| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:00.03 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. And everything else. Did you get any snow? Thank you. |
| 00:00:06.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, good evening and welcome to the Sausalito City Council meeting for Tuesday, February 27, 2018. I will call the meeting to order and request Lily to take the role. |
| 00:00:19.07 | Lily | I WANT TO BE ABLE TO |
| 00:00:20.82 | Ray Withee | you |
| 00:00:20.86 | Lily | HAPPY. |
| 00:00:20.92 | Ray Withee | Thank you. |
| 00:00:21.02 | Lily | THE FAMILY. |
| 00:00:21.23 | Ray Withee | Thank you. |
| 00:00:21.26 | Lily | Councilmember Hoffman. Councilmember Cleveland Knowles? Here. Vice Mayor Burns? Here. Mayor Cox? Here. Mayor Cox? |
| 00:00:26.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:00:26.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:29.38 | Lily | Uh, |
| 00:00:29.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We are going to adjourn to closed session to discuss items D1 through D3. D1 is conference with legal counsel, existing litigation pursuant to California Government Code section 54956.9A, name of case California Bay Area Renters Association versus Sausalito. Item 2 is Conference with Legal Counsel Anticipated Litigation, Initiation of Litigation Pursuant to Paragraph 4 of Subdivision D of Section 54956.9, one potential case. And Item 3 is Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation Pursuant to California Government Code Section 54956.9A, Name of Case, Ford v. Sausalito. And with that, we will adjourn to closed session. Thank you. |
| 00:01:20.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, good evening and welcome to the Sausalito City Council meeting for Tuesday, February 27, 2018. I will call the meeting to order and ask... |
| 00:01:30.03 | Lily | Lily to call the roll. Councilmember with thee? Councilmember Hoffman. Present. Councilmember Cleveland Knowles? Here. Vice Mayor Burns? Here. |
| 00:01:39.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:01:40.25 | Lily | Mayor Cox, here. Bill Werner, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, |
| 00:01:44.94 | Unknown | of allegiance, please. |
| 00:01:45.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THANK YOU. |
| 00:01:46.97 | Unknown | I know. |
| 00:01:50.04 | Unknown | Thank you. about. Don't ever ask me. |
| 00:01:55.24 | Unknown | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. |
| 00:01:55.62 | Unknown | and the joy of the darkness to the fire of the young people. |
| 00:01:58.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, |
| 00:02:03.89 | Unknown | One nation. under God. |
| 00:02:07.56 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:02:07.94 | Unknown | and justice for women. |
| 00:02:12.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we held a closed session tonight. There are no closed session announcements. Is there any public comment on our closed session items? All right, seeing none, we'll move on to approval of the agenda. |
| 00:02:33.02 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | May I have a motion? |
| 00:02:33.56 | Ray Withee | So, |
| 00:02:33.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:02:34.20 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 00:02:34.25 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:02:34.32 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Second. All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. |
| 00:02:35.91 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:02:39.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, the first thing on our agenda tonight is a special presentation and mayor's announcements. And it is my honor and privilege at this time to issue a proclamation from the city of Sausalito recognizing the dedication and contributions of Bill Werner to the Sausalito community. So Bill, may I ask you to come up to the podium and be embarrassed for a few minutes? |
| 00:03:12.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:03:19.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So Bill, our positions are reversed. Usually the person at the podium is making a presentation to staff. This evening, we're going to make a presentation to you. So I'm gonna read a proclamation that we are presenting to you this evening. Whereas, for the last 30 years through his service on numerous city of Sausalito commissions, boards, task forces and committees, Bill Werner has dedicated untold volunteer hours to the city of Sausalito, including participating in hundreds of meetings and devoting many, many long nights and weekends of his valuable time and Whereas Bill's first 20 years of city service included seven years on the city's design review board beginning in 1988, which he chaired for four years, his first stint on the city's planning commission from 1995 to 1998, his service as vice chair from 1999 to 2000 on the city's parking policy task force, on the city's police and fire facilities needs assessment task force from 2002 to 2003, and on the police and fire facilities project team from 2004 to 2008. Whereas Bill's service to the city includes being a part of the Waterfront and Marinship Steering Committee from 2009 to 2014, his service as chair on the residence committee of the America's Cup Task Force from 2011 to 2013, and his membership on the Marinship Specific Plan Steering Committee from 2013 to 2015. |
| 00:04:41.27 | Unknown | And? |
| 00:04:41.37 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And? Thank you. |
| 00:04:43.33 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:04:43.38 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Whereas, Bill has served on the Planning Commission from 2010 to the present as Chair in 2015 and 2016, affably agreeing to serve on the Commission until the Council found a replacement for him. And, whereas, as a Planning Commissioner, Bill brought to the Commission a great sensibility when reviewing projects, often taking seemingly complex design issues and breaking them down into simple yet effective solutions, backed by his extensive architectural background and historical knowledge of what is just right for Sausalito. And, Whereas when it was Bill's turn to deliberate behind the dais as a planning commissioner, the room immediately turned silent as all ears were on what he had to say. Which was often thought provoking and persuasive commentary. From recommending the trim color of a building to suggesting that installing window curtains will solve privacy impacts. And. Whereas Bill has served on the General Plan Advisory Committee from 2017 to the present, currently as Vice Chair, and has brought priceless knowledge and wisdom to that committee as it has embarked on a three-year process to guide the update of Sausalito's General Plan. And Whereas Bill has provided additional valuable service to his community by serving on the Marin Civil Grand Jury, looking out for the Sausalito housing element and historic regulations, and providing his expertise as an architect in designing the city's downtown restrooms. And... Whereas Bill has also served innumerable members of the community by sharing his vast wealth of knowledge and experience regarding the best eateries. where the best martinis are to be had, and where to go and do the most interesting and enriching cultural experiences. Now, therefore, the Sausalito City Council wishes to wholeheartedly thank Bill Werner for his many years of service to the city of Sausalito, and be it further proclaimed by the Sausalito City Council and on behalf of the citizens of the city of Sausalito that we all encourage Bill to continue to serve the city for the next 30 years. In witness whereof, I, Joan Cox, Mayor of the City of Sausalito, here unto my hand and caused the seal of the City of Sausalito to be affixed this 27th day of February 2018. |
| 00:06:51.27 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:07:22.38 | Unknown | . |
| 00:07:24.89 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But Bill, we're not done yet because... |
| 00:07:27.00 | Unknown | because |
| 00:07:29.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Having read that proclamation, I'm going to open it up to the city council for comments and then we're going to open it up for public comment. |
| 00:07:36.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, well, I'm going to dive in. I may not be the only person on the dais with the honor of serving on the planning commission with Bill, but I am the only person in the room with the honor of being a candidate for the Sausalito City Council with Bill. And through both of those experiences, I have known Bill Werner as a man of integrity, of great intelligence, and best of all, wonderful humor. I got many great notes during our Planning Commission tenure that gave me good perspective and taught me a lot. I have great admiration for Bill, and one of the things I admired most about him during the campaign was his search for the soul of Sausalito and his love for our great town. So thank you so much, Bill. I really admire you, and I've really learned a lot from you. |
| 00:08:32.95 | Unknown | for. |
| 00:08:39.49 | Unknown | Joe. |
| 00:08:39.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:08:39.93 | Vice Mayor | Yeah. Bill, thank you for your service to Sausalito. We haven't worked on many projects together, commissions together, but I look at you as somebody, if I could start now to emulate you, I can get it done when I'm 140 years old. So I now have a goal. My memory of Bill and best memory of Bill goes to Sushi Run, and I'll always remember that night where we had an incredible tasting and pairing opportunity to go. eight years ago, nine years ago. That was a great evening. But you've always been a class act, gentleman, and a great asset to Saucyuno, so thank you. |
| 00:09:29.44 | Jill Hoffman | You know, it just can't be understated, the amount of service that you've given to Sausalito. I mean, when you look at the hours and when Joan was reading off the proclamation, if you costed that out by your fees, I mean, the amount of time and, you know, the value of the time that you've devoted to this town is really, really, it's just incredible. And anybody who doesn't understand that doesn't understand how hard it is to serve on. these commissions and all the various boards and the level of experience and insight that you bring to any task or that you take on is really incredible. And so we've been so lucky in Saucelita to have you as part of our community and part of the conversation. for all of these years. It's really quite remarkable, even in a town that has a high level of volunteerism anyway. But I mean, you know, your level of volunteerism and on the civil grand jury as well and bringing that experience to us is, we certainly appreciate that. I'm imagining that people come up to you and say that to you a lot, I'm happy to also say that in this forum and in this public manner. And I hope that you do continue to stay involved, and especially with the general plan update. I think it's really, really important. So thank you so much for your effort. I appreciate it. |
| 00:10:45.01 | Ray Withee | Mm-hmm. Of course, I'm going to echo everything that's been said. Okay, two council members served with you on the Planning Commission and one Um, a collegial combative city council race, but I have a unique Story as well. I'm the only person up here who's actually stood at that podium and presented and asked for a design review permit with Bill being up here on the planning commission for a |
| 00:11:30.40 | Unknown | Bye. that doesn't like . |
| 00:11:32.95 | Ray Withee | For a |
| 00:11:34.49 | Unknown | He got his approval. |
| 00:11:34.57 | Ray Withee | Thank you. It was, I think, I was the applicant, an interesting project. It was my first interaction with Bill. And what I quickly realized was his fundamental ability to sniff out good from bad when it came to design. I mean, just fundamentally understands it and is a master of it. So that has been at its core one of the fundamental, I think, contributions that Bill has made to our city over many, many years, understanding it and understanding its design. |
| 00:11:35.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:12:19.51 | Ray Withee | Bill and I have disagreed on a number of issues politically, but the one thing that I found increasingly, especially right now, refreshing and wonderful. is that Even on opposite sides of the discussion, Bill brings and intellectual honesty and an intellectual rigor. to his reasoning and his decision making. And that has also been a great contribution to Sausalito over many, many years. And then finally, I think when we were planning for and recruiting and deciding how to put together this really momentous task of redoing the general plan, we specifically, knowing that this moment was coming, that Bill had turned out and was going to be leaving the planning commission, we specifically appointed him to the general plan advisory committee, irrespective of whether he was a planning commissioner or not, because we wanted his contribution to be throughout the general plan process. So everybody said everything else. Thanks Bill. |
| 00:13:38.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:13:40.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you, Bill. I'm going to open it up to the public for comment. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:13:52.96 | John Farrell | I'm John Farrell. Some of you have been around here long enough to remember the great police fire issue we had 16 years ago, as a matter of fact. The little group that opposed Measure B You remember that, Sandra? We met twice a week in Devino restaurant for nine months. And I had the honor of chairing that little group. I remember always calling Bill. last in the meeting. on any of the issues because everybody always waited for that moment because Bill brought to You're shaking your head, Bill, it's true. Bill brought to the discussion wisdom that I think, and knowledge that none of us had. And he delivered his remarks in such a way with such integrity. And with such conviction, and they were so well thought out. the thing would not have worked without Bill. The other thing I'm going to say about Bill is if you ever get a chance to sit down at his table, don't miss it. He's the best chef I've ever known in my life. |
| 00:15:18.25 | Unknown | Wow. |
| 00:15:33.12 | Peter Van Meter | I'm Peter Van Meter. I'm particularly pleased to have this opportunity to stand up and offer praise to Bill Werner on this momentous honor for what he's done for the city of Sausalito. He and I do share a mental disorder of too much volunteer hours, but he has clearly exceeded the greatest expectations of anyone. And it's not just because, Bill, you were instrumental in getting something passed in the Planning Commission in 1980s that for at least a while was known as a van meter fence ordinance. Which had to do with the height of the fences, which I don't think we ever knew. That fence was because 42 inches was where I could see the city from sitting in my deck. But regardless of that, I know Bill has offered tremendous service to the city, and I'm very honored to be working with him on the General Plan Advisory Committee now, because it turns out that we actually just agree on so much. I mean, it's just exciting to me to see us nodding our heads as we luckily sit across the room where we have that eye contact and we're making that communication. But well-deserved honor, and thank you, Bill, for all your service to the city. |
| 00:16:57.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, any other public comment? All right, I'm going to close this item with the city's profound thanks and gratitude to Bill Werner. Thank you, Bill. |
| 00:17:14.37 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, next on our agenda is to present the winner of the 2018 Super Bowl. |
| 00:17:27.56 | Julie Myers | Hello council members, Madam Mayor, Julie Myers of Parks and Recreation. I'd like to bring up our champion Super Bowl chef, Dennis Tale. Come on, stand next to me. |
| 00:17:44.27 | Julie Myers | So this is the Super Bowl, our soup crawl that we do every year. And I know some of our council members enjoyed it as well. Just a little bit about this year, we sold 195 tickets. 57 of which were bought online prior. Got to smile. |
| 00:18:01.18 | Unknown | No smiles. I'm not. |
| 00:18:02.82 | Julie Myers | And then 43% were bought at the day of. And 80% of the people that bought them before were from Marin County. And then of the ones who bought it at the day of, we recognized pretty much everyone. So it was great to see the locals come out and support this event. So, and I think next year we might, Bill Werner, will you be the next chef that will be up here next year? . I think that's what I heard. So I would like to, first off, Dennis, congratulate you. |
| 00:18:35.16 | Unknown | Right. |
| 00:18:35.38 | Julie Myers | And then present, you get a little sticker for your window if you wanna use it. And then here is your plaque. Here's your plaque. |
| 00:18:44.21 | Dennis Tale | Here's your plaque. I just want a flag. |
| 00:18:45.54 | Julie Myers | So congratulations. And now we've got to do another picture. Okay. Show your mic. |
| 00:18:45.74 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:18:46.66 | Unknown | Thank you. THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:18:47.60 | Dennis Tale | Thank you. |
| 00:18:47.97 | Unknown | And we can't. Okay. |
| 00:18:50.76 | Julie Myers | Thank you. |
| 00:18:51.13 | Unknown | Thank you. You didn't name the best friend, did you? |
| 00:18:56.68 | Julie Myers | Oh, Sausalito Yacht Club. Sorry. Oh, yay. You should know this. And if you hadn't had the soup, I think, are you going to put it on the menu? Because it's really good. It's really yummy. |
| 00:18:57.74 | Unknown | Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. |
| 00:18:59.11 | Dennis Tale | Oh, yeah. You should know. |
| 00:19:00.73 | Unknown | Oh, that's good. |
| 00:19:06.08 | Dennis Tale | We have a lot of manual during Super Bowl, so we'll see what happens. |
| 00:19:11.24 | Julie Myers | Thank you. |
| 00:19:11.26 | Jill Hoffman | Was it clam chowder? No. What was it? Can you tell us the name of the soup or something? |
| 00:19:13.13 | Dennis Tale | But we don't know. We make a Marin County winter meadow soup. So we use all the vegetables that is grown in Marin County. And I use some of my influence as a melting pot. I make actually a Thai coconut curry broth. with all the vegetables that are grown in Marin County and just blend it. Because I know everybody's going to make lamb chowder, right? |
| 00:19:33.43 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:19:33.72 | Unknown | in the county. |
| 00:19:38.93 | Dennis Tale | What do we grow around in Marin County? Vegetables. |
| 00:19:42.01 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:19:42.04 | Dennis Tale | So that's my opportunity. |
| 00:19:44.84 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:19:46.34 | Julie Myers | Thank you. |
| 00:19:47.93 | Dennis Tale | . |
| 00:19:47.96 | Julie Myers | Thank you. |
| 00:19:48.00 | Dennis Tale | Thank you. |
| 00:19:48.08 | Julie Myers | Thank you. |
| 00:19:56.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Next on our agenda is communications. This is the time for the City Council to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes the Council from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. Would anybody in the audience like to comment on an item not on our agenda this evening? All right, seeing none, we'll move right on to action minutes of the prior meeting. This is the minutes of the regular city council meeting of February 13, 2018. Any revisions to suggest? May I have a motion? |
| 00:20:34.32 | Vice Mayor | So moved. |
| 00:20:35.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. That motion carries 5-0. |
| 00:20:36.68 | Vice Mayor | Bye. |
| 00:20:40.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, next on our agenda is the consent calendar. Matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial, 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. Is there any public comment on our consent calendar this evening? All right, seeing none, I'll bring it up here for discussion. Is there any discussion on the consent calendar? |
| 00:21:09.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So I don't know exactly what our rules are around the consent calendar, but we did receive public correspondence from Russ Irwin on the drone ordinance and he had some points. I forwarded the correspondence to our city manager and I was just wondering if staff had had a chance to consider those comments and if there was any response. |
| 00:21:37.90 | Adam Politzer | Our Lieutenant, Lieutenant Frost, did have a chance to talk to Russ Erwin. |
| 00:21:47.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And is staff recommending any revisions to our draft drone ordinance? Okay. Great, thank you. Any other comments? |
| 00:21:56.21 | Vice Mayor | I had questioned the changes we made. I've also talked with staff and Lieutenant Frost and just wanted to assure that you know that they were on the same page and they are so we're good to go |
| 00:22:11.70 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other comments on consent items? I did want to comment on the budget item. So I did have some public comment asking about where we record debt service for our various bonds and There was an answer. It's not recorded as a separate line item, but that's something that we will, that the finance manager will report, I'm looking at the finance manager, will report to us on a separate line item for our information in future reports. And then the other question had to do with pensions and where we stand with pensions. That will be the subject of a future separate public discussion item for the city council. And so with that, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar. So moved. |
| 00:23:10.18 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:23:10.21 | Ray Withee | Second. |
| 00:23:11.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. All right, we'll move on to business items. First item is... |
| 00:23:11.73 | Ray Withee | Aye. |
| 00:23:19.14 | Unknown | I'm sorry to comment on the consent calendar. |
| 00:23:21.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I asked for comment and didn't hear any, but please come forward. |
| 00:23:26.85 | Unknown | We've already approved that. |
| 00:23:32.32 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Sorry, Neil, that you missed that. I did specifically ask for comment. |
| 00:23:37.33 | Unknown | I certainly hope this drone ordinance is put through. I didn't read the article in the IJ, but a couple people contacted me about what happened to me last year where I was attacked at eye level by a drone. And I found out since that there's a nutcase living up there, I forget his name, that has challenged the police, and would be on the street and says, I run the street here. And people have to conform to what I say and do, not the city. So he's put out a challenge, he's got lawyers. AND I WANT TO DO THAT. I'm going to be involved in them because I don't have anything to take away, so I'm not the least frightened of his lawyers. And so I hope we pass this ordinance so that it can be stopped from flying that. And for those that didn't read the IJ article, I forgot what day it was in. Oh, I was in the parking lot in front of my place across the street. And it was about, oh, maybe 45 minutes before dusk. And a drone came over my head, about four foot over my head, came back and was at eye level. And I had to duck it to not get hit in the face. And at the time when I called the police department, I think it's about a year ago, so I don't remember all the details. The police said, well, there isn't much we can do about it, whatever officer I spoke to. I don't know who I spoke to, but it's probably in the records. And I'd suggest that on our neighborhood that if this is the Wild West and the police can't do anything about it, there is such a thing that we did in the Wild West. I might have been there. Take the law into our own hands, which means guns, slingshots, whatever. But I didn't conspire to tell anybody that they should do that. But I did say that if it came near me again, I was going to swat it with my cane or my broom or whatever it did to take it out. And I don't care if it was against the law what I did. But nobody's going to attack me with a drone in the face without consequences. And now that I know who he is and he's challenging the law, I don't understand that, how he can say, I run the laws on the street and the police can't do anything about it. And they're afraid of him because of a lawsuit. I don't know what's going on with that, but I sure hope you investigate that or the police department investigates that. Well, why isn't the police department arresting him if he refuses to pay the law and challenges him bold-facedly because he's got a lawyer? Big deal. Thank you. |
| 00:26:09.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. You'll be pleased to learn that tonight was our second reading of this ordinance. We waived the second reading and with our approval of the consent calendar, we did go ahead and adopt ordinance 1253, regulation of drones. All right. Okay, with that, I'm going to move on to item 6A, our 2018 congestion management plan, consideration of Tracy Way closure and approval of agreement with Sausalito bike return. |
| 00:26:51.91 | Police Chief | Hi, good evening. I just need a minute to put my presentation up. |
| 00:27:03.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Mind if I open the window a little bit? |
| 00:27:36.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm just reading them right now. I didn't realize they were going to be. |
| 00:27:36.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:37.04 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:37.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:27:46.88 | Police Chief | All right, all set? Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the City Council. It's my pleasure tonight to speak about the Bicycle Congestion Management Plan for 2018. There's Quite a bit of material to go through. I just say in advance that if you have questions while I'm going through my presentation, I'm happy to take them unless you want to hold them to the end, but I don't mind if you have some as we go along. There's several different topics to review. So I'm going to handle the majority of the presentation, but I have backup. And so Melanie Purcell is here. She's our administrative services director. She will be able to introduce the financial aspect of the agreement with South Street of Bike Return. John and Lisa Scopazi are here. You'll hear from them about their program. And then Colette Martinez, who's an operations manager for Golden Gate Ferry, is here. She, I didn't ask her to do a separate presentation, But in case you have questions about the plans for reservations and ticketing, Colette is the person to ask. |
| 00:28:55.56 | Police Chief | So we have a lot of stakeholders involved in this and it has been this way for a long time. And but Salcido Bike Return is now a primary, They were already won the last couple of years when they just did bike return. The Golden Gate Ferry and the Blue and Gold Ferry are always large stakeholders in any congestion management plan that we have. The rental bicycle companies are as well. The Chamber of Commerce and their operation at the kiosk is important. And of course, we like to think that we have a role, the police department and the South Seattle residents as well. There are a lot of interested parties in all of what we do to make Saucydo safe during our tourist season. |
| 00:29:45.31 | Police Chief | So we have a lot of common objectives. And when I say common, I'm talking about all of us that are the stakeholders. We all want a piece of this. For us and the police department, the first one is the most important, The word safe, you hear us talk about that a lot. Safety is what drives what we do. Our decisions are always based on safety. But we also want to create that welcoming and memorable experience for our residents and visiting tourists and our bicyclists to Sausalito. We want to provide a form of convenient bike parking both paid and free, And now we have the bicycle return option. and of course an even more organized ferry boarding process. important to so many of our residents and our business owners is to reduce the congestion on our sidewalks. We've had bike parking so haphazard at meters and trees in front of shops. And for a few years now, we've had our special enforcement zone for no bike parking. And that's a common objective that we will enforce We'd like to help our tourists depart Sausalito, whether it's on a ferry or other form of transportation. at the time that they desire or as soon after as we can get. Thank you. And so these are the common objectives that all of us work towards. So just a little bit of history. Bicycle parking, I did, you know, looking at this for several different preparations for council presentations. Is we have staff reports going back to 2009 that I could put my hands on. I'm sure there's some that are older. And some of the original ones actually talk about the bike parking as it was the bike racks at the B of A Plaza. I know that comes up and you'll hear me talk about that. When the original bike parking plan was bike racks in B of A, And then some, of course, in lot one and some over by the ferry landing, and that's kind of migrated its way to You know, a change a few years later to bike parking that took place in the municipal lot one where we cordoned off parking spaces, and used, I think they call it K-rail barriers, the concrete barriers to try and keep the bicyclists and pedestrians separate from the cars in the parking lot. And we weren't terribly fond of that we the police it just was too much activity in the parking lot for bicyclists and pedestrians and we, you know, we're working towards changes, but at the same time, the city council created the, uh, Pedestry and Bike Advisory Committee 2013. Public Works Director Jonathan Goldman and I, we've had the pleasure of serving as staff liaisons to that. a committee since it was created. I'm not sure. That very committee started the ambassador program on their own. In fact, the first members of the bicycle advisory committee actually started doing ambassador services themselves, standing up on Alexander to test that out, to see what it would be like if someone stood at Alexander East Road and greeted visitors as they came into town. and to see if they would be of any help at all, any value. and then report back to the rest of the Pedestrian Bike Advisory Committee on those results, which were favorable. As a result of that, the South Salido Ambassador Program was created by PBAC, actually, and the... THE FEDERAL. program when it first started was actually funded privately by Dr. Fotch, who was the chair of PBAC. in order to get that program rolling. And so, We do these incremental steps every year looking at ways to improve. That program was brought to city council to use Saucyuto Plus, a new nonprofit organization that was created. to start bike parking in 2015. And we didn't get it going the very first week or two of March or April like we usually would like now in these later years. We didn't really get started until mid-year in 2015. So later on when you see some of my statistics, you'll see that I just used 2016 to 17 for comparison because they're whole years, whereas 15 is a little bit of an anomaly that it was less. And then in 2017, there's actually a lot of activity coming from many of you to, create a request for proposal for ambassador services, bike parking and bike return. In fact, Dr. Fotch stood right here at this very podium and made that suggestion to Council in July. of 2017, saying, You should be thinking about an RFP to see if someone else can do this. We can't guarantee that we saw SIDA Plus will be around forever. you city should have a plan about an alternative and then you know, see what happens. and Thank you. I have a little bit of a timeline later about that. |
| 00:34:54.17 | Police Chief | So one of the things that came out of having Ambassador Services was the ability to collect some data. And we like collecting data, it helps us form a game plan about what we're gonna do and what are we seeing. And again, I said that I was just gonna use two years. And so this is the counts from the Ambassador Station number one at the top of Alexander East Road. And, 2016. was just under a quarter million bite counts. And these bite counts are taken the same way both years, and you'll see the stopping as we talk about saw suit of bike return to be doing the same thing but In the slower months, the count on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, In the busier months, they count seven days a week. But the hours are the same, they're 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. So we get some consistency in the counting. And again, this suggestion actually came out of the pedestrian bike advisory committee is to start. Counting. And there was a year when I think after the first year, we were looking at the end of the year balances and talking about maybe something we could cut. And one of the things that we advocated for to stay in place was just this, because it helped us understand the scope of our problem. and our challenges. 2017 we had a few less visitors, and again there's some percentages there, looks like we're down about 12.5% of visitors As counted again by that particular time, those particular days when it was consistent. Thank you. |
| 00:36:34.62 | Vice Mayor | Chief, yeah, you said we can ask as we go. And this is a slide I had a question. |
| 00:36:34.89 | Police Chief | Chief, yeah. |
| 00:36:38.47 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 00:36:38.49 | Vice Mayor | What was the methodology for the other four days of the week count for those off? |
| 00:36:44.80 | Police Chief | Yeah, in the slow months like April, May, no count. BUT HOW DID THEY CONFER? |
| 00:36:49.83 | Vice Mayor | But how did they come up with a number? They had to apply a number because we didn't have, yeah. |
| 00:36:52.19 | Police Chief | Sure, so there was no number. So the numbers are just from the way that the count was done, but it was done the same way both years. So in other words, to compare 16 and 17, If there was no counting on Mondays in 2016, we didn't do any counting in 2017. |
| 00:37:07.13 | Vice Mayor | So in April of 2016, 30,000 people were counted just on three days a week? Yes. And on June, 36,000 were counted seven days a week? Yes. And is that? |
| 00:37:19.76 | Unknown | John. Right? |
| 00:37:22.58 | Vice Mayor | So three days a week we did $30,000, and seven days a week we did $36,000. Yes. |
| 00:37:27.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But the three days a week included the weekend, I'm assuming? |
| 00:37:30.01 | Vice Mayor | Yes. |
| 00:37:30.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:37:30.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So. What that means is that that what it |
| 00:37:32.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:37:32.88 | Vice Mayor | . |
| 00:37:33.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | what it means. |
| 00:37:33.38 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. |
| 00:37:33.62 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:37:33.65 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 00:37:33.89 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you I mean, It sounds correct, but it just makes it difficult data to use and explain to people. |
| 00:37:43.73 | Police Chief | So we're confident in the data. We know that the ambassadors counted the same way they were instructed. We had the same set of days and hours each year. So the comparisons are good. Was there a follow-up to that that I missed? Okay. All right. |
| 00:37:59.93 | Police Chief | So on a different note, again, looking at trying to collect some data about what's happening once people get here with their bicycles, and again, these are just rental bicycles. And so those bicycles coming in don't represent all bicycles. They're just representing the tourist bikes, that first slide. So here... We are using the same Station one counts 2017 versus how many permits were sold. And we know how many were sold based on our data coming from the kiosk machines that sell the tickets. So there's clearly a gap. And it's a gap that We always wonder where does everybody go? I mean, if we had 2017 rental bicycles come into town. and we sold 72,000 permits let everybody else do. And I'll have more about that in a minute. they still could have gone back on the ferry, et cetera, but they just didn't pay to park. So as we look at, Have we made that attractive enough? Do we make it easy enough? Do we give good enough direction? Is our signage good? Is our ambassador service good? Is all the parts of what we're doing good? or good enough, I should say, to generate that level of success or more, you know, based on whatever we were doing in 2017, which as we look at every year that we've been at this since 2008 or 2009, was really our best year. As every year I think that all of us collectively got better. The other thing that we get routinely from Golden Gate Ferry is a count. They give us actually counts of all their bike passenger trips, northbound, southbound, and by day of the week, and by time of day and such. But I summarized the number here based on their tables so that we could look at how that compared to some of our other counting that, and we did. For example, there was 100,000 and some change bicycle riders that got on the boat. But we know that 217,000 came in. from that slide counted. and So again, the question comes up, where'd everybody go? how they get back to San Francisco, presumably, and that's where they came from. Because those are the things we wanna know, because as we move forward, what can we do next? What can we do better? What can we do to improve to see those numbers go up. or other numbers go down or whatever the case may be. |
| 00:40:41.99 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Can I ask a question? |
| 00:40:43.04 | Police Chief | Sure. |
| 00:40:43.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Do we have figures? So there's nobody counting at the other end of town how many bikes continue on to Tiburon or Mill Valley. We do not. And do we have numbers from Blue and Gold? Did you just? |
| 00:40:49.59 | Police Chief | We do not. We do not, Blue and Gold does not provide numbers. So that's part of my next slide about missing blocks. |
| 00:40:55.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 00:40:57.61 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 00:40:57.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:40:57.79 | Police Chief | Because Blue and Gold takes a lot of bikes back, a lot of passengers with bikes. |
| 00:40:58.04 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:41:00.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Passion. |
| 00:41:01.72 | Police Chief | How many I don't really know, but They don't provide numbers to us. |
| 00:41:06.53 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And they don't provide them because we haven't asked or they just don't want to? |
| 00:41:09.77 | Police Chief | Well, we asked, but their private company Blue and Gold, I mean, the Golden Gate fairy runs as a public agency. and respond to our request. Blue and Gold helps in so many ways that they just don't give us their business numbers. not saying they're not really good to work with, by the way. They just don't give us the number that they take. |
| 00:41:32.84 | Police Chief | So that's a, but these are really solid. I mean, the data we get, that's really condensed from a significant spreadsheet of different days, which boat rides, you could always know which ones, you know, has the most people on it. and the count. And so we've been getting this for a very long time from them and have a lot of confidence in those numbers. So again, the mystery of where'd all the bikes go? what happened to him. you know, how'd the uncounted bike riders get back? And these are just some things that I wrote down, there could be more ideas. Pardon me, some clearly could have made the ride to Tiburon. and picked up the ferry there. And sometimes that boat stops in Sausalito with partial load and takes more people here and goes back. That's a blue and gold ferry. The Blue and Gold Ferry itself takes a lot of passengers and takes a lot of bikes. So that's part of that missing number. Because I'm thinking someplace in there, there's about 100,000 bikes. I don't know where they went, right? And we know that our taxis take a lot of bikes. They don't take 100,000, but they contribute. They're a part of our whole congestion management plan. Clearly some of the more hardy souls, they write back. And again, they're a number, I don't know what they are, but they are a number. And then of course, one of the things that was new two seasons ago is the bike return service. And I have a number for you later about how many bikes they returned last year, but I think it's around 6,000, but I have a number coming up. So those count as well. all in an attempt to Thank you. aiding congestion management. |
| 00:43:13.75 | Police Chief | So tonight, other things to discuss. One is the seasonal closure of That requires your city council approval to close the road. I'm not sure. I also intend to have the retain the authority to close or put bikes on the Bank of America Plaza if needed. I've put this in every year, never had to use it. and actually don't have to ask you. because if there's an emergency, I get to do it. But it's not our first choice, and we really don't want that to happen, because it involves having bikes cross the road and add more to the problem, and I really avoid it. But if there's a, something happens, and I don't know what that even would be, Thank you. where all of a sudden we have a bunch of people in town and there's no way anybody's leaving. like a problem on the bridge, a problem with the boat, something like that where people can't go anywhere, we need a place to put them. and it'd be a one-time thing. We're not stalking or, piling any bike racks, waiting for that. If it came to this, it would be something that we would be involved with, and we'd be directing people to stick their bike over there, and we'd pack them in like sardines, because that's what we would do. Never had to do it, but I just want you to know if there's something that happens, we have an emergency plan, and that's part of it. So I don't expect it to happen. We look at avoiding that at all costs, but... It is something I want to have in every report to you at the beginning of the season. The next of course is the big one, is likely to authorize the saw suit of bike return to operate as the bike parking, the bike return, and ambassador services as outlined in the. RFP. We're going to go over some of that. |
| 00:44:53.96 | Police Chief | There's also the seasonal move of the taxi stand. Last year was the first year we did that. We put the taxis over on Bay Street because we need Anchor Street for the bike return service. That's a little bit disruptive, but less dangerous than having that bike return pickup someplace else. We're doing that again, and the drivers know that's going to happen. We promised them that we would. make sure there was adequate signage because as you heard from the taxi drivers at the first reading of the ordinance, they're all worried about being regulated out of business and we have no intention of being part of that. We really like our taxi drivers. Sometimes they're characters, but they're our characters. And we like having them here to help us with, you know, you know, getting people out of town if that's not the way they want to go. So the very passenger queuing area is another Thank you. outcome of all the work that the council did and the city did related to the new ferry landing and all that work. but the very passenger queuing area this year No ferry line is going to be permitted on Tracy Way or Anchor Street. That's our goal. Golden Gate is working towards, and you can ask Clett about that later if you'd like. But Nobody's going to be able to get on Tracy Way or Anchor, and no one's going to be able to get into the queuing area if they don't have a ticket or a reservation. And so that's how that's gonna go. It's a little bit more hardcore, that's the way it's gonna go this year, and we're all committed to helping Golden Gate Ferry make that happen, and Blue and Gold. |
| 00:46:35.58 | Police Chief | More discussion, we're going to continue with the enforcement of the bicycle parking violations in that special district created by council a couple years ago. We have the $25 release fee still in place. Last year we impounded 359 bikes, 517 before. So again, numbers are up. Why'd that happen? Why aren't they the same? Why isn't it more? Don't really know. I think, I'd like to think, if we're being real optimistic, it was because the word got out. that if you park your bike illegally, we're going to cable it up and you're going to pay 25 bucks to get it out. And I think a lot of that happened based on feedback that we got. I'd mentioned earlier that at a different meeting that we had locked up a bike that belonged to a particular bike company and the owner called me and And she said, I can't believe that happened. After all the work that we did to let our customers know, she was like, embarrassed that that happened, because one of her customers had a bike locked up because they worked so hard to make sure that that didn't happen to their customer. But that did and they had to pay 25 bucks to get their bike back. So I don't know exactly. I think we had about the same amount of days and hours of our parking enforcement officer. That was a season that the officer worked both times. Um, And that same parking officer, that part-time officer, also wrote some parking tickets, in fact quite a few, So I don't know, but that's the number. And so a third year will give us some comparison. and about how we're doing. And I think in a perfect situation, we wouldn't lock up any blanks. Everybody would understand, don't do it, because you're going to get your bike locked up. And so we'll see. not that optimistic, but we're gonna hope for the best and do our best on signage and do our best on communication And I know the information is gonna be shared by the back rental companies and by the Golden Gate Ferry and their brochure they hand out every year. Tour bus parking is always an issue. because we contact the companies. I actually sign a letter that goes to all of them every year about where they park and such on Humboldt. We also have a bunch of printer copies that we go and hand out because we get a lot of companies that come in that may not have their mailing address for. So in the early part of the season, we just blitz them with our letters saying, here's the rules for parking your buses on Humboldt Street. because again, they're large and it's really dangerous. And people get off and they go in different directions and again, we don't want anybody getting bumped over by a bus because it's not going to be good. So that's important to us. The other is that no matter how hard we've tried, we still get some complaints. And some of you saw that from Council Communication about the quiet zone ordinance and people, the bus drivers violating it. I know Lieutenant Gregory personally called one of the companies, the one that actually was being complained upon and the owner said, I'm just not going to bring any more open top buses into. So obviously I'm going to bring all closed buses because We're not going to go away. Our residents do not want to hear the same thing every day several times a day. and the council at least three or four years ago provided us with funds to hire a part-time officer to work on just this and bicycle violations. You write a fair amount of tickets of all types about this, but with the change of drivers and people getting new jobs and some who just don't care because they're ornery then we give them tickets. It's not really our first choice, but you really only get one warning. And some of them don't get that because they had it last year. The drivers that violate that, they have to you know, pay the consequences, because it's a pretty firm rule for all of Sausalito. It's not just the south end of town coming in. |
| 00:50:23.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Can I ask another question on ticketing? Sure. Do you ticket at all for not wearing helmets for children 13 and under? That's a state law. Is that correct? You have to wear a helmet if you're 13 and under. |
| 00:50:34.90 | Police Chief | You know, we do, but I'll bet we don't issue a lot of them. |
| 00:50:39.10 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 00:50:39.44 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:50:39.51 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:50:39.52 | Police Chief | because What we see mostly, and I don't know why it happens, but the adults don't wear their helmets. They'll have them on the handlebars and attach the bike someplace, but they put them on their kids. |
| 00:50:49.73 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:50:50.12 | Police Chief | I wish it was 100% compliance, but it's not. But I think that for the most part, I bet our citations for kids not wearing the helmet is a really low number. I don't know what it is, but I bet it's not real high. Thank you. |
| 00:51:01.63 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 00:51:02.35 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 00:51:02.37 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 00:51:02.78 | Police Chief | But it is sort of odd to see a family coming in and having the kids with their helmets and the parents not. Yeah, I have seen. |
| 00:51:09.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I have seen kids without helmets as well. I mean, I see what you see more often with the parents without, but we can't do anything about that, right? It's not, state law does not require adults to wear helmets. |
| 00:51:12.72 | Police Chief | Wow. WITHOUT. |
| 00:51:16.24 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:51:19.30 | Police Chief | THAT'S RIGHT. |
| 00:51:21.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, thank you. |
| 00:51:26.10 | Police Chief | Okay, so just a little bit of a timeline about the RFP process. There's actually a little bit more to it. This is summarized to the point of being a little bit too simplistic because the council has been working with us since July of last year on this not before the August break, giving us some staff direction in July. We actually were back to Council in October for additional direction and then in November with the final product and then moved our way through for the release of the RFP and the responses due. And so in an attempt to make it fit on one slide, I actually left off a little bit of the front end. So just so you know, it's not just started only in November. It's been a topic. Again, just like I said, Dr. Fox stood right here and said to the council, look, you've got to be thinking about an RFP here. And in fact, the Depvotts, the executive director, she offered to help us write it, and she did. And Lieutenant Frost met with her about you know, because like Dr. Fotch said when he was standing here, who better to help write the RFP than the people doing the job. at the moment. and so we were appreciative of that offer So I'm... took her up on it. So we are hopeful that with your approval we will have our first day of operation on March 23rd and then conclude in mid-October. That March 23rd date is one of those strange dates to pick, like what really defines spring break. And so we just looked at, you know, the week before Easter and then starting and making sure we were ahead of that and the week after kind of thing. But you could research spring break, and it's actually all over the map. I mean, we're not going to really be able to get started much sooner than anyway. So March 23rd is our first day of operation, but we'll ask for our help with Public Works to close that street a few days ahead and get all of our stuff installed and ready to go. |
| 00:53:24.26 | Police Chief | So at this point, I want to introduce John and Lisa Scopazi. This is just the cover slide for that. We're asking that for your approval to contract with them to provide ambassador services, bike parking, and bike return. They were successful last year with their bike return program. And with, as you can see, 5,698 bikes returned by their service. They have established working relationships already with many of the stakeholders. They have been in business really two years already. The first year was the experimental year pilot program with a bike return operator down on local street a little too far away from downtown to be as effective. And some advantages of what they intend to do is what we've been talking about for a while is having cross-trained employees so that as the workload shifts throughout the day, the employees shift with it and requiring less staffing rather than have people whose staffing is someplace where there's no longer work. and it was a model already started last year by Saucedo Plus after direction from us about looking at ways to cut expenses. And so this year with the addition of bike return service, I'm not sure. there's a true opportunity to do cross-trained employees at some savings. |
| 00:54:50.74 | Jill Hoffman | Chief before you chief before you leave can I ask you a question. So I'm looking at staffing levels. Thank you. And I was trying to figure out when I was looking at the draft agreement prior to the City Council meeting what the staffing levels would be and I sent numerous emails to the city staff today. I was trying to get to the level of staffing that we had last year. And I talked to Lisa Scopazi today too, and she she wasn't sure what the staffing level was last year, but I was looking at the RFP. And since, you know, I'm looking at the RFP and it says for bicycle parking, the staffing was seven days a week. from March, April, May, and then September and October based on minimum staffing level three people working 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and that was just for bicycle parking. AND THEN, I WANTED TO DO IT. the staffing level seven days a week staffing from June through August based on a minimum staffing level of six staff working at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Is that your understanding of what the staffing levels were last year by Sausalito Plus or do you know? |
| 00:56:03.64 | Police Chief | Yes, very close if not exactly the same. And so last year was the first year that we actually took that proactive approach with Salcido Plus to look at costs, overall costs which resulted in a better balance at the end of the year, but it had to do more with where was staffing when it was needed and where was staffing when it was needed. And so we worked together great last year to make that happen. Thank you. that they could expect the same contribution from us about how things are going and where people are needed. help them be successful. where we see things developing and that type of thing. Thank you. But, um, The slides I have next are just a couple of them related to where people are going to be and what they're going to do. It just reiterates some of that. Because it only takes one person at each of these spots. So there only needs to be one person. on Alexander at the lateral, and you can see then the, what we would just call the less active months, three days, and then June, July, and August, we need seven days a week. and that person does that counting, and that needs to be consistent. just like the previous years in order for the numbers to make sense. And so of course we want them to count and that's of course the first point of contact sometimes with these people will get to visit us And so that ambassador should be able to you know, provide that guidance, information and you know, share information as necessary. |
| 00:57:35.03 | Vice Mayor | Maybe this is a good time for me to follow up on a question. Given that we're putting June in with July and August as the most important three months, wouldn't it make sense to put September in there? for counting three days a week has 36,000 and you count June seven days a week and it has 36,000, which would tell me that September is extremely, like potentially up to 50,000 if you added the other 18 days of count. |
| 00:58:00.92 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:58:08.48 | Vice Mayor | a much more prolific month than June. Maybe 25 to 30% more prolific. |
| 00:58:11.65 | Police Chief | Maybe 25 or 25. the, The counting is consistent, the numbers are good, but every year, this is very much a weather and economy based type of tourism. And so, like for instance, it's just something that we see consistently, |
| 00:58:24.63 | Unknown | AND SO... It's consistent. |
| 00:58:29.64 | Police Chief | is that the last two weeks of July, first two weeks of August are the very busiest if you look at week by week of the whole season. And then by the time school starts again, Labor Day and right a little bit before some schools were right after The amount of families coming in with children drops significantly, and the visitors are all I'm not sure. adults and very few kids, even on the weekends. And so the amount of people that we need for congestion management for that, actually is less because we have more concern about the safety when it's the families with the kids than when we, it doesn't mean there's no children in September, believe me, there are some, nowhere near as much as there are in the summer. And so we believe that June is a better month for the focus of our efforts, less so than September. |
| 00:59:20.15 | Vice Mayor | I think- Well then I'll take it a step further if I can. |
| 00:59:20.20 | Police Chief | I THINK. Okay. |
| 00:59:23.12 | Vice Mayor | then based on receipts. The receipts. And where were the receipts? Go ahead, let me find my receipts. |
| 00:59:34.16 | Jill Hoffman | My comment was to your point. |
| 00:59:36.33 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. |
| 00:59:36.37 | Unknown | To your point. |
| 00:59:37.89 | Jill Hoffman | No, it's okay. It is both maybe I don't know whatever it's fine me so So I think to Joe's point I The bulk of those numbers in September are probably through Labor Day weekend. I would be my guess, or at least through maybe September 10th. |
| 00:59:56.92 | Police Chief | And that could be. I did not separate them for you, but There probably are some place in the archives counts by the day in the week I could have gotten, but I didn't, I just did it by the month. |
| 01:00:00.95 | Jill Hoffman | THE END OF COUNSEL. |
| 01:00:07.15 | Jill Hoffman | But when you're talking about effective management, the same, what you're looking at staffing wise and staffing levels. you know, we may want to talk about it, you know, extending our summer staffing levels through September 10th or something like that. |
| 01:00:21.09 | Vice Mayor | or something like that. Here it is. In June, seven attendants sold 10,000 permits and three attendants sold 12,000 permits. Whether they were kids or adults, the numbers still skew I mean, Maybe September is the payoff month. |
| 01:00:39.28 | Police Chief | One other recall in that is that We historically do not charge for the children 13 and under And so the counts won't reflect the impact of children on the community. |
| 01:00:55.90 | Vice Mayor | Are they counted as they come in? |
| 01:00:56.32 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 01:00:57.65 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. |
| 01:00:57.70 | Police Chief | Count it coming in, but not the information sold. |
| 01:00:58.19 | Vice Mayor | But that number is consistent. |
| 01:01:03.71 | Police Chief | I know, a lot of little variances. |
| 01:01:05.48 | Jill Hoffman | So I may. Um, because of the questions that I sent back and forth today and this may be confusing to the other council members. Did you see the answers from the chief to your question? I did and there's a draft. There's a new draft with new language. Did you guys see that? Yeah. Okay, got it. It's on the dice. It is? Yeah. |
| 01:01:23.17 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:01:26.32 | Police Chief | It's got blue typing in. |
| 01:01:26.93 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That blue typing in it. |
| 01:01:28.23 | Police Chief | Weren't able to see any of our responses. I'm happy to try and answer them. now or as we go along. |
| 01:01:34.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Jill are there any questions you want to re-ask and have the chief answer for the benefit of the public or? No. |
| 01:01:41.14 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:01:41.97 | Unknown | I'll wait. you Thank you. |
| 01:01:44.95 | Police Chief | There's plenty of time. Yeah. |
| 01:01:45.93 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I don't think at this point, no, because I think it's going to become clearer as we talk about the new section. So go ahead. |
| 01:01:52.95 | Police Chief | All right, so let me just advance a couple slides before John and Lisa come up and talk to you because I have more after them. So this was just one more about the ambassador location at Bridgeway and Princess. It's a little bit different, of course, than the one at the counting. And then we also have a desire for an optional, if we need it, and that would be something we would decide as a day goes on, whether or not we need people, somebody at Elport Town Tracy Way that may already be busy doing something and they can't provide the ambassadors we think is important right there. You'll hear John and Lisa talk about that as bikes come in, that's going to be a decision point for people to park or set their bike for return. And so that will probably fold into that as well. against first year of doing this and so there's some A little bit of wiggle room here. |
| 01:02:49.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So I had asked this question over email, but just for the benefit of other city council members and the public. It seems to me that Princess and Bridgeway is the most congested place in town on a busy weekend, and that putting an ambassador there just adds further chaos and confusion. It stops people. They're asking. their you know to me signage having another ambassador somewhere either earlier or maybe down It stops people, they're asking, they're, you know, to me, signage, having another ambassador somewhere either earlier or maybe down by the park seems to be a better location. I mean, from what I've experienced walking down there, you can't even walk right in front of Barrel House on a busy day. I mean, without... using your elbows. So to me, I'm interested in the experience of Sausalito Plus and you and everyone else, but I I feels like a very that signage there would be better than a person that's actually stopping people. I mean people are stopping because they want the information but I mean I just find that area to be extremely difficult to negotiate. So you had thought that it was a good place and pretty much the most logical. So I'd kind of like to hear that articulated. |
| 01:04:09.40 | Police Chief | I do think that the congestion there can be reduced by the services of a helpful ambassador when we haven't had one there. then people tend to congregate starting like a Hitachi Park and start clogging up there and down the sidewalk and then attaching the bikes in front of stores. And the ambassador at that point I think from watching the last couple years, does more to help move those bikes along out of doing that. than any other function. They don't do any counting, of course. and to keep bikes moving is a critical thing. It's also complicated by the fact that there's a signal there |
| 01:04:47.12 | Unknown | Thank you. Yeah. |
| 01:04:54.05 | Police Chief | and the crosswalk and some Bikes want to go through and not stop. We're not asking anybody to do traffic control. In fact, we're asking the police not to try and do traffic control. But that also adds to the backup. But what we said earlier, it's in the narrative of my staff report is that people want to read that online. This position's also, in my mind, a floater. in addition to what we talked about just a couple minutes ago about Elportal and Tracy Way, because there could be times when this person best serves someplace else. and it can do better than that spot. But there are times when it's absolutely needed. And that would be Thank you. done by supervision and management of, you know, by the, by saw suit of bike return. That's our expectation. We've got to take a look at that. more mobile than looking to see where things are There are times maybe that we don't want anybody there, but there are times we need to get people to move along because once the first crowd stops, then it becomes like a magnet for more people to stop. And so clearing that out is pretty important. |
| 01:06:02.89 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So my second question which I also emailed or texted was So in San Francisco, they've used parking control officers for congestion very effectively. So during rush hour or game day, they just have a lot of folks out on the street directing traffic to move traffic. you know, to provide direction and, but it's an officer who's, you know, safe in the street. Have you thought about that at all for that intersection? |
| 01:06:30.66 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 01:06:35.64 | Police Chief | Yes and no. So we've considered what we're going to do with just the duties like that in this special area. And so we again went to City Council and asked for funding for a part-time parking enforcement officer to... be assigned to downtown. No other responsibility in any of the other beats where the parking officers work. |
| 01:06:52.99 | Unknown | I'm not sure. |
| 01:06:58.80 | Police Chief | because we only have four, full-time to cover seven days a week. |
| 01:07:03.18 | Unknown | seven days. |
| 01:07:05.14 | Police Chief | if we take somebody that's working off of their primary duty throughout the rest of town then they're not handling those calls but instead they're doing that so we felt that the best bet was to ask the council for the funding for the part-time officer. And so that's what we've done to try and that one spot. That particular part-time officer moves around quite a bit. It's not stationed there like you're suggesting. But other than adding more people, we have no existing staff to do that. |
| 01:07:36.07 | Unknown | Okay. Thank you. |
| 01:07:42.33 | Police Chief | So any questions of me before you hear from John or Lisa? |
| 01:07:45.93 | Jill Hoffman | I do have a follow-up question. Now that I know that everybody's got it, I wasn't clear that everybody had had the new amended agreement. So chief when I'm looking at the staffing levels and this is you know this is for parking, but when I'm looking at the new staffing levels on page two of the amended agreement or the new edited agreement. It looks like it's talking about staffing levels for both the bike return and bike parking. And if you go down, I'm on Section D, and if I go down to one, you know, you're talking about |
| 01:08:29.04 | Jill Hoffman | Bicycle. Bicycle ambassador bike parking and return services, so that's all three And you're talking about three employees total with one return driver Monday through Thursday and and this is for March, April, May, September and October. And Friday through Sunday, five employees with one return driver in the morning and one return driver in the afternoon. But then when I look back at the RFP, at the staffing levels that we had at least last year, We had a seven day a week staffing from March, April, May and then September and October of three Ambassadors. just for bike parking was it So my question is, it looks to me like the edited agreement is understaffed. I mean, if you're talking about three employees, which is the same that we had last year just for bike parking, but these three employees are gonna be also doing bike return, And then does that also include Alexander Avenue and Princess Avenue, which brings us down to one? one in the bike corral and for the bike return. I mean, I just don't. Is that am I reading that right? |
| 01:09:33.22 | Police Chief | or no that show the The ambassador locations, It's a little bit of semantics. South School Plus called everybody ambassadors because frankly that's what they were. |
| 01:09:42.45 | Unknown | spectrum. Yeah. |
| 01:09:44.52 | Police Chief | and it's a good term. So for the sake of what we're doing here with the three different parts of this, the ambassador service, we're counting the spot on Alexander and the spot on Princess and Bridgeway as ambassador service. That's separately staffed, not counting in those other numbers. The numbers for bike parking and bike return are combined, yet the idea is that like what we learned from Sauciuto Plus, is by a certain time of the day, the amount of people coming in to park their bikes declines. |
| 01:10:22.91 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:10:23.62 | Police Chief | Generally, there's certainly exceptions. And when that happens, rather than send those people home, with no more work. They're already here and they can transition to being bike return people. because that's going to be just the flow of how that work goes. in getting the bikes loaded in, because they're gonna take bikes in, and again, you're gonna hear this from them, and I encourage you to still ask the questions, though, of them as well, But as those bikes come in, people will get a chance to either park or have their bike returned. And some people may have their bike parked and change their mind later and want to have it returned as well. But if they make the decision point, the return bikes will be staged further away, like down at the end of Tracy Way, out of the way for later loading onto the trucks and to get them out of there so the people that are working are going to be doing bike parking. So that's why we change the location of the primary spot for where the return bikes are going to be corralled. I have some photos coming up to show that. Thank you. because last year they had a spot that was let's say 25, 30 yards away from the bike parking, and rather than have, that'll be an overflow for bike return bikes if they have a really busy day. but I'd like to have the bike return initial corral be closer right there at the end of Tracy Way, so that the workers don't have to go very far. The same workers are going to be able to park those bikes or put the return bikes in the return corral and then keep helping people. The thought being is that if we, and again, not to our detriment, for service, but if we are able to get a handle on personnel costs, and what we expect We should have a more you know, economical program. |
| 01:12:11.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And so is it true that you are saying in addition to the bicycle ambassadors required by section 1A, The SBR will provide the the the staffing identified in Section 1 D. |
| 01:12:25.06 | Vice Mayor | Yes. in addition. |
| 01:12:27.01 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | In addition. So I've added a clause. I have some proposed edits to your agreement, so I'll provide this to you. So right now it says, in addition to the bicycle ambassadors required by Section 1A, SBR will provide the following minimum staffing levels set forth in this Section 1D. |
| 01:12:27.77 | Vice Mayor | It is. |
| 01:12:44.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So that's accurate. So it's these three. So it's three Monday through Thursday plus the two ambassadors. And it's five Friday through Sunday plus the two ambassadors. |
| 01:12:44.89 | Unknown | So it's the idea. |
| 01:12:54.22 | Police Chief | And then of course as a backup, and we like that, is that the two workers doing ambassador work by five o'clock were probably out of customers. If the Skapazis believe they need more people, they need boots on the ground, they've got two people already here working. and they're already gonna be cross-trained and they can be available, then we're not gonna want them pulled off prior to five o'clock, though we've already made that clear. |
| 01:13:16.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So what are the hours of service of these employees? Thank you. |
| 01:13:20.19 | Police Chief | BE CAREFUL. |
| 01:13:20.26 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I love that. |
| 01:13:21.79 | Police Chief | these people are working |
| 01:13:23.17 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:13:24.03 | Police Chief | I could put up here 11 to five at those locations. But the people at the return and parking service work till six o'clock, they start at 11. Because under the city ordinance, bike parking is free until 11 o'clock. So if for- And the bike parking, pay parking starts at 11. |
| 01:13:37.92 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:13:37.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:13:38.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:13:38.09 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:13:38.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE FAMILY. |
| 01:13:41.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So for D1, it's 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and for A1A, it's 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| 01:13:50.81 | Police Chief | Yes. |
| 01:13:53.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. And I had another question unrelated to staffing. Jill, are you done with staffing? Councilmember Hoffman? |
| 01:14:01.21 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I know. I'm looking at my... I'm sorry, I didn't get this before I sat down. I didn't either. I know. I'm trying to get caught up. |
| 01:14:02.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Absolutely. I didn't either. I'm trying So. |
| 01:14:09.09 | Jill Hoffman | So. Thank you. |
| 01:14:09.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Well, do you mind if I ask a question while you get caught up? Okay. Um... Several residents asked me, is Tracy Way the best street to close? So would it be more feasible to keep Tracy Way open and close a portion of a parking lot to house the bikes? |
| 01:14:32.02 | Police Chief | Thank you. Sure. And so I can tell you from our experience, starting with, like I mentioned before, 2008, 2009, having bike racks at the B of A parking lot, and some racks near parking lot one by the kiosk and some over by the ferry landing, that was probably barely okay then, and as the amount of bikes had increased, that had to be moved. and took bike parking away from the Bank of America lot and moved it into lot one. So we've tried the experiment with lot one and during that time, Tracy Way was still open. And but again, we had to take away parking spaces. I don't know if it's the exact same number, I don't really know that, of Tracy Way parking spaces or lot one parking spaces, but We, and I will say this about the police, we weren't all fond of it, frankly. We tried our best. to give that a whirl to see if we could leave Tracy Way open. Because at the time, remember too, it was the way the street was configured on El Portal played into that decision. And so we didn't want to reconfigure El Portal and close tracey way without first trying what we could in Municipal Lot One. It was barely even what I would consider okay. We were just nervous about the whole thing because in my opinion it added to congestion. And that wasn't the desired outcome, but it just happened because that's where people came to park their bikes. and they had to gather around and get in and then try and get on the ferry. And remember this was several years ago, so all the reservation system wasn't even out yet, even the first ones. So a lot of new steps every year. But the loss of those spots also of course had impact on the businesses in the area and the hotels because of their arrangement to prepay for some of those spaces, you know, not the exact same space, but spaces available. We cut down on those so you know, it was a little bit of a balancing act and it was too much, it was just too much on the edge. And so we worked to, with Pedestrian Bike Advisory Committee to propose to council, let us close Tracy Way. because we can turn that into a real corral. I mean, one edge is a hard edge with shrubbery and curb You know, we had to reconfigure El Portal so it could be a U-turn two ways so people could get out if they're but we had to take into consideration deliveries for the restaurants and the hotels so they could get in there whenever they needed to to service their businesses. And the hotels wanted to make sure they could still have drive up customers that didn't have a reservation. And believe me, they know exactly how many of those that they get because that's the business they're in. And so this was the best result for us that And I have to say that it has been very safe. You know, so the streets closed, you know, the bikes come in, we got a place to put the pay kiosks and There's no question that that little spot Bridgeway and Anchor and Tracy Way is a goofy little intersection and nobody would design that today like that. because you just look at it and go, geez, it's just asking for trouble, but You know, we're so fortunate that people are basically moving kind of slow and the cars are going slow and the bikes are going slow, people are walking, looking around and so, We take luck as well as good planning for the outcome that we're looking for. And I wouldn't suggest changing that because we have a whole lot more control with Tracy Way closed. Thank you for that explanation. |
| 01:17:59.23 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you for that. |
| 01:17:59.98 | Unknown | EXPLANATION. |
| 01:18:01.95 | Unknown | The Press. |
| 01:18:03.94 | Unknown | Are you good, Jill, or do you have |
| 01:18:05.63 | Vice Mayor | I have one thing, because we're on the agreement, and this is just really just tightening up the... wording section one it says the term of the agreement is below in section two or in section three it should be section two on the term. |
| 01:18:19.06 | Unknown | Is that on mic? |
| 01:18:19.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:18:19.85 | Vice Mayor | And then on the payment to the city, the zip code. So section four. So I just wanted to check that off my list. |
| 01:18:30.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. . We're not in San Rafael. |
| 01:18:34.87 | Jill Hoffman | So I do have a follow-up question, actually, if that's okay. Yes, of course. So, Chief... |
| 01:18:38.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes, of course. |
| 01:18:42.23 | Jill Hoffman | You know, I'm trying to imagine three employees down there trying to do in the busiest time in the afternoon trying to do both MANAGING THE PARKING AND THE BIKE RETURN. I mean I just don't see how that until you're talking about Monday through Thursday. Yeah. |
| 01:18:58.24 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And Jill, you're talking about |
| 01:19:00.76 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. Yeah, during the, yeah. So- Have you talked to Sausalio Plus at all about whether or not how they feel about, you know, because they're the most experienced in this area managing the flow and managing whatever's going on, about whether or not they feel that that's an adequate number? For adequate staffing? No, I do not. |
| 01:19:19.93 | Police Chief | adequate staff not take this presentation or plan and ask them to weighing on or offer their opinion. I've worked with them for a really long time And they've done a really great job of providing service for us. pretty much get the gist of what they're doing. you know, and they, the I know every year that made the balance at the end of the year change was the amount of staffing. |
| 01:19:44.28 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:19:44.53 | Police Chief | Are we overstaffed or understaffed? And it's not that precise. |
| 01:19:48.52 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:19:48.63 | Police Chief | I mean, some days you can look across the bay and see cruise ships in port, and boy, boy, we're going to be busy. You know, and I know that Deb used to make a call and find out and ask and do things that we expect the Scopazes to do as well and to see if there's ships coming in or call the bike companies and say, what's your pre-booking look like? Because they know in advance a lot of their bookings. because the idea to be really great about this is to just have your you know, finger on the pulse of all the potential bikes coming in. But it's still an un... not a precise science, it does take effort. And when we saw that with the way that Saucedo Plus was run to put that in, And in fact, when we had reports to council about not doing some things, council was saying, no, let the year play out. We already know that this might come out with a number we're not looking for, We don't want to underserve people that are coming in. And so that was our guiding, So we're not looking to be cheap or unsafe here. But we're also trying to be good stewards of the public money here used to pay for service and to get, you know, there's a whole process about how that's going to work with finance. You'll hear some of that. |
| 01:21:13.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So Chief, to that point, Section D says that the bike return manager will have the ability to increase or decrease staff as needed on a daily basis. Should you not have some say so in that? Like what happens if the police chief And staff observe that indeed the city is being underserved by the level of service provided by SBR. What is the recourse? |
| 01:21:44.26 | Police Chief | I think the The real answer to that is without giving myself a big old fat head here, I actually have the last word on a lot of things, and this is one of them. And, you know, if I see something that's not safe or not working, you've already invested that authority in me by selecting me to be the police chief so I'm able to do that I don't need an agreement to do that what we're saying in the agreement is that THE manager, the parking manager working, the on duty manager for a bicycle bike return should be able to have that authority as well. to be able to make changes based on what's happening. Because it's the only way this is going to work. You know, I watched what Deb did so many years. She'd either sent people home or called more people in or readjusted where people are working because you just don't know every day. |
| 01:22:32.84 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But I think the difference is that Sausalito Plus was a nonprofit, and this is a profit-driven organization. And so some of the decisions made by this organization may be profit-driven as much as I adore the Skopazis. So if this were to go to litigation as written, the city doesn't have the ability to force them to, in my humble opinion, to, oh, the city manager wants to interrupt me. |
| 01:23:00.94 | Adam Politzer | Sorry, Mayor Cox, because as Council Member Hoffman has noted, this has a lot of revision. So if you go to the front page of the agreement under Section 2, we actually did add a clause where the chief can direct additional ambassadors. |
| 01:23:17.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Ambassadors. So I would like to see that clause duplicated in Section 4, because as the Chief pointed out, we've now separated ambassadors from staff. So I'd like to include that same provision in Section D, where we're talking about staffing. Because it's not just the ambassadors that may need to be increased. It's as Council Member Hoffman points out, it's the... So would staff be okay with that addition? Just to turn my comment into a question. Absolutely. |
| 01:23:18.31 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 01:23:47.68 | Mary Wagner | Just to turn. Absolutely, Mayor Cox, we can move that to Section D. Would the council entertain a clause that said something along the lines, at the discretion of the police chief or his designee, in order to protect the public health and safety and circulation or something along those lines? Something along those lines. Because then it's not a blank check that the Scarpazes might be concerned about. |
| 01:24:03.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Something along those lines. Thank you. |
| 01:24:06.90 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 01:24:07.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So I would want to hear the Skopazi's feedback on this, but I think it's better in Section D, and it could be ambassadors and or |
| 01:24:08.26 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 01:24:15.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | other staff members what you know at so yeah that would address it go ahead joe also thank you for that response |
| 01:24:20.29 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. We don't have a lot of the numbers, but last year we had expenses, expenditures from Saucyedal Plus, and I imagine most of the expenditures of staff, except for the beginning of months, but if you're looking at the summer months, September had an expenditure of 26,000, June had expenditure of 19,000. Yet we're suggesting that the staffing in September is reduced at least three, maybe four bodies. But in the past, it looks like they've spent more money in September on staffing. than they did in... at least June. and nearly only $600 away from what they spent in July. So I'm not sure that they did cut back this much with Saucyta Plus in the past. just based on their expenditures that we were. |
| 01:25:19.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And so Joe, would this catch-all phrase, where the police chief can require additional staffing, would that satisfy you as a safety valve for these projected staffings? What is a safety valve, but as a plan |
| 01:25:29.57 | Vice Mayor | What is a safety valve? But as a planning valve, I think we should start looking at the... |
| 01:25:31.15 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:25:34.30 | Vice Mayor | some better numbers. |
| 01:25:35.99 | Jill Hoffman | Can I weigh in on that issue? I think... I think Chief, I think that if we extended the season, you know, the staffing levels that we're talking about, during the month on paragraph D2 during the months of June, July, August through and I just looked at my calendar September 10th Looks like to me it's the Monday after after the weekend that follows the three day weekend. So in other words, if there's somebody on vacation that's on vacation that four days after the three day weekend and it's into that next weekend, if we extended those staffing levels by our agreement you know, to September 10th. And then after that, if we have your authority after September 10th I think that I think that will address maybe the issues that you bring up, Joe, about the volume that we're seeing in September. |
| 01:26:24.32 | Vice Mayor | It would address it as practicality. It won't address the number of difference we're talking about here. |
| 01:26:30.60 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, but I'm thinking that the difference is circled around the Labor Day weekend. |
| 01:26:36.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And again, this is not a city |
| 01:26:36.25 | Jill Hoffman | that's not going to be |
| 01:26:39.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | expense this this comes out of this capacity's pocket so well |
| 01:26:43.79 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:26:43.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:26:43.86 | Unknown | READY. |
| 01:26:44.03 | Vice Mayor | Yeah. |
| 01:26:44.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 01:26:44.57 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. |
| 01:26:44.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I think that both the- |
| 01:26:48.80 | Vice Mayor | I think that's a good question. |
| 01:26:50.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, thank you, Vice Mayor. Hi. |
| 01:26:52.69 | Vice Mayor | I'm like that. |
| 01:26:54.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Isn't it true that both the city and the Skapazes will have an opportunity to weigh the efficacy of this agreement and this process as the season progresses and even come back to us with requested revisions if necessary? Thank you. |
| 01:27:11.82 | Vice Mayor | They will. I wasn't directing them. |
| 01:27:13.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I wasn't directing that to you, but that's okay. Thank you. |
| 01:27:15.87 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. I'm gonna go back, as long as it stays As long as it stays safe, because safety is the issue that we're talking about. I don't know how we're going to do it. And I'm grateful. |
| 01:27:22.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And I'm grateful to the city attorney for adding in the language about safety and welfare of the public in this clause that gives this discretion to the police chief. Okay, so. Did you want to invite the Scapazis up? I do. Yeah, sure. |
| 01:27:36.76 | Vice Mayor | I think we're. |
| 01:27:37.72 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:27:38.53 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 01:27:38.60 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:27:38.90 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 01:27:38.97 | Jill Hoffman | Uh, |
| 01:27:39.43 | Vice Mayor | Can I answer any questions for you guys? |
| 01:27:40.91 | Jill Hoffman | Are we going to, hold on, are we going to talk about the, are we going to talk about, who's going to talk about the money part of it? Is that going to be Melanie? Okay, after this capacity. That's fine. Okay, it's in the PowerPoint. |
| 01:27:49.52 | Unknown | That's fine. |
| 01:27:54.78 | Unknown | You see there. |
| 01:27:55.60 | Unknown | I need public health. |
| 01:27:56.47 | Unknown | I know your channel. Thank you. |
| 01:28:01.15 | Lisa Scopazi | Thank you. All right, we are ready for your questions. |
| 01:28:02.29 | Unknown | We are ready. Thank you. Thank you. I'm not sure. their mom. Yeah. |
| 01:28:06.80 | Lisa Scopazi | Thank you. |
| 01:28:06.85 | Unknown | . |
| 01:28:07.02 | Lisa Scopazi | Thank you. |
| 01:28:07.04 | Unknown | Thank you. Okay. |
| 01:28:08.52 | Lisa Scopazi | Thank you. So first of all, I'll just open up and I'll say thank you for the opportunity for us to present our solution for congestion management to you. I'm sure you have a million questions, and thank you, Chief, for addressing 99% of them. But I really wanted to just make a few statements as well. Really, our goal is to make the tourist experience pleasant and safe. We also want to be in alignment with you, the city, and also the goals and needs of the residents here too. I think that's how this whole congestion management plan came about was through the residents as well. We also want to be as transparent to you and report in as needed, be as flexible as we can, And we basically want to know what questions do you have that will enable you to make a decision for you tonight. Fire away. |
| 01:29:12.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. I think we have fired many of our salvos at the chief already. Are there questions? |
| 01:29:21.03 | Jill Hoffman | of the Skopazis? No, but wasn't it pleasant when we talked this afternoon? It was very nice. That was a question. |
| 01:29:26.72 | Lisa Scopazi | It was very nice. THE FAMILY IS You all have my cell phone number, I'm sure. And Johnny's, too. Yes. |
| 01:29:31.61 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:29:34.40 | Lisa Scopazi | I will say a few things about staffing that kind of were occurring to me over there as well. Our intent is really not to reinvent the wheel, especially with the parking services. I really want to, you know, thank the FOTHS for everything that they've done because they have a lot of wonderful statistics and a lot of wonderful ideas, and we're really, like I said, not gonna reinvent the wheel. We're basically just enhancing the whole congestion management experience. Obviously one of my first calls is gonna be to Deb and say, Tell me everything after tonight. But also we have reached out to the Sausalito Plus employees and managers, and they're all so far so good. They're all ready to jump back downtown and go to work for us and serve the city. There won't be that many changes except for we have some cool ideas for uniforms that will make make it very OSHA approved and bright and you'll be able to recognize our employees and the ambassadors from about a mile away but also we want to really again just really focus on that tourist experience and really welcome these people to our city and give them a safe and educated experience and And what we learned last year, I think the most, was that a lot of the education really needs to be done on the San Francisco side, and the bike companies that we did work with were marvelous in educating their bikers before they came across the bridge. We had a wonderful experience working with Colette and her team with the ferry companies again working with Adam and his team and also We will put up with the chief and Stacy for one more year or two. So anyway, just wanted to add those comments as well |
| 01:31:27.09 | Jill Hoffman | I do have a couple of questions, I'm sorry. So Lisa, about how many employees do you expect to hire for this season? |
| 01:31:36.51 | Lisa Scopazi | I want to be pretty deep in the employees. There's a fine line, and I found this last year. There's really employees who really want and need to work close to 40-hour work weeks. I prefer that model. For the weekends, I mean, for the total staff, you can basically take the amount of staff and double that. I'm gonna have three managers, two hopefully, if they agree, from Sal Salido Plus from last year, and a return manager to kind of oversee that whole process. So we also, one change this year is that we are going to get a company truck. to put our rack on so that we can attract a lot more drivers. They don't have to have their own truck. They can use our company truck. And all we need to do is basically do the drug test and the necessary requirements to get them trained to drive for us. So we'll be pretty deep on drivers this year. So this one won't have to drive every day of the week. |
| 01:32:37.05 | Jill Hoffman | Do you expect the hourly pay level to be the same? Yeah. For the ambassadors as well? Yes. Same as last year is what I'm saying. |
| 01:32:42.72 | Lisa Scopazi | Yes. Yes. |
| 01:32:44.75 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:32:44.81 | Lisa Scopazi | Thank you. |
| 01:32:44.83 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm sorry. |
| 01:32:45.81 | Jill Hoffman | or comparable okay thank you thanks. Thank you. |
| 01:32:48.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, thanks to both of you. |
| 01:32:49.91 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:32:49.93 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:32:50.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I just have one question. So we were talking, do you have, have you gotten a copy of the amendments to the agreement? Great, and do you have any concerns with any of the amendments that have been proposed? No, not at all. |
| 01:32:52.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:32:52.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:32:52.09 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I just have one question. |
| 01:32:53.20 | Jill Hoffman | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:32:57.13 | Lisa Scopazi | to the agreement? |
| 01:33:03.46 | Lisa Scopazi | both on the- No, I don't know. I think after the revisions, we're good. There's a couple little changes on some of the exhibits that we will work with. Other than that, No, I think after tonight, good job. Good job, Melanie. And also thanks to Jill and all the rest of your comments, too, so. |
| 01:33:20.76 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:33:20.83 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 01:33:20.84 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:33:20.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 01:33:25.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Good. All right, great. Thank you. |
| 01:33:33.80 | Police Chief | I have a couple more operational slides for you to look at. We're going to have the bike parkings in the same place, just to make sure that's known. As already exists, there's an approved range for parking and bike return, and you've given me the discretion to adjust those if needed. At the moment, the plan is for $3 bike parking and $12 bike return. I don't even know how to imagine a scenario where I make changes in that, so just leave it at that. |
| 01:34:13.00 | Ray Withee | Chief, if I may, who has authority to flex the fees, to change the fees? Say somebody had the bright idea of changing it to $4 a bike for parking. Who has the authority? Who makes that decision, if that was? |
| 01:34:14.35 | Police Chief | Go ahead. |
| 01:34:35.48 | Police Chief | Yeah, thanks to some of those big fat head things. So nobody. And so one safeguard in that, frankly, is the machines. So the kiosks have a built-in tariff to them. So you push one button, it's already programmed for $3. So somebody's not going to be able to get that reprogrammed without going through the police department chain. So no one can get in there and do that or change the return tariff. And of course, the $25 tariff for paying to get your bike out of bike cabling is also built in. So that's how that works. |
| 01:34:43.31 | Ray Withee | All right, that's good. |
| 01:35:09.16 | Ray Withee | Thank you. Okay. |
| 01:35:10.09 | Police Chief | Thank you. And I wanted to comment about the free parking again. It's the same as it's been for several years now since the creation of the Pedestrian Bike Advisory Committee. in 2013 and starting the ambassador program. And when the committee was created, the council created a slot two non-voting slots for the committee, and one's dedicated for the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, And when we made the effort to move, because all the things I described about parking before were free, until we got to lock down Tracy Way and then we started to have the paper parking. And of course, the Bicycle Coalition was like, eh, that's not too exciting. And so we worked out a way to gain their support was Marin County residents don't pay to park. and not just saw street over in county residents don't pay to park their bikes. I don't know how many that is. I don't know if anybody really counts that. I don't think it's a big factor, but it is a acknowledgement that some of the people that park there are county residents. And again, I mentioned before about the kids. I was off, I said 13, I believe, but it's actually 12 and under. |
| 01:36:11.45 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:36:11.48 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And again, I mean. |
| 01:36:17.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So is the free parking in the same place, or that's a different lot? |
| 01:36:20.23 | Police Chief | a lot. Thank you. Yeah. |
| 01:36:21.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So there was something in your staff report about a different lot where there's free parking? |
| 01:36:24.53 | Police Chief | Yes, there's also two areas that are designated free parking. There's a sliver of space over between lots three and four that has bike racks. I don't know for how many bike capacity. I'm never good about keeping that number in my head. But there's also a little sidewalk plaza on Bridgeway that also holds a number of bike racks. We have put up feather banners and other kinds of signs before so people know that if they want to bypass the parking crowd, there's some place they can look for the sign, park their bike for free and don't have to pay. And what's the purpose of that? |
| 01:36:58.38 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And what's the purpose of that? What's the purpose of those additional |
| 01:37:03.49 | Police Chief | I'M SORRY. |
| 01:37:04.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | What is the purpose of that? |
| 01:37:06.06 | Police Chief | Well, some people don't wanna pay. And we don't want people to just go ahead and dump their bike in one of those illegal spots and in that zone where they're not supposed to park against trees and parking meters and signs and block the sidewalks, so having the two free bike parking areas allows an option for people that are just not gonna pay anything, even three dollars, And so those are actually fairly busy. But I don't... I don't know, because we don't count them like we do with people that pay, so... you know. It just depends. But they do get used and I wouldn't want to take them away. It's just part of the free overflow. I will say that just from my experience working there and I'm sure others that have worked there will say that there's a select group of people who are willing to be a little tiny bit further away from the ferry landing, but I will tell you that the majority of people that come in to visit don't wanna be too far away from those boats because they'd like knowing where their boat is so they can get on it to go back to San Francisco. So the people that, are a little more adventurous and might take those free spots a little further away. But most people do not. |
| 01:38:14.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Chief, are you planning on adding a section to the agreement that contains this information? Because right now, I don't see this anywhere in the agreement, and I think it's important that both parties acknowledge and agree that parking will be provided free to Marine County residents and children age 12 and under and that the fees will range between these numbers. So I may have missed it, but I don't see this right now. Why don't we add that to Section B? |
| 01:38:46.09 | Mary Wagner | Right. |
| 01:38:46.31 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:38:51.32 | Police Chief | And for the bike return, I mentioned earlier that the bike return launch is going to be at the very end of Tracy. We have a couple of photos coming up right by the pay stations. It's a little different than last year, but last year's location is also available and the pictures I think will, I think those are next. But we want the bike loading to happen on Anchor Street, taxi stands, move to Bay Street. I talked about that already too. So in these pictures, the one on the left, is a, at the end of Tracy Way, it's a little elevated, slightly elevated over the level of parking lot one, it actually could hold two cars and they, in the police department we always called that the official lot, I have no idea where that came from, but it was meant for cop cars. I have. Once the season starts, I don't want any of the cop cars parking there. It's dangerous to either back in or pull in and back out of those two spots. and so for the last several years we don't use them for any cop car parking. And so it's available. And the Saucyote Plus used it over the years for different things, electric bikes or other flow parking they staged things. It was a good spot. It holds quite a few bikes. So that's where the primary bike return is going to go because that's just, you know, three feet away from the end of Tracy Way where all the bike parkings takes place. So the, walking doesn't have to be further away. So the other picture on the right is the top of all the underground mechanical equipment, and that was corralled off with safety barrier, and that's where Bike Return operated last year primarily. This year it's available to them if they get busy on bikes, they can scooch them over there and stack them up. and get them out of our way. Because we don't want to give up too many of the bike parking spots that people are paying for. just to store rent bikes that are going to get returned. And besides, from there and that spot, it's just a few feet over to the curb where the trailer and the truck is to load the bikes to get them out of there. So in a different picture, Here you can see that's not the trailer they use at the moment. The trailer now is far more elaborate. That one was one they used in the first year, if I have that right, John and Lisa, but I know that's not the... trailer I saw last year, but that just shows the two different spots where they would park. So one is closer to the Tracy Way, the other is at the other end is the entrance into parking lot one, just so you could see that visual. But they have the run of that street though, so, and not having the cabs there helps that a lot. |
| 01:41:30.42 | Police Chief | So we talked about staffing already. Okay. Melanie, so now as you get a chance to ask Melanie any clarifying questions about the fiscal analysis. |
| 01:41:47.82 | Melanie Purcell | Good evening. Just to clarify, this includes, obviously, very rolled up, rounded numbers, but a breakdown of last year's receipts, and then based on those counts, similar comparison to this year, and then what would happen with a 10% increase or decrease in the number of bikes coming through. The idea is to kind of provide a range as to what this means for the city in terms of risk as well as potential revenue. or gain on this. One of the big things to note, however, is that the model this year is significantly different. Last year, the city was responsible for the entire cost of bike parking, had a, what we would call a... gross profits sharing arrangement for bike return. And then the cost of the ambassadors was rolled into the bike parking. That's where the $194,000 came for. So if the city had received no revenue, we would have been experiencing some level of expense for the ambassadors based on what we were billed from Sausalito Plus. We did not have any risk with the bicycle return. The Scapozzi Sausalito bike return took the full risk of that. So there did not generate a profit, so therefore we did not get any receipts on that. If we take what they did actually get in gross receipts, which is the actual sales, from 2017 carry that forward to 2018 assuming no change. And then we add the expanded hours, that refers to the fact that the Sausalito bike return actually worked a compressed season compared to the season that's proposed this year. So difference of about, let's see, 12 weeks. Right, OK. I want to make sure I'm counting the right number of weeks. And then if you translate that out, that's $26,000 additional, expected at the same rate. That is actually 50% of the receipts in the primary season. So we're assuming a much lower level in the interest of being conservative. The $17,000 represents going from $10 to $12 per bicycle for bike return. So a significant increase in the actual gross sales. The parking return and ambassadors are broken out. Specifically because we negotiated a fixed liability to the city of $23,000. That is the city's contribution toward ambassador services and that caps our contribution. |
| 01:44:32.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:44:32.89 | Melanie Purcell | NEWS. |
| 01:44:32.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And Melanie, you explained to the Finance Committee why the city is contributing towards the ambassadors. Can you repeat that for us here? |
| 01:44:41.02 | Melanie Purcell | Hopefully I'll use the right words. But the idea is that we contribute to that because that is a baseline service that we, as a community, want to have. So it is a public safety contribution, and therefore we want to guarantee And have obviously negotiated the opportunity for Sausalito Bike Return to make a profit. in exchange for a greater level of service than what we're actually paying for. So the 23,000 is merely a portion of the minimum staffed. for the ambassadors, and that's where the drive in the contract is to specify a minimum level of standard. for service for the ambassadors, which correlates to their 37,000. Obviously, within the contract, the expectation is if the need is for additional service, we get additional service. And that is up to the chief to inform them to that effect. In this contract we've negotiated that on a monthly basis, we will deduct from the gross receipts the cost of providing the payment machines. So that becomes no longer a liability for the city. And then off the top we get. are 10% of any and all sales. We at the city, so you can see the behavior changes. Obviously, we all do much better when there's an increase and we do less if there's a decrease. Whether or not, obviously we had a 12 and a half percent change. from 2016 to 2017, that's why I used the 10%, we would have to have a over 50% drop for the city to actually consider to have a true net loss. So pretty comfortable with the strength of the position that this puts the city in. Should be noted that if we have an incredibly busy year and a wonderfully profitable adventure for everybody, if Sausalito Bike Return makes over a $70,000 profit, the city then gets an additional 20% paid back. from that all profits over $70,000. We will want that because obviously that means that we've done a lot of business in town and with that comes additional activity. So that's the basic outline of that. It's designed, frankly, to protect the city's liabilities as well as our outlay. but maintain a high service level, so it is considered a service level agreement. with minimums built in and then obviously some flexibility given that the police chief works for the city and makes the determination what is the necessary service level. May I answer any questions, please? questions of Melanie? |
| 01:47:29.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:47:31.21 | Vice Mayor | Okay. Thanks, Mayor Burns. Um... Thank you. Since you oversaw the program last year and the year before with Saucer Plus, did you look at their end of the year budget when compiling these numbers? |
| 01:47:44.39 | Melanie Purcell | I went to the $194,000 is actually taken directly from the checks issued by the city. And in each instance, last year, every month we had a reconciliation before the next check was issued, in which we deducted any overages for the prior month. So if they received, because we cash flowed, provided a cash flow start, we started by giving them funds and then comparing that to their expenses and deducting any overage, so anything in which we overpaid in effect, from the next payment. So $194,000 is a very comfortable number for me, and that is what the city paid out. |
| 01:48:23.52 | Vice Mayor | Okay. |
| 01:48:23.76 | Melanie Purcell | for that service. |
| 01:48:23.77 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. And I agree in a total it is. My concern is we're setting up for failure for September and October. And I don't think our numbers, as we say, that we're doing the same program as Sauce Little Plus did last year, yet the Sauce Little Plus budget for ambassadors this is what they budgeted 26 000 in october 25 8 in september 25 8 in august 23 000 in june 19 in may they did not have the same expectation when they budgeted and then their actuals I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE Thank you. Thank you. more to that effect. |
| 01:49:03.14 | Melanie Purcell | They started out very heavily staffed and then drew it down over the course of the summer. The difference in comparison here that's important to note is that the city doesn't care how much it costs Sausalito bike return. Sausalito, sorry guys. We've been very honest about this throughout. Our obligation, the city cares about the service level and being crystal clear on what the maximum obligation is. The contract with Sausalito Plus capped the city's obligation at $226,000. That contract was based on monthly reconciliations of expenses and revenues. This contract is 100% on revenues. At the end of the season, there is an obligation to reconcile based on profits. And at that time, I care that they made a profit. Obviously, they care about making a profit much sooner than that. |
| 01:49:58.90 | Vice Mayor | I'm getting nowhere with this discussion, so I'm going to end it with this final. I get that there's profit, but there's safety, and we're starting a plan that says we're taking bodies off the street when in the past we did not take bodies off the street based on both the budget and the actual expenditures that Slice-Lito Plus spent on ambassadors. Thank you. |
| 01:50:00.59 | Melanie Purcell | I'm sorry. |
| 01:50:21.73 | Vice Mayor | So September was not less, whether we count three days or seven days, it was not less than June or July. So to say that it's going to be 58% of those months next year, or this coming year, is not inadequate. is not an adequate plan. It's going to set us up for failure when we get to that point. And granted, you've got a contract that says the failure is going to fall on the |
| 01:50:45.31 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:50:48.21 | Vice Mayor | concessaire, I don't think that's a fair |
| 01:50:49.10 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | This- And if I might, the last, Sausalito Plus was not profit-driven. They were not, their goal was not let us as efficiently as possible maintain a safe level of service. Their goal was to stay within the city's budget. This is a different setup where the... where Sausalito Bike Returns' goal is to make a profit. So they are driven to provide as efficient service as possible that meets the health and safety level of service requirements. Isn't that correct? |
| 01:51:30.29 | Melanie Purcell | That's true. There is not displayed here because I don't present other people's finances. Understanding that last year the return did not make a profit. The model of mixing the three elements allows for a greater leverage of resources, and that is where majority of the efficiency comes from. In terms of operational expectations, both the chief, the city manager, and myself have been probably painfully obvious about the expectations that the level of service has to meet certain standards. What is in the contract is the bare minimum. And that's been clearly understood. We wanted to build in flexibility as well as protect the city so that we could manage it each day as it goes along, as the chief noted earlier. earlier they reserve the right to come along and say, you're understaffed, step it up. Because that obviously is their primary objective, and our primary objective is the balance. Each of us has a different role in this, but obviously everybody wants it to be safe. So that expectation, this is not something that by any stretch of the imagination, Sausalito Bike Return is going to become filthy rich from. |
| 01:52:48.09 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But at the same time, are you confident that under this scenario, they will be able to provide the required level of service to keep our downtown congestion handled and safe. Absolutely. |
| 01:53:06.40 | Jill Hoffman | I HAVE A QUESTION ON YOUR CITY NET LINE. So if I go across that bottom city net line, so the net to the city in 2017 was $35,000. And then so under the projections, on this plan, as we've been presented, the projection for 2018 is going to be 24,000. |
| 01:53:30.55 | Melanie Purcell | Yes, there's a couple of pieces, and this is the awkward piece, and it really is not a true apples to apples comparison. There are expenses that the city absorbs that we are, in effect, shifting. We don't do any DOT licensing, we want nothing to do with that. We have our own, thank you. All of those components are now 100% the vendor's responsibility. The work comp, the tax liabilities, things that we actually were still reconciling into January. Because the contract that we were under shared that risk, actually made the risk nearly 100% the cities. In this instance, the risk is, other than the $23,000 on the vendor. |
| 01:54:16.92 | Jill Hoffman | So, but to answer my question, So the net to the city. in 2017 was 35,000 under this new plan. we're going to, am I looking at this correctly, that we're going to make either $11,000 less or $12,000? Maybe, you know, depending upon the different, the 10% increase and 10% decrease. It depends on our traffic. |
| 01:54:39.55 | Melanie Purcell | It depends on our traffic, but yes, we could potentially make less in terms of net cash. And it's all. |
| 01:54:45.67 | Jill Hoffman | And it's all and it's. Okay, but it's all less than $35,000, which is what we made. Until we got. |
| 01:54:51.02 | Melanie Purcell | Until we go up, yes. |
| 01:54:52.90 | Jill Hoffman | under the ambassador. So I mean it's also a plus plan. |
| 01:54:59.31 | Jill Hoffman | And then we're talking about fewer people, right? So we're talking about a decrease in we're talking about decrease if you're looking at you're sharing staff, right, over two different services as opposed to one service. and we're getting less service and we're making less money. Is that, have I got that? Have I got that right? I mean that's what it looks like to me. I mean this is just the black and white in this one. I'm looking at the agreement and I'm looking at the at what you've cost it out and so |
| 01:55:31.77 | Melanie Purcell | The service level expectation is the same. The service model is different, and the funding will be different. |
| 01:55:39.20 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, we're going to disagree on that then. Absolutely. Because when I look at three employees over two different types of services, |
| 01:55:41.16 | Melanie Purcell | Absolutely. |
| 01:55:45.49 | Jill Hoffman | . |
| 01:55:45.58 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:55:45.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:55:45.71 | Jill Hoffman | . I see that that is a decrease. |
| 01:55:47.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | that is a decrease. Over two different types of services. No, Monday through Friday. It's three plus the two ambassadors. |
| 01:55:49.34 | Jill Hoffman | No. |
| 01:55:54.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | It's the section one plus the section. It's the section 1A plus section 1D. So it's 5 or 7. |
| 01:56:02.86 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:56:04.28 | Mary Wagner | You directed us to make that change. |
| 01:56:05.56 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 01:56:05.69 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, okay. All right, well, maybe, I don't know. Okay. |
| 01:56:09.07 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. Certainly if there's concerns or complaints as the season gets going, we want to hear them and we'll adjust it. The contract does include the same clauses in both of the prior for both Sausalito Bike Return and Sausalito Plus that it is open to be amended at both parties. |
| 01:56:26.89 | Jill Hoffman | But we're all in agreement. We're talking about net to the city is less. Correct. Okay. |
| 01:56:34.75 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:56:34.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, is that the end of your presentation? Okay, then let's invite the chief back up to, unless there are other questions of Melanie. We'll invite the chief back up to complete the presentation. |
| 01:56:47.90 | Police Chief | I think I only have two slides left. So one is the recommendation, I know you like to look at that for your deliberations, but before that, |
| 01:56:54.68 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:56:54.72 | Unknown | 100%. |
| 01:56:58.56 | Police Chief | I don't want to lose this thought. Because it's a great opportunity to say thank you to the people of South City Plus, both to Deb and to Ed Foch for all the work that they did. Also to Tom Riley as the chairperson for South City Plus, and all the members of the Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Because a lot of work went into where we are today with some you know, not just risk taking but with a lot of thought into it ahead of time. but with the willingness to try some new things. to get us beyond having a half a dozen bike racks in the B of A plaza. to where we are now. And so this is the chance to just say thanks. I know they're not here, we could do something like that later if you want, but I just wanted to say that because I enjoyed working with all of them. They were innovative, hardworking, and looking to do the right thing. I worked a lot with Deb on day-to-day stuff, and it was always a pleasure. And so I sneaked that in there because I could So, but I mean it a lot. So that's the staff recommendation part, it's my last slide other than, I think I have the one with the questions, |
| 01:58:20.73 | Jill Hoffman | Can I interject one? Can I just ask one? I'm sorry. I think I might be... |
| 01:58:21.35 | Police Chief | Can I interject one? |
| 01:58:25.52 | Jill Hoffman | I'm looking at the staffing levels for last year, right? And we're talking about three people working when we're looking at that word was that including the Tracy way and the princess Street or was that three people in the bike corral. |
| 01:58:41.15 | Police Chief | by crowd. |
| 01:58:42.88 | Jill Hoffman | So that's, so you guys, so when you're talking about three employees, right? In the corral. In the corral, under this new agreement. In addition to two ambassadors. |
| 01:58:56.94 | Jill Hoffman | Right, but I'm talking about three employees in the corral that are being shared between bike return and bike parking. The bike return has a separate guy to drive the truck back. He's driving the truck. He's not parking the bikes. He's not loading the, that's somebody else. They're going to be pulling that, and we can ask those Kapazis. The idea is that they're going to be shifting three people between the two functions. And when you're talking about, and the same thing for five employees between two functions, and you're talking about... So I see that as a decrease in staffing and services for bike parking. I don't see how you can say that's not true. I mean, honestly, I don't see how you can say that's not true. |
| 01:59:35.60 | Police Chief | Honestly. I look at it a little bit differently in that the watching over the last few years, watching the transition of the workload move its way down the hill. And If it weren't for counting, there would be another time of the day where we could have excused the ambassador at station one. But we wanted the count, even if it was a little bit slow, because it helped us determine that it was not just anecdotal, but we had clicker counting of bikes. And so the position was important. But as that workload shifted throughout the day and became, you know, a congestion management and parking problem, then that's where the employees went. We'd need them at the other places. Now, the South Sea Plus did not have to do bike return, they did their part, But even they said that rather than call it a day and start to excuse their people who they didn't need anymore any given day could be different scenario, but on the days where they didn't need anybody more, in today's or next coming up season, those same people will be able to transition right to doing bike return and the loading, but throughout the day, If someone comes in and makes a decision to use bike return, that bike just gets parked in the return car, that's done. So that's why we're anticipating that the overlap of those duties makes some sense. And we've batted it around quite a bit, and I'm hoping we're not wrong. |
| 02:01:03.81 | Jill Hoffman | Well, |
| 02:01:04.08 | Police Chief | And there's a lot at stake and we know that, but It's the idea that those employees will be able to do more than one thing and they can transition their work throughout the day at no time should any of those different categories be understaffed, which I'm hearing you correctly is your concern about stopping. |
| 02:01:22.00 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure what that is. Yeah, because we're receiving less revenue, but we're also having less people working. you know, |
| 02:01:29.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But they're able to have an overlap of duties which when Sausalito Plus was separate from Sausalito bike return, that economy of scale was not something that could be- Then let me ask a question. |
| 02:01:29.74 | Jill Hoffman | that they're able to. |
| 02:01:37.90 | Jill Hoffman | something that could be real. Then let me ask a question, Ms. Capone. |
| 02:01:39.99 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:01:40.04 | Jill Hoffman | So if you have, my impression is that the busiest times in that area |
| 02:01:40.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 02:01:48.20 | Jill Hoffman | are at the same times. You have the volume of bikes coming in, Tell me the flow for bike return. Like what are the hours that it's most busy for bike return? |
| 02:01:56.05 | Lisa Scopazi | So last year, We were more on the, it's obviously a later part of the day. We had the random people who would show up before we even opened at noon. |
| 02:02:06.50 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:02:06.97 | Lisa Scopazi | And then obviously I brought in another employee around 3.30 or 4 when it started to get busy. Obviously there is, like Chief was saying, there's a flow that starts where they start parking right around 11. And then that flow stops the parking right around 4 or so. People start getting frantic, there's tickets in their ferries back, and Collette can attest to the time frames of the ferry and the busyness of the schedules down there, and that flow really does go to the return And it just gets jam-packed for two hours. It's sort of how Herbie used to describe it. You know, like everyone exiting a football game at the same time. There's two hours of complete chaos. And that's about how it is for the return, really, especially on the weekends. |
| 02:02:55.50 | Colette Martinez | Thank you. |
| 02:02:55.54 | Jill Hoffman | There's, |
| 02:03:01.60 | Jill Hoffman | So when it gets that busy, how many people do you need just for bike return? |
| 02:03:05.61 | Lisa Scopazi | I'll have one full-time person doing just bike return at the very end. They're checking in the bikes. An added convenience for me this year, for us, is that they will be paying at the return stations, or at the same payment stations for both the return and the... |
| 02:03:10.10 | Jill Hoffman | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:03:10.47 | Unknown | THE END OF THE |
| 02:03:20.71 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:03:20.75 | Julie Myers | Thank you. |
| 02:03:20.90 | Unknown | the same time. Yeah. |
| 02:03:24.58 | Lisa Scopazi | parking so that's going to cut out one step for my return people they're just going to be checking in the bikes and putting them in the particular order we have a whole little system so during busy times, it's two, to answer your question. During the day, it's one, maybe even half. So that third person down at Tracy Way, and I wish you could look at my little map here, but really that's the flow. It's the manager, the person in the middle who's going to flow up and down Tracy Way, and that third person down at the end will be doing primarily the return and helping with the payment. And then the flow will shift down towards that end of the day for that two hours of chaos. And then weekends, of course, I have extra bodies. And we can bring extra people. |
| 02:04:08.20 | Jill Hoffman | And then we can. |
| 02:04:12.49 | Jill Hoffman | So, right, but so when there's two people, there's only one person in the bike parking area. And so it's three plus one and five plus one. |
| 02:04:22.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | the state. |
| 02:04:23.68 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:04:23.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Where are you getting a plus one? And the loader is a different person. |
| 02:04:25.13 | Lisa Scopazi | And the loader is a different person. too, by the way, the loader comes later. |
| 02:04:27.79 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So it's three employees from 11 AM to 6 PM. Plus a driver. Plus a return driver. But the driver's not, the driver's driving, right? |
| 02:04:33.07 | Lisa Scopazi | driver's driving or is the driver helping the drivers loading the load is loading and we have a loader who comes at that time okay all right |
| 02:04:35.20 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:04:38.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE All right. THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:04:42.05 | Lisa Scopazi | THE END OF THE YEAR. |
| 02:04:42.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:04:42.29 | Lisa Scopazi | Thank you. |
| 02:04:42.31 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:04:42.62 | Lisa Scopazi | So let me ask you this. |
| 02:04:42.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So let me ask you this. Yeah. So, Lisa, were you guys there pretty much every day last year? Yes. And while there, did you observe the flow of bicycle parking and bicycle return throughout the day? Yes. And in putting together this proposal, did you rely upon the knowledge that you accumulated last year observing this on a day-by-day basis? Yes. And are you confident that the numbers you've put together for this proposal accurately reflect the staffing levels that you will require in order to run this business? Correct. And you understand that if you have underestimated the staffing levels, you will be required at your expense to provide additional staffing that could cut into your profit. Absolutely. So you're clear on all of that? Absolutely clear. Thank you. Sure. |
| 02:05:33.86 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. So based on my co-counsel's question, Jones questions. |
| 02:05:40.71 | Julie Myers | THE FAMILY IS Where's the |
| 02:05:41.76 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 02:05:41.79 | Julie Myers | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:05:41.99 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure what you're saying. Yeah. So what are the busiest times, and chief, you can I mean, based on the question. Are you asking me or Chief? Either one of you. I mean, you just said you're an expert down there, so tell me what they. |
| 02:05:54.75 | Lisa Scopazi | asking me or chief? You're an expert down there. Absolutely. to the |
| 02:06:00.69 | Jill Hoffman | What are the busiest times and what's the, go ahead. |
| 02:06:00.71 | Lisa Scopazi | the basic... you |
| 02:06:03.05 | Police Chief | . |
| 02:06:03.10 | Lisa Scopazi | Go ahead. |
| 02:06:03.37 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 02:06:03.51 | Lisa Scopazi | to you. |
| 02:06:03.85 | Police Chief | Thank you. |
| 02:06:04.45 | Lisa Scopazi | We'll take a flip-flip coin. |
| 02:06:05.94 | Police Chief | Thank you. I think that the bike parking starts to become noticeable, pick up around 1.30 or so. That's been my experience being there. Of course, it depends on what else is going on. You know, like I said, cruise ship important, groups coming in or whatever. But the first couple hours is fairly slow. And so, I'm, |
| 02:06:15.79 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:06:27.08 | Police Chief | If we're going to get a crowd, we start to feel that around 1.30. And then it picks up a little bit, picks up a little bit. And then, of course, that all fits into the boat schedule after that point about getting people out. and relieving that congestion, and then that has an impact on parking, because everything's got to flow to it. And we've been watching now for... in the last three or four years, you know how that goes in our operations. So at some point then that stops becoming a |
| 02:06:50.18 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:06:55.31 | Police Chief | because not that many new bikes are coming in. People can still ride in. But there's not so many that it matters. It doesn't change anything. And you can watch it just by how many bikes are in the parking area. And so little backfill at that one point. So... |
| 02:07:12.26 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So at this point, we're a half an hour over when we were supposed to start our next item. So what I'd like to do is cut this off at this point and take public comment, and then we can bring it back up for final questions and comment, if that's OK with you. All right, so I'm going to open this up for public comment. Oh, Peter Van Meter. |
| 02:07:30.35 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:07:32.17 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Welcome back to the microphone. |
| 02:07:35.17 | Peter Van Meter | All right, going back to the beginning of this whole thing, I heard two things, that people that are queuing up had to have a ticket. and therefore I assume the queuing area is sized to have one SHIPLOAD FULL OF PEOPLE. Secondly, I heard that no one's allowed to line up on the sidewalk. So my question is too, in the congestion management, who's gonna verify that people standing in the queuing area in fact do have tickets, And secondly, those people who don't have tickets but are going to be in town waiting for their ferry, where are they going to stand if they're not already paying for their parking? They're part of that 100,000 bikes. We don't know where they went. and how we're going to keep them from getting on the sidewalk and who's going to be policing that. |
| 02:08:13.90 | Doug Storms | Thank you. |
| 02:08:14.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | going to keep going. |
| 02:08:18.12 | Peter Van Meter | And is that part of this whole staffing plan? |
| 02:08:21.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you for those questions. Any other public comment on this item? Oh, Jeff Shirash. Speaking of long queuing, |
| 02:08:35.08 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 02:08:39.72 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:40.01 | Unknown | Yes, not of the Spinnaker. I'm Jeff Shurosh, Wunder, Spinnaker Drive. I'm also representing not just Spinnaker, two hats today. I'm also the Saucer Chamber of Commerce, I'm the current chairman of the board. Definitely this is a huge program, as you know, for us having congestion management downtown, something we don't take lightly on the chamber side, and also local business, and something that needs to make sure it runs effectively and seamlessly. One great thing, as far as John and Lisa, they understand what it takes to run downtown, and something that needs to make sure it runs effectively and seamlessly. One great thing as far as John and Lisa, they understand what it takes to run downtown. Also able to wear multiple hats. Being in a hospitality business, we kind of, John and I of course share that knowledge as well as Lisa. Of course they own five stars. But being able to wear multiple hats down there where they are able to ebb and flow as things goes on. Jill, Council Member Hoffman made some great points as far as things that may have occurred during the day, but enabled to have flexibility, enabled to add staff, take staff away, allows them to run the business effectively. So they need to be able to make sure the contract has a little bit of the flow that they can work with. That even though our chief of police here has a big head, as we all talked about, but he's also great to work with, but they've got to be able to work effectively without him on a Saturday or Sunday and have to be able to ebb and flow from that. But I think they're going to do a great job moving forward, but able to have that flexibility is key, and also have that hospitality downtown to where people want to stay, and not just get on a boat and go back. So I think that's key as well. So thank you. |
| 02:10:13.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you for your comments. Any other public comment on this matter? All right, seeing none, I'm going to close public comment and bring it back up here. Before discussion, are there any other questions of staff? |
| 02:10:27.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So yeah, I'd like to get an answer about the queuing. Who's going to be? |
| 02:10:31.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:10:33.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Police, did you hear... |
| 02:10:33.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Chief, did you hear Peter Van Meter's questions about Cueing and how are we going to prevent? I know that we are working on an ordinance to prevent loitering on the sidewalks, but what other steps will... |
| 02:10:49.35 | Police Chief | I'm not sure if you'd like to hear from Collette, that's why she came. |
| 02:10:49.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:10:51.68 | Police Chief | Okay, great. Clette Martinez is operations manager for Golden Gate Ferry, and she's happy to answer your questions like that. |
| 02:10:51.75 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, great. |
| 02:10:59.14 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right. Thank you for being here, Colette. |
| 02:11:02.55 | Colette Martinez | Thank you, Council. We are expecting a larger what we call foot traffic especially going right down that street. And so this year we're going to put stanchions for the foot traffic, so actually a zigzag entrance this time, what we call in the plaza. So we are expecting the bike return to be Um, increase this year, so people still want to take the ferry. So we're going to address that. And then about the queuing, the reservation system, every year it's increased, but this year in particular was really, really successful. Blue and gold for this coming year has increased their and I think that's a great question. their website, they're going to have real time data that the supervisor of Golden Gate Ferry on the float will know how many has actually reserved for each departure. We're going to cut it off at 100. So we're gonna queue in 100, we're re-striping some of the lanes. We can queue two bikes, excuse me, two boats at a time, which is 150 minimum. per boat. So we'll have them queued two bikes at a time. If you do not have a reservation, you're not allowed to even enter the queue. We're going to suggest that you return your bike or that you ride on to Tiburon or that you park your bike. |
| 02:12:21.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | No. How will someone be standing there to monitor who enters the queue? |
| 02:12:29.74 | Colette Martinez | Yes, you'll actually have to show your reservation. It's a free reservation system. Again, a lot of education on the San Francisco side and also social media. |
| 02:12:39.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And that person's an employee of who? |
| 02:12:42.77 | Colette Martinez | We will work with the Chamber of Commerce again as we did last year. |
| 02:12:46.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So you'll contract or you'll... |
| 02:12:49.35 | Colette Martinez | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:12:49.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay. |
| 02:12:50.41 | Colette Martinez | Right, we can manage it, but we don't staff it. |
| 02:12:59.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, well that was, I think the other question and probably not for you is what happens if there's people kind of just milling about. I mean, is that, so if you're not in the line, and you don't have a ticket, what's the Thank you. |
| 02:13:17.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | How will you control people loitering? |
| 02:13:25.67 | Police Chief | So that's why on our list of new challenges this year is to, of course, tell people they can't. You know, that they are not going to be allowed to gather up on Tracy Way. That's just what we do. We're not going to let lines form on Tracy Way or on Anchor. |
| 02:13:37.26 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:13:43.77 | Police Chief | and |
| 02:13:44.94 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So that will be the job of the parking control person that's assigned to downtown. Yeah. Great. |
| 02:13:52.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, thank you, Chief. All right, any other questions of staff? Who would like to lead off on comments? OK. The vice mayor. |
| 02:14:04.44 | Vice Mayor | So I want to take this time to thank Saucelito Plus as well. I think we've said it over the last few months in these meetings as well as in the last past years of both Dr. Fotch and Deb's contribution, both monetarily and to their time, but really to set this program afloat to start where we, to get to where we are today. |
| 02:14:32.46 | Vice Mayor | starting with. one item I wanted to bring up and it wasn't a question, so I saved it as a statement. key part of the background that I highlighted here is the social plus efforts were were successful in eliminating any need for law enforcement presence, unlike the prior seasons. So when we look at the cost of this, and we had a $23,000 number, I don't want that to get lost. And I know we've never asked you to totally quantify that, but almost in kind quantifying it saves a lot of man hours, and that's a tremendous amount of money that I want us to recognize when we talk about a cost, is the savings, or at least putting officers in a more efficient area of our town to provide safety as opposed to directing bikes that the ambassadors program took over. That is why I have been questioning and so diligent in making sure that we have a plan that protects that safety, and I want to protect the new purveyor of that because I just don't want us to get into a position of failure based on numbers that I'm still not I think they were all there for us in the past, and I'm not sure that they're lining up to the current plan, but all the caveats have been made that it all falls on you. So. With that, I'll say that... excited about the reservations going forward. I think that's something we've been asking to return. I think that's going to make a huge, huge difference on the queuing. THE ITEMS THAT WE'RE GOING TO RECOMMEND FOR MOTION. I AGREE WITH ALL OF THEM, ESPECIALLY CLOSING TRACIE WAY. I JUST DON'T SEE THAT AS A VALUABLE STREET. I JUST DON'T. I THINK IT'S CUTE. I THINK IT'S ADORABLE. I think it solves such a big issue for us at these times that it's a no-brainer to close it for what it does and the amount of bodies that it, like I always say, rice in a bowl. It contains it. It's a great use. So closing that and then the agreement. I prefer a nonprofit do this work because it's service-based. It's not monetarily based, and I think nonprofits are the best way to get that type of action done. A nonprofit also sets a great platform for bodies to come in out, whether it be an executive director that changes over time or the board changes over time. But the nonprofit stays in place. That gives us an advantage going forth in a 5, 10 year program to have the same outcome. But we didn't get that and when we get a private party coming in, there's no better private party that I can think of than Johnny and Lisa Scapazi to run that program. 110% supportive of the scapazes and the site sasilo bike return taking over this congestion management agreement Again, my comments tonight were to protect you, and I hope that everything turns out well. The little bit I do know of the way they worked last year, if there's an issue, if it gets tight, they get it done. They don't fall back on excuses. I've watched Johnny work, Lisa too, but I've watched Johnny just sweating and throwing bikes onto the trailer nicely, respecting the bikes. If it gets into a crunch period, those two people and their staff is going to prevail. So I'm excited about that. I will support this because we need to get it done. And I'm thankful that those two are doing it. And I want to thank again, Saucer Plus and staff, all the people putting time. Chief, your department going into this season plays such a huge role. And I never want it to be discounted as just managing tourists. You manage a congestion in a way no other community has to do. So thank you all. Susan. |
| 02:18:11.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great. I want to echo a lot of those same comments. I won't repeat them. I definitely also want to add my thanks to Sausalito Plus and also to the Skapazis. I'm really happy that this agreement is moving forward. I think this effort to coordinate all of the various things that have been going on downtown is really moving in a great and positive direction. So I'm really happy to see that happening. I am still not completely convinced that this is going to be enough to really address all of the congestion. I think for this year, it's a good year to kind of consolidate and evaluate. I would like to have kind of a mid-season update on our calendar where we really evaluate each component, what's going on, how this is working for you, how it's working for the city, how it's working for the police department, and kind of get a sense mid-season of how all these components are playing out. I'd also really like to have folks consider the use of parking control officers to direct the flow of traffic in addition to ambassadors. I think that presence on the street from someone who knows what they're doing could really help keep the flow of traffic going. I also think the city should consider better signage downtown. You know, there's a lot of cities that use blinking, temporary signage to direct traffic flow during heavy congestion, big events. I think during the summer, our downtown looks like an event site. And I think we should look creatively at the use of signage in addition to human beings. I am very concerned about parking in front of the Bank of America. We're in the process of beautifying that plaza. It's a great gathering place. I'd like to see that be more of an enjoyable place of relaxation. I know the chief has said that it's only for an emergency, and so I hope that that will be the case. so again I think this is a good plan for this year but I don't that will be the case. So again, I think this is a good plan for this year, but I don't see it as the end of this discussion. I see it as one more step in improvement and moving forward, but I think we have a lot more to do going forward. So I want to make sure we've got some good monitoring and evaluation of these steps in place. Thank you. Jill? |
| 02:21:01.51 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Well, so I echo a lot of the concerns that the vice mayor had about the nonprofit structure and how that probably, works better in the context of all the controls that we put on that effort when Sausalio Plus is running it. I was sad, my understanding was that Sausalito Plus was going to put a bid in and I didn't understand that they didn't put a bid in until after the bids came back and we were informed we only had one bid and I had to ask who was the bid and it was Saso Bike Returns. I think based on the success of Sausalio Plus and the momentum that we had coming out of this last year and the efficiencies that they had gained and the bottom line of the 35,000, net. I think that's a good question. that's probably the best structure. we didn't get a bid from them. And I'm also sorry that the city didn't contact them immediately and say, why didn't you put a bid in? And when I look back at the RFP, there was nothing in the RFP about it that the city was gonna subsidize $23,000 to whoever was gonna operate. And there was also a clause in RFP about that, whoever, you know, there had to be a section on lost parking revenue of 89,000. THE REASON I THINK different. consideration for Sausalito plus understanding that they're a non-profit and so The way that the RFP was written, it wasn't particularly something that a nonprofit would be able to respond to or think that they would be successful at or would have an interest in. And that's what we're doing. And I've shared these comments with the city, and these comments are not a surprise, I think. So... Then when I look at, you know, we look at the deal, you know, We're paying $23,000 to a for-profit operation right off the top. I understand why we're doing that, but still. And then, the way I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, THE END OF uh, the city will keep basically 10% of the receipts that come in. Right? So the way that the deal is written is a little bit It's a little bit confusing, but we'll remit 90% of the receipts received through the last day of the operations. And then if they reach 70,000, then Sausliya Bike Retirement will pay the city 20% on any grocery seats. Now let me ask this question. Is that 20% in addition to the 10% or is it 20% total? So we'll get 30% over 70? |
| 02:24:06.16 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:24:07.12 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, in addition. So 30% on everything over $70,000. But still the projection, as Melanie did, we're still making less money with this new system than we did with a non-profit. THE BID IN. You know, given the work that everybody did today after 3 o'clock to get the terms, the specific terms together was great. So thanks to the city for that effort. I know that was a hard push. Um. . SO WE'LL SEE HOW IT GOES. as we move through the season and where we are on the expenses and where we are on our net profits. and how it's working with the staffing. So I understand that they're going to be moving people around. My concern is that in those busiest hours from two to four that one or the other is going to be understaffed, and if one or the other is understaffed, congestion troubles explode and we lose revenue because we don't have people there helping them check in and getting them their tickets. So those are my concerns. And like I said, thanks to everybody for their participation and hard work today. I appreciate it. |
| 02:25:57.78 | Unknown | THE FAMILY. Yeah. |
| 02:25:58.95 | Ray Withee | I'll just say very briefly. I actually... I got elected on City Council in 2012, sworn in that December, and so the first few meetings were in 2013. Herbie was mayor, and one of the first things he did early in 2013 was suggest that we reestablish and get going again the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, which we did. And that was extremely successful in terms of, I mean we started off with even before those guys in 2013. I think we parked in the bikes for free that year. I got the chief nodding his head so I think that was right. So The pedestrian bike community came up with a lot of good ideas, among them the ambassadors, which we then tried out again, initially not integrated into parking. And then we moved on to trying the parking on Tracy Way and charging for it. This room was filled, absolutely filled the first time we talked about charging for biking. I mean, everybody was lined up saying that we were crazy and that nobody would pay. Well, that was proved wrong. And so then each year, the point I'm trying to make, each year we've been learning from the previous year, trying something out and throwing out what doesn't work and adopting what we thought worked. Now, this last year, we actually, to be honest, upon originally some conversations I had with Ed and Deb, was that we may not be doing this, we want to do this forever, and you need to start thinking about what the transition would be. And so this is an experiment, an RFP, to see if we could find someone. We found, yes, I agree, there's only one that came but who knows us and knows our community and is part of our community and has been for two decades. I wish them luck. I approve of all of this. I wish them luck. I don't know if it's quite going to work. you know. I really hope it does, and if we got some staffing crunches, and it's affecting congestion management, we've understood the chief has got a lot of powers, and if necessary, we can come back here at a meeting and help sort it out. Closure of Tracy Way. It's got to happen. I know there's an emotional attachment to that street, and people don't want to see it closed in the summer. But as the chief will tell you, if you have cars going down that street with the flood of bicycles and pedestrians all around with this crazy street, that's really dangerous. So forget the fact that we've got nowhere else but the bikes. It's incredibly dangerous when you have a full downtown of pedestrian and bikes to use that street. But Bank of America law, every year, the Chief has requested that. We've given it to him, and I've made the same statement. Please don't park at Bank of America lot. It is the worst place downtown to park bicycles. Right. We have a whole shipment of calcita stones coming from Portugal that are actually might be in the port of Oakland right now, actually. They're here, right, Portugal is flying over someone to put these in the ground and we're going to put a bunch of bicycle racks on top? I don't think so. So anyway. |
| 02:29:38.68 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 02:29:38.86 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:29:42.56 | Ray Withee | I'm ready to absolutely approve this and move on. |
| 02:29:47.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. I also want to thank Dr. Ed Fotch, Deb Fotch, Tom Riley, and the rest of the Sausalito Plus team for their efforts in addressing downtown bicycle congestion management and designing various solutions that have served us well. Also for their generosity in collaborating with the city and putting together the RFP and with Sausalito Bicycle Return and putting together their proposal. I want to acknowledge the police chief and his staff and continue to make positive progress on our downtown congestion management plan. I'm thrilled about the implementation again of a reservation system. I think that's going to be an enormous help. I heartily endorse no ferry passenger line on Tracy Way or Anchor Street and no admittance to the queuing area without a ticket or reservation. I agree with my fellow council member comments regarding Tracy Way and the Bank of America. I agree with council member Cleveland Knowles that we should continue our past practice of receiving regular updates on the status of bicycle congestion management efforts. I think our new taxi ordinance will help with the reduction of downtown congestion by ensuring taxi fares for bicycle returns are published in advance, are consistent, and are fair. I appreciate our insistence on tour bus compliance with our quiet zone ordinance and our parking requirements. I'm less concerned about the city's making money on this. I don't believe managing our downtown congestion issues needs to also be a profit center for the city. Under the new agreement, the city is relieved of the liability it shared with Sausalito Plus last year, and I think that is a great step in the right direction that definitely has a monetary value to the city. I have made comments to this marked up agreement that I will hand to the board clerk. And I am thrilled that the Scopazis have stepped up to the plate. With their background in hospitality, their collaborative approach, they've actually met with Blazing Saddles already, and their experience with the bicycle return program over the last two years, I'm confident that we have a solid approach moving forward. So with that, I will entertain a motion. |
| 02:31:51.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'll move to approve the congestion. I don't have the agenda in front of me. Okay. Approve the closure of Tracy Way. Approve the emergency use of the Bank of America lot. Only in emergencies. Adopt a resolution of the city council approving the agreement for bicycle congestion management services with Sausalito bike return from March 23, 2018 to October 15, 2018. |
| 02:31:55.32 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:31:55.37 | Unknown | THE FAMILY. |
| 02:31:55.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:32:03.13 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:32:16.59 | Vice Mayor | Second. |
| 02:32:17.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:32:17.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries unanimously 5-0. Thank you, everybody. |
| 02:32:18.72 | Vice Mayor | Hi. Hi. |
| 02:32:19.48 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:32:25.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, she voted you. Thank you. Yeah, she voted, yeah. All right, and with that, we're going to take a quick break. And when we resume, we will talk about Sausalito's waterfront management. |
| 02:32:44.24 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, welcome back everybody. We're going to move on to item 4B. Sorry, 6B. um Sausalito waterfront management update and lieutenant frost |
| 02:32:56.03 | Lieutenant Frost | . |
| 02:32:56.37 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:32:57.06 | Lieutenant Frost | Good evening, Madam Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor, council members and city staff, I have the pleasure of presenting the waterfront management plan update to you this evening. The first thing I want to do is give a little historical perspective. This is a picture of our first chief of police, Albert O'Connor. And he was chief from 1925 to 1927. And the reason why I put this up there is it shows that Sausalito Police Department in the city of Sausalito have been dealing with the water front for a long time. He was actually commended for bravery for his role in putting down a mutiny aboard the vessel of the city of Sydney that was anchored in Richardson Bay. So that occurred sometime during that time span. We don't know the exact facts, but it shows that we've been dealing with the waters of Richardson Bay for a long time. And we're going to continue to work on this because it's not a problem or an issue that's going to be solved overnight. We're building a foundation to make sure that our actions in the future are going to be successful. So a little background about our waterfront management plan. This was approved. by the Council back on June 20th, 2017. It authorized the hiring of part-time staff to work in conjunction with full-time staff of the Sausalito Police Department to more effectively manage the sausalito waterfront. And it called for the continued cooperation and partnership between the City of Sausalito, the Sausalito Police Department, the Marin County Sheriff's Office, and the Richardson Bay Regional Agency. During that time, span. We have been working on priorities that the Council had provided to us and set for us. And the highest priorities are the removal of marine debris vessels, the removal of unoccupied vessels used as storage, unregistered vessels, and vessels that are occupied by persons who are a danger to themselves or others. priorities, which are lower for us are occupied vessels that are currently licensed or registered and vessels that are in possession of waste disposal contracts or utilizing similar forms of service. Well, currently in staffing. we still have two part-time temporary technical specialists that were hired in July of 2017. They are conducting surveys of our vessels monthly, if not more than monthly, and they're documenting the results of those surveys on an ESRI ArcGIS program, which allows us to map the vessels in our waterfront and obtain data on those vessels. Also, we have stepped further with this survey team, and they are also assisting our Marine Patrol unit in noticing vessels and posting vessels that are marine debris, so we can start the abatement process on those faster. AS WELL AS posting warnings on vessels that are in violation of harbors and navigation codes or city of Sausalito city ordinance. For the part-time Marine Patrol officer that was authorized with the Marine our management plan back in June. We're still recruiting for this part-time position. We've talked to several retired or soon-to-be retired officers with maritime law enforcement experience. However, as of this time, We have not had anybody who's wanted to go further in the process. This is not like hiring any former law enforcement officer or retired officer. We need somebody with a special skill set that very few law enforcement officers have, but we're continuing to look. And recently we have requested that the United States Coast Guard, Sector San Francisco, which is the parent organization of the Coast Guard in this area. put out a notice for this position through the Neptune Coalition. And that's a law enforcement based coalition that meets monthly. to talk about law enforcement matters on the Bay. So they are putting out the word requesting individuals. And we're gonna continue to talk to other individuals. We're hoping to get some momentum on this. However, like the plan, it is a work in progress. our surveys. We have conducted five additional surveys since I last spoke to you in November. This makes for a total of nine. These surveys were conducted in November and December and February. surveys in December, one of them because we had a large windstorm that shuffled the deck of vessels out there in our waters as well as county waters. So we wanted to make sure we got that information documented as soon as possible. We have shown that these surveys have now shown a decline of vessels in Sausalito waters. as we see right here in this chart, is how many vessels were documented in our waters per each survey. Our last survey showed 64 vessels were in Sausalito waters. That is down from 71 to 71. shortly before that, our high has been 77 in our waters. And we do have another survey going out in the next week or so to see other vessels we know have left our waters since our last survey. We're continuing to mark all these vessels in our GSM GIS mapping system. As I've stated before, this allows us to gain information on vessels, store photographs on vessels, document conditions of vessels, possible owners of the vessels, exact locations, and track them as they move through our water. It allows us to be more productive in our enforcement efforts and our management efforts. We, with the city's approval and going through the purchasing process, we were able to get an upgraded version of our GIS mapping system. The good thing about this system is now it allows for more timelier reports to be prepared. In the past, our GIS system allowed us to enter information, but after every survey, our tech had to re-enter that information by hand. This system will allow for an automatic download of photographs and data as well as allowing us to have more data fields to enter additional information. So our officers are gonna be able to get these reports faster and we're gonna be able to turn around and make put action into the documents. sooner than later. Here's an example of our GIS work. The document right here shows vessel locations. Green vessels are vessels that are status quo from the last survey that was conducted. RED VESSELS ARE VESSELS THAT ARE NEW TO SAXELETA WATERS. and yellow vessels or vessels that were in Sausalito waters but had moved. This is one way we're tracking and seeing if we are having migration shifts or pattern shifts. And as of this is our last survey in February 3rd that shows just the exact location of all our vessels. able to prepare this document to show dots of vessels that are marine debris vessels that are have expired registration, other types of violations that are nuisance vessels, And by clicking on any one of those dots, we get photographs of vessels, we get owner information, we get previous contact information, all data associated with that vessel is at our fingertips. And these are what some of the reports look like. This right here are vessels that are documenting marine debris. Marine debris right here, you can see there's red and there's yellow dots. Those are red dots or dots that are marine debris vessels are possibly unoccupied. Yellow are marine debris vessels Possibly are or possibly are not. We don't know for sure. |
| 02:40:55.48 | Lieutenant Frost | And this is maps or example that are public nuisance, debris on deck, not in good condition, that are in violation of our city ordinances. Our officers, when they go out on patrol, they take this information and they're conducting focused enforcement and focused patrol, so they're addressing these specific issues every time they go out. We are transitioning to what we once were, was which a Marine Patrol unit that was strictly enforcement and rescue. Now we do enforcement, rescue, and management. It's a complete paradigm change. but it's something that data like this and documents like this are letting us be more effective and more proficient. And we're talking about enforcement. Since our last update, the Sausage Police Department has abated seven vessels that were unoccupied that were marine debris. Here is a listing. The vessels ranged in length from 44 feet to 8 feet. Several were expired. Some were valid. All these were marine debris. They were not navigable. They were not seaworthy. They were a blight on the water. Many were taken on water and were in danger of sinking. One of them actually had been completely impaled An example of some of these photos are these. and that's the impaled vessel right there. That vessel broke free, came into our waters during the windstorm on December 16th, and impaled itself onto that The issue with that is once that happened, oil, other debris went into the waterway, but to show that some vessels out there are being occupied by people that are conducting other unlawful behavior, when that vessel started taking on water, and items started flowing out. items such as hypodermic needles started entering into the waterway. Thankfully, we were able to corral those and trap them. But that shows you never know what are on some of these boats that we're dealing with day in or day out or vessels that are being abated. additional vessels. The vessel that has got the blue tarps was in our waters, somehow mysteriously ended up in the waters of Richmond, And then when returned, We were gonna deal with it, It was removed from the Army Corps dock to mysteriously go back on the same mooring ball that it was in prior. We marked it. and we abated it. It had been had been taken on water within various stages of disrepair. and Every individual that boarded that vessel during that time span we were dealing with it was amazed at how much state of disrepair that vessel was in. and a few other vessels we have abated. that is tied to the other, had no engine, had no steering compartment, was being used basically as a boat to store bicycles and other personal belongings on. |
| 02:43:53.50 | Lieutenant Frost | Other aspects of our enforcement is, since your last update, we've issued citations for expired registration. nuisance and debris on the decks of vessels as well as unlawfully mooring in the waters of Dunphy Park. are Marine survey team and Marine patrol team has posted copies of all waterfront ordinances of city of Sausalito on the vessels that were in Sausalito waters. in a survey conducted just recently on February 3rd showed that 55% of the vessels that are anchored in Sausalito waters are currently either registered or federally documented. A little back story regarding this, is that number may seem low, but boat registration is a every two year process. THE LAST WEEK. registration period was 2015. to 2017. All boat registrations expired on December 31st, 2017, so some vessels are still in the progress of being registered. When we conducted a DMV database on every single vessel that has a CF number or a registration number. It showed that numerous vessels are listed as registration in progress. That means there are several vessels that are taking the steps to get registered. They're just not currently registered at this moment. After every survey, we're going to review and rerun every single vessel to check on those vessels to see, is it a everlasting registration and progress which is not the intent or is it somebody who just took them an extra month or so to get registered. We're also issuing citations to vessels that are clearly out of registration and nobody's taking any attempts to get registered. We talked a little bit already by this December 16th windstorm. It lasted approximately two hours. It affected Richardson Bay greatly. The storm had rare winds that caused the most damage usually for us out on the water because it blew from the northeast at approximately 25 miles or knots per hour. with gusts that went up to 35 knots per hour. That affected 15 vessels that were on Richardson Bay. Six different public safety agencies responded to deal with that waterway disaster or emergency. THE FAMILY IS Nobody was injured, thankfully. Only one vessel suffered catastrophic damage, which was the one that you saw. impaled by the pylate. And The Sausalito. Police Department. Marine Patrol unit as well as members of the Marine Survey Team responded and they were able to assist five vessels that were in need of assistance. Other people that were on the water that day were the United States Coast Guard. They had two LARGE, They call them motorized lifeboats. They're not your typical lifeboat, the little rubber thing on the side of cruise ships. It's a nice big metal. large vessel. I'm not sure. helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard. the San Rafael fire department, the Tiburon fire district, the Southern Marin fire district. . The Saussello Police Department is continuing to work in coalition and in partnership with the Coast Guard's Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Work Group, On November 16th, just a few days after your last presentation, Our marine survey team gave a presentation to this group regarding our use of GIS technology to track information on our waterways, vessels, and guide our enforcement. There was a lot of individuals that showed interest in this, a lot of questions. when some organizations are actually thinking of doing the same thing. And just recently, I attended another on Valentine's Day of all days. It goes to show the Coast Guard is like any other government institution they will pick the absolute worst days to hold the meetings that I met with them and I provided an update about what we are doing on our waterfront and how we are continuing to use our mapping systems. Back in November on the 21st, we had a marine debris, or marine debris collection event. This was conducted by the Sausalu Police Department, the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, and Marin County's Health and Human Services, The goal, as stated before, was threefold. Number one was to reduce the amount of debris on vessels that could possibly be washed away or pushed into the water during the storm season. to help vessels get in compliance with City of Sausalito's and Richardson Bay, ordinances and codes regarding and debris is on vessels. and also to provide a forum for Marin County Health and Human Services to reach out and try to contact individuals from the waterfront and offer for those that are interested services that could help them. in obtaining housing off the waterfront. During the three and a half hour event, we removed numerous items of debris off the waterway. And Greg Baker, who was here in the audience, assisted greatly that day. And thank you, Greg. He was with on a different vessel with an Arboria was in another one and they were going and picking up a lot of garbage and a lot of debris from boat to boat. There are numerous weird items of debris that was taken. Parts of a grand piano, wheels, TIRES. I saw drum sets and other things, things that you don't expect to be on boats, They were on boats and they had got into such a state that they were no longer useful and they were debris that getting ready to be washed over. ALSO, 11 people were contacted throughout the day regarding possible services, and three of those 11 people requested services. |
| 02:50:03.65 | Lieutenant Frost | a little fiscal information. As you are aware, the Sausalito Police Department was awarded a grant through the Division of Boating and Waterways. in October 2016 for the abatement of marine debris vessels. As this time, we have spent approximately $54,457.05 of that grant, which was $129,800. to show that we've been very active in the last few months, just since December, we have spent 37, a little bit over $37,000 of baiting marine debris vessels. Our plan is to apply for another grant, which will go through the 2018-2020 season to help us continue with our efforts. One thing that's very important we want to consider about fiscal is the first A large portion of the first part of the year that we had the grant, we were still part of our Bura, and we were working with our Bura, in a partnership in which we were utilizing our grant funding to remove mooring balls from the waterway, and they were using their funding to remove marine debris vessels from the waterway. mooring balls are not nearly as expensive as vessels. So when we were not getting those large costs, but as you can see, since we've been very active removing, We are removing, quite a few. and spending those funds. And just like any grant funds, if you don't spend it, They don't allow you to keep it afterwards. Um, Key thing of that is the costs. Some of those boats only took a little bit over $1,000 to abate. The most expensive was $10,000 to abate. And with that information, I'm more than happy to answer any questions that the council may have. Any questions of Lieutenant Frost? |
| 02:51:58.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We'll see you next time. No, thank you. That was an excellent presentation. Very much appreciated. With that, I'll open this up to public comment. The first speaker card I have is Suzanne Wibrow. |
| 02:52:20.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | The machine shop. Thank you. All right, my next speaker card is Greg Baker. |
| 02:52:36.62 | Greg Baker | Hello, some of you have heard this before. I'm Greg Baker and I'm 78 years old. I've been out on old Richardson's Bay off and on for 50 years, living some time out there. I live out there now on my boat, I'm subscribed to the pump out, et cetera, I want to compliment Bill on his presentation and bring up the fact that Bill Price has gone and bought a bunch of orange garbage bags. I'm going to be distributing them to the various boats The people will be able to call. and he will come and get them and with the reason for the orange bags is there's no question about you know, oh, you took my stuff. which sometimes isn't a bad deal. Anyway. I'm... You know, I hope for another 10 years out there in the water, maybe more. And I'm concerned that I'm not homeless. That boat is my home. And also my, well, she's not my little girl, but Liberty Darling, who you may or may not know, spends quite a bit of time with me on the boat. And she has her own sailboat too. So anyway, I'm just concerned that you |
| 02:53:40.12 | Unknown | THE FAMILY. |
| 02:53:40.19 | Unknown | I'm going to go around. |
| 02:53:42.54 | Greg Baker | you |
| 02:53:42.59 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:53:42.79 | Greg Baker | Treat us as human beings out there. that you know, we're not trying to cause trouble. There are some that are trouble, I will admit. But we're trying to get it together out there and I'll be out there doing search and rescue until I can't run a boat anymore. Have a good evening. Thank you. |
| 02:54:00.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THANK YOU. Alden Bevington. |
| 02:54:09.42 | Alden Bevington | Hi, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Sorry I haven't been around. I've been under the weather for months, but I'm back. So my name is Alden Bevington. I'm going to read what I wrote rather than shoot from the hip just because that's how I'm feeling. My name is Alden Bevington. I'm a resident of Sausalito and a member of Richardson Space Special Anchorage Association, a nonprofit community organization serving the legacy Anchorage community, the ecology of Richardson's Bay, and the communities on shore. We can be found on the web at www.anchoredout.org. That's not anchor out, not encouraging people. It's anchored out.org. And I've just come from our monthly general membership meeting, which was outside and freezing. But people showed up. And I wanted to share a brief statement from the association. Through this very cold winter and storm season, we continue working steadily on the small things, the ordinary social and practical components of improving the lot of the individuals on the anchorage and increasing human and ecological safety on the anchorage and shore communities. We do this through community outreach and through encouraging compliance with the Association's anchoring and safety guidelines, which is the best bulwark we have against the damages that can occur from storms and occurrences of water pollution. We recognize that the city is applying public resources from multiple sources towards some of these same goals, and we really appreciate the efforts and really acknowledge the issues. We talk about them a lot. The Anchorage community is a very diverse and creative one. Studies coming out of Oxford University recently showed an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and characteristics of basic wisdom, and there's much natural wisdom in the saltiness out there, which adds a unique flavor to our local community, which is a value which is not really that possible to quantify. But you can feel it, and it adds to the hybrid vigor of our city, in my opinion. And we also know that some members of our community have slept through the nets of our Good Society support systems or have been hammered by life, including veterans, the infirm, and elderly, and some struggle to maintain the base at many responsibilities borne by a mariner. When there is a problem, the blame is often publicly borne by the entire Anchorage community, which reflects poorly on us all. We as stakeholders are doing all that we can with what we have to meet the real human and safety needs as we encounter them on a case-by-case basis on the water and help those who really need it in a way they can and are willing to receive. I might run 20 seconds over, is that okay, y'all? Sorry, sorry. So we do get our hands wet. Additionally, we do what we can to provide a forum where members of the Anchorage community can receive education on proper seamanship. |
| 02:57:11.40 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So Alden, we're going to stop you and I'll see if a council member wants to ask you a question. Okay, that's fine. |
| 02:57:16.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I'd like to ask if you would continue to read the statement and the rest of it, please. |
| 02:57:17.80 | Alden Bevington | Yeah. Okay, sure, I apologize for that. I didn't read fast enough for me. I'm going to wrap up soon, that's great. |
| 02:57:24.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | to wrap up and that's great. |
| 02:57:26.01 | Alden Bevington | The main point says, thank you. uh, So we're creating this forum where we can share education on proper seamanship and updates on the government's actions. We share information with each other, air disputes, discuss solutions and request and give support amongst each other. We do continue to work with other stakeholders, including the RBRA, and to build our relationships with individuals and community organizations from Marin and farther afield towards our common goals. And so anyone interested in learning more about what the Anchorage Association is up to or would like to donate to the organization, it is a nonprofit and including actually really especially valuable expertise and experience. We heartily welcome all of that. And if you want to do that, you can visit the website or contact the association at info at anchoredout.org. So steady as she goes, and thank you so much to the council and the city for all you're doing towards these things. |
| 02:58:34.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:58:34.75 | Alden Bevington | That's it. Thanks. |
| 02:58:36.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, and Doug Storms. |
| 02:58:46.69 | Doug Storms | Douglas storms, 700 Waddle Point, South Little California. I think you have the strength of Samson and the wisdom of Solomon and Perseverance of Job to do what you do. you know? |
| 02:59:02.01 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:59:02.03 | Doug Storms | And All of the sauce little staff and the city council members. I know you guys don't get rich from doing what you do. So I take off my hat to you. I pray for you too. You know, it's exciting to hear about the GIF or the automated electronic data tracking system and all that. What I'd like to offer, well, two things. One is to offer the information that we have, we can coordinate with the RBRA. And my understanding is that RBRA is adopting your system, that you've offered the system to them. And boy, it would be great for you to offer your system to the Richardson Bay Regional Special Anchorage Association. As you know, since my first survey was done in 1993 and 1994, and then I picked it up in 2014. And so we have the information that's tracking the critical data from who owns the boat, sea worthiness, ground tackle, location. uh, emergency contact information, how many tenders they have, where do they go, where do they come into. And so it would be really great to be able to coordinate with the various agencies, because power is knowledge, or knowledge is power. Now to piggyback on what I just said, RBRA, I know you guys have divorced, excuse me, you've pulled out of the RBRA. Of course, as a marriage counselor, they want you back. Thank you. Um... But in lieu, what they've done is they've reached out to the maritime community in November 8th, 2018 at the city hall of Tiburon, we're having a excuse me, March 8th, Thursday, a community workshop. And where instead of just having three minutes to talk about, we can sit down around the table and really work with this 30 year problem. And so I would hope that you, Send a representative, I hope that Chief Rohrabacher or Lieutenant Frost or the other gentleman that's in charge of the maritime patrol could attend. Because we're trying to trailblaze to work together to resolve the problem. Thank you very much. |
| 03:01:51.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you, Mr. Storms. Okay, I have no other speaker cards, so I'm going to close public comment, bring it up here for discussion. This is information only. Any comments? Any comments? . |
| 03:02:04.26 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:02:04.38 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:02:04.52 | Jill Hoffman | The only comment I have is to thank Lieutenant Frost and the police department and all the agencies that work together to implement better management on the bay. You guys are doing a great job. That's it. Thank you. |
| 03:02:19.00 | Ray Withee | Uh... Yeah, I'd echo that. This is a work in progress, and I think we've... as a city in our police department, has shown tremendous leadership here. We've actually got stuff done. So thanks, guys. |
| 03:02:44.34 | Vice Mayor | Um... Yeah, echo that. Thank you. It's a great update. There's a lot of fun things. I'd love to chat. If we didn't have such a late meeting, I'd love to find out a little more details about some of those numbers. Still want to get out on the water and look at some of those things. The 77... 71 ratio there it's kind of like want to learn more about that but not in this setting right now and kind of just get out and find out more about it but thank you for this presentation tonight and keeping up the good work |
| 03:03:02.23 | Unknown | like, |
| 03:03:13.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I'd echo those comments and just also want to thank the members of the Anchor Out community who came tonight and are participating in this with the police department and working forward on common goals. So thank you for that. |
| 03:03:27.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And I think my fellow council members have said it all. So thanks so much for the report, and we look forward to your continued progress and leadership in this area. Thank you. Okay, we're gonna move now onto our public hearing items. The first is item 5A, consideration of an ordinance establishing regulations for the tourney street boat ramp and dock. And we'll welcome back Lieutenant Frost. |
| 03:03:51.84 | Unknown | It was good. |
| 03:04:06.68 | Lieutenant Frost | Well good evening again Madam Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, City Council members and City staff. Tonight I will be presenting Some proposed ordinances for the regulation of the Tourney Street Doctrine and Attorney Street boat ramp. A little background before we start. As the number of anchored and moored vessels have increased upon Richardson Bay, we have seen an increase of smaller vessels that are associated with them. These vessels are primarily used for people to transit from vessels anchored on the waters to the shore and vice versa. And also the Turney Street Dock is the only public dock where vessels can moor when they come to shore. What the problem is, is congestion. That doc sees just about every type and form of vessel in watercraft or floating structure. There is. The most odd one I ever saw was an old door that was being used as somebody's little raft to go back and forth. What causes congestion? Well. Too many vessels for the dock's capacity. vessels that are being left at the dock for long periods of time. Vessels that are being moored upon portions of the dock that are not designed to be moored on. vessels that are moored to other vessels, which are then tied to the dock. So you've got a daisy chain of vessels, as you can see there, that kind of go out towards the boat ramp, which causes other concerns we're going to talk about shortly. Vessels that are larger than intended to for using that vessel. |
| 03:05:43.25 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:05:43.56 | Lieutenant Frost | I've seen a fishing trawler tied to that vessel, to that dock. That's not what the dock is designed for or meant for. and derelict vessels that are being left at the dock for long periods of time. that literally fall apart or sink at the dock. Here's a couple of examples. in condition, we have the red vessel was a marine debris vessel that was tied up on a portion of the dock that wasn't designed for, was left there, we had to abate. And if you look at the others, those are several vessels that are tied up to one side of the dock that are multiple, too deep. Most of those vessels had items in them, that were hazardous to the waterfront if those things would go into the water. And a lot of them had no means of propulsion. And we're in various states of disrepair. Why are we concerned about congestion? It's our safety concerns. And what are some of the safety concerns? Number one, excessive vessels utilizing the dock increases the risk of individuals attempting to safely board or disembark their vessels. You have people trying to crawl over other vessels to get to their vessel to make it to and from shore. More lines, the more trip hazards. The vessels turn over, people try to straighten them out. That's too much of a danger on a small confined dock. Derelict vessels on the dock that are at risk of sinking or capsizing, which could impact the dock's capabilities as well as introducing pollutants into the water. I don't know how many times you look into some of those small vessels. They have open cans of paint, cans of paint. bottles of all various sorts, and chains, lines, numerous different items, that will foul the waterway. We have seen verbal and physical conflicts between people at that dock over issues on that dock. One incident, one person used an oar to strike another person in the head with that caused that individual to fall into the water. We have also a lot of arguments and because that is a hub of people going back and forth The more vessels you have there, the more interaction you have with individuals. And during times of the day, during times of night, That could also involve individuals that have been drinking alcohol. And then you're having risk of not only confrontations but people that are too intoxicated trying to board a vessel that they have to crawl over other vessels so it's a health and safety risk. Also, we see excessive vessels left off the dock that create an environment where vessel theft or other crimes of opportunity can occur. It is easy pickings for a person who wants to be an opportunist to steal something. And what we've seen a lot in the last few years is vessels are being untied and set adrift by others that are trying to make, themselves onto that dock. These vessels will go into our marinas or into our harbors or wash up upon our shorelines. |
| 03:08:47.49 | Lieutenant Frost | But also, that dock has a, impact. on the boat ramp that is directly next to it. The tourney boat ramp. is the only public area in City of Sausalito where an individual can launch or recover a vessel. when there's congestion on the dock, a lot of those vessels more to each other, The moored vessels extend from the dock into the navigable waterways that lead to the boat At times, the congestion will cause that boat ramp to be completely, the use of that boat ramp to be unsafe or totally impassable or unusable. Also, when that boat ramp is impacted is a public safety risk. boat ramp. is the main hub for individuals that are being brought from the water by public safety agencies, police department, coast guard, or fire department, to the shoreline to meet with an ambulance The quickest way in and out. if that boat ramp is fouled by Too many vessels, too much congestion on the dock we may have to reroute the ambulance or the public safety vessels to another location, which will cause a delay in medical care. to the person who needs it the most. The city of Sausalito has taken steps to try to ease some of these congestions. We've installed a larger dock. we've installed a longer dock gangway that extends further out from the shore. We've allowed long-term mooring on the south side of the dock for individuals that need to go to work, respond to an emergency, or go somewhere that's going to be more than your typical 15-20 minutes as an extended state. We've worked with individuals. And we've installed signage indicating what side of the dock was for short term. Vessel parking and I use parking as mooring. or long-term. |
| 03:10:50.80 | Lieutenant Frost | However, we need to make sure that we regulate that to make it less congested in a safer location. Staff has prepared the proposed ordinances utilizing the previous feedback we've received from voting community as well as complaints that have been reported to the police department. The draft ordinance that we are requesting that you look and act upon will prohibit vessels from conducting some of the following behaviors. One is mooring on the northern side of the Turney street dock for more than 15 minutes. mooring on the southern side of the tourney street dock for more than 24 hours And there will be signs that indicate which side is which. For the next two, I have to apologize. My staff report had a typo in it, and it did not read exactly like our draft ordinance. my fault I take full responsibility for it and it's just trying to type a staff report and deal with family issues at the same time. is mistakes happen. I was embarrassed when I saw him, so. Please accept my |
| 03:11:59.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:12:00.56 | Lieutenant Frost | My apologies. ordinance is going to prohibit moring a vessel that's larger than 15 feet in length. to the Tourney Street Dock. Also, mooring a vessel to the Turney street dock that extends beyond 20 feet from the dock. And what we're looking at with those two is making sure that we don't have one vessel that congests everything. FOR Vessels that are going to drift off and impact the Turney Street boat ramp. Or on the other side, they're going to drift into portions of the bay that's very shallow. that boats could hit up against rocks or if they break free could go under other structures or impact the shoreline. Perfect example is The deceased Robert Conley, he had his vessel that was tied up there. He kept it tied up there. He tried to extend it a little bit further. He tried to sail a little bit further then. It ran aground and it was stuck there for a few days until high tide was high enough for it to be able to be removed. Also, the ordinance will prohibit mooring that causes an obstruction to the use of the Turney Street boat ramp for the launching or recovering the vessels. mooring to the Turney Street Dock, when the vessel will not be free floating at low tide. mooring to the Turney street dock without valid and displayed registration or federal documentation. mooring to any portion of the tourney street dock that is not designed for the mooring of vessels. This will prohibit people from tying up to the gangway or tying up to areas THAT THEY SHOULDN'T. which not only causes congestion, but could cause structural damage. THE BEST OF THE BEST OF THE gangway or other portion. mooring anywhere other than directly to the Turney Street dock. The mooring, tying, or securing to other vessels that are moored to the tourney street dock would be prohibited. This will allow keep from the daisy chain of vessels that are gonna extend too far and impact water, the other waterways surrounding the Turning Street Dock. THE PANELY. Anyone who violates any of the provisions is subject to fine. Vessels can also be impounded by the Sausalito Police Department. if the owner of the vessel can secure its release by furnishing proof of ownership in payment of the cost and expense of the removal impoundment or storage of the vessel. |
| 03:14:33.94 | Lieutenant Frost | And we are able to enforce these ordinance or we will be able to without having to increase any additional staff for the Sausage Hill Police Department. This would be something that all our officers will be able to conduct as part of their routine duties. The legislative committee has reviewed all these ordinance and has recommended their And... Our recommendation from the staff is that you waive the first reading You read by title only and introduce an ordinance to the city council, of the city of Sausalito. amending chapter 16.04, the Saucydeo Municipal Code, entitled City Waters to add regulations for the use of the tourney street boat ramp and dock. And with that, I would welcome any questions the council may have. Thank you. |
| 03:15:28.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any questions of Lieutenant Frost? Susan? Yeah, I have a question. In terms of that last slide about the penalties and impoundment and needing to pay the costs of removal, et cetera, to get your... vessel back. Is there any, I apologize, I wasn't able to read through the ordinance fully before the hearing. Is there an exception or a waiver provision for indigency or financial hardship. Thank you. |
| 03:16:00.49 | Lieutenant Frost | Yes, the police department will always have the discretion to be able to waive fees. It's similar to if we tow a vehicle based on hardship, based on conditions, we could waive those fees. FEE. |
| 03:16:11.03 | Lieutenant Frost | We could waive or reduce the fees. Also, it's going to depend on how. |
| 03:16:11.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | do. |
| 03:16:15.61 | Lieutenant Frost | the vessel is removed. If we need to bring in a large private contractor to tow a very large vessel, that may, incur more fees than if we work and do it in conjunction with the Department of Public Works, which would be very little fees. we will always have the discretion to be able to waive completely or reduce. |
| 03:16:34.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Oh, I'm sorry. I had one other question. So what kind of outreach was done on this after the legislative committee recommended it? |
| 03:16:46.62 | Lieutenant Frost | Well, this has been an ongoing issue we've been monitoring. We've, based on this, we have talked to members of the boating community over the years regarding the tourney boats ramp. as well as based on police complaints we have received from individuals trying to use the dinghy dock. as well as people trying to use the boat ramps. We have not done a flyer or anything out directly to the community. This is based off of previous experience and knowledge that the police department has earned obtained. through our days or interaction with the maritime community. |
| 03:17:20.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:17:20.46 | Lieutenant Frost | Thank you. |
| 03:17:21.02 | Vice Mayor | And that just leads right to my question, Bill. Through those complaints and through knowledge that there's obviously a sign there that says 15 minute tie up and people will lock their boat there all day. um Your response just had to be, there's really nothing we can do about it. |
| 03:17:35.46 | Lieutenant Frost | At this time, that sign is 100% recommended. It's advisory. It's kind of like, the sign that says please don't make noise in my neighborhood because my baby's trying to sleep. There's nothing we could do based on those signs at this moment. |
| 03:17:52.42 | Vice Mayor | And you know who those boats are, right? |
| 03:17:54.33 | Lieutenant Frost | The vast majority, yes we do. |
| 03:17:57.11 | Jill Hoffman | All right. Any other questions? Um, I just had a request. I thought that the first picture that you had up was a really good illustration for the people that are watching, may not be familiar, that shows, so that's Salido's right there on the left, and this is as you're looking south. Yes, that is actually. West. |
| 03:18:15.57 | Lieutenant Frost | So that is actually |
| 03:18:16.52 | Unknown | What? |
| 03:18:18.19 | Jill Hoffman | that. |
| 03:18:18.42 | Lieutenant Frost | So we'll be back. |
| 03:18:18.69 | Jill Hoffman | looking north south. |
| 03:18:19.98 | Lieutenant Frost | West. West. We're looking west, the red boat is going north. |
| 03:18:20.74 | Jill Hoffman | West. Sorry. THE FAMILY. Okay. |
| 03:18:25.23 | Lieutenant Frost | Okay. And the small white boat, Salido's is to the south. |
| 03:18:29.04 | Jill Hoffman | And then what it looks like the street right there, that's actually the boat ramp. That is the boat ramp. Okay. And so the issue is that the people were parking their dinghies there and blocking the boat ramp and not letting people in and out or emergency vessels access, right? |
| 03:18:32.25 | Lieutenant Frost | That is the boat. |
| 03:18:42.22 | Lieutenant Frost | CORRECT. |
| 03:18:42.89 | Jill Hoffman | in the future. |
| 03:18:42.98 | Lieutenant Frost | In certain circumstances, we've actually issued misdemeanor citations to individuals for obstructing a navigable waterway when they have blocked that. |
| 03:18:57.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, thank you. If there are no other questions, I'm gonna open it up to public comment. I have one speaker card from Alden Bevington. |
| 03:19:08.21 | Unknown | you Thank you. |
| 03:19:09.79 | Alden Bevington | Hi there. Well, I have used that doc for three and a half years, and it's clear to me that no one who uses that doc on a daily basis was consulted on how to solve this problem. I just want to, I really don't mean to be, I don't want to be antagonistic at all, but I just want to share the larger picture. One of the reasons why there's a lot of congestion at that dock is because there are no places for vessels to tie up, for dinghies to tie up. Most of the marinas in Sausalito waters are not fulfilling their obligation to shore access, public trust, and we can understand the reasons why they wouldn't want certain members of the Anchorage community coming through. But if you have 50 cars in a community and you only allow 20 parking spaces, you're gonna end up with a problem and so I sincerely encourage the the City Council to take this as a first reading and do some community outreach and try and find a solution to this problem because if this is just if you just flip the switch here I already know I can already see the problems that are are going to occur. To give people a choice of not being able to get to shore because there's no space and they have to go back to their boat or face a $30 ticket, it just doesn't seem reasonable. I will also mention that the dock wasn't actually extended. We requested that multiple times and were told told by it that it required an extra BCDC permit. The length of the dock was extended but no cleats were put on the the extension part which is going into the water for kayakers. And so I think that there's four cleats on that on the south side of the dock, which obviously isn't enough. I realize that you don't want as many people coming in, but there are people there, and the problem isn't going to go away by ticketing it away. I also want to mention that the 24 hours on the south side of the dock is problematic because sometimes people go away from their boat for more than 24 hours for various reasons. They go to visit their mom or something. There are vessels there that stay there way too long. I can tell you which ones they are. And, you know, anyways, it would be great to be able to continue the conversation on this problem. Because, you know, nobody wants it to be like that. And I agree with not having anything on the... north side, the 15 minute side. I think that should be completely clear. That's the only public ramp within a long distance. Thank you. |
| 03:22:12.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you, Mr. Bevington. |
| 03:22:18.27 | Doug Storms | Yes, Douglas Storms, Waldo Point. I echo what all that Alden shared with you. I implore you to not to waver the first reading, because there hasn't been. the community outreach. My suggestion is that the Lieutenant Frasser representative comes to the 8th of November Richardson Bay Regional Agency workshop where you will be able to get the input because this is one of the problems, shore access and infrastructure, that we're going to be dealing with. And, boy, if you tighten this up, if you do what you say you're going to do with what you said, the boats don't disappear. They go down to Galley Harbor and Schoonmacher Marina. And if you think that's bad, well, I tie up at Galley Harbor, and there's 30 boats there. And Schoonmacher is the same thing. So what we have is really you need to follow the marineship plan on page 44, where it says that if you're an owner of property on the waterfront in Sausalito in the marineship area, if you have a marina or you own property there, you shall deploy or provide 300 square foot of dock. I don't make this up. And I brought it up to Jonathan, the public works guy, and he says, well, hey, good point. Bring it up to the planning commission so that when these people apply, property owners apply for permit, that is the time you go and say, hey, why should we issue a permit to you when you're not in compliance with the marineship plan? It's not fair for Galley Harbor, Turney Street, or for the public to provide access for 120 tenders because Because there's 100 live aboard vessels and about 120 people that live out there. So if the wealth is spread, if the pain is spread throughout and Clipper and Marin Ship Harbor provides shore access with registration and paying some money and all that kind of good stuff. I think it's a community problem. It's just not Turney Street. I don't disagree with the law, with the proposed. I think it needs to be tweaked some, but this is overall a problem that really needs to be dealt with at the community level. Thank you. Good night. |
| 03:24:54.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other comments on this ordinance? |
| 03:24:59.95 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Mr. Baker. |
| 03:25:02.97 | Greg Baker | I'll dispense with all the introduction. I agree. that there's a definitely problem there. You put in a wonderful Handicapped ramp. and only extended the dock eight feet. with no cleats. It doesn't make sense. The ramp actually takes up a third of the dock. Also, The Turning Street launch ramp is an embarrassment. You cannot use it. when the tide is anything but hot. There's a storm drain that has been dumping gravel in there for knows how many years. The cement drops off. where the road ends and you can get the tires of your trailer caught on the ramp and then you're in trouble. Also, I disagree with Bill about emergency vehicles going there to pick up medical aid people. They use Schoonmaker and they use Clipper Yacht Harbor, which they drive right up to the edge of the water and pick them up. They can't get in there about, well, I'd say, 70% of the time the water is too shallow. and... Other than that, have a nice night. |
| 03:26:15.63 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, thank you. Seeing no other public comment, I'm going to, OK, Suzanne. You guys need to fill out speaker cards. |
| 03:26:24.07 | Unknown | I just wanted to say, |
| 03:26:25.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Wait, yeah, I'm gonna ask you |
| 03:26:27.02 | Unknown | speak into the mind. |
| 03:26:27.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:26:27.63 | Unknown | I really appreciate the respect for safety on the water. We live in a beautiful, beautiful place. I just wanted to add one thing because I realize it's very tense, the situation between the anchor out and the safety and the land. I just have also been noticing that there's a lot of people now that are coming to beautiful Sausalito from San Francisco, like the with all their students, people taking out their kayaks, their water boards, and bringing classes of children. Just like on the bicycle trips that go through town and everything. So we might want to just consider having even a larger vision for the influx of young student bodies that are coming in with their teachers to enjoy the Sausalito Waterfront and even make it even more inviting and safe for everybody coming in. So we're not all using one loading ramp and one guest dock. Thank you. |
| 03:27:26.56 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That's all I appreciate it. |
| 03:27:27.69 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:27:28.79 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, I'm going to close public comment, bring it up here for discussion. Who would like to lead off? to. |
| 03:27:34.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'll lead off. So I really appreciate the efforts of the police department on this and the legislative committee. And I definitely think that a valid concern has been identified. But it is kind of troubling to me that there hasn't been more public outreach on this issue that affects a lot of people. So I'm a little uncomfortable with moving forward on this this evening. I think with any legislative effort, we have a... SO I'M A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH MOVING FORWARD ON THIS THIS EVENING. I THINK WITH ANY LEGISLATIVE EFFORT, WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO DO PUBLIC OUTREACH. YOU KNOW, I FELT THAT WAY WITH THE MARIJUANA REGULATIONS. I FEEL THAT WAY WITH THIS AND PRETTY MUCH ANY OTHER PIECE OF LEGISLATION THAT WE ARE GOING TO CONSIDER. I'm not necessarily, I would just like to see what that public input brings forward. I'm not, I think there is a problem. I think the solutions offered by the police department sound viable. I definitely agree that we need an enforcement mechanism. So that's my main thing. I think, you know, overall, the slides probably emphasized at least three times that these are the only public, This is the only public dock or boat ramp in our city, which I just think is disgraceful for a waterfront town. So. I mean, I think that's the larger problem. And that kind of on a long term basis, we need to think about more public access to the water. Ray. |
| 03:29:09.16 | Ray Withee | Yeah, so this is another one that we've been talking about for years and years and years. I'm sort of a little bit torn here because I I absolutely agree with Councilmember Cleveland Knowles that the fundamental root of the problem here is that we don't have enough tie-ups, public tie-up space. I mean, we just don't have enough public tie-ups. public dock facilities. The thing is that... Because... The... Anchor out. issue, let me call it that, which has been taking up so much of our political space for decades. is actually preventing us from moving ahead and figuring out what's the correct shoreline infrastructure that we need to put in place. I mean, there used to be, I mean, city councils of the past whose view here was, we're not going to do anything, let's make it painful for people to come ashore, thinking that that was going to solve the problem. what they perceived as the problem. So I fully agree that that's the root of this problem. On the other hand, I'm very sensitive to the safety issues here. I mean, that is not acceptable. So how do you balance those two? |
| 03:30:49.63 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. I'll go, as a member of the legislative committee and working for years with when we were in RBRA and then going forward with the management plan. You know, this is a small thing. we are all in agreement I think in this room that that's not acceptable the way that doc is I mean there's it just isn't and so we've got to do we've got to implement some measures to clean that area up. So whether or not you have public comment or public input about that, I mean, the solution is there. I think that's the way we're going to have to go with that. I understand that there are issues with public access. The next dinghy dock down is the one at Galilee Harbor. It's not owned by us. It'sBLIC ACCESS, AND THAT'S USED BY A LOT OF THE MEMBERS WHO LIVE OUT ON THE ANCHORAGE. SO THIS ISN'T THE ONLY PLACE YOU CAN COME ASHORE. IT'S ONE OF TWO IN THAT VERY SMALL AREA DOWN THERE BETWEEN DUMFEE PARK AND THIS, WE'LL JUST PASS DUMFEE PARK WITH GALILEE HARBOR. BUT, YOU KNOW, DOUG BRINGS UP A have more? The public access and the permits that have been issued needs to be enforced. And that's a different issue. And I'm not opposed to addressing that. And I think that's really what our fellow member, Cleveland Knowles, is talking about and would be more effective. I'd like to go forward and approve this tonight and get this fixed so that we don't have to, you know, spend a whole lot more time on this particular issue and then move forward and talk about the other issues. You know, to your point, Alden's point, you know, the cleats are, if we need to have other ways, you know, to have... boats to be able to tie up on the. Whatever, you know, that conversation's ongoing. There's no reason why we can't have that conversation even though we're approving tonight. So anyway, those are my comments. |
| 03:32:54.00 | Vice Mayor | I think I'm going to say roughly the same thing, maybe just with a little different perspective. I'm out there every day. Every day I go past there. A couple days a week it's with my paddleboard or my kayak, but every morning it's because of Coco's constitutional. But I'm there, and I see it at least every morning and often morning and evening. I agree that we have to have public outreach for the solution to more boats coming in. But there's public outreach on that sign that says, no tie-up past 15 minutes, and the same boats park in the same spot, locked, unmovable, while other boats are trying to bring their boats off the ramp. And there's plenty of room on the south side. The south side sometimes is open when there's a boat locked to the north side. And it's the same boats. They know what they're doing. And it's almost like they're intentionally... making a statement, because I've been out there numerous times and seen the same boats on the north side when the south side is open. And that's not the... functional way of using that dock. And that was the public notice for me. For eight years I've seen that. And it says right there, 15 minutes. So yeah, I think we should pass this right away. And I think we should have the discussion that talks about where are we going to get some of these other boats and how we're going to do that. That's perfectly fine. I don't know if public access means tying up for long periods of time at the marinas. But we have other options we can look at. But for this, this is needed and it's needed right now. Thanks. |
| 03:34:23.91 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, I'm going to agree with my fellow council members. I understand the need for public access, but I do believe there are important purposes to this regulation, and I agree that this situation is untenable. I also would like to move forward with this ordinance with the first reading tonight. We can always take more public comment and consider it between now and the second reading. but I would like to move forward with this ordinance with the first reading tonight. We can always take more public comment and consider it between now and the second reading. But I would like to, as a part of this, direct staff to explore code enforcement options for the owners of waterfront property in the Marin ship area, making available 300 square feet of dock as required by the Marin ship specific plan. |
| 03:35:15.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Sorry. Oh. |
| 03:35:21.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I think that in order to prevent this, we need an enforcement mechanism, but I think part and parcel of our action should be to seek code enforcement of the private owners so that the city is not the only owner burdened with the public access issue. So with that, can you switch flip to our action screen? Can I make one more? |
| 03:35:47.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | comment. |
| 03:35:47.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. You may. |
| 03:35:48.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So I appreciate the comments of all the council members and I will vote in favor of this tonight, but I really, really feel strongly about meaningful public outreach for legislative actions. So I will not be voting for future legislation where meaningful public outreach has not been conducted. |
| 03:36:10.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, with that, I will move that we waive first reading, read by title only, and introduce an ordinance to the City Council of the City of Sausalito amending Chapter 16.04 of the Sausalito Municipal Code, entitled City Waters, to add regulations for the use of the Tourney Street Boat Ramp and Dock. Second. Thank you. |
| 03:36:28.03 | Lily | . |
| 03:36:28.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | LILLY, WILL YOU CALL |
| 03:36:29.04 | Lily | THE END OF THE END OF THE Councilmember Withey? Yes. |
| 03:36:31.94 | Ray Withee | Yes. |
| 03:36:32.60 | Lily | Thank you. Council Member Hoffman? Yes. Council Member Cleveland Knowles? Yes. Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. |
| 03:36:37.71 | Vice Mayor | Yes. |
| 03:36:38.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:36:38.15 | Lily | Mayor Cox. |
| 03:36:38.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That motion carries 5-0. Thank you, Lieutenant Frost. Okay, I'm gonna invite Melanie Purcell up to discuss adoption of an amended master fee schedule. |
| 03:37:19.90 | Unknown | you |
| 03:37:40.45 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:37:44.20 | Unknown | There it is it's right it's right there. |
| 03:37:52.45 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. |
| 03:37:52.66 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:37:54.00 | Melanie Purcell | Yeah, it's not in the regular presentation folder. I thought that's where I put it. Isn't it right there? |
| 03:37:57.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Isn't it right there? It's master what fee schedule things? |
| 03:37:58.39 | Unknown | Thank you. Please schedule update or just That's the one I was freaking out about. My apologies. Let's pass my bedtime. Thank you for staying. |
| 03:38:09.90 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm sorry. |
| 03:38:11.03 | Melanie Purcell | I know we're running way late. |
| 03:38:12.48 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm sorry. |
| 03:38:12.82 | Melanie Purcell | I'm not sure. Surely I'm just joking, I do laugh my children to say that I turn into a pumpkin by 9.15. Thank you. Good evening, we presented to the city council in early January the update from the NBS who had conducted the city's comprehensive study of user fees. This particular tweak is in addition to that conversation, but the finance committee also reviewed, the fee schedule update with some additional information which is included in your packet simply comparing the cost recovery recommendations with the direction provided by council when NBS was here in January. Suggesting that we wanted to take a closer look at the industry norms. So we did the comparison between industry norms and the recommended 75% cost recovery. And then we also tweaked some of those numbers to emphasize recovering full as many costs as possible when there's a public body at work. So appeals, et cetera, presentations or reviews requiring Planning Commission under City Council. We also were less aggressive on those areas that we felt would likely see a cost reduction in the upcoming years with the implementation of TrackIt, which did go live this week. And the areas where we felt that there were compliance or other areas that we wanted to make sure THE FAMILY. That we didn't inadvertently cause disruption. So by that I mean we have areas where we want people to comply, we want to make it as easy as possible. So those are areas where we would not normally increase costs drastically. So the council received the packet that had the laundry list of all of the fees that we had, including the police department fees as well, which was to bring those in compliance, inequity. With the rest of the county. So in 2013, the sheriff's office had requested that all jurisdictions adopt a similar range of fees. We did not do so at that time. We brought them forward. They are still the same fees that were brought forward by the sheriff's office in 2013. And we also brought forward all of these. We had done a partial the City Council adopted as part of the 2016 the 2018 strategic resources allocation plan and budget adoption. mid-year of a halfway step in effect, so a partial increase of the fees anticipating the completion of this study. SO, Nothing changed in those other than a few of the tweaks, as I mentioned, where we trued up to industry norms. For example, in the engineering area, those are typically 100%. Police department and administration are typically 100%. In very rare cases did I take it to the full 100%. So recognizing one, it's much easier to administer round numbers and program computers, so we went to this. Rounded numbers. And we wanted to ensure that we had left room for the city. to reduce its costs. And be more competitive as that is very much an emphasis. In our review, staff recognized, Danny in particular, noted that there were a couple of areas where compliance really is critical. And that perhaps in the analysis, the additional tree views, in this case, were actually much easier than staff fully anticipated. That the front loading of the cost of the first tree was more important than subsequent trees. We want to encourage compliance. So these were amended. provided earlier this evening. It includes the first tree, Going from $175 to $975, which would be 100% cost recovery. And then keeping the additional tree at $75. Similarly, the view claim for private or public property as opposed to the protected tree would be a $175 to $3,000. where that is a 91% recovery. So keeping that the same, but again, keeping the $75 for every additional tree the same. So the emphasis being on being... of shifting the cost, recognizing the full costs up front, but not, and lower costs on the secondary. Additionally, in the zoning permits, Our community development director had the opportunity to look a little closer and felt that the staff time should be adjusted down. that it was important to recognize our opportunities to reduce costs and keep those fees similar to their current rate. So those are the only adjustments from the January meeting. It was posted to the public on January 17th on our website, as well as a notice in the Marin IJ. Excuse me, on February 17th, so the 10 day notice and was also part of the Finance Committee Pack-Up this week. So any questions that I can answer for you? |
| 03:43:38.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:43:38.66 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. |
| 03:43:38.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . |
| 03:43:39.18 | Ray Withee | Yeah, I've got a couple of questions. Let's start with this slide. As I'm reading this, Your proposal for a minor zoning permit is to increase from 84 bucks to 450. Thank you. That's right. Is that? The original. Or is it now to keep it as 84? |
| 03:44:04.24 | Melanie Purcell | The original? It's to keep it at 84. OK, all right. That's fine. |
| 03:44:08.55 | Ray Withee | Okay, all right. |
| 03:44:10.98 | Melanie Purcell | The recommendations were what was presented to the finance committee. And those were my tweaks in which I emphasized the recovery under public bodies and not being as aggressive under the other. |
| 03:44:11.23 | Ray Withee | Yeah. |
| 03:44:11.50 | Unknown | I'm going to go. |
| 03:44:15.30 | Ray Withee | THE FAMILY. |
| 03:44:15.38 | Unknown | . |
| 03:44:23.23 | Melanie Purcell | under things affected by track. These are the handful of items that were adjusted, so under the revised recommendation is the recommendation. |
| 03:44:30.26 | Ray Withee | is the recommendation. Yes. I mean, for instance, if somebody comes in with Let's pick something, I don't know. Needing to move the location of some utility, and they need a simple building permit, but they first of all go to planning, because you've got to get a zoning permit before you can get a building permit, right? Is that what a minor zoning permit is? |
| 03:45:04.43 | Danny Castro | Thank you, Danny Castro, your Community Development Director. Yes, that would be, Councilmember Ray Withee, is that these minor changes, like a changing out of a window, I didn't feel that those fees that were adjusted as proposed really reflected what the staff time to do it. Yeah, okay. And I want to encourage that people get the appropriate zoning permits. |
| 03:45:14.48 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:45:24.13 | Ray Withee | Yeah, okay. Yeah. |
| 03:45:28.40 | Danny Castro | and not discourage it. |
| 03:45:30.12 | Ray Withee | Yeah, okay, that's good, that's good clarification. |
| 03:45:31.01 | Danny Castro | THE FAMILY. that's still recovering our costs. |
| 03:45:34.10 | Ray Withee | Yeah, because at 450, people would bypass you. Thank you. |
| 03:45:37.24 | Danny Castro | Right. |
| 03:45:37.43 | Ray Withee | Right. |
| 03:45:37.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But is $84 really the appropriate amount? Is there anything staff can do for $84? $84? |
| 03:45:44.50 | Danny Castro | Yes, I mean, taking into account the fully burdened rate for a minor building, minor zoning permit, that would reflect cost recovery. |
| 03:45:54.71 | Unknown | What would? you |
| 03:45:56.04 | Danny Castro | The 84 would for a minor permit. |
| 03:45:56.06 | Unknown | The 84. |
| 03:45:58.64 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. |
| 03:45:59.19 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 03:45:59.21 | Vice Mayor | So what's the 16%? |
| 03:45:59.23 | Danny Castro | So what's the 16%? |
| 03:46:00.88 | Vice Mayor | Excuse me? Why is 16% on there? |
| 03:46:03.92 | Danny Castro | I think that this was probably calculated incorrectly. Oh, okay. Using some other methodology that, again, I'm taking the real time that staff takes in processing a minor zoning permit. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:46:20.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:46:20.05 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 03:46:20.07 | Unknown | That's right. |
| 03:46:20.66 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 03:46:20.71 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:46:22.82 | Danny Castro | And so what that does too is with the intermediate and the major, those fees are tiered appropriately in my mind. And I think that the current fee is appropriate. |
| 03:46:22.94 | Unknown | So, |
| 03:46:34.80 | Ray Withee | I mean, quite frankly, 450 is outrageous for that. |
| 03:46:38.41 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:46:38.45 | Ray Withee | Thank you. I mean, let's get this, I mean, right. So I think, good call. Melanie, can we go back a slide? I want to just double check something else that I'm guessing you've also done, which I think I agree with as well. And this is a view claims. Your recommendation is to jump to 3,000 for review claim, for first tree, and then... |
| 03:47:13.06 | Ray Withee | 75 for each additional tree. Is that what you've decided to do? |
| 03:47:18.93 | Danny Castro | So yes, and especially I had recent experience with view claim issues that are now before the planning commission. They are very much like a design review permit in terms of the staff time and the preparation of the staff report. I think when this was originally |
| 03:47:23.65 | Ray Withee | Yeah. |
| 03:47:23.99 | Unknown | All right. |
| 03:47:35.21 | Danny Castro | costed out. I don't know the rationale at that time, but I can tell you that I think the 3,000 at that recovery is appropriate. for view claims and then again if additional trees are, I think that because if it's a number of trees, like more than two or more than three, that we take that application as a package. And so I think the $75 for each additional tree is an appropriate I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE cost for the additional time spent for that analysis. |
| 03:48:08.56 | Ray Withee | Okay, that's clarified and I fully agree with that as well. Because view claim is, if we're gonna do it rigorously, is gonna be a hearing in front of the planning commission with a staff report and analysis and that's really needed to get done. But you could have some guy with a group of five trees blocking someone's view, all clump the five trees together,, nobody's going to pay 1,300 for four more trees right when it's all part of the same view claim. So I think staff has got that one right as well. Okay. |
| 03:48:43.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | A couple questions for Melanie. So the TrackIt software that we approved this evening, is that going to help you in assessing the accuracy of the fee schedule going forward? |
| 03:48:57.85 | Melanie Purcell | The item tonight, specifically no, it will actually help us be much more efficient in the inspection side of things. I think that that will be critical as we go into the building fee review. We will likely be coming back in the fall. THE FAMILY. We'll need to enter into a separate contract with a consultant to do it. The case law has come down in the last several years. changing the methodology for building fees in particular Because historically they're based on valuation, time cost analysis like this is done. So that actual technology will prove to be incredibly useful and far more accurate because it will be real time in the field. |
| 03:49:39.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And then what is our plan to circle back at some point in the future to gauge the accuracy of our new fee schedule and to make any recommended recalibrations. Thank you. |
| 03:49:54.89 | Melanie Purcell | We need to be evaluating it with every biennial resources plan, but we also need to be anticipating probably every six years to do a full consultant study if we see significant changes or are anticipating. So for example, recognizing that this particular study took five years. And there was a lot of change over in staff and methodologies and policies. Knowing that, knowing that Trackit's going into play, we may want to shorten that and come back within five years and fast track. A NEW UPDATE. I'm trying to build in the CPI. We have the CPI increase in the resolution. And trying to recognize that each year staff is expected to be evaluating this and coming back with recommendations. |
| 03:50:41.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And if an applicant has a complaint about a fee being too high, is there a process they can follow to complain about the fee? |
| 03:50:53.92 | Melanie Purcell | They certainly can complain about it and they can argue their case for it being misapplied. We do not have a specific hardship or appeal mechanism to get a fee waived with the exception of the home modification program. And that is unique in that it's specifically, council has set aside funds. |
| 03:50:57.80 | Unknown | Well, I just want to make sure |
| 03:51:15.75 | Melanie Purcell | that the city pays on behalf of people in either disabled or age challenges in order, because we want them to be in their homes, we want them to not have the fees and permits be a hindrance. So council has made that option available with the very specific parameters. We would first look, certainly in any challenge somebody presented, we would first look to ensure that everything complied with the actual calculations that they were correct. Because there is a level of assumption based on the information that the applicant provides, and the applicant may, in fact, misinterpret their own information. Thank you. Joe. |
| 03:51:56.78 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. Um, I saw in the staff report that there's no fiscal impact, yet a lot of time has been spent on this. It went to finance. I think even the council member Withey asked, you know, is there some weighted areas in here that might have a bigger bang? Is there any idea of what this means financially |
| 03:52:17.23 | Melanie Purcell | Well, frankly, it's long overdue on an industry standard. So... Yes, I would anticipate that fees will go up. I don't recommend adopting a budget amendment Thank you. on that. because it is such a volatile market area in terms of our revenues. We rarely bank on, an increase of any significance in our fees unless we see sustained development or we anticipate a large development. That being said, as we develop the numbers going into the 1820, |
| 03:52:40.75 | Colette Martinez | Thank you. |
| 03:52:49.09 | Melanie Purcell | resources allocation plan. use some of the experience we have. These will not go into effect until May 1st, so they're kind of anticipating. If we see continued activity. and, in the conversations with the realtors and others, developers, We would anticipate some level of increase. We probably will see some level of increase in the citations for the police department. That I'm actually more comfortable, because the rate of citations, it's easier to measure the transactions. They're not dependent on a large project or otherwise. |
| 03:53:22.58 | Vice Mayor | Okay, and that's probably my misunderstanding, is a budget amendment what kind of kicks a fiscal impact on a staff report if it requires |
| 03:53:30.40 | Melanie Purcell | Well, given, it's more of a what, Yeah, what is the resources of the city? Is it going to cost us more or is it going to bring in more money? we're simply bringing ourselves more into compliance with industry standards and with good governance in having well-published and well-organized current fees. We don't want to, particularly in times where we want to be looking at our resources and how we allocate them, we want to be conscious of whatever subsidies the council wishes to make, as opposed to having them just exist. So this is more of a policy. dialogue than just a financial, hey, we want to raise money or anything like that. It's not intended to be a short major fund source. you're not going to plug any holes in the budget or expand new programs based on this activity. |
| 03:54:23.45 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I mean, just to support your comment, though, I would have expected it to say generally there, if anything, there'd be a positive fiscal impact. I mean, I think the staff reports need to kind of not tell us exactly if there's a budget amendment impact, but positive. negative, uncertain, you know, No, it's just moving forward. I mean, I don't think it's a big point, but I mean, I think that's how I understand that section of a staff report to be. |
| 03:54:44.14 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes, but I understand. |
| 03:54:51.70 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | The staff report tonight though is consistent with what Melanie told us during our last budget update, which was that we should not expect very much revenue from adjusting our master fee schedule. So that was part of your last budget update. |
| 03:55:08.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So I had a question. So when is that, if I remember correctly from our last hearing, we don't have an automatic CPI or cost of living or any kind of adjustment. So I was hoping that we'd also be considering this with an ordinance that would have automatic fee escalation or adjustments on an annual basis. It's actually within the resolution? |
| 03:55:30.63 | Melanie Purcell | It's actually within the resolution? It was not done by ordinance. These fees are established in ordinance to be set by council and resolution. So the whole amendment is by resolution. |
| 03:55:36.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | In ordinance. |
| 03:55:38.01 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:55:47.22 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. |
| 03:55:47.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Really? Okay. And you talked to our city attorney about that. |
| 03:55:50.24 | Melanie Purcell | I think that's a good question. I'll follow up with her to make sure, but in working with the, they have been posted as required, and certainly we're doing the 60-day notice in order to have them go into |
| 03:55:53.31 | Julie Myers | THE FAMILY. |
| 03:55:53.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 03:56:03.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | The automatic fee escalation clause can be done by resolution. |
| 03:56:09.43 | Melanie Purcell | That's my understanding, given that our ordinance specified that the council adopts fees by resolution. But we'll double check with the city attorney and bring it back if it requires an ordinance adjustment. |
| 03:56:22.47 | Unknown | So I'm not seeing the CPI part. Yeah, I had already looked through this. All right. |
| 03:56:23.49 | Melanie Purcell | Yeah, I did. |
| 03:56:27.79 | Unknown | and I didn't see it either. Where in the resolution is it? |
| 03:56:28.57 | Melanie Purcell | Yeah. |
| 03:56:28.94 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 03:56:30.86 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:56:30.88 | Unknown | you |
| 03:56:31.05 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:56:31.96 | Ray Withee | It's sort of bullet point number, paragraph number three in just, I think. |
| 03:56:37.24 | Unknown | Uh-huh. |
| 03:56:44.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So, you know... From my experience, it's very important to have annual notice of the increases, so that's not in here, you know, a 30-day advance notice. I mean, I want to make sure that this provision So just as an example, in San Francisco, by November or December 1st, the new fees have been published. And then they go into effect on January 1st. So I'd want to add that if other council members are amenable. I'm still not seeing the CPI. |
| 03:57:29.03 | Unknown | thing. |
| 03:57:32.98 | Unknown | increases oh equal yeah I don't know how I missed I missed it too okay |
| 03:57:40.52 | Melanie Purcell | We can add that to the, or you can make the amendment on the floor. So it would be, yeah, so. |
| 03:57:40.57 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 03:57:40.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thanks. |
| 03:57:41.45 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:57:43.41 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So it would be, yeah, so we'll make it on the floor. So it will be, provide for, so... item three would be provides for increases in the fees stated in exhibit a each January equal to the Metropolitan Statistical Area Consumer Price Index. All such increases shall be noticed at least 30 days in advance. Thank you. |
| 03:58:09.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | shall be noticed as required at least 30 days in advance. So however, we're supposed to notice them. All right, any other questions of Melanie? I'm gonna open it up to the public for comment. Seeing none, I'm going to close public comment, bring it up here for discussion. Do we need discussion? |
| 03:58:27.62 | Ray Withee | a move that we adopt. Resolution amending the revised and restated master fee schedule adopted in fiscal year 2008-9 and amended in fiscal year 2016-17 effective May 1st 2018 along with the Changes that were outlined by the mayor to the actual resolution in point in the bullet point three |
| 03:58:56.42 | Melanie Purcell | May I ask that you note the changes presented this evening to the actual attachment, which would be the fees themselves? |
| 03:59:03.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So and incorporating the amendments to the fee schedule itself outlined by the financial manager this evening. |
| 03:59:11.21 | Ray Withee | That's good. |
| 03:59:12.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, is there a second? |
| 03:59:13.38 | Ray Withee | Second. |
| 03:59:14.26 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor? Aye. Aye, that motion carries 5-0. Melanie, thank you for making the adjustments we recommended last January to both ensure close to full fee and cost recovery and to ensure that the fees are realistic and based on actual staff time and resources. |
| 03:59:15.00 | Ray Withee | Bye. |
| 03:59:15.61 | John Farrell | . |
| 03:59:30.93 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. |
| 03:59:30.95 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:59:30.97 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. |
| 03:59:31.02 | Unknown | you |
| 03:59:31.08 | Melanie Purcell | Thank you. |
| 03:59:36.82 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 03:59:36.99 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 03:59:38.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | With that, we will move on to City Manager Reports, Council Member Reports, City Council Appointments, and other Council Business. Is there any public comment on Item 7? All right, seeing none, we'll move on to item 7B, the city manager information for council. |
| 03:59:58.25 | Adam Politzer | I have no additional information for the council, but happy to answer any of your questions. |
| 04:00:03.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Much appreciated at this hour. I'll move on to a council member committee reports. |
| 04:00:12.82 | Vice Mayor | Thank you. Let's go really quickly and help start reading. Last night we interviewed five candidates for the Marin Telecommunications Agency replacement for the Executive Director, Barbara Thornton, who's leaving. And we had five outstanding candidates, and it was really, Great, there was four panel board that did it and it was super. So the MTA is going to be in good hands going forward. We're going to narrow it down to two that we're going to interview March 14th. But it was a little scary what we were going to get and we're going to have a very good executive director for the MTA. |
| 04:00:47.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great. Ray, do you want to talk about pensions? |
| 04:00:49.82 | Ray Withee | Yeah, I have a couple of things quickly in light of the hour. So MCCMC had formed a pension reform committee. It's to pick up where it left off in 2011. Lots happened since then. The mayor and I attended the first meeting last night. will say that there's a lot of work to do because there's lots changed since 2011, including the PEPRA Act, the restructuring of how CalPERS is making us pay the unfunded liability, etc., etc. Take-home message, I'm hoping this is going to be very productive. Take home message, people are still, a lot of folks seem to be really in the mode they were in in 2011, as if we hadn't had the last seven years, that's the first thing. The second thing is I found a, uh, person of like mind on the committee with our colleague from Mill Valley, John McCauley. I mean, he has just came out with it and explained the situation. Basically what Charlie Francis, Melanie, and I have been trying to say for the last five to seven years, this is not a balance sheet problem, this is a cash flow problem. And that became out loud and clear. John happens to be a 35 year veteran audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He's probably the most senior accountant that exists on city council in Marin. He knows what he's talking about. So I'm quite encouraged by that. So that's that, the mayor was there. She may want to add something. Very quickly, Marine Clean Energy, nothing new to report. It did not increase or reduce its rates. Moving forward, at least for now, the power rates will stay the same. We are in the middle of a huge expansion starting in April, which is going to challenge the staff. And although they did a fantastic job in the past, so I have no worries there. And as usual, this is going to be a year where the legislature is going to tackle CCAs again. There's a lot of union pressure to kill CCAs, and that's basically what I'll be working on primarily this year with MCE, is to make sure that that doesn't happen in Sacramento. And then finally, TAM is, I think, scheduled now, isn't it, Lily? For the TAM for like early April, I think, roughly. And I've reached reached out and will be working with the executive director there to make sure that we get a complete full presentation of all the things that are happening which was requested last time. So that's going to happen and appear in April and I don't think I have anything else. |
| 04:04:06.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. I, yesterday morning, attended the MCC-MC Legislative Committee meeting, where we went over some of the upcoming legislation. Something of interest to Sausalito is that the Legislative Committee meeting, the committee yesterday endorsed Prop 68, which is a water and parks bond, which, if passed, will provide at least $200,000 to Sausalito. And to every city, some cities will get more, but Sausalito will get at least $200,000. So that's very helpful. |
| 04:04:41.06 | Ray Withee | extremely important piece of legislation. |
| 04:04:42.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Very important. We continue to watch the housing legislation. Susan Kirsch in Mill Valley wants us to oppose some of Wiener's legislation now. Nancy Hall Bennett says it's too early. We should wait until it's fully formulated, and then we can oppose it as appropriate on its actual facts and merits. A lot of legislation is coming out to avoid some of the disaster, the, um, CHALLENGES THAT PEOPLE FACED IN THE WAKE OF OUR DISASTERS. SO HOMES THAT WERE UNDERINSURED IN THE FUTURE, IF THIS BILL PASSES, INSURERS WILL HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO ADVISE HOMEOWNERS IF THEY ARE UNDERINSURED AND TO LET THEM KNOW HOW MUCH PREMIUM IT WOULD COST TO BE FULLY INSURED. SO SOME SAFEGUARDS TO PROTECT HOMEOWNERS MOVING FORWARD THAT MAY BE SUBJECT TO... disaster. There is a petition circulating right now by various members of the business community that would change the definition of a fee to a tax and make any tax subject to a two-thirds vote. This could be very troublesome for cities such as us who depend on fees for various things. So that's something that will be the subject of opposition. Um, The council member Withy and I are members of the Fort Baker task force. We attended the planning commission meeting last week at which our appeal of the Fort Baker project was denied on a vote of four to one. We are continuing immediately following the hearing. Members of NPS, National Park Service approached us to continue our dialogue with them. to negotiate an amicable resolution, and we continue to collaborate to do that. We do intend to place this on our agenda in the future for a public hearing so that we can hear from members of the public and get their feedback on this. And that ends my comments. Okay, so next we're going to move on to... Appointments to boards, commissions, and committees. We have on our... Agenda D1. an appointment to the community safety disaster preparedness committee. One of our candidates was unable to attend the interview this evening. We are going to attempt to reschedule that to our next meeting. If we're not able to conduct that final interview, we are going to proceed with the final appointment to that. Committee. With respect to the Sustainability Commission at our request, the board clerk reached out to the current alternate who has indicated she wants to remain as an alternate. And so that's going to be my recommendation unless anyone objects to that. Although I do want to keep in... mind Wilford Welch's very impressive resume in the event that one of our current members has to resign for some reason. I'm not going to make any appointments this evening to other boards or committees. The future agenda items list is in your packet. Any questions or comments on this? |
| 04:08:12.37 | Julie Myers | Madam Mayor. |
| 04:08:13.05 | Lily | Thank you. Was there consensus on the council to appoint Rebecca? |
| 04:08:15.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | WOULD BURN. |
| 04:08:15.63 | Lily | THE FAMILY. |
| 04:08:15.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 04:08:15.73 | Lily | Thank you. Okay. |
| 04:08:16.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes, thank you. Yes, they were nodding. |
| 04:08:16.74 | Lily | Thank you. Thank you. . |
| 04:08:19.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, any other reports of significance? |
| 04:08:24.81 | Ray Withee | My America I just remind you all that we have MCC MC tomorrow evening Corp and there and |
| 04:08:25.82 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes. |
| 04:08:38.51 | Ray Withee | Kate, the president, won't be there. So guess what? I'm running the meeting. So... |
| 04:08:42.95 | Unknown | So... |
| 04:08:44.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Take it short. |
| 04:08:44.05 | Ray Withee | It's short. |
| 04:08:44.58 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 04:08:44.91 | Ray Withee | Yeah, keep it short. We'll have to show up to provide moral support. Right. Okay. Thank you. |
| 04:08:44.92 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:08:44.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. We'll have to show up to provide moral support. All right, so with that, we're adjourned at 11.31. Thank you. |
Peter Van Meter — In Favor: Praised Werner's extensive volunteer service, humorously referenced a past 'van meter fence ordinance' from the 1980s, and expressed honor in currently working with him on the General Plan Advisory Committee, noting their strong agreement on issues. ▶ 📄