| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:00.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. No, I'm just starting so we can get the live feed on the internet. Sorry. I didn't press start. No, press. |
| 00:00:07.62 | Walfred Solorzano | All right. |
| 00:00:11.19 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Good evening, Mayor City Council members. The November 19, 2024 City Council meeting is being held at Council Chambers for 20 Litho Street. It's also being broadcast via Zoom on the city's website and cable TV channel 27. |
| 00:00:30.71 | Steven Woodside | I don't know. Thank you, Mr. City Clerk. Would you kindly call the roll? |
| 00:00:34.47 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Boston. |
| 00:00:36.62 | Unknown | here. |
| 00:00:37.58 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilman Hoffman. |
| 00:00:38.84 | Unknown | Here. |
| 00:00:39.97 | Walfred Solorzano | Council member coming. |
| 00:00:41.17 | Unknown | Here. |
| 00:00:42.44 | Walfred Solorzano | advice me. |
| 00:00:42.98 | Steven Woodside | Cox. |
| 00:00:43.43 | Unknown | Here. |
| 00:00:43.48 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:00:44.08 | Steven Woodside | I am here. The following items will be discussed in closed session. A conference with legal counsel and initiation of litigation. The second item is conference with legal counsel, significant exposure to the litigation. The third is conference with real property negotiators. The real property at 558 Bridgeway. A fourth item is conference with real property, conference with property negotiator 750 Bridgeway. and the final one is conference with real property conference with property negotiator 750 bridgeway and the final one is conference with real property negotiators caskidley marina property is there any public comment on any of these public items. |
| 00:01:19.29 | Walfred Solorzano | Any members of the public, there are no members of the public at the moment in the council chamber, but if anybody on Zoom would like to speak, please use the raise hand function. And seeing nobody use the raise hand function. |
| 00:01:31.83 | Steven Woodside | I'm going to go. |
| 00:01:32.03 | Sergio Rudin | call. |
| 00:01:32.08 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:01:32.19 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 00:01:32.22 | Steven Woodside | public comment. |
| 00:01:32.72 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 00:01:32.84 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:01:34.08 | Sergio Rudin | And Mayor, if there are any recusals with respect to it. |
| 00:01:36.15 | Sergio Rudin | perspective. Yes, thank you very much, city attorney. I am going to be recusing myself from conference with legal counsel potential for litigation 54956.9 due to a conflict of interest. |
| 00:01:54.97 | Steven Woodside | All right. If nothing else, then we will adjourn to closed session and return at 7 p.m. |
| 00:02:12.60 | Steven Woodside | Good evening, we've returned from closed session. There are no announcements from closed session. We're gonna reconvene to open session and begin with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| 00:02:23.55 | Unknown | Thank you. of the United States of America, and a future republic where it stands, and as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:02:29.85 | Unknown | nation. |
| 00:02:35.80 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much. |
| 00:02:40.60 | Steven Woodside | Uh, We'll now move on to a special presentation, and this is in recognition of a Cornerstone of our community that that we will all miss and we will, All of us share a reading of a special proclamation and the title of the proclamation is a proclamation of the mayor of the city of Sausalito recognizing the dedicated service and contributions of Sean and Sonya sailor for their. and their family to the Sausalito community. Councilmember Kelman. |
| 00:03:12.25 | Unknown | Thank you, Mayor. Welcome everybody, whereas the city of Sausalito is pleased to have the opportunity this evening to acknowledge the many ways in which Sean and Sonia sailor and their family have been involved with and participate in our Community city civic organizations and special events. And where Sean grew up spending time in Sausalito behind what was then Café Trieste and what was then Café Med. and where Sean got his start working in the restaurant business at age 15 as a dishwasher, then cook, then restaurant manager, before attending the California Culinary Academy at age 27. |
| 00:03:46.38 | Sergio Rudin | Whereas Sean and his wife, Sonia, opened Sailor's Landing on Harbor Drive in 1999. And whereas... Sean and Sonia moved their restaurant to its current location Sailor's Restaurant and Bar in 2008, where they have served the community for over 16 years. And whereas those patrons who have appreciated Sailor's eclectic restroom should know that it was conceived by Sonia. And whereas Sailor's was truly a family business with Sean and Sonia's daughter, Alyssa, who graduated from Redwood, go Giants, in 2018, also working at Sailor's as a hostess, waitress, and bartender. And. |
| 00:04:33.22 | Jill Hoffman | To be clear, we only know about the women's restroom. At least that's true. Whereas the Sailors restaurant team was a family, many of them working with Sean and Sonia for over a decade. And whereas Sailors was all about entertaining and making people feel at home, with many of their customers also turning into friends and family. And whereas Sean never hesitated to open his upstairs Cabo Wabo room. created in collaboration with the great Sammy Hagar. to the public for all kinds of events, from Rotary meetings to campaign events to HOA meetings and every kind of meeting in between and Thank you. |
| 00:05:16.84 | Chris Zapata | Whereas for decades, Sean and his incredible team have also been true pillars of support for the Sausalito Police Department and other Sausalito service organizations, including Sausalito Rotary, the Sausalito's Women's Club, the Sausalito Arts Festival, and the Sausalito Churches. From generously feeding the homeless during outreach events, to feeding the artists and workers at the Sausalito Arts Festival, to feeding Sausalito Police Department staff during critical incidents, and graciously hosting their holiday celebrations every year, Sean has been there always. the Sausalito Arts Festival, to feeding Sausalito Police Department staff during critical incidents, and graciously hosting their holiday celebrations every year, Sean has been there always with a kind heart and a helping hand. And... Whereas, Sean and his family's commitment to serving others embodies the spirit of Sausalito, and we are endlessly grateful for his friendship and humanitarian efforts, and, Whereas, in honor of his tireless service to our town, Sausalito is honored to invite Sean Saylor to serve as its Grand Marshal for its 2025 4th of July parade. |
| 00:06:19.28 | Steven Woodside | Now, therefore, and in witness thereof, I, Ian Sobieski, Mayor of the City of Sausalito, have here unto set my hand upon this proclamation, recognizing and thanking Sean, Sonia, Alyssa, and their extended sailors' family for their many, many hours of community involvement. And ask the citizens of Sausalito also offer their gratitude and thanks to them when they pass them on the street. I would invite Sean and Sonia to come on up with the city council. We're going to do a photograph. Tabitha Abbott asked us to do a photograph together for the currents, so maybe we could all. Stand in front of the dais here for this photograph. Please come on up for it. |
| 00:07:27.96 | Unknown | Thank you. for the landscape of the entire country. |
| 00:07:34.04 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:08:05.91 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:08:19.60 | Steven Woodside | Would you like to say anything? Sean, before you go, Sean, would you, He's speechless. He's reclaimed. |
| 00:08:25.35 | Unknown | But he's reclimped. |
| 00:08:26.45 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. That's the best speech ever. Thank you very much. We'll now move on to the adoption of the action minutes from the previous meeting for October 29th. Is there any public comment on the action minutes from October 29th? |
| 00:08:39.36 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Babette McDougall. |
| 00:08:50.62 | Babette McDougall | Hello. Hello. |
| 00:08:53.69 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:08:55.05 | Babette McDougall | Can you hear me all right? |
| 00:08:56.39 | Steven Woodside | Ken, please go ahead. |
| 00:08:57.52 | Babette McDougall | All right. Thank you. All right. Well, first of all, I'd like to say that I'm sorry that Sonia and Sean are closing the doors to what has been a place that certainly kept me fed over the years. So I wish them all the best. But about the last minutes, I want to call attention once again to this. question raised at the last meeting regarding the Levine Act. I don't understand why we keep ignoring this Levine Act. I don't really understand why we're doing that. Why do we have two items on today's agenda that both contravene the Levine Act? And there's not even a mention of it anywhere, not in a staff report, not in anything. Nobody, not even in the proposal for work. I mean, all these things, I just don't get it. Could you just kindly clarify why there is no serious attention given to the Levine Act? Thank you. |
| 00:09:53.61 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker. Uh, um, We have Fred. |
| 00:10:08.61 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:10:08.63 | Fred | Bye. |
| 00:10:09.83 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:10:09.84 | Fred | Fred? I'm sorry, I did not mean to raise my hand at that point. |
| 00:10:15.60 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay, thank you. No further speakers? |
| 00:10:19.73 | Steven Woodside | We'll close public comment for the action minutes. Is there a motion? |
| 00:10:22.75 | Sergio Rudin | I move to approve of our action minutes from our previous agenda. |
| 00:10:27.66 | Steven Woodside | All in favor, say aye. |
| 00:10:28.83 | Sergio Rudin | Bye. Bye. |
| 00:10:29.64 | Steven Woodside | Opposed? minutes are adopted we'll now move on to the consent calendar these are items generally considered routine and non controversial and can be approved of a one motion, however, any Council Member can ask to remove any item from. THE CONSENT CALENDAR. THE CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS ARE 3A RECEIVE AND FILE THE LIBRARY 3B waiver of the second reading of the adoption of ordinance 724, an ordinance of the city council. Amending chapter 1047, marijuana regulations of the Social Municipal Code. 3C adoption of a resolution accepting grant From the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, an amount of $170,000. $439 and contributing 56,813 of in kind staff time and wages for this journey street dock improvement project and sign a grant agreement. 3D receive and file a toast to Sosley to recap. 3E, approval of updated job classification for police officer chain E. 3F adopt a resolution approving an encroachment agreement for the installation of an electronic driveway gate structure. Associated fencing and minor landscaping in the right of way at 122 San Carlos. review and file the Treasurer's report. For all funds from the first quarter of 2425 ending September 30, 3H receive and file the fiscal year 2425 preliminary budget update and review of the budgeting process. 3I adopt a resolution authorizing the same manager to execute the professional services agreement. With CSWST2 to develop the plan specifications and estimate for the 2024 roadway resurfacing improvement project in an amount not to exceed $27,936. 3J adopted resolution approving the purchase. of a replacement police patrol vehicle in an amount not to exceed $83,087 funded from the COPS grant and 3K consider and approve The amended and restated lease agreement with the South State Center for the Arts at 750 Bridgeway. Does any council member want to remove an item? Yes, Council Member Boston. |
| 00:12:23.15 | Sergio Rudin | I don't want to remove it, but I just want to take a moment to further acknowledge item 3C, which is a significant grant that we received from the Department of Fish and Wildlife of over $170,000 thanks to the hard work of our Sustainability and Resiliency Manager, Katie Tho Garcia, who is with us in partnership with Director McGowan at the Department of Public Works. I am very much in favor of this being on the consent calendar, but wanted to just give it an extra nod because it's a significant example, again, of the hard work that's being done by staff to bring in additional funds for our city. |
| 00:12:54.80 | Steven Woodside | Anyone else? |
| 00:12:55.52 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, I'd like to remove 3K, which is consider and approve amended and restated or leased agreement for Sassos Center for the Arts. |
| 00:13:03.94 | Steven Woodside | Okay, we'll hear 3K as the first business item after the consent calendar. |
| 00:13:06.30 | Jill Hoffman | There we go. |
| 00:13:06.59 | Unknown | Thank you. there. |
| 00:13:08.74 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Yes. |
| 00:13:09.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:13:09.24 | Unknown | Yeah, I like to remove 3D. |
| 00:13:10.96 | Steven Woodside | 3D. which is the Toast of Sauce Litter recap. Okay, we'll remove that and we'll hear that at the end of the day, if that's right. Great. |
| 00:13:21.00 | Chris Zapata | Mayor, may I just ask, is there a staff report? Do we need Brian Vitale here to present on Toast of Sausalito? |
| 00:13:29.46 | Walfred Solorzano | Brian is online right now. |
| 00:13:31.68 | Chris Zapata | And if so, do we want to hold that at the end? |
| 00:13:33.49 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. How long do you think the inquiry might be? We can hear it at the beginning and ask him and we can move it if we think it's, I'm looking at you, Councilman Coleman. Okay, so you think Brian can leave? Right. All right, we can hear that right after the SCA then. Great. So there will be a second business item. All right, so a motion, or first we're gonna take public comment on the consent calendar items, excluding 3D and 3K. So excluding the toast of Sausalito recap and the art center release. So is there a motion, I mean, a public comment on the other consent calendar items? |
| 00:14:10.82 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, Jeffrey Chase? |
| 00:14:15.90 | Jeffrey Chase | Hello, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Mr. and Miss America and all the anchor outs still at sea. 15 of us are still waiting for a storm supposed to come in this afternoon. What I like. sometimes to procrastinate. I'm going to try and not do that too much here and speak right to the point. We'll speak on two items, three, Jay is asking for $127,000 and some dollars for the planning of paving a road. It would be nice if it wasn't black pavement, something that didn't raise the temperature of the surrounding area, by one or two degrees. there's a good plan and it's for free. Right now, I'll speak to 3G, which is Specifically, community development as one of the budget items in Sausalito. a proud and longstanding member of this community, A PERSON THAT'S was formerly on the library board here. that brings food to elders. is now subject to an eviction. right across the street. She came here and When she chooses to talk, She will. Thank God she's her own person. The Torah portion for this week that it is, I feel, a Brown Act violation to have taken away public comment before. the meeting. This is the only... jurisdiction in all of Marin that does that. So for instance, she does not want to wait until 1030. Her name is Sunshine. And she'll be talking when she wants to. Thank you very much. |
| 00:16:18.16 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Anybody in house? All right online. We do have a Karen Culligan |
| 00:16:29.23 | Kieran Culligan | Hi there. Good evening. On 3G and 3H, just wanted to say thank you to our finance department in particular for the transparency of and diligence on the treasurer's report and the budget update items. I was really interested to see some of the refinements around property taxes and other things that could put us in a better place or at least have a better handle on the finances. So very much looking forward to our budget update and wanting to see things on track, but looking good there, I appreciate it. And also on three, I for the repaving. So one, just a snapshot in time. So in May 2021, You approved a CIP that had $660,000 for street repaving and repair? We are now north of $2.1 million. So talk about a transformation in terms of putting more money towards infrastructure. That is great because we desperately need it. I totally agree with you. Mr. Chase on things like not having everything be black pavement or can we include recycled materials, like let's do a little bit better. Can we have less pavement? of not needing streets that in many cases are too wide and just encourage unsafe speeds. The other thing is I would love to see PBAC and Parisi, our transportation engineer, consulted on any of the repaving that isn't, I'll call it a back road, because in a lot of cases, even just the striping that goes on the road, can increase safety, particularly for our vulnerable road users, pedestrians, people on bicycles, scooters, et cetera. And that's pretty much free. It just comes along with the project, but it's not just about doing exactly what we had before. So hopefully those get taken into consideration. Thanks. |
| 00:18:03.78 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Sarah Schrader. |
| 00:18:09.92 | Sarah Schrader | Hello, my name is, hello, Honorable City Council members, staff, and members of the public. My commentary tonight is regarding item 3B on tonight's agenda. My name is Sarah Schrader and I am a medical cannabis patient. I use cannabis for the relief of a number of my medical conditions that I do not wish to get into tonight. But the important thing is that cannabis is medicine to me as well as many other Californians. I spend a significant amount of time in Sal Salido, but technically I do not reside within city limits. Therefore, the proposed amendments to the municipal code would make it clear that a licensed dispensary can deliver medical cannabis to me when I am in Sal Salido. These changes, catalyzed by the lawsuit now pending before the Marin County Superior Court, in which I am the petitioner and the city of Sausalito is the respondent, would bring the Sausalito Municipal Code closer in line with the Medical Cannabis Patients' Rights Access Act. This act, which was recently adopted by state legislature and affected earlier this year, prohibits a local jurisdiction from adopting or enforcing any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medical cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients, their primary caregivers by medical cannabis businesses, And as defined or that the effect of prohibiting the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medical cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients. their primary caregivers, in a timely and readily accessible manner. and in types and quantities that are sufficient to meet the demand of medical cannabis patients within their local jurisdiction. As such, I support the amendment and other efforts to make medical cannabis more easily available to patients and caregivers in Salsalita. |
| 00:20:15.55 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker online, Lauren Mendelsohn. |
| 00:20:23.70 | Lauren Mendelsohn | Good evening, honorable city council members, staff and members of the public. This comment is also regarding item 3B, Laura M. On the agenda, which is the second reading of the marijuana regulations ordinance. My name is Lauren Mendelsohn. I am an attorney and the junior partner at the law offices of Omar Figueroa. I also am representing Ms. Schrader, who you just heard from. And I want to acknowledge and thank the city for taking time to make this amendment. It's a small amendment. I do think, as Ms. Schrader noted, it will bring the municipal code closer in line with the Medicinal Cannabis Patients Right of Access Act by removing a restriction that made the county code language only applicable to residents. So I do think it's important that we move forward with this change. I also want you to be aware that you can go further than this tonight. You could decide to actually allow and regulate cannabis businesses within city limits, even if it's just a delivery business. I believe that would bring the municipal code even closer to compliance with this new state law, actually having a facility operating within city limits that delivery originates from. But at minimum, you know, I do think it's very important that you move forward with this amendment so that patients and caregivers, such as Ms. Schrader and others, can more easily access medicinal cannabis within Sausalito. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this important issue. |
| 00:22:09.33 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment. |
| 00:22:12.75 | Steven Woodside | Okay, we'll close public comment. Is there a motion for the consent calendar? |
| 00:22:19.11 | Sergio Rudin | I move to approve the consent calendar, excluding items 3D and 3K. Yes. Second. |
| 00:22:26.17 | Steven Woodside | All right. All in favor, say aye. |
| 00:22:26.20 | Sergio Rudin | Right? Thank you. |
| 00:22:27.84 | Steven Woodside | Hi. Post? |
| 00:22:27.89 | Sergio Rudin | PODCAST. |
| 00:22:29.61 | Steven Woodside | All right, the motion carries unanimously. We'll now move on to the public hearings of which there are none in the first business item, which will be taking off the consent calendar consideration of the amended and we stated at least for the Sausalito Center for the Arts. Councilmember Kaufman, you pulled this off consent. Would you like to start? |
| 00:22:48.29 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, thank you so much. So one of the questions that was asked, I think, regarded, which came up at our last meeting that's not in the staff report, is about the Levine Act. And it was mentioned at the last city council meeting when this was on the calendar. And so I think it would be helpful for our city attorney just to briefly tell us what that is. |
| 00:23:08.57 | Sergio Rudin | So the Levine Act is an update of basically pay-to-play regulations, and it applies those regulations to city council members for the first time beginning in 2024. So if you've received a campaign contribution of in excess of $250 in the preceding 12 months, then you basically have to disclose that you've received that. and then you have to recuse from voting on any item Um, that concerns a uh, you know, somebody who has given you a campaign contribution unless you timely return it. which is within 30 days of being notified of that proceeding coming before the council. So that is the basic rule of the Levine Act as it applies to the city council members. |
| 00:23:58.96 | Jill Hoffman | And so for this item, do we have any disclosures that need to be made? |
| 00:24:04.19 | Sergio Rudin | I'm not aware of any, but if council members have any that they need to disclose, now would be the appropriate time. And additionally, if you've actually returned the timely return the contributions, you're not required in the Levy Act to disclose that you have received them. |
| 00:24:25.46 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. So my next, so no one's making disclosure, so we'll move on. So with regard to the Center for the Arts, the one, we have a staff report. And so since I pulled it off, I was wondering perhaps the city manager would like to give us a quick summary of the staff report. And then specifically related to the infrastructure, the capital improvement issues that we discussed. So, and the, what we know about or don't know about what the capital improvements and the changes with regard to that with regard to the lease. And that's what I want to discuss. |
| 00:25:10.55 | Chris Zapata | Thank you for the question, Councilmember Hoffman. As you recall, the city of Sausalito had a contest to figure out who would operate the former Bank of America building. The city entered into a lease agreement with the Sausalito Center for the Arts. About nine months ago, the Sausalito Center for the Arts agreement came due with an increase in the payment after 18 months, which would have increased the payment from $4,000 approximately to $11,000. And at that time, the city council took action to give a respite of six months for the $4,000 a month price to stay in effect. City council then at the end of the sixth month heard a recommendation from the city manager which said, you know, $11,000 may be a little too steep. $4,000 is not enough. So the recommendation ought to be that there be an $8,000 monthly fee for the rental and lease of that building in a new agreement or amended agreement. At that time, the city council directed city staff to do three things. One, lower the rent to $6,000 a month. Two, add two additional board members to bring the total to three that were representative of the city of Sausalito. And three, to take away the triple net obligation to SCA and have the city of Sausalito be responsible for major capital improvements in the building so that was a direction it was given at that meeting city staff has been working with SCA and its team to incorporate those into a new agreement which is in front of you tonight the thing about what these agreements might cost when we start looking at what and improving the building would be on a The city's part, you know, there have been concerns about the restrooms. There have been concerns about the electrical panel. There have been concerns about the doors. And so the city of Sausalito is right now engaged in analysis of our facilities and buildings with the company that we contracted with called Bureau Veritas. Once they give us some of the costs that are related to the B of A building, we will be able to bring those to the city council as part of our Budget and capital improvement progress and process in the coming year At that time we would try to determine what the scope of that work might be What the cost of that work would be and make sure that you know We bring that forward to the council in a timely way so there can be implementation of these improvements as directed by the city council |
| 00:27:41.38 | Jill Hoffman | And the facilities assessment citywide, including the Center for the Arts, we expect that to be done in January? |
| 00:27:48.55 | Chris Zapata | That's correct, Councilmember. |
| 00:27:50.18 | Jill Hoffman | And will that report be provided with the breakdown of building by building what needs capital improvements? |
| 00:27:55.70 | Chris Zapata | That's what we anticipate. |
| 00:27:58.13 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. And so at this point, we don't know what the capital improvement costs will be. The city is now assuming from the Center for the Arts. |
| 00:28:06.08 | Chris Zapata | We don't know what the capital improvements are because we don't know what the projects will be. And so part of that assessment will be you need to do XYZ to keep the building in good stead for your tenant in terms of what the actual work might be. We don't know the scope of the work that might involve the restrooms or doors or any other thing related to the building until we bring forward the analysis. And then if in fact one path seems a little bit too pricey, we could look at alternatives to it that would be part of that exercise as well. |
| 00:28:39.12 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. I don't have any further questions, |
| 00:28:42.46 | Steven Woodside | anything else. |
| 00:28:42.85 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:28:42.97 | Steven Woodside | Thanks. Go ahead. |
| 00:28:46.19 | Chris Zapata | This is for the city attorney with respect to the Levine Act. Is this something that we need to put as an agenda item in front of every item that we decide about? Or what is our obligation as a city to remind our residents? city council members to report any Levine Act, any contributions that may be subject to the Levine Act. |
| 00:29:11.66 | Sergio Rudin | So... Um, As a city, the city doesn't really have a specific obligation in the Levine Act. It's rather a matter of best practice. And the duty to comply with the Levine Act is the individual duty of each council member. So it is up to you to review your own contributions that you have received. Typically, you have to report those to the FPVC on standardized forms. So when you become aware of the rules a contribution that you've received and that there is a pending license permit or other entitlement for use that is going to come before the council. So every time you get an agenda, you should be reviewing it and thinking about the issue of have I received more than $250 in aggregate contributions from anybody involved in this decision. So if you become aware of that, then you do have to disclose on the record that you have it. You have to decide whether or not you're going to give the money back. or abstain from participating in the decision. |
| 00:30:13.42 | Chris Zapata | And it's $250 contribution within what time frame prior to making a decision? The last 12 months. And so it is not incumbent upon I'm the city to include any Levine Act reporting in any agenda item. It's really incumbent upon each council member to proactively consider and address those items. |
| 00:30:40.87 | Sergio Rudin | Yes, and I'm not aware of any city where there are city staff dedicated to reviewing, say, FPPC filing forms and seeing which council member may have received contributions, so. |
| 00:30:51.99 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:30:55.44 | Chris Zapata | See you. |
| 00:30:55.72 | Jill Hoffman | City Attorney, isn't it also a requirement, though, that the entity making the bid for whatever contract, they are required to disclose contributions to council members within the stated period? So disclosure, so for instance, perhaps under this analysis, SCA would, in their request for an extension or at some point would have to say we have received contributions from, or I'm sorry, we have made contributions in X amount to, ex-council members to provide that notice as well as um and then and that's my first question So, you... |
| 00:31:36.33 | Sergio Rudin | So first question, I'm not aware of that being a requirement in, say, state law or FBPC regulation. As a matter of best practice, that is something the city could. request for all vendors moving forward, but it's not required as a matter of law. |
| 00:31:54.65 | Jill Hoffman | My understanding is it is required. And that's the notice, and that's not the notice period. When you submit that, when an engineer would submit that, they would disclose that they have made contributions to certain council members in certain amounts. And that's the notice under which the council members would then proceed. And so you and I may need to follow up on that. But my reading of the living act indicated that that was a requirement of the entity that was making the request of the city. to use city funds and therefore identify the potential conflict. And the second part of my question is, we talked about contributions up to a vote 12 months prior. But there are also prohibitions moving forward, so let's say, you receive a contribution, you also have the same requirements I'm not sure. in a certain period following the vote or following the vote. contribution. |
| 00:32:52.11 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, so there are separate requirements that you basically nobody who has come before the city and participated in one of these proceedings, they can't contribute to a decision maker for 12 months following. So that is a separate requirement after the decision. So, yes. |
| 00:33:14.89 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Thank you. |
| 00:33:16.60 | Steven Woodside | I guess I would just elaborate on something. This Levine Act is indeed essentially sets the campaign contribution limit at $250. In Sausalito, we have a $500 contribution limit. the, from my understanding from Sergio's education about this a few months ago when this came out and correct me if I'm wrong, sir. Uh, it's that, uh, if you take a contribution from anyone in excess of $250 and they participate in any way in the matter, which could be as little as them providing public comment then you would have to return the money. So if one of you, for instance, had donated to my campaign at $300, and you just made public comment that you are in favor of a stop sign at Smith Street, even though you don't live near Smith Street, that would be a Levine Act violation. So to avoid that, just as a matter of public information, I set a campaign contribution limit of $250. and so that was a safe harbor to try to avoid that. It, of course, could be problematic if, two co-owners of the same thing did that. And so later on, there's going to be a matter where that's exactly what happened. And I returned that contribution, which I'll repeat later in the evening. Is anything wrong about that? |
| 00:34:26.12 | Sergio Rudin | No, so that is correct. Basically, the 250 limit applies to anybody who's a party so someone who files an application or is the subject of a decision but also to anybody who's a participant and the statute defines that as anybody who actively supports or opposes a particular decision involving a license permit or other entitlement for use so yes it can be triggered potentially by people who come and speak you know at the podium as part of public comment |
| 00:34:54.52 | Jill Hoffman | And that also applies to owners, but also board members or anybody else with a financial interest in the entity. |
| 00:35:01.71 | Sergio Rudin | Yes, yes, that can be the case. The statute is actually being clarified in 2025 to Excludes certain individuals whose only financial interest is, you know, change in membership dues. So, |
| 00:35:20.80 | Chris Zapata | Hold on. Sorry, can you go back a sentence? I couldn't hear what you were saying. |
| 00:35:25.24 | Sergio Rudin | Yes, potentially it does cover officers and other people who have a financial interest in the decision of, say, a corporate entity. The statute is being amended next year, effective in January, to give some further clarity on exactly who's covered. |
| 00:35:41.18 | Jill Hoffman | And what about nonprofits? |
| 00:35:43.16 | Sergio Rudin | THE FAMILY IS GOING TO BE A participant or a party to a decision can be a nonprofit. So yes. |
| 00:35:51.85 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:35:52.13 | Sergio Rudin | There's the statute does cover nonprofits. There's no specific exclusion. |
| 00:35:52.27 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:35:56.99 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:36:00.69 | Sergio Rudin | But in the instance of a decision with an organization like the SCA, it would include board members, for example. |
| 00:36:07.81 | Sergio Rudin | Potentially, yes. I'm going to pull up the FPPC regulation on this just so I have it in front of me. |
| 00:36:41.64 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:37:04.88 | Sergio Rudin | out. you guys can give me a couple minutes here, and perhaps we can move along to a different question in the interim. |
| 00:37:15.58 | Jill Hoffman | Those were my comments. Those were my questions. |
| 00:37:24.02 | Steven Woodside | Okay, I guess we could take public comment on this item. |
| 00:37:27.32 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay, we have Babette McDougall online. |
| 00:37:36.20 | Babette McDougall | I know it's silly to always start by saying, can you hear me? Can you hear me all right? Hello. Yes, we hear you. Thank you. Appreciate that. All right, so I'm just holding it in my little hand here, California Government Code Section 84308, the Levine Act. By the way, thank you so much for taking on what I would call a vigorous discussion of this particular issue. I think it's important, so thank you for bringing it in. to the discussion world. And I'm sorry I'm not there in person. Because Sergio is there. I'm really sorry not to be present when our city attorney is present. But I'm glad to see you guys on Zoom. So it says here any involving a license, involving any proceeding that leads to licensing, permits, other entitlements, including all contracts. And in a contribution more than $250, that the party or their agents has donated. So, I mean, there you have it. It has to be included by this very document, in all contracts that are being offered to bid on. Just being a lowest bidder is not necessarily... The grand prize here, especially if you fail to mention that you support certain political initiatives or people. And, you know, it's the way the game is played. And I would just like to see a more fair, even-handed approach to the law and the institutions that govern us of a civil society. That's all. Thank you so much. Hey, can I just ask a question? Is it my imagination or you're actually not using the timer tonight? |
| 00:39:15.39 | Walfred Solorzano | We're using the timer. |
| 00:39:17.00 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 00:39:17.01 | Chris Zapata | It's here live in the chambers, Babette. I don't know why it's not showing up online this evening. Okay, thanks for letting me know. |
| 00:39:24.08 | Babette McDougall | All right. Thanks very much. |
| 00:39:28.52 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment. |
| 00:39:31.83 | Steven Woodside | All right, we'll close public comment. Is there any, oh, I guess we have someone from the room here. |
| 00:39:40.67 | Ron Albert | It hasn't been stated directly, but it seems to be suggested that the Sausalito Center for the Arts may have made contributions to candidates. And I believe I gave very clear direction to the board that that was not to happen, and it's my understanding. The Sausalito Center for the Arts donated zero to the candidates. Several candidates wanted or made use of the facility. It was offered to all the candidates in the most recent council election, and they were all charged. I believe the rate was about $400 an hour, and the candidates that used the facility paid the Sausalito Center of the Arts for the privilege. So, yeah. If you have any questions for me, I'll stay here at the podium, but I wanted to address what seemed to be hinted at indirectly. |
| 00:40:38.70 | Steven Woodside | Go ahead, Council Member Lestey. |
| 00:40:40.12 | Sergio Rudin | I'm just trying to understand if it's an aggregate of any contributions from anyone who has any affiliation with the Center for the Arts. because a lot of Sausalito residents contributed to my campaign. And if I need to recuse myself, I will. I don't want to be in violation of the Levine Act. And if it's in aggregate, of everyone who's ever supported this. I just want to. make sure that I'm being ethically sound. I'm absolutely not hiding anything. I'm very proud that I received contributions from a number of Sausalito residents who are engaged in the community. None of them are in excess with, in this instance, of $250 in individual contributions. But if it's aggregate, then that's something we need. If it's an aggregate of anyone ever involved, then I would need to know. |
| 00:41:22.04 | Chris Zapata | No, it's the agency or a agent. |
| 00:41:26.70 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, and additionally, so there's three kind of buckets where disclosure and abstention requirements can be triggered. It's if you receive a contribution from a party, which is defined by a statute as any person who files an application for or is the subject of a proceeding involving a license permit or entitlement of use, so that would be the, in the case of a corporate entity, the corporate entity. Um, if you have received a contribution from a participant. So that is somebody who actively supports or opposed a particular decision, and who has a financial interest in the decision. So typically a volunteer board member will not. I'm not sure. and The last one is an agent of the party or participant. But the FPPC has limited the interpretation of that because an agent has to represent that party or participant for compensation. and has to appear or communicate with the governmental agency for the purpose of influencing the decision. So unpaid volunteers are not considered agents for the purpose of the Levina. |
| 00:42:35.21 | Sergio Rudin | So the only people for the purpose of the Levine Act that this would qualify for would be, for example, Shiva Pachtel, the executive director who is employed by the Center for the Arts. |
| 00:42:43.41 | Sergio Rudin | My understanding is yes, that's correct. |
| 00:42:44.78 | Sergio Rudin | Okay. |
| 00:42:45.07 | Jill Hoffman | Great. is that you're understanding that board members for the Center for the Arts would not be included in that analysis. |
| 00:42:51.70 | Sergio Rudin | Based on the guidance of the FPPC at present, I think the answer is no. |
| 00:42:56.91 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Mr. Albert. We'll close public comment. any function or |
| 00:43:03.05 | Unknown | Yeah, I just... Thank you. I'm making a motion, and I just want to just state for the record that when this came back to us last time, as the city manager referenced, the suggestion from the city manager was to reduce the rent to $8,000. A majority of the council, in a 3-2 vote, decided to reduce it further to $6,000 and to obligate the city to take on capital improvements as the city manager shared i'm not in favor of that i wasn't at the time and i'm still not and i'd just like to say for the record why two reasons one is as one of my colleagues mentioned we are doing a facilities assessment and i think this any obligation around capital improvements as to any particular lease hold should be consistent across all leases held by the city. And therefore, that judgment can't be made until we have that additional information. Thank you. I also think that we want some objective standards around this, and we have other nonprofits and entities that come and ask for our support and our help, and I want to be able to give them the same diligence and support across the board. And so for those reasons, I don't think we've fully hammered those concerns out. I'm unable to support that tonight, although I do very much support the hard work and effort of the members of the SCA and continue to do a fantastic job contributing to the community. So I just wanted to articulate my reasoning behind that. Thank you. |
| 00:44:33.10 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:44:33.13 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:44:33.20 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:44:33.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:44:33.99 | Steven Woodside | Yes, Councillor Rahal. |
| 00:44:35.29 | Jill Hoffman | That's my reasoning. That's my exact reasoning as well. I think because we don't know what the facility's assessment is, we have no way to gauge what the city's increased expense will be with this building, certainly to bring it online. Let me also say that. uh i i may upon further upon further research agree with our city attorney however my read of sb 1439 looks like it requires disclosure if you've received contributions, it requires disclosure. I've received these. However, and then you can provide the explanation, however, I have returned the funds and then you may vote on it, but you have to disclose either way. And if you don't return the funds, then you must recuse. So I think the city attorney disagree on that, and we probably will look at that offline and come up with a consensus. But that's my read of SB 1439, the Levine Act. |
| 00:45:36.14 | Sergio Rudin | just want to clarify city attorney that it's the opinion of our city attorney that the board members are not considered agents of the Center for the Arts in this context, because I have received contribute to the interest of full disclosure. It's all available in my filing statements. None of it is in excess of $250 from a single member. But I am very proud to be supported by a diverse group of engaged individuals in the city of Sausalito, more than one of whom serves on the Center for the Arts board. |
| 00:46:06.97 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I mean, as far as I can tell, based on the guidance of the FPPC and their... In their regulations, as well as their recent publication on the Levine Act for officers in Section 84308, they are not. |
| 00:46:24.32 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:46:24.64 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:46:24.91 | Chris Zapata | I'm going to go ahead and move that we approve the amended and restated lease agreement with Sausalito Center for the Arts for 750 Bridgeway and authorize the city manager to execute. And I will reiterate the basis upon which I voted in favor of that action at our last meeting. The first is we purchased a building under market. So we got a deal on this building and we could sell it for a profit today if that were our choice. When we buy a building and rent it out, it's not typically our expectation that our Um, tenant, completely subsidize the cost of that building. The city first negotiated a lease with the Sausalito Center for the Arts. It offered that lease at $4,000 a month with the thinking that it would also have a second rooftop tenant that would help to defray the expense to the city of that building. When negotiations with a potential rooftop tenant fell through, the city, after the Sausalito Center for the Arts had already been occupying the building for two months said oh no actually instead of $4,000 we're going to charge you $11,000 per month. A brand new startup non-profit with a community purpose. The Sausalito Center for the Arts had no choice and said yes but has come back to us since requesting rent relief. Although the city manager proposed a rent of $8,000, the Sausalito Center for the Arts in correspondence backed up with some detail, explained why they were in a position to pay $6,000 a month. And that is the action that we took. As it has with other leases throughout the city, Sausalito is undertaking to perform capital improvements. The city is in the best position to evaluate, manage, undertake and perform capital improvements on its properties to ensure that they are performed timely and timely. appropriately and not constrained by any single tenant's financial challenges. And so it is for those reasons that, and the other thing that we demanded was that we collaborate more closely with the Salsa Zoo Center for the Arts moving forward. And so for that reason, we will have three members, the city will have three members on their board. And so it is for those reasons that I voted in favor of this revision to their lease, and I'm moving approval tonight. |
| 00:49:17.24 | Steven Woodside | I will second that motion. |
| 00:49:19.32 | Sergio Rudin | I'm just not comfortable with the ambiguity associated with the Levine Act, and I was not briefed on any of this prior to this meeting. So I just feel like because there might be an FDF. I feel like I need to recuse myself. I'm really sorry, but I wasn't informed and no one talked to me about it. |
| 00:49:35.24 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:49:39.53 | Chris Zapata | That just means there's no there's Thank you. |
| 00:49:42.38 | Sergio Rudin | Can we actually, can we continue it? Because I'd like to just formalize and be sure before we make a vote on this item. Okay. I'd much prefer to continue it. I know, but I know that there's gonna be |
| 00:49:47.46 | Chris Zapata | Okay. |
| 00:49:48.00 | Jill Hoffman | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:49:48.05 | Lauren Mendelsohn | Thank you. |
| 00:49:51.48 | Sergio Rudin | Additional follow-up and I would like to be aware and have a legal opinion and just reach out to the FBPC myself to avoid Complaints filed by others which I imagine would happen so in order to be proactive I'm gonna reach out to the FBPC myself ask a question about this get an informed opinion and then come back and hopefully be able to Further reiterate how much I support the Center for the Arts Which I think most people who have contributed to my campaign were aware of that as my stance prior to my run But I would like to be able to do that |
| 00:49:54.06 | Lauren Mendelsohn | wear and have a little. Okay. |
| 00:50:19.76 | Chris Zapata | So I'm gonna rescind my motion. would you like it the first meeting in December or the second meeting in December? |
| 00:50:25.99 | Sergio Rudin | given the pace that the FPPC moves at, it might have to be this |
| 00:50:28.97 | Chris Zapata | So I'm going to revise my motion that I move that we continue this item to December 17, 2024. Thank you. |
| 00:50:37.45 | Sergio Rudin | And going forward, it would be great if we could just have a discussion about how we want to convene and comply with the Levine Act and more, not on a specific agenda item, because I feel that the way that this was brought up and being polled was not the most collaborative discussion that we could have had as a council about this issue, and I'm a little bit disappointed in it. |
| 00:50:56.47 | Jill Hoffman | I would agree with that. I think I'm disappointing this too because we talked about the Levin Act two weeks ago with regard to the Huff agreement that's coming up next on the agenda. And we have had public comment on this and I had extensive conversations with our city attorney on it. |
| 00:51:17.19 | Chris Zapata | Yeah. Thank you. |
| 00:51:20.31 | Jill Hoffman | I- |
| 00:51:20.97 | Chris Zapata | second to my motion because until there's a second we aren't having further discussion under Robinson's rules. |
| 00:51:22.25 | Jill Hoffman | Until next time. |
| 00:51:26.60 | Steven Woodside | for having a discussion on this matter of this Labien Act business. I'm looking at our situation. |
| 00:51:30.91 | Chris Zapata | I made a motion. So is there a second or are we just going to? |
| 00:51:35.26 | Steven Woodside | I... |
| 00:51:35.90 | Chris Zapata | Is it going to die? You don't want to continue it? |
| 00:51:38.06 | Steven Woodside | could we come back to it? I would just like the courtesy of actually engaging with our city attorney here on this question because it's not- |
| 00:51:43.12 | Chris Zapata | The Levine Act is not on our agenda tonight. I would agree. I think we need to agenda. I would like us to direct the city attorney to come back to us with a business item on the Levine Act. |
| 00:51:44.95 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I think we're going to be right. |
| 00:51:45.89 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:51:46.25 | Steven Woodside | AND I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO |
| 00:51:46.62 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 00:51:52.95 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I agree with that. And I think we also might want to discuss, I also brought this up about a year ago, that I think we should decide how we want to address potential ethical issues. And I think a pre-ruling from the FPPC is probably the way that we should go and the most responsible way to go. I agree that it should come back. I agree that we should have a gentized item about the living act, but also ethical issues that come up with it at the council. |
| 00:52:09.68 | Sergio Rudin | And again, Thanks. |
| 00:52:16.13 | Sergio Rudin | I love the idea of a pre-engaged ruling from the FPPC. Let's be as transparent as possible. I welcome that. I suggested that for this item, and that's why I asked for the continuance. So I look forward to hearing from them and hopefully voting on this issue. |
| 00:52:24.01 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, I love it. Well, that wasn't our discussion the last time it came up. And I was attacked |
| 00:52:29.34 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 00:52:30.04 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 00:52:30.24 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:52:30.29 | Sergio Rudin | . |
| 00:52:30.34 | Unknown | THE END OF |
| 00:52:30.37 | Sergio Rudin | AS A CASE. |
| 00:52:30.44 | Unknown | tax for it, actually. Agendize this and put this on, right? |
| 00:52:30.97 | Sergio Rudin | actually. |
| 00:52:32.03 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:52:34.58 | Steven Woodside | Well, there is emotion. Someone's free to second it. |
| 00:52:37.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:52:37.68 | Chris Zapata | I'm to continue my motion is that we continue this to December 17 2024 is there a second |
| 00:52:49.88 | Steven Woodside | What do I want to do? I mean, yeah, the thing, this is just the unethical use of ethics rules. I'm sorry. I have looked at this Levine Act business. I returned the checks last time to Mr. Huff and his wife because they're co-owners of the business. I just have the floor to speak for a moment. |
| 00:52:51.30 | Chris Zapata | I mean, |
| 00:53:01.90 | Lauren Mendelsohn | a coat worn out. |
| 00:53:06.07 | Steven Woodside | And we researched this issue and I'm looking at Sergio carefully. What matters is whether the aggregate The financial interest is spread across an aggregate group and whether that group provides $250 or more in donations. And so there's just no question here and the little sneak attack here is unwarranted and to my mind, an unethical use of the ethics rules these volunteers here on city council. work for basically nothing. Thank you. uh no one believes that they're being influenced by these small donations and yet we're going to gum up the works of progress so i don't know where the i'm sure we will come back to this and it's not going to be resolved now unless the city attorney is going to step in and make some sort of clarifying opinion are you going to do that mr city attorney yes |
| 00:53:52.51 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:52.54 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:53:52.55 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:52.61 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 00:53:52.64 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:53:53.18 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah. I mean, Government Code 84308C includes disclosure requirements for anyone who's received a contribution in the preceding 12 months. D indicates that there are no disqualification requirements as long as you return it within 30 days. So, I mean, if all involved candidates have... or, you know, all involved officers have returned the contributions, you know, and just stayed on the record that what they were. I don't think that there's any Prohibition Levine Act. That would prohibit. anybody from voting on it. |
| 00:54:34.69 | Steven Woodside | Why would unpaid board members in the aggregate have any accumulated financial interest instead of them being separate $250 donors? |
| 00:54:44.50 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, so I don't think that unpaid volunteer board members of a nonprofit who are not expressly named, they're not going to be the party who is the subject of the application for the license permit or other entitlement abuse. |
| 00:55:00.76 | Steven Woodside | So that seems clear and definitive. |
| 00:55:02.70 | Sergio Rudin | Additionally, they're not going to be agents of that party because they are, again, not paid. Potentially, to the extent that those people have actively supported or opposed... you know, the decision, then they could be a participant. |
| 00:55:17.67 | Steven Woodside | They are participant, but if they participate, if they donated $250 or less, then they are allowed to be participants. |
| 00:55:23.63 | Sergio Rudin | That's correct. So, |
| 00:55:25.13 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. So this is a definitive opinion. that I think should prevent us from gumming up the works. That's why I'd return the donations to Huff and his wife so that I could participate in the Matter later today. And that's why I think that there's no issue here with anyone with you Councilmember Bostein or myself who also received individual donations from board members in participating in this matter. |
| 00:55:48.66 | Chris Zapata | Respectfully, Mayor, I believe that it's up to each council member to make that determination for themselves. And so I respect Councilmember Blaustein's decision to more thoroughly investigate this, since this was not an issue, you know, the role of possible participants in, um, in persuading certain decision making. I think we have to allow each council member to conduct their own due diligence. It's unfortunate that we weren't aware of that before this evening. |
| 00:56:28.99 | Steven Woodside | You could return the donations from the board members as one quick path if you so chose to. |
| 00:56:35.52 | Unknown | I think also Boston has |
| 00:56:35.99 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:56:36.02 | Chris Zapata | But I really don't think we can allow an attachment to a specific item bully our colleagues into acting in a particular way. I'm just discussing it to see. Okay. So I'm going to reiterate my motion that we continue this to December 17, 2024. |
| 00:56:46.03 | Steven Woodside | the right. |
| 00:56:46.10 | Unknown | WELL, WELL, |
| 00:56:46.42 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:56:56.49 | Unknown | I'm gonna second that. I commend your willingness and interest in resolving this for yourself, Councilor Blaski. And we'll agendize this at a later date. All in favor? |
| 00:57:00.74 | Chris Zapata | with my philosophy and... |
| 00:57:01.98 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:57:04.10 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:57:04.12 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:57:04.24 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:57:05.28 | Unknown | I think she's gonna. |
| 00:57:05.40 | Jill Hoffman | Before you have a vote, may I comment, please, based on the conversation we've had? This issue did come up prior to the original SCA vote back in September about campaign contributions, and I did discuss it with the city attorney, so if it wasn't conveyed |
| 00:57:07.49 | Unknown | based on that. |
| 00:57:23.00 | Jill Hoffman | don't know what to say about that um but i believe it was uh addressed so anyway um and then it was asked in public comment so you know That's my. |
| 00:57:38.28 | Jill Hoffman | Are you going to read? |
| 00:57:39.19 | Steven Woodside | Please go ahead if he wants to make a comment. |
| 00:57:39.20 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:57:39.25 | Sergio Rudin | Please go ahead. |
| 00:57:43.12 | Sergio Rudin | I just want to say we all work really hard up here. We're essentially volunteers, and we're doing our best to contribute to the community in the most ethical way possible. And so I am doing what I believe is the right thing to find more information so that we can have a path forward that will allow us all to act in the best possible way. But I am really... disappointed in the way that this was facilitated. And I'm really hopeful that going forward, we can all be collaborative in decisions like these and support one another, especially from the dais and especially when we're having a conversation like this. So I just wanted to say that, and I appreciate that the willingness to suspend and continue the motion. |
| 00:58:25.22 | Steven Woodside | Thanks. |
| 00:58:26.49 | Chris Zapata | Is she going to vote on it or not? I guess not. OK. So then not all in favor. |
| 00:58:32.70 | Steven Woodside | All in favor of the motion to continue that the vice mayor made say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion carries. We'll move on to item 3D. |
| 00:58:42.16 | Chris Zapata | So it's 4-0 with one recusal. |
| 00:58:42.18 | Steven Woodside | So it's- |
| 00:58:46.20 | Chris Zapata | Item 3D. And may I also make sure that we are directing staff |
| 00:58:46.89 | Steven Woodside | 3D. |
| 00:58:51.09 | Chris Zapata | to bring this as a business item back to us on or before December 17, 2024. |
| 00:59:00.42 | Chris Zapata | Excuse me. Can I get some clarity on that, counsel? So bring it back as a business item for the lease amendment. |
| 00:59:06.97 | Chris Zapata | No, an overview of the city's and the council's obligations under the Levine Act. |
| 00:59:07.12 | Chris Zapata | Yeah. |
| 00:59:13.50 | Chris Zapata | And once you figure that out, then that's when we would bring the lease back again, if that's the path. |
| 00:59:18.58 | Chris Zapata | We moved to return the lease on a date certain, so I'm looking for that briefing on either December 3 or December 17th. |
| 00:59:26.97 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:59:27.03 | Chris Zapata | followed by the lease. That's the path the council chooses. |
| 00:59:30.58 | Sergio Rudin | We'll put it on for December 3rd. |
| 00:59:33.70 | Steven Woodside | All right, well, here item 3D, receive and follow a toast of sauce later recap. Councilmember Kelman you pulled this off agenda is there you want to give a context |
| 00:59:42.98 | Unknown | Yes, first of all, I do love this event. Thank you, Brian, Vitaly, for being here. I really appreciate the second year of this fantastic event. I wanted to pull it because I just wanted to acknowledge that we have the opportunity to I think to have a little bit more rigor on the financial analysis of this, I think, It actually, in the long run, would benefit the department. Brian is working so hard to build this department out as a revenue-generating department, and I want to make sure that we adequately highlight that and we put it forward in a way that I think is consistent with the other financials that Director Hess has provided to us. So that is my concern. I think it could have been done in perhaps a little bit more thorough fashion, and maybe Director Hess could play a role in that to help implement it moving forward. But just to have the opportunity to air that and see if members of the public or my colleagues felt the same way, but in no way to take away from the excellent work and the amazing event that this is. |
| 01:00:44.03 | Unknown | Anything else? |
| 01:00:44.07 | Steven Woodside | Anything else? |
| 01:00:44.63 | Unknown | No, I support him. |
| 01:00:45.74 | Steven Woodside | Okay, is anything from Brian, Mr. Vitale? |
| 01:00:46.97 | Unknown | Yeah, I agree. |
| 01:00:50.99 | Unknown | I mean, Brian, thank you. I mean, I was there, you saw me... multiple times. I think if you'd like to say anything about the event, you're welcome to, but this is not a criticism by any means. This is an opportunity, I think, for us to show what an amazing job you are doing in that department, and I think some more granular financials and some line items would help maintain that and help grow the program. |
| 01:01:12.84 | Brian Vitale | Thank you very much. |
| 01:01:12.99 | Unknown | Thank you very much. |
| 01:01:13.70 | Brian Vitale | Hello. I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you tonight, but thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members. I appreciate your support for the event, and I know our entire team in the Parks and Rec Department does, along with our entire city staff that helped put this event on, along with the 70-plus volunteers that came out for the day, 140-plus vendors that were there for the day day in the months of planning that went into it. It feels I had a lot of people come back and tell me this was a great nostalgic feel of the old Caledonia Street Fair days, along with bringing some new fun aspects into it. So the goal for our department is to always continue to do better year after year. We appreciate constructive criticism and we'll work to make sure that we're able to always put our best foot forward. And if this recap was something more robust that you would like in the future, I would have to be able to provide it and work with our team to be able to get that out to council in a timely manner. |
| 01:01:15.49 | Unknown | I couldn't. |
| 01:02:18.20 | Brian Vitale | But I appreciate all of your support. So thank you. |
| 01:02:24.17 | Steven Woodside | be there. Any public comment? |
| 01:02:28.27 | Walfred Solorzano | Seeing none. |
| 01:02:30.26 | Steven Woodside | All right, we'll close. |
| 01:02:30.97 | Walfred Solorzano | public comment? Actually we just had two one person reasons. Babette McDougall. |
| 01:02:31.06 | Steven Woodside | public comment? |
| 01:02:41.60 | Babette McDougall | Hello there. So I gather we don't get any financial details about Now, the second event that Brian has done really quite a spectacular job on this year. And I really want to thank Councilmember Kelman pointing out. that, being a bit more rigorous about how we do our financial reporting. whether we can actually set some tenable goals. We have very valuable event properties, folks. Very valuable. And there are ways to evaluate events the actual dollar value of these properties. Believe it or not, these protocols exist. And I think we're probably at that point where we should probably look seriously at using our stage. If you say, Mr. Mayor, for example, well, I don't want to ask the residents to pay more in taxes, so let's be more inventive. Well, I would say, staging disruptive events in our town is not such a bad way earning more income for the community. And that's why I'd like to see this more professionalized, especially if we're going to start getting involved in sponsored categories, because that's where the money is. Thank you. |
| 01:03:53.15 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Lorna Newlin. |
| 01:03:59.48 | Lorna Newland | Yes, hello. I'm Lorna Newland, 30 year resident, 22 year full time artist in Sausalito, even though I've been an artist my whole life. I participated at the Toast of Sausalito, and I had participated many years before at Caldini Street Fair, and I just really want to commend Brian Vitale and the whole Park and Rec department for a very well done event. I didn't do it last year, I checked it out. And my only issue was I had a band across from my booth, but it was very loud and very robust. But The whole thing was A wonderful showing of what we do in Sausalito. I'm hearing people talk about Park and Rec being a revenue generating department. And I've always felt that personally that They bring joy and activity to our citizens and not just our own citizens. It's all of Marin County. You look at Jazz by the Bay. We're putting on something that people from outside our city who aren't paying property tax or other things, they might be paying parking, come to Jazz by the Bay. They come down for 4th of July. So if it can, it looked like it was neutral on that. And I'd be happy to talk to Bray about you know, all of this. I read the recap, didn't know this was coming up and it came off consent calendar, but I applaud the, them doing this and bringing more activities into our town. And I think there are other ways that we can generate revenue versus charging vendor. You know, you only charge more. You'd be charging the participants to participate more or the vet, the few vendors there more versus |
| 01:05:53.84 | Unknown | YOU KNOW, |
| 01:06:04.32 | Walfred Solorzano | And we have Alice Merrill. |
| 01:06:10.41 | Alice Merrill | Bye. I just want to say that to thank Brian specifically for being listening to his public, because last year, evidently, there was a band right outside the window of where I live. I wasn't there there, so I didn't hear it. But my neighbors were they were. Over it. And he moved it to a different street, so he's sharing the wealth of the noise. And, um, He really listened, and he might bring it back next time. But I really appreciate that he is so fair and open-hearted about the residents, thank you. |
| 01:06:53.95 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public speakers. |
| 01:06:55.45 | Steven Woodside | All right, we'll close public comment. No action needs to be taken on that except the report. So on favor of a move, we accept the report. Is there a second? |
| 01:07:06.34 | Sergio Rudin | SECOND. |
| 01:07:06.89 | Steven Woodside | All in favor, say aye. |
| 01:07:08.14 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:07:08.16 | Sergio Rudin | Hi. |
| 01:07:08.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:07:09.34 | Steven Woodside | All right, motion carries unanimously. We will now move on to our next business item, which is receive an update regarding the Sol Solito Infrastructure and Public Works Department operations and programs and provide direction to staff. Director McGill. |
| 01:07:22.27 | Chris Zapata | Mayor, if I can provide some introductory comments. Yes, Mr. City Mayor. Walford is putting up the slides, which I am going to be the first part of. That would be really helpful. First of all, this item is much appreciated by city staff, that you will take the time this evening to look at this important area, that we get your feedback and direction on, you know, what we should do in this very important area, and that we understand the operations and infrastructure needs and investments of the city of Sausalito Public Works Department and those of the City Council first of all let me just say this infrastructure is the topic but public works is the mechanism for carrying out work and public works is not just building and staffing committees it It's also a first responder, and that's evidenced by some of the things that are going on right now with this upcoming storm. People see first responders as fire and police, but actually when you look at who responds first, it's also public works. So that's an extremely important distinction that I think gets lost sometimes. So as first responders in Sausalito, they have a lot of work to do when things like tomorrow and the next day and whenever we have these events happen. I also like to say beyond just the work they do, they're the glue to many, many different areas, whether it's city boards, commissions and committees, whether it's other city departments, whether it's regional agencies, all of those things are something that public work is a part of. And certainly to our residents, our businesses, when something goes wrong, who do we call when it's public safety police department, but when it's infrastructure, it's always public work. So can I get the first slide up? |
| 01:07:24.06 | Steven Woodside | Yes, Mr. City, go ahead. |
| 01:09:07.89 | Kevin McGowan | Why don't we so that was my introduction. So thank you very much. Let's turn it back over to Chris then. So we should be on slide three. |
| 01:09:18.00 | Chris Zapata | He gave you a little more while I was working on it. So one of the things I want to point out is that Sausalito is a beautiful community. And as you look out, you have one of the most unique locations and physical identities in the world. Sausalito is world-class beautiful. But in October of 2021, one of the things that we talked to the city council about was when we look down and we look at our streets and our sidewalks, Saucelo is not so beautiful. There is a real need to do some work there. And so we gave you some estimates of what we thought it would take to fix roads. We also made the strong recommendation that the city council focus on our finances, our personnel, and our infrastructure, which you did and you have. Thank you. recommendation that the city council focus on our finances our personnel and our infrastructure which which you did and you have one of the things that we pointed out was Sausalito was founded in 1893 and a lot of our facilities a lot of our infrastructure is extremely aged and so these things don't get aged overnight and they don't get fixed overnight so now is the time to continue the work that was done by prior administrations and I want to point some of that out city councils and city administrations in the past undertook the replacement of your police and fire buildings and did an excellent job of that those two facilities on Johnson Street in Caledonia are first class. The city council undertook the work to do park improvements, and so through certificates of participation that were sold, improvements were made to Dunphy Park in a major way, Martin Luther King Park in a major way, Southview Park in a major way. So taking care of your public safety and your recreation facilities the city council did that they also did something really important as well they passed the measure called measure o which was a quarter cent sales tax for eight years directed toward infrastructure and for eight years the city of sausalito used that money for infrastructure as it promised the voter one year when we we had COVID, the idea was to take some of that and use it for operations. The council reversed course, put that money back into infrastructure, and so your perfect record of doing that is intact. But you also knew that Measure O was set to expire, and so you asked that there be some importance put to an extension of the measure. And so work was done by the city council to put measure L on the ballot, which extended and expanded measure O from about $1.2, $1.4 million to $2.4 to $2.8 million and was approved by the voters of Sausli for infrastructure. Again, even though it's a 50% plus one vote, the city council could use it for whatever it wanted to. And the general fund, the city has always planned on using this money for infrastructure. The one thing I will say is as we looked at our revenue streams, it was apparent to me that there is a real need to provide information to the community about our revenue streams that can fund infrastructure. A lot of times I hear people say, I pay my taxes. I pay my sales tax. I think it's important to note that when you get a $0.10 bill on taxes, the city is one and a half cents of that. The county and special districts are two cents of that. The state is six cents of that 10 cent sales tax, roughly. When people say I pay my property taxes, it's pretty clear to me that, you know, the city's getting 11 and a half cents on the dollar. The rest of it's going to special districts, school districts, fire districts, everyone else. So the city has been revenue constrained for infrastructure, and I wanna make sure that's understood. Thank you. I want to talk about the amount that is in that estimate that we provided that we said would generate $2.4 to $2.8 million. That's been holding. That's been an accurate projection. Slide three, please. So subsequent to that, we said, you know, with the infrastructure challenge we have, we really need to focus on how we can create resources to deal with it. We brought forward some ideas for revenue generation, and we're told very clearly that the city council was not interested in an additional tax on its residents, that the burden that the city residents have, the businesses have, was one that would stay constant, that city staff wouldn't bring forward a bond measure, a tax measure that would, in fact, tax residents more for infrastructure. So what we want to do now is talk about how we got to the need for infrastructure. One of the clear things, and when you look at our roads, is cities do what's called a pavement management index. And over the last two years, we've been told our roads are failing, that our pavement management index is 58 on a scale of 100. That's a low C, a high D. It's not a good number to have. And so we talked to the city council about what we could do better and what we could use to make that better. And so the discussion centered around what resources, you know, we're in uncertain times. So two years ago, staff came to the city council and said, our audits show us with emergency reserves of $10.7 million that are audited. We ought to think about using some of that money for something other than having it in the bank account. City Council said no, City Manager, we want to develop a reserve policy for emergencies. We have to do some things that we may not have funds for, so to allocate that money would be unwise. So there was a six-month work and conversation around how much of that reserve to keep. I'm happy to say the city council arrived at a number, which I think is right, which is 25 percent. So with that in play, that leaves some unassigned discretionary funds to the city council. And that's not to say that there aren't a lot of needs in the city of Saucyutu. There are plenty, whether it's pensions whether it's emergencies that might happen there are many things that are in front of us that we have to be mindful of so I'm not in any way advocating two things number one I'm not advocating new taxes I'm not advocating that we spend all that infrastructure money in one fell swoop but I'm advocating that we do something So can you flash to the next slide? So given all of that work, we're at a critical point where there are opportunities. You have an opportunity now to look at investing in your infrastructure in a strategic way. You have been given information that, you know, our 25% for economic uncertainty and economic contingencies, unforeseen disasters is $5 million on a $20 million budget. There is another $8 million on top of that that's unassigned that can be used for any number of reasons. And again, I'm not advocating using all of that for infrastructure, but I'm advocating using some of it, whether it's buildings, whether it's roads, whether it's stairs, whether it's storm drains, all of those things matter at this point. And so it's time to move the needle on all those to. again, provide better facilities, better conditions for people that walk, ride bikes, drive cars, own properties, or come visit your city. It's also important to do these things because we want to lower our risk profile. So the more work we do on our buildings, the more work we do on our streets and sidewalks, the better for our risk profile because Sassero is an old community, has a lot of work to do with some of its infrastructure that relates to how people drive, how people bike, how people walk, how people push a stroller, how people enjoy city facility. I wanted to also point out that, you know, as you've resuscitated the finance committee, the finance committee is really going to be a vehicle for some of these things to be vetted, whether it's taking and using funding that exists in the unassigned kitty of money, whether it's taking and using money that was shown to come, we said would be in this coming year's audit. We estimate that we'll finish 23, 24, $2 million in the black, whether you want to put that in pensions, whether you want to put that in insurance costs that might increase, whether you want to put that in infrastructure. All those things are possible. And so in this upcoming budget process, you have some resources that really are able to help you make a more significant investment than the money we've invested in the past. I think that it's important to note that parallel to this, for a year we've been working on our buildings with Climatech, and there's an opportunity there to deal with building infrastructure. We've been working on an RFP with the Bureau's Veritas to assess the condition of our buildings. All of those things, in addition to the work we're doing with our granting agency, sea level rise, ADA compliance, all those things are opportunities to build an approach in this coming six-month period that can, in fact, move the needle in a significant way on our infrastructure needs. I want to turn it over to Kevin, but I also want to say that I've seen the letters and the requests from residents about, you know, not following the same cookie-cutter approach on how we construct roads, not being ignorant of, you know, what sea level rise in climate change and all those things due to our infrastructure and to have that lens and look to them. So a lot of things are in play. A lot of work's being done. Now is the time to actually allocate resources in a very structured and strategic way over this upcoming budget year so that in fiscal year 25-26, our capital improvement program, our street improvement program, our sea level rise program, our building and ADA compliance programs all have additional resources to them. And again, I'm not advocating spending all of your funds on that. I'm not advocating spending or adding new taxes to the residents. But I think there are some creative ways. If you do not want to use the $8 million in total, you don't want to go out for a bond issue, and you want to gain $2 or $3 million, $4 million to add to an effort over the next year or two. I think then you could, in fact, do something which other cities have done, and I did in a prior city called a private placement, which is a smaller borough with less muss and fuss. They can get you a dollop of cash in the $2 to $3 to $4 to $5 million range minimum to actually do some work and use what I call the incoming revenue over the next eight years in a partial way, which is Measure L. And again, $2.4 million is what we're seeing to $2.8 million. I'm not saying use all of that. I'm saying you may want to use a million dollars of it a year for the next five years, which would be $5 million, and allocate that to infrastructure and streets and stairs and buildings. And the reason you'd want to do that is because, number one, things get more costly. Construction costs go up. Energy costs go up. Economies of scale that we could use to do more work at one time, all factor in. But, you know, up, economies of scale that we could use to do more work at one time all factor in, but that's part of the discussion we want to begin to have this coming year with our finance committee and ultimately with the city council so that we can get to a budget in 25-26 that is more aggressive than the budgets that we've had the past couple of years. |
| 01:21:08.76 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you, Chris. I think the next slide is number six there, and that covered some of the points that Chris was talking about as well. So feel free to refer to that slide to some of the issues he just brought up. Next slide, please. So in past meetings, we have talked about the concept of having a vibrant city infrastructure system. which is similar to a three-legged stool. Each leg of the stool represents a key component which makes the city thrive. Infrastructure improvements need to be identified and implemented, and many plans go into the development of an infrastructure. and infrastructure project. So on this slide, I've noted a couple different things that are really key to developing infrastructure, starting with the general plan, starting with the strategic plan. bicycle pedestrian master plans as well as facility assessment studies in the CIP. All of those go into developing infrastructure and giving some guidance on where we're moving forward. Let's not forget about the Climate Action Plan, as well as other studies that are also occurring. For a city to function, it also needs funding. This is not just generating general fund, but also includes Measure L, grants, parking funds, and others to support the intent of having facilities and programs that support the community. And again, I'm listing that here as a specific leg to the stool, and I haven't included everything there. We also have more that we also look after. We also need people to execute that work. Last year, the City Council approved two project engineers for DPW. These positions have greatly increased our ability to implement capital projects. However, there are other personnel who helped improve Sausalito. Our City Council, for one, who takes leadership and provides direction, but also our community volunteers, collaborators, and others to help guide the city with these improvements. Next slide, please. Just a quick little slide here for funding. Katie Theo Garcia, our sustainability coordinator, has worked exceptionally hard to identify funding for the city. Many agencies are now providing funding to Sausalito, and only some of them are listed here. Keep in mind that this is not your normal transportation type of funding. This is something completely different for us, which is great. We welcome that. Public Works has also submitted applications for road and traffic-centric funds over the last year, and we are waiting to hear if we are successful in bringing some of these funds to Sausalito. Next slide, please. Over the last year, Public Works has presented more than 50 staff reports to the Council. Of those projects, the Council has approved $7.7 million in various construction and professional services contracts, all generally related to capital infrastructure. Some of these projects are very important to the city, such as the Ferry Landside Improvement Project, as well as complex projects such as Edwards Avenue repaving. Many others are on the active project list, which is also included with your packet as attachment three. Another big list from Public Works, I'm sorry. Next slide, please. Based on the municipal code, the city has the ability to delegate the award of smaller projects, which are less than $200,000, to the city manager. Over the last year, we have addressed many informal projects, including improvements to Turney Street boat launch, some stair projects, and facilities. Some of these projects can be fairly small in cost, such as improving the gazebo at Dunphy Park. And I'm sorry this slide has a lot of pictures on it, but that has been a small project, but very important. Also, the installation of the sea lion. But these projects are specifically focal points to the community, and having these updated and painted and look good will bring more folks and more pride to the community as a whole. Next slide. Thank you. Public Works is made up of 21 dedicated individuals. Our organizational structure is broken into four separate divisions, including engineering, street maintenance, park maintenance, as well as sanitary services. Within each of these divisions, our staff handles a myriad of tasks, including issuing permits, executing capital projects, managing our roadways, drainage systems, parks, restrooms, I've got to take a breath, as well as maintaining our sewer collection system. So we have a lot on our plate. One of the things that I am particularly proud of and amazed about is the ability of our DPW staff to work together to address problems. This effort by staff is very apparent in the winter season when we have storms and impacts that cannot be addressed by one division alone. such that personnel from parks and sewer as well as engineering step up to assist with issues related to storm response. Similarly, our engineering division will also assist with coordination and emphasis with our emergency services personnel. So we take very different roles all the time. Next slide. Public Works has two new project managers, Sarah Korshidafard, who I think is here tonight. Could you raise your hand? Thank you, Sarah. I don't know if you've met Sarah, but I just wanted to introduce her. And Ali Iqbal. Ali is online if we have questions for you. Sarah and Ali are tasked with managing multiple capital projects for the city and are moving forward with several high-profile projects. This includes the Ferry Lands Site Improvement Project, which is well underway in the construction phase. This is not your normal construction project in that Sarah is working with the local professionals group to address improvements on a day-to-day and hourly basis. as well as working with the improvements to Tracy Way or the changes to Tracy Way. Staff anticipates bringing an item to Council in the future regarding some of the changes in the Ferry Landside project, especially associated with the surface that is recommended for Tracy Way. In addition, Ali is managing several projects, including the construction of the Dorothy Gibson House, Old City Hall, many improvements there, and is managing design professionals for the work on Bridgeway from Napa Street to Johnson Street. Each project manager carries about four to seven projects at one time, and As work is completed, additional projects noted in the CIP, or as they come up throughout the year, are initiated by each project manager. So in other words, there might be 20 projects on the CIP list, but we can only tackle them a certain number at a time. Next slide, please. As noted in the staff report, there are opportunities to address our infrastructure without raising taxes. In simplistic terms, the city could consider an alternative delivery method of projects instead of the construct as you receive the funds themselves. I believe Chris was talking about this earlier. Securing a third party, a loan or some such thing, I'm not too sure what you characterize it as, to repair a large number of roads or facilities and paying that loan off with the dedicated Measure L funds over time will allow an economy of scale for the improvements and save money over time since the material costs will continue to go up for all of our projects. DPW staff and the sewer subcommittee have been working with the Saucer-Lumren City Sanitary District to transfer the city's collection system to the district. Since the district only deals with sanitary issues, having them manage the collection system is better for the community. Staff anticipates presenting a memo of understanding to the council in the next several meetings to solidify the process for this transfer as well. Now, I could go on and on for most of the evening on capital projects, but there are a few others that we want to make sure to mention, and that has to do with sea level rise, and it also has to do with climate action changes. So we are in the proverbial loop or communication loop with our consultants on sea level rise and climate action changes as well. We want to make sure that we work together with our consultants to move that type of project forward as well. Next slide, please. Our maintenance division is composed of 19 full-time equivalent positions. These people are the frontline team that addresses all sorts of issues from road repairs, vegetation management, tree work, custodial, boy, I keep going on and on. Our city parks and road roadway systems continue to be utilized by the public and they need constant maintenance repairs from vandalism, as well as normal vegetation growth to maintain the pedestrian vehicle paths of travel are just some of the issues that our staff addresses on a daily basis. Our maintenance staff is also assisting with the installation of trash capture devices throughout the city on our catch basins, which is a requirement of the state of California. Our staff looks at older systems in the city, such as the storm drain system on gate five, which tends to flood during high tides. We are now seeing impacts of saltwater intrusion impacting the steel inlets on these grates down on gate five, and that they are solidified together. We can't even pull them up. So we're gonna have to demo that and put in some new infrastructure. Next slide, please. All right, I'll try to go a little quicker. One of the first items we wanted to brief you about was the Fix-It application, which allows the public to assist the city with reporting maintenance and other problems. This application has been in place since late spring. The application is intended to be very friendly by having a quick drop menu and to report potholes and other maintenance items. Next slide. In addition, the Fix-It app for Sausalito can be found on an Apple or Android device from the application store. And the apps include all the same features for the website with the ability to take and submit photos and videos to direct our staff to address issues. This has been very helpful. So many thanks to the members of the public that have used this application to assist EPW be more productive in addressing these issues. Next slide. This particular program helps us very much because it's map-based. It'll list something for us, for our maintenance staff, to go out specifically each day to pick off each one of these dots to go say, well, okay, we'll take care of this and move forward. Next slide, please. The Fix-It application also allows us to review and analyze the types of requests we are receiving. Items such as potholes and public stairs can be separated into their own category. Keep in mind that this is our first deep dive into the data that we're gathering from this application. We are finding some inconsistencies on our part as well as the inquiries that we are receiving. For example, this data run indicates that we only close 77% of the inquiries. This may be part of our learning curve in that after reviewing the records, we do notice that many of these tickets... have already been completed, completed. We just didn't complete it in the program. So we have to do a little bit more due diligence on our side to make sure that our data is complete. Next slide, please. We are also getting additional requests that are not simply maintenance repairs. For example, we received a few inquiries about alligator cracking on a roadway surface. Typically, this is a small area. Typically, this can be a small area our maintenance staff can maintain. However, if it's an entire roadway, the issue needs to be referred to our engineering division to include in our resurfacing project annually. We've also received some maintenance requests for private property issues. Areas adjacent to parks or the downtown walkways may appear to be public, but in some cases may be the responsibility of the fronting property owner. These inquiries need to be forwarded to the property owner and and that handoff needs to be improved on our level. So this has been a good learning tool for us as far as data so that we can take a look at things. There are two significant issues that are showing up in the data related to the Fix-It application. They are trees and sidewalks. While this is not specifically addressed in the Fix-It application, these two subjects are complex and have an impact on the city staff as well as the city's budget. I'll cover these in a little bit in an additional slide. Next slide. This year, we felt it was important to bring to the council's attention some challenges facing DPW and our goals on how to address these challenges. These can be pretty specific issues, but they relate to the overall topics that city manager Zafada brought up. Next slide. |
| 01:35:55.01 | Kevin McGowan | we have many concrete roads here in town. concrete cracks over time, and seeing cracks in a roadway does not necessarily mean that that surface needs replacing. Replacing concrete roads with asphalt is generally pursued for slopes that are less than 18% slope. While this is cheaper than replacing the roadway with concrete, It still is expensive. Applying crack sealing on concrete may extend the life of the concrete road and keep it in place. In addition, we may consider doing grinding on certain slabs that may have displaced. Sealing asphalt roadways with something called a micro seal or a wearing surface will also extend the life of the roadway. Our goal is to strategically identify repairs that will address as many of these issues as possible. The city also has nine traffic signals. The controllers that run these systems are old and need replacing. The cost of the signal is high. While staff has continued to apply for grant funds for replacing signals, we have not been successful in obtaining any funds for these replacements. If we continue to be unsuccessful in securing funds to repair this signal, the city may need to utilize local funds to support the replacement of the equipment based on the age of the controllers and the parts, since we can no longer find those on the market. We have several slip outs here in town as well. And for the two of them that we're working on, we have a design engineer who's moving forward with that plan set. Um, We are combining the two, as I said, one is on Bridgeway, the other one is up near Thank you. not East is Edwards, excuse me. And so we'll combine those two for an economy of scale with the intent of trying to save the city money. On our drainage systems, we will need to examine and determine their condition. We intend to issue an RFP to firms to prepare a report on all of our storm drain systems and their condition. In other words, in a condition assessment for our storm drain system. Next slide. All right. The city maintains the public roadway system. This includes trimming trees to allow vehicles and pedestrians to pass these streets. Typically, maintenance will trim the vegetation to a standard height of about 17 feet above the roadway surface, above the roadway surface, to allow large vehicles to pass and trim trees seven feet above a sidewalk for pedestrians. The actual traveled way for a roadway sits within the actual right of way. For example, The right-of-way shown in this picture is 30 feet wide. However, the street itself is only 16 feet wide. For many roads, the area between the roadway and the adjacent property line has not been planted by the city. However, Our staff. is receiving more and more requests to trim trees and vegetation in this area. Residents are sometimes surprised that the maintenance staff does not maintain this area between the roadway and their property line. However, as trees in these areas get bigger and lean over the roadway, as you can see in one of these pictures, our maintenance staff is obliged to either remove the tree or at least get it out of the way so a vehicle can pass. In fiscal year 2023-24, the city spent over $75,000 on tree services. Not all of these services were for vegetation outside of the road prism, but this cost does show the magnitude. of work related to trees. Sausalito may consider what other cities in Marin utilize, which is an ordinance similar to the sidewalk ordinance that requires the fronting property owner to maintain frontage vegetation. Next slide. |
| 01:40:18.57 | Kevin McGowan | All right, we are on sidewalks and trees. Thank you. The city has installed and does maintain street trees on Bridgeway and Caledonia. Many of these trees have reached maturity and are causing issues with their root systems damaging sidewalks, roadways, and parking lots. While the street trees provide benefit to the community, repairing damaged sidewalks without addressing tree roots tree roots. pardon the pun, will not address the hazard. based on the emergency. Based on an emergency nature of this work, such as this shown on Bridgeway and lot three, the removal of the stone pines is required to repair the sidewalk without it being damaged by intrusion of roots in the future. In addition, removal of several trees are required on Caledonia This is another picture on the slide on the lower right-hand side. Installation of a new tree can be performed after about a year. Caledonia tree root. Removal will be exceptionally difficult based on the high density of utilities. In the area. This is not uncommon issue as trees that are planted in a small planter strip continue to grow and impact the sidewalk. In these cases, Public Works Department needs to take action to eliminate the hazard and repair the sidewalk. Next slide, please. Only a few more, sorry folks. Sausalito's streets, parks, and sewer divisions utilize standard work trucks and equipment to perform their day-to-day tasks. typically a standard work truck can be replaced, should be replaced every 15 years or less. Some of our equipment is over 20 years old, and the flatbed shown here on the lower left side, that's over 30 years old. Our heavier construction equipment is equally old and repairs can only be performed on some of these vehicles. Replacement of the equipment will be necessary to continue to serve the community. DPW is starting to investigate the possibility of utilizing electric vehicles as well. While the technology has improved quite substantially over the last year, the new work trucks that we are seeing out can't be modified for our needs. For example, we take a regular work truck and we take off the back bed and put on some work lockers or whatever you want to call them on either side, which is one of the pictures up there. And according to the manufacturer we reached out to, we cannot take off part of the bed on a new electric truck. So we're still working with those manufacturers to see if we can try to pull in some more electric vehicles for our fleet. Electric vehicles are more expensive than gasoline vehicles at this point in time, but our council as well as sustainability group have suggested that we definitely investigate the possibility of using more electric vehicles and moving away from gas. Next slide, please. facilities. With two new project managers, we are performing more work and addressing many facility problems. Our buildings are old, as we mentioned before, and they continue to deteriorate. We are also required to improve access to our older buildings, as well as address the day-to-day issues such as vandalism. DPW has made some strides into addressing building issues in the past year. However, we still have more CIP projects to address. Climate Tech is also moving forward with identifying improvements related to energy efficiency. Staff anticipates bringing an item to the council regarding Climate Tech's recommendations in December. Next slide. |
| 01:44:30.09 | Kevin McGowan | Here we go. Thank you. Public Works is also addressing other important issues here in town. Over the last year, we have assisted PG&E staff with issuing permits for their 4KV to 12KV improvement project. This project continues to move forward, and it'll be at least another six to eight months before they finish their work. Our staff continue to seek grants for projects such as the Coloma Street Improvement Project, as well as Signal Upgrades and others here in town. The next phase of the geologic hazard study includes the development of a monitoring plan. Staff has proposals in hand for this work and will be presenting a recommendation to the council in the near future regarding this. Staff is also ready to set up a public meeting for our Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee to receive comments from the public regarding the Bridgeway Bike Lane Project Princess to Richardson. We hope to have this meeting in the first week in December. EPW also continues to work on flooding issues on Gate 5. Sleeving this storm drain system may help flooding characteristics. However, Katie Garcia, our sustainability coordinator, has also secured a grant. for funding to perform a study to identify what additional measures can be pursued to reduce flooding in this specific area. So many thanks to Katie. All right, finally. So as I suggested earlier, I could talk all evening about this. However, I'd probably put everybody to sleep. We don't wanna do that. However, I'd like to... I think I'd like to conclude by saying that it takes a very versatile team to manage multiple aspects of infrastructure in Sausalito. I'm proud to be working here with our maintenance team, but also wanted to convey my thanks to you for your support, as well as the community members who make this work. It's not just DPW moving around. We with the advent of the fixed application We get everybody's help. It's really great. It seems to be moving forward. So that concludes my presentation, and I'm available for any questions or comments. |
| 01:46:54.39 | Steven Woodside | Thanks, Director. I'll just ask one question off the top, and then the vice mayor raised her hand after me. uh, The notion of accelerating the impact of roadway repair, that is... spending, let's say $2 million instead of one. if you do have any data to show how much cheaper per say square foot it is to do $2 million of resurfacing of a standard street versus one. |
| 01:47:22.18 | Kevin McGowan | Um, It would have to do with mobilization cost. If you're going to suggest that the city perform, let's say only $500,000 worth of resurfacing this year compared to the year after, we would have to pay a mobilization cost right now. in order to do the paving. And then next year, we'd have to pay that same mobilization cost again. So combining them all together has an economy of scale. and you're better off moving forward with, trying to have that contractor mobilize once instead of multiple times. Your AC price will change from year to year. and your concrete costs will change from year to year, depending upon materials that are used to generate that. In other words, if the oil prices go up, From this year to next year, your cost will go up. |
| 01:48:13.55 | Steven Woodside | Do you have a, just for that mobilization cost? Are we talking about 10% more asphalt? that you get for the same amount of money or 20%. |
| 01:48:24.01 | Kevin McGowan | Usually your mobilization cost is 15 to 18% somewhere in there. |
| 01:48:29.29 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so if you didn't have to spend that money, presumably you could spend 20% on Additional roadway. |
| 01:48:34.62 | Kevin McGowan | You could save money and put it into the actual product, yes. |
| 01:48:37.27 | Steven Woodside | So the two major factors of saving money by accelerating road repair would be a decrease in the mobilization cost and the inflationary expense of materials over time and labor and everything else. |
| 01:48:51.58 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 01:48:52.38 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Did you, well, that'll be my one question for now. Weissmer, you had your hand raised. |
| 01:48:59.13 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. Thank you, Maren. Thank you, Director McGowan, for that very thorough report. And thank you for including the current CIP list of projects and added projects for the current fiscal year. I was concerned to hear about your equipment. Do you already have in your current fiscal year budget the replacement of some of the trucks and other equipment that DPW relies upon? |
| 01:49:29.74 | Kevin McGowan | No, we replaced two trucks last year, and we were hoping that our fleet would last another year before we'd have to get into it. And it's just been unfortunate that we have one that just kind of recently blew up. |
| 01:49:42.92 | Chris Zapata | And some of the obligations that you're discussing, sewer, for example, you mentioned, if we enter into an MOU, we will, that will entail our delegating some of our personnel and some of our obligations when it comes to the sewer collection line maintenance. Is that right? |
| 01:50:06.44 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, all of that should go to the district. |
| 01:50:10.10 | Chris Zapata | Um, You mentioned a challenge with sidewalks and trees. And when we heard presentations related to the ferry landing, we heard, I forget from whom, about this. approach to planting trees that includes burying at some depth in the ground, a mechanism that prevents the tree roots from spreading out until they've gotten to a certain depth within the ground. Do you recall that? |
| 01:50:45.73 | Kevin McGowan | I think it's called a root barrier, and the intent was to try to set those trees a little bit deeper in the ground and put a root barrier around it so it limits their growth. |
| 01:50:56.00 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. And so when you talk about replacing the trees on Bridgeway in Caledonia, are you planning to include in that process root barriers so that we prevent some of the issues that we're now having to address? Thank you. |
| 01:51:08.52 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, that's the intent. There's a couple problems there, though. In other words, the type of tree that was selected next to Lot 3, which is a stone pine, it has a root system that is very aggressive. It just keeps going. So we would choose another type of tree there. The same is true for Caledonia. We have different type of trees where they're... The planter strip is so small that it doesn't accommodate the tree as it gets larger and larger. But to answer your question, yes, we'd probably pick a different species, put some root barriers in as well. |
| 01:51:42.97 | Chris Zapata | And in looking at your... Public Works Division of Duty chart, I know that Sausalito used to have a landscaper on staff who gave advice about taking care of the trees at Vina Del Mar Park and other such matters. Do we still have someone on staff that performs that role? |
| 01:52:06.61 | Kevin McGowan | We have three landscapers, but they are not arborists. So we go out for arborist services. We have a consultant that helps us with that. |
| 01:52:16.46 | Chris Zapata | And so part and parcel with... replanting trees, will you be consulting an arborist to be sure that we're choosing the right type of tree that is fire retardant and also doesn't have such an aggressive root? Absolutely. |
| 01:52:34.23 | Kevin McGowan | Absolutely. We'd also like to work closely with Sausalito Beautiful, who we usually do on these specific things, and try to work collectively in order to address those issues. |
| 01:52:44.93 | Chris Zapata | And then I was very interested to hear both your and the city manager's reference to a private placement as a mechanism to leverage the Measure L funding. annual funding that we know we have as well as perhaps a portion of the um city's fund balance, if you were allotted $5 million now to address the most urgent Um, projects now. And I know you don't yet have the outcome of the facility study, but would you be, how would you go about putting together the list of projects that you would undertake now to reap maximum benefit to the city. Do you have your prospective projects allocated by urgency or in some manner that would allow you to recommend how best to use that funding? |
| 01:53:45.77 | Kevin McGowan | Some yes, some no. In other words, we do have a PCI report, pavement condition index report. |
| 01:53:51.34 | Unknown | Right. |
| 01:53:51.62 | Kevin McGowan | As far as the roads, we'd start there in order to try to prioritize those. It has a good size listing, and then we would utilize that to go look in the field and see how those are doing. As far as facilities, we don't have that type of data yet. As you mentioned, we're waiting for the facility assessment study, and that will help us prioritize those projects. We still need to do a study on our drainage systems to prioritize those. So we still have more work to do. And the same with stairs. We want to be able to look at our 42-ish stairs and find out which ones need to be repaired first. So we still have some work to do on all of those. |
| 01:54:30.59 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, Council Vice Mayor Cox, if I can add to that. Thank you for that question. We need to be looking at these in a couple of ways. And in talking to a kitchen cabinet of community folks that know infrastructure and construction management techniques, one of the things that was mentioned to us was we really need to look at those facilities that generate revenue as one of the criterias that we use to figure out what goes first. We also need to look at the facilities and infrastructure that creates the biggest risk as part of our review and, you know, sequencing of what we would ask for you all to approve in terms of funding. And then as it relates to, you know, our storm drains, streets, stairs, and other facilities, there was a community survey done two years ago in advance of Measure L, which kind of lists the community's priorities of what they believe they thought the city staff should allocate Measure L funds for, and we'd want to use that as some type of barometer to bring forward a comprehensive approach to what we do first. |
| 01:54:30.62 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 01:55:42.20 | Chris Zapata | When are you planning to do a survey of the city's storm drains? |
| 01:55:49.97 | Kevin McGowan | We haven't gotten out the RFP yet. Now would be a good time to get that out so that our consultants can take a look at each one of the storm drain systems, so probably in the next three to four months. Thank you. |
| 01:56:02.84 | Chris Zapata | And what will that cost the city? Are you going to do it in a similar way to how you did the sewers? Thank you. |
| 01:56:11.48 | Kevin McGowan | I'm not sure that all of them need to be televised. So to answer your question, yes, some of them do need to be televised. Other ones that we can easily tell that they are plastic compared to steel, we may not need to do anything with them. So. I'm not sure. |
| 01:56:29.03 | Chris Zapata | yet. |
| 01:56:30.11 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:56:30.13 | Chris Zapata | So I've heard complaints from residents and businesses that our storm drains are disintegrating such that in areas where our sewer lines run above the storm drains, the storm drains are being polluted with sewage, which is then washed out to the bay. And so how will you ascertain where those conditions exist, where sewer lines, sorry, storm drains are crumbling if you aren't CCT |
| 01:57:01.97 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:57:02.09 | Chris Zapata | them. |
| 01:57:02.55 | Kevin McGowan | you Generally, we start with certain types of pipes to CCTV them, steel, clay, those two need to be televised, concrete. Depends upon if we can determine when it was installed. So we'll start with what type of pipe it is first to know whether we televise it. |
| 01:57:20.47 | Chris Zapata | And then several months ago, you came to the city with a report regarding responsibility for the city sidewalks. And it was news to me and others, I think, that residents are responsible for their own sidewalks. And we talked about. commencing a program whereby we could facilitate, fund, advance monies to residents to address those sidewalks. Have you or when will you perform a survey of the city's sidewalks? |
| 01:57:52.06 | Kevin McGowan | So it's a little difficult to have our staff perform an assessment of all the sidewalks in the city. We had intended to start in a smaller area, which was Bridgeway going from Napa down to Johnson Street and the other side, which is Caledonia. We were going to study those first and start developing our program off of that and take that initial step to see, you know, how many of these sidewalks are the city's responsibility compared to How many are the private property owners? And we're going to move it that way. |
| 01:58:25.77 | Chris Zapata | And. And when will that work be completed? |
| 01:58:29.27 | Kevin McGowan | We are currently working on that. It's not a good time to do sidewalks when it's raining like this, so I would suggest we will probably look at early April to actually start replacing sidewalks. |
| 01:58:42.68 | Chris Zapata | Well, We're going to have a great day. |
| 01:58:44.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:58:46.23 | Chris Zapata | Okay, but we can't start replacing sidewalks until we've communicated with the owners and identified and passed some sort of program of city assistance for the owners. um, Are you planning to come back to the council in January or February to propose that program? |
| 01:59:06.68 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 01:59:07.00 | Chris Zapata | Okay. Okay, those are my initial questions. Thank you. Councilmember Kelman. |
| 01:59:12.08 | Unknown | Thank you. And thank you, Vice Mayor. You captured a lot of dots I was going to try to connect. Let me try this. First of all, thank you, Director McGowan. I have seen our DPW workers clearing many storm drains in anticipation of whatever is supposed to befall us tonight, water-wise. We talk a lot about the Sanitation District. We don't often talk about Marin Water District. And I had the good fortune of being witness to two water district problems recently. One right over here on Bridgeway. We saw the construction and one over by Robin Sweeney. How do we work with the district? Was that a district project that we saw here over at the Light |
| 01:59:52.53 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, that was Marin Municipal Water Districts. |
| 01:59:55.26 | Unknown | Right. Okay. So tell us a little bit about how we can work with Marine Municipal Water District to ensure that that type of infrastructure is taken care of in a more timely fashion rather than having leakage that we're not tracking because it's not our infrastructure. |
| 02:00:10.69 | Kevin McGowan | We would have to stay on top of that communication with the district itself. So as soon as we see it, we would want to ask them to come test it to find out if it is their line. Many times here in Sausalito, we do have a lot of springs. And when MMWD tests some of these areas, it turns out that it's not theirs. They have some way to detect whether it's coming from their system or not. |
| 02:00:33.23 | Unknown | So do we have a regular testing schedule with them? Can we establish that? |
| 02:00:37.40 | Kevin McGowan | No. Well, we can, but it's usually whenever we see something, we would reach out to them specifically. |
| 02:00:43.25 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:00:44.54 | Kevin McGowan | It didn't really work well in the past because that leak had been there a long time. |
| 02:00:48.23 | Unknown | Yeah. It's kind of like the Goningate Bridge. They paint it continuously. They finish and they go through it again. And I know we don't have the people necessarily to do that, but that constant connectivity. Since Sergio is here, and I don't want him to get bored, one of the questions that the vice mayor hit on here is we have a lot of future planning documentation coming down the pipeline. We've got a facilities infrastructure study. I think the last time you said it was mid-January 25 was going to be complete. We have the RFP for the geologic hazard report went out. We got our responses on October 30th. We hired a risk manager. How is our legal department informing the utilization of these reports and studies? And the reason it's important is for two things. One is the upfront costs that the council has allocated the budget to be able to utilize these in a more meaningful fashion. And the second is the reduction in litigation risk, of which we have suffered a great deal. Many of the litigation pieces come to us because somebody slips on a, or, you know, stubs their toe on a sidewalk, which is kind of raised up because there's a root system that we haven't maintained. How are you thinking about utilizing some of that material, and how can we help? director McGowan and think about these things more holistically because the vice mayor made that point too like we have all these new things coming in how the heck can we plan you know today |
| 02:02:08.81 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I think that's a really great question, and we are working with DPW and other departments as well to identify risk. I do think it's important that DPW work with the city's new risk manager in developing the infrastructure programs. Additionally, we need to be considering some of the reports and information that's already out there. I mean, in 2019, the city adopted an updated ADA transition plan. There's already public infrastructure spends that are identified in that plan that we should, in theory, be moving towards implementing in our capital improvement programs. You know, that addresses ADA risks, you know, which are a separate litigation risk concerning our infrastructure. So, you know, those are other items that, you know, should be considered as part of our capital program. |
| 02:02:59.59 | Unknown | Well, keep. come back on that. I'm gonna talk a little bit about climate and climate risk and how we're embedding that in your program. one of the contentious issues in front of the city right now is around the bridgeway median and the potential bike lane. You and I talked about this, the money is going through MTC. The original funds came through the Coastal Conservancy. That area is shown to be at risk of flooding. It is currently a risk of storm surge. We know that from the Coast Guard is very low-lying. How do you think about a project like that, knowing, having seen the videos of the storm surge coming up and over on Southern Bridgeway and hitting a vehicle driving northbound? Because right now what I'm hearing is PBAC is reviewing all of this material, but I'm not hearing that WRT, who is our sea level rise consultant, not hearing that the sustainability committee is looking at this. How can we better empower you to have a wider lens so it's not just a pipes and wires or road project. |
| 02:04:00.17 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you for the question. I appreciate it. We can reach out to our consultant, who is Parametrix, to provide the presentation material and invite any other consultants to our next BPAC meeting. But we can contact them directly and have a separate meeting between Parametrix and the other consultants so that they see what's coming. In addition, I think you and I have talked in the past that as part of this project that we're looking at. considering moving out. away from the actual sidewalk right now and pushing that out and creating something that addresses not just THE CONCERNS OF bicyclists traveling up and down that corridor but also addresses the issues that you've brought up related to sea level rise or wave run-up. and trying to put a system in place that would be more viable for not just funding, but will address multiple issues at one point in time. That is part of the parametrics is one of their options. They do include part of that. |
| 02:05:06.52 | Unknown | So I guess I'm just wondering about the division of labor. We have a half a million dollar contract with WRT who doing, a coastal vulnerability assessment and come up with an adaptation plan. why is WRT not leading that work or at least a partner in that work with parametrics? |
| 02:05:24.59 | Kevin McGowan | We can make that happen. |
| 02:05:26.06 | Unknown | Okay. Because we're paying both, we should have the benefit of that competition. Okay. Then the last one, the mayor alluded to this, is about pavement index. So I think this is still accurate, that the 2022 pavement management program had a pavement index at 58. But a PCI of 70 is what is a good rating. I think you said something like 2.9 million or 3 million annually would get us to 63. so 70 is good 3 million annually would get us to 63. So 70 is good. 3 million would get us to 63, which is still not 70. Then we need something closer to 5.7 million annually for five years to get to 81. All right. I know I just threw a lot of numbers at you and sorry I didn't prep you on that, but how should we be thinking about the allocation of funds? I think that's sort of the question Do we look at two years? Do we look at three? Do we say it's five? If we allocate for five, how much work gets done in the first three years? Because assuming it's that Golden Gate Bridge problem again, we're constantly trying to fix it. Thank you. |
| 02:06:25.26 | Kevin McGowan | It's a decent question. I did not bring my report that was generated in 2022 or 2022 to look at the PCI. That had a table in it which referenced the numbers that you're talking about. So not knowing exactly what the numbers are, The intent. you know, if you want to allocate more funding to improving our roadways, providing that money up front, I'm not sure if I'm answering your questions correctly, but how to prioritize it. I think I would start with what I mentioned before, which is that original report. Thank you. If we want to put this type of money into the roadway system, we have an idea of where we would apply that and how much money to put into it. More detail, more study would be needed exactly on whether to put the money into the roads versus facilities versus storm drains versus anything else that we might have, sidewalks, ADA. So I don't have a great answer for you. I do know that I have a report about our PCI that gives us an idea of how much money you should put into the roadways in order to improve the PCI. One thing I want to remind the Council of as well is When you're looking at a roadway system, it probably is a better idea A better idea prioritization-wise is to look at the main roads that are used the most. So for us... Bridgeway. put a big chunk of money into Bridgeway, it could be a micro seal throughout. It's not that expensive, but you improve the surface for all of those in Sausalito compared to, let's say, improving a specific roadway back up in the hills someplace. Sweet Briar came up today, and not many people use that road. So, That may be something that we would want to look at, even though the report is citywide. For us as a city and your direction, we could move forward with, hey, let's put a lot of this emphasis on our main roadways. Let's make it better for everybody accessing Sausalito. Something to think about. |
| 02:08:31.52 | Unknown | Thank you, Director McGowan. And just to note for the city manager, that's sort of a Chad question, right? Do we invest the $2 million, $5 million today, or do we only invest $3 million and then take $2 million and invest it elsewhere? What does that get us for PCI? So no need to respond, but that's for city managers. |
| 02:08:46.96 | Steven Woodside | Mr. Hoffman, do you have any questions? Oh, I'm sorry. |
| 02:08:50.18 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:08:51.43 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:08:51.45 | Steven Woodside | That's fine. |
| 02:08:51.68 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:51.82 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:51.87 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:51.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.02 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.17 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.22 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.24 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.58 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:52.90 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:53.59 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. We did not coordinate this, but I do have a follow-up because I had it in my notes too about the PCI. And I believe we talked about this at the July 16, 2024 meeting where we were allocated only $1.9 million, and that was actually reducing probably the PCI. For salsa because we were not investing in a way just to keep it at a losing score of 58 And so that was something we talked about at that meeting |
| 02:09:24.71 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, I wouldn't say it reduces it. It's just the deterioration of our roadways is exceeding what we can improve. |
| 02:09:31.98 | Jill Hoffman | Right, so the roads would continue to deteriorate instead of even just keeping them even at just 1.95 million. So I think that coordinates with the questions that Council Member Kellerman was asking you. And that was, and I was trying to find that report, I think that was in October of 2022, when we talked, when you presented that report and asked for funding to increase, or what it would take to increase our payment index. Thank you. |
| 02:09:59.52 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 02:09:59.59 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:10:00.77 | Kevin McGowan | I can provide that to you. In my office. Come back. |
| 02:10:04.30 | Jill Hoffman | I understand something like that. OK, my second question is a question I get asked all the time, and since you brought it up with your tree picture. So if there's a tree in the city right of way, and it's a member of the public is either concerned about it, about whether or not it looks like it's falling down or falling over, |
| 02:10:04.69 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:10:26.99 | Jill Hoffman | and they want it trimmed back or removed, what's the process for that? |
| 02:10:31.89 | Kevin McGowan | If the tree is leaning into the area where a vehicle travels, in other words, that 17-foot height that I noted on one of the slides, we would step in and either remove that tree or trim it to a point that we still provide that 17-foot height. However, if there's a tree that is leaning and doesn't infringe upon that particular envelope, we wouldn't generally not touch it. We would say it's yours, property owner, do with it. You know, follow the municipal code to deal with the tree itself. |
| 02:11:02.75 | Jill Hoffman | And so even though it's within the city right of way, it's up to the property owner who's concerned about it to pay for the removal. And they also have to get a permit from the city. Is that correct? |
| 02:11:13.84 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 02:11:15.48 | Jill Hoffman | So let me ask you also about the attachment three. This was, I think, a public comment was asked about this, at least one letter. Attachment three, line 11, the Bridgeway bike lanes, which you alluded to and briefly discussed. But this is the project, the proposal is to remove the center median. the emergency access median center lane and and insert instead bike lanes on either side. That's that project. |
| 02:11:49.88 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, that's true. The way we are working with our consultant on this, this is a study, basically some conceptual study where they come up with alternatives, and that is one of them. |
| 02:12:03.65 | Jill Hoffman | And so, and that's what, and then if you go over the status of that, it says it's still active, even though there have been representations that that project is essentially I don't want to say dead, but it's taken off the table. But in fact, it is still active. And in the comment section, you say that, or you, in fact, I think you said this uh, just now that there's a meeting. There was an initial meeting of emergency services in October about the various parametric options. |
| 02:12:35.83 | Kevin McGowan | I think it was the last part of September, yes. |
| 02:12:38.23 | Jill Hoffman | the last of September. And there's a parametrics report that's from, I believe I just looked at it. I think it says October of 2024. Sorry, September of 2024. |
| 02:12:48.41 | Kevin McGowan | It's actually a copy of a presentation. It's not a report specifically. |
| 02:12:53.30 | Jill Hoffman | but the date on that was September of 2024. |
| 02:12:55.53 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:12:55.66 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. And the next meeting, and so these options are gonna be presented to the next PBAC meeting, pedestrian and bicycle Advisory committee, sorry. scheduled for At some point in December, do we have a date on that? December 2nd. It's a Monday. Okay. |
| 02:13:18.80 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. Thank you. |
| 02:13:21.21 | Jill Hoffman | And they will be looking at that presentation that includes removal of the Bridgeway Emergency Access Medium. |
| 02:13:30.98 | Kevin McGowan | That is one of the options that is being looked at. Yes. |
| 02:13:41.02 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. I don't think I have any questions. Thanks. |
| 02:13:42.86 | Sergio Rudin | you |
| 02:13:46.61 | Sergio Rudin | Hi, Director McGowan. Thank you for being with us this evening. I appreciate it, and I appreciate your comprehensive conversation. presentation and there are a couple of areas that I wanted to touch on so Councilmember Kellman asked a few really good questions around climate change mitigation and some of the challenges that we're dealing with and I wanted to bring up a couple of things on that. First of all, we had a landslide task force, which was convened a few years ago after the incident in 2015. And I was wondering if you had considered what the cost or how we might best implement some of the recommendations to address and assess landslides might be in the context of these improvements. Because I think improvements to mitigate for those types of disasters is part of our overarching infrastructure plan. |
| 02:14:35.80 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, we are still in communication with the landslide task force. Um, after the last presentation from our consultant to your council, one of the recommendations they had was to develop a monitoring plan. We're moving forward with that. At this point, we received two proposals. We are reviewing those at this point, and we would like to send them to the landslide task force to have them review it as well. That monitoring plan will identify certain areas that may be moving or may not be moving. And in order to answer your question, I'm not sure. We don't know exactly where we should be looking in the future of trying to stabilize some of our hillsides. But having a monitoring plan will help us to determine that. |
| 02:15:19.34 | Sergio Rudin | And if in if we move forward with an assessment to determine where there might be the highest risk, what sort of guidance would you need from us at the council level to set aside X amount of dollars to make an immediate response to a potential threat, for example? So I guess what I'm asking is, if you're doing an assessment for something like a landslide or you see an area where there's huge susceptibility to flooding, do you need from us an emergency amount in X dollars Should that arise or how would you access funding and what direction do you need from the council to be sure that you can do so, since we've determined that we really can expect monumentous climate events over the next several years. |
| 02:15:59.68 | Kevin McGowan | One of the frustrations of geologic issues is they don't always appear when you'd like them to appear. Water is a key issue. So water and soil and how those two move. If I were to see a roadway that's slipping today, moving right now, |
| 02:16:11.31 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:16:23.63 | Kevin McGowan | I could come to you as a council and say, hey, this is an emergency. Let's put aside. $500,000 for the designer to design something and then get something in right away. However, not knowing exactly where that is or the magnitude of that, it's hard for me to answer that question. So it could be anywhere from $500,000 as I suggested. and yes, I would come to you and ask for emergency action in order to take some measures. or it could be even larger. In my experience, not working here, I have had several occasions where I've had to ask people to vacate their houses due to something moving up above them on a roadway. And so red tagging their house has been one of the most difficult things I've had to do. However, it's been in the interest of public safety in order to do so, and in those cases, I have had to come to the council and say, we need to fix this, and we need to do it now. So, yes, if that does occur, I will come to the council and make a request. |
| 02:17:25.27 | Sergio Rudin | I would just ask staff that as we're making considerations about our budget, that maybe we have an emergency climate fund or some sort of plan for severe climate events or some sort of funding that's set aside for that. Because I think we need to start thinking bigger picture about what some of those events might look like. And that also demonstrates our emphasis on risk and taking the appropriate action. And then on climate, you mentioned the issue with the signals, and I think yes, we need to improve those. Have you looked into grants specifically, and I think you have done some of this, and I know we've aggressively tried to get grants for these, but there are some new, very interesting smart city technologies as they relate to those signals. I think we did apply for one of those grants not successfully. Is there? OK, so we tried. |
| 02:18:11.55 | Kevin McGowan | We have tried several times. We may want to look in the future at certain grants that may change the dynamic, putting in roundabouts, putting in more safety measures, putting measures in that calm traffic and address safety issues instead of simply replacing a signal. So those are some of the things that I'd like to consider in the future. |
| 02:18:11.71 | Sergio Rudin | We, |
| 02:18:28.88 | Lauren Mendelsohn | Thank you. |
| 02:18:28.94 | Unknown | So. |
| 02:18:33.25 | Kevin McGowan | As you mentioned, there have been some grants coming forward about technology and how do we improve technology for our signals so that they communicate with each other. as well as communicate with us in the office that we could change things as we go. Thank you. So we're looking at those, and I think the county of Marin is seeking some grants on those as well. |
| 02:18:51.13 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I serve on our TAM board, and we've had conversations about that as well and how it adapts or changes VMT in general. And then I noticed, you know, you said being able to access roads, but there wasn't a lot of emphasis on ADA compliance more generally. And also just how we're making sure that our streets and roads are serving our seniors, our folks with disabilities, or people who generally can't necessarily access some of our stairways, for example, but I'm also thinking about in conversations that I had over the last several months with residents, one thing that came up from many seniors is there aren't benches for us to sit in parks, for example, like in the Robin Sweeney Park here. So I would ask, have you considered in the context of infrastructure an overarching ADA compliance plan or a Or could we look into that? I connected our park and rec director to an organization called Magical Bridge that creates adaptive playgrounds. Is that something that you could consider as part of your overall infrastructure strategy and and how would we get that worked into our CIP? |
| 02:19:48.31 | Kevin McGowan | Absolutely. You bet. With all of our projects, especially roadway projects, we look at a complete streets approach. So the project on Coloma, which connects all the way to Olima, is the intent is to provide a sidewalk all the way up there to Rotary and provide that access. But additional benches, we welcome that. That's something, a low-hanging fruit that we can install at any time. We'll work with our |
| 02:19:54.42 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:20:10.97 | Kevin McGowan | our parks manager in order to deal with that. |
| 02:20:13.20 | Sergio Rudin | Okay, great. Thank you. I will let, I know Mayor Sobieski had more questions. I have one more, but I'll, no, |
| 02:20:22.73 | Steven Woodside | Hi, Director McGowan. Thanks. I actually had questions about roads and acceleration, but something Councilmember Hoffman brought up earlier. is what i want to start with so this uh this media Bridgeway median issue. |
| 02:20:35.39 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:20:35.64 | Steven Woodside | I'm confused because it's the first time we've heard it back here at the council since city council gave direction. And I thought, why is this median removal even worse? being proposed. What is going on there? I thought that we sent it back with direction to study the area and to look at ways to improve the safety. of the area. and to improve the circulation and to improve the parking. I think we had a bunch of criteria. I forgot what they all wore, but we didn't send it back with the goal of removing the median. So what's going on? |
| 02:21:06.64 | Kevin McGowan | that it's not a goal to remove the median. The goal is to improve bicycle access through that corridor. And we have asked our consultant, parametrics, to look at different options and bring that back to the council. That's what we're intending to do. |
| 02:21:23.41 | Steven Woodside | So there are |
| 02:21:23.67 | Kevin McGowan | Removal of the meeting is only one of those options. |
| 02:21:26.45 | Steven Woodside | So there are several options and that's just one of them? Yes. |
| 02:21:28.34 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. Yes. |
| 02:21:29.86 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. uh, Okay. And that's just the way you frame the problem to them, I guess. |
| 02:21:36.44 | Kevin McGowan | Are you asking me a question? |
| 02:21:38.79 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, is that the way you framed it? I'm trying to understand. Did you come up with it? Were those concepts coming from parametrics? Are they coming from you or someone else? Coming from parametrics. Okay. I also seem to recall, and I'm sorry, I don't have the notes because I didn't, but, I thought that we were directing general safety improvements to that area. So I haven't heard any mention of crosswalks or speed, speed calming or bollards to prevent people from driving off the road and running into buildings. Are those part is that going to be part of this report? |
| 02:22:09.25 | Kevin McGowan | I would have to dive into the RFP a little bit more, and I can get back to you on that. |
| 02:22:14.73 | Steven Woodside | My recollection was that that's where direction and then just in terms of the presentation Why is it coming to PBAC? There's a lot of public interest in this. There was a petition going around about people very concerned about emergency access. uh, I understand the normal course of business You know, those are the volunteers from EDAC or PBAC and sustainability that might take a look at something that's, well, frankly, a little bit dull and doesn't have a lot of public interest. But this is something that has huge public interest. Why would your first presentation of this information not be in some sort of, more open setting where many people are invited, like at Spinnaker or at City Hall. |
| 02:22:51.84 | Kevin McGowan | We would be glad to do that. We are in control of the PBAC meetings. And so we thought that would be a good place to start. But we would be happy to make other presentations. |
| 02:23:02.07 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so you're open to that thought of maybe doing a special presentation for people that are interested in the subject, not necessarily at something that has... That's an established commission. OK, that's a decision. I guess you can we can either give direction on that or you guys can consider it. So OK, well, thank you for that clarification. It is a matter of great. There are people that are very want to know what's going on. So I hope we'll communicate directly with them forthrightly. So on the roads business. I know you don't have some of the numbers that Council Member Calment asked about, but Could we actually get, in a format what we're able to achieve with the money that we have. So we have 8.5 million unallocated on our balance sheet. We have 5 million in our CIP. But neither of those numbers is going to get us to the PCI of 70. Was that what the number you said? 70, it sounds like. So what are the range? We're making a decision or being asked in part in this meeting or in the future to make a decision about whether to accelerate our Measure L spending. by some amount of money. And it kind of goes to the question of economies of scale that you brought up. So if we spend it all at once, how much more roadway could we get paved versus spreading it out over eight years? But that's kind of a quantitative thing. Is there a way of getting an actual presentation where we can choose among those options quantitatively? |
| 02:24:32.97 | Kevin McGowan | I can work on that. |
| 02:24:34.64 | Steven Woodside | And I think that's a good thing. All right. I think that's all I had at the moment. Oh, no, I have one more question, which is, I know you mentioned complete streets, and that's a concept I've heard about and I see it in terms of like turning radius and pedestrian safety. But in Sausalito, we have a lot of narrow streets. I live on one of them. the Bay City's trash truck can barely get down uh harrison at the point where i live and sometimes they have to honk on the horn to get someone who parked to move their car but there are other streets in town that are much wider than 32 feet and uh i'm wondering if if there's any assessment being done about the lifetime costs that could be saved by narrowing those streets to 32 feet or some other number? Could there be any analysis done of that? |
| 02:25:20.73 | Kevin McGowan | We can do whatever analysis you ask me to do. |
| 02:25:23.21 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. Well, I mean, we have this goal, of course, of trying to do more with less with a certain amount of budgeted dollars. So it ties to Congressman Kelman's question, giving her promotion, Councilmember Kelman's, which is, you know, we have these sustainability and resiliency goals and treatment of stormwater and whatnot. And so there are these notions of building bioswales and landscape features on the edges of roadways so that it can treat stormwater. Thank you. And so there are these notions of building bioswales and landscape features on the edges of roadways so that it can treat stormwater. That's land we don't need to pave as well. And I'm wondering, in your pro forma, we don't have any of that, I think, built into the current 24, 25 CIP for streets. But if we wanted to build that into the 25, 26, what would we have to decide to do? Like what kind of direction would you need from city council and resources to have that? detail of modernity in our street design. |
| 02:26:17.66 | Kevin McGowan | You know, I'm not too sure I understand your question. We are limited by the terrain and Sausalito of what we can and what we cannot build. The intent on certain streets like Coloma that's already wide enough can accommodate some of the things that you're suggesting. But if you're asking for us to take a look at all the streets in Sausalito in order to put in bioswales and to have... two lanes of traffic all the way through. I don't think that's Is that what you're asking me to vote that? No, thank you. |
| 02:26:48.83 | Steven Woodside | No, thank you. And thanks for that answer. For sure not across town. I just met in places where in some where appropriate in town, where we do have the room and where we could save the money, where we basically have more asphalt than we need for vehicular traffic. Do we look through that lens at some of these streets, about where they can actually be narrowed to save money and improve our sustainability goals? |
| 02:27:10.79 | Kevin McGowan | We can. We have to look at what our intent is. Is our intent to try to resurface the streets that we have or make significant changes to them along the way? So it depends upon what your design approach is. If we're looking at simply improving our PCI, that just means to me, let's resurface, let's move this thing forward, and keep the streets as they are as far as width, and try to address our complete streets approach on what we have. But if your direction is to take a look at specific streets to try to make those type of improvements, such as Bridgeway, maybe taking out a lane in one direction, and making it one way, all the way from, let's say, Harbor, all the way to Napa Street, We can look at that. Mayor, if I can. |
| 02:27:55.62 | Steven Woodside | So you had one direction from us about whether to look at some of those details, and I'm hearing that. So thank you very much, Director. |
| 02:28:01.33 | Chris Zapata | Mayor, if I can add to that, I'd like to kind of weigh in if I can. Please. |
| 02:28:01.39 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Mayor, if I can add. they're like, as any manager. |
| 02:28:07.03 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, I think what Director McGowan said is citywide is probably not an approach we'd recommend, but on a specific basis where we believe there is an ability to put a road on a diet, you call them a road diet, and do things that shrink the asphalt responsibilities or shrink some of the commitments and look at things that are environmentally advantageous on a city-wide basis. I heard him say that's probably not a wise approach, but on certain parts of the town, we certainly could look at that. So I am not always, one of those wonks that gets into these things. But I do believe that there is an opportunity to shrink some of our roads and, you know, lessen some of our outgo for pavement and improve their environmental design so that we can, in fact, have a little bit of both, better roads and, you know, something that is less costly in the future. So I call them road diets. You can look at them. Certain cities have gone through exercises to take wider streets and create bulb outs that create more safety or landscaping, and it creates more beauty. But at the same time, it doesn't leave the road the way it is but I think in Sausalito you do have challenges with the topography here a lot of our roads are already narrow but where it may make sense we shouldn't take that off the table |
| 02:29:48.48 | Unknown | Mayor, can I help with that just real quick? So the city of Vancouver had a green infrastructure team that went ahead and created a rainway. So they took a median in the road, and they actually were able to use different directional perennials that they planted of native species to be able to redirect water that was coming down in large portions off a hillside or even on a flatter area. And then they had a big rain event and it was very successful. I think where I'm going to speak for you, Mayor, the Mayor and I are going with this is it's a different lens. So it's not about, it's not an engineering solution. It is a climate solution to an engineering problem. And so it's a much different way of approaching some of our issues that doesn't require necessarily changing the diameter or the, the size of the roadway. but it changes how we treat the roadway. and what we're trying to treat it for. And so I know all of us who live in the hills have massive runoff every time there's a big storm event. that's either draining into the bay or into our neighbor's yard There are ways to mitigate that through using native species and perennials that are strategically planted. So let me just offer, and I see right behind you that Katie's there. I'll offer my friend as the sustainability director at the city of Vancouver. Let me offer a conversation with her. It's a really impressive project. So don't expect you to know all about it, but I'd be happy to help with that. |
| 02:31:08.88 | Kevin McGowan | I like that stuff. That'd be fun. |
| 02:31:10.87 | Unknown | Cool. And it actually saves us money in the long run, and it creates more green spaces for the community, which I think is better for our health. |
| 02:31:19.71 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, I think so, Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 02:31:22.17 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. This is a follow-up on the Bridgeway emergency access median and the Bridgeway bike lane issue, which is the same thing. And so I'm looking at the parametrics report that you sent out this afternoon to the full council. Oh, sorry, I'm sorry, the presentation, the paramedic presentation of their review that was directed by the city council. And on page six, it shows three plans, two of which include removal of the bridgeway bike lane and insertion. of, bike lanes. The only... plan that I see on page six that includes keeping the emergency center median is a new nine and a half foot seawall or sidewalk. Is that your understanding of what the parametrics conclusion was after their review? |
| 02:32:18.87 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you for clarifying that. I don't have that in front of me, but it sounds like you've looked at it, and that sounds correct. Okay. |
| 02:32:24.63 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:32:24.78 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:32:24.83 | Jill Hoffman | Next. And the next question I have then is the street diet. Do we have an idea about what streets we're thinking of for that effort or removing lanes or removing parking? |
| 02:32:40.19 | Kevin McGowan | Our PBEC has mentioned a few in the past, and I mentioned it earlier, of considering reducing Bridgeway to one lane in each direction from Harbor all the way over to Napa. I'm not too sure that that was just in a discussion. It wasn't necessarily anything that has been pursued. We'd have to look at other streets like Coloma, which is a wide street that has opportunities on at least one side where we have MLK. That's a good street to look at this stuff. |
| 02:33:09.85 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Okay, thank you. |
| 02:33:16.48 | Steven Woodside | I guess I just have to ask again this is news to me I remember distinctly when we sent that back to parametrics to study that there were supposed to be other things to look at, like just painting bike lanes, still a shared bike car lane, no separate bike lane, but being able to do that design so that we would meet the requirements of the grant and be able to install things like crosswalks and speed bumps and bollards. But it sounds like from what you're saying that that was not studied and is not part of the discussion. |
| 02:33:51.35 | Kevin McGowan | I'll be glad to look at the RFP and get back to you on that. |
| 02:33:55.28 | Steven Woodside | Okay. you Well, again, I hope when it does come that it can come to the public and that it doesn't comply with the direction that the city council gave on that work. On the thing that Council Member Komen brought up and that we're sharing, these are just examples just to get your comment on, like this is an example of some stormwater treatment versions on the edges of parkways, right? Of roadways. And so the thought is they look a lot like just what is there now, but the details matter, right? Having this kind of ability for stormwater to, instead of being draining down the street and into our storm drains, and then infiltrating our sewer storm drain system, the water can drain into a catchment that, is there on the edges. The question is what kind of direction you need from us to simply consider this nothing so radical as like this radical notion of reducing the width of the bridgeway, which is certainly a, you know, first time I've heard that, but just in places where the street's wider than it's needed, where you don't lose any parking, and you don't affect circulation in a negative way, how do we get this to be a part of your design assessment of |
| 02:35:10.34 | Kevin McGowan | We've already included this in some of our projects already. |
| 02:35:13.58 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 02:35:13.60 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. Ferry Landside already has a bioretention area. |
| 02:35:13.82 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:35:16.97 | Kevin McGowan | So when we have projects that can accommodate something like this, we would be happy to include it. |
| 02:35:22.27 | Steven Woodside | Do you need more direction from us to do that? Or is this already part of that's my question. Is it already part of your assessment whenever you look at a street pavement to look for opportunities to do this sort of thing? |
| 02:35:32.89 | Kevin McGowan | The way you phrase that isn't necessarily how I would look at it. There's other criterias. How big is the road? Can it accommodate this? So when we look at resurfacing, sure, we would try to incorporate this as much as we can. But I've conveyed to your council and you, Mayor, that we need a wider area in order to deal with this. So Coloma Street is a good example. We could try to include that in some of the planting strips so that we have a bioretention area. |
| 02:36:03.11 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Anything else? Couch spread coming. Yep. Go ahead. |
| 02:36:09.22 | Jill Hoffman | I think there's a couple of examples, and I could be wrong, and forgive me if I am, but I think that there are a couple of bioswales, one bioswale, well, two, actually at Dunphy Park in between the parking rows, and then there's another one at, parking lot two right next to Center for the Arts. There's a bioswale there as well. Yeah, absolutely. |
| 02:36:30.83 | Unknown | Yeah. you Okay, thank you. So thanks for that. Follow on the mayor's comments. Kevin, how can we as members of the community, not just council members, but members of the community, help provide sort of on-site feedback for what we're seeing beyond the Fix-It app. We have some wonderful members who are out there fixing staircases on a frequent basis. Right up here at the top of B Street, there's a staircase, and immediately to the north of the staircase is a pretty large, I don't know what to call it other than a slough for water. And when it rains, that comes down in a pretty heavy fashion. And I know that that homeowner and the people across the street are very unhappy about that. How might one report that? Or how does that get conveyed to you in a meaningful fashion? |
| 02:37:21.04 | Kevin McGowan | Any way you can, you can reach out to me via phone or email is usually best. That particular property is not owned by the city, so it has a bit of a background to it. |
| 02:37:30.15 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:37:30.42 | Kevin McGowan | So whether we can get on that property to do improvements or not is we'd have to double check on the ownership and we've had trouble trying to contact the actual owner in the past, so that may be a specific case. But I welcome anything that the public can do. Give me a heads up. Try to work with them on that. |
| 02:37:49.28 | Unknown | Okay, yeah, note to Sergio since he's here, that property is currently listed as being owned by the Saucydo Ferry Company, but attempts to reach that individual have been impossible for 40 years, so I think we file a quick claim deed and own that property. |
| 02:38:06.50 | Steven Woodside | Any other questions? All right, we'll close the Q&A. Can we get public comment, Mr. City Clerk? |
| 02:38:15.97 | Walfred Solorzano | Peter Van Meter. |
| 02:38:24.11 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. You obviously have a lot of very critical decisions on priorities and you've touched on a lot of creative ideas here tonight. I'm going to suggest one item that's going to be separate from all the discussion you've had so far, because it can be leapfrogged ahead of all of this without costing you additional money out of the alternatives you've been considering. I'm talking about the reconstruction of parking lot number one. and not using the other funds you've been discussing about, but using Tideland funds that you have available for that work. We have a beautiful new Plaza that's been completed and you have that garbage trashy looking parking lot. it is going to be a total bad sore in the face of the Sausalito and the public. You need to consider a resurfacing that includes perhaps permeable surface. You need to take out those trees, you've got root problems, You've got many portions of those trees that are dying back. PB, David Ensign, He PB, David Ensign, He to get the design underway. So that project can be under construction early next year after the rainy season is over. So we have completed the downtown vision. with the rework of that parking lot along with the plaza. Thank you. |
| 02:39:46.60 | Unknown | All right. |
| 02:39:47.76 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker online, Senator Bushmaker. |
| 02:39:55.06 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening, everybody. Excuse me, I have a nasty cold. I just wanted to speak on the median removal project. Um, I hear it referred to as the Bridgeway bike lane, but it's really the median removal project that has tremendous public resistance. And I want to emphasize the need for a public hearing Having it discussed publicly at PBAC is insufficient in my opinion. Because there's such strong resistance to this removal of the median, there has to be a full public hearing in this to give the members of the public an opportunity to speak. In relation to this, One of the previous parametrics reports referred to a report that they had completed as job done, a public safety officer's concerns. That report was never attached to the report submitted to the council. I am unaware of a public records request that finally revealed the content of that report from the public officers. And I'd like to know when that report is going to be made public. And I also would like to speak to in support of traffic calming efforts along the the Bridgeway main portion of Bridgeway between Richardson and Princess. Thank you very much. |
| 02:41:28.68 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Babette McDougall. |
| 02:41:37.45 | Babette McDougall | Hello again. So can you hear me all right? |
| 02:41:41.96 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes. |
| 02:41:42.90 | Babette McDougall | Thank you so much. Um, First of all, I want to just really say that I have enjoyed this meeting this evening. And I'd like to offer a tip of my hat to you, Mr. Mayor. I think you've run a really tight, Well, concisely run meetings And we're all learning good things from it. Now, as regard to this current issue that we're discussing, thanks to our Director of public works, I just want to say thank you for all the work and improvement that we already see happening in our town. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So I only want to throw out one thing. There's been a few things tossed out. And I want to throw out this 2023 law. Senate Bill number 413, which I know you all know about, says that it's illegal in california to park within twenty feet of the approach of any marked or unmarked crosswalk whether or not there is a red curb painted or a sign and i raise this because Um, A lot of this work has already started around our town, I've seen, especially getting as far as the red lines that on either side of the crosswalk. But the 20 foot thing really matters because there's so many big trucks that are parking in my neighborhood still that you honestly cannot see the stop signs. And a lot of people just breeze right through them. And then if you ask them later, well, why'd you do that? They say, well, I didn't see until it was too late. So it's something to think about. The other thing that I'd like to just throw out is this, I loved what Council Member Kellman had to say about, this climate solution to an engineering problem. I think the more we allow that kind of thinking into our solutions, the better off we're going to be in the long run, like sponge shorelines as opposed to seawalls. It turns out seawalls are failing everywhere in the world. |
| 02:43:41.82 | Walfred Solorzano | All right. Next speaker is Kieran Culligan. |
| 02:43:46.41 | Kieran Culligan | Hey there, Kieran Kelligan, Salcedo resident. So glad you're talking about infrastructure tonight. Props for Babette just before us mentioning AB 413. That's the daylighting bill all about pedestrian safety. We can take care of it locally, but the state took care of it for us. So things will be safer when we cross the street. So much of our built environment is dated, to put it nicely, not just in terms of deterioration, but in terms of design. So what might have seemed cutting edge in the 50s, 60s, 70s, it's now a chain around our necks. Road designs that encourage unsafe speeds, long stretches with no crosswalks. One of the most popular cycling towns in the world with barely any dedicated infrastructure for it. Impermeal surfaces galore. Ripwrap that's out of whack. I mean, we've got a lot to do. So when we think about how are we going to take a new look at things or are we just going to pour new asphalt? I think it's pretty clear what we need to be doing. It's gonna be a mix of both, but we need to be challenging ourselves. Take Bridgeway. The travel lanes are too wide. The sidewalks are too narrow. The bike lanes where they exist are half gutter and people don't feel safe riding there. We have more lanes than we need south of harbor if we had some roundabouts and a different way of looking at it. If we aren't shaking things up, we aren't doing things right. Change is hard, I know, but change is leadership. We can do so much better to promote safety, community, environmental stewardship, wellness, resiliency, the list goes on. So please, city council members, city staff, residents, please keep this in mind as we're designing, reviewing, approving projects, because we can make this place so much better. Thank you. |
| 02:45:20.12 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, next speaker is Adrian Brinton. |
| 02:45:25.45 | Sarah Schrader | I think they're positive people. |
| 02:45:27.56 | Adrian Brinton | Hi, yeah, thanks for taking my comment. I just wanted to start by saying thank you to the city staff for all the work we've done. In the last year, there's been a lot of discussion about infrastructure and a lot of it makes it kind of sound like things are standing still. Clearly they're not, you know, they're moving forward really quickly and it's great to see the list of things that are happening. in this current year as well. I noticed in the comments attached to the agenda, there were a lot of negative comments about kind of telling the city to stop wasting money because the priorities are to fix the infrastructure And I just wanted to comment on that because I think you know, a lot of the money that has been spent in those initiatives, is about growing the economy. And one of the comments that came up in the meeting is that we need an extra, up to 5.8 million a year to be able to really get our infrastructure to a level that's sustainable and that is actually something we can be proud of. And how do we get that money? We have to grow our economy to get that money. Really happy to see us. supporting priorities. and policies that help grow the economy. And I think we need to continue to be doing that. Um, Seeing the sustainable paving solutions, that's great. The road diet's amazing. I want to echo... on Mr. Culligan's comments about, you know, we can't just do the same old thing. You know, we have Asia infrastructure. And in a way, that's a blessing because now we have to replace a lot of it and we can actually do it in a way. that's more sustainable and will actually service better going into the future. So yeah, a lot of work to do, but a lot of pretty exciting stuff. Again, Mr. Van Meter's comments about paving parking lot one The parking lot one was one of our top priorities in the infrastructure plan. not last year, but the year before, and it seems to have maybe dropped off that list and I think it should definitely be up near the top because again, It's a risk. There's a lot of outdated. pigment doesn't need to be replaced. Thank you. |
| 02:47:23.90 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment. |
| 02:47:25.77 | Adrian Brinton | Thank you. |
| 02:47:25.79 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 02:47:25.97 | Steven Woodside | Okay, we'll close. Is there any discussion? |
| 02:47:29.77 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:47:31.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Do you want to kick us off? |
| 02:47:33.77 | Unknown | I think it's staff, thank you, first of all. Director McGowan, thank you for taking all our questions and helping us navigate and thank you the city manager as well for helping prep that. Great conversation, thank you all over here as well. I think it's simple, roads and resilience. That's what we focus on, just keep it super simple, right? are in not great shape in a lot of areas, and we need some infrastructure and some improvements for sure. I think everybody acknowledges that, but we also need some better criteria for how we weigh those options, and I think it has to expand beyond the current criteria around simply engineering, but also risk management, as well as climate solutions. So two specific things. One is I think we should direct staff or put it on the record to prioritize green infrastructure in our planning and find grant funding opportunities to pilot a project similar to what we see in Vancouver. I think as a hillside community, having ways to manage our water and our runoff is really, really important. I think the second is, and I think I used the Bridgeway Median project as an example, try to apply different frameworks to these existing problems. I wholeheartedly agree with the mayor. This needs to be a public hearing. It can't just go through a committee, even though it's a Brown Knight committee. But from my perspective, I think the solution is probably raising that sidewalk and making that a coastal resilience project. And if we keep looking at it as a traffic project, we will get a traffic solution. So I think we have to acknowledge that that area is flooding, will flood, that riprap is not good enough. The aerial long spinnaker drive currently floods at high tide. So I think we just need to start talking about it differently. And then maybe as Kieran and Adrian mentioned, we will do things that are different and better long term. So I said everything else. Thank you very much for indulging us. Appreciate the conversation. |
| 02:49:33.51 | Steven Woodside | I'm just going to dovetail on that before handing it off to just, double up on the resiliency guide to our projects. I understand there are some examples around town where we've done it, like the bioswale next to the new ferry landing and lot two. But I don't think any of our upcoming projects for 24, 25 that are due to be finished in June actually have those elements, or at least I haven't seen them. So I would love that to be a direction from us, that it be a checkbox on the design. Has it been considered whether we can adapt elements of resiliency and stormwater treatment through some design elements? So I would like to second that. If there's a third, then that would be an actual direction. I'll leave other people to comment whether they chime in if they want to or not. Similarly on Bridgeway, you know, this, this, uh, And I am concerned that, at least from what I'm hearing, maybe some of the direction of city council hasn't been done by our parametrics consultant, and I want to be sure that Staff goes back to what the direction from city council was for that project and that they are sure that they that their work is complete when it is complete. It definitely should be presented at a public hearing. where the many members of the public, dozens or hundreds who signed a petition around the median are invited to attend. And that would be the first and appropriate place to unveil that work and to let the people that did the work answer questions from members of the public that are interested in that subject. It shouldn't be done. at just at the PPAC. So, and then third, I would just say, in favor of the idea of accelerating road repair I think the devil's in the details about the tradeoff between using funds for infrastructure improvement, which definitely has pros, versus other priorities of the city, whether it be early pay down of some of our pension obligation or even just greater financial resilience by having a deeper balance sheet in the face of uncertainty. So those should all be weighed against each other. But nominally, it seems as though our government has been run conservatively for many years. That's how we built up the surplus in the face of uncertainty. So those should all be weighed against each other, but nominally it seems as though our government has been run conservatively for many years. That's how we built up the surplus in the first place. Thank you. It's during that time we could have been spending a little bit more on infrastructure regularly. So this, in a sense, would be a bit of a catch up if we did that. It definitely gives us some options. And I think we should use those options. Who else would like to comment? Vice Mayor. |
| 02:52:00.44 | Chris Zapata | Thank you, Mayor. I fully understand and appreciate all of the feedback that we've gotten about accelerating our roads program. And I also respect the perspective that we don't perhaps need to preserve our entire $8 million unallocated fund balance. But I think we also have to be mindful that we've had various unforeseen issues arise every year since 2019. We had the 2019 landslide, the 2020 COVID epidemic, the 2021 homeless encampment. And this year we lost our insurance and we're looking at spending $2 million more than we did in prior years. And we're rapidly approaching the zenith in our annual pension obligations. And so I don't believe our 25% reserve alone is necessarily adequate to protect the city against future unforeseen issues. And so I don't believe we should exhaust our unallocated fund balance in the interests of addressing what we perceive as urgent needs, I think. in evaluating how best to leverage the Council's cash and borrowing power to address as quickly as possible the various types of deferred maintenance and infrastructure repairs required. we have to undertake a holistic approach that includes an evaluation of the various issues identified tonight. Streets, including PCI index, climate tech assessment and recommendation, Facilities evaluation that will be completed in January 2025. Storm drains assessment that we expect to have in three to four months. Sea level rise assessment. existing stairs. Landslide Task Force Report. Geologic Hazard Report. the 2019 ADA transition plan that we already committed to undertake. and resources needed to fund resident repair of sidewalks. So I don't think we can make a decision to invest funds this year to take our streets from a PCI index of 58 to 70 without also factoring in to account these other infrastructure needs and identifying which of them are most emergent. So what I'd like to see is a menu of options informed by each of those 10 data points coupled with a sources and uses chart to see how we can most efficiently and swiftly address the most urgent needs. So for example, wheat to address gate 5 drainage issues and or resurface lot 1, we could rely in part on tidelands funds. To address various capital projects, we can rely on the 5 million in our capital improvement budget together with Measure L funds. And I find the idea of a private placement relying on the, revenue stream from Measure L funds to repay that private placement. very intriguing. I do endorse what the city manager said about this council giving direction not to increase taxes on our residents in order to address our deferred maintenance and and infrastructure needs To address a wider range of roads, we should rely on a slurry seal rather than removing and replacing concrete. Or perhaps we find some middle ground. I just read about polyester concrete that was used on the Richmond Bridge. To address crumbling storm drains, can we avoid excavation by simply lining aging pipes? So I think that to undertake informed decision making, we need to be able to create a patchwork quilt of all of these competing needs. And then we'll see you next time. So I think that to undertake informed decision-making, we need to be able to create a patchwork quilt of all of these competing needs. And I, of course, endorse seeking additional grant funding to close the gap. Thank you. on some of the infrastructure needs. Sausalito is facing. Regarding the Bridgeway Bikeway project, it has often been our approach to vet various issues with our expert commissions before bringing it back to the council so that we have a fully informed report for the council. if this council wants to um, um, not listen to the PBAC and the Sustainability Commission before hearing the report on how best to address the bicycle issues on Bridgeway. That's, of course, up to the Council. But I just wanted to remind us that we frequently do ask our various expert boards and commissions to weigh in from their perspective so that we're considering a fully informed report. Those are my thoughts. Thanks. |
| 02:57:00.75 | Jill Hoffman | I endorse the vice mayor's suggestion of giving us a list or a menu of what to choose from and how to prioritize that. So I think that's a good model. I agree that $8.5 million is not a lot. That's our unallocated funds. But that's knowing that we have millions, multiple millions of dollars in deferred maintenance across Sausalito. So that's without knowing what our facilities assessment is going to say what the highest needs are for the city-owned facilities including the center for the arts that we just talked about and what the city is now going to be responsible for with regard to capital improvements for that building as opposed to prior to the amendment to the lease in September so So I would urge, you know, somehow we have to balance that and the increased risk that we have going forward. So the issue of whether or not even 25% is enough of a reserve right now for Sausalito, given our high risk, I think is perhaps another discussion, or at least a short-term discussion. I agree, actually, with Council Member Kelman that the two priorities seem to be right now is resilience and roads, and that ties into... Vice Mayor Kalman's approach, which is let's now then drill down and prioritize those and actually give meaningful direction to our staff about how to actually move forward on specific projects to get those done in the short term and prioritizing with regard to the bridgeway bike lane slash bridgeway emergency median removal project i i think that that's been vetted uh quite a bit through sustainability and um P-back before it in the years that it's been in front of us. And so I think that absent clear direction from the council tonight that removal of the bridgeway median is off the table consistent with public statements that are made by both the mayor and council member blousting throughout this campaign. That would be my first choice so that we don't have to waste any more time or effort on this short-term conversation. The long-term conversation, I think, with regard to that stretch is not removal of the bridgeway median, but if we want to extend a seawall I'm gonna extend the sidewalk out and put bike lanes where the current sidewalk is. on the water side. That to me is the conversation. and That also feeds back into the policy of this council on capital improvements should shift to climate action. And there was, I think we talked about it after the Cal Cities Conference in October, that there was a presentation of the shift in funding and most government funding is now going to be funneled down through climate action plans and climate resilience districts or climate resilience lens. And so most of our, I think, efforts should be couched in climate resilience and the ones that we've just talked about with regard to sea level rise, with regard to seawall, with regard to efforts along the tide lands, those are all climate resilience efforts. And so I think that that's just a policy shift and a policy lens that I think would be a good outcome for tonight to adopt. And that's how you frame your efforts. And like I said, almost any infrastructure effort in Sausalito is going to be through that lens. So that would be my feedback. |
| 03:00:44.90 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. I really appreciate the emphasis being put on viewing these issues through a climate lens. We as a council did vote and declare that there is in fact a climate emergency in Sausalito. And I think that every decision we're making, not just infrastructure decisions, need to be made not only with a climate lens, but equally with an equity lens. And we need to be taking that approach to all of our decision making, whether, again, it relates to infrastructure or policy generally. And I think a great example of that is I was able last week to attend a conference in Marin City. They received $6 million for flooding for sea level rise there, and we've had multiple requests to partner on those types of projects and grants. And as was pointed out, there's a lot of opportunity for grant funding. And I think if we can think about how we can partner to achieve some of those efforts and to look at these things with both the climate and equity lens, and I bring up equity lens again, because I would also really like to stress that I have heard from a number of seniors that some of our roads are unwalkable or inaccessible. And I would like us to put some emphasis and planning into creating a more ADA friendly playgrounds and walkways just so that all of our residents who have of all different ages and abilities can enjoy them as well. Um, I think much of what I would have touched on was mentioned, a huge emphasis on enacting the landslide task force recommendations as soon as possible. I think it's critical that we have some sort of climate emergency fund or assessment for increased risk, whether that's part of our 25 percent reserves or if we do something else to make sure that we're addressing specifically climate disaster. I think that demonstrates our assessments of being aware of what this risk means for us. I appreciated the mention specifically of parking lot one using Thailand funds to address parking lot one. I would like to see us do that. I didn't hear as much from my colleagues about using technology to improve our infrastructure, and I think that that's something else we really need to stress, whether that's using smart signals, which can help us to discern, you know, how our roads being used in at what time or for using technology to monitor pavement quality and assess when a pothole might arise before it does so we can make fixes to improve pavement quality. I understand that it's $5 million. annually to get us up to 80 over five years. However, I think that there is also technology that can help us predict these problems before they arrive, if we did more of a deep dive into what those are, which is why I think it's so critical that we pay attention to and really hear what Climatec has to say when they come before us at our next meeting to present their facilities assessment and recommendations for us for what we might improve to both save money, increase efficiency, be more climate aware, and also improve our infrastructure. With regards to the Bridgeway median, I agree. I think we've all stressed and the community has made clear that the removal of the median is not something that the community wants at this point. This deserves a robust conversation. So I believe we're all on the same page about having an open forum. And then I just want to stress again that it's really critical that we continue to pursue grant funding in every avenue that we can. And I really do think having a climate and equity lens will help us do that, especially as we start to be looking more specifically probably at state funding rather than federal as the emphasis on climate may shift in the coming administration. And we should be planning for that. |
| 03:04:14.12 | Steven Woodside | Okay, any other comments? All right. Thank you very much. We'll move on to five. |
| 03:04:19.96 | Chris Zapata | Can we just ask the city staff have what they need? The request was to provide direction. And so I think you heard pretty much unanimous direction on the climate resiliency lens. But do you have what else you needed from us? |
| 03:04:34.28 | Chris Zapata | I heard bring back a lot of stuff, and so we will. But again, I stress the fact that you're building a budget in 2526. You have resources. You have a lot of input on how to bring, as you called it, Vice Mayor Cox, a quilt of approaches. And I think for me, it's dissecting the fund balance that we have and where it can go, whether it's to pensions or whether it's to hillside landslides, whether it's to a contingency. I don't know why we would go back and revisit the 25% that you've already had a year-long discussion about. Whenever there's been an emergency over the last five years, 10 years, you have not touched that. That 5% and that 15% has been 15% total, and now you've raised it to 25. So I would like to come back and give you a breakdown of the revenues we have, whether it's title ends, whether it's general fund, whether it's measure L funds, and say, you know, this is how you can spend that, and this is what the recommendation would be. Because, again, lots of moving parts here. I get it. Lots of concerns that need to be looked at before you decide to press go. And, again, we have a finance committee that's been resuscitated that can look at this. We certainly have some resources that we want to put to good use so that, you know, dollars spent today are wise. and then at the same time I heard loudly and clearly that we need to have more discussion about the bridgeway safety and bicycle project. Just note that, you know, we have a February time frame where that clock is ticking. And if the decision isn't made by into February, my understanding is those funds will go away. And that's half a million dollars. |
| 03:06:16.58 | Jill Hoffman | So... |
| 03:06:16.88 | Steven Woodside | Well, I think we're done with this. |
| 03:06:19.72 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 03:06:19.74 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:06:19.77 | Jill Hoffman | I have a clarification. Based on the conversation that we've had up here at the dais and input from myself and the mayor about whether or not this should not go back to PIVAC, that it should just go straight to a public forum, I don't know. Do we have consensus on that? |
| 03:06:36.90 | Steven Woodside | I think that was the direction from three of us. |
| 03:06:39.88 | Jill Hoffman | So that will not go back to PBAC. It will go straight to a public forum. |
| 03:06:44.20 | Chris Zapata | In the memo that Director McGowan sent yesterday and today, there was a specific request that the council, if they wish to see more public engagement, staff was happy to accommodate that. And that sounds what this is in advance of PBAC. So we'll figure that out internally and make sure that it's not a PBAC public meeting. It's a public meeting, and then followed by whatever meetings need to happen after that. |
| 03:07:08.72 | Chris Zapata | But are we asking that it come back to the council before it goes to PBAC or just public engagement? Just public engagement. |
| 03:07:12.71 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:07:15.25 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I'm requesting that it be not go back to PBAC, that it be public engagement, and then I think it comes straight back to us, right? Because of the short timeline with the February timeline. Frankly, I think because it's December, we're talking about Thanksgiving's next week, and then December, it's hard to get the word out. So maybe it's... I don't know. I'm just trying to give people as much notice as possible because this is a huge issue of interest that many people in town thought was not on the table. And it was a surprise to me and I think to the mayor certainly and other people on the council that now it's very much alive and very much proposal is still in play. out of two of the three three alternatives are to remove the Bridgeway median, the Bridgeway emergency access median. So I think that needs to be clearly put out to the public through the currents, and that we need to give a lot of notice on whatever public forum |
| 03:08:21.40 | Steven Woodside | The charge of the city council was for Parisian Parametrics to do some work. And I don't remember what the charge was, but I remember it involved a lot of things that included crosswalks speed bumps, slowing down traffic, pedestrian safety, delivery trucks, circulation, and bike safety was one of those things. And it has to be in there to achieve the grant. |
| 03:08:22.05 | Jill Hoffman | CHARGED WITH THE CITY. |
| 03:08:31.75 | Lauren Mendelsohn | you |
| 03:08:41.75 | Steven Woodside | I want to make sure Steph actually met the goals that were outlined, and if they did, it's your guys' report. We want you to present it in public. to the interested public so they can ask their questions of the people that did the work and respond to the facts. I think that's the direction. |
| 03:08:56.50 | Sergio Rudin | Would it be so bad, though, if PBAC also heard it? I think we might need a town hall forum dedicated specifically to this issue where we are present and where the public can engage. But PBAC did submit for the grant, so I think out of respect for them, they should have an opportunity also to provide feedback given the amount of time they put in. |
| 03:09:14.51 | Steven Woodside | Mm-hmm. It seems to me they can certainly control their own agenda and schedule. It just seems like... |
| 03:09:18.51 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 03:09:18.53 | Chris Zapata | It's scheduled for December 2, which is in two weeks, essentially. So that's before we're going to be able to have a town hall. |
| 03:09:25.24 | Jill Hoffman | I don't, yeah, but I don't see the need. I mean, PBAC has had a lot of, this has been to PBAC at least twice, I think in the past. Thank you. |
| 03:09:31.72 | Chris Zapata | It was last to be back in July of 2023, so before any of the parametrics work was done. |
| 03:09:37.97 | Jill Hoffman | but how many times did it go to PBAC before that? I mean, PBAC is the one that presented the grant proposal and PBAC is the one that came back to them, they reviewed it, and then it came to the city council and we gave our feedback. And then I think twice. and then in July. So I think, I feel like, I mean, I'm not, I'm not, trying to you know, minimize P back and their work on this, but this has gone beyond P back at this point. We gave direction to city council level, what we wanted done, it doesn't look like. that the direction was followed. So at this point, and because we have such a short timeline, I think the emphasis is on, informing as many people as possible. can come to any meeting they want to come to at the city council level. They can certainly, members of PBAC can attend the public forum and give their input. But I just think that at this point, we've accelerated beyond the recommendations that PBAC might give. It's now up to the council to make the decision |
| 03:10:32.12 | Lauren Mendelsohn | Thank you. |
| 03:10:42.77 | Jill Hoffman | and receive input directly from the public without filtering it through PVEC. |
| 03:10:46.17 | Sergio Rudin | I don't think there's anything wrong with PBAC. It's a public meeting that everyone can attend, and it'll take us a while to schedule the town hall anyway. I think it would be great for them to have their meeting and talk about it if they want. And we don't have to necessarily take their recommendations. They haven't heard anything on the item since July of 2023. I just feel like based on the amount of work that they, put in, it's an additional, to me, it's another layer of an opportunity for the public to engage. It's not a secret. The public is very much welcome at that meeting and maybe it should be somewhere larger like IDEST and then we'll have another follow-up public forum I love additional community engagement and feedback. I love the opportunity. to have people come. What if they can only go the PBAC date and not the town hall date? It's just more engagement, not less. So I would still like to see that happen. |
| 03:11:30.29 | Unknown | So we don't drive the PBAC's agenda. We don't drive the sustainability committee's agenda. The staff representatives for both are here. Perhaps you want to suggest to the chairs of both that they talk about this item, but the direction from the council is to do a public forum. And should the committees wish to convene, we don't drive the agenda today, we don't drive it tomorrow, so there's certainly... |
| 03:11:51.72 | Chris Zapata | We're not saying no, but we are giving direction |
| 03:11:54.01 | Unknown | We never tell them to hear about here. |
| 03:11:56.65 | Chris Zapata | you |
| 03:11:56.66 | Jill Hoffman | And conversely, if they decide not to sit here or whatever, it doesn't slow us down with our |
| 03:12:01.27 | Chris Zapata | I would say... |
| 03:12:01.71 | Jill Hoffman | . |
| 03:12:01.74 | Chris Zapata | If PBAC is going to hear it, let's put it in occurrence that it's going to be heard by PBAC on this date so that we get the word out. So December 2, PBAC is going to hear it. Tell the community and that there will also be a community forum. |
| 03:12:05.47 | Jill Hoffman | I'll be back on that. |
| 03:12:14.06 | Steven Woodside | My only addition to that is I just want to make sure staff goes back to what the city council direction was and make sure that they're ready. Uh, I'm. Frankly, from what I heard, it didn't sound that way, but maybe they did do all the all the work that we outlined, but but not hearing anything about the bollards crosswalks traffic calming sidewalks or crosswalks. If anybody said that makes me question whether the work has been completed and it hasn't been completed and we have a February deadline. Well, that's its own kind of problem. So That is my question. And if it's not ready, it's not ready. If it is ready, then that's staff's representation that they've done the work. So let's thanks everybody. Thank you everyone. Let's move on to 5B adopter resolution authorizing city manager to execute a professional services agreement with Kimber companies for property management services in an amount not to exceed $102,000. |
| 03:13:02.25 | Sergio Rudin | and I think that's a good thing. |
| 03:13:02.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:13:03.42 | Steven Woodside | would. |
| 03:13:05.44 | Unknown | Take a bio break. Thank you. |
| 03:13:07.23 | Steven Woodside | Five minutes. We'll be back at 1020. |
| 03:13:07.28 | Unknown | by Rick. |
| 03:13:15.22 | Steven Woodside | We're gonna go ahead and get started. We're taking 5B, adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services agreement with Kimber Companies for property management services for an amount not to exceed $102,000 paid for by MLK, Tideland's, Old City Hall, and Bank of America funds. I mentioned last time when this item was in front of us, I had received a donation from Mr. and Mrs. Huff, who are co-owners of this company, and I have returned those campaign donations. |
| 03:13:43.51 | Sergio Rudin | I also need to note that I received contributions from Kimberman Management and Kimberley Huff, and I returned the contribution to Kimberman Management. I have accepted $250 from Kim Huff. |
| 03:13:55.75 | Sergio Rudin | Uh, Mayor, I did want to use this opportunity to correct a statement I made earlier, which was that if you return the money, no disclosure is required. The FPPC hasn't actually given any sort of definitive statement on this. And I do think that there is some ambiguity in the statute. But having looked closely at the disqualification provisions and looking at some of the other advice letters that the FPPC has put out, I do think that they're likely to take the position that disclosure is still required even if you return the money. Additionally, having considered and researched some of the council's earlier questions regarding the SCA lease and whether or not the board of directors there is going to trigger either disclosure or disqualification requirements, the FPPC in its Guide to Officers states that contributions from a nonprofit organization's board of directors. requirements the FPPC in its guide to officers states that contributions from a nonprofit organization's board of directors are not aggregated with the nonprofit so basically they don't they don't count towards that $250 limit the FPPC confirmed that in a recent advice letter to the Santa Clara County Council so |
| 03:15:07.96 | Chris Zapata | Would you mind forwarding that to the council, Sergio? |
| 03:15:11.33 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I can do that. |
| 03:15:12.29 | Chris Zapata | Okay, thanks. |
| 03:15:13.31 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 03:15:18.64 | Steven Woodside | We can reconsider it in the same meeting. All right. Bye. So we're hearing on this item, 5B, adoptive. Well, I already read it. Thank you. And everybody may announce it. Mr. Hess. |
| 03:15:34.35 | Chad Hess | All right, good evening, Mayor, Council, members of the public. Several months ago, Council directed staff to seek property management services for the city's property portfolio. After issuing two RFPs, we have tonight before you a contract with Kimber Companies. in a amount not to exceed $102,000 for one year of property management services. This will be expensed out of four various funds, the MLK, Tideland's, Old City Hall, and Bank of America Fund. So as it stands now, the city currently manages 37 active leases, and this generates $2.4 million as of the last fiscal year for the city. Currently, the city is using a combination of internal and external resources to manage its properties. Currently, we have a member of the finance staff being the primary point of contact. the city attorney, and we have leveraged several third party vendors for various property managements, including negotiation of leases. Our current approach is suboptimal. We do not possess the the specialized skill of property management. We do not have the institutional knowledge to manage some of these really old leases that are over 50 years old. and the capacity of our team is certainly limited. We did receive three qualified responses to our RFP. We had Rome Real Estate Group, Keegan & Copen, and Kimber Management. All offered marketing of the properties. All offered tenant portals for tenant communication, payment of rents, invoicing, reporting, maintenance issues, etc. And then they also all offered financial reporting, the main tenants of our RFP. When it came down to the management fee, there was a variation regarding the fee structures. Rome Real Estate offered 5% or a $11,000 per month base. Keegan and Copen was 5.5% of gross rents or a floor of $11,677. And Kimber Management offered a flat fee of $8,500 per month. which is $102 per year under this contract. We would expense this out of the various funds, the MLK, Tidelands, Old City Hall, and Bank of America. And you can see the allocation dollar amounts up on the screen. and the respective cash balances at the beginning of this fiscal year as just a point of reference These funds have adequate resources to purchase this service for the city. Just for completeness of picture, the city currently pays a city staff member acting pay in the amount of $8,130 that is currently paid out of the general fund, and that expense would be eliminated if we move forward with this property management contract. bringing the net cost down to $93,870. With that being said, we'll go ahead and open it up for questions and comments. |
| 03:19:05.44 | Steven Woodside | Nice call. |
| 03:19:07.57 | Chris Zapata | Thank you, Chad. With respect to the services to be provided by the property management company, In addition to monitoring rents and lease expiration and renewals, will they also monitor BLT, or will that remain with the finance department? |
| 03:19:26.06 | Chad Hess | BLT, what do you mean by that? |
| 03:19:29.17 | Chris Zapata | business license tax. |
| 03:19:30.46 | Chad Hess | Oh, business license tax. Okay, I'm sorry. No, that is outside of property management. That would remain with our vendor HDL. |
| 03:19:38.01 | Chris Zapata | because I know some of our tenants who lease from us, are in arrears both on lease rents and on business license tax. And so there is a. |
| 03:19:49.53 | Chad Hess | Correct. |
| 03:19:51.44 | Chris Zapata | crossover there, I suppose. |
| 03:19:53.90 | Chad Hess | With one of our tenants, yes. |
| 03:19:56.17 | Chris Zapata | Okay, thank you. |
| 03:20:00.23 | Steven Woodside | Other questions? conference, Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 03:20:04.69 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, this is for either the city manager or for Chad. But I believe the city manager and I discussed this. And there was a percentage or a performance aspect to the Huff contract – or I'm sorry, the Kimber Management contract. Am I misunderstanding that it's a flat – It's a flat. whatever. |
| 03:20:30.27 | Chad Hess | So the property management aspect of this is a flat fee of 8,500. In the event that we need broker services for them to lease up our space, there is a commission structure that is defined in the actual contract. So it would be based upon them negotiating a new lease on behalf of the city. |
| 03:20:52.58 | Jill Hoffman | And so if they negotiated new leases, they would receive a percentage of the new lease? |
| 03:20:57.62 | Chad Hess | eat. That's correct. They would, I believe it's 5% of the res, that they negotiate on that contract. |
| 03:21:08.07 | Chris Zapata | And Chad, that applies to all three of the proposals and their amounts of what people would receive. Can you walk through those amounts so the council and the public hears them? |
| 03:21:16.88 | Chad Hess | Yes, that is correct. So all three applicants had a very similar fee structure. The first applicant or the first proposer Um, switch back here. Rome companies, they had a 6% |
| 03:21:30.83 | Steven Woodside | companies, they had a 6% back we just we can we can hear you way up here so that's all right Go ahead, Mr. Hess. |
| 03:21:38.27 | Chad Hess | Okay, the first applicant or proposer, Rome Real Estate, had a 6% commission fee for new leases or renegotiated leases. Keegan and Copan had a similar 6% If you will, Kimber management, if it was done in house was at 5%. If it contained an outside broker, then it would revert back to the 6%. Most of our parcels or properties are currently leased. Two of our significant tenants at the MLK property have just entered into a um, multi-year leases. So that fee would not be applicable to those primary tenants. |
| 03:22:21.20 | Sergio Rudin | It looks like the representatives from Kimber Management are shaking their head and saying no to that. I just want to get. |
| 03:22:28.29 | Chad Hess | then we have a misunderstanding |
| 03:22:31.33 | Steven Woodside | Let's just, Mr. Huff, if you don't mind just waiting, let's just, for the sake of order, finish our questions with Mr. Hess, and then we'll maybe direct some questions to you. |
| 03:22:40.90 | Chris Zapata | Maybe. questions to you. |
| 03:22:42.43 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:22:42.47 | Chris Zapata | you |
| 03:22:42.49 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:22:42.86 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:22:42.89 | Steven Woodside | So, |
| 03:22:42.96 | Chris Zapata | So, |
| 03:22:43.45 | Steven Woodside | Then comes my often. |
| 03:22:44.83 | Chris Zapata | I was... Thank you. I was just gonna have a follow-up to one of her questions, which is, So if we have an existing lease and Kimber assists us in renegotiating that existing lease, they get 5% of the new rent |
| 03:22:59.23 | Chad Hess | In their proposal, they stated that it doesn't apply to existing tenants or renegotiated leases. That is my understanding. |
| 03:23:09.84 | Chris Zapata | Okay, you just two sentences ago said new or renegotiated leases. |
| 03:23:15.22 | Chad Hess | So their fee would be for new leases if they brought in a new tenant. Thank you. |
| 03:23:20.64 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:23:20.71 | Chad Hess | So if they have an existing tenant in our space and it's a, it's a renewal, then my understanding is that fee does not apply. |
| 03:23:28.23 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. And we can confirm that with Kimber, but that was my understanding. I just wanted to clarify. Thank you, Council Member Hoffman. Hoffman, keep going. |
| 03:23:35.27 | Jill Hoffman | So because of the difference, I guess, in the because I'm just trying to wrap my head around the distinction. So we have Rome Real Estate Group that just has a greater – Their proposal is 5% of the gross annual rent income or $11,000 a month. So theirs is, I guess theirs is either or. And same thing for Keegan. It's either 5.5% of the gross annual rent or 11,000 and then you have just a flat 8,500 from Kimber, but the analysis. |
| 03:24:11.99 | Chad Hess | And that's for the property management aspect of it. |
| 03:24:15.09 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. And then they all three, if they all three bring in new tenants, then they all three get additional... |
| 03:24:23.95 | Chad Hess | Thank you. they would receive a commission for that effort. |
| 03:24:26.91 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, and then have we done a, Is there any way to do, I guess there's no way to do a cost or an estimate of that aspect of both of all three of the deal points, right? Because we don't know, |
| 03:24:42.55 | Chad Hess | It would, yeah, it would depend on which lease they negotiated for us. And then also the rents of that, of that space. |
| 03:24:50.80 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Again, we go back to if there's a tenant in there and they're renegotiating a lease, no compensation no additional compensation but if there's an empty or the or the tenants change, then it's a, |
| 03:25:06.93 | Chad Hess | then that would be a new tenant. Yep, and it would be subject to that fee or that commission. |
| 03:25:11.54 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. |
| 03:25:13.77 | Steven Woodside | Any other questions? |
| 03:25:14.44 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:25:14.56 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:25:14.63 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:25:14.70 | Unknown | Please. So, Jim, maybe I'm missing something here, but scope of work is only financial reporting. Scope of work doesn't say a thing about negotiating leases of any type. That's only mentioned in the fee schedule. And so, therefore, the scope of work is a management, which is great, but not a negotiation, which is not articulated, and the rules of that game are not spelled out. |
| 03:25:39.27 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I mean, the scope of work can be revised to also indicate that it includes negotiation of leases with new tenants upon request of the city. I think we could pretty easily add that to the scope of work desired by the council. Sure. |
| 03:25:54.29 | Unknown | Sure, we could, but I think what's also missing here is sort of a policy around that, right? So there's no direction. So we're... |
| 03:25:54.30 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 03:26:01.58 | Unknown | It's not fair to whomever we hired for this that they just go out and Lease, not lease, amount, there's zero direction in this as to how they should conduct their job. I love the financial reporting part of this. That's great. But there's zero policy direction around how they should conduct existing leases, new leases, profit, nonprofit. This seems like a huge gap and not fair to the consultants. Sorry, there was. I lost the thread. Apologies. |
| 03:26:36.29 | Chris Zapata | you |
| 03:26:41.69 | Chris Zapata | I mean, is the question, can we add that to the scope as a part of the contract should we decide to proceed with Kimber? |
| 03:26:48.98 | Sergio Rudin | The short answer is yes, you absolutely could add that. If you want to be that specific, then yeah, the council is gonna need to provide some guidance and some details. |
| 03:26:57.85 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. just say pursuant to council direction. |
| 03:27:01.55 | Sergio Rudin | You could. I'm not sure that that provides that much more clarity, though. |
| 03:27:11.08 | Steven Woodside | Any other questions? |
| 03:27:12.05 | Sergio Rudin | Are we going to hear from Kimber or no? |
| 03:27:14.76 | Steven Woodside | If you have a question for me. Okay. |
| 03:27:16.97 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I mean, I just because I know that there's a clear dollar amount difference between the proposals, and that's generally how we make decisions about RFPs. But, I mean, one of the reasons that we feel so comfortable is given the amount of work that Kimber has done in Sausalito over the last however many decades, and so I thought it might be helpful to just get a sense of that. Like, how many properties have you successfully leased in Sausalito? How many properties have you managed in Sausalito? For how long? just to give the community a sense Yeah, I mean, I do, the mayor has to say. |
| 03:27:50.01 | Steven Woodside | Can you just be specific to your questions? |
| 03:27:52.09 | Sergio Rudin | I think it was pretty specific. |
| 03:27:54.47 | Steven Woodside | You have two questions. How many properties have you leased in Sausalito and |
| 03:27:59.36 | Sergio Rudin | how many managed? Yes. |
| 03:28:01.96 | Steven Woodside | And how many of you men? |
| 03:28:03.89 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | In Sausalito right now, we, uh, manage 65,000 square feet, uh, uh, Liberty ship way. We, uh, we managed the you know, Berg's, you know, property, you know, the marina down there. And we just took on Marina Vista HOA. all told We manage about 700,000 square feet of space in three states. Sausalito is obviously our home. I've been in society for 45 years. I lived here for 22 years. Um, And we're very proud of the space that we have. On the commission, it's our company standard to charge 4% If it's an in-house deal, 5% if we have to cooperate with another broker. We've never had a 6%. On a long-term lease, we will degrade after the fifth year. If it's 4%, then it'll drop 3, 2, 1, and so on and so forth. our leasing experience. Well, you know, we leased, um, |
| 03:29:20.82 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | I'd say 140,000 square feet of space. You know, we had, you know, 10 and 20 Liberty Shipway. We sold that in December of 21. So we don't, you know, manage that anymore anymore. We have our leasing revenue has been close to zero because our buildings are full. and have been full through this entire, through COVID, through everything. We have got, Yeah, how much square feet is built? I think we have one office that's 500 square feet out of 65,000 square feet right now. Thank you very much. |
| 03:29:52.34 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:29:59.26 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | Thank you. |
| 03:30:00.58 | Unknown | Hi, thank you. Thanks for sticking with us this late, Mr. Huff. Sure. So, very detailed financials, thank you for the detail on that in the scope of work. |
| 03:30:05.44 | Unknown | to. |
| 03:30:12.59 | Unknown | What's your game plan? What would be your game plan for coming up to speed on all of the city's properties and they're not sort of all in the same place and all of the leases. |
| 03:30:20.56 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | THE FAMILY. I think that we need, we've just onboarded four properties and that has been. I mean, I'm close to 80 years old and it has me working six days a week. My son is working six days a week, and my nephew right now is in North Dakota. checking out his property. So it's, it's, it's a, It should be a much longer process. I would like to get 30, 60, or 90 days onboarding without charging the city for that. You know, for that time, that gives us time to learn about the properties. to look at the leases, to, there's a whole bunch of scope issues that. We're not in the RFP, so we have to have conversations with the city manager and so on and so forth. We normally for full management, we normally take care of maintenance, we take care of a whole host of things. And That's the conversations we need to have with the city. We're certainly willing to do full management for the fee that we quoted. But I'm not entirely sure We managed MLK from 1999 to 2005. And we did the whole remodel on MLK. And what we found out, there were certain things that the city wanted to maintain control of and do. and were certain things that they wanted us to do. So those are the conversations that really have to take place. No matter what it is, the fee is a full service fee. |
| 03:32:03.78 | Unknown | Okay, let me ask you this. So I read somewhere in here, which I can't find right now, that you have a, contractors that you work with, who do maintenance. |
| 03:32:10.16 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | Yes. |
| 03:32:11.44 | Unknown | Is that... How does that get charged to the city or is that included within the fee? and where it belongs. |
| 03:32:17.01 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | No, no, no. The contractors we work with are not included in the fee. They'd have to be approved by the city. That's the, you know, the process we went through from 99 to 2002 or three while we're doing the remodel was that the city would identify projects. We'd go out, get bids, submit it to the city, you know, and then the city would choose. So, and except for normal maintenance, you know, day-to-day maintenance, which we would probably, if in fact that's exactly what the city wanted us to take care of, we'd submit a proposal from a contractor that we use for that. |
| 03:33:06.22 | Unknown | And you know the city so well, so do you envision that your much of your time would be creating new lease arrangements because we have a lot of vacancy, or do you anticipate that it would be mostly managing existing leases? |
| 03:33:20.55 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | I don't know what your vacancy is. So if you've got a great deal of vacancy, we'd have to come up with a marketing plan. |
| 03:33:28.73 | Unknown | And would that be included under this or my favor? |
| 03:33:30.43 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. |
| 03:33:32.58 | Unknown | Thank you. Appreciate it. |
| 03:33:33.59 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | You're very welcome. |
| 03:33:35.36 | Steven Woodside | Any other questions? Right, can we have public comment, Mr. City Clerk? |
| 03:33:42.35 | Steven Woodside | Peter Van Meter. Sunshine, did you turn in a slip? |
| 03:33:52.71 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 03:33:53.08 | Peter Van Meter | Well, this is a wonderful opportunity for a win-win-win-win situation where you have a local firm with a long history in town. You have people who know the Sausalito, who have decades of real estate management and leasing experience. So you've got a totally qualified team of people who know what they're doing. They're local. And it can just be nothing but a better opportunity for the city, the public, everybody involved. And I really hope you move ahead with the agreement. Thank you. |
| 03:34:22.41 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:34:22.43 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 03:34:22.46 | Steven Woodside | So, |
| 03:34:22.53 | Walfred Solorzano | I'm saying. |
| 03:34:22.92 | Steven Woodside | I think we will stipulate that it was turned in. |
| 03:34:23.18 | Walfred Solorzano | THE FAMILY. |
| 03:34:29.51 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:34:30.71 | Sunshine | Good evening. My name is Sunshine, and boy, I wish we had a manager like what Bruce did. I was in 10 Liberty Shipway. All the improvements he did were taking all the tenants into consideration rather than, how he could make the most money from all of us. It was absolutely an ideal situation and we were cared for. And, Where I'm living now, I mean, I can see the contrast. devastation, neglect, danger, health issues, and I'm being, I'm the one that's being evicted. And it's just a crime that managers can be so corrupt, lie so much. And my lawyers told me that the management company that I'm living under was the worst one in Marin County that they get more complaints about them than any other company. So I just want to put that out, that I mainly stayed here, not for me, but I wanted to speak on behalf of Bruce Huff because he was such an ideal manager and he really cared for us. So that's it. |
| 03:35:41.60 | Steven Woodside | Mr. Albert |
| 03:35:43.97 | Ron Albert | I agree with everything Peter Van Meter said. Get on with it. Hire a professional management firm. |
| 03:35:53.06 | Steven Woodside | Just to the city clerk there, but, Lorna, you can just come up. |
| 03:35:57.18 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 03:36:02.09 | Steven Woodside | If there's anyone else with a slip, just please give it to the city clerk. |
| 03:36:07.17 | Lorna Newland | Is it two or three? |
| 03:36:08.50 | Steven Woodside | Two minutes, please. |
| 03:36:09.73 | Lorna Newland | Okay. Hello, my name is Lorna Newland. I'm a 30-year resident homeowner in Sausalito, 22-year small business owner. My first studio at Sausalito Pottery was at... 1915 Bridgeway and when the owner passed and a new owner bought it that she was going to triple my rent. And luckily it was I believe Ron Albert and also Dana Whitson had suggested the MLK bus barn which I took possession after city council approved in December of 2005. had to paint everything. I had to clean the floors. Basically, it had been storage for about probably 40 years. So lots of dirt, all that. But I've been there 19 years. And in those 19 years, I've probably had 13 or more property managers since some were somewhere from park and rec and they're not professional property managers. They mean well, HR, that kind of thing. We need somebody like Kimber Management to manage all these properties. I've had a lot of problems with it. I wanted to say, I did a little research on this. When you look at the price, and it's not just that I think Citi went with the lowest bid. They're local. They're well-established here. Did any of you look up these other companies? One's in Folsom in Sacramento County. One's in Larkspur. They don't really know the people here. I've known Bruce and Kim Huff, since I opened my business from the Chamber of Commerce and then from the Associated Women's Club. And it means something. And they're going to get something done. And that's what's really important. I'm seeing that it's 4% of the rent is what they're charging. And we haven't had professional management. Our last manager was in December 2021 and went out on medical leave. Thank you. |
| 03:38:15.07 | Steven Woodside | Any other public comment? |
| 03:38:15.86 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Okay, online we have Fred. |
| 03:38:27.06 | Fred | Good evening, Council Member. I guess I'm a little bit of the outlier. I agree 100% with the issue of having a professional management for the city assets to ensure the most amount of revenue is coming in. Unfortunately, with this particular contract, I have to agree with Janelle that the scope of work is woefully inadequate if the goal is for property management. If you look at the scope of work on Exhibit A, it doesn't address what tasks are going to be or evolve with the property management. So I have an issue. I've negotiated many property management contracts for various developments. And whereas the Exhibit A is great on what the financials are going to be presented, it doesn't, in my opinion, define the scope of work in the way for the property management that it appears everybody is talking about tonight that we're going to get for the city assets. So I would |
| 03:38:27.13 | Unknown | you |
| 03:38:27.16 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 03:38:27.26 | Unknown | Did he? |
| 03:39:21.52 | Fred | ask the council to consider postponing this until you get a more defined scope of work that actually focuses in on what appears to be everybody's concern, professional management of these assets. And with respect to leases, I think it would be wise for the city to hold off the opportunity if the lease renegotiation comes up, or if there's a need for a new tenant, that the city has an option to stay with the existing property management if they hire Mr. Huff's firm, or they can go with a different entity that may have a different set of skill sets that may be better or the same or worse, and they can make a decision at that time rather than locking in right now to Mr. Huff's firm. Appreciate listening to me. Thank you. |
| 03:40:10.91 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay. Next speaker is Babette McDougall. |
| 03:40:15.96 | Babette McDougall | Good evening. So thank you so much for this. I want to express... that I am not opposed to hiring Kimber Management. I think it's a good choice. What I worry about is the fact that we have not made any progress on this policy that is supposed to create benchmarks, directives and criteria on how to move forward with handling the city's portfolio of real estate. And yet we have nothing, which what concerns me most is like setting Kimber management up for failure because we have no guideposts. We have no benchmarks. We don't know what is a success measurement or a failure measurement because we haven't even addressed that yet. That's what our report our policy would address. So I'm a little opposed to taking a respected, husband and wife team and company and, you know, local institution in many ways. and setting them up for potential failure because we don't have our ducks lined up. That's what I'm most worried about. So it kind of gets back to, I'm disappointed that the city, for whatever the reason, makes a promise about, yeah, we're going to deliver on a policy. And then it just sort of evaporates, just like so many things. This is what worries me. I'm glad this evening there was a great deal of rolling back saying, no, wait a minute, this is not consistent with. Council's direction. I'm not saying that we should fault our team, The city is doing an impeccable job. I think they're doing their best. Maybe they need to double the staff. I don't know. because I wouldn't want to see them feel as though they're not being properly appreciated for the good work that they are doing. I just want to make sure that we are doing our proper due diligence on behalf of the citizens and this city. And I concern once again that we are failing at that. Thank you. |
| 03:42:12.07 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 03:42:17.15 | Sandra Bushmaker | Excuse me. I'm still coughing and carrying on here. Yes, my questions are in points. I do believe the city needs a professional property manager. I share the concern about the lack of policy with regard to city leases that was supposed to be in progress. Seems to me that that needs to get resolved. prior to giving direction to our professional property manager. I do recall at a past meeting... There was a statement made that one half of the 37 leases are expired. So this relates to the scope of work. Is it up to? Kimber or whoever the professional manager is to determine whether to continue that particular tenants policy lease or is that to be. a council decision. So it seems to me that that scope needs to be tightened up a little bit. before we move forward on this. But like I said, I do believe that Professional management is really required. We don't have a handle on our leases and we should. Thank you. |
| 03:43:32.38 | Steven Woodside | No further public comment. Okay, we'll post a couple of comment. Is there any discussion or a motion here? |
| 03:43:38.58 | Chris Zapata | I would like to... move forward with this engagement, but I would like an opportunity to conform the scope of work, number one, to the fee schedule that was already presented by Mr. Huff and described this evening and number two to allow for the flexibility to follow Council direction in the interim and then follow the policy that will ultimately be adopted by Council with respect to prospective leases. Obviously, the Council will always review and approve any proposed leases, so that is a, you know, a redundancy to directing Kimber to follow whatever leasing policy we adopt. And obviously, we certainly discuss each lease negotiation as it is underway and before it is concluded. So I'm not worried that we won't have adequate feedback, but I would like to be sure that the scope of work more closely conforms to the fee schedule that we received and the discussion we've had this evening. I guess what I'd like to do is authorize this to move forward and have the city manager bring this back to us on consent at our next meeting. |
| 03:45:22.75 | Unknown | Thank you, City Manager. I know this has been on our list for a long time, so thank you for your diligence in moving it forward. I have a similar but not quite aligned viewpoint. I think this financial reporting to the city section is fantastic. I mean, man, we've needed this for a long time, and that's just a really great place to start. But I would like to have more public comment type conversation around the management of new leases and the brokerage aspect of this. And that's, you guys have heard me in other settings, both in closed session and here, about my perspective on having objective standards that make it very easy for somebody to be able to tell exactly where we're going to go with the lease and how it gets filled in the negotiation. And so I just think that sets the consultant up for success and I think it sets up for success. We don't have that right now. So I need to see that. And I think in a situation where we have a very talented consultant at the helm who knows Sausalito, there could also be potential opportunities where he's representing somebody that, I don't know, maybe – There's some conflict that we just can't anticipate yet and we haven't really looked at yet because we haven't seen the full scope of work. And so I just think it's important that we hammer that out in public and not have it just be consent. So that's my concern about it. But thank you. I thought the financial reporting stuff was really great to read. |
| 03:46:50.71 | Steven Woodside | else. |
| 03:46:52.17 | Sergio Rudin | I'm happy to, I mean, I'm obviously, I think this is, we've come a long way on finally getting property management for a lot of vacant spaces, and so we need to move this forward. And I hear the concerns of Council Member Kellman and Vice Mayor Cox, so I would support Vice Mayor Cox's suggestion of moving forward and then adding the scope broadened in consent at the next meeting. |
| 03:47:16.09 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. you I guess I would comment the same thing. Just, you know, obviously I would like the scope have been different too. Unfortunately, that was our fault, right? We issued an RFP that had a certain scope and we missed it. All of us missed it. We should have said it then. I missed it too. I should have said it then. So we have to fix it later. But you can cancel this contract with short order if there's something that goes awry and we can... modify it as it goes on. What is the reality is today we're not providing property management services to our tenants and we shouldn't brook any delay, we should hire this great firm and. Get them started managing our portfolio and then work with them to make the relationship better and to serve our goals and it's also on us to come up with our rental philosophy and when we have that. we should convey it to them and they will make sure to implement it, I'm sure. |
| 03:48:04.85 | Chris Zapata | I think they can actually help us develop our policy based on their breadth of experience in three states with various properties. |
| 03:48:16.78 | Jill Hoffman | I actually agree that with most of the comments that have been made, especially that we need to have, I believe we need to have as much as the policy or what the thought process of the council in place at the time when we approve the contract. I don't agree that it should just come back on a consent calendar. It's too difficult to, it's too difficult for us to pull off a consent. It's too confusing for the public to understand what we're actually voting on when we're voting on it. So it's not a comment specifically on, you know, obviously, Kimber Management is more of a comment on we need to be precise in our habits here at the council and having the public understanding and knowing what's on the agenda and what we're actually voting on. So I also have some concerns, or at least would like to address, how we would flag potential conflicts with Kimber Management in managing the city properties and properties, the private properties that they manage, and decision-making policies of the city, which theoretically you could see there would be some sort of maybe potentially issues coming forward, but we need to address that as well, I think, so that we don't have... Thank you. so that everybody understands and knows how to proceed if something like that would come up. So anyway, that's fine. |
| 03:49:43.45 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any comments? Is there a motion? Do you want to articulate what you're saying? |
| 03:49:46.03 | Chris Zapata | Well, so I don't know what the council's pleasure is. You know, I can try to. um, enunciate and supplement to exhibit A that we can adopt this evening or we can bring it back on. |
| 03:50:00.15 | Steven Woodside | I'm ready to approve it as is, and we can approve changes. to the scope of work because the thing is terminable, terminatable, right? With very short order. And so, It's always a negotiation to change the scale of work, right? |
| 03:50:10.78 | Chris Zapata | Right. I'm really uncomfortable with approving it as is because Kimber has already In a... described their intention to perform more than what is included in Exhibit A to the. resolution and so I'm really uncomfortable approving a resolution that doesn't comport with their proposal. |
| 03:50:34.14 | Steven Woodside | How do we get them to start tomorrow? |
| 03:50:38.54 | Unknown | Depends what you want me to do. I'd like you to start. |
| 03:50:40.42 | Jill Hoffman | managing a property tomorrow. The city manager can do a contract for a month. That's within his authority. That's true. |
| 03:50:40.94 | Unknown | Well, the. |
| 03:50:46.09 | Chris Zapata | That's true. |
| 03:50:46.49 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:50:46.52 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. That's true. All right. So I move that we adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services agreement with Kimber Companies for property management services for a month while and that part of those services will be to refine the Exhibit A scope of work and that was attached to our initial request for proposals and to return to us. no later than December 17 with the year-long, initial year-long professional services agreement with Kimber Companies. Thank you. |
| 03:51:37.45 | Sunshine | Thank you. |
| 03:51:37.47 | Chris Zapata | that. |
| 03:51:37.66 | Sunshine | Thank you. |
| 03:51:38.52 | Sergio Rudin | So I think your motion mentioned adopting a resolution. I suspect you're not doing that, in part because the city manager would be executing this under |
| 03:51:47.00 | Chris Zapata | All right, so we'll just authorize the city manager. So rather than adopt, I'm going to amend my motion. So rather than adopt a resolution, we're going to authorize the city manager to execute a 30-day professional services agreement with Kimber Companies. within his authority for property management services and returned to us no later than December 17 with a revised proposed professional services agreement embodying the scope of work described this evening and contained in the fee schedule provided by Kimber Companies. |
| 03:52:23.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:52:23.93 | Chris Zapata | Council. |
| 03:52:23.98 | Sergio Rudin | Council, the other issue I think that we would like to correct is the fee schedule does not reflect the concept of the |
| 03:52:24.55 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:52:32.94 | Sergio Rudin | a lowered percentage commission rate over time after five years that was mentioned by Mr. Huff today. I would recommend that being included as well. |
| 03:52:42.44 | Chris Zapata | So I'll refine my motion to incorporate revised Exhibits A and Exhibits B that comport with the discussions this evening. |
| 03:52:52.09 | Unknown | Thank you for that. May I also just say for the record, though, we're doing this for a reason, so I don't want it just to be assumed that it gets approved without our thorough analysis when it comes back. Okay, thank you. |
| 03:53:04.87 | Chris Zapata | We agree. This is to get moving. because we have so many properties and they need three months just to get their head around what we have. And so we can get them oriented and get their expert assistance in carrying this out. There's a motion pending. I'll second it. |
| 03:53:22.96 | Unknown | like, |
| 03:53:23.02 | Jill Hoffman | Let me... |
| 03:53:23.43 | Chris Zapata | Okay. |
| 03:53:24.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:53:24.22 | Jill Hoffman | It's a friendly moment. Okay, so for the reasons I had stated before, I'm uncomfortable with this. I think that the city manager has the authority to hire them for the month. but I think that if we're gonna take action at the city council level, we should know exactly what we're taking action on. We've given input. There's going to be further information and I would assume edits over the next month and My preference would be to have no motion today, understanding the city manager is going to hire Kimba for the month, and then vote on what is actually going to be before us. I think it's too confusing for me and for the public to figure out what we're voting on and understanding what's before us. And again, the issue of how do we identify conflicts and how do we navigate those need to be part of any discussion that we have. So. |
| 03:54:20.85 | Steven Woodside | So we have a motion on the floor that's been made and seconded. Any other discussion? |
| 03:54:27.23 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? No. Okay. past three to two. We'll move on to 5C, receive a presentation regarding SSCBC, Caskidley Marina. Yeah. |
| 03:54:41.46 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:54:42.47 | Steven Woodside | and consider, yep. So city manager, do you want to take that? |
| 03:54:49.42 | Chris Zapata | I'll jump right in, Mayor and Council members of the public. Thank you for your patience. You know, the city of Sausalito and the Sausalito Community Boating Center have had a longstanding relationship. That relationship goes back before 2010. In 2010, the transition of the nonprofit, the 501c3, was set up, and the city entered into agreement then. And, you know, some of the things that the – Sausalito Community Boating Center aspire to and is doing is they want to become a focal point for water access and education. They want to enhance the maritime heritage of Sausalito. They want to be environmental stewards and work toward that end and they want to continue to host community events, leverage other people's money, and create a waterfront opportunity that is compatible with neighbors around them. And so that has been their mission, and that's what we've sat and talked about in our conversations with them. We had specific questions about what the ask was, what it is that they would like to see from the city council. They obviously have a lease that has expired in September of 2024. We've been working on a month to month since then with an understanding that we'd work in good faith to bring this forward to the city council so you could provide direction on this particular item. Their amendment to the lease and the proposals that they have made to city staff include a 10-year extension of the lease with two five-year options, exclusive use of a certain area, provision for a liveaboard in the property. And so those are things that they would like the city council to consider. In our conversations conversations with them which go back at least six months With their board members have been extremely cooperative and available to city staff to have these conversations We asked them some specific questions about community engagement They followed up by having an actual community meeting in which I believe 30 or so people appeared and gave input to the board of the boating center. They have also provided an economic activity report that shows the grants they've gotten, the fundraising they've done, the in-kind work they've done, and, you know, that's all north of half a million dollars. And so in further conversations with them, you know, I think it's really clear that, you know, the mission of the 501C3, as stated earlier, is very, very in line with Sausalito's approach of trying to enhance maritime and preserve maritime and environmental stewardship. The question is, you know, do you want to continue this relationship over a long term? And 20 years is a long term. The other question is this particular area of town is extremely strategic. You have neighbors to the north, which are the Galilee Harbor folks. You have city properties and the cruising club. You have the Dunphy Park, the private property owners around that, the bulkhead, the Turney Street boat dock, the underwater streets that are directly east of the property that are all in consideration. And so I believe that to tie that property up for 20 years probably is not advisable. I've made this recommendation clear to the SCBC board. They would prefer a longer-term lease. I told them I wouldn't recommend that. At the same time, I told them it's also not my decision to make. I don't press buttons. The city council presses those buttons on what to do or what not to do. So a lot of work that they've done to fine tune the revenue aspects of the facility. so some of the things that they brought forward in their business plan include, you know, lessons in sailing and boating, outreach to the greater Sausalito area, including Marin City, continued effort to get grants, and potential for a water taxi to flesh out their business model and also working in concert with our public or private or our parks and recreation department to in a private public or a 501c3 and city partnership to enhance revenue and so what they've proposed in their business plan is that you know currently for the last 11 years we've received no revenue from this property. At the same time, we know that they've gone out and gathered funds and made investments in the property to make it ADA compliant, to provide access, to work with their neighbors, and also to create a plan that they believe will benefit Sausalito that aligns with their 501c3 mission and value statement. So tonight, the recommendation is that we continue or believe will benefit Sausalito that aligns with their 501c3 mission and value statement. So tonight, the recommendation is that we continue our relationship with the Sausalito Community Boating Center, that it be for five years, that there be some revenue attached to that particular arrangement and agreement, that there be an understanding that the live-a-board PRO the city of sasilo's decision to make it's a bc dc bay conservation development commission decision to make and some other things that you know may come up in the course of the council's questions to the actual group here so we have board members here, led by Ira Pollack and Raylene Gorham. So if you have questions for them or questions of staff, we're happy to entertain them. |
| 04:00:34.05 | Steven Woodside | Any questions please for city manager? |
| 04:00:39.07 | Steven Woodside | I'm sorry. |
| 04:00:40.36 | Chris Zapata | I saw that some of the proposals from the Sausalito Boating Center included partnership with San Francisco water taxi to offer on demand services six pack charter boat pickup and drop off. And I also saw correspondence from Jacques all men and from the Galilee harbor asking that we maintain the current um. use as a non-motorized use. So have you discussed those concerns from Galilee and others with Sausalito Boating Center? |
| 04:01:25.92 | Chris Zapata | Vice Mayor, thank you for that. |
| 04:01:26.76 | Chris Zapata | Sorry, Cass Gidley Boating Center. |
| 04:01:29.16 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, I did not have that conversation with them. And also along that line, there was a letter of support for an extension of the lease by Galilee Harbor, but they wanted a limit on the number of people that could arrive, which is six. So as it relates to the question, I'd really like for Mr. Pollack or one of the representatives from SCBC come up and address that question. |
| 04:01:59.94 | Raylene Gorham | Good evening, Council. Thanks so much for your time. Raylene Gorham here. I've been on the board of SCBC since 2018. And I also want to thank Chris Spott and all of your staff for the detailed handling of all of our questions and guidance to this point. We all really appreciate it. As far as the question concerns motorized versus not, a big part of our mission is to preserve our maritime heritage. And with that regard, we have a very unique fleet of traditional wooden boats, many of which were designed and or built in Sausalito. I don't know what your familiarity with is with wooden boats, but they do take a lot of time and maintenance and are not always up to, you know, accommodate all classes of sailors and what have you. So presently, you know, practically speaking, we are looking at a wider range of access to the waterfront. We are considering augmenting our fleet with other smaller learning vessels. And in addition to that, we would really like to open the doors to a wide variety of sailors' uses, pickup, access, increasing access to the waterfront. Because I firmly believe that when you have engagement with the water, you mobilize other stewards for the environment. And that is something that is enjoyed by many Sausaledans but not everybody who has a boat or that kind of access and frankly our town has shut down many dinghy docks and points of access so a lot of people want to do pickup drop-off. There are a lot of ways to engage. So, you know, we're still on mission here. The idea to have no motorized boats, I mean, we need a crash support boat to go out to help, you know, young or older sailors. We need, there are a lot of case scenarios. There are really interesting blue economy, you know, green technology coming forward. You know, I think that there's a sensitivity that is to be understood as far as the burden of, you know, we're not looking at big nighttime party ships, you know, I'll just say that, which I think is pretty much driving the fear. But there's a whole class of vessels that I think really support our mission. So we'd like to remain open to that. |
| 04:05:07.74 | Steven Woodside | Any other questions? Thank you, Ms. Gorm. you |
| 04:05:11.86 | Raylene Gorham | Thank you. |
| 04:05:11.96 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 04:05:14.31 | Steven Woodside | Is there public comment? |
| 04:05:16.25 | Walfred Solorzano | Peter Van Meter. |
| 04:05:27.33 | Peter Van Meter | Just about 50 years ago, I went down to Cass Gidley to learn how to sail. And we managed to break the mast on the first venture out of the water. And I never did try sailing again, but no, it's not too late. So, so I'm looking forward to taking my first lesson down there. But no, really, there is a public mission here to have access by general public to the waterfront. They have gone to extraordinary efforts to have this whole DOC be ADA compliant. There's no other facility in the Bay Area that I'm aware of that has that same level of ADA compliance. And they need to have some revenue in order to sustain this operation. To the extent that motorized vessels in a limited capacity and the fees that might be charged for that kind of service would help support this operation, I think that's absolutely critical. So this has got great history, great future, great compatibility with the goals of City of Sausalito, and this lease should be approved and extended. Thank you. |
| 04:06:29.85 | Walfred Solorzano | Alice Merrill? |
| 04:06:30.51 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 04:06:35.19 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. Hello. Um, well, you know, just to brag a little bit, I knew Kaz Gidley when I was a little tiny kid, and he was a really cool guy. I think that that whole concept for this boating center is wonderful. And I've wanted it to, I mean, I've been hoping that it would continue and get better and get bigger and actually open and be. And I'm a little concerned about the charter boats because it's a different thing. I understand the need for the revenue that they might bring in. So I think it's got to be looked at as a is this working? And if it is working and it's not bothering the neighbors and it's not bothering the way that it puts together, then then maybe it would work and it would be okay. But I would do it with a certain amount of let's give it a try and have a timeline that you can judge whether this is, with whether it's proceeding properly. But I would very much like for them to get their lease because I've been wanting this to happen, and it's a wonderful thing, and it's just you know for kids to be able to get out on the water just the way I did. I was lucky and I would love other people to be lucky like that. Thank you. |
| 04:08:07.95 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Babette McDougall. |
| 04:08:14.11 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. Well, I think this is going to be a series of testimonials from longtime residents that happen to have history with Casas Marina. And I also happen to be one such person. My husband took me on my very first romantic boating outing. It's by him renting a boat at Cass's. It became so apparent to me that he should probably just get in his own sailboat. because he was so good at it. It was clear he had missed it for a long time. And it all started just by renting those little sailboats. Cass's marina. So I'd like to see this go forward There's nothing better in My book, Then Having Access to a Shoreline, that bridges the water with the land like what we have around the Dunphy Park area. which is why I'd like to see the Dunphy Park expansion program. finally completed as much open shoreline as we can. I so think that this supports the kind of work and the kind of boats that are typical from a Casmarina launch like the Dory's, for example. and so many of the small wooden boats. So I really would love to see this thing go forward as it's been articulated this evening and as we've known it over time. Thank you. |
| 04:09:29.86 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker, Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 04:09:34.16 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening, council. I do support the Community Boating Center and its mission. I do remain concerned that it's been 11 years and the city hasn't seen any revenue as Chris Zapata just informed you, from this property. So that's a concern of mine. I do. Also have concerns about commercial drop off and pick up seems to be the antithesis of what a community voting center is, and I would like to see some safeguards put into any... relationship. But I'd also like to see some rent rental income coming in to to the city from this property. After 11 years, there should be some track record of being able to get revenue. From the city property. But like I said, I, I, I'm a sailor myself. I have my own boat and, um, I appreciate, um, teaching people how to sail, and how to navigate safely in the water, but this should not turn into a commercial dock. Thank you very much. |
| 04:10:44.35 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment. |
| 04:10:46.67 | Steven Woodside | or any of this, Mr. Albert? |
| 04:10:52.55 | Ron Albert | I, uh, Ron Albert, former council member. When I was on the council, Cass Marina came before us with a signage request, and I went down, and the facility, I don't go back as far as some of the other people who spoke. When I went down there, the facilities had become pretty degraded, and what this group has done to upgrade those facilities is very substantial. It's unfortunate that it's taken as long as it has, you know, due to COVID and other things, but they're really on the cusp of opening and becoming a great boating center. And, you know and you should give them that chance. The concerns about motorized boats seem to me a little overblown. I think you could come up with some simple safeguards. Banning all motorized boats makes no sense at all. They're going to need to have a motorized craft there for emergencies if somebody has a problem out on the bay to take care of them. And water taxis have never really taken off on the bay. It would be great to have more water taxis. The most likely drop-offs are closer to downtown. it would be a very infrequent occasion when a water taxi came here. So I... drop-offs or closer to downtown. It would be a very infrequent occasion when a water taxi came here. You're not going to see a lot of motorized activity. You could restrict the size of the motorized boat that came in or something like that. I don't think it's a big concern. They ought to be allowed to have some motorized craft come in. I like the idea of a liveaboard also, the possibility of having a caretaker there at all times to protect the inventory of boats. So please find a way to move this forward. Thank you. |
| 04:11:04.87 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:12:56.07 | Walfred Solorzano | We do have Kieran Culligan. |
| 04:13:01.46 | Kieran Culligan | I just want to say I support this proposal. It sounds amazing. I don't spend as much time on the water as other people. I recently bought a paddle board, so that's my way of getting out once a week before the farmer's market. And to Raylene's point, it does give me a different connection and appreciation for a waterfront. I didn't have before. And I'd love to see this move forward. We have zero water taxi to bounce us around right now. So the idea of it becoming this overwhelming thing is almost a laughable scenario to me. I would just love to have some little way to putt-putt around. So I'd love to see this move forward. And some high-level restrictions I needed fine, but it sounds great on the surface to me. |
| 04:13:44.89 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any other comments? Seeing none. All right, we'll close public comment. Any discussion here or directions? |
| 04:13:53.11 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. I will say that I used to rent a Brunswick 27 from Cass Marina in the late 80s. And it was amazing. I also owned a Cal 25 that I moored at the Marina Plaza and serviced at Anderson's Boat Yard. So there's some history for you. I'm concerned with the pace of progress in the last 11 years. I'm very appreciative of the overhaul that has occurred at Cascadley Sausalito Community Boating Center at the Cascadley Marina. But when you look at the lease, It talks about revenue to the city from the from the programs, being made available Bye. the boating center. And so it certainly was contemplated 2014 that the boating center would be operational before now. And so I am encouraged with the new leadership of the voting center and some of their and some of their ideas that they provided Um, We asked them to provide us with a business plan This was not quite the business plan that I had in mind. It just said, you know, they'll undertake various activities to provide $15,000 per year to the city, including these various activities. So, um, And I'm also mindful of the support of their lease by... Galilee with the proviso that they not have motorized uses. So I'd like to further explore what those motorized uses would be, what their environmental impacts would be, particularly in light of the mandate that we are facing from BCDC to regrow our eelgrass in that area. So I would recommend that we perhaps grant an initial extension of a year with some milestones. and then evaluate it in a year's time. with the progress that they've made. Certainly they should be able to get opened within a year, further refine some of the activities and what will actually be feasible and what will actually provide revenue Um, But I'm not comfortable tonight granting five years without a more concrete business plan and milestones. And, you know, this is a Sausalito boating center. It's something to serve Sausalito residents. And I'm really anxious for that to get up and running. I totally recognize the delays caused by COVID and various other challenges, which is why, you know, I remain committed to this organization. But I think as stewards for the city, we have to ensure that we collaborate with this center in such a way as to ensure its success. So those are my initial thoughts. |
| 04:17:48.11 | Unknown | Sure. Hi, everybody. Thanks for staying and being here with us and all the hard work. I think as a council member, I'd like to help, and maybe the help is a slightly different direction. You know, there's a reason the business plan was not fleshed out, and there's a reason we haven't gotten where we wanted to go since 2011 when you first got your 501c3 status so um i would prefer to see something slightly shorter to create an incentive where the city helps find some different opportunities for you and if my colleagues are comfortable um so uh like tam high it has a looking for potentially a home for their sailing program. That would be a really excellent partnership to bring to the table. The Galilee issue around motorized vehicles needs to be respected and discussed, but I wouldn't rule out water taxis. Alameda is using a water taxi service. Now I think it's something very exciting. There's also electric water taxis that Councilman Reblaston and I have been thinking about for a long time and other members of the council. So I think we want to help, and I think part of that help is a slightly different direction because what's happening now hasn't worked yet and we'd like for it to work because it's a win-win if it does, right? So that would be my direction, a slightly shorter window to create an incentive and an openness of continuing the dialogue and to give you the opportunity to go talk to a water taxi service, a Tam High sailing team type scenario. But there needs to be some more concrete partnerships to execute because this is one of the only waterfront access launching pads that we have in the city and it has to perform and i don't mean financially i mean it has to perform in a manner that people can actually utilize it and i see you nodding your head so i hope that that is taken with the intent that i mean it which is we all want that and we all want to we want to help you get there so maybe we need to think about the problem set a little bit differently |
| 04:19:58.42 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I think I'm the only person that was on the council when we approved this and waived whatever fee it was to start it. But I'm still a supporter of the idea of this and helping us get there. Because I do view this as a community project and community supported, obviously, by the city. because we were talking about city property, and we did waive whatever the initial permit fee was for this project, I believe, back in the 10 years. city because we were talking about city property and we did waive whatever the initial permit fee was for this project, I believe, back in the 10 years ago or 11 years ago. But I see the progress. It's great. I mean, I feel like you guys are getting there. You're almost there. You just need to have some revenue-generating plans. streams and partners and deciding, you know, sort of what direction is going to work in the context of your neighbors, principally Galilee, but also the cruising club. And that that's complimentary to both of those. And, and I'm willing to also assist and, you know, do what I can to help it. I totally agree that it's a shorter runway right now just because you're not to the point, because for the council's responsibility of managing a piece of public property and public asset, we're not quite there yet, and the length of time that the arc of this is getting to the point where it seems. we're getting to the point where we need to figure out if it's going to be a go or no go. But to me, I'm committed to the go. But the concept that it's a community boating center to allow access to the water for not an exorbitant price. But the scale is small, which is what I recall that Cass Gidley was when we first moved here because we also took our sun out on the water and enjoyed those incredibly, incredibly cheap. I think Presidio Yacht Club was the only place that had cheaper boats to get you out on the water, but then you had to sail, you know, troubled water sometimes. So anyway, that's my input. |
| 04:22:13.98 | Sergio Rudin | I really appreciate the efforts of the Community Boating Center and have been a long, long time fan of your efforts to get more folks on the water, to make the docks more accessible. The improvements to the docks have been really impressive in the amount of time and energy put in. Plus, even the production of the Herring Festival is a huge effort, and it's a big event that all of us love going to and the engagement with local restaurants. I remember fondly the COVID edition where you did a delivery of the herring to do. The folks doorsteps and and I know there's a lot of heart in this project, so we would really like to see it succeed and I think exploring partnerships and looking at opportunities for revenue generating are the best way to do it. I'm trying to get a sense from my colleagues what the direction is because it sounds like we're all on the same page in terms of being. promoting the best path forward, which is finding some benchmarks to help be successful and demonstrate that there's a clear business plan and doing that in a timeline that makes sense for the council. I think what I'm hearing is that we want to have some sort of extension of the lease, perhaps not the full five years at this time until we review the benchmarks, but are you thinking like a perhaps a one year with a six month review? |
| 04:23:30.03 | Unknown | Perfect. |
| 04:23:30.39 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 04:23:31.67 | Unknown | I was thinking of |
| 04:23:32.51 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 04:23:32.68 | Unknown | month. |
| 04:23:36.28 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 04:23:36.29 | Unknown | A six month review or a one year lease? A six month extension, because we want to create some urgency around this because we want to see change. |
| 04:23:38.03 | Sergio Rudin | that. |
| 04:23:50.69 | Steven Woodside | I don't know. Why not? Come on up. |
| 04:23:57.32 | Chris Zapata | Wait, you have to wait until you're to the mic. |
| 04:23:59.58 | Steven Woodside | You have to come up to the microphone so that people on Zoom can hear you, sir. Could you just introduce yourself for the record? |
| 04:24:04.54 | Michael Dumont | Yeah, so my name is Michael Dumont. I'm a board member on the Community Boating Center. The three things I wanted to just quickly respond to regarding the lease term and partnerships is we have actually had some initial conversations and at the stage we're at, folks are uncertain about partnering when they don't know what our future will be for the next year. And so they've expressed, yes, that sounds interesting, but we we want to know that it's more than six months. We want to know that it's more than one. |
| 04:24:35.80 | Unknown | Who have you spoken to? Can you give us details? |
| 04:24:37.58 | Michael Dumont | Sausalito Yacht Club and the Sausalito Youth Sailing Foundation. And... the Water Taxi and the Outrigger Canoeing Club that's currently based out of Presidio Yacht Club. |
| 04:24:52.33 | Unknown | Could you give more details? I mean, give it light on the table. We want to know like all the details. |
| 04:24:55.50 | Michael Dumont | Sorry. Yeah, they're looking for opportunities to sublease or a partnership with the marina that we're working to open to use that space to facilitate launching their boats safely and have access to the water. um we don't have any detailed financial models from uh any of them except for the water taxi um but they have reached out and the Yacht Club had proposed different models where there's a rent fee or some continued investment in supporting the maintenance of the portion of the dock that they would be leasing. And so they had initial discussions and we have all of these on pause at the moment until we understand the future of our lease. And we also received direction previously earlier in these discussions this year that any sublease arrangements would need to be defined in our future lease and are not covered under the terms of our current lease. So that's part of why we have been unable to proceed there. |
| 04:24:56.35 | Unknown | They're, they're, |
| 04:26:09.50 | Michael Dumont | Just ignore that. And then the only other thing I wanted to comment on about six months starting right now is that that six months will largely be in the season that water activities are less favorable. The weather conditions, like we won't be able to necessarily run the full gamut of sailing and rowing classes safely during that time period. So a longer one-year lease would, I think, give us more opportunity to meaningfully demonstrate progress there. |
| 04:26:39.27 | Unknown | May I respond, man? Please. So I was at a meeting at the cruising club. So I got to hear you and meet you. Thank you for this. So I guess in a perfect world, I wish you guys had come in with a package and pitched us on this is why you should continue this lease because it's been almost 15 years, and the city could be running this program. We'd love for you to run the program. You've done a lot of work and a lot of sweat equity as well as fundraising. So how do we work with you to get that package, right? Because we also need to know that it's a good investment since we hold this in trust for the community and the community cannot use it right now. And so is there a way that we can have a conversation where the next six months is not about you performing to have people on the water, but and signing those, right? We can sign a letter of intent that says, if you secure two of those four, then you'll have a lease for X amount of time, right? So any, Anything you could tell us more about the- Yeah, yeah, so. |
| 04:27:51.21 | Michael Dumont | Yeah, so we did actually have, I think there was a bit of a shift in direction we received from council. We were preparing to do a presentation ourselves tonight, and then that shifted to the staff report. And so there is a slightly more detailed program-by-program financial model that we have put together that I think rolls up into that $15,000 annually for the first two years that's summarized on the staff report. But we do have a bit more detail we can expand on there. Those programs are broken between individual rowing and sailing. After school rowing and sailing is sort of a week-long commitment or two-week-long commitment. There's a few different ways we've framed that. The six-pack docking fees, potential summer camps, and then rentals of our boat on an hourly basis during appropriate conditions and hours that we're able to stay. So we do have a slightly more detailed model on a program by program basis. We have not yet reached out to Parks and Rec to start moving forward with that, partially because we are in negotiations with the city. And then partially because we only just received our final permit to open last Thursday. So that is a milestone that we have crossed even since our most recent meeting with the city staff. |
| 04:29:19.83 | Unknown | Okay, so... You said it, not me, we're in negotiations. So what would it take for you to sign those deals? What do those partners need to see from us? |
| 04:29:36.84 | Michael Dumont | I mean, I think Excuse me. I think at minimum, the conversations we've had in the most detail are around the water taxi. And I think they're looking for a multi-year understanding of the opportunity, not necessarily 10 with two fives. I don't think, you know, I think that is aligned with the level of investment we've made on improving the property and the asset development we've done there. But I think they're looking for multi-year certainty. And the Yacht Club, I think, as well, is looking for multi-year possibility to move some of the youth sailing that is organized there as their sailing is outgrowing their facility. And that is also in conjunction with the Tamalpais High sailing program. So that is not a conversation that has been the high school sailing one has not been revived with our organization for at least a few years, though. |
| 04:30:40.41 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:30:40.89 | Michael Dumont | For sure. And thank you for the opportunity to provide additional context here. |
| 04:30:45.86 | Steven Woodside | Anyone else want to be recognized? |
| 04:30:48.06 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 04:30:49.95 | Steven Woodside | Anyone else want to be recognized? Vice Mayor? |
| 04:30:53.09 | Chris Zapata | I really feel like it's almost a chicken and egg conversation. So I still would like to maybe express our interest in proceeding with the Sausalito Community Boating Center with the proviso that we would absolutely consider a longer term lease if they come to present us with, for example, a willingness by Sausalito Yacht Harbor to make a commitment to youth sailing for a specific amount of time so that we know that I'm really uncomfortable with this whole sublease. I love the Outrigger Canoe Club, but this is a Sausalito community boating center, and I want to make sure that we are really advancing Sausalito sailing. And the youth sailing program and the Tamil Pius High programs fit squarely within that mission. I'm not so certain that water taxis, while a nice revenue source, fits within the mission of making sailing more broadly available to Sausalito residents. There's no place right now that I can just go rent a boat other than Presidio Yacht Club, but that's only for veterans so I'm really committed to the initial mission that many of us remember and look forward to prolonging. And so I'd still like to make an initial one-year commitment with a six-month check-in to see what you can bring back to us in terms of proposed leases, proposed programs AND I THINK THAT'S A GREAT but you are certainly welcome to communicate that Should. the, menu of options that you return to us in six months be satisfactory, we're absolutely invested in creating a longer term collaboration with you. Does that sound fair? |
| 04:33:05.23 | Unknown | What happens at six months if it's not satisfactory? |
| 04:33:05.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:33:08.39 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:33:08.41 | Jill Hoffman | Um, I think that would be, yeah, I think that would be the evaluation, right? Are we moving in the right direction? Have we got, have you got, you seem to be close to getting some contracts or some agreements, right, with other groups. And so I think the check-in would be, extend for a year, and then at six months, though, are we on the right path? Is there, you know, are you going to actually be able to move forward? Or do we need to pivot? To something else, yeah. To something similar, right? Similar but something else. So that seems to me to be the prudent way to go forward and us to assist you in any way that we can. And securing those contracts. |
| 04:33:34.43 | Lauren Mendelsohn | or do we need it? |
| 04:33:53.33 | Unknown | Okay, quick question for my colleagues. |
| 04:33:54.15 | Steven Woodside | Bye. Well, Thank you. Come to the podium, sir, but let's, don't say anything yet, please. |
| 04:33:58.07 | Unknown | You may know that you guys want a revenue share model, right? |
| 04:34:02.49 | Michael Dumont | That is the model we're proposing to continue with. |
| 04:34:05.36 | Unknown | Okay, so we have a floor in most of our leases that are percentage-based. And they should have that as well. Thank you. |
| 04:34:13.88 | Chris Zapata | a floor in most of our models. Leases that are percentage based. |
| 04:34:15.57 | Unknown | leases that are percentage-based. |
| 04:34:22.44 | Ira Pollack | Thank you. Can I say something real quick? Introduce yourself for the record. Yeah, sure. Ira Pollack. I'm a member of the board as well. I do want to thank Chris and team. They've been great to work with. I appreciate you guys staying until the late hour. So I think it's a reasonable approach. You want to give us a one-year lease with a six-month check-in. I'm going to tell you right now, if in six months, in three months, in four months, if we don't have programs already running, then that's going to be an issue, right? Because six months from now, we're going to be in the middle of summer. And if we don't have the programs up and running, then that's fine. |
| 04:34:25.31 | Steven Woodside | introduce yourself for the record. |
| 04:34:59.38 | Ira Pollack | You know, don't extend it beyond that. But if we do have the programs up and running, right, then we'd like a longer-term lease. It's as simple as that. So, yeah, we want this to be successful. We want Marin City to be a part of it. My kids graduated from TAM. The TAM sailing is great. We want to offer all these things. So, yeah, we shouldn't – three months, it should be self-evident. We shouldn't have to come back here and have a big presentation. You should come down to the marina jump on one of the boats and enjoy yourself and that would be proof positive that we've been successful. |
| 04:35:31.86 | Chris Zapata | I love it. Congratulations on getting your permit. I was not aware of that. So congratulations. Job well done on that. |
| 04:35:35.02 | Ira Pollack | So congratulations. |
| 04:35:36.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:35:37.41 | Ira Pollack | All right. Thank you. |
| 04:35:39.42 | Bruce Huff (Kimber Companies) | Thank you. |
| 04:35:40.03 | Unknown | person. |
| 04:35:40.43 | Ira Pollack | Thank you. |
| 04:35:40.45 | Unknown | Okay, so can I finish this thought about the floor? This is from the finance director that we should keep a consistency in our leases, which would put them at, I think, 17-5 as a floor. Again, this goes back to the big conversation we've been having, the meta conversation today about consistency and how we keep track. So I just want to note that my preference would be for it, but I'm not going to hold it up on it, but I think it's a serious thing for us to consider. |
| 04:36:05.53 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 04:36:05.68 | Unknown | So be |
| 04:36:08.12 | Steven Woodside | My two cents is, you know, I just. Absence seeing a business model that is throwing off meaningful cash flow, and I put this in the community building center like the Sausalito Historical Society, to a much lesser extent SCA, which pays a substantial monthly not, but the historical society pays a dollar. So they have to recycle their donations back into programming and and they're building in similarly, To me, the metric is how much activity do they give? How much vibrancy? What's the return on involvement effort? So I can't exactly quantify it, but I guess I just differ because $12,000 isn't going to move the needle. It's not going to fill any potholes, but it might provide a lot of sailing youth programming, and that's a way of doing more with less. If we try to do that as a city inside Parks and Rec, it could cost us $100,000, and here it's costing zero or actually you know that's a way of doing more with less. If we tried to do that as a city inside Parks and Rec, it could cost us $100,000. And here it's costing zero. We're actually, you know, wouldn't do something else. So I kind of think that is the rental philosophy we are going to be trying to hash out in our approach, but I wouldn't. try to squeeze blood out of a turnip if they have, you know, or, If they're ducking mega yachts there, which they're never going to do, then, yeah, that's a different discussion. if they're teaching kids how to sail on FJs. That's a different animal. |
| 04:37:27.10 | Chris Zapata | So mayor, the, oh, sorry. |
| 04:37:28.35 | Unknown | I agree with all of that. I just really want to urge this council that we're going to keep saying that every time we have leases that aren't working out. And so this policy that we've been talking about is so important. I don't disagree at all, Mayor, with what you just had to say. I just think it's really important to stay consistent so that everybody knows what they can expect, and then we can be fair to everyone. So I just want to put that on the record, but I don't disagree with anything you said, so thank you. I agree, Erella. |
| 04:37:54.30 | Steven Woodside | a lot of it's qualitative you know If you go down to the art center, it is packed, right? They couldn't squeeze into the Mi Adel de los Muertos event we're gonna know just as the gentleman said, in the summer. it's either going to be self-evident that it's hopping. Or thought. And so It's going to be hard to like, quantify that in numbers. It's like, is the art good? I don't know. You can look at it and that is meaningful or it's not. I agree we could if it was just about the numbers, you can quantify that. But if it's about the activity and it's of its qualitative mission, then that's quite a qualitative assessment, which is, I guess, why they have human beings up here and not artificial intelligence. So that's my two cents. |
| 04:38:38.23 | Chris Zapata | Thanks, Mayor. So the staff recommendation was to provide direction and then that staff bring this back in January for agreement on a new lease. So I'd like to have staff bring this back to us in January with a new lease. that comports with the direction we've given. It's an initial one-year term with a WITH established milestones check-in in six months to decide how best to proceed. And I definitely think we've communicated tonight, I don't even mind if we do so in the lease, our interest in it being a longer-term lease so long as they demonstrate quantifiable progress between now and our six-month check-in. |
| 04:39:26.85 | Jill Hoffman | With the rent amount. Yeah. So then by the city and we can revisit that later if we need to, but I think it needs to be in the initial. |
| 04:39:29.60 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, so then- |
| 04:39:36.50 | Chris Zapata | So their proposal was 15,000 per year minimum. So that's what it would be for the first year, and but to be determined. And city has to consent to any proposed sublease. No sublease without city consent. Can I say one more thing? And also, live a board is okay. One live a board provided they get BCDC approval. |
| 04:40:04.75 | Unknown | I would just say don't hesitate to come to us and say, hey, we can sign this deal. We just need you guys to say it could be multi-year. Don't let us miss that opportunity if you're working that angle really hard, okay? |
| 04:40:22.03 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 04:40:22.58 | Chris Zapata | And thank you very much for your service to our community. |
| 04:40:26.97 | Steven Woodside | We'll now move on to- Thank you for listening. |
| 04:40:28.74 | Chris Zapata | Thank you for listening to us. |
| 04:40:29.97 | Unknown | you |
| 04:40:30.03 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:40:31.60 | Steven Woodside | We'll move on now to public comment for items not on the record. This is a time for members of the public to provide comment on any item not on the agenda. And so city clerk, will you please recognize anyone who wishes to speak? |
| 04:40:45.57 | Walfred Solorzano | Let's start with Kieran Culligan. |
| 04:40:50.54 | Kieran Culligan | Right there, on the topic of AB 413, That's the bill that was passed a little over a year ago. that requires essentially a safe zone for crosswalks so that you can, drivers can see pedestrians better, cause it's a safer environment You got a report on that in December. of 2023 saying that you would get a follow-up report in a couple of months on how that would be implemented. I don't know if you got that. I don't recall it. But it would be good. I know in San Francisco, this is now becoming a hot topic of people You know, people are passionate about their parking and when they see parking going away, it can be a hot topic. So I think it'd be great for the city to get ahead of that in terms of how are things going to be marked or signed or policy set and using currents and other places to explain the rationale for why these changes are happening, and the focus on safety, all of our safety, especially people who are walking about town, So just a suggestion for something to get ahead of, knowing that that deadline is coming up soon. Thank you. |
| 04:41:52.95 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:41:53.02 | Kieran Culligan | Thank you. |
| 04:41:53.03 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:41:53.05 | Kieran Culligan | Thank you. |
| 04:41:55.46 | Chris Zapata | Mr. City Attorney, are you aware of that, what he was just describing? |
| 04:41:55.85 | Sergio Rudin | THE CITY OF TREMORS. |
| 04:42:01.61 | Sergio Rudin | A.B. 413. Yes. Yeah. And Kevin did provide a pretty in depth presentation to the city council. I think it was about four months ago. And that was his second one that he had presented to the council. I mean, if the council would like an update, certainly putting it on the future agenda items calendar would be appropriate. |
| 04:42:19.48 | Chris Zapata | And are we going to meet our deadline that was referenced by Mr. Kiernan? |
| 04:42:24.74 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, so I do not know that is a question for the Public Works Director, but we can certainly check in with them. |
| 04:42:31.79 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. I'm sorry, I couldn't hear what it was about. So AB 413 pertains to? Oh, crosswalk. OK, pardon me. Thank you. |
| 04:42:44.11 | Steven Woodside | or city clerk, is anyone else? |
| 04:42:45.67 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:42:45.70 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah. |
| 04:42:45.87 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:42:46.97 | Walfred Solorzano | BREAKING. |
| 04:42:47.27 | Fred | Thank you. |
| 04:42:50.78 | Fred | Good evening. Sorry for the late night. I just want to thank all the candidates who were running for council this time and taking the time and effort and money to be invested in the city and share their view and vision of where they want the city to go and especially congratulate Ian and Melissa and Stephen for their re-election and election. And I look forward to seeing all the great things that the new council will be doing in the upcoming years. So thank you very much again. |
| 04:43:20.99 | Steven Woodside | very much. |
| 04:43:23.06 | Walfred Solorzano | Greg, |
| 04:43:23.28 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:43:23.43 | Fred | Thank you. |
| 04:43:23.53 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Babette McDougall. |
| 04:43:28.65 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. I too would like to echo congratulations to all the candidates, especially the three that prevailed. It was certainly an unusual Campaign. for the city of Sausalito in terms of looking at the big picture. I'm sure Ron Albert would agree with that. So I would just like to say that this has been a generally good meeting this evening. Even though I was very sorry to hear Ms. Blaustein comment that she felt like she was being Sandbag was the word I think she used, but I think she meant blindsided. because of this Levine discussion That was really quite necessary. And it's necessary because especially just coming through an unusual approach to campaigning which we all certainly saw play out. not just nationally, but locally. And also that we see a genuine disregard for the institutions that allow us to conduct ourselves as a civil society and as a body of council members, you yourselves as a council body. have often made note of the fact that it's absolutely essential that we treat each other with respect You know, this respect is fundamentally rooted in our democratic institutions and to flout them Or to feel that you're being blindsided because once again, they're being brought to your attention. And it's just unfortunate that. Your worldly experience hasn't given you more direction hands-on before this evening. But going forward, It does not ever benefit either your constituents or you. as so-called professionals to ever denigrate the very institutions that make it possible for you to be here in the first place. So I would really encourage us as we go forward, to really start with renewed Vigor for lack of a better word, and go forward working in positive concert so that the residents are heard. and listened to in a way that policy |
| 04:45:34.79 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 04:45:39.51 | Sandra Bushmaker | I'll just make this very quick. At the October 4th Finance Committee, it was announced by Vice Mayor talks that there's going to be a finance committee meeting on November 12th. at 10.30 to 12. And I went to sign on to that meeting and found that there was no meeting scheduled. And I would just like to, Um, State my concern about the Finance Committee meetings. Now that they are noticed as special meetings, there's only 24-hour notice. How are we to know? particularly in, when the next meeting is going to be, number one. And number two, in the instance of the November 12th meeting, What happened to that meeting? It just seemed to have disappeared. And I'm very interested in following the discussions during those finance meetings. Thank you. |
| 04:46:38.31 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:46:38.32 | Chris Zapata | City Manager, would you like to comment on that? I would. Thank you, Mayor. And residents and Mrs. Bushmaker, I apologize. That mishap was my responsibility. It didn't get done. So we will do better in the future, and we'll make sure there's more notice, and that these meetings happen and occur regularly. So again, my apologies to the public and to you for attending a meeting that we didn't follow through on. |
| 04:47:05.12 | Chris Zapata | And Mr. City Manager, may I suggest that any resident who would like to be notified regarding finance committee meetings simply provide their contact information to the city clerk who will then forward to them the agenda for any upcoming finance committee meeting as soon as it is publicly available. And obviously it is our goal to make those agendas available more than 24 hours in advance. |
| 04:47:30.90 | Chris Zapata | can do. |
| 04:47:31.36 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:47:31.38 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:47:35.56 | Steven Woodside | All right, any other comments? Oh, Mr. Woodside. |
| 04:47:40.93 | Steven Woodside | Just like to invite you all, if you're not doing anything else, on Friday evening between 4 and 6, our new executive director at the Call of the Sea, Ms. Carla Thorson. There's a meet and greet at the Bay Model Visitor Center. It's open to the public to come by and say hello and meet her. She has worked in the nonprofit world. She's a sailor. She worked at the Commonwealth Club, the World Affairs Council. She has a PhD. She's brilliant. And we're looking forward to her long term working with Call of the Sea. I just thought. You should all know about that event should you choose to come. Thank you. |
| 04:48:18.56 | Steven Woodside | Thank you and congratulations. Mr. City Clerk. Okay, we'll close public comment. Any council member committee reports? |
| 04:48:27.55 | Unknown | I do have one that's more of a suggestion that some of you will have to take up. My recommendation, I'm on the sewer committee, soon not to be. I think that that committee should disband. This is too big of a consolidation effort for a subcommittee to adequately make strong decisions on. There's a lot of moving parts. And already what has happened has been so much information that has passed through that I just want to make sure everybody is exactly on the same page. I think, you know, how I feel about the fire consolidation and whatever slips through the cracks. So I just want to make that recommendation. Obviously someone else will need to step on in a couple weeks anyway. So that's just want to put that out there. |
| 04:49:10.47 | Steven Woodside | Any other committee reports? Thank you. |
| 04:49:13.24 | Jill Hoffman | I agree with that. I think I was assigned to the sewer committee, agreed to, a couple months ago, I think. But it is just too big. And it's too big for anybody to step in at this point and be expected to give any kind of recommendation at the council level, which is usually why you have a working group or you're on a subcommittee is that you vet things and you spend a lot of time on it. And then you, the two council members bring that to the council. I think it's too big. And I think we probably need to devote, you know, one or two city council meetings to it. Certainly a lot of time at the council to fully vet all the different parts. I mean, it's not as complicated as the housing element, but the long-term ramifications of it are substantial. And I think the full council needs to all be together and brought to speed at the same time, including our new council members. |
| 04:50:07.66 | Unknown | It was a loss to not have the Vice Mayor be able to continue in that your knowledge was far surpassed anything else we could have brought to the table. |
| 04:50:18.29 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any other committee reports? |
| 04:50:19.79 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. City Manager, would you like to provide a report? Yes, Mayor, members of the council. Sorry for the late hours. I'll be brief. In your packet, there's a report on Kimber Communications, the Destination Saucyutel website. One of the things that I wanted to make clear, this agreement was entered into beginning in 2019. In the past year, the City Council directed that we end the relationship with CDA, Create a digital agency, and so Destination Saucyutel remains our one digital footprint out there that gets out to the world. The attached report shows that there's 100,000 hits over a year. It speaks to the different places that are hitting it, whether it's San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, or other parts of the state. It speaks to the languages that people speak that are involved in that. And it also provides the amount of the contract, which is $20,000 a year. This has been ongoing since 2019. If you all believe that this is not necessary, not warranted, then, you know, that's pretty easy to fix. But I think that our recommendation that we not be bare for some type of digital footprint in which to not keep CDA but to keep Destination Sausalito is important. And so that's in the staff report that is submitted as part of this city manager update. And then I also want to shift gears and talk about the weather. We understand that, you know, we're involved in some weather. And so Public Works has been being a responder in advance of the weather. They've been cleaning and catch basins, clearing storm drains, sweeping sweeping streets scheduling overtime for our crews providing sandbags for the public coordinating with our fire districts in the county's emergency operations center and tabitha put out a special edition of currents so that the public understand what the city is doing and what's available today and that concludes my information |
| 04:52:28.19 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Are there future agenda items for anyone? |
| 04:52:31.25 | Chris Zapata | the Levine Act, which is for December 3 briefing. I would like the agenda setting committee to report that we will also be conducting performance reviews of the city manager and the city attorney on December 3. |
| 04:52:50.35 | Sergio Rudin | I just want to add to that that the Levine Act is supposed to shift as of January 1st. So whatever we discuss on the 3rd should take into account the changes as effective on January 1st, or we should hear it after January 1st, because it'll become immediately irrelevant if we don't do that. |
| 04:53:07.68 | Steven Woodside | Any other future genetimes? |
| 04:53:10.35 | Chris Zapata | There was something else that we talked about just now when there was public comment. Yes, the crosswalk, a follow-up on AB 314. Whether it's from the city attorney or the public works director, we'd like a follow-up on 314 to be sure that we're going to meet the required timeline. |
| 04:53:32.92 | Sergio Rudin | I think we agendized. Oh, excuse me, sorry. |
| 04:53:33.45 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:53:33.46 | Steven Woodside | Okay. I'd like to add two things. One is we as a city council did, of course, direct, see staff to talk to local hoteliers about the idea of expanding their hotel business. seeing the profound effect that hotel to T could pay influence on our infrastructure bill, then I think we should consider having a broader policy statement about being more proactive in soliciting additional hotel rooms. We should decide on how many hotel rooms you want. and actually figure out if there's a way of getting them. And we should also undertake, if growing the economy is the way of paying for infrastructure, we should undertake at least part of that effort, which is reviewing our permitting process for ideas on how we can streamline and promote economic development. Those are two. |
| 04:54:23.41 | Chris Zapata | So we're talking about scheduling a strategic planning session in January for this council. May I suggest those topics would be great to address at the strategic planning session. |
| 04:54:35.80 | Steven Woodside | put them out there and if the next mayor chooses to schedule them in the strategic meeting all the better but if not then they're on the list of future agenda items Any public comment on the city manager report or any of these items? Mr. City Clerk? |
| 04:54:56.32 | Walfred Solorzano | See you then. |
| 04:54:57.01 | Steven Woodside | All right, we'll close public comment, and we will adjourn, wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. There is indeed much to be grateful for. Good night to you. |
| 04:55:04.40 | Chris Zapata | Thank you, everyone. |