CITY OF PACIFICA
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Council Chambers
2212 Beach Blvd
Pacifica, CA 94044
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck
Mayor pro Tem Sue Vaterlaus
Councilmember Sue Beckmeyer
Councilmember Mary Bier
Councilmember Christine Boles
City Council Regular Meeting 1 March 13, 2023
REGULAR MEETING
March 13, 2023 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck called the meeting to order on March 13, 2023 at 7:05 PM 7:00 PM OPEN SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Bigstyck called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Tygarjas Bigstyck Mayor Present
Sue Vaterlaus Mayor pro Tem Present
Sue Beckmeyer Councilmember Present
Mary Bier Councilmember Present
Christine Boles Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call.
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney; Lisa Petersen, PW Director; Christian Murdock, Planning Director; Chris Clements, Acting Police Chief; Eddie Pastrano, Collection System Manager-Wastewater Div.; Anthony Schriver, PB&R Recreation Supervisor; Ken Fong, IT Analyst; Elizabeth Brooks, Management Analyst; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk.
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Bigstyck read the Land Acknowledgement.
Salute to the Flag led by Councilmember Boles
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Bigstyck asked Council if anyone wanted to pull an item from the Consent Calendar and, seeing no one, opened public comments. Also seeing no one, he closed public comments.
City Council Regular Meeting 2 March 13, 2023
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
1. Approval of Disbursements for Dated 02/01/23 through 02/28/23.
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve attached lists of disbursements for 02/01/23 through 02/28/23.
2. Approval of Minutes
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve the minutes of the City Council Special and Regular Meeting held on February 27, 2023.
3. Continuation of Proclamation of Local Emergency of the Pacifica Coastline from Westline Drive to the End of Beach Boulevard.
PROPOSED ACTION: Accept report and make a determination that conditions of local emergency continue to exist within the Pacifica Coastline from Westline Drive to the end of Beach Boulevard.
4. Continuation of Proclamation of Local Emergency at the Anza Pump Station.
PROPOSED ACTION: Accept Report and Make a Determination that Conditions of Local Emergency Continue to Exist at the Anza Pump Station at the Pacifica State Beach.
5. Termination of Proclamation of the Existence of Local Emergency Regarding Novel (new) Coronavirus ("COVID-19”).
PROPOSED ACTION: (1) Adopt a Resolution Terminating the Proclamation of the Existence of Local Emergency Regarding Novel (new) Coronavirus (“COVID-19”); and (2) Receive informational update on AB 2449 regarding remote (teleconference) participation in public meetings by members of the legislative body and update on utilizing AB 2449 for a member’s remote participation during public meetings.
6. Annual Part-Time Salary Schedule Update
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to adopt the resolution approving the annual parttime salary schedule update that went into effect January 1, 2023.
7. Amendment No. 4 To Sublease Agreement between the City of Pacifica and the Art Guild of Pacifica
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to Adopt Resolution Approving Amendment No. 4 to Sublease Agreement between the City of Pacifica and the Art Guild of Pacifica (AGP). In addition to the Original Premises located at 1220 Linda Mar Boulevard, the AGP desires to lease the former Credit Union space, consisting of 770 rentable square feet located in the building on terms and conditions set forth within the amendment.
8. Contract with Maze and Associates for Auditing Services PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the attached resolution to authorize the City Manager to renew a contract with Maze and Associates Accountancy Corporation to provide City Council Regular Meeting 3 March 13, 2023
financial audit services for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 through June 30, 2025, with an option to extend the agreement for an additional two years through the fiscal year ended June 30, 2027.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE POSTED AGENDA
Randy Berend, Pacifica, stated that he lived in Vallemar, and spoke about the beauty of it, and then expressed serious concerns about the negative results of falling trees, thus requesting that the city remove the trees.
Meghan Gallagher, Pacifica, stated she was an intern at Pacific Coast TV and reported on their open house on April 15, 1-5 p.m.
COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
Councilmember Boles attended the rotary and she and her husband presented best practices for construction of all electric energy-efficient homes. She attended the Leadership Council of San Mateo County training aspiring leaders for companies and non-profits in the county, and this was the first time for new Councilmembers. She referred to the goal setting meeting on Friday which helped them get to know each other and understand how they work, etc. She stated that Saturday’s meeting was great with many great comments from the public. She is still meeting with various department heads, recently with the Police Department. She mentioned that they use volunteer citizens to help them with paperwork, etc., and set up a neighborhood watch program to take away some burden on the police with non-emergency things. She met with Kathleen Wentworth from the San Francisco Airport Roundtable who is a former pilot and worked with Jackie Speier on airport noise. She stated that they are going to organize a 101 program to educate the public on airplane noise and the legal regulations, etc., and she will follow up with a session in Pacifica to help her understand our issues. She attended a meeting in Half Moon Bay after the Coastal Commission meeting, and she thought it was great to have the opportunity to meet them. She attended a Senior Services lunch with Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus. This was her first event with all the seniors and she is amazed at what the community has done. She attended the Peninsula Clean Energy community action group and they talked about a new heat pump water heater turnkey program. She mentioned this program’s process for people to switch from gas to electric.
Mayor Bigstyck thought that was a good program, and he asked if she could tell him how expensive it was rewiring the electrical to get those heat pump water heaters.
Councilmember Boles stated that they used to need a 220 outlet and that was more difficult for houses with small electrical panels, but there are new ones coming out that work on 110 so having a regular outlet nearby would be enough. She then stated that she met with Josh Becker for the first time. They talked about climate bills that he is working on and housing bills.
She stated that he is a co-sponsor for SB4 which allow churches to develop affordable housing.
She was excited about the program, but she mentioned that affordable housing wants to be near public transportation and there is an exception (if you have one car share as part of the development). She didn’t think that would be enough to help those who can’t afford a car or can’t deal with traffic issues. She encourages them to make sure that CEQA review deals with hazards. She stated he is trying to learn about what cities think about what the state is forcing upon us with RHNA and how he can push back.
City Council Regular Meeting 4 March 13, 2023
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that they had a special meeting to interview applicants for commissions and committees. She attended a Smart Coast California meeting where they had a woman from the Coastal Commission speak and an attorney who works on projects up and down the coast. She said it used to be a realtor program and now it is a totally separate nonprofit organization. She attended Ryan Marquez’ going away party and the goal setting meetings. She attended the Terra Nova sports fundraiser at the Moose Lodge. After that, she attended Pacifica Trivia at Pedro Point Brewery which was put on by Pacifica locals. They said they normally have six people but they got it out and there were about 34 people. She attended the senior lunch which was fun. She stated that the CCAG’s legislative meeting met for the first time in person in San Carlos, when the trees were falling and they couldn’t drive on Skyline.
They talked about the current legislative items of which very few have been approved. She stated that, at their regular CCAG meeting, they were awarded $200,000 for the safe route to school program on their consent calendar and, on their agenda, there was $900,000 for the Paloma overcrossing which was unanimously approved. She stated that they said that the coastside barely gets the funding they have. She stated that they had a discussion about fiber and they are doing fiber down the whole bayside and they were excited to add the north which was Daly City and Brisbane and nothing here, so she spoke about that. She stated that one of the Councilmembers said that they were on the project to bring fiber into Pacifica because they thought it was the best place to take fiber. She stated that she knows AT&T has some fiber but to set up fiber for the roads and they could put up sign boards and they could be changed in a minute with the fiber. They could sync the signals and, if there is a fire truck coming, they can change the signals on the other side so people stop which could save a lot of lives. They said they would look into Pacifica for fiber.
Councilmember Bier thanked Mike O’Neill for sending them information about the FEMA funding deadline on March 16, so if they haven’t applied for the FEMA funding for this last round of emergency storms, she recommended they do that as soon as they can. She stated that the past few weeks have been difficult for her and she thanked councilmembers for understanding.
She had to miss the committee and commission interviews but she read through everything; she thought it was nicer to see them in person and is sad she missed the interviews. She stated both days of goal setting was great, and she was impressed with how much work they got through and she was looking forward to the next session where they can put some strategies down and see what they can plan for next many years. She attended the PRC board meeting.
She referred to sharing information on the Peninsula division of California League of Cities meeting with MTC and HCD next Wednesday. She stated that she knows Meghan, the intern for PCTV, and she was proud of her and thought she did a great job.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that the committee and commission interviews happened the night after their Council meeting and it was exciting to see the breadth of people across town applying for the positions. The next day, she attended the Beautification Advisory Committee meeting and she will have information coming forward about the beautification awards and they voted on that for a residential project and for commercial project. She stated that there would have been two work days on Palmetto but one scheduled for Saturday got pulled because of the weather. There is another coming up on March 25 and will coincide with CalTrans clean up California initiative which runs for ten days. They were able to get that on the map for Pacifica.
The next day, Sunset Ridge Read Aloud Day, is a great experience and fun to read and be a public figure with the kids which she enjoys. She referred to the two Council goal setting meetings which included Council and staff and stated that it was lots of good time well spent.
They had two facilitators, one a team building session on Friday, and Saturday at the Community Center was more of strategic planning approach looking at where they were headed in the next 5-10 years. She stated that there will be another session coming up soon in early City Council Regular Meeting 5 March 13, 2023
April to finalize all that. She then met with constituents in Pedro Point and Sharp Park on the same day and she then attended the Coastal Commission meeting on the 8th held at the Oceana Hotel in Half Moon Bay. She stated that one intriguing item on that agenda was the short-term rental item for Half Moon Bay: their approach is different than Pacifica’s but it was interesting to note there were many of the same concerns and issues. She referred to Councilmember Boles’ mention of the tour of the Pillar Point Harbor West Trail living shoreline project. She stated that, to check it out, you have to go as if you are going to go to Maverick’s and there is a parking lot at the end of the curved road which is where the project will be put in and it had to do with an eroding path. It is a protected bay but is different than our shoreline and there was erosion and a very interesting process of installing cobble under the ground and lots of sand they had to dredge out of another part of the harbor and it was convenient that they could move it there. She stated that the Harbor Master Mr. Pruett said, with the weather we had, if they were ever going to go out, it would have happened over this last time, but it didn’t.
She stated that there was a brief reception at Old Princeton Landing, and it was a great opportunity to do some networking with Coastal Commission staff and other elected officials.
Councilmember Bier stated that she found the information. She said she was on the executive committee of California League of Cities Peninsula Division and she would like to invite them to an hour-long webinar “Beyond the Housing Element” with resources, ideas and lessons for what is next; they could participate in a detailed presentation from MTC about the 6-cycle housing element and how many cities have submitted, what plans have been adopted, what does that all mean. She stated that it will be a jam-packed hour with the MTC and ACB both presenting which is on March 22 at noon. She stated that she forgot to mention the Youth Summit they are having on Saturday at Ingrid B. Lacy from 11:00-2:00, with youth-led workshops and focus groups, live podcast and tiktok corner. She stated it will be great.
Mayor Bigstyck stated his thoughts are with Ukraine. He attended the commission and committee interviews with fellow councilmembers. He was a liaison for the Pacifica Resource Center for their meetings every other month. He stated that they are just about fully staffed which was great news. He stated that they are underway implementing their updated strategic plan. He stated that lately their pantry shelves are largely bare and he suggested that anyone interested in donating food to the Pacifica Resource Center, it would be very welcome at this time. He stated that their annual fundraising event, Palmapalooza, will be in person for the first time since the pandemic. There will be more information on it soon, as well as their annual Mother’s Day card fundraiser. He attended the goodbye breakfast for Ryan Marquez; he stated it was sad to see him leaving but he wished him a lot of success. He went to Sunset Ridge for their read across America Day and had the opportunity to read the Sneetches by Dr.
Suess to Ms. Mooney’s kindergarten class. He then attended the team building for goal setting and strategic planning on the next day. He then has been wanting to know the Coastal Commissioners better and one of Josh Becker’s staffer thought he should have a chat with Charles Lester which he found informative in terms of getting background on the history of the Commission, and then he attended the meeting in Half Moon Bay. He stated that some revelations he took from that meeting was the Coastal Commission would prefer to be more involved in seeing more affordable housing developed along the coast and the streamlined process in the Coastal Act was taken out by the Mello bill in 1981. He found it interesting seeing efforts made on the state level to reenable them to help communities with the affordable housing component of their housing elements. He stated that they have lower staffing levels compared to what they would ideally have and it was interesting to watch their process and thinking about our similar process. He was interested in seeing them have their Half Moon Bay short term rental discussion. He stated that initially, Coastal Commission staff had recommended that the Commission allow 100 days for un-hosted short-term rentals when Half City Council Regular Meeting 6 March 13, 2023
Moon Bay would have allowed 60 days for un-hosted short-term rentals. He stated that by the end of a thorough discussion, the Coastal Commission allowed Half Moon Bay to scale it back to 60 days. He met with various members the Coastal Commission staff, along with Commissioners, and enjoyed a tour of the Pillar Point Harbor project. He got to know one of the newer commissioners, Paloma Aguirre, Mayor of Imperial Beach, and thought it was fun connecting and trading stories and developing deeper relationships. He thought it might be nice to have a more person review with Kate Huckelbridge, their new director, and at that same time, Councilmember Beckmeyer was having a conversation with a staff member when he walked in the room and he thought it was an opportune moment to connect with both staffs. They had a nice meeting and he thought that our staff works very well with them. He thought our staffs will be working together on complex issues, such as the LCP, and they will let us know how it is going. He stated that some communication breaks down when they feel like they need more direction and they might come back to our staff. He enjoyed a housing element briefing with Councilmember Boles in preparation for the joint study session that will be happening next Tuesday.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Woodhouse had several communications of which some have been partly mentioned. He referred to the incoming storm of the next few days, and stated that they have predicted very high winds and they will have to continue dealing with downed trees and powerlines, as well as rain. He encouraged the public to stay in and safe. As a result, they had to make the decision that tomorrow night’s Manor overcrossing community meeting scheduled at Council Chambers is going to be postponed to a future date to be determined. He referred to the Housing Element Joint Study Session with Planning Commission and City Council on the 21st. He stated that on the consent calendar there was the termination of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency which was approved. He stated one detail is that they will be transitioning at the March 27 Council meeting to a hybrid zoom format for the meetings with certain restrictions. Regarding public comment, their audio phone-in system will be transitioning to the telephone and zoom format for audio comments. The City Clerk and team will be putting that information out as part of the agenda, etc. He thought that, in the past year, the zoom capabilities have come a long way and they were able to implement this first pilot phase and so suggested everyone be patient as they implement this new technology.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - NONE.
CONSIDERATION
9. Notice of Completion for Wastewater Collections System Smoke Testing FY 2022-2023 Project
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to Adopt the Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica accepting completion and directing the City Manager to file Notice of Completion for the Wastewater Collections System Smoke Testing FY 2022-2023 Project.
PW Director Petersen introduced Collection System Manager Eddie Pastrano and Total Flow, Inc. Consultant Jeff Blum who completed the work and were present to answer questions, and thanked PW Dep. Director Marina Aguilar, who is sick and not present at this time, for putting the presentation together. She then presented the staff report.
City Council Regular Meeting 7 March 13, 2023
Councilmember Boles thanked PW Director Petersen for the report. She asked if PW Director Petersen wasn’t surprised that there weren’t more places with the smoke with all the issues of I&I in this area as she thought 32 wasn’t very many and some were minor.
PW Director Petersen stated that it is best when they can find a smoking gun. She thought there were some limitations to smoke testing and discovering all the problems in the collection system. She stated that you won’t get all the problems in smoke testing, adding that Mr. Blum can correct her if she is wrong, but she understood that, if they have cracks in bottom of the pipe, that may be something that they won’t get smoke coming out if they have ground water getting into that crack.
Consultant Blum was a little surprised they didn’t find more as they usually find 2-3 catch basins. They did find one and that will need further investigation because the smoke came to that delayed and it was intertwined differently. He believes there are other issues as he is looking at a lot of the clean-outs that they saw: The standard clean-outs are so old and have holes and they need to be looked at and replaced and sealed around the inside. He stated that it was pretty much all the cleanouts in the whole city as that is the standard of what you have.
He stated that they didn’t have internal caps and the idea behind not having internal caps is that, if the main sewer line were to back up, most cities want the sewer line to burp outside of the house and not burp in the house and they don’t want to put a solid cap on that inner clean up to prevent infiltration coming in. He stated that they have some ideas on how they will work on that as a problem.
Councilmember Boles asked if the clean-outs are the responsibility of the homeowner, as it is not on city property.
Consultant Blum agreed.
PW Director Petersen pointed out that what Consultant Blum was talking about is that the cleanout caps are very old and have holes in them and could be acting as drains and throughout the city there may be 1,000 of them.
Consultant Blum stated that you can see the inside as it is not really sealed inside that crispy box and when ground water comes up in the winter time, the water will leech into that. He stated that it will give you a slow tail coming into the sewer system where the holes and the cover are going to give you a quick response. He stated, based on slow monitoring, you can tell what your problems are.
Councilmember stated that the neighborhood he mentioned where the sewer laterals were, where they were starting a project soon, some of the main sewers are undersized; she asked if that was right and not I&I, but managing the water flow in that area.
PW Director Petersen thought the main issue is I&I and she would ask Collection System Manager Pastrano if he is as familiar with this project. She believes that there aren’t too many, if any, that were upsizing.
Collections System Manager Pastrano stated most of the I&I was coming from the laterals and the city crew went out right after the rainfall and didn’t open up manholes. They could see the neighborhoods that were flowing with rainwater coming through and they knew there was a problem with I&I, just not a big contributor in finding the jackpot. Throughout the subdivision, there was I&I coming from each private lateral.
City Council Regular Meeting 8 March 13, 2023
PW Director Petersen thought they were talking about the collection system rehabilitation and replacement project, which they are coming through and going to redo their mainlines.
Collections system Manager Pastrano stated that it will be upsized because it needs both to do that and they already had plans to do that so it could take more capacity. That section was the one where they went by and looked in the I&I coming through those.
PW Director Petersen stated that they will have to get back to them on what is getting upsized as she doesn’t have that information now.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that a couple of these items were in townhouses and they don’t have their own separate laterals for each unit, and she asked what happens in those cases.
PW Director Petersen stated that they would have to be contacting the homeowners board, have a conversation with them on how that is managed. She thought it would typically be managed by the board and they would be having conversations with them related to that.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that it could be multiple units that are impacted.
PW Director Petersen responded affirmatively.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that one comment letter they received had a procedural question and he thought it would be interesting to learn about this particular administrative function. The question is why would the project remain open and staff would not be able to move forward with performing other smoke testing in other areas that have high I&I rates and should they not adopt the resolution.
PW Director Petersen stated that they won’t move forward until they have one project closed out, specifically if there are questions or concerns that Council is having related to how they are doing the smoke testing; if there is a reason they aren’t closing a project out, there is usually some sort of problem and they don’t want to move forward with another project and also having those same problems.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments and, seeing no one, closed no public comments.
Councilmember Bier thanked them for their work, adding that most of the questions she had were asked and answered. She stated that one concern she had was when they start to move forward with folks they will be working hand in hand with solutions, she was happy to hear that.
Mayor Bigstyck echoed Councilmember Bier’s gratitude for doing this work.
Councilmember Boles moved to adopt the Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica accepting completion and directing the City Manager to file Notice of Completion for the Wastewater Collections System Smoke Testing FY2022-2023 Project; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus.
City Council Regular Meeting 9 March 13, 2023
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
10. Appointments to the Beautification Advisory Committee; Economic Development Committee; and Planning Commission
PROPOSED ACTION:
1) Move to appoint applicant(s) to the Beautification Advisory Committee for 3 full terms to expire March 2027;
2) Move to appoint an applicant to the Economic Development Committee for one partial term to expire October 2023;
3) Move to appointment applicant(s) to the Planning Commission for 2 full terms to expire March 2027.
City Clerk Coffey presented the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments and, seeing no one, closed public comments.
Mayor Bigstyck asked City Attorney Kenyon for their options on how they make the motion.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that what Council has done in the past was have deliberations and then they can get an idea of where the Council is going in terms of preferred candidates. There is no right way or wrong way, other than not do any secret balloting, and all five of them must do so.
City Clerk Coffey added that the lengths of the terms are all the same for the open positions so naming the applicants to appoint is sufficient.
Councilmember Beckmeyer suggested that they reappoint Gail Bennett and Julie Gossage as she has been working with the committee, seen the work they are doing and how that committee has come together. She remembers asking in the past that she didn’t know how long Julie Gossage has been on the committee and she asked the committee members before they were going to do the interviews if there was anything they were looking for and one thing that was loud and clear was a landscape architect and she has that qualification and is engaged in ongoing training, so that prompts her to nominate those two. She will let Council bring up other names.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he was impressed with all the candidates but, in particular, with Teresa Sulcer and Angela Perry, the latter of whom withdrew. He was impressed with the background that Teresa Sulcer brought to the table.
Councilmember Bier echoed what he said, i.e., all the people who come out are incredibly qualified candidates and we are so lucky to have such civically engaged people in our community and that spots open up all the time. If by chance they don’t get chosen at this time, she encourages them to come back again.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated it was so nice to see so many applicants because sometimes they only have the exact number of applicants for the positions. While they still interview them, they just place them in the positions, and sometimes they don’t place them in a position going forward.
City Council Regular Meeting 10 March 13, 2023
Mayor Bigstyck stated that it was a happy occasion when this many people show up to participate in their community and he said to each one of them during the interviews that they reapply if they don’t get picked at this time. He asked if they had a discussion or a motion.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to appoint Gail Bennett, Julie Gossage, and Teresa Sulcer to the Beautification Advisory Committee each for full terms to expire March 2027; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
APPOINT GAIL BENNETT, JULIE GOSSAGE, AND TERESA SULCER TO THE
BEAUTIFICATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE EACH FOR FULL TERMS TO EXPIRE MARCH 2027
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the next is Economic Development Committee. He stated that it is difficult when the candidate doesn’t show up for the interview, knowing they want the spot.
Councilmember Boles added that the applicant did want to be there and she was stuck in traffic coming back from Sacramento, and it wasn’t a lack of desire, but she found it difficult as well.
She thought both candidates offer good skills. She would love to hear from those on the Economic Development Committee in terms of whether there are certain skills that they are looking for.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that it is another example of a committee that is really coalescing well and working well together, with a lot of energy, exuberance and interest in digging into data and creating events such as the Blues and Brews event. She felt having someone who would be a good team player and work well with the team is the biggest thing.
Councilmember Bier agreed, adding that there is a wide variety on the committee now which is nice as they represent different parts of the community. She thought it was good when someone understands what it’s like to be a business owner in town which is helpful, but not necessary, but more about the willingness and commitment.
Mayor Bigstyck gave a reminder that it was a partial term.
Councilmember Boles thought, because of that, it makes more sense that they met knowing that the other can still apply again and they have a chance to meet her.
Councilmember Beckmeyer moved to appoint L. J. Jones to the Economic Development Committee for the partial term to expire October 2023; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus.
City Council Regular Meeting 11 March 13, 2023
APPOINT L. J. JONES TO THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FOR THE PARTIAL TERM TO EXPIRE OCTOBER 2023
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the Planning Commission is next. He stated that, having served with Lauren Berman, he felt she has been a fabulous chair and would like to reappoint her.
Councilmember Bier agreed with him.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated she would second that.
Councilmember Boles stated that she was also the only civil engineer in the group and, on the Planning Commission, it was helpful to have those skills to review the drawings and understand projects.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if they could show them the full breadth of options.
Councilmember Boles stated that Caitlin Quinn is a friend of hers, has been very active in the short-term rentals, has done a lot of work to research the issues and look at what other cities have done, and was super smart and well-spoken. She stated that she spoke with her about the fact that they already have two planning commissioners in Sharp Park that had to recuse themselves from the Sharp Park Specific Plan and she was concerned as there are other projects coming up in the area and that would take out too many commissioners, even though she would be terrific.
Councilmember Bier agreed that she would be great, adding that, when she spoke with her and said there was a spot coming up and she was right on it.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus thought they might need to take that into consideration in the future to make a map of where everyone is located so they don’t have huge issues with overlaps like this as it could cause a problem having three people in the same neighborhood and she reiterated that they need to take that into consideration and have a list of the other commissioners and where they are located.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked the City Attorney, if they want to factor that into their deliberations, whether they would need to advertise that they are seeking a candidate not in a specific area.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that they would not, as the determination on who they are going to appoint is totally within the discretion of the Council; as long as their discretion is not used arbitrarily or capriciously, there should be no issue, and the fact that they are going to have several members on the same block that could present a problem in terms of conflict and that is a reasonable consideration to take into account when making appointments.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus if she was saying that, if they have an issue in Sharp Park, they might have to seek three recusals out of seven. In that setting, City Council Regular Meeting 12 March 13, 2023
she thought that all four would have to agree for a project to move forward or a decision to stand.
City Attorney Kenyon added that it would be to hear the item and act the item.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that often, when she was on the Commission, there were not seven present.
Councilmember Bier thought there should be, but she has noticed that in the past that there haven’t been as many present, especially during important issues that have come up. She wondered if other cities use the districting to recruit their committees and commissions.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that she has not heard about districting for Commission appointments but she advised on what she has seen in other communities where there are districts, noting that they have what would require a wholesale revamp of our code. They have had each district councilmember appoint a Planning Commissioner with approval of the full Council which is how they have dealt with districting, but she has never seen where the Commission appointees themselves must be from a specific district.
Councilmember Bier thought that will be a good part of their upcoming conversation one day.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that, regardless of geography, she wanted to say that Daniella Devine was a strong candidate as well and she thought from her breadth of experience and knowledge from the small business they run, and having worked with Planning Department on the other end, she had a good background for the purposes of what we need in terms of a Planning Commissioner.
Mayor Bigstyck agreed, adding that given her background, that tipped him a bit more in her direction over the other candidates and combined with the conversation on the realities of regionality, he thought she would be a good addition to the Planning Commission.
Councilmember Bier confirmed with Councilmember Boles that she spoke with Caitlin Quinn about her concerns.
Councilmember Boles responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Bier thanked her for doing that.
Councilmember Boles thought Daniella Devine’s experience of having gone through the process and expressed some frustrations are ideas she can bring back to try to improve the process and help educate homeowners. She stated that one question they don’t ask is whether they read drawings as not everyone does but she does as part of her work.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus originally chose Caitlin Quinn, but she thinks that, with the difficulties with regions and not having enough members present, she thought that would be a problem.
She will change her choice to Daniella Devine.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus moved to appoint Lauren Berman and Daniella Devine to the Planning Commission each for full terms to expire March 2027; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
City Council Regular Meeting 13 March 13, 2023
APPOINT LAUREN BERMAN AND DANIELLA DEVINE TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION EACH FOR FULL TERMS TO EXPIRE MARCH 2027
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ADJOURN
Mayor Bigstyck adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED AS AMENDED: 5 - 0; 3/27/2023
__________________________
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor