| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:00.35 | Unknown | . |
| 00:00:05.75 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:06.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:06.63 | Unknown | And Thank you. Thank you. . Thank you. |
| 00:00:32.63 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:00:47.21 | Kevin McGowan | Do we have Chris and everybody on the line? That's supposed to be |
| 00:00:55.38 | Walfred Solorzano | Chris is not in yet. Let's wait for Chris. Well, I don't know if he's going to be in here because we're doing the interviews. |
| 00:00:56.78 | Kevin McGowan | Let's wait for Chris. Cheers. |
| 00:01:00.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Oh, it is okay. |
| 00:01:01.17 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. He's at least from what I understand. I would hope. Thank you. |
| 00:01:09.54 | Unknown | Thank you. President Sergio, hold on a second. They're here. Yes, we're good. Hold on, let me get a minute. Thank you. Okay, so we have the. |
| 00:01:28.20 | Unknown | She never did. always, always. |
| 00:01:34.13 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.16 | Kevin McGowan | I'm sorry. |
| 00:01:34.31 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.34 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 00:01:34.36 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.50 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.55 | Walfred Solorzano | Bye. |
| 00:01:34.60 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.61 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.63 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.80 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.90 | Kevin McGowan | it out right now. |
| 00:01:35.69 | Unknown | Okay, let me know when you're, I think we're all |
| 00:01:37.33 | Kevin McGowan | all set, so whenever you're ready. |
| 00:01:39.88 | Unknown | Thank you. at the end. |
| 00:01:41.79 | Kevin McGowan | of you. |
| 00:01:42.02 | Jenny Silva | Thank you. |
| 00:01:42.06 | Kevin McGowan | I'm a reporter. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:01:44.40 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah. |
| 00:01:46.58 | Jenny Silva | you |
| 00:01:46.61 | Kevin McGowan | recorded. |
| 00:01:46.97 | Jenny Silva | . |
| 00:01:47.03 | Kevin McGowan | in progress. |
| 00:01:48.92 | Jenny Silva | Thank you. |
| 00:01:48.94 | Kevin McGowan | And we've got Sergio. We're ready to go. Okay, city clerk, would you please call us to order? |
| 00:01:54.95 | Walfred Solorzano | Actually, council member Cox. |
| 00:01:58.68 | Kevin McGowan | here. |
| 00:02:00.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Huffman. |
| 00:02:02.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:02:02.88 | Kevin McGowan | or how to get a |
| 00:02:03.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilman Rick Coleman. Thank you. |
| 00:02:04.47 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:02:04.57 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah. |
| 00:02:04.58 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:02:05.02 | Walfred Solorzano | Vice Mayor Sobieski? Merry Blastin. |
| 00:02:07.52 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, and just to note, this is the regular meeting of April 11, 2023, being held in Council Chambers located at 420 Litho Street. Staff and members of the public are also participating through Zoom. This meeting is being broadcast live on the city's website. Just before we begin, a point of order. I'm going to go ahead and move part of item 8C, which is the appointments to commission, specifically a reappointment of Commissioner Feller to the Planning Commission ahead, so we can get started with that. Then we'll hear interviews for Historic Landmark Board and Library Board and for the Planning Commission, which will have a vacancy in January of 2024 per Richard grass term expiring there is a personnel issue related to the planning commission that needs to be addressed at a later time city staff is in the process of gathering all the facts and preparing a recommendation and when that preparation is concluded the council and staff will address the issue and then we'll go forward with other appointments under eight CS plans so for now I would like to move to reappoint Christina Feller to serve a second term on the planning Commission effective beginning April 16 2022. |
| 00:03:06.79 | Joan Cox | And may I make, I would like to second that motion with, but may I make a friendly amendment? Absolutely. confirm and ratify all of Christina's actions between 20 in that intervening year |
| 00:03:23.69 | Kevin McGowan | I have spoken with the city attorney to ensure that our reappointment effective April 10th, 2022, when the appointment expired, will allow for that. |
| 00:03:32.03 | Jill Hoffman | Can I offer another friendly amendment to that? that we have that apply to all planning commissioners who are currently serving who are in similar circumstances. Okay. I believe Richard Graff is in the same |
| 00:03:43.03 | Joan Cox | circumstances. |
| 00:03:43.74 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, |
| 00:03:43.96 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:03:44.25 | Joan Cox | Okay. I will second that amended motion. |
| 00:03:48.94 | Kevin McGowan | So we need to take public comment on the item before we can vote on that motion. So I'm now going to open it up to public comment. |
| 00:03:56.67 | Walfred Solorzano | For those people wishing to provide public comment, you can fill out a slip speaker form over located at that table by the TV. If you are on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function. And if you're on telephone through Zoom, you can press, I think, star nine. All right, so first speaker, Senator Bushmaker. |
| 00:04:15.18 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Welcome, Sam. |
| 00:04:17.04 | Sandra Bushmaker | Bye. |
| 00:04:18.66 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:04:21.59 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening, Council. Good to see you all here in person. Well, you just took the wind out of my sails. My comments were going to be relating to the planning commission and the appointment of, of chair Feller in the future. I think that I'm going to have to speak impromptu now instead of read my, I think that in the future we need, the council should get real clear on how they're going to, deal with reappointments or when when a term expires There needs to be some communication. on how you're going to handle that because this created quite a kerfuffle, as you can imagine, in the in the community. |
| 00:05:00.74 | Unknown | community. |
| 00:05:01.05 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:05:01.76 | Sandra Bushmaker | And while I recognize that there are a lot of qualified people that applied, I just want to point out that two of the applicants just moved to Sausalito in 2022. and none of them had local references. So we want to keep our planning commission functioning, We want to keep our planning commission focused because of what we've just gone through with the housing element in particular and since that's pending. So I really applaud the action that you took tonight, and I thank you for doing that. |
| 00:05:32.57 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. ANY FURTHER PUBLIC COMMENTS? Thank you, Sandra. No, no, no. Thank you. |
| 00:05:41.07 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah. Now's the lander. |
| 00:05:42.83 | Kevin McGowan | you have a absolutely as well we have one more folk person in the chamber who'd like to make public |
| 00:05:44.08 | Unknown | as well. |
| 00:05:50.00 | Nicole Schaefer | Well, a lot of positive comments have just been said, but just wanted to reiterate that, you know, we are newer residents to Sausalito. and certainly support Commissioner Feller in this role and the work that she's done. She's more than qualified. And we were kind of shocked at the ease in which these kind of changes could happen to the city government website. and certainly support the changes that you have all proposed to prevent this from happening in the future. Thank you for taking the comments. |
| 00:06:19.53 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you for being here. Could you identify yourself just so we know who you are when you come in again and- Nicole Schaefer. Great, thanks for being here. |
| 00:06:25.91 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 00:06:25.93 | Nicole Schaefer | Thank you. |
| 00:06:27.70 | Kevin McGowan | On Zoom, do we have any public comments, Wilfred? |
| 00:06:32.95 | Walfred Solorzano | See you then. |
| 00:06:33.94 | Kevin McGowan | And then there's one more commenter approaching the podium here in session. |
| 00:06:40.63 | Chris White | Hi, my name is Chris White, known to a few of you at the head table. My wind has been taken out of my sails also, but I do wanna make a comment. that we started with the planning commission when Janelle was the planning, the chairperson. And we had nothing but a phenomenally good experience. And then for the next three years, as Janelle moved on, we worked firsthand with, Christina, as did most of our neighbors on Sausalito Boulevard, because the issue of 754, which many of you are well aware of, has created quite a problem in our neighborhood. we never had an experience with any planning commission in any place in the country before. But the experience we had with especially Christina and the entire staff has been nothing but fair, first-class professional. And I think, quite frankly, there owed a little bit of an apology for the way this whole thing came about. But I appreciate your... submitting the resolution and passing it. Thank you. |
| 00:07:48.19 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:07:48.23 | Chris White | Thank you very much. |
| 00:07:48.97 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:07:49.06 | Chris White | Thank you. |
| 00:07:49.97 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, do we have any further public comment at this time? |
| 00:07:54.25 | Jill Hoffman | I have, I'm sorry, no public comment, but I do have a further comment. |
| 00:07:57.51 | Walfred Solorzano | You. We have Sue Kim. |
| 00:07:59.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:07:59.50 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:07:59.60 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:07:59.70 | Kevin McGowan | Great. |
| 00:07:59.94 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:08:03.77 | Unknown | Hi, I'm Sue King and I'm a Sausalito resident. And, Sorry. Too many buttons to push and talk at the same time. Um, Go ahead. No, we can hear you. It's great. Okay, good. I just wanted to ask a silly question. I thought that the terms were three years, not two. And if you vote a new person in an April of 2024, isn't that just a two year term? Thank you. |
| 00:08:33.82 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:08:33.84 | Unknown | So, |
| 00:08:33.92 | Kevin McGowan | Well, typically we don't respond to public comment questions, but I will just say it's from April 2022. So the term is effective from the date that it expired. So it will be a three-year term. |
| 00:08:43.36 | Unknown | So she will be out of office in April of 2025. |
| 00:08:48.24 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, per the second term. |
| 00:08:49.75 | Unknown | Thank you. Okay, fine. But you're going to have an election in April of 2024. I'm not sure. Well, there was something you said was happening with her in April of 2024. Just a point of clarification. |
| 00:09:04.03 | Kevin McGowan | And then in April, we're renewing the appointment from the time that initially the first term expired in April of 2022 from a point in order to effectively ratify all of the actions that have been taken in the last year by Commissioner Feller. We are taking all of the appropriate legal steps to ensure that the appointment is renewed from the time at which it expires. |
| 00:09:11.57 | Jenny Silva | Thank you. |
| 00:09:11.59 | Unknown | Right? |
| 00:09:25.38 | Unknown | Okay, I guess I get it, but let's hope she's still in there by April of 2025. Thanks. Thank you. |
| 00:09:33.78 | Walfred Solorzano | No further comments? |
| 00:09:35.38 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, great, thank you so much. So I'll close public comment at this time. AND I UNDERSTAND THAT COUNCILMEMBER HUFFMAN HAD A COMMENT? |
| 00:09:42.98 | Jill Hoffman | So that, We now no longer have a vacancy on Planning Commission. Am I correct that we're not gonna go forward with the interviews tonight that were scheduled? |
| 00:09:52.60 | Kevin McGowan | We have one applicant who was planning to be present and because we will have a vacancy in January of 2024, we are going to hear from that candidate and take into consideration and thank them very much for their interest in the Planning Commission because that's about six months away and It's always good to be prepared when we do make our next appointments. |
| 00:10:09.24 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:10:09.67 | Kevin McGowan | And then, |
| 00:10:09.98 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 00:10:10.03 | Kevin McGowan | I know. |
| 00:10:10.08 | Jill Hoffman | I have a further follow-up. with regard to this matter, there was a substantial amount of public comment that we received. And I understand there was also a petition that was submitted to be attached as public comment and I'm looking at the agenda right now and I don't see A lot of that, I looked at the agenda at four o'clock And I saw that there were only six letters attached as public comment. And so I was wondering if the city manager or the city clerk had- |
| 00:10:40.13 | Walfred Solorzano | The petition is on the public comments. |
| 00:10:43.29 | Jill Hoffman | So the petition is under, okay, so that's our city clerk. That was the voice of. |
| 00:10:49.35 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah, that was me. Sorry. |
| 00:10:50.43 | Jill Hoffman | That's okay. And so I see I'm looking at it right now and I see the staff report and then I see attachment one applications. And then I see number two, The third thing under conduct interviews is public comment for item two. And then I'm clicking on that. And when did you add the petition, Walford? |
| 00:11:12.37 | Walfred Solorzano | I can't recall. There was a lot of stuff I was adding. |
| 00:11:14.39 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Yeah. |
| 00:11:15.52 | Walfred Solorzano | But everything got added today. |
| 00:11:17.43 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, well, if you can indulge me for just a second, it's loading right now on my computer. And so I still just see Okay. I do see that. Yeah, thank you very much. I do see the petition on there right now. And let me just make sure. |
| 00:11:29.05 | Walfred Solorzano | at that point. |
| 00:11:35.43 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah, sometimes we just have to refresh the browser. Sorry. |
| 00:11:38.94 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, well, I looked at it at four and it was not on here. So it wasn't because I didn't refresh the browser. Promise you that. So, okay, good. Okay, so it looks like there's more on here now. And thank you for that. |
| 00:11:52.22 | Kevin McGowan | And I was going to address this in mayor's comments, but since you brought it up, just a note because we've received a lot of public comment as well about the posting of public comments. And since, since our, we've, Wonderful friendly city clerk Falford, thank you for all of your hard work has joined us so he sent an email that went out and in. To the full Council, but I want to make sure residents are aware of how comments will show up and be posted so in the spirit of transparency and so that we are aware. Of all of the communications that the city council is receiving so Walford will now have a system of collecting all the public comments received by Monday at 6pm and publish all of those by Monday at 8pm. Then public comment received after them from 6pm through Tuesday at 4pm. he'll publish before the meeting at 4 p.m. So if you want something to appear on the agenda prior to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and you wanna see it on Monday evening, please publish it, please get it to us by Monday before the meeting so that we can ensure that it's on there. But of course, all of the comments will show up on the agenda and they will all be part of the public record. And I appreciate very much all of the public comment that we received around this important issue. So with that, I'm gonna call the question. We have a motion and a second on the floor. So I would like to ask for a roll call vote. |
| 00:13:00.63 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Cox. Yes. Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:13:04.25 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 00:13:04.92 | Walfred Solorzano | Council member coming. |
| 00:13:05.92 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 00:13:06.54 | Walfred Solorzano | Vice Mayor Sobieski and Mayor Blasin. |
| 00:13:09.26 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. Okay, motion passes five zero. Thank you very much everyone for your participation and support in the little switch up of order here. And now we'll move on to going ahead to interview our candidates for historic landmark board for the library board and then for the vacancy for the planning commission in January of 2024. Walford, can you let me know who is present? |
| 00:13:31.03 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, so for Historic Preservation Commission, do we have Greg Boot here? or is Greg Boot online? Let me see. I don't see Greg Boot. He didn't respond. We have Joseph S. Lee, and I think is, okay, he's present. So we have Joseph S. Lee. Do we have Angela Weber? Angela Weber's present. And then Eric Halverson, he said he was not gonna appear and we do not see him on Zoom. So we do have two people. Joseph Lee and Angela Weber. |
| 00:14:02.36 | Kevin McGowan | Fantastic. Well, we'll just go in order of that they were called. So we'll start with Mr. Joseph Lee. If you would like, yes. Yes. library. Yes, this is no historic preservation commission first. |
| 00:14:14.46 | Walfred Solorzano | We'll do library next. |
| 00:14:15.48 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. Bye. Thank you. |
| 00:14:19.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:14:20.03 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:14:20.08 | Unknown | you've got to be. |
| 00:14:20.25 | Kevin McGowan | So just to give a point of order as well for the members of the public, we typically spend about five minutes on each interview. We'll ask each candidate to share a little bit about themselves and their background and why they're interested in this specific position. And then we'll allow members of the council to ask questions and then we'll move on to the next candidate. So with that, hi, thank you for being here. And thank you so much for your interest in serving Sausalito. I would love to hear a little bit about your interest in the position and about yourself and your involvement in Sausalito. |
| 00:14:20.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:14:48.43 | Joseph S. Lee | Yeah, excellent. Thank you. Joseph Lee, Joey Lee of Sausalito, a pleasure to meet you. And thank you, council members, for having me here this evening. I'm relatively new to the Bay Area. Moved to Sausalito about a year and a half ago from the East Coast and bring with me my professional experience in primarily education, starting first as a history teacher on the East Coast and in varying different positions within the realm. And I've always been driven by civic participation. And throughout my residency, both in New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts have volunteered and in choosing to root into community here in Sausalito, have chosen to explore and put my name forth for the vacancy in the Historical Preservation Committee. And really hope to bring my personal and professional experience to contribute to the community in whatever way is necessary. |
| 00:15:45.54 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Thank you so much. Are there questions from members of the council for Mr. Lee? Sure. Great. |
| 00:15:51.93 | Melissa Kelman | Hi, welcome, Mr. Lee. Thank you. Thank you for putting your name in the hat. So I understand from your resume that you have an extensive background in education. |
| 00:15:53.00 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:15:59.83 | Melissa Kelman | What are some things that you see the library is doing that you would want to dive head first into what are some things that you think you could bring to the table that could be new and innovative? This is actually for the historic preservation. Oh, pardon me. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Historic preservation. The same question. Only in that, sorry, I saw your education background, which is still accurate, right? |
| 00:16:08.81 | Kevin McGowan | I'm. Oh, pardon me. |
| 00:16:10.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:16:16.89 | Joseph S. Lee | which is still accurate, right? I know. I have thoughts on libraries as well. |
| 00:16:20.11 | Melissa Kelman | Yes, yes. What do you do about the library and historic preservation? So I know you've lived in some pretty historic areas, right? Exeter and back in Massachusetts. What are some things that you've seen those communities do well in preserving the history of the United States that you think |
| 00:16:28.43 | Joseph S. Lee | Yeah. |
| 00:16:28.69 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:16:34.21 | Melissa Kelman | could be equally applicable to a community like ours. |
| 00:16:37.75 | Joseph S. Lee | Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And, um, I, I, I think the origin of the question around locations of which I've chosen to live, Exeter, New Hampshire and Charlestown, Massachusetts, both cities and towns of 18th century or 17th century origin. My experience with city council actually started with homeownership, and it was looking to put an addition on my home in which I needed to get approval of the historical commission of my town. It was through that conversation process and relationships with the city, which I recognized the importance of policy within a town to preserve the past, ultimately for the next generation. So I, again, relatively new to this city, but do understand its importance in the history of the Bay Area and the state of California and hope to contribute that curiosity, interest and understanding of public policy to preserve the future. |
| 00:17:32.91 | Kevin McGowan | Anyone else have questions for Mr. Lee? |
| 00:17:38.50 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. I just had one general question because you said that you were really driven by civic participation. And, you know, what do you think is the most important quality or great key quality in civic participation and volunteer service? |
| 00:17:54.88 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:17:54.90 | Joseph S. Lee | Not a lot. Character is the first word that came to mind. I think it's a long list, but if I were to prioritize them, character or a certain sense Again, the social studies teacher in me, civic responsibility, first in volunteering for local elections. the candidates which often visited a very purple state in New Hampshire. So contributing towards those public events and I hope that any volunteer efforts for any one of the members of the public were to bring that same character forth. |
| 00:18:24.48 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Thank you so much. Thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it. And we will be making appointments later this evening under item 8c. So now we'll hear from Angela Weber. |
| 00:18:32.14 | Joseph S. Lee | Great, thank you. |
| 00:18:41.76 | Kevin McGowan | Hello, everyone. |
| 00:18:41.88 | Angela Weber | Hello, everyone. |
| 00:18:42.83 | Kevin McGowan | Hi, Angela. Welcome. So if you could answer the same introductory question as Mr. Lee did a little bit about yourself and your interest in the Historic Preservation Commission. |
| 00:18:50.84 | Angela Weber | Yes, my name is Angela Weber. I am in the process of working on what was a teardown at 75 Cloudview Road. I've been here since about eight years. I have not worked for many years, but I have preserved three homes at this point, one of which is on the cover of the San Francisco City Historians book called In the Victorian Style. And believe me, that restoration was done before the internet. and to get architectural salvage that was apt and precise on the telephone was It was quite a project, but I loved it. and working on a 1937 You're a bungalow now. But what I looked at, I looked at the agendas of the Preservation Commission for the last three years, and I'm seeing repetitive issues. And those issues are, too many restorations, too many renovations, I mean, done. over the last 20 or 30 years, so that very few properties really qualify as being historic And that is a tragedy that is only going to snowball for demographic reasons. The reasons are that Sausalito... is aging. fast. The median age here is 57. On my block of CloudView, I'm 71. I'm a youngster. you've got 90-year-old people hanging on by a thread in Prop 13. They're house rich and cash poor. They're aging out of housing and their houses are now being torn down. and renovated to maximize views. and not very sensitively, I might add. And that process is only going to get worse. The demographics, we are the canary in the coal mine here. for where society is going to go. And I'm kind of pessimistic, frankly, about restoration. versus renovation that's happening here. Um, I have a background in analysis. I went to Mills, graduated from Mills College, and then went to Wharton and did econometric modeling and that type of work for many years. Stayed home with two daughters. And then, around age 68. I started an MFA in animation, which I finished last year at age 70 from the San Francisco Art Institute, which is, unfortunately, I have two colleges that don't exist anymore. But Wharton seems to be going strong than ever, thanks to all the hedge fund guys. But... You know, I just have a lifelong interest in historic preservation. I've even put wavecore shingle roofs on houses, done all kinds of things I just love it. I love to do it. I'm finding the housing stock here is deteriorating very fast because of the aging population. Um, I'm not, as I mentioned, not very optimistic. But that being said, We can do what we can. and identify key projects and don't quibble over things that are losing battles. There's too many losing battles here. We can't fight the demography. So I don't know if you have any questions to ask of me. Bye. I feel a little uncomfortable speaking. I wasn't aware I'd be speaking in front of the town. I also applied for a library slot. But I can't do both, but I can do one or the other. As for the library, I took a look. at the programs and I don't think they're a particularly good fit for the demographics here. The aging population, a lot of people are Living alone. They don't have any ability to socialize and loneliness is really an issue. Libraries have completely changed their functions since I was a girl. reading encyclopedias in them. They are now social and media centers. And I think that the programs need to be less oriented towards story hours for children that don't live here, and more towards short story book clubs and hospitality board games, Scrabble, things that older people might like to do. So wherever I'm needed, I'm happy to to participate. and We'll just see what happens. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm a little uncomfortable speaking in front of all these people. You're doing great. |
| 00:24:04.97 | Melissa Kelman | You're doing great. Yeah, you're doing amazing. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Weber. I'm delighted to have you. Just pause one second. I want to ask a question of the city clerk. So when you introduced this item, when we introduced the item, you did a roll call of applicants. Can you please just confirm for the council how many applicants are here who intend to put their name in the hat for historic preservation and how many for the library? I just want to take into account since this applicant would actually... Per your application, prefer the library. So I want to make sure I understand who we have. |
| 00:24:37.86 | Walfred Solorzano | So for historic, there's two people here, Joseph and Angela. And then for library, do we have West Hayes? West Hayes is present. Timothy McLeod. Let me see. He might be on Zoom. I think Timothy's on Zoom. Sorry, I'm going down my list. Bethany Murguia. She stated that she wouldn't be able to make it. Angela Weber is here and then Chris E. White and Chris is here. |
| 00:25:10.44 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, thank you very much. And just to clarify, we have one alternate position for the Library Board of Trustees at this point that's open, correct? |
| 00:25:18.38 | Walfred Solorzano | Let me look at the list. |
| 00:25:20.20 | Melissa Kelman | I think the staff report says we have two expiring terms for library. and then one, but the vacancy is an alternate. So that was my follow-up question. to say how many are we filling? |
| 00:25:32.26 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:25:33.28 | Melissa Kelman | I don't know. |
| 00:25:33.68 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Yeah, I was going to ask the same question for HPC as well. Like how many seats and alternates? Thank you. |
| 00:25:40.28 | Melissa Kelman | Okay, well, while Watford's looking at that, I'm going to ask my actual question. So if you've been following a lot of the climate work that we've been doing here on the council and in the county, there's been a big push towards electrification and other measures that some may think are inconsistent with restoration that you're describing. I'm interested in your perspective. Not at all. Okay, great. No. Share your thoughts. I mean, I'm going to go through it. |
| 00:26:00.53 | Angela Weber | Not a Oh. No. Share your thoughts. Well, again, I tend to be more analytical. So I'm looking at, I take a look at the tax credits before anything else. The elderly are not going to be doing a whole lot. They're hanging on, many of them, by a thread. They couldn't afford to be here now if they had to make that decision. |
| 00:26:12.34 | Ray Withy | Oh, my God. |
| 00:26:24.66 | Angela Weber | They're not doing it. The as they age out, much younger Generation X people are moving in. They're much more receptive to it. things like insulation, double and triple pane windows. I just finished... Handmade. wooden double-paned windows for my house. Those windows cost They're exquisite and handmade here in San Francisco. Those windows cost half what an Anderson or Marvin window would cost. There is absolutely no excuse. to think. that enhanced climate. measures are in any way antithetical. preservation. It's just the opposite. The big enemy of preservation here is going to be people trying to maximize their views and tearing out windows, facades, and overbuilding on lives. We've got big, big houses going into it. San Francisco has a wonderful cottagey feel to it, but we're losing that very fast. On my street alone, there's one, two, three. three teardowns that are going to happen very soon, one of which they're putting a two car garage where the front door used to be on the street. Nobody wants to look at that, but I don't think it's within the preservation venue to really, it's a planning thing. It's not a, you know, it's not in our... Fallowing. Thank you. |
| 00:28:11.51 | Kevin McGowan | THANK YOU VERY MUCH. |
| 00:28:13.52 | Angela Weber | Okay. |
| 00:28:13.83 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, Councilmember Cox. Oh, go ahead, city clerk. Did you have an update on that? |
| 00:28:16.95 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah. |
| 00:28:17.47 | Kevin McGowan | Great. |
| 00:28:18.06 | Walfred Solorzano | So circling back, so with the historic commission, there's only one member vacancy. And then with the library, Let me see, sorry. |
| 00:28:27.88 | Kevin McGowan | It looks like on the staff report that there are two terms that are expiring. One expired in February of 2023 and the other expires in May of 2023. And then there's one vacancy. So we'll potentially be making three appointments, one to be effective in May. |
| 00:28:28.39 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:28:32.10 | Walfred Solorzano | One experience. |
| 00:28:32.88 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:28:42.16 | Walfred Solorzano | And correct, and then one alternate. |
| 00:28:44.37 | Kevin McGowan | And an alternate as well. Yes. Okay. And then for the board of trustees, it looks like, |
| 00:28:45.33 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes. |
| 00:28:48.84 | Kevin McGowan | expired terms or expiring terms, there are two and then one alternate. So we would make two appointments plus an alternate appointment. |
| 00:28:54.98 | Walfred Solorzano | Let me see. One, two. Yes, correct. |
| 00:28:58.17 | Kevin McGowan | And. Member Cox, you have a question for us? Yes, thank you. |
| 00:29:00.72 | Joan Cox | Yes, thank you. So like Councilmember Kelman, I saw that you said you prefer the library, but if I had my choice, I would prefer to put you on. Historic Preservation Commission. |
| 00:29:12.85 | Angela Weber | wherever I am. |
| 00:29:14.04 | Joan Cox | I'm passionate about both. Because it's so important, it's so challenging to find qualified people to serve on the Historic Preservation Commission who are willing to delve into our historic guidelines and understand... Um, the importance of preservation of historic structures, sites, areas. And we also years ago did an inventory that needs to be updated of what is historic and what is not. And how do we measure that? And so based on your qualifications and your soliloquy regarding your experience. I just feel like you would be ideally suited to delve into that kind of meaty. I like analysis. There's no doubt about it. Exactly. I like that. Exactly. So and it's interesting that you mentioned San Francisco because they're much more specific than we are about the qualifications to serve. |
| 00:30:03.14 | Nicole Schaefer | There's no doubt about it. Yes, exactly. Exactly. |
| 00:30:13.65 | Joan Cox | on the Historic Preservation Commission and you would meet all of their qualifications. |
| 00:30:18.01 | Angela Weber | Well, actually, I don't have an architecture degree. I'm only a hobby of passionate hobbyists. |
| 00:30:23.12 | Joan Cox | Right. |
| 00:30:23.14 | Angela Weber | Right. I could tell you. |
| 00:30:24.03 | Joan Cox | But you... so impressed me by having looked back at our agendas. When I applied to the Planning Commission in 2008, I did the same thing. I looked at all the prior agendas to understand what it is I was getting myself into. So, Kudos to you. Welcome to Sausalito. And I am looking forward to appointing you to something as soon as possible. |
| 00:30:42.68 | Angela Weber | as soon as possible. Just not planning, please. |
| 00:30:46.70 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:30:46.71 | Angela Weber | That's too contentious. |
| 00:30:48.59 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:30:48.60 | Angela Weber | I'm not. Thank you. Anybody else have anything? |
| 00:30:53.55 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much, Ms. Weber. We really appreciate it. Okay, so that's it for Historic Preservation Commission interviewees who are present. So we'll move on to library board. And I think you said the first person that we have present is West Haste. |
| 00:31:08.87 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:31:09.63 | Kevin McGowan | All right. Welcome, Mr. Hayes. Thank you for being with us. If you could, as we had asked of the other candidates, give a little bit of your background in Sausalito and your interest in serving on the library board. |
| 00:31:18.08 | West Hayes | Certainly. Thank you for having me here. Um, for those of you at home, hello. I'm San Francisco born and raised. Um, I'd say, free range on Fillmore Street. But Sausalito, I always knew if I was going to live anywhere else in the world, it was either going to be San Francisco or Sausalito. Um, Thank you. I'd say in about I guess more of the background, San Francisco Public School, except for a four year stint in private school. Didn't work out, didn't graduate back to public school, worked out. City College, Cal, just like the mayor. Um, Go Bears! Graduated from there and then moved to Sausalito, I think around 2014, 2015. Thank you. start an education. at non-public schools that specialized in intervening with students who are not finding success on their public school campus, not finding success in a continuation school, frequently having contact with juvenile justice, we would intervene and try to redirect them back to their neighborhood school. While living here as a legal liveaboard, paying the fee, which wasn't easy to do in 2014, I got my teaching credential. started teaching the same classrooms I was once a TA in. working with that same population and working with kids that I now see I've been to countless Novato High School graduations, Tam High graduations, Redwood High graduations for kids that maybe otherwise wouldn't have ended up there without the kind of great schools that I, where I've worked. As far as the library, I've had a library card in San Francisco since the mid 80s. I've had a library card here since 2014 when I first got here. Um, I love, it is a place for gathering. It is a place for academia. I love that Sausalito use it as a place for emergency air conditioning. It's a place where you can find academic safety, intellectual safety, physical safety. You can charge your laptop. You can charge your... whatever it is you have, your medical devices. I really liked reading that in the Currents. Um, What else do we have? Yeah, I work very closely with the library at San Quentin State Prison. I won a big ideas grant when I was at Cal. Um, to do research with adult basic literacy there. I restarted a program called Teach in Prison that takes 75 grads and undergrads into San Quentin who tutor and teach. When I was there, it was five days a week. Now it's three days a week with COVID and everything else. That program's still going on. I'm still very close with that program. I go on to campus, I don't know, four or five times a semester to kind of check in on that. Um... I didn't know that I was going to be going over my resume here, so I just kind of wrote it in pencil. If you have any questions, you know, I'm an open book, and please feel free. |
| 00:34:25.31 | Kevin McGowan | Council member Hoffman had a question. She hasn't had a chance to ask of candidates yet. Thank you. |
| 00:34:29.18 | Jill Hoffman | No, I was just saying, we've got your resume online. I'm looking at it right now. And I will note for the record, though, I believe I've had a library card since 2000. |
| 00:34:32.45 | West Hayes | Oh, cool. |
| 00:34:38.00 | West Hayes | since here. |
| 00:34:39.76 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:34:40.16 | West Hayes | Thank you. |
| 00:34:40.21 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:34:40.23 | West Hayes | I'll just take a seat now. I can't beat that. |
| 00:34:40.25 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. Yeah. |
| 00:34:43.33 | West Hayes | It was one of the first. It was one first. And I will say that I do. I love, I love libraries. I love this library. The Marin City Library also, they've got, I don't know if that's under our purview as well. But they, no, it's not, you know, they do a lot of, because their population is different, they do a lot of really interesting things. They have a 3D printer there. Um, I just think it's, yeah, it's just the whole Marin County Library system is Every bit as good, if not better, than SF Public Library, including the digital items that I take out all the time. Um, Yeah, I'm sorry. Questions, that's where we're supposed to be. |
| 00:35:17.29 | Kevin McGowan | Councilmember Kellman or Councilmember Cox? |
| 00:35:19.63 | Joan Cox | It's funny that you mentioned Marin City because this council and especially our mayor are looking for always looking for ways for us to better collaborate with Marin City. You mentioned juvenile justice. I don't know if you know Damien Morgan, but he's very active. |
| 00:35:33.59 | Unknown | I do. |
| 00:35:34.25 | Joan Cox | Yes, with juvenile justice and intervention. So I was wondering if you were appointed, if you would put your thinking cap on and help us identify additional questions dualities and opportunities for collaboration with between our cities without our library resources, because I think that's how the to create synergy. |
| 00:35:53.91 | West Hayes | Without a doubt. |
| 00:36:02.22 | West Hayes | That's a really wonderful question, a really wonderful idea, and yes, without a doubt. I mean, so the whole... Kind of the whole point of the program at Berkeley was to bridge that gap between We had resources over there. We had a need over here. We had no way to connect those two for whatever reason. And this is Berkeley, this is the Bay Area. Like how does that not already exist, right? So I think a big part of being on the board of the library will be one, listening to the existing members who have been doing it for a while. I think I need to do a lot of listening, as far as learning how this thing goes. here in this building. But as far as the programs in Marin City, and as far as the other programs throughout Marin with kids that need the help, that's kind of, I think, where I could provide some insights. |
| 00:36:52.36 | Kevin McGowan | Great, thank you so much. Do we have further questions? |
| 00:36:54.57 | Ian Sobieski | I'll just ask one if I could. was excited by Ms. Weber's analysis of the aging population and the shifting mission that the library could serve for a shifting demographic. And I was just wondering what thoughts you might have along those lines. |
| 00:37:08.46 | West Hayes | of That's another one of those a lot of listening things. I mean, I think there is a shifting demographic. I mean, I rent, I'm young, there actually are, you're young too. I mean, Whatever it is you're doing, it's working. I got the other gene. It's disgusting. You know, so there... I'm sure that there are ways. There are ways to bridge if we have the younger and an aging population. I mean, that's another conduit thing, right? Like there's a lot of people that want to be connected and want to connect those two things. I'm sure it's out there, I would have to give it more thought to have any kind of specific ideas. I think it's a wonderful, wonderful, observation. and a really great opportunity as well. |
| 00:37:58.68 | Kevin McGowan | you so much. Okay, thanks for your time. Thanks for being here and for your interest in volunteering for our community. Okay, so the next candidate is Timothy McLeod. I think he's joining us on Zoom. Is that correct? |
| 00:38:00.33 | West Hayes | Thank you. Yes, thank you. |
| 00:38:11.64 | Walfred Solorzano | That is correct. |
| 00:38:12.58 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, great. Hi, welcome. If you could share with us a little bit about your interest in the role and your history in Sausalito, we will then ask questions of you. Welcome. |
| 00:38:24.75 | Timothy McLeod | Sounds great. Thank you, Mayor Blostein. I also apologize. I'm joining from a startup grind conference. So that's why the background is you can see people walking by after it gets loud, I'll apologize. So yeah, so I've been a Solstitor resident for the last eight years. I had the pleasure of actually running for city council this past fall. And what that did was it fast-tracked in many ways my understanding of the unique position that South Seattle is in, and also some of the opportunities, and particularly as it relates to expanding access to information. One of the individuals that I had the pleasure of really building a good relationship with is Abbott Chambers, a librarian. And why it's impressive, and I refer to Abbott regularly, is because what he's done with current, Saucedo Currents, providing and expanding access in information to residents through Saucedo Currents. I think there is opportunity to continue that momentum and particularly on site in the library. So Abbott and I have met, you know, several times and just discussed, you know, several ideas of how we could expand access to information. I'd say the other part of this is I've spent the last 18 years in technical marketing. So everything from a company like Adobe to a gaming company. And the one thing that I've been able to refine is, is, um, and observe and then refine is how how humans, how we as a society, our demands for access to information and educational resources. And I think that's really where there's an opportunity at the library is, especially when we think of working across the county, which is a current program that is being spearheaded. How can we provide additional resources and expand collections for South City residents, not only through the collection that we have on site, but also through the rest of the county? And I think that's really fascinating. The other part of this is access to information and how we consume information is also evolving. So obviously streaming, video streaming education is really a key part of that evolution. And so in my professional world, what I do is build content strategy, which really understands who the audience is, what type of content they need, and where they're consuming that content. Is it going to be through a collection on site, or is it through some of the streaming services that the library offers? So I also, you know, the interest here for me is, is I, I would love to love to, you know, again, work with the library board, with Abbott, and with the city council on identifying or maybe identifying and then building maybe a personalization, you know, engine where residents will be provided. If you think of a Netflix example, residents who will check out books or who will consume content, maybe there's a recommendation of similar content that would expand their knowledge or expand their access to information. So that's probably a bit a bit more aggressive as far as a program. But I do think... access to information. That's probably a bit more aggressive as far as a program. I do think particularly partnering with Abbott, those types of opportunities are absolutely feasible. Yeah, that's just look at the notes here. I think that is it. The other, sorry, the last thing that I think would be interesting to explore is when we think of the library is not only focusing on, you know, local collections and local interest of expanding that collection, but I, you know, I have chatted with Abbott about, you know, potentially, you know, components or parts of the library where they could be turned into areas of hands-on learning. So maybe it's a different type of learning or different type of education. One example could be maybe augmented reality or virtual reality headset. So just those types of opportunities that would actually appeal to a wide variety of Saucedo residents and library patrons. |
| 00:43:30.70 | Kevin McGowan | I'm so sorry to stop you, but we have five for the for the introductory and then we're gonna have to go to questions just to make sure we get perfect candidates so. Thanks so good so i'm gonna go ahead and. Members of the Council have questions for Mr mcleod. |
| 00:43:32.52 | Timothy McLeod | That's right. |
| 00:43:36.84 | Timothy McLeod | Thank you. |
| 00:43:36.85 | Unknown | Perfect. |
| 00:43:38.32 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:43:38.39 | Unknown | Sounds good. |
| 00:43:39.42 | Ian Sobieski | to go. |
| 00:43:39.59 | Unknown | I had a experience. |
| 00:43:45.58 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. All right. |
| 00:43:46.86 | Ian Sobieski | I just, I just, I had one. Thanks for being here, Mr. McLeod. Thank you. Thank you. How did you pick library among all the, I know you mentioned your connection with Abbott, especially having run for city council, you're more familiar than most all the various boards and commissions. So how did you decide after seeing the whole city of Sausalito, Apply for this one. |
| 00:44:09.69 | Timothy McLeod | I would say just my professional experience is really where the connection exists, identifying resources for audiences has been something that has been a part of my professional role. So I think that's where that natural connection is. And I do believe, as I mentioned, Abbott's really success in expanding access to information across not only you know, soft city government, but also city services. So I think just this organic connection with with library and I think, you know, top level access to information. That's really the interest. |
| 00:44:59.56 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much, Mr. McLeod. We appreciate it. Okay, so now we're gonna move on to the applicant for the Planning Commission for vacancy in January of 2024. Do we have Matt Smith here? Thank you. but. library that's here i thought mr white was mr white i'm so sorry please by all means wow yeah of course I don't know. Yes, please. Thank you. Thank you. part of me, That is not true. . you Yeah. |
| 00:45:30.93 | Chris White | Well. My name's Chris White. My wife and I moved here in 2011, so it's 12 years. Thank you for allowing me to address you this evening. uh, And I'm really here. For one reason, my wife and I are two of the biggest fans of the Sausalito Library in the entire Marin County area. We had very little experience, quite frankly, none when we lived in Washington, D.C. for about 40 years. Just never walked through a library doors. We heard a lot of horror stories, but just never took advantage of it, nor did the library pursue us. It seems like the first thing you, do when you land in Sausalito is hear about the great library. And we are just enormous fans. As you can see from my application, both my wife and I have spent an enormous amount of time trying to help educate inner city kids. In that capacity, I served as chairman of boards of several different organizations in Washington, D.C., and still involved. I was chairman of Teach for America, chairman of the Center for Educational Reform, which is the body for educational reform in the country. But more important than anything else, we started an I Have a Dream class. And very quickly, for those of you who are not familiar, We adopted 75 kids in the third grade to see them all through high school and then get as many as possible into college. We had an enormously successful program and wound out getting 50% of them into college, and we still maintained contact with them. in that light When we moved to Sausalito and our passion for helping to educate inner-city kids We got connected with a few influential people in Marin City. And I stepped up and offered to start. And I have a dream class in Marin City. Let's fast forward it. We met a lot of people, including David Finane, who is still principal at MLK and a very, very good friend. Uh, We were not successful. for lots of reasons, but primarily because we weren't able to raise the funds that were necessary to pull this off. And we were talking about some serious money here. In any case, we... We didn't stop there. We then moved to trying to open up some pre-K schools moved in that area for a little bit. And again, unfortunately, couldn't raise the money that was necessary to make this happen. So we've had some firsthand experiences in Marin City. Not all good, but we are quite aware of what is needed there. and certainly in the area of education. I bring that up because, I too, like the previous gentlemen, think Abbott walks on water, but not just Abbott. Every experience that Sue and I have had going into the library here has been phenomenal. Everybody's friendly, helpful. and usually humorous. I mean, it's just beyond belief. Having said that, Abbott said one of the principal needs he has is to bring the library services closer to the younger people that are going to the two schools here in Sausalito, Marin City. And I've checked in with David Fanane, And he would be very excited to work with me again, as he did on the I Have a Dream project, if that happens. In addition to which, David Abbott has expressed interest in doing much more work with the teen community. He has some facilities, but he needs more and needs to have more effort on that. So I look forward to working with them on that. And last but not least, as you well know, because His budget comes before you, I guess. He's looking for a lot more money, I think in 24, 25, to expand the library and make it more advantageous to disabled and wider aisles, et cetera. You know, we're inundated with all the budgetary problems you have. I suspect in order to pull off the type of facilities that Abbott is looking for, there's going to have to be some fundraising. So I have been, except for Marin City and the two efforts, pretty successful in fundraising efforts. And I could get the passion behind raising money for the Sausalito Library for that. That's my background. |
| 00:49:58.68 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you so much. And definitely unforgettable background. So I really appreciate your comments. I see if I can answer the question. |
| 00:50:02.04 | Chris White | Thank you. |
| 00:50:02.47 | Ian Sobieski | you Thank you. Sir, I just wanted to ask the same question I asked before. I just wanted to ask the same question I asked before. Yes. Ms. Weber's observation about the changing demographics and the potential shift |
| 00:50:09.89 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:50:14.78 | Ian Sobieski | in the purpose and mission of the library. to service an older demographic. |
| 00:50:18.12 | Chris White | Well, you know, we're in the senior crowd, so we are extremely happy in how they serve us. two seniors, and I think that's true probably most of the demographics for the senior crowd. But as Abbott has expressed, and I think you relate to it as well, I think there's a bigger need for exposing the youngsters in exactly what the library services have. And I speak from experience because again, I want to refer back to Washington, D.C. I don't think, I'll speak for myself. I don't think I entered a library except for a social event somewhere in the country from the day I left college to the day I got here in Sausalito. And we don't want that same type of feeling to occur and the youngsters that are being brought up in both Sausalito and Marin City. So I think Abbott's efforts to, Um, Make sure that the youngsters understand the services that are available. The friendliness of it, the helpfulness of it is critically important for that demographic. |
| 00:51:29.44 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much. Any other questions for Mr. White? Okay. Thank you so much for being here with us. My pleasure. Thank you. |
| 00:51:33.12 | Chris White | Thanks. Thank you. |
| 00:51:34.57 | Unknown | My pleasure. Thank you. |
| 00:51:35.58 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Okay, now we will go. Are there any other is is Bethany is not with us now. Okay, so having that means that we have Mr. Smith here for the January 2024 vacancy of the Planning Commission. Right. |
| 00:51:49.84 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:51:49.86 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah, correct. |
| 00:51:51.09 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, sorry. |
| 00:51:52.27 | Walfred Solorzano | No, no, I was asking, is Shane Amara also here? Thank you. |
| 00:51:58.03 | Matt Smith | Yeah. |
| 00:51:58.58 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, fantastic. |
| 00:52:00.57 | Matt Smith | Do you want to talk to Shane first? |
| 00:52:01.92 | Kevin McGowan | because you're at the podium |
| 00:52:03.51 | Matt Smith | Yeah, so before this starts really quick, maybe just explain a little bit the context. So it sounds like the role that was open as a 30 minutes ago has been sort of filled. And so now we're looking at January. Okay. So this is an application. |
| 00:52:17.28 | Joan Cox | This is an app. I think the staff report said there were no openings. |
| 00:52:21.23 | Kevin McGowan | Staff report said there was an expired term. Okay. |
| 00:52:24.40 | Matt Smith | Oh. |
| 00:52:24.69 | Jill Hoffman | Staff report, that is correct. There were no vacancies listed in the staff report. Correct. |
| 00:52:24.74 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. |
| 00:52:28.13 | Kevin McGowan | Right. |
| 00:52:28.99 | Jill Hoffman | And what was listed as an expired term, we converted to a second term retroactive back to the date. that that person was actually extended, which was April of 2022. |
| 00:52:41.38 | Matt Smith | Got it. OK. Very helpful. It's confusing. um, And the format too, I was expecting sort of an interview, but I think what I'll do now is just give a statement if that's okay. This is something I had written earlier back in November. So my name is Matt Smith. I currently reside at 416 Napa Street, which you can see right over there. It's across the street. I've been a homeowner here in Sausalito since 2015 and a resident here since 2017 when we moved into a rental. My wife is Kirsten Thomas. I have two boys, Jack and Dexter. Jack was very happy to make your acquaintance, Mayor Blaustein, at the recent |
| 00:53:19.21 | Kevin McGowan | That was so special. |
| 00:53:19.61 | Matt Smith | That was... Yeah, yeah, he was very excited. He was very excited to meet you. So he was very proud of the picture that was taken. |
| 00:53:25.72 | Joan Cox | very proud of the picture that was taken. It was in May or someday. I remember that. |
| 00:53:27.73 | Matt Smith | Yep. And Dexter, who was the smaller, shorter, equally long-haired kid right next to him. So So in 2015, when Jack was one year old, we were living in San Francisco at the time. We bought a fixer, which was that home. And with the idea to renovate it and raise a family here so we finally moved into the remodeled home in December of 2021 seven years after. find the property. So as a result, of my experience working as an applicant through the planning and both building processes I believe I have a unique perspective to offer. And since learning of an open seat in the planning commission back in November, I sort of ruminated on what I can offer to both the city and new applicants and I'd come to the conclusion I'd like to translate my experience and knowledge into an active role in development activities in Sausalito and the planning Commission particular. um, My professional background resides in the life sciences industry, which is a far cry from, I think, a lot of the applicants that you see Uh, come before you because I'm not a builder, realtor, architect, or land use attorney at So if diversity of perspective in terms of professional background is something you're looking for, I think that's something I can offer. But I do have some applied domain experience in land use entitlement decisions here in Sausalito. I spent many hours involving studying the Sausalito Municipal Code high-level involvement interacting with members of city staff. and researching and tracking new housing development laws out of Sacramento. I've read through the general general plan and have been tracking the latest out of the housing element advisory committee. The skills I have learned in my professional career could be of service in this role, I believe. In launching a new drug, I'm tasked with breaking down any barriers related to patient access to therapy, which is inclusive of insurance, making sure there's insurance available. for the patient, ensuring that there's any copay or any other logistical issues related to getting that patient on therapy. And overall, skills that I've taken or learned at work I think could be applied in this role as well. So In my perspective here, it takes a methodological and data driven approach to understand each step that might lead to a patient not being able to take a drug. So in the way I've sort of oriented my professional career, I take the design process review in the same way, right? With an eye toward the applicant, similar to how professionally I work toward addressing patient-specific concerns. So what I can offer is a drive towards continuous improvement rooted in curiosity, creativity, data-driven analytics, and facilitating and supporting a working environment of mutual respect and civility, especially with regards to city staff. I would provide an infusion of analytical rigor long term planning and empathy for those who wish to develop the property here in an ever present drive to make decision making. more objective and predictable, so thank you for my candidacy for the potential future January roll and that's the end of my. statement. |
| 00:56:25.29 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 00:56:25.63 | Matt Smith | Thank you. |
| 00:56:26.08 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much for being with us. I think council member Kilman has a question and then I have one as well. |
| 00:56:29.38 | Melissa Kelman | Yeah. Hi, Mr. Smith. Good to see you. We, of course, know each other because... |
| 00:56:30.62 | Kevin McGowan | Thanks. |
| 00:56:33.46 | Melissa Kelman | I got to work with you on the project on Napastrate. |
| 00:56:35.69 | Kevin McGowan | you |
| 00:56:36.87 | Melissa Kelman | of long overdue congratulations So I know it was a difficult process for you, and there were a lot of trials and tribulations on that. And I seem to recall some correspondence from you. about a year ago, perhaps, maybe calling for reform of either the planning process or the commission. And I'm wondering if you could speak to that tonight and tell us how your experience, which again, I know was difficult in many ways, what you see your role, I mean, do you want to come in and reform the commission and the department or do you have a passion for affordable housing or where are you coming from on this? |
| 00:57:14.65 | Matt Smith | So I think part of this would be, again, the data-driven philosophy. So I don't know what sort of, data you have on, I know on the website between 2012 and 20, the current, 2023. there's sort of a path of design reviews, continuation denials, et cetera. So I don't know if there's ever been something post-mortem or ad hoc look back. What can we do better? What looks weird? what was overly subjective and what was really objective. I don't know if that work has been done, but that was more what I was sort of looking at. to take a analog from sort of Six Sigma methodology that's used in process uh, Improvement, you know, it's the customer experience is not the mean, but the variability. I feel like with our project, the high max or min or the variable to standard deviations from the mean. And I think, To reduce that is a critically important element. And to focus on those sort of case studies that maybe didn't go so well, and some reflection on might be a better, more objective, predictable way to manage the process would hopefully sort of improve the overall experience of the applicant. So that was more what I was trying to get at. |
| 00:58:22.30 | Melissa Kelman | Okay, and may I ask you a follow-up question? So you may be familiar that we have reviewed and will be approving objective design standards. I'm just wondering if you haven't, it's fine, but have you had a chance to take a look at that and this process and have any comments or insight? |
| 00:58:37.25 | Matt Smith | Are these the ones that were in the housing element advisory committee? |
| 00:58:40.07 | Melissa Kelman | We did discuss them when the council came up to the council and we were talking about them as a sort of subset of the various housing related issues that might come up, but it was not embedded within the housing element itself. |
| 00:58:47.77 | Matt Smith | Yeah. Got it. Okay. Are there findings specific to light and air and mass? And do those still exist in the current set of criteria that seems to evaluate a proposed condition? Okay. |
| 00:59:02.95 | Melissa Kelman | If you haven't looked at it, that's totally fine. I just, you mentioned some junkie. |
| 00:59:03.07 | Matt Smith | I mean, I plan on that because when I think of objective, objective is you know, two plus one equals three. And that's sort of, undeniable. When you start getting into these questions of subjective |
| 00:59:18.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:59:18.31 | Matt Smith | questions and sent were like, is this shape too close to this shape? Or is this shape too far away? Or is this configuration of environments? That to me is sort of veering quite away from what is really considered in my mind objective And so in as much as those subjective elements exist in there, That's a bit problematic because it introduces quite a bit of variability and introduces a lack of confidence for any developer. You might very well find yourself in a situation where what I think is a subjective criteria of light and air might be applied to your project. and you get continued denied, et cetera. So those are my perspectives. globally on that issue. |
| 00:59:54.95 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Thank you very much. Do we have any other questions for Mr. Smith? Thank you so much for your time and for sticking with us through the process. |
| 01:00:02.84 | Matt Smith | Yeah, thank you for entertaining my candidacy in the potential next role. |
| 01:00:05.85 | Kevin McGowan | Absolutely. Thank you so much. Okay. And now we will hear from Mr. O'Mara. Hi. |
| 01:00:06.10 | Matt Smith | We're here. |
| 01:00:09.97 | Timothy McLeod | As there's no vacancy, I'm heading to the delay in college. |
| 01:00:13.56 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, we'll be in touch with you as the vacancy becomes official in January of 2021. |
| 01:00:18.77 | Joan Cox | Thank you so much for coming this evening. Thank you for being here. |
| 01:00:22.62 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, so that concludes our interviews for this evening and the next item on the agenda. Sorry, did we take public comment on the. We should take public comment on the interviews. |
| 01:00:35.39 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:00:35.48 | Kevin McGowan | to |
| 01:00:35.97 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. We did. |
| 01:00:36.20 | Kevin McGowan | We did. Okay. Okay. So, okay, so we'll move to item three, which is closed session. And this evening, there are three items on the closed session agenda. Conference with legal counsel existing litigation government code section 5495. Six. Name of the case is YIMBY versus City of Sausalito. Conference of Labor Negotiator, Government Code Section 54957.6. Agency designated representative is Charles Sakai. And then Conference with Labor Negotiator, Government Code Section 54957.6. agency designated representative is Deborah much more and the unrepresented employee is the city attorney so I will now open it up for public comment on our closed session agenda items. Yes, please. Sandra. |
| 01:01:22.46 | Sandra Bushmaker | Hi, Sandra Bushmaker. I just wanted to let you know that I have communicated with some of you on my thoughts on the IMBEE litigation. And hopefully you can discuss those points. in closed session. Thank you. Thank you very much. By the way, I have read the entire complaint from the beginning to the end. Do you have anything written? I don't know that we can do that right now without violating Brown Act, but maybe in your closed session you can discuss the points. |
| 01:01:57.44 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much, Sandra. Okay. Do we have any further public comment on our closed session items? |
| 01:02:02.57 | Walfred Solorzano | No further comment. |
| 01:02:04.04 | Joan Cox | Mayor, I need to announce that I will be recusing myself from item... uh, the third item on the closed session, the conference with labor negotiator regarding the position of city attorney. |
| 01:02:16.05 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, well noted. Thank you. And we'll now adjourn and we return to open session at 7 p.m. |
| 01:02:21.98 | Unknown | I'm going to |
| 01:02:23.75 | Kevin McGowan | you know, |
| 01:02:29.12 | Kevin McGowan | You see the picture of you and your bonnet and IJ? Yes, I did. |
| 01:02:32.03 | Jenny Silva | Recording in progress. |
| 01:02:33.69 | Kevin McGowan | that it was like a it was like a surrealist like you guys they did a nice job they did a really nice job |
| 01:02:39.68 | Jill Hoffman | No, we were both in there. It was a picture of both of you. |
| 01:02:40.69 | Kevin McGowan | It was a picture of both of you. |
| 01:02:42.62 | Jill Hoffman | Look online. It was great. It was on the, yeah, it was great. |
| 01:02:43.88 | Kevin McGowan | on a |
| 01:02:45.77 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry. |
| 01:02:48.27 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I think we're ready to do. get started. So whenever you're ready, city clerk, let us know. |
| 01:02:54.21 | Walfred Solorzano | We're ready. |
| 01:02:55.02 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, all right, everyone, welcome back to the regularly scheduled city council meeting of April 11th and we are returning from closed session, and there are no announcements from closed session so thank you everyone for your. For coming back and I have a couple of mayor's announcements. The first one is I want to give a big congratulations to Darian Tramiel, who is our neighbor in Marin City and who took the San Diego State team to the finals of the NCAA. So we're pretty excited about that and just wanted to give him some recognition and honor. Thank you so much for showing up for Southern Marin and for representing and what an exciting achievement. And the next thing on our agenda, I'm so thrilled to introduce all of you to our new resiliency and sustainability manager, Katie Thro Garcia. Katie will work really closely with the Sea Level Rise Task Force, the Sustainability Commission, and a variety of government agencies and community groups. And as an ecologist, Katie's career has brought her to remote parts of Alaska, Colorado, and Florida. Since moving to Marin in 2019, her professional career has been focused on bay ecology and shoreline habitat restoration. And in 2022, Thoreau Garcia earned a master's degree from the Estuary and Ocean Science Center in Tiburon, where she studied the connections between water quality and phytoplankton ecology in the San Francisco Bay. So we are so happy to welcome Katie to the city of Sausalito. Welcome, Katie. And if you want to come forward, introduce yourself and maybe say a few words. |
| 01:04:22.13 | Katie Thao Garcia | Thank you. Yes. Good evening, Mayor Blasdine, Vice Mayor and members of the Council. It's an honor to be in front of you today. As you so quaintly introduced, my name is Katie Thao Garcia and I'm the new resiliency and sustainability manager for the city. Originally, I'm from Newport, Rhode Island, and I moved here in 2019, as you said. But I find that Sausalito is constantly reminding me of my hometown, given that it has another breathtaking waterfront, shoreline commerce, and a love for sailing. While I moved to the city, or sorry, while I'm new to the city, I'm not new to the issues that the city faces in terms of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme climate events. In my new role, I will be working heavily with the Sustainability Commission and the Sea Level Rise Task Force, as you stated, on executing priority projects to increase the city's resiliency, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare us for the future. As a trained interdisciplinary marine scientist, I believe solutions to these complex issues deserve a multifaceted approach, which considers diversity, adaptation, and equity on all levels. So throughout my first two weeks here, it has become evident to me that the city council, city management, and the residents of Sausalito not only care about these issues but prioritize them. It is my aim to take these priorities and help them come to fruition. And in effort to do that, I hope to meet with you all individually. I've already met with some of you, and it would be great to meet with the remainder of them, of you guys. And I look forward to it. Thank you so much. |
| 01:06:09.54 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Thank you so much and a big welcome. And we all look forward to working with you. So that's it for mayor's announcements. I'll now move on to item two, which is the action minutes of the previous meeting. Is there any public comment on the minutes? |
| 01:06:24.03 | Walfred Solorzano | seen then. |
| 01:06:25.03 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I'll go ahead and close public comment. Could I have a motion to approve the action minutes? a second. |
| 01:06:34.93 | Kevin McGowan | I'm like, is it a controversial set of minutes? Okay, perfect. |
| 01:06:38.61 | Walfred Solorzano | Bye. For clarity, was that Hoffman for a second? Yeah. |
| 01:06:41.90 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. Okay, all in favor say aye. |
| 01:06:44.52 | Walfred Solorzano | Bye. |
| 01:06:44.65 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. Motion passes five zero. Fantastic so now we will move on to the next item in the agenda, which is our consent calendar matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non controversial require no discussion are expected to have unanimous Council support and may be enacted by the Council in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of consent calendar items. However, before the Council votes on a motion to adopt the consent calendar items, Council members, city staff, or members of the public may request that specific items be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. Items removed from the consent calendar will be discussed later on the agenda and public comment will be heard on any item that was removed from the consent calendar. So on the consent calendar this evening, we have item 3A, a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services agreement. Miller Pacific Engineering Group for the geologic investigation and the development of plans, specification and estimates for 2023 storm damage related to the North Street steps, Item 3B, adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services agreement with parametrics for outreach efforts with the public and the development of plans, specifications, and estimates for the Bridgeway Bay bike lane project. Princess to Richardson. Item 3C authorized the city manager to execute an agreement with much more than consulting LLC for human resources and organizational development services beginning April 1 2023 for the fiscal year 2023. Item 3D, adopt a resolution approving the city's revised publicly available pay schedule. And item 3E, Department of Community Development personnel update reduction and reliance on four-leave contracted building and planning services. So before I open it up for public comment, do any members of the Council have comment on the consent calendar items this evening? Yes, Councilmember Cotten. |
| 01:08:33.02 | Joan Cox | Yes. We have well I and received dozens of emails addressed to me and all members of the Council concerning item 3b so I don't believe item 3b is any longer if it ever was non controversial and so I'm asking that we pull that from the consent agenda. |
| 01:08:52.69 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. Any other further comment on consent calendar items? |
| 01:08:56.95 | Walfred Solorzano | And staff has a presentation on item 3B. |
| 01:08:59.47 | Kevin McGowan | Great and and I I will just add I don't want to pull anything else, but I did want to note on item 3C that Debra much more has been working with the city for several years now, and I wanted to commend her for having been our only consultant, who in fact also took a 10% pay cut, as well as our city employees in her work with us, so thank you for doing that, Debra. And I also wanted to commend our community development department and consent item 3E, because you'll see that we've made, for extensions of offers for new hires to reduce our reliance on four leaf. So I just wanted to give some kudos to those respective consent items and personnel. So thank you so much. And so we will now then plan to remove item 3B and hear it after the discussion on items 3A, 3C, 3D, and 3E. So at this time, I will open it up for public comment on items 3A, 3C, 3D, and 3E. |
| 01:09:53.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Let me see, we have Senator Bushmaker. |
| 01:09:58.89 | Kevin McGowan | Hi, Sandra. You're muted. There you go. |
| 01:10:04.67 | Sandra Bushmaker | Hello again, good to see you. Yes, 3B has never been a non-controversial item. And I think it requires full full discussion while 3B as it exists on the agenda is for an outreach program. I think the underlying issue is the bridgeway median removal something that this city wants to endeavor. And I know there's plenty of opposition in the community and from many of the merchants about its removal. I also have concerns about public safety with removal of a... |
| 01:10:42.03 | Kevin McGowan | Bye. |
| 01:10:42.42 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:10:42.54 | Kevin McGowan | place that is an escape. We're going to hear item 3B separately. So when we hear it, we'll take public comment on item 3B as we've already decided to pull it from the consent calendar. |
| 01:10:43.33 | Sandra Bushmaker | Yeah, right. Oh, OK. |
| 01:10:51.06 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Appreciate it. Thanks. Do we have any... comment on items 3A, 3C, 3D, or 3E from the public. |
| 01:10:59.89 | Walfred Solorzano | I see Karen Culligan's hand up, but I think he wanted to comment on 3B, so I'll let him confirm whether or not. |
| 01:11:08.66 | Kevin McGowan | here and maybe just lower your hand if you did not want to comment, if you wanted to comment specifically on 3B. Okay. Great. All right. So then I will ask for. |
| 01:11:20.31 | Walfred Solorzano | Sorry, his hand went back up. |
| 01:11:23.46 | Kevin McGowan | TODAY. Thank you. |
| 01:11:23.73 | Karen | Yeah, just a question. If there's a comment on 3B regarding whether it should be included on the consent calendar or not, would it be appropriate for now? |
| 01:11:31.98 | Kevin McGowan | It's already been pulled by a member of the council and we'll hear 3B. So I think the appropriate time to discuss item 3B will be when we hear 3B. Thanks, Karen. Okay, so now I will ask for, I will close public comment and ask for a motion to approve the consent calendar items 3A, 3C, 3D, and 3E. |
| 01:11:51.15 | Joan Cox | So moved. |
| 01:11:51.78 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:11:51.80 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:11:51.81 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Second. Okay, all in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, so let's immediately proceed with the hearing of item 3B. And I believe we have a presentation from city staff. Thank you for being here, Director McGowan. |
| 01:12:03.64 | Kevin McGowan | Good evening, Mayor, members of city council. This is the first time I've been back in this council chambers with all of you here. I'm so excited. Welcome back. I just want to say hi. We missed you. So I do have a short presentation for you this evening on 3B. Let's see if I can get going on this. Item three be before you this evening relates to authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services contract with parametrics incorporated. which was recently acquired which has recently acquired Parisi Transportation Consultants. We have worked with Parisi in many years past, and we still intend to work with them. Next slide, please. Thank you. In 2020 through 2022 and even earlier, The Sausalito Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee has been discussing improvements to bicycle and pedestrian travel in town. The committee identified an area in town that has regional significance and has experienced accidents between motorists and cyclists in the past. The section of bridgeway between Princess and Richardson currently has a class three bike lanes on both sides, which is a bike lane shared with vehicles. This section of roadway. |
| 01:13:18.11 | Jill Hoffman | Excuse me, Mayor, pardon me, pardon me. I'm watching on Zoom and the presentation that I'm seeing up here is not being shown on Zoom. And I'm trying to join Zoom on my computer and it's not letting me in. |
| 01:13:30.21 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:13:30.24 | Unknown | So I don't know. |
| 01:13:31.12 | Kevin McGowan | I'm sorry, Kevin. |
| 01:13:35.88 | Unknown | No. |
| 01:13:39.17 | Kevin McGowan | I don't see it either on Zoom, |
| 01:13:41.25 | Kevin McGowan | I think it needs to be shown on the other computer there. Yeah. |
| 01:13:46.98 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you for that councilman Hoffman. |
| 01:13:49.36 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, should be on that one. |
| 01:14:14.37 | Kevin McGowan | Bear with us as we navigate the hybrid meeting challenges of 2023. |
| 01:14:26.88 | Jill Hoffman | I am seeing a notice that the host has opened a breakout room. I saw that as well. So I don't know. |
| 01:14:34.08 | Unknown | Right now. |
| 01:14:35.10 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I don't know if that has any bearing. on the mystery before us. |
| 01:14:47.50 | Unknown | Thank you. My Zen system. I can see that. Yeah. |
| 01:14:57.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:14:57.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:14:57.30 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:15:01.71 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 01:15:01.72 | Kevin McGowan | I know that. |
| 01:15:04.86 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:15:05.98 | Kevin McGowan | I can also go run it remotely if we would like to. |
| 01:15:10.19 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:15:14.04 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. No, it's not on Zoom. |
| 01:15:17.50 | Unknown | Right. |
| 01:15:17.79 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 01:15:18.70 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:15:29.15 | Unknown | with this problem. |
| 01:15:37.09 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:15:37.11 | Unknown | Thank you. for the moment. |
| 01:15:43.52 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, looks like we're getting there. Fantastic. Now those of us at home on Zoom can see the presentation. Thank you for your patience. Director McGowan, please continue. |
| 01:15:53.14 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much. Let's see, I'll just start. where I kind of left off here. The section of Bridgeway between Princess Street and Richardson. Currently has class three bicycle lanes which, As a bike lane shared with vehicles, this section of roadway is utilized heavily by tourists who ride a bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and board the ferry to return to San Francisco. This section of roadway is also utilized as a main bicycle commute route to and from San Francisco. The portion of Bridgeway is was reconstructed in early 1980s and includes a center median lane. The median is currently at the same elevation. as the roadway vehicle lanes. Next slide, please. |
| 01:16:40.81 | Ian Sobieski | Bye. |
| 01:16:40.85 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:16:40.90 | Ian Sobieski | go. |
| 01:16:41.12 | Kevin McGowan | you In an effort to seek additional funding, applied for and was approved for a planning grant from the Association of Bay Area Governments otherwise known as A-bag. The original concept approved by ABEC includes the installation of a dedicated class four bike lane on the east side of Bridgeway and a class two bike lane on the west side of Bridgeway. between Princess and Richardson. the, The planning grant not only covers the development of the plan, specifications and estimate, but also covers the public outreach for the project. The council authorized the city manager to execute the agreement with ABAG in May of 2022. It took a bag some time to return the signed agreement to city staff based on internal staffing issues and the city. did not receive approval to issue the request for proposal until February of 2023. Next slide. The regional center median constructed in the 1980s was to be utilized for emergency vehicles accessing Old Town Sausalito. The median was a raised median, The vehicle lanes adjacent to the median have been filled with asphalt over the years. such that the surface of the median is at the same elevation as the roadway. Adjacent businesses which receive deliveries currently utilize this lane to park delivery trucks. residents and businesses, residents and business owners have noted the the center median as a concern such that the project needs to address these issues as well as other public concerns. Other concerns have been raised regarding the pedestrian crossings. on this section of roadway. This section doesn't have too many median |
| 01:18:34.30 | Unknown | I've got to. |
| 01:18:34.72 | Kevin McGowan | public crossings. any. Having the consultant propose improvements through the length of the roadway to address these concerns is part of the scope of their services. In addition, the city originally the city's original application to ABAG a design for a pedestrian crossing at the Golden Gate Market at 2nd Street. Next slide, please. In February 2023, staff solicited for qualified professional firms Thank you. to provide public outreach services with the intent of developing a design for the project. Parametrics, formerly Parisi Transportation Consulting, submitted a proposal to the City on March 15, 2023. Staff recommends the council adopt the attached resolution authorizing the city managers to execute the contract With parametrics, to move forward with the public outreach and the design of the project. Over the last year, the city has been aggressively pursuing grant funding for many of our projects. Not only has the city been utilizing Services of California Consulting. to apply for grants, but has also applied for other grants which we normally look for, active transportation program funding. Highway Safety Improvement Program funding, and one Bay Area Grant funding, cycle three. Staff was hoping that projects such as the Coloma Street sidewalk project or the Easter Bee signal project would be selected for these funds. However, the only projects supported by these funds was the construction of the Bridgeway bike lane project, probably based on its regional significance to alternative modes of transportation. All right, one more slide. Thank you. Again, preferably we would want funding for the construction to be authorized. Preferably we would want funding to be Authorized for construction. after the project was vetted with the community. Nevertheless, there is Construction funding available to support this project Thank you. if so desired by the council and the community. The year in which the construction funds should be available has not been determined yet. but staff anticipates the funding. It will be available in fiscal year 2024 or the year after that. It is staff's understanding that the city is not obligated to accept the funds if the design and the outreach are found not to be viable. A couple other things. In the staff report, it mentions that we are looking to fund, ask for additional funds in order to supplement the grant fund. I think in March last year, The council authorized 1.2 million to many of our capital projects. And as part of that, there is $200,000 available probably for this project. Now I have to... double check with our finance director to see if that was implemented into the budget. So I just haven't done that yet. My apologies. Thank you. but I think there could be funding that has been previously authorized for this type of work. So with that, thank you very much for pulling the item. I appreciate the time to at least try to provide a little bit more explanation for a very critical project. and I'm, obviously here for answering any questions. So thank you very much. |
| 01:22:04.51 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you so much, Director McGowan. Okay, looks like Councilmember Cox has her hand raised. |
| 01:22:09.27 | Joan Cox | Thank you. And welcome back to the council chambers, Director McGowan. Great to see you in person. You missed it, but Director McGowan just did a great dance move. |
| 01:22:12.54 | Kevin McGowan | Great. |
| 01:22:17.18 | Kevin McGowan | Not going to do it again. Sorry. |
| 01:22:19.55 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:22:19.56 | Joan Cox | um, One of your statements completely caught my ear. You said, it is staff's understanding that the city is not committed to proceeding with construction. If it finds the design not supported by the public or infeasible. I think that is a really important point to confirm, and I'd like to see it confirmed in writing. I would like to know if you have anything in writing that confirms staff's understanding because Um, As I said, when I pulled this item from consent, we received literally dozens of letters, and this is a highly controversial item, and so I think the path to finding consensus may be torturous. And so I really would not want to accept this grant funding if there are. Thank you. If we are then required to proceed with a construction project. um, and I would hate to have to return. funding. because we did not proceed with a construction project that was anticipated as a part of the funding. Are you able to provide us with some written documentation that supports staff's belief on that point? |
| 01:23:39.62 | Kevin McGowan | I can reach out to MTC as well as TAM to see if they can provide me something with that language. |
| 01:23:47.26 | Joan Cox | And I see the city attorney has turned his camera on. I don't know if that was intentional. |
| 01:23:52.73 | Sergio Rudin | No. No. |
| 01:23:54.86 | Kevin McGowan | you can. I just wanted to see Director McGowan's dance. I get it. He's doing it again. This is why you should all come into the chambers, public at home. I have a couple of questions for Director McGowan. Okay. This proposal as written at this point is for a consultant to test the feasibility of the project correct? |
| 01:24:15.34 | Kevin McGowan | It's twofold. That's actually a very good question. So the project hasn't been vetted. We had to apply for this with a conceptual plan. and that's to put bike lanes on either side of the roadway. In order to vet this with the community, we will approach it as if this is what we would like to... to build. but that doesn't mean that all ideas are off the table. So if there are other ideas that come up through from the community or from your council, that we need to look at, we'll definitely look at that and see if we can incorporate them into what the consultant needs to look at and probably provide you with some options by the time it moves forward with the design. |
| 01:24:55.45 | Kevin McGowan | But at this point, we're trying to determine, does this design make sense? Is there a better design that makes sense? And correct me if I'm wrong here, but wouldn't whatever the ultimate design might be to be considered have to come back before the council, before any type of construction product could proceed? |
| 01:25:10.37 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, absolutely. That's definitely true. |
| 01:25:12.63 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, so at this stage, we're assessing and determining the feasibility of the project, whether it be the design as is, or if there's a better design, But this authorization is to further gather more information from the community and from experts on what the best path forward for this roadway is, correct? |
| 01:25:30.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:25:30.99 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, yes. Thank you. Yes, that's correct. |
| 01:25:34.91 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. |
| 01:25:34.98 | Kevin McGowan | I'm hesitant because of the way you said that. This is the first step. So we have an idea. And we need a professional, a transportation engineer, to help us develop this into a full construction project. In order to do that, we need the community's input. And if we have some other ideas on how to address that. We would welcome that during that process. So this is just the first step. |
| 01:26:01.35 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, but no matter what, if we were to proceed with any type of construction, it would first have to come before this body so that we could approve and make adjustments or determine whether we wanted to move forward, correct? |
| 01:26:12.13 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, on several different steps. Yeah, he bet. |
| 01:26:13.97 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, great. I just wanted to clarify that for members of the public. Okay. Vice Mayor, you had a question? |
| 01:26:18.80 | Ian Sobieski | I did, Director McGowan, thank you. Just ripping off of that line of inquiry from the mayor. So I know that there is a a straw man more or less proposed with the bike lanes where they are. But what I heard you just confirm is that in response to public feedback about the about any potential feedback, real problems with giving up the media and other problems. the ultimate design might be very different. the one that It could be. And I mean, is it even plausible that the current configurations could be after this process ascertained to be the best. configuration, but upgraded with perhaps better some crosswalks, some better striping, some better signage. |
| 01:27:03.27 | Kevin McGowan | Let's hope so, yeah. If we can improve upon safety as this goes through its process, |
| 01:27:07.33 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:27:07.75 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, we would welcome that. |
| 01:27:09.04 | Ian Sobieski | So there's a full range of design possibilities, it sounds like. Yeah. One question about that, though, in this process of asking |
| 01:27:12.14 | Unknown | Yeah, that's true. |
| 01:27:15.43 | Ian Sobieski | It's great to get feedback from the public. about, uh, the value of the current configuration, challenges with the current configuration and any ideas they have about how to make it better and after all, designers are supposedly the experts. So can any portion of the, THAT'S BEING ALLOCATED ACTUALLY BE uh, or suggested to be spent on helping the public come up with extra or helping them THE DESIGNERS COME UP WITH BETTER OTHER DESIGN SOLUTIONS FOR THE PUBLIC TO CONSIDER? |
| 01:27:48.27 | Kevin McGowan | You know, their initial scope could be modified to address additional options, as you mentioned. I think I've been before this council before in the past saying something as maybe we need to consider widening the sidewalk on one side. How do we deal with that? |
| 01:28:05.69 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:28:06.33 | Kevin McGowan | So, |
| 01:28:06.82 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:28:07.10 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:28:07.15 | Ian Sobieski | Yes, there could be multiple options. I think you even mentioned if that was done... at some point you mentioned that notion of even, And this might, having some sort of system that could help flooding on the road. Yes, that's true too. So that could be part of it. Could also build this, could also the... Safety measures around what a 221 bridgeway be included, the bollards to prevent cars from smashing into that house. Thank you. |
| 01:28:30.54 | Kevin McGowan | We could, but my recommendation to this council and our city manager is to move forward with that quicker. Let's see if we can get something in much quicker. |
| 01:28:37.92 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:28:38.19 | Kevin McGowan | All right. |
| 01:28:38.78 | Ian Sobieski | Good night. |
| 01:28:39.01 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 01:28:39.03 | Ian Sobieski | possibly be reimbursed as part of the project if it ended up being called part of the project? |
| 01:28:43.03 | Kevin McGowan | I don't think it was initially part of the scope, but if it is a safety measure that is related to the project, it's a possibility. We could request the granting agencies to look at that. Okay, thank you. |
| 01:28:55.60 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:28:55.64 | Melissa Kelman | Councilmember Kellman? Yes. Thank you. Hi, Director McGowan. Good to see you. Thank you for the correspondence today. We went back and forth a little bit. |
| 01:28:59.99 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:29:00.04 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:29:00.11 | Unknown | Thanks. |
| 01:29:03.87 | Melissa Kelman | I have about five or six questions. Okay, so you mentioned accident stats as a driver for this project. Do you happen to have those stats as they compare to other parts of Bridgeway, maybe more north of town? |
| 01:29:15.94 | Kevin McGowan | You know, I wasn't prepared to bring the accident stats with me. I can retrieve those for you. I believe we have Aaron Roller here from... the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, he may know some of that information off the top of his head as well. |
| 01:29:30.25 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. And so I think a lot of the correspondence we got today was really about the source of the funds. And so you had said that construction funding is available. Are you referring to the reserve funds in the amount of 49,682? Is that what you're referring to as construction funds available? |
| 01:29:45.33 | Kevin McGowan | No. |
| 01:29:45.97 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. |
| 01:29:47.56 | Kevin McGowan | So if you recall the grant amount, and it's in the staff report, |
| 01:29:47.61 | Melissa Kelman | So- |
| 01:29:51.56 | Kevin McGowan | The grant amount for the project is, I believe, $67,214. Does that sound right? |
| 01:29:59.10 | Melissa Kelman | Well, I'm reading from the recommended motion item on the first page of the staff report. that actually just says authorize the allocation of reserve funds in the amount of $49,682 to increase the budget items. I'm just trying to understand what that was referring to. |
| 01:30:13.36 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, just got the staff report here. The contract with parametrics is a requested amount of $129,682. our grant, is in the amount of $67,214. So we need the difference between those numbers. in order to support the the contract with parametrics. |
| 01:30:38.00 | Melissa Kelman | And so what I'm saying is that money would come from our reserves. |
| 01:30:41.31 | Kevin McGowan | That's where I flagged it at this point, yes. |
| 01:30:43.57 | Melissa Kelman | Okay, it's probably too premature to ask this, but still feel free to say we just don't know, but I am curious what happens if we lose the median in terms of deliveries. And now we have parklets there that we didn't used to have. Do you have any initial thoughts on that configuration |
| 01:31:00.49 | Kevin McGowan | It's an interesting question because If the deliveries get moved over to the west side of the roadway, it's going to impact the existing parking. So the way this would have to work is deliveries would have to be scheduled at a certain time, which coincides with no parking on that side of the street. Now, it's... It's a difficult problem because some of the restaurants have parklets already. and they don't have parking in front. So to receive their deliveries, they are going to have to impact somebody else's parking along that section of roadway. So. our transportation engineer, will help us lay out these options and bring it back to your council to say, okay, if you want to proceed with this, we'll have to impact the parking. Do you want to proceed with that? So I'm anticipating we would come back to you as a council in that manner saying, Here's one or two or three options And. How would you like us to receive? Staff can give you recommendation. but ultimately it does come down to the council itself. |
| 01:32:04.91 | Melissa Kelman | Okay, and then I want to follow up with something the Vice Mayor raised around flooding. So a those really almost hurricane force winds. And the Coast Guard sent us all this video that showed massive storm surge coming up and over the riprap and basically inundating that entire Eastern lane. how much of thinking have we done, and I'm looking at Katie who's now here, around coastal resilience and adaptation? I'm loathe to, put $570,000 into a project only to realize we didn't actually plan for the other million dollars that we needed to have some type of closer resilience. Has that been a part of your thinking around this? |
| 01:32:40.93 | Kevin McGowan | Not with this specific project because we're trying to work within the roadway prison that we have. It doesn't mean that it's off the plate, though. Later on this evening, we'll talk about the capital improvement program. and looking long term, several years down the road, so to speak. Sorry. Um, Yeah. we need to kind of take a look at where we're going to stand with some of those specific questions of do we want to, put in a flood wall system in that section, is it needed? How often does this roadway get flooded? Those type of questions need to really come forward in order to really answer your question. Simply jumping into saying, yes, let's put 20 million into a wall system may not be appropriate if it only gets flooded twice in every 10 years. |
| 01:33:30.58 | Melissa Kelman | Would it be helpful to to you and to this conversation. Do you think if we combine this with the capital program conversation item 5B, is there a reason that it's, discussed separately, considering that this is the third highest potential project as articulated in item 5B staff report? |
| 01:33:51.29 | Kevin McGowan | I believe we are going to discuss it in the capital improvement presentation. I brought this forward because it is simply the first step. And If your council would like to pull this item and step back a little bit before we award something, That's okay too. I just. I think my approach from the Public Works Department. is to continue to move projects forward and bring them to you. so that we're not slowing down, we're not waiting on some of these things on the staff level. and get them to you so you can discuss them and make some determinations. |
| 01:34:28.43 | Melissa Kelman | Okay, so that last question, What is PCI? What is what is street rating? And how does this project play into that rating? |
| 01:34:37.84 | Kevin McGowan | That's a good question, too. We just received our latest PCI for this roadway. So I haven't reviewed the latest numbers, but can bring that back to you. It just came in today, as a matter of fact. So we'll double check, and I'm anticipating we'll probably bring you the the PCI summary for the entire city at some point. People don't know what PCI is. |
| 01:34:59.23 | Melissa Kelman | to find PCIs. |
| 01:35:00.56 | Kevin McGowan | Pavement condition index. So every two years for folks listening, every two years or four years, MTC supports a study of city roadways, basically throughout all of the Bay Area. and hires a consultant to go ahead and develop a report for our city, which rates our roadways. |
| 01:35:24.40 | Kevin McGowan | Just adding on a follow up question, and then I'll go to Councilmember Cox had a question, but the issue of resiliency is really critical, and I think it's something we're very focused on as a community. The Sea-Liber-Wise Task Force has done some excellent work. and putting forward recommendations, and we're doing a, assessment of what our biggest issues are potentially. Is that something that as part of this, we could direct potentially parametrics to look at? in regards to their feasibility assessment specifically. |
| 01:35:50.41 | Kevin McGowan | We could, we could modify their scope to have them look at that. But remember, they would have to reach out to a separate firm since they are basically transportation engineers. but we could take a look at it. We'd have to modify their scope. |
| 01:36:03.08 | Joan Cox | Bye. Thank you. |
| 01:36:03.48 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:36:03.50 | Joan Cox | Councilmember Cox? Thank you. I wanted to follow on to comments from three fellow council members, which has to do with money. Thank you. We have a $67,214 grant. We have to spend $46,682 out of our reserve to fund this initial consulting contract. If we don't align and ultimately approve a design for construction, then that 46,000 of our reserves is down the drain. Is that right? |
| 01:36:35.53 | Kevin McGowan | That's correct. |
| 01:36:37.00 | Joan Cox | And we've been hearing a lot of could we do this? Could we do that? You know, wider sidewalks, accommodate flooding, resiliency. We have a very long laundry list, all of which you've said, we could. include, we could modify the scope, but that means we're spending more money. Yes. And so, And where would that money come from? |
| 01:36:59.80 | Kevin McGowan | That's a decent question. As I started this presentation, I think I mentioned that there was a 200,000 set aside last March out of Measure O funds. I have to double check with our finance director if that was carried forward into the budget itself. So there may be money there in order to support this. |
| 01:37:19.24 | Joan Cox | So I would it be helpful to discuss this project in the context of the other priorities that we're discussing within the capital improvement process so that we can. appropriately allocate scarce funds where they will have the best return. |
| 01:37:39.64 | Kevin McGowan | I'm always open to that, you bet. |
| 01:37:42.79 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:37:42.86 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:37:42.88 | Kevin McGowan | Bye. |
| 01:37:43.00 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 01:37:43.59 | Kevin McGowan | Just to follow on Councilmember Cox's line of questioning what is unique about this project to those that are on our general capital improvements is that we already have an improved construction grant should we decide to go forward correct. |
| 01:37:55.65 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:37:55.67 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 01:37:56.06 | Kevin McGowan | And what's the amount of that grant? |
| 01:37:57.98 | Kevin McGowan | 507,000 is the grant, I believe. |
| 01:38:01.05 | Kevin McGowan | And if we don't pursue any project, whether it is including inclusive of maintaining the median or creating bike lanes or general improvements, we will forego that $508,000, correct? |
| 01:38:12.90 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:38:13.49 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, so we would be foregoing the opportunity to have over half a million dollars in improvements in infrastructure to our streets. |
| 01:38:19.95 | Unknown | That's correct. |
| 01:38:20.73 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. |
| 01:38:21.02 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 01:38:21.15 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:38:21.17 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 01:38:21.20 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:38:21.44 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 01:38:22.06 | Kevin McGowan | And the vice mayor had a question and then I'll go to council member. |
| 01:38:25.37 | Joan Cox | And what is the deadline for us to accept and or spend the grant funding? For which one? The first, the 67214. I know we already did an acceptance in September of 22 of some sort, but what is our, when do we have to be shovel ready to capitalize on the construction grant of 507,000? |
| 01:38:53.62 | Kevin McGowan | I have to check with the awarding agency to find out when that money is available. I believe it's in 2024, but it could be the year after that. |
| 01:39:01.40 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:39:02.53 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, the vice mayor's had a question for quite some time. |
| 01:39:05.11 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, just on the question of, Scope creep and adding to the the scope of work. and whether it would cost more. The alternative of course is to leave the price the same but ask the designer to cut back on expenditures elsewhere. So I was looking at the staff report, but I couldn't find how many public meetings and how much public outreach, some of that money, You could do you could be more efficient in the gathering of feedback and spend those resources on say a few more conceptual designs or looking at widening the sidewalk or some kind of mitigation measure for flooding. Thank you. |
| 01:39:44.16 | Kevin McGowan | Exactly. |
| 01:39:44.38 | Ian Sobieski | Great. |
| 01:39:44.72 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:39:44.80 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:39:45.22 | Kevin McGowan | We could modify their scope. and take a look to try to work within their current budget. to see if they can include those specific items you are mentioning. |
| 01:39:57.78 | Kevin McGowan | And council member Huffman had a question. |
| 01:40:02.60 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:40:02.62 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks for this and your report. I found it. Very enlightening. Okay, so let me just go back here. Just to be clear in the staff report, It does say that the staff would have preferred to have some of the other active projects funded, but they weren't. For whatever reason, ABAC decided not to fund those. |
| 01:40:30.23 | Kevin McGowan | Well, it's the other awarding agencies. In other words, it's not just ABAC, but it's the... the other construction projects, |
| 01:40:37.70 | Jill Hoffman | And MTC. |
| 01:40:38.41 | Kevin McGowan | I got it. Sorry. |
| 01:40:40.89 | Jill Hoffman | That's okay, that's okay. Not to digress, my point was just, we have other higher priorities on our list as opposed to this project. And the project that was submitted for the grant included removing the center median and using that space for bike lanes on the side, and then you have two-way traffic in the middle where the meeting used to be, is that right? |
| 01:41:02.34 | Kevin McGowan | The application, since the median is at the same grade as the adjacent roadway, did not include removing the concrete median. It simply added a micro seal across the entire road so that your, your striping could pop out and you could make sure that you would see the right place. |
| 01:41:18.14 | Jill Hoffman | But the reconfiguration. |
| 01:41:18.17 | Kevin McGowan | But they recon... |
| 01:41:19.70 | Jill Hoffman | That was that was what was part of the grant proposal. |
| 01:41:23.01 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:41:23.47 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. And so if we decide not to go with that reconfiguration, if we decide to stay with the same configuration use that money to improve the runway or the index for that runway. Can we do that? Or do we need to go back to the agency and provide another grant proposal? |
| 01:41:39.25 | Kevin McGowan | I think we have to go back to the granting agency, which is One Bay Area Grant, Cycle and either request an update or or go back through the process. |
| 01:41:48.76 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. And so with regard to... The the purpose of the Center lane was originally intended to be utilized by emergency service vehicles for faster access old town. And I believe that was because there are no there are no other access roads along that stretch of bridgeway in other words there's no place there's no other streets to turn off there's no other access to that particular lane. through that stretch of roadway. And so I do appreciate that The staff report notes that staff did reach out to those emergency services, but what I would be particularly interested in knowing and having some sort of acknowledgement directly from those agencies that the that the emergency access lane for which that was originally built is no longer needed. I mean, that's to me a pretty significant change. And also I believe it's one of the evacuation routes out of Sausalito. So, you know, that would be one of my main concerns with regard to. looking at this project. And. if I could move on then to the funding, I think I'm looking at page four of your staff report And under fiscal impact, the 2022-23 budget allocation, $12,000. So, so it looks to me like, and you tell me if I'm wrong, that it's 12,049. which is about whatever, 63,000. for this round out of city council budget, or city budget, is that right? |
| 01:43:27.26 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:43:27.70 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. just so we're clear. So we got 67 from ABAG and we're looking at another 63 or something from the city to make up that 129. And then the total allocation, though, is actually 700,000. for the whole project. And our grant is for $504,000. And that's the very It goes from the bottom of page four into the top of page five, I think. is where those numbers are. So my question to you, it looks like to me, The total amount. that we're projecting for this project. And we all know after the construction projects we had in Sausalito, that construction costs do nothing but go up. They don't go down. We have a grant. from ABAG for $504,000. $600. And we know that it's gonna be, the projection right now is 700, but we know that's probably, Well, it's going to go up. But that delta between the 500 and the 700, Sausalito is responsible for paying that. |
| 01:44:38.38 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. So let me clarify some of those. With most of the staff reports that I've tried to develop in public works, I try to give you folks and the community as much information as I know. And even though... the action this evening isn't to approve the construction project. That's not what we're intending to do. I simply wanted to lay out what we are receiving. and what we've been approved for. So to talk about your first point, in the 2023 budget, there was $80,000 allocated in the budget. So, which is great. And that means that we can spend some of that that funding. However, in order to... reach the total amount of this contract, which is $129,000, more funding is needed. And that's really all the action that we're looking for this evening. Now you're correct in that The rest of the information is simply that. It's for your information. We're not, I'm not asking for approval on anything else at this point. Just that. |
| 01:45:46.99 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. No, I appreciate that clarification. But my point was that we may be starting down the road right now. That's going to cost us $63,000. but really we're looking at a much larger project and our spend is going to also be larger. And so, you know, that's part of the calculation of, for me, when I'm looking at the priority list and I'm looking at things that aren't getting done. for instance, the the stoplights and other projects in town and we're diverting money away from those projects. So that's my main concern. It's not at this point broader than that mainly. It's that and it's also the concern about the emergency access Yeah. And it's a concern about where it falls on our own priority that we've laid out. So thank you so much for your work on this. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:46:43.39 | Kevin McGowan | Just a point of clarification on that, because the number of 707,000, which is in the staff report on page four, that includes this proposal and the 505,000 construction costs. So the additional spend. Okay. So that's the total cost, including this with the 67,000 that we have as a grant and the 505,000. So there's a potential contingency for us out of our fund, assuming we don't get additional grant funding, which my understanding is there are additional grants that we could potentially apply for. |
| 01:46:53.65 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:46:53.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:47:02.62 | Unknown | out of our funds. |
| 01:47:09.35 | Kevin McGowan | for construction of this project through Tamar MTC, correct? |
| 01:47:12.04 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:47:12.55 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, because I saw a full list at the last TAM meeting of several available grants and we've been working with California concepts to apply for essentially all of them. So there's a chance that in addition to the 500,000, there may be 150 in contingency here. would be covered. Okay, so I just wanted to clarify that to make sense of some of the numbers that where we got to the 700,000. Sorry, go ahead, Vice Mayor. |
| 01:47:32.73 | Ian Sobieski | Oh, great, great questions. Just riffing off of Councilmember Hoffman's question about the estimated construction cost. It's estimated here at $484,000. which would be completely covered by the grant, that part. of course, construction costs per se, apples to apples, rarely go down. But if the outcome of this design cycle. is a compared down design different than the one that you submitted as a straw man. the estimated construction costs could actually be much lower if it's a more modest design. Isn't that correct? Yes, of course. |
| 01:48:10.95 | Kevin McGowan | Do we have any further questions for Director McGowan before we open it up for public comment? Okay, seeing none, thank you so much, Director McGowan. Thank you. Great to have you back in the chambers. Thank you for being here and presenting to us. |
| 01:48:18.46 | Unknown | Thank you. Bye. Thank you. |
| 01:48:22.88 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, so I will go ahead and open up a public comment before I do that though Walford could you remind members of the public how they might proceed with public comment at this time. |
| 01:48:30.46 | Walfred Solorzano | So if you're in person, you can pick up a speaker slip over at the desk by the television. If you're on Zoom, just use the raise hand function, and we already have some people doing that. Or if you're on the phone through Zoom, you can press star 9. Soon. Kevin Carroll. |
| 01:48:47.90 | Kevin McGowan | Fantastic. COUNCIL MEMBER CAROL, |
| 01:48:54.57 | Unknown | And Tam Commissioner, don't forget that too, but I'm here tonight as Mr. Sausalito Taxi, and actually you're making me feel much older. the taxi's only been 30 years and actually 50 years ago. I was a teamster working my way through college out of a union hiring hall in San Francisco and making deliveries on Bridgeway and Sausalito. I think it was called Puro's Pizza back then. It still was Leipzig and Skolman's. and the Trident. And quite frankly, the way it's set up now, as it was back then, It's terrifying for any delivery driver. You just never know. In fact, it's even worse now with all the bicyclists. It's just plain dangerous to try to make deliveries from the center of the street. and anything would be an improvement. I do remember that 50 years ago, bicyclists were considered health nuts. There weren't very many of them, You could probably count on one hand or two hands how many you would see. on the street 50 years ago, nothing like what we have and how that has changed since then. Um, And all the time that I've worked for Toledo, I've never seen an issue with problems where the emergency vehicles except more so actually long ago because so many more people came to town in cars and they would block bridgeway looking for parking spaces And I think there's actually less car traffic now. I haven't seen it back up like it used to. 50 years ago. I haven't seen that in a very long time. The big changes in the last 10 years has been the explosion of rental bikes. to where pre-COVID we were getting, I believe, upwards of 3,000 per day. And hopefully with the taking of restrictions off things might get back up to that level. Another major hazard we have in the last 10 years is cell phones. Even today, I find a woman |
| 01:51:02.31 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:51:02.33 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah. |
| 01:51:04.14 | Unknown | on Bridgeway, filming or |
| 01:51:09.88 | Walfred Solorzano | And next speaker, Judy Vieira. |
| 01:51:11.92 | Kevin McGowan | Welcome, Julie. |
| 01:51:21.37 | Judy Vieira | Hi, it's me. Okay. Thank you. |
| 01:51:23.80 | Kevin McGowan | That is naturally Vera. That is, but hi, Matthew. Nice to see you. Give us just a second. |
| 01:51:31.22 | Unknown | I think she might have logged |
| 01:51:33.01 | Kevin McGowan | If we lost her, then we can go to Matthew and then circle back. Okay, let's go to Matthew. All right, Matthew, you're on. |
| 01:51:34.82 | Unknown | Let's, |
| 01:51:35.03 | Judy Vieira | Let's go to Matthew. Thank you. |
| 01:51:38.70 | Kevin McGowan | Hello. |
| 01:51:39.41 | Judy Vieira | Thank you, Mayor Blaustein. And I want to urge all five council members to approve this agenda item 3B tonight. It really should not have been taken off the consent calendar. I understand that there is many voices in the community and different stakeholders that have different ideas about optimal solutions for this corridor. And I want to emphasize that they will have ample opportunity to express those opinions and to debate the project and to. have back and forth with the designer and the consultant and the city staff. and there will be ample opportunity for the public and for the council to pour over these designs. over the next two years. Right now, what we're asking is what City staff is asking the council to do is simply to execute this contract to begin the process. It does not obligate the city to do anything, to construct anything, I heard talk that well, maybe we don't need this particular There'll be other grants in the future. I want to let you know if you don't take this grant. If you don't approve this agenda item tonight, you're going to be sacrificing the city of Sausalito's ability to get grants in the future. You're going to be putting red flag around the city. and telling the granting agencies that, that this is not a responsible partner. that this is the city that doesn't take its grants seriously. The regional agencies have given you opportunity. They've given you money. And it's the responsibility of the city to, to take that opportunity and to move forward with it developed the design. But to forsake that grant, would be to send a message to the regional agencies that Sausalito doesn't need doesn't need your help, doesn't need regional help. And I know that the city takes grants very seriously. a grant consultant to try to improve their chances of getting grants. So please don't throw that all away. Please approve this project. tonight. and not the project, just the the contract to start the design and the process. Thank you, Matthew. |
| 01:53:45.21 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay, now we'll get to Julie Vieira. |
| 01:53:49.72 | Unknown | See, I found her. I have to put it up again. |
| 01:53:55.86 | Unknown | Where is she going? |
| 01:53:58.10 | Kevin McGowan | I don't see her on the Zoom on my end, but maybe go to... |
| 01:54:02.20 | Walfred Solorzano | She was up. Hold on. Sorry. I see her back. There she is. Yeah. |
| 01:54:04.95 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:54:05.05 | Julie Vieira | Thank you. |
| 01:54:05.39 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:54:05.56 | Julie Vieira | Thank you. |
| 01:54:05.63 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:54:10.69 | Julie Vieira | Okay, I think we finally got it. Hi, everybody. Yes, I've heard everybody's comments. I just want to I have two things. The emergency vehicle's do concern me. and how they're going to get you know, from one end of, Bridgeway to the other. The other thing is I haven't heard anybody really talk about all the businesses and the residents that live down in that area. that get deliveries. Right now on any given morning, you go on El Porto and you've got four or five delivery trucks, along with all the construction, along with all the bikes, trying to unload in the morning. So if you get rid of any delivery options or make it smaller window, Where are those delivery trucks going to go for the businesses? UPS, UPS uses it. Um, for the residents. So we really need to take a look at this. And I know when this first came up, I volunteered more than once to have the chamber host meetings so that we could talk about this. I know last Thursday there was a card that kind of went around some businesses downtown. But I think We need to have a little more input and thinking about what the businesses are going to do for their deliveries because you can't control Sometimes when you're gonna get your delivery, you can't say they're gonna be here between nine and 10 in the morning. That just isn't possible for a lot of our businesses. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:55:47.03 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Julie. |
| 01:55:47.59 | Julie Vieira | Thank you. |
| 01:55:50.57 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 01:55:53.59 | Kevin McGowan | Welcome back, Sandra. |
| 01:56:01.07 | Kevin McGowan | I can't get my video. For some reason, Walfred. So we're just seeing there. OK, OK, got it. |
| 01:56:01.64 | Unknown | I can't get my videos. I'm sorry. |
| 01:56:06.13 | Sandra Bushmaker | Bye. |
| 01:56:06.25 | Unknown | I'm not sure. |
| 01:56:06.32 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:56:06.52 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 01:56:06.60 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:56:07.26 | Kevin McGowan | Got it, got it. I think I got it. Wait just a minute. |
| 01:56:11.36 | Sandra Bushmaker | I'm here. |
| 01:56:11.43 | Kevin McGowan | I'm here. |
| 01:56:12.17 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:56:12.21 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:56:12.22 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:56:13.10 | Kevin McGowan | Well, for some reason on the Zoom and on the screen, we're not able to see video for the public commenters. I can't see Sandra. |
| 01:56:20.41 | Joan Cox | I see Chris. |
| 01:56:22.16 | Kevin McGowan | Right. Yeah. |
| 01:56:23.97 | Sandra Bushmaker | I can't undo my video. um, So I'll just talk. You saw me earlier. Here's what I'm having trouble with is... Entire project. This, this proposal is for outreach and design of a project that I don't recall the council has ever given a thumbs up to. yay or nay. And so it seems that we are jumping forward in putting a design before we have even decided whether we're gonna proceed. Now, points have been made about how expensive this is, that we've got other necessary priorities that are higher than this, and that, And this project is going to be requiring a dipping into monies that we need to put for other higher priority items. So I also don't want to see this council start getting into a frame of mind of going for grants, getting a grant award, and then deciding we need a project to fit the grant. instead of prioritizing our needs and then going for grants to fill that particular need. So basically, like I said, it seems to me that we are putting a outreach and design before we have decided to do a yes or no on proceeding. And I think that we can engage the community without the need of a consultant for this. Julie has offered to have a forum on this. Other individuals, we can have a town hall. at the Spinnaker restaurant and invite the public to come and talk yay or nay on this particular subject. So I think we can do outreach without the need for a particular consultant. But like I said, I think we need to decide yay or nay on the project before we decide on design of a particular project. I have my, I have, substantive issues on the design, but I will hold that till a later date. Thank you. you |
| 01:58:28.22 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Sandra. |
| 01:58:28.88 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:58:29.16 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker, Warren Wells. |
| 01:58:32.35 | Kevin McGowan | Welcome, Warren. |
| 01:58:35.53 | Unknown | I'm Mayor Blasian, members of the City Council. This is Warren Wells, Policy and Planning Director for the Marin County Vice School Coalition. I provide a comment in writing, so I'll keep things short. On behalf of my organization, I am encouraging you to support the resolution to initiate the study on Bridgeway. This is a project that the city's Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee has long been focused on. And as Director McGowan noted, is a project of regional significance for people traveling outside of an automobile, including the many people reaching Sausalito by bicycle, but also those traveling and foot coming by transit. At this point, You know, we are certainly not asking the council to commit to a design. We're just asking... to initiate the study carried out by professional transportation planners and engineers engage all the interested parties and arrive at the best alternative for the many different users of Bridgeway, including emergency services, deliveries, commuters, tourists and residents. I know that the city has made different issues, but I trust the competent staff of the DPW to walk and chew bubble gum and to juggle these multiple priorities at the same time. So I urge you to take the first step and simply study the issue. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. |
| 01:59:43.67 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Warren. |
| 01:59:46.23 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker, Vicki Nichols. |
| 01:59:49.14 | Vicki Nichols | Hi, Vicki. Hi, good evening, Mayor and City Council members. I think my comments were pretty much summarized by Sandra Bushmaker. And so I'll just add slightly that I think I'd like to get the process clarified here. My understanding is that committees make recommendations In this instance, this is a major infrastructure project that you're just hearing about and the grants have already been asked for. With all due respect to the work that this committee is doing, I can tell you that As the Chair of the Historical Preservation Commission, I would love to have money from you. for a review, but I wouldn't even presume that I wouldn't bring that to the Council for discussion about this. So I think this is FLAWED PROCESS. I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO ALMOST BE feel obligated that once the study is done and this money has been spent, that you have to do the project. And and I believe there was at least one meeting with the merchants downtown. Perhaps you said that I had to step away. They were very vehemently opposed to this. I just don't think we're GOING ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY HERE. I GOT TO TELL YOU, AS A FORMER PLANNING COMMISSIONER, The best applicants that came in with no problem was the ones that engaged their neighbors every step along the way to let them know what was going on and the project then doesn't blow up at the beginning We haven't even taken the first step here. I'M CONCERNED THAT THE MONEY IS GOING TO BE JEOPARDIZED LATER. benefit of everyone that may be saying, well, she's the person that always says no, which often happens from this commission. not you, that committee. I do work on bike issues. I think this is a community issue, though, that is a major infrastructure project that deserves the input from the community. And I got to tell you, I think you're going to also hear that and not be demanded about this. So thank you for the time. Thank you, Vicki. |
| 02:01:53.57 | Walfred Solorzano | Bill. |
| 02:01:57.45 | Pat Zuck | Thank you. |
| 02:01:57.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:01:57.62 | Walfred Solorzano | So, |
| 02:01:58.55 | Unknown | Thank you. Hopefully this is not Bill, this is Pat. Hi, Pat. Yeah. Hello. Hello. Hi, Bill. It's so nice to see you. Hey, guys. Bill is not speaking. Okay. |
| 02:02:10.97 | Pat Zuck | Okay, no, I'm not Brian. I'm Pat. First of all, I have to say I am very impressed and pleased with all of your Are we double counting here? I hear a child crying. It's not me. |
| 02:02:26.58 | Kevin McGowan | I think that there are other folks who have been given hosting capabilities whose mics may not have been turned off. So please mute your mic if you're not speaking and please reset Pat Zuck's time to two minutes. Thank you. |
| 02:02:35.57 | Pat Zuck | Thank you. Anyway, thank you, city council people. Thank you for council member Cox for pulling this. And I thought all of your comments were very interesting. I think you need to focus on what your actual choices here are You're looking at a contract. The contract apparently calls for a preset design under the grant. And that's for two lanes, you know, one on either side. Those aren't the only alternatives and maybe they're not the best alternatives. Secondly, the contract calls for community outreach, which presumes that this design will be sold or vetted to the community. That is not necessarily the best approach. I urge you to recall this contract, number one, and try and restructure it to fit in with the grant amount we shouldn't be spending excess money on speculation. If we want to spend excess money, CIP is where we are supposed to be looking at this kind of stuff. I would really urge you to pull this contract back. Asked Parisi what they can do within $67,000 to come up with alternative designs. You guys clearly have the ability to do outreach. I think you can look at the comments here and the ability to have a town hall and have adequate interested respondents We don't need to pay Parisi for outreach. In quotes. Um, Thirdly, We shouldn't presume a preset design It may well be feasible to have better signage better. you know, whatever. rather than reconstructing 2000. FEED. of Bridgeway. that we're going to be to accommodate. better and safer. community. transportation. Thanks. Thank you. |
| 02:04:41.04 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. And hi, Bill. Yeah. |
| 02:04:44.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Oh. |
| 02:04:44.08 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. Yeah. |
| 02:04:46.17 | Maureen Gaffney | Thank you. |
| 02:04:46.20 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:04:46.25 | Maureen Gaffney | Thank you. |
| 02:04:47.64 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker, Maureen Gaffney. |
| 02:04:51.47 | Maureen Gaffney | Hello, thanks everyone for having this important discussion and for taking public comment. And good to see Kevin McGowan up there. I didn't get to see the dance, but that's okay. This is a very important corridor for bicycles, for pedestrians, for visitors to Sausalito. I've been riding and walking and strolling in this corridor for many, many years. There are definitely issues that need to be addressed, and this is a first step. It is only a first step to look at the feasibility of of several different options. And I really wanna emphasize that. This is several different options to look at and it is important to engage the community, both, you know, your ordinary resident who walks or strolls or rides a bike or a business owner. It is incredibly important to get input on the multiple designs that will be, that is my understanding, will be presented in. As part of this study from transportation professionals guided by your very capable Department of Public Works, led by Mr. Kevin McGowan. This is a study, not a commitment to a design as noted. any actual design will come back to the full city council for discussion. or approval. anything, you know, a construction project that moves forward will have the absolute full full review of the council and the community. This is a, this is a, Bridgeway is very difficult for all types of users, not just cyclists. It's difficult for young riders, it's difficult for your visitors, it's difficult for your own residents. As pedestrians, I urge you to Thank you. to move forward and take advantage of this opportunity to look at all of the options. Thank you so much. |
| 02:06:53.44 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much, Maureen. |
| 02:06:55.84 | Maureen Gaffney | Okay. |
| 02:06:55.92 | Walfred Solorzano | And Nico Fitzgerald. |
| 02:06:57.03 | Nicholas Fitzgerald | Thank you. |
| 02:07:01.35 | Nicholas Fitzgerald | Hi there, thank you for letting me speak, Mayor and the Council. My name is Nicholas Fitzgerald, Nico Fitzgerald. I'm a long time resident here in Marin. I work full time in Sausalito. I access Bridgeway. two times at least a day. usually four or five times. I'm also an avid cyclist who accesses the Headlands from Sausalito. So I'm very familiar with that corridor. And just sort of echoing some other people here, It just, urging you to approve the study. It's not a commitment to any specific design. saying yes, so just give us a look at all the different options. Bridgeway as it currently stands is very dangerous and frustrating as for When I'm there on a bike, when I'm there on a car dealing with the bicyclists, And when I'm a pedestrian, Um, uh, In the summer, especially on the weekends, the thousands of people who come down the hill which is another section that needs to be addressed. into Bridgeway. Um, who don't know how to ride bikes, on the sidewalk or in the middle of the street, Very, very dangerous and also frustrating. And the concern about the, The emergency vehicles I'm not totally clear on because the rest of the bridge-wide corridor doesn't have the center divider. or a median. So I don't know how that's different from the rest of the sauce later where Bridgeway exists. So just as a concerned citizen, an avid biker, and someone who uses Bridgeway on foot and in a car, We need to look at an option that works for all those because as it currently stands, it's not safe. And I urge you to just not make any commitment to open up the study so we can all have a better look and reach a conclusion that works for everyone, including business owners. So thank you very much. |
| 02:08:46.37 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Nicholas. |
| 02:08:48.39 | Walfred Solorzano | next week. |
| 02:08:48.97 | Peter | is Peter Van Meter. Thank you. I think there's an important point of clarification here. As I heard Mr. McGowan explain in his presentation, that this is basically a contract to come up with a very close to working drawings for the proposed concept. of the bike lanes on either side of the roadway. and does not include looking at alternative design concepts. He said, oh, yes, we could modify the contract throughout all your questions. He said, we could modify the contract. but that's more money, more dipping into our reserves to look at those alternatives. I think before you make any decision on this, really need to understand the scope of this contract. To me, it sounded like working drawings POSED CONTRACT. in order to get the construction grant that's already sitting out there. So that's what he called first step. design drawings. BUT NOT LOOKING AT ALTERNATIVES, NOT GOING BACK AND DOING A COMPETE STUDY OF NEW ALTERNATIVES ALL OVER AGAIN LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT. And sort of my basic comment is this, the existing concept but we have on the ground right now has some difficulties, yes. Unloading in the middle of the street is kind of a problem, but you know what actually works. And you do have parking along the side. one side. which might have to be eliminated if you're going to provide loading zones. And sharing roadways with bicycles is not the best way to go, but it works. THE SO-CALLED SHARE A DUE. approach, whatever. TO GET THE BIKE AND CARS TOGETHER. It's not perfect. but it's working. But please understand get the question answered. Does this contract include looking at design alternatives Thank you. |
| 02:10:31.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:10:31.43 | Walfred Solorzano | you |
| 02:10:31.58 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:10:33.79 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker, Jenny Silva. |
| 02:10:38.62 | Jenny Silva | Bye. Hi, City Council. Thanks for hearing the comments. I just, I sent in some written comments, so I'll make this quick, but This really is a very dangerous piece of road and it needs to be reconsidered. There were a lot of valid concerns brought up tonight of issues with it. This is the first step in redesigning the road. As the city staff and others discussed, we are not committed to this design. But we cannot get meaningful community input without going down this route, I don't think. All the questions brought up are questions that many communities have dealt with as they have moved to improve the There are city roads for pedestrians and All these questions have been answered before. And by undergoing this process with a traffic professional, we can get the input of what has been done Um, everywhere else. It just seems like to try and do this, and get input without engaging in this contract, it's going to be a very flawed process and we're going to have much less quality information. We know today that this is a very dangerous section of road. Um, We know that there have been many accidents that a pedestrian was killed I had dinner two nights ago at the Barrel House. And as I left, we saw a driver going 40 miles, at least 40 miles an hour down the median. Um, it really needs to be reconsidered. It was frightening to see and, And I think anybody that spent time on there knows that. that it's dangerous and needs to be reconsidered, we should use a professional to get advice in doing that. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:12:40.85 | Walfred Solorzano | Jan Johnson. |
| 02:12:48.93 | Kevin McGowan | Hi. Can you hear me? Hi, Jen, we can hear you. Welcome. |
| 02:12:53.03 | Jan Johnson | Thank you. |
| 02:12:53.05 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:12:53.23 | Jan Johnson | Bye. |
| 02:12:53.32 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:12:53.33 | Jan Johnson | Thank you. I use this section of Bridgeway many, many times for 30 years. Without the meridian, I don't think I will be able to safely cross that section of road. And if you eliminate it, I think I fear for my life. uh, That's one point. The second point is Sausalito is broke. Flat out broke. According to Mr. Zapata at the last meeting, There's a $3 million deficit between expenditures and revenues for this year. 50,000 here, 50,000 there, it all adds up. If you want to study this fine, study it, but study it at the cost of 67,000. $214, which is what the grant is for. tell parametrics that that's what they've got, and they can study the design and leave the outreach to meetings such as this, or a community meeting. Um, But I don't think you should be spending more consultant fees when we're so broke and we can't take care of the essentials. the absolute necessary essentials. Thank you. |
| 02:14:15.55 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much. |
| 02:14:16.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:14:18.33 | Jan Johnson | um, |
| 02:14:19.41 | Walfred Solorzano | Adrian? |
| 02:14:21.49 | Unknown | I just want to also give my support to moving forward with this. I think Bridgeway is really dangerous for everybody. As Kim alluded, I think she was against the motion, but her comment, I think, supports the fact that we need to look at this and we need to do something people biking, people driving. People walking, nobody is safe on Bridgeway today. And I think we definitely need to move forward on this. Thank you. |
| 02:14:45.81 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:14:48.05 | Walfred Solorzano | here in Culligan. |
| 02:14:49.74 | Kevin McGowan | Welcome, Karen. |
| 02:14:55.17 | Karen | Hi there. |
| 02:14:56.45 | Kevin McGowan | Bye. |
| 02:14:58.56 | Karen | I'd like to start my public comment with a moment of silence. for Ethan Boyce. who was killed by a motorist last week while riding a bicycle just across the bridge. in the Presidio. |
| 02:15:17.78 | Karen | Ethan's death was on a road with significant bicycle traffic and no physical protection, not unlike Bridgeway today. The stretch of Bridgeway is also the site of tragedy. with the death of Jose Mario Gonzalez in 2007. also at the hands of a motorist. The danger persists today. We're lucky that no one was in the path of this car when it crashed into a house on Richardson last year. Bridgeway warrants a fresh look. Is it a priority? In March, you gave staff guidance to allocate $200,000 of measure O funding for the project. Council member Cleveland Knowles made the amendment. Council member Kelman quote, fully endorsed it. And it was voted on unanimously. Then two months later in May, City Council, including Councilmembers Kalman Hoffman so be asking Boston voted unanimously to accept the grant money. to do design and outreach. You told us it's a priority, you allocated the money, and now here we are, we're ready to look at options and do outreach. The resolution is the obvious next step to develop a design that we can engage on, debate, and refine as a community before any decisions are made We owe that to Ethan. to Jose. to our children. our friends, our visitors, ourselves, in our community. Thank you. |
| 02:16:47.00 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Karen. |
| 02:16:47.83 | Walfred Solorzano | We do have some speakers in house. Alice Merrill. |
| 02:16:52.11 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:16:57.45 | Kevin McGowan | Welcome, Alice. |
| 02:16:59.47 | Alice Merrill | This is on, yes. Very on. Um, well, I, he just said that you guys all voted on this. The first I learned of, um, the first I learned that this was happening was it was in the newspaper and, you know, people called me up and said, what is this going on? They're going to redo that. |
| 02:17:03.49 | Kevin McGowan | you |
| 02:17:22.00 | Alice Merrill | And so, and I pay attention. You know, not every second, but I pay pretty good attention. And there it was in the newspaper that this has gotten a grant and is happening. Now, that was all a little bit, you know, overstated. |
| 02:17:34.24 | Unknown | as well. |
| 02:17:37.31 | Alice Merrill | Yeah. I... Bye. Every resident I've talked to And every resident, that said they weren't for this in the writings to you guys. were pretty much people I knew and recognized who they are. The ones who were for it, I saw maybe two people who one person I knew for sure, two people maybe from Sausalito and the rest, a lot from the county and a lot from other places. And they were almost exactly the same letter. which is, you know, helpful when you just need to get something out there. But If you mean it, You write your own letter. You know, you don't just copy a letter and send it here, everybody, on this. in this group. Write this letter. So that... That just doesn't work right with me. Bike and Ped started to help organize what was going on, what, 10 years ago with bicycles? And then somebody just drew up plans for all of Caledonia. All of a sudden, Caledonia was... a bike and ped, you know, Hannah, see it. |
| 02:18:51.40 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:18:51.88 | Alice Merrill | That. It's like they're getting ahead of themselves. This is another time. I have four minutes left. So I'm not for this. And I agree with Peter in New York. |
| 02:19:05.27 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Alice. |
| 02:19:07.00 | Alice Merrill | Aaron Roller. |
| 02:19:08.09 | Aaron Roller | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:19:12.25 | Kevin McGowan | Welcome, Aaron. |
| 02:19:13.36 | Aaron Roller | Hello everybody, Aaron Roller, Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair and The person that acts like a transportation engineer and did all those drawings, right? But I'm not, I'm a software engineer, you know, but we do those drawings because, That's what we're asked to do. We're asked from the charter of the PBAC pedestrian bicycle advisory committee. is to go out and actually improve bicycling and pedestrian access to our streets. It's to go out and get funding. so we can make those improvements. And I learned that because when I joined, you know, had already volunteered at the school and actually rerouted all the traffic there because it was neglected and chaotic. And now move my move down to this other beautiful or most beautiful street. And you look at it and it's like, the opportunity is just, It's needed. It's been neglected. It really does show that. And that's what brought me down there to be inspired in 2018 when I first presented it to PBAC. because it has been going that long, and this is no secret. I've been in front of all of y'all several times. and have been following your guidance. When I look at the quotes that I think of, certainly from the MCBC, BIKED TO VOTE. FOUR OF YOU UP THERE SAID, Bicycle infrastructure is a high priority. So we're using that as a guidance to understand, Councilman Kellman, you said Sausalito should be known as a bike-friendly community. Um, Councilman Cox, I remember so many things you've said to me, as far as, you know, when we presented it in 2019, you said, Have you gotten grants? We have for this outreach. Please, let's get this started. Thank you. |
| 02:21:18.66 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Aaron. |
| 02:21:20.29 | Aaron Roller | That's it. |
| 02:21:21.41 | Kevin McGowan | We have no further public comment at this time. |
| 02:21:23.41 | Aaron Roller | Thank you. |
| 02:21:23.43 | Walfred Solorzano | None. |
| 02:21:24.14 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I will now close public comment and I will bring it up to the floor for discussion who would like to get us started. looks like council member Cox and then we'll go to the vice mayor |
| 02:21:37.22 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Since I'm the only council member who hasn't previously gotten to comment on this, I did make public comment in September of 2022. But this is the first time I'm hearing this as a council member. I respectfully disagree with the speaker who said this item should have remained on consent. It was important to take this item off consent since it was obviously controversial. And it's important that we are transparent in the way that we do business and that we hear from all interested residents, businesses, and others. We received dozens of emails with opposing views. We've heard from over a dozen members of the public and the business community tonight. So I think it was important to take it off consent. I am very concerned that we do not yet have written confirmation that if we proceed with this design, we are not obligated to proceed with construction. We cannot obligate ourselves to that kind of an undertaking, especially given the controversy that we've heard regarding this design. This is not a, this is not a contract to develop a design. The scope we're being asked to approve tonight is approval of the Bridgeway Bay Bike Lane Project. The Parisi scope of work is to develop a design to accommodate separated bicycle facilities along Bridgeway and Richardson Street to accommodate. Um, I think before and and as Peter Van Meter pointed out what we're being asked to approve tonight is a resolution to proceed with plans and specifications. That means you already have a design. you're now drawing the plans and writing the specifications. Before we do that, I think we need to undertake an adequate study and survey of stakeholder feedback. We need confirmation from emergency service providers that the median strip is no longer required. We need to identify an alternative evacuation route out of Sausalito. Each year we do an evacuation I'm not sure. Um, Mark up. and in the event of a tsunami or in the event of an earthquake. And every year we fail to in our in our what is it called modeling we fail to timely evacuate all of our residents. We already right now cannot fully evacuate all of our residents in a timely manner under certain parameters if we have a tsunami or an earthquake. So the last thing we should be doing is eliminating without replacing an evacuation corridor. |
| 02:24:20.69 | Joan Cox | This is approval to accept a design that already exists. If we don't want to accept a design that already exists, we need to modify the scope and we should then consider that modified scope that's been approved by MTC. MTC staff report announces that MTC is considering that the city will accept the funds just by submitting an application. So this is moving very much like a fait accompli. As Vicki Nichols points out, it's important to engage our neighbors before proceeding with design. As Jim Gabbert points out, in a time of structural deficit, it is important to solicit public input before moving forward with a conceptual design. And as I commented in September 22, I believe The city council should have been consulted regarding the design concept before it was included. as part of a grant application. The business community should have been consulted. before submitting conceptual plans that their logistical ability. to accept deliveries and run their business. In the future, conceptual plans need to be approved before being submitted as part of a grant application. If we decide to proceed with this at this time, we need to limit scope amendments to a certain dollar threshold that we know we have the ability to fund Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to spend only the 67,000 In grant funding, there's a requirement that the city provide matching funds. That's why we have to draw on our reserves. I think before in a time of structural deficit, before we draw on our reserves, we need to consider all of the other projects that will not move forward if we spend our reserve money on this project. So I think this needs some more time at the drawing board before we make a commitment to proceed. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Council Member Cox, Vice Mayor. |
| 02:26:13.60 | Ian Sobieski | Kevin, Director McGowan, just a clarifying question, Peter Van Meter asked it, and I think uh, is this contract. for working drawings. or is it to explore design alternatives and concepts? Thank you. |
| 02:26:29.16 | Kevin McGowan | The original contract on the RFP that was sent out was for to develop the plan specs and estimate as well as public outreach. but it was not to include options. Exactly. |
| 02:26:39.57 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:26:39.58 | Kevin McGowan | And that's our resolution this evening. Let's not interrupt and just allow for folks to ask their questions. |
| 02:26:39.77 | Joan Cox | . |
| 02:26:44.63 | Ian Sobieski | Is it possible? here from the dais to simply re direct the goals of the Parisi, who's well known to us, should work on within the budget they're requesting. to come up with design alternatives and concepts. that can be developed in cooperation with the public. to achieve all the goals that council member Cox outlined. |
| 02:27:10.06 | Kevin McGowan | And. |
| 02:27:10.15 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:27:10.18 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, if you continue this item, we can work with Parisi and Associates or parametrics. TO INCLUDE THOSE |
| 02:27:19.04 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:27:19.33 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:27:19.41 | Ian Sobieski | those items. I mean, we couldn't. Do you think we could do it right now from this? Or, I mean, in other words, can we approve? a certain amount of money for coming up with design concepts and alternatives that a variety of community goals, improving uh, safety, bike safety, pedestrian safety, accommodating evacuation routes, so on and so forth. |
| 02:27:44.13 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:27:44.17 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:27:44.20 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 02:27:44.27 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah. |
| 02:27:44.49 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. You could approve the contract as is and instruct staff to work with parametrics. to work on an amendment that includes those items as well and return to council at a later point in order to address those concerns. |
| 02:27:59.83 | Ian Sobieski | with. So we would have to vote again on the amendment, presumably, and no money would be spent prior to prior to us considering that amendment. Yeah. |
| 02:28:07.98 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 02:28:08.14 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah. |
| 02:28:08.16 | Kevin McGowan | It's just based on- |
| 02:28:08.90 | Ian Sobieski | Bye. |
| 02:28:08.97 | Kevin McGowan | the cost and the municipal code, we would need to bring it back to you. |
| 02:28:11.99 | Sergio Rudin | and Council, member, I would recommend that if that is the pleasure of the council that The council just vote to continue the item and staff can work on the contract amendment, as well as we can take that the intervening time to verify that that. approach would be consistent with the terms of the grant and the funding that is being received by the city. which would be my initial concern. |
| 02:28:34.50 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. Thank you, city attorney. Kevin, just help me out with, Director McGowan, sorry. Help me out with, why was the contract written in this way where this even topic is, where it's anchored into What is really important Yeah. Sorry for anyone who worked on it, but it's very simple, very, you know, preliminary, let's call it. a sketch of a concept, not, you know, the conceptual designs cost money from designers. to develop doing it with Photoshop is not the right way to do it. Um, Why was it not done instead of one that was more broadly written? to be very explicit about coming up with a variety of design It had to do with the grant application |
| 02:29:15.97 | Kevin McGowan | application to a bag originally. That is what we applied for. And that's what they approved. So we moved forward with that. based off the grant application. Okay. Thank you. |
| 02:29:30.22 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, Councilmember Kellman. Thank you. |
| 02:29:31.96 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. First of all, a big thank you to Director McGowan. This, I think, went a little awry only because you showed a great deal of initiative to go out and find grant money for us. So thank you. I thought that's fantastic. That's what we need to be doing. There's a lot of money out there. We need to go look for it. And a huge thank you to Aaron and Kiran and other members of the PBAC who have helped develop these opportunities, help us understand what what is needed in that area. I think Councilman Cox laid out a lot of the concerns that we probably all at some level share that won't speak for anybody. I'll just add, as many of you know, we do have money from the state. to do a sea level rise vulnerability assessment. I don't think we can underestimate the impacts of climate change on that particular area. And so I'll just sort of put out there that part of that vulnerability assessment could result in evaluating the opportunities that could include how do we design something that has multiple uses, including a safer bike lane. And so I just want to flag that since we have experts in the room who can now shepherd this along. Um, So I think I heard the vice mayor say in some of his questions and maybe Councilman Cox alluded to it, but I'll just throw it out there for conversation. the city attorney laid it out well. We probably wanna continue this, probably wanna revise this, re-specify this, circulate or reduce RFP, focus really on design alternatives and cost estimates, including a no action alternative for review. And so that's the direction I'm heading in. I welcome other people's thoughts, but that's kind of where I stand right now. |
| 02:31:01.64 | Kevin McGowan | That's what happened. |
| 02:31:03.32 | Melissa Kelman | um, |
| 02:31:03.75 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:31:07.15 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. My yeah my understanding the response to my question was that if we that we don't have the ability to modify this grant because it's in response to an actual grant application. And so we got the money for that design and that was the basic design and if we don't want to accept. Um, if we don't want to go forward with this actual design, then we're not going to receive the grant money. And we shouldn't actually take the money if we're thinking that we want to do something other than the grant proposal. And so I think, um, Mm-hmm. Okay, so Director McCown, maybe Can I, if you could. Yeah, okay, so he's moving to the podium and I think we're gonna have a clarification of that. So the dance happened again and the public missed it. Please. Yeah, so to reiterate. |
| 02:31:47.81 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, they're... Please. |
| 02:31:52.65 | Jill Hoffman | We put in a grant proposal We had to design with regard to the grant proposal, the grant was Granted. |
| 02:32:01.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:32:02.00 | Jill Hoffman | And so the question is now we're thinking about that we wanna modify you know, what the design, right? And so Kevin has now re-approached the podium and now. |
| 02:32:16.65 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. I believe that our |
| 02:32:17.20 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:32:20.97 | Kevin McGowan | are folks at ABAG, and you heard from one of them, Maureen Gaffney, would be open to any modifications to the grant itself. It just means what she needs to know is whether we're, moving forward with examining these section of roadway to make improvements. So I think their grant. for the design is a little more wide open. It's not as specific, so we can include options. |
| 02:32:41.33 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you so much for that clarification. So then my input would be to I think support Councilmember Kelman's approach. I am very cognizant of spending city money on projects for that are in a lower priority status than current capital improvement projects that we already have. I'm also very cognizant about how we use staff time And the, you know, we have a finite amount of staff time. And so if we're chasing something that's not as high a priority as something else, then that has to be part of our calculation of how we're approaching this issue. I would expect that we would perhaps discusses in the context of our capital improvement Overall, and we become disciplined as a council that if it's not on the capital improvement list, And it's not in that realm of in the top. whatever percentage we want to set, that, you know, we thank people for doing hard work and that we have the discipline to say, We like this project, but we have higher priorities right now and staff time is not free. It is a finite thing. piece is a finite thing. And so the devotion of staff time to a project that's not as high a priority as something else is something we always have to consider. when it comes to the council level. uncommon. that we have people that work on projects and vet them. appropriately so, for the recommendation with a recommendation to the city council for action. That's where we're at right now. This is the normal process where a group of citizens have worked very hard on a project You got a grant. Awesome. But. My job as a city council member is to how do I assess that in the overall picture with finite resources that we have here in Sausalito. So that's where I'm thinking right now. The direction I think would be, In line with Councilmember Kelman. that we continue this, that we do public outreach, because if we're gonna have significant public objections to the use of city funds to remove an emergency access lane, we need to have that information before us, before we make a decision. So that's my input. Thank you. |
| 02:35:04.67 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:35:05.26 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, I was just, you know, I hear what my friend is, Councilmember Cox, Hoffman just described, but let's not conflate some things. You know, if we are directing, to do, uh, alternative designs. may not involve removing the median. It may involve version of the status quo that simply improved. So doing public outreach with one particularly objectionable design and then not doing anything more based on negative feedback from there. is to stymie making progress. What you'd want to do, I believe is what Director McGowan uh, said is, which is to, confirm that the monies can be used for a alternative a set of alternative designs, which one would do with, outreach. to the community that be part of any design process. So, I think the confusion is, and I shared part of it is that The straw man proposals, we're worried it's an anchor. And we're somehow gonna get pulled down by it into a design that is controversial and appreciated and doesn't achieve the goals. but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think there's consensus here. Do not, miss out on half a million dollars of other people's money to improve a key piece of Sausalito infrastructure. uh, but we just want to make sure that we're doing it right. The simplest path to doing it right seems to be a It's a very simple direction to Director Miguel to simply check with ABAG, rewrite the proposal so that it is clear that PRISE is deliverable So, you know, in conjunction with the community. feedback. Period. and then bring it back. |
| 02:36:50.81 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, I am in line with the vice mayor. I mean, first of all, I want to give a huge wave of gratitude to Director McGowan and to PBAC for the amount of time that you have spent chasing this project and working to our infrastructure in general, but in particular bike safety. I mean, I was I was so touched by Kieran's comments and that this is actually a life or death issue. It is truly an unsafe pathway at this point for for bikes and for pedestrians and frankly for delivery men in a number of ways as well. And the whole purpose of the study is to get the data, to understand how much of the median is actually being used for delivery. What is the best case here? Where should we put the bike lanes? But to say we shouldn't pursue or look at it is to say, thank you very much for offering us this funding, but we're not interested. And to me, that would be foolish given the implications of our structural deficit and of our need to find funding. Here's an opportunity to demonstrate that we found funding. We're using it effectively to improve our infrastructure. Don't you want to partner with the city of Sausalito? I am aware of some of the concerns that have been brought up by other members of the council and also in our public comment. which I really appreciate. around the question of written confirmation on proceeding to construction, which if we move forward with further guidance in the direction of, I'd like to kind of propose a group direction that maybe we can all move forward with and find a path to be able to look at this further, consider Parisi and consider how we might use the grant funding because to throw away half a million dollars seems foolish. I would like to suggest that we find out from staff which is very important Councilmember Cox's concern about that if we proceed with the design are we obligated with construction because that's a valid Consideration. Um, We... Of course, there have been questions brought up about Community engagement and outreach I think that's the purpose of of this contract so perhaps we can proceed with a continuance but with Council members so be asking request that the contract be modified. to such a level that it would say, We can also look at alternative designs so that members of the community can weigh in on those alternative designs. And we could get further information about the ability to spend those grant funds. And I also, you know, just noting that we already have within our authorized budget. almost seven about seventy seven thousand dollars that we've all voted on and agreed to and specifically for this. So I would like to propose that we do continue it. We get the answers to those questions that you've asked, but that we we do. We don't just say we're not going to proceed with the contract that we go back with the direction. Let's look at a variety of designs and perhaps we also look at a variety of scopes, keeping in mind and being cognizant of the concerns that Councilmember Hoffman raised about cost. What would we get for the 67,000 for instance? What would we get for each of these respective levels going forward? So that's, I'm trying to bring us to some consensus that everyone can feel comfortable with while still supporting the efforts of the grant and the P-back here. Yeah. |
| 02:40:03.71 | Joan Cox | I just want to because I raised a lot of challenges with the existing resolution I wanted to just say i'm completely on board with continuing the item. with, reaching out to a bag to confirm that they would be open to modifying the grant to confirm that the monies can be used for alternative designs, including a no action plan. option. and Listen, I'm a bike rider, a scooter rider myself. we desperately need to do a better job of making our streets safe. for all of its users, including our bicycle riders. So I'm fully in favor. of coming up with the right solution. I just wanna make sure we do it in the right way, utilizing the right process. |
| 02:40:52.75 | Kevin McGowan | Council Member Kelman, |
| 02:40:53.59 | Melissa Kelman | Mary yeah I am hearing us all in consensus here about wanting to continue this one to look at alternatives, I just want to offer up to my colleagues that if we could provide staff with direction that cost is. literally the number one thing we need to be looking at here. To pull out money out of reserves for something that could end up costing us a lot more money is very problematic given that we haven't even looked at item 5B yet. So I just want to caution us. And so I would like to have some sort of direction to staff. I like the idea of having several different scopes, not several, but a handful that include a no action alternative. I also think that the topic of public outreach, while critical and absolutely fundamental to anything that happens here doesn't necessarily need to be embedded in each of the scopes that come back to us. I think there's ways that we can do that internally. And if it's a cost savings, we should consider that. So I want to make sure that that's clear as well. So thank you. Anyone else have comments? |
| 02:41:46.41 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:41:47.63 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 02:41:47.65 | Jill Hoffman | I'm |
| 02:41:48.67 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 02:41:48.69 | Jill Hoffman | I don't have any comments. I support the direction that we're going in, but I wanna make sure I suppose that it's clear what we're agreeing to and how we can adhere to that going forward. I think so. |
| 02:42:03.74 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, I think the direction to staff here is We continue the item we get confirmation from a bag that we are able to include the alternatives, which I believe we heard from Maureen Gaffney this evening, which is a great step forward. That we get an answer to the question about the confirmation of construction that we continue to work with Paris to have a contract that we can work with which. which solves for potential alternative designs as well. and that we use the grant funding that we received. trying to get us to consensus on a way that we can critically use this, this infrastructure grant that we, that our community members and director worked so hard on here to make us a more bike friendly city. |
| 02:42:41.38 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:42:41.65 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:42:41.68 | Joan Cox | So we would be returning with a contract, an amended contract for our review and approval. Yes, that's correct. And that way we can confirm that our direction has been carried out. |
| 02:42:50.94 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:42:50.96 | Joan Cox | Okay. |
| 02:42:51.33 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:42:51.35 | Joan Cox | And, |
| 02:43:05.39 | Jill Hoffman | I didn't. |
| 02:43:05.73 | Kevin McGowan | We're gonna talk about that. |
| 02:43:06.16 | Melissa Kelman | Good to have that. |
| 02:43:06.64 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:43:08.46 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, great. I'm glad that that's the case. Okay, so I think we have consensus on this topic going forward. I would just like to say that we are, I would hope to continue it to a date certain. Is this clear to staff, Director McGowan, does this make sense to you? Okay. Great. Do you want to take a date certain? Yes, I'd like to have it within the next... I'd like to hear it. I'm sorry? I'm sorry? |
| 02:43:32.49 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:43:33.16 | Kevin McGowan | I'd like to hear it as soon as possible. So within the next How long do you propose it would take you to amend the contract and work with Parisi, Director McAllen? |
| 02:43:43.37 | Kevin McGowan | We'll shoot for the next meeting. If we can't make it, we'll coordinate with our city manager and our city clerk to go for the next one. |
| 02:43:49.21 | Kevin McGowan | Great, thank you very much, Dr. McGowan. Thanks a lot for moving that forward. And thank you to all the members of the public who submitted comment. on this item this evening and for your patience as we are moving forward in the agenda and we will now move on to our business items. Okay. |
| 02:44:03.13 | Pat Zuck | to be. |
| 02:44:03.20 | Nicole Schaefer | So- |
| 02:44:03.52 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:44:03.54 | Pat Zuck | Yeah. |
| 02:44:04.11 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, we're going to take a three minute bio break. We're about ready to get started again. Thank you for bearing with us, everybody. As we took a short break, Okay, city clerk, are we ready to get rolling again? |
| 02:44:18.37 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, we are. |
| 02:44:19.10 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, fantastic. So thank you again to members of the public. We're now going to move to our regular agenda items with a bit of a change, considering the hour and the in light of the conversation we just had regarding The bike path specifically I think we're going to continue item five a and then we're going to go forward with item five B, and if we have time we'll get to five C, but we may have to continue item five C as well, because it is just it is 9pm and we're just going to start the CIP presentation from. Director McGowan. And as we know, capital improvements projects definitely impacts our spending and is critical. With that, I will turn it over to Director McGowan for item 5B, Capital Improvement Program Methodology and Fiscal Year 2023-24 Budget Approach to Capital Projects. |
| 02:45:04.31 | Sergio Rudin | And Mayor, can we make sure we don't have public comment on 5A, even though we are continuing it? |
| 02:45:04.32 | Kevin McGowan | and mayor. Thank you. |
| 02:45:11.71 | Kevin McGowan | to make sure we don't have public comment. |
| 02:45:13.50 | Sergio Rudin | Yes. |
| 02:45:13.94 | Kevin McGowan | We will not be taking public comment on item. We have to take it. |
| 02:45:17.38 | Joan Cox | Oh, okay. |
| 02:45:17.40 | Kevin McGowan | Oh. |
| 02:45:17.72 | Joan Cox | I'll just take it, even though we're... |
| 02:45:18.67 | Kevin McGowan | Oh, okay. All right. So pardon me. Okay. So I will open up item 5A for public comment. |
| 02:45:26.87 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Ray withy. |
| 02:45:31.83 | Unknown | Hi, Ray. |
| 02:45:38.55 | Ray Withy | Considering you're not going to hear this, I'm going to sort of be very brief. you Not all boards and commissions are equal. You've got to take each one individually. You can't make a general decision as to what to do. That's point one. Point two. Your real decision is about finance committee and what you're gonna do. my recommendation to you would be not to suspend, to actually suspend finance committee until a new finance director is hired and to form a non-Brown Act working group to work with staff of two council members to work with, you can publicly notice them. So if people wanna show up you know, make their point of view, they can. but You do not have time. There is not enough staff. You're already late. very, very late in the budget. And so you really need to get a group of council members together, non-Brown Act, roll up their sleeves and actually work through this budget. What I've heard tonight in this first president's discussion is that there are so many words about our actual financial status being thrown around And every single one of them is wrong. |
| 02:47:04.14 | Kevin McGowan | . Thank you, Mr. Withy. And I see that we have Sandra Bushmaker with her hand raised on Zoom. Welcome back, Sandra. |
| 02:47:13.64 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. I was hoping that I could turn on my video, |
| 02:47:14.23 | Kevin McGowan | Bye. |
| 02:47:17.11 | Sandra Bushmaker | Clearly, for some reason, I cannot. Council Chambers, that's why. All right, well, I just wanted to say that I'm glad to see this finally on the agenda, item 5A, and I encourage the council to be very strict about how it views its committees and boards and commissions and the committee. the impact it has on our budget, on our staff in particular. We've got to tighten our belts. And, keep it that way for quite some time. We cannot afford to to be luxurious as we have in the past. That's it. I'm sure I'll have more comments later. Thank you. |
| 02:47:56.48 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Sandra. I appreciate it. |
| 02:47:59.00 | Walfred Solorzano | No further comments? |
| 02:48:00.04 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I will close public comment at this time and we will continuing item 5A. I hope that we will hear it either at the next meeting or the first meeting in May. And I will now go over to Director McGowan for item 5B, which is Capital Improvement Projects Program Methodology. Take it away. |
| 02:48:15.38 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you Mayor, members of City Council. Good to be here again. I do have a presentation this evening. |
| 02:48:16.19 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:48:24.39 | Kevin McGowan | There we go. I think we're all set. So item 5B before you this evening is the annual presentation of the draft capital improvement program for fiscal year 2324. Next slide, please. A capital improvement program. or bless you, or the CIP is a planning document. A CIP is utilized to address improvements to our public infrastructure. Similar to other cities in the country, we have a need for many improvements to to our roads, buildings, and our infrastructure. but we have a limited amount of funding to facilitate the work. The CIP is utilized to develop a list of possible improvement projects and the funding needs to support those projects. The CIP also prioritizes the improvements with the intent to provide recommendations to the Council to allocate funds in the next fiscal year. Council is always welcome to add projects or change staff's recommendations. The five year capital improvement program is updated annually. and is intended to include to be included in the annual budget. The intent to The intent of bringing the draft document to you at this time is to allow council The ability to make changes to the recommendations to the capital list, and to make other recommendations of projects that you might want to add or delete. Next slide, please. The development of the annual CIP is needed to address priority. to address, prioritize, the capital improvement needs. Project costs are generally a rough estimate and become more refined as the projects are developed. Projects that were not funded last year remain on the list and are re-evaluated annually. Staff has provided a list of recommended projects to be considered, which includes active projects that extend into the next fiscal year. We talked about one of those. Previously. After a draft project Um, After the draft project list is developed, public works and finance staff work together to refine the funding sources to support these projects and include this information in next year's budget. It is staff's understanding that there is a very limited amount of local funding sources to support projects in fiscal year 23-24. This will limit the number of projects to be implemented. Based on this, staff anticipates continuing to apply for grant funding for several of our more expensive projects. And I'll talk about those in a moment. Next slide. The documentation and the attachments provided to the council with the staff report provide a large amount of data which can be a little difficult to navigate. Attachment one is a list of our current 31 active projects. The list shows the approximate cost and funding source for each project. These projects are in various stages of development, with several taking multiple years to complete, and as such, will require fiscal commitment. in the next fiscal year to allow the project or program to progress. Staff has examined a list of more than 65 future or potential projects for the capital improvement program and developed a priority list of projects to consider for next fiscal year. Next slide. Several years ago, staff included minor projects in the capital improvement program. Minor projects are those which require a contractor to perform the project or the work. but are generally small in nature such that council Approval may not be needed. We've noted these in the capital improvement program as programs, such as reparative facilities program or others. The list of active projects needing funding in next fiscal year are listed in in the table on this slide, excuse me, next slide. Got ahead of myself there. Let's try again. The list of active projects needing funding in the next fiscal year are listed in the table on this slide and in the staff report. The staff is finalizing the designs for the Coloma Street sidewalk project. and the Easter Bee Signal Project. Staff is recommending seeking additional grant funding in the next fiscal year. to support the construction of these projects. with the intent of constructing in the following year, which is fiscal year 2425. Those are noted in yellow on the slide for those on the screen who see this. Most state and federal grants require local funding match such that the following year's budget should address this requirement as well. Staff is recommending fiscally supporting the Bridgeway Bike Lane project. in fiscal year 2324. This project has funding for construction, and we talked about that recently. The city will need to fund the project initially and then seek reimbursement following the construction, which is a normal routine for a grant fund. This project has not been vetted by the community and staff is simply recommending allocation of funds. to be available. upon favorable approval by the community and the council. We will bring that item back to you at a later point in time. Staff also recommended next slide. Excuse me. There we go. Staff is also recommending moving forward with several new projects in the next fiscal year. These are also listed in the staff report, but of particular interest is to continue addressing our roadway infrastructure and safety projects. allocating funding for street repairs annually allows allows city funds to be placed directly into the infrastructure improvements with little design. In addition, The section of Bridgeway from Napa to San Carlos has had pedestrian and cyclists cyclists and vehicle accidents in the past. We have a consultant developing a study to identify improvements and staff is recommending addressing the first two phases of the improvements in the next fiscal year. That's noted, those two projects are noted in red on this slide. And they are... a high cost item and that's why I'm bringing it up to the council. Next slide, please. |
| 02:55:27.13 | Kevin McGowan | Just because some folks can't see what's on the slide up here, that was Bridgeway resurfacing. And what was the other one? |
| 02:55:33.73 | Kevin McGowan | So that is our... 2324 resurfacing program. |
| 02:55:35.55 | Kevin McGowan | 23 years. you |
| 02:55:38.87 | Kevin McGowan | And then the second one had to do with the bridgeway safety improvements. |
| 02:55:43.61 | Kevin McGowan | All right, okay, thank you. |
| 02:55:47.53 | Kevin McGowan | All right, great. The intent of the capital improvement program is to develop a plan that shows how much funding is needed to support these projects. We have done this by adding up all the different funding sources for each project. At this time, these numbers are in a draft form. And we will need to work with our finance department As the budget. is developed for the next fiscal year. So we'll need to refine those numbers. In addition, funding is available Uh, In addition, If additional funding is available, staff recommends placing these funds directly into roadway repairs, which requires minimal design preparation. Identifying streets, such as portions of Bridgeway, that are midway through their life expectancy and treating that roadway with a micro seal or a slurry seal can extend the lifespan of that roadway. Next slide, please. However, there are other alternatives open to counsel to consider. Addressing studies and developing designs for project allows Sausalito to be more viable for grants. For example, if The Bridgeway Study from Napa to Johnson identifies that the Napa intersection As needing additional safety improvements, it may be prudent to develop the design early in order to be more viable for grant funding. basically having a project that is ready to build or shovel ready. other projects such as the I can't see that one very well. Other projects such as the electrification of the city buildings which was brought forward by the sustainability commission may be a worthwhile study to identify the probable expense to eliminate the natural gas heating system in this building and in others to reduce the city's carbon footprint. Due to the limited budget, staff is not recommending these projects at this time, but wanted to alert the Council of possible alternative projects that could be considered. for implementation in the next fiscal year. Now the yellow box on the screen is just a recommendation based off of the 65 projects we've went through. |
| 02:58:16.18 | Kevin McGowan | Next slide, please. |
| 02:58:22.61 | Unknown | There we go. |
| 02:58:24.26 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:58:24.28 | Kevin McGowan | Oh. |
| 02:58:24.77 | Unknown | My goodness. Thank you. |
| 02:58:28.67 | Kevin McGowan | Just a moment. Steve Hoffman has just arrived with the delivery for his wife, so we're just gonna take a quick pause. Oh, fresh, fresh coffee. We didn't all get to give our order. No, it's tea. Oh, it's tea. It's heavenly. Yes, you do. |
| 02:58:34.90 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 02:58:38.44 | Unknown | Oh, it's tea. It's seven. It is heavenly. |
| 02:58:42.66 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:58:42.73 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:58:45.59 | Kevin McGowan | But you could do the dance again just in celebration of it. Yeah, now everyone at home can see it. I'm so glad. Okay, go ahead. |
| 02:58:50.57 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 02:58:50.59 | Kevin McGowan | in the room. |
| 02:58:51.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:58:52.77 | Kevin McGowan | All right. Over the last several years, we are seeing more projects come up which are emergency in nature. Whether from climate change or previous damages not addressed until now, we should always expect to have some projects that come up throughout the fiscal year. Unfortunately, we have only limited staffing. And as such, many of our projects are taking longer to complete based off unexpected work. Examples of unexpected work include roof repairs for our city hall, floor repairs for the old city hall building. and efforts to underground utilities here in town. Ultimately, we would like to identify these issues before they become emergencies. For example, there is a project to study the structure owned by the city, but occupied by the Spinnaker restaurant. The concern relates to the possible damages to the structure from the last several storms over the last couple of years. The study is proposed to determine if improvements or repairs are needed to the actual building. Next slide. |
| 03:00:06.61 | Kevin McGowan | Public Works has an active project list of 31 projects. And we are in that are in various states of development with some of these needing funding in the next fiscal year. Staff has developed the draft five year capital improvement program. which addresses the limited funding available for the to the city. and recommends proceeding with the projects noted in the staff report. Sausalito is a very limited staffing. of less than two FTE dedicated to the CIP. That's very little for 31 projects that are active and adding more. We welcome your input related to the list and are ready to make changes. and work with our finance department to incorporate these changes in the next Next slide, please. |
| 03:01:03.65 | Kevin McGowan | There we go. Lastly, This is a very dynamic process at this point in time. Our intent is to identify capital projects before they become emergencies. However, this is becoming more and more difficult with the age of and the present state of our infrastructure. Putting local funds into projects that directly improve the safety aspects for residents, such as roadway repairs and road treatments, is recommended by staff. Pursuing projects that allow the city to be ready to receive grant funding is also a necessity. This concludes my presentation and thank you very much. I'm here for questions. |
| 03:01:46.23 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much, Dr. McGowan. We truly appreciate it. And I think I saw council member Cox and then councilman McKellman both had questions. |
| 03:01:53.19 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you. Two FTEs is not a lot. That's a big lift. And thank you. |
| 03:02:01.43 | Kevin McGowan | FTE is full-time employee because not everyone at home knows what our acronyms are here at the city. Full-time equivalency. |
| 03:02:07.32 | Joan Cox | Yeah, full-time equivalent, yeah. Thank you for, you know, undertaking and managing what you do with limited resources. And one of our goals, obviously, is to ensure that we're able to provide an appropriate level of service without sacrificing the health and well-being of our staff in doing so. So thank you for your efforts. I had a couple of questions. Should you want to proceed with additional projects and should there be funding available through grant funding or through the use of some of our enterprise funds, such as the Tidelands Fund, could you not hire an outside construction manager to alleviate some of the pressure on staff of overseeing the 31 projects that are active. |
| 03:02:58.70 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, we can. And in my career, I have done that in the past where we've hired an outside consultant to manage some of the capital improvement program. |
| 03:03:07.12 | Joan Cox | That was Lauren. |
| 03:03:07.14 | Kevin McGowan | That was Lauren. That was how we were. |
| 03:03:08.76 | Joan Cox | That was how Lauren first came to work with us. |
| 03:03:10.82 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. you have to remember that managing that person is part of the equation too. Absolutely. |
| 03:03:18.21 | Joan Cox | Absolutely. that that falls on your shoulders, unfortunately, but alleviate some of the pressure on your day-to-day staff. So just if there was something we were able to identify funding for, and the funding's available in a finite period of time, it might be worth the investment to spend 8% to 10% of the project cost on a dedicated CM, for example. Yeah. I wanted to also be sure that as you're considering future project ranking, you're looking at So many of the several of the projects on your list have to do with our sewers, but we are considering. consolidating with Sausalito Marin City Sanitary District. So I would like to ensure that The evaluation of these projects bears in mind that potential future. Because it's possible if we accomplish that in 2024, which is ambitious, but if we accomplish that, they are in the business of doing that. They might be able to do that more efficiently, more economically than we are. I wanted to be sure that we're taking that we're factoring into account those kinds of considerations. with the corporation yard we're considering using that for an entirely different purpose. Yet I saw two projects on here to upgrade. interior and the generator for the corporation yard. So I wanted to be sure that as we're considering how best to prioritize these that you are aware of the big picture considerations from the council level. So is there a way that you, are informed and are you aware of These examples, for example, that I've provided to you |
| 03:05:12.24 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. So just to add a little bit to that, I haven't been into the details about the corporation yard. But. If you recall, We're trying to keep all projects that have come up on the CIP and So the generator project that you mentioned It may have been brought up four years ago. I'm continuing to keep it on the CIP. It gets pushed out. multiple years. because of what you just mentioned, that there may be more things happening at that facility. that may preempt it, but we're not losing track of the fact that it needs to be done. |
| 03:05:47.30 | Joan Cox | Understood. I also wanted to be sure that you're considering all possible grant funds. So I today received a solicitation email from a company that facilitates funds for solar. And there's a May 1, state of California deadline to apply for certain solar grant funding and I saw a couple of solar projects on your list so and the fund designation for those did not include grant funding, so I wanted to. Ensure that we're working with our grant writer to also coordinate how we prioritize projects to be sure that we're seeking grants that are available that relate to the projects that are on our priority list. |
| 03:06:34.70 | Kevin McGowan | So that's a very decent comment and I appreciate that, but I'm not an expert on all the grants that may come up. So again, these type of projects have come up in multiple years in the past, and we're continuing to have them on the list. If the council decides that seeking grant funding for solar, since you had that example, is a priority. then yes, we would raise that priority on our list and work with California Consulting or whoever is recommended to seek those grants. And and raise that priority up to the next fiscal year or the year after, whatever works out. |
| 03:07:12.76 | Joan Cox | And it wasn't really intended as a comment. It's really a question of how can we ensure that As we are prioritizing these, we know what grants are available as well as what logistically is a priority for us. So I want to make sure you're getting the resources you need to understand what's available and how best to prioritize. Along those same lines, There are other enterprise funds like the Tidelands Fund that I think could perhaps be utilized to you know the shoreline rock riprap repair. I'm not sure Tidelands was designated for that, but I'm wondering if that would be a possible source of funds, since that's an enterprise fund that can only be spent on certain narrow projects so. I guess I'm just trying to better understand our process for understanding a funding source, which could relate to how we prioritize. |
| 03:08:22.53 | Kevin McGowan | So at this point, I rely on California Consulting to help me with the grant aspect of that. I wish I had enough time to go ahead and seek out all the grants, but I don't. Thank you. |
| 03:08:32.98 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:08:33.00 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:08:33.01 | Unknown | Absolutely. |
| 03:08:33.45 | Kevin McGowan | Now, the other part that you mentioned has to do with working with our finance department to make sure that I know. |
| 03:08:33.50 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:08:39.88 | Kevin McGowan | What type of funding do we have? Is this in the STAIRS fund? Because recently I heard we have money. in the stairs fund. Great. That's why I wanted to bring that project forward. And if you see on your list, it is in the list for next year. However, I don't know all the ins and outs of the Tidelands Funds, so that's why I work with our finance director to say, What do you have? What can we use? How can we use these funds? |
| 03:09:04.28 | Joan Cox | Thank you. And I saw that you did designate the old city hall fund for the Jean Hiller repairs. So I see that you are doing that work. I just wanted to inquire about the process to make sure that we're continuing to make sure the left and the right hand are communicating especially because you're a staff member with more institutional knowledge than some of our newer staff members. And so it's important that we are communicating. |
| 03:09:32.53 | Kevin McGowan | We do our best, but I'm sure we'll miss something along the way. But we'll do our best. |
| 03:09:35.94 | Joan Cox | Thank you for your efforts. Thank you for accommodating my questions. Yeah. That's my. |
| 03:09:39.97 | Melissa Kelman | comment. |
| 03:09:40.45 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:09:40.50 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. Thank you, Dr. McGowan. I'll just say on the grants, I'll brag on Director McGowan. He put together a pretty amazing priority list that he then gave to California Consulting. And I believe that that team, when they look to prioritize the grants, go directly to this list and say, okay, what fits with this? And in that respect, are supporting your priorities. So thank you for that. I know that's been really, really helpful for them. So speaking of criteria and things like that, when you and I were emailing this morning, I asked you about their criteria that you were applying and you gave me seven or eight I couldn't find that in the material. So where did I miss that? |
| 03:10:17.17 | Kevin McGowan | You didn't miss it. I forgot to include it. So I have a hard copy for you if I can... |
| 03:10:19.93 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. |
| 03:10:22.57 | Kevin McGowan | Hand one out to me. |
| 03:10:23.60 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. Oh, yay. Great. So my question was, what is the criteria that you're using? And top three immediate threat to health and safety, will cause a safety issue if not addressed, required by law. So I wanted to make sure we're on the same page with that. And then, Kevin, there was some talk from the city manager and you at the last meeting about doing a postmortem on the storm impacts. And I'm mentioning that because I saw that you sort of classify that as a reactive issue here. Is that something that's in the works? |
| 03:10:50.58 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, we were actually prepared to do that in the last couple meetings. And I just don't think we've had enough time with the council to schedule it. We can be ready next time and make it fairly short to give you an update. |
| 03:11:03.29 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. And then I have two efficiency questions. very fascinated to hear you insert the limited staffing, not insert, but mention the limited staffing as an element of analysis. And I think it's something maybe we've overlooked in that something like road repairs, which require very little design, very little staff oversight, but a huge impact for our residents and our businesses seems to have a tremendous upside on many of these criteria. Is that something that you can help us, help you figure out how to better identify? I mean, it's one thing to put maybe money as Council Member Cox very astutely mentioned, put money towards a project manager, but at the same time, if something is, because it doesn't require that oversight. Is there a way for us to help identify more of those? Is it only as for roads? I don't know. jumbled question there. |
| 03:11:54.40 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. It's kind of a difficult question. When I look at a capital improvement program, not just for city of Sausalito, but for the other I've worked. The Capital Improvement Program includes finance. It includes the list of projects, so that organization of those projects. And it also includes an analysis of staff. Do you have enough people to complete the work that is on or they are on the capital improvement program. Now, we haven't necessarily gotten into that detail, with this presentation, there just isn't enough time tonight. If you recall in years past, Public Works has made a presentation to you on, what duties do we do? How did I come up with that to FTE? And that is part of this equation. So the way to help us get through some of this is that if, The city of Sausalito doesn't want to hire a permanent employee. We can hire a consultant to work as our, as, as, uh, Councilmember Cox had mentioned. as a consultant for us to manage several projects. How many? Usually for a capital project manager, it's six to seven max. You don't go over that. Now we have 31 on here and we all have two people working on it. So, you know, There's something to go along with that, but we could use some additional help in order to get through these projects. Something to consider. However, like I also mentioned in my presentation for us, moving these projects is a little bit slower than we would have if we had more people on board. So that's the cost. We have 31 projects. If we had more people, we may be able to get them done in a year and a half. And And since we don't, they will probably take longer. That's something that you should know about. |
| 03:13:45.94 | Melissa Kelman | So on that same thinking, is there an efficiency? Let's say we just decided we were only going to focus on roads. And that was our number one priority. Do you have a sense of the efficiency in terms of staffing and resources and contractor and RFPs? I mean, it could be significant. Plus, if we improve this... PCI rating, right? That helps us down the road with more grant money. It helps us improve our safety rating. I mean, it seems like there's a much bigger lens here that I just didn't see in the materials, but I want to pull out of you. |
| 03:14:16.77 | Kevin McGowan | It's true. A resurfacing project has much less design cost. It's simply go pave that road type of thing. So there's much more efficiency with resurfacing an existing road Ours are a little complex when you get to the concrete roads because they're just more complex, you're on the right track. If we can get to... assigning funding to projects that have little or no design, or the same type of construction management. we're going to save on that soft cost. And we can put more money into the construction itself. That's more bang for the buck for our residents in Sausalito. |
| 03:14:55.74 | Melissa Kelman | I think it might be criteria number seven. I don't know. Thank you. That's all. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you. |
| 03:15:00.82 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:15:00.95 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:15:01.04 | Kevin McGowan | Any other questions? And then Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 03:15:04.21 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, thank you, Director McGowan. Thank you very much, Director McGowan. Many of my questions were already asked, but I'll start with... where Councilmember Kellman was going with that. uh, I appreciate that this is a multi-year plan, I'm wondering if it's possible to generate a PCI improvement plan over even a longer span of time. If we wanted to move, I think we're in this 0.6-ish. Is that what our average PCI is? I asked you this a long time ago. |
| 03:15:34.97 | Kevin McGowan | Indexs are rated from zero to 100. I believe ours is somewhere in the 60 range, which isn't great. but you have to remember that many of our streets are concrete. and that that should play |
| 03:15:50.03 | Ian Sobieski | to the equation. if we had the ambition or just discussion around where do we want our average PCI to be? in one year, in five years, in 10 years, and in 15 years, would that help inform a kind of, near-term and long-term capital expenditure plan around pavement management. |
| 03:16:08.42 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, in fact, that report that we are scheduled to receive this week from MTC should lay that out for us. It should tell us. If you put in $2 million a year, you're You're going to have a PCI of this in five years. So, Let me review the report and we can bring it back to your council. |
| 03:16:27.03 | Ian Sobieski | as information. That'd be exciting to see. It's a measurable... It's a nice because it's a very measurable quantity. and an easy quantity then to manage. But when you said per year, that really struck me too. the. I think you answered it. The real constraint on us isn't money as much as people. I mean, you can hire more people, but you're designing this $3.78 million over five years with the two FTEs as one of the constraints on how many of these projects we can do. Thank you. |
| 03:16:56.33 | Kevin McGowan | you |
| 03:16:56.34 | Ian Sobieski | Well, |
| 03:16:56.97 | Kevin McGowan | believe |
| 03:16:57.64 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 03:16:57.81 | Kevin McGowan | Our staffing is limited. I'm just mentioning that If we want to seek out more staff to help us, we may be able to get more done. |
| 03:17:06.28 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 03:17:07.89 | Kevin McGowan | I'll see you next time. |
| 03:17:08.04 | Ian Sobieski | So that flips the question around. you know, what is our goal? total capital improvement budget for all our capital improvements? And how much do we plan to have a sense of how much we spend on it every year? Thank you. How much we draw that down. |
| 03:17:24.16 | Kevin McGowan | So remember, projects are multiple years. All right. And I can go backwards in time and take a look at what we had for last year. I think we were in somewhere the four to six million dollar range. This year, we're looking at 3.7 million. That's right. |
| 03:17:38.03 | Ian Sobieski | or five years or so. So any, that's just next year. Justin, okay. I misunderstood that. So that is just this year's capital spend, which includes projects that are already in process. and new projects that you're adding. Okay, that's clear to me now. So thank you very much. So that's our annual spend. for this year. on it. Thank you. |
| 03:17:56.79 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:17:56.84 | Jill Hoffman | Remember Hoffman? |
| 03:18:00.69 | Jill Hoffman | So Kevin, just to clarify for people who may be going through this at home or, you know, we go back through. Attachment one is the project list. So these are all projects. But attachment two, and it was a little bit confusing when I was looking through it because you have a total score and you have a line number like the project number. But the priority list is really attachment to. Yes. Where you say it says it's the project that says future project ranking. So. |
| 03:18:31.35 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:18:31.37 | Kevin McGowan | Right. |
| 03:18:36.04 | Kevin McGowan | So why don't I clarify that just a little bit? Attachment one says active project list. These are the ones we're working on. |
| 03:18:38.27 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. |
| 03:18:44.01 | Kevin McGowan | So if you just run through that list, these are all the things that have a designation A next to them, which is active. attachment two to your documentation. is the rating for the proposed projects. not the active ones, just for the ones that are on the five-year list. And that has to do with the ratings that I handed out as a paper copy to you. Attachment three. And remember with all of these, what we're trying to get to is how much money do we have to set aside for next fiscal year? So you have to take into account the active projects that will extend to next year. and the proposed projects. So attachment three are the future projects. which we are recommending. plus the active projects. And that list will help us kind of determine, all right, how much money do we need? Now, the last attachment is kind of the bigger document, and I've handed this out to you in years past. It's called attachment four, it's 136 pages, but it details each one of the projects. So it provides you with some background, you say, okay, what the heck is this drainage project here? And you can go and look it up and find out what the details are. The idea is to be open and transparent with these projects so that you have an idea of what they are. |
| 03:20:03.83 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you very much for that explanation. And so, if we wanted to look at the priorities or we wanted to move a priority around, especially for... Cattle Improvement Program for 23-24. you would look all the way over on attachment two, all the way over to the ranking, on the right-hand side. And that's where you're currently ranking. So in other words, that top line storm drain condition assessment, that's ranked number one. That's going to be a top priority for... |
| 03:20:33.51 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 03:20:33.95 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. And I have a specific question, I've asked you this question before. But I didn't warn you I was going to ask it tonight. So if you don't know the answer, it's fine. My apologies. But Edwards Avenue, the resurfacing of Edwards Avenue. I get questions about that a lot. And every time I drive up there, I think, where are we at on this? So, but I don't see it on here. Am I not, am I, |
| 03:21:00.07 | Kevin McGowan | It's labeled as something different on the active project lists. |
| 03:21:03.68 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:21:03.72 | Unknown | Okay, great. |
| 03:21:04.15 | Kevin McGowan | It is the resurfacing program for 20. Let me see if I can find the right number here quickly. For 22. It's our active project number 12 called 2022 resurfacing program. And it includes Edwards. |
| 03:21:23.81 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, gotcha. um, That's on attachment number one, in that if you look in the, I was in the third column under project numbers, and you said it was line number 22? |
| 03:21:37.67 | Kevin McGowan | Project number 12. |
| 03:21:39.42 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, pardon me, product number 12. Okay, there it is. So, and that includes Edwards Avenue. |
| 03:21:44.77 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, it does. |
| 03:21:45.28 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, and I think we've talked about those resurfacing projects in the past, and Edwards Avenue is listed on there, but it just wasn't called out here. And so, okay, my next question is... and this may be a question in the overall budget, but if we're talking about a master plan for the city? Is that, that's under a different budget area or is that under a couple projects and what? |
| 03:22:09.68 | Kevin McGowan | What type of master plan? If we're looking at such as the general plan, or I'm confused. |
| 03:22:17.58 | Jill Hoffman | I think Chris is leaning in, so he might, our city manager. |
| 03:22:18.47 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:22:21.46 | Jill Hoffman | Chris, are you leaning in because you have something to add? |
| 03:22:24.31 | Chris Zapata | I do council member. Yeah, that's separate from the captain permit program. |
| 03:22:28.07 | Jill Hoffman | Where would we discuss that and how that's prioritized? |
| 03:22:31.82 | Chris Zapata | that's that's where It would be more in the community development and planning section as opposed to the public works side. |
| 03:22:41.66 | Maureen Gaffney | Okay. |
| 03:22:42.01 | Chris Zapata | And as they build a budget, if that's something that you're interested in, delving into deeper, then that's where you would try to program that money. |
| 03:22:50.15 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Oh, great. And that'll come up as we move through our budget process this spring. |
| 03:22:56.25 | Chris Zapata | if that's your desire as a council, sure. |
| 03:22:58.77 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. OK. |
| 03:22:59.56 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, it wouldn't be Kevin's. It would be more Brandon. |
| 03:23:01.35 | Jill Hoffman | more All right, no, thank you for that. Okay, one last request, Kevin, if you could attach this appendix to the ranking criteria to the agenda as another attachment, that'd be great. So then we can find it. |
| 03:23:04.49 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:23:15.49 | Kevin McGowan | Absolutely, I'll modify the documents for you. |
| 03:23:18.21 | Kevin McGowan | Thanks so much. |
| 03:23:18.92 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:23:19.10 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Hi director McGowan again, thank you for being with us just a couple of questions I was happy to hear Councilmember Hoffman mentioned Edwards to Marion because specifically with regards to the storm that's been an area of the storms. An area of erosion that we're concerned with with regards to landslides in particular, and I know that we had an RFP for the first step in the landslide task force recommendations for a study a geological assessment study, but we also. had significant public comment around the North Street steps, which I do see on this list. I'm just wondering because we have heard from the property and all that's directly impacted and some of the neighbors about the the need for improvements there as well. So I wanted to get a sense from you of what's covered by the North Street steps project here and what we can expect just to mitigate the landslide landslide risk. |
| 03:24:10.81 | Kevin McGowan | So let's see if I can find that quickly for us. I believe it is on our list on the active project list. It is number 27. And what I'm noting here at this point in time, and we this evening, we approved a professional or authorized the city manager. to execute a contract with Miller Pacific in the amount of $38,000. However, Next fiscal year, I'm suggesting that we allocate $150,000 in order to do the actual construction. Um, I'm not sure if that's exactly the right number, You know, we try to allocate at least some so that we stay ahead of it. |
| 03:24:53.81 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Yeah, because it's obviously better to address those issues when it's not the rainy season so we can get ahead of those. So that's great to see. I also saw that you had the building HVAC electrification on there. I was happy to see that. I recently had a discussion with Dana Amonino at our county. And she's their, essentially their sustainability and climate, similar to the Katy of the county. And I understand there are grants available specifically for those types of efforts with regards to our HVAC. Have you heard about those yet? I've introduced Katie to Dana, so that conversation should start, |
| 03:25:27.08 | Kevin McGowan | No, I've worked with Dana in the past. I'll reach out to her. |
| 03:25:30.07 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. |
| 03:25:30.64 | Kevin McGowan | Fantastic. |
| 03:25:30.97 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. And I think that there's also grant funding available for a number of, for instance, the climate change adaptation study here, Councilmember Kellman, Um... has mentioned this evening the million dollars that we received for sea level rise. So I wonder if some of that might be potentially used for the climate change adaptation specifically and whether that was in consideration? Because I see that on that specific active project or prioritization, you did mention the sea level rise task force. Can you explain how you're planning to move that forward. |
| 03:25:58.69 | Kevin McGowan | Exactly. So I will need Council Member Kelman's help with how do we incorporate that million dollars into the CIP so I show it correctly. At this point, I don't have enough information of how that funding is going to be utilized. Is it going to be utilized simply for studies? or for actual physical improvements. So I'll reach out to Councilmember Kelman separately. and improve the the data that I have in these documents. |
| 03:26:28.00 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, great. That sounds good. And we're obviously thrilled to have that funding. Great work, Councilmember Kellman. And then just on the topic of the signals, which is just around just under a million dollars for the signal improvements, I again had to you for your excellent work of providing the CIP list to California Concepts. I understand that there is a pending grant for $9 million specifically for a signal adaptation. Is that right? |
| 03:26:52.77 | Kevin McGowan | So let me know where to find that. I'll be glad to find that. |
| 03:26:55.22 | Kevin McGowan | I know that we have applied for it. So I think we're waiting to hear back at this point. So that could be really good news. And it's to update our signals to do utilize more smart city technology to make them better digitized and more effective, but it would also provide for obviously general improvement of the signals so |
| 03:26:58.31 | Kevin McGowan | you Thank you. |
| 03:27:12.47 | Kevin McGowan | Hopefully that will happen as well. Okay, great. I think those were my general questions with regards to what you have here, but thank you for putting together a comprehensive plan that looks at this key criteria. And did we have, I know Vice Mayor, you had one more question? Okay, yes, please, Councilman McCauley. |
| 03:27:31.01 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:27:31.25 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:27:31.27 | Joan Cox | Two quick ones. So I saw that we have Mary Ann Sears Park access improvements. But we just built that park. Or at least to me it feels like we just built that park. |
| 03:27:42.17 | Kevin McGowan | tomorrow. |
| 03:27:43.23 | Joan Cox | And so I was curious about what acts, what we didn't, what we didn't do. for access that we need to do. |
| 03:27:50.39 | Kevin McGowan | I think it has to do with the access straight to this building right down in front down here. that when you come off of Mary Ann Sears Park, there needs to be better access to come into the building itself. Let me look into the details specifically. |
| 03:28:03.45 | Joan Cox | I think you're talking about Robin Sweeney Park. I'm talking about Marianne Sears Park up on Harrison Street. |
| 03:28:06.11 | Kevin McGowan | Oh, that's right. |
| 03:28:09.98 | Kevin McGowan | You know, they have to look up the details. Give me a sec. |
| 03:28:12.63 | Joan Cox | Thank you. It's item number 2023F015 on your future plus active project listing. |
| 03:28:24.88 | Kevin McGowan | It says the, I have this on the list from a few years ago. The project includes accessibility improvements to the entrance to the park. The work may include the installation of handrails and the replacement of the concrete surface Parking for the park may also need to be addressed. So is the parking an issue? Is the parking on a slope? My guess is that might be what the issue is. |
| 03:28:48.05 | Joan Cox | Okay, I know we went through so many as a planning commissioner and we went through so many study sessions to be sure we had addressed accessibility for elderly and kids and pets, so I just was curious about what where we fell short on that. |
| 03:29:06.63 | Kevin McGowan | I will re-examine that one and see if I can come up with a good answer. |
| 03:29:10.36 | Joan Cox | And then the mayor mentioned the North Street steps, but I noticed in the actual expenditures that included the Dunphy Park soil DISPOSITION. And I wasn't sure how the two of those related. |
| 03:29:28.89 | Kevin McGowan | I think the soil disposition should be its own separate project. |
| 03:29:33.02 | Joan Cox | Yeah. I went through too many of these charts to easily find it again, but I just remember as I was going through it, I was curious about how the two of those related. If I come across it, I'll... I'll. I'll flag it for you. |
| 03:29:50.52 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, I do have those as two separate projects. So be glad to work with you on that, though. |
| 03:29:54.59 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, thank you. The city manager has his hand raised. |
| 03:29:59.85 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, can I go after you're done with your questions, Mayor? |
| 03:30:02.64 | Kevin McGowan | Absolutely. Of course you can. I had one more question, if there's no other questions. I just, given the discussion about all of the available grant funding and the emphasis on grant funding and our structural deficit, assuming we were to receive a $9 million grant, say, or an additional $5 million for sea level rise, I just want to clarify that in that case, we could make changes to what our CIP five-year plan looks like accordingly based on the funding that we were going to receive. |
| 03:30:27.61 | Kevin McGowan | Absolutely. You can make changes to this anytime. This is just staff's attempt to try to Make sure that we keep these projects on the list and ask your consideration of what you think is important that we move forward with. |
| 03:30:39.24 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Okay, are there any further questions from members of the council at this time? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to the city manager who had his hand raised. Please take it away. |
| 03:30:49.75 | Chris Zapata | Thank you mayor council members of the public. I want to thank Kevin and his team for their work. developing this document, but I also want to thank, um, the be committing on a number of levels. A year and a half ago, we said that infrastructure was a priority. You know, we said our budget and our finances are priorities. And so tonight you are doing budget work tonight, talking about the capital improvement program is budget work. talking about your infrastructure has been something that I think is resonating as a real priority for this council and certainly our community. I wanted to really say a little bit about the million dollars that Councilmember Kelman and her team chased in THE CITY RECEIVED A CHECK FOR THAT MILLION DOLLARS. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF ASKING the folks that gave us $1 million, what the parameters of use for that money are. As soon as we get more information, we'd like to come back to the council and talk about this has been received by the good gracious of Senator McGuire in the state of California. And these are the ideas we have for the expending of that funding. and then maybe everybody would know more about it. But I think, you know, to talk about grants, which, you know, we've ramped up to talk about infrastructure, which is critical and to actually have some good news. I think is very positive. As Chad comes on board and provides more information on the uses of specific funds like the title is fun, or the stair fund or the parking fund, we'll start to clean up and simplify our budget in a way that I think is understandable to the community and can be applied to the capital improvement program that our team has worked on. That concludes my comment there. |
| 03:32:35.30 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much city manager. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and open this item up to public comment. |
| 03:32:43.79 | Unknown | And we have, yeah, Ray Whitey, Ray Withy, sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back, Ray. |
| 03:32:55.17 | Ray Withy | I meant to say last time, actually, that this is the first time I've been in this room for three years. Wow. |
| 03:33:02.78 | Timothy McLeod | Wow. Um, |
| 03:33:05.27 | Ray Withy | I wanted to pick up on something the city manager said, which is, and a little bit about what I said before, which is there is work to do to integrate your capital project with your budget, you know. And... For instance, you've got budgeted X number of years down the road parking fund. to pay for this or MLK fund to pay for that. You need to make sure in your budget discussions, when you look at the P&L moving forward for each of those enterprise funds, that you're going to save enough fund balance to pay for those down the road. MLK is particularly important Because depending upon the fund balance you want to reach, and you're there, I think, personally, Your MLK fund has the opportunity to throw off to the general fund, somewhere between $800,000 and a million dollars per year of operating revenue. But it depends on how much you want to keep in the MLK fund for capital improvements or to just risk protect your revenue stream in case you have a tenant walkout. Um, I've only got 30 seconds left. I want to acknowledge and make sure everybody understands the really heavy lifting that Kevin... and finance did in 2019 when he came 2019 he came on board in 2020 to revamp the capital improvement pan i mean this was a totally different thing than the sort of thing i walked in on in 2013. totally different and he deserves a lot of credit and then very finally in the remaining five seconds I want to make sure that there's no history lost and that the ADA, in particular, the ADA transition plan, which was part of the SCAF settlement agreement and litigation is factored in. to the capital improvement plan. |
| 03:35:09.66 | Joan Cox | Thank you, Ray. Okay. May I ask you a question? Ray. You mentioned throwing off operating capital from the MLK fund. |
| 03:35:21.08 | Ray Withy | I think it's good. |
| 03:35:22.15 | Joan Cox | Yeah. There are some who believe that the MLK fund should be reserved for expenditure on parks since 2020. I forget why, but who believe that those monies should be reserved for maintenance and upgrades to our parks. Are you aware of that line of thinking? |
| 03:35:45.30 | Ray Withy | Well, I think the thinking was, I mean, you can move money from the MLK fund. subject to coverage of the COPs to in into the general fund anytime you want by council resolution. OK, there's going to be some certain accounting reasons you need to keep a balance. So the COPs. But other than that, no, it's totally up to you as to whether you reserve it in the fund or throw off operating capital. You think you've got a structural deficit. Why would you forego a million dollars? What do you want in three years' time, $3 million in the MLK fund for it? |
| 03:36:20.45 | Joan Cox | I agree subject to the COPs, but because the MLK site is confined to a recreational park use, there was thought that the revenues generated by that site should be confined to that same use. |
| 03:36:36.13 | Ray Withy | That's just a thinking of some resonance. |
| 03:36:38.45 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:36:38.47 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:36:38.49 | Kevin McGowan | I think you should be mindful that this is not agendized. So let's be careful how much we delve into a discussion about the budget. this evening. |
| 03:36:44.72 | Ray Withy | Let's see. The key is what it could do for capital, right? |
| 03:36:48.40 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Okay. Additional public comment? |
| 03:36:51.15 | Ray Withy | computer. |
| 03:36:51.52 | Peter | I'm going to make it. |
| 03:36:51.70 | Walfred Solorzano | later. |
| 03:36:51.99 | Peter | Thank you. |
| 03:36:52.11 | Kevin McGowan | OK? Hi, Peter. Welcome back. |
| 03:36:54.66 | Peter | Yes, no better time perhaps than to suggest a particular pavement project in Sausalito. We have severely broken up pavement on a small stretch. |
| 03:37:01.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:37:01.37 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 03:37:05.05 | Peter | OF PROSPECT BETWEEN Spencer and Cloud View Road. THAT IS A HAZARD BECAUSE IT'S A DOWNHILL CORNER MAKING A TURN. And when you come down that road, your tires jump and squeal and I think we need some emergency. work in that area. Thank you. |
| 03:37:23.97 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Peter. Do we have any further public comment at this time? |
| 03:37:28.07 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. No further comment. |
| 03:37:29.40 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, so I will bring it back up to the diaspora discussion with another huge thank you to director McGowan for his hard work on the capital improvements program not just this evening, but as Ray with he pointed out over several years in this role, a huge. huge improvements and thank you so much for your time, given your limited staff, especially. Okay. Who wants to get us started from the dice? Councilmember Kelman. Happy to. |
| 03:37:52.17 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. All right. Well, so a couple of things that came up tonight that are really interesting that I think future maybe materials could be helpful for all of us. Kevin, a lot of questions about grants. And so it'd be nice to be able to devise some of those projects into those with grant monies attached and those without. And then, of course, the questions we had in item 3B, can a grant project be modified to align with city priorities? What's the cost of delaying it, etc. So, there's an interesting grant question. I also really pulled from this conversation the old adage of work smarter, not harder. So, I think there's a really interesting analysis to be done around the efficiencies for projects that require very little staff time, but have a huge upside to the community. And I think that is the road repair system that you have been suggesting to us. I know it's a big ticket item. It is one of your biggest items. The 2023 street resurfacing is 1.4 million. I wholeheartedly agree that that takes off all six of your criteria, plus my new seventh one about working smarter, not harder with fewer staff. So I would love to have a conversation with my colleagues about that. So so from that, I think that's kind of how we should assess this. What is the highest and best use of these funds in the most efficient manner? Where do we get the most bang for our buck? Where we can deploy very little design or overview? And then are these projects in line with the council's priorities? And so just for specific ones, 2023 street resurfacing, stairway repairs, marineship tennis courts, those all fit, I think, within the criteria that you've mentioned. We've talked about Princess Richardson already. Safety, bridgeway safety improvements, I think that is appropriately elevated as well. And then slide nine of the presentation had a handful of other projects. And by the way, I'm very pleased to see how heavy we are on storm drain repair, sewer repair. I know we're considering consolidation, but there are things that we can and should do so that things don't get worse and we have some leverage in a consolidation conversation. So that Coloma gate percentage storm drain repair that some of the stuff that has a gate five that we're already looking at. And then finally, the things that are free. So the city building HVAC electrification That initial study is actually free under the Bayran resources. And so why wouldn't we undertake that it's no cost to us. I think actually sustainability Commission is already looking at that. and it apparently has a cost savings at the end of the day. So I guess thematically, I'm thinking, more efficient, less staff time, cost savings in the end. Something that if we act now has a cost savings in the future is a lens that I'd like to apply. And so I agree with a lot of what you put out there. And so I think it's a, Good place. I don't, not looking at things and wordsmithing, you know, item number 34 needs to be number 32. I don't think that's a good use of, you know, your time tonight, but thank you. Everything else was really helpful. on some of our cocks. |
| 03:40:53.40 | Joan Cox | Thank you. I think those, I endorse everything Council Member Kelman said. our action tonight is to accept the report on the general strategy, and I absolutely accept the report on the general strategy. I appreciate the inclusion of the rating criteria, which really helps us to better understand how these ratings were developed. I would like to include in the in the general strategy the lens that I discussed, which is where we have the opportunity to utilize grant funding. consider you getting outside help if we need it in order to move forward with those grant funded projects within the time constraints, since we're not spending city money And if we're using grant funding to accomplish one of our priorities, let's not let scarce city resources hamper us. Thank you. |
| 03:41:50.42 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Councilmember Cox. Vice mayor, any comments? |
| 03:41:56.01 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you, Kevin. |
| 03:41:57.24 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 03:42:01.34 | Jill Hoffman | I agree with the general plan that's been set forth and I accept your report. So thank you. uh, I think I don't disagree with the comments of my fellow council members. And at this point, I don't have any further direction for you other than accepting the report. Thank you. I know it's a heavy lift for you. |
| 03:42:24.19 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Thank you. I'm thrilled to see that we all have consensus in supporting our fabulous director of public works, director McGowan for your hard work on this. I just wanted to agree with the direction from all of our council members and just put a reminder or a push to really when possible, focus on climate change adaptation, as I know that that is clearly a priority for this council and there's a lot of grant funding for it. So I'll just reiterate for the purposes of staff direction. I think we all agree that we accept the general strategy, but a couple of things that were brought up here that are important to consider. The items that are free, let's do them. So the building HVAC study, of course, let's move that forward. Let's be as smart as we can about these things. So using less staff time, let's apply that lens. Let's where we have the opportunity to utilize grant funding, look at getting help for it. So you're not out on a limb doing all of this great work. And I think. that we're all on board in moving this forward. So again, thank you so much. And staff, is that direction clear for the minutes? Okay. All right, great. I think if we have it in us, and that closes that item, I would like to try to hear the waiver of the ordinance amending municipal code to extend the multi-unit smoking because I don't imagine that will be a controversial issue amongst this group thank you very much for being here thank you director mcgowan and if we can hammer that out now if there is the okay so let's let's just let's do that so we don't have to continue item 5c and then we'll be moving on the agenda and let's try to move this as fast as we can so who is presenting from staff Sergio hello welcome back |
| 03:44:01.73 | Sergio Rudin | Hi, folks. I hope you're enjoying your evening. So tonight, before you have introduction, waiver of first reading of Ordinance 02-2023, an ordinance amending and restating Chapter 1228, 8 of Title 12 of the SOS-LITER Municipal Code to update and extend the city's multi-unit smoking ban. As Council is already aware, in 2012, the city adopted its first smoke-free ordinance, which required that all new units in apartment buildings and buildings be smoke-free. It also imposed requirements that all common areas and multifamily properties also be smoke-free. Those restrictions included a couple of exceptions that allowed common interest developments to allow smoking if approved by a majority voter of their membership. So this is, you know, homeowners associations, condo complexes, and similar. Additionally, a landlord was permitted to designate up to 20% of the units in rental complex smoking units. The proposed ordinance before you tonight would eliminate those exceptions. Additionally, it would provide a grace period of a year to implement the new provisions. And this is important in part because landlords may have existing leases that |
| 03:45:17.31 | Unknown | So, |
| 03:45:22.25 | Sergio Rudin | designate units as smoking and it would probably be appropriate for the city to avoid having to terminate any existing leases that landlords may have. So this would allow landlords to phase out any existing year long leases they may have for units that require that they provide those smoking units. With that, that is my report. |
| 03:45:44.34 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you very much, City Attorney Rennon. I hope you're enjoying your evening as well. We have any questions from the council with regards to this ordinance? Okay, seeing none, I will open it up for public comment. |
| 03:45:56.41 | Walfred Solorzano | See you then. |
| 03:45:57.59 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I will close public comment. Wow, we really are racing through this. I'll bring it back up. for any comments. Actually, I will just bring the question and ask for a motion to approve. The waiver of the first reading of ordinance number two 2023 and ordinance of the city of Sausalito amending and restating chapter 12.28 to title 12 of the Sausalito Municipal Code to update and extend the multi unit smoking ban. |
| 03:46:19.99 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:46:20.00 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:46:20.17 | Joan Cox | May I just add a friendly amendment book that we introduced by title only and waive first reading? |
| 03:46:25.23 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 03:46:25.66 | Joan Cox | Thank you. And with that, I'll second that motion. |
| 03:46:29.25 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Okay, so moved. I think Councilmember Hoffman seconded that. It's after 10 p.m. Well, not quite yet. All right. So with that, unless there are any comments from the council, I'll thank the folks that brought this to our attention from Marin HHS and others. And I will ask all in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. |
| 03:46:50.16 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 03:46:50.78 | Kevin McGowan | Fantastic. That motion passes unanimously. And somehow we are on time for item number six at 10 p.m. which is communications. And this is, |
| 03:47:00.86 | Sergio Rudin | And- |
| 03:47:01.82 | Kevin McGowan | Oh. |
| 03:47:02.75 | Sergio Rudin | Oh, never mind. |
| 03:47:02.78 | Kevin McGowan | Oh, nevermind. |
| 03:47:04.38 | Sergio Rudin | I think we're fine. Roll call is typically required for adoption of ordinances, but not for introduction. So just double checking that. |
| 03:47:11.83 | Kevin McGowan | Thanks for clarifying. Okay, so item six on the agenda, this is the time on the agenda for members of the public to provide any public comments. |
| 03:47:12.94 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah. |
| 03:47:20.21 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:47:20.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:47:20.26 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:47:20.35 | Kevin McGowan | I'm not. |
| 03:47:20.51 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:47:20.55 | Kevin McGowan | Where? Me? No, he must be a night owl. Sergio, you must be a night owl. Very sharp at this hour. Yeah, you are on it. |
| 03:47:22.49 | Melissa Kelman | No, he must be a night owl. |
| 03:47:27.43 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:47:28.46 | Pat Zuck | Thank you. |
| 03:47:28.75 | Kevin McGowan | You are always sharp Sergio okay this is the agenda for members of the public to provide any public comment for items that are not on the agenda. If you would like to provide a public comment fill out a speaker slip or raise your hand in the zoom application. The city clerk will call on individuals who have raised their hands in the order they were raised. After you are called on you will be unmuted to allow you to share your comments remember public comments are each allowed a total of two minutes to speak. I will now open up communications for public comment. |
| 03:47:58.47 | Walfred Solorzano | Seen none. |
| 03:47:59.65 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I'll close public comment at this time and I will move on to item seven, council member committee reports. Does anyone want to get us started? |
| 03:48:08.96 | Joan Cox | I will briefly mention that three of us sitting on this dais attended a chamber of commerce forum with Senator Mike McGuire that I think was very useful. He allowed all three of us to speak and to provide our views and to better inform him about some of the concerns of Sausalito. And he listened as he always does. He listened carefully to our concerns, made a list of things that he will follow up on and get back to us. So kudos to Julie Fiera for setting that up. As I understand it, we're asking that she set up something similar with the new assembly member, Damon Connolly, to give us an opportunity to be heard at the local level about some of the regional concerns that we have. |
| 03:48:54.44 | Kevin McGowan | Great. That's when we're coming. Did you want to? |
| 03:48:56.70 | Melissa Kelman | Oh, no, actually just a request. I know that Mary you and Councilor Parkakas sit on the homeless committee. And I'm wondering, I missed this chamber event because I was back home with my parents. I'm wondering if you could give a quick report out about whatever is happening with the corporation you are in the conversations with Senator McGuire and then also an update on the monies from the county and the state for homelessness. |
| 03:49:19.15 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:49:19.18 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:49:19.21 | Kevin McGowan | Sure, I'm happy to provide that update. So on the corporation yard, I'm in continued conversation with Senator McGuire's office. The idea is to use the corporation yard for 100% affordable housing as paid for by the state. That would be potentially and hopefully for seniors and teachers in our community. This is an ongoing conversation. The next step in that conversation, they sent a series of questions from HCD, and we are working with Summer from Senator McGuire's office to set up that meeting as soon as possible so we can see what next steps will be. But it's looking positive, and they're excited about the project. On the homeless funding, the money has arrived at the county and we are in conversation with the county on how that will be allocated and from what date and what items are we will be reimbursed for. |
| 03:50:03.22 | Joan Cox | Is it possible to hear from the city manager on that? Because I think he's been doing some work on allocating |
| 03:50:09.33 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 03:50:09.52 | Joan Cox | some of the categories for what we're seeking. |
| 03:50:09.82 | Kevin McGowan | some of the categories. That would be great. City manager, do you want to weigh in? Because I know we received communication regarding that disbursement, and I also sent a follow-up request for it to be. given our situation, given delivered retroactively, so not from the October date, |
| 03:50:25.95 | Chris Zapata | So three months ago, we submitted a proposed scope of work to the COUNTY IN ANTICIPATION OF THIS MONEY, WHICH LAID OUT WHAT WE THOUGHT THAT THE FUNDING FOR THE STATE AND THE COUNTY COULD BE USEFUL IN SAUSELITO'S CASE. JUST AS THE MAYOR MENTIONED, MONEY HAS COME IN. The county is the one administering it. They have asked us for perspective use of those funds. We have asked them for the retroactive use of those funds. And that remains to be determined. I think the conversations will be ongoing until they're not. But the bottom line is that money can be used for a number of purposes that have impacted Sausalito. In our minds, certainly the Dorothy Gibson House is a prospective item. Certainly some of the funding we've expended for housing resource work is eligible for that funding. But what we'd really like is to see funding for the money spent at the encampment that the citizens of Sausley were paid for. But that's going to take a little more conversation with the county. And we're not quite there yet. |
| 03:51:35.50 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, city manager Zapata. Can I just ask him a question? Sure. |
| 03:51:38.84 | Ian Sobieski | I was just, is there anything you need from us? City Manager in this topic to help with this. ever. |
| 03:51:50.18 | Ian Sobieski | I think, was that question posed to me? |
| 03:51:53.33 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, the question was, |
| 03:51:53.43 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:51:53.52 | Ian Sobieski | question. That was to you. Sorry. I was just wondering if there's anything you need from us to help. |
| 03:51:58.08 | Chris Zapata | A little patience and then we'll see what the county's response is and then we may have to come back and ask for some council help. |
| 03:52:08.40 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, city manager. Thank you. |
| 03:52:10.38 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, yeah, Councilman Hoffman. I have actually a follow up on the 100% affordable project with the state. I was able to attend the lunch meeting with the chamber. And one of the things that Senator McGuire has told us in the past is that when you do a state project, you lose local control. And so, and that's just part of the requirement for accepting the funding. He's also said on a couple of occasions that when you do these kinds of projects, It also does include some homeless transitional portion of it. At least he referenced that in some of the other projects they've been working on. So my question to you guys who are working on it is, When do you expect to bring the proposal back to the city council to talk about it? And especially in the context of the loss of local control over any project that receives state funding. and how that housing would then be allocated at that facility. And so would it be only would, since, you know, it's 100% affordable housing, but would we have any pipeline or control over who is allocated for that. And then the other part is the other uses of it that are beyond our control. I think that's mainly what we're concerned about here in Sausalito. And also, 100% affordable housing projects. I know that the back when I think I was mayor and then when council member Kelman was mayor, we talked to a couple of different companies not the state, but companies that did do affordable, 100% affordable and so forth, talking about you know, allocating or using a piece of city property for 100% affordable. I'm thinking that my preference is I want to go with something over which we maintain control. and that avenue as opposed to accepting state funding where we lose all local control. So I'm just, and I'm noting this because of what he said during that. Lunchtime meeting. |
| 03:54:18.36 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, and I think he went speaking about this project. And at this point, we're just in discussions with HCD about the requirements for the project. There are a couple of existing projects with this funding stream that are already on the docket with the state and they both have different models. So for instance, the campus, the College of Marin campus that's being pursued, is through a leasing model where the city maintains ownership, but there's a lease to the state And the model of the San Quentin property, which is going to be for teachers and first responders. So it was designated specifically for what the housing is for, is another state project. A couple of the things that we know at this point about what goes into the decision making or... Um, you know, how we will be involved in that discussion. The city has a say in what developers are selected. The city's at the table around what will the project look like. there is a give and take with regards to the funding. And that is a conversation we would have to bring back to the council with all of the information and the questions that you've brought up, Council Member Hoffman answered by HCD. So at this point, we're waiting to have that meeting. But given that they are willing to fund fully the project and given our serious need for housing and arena numbers, I think it's a really great opportunity to start the discussion on. So hopefully we'll be able to do that and we'll hear more about it soon. Thank you. Yeah, of course. And then on just on committee reports, I wanted to add that myself and Mayor Kellman had a meeting of the racial justice task force to follow up on some of the conversations about economic incentives. And we spoke more about the small business fast track grant program and what that might look like, as well as several other economic incentives and ideas. And we plan to bring those forward to a group of stakeholders to talk about feasibility and next steps. And we. I think that was a very productive meeting. So, and we'll be meeting again soon. So I wanted to report that out. Mm. Do we have any other |
| 03:56:05.02 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:56:06.14 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:56:06.16 | Jill Hoffman | I think I have a committee report. So we, the community knows that we issued an even RFP for attorneys. for a new attorney, city attorney for Sausalito. So I just wanted to report out that Councilmember Kelman and I are the sub working group, we met with the two attorneys who responded, the two law firms that responded to our request for proposal. And we hope to have the city council interviewing them. I think we're going to try to do that next, at our next, April 25th meeting. Yeah, April 25th. But I think that's not public. That's closed session or is that open session? Sergio might be. Typically closed. It's closed session. That's what I thought. So anyway, just so you're going to see it on the agenda, just so you know what we're doing and we are moving forward with that. |
| 03:56:40.68 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:56:40.97 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 03:56:49.69 | Melissa Kelman | Yeah, that's what I thought. |
| 03:56:50.75 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:56:57.08 | Jill Hoffman | So. |
| 03:56:57.86 | Melissa Kelman | I have one more thing, Mayor, I forgot. So Councillor Hoffman and I are the Virginia Marina subcommittee and so as you know, Councillor McCauks and others worked on |
| 03:56:58.70 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 03:57:07.43 | Melissa Kelman | an LOI for development agreement several years ago. The owner developer has come back with substantial and significant deviations from the terms of that LOI, so much so that Councilmember Hoffman and I feel that it is more appropriate for the full council to hear this rather than for us to interact and go down a path that may not be suitable for everybody. And so I'll just ask the agenda setting committee, should you wish to agenda-ize that, that would be a good topic so that we can brief you |
| 03:57:33.03 | Kevin McGowan | and hear what they're anticipating. Great, thank you for that. Any further council member committee reports? Ian, you look like the vice mayor. |
| 03:57:39.71 | Ian Sobieski | I'm just going to ask Walford to make sure he writes that down so we don't forget that. I'm sorry. |
| 03:57:45.80 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you for that. Okay, now we'll move on to item eight, which is today manager reports city council appointments and other council business. And before we take public comment on this, I will just remind those who are joined the meeting, maybe perhaps later, that on item 8C, we moved part of that item forward to reappoint Commissioner Christina Feller to the planning commission. So we have already taken public comment on that item, and we will be speaking about appointments to board specifically the historic preservation board and the library board at this time. So with that, I will now open it up to public comment on items 8A to 8E, which is city manager information for council appointments boards and commissions future agenda items and other reports of significance. |
| 03:58:30.49 | Walfred Solorzano | Bikinicals. |
| 03:58:34.43 | Vicki Nichols | Yes, hi, I would like to speak to the appointments for the historical landmarks board. I'm sorry, the Historical Preservation Commission. Okay. Just want to remind the council that we're a certified local government and as such, we have specific requirements. from the states for qualifications for the members of this committee. This was eliminated from the website It's never comes up when they're Individuals are recruited. And I did look at the applications tonight, and some of these are very specific, detailed experience. qualifications, architects, et cetera, et cetera. So for the efficiency and the quality of the commission, I would like to ask that we You consider looking at some more candidates. I learned late today that there's a local architect which is a skill that is required of our commission that is interested and he was too late in getting his application in. He's interested in doing that. IF WE COULD HAVE A, maybe one more meeting to consider this, it would be beneficial. If people don't have these qualifications or understanding, it is really not helpful to this committee. It is not a first-time volunteer committee. So I would ask your indulgence in that and sure appreciate it. |
| 03:59:55.03 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:59:56.43 | Vicki Nichols | Thank you. |
| 03:59:56.45 | Joan Cox | Can I ask Vicki a question? Did you happen to attend our interviews |
| 04:00:02.14 | Vicki Nichols | this afternoon? I wasn't able to. I was chairing another meeting myself. Sorry. But I did read the applications and I think we can look further. |
| 04:00:07.97 | Unknown | All right. |
| 04:00:16.46 | Walfred Solorzano | No. |
| 04:00:17.39 | Vicki Nichols | Thank you. |
| 04:00:17.41 | Kevin McGowan | No further public comment? |
| 04:00:17.95 | Walfred Solorzano | comment? Thank you. |
| 04:00:18.60 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, I'll go ahead and close public comment city manager information for Council. Chris, do you have anything you would like to share with us at this time? |
| 04:00:25.57 | Chris Zapata | Not this evening, Mayor and Council. |
| 04:00:25.83 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Thank you very much city manager. So that brings us to item 8C, which is appointments to boards, commissions and committees. And I think we should start perhaps with the historic preservation committee. and I will, Preservation Committee, and I will begin by nominating Joseph Lee and Angela Weber for the two appointments. I will note, though, that there is a third vacancy because we have two that are expiring and one vacancy. So we will be able, per Vicki Nichols comments, to search for or perhaps hear from other applicants. And I'm excited to learn that there is a qualified local architect who's interested because we've in fact had issues with maintaining and finding quorum for these meetings. So we would welcome that application. I'll second that. Okay, so moved. There is a motion on the floor. Are there other nominations to entertain? Okay. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Fantastic. So now we will move on to the library board. And I would make a motion. It looks like we have two terms that are expiring and then one alternate. I would like to appoint to the two expiring or make a motion to appoint to the two or nominate. This is my first time doing this as mayor. Nominate for the two. vacancies or expiring terms, West Hayes and Chris White. Thank you. |
| 04:01:43.11 | Ian Sobieski | Second. Just a point of. Do we know that these people don't want to extend I know that these people- |
| 04:01:50.03 | Kevin McGowan | Their terms are expired. It's the end of their second terms. |
| 04:01:53.21 | Ian Sobieski | or maybe I'm looking at the wrong date here late at night. Oh yeah, I am looking at the wrong date. Sorry, my apologies. |
| 04:01:58.15 | Kevin McGowan | I don't think we need a second for a nomination. |
| 04:01:59.89 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah. Thank you. My apologies. |
| 04:02:00.99 | Kevin McGowan | Do we not need a second for nomination? Okay, so then should we vote on that? OR DO WE HAVE TO WANT TO ENTERTAIN? |
| 04:02:09.12 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 04:02:10.18 | Kevin McGowan | I would welcome nominations for the alternate if you wanted to do that at this time, |
| 04:02:13.52 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 04:02:13.54 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 04:02:13.56 | Melissa Kelman | I think I would just offer friendly amendment to that to add Tim McLeod as the alternate. |
| 04:02:20.51 | Kevin McGowan | Bye. |
| 04:02:20.68 | Melissa Kelman | Okay. |
| 04:02:21.05 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. All right, so should we take a vote? In this instance, Sergio, does it need to be a roll call vote? |
| 04:02:31.78 | Sergio Rudin | Um, no, but you do need a majority vote for every, uh, person that you are appointing. And if, uh, there are more candidates than spots, then the person with the most votes tends to win. So. |
| 04:02:45.94 | Unknown | So, God. Okay. |
| 04:02:48.03 | Sergio Rudin | So it sounds like we only have two candidates for what are three vacancies? Am I following that correctly? |
| 04:02:56.13 | Joan Cox | We have three. We have three candidates. Well, we have two vacancies and an alternate. |
| 04:03:00.03 | Sergio Rudin | Okay. |
| 04:03:01.48 | Joan Cox | So can we vote first on the two vacancies? Thank you. |
| 04:03:05.82 | Kevin McGowan | that. |
| 04:03:05.90 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 04:03:05.95 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Okay, so I will bring a vote for West Hayes roll call vote. Thanks. |
| 04:03:13.97 | Julie Vieira | Thank you. |
| 04:03:13.99 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 04:03:14.04 | Julie Vieira | you |
| 04:03:14.07 | Kevin McGowan | All in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. And Chris White, all in favor, say aye. Aye. Fantastic. Thank you for that. |
| 04:03:18.78 | Julie Vieira | Yeah. |
| 04:03:19.07 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 04:03:21.77 | Kevin McGowan | I, okay. It's late. Got it. Okay. And then for the alternate. |
| 04:03:23.32 | Vicki Nichols | Bye. |
| 04:03:29.04 | Kevin McGowan | I'm nominated Tim. Any other nominations or... Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. |
| 04:03:35.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:03:35.57 | Unknown | Hi. |
| 04:03:36.68 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 04:03:36.72 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:03:37.29 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. Okay, that motion passes or however we're supposed to do it per the requirements for this. Okay, so I think that's it for appointments at this time I will note that there is a ongoing vacancy for HPC so I would love to hear from the architect that was mentioned. And thank you very much to everyone who applied. And for all of our community volunteers, we're so lucky to have this level of engagement and interest. |
| 04:04:04.04 | Joan Cox | can I just note that for the HPC the vacancy will not occur until May 2020 the one architect that's on there now is on until May so okay of 2023 yeah yes okay great okay |
| 04:04:17.98 | Kevin McGowan | future agenda items. I do want to note that we heard about the bridgeway marina issue as a future agenda item, and I would add Obviously discussion about the corporation yard and the housing project there as we get more information. |
| 04:04:32.08 | Melissa Kelman | Yeah, Mayor, I don't see the, I know we have the GAD, which is great. I don't see Hillside Formidants. I think I mentioned that at some point. I'll make sure that's added. Thank you. Uh, |
| 04:04:42.97 | Walfred Solorzano | number 21. |
| 04:04:44.00 | Melissa Kelman | Oh, okay. |
| 04:04:45.03 | Joan Cox | I stand corrected. Thank you. Okay. And we mentioned we didn't cover item 5A tonight, our boards and commissions, but I would like to say, proposed consideration of a code of conduct for our boards and commissions. |
| 04:05:00.60 | Kevin McGowan | and for our city council, which we had discussed as well. Thank you. |
| 04:05:03.25 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 04:05:03.27 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 04:05:03.37 | Joan Cox | Yes. We have. for our city council. I don't think so. Well, if we do, I'd like to know it because I'm not aware of it. And if no one doesn't know, it probably doesn't exist. Let's be honest. |
| 04:05:17.38 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:05:17.41 | Unknown | I'm going to be |
| 04:05:17.48 | Unknown | So... |
| 04:05:17.71 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:05:17.83 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:05:17.85 | Kevin McGowan | I'll see you next time. |
| 04:05:20.97 | Unknown | is. |
| 04:05:21.04 | Joan Cox | December 18th. I'm not sure that we have adopted our protocols for the city council. We have not. Yeah, I forwarded a prior version. |
| 04:05:21.22 | Unknown | Great team. |
| 04:05:25.29 | Unknown | We have not. Yeah, I forwarded. |
| 04:05:27.13 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 04:05:28.92 | Unknown | you |
| 04:05:29.17 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:05:33.00 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 04:05:33.04 | Kevin McGowan | What's an... So we need to do that for this year and the code of conduct. So let's add that and the code of conduct for boards and commissions and the continuance for the item that we missed this evening. |
| 04:05:34.32 | Joan Cox | . |
| 04:05:34.37 | Unknown | Right. |
| 04:05:35.03 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 04:05:42.35 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, any other reports of significance from any council members? Okay, I would just like to thank everybody for their hard work tonight. It was a long meeting with a lot of topics, and I felt that everyone worked really well together and was very respectful of one another. So thanks for that. And with that, at... 1019. I'm going to ask Councilmember Kelman to hit the gavel because when she was mayor, she didn't get to do that. So please return the meeting. |
| 04:06:05.74 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:06:07.24 | Kevin McGowan | Adjourned. |
| 04:06:08.83 | Unknown | That's awesome. |
| 04:06:09.72 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 04:06:09.74 | Kevin McGowan | So. |
| 04:06:10.06 | Melissa Kelman | Thank you. |
| 04:06:10.75 | Unknown | that. |
| 04:06:10.97 | Melissa Kelman | I was like, |
| 04:06:11.11 | Unknown | Awesome. |
| 04:06:11.33 | Melissa Kelman | Recording stop. |
| 04:06:12.05 | Kevin McGowan | Recording stuff. |
| 04:06:12.96 | Unknown | up. |
| 04:06:13.18 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 04:06:13.84 | Melissa Kelman | the 24th, can you send it out? |
Nicole Schaefer — In Favor: A newer resident who expressed support for Commissioner Feller and her qualifications. Was shocked by how easily changes could be made to the city government website and supported proposed changes to prevent future issues. ▶ 📄
Chris White — In Favor: Shared positive experiences working with Christina Feller and the planning staff on a neighborhood issue. Described them as fair, first-class, and professional. Believed Feller was owed an apology for how the situation was handled and appreciated the council's resolution. ▶ 📄
Sue Kim — Neutral: Asked for clarification on the term length, questioning if a new appointment in April 2024 would be a two-year term. The Mayor clarified the reappointment was retroactive to April 2022, making it a three-year term ending in 2025. ▶ 📄