| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:05.43 | Joan Cox | Good evening everybody and welcome to the regular city council meeting for Tuesday December 11, 2018. I will call the meeting to order and ask Serge to call the roll. |
| 00:00:19.77 | Serge | Council member Withey? Councilmember Cleveland Knowles. |
| 00:00:23.18 | Joan Cox | here. |
| 00:00:23.93 | Serge | Councilmember Hoffman? |
| 00:00:25.50 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:00:25.53 | Joan Cox | Here. |
| 00:00:26.30 | Serge | Vice Mayor Burns? Here. Mayor Cox? |
| 00:00:28.84 | Joan Cox | here. Herbie Weiner, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? |
| 00:00:37.04 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:00:37.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:37.22 | Marty Roush | Thank you. |
| 00:00:37.29 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:37.75 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:00:38.03 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:00:38.62 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:00:39.08 | Unknown | of the United States of America. |
| 00:00:40.48 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:00:41.44 | Unknown | to the republic. |
| 00:00:42.51 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:00:42.59 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:42.81 | Joan Cox | for which it stands. |
| 00:00:43.84 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:43.94 | Joan Cox | Thank you. One nation. I'm going to go. |
| 00:00:46.03 | Mary Kay Sweeney | you |
| 00:00:46.32 | Joan Cox | you |
| 00:00:46.94 | Mary Kay Sweeney | invisible. with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:00:54.96 | Joan Cox | We had a closed session this evening, there are no closed session announcements. Is there any public comment on our closed session from this evening? Seeing none, I will seek a motion approving our agenda. So moved. |
| 00:01:11.80 | Joe Burns | Second. |
| 00:01:12.53 | Joan Cox | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. So we'll move right on to special presentations. And our first special presentation is the swearing in of our newly elected city council members, Jill James Hoffman and Susan Cleveland Knowles. |
| 00:01:13.83 | Joe Burns | Aye. |
| 00:01:28.96 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:01:33.45 | Serge | If I could have council member Hoffman and council member Cleveland Knowles to join me below the dais. Thank you. |
| 00:01:48.35 | Serge | Good evening, Madam Mayor, council members, staff, and members of the public. Today I have the privilege to swear in the newly elected council members. So I will ask if you could raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. |
| 00:01:52.59 | Katie Faulkner | Today's show is a |
| 00:02:07.28 | Serge | Do some leave firm. that I will support and defend The Constitution of the United States. and the Constitution of the State of California. against all enemies. Foreign and domestic. that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. and the Constitution of the State of California. that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation, or purpose of evasion. that I will. well and faithfully. discharge the duties. upon which I'm about to enter. Thank you, congratulations. |
| 00:03:24.56 | Unknown | . |
| 00:03:32.76 | Joan Cox | All right, congratulations to you both. |
| 00:03:38.06 | Unknown | I'm going to put it on the table. THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:03:56.11 | Joan Cox | We have another special presentation this evening and this is the award of grants from the Holiday Parking Donation Fund to five non-profit organizations that provide services to the underserved in Marin County. And we'll invite Lieutenant Stacy Gregory up to the podium. |
| 00:04:11.55 | Stacy Gregory | Good evening, council members and city staff. I'm here tonight and honored to be able to give out the humanitarian awards for the city. We do have five outstanding organizations that serve the lower-income, underprivileged people in our county. All the organizations that are being recognized tonight work hard on a daily basis to brighten the lives of those that are less fortunate. In November of this year, the City Council agreed to waive the city parking charges on street parking for the month of December through the Year's Day. In return for the free parking, the city's asked its citizens to donate money, and in turn that money would be used to give the grants that we'll be giving up tonight. So I'm going to call up each organization and the person that's here to represent them. and they can say a few words about their organization. The first. organization will recognize as Homeward Bound of Marin, Their mission of opening doors to safety, dignity, hope, and independence is coupled with a vision that everyone deserves a place to call home. So please welcome Executive Director Mary Kay Sweeney to accept a donation from the city in the amount of $1,400. |
| 00:05:46.36 | Mary Kay Sweeney | and Mayor, Council Members, Staff. I brought with me today In addition to opening doors of safety, hope, and independence, also some of our peppermint bark that we made right at our Culinary Academy, so I'd like to really... Would you see that everybody gets OK, thank you. I just want to say thank you so much for acknowledging the work that Homeward Bound does. We are in the process and in the mission of really helping people find a place to call home. And as you know, in this county, that's not an easy task. And we work alongside many of our partners, a couple of whom are here tonight. I want to tell you that excitedly that we are opening a new project in Larkspur. You may have heard about it. It's the King Street Senior Housing. So we've taken over the Larkspur St. Patrick's Convent and renovated it during the past year. And we'll be opening it up a week before Christmas for some of our seniors to move into. And they'll be coming right out of shelter that housing option. You know, these little kinds of tasks that we can find to do in the community are also really, really helpful in addition to other things that we're planning for the future. But I want to thank you for acknowledging us, our work, and we hope that we can continue to partner with you. to create a better place for everybody in this community. Thank you so much. |
| 00:07:14.46 | Stacy Gregory | OK, the next organization we have is the Ritter Center. They work to prevent homelessness and improve the health and well-being of individuals and families who are homeless or low income by providing a range of culturally sensitive, easily accessible, high quality medical care and social services. Please welcome the newly appointed executive director, Mark Shotwell, to accept a $1,400 donation from the city. |
| 00:07:46.71 | Mark Shotwell | Thank you so much for having us here tonight and for this wonderful donation. Ritter Center has been around since 1980 and Every year we provide services to over 4,000 individuals and families in Marin County. And part of what we're really proud to be a part of, along with Mary Kay and Homeward Bound and other nonprofits, is that we're really about ending homelessness in Marin. And so part of that success is we have a whole person care program we're a part of that will eventually serve 130 people. We already have 75 individuals in that program, and 50 of those people are now permanently housed. So I wanted to share that success and also share that part of this donation and other donations that we get help to support a lot of our holiday programs for families and individuals and seniors. So some of that effort has produced the ability for us to provide 110 homeless individuals 50 seniors and 50 families with gifts for the holidays with meals that they can put on the holiday table So it's really something that you know when I think about it It's like I think about what would I want for my family for the holidays and that's what I want for every family around the holidays So we're so grateful to be a part of this community And this is really an example of the community giving back to everybody. So thank you for having us here |
| 00:09:09.85 | Stacy Gregory | OK, next up we have Project Warm Wishes. And on their website, It says helping our neighbors in need, that's kind of their motto. um, Bill Hamm, who's one of the founders of Warm Wishes, is here tonight to accept the award of, again, $1,400. And he'll tell you about their street packing. of the backpacks with the winter accessories. And it's pretty phenomenal, the organization that he has and the AND THE the setup that he has, I know I've gone a couple times, I know Adam's gone a couple times and It's just a really rewarding feeling to be a part of that. So next year, if you're interested, Keep an eye out for the date. It's a great experience, and I guarantee you'll go back. So Bill Hamm, please come up. They're yours. |
| 00:10:02.18 | Bill Hamm | Thank you, Stacy, and thank you to the city of Sausalito. I appreciate your continued support. I'd like to talk briefly about what my foundation does. This year we had our 25th anniversary. We handed out our millionth item to less fortunate people, primarily on the street, but whoever needs help. We've also, we're determined right now to open up a new division in the last couple of years. We've supported the fire victims, and last year when the first fire started, we actually had people come to the county that were homeless instantly. And we were able to provide them thousands of items out of our warehouse, as we've just been able to do right now. So I'd like Vanna, oh, I mean Stacy, she's my Vanna. |
| 00:10:46.82 | Unknown | . |
| 00:10:48.40 | Bill Hamm | Well first, kind of fun here. Go ahead, Stacy. This is Stacy in the picture with a lot of her family, and this is what it looks like for one of our group shots. We just take a little time out in between to try and make an experience out of it rather than just an assembly day because everybody gets so excited it goes too fast. I might also want to add that Adam's in the picture too with his family. |
| 00:10:57.04 | Katie Faulkner | That's why. |
| 00:11:12.70 | Bill Hamm | So would you hand me the phone? We had something exceptional happen this year, too. I don't know if very many of you are familiar with Bomba socks. But these people gave us 3,000 pairs this year. I'm wearing a pair right now. What they do is for every pair that's bought, they contribute one to a homeless person. And the way this started was the two founders were just interviewing some homeless people and it came to fruition just like I had experienced almost immediately 25 years ago that socks were really the most important. You don't want to be caught out with your socks for very long. You can't really wash them often if you're on the street. specifically reinforced, they've told me better than the socks that they sell to people, but they also have some sort of micro fiber in it that makes you able to wear them for days at a time without really being offensive, I guess, for lack of a better word. So here's what goes in the backpacks. Okay. This year I was able to buy sets, which are kind of cool, because everything matches. So what they have is a glove, a cap, and a scarf. So as opposed to... and having a variety of different colors and packaging, they actually I don't know if they match. That's much nicer, I think, for anybody. So it's kind of just coming in and doing a little extra effort. These are some of the socks that we generally give out. And back to the Bomba socks, they wick exceptionally well. I've never been able to find a sock like that. So if you're out and you get your socks wet, generally it's uncomfortable. You get cold. These socks are pretty phenomenal, so that's great. We give a rain poncho to everybody. They aren't necessarily gonna last more than a season, but it's something just to keep them kinda dry. Also, a lot of people bring their own amenities from hotels. So we literally gave out thousands of shampoos and conditioners and soaps this year, where I just encouraged people to baggie them themselves, bring them. And then when we're filling up the backpacks in our assembly lines, you just put your own shampoo and conditioner in the pack. And last but not least, this, oh, you know, the other thing that happened this year, somebody donated seven or eight thousand clean hand wipes. So most of the backpack's got some nice clean hand wipes too, which is kind of essential to try and stay nice and clean and keep yourself from getting sick. So the one thing that I encouraged over the years, and we have over 5,000 kids to it. This year we did 4,500 adults and we did 1,000 children. And the children's packs all get brand new books also. So that's pretty neat. So here's For You, Love Ruby, and they make holiday cards. And they might very well be the only holiday card that somebody on the street might get. And actually I've been out in the street and talked with people with their packs. And a lot of them, this means as much to them as what's inside the pack. It's just the emotional tie with having the holidays and having somebody care for you. So with that said, again, thank you very much. We had some unexpected tariffs put on us this year. Of all things, it's kind of an irony, I think, that you're trying to help homeless, and you get stabbed with thousands of extra dollars this year, and next year could be worse. So that makes me appreciate that much more what you're all willing to do for us. Thank you. |
| 00:15:06.39 | Stacy Gregory | Okay, the next organization we want to recognize is the Sausalito Presbyterian Church. And another thing that stood out to me on their website was... It's a church that calls itself a family. So they've been providing community lunches to those in need since 1995. Paul Mowry, the pastor of the church and the chaplain for the police department, could not make it tonight, but he sent one of his wonderful volunteers. Marty Roush is here to accept the donation in honor of the church, and their donation is a $400 donation. Marty, you want to come up? |
| 00:15:47.07 | Marty Roush | Thank you. You're welcome very much. I am indeed thankful on behalf of the church and on behalf of Paul Mowry, who was called away just very quickly this evening. So I have to say, As much as I have seen so far, I'm really impressed by the quality of the gifts that you all are giving and the recipients, the quality of the recipients. So, At any rate, I'm not honestly sure exactly what we're going to be doing with this money. I don't want to speak for Paul without knowing. But I can tell you that we do consider ourselves a part of the community, both a community that's housed and that that is less so. So on behalf of all of us, |
| 00:16:45.78 | Katie Faulkner | US. |
| 00:16:47.16 | Marty Roush | thank you so much for this gift, and we will use it very well, I promise you. |
| 00:17:02.07 | Stacy Gregory | Okay, last but not least, Open Door Ministries. Open Door Ministries is up on Filbert Street. It was founded by Dr. Lars Williamson. Um, They've also been serving hot meals to those in need on Friday nights. They also serve Thanksgiving and Christmas, meals to those who wouldn't have it any other time or any other way. So please welcome the son of Lars and the current president of Open Door Ministries, John Williamson, to accept the $400 donation from the city. |
| 00:17:50.50 | John Williamson | Sorry for the delay, it's just been a stressful year. First of all, thank you mayor, city council, staff, and the wonderful citizens you have here in Sausalito that are willing to Pay the parking meters when they don't have to, so those wonderful organizations like ours and those that have received this money are able to continue doing what they're doing. |
| 00:18:15.45 | John Williamson | Past April, the last founding member of Open Door passed away. I'm still. |
| 00:18:27.92 | John Williamson | are continuing and will continue to do what we've been doing for the last 48 years so we've been in the community that long started at Haleport or that big old tree that is now and then moved to gate 5 and then we had some time that we weren't able to do what we as an organization we're called to do for the people of this city but we have now the last some years so we've been up in filbert street the church they're going from seven days a week of hot meal, someone to talk to, to one night a week. still give them the hot meal. If they need someone to talk to, we're there. And sometimes we feel that's the only hot meal they get for the weekend. And there's plenty of food left over. They're willing to take as much of that as they want to get through the weekend until they can get their next hot meal. And just sometimes just being with someone as a family. That's what every one of our people up there. call themselves because they all live somewhere out there and the anchor outs on the street somewhere they're all family to themselves they look out for each other And with this donation, we'll be able to continue to provide something the rest of the year as well as other donations we get we do appreciate it Thank You mayor city council and staff Oh, before I get shot. I have my wonderful wife here. Like I said, before I get shot, and our two lovely grandchildren. They come every week as well, and they enjoy it. It's something they have a passion for as well. which is nice. Thank you again. |
| 00:20:27.20 | Stacy Gregory | Okay, that's all I have, but I think we want to bring everybody up to get a quick picture. move on. |
| 00:20:58.67 | Unknown | Thank you. you |
| 00:20:59.02 | Bill Hamm | Thank you. you Thank you. |
| 00:21:19.63 | Adam Politzer | Happy holidays. |
| 00:21:50.63 | Joan Cox | All right, next we'll move on to communications. This is the time for the city council to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes the council from taking- Hey, Jeff, we're in the middle of a meeting here. If you want to talk, please step outside. 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 in the agenda. I have a couple of speaker cards. First is Maureen Gaffney. you Okay, Jeff, please step out or don't speak out. |
| 00:22:24.41 | Jeff Jacob | I'm sorry. out. I'm gonna have communication. Just to make sure that I don't pay- |
| 00:22:32.95 | Joan Cox | Jeff, stop calling out. All right, Maureen Gaffney. |
| 00:22:34.64 | Jeff Jacob | All right. |
| 00:22:41.91 | Maureen Gaffney | Good evening council members. My name is Maureen Gaffney. I'm with the San Francisco Bay Trail project. The Bay Trail is a planned 500 mile trail around the entire San Francisco Bay. Running through all nine Bay Area counties and 47 cities. Um, The Bay Trail is about 75% complete. We have over 355 miles in place today, and we're working to Complete that multi-use trail that's for cyclists, pedestrians, kids from age eight to 80. We have an alignment here in Sausalito, obviously, and, um, on Bridgeway and through the town. In fact, one of the ways that the Bay Trail gets completed is through a grant program. And one of the first grants that we gave, many years ago was to the city of Sausalito for the bike lanes that are on bridgeway to the north of town. And I'm here this evening to speak in support of of someone who's about to speak, from the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. And also a proposal from, I believe, from your Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to look at some bike lanes on Bridgeway. north of downtown and we at the Bay Trail think that would be a fantastic idea. And I am also a commuter. bike into work from Mill Valley into San Francisco. And, um, It just seems like this proposal for a pilot would be great if you guys could agendize this. and really consider it... Being able to do a pilot program and check this out for a period of time, see if it works and see in what ways it needs to be tweaked would be a great way to figure out what works there. Because we really need some more room for cyclists and I think it will help with the traffic as well. So just really want to support the notion of putting this on a city council agenda as soon as possible. Thank you so much. Thank you. |
| 00:24:51.38 | Joan Cox | Okay, Alex Franco. Alex Frankel. |
| 00:24:59.63 | Alex Frankel | Good evening, Mayor Cox, City Council. My name is Alex Frankel, and I'm a member of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, and we haven't met since I was appointed earlier this year, so thanks for giving me the chance to serve. And after reviewing a lot of the material surrounding bicycles and transportation in Sausalito, including the exhaustive 2008 bicycle plan, it's my sincere belief that Sausalito strongly needs to invest in infrastructural changes that will allow bicycles, pedestrians, and cars to better coexist. Vice Mayor Burns, who sits on our committee, has been a strong advisor and recommended that I come here tonight as well as others to share some of what we propose. And the particular piece of infrastructure that we are most interested in moving forward right now is the inclusion of a bike path that would run a half-mile stretch from Bridgeway that runs from Golden Gate Market to Princess Street where the Starbucks is. This is a valuable start to what I believe is needed in Sausalito a north to south south to north bike path across the town the city is three miles long so this half mile stretch would be a really good strong start to connecting the dots and I believe that the city will do a great service to travelers on bike pedestrians pedestrians, as well as cars by starting to build the infrastructure with these bike paths. And we need, as a city, to contribute our part to promoting alternative transportation. Though some of your constituents may worry that tourists riding bicycles are a cause of congestion and should be banned or reduced, I would instead advise that the approach of adding infrastructure in this case a bike path I hope that the City Council can swiftly move forward to agendize and implement the bike path and in addition I believe that the sixteen thousand dollars that was raised this year alone from parking would be a great use or that budget could be used to fund the pilot program and what we see Bjorn Gripenberg of Marin County we're in MCBC Marin County Bicycle Coalition will speak to some of the specifics tonight about the plan that largely was examined and mapped out by our non-voting member Aaron Roller on the pedestrian and bike advisory committee. And again, thanks for hearing from us tonight, and we look forward to working together in the future. |
| 00:27:39.65 | Joan Cox | Thank you. All right, Bjorn Gripenberg. |
| 00:27:50.37 | Bjorn Gripenberg | Nicely done, not the easiest name. Thank you. I'm Bjorn, Policy and Planning Director at Marin County Bicycle Coalition. Just to add on to what you've already heard from from Alex and Maureen, I just want to make sure that you all had a chance to take a look at our letter and petition that we shared earlier this afternoon in support of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee's proposal to create bike lanes on Bridgeway south of downtown. Before getting into the proposal itself, I do want to first call out the great work that's happening on your PBAC. It's a really, it's an awesome group of folks like Alex who are are really eager to make key safety and identify and implement safety improvements around town they are obviously supported by Public Works Director Jonathan Goldman and and vice mayor Burns so thank you for for supporting that committee we also need to acknowledge Sausalito resident Aaron Roller who's not here tonight He's a safe routes to schools champion at Willow Creek He helps lead their bike train and a lot of the proposal that you're reading about Was his work and he's done it. He's done a really an amazing job with that He's gone and he's gone out to the businesses and knocked on doors and talked to a lot of folks about this project As you know, Bridgeway is used by cyclists of all ages and ability levels out of necessity because there's no parallel route. So on any given day, you've got people out there who are really strong and confident on bikes, comfortable going out and kind of taking the lane and mingling with traffic, but you also have a lot of people who really shouldn't be forced to do that, children, families, visitors. The feedback we collected through our petition suggested that even regular bridgeway commuters and regular cyclists really aren't comfortable on this stretch of bridgeway. They're often squeezed by between the curb, between parked cars and passing vehicles, especially when there are cars out there and that making delivery, trucks out there making deliveries in the center lane. That really exacerbates the condition. So we've come up with something that I think is not only a major safety improvement, but also something that would improve congestion. A lot of times cars on that stretch are kind of stuck negotiating all the cyclists out in the roadway. So creating a dedicated space for people biking really seems like a win-win solution, and it's something that we would like you to carefully look at. Like Maureen said, we're encouraging the city to move forward with a pilot project, something that involves paint only in the meantime. And, uh, And that's really just to, like Maureen said, kind of take a look at this, play around with the configuration, but really to ground future decisions in real experiences and data that you're able to collect. The bridgeway corridor, sorry, this stretch of bridgeway will be repaved in the next few years, so this really is the time to act, and we hope that You'll take a look at our letter, take a look at the petition, and consider getting this on an agenda sometime soon. Thank you. |
| 00:30:55.13 | Joan Cox | Thank you. So we've heard now from three folks on this issue and we're not able to discuss the merits of this tonight, but quickly address process and where this can be referred. So we have underway a general plan process by which we have a general plan advisory committee examining all aspects of Sausalito for the next 20 years, including circulation, which includes automobile and bicycles. And the general plan advisory committee right now is inviting various stakeholder groups to participate in its visioning process. Those groups include the pedestrian and bicycle advisory committee ascle Advisory Committee as well as the Sustainability Commission and other boards and commissions. So I would like to place this item on our, to the city clerk, I'd like to place this item on our list of future agenda items for referral for now to the General Plan Advisory Committee for recommendation back to the city council. |
| 00:31:54.94 | Joe Burns | I'm sorry. The striking they're talking about is in the current general plan. So it will be picked up in the general plan conversation as a current item in the 95 plan. Great. |
| 00:32:04.44 | Joan Cox | . |
| 00:32:04.59 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 00:32:06.65 | Joan Cox | Okay, next on our list, and thank you all for coming to share your thoughts with us. Okay, Jeff Jacob. |
| 00:32:17.89 | Jeff Jacob | Hello, Madam Mayor. Hello, City Council, Jill, Joe. Susan Ray, city manager. Serge, city clerk who's helped me out, with things that I'm not going to share tonight. I come here to bring Good news always. |
| 00:32:45.24 | Jeff Jacob | Sometimes that seems a little, hard to hear when it's alone because we say this person is just Putting us on. |
| 00:32:56.82 | Jeff Jacob | They're blowing up our air, up our you-know-what. Well, the good news is I'm only going to do two minutes for two issues. |
| 00:33:06.78 | Jeff Jacob | The first issue, I thank all the people who are giving charity. The rabbis say that the best charity is to teach someone how to take care of themselves. For the money that's been given to religious institutions, and I'm sorry Paul's not here. because I'd like to share the Parsha with him. It's about Joseph. the one who's enslaved in the way that the Christians and the Jews or the tribe of Joseph and the tribe of Judah are two branches grafted onto the same tree. |
| 00:33:44.90 | Jeff Jacob | So the anchor outs. |
| 00:33:49.62 | Jeff Jacob | could have used, I suppose, the $100 a piece that are being given to the churches and charities. They would have used it in a different way. Perhaps they would have given $50 to keep Dunphy Park open. because that was the place where the entire community gathered. That was the only place in Sausalito surrounded by the two most natural estuaries. I know that place is Hey. Phil. And I'm not sure about the plans to raise it because of sea level rise. I'm going to continue. I said that I would only do two minutes. I lie sometimes. Like Jacob. deceiver. really, who becomes Israel after he wrestles and dreams. |
| 00:34:43.72 | Jeff Jacob | public access for the houseless people. I think that home is in here. not owned by a government or a bank. that those people can provide so much for themselves. |
| 00:35:01.46 | Jeff Jacob | really able to grow their own trees, |
| 00:35:07.14 | Jeff Jacob | their own herbs. |
| 00:35:11.62 | Jeff Jacob | That's what happened, that's what Joseph predicted, and he stored them up, and we have the agrarian revolution. I suggest you read the portion. I'll do two. |
| 00:35:21.39 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 00:35:21.40 | Mark Shotwell | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:35:22.94 | Jeff Jacob | Thank you. You guys are so beautiful today. |
| 00:35:26.59 | Joan Cox | Next, Jeff Knowles. |
| 00:35:37.16 | Jeff Knowles | Good evening, council members. My name is Jeff Knowles, Sausalito resident. I am here because, as of yesterday, we have a result in the election on the Sausalito University School Board. That race took until yesterday to get a final result. Reelected were Ida Green and Josh Barrow, and Bonnie Huff has won the third seat. The official tally, which came in on November 30th, had her ahead of Jen Conway by eight votes. We actually had a recount, the first in Marin County in many years, and I think the third in about 15. So it was an extremely unusual, incredibly tight race. One of the, and with an eight-vote difference, don't let anybody ever tell you your vote does not count. There were 6,300 ballots cast in that race, and it was decided by eight votes. One of the benefits of having a tightly contested race like this is that it elevated the discussion in the community. It elevated the profile. of our schools and how we're going to run them. And it presents some issues that We appreciate your engagement on as the City Council, that you were so engaged in that election and that you were paying attention, And I'm here tonight to ask you to keep paying attention. and to ask the whole community to keep paying attention. because the issues we were discussing during the election are continuing. on Thursday of this week, We will seat our new board, including our new member, Bonnie Huff. And at that very meeting, They will be addressing the budget. that's ongoing for this year and the multi-year projection, which will include the budget for next year, which is the budget that currently proposes to cut $1 million, 25%, out of the budget of our largest public school. that serves more than half of our high-need kids, that serves more than half of the Marin City kids, and that serves many Sausalito children. This is obviously of concern to you as leaders in this community, and I hope you will continue to engage on these issues. And I would ask you to take this up, as a city council at some point. as to what guidance you would suggest for your Parallel board, you don't have jurisdiction over the schools. but you are leaders and I think you can continue to lead on these issues. And I would ask you to do that. Any of you who want to attend that meeting on Thursday night, we'd love to see you there. The voters have spoken, we have a board, we need to support that board, and we need to hold them accountable. One of the things that HAPPENED DURING THIS CAMPAIGN WAS THAT PRETTY MUCH ALL THE CANDIDATES SAID THEY WANT TO SUPPORT ALL THE KIDS. THAT'S FANTASTIC. Pretty much all the candidates said, We think a million dollars out of the largest public school's budget, not the right thing to do. So let's go to the meeting and Tell them we think that's great. Let's follow through on those promises. and let's make sure that our board serves all our kids throughout the whole district. Thank you very much. |
| 00:38:31.75 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:38:36.88 | Joan Cox | Okay, there being no more communications, we'll move on to action minutes of our previous meeting. May I have a motion? |
| 00:38:47.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'll move to a |
| 00:38:47.97 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:38:50.43 | Joe Burns | Second. |
| 00:38:51.13 | Joan Cox | All in favor? |
| 00:38:52.38 | Joe Burns | Bye. |
| 00:38:52.56 | Joan Cox | Aye. That motion carries 5-0. We'll move on now to item four, our consent calendar. |
| 00:39:04.71 | Joan Cox | And Matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial, require no discussion, are expected to have unanimous council support and may be enacted by the council in one motion in the form listed below. I will first remark that I will recuse myself from item 4D, so we will need at least two motions. And I believe we have a council member who wants to pull one item from our consent calendar. Oh, any practice? |
| 00:39:35.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I just have a brief comment on one item. |
| 00:39:36.32 | Ray Withey | Thank you. Okay. Yes, I'd request that item 4H be removed from the consent calendar. Okay. For separate discussion. |
| 00:39:48.96 | Joan Cox | although |
| 00:39:49.80 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:39:50.46 | Joan Cox | Technically, that requires a vote of the council. It is our practice to defer to those council members who would like to remove an item, and so we will remove item 4-H. Because we have an unusual calendar this evening, we will discuss 4-H immediately after our approval of the remaining items on the consent calendar. You wanted to make a comment on one of our. |
| 00:40:13.93 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I just wanted to make a brief comment on 4i, which is the inclusionary housing regulations. And I just wanted to note that Mayor Joan Cox had called together a Blue Ribbon, the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Housing, consisting of several community members, Michael Rex, Melissa Blousteen, Andrew Sullivan, myself and the Mayor. And that we have had extensive discussions about this inclusionary housing ordinance and the need for this type of measure. in Sausalito, so I'm really gratified to see it on the agenda. Because our committee hasn't quite been able to wrap up our recommendations, I'm looking forward to having a more complete recommendation when this comes back to us after the Planning Commission hearing. Right. So I just wanted to recognize the good work of the committee and to note that we will have some comments on this ordinance, but I won't make those tonight. |
| 00:41:03.43 | William Zeller | Right. |
| 00:41:11.91 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you, and indeed this item before us tonight is simply to be referred to the planning commission, after which it will return to us for full time. review and consideration. All right, at this point I'm going to open up the consent calendar for public comment. Is there any member of the public that would like to comment on our consent calendar? |
| 00:41:32.28 | Jeff Jacob | Yes, this time I'll only take one minute and it will be out of the second hour. |
| 00:41:44.60 | Adam Politzer | I'm not sure. |
| 00:41:44.97 | Jeff Jacob | you |
| 00:41:50.12 | Jeff Jacob | I want to say thank you, even though there were only five people this morning for a hot shower. still responding to the number one request of the people on the anchorage. So the water was hot. The people in front had everything that a person would need to take a shower, including warm fluffy towels. I'm, you know, I want to say happy holidays, holy days, whichever ones you follow. that I want to convey something that's not always oppositional or confrontational. My dad who sat in your seat is perhaps on his deathbed now. And so that's part of the reason that I'm doing this and that I feel passionate about certain things. It's my lineage. So all of you all be happy. That's my big message. Thank you for everything that you do, and everything that you don't do, and then everything that you do again. |
| 00:43:00.72 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you. Okay, with that I'll close public comment, bring it back up here for a motion and please in your motion. omit item 4D and 4H. |
| 00:43:15.76 | Joe Burns | I move to adopt 4A through C. E, F, G, I, and J of the consent calendar. |
| 00:43:23.81 | Joan Cox | Second. All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. I'll now entertain a motion concerning item 4D. |
| 00:43:26.64 | Joe Burns | Aye. |
| 00:43:34.51 | Joe Burns | move that we adopt item 4D from the consent calendar. |
| 00:43:39.77 | Joan Cox | Second. Serge, will you please call the roll. |
| 00:43:44.77 | Serge | Councilmember Withey? Yes. Councilmember Cleveland Knowles? Yes. Councilmember Hoffman? |
| 00:43:48.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes. |
| 00:43:53.29 | Serge | Vice Mayor Burns? Yes. Mayor Cox? Thank you. |
| 00:43:56.51 | Joan Cox | Epstein. Amen. |
| 00:43:59.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:43:59.43 | Joan Cox | you |
| 00:43:59.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:44:00.02 | Joan Cox | you Recusing. Okay. I recuse myself from that vote. And so that vote carries 4-0 with one council member recusing themselves. All right, we'll now move on to a hearing on item 4H, consideration of administration department reorganization and amending staff levels and salary ranges resolution to establish positions of senior accountant and management analyst and amending position and salary range of city clerk. This item was heard twice by our Finance Subcommittee and I will welcome Brian Mora to the podium for a brief presentation. |
| 00:44:40.36 | Brian Mora | Thank you, Mayor and members of council. As the mayor noted, this item was before the finance committee in two meetings during the month of November. The committee made some changes to the initial recommendation and their committee position is what is in front of you tonight. The main goal of this project was to take a look at the administration department and look for ways to make it more efficient and effective without changing the overall number of employees in your budget and also not changing the budget. And I think with the recommendations you see in the report, that has been achieved. And in fact, after all of the changes are made in the current budget year, you'll actually see a savings of almost $30,000. The key changes are to revise the duties of the position of city clerk to remove the assistant city manager duties because those have been transferred to the administrative services director position, which you did in September. Second, to convert an administrative aid position, which is currently vacant, to a senior accountant position in finance to provide some senior level accounting in the finance department third to revise the duties of the business manager position which is vacant and currently being filled on an acting basis to add human resource duties and to delete the duties of that position related to community development, planning, and communications. Also, in this category, it is recommended that both the administrative analyst in finance and the business manager positions be reclassified to management analyst to bring them more in line with the position duties and also with the current practice in city governments. And then finally, to adopt new job specifications for the positions of city clerk, senior accountant, and management analyst. So those are the highlights of the report, and I'll be happy to answer any questions the council may have. |
| 00:46:41.11 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Any questions from council members? Thank you. |
| 00:46:45.53 | Ray Withey | So, thanks Brian for that recap. I did watch to the extent that I could the November 2nd and the November 12th finance meetings, finance committee meetings. I think there was something wrong with the November 12th. But my concern about this and the reason I asked that it be removed from the consent calendar is that We're getting ready to start budget negotiations, and this is a fairly complicated, Even when I was watching it on the Finance Committee meeting, and I watched it twice, it was still hard for me to determine what the impact of these changes were and you're changing classifications, you're changing employees, at a time when we're getting ready to start renegotiating our memorandum understanding with the employees, meaning the union contract. So we're getting ready to renegotiate that. So just FYI for everybody, when we say MOU, we mean our contract with our union employees. It was very difficult for me, even on the tape, to understand the impact of these changes. And every time you move somebody from a different category or classification, that affects how they're promoted. It affects certain employees get step increases. So those of you who are watching at home, some employees automatically get an increase in salary every year called step increases until you get to the top step. So, and that is impacted by how they're classified. So my concern was at this point in time, Especially this being a consent counter, which I didn't think was appropriate, and I shared that with the city manager. with the mayor. I didn't feel it was accurately represented the fiscal impact as well. I sent you some questions, and I think we still have a disagreement about the impact of these changes. significantly the change in the salary and the structure for the new position of the assistant city manager, which we've changed significantly to what it was in the past. So as a point of order, |
| 00:48:50.97 | Joan Cox | I just want to just note that reclassification or the change of position of the assistant city manager is not before us this evening. No. That was previously approved by this council. |
| 00:48:59.03 | Ray Withey | But when you talk about bottom line, what's the difference in how it affects the budget? That wasn't, well, and that's a problem, right? That's not represented anywhere in this report, so when you're talking about, and addressing the finance committee addressing how these changes affect are negotiations for salaries and what the bottom line differential in the budget is. You have to address that. You added a new position. You added a very senior new position. That's not reflected anywhere in here. So when you claim that there's only a There's only a 29,000 net savings. That's just simply not accurate because you added a $200,000 new position. which the claim when that new position was added, that the finance manager position, that person would take over the finance manager position, but when I look through this, that's not going to happen because you're requesting and establishing new senior senior. the accountant position, and then on page 84, You recommend and say that we're going to have to create a new finance manager. And that's not reflected anywhere in here. So you're talking about a completely new finance manager position. You're recommending the reestablishment of the finance major position at a competitive salary. That's not reflected in this bottom line budget. the, Net savings of 29,000, that's only for, how many months is that? That's not a full year salary. That's only six months or what is that? So Jill, are you asking some questions here? Yeah. |
| 00:50:44.62 | Joan Cox | This is the opportunity for questions. |
| 00:50:46.22 | Ray Withey | Yeah. Why are those not reflected? Why are they not accurately reflected in your report? . I guess that's my question. |
| 00:50:55.72 | Brian Mora | Okay, let me, if it's okay with the mayor and the council, let me go through some of the questions. |
| 00:50:58.20 | Ray Withey | Yes, thanks. |
| 00:51:00.46 | Brian Mora | On the assistant city manager position, as the mayor noted, that position was before you on September 27th was approved. In that report it noted that there was an increased cost of that position of roughly $4,900, and that was in that report. In the position that the assistant city manager is in, that position was not formerly finance manager, it was formerly administrative services director. The finance manager was a position that the city attempted to fill in the year 2015-2016. Unfortunately, the salary that was budgeted at that time was substantially below what those positions went for in the open market. The salary, the top step of that position in 2015, this city had at 96,000. The average salary at that time on the open market was 135,000. So it's perhaps not surprising that when you went out twice for that position you were unable to fill it both times. Um, Subsequent to that, the position was downgraded to an administrative aid At the time, again, I was not involved in that discussion, but apparently there was a feeling that that was a higher need in that department. That position's now vacant, and essentially, when I reviewed the needs in the administration department, and most specifically in finance, it seemed to me that by moving in the direction that the city had previously been, namely instead of having two administrative aides, moving back to one, which you had before, and taking that vacant position and upgrading it to senior accountant, which is not as high a level as finance manager, admittedly. But it gives you an accounting position. And as I noted in the staff report, one of the challenges that all cities face, including this one, is that there has been a astronomical increase in state reporting requirements and finance reporting requirements. Prior to 1984, there were no government accounting standards requirements to get your annual audit. Today, we've gone from zero to 90 such requirements, averaging three to five new ones every single year. What that means is that even in the smallest city, even in cities the size of Sausalito and Colma and places like that, the days of not having an accountant in your finance department are pretty much done. And what I'm finding in working with a number of cities over the last couple years with regional government government services, is that one by one everybody's adding an accountant. And I know that this city tried that three years ago, your salary was way too low. And so what is being proposed here is a position with a control point of $113,000, which is again above what you were going to pay finance manager, several years ago, but it is significantly below what you're paying the administrative services director. As far as the senior accountant position, Councilmember Hoffman is correct that this report talks about the fact that this salary projection is for six months. This assumes the person would be hired in January, given that we're just now coming to you with this report. That's probably not likely to occur. on a full year basis you're looking at double that amount in terms of the additional cost. There's going to be an additional cost. It's also envisioned and this comes under the heading of future considerations. We did talk to the committee about the fact that if you hire a senior accountant and after several years of experience that person can be developed to move up, that is the sort of person who could develop into a finance manager. However, you The caveat here is that if you want a finance manager, next time you try this, you're going to have to pay, I believe, the going rate, which now is going to be north of $135,000 at the top step. And one of the challenges that you're going to find in finance is that when you look at positions in cities today, the hardest positions to find are, in fact fact qualified, seasoned finance professionals. The only other positions that are really almost as difficult are public works positions and HR positions. And so that's something to be aware of. You can hopefully develop the senior accountant, assuming you can find one, to the next level, but there'll be additional cost. So those are some of the answers to the questions, but I'll be happy to |
| 00:55:29.28 | Joan Cox | And Brian, in terms of good accounting practices, isn't it also important to separate duties between various members of the accounting department so that not one member of the accounting department is responsible for, say, tracking all of the receivables and all of the payables, but that is split up so that you have checks and balances within the department. |
| 00:55:50.80 | Brian Mora | Mayor Cox, you're absolutely correct. And one of the challenges in a city of this small size is because you do have so few people in finance and in administration trying to create that separation of duties is challenging. I know in the time that I've been here, one of the changes I've recommended that has been adopted by the city manager is to change, for example, the system security from the ASD position to the IT manager. And we've shifted around some other things. And now that you have the new assistant city manager, Yulia Carter, I suspect that she also will be taking a close look at that in terms of how can you, with a relatively small team, move things around so you maximize separation of duties. But you're right, that is a concern in any city. Thank you. in terms of how can you with a relatively small team move things around so you maximize separation of duties. But you're right, that is a concern in any city, but particularly one this small. And I'm sure that when you get your annual audit, that's something the auditors will be looking at, absolutely. |
| 00:56:40.06 | Joan Cox | And so with this proposed new position, will that facilitate that process of properly segregating the duties amongst the accounting personnel? |
| 00:56:49.24 | Brian Mora | I think it will significantly improve segregation of duties. Also, I think it will improve your ability to, on a quick and timely basis, put together state reports, your accounting standards, your audits, your comprehensive reports. And I think another thing too I should mention is when I worked with the city roughly three years ago, you had a third senior accounting tech, but I always referred to him as sort of your secret weapon because actually prior to becoming a senior accounting tech at this city, he had been a controller for a small construction company. So he was in effect, half of his time was really as sort of an accountant one, if you will, even though that was not his job classification. Unfortunately, due to health and other reasons, he left the city. And so now you're in a worse spot from my perspective than you were three years ago, because not only did you not get the finance manager, but your half accountant in effect is also not here. So I think you're even more dire straits than you were before. And hence, I would say of all of the recommendations in this report, the upgrade of that one aid position, senior accountant is perhaps the most important thing here. Now I recognize that by taking away the second aid, there'll be less coverage in the department. And that may mean that the remaining employees may have to do some additional clerical tasks or it may not be as convenient for them there. I mean, to keep the head count the same and to not increase your budget is a challenge, but I think that's a trade off well worth taking. |
| 00:58:19.92 | Joan Cox | And finally, when you came to us at the Finance Committee, you had made some other recommendations regarding salary and such. We made a decision at the Finance Committee level to defer those negotiations until the time that we undertake the MOU that Council Member Hoffman discussed earlier this evening, correct? |
| 00:58:26.84 | Brian Mora | Correct. |
| 00:58:38.00 | Brian Mora | That is correct. There were two positions that were recommended for equity adjustments. Namely your HR manager, who our initial review shows is 9% below the market. And your IT manager, who is 18% under the market. And you'll see that what we've done, consistent with the recommendation of the finance committee, is we've taken those recommendations out of tonight's recommendation for action. However, we've put them in a section called future consideration. And the concerns that I have there are a couple fold. First of all, as you bring in a new assistant city manager and administrative services director, I think it's a problem that her two key managers underneath her are both so far out of market. You don't want to lose those people. They have, both of them have extensive experience and they're exactly the seasoned qualified people that are in short supply right now in the world of city government. And those are the folks that, to use an expression, could be poached from you at any time. So it's important when you do get into the negotiation session to take a hard look at that. There are some other positions across the organization who are in a similar bind. And I think again again, when you get into the negotiation process, you'll want to look at those two. The only reason these two were moved ahead was because since we're taking a comprehensive look at this department, it seemed to me it would be inappropriate for me not to highlight that and bring it to the attention of the committee. |
| 00:59:59.27 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:59:59.28 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:59:59.42 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Other questions? |
| 01:00:00.78 | Ray Withey | Yeah. So. When the proposal to create the assistant city manager position was brought to the city council back in September, which did not go through finance committee. It was presented as the assistant city manager as a shift from the duties of the treasurer, which at that time was Melanie Purcell had left, but she was the one that acted really as our finance director. Those duties were going to shift to the new assistant city manager position, and that's why the differential was only like $9,000 per year. That's the way it was presented to us at the city council on September 25th. However, That's not accurate because the difference between the cost of the prior assistant city manager that did not have the financial the finance manager duties was 116. So you had the real differential was $80,000 that you're paying the new assistant city manager. additional $80,000, the finance the finance duties were supposed to shift to the new assistant city manager. But now what you're telling us, and what we're seeing here in this proposal now, is that we need to hire a new senior accountant and that we're likely going to have to hire another financial manager. Because we don't have that position right now because we shifted that supposedly, duty from the finance director, or what we called treasurer, over to the new assistant city manager. trying to get to at this point is that. And I shouldn't have to do it on the fly, by the way, as part of a consent item that I pull off consent. But what I'm trying to get is that you haven't accurately talked about what the cost of this is. And so how can we possibly be prepared and responsibly vote on this as a city council today when it hasn't been accurately reflected? We were sold a bill of goods on September 25th. That's how I feel. Okay, what's your question? |
| 01:02:09.22 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:02:09.24 | Ray Withey | THE END OF |
| 01:02:09.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Maybe I can help with some questions. |
| 01:02:09.32 | Ray Withey | Maybe I can. |
| 01:02:10.01 | Joan Cox | help. |
| 01:02:13.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Brian, thank you for the report. Is there by this reorganization a net increase in FTEs? No. Thank you. By this reorganization, on a full annualized basis, what is the actual net, what is the overall cost to the city of this reorganization on an annualized basis? |
| 01:02:41.77 | Brian Mora | On an annualized basis, it's just north of $50,000. Okay. Because you'd have the accountant full year versus six months. |
| 01:02:45.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Okay. And, um... And just to clarify, the assistant city manager is actually the responsibilities that were previously assigned to Melanie, the administrative services director. Correct. Plus, the added functionality of assistant city manager, which was previously part combined with the city clerk positions, is that correct? That is correct. Thank you. |
| 01:03:25.06 | Ray Withey | Brian, how much is a new finance manager going to cost? |
| 01:03:28.36 | Brian Mora | The new finance manager, assuming that you upgrade the senior accountant someday to finance manager, is probably going to be in the range of The control point's probably 140 to 145,000, my guess. |
| 01:03:40.65 | Joan Cox | But that action is not before us this evening. |
| 01:03:42.84 | Brian Mora | That's correct. That's under future. |
| 01:03:43.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 01:03:43.08 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:03:43.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Correct. |
| 01:03:43.33 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 01:03:43.38 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That's under future. There is no finance manager in this reorganization. |
| 01:03:48.75 | Brian Mora | That's correct, it's shown as a potential future action which the city may wish to take. |
| 01:03:53.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you And so presumably if the city was going to make that recommendation, that would be part of the next budget cycle if that was the timing. |
| 01:04:03.18 | Brian Mora | I would imagine, again, assuming that you hire the senior accountant and assuming such a person could be developed, that's probably like three budgets from now, not next budget. |
| 01:04:11.92 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, so really finance manager here is a complete red herring. There's, it's not- |
| 01:04:18.77 | Brian Mora | It's a future. We'll see you in three years. |
| 01:04:21.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:04:22.01 | Brian Mora | Thank you. |
| 01:04:23.88 | Ray Withey | Any other questions of Brian? So let me ask you this then. So are you saying that at this point in time, We don't have the necessity for finance manager. |
| 01:04:35.70 | Brian Mora | I guess what I'm saying is in the perfect world, You would have both the assistant city manager, administrative services director, and a finance manager. In the interest of not increasing your budget, my recommendation is instead to go one level down from finance manager, which would be senior accountant. Which by moving around some of the folks and the step increases, etc., you can afford to do that without any increase in your budget. But if you were to Add additional money, that's certainly an option, yes. |
| 01:05:14.44 | Joan Cox | Other questions of Brian? All right, we've already taken public comment on this, so I'll entertain a motion. unless there are other comments from council members. Yeah, I had public comment on the entire consent column. |
| 01:05:29.78 | Joe Burns | I'll just make the brief comment that I appreciate your slide in here regarding the GASB. For people that don't understand that growth, it's a reporting system for our pension and OPEB that obviously has increased, as you mentioned, 90-fold in 20-something years. But it's also in line with all the other changes that have happened in finance, and specifically in our finance, which is more attention to pension, more attention to those items and then the transparency process that we've gone through. As we look at future positions that was brought up in this item as far as IT, we heard a couple of weeks ago on the development of |
| 01:05:52.95 | Katie Faulkner | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:06:00.68 | Katie Faulkner | Yeah. |
| 01:06:12.66 | Joe Burns | the risk of in our IT departments through cybercrime. And that is something that we're going to need to also put money through, that we're achieving what we are with what we have provided you. Thank you. You're welcome. |
| 01:06:30.50 | Joan Cox | Councilmember Cleveland Knowles pointed out. asked if I was going to ask for public comment. We've had extensive dialogue on this item since pulling it from consent, so I am going to give the public an opportunity to comment on this if they would like. All right, seeing none, I'm going to bring it back up here for further discussion and a motion. |
| 01:06:50.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Um, I'm prepared to make a motion. I think I appreciate Councilmember Hoffman's need for clarification. So, um... But in future, we need to actually use our consent calendar more. Our meetings are too full, they're too long. On tonight's consent calendar appropriately. We had a Awarding of a construction contract for over $1.7 million. One that actually also had a Contractor protest involved. which I have every confidence that staff suitably resolved. We have on our consent calendar a major change. Um, being proposed to our zoning ordinance. So this council is going to have to decide And I'm not criticizing anybody. This council is going to have to decide how it wants to use a consent calendar, unless we're going to be here at midnight every night, which I'm not prepared to do. So with that, I make a motion to Approve the administrative department reorganization. I don't have a resolution in front of me, so I'm winging it here. And amending the staffing levels and salary ranges pursuant to the resolution attached in the package. to establish the positions of senior accountant management analyst and amending the position and salary range of the city clerk. |
| 01:08:37.95 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:08:37.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:08:38.00 | Joan Cox | still in discussion? I'm waiting for a second and then we can further discuss if necessary. A second. All right. Further comment? |
| 01:08:45.97 | Ray Withey | Yeah. So I, I completely agree with Ray that we need to bring, streamline and that we need to talk about things on consent. Or not talk about things on consent, to leave them on the consent to get it done. I agree with that. But not when we're talking about something like this. And I would hope that between now and when we start our negotiations on the MOU that there are no further shuffles of our employees, you know, Moving around are the pieces of the puzzle. the mayor requested and that I requested was that we have a chart. the names of the people so that we could actually see where people were going to move and what the effect was. Um, we got We got something, but not something that that specific. So I would hope that between now and like I said, when we start, that there's no further additions to the staff, there's no further reshuffling of the staff, that we actually have accurate representation when we start our MOU discussions about what our staff is. |
| 01:09:49.47 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:09:49.49 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 01:09:49.98 | Joan Cox | If there's no further discussion, I'll ask Serge to call the roll. |
| 01:09:57.64 | Serge | Councilmember Withey? Yes. Councilmember Clifton Knowles? Yes. Councilmember Hoffman? No. Vice Mayor Burns? |
| 01:10:01.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:10:01.13 | Joan Cox | Yes. Thank you. |
| 01:10:05.50 | Joe Burns | Yes. |
| 01:10:05.75 | Serge | Mayor Cox. |
| 01:10:06.97 | Joan Cox | Yes, that motion carries 4-1. And before we move on to our next item, I'd like to invite Brian Mora back up to the podium for a moment. |
| 01:10:20.70 | Joan Cox | Brian, several of us noticed in the staff report that your contract assignment with the city of Sausalito ends at the end of this month. So we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your service to the city of Sausalito over the years. You have jumped in for us on several occasions and your calm, competent presentation this evening is an example of the presentations that we've enjoyed from you both at the finance committee level and The City Council. We greatly appreciate everything that you have taught us and the organized manner in which you have presented data and explanation. So thank you very much. |
| 01:10:54.27 | Brian Mora | Thank you, Mayor, members of council, it's been a pleasure. |
| 01:11:04.01 | Joan Cox | All right, we'll now move on to our public hearing items. The first one is 5A, introduction of ordinances amending the Sausalito Municipal Code table. In order to bring the city's code into compliance with recent state law regarding accessory dwelling regulations and amending our Sausalito Municipal Table to establish regulations and an amnesty program for junior accessory dwelling unit regulations. We'll welcome Katie Faulkner, our Associate Planner. |
| 01:11:39.80 | Katie Faulkner | All right, good evening, Mayor Cox, members of the City Council. and the public. My name is Katie Faulkner and I'm an associate planner with the city of Sausalito. Tonight, I'm going to talk about the proposed Zoning Ordinance Amendment regarding accessory dwelling units or ADUs for short, and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units, or JADUs for short. All right, up on the screen is an outline of tonight's presentation. I will review the recommended motion, provide some background on ADUs, go over the proposed ADU amendments, then give some background on JADUs. review the proposed JADU ordinance, go over some further information, and finally go over staff's recommendation. All right. So first, I just want to give you a very quick high level overview of what the proposed amendments will do. They will add regulations for junior accessory dwelling units, They will bring the city's municipal code into compliance with recent changes to the state law with regard to accessory dwelling units. and they will establish an amnesty period for existing unpermitted ADUs and JADUs. So, the recommended motion tonight is to introduce and read by title only a zoning ordinance amendment to Sausalito Municipal Code section 10.44 .080 Accessory Dwelling Unit Regulations, section 10.88.040, specialized terms and land use definitions and table 10.22-1 site development standards residential zoning districts further introduce and read by title only a zoning ordinance amendment to add a new Sausalito Municipal Code section 10.44.085, junior accessory dwelling unit regulations, and amend section 10.88.040, and table 10.22-1, site development standards for residential zoning districts. Further, direct staff to return on January 8th, 2019, for a second reading. and authorize a summary of the ordinance to be published five days in advance of the second reading and 15 days after its adoption. All right, so to now give you a little history of these proposed amendments, on October 30th, 2018, at the City Council meeting, the City Council directed staff to proceed with these Zoning ordinance amendments by taking the proposed amendments to a Planning Commission hearing, and soliciting the advice of the Planning Commission on three specific topics, which will be discussed later in this presentation. at the November 7th, 2018 Planning Commission meeting the Commission conducted public hearings on EDUs and JEDUs. and continued the public hearings to December 5th, 2018, for further information. And at the December 5th hearing, the Planning Commission. conducted public hearings again on ADUs and JADUs. and recommended and adopted resolutions recommending City Council adoption of the proposed zoning ordinance amendments. All right, and now I will give some background information on ADUs. So just very basically, What is an ADU? Simply, it's an accessory dwelling unit An accessory dwelling unit is a small unit accessory to a primary unit. They're more commonly known as in-law units, mother-in-law units, secondary dwelling units, granny flats, or carriage houses. These units are either included in or attached to a main residence, or they could be located in a detached structure. They also have exterior access, their own kitchen, and their own bathroom facilities. So, in Sausalito, we have three different types of accessory dwelling units. We have attached ADUs, which are constructed as a separate structure from the primary dwelling unit on the lot. We also have attached ADUs, which share a common wall with the primary dwelling unit. Both examples are showing up on the screen now. And lastly, we have interior conversions, which are units which are constructed within existing legal space. ADUs have many benefits to society, including providing needed rental housing units. their construction costs are affordable because you don't have to pay for new land. and you can also build them with cost effective wood construction a wood frame construction. they can provide an extra source of income to the homeowners renting them out. ADUs can provide a place for extended families to live together while still having some privacy. And finally, ADUs are an affordable rental option. All right. you ADU state law. So currently, state law requires the non-discretionary staff level approval of an ADU if certain requirements are satisfied. And the state laws regarding ADUs have been revised over the years in order to increase effectiveness. So new state ADU laws became effective on January 1st, 2017, and January 1, 2018. And the January 1st, 2018 updates are partly why we're here today. So to go over... a little bit of what those Updates did. They clarified that an ADU can be created through the conversion of a garage carport or covered parking structure. They allowed replacement parking for converted parking structure to be located in any configuration on the site. They allowed ADUs to be built concurrently with a single family home. at these regulations. opened up. Areas where an ADU can be built to include all zoning districts that allow single-family uses. and they also modified fees from utilities. Now a little history on Sausalito's ADU regulations. They were initially adopted back in 2012. and included a limited amnesty period. I'm not sure. But then our regulations were updated at the end of 2017 in order to comply with the 2017 state law updates. and now staff is recommending an amendment to comply with the 2018 state law updates and to provide a limited number of clarifications. Right, and now I will review the proposed zoning ordinance amendments related to ADUs. So, we have a few different categories of updates. First, to update our regulations to comply with the state law. Next, update our regulations to comply with fair housing requirements. Third, provide a limited number of clarification updates. And finally, there's a city council directed update. Okay, let's go over the updates related to the state law. Right. So, um, These updates include amending the applicability section to allow ADUs in all other zones where single-family homes are allowed, streamlining the process for interior conversions of single family homes or garages or accessory structures, associated with single family homes. limiting the review period to 120 days of receiving an application instead of deeming it complete. modifying the standards to allow ADUs, even if there is only a proposed dwelling for the site, Changing the ADU minimum size to allow an efficiency unit, which is currently 150 square feet under state law. modifying language regarding parking and the setbacks, and exempting interior ADUs in single family homes from parking requirements. Right. Moving on, in order to comply with fair housing requirements, we have removed references to bedroom limits, because those bedroom limits could have the effect of not allowing families with children to be in ADUs. All right, now for a few of the staff recommended updates. The purpose of these updates is just to take care of a few small issues staff notice while applying the regulations over the past year. These updates will modify ADU floor area regulation so that ADUs are not counted as part of the primary unit's FAR and coverage when calculating the development standards for dwelling units in two family and multi-family residential zoning districts. They will limit the size of detached units to no greater than 50%. of the existing living area of the primary dwelling unit up to a 800 square foot maximum in order to match the size limits of attached units Add a size restriction for interior ADUs on parcels that do not contain single-family dwellings. Add. deed restriction language to ensure that the owner occupancy provision that is currently in the codes is enforceable. Combine two sections related to building coverage and impervious surfaces, just to simplify the regulations. Clarify the definition of accessory dwelling unit required off-street parking areas. to specify that the street widths are determined by data in the city's pavement management system, just to make it a little easier for staff and the public to understand. All right, and finally, at the direction of City Council, we have included a new amnesty period for unpermitted accessory dwelling units to come into compliance. |
| 01:22:17.13 | Joan Cox | I'm going to interrupt you for a quick question. So one of the things I think recommended by the legislative committee was that also ADUs not be eligible to be used as short term rentals. |
| 01:22:28.39 | Katie Faulkner | Yes, that was considered. I believe that was put off until the short-term rental issue came back before the council because it could be addressed at that time. Right now, short-term rentals aren't allowed anywhere in Sausalito. De facto, they aren't allowed in accessory dwelling units. |
| 01:22:45.50 | Joan Cox | So the legislative committee recommended it be part of the ordinance because otherwise we have to come back. |
| 01:22:50.48 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:22:50.49 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:22:50.55 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:22:50.56 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:22:50.61 | Joan Cox | if we adopt a pilot program and redo the ordinance. So instead of redoing the ordinance, may as well make the ordinance consistent with what council has already indicated would be part of a pilot program, if a pilot program are adopted, and that's consistent with our current prohibition. and I would hope in the future that if staff makes a decision not to proceed with direction, that you give us a heads up that you've decided not to proceed in a way that we directed. |
| 01:23:19.89 | Katie Faulkner | All right. I apologize that there wasn't a heads up. |
| 01:23:26.17 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:23:26.19 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:23:26.22 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:23:26.81 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:23:27.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:23:27.30 | Mary Wagner | And if I may, Madam Mayor, I believe that we can address that in any short term rental regulations that are brought forward. They will be an amendment to your zoning ordinance. So as Katie indicated, currently short term rentals are banned in all zoning districts in all types of housing units. So if the council wants to make. |
| 01:23:27.42 | Unknown | . |
| 01:23:48.32 | Mary Wagner | If the council considers adopting short term rental program, you can easily make that change at that point and we can bring that forward then. |
| 01:23:57.57 | Unknown | you Or we could add that this evening to the proposed ordinance. Although that was not considered by the planning commission. But I thought we could. |
| 01:24:09.03 | Joan Cox | a shame because that was the direction of the legislative committee. So, But I thought that we could review this de novo, that we didn't have to only consider |
| 01:24:23.97 | Unknown | things considered by the Planning Commission so it's it's a little bit |
| 01:24:28.03 | Mary Wagner | So I believe when the legislative committee was considering this item, the council was also contemplating the short term rental pilot program, so they were coming in tandem. The issue with this issue not having been considered by the planning commission, Is that. If the council makes changes to a zoning ordinance that's been Considered by the Planning Commission. If that includes items that were not considered by the planning commission, those items have to return to them for a recommendation. |
| 01:25:00.45 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Madam Mayor, just for sort of fairness sake, the fact that this is not included was mentioned in the staff report on page 6, so, you know. |
| 01:25:18.23 | Katie Faulkner | All right. Thank you. |
| 01:25:19.96 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:25:19.97 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. Moving on to JADU, background information. All right. |
| 01:25:34.89 | Katie Faulkner | So, in 2016, the state passed a law that explicitly allowed local governments to adopt an ordinance for junior accessory dwelling units. The Sausalito City Council heard a presentation on the possibility of creating a JADU. regulations. on October 30, 2018, and directed staff to initiate a zoning ordinance amendment. at the December 5th, 2018 Planning Commission meeting the Planning Commission, adopted a resolution recommending that the City Council adopt the proposed zoning ordinance amendment related to junior accessory dwelling units. Hey, so. What is a junior accessory dwelling unit? Pretty plainly, it's halfway between renting a room to a roommate and having a full second unit or a full accessory dwelling unit. These units are smaller than accessory dwelling units. They're limited to 500 square feet in size. and they are created from exclusively existing living space in an existing dwelling. JADUs have an entrance both into the main dwelling and a separate entrance into the outside, or outside. They also have separate cooking facilities. But it doesn't have to be quite a full kitchen. A small kitchenette could also suffice. They are allowed to share bathroom facilities with the main house, which makes them just a little more flexible to add. These units also share central systems with the main unit and require no septic fire separation, and again, all these things make them a little easier to add, a little cheaper to add to an existing house. All right, so there are many benefits to adding a junior accessory dwelling unit. They provide affordable housing They allow homeowners to repurpose existing underutilized space and to generate extra income. they allow people to stay in their homes for longer. They can provide housing for parents, or adult children or caregivers. THEY PROVIDE They allow for minimal construction and impact to the neighborhood because they're put in already existing spaces. And finally, JADUs can be credited towards Sausalito's regional housing need allocation. or otherwise known as RENA, and I'll go into that a little more later in the presentation. Right. So the draft junior accessory dwelling unit regulations were created by referencing the California government code San Rafael's JADU regulations, and Sausalito's ADU regulations. These draft regulations allow JADUs in all zoning districts where single family residences are allowed They require JADUs to be constructed within the existing walls of the primary dwelling unit. They require the inclusion of an existing bedroom to comply with state law. at Again, they're restricted to no more than 500 square feet. They require a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector. We require a separate entrance from the main entrance to the primary dwelling unit. Um, We also require an interior entry into the primary dwelling unit. An efficiency kitchen is required, at least. Right now we're only allowing one JADU per parcel. And finally, the draft regulations provide for a JADU amnesty period. |
| 01:29:16.04 | Katie Faulkner | All right, so at the October 30th, 2018 City Council hearing, the City Council requested that the Planning Commission provide direction on the following questions. One, should an ADU and a JADU be allowed on the same property? Two, should notices be mailed to neighbors for JADUs? And three, should the primary dwelling unit be required to come into compliance with today's parking requirements, in order to be approved for a junior accessory dwelling unit permit. Right. So let's go over the first question. Should an ADU and a JADU be allowed on the same property? So at the Planning Commission meeting, staff presented the table up on the screen to demonstrate different scenarios that would be possible if an ADU and a JADU were allowed on the same property. All right, so under scenario one, you could have a single family zoned parcel with an existing single family dwelling unit. Um, This would allow a JADU within the walls of a primary dwelling unit and an attached or attached ADU. Again, this is if the regulations allowed both. Under scenario two, a two unit condominium where each unit is considered a primary dwelling unit parcel. would allow each condominium property owner to add one ADU and 1JADU to their condominium unit parcel. So that'd be a total of four new units to the common parcel. Under scenario three, if you had a triplex, with three units on a multi-family zoned parcel with a single owner, therefore not a condominium, This would allow the property owner to add one JADU and one ADU, and that would be it. So with that information in mind, the Planning Commission provided the following direction. They suggested that an ADU and a JADU not be principally permitted on the same property. However, they did provide an exception. they suggested that if a property already contained an ADU, then the property owner should be required to apply for and obtain a conditional use permit. to add a JADU to the property. and if a property already contained a JADU, and the property owner would be required to either remove the JADU or obtain a conditional use permit for the JADU before they could add an ADU to their property as well. |
| 01:31:57.02 | Joan Cox | going to pause you for a question. |
| 01:31:57.63 | Katie Faulkner | for a |
| 01:31:58.21 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Can I just ask what the reasons that the Planning Commission gave for this? conclusion? |
| 01:32:03.88 | Katie Faulkner | I think they were a little bit worried about How many units could be added potentially under scenario two and potentially the parking impacts of adding you know, maybe two extra units to a parcel or maybe four extra units if it's a condominium. |
| 01:32:20.33 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Okay. Thank you. |
| 01:32:21.27 | Katie Faulkner | you |
| 01:32:21.39 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:32:21.65 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:32:25.70 | Katie Faulkner | All right. So, moving on to question two. Should notices be mailed to neighbors for JADU applications? So staff provided the planning commission with the information up on the screen in regards to this question. Specifically, the draft JADU regulations were written to not require notice for JADUs. I'm not sure. So if you have a new attached ADU or a new detached ADU, staff is required to mail out public notices in those instances, just for reference. And these public notices let neighbors know that an application for an ADU has been filed, that they can view the plans and provide comments before the decision is rendered. However, if staff receives an interior ADU application. weed for a single family home right now. that doesn't require public notice. So staff is recommending that JADUs are most similar to interior accessory dwelling units So a JADU application should not be noticed. And the Planning Commission agreed with that recommendation, and their own recommendation was that JADU permit applications should not require public notice. Alright. Question three, should the primary dwelling unit be required to come into compliance with today's parking requirements in order to be approved for a junior accessory dwelling unit permit? So the Planning Commission was presented with the options up on the screen. I'm They vary from very strict requirements, requiring that the primary unit come into complete compliance with today's code. no exceptions. to on the other end of least restrictive, to no additional parking for the primary unit required. Other options included maybe one parking space required for the a primary dwelling unit or potentially getting a conditional use permit if you couldn't meet those requirements. So, the Planning Commission decided to go somewhere in the middle. um, they just, So decided to recommend that the primary dwelling unit should currently provide at least one parking space, or add one parking space if it wasn't currently in compliance. If the primary dwelling unit doesn't have at least one parking space, the property owner can request a conditional use permit, similar to the waiver process in the ADU regulations. All right. |
| 01:35:09.62 | Ray Withey | Can I pause? Yeah, yeah. Wasn't that part of the, I thought part of the state law was that you could not require parking. Not for the J. |
| 01:35:17.08 | Joan Cox | So the JADU, but you can insist upon compliance with the primary dwelling parking regulations. Okay. That's what this distinction is. Okay, thanks. |
| 01:35:23.90 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:35:30.70 | Katie Faulkner | All right, and now I'll move on to further clarifying information. So the following information was provided to answer questions that came up at the November 7th, 2018 Planning Commission hearing on ADUs and JADUs. And I'm including it tonight because it might still be relevant. There might still be someone out there who has questions about this. Um... Okay, so now I will discuss parking requirements for ADUs, current versus proposed zoning standards for ADUs, requirements for sewer and water hookups, and progress toward meeting the city's RENA, or regional housing needs allocation. Yes. |
| 01:36:10.23 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 01:36:11.35 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:36:11.38 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:36:11.40 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:36:11.52 | Joan Cox | Okay. So is there a way to streamline this portion of your presentation since it's not directly related to the direction that you're seeking from us? |
| 01:36:17.80 | Katie Faulkner | Yeah. Sure, we could skip over this. |
| 01:36:21.27 | Joan Cox | Well, I don't necessarily need you to skip over it, but if there are some highlights you want us to be sure to be aware of, |
| 01:36:22.45 | Katie Faulkner | or a single person. but, |
| 01:36:30.10 | Joan Cox | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:36:31.04 | Katie Faulkner | Yeah, so maybe I'll just go over parking quickly because that's been kind of an issue at the planning commission meetings. So just want to let you know where we're all. |
| 01:36:40.02 | Joan Cox | Bearing in mind, for those members of the public who are here and watching, the entire presentation is online and is on Granicus and has been provided to us for review. |
| 01:36:53.52 | Katie Faulkner | Yeah. All right, so ADUs and parking. Back in 2012, the first regulations for ADUs only required one or two parking spaces depending on unit size, and then the 2017 state laws prevented cities from imposing off-street ADU parking requirements within one-half mile of public transit. And as you can see on the screen, on the map, on the side. pretty much all of Sausalito's residential districts are within one-half mile of public transit. So in 2017, the city council exempted ADU permit applications from parking requirements unless on streets less than 16 feet in width in order to allow a fire truck to safely access the site. So, tonight the only proposed change to the parking requirements is clarifying how you determine a street 16 feet in width. We're recommending that that be done using the city's pavement management system. So what that would mean is All the streets highlighted in red are under 16 feet in width. And please note that even though a street might be listed, only a portion of it is maybe under 16 feet in width. It might not be the whole street on the list. So it's just the parts in red. |
| 01:38:17.84 | Joan Cox | Okay, and then from there, can you skip to our progress towards IRENA and how ADUs have helped us with that? |
| 01:38:23.50 | Katie Faulkner | Sure. |
| 01:38:27.11 | Katie Faulkner | All right, so progress towards Rina. So a little bit of background, each year Sausalito must provide an annual progress report to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, also called HCD. on the implementation status of the city's housing element. HCD assign Sausalito a regional housing needs allocation. also called RENA. of, 79 units to plan for for the 2015 to 2023 housing element period and with a number distributed to very low, low, moderate, and above moderate income levels. To date, Sausalito has reported 27 permitted units within the very low and low categories, and this is directly attributable to the permitting of ADUs within the last four years. |
| 01:39:04.91 | Bjorn Gripenberg | MMM. |
| 01:39:16.72 | Katie Faulkner | Okay, so up on the screen now is a complicated table that breaks that down. Basically, we've had a lot of ADUs in the last few years, and they've really helped us meet these goals. |
| 01:39:29.92 | Joan Cox | That's great. |
| 01:39:31.06 | Katie Faulkner | Okay. you So moving on to staff recommendation. Staff recommends the City Council introduce and read by title only a zoning ordinance amendment to Sausalito Municipal Code section 10.44, .080, Accessory Dwelling Unit Regulations, Section 10. 88 dot 040, specialized terms and land use definitions, and Table 10.22-1, Site Development Standards, Residential Zoning Districts. I think further introduce and read by title only a zoning ordinance amendment to add New Sausalito Municipal Code section 10.44.085, Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit Regulations, and Amend section 10.88. Stop. 40 specialized terms and land use definitions and table 10.22-1, site development standards and residential zoning districts. Further direct staff to return on January 8, 2019 for a second reading. Authorize a summary of the ordinance to be published five days in advance of the second reading and 15 days after its adoption. And that concludes my presentation. Steph is available for questions. |
| 01:40:47.96 | Joan Cox | And then, Katie, in addition to what you have up here, you're also asking for us to either confirm or revise that the recommendations of the Planning Commission on those three issues. Right? whether ADU and a JADU can both be on the same property. whether notices should be mailed to neighbors, and whether the primary unit has to come up to compliance on parking. Yes. |
| 01:41:11.88 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 01:41:12.57 | Joan Cox | Great. With that, questions of Katie? |
| 01:41:15.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Quick question. Katie, thank you for a very excellent presentation. With regards to Jade, the junior units being applicable to being allowed to be part of the arena. I mean, some years ago, HCD was not basically allowing that. So have they just changed their minds in the way they're issuing their regulations, or has there been some action at the state level to do that? Do you guys know that, or is it just currently HCD's position? |
| 01:41:53.20 | Katie Faulkner | I'm not sure of the history. I pulled that information from an HCD report on junior accessory dwelling units. |
| 01:41:59.12 | Joan Cox | Okay. And I will say that there is action afoot on that front, Councilmember Withey. So we met with Senator McGuire to recommend that he include in his housing |
| 01:42:01.35 | Katie Faulkner | and I will say. |
| 01:42:05.60 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Right. |
| 01:42:09.15 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Right. |
| 01:42:15.43 | Joan Cox | bill that both junior ADUs and ADUs |
| 01:42:18.14 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:42:19.83 | Joan Cox | BE. eligible to count as housing given the state's increase of the size permissible for ADUs which takes some of them out of the affordable category. |
| 01:42:33.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I'm just referring back to when I was an ABAG rep. Yeah. HDT's position was junior units just didn't count. |
| 01:42:45.55 | Mary Wagner | Okay. Councilmember Withey, if I may, just looking at HCD's website right now, one of the informational documents that they have posted with frequently asked questions about JADUs, asks that very question, can a JADU count towards the RHNA? And the answer they post is yes, as part of the housing element portion of the general plan. |
| 01:42:57.94 | Katie Faulkner | you know. |
| 01:43:02.91 | Mary Wagner | that they can count towards Reno. We'll verify that as we move forward into the next cycle of complying with the housing element reporting, but I did want to let you know that that is on their site. |
| 01:43:05.80 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 01:43:05.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, good. |
| 01:43:14.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Good, because they should. |
| 01:43:15.97 | Joan Cox | Absolutely. Other questions of Katie? Yeah, I have a question. |
| 01:43:21.24 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So this is kind of a minor side issue that came to my attention in reading the staff report. And I asked earlier about this question and I just wasn't sure if other council members, I'm sure Joan is aware. But so there's a recommendation on page 152 of the whole packet. to update a deed restriction for owner occupancy of ADUs. And I was not aware that our local ordinance requires owner occupancy in order to have an ADU. And I asked whether that was some state law requirement or not. and I got an answer you can say what the answer is if you want, but I got the answer back that state law allows us to require owner occupancy but does not require that we do that. And then I also asked why was this decision made? And Lily provided an answer, some background, yeah. that I just thought was interesting. |
| 01:44:24.67 | Lily | that I just, Thank you, Councilmember Cleland-Nolse. So we did take a look back in the record from 2012 when the ADU ordinances were being adopted. So the owner occupancy restriction is only in single family neighborhoods. It's not for the multifamily neighborhoods. And the thought was that single family residences only are allowed in those neighborhoods and by adding an additional unit and not restricting either of those units to owner occupancy, then you create somewhat of a duplex situation with two different rental units on the property. |
| 01:44:59.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Thank you. So yeah, just so people might be thinking about this, I believe that that's not. conducive to long-term increasing of our housing stock and that renters, you know, we have a lot of renters in Sausalito, including of single-family homes, who are quite responsible and excellent tenants. And I would propose later on the comment period that we remove that. |
| 01:45:33.03 | Joe Burns | And I'll kind of follow up on a question just to confirm, because we talked about this at the last meeting. You don't have to make a declaration that the ADU or the JADU is going to be used as a rental or a housing stock property. It could simply be for personal use in perpetuity with no real impact on the housing market. |
| 01:45:51.41 | Katie Faulkner | So we can't require somebody to rent out. an ADU if they have something else in mind. |
| 01:45:58.16 | Joe Burns | I just want to bring that confused. It's kind of a, you know, we're cutting out potential housing stock by not allowing the non-unoccupied |
| 01:45:58.61 | Katie Faulkner | Right. |
| 01:46:04.64 | Joe Burns | And then in reality, we could be losing. And I just want to make sure that the public knows that you don't have to rent it out. |
| 01:46:13.31 | Joan Cox | True, but it does not matter what an owner does with their ADU. If there is an ADU on the property, it counts as housing stock. Regardless of how it's actually used, we have to identify the number of units. |
| 01:46:27.00 | Joe Burns | you |
| 01:46:27.35 | Joan Cox | in town. |
| 01:46:28.16 | Joe Burns | But we also identify the number of potential units in other types of construction. |
| 01:46:31.27 | Joan Cox | Correct. |
| 01:46:35.84 | Joan Cox | Any other questions of Katie? |
| 01:46:38.31 | Joe Burns | Okay. On the J-8 news, I appreciate your language, Kate, that is accurate, because I've actually read some other I read some other codes where they say only the bedroom can be used, and it's including the bedroom. And I found it kind of odd that some places actually said only they made it exclusive to the bedroom area, which makes sense in a new construction JADU. But in the amnesty, do you kind of have a plan? Because I have been in a lot of properties that have a current functioning style JADU. I don't know if we're going to be able to determine that was a bedroom at one point. |
| 01:47:10.62 | Katie Faulkner | I don't know. |
| 01:47:14.84 | Joe Burns | Definitely a bedroom now. |
| 01:47:15.02 | Katie Faulkner | THE FAMILY. |
| 01:47:16.97 | Joe Burns | You know, we have tax rolls that aren't always consistent with the building plans, which aren't always consistent with the sewer districts, understanding of the number of bedrooms. So is there a plan on how we kind of accept that JADU in the inclusion area of an existing bedroom as part of the amnesty only? |
| 01:47:36.96 | Lily | Thank you. Amnesty regulations actually don't require as strict regulations as the regular JADU if someone was coming in for a new JADU permit. So we wouldn't be looking at how that unit was created in the past with the amnesty program. |
| 01:47:44.24 | Joan Cox | AD. |
| 01:47:49.50 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:47:49.52 | Unknown | Okay, so the MST used to... |
| 01:47:50.41 | Katie Faulkner | you |
| 01:47:59.80 | Joan Cox | Other questions? All right, I'm going to open it up for public comment. Any public comment on our ADU or JADU proposed ordinances? I have one speaker card from David Suto. |
| 01:48:18.98 | Joan Cox | This is the only speaker card I have. If anyone else would like to speak on this issue, please do fill out a speaker card. |
| 01:48:26.02 | David Suto | Thank you. In general, I think these ADU and JDADU laws are really great. It helps us to create some infill housing. Hopefully we use it as housing and not other things. I was just wondering about the parking situation and whether we could, either through ordinance or through conditional use permits, prevent these additional units from having parking permits for on-street parking as a way to reduce their impact on streets. Some of our neighborhoods are already severely impacted with parking, and if we could find a way to limit the ownership of cars or additional cars from a property, that would be great. |
| 01:49:12.32 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:49:12.34 | David Suto | Thank you. |
| 01:49:12.36 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:49:12.37 | David Suto | you |
| 01:49:13.34 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:49:13.35 | David Suto | Thank you. |
| 01:49:13.39 | Joan Cox | So, |
| 01:49:14.08 | David Suto | you |
| 01:49:14.15 | Joan Cox | As you heard from the staff report, we can't Impose specific parking restrictions. on JADUs. the general plan advisory committee is considering. revising our parking regulations in general with respect to the expense of parking permits, the numerosity of parking permits allowed per residence, et cetera. |
| 01:49:36.76 | David Suto | So I guess that would be a consideration that JADUs and ADUs and the general scheme of how we would limit parking in general. |
| 01:49:50.09 | Joan Cox | So one of the things you heard tonight and one of the issues before us tonight is whether we will do what we can regarding parking, which is insist on compliance by the primary unit, you with parking regulations. |
| 01:50:01.80 | David Suto | Well, I'm just saying those rules are for providing off-street parking. I'm just saying whether they have any ability to create on-street parking regulations for those units. |
| 01:50:06.54 | Joan Cox | All right. |
| 01:50:17.19 | Joan Cox | William Zeller. |
| 01:50:20.87 | William Zeller | Thank you, Mayor. I just had a quick question as far as ADUs. I saw a staff, I would like to ask staff to give a kind of a quick overview of what the description of an ADU. I heard that JADU, but I didn't hear an ADU description. |
| 01:50:36.60 | Joan Cox | So we're not going to go back over that, but it is in the staff report and you can touch base with Katie or Lily on that. |
| 01:50:48.02 | Vicki Nichols | Good evening, Mayor. Where's your speaker card? Mayor Cox. I know you don't know me. Vicki Nichols. I'm speaking tonight as a citizen, not a planning commissioner. But first of all, I want to thank Katie for her great report. She distilled so much information for you as well as the planning commission with the charts and everything and made it where we can understand it. So great job, Katie. I would just like to say I don't want to comment on the other things that have already been commented on, but I want to encourage you to |
| 01:50:48.06 | Joan Cox | Good evening Mayor. Where's your speaker card? |
| 01:51:20.47 | Vicki Nichols | adopt the amnesty program. I think we were one of the first jurisdictions in the county to be active on that, and I was really proud of Sausalito for doing that. And I think it's been demonstrated that people can come forward and not be penalized and get themselves legalized, and we can also get some housing numbers out of it. So I hope you'll approve that portion. Thank you. |
| 01:51:42.97 | Joan Cox | Thanks. And Lily, that's in the ordinance already, the draft ordinance, the amnesty program? |
| 01:51:50.85 | Lily | That's correct. |
| 01:51:52.20 | Joan Cox | for both ADUs. in their revised. definition and JADUs. |
| 01:51:57.73 | Lily | Correct, for a year each. |
| 01:52:00.74 | Joan Cox | Any other public comment? All right, I'm going to close public comment, bring it up here for discussion. |
| 01:52:11.01 | Unknown | I can start. |
| 01:52:12.08 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So yeah, thank you, Katie, for a really thorough presentation. That was great. I'm generally very in favor of this ordinance and increasing, coming into compliance with state law and continuing to increase our housing stock through the new creation of both accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units. So glad we're moving forward with this. Again, this was an issue that we talked a bit about on the mayor's blue ribbon task force. And I think that task force strongly supports this ordinance. I'm not sure all of our recommendations got in here, but I don't know if, are you going to comment on that? I'm not. I do. |
| 01:52:55.82 | Joan Cox | Okay. provide them to the city attorney. |
| 01:52:57.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | OK. I think most of them did. But so we can always come back if they haven't. In terms of the three issues that Were questions for the Planning Commission to give input on and for that are still here for us to decide. I agree with the Planning Commission's conclusions on two of the issues, and would like to see how others on the City Council think about a third. So in terms of notices being mailed to neighbors for JADUs, I agree with the Planning Commission that that's not necessary due to their minimal impact. And then, Should an ADU and a JADU be allowed on the same property? I think that chart was very helpful and I would be inclined to support the Planning Commission's Conclusion on that, that perhaps some middle ground as opposed to just an allowance for that. In terms of bringing the primary residents into compliance with today's parking requirements, I understand the reasons that the Planning Commission recommended for that. But on the other hand, I think asking someone to come into the city for a $4,000 or $5,000 conditional use permit for a junior ADU, which is essentially just an internal conversion is just not, going to be something that anyone will do. So we won't get those units and we won't, and they're already being used by So I don't think that junior ADUs necessarily increase the number of people living on the property um i think it's unlikely that there'll be a significant increase in parking and i would recommend that we do not require them to come into compliance and so the way |
| 01:54:48.96 | Joan Cox | The thing that our PAC said, it said if the primary dwelling unit does not have at least one parking space, the property owner can request a conditional use permit. are in favor of allowing a JADU even if the primary dwelling unit has zero off-street Yes. |
| 01:55:10.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | But I don't feel, if other people have opinions, I don't feel hugely strongly about that. And then lastly, the prior comment that I made about the owner occupancy requirement. Perhaps for the initial test period of our accessory dwelling unit ordinance, that was a cautious approach and perhaps warranted. But I think at this point, with the number of renters in Sausalito, the number of single family homes being rented, and the potential to add accessory dwelling units to those homes. I would be in favor of removing that restriction. I also think that It's not really realistic. Many people own their homes and then they need to move temporarily for jobs or for other reasons and then they come back. We have a family next door that did that, moved to Nevada to send their kids to better public schools and came back recently. So I would like to remove that restriction. |
| 01:56:11.77 | Unknown | Thanks. Who's next? |
| 01:56:15.14 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:56:15.18 | Ray Withey | Go. Yeah, I... We started working on this a while ago at the legislative committee. So I'm glad that it's here. I actually agree with all of the recommendations that Councilmember Cleveland Knowles recommended. I agree with those. I don't think it's, at this point we need to have the owner occupancy requirement. I feel like I agree that if there's probably already people living in the bedroom anyway, so I don't think it's going to increase a car and maybe we'll get a millennial who doesn't have a car. So, that would be exciting. Or an older person perhaps, I didn't have a car. So anyway, yeah, I agree with those and would support that. But as always, welcome the comments of the other council members. |
| 01:57:11.19 | Marty Roush | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:57:13.31 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yep, fully supportive. Agree with the comments from previous council members, Susan's characterization of this. |
| 01:57:27.49 | Unknown | They should have. |
| 01:57:30.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I told you what would happen if you didn't let me drink coffee before I got |
| 01:57:31.81 | Unknown | if you didn't let me drink coffee before. |
| 01:57:33.97 | Joe Burns | All right. Thank you. |
| 01:57:34.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. So, very supportive of this. I was on the ADU task force before I was on the council. So I have a very deep appreciation of what they can do. Thank you. |
| 01:57:52.53 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Katie and staff, that was great. And I appreciate the planning commission. You guys did a lot of heavy lifting in your meeting as well, so thank you. I'm on board with the items that you suggested, Susan. I'm not sure. I'm just kind of on the fence on the parking one. And your point of the CUP then eliminating is valid. And so that's my consideration for that because that is actually going to occur. Because otherwise I would say we should at least take a look at the lot, the parking, the the surroundings and not having a kind of a place in between of a CUP and a consideration which would be nice because ultimately my concern with any of this infill is we're not looking at a tremendous amount of items when we just throw housing into areas and I think some point you know from disasters to to infrastructure to all sorts of areas we're gonna need to we're gonna need to eventually look at what we're doing with just this infill housing but parking is real and in some areas I think that's gonna have an impact if there is if it's not that millennial that doesn't drive so I'm kind of on the fence on that one which is odd to say because it shouldn't be that that's that's an impact but the the CUP a dollar amount is, is concerning. Um, and I agree that, uh, we don't need to do the own occupancy. So I'm in line with those. |
| 01:59:21.43 | Joan Cox | I also want to thank Katie for a great presentation. Is this your first presentation to us? So great, great job. You did a lot of heavy lifting with your very first presentation, and it's obvious you did a great job for the Planning Commission as well, because their feedback to us was so thoughtful. So thanks very much for that. Obviously, I also favor coming into compliance with state law and creating housing stock and ADUs and junior ADUs as council member Cleveland Knowles mentioned were a big component of the Blue Ribbon Housing Committee Task Force, whose report we will get to you soon. I agree no notices for JADUs due to their minimal impact. I do, I believe we can address this multiplicity of ADUs having both a JADU and an ADU on the same parcel through. a parking requirement. And I believe that we should for Those four units. where I agree with the Planning Commission recommendation. There should be a parking requirement the primary unit does not have at least one parking space we should require that the parking space unless the property owner can. demonstrate adequate off street parking. And perhaps the way to solve this is to not require them to go through a CUP, but simply make a finding to staff. Have a staff review of this issue, rather than go through a CUP, |
| 02:01:02.64 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Thank you. |
| 02:01:05.19 | Joan Cox | have them present additional evidence to staff. Is that like a minor CUP? Like a minor CUP that can be decided at the administrative level. |
| 02:01:11.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And if staff |
| 02:01:12.30 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:01:12.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Exactly. |
| 02:01:13.91 | Unknown | like a minor. |
| 02:01:18.02 | Joan Cox | So rather than a CUP, I would recommend |
| 02:01:18.07 | Lily | It's a record. |
| 02:01:21.19 | Joan Cox | offering a waiver process through a minor CUP. |
| 02:01:26.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | OK, that's it. Good. |
| 02:01:28.19 | Joan Cox | Good. Okay, and the planning commission with respect to the, to whether you could have both a junior ADU and an ADU on the same Um, Parcel. They do make some provision for that. If the property already contains a JADU, then the property owner can uh, get a CUP for the ADU. |
| 02:01:58.95 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I apologize if I misspoke. I meant to agree with the Planning Commission's recommendation. |
| 02:02:03.75 | Joan Cox | Recommendation on that. Okay, so I do want to also endorse the Planning Commission recommendation on that. |
| 02:02:09.62 | Unknown | anything special. |
| 02:02:10.70 | Joan Cox | Okay, I happen to disagree with my fellow council members on The issue of owner occupancy, I think we should at least require owner occupancy during our one year amnesty period. So I would propose that as a compromise, and then once the amnesty period is up and this program is off and running, then I would say, you know, um, you let that go. |
| 02:02:38.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So just for clarification, you're saying Any... ADU that comes in in the next year would be owner occupancy forever. No. |
| 02:02:49.58 | Joan Cox | Well, would be subject to the- |
| 02:02:50.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I mean, it's a deed restriction. |
| 02:02:52.97 | Joan Cox | But the deed restriction is not a permanent deed restriction, I don't think. |
| 02:02:53.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | IT WILL BE. |
| 02:03:00.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I think it's forever. |
| 02:03:00.53 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:03:00.56 | Unknown | I thought it was a- No, there's not a time limit on the deed restriction. All right, well then I would say let's put a time limit on the deed restriction. |
| 02:03:01.39 | Joan Cox | It's, it's, it's, it's, |
| 02:03:06.94 | Unknown | Just a point of clarity. |
| 02:03:08.02 | Mary Wagner | Madame Mayor, similar to the discussion on short term, the planning commission didn't consider this. So that item could be sent back to the planning commission. They don't have to hold a public hearing under the government code. |
| 02:03:11.15 | Unknown | Planning Commission. |
| 02:03:18.86 | Mary Wagner | They just have to be allowed to make a recommendation to the council on that. |
| 02:03:22.16 | Joan Cox | So we can't change that tonight anyway without So it's in our staff report. |
| 02:03:25.69 | Mary Wagner | So it's in our... |
| 02:03:28.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Was there wasn't in front of the committee? |
| 02:03:29.15 | Mary Wagner | They were asked on whether or not they should have a deed restriction to impose the current owner occupancy restriction. They weren't asked to weigh in on whether or not you should have an owner occupancy requirement. |
| 02:03:37.88 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | it out. but they could have been there. |
| 02:03:41.67 | Mary Wagner | I mean, they could have. But it wasn't. |
| 02:03:43.29 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:03:43.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:03:43.39 | Joan Cox | It wasn't. Thank you. |
| 02:03:43.97 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 02:03:45.01 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | and it's out. |
| 02:03:47.97 | Mary Wagner | The issue wasn't presented to them in that that was being considered to be modified. |
| 02:03:53.05 | Joan Cox | So here's the thing. When the Blue Ribbon Committee report is presented to the council, it will have some recommendations in it that we will then ask be forwarded to the legislative committee and to others for implementation so we can include that in that report. |
| 02:04:06.51 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, yeah, but it has to go back to the Planning Commission. |
| 02:04:08.64 | Joan Cox | Yeah, it would have, and so I would say tonight let's deal with the issues in front of us and we'll deal with the owner occupancy issue. when this comes back around through the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Housing Committee. Okay, so then. THE MOTION Shall I take a crack? Is everybody? Okay. So I move. We introduce and read by title only a zoning ordinance amendment to the Sausalito Municipal Code section 10.44.08, Accessory Dwelling Unit Regulations, section 10.88.040, specialized terms and land use definitions, and table 10.22-1, site development standards, residential zoning districts, attachment one, and Introduce and read by title only a zoning ordinance amendment to add new Sausalito Municipal Code, SMC section 10.44.085, Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit Regulations, and amend section 10.88.040, Specialized Terms and Land Use Definitions, and Table 10.22-1, Site development standards, residential zoning districts attachment two, and returned to staff on January 8, 2019, for a second reading and authorize a summary of the ordinance to be published five days in advance of the second reading and 15 days after its adoption with the following revisions. that we Um, For those primary dwelling units that do not have at least one parking space, the property owner can request a minor use permit, similar to the existing waiver process in the ADU regulations. |
| 02:05:52.56 | Joan Cox | and I think that's I think that's it. Does that capture? OK. May I have a second? you |
| 02:06:00.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Second. |
| 02:06:01.01 | Joan Cox | Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. That motion carries 5-0. |
| 02:06:03.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:04.03 | David Suto | Aye. |
| 02:06:15.02 | Joan Cox | All right, everybody, thank you so much for your patience. That was an important item of business, and now we will move on to the fun part of the evening. |
| 02:06:23.44 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 02:06:23.47 | Unknown | Evening. |
| 02:06:25.07 | Joe Burns | Is there a staff report? |
| 02:06:28.45 | Joan Cox | There's a |
| 02:06:28.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:29.04 | Joan Cox | Unfortunately, |
| 02:06:29.97 | Unknown | unfortunately a city manager report. |
| 02:06:32.01 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:06:32.03 | Unknown | Thank you. I'm sorry. |
| 02:06:37.60 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 02:06:37.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:38.10 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:38.24 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:38.29 | Unknown | I'm not. |
| 02:06:38.51 | Unknown | you |
| 02:06:38.56 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:38.89 | Unknown | I'm not. |
| 02:06:38.98 | Unknown | Thank you. Yeah. |
| 02:06:41.54 | Adam Politzer | you |
| 02:06:41.61 | Mark Shotwell | Thank you. |
| 02:06:41.65 | Adam Politzer | You'd be nice. |
| 02:06:42.71 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:06:42.98 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:06:43.03 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 02:06:43.10 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:06:43.45 | Mark Shotwell | Thank you. |
| 02:06:43.55 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:06:43.60 | Mark Shotwell | you |
| 02:06:43.75 | Adam Politzer | There's no clock, right? We're not starting with a three minute clock. |
| 02:06:46.47 | Unknown | Uh-oh, no, no, no, wait. This is on calendar for... 15 minutes including public comment. And they gave me two mics. |
| 02:06:55.23 | Adam Politzer | Maybe I'll do a Jonathan Goldman and roam the crowd and interview people. I'm sorry. |
| 02:06:59.89 | Joan Cox | I think we wanted to be sure you wouldn't run out of battery on one of the mics. . you |
| 02:07:05.05 | Adam Politzer | All right. Let me start and say that this is- |
| 02:07:10.16 | Joan Cox | All right, so just for the record, this is 6A, presentation to our outgoing mayor by our city manager, Adam Pollitzer. |
| 02:07:17.81 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. As Staff and council know I usually come prepared with written documents and then throughout the evening And in this case, throughout the week, This has been revised over and over with the instructions from the mayor. |
| 02:07:31.71 | Unknown | No. |
| 02:07:31.86 | Adam Politzer | And only in Joan's way. |
| 02:07:31.88 | Unknown | Oh, my God. |
| 02:07:34.11 | Adam Politzer | We're going to keep this brief, and we're not going to talk about me. And let's get on to the real business of the evening. Sorry, you can put that in my performance review. I don't follow directions well. |
| 02:07:47.22 | Unknown | That's right. |
| 02:07:49.65 | Adam Politzer | um, So hopefully, even with glasses, I can read some of my scribbly notes here. in seriousness, Joan was selected by her peers back in December of last year to be the mayor of the city of Sausalito. |
| 02:08:04.31 | Katie Faulkner | Yeah. |
| 02:08:06.31 | Adam Politzer | And Joan took that honor very, very seriously and made some remarks that evening to set the course for her leadership as our mayor. And one of her statements that has rung true throughout her time as mayor is her statement of we are going to build bridges. And she has done that in so many different ways over this past year. Um, And she starred it. by attending the League of California Cities new mayors, and Council Academy. Councilmember Cleveland-Nulls joined us. Susan Cleveland-Nulls joined us at that. And it was really an opportunity For Joan to reach out to other new mayors and start building bridges not just here in Marin County, but outside In other areas and find out what was going on that was similar challenges in other communities as we were facing here in Sausalito. Joan was committed to transparency. Joan was committed. to improving our communication with our residents, including making sure that our Many of our boards and commission meetings were videoed in web streams. as folks hopefully have noticed the good work of our communications director and city librarian you can get links to all of our meetings through our current publication, our city electronic newsletter. And that was really important to Joan, that people could actually see the actions in our currents, but also go and click on the item and watch it. And you heard tonight earlier, about our Finance Committee meeting. Joan served on a lot of different local and regional committees. Joan also created a lot of local committees. Some of those met in her living room, including the Blue Ribbon Committee that was referenced earlier. So. Whomever is the next mayor. and I'll talk to our Parks and Recreation Director We'll talk to Joan about if we can lease out your living room, and continue to hold meetings there and maybe start collecting fees to enhance our revenue stream. |
| 02:10:25.19 | Adam Politzer | Back to building bridges. I believe that and Aircox was the first Council member and mayor. to travel to all three of our sister city Um, Sister Cities. Thank you. in the year that she was the mayor, representing us at various delegations What I would say about Joan, you know that she commutes significant distances for her primary job, which is a full-time job, but she is never shy to travel as near or far to represent the city. So this year she did travel to Japan and to Chile and to Portugal. She also talked about the joined Um, women. Um, women mayors from across the country at the women's mayor of America leadership conference in Washington, C at the White House. earlier this fall. Um, You know, again, I think that many folks could find her easily, be it at Chivo, Or Poggio. where she held her regular meetings with members of the community. here at City Hall and You know amongst a lot of different homes come throughout town Joan was not shy of taking on the difficult issues. She would not shy away from any meeting with anybody and sometimes she dragged me along. Sometimes she dragged one of her fellow council members along. But she was there to address the concerns and find solutions and again build bridges with folks that had concerns or issues with how the city was addressing their issue. Joan also was open to all but I think one celebration where folks wanted her to either come and do a proclamation or cut a ribbon. toast an accomplishment of a local business or celebration of one of our nonprofits she made herself available to attend all of these functions except for one that I'm aware of. Maybe there's two, and our vice mayor got to attend, I think, two of those. |
| 02:12:49.47 | Adam Politzer | Building bridges, one of the issues that we got feedback from our public prior to Joan taking the role of mayor was our regional relationships were strained. In some cases, they were not in great shape. Other cases, we had just been absent from working with our neighbors, either in with our neighbors and friends at the National Park Service, or in Marin City, or the Chamber of Commerce, or the County of Marin, But these relationships she took seriously. And so attending. meetings with the Board Authority of San Francisco. meeting with Mayor Farrell at the time. in his office. attending our RBA meetings and helping them understand the enforcement action that the city was undertaking and some of the changes and interpretation of the law. that gave us the power to do what we were doing. So again, This takes time and why it's important to recognize this is that sitting on the council takes time by itself, but sitting in the mayor's seat two of the other council members know from Jill Hoffman being former mayor and Ray with you being a former mayor They recognize that there is requests for your time from everybody. And Joan, without exception, granted those requests and met with everybody, again, far and near. One of the, you know, there's lots of accomplishments and I'm not gonna be able to name them all. Those were on pieces of paper that Jones. made me shred and said that we're not going to go through all this list. But the Finance Committee that Joan served on with Ray Withey, with Councilmember Withey, had a pretty Difficult tasks during very difficult times to balance our next cycles budget and to hear from all the very various community members. and nonprofits and staff on all the needs that our community wanted. So 13 meetings, that's what the Finance Committee had. Several updates to the city council. And then eventually the good work of the city council adopted. a very complex budget. that had real reform in it from pensions to addressing issues to keep the level of service at a very high standard which I think we're all very proud of as we move forward here The council... Again, when you look at the activity from the city council, they were also criticized for The number of vacancies we had with our boards and commissions So this is a record. Now this is the first time the city council is appointed 22 people in one year. And it's not just appointing 22 people, it's recruiting more than 22 people and then interviewing those folks and making the tough decision on which lucky person gets to serve on these boards and commissions. And so I think we heard earlier from our member of our pedestrian and bike committee, what a fantastic group that is and I know that Susan Cleveland all sits on the sustainability Commission and she would champion what a great group they are and there's a number of boards and commissions that our council pay close attention to and I think It is without question. that we have the highest percentage of volunteerism compared to any city and that level of volunteerism is very very high level and we're very fortunate for that But appointing 22 members to our, 22 residents to our boards and commissions is something to celebrate. Another record of Mayor Cox's is 18 proclamations. We have been working with the We're giving proclamations out left and right, but they were not Um, without substance, they were all very important. And some of them we did right here in the council chambers. On other occasions, we did them out at the business themselves. Thank you. or at other locations, but I wanted to note a couple in there bookmarked with two significant losses to our community. Um, And one of my weaknesses and my strengths is my emotions, and so I'm gonna try not to get emotional here. But we honored Ben Brown, and that was an important proclamation to celebrate his life. Um, We surprised Ann or not on her 90th birthday with a proclamation. And then one of our... volunteers that serves on every Every volunteer committee, group, event, and in this case the GPAC, We surprised her. It was kind of like the lifetime achievement proclamation to Chris Gallagher. another one that we tricked into attending here and had her crying as she was accepting her proclamation from the mayor. There's many, many more. As I said, there's 18 of them. But the last one that she gave was also in recognition of Robin Sweeney, which I think was very, very important for the community and a good one to end your record-setting proclamation efforts. |
| 02:18:20.24 | Adam Politzer | Moving on, the city council also... had a record number of ordinances that they approved this year, and that was also by the good work of our legislative committee with Councilmember Hoffman and our mayor. Some of these items, I'm not going to read all 17 of them, but some of them included our new taxi regulations, drones, electric scooters, the Turney Street boat ramp, and tobacco, just to name a few. all very important took a lot of time again when it starts at committee level takes a lot of time for it to work its way back up to City Council but in fact we were able to adopt 17 new ordinances, so congratulations. We had some challenges. Fort Baker thought it would be, our National Park Service thought it would be a great idea to have ferry service and we agreed. That would be great to have ferry service, but we need to talk about it. And it could have been another lawsuit that the city was engaged in, but instead, We had a working committee Councilmember Withey and our mayor. I think that council member Withey would acknowledge that this was the best working group to be on I think he attended one meeting And the mayor attended the rest. with me. Um, But her success of working out a successful resolution that serves the best interests of our community in terms of whatever future ferry service may or may not exist at Fort Baker, She did an outstanding job. Of resolving that. in a very, very positive way, including a new friend with the superintendent. Laura Joss who started about a year ago at this time, right in the middle of this discussion. with that. These are just a few examples of where our mayor built these bridges with our regional partners, the Golden Gate Bridge District, RBRA, Port Authority, County of Marin, some that I mentioned earlier in this presentation. So I'm going to. MOVED THROUGH and skip. the general plan advisory committee but again that If you watch those tapes, and I hope the community is watching the activity that's happening through the update of our general plan. But again, Joan took the helm of leading that group which is a 13 member board, including Councilmember Withey. And the efforts over the last year wrapped up the understanding phase. I like that. That's something that we're gonna incorporate on a regular basis here at City Hall, the understanding phase. When you come to the community development, Department to have your application reviewed let's go through the understanding phase first that might help people Get complete applications and get before the Planning Commission and move their projects forward But now they're moving on to what's going to be the heavy lifting, which is the visioning phase, and that has started, and they've had six meetings. you can catch up if you haven't been watching they're on tape they're courtesy of your mayor. Those are web streamed and they're available for the public. but very serious work, again the council has held several meetings on this you'll see at least once a month there's an update on consent so that you can read through the the latest activity and get up to speed quickly My chief would want to make sure that I mentioned not just the mayor, but the good work of the city council in the budget process of making two significant changes. to the budget to include license plate readers being one. And they are very proud that since we've installed the license plate readers, we've recovered 18 stolen vehicles and we've arrested 25 people. That is a big deal. We do not have the staffing level to have done that work without the license plate readers. And what is so significant about the license plate readers And again, this started. by our friends in the community, I don't know if there was a person here earlier from the Spencer prospect which had their own cameras and they we use them and they, lobbied and lobbied the council over years for us to move forward license plate readers and we did just that. But the activity that resulted in the return of 18 stolen vehicles and 25 people arrested were done all without incident. all peacefully without anyone getting hurt, And for probably 99% of them, no one even knowing what was happening. And that is a massive success. It protects our employees, and it protects our residents, and it protects our community. The other that's been significant is the work of the Sausalito Waterfront. Committee. dealing with Sausalito waters and the enforcement activity and again doing it in a positive, respectful manner. starting with marine debris. dealing with unregistered vessels trying to get Health and Human Services to join our efforts to get people that are risks to themselves and others off of the water and now we've been moving forward on moving these storage vessels that are unoccupied off of the waters and you heard a report a couple of months ago from our police lieutenant that said we had 34 unoccupied vessels on the water As of earlier this week, yesterday, because today's Tuesday, earlier this week, we are down to 17 unoccupied vessels on our water. We've cut that in half. That is significant. As we move forward in this discussion |
| 02:23:53.96 | Katie Faulkner | Thank you. |
| 02:23:57.08 | Adam Politzer | So with that, I could go on and on and on. I think my three minutes is stuck. So I will honor the mayor's request, but I would like to say on behalf of all the city employees, Um, your peers, our community, you have done an exceptional job as our mayor. You have set the bar very, very high. and I welcome that bar staying at that level so we can continue to be effective and efficient in terms of how we provide exceptional service to our community. So with that, I have a nice little gift for you. Serge, would you please? |
| 02:24:39.79 | Unknown | Is it a proclamation? Bye. |
| 02:25:12.44 | Joan Cox | Thank you, is there any member of the public that would like to comment? All right, I'm gonna bring it back up here. Um, And... |
| 02:25:21.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Well, Madame Mayor, I'd like to say something. |
| 02:25:22.50 | Joan Cox | I just wanted to say something. |
| 02:25:24.15 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:25:25.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Now, recognizing the late hour, I'd just like to obviously reinforce what the city manager said. Importantly, nobody knows what it's really like to be mayor until you are mayor. And from my perspective, and I know I speak on behalf of the whole council, that you have been a wonderful mayor, and it's been a great pleasure working with you. So thank you very much. |
| 02:25:51.83 | Joan Cox | Thank you, thank you. So, um. No, I have some comments too. Okay. |
| 02:25:54.56 | Ray Withey | Thank you. I have a lot of comments too. Okay. Yeah, as the former mayors are speaking out. Um, you know. You have no idea how much work Joan has put in this year and the spectacular job you've done on almost all, every committee, by the way, any committee that she sits on, she's the boss of. But just a spectacular job, I think, this year. A ton of work got done. I mean, it's just amazing. |
| 02:26:19.92 | Katie Faulkner | Bye. |
| 02:26:19.98 | Mary Kay Sweeney | Thank you. |
| 02:26:20.14 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:26:22.56 | Ray Withey | what we were able to get through at your suggestion and the paths that we chose this year. I think we've been incredibly successful. One of our best years, I think, as a city council. So thank you so much for your hard work. Thank you. |
| 02:26:32.45 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:26:32.73 | Ray Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:26:33.32 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, and I'd just like to add my thanks. I served on the planning commission with Joan as the chair, and then in my first year on the city council, she was mayor. And both have been a huge pleasure. You run a great meeting. You are so dedicated to this town, and you are such a hard worker. It is hard to know how you fit everything in to the 24 hours in a day. But what I really want to thank you for is your spirit of cooperation and compromise. And I think this has been a really good year on the city council in terms of our working relationship among us. And I think that's in great part due to your ability to, as our city manager said, to build bridges not only regionally but right here. In this room with the public and with other city council members. So thank you so much for that. you |
| 02:27:26.73 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:27:28.49 | Joe Burns | Joan, I'm happy you're my mayor. It was. |
| 02:27:30.51 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:27:30.58 | Unknown | It was... |
| 02:27:31.34 | Joe Burns | As a resident as well, you were a great mayor. And as a partner in agenda setting and so many things that we've done, I can't thank you enough for what you have done for this community and for me. Coming into those agenda setting committees and getting myself going as vice mayor, you were patient and respectful and I'll never forget that. Thank you. |
| 02:28:01.43 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:28:04.82 | Joan Cox | So in response to that rather overwhelming. um, praise, I do want to... As we wrap up this year, I do feel as though we had a really successful year in Sausalito. And I realized my primary message is to say thank you. First and foremost, I have to say thank you to our community. We are blessed here in Sausalito to have some of the most talented and committed um, and and participatory residents of any community And it's up to us to do our best by you. participate, you hold us to account, you provide your insights. And so ultimately we're very grateful for your investment in our community. Part and parcel of that is saying thank you to all of our volunteers. We have over 300 volunteers to help keep Sausalito running. There are few communities that can boast such numbers, and we could not accomplish everything we do, as the city manager pointed out, without them. So our volunteers help us make a difference both within our community and worldwide. This year, we sent delegations to Kashkish and Viña del Mar, and we hosted a delegation from Sakai de Japan, We were also privileged to host the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, who came to attend the dedication of our new public square in downtown Sausalito that was constructed from the Portuguese calzada stones that were gifted to Sausalito by the people of Qashqash. So this is just one small example of what building bridges with our regional, national and international partners can accomplish. Thank you to our staff. It's been an honor and privilege to work with all of you this year. I represent cities, counties, and special districts around the state. And I have never come across such a group of professionals like ours who not are only extraordinarily competent, but who also take such great pride and ownership in their work. Several of you have remarked to me this year about how hard we and all of you have worked this year, and I do have to agree. But I hope you can also all appreciate how much we accomplished, so thank you to you. And I have to say thank you to my fellow council members. So I attribute much of our productivity this year to the continued cooperative collaboration of our entire council And perhaps in small measure due to the fact that we revived Robin Sweeney's tradition of wrapping up a couple of our council meetings at Smitty's. I want to. I want to thank each of you for your myriad contributions this year and I'll name just a few. Our Vice Mayor Joe Burns for his tireless advocacy on behalf of our business community and for Sausalito measures L and M. And he's largely to be credited for their passage. Council member Susan Cleveland-Knowles for her countless hours on the Blue Ribbon Housing Committee. Councilmember Jill Hoffman for her collaboration on the legislative committee and the waterfront committee in which she shared expansive knowledge and context with neighboring agencies. Thank you. and Councilmember Ray Withey, my Yoda. Whom I have worked with for years and who was always willing to sit down and meet and whose wisdom and advice I heavily relied upon both last year as your vice mayor and this year as your mayor. And I want to extend a special thank you to our former council member Herbie Weiner, who has been a constant behind the scenes present and support system on nearly every issue we addressed this year. So thank you to everyone for your teamwork that enabled us to have another banner year. Thank you very much. |
| 02:32:12.41 | Joan Cox | All right, and with that we will move on to item 6B, City Council Election of Mayor. And as the mayor, I get to make the first nomination and it is my pleasure to nominate Joe Burns, our Vice Mayor, to be our next mayor. Last year when Joe became our vice mayor, he promised to dig deep and use the year to absorb lots of information regarding our constituents and our community. And I have watched him do just that. Joe and I worked together closely this year on the agenda setting committee and the finance committee. And I have no doubt he will continue to dig deep and invest just as much effort as our new mayor. So that being said, does anybody want to nominate anyone else as mayor? Does anyone want to second my nomination? |
| 02:33:00.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'll second that. |
| 02:33:02.44 | Joan Cox | All right, so all in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Congratulations, Mayor Burns. |
| 02:33:05.45 | Unknown | I'll see you next time. |
| 02:33:05.48 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 02:33:05.77 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 02:33:05.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 02:33:05.85 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 02:33:18.48 | Joe Burns | Wow. Thank you. And thank you for still being here. Those are some hard shoes to fill. And they're down here, and they really are large. Shoes to fill. |
| 02:33:38.03 | Unknown | Ha ha! |
| 02:33:41.48 | Joe Burns | Because what Joan has done this year is much like a Warriors team. And that's where I was going to go with the whole shoes joke before I But... This was like a warrior season in Sausalito with Joan as leadership. And her input has inspired me to be excited about this role. I came to Sausalito ten years ago, and I came here as an employee of a spouse. And was involved in trying to close down our old residence and move down here. And so I was slow to adjust to Sausalito as we were making the transition. But I soon got involved in some committees. I worked for the city for a little while doing some things for the facilities and a lot of different task force and then the planning commission i've submitted building permits i've done sewer lateral reports i've you know had them ordered i've ordered resale inspections I've had a unique perspective to the city, more so than maybe anybody else. I was actually a property owner next door to the city, that was an event. So I've seen it for ten years, and maybe in a way that nobody else has, and I appreciate it immensely. But what it's shown me, and especially of recent, is we have the best staff ever. Right now, in December 2018, we are really clicking. And I want to congratulate the city manager for that, for the employees from top to bottom, across all the departments. It's really come to a wonderful spot. And again, I've seen it in different scenarios throughout the years, and I could not be more proud of the people that I'll be working with. Another group that's in the room tonight that we've talked about are my four people on this dais that I get to come to these meetings with. And how lucky am I to have three past mayors now, three former mayors and a good friend to serve with. And, again, as we look across the county, the North Bay, and even some of our communities that we know of around the state. Not only are we respected now, we're kind of the envy of some of the councils on how well we get along and that we respect each other, we have each other's back, we argue like siblings sometimes, but we will push it for the other, and we will continue to up our game so we don't let each other down. And that means a lot when you sit up on a dais like this and have to face the community, knowing that we have that bond.. So I want to really thank the group that I've been working with the last couple of years. It's been a lot of fun, and it will continue to be fun, I hope. And as we've mentioned tonight, the residents of Sausalito. We've interviewed, I don't know, it was over 100, right? We interviewed over 100 people for those 22 placements, as well as all the interaction we have with the other jurisdictions around our community. We have a school board, a fire district, a sewer district. So many incredible volunteers. We are so rich in talent and dedication that again, it makes us want to do better because we have people out there spending a lot of time and a lot of energy to make Sausalito great. And, um, that does take a whole group. And, um, The expertise that we have when we go to talk about bikes or sustainability or engineering or business, it just never ceases to amaze me what comes in our door as we interview people or as we reach out to the community and find out what's out there. I'm humbled to represent this community as the mayor and I look forward to a wonderful year of courage to do the things that need to be done inclusionary of thought and of people and a a policy to go forward on the bridges that we've built and continue to make Sausalito the place that we love. So thank you very much for having me do this. |
| 02:38:28.01 | Joe Burns | Sweet. So, I'm no longer the vice mayor and we need to appoint a vice mayor. Are there any nominations? for the election of a vice mayor of our city council. |
| 02:38:42.27 | Joan Cox | I nominate council member Susan Cleveland Knowles. |
| 02:38:47.42 | Joe Burns | Second. |
| 02:38:48.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:38:49.11 | Joe Burns | Are there any other nominations? Seeing none. We'll take a vote. All in favor of Susan Cleveland-Nose for vice mayor? Aye. |
| 02:38:57.90 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 02:39:00.11 | Joe Burns | So it is. Congratulations, Susan. |
| 02:39:11.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:39:11.82 | Joe Burns | You want to see? |
| 02:39:12.07 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So, |
| 02:39:12.28 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 02:39:12.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:39:12.34 | Joe Burns | you |
| 02:39:12.40 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:39:12.43 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 02:39:12.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Bye. |
| 02:39:14.96 | Unknown | I think I'm going to... |
| 02:39:16.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | No, thank you to my colleagues and I'm looking forward to being vice mayor to Mayor Burns. I'm looking forward to another great year. and serving on the council, so thank you. |
| 02:39:33.59 | Joe Burns | Thank you. We still have quite an agenda here and our number seven on our agenda normally has a few items. You can see if you have an agenda, we have a city manager, he's already spoke. Thank you. We have council member community reports, we've heard a lot of that already. We have no appointments and the future agenda items, we have none. However, if the vice mayor is so willing, would you like to meet Thursday morning on our first agenda committee setting? That's a nod yes. So we will actually have an agenda setting meeting early, which in two days, so that we can give staff time to prepare for our January 8th meeting. So seeing no. THIS APPOINTMENT TO |
| 02:40:19.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I move we adjourn. Aye. Mr. Mayor. |
| 02:40:19.56 | Joe Burns | Move we adjourn. Mr. Mayor. I'll take that adjournment to the January 8th meeting. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:40:25.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:40:26.17 | Joe Burns | you on. Oh, and now that we're off, we did mention going to Smitty's. after meetings, I think that's a great practice. |
| 02:40:41.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:40:42.17 | Marty Roush | Thank you. |
| 02:40:42.19 | Joan Cox | Yes. It's a great year. Yes. |
| 02:40:43.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes. Thank you. |
Alex Frankel — In Favor: Proposed a half-mile bike path on Bridgeway from Golden Gate Market to Princess Street, suggesting funding from parking revenue. ▶ 📄
Bjorn Gripenberg — In Favor: Advocated for bike lanes on Bridgeway south of downtown, emphasizing safety and a paint-only pilot program before repaving. ▶ 📄
Jeff Jacob — Neutral: Spoke about charity, religious texts, and public access for houseless individuals, with tangential references to community spaces. ▶ 📄
Jeff Knowles — Neutral: Discussed the Sausalito school board election results and urged council engagement on budget issues affecting local schools. ▶ 📄