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 27, 2023
SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETING
March 27, 2023 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck called the meeting to order on March 27, 2023 at 6:15 PM 6:15 PM - CLOSED SESSION
Mayor Bigstyck called the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m. and went into closed session. 00a. Conference with Real Property Negotiations (Government Code § 54956.8). Property:
1220 Linda Mar Boulevard, Pacifica California. Agency Negotiation: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager and Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney. Negotiating Parties: North Coast County Water District. Under Negotiation: Price and terms of payment for Right of Entry Agreement. 7:00 PM OPEN SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Bigstyck reconvened the regular meeting 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
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney; Yulia Carter, Asst. City Manager; Lisa Petersen, PW Director; Christian Murdock, Planning Director; Chris Clements, Acting Police Chief; Bill Glasgo, Police Captain; Lucy Xie, Dep. Finance Director; Bob Palacio, PB&R Director; Jason Bustria, IT Analyst; Beth Phipps, Food/Senior Services Supervisor; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk, Emily La, Dep. City Clerk.
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Bigstyck read the Land Acknowledgement.
Salute to the Flag led by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus
City Council Regular Meeting 2 March 27, 2023
Closed Session Report
City Attorney Kenyon stated there was no reportable action.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
A. Proclamation - Beth Phipps Retirement
Mayor Bigstyck read the proclamation honoring the retirement of Beth Phipps, Food/Senior Services Supervisor.
Food/Senior Services Supervisor Phipps shared her experience and appreciation in working for the city.
Councilmember Bier remembered their interactions and thanked her for all her services.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated she will miss her bubbling personality, as she was always around and being happy. She thought all the people in the senior center will miss her as well.
She told her to enjoy her retirement.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated she will miss her calm demeanor as no matter what is going on she stays calm and she thanked her for helping staff deal with the entire pandemic.
Councilmember Boles stated that she is sad that her tenure is coming as hers is ending, and she is struck by what she said about being shy and not wanting to talk to people as she is hearing that she is the opposite of that and makes sure everyone is taken care of. She encouraged her to enjoy her retirement and find volunteer work that is fun and not work.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that she was inspiring up to her last moment and has helped us to become a stronger community. He sees the expression on her face when reading the proclamation which showed how much she has adored her time here. He then opened public comments.
Cindy Abbott, Pacifica, reiterated what was in the proclamation, i.e., stability, leadership and professionalism, which she does with a positive attitude and fun, sharing a few specifics. She wished her the best and looked forward to seeing her at the Community Center as she was sure she wouldn’t stay away.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments and stated Council will take a picture with her.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Bigstyck asked if any Councilmember had an item to pull from consent. Seeing no one, he asked if any member of the public would like to speak on a consent item. Also seeing no one, he closed public comments.
Councilmember Boles noted a small correction to the minutes and asked a question regarding the road work being done with Monterey Road.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that the contract has contingencies depending on how the cost payout could be applied to additional concrete work, but without revising the scope of the contract and bringing it back to Council, they can’t guarantee that the work will be done; they City Council Regular Meeting 3 March 27, 2023
can look at it if it can fit into the contingency as they don’t know what other contingencies may arise during the project.
PW Director Petersen stated that their engineering team put an item in the contract for miscellaneous contract of improvements which is actually a revocable item; if they don’t use it they can pull it out but, if needed for additional work, it is there and they will take a look at what she mentioned and other things that come up and that can be used towards that work.
Councilmember Boles moved to approve the consent calendar with the modification to the minutes; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
1. Approval of Minutes
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve the minutes of the City Council Regular Meeting held on March 13, 2023.
2. Ratification of Proclamation of Local Emergency related to March 2023 Storm Events PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a Resolution ratifying the Proclamation of Local Emergency related to March 2023 Storm Events by the City Manager acting as Director of Emergency Services issued on March 23, 2023.
3. Resolution approving the contract amendment with Regional Government Services for financial and system implementation consulting services.
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve a resolution authorizing the City Manager to extend the Consultant Services Agreement between the City of Pacifica and Regional Government Services (RGS) for Financial Services at the estimated additional cost of up to $179,590 to cover additional services related to implementation of the new Financial and Human Resources ERP system.
4. Resolution approving the contract amendment with Regional Government Services (RGS) for Economic Development consulting services.
PROPOSED ACTION: Approve a resolution authorizing the City Manager to extend the Consultant Services Agreement between the City of Pacifica and Regional Government Services for Economic Development services at the estimated additional cost of up to $65,000 to cover services through the next fiscal year.
5. FY 2023-24 Concrete Improvement Project
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the Resolution entitled "A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving the Construction Contract with Mercoza in an amount not to exceed $203,279.50 and a Master Services Agreement and Task Order No. 1 with Wilsey Ham in an amount not to exceed $65,120.00; Authorize a budget authority in the amount of $308,659.50, which includes contingencies in an amount not to exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the Construction Contract amounts; Authorize staff to Execute Future Change Orders and Task Orders not to exceed the contingency amount; and Authorize the Designated Personnel to Sign Contract Documents related to the FY 2023-24 Concrete Improvement Project.”
City Council Regular Meeting 4 March 27, 2023
6. FY 2023-24 Pavement Resurfacing Project
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a Resolution entitled "A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving the Construction Contract with Pavement Coatings Co. in an amount not to exceed $1,568,829.20 and a Master Services Agreement and Task Order No. 1 with CSG Consultants, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $149,360.00; Authorize a budget authority in the amount of $1,975,917.00, which includes contingencies in an amount not to exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the Construction Contract amounts; Authorize staff to Execute Future Change Orders not to exceed the contingency amount; and Authorize the Designated Personnel to Sign Contract Documents related to the FY 2023-24 Pavement Resurfacing Project.”
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE POSTED AGENDA
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, referred to Pacifica Housing for All being asked about their recommendations on displacement, and she shared information on the status of this issue and possible solutions.
Samuel Casillas, Pacifica, referred to the group Study Session on the 21st discussing the housing element and he shared his concerns on a few issues.
Margo Meiman, Pacifica, stated she is asking Council to make it easier for people to go solar in Pacifica by adopting a city program called Solar Apps Plus, and shared information on this issue.
Nancy Tierney, Pacifica, stated she is calling about the same item Ms. Meiman spoke about, and provided additional information on this issue.
COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated she went on a Civic Center tour and was amazed to see the progress they have made. She had a Fog Fest meeting and went to a building trades event with almost all elected officials. She felt the communication with other elected officials was important. She went on a beach tour with Mark Berman and Josh Becker and their staff and our staff so they can be informed on what is happening in Pacifica with cliffs and sea wall. She met with a San Mateo County chamber member regarding grants for people who kept employees during the pandemic which is important for our local businesses. She stated that they all went to the joint Council and Planning meeting on the housing element. She attended a California Public Utilities Commission meeting on low carbon future followed by a CalCities meeting after the housing element and what is next. She met with a group of constituents to talk about what is going on. She attended the Council of Cities in Brisbane and she is still on the COVID-19 Recovery Council. She is the only elected on the committee and they talked about adding other elected people on the committee as it has a lot to do with housing, childcare and other services such as food, shelter network and is an important committee. She thanked everyone involved in the wall and many trees down on Saturday. She stated that watching everyone coming together to get the job done was amazing and she thanked everyone involved.
Councilmember Boles attended the Pacific Beach Coalition meeting and shared information on their celebration for earth day on the 22nd (10:30 at Linda Mar Beach). She attended the Emergency Preparedness meeting and Acting Police Chief Clements gave a great presentation City Council Regular Meeting 5 March 27, 2023
on tsunamis and earthquakes and led a class for tsunami awareness week. She thanked Councilmember Bier telling her about the CivicWell group and the conference she attended in Monterey for four days. She stated it was a great organization that works with governments all over the state on issues of community design and housing, climate, water, electrification, etc.
She got to tour a flood plain restoration project at the Carmel River and shared information on the process and outreach that had been done with the Native American community. She stated that an exciting thing she learned about memberships with them and shared with the City Manager is that they have a fellows program for putting interns in city government and are trained in city planning and environmental science issues and for $31,000 they can get a college graduate for 11 months to work on our CAP, zoning code update, etc. She stated the application is due April 21 and she thought it might be something to consider. She and the Mayor met with the director of HIP Housing to learn from them on what they are looking forward to do affordable housing projects in Pacifica; she also shared details on their home share program. She attended the Peninsula Clean Energy meeting. She also judged some of the Oceana High School senior projects, which was fun. She attended the Lion’s Police and Fire awards and she gave a shout out to Shirly Gibbs for helping to support the Lions and congratulated Officer Natalie Walsh who won a service award. She had a couple of meetings with the Pacifica Climate Committee to talk about our climate action plan.
Councilmember Bier attended the City and County Association of Governments’ CCAG Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and was there when they were reviewing and recommending approval to amend OBAG two program funds to reallocate $1 million for Pacifica’s Sharp Park Priority Development area pedestrian improvement project. She had a meeting with CAFE, the Center for Age Friendly Excellence, and the California Dept. of Aging has a grant application to help cities create their age-friendly action plans. She stated that, with this action plan, we will be able to organize ourselves, and she was happy that Bob Palacio is now the lead of PB&R as he has so much experience with age friendly cities. She attended the North Coast County Water meeting, and she was learning so much from that district. She stated they had a presentation from Sea Well, a sea well buoy technology and they want to put a buoy out in the ocean to desalinate the water that eventually can turn into drinking water.
They gave a drought update - we aren’t out of the drought yet but Pacifica definitely rocks with the survey conservation. She attended the Mayor’s Mental Health Initiative meeting. May is Mental Health Month. Their working group sent a memo out to all the mayors suggesting different activities for May, including youth mental health first aid training, be sensitive be brave training which is suicide prevention training, a proclamation, lighting up buildings, and sharing resources. the Mayor’s Mental Health Initiative is well underway. She thanked our mayor for agreeing to support the efforts and she looked forward to what they can do for that.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked her for her amazing leadership on the subject.
Councilmember Bier thanked him. She then mentioned the Pacific Youth Summit for the Pacifica Prevention Partnership with Jefferson Union High School District which was awesome with over 80 people there. She stated that the youth had a workshop and had a lot of podcasts and photo booth and she gave a quick shout out to PCT for being there and filming the youth.
She also shouted out to Robby Bancroft, their media consultant, who has been helping our youth every week. They met with Jefferson Union High School District about our future relationship and consistent communication and relationship building. The monthly HEART board meeting was cancelled and gave her an opportunity to rearrange her schedule as all the regional meetings are back in person. She stated that they had a Council of Cities meeting in Brisbane and played a team building game which was fun. She stated that there are so many events coming us, such as the Manor Drive overcrossing rescheduled meeting on April 16, from City Council Regular Meeting 6 March 27, 2023
6-8 p.m. at Council Chambers, the PCT spring open house on April 15 from 1-5 p.m., and their dueling fundraisers for Pacifica Pride. She asked everyone to support Pride.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated s she attended a lot of the same things other Councilmembers attended. She appreciated touring the Civic Center, the old P&P Planning and PB&R Building, and that they would be safe places for employees to work. With all the storms etc. over the past weeks, she felt solid in seeing those buildings are constructed. She stated that they are still on track for the fall. She stated that same day was the Resource Management and Climate Protection meeting, a county meeting; due to in-person scheduling, she participated as an observer and there was a quorum. She stated one thing she heard about and wanted to share was a longer view thinking about fuels. She stated it was interesting to learn how alternatives are emerging from fossil fuels and fossil-based fuels for everything. She then went to the rotary climate action team meeting and the North Coast County Water District meeting. She really appreciated our North Coast County Water District board members asking the questions that are going to be on the minds of people when they hear about something forward-thinking like this, such as how does it affect sea life. She stated it is not just about water, but thinking on a careful level of what the impact will be with these new technologies.
She had the opportunity to tour the coastal projects on Esplanade and down Beach Boulevard with our Congresspeople, Anna Eshoo and Kevin Mullin and their staff, and someone who was on our Planning Commission and is now with the Harbor District, George Domurat, as well as Ray Mueller. She stated it was a great opportunity for them to see what we’re doing in Pacifica in person. She stated that, in the Esplanade area, it was important for us to protect the shoreline because of the amount of naturally affordable housing in that neighborhood. She attended the monthly Coastal Cities Group Leadership meeting and the discussion was about the legislation coming up. She stated that the Pacifica Democrats meeting on the 18th featured Mark Berman and he was a fireball of information on all the bills he has put in and was able to field questions from all the citizens; she was impressed on how much he has done and will keep doing for us. She stated a couple of things that got her attention were with education, computer science, and media literacy, etc. She thought was about how very appropriate library funding is for both of those subjects. She had a chance to work with the Rotary Club at the Grace McCarthy overlook and a lot of our planted spaces are adopted by groups in Pacifica through the Beautification Advisory Committee. She stated that the idea is to find the right plants as it isn’t an irrigated site that will flourish but not be a sight barrier. She thought it was a good approach of taking a section at a time and they are about a quarter or third into it. She did her part for the storm drains as there is so much debris from the trees. They had the joint meeting with the Planning Commission about the housing element and the Pride with Councilmember Bier. She also attended a sea level rise working group meeting, an extension of the Coastal Cities group; the group is identifying local jurisdictions to work on defining a neighborhood approach to sea level rise adaptation planning.
Mayor Bigstyck stated his thoughts were constantly with Ukraine. He stated that, on getting to regional meetings around the Bay Area and was carving his time out in very strategic ways as he usually works an 8-5 job, he was not able to carve the time to get a walk in the Civic Center and he looked forward to doing that in the near future. He had a LAFCO meeting in Redwood City. The interesting subject they discussed was involving the Broadmoor police protection district as there are only three police protection districts in all of California and Broadmoor is the only one who employs their own peace officers. He stated it is a topic of discussion among LAFCO because there are various best practices that the councilmembers are accustomed to serving on around multiple boards, none of which to date have been practiced by the Broadmoor police protection district (Brown Act compliance and agenda and transparent financials, etc.). The bottom line was that district is under notice and the board will be reviewing City Council Regular Meeting 7 March 27, 2023
what their updated strategy will be at the next LAFCO meeting and they will be making sure they update the meeting after that. They discussed budget at LAFCO. He stated that at the end they looked at the legislation going through Sacramento that affects our Commission and referred to the bills discussing regional zoom calls, such as SB411 and SB537, which he thought, in the long run, will get incorporated into one bill that will address it and everyone will sign on to it and they will see how it does. He attended the OSPAC meeting later that night.
There was a good discussion between staff, Planning Director Murdock and the Committee, in terms of how developments happen and what it means in terms of potential further acting with OSPAC, in addition to some charter discussion. There was a good discussion around taking the OSPAC workday that was so successful a month ago and figuring out what to do to stabilize it and make it a regular mainstay for the Committee. He stated that they weren’t able to do it this month because of the storms and they are figuring out what they need to do to stabilize that. He stated that Councilmember Becker spoke on the coastal tour with Congress leaders, Anna Eshoo and Kevin Mullin. He thought it was great to host Kevin Mullin now that he is part of a different district, as well as Ray Mueller and George Domurat. He stated that it was good to see Ryan Marquez here with our tour group, giving his insight, and he thanked him for making a guest appearance. He stated that it was helpful to have our electeds see specifically what we’re talking about when we make requests. He referred to Councilmember Beckmeyer referring to Mark Berman at the City Democrats meeting; it was good to have him there and get more personal time with him. He referred to Councilmember Bier speaking on the Pacifica Youth Summit which was awesome and he thanked her for inviting him to that. She also referred to the high school district meeting they had to figure out better communication and that was very good. He referred to Councilmember Boles talking about the meeting they had with the director of HIP Housing and he thanked her for inviting him to that which he thought was very helpful.
He also had a meeting with Anne-Marie Despain regarding the Library JPA and orienting him as he has served at the alternate and has been to many meetings at this point and it was good to have that time with her and learning some of the nuances of the history. He stated that they met at the Sharp Park Library and recognized the resources that we want to have more robust in order to create a community space with all those tools that will bring our community together.
He had a meeting with the Coastal Commission Chair Brownsey which was a nice introduction that will lead to more discussion with her later about specifics as various issues will come up in front of the Coastal Commission. He felt it was a pleasure to begin a relationship with her. He has a placeholder for follow-up meetings with Commissioner Mike Wilson and Commissioner Paloma Aguirre. He is trying to cultivate those relationships to make sure that, going forward, he has a clear understanding of what the relationships are, not just between our two staffs but from electeds; when having these discussions in a public venue, he has a better sense of who they are talking about and how they are speaking of them and hope to make those bonds grow stronger as we are intertwined being in the coastal zone. He watched the Planning Commission meeting on the Oddstad Workforce Housing and referred to the study session they had on the housing element. He stated the other big meeting he had to report on was the Peninsula Clean Energy meeting which was a robust meeting for PCE. He stated that they were back in person:
It was a big board with a representative from every jurisdiction and two representatives from the county, approximately 22 members. He stated that there were concerns raised about the Governor’s budget, specifically regarding our procurement authority. PCE spends a lot of time finding clean energy projects that inform our portfolio of knowing specifically where our clean energy is coming from and ultimately is building toward our goal of a 24/7 clean energy capacity; this means that during those hours when solar is not available, they are not drawing off the grid for unclean power but supplementing it with hydroelectric, wind, or geothermal power so that all hours of the day we are powered in a clean way. He stated that we want to make sure the Governor honors what we are trying to accomplish in bringing down those greenhouse gases. He stated that there was a big discussion about banks, money, and diversifying our City Council Regular Meeting 8 March 27, 2023
financial portfolio. We were founded using conservative means to manage our money and we moved quickly to diversify and make things smoother. He stated that they talked about the zero percent loan program and extending it. They are making sure that people who want to electrify know that money is not an obstacle and they are making it a robust policy that they work with anyone who wants to electrify; that is a part of our equity component, rather than our diversity and equity inclusion stance. He stated that it led to a discussion about building electrification strategy which pertains largely to existing buildings. At the end of the day, they are trying to eliminate grid tendency which is largely is something that is scaring people away from converting to electric, especially with the storms that have been bombarding us lately. He was grateful to Director Donna Colson who is a councilmember from Burlingame as she brought up a robust discussion around all the power outages we have been having in conjunction with our desire that everything go electric. He stated that they will hear a robust discussion about why we are going to be able to do this in such a fashion that people don’t have to worry about a storm putting their electricity out as they figure out how to electrify everybody. He stated there was a call by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District recently necessitating that at point of sales only water heaters that are heat pump and only electric waters are going to be allowed to be sold going forward by 2027 and electric furnaces by 2029. He stated that is the point of sales the city is going to have to update in permitting to address these realities put into effect by the Air Quality Management District. He stated that on Friday it was lovely to spend with fellow Councilmembers and councilmembers from all over the region playing a fun game and doing regional team building. He thanked Public Works through all of these storms. He imagines they are exhausted by now and they have another storm on the way. He stated more is coming the next day, and he stated that not just Public Works but Fire, Police, even PB&R. He thanked them all, as it has been an extraordinary three months and we aren’t out of the woods yet. He thanked them for allowing him so much time to speak.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Woodhouse stated he will make his comments brief and then turn it over to PB&R Director Palacio for a great show and tell as part of staff communications. He mentioned the storm alert for the next day and that staff is prepared again to handle what comes our way.
Regarding the earlier storm, it ripped the security gates off the pier; they had a quick response and replaced the front gates to the pier and, while doing so, they were also able to install the temporary safety fencing for the portion of the railing on the L part of the pier that had been knocked off in a storm a couple of years ago and is now repaired. The L portion is now opened up to the public and the fishing people are very happy about that. He stated that the upcoming manor overcrossing community meeting was mentioned and it was rescheduled and will be happening on April 18 at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers, barring any new storm that might interfere with holding that meeting as it did last time. He turned it over to Director Palacio for some fun but serious show and tell.
PB&R Director Palacio was grateful to have the opportunity to give them a quick update on the Pacifica Beach’s life buoy and life ring installation project. He was joined by Eric Jones, Executive Director of Sea Valor. Sea Valor is a non-profit and its primary mission is to use sailing and other ocean-related activities to help people who have been through emotional and physical trauma and have wounds., i.e., military veterans, police, firefighters, healthcare workers, families affected by suicide, and youth who experienced those type of traumas. He stated that Sea Valor works hard to make local beaches as safe as they can possibly be. As a result, Sea Valor is purchasing 15 of the units for them in Pacifica, at a price of $1,500 each.
They have been working diligently with the Coastal Commission and they will have 20 locations from the southern end of Linda Mar down to the Esplanade where they will be installing this.
City Council Regular Meeting 9 March 27, 2023
They have six of them now and will be placed along the promenade because those are cityowned and we can install as we wish. He wanted to allow Mr. Jones to say a few words and give them the background of the project and what his organization does in more detail and their experiences in Half Moon Bay with this project.
Sea Valor Executive Director Jones thanked them and stated he was honored to be here. He mentioned helping recovering all the bodies on 9/11 and he is no stranger to trauma and tragedy. He has known too many people who have killed themselves. In 2019, he sold his house and used the proceeds to start Sea Valor; he needed to find a way to turn his personal tragedies into something positive which is figuring out a way to help veterans, cops, first responders, etc. He stated that on this day, they have taken 5,500 people sailing, i.e., retired Coast Guard, military, police officers, first responders, etc. In 2021, when a 12-year-old boy got stuck out at sea in Half Moon Bay, his family reached out, as the Coast Guard ended their search but they wanted to find his body. He talked about how this keeps happening, but people don’t understand the dangers of the beaches. He then mentioned why they have come up with these life buoys and many people who have suffered a loss of a loved one and are in full support of sponsoring this program. He thought Pacifica has a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of this, mentioning some other coastal cities having an interest of this project. He was happy to answer any questions and appreciated being asked to be here.
Mayor Bigstyck appreciated his being here and the city was honored to have him. He thought his story was extraordinary. He is always honored to welcome another hero into our community to try and help us to more robustly make this a safe place where people’s lives can thrive. He acknowledged that Sea Valor Executive Director Jones was not just helping us, but for everyone up and down the coast. He thanked Sea Valor Executive Director Jones for this important work.
He imagined for anyone seeing what he has seen, it would be easy to give in to the despair that it must evoke and instead of going in that direction, Sea Valor Executive Director Jones asked what he can do to make sure that this means something. Mayor Bigstyck stated that we can now participate in the meaning he has found out of tragedy.
Councilmember Bier stated that she knows what it means to turn tragedy into something helpful as her family has experienced that; she is honored to work and honor the life of her nephew who died tragically. She understands what he is doing and can’t thank him enough for that extraordinary gift he is giving to Pacifica and she thanked him so much.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that during her four years on Council, they have had tragedies during that time; trying to respond to a parent who came to speak to Council about her son who drowned at Rockaway left her with a hole, and she didn’t know what she could say.
She stated that they did some action on posting better signs and will continue to do that, but she believes this will take it to the next level and they were grateful to him. She thought the PB&R Commission was helpful in bringing this forward and supporting this effort. She stated that Pacifica is a beach community and anything they can do to keep the citizens and visitors safer is a wonderful gift.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus thought what he is doing is amazing and she can’t thank him enough.
Councilmember Boles stated that she can’t imagine the death of a child as a parent which is the most tragic thing. She stated that the family that lost their 12-year-old is able to channel that into helping another person, as Sea Valor Executive Director Jones has, is a beautiful tribute to the memory and can make a big difference in someone else’s life. She thanked him for that.
City Council Regular Meeting 10 March 27, 2023
Mayor Bigstyck thanked him not only for bringing the tools to save a life but for inspiring them.
PB&R Director Palacio thanked them and introduced the show and tell. He stated that they had one of the units and they want them to be able to look at that in that moment of terror and the proximity of access, how quickly they can get to it, and how quickly they can get it open, and understand what to do with it are important. He stated that, in addition to the units, they will put together signage and have GPS on them; they will make sure that NorCal Fire and the police department have those GPS labeled, and they will know when someone calls in that they will be able to know exactly where the buoy and ring were being used and can respond quicker. He explained on how it can be used.
Sea Valor Executive Director Jones then showed them the unit and how to open it and use it, and then took a group picture.
Mayor Bigstyck called a recess and then reconvened the meeting.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - NONE.
CONSIDERATION
7. Accept Final Report, List of Opportunities & Timing of the Pacifica Economic Opportunities Study.
PROPOSED ACTION: Receive and accept the Final Report and List of Opportunities & Timing of the Pacifica Economic Opportunities Study.
City Manager Woodhouse began the staff report. He then turned it over to Asst. City Manager Carter and RGS Consultant Brian Moura.
Consultant Moura completed the staff report.
Councilmember Boles asked to confirm the detailed report, Attachment 1, matched in the slideshow and agenda packet. Consultant Moura confirmed that was the final project.
Councilmember Boles noted that the staff report said the sea level rise was in all five districts, but she thought it was missing from a page. She stated that the big question she has is that the focus and recommendations are mostly mixed use residential and hospitality, and she questioned whether some larger commercial spaces might be good for the city as well. She understood, in terms of the tax revenue, that wasn’t as high a ranking and she was thinking about long term sustainability and making sure they aren’t putting all our eggs in one basket for the hospitality as they saw with COVID-19 that things dropped. She asked, if they found a biotech company that wanted to open and office here, whether they would say no based on reviewing the report; what she sees missing in Pacifica with the housing element was the jobs/housing imbalance, as we are mostly sending higher level jobs out of the city. She thought it would be good to have more jobs and other income so businesses would fill our restaurants during the week and have conferences in our hotels. She wanted to hear why that doesn’t seem to be a recommendation in the report.
Consultant Moura stated he could comment on that, as well as the Kosmont consultants. He stated that one of the things they did when they went out to RFP for this project was to refer to the Beach Boulevard site as an opportunity site rather than a hotel site. He stated it was on City Council Regular Meeting 11 March 27, 2023
purpose as one of the things they wanted, whichever firm was hired by the city to explore, was the question she was raising, i.e., if they put the Beach Boulevard site and market it to the industry, what would be the response, such as a hotel use or high tech use as they have seen on the 101 corridor in San Mateo County. He stated that, in the study, it was their conclusion that, given the location of that site near the beach and the nearby uses, they believed the most likely use of the site and most likely response to marketing of Beach Boulevard was probably a hotel. He thought it was fair to say that, until they get to the stage of marketing it, they won’t know. He stated that a good example was Daly City where they marketed a piece of property they believed was a hotel site, and they ended up with a mix where some proposals were for hotels and some were for the sort of development she mentioned. He thought it was the opinion of the Kosmont team that it is most likely that what they get back from marketing Beach Boulevard is a hotel proposal, but until they market it, they don’t know.
Consultant Ken Hira from Kosmont stated that, in their evaluation of all asset classes, they have to take from their market research and apply what they think are the higher and better use for the city, and they are trying to identify areas where there can be tax revenues that can be generated as a function of the need and desire for sustainability. He appreciated the notion of a jobs/housing balance as it is very important, but in their findings, the concern they had is with the office market in general. He stated that it is one of the asset classes that is probably with the least strength. He stated that San Francisco has probably faced one of the greatest declines in office demand of late, which started happening before the pandemic and was on its way, but the pandemic catalyzed the lack of demand with the function of hybrid working and telecommuting and technology. He stated that they will have a lot of office vacancy and a major impact on those markets in those cities from a tax revenue perspective as they will feel the pinch when it comes to the property tax revenue that will not be generated from a fully occupied office product. He stated that, in the specific area of life sciences, the question of should you turn down a bio tech or life sciences company that might express an interest in this city, he didn’t think it was an automatic conclusion to turn something down. That demand and desire in a long-term lease with a tenant or tenants in that office space or life science space needs to exist in order for there to be any viability for a project on any one of the sites with Pacifica. He stated that, as they look at Beach Boulevard or the quarry site, they think the highest and best use is the hospitality use because they believe there is demand for that in the city’s marketplace and they can leverage the coastline and community to end up with a more upscale hotel which the city doesn’t have much of today. He stated that was part of the direction they headed in terms of their analysis and response, and the revenues from even a modest size hotel, such as 50-70 rooms, can generate a significant amount of tax revenue, which they believe can help the city’s general fund.
Councilmember Boles thanked him, adding that she appreciated him saying that we don’t necessarily turn someone down. She was thinking of the quarry, the back of the bowl area more than Beach Boulevard, where the ocean views are great for a better hotel spot.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Samuel Casillas, Pacifica, stated that the focus and goal of the study should be as stated, and they can have development strategies for a long term fiscally sustainable vision for Pacifica and to get there, he thought the first thing they need is to establish metrics, and he shared his thoughts on the city’s needs to be sustainable and how they get there.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments. He wanted to address some of the commenter’s questions, such as the metrics, and he wondered if this was a place where they might have City Council Regular Meeting 12 March 27, 2023
talked about sporting events bringing in additional spending. He asked if they can talk about to the $1 million spending number.
Consultant Tom Jirovsky from Kosmont, introduced by Consultant Hira, stated that the $1 million estimate came from an estimated average household income for new residents in these development projects in the neighborhood of $125,000 per year. They estimated the local retail spending potential to be approximately 15-20% of that total or basically $20,000 per household times 50 units which gives them the $1 million number.
Mayor Bigstyck stated there were two other questions, one on metrics, and whether this would be a good document to include sports events as attracting more dollars to our community.
Consultant Hira thought sporting events is a good idea. If they didn’t cover it, it wasn’t because they didn’t think it could make sense as an attraction for families and a draw for people from outside the city to come in and participate and spend money as well as residents participating in different sporting events.
Consultant Jirovsky added that it wasn’t brought up in any of the public meetings, virtual meetings, or web survey; they understand that sporting events are a significant economic driver for a lot of communities. They weren’t aware of that potential, but they would encourage it.
Mayor Bigstyck asked for an answer to the question of metrics.
Consultant Moura stated, in terms of metrics, in the report is shows where the customers come from in the different business districts and shows the make-up, and one thing that struck him in the analysis in the report is that, in Rockaway Beach’s business district, 54% of the customers live more than ten miles away from Pacifica, and in some of the other business districts, the vast majority of the people were from Pacifica or next door communities, and it suggested to him that, going forward, their economic development strategy is best served in recognizing that 3 of the 5 business districts are clearly what he would call resident-serving, but in Rockaway Beach and Pedro Point districts, the lion’s share of those customers are actually visitors, and that requires a different economic development strategy because of who is patronizing their businesses today and in the future. He referred to sales tax as another interesting metrics. He stated that they talked about it, not just in this project, but also when they were talking about Measure Y last year, with one of the most interesting things in looking at that data, in this community with so much sales tax leakage, as people are shopping outside of Pacifica, and the half cent transaction tax which goes into effect next month generates as much money as their 1% sales tax which is very unusual in his experience when working in other cities around the Bay Area. He stated that tells them that they have significant leakage and significant shopping outside the community, and it you take into account the metrics they showed them in the Measure Y project and some of the data in this project, clearly one of the advantages of looking at this project and the five business areas individually rather than collectively, he thought there was some real power in that and, in the second community workshop in person, at the table where he sat, they had a couple of people in the community commenting that they thought it was wise that the city was looking at five different zones as opposed to trying have to one overarching strategy.
Consultant Hira stated, if Council is satisfied with respect to metrics, the report has a significant number of different metrics.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked them, adding that he was grateful that our community decided that City Council Regular Meeting 13 March 27, 2023
Measure Y was something we should go for to capture that leakage. He heard a comment about an ordinance to potentially block further fast food restaurants coming, in which he thought it was an interesting idea work exploring but he didn’t know if this was the venue to do that. He asked staff, if they were to include something about sports in the report, would it have to come back to Council.
Consultant Moura didn’t think so. They could probably add it to the opportunities list, and they might talk about exploring it as a short-term item, as opposed to something longer term.
Mayor Bigstyck thought that sounded good. He opened it up to Councilmembers.
Councilmember Boles referred to the packet and stated that the transit occupancy taxes are very low for a beach city, and she wondered if it was because they don’t have enough hotels or are they not charging enough transit occupancy taxes. She knows Council considered that as an additional income last year.
Consultant Moura stated that there were two parts to that. He stated that it was true that Pacifica has a 12% transient occupancy tax today, and a number of cities around this county and the Bayi Area have increased them to 14% - they have gone as high as 15% in Half Moon Bay and 15.5% in Palo Alto. If the city was interested in increasing the rate of the hotel transient occupancy tax, that is something that will have to go to the voters in even numbered years, with the next opportunity for that discussion in November 2024.
Consultant Hira stated that it wouldn’t seem unreasonable for consideration to potentially increase that and maybe they could go to 13%. He thought Daly City did that not too long ago, and it doesn’t have to go up to 14% in one swoop, so it is a thought or consideration for the future. He thought part of the matter with hotels is that the level of the class of hotels (upper to middle class) is probably a function of the amount of revenue that gets generated, as there is not really any upscale hotels in the city. The average daily rate is going to be defined, to a degree, by the quality of the hotels. To the extent the city can improve that or increase that quality level, that is a way to generate some additional revenue with higher average daily rates.
Councilmember Boles understood that the Pacifica Beach Hotel was originally a higher end hotel. She thought a lot of our hotels are in need of refurbishing and maybe that will help but it is a big investment for them. She stated that, in Asst. City Manager Carter’s report, 47% of our transit occupancy taxes are from short-term rentals and she found it interesting that those 161 units are driving almost as much as all of our hotels. She appreciated the report for the Sea Bowl site where they are recommending keeping the bowling alley. That was something they were discussing at the housing element meeting, and she knows there is a lot of community desire to keep it. She stated that the community wants as there aren’t a lot of gathering spaces and family spaces inside for entertainment. She asked if they can talk a little bit more about that as they thought bowling alleys were going out, but there is a different model coming back in that is drawing more of a crowd.
Consultant Hira stated that he can speak about it at a high level, as when they talk about the benefits of experiential businesses and entertainment, the bowling alley is an example of that.
It is a place where people can go, it’s entertaining, and he understands that bowling alley has been in business for about 60 years and it is more of those types of experiential uses that they would encourage. He stated that, if a businessowner chooses to close the bowling alley, that isn’t something they can do a lot about. They do encourage those types of uses, including restaurants and other experiential uses.
City Council Regular Meeting 14 March 27, 2023
Councilmember Boles stated that we have so few places like that, and someone told her that he lived in Moss Beach and come up here just for the bowling alley as a kid as there was nothing there. She stated that there is such pressure to put new housing everywhere and as much as you can, but we need a good quality of life for the people who are here with things to do. She appreciated indicating the value of that in the report.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that they used to have a movie theater where the Walgreens is currently, and he was fond of it in his youth.
Councilmember Beckmeyer would like to see the addition of the sports issue. Among them, they can give references in terms of people to talk to in town. One thing she thinks is a challenge for us is that we don’t have a big complex, but she thinks getting a good handle on what the fields we have generate in terms of tournaments, such as girls’ softball, and beginning to map some of that. She thought it was important to do that, and she doesn’t know about tracking the surf events as a number of them happen annually, and there are people in town who can tell you and put you in touch of people with that information.
Councilmember Bier stated that there was also the swim meets and golf course. She referred to the bowling alley and she thought every person in Pacifica wants to save the bowling alley, but as they do not own it she thinks there is nothing she can do about it.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked about the value of the Palmetto Avenue site, lot No. 1, and City Manager Woodhouse confirmed that the assessed evaluation was $75,000.
Councilmember Boles referred to the bowling alley regarding Mr. Casillas’ question, she asked if they know what the tax revenue is from that versus what they would get from housing units., i.e., what are they losing by losing these important commercial spaces.
Consultant Moura stated that they could look at that particular site in terms of property tax and sales tax that are currently coming off if it. He thought, regarding the previous question, that gives them some insight on what property tax on that site might be if it has been in the same ownership for 60 years, it is probably being taxed at a very low rate.
Councilmember Boles stated that it has just been sold.
Consultant Moura stated that, if it has been sold, it will get revalued at a much higher level and, if the site was redeveloped, whether commercial or housing, all of those structures would come in at a new rate; it could be a significantly higher amount of revenue to the city regardless of whether it was commercial or residential on that site because the current ownership has been so longstanding.
Councilmember Boles understood that it is for property taxes, but she homed in on the income that it generates for the city.
Consultant Moura stated that they have to look at it in terms of what it is bringing today in terms of sales tax and look at what the potential uses are. He thought, going back to the study, part of the interesting thing on the table that the Kosmont team developed where they showed hotel uses were the biggest revenue generator because of the hotel tax which you don’t get on other land uses. That explains why, in very general terms, cities as a group tend to be very interested in additional hotel uses and rooms if the demand is there. He stated that, in this report, it City Council Regular Meeting 15 March 27, 2023
suggests that there is a demand for more hotel product in this particular area. He thought another thing to mention is that his experience is that hotel uses tend to be the least traffic generating uses compared to something like office or residential or commercial which tend to generate more.
Consultant Jirovsky stated he would agree with the tax revenue, and as to traffic, they are unable to advise as they are not traffic engineers.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus reconfirmed that they do not own the bowling alley and cannot compel the owner to stay in business regardless.
City Manager Woodhouse mentioned that, before a motion is made, he would like to home in more on the general focus about what adding a sports related marketing opportunity action would be from both the Councilmembers and Kosmont team.
Councilmember Boles stated that she has said a couple of times regarding programs, outdoor spaces, fresh air, shopping experiences and unique food offerings, and she thought they could make a lot more money on restaurants with ocean views. She stated that San Francisco has very few, and Sam’s Chowder House is always packed. She stated that the Caltrans park and ride site is a high opportunity site that should be built up as high as they can and have those amenities at the top of the roof because they have wonderful views from that high, with bars, restaurants, music, etc., that are good social places. One of their examples was Rodeo 39 Village Center; the only piece of land we have that is big enough for something like this is the quarry and what strikes her is that it is mostly a parking lot when she looks at it. She understands the mixed residential and commercial aspects of the example.
Councilmember Bier wanted to quickly add that they did collect data about the restaurants with ocean views and she was at the table when they had that discussion at the community center.
Councilmember Boles stated it would be interesting to see some data because our current plan, like the Sharp Park Specific Plan, has all the commercial on the ground floor; it was more difficult to plan because you need an elevator if you’re putting amenities on the higher level.
She thought these were important things to keep in mind as they are reviewing projects coming up and encouraging uses that will bring in more people and more money as high-end restaurants was also next to hotels as one of the highest drivers. She stated we have those resources, but even Manor shopping center and in Sharp Park and Rockaway and in Linda Mar and even the sea bowl site for that matter if they got it high enough above the freeway.
Consultant Moura stated that he would let the Kosmont team comment, but he would suggest that, as they develop the opportunity list, they could add exploring higher end beach-oriented restaurants to the list.
Consultant Hira thought that was a fine idea and he thought there was a comment about what can be compatible is restaurants that may be part and parcel of higher value and higher quality hotels. That tends to be a very compatible use, and if the right project comes along, it could be something they all state as a priority on certain sites.
Consultant Jirovsky stated that the hotel product they recommended is not meant to be exclusively just hospitality in the context of rooms, but a restaurant/bar type of a facility with the ocean view. He stated that any of the hotel sites they suggested, they would highly recommend a restaurant as part of that on an upper level.
City Council Regular Meeting 16 March 27, 2023
Consultant Moura was going to make another comment that, when you market Beach Boulevard and potentially look at other sites for hotels down the road, there are a couple of things they could express interest in and say that part of the city or Council’s vision is to see something that sends a signal for the development community. One is, having been involved in the hotel development when he was working in San Carlos, they couldn’t get a hotel on the site near 101 unless they got them a restaurant; his sense is, as the Kosmont consultants were talking about, when you market Beach Boulevard and you potentially talk about other hotel sites, the hoteliers, either in their own development or partnering with someone else, will probably want some sort of restaurant amenity. He also knows that last year Council was providing a tour, led by former Councilmember O’Neill, of sites that could be used for a conference center and conference uses; again, if Council has an interest in that kind of amenity, they should build that into their marketing for Beach Boulevard and their expression of interest of other hotel developments in the future that they would encourage, not only restaurants as part of that but perhaps also conference facilities, if that is the sense of the Council.
Councilmember Boles thought that was a good idea. She stated that to tie into that, she has heard from several people who now work mostly out of their home, is having a space where they can have a meeting and bring their clients, as you can’t do that in your home, and the hotels can serve that as part of the conference center.
Councilmember Bier wanted to put some ideas out about the sports addition. She stated that we have surf contests, and they could work with the hotels and offer deals for people to come in and have their swim meets and their surfing contests. She didn’t know exactly what they were looking for when they were talking about the wording for that.
Mayor Bigstyck thought City Manager will assist them in that conversation toward the end.
Councilmember Beckmeyer appreciated in the report that there are next steps listed for each of the different things that are brought forward, but she would like to know where these next steps would fit, specifically to the Beach Boulevard site and what their timeline is.
Consultant Moura stated that one of the things they were suggesting in this report is that originally they talked about clearing the Beach Boulevard site as a short-term item and marketing it medium-term. He stated that, as they talked to the Kosmont team, their suggestion was that they felt that both of those things should be done short-term; he thought the discussion with them was basically that the city has already marketed this once and they already went through the SLA process and there seems to be consensus that they are willing to look at a hotel on the site, and rather than stretching out the process, why not do them together. He stated that, in the report, they talk about the notion of moving ahead with Beach Boulevard initially doing the clearance process which would involve having the property appraised, establishing fair market value, and doing the 90-150 day noticing period to see if housing and/or other public agencies would come forward and be interested in either leasing or buying the site at the appraised value they established and, if not, then flipping that into a marketing plan but doing it all in one seamless process. He thought, as part of that, picking up on some of the discussion they have heard from Council at this time, it may also be the case, depending on their thoughts, that they may want to keep it open than saying it is a hotel site; that was one thing they talked about when working with the city’s staff - they could go out and say the city is thinking about this as a hotel site or hotel site with a conference and nice restaurant or be a little more open-ended with it. He stated it could go either way. He referred to Councilmember Beckmeyer’s question and thought the reason they were talking about changing the timing on City Council Regular Meeting 17 March 27, 2023
Beach Boulevard is reacting to the Kosmont recommendation of why they don’t do all of the short-term and then from start to finish they can do the whole thing. He thought there was a lot of logic to that as opposed to the original approach of clearing the site and waiting to start marketing.
Councilmember Boles referred to the SamTrans park and ride and opportunity that was listed as a retail pad viable or possible airstream trailer hotel that required minimal investment. They just saw their housing element and this was one of their key housing sites. In her opinion, it was a high value site that would have ocean views, and an airstream trailer hotel doesn’t seem like the right fit for that property.
Consultant Jirovsky stated that the reason they have the comment about the low investment there is because of the ownership by Caltrans. They were operating under the assumption that they were unlikely to sell that site and they would want to hang on to it for long term; if they would only be willing to lease it, it was a much more difficult financial deal to structure for a highend hotel restaurant. He stated that was the logic, but they don’t know for sure; they wouldn’t discourage the city from approaching Caltrans and seeing if they can dispose of the site and they could attract a high-end hotel or high end restaurant use for that western side.
Consultant Moura stated, in response to Councilmember Boles’ comments, if there is specific direction from Council or specific things they would like to see, he was clearly hearing that she was thinking something beyond the current idea as something she would like to see, and they would like to hear that at this time and amend this list. He stated the point of the study and the list is to surface potential ideas but, if they have different ideas or would like to see them expand what is being pursued, he thinks that is definitely worth doing.
Councilmember Boles stated that she wasn’t opposed to the airstream in this scenario where they still own it we can lease part of it. If we could buy it, she thought it would be nice to do a much bigger project as much as we can.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that this strikes him as an opportunity for housing and commercial on ground level and housing on the top level. It strikes him as the more appropriate balance.
Councilmember Beckmeyer was intrigued by the notion of flipping the retail to the top for exactly the reason of capitalizing on the views. She was all for a mix, but she thinks looking at the nontraditional flip for a coastal area is worth looking into.
Mayor Bigstyck thought a restaurant at the top of that property would be amazing.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus noted they could have a building like Beach Chalet where they were.
Consultant Jirovsky stated that they could do it like the Lighthouse Restaurant in Rockaway where the restaurant is up above and the parking on the ground level and build over it.
Councilmember Boles had one last question about the quarry site. She saw two different numbers in terms of the acreage and they were just looking at the flat part of the site but one place she saw 20 acres and another 39 and she wanted to clarify that. She stated that they have a reclamation plan coming and some of the flat areas are going to be wetland mitigation, but she was wondering about the quarry bowl that they haven’t talked about. She thought some previous proposals had buildings there and she knows that doesn’t necessarily fly with the current reclamation plan and the soil being brought in, but she doesn’t want to take it off the City Council Regular Meeting 18 March 27, 2023
table, as that is their biggest opportunity site in the quarry.
Consultant Hira thought the larger acreage was the gross site and they stayed focused on the flat portion of it because of a greater feasibility for developability and they got guidance from Planning on what part of the site could be most suitable for development. He stated that the 20 acres is the developable portion as far as they can tell.
Consultant Moura stated that some other comments he would offer is that, on talking about the site, they were aware the city was talking about a specific plan process for the site, which is one reason they put it off in terms of a long-term timeline rather than short- or medium-term as they thought they would have to wait through the specific plan process and see how that goes. He stated that there was also discussion with the Kosmont team on the notion that, because of the site, they could have different uses similar to comments by Council on other sites, such as it is big enough to be a bungalow hotel concept and housing and/or commercial; it is a big enough site that, ongoing through the specific plan process and discussions with property owners, they shouldn’t be wed to it being just one use but possibly two or three.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if there are any more comments but, if not, is there a motion.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, prior to making a motion, he wanted to be more specific regarding the expectations regarding attracting sporting events. He stated that Pacifica doesn’t have a lot of sports fields and most are the school district, but the marketing of tournaments to come to Pacifica could be incorporated into the timing list, opportunity No. 2, which says promote events in districts, such as Sam’s Castle, Sanchez Adobe, Sanchez Art Center, that could incorporate sporting events or economic development strategy that relates to drawing people to town because of the fields that exist or the beach. He was trying to figure out how to make a recommendation in there but get the words sporting events in there, while realizing that building a huge sporting complex like Roseville is building is not in Pacifica’s future realistically.
Mayor Bigstyck checked with Councilmember Bier if that satisfied her initial question, and Councilmember Bier noted there is so much more than just sporting events so she thinks it needs its own number.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that there are other things like the swimming tournaments, Soccer tournaments, beach, and hiking that already bring money in.
Mayor Bigstyck understood the suggestion to be to add a number specifically about sports.
Consultant Moura agreed, stating it could be No. 35.
Mayor Bigstyck thought they had consensus. He asked for a motion.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to receive and accept the final report and list of opportunities and timing of the Pacifica Economic Opportunity Study; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked all the consultants and staff for all the work they put into this report.
City Council Regular Meeting 19 March 27, 2023
RESULT: ADOPTED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
8. Pacifica Police Department's First Annual RIPA Report PROPOSED ACTION: Receive the Pacifica Police Department's first annual Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) Report.
Acting Police Chief Clements stated he was joined with Police Captain Bill Glasgo, and they presented the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck was curious as to why the perceived gender pie chart appeared binary.
Acting Police Chief Clements stated that there are a number of sections that the officers are reporting, such as male or female, transgender male, transgender female, gender nonconforming,g or LGBTQ. For 8,800 contacts when they calculated how many of those instances officers observed were not male or female, those numbers were well below 1% and didn’t appear on their pie chart, but he thought there was another way to display that data. He stated that individuals perceived as trans male were .07% of contacts, perceived as trans female were .09% of contacts, and perceived as nonbinary were .05% of contacts, which didn’t display on the pie chart.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if the actual numbers of these perceived individuals were on one of the other two lists.
Acting Police Chief Clements stated that it did not show up on the report, but they can add that information in a different manner to display it in future reports.
Councilmember Bier understands the only data they can collect is perceived. She asked about the type of training they receive, such as the sexual orientation/gender identity training that is offered through the Pride centers.
Acting Police Chief Clements stated that, during the post basic academy, their officers are required as a state mandate to complete a course on culture diversity that does include interacting with people of different gender identities, individuals of LGBTQ community, etc.
Councilmember Bier referred to the amount of stops versus action taken. She felt it was important to have this data so when they talk to the community about our law enforcement, they have numbers to back it up.
Police Captain Glasgo thanked her. He stated that, when looking at almost 9,000 contacts, zero resulted in citizen’s complaints to their department and he think that goes to show the hard work and professionalism of the officers that they have working on the streets every day.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments and, seeing no one, closed public comments.
Councilmember Boles thanked them for all their work with new software, new training, and new procedures to record. She asked if anything surprised them for their department as they got the data and looked at it.
City Council Regular Meeting 20 March 27, 2023
Acting Police Chief Clements wasn’t surprised by anything and he thought it was helpful for them when they have these conversations. As mentioned by Councilmember Bier, they have the data on their website; it is posted quarterly and they invite anyone to take a look at the transparency portal.
Councilmember Bier stated that it is good to see them both.
Mayor Bigstyck agreed to that, and he appreciated that they didn’t direct the extra work but he thought it was appreciated and thanked them for doing it. He stated that on the pie chart on perceived disability it was hard to break out the percentages. He appreciated the amount of work that went in it to begin with.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus agreed with Councilmember Bier that this is important for the community to see all these numbers because of perception, and it is not there.
Councilmember Bier moved to accept the report; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked them and he stated he was honored to be in the presence of people who are holding true to the spirit of service in our community.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
9. Process and timeline for review of Commission and Committee Charters PROPOSED ACTION: Discuss and provide direction to the City Manager about the process and timeline for review of Commission and Committee Charters.
City Manager Woodhouse presented the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck reminded Council that they are not discussing questions of specific charter alterations but rather figuring out the process on how they are going to have more meetings.
Councilmember Boles asked if all the Commissions and Committees asked to have their charter reviewed. She stated that she knows OSPAC has and the LAC has and she got some preliminary feedback from Emergency Preparedness and they would like to review something on theirs also. She asked if they have to look at all of them, or is that something they would take back to their committees when they meet with them moving forward.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, as far as he knows, at this point in time, not all of the Commissions and Committees have asked for this review; this was more directed by Council, with the exception of OSPAC.
Councilmember Boles referred to the Pacifica Climate Committee and staff and the idea of adding another commission related to climate and sustainability. She stated that they have their cap that they will be talking about at a later meeting, but she stated that is like a work plan and then there is reporting and other projects that could continue. She knows they don’t have a lot of sustainability-focused staff and that is something the community could help with as well.
City Manager Woodhouse reiterated the question regarding whether Council wants to consider City Council Regular Meeting 21 March 27, 2023
adding a new Commission or Committee. Mayor Bigstyck noted it for council deliberation.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Gail Benton Shoemaker, Pacifica, stated she is serving on the PB&R Commission and she expressed her thoughts and suggestions on the role of commissions and committees to be a collaborative process.
JoAnne Arnos, Pacifica, stated she is the co-chair of Open Space and Parkland Committee and authorized to speak for that committee, then shared their thoughts and goals for more collaboration with Council.
Patricia Kremer, Pacifica, commented on her previous encouragement in the past for public participation to design city policies and shared her thoughts on this goal.
Clifford Lawrence, Pacifica, asked that Council begin this prospect with a review and shared his thoughts and suggestions on strengthening the roles of committees.
Jay Crawford, Pacifica, stated he is the Vice Chair on the Emergency Commission, and stated some members would like to take another look at their mission, and especially if they are meeting Council’s needs. He shared his thoughts on a suggested process change.
Pete Shoemaker, Pacifica, stated that lack of staff time is upsetting our democracy, and he shared his thoughts on having a liaison between the commissions, Council and staff.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments and suggested making a motion to extend the meeting.
Councilmember Bier moved to extend the meeting to 11:45 p.m.; seconded by Councilmember Boles.
EXTEND MEETING TO 11:45 PM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Councilmember Bier stated that, being on a committee and commission and listening to OSPAC as a liaison over the last couple of years, she thought it was apparent that they take a look at the charters of the committees/commissions, and would like to add the Youth Advisory Board to the list. She wants to know what their commissioners think; she has a list of questions she would like to have them answer and ran through the questions, i.e., what process would allow for the most opportunity for Council to learn from them, how can they have more opportunities to actively participate and innovate, what is working and isn’t working, do current commissioners feel fulfilled and their work is meaningful, how can they assist on educating and outreach to our community, etc. She has a lot of questions and she wants to hear from current commissioners about their experience, such as is their time valuable, well-spent and contributing to what they are all trying to do. She understood it will take a lot of time and wondered if an ad hoc committee might be a good idea to gather information from them. She thinks they need to have study sessions with the commissions and is important to go little by little as they know how much work staff has now; she was happy to spread it out over up to two years depending on City Council Regular Meeting 22 March 27, 2023
how far they get, as she wants it to be thorough and effective. She is happy to hear what they think and she is excited to take a new look at this. She sees the excitement in the Economic Development Committee members as they are innovative with work groups and motivated. She stated she hasn’t felt that energy in quite a while in the commissions/committees besides OSPAC. She would like to see what they can do together.
Mayor Bigstyck stated what he took from what she said is that it might be an interesting concept to explore one at a time and his initial question for staff based on that is whether it would be more or less difficult if they did one at a time. He appreciated that there might be a time constraint with Library Advisory Committee. He thought the reason they are talking about this is because of OSPAC and they might want to start there. He asked if a one at a time approach would be less staff labor-intensive or elongate staff needs in a way that wouldn’t be helpful.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, unless he is missing some aspect of it, he would think doing them one at a time would be less staff-intensive because you might theoretically have a committee or commission in different departments that have different staff liaisons, but all the analysis and information flows through the City Manager’s department and all Council agenda time so doing one at a time is probably less staff-intensive.
Mayor Bigstyck stated what he heard a lot of from the community was that the two at a time approach is likely more appropriate so maybe one at a time might be a way to make sure there is as little stress as possible.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that those processes, such as revising the Commission/Committee handbook or other related processes that relate to all commissions and committees, should be done at the end as it might be difficult to intermix that.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus could see holding study sessions an hour before their meetings for each individual group. She would like to see what they have to say first and bring it back to Council, then have a study session, and finally go to staff to analyze.
Councilmember Bier thought it was some kind of survey first and then a study session with the Committee or Commission.
Councilmember Boles liked having the study sessions here so they can have a dialogue instead of two separate conversations and they can follow up and clarify.
Councilmember Bier thought a lot of this is focused on a process and updating the handbook, etc., but she will stress again that she wants to know how the commissioners are feeling.
Mayor Bigstyck thought it sounds like she has some great ideas in terms of what those questions might be, and starting by putting those lists of questions in our staff liaison’s hands to distribute and bring back sounds like a great way to begin.
Councilmember Bier thought, in her mind, that was an ad hoc for them to sit down and create a survey and bring it back if it was okay with the rest of Council. She would like to be involved in creating those questions for the survey.
Mayor Bigstyck thought the idea was a good one. He will turn the question to staff, as he was sensitive to staff time and whether that makes life substantially more difficult for them or is it another piece in the process that might clarify the process further.
City Council Regular Meeting 23 March 27, 2023
City Manager Woodhouse confirmed the question related to the ad hoc committee process.
Mayor Bigstyck responded affirmatively.
City Manager Woodhouse asked the City Attorney whether Council at this meeting can identify the scope of work for an ad hoc and appoint that now or will they need to bring that back.
City Attorney Kenyon stated they would need to bring it back.
City Manager Woodhouse understood that they will need to bring back an item for Council to identify an ad hoc committee and work with them on the survey question. He referred to the process related to surveying committees and commissions, stating there is a significant difference between receiving individual input from commission and committee members versus a commission/committee body decision, which is something they would agendize, publicly discuss, and then give direction on what the desire is, or survey response of those questions from the entire commission/committee.
Councilmember Bier asked if they can do both individual and body.
City Attorney Kenyon thought it was important to remember that, if they are getting information from a commission, it needs to be from a majority of the commission, but if they just want public comment which they would receive from individuals, as they can’t represent the body, that is how you would get input individually.
Councilmember Bier confirmed that clarifies it.
Councilmember Boles thought, from the questions posed, those were more individual answers.
Councilmember Bier thought it could also be a discussion, like do you feel fulfilled, and they could gather answers to that kind of question as a body.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that, to that comment, they can get individual comments during the joint study session from individual commission members at that time, and then they would know what to do with it as opposed to an individual comment versus that’s the consensus of the commission. She reiterated that is the way to get individual comments as well as a consensus of the body itself during the joint study session.
Mayor Bigstyck also thought, if they send the surveys out in advance, when any given body holds their meeting to discuss it as an agendized item for their meetings, they can discuss their conclusions with one another to reach group consensus before it comes back to Council as a joint study session.
Councilmember Bier asked about next steps.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought it sounds like they want to ask for an agenda item if they want to do it ad hoc and that would need to be on the next agenda to make the survey. To that end, she would ask that they incorporate something about skill sets. She thought that, specifically in the Beautification Advisory Committee, and also the EDC, there have been requests for certain things, such as they want to have small business people, or someone with landscape architect or landscape design expertise, or someone with expertise in native and City Council Regular Meeting 24 March 27, 2023
drought tolerant plants. She stated that they need to address that somewhere.
Councilmember Bier appreciated that and mentioned attendance as part of it.
City Manager Woodhouse added to Councilmember Beckmeyer’s comments that, by the word representation, that is what staff was talking about, knowing that some of those specific skill sets had risen with some of the committees and commissions.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that, on this topic, he would like to see if there are challenges consistently encountered and the area of responsibility was a big question in general.
Councilmember Bier agreed.
Councilmember Beckmeyer added further clarification in the case of the Library Advisory Committee. They had designated seats for representation by different groups in town, but they had a hard time meeting the meeting nights and then they didn’t have that representation. They had challenges over time with consistent representation from the Chamber of Commerce for EDC. She stated that the idea that they want to have representation from these groups for a specific connection to these groups maybe could be accomplished in a different way than having the group provide a person; when the group provides a person, sometimes they don’t come. She stated it also creates challenges in terms of the issue of attendance as, if they say if our person doesn’t come they don’t come, but we need them for quorum, for a robust discussion, and decision0making, and that’s where she loses structure as some of the committees might need a once over.
Councilmember Bier asked if staff have enough feedback.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that he was hearing clearly interest in appointment of an ad hoc committee to work in developing questions that will be posed to the committees and commissions, but what he is not clear on is whether those questions will be agendized for each commission and committee for public meeting discussion or individual survey. He also heard interest for each commission and committee doing a joint study session. If the ad hoc committee develops a list of questions, those could be distributed to the commissions and committees in advance of the joint study session and talked about at the joint study session; it is a joint study session with Council as the first meeting step.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus reiterated the distribution of the questions first.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that would be the equivalent of a staff report for the joint study session, saying here are the questions Council is interested in discussing with them then.
Mayor Bigstyck stated his idea is that, once they have that list of questions for them, the staff liaison in advance of their meeting would distribute to them that list of questions so each individual member is thinking on it. They would then go to their respective meeting and as a group would discuss those questions; by the time they come to the joint study session with Council, they would already have an idea as a group what the general answer to those questions are and they can start from there.
Councilmember Boles thought that would make the meeting more efficient.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that it sounds like ad hoc committee develops questions for City Council Regular Meeting 25 March 27, 2023
commissions and committees, they agendize that commission or committee meeting, staff report says they have the questions they want them to discuss and vote on and what your position is in preparation for the next step of the joint study session, the information from that commission/committee meeting comes back to staff analysis, prepare the joint study session staff report and here’s what OSPAC said about these questions, they have a joint study session, conversation, and direction from Council.
Councilmember Bier and Mayor Bigstyck agreed.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus thought there could be different questions for different committees and the ad hoc committee would have to develop questions for each individual committee.
City Manager Woodhouse agreed that the ad hoc committee could develop a uniform set of questions that go to each of them and maybe specific questions for each committee or commission. When they get to a point of Council decision and/or vote, he wants to be sure they have consensus or at least three on the process to be followed.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that there are two discussion topics for Council at this point. One is whether there is consensus among Council that they would like staff to bring back at the next meeting an agenda item to create an ad hoc for purposes of assisting with the survey. Two is whether they can recall what the City Manager relayed in terms of what he understood a consensus was in terms of the process, then they would need to get consensus from Council that is the process that the majority of Council wants to pursue.
City Manager Woodhouse wanted to summarize again what he heard: 1) Appointment of ad hoc committee works with staff to develop a set of uniform questions for all committees and commissions and some specialized questions sprinkled in there. 2) Those questions get agendized for the committee or commission to discuss at their public meeting and get direction from the entire body in response to those questions. Staff liaison takes that decision from the committee/commission, incorporates it into a joint study session staff report, and the second step is that there is a joint study session with that committee or commission with Council to discuss and receive direction from Council.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that, when she heard Councilmember Bier’s questions, it made her think that, if she were sitting on the committee, I am answering that for myself, and the idea of having a group discussion where there is a group consensus about the answers does not lead her to think everyone is going to feel the exact same; when they ask the question, do you feel fulfilled, she finds it hard to imagine, when they have varying levels of some people who have been on the committee for 18 years and some for their first meeting. What she is looking for is some kind of way for people to give an individual response, whether to the chair, staff member, and if there is anything they would like to add to that group discussion.
Councilmember Bier heard that they will be able to individually answer those questions during the study session.
There was then consensus from Council.
City Manager Woodhouse then wanted to touch on some of the work items that are administrative aspects of the commission/committee advisory system.
Mayor Bigstyck heard him say that it would likely be a better idea to work on this list after they City Council Regular Meeting 26 March 27, 2023
have gone through each committee and commission and establish what the charter is, such as update the handbook. He stated that, unless he sees one on the list that he thinks it would be better to tackle sooner, he would be happy to leave the discussion for this list until after all the committees and commissions have been addressed.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that is what he would recommend: After the charters are refocused by Council, they work on the administrative aspects of the whole advisory system, clean them up, which is a goal of a couple of years from now.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked about the decision regarding virtual meetings.
City Manager Woodhouse thought that may be the exception. He would say that, if there is an external trigger like state law changes that does allow that, they will want get the sense of each commission and committee of doing hybrid, virtual, or in person meetings.
Councilmember Beckmeyer clarified with the City Attorney that they have committees and commissions. Commissions have adjudicatory responsibilities, i.e., can vote on something and make a decision that is appealable to Council. Committees don’t do that and are advisory to Council and an extension of Council; thus, they need to be Brown Act meetings.
City Attorney Kenyon stated, if the committee or commission is appointed by Council, regardless of their charter, they are a Brown Act body. They need to follow all of the procedures for quorum, agenda posting, etc.
Councilmember Beckmeyer confirmed they must meet in person.
City Attorney Kenyon responded affirmatively.
City Manager Woodhouse added that all decisions are callable by Council regardless of the commission or committee on what they are deciding.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that the charter of most committees provides that they are advisory and result in a recommendation, not an action. That is different than PB&R and Planning Commissions. That is generally among the state how cities distinguish between commissions and committees. Committees can be created without amending the code and are generally advisory, and commissions are embedded in the code, have a charter, and generally can take final action without Council input.
Councilmember Boles referred to the virtual meetings, stating it sounds like they are going to have to meet in person, but the way they are doing it now is that, if one of them is ill, they can call in and that might be an option if there were Zoom capabilities for the meeting. She added that as a commentor mentioned, there has been a lot more public engagement during COVID19 where the Zoom option was available but that would be wonderful to offer to the communities if they can have a hybrid meeting.
Councilmember Bier added that there is the issue about PCTV filming as they can’t film every single committee/commission meeting due to capacity.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that she is correct. He stated that one of the drivers about the hybrid meetings is that it is limited to City Council and Planning Commission.
City Council Regular Meeting 27 March 27, 2023
Councilmember Boles focused on the aspect of providing the opportunity to watch and listen.
City Attorney Kenyon referred to the comment that if someone is sick and they can call in. She reminded the Council to understand there are very small exceptions and there must be just cause for the sickness. The general consensus is that, with regard to remote participation, the city should be viewing it as going back to teleconferencing that was allowed prior to the Zoom era and the pandemic.
Councilmember Boles thought that may be a rare exception that someone is sick.
Mayor Bigstyck thought that was a good reason to contact your local state senator or assemblymember and encourage them to support SB411 or SB537.
Councilmember Bier asked, when thinking about the timeline and about which committee and commissions they will look at first, whether they should comment on that now or how should they talk about that.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that it was Council’s prerogative on when or what, but it would be great to have a sense of phasing at this time so they can have a work plan and Council meetings to plan out the remainder of the fiscal year.
City Attorney Kenyon thought it was in the interest of time that they can also bring that back when they bring back the discussion on the ad hoc.
Councilmember Bier thought that was a good idea.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if staff have the direction they need.
City Manager Woodhouse thought that the direction is to bring back the phasing discussion when they bring back the ad hoc committee appointment.
Mayor Bigstyck agreed, adding that when they have that ad hoc discussion, he would specifically like to ask questions about the Youth Advisory Board.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that there is mention of it in the staff report, and that would be the creation of a new commission/committee as the YAB is currently not a Council-appointed body; the PB&R Department appoints them. He thought that would definitely invoke the question about what need or advisory capacity does Council need from such an advisory body.
He stated that Director Palacio can get into it more next time as he has a lot of experience about what YAB members want to do versus what Council may want them to do and how that affects recruitment or interest in being on one.
Councilmember Boles asked about the idea of the climate and sustainability committee.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if it would be beneficial to discuss the potential for formations of new committees and commissions such as the Youth Advisory or CAP in entirety at the next meeting or should they take it up on a case-by-case basis when they address a given issue.
City Manager Woodhouse thought discussion about a Climate Advisory Committee probably is better in the context of the CAP update process in discussing that. For YAB, that is also essentially a separate conversation than addressing charters of existing ones.
City Council Regular Meeting 28 March 27, 2023
Mayor Bigstyck stated, if they have ideas, bring them next time and discuss them at that point and where the right placement will be as they go along. He wanted to allow for the general conversation to happen and make sure they are agendizing it the right way so they can talk freely.
RESULT: NO VOTE REQUIRED
10. Midyear Budget Review and Adoption of Resolution to Adjust the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Budget.
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a resolution authorizing the midyear FY 2022-23 Operating and Capital Budget adjustments.
Asst. City Manager Carter presented the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck suggested they extend the meeting to 12:30 a.m. with a motion.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus suggested 12:15 a.m.
Mayor Bigstyck accepted the alternative motion; seconded by Councilmember Boles.
EXTEND MEETING TO 12:15 AM
RESULT: ADOPTED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Asst. City Manager Carter completed the staff report. She stated that Dep. Finance Director Lucy Xie was present to answer any questions.
Councilmember Boles referred to the contract services and stated there was an additional $0.6 million for city attorney services but said the increase was partially due to a large one-time unbudgeted settlement agreement. She thought that was $550,000 and she didn’t think they were adding much more than what was already approved before.
Asst. City Manager Carter responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Boles referred to the grant writing and stated that they started that off as a trial basis that they were paying a certain amount a month. She asked if the $60,000 was a continuation of that or part of a different agreement.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that was to continue the contract with California Consulting.
Councilmember Boles asked if that was about $5000 a month.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that is what he recalls.
Asst. City Manager Carter confirmed that it is $5000 and the reason they see this item is so they can add it to the base budget; the contract itself will have to return to Council for approval.
City Council Regular Meeting 29 March 27, 2023
Councilmember Boles asked if the $650,000 for Measure Y would also come back to Council.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that it will for the actual allocation of the funds so Public Works will take it from here. Now, by acting on this mid-year adjustment they allocate a year market response for street construction.
Councilmember Boles understood that she is not approving that money now.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated they are approving the transfer from General Fund to the Street Construction Fund and allocating the funds for the streets. The specific streets will be defined later.
Councilmember Boles stated she has a hesitation about that as the project isn’t defined. They are going through the budget process and there might be other needs, such as the Planning Department needs, and it would be nice to review everything together before, as she knows they have money for streets in the budget every year. She would rather see the whole picture before making that call.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated to keep in mind that the item before them today is related to the fiscal year 2022-2023 budget and that is what they asking them to approve. If they want to allocate funds to a street project, they decide during the development of the new budget that they have other needs or priorities as defined by strategic planning then they can make the adjustments accordingly for the new fund budget. She stated that they are only talking about the current fiscal year.
City Manager Woodhouse stated, if Council doesn’t have majority support to apply that money towards additional street paving projects, his recommendation would be that they defer that and it is discussed during budget development. He stated that, each year since he has been here, they have worked to apply more funding to street projects and is a key message they made during Measure Y in maintaining our streets. If there is a sense that the majority of the Council is not interested in doing that and wants to apply it to some other project or wants to discuss it in the context of the entire budget, he would suggest they defer that decision until budget development. He stated that the reason why it’s being recommended now is for Public Works can get a jump start on scoping and bidding out the streets project.
Councilmember Boles thought the $600,000 is only a small portion of the street budget.
City Manager Woodhouse stated it is extra money that can be more flexibly used for a streets project. They have a street maintenance program funded by different allocated measures, and this money could be used to do some streets that are not part of that specific annual maintenance.
Councilmember Boles stated she is a little hesitant because there might be other needs and to make this decision outside of the whole budget is her concern.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he was going to make a big pitch for a different way to use the funds and he would like to explore that for a couple of moments. He thought it sounded like, even if Council winds up being in agreement with what his suggestion on the other side of public comment winds up being, the answer is ultimately going to be defer deciding on that chunk of cash flow to the budget development. He was conceptually in alignment with her even though he has specific ideas on how he would like to see it done, but he hasn’t discussed that with any City Council Regular Meeting 30 March 27, 2023
councilmembers.
Councilmember Beckmeyer reminded everyone that their pavement condition index is the lowest in the Bay Area and she asked that they keep in mind that it was a major bullet point on Measure Y.
PW Director Petersen stated, during the five-year street maintenance plan, they specifically left off some areas such as Pedro Point, Rockaway Beach, Vallemar and a lot of East Sharp Park area. The thought was to try and take some of these funds and put it into some of the collector streets in those areas to try and address some streets within those areas as they were left off of the five-year plan. She stated that ultimately that was where their scoping thoughts were going, but it will be up to Council on how they would like to spend those funds, and if they want to spend those towards pavements.
Councilmember Boles stated that those particular areas she mentioned are all areas that need more substantial work, like rebuilding the roads, which $650,000 isn’t necessarily going to go a long way towards that.
PW Director Petersen stated that they are looking at the collector streets within those areas and trying to look at the main streets and they think some of those are not complete reconstructs.
What they are thinking about in those areas are the residential streets, which many of them are complete reconstructs, but they believe there are collector streets, which are the major routes into those neighborhoods, that they could do some work on.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that his question leading into public comment was can they choose to reallocate that elsewhere if Council so chose and the answer he heard was yes. He is keeping Councilmember Beckmeyer’s words in mind and on the other side of public comment he will make a pitch. He stated that, going into public comment, he had a very good conversation with Chris Redfield, who he thought might be here at this meeting. He has been having a lot of discussions around the Anza/Arguello neighborhood lately and knowing that someone who had previously lived there would likely be here and he discussed with him prior. He asked if he might relate some of their conversation during public comment and, specifically, he was asking after his experience in dealing with SSOs in that neighborhood. He is still doing research to see what our data suggests, but having had that discussion, he thought it was helpful for him in what he is going to suggest to Council at this meeting.
Chris Redfield, Pacifica, stated that he lived at 515 Arguello for a little over a decade and had no experiences of flooding of any kind, but they were experiencing long time droughts in that area. He shared some details of his time in that area when they flooded and expressed his thoughts on allocating that money.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments. He ran on the premise on improving our pavement condition, and every day that he drives up Alicante on his way home, he experiences what that money could accomplish for the street. He stated that his fellow councilmembers are living on streets that are non-existent and it isn’t lost on him that the money they said would go to streets and largely should. In this particular instance, a very distinct impression was made as he visited the aftermath of the New Year’s Eve overflow, coupled with the fact that he has watched the child of one of his longtime customers grow up since she was born. He will admit that this is a biased plea but there are more children there than the one he personally watched grow up.
What he keeps hearing is shovel-ready projects are the ones that get the grant funding and he understands there is a $6 million storm drain infrastructure project that could substantially solve City Council Regular Meeting 31 March 27, 2023
it; if they have the opportunity to get the study on that going sooner than later, he wants them to not have to deal with that and it seems like it’s a triage situation in that neighborhood as a matter of health and safety. He is asking if they can earmark that extra $650,000 for that purpose. He realized the point is well-taken if there is a more robust discussion.
Councilmember Boles agreed that a high priority in sewage overflows are safety issues. She stated that her only concern about this and the road is that they don’t have staff analysis, don’t have a project, and don’t know what the design fees are. If it’s $2 million, they would have to come up with another $1.5 million. She feels both of those are a high priority for our city. She feels that she doesn’t have enough information to approve $650,000 for that project not knowing what that project is now.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus thought they can pass the presentation, leaving the $650,000 out.
Asst. City Manager Carter suggested that if they are not comfortable transferring Measure Y funds from the General Fund so they will leave the Measure Y funds in the General Fund.
They would revisit this capital during budget discussion. In the motion, if they capture “with the exception of the transfer of Measure Y funds,” that will give her enough direction to make a change in the resolution.
Mayor Bigstyck stated they have heard from three and do the others want to speak on this or any other aspect of the major budget. If not, he stated they can have a motion.
City Manager Woodhouse asked if he was asking for a motion specific about the $650,000 or for the recommendations. He stated that they may need to change and note some changes in the resolutions if that $650,000 funding isn’t going to be allocated to the streets fund.
City Attorney Kenyon suggested a consensus of the Council, not a formal motion yet, that there is a majority of the Council that would like to defer on making a decision on the $650,000. If there is a consensus, they can start working on what needs to be changed in the resolution while they are making the resolution and they can fill in if that is where Council is going.
Mayor Bigstyck called for and got a consensus.
Councilmember Bier agreed but asked what happens once they defer this money.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that they have a lot of infrastructure needs, and during budget development this year, they will be talking about storm and streets, wastewater, enterprise fund, etc. He stated that all Council is doing regarding this $650,000 is saying let’s talk about that in our budget development instead of earmarking it now and they can’t take the next steps related to special streets paving projects at this point in time and they have to wait to do that depending on the budget discussions. He thought one simple idea is that the $650,000 could be transferred to our capital projects fund and not the streets fund; Council would be saying that the first quarter Measure Y money would go to a capital project to be determined in the future.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated she is working on the resolution now so the table in the resolution will still. The overall number still stays the same and it might be easier. She stated that they can adjust the numbers based on not moving the Measure Y funds and it will stay in the General Fund.
City Attorney Kenyon asked if they can talk specifically about what needs to be changed in the City Council Regular Meeting 32 March 27, 2023
chart. They need to put into the record exactly what they are recommending the Council would be amending in this current resolution before them.
Asst. City Manager Carter, Dep. Finance Director Xie, and City Attorney Kenyon discussed the changes to the resolution: Line 1 for appropriation adjustments would decrease by $650,000; Line 9 for the street construction funds would delete the $650,000; lastly, the totals would be adjusted to reflect no transfer of Measure Y funds.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that the motion would be to adopt the resolution as amended by staff.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to adopt a resolution authorizing the midyear FY 2022-23 Operating and Capital Budget adjustments as amended by staff; seconded by Councilmember Boles.
RESULT: ADOPTED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ADJOURN
Mayor Bigstyck adjourned the meeting at 12:11 a.m.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED AS AMENDED: 5 - 0; 4/10/2023
__________________________
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor