And Sausalito has a history of very acrimonious politics. I personally have experienced that, an incident here in this room where I spoke in my three minutes on an issue, and after I sat down, I was personally verbally attacked by a member of the council. |
| 00:04:36.29 | Unknown | And I had used my three minutes and was unable to respond. My request is that we put those behaviors behind us. We have also seen incidents where citizens believed strongly that our contracts, our agreements with other districts, and many actions were done in secret and against the interests of the public. It's actions like those that lead to what we're seeing across this country. |
| 00:05:19.02 | Unknown | And I'm here tonight to pledge my commitment to positive civil discourse. I always focus on the issues and the facts, and I make it my business to focus on the facts, and I ask that each of you make that same commitment and that everyone on our staff make that same commitment. We are all here together. Our staff works for us and on our behalf. They work hard. And I ask that we all stand together and start to create the kind of friendly neighbors, and loving community that we seek to have in this country. I thank you for your service, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak. Thank you. |
| 00:06:15.57 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Next up I have Peter Glaser and Kevin Kiefer. Okay. Kevin Kiefer and |
| 00:06:31.16 | Jill Hoffman | Lewis, is that what this is? Okay, and then Lewis is next. |
| 00:06:36.78 | Kevin Kiefer | My name is Kevin Kiefer. I'm an anchor. I just want to point out that Sausalito is a global brand, and world travelers are savvy. You're not going to be able to hide the fact that there used to be some interesting things in Sausalito and replace them with a bunch of cookie-cutter retail zones. It just won't happen. Sausalito is a wealthy incorporated city, very admirable. Unfortunately some of the neighbors residing in the Anchorage long-standing hybrid community maritime citizens artists hippies sailors Mavericks mongrels we don't have the admiration of this council Likewise, some of us do not admire nor respect the complex schemes and measures you have embraced with the purposeful intent to manifest displacement of our community. You do not have the lawful authority to debate or displace our community or our personal property. I repeatedly hear the claim we have legal. I perceive this to be a conceptual terminology, and I think that's mostly liability risk management fund that you have. I don't believe you have the rule of law. Um, The rule of law was developed some 4,000 years ago And one of the early laws, if a man proceeded by force and deflowered the virgin slave woman of another man, the first man must pay five shekels of silver to the second man. This is the rule of law. So you may believe that you have legal to remove and obey, but in fact you only have appearance of the rule of law. You have the color of law. You're attempting to do something that has been socially unacceptable, related to citizens other than indentured slaves or Native American tribes. You're theorizing and experimenting with unproven legal inventions. You have fabricated a multi-layered complex legal relativity of law, but you do not weld the real rule of law. And I know I'm talking to a bunch of lawyers here, so you guys know what you're doing. I need to stop it. because it's going to get messy. And believe it or not, we don't have that much to lose, and you guys have way a lot more to lose. And I echo what the lady said, that it is a time to look at these things differently. You don't have the overburden of the ladies on the Hill running this show, or less so in a month or so, Mary? But really need to focus on solving and reconciling versus digging up and creating more wounds. |
| 00:09:39.79 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Louis. |
| 00:09:43.06 | Unknown | LOSE 10 WENT GOLD. Oh my God. I'd like to say I really appreciate you guys digging up the dirt on the RBRA. and coming up with the reality of what we've been saying for quite a long time, but nobody was listening to anybody, any of us, what we were saying. And I appreciate that and how you went about it. I love it. I know we're not on the same turf, but So I'd like to also talk about the RBRA, your partners are so-called in partnership with. Ron Gould, okay? Now he was being hired for the interim executive director And, you know, when he came here and sat there and told us this, He doesn't know anything about the waterfront too much. And I was going, oh, boy, this is really good. Well, it wasn't really good. He doesn't know anything about the waterfront. He doesn't know anything about what he's doing. What his job basically is, is a hit man to get rid of us. And he was under civil indictment At the time, that's why he politely declined You know, he didn't tell us this, but we had to find this out on our own. like we have to do on so many things that goes on. It's all behind closed doors. It's completely secretive. And so, They paid him $10,000 to Make a report. Nothing that we already didn't know, nothing that you guys didn't know that you already had, if you read the, you know, Richardson Bay Regional Agency, all the paperwork on it, what they got going so far. Nothing we didn't already know. you guys are spending some good money after bad, for not letting and anchor out or anchor outs on the on the board to work with you guys. I've been saying this you know, 30 years now, that it's rude and ridiculous, There's nobody on the board that knows what's really going on, besides Bill Price. You know, I really... asked you let an anchor out beyond the board. Thank you very much. |
| 00:11:41.91 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. I have a card here, but there's no name on it. Did anybody turn in a card? OK, that's a mystery. Asif, Ophir, Doug Storm, and Chad Carvey are the next three names I have. And Scott Diamond's last. |
| 00:12:01.57 | Asaf Ophir | I don't know if I should bother to raise this, but thanks so much for letting me speak. My name is Asaf Ophir. I live on the water, too. I'm in Anchor Out. I think my question or my point is pretty straightforward. Basically, moorings have been pulled up if they are unattended. There has been very little discussion about that. And we're very concerned about it because we have been in a pretty long conversation maybe for the last year or so in which we've been assured that we're all interested in finding a solution, we're all interested in finding a way to live on the water. So just to put it out there in a very simple way, I live on a boat. If I can't move the boat, if I can't, you know, it's kind of like taking the car out of the driveway. If someone takes the driveway, I can't use the car. So I like living on a boat. I want to be able to sail it. And also if I don't take it out once in a while to take care of it, the boat will eventually sink. So boats need to be moved. So I'm kind of at a loss in what exactly we're supposed to do at this point. We have had members of our community actually tried for not moving their boats three times in two years, but now if we move the boat, someone will take the morning. That's basically my point. I'm happy to get explanations, help, solutions, whatever it is that I'm supposed to do. Thank you very much. |
| 00:13:22.52 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Doug, Storm, Chad Carvey, and Scott Diamond are the next three. |
| 00:13:29.61 | Doug Storms | Yes, Douglas Storms, 700 Waldo Point. I am the secretary. Lou is the executive director and Pete's here. He's the treasurer. No, he's the treasurer and the secretary. No, it's the other way around. Thank you, Pete. Thank you. And, but more importantly, there's several people here that are part of the Richardson Bay Special Anchorage Association. We're just a coalition of people that love to be on the bay. We work on the bay. We play on the bay. Some of us live there. Unfortunately, I can't live there. Heather doesn't want to be anchored out. |
| 00:13:57.13 | John Cooper | which is, |
| 00:14:13.06 | Doug Storms | So we're just an organization that we understand that times are changing. When I first got here in 1987, there were 109 boats. It was a stable community. Now there's 230 boats, and the community has changed for various reasons. And so we're struggling with these issues and we're trying to work with the sheriff, with the police, with the RBRA, with Mother Teresa, you name it. My concern, several concerns, is the lack of communication. Adam and John Rohrabacher, the chief of police and the city manager, gone out of their way to communicate with us in the past. There was an action taken about two weeks ago where they went out to remove illegal moorings. it didn't really quite, it really didn't work out. And I don't really have time to go into all the details, and that's for another time. But Houston, we have a problem. We really, there needs to, we need to have access to the authorities in order to deal with these issues and work together. We're willing to work together to find common cause, and there are many goals that are very similar. But when there isn't... |
| 00:15:35.06 | John Cooper | are very... |
| 00:15:39.24 | Doug Storms | When there isn't that opportunity, this is a real time Things happen very quickly and we need to be able to respond to it on the water. It's not like on the land. The weather changes, the environment changes, people change, and we really need to work together to address the issues. Why? It's worthwhile fighting for, I mentioned it. The Anchorage is a treasure. Richardson Bay is the national treasure, it really is. The lifestyle, the historical use, I believe that the Mariners here serve the public trust, because we're a a placeholder. We're protecting the public trust for that next generation of somebody, a mariner that has a dream of getting a boat, and working on the boat and getting ready to go sailing. We're a placeholder. We do save people out there. We save the kayakers and the sailors. We just want to work with you. Thank you for your time and thanks Jonathan and Adam for working with us. |
| 00:16:38.36 | Jill Hoffman | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:16:40.36 | Doug Storms | Thank you. |
| 00:16:40.48 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Chad, you're next, and then Scott. THE END OF THE |
| 00:16:45.04 | Chad Carvey | Yes, my name is Chad Carvey. I live on my sailboat out there on the water. And in two years, my wife and I are leaving on a 10-year circumnavigation voyage, so we're more on the sailor side of the anchor out community. School principal for 29 years, and I'm currently a fundraising auctioneer. I wanted to applaud the first young lady who spoke, I think Wendy, just about civil discourse. So maybe to start with, I love you guys. I love Sausalito. And I really wanted to say how much we love Adam Pulitzer. His stance and position has been so open to us as anchor outs and meeting with us and hearing from us. And recently we met with him and we came up with what we thought was a beautiful agreement on some low-hanging fruit that we can agree on, which is boats that are derelict and have no owners. Boy, we could spend a year kind of making sure that those are all gone, making sure all boats are registered, taking care of the junk and debris. Absolutely, you're going to find an agreement from many of us in the Anchorage. And if that's our goal, it's going to be a beautiful thing. So the problem was is immediately those lines were overstepped, and they started removing moorings that didn't have a boat. That means, like Asaf said, if we go sailing, we could come back, and our mooring or anchor is gone. Yeah. That is absolutely illegal unless you know that that mooring has been there for a certain amount of time. So unless it's been marked or tagged or measured as far as time, you can't remove somebody's anchor. Somebody leaves an anchor and an anchor marker. Right now, the RBRA listened to this $10,000 report, Mr. Gold, and basically the position is no anchor outs. That's the goal basically stated of no anchor outs on our bay. And again, I want to answer. I see a council member nodding. I want to ask the city council of Sausalito, is that your goal, to get rid of the anchor outs on our bay? or is it to say we acknowledge that you have a right to live on your boat if it is clean, if it is safe, if it is healthy? Because if it is not, then you're going to be facing the same anchor out wars instead of houseboat wars. Because there's a bunch of us who are holding people back from serious civil disobedience. We're really saying, no, no, no, they want to work with us. They want to just clean it up. They don't want to get rid of us. But if I see what I'm seeing right now, this absolutely, yes, we're going to get rid of anchor outs, then it's going to get so bad so quickly. So, again, that report was done with zero input from the anchor out community, not one bit. He said, I talked to all the stakeholders, and he didn't talk to any anchor outs. RBRA has taken that position. What will you do? My wife and I are getting ready for our third holiday gift drive for the anchor outs. And what we do is lots of businesses along the waterfront want to show their love and support for the anchor out folks. And we give about 100 bags. My wife and I deliver it in our Santa suits to all the boats out there. And we're going to do it again this fall. And we would hope you would use that as an example of the kind of love and cooperation we can have between land and sea. Thank you. |
| 00:19:55.91 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Scott Diamond. |
| 00:20:01.14 | Scott Diamond | My name's Scott Diamond. |
| 00:20:06.68 | Scott Diamond | I think it's been clear for a number of years that the people on the Anchorage want to, Explain what's going on out there so that you're educated. This isn't the same as living on land. And I think this issue about the moorings really needs a little bit more studying on the part of the city. I know there's a suit going on about getting rid of moorings altogether. And then of course there was the proposal that The government itself have control of all the moorings. If there's gonna be boats on Richardson Bay, we need to have some moorings because it's a safety issue. As we all know, boats have been getting loose and going over and hitting decks and houses and getting beached on Belvedere and Tiburon and this is a real problem. And the thing about A mooring is that if you spend the time and set up a mooring right so that it actually matches up with the boat, you can have a much safer situation than if you're pulling an anchor every time going out and coming back and setting the anchor again, and you don't know how well that's gonna work unless you send a diver down, and actually you want to have two anchors in this bay because of the change of conditions that, anyway, this is some technical stuff that we just need to have moorings and I think rather than being out there yanking up people's moorings, they need to be labeled or somehow monitored so that people know that an adequate mooring is down, they know who it belongs to, they know whether it's been abandoned, or if somebody's going off for the Delta for a month, maybe a visiting person could use it. But this last round of just going out and yanking up moorings, and some of those moorings actually were, you know, wreck markers. So we've kind of lost some wreck markers. I was at the cruising club, a couple of days after the incident and some very earnest young mariners had brought their boats into the cruising club, to work on their boats and upgrade their boats and while they were off their mooring they hadn't seen notification that Their moorings were gonna get ripped up, so they were all out having to buy new moorings, this is kind of a hardship and I just think it's very inappropriate. So I hope you will take the time to have somebody understand the technical issues involved with this before more moorings are taken out of Richardson Bay. |
| 00:22:59.34 | Jill Hoffman | Can you, I see one more person, yes, go ahead. |
| 00:23:05.35 | Alden Bevington | Alden Bevington, I'll keep it really quick. I thought that maybe this city council could be spared a lot of this Mariner jargon and things if you would just simply encourage your police department and the enforcement agencies to just very simply call representatives of the anchorage that know what's going on and just coordinate before doing this. Because, you know, it'll just make everything easier. And I just, I can't really understand why, you know, it could be so easy. It could be a lot easier. And there was a lot of, you know, legitimate ground tackle pulled up. Had like safe, like it actually became a lot less safe because it was like a bull in a china shop. It's a, you know, it's an ecosystem. You pull one thing, things somewhere else move. So we know how to help. So just pick up the phone, dial, whoever. Thank you, Adam, for your work. And Chief, really, it's, I'm in support. We're all in support of the same thing, but, you know, let us help. Thank you. |
| 00:24:11.74 | Unknown | Thank you. Madam Mayor, we cannot comment as council, but we can raise point of clarification. And so with the city manager, I'd just like to raise a point of clarification regarding the anchor outs. Last week I received a communication from resident Chuck Donald that features boats anchored outside of Dunphy Park in endangered eelgrass, protected eelgrass. And I was wondering if you could comment on that with respect to what you've heard here and this. Thank you. |
| 00:24:48.12 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 00:24:48.15 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:24:48.17 | Adam Politzer | I can't comment specifically on, I haven't seen that photo, but I know that the chief and our police department has either issued notifications in the past when there have been boats anchored illegally in the Dunphy Park waters, and I think the anchor out community has been respectful to keeping boats out of the Dunphy Park waters. So we can look into that. If that is a new picture, then we can look into that, and I'm sure we will gain cooperation from the Anchorage. |
| 00:24:48.19 | Unknown | I can't comment specifically. |
| 00:25:18.71 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. THANK YOU. Okay, moving on to item three on our agenda, minutes of previous meeting. Would anybody like to make a motion to approve the minutes from October 25th, 2016? |
| 00:25:36.97 | Unknown | So moved. Second. |
| 00:25:38.90 | Jill Hoffman | I THINK I'M GOING TO BE |
| 00:25:39.47 | Unknown | Hi. |
| 00:25:41.14 | Jill Hoffman | Motion passes we're moving on now to the consent calendar item 4 on our agenda. Matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial and require my glasses |
| 00:25:55.35 | John Cooper | Yeah. |
| 00:25:55.57 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:25:58.07 | Jill Hoffman | and require no discussion, are expected to have unanimous council support and may be enacted by the council in one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of consent calendar items. However, before the council votes on a motion to adopt the consent calendar items, council members, city staff, or members of the public may request that specific items be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. In order to request an item be pulled, you must have completed a speaker's card and turned it into the city clerk. Items will only be removed from the consent calendar by a vote of the council. Items removed from the consent calendar will be discussed later on the agenda when public comment will be heard on any item that was removed from the consent calendar. Do I have any public comment? |
| 00:25:58.25 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:26:39.97 | Jill Hoffman | to remove items from the consent calendar see no one do we have a motion to approve or any comments about the consent calendar |
| 00:26:48.99 | Unknown | Ma'am, Mary, I'd request a roll call vote on item E. |
| 00:26:54.31 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. Any other? Any other issues on the consent calendar? Okay. Do we have a motion to approve? |
| 00:27:00.57 | Ray Withey | I move adoption of consent calendar items for A through D. |
| 00:27:07.91 | Jill Hoffman | FOR. |
| 00:27:07.98 | Ray Withey | for a consensus vote. |
| 00:27:09.84 | Jill Hoffman | Do I second? |
| 00:27:11.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:11.17 | Ray Withey | you |
| 00:27:11.22 | Unknown | So, |
| 00:27:11.24 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:27:11.44 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:11.45 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:27:11.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:11.54 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:27:12.01 | Jill Hoffman | All in favor? Bye. |
| 00:27:12.79 | Ray Withey | Aye. I move adoption of consent calendar item 4E. |
| 00:27:19.89 | Jill Hoffman | Do we want to do a roll call vote on that? That was my request. And just to clarify. |
| 00:27:22.04 | Ray Withey | And |
| 00:27:22.24 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:22.26 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:27:22.31 | Unknown | That was it. |
| 00:27:22.98 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:27:23.03 | Unknown | I need a second. |
| 00:27:26.96 | Jill Hoffman | Second. |
| 00:27:27.89 | Unknown | you |
| 00:27:27.96 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:27:27.98 | Unknown | Well, I mean, I'm voting against it. |
| 00:27:29.11 | Jill Hoffman | . |
| 00:27:29.73 | Unknown | I'll second. Bye. |
| 00:27:31.40 | Unknown | That's okay. |
| 00:27:31.86 | Unknown | So we have the motion in a second, just so we're clear where we are. |
| 00:27:33.24 | Unknown | And then we're going to have a roll call vote on it. And I just want to clarify for the public record that item E is adopt resolution approving Marin Theater encroachment agreement for an awning exterior building materials and grease interceptor at 101 Caledonia Street. Thank you. |
| 00:27:53.81 | Debbie | Councilmember Weiner. |
| 00:27:55.60 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 00:27:57.20 | Debbie | Council member Theodores? |
| 00:27:58.59 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 00:27:58.99 | Debbie | Thank you. Council member Pfeiffer. |
| 00:28:01.36 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:28:03.97 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Withie. |
| 00:28:05.52 | Ray Withey | Yes. |
| 00:28:09.08 | Debbie | And Mayor Hoffman. |
| 00:28:10.30 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on to item five, public hearing items. We're on to 5A, introduction of and reading by title only, an ordinance limiting dog park visitors to three dogs. And we have a presentation by Mike Langford, our Parks and Recreation Director. |
| 00:28:48.13 | Unknown | Well, good evening, council members, as we wind out your year. Herb, I've got to do this. This is a... a hounding issue here in Sausalito. And you're going to need to make a rough decision. Okay. Now that that's over. |
| 00:29:11.91 | Unknown | In 1991, Remington Dog Park was created at MLK Park via Resolution 4088 to allow a place for dogs to be off-leash. This actually came up from kind of a citizen uprising as residents were getting tickets for having their dogs off-leash. And they came and they said, we need a dog park here in Sausalito. But one of the things that the city council said is, okay, residents, if you want a dog park here in Sausalito, you need to be the ones that take care of it and maintain it because city does not have the resources to do so. So since 1991, that's what's been happening. We've had a couple different groups, throughout the time. maintaining the park currently the park is maintained by the friends of the Sausalito dog parks it's a 501c3 organization. Now over the past few years, there's been a sharp increase in the amount of individuals using the park, as well as the number of dogs people are bringing to the park. Now that's normally a good thing when you have more people and more use of a park. However, this has created a problem as many, and some would just say a few, The individuals are either unable or unwilling to have direct control and supervision over the dogs they bring to the park as required by establishing resolution 4088. bringing more than three dogs per visit. presents a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, as it is difficult, if not possible, for one person to have direct control and supervision over more than three dogs. Current signage at the park limits visitors to three dogs. However, since this rule is not an ordinance, it's not enforceable. |
| 00:30:58.61 | Unknown | So on August 15, 2016, the issue was presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission by the Friends of Sausalito Dog Parks. The commission voted to move the three-dog limit at Remington Park forward to the next step. Staff reviewed the information provided by the friends and working with the city attorney, drafted the ordinance before you this evening. So the recommended motion is to introduce and read by title only, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito to limit dog park visitors to three dogs. What I'd like to do now is actually bring up a couple of representatives from the Friends of the Sausalito Dog Park, and they can let you know a little bit more information on this, how it came up, and how they came to this recommendation to City Council. |
| 00:31:53.49 | Unknown | So I'd like to introduce Rob Beaton and Joe Ruff. |
| 00:31:58.63 | Asaf Ophir | Thank you. |
| 00:32:02.58 | Rob Beaton | My name is Rob Beaton. I have been a resident of Sausalito for 23 years, and I have been a visitor to the park for 23 years. AND CURRENTLY A BOARD MEMBER. and we have, we're responding with, this request because of numerous complaints we've been getting from our regular visitors. And plus we have the GGNRA is about to drop a resolution eliminating dog walkers, I'm sorry, eliminating Thank you. you uh, off leash, sorry, nervous. |
| 00:32:52.85 | Jill Hoffman | It's okay. Take your time. |
| 00:32:54.56 | Rob Beaton | eliminating off-leash access to all national parklands, national parklands for, I'm nervous, would you? |
| 00:33:05.07 | Unknown | I don't know. That's right. |
| 00:33:08.39 | Joe Ruff | The DGNRA is going to come down with a resolution next year, which may limit the usage of any dog that is off-leash in many of our areas in Marin County and San Francisco, which I'm sure you're all made very much aware of. Instead of being a reactionary, we'd like to be proactive and make sure that we do have an ordinance in place that will limit the number of dogs a person can bring into the park. Last year, with all the rain, we had two weeks where the trails were closed. Thank you. limit the number of dogs a person can bring into the park. Last year, with all the rain, we had two weeks where the trails were closed. We did see an increased number of people coming into the park with well over three dogs per person. My name is Jo Ruff. I am the current president of the Friends of the Sausalito Dog Park Board. And the reason what brought us here tonight is we did receive complaints from a lot of people that why can I only bring three dogs in? and others ignore the rules. Our hands are tied. It's not an enforceable rule. You can bring in 20 dogs if you want, you can just say excuse me but the limit is three dogs three dog rule is not new it's been at the park for many many many years we would just like you to help us to find a way to enforce this rule that is very important to maintain the safe and clean environment that the people of Sausalito, visitors to the park, our families and pets deserve. Thank you very much. |
| 00:34:36.41 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:34:40.94 | Jill Hoffman | Mike, does that conclude your presentation? |
| 00:34:46.88 | Unknown | Actually, you had some information from the Humane Society and the AKC. |
| 00:34:58.74 | Joe Ruff | Okay, I'm back. Where we came up with the three-dog limit, the United States Humane Society has a three-dog limit recommendation for all off-leash dog parks. The Marin County Humane Society, which is our animal control agency, has a two-dog limit. in their dog park. Sausalito. If you are a resident residing in the city of Sausalito, we have a three dog limit per resident for dogs over four months of age. So that's where the three dog limit has come from. You also in a packet had information from the CDC on diseases if dog feces are not picked up. Right now what I'd like to do is instead of everybody coming up and saying that they're in support of the dog three dog limit ordinance. I would like everyone that's in favor that came tonight in support of the dog board to please stand right now. |
| 00:36:05.55 | Joe Ruff | Thank you very much. I truly appreciate you coming and supporting the dog park. |
| 00:36:10.21 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:36:14.63 | Unknown | In addition to the parks that she mentioned, the city of Novato up at Dogbone Park has a three dog limit. The county at their park at, the county offices, they have a three dog limit, although they do allow professional dog walkers to bring six dogs in. |
| 00:36:30.62 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. Do we have any questions from City Council on this? about it. |
| 00:36:39.23 | Unknown | Yes, thank you. I have a couple questions. So I guess my first, and thank you for that presentation, Mike. I really appreciate it. And thanks to the friends of Saucido Dog Parks for everything you do. I know it's a lot of hours of volunteer effort, and we really appreciate it. My question is, I frequent the dog park, actually. I've seen dog walkersers coming in at one point I saw one come in with six dogs and then that person left and I said where's he going and another dog walker Said oh those are my dogs and then later He came back with more dogs and then the first one left and I was like what's going on and I guess my question is I the The dog park is, it's public, it's city land, correct? It belongs to the people. And I guess my question is, what are the guidelines with respect to businesses using public land? |
| 00:37:35.61 | Debbie | Yes. |
| 00:37:48.94 | Unknown | Businesses, if you're running a business in Sausalito, or should we say doing work in Sausalito, we require a business license. Currently, there is no restriction on using a public facility for that as long as you have a business license. The exception would be if you have a group of 20, then you need to go through the parks and recreation, groups of 20 or more, you need to get a special event permit. I don't think that counts for 20 dogs. It's just 20 people. |
| 00:38:17.07 | Unknown | Yeah, that's really interesting that that doesn't exist. Any other questions for Tom? |
| 00:38:23.72 | Unknown | I don't know if you've done any formal or informal surveys, but of the people that bring more than three dogs to the park, do we know how many are individuals that happen to own more than three, or are they dog walkers? Do we know? |
| 00:38:37.93 | Unknown | That's information I do not know. The Salas Gita does have an ordinance that limits people to having owning three dogs or having three dogs at their house. |
| 00:38:48.21 | Jill Hoffman | I have a... THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:38:50.97 | Unknown | Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. You need it. |
| 00:38:53.35 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:39:00.81 | Joe Ruff | I personally know of one family that has four dogs. The rest are not individual private owners that do come into the dog park, seven, eight, nine dogs. There's been up to 11 dogs per person. that have come into the dog park. Past years, there's been like four or five dogs per person. but in recent years we have seen a major influx of one person coming in. Unfortunately, when they've been asked by people who are newer to the park, I thought the limit was three. They'll say, well, We know it's not enforceable, so we do whatever we want. |
| 00:39:38.73 | Unknown | That was my other follow-on question to either of you is that the signage is pretty clear. Correct. So... People come in with six or eight or whatever number of dogs and people say, you're over the limit, what's been the interactions on this to the degree you can mention? Has it been generally civil, as we talk about civil discourse, or they just say no, we're going to do it? |
| 00:39:59.66 | Joe Ruff | THE FAMILY. |
| 00:40:03.08 | Unknown | Maybe you can shed some light on that. |
| 00:40:04.68 | Joe Ruff | It's, it goes from one end of the spectrum to the other and some people just say, yeah, I know. and move on, others become very aggressive. Like I said, it just depends on who the person is how they feel about the dog park community, It really just depends on the person. It's very individualized. anymore. |
| 00:40:28.39 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. I have a question. I don't know who this is for, Mike or maybe the dog people. How many parks in Sausalito do we have that are allowed to have dogs? |
| 00:40:28.41 | Joe Ruff | . |
| 00:40:41.83 | Unknown | Remington Dog Park is the only off-leash dog park in Sausalito. Off-leash. Dogs are required to be on leash in every other park in Sausalito. |
| 00:40:45.35 | Jill Hoffman | Awfully sure. |
| 00:40:49.67 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:40:49.76 | Unknown | Okay, thanks. Okay. I have a follow-up question. I've had some residents tell me that they would love to visit Remington Dog Park, but they are hesitant because they fear the lack of oversight with so many dogs there that aren't brought by one, like a professional dog walker, or maybe in this case, dog sitter, because because from what I've seen they come in and sit down. So I guess my question is, Have you received feedback from the community with respect to specifically problems with dog fights, issues like this, a lack of supervision as a result of more than three dogs per person. |
| 00:41:48.82 | Unknown | I have received notices, and actually Rob would be able to speak to this better, because he's informed me of incidences that have happened out at the park. My advice has been to immediately call the police department and file a report. I do not know if that was because somebody had one dog, two dogs, three dogs. |
| 00:42:09.26 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:42:09.95 | Unknown | THANK YOU. |
| 00:42:10.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. Okay. Okay, public comment on this matter. I have cards from Mark Watson, Ann Scully, and Jan Johnson. So, go ahead. |
| 00:42:26.06 | Mark Watson | I'm actually on the board. My name is Mark Watson, and I'm for the three-dog limit. What we're actually looking for, and I've got to make notes here, hang on. We're looking for a complaint-based ordinance. We're not looking for you to come and drive by and supervise, but a complaint-based ordinance that somebody at the park, when they see a problem, they can call and get some kind of action. We're looking to preserve our health there. We're looking to preserve the fun of the park. It's a great place to hang out. But we're all very worried about what's going to happen when all the trails get closed and everybody comes to the dog park. Thank you. |
| 00:43:06.80 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Ann Scully. |
| 00:43:14.97 | Ann Scully | Good evening, I have to put my glasses on now. Getting old, it really stinks. I live in Mill Valley, but I have been using the Salcelito Dog Park with the advent of our last set of dogs, all 190 pounds, and there are only two of them. So, I'm very cognizant of being able to watch my dogs, to watch their behavior, et cetera. I have personally been the subject of or I have witnessed confrontations with the commercial slash professional dog walkers when I have noted that one of the excess number of dogs has done their business and nobody has seen it. I have also seen a situation where one of the residents whose dog was being intimidated by the pack. Two's company, three is a pack and a crowd, and four is unacceptable. It is a pack escalation mentality. And I think that's something that the behavioralists are aware of. And I just wanted to cite two other studies that have been done, and one is by UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. They issued a report that was cited by both Los Angeles and San Diego in support of their three dog limit decisions. And it's entitled Guidelines for Establishment and Maintenance of Successful Off-Leash Dog Exercise Areas. Based upon its field research, and I'm quoting, dog walkers and others with more than three dogs are less conscientious about picking up fecal droppings or monitoring interactions with other dogs or people. In light of these observations, it seems that limiting the number of off-leash dogs to three per adult user is not unreasonable. Second source, in several articles in the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, they assert that a positive dog park experience for both dogs and owners is contingent upon owners monitoring dog interactions very carefully. Failure to do such monitoring may lead to dog behavioral issues such as defensive aggression, problematic play styles, resource guarding, frustration, aggression, et cetera. A limit to the number of dogs per individual dog park patron helps to ensure that each patron is able to carefully monitor and control the behavior of their dogs. It's not that the people who are there don't care It's just that it's just the sheer number and it's physically impossible. Thanks. |
| 00:45:36.14 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Jan Johnson, Cheryl Bozzio, and Noah Aaron are the next three. No? Jan Johnson? |
| 00:45:52.39 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, you may, Cheryl. |
| 00:45:56.46 | Cheryl Bozzio | Good evening. My name is Cheryl Basio. My husband and I have lived in Sausalito for 25 years. I've been on various commissions for the city on the tree and view committee and also the planning commission for a number of years. I frequent the dog park and also MLK Park every single day and have for the last 25 years with various dogs. I presently have two 15-month-old puppies. And I've been asked tonight to come to represent the position of the dog walkers as a group. And also they've requested that Mr. Withey recuse himself, and the reason being is that there's an understanding that he is close personal friends with Rob Beaton. |
| 00:46:48.50 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, all right. Go ahead, ma'am. |
| 00:46:53.78 | Cheryl Bozzio | Okay, well, sorry for that misstep. So I want to- That's okay. |
| 00:46:57.53 | Jill Hoffman | So I want to. That's okay. Okay. Yes, ma'am, you have the floor. |
| 00:47:02.46 | Cheryl Bozzio | I wanted to read the policy statement that the dog walkers as a group have asked me to read to the council. and also to put it on the record. The request is to create a law Recreating a three dog limit at the Sausalito dog park and it's a vindictive request on the part of the Sausalito dog park who feel emboldened to discriminate against a minority group of people, the dog walkers. We respectfully ask the Sausalito City Council to deny this request. The Sausalito Dog Parks Boards two claims in their letter submitted to the City Council that people with more than three dogs, that's to say dog walkers in particular, do not clean up after their dogs and do not supervise their dogs. Those claims are completely false and untrue. Dog walkers watch their dogs diligently. dog walkers clean up after their dogs. dog walkers clean up a large amount of dog feces, in the park on a daily basis that did not come from their dogs. |
| 00:48:16.15 | Cheryl Bozzio | Dog walkers have cleaned up the feces from Sausalito Dog Park board members' dogs on numerous occasions. Dog walkers intervene if and when there are any behavioral issues and prevent any escalation of bad behaviors. Dog walkers remove their dog from the park immediately if there are any behavioral problems, whether originating from a dog in their care or originating from a dog that is with an individual owner. Dog walkers provide a valuable service to residents of Sausalito who cannot exercise their dogs and whose dogs would otherwise be at home alone all day. That includes a broad community. It's an aging community. It's an aged community. all, there's so many dogs in the community. Is that all the time that I have? |
| 00:49:09.76 | Jill Hoffman | You have? Yes. Yes. |
| 00:49:10.86 | Cheryl Bozzio | represent their position. |
| 00:49:11.35 | Jill Hoffman | There are people. Yes, ma'am. |
| 00:49:14.29 | Cheryl Bozzio | Okay, well, then I'll come back up as an individual, and I'll continue with some of their resources. |
| 00:49:21.19 | Jill Hoffman | I don't believe that's allowed. You have... Thank you. Okay. Thanks. Okay, so the next person I have on is Jan Johnson and I have Noah Aaron and I have Kevin Kiefer. Someone else wants to fill out a card, that's fine. Thank you. |
| 00:49:41.34 | Jan Johnson | you |
| 00:49:44.86 | Jan Johnson | So even though I'm elderly, I still work 60 to 70 hours a week. And I depend upon my dog walker to take care of my dogs during the day. When they were young, they went on walkabout on leash, but now they're 12 and 15. They can barely amble into the park. If you pass this rule, it means that my dogs and other people's dogs will have decreased time in the park, decreased socialization. Thank you. I take my dogs to the park on the weekends and I watch what's going on. My observation is completely opposite than what's been stated here before. I see dog walkers with Pretty large packs of dogs. They come in as a unit. They respond to sits as a group. They have a group come and a group exit. The dog walkers do intervene in any misbehavior, whether it be in their dogs or other dogs, and I see them cleaning. Indeed, it's my observation that it's the private owners who don't pay attention to their dogs, who have young, untrained dogs. that get into ruckuses, and they're too busy visiting to actually see what the dog is doing off in the fore corner. So I think if you pass this rule, It will be a hardship on the working dog owners of Sausalito who depend on dog walkers to give their pets fresh air and socialization. It will either decrease our dog's time out or it will increase our expenses to the point of being prohibitive. So I would really ask that you consider voting no on this or at least consider putting a large number of dogs under a walker's care and perhaps having them certified or something but to just say willy nilly three dogs only. with professionals who know what they're doing and have good control over their PACs. it's gonna create a hardship for all of us who work. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:51:49.42 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, I have Noah Aaron, Kevin Kiefer. Do you have any more cards? Those are the two cards I have. |
| 00:51:58.26 | Noah Aaron | My name is Noah Aaron. Okay, that's more. I grew up here in Marin. I've been a sauce litter resident for seven years. |
| 00:51:59.17 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, that's more. |
| 00:52:03.76 | Noah Aaron | I was living in Chile for a while, where I saw you. I have the ubiquitous Marin Doodle. and For the most part, I keep a good eye on him so I can understand where the dog walkers are coming from. My girlfriend, she has a Labradill that was attacked by a well-known dog walker, one of his dogs here in our dog park. I guess from my standpoint, I haven't been back. I come back periodically. But for the most part, I take my dog to Gabriel soon in the morning because I don't want to go over there. Her dog had to get six staples in his back. He's a Labradoodle. There's a really nice, he's a really nice guy. His name's Michael, he's British. and He's got seven or eight dogs at the dog park, and one of them attacked my girlfriend's dog. And he's like, no, that couldn't happen. I've got control over these dogs. And so... Thank you. These are good people, and yes, I completely understand where you're coming from, they have a job to do, they're trying to make money. And on the other side, you have Some elderly folks, and it's not just elderly, it's anyone who needs to have their dog walked. But at the end of the day, there's people like me who aren't going to go there anymore, because I'm concerned that My dog, who's not the most masculine animal, is gonna get bullied by someone that, it's kinda harder for them to manage several dogs. They're good people at the end of the day. I can't go there on a daily basis anymore because I'm worried about my dog being attacked. So I don't care about the feces getting picked up or not. I care about my dog being attacked. And if I feel like I can't bring my dog there, I'll just take him to Mill Valley where that doesn't happen. Or I'll take him to Gabrielson. So. |
| 00:53:47.36 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:53:48.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:48.32 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 00:53:48.37 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:48.45 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Excuse me. All right. Kevin Kiefer, you're next. And then I have John Cooper and Aaron Lee Fowler. |
| 00:54:01.75 | Kevin Kiefer | Well, anchor outs do have dogs, usually one or two though. So I don't think three is a problem. And I have been overrun, my dog and I have been overrun dog pack walkers, |
| 00:54:12.59 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:54:13.01 | Kevin Kiefer | Thank you. and they're pretty intimidating, even though my dog was definitely masculine. I Actually, did Rob actually vote for Ray, though? Would that count? But in the spirit of collaboration, because there might not be funding available in Sacramento to deal with an issue like this, I'd like to see if the chief might want to cut loose with some anchor-out abatement money that we could kick over in that direction. |
| 00:54:46.32 | Jill Hoffman | direction. Thanks. All right. Thank you. All right. John Cooper and Aaron Lee Fowler, I believe. Yes. Sorry. |
| 00:54:58.74 | John Cooper | Good evening. I'm a Marine County resident of 48 years. I'm going to finish reading what was done here. Dog walkers typically get along with the vast majority of dog owners that come to the park, as evidenced by the petition and the emails sent to the city council members. They volunteer their time doing manual labor. They've contributed money to the care and maintenance of the park. The evidence presented by the Sausalito Dog Park Board pertaining to the Marine Humane Society rules is irrelevant and does not apply as the Marine Humane Society rules apply to a private property where this is public property. |
| 00:55:26.94 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:55:31.49 | John Cooper | It was also mentioned all the other dog parks, so I'm not going to continue to read on that. I am an individual dog owner. I have a one-year-old yellow lab. It's a service dog for my special needs daughter. I have been taking the dog there for eight months, basically four months when I was allowed to. My dog has never been attacked by a dog walker. It has been attacked by individual dog owners. A few of them happen to proceed to say that it was six, seven-month-old yell-loud puppy's fault who basically cowers down to any size dog. I typically walk in there with four poo bags. My dog typically does two. I walk around picking up other people's poo. I'm typically in there with about two different dog walkers who constantly walk around the dog park picking up feces. I have on several, several occasions seen individual dog owners not only watch their dog poo and walk away from it, but, you know, not paying attention to it. They congregate in the little wood hut drinking their coffee and not paying attention to any dogs. So, again, I've never seen a dog walker not pick up their feces or have control of their dogs I love them there because the more dogs the more fun my puppy has running around with them you know going there and having no dogs there really isn't much fun so the six rule three dog rule I think is ridiculous and it really, I've never had a problem in the last eight months I've been going. They've been wonderful people, their dogs are wonderful and they've all been in control. |
| 00:57:04.64 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Erin Lee Fowler. That's the last card I have. |
| 00:57:12.37 | Aaron Lee Fowler | Thank you. |
| 00:57:12.44 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:57:12.46 | Aaron Lee Fowler | Thank you. |
| 00:57:12.47 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:57:12.49 | Aaron Lee Fowler | Thank you. |
| 00:57:13.86 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, I got one more, never mind, sorry. |
| 00:57:15.43 | Aaron Lee Fowler | Hi, I'm continuing that woman's statement since you guys were so unkind to hear. let her finish. The sand. And the Ysmo Dog Park allows up to six dogs per person and has no issues as a result of allowing up to six dogs per person as evidenced by our enclosed letter from the San an Ysmo assistant city manager head of the San Nismo Parks and Recreation Department. The Larkspur Dog Park has no limit on the amount of dogs a person can bring into the dog park and they have had no issues as a result of having no limit. If they had, they would not continue to allow unlimited amount of dogs. The Mill Valley Dog Park has no limit on the amount of dogs a person can bring into the dog park, and they have no issues as a result of having no limit. If they had, they would not continue to allow an unlimited amount of dogs. The San Rafael Dog Park allows up to six dogs professional dog walker and has had no issues as a result of the six dog limits. If they had, they would not continue to allow up to six dogs. The majority of the occasional problems at the dog park have been caused by the individual dog owners, not dog walkers. AND I THINK IT'S A anonymities are not or not. Sorry. Anomalies, sorry. are not representative of the group as a whole as the accidental accounts of the incident cannot be verified for truthfulness at the city council meeting and therefore should not be the basis for creating a new law in Sausalito. The Sausalito Dog Park Board's request to the Sausalito City Council is vindictive and discriminates against the majority group of people. We are not respectively request that the city council deny this request thank you Also, I just want to say you guys really have a habit of you know. being a little corrupt, I think, and not listening to people whatsoever, and being really vindictive. Thank you. |
| 00:59:18.24 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, I have one more card from, oh no, I have, okay, Michael. you I don't have a last name, but I have a Michael from Mill Valley homeowner. There you go anybody There you go, sir. Yes, sir. |
| 00:59:32.15 | Michael | Well, I wasn't going to speak tonight. I don't like speaking in public. but I'm the British English dog walker whose dog Unfortunately, my own personal dog this is, unfortunately bit gentleman's girlfriend's dog We took her to my vet. and I paid immediately for the bite. But it was my own personal dog. It wasn't a dog from my pack. It's a rescue dog from Saudi Arabia. I thought it was more trustworthy than it was. I no longer take the dog to the dog park. Um, That's really all I have to say about that. But there is a certain vindictiveness against dog walkers. We are considered less than individual people who walk their own dogs. We're considered somewhat like the gardener. We're not given. Jew, Um, Politeness. People will say things to us that they would never dream to say to other people. I had a lady the other day who said, Oh, I'm pleased We're getting rid of you. Why would somebody say that? And incidentally, I've never taken seven dogs into the dog park. That's not what I do for a living. And I haven't been there. I don't walk dogs anymore, actually. I haven't been there. Thank you. for the last four months have had a very serious operation. So I'm just coming here out of a matter of interest that not exactly lies, but When I was there regularly, I picked up dog meth every single day. And if one of my dogs did miss a poop, I'm sure. people would point it out, and they did point it out, one of your your board members was constantly pointing out that other people's dogs had not Hot bad. mess picked up, but that's not a problem. I mean, I understand that some dog walkers are rude. It's not really a very social occupation. I mean, you walk dogs probably because you can't you know. be friendly with people, maybe, I don't know. But I've never had problems with people, and I really do object to my nationality being mentioned and my name being mentioned. by somebody whose previous girlfriend has a wolf dog that really was very, very dangerous. But anyway, that's another. another matter. |
| 01:01:57.61 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, I understand there's some more cards coming my way. |
| 01:02:05.76 | Unknown | What does that mean? |
| 01:02:08.48 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, I have cards from Joan Carlson and Doug Storms. |
| 01:02:20.39 | Joan Carlson | Thank you. |
| 01:02:20.53 | Unknown | So, |
| 01:02:20.91 | Joan Carlson | Thank you. My name is Joan Carlson. I've been a long-time Sausalito resident and only recently moved to Mill Valley. I have dogs that I have taken to the dog park over the years that were not my dog. I was like a dog auntie. And I've just witnessed a lot over the years. I think that the council that takes care of the dog park is extraordinarily good at getting good behavior out of anybody who can be worked with. But the owners, the dog walkers, my own personal, I'm in favor of the three dog limit just because I feel that. What I have witnessed is, You know, it's a dog park. The dogs are going to play and then there's going to be corrections and weird things going on. and I witnessed a dog getting corrected by a dog that I didn't recognize This dog had no advocate. The dog walker was far away. The dog walker had a lot of dogs in his charge. He was talking to somebody out by the fence. The dog had no advocate. And if that had been my dog and I had paid someone to look after the care of my dog, during that time, I would have, I would have If the dog was hurt or badly injured, I never would have forgiven myself. Most dog walkers have good intentions and are trying to live in an expensive place. But I wonder, if I give my money to a dog walker, why they can't walk my dog. And I don't care if you've got, you know, like in New York, eight dogs on eight leashes. You know, go nuts. There's beautiful places to walk the dogs where there's plenty of room on leash. So I just feel like in the confines of the park, that the three dog limit is the best way for my dog to have a healthy and safe experience and I've seen You know, especially that one incident I thought You can't watch, I don't think I would be able to watch more than two dogs. I don't see how anybody could be a proper advocate for more than three. On the other hand, I mean, like you said, somebody said there's all kinds of temperaments in this field. And most of the people at the dog park on both sides are very nice people, but I think that, it will create better behavior in general if we have the ordinance be a real ordinance. And I thank you for your time. |
| 01:04:42.72 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Doug Storms? |
| 01:04:46.66 | Unknown | Mm. Thank you. |
| 01:04:48.25 | Doug Storms | Yes, Doug Storms, 700 Waldo Point. I have no dog in this fight. My dog passed away four years ago. Nobody warned me how sad it would be. Two types of people in the world, dog lovers, non-dog lovers. It seems as though the two different parties They're dog lovers. They really do care about dogs, so they wouldn't be doing it. Quickly, a recommendation that I would make. I'm confused because I hear conflicting testimony. My recommendation to the city council is that you assign a fact-finding team consisting of three pro-dog, more than three dogs and three on the other side. have them get together over a cup of latte, maybe at the park. And do some research, get the facts. And then maybe they'll get together and come up with a proposal together that maybe is a compromise and that may just work. You know, be grateful that you have your dog. They're a real blessing. |
| 01:06:03.60 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Doug. Okay, Patty Souza and then Susan Russell. |
| 01:06:15.85 | Patty Souza | I'm a Marin County resident for 21 years and I have a young dog and I've been going to the Sausalito Dog Park for about a year. but I've had dogs for over 20 years and The reason I go to that dog park is I feel safe and I feel like my dog is safe. And the reason I feel that way is because of the dog walkers. When I'm there, I have witnessed, or when I've been there, I've witnessed a couple of bad dog attacks. And the only reason those dogs were separated was because there were dog walkers there. The owners didn't intervene. The dog walkers came up and separated those dogs. And the dogs drew blood on those dog walkers. and the dogs would have been more severely injured than they already were. So when I go, I'm... I feel that I'm safe when the dog walkers are there. And my dog has other dogs to play with. So I feel like the dog walkers that come with more than three dogs won't come anymore, of course, if the resolution passes. it is directly aimed at the dog walkers and not at regular one person or excuse me, one dog families. What was I gonna say? You know, and I think that A lot of it is about personalities. I mean, like in any group, there's going to be people that get along and people that don't get along. I like everybody at the dog park, the people that are for the ordinance and the people that are against the ordinance. But I think this is really about the dogs and what's best for the dogs. So I would recommend that, I like the gentleman's suggestion about having the fact finding. I think that's a good idea, if that's at all a possibility. But I would say I'm against the ordinance simply because I don't think it's fair for the dogs or the dog walkers. Thank you. |
| 01:07:56.30 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. you Okay. And the last, now the last card I have, I believe, is Susan Russell. Is there anybody left in the room who has not talked on this issue? |
| 01:08:05.92 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:08:05.94 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:05.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:08:06.01 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:06.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:08:06.14 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. Yes ma'am, Susan Russell. |
| 01:08:06.51 | Susan Russell | Thank you. Yeah. |
| 01:08:10.23 | Susan Russell | Hi, thank you. I've been a resident of Marin for 51 years and have been going to the Salcido Dog Park for 22 years. Been a dog walker for 25 years. I'm very professional. And my observation over these 22 years is that the dog walkers, for the most part, are extremely responsible, wash their dogs, clean up after their dogs, and clean up after a lot of dog owners that have not cleaned up after their dogs. Um, There's bad apples everywhere, but the most unpleasant experiences I've had at this dog park is with dog owners. I have had to take aggressive dogs away from my dogs where the owners did nothing. I've gotten horribly bitten. Um, I have scars all over my body. My dogs have never caused a problem. I've never caused a fight. Um, I think this is very, I think we're being targeted and scapegoated because They can because they can make it, the only people this affects are dog walkers. Most owners don't have more than three dogs. So they're aware, and on good terms with three of the dog park board members, and I like them. |
| 01:09:26.98 | Unknown | I'm not sure. Thank you. |
| 01:09:27.56 | Susan Russell | Thank you. |
| 01:09:30.94 | Susan Russell | Lost my train of thought. Thank you. Um... |
| 01:09:37.40 | Susan Russell | They can't do anything about individual dog owners. because they only have one or two dogs there. But they can do something about people that have more than three. And I think this is very unfair. And I really, really hope that you will vote against this. And to go back to San Anselmo allows six dogs, Larkspur has no limit, Mill Valley has no limit, San Rafael Dog Park allows six dogs, professional dog walker, um, Three dogs is very low, very low. AND Six dogs would be acceptable if you made a rule, a law for six dogs, but I think three is very low. And like somebody else said, it hurts the dogs. That's who it's hurting, the dogs. We'll still be able to go. You won't get rid of dog walkers. We'll still go. But we'll have to keep sub dogs in the car, which is very unfair to those dogs. They won't understand it. And we'll have to keep switching them out. I believe the A lot of people that are against dog walkers have created a very unpleasant atmosphere at the dog park. An animosity that is completely unnecessary. I'm not sure. Again, I think it's individual owners that have caused the majority of the problems. They do socialize. They don't pay attention. They don't clean up. And thank you. |
| 01:11:03.72 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay. So that's the last card I have. I have a couple more questions actually for maybe our Yeah, I'm going to close public comment. Thank you, Tom. I have a couple more questions. Can somebody tell me, Mike, maybe how big our dog park is? One acre, okay. Thank you. Thank you. And then I have a question for, I think it's for maybe our city manager or maybe Mary. Do we issue business permits for dog walkers in Sausalito? |
| 01:11:39.90 | Adam Politzer | I'm not aware that we do, but we could if they came in and registered, but I'm off the top. I couldn't tell you if we do or |
| 01:11:47.78 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, Mike, do you have something? |
| 01:11:51.93 | Unknown | I spoke with Melanie today and as a business they could come in and get a business license. |
| 01:11:57.60 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Thanks. Okay. Okay, anybody else have questions in line of mind? No. Okay, let's bring it then up here for comment from city council. Discussion. Go ahead, Lynn. Anybody want to start? Councilwoman Pfeiffer. In fact, you have something you want to say. Okay. |
| 01:12:17.94 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:12:17.95 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:12:17.97 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:12:18.53 | Jill Hoffman | It's... |
| 01:12:19.02 | Unknown | We'll start commenting. |
| 01:12:20.20 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:12:20.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:12:20.25 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:12:20.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:12:20.42 | Unknown | This comment? Yeah. Okay. Well, first I want to thank Mike for the presentation. I want to thank the Friends of Saucido Dog Parks for all of their hard work, and I want to thank everyone who spoke tonight. And I also want to say that I think we have some wonderful dog walkers who come to our park. I mean, Susan and Cindy here you know i don't see this as an anti-dog walker ordinance we have i i know their signage and the rules have been in place for for years three dog limit and so to me uh and i do i am a patron of the dog park and i have seen horrific and I'm sad to say that I have seen these fights break out more than often because of the sheer number I mean it's in my opinion from what I have seen it's very hard to keep track of you know more than three dogs. So I support this. I support this I support this ordinance I am I think it also is important for so many residents in Sausalito where the limit in Sausalito is three dogs per household and it's vertical living here and the dog park is a place where they can come and their dogs can run. I think that to provide a safe and hygienic environment is very important. When you look at such institutions like from UC Davis to the Marin Humane Society to the Humane Society of the United States, all coming out with hard data supporting this three-dog limit, to me, it just makes complete common sense. And when I see the dynamics that I've seen and the very unfortunate fights with dogs, I very much support this. And I see this as nothing more than formalizing the rules that we have had in place that I've seen in terms of signage for years. And I think it's high time, and I want to commend everyone who who all the hard work that I can only imagine it must have taken to to generate this And I also fear that if we don't pass this ordinance, I'm afraid with the changes that are happening in the GGNRA that we're gonna lose the dog park to even bigger packs. I mean it'll be four, four, four, six, ten. I can see that with the changes at play. |
| 01:15:20.49 | Jill Hoffman | absolutely thank you any other council comment i'm thinking other council members have comments doing |
| 01:15:20.68 | Unknown | Absolutely. |
| 01:15:27.43 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:15:28.77 | Unknown | Wow. |
| 01:15:29.62 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:15:31.17 | Unknown | I believe to my knowledge that that was one of the first dog parks in the United States. I had my shell station for many years down there, and the way we started that, getting involved was we put sponsored planter boxes around the fences. And that's how we originally got our money to be able to maintain that dog park. We didn't have that problem 25 years ago. But now we're living in a society where people's lives are so busy. THAT THEY WANT THE ANIMAL I'm not sure. |
| 01:16:10.42 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:16:11.27 | Unknown | but they're not willing to really spend a lot of time with their animal. Or they can't, because they're working. When I hear the word dog walkers, and I have a dog, I've had a dog for 24 years, different dogs. I want my dog walked. I don't want to put in an automobile and take it to a park and just Those are dog watchers, not dog walkers to me. The other thing about dogs that I haven't heard tonight is The reason sometimes you get in these dog fights is real simply. We don't know whether that dog's neutered or not. And those who have dogs out there know that a dog that is not neutered, and all of a sudden in 10 seconds, be as friendly as anything, and then turn quickly and become unbelievably vicious. Um, So, and that's not the dog's fault, that's just, that's the way dogs are. I think people are like that too. All right. I think we have to start somewhere. I'm in favor of this. After one year, I think we should review it. Definitely to see where we are. but I think it's getting to a point where Maybe the owners of the dogs should start insisting that dog walkers walk their dog. It's healthier for them, and it's better for them. So therefore, I would be in agreement for now of restricting it to three dogs. |
| 01:18:03.43 | Unknown | I want to thank everyone, and I know everyone's dog lovers, so we know that we're in good company here. And it brings up two things. One is fear of getting in between anybody that loves dogs on either side of it. But also sadness, our dog passed away about five years ago, and we used to go to Remington Park with it all the time. So we know how important the dogs are. I think for me, as Mike said, and thanks to the friends of the Sausalito Dog Parks and Mike for the presentation, I think it's really important. It is really a health, safety, and welfare issue. I'm really swayed a lot by the UC Davis findings, the Humane Society findings of this, you know, what is important for the dogs. And as many people said, this is what is most important for the dogs. This is a rule. The thing we have to keep in mind, this rule has been there for years. And all we're doing is we're now having to put teeth in it because people are just ignoring it, which makes it, I think we'd have a little different conversation when someone comes in, but it just amazes me that people, the know, the signs are clear, and they'll just ignore it. So if we put six dogs up, you know, maybe some would ignore it. So I think it's, we're going to have to have an ordinance. I think this is a good place. Again, this three dog limit has, it seems sensible based on what professionals say about this. I think, I don't think it's against dog walkers. Dog walkers certainly can come there. They just, they're limited to three, three dogs. And, you know, so I don't think it's against them. And we appreciate that people need dog walkers. It's just that this place may not be the place that we can have them bring more than three dogs. So I, I support it. And that's it. |
| 01:19:50.64 | Ray Withey | Um... Thank you. Thank you. I... I agree with this ordinance, but I've got to tell you, I don't know anything about dogs. I've never owned a dog, never had a dog, don't know anything about dogs. So that's my conflict. So yeah, I've got cats. But people love their dogs, people love all their animals, and animals need to be looked after and cared for because of what they provide and the companionship and you know all of that good stuff. |
| 01:20:05.76 | John Cooper | That's my conflict. |
| 01:20:11.23 | Unknown | . |
| 01:20:27.16 | Ray Withey | You've got to set limits. I said I know nothing, so whether it's two, three, four, five, six, I don't have a clue. But I do therefore have to fall back on experts, it's been mentioned. UC Davis, Humane Society, et cetera, et cetera, they've given guidelines. I'm not about to argue with that. So I support this. |
| 01:20:50.51 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. Thanks for everybody's comments. So we had a dog, a very friendly chocolate lab, and we did not use a dog park because it was too chaotic and it would become, our dog would become overwhelmed. And so, well, not overwhelmed, but It was not a good place for our dogs. So I understand that the dog park is not that large. It seems like maybe an acre is, but it's really not. It's a small dog park or a small town, and I think the space easily becomes overwhelmed. Our dog's name was Bodie. He's in heaven now, just for the record. And so I don't see this. People are projecting that it's against dog walkers. I don't see that. It's a number. A dog walker is certainly welcome to come to the park. You just can't see this, you know, people are projecting that it's against dog walkers. I don't see that. It's a number. A dog walker is certainly welcome to come to the park. You just can't, under this ordinance, we're not be able to bring, in the current rule, not be able to bring more than three dogs. that's just a management issue for, you know, someone that's engaged in that sort of business. And so I think I agree. I think this is reasonable under all the facts and circumstances that we've looked at tonight. And it's a health and safety issue, most definitely so. |
| 01:21:59.70 | Unknown | Madam Mayor, may I make the motion? |
| 01:22:01.52 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 01:22:01.78 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:22:01.79 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:22:01.84 | Unknown | I move that the city council support the Friends of Saucido Dog Park's proposal and pass an ordinance to limit Saucido Dog Park visitors to three dogs. Second? Anybody second? |
| 01:22:13.81 | Unknown | May I have a point of clarification? I think we need to read the recommended motion. Oh, I'm sorry. |
| 01:22:13.93 | Unknown | May I have been? Oh, I'm sorry, I was reading the recommended motion in the staff report. |
| 01:22:18.95 | Unknown | in motion in the stem. |
| 01:22:21.01 | Unknown | I move to introduce and read by title only an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito to limit dog park visitors to three dogs. |
| 01:22:32.94 | Unknown | Second. |
| 01:22:33.48 | Unknown | All in favor? |
| 01:22:34.58 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 01:22:35.22 | Unknown | Second. |
| 01:22:37.15 | Unknown | Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:22:40.59 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 01:22:40.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:22:40.64 | Jill Hoffman | the that. |
| 01:22:41.89 | Unknown | Is this adequate to support the proposed ordinance? |
| 01:22:41.99 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:22:46.23 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. We're good. It's a Remington dog park. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on. |
| 01:22:57.01 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, yes, thank you, everybody. Okay, business item, we're into item six, business item. We have a presentation from the police department for crime and traffic report. |
| 01:23:46.79 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, we're going to take a five-minute break. Is that okay? Okay, while you guys get set up and we're good. Thank you. |
| 01:23:57.27 | Unknown | Thank you. Bye. |
| 01:24:00.10 | Jill Hoffman | All right, we're back on the record to the extent that we can be on the record here at City Council. And we're on to item six, business items, police department, crime and traffic report. Third quarter, 2016, Stacey Gregory, police lieutenant. You have the floor. |
| 01:24:15.65 | Stacey Gregory | Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members. Like the Mayor just said, I'm here to talk to you about our crime and traffic statistics for the third quarter of 2016. January through September. And when we move into the report, you'll notice that we're comparing the last five years, 2012 to 2016. So we look at the first slide here and you're going to notice two things that are pretty significant. One is our calls for service are down about 30% and our extra patrols, and that means getting out in the community, walking neighborhoods and such, are down a significant amount. So that being the case, and before we move on, there's a theme that you're going to hear throughout this presentation and that's the fact that We've been short-staffed for most of the year. There was a very positive thing that happened in January, and that was the promotion of the chief, two lieutenants, two sergeants, and a corporal. so what that did with moving all those internal people up to these new positions created vacancies in the officer So the downfall to the promotions was the short staffed patrol. So the good news, you saw three new officers come before you. Officer James Featherby, Honor Knudsen, and Edgar Padilla, Featherby is off training and is out in a car So he's filled one of those vacancies honor Knudsen is going to be solo Starting Saturday morning, so we'll have another position filled and Edgar will be off training in a month So there's light at the end of the tunnel and we'll see the staffing. hopefully come back up to status. Opening. that we're still trying to fill. But we don't just take anybody. You know, you can train somebody to be a cop, but we need the fit that's going to fit within our police department as well as our community. uh... so even though we're short-staffed proud to say that probably the community didn't realize that because we were able to shuffle our staff and still get the job done that the community expects from us so kudos to our patrol team that was that's out there every day and and taking the calls another part of the call for service issue is self initiated activity and that's you know seeing something and handling it rather than being called to it so not having the staff not having the time because they are handling reports and traffic accidents all these things take time so that self initiated activity is down which would also count for a call for service Same for extra patrol, we just don't have the time to get out there and walk as much as we want to. |
| 01:27:19.21 | Stacey Gregory | The violent crimes, this is something that we can't really control. We respond to them. and the good thing about these types of crimes, which are very low in numbers. considering are that majority of them are known to each other it's still safe to walk down the streets of Sausalito at night so the battery calls, the domestic violence, the violent people, crimes, although very low, There's usually a direct relationship between the two parties. They're known to each other. So our goal is to just educate and hopefully get the resources to those victims. |
| 01:28:11.56 | Stacey Gregory | So then we get into a lot of the property crimes. Um, again, THE NUMBERS ARE Pretty low, but I want to point out specific um, crime classifications. One is petty theft. And the other is the stolen vehicles. Petty theft had about a 15% increase and stolen vehicles, again, low numbers. The increase seems big even though it's not. um, This is not a unique trend to Sausalito. It's all over the state. Prop 47 plays a role in that. sentencing, classifications for certain property crimes, certain drug related crimes. have changed when usually if we Before Prop 47, we were taking them to jail. Now we're citing them and allowing them to go on with their business I'm not sure. So it's things like that that have affected the numbers here, and specifically petty theft. The other part of that is that petty theft now is a $950 value when it used to be a $400 value. So some of the crimes in the petty theft would be listed under the grand theft. prior to. that change. and DUIs again, There's really not as much time as we'd like to be out there doing the specific enforcement. |
| 01:29:40.98 | Stacey Gregory | 5150 is an arrest. 5150 is a danger to self or others are gravely disabled. that Nothing we can really do about that other than be highly trained in how to deal with mental illness, which is a huge issue in our country. The state of California has changed the laws starting January 2017. So not police in general are required to have more training, but specifically people going through the academy and their training officers when they come to their specific police departments are required to have extra training on top of that. I'm not sure. I'm glad to say that we're ahead of that curve. More than half of our staff is already trained in crisis intervention, which is the requirement that the state has put forward. And again, the arrests, if self-initiated activity, calls for service was higher, the arrests would show higher at that point too, but we're doing okay. traffic accidents. vehicle and bicycles they remain fairly consistent but again with the staffing we're not out there enforcing traffic as much as we'd like to And you'll see on the next slide how that plays a role, and it will show that if we go, if we look at the numbers for the 2014, 2015 collisions, vehicle collisions, And then we go to the moving violations. You can see that the moving violations were higher in those two years. I'm So we had the time and energy to focus on areas that were of issue, whether speeding, an area where we're having a lot of traffic accidents. So you can see that that does make a difference. But unfortunately, you have to have the staff to do it. And we're getting there, but we're not quite there yet. And the last thing I wanna talk about is the parking violations. They are down and that did make me wonder a little bit, being in charge of the parking lots. I'm not sure. So what I can say about that is that We changed over to our new system December, January. In January, we were still getting used to the system, getting trained on the equipment to use, use it, working out the kinks. And now, as we're in this kind of the second half of this year, I think the parking equipment is working pretty efficiently. The other part is that people can now use credit cards at the single space parking meters so compliance is is a lot higher than it has been. solely on the street and people have been trained in how the parking lot works so we have a lot more compliance in that So I can only contribute those two things to the little bit lower numbers for this year so far. And that's it. Do you have any questions? |
| 01:32:56.53 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:32:56.58 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:32:56.97 | Unknown | Council questions? Thank you very much, Lieutenant Gregory. I have a quick question about the slide with regards to the traffic accidents with the bicycles. I'm just curious. Are there, Are there another set of numbers that the Southern Marin Fire Department would have because they are responding by ambulance to some of these? In other words, I look at this and I look at the number of cyclists in our town and I see 12 and it just seems low to me. And I'm just wondering, could there be additional numbers from the Southern Marin Fire District? |
| 01:33:42.17 | Stacey Gregory | There could be and there is, because the difference is we're reporting collisions just falling down or being unable to ride a bike or having something else happen that causes you to fall and get injured to have the fire department respond is a different thing. So I would say yes, they've probably responded to... you know, THE SAME AMOUNT OF Bicyclos that have fallen down, but you'd be surprised that most of the the traffic collisions involving bicycles are not, they're mostly people that are commuting and they're moving fast. |
| 01:34:22.17 | Joe Ruff | Thank you. |
| 01:34:22.20 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:34:22.54 | Joe Ruff | You're welcome. |
| 01:34:23.21 | Stacey Gregory | Thank you. |
| 01:34:25.76 | Joe Ruff | Thank you. |
| 01:34:25.78 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:34:25.80 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:34:26.42 | Unknown | Just to follow up on that. The definition of a traffic accident is a collision with another vehicle or person or it means |
| 01:34:34.79 | Stacey Gregory | It doesn't have to be. It's, you know, if somebody runs into a curb or if somebody, you know, runs into a person, another bicycle, another vehicle, that's definitely a collision. If somebody, you know, gets going too fast and starts wobbling, falls over, we're not going to take an accident collision for that. |
| 01:34:57.65 | Unknown | I was interested in your, I mean, these are small numbers, but you're saying that more of them involve not the rental bikes, but commuters. |
| 01:35:05.74 | Stacey Gregory | The commuters, yeah. |
| 01:35:07.04 | Unknown | OK. And that's based on the hours that they happen? Is that why you say that? Because we have recreational bikers, we have commuters, and then we have rental bikes. So there are three sets. And I was just interested in that. |
| 01:35:16.18 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:35:16.20 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:35:16.22 | Unknown | All right. |
| 01:35:16.45 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:35:16.52 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:35:17.38 | Jill Hoffman | Right. Yeah. |
| 01:35:19.36 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:35:22.44 | Jill Hoffman | Any other questions? Yeah. I don't have any questions. Thanks for your hard work and the nice presentation. So we have moving on to public comment for this matter. That's where I was going with my cards. I have Kevin Kiefer, Edward Mann, and Alden Bevington. |
| 01:35:47.84 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, maybe next topic. Okay, sorry. License payers, sorry. Okay, my apologies. No, no, hold on. Alden, Bevington, you have yours for 6B. 6B. That's a license payers, sorry, my fault. But Kevin, yes, you have a card for. You may go ahead, sir. |
| 01:35:56.28 | Aaron Lee Fowler | All righty. |
| 01:36:05.91 | Kevin Kiefer | Yeah. Kevin Kye from Accra. So apparently the police department is willing to try different programs when it comes to parking. So I think there must be a way that probably later in the, after the city manager's, |
| 01:36:26.28 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:36:27.30 | Kevin Kiefer | to try and work something into the agenda for the police department. So I read an article the other day that the police department had a coffee with a cop, the national coffee with a cop day. So I found out about that the day before through tinkering around in the city website, but I didn't see any notice of it publicly on the boards or anywhere, billboards or anything, until after after it had happened and I think if coffee with a cup is a good policy and it shows promise which is what the article said seemed it seemed to report that anyway that maybe coffee with a cup doesn't have to be one hour a year maybe it could be 12 or 20 hours a year or something if it really is a good program because that does sound like an interesting way to bridge some gaps that seem to develop and they develop kind of like Stacey was mentioned about Featherby was was in a was just got through his training so I had an encounter with him when he was in training and the interesting thing about that was that I saw him being trained not the way that a police officer should be trained. I saw him and he didn't respond the way that I think that his training officer wanted him to respond. It was very interesting because I think he already had plenty of prior history that he knows what being a cop is. And so it was interesting that the cop who was training him, the highest Has one of the most seniority in the in the force was actually using a very negative type of training and And I don't think it was to test him to see if he was going to be positive or negative It was to show him how negative he could be that that's allowed and I will I didn't turn in a citizen complaint because there was another individual involved and I didn't want to pressure that person into having to do a complaint. but that's all. |
| 01:38:35.87 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Erin Lee Fowler. And Doug Storms is next. |
| 01:38:46.18 | Aaron Lee Fowler | I'm curious to know if it's the... Thank you. the open position on their police department as to why they don't respond to any calls from the anchor out community whatsoever. Why is it that when we need them, they're nowhere to be found? I'm a woman that lives alone on the water You know, I fell in the water three times now, and once Doug Storm pulled me out before the cops could get there, The other two times I was left on my own. Was it that they were too busy removing mooring balls that night or that next day to notice that I was stuck on my boat asking for help? They actually towed my boat away. It had sank the night before in the storm right next to my boat, and I guess it was a hazard or whatever. Um, They didn't hear me calling out that, hey, hey, that's my boat. Can you help? They just kept going. curious to know why that is. The other time that I really needed their help, nowhere to be found, they didn't respond. My items are still stolen. No one's ever talked to me to make a report, nothing whatsoever. Thank you. |
| 01:39:54.32 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Doug Storm. |
| 01:40:00.32 | Doug Storms | Doug Storms, 700 Waldo Point. I'd like to just take a moment before I address this issue to thank Linda and Ray. I don't know if I'll be seeing you again, but I wanted to just publicly say thank you for serving. Each of you represent different constituencies, and you've done a great job at representing their views. you can never get enough thank you for the you know And you've done a great job at representing their views. You can never get enough thank you for the time that you spend. Now for what I wanted to address is to segue from this report. A couple weeks ago, the police gave a report on the Anchorage and the crime statistics were included. And I wanted to, there's two things that I wanted to comment there. They mentioned about like 360 Coast Guard responses, the United States Coast Guard. But the problem is that they didn't break it down into what was the nature of those responses. Were they crime related? Were they responding to helping a mariner that was in distress a kayaker. So when you there was I don't know eight or nine hundred police reports and then there's what 300 plus coast guard reports. And it left the impression I got the impression and other people I think got the impression that wow it's a total wild west out there and I think it was really fair unfair um the way that the data that was presented, because it really wasn't broken down. Erin had mentioned about her feeling as though that the police aren't there when there's a potential loss of life or loss of property. And I would encourage, there does need to be a greater possibility public service by the police out there. We all recognize that. I just would hope that the police, that the law enforcement There's a special... Out there is a different set of rules than here. Out on the Anchorage, there's God's laws, there's laws by the county and the RBRA and all that. But there's also the laws of the people that live out there, there's the community norms. And somehow we have to do a better idea of meshing those things. I just wanted to encourage the council to bring it up, and Adam is already aware of this, that this is a difficult problem, and it needs everybody working together on it. And we need to have good statistics, crime statistics. Because the last thing I'll say is that part of the problem is there's a transient community, a homeless community, and part of those statistics are thrown into the statistics for the anchor out. And there really needs to be, to really make good policy, you need to have accurate data. And the data cannot be skewed. It really needs to reflect accurately. needs to be displayed accurately. Thank you very much. |
| 01:43:20.16 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, I believe that's all the cards I have for item 6A on the agenda. City Council discussion on this matter? No, I don't think so. Okay. |
| 01:43:37.69 | Unknown | This is just a great job. I mean, thank you, Lieutenant Gregory, for a great job, and Chief Rohrabacher. And these statistics were a little unexciting for tonight, but I think that's a good thing, and we see that they're down. And I just want to say beyond that, we just appreciate all the work that our police force does. You all make us proud, both in Sausalito and on the water and working with others and working with other agencies. And you do a fantastic job and it's good to hear from you. But it's also very nice when it's short and sweet and good news. |
| 01:43:38.74 | Jill Hoffman | Just a great job. |
| 01:43:39.73 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 01:44:12.19 | Jill Hoffman | Any other comments, discussion? |
| 01:44:15.02 | Unknown | Thank you. Yeah, I just want to thank Lieutenant Gregory and Chief Rohrabacher for the great data, and Lieutenant Gregory for the presentation and just all the hard work that our police do. I know that you have so much to cover in Sausalito, and that you, in a way, the numbers, it makes it look easy, and I know how hard it is to keep everything in balance here, given everything you have, a population that can swell from 7,200 to 13,000, you know, in one area of town in a day with the tourism downtown. So I know that you juggle a lot and it's very much appreciated. |
| 01:45:08.48 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:45:10.66 | Unknown | . |
| 01:45:10.82 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:45:12.06 | Jill Hoffman | Sure, I'll just echo that. Thanks to our police department, you guys. You do a tremendous job for our town. And I appreciate the fact that you hire slowly. and put a lot of effort into the officers that you bring into our small family here in Sausalito. So I think that's effective. So, okay, moving on to our next item. Item 6B, request to purchase and install fixed automated license plate readers by John Robach, our chief of police. |
| 01:45:58.21 | Unknown | So good evening, Mayor and Vice Mayor, members of City Council. So tonight is a project update and also a request to make some purchases. But before I begin, I would like to acknowledge some people that have been very instrumental in getting us this far. Really starting back in the spring of 2015, I believe anyways, The Booker Cloudview Prospect Channing Way Neighborhood Committee got together and collected their own funds to install cameras in their neighborhoods at Prospect and Spencer and Booker and Spencer, and provided, of course, those recordings and access to the cameras to the police department. The members of the committee that we worked with, even though this is not all of them in that entire neighborhood set that contributed their own money, but Leslie Hale and Ed McCann and Claudia and Keith Kennedy and I think that's a great question. working on moving from the neighborhood purchase cameras to the license plate reader camera project. And so for that, I really appreciate that grassroot effort of the neighborhoods and the support for the project. So in, The fiscal year that we're in now, back in the financial planning time, the City Council already approved $125,000 spending for the license plate reader camera system So we we have budgeted funds but tonight is to talk about what we've done so far and then to ask for your authorization to spend about $107,000 of that. Just as a review for these slides, The license plate reader camera system has really two main functions, and it's clearly a post-crime investigative tool because we can go back and get data from it. The other is that, of course, it provides real-time alerts. There's some thought that the third reason might be that it's a deterrent, but people know that it's there. But it's a little harder to measure, so we didn't want to really claim that as the threefold. But if people know it, then maybe that does deter, but again, really a little bit harder to prove. So, The way that the license plate reader cameras are going to work for us is that we're going to be purchasing Cameras for each lane of traffic on the target areas of each end of Bridgeway and at the top of Spencer and I have an image coming up to show you on the slides, but the the license plate reader just captures the license plate. and a little bit of a description of the car. It doesn't capture people. and THEIR OWNERS. What's more important, |
| 01:49:02.47 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 01:49:02.57 | Unknown | is that the software system |
| 01:49:02.60 | Adam Politzer | . |
| 01:49:05.44 | Unknown | is able to take that and run the checks on the license plate numbers and then provide us with information, whether, and it searches a lot of databases. and to let us know if the vehicle's stolen or it's involved in another crime or if it's connected to a missing person. Anything where law enforcement has entered that license plate into any of the number of the databases that we have access to. So if we get a hit on a plate, then we're notified usually within a minute by our dispatch center. And of course, once we verify that the plates of match officers are gonna stop, try and search and find the vehicle. So the issue of privacy often comes up about license plate reader data and the security of the photos. And there's a couple of choices about what we do with them. One is it's an off-site storage that meets the FBI evidentiary standards or an in-house server that meets the same standards. The images are only searchable by us and other law enforcement agencies are not available to the public to use. the software just stops it because there's no public access to the law enforcement databases. So it does not provide registered owner information, and like I said earlier, it doesn't provide a picture of any of the occupants. It certainly can't detect speeding vehicles, and it doesn't have the ability to locate drunk drivers. But it does do other things, but it doesn't do those. So research was important for us. to try and determine what was going to be the best system to serve Sausalito. And there are a few communities already in Marin that have the fixed license plate reader system that we are seeking to purchase. Central Marin has that. The town of Belvedere and Tiburon have that, and actually some of that's shared by the Sheriff's Office. And then the mobile license plate readers are the ones that are mounted on the patrol cars. We didn't opt for those because those are only active if the car is out driving around, and there's no way to guarantee that the license plate reader camera-fitted cars are always the ones that are in service. So we've already decided that we wanted fixed license plate readers. So there's only two vendors, and Vigilant Solutions and 3M. So our work was to you know, start making contact with other agencies that use license plate readers and determine what kind of experience they've had. That's just a sampling of some of the shoulder patches of the agencies that we contacted. We provided a list later on about how many agencies we did actually contact and the results of that data. |
| 01:51:49.80 | John Cooper | contact. |
| 01:51:52.15 | Unknown | So based on that, we decided that the Vigilant Solutions was really the system that we wanted to purchase and met our needs. So absent all the small print that talks about the equipment itself, that's kind of what it looks like. We were interested in finding the way to use our money the most efficient way. And so finding the locations that had utility poles that could supply the electricity then saved significant amount of money about having to do trenching and road work to run electricity to different areas. Here we're able to take advantage of street lights and utility poles that already have the electricity. And that's a sampling of what the cameras look like. |
| 01:52:37.37 | Unknown | And again, the fine print here is pretty detailed, but there's a picture of what we would see. And so it would... sort of work like this, you know, there's a hit on a plate or a similar or an exact match. You can see how little of the car we actually get to see, which is just the license plate part and a little bit of description. And then, of course, the system is checking for hits on that license plate. And it happens with every vehicle that goes by. So the other big piece of this is having cooperation from our dispatch center because there's no need or of little value to send that to any of us directly because we may or may not be at work. you can't really send it to one of our phones. It's not the most efficient way to get the information. the best ways to have it sent to the communication center. And so part of our work in the last couple months has been able to work with them to make sure that what we want to buy is compatible with what they already do, so that we're not increasing their workload in a manner that rises for additional cost for us. But they've been very cooperative in working with us on helping select which system would be used and that they would be able to monitor at the communication center at the sheriff's office. So there's a lot of other pieces that go with the investigative tools, which are really kind of clever technology, because it searches, you can run searches of captured information already if you're doing a criminal investigation in the follow-up. And so we can run searches by the vehicle mate. We can look at what's called a wildcard search, meaning we only have a partial of the license plate that you can put in an asterisk or something in the character that's missing it. It'll find all the similars. We could put up a geofence around an area and ask it to tell us how many vehicles of a particular type went through an area that we electronically set up on a map. And then the search can be either after the fact or before if we're looking for a particular car. So like the fourth bullet point there talks about the investigator can put that geofence in early and then vigilant. would send us a message if that vehicle's captured someplace. And again, the access to private party data is highly restricted and the Of course, the locations for us, are the ones that are the highest in, where previous hits take place. And you know, where the license plates have been captured. So these are all after the fact investigative tools So there's a lot of data sharing, it's a lot to read and I don't encourage you to do that right now, but basically what this is saying is that We are already a participant in NICREC, which is a Northern California Regional Intelligence Center located in San Francisco. And so by agreement, agencies that have license plate reader systems allow the NICREC to have access to it. So that when any of us want to run a search or make an inquiry, we only have to call NICREC. We don't have to query all the other agencies. And so NICREC takes care of that the security of the data and provides a significant resource to all of law enforcement and it's a federally funded program. So it's just another example of the teamwork that comes and the benefit that comes with that. So here's our locations up at South and Alexander, the 4000 block of Bridgeway, And you can see because there's two lanes in each direction, that means four cameras there. And then Spencer at Spencer Frontage. So the dollars. So we were able to get a pretty good deal on the purchase of the cameras we need for those three locations. It's a little over $95,000. having the actual cameras themselves and the equipment, and then plus the installation costs, and then if you add in the one-year maintenance fee, then the initial outlays $107,000. And we had already forecasted that we were going to need somewhere in the neighborhood of $125,000. So you've already approved that. We're asking for your approval to move forward with entering into contracts with the agencies and get moving on this. I'm not sure. I know I went pretty fast, but if you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. |
| 01:57:14.19 | Unknown | Thank you. So I was wondering if you could go back to the pictures. And before I ask my question, I want to thank you for the work on this. Yes, thank you. I know this has been a long road, and I know that it's much appreciated by more than one neighborhood, and it's very responsive. The question I have is at South and Alexander regarding view impact. Where would those cameras go? Would it at the light that we're seeing on the right side? |
| 01:57:23.77 | Unknown | Sure. I'm sorry. |
| 01:57:58.35 | Unknown | Is that where the two cameras would be fixed? |
| 01:58:01.64 | Unknown | At this point, more than likely. I don't know the, I mean, we took pictures of that spot because that's where our city jurisdiction starts right there. um, you know, Alexander coming into town. And so it's an example of what the street poles look like you know, mounting of the cameras. We will know more once the company's here and we start looking at where the installation would go and the field of view of the camera. But they've already been here with us and so, We haven't test run any other cameras for location, but those are the approximate spots. |
| 01:58:37.59 | Unknown | Let me ask a different question. Are there other light fixtures like on South Street or South and Alexander where the cameras could feasibly go? beyond that that I don't know okay yeah all right and have you have you looked at talk to the neighbors impacted by that in terms of you impact yet or |
| 01:58:51.03 | Unknown | I actually don't know. Okay. |
| 01:59:03.74 | Unknown | I view impacts of the cameras themselves. |
| 01:59:06.73 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:59:08.15 | Unknown | Well, the cameras are fairly small. I don't know that they're gonna be a view obstruction. and that's just an opinion. There could be people that disagree, and I guess we're gonna hear more about that. |
| 01:59:15.81 | Unknown | You know, that's just |
| 01:59:21.73 | Unknown | we didn't see that as an issue. They're fairly small mounted up pretty high. |
| 01:59:26.20 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. I ask because they look small, but sometimes just what is an inch can take up a big area, as we've seen. And the other question is, are they wireless technology? Does it require more antennas in the neighborhood or anything like that? |
| 01:59:52.24 | Unknown | So. They're wireless, but they run on cellular technology, and all they need is electricity to run them. So there's no installation of like booster antennas to make that work. |
| 02:00:04.74 | Unknown | Okay, thank you. And my last question, how long will the data be stored? |
| 02:00:09.44 | Unknown | At this point, we are looking at 90 days as a starting point And it could be shorter, it could be longer, but we're looking at what most agencies are trying out is a 90-day period for storing the data. We would probably have everything we would need to know within that time period. |
| 02:00:31.80 | Unknown | A different question, is there a maximum number of days that the system can accommodate? Like, does it cap out at 100 or 200? Do you know? |
| 02:00:41.53 | Unknown | Well, actually, I don't know that because it would be mattered on how many vehicles passed through, how many images were captured, and the size of the server. We don't really want to plug up the servers, whether it's remote or in-house, with, frankly, data that's pretty old. |
| 02:00:56.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:00:59.28 | Unknown | Thank you, Chief. My recollection was at one point we talked about six places that we'd have cameras. I might be wrong on that. I guess the question is, do we anticipate that we would add more cameras in the future, or does this seem like this would be adequate for right now? |
| 02:01:05.56 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:01:15.45 | Unknown | Well, when we started the project, we looked at how many locations it would take to cover the entire city, and it would take, obviously, more cameras. But what happened is the cost went sky high because the other locations don't all have utility power to them. The one camera location, which of course I think would be a little bit silly, just waste of time with that, but one camera location was like let's say $35,000. And then this three location but eight camera System is going to cost about a you know $95,000 plus the $12,000 a year for a made it so we're looking at $107,000. And then the price for the full system was estimated to go over $400,000. And so we felt that when we were working with the Finance Committee before we came to Council and measured that out, it seemed like the middle ground was our most productive way to go. And then it would give us a chance to see if there's a lot of benefit from it, if it looks like it's really producing, then we can come back and pitch for more money later. But it's a lot more money. |
| 02:02:24.50 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. Any other questions? No? |
| 02:02:26.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:02:27.00 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:02:28.28 | Unknown | Thank you. Just one more question. It takes the photos of the license plates. Does it take a photo of anything moving like bicycles? |
| 02:02:41.94 | Unknown | No, it does not. It actually only captures the optical character recognition feature of the software, captures the lettering of the license plate. |
| 02:02:42.31 | Unknown | No, okay. |
| 02:02:54.22 | Unknown | and then that triggers the camera to get the rest of the, like the tail end of that car, but it doesn't, it's not going to pick up anything else. |
| 02:03:00.41 | Unknown | And is there, I see that that's pretty close. So the cameras are also focused, it looks like at a close distance. In other words, they don't have the whole street or do they have just that? |
| 02:03:08.78 | Unknown | We really want the best close-up picture we can. Oh, I see. Like you see that image right there. |
| 02:03:11.33 | Unknown | Oh, I see. You can't like to see that image right there. |
| 02:03:12.85 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:03:12.95 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:03:13.37 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:03:13.51 | Unknown | So that we can read that plate. |
| 02:03:16.36 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. Thank you, any other questions for the Chief? No, okay, Chief, we're gonna move into public comment. So I have two comment cards on this, Alden Bevington and Edward McCann. |
| 02:03:23.89 | John Cooper | Thank you. |
| 02:03:23.92 | Cheryl Bozzio | Thank you. |
| 02:03:24.02 | John Cooper | Thank you. |
| 02:03:38.36 | Alden Bevington | Hey everyone. Alden Bevington. I'll do what I can to make this quick. This is really on the fly. So first of all, it may sound as though the Chief and I are on different sides of this issue, but I hope that you can see that we're not. One thing y'all probably don't know about me, my work is I'm the squire to the man that started the Electronic Frontier Foundation. My world is saturated with ACLU and security, privacy, and surveillance law people. So I just wanted to do what I can to, |
| 02:03:50.82 | John Cooper | Thank you. |
| 02:03:50.89 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:04:16.84 | Alden Bevington | I'm actually just going to read stuff that I've written here and some quotes, and I'll say it quick. So considering whether or not to adopt a new surveillance technology is a very important part of our contemporary civic discourse. What is missing from this report thus far is accountability to the public. I do understand there is a good reason for, especially when we're dealing with theft on the hill, from people driving in from Oakland and whatnot, there's a really good reason for this. But when we're going to apply a surveillance technology, Safeguards are essential and this is a very, very tricky area. So there is a national movement called Community Control Over Police Surveillance to ensure that communities will have a voice in deciding whether the police who serve them may acquire a new surveillance tool. This arose because such decisions too often were and are made only by local law enforcement officials seeking to acquire the latest clever tools that other departments have, which make their easier on a local level and by the vendors aggressively marketing these devices to police departments which happens and is happening here it's here's a quote it's almost it's almost epic epidemiological forgive me one police department will adopt a new invasive tool and then the next and then the next, often with little or no opportunity for the citizens to weigh in on what's needed or appropriate for their communities. Sometimes even elected officials and judges have no idea how technologies are being used by the police under their supervision. There are many things here to consider. People who have committed no crimes whatsoever have their driving patterns uploaded into a private system and have no opportunity to control or watchdog how that data is disseminated. If you read the contracts of Vigilant, etc., it's not as tied down as you'd like. First of all, to remember the country right now has just taken a hard right. Wherever we are politically, we don't know what's going to happen. And it may be that passively opting out of the surveillance machine By not actively opting in, we'll reduce our community's complicity in whatever may happen. ICE and many organizations will have access to this data, which could be really unfortunate. Oh my goodness. Okay. May I add two minutes? Or I can speak with you all. Do you have a concluding sentence, perhaps? Yes, a concluding statement. There's so much. OK. |
| 02:06:49.20 | John Cooper | Do you have a concluding sentence for us? |
| 02:06:58.59 | Alden Bevington | you must consider the political, I mean the civil rights and civil liberties issues. SB 34 requires that Sausalito, if you adopt this, has all of your privacy and how you are going to use this technology on the website. Tiburon's website in their law 461.4.4 has under their prohibited activity, the system use will be conducted in a professional, ethical, and legal manner. The ALPRS will not be used for any purpose not directly related to the investigation of reported crime or disaster. Please do your due diligence before you sign off on this. You have a stake in, you can set your terms of service, you can protect our community You don't need to just give carte blanche because you don't know who else is going to look at that data. If you can tell me that you do know, I'm all behind you, but I have a sense that you don't really understand. what you might be signing off on yet. Thank you. |
| 02:08:06.26 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. Okay, and I have one more for this matter. Edward McCann. |
| 02:08:14.74 | Edward McCann | Good evening, folks. Unlike the previous comments, I do not believe this is a conspiracy by the vigilant vendors or an attempt by the police department to one-up the next town down. In fact, For the benefit of that gentleman, and for those of you who may not have been here, This grassroots effort that the chief commended earlier in his introductory remarks, started sometime around 2010 when one neighborhood was hit with a series of rash burglaries. Since that time, the grassroots effort sparked by many and supported by many, including many of you here from senior town manager officials to the police department themselves to the mayor and the vice mayor and members of the council. has been extraordinary. I have never, since I've been coming to these meetings, seen a more diligent and thorough staff report than the one presented and prepared by the staff. So Adam, to you and your staff, accommodations for that. It really describes the problem and the solution. And I think this is a kind of a poster boy opportunity to do the right thing. And I commend the group for having taken it this far in that many years by so many people. Thank you very much. |
| 02:09:34.66 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, so I don't have any other comment cards for this item, so we're going to close public comment and bring it back up here for council discussion. |
| 02:09:46.04 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:09:46.06 | Jill Hoffman | Do we have any discussion? |
| 02:09:46.97 | Unknown | on this item. Well, I'll just comment that I am in support of this. I know that it has been championed by a number of the neighborhoods in town and I can see why. I think it's a very effective crime prevention and also a resolution issue, but one thing I will say is the Full disclosure, I live on South Street, and my personal home is not near where they want to put this up, but I do see potential view impacts issues, not with my home, but with the homes that are at that corner. and I would just want to make sure, I don't know if there's some sort of, we want to have some sort of you know specific outreach targeting those homes to make sure that they are part of that process in terms of placement I think that's key because I know that if I lived at that corner I wouldn't want to be having those cameras in my view Thank you. |
| 02:11:05.03 | Jill Hoffman | Another comment? |
| 02:11:07.46 | Unknown | No, I'm supportive of it. It has been, as Mr. McCann pointed out, a long process. It's gone through different means, particularly at the finance committee level. And I appreciate everyone in the community, Mr. Shapiro and Keith Kennedy and Mr. McCann and everyone else up there who helped work on that. And it's the right thing to do. So I think we're moving forward. And I appreciate the chief that we had a look at. There's a cost-benefit on this and we'd like to do more. I TH're moving forward and I appreciate the chief and you know that we had a look at there's a cost benefit on this and would like to do more but I think this looks like a reasonable way to proceed. I'd support it. |
| 02:11:41.35 | Unknown | Let's go. |
| 02:11:42.66 | Ray Withey | Yeah, I'm fully supportive of this. I've watched this evolve as we've, during the finance committee meetings now, for two budget cycles. We put it in the budget for this year. I'm glad it's up here for our approval, and let's get on with it. |
| 02:12:02.00 | Unknown | Yeah, I also approve of this. I think it's time that we give our police department all the tools that we can give them to be able to capture... the individuals that have... Fleeing. And I like the idea of up on Spencer. You're basically covering the whole, a bulk of the community. You got Spencer that covers that end in the middle. You've got the south end of town. and you have on Bridgeway, so I... I'm fully in favor of this. |
| 02:12:45.67 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. I'm in favor of it, too. I'm in favor, my understanding is, from your numbers, that we're saving a little bit of money. We're under budget. I'm always in favor of that, so thank you so much for that. But, you know, Mr. Bevington brings up a good issue and an interesting issue with regard to privacy issues for the information that's collected from the camera, so I'm sensitive to that as well. I did see in there, though, that there are privacy controls on the information that's collected from the camera so I'm sensitive that as well I did see in there though that the that there are privacy controls on the information that's You know that's collected and if there's any indication that that there's any breaches or if there's any issues with that I would like to hear about that as a city council member and But otherwise, I think it's good. Do we need to have a motion or do we need to have something? Does somebody want to make a motion on this? |
| 02:13:33.66 | Unknown | Perfect. Well, We do recommend a motion I move that we approve the purchase and installation of 9 vigilant solution solutions automated license plate readers to be installed in the 4000 block of bridgeway Spencer slash Spencer frontage and South Alexander. |
| 02:13:53.41 | Unknown | Exactly. |
| 02:13:54.23 | Unknown | I would like to make a friendly amendment to that motion, which would be that the Alexander South Street installation is conditional on neighbor approval with regards to view impact. Could we... |
| 02:14:13.03 | Jill Hoffman | can I make a suggestion that that if there's any, how would, I do wanna take into consideration any complaints that we might have about the camera placements. Chief, how hard would that be to come back to us if you have a complaint about the camera placement. Because if there's no complaint, then there's no complaint, right? But if there is a complaint, I want to be able to respond to |
| 02:14:38.48 | Unknown | want to be able to. |
| 02:14:39.44 | Adam Politzer | Yeah. |
| 02:14:39.46 | Unknown | I want to be able to respond to that. I think that, yeah, I think it's what. |
| 02:14:42.65 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:14:42.67 | Adam Politzer | Sorry. I just, I think that we've heard Councilmember Pfeiffer's concern, and I think they're legitimate concerns. I think that the chief, our public works director, whomever is going to be involved, you know, is to look at the various light poles in that neighborhood and, you know, and use, you know, the discretion to find the location that has the least amount of view impact. I think as you move up, Alexandria Avenue or move up Um, South Street to Alexander Avenue. There's enough flexibility there with light poles to you know to find a good location. I think that we would ask the Council at your discretion to give the chief that discretion if in fact we feel that we can't find the light bulb that is going to not have an impact you know then allow us to install it and if we get complaints we can bring it back to the council if in fact we feel look at the locations and we with our own judgment can tell that it's going to have a view impact that we come back to the council after having some community this community outreach so I think it's an effort to let us move forward to place it if in fact the chief and staff find that there's a location that has no impact to the to the view corridor but if we can't then we would bring back information to the council on which area has the least amount of impact, but also give the public the opportunity to come in and be heard. |
| 02:16:20.03 | Unknown | Yeah, I guess I'm just trying to avoid a lawsuit on this. I mean, we've had lawsuits threatened by residents before and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on this issue. So I think an amendment is in order. I don't think we want to put it up and then see if anybody lawyers up or complaints. I think we want to be proactive. in doing outreach on that corner first and You know and and then and then proceed with with the approval. |
| 02:17:03.22 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:17:03.25 | Unknown | um well we have we had the motion on there and besides you know, there's Spencer Street, there's other streets, I think that the police use their discretion and DPW on where they go and what effect it will have. I'm sure they'll consider that. But you have other parts of town, too, where you're putting them. I don't think you'll have much on 4,000 on Bridgeway, but you get Spencer. |
| 02:17:32.65 | Unknown | Spencer, though, where that intersection in Spencer, though, it's not in a view corridor. No, it's not in the view corridor. |
| 02:17:36.82 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:17:36.92 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:17:36.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:17:36.97 | Jill Hoffman | I do. |
| 02:17:37.14 | Unknown | corridor. |
| 02:17:37.63 | Jill Hoffman | I think that there is an issue, but I'd like to move forward with this. |
| 02:17:49.90 | Unknown | I think I made the motion. I think there was a friendly amendment, but I would like to... that you second my motion, but on the friendly amendment, I I really respectfully disagree and not accepted. I think the city manager's explanation and we would if there were any problems, you have them come back and I do agree with Council member Weiner's issue, you should go to any of the locations if we have any issues relating to any view issues. So, so I respectfully decline the friendly amendment. |
| 02:18:09.18 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:18:09.25 | John Cooper | Thank you. |
| 02:18:09.35 | Unknown | and then, |
| 02:18:09.40 | John Cooper | Bye. |
| 02:18:19.12 | Unknown | Respectable. So I respectfully would like to recommend, if this is okay, to make a motion for the 4,000 Bridgeway and the Spencer Spencer frontage and vote on that, and then do a separate vote on South Alexander, because I don't feel, I think I would abstain on the South Alexander or vote no, and I don't want to vote no on Spencer Spencer and the 4,000 block. So I would move to, well I can make a substitute motion. I move to approve the purchase and installation of vigilant solutions, automated license plate readers to be installed in the 4000 block of Bridgeway and Spencer Spencer frontage. |
| 02:18:31.10 | John Cooper | to the next day. |
| 02:18:48.15 | John Cooper | THE CITY. |
| 02:19:04.35 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:19:04.36 | Jill Hoffman | Is there a second? No. There is. No? Okay. No second. So when we go back to the original motion? Okay. |
| 02:19:07.28 | Unknown | IT WAS JUST A LITTLE BIT. |
| 02:19:11.15 | Unknown | Okay, I really support this and I've been a champion of this, but The South Alexander, I'm not getting reassurance that they're going to their I don't think we should be installing that and then waiting for people to complain. I don't like that approach. So I think I would abstain on this because I don't know what the future would be. |
| 02:19:36.65 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:19:36.98 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:19:37.00 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:19:37.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:19:37.34 | Unknown | We'll call on this one. |
| 02:19:38.52 | Unknown | I know it'll pass, but yes. Should we take a roll call on this? |
| 02:19:41.14 | Unknown | Should we take a roll call on this? |
| 02:19:42.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:19:51.23 | Debbie | Council member Theodorus? |
| 02:19:52.91 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 02:19:56.96 | Debbie | Councilmember Pfeiffer. |
| 02:19:58.43 | Unknown | STAY. |
| 02:20:01.37 | Debbie | Council member Weiner. |
| 02:20:02.51 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 02:20:04.86 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Withee. |
| 02:20:05.82 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 02:20:06.43 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:20:08.12 | Debbie | Mayor Hoffman. |
| 02:20:09.26 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 02:20:14.02 | Jill Hoffman | And moving on to the next item on our agenda. |
| 02:20:17.28 | Unknown | Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Thank you all for... Thank you. |
| 02:20:18.02 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you all for... Thank you. being patient with this. |
| 02:20:20.67 | Unknown | being patient with this. |
| 02:20:24.74 | Jill Hoffman | We're going to have an update with the general plan update task force from Danny. Danny Castro, although I think he's going to take less than 20 minutes. |
| 02:21:00.95 | Danny Castro | Good evening, Mayor Hoffman, members of the council. This is an update of the general plan task force. To provide some background, the appointment of the General Plan Update Task Force was in October of 2015. And the purpose was to review the 1995 General Plan, identify existing and future uses for the General Plan Update, discuss the overall approach, and help form the framework and the work program. The General Plan Update Task Force members are Jill Hoffman, the Mayor, Ray Withey, Vice Mayor Bill Werner, who is the Chair of the Planning Commission. John McCoy, the chair of the Historic Landmarks Board, Shasha Richardson, because John McCoy has stepped down from the Historic Landmarks Board, She has been agreed to fill in and to replace John McCoy. And staff is myself, Danny Castro, the Community Development Director, and Lily Whalen, who is currently on maternity leave. She will be returning, and then Mary Wagner. The task force conducted six meetings. The meetings were open to the public and it was pursuant to the Brown Act. The meetings were video recorded. The General Plan Update Task Force assessed the approach, considered whether the general plan update should be element by element, beginning with a circulation element versus a holistic update of the general plan. They reviewed various background relating to the circulation element, as that was a first charge initially to the update process. And here's a listing of all the items related. They also reviewed a draft work program and an approach, and also reviewed background materials. I think I stated that already regarding the circulation element. also was presented with a draft request for proposals for a general plan consultant. On May 3rd of this year, the City Council received an update from the General Plan Task Force, and the task force presented recommendations. One was to determine that an update of the 1995 General Plan is needed. That was confirmed. that a holistic update is recommended versus element by element. Updates should be completed in three years. The update is not envisioned as a wholesale rewrite, but a refreshing of the 1995 general plan to reassess the vision and goals looking 20 to 30 years into the future of Sausalito. and that it be a two-step process in terms of the selection of a consultant to first request for qualifications, to generate a pool of candidates, and then to issue an RFP to shortlist those candidates for then consultant selection. The city's council on May 3rd was to direct staff to prepare the RFQ, to be reviewed by the task force, then distribute to consulting firms. the City, the, in early October, staff, after review from the task force, sent out the RFQ to 16 general plan consulting firms. And the six that are highlighted here are the six firms that responded after the deadline or within the deadline, which was at the end of August. Minchier Harnish, DeNovo Planning Group, Placeworks, M Group, MIG, and Ramey and Associates. And just last Friday, the task force met to review the statement of qualifications to begin ranking them. |
| 02:24:58.20 | Danny Castro | which just popped up on the top of that screen, in June of 2016, the City Council approved the two-year fiscal year 2016-18 budget that included allocation of $175,000 in the current fiscal year And then 575,000 in the capital improvement program over the next three years to fund the general plan update. |
| 02:25:29.77 | Danny Castro | The SOQs are available for review in the Community Development Department Office and on the city's website on the general plan page. |
| 02:25:43.20 | Danny Castro | So the schedule of next steps. This table here shows the schedule of next steps, given that every step of the process would include task force review and approval and then city council review before going to next steps. As I mentioned, RFQ was issued, and that was on October 3rd. A statement of qualifications came in by October 31st. The task force review met last Friday, that was November 11th. The next steps are to prepare an RFP and have that reviewed by the task force and that would be by the end of November. I have a date set for the next task force meeting by the end of this November and I'm just seeking confirmation from all the task force members to have that date. After that, that would be City Council to review and approve the RFP. I had dates mixed because the December meeting will be scheduled. bringing in the new council members and outgoing and then honoring the outgoing council members. So that meeting is not available. That would be January, not December, January 2017. If the city council to review and approve the RFP, Issue the RFP. would be the following month, February 2017, review proposals. It would be March. interview prospective consultants that would go into April. presentation to the Council and the Ward of Contract. would be May, and then general plan update kickoff would be May to June. of 2017. Staff has recommendations for this evening. The update is number one to formally appoint the historic landmarks board member Shasha Richardson. And to accelerate the schedule, staff recommends that the task force review and approve the RFP for issuance in November. the task force and staff to interview top candidates in December, Presentation to the Council and award of contract in January, and the general plan kickoff in February. What number two does is it does authorize the task force and staff to move forward with the RFP as well as the consultant selection. And also to, I should also mention that the council is being asked to determine that the task force and staff be the interview team for that. And then that would allow us to then present to the council an award of contract in January for the top candidate. Alternatively, you can maintain the schedule in the table above of the next steps as provided. And that concludes my report. |
| 02:28:36.59 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thanks. Do we have any council questions for Danny on this presentation? |
| 02:28:43.51 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. Whatever. Could I see the list of who's on this task force again to refresh my memory? Where are they? Are they the task force members? Oh, Pato. |
| 02:28:56.95 | Alden Bevington | Thank you. |
| 02:28:57.33 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:28:57.42 | Alden Bevington | Yeah. |
| 02:28:57.91 | Unknown | Thank you. Actually, this goes to my second question. THE END OF Oh, sorry, it's a bib. There we go. Okay, okay. And then my next question has to go back to the consultants. Lisa Wise and Rincon, were they? Were they on the housing? Did they do work? on the housing element or is my memory wrong on that? |
| 02:29:30.92 | Unknown | They did not. |
| 02:29:31.64 | Unknown | They did not. Okay, thank you. |
| 02:29:32.89 | Unknown | But they didn't. |
| 02:29:34.63 | Unknown | Yeah, it is an M group. All right, thank you. |
| 02:29:36.37 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:29:42.51 | Jill Hoffman | But the M group who did submit did do work on it, the housing element. Thank you. |
| 02:29:47.59 | Danny Castro | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:29:47.96 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:29:50.24 | Danny Castro | to go back. |
| 02:29:51.13 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:29:51.39 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:29:51.40 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:29:56.41 | Unknown | Okay, so the M group did work on the housing element. You know, the... Lisa Wise, I thought she did some work on the housing element, too. |
| 02:30:04.53 | Ray Withey | Me too. If I may, Lisa Weiss, consultant, was a subcontractor for the M Group. |
| 02:30:06.40 | Unknown | to |
| 02:30:10.20 | Unknown | Yeah, that's where it was. Yeah, she's a subcontractor for the M Group. |
| 02:30:15.48 | Ray Withey | Yeah, but she didn't submit here, but she was a subcontractor, but was never used. |
| 02:30:19.80 | Unknown | She didn't submit, but is she included in any of the other submissions like she was with the M group? I don't remember, was she? the |
| 02:30:31.08 | Danny Castro | She was. |
| 02:30:31.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:30:32.04 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:30:32.56 | Danny Castro | In one of the six, I believe it was PlaceWorks. |
| 02:30:33.47 | Jill Hoffman | the Thank you. |
| 02:30:35.36 | Unknown | Which? Place works? Okay. |
| 02:30:39.17 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:30:39.21 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:30:39.33 | Danny Castro | OK. Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.14 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.15 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.17 | Scott Diamond | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.22 | Scott Diamond | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.36 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.37 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.41 | Scott Diamond | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.44 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:30:40.48 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:30:43.16 | Ray Withey | Actually, I stand corrected. She was a consultant for PlaceWorks for the Marine Ship Steering Task Force, but I don't think she was ever used. It wasn't the housing element. It was a subcontract for PlaceWorks. |
| 02:30:43.23 | Scott Diamond | I got you. |
| 02:30:54.63 | Unknown | Okay, that's the marine ship. Yeah. THE RFA WOULD COME TO THE COUNCIL BEFORE IT WAS FINALLY AWARDED, CORRECT? |
| 02:31:06.65 | Danny Castro | That's an option. |
| 02:31:08.08 | Adam Politzer | No. |
| 02:31:08.27 | Danny Castro | you |
| 02:31:08.45 | Adam Politzer | No, we're recommending under number two there. Because what Danny and I talked about was when you look at the original schedule that was in the SAF report, |
| 02:31:08.64 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:31:08.66 | Unknown | No. It's not. We're reckoning. |
| 02:31:10.06 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 02:31:18.86 | Adam Politzer | you're not kicking this off until May. because there's no opportunity to come before the council before January to issue the RFP. So we're suggesting to the council that the RFQ has already been issued, which frames the work of what an RFP is going to be. So the working group, which is two of the three remaining council members between now and January, are on the working group, working with staff, working with the Planning Commission Chair, or not Chair anymore, but Bill Werner on the Planning Commission, and now Shasha from HLB, have them work to issue the RFP, THE COUNCIL WILL AWARD THE CONTRACT. The working group. |
| 02:31:58.20 | Ray Withey | Yeah, I think... |
| 02:31:59.77 | Adam Politzer | We'll interview the top candidates. They'll sort through the six. They'll decide if they're going to interview two or three. They'll interview the two or three. Then they'll make a recommendation to council in January, which speeds the process up to us getting to a kickoff where the public can now be involved in the actual discussion in February rather than waiting down the line in May or June. |
| 02:31:59.80 | John Cooper | We'll interrupt. |
| 02:32:23.93 | Unknown | And so I stand corrected. So basically, though, it comes to the council for the award of the contract. Okay. |
| 02:32:35.12 | Adam Politzer | The working group meetings are all public meetings. They're also recorded meetings. So the public has the opportunity to come and weigh in on the discussion of the potential candidates. |
| 02:32:48.88 | Unknown | Thank you. And I think RingCon, I've seen that company before again, and I can't remember where, but I thought it was with the housing element as well. |
| 02:33:02.58 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, but they didn't respond. The only ones that responded were yellow, the ones up there in yellow. Okay. With asterisks by them. Okay. |
| 02:33:10.19 | Danny Castro | And some of these firms have specialty in providing their expertise on elements of the general plan. They're not a firm that actually does a comprehensive general plan update. |
| 02:33:22.73 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, so moving on to any other council questions on this item? Nope. Okay, moving on to public comment on this. I have no cards. Yes, sir. |
| 02:33:35.98 | Dr. Thomas Ellinger | Thank you. |
| 02:33:38.12 | Jill Hoffman | Public comment is your time, so I would Sure. Sir, just, no, go to the podium. I apologize. You can state your name if you'd like. |
| 02:33:50.23 | Dr. Thomas Ellinger | My name is Dr. Thomas Ellinger. I'm new to Sausalito. My original question to you, what was yellow, and the asterisks meant you asked that question. So that begs the question. on the list with Rincon and the M group, who are the whites? |
| 02:34:04.71 | Jill Hoffman | The whites were, I believe, well, Danny, why don't you answer that? |
| 02:34:08.05 | Dr. Thomas Ellinger | Thank you. |
| 02:34:08.86 | Jill Hoffman | THE FAMILY. |
| 02:34:11.36 | Danny Castro | So these are the 16 firms that were issued RFQs and were invited to present a proposal. And it was out of those that six, six that are the, six, yes. |
| 02:34:21.64 | Dr. Thomas Ellinger | Six that are the... Yes. |
| 02:34:24.81 | Danny Castro | Correct. |
| 02:34:24.88 | Jill Hoffman | THE CITY IS A CITY. Yes, you're welcome. Welcome to Sausalito. Well, thank you. You're welcome. Well, thank you. Well, very good. All right. Okay. So no other public comment, I presume. And so then come back to us for city council discussion. Anybody have an objection to appointing Shasha Richardson as the new member for the, no? Okay. No, I think she's excellent. Yeah. We're lucky to have her. Do we need a motion on that? |
| 02:34:49.30 | Ray Withey | No, I think she's excellent. |
| 02:34:54.65 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, yes, then I'd like to make the motion that we appoint HLB member Shasha Richardson to our task force. |
| 02:35:01.87 | Ray Withey | SECOND. |
| 02:35:03.91 | Jill Hoffman | All in favor? Aye. Okay. Okay, and then do we want to do the accelerated schedule, which is? |
| 02:35:04.74 | Ray Withey | Hi. |
| 02:35:12.23 | Jill Hoffman | the task force review and approve the RFP for issuance in November. So that just means we do a request for proposal out to however many of those ones in yellow, those firms in yellow that we feel are top scorers. And then they come back and give their proposal to the group, and then it comes back to city council for issuance. Have I got that right? |
| 02:35:38.08 | Ray Withey | Yeah, could I just... |
| 02:35:38.76 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, go ahead. Sure, Ray. |
| 02:35:42.18 | Ray Withey | make a comment to remind you that, remind everyone that we decided I don't know, May, maybe, that we would, rather than go straight to an RFP, we'd go to an RFQ. And that was to be able to sort of get a bunch of, if you like, free info before, so that we could help sort of understand the lay of the land. The RFP essentially isn't going to be that much different than the RFQ. So it seems like putting in the extra step of having the RFP come back to council for approval, then to send it out, it seemed like we were just wasting time. So I'm personally very comfortable with taking item number two. For the last number of months, I've had a lot of people talk to me about the general plan and most of our residents who are interested in it want to just get going. So I'd say we take the accelerated schedule. |
| 02:36:47.44 | Jill Hoffman | Any comment on that or any objections? |
| 02:36:49.57 | Unknown | I agree with that. We have a very solid task force. I want to thank everybody and really trust them. We also have had the RFQ. And ultimately, my original question, the contract would come here. So I think between staff and this task force, I have a lot of confidence that they will move that process forward and that the accelerated schedule would work. |
| 02:37:09.97 | Unknown | Yeah, I think my concern is that we're in the holiday season and this is a really important topic. So I guess I just wanted to get clarity. The prepare the RFP and review by task force. I mean, shouldn't the RFP come to council for review? Oh, city council to review and approve the RFP. Okay, I see. And that's in January. and then issue the RFP in February, review proposals in March and April. I think that's just too accelerated for the public. I guess I'm just concerned. |
| 02:37:48.41 | Ray Withey | Councilmember Pfeiffer, we're actually talking about the accelerated schedule on number two, where we end up with interviewing candidates in December and having a general kickoff in February, so shave in three months off the schedule. |
| 02:38:04.67 | Unknown | Okay, oh I see number two, okay I see. Sorry, I was looking. |
| 02:38:08.88 | Ray Withey | I'm not quite sure what the strikeouts were, but that must have been something even different. Um, Because I think you're looking at the schedule that they've got in the table versus the schedule that's presented in number two, I think. |
| 02:38:19.86 | Danny Castro | I am. Was presented in. I am. If I may, just to clarify, the strikeouts, so what was presented in your staff report had the original dates not striked out. and because December is not a date that's really available to come back to the Council um, because of what's on their agenda for December. That's what we had to go to the next following month. |
| 02:38:45.67 | Unknown | So I'm looking at process as much as I'm looking at schedule. And from what I'm seeing, we have, there's a big reliance on the task force and staff, interview top candidates in December, presentation to council, award of contract. So is the idea that the task force is coming back to council with their recommendation of who they think the RFP should be awarded to? Will the Council, of course I won't be on the Council there, so, but, um, Presumably the the sitting council if they had any questions to look at any of the other proposals they would be able to and the public would be to I'm assuming this would all be public access General plan kickoff in February I just, I don't know. |
| 02:39:40.14 | Unknown | And point of clarification, as was mentioned, the task force meetings are Brown Act meetings, right? Open to the public and they're televised. So the public gets to view this process every bit of the way. |
| 02:39:40.25 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. |
| 02:39:53.18 | Unknown | . |
| 02:39:56.34 | Ray Withey | So I move that we accept the accelerated schedule as proposed by staff. The task force to review and approve the RFP for issuance in November. The task force and staff to interview top candidates in December. Presentation to council, award of contract in January with a general plan kickoff in February. That's my motion. I'll second it. |
| 02:40:18.71 | Jill Hoffman | I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE |
| 02:40:19.64 | Ray Withey | Hi. |
| 02:40:19.79 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:40:19.83 | Scott Diamond | Uh, |
| 02:40:20.01 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 02:40:20.10 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 02:40:20.33 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:40:20.37 | Unknown | you |
| 02:40:23.83 | Unknown | No. |
| 02:40:25.18 | Jill Hoffman | I just, |
| 02:40:25.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:40:25.67 | Jill Hoffman | this is too fast for the public. Thank you. Let me let me say to that you know they are brown act meetings the information that's talked about in the meetings is public information if anybody's interested they're welcome to come and look at the reports or they have access to full reports. Yeah that's a good point. And we welcome that. |
| 02:40:40.94 | Unknown | Yeah, that's a good we welcome that when when are the meetings held? |
| 02:40:45.59 | Jill Hoffman | The meetings are held when we can get five members. I see. But we do issue notice in accordance with the Brown Act along with the agenda and all the information and materials are available from Danny. |
| 02:40:58.08 | Unknown | So can I make a motion to, I know that I implemented this when I was on the Housing Element Task Force, which was to record audio tapes of the meeting so that the public could listen to the audio tapes and how people weigh in. Yes, I believe they are. They are? Yeah, we're already doing that. In fact, they're video taped, Council member. Oh, yeah, they're video taped. Yeah. Oh, they're videos. Great. Awesome. Okay, yeah, they're video taped. Yeah. Oh, they're videos. Great. Awesome. OK, wonderful. Got to get my hair done. OK. Moving on. We're talking about the task force meetings. Yes. Yeah, great. OK. |
| 02:41:16.98 | Joe Ruff | So I would. Thank you. |
| 02:41:18.94 | Ray Withey | Oh, great. In fact, they're videotaped, Councilmember. |
| 02:41:21.54 | Jill Hoffman | TODAY. |
| 02:41:32.41 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. Thank you. Okay, moving on to item seven, rocketing through our schedule. City manager reports, councilman reports, city council appointments, and other council business. City manager information for city council. |
| 02:41:48.59 | Adam Politzer | I don't have any major items for the council's, for a council report this evening. Happy to answer any questions of the council. I think you've heard this evening and at the previous meetings just how hard staff is working to get to the end of the year with moving items of significance forward. And we'll be back at the beginning of the next year with with a full agenda of of work the 29th the city council meeting on the 29th will you'll be robust and we'll have some exciting items on there not that tonight wasn't exciting we had a feeling that the dog park and issues related to dogwood dogs would draw A lot of people. to discuss it so you know that was part of reason why the 29th might be a little bit heavier than tonight's agenda but and then a reminder to the public That when we come back on the December 13th council meeting it really is Celebration in a variety of ways as a reminder tonight the council Wave parking downtown on the meters the the the payingived parking downtown on the meters the paying for parking downtown and in In return, we ask the public to feed the meters. because the meters feed the folks in need. and as we've done past year, the Ritter Center homeward bound. St. Vincent de Paul, all great programs that serve our members in need here in our community, support our churches with food, and support folks in the county. We'll be handing out checks that evening as we've done in the past, celebrating their good work, and hopefully we have money in the meters to hand out. And then obviously we will be thanking Councilmember Theodores and Councilmember Pfeiffer. Unfortunately, Doug Storm, I thought that Ray Withey was leaving the council. You're stuck with us, Ray, thankfully. And so we will be thanking Councilmember Pfeiffer and Councilmember Theodores for their service and then welcoming and congratulating Joan Cox and Joe Burns to the council and then we will adjourn to celebrate both of those events. And so that will end our evening and then we'll come back in January, most likely on the 10th. Debbie and I are working on the forecasting next year's council schedule. We traditionally try to avoid back-to-back council weeks. We try to avoid Monday holidays coming to a council meeting on Tuesday. We try to avoid some of the traditional holidays like Fourth of July and Labor Day and Memorial Day so that people can take long weekends and not be bound by their agenda packets on the long weekend. So the council meetings are not always on the first and third or the second and fourth. So we'll be working our best to get that out to the three sitting council members and the two council member elects and asking for you to send us any traveling conflicts you may already know meeting conflicts you may already have so again we can try to work with everyone's calendars to make sure that we always have all five of you at the council which is not always possible we've had folks teleconference in and we've had people just have to miss the meeting and that's also okay but we try our best between now and january to get a schedule that works for for all of us so that ends my report happy to answer any questions from the council |
| 02:45:43.86 | Jill Hoffman | THANKS. I HAVE NO QUESTIONS ON THIS. ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS? KEVIN, I HAVE MR. KEIFFER, I HAVE YOURS, BUT THAT'S FOR CITY MANAGER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. WE'RE NOT TO THAT POINT YET. I HAVE IT RIGHT HERE, THOUGH. I'VE GOT IT RIGHT THERE. I'VE GOT IT RIGHT THERE. ALL RIGHT. ANY COUNCIL DISCUSSION? ANYTHING ON THIS? NO? OKAY. ALL RIGHT. MOVING ON TO COUNCILMEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. I have one report on the short term rental task force we did meet. We were trying to get another meeting in before our next city council meeting. I don't think that's going to happen. Our schedules are too difficult to reconcile. But we will have an update on the 29th by our chair, Russ Irwin, I believe. And that's the only committee report that I have. Anybody else? |
| 02:46:35.90 | Ray Withey | Madam Mayor, I just wanted to say that the Finance Committee meeting is not happening tomorrow and is moved to the 30th, I think, at 10 a.m. |
| 02:46:45.29 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. Any other committee reports? No. Moving on. Appointments to boards and commissions. I don't think we have any tonight. No. Moving on. Future agenda items. Yes. Yes. you |
| 02:46:57.40 | Unknown | Yeah, since this is pretty much the last opportunity on November 29th, I have asked on several occasions over the year, last two, three years, I think, for the South Gateway plan to come up. And in fact, during the budget, I was assured that that would be on the agenda this year. And I think that's very important to see that get more transparency also the short-term rental fines we have a short-term urgent issue with some folks who are running full-time from what I hear from residents party party houses in town running a business model by buying homes and short-term rental so we we would like to up the fines on that and so I'd like to see that on the November 29th |
| 02:48:01.16 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. Anybody else? No? Okay? Yes, now Mr. Kui for your time public comment. . |
| 02:48:10.69 | Unknown | Oh. |
| 02:48:11.36 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:48:11.38 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:48:11.64 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:48:15.84 | Kevin Kiefer | Oh, yeah, I'd just like to... I mentioned that there's a reason possibly that Lieutenant Gregory's report reflected. We're in a period of low solar minimum and a geo-gravitational minimum. And that allows us to become more enlightened. and things like seeing this big moon, the one chance we ever get to see that in our entire lifetime. So things are happening now that are different, And I really feel that from my perspective that there needs to be some concrete movement towards some kind of a collaborative direction dealing with the Anchorage situation. I'm not sure. We've been holding back a lot of ammunition for a lot of years, just letting it pile up, and it's dry. And we've touched off a few. We sent some emails to HUD a few years ago. and it ended up, we didn't know what would happen, so it ended up that the direction that they went probably had something to do with the re- the re-implementation of the low-income housing ratios. So that was with a Democratic I'm not sure that HUD really changes that much, but a Democratic cabinet anyway. So things are going to be stickier this time. And even though the county may have been put on a few years probation and who knows how many, $70,000, $60,000 to readjust this number in there to get a new bean counter in here. But the thing was the readjustments weren't correct. So we just watched it and said... READJUST THIS NUMBER IN THERE TO GET A NEW BEAN COUNTER IN HERE. BUT THE THING WAS, THE READJUSTMENTS WEREN'T CORRECT. SO WE JUST WATCHED IT AND SAID, Okay. So unfortunately, that's the kind of thing that we're going to have to re-implement We're gonna have to make some more of these negative confrontational type movements because we don't see this community, although you you I commend you for what for what you did. Possibly withdrawing from the or potentially withdrawing from the RBRA. That's great, but the RBRA is going to go down Hard it's a bus hanging over the cliff, so you need to get away from it Not not just threatened to get off the bus. You need to jump off that bus So. If there's a possibility to move this forward, great, but I don't, from my perspective, I don't see it. there isn't a whole lot of choice from our standpoint. So we've been really patient. |
| 02:51:22.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, I see no other public comment. on this matter. Any counsel? Any other reports of significance? Nope. No? Okay. Then that's a wrap. |
| 02:51:39.79 | Unknown | Right on, man. |
Kevin Kiefer — Against: Argued Sausalito is a global brand that shouldn't be turned into cookie-cutter retail. Accused the council of using complex legal schemes to displace the anchor-out community, claiming they lack the real 'rule of law' and warning it will 'get messy.' ▶ 📄
Unknown (Louis?) — Neutral: Appreciated the council 'digging up the dirt' on the RBRA. Criticized the hiring of Ron Gould as interim RBRA director, noting he was under civil indictment and paid $10,000 for a report that revealed nothing new. Requested an anchor-out be placed on the RBRA board. ▶ 📄
Asaf Ophir — Against: Expressed concern about moorings being removed if unattended, comparing it to taking a driveway so a car can't be used. Stated boats need to be moved for maintenance and sailing, and the current situation leaves anchor-outs at a loss for what to do. ▶ 📄
Doug Storms — Neutral: Represented the Richardson Bay Special Anchorage Association. Stated they are trying to work with authorities but cited a lack of communication, referencing a recent problematic action to remove illegal moorings. Emphasized the need for real-time cooperation to address issues on the water. ▶ 📄
Chad Carvey — Neutral: Applauded civil discourse and praised City Manager Adam Politzer. Stated they had reached an agreement on 'low-hanging fruit' like removing derelict boats, but lines were overstepped when moorings without boats were removed. Asked the council directly if their goal is to get rid of anchor outs or to allow safe, clean living on boats. ▶ 📄
Scott Diamond — Against: Urged the council to better understand the technical need for moorings for safety, as boats can break loose. Criticized the recent removal of moorings as inappropriate and causing hardship, suggesting moorings should be labeled and monitored instead. ▶ 📄
Alden Bevington — Neutral: Suggested enforcement agencies simply call representatives of the anchorage to coordinate before taking action, stating it would make everything easier and safer. Expressed support for working together. ▶ 📄