| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:04.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Peter Van Meter, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? |
| 00:00:20.15 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Thank you. public for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:00:28.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:34.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We did not have a closed session this evening, so there are no closed session announcements. May I have a motion approving the agenda? |
| 00:00:44.66 | Ray Withy | So moved. |
| 00:00:45.56 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. All in favor? |
| 00:00:47.25 | Ray Withy | I... |
| 00:00:47.47 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Aye. That motion carries 5-0. We have no special presentations this evening. |
| 00:00:59.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Roll call. |
| 00:01:01.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Lily, will you call the roll? Good heavens. |
| 00:01:06.48 | Lily | Councilmember Hoffman? Present. Councilmember Withey? Present. |
| 00:01:09.20 | Ray Withy | Take care. |
| 00:01:09.22 | Lily | I'm Eric. Councilmember Cleavenals? Sure. |
| 00:01:12.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Vice Mayor Burns? Here. Mayor Cox? Here. Okay, no mayor's announcements. We'll move on to communications. This is the time for the city council to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on our 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. We tonight tonight, have three high school students who would like to speak about something that could be construed to be on our agenda, but we're not going to have that hearing until 830. So with the indulgence of the council, I'd like to hear from them now. |
| 00:01:51.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Sounds good. |
| 00:01:52.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, great. Then we'll hear... Do you all have any order in which you'd prefer to speak? Or shall I just call out? |
| 00:01:59.79 | Unknown | Where's this? |
| 00:02:01.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, great. All right, then we are going to hear all together from Catherine Stengel, Zach Cowles, and Lucy Knopf. Welcome. |
| 00:02:15.44 | Zach Cowles | Hello? Stay back here, all right. Hello, and thank you for letting us speak here this evening. My name is Zach Cause. I'm Lucy. |
| 00:02:23.97 | Katherine Stengel | Right. And my name's Katherine Stengel. |
| 00:02:27.91 | Zach Cowles | And we are students from the Marin School of Environmental Leadership inside of Terralinda. And we have recently. recently recorded information about electric vehicles and how they compare to your conventional gas car. And we have found, according to THE the Environmental Protection Agency that one third of transportation No, one third transportation is equal to all the greenhouse gases in the air. |
| 00:03:01.84 | Katherine Stengel | We've also learned that electric transportation in Marin will not only work to keep the air clean, it will financially benefit residents, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve public health. This among other reasons is why we ask that funding is passed for electric transportation in Marin. |
| 00:03:21.72 | Lucy Knopf | If we don't take action right now, we'll have to wait another 30 years before being able to vote again. In 30 years, electric vehicles may be the only type of car on the road. So in order to prepare our future generations, we need funding for electric transportation now. Thank you. |
| 00:03:38.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you all very much for coming. Any questions about the |
| 00:03:42.63 | Ray Withy | No, but that was an excellent presentation and thank you for coming. |
| 00:03:45.73 | Unknown | Great job. Important stuff. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:03:47.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Thank you so much. |
| 00:03:47.41 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:03:49.21 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, any other communications on items not on our agenda? All right, we'll move on to action minutes of the prior meeting. |
| 00:03:58.79 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | MEETING. |
| 00:04:03.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | May I have a motion? I'll move to approve. |
| 00:04:06.78 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:04:07.23 | Jill Hoffman | Second. |
| 00:04:07.69 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:04:07.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor aye that motion carries 5 0. OK we'll move on to our consent calendar. Is there any public comment on our consent calendar this evening. |
| 00:04:08.62 | Jill Hoffman | I. I. That motion is |
| 00:04:22.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I do want to make clear that there was a typo in the proclamation. Thank you, Council Member Hoffman, for pointing it out in the Sikide proclamation. So we have corrected that typo. |
| 00:04:37.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | IS THERE ANY comment from council members on the consent calendar before we vote. |
| 00:04:43.97 | Ray Withy | I do. I have a comment on... Item 4B, which is the proclamation acknowledging the 30th anniversary of the Sister City Partnership, to say that I have had lots of comments about this proclamation in favor of it and in favor of the Sakai Day program. And my neighbor, DJ Poffert, wanted me to say that his daughters were in the first two years, 30 years ago, that went on this program. And so we're very happy to acknowledge that REGARD TO ITEM 4C, I JUST WANT TO CALL OUT THAT ON APRIL 14TH, THERE WILL BE A READY SAFELIO PREPAREDNESS EVENT AT THE BAY MODEL FROM 10 AM TO 1130 WITH REGARD TO FIRE I'm not sure. Readiness, and so those are the two items I wanted to call out on the consent calendar. Thank you. |
| 00:05:31.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:05:31.73 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 00:05:32.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great, and I'd just like to say I'm very pleased about item 4D, the update of the Southview Park Improvement Project, and that that's continuing to move along and that that schedule hopefully will get some bids and the schedule looks great. Thank you. |
| 00:05:49.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, then I'll entertain a motion. |
| 00:05:50.69 | Ray Withy | I move adoption of the consent calendar items for A through D. |
| 00:05:55.91 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. That motion carries 5-0. We have no public hearing items tonight, so we'll turn to our first business item, which is 6A-6. |
| 00:05:57.44 | Ray Withy | Bye. |
| 00:06:08.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Fiscal year 2018 to 20 budget update and 2018 to 2023 capital improvement program presentation. And we welcome our Administrative Services Director. |
| 00:06:23.06 | Charles Melton | Good evening, thank you very much. It's that time of year again, so I'm back. We're gonna talk about, just briefly, wanna give the council an update. The finance committee has been very busy meeting regularly. They have three meetings every Friday, from now till the end of April. So they will be staying very busy reviewing the details of this. But we wanted to start with just a brief overview. Primarily looking at our operating funds, general funding the largest and serving the majority of services. That basically represents every source of funding that is not specifically dedicated to another purpose. General funds about $15 million. Sewer fund is an enterprise fund, which means that it is only used for sewer operations and that it is considered to be completely supported by the rates that it generates. Parking and MLK both are considered enterprise funds in that they are intended to be fully self sufficient. But they also provide quite a bit of support back to the general fund. MLK is paying off its loan from the loan advance. from some years ago, so that represents $350,000, $300,000 back to the general fund. Parking fund contributes about a million dollars. Tidelands and police grants are both considered special revenue funds, which means they cannot be used for any other purpose except those specified in either the grant or in this case the trust documents related to tidelands. And those represent a significant amount of money at this time. The police grant has approximately 18 to 24 months remaining on it, and so that will span. the timeframe of this upcoming biennial. So we focus most of our energy on the general fund, because that's where most of the activity happens. That's the largest fund. You'll see the 2017-18 budget. That's where we're at right now. We are expecting to come in very close to those numbers. Property taxes remain strong, sales tax. is still there. So moving along but not growing particularly fast. TOT is also relatively stable and not growing particularly fast. Parking continues to be, again, over a million dollars. And then there's other miscellaneous transfers that pay back the general fund for operating costs. So, for example, the general fund provides public safety as well as human resources finance. This type of activities back to the sewer fund, sewer fund pays us via transfer. So you can see the other primary sources of revenue are business licenses, which continue to do all right. They're not growing, and I do not project any growth in those areas. Again, that's an area that's fairly hard to predict, but it does tend to follow with sales tax and DOT. And our fees, permits, and charges, we're showing just a little bit of growth in that to try and start reflecting the increases that have been approved. Those increases go into effect on May 1st, the last round of the increase in the master fee schedule. So you'll see us. Just steady growth. For 1819, 1920, we're projecting 4.5% growth in property taxes. And sales tax and TOT between 1.5 to 2%. So again, not stellar, but definitely not dropping and remaining fairly stable. On the expenditure side of things, obviously a lot more numbers involved, a lot more categories. But what we chose to do this year was break out the CalPERS unfunded liability so that it is shown as an obligation. This has been obviously the subject of a lot of discussion, but it shows that it grows at a different pace. We're estimating about 12%. Our transfers are the obligations that we've already committed to, or payments that we have to make to other funds. So that also includes the payment for the general plan, as we are in contract for that. And that is supported currently by general fund transfers. And that's also what's going on in 2018-19, and then it drops down significantly as the transfers remain for Sorry, for the OPEB and other internal service funds. So this particular projection assumes no change in operations from the baseline of two years ago in 2016-17. You'll see that CalPERS is expected, again, the normal is broken out. That is the cost of employees today. The unfunded liability is the cost that has already been incurred. So that is an obligation that has to be paid. whether the city shuts down tomorrow or not. So we show normal under the operating expenses with salaries, other benefits, professional services, etc. Within itemized separately, The initiatives that were added in the 2016-18 budget process. Just to clarify that these were new initiatives that we brought forward. Many of them in the initial year itemized as pilots, as an opportunity for council to hear from the departments during the process over the next two months of how these have succeeded, to what degree they succeeded, and whether they're recommended to continue. So our general fund trends, as I mentioned, were growing 2 to 3% overall annually. Our fixed expenses grow 12 to 15%. We expect the unfunded liability to peak around 2025. So the Finance Committee will be getting into a very detailed, robust discussion of what recommendation wants to make to the council as a whole. In terms of drawing down or funding or what role the trusts that were established by the council in 2015 will play in how we manage this particular activity. The drop off in 2030, 2035 is still, we're still trying to, it's a few years out so it's a little harder to nail down. But the expectation is the drop will actually be fairly drastic. Because we will cliff off, we are paying off in effect a variable rate mortgage of old expenses, the unfunded liability comportion. So our discretionary expenses are growing approximately 4% to 5% annually. Um... Those discretionary represent about 88%. Salaries are obviously the biggest. That's typical for every agency. Most every government agency typically runs about 70 plus percent of operating budget is personnel. Please note that in the 2019-20 numbers, I have not included any COLAs or any speculation on the terms of the MOUs. Those will come up for discussion in the fall. begin negotiations, actually we'll be bringing to council prior to the end of this fiscal year process for going into the next negotiations and opportunity for you to start setting goals and policy. |
| 00:13:23.90 | Ray Withy | Melanie, I'm sorry to interrupt, but when does the current, and when you say MOU, that's the contract we have for salaries. the current. |
| 00:13:32.14 | Charles Melton | It's the memorandum of understanding with our labor unions regarding terms of employment. So it's typically salaries, benefits. Okay. |
| 00:13:35.06 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 00:13:39.38 | Ray Withy | And when does that |
| 00:13:39.97 | Charles Melton | Does that expire? June 30th of 2019. Okay, thanks. So we're incorporating into the FY18-19 budget beginning this July the negotiation process. And trying to allow ourselves 12 months to go through that. |
| 00:13:58.53 | Ray Withy | So other areas, good news. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please. Can I ask a follow-up on this? And then I won't interrupt you anymore. That's okay. So is that the increase that you're showing for the, under the salaries for 2019, 2020, is that the anticipated raise or is that anticipated at the current level of MOU? |
| 00:14:13.37 | Charles Melton | participation. That actually assumes only steps. And assumes that half of the employees on staff will be eligible for steps. |
| 00:14:26.23 | Ray Withy | And what do you mean by, so people who are watching, what you mean by step increases are, increases in salary that normally occur pursuant to the MOU. |
| 00:14:35.69 | Charles Melton | The occur pursuant to the MOU, they're established as movement through the range. So every position has a price range from top to bottom on how much that position costs. As time goes on for the first part of a person's career, they can move through that process provided they have a positive evaluation. So that, what we would call a merit or a step increase, is assumed. because those have not changed over time other than actually in the last MOU, we added two steps to the bottom. So all new employees came in lower than they would have otherwise. |
| 00:15:11.89 | Ray Withy | And when you say move through the steps, you mean people get raises? Yes. Okay. As part of the MOU that's currently in place? Yes. Okay, thanks. |
| 00:15:17.79 | Charles Melton | Yes. And then we do not make any assumption about cost of living increases. That is not included in here in the 2019-20. And is there a cola in the |
| 00:15:28.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | MOU. |
| 00:15:29.18 | Charles Melton | The MOU ends with the 2018-19, so that cost of living is increased in there. |
| 00:15:35.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Is there a current COLA in the current MOU? Thank you. |
| 00:15:40.31 | Charles Melton | Yes. |
| 00:15:40.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Yes. Okay. And so are you anticipating there will be a COLA in subsequent MOUs in your budget? |
| 00:15:47.75 | Charles Melton | you |
| 00:15:47.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:15:47.83 | Charles Melton | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:15:47.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you Why not? |
| 00:15:50.13 | Charles Melton | Because, one, I don't put all the cards on the table, and this is the first run at looking at where our numbers are. As we go into the policy discussions, council will tell us how much they feel should be allocated for that. And as we go through the negotiation process, obviously to reach an agreement, there'll have to be some kind of conversation. about what, if any, COLA there will |
| 00:16:12.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . And so with no cola and no raises, our discretionary expenses of which salaries comprise 88%. Sorry, of which salaries comprise how much? It's about 70%. 70% are already outpacing our revenues. in terms of growth by 2 to 3% per year. Thank you. |
| 00:16:35.08 | Charles Melton | At this time, |
| 00:16:35.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That's the projection. And so you're going to tell us what we're going to do to |
| 00:16:38.93 | Charles Melton | AND SO YOU DON'T. |
| 00:16:41.56 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Keep a balanced budget. |
| 00:16:41.80 | Charles Melton | a balanced budget with that? That's the conversation we're going to be having at Finance Committee over the next month, and then definitely coming back to the council, and staff will make recommendations for how to approach, and certainly as we incorporate this and refine this, as you were there last week, we heard from Muni Services, now called Avenue, and they gave us some longer-term projections for sales tax. We'll be incorporating that into the long-term forecast, and then coming back and kind of saying what we think can happen, should happen. Obviously, when you're negotiating with the second party, You can project all day long, but we'll have a conversation about what should be put aside if there should be items put aside for that. Recognizing there is an element in here, like healthcare increases have been stable, that just means they've been consistent between 5 and 7% annually. We did have a very nice year this past year, and that our healthcare actually went up less than 2% for Kaiser. So we still project somewhat high. We may, as information comes available, be able to bring those estimates down and we'll keep working through that through April and May. Susan. |
| 00:17:52.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Since you just brought up this issue, so is it normal in other jurisdictions that revenues are at 2% to 3% and fixed expenses are escalating at 12% to 15%? |
| 00:18:06.93 | Charles Melton | And the state of California, yes. |
| 00:18:09.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. So that's a common issue that local jurisdictions are facing. Thank you. |
| 00:18:13.88 | Charles Melton | It's actually a widespread issue and I know this isn't overly reassuring but we're actually in much better shape than most. We obviously have to have some serious conversations about where we go from here and what the expectations are. But we have time and opportunity to make adjustments without drastic wax, for lack of a better word, that a lot of agencies actually are in some trouble over. |
| 00:18:41.24 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, thank you. |
| 00:18:42.67 | Charles Melton | We have options, which a lot are not facing. And are you going to share some of those options with us tonight? At this point, I just want to lay out the groundwork and let folks know where we're at. The Finance Committee, we are meeting the 13th, the 20th, and the 27th, and then we have two meetings in May. We'll be back in front of council in May. We will also be having a presentation from Bartell and Associates by Doug Prior, who is a partner with the firm. discussing the pension issues and how that plays out and what impacts that may have to kind of fill out the whole conversation. Again, this is just the first. see where the numbers are starting to come in, recognizing that they're not coming in ideally. And that we want to be thinking where we go from here. That is part of the interest in PRESENTING where we've come over the last two years and what pilot programs were laid out in the last budget. So we can start with analysis of those. Other areas that we are going to be watching very closely would be litigation costs. They're fairly consistent, but they are significant. They over time appear to have been fairly stable in terms of how much it costs and how many lawsuits we get hit with but We want to manage workers compensation is another area that has continued to grow. Maintenance of capital investments. The city has done an amazing job of putting streets in, put pipes, we're really working to invest, and we have a lot of capital projects with the two parks and MLK and sewer system. We want to make sure that those are maintained. And so those put additional pressure into the system that we want to make sure we recognize and plan for. |
| 00:20:22.40 | Ray Withy | met I'm going to ask this. The questions I'm going to interrupt you with are the ones that we probably won't come back to. And as we're at this point, why not ask them? Could you comment, if at all, if you are able to, on the trends in workers' compensation? Because I've been in discussions with a number of other jurisdictions, and they're also seeing some trending up in workers' comp, which we are. So any thoughts as to what's going on there? |
| 00:20:55.58 | Charles Melton | There's a couple of issues at play. One, the city did an amazing job, again, building up a great balance. And so we had several years of being able to not have to deal with spikes and valleys in the workers comp. Now that those have been drawn down over the last couple of years, we're starting to have to say, okay, we have to refill that bucket. The other piece that's happening is we've had a lot of long term cases that have not been willing to go away. And by that, I mean people have not, you know, the settlements have not been clean. We've just gone through a lot of, that we have to do with There is, across the whole JPA, an increase in activity, a significant increase in activity. Why? Nobody seems to be able to put their finger on. And in looking at the actual specific instances, we're not seeing anything obvious that we could train to avoid. So they're not injuries that say, oh, we need to do this or we need to do that. These have not been real obvious. Fingers to point at and having conversations obviously with the department heads and managers about making people aware because for every dollar we pay out in workers comp, that's a dollar of service that's not coming directly to citizens. |
| 00:22:11.16 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 00:22:13.41 | Ray Withy | Sorry, I have a follow-up on the fixed expenses. I'm sorry. You said your last question was the last one during her presentation. I lied. Sorry. I'm going to ask another question based on Susan's question. It's really a follow-up to Susan's question. |
| 00:22:17.90 | Unknown | I know. |
| 00:22:18.23 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes. . |
| 00:22:20.18 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:22:20.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 00:22:26.72 | Ray Withy | So the fixed expenses... I WANTED TO TAKE A LOOK AT Can you give a breakdown of what the, or is there, Can you point to somewhere in the report where you define the fixed expenses? |
| 00:22:41.08 | Charles Melton | The fixed expenses are at the top of here where it says general fund expenditures, CalPERS, unfunded liability, and transfers. Those are obligations that we've already incurred. Obviously the CalPERS is the biggest and |
| 00:22:48.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, so she's... |
| 00:22:53.03 | Ray Withy | on funded liability. And that's the one that's growing at 12, like in the percentage of that, of the 12%, Say 100%. Yeah, that one's going 12%. Okay. But if you, so sorry, can you go forward again? Mm-hmm. So when you say fixed expenses are growing 12%. When you give us this presentation in the future, can you break that down percentage wise between the fixed expenses and give us a percentage of that? So I know that you define it on the slide prior, but with regard to actually looking at and highlighting |
| 00:23:25.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:23:31.49 | Ray Withy | what's making up that increase annually I think that would be helpful. Certainly. |
| 00:23:38.71 | Ray Withy | Thanks. Actually, Madam Mayor, if I could just jump in here with a couple of clarifying questions. So you've already said that the bulk of the fixed expenses is the UAA, the unfunded actuarial liability. And that if we basically shut down operations and got rid of all the employees, the city of Sausalito will be still paying that amount. |
| 00:23:52.06 | Peter Van Meter | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:24:03.77 | Charles Melton | Correct. |
| 00:24:04.41 | Ray Withy | Right. Okay. Could you explain what has happened in the last 12 months with CalPERS that has created this new, not new, but changed cash flow scheme? I think it's important for everybody to understand what's happening. |
| 00:24:23.01 | Charles Melton | Certainly. Thank you. What's taken place, CalPERS has made a number of changes actually over the last 24 months. That include changing the amortization timeline for both normal and unfunded liability, and in fact just changed in the last six months the unfunded liability to 20 years. So that means it's changed the timeframe, shortened how fast it needs to be paid off, which means costs go up. They've also reduced the expected interest rate, so the amortization or discount rate that they expect the investments to make. Typically, the pension is funded from three areas, it's investment, employee contributions, and employer contributions. The investment is wholly dependent on the market, so as it goes up, the other ones can go down. And as it goes down, the other ones have to come up. But because the employee contribution is fixed by MOU and by contract, That leaves the employer making up the difference when the market does something else. So because they've changed that interest rate, they've lowered it, they expect to make less, which means payments go up. They have ramped all of these different changes and they've made a couple of other smaller ones in terms of Having an actual fixed timeline, instead of an ongoing rolling mortgage that never ends, there's actually a timeline that says in 20 years you will have paid off this. In 30 years you will have paid off this, those two portions. Those all move to increase the contributions. They increase it and they've ramped them up over a five-year period. So that's why I say by 2025 all of these things will be in play and we should be at our peak. But then 10 years later, they should drop off because we should then have paid off. the unfunded liability or at least the bulk of it so that anything new is very small. The other thing that they did in 2013 and that the city emulated was PEPRA and the Public Employees Pension Reform Act. I finally remembered the acronym. the The piece that's involved in that is that all employees statewide in CalPERS can only receive so much in pension. It's a much lower contribution rate. So for example, the city pays as much into CalPERS or slightly less than it would pay if our PEPPER employees were in Social Security. For tier one and tier two, their retirement benefits are not changed, but the retirement benefits for PEPRA employees are drastically reduced. So as employees flow through the system and are replaced with PEPRA, the costs come down significantly. So that's why the expectation for the unfunded liability to cliff off and At the time that all the rest of the tier one and tier two have retired. Does that help? |
| 00:27:07.10 | Ray Withy | So one final question. I mean, from a cash flow perspective, it's put us in some, I wouldn't use the term stress, but it's certainly, we've got some decisions to make. From a financial perspective, this is a good thing, isn't it? |
| 00:27:25.04 | Charles Melton | And it's really hard actually for all the finance geeks that stand around talking about these things all the time. We're really excited. This is absolutely what CalPERS needs to be doing. It's what makes the system solvent, it's what ensures long term viability of the system. and of an entire industry. However, it's kind of painful at this point because we do have to on a cash flow basis. Each city has to figure out how to pay its bill. And it's different than other liabilities. Because it actually comes with an invoice that says you have to pay it at this date. And you have to pay it to a third party. Whereas our other liabilities like infrastructure don't come with a due date. They're still out there. but they don't come with that due date so it's very immediate And it's a balancing act between now and 10 to 15 years from now. So it is very much a cash flow issue in trying to make the decisions of how to pay the invoice today. in the next five years, next ten years, recognizing that then it will cliff off and put the city in exceptional shape. |
| 00:28:28.19 | Ray Withy | So one final question then on this. No, I'm sort of, well, I mean, if she answers questions, I mean, you know, more questions come up. I'm just trying to do it for everybody watching so that they can follow this. Although now you've made me forget my question. |
| 00:28:45.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Oh, no. My question. That was his point. Which is, OK. |
| 00:28:48.12 | Ray Withy | Which is, okay. No, I've, the, Explain why... Okay, we were on initially a 30-year amortization schedule. In other words, we were on the equivalent of, I know it's not quite a perfect analogy, but a 30-year variable rate mortgage to pay down $19.4 million, or whatever the number is, of unfunded actuary liability, right? Correct. CalPERS rightly has shrunk that to 20 years. So for all those folks out there who are saying let's pay it off quickly, well CalPERS is forcing us to. So that's a good thing. But why do we reach the peak in 2025 when it's 2018 if it's five year ramp up? |
| 00:29:39.13 | Charles Melton | They've staggered the ramp up. |
| 00:29:40.55 | Ray Withy | you |
| 00:29:40.68 | Charles Melton | So what they do is each batch of reforms ramp at five years, but they're staggered over a three year period. well, as of right now, a three-year period. We would anticipate as the market continues to be volatile and everybody's watching to see what CalPERS is going to do next, they're going to come under incredible pressure from the labor unions, from the cities, from everybody about, whoa, whoa, whoa, we can't pay this bill. Don't force this on us now. So how that's going to evolve, nobody knows. But the pressure is still there that there is an unfunded liability that has to be paid off. In the long term, and I mean 50 years, 20, 50 years of the city, this will be amazing and will really make financial sense. It is not going to tickle by any stretch between now and then. It does require some tough decision making. But in terms of, one of the biggest changes that they put in place is that rather than having a second mortgage that doesn't have a time specific to be paid until the property is sold, It's now got a real mortgage, a first mortgage that has to be paid on a fixed time and then they shrink the time. So those two pieces, those two actions together have really had a huge impact on this. |
| 00:30:59.17 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So Melanie, we are wrapping up a six year budget cycle now. And we are consequently undertaking a new six year budget cycle that will begin next year. And that six-year budget cycle will include in it 2025. And so in your planning on behalf of the city and our planning for that six year budget cycle, are you going to be proposing strategies for how we can meet the cash flow demands in 2025? Absolutely. |
| 00:31:36.34 | Charles Melton | It is now all of a sudden I'm I take that back, okay. That was actually the end of the operating conversation, unless you had any other questions. We'll jump into the capital a little bit just so that we can kind of talk. The other piece of this is of recognizing the demands of capital. within the city, this is intended, and this is why we refer to this as the program, as opposed to the plan, is this is where staff has started gathering the universe. And then bringing to the finance committee some conversation and recommendations about prioritization, what has to be done, what we need to do, and recognizing there's quite an array far more that we would like to do than we have money to do, as always. But I wanted to clarify some of the funding streams, because this definitely plays into the policy decisions and the prioritization that both staff recommends and the Finance Committee recommends and the Council takes action on. The general capital improvement fund is basically where we house the vast majority of our construction activity. And that allows us to account for transfers in from other areas, including restricted funds, and then paying for them in a construction fund as opposed to an operating fund, so the funds don't get mingled. Lots of accounting requirement in terms of reporting for GASB and for our audit. So our annual revenues into the general capital improvement fund are predominantly from Measure O. It's almost $1.2 million. And I should note here that Measure O is a sales and use tax. So it is of limited duration. We have about six more years, six and a half years of lists. And it grows at a slightly faster pace than our traditional sales tax. So when you see that those move a little bit differently, they do in fact. And that's because rather than being a strictly sales tax, it is a sales and use. So our other restricted use transfers are coming from gas tax, are coming from SB1 while we have it, and some of the other tidalands, some of those other areas. COPS money is our certificates of participation. In 2016, the city issued $7.2 million. We spent our $1,150,000 on Robin Sweeney. We have proposed and put aside 1.15 million for Southview, 1.85 million for Dunphy, and $3 million for MLK. We have spent a significant portion of the MLK in doing the HVAC roof and design work and gas lines. And are now going through a public process to discuss the fields, tennis courts, and prioritizing those. The Southview Park is obviously just got an update on the consent agenda and then Dunphy Park. There's one and a half million left in this particular pot of money and we go through the conversation will be coming back to council to discuss other options and things that need to be addressed that can be funded from other sources. So each of these projects frequently are larger than the park piece that we define it as and that the COPs were premised on. So for example, MLK, we have a lot of work that we're doing that is being funded from the actual MLK operating. It's not near in the scope of three million, but it definitely is intended to complement an overlay with that. We appropriate and have the option to appropriate from fund balance in our restricted project. restricted funds only for specific projects. And the reason I say that is because these are restricted sources, parking, tidalands, and MLK. They're all special revenue or enterprise funds that either by law or by policy can only be used for their intended purposes. In that case, if there is a specific project, fund balance is an appropriate resource to fund a capital project in those areas. So for example, fixing up some of the area at Dunphy Park related to the dump on the water. could be an appropriate use of Tide Lens Fund balance. But those are all areas, for example, we are using some MLK fund balance for removing the fuel tank. Those are the type of activities that are specific and unique to the usage of those funds. And because they are capital one time expenditures using the resources that have been built up in those restricted funds is an appropriate use. |
| 00:36:14.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you So Melanie, although the use of these funds is restricted to their designated use, these funds designated for those uses are inadequate to carry out the planned improvements for some of these projects. Such as Southview and Dunphy, we're having to identify funding elsewhere in order to round out the total amount that we're going to need to spend to accomplish those improvements. Is that right? |
| 00:36:45.10 | Charles Melton | Partially, and the only reason I would say that is because the projects themselves as presented when they were first costed are much different than what they look like today. A lot of additional, so for the most obvious one is the storm drain at Dunphy Park. That was never intended to be paid for by COP funds. So it's obviously more than, and we pull from the Storm Zero Fund or from Tide Lens because it would be eligible from that. |
| 00:37:11.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. But other things not included in the COPs were things like construction management and other truly project related costs, right? |
| 00:37:23.29 | Charles Melton | I... Inherited. I was going to say, to the best of my knowledge, I don't see that. In there, they weren't specified. Right. So a lot of Southview and Dunphy were designed. Well, I'm quoting our public works |
| 00:37:25.89 | Peter Van Meter | I'm sorry. |
| 00:37:26.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | To the best of my knowledge, I don't. |
| 00:37:33.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We're supporting our public works director on that. |
| 00:37:36.74 | Charles Melton | Southview and Dunphy were not designed. prior to the issuance of COPs, so they're being designed to the funds available more so on obligations that we uncover. |
| 00:37:46.70 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Well, Actually, that's not exactly true. |
| 00:37:48.27 | Charles Melton | actually, That's not true. |
| 00:37:50.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. I understand. |
| 00:37:51.37 | Charles Melton | Thank you. |
| 00:37:51.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Anyway, it was a simple question. I'd rather just, these funds are inadequate to carry out what we're hoping to accomplish for those projects. |
| 00:38:02.14 | Charles Melton | Yes. That's a nice new story. The sewer construction fund is $3 million remaining. Approximately that is the sewer bonds that were issued at the beginning of the five year cycle were coming up on the time to actually preparing I think the RFP to do the sewer rate study, which will then determine whether or not the council can act on whether or not they wish to support additional debt service for construction or whether continue at the same level. $3 million obviously is not enough to repair the whole system, but it certainly should allow us to address some emergency activity over the next three years. So that is remaining. We do have a small amount and are continuing to work with staff to identify operating dollars within the sewer fund to continue to put toward particularly emergency repairs and some more forward planning as opposed to reactive. So those are the majority of the sources. As we have opportunity and can find grant money, such as Measure A for recreation, and we've got a couple of small grants out there, we continue to look for opportunities. Part of the conversation that the Finance Committee is going to be having is about prioritization so that we look for funds to help our top priorities, as opposed to move our priorities to meet whatever funds come available. That's definitely our effort is to try and get the biggest bang for that effort. |
| 00:39:29.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:39:29.28 | Ray Withy | I'm not. |
| 00:39:29.60 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:39:31.58 | Ray Withy | Just to get a clarifying question, you mentioned recreation and Measure A. You mean the county Measure A funds there. as opposed to the transportation measure funds that you're going to hear about later on. So I just wanted to make sure |
| 00:39:40.50 | Peter Van Meter | of the |
| 00:39:40.57 | Charles Melton | Yes. |
| 00:39:45.08 | Charles Melton | from. Two separate animals, yes. |
| 00:39:48.15 | Ray Withy | Two separate animals called by the same letter. |
| 00:39:51.03 | Charles Melton | Mm-hmm. |
| 00:39:57.21 | Charles Melton | Any other questions? So heads up, as I mentioned, the finance committee has a lot of work coming up this, not this Friday, but Friday the 13th. So appropriately, we will be meeting with each of the departments from 830 until 1230 to be discussing their individual submissions and get an update on the initiatives from the last cycle. We'll be discussing the fiscal forecast and capital improvement program on April 20th. And we're scheduled for a budget, a total budget, non-departmental, excuse me, and external requests. On the 27th, that will also include some review of some of the other funds, such as MLK and parking. And then the 18th of May we have scheduled for a total budget review. It's my anticipation that we will probably be having a conversation on May 25th. However, we will be back in front of the city council as a whole with updates, I believe at the end of April and in May, May 1st. I think I'll start next one. |
| 00:40:58.65 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And so Melanie, at which of these meetings will we be discussing the haircut that the city needs to take? in order to meet the 2025 cash flow. THEIR OWNERS AND THEIR OWNERS |
| 00:41:10.26 | Charles Melton | The majority of that conversation will start, and I expect bleed over, on the 20th. I want there to be a frame of reference as we go into meeting with the departments. But we'll get into the details as we go through the fiscal forecast. |
| 00:41:25.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And have you provided to the departments how their budgets will need to shrink between now and 2020 in order for us to meet our fixed cost obligation so that they can budget to that decrease? |
| 00:41:39.51 | Charles Melton | We have begun our discussions, I really emphasize taking a service approach as opposed to the cut 10%, cut 3%, cut a percent. I tend to find it much more effective in terms of being able to articulate the impact on citizens, as well as being able to truly cost a service. So for example, if we were to make a cut of some kind and we want to reduce service, we want to reduce counter hours. for CDD. It's not on the list, but as a wild example, That would be something where I would want to be able to articulate that cut, what it means in terms of line item dollars, but also what it means in terms of impact on citizens and potentially on revenues. So it's a little more holistic than. Cut 5%. |
| 00:42:24.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Right, so are you allowing each... department head. to make recommendations about what how it what it needs to do in order to meet that future constraint? |
| 00:42:40.68 | Charles Melton | The department heads will be very closely involved as I bring out the forecast to them. I'm going to vet it through them as well as through the M Groups analysis and talk with them about what recommendations I'm not recommending. operational changes without consulting the experts in those operations. |
| 00:42:56.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. But you're not recommending them at all, you're letting the department heads recommend, right? |
| 00:42:59.93 | Charles Melton | It's a team effort because I provide the analysis and part of my expertise is actually providing impact analysis from those. Cuts. Go ahead, Jo. |
| 00:43:09.23 | Jill Hoffman | Instead of just haircuts, will you be also talking about hair transplants and revenue growth? Absolutely. With each department and then maybe a broad stroke of potential revenue growth that isn't just departmental but non-departmental. Where will those discussions fall in this plan? |
| 00:43:15.95 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:43:16.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Absolutely. Thank you. |
| 00:43:17.67 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:43:17.84 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:43:27.69 | Charles Melton | Well, part of what will have to be addressed within the fiscal forecast is the sunset of measure 0. Because that does end within that same time frame as well. looking at that, whether that's even on the table. THE FAMILY. as a policy discussion to continue that or to go back to the public for that, what other areas should or should not be provided by the city, and then what other revenue sources do we have? We've had conversations where a lot of people believe you're going to make a lot of money if you allow marijuana sales. Unfortunately, with the state of California's system, we actually get very little unless we have a referendum to levy an additional excise tax. It may be that council wishes to go ahead and pursue an additional excise tax if we were to allow that. So those would be options that we would put before you and then our recommendation of which ones we think are actually viable. |
| 00:44:20.97 | Ray Withy | With regard to the department analysis, you know, are the departments only looking at reduction of services? Are they looking at other cost saving measures within their own departments? Or what is the exact direction that's been given to the department heads? |
| 00:44:37.57 | Adam Politzer | No, no, no. I think it's Our administrative services director hasn't gone through this exercise with us for the two-year budget and from our past practice it's been the practice of actually going through the various department had department budgets based on the service delivery today. in in past so i don't know maybe six six or eight years ago during the recession and before the recession the council gave direction to look at 5% reductions and 10% reductions across the board. So that's a direction that- |
| 00:45:16.37 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | You mean reductions in force? |
| 00:45:17.95 | Adam Politzer | What's that? |
| 00:45:18.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | You mean reduction in budget or reductions in force? |
| 00:45:21.01 | Adam Politzer | The reduction in budget across, so for example, if the library's budget was $700,000 and they were asked 10%, they'd be looking to reduce $70,000. That practice is good when you're trying to be fair, but we know that when it comes to the police department to reduce their budget 10%, you're talking about people, talking about officers, and the community wasn't supportive of that. So we don't go through an exercise at the beginning of the process of looking at a 5%, 10% reduction. what are our costs based on service level of the year before? And then when we bring those to the finance committee and to the council during these initial meetings we take a look as information becomes clear of how to start balancing balancing the expenses and the revenues. um what transfers are going from the general fund to capital projects uh and and other you know and other decisions um like that so i i wouldn't be recommending at this moment before you've gone through the review of the department's budgets to look at because those are the very questions that the finance committee will be asking the police chief the public works director where could you save tell us us why you need this in your budget. What happens if we were to reduce this 10%, 20%, or altogether? And those are conversations going back several years ago with council members that aren't part of the council today, where we had those type of point conversations, and a lot of those then turned into supplemental requests if the budget improved that made your budget so at this point i wouldn't recommend giving direction for us to come with all these systems scenarios let's see what is let the finance committee do their job as they've done in the past and then council as a whole will give direction and as council member burns suggests that you got to look at all the revenue opportunities as well and where do you make tough decisions, including where revenue opportunities on things like short-term vacation rental marijuana dispensaries and make things that you know that are also revenue generators and what's the cost you know to the community if you choose to to open up some of those doors that have been closed in the past so i just wanted to share a little bit of that perspective |
| 00:47:44.02 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So Adam, to follow up your statements, however, we have one hour and 15 minutes with each department. Do you think that's enough time for us to have that kind of detailed dialogue with each of these departments, given that we're going to be making the decisions at the following meeting, according to Melanie? Or do you think it would be helpful for them to come to the meeting prepared with some scenarios that they can present to us? |
| 00:47:44.76 | Adam Politzer | to find. |
| 00:48:11.78 | Adam Politzer | I think initially it is the right amount of time. We've gone through this exercise now every year of making sure that we are looking very closely at every single budget. mystery i don't think you know from the anyone that's been following our budget process over the last eight years or so the information has been refined and communicated videos made explaining it we've obviously in the police department's budget and public works have expanded services in terms of some of those pilot programs that you know were showed with extra officers for, extra officers for bike and parking management and congestion management needs. Water out on Richardson Bay, code enforcement obviously being another discretionary pilot program that we've offered. We've been able to expand services and the budget based on what's proposed for this year um we're still in the positive column in terms of expenses and revenues and as melanie would have shared in each beginning of each one of these meetings is that it's a conservative revenue outlook where we can serve you know we're conservative in the projections of what our property tax sales tax t.o.t and the variety of other revenues that are generated and if they perform better than we project then that usually ends up creating a surplus and you know so when we when we look at the budget we're conservative on both ways we conservative on the on the revenues and a little bit more liberal in terms of what the full cost would be on the expenses, recognizing that we never spend at the 100% rate. So I think a lot of time is appropriate. Every finance committee is different. Some like to meet more often. Some like to meet longer duration. But until we start going through the department reports, for some departments like Library and Park and Rec, it's pretty narrow. They don't have a whole lot of... divisions inside their department, that we could get through that relatively quickly. And I think we've learned a lot about our police department and community development department over the last year. So I think we'll be focused in those conversations in terms of expenses and revenues. |
| 00:50:47.99 | Charles Melton | So our next steps will be the Finance Committee meetings. There will be videos posted by the department heads in the third week of April. They actually start videoing April 16th, and then we'll get an opportunity to go into them. give them a little opportunity to edit. We do have a presentation on pension and OPEB to the council on the 17th. And as you see, there'll be updates, frequent updates to council, finance committee meetings. I do ask, urge, offer, beg, plead, whatever term you'd like to use. That if you have questions, if I can help in any way, even just as somebody to bounce the ideas off of and learn more about the intricacies to please let me know. One of the things that I found was very helpful, I think both for the council and myself when I first started was receiving lots of questions and having an opportunity to walk through. some of the different questions and issues and understanding some of the implications of ideas that people have. So the The highlight is that we will adopt a budget by the end of June per state law. |
| 00:51:58.60 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 00:52:00.47 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So are these finance committee meetings in the next couple months, are they noticed as city council meetings as well, so that as many of us who would like to attend can attend? |
| 00:52:10.01 | Charles Melton | They are not. We have had some others attend. The stipulation has been that other council members can only listen, not participate. Is there a reason that we can't? |
| 00:52:19.93 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Is there a reason that we can't notice them as special meetings? |
| 00:52:23.59 | Charles Melton | If that's desired and the council wishes to, we can. |
| 00:52:25.63 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I mean, it just seems like I'm newer. It might be helpful to attend some of them to save time Are there meetings? I know Joe is already attending. |
| 00:52:35.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So yeah, Joe has been attending. If you're available to come from 8.30 to 12.30, because we meet during the day. If you're available, I have no issue with noticing them as special city council meetings. |
| 00:52:48.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I wouldn't be able to come to all of them, but. |
| 00:52:48.53 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 00:52:48.55 | Ray Withy | Yeah. |
| 00:52:48.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I would. |
| 00:52:48.78 | Ray Withy | THE FAMILY. |
| 00:52:50.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 00:52:51.06 | Ray Withy | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have an issue with that because then if you're noticing it in a special city council meeting, then it's a quorum and then you're going to be making decisions. There would be. |
| 00:52:58.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | There wouldn't be any decisions noticed though, right? Do you notice decisions? |
| 00:53:03.01 | Ray Withy | now. Uh, well... I would be cautious about adding 12 hours worth of city council meetings. in a single month. I don't, I mean, If you need to watch it, they're gonna, are you guys videoing them now? Is there a reason why? I've been asking for that for over a year. Is there a reason why we can't video those? We don't have it in the budget. |
| 00:53:25.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We don't have it at the end. We have to wire the room for the cameras. Why can't you just have it in here? |
| 00:53:28.74 | Ray Withy | Why can't you just have it in here? |
| 00:53:30.53 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I don't know why we don't schedule them in here. We did have the last one in here. |
| 00:53:33.57 | Ray Withy | Okay, so that's what I would suggest, is that we video, instead of noticing them as a city council meeting, that we figure out a way that we can video them and post the videos. So that not only city council members or whoever's available for 12 hours at a stretch can see them. |
| 00:53:49.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I don't, I'm not sure I |
| 00:53:51.04 | Ray Withy | I don't really understand the concern, but I don't really The concern is I just don't, I just want to be cautious about noticing and having City Council meetings where you know, all the members are going to be present and decisions might be made and the stress of people. |
| 00:54:06.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I wouldn't. I mean, what I was envisioning is it's just a committee meeting, but it's noticed as a full meeting, so that if other people are available to attend, they can. But I mean, I've seen that done frequently in other situations. |
| 00:54:20.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So it's just a. |
| 00:54:21.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | tool. |
| 00:54:21.82 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We don't have this particular item on our agenda for discussion. Let's put this on the agenda for our next meeting for April 17 to consider the process by which we... conduct our budget hearings this year. So that's |
| 00:54:34.47 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So that's. We can... Great. So the situation now is that Anyone can attend, any member of the public. or Council member can attend, but only the two committee members can participate at this point. Yeah, so that's still. All right. Yep. Great. Thank you. |
| 00:54:47.20 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, so that's still. |
| 00:54:56.09 | Ray Withy | Could you go back one slide? I want to clarify one thing because |
| 00:54:56.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Right. |
| 00:55:03.51 | Ray Withy | In this process, we introduce then some attempts at scenarioing longer range financial forecasts, both on the revenue and the expense side, right? So where in this process is April 20 fiscal forecast, you mean that long range fiscal forecast for that part? |
| 00:55:28.59 | Charles Melton | Correct, that'll be the introduction of it. The expectation is that this entire process is iterative and evolutionary, evolving, I should say. |
| 00:55:29.40 | Ray Withy | Okay. |
| 00:55:37.45 | Unknown | All right. |
| 00:55:37.75 | Charles Melton | THE CITY IS A As you and Jill know, there was a lot of debate back and forth. We'd bring forward some, we'd have some conversation, questions, we'd come back to the Finance Committee. And those recommendations get refined until the final presentations to the council. in late May and then early June. And at that point then, so by the time it comes to council for adoption, there have been at least two solid meetings about the recommendations that have finally come into |
| 00:56:05.48 | Ray Withy | THE |
| 00:56:06.32 | Charles Melton | THE CITY IS A CITY IS A CITY |
| 00:56:06.73 | Ray Withy | Yeah, the point I'm trying to clarify is that there's an urge to see a longer range forecast. And this is iterative, and therefore, We need to be looking at some long range scenarios every time we make a decision. So when's the first introduction of the long range? That's what I'm trying to get to. Is that April 20th? |
| 00:56:29.05 | Charles Melton | It was proposed for April 20th, if at all possible, I'll actually give it to the Finance Committee on the 13th, but not have it as a discussion item. |
| 00:56:34.72 | Ray Withy | Okay. And then it will become a background tool that we then use as every decision involves. Because in the end, we can't responsibly, in my view, pass a budget. in which we have a long range model that predicts that expenses are going to grow faster than revenues and cross over. Therefore, it's looking out to decide what decisions we need to make today to stop that happening in the future. Therefore, the long-range model has got to be part of the process iteratively every time now. |
| 00:57:09.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And the reason I asked the question earlier is that it is challenging to hear budget proposals and requests for increases from department heads without having the framework of what our long term constraints are. |
| 00:57:32.79 | Ray Withy | I have some more questions. |
| 00:57:33.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Please. |
| 00:57:34.19 | Ray Withy | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:57:36.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Ray Withy is the person with the most longevity on this council and he's been through this process more, so I welcome all of your questions. |
| 00:57:45.04 | Ray Withy | I just have just a couple more. the sales tax and to a certain extent let's say, some function of therefore the TOT, or vice versa. It looks to me like, and in looking at other jurisdictions and looking at the sales and looking at the state trends, that sales tax is leveling off. Let's say that as a sort of. When we, in the past, and as standard jurisdictional budgeting, you assume sales tax has a cyclical Nature, right? This is over time, years. It's steadily increasing, but it's actually going like a sine wave. It's cyclical. Some years you get bad years, bad couple of years it's down. Some years are up. Okay. |
| 00:58:28.73 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. |
| 00:58:28.75 | Unknown | They... |
| 00:58:46.80 | Ray Withy | But there seems to be appearing a structural change in cells tax. that is worrisome. Is that just me or is there any It's widely held. It's widely held. OK. Could you explain that a little bit for us? |
| 00:58:58.63 | Charles Melton | It's widely held. You can do it. Absolutely, there is a huge shift in the retail market in particular and how people buy what they buy. There's a number of court cases, particularly one in South Dakota right now against Quill. Quill versus South Dakota that is going to alter the federal face of internet transactions and sales tax collection. The state of California has a system that is very much destination based. So cities as well as the state do not necessarily gain from an increase in retail activity unless it is based on brick and mortar in your property. So we've seen obviously over the last especially few years, huge shifts in people's behavior of how they buy. There's a lot of online purchasing, there's a lot more experiential. Trying to get an experience through dining, through activities as opposed to buying a material good. The bicycles would be a reflection of that. There's an experience that people are trying to purchase. So that is not captured in our current sales tax structure within the state of California. That is showing out very much in a leveling off. Having multiple years and in fact an up to six year forecast from our consultants of one and a half to two, maybe 2.1% increases is extremely concerning because what that means is our entire structural model of that has shifted. So- We are not seeing any declines, which is reflective of a pretty insulated economy, in that we do have a strong tourist base, whether it be international or domestic. But we still are seeing a lack of growth. Our strongest areas, frankly, come out when we see a sale of a yacht. or we have a really good year season with the restaurants. Again, those are experiential purchasing. So that is definitely an area that not just us, but everybody across the state is seeing some concerns. Again, I said relatively insulated, but what that means is we also don't grow fast and we don't drop fast. Thank you. We just kind of stay at our mosey and little path right now. And we see the same thing with TOT and frankly parking is leveling off as well. Thank you. |
| 01:01:15.32 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So you said we don't grow fast, but our expenses are outpacing our revenues by at least 2% annually right now. |
| 01:01:25.55 | Charles Melton | That is pretty normal around her. Like I said, the entire ground on which we've been basing our premises in California has shifted significantly over the last two years. both revenue and expenditure. |
| 01:01:44.04 | Jill Hoffman | I was. I'm kind of looking at this as a comment, but as a question, Other communities are experiencing the same formula application to revenue. But there's different opportunities for revenue in many, many of the communities in California that some of our coastal and built out communities don't have. Increase in turning raw land into residential increases property tax tremendously, adding a commercial zone tremendously. We don't have that opportunity and we won't. |
| 01:02:03.16 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:02:15.92 | Jill Hoffman | But other communities do grow their revenue substantially. It's the formula that's flat across the board and we're at the formula stage now. |
| 01:02:25.39 | Charles Melton | Yeah, we're a prime example of how that formula has now met a change in the actual industry behaviors. And that translates to a flat revenue base. |
| 01:02:37.28 | Jill Hoffman | So our question then from a revenue standpoint is not how do we change the formula, it's what do we change? that brings in revenue, not the formula. |
| 01:02:46.51 | Charles Melton | Yeah, we won't have the option to change the formula. |
| 01:02:48.64 | Jill Hoffman | But absolutely. |
| 01:02:49.86 | Ray Withy | you |
| 01:02:53.87 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 01:02:54.72 | Charles Melton | See you very soon then. Again, if you have any questions, please. |
| 01:02:57.95 | Ray Withy | Yes. |
| 01:02:59.14 | Charles Melton | Let me know. |
| 01:02:59.37 | Ray Withy | One very final question and then I think public comment maybe. |
| 01:03:01.26 | Charles Melton | Wow. |
| 01:03:01.68 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:03:02.75 | Charles Melton | Thank you. |
| 01:03:02.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Be careful when you say one final question. |
| 01:03:04.10 | Ray Withy | No, this is a very specific question. |
| 01:03:04.59 | Charles Melton | Thank you. |
| 01:03:07.10 | Ray Withy | $2 million. of our general fund revenue comes from parking. Is that a problem? |
| 01:03:14.49 | Unknown | It's a little under... |
| 01:03:15.37 | Charles Melton | Thank you. |
| 01:03:15.40 | Ray Withy | Little under, okay. So little under $2 million. Okay. |
| 01:03:16.21 | Unknown | Okay. million. |
| 01:03:19.99 | Ray Withy | How much of that is parking lot one? |
| 01:03:22.49 | Charles Melton | I got a chance to look it up. Last year in 16 it was just under $900,000. In 17 it was 960 and this year we're right on track for our budgeted 900,000. |
| 01:03:34.74 | Ray Withy | So, Almost half of our parking revenue comes from parking lot one. Yes, sir. Thank you. |
| 01:03:42.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. At this point, is this the end of your presentation? Yes. All right, at this point, I will open it up for public comment. |
| 01:03:43.64 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:03:51.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Peter Van Meter. |
| 01:03:56.87 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you for saving me identifying myself. As you look ahead to your MOU negotiations, I think she said 2019, unless PEPRA has been modified since 2013, Keep in mind that it does enable you to request participation by employees in paying down the UAAL. Now that's going to be a very difficult negotiation obviously, but among all the tools that are available on the table during those meet and confer sessions, that is something to think about because that's obviously from what we've heard here an extremely large number. And to the extent you can, and the trade-offs involved in those labor negotiations have some participation in that pay down could be a helpful thing to consider. |
| 01:04:50.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:04:55.17 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, seeing no further public comment, I'll close public comment, bring it up here for discussion. We are receiving this report tonight and not taking action. Is there any further, well, is there any discussion from council members? |
| 01:05:12.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I just wanted to reemphasize what Council Member Burns already said, that I really hope the Finance Committee will consider additional revenue measures, including long-term thoughts about Measure O and other possible measures, whether they're at the ballot or otherwise, and some kind of a long-term plan for how we might best. THE BALLOT OR OTHERWISE AND SOME KIND OF A LONG-TERM PLAN FOR HOW WE MIGHT BEST UTILIZE THOSE. |
| 01:05:12.94 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:05:12.95 | Unknown | Oh, sorry. |
| 01:05:48.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | unfunded liabilities level out that we are going to be challenged from a revenue perspective. So I think that's important and something I'll be interested in looking at. I also just wanted to comment on the schedule that if the other three members of the city council are not participating in finance committee meetings, that it looks like we had only one or two meetings at the end for the full council and that that might be challenging so I just like to maybe build in some time for full council meetings. You know, if we don't need them, we don't need them, but if we do have some challenging decisions to make, then I think I don't want to be rushed at the end. So I'd like to just make sure that we keep an eye on that schedule as it moves forward. |
| 01:06:39.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:06:39.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:06:40.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So would people be open to a budget workshop because it's really challenging. You know, the County of Marin just held 12 hours of budget hearings in order to work through their budget. So I'm not suggesting 12 hours, but I agree it is challenging to do it as one item of business amongst many others during our regular city council meetings. |
| 01:07:06.29 | Ray Withy | I mean... I would argue that the budget is really the highest priority thing, and the agenda setting committee might decide to actually put less stuff on our agenda and actually focus the meetings almost exclusively on the budget. |
| 01:07:24.36 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:07:24.51 | Ray Withy | He was looking at me, but sometimes he looks at somebody but really means somebody else. Um... Well, yeah, you know what? I agree with Susan. It is very hard to take that bite. And so that's why I think two years ago or last year, I think it was last year that we did the videos. So that other council members- |
| 01:07:47.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Other council members. We did that for a strategic plan, but not for the budget. |
| 01:07:48.43 | Ray Withy | Yeah. Well, we did something for the budget, I know, because it wasn't an immediate dump at the last city council meeting where you guys, it is really difficult to catch up. So between now and the next city council meeting, yeah, I think at the next city council meeting, it would be great to come back with a plan. We're not going to add 12 more hours to our schedules, but we are going to post these videos. What I think would be a BE A GOOD SOLUTION WOULD BE WE ARE GOING TO POSE THE VIDEOS. THE COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT NEED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT'S ON THE VIDEOS THE COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT NEED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT'S ON THE VIDEOS CAN FOLLOW UP WITH THE INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS ON THEIR OWN AND AT THEIR OWN PACE AND THEN BE READY FOR WHATEVER MEETING. |
| 01:07:52.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:08:30.04 | Ray Withy | let's say, you know, philosophically that we get that in place, that plan in place, and then at the first meeting, assuming that you've followed up with the department heads or with the finance, whoever, about the questions that you have at the first city council meeting that we have already scheduled for this, and then In between that city council meeting and the second one, then we should be able to roll into and everybody's prepared to approve. But I do take your point, and I've been in that position, Susan, so I know that that is difficult. And I'm not unmindful of that. Okay. |
| 01:09:01.90 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you Thank you. |
| 01:09:02.57 | Ray Withy | . |
| 01:09:02.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:09:02.76 | Ray Withy | Who? |
| 01:09:03.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | wanted to comment. |
| 01:09:04.65 | Jill Hoffman | And it's going to be on the same line of what I was talking about earlier with revenue. So what I would like to see is. As we go through these discussions, really boiling down some objectives with our revenue growth so we can devise a policy. I actually believe that the courage of this council is going to be looking at policy that increases our revenue, not the little nibblings of $20,000 to $30,000 here and there. That's not the difference we're talking about on this board in 2020. It's a six-digit number, not a three-digit number or four-digit number. So we really have to have the courage to make... large policy changes in our revenue. And I think we need to know what those are. And in following the THE PROCESS IN THE PAST A LITTLE BIT AND HAVING FOLLOWED IT IN OTHER COMMUNITIES, THAT DISCUSSION KIND OF KEEPS FOLLOWING BACKWARDS AND I THINK WE NEED TO PUT IT FORWARDS WITH SOME STRONG OBJECTIVES WITH SOME CATEGORIES. I'M LOOKING AT STAFF AND I DON'T EXPECT STAFF TO HAVE HAD THIS DONE YET BUT AS MAYBE MEETING OFFLINE OR LOOKING AT SOME ITEMS LIKE WE BROUGHT UP TO T, CANNABIS. THE TAX BLEED IS A HUGE CONCERN AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE JUST LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL RETAILERS WHEN IT'S A BIGGER CLASS THAN THAT. IT'S HOW WE SET UP OUR our character and what people do here. And, you know, I know that a lot of families, cause I see them are eating dinner in mill Valley. Cause they're going to the theater there. They're going to, Marin Theater Company and having dinner in Mill Valley. On Tuesday nights, in the winter when that's the business we want. Um, so what are we doing to kind of protect that retail bleed? And then is there another tax increase ahead? Is there property taxing advantages if we, if we have a little more, um, uh, property improvement, uh, bonds, grants, whatever's on the table in the next seven years needs to be put in front of us objectives that we analyze every cycle to say, where can we potentially build some revenue? And those things need to be itemized just as much as the IN FRONT OF US OBJECTIVES THAT WE ANALYZE EVERY CYCLE TO SAY WHERE CAN WE POTENTIALLY BUILD SOME REVENUE. AND THOSE THINGS NEED TO BE ITEMIZED JUST AS MUCH AS THE EXPENSES THAT WE LOOK AT AND ARE GOING TO SPEND HOURS AND HOURS REFINING AND IT'S GOING TO BE A SMALLER PERCENTAGE. SO, UM. Looking at the, as Council Member Withey brought up, the long-range model, Those policies are going to be our challenge and those are what we really have to nail into and it's it's going to be this group. It's not going to be the Council in 2 or 3 years this group can have to make some changes and some policy so. That's how I feel about it. We continue to look at expenses, and that's great, and staff's got a good handle on it. And thank goodness we had the staff we've had and we had the economy that we had through the downturn to be at this point. But now it's all about revenue growth. Thank you. |
| 01:11:52.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We can... So I agree that we need to look at both sides of the equation. One thing we haven't talked about in our revenues are grants. We also haven't talked about the insurance archaeology. I'd like to hear a report on that, because that's some unexpected revenue, and that could be large revenues. And I read with interest today or yesterday an article about Dennis Rodoni increasing TOT. not throughout Marin, but only in his district in Western Marin. And the county council, Brian Washington, issued an opinion telling him he can do that. So... I think that we have to be creative as we look at both sides of the equation. All right, if there's nothing else, we'll move on. Our business item 6B, authorized solicitation for project management planning and design services for Sausalu Ferry land site improvements project. |
| 01:13:00.95 | Jonathon Goldman | Thank you, Mayor Cox, members of the council and staff and members of the community. Jonathan Goldman, your public works director and city engineer. I know that we have Diane Steinhauser scheduled at 830, so I'll try to be brief. I did throw a PowerPoint together to try to reduce the page count on this particular item. The staff report is kind of lengthy, so. This was not in the packet, but it's really short and sweet. There isn't any necessarily new information here. i'll start with recommended actions because there really are only three elements to what staff has has asked council to consider and and is recommending this evening the first is an initial appropriation in part because this particular project is not in the current budget there's not there's not budget appropriated for it, as indicated in the staff report. There are funds available, this particular work in is eligible for the use of both parking enterprise and tidelands funds. The second thing that we're asking council to do, and it's kind of embedded in the draft resolution that you have before you, is just to kind of restate or confirm the council and the community's commitment to the pass-through agreement, and confirm our objective of actually delivering this project, as long as our partners, the Ferry District and the Federal Transit Administration fund what needs to be built. And then finally, and pretty simply, authorization to solicit proposals for a project manager to get the process started and get the public engagement process started and start working towards delivering the project. As I indicated previously and in the staff report, we need the initial appropriation in order to spend money. It needs to be appropriated first. The resolution of October 10, 2017, resolution 6670, approved the pass-through agreement with the bridge district. So the agreement is already in place, but as you can see from a letter that the city manager received from the general manager of the district, there's some interest on the district's part in being reassured by the city if we're willing to reassure them. So there is a clause in the resolution that confirms the city's commitment to make every reasonable effort to fully and completely deliver the project in a timely manner, subject to the availability of funds from the other agencies. And then authorization to solicit proposals. A draft RFP was developed as really an overarching procurement intended to comply with both the district's procurement policies as well as fair political practices Commission policies I happen to be in Monterey for League of California City's Public Works Officers Institute last week and one of the attorneys who advised us on our specifications for the Dunphy Park project was one of the speakers and she pointed out some issues that have come up in court cases that, that in my judgment, give us a benefit of a broad procurement for this project, but the initial scope of services that we really need isn't overarching, we don't know what the project's gonna be yet. The idea is let's get an individual to work with staff to develop alternatives and return to council for direction. uh individual and our and our intent staff's intent with respect to delivering the project is to integrate the planning permitting and construction to minimize conflicts with the district's waterside project minimize lost parking revenue during construction that's lot one as was discussed earlier and then also maximizing public participation throughout the process So the recommended actions before you. Certainly happy to answer any questions that I can. Obviously the opportunity for public comment and then, um, adoption of the draft resolution or a resolution modified to suit the council. |
| 01:17:58.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So question, Jonathan. Initially, it was a larger grant, 4.2 instead of 2.5. Are we taking action to, now that the project has been approved and is underway, are we taking action to... restore the balance of the funding. |
| 01:18:22.37 | Jonathon Goldman | Certainly, although I wouldn't even limit it to the balance of the funding. The objective in working with the district, and I think the intent when the pass-through agreement was originally proposed, is the recognition that There are significant facilities on the land side that are the cities and are operated by the city, but are used by ferry patrons. And so the district is very effective at developing grant funding. The funding that is currently on the table is a grant from Federal Transit Agency. and a partnership with, between the city and the district to continue to successfully acquire grant funding in order to make any improvements that that we think are necessary and that kind of resonate with the the district's ferry patrons and their ferry operation is certainly fair game and I think we have a commitment from them to to go forward in in that context but the the Thank you. the tone of the letter that that the city manager got, for example, is, you know, makes it clear that those grants have a shelf life and if we don't start the process of delivering the project and start spending the grant funds they're at risk so we're trying to build momentum back up and do as you described not only spend this grant money but also work with the district to get more. |
| 01:20:05.90 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | To that end, are you planning to remind the Golden Gate Bridge District that we cannot and should not finish repaving or some of our finish work out there until their heavy equipment is done traversing our lot. |
| 01:20:24.63 | Jonathon Goldman | Absolutely, and as indicated in the staff report and in the PowerPoint. I think that's a good question. We have to collaborate on scheduling and minimizing disruption. and adverse impacts across the board. That includes revenues from lot one, but at the same time, we don't, if we can accomplish both projects at the same time and have all the work be done as quickly as possible, there are huge advantages to that as well. But there, I'm not sure. I frankly don't know exactly where they are in their process at this point. And so part of our communications with them through the city manager's office have been it really is time for us to sit down and start discussing these two projects together. |
| 01:21:18.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Have you reviewed their progress on the timeline that they presented to the council as a part of the approval of the improvements to the Golden Gate Fair? |
| 01:21:31.74 | Jonathon Goldman | I am not. |
| 01:21:33.41 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | The next time you report on this, can you give us an update on where they stand with respect to their promised timeline on that? |
| 01:21:40.56 | Jonathon Goldman | Absolutely. |
| 01:21:41.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And then another question that occurred to me is, are Tidelands funds available for any of this work? |
| 01:21:47.60 | Jonathon Goldman | Yes. |
| 01:21:52.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, those are my questions. All right, seeing no questions, we'll open up for public comment. Peter Van Meter. |
| 01:22:06.62 | Peter Van Meter | Well, it's really exciting that this project is moving ahead because if the land side improvement project here is approached in a proper fashion It can not only deal with the ferry loading issues and the congestion management downtown, but can be the first steps toward the creation of a community plaza for the benefit of the residents of Sausalito. I'm talking about a place where our own people can meet and greet and relax and enjoy the beautiful amenities and the views and the waterfront that we have right here in our own central downtown. Because we realize that there's many days in the year when we don't have a lot of visitors. And even during the peak tourist hours, there's many hours of the day that we don't have a lot of visitors. Imagine sitting down there enjoying your cup of coffee and your friends that are walking their dog, you know, in the morning hours, and maybe even still read a newspaper, who knows. And so as we move forward in the public process here, A number of us who have been thinking about some concepts for such a plaza over a number of years will be bringing forth those ideas to enter into the public discussion of what the planning process should entail down there, and we're very much looking forward to that. |
| 01:23:20.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other public comment? All right. Um... I'll Close public comment, bring it up here for discussion and a motion. |
| 01:23:35.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great. I'm generally supportive. Definitely think that it's time to move this forward and take advantage of the available grant funding. So I'm really glad to see this here tonight. And apropos of what Mr. Van Meter just said, just looking at this picture that Jonathan Goldman chose as the picture. It's just so much of this area right in the heart of our downtown is parking lot. And this tiny little Gabrielson Park where we do, it is one of the most important. parts of the town to our community, especially during the summer where people gather for Jazz by the Bay. It's active dog park in the morning hours. People wait for the ferry to commute in the morning. You know, I am looking forward to see if there are some creative uses or creative ways to maintain the revenue, obviously, but also to make it more of a space for our community, in addition to the passengers on the ferry. So I hope that that's something that we can look for in a project manager, that's someone that has creativity, and that we have a good, vibrant public process, so that we can get a lot of input from our community members about what they'd like to see there. I definitely got a big sense last fall that people feel that the space has been taken over by tourists and that it's congested and not pleasant to be at. So to the extent that we can reclaim that space, make it comfortable for both tourists and our community members, I think that would be a great thing. So I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do in this process. |
| 01:25:37.15 | Ray Withy | Um... I'm ready to make a resolution, Madam Mayor, to authorize the supplemental appropriation of $100,000 for an issuance of a solicitation for project management planning and design services for the Sausalito Ferry Landside Improvements Project. |
| 01:25:59.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor aye aye that motion carries 5-0. |
| 01:25:59.97 | Ray Withy | All right. |
| 01:26:00.27 | Unknown | I. |
| 01:26:00.78 | Ray Withy | Bye. |
| 01:26:00.86 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:26:05.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And Jonathan, you are ahead of schedule. So thank you. Good job. |
| 01:26:08.99 | Unknown | So thank you. |
| 01:26:12.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | same death All right, with that we will welcome Diane Steinhauser for our business item 6C update from the Transportation Authority of Marin. |
| 01:26:28.30 | Diane Steinhauser | Thank you. |
| 01:26:28.32 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:26:28.44 | Diane Steinhauser | Good evening. Mayor Cox, members of the council, thank you for the opportunity to come and speak with you this evening. About a year and a few months ago, Tam was looking at the potential for a set-aside within the state sales tax cap for increasing our sales tax for transportation. I'm pleased to be here this evening to report on current activity, which is not the recommendation of increasing the sales tax, but rather to renew and reset our existing sales tax plan. This is a discussion item. We're looking for input. I'm going to explain amongst a number of topics that your city manager and clerk asked me to talk about. I'll try and weave those into the sales tax discussion, but I'm going to explain what's in the upcoming plan, the process we're following. I'm looking for input on did we get it right? What are your priorities? Who should we talk to in your community as we do education and outreach over the next few months? And then at the end, I'll talk a little bit about next steps and what we're going to be doing next. Local funding is very critical for the transportation work that Thank you. steps and what we're going to be doing next. Local funding is very critical for the transportation work that we do in Marin. We're one of 24 counties in the state that have a local transportation sales tax. This is not unusual. About 72% in Marin. It runs about 69, 70% regionally. It was in Orange County for a meeting a few weeks ago. There are about 68%, 69% local funds. State and federal funds have not kept up with our transportation needs. We get about $2 million a year roughly in federal funds, $1.5 million in state. And we are currently capturing about $25 million a year in our local transportation sales tax and I'll talk a little bit about what that goes towards and what the renewal plan will do. This is our existing measure A sales tax. Again, we are one of 24 counties. The first county that passed the sales tax was Santa Clara back in 1984. Development of our transportation sales tax came about through extensive outreach. I'm pleased to report that we've been doing outreach and talking about renewal for well over a year now. And we had a 24-member citizens committee that came up with a unanimous recommendation on how to reset this plan. Why are we renewing now? There are a couple of primary reasons. The current sales tax plan is about 15 years old. We've had new needs that have come forward. There are a number of elements in that plan that we are not allowed to spend funds on. We're not authorized. They include interchanges, sea level rise and resiliency, support to employers and employees, the direct connector from 101 to 580, the Marin-Sonoma Narrows, a couple of big projects that aren't authorized to use the current sales tax. We also need to extend the sales tax in order to have a reliable source of funds for longer-term contracts. Very important for our transit operator in particular. I'm going to be talking a little bit later about transit funding. We got very strong public support for renewal of the tax. So back in May of 1917, I can't believe I said that, in May of 2017, and I repeat it again this January, we did a poll. This was a professional poll. It was a combination of phone calls, but more importantly, emails, texts to inspire people to answer the poll through email, as well as some cell phone usage. So it's a wide variety of techniques our professional pollster Godby Research did. He asked a series of questions on what's important to people right now. So you can see the top vote getters in the poll we took just here in January. Not surprisingly, congestion, filling potholes, relieving traffic both on Highway 101 and local streets. Interestingly providing funds for sea level rise and resiliency. Second time that's come across pretty strongly as it did last May. then providing funds for sea level rise and resiliency, second time that's come across pretty strongly, as it did last May, and then providing funds for local transit, including for seniors and persons with disabilities. Further down the list, and I'll point this out at the bottom, filling in critical gaps in pedestrian facilities, bike facilities, funding electric vehicle and surprisingly, safe routes to school and crossing guards. These were lower point getters in terms of public interest. We read informational statements to the public. We also read oppositional statements. In fact, we read nine oppositional statements in the course of people taking this survey. They included everything from the state increasing gas taxes and fees to the fact that the measure could be growth-inducing and will increase pressure by the state to put more low-income, high-density housing in small marine communities, to if government managed its funds better, we wouldn't be needing these taxes, et cetera, et cetera. After the nine oppositional statements, our initial 75-word ballot question, you can see it here on this slide, started at 77.9%, dropped to 73%. The report from our polling firm was that this is a pretty good place to start in terms of renewing the tax. We would need two-thirds for the tax to continue. So the TAM board looked at this very favorably, authorized me to come out and talk to cities and towns, and to bring the results from our expenditure plan committee. We had a 24-member expenditure plan advisory Committee. They met nine times from June through November. They came up with a unanimous decision on what they would recommend including in a new plan. They were educated in each meeting on Senate Bill 1 and Regional Measure 3. I want to talk a little bit about those. They recommend placing a 30-year extension of the sales tax on the ballot in November of 2018. Now, our current sales tax expires on March 31st of 2025. So this would take effect the new plan in January of 2019. So we're overlapping about six years. The net increase in sales tax years is 24, but it is a 30-year plan. I want to mention and make sure I don't forget that the Expenditure Plan Committee recognized that a lot is changing in transportation. Not only are we having to deal with sea level rise and its impact on infrastructure, we're having to deal with autonomous vehicles, mobility as a service. Maybe transit will change in the future in terms of how we operate buses now. So they ask that we build into the plan a potential for a 10-year review and reset of the plan. It will be a very well-described process of a supermajority of cities and citizens, along with the Board of Supervisors, TAM, much public outreach, if we were going to amend the plan at 10 years. It would not go back for another public vote unless the TAM board would like to pursue that as well. This allows us to respond to new demand, new opportunities for funding, technology, et cetera. So we're looking at a 30-year plan, but we're building in a chance to do a reset, maybe a minimum of seven years and no later than 10 years. While I'm here, I wanted to make sure I covered what is Senate Bill 1 and what does it pay for? Senate Bill 1 is the Road Repair and Accountability Act. It was signed into law on April 28, 2017. It provides three primary programs. It generates about $5.4 billion annually over a 10-year period. The three primary competitive programs are state highway funds, about 37%, for state highway repair and maintenance. Local street and road funds, repair and maintenance, about 30%, and another 13 for transit and rail, of which all three of our transit operators, Golden Gate, Marin, Transit, and Smart, get a small share. That adds up to about, let me see, 80%. There are smaller numbers in SB1 annually. They're competitive programs. We've been somewhat successful, but not as successful as we'd like to be in the competitive programs. But you can see that road repair at the state level and local level is the focus point for Senate Bill 1. $8 million in additional funds will come to Marin. Right now, our sales tax delivers about, uh-oh, don't do that. Right now, our sales tax delivers about $3.4 million a year to Marin. So you can see that the Senate Bill 1 substantially increases that to an $8 million figure. Real quickly, Regional Measure 3, as requested by MTC, all nine counties in the Bay Area are going to have Regional Measure 3 on the ballot on June 5th. Regional Measure 3 increases tolls on the seven state-owned toll bridges not the Golden Gate it's separately managed and administered by the Golden Gate Bridge District a dollar increase in January of 2019 another dollar in 2022 and a third dollar in 2025 it's got a direct nexus between the toll payers and the benefits that the projects provide. And therefore, it needs a 50% approval. And there is an education going on right now associated with RM3. Marin and Sonoma pay about 6% of the tolls on all of the Bay Area toll bridges, residents in Marin and Sonoma. We're going to be able to capture about 11% of the money, so that's good news. These are the four big projects that are going to benefit Marin. The Bettini Transit Center, the 101-580 connector in San Rafael, the Narrows, and State Route 37. Keep in mind that our sales tax generates about $25 million a year. And it would be very difficult to fund one or even two of these projects with a renewal of the sales tax. So what we're going to be able to do with the sales tax is get us to the front of the line for these funds, be able to do the design necessary to capture these capital funds, building local features to projects which are not always possible with these bigger highway-type projects. Secondarily, Regional Measure 3 has funds for Bay Trail improvements, the smart extension to Healdsburg and Windsor, and also North Bay Transit Access, which could serve to increase some of the funding that comes to our transit operators. Seeing what SB1 funded and what RM3 funded, the Expenditure Plan Committee said, with those funds assumed to exist, what do we need to put into a local sales tax? I'm often asked, why do you need to do the local sales tax extension? Well, because there's quite a few things that those other two programs don't fund, and that's what we focused on in putting together a sales tax expenditure plan. I'm going to talk for a second about our highway and interchange improvements. We have 7.5% of the funds for highway and interchange improvements. We are looking at a new program funding for six local interchanges. I'd be interested if you would like us to consider improvements to your interchange here in Sausalito. These aren't going to reconstruct interchanges, but they are going to do the outreach, the planning, and get these projects shelf ready for other funds that come along. In my 30-plus years experience, having a project ready to go when other funds become available is very important. And it lets us leverage, capture funds from other sources. Again, we've got matching funds for the narrows and matching funds for the direct connector in san rafael both the senate bill one and our regional measure three will hopefully provide the bulk of capital funds but it's been very difficult for me to find funds to do the design the permitting the environmental document work associated with those projects this will provide us funding for that it also provides a small amount of money for demand management programs these are bike share car share our transit subsidy program with left our emergency ride home our van pool assistance and working with employers and employees on options to driving I like this graph. It's kind of my world, unfortunately. We took $25 million in the last sales tax. This is the cost breakdown of funding that last 3.2 miles of carpool lane through San Rafael, which we opened in the spring of 2010. That $25 million helped us capture another $75 million for those last two segments, segment three and segment four. So I can't overemphasize enough the power of leveraging funds. With my money, I could ask the state, I could ask the feds, I could go after grants. I've got my money, I need yours to match, and it worked very well. We were able to fund this project and get it completed with a small amount of local measure money. There's a before picture of that project, and there's the after. Carpool lane, bike path, and we actually constructed the first mile of smart track in marin county as part of a highway project because we moved the smart rail system over so we were very proud to be able to get that done local streets and roads we combine our current major road and local road category, we allow existing major road projects to be completed. Right now, Sausalito receives about 84,000 annually for local streets and roads. This is going to be expanded by over 50% to 140,000 annually under the renewed measure. School safety that's traditionally gotten 11%. We have a slight increase in funding. We do some school project work in the local street and road category now. But we're going to have increased funding for education, for crossing guards, and for safe pathway projects. We've been able to provide safe pathway funds to you. This is a competitive program TAM manages. You can see a list of those projects here, excuse me, with some pictures of the successful completion of those projects. We also have been able to support walking and biking through our education and encouragement program in in the schools here in Sausalito. You can see those listed here. Transit, 55% of our sales tax measure goes to transit. I'd like to introduce Robert Betts. He's here from Marin Transit on behalf of Nancy Whelan, General Manager. And Robert's gonna talk a little bit about what transit does in Sausalito. Thank you. |
| 01:42:46.16 | Robert Betts | Thank you Diane. Good evening Mayor Cox, members of council. Robert Betts, Director of Planning and Operations, Marin Transit. Diane mentioned 55% of the current local sales tax measure does go to fund local transit, which I do want to emphasize puts us in a very fortunate position not only to provide enhanced local fixed route transit service, but also get involved in other aspects of mobility in Marin County, like home-to-school transportation and transportation for seniors and those with disabilities here in Marin County. Going back to 2004, right before the sales tax measure was passed, there were plans underway to do some fairly significant cuts to the fixed route service in Marin County. Fortunately, with the passage of Measure A, funding was stabilized, and since that time, we have more than doubled the local transit service here in Marin County. And we haven't just doubled that local fixed route service, we've also enhanced our home to school programs, We've enhanced our programs for seniors and those with disabilities, and we've expanded what we call our rural and recreational services. So that would be the West Marin Stagecoach Service and the Muirwood Shuttle Service. Approximately 3.3 million trips are completed on the local network each year. Our current operating budget is nearly $33 million. 41% of that comes from local local measure a sales tax and without that 41 percent which we are able to leverage for additional funds we estimate that over half of our service would need to be cut So talking specifically about the local fixed route bus service here in Sausalito, there are a number of local and regional Golden Gate services. All of those routes operate along Bridgeway, north-south. Our local Route 17 is probably the most frequent service here in Sausalito. It runs every half an hour during the peak hour and every hour during the off-peak and weekend hours. That route starts in downtown San Rafael. It makes a time connection with the Smart Train. It continues south on the 101 and serves Strawberry, downtown Mill Valley, Marin City, and then terminates down at the ferry terminal here in Sausalito. We also operate a route that we call the 71X. This was an expansion route that we put into service last June. The X indicates that it provides a more direct and expressed connection to other parts of the county. This route pretty much operates up and down the 101 corridor, but it comes all the way into Sausalito and provides all the local service here within the city. On the weekends, we operate the West Marin Stagecoach, which is Route 61. That route goes into Mill Valley and then continues over the hill into Pantoel Ranger Station and ultimately goes down into Stinson Beach and Bellinas. In addition to those services, you have the Golden Gate Regional Services that continue into the city that also operate along that same corridor. And we estimate today about 150 passenger trips are done each day just on the local routes. In addition to the ridership on those local routes on the weekends, we do about another 150 to 200 trips on the Muirwood shuttle. We call this route the 66F, which indicates this is the connection to the ferry terminal. This service is operated in partnership with the National Park Service, so it's jointly funded and jointly planned with the National Park Service. It operates year-round on weekends and holidays and operates a limited eight-week summer schedule that runs daily. And based on our most recent passenger survey, just under 40% of all riders using this shuttle connect to and from the ferry services. Student transportation, we operate what we call supplemental school transportation. These are routes that are timed to the bell times of the local schools here in Marin County. Route 115 is the route that serves Sausalito. It connects to Willow Creek and Tam High School. It also serves MLK. And approximately 75 daily trips per day are taken by students on that service. We also offer a countywide youth pass program. This is a program that's available for purchase that provides unlimited access to all of our local services. We also offer the pass for free to those families that qualify for the free or reduced lunch program. And as you can see, on the Route 115, 225 passes were distributed to patrons on that service and all of those were distributed for free to income qualified students. So senior and disabled transportation programs here in Marin County. As you know, Marin County is aging and our aging population is in need of increased mobility and transit services. Within Marin County and Sausalito, we fund and operate a number of programs. The first is what we call paratransit service. This is operated under contract to whistle-stop wheels, and this is a curb-to-curb service that's available for those passengers that are unable to use our local fixed-route transit service. Within Sausalito specifically, last year, 3,500 paratransit trips were completed on that program. We also offer what we call our Catch-A-Ride program, which is a taxi subsidy program available for seniors and those with disabilities. Sausalito residents last year took 800 trips on those subsidized taxi programs. We work with a number of organizations across the county to both fund and manage volunteer driver programs these are programs that allow riders to either reimburse their driver for for trips or coordinate volunteers to provide trips here in Sausalito one of the more successful volunteer driver programs exists the cars program or Colorado Sausalito seniors That program was originally funded through grant funds by Marin Transit and has since been transitioned to Sausalito Villages in the city. And lastly, we provide a program that we call Travel Navigators. This is a one-call, one-click center for eligibility and for counseling of all of our programs across the county. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Diane. |
| 01:49:00.12 | Diane Steinhauser | Thank you. |
| 01:49:00.16 | Unknown | Thank you, Robert. |
| 01:49:01.78 | Diane Steinhauser | I wanted to make sure that we emphasize this. 41% of Marin Transit's overall budget for all of those various services comes from the sales tax measure. So if we don't extend and that funding goes away, there will be substantial cuts, probably more than 41% in the transit services that are offered by Marin Transit. so the emphasis on maintaining and sustaining transit is a very strong one i want to talk about a couple of other things your city manager and clerk asked me to talk about this is the richmond san rafael bridge this is not in the sales tax measure but i wanted to just give you a quick update on this sometime towardsime towards the end of April, and it's coming along fast, we're going to be opening up a third lane going eastbound on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. If you drive across the bridge now, you'll see on the bottom deck lights that are being tested, red and green arrows. There was a lot of work associated with making this a reality, not least of which was work on the Richmond side. The lane will come on from Sir Francis Drake. You can kind of envision that now and enter the bridge directly. There will not be a merge from Drake onto 580. It'll exit at the Richmond Parkway over on the Richmond side. This is a pilot, but we're very hopeful. During the PM peak period, also on the weekends, we've been able to negotiate successfully to allow this to happen on the weekends as well. And I think some of the risk associated with this is the loss of the shoulder, but there is enhanced response by emergency vehicles and tow trucks for anyone that might break down on the bridge while this lane is being operated. Part and parcel to the lower deck third lane is an upper deck bike path. This is a two-way bike path that will essentially go from the Toll Plaza area all the way into Marin exiting at Main Street, San Quentin. There's quite a bit of discussion right now as to whether that path that's going to be operated by a movable barrier that will protect cyclists from vehicles should be shared as a vehicular lane. This has not been finally decided, but it has been suggested and encouraged that BATA, the Barrier Toll Authority that's funding this, and Caltrans, who owns and operates the bridge, consider this. Let's use that upper deck for both cars and for bikes. Ongoing discussions are looking into the feasibility of that. There's a picture of, you know, the lane on the lower deck, and here's a brief depiction of the upper deck bike and pedestrian facility. TAM is funding directly improvements to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge approach. If you're going northbound on 101, you can get off on Drake. You're going to go through three traffic lights before you have a pathway to the bridge, or you're going to get off at Bellum. We're making improvements to both by the end of April. We hope to have a series of improvements done on Drake. They're under construction right now. And then probably starting this summer, we're going to look at a two-lane off-ramp to Bellum with a lane that goes through the traffic light and delivers you right up onto 580. Those will enhance the benefits from the third lane on the lower deck And interestingly regional measure three contains funds to build an ultimate direct highway to highway Connector at Bellum that will deliver you from 101 to 580 without going through a traffic light. We are the only Major toll bridge in the Bay Area where you're still going through a local traffic light at slow speeds to get onto the bridge. So that resonated very well with the legislature in including funding in RM3. I've got to talk very briefly. Oops, there I go again. Maybe I should end the show right there. I need to talk very briefly about ramp metering. Caltrans is planning a ramp metering project for northbound 101 as a first phase. It will probably be under construction later in 2019, so a little over a year from now. They believe ramp metering throughout the corridor TIMES FOR THOSE THAT ARE USING HIGHWAY 101. THERE WILL BE AN HOV BYPASS TO ENCOURAGE HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLES, WHETHER THAT WILL BE TWO-PLUS CARPOOLS, VAN POOLS, TRANSIT. AND IT WILL ALSO IDEALLY REDUCE THE FLOOD OF VEHICLES THAT ENTER THE FREEWAY BY SPACING THEM APART AND IMPROVE SAFETY. The ramp metering, we've been working very... the flood of vehicles that enter the freeway by spacing them apart and improve safety. The ramp metering, we've been working very closely with Caltrans on this. The thing I want to point out, I don't know if this has a laser. Oh, cool. The thing I want to point out is right, pardon the familiar tremor here, the thing I want to point out is this Q detector. what happens with any on-ramp that has ramp metering is towards the top of the ramp where it's going to intersect the local street there is a detector loop and if traffic hits the detector loop the light down here goes green and the traffic is released so that no traffic backs up on the local street we've been in very close contact with sonoma county they have ramp metering all through Sonoma on 101. They haven't experienced any delay on their local streets because of ramp metering being in effect there is one place where they have a little bit of backup it's where highway 12 enters highway 101 it's a very very heavy uh heavy arterial uh that enters there so they do get an occasional couple of cars backed up onto Highway 12. Ramp metering is at the prerogative of Caltrans and MTC. So they have brought the project forward and will be implementing the first phase, as I reported, in about a year from now. I'd be glad to answer questions on any of these projects by the way. I do want to say that we've been able to accomplish a lot with existing sales tax measure. The completion of our big project in San Rafael, several major road projects such as Miller Avenue, our Safe Pathway program has done things like the bike path through tamal monte and the projects you see here in uh in sausalito including the lighting project going forward under highway 101 we're hopeful with the new measure with our sea level rise a tiny bit of money but it's a start uh that we're going to be able to help jurisdictions like yours look at plan for and leverage grants that will address the infrastructure damage, the potential that we have with sea level rise. We're out talking to all the cities and towns. Thank you for giving me some time this evening. We're going to go to the TAM board with your comments, any recommended changes we think the tam board should make by the end of april we're on a pretty fast schedule sometime end of april early may the tam board will hopefully authorize us to come back to all 11 cities and towns and the board of supervisors and get approval of the expenditure plan this is is kind of a first shot look at what is in there. Ideally, the TAM board will approve the plan and ask the board of supervisors to put this on the ballot in November by the end of July, and then it will show up on the November 2018 ballot. That's all I have and I've got a number of slides that are available for questions that I might pull up and it's been a pleasure. So I'm open to questions and comments. |
| 01:57:13.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I have several questions. Thank you very much for your comments. Those are the high school students. |
| 01:57:19.57 | Lily | No. |
| 01:57:22.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Um, So even if you go to the ballot measure this year, why not go to the ballot measure with an extension that starts in 2025 instead of 2019? |
| 01:57:36.85 | Diane Steinhauser | The biggest reason that was recommended by our Expenditure Plan Committee is that the existing plan does not cover the current needs. So in polling the public, in doing outreach to businesses and other community groups, we found a number of things that we can't fund under the current plan. So they recommend a reset, and the TAM board is understanding that and And again, thinking positively that that's a good thing to do. |
| 01:58:13.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | You did not, I think last year when you showed us how much Sausalito gets, you also showed us how much other cities get. And I asked you the question last year, why doesn't Sausalito get more? Because we are the gateway to Marin from the Golden Gate Bridge. So every day our traffic backs up locally onto Spring Street because so many people are taking Bridgeway through our city instead of just 101. And so I asked last year, and I'm going to ask my question again, why? Do we only get 84,000? or in the new plan will we only get 140K annually given how much of all of Marin County we serve. |
| 01:59:03.51 | Diane Steinhauser | you |
| 01:59:03.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:59:03.98 | Diane Steinhauser | I appreciate your perspective. The new plan actually has a direct amount that comes to you. You bill me in June and I send you a check. you can spend it on whatever you want, that increases from 13.25% to 22%. So you get an increase in funds under your discretion. However, as we've tried to point out, for example, our 101 connector to 580 has a benefit across numerous jurisdictions, including yours. So the 7.5% for the highway leveraging and the interchanges will provide benefit to you. Thank you. In terms of local bus transit, you heard some of what Marin Transit does currently, and the strong numbers in terms of seniors, those with disabilities that are served through the transit program. Again, that is not money that is sent to you, but it's money that serves you and their constituents. And then finally, on the school safety side, we're active in your schools, and we will continue to be active in your schools. And we've been able to apply Safe Pathway funds when your local staff have applied for them. We've been able to grant those. Thank you. |
| 02:00:28.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | ramp metering. I understand it's going to start in Southern Marin and work its way north. Why not start in Northern Marin and work its way south? Why are we starting with Sausalito and Tiburon? And where in the world are you going to put... You asked, do we want to chat with you about an interchange? We have about a 10 foot 101 North interchange from Alexander Avenue. So we definitely like to talk to you about that. But given that interchange, where in the world would you put ramp metering? |
| 02:01:07.23 | Diane Steinhauser | Ram meanery is going to be applied to all of the ramps from the Golden Gate Bridge to Sir Francis Drake. So this isn't just Sausalito. It was decided that it could provide the most benefit in concert with the Richmond Bridge third lane, and it was packaged in terms of funding by MTC and Caltrans. So we're trying to control people entering 101 to create a logical progression of traffic getting on the highway. If I could waive the report, I'd be glad to send this to your staff. You have the most benefit from ramp metering. If you get on in Sausalito, there is a 4.5 to 5-minute benefit in traveling to Sir Francis Drake. because once you get on, you're going to wait an average of 1 minute 15 seconds at any of the ramps going northbound in southern Marin. Once you get on, 101's going to flow freer. The second place where ramp metering is going to be implemented is southbound 101 through Novato, so from Atherton all the way down to San Rafael. And that's coming. And then the rest of the gaps will be filled. This was a decision based on operational needs by Caltrans, and it was packaged with the third lane on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge to make all of 101 northbound operate better. And the third lane investment by MTC was $74 million and the ramp metering investment by Caltrans is about $18 million. |
| 02:02:38.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | You said this box at the end of queue loop will ensure no metering if traffic is backed up on local streets. Right now our traffic is backed up on our local streets halfway through Sausalito every single day to Spring Street. So I mean last week I had two meetings, one in San Rafael, one in Fairfax. It took me 1.5 hours on each day leaving here at 5 o'clock to get to those meetings. So how? |
| 02:03:10.44 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:03:10.94 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:03:10.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:03:11.08 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | How will... |
| 02:03:12.28 | Unknown | I want to take you back on that, |
| 02:03:14.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | How will ramp metering reduce, assist in those issues? |
| 02:03:23.89 | Diane Steinhauser | I understand your question and I have been informed of your situation. Honestly, Mayor and members, I think the case I would make is ramp metering is not going to make it worse, and it may make it better. Along with the third lane on the Richmond Bridge and the marketing of our employer-employee and other programs, we may be able to alleviate this situation. I would offer that I am more than willing to work with city staff, with your city manager and public works director, to take a closer look at exactly what is happening between the Mill Valley off-ramp and the Sausalito on-ramp at Bridgeway. What is going on? What can we do? Is there a solution? Could the solution be built into the ramp manor and project? Is it an additional auxiliary lane? What is it? And there's always those things that we struggle to control. Is Google and Waze and MapQuest sending people off in Sausalito instead of off in Tiburon, East Blythdale? So how does that fit into the equation? Again, I'd be glad to spend some time and invest some funds with your local staff to try and get a handle on this. All I can say about ramp metering is, it won't make it worse. It could make it better. And we have a built-in feature to ramp metering that's gonna not back it up. If it's already backed up, |
| 02:04:24.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:04:25.01 | Peter Van Meter | Yeah. It's a good thing. Yes, it is. |
| 02:04:54.00 | Diane Steinhauser | That's what's right. there, but it won't It won't make the situation anymore. My vice mayor has a follow on to that. Sure. |
| 02:05:00.65 | Jill Hoffman | My brother. Just because that one item, I thank you for bringing that up, Diane. |
| 02:05:05.20 | Diane Steinhauser | Yeah. |
| 02:05:07.47 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure if we're not. because of the the Mill Valley off ramp. So it wouldn't make a difference. It's the traffic coming off that's the, it's in the way, not us getting on. But you brought up the auxiliary ramp and I think that is |
| 02:05:14.74 | Peter Van Meter | Oh, France. |
| 02:05:32.14 | Jill Hoffman | A GREAT OPPORTUNITY. AND THAT WAS SOMETHING IF YOU CAN EXPLORE THAT WITH STAFF, THAT SEEMS TO BE A VERY VIABLE OPTION, BECAUSE WE CAN SPEED UP QUICKER TO GET ON PRIOR TO HITTING THAT FIRST LINE OF TRAFFIC GOING OFF TO TAM VALLEY. So I'm glad you buy that because we kind of talked about that a staff of love. You know, I did it seems to be missing a little a little quicker auxiliary lane. |
| 02:05:58.24 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Those are all my questions, who wants to go next? you |
| 02:06:01.03 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 02:06:01.08 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I have a couple. |
| 02:06:01.97 | Ray Withy | Jill questions. Thank you. Thank you. Just to follow up on one of the things that you brought up is the Alexander Avenue on-ramp. I have an issue with the safety of that as well with a metering line because it's an uphill merge. And it's like 10 feet. And so it's hard enough to safely get off that ramp and into the oncoming traffic. It's hard enough. But if you're doing it from a dead stop and trying to get on, I have a question about the safety of that. Have you guys looked at that or looked at the configuration? |
| 02:06:37.04 | Diane Steinhauser | the configuration? Let me go back with the team and see if that's been looked at. I'd be glad to report back to you on that. That's a very good point. Yeah, it's not hard enough. Anyway. |
| 02:06:40.35 | Ray Withy | Thank you. Yeah. Okay. |
| 02:06:40.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 02:06:44.24 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 02:06:44.26 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, it's not hard enough. Anyway. Sorry, just to tag onto that. It's the same... |
| 02:06:46.49 | Ray Withy | . |
| 02:06:48.88 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm not, I don't have any Issue in general with metering lights, but it's also the same with the Spencer Southbound on ramp. It's exceedingly short very dangerous You already have to start from a stop because there's a pedestrian crosswalk for the bus Golden Gate Transit stop there. So it's it's very short and then also on Spencer northbound we have Monty Mar there's a street that comes in right there exactly where you'd have a metering light. It's just an interesting thing. I mean, talking to Caltrans about how they see metering lights at both the Alexander and the Spencer exit, I think would be interesting. generally, in favor if it's going to increase the flow of traffic. I don't have a a predisposition but Those particular on and off ramps do not seem to have any standard, they're not your standard suburban on or off ramps. |
| 02:07:47.54 | Ray Withy | Sorry. No, that's fine. And my second question was, we had three very nice high school students from Terrellinda come at the beginning of our meeting and make comments about electric vehicle programs. And I didn't, was there anything in your, about electric vehicles? |
| 02:08:02.71 | Diane Steinhauser | about electric vehicles. No, I'd be glad to respond to it, though. |
| 02:08:05.26 | Ray Withy | Yeah, is there any? Is there any thought that you're going to defund those? I mean, I see that there are electric vehicle programs that TAM has supported in the past. |
| 02:08:12.70 | Diane Steinhauser | Okay, so let me just mention two things. Yes, we fund electric vehicle infrastructure through another program. It's our $10 vehicle registration fee passed by voters in 2010. We call it the two-latte fee. So when you pay your vehicle registration, you'll see $10 for transportation. Right now, a portion of those funds, this year the budget is $240,000, and we'll be spending the whole $240,000. A portion of those funds go to two things. This is our quick depiction of governance in the electric vehicle world. Residential multifamily, dwellings, commercial, public infrastructure, vehicle choice, and transit and public fleets. We spend that money in two areas. We spend it in public infrastructure, and we spend it in transit and public fleets. So if your fleet manager is going to switch over, you're going to purchase new fleet vehicles, we have a grant program that will pay you funds for switching to electric. And we'll probably raise that grant eligibility beyond the current $5,000 per vehicle. Back in 2011, we did an electric vehicle siting plan. We had three goals. One was to do education and outreach on electric vehicles, which we do every year. The second was to develop policies and principles around electric vehicles, which is we're a CMA, so we're in public infrastructure and transit in public fleets. The third was let's try and put in as many publicly available charging points as we can. Our goal in the five years from when this plan was adopted was to put in 176 charging points that were available to the public. I'm pleased to report that by, I'd say next BEING IN THE 75 TO 100 MILES TARGET, WE HAVE VEHICLES THAT ARE PRODUCING A LOT HIGHER RANGE NOW. AND WE HAVE PROMISES OF BATTERY LIFE THAT WILL ALLOW VEHICLES TO GET TO 400 MILES PER CHARGE. THE CHALLENGE FOR for the TAM board is, do you want to go into residential multifamily charging? Do you want to go into business parking lots? One place we probably can go is parking lots malls, which are kind of private lots that are generally available to the public. Do we want to expand our program? We have a lot of rollover, carryover funds in that vehicle registration fee. We'd like to use those funds to enhance our electric vehicle program. Just the talking that's occurring on this is causing an uptick of interest from our local public works and schools. We're putting 32 chargers into San Rafael schools over the next year or two. So we're somewhat meeting our targets. In Marin, we didn't fund all of these. We like to use the funds to match grants. Electric vehicle chargers are not always easy and that they have to be ada accessible so you gotta have a parking place and you might have to have a second parking place that is available for a ev charger to come in but we're looking to grow the program there is definitely more we could do we're not raising the tax. We're working through a 24 member expenditure plan committee. Do we take funds from one of these categories and dedicate funds to electric vehicle chargers? The TAM board needs to have that discussion. So the TAM board's going to debate that at the end of April into May as to whether you want to take some funds. Often what's recommended is let's reduce funds for local streets and roads, and let's put more money into electric vehicles. You know, that's going to come up. I don't know where the TAM board's going to land exactly on that. |
| 02:12:32.51 | Unknown | Go ahead. |
| 02:12:34.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | TODAY. No, it's good. |
| 02:12:36.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So in terms of increasing the tax, it seemed from some of the materials that you provided that the primary reason that you're not planning on doing that is polling. Is that correct? It seems like there's unlimited need and a lot of projects that would really benefit from additional sales tax revenue. |
| 02:12:48.78 | Diane Steinhauser | Well, we will. |
| 02:12:58.24 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Um. |
| 02:12:58.75 | Diane Steinhauser | You're the first city council member that's asked us why we're not increasing the tax, so thank you. |
| 02:13:03.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Because she |
| 02:13:04.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm sorry. She wasn't here last year when you were, when you were. |
| 02:13:07.88 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | WHEN YOU KICK IT. Well, and I read the materials. I saw it sounded like it was essentially a risk from your polling numbers, but I just wanted to clarify. |
| 02:13:11.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So it's not. |
| 02:13:11.88 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:13:18.27 | Diane Steinhauser | What you don't see here, and I'll be glad to share that with you as well, is the poll that was taken in 2017. We polled for increasing the tax last May, a quarter cent, and we had a variety of things included. that we were looking at, more school bus service, more local street and road funds, more sea level rise flooding mitigation money. We barely got two-thirds, and then with oppositional statements, we were down in the low 60s. That's a hard place to start. It was that and the strong pushback from the tax watchdogs that the board decided, okay, EPAC, you can consider increasing the tax, but you must come up with a plan for renewal. Can we do a lot more with the money we have? Can we live within our means? Can we reset the plan? And that's what the Expenditure Plan Committee came up with, was a recommendation to reset the plan. You know, there is a lot of need still. What can we consider in the future? Renewal is a minimum, in my professional opinion, that we need to do. Do we need to grow it? So we may discover that in the next few years, that we need to look at an increase in the tax. |
| 02:14:39.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | OK, great. And then I actually I don't know if this is appropriate time, but I would really like to hear from our director of public works or city manager about what priorities they have been looking at for funds that come to Sausalito or projects that we might be able to apply for for the discretionary pools. We certainly have huge challenges at both ends of town. Alexander, the bridgeway. One on one interchange. |
| 02:15:12.42 | Jonathon Goldman | Just very briefly, and I was thinking actually of several good examples. In my previous presentation with respect to the Ferry District, I complimented their ability to bring grant funds, transportation funds into their organization. And in the context of our pass-through agreement help us deliver projects with with grant funds Diane and Tam are very similar you know gifted and and that really is an incredibly important benefit and part of how our relationship with TAM has been very effective. The Safe Pathways to School projects that were mentioned are those that we've identified as priorities, places where we have students and sometimes parents and their students either walking or bicycling to and from schools. Watery Street, for example, which wasn't paved when I started work here, We'll be right back. students either walking or bicycling to and from schools. Watery Street, for example, which wasn't paved when I started work here, was in part paved with Safe Pathways funds. The Gate 6 intersection project, which I somewhat foolishly thought could be delivered with local funds, with TAM funds, and then was advised by Caltrans that because the design was paid for with federal funds, that it was technically a federal project. Diane and TAM have been very effective at helping us increase the funding to deliver that project. There are a number of projects that I'm aware of of now and you mentioned one in the context of the South Gateway so to the extent that that there are people who are transiting Sausalito and surface streets instead of 101 there are a number of segments that are substandard for for those purposes the funding to develop plans for that project came through an OBEG grant process that Tam actually administered that project for us. We have some structural issues with a couple of segments on Bridgeway that the cost to repair will significantly, I mean, we can't afford, even with SB1 and all the resources available to the city, we won't be able to afford to make those improvements. So it's that kind of project that we need to do some of the design development work and then get in the queue and work with Diane and TAM staff to identify appropriate grant funding mechanisms and appropriate mixes of matches and things like that to be able to deliver those projects. One other that I'll mention, and you may or may not have seen this, |
| 02:17:15.91 | Peter Van Meter | Uh, |
| 02:18:14.33 | Jonathon Goldman | There is a systemic safety analysis reporting project that's underway in the county. It's grant funded, I believe, and Craig Tackaberry at Marin County Department of Public Works really took the lead in in encouraging us to support that grant application, and we had our first meeting with the consultant, or I had my first meeting with the consultant on that project. It's basically a data analysis. Look at the database of conflicts between motor vehicle and motor vehicle, motor vehicle and pedestrian, pedestrian and bicycle, motor vehicle and bicycle, and try and identify places where there are disproportionately higher incidents of conflict, and then use that information to help us prioritize not only our expenditures, but one of the benefits of going through that process with those data is that it then makes us eligible for federal funds to try to address some of those issues. So traffic signals and the traffic signal controllers in Sausalito are a really good candidate for that kind of funding. So it comes with the territory. If TAM has no funding for congestion management, we lose the benefit of that regional resource at dealing with lots of needs and the opportunity to get grant funding to make improvements. |
| 02:19:53.69 | Unknown | Great. Thank you. |
| 02:19:57.50 | Jill Hoffman | I'm back to Diane. Sorry, Diane. |
| 02:19:59.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:20:00.83 | Jill Hoffman | I have a feeling when you go home at night, you probably say, everybody thinks they're a traffic engineer. So indulge me on this one because it's my opportunity to throw an opinion out there. But I always thought the two lights on Sir Francis Drake going into the Larkspur landing would be ideal for a roundabout. Has that ever been considered? I've never even seen them really in Marin or on your... your areas but has roundabout because it's consistent moving slow traffic with very little on especially coming from the mark very low traffic |
| 02:20:31.03 | Diane Steinhauser | You know, there was a roundabout that was built at the bottom of Peter Bear Drive and Civic Center Drive right there near Veterans Memorial at the just north side of Civic Center. So go check it out. Yeah, I've seen that one yet. Yeah, that's the one that was built. You're right. Interestingly, the hub out in San Anselmo with all the major roads, Drake, 4th Street coming in, is being considered as a potential roundabout location. We looked at the off ramp back when we were developing the Green Bray project, the off ramp to industrial by Cost Plus, that little dog legged off ramp that gets off where you go to Cost Plus Plaza, go to Trader Joe. We looked at that as a potential for roundabout and did a design there. We didn't look at Drake. Part of the challenge with roundabouts is the space needed to make it viable. But part of the benefit, which is interesting, is it's being looked at a lot more advantageously with respect to the aging of our population and their driving and the difficulty for people aging to turn left across traffic and the risks and the fact that a roundabout eliminates that. You're never having to cross opposing traffic. So the states come a long way in supporting roundabouts for that reason, in that they've been shown to increase safety. They can be considered, as I mentioned, there are some constraints and opportunities associated with them. |
| 02:20:43.01 | Charles Melton | Yeah, I've seen that one yet. |
| 02:20:43.74 | Unknown | you |
| 02:20:43.77 | Peter Van Meter | Yeah. You're right. Thank you. |
| 02:21:11.23 | Peter Van Meter | that gets a |
| 02:22:13.99 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | If there are no further questions, I'll open it up for public comment. |
| 02:22:24.45 | Laurie Mott | Thank you. Good evening. I'm Laurie Mott. I'm the board chair of Cool the Earth, an organization here in Marin dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint. I want to say tonight that the most important thing that we can do to reduce climate change is to drive electric. Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gases in the county and here in Sausalito. So converting to electric would really reduce our climate impacts, if you will. We're talking about a measure that will be the Measure A reauthorization that will have a 30-year shelf life. A lot has changed with electric vehicles in 30 years. In 2004, when Measure A was enacted, there were no EVs being produced. Right now, there are more than 50 different models available. Prices are dropping rapidly. They're almost equal to what gas cars are with some of the incentives you can get tam measure a is a 30-year reauthorization without considering electric vehicles in that measure we are not getting our our progress that we need on climate change there is money in measure b but it's not enough money and as diane, there is a carryover because TAM hasn't been spending what they had minimally allocated for EVs. Hopefully that carryover will get redirected towards EVs. You're in Sausalito. Consider what sea level rise will be in 30 years. You're already having enormous storm surges. They're predicting in 30 years that the sea level will be two feet higher than it is now and storm surge five feet higher. That park that you talked about earlier, your little precious triangle by the ferry, that could be completely inundated. THE FAMILY. Thank you. I want to talk a little bit about the expenditure plan, which is what you're really being asked to consider tonight that's been presented. There were two important things that happened, one in the midst of that expenditure review process and one immediately after. The thing that happened in the middle of the process was the county supervisors passed a resolution to draw down Marin's greenhouse gases to below 1990 levels. It was a very significant, groundbreaking activity, commitment to preventing climate change. That happened in the middle of the EPAC process. It didn't, I think, translate into that group that was considering it. The thing that happened in January was Governor Brown established a goal of 5 million EVs on the ground, on the road in California by 2030. We're not going to get there unless we have this public infrastructure, unless we have the education and outreach, unless we really change our thinking about EVs and the support that we need for them. I would suggest that while TAM is going to review the expenditure plan in 10 years, That's too long to wait for EVs to be appropriately considered. So I just urge you to consider encouraging TAM to review the expenditure plan and include dedicated money for EVs. |
| 02:25:35.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Can I ask you a question before you sit down? Did you hear Ms. Steinhauser tonight let us know that essentially we have a choice between monies for improving local roads and highways and MONEY FOR ADDITIONAL VEHICLE VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS. |
| 02:25:56.60 | Laurie Mott | I think some of that is a false choice. I think that the TAM board can evaluate how monies are budgeted and how they've been spent and see if there are ways that some money can be redirected from other areas. I am not advocating that money be taken away from local roads, but I would say that if you have money to rebuild roads due to sea level rise, maybe it would be better to direct money into preventing sea level rise than rebuilding roads that are being destroyed by sea level rise. |
| 02:26:29.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. But EVs have no less impact on our roads than gas vehicles. |
| 02:26:36.29 | Laurie Mott | I guess on the surface of the road, but in terms of contributing to climate change, EVs do not contribute to climate change. |
| 02:26:44.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Absolutely, I mean, I hugely support EVs, but We still have to be able to get from point A to point B regardless if we get there through a gas vehicle or an electric vehicle. |
| 02:26:56.38 | Laurie Mott | Absolutely, but I'm just saying that if we had money, direct money from... to prevent sea level rise before it occurs or to at least slow it would be a perhaps more effective and efficient way to proceed. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:27:14.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:27:14.51 | Laurie Mott | Thank you. |
| 02:27:14.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other public comment? All right, I'm going to close it to public comment, bring it back up here. We're being asked to weigh in on the possibility of seeking at this November ballot an extension of the Measure A. Thank you. |
| 02:27:38.97 | Diane Steinhauser | to the public. |
| 02:27:39.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF |
| 02:27:40.10 | Diane Steinhauser | That's correct, and this is a discussion. We'll be back to ask for formal approval, hopefully in May, June, July, early July time frame. |
| 02:27:49.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So any discussion? |
| 02:27:52.70 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I have a couple comments, but I'd also really be interested in a council member with these thoughts on this process and on the priority setting process and how you know how you feel that the allocation has come down and whether you know on this EV question. I mean, you've been part of this process for quite a long time, if you don't mind. |
| 02:28:24.83 | Ray Withy | Yeah, I'd be happy to make a few comments. And maybe I'll throw in a few questions for Diane to get me off the hook. So. So I have been on the TAM board since January of last year. It has taken the year to understand what's going on. I'm going to be quite honest. I mean, this is reasonably complicated stuff. or at least that's how it first went until you start peeling the onion away and layers of the onion you understand okay it's not that it's not that complicated the complicated bit is that you don't know where all the other grant money is and this is where diane is like a master of saying okay we've got this amount of money um With that, I think we can attract money from this, from that, from that. And you end up building up a coalition, if you like, of money to do a project. You think we don't have enough money to finish Dunphy Park? You want to see all these projects. There's not enough money to finish any of them. You end up having to plan them, do the first phase, you try and move the project along the next bit. Then you're hustling other grants to bring in to eventually accumulate all the money. So it's an interesting process. Um, I think... You've got to also remember that Was measure it? $24 million a year, Diane? |
| 02:30:04.82 | Diane Steinhauser | About $25 million right now. |
| 02:30:05.98 | Ray Withy | Okay, 25 million a year, okay. Our general fund budget is $15. Okay. TAM really doesn't have a lot of money to play with. It's distributing $25 million a year among a whole bunch of projects, none of which is funded adequately. I mean, that's the reality. None of it is funded adequately. So I think you've got to go back to basic principles. I think the TAM initiated a good process. Last year, I THINK THAT WENT A BIT WEIRD, BECAUSE I THINK the cart got... put before the horse a little bit and we were trying to raise a tax ceiling before Anybody had even had a discussion about what the money was going to be used for. It was like it didn't work. And so this time, because of, in part, the numbers, it was very clear there was no appetite for sales tax rise. But it's very clear that the extension needs to occur earlier rather than later. I mean, Tam at the last meeting was struggling really, really hard because it's going to have to cut some of the crossing guard funding. And so when it comes down to it, that 24 million, when you start dividing up, you try and do a big project here, you try and do another big project there, in the end, you don't even have enough money to pay for crossing guards to protect our kids to cross the streets. which was promised in the original Measure A. And in fact, one of the things that has been discussed was shouldn't be restructuring it to actually put more money into, say, crossing guards. Sea level rise, we're putting, what, 1% in the sea level rise? That's $250,000. Okay, what can any, what can Brink County do with $250,000 on sea level rise? Zero. All it, actually that's not true. It can't do anything substantial to build anything. What it can do is throw some money in with another pool to do some planning. So that the next project, we've got an extra sea level rise component built into the project because you've got the money. 250,000 isn't going anywhere. I mean, so. When it comes to electric vehicles, You've got to remember, so I'm going to play my hand a little bit, I mean, you've got to remember that Um, TAM's core mission is the Congestion Management Agency for Marin County. OKAY? AND THAT MEANS IMPROVING THE INFRASTRUCTURE, where you can so that traffic moves, and also putting in programs and other services to get cars off the road. so that you can actually reduce congestion that way. I personally do not think that TAM should be actually investing extra money in electric vehicles. That's my own opinion. Just let me give you that perspective. Well, first of all, as the mayor pointed out, YOU KNOW, I'M GOING TO BE And whether you're in an electric vehicle or a gasoline-driven vehicle, you're still driving over the same pothole. And so if you're moving money into electric vehicles and not repairing potholes, all you're doing is creating a vehicle, and yes, importantly, you're reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and that needs to be overall into the basic thinking of TAM in every single agency. But to devote serious money when there's possibly other sources I think it doesn't make sense to me, but we'll see how the TAM board ends up viewing this. Let me give you a perspective on electric vehicles. Marine Clean Energy is within two years time, once it's finished building its reserves, will be throwing off almost $50 million of free cash flow Every year. That's twice Thames budget. Okay? And part of what the Marine Clean Energy Board has got to be decided in over the next 10 years, is where, next two years, is where does it start investing in money? Because what it promised the voters back when, you know, community choice aggregation was proposed and then Marine Clean Energy and all the others that have followed suit are now part of it, was that not only would it provide clean energy and build towards providing clean energy and all the others that have followed suit are now part of it, was that not only would it provide clean energy and build towards providing clean energy, it would also start investing excess monies because it's not an investor-owned utility. It doesn't have to pay a dividend to its investors. it gets to keep it. Once it's built its reserves, it's going to invest it. Invest it into production, local production of energy, investment into electric charging, investment into electrical with energy and efficiency programs for which it already has. And so It's an agency like that. that should be worrying about electric charging stations, delivering clean power to them, not siphoning off congestion management money and road money to build electric vehicle stations. So I don't think that's You know, that's my personal view on that particular allocation. So, and, you know, they have a citizens advisory group. I think they've done a good job. They sort of replicated what they did before, and so I think there was a little bit, looking from the outside, there was a little bit of reluctance to change things too much. I would like to have seen a bit more money put into the crossing guard program. We don't have any crossing guards in Sausalito. Maybe we don't need them. I don't know. But there are crossings all over the county in which, you know, We've been supporting programs so that kids can bicycle and walk to school, and we can't provide the safety for them to do so. It doesn't make sense. So. Does that sort of answer your question about what I think of what's going on? |
| 02:36:46.07 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. I'd kind of like to ask my roundabout question. |
| 02:36:48.15 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 02:36:48.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:36:48.23 | Ray Withy | Bye. |
| 02:36:48.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 02:36:48.32 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:36:48.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:36:48.47 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 02:36:49.45 | Ray Withy | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:36:49.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That's great. My roundabout question. I wanted Ray's perspective and I got an ample description of his perspective. So thank you. All right. So I'm going to let Susan finish. |
| 02:36:52.81 | Unknown | That was a comment. |
| 02:37:03.32 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, so I'm gonna let Susan finish her comments and then others can comment also. |
| 02:37:08.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, so thank you so much for being here tonight and for all the work that you're doing. And I also just want to thank you for the Safe Routes for School work that you've done in our community. We've really seen a huge benefit in a lot of kids in town walking and riding. And to answer your question, yes, we do a crossing guard at Nevada and Bridgeway. It would be exceedingly helpful. That's a very dangerous intersection. people go very fast through Sausalito you know through your other AND THE RECORDING TO THE RECORDING TO THE RECORDING GUARD AT NEVADA AND BRIDGEWAY WOULD BE EXCEEDINGLY HELPFUL. THAT'S A VERY DANGEROUS INTERSECTION. PEOPLE GO VERY FAST THROUGH SAUSALIDO, USING IT AS A COMMUTE ROUTE IN THE MORNING, AND I THINK THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS INTERSECTIONS. THERE IS A STOPLIGHT THERE, BUT IF YOU'RE RIDING YOUR BIKE, YOU'RE RIDING YOUR BIKE ON THE NORTHBOUND. side of the street and you have to cross at that intersection and it's pretty dangerous. You know, that we might also get some volunteers. I'm not sure. But, you know, I think that the reauthorizing the tax, the sales tax, is an excellent idea. I mean, I'm fully supportive. Um, I understand why that needs to be done now. you know, at the same time, I think we need to be really vigilant with protecting the SB1 funds from some recent activity there, promote regional measure three, you know, and continue to work on all fronts. So there's a lot going on in the transportation world this June and in the fall, and I think we've got to be coordinated and message all of that accordingly. You know, I want to echo Mayor Cox's comments that Sausalito is a really important gateway to Marin. It's also a very important commute corridor, and we have a lot of excess traffic coming through town that is not local when 101 gets jammed up. So to the extent that staff and our city manager and director of public works can help leverage funds to help those secondary congestion impacts that we experience on our local streets i think that is a really high priority for me um You know, I think this whole idea of the electric vehicle issue is very important. You know, to me, it's not just the EVs. It's the AVs. It's the TNCs. It's this whole new, there are so many new transportation choices coming down the road right now. It's not a pun. It wasn't in judgmental.GED AT ALL. SHE LOOKS TO JOE. THE PUN MASTER. I DON'T KNOW IF THIS TAX MEASURE IS WHERE THAT FUNDING AND THAT THINKING NEEDS TO COME, BUT THAT THINKING NEEDS TO HAPPEN RIGHT NOW. IT NEEDS TO HAVE BEEN HAPPENING AND TO BE HAPPENING |
| 02:39:49.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Hugs to Joe. |
| 02:40:08.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | in the immediate future so that marin does not get left behind and that we can BEST THING WE CAN DO FOR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IS TO NOT BE DRIVING. IS TO BE TAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OR biking or walking when possible. So I definitely really appreciate the comments made on EVs. I think we definitely need to continue to prioritize those. And again, I just don't know enough at this point in time about whether this sales tax measure is where the money should come from or not. But I hope it sounds like there's good public advocates pushing on the TAM board to look into that. So anyway, thank you very much for being here. Thank you. |
| 02:41:35.82 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 02:41:39.48 | Ray Withy | Thanks for coming. That was a great presentation as always, Diane. It's great when you come and give your presentations. I don't have any further comments than that. listen to what um you know the discussion further and uh when you come back so thanks thanks for all your hard work by the way too appreciate it |
| 02:41:57.79 | Unknown | Yeah, I'll say we're off to a good start with this and we'll look forward to coming back. I don't want us, as a council, to sound like NIMBYs with this on the signals. I really think, and I appreciate you saying you were checking further on Alexander. I think that's a really valid concern. Because we now must get the Paul Dad intersection there. So thank you for that. It sounds like it's pretty much a foregone decision, but I think it's a little further with the idea. |
| 02:42:28.23 | Diane Steinhauser | We'd be glad to report back on that. Awesome. |
| 02:42:29.82 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:42:29.83 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure. |
| 02:42:29.90 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:42:33.43 | Jill Hoffman | Want me to repeat all that? Bye. |
| 02:42:35.08 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 02:42:35.32 | Diane Steinhauser | No, I'm good. |
| 02:42:35.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I got it. My mic. |
| 02:42:36.30 | Jill Hoffman | My mic. . |
| 02:42:38.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . I will reiterate our thanks to you for a thorough presentation. I do want to formally say you asked us if we want to add one of our interchanges. Do we want improvement to any of our interchanges? And for sure, yes, our northbound 101 interchange from Alexander Avenue is in sore need of improvement. It is dangerous right now. I know Mike McGuire drove that a year ago and was surprised at how challenging that is. I'm always grateful for a high horsepower car when I use that on-ramp because it's scary. So definitely I would love to have you add that to your list for consideration. Okay, and that's it. Thank you so much. Thank you. And we will look forward to seeing you when you come back. Thank you. |
| 02:43:33.69 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. Thank you for your time. |
| 02:43:40.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, we are moving on to one of our favorite topics this evening, item 6D, the leaf blower regulation. And we have an amazing public turnout for this item. |
| 02:43:57.38 | Diane Steinhauser | Electrically felt flowers. |
| 02:43:59.91 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Yes, we're going to take a five minute break. |
| 02:44:11.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, we are back on and we will move to business item 6D, leaf blower regulation. And I would like to point out that for one of the first times since I've become a council member, our chambers is empty. |
| 02:44:26.81 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:44:28.63 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . |
| 02:44:30.35 | Lily | Lucky me. All right, so Lily. Good evening, council members. The item tonight is a discussion of leaf blowers in Sausalito. Over the years, the city council and staff have received occasional comments from the public calling for the ban or regulation of leaf blower use in Sausalito. Other than the applicable provisions of the Sausalito Municipal Code with regards to noise regulations, leaf blower use is not regulated. From 2010 to 2013, the Sustainability Commission prepared draft regulations banning gas and electric leaf blowers. In January of this year, the City Council agreed to place this item for discussion on a future council meeting, acknowledging that only minimal staff time would be needed if draft regulations that were prepared by the sustainability commission and or other Marin County jurisdictions were used in crafting the regulations. In February of this year, the Sustainability Commission discussed the topic again and unanimously voted that regulating leaf blowers was not a priority at this time for the Sustainability Commission. But the Commission would not object to others prioritizing it if the Council would like to move forward with regulations. |
| 02:45:52.65 | Lily | The table on this slide and also in your staff report with a little more detail shows the regulatory approaches other jurisdictions in Marin County have taken regarding the regulation of leaf blowers. Four municipalities, Belvedere, Larkspur, Mill Valley, and Tiburon have bans on gas powered leaf blowers. And some restrict their use to certain areas of their towns only. Five municipalities have some restrictions on the hours and duration of use. Novato and Sausalito do not have any specific regulations on leaf blower use. |
| 02:46:34.27 | Lily | Leaf blowers would be subject to Sausalito's noise regulations, which provides restrictions on the decibel levels in various neighborhoods and further restricts the time that certain devices and equipment are allowed to be operated. These hours are limited to weekdays from 8 AM to 6 PM and Saturdays from 9 AM to 5 PM. Additionally, homeowners and other legal residents who are operating on their own properties may use those devices on Sundays and holidays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sorry. |
| 02:47:14.82 | Lily | Staff invites the council to consider the following options as they relate to the use of leaf blowers. First, the city could continue to permit and regulate leaf blowers in Sausalito within the currently established limits of the city's noise ordinance. Second, the council could consider amending the municipal code to further restrict the hours, days, or duration that leaf blower use is permitted in Sausalito. Or third, the council could consider a ban on the use of leaf blowers. The council could opt to prohibit both electric and gas powered leaf blowers or only gas powered leaf blowers at all times. Additional issues for the council to consider could be, first the regulation of other motorized equipment. If the city pursues regulation of leaf blowers, the council could consider. If the city should regulate similarly powered gardening equipment like hedge trimmers, chainsaws, and lawn mowers. Second, the economic impact of a leaf blower ban to gardeners and contractors. Gardeners and landscape contractors cite the superiority of gas leaf blowers as gardening tools compared to electric leaf blowers, rakes, and then some other alternatives. The additional time it may use to use those additional or alternative methods may have economic impacts to those businesses as a result of lost productivity, and potentially that might increase the cost to the ultimate consumer, the Salsilater residents. Additionally, using alternative methods such as electric leaf blowers may increase the period of time that the noise occurs in. Lastly, due to the financial burden it would take for the city to replace all existing gas leaf blowers for maintenance staff to use when landscaping and doing other maintenance work, staff would recommend that the council consider exempting the city from any prohibition on leaf blowers. |
| 02:49:20.72 | Lily | With that, staff recommends the council discuss this evening the use of leaf blowers in Sausalito and provide policy direction to staff. That concludes my staff report and we're here for any questions. Thank you. Any questions? |
| 02:49:33.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:49:33.44 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 02:49:33.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 02:49:33.61 | Lily | Yeah. |
| 02:49:33.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:49:34.05 | Lily | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:49:34.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I have a question. Yeah. So, I mean, my main issue here, and I don't know if you were able to talk to any other jurisdictions, but how enforceable are these regulations and who in our city staff would be responsible for enforcing it? I mean, we have a noise ordinance now that would seem to at least prohibit the use of leaf blowers outside the hours of the noise ordinance. So anyway, if you could just speak to that, that would be helpful. |
| 02:49:35.86 | Lily | you |
| 02:49:35.93 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:49:36.15 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 02:50:06.77 | Lily | So. |
| 02:50:11.36 | Lily | So we operate on a complaint basis mainly. So if there was a complaint that was received, most likely right now with noise complaints, most likely the police department responds to those noise complaints, especially if they're after city business hours. And they have a protocol to go out and test the noise. |
| 02:50:31.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THAT. Do you know how many complaints we've gotten? |
| 02:50:33.72 | Lily | Thank you. I did actually do a brief inquiry. They weren't able, because of the way that the complaints come in, they aren't able to tease out that information. |
| 02:50:42.36 | Unknown | TEASING. and we'll see you next time. |
| 02:50:47.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Do you know if these jurisdictions that have these ordinances are able to enforce them? |
| 02:50:55.69 | Lily | They also operate on a complaint basis and the police are called, that's my understanding. |
| 02:51:03.02 | Jill Hoffman | And considering the difference between gas and electric, do, and I don't know, I wish I would have checked this out before, do gas blowers also vacuum? I know electric ones vacuum. Gas ones don't, I don't believe. Do you know? ANY |
| 02:51:17.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I don't know. |
| 02:51:18.07 | Jill Hoffman | Because I do believe there's an advantage to the vacuum side, especially on the small units. I know I've had a property owner chime in to me that they vacuum with a leaf blower. I'm not sure if the gas ones do, so that would be a consideration. |
| 02:51:34.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any other questions of staff? Lily, thank you very much for putting these materials together. As you mentioned, a number of residents, since I've become a council member and before, have inquired about this, so I'm really pleased that the city council is undertaking a decision about whether it wants to adopt any policy at all concerning leaf blowers. So and with that alternate I'll open it up for comment. |
| 02:52:06.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | If there's no comment, is there a motion? No. And if there's no motion, then there's no action. |
| 02:52:08.93 | Ray Withy | And I think that's a good thing. I'll comment. |
| 02:52:12.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, thanks, Greg. |
| 02:52:13.13 | Ray Withy | That's great. |
| 02:52:18.65 | Ray Withy | this was the issue tonight I thought I was going to get all worked up about, you know? |
| 02:52:24.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Go for it. |
| 02:52:25.94 | Ray Withy | Okay. perspective. When I first joined the City Council, one of the first liaison things I had was with the Sustainability Commission. And so I was the liaison to the Sustainability Commission during 2013 and 2014. And it was at that time that we had a couple of members of the Sustainability Commission where we're pushing and pushing |
| 02:52:38.97 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:52:39.07 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:52:54.22 | Ray Withy | banning leaf blowers, and we had the rest of the Sustainability Commission saying, no, this doesn't make sense. Why are we prioritizing this? And they didn't. And our current Sustainability Commission, six years later, there's probably one of our really high powered commissions. I mean, we got some really good people on there. It's not a priority for them either. Okay. So there's part of me thinking, why are we even talking about this? But fair enough. Council needs to make a decision. I respect that. I think this is a really, really bad idea. I think the whole ordinance is misguided. The tools, the technology is not there right now to have gas to have electric leaf blowers up to the standard of gas operated ones. means I can guarantee you Any project is going to take longer with an electric leaf blower. And I'm a scientist. I thought, OK, put some action where your mouth is and actually do something. So I will admit, we have somebody come around to our house and blow leaves, yes, with a gas leaf blower every week or every other week, whatever it is. It's impossible to do it otherwise. It is absolutely impossible to do our house otherwise. Okay. And so I, I said, okay, we're going to do a real experiment. I'm going to put for 10, 15 minutes, I'm going to put your gas thing on my back and I'm going to do a 10 minute project. And then I want you to do a 10 minute project and then we'll do the same thing with the electric. And it took almost twice as long with the electric. And I'm cheating to try and make it work. It took. finding the cords, unplugging them, moving around. And also, leaf blowers are used in probably one of the most important ways that you're used in residences. For some people, it's the only way to blow leaves out their gutters. Tonight we passed on the consent calendar, something important around fire safety, the prevention of fire in our community. And at the same time, we're willing to discuss taking the tools away for people to actually reduce the fire load on their properties. This makes unbelievably no sense to me. Our policies are completely discordant. It makes no sense. We have a lot of people living in the hillside, right? who are on fixed incomes, who literally have to, at the end of the month, figure out how they're gonna pay every bill. And yes. That may include gardening services. That will be the first bill to go. That will be the first service to be, because when you have electric leaf blowers, you are going to be increasing the cost to the homeowner of hiring somebody to do the work. And guess what? That means people aren't going to do the work. You're going to have neighbors who can afford a gardener who's going to end up piling up big leaf maples, you know, oak leaves, whatever. I've got 20-odd trees around my house. Do you know what it takes to actually clean that up to reduce the fire danger? This is, I think, irresponsible. |
| 02:56:32.60 | Unknown | you |
| 02:56:32.74 | Ray Withy | Thank you. to be honest. Okay, so raised on the fence. |
| 02:56:36.94 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:56:38.14 | Ray Withy | Okay, now, I have spoken to about half of representatives from each of these jurisdictions, city council members, casually, you know, over a glass of wine at MCCMC. They're like, Ray, why are you interested in leaf blowers, right? I'd go around talking to them all about leaf blowers, okay, including some who have passed bans, okay? I would say the kindest reaction I got was raised eyebrows and going, oh God, I know we did that. And then I hear stories about people not having cords, people not being able to do it. |
| 02:56:38.73 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:57:14.79 | Ray Withy | We're going to, you can imagine in Sausalito, we're going to exempt city staff from being able to use leaf blowers where our residents can. Forget that. And do you think this city council should be actually paying $100,000 for a maintenance worker? You saw it in the budget earlier, we've done the second item, right? That we did, first item we discussed today, $100,000 for a maintenance worker, okay? It's gonna, you're gonna need to double your maintenance staff for our parks. if you ban leaf blowers. Where's that money coming from? So I just think it's a bad idea. Down the road, the technology will improve, both in terms of battery powered, and in terms of the amount of watts you can get out of a battery powered motor, whereby you can actually probably have the same efficiency. But right now, there are activists who are really, really bothered, and I understand this, they're really, really bothered by their neighbor The fellow across the street who has this leaf blower show up at 6, 7 in the morning on a Saturday. Yeah, that's wrong. We should perhaps restrict some hours. I could see going that way, perhaps. But to actually ban this? Chainsaws. Let me finish with chainsaws. Move over to electric chainsaws. Ban gas-powered chainsaws. I think the courts would intervene to stop that. There is no way that Bartlett or Marin County Arborists or any of the tree trimmers are climbing 50 feet in the air in a tree with an electric-powered, underpowered saw to cut off an 18-inch limb that itself, with a gas-powered saw, can take two hours' worth of work. It would take six hours worth of work to cut that limb with any electric powered salt. I mean it's just ridiculous. Okay, and if the city did that, the next limb to fall on a house, who do you think's gonna get sued? THE CITY. This is not the thing to do at this time. in my view. |
| 02:59:35.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you, Councilmember Withey. |
| 02:59:37.45 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 02:59:37.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any other questions? |
| 02:59:37.98 | Ray Withy | I have other comments. I do have some comments. Actually, it actually is to follow up on Ray's comments. And so when I look at the staff materials, this is a question for you, Lily. The noise ordinance, it says chapter 8.10 noise that's on attachment 2. Is that the proposed edits to the noise ordinance? |
| 03:00:09.68 | Lily | I think attachment to is should be Belvedere's regulations. |
| 03:00:15.98 | Ray Withy | Is that Belvedere's noise? Yeah. So I think... |
| 03:00:17.18 | Lily | Yeah. |
| 03:00:20.20 | Ray Withy | Where? |
| 03:00:22.44 | Ray Withy | Right, but I think that attachment to, I was trying to figure out if that's ours or if that is. It's Belveneer's. |
| 03:00:27.92 | Lily | So all of the attachments two through five are Belvedere, Larkspur, Mill Valley, and Tiburon's regulations. OK, got it. |
| 03:00:32.55 | Ray Withy | Okay, got it. So we have a noise ordinance though, right? Correct. Okay, so to raise comments, I think most of the complaints that I've heard is about the noise, right? I mean, I guess there's issues about blowing dust around and things like that, but primarily it's noise. So I think- You know, with regard to comments on policy and going forward, I think maybe we might want to figure out how we can address that through our existing noise ordinance. And not just leaf blowers, but as Ray points out, you know, chainsaws and whatever other. activity that's going on that's exceeding the decibel level that's already in our current noise ordinance. So I don't know if we need to amend that or the response to the public when they say, hey, what about this noise at the leaf blowers? The response might be we already have a noise ordinance, right? So this is it? |
| 03:01:25.72 | Ray Withy | Ocelito's noise ordinance, right? On the screen, correct. Yeah, okay. Okay. |
| 03:01:25.81 | Ray Withy | or, THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 03:01:27.82 | Lily | on the screen, correct. |
| 03:01:28.91 | Ray Withy | OKAY. |
| 03:01:29.11 | Lily | Is that in our package somewhere? |
| 03:01:29.30 | Ray Withy | Is that in our packet? This is... |
| 03:01:31.16 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 03:01:31.22 | Ray Withy | Thank you. |
| 03:01:31.26 | Lily | It's in the staff report. This is the regulations for construction, demolition, excavation, alteration, or repair devices and equipment, which would cover the leaf blowers and chainsaws. |
| 03:01:31.41 | Ray Withy | It's in the staff report. These are the |
| 03:01:33.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:01:34.14 | Ray Withy | THE FAMILY. THE FAMILY. |
| 03:01:45.91 | Ray Withy | So, but there's also a decibel. Is there a decibel, it's not in here, it's not in this. |
| 03:01:51.17 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:01:51.19 | Lily | It's not on the... screen. |
| 03:01:52.10 | Ray Withy | It's on the screen, but we have another visible number. Correct. |
| 03:01:52.79 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We have another visible image. |
| 03:01:54.43 | Ray Withy | Yeah. |
| 03:01:54.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:01:54.95 | Ray Withy | Yeah. |
| 03:01:54.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . |
| 03:01:55.00 | Ray Withy | THE END OF THE |
| 03:01:55.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | There is a decibel level, a decibel restriction in the noise ordinance. |
| 03:01:59.93 | Ray Withy | OK, so my question then is, do we even need to amend the noise ordinance, or is our response just, yes, sir, I understand you have this problem. We have a noise ordinance. If you need to make a complaint, then this is who you talk to? OK. I think that's our solution, I think. And that just goes out in the currents, maybe? That's an article in the currents? Here's what the council did with regard to leaf blowers at this time. As Ray points out, you know, technologically we're going to get to the point where we can have electric quieter blowers. In the future, we're just not there yet. So I sort of I mean, I'm on the legislative committee, we address this at the legislative committee. you know, I think that's reasonable and makes sense to me. I don't know what everybody else thinks. |
| 03:02:41.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you Any other comments? |
| 03:02:46.08 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know the product. I didn't even know that difference was that big between the leaf and the only thing I've ever blown is a good lead or an opportunity. Thank you. |
| 03:02:57.35 | Ray Withy | know, |
| 03:02:57.57 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know where you're going there. So I would, if we go to the noise and just keep it, I did hear from one person on the vacuuming, that seemed to sound relevant to me, but I would say, yeah. But the currents. |
| 03:03:10.21 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I have already converted from gas to electric at no additional expense, but I've not done any research. And I actually expected to have more public participation on this, so we have fulfilled my charter, which was to discuss it. And so I greatly appreciate everyone's feedback. Did you have any comments or I'll entertain them? We don't need a motion, let's just give direction to staff. So I think directions to staff is to maintain our existing noise ordinance and let our residents know that they can address that they can refer to that ordinance for issues that they may have regarding THE timing of leaf blower usage and noise level of least leaf blower usage. |
| 03:04:15.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, with that we will move on to item seven, the city manager and council member reports. |
| 03:04:26.62 | Adam Politzer | I have no additional reports for the City Council. I happen to answer any of your questions. |
| 03:04:32.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you, Adam. Thanks to you. We are only three minutes behind now. All right, council member committee reports. |
| 03:04:43.40 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | The city manager and I attended the MCCM Homeless Committee meeting in San Anselmo. And Sausalito, Fairfax, and San Rafael gave updates on presentations to their city councils about the decision to refund the homeless fund to prioritize showers for those funds. And then I think most jurisdictions had not yet reached the decision about whether and where to have showers. if to have the shower in their community or not. So the pilot had started in Novato and San Rafael, and I think they had very good turnout and outreach and considered that successful both in terms of the number of participants but also in the use of that as a tool for a coordinated entry. THE CITY. SO IT SEEMED LIKE A COUPLE OF OTHER CITY COUNCILS HAD YET TO TAKE UP THE DISCUSSION. SO THEY WILL BE DOING THAT IN THE NEXT MONTH OR TWO. AND THEN I GUESS OUR NEXT STEP IS DURING OUR BUDGET PROCESS TO FINALIZE you our decision. Oh, I'm sorry, I would just say we had a really, really interesting discussion presentation by the woman from St. Vincent's, just about the services and the work that they're doing with Housing First and kind of replacing the REST model that they had started with, with the more long-term vision of housing first and coordinated entry and she just um it was very inspirational and they are doing great work so that was kind of the highlight of the meeting Thank you. |
| 03:06:44.83 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Councilmember Hoffman and I attended a waterfront group meeting on thursday and heard an update regarding enforcement efforts about our newly enacted ordinance and decided that it merits greater discussion by the whole council and so we're going to come back and discuss this on april 17 with the full council |
| 03:07:17.30 | Unknown | WHAT? |
| 03:07:18.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | This is the, yeah. |
| 03:07:20.49 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:07:24.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And I attended the YWCA Hall of Fame presentation on Thursday evening, sat next to our supervisor, Kate Sears, who has agreed to come provide an update to our council for the first time in a couple of years. So we will be scheduling that. We'll coordinate with her aide in scheduling that update. I look forward to hearing from her. |
| 03:07:48.30 | Ray Withy | That would be the first time since I've been on the council, actually. So it's over five years since. |
| 03:07:55.20 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Well, I'm glad that this year our theme is building bridges and not walls, so that's great. |
| 03:08:01.68 | Jill Hoffman | I have a again kind of a future report on CDBG the Community Development Block Grant we're meeting this week one of the items that's in front of us is more money for the shower and I've kind of questions before I never really understood how this worked but they're asking for $95,000 for staffing of the showers. And I've brought that up before. Does anybody know about that? Is that I mean are you guys talking about the need for that money to make the showers work that they need to get this 95 from CDBG because it's Karen Strolia is the one who will be presenting to the block grant. They said they received 140 from MCC MC but they need 95 to staff it. |
| 03:08:32.24 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 03:08:43.51 | Jill Hoffman | I always thought it was all inclusive. |
| 03:08:48.02 | Unknown | That issue has not come up to my knowledge. |
| 03:08:51.51 | Adam Politzer | Yeah, the email that I saw was late this afternoon and read it completely. but I saw the same information. It's in relation to the streets, but I thought that was additional staffing. So the 140,000 when Ashley and Andrew came from the county in San Rafael to talk about Housing First and the shower program, they had a slide that showed the breakdown of the expenses and costs and then where that money was coming from. So from my understanding, from what they presented and what I think we've heard in maybe Councilmember Cleveland Knowles' first MCC MC meeting, was they have enough money to fund the program year for year and to add additional sites to what's existing now with $140,000. I think what we might have heard a little bit at this last meeting is how to keep it sustainable. And how to move away from the funding that they're receiving that may be one time funding and make it more sustainable. And so by receiving grants from the county and other agencies, but I'll go back and look at that. a little bit more closely, but I think they were looking for support from the cities. on their request for the CBG money. And I don't think that we're in a position to offer that tonight. |
| 03:10:21.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, any other council member committee reports? Any, we have no appointments to boards and commissions tonight. We did receive an application from David Suto for our PBAC for a renewal of his term. So... If there's no objection, I'd like to just have that on consent for our next agenda. Future agenda items. Any other reports of significance? All right, we will adjourn this evening's meeting in honor of our friend and colleague, Ben Brown, who transitioned one week ago this evening. and wish him well. um, Um, he will be missed. So thank you all. We're adjourned at 1022. |
Katherine Stengel — In Favor: Supported electric transportation in Marin for its financial, environmental, and public health benefits, urging funding approval. ▶ 📄
Lucy Knopf — In Favor: Emphasized urgency for funding now to avoid a 30-year delay, arguing electric vehicles will be essential for future generations. ▶ 📄