| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:19.81 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Any word from Ray? It's after six o'clock. |
| 00:00:25.02 | Vice Mayor Withey | There he is. Hey, Ray, good. |
| 00:00:36.97 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, Ray, can you just test your mic? |
| 00:00:42.81 | Ray | Bye. |
| 00:00:42.83 | Heidi Scoble | Hello. |
| 00:00:43.23 | Ray | Thank you. |
| 00:00:44.26 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:00:44.28 | Vice Mayor Withey | Great, okay, I think we're ready. |
| 00:00:46.62 | Heidi Scoble | Okay, so what we'll do is we'll start admitting the members and if you could just give us a few minutes just to get everybody situated. |
| 00:00:55.65 | Teresa Ancona | fantastic Well, I think it's all. |
| 00:00:57.78 | Heidi Scoble | Yeah. We're gonna let them all in. |
| 00:01:25.87 | Unknown | I'm going to keep |
| 00:01:52.59 | Heidi Scoble | Okay. So we have all participants in right now. So I will start off. Good evening, Mayor Cleveland Knowles and council members. This meeting is being held pursuant to section three of executive order N-29-20 issued by Governor Newsom on March 17th, 2020. and all members are joining this meeting telephonically through Zoom. |
| 00:02:22.07 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great. Welcome everybody. Welcome to our special meeting of Wednesday, May 20th. Could the clerk please call the roll? |
| 00:02:30.02 | Heidi Scoble | Councilmember Riley? |
| 00:02:32.23 | Gary Testa | here. |
| 00:02:33.14 | Heidi Scoble | Council member Burns. |
| 00:02:34.59 | Gary Testa | Here. |
| 00:02:35.53 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 00:02:35.55 | Unknown | Councilmember Cox? |
| 00:02:37.09 | Gary Testa | Yeah. |
| 00:02:37.93 | Unknown | Vice Mayor Withey? |
| 00:02:44.17 | Ray | Okay, I'm here. Sorry, there's a problem with muting there. |
| 00:02:46.79 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. and Mayor Cleveland Knowles. Thank you. |
| 00:02:51.31 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:02:51.46 | Heidi Scoble | I'm not sure. |
| 00:02:51.63 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:02:52.02 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. All members... |
| 00:02:52.17 | Vice Mayor Withey | All members. |
| 00:02:54.22 | Heidi Scoble | So thank you, all members are present and there is a quorum. |
| 00:02:57.59 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. We will turn to the first item on our agenda tonight, and that is public comment. This is the only time for public comment on our agenda this evening. Following public comment, we will have four sets of interviews for our new economic development advisory committee. So public comment tonight is just, this is a special meeting. So public comment is limited. to the limited purpose of this meeting, which is our economic Development Advisory Conference. |
| 00:03:30.09 | Teresa Ancona | What? |
| 00:03:31.58 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Um, I will talk to you. |
| 00:03:33.67 | Heidi Scoble | And I. |
| 00:03:35.09 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:03:35.10 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 00:03:35.12 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah. |
| 00:03:35.14 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 00:03:35.74 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | if we have any hands raised. Could the clerk please instruct the public on how to public comment? |
| 00:03:41.68 | Heidi Scoble | Yes, public comment will be accepted by video or audio audience participation via Zoom. Video or audio public comment participation is limited to three minutes per speaker. If you would like to make a comment, please raise your hand in the Zoom application and you will be called upon when it's your time to speak. To raise your hand from a phone, press star nine. Each speaker will be notified when they have one minute left to speak. And again, when the time has elapsed, all calls will be muted after the time. Oh, sorry. We used to mute after the time has elapsed, I will inform you when the time has elapsed. So at this time, we will check to see if we have received any public comment. |
| 00:04:23.37 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:04:24.75 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 00:04:24.77 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | So I am not showing any hands raised on my participant list. Could that clerk confirm? |
| 00:04:31.23 | Heidi Scoble | I do not see any hands raised as well. |
| 00:04:31.45 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | not seeing. Great. Okay. Well, we can dive into the main purpose of our meeting tonight. Um, The next item on the agenda is to conduct interviews with the Economic Development Advisory Committee. I turn this over to the clerk. I would like to give just a huge thank you to Councilmember Riley and Councilmember Burns who have really taken this project on and done a really great job in both defining the mission of this group, getting this advisory committee set up, and in outreach to the public. I'd also like to thank all of the members of the public who express interest in the committee. I think we had over 48 applications and we're interviewing, I think, 24 folks tonight. So thank you, it was an overwhelming response. I also wanted to thank our city manager and our assistant city manager, Julia Carter and Adam Pulitzer, our city manager. and our clerk, Heidi Burns, for getting this all organized so quickly and managing this whole process. So with that, I am gonna turn it over to the clerk. |
| 00:05:48.26 | Vice Mayor Withey | over to the |
| 00:05:49.65 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | And then to Councilmember Riley and Burns to take this meeting forward. Thank you. |
| 00:05:57.24 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you, Mayor Cleveland Knowles. For background purposes, the Economic Development Advisory Committee was established at the April 28th City Council meeting in an effort to consolidate the Business Advisory Committee and the Hospitality, Business and Development Committee. |
| 00:06:10.96 | Heidi Scoble | The city was fortunate to receive 48 applications from very talented residents and our business owners. The applications were reviewed by a subcommittee that selected 24 candidates that will be interviewed tonight. I would first like to thank you the candidates for participating in this interview process. As this is a Zoom meeting format, I have sent you a request to start your video so we can see your image on the screen. please press the OK button that will pop up on your screen. I also wanted to inform you that I will be controlling the mute and unmute button. When it is your time to speak, I will unmute you. The format of the interviews will be such that the city council will be conducting 40 minute interviews for four groups |
| 00:06:53.64 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 00:06:53.65 | Councilmember Cox | Heidi, your voice is fading away. |
| 00:06:56.37 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 00:06:56.39 | Unknown | Yep. Thank you. Okay. Is this better? The format. |
| 00:07:02.53 | Councilmember Cox | No. |
| 00:07:06.46 | Unknown | Is this better? |
| 00:07:07.85 | Councilmember Cox | No. |
| 00:07:13.58 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | We can hear you, Heidi. So why don't you finish up and then maybe while we're moving on to the next item, you can have our tech check your microphone. And I can hear you, but it's very faint. Thank you. |
| 00:07:23.83 | Heidi Scoble | I'm sorry. |
| 00:07:23.96 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:07:23.98 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. I'll just go back to what I was stating, is that the format of the interviews will be that the city council will be conducting 40 minute interviews. of four groups consisting of six candidates. Each candidate will be asked three predetermined questions that were provided to the candidates previously. Councilmember Burns and Riley will provide two questions to all candidates. Each candidate will answer each question in one minute or less. After the first two questions, the other council members will have opportunities to ask follow-up questions. Candidates will have up to one minute to respond to each question asked of them. I, the city clerk, will keep track of the time and let you know when your time has expired. I would first like to welcome the first group of candidates. The first group of candidates that will be interviewed are Gary Testa, Teresa Ancona, Walter Leverman, Ken Pulverman, Ian Sobieski and Don Daglow. It appears as though Ken Polterman is not here. Ken Pulverman, if you are here, can you please raise your hand? |
| 00:08:38.58 | Heidi Scoble | It does not appear as though Ken has joined this interview. |
| 00:08:44.30 | Tom Riley | All right, Heidi, we'll proceed and see if Ken joins while we're underway. This is Tom Riley. Thank you to the five of you that are with us right now and hopefully Ken joins us. We'd like to hear from you in one minute or less I'd like to have you describe why you think it's important for our city now to put in place an Economic Development Advisory Committee. I'm going to select Gary. Gary Tessa to be the first to give us a response and then we'll go through the five of you. So Gary, can you please share in one minute with us? |
| 00:09:21.17 | Gary Testa | Thank you. Good to see you all, and thanks for having us here tonight. I think post-COVID the world is about to change. I think a lot of what we... experience in the past in terms of the tourism and other factors of business, we're all about to be altered by what will be a large group set in the way that we look at things. I think for the city of Sausalito, it's particularly important right now to bring both the community business owners, Thank you. and City Hall together to really look at what we want and how we want to proceed. And what do we expect this to look like? But I think from a timeliness perspective, I think it's an absolute great opportunity to kind of reset our expectations around where we thought revenues would come from. |
| 00:10:07.08 | Unknown | Where are we? |
| 00:10:09.40 | Gary Testa | and give the city a chance to really think about what does it want to be five years, six, ten years from now? |
| 00:10:17.45 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Gary. Teresa and Kona, would you like to answer that question for us please, one minute or less? |
| 00:10:26.68 | Unknown | Well, |
| 00:10:34.77 | Tom Riley | Teresa. Are you available to speak? |
| 00:10:38.24 | Teresa Ancona | Uh, yeah. Okay. There we go. Sorry. I couldn't figure out how to unmute, or I wasn't getting unmuted, I'm not sure exactly. Anyway, yes, it's important because, you know, I look around town and I see businesses closing and going out of business, and I think we need to diversify the types of businesses that we have. coming into town and opening and not and hoping to improve. the town and its vitality and life. Uh, Yeah, that's pretty much it. |
| 00:11:16.74 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Teresa. Well, Thank you. Walter Leverman, would you please give us your thoughts on that question? |
| 00:11:26.00 | Walter Leverman | Thank you, Tom. So I guess quite simply, The economic health. of our city drives what we do as a city. what the council does. And, you know, we're going to see this kind of play out with the COVID-19 pandemic. And so therefore, I think there needs to be a focus on the economic health of our city. And the councils, if you will, is legislative. But the advisory committee would actually kind of broaden the council's bandwidth. they can kind of, you know, be a little more deep. in that area. And so the advisory committee can provide timely and accurate, meaningful counsel So the council could make wise decisions. It kind of broadens the council's reach, if you will. So I think the council would benefit from strong representation, you know, smart business people with related experience, uh, with innovative perspective and that can be team players and really support the council. Uh, |
| 00:12:34.11 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 00:12:34.50 | Walter Leverman | in this area. |
| 00:12:35.51 | Tom Riley | Thank you. Thank you, Walter. Ian, Sobieski, would you please provide your thoughts? |
| 00:12:44.91 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, thanks a lot. Nice to be here. Uh, Thank you. and the economy as part of the community, and how much of a part, or in what way, is ultimately a political question that voters and their representatives on the council decide with policies such as zoning and taxation. And those kinds of policies end up creating an environment that costs one kind of economic development or another. And, uh, The reason they have a committee is because it's a complicated issue. |
| 00:13:16.26 | Unknown | All right. |
| 00:13:16.58 | Ian Sobieski | a complicated set of facts with many stakeholders that can certainly consume any group of people's time and attention. So outsourcing it to some degree. is a useful uh, policy decision But the ultimate work product seems to be mostly focused, should be focused on coming up with a couple of coherent alternatives that really represent different visions, answering key questions such as, what does economic development mean? What kind of economic development is possible within South Salado? With very different kinds of scenarios, without necessarily making judgments about which one you as the council or as a broader South Salado community might wanna choose. The technical question, about what is possible, what isn't possible and what that would look like, could be really fleshed out by a community of competent people who are devoted to figuring that problem out. So my idea of the value for the community would come up with a variety of different scenarios they're all coherent Thank you. with a minute itself later. for I'm going to counsel one of the community to decide Thank you. |
| 00:14:26.87 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Ian. |
| 00:14:26.88 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:14:27.03 | Unknown | Thank you, Ian. |
| 00:14:28.55 | Tom Riley | Appreciate that. Don Daglow, would you please share your views on the Economic Development Advisory Committee? |
| 00:14:37.55 | Don Daglow | Thank you and thank you for having me here. I think number one, it's an opportunity. Sausalito has a lot of talent in it and it's a chance to have additional people. in an advisory role. who have different perspectives give that input as a way of wanting to help the city. I think in the current environment, it's a great idea because we're going through a change that none of us have seen in our lifetimes. My family's been in Sausalito professionally or living there off and on for over a hundred years. My family was there when the 1906 earthquake happened. And so even in all that history of town, We haven't seen something like we have now with COVID-19. We know there's a big economic impact to this. We don't know exactly how we're going to recover. and having some good collaborative minds giving input seems like a great idea. |
| 00:15:30.05 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Don. |
| 00:15:30.06 | Don Daglow | Thank you, Don. |
| 00:15:31.33 | Tom Riley | Heidi, I'd like to check if Ken Pullerman has joined us in this interim moment. |
| 00:15:36.95 | Heidi Scoble | I do not see his name as a participant, |
| 00:15:40.98 | Tom Riley | All right. Thank you to the five of you for respecting the one minute timeframe and the concise, direct answers. I will pass it to Joe. |
| 00:15:51.80 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Tom, and thank you all for being here tonight. This is so important to our community and so appreciative of the council for your participation. Kudos for being here, and it's great to see you all on a screen, if anything else. I have question number two that I'm going to ask. and then provide the order. In one minute or less, what would you consider is your greatest strength or asset that would positively contribute to the economic development advisory Committee. And Don, you did so well. Last I'm going to ask you to start right here. |
| 00:16:25.97 | Don Daglow | Okay. I think the thing I bring to the party is a combination of two factors. Number one, I mentioned long ties to Sausalito. I've lived in two different Sausalito neighborhoods. I've run a business here for 12 years. I've been around and involved in the city for a long time. And secondly is outside real world experience. I've been involved in Silicon Valley Sadly for most of its history, with my age. but I've been involved in technology, the tools, that are major tools for us to use. to help rebuild the parts of our economy where we've had losses. A lot of it involves online and technology. |
| 00:16:57.83 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:17:03.89 | Don Daglow | I'm highly trained there. both in the online marketing elements and in the technical elements. So I think that's probably a specialty. And then simply the pragmatic part of running a business. I'm a three-time Inc. 500 CEO. I've run businesses and in Sausalito. And I think it's that combination I bring to the party. |
| 00:17:14.76 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:17:14.92 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:17:14.94 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:17:25.51 | Joe Burns | Great. Thank you, Don. Ian, you're next. |
| 00:17:28.53 | Ian Sobieski | Thanks, Joe. Can you hear me? Yeah. So, uh, I would say that I have no preconceived notions. That's my greatest asset to bring to the table. I have no, particular specific vision about what I think economic development in South Salida would look like. I am a process person. I've been, as I mentioned in my application, an angel investor in startup companies now for 20 plus years in the Silicon Valley. And I've been on the, nonprofit board of directors in San Francisco of the organization called Meals on Wheels. We just completed a $45 million capital campaign to build a new kitchen in San Francisco up the number of meals we serve from the current 3 million to something like 10 million. So I went through that process and all those charges, you didn't want anyone around the table that had an ax to grind, where what you really wanted was open-minded, process-focused people who would let the outcome follow the process. And so that's what I would bring, is the integrity around establishing a process that listens to tries to comprehend who all the stakeholders are And what they're, and the entire way that the business community is both promoted and stifled by the broader economy, by local regulations, by our own ignorance, by the unknown knowns. |
| 00:18:56.87 | Unknown | Your one minute has expired. |
| 00:18:58.62 | Ian Sobieski | Thanks. |
| 00:19:02.79 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Ian. Walter, nice to see you. |
| 00:19:06.97 | Walter Leverman | So I'd say my greatest strength is my small business expertise. So over 35 years, I've, launched and grown three companies in particular first republic bank advantage enterprises and advantage capital. Um, So I've done things from monetizing a concept became an industry and launching a trade organization to promote economic development Thank you. |
| 00:19:32.37 | Bruce Woodward | and, you know, |
| 00:19:32.69 | Walter Leverman | Thank you. my industry. And then I withstood some of the challenges, like the San Francisco earthquake of 89. I grew my business in the midst of that. 9-11 in New York City, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 in New York. So I've kind of been through getting through tough times knowing what's needed and when, leveraging resources. And so I come from that. perspective that I could offer. |
| 00:20:01.35 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Walter. Thank you. |
| 00:20:02.76 | Unknown | Hi, Teresa. Thank you. You're next. |
| 00:20:08.13 | Teresa Ancona | Hi, can you hear me? You bet. Okay, so... I come with a very positive attitude. You know, I'm had run a successful restaurants for many, many years in town here along with my family. I'm kind of a straight shooter. You get what you get with me. And I'm a kind of a boots on the ground person. I deal with both the visitors that come into town and hear what they have to say about our town and people that live in town And what they have to say and what They kind of feel like what they need. And so that's what I think I can contribute to this committee. Thank you. |
| 00:20:49.02 | Joe Burns | Thanks, Teresa. Hello, Gary. You're the final person on this question. |
| 00:20:57.17 | Joe Burns | You're not on yet. Hold a sec. Your time hasn't started, one second. |
| 00:21:04.58 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:21:09.77 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 00:21:09.79 | John Dure | Thank you. |
| 00:21:09.82 | Unknown | I've been checked. |
| 00:21:09.86 | Gary Testa | I'm just... |
| 00:21:10.30 | John Dure | Thank you. There you go. |
| 00:21:11.17 | Unknown | Heidi. |
| 00:21:11.19 | Gary Testa | Heidi, can you hear me? |
| 00:21:12.42 | John Dure | Yes. |
| 00:21:13.10 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:21:13.42 | Gary Testa | Okay. Um, So I'm a nine time entrepreneur. I've built businesses from zero to well over 500 million And I made a choice in the latest venture that I'm currently personally funding to relocate my development lab to Sausalito. So I currently run a business in the high tech sector. We are involved in renewable energy. And we're having a big impact on the data center world. Many of you have visited our location, and I appreciate that. My perspective is that I'm a recent transplant as a business owner to Sausalito. I knew what I was looking for. I knew why I wanted to be in Sausalito. And I'm very happy to be there. I want to grow my business. Today we have about three employees. I'm looking to have about 40 employees in Sausalito in a micromanufacturing business. And I believe my perspective is a little different. I respect everyone else on the call, but I'm trying to grow a business in Sausalito. I'm looking for ways to help the city attract more businesses like mine. I feel that micromanufacturing, Um, is a wonderful opportunity for Sausalito. And it's something that they've already got a great one that we can build. And I represent that perspective. So I think I bring that to the, So they're committed. |
| 00:22:42.15 | Joe Burns | Great. Thank you, Gary. Well, I appreciate that. That was a good round. And now we are going to open it up to other city council members for questions. And I'll just let you go. Susan, you want to moderate that or just start? |
| 00:23:00.79 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:23:00.81 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | No, that's fine that I have a question. |
| 00:23:01.45 | Joe Burns | I'm sorry. |
| 00:23:04.10 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | So, We often talk about three different aspects of our business community, the resident or local regional serving, the light industrial arts and marine oriented and the marineship and our tourist industry. might not capture everybody, but We roughly describe it that way. Do you think that there are opportunities on this committee to advance strategies and visions that are symbiotic between those three categories or not and why? And this is a question for everyone. So, I guess, Joe, do you want me to call on people in order? |
| 00:23:48.43 | Joe Burns | Yeah, you could do that. Maybe pick from the middle or however you want to go, Mayor. Thank you. |
| 00:23:53.90 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Well, actually, I will start with Gary, since you just talked about the importance of micro manufacturing and the marineship. |
| 00:24:02.34 | Gary Testa | Absolutely. Well, I think we have to focus on all three. I think though post COVID, I think the tourism aspect of our city's revenue is going to be a real challenge and we're going to have to refocus in terms of trying to attract, I think, a lot more Um, tourism from closer to home, more Marin, San Francisco to the city in order to promote that. I think the micro manufacturing aspect and what the Marin ship has to offer is a tremendous opportunity, and one that hasn't been properly leveraged by the city, and one that with some investment can bring some long-term growth, employment, and opportunity to the city. In terms of supporting the residents, I think we're going to have to make a concerted effort to support smaller local businesses that serve our of Sausalito, they're under tremendous pressure right now. And if we don't look ways to grow that, we're gonna end up in a city that very much could potentially be lacking in resident businesses or businesses serving direct residents. So I think we have to look at it holistically. And I think we need to have a plan for each one. And without bringing the business community and the city together to formulate that plan, I think we're going to be in a world of hurt and I think the rest of the United States is facing that same problem. |
| 00:25:18.36 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Your one minute has expired. Great, thank you. Theresa, why don't you go next? And you already talked about being a bridge at your restaurant between the tourists and the residents. You see, Any symbiotic relationship with the marineship? Oh. |
| 00:25:36.25 | Teresa Ancona | Yeah, I don't think that you survive as a business in this town if you are not symbiotic with the different areas, you know? It's. My business is just as dependent on what is happening in the Marin ship. If there is manufacturing going on there, those people are also inclined to support my business, just like the residents, just like the tourists. Like, I don't think you, as a business can survive without support of all the different types of businesses in town. For me, really diversification is is kind of the key. You know, having worked at the bakery down in the Marin Ship area, that was absolutely fantastic for me. Like, I loved seeing those people who live down there, who work down there, you know, I would love to see them also come down my way, you know. I feel really sometimes very sad when I hear residents or people who live at the north end of town say to me that they don't think that we have anything to offer them. your one minute ahead. |
| 00:26:46.46 | Heidi Scoble | No. |
| 00:26:50.02 | Teresa Ancona | pretty much it. I think you need all three. Thank you. |
| 00:26:52.91 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. Walter, Limmermann, anything to add? |
| 00:26:57.58 | Walter Leverman | just a little bit. I think we're really fortunate in Sausalito that we have such diversity. I mean, how many communities do you know of that have a maritime, industry, light manufacturing, hospitality, retail, Um, So we're really fortunate to have that. I look at this as like a, a portfolio of diverse industries, if you will. And so I think they all, as Teresa said, they all kind of tie together because if we're healthy, we feed each other. So I think holistically, we're that word as well. So I really think it's, it is a symbiotic. Um, relationship with the various segments of our Um, it, uh, business in Sausalito. |
| 00:27:47.94 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. Anne? |
| 00:27:50.83 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, so sure. I think that is everyone. I think there's consensus that there's some symbiotic relationship among those things. when you're designing a house and you have a bedroom and a kitchen and a bathroom and a living room, they can either fit together or they might not fit together very well and that's what a good architect can do for you, and that's what I hope you're imagining doing both at the council and with this committee. I mean, I would buy tickets to watch the ships getting broken up in the boatyard, and I know the Bay Model is an old industrial scientific site that's now a tourist attraction, so of course it can be done, but I don't think necessarily that our goal is that the ideas just come from me or the other members of whoever gets appointed on the committee. I think the ideas are out there, and they come from iterative engagement with the various stakeholders over some sort of process period of time. |
| 00:28:42.28 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. Thank you, Dawn. I'm going to wrap this up. |
| 00:28:46.14 | Don Daglow | I agree with a lot of what's been said about being both a holistic problem and a holistic opportunity. And that's the right approach. I really look at the neighborhoods of Sausalito as representing almost different kinds of fields or different kinds of areas in the garden where you can grow. And I think part of it is recognizing that in the Marin ship as the largest area where I've worked for the last 12 years, We have one set of opportunities downtown and in Caledonia are two other different sets that have some things in common, some things that vary. I think Old Town has some opportunities that, uh, shouldn't be ignored. So I think that as we look at both developing and gathering ideas and feeding ideas and feedback, looking at each of these not as just one big Sausalito, but looking at each of those different areas with their own degree of sunlight, if I belabored the metaphor, I think it's a good way to look at it. |
| 00:29:44.29 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great. Thank you very much for All of those great answers. So I will ask Councilmember Cox or Vice Mayor Withey if you have questions for this group. We have been told by the clerk we have about 10 more minutes and we have one more follow up question from Councilmember Riley to close us out. So, Councilmember Cox or Vice Mayor with you. Do you have a question? |
| 00:30:12.68 | Councilmember Cox | I don't have a specific question. I wanted to find out if all of the applicants had answered the three questions that Heidi sent because my packet doesn't seem to have answers to these three questions from all of the applicants. |
| 00:30:30.29 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | That's correct. We don't have answers for some applicants. |
| 00:30:33.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:30:33.26 | Joe Burns | Yeah. |
| 00:30:33.58 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:30:37.28 | Joe Burns | Do you want like an account here, Joan, and then ask if they can still send them in to us? What do you guys |
| 00:30:42.70 | Councilmember Cox | What do you guys think? Because these questions I thought were really probing and thoughtful, so I am interested to hear how our applicants respond to them so what do you guys think i don't think there was a huge turnaround time initially. |
| 00:31:01.19 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | No, I agree. That would be really helpful. I think all candidates should have the opportunity. So maybe until, Friday at noon. Does that make sense to looking at Councilmember Riley and Burns? . |
| 00:31:16.80 | Tom Riley | Yes, I think Friday at noon will give us enough time. Thank you. |
| 00:31:20.26 | Councilmember Cox | I like that. That gives us the weekend to review. And I just like the candidates to know that I appreciate your verbal comments, but I definitely will be considering your written comments as well as I consider who my groups would go to. |
| 00:31:35.97 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.01 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.04 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great. |
| 00:31:36.12 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.17 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.21 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.22 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.46 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | There we go. |
| 00:31:36.51 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:31:36.53 | Councilmember Cox | So we will. |
| 00:31:37.20 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 00:31:38.33 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | And on Friday, if you did not submit answers to the three questions, you can still be sure. Thank you. |
| 00:31:43.65 | Vice Mayor Withey | Vice Mayor, anything to add? |
| 00:31:57.64 | Ray | That is a long-winded way of getting unmute to work to say I've got nothing to act. No, I don't have a specific question. I found this discussion to be very stimulating, very interesting. |
| 00:32:05.08 | Unknown | All right. |
| 00:32:13.70 | Unknown | Great. |
| 00:32:14.14 | Ray | And I agree with Councilmember Cox. I really would like for those who have not submitted the written responses to those questions To do so would be very helpful. |
| 00:32:26.97 | Vice Mayor Withey | Great. |
| 00:32:27.96 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I will put back to Council Member Riley for concluding |
| 00:32:34.19 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you to the five of you. being so direct. So we like to get a closing comment from each of you again in one minute Can you share with us, if you're on this committee, you're working with city council and we're successful, What does success look like five to 10 years from now? |
| 00:32:54.96 | Unknown | to you. |
| 00:32:56.89 | Tom Riley | So I'm gonna ask Walter to answer that first. Thank you, Steve. |
| 00:33:03.74 | Walter Leverman | No. |
| 00:33:03.89 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 00:33:03.97 | Walter Leverman | Thank you. |
| 00:33:04.09 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 00:33:04.26 | Walter Leverman | So that comes down to like measurement and, um, And like as Ian, I don't have any preconceived notions of how this looks or anything, but I kind of favor measuring outcomes rather than outputs. Because if we do some activities, some economic development activity, and then measure the success of that, then that helps us understand what we need, what did we do right? What can we do replicate again? So there's some things we can always look at in terms of number of business licenses issued. You know, I believe with Gary, that there's a lot of we can attract a lot of people, a small industry that we might not be doing now, but we can try things and then measure the results based upon the results that we see, increases in assessed property values or perhaps the number of new jobs created. And I think a good way to look at it is by the very segments, retail, maritime, industrial, hospitality, occupancy rates, you know, there's ways to look at that and hotel occupancy rates and retail and office industrial occupancy to measure how we, what the results are of what we've done. So what can we do and how do we measure the results, the benefits of what we've created. Great. |
| 00:34:31.03 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Walter. Ian, how about you? |
| 00:34:35.45 | Ian Sobieski | Can you hear me? Yeah. |
| 00:34:36.33 | Tom Riley | Yes, we can. |
| 00:34:36.92 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah. So my idea of success, the vision in 15 years, we'll do that whatever, It looks like it's coherent. meaning that all the pieces fit together, the policy, the zoning, the taxation, all supports the kind of business activity that exists at that time. I feel like it's natural and I think to some degree true, to Mara Knowles' point earlier that when you have various stakeholders, you can also just try to split the difference all the time and you have a little bit of everything and the result sort of works, but it's also not super coherent. And it's not as good as it can be. And it certainly can actually provide people and make people feel |
| 00:35:19.77 | Ian Sobieski | jarred by the whole assemblage rather than a smooth, well-oiled machine. So I have no preconceived notion of what that could look like. You've seen communities that have great business development. They're all about business. New York City is a |
| 00:35:33.66 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:35:34.01 | Ian Sobieski | never sleeps and you have other communities that have no business whatsoever. They're bedroom communities. very different sets of rules, very different sets of policies, very different character. You're all involved in a general planning mission. And it would be nice if As part of that, you can bring in a coherent economic policy that meets the vision of Sausalito for 10 or 15 years. And that's what I think would be successful. That's what success would look like. |
| 00:35:59.20 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Ian. Teresa, how does success What does it look like to you? |
| 00:36:06.85 | Teresa Ancona | Uh, success to me looks like a thriving, colorful, vibrant town that's full of people and just joyful. |
| 00:36:20.91 | Tom Riley | Thank you. That was very direct. and wonderful. Gary, you can wrap it up for us. |
| 00:36:29.11 | Gary Testa | Right. So I... I'm a believer in specialization and I can't comment on what success would look like for us from a tourism perspective. businesses or the residents that don't have that experience. But I do have a vision of what Sausalito could look like in terms of its support for micromanufacturing, renewable resources, and green tech. |
| 00:36:40.84 | Unknown | I don't know. |
| 00:36:41.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:36:41.14 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:36:51.33 | Gary Testa | And I think we could have a growing, thriving ecosystem of businesses that are contributing, not just to the well-being of Sausalito, but really to the well-being of the way that the whole world lives its life. We have a number of small businesses today that are heavily involved in that. I'm one of them. Thank you. |
| 00:37:07.30 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:37:07.78 | Gary Testa | And by attracting a greater number of us together, creating that ecosystem of a thriving opportunity to build prototypes and really use all the creative and opportunities we have in the Marinship, I think we could be a cornerstone for a huge part of Sausalito's success. And, you know, as was stated, we can attract the employees that would use the other services and maybe even create an opportunity to create a tourism opportunity in terms of showing people a new way of solving some of the really technical problems that we have around renewable energy and green tank. So there's my vision I'd like to contribute. |
| 00:37:46.46 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Gary. |
| 00:37:46.58 | Gary Testa | Thank you. |
| 00:37:49.36 | Tom Riley | That completes our questions in this first, oh. |
| 00:37:52.06 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:37:52.11 | Unknown | Right. |
| 00:37:53.97 | Tom Riley | I was looking at my clock, so Don Daglow. |
| 00:37:55.91 | Don Daglow | Yeah. thing. You know, I think there's two kinds of scorecards. I think one is frankly the financial that's been discussed. It's measuring sales tax, it's measuring other forms of city revenue that are a symptom of economic growth. And so I think you have that side. And then there's the subjective side. which is I think all of us love Sausalito for a reason. And that reason is not simply, oh, it's convenient or it's, yeah, it's a good place to do business or whatever. Those reasons are incredibly different. I think Theresa was alluding to that. if we can increase those financial scores while maintaining that sense of the diversity of reasons that people love Sausalito. I think that mix of a very objective and a very subjective scorecard is a good way to look at it. |
| 00:38:47.35 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Don, and sorry to have not called you out. But to make up for that, I will thank you. I have probably played half a dozen of the games that you have published. So, You are a very well-known man in your industry. So I want to thank you all for this format. We've never done this before. It seems like we are on time. We do appreciate you. participating via this format. Thank you for your interest in serving the community. We are overwhelmed with not only the number, but the talent and the five of you reflect the talent that we have here in town. So we thank you. We're going to move on to our next group. and we'll be following up on you. Thank you very much. |
| 00:39:33.50 | Vice Mayor Withey | Great, and I did just wanna add, hold on before I go. |
| 00:39:37.97 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | We'll be considering the conversation meeting on May 26th at our city council. We would love to join by meeting on May 20th or not, but the clerk will be contacting you. Thank you. So we just wanna echo Council Member Riley's thanks for participating tonight. And this is kind of one of these, silver linings to COVID-19 that we've trying things that we've never done before. And so thank you for bearing with us and trying this group Zoom interview process. I think it was really interesting and I appreciate your flexibility. All right, so with that, we will close out this portion and move on to our... Next set of interviewees, thank you so much. |
| 00:40:29.09 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you Mayor Cleveland Knowles. At this time we will take a one to two minute break as we accept the next group participants. |
| 00:40:45.15 | Heidi Scoble | They're starting to call in right now. |
| 00:41:00.96 | Heidi Scoble | If I may take a moment, there is an iPhone guest that does not have a name Can you identify yourself |
| 00:41:10.34 | Marina O'Neill | Thank you. It might be me, it's Marina O'Neill. Okay, perfect. I'm sorry, it's my first time using Zoom, you guys, so just bear with me. |
| 00:41:14.38 | Heidi Scoble | Okay, perfect. Thank you. |
| 00:41:23.15 | Heidi Scoble | Just gonna put a name next to your phone or your, so we know who you are. Thank you. |
| 00:41:34.81 | Heidi Scoble | And while we're letting everyone in the meeting, I'll just go over some house cleaning. First, I'd like to thank you for participating in this interview process. And since some of you are new to this meeting right now, I'm just gonna go over some information. So thank you council members for indulging me in hearing this again. As this is a Zoom meeting format, I've sent you a request to start your video so we can see your image on the screen. please press the OK button. I also want to inform you that I will be controlling the mute and unmute button. When it's your time to speak, I will unmute you but I'm noticing that once I unmute you, you may need to unmute yourself to expedite the process. The format of the interviews will be such that the City Council will be conducting 40 minute interviews for four groups of six candidates. Each candidate will be asked three predetermined questions that were previously emailed. to you. Councilmember Burns and Riley will provide two questions to all candidates. Each candidate will answer each question in one minute or less. After the first two questions, the other council members will have opportunities to ask follow-up questions. Candidates will have up to one minute to respond to each question. I, the city clerk, will keep track of the time and let you know when your time has expired. I would like to welcome the second group of candidates. The second group of candidates that will be interviewed are Cass Green, Bruce Woodward, Marina O'Neill, John Dure, John Flavin and Josh Pereira. |
| 00:43:15.39 | Heidi Scoble | I have noticed that Bruce Woodward is not at, oh no, he is here, thank you. |
| 00:43:22.04 | Monica Finnegan | and Great. |
| 00:43:23.83 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, welcome everybody. I'll hand it over to Councilmember Riley and Bern. |
| 00:43:30.95 | Tom Riley | All right, thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, wonderful applicants. So I'll be asking a question and I will call on each of you to answer this question in a minute or less. |
| 00:43:36.01 | Unknown | Um, |
| 00:43:44.21 | Tom Riley | We would like for you to describe to us Why you think it's important now for the The city to put in place an economic development advisory committee. And so I'm going to ask Cass, if you don't mind starting Cass, please do. You'll need to come off me, Cass. Thank you. |
| 00:44:01.12 | Cass Green | Thank you. Um, Over 50% of the of income is from Um, comes through business practices. And in the future, property taxes are going to remain stable. The only way to increase revenue is to increase the revenue from business |
| 00:44:19.89 | Councilmember Cox | Excuse me, I'm sorry, Madam Mayor. There's a huge echo and I'm wondering if the board clerk, if the city clerk would mute her phone if that might help. |
| 00:44:34.67 | Vice Mayor Withey | Okay, let's try again. I'm sorry. |
| 00:44:37.45 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Sorry. |
| 00:44:38.38 | Vice Mayor Withey | Bye. |
| 00:44:38.41 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah, Ms. Green, could you start over? We'll start your time and just, There was a lot of feedback on the line. I don't think it's on your end. I think it's a problem with our city system. So we'll try one more time. |
| 00:44:51.19 | Cass Green | Great, thanks very much. So again, over 50% of the city's revenue comes from business taxes, it's business-based revenue. And, I'm pretty sure property taxes aren't going to increase So the only way for Sausalito to increase its revenue, the city's revenue, is to increase the revenue that's coming from businesses. So, you know, I have a vision of Sausalito that is a town that can support its residents and also is a beautiful town with a great experience for visitors and for the residents. And the only way we can do that is to have a robust business community. which is why I think the city needs an economic development committee. |
| 00:45:36.55 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:45:46.74 | Cass Green | Did the sound work better? |
| 00:45:47.75 | Tom Riley | I apologize. Thank you, Cass. Josh Breyer, would you please share your thoughts with us? |
| 00:45:57.03 | Josh Pereira | Yeah, am I, can you guys hear me? |
| 00:45:58.91 | Tom Riley | Yes. |
| 00:46:00.01 | Josh Pereira | All right, perfect. So I'll just answer like a city is only a strong, it's just constituency, right? So, an economic development advisory committee, it was gonna widen the net capturing the local sentiment. It's gonna introduce the power of diversity and thought expertise, It's good. Really important, distribute the workload. Sometimes is this honor counsel? And most importantly, it's going to improve the trust between partnerships. between our local residents, our business community, and the municipality. That's really it. |
| 00:46:45.31 | Tom Riley | Maureen O'Neill, would you please share your thoughts Niatan Miprin, thank you. |
| 00:46:52.03 | Marina O'Neill | Thank you. Sorry, it's my first time on Zoom. They're with me, guys. Um, Thank you for having me as part of this today. Sausalito has a unique business climate, including a variety of diverse industries including some like hospitality, tourism, industrial, art, retail, tech, and maritime. We have seasonality is one of the factors in Sausalito. And so I think it's important for us to get together and help guide business towards those low season months to make an impact on the taxes that we're not getting during those low season months. We, I think it's important for the city of South Florida to welcome a committee of both residents and business leaders to help. assess and guide the priorities for a balanced and successful economic |
| 00:47:47.14 | Unknown | you know, |
| 00:47:47.85 | Marina O'Neill | future. Now more than ever with the current COVID-19 crisis and economic struggle, we will need to hear the voices of leaders in our community to formulate a plan to recover and thrive. So that's what's motivated me to be here today, as well as the seasonality factor. I think we need help with that for sure. Thank you. |
| 00:48:12.37 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Marina. Your Zoom skills are very good. Um, Mr. John Flavin, please share your thoughts. |
| 00:48:24.05 | John Flavin | Nobody knows what's going to happen over the next year. You all have a very full plate as city council members. You need a group who can kind of step back, assess what's going on, use their experience and their intelligence to produce to you not books, but short reports as to what, and suggestions as to what changes you need to make over the next year to two years. |
| 00:48:52.43 | Unknown | Don't. |
| 00:48:57.75 | Unknown | Thank you, John, for that. |
| 00:49:00.03 | Tom Riley | the next John, John Duret. |
| 00:49:08.24 | John Dure | All right, can you hear me? |
| 00:49:09.95 | Tom Riley | Yes, John. |
| 00:49:11.42 | John Dure | All right, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I appreciate it. The city needs a roadmap or strategy. for its economic future, there's no better way to create that roadmap, I think, than engage Engaging a group of residents and stakeholders in volunteer participation. Diversity of experience and thought are crucial to navigate the new reality as much of the old playbook is gone for good. and acceleration of online retail, restaurant separation and work from home are the new reality. City Council will have a significant budget constraint for the next several years. And the committee I think will be responsible for doing some heavy lifting. The correct path forward is key to success, and knowing the capabilities of local businesses, as well as the macro and regional opportunities will result in a clear path. Thank you. |
| 00:50:05.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:50:06.03 | Tom Riley | Thank you, John. And Bruce Woodward, would love to hear your thoughts. Bruce, you are muted. You need to unmute your computer. Peter. |
| 00:50:20.62 | Unknown | There you go. |
| 00:50:24.42 | Bruce Woodward | How's that? Thank you. |
| 00:50:25.77 | Unknown | Yep, perfect. |
| 00:50:27.62 | Bruce Woodward | Okay, so we're in a post pandemic world, which changes the game for everyone. kind of means if you're not prepared anything could happen. And so Sausalito in my seven years, living here has been I mean, it's a great town and yet there's a lot of In some ways it seems a little bit of a hodgepodge in the way things have been come together. However, between commercial and residential that live and work here, there's a great opportunity post pandemic and our new reality to cut and paste how things should work based on how things will evolve. So I think it's a great opportunity. There's lots of human capital in this city and Just today I was reading in San Francisco, North Beach, they're blocking off the street. for the weekend or something. I mean, that could happen on Caledonia Street maybe. I don't know, there are a lot of opportunities could spin out by having a group of talented people thrown together to come up almost like That's what I think. |
| 00:51:35.51 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Bruce. I'm going to pass the baton to Council Member Burns. |
| 00:51:41.54 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Councilmember Riley, and thank you all for participating. This is so important for our community and This council really appreciate your time tonight. So thank you for this. I have a question then I'll call on you to answer. In one minute or less, what would you consider is your greatest strength or asset that would positively contribute to the economic development Advisory Committee. Josh, I'm going to start with you. |
| 00:52:09.57 | Josh Pereira | Okay. I am unmuted. So as a Cuban immigrant, After putting myself through college, I started my career as a CPA. transition into strategic finance, And the past couple of years, And most importantly here, I was the head of Off the Grid's public market business. with a particular expertise in community building, in public placemaking, in historical sites. So, I can best serve the city of Sausalito by bringing this place making expertise, of course, maximize our local economic output while overcoming our limited beautiful real estate in a way that doesn't just preserve our salty culture, but it also helps to shine |
| 00:52:51.45 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Josh. John Flavin. Hi, John. |
| 00:52:56.19 | John Flavin | Thank you. I've been there and I've done that in cities and actually other countries. So I've looked at economic downturns and what to do in response to that with various property types, various businesses. As a real estate developer, you become not only a landowner, but you become a partner with a lot of your retail tenants. So I've been there. |
| 00:53:24.19 | Unknown | All right. |
| 00:53:24.58 | John Flavin | And I... |
| 00:53:25.08 | Unknown | there. |
| 00:53:30.38 | Unknown | Thank you, John. and the original Jay-Z, John DeRay. |
| 00:53:37.64 | John Dure | All right. Can you hear me? |
| 00:53:40.29 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:40.30 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 00:53:40.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:40.64 | John Dure | Thank you. Okay, thank you. Besides my education and experience as an engineer and finance professional serving on the GPAC, gave me the greatest insight, a great insight to all aspects of Sausalito's different interests. I came to realize the interconnectivity delicate balance of those interests. Going into GPAC, I knew and I loved downtown in Caledonia, as we all do. but I did not know enough about the marine ship. So I made a point to go down there every chance I had met with every maritime industrial business owner, artist, and employee that I could. The more people I met with, the more time I spent down there, the more I was confided in over the course of the last two years. I not only feel that I have an intimate knowledge of the businesses capable, of their businesses capabilities and plans, I've also become involved in some of the future opportunities initiatives |
| 00:54:31.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:54:31.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:54:31.99 | John Dure | down there on a volunteer basis. we've already identified some potential opportunities in sea level rise adaptation work, I also helped organize the Marineship Emergency Medical Manufacturing Group and worked closely on some of those projects. The retooling and flexibility demonstrated in the marineship was remarkable and I feel I have a good understanding of where that can be taken in the future. It is after all the economic engine of, Sausalito for the most part. Thank you. |
| 00:55:07.26 | Unknown | Thank you, John. John. Marina. Marina. |
| 00:55:14.97 | Unknown | We're gonna get to that. |
| 00:55:15.23 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 00:55:15.33 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:55:15.43 | Joe Burns | off. |
| 00:55:15.73 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:55:16.63 | Marina O'Neill | I mean, there we go. |
| 00:55:17.07 | Unknown | There we go. |
| 00:55:18.41 | Marina O'Neill | Thank you. I have been a business owner in Sausalito for the past 14 years. I proudly run SF Bay Adventures and the schooner free to be with my partner, Captain Paul Dines. We've created a thriving business with a diverse demographic Um, of clientele. I served on the Sausalito Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for four years, and during my time of service, my focus was on member benefit. with a strong interest in business and resident tranquility, I had the pleasure of chairing the concierge tour during my stay on the board for the chamber and was able to, with committee, host some of the most influential travel people in the Bay Area to Sausalito. and expose them to all of the great things Sausalito has to offer. by organizing that event. I also served with the local organizing committee for the Amgen tour of California for Sausalito. |
| 00:56:07.15 | Unknown | organization. |
| 00:56:14.90 | Marina O'Neill | as well as was hired on with them to oversee operations for the VIP hospitality for the entire tour one season. This gave me a chance to work with many cities in California at that time. I feel like that was a great experience to bring back to Sausalito. I also was a chair and co-chair over the years for the tour of tour de cuisine. and Sailfest. So I've done a lot of work in Sausalito, I volunteered a lot for the city, for the chamber, and for other nonprofits in Sausalito. So I feel I have a good relationship with the town, as well as an understanding of the heartbeat of the business community, as well as the nonprofit community. Thank you. |
| 00:56:58.10 | Unknown | Thank you, Marina. |
| 00:57:00.05 | Bruce Woodward | Thank you. |
| 00:57:00.07 | Marina O'Neill | would |
| 00:57:00.70 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 00:57:00.81 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 00:57:02.09 | Bruce Woodward | Oh. Make sure I'm unmuted here. Am I unmuted? You are. |
| 00:57:05.12 | Unknown | You are. Thank you. |
| 00:57:05.82 | Bruce Woodward | Yes, you sound good. I guess I'm kind of an organizer. I came here, but having had lots of experience in various mostly San Francisco organizations, but I said to myself, why doesn't this lovely town have its own wine event? So after talking to people, I kind of organized what some of you may know about the Sausalito Wine Experience. And I got to meet all kinds of people and we supported the first year, few years, sister cities and now called the sea, although we have to postpone until 2021 now and then Sausalito beautiful. So there's a lot of, You know, you can't be a talker, you have to be a doer. and following up and closing to get things done. But I think there's a lot of nice people and sharp people in this town and no reason why a lot of new things couldn't come about in a new reality, which is gonna be very interesting to see how that shapes opportunities. |
| 00:58:03.44 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Bruce. Well, thanks for your patience, Cass. We got back around to you. |
| 00:58:12.41 | Cass Green | Yeah, there we go. So first, I'm an experienced businesswoman, having started my own company in my living room and grown into a nationwide firm. I'm also and this is the funnest thing I've done in a long time. I am an owner of a significant business in Saskatoon. |
| 00:58:29.98 | Vice Mayor Withey | you go. |
| 00:58:30.64 | Cass Green | I'm one of the owners of the Inn Above Tide, which I run with my brothers. And that's been a great experience. I actually started working in Sausalito over 49 years ago in a small jewelry store in the village fair. And, But I, Besides my business expertise, I believe that I also understand the needs of the residents to a large extent because my family lived in Sausalito and Sausalito was my family home for over 40 years. So I feel like I can understand both of those perspectives. I'm also a very experienced committee person. I've been on several committees and I've been on advisory committees the Department of Interior, for NASA, for NOAA, And so I understand how committees need to work together and the importance of collaboration. So I think I bring both the business aspect, understanding to the residents, and then also the understanding of how important committees are and how they need to be structured and work together. |
| 00:59:34.07 | Joe Burns | Great. Thank you, Cass. Well, I really appreciate all of what you all have done for our community already. I'm just in awe. So we have a couple more questions and now I'm going to open it up to the other three council members to ask if they have any questions for you. And again, this will be in the one minute time limit. And I'll open it up. |
| 00:59:57.22 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah, great. Since I asked a question at the first group, I'd just welcome a question from the vice mayor or Councilmember Cox, if you have one. |
| 01:00:11.05 | Councilmember Cox | Mayor, I really liked your question. Okay. Thank you. |
| 01:00:15.23 | Vice Mayor Withey | I'm happy to remember. |
| 01:00:15.25 | Councilmember Cox | I'm happy to repeat that unless the vice mayor has something different. |
| 01:00:21.61 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah. Okay, Joan, why don't you ask it in the way you see it? |
| 01:00:28.81 | Councilmember Cox | We have a variety of different business aspects here in town, including our light industrial and marine, our tourist businesses and our various resident serving businesses are there opportunities to advance visions that are symbiotic between those categories and why |
| 01:00:52.07 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | And now you need to call on someone. |
| 01:00:53.84 | Councilmember Cox | Oh. OK, I'll call first on Um, Marina O'Neill. |
| 01:01:01.75 | Marina O'Neill | Thank you. |
| 01:01:06.53 | Marina O'Neill | Am I on, you guys? Can you see me? |
| 01:01:09.87 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 01:01:09.91 | Marina O'Neill | Yes. |
| 01:01:10.26 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 01:01:10.31 | Marina O'Neill | Thank you. Oh, great. Thank you. Um, Absolutely, I think there's a way to celebrate all of the businesses in Sausalito as we invite visitors and locals to embrace and share. and spend. I think that Sausalito has a significant historical aspect that ties it all together between hospitality and light industry, maritime, My grandmother served in the Marine ship during World War II. I'm always excited. to learn more about her time there and to go through that area when I need to service things for my boat. So I think it already exists somewhat too. have, you know, a charter boat downtown and to work in the, where the Liberty ships were built, have my boat service. That's some of the things that are already happening. But yeah, I think with a strong a strong, Clear vision and message to convey the identity of the town will go a long way helping all industry thrive. |
| 01:02:25.57 | Marina O'Neill | Thank you. |
| 01:02:28.31 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. Bruce Woodward, I'll call on you next. |
| 01:02:32.34 | Bruce Woodward | Yeah, am I unmuted again, I hope? |
| 01:02:34.52 | Councilmember Cox | Yes. |
| 01:02:35.48 | Bruce Woodward | Okay, good. Sausalito's got a lot of moving parts and opportunities. I think just to have a committee like this, I guess it's replacing a prior committee is really ambitious and I think it's wise to get a group of talented people to try to sort through it. I think pre-planning in advance, which is what sounds like this committee would do, |
| 01:02:47.71 | Unknown | All right. |
| 01:02:56.34 | Bruce Woodward | And also cherry picking whatever can be learned from Mill Valley or Tiburon. I don't know if they have something like this going on. How are they doing it? What are they asking? What kind of questions? What are their goals? And then you kind of have to create a roadmap to bring all the moving parts in Sausalito, the businesses, the residents, and get feedback. And then for five or 10 years, how to make it prosper. for the benefit of planning as opposed to letting things just drift around. So it's a great opportunity to do it. And I want to help. |
| 01:03:30.36 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. Josh Pereira. |
| 01:03:33.12 | Josh Pereira | Yes, that's a great question, by the way. It's the mayor's question. |
| 01:03:37.02 | Councilmember Cox | It's the mayor's question. I have to give you a credit. |
| 01:03:39.53 | Josh Pereira | And I just want to acknowledge that although we have a diversity industries and businesses they're not all necessarily happening at the same exact time Right, so thinking about time and place and population destiny you know, flow of traffic, per se. already gets you one step ahead, right? And the city's already doing a great job of trying to get that traffic going to Caledonia a little more. And I know that there's been conversations of how to activate Caledonia. I was involved with some of those But, Just seeing simple things of how do you activate the dead spots within Salsiligo where it's by even a park and the power of parks and how that could bring together some of our Lighter areas of glow. even identifying ways of moving tourist traffic from a very small area where they're just waiting in line to adjacent areas that can benefit from that consumer spending Um, Yeah, so to answer, all of those is the way you would address the problem, the way we're going to address it is, is by thinking about time and place and what's happening and when it's happening and being able to create, wayfinding, which is the term we use, wayfinding for people to find places that aren't as dense, but also to distribute some of this economic activity, but also it creates a better experience for the people who are visiting San Francisco and are doing business in San Francisco. What's it? |
| 01:05:19.67 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:05:20.03 | Cass Green | Josh. |
| 01:05:20.74 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:05:20.77 | Cass Green | Cass Green. Um, Okay, I'm unmuted now, good. So first off, I think that diversity is really important for Sausalito. |
| 01:05:27.16 | Teresa Ancona | Yes. |
| 01:05:32.70 | Cass Green | The business diversity is important just as different business cycles go up and down. So I think we need to really celebrate the diversity I think that the committee can become a focal point for developing symbiotic relationships. I think that they already exist When I think back at the hotel, we support business travel into the area. We support the clothing stores. We definitely support a lot of restaurants. our guests going to restaurants, but we also support Marin ships every year when we have our media tour. We take the media into marine ships because it's such a unique part of Sausalito. So I think the symbiotic relationships are already there and that this committee could become a forum where they could become, where those relationships could be strengthened. |
| 01:06:27.71 | Councilmember Cox | Thanks Cass. John DeRay. |
| 01:06:30.41 | John Dure | Thank you. So, I see Sausalito as a brand It's a brand of Um, It's a brand made up of maritime tourism, artists, and industry. We need to support that brand and grow it. There are a limited number of tourist dollars going forward, so I think it's important to really focus on supporting our downtown and Caledonia businesses, restaurants, and not to dilute them with new businesses, at least not for the short term. Um, And we're already doing a lot of things to help each other. Obviously, the maritime and industrial groups go to the restaurants for lunch or afterwards they'll pick something up for dinner pre-COVID. Um, And in the same way that the Marin ship people provide services to the restaurants, whether it's, uh, building a wind barrier for fish restaurant or a plexiglass shield for the trident. So that kind of thing, that kind of relationship just already exists and need to grow and the brand needs to grow. Thank you. |
| 01:07:48.88 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you, John. And we'll turn last to the other John, John Flavin. |
| 01:07:56.80 | John Flavin | In all my experience, there's always been the darkest before the dawn. And I think we're going through that right now. And in that darkness, there always are dynamic sparks. And dynamic sparks tend to grow out and cause fires that spread. Sorry about No forest fires, please. But, What happens is you create an environment of dynamism. And what you have is an environment where you can say, the city, and the business environment are working hand in hand. That convinces people that that dynamic environment will continue And as a result, you start to see all boats rise, not just split. |
| 01:08:43.98 | Unknown | one. |
| 01:08:50.85 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you all and I'll turn it back over to Tom, I guess, for our last question. |
| 01:08:58.57 | Tom Riley | Um, Certainly to me. I just want to see if the Vice Mayor had any questions at this time as well. |
| 01:09:09.10 | Ray | No, I think the question from Council Member Cox, derived from our mayors, was just hit the spot. Hey, we... |
| 01:09:22.22 | Unknown | Yeah. Bye. |
| 01:09:23.40 | Councilmember Cox | May I ask, I don't know whether every member in this group transmitted to us their responses to our three written questions. We're extending the deadline for that until Friday at noon. So if you have not responded to those three questions, I think the council members would very much appreciate seeing your written responses to those questions as well as having the opportunity to hear you today. |
| 01:09:52.96 | Tom Riley | Yes, and following up on that, we have three pieces of information, your original application, the response to the questions, and this interview will give us information to make our decisions. So we're going to ask of each of you for a closing one minute remark. And what I'd like you to do is fast forward five to 10 years from now. And when we look back on the work we've done as an economic development advisory committee and as a city council, How will we measure success at the time? Or what would success look like for you? So I like to, begin that by asking that of John. So John Flavin, can you please share your thoughts? |
| 01:10:35.72 | John Flavin | Five years from now. Possibly 10. but you will see a dynamism in this market such that there isn't a requirement for economic development because there'll be people clamoring to come here. you'll have. businesses, you'll have tech people, you'll have our own little Silicon Valley. in terms of the various forms that we offer. We are unique. And even though people aren't traveling anymore, There are locals here who can't travel anywhere else. They're going to still want an environment like this to relax. So you're gonna see all the changes, but you're gonna see a lot of dynamism And as a result, we'll be very, very healthy. |
| 01:11:27.50 | Tom Riley | Thank you, John. Marina, would love to get your thoughts on how you see success five to ten years down the road and how we measure it. |
| 01:11:44.78 | Marina O'Neill | You got me, you guys? |
| 01:11:44.89 | Unknown | about me you guys. |
| 01:11:46.13 | Tom Riley | Yes, we got you, Lena. |
| 01:11:46.14 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:11:46.30 | Marina O'Neill | Yes, we got you, Lena. Thank you. I would love to see a well coordinated flow of traffic through Sausalito that includes all of the zones that are currently struggling And I'd love to see that flow of traffic well organized, straight through to our low season where as a seasonal business in Slausalito for 14 years I can tell you We have to earn all of our money in seven months, and then five months we're catering to the locals, which is wonderful and a great time of year. as things kind of clear out, but we do need to focus in on increasing year round visitors and organizing the flow of how they visit and where they visit in Sausalito a little bit more mindfully. So I can see with some effort, really, managing that growth with grace and hospitality and making our shores a welcoming place for all visitors. We do have international, national, and locals visiting our town. almost every weekend during those peak months. I'd love to see that increase for our low season months as well. And I think we can do it. Thank you. |
| 01:13:11.29 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Marina. I love to hear from Josh Pereira of what, you know, five, 10 years looks like for you and how we look at what success means. |
| 01:13:26.08 | Josh Pereira | Um, Absolutely. I'll start off by saying I I recently started my own business doing the whole tech thing. So... This is a topic that I'm like dearly, like really passionate about. But, to really just to put as concise as possible, five years may be too ambitious, 10 years may be the right timeline, But, want us to transition from our economic productivity from being from a place where people commute from and then come back later. to a place that people commute to. and the way we can measure that is real simple metrics that we can go ahead and start kind of treating with a as a committee, we can look at our local office space vacancy rates, for instance. You know, what is that? What are we doing to improve that? Ways that we can improve that? What's the value of commercial projects currently in construction? um, How do we grow that? Do we wanna grow that? number of new businesses that are being started in South South America, number of permits that we're issuing. How many business licenses are renewing? At what rate are they renewing? the dollars that we're spending on infrastructure and wayfinding. And, also a way of tracking local business owner sentiment with what we're doing as a team. as a committee. and what the city is investing back into the city. That's really it. I want Sausalito to be a place. And this is, I even run sometimes by Le Garage and dream about the office space that I wanna have one day, you know, but I want people like me, you know, people who see Sausalito not just as a place to go work in the city, but a Sausalito that has a very unique culture or culture you want to be a part of and a place that you want to start your own business in. Um, Yeah. |
| 01:15:16.57 | Tom Riley | Thanks, Josh. I'll look for you out of the jogging trails. So, Cass, please love to hear your vision of how we measure success or how we know we've been successful. |
| 01:15:32.57 | Cass Green | I think that there, uh probably numerous metrics. One, the first one I'd like to see is an increase in Sausalito's business revenue that is developed from an expanded business base. some more diversity, but you know, I think that's a bottom line metric that's pretty clear. You want more revenue and to get that revenue, you expand the business base. A second one would be a decrease in the business vacancies. and a decrease in the volatility of those vacancies. for everybody when they're vacancies. It doesn't make Sausalito an attractive place to come to, And it's also, it's hard for businesses. It's hard for the community. So I think, If we had a decrease in that volatility and a decrease in the vacancies would be a really good thing. And then finally, I see in five or 10 years, I hope, a really positive and collaborative and mutually supportive relationship in between the businesses of Sausalito and the residents. I think that's, hard to measure. but it's a critical step for moving forward. Thanks. |
| 01:16:45.73 | Tom Riley | Thank you. Bruce Woodward would love to understand your view of how we measure success. what your vision is for what our city is looking like in five to 10 years. |
| 01:16:59.29 | Malcolm Morgan | Thank you. |
| 01:16:59.31 | Bruce Woodward | Well, I think Sausalito will into a a little more well organized Thank you. glamorous seaside community that it is with a slight European feel to it. And yet we have so many opportunities now. You've got Cavallo Point that's I don't know what's happening over there now. You've got the maritime community evolving. We're in the shadow of San Francisco's technology uh world you know how does that play into the future probably a lot and you've got the arts festival being shut down maybe there's an opportunity i love this dumpy park and the way that's shaken out i personally see that relocating jazz by the bay over there would be fantastic Anyway, expanding the Caledonia corridor, because that whole retail section down all the way to the end is a big opportunity. I don't know enough about it at this point, but it just seems like it would be. And there's so much, For lack of a better word, there's a lot of sex appeal in Sausalito, all these glamorous homes and all these interesting people. So there's nothing but upside in my book. |
| 01:18:09.66 | Bruce Woodward | Thank you. |
| 01:18:09.68 | Tom Riley | Thanks. We like that upside, Bruce. And now I'm going to turn to John DeRay to take us home with, um, John, your vision for five, ten years from now on how the city looks back and says we've been successful and how we measure that. |
| 01:18:26.20 | John Dure | All right, thank you. While we want to remain a city with a small town culture, we need a diversified economy. So we need to nurture what we have and grow it. We have an amazing group of makers and innovators. Most of the maritime industrial businesses are as busy as they've ever been. We need to foster this ecosystem we have in Sausalito, and in doing that, we have an opportunity to become a regional leader in environmental adaptation strategies. People are working on that now, as I mentioned. Maritime has great potential both with tourism and servicing. And has the opportunity to grow our economy in that respect. If done successfully as a city, we can provide the necessary services that our residents and visitors need and deserve and build back our general fund reserve, which I think is the key. This is a metric that will indicate how our three economic areas are succeeding in their businesses. We can't be successful without really building up that reserve fund. And one other thing I thought of In terms of a metric, the artists in the marineship just created a new brand called Made in the Marineship, and I'd really like to see that become really successful in five to 10 years Here's a sticker that they, me. So hopefully that's very successful. Thank you. |
| 01:19:55.53 | Tom Riley | Thank you, John. I'd like to order by sticker, please. |
| 01:19:55.55 | John Dure | Thank you. |
| 01:19:59.87 | Tom Riley | Thank you to the six applicants here. This concludes our Question period. I'm gonna turn this back over to the mayor for concluding remarks. |
| 01:20:12.71 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, well thank you so much everybody. It was a really interesting discussion and we also just really wanna thank you for bearing with us in this new format that we're using for this interview process. both on Zoom and in a kind of collaborative group setting. So thank you all for your time tonight. Thank you for your great thoughts and for your exciting visions of Sausalito. The city council is going to consider appointments next Tuesday on the 26th of May. Our meeting starts at seven o'clock. So that will be on our agenda if you want to tune into that meeting. But in any case, we'll be notifying you after that about who we are. have selected, but I can tell already just having gone through our first two groups that it's going to be an incredibly difficult set of decisions because I think we've just got such an outstanding group of folks interested in this. So thank you. It's really heartening to see everyone's interest and everyone's very excellent and diverse ideas for the future of our community and our businesses. So thank you. We are going to take a pause now while our clerk transitions from this group to our third group and we'll wish you good night and thank you again. |
| 01:21:37.73 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you, Mayor Cleveland Knowles and council members. Our next set of interviews is not scheduled to start until 7.30. We do have four of the six candidates with us right now, and I have asked the candidates to arrive by 725. So once they all arrive, I will let you know and tell you when the next group is ready to go. |
| 01:22:03.33 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, thank you very much. We'll see you shortly. |
| 01:23:04.84 | Heidi Scoble | I wish I had some music for you. I could try to get my Hamilton soundtrack going. Sounds good. |
| 01:23:13.18 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 01:23:13.28 | Heidi Scoble | . |
| 01:23:13.46 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yeah. |
| 01:23:16.89 | Unknown | I may not live to see our glory, but I will gladly join the fight. And when our children tell our story, |
| 01:23:29.00 | Heidi Scoble | Actually, it's Izzy's birthday, so. |
| 01:23:54.38 | Vice Mayor Withey | No, no, no. |
| 01:23:55.06 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:23:59.97 | Unknown | Oh. I'm going to hang out. you Oh, oh, oh. you Well, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh. We are. you |
| 01:24:22.72 | Unknown | Thank you. you Thank you. Bye. What's in the love? Bye. I am somewhere. Over the |
| 01:24:42.85 | Joe Burns | Come on, city clerk, hit the high note. . |
| 01:24:48.97 | Unknown | Let's see. You can't live. Yeah. Bye. you Thank you. She called us up. If I was all behind |
| 01:25:06.86 | Unknown | We're just waiting for Jacob Wittish. |
| 01:25:08.26 | Unknown | What is? Where the trouble's not coming yet. |
| 01:25:11.27 | Unknown | Oh. |
| 01:25:14.49 | Unknown | Ciao. Yeah. You'll find me over somewhere over. Thank you. Oh, my God. |
| 01:25:35.72 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you for your patience. We're still waiting for one more candidate. |
| 01:25:44.73 | Unknown | I know someday I wish a pounce mark. Wake up where the balls are far behind Be here with trouble melts like a lemon drop you Bye. High above the chimney, that's where Find me, O come star, where over the wind? Way up high |
| 01:26:25.33 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:26:29.01 | Unknown | Amen. Amen. I love you. I Oh. |
| 01:26:36.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:26:36.20 | Unknown | What? |
| 01:26:36.65 | Unknown | you All right. |
| 01:26:55.93 | Unknown | uh Thank you. |
| 01:27:04.21 | Joe Burns | All right, and next I'm gonna sing |
| 01:27:12.14 | Unknown | What would we do without you, Jill? |
| 01:27:22.59 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, welcome to the candidates that we do have. We're just waiting for one more candidate to join us. We were planned to start at 730. So thank you for your patience. |
| 01:28:57.91 | Heidi Scoble | Mayor Cleveland Knowles and council members, it does not appear as though our last candidate is going to be attending this meeting. Jacob Wittish. is now just joining us. Let's get in. In the meeting. |
| 01:29:20.78 | Teresa Ancona | Great. |
| 01:29:21.81 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. So if the clerk wants to address some of our housekeeping issues, welcome to all the candidates in group three. We really appreciate your being here tonight. |
| 01:29:31.90 | Heidi Scoble | Yes, thank you. I'd like to first thank you all for participating in this interview process. As this is a Zoom meeting format, I have sent you a request to start your video so we can see your image on the screen. please press the OK button. I also wanted to inform you that I will be controlling the mute and unmute button. When it is your time to speak, I will unmute you. However, you will also have to unmute yourself. The format of the interviews will be such that the City Council will be conducting 40-minute interviews for four groups of six candidates. Each candidate will be asked three predetermined questions that were previously emailed to you. Councilmember Burns and Riley will provide two questions to all candidates. Each candidate will answer each question in one minute or less. After the first two questions, the other two, or the other council members will have opportunities to ask follow-up questions. Candidates will have up to one minute to respond to each question asked of them. I, the city clerk, will keep track of the time and let you know when your time has expired. I would like to welcome the third group of candidates. The third group of candidates that will be interviewed are Jacob Wittish, Samuel Rubin, John Anderson, Adele Jelani, Sonia Hammons, and Jessica Rogers. |
| 01:30:50.99 | Tom Riley | Good evening, everybody. This is Tom Riley. Thank you for joining us tonight, giving us your time, but most importantly, for your interest in helping our city be all that it can be. We're very, very excited about the caliber of the candidates, And those of you here on the screen are just amazing, your backgrounds. And we think we can form an amazing committee from this group. So I'm gonna ask a question, I will just call on each of you to answer this question in one minute or less. And then Joe has a question for you. And then we're gonna ask some of the city council members have some follow-up questions, and then we'll close out. The key thing is try to keep your remarks to one minute or less. So we're just gonna start out with, why you think it's important at this time for our city, Sausalito, to have a new economic development advisory committee. And what do you think the purpose should be? So I am going to start by asking Sonia. Will you lead the discussion, Sonia? |
| 01:31:59.93 | Tom Riley | So you need to come off mute on your computer. There you go. |
| 01:32:02.68 | Sonia Hammons | There we go. Thank you all so much. I'm really happy to be here. Um, Well, as for why it's a great time for us to launch this council, Economic planning is about shaping who we want to be as a community. And I see having an advisory committee as an opportunity for mutual learning throughout the community This isn't a chance for us to go beyond speaking our views of I think this and you think that and maybe we'll compromise, maybe we'll vote, We've all experienced so much of that. And my vision for this community committee is an opportunity for us to create new ways of thinking around these challenges and designing creative solutions that let us break out of seemingly vicious cycles, and jump into something sustainable and resilient for our future. So I'm really appreciative that mayor, city council, city staff have been for thinking to present us with this opportunity. Thank you. |
| 01:33:07.75 | Tom Riley | I have to keep remembering to unmute myself. So I'd love to have... The gentleman that I will not go up against karaoke or lip syncing, Sam Rubin, please share your thoughts. |
| 01:33:20.83 | Samuel Rubin | unmuted. Ah, well, thank you so much and really appreciate the opportunity to be here among such illustrious companies. I think in economic, Development Advisory Committee is imperative at this juncture and saw some of the assessment The pandemic and the resulting economic crisis are just the latest of many issues that we are facing as a community We're also dealing with blackouts due to threat of fire. the fires themselves with all the smoke. the ongoing impacts of climate change. most deeply felt. with the king tides when we see flooding of the trails and with the marineship, along with the sinking of the friendship |
| 01:33:55.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:33:55.32 | Samuel Rubin | one of our key areas of economic, one of our economic engines of our community. And so I think this timing is incredible. It's a perfect time because these challenges also create new opportunities. And I think it's important that we have an advisory committee that can tap into the collective genius of our broader community. Not just those who are already active, but those who may not always have their voices in the room. It's been one of my learnings of working in sustainability and innovation that you never know where the next great idea is going to come from. And some of them, and they usually arise from a combination of different viewpoints that come together, create something greater than we could have envisioned. Thank you. |
| 01:34:31.67 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Sam. John Anderson, we'd love to get your perspective on the same question. |
| 01:34:42.48 | John Anderson | I think this session has been an extraordinary Very impressive. I think I should note, by the way, at the beginning The Madam Mayor's husband and I are members of the same law firm. full disclosure, that needs to be said. But in answer to the question, I think it's imperative that the city, point in history. enlist a wide variety of people with expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds, to take advantage of the change that is going to be inevitable. as we emerge from this historic pandemic. |
| 01:35:26.88 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:35:29.13 | John Anderson | And I, my It was my belief that emerging from the pandemic affords a particular opportunity and why this economic development advisory committee. was so appealing as something to get to become a volunteer for. |
| 01:35:58.69 | Tom Riley | Thank you. John for that. And thank you for stepping forward and volunteering. I'd love to ask Jacob, what is your thoughts? |
| 01:36:13.36 | Jacob Wittish | Yes, absolutely. Thank you. So, They shouldn't laid out when actually forming a committee, which include things like addressing emerging challenges, retail. declining tourism, COVID-19 recovery, things like that. I really believe that the city, excuse me, that the city have an economic development advisory committee to be one representative voice from all members of the community, including members of all ages, races, socioeconomic classes pretty much many different member of our a broad community to have a voice in economic issues that we're facing. as well as providing a mechanism for thoughtful and intentional business growth as we look ahead to the near term recovering from COVID-19, as well as the more distant future of tackling larger issues such as the impacts of sea level rise and climate change. And finally, to embrace a holistic view of our business community and work to improve the resiliency through the diversification of different industries and businesses instead of just relying on a very small handful of of sectors. and it's, That's my three. |
| 01:37:26.39 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Jacob. Um, Jessica Rogers would love to hear your thoughts on, you know, why it's important to have you can have an advisory committee at this time. |
| 01:37:38.05 | Jessica Rogers | Hi, nice to meet you all. Thank you for coming up with this idea. I really applaud it. I mean, right now we're coming out of a crisis. It's all hands on deck. So I'm happy to do whatever I can to contribute to this. And it's great that we're bringing together a diverse skill set with a solution. for these issues. Um, I think it also, you know, we really do have a diverse set of needs and concerns within this community. I attended the Marinship Planning session for the community and I heard a lot of different voices And it's great to have those voices heard and also to participate because we will need advocates, you know, to really build a consensus for this economic plan. So thank you for inviting us to participate in this. |
| 01:38:29.76 | Tom Riley | Thank you for Joining us, Jessica. And then Adele Jelani. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the advisory committee's work. |
| 01:38:46.77 | Tom Riley | Adele, you're on mute, I believe. |
| 01:38:52.93 | Tom Riley | Now you're off mute. |
| 01:38:53.97 | Unknown | Hello. |
| 01:38:54.14 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 01:38:57.11 | Unknown | Back on mute. |
| 01:38:57.94 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 01:39:04.77 | Tom Riley | that. Hello, Adele. Do you know hand sign language? |
| 01:39:09.45 | Adele Jelani | Yeah, my toddler actually knows you. working on. |
| 01:39:13.85 | Tom Riley | We can hear you now. |
| 01:39:15.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:39:16.30 | Adele Jelani | Perfect. So my first thought about this committee was that when I was reading the first call to action, it was like this is going to replace the Hospitality Development Committee, as well as the Small Business Committee. And I was just thinking, well, then I'm a small business. I need to make sure my voice is heard. And this seems like the best place to do that. It's such an exciting time and so many things are changing and Um. So Zoom meetings make you very nervous. I was gonna try not to say that, but they really do. being on camera. Um, So one thing I think Oh my God, sorry, I'm just freezing up. I don't know if I could do this. |
| 01:40:00.41 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. Yeah. Adele, if it makes you more comfortable, you're perfectly welcome to turn off your camera. That would be fine with that. |
| 01:40:08.78 | Adele Jelani | Oh, cool. |
| 01:40:09.88 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:40:09.89 | Adele Jelani | Thank you. |
| 01:40:09.94 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I'm sorry. |
| 01:40:09.98 | Adele Jelani | Thanks. |
| 01:40:11.14 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:40:11.16 | Adele Jelani | No worries. |
| 01:40:11.77 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:40:14.25 | Adele Jelani | Well, so yeah, sorry for being awkward. It's such an exciting time because we're moving out of this period of decadence into this new creative period where we can decide to make it important We can decide to make our environment important. We can decide to make being outdoors and collaborations important. And so I think it's exciting to be a part of a group of people that's helping make decisions to move Sausalito in that direction. And that's all. |
| 01:40:48.45 | Unknown | Thank you, and that was done |
| 01:40:50.04 | Tom Riley | that we're going to do. So thank you for that. Um, At this point, I think we've heard from each of you. So I'm gonna hand this over to Council Member Burns. for a follow on discussion. |
| 01:41:03.86 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Councilmember Riley. And Mayor, would you like me to cancel my video as well, I get there. No, I'll stay on. |
| 01:41:10.27 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah. Thank you. |
| 01:41:12.06 | Joe Burns | I'm not sure. |
| 01:41:12.75 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Don't make me answer that question. |
| 01:41:15.35 | Joe Burns | I really appreciate you all being here tonight. This is such a great, as you've mentioned, step for our community, and your council really appreciates you getting involved in this way. So thank you for being here. I'm going to ask a question and then call on an order. In one minute or less, what would you consider is your greatest strength or asset that would positively contribute to the economic development advisory Committee. And I'm gonna start with Jessica Rogers. Bye, Jessica. |
| 01:41:48.51 | Jessica Rogers | out. Okay. I work as chief growth officer at Turner Duckworth. It's a design, branding. company located in the city. You probably haven't heard of it, but we have worked with every brand under the sun. We designed the Amazon logo. I work with a lot of complex organizations like Coca-Cola and Samsung. So I really understand what it takes to get input from a diverse set of needs. looking at design problems from every angle and coming up with solutions that really get the buy-in of everyone Um, you know, we all need to make some compromises along the way, but I engage with my clients on projects that last, you know, sometimes they're just a few months, sometimes they're multiple years. because these companies are big ships to turn. And I know we have a ship here that we need to turn and I'm looking forward to engaging everybody on a better future for our community. Thank you. |
| 01:42:54.34 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Jessica. Next, Sonia Hammonds. Hi, Sonia. |
| 01:43:00.75 | Unknown | Amen. |
| 01:43:01.58 | Sonia Hammons | Thank you. |
| 01:43:01.73 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:43:01.87 | Sonia Hammons | Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Um, Well, I am by nature and by profession a relationship builder. My current professional work is in facilitating public engagement processes. to find transformative ways of thinking about really complex problems, and supporting groups to find new ways to collaborate together across what might seem to be really opposing perspectives. So the skill that I bring to design processes that move beyond siloed thinking around dueling perspectives. and instead find new ways to collaborate. I think that's a good thing. that will support this committee to create meaningful, collaborative ways forward. So I look at things not about getting a vote or even building consensus at the lowest common denominator. but building true collaboration together. And I think this combines with my personal background, having grown up, as a Sausalito anchor out as a child and then moving on to become sustainability policy advisor at the United Nations. positions me well to contribute with real passion. And as an example of that relationship building just this week, I was one of the founders of launching this new Made in Marincia brand collective that we've just established. So, That's something that I did just this week and look forward to continuing that kind of collaboration |
| 01:44:31.84 | Joe Burns | Mexican. Excellent. Thank you, Sonia. Thanks for that. Uh, |
| 01:44:35.54 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:44:35.68 | Joe Burns | Bye. it. |
| 01:44:38.38 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:44:39.07 | Joe Burns | Go ahead and mute. Thank you. |
| 01:44:42.66 | Adele Jelani | again. So I think I have a lot to offer because I'm so new to town. My gallery has only been open for six months before the pandemic hit. So I don't have any baggage. I'm super excited about the city. And then I wrote down some other reasons. Oh, I have a stake in the game. I'm a hard worker and I'm a small business, so I really care about what happens here. So I'm willing to put in the work. |
| 01:45:12.77 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Adele. Appreciate that. And John Anderson. Hi, John. |
| 01:45:19.26 | John Anderson | How you doing? Um, I, um, I will if I if I have Excuse me, if I were a PR man, I would begin by saying on behalf of my client, John Anderson, enjoys a national reputation as a legal advisor and counsel to the advertising and marketing community. and has including such clients as Turner Duckworth. I, has, had a wide range of political experience beginning with work as the administrative assistant, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the 1964 Johnson Goldwater race, I worked on the advanced team for Robert Kennedy in 1968, and I was very active in the Saucelito City Council campaign back in 1998. So that's the political experience. And finally, I began life as a corporate trial lawyer. and that experience uh, has enabled me, I think. to be very discreet in determining what issues are important and what are not |
| 01:46:36.82 | Joe Burns | Great thanks John. Next up. Hey, Sam. How are you doing? |
| 01:46:44.84 | Samuel Rubin | Hey, Joe. Good to see you, appreciate the opportunity. I think my bet, what makes me ideally suited for the economic development advisory is my extensive work at the nexus and intersection of public, private, and civil society. Because in order to really solve these problems and really develop a resilient, sustainable economy for Sausalito, it's going to be important that we leverage all those different aspects. And to that, I bring a systems thinking mindset, as well as a background with both an MBA and an MPA. So understanding how to speak languages of those different areas. And I think- Additionally, I also have experience being an investor in a couple of small businesses here in Sausalito, deeply in tune with a variety of different impacts in different sectors. And my day job is overseeing compliance, sustainability and partnerships for a startup that has the very first 3D printed building components in the state of California, just delivered some of our first units at the beginning of this year. So also approaching real, systemic problems such as the housing affordability crisis from the perspective of innovation, but not just driving that innovation, also driving the regulatory change necessary to allow that innovation I don't know. |
| 01:47:51.71 | Addison Buzz Oleon | Thank you. |
| 01:47:52.89 | Joe Burns | Great. Thank you, Sam. All right, Jacob, we didn't forget about you. Thanks for your patience. Back to you. |
| 01:48:00.72 | Jacob Wittish | Thank you, Councilman Burns. And this is a really cool group of people, by the way. If any of you like, run into me on the street, please say hello. I would love to know you all beyond a Zoom call. I think for me, the kind of obvious answer would be that for the past three years, I served at the national level in an economic development and diplomatic profession. Uh, I served as vice consul to the United Kingdom. I was primarily working on things like foreign direct investment and trade relations. So I might as I mean, hands-on involved in tons of projects that led to millions of dollars of investment into that country. But perhaps more importantly is that I am still a relatively new resident of Sausalito. I've been here about seven months now. I still have new points of view and I'm a small business owner myself. So hopefully bringing that sort of fresh perspective, while also understanding and respecting the spirit and heritage of our community is something that I can really bring in, contribute to the committee. |
| 01:49:07.31 | Joe Burns | Thank you. And I will echo your comments. This is a wonderful group. It's been really fun to hear your answers and I'll continue to do that. I'm gonna turn it out now over To the other three council members for questions, these will still also be in a one minute max. timeframe. And Mayor, why don't I Vice Mayor, I see your mic off. Are you? After talking. |
| 01:49:34.30 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:49:34.31 | Ray | Yes! |
| 01:49:35.14 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Vice Mayor. |
| 01:49:35.61 | Ray | um Thank you. Yeah, let me echo. This has been a very great, very interesting group of people. So welcome. all of you. This is great. a stimulating discussion. So, What we've been doing in this slot is taking theme that our mayor introduced about an hour ago, which was the fact that we have you know, our three clear business areas, um, the downtown with its needs, the Caledonia Street with its needs, we've got the diverse, we've got the tourist economy, which is showing in times of stress its weak diversification weaknesses. For instance. We've got the marine ship with its unique challenges, great opportunity, Um, How do we balance as a city? How do we balance across all of these? How do we achieve the synergy between them And how do we talk to our residents and make sure residents understand that, healthy, successful businesses are in their interests very much to create this synergy. So do you wanna sort of one minute each just comment on that? |
| 01:51:02.55 | Ray | Oh, I've got to pick someone. |
| 01:51:02.69 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:51:02.97 | Unknown | I'm not sure. |
| 01:51:04.58 | Ray | I'm sorry. OK. Why don't I pick Jessica? to kick us off with this. |
| 01:51:12.66 | Jessica Rogers | Okay. So something that I do quite frequently with my clients is talk to them about a brand purpose. So I think really defining what is the purpose of Sausalito, and what makes us unique and celebrating that and using that as the North Star for all the decisions that we make. And I think if we can get buy-in on, you know, what is Sausalito? What do we believe? Who are we as a community? Set those and have people agree on those first and foremost. And then that helps define every decision that we make beyond that. Everybody obviously has their own economic goals, But I think if we come together with a shared point of view, we can find a way to make it work for everyone. Thank you. |
| 01:51:58.96 | Vice Mayor Withey | you. |
| 01:52:03.79 | Vice Mayor Withey | Ray, you're muted. |
| 01:52:07.65 | Ray | Sorry. Sonia, why don't you... |
| 01:52:10.03 | Sonia Hammons | Okay. |
| 01:52:12.30 | Ray | tell us this integration and how to make this work for everyone. |
| 01:52:17.98 | Sonia Hammons | Great. Thank you for the opportunity. I promise I don't have the answers and I think that's one thing I can bring is a realistic sense of humility. And I'm so impressed with everything I've heard so far. So thanks again for the opportunity. In terms of balancing and supporting residents to understand the value of successful business community for the broader community. Um, I see those two issues as being really interlinked. And I see one of the solutions as being, supporting and shaping a community-oriented economy. I think when people have a closer sense of what's happening in the business community because it relates to them. So for example, slashing away some of the is that I think see that we currently have in terms of there's the tourist business area and the local business area. and maybe the office area and the industry area. And they're for such a small town, they're quite separate zones. And I think by offering opportunities for the many different kinds of business locales and types of businesses to have more interaction with residents who live here. that can strengthen the diversity of the business base and the kinds of services that businesses offer, as well as strengthen the relationships that, that influence how residents feel about the business community in general. So that's what I would identify. |
| 01:53:57.07 | Ray | Thank you. Sam, how do we strike that balance? |
| 01:54:02.20 | Samuel Rubin | Well, I think much in the same way model cropping can lead to fallow fields. the nature of polycropping and bringing together synergistic revenue streams to fund our economy is an imperative create resiliency and to mitigate many of the issues that we're going to be seeing coming down the pipeline. I think important, similar to with polypropagant farming, It takes work. It takes getting in the dirt. It takes you really engaging with those different vegetables in that case, in this case, revenue streams and types of businesses. and getting them to work together and understand how they can And I know, for example, driver's market is a great of a business that really taps into all three. I mean, it thrives because it gets a great lunch crowd from our local service industry. It thrives because it's a go-to shopping spot for our local residents. And it also takes advantage of the tourists who make it around the curve. And it's businesses like this that really can unlock that synergy and show the promise of it. but it takes having conversations. It takes things like this economic development advisory committee to bring those different voices together to really understand how the thriving business community is imperative for the services that we as a city are able to provide to our citizens. And I think it's really showing them how it's all part of the same system and our quality of life as citizens and as residents of Sausalito is really dependent on having that thriving business community and different types of business communities that diversify our revenue streams and allow us to thrive even a myriad of different types of challenges. |
| 01:55:32.55 | Ray | Thank you, Sam. Jacob, thoughts on balancing? |
| 01:55:41.48 | Jacob Wittish | Yes, thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. You know, I think one of the things that you can really get people to bring together is that we have this amazing shared heritage and spirit of the community that It really does pervade through all of the different neighborhoods and regions of the city. And kind of in that same spirit, you know, there's a great dialogue to be had between the businesses of these kind of three distinct areas. of things that are common to all of them. You know, things like transit, housing, having a community that people just want to actually be in, which attracts more skilled and talented workers that will then help those businesses. So I think that there's a lot of opportunity to be had just in opening that dialogue and meeting the different business owners where they are on the different channels and forms of media that they're on. |
| 01:56:32.85 | Unknown | you. |
| 01:56:41.05 | Jacob Wittish | and just, have those kinds of conversations. There's a lot of problems that can be fixed and solutions that can be found through having open communication. |
| 01:56:45.25 | Unknown | There's, |
| 01:56:53.90 | Jacob Wittish | Thank you. |
| 01:56:53.92 | Ray | Thank you for that. Adele. |
| 01:57:00.35 | Adele Jelani | Bye. Do you mind if I mute my camera? |
| 01:57:01.75 | Ray | Yes, we can hear you. We can hear you. |
| 01:57:04.79 | Adele Jelani | Okay, I'm going to stop my video. I'm so nervous. |
| 01:57:07.00 | Ray | Okay. |
| 01:57:08.86 | Adele Jelani | Okay. Um, you know, I think first and foremost, if we want people to feel on the same page and balance and a cohesive experience that safety needs to be a top priority. Um, and that we have to have a great protocol. and expectations of our safety standards. And that'll get everyone outside and together and, you know, able to move things forward. We're going to be like a safer version of San Francisco. You know, you can go, you can be outside. We can do more collaborations like events. I love Jessica's North Star idea. It's like, what is our story that we're all trying to tell? I think that's brilliant. |
| 01:57:42.83 | Unknown | What? |
| 01:57:47.01 | Adele Jelani | I think we should do gallery walks and pub crawls and just all these things to get people out in nature and experiencing each other's businesses. and having fun. |
| 01:57:59.90 | Ray | Thank you. Um, Thank you. John. You've seen Caledonia Street, downtown, Marinship evolve. What are your thoughts on how to make it balance and... get the best out of everything. |
| 01:58:18.69 | John Anderson | Well, I agree with all of the previous speakers. They all expressed in different ways. very good ideas and so I will not repeat what they've said, and I will say instead, that I think that the greatest opportunity the Sausalito in this immediate post. pandemic era. is something that was mentioned earlier today, and that is to take advantage of the dramatic changes that are going to occur in a whole series of disciplines ranging from environmental studies. to communication, to renewable energy, micromanufacturing and so forth. One of the speakers earlier on, one of the candidates earlier on, Gary talked about a high tech business and it's not kind of a mini Silicon Valley. And I think that that just saw us a leader for a variety of reasons. time won't permit to explain here. |
| 01:59:19.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:59:22.05 | John Anderson | ought to be something to be looked at. with great care and pursuit. by Sausalito because it's kind of on its face There. And by the way, there is a company, I hope I'm not going over time, there is already a company in Sausalito that is doing that. It's called 19 York and they own a design company in Sausalito. And they're an example of the kind of company that that could serve the economic interests of the community very well. |
| 01:59:58.59 | Ray | Thank you, John. So it's back to... |
| 02:00:04.49 | Vice Mayor Withey | Back to... |
| 02:00:05.30 | Tom Riley | Infected. Yes, to Tom Riley. Wow, what a session. Great. I'm just taking notes of all these amazing ideas. And can't wait to begin working with some of you on these. So we're going to move into closing remarks. And we'd like to get your thoughts again in one minute or less. |
| 02:00:17.45 | Unknown | So we're going to talk about |
| 02:00:26.60 | Tom Riley | Here's what I'd like you to do. Let's fast forward five or 10 years. And when we look back on the work we've done as an economic development advisory committee in a city council, you know, in a whole city, What's success gonna look like or how are we gonna measure success? Five to ten years down the road. What's your vision for success and how we measure it? So, I'm gonna ask Sam to lead off with the responses. |
| 02:00:54.58 | Samuel Rubin | Great, really appreciate that. How we measure it is I think really gonna come down to what we as a community decide we want. Um, And so there's gonna be key metrics. Obviously we're gonna be looking at economic metrics such as new business starts, the stability of the existing businesses, Fast places are turning over. how long are they staying in place, increase to obviously our tax base, diversity of our tax base, But I think it's also important that we're looking at social factors as well. or is this somewhere where families are moving to to raise their kids, or what kind of ways can we tap into things like gross happiness index and some of those other more qualitative measurements of success and of impact and of what a good life looks like. Personally I would love to see Sausalito at the forefront of innovation both in terms of what a resilient community can look like in the face of climate change and Rising C is as well as in what it means to exist and thrive in an era of fire, an era of pandemic. an era in which we're seeing change on a global scale that we've never seen before, and that's only gonna increase So what's it look like to really be at the forefront of that and be a model for the world for what resilient development is? |
| 02:02:04.52 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Sam. Wonderful. Sonia, please share your thoughts with us. |
| 02:02:14.83 | Sonia Hammons | The eight o'clock howl is just concluding, so it might still be a little noisy Boathorns? Um... |
| 02:02:23.17 | Tom Riley | You do have good sound effects in the back. |
| 02:02:25.43 | Sonia Hammons | Yeah, yeah, there's a, I'm gonna pause for a second while the helicopter goes by. Apologies. Okay, well first I would like to really echo what I just heard. There's so much there. So I really would just add to what was said. firstly that we need to first decide where we want to go and then decide how we measure it. So that's how I would think about it. But in the interest of an answer to the, Some examples for the moment. Um, One example I'd think of is that that the city has a financial disaster risk and response plan in place. We can be pretty confident that in the next decade, two or sooner, that there will be an earthquake, a flood, power outages, fire at minimum. with impacts on housing and businesses and infrastructure and subsequent impact on city revenue and expenses. So having a plan in place for the city finances to reduce and mitigate those risks is an important output that I think that we collectively would need to have done. I think sector diversity and success, like expanded revenue from a range of sectors is important to think about. I'm also really interested in the concept of a labor shed. like thinking about a watershed, but around the people that power our economy. I think that would speak to the resilience of the business, the social cohesion, the, how we're doing around housing and transportation. And an indicator of the ability of businesses to grow as well as our integration with the regional economy. And then on a more qualitative level, I would say reputation. Like I have, unending pride in Sausalito. I have to say I've lived around the world, Sausalito right now among my generation. not the greatest reputation as being like a cool, fun place to visit or move to. in the Bay Area or beyond. And I'd love to see that evolve because, I know how amazing we have been, how amazing we are, and how much more amazing we can be together. |
| 02:04:50.07 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Sonia. Wonderful. Um, Jacob, would you share your thoughts on how we look back five, ten years from now and measure our success, what success looks like? |
| 02:05:03.28 | Jacob Wittish | Absolutely. And Sonia, I've heard the same thing among many of my friends. And there's just a little part of me that kind of wishes nobody finds out because I really like it being a small town. But I also would love to see more people coming up here and join the community. You know, for me, when I sat down and thought about this particular question, one of the first things that actually came to mind was the vacant retail and commercial storefronts, which can be more fully utilized and in turn bring a lot more economic vitality to our downtown area. And that's one of the first areas that a lot of people are seeing as they first come into town. you know, it's kind of a bummer when you're walking around like, man, that's such a cool storefront. Why isn't there? something there, you know, either a shop or a restaurant or a bar or something, So that seems to me to really tie into the city's mission to foster a more diverse business community that benefits both the economic resiliency of our community as well as just an increased opportunity for higher quality tourism. When there's cool things that people want to come up here for, they will. I think tying into that also is just the realization that, you know, we are this kind of gateway to Marin and beyond and extra days means extra dollars for our local businesses from visitors, which in turn ripples out through our wider regional community. So building that stronger, more diverse and higher quality network of tourism and hospitality businesses within the greater region can also help to really foster a more prosperous future for Sausalito itself. And finally, while not in the traditional domain of an economic development group, I do believe that there's a lot of opportunity to work cross-functionally with other government departments to address the availability needs of workers at all income levels. This is a really key component of building a strong and robust economy. So making sure that their needs are being met, whether that's through transportation, housing, or recreation, will really kind of pulled together to create this more holistic business community that we're looking for. |
| 02:07:06.79 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Jacob. We're gonna move on to Adele. We'd love to hear from you, Adele. |
| 02:07:17.60 | Adele Jelani | Thank you. I really loved Sonia's idea about having a disaster plan. Just had to say, good call. I think innovation is key. I think we could do things like have some murals that you don't really have. you know, just to drop people in, things that are outside that excite people that they can take selfies next to, Um, I think, In five, 10 years, money will be flowing. All the businesses will be full and thriving. Um, And that will be super safe and that will be super earth friendly and we'll be protecting our environment and set a high standard for that for everybody else in the Bay and the country and the world. And thanks for your time. |
| 02:08:00.91 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Adele. You're becoming very skilled at Zoom. So, John Anderson, same question to you. We'd love to get your perspective on measuring success in what it looks like five to 10 years from now. |
| 02:08:18.20 | John Anderson | I think I'd make a list of all of the projected changes. I'm going to get a lot of echo or feedback Um, I would, um, make a list of all the avalanche of projections about what's going to happen in the post, COVID era. um, the business world and the changes that are about to come about And then I would two or three or five or seven years now, look back and see how Sausalito took advantage those changes and those advantages, whether they be in everything from finance to environmental studies to technology reforms, changes, There is, as I said earlier, there is a small indication that that's happening already in It's going to be a great time. because Sausalito can be, truly can be. a kind of new smaller Silicon Valley. with a little energy. and effort and marketing. And I think that that. that kind of development will provide the, long-term healthy financial base for the city, and took forms of tax revenue. and employees who can become customers of the city. And that's, At that point, you can say, we're in good shape financially. |
| 02:10:01.53 | Tom Riley | Thank you, John. Finally, we're gonna finish up this question with the thoughts from Jessica Rogers. So Jessica, please. Share your thoughts. |
| 02:10:13.12 | Jessica Rogers | It's so hard to go last because I really agree with everything. everything that was said before me. So it's a hard position to be in. But really success, I think, as I mentioned before, that North Star, do we feel like we achieved it? And do we feel like we've really taken advantage of our untapped resources? We have the beauty of the waterfront We have this maker and artist community We have just a lot of really rich personality in Sausalito that can enable it to really stand out within the Bay Area. So I'd love for what we achieve 10 years from now to have come out better out of this crisis. and really set Sausalito as a place that everyone can see you know, all the reasons that we love it and the reasons that we live here. So thank you. |
| 02:11:02.77 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Jessica. Wow, you all are, you have wonderful ideas. You make me feel proud just listening to you to be part of this community and know all these super smart people around us. I'm going to turn the baton back to Madame Mayer for some closing remarks. So Madame Mayer, please. |
| 02:11:20.82 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. Definitely echo Councilmember Riley's kind of just And all of the great talent that we have in town and the really interesting group that we had for this discussion. I really appreciate all of your ideas and inspiration and passion about where you live and how you would approach the ideas. So, and the diversity and range. |
| 02:11:33.18 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:11:46.93 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | So as I have been saying earlier as well, this is going to be exceedingly difficult choice. We could have a 24 person committee that would be well staffed, but that would probably be unwieldy. So we are gonna be making some decisions at our next city council meeting, which is this coming Tuesday, May 26th. The meeting starts at seven o'clock and you're welcome to zoom into that meeting or just, find out what our decisions are at the end of that, our clerk will be contacting you. We did talk earlier tonight, if you were listening, if you didn't have a chance to answer all the questions that were sent in writing, the three supplemental questions, you are welcome to do that and we would really appreciate it. The answers that we have gotten have been very helpful and very inspiring. So you'll have until noon. on Friday to submit those to Heidi Scoble, our clerk, and we would really If you didn't have a chance yet, we would love that. So thank you guys so much. You were an amazing group and really nice to meet you all and hope to see you when we're less socially distant soon in all the parts of town. So thanks so much for being with us and taking the time out of your evening. So thank you. |
| 02:13:05.10 | Vice Mayor Withey | out of your head. |
| 02:13:07.68 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | and we'll see you soon. We're gonna start with our group four. Great, thanks. |
| 02:13:14.80 | Heidi Scoble | Mayor Cleveland Knowles and council members, our fourth group is actually all present and ready to be interviewed. Would you like to take a break or would you like to proceed with the interview? |
| 02:13:26.66 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I am ready to proceed. How's everybody else doing? |
| 02:13:26.88 | Heidi Scoble | and |
| 02:13:30.58 | Heidi Scoble | I'm ready to proceed. |
| 02:13:33.77 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Sure, we will take a minute. |
| 02:14:59.44 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:14:59.47 | Vice Mayor Withey | Okay, we have Ray back and then Tom. |
| 02:15:12.84 | Unknown | Good to go, Mayor. |
| 02:15:14.76 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:15:14.80 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, great. So welcome to our last and final group of candidates. We really appreciate your being with us here tonight. And thank you so much for your excellent applications. And thank you for bearing with us in this kind of innovative interview process. It's been really fascinating and so it worked out A lot better than I was expecting, actually. So it's been a really fun evening. So thanks for being our fourth group. Our clerk is going to just go through some housekeeping rules, and then I will turn it over to Councilmember Riley and Burns to lead off our questioning. So thank you. |
| 02:15:55.28 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you, Mayor of Cleveland Knowles. I would also like to echo the mayor and thank you candidates for participating in this interview process. As this is a Zoom meeting format, I have sent you a request to start your video so we can see your image on the screen. Please press the OK button if you haven't already done so. I also wanted to inform you that I will be controlling the mute and unmute button When it is your time to speak, I will unmute you. However, you will also need to unmute yourself. The format of the interviews will be such that the city council will be conducting 40 minute interviews of four groups of six candidates. Each candidate will be asked three predetermined questions that were previously emailed to you, Councilmember Council members Burns and Riley will provide two questions to all candidates. Each candidate will answer each question in one minute or less. After the first two questions, the other council members will have opportunities to ask follow-up questions. Candidates will have up to one minute to respond to each question asked of them. I, the city clerk, will keep track of the time and let you know when your one minute time has expired. I would like to welcome the fourth and last group of candidates Addison Buzz Oleon, Malcolm Morgan, Monica Finnegan, John Scopazi, Scott Thornburg, and Shelley Merle Gordon. |
| 02:17:13.95 | Tom Riley | Good evening everyone. This is Tom Riley. Thank you for joining us on your Wednesday night, taking away time from your families to be with us. We have been so impressed with the first three groups of candidates. And then I look at this group of candidates in your backgrounds and just overwhelmed with the folks that are stepping forward that want to help our community. So thank you for joining us tonight. We look forward to learning more about your thoughts. So I'm going to ask a question of each of you. It's the same question. I'd like your answer in one minute or less, please. So, I'd like you to describe why you think it's important for our city to put in place an economic development advisory committee at this time and what we should be working on. So I'm gonna begin by asking Mr. Addison Buzz Olean. So... Buzz, please share your thoughts. And thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:18:13.43 | Addison Buzz Oleon | And, Am I unmuted? Yes, we can hear you. Oh, thank you so much. I would imagine you've all had a very full evening. So I'm gonna be maybe even less than a minute. And I thank you for inviting me in on this, very important task to find the right folks. to help And this is the answer. Uh, You know, the Economic Development Committee, or whatever you wish to call it, is really, I think, designed based on my experience, to help the city leadership. to identify the growth opportunities within the city. and, Also to ensure that the citizens can enjoy the city's prosperity, So you've got to identify the targets. Where are those? growth opportunities are. and then, to make sure that the city, Sausalito in this particular case, can have some competitive advantages in terms of marketing promoting. communicating. to the prospects that will help the city flourish. So the Economic Development Committee is designed purposely. I believe. to understand where those opportunities are and then to bring that back to counsel. with, clear direction as to where it is that the city needs to focus and to keep it simple There needs to be a starting point but it can't be multifaceted. It has to be really based on where the opportunities are. Thank you. |
| 02:20:06.95 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Buzz. The very same question to Mr. Malcolm Morgan. So Malcolm, love to hear your thoughts. |
| 02:20:16.28 | Malcolm Morgan | I just want to verify the microphone is working. Yes, we. |
| 02:20:19.10 | Tom Riley | Yes. loud and clear. |
| 02:20:20.67 | Malcolm Morgan | clear. Okay, and I apologize. I'm actually driving cross-country. I just slid into a hotel moments ago, so I'm going to work for my little notes that I've been scribbling here. But I really want to thank you for including me and giving me this opportunity because I I've been on the sidelines of this process for quite a while now. And a lot of people, a lot of business owners have asked me to get more involved. And so I'm finally stepping up. And it's because I saw what happened when almost all of our economic engines shut down, with the COVID shutdowns, that's when I decided it's time for me to step up. I'll be as brief and concise as I can. Um, Why do I think we need to Economic Development Committee. Because I think we really need to diversify our revenue streams. And I'm not seeing that. I think we are really top heavy in sort of the day tourist and maybe the weekend tourism business. |
| 02:21:10.25 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:21:16.80 | Malcolm Morgan | restaurants and some light industry. But I have a lot of experience with some of the biggest property owners and the biggest businesses in this city. I've been working with them closely for over 30 years. So that's what I bring to the table and I want to work on what I call the high value tourism. And I think that's being terribly overlooked. And I'll talk a little bit more about that when we answer question number three. That's why. |
| 02:21:49.28 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:21:49.30 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I'm sorry. |
| 02:21:49.35 | Vice Mayor Withey | I'm sorry. |
| 02:21:49.99 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I think we've muted. I'm sorry, Malcolm, we lost the last bit of your, just your last thought there. Could you repeat that? |
| 02:21:59.95 | Malcolm Morgan | Sure. I just... I was saying that I want to promote what I call high value tourism. And that's my term that I've coined. I've used that term for quite a while now. I grew up in another tourist area, Monterey Carmel. My family was very involved with city politics. They still are. and city business there. Um, So I'll talk a little bit more about what my ideas are when I get to question number three, but that's why I'm here. I really want to contribute what I think is being overlooked and I'm ready to jump in. I've been sitting on the sidelines, and I think it's time for me to step up. Malcolm. |
| 02:22:33.72 | Tom Riley | Malcolm. Thank you. |
| 02:22:34.54 | Malcolm Morgan | Thank you. |
| 02:22:34.96 | Tom Riley | And safe travels while you're out there on the road. All right. Um... Monica Finnegan. We'd love to hear your thoughts on why we should have an economic development advisory committee. |
| 02:22:52.68 | Monica Finnegan | Hi, good evening. Um, I think an economic plan is critical to our city, especially now. An economic plan is a roadmap to a community's vibrancy and two, it's financial safety and its future growth. Without it, A city really has no direction. And just like in life, You need a plan to survive and to thrive. It starts with a look at where we are now. and identifies the positives and the threats and the weaknesses. and targets growth opportunities. The goal is to develop a plan to safeguard what we have and to bolster the future. with balanced and creative and diversified ideas that lead to and underwrite our long-term economic stability. I've been involved in a lot of different things within the city. through various connections and committees. And I think one of the most important things that we do going forward is to develop a diverse committee that represents all aspects of the city. All stakeholders must be represented and their point of view considered and incorporated in the plan. That's what makes a healthy viewpoint. Now with the destruction of the old, by the pandemic. a collaborative group of individuals like the 24 that you've been interviewing can find a new way forward. And I think that's really important for a successful economic plan and why we need one. Thank you. |
| 02:24:37.43 | Tom Riley | Thank you so much, Monica. We're gonna shift to Mr. John Scopazi. John. |
| 02:24:51.11 | Tom Riley | Are you with us, John? |
| 02:24:52.24 | John Scopazi | Yes, I am. There we go. |
| 02:24:53.61 | Tom Riley | There you are. |
| 02:24:54.96 | John Scopazi | I have to hit a button. Yeah. So, uh, First of all, thank you very much for the opportunity also to to, uh, had the possibility to join such a wonderful committee. I'd like to also thank the town for merging the BAC and the hospitality committee. Definitely. Definitely has come time to merge these two committees for sure. That way one committee can really focus on Sauce Saludo as a whole And, with one committee we can really research all the needs and economic you know, structure that needs to have to happen and give a clear presentation to city council. |
| 02:25:36.67 | John Scopazi | Thank you. |
| 02:25:37.84 | Tom Riley | Thank you, John. Direct as always. Thank you. Thank you. Scott Thornburg Welcome to our discussion tonight. We'd love to hear your thoughts. |
| 02:25:48.49 | Scott Thornburg | Great, thank you. Appreciate you giving me the opportunity. |
| 02:25:51.88 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 02:25:52.03 | Scott Thornburg | um So I've only been here for two years, unlike many of the others on this call that have been long-time Sausalito residents. I've only been in the community for two years, and when my partner and I moved here, I immediately fell in love with this town. used to visit frequently as a tourist from San Francisco coming across the bay every chance I got and And every time I was here, I always thought the city had so much potential. And I felt like we were under utilizing some of our potential. And I think right now, especially in the light of COVID-19 and the impact that it's had on the global economy We're definitely feeling the impact here locally. I think this committee could provide diverse perspectives of people that live in the community have a vested interest in the prosperity and well-being of Sausalito. And that's definitely, I think the first part. The city really could use the committee as a sounding board to understand the changing economic climate and how we can best work to meet the needs of both our citizens and the people that that love Sausalito just as much as we do. |
| 02:27:04.29 | Tom Riley | Scott DeRue, M.D.: Thank you. Welcome to Sausalito. We all love it. Just think you do. Scott DeRue, M.D.: So thank you for that, Scott. Scott DeRue, M.D.: And now we're going to finish this question with Shelly Mirl Gordon. So Shelly, may we hear your, your perspective on and Economic Development Advisory Committee in this role. |
| 02:27:23.90 | Shelley Merle Gordon | Thank you. Thank you for including me. And I have to say, I agree with everybody. You know, it's such an interesting time. with COVID and the economy doing what it's doing right now. And that's what inspired me to apply to the committee. I think in the end, with many businesses closing, we're going to find out what's strong and what we really need. And I think it's a really opportune time for the committee to facilitate that development and growth in Sausalito. Short and sweet. |
| 02:27:58.96 | Tom Riley | Thank you. I think it's true and sweet. |
| 02:27:59.47 | Unknown | I think so. |
| 02:28:04.87 | Tom Riley | Um, Shelly, you're muted on that last comment. |
| 02:28:08.90 | Shelley Merle Gordon | I said, again, we need the tax base to support the essential things that support our quality of life, like police, fire, library, schools, And then the luxuries and we need the economic background to be able to do that. And it's a great opportunity to facilitate. |
| 02:28:25.04 | Tom Riley | It's a great episode. Excellent, thank you all for sharing your thoughts with me on that and being so direct and to the point. I'm gonna pass this over to Council Member Burns for a subsequent question. |
| 02:28:40.04 | Joe Burns | So, Council Member Burns. Thank you, Councilmember Riley, and thank you, candidates. This has been such a great evening to hear from so many people in our community and this group. is so talented. You're doing a great service and the council really appreciates it. And I appreciate that you are working past the eight o'clock howl. That's become our new stopwatch and you're now past eight o'clock howl. So thank you for staying late and doing this with us. I have a question that I'll ask and then we'll go in reverse order of the candidate line that we just did. in one minute or less, What would you consider is your greatest strength or asset that would positively contribute to the Economic Development Advisory Committee. And Shelly, I'm going to start with you. Hi. |
| 02:29:29.36 | Shelley Merle Gordon | Um, I'm a great consumer, number one. Um, But I think right now, and again, the other thing that inspired me, I'm a doctor. And I'm looking at what's being done in business right now in the context of COVID. I'm an infectious disease specialist. Some of it makes sense. A lot of it doesn't. And I think my input in terms of what happens with businesses right now could be quite valuable in terms of some logical regulation that allows us to open up and open up safely and successfully. |
| 02:30:02.66 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Shelly. Thank you. And, uh, John Scalpazzi. I don't know. I'm sorry, John. I'm sorry. I meant Scott Thornburg. I'm going to go in the order. Sorry, John. Scott, how are you doing? |
| 02:30:15.38 | Scott Thornburg | Doing well. Thank you. You know, when I think about what I bring to the table, I think the skills that I'm using day to day are probably the most beneficial. So I've been working in PR, public relations and marketing for about a decade now. Um, I also work at a travel company currently that provides guidance to other Um, destinations around the world and how they, um, influence tourism with advertising and things like that. So definitely my background in PR and marketing, my current focus on travel could be an asset. And then again, like I mentioned, I love this town and I'm always walking the streets, supporting local businesses like Shelly mentioned. and thinking of ways, new ideas and innovative things that we could do to help this town grow. and can bring all of those ideas to the table. |
| 02:31:14.12 | Joe Burns | Great. Thanks, Scott. All right, John, sorry about that. I'll start. You're good to go. There you go. |
| 02:31:21.62 | John Scopazi | Yeah, there you go. I hit my unmute button. There you go. All right. Boy, it's really my diverse background in business. I grew up in the restaurant business, still in the restaurant business all my life. Been in the charter boat business for 20 years now, it's awesome. owner and construction business 25 years. And if you can believe it, soft-seedal bike return has going on it's well not going on five years because we're closed this year but It's been four years with Saucyut of Bike Return. And by the way, that's all at the same time. game Yeah. The last 10 years, I've been really focusing my construction on, um, and helping business owners and owners get plans through building departments and planning departments. And that's what I've been working on in the last, that's my job for the last 20 something years now. Um, I work well with diverse groups. to reach common goals and that's something I've been working on specialty and construction And, um, And a good example of that is in all my businesses, really all of them from construction, boat, everything, I have hard employees, multiple employees ranging all the way from anchor outs all the way to people on the hill. So I've had a wide, wide verse of employees about all my businesses. Thank you. |
| 02:32:50.09 | Joe Burns | Thank you, Johnny. Monica Finnegan. Hi, Monica. |
| 02:32:54.93 | Monica Finnegan | Hi guys. I didn't recognize you with your mustache. Um, Most of you know that I've spent 30 years in the commercial real estate business. And that's been my background, both in the Um, brokerage side and the management side where I managed about 300 people. And I think that I'm creative and a very strategic thinker. I've developed strategic business plans for companies. the corporations I've worked for and for my own investment business. And I've created and implemented strategic business plans for nonprofits, because a lot of you are familiar with my sister city, affiliation. These all typically include a current condition review, And then a look at the strengths and weaknesses and a strategy of where to go to improve the conditions. and a lot of important financial benchmarks. I bring a background in this type of creative thinking and strategic planning to the process, And I've got proven results in my past results. my past work process. I'm also a team player. And I think one of my better qualities is I'm not a drama queen. |
| 02:34:23.70 | Joe Burns | that is a |
| 02:34:24.56 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:34:24.58 | Joe Burns | Thank you. I'm not sure. |
| 02:34:25.03 | Unknown | quality. Thank you, Monica. |
| 02:34:29.45 | Joe Burns | All right, Malcolm Morgan. You're up. Hi, Malcolm. |
| 02:34:33.06 | Malcolm Morgan | Hello, and again, thank you. But, I guess if I were to, quantify The biggest value that I bring to the table here is my kind of direct connection, daily connection with the biggest I think I'm guessing the biggest commercial property owners in the city. Every one of the biggest property owners here has me on speed dial. They call me 24 seven if there's an emergency. Um, I, work with a lot of you know from the small wood shops you know the little blue color kind of cottage industries all the way up to the mega mega yacht owners that visit here and the boatyards, the shipyards, as a yacht broker I deal with the you know, some of the biggest spenders we have in the city. And almost every one of these businesses that I work with daily, they're thriving right now. They're not shut down. They're thriving despite some of the restrictions that I think are maybe unknowingly placed on them, but I have a really good connection with them all the way across from blue collar to white collar and everything in between. |
| 02:35:35.20 | Unknown | knowing |
| 02:35:42.30 | Malcolm Morgan | Um, and I can work with them directly. And again, My dad was city manager in City of Monterey and he developed the city next door. A small city like Sausalito that outperforms the city of Monterey to this day. Um, My brothers are still both in city politics in Monterey. my family in Carmel city politics, so I have a pretty broad base. I think I could have contributed some of this a long time ago, but I finally decided it was time to get involved. I think that's what I have to offer and I'm happy to do it. I'm actually quite excited. Um, to jump in. I think I'll cut it off there. |
| 02:36:24.52 | Joe Burns | Well, great. Thank you, Malcolm. Appreciate that. All right, Buzz, you've been very patient. Thanks for waiting. fish. Go ahead. |
| 02:36:35.76 | Joe Burns | Hey, |
| 02:36:35.78 | Addison Buzz Oleon | Yeah. |
| 02:36:35.96 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:36:36.05 | Unknown | There you go. |
| 02:36:36.10 | Addison Buzz Oleon | Thank you. |
| 02:36:36.13 | Joe Burns | Thank you. |
| 02:36:36.23 | Addison Buzz Oleon | There you go. Okay. uh, Thank you. I'm an anomaly. I can tell you right now. I'm different. from And I'll respect everybody that I just heard. And everybody that I just heard was fantastic. They should all be on the part of the committee. Uh, You see, what I bring is the fact that I've done this before. multiple times with different municipalities. I've been part of the fact, that Sausalito is going through, which is, to figure it out and how to communicate it in such a way, so that it's interesting and it's fun and that it produces What? city wants, which is to have more economic uh not just more economically, to make the city noticed again. and to give it a position, give it a brand. to reflect upon the past, but at the same time move it forward. I'm an ad man. I'm an advertising man, I'm a marketing man, I'm a communications man. And with different cities that I've worked with, They had to identify, and that's why the committee is so important. where it is, that needs to be focused on and then my job along with others, included in the committee and outside individuals like residents and citizens, is to figure out How is that going to be communicated so that the results can be achieved. And what I bring to this committee to the city is the fact that I've done it multiple cities, And, um, I'm not going to give you their names, but it's in my presentation that I gave to the city. And I really want to do that for Sausalito. |
| 02:38:27.54 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:38:27.59 | Unknown | you |
| 02:38:27.62 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:38:30.65 | Addison Buzz Oleon | It's perfect. Perfect timing. regardless of whether there's a virus or not, That's going to change and there's going to be a need And I'm the guy that can probably pull this together. and make it part of. the Economic Development Committee's overall strategy, and that is to figure out how to communicate Thank you. |
| 02:38:54.44 | Joe Burns | Great. Thank you, guys. Wow. You guys are amazing. That's just a lot of information, and we are so blessed to have you participating. So those are the first two. And now we're going to open it up to the other three council members to see if they have any questions. And those will also be in a one minute max format And then we'll close with our final question. But council members, would anybody like to, take off here and I see the mayor |
| 02:39:26.50 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah, sure, I'll jump in. And I think the other three council members, Vice Mayor Withy, Council Member Cox and I have all coalesced around a question And we've asked it in several sort of different ways. But I think the main theme is that we have a lot of different sectors. in our very small community. kind of tourist facing, we have a resident and local visitor facing, and we have light industrial, artistic, marine oriented uses in our marineship. And, you know, that really, um, creates the potential for synergy or symbiotic relationships between those, even though in some, conversations, they've been treated very differently. So I guess my question to all of you is whether you see these sectors as being symbiotic and having synergy And what are the opportunities there? Or do you not think that's the right way to approach those issues? I will start with John Scraplazzi. |
| 02:40:41.26 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:40:41.27 | John Scopazi | here. |
| 02:40:42.95 | Unknown | Yeah. Thank you. |
| 02:40:45.53 | John Scopazi | I'm getting there. It's my first Zoom meeting here. I got you. You're muted. |
| 02:40:51.32 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yes, we can hear you. We can hear you. |
| 02:40:52.43 | John Scopazi | We can hear you. Okay, good. Thank you. Um, Boy, I mean, I like how it's the BAC and general plan are definitely focused on three different zones of the city. I think that would be a very I think that's a very, a strategic way to to focus on the city of Sausalito. And then once all those three are defined really well, and working well, then we can work on integrating connecting the threads together. Thank you. |
| 02:41:26.55 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. Monica Finnegan, please. What are your thoughts? |
| 02:41:35.07 | Monica Finnegan | All of those sectors should have some form of a seat at the table, whether it's, you know, in phases or something, because definitely, They need to be heard. And you often hear about the discourse between the residents and the tourists. But I think if you look at our revenue stream, tourism is a big part of it. So we need to embrace it and try to find a way to cohabitate. the state. And I think there is a division between the retail that's in Caledonia and the retail that's downtown. And I believe we need to find other ways to merge those. I think, maybe a the zone situation is probably a great idea, almost like district by district. and see then what's the overarching commonality. with all of them, and then how do we find a way to respect one another's needs in one another's positions. I think the old way has been a lot of divided conversations. So we have a lot of communications people that are, involved in this 24 person review. And I think that's really an important component that we find a way to have dialogue and conversations that include that hear everybody and include everybody. That's my comment. |
| 02:42:55.40 | Vice Mayor Withey | Great. |
| 02:42:55.84 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:42:55.95 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:42:55.97 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:42:56.04 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you very much. Buzz. |
| 02:43:01.54 | Vice Mayor Withey | the ad man. |
| 02:43:05.66 | Addison Buzz Oleon | Hey. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I really like what Monica said, and I just want to because I see this as a voice, one voice from Sausalito. And it affects all of these different aspects, all these different factions, all these different targets, if you will. So if indeed the objective is to, for example, Um, somehow or another, create a position for the downtown a fresh new look and a feel and a tone that will attract, new retailers, restaurants, service businesses, it's not gonna be a different message for marineship. it's not going to be a different message for technology companies, because there needs to be an umbrella that I think Monica was, you know, I'll use that term. an overall look and a feel and that tone And Sausalito can rely on its past which is, Fantastic. It's just that it's kind of stuck in the past in terms of the outside world. sees Sausalito as something that happened, you know, maybe in the 60s or the 70s or whatever, and it hasn't really changed. But the outside world is what we want to attract. for new businesses, to flourish, and also for the citizens to like what they see. And so that has to be communicated to all of these different aspects with one single, idea that can be very simple. but it can be bold and it can then be, re-communicated to the individual aspects in what it is that they are looking for. Okay. |
| 02:45:03.99 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. I can see how you made your Major profession in PR, great. How about Malcolm Morgan? |
| 02:45:19.38 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | We can't hear you, you've got to unmute. |
| 02:45:23.90 | Malcolm Morgan | Um, There we go. |
| 02:45:25.38 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | There we go. |
| 02:45:26.53 | Malcolm Morgan | We're good? |
| 02:45:27.61 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yep, we're good, thank you. |
| 02:45:28.57 | Malcolm Morgan | Okay. Um, I love that you brought up the term synergy because I hadn't thought of that term with respect to my answer. but it's exactly what I was hoping to promote as a part of this committee, Um, one of the things that I think is, really overlooked here and this is what I mentioned in question number one, Um, With high value tourism, what I mean by that, and I don't wanna come across as just the boat guy, I do a lot of marine business. I do other business as well. Um, But, I really wanna pay attention to something that I haven't heard anyone talk about at any of the meetings. how many meetings I've been to, And that is the typical visiting big cruising yacht. You know, these big yachts, there's only two places in all of San Francisco Bay to park those yachts. and Sugar Dock over in Richmond. And Sugar Dock is just an industrial pier where they can get welding and you know, grinding and painting done and not much else. There's no amenities. Those boats, 80 to 100 foot boat is spending 5,000 a month just to park here. A quick visit to the boatyard could be $10,000 to $20,000. In 30 days or say two weeks to 30 day visit for a boat like that, they could spend upwards of $50,000 in our town. But there's a lot of roadblocks to those boats visiting here. Um, Again, that's not my only objective, but I think we're missing a huge opportunity there. with regard to synergy, Um, The reason those boats come here and the reason I think we should attract them here are the same things that attract us to this city. It's just a really great place to stop over and spend some time on the way north to Alaska or on the way south to Mexico as these boats are passing through. We've got restaurants, we've got retail, we've got galleries. We've got all of the mechanical services that they need, Artistic services in terms of canvas and paint. Why were you not paying more attention to those Again, I hate to use this term over and over, this high value tourism, but that's really what it is to our city. |
| 02:47:37.55 | Unknown | Again, |
| 02:47:43.37 | Malcolm Morgan | So, I think my biggest accomplishment here is that I work with these types of entities all the time. And I really want to promote that and make our city put it more on the map as it were. And that's why I'm sort of offering to volunteer my time and efforts here. Thank you. Good luck making a choice. This is going to be a tough call for you. Thank you. |
| 02:48:05.48 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah. Thank you. And yes, I concur with that last thought. Shelley. What are your thoughts? Thank you. |
| 02:48:13.25 | Shelley Merle Gordon | I think synergy as well as a great term. I mean, one of the things that I wrote when I applied to this is that I would like to see us be more like Larkspur or Mill Valley where They're charming towns, they're beautiful towns, but the locals use the businesses in the town. And we have the geography. I mean, you can't beat the Sausalito geography, but our businesses, we don't need another t-shirt shop. Um, We need the retail and the restaurants and the service businesses that both tourists and locals will use, not one to the exclusion of the other. And I think that's what will make it sustainable. |
| 02:48:54.82 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great. Thank you very much. All right, and why don't we wrap it up on this question with thoughts from Scott. |
| 02:49:03.80 | Scott Thornburg | Thank you. I agree with what Shelly was just saying about You know, I think if locals aren't supporting our businesses, then That almost needs to be the baseline for their finances. And then tourism is just the icing on the cake. And I do also wish that we had more of, you know, local support for the businesses that are here But I think to answer your initial question, I think Sauce Leaders' charm is all of those groups combined. It's bringing them together. creating a dialogue and embracing those different groups that make the city so wonderfully diverse. I often tell people that I live on vacation. And that my commute is a sunset sail home on the ferry. And I really do feel like that. I feel like a permanent tourist living here. And, you know, I think even areas like marineship that You know, we go walking. down that way quite a bit just to stay along the water and look at the boats and I think that whole area has its own charm that is just waiting to be uncovered and tourists don't really venture that far north. You know, but there's no reason they couldn't. And we could merge those communities, I think, really easily. |
| 02:50:19.26 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. Thank you all for that. And then just before I throw it back to Council Member Riley for the last question, I just wanted to let the members of the public that are on the call know that at the end |
| 02:50:32.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:50:32.34 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | um or we will um conclude that discussion but then um discussion by the council on next steps um so i just wanted to before so people don't sign off um if they would like to hear that discussion so i'll Turn it over to Councilmember Riley for the last question. Thank you. |
| 02:50:53.38 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Madam Mayor. So for this last- |
| 02:50:53.42 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you, Madam Mayor. in this past I think Joan has a question. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:51:01.74 | Councilmember Cox | Right. |
| 02:51:01.95 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:51:01.99 | Councilmember Cox | wanted to repeat for these candidates what we have for the others about their written responses. Madam Mayor. |
| 02:51:02.70 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:51:08.57 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, sure, I can do that at the end. Yeah, thank you. |
| 02:51:13.50 | Tom Riley | All right, thank you, Madam Mayor. So we have one last question that we'd love to get your thoughts on. And this is a bit of a visioning, looking forward. So if you, Project forward five to 10 years from now, and we've been working as an advisory committee with the city council, How do we, what does success look like and how do we measure that success? So in five to 10 year timeframe after we do a bunch of hard work, what does success look like? And how would we be measuring it? So, That's the question we'd like to hear your thoughts on. I'm going to ask, Ms. Monica Finnegan to start the answers this time. |
| 02:51:54.11 | Monica Finnegan | Okay, great. I just wanted to say that it was very difficult to hear Susan, because everything was echoing. So it might be helpful to repeat what she said at the end of our conversation here. Yes. I looked at this a little bit maybe differently than the five to 10 years because That's a pretty long horizon. And I sort of wanted to break it down into phases and sort of look at what I would think would be a great way to, process through our plan. And I think that phase one right now is probably one of the more critical components because we are in a situation that we've never been in before and We are. continuing to bleed. So I think that phase one is 2020 to 2021. And the metric that we would use to see if we were successful in what we had decided to do would be to see some real strong improvements in our tax revenues. Phase two, I think, would be a one to three year plan beyond that. which we could call like a startup phase where we're really testing some of our theories and really re-innovating ideas and things like that and then implementing them. And I think, If we were successful in that phase, one of the key things that we would really see would be a decrease in our office and retail vacancy rates because we had put together such innovative changes that we were attracting tenants and perhaps the having landlords really understand that Some changes have to be made in their perspective. as well as working with the planning commission and the building department to make sure that we're embracing instead of pushing away. I think in phase three, that's the five to seven year sort of phase or plan. And I think now we're really having time to implement and to keep everything humming along. Yeah. I think one really great metric that we could look at if we're successful along those a pass. is to make sure that we've replenished our rainy day fund, because I think we're gonna have to dive into that in the next 24 months to keep things going. And I think the last phase, which you're saying is a 10 year plan, I would call that high hopes. And I think that You'd have to review where we are 10 years ago and where we are 10 years ahead. Um, You have passed your one minute mark. Okay, thanks. And maybe the metric we have is that we're better prepared to whether the next unpredictable event by the successes that we've done over the 10 years. Thank you. |
| 02:54:58.27 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Monica. All right, we're gonna go to Mr. Buzz Olean. So Buzz, like to get your thoughts on how we measure our success and what success looks like. |
| 02:55:12.08 | Addison Buzz Oleon | Well, I'm kind of a tangible Good night. I'm very pragmatic. break it down into the different parts and, um, First off, the city. will be measured. by its can-do attitude. the changes that will be initiated at all the department levels. And It's got to be something that is a unanimous decision that this is what we want. And this is how we're going to attract investors. I'm talking about developers, VCs, businesses. because that attitude in the city is measurable. So it needs to be defined. and it needs to be something that will be a buy-in. by all of the leadership at the city. Another way to measure it is that there will be a downtown renaissance. And that will begin with making some hard but very important choices as to what it is, will be the vision. It'll be part of the general plan, of course, but it'll also be something that will eliminate the concerns on the part of the citizens that Sausalito is not represented by its new Uh, and Let me rephrase it. It's not being represented properly. Um, And when I say properly, I mean, We're going to have a We are not a t-shirt town, even though we need t-shirt shops. and we're not defined by any particular business. But we've got to make sure that it's diversified. And that's the way to be measured. And that diversification has to be something that will attract developers, realtors to market it As far as the offices and the And I'm, business to business community, it also has to be measurable |
| 02:57:07.47 | Unknown | Amen. Thank you. |
| 02:57:08.78 | Addison Buzz Oleon | by the truth. the being able to target Those businesses, through commercial. brokers and others to attract business to Sausalito. And for that to happen, |
| 02:57:22.64 | Heidi Scoble | You have passed your one minute mark. |
| 02:57:26.11 | Addison Buzz Oleon | Thank you. |
| 02:57:26.64 | Tom Riley | Thank you. Thank you, Buzz. Thanks for those thoughts. I would love to hear from Ms. Shelley Burrell-Gordon. So Shelley, can you please share your thoughts on how we measure success, what it looks like? |
| 02:57:43.12 | Shelley Merle Gordon | I'm not a business person and you guys have way more business experience than I do, but I would think it would be having businesses that last, businesses that don't come and go, businesses that we use and a tax base that allows us not only to do the essentials, but to have some of the luxuries like the fireworks on the 4th of July and additional art festivals and street fairs and really support the quality of life for people who live here. |
| 02:58:17.06 | Tom Riley | Thank you so much, Shelley. Um, Okay. Malcolm Morgan. Your thoughts? |
| 02:58:25.97 | Malcolm Morgan | Okay. Thanks. I think this is probably the best question I've heard all night. And I think if I were to summarize, I'll be perfectly honest, I cringe a little bit when I hear five to 10 years. I've been to a bunch of meetings where I talk about a 20 year vision I want to take a much longer view than that. I want to take the 50 to 100 year, but we concentrate on the five to 10 year view for right now. And that is, that we have a thriving economic base that isn't completely dependent on just one or two revenue streams. So if There's going to be another pandemic, let's face it, there's going to be some other Um, you know, natural disaster potentially fires. I don't know. But I want to make sure that we're diversified financially. And that's the most important thing to me. Looking into the future, 50 to 100 years from now, I think it's really important that we look at, and we're talking about redeveloping our waterfront. There's no going back if we make the wrong decisions now. Most cities don't have the luxury of what What we have in our lap right now, and that is to plan for this big chunk of our city Um, going forward. Most cities just sort of evolve over time. And Sausalito has this really big, unique opportunity. I think it's really exciting. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance. |
| 02:59:43.38 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:59:48.76 | Malcolm Morgan | So I would encourage everyone to take a really long view. not just a five or 10 year view, Um, One of the long-term things I think we need to do is foster some really innovative future technologies. Most people don't realize that I was involved at the startup here. He made the world's most unique desalinator machine |
| 03:00:02.00 | Unknown | So, |
| 03:00:07.57 | Malcolm Morgan | A company was here for a couple of years and had to move out of Sausalito. That company is still going. It was just bought out by a huge conglomerate. It'd be really nice if that business was still here in Sausalito, but they couldn't survive here anymore. |
| 03:00:14.90 | Unknown | It would be really nice. |
| 03:00:20.21 | Malcolm Morgan | So things like that taking a long view to keep these really innovative businesses that are diverse. |
| 03:00:20.28 | Unknown | I think |
| 03:00:26.31 | Malcolm Morgan | I think that's our most important vision. I think that's it. |
| 03:00:30.07 | Heidi Scoble | I think that's it. You have passed your one-minute mark. |
| 03:00:30.68 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 03:00:32.38 | Malcolm Morgan | Okay. |
| 03:00:34.32 | Tom Riley | Malcolm, thank you for that. And thank you for pushing it out to even 100 years. It's bold vision. So Scott, let's hear your thoughts on how we look back and measure success and what success looks like. |
| 03:00:51.06 | Scott Thornburg | Thank you. So I think from my perspective, it starts by really investing in things like infrastructure, so 5G connectivity, so that locals and tourists can actually, you know, get a cell phone signal and share their experiences of being in Sausalito with their friends and family. It supports local tourists. It also provides a measure of safety for this, you know, locals that are here that need to get a message out to family during uncertain times. I think it also starts by building out incentive programs to get employers and businesses to come to town. We have a lot of underutilized commercial real estate, especially on the north end of town. How do we leverage that for a new business community? And I think marketing is really essential. This town is more than just a bicycle ride over the bridge, but that's really what people come here for. right now. So I think for me, we would know if it was successful by growing the average spend per visitor in Sausalito in addition to locals. using our existing infrastructure to its maximum potential, including our transportation resources. having a successful marketing campaign that involves increased attention to Sausalito in public relations and press articles, as well as accomplishments of the local community, highlighting revitalization projects and so on. Thank you. |
| 03:02:23.06 | Tom Riley | Boy, I wish we could have all of you. So we're going to ask Mr. John Scopazi to take it home for the night. So John. I can go have my case. |
| 03:02:32.83 | John Scopazi | I can go have my cake now, right? I can have my cake. So, So yeah, there's one thing that this pandemic is really confirmed about Sausalito. is that tourism really is the icing on the cake. In Sausalito. And, um, Before the pandemic, the icing was probably at least half the case. And I think that's what we really, really, really need to work on. We got to work on the body of the cake. It's what we got to work on. We got to get that body up a little bit so the top little bit on top for tourism. is what's gonna take us over the edge into the next couple of centuries. Um, The city just came out with a land economic study. And one of the biggest uh, eye openers for me was the meringue chip area. I was just amazed that, that. Uh, you know, not underutilized, but it's not utilized as much as it could. produces that much for the city. So the Really, the first couple of steps is to tap into what we really have now. and really look at the infrastructure the city can do to bring in more people into the, Marinship area. And then, The next step would be Caledonia probably. The tourism seems to be going good downtown. So as long as the, COVID-19 thing. you know, it doesn't stay too long. The tourism will come back. So thank you. |
| 03:04:00.85 | Tom Riley | Thank you, John. We've had a three hour meeting. We are just five minutes over. So everyone has been just tremendous on efficiency. Following that theme, I am gonna turn this back to Madam Mayor. |
| 03:04:16.45 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, well first I wanna make sure that I'm not having the feedback that you were experiencing before. Can everybody hear me okay? Great, okay, good, I apologize for that. So I think what Councilmember Cox was reminding me of is that If any of you did not have a chance to complete the three questions that the city clerk emailed you in writing, We would very much, the answers that we did get back from candidates were extremely helpful to us. So if you are interested in being on the committee, it would be really helpful if you could return those answers by noon on Friday. to Heidi Scoble, our clerk. And then just echoing, I think for the whole council, thank you so much for being here, spending your Wednesday evening until nine o'clock with us being our last group. We really appreciate all of your incredibly thoughtful comments, insightful ideas, and passion for Sausalito. been encouraging to hear. As we've also alluded to, we've had just an overwhelming number of applications, and it is going to be a really difficult Next step. So on Tuesday, the 26th, we'll have a city council meeting starting at seven o'clock. where the selection will be one of the items on our agenda. So you can join us on Zoom on Tuesday evening, or you will hear from our city clerk shortly. after that meeting next week. So just before I thank group four, I did want to just let anyone who is on the line know that we are going to have a very brief council discussion of the interview and next steps after we let group four get on to the rest of their evening. So thank you all again for spending this time with us. It's been a great discussion and, Very helpful. So we really appreciate it. Thank you. |
| 03:06:23.53 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Thank you. Okay, so just before we finish our meeting tonight, I just wanted to share with the Council that we have been Councilmember Burns and Councilmember Riley have been leading this process and we really thank them for that and for the heavy lift that they've done so far. And so the process that we've set up is that they are going to make recommendations to the council next Tuesday. for at least an initial number of positions, perhaps not the full number. I mean, enough to get started, but not the full complement. I think we had between 7 and 11. Is that minimum of 7 and maximum of 11? |
| 03:07:04.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:07:04.96 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:07:14.26 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Yeah. Okay, so I just thought before we end tonight, if Councilmember Cox, Vice Mayor, Withy, or I have any general thoughts that we wanted to share with Tom or Joe that this would be the opportunity to do so before they head into their very, very difficult task. |
| 03:07:35.07 | Councilmember Cox | So Madam Mayor, I object to this process being announced instead of discussed amongst us and because it's a departure from the manner in which we typically appoint committee members and I also I am not prepared after listening to 24 interviews tonight to give feedback. Although I took careful notes, I cannot off the top of my head at nine o'clock at night after a long day. simply say who I recommend. All right. |
| 03:08:09.51 | Unknown | All right. |
| 03:08:09.52 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Oh, yeah. |
| 03:08:10.64 | Councilmember Cox | the appointment. |
| 03:08:10.89 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that we would I have. any particular discussion of any particular candidates, just if there were overarching ideas or um, concepts that you wanted to emphasize. |
| 03:08:31.23 | Councilmember Cox | Well, initially we had been talking about, did we want to have, you know, a certain number of residents out of town? We never really finished that dialogue at our last meeting. We said we would look to see what the pool looked like and then complete that dialogue. And so that was the process we publicly announced. And so to hear now that we have a subcommittee that's going to recommendations. That's very different from even how we selected folks for our GPAC. So I, I, Even if that process is acceptable and it may well be, it's not what we've announced to the public. |
| 03:09:17.02 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, I apologize. I thought that was laid out. But Vice Mayor, do you have any thoughts? I am comfortable with this process. |
| 03:09:31.91 | Ray | Well, um, I think we're sort of in, um, I wouldn't say uncharted territory, but we're certainly, um, we can certainly help use what we've learned, the way we've done things in the past, but we also got to figure out what's the most efficient way to move forward. so Sorry, I lost one earpiece. It seems to me that we are gonna move forward on May, what, 26th, is that the meeting date? to appoint at least the first tranche of membership, which would be seven members. Okay. So how do we go about it? Well, I think what I was hearing, maybe I didn't get this quite right, but what I was hearing the mayor suggest was that Um, Council member Riley and Burns who have been sort of leading this effort, got us down to interview 24 people, put if you like a recommendation, if you like a slate on the table, at the next meeting, for us to discuss at that meeting and then add to subtract from until we can agree by whatever process we normally you know do to arrive at what the first tranche of membership is so Are we actually actually agreeing? pretty much. how to do this, do you think? Or? |
| 03:11:17.31 | Councilmember Cox | I think we're debating now how to do this, and we did not notice this issue as an agenda topic. And indeed we're going in a different direction from what we had previously discussed. I was hoping- |
| 03:11:31.67 | Ray | Joan, what had we previously discussed? |
| 03:11:32.58 | Councilmember Cox | something. |
| 03:11:36.31 | Councilmember Cox | we had not even yet aligned on the composition of the committee. We had been discussing whether it would have a certain number of residents, a certain number businesses, And then we, at that meeting, I thought said that we would have to look at what the pool looked like in order to decide what the best composition of the committee would be. So what we have happening here is we have two council members whom I have tremendous respect for and immense gratitude for all of the work that they've done. But they have now taken our pool of over 40 candidates and narrowed it without our feedback to 24. And now they're going to narrow that 24 without our feedback to seven. So, That to me is not a transparent process by which the public gets to see the council making such an important decision. |
| 03:12:32.67 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay. I think what we should do is we will keep the appointment process on our calendar for Tuesday. And we will talk about scheduling a second meeting. very soon. I mean, I think we really wanted to get this committee. Am I echoing again? |
| 03:12:50.14 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yeah. |
| 03:12:56.33 | Councilmember Cox | It's because I didn't meet. |
| 03:12:59.22 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay. Sorry about that. Okay. So I want everyone to be comfortable with the process. I think that's important. This is an important decision and we've had a lot of great candidates. So I think we all, I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable with the process. So we will, talk about whether we need to schedule kind of an, either an interim special meeting on, Monday night to talk about kind of overall criteria and then make the decisions Tuesday or have that discussion, that overall discussion on Tuesday. and make some decisions before our next June meeting. |
| 03:13:39.78 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:13:40.73 | Teresa Ancona | Thank you. |
| 03:13:40.97 | Teresa Ancona | Thank you. |
| 03:13:41.03 | Councilmember Cox | Madam Mayor, I don't mind having two minutes. |
| 03:13:41.05 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | MEN. |
| 03:13:43.45 | Councilmember Cox | items on Tuesday, one in which we discuss process and then we carry it out. So I'm not trying to slow the process. |
| 03:13:51.68 | Unknown | And these are |
| 03:13:52.56 | Councilmember Cox | challenging times where we're doing things by Zoom and not in person, I think it's all the more important that we strive to maintain the highest level of transparency possible. |
| 03:14:08.49 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, I just think we, you know, I think the recommendation as I understood it from council member Riley and Burns was for them to make an initial proposal to Now. |
| 03:14:24.25 | Joe Burns | It wasn't necessarily for me. And my concern was that we stick fairly close to how we did the general plan update committee where there was a field brought down to a level and then we we bartered within, so we all had That's an equal voice in the final number And what I said is an equal accountability and an equal process as opposed to us taking on kind of the burden share of well, we've gone from 48 down to 10 and give us an opinion on three and add two in one and that you know I just I really wanted to have more Thank you. kind of input from you three, especially after this in depth process where we just have know, between the questionnaire and their resume and the package. so much information. at some point you have to, we have to get your, your thought I think before we start narrowing it down |
| 03:15:25.34 | Councilmember Cox | I mean, I really liked the GPAC process whereby we each put together our slate, saw where we had common ground, and then between us picked the remaining candidates. So I thought that was a very fair and transparent process. |
| 03:15:42.55 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay. Oh, Councilmember Ida. |
| 03:15:45.07 | Tom Riley | Yes, I concur with Council Member Burns and Council Member Cox. Now something that two of us should finalized it, she, five of us. What I would suggest is on Tuesday. Based on we have this list of candidates that Councilmember Burns and I can discuss and recommend a composition not by names but by you know, kind of background and, what we're looking for and then each of us can present our recommended slates. I would imagine where three of us like an individual, that's a majority and that individual would get strong support then. And we'll go through a process of narrowing it down. |
| 03:16:31.98 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Okay, so what I'm hearing is that we, will um Agenda is for Tuesday, both a overarching discussion of composition and possible selection. And if Councilmember Riley and Burns would like to make some recommendations on composition. then we would welcome that. Is that what I'm hearing? there. |
| 03:17:02.15 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 03:17:02.35 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Council member. |
| 03:17:02.81 | Unknown | Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. |
| 03:17:04.75 | Ray | Yes. |
| 03:17:07.35 | Councilmember Cox | That sounds good. |
| 03:17:07.48 | Ray | That sounds good to me, Joe. What do you think? |
| 03:17:11.23 | Councilmember Cox | Thank you. I'm happy to see recommendations as long as there's a process by which we all find have an equal |
| 03:17:22.55 | Joe Burns | I think composition was the key word there. We'll be discussing composition, then all five will be on the body count. for the people. |
| 03:17:30.52 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Right, and by composition I mean types of |
| 03:17:30.84 | Joe Burns | Right. |
| 03:17:35.11 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | representative. types. |
| 03:17:36.93 | Councilmember Cox | Oh, okay. I thought you meant composition meaning Membership. Yeah. Okay. |
| 03:17:45.67 | Ray | So I think the way in which we're envisioning this is that there's going to be initially a somewhat of an abstract discussion about what is our idealized composition. of the advisory committee. And with that sort of hopeful consensus that could be built, you then sort of move forward to go through a process of nomination of which we'd received to concepts from the two council members who've been focusing on this. to put some names on the table that we then begin to go through our process and we'll end up with I'm sure consensus fairly quickly, actually. |
| 03:18:33.88 | Joe Burns | I agree with you, Vice Mayor, and I think the composition part will be an exercise that we'll want to do in public and agendize public, so we won't do it right now. Thank you. |
| 03:18:42.56 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:18:42.89 | Joe Burns | given what we've done together for so long, we pretty much know what that composition is gonna look like. We just have to put it together and discuss it in public next Tuesday. I think that part will go fairly quickly. And then that will make the other part go just as quick. |
| 03:18:53.31 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:18:56.00 | Joe Burns | Yeah. |
| 03:18:56.83 | Councilmember Cox | That's all I'm advocating for is that we have the dialogue publicly. |
| 03:18:56.90 | Joe Burns | That's all. |
| 03:19:02.40 | Councilmember Cox | had misunderstood i think that we were going to you know show up to the meeting with a list of seven proposed candidates from our um Subcommittee and I want to make sure that we discuss composition, that we discuss process, and then look at potential and then vet potential candidates amongst ourselves. |
| 03:19:27.16 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, thank you. I think that's a very clear, as always, a clear articulation of good process for moving forward. So thank you. So I see. general agreement. And I think the business in front of our meeting, our special meeting tonight has been adjourned. And I think we've all said this, but I thought this was a, An excellent experiment in interview process and I enjoyed it and thought, I learned a great deal about some of the amazing talent in our town. So I just wanna thank everyone who participated especially our two committee members who have been working hard on this. |
| 03:20:05.09 | Ray | I thought it was fantastic. |
| 03:20:05.55 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | And it was. |
| 03:20:06.04 | Councilmember Cox | . |
| 03:20:07.67 | Ray | So, fantastic. |
| 03:20:08.69 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | I'm going to go. |
| 03:20:08.70 | Councilmember Cox | Me too. I would like to... I thought it was just tremendous. It's our best interview process yet. And I'd like to use this as a template for how we do important committee assignments. It was really fantastic. The questioning, the written questions. I mean, it was just fabulous. So thanks to everyone who participated in that. |
| 03:20:31.47 | Joe Burns | Yeah, staff did so much from the binders that we've gotten to arranging all this, getting this turned around in a great way. Really, really quick time and we'll you know a couple weeks. So that was a big hats off to staff for getting all this done |
| 03:20:44.73 | Tom Riley | And I'm gonna not only staff, but call out in particular, our Zoom coordinator, Heidi, you ran a very complex meeting, letting people in and out and meets on and off. So thank you and thanks to staff. and thanks to my fellow council members, a productive evening. |
| 03:21:04.75 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Great, and with that, nice set of positive comments. I wish everybody a great evening and see you next Tuesday. |
| 03:21:13.99 | Ray | I'm sorry. |
| 03:21:14.04 | Unknown | THANK YOU. |
| 03:21:14.35 | Ray | All right. |
| 03:21:14.36 | Mayor Cleveland Knowles | Bye. |
| 03:21:15.11 | Unknown | Thank you. Bye now. |