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 May 08, 2023
REGULAR MEETING
May 08, 2023 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck called the meeting to order on May 8, 2023 at 7:02 PM 7:00 PM OPEN SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Bigstyck called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Tygarjas Bigstyck Mayor Present
Sue Vaterlaus Mayor pro Tem Present
Sue Beckmeyer Councilmember Present
Mary Bier Councilmember Present
Christine Boles Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call.
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney; Lisa Petersen, PW Director; Yulia Carter, Asst. City Manager; Christian Murdock, Planning Director; Maria Sarasua, Police Chief; Roland Yip, PW Dep. Director (Field Services/Engineering); Nelson Schlater Engrg Manager-Wastewater Div.; Maria Aguilar, PW Dep. Director (Wastewater); Lucy Xie, Dep. Finance Director; Bob Palacio, PB&R Director; Elizabeth Brooks, Management Analyst; Jason Bustria, IT Analyst; Ken Fong, IT Analyst; 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 Bigstyck
City Council Regular Meeting 2 May 08, 2023
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
A. Proclamation - Mental Health Month - May 2023
Mayor Bigstyck read the proclamation.
Sylvia Tang, San Mateo County, stated that she works for the San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Office of Diversity and Equity, adding that she helps co-chair the May mental health planning committee with Kristie Lui at San Mateo County and they appreciated Pacifica proclaiming May as Mental Health Month. She shared details on their goals and pointed out specific events that are close to Pacifica and shared ways that people can participate in this mental health month.
Councilmember Bier thanked her and she felt being a part of the Mayor’s Mental Health Initiative has been one of the things she is most proud of while on Council. She felt it was important for everyone to take the time to take care of each other. She stated that Ms. Tang has done so much work in the year and a half, and she thanked her for that. She mentioned that they will bringing in resources for training in the next fiscal year and she looked forward to schedule a training in Pacifica.
Ms. Tang thanked her, adding that she admired her leadership style and compassion for everyone she interacts with.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus thanked her as she felt this was important and it will continue.
Councilmember Boles wanted to share some free local resources. She stated that one of the best things you can do is go for a walk, and there is also free Yoga at the library on Sundays, support groups, jump circles and meditations. She stated that she has been struggling with all she is learning and trying to absorb and she just took a meditation class at Oceanside Healing in a group and it was wonderful.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thanked Ms. Tang for being here. She stated that, in working at an elementary school in an underfunded district, it is her experience during her time of employment in the schools that we don’t have enough mental health resources and the only thing that changed that was the advent of COVID-19 which required students had to work from home on Zoom and the extreme experiences they were having with mental health difficulties and learning loss. She stated that, through ARPA funds and other funds, they have had the benefit of a full time mental health counselor at her school, full time school psychologist and additional resources to request when needed. She stated that they need to keep it happening as she is seeing a difference in the student body and having resources and mental health issues being normal at a young age is a good way to build resiliency and ability to deal with it as they grow older. She marveled at how much more open our society has become and is a good step, but we aren’t done yet.
Mayor Bigstyck echoed everything his fellow councilmembers said. He thanked Ms. Tang for being here. He mentioned that, on his recent vacation, a day or so after he got off the plane, he felt he really needed to decompress. He mentioned having a day job and night job and he is trying to keep relationships happening and he is doing all things as an act of love and it is a lot simultaneously. The feelings when he got off the plane and was decompressing, it highlighted how vital the need is for taking time to recreate is which is health. He mentioned being close to a lot of people and are included in that group that need to take time to check in with their own City Council Regular Meeting 3 May 08, 2023
lives. He thanked them for the opportunity to highlight a month to remind us that we need to be checking in to make sure that we keep ourselves in a place to do it better and happier.
Mayor Bigstyck opened up public comments.
Sue Digre, Pacifica, stated she agreed with what they all said. She referred to those with a developmental disability, stating they can’t speak for themselves as they already have a communication issue and shared challenges people with development disabilities may have in accessing mental health resources.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments.
B. Proclamation - Rich Russitano, Sr.
Mayor Bigstyck read a proclamation honoring Rich Russitano, Sr., in his retirement from Pacifica Moose Lodge.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that they have been friends for many years and the genesis is many of the things mentioned in the proclamation. She was representing one of those nonprofits that needed a place to hold a band fundraiser because their previous location was no longer available and then the Moose Lodge was suggested and Len Stone, who was a Moose member, helped her and it was their most successful fundraiser and continued to be. That caused them to join as well as many parents involved who also joined. Now, they are committed to them and she is grateful to him. She read the comment in the Pacifica newsletter for saving the Pacifica Moose Lodge. She is grateful to him personally as well as on behalf of our community.
Councilmember Bier stated she liked these proclamations as she learns so much about the people in our community, as she would never have known all he has done for so many years, and she thanked him for everything he has done for the Moose Lodge.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated she is a member of the Moose Lodge and that 43 years is amazing and she thanks him for everything he has done. She stated that it is not about her or him, but the importance of the Moose.
Rich Russitano, Pacifica, stated that there were many people to thank, with his wife, Debbie, at the top of the list. He stated, in 1979, the only way to visit her father was to go to the Moose Lodge, now Legion Hall, and when he was 22 or 23, they joined the Lodge in 1979 or 1980 and he felt that he never looked at the time he put in as work but fun time. It sounds like a big body of work, but he was doing what he was taught by his mentors, and he was grateful and fortunate to be in that position when they joined and taken under the wings of dear friends who taught them how to become Moose, a better asset to the community, treat everyone fairly, and the Moose’s mission is to take care of children and the elderly and serve the community in every way they can. He mentioned that every child deserves to have a family, and their local mission is to serve the community in any way they can. He stated, if there is anyone looking for an avenue to give back, they can come see them at the Moose. He thanked Council very much.
Mayor Bigstyck opened up public comments.
Paul Lavorini, Pacifica, stated that this is about Rich Russitano and thanked him and his wife for their dedications throughout the years and he knows he is continuing. What he has done for City Council Regular Meeting 4 May 08, 2023
the Moose and all of those at the Moose is giving them a foundation and hope that they have a place they can go to and enjoy themselves. He stated it was closing at one time and Rich, his wife and Mark and Cathy Johnson got together and went through the office, got taxes paid, did what they could do. He stated that the membership was dropping at that time and they built a foundation and Rich Russitano started leading by getting a new board of directors and that became stronger and they were more of a family and learned what to do and how to do it. Rich Russitano has led by example for so long that, even if he thinks he isn’t teaching them, by watching they understand what they need to do. He stated it is a joy being part of this organization. He stated that, when he retires from his duty at the Moose, he knows he will continue on and may all his kitchens be full of great food and all his stereo systems be full blast and enjoy every minute of it. He thanked him and his wife for their friendship and being mentors to him and his wife andthe foundation he gave them.
Councilmember Boles stated she is just learning, and was amazed to hear his story and all the work he has done for Pacifica and the community. She thanked him for making the organization stronger so it can continue, as she sees that he is invested in continuing this group’s service.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that, in working for the Pacifica Resource Center, he was grateful to be there and to be there for other activities that the Moose has supported. He wished he didn’t count as many memorial services he has attended there, but there is so much love and healing has happened in that room as they remembered those they loved. He thanked him for making sure that, we as a community, have that space where they can become stronger and better able to help each other.
Jack Burgett, Pacifica, stated he and Diane joined the organization a while back. He thanked them and suggested that anyone who hasn’t joined the Moose get in it.
Mayor Bigstyck asked that they take a picture, inviting Mr. Russitano, his wife and any other members of the Moose to come up and celebrate the moment.
CONSENT CALENDAR
City Manager Woodhouse stated, before Council considers the Consent Calendar, he would like to move Item #8 to Consideration to be the last item.
Mayor Bigstyck concluded that he wants Item #8 to be the last on the list.
City Manager Woodhouse responded affirmatively, adding that they will have some of the team will be joining via Zoom and that is why they need it last.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if any Councilmembers would like to pull any other item, and then asked if there were any questions. He then opened public comments.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, stated he wanted to comment on the one about the housing for the teachers on Oddstad. He thought it was a great idea but expressed his concerns on the financial details and encouraged Council to look at it.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments. He understood that the school district will continue to own and operate that land and would like to make it all affordable for their staff, and in the meantime, they figured out a way to finance it without costing the taxpayers, as they will have City Council Regular Meeting 5 May 08, 2023
some units at market rate to make sure their certificates of occupancy will be paid off and, in the long term, teachers and staff will be able to have fully affordable housing for 70 units.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that, regarding the Item #9 on the consent calendar, she will be recusing herself from that as she has perceived conflict as she works for the school district.
CONSENT ITEMS #1-7
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
CONSENT ITEM #9 (INCLUDED WITH CONSENT CALENDAR)
RESULT: ADOPTED [4-0]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Bier, Boles
ABSTAIN: Beckmeyer
1. Approval of Disbursements for Dated 4/01/23 through 4/30/23.
PROPOSED ACTION: Receive and file the Monthly Check Register Report for the month of April 2023
2. Approval of Minutes
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve the minutes of the City Council Special and Regular Meeting held on April 24, 2023.
3. Continuation of Proclamation of Local Emergency of the Pacifica Coastline from Westline Drive to the End of Beach Boulevard
PROPOSED ACTION: Accept report and make a determination that conditions of local emergency continue to exist within the Pacifica Coastline from Westline Drive to the end of Beach Boulevard
4. Continuation of Proclamation of Local Emergency at the Anza Pump Station.
PROPOSED ACTION: Accept Report and Make a Determination that Conditions of Local Emergency Continue to Exist at the Anza Pump Station at the Pacifica State Beach.
5. Termination of Local Emergencies related to December 2022/January 2023 Winter Storms and March 2023 Storm Events
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to adopt Resolution Terminating Proclamations of Local Emergencies related to December 2022/January 2023 Winter Storms and March 2023 Storm Events
City Council Regular Meeting 6 May 08, 2023
6. Resolution authorizing the Filing of an Application for One Bay Area Grant 2 (OBAG 2) Funding for the Sharp Park Priority Development Area Pedestrian Improvement Project.
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the Resolution entitled “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Authorizing the filing of an application for funding assigned to MTC and committing any necessary matching funds and stating assurance to complete the Sharp Park Priority Development Area Pedestrian Improvement Project.”
7. Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Adopting a list of projects for Fiscal Year 2023-24 funded by SB 1: Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Adopting a list of projects for Fiscal Year 2023-24 funded by SB 1: Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
8. Consideration of financing and other related actions relating to the Lower Linda Mar Sewer System Rehabilitation And Repair Project and the Ultraviolet Disinfection Replacement Project (“Projects”) as part of the Wastewater Capital Improvement Plan PROPOSED ACTION: Move to adopt a Resolution of the City Council to approve the receipt of funds from IBank, in the maximum principal amount of $21,000,000, to finance wastewater system improvements Projects, secured by a pledge of a lien on net revenues of the wastewater system and authorizing the engagement of Jones Hall, a professional law corporation to serve as bond counsel, and authorizing the execution and delivery of a related installment sale agreement and approving related matters and official actions; approval of financing is not a "project" subject to review under CEQA.
Agenda Item #8 Discussion:
[Agenda Item #8 was pulled from Consent and discussed following Agenda Item #10 on Consideration.]
City Manager Woodhouse stated that they will be bringing their outside financing counsel Chick Adams on Zoom and they have esteemed PW team and finance to present.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater presented the staff report.
Councilmember Boles was concerned about taking out a big loan for 30 years and knowing with the interest and all the fees they are basically paying twice the amount they are borrowing. She stated, with wastewater plant, the contract they just signed for this equipment is for 25 years for the warranty and the loan is 30 years, and they will probably still be paying for it when they need to replace it again. She referred to mention of pre-payment and understands they can’t do that for ten years. They say, if they want to prepay the full thing, they need to have an agreement with them and it sounds like something that is not necessarily possible and she wondered what they know about that.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that they have their financial counsel, Chick Adams, on Zoom, and a prepayment provision might be a question for him. He stated that prepayment restrictions are a common thing for a time period in such financing structures.
Consultant Adams stated that Councilmember Boles is correct that the prepayment provision is City Council Regular Meeting 7 May 08, 2023
only exercisable by the city after a period of time, and ten years is a comment prepayment provision; as the City Manager indicates, a standard bond issue has this exact same provision.
The city’s prior bond issues have all had the same feature and he summarized it correctly.
Councilmember Boles asked if the loan maintenance fees that total over $1 million over the course of the loan are standard as well. She understands loan and origination fees, etc., and she wasn’t quite sure why they have to pay so much year to year over the 30 years.
Consultant Adams stated that this is a standard iBank loan document and they have their program, fees and costs and they pass them through which is probably what is going on.
Councilmember Boles asked if other loans they get typically have such a large overhead maintenance fee on top of the interest they’re paying.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater asked if she was referring to the annual percentage.
Councilmember Boles responded affirmatively.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater thought that was what the question is. As opposed to the 4.36%, is it all-in or an inclusive rate. He stated even if 4.36%, this was a pretty reasonable rate given the current conditions. He acknowledged that her comment was regarding the 0.3% per year annual fee.
Councilmember Boles asked if that was on top of the 4.36%.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater stated it was included in the 4.36%. He stated that the interest rate is 4.06% and there is a 0.3% annual for a total inclusive interest rate of 4.36%. He asked if that answers her question.
Councilmember Boles responded affirmatively, and she asked if that was typical.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater didn’t know if it was typical per se, but the 4.36% total all-in rate is pretty reasonable in this particular economic climate.
Consultant Adams believes that, in their experience, this is a standard iBank fee and they charge it on all of their loans to other cities and is not out of the ordinary but is peculiar to their loan program.
Councilmember Boles asked if there are other banks where we borrow infrastructure funds from that don’t have those fees.
City Attorney Kenyon stated she has seen maintenance fees on a lot of installment loan agreements. The concept of having a maintenance fee is not unusual. She thought she was talking about if it is a standard percentage of a maintenance fee. She thinks they are hearing from staff that, looking at the overall interest rate, this seems like a reasonable interest rate and she thought everyone would agree. She stated that the interest rate at this time in our economy is a very favorable interest rate.
Consultant Adams would concur as, based on his recent experience in the bond market, an overall interest rate such as this which includes the base rate and the fee to iBank is comparable to what you would get if you went out in the bond market for a 30-year bond issue.
City Council Regular Meeting 8 May 08, 2023
He thought that, if anything, it was a tad bit on the low side.
Councilmember Boles wanted to clarify that they increased the sewer rate and she understands the payments for the loan are coming out of what they are collecting from the public and the sewer rate increase they passed was for five years but it doesn’t go away at the end of five years. She knows the rate goes up every 4-5 years but, at the end of five years, it doesn’t go back to where it was and they still have the money that will continue paying the loan for the next 25 years.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater agreed, and in the next five-year period they will revisit the rate study and performance as it is an element every five years.
Councilmember Boles stated that, looking at the budget that they are looking at later, she is trying to see if they can reduce the loan amount. She asked if they are borrowing the $21 million all at once at the beginning.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater states she is correct.
Councilmember Boles stated that some of the projects won’t be starting construction for a while as they are still doing the design and they will have this money sitting somewhere as they are waiting to fund them as they get started.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater stated that his understanding is that the money sits with iBank but we would draw interest on that money as well.
Councilmember Boles assumed they would draw interest and it offsets the interest being paid.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater wanted to confirm with Consultant Adams.
Consultant Adams stated it is correct, clarifying that, once you borrow the funds, they are your funds and no matter who holds them, all investment earnings are essentially their earnings. He stated we are in an unusual market at the moment as in most cases they are able to invest their bond proceeds, even though it is the 30-year rate they are seeing investment rates which are on the short term of the yield curb, are equal to or greater than their long term rates; he thought it was unlikely they are going to lose money on the investment and probable, if rates continue, that they could make money on the investments.
Councilmember Boles thought that was an interesting arrangement.
Consultant Adams stated it was very unusual as they haven’t seen a market like this in decades.
Councilmember Boles referred to the loan amount in the budget and wondered if we have to take out all this money because they will be stuck paying for it for 30 years. If, out of the $21 million, maybe there is $3 million that they have in our hands now that we don’t have to borrow and can save a bit of interest.
Asst. City Manager Carter wanted to highlight and clarify this was not cash balance. This balance in the enterprise fund includes capital assets and your actual cash balance is significantly lower. She stated, if she remembers correctly, the end of the last audited year, the sewer fund balance cash balance was about $4.7 million between two funds, operating and City Council Regular Meeting 9 May 08, 2023
capital sewer funds. Given the magnitude of this project and the number of projects, you need to borrow money.
Councilmember Boles understood. She thinks that is all she has.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, expressed his concerns on the sewer rates within the Linda Mar area.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus can see why they are borrowing it all at once because the interest rates are volatile and, if they are getting a 4.36% now, the interest rate could go to 5 or 6%.
Councilmember Beckmeyer had a question for WW Engr. Manager Schlater about the useful life of the UV ultraviolet machine. She knows, from the pump station conversation they had that day, that there are often and usually cases where equipment far outlasts its useful life and the useful life for purposes of depreciation, but we maintain the equipment and continue to use it.
She asked if he could make any comment about his expectation around that particular piece of equipment.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater stated that the UV system is characterized, not only by the electrical equipment that supports to generate the energy impart the UV light to perform disinfection but the actual lamps themselves; it is all quite electronic and PLC cards and things of this nature and that is what types of equipment that may, over time, not be supported and the way the structure the BID documents is requiring 25 years for availability for the vendor to support those replacement parts. The challenge is that elements that are technology-based or PLC-based are just innovation is replacing the next generation and that’s just the nature of the industry now with regard to wastewater treatment. What staff has done and continues to do with the existing system is that we are strategically buying in advance, spare lamps, spare PLC cards and other spare purposes. He stated that Dep. Director Aguilar have been doing that for several years. That is a good practice and it will get us over the hump, but they still have to accept the fact that this is the environment that we find ourselves in and it is the best we can do.
Pumps are a different animal as they are mechanical in nature and pumps, even if not properly maintained, can last 20, 30 or 40 years. They are more of a mechanical element than an electrical technology. He asked if that answers her question.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated it did, and she appreciated his reminder about purchasing the spare parts in advance.
Councilmember Boles is thinking about the ongoing big projects and it bothers her that they are paying double the money they actually need over time. She asked, as they start looking at the next sewer and other capital improvements, if they are making sure they are charging enough for the replacement costs in the future so they can start some savings. She stated that they have a lot of new development coming in and maybe they are charging them enough not just to connect but help pay for the replacement costs in the future and maybe that can help them pay off this loan early.
WW Engr. Manager Schlater stated it was a good thought.
Councilmember Bier moved to adopt a Resolution of the City Council to approve the receipt of City Council Regular Meeting 10 May 08, 2023
funds from IBank, in the maximum principal amount of $21,000,000, to finance wastewater system improvements Projects, secured by a pledge of a lien on net revenues of the wastewater system and authorizing the engagement of Jones Hall, a professional law corporation, to serve as a bond counsel, etc.; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus.
ITEM #8
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
9. Adoption of an Ordinance to approve Rezoning RZ-205-20 to rezone from the R-1 (Single-Family Residential) zoning district to the P-D (Planned-Development) zoning district, and to approve Development Plan DP-81-20 pursuant to the P-D zoning requirements; and Adoption of an Ordinance to approve Development Agreement DA-3- 20 that would, among other things, approve a development agreement between the City of Pacifica and Pacifica School District (PSD), related to PSD's project to construct seven multi-family residential buildings with a total of 70 residential housing units (including 11 housing units affordable at below-market rate, or BMR, rents), residential amenity buildings, off-street parking and circulation improvements, open space and landscaping, and recreational fields and amenities, at the former Oddstad Elementary School located at 930 Oddstad Boulevard (APN 023-672-600) (File No. 2020-009).
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) action: The Final environmental impact report (EIR) was certified and Findings of Fact and a Statement of Overriding Considerations, due to significant and unavoidable environmental impacts that would result from the project, were adopted by the City Council on April 24, 2023.
PROPOSED ACTION:
(1) Waive the second reading and adopt by title only the Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Pacifica approving Rezoning RZ-205-20 and Development Plan DP-81-20 to establish a Planned Development (P-D) zoning district with development plan for the Pacifica School District workforce housing project to construct 70 residential units at 930 Oddstad Boulevard (APN 023-672-600) (File No. 2020-009)”; and
(2) Waive the second reading and adopt by title only the Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Pacifica approving Development Agreement DA-3-20 to establish a development agreement between the Pacifica School District and City of Pacifica to provide certain public and private benefits in conjunction with a development project at 930 Oddstad Boulevard (APN 023-672-600) (File No. 2020-009).”
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE POSTED AGENDA
Lynn Adams, Pacifica, stated she wanted to give a final report for Earth Day. It was a beautiful day with an incredible response from everyone. They had 1,685 volunteers, collected over 4,000 pounds of trash, 3,500 pounds of green waste and 12,000 cigarette butts were collected on that day. She stated that they reached more than 4,200 students. Also, the volunteers were happy about learning about new species and, once they learn about them, it excites them and calls on them to do more. She thought the VIP tour was amazing, joined by Council, staff, government officials, etc. She stated the key to volunteers is having leaders.
She thanked Council for past and continuing support.
City Council Regular Meeting 11 May 08, 2023
Remi Tan, Pacifica, stated that Councilmember Boles is doing an amazing job on the airport noise issue. He mentioned some of the concerns and thoughts he and neighbors have regarding this issue.
Irene Lee, Pacifica, stated she wanted to talk about the heritage tree mentioned at the last Council meeting. She expressed her concerns on some trees being considered to be heritage trees that are invasive and made suggested alternatives.
COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
Councilmember Boles stated that the airport noise issue was complicated. She stated that there is a noise seminar they are working on and will be offered to the Roundtable members in the next month and to the community after that. She mentioned an app, stop.jetnoise.net, that facilities reporting to the noise office. She stated that she has an email group who have been involved for years, with a number working on a letter to support Anna Eshoo’s work with the FAA. They noticed that they are not supposed to turn until they are six miles from the airport out in the ocean, and you can see the ones that turn early. She stated that, if you have one to report, you can email the noise office and they will research it. She concluded that some things we can change and some we can’t. She stated that she and Councilmember Bier had their first ad hoc meeting for the Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency Project. There will be a postcard mailed and three public meetings. There will be stations set up so people can talk and learn about different aspects of the project and mostly a recap of what happened before and then the project will continue from there. She attended the Council of Cities dinner in San Carlos at a new hanger space; there was a really neat presentation by the city manager and two planning directors of San Carlos, talking about three separate plans for their commercial areas.
She thought it was inspirational that they did a lot of outreach to the public to find out what community spaces they wanted to have as they are getting high tech and biotech that want to come in and build a big campus, and trying to make space for that as well as making sure they leave space for small businesses, and combining different types of businesses, i.e., industrial, arts, gathering spaces, addressing stormwater, is part of their master plan. She went to the Sanchez Art Show. She went on a police ride along with Officer Natalie Walsh which was fun and educational. She went to the San Mateo County Leadership Council gathering and dinner.
They bring people together from all sectors in the county such as city officials, non-profit, business leaders, and you are learning as well as building relationships and problem solving together; they have only been around for a couple of years and are doing good work. She attended the HIP Housing luncheon with Sue Digre and got to have some conversations with some of the non-profit leaders and will have some follow up meetings from that to learn more about what we can do to bring affordable housing to Pacifica. She also shared some fun and resourceful nonprofit organizations whose events she attended.
Councilmember Beckmeyer had an opportunity to attend the pump station tour with the Mayor and wonderful staff who gave them good insight on the working of the pump station and she built on the knowledge that she had from a previous tour. She stated that they had the chance to look at the Anza Pump Station and see the excellent work being done there and almost ready to be completed, and she praised all the work staff has done which she learned from PW Director Petersen. She stated that she attended the Nature and Art Exhibit and was fortunate to run into Cindy Abbott who gave her deeper insight into the pieces and artists and other work they have done. She attended a neighborhood meeting of concerned residents regarding significant tree trimming and tree removal activity in the area above Perez Drive. When she first heard about this, she contacted the City Manager and PW to figure out who was doing it, etc., City Council Regular Meeting 12 May 08, 2023
and it was PG&E that worked to remove trees. What was concerning was there appeared to be some encroachment on private property. She had the opportunity to attend her first joint articulation meeting, a group of four bodies in our area that has elected officials (Pacifica School District, Jefferson High School District, City Council and North Coast County Water District) and it was an opportunity for that organization attending with an executive staff member to share information on what is going on and do problem solving. There was light attendance at the meeting for various reasons and there may be some changes in the organization membership.
She hopes the City Manager will keep her and Councilmember Bier apprised as he reaches out to his counterparts of the other organizations to figure out if they are going to keep that model.
She also attended the North County Water District open house to view the conceptual designs for their headquarters update project. She stated that it was beautiful and she was excited to hear about the Sheila Water tank. She attended the Beautification Advisory Committee meeting where a lot of work is being done on the Palmetto Street Scape bumpouts. They had a workday with ongoing effort to get more volunteers involved from the organizations that have adopted the spots to turn out when there are workdays or notify the chairperson when they will be able to do the updating of their spots to keep everything fresh. There is work going on to contact Cabrillo School about the Crespi bioswales. The next Beautification Award process is underway as well.
Councilmember Bier stated that Councilmember Boles explained a lot of things she attended so well which she appreciated. She stated that they had their first outreach meeting for the Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency Project and she looked forward to seeing the outreach about that project. She attended the Council of Cities meeting in San Carlos and the joint articulation meeting and NCCWD’s open house. She took her 8-year-old neighbor with her to that open house where he learned about all the tanks all over the place, and he came to her today saying that he is in a water poster contest and he will draw what he learned at the open house. She stated they had the Coast Pride Board meeting where they increased the budget for Pacifica Pride, and she asked to consider checking out Coast Pride and see if you can participate in any way. She stated that they are planning the Pacifica Pride event for June 3. They had the Pacifica Collaborative meeting where they were able to give a sendoff to our superintendent, Heather Olsen. They also discussed something they will be doing in the fall, i.e., discussions about race with the Pacifica Peace People. She mentioned that it was the mayor’s birthday and she wished him a happy birthday. She mentioned the Terra Nova Car Show on May 20 and encouraged people to attend it. She went to paint night at the library and Councilmember Boles talked about the free things at the library and paint night is the best where she had a lot of fun.
She stated that on Wednesday is the swearing in of our new Police Chief.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus attended the Life Moves Breakfast, and the speaker was an amazing woman who was in a movie and wrote a book called From Homelessness to Harvard. She attended Council of Cities in San Carlos and attended the Historical Society baseball event.
She stated that the Lieutenant Governor invited people over for a fundraiser which was fun.
She went to Sacramento for four days and met with Josh Becker, Marc Berman, Diane Papan and some other legislators, mostly talking about funding for housing which is important. She attended a meeting with the mayor and staff people and eight people from Caltrans today to discuss so many important issues to us, such as the trees on the highway, debris, grass, turn lane on Hickey to Skyline, crosswalk at Westport in Fairway Drive, all the engineering for the signal lights but our highway is so crowded that the engineering doesn’t always work, just at certain times but not peak hours. They are working on wildfire fuel plan and removing of the sand with so many things. She stated that they are working on some of the things we brought forward.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus if she had an opportunity in the City Council Regular Meeting 13 May 08, 2023
Caltrans meeting to talk about the highway signs.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that they did and they are working on a sign program. They wanted our information for signs within this month and that should be getting close to being accomplished.
Mayor Bigstyck welcomed Mr. Burgett from NCCWD and thanked him for being here. He began stating things are not well for the people in Ukraine. He stated he attended the tour of the Linda Mar and Anza pump houses. He stated it was Juan Castro’s birthday on that occasion and he was grateful that he was there to give them the tour along with many other members of the team. He met with Paul Totah of Tree City Pacifica and they talked about trees. He attended the Life Moves breakfast with Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus. He wasn’t able to stay but did say hello to a lot of our regional friends. He stated it was important when he can take the opportunity to do so. He was invited by Sara Fields of Life Moves to attend and she was generous to do so and he was happy to come for breakfast. He stated that they had a Peninsula Clean Energy meeting and some highlights they were told about were SB537 which is Josh Becker’s legislation to try and bring a regional component to allow for Zoom meetings.
His understanding of a past committee is that it affects anybody outside of a 50-mile radius which, if this legislation passes, won’t affect us with our current regional issues, but PCE has a membership in Los Banos and that would be very helpful where PCE is concerned for that reason and is a beginning. Should this legislation get through the state, that will be a pilot and one that makes sense within the context that it won’t do us immediate good but some good and might have the ability to be built upon. He referred to a discussion over the nomenclature regarding labor; because PCE has been built upon a strong commitment to union labor, that was a robust discussion to make sure we continue to adhere to that strong commitment going forward. He stated it was a large discussion because they found that, while PCE would like to use union labor in every instance, there are times when the project is small enough that it doesn’t make sense to bring in a union contractor for five different components of a personal residential project when a non-union contractor is able to do the full job. They felt the need to be able to give the flexibility and they had that conversation to make sure they still have that strong union leadership. They also approved a giant lithium ion battery which brings our capabilities closer to bring in solar in the daytime and in the evening working off the battery; it gets us close to that 24-7 energy goal, all clean energy all day long by 2025. He attended Council of Cities and it was good to have County Supervisor Ray Mueller in attendance. He brought a new friend, Councilmember Kevin Park, from Santa Clara. San Mateo County has a tradition of regionally being very strong, very collaborative and working things through together, and he thought it would be helpful for our new friend to see how we do things here and he appreciated and wanted to bring some of the philosophy home with him. He attended only the first half of the Historical Society event around baseball, but it was a wonderfully informative and fascinating history of where Major League Baseball and Pacifica have intersected over the years. He cut it short to attend the Art by Nature show and enjoyed some of those explanations of the various works of art from Cindy Abbott. He attended the Caltrans meeting earlier with Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus. He thanked Caltrans for all the work they did during the storms. He stated it was interesting to hear about the adapted signals along Highway 1 and they are very helpful during non-peak times. It was also good to hear that they are planning on getting rid of some of the eucalyptus along the highway, which is a huge safety concern, and was glad that Caltrans was being proactive about that. He stated that he spent the last week or so in New Orleans, and alluded to the vacation he needed within 48 hours of being in his other hometown.
He mentioned that he was a Tulane graduate and he regards Tulane University as being his other home town. He stated that this trip was interesting as our City Manager was also attending New Orleans at the same time. As they enjoyed the spirit of New Orleans, which he City Council Regular Meeting 14 May 08, 2023
considered the birthplace of American music, he got to reflect about how much work our City Manager is putting in for us. He stated that sometimes the community doesn’t fully appreciate the work he does on our behalf and he wanted to stop and say thank you because we are fortunate to have him and the work he does for us is extraordinary, and takes different viewpoints for what is hopefully the absolute best for our community. He stated changing and shifting as they need to give him new direction because of the nuance they pick up from our community and he was grateful that he wasn’t the only one spending time getting soul food from one of the best places on earth that serves it. He stated that our budget from last year was award winning and he asked the City Manager to bring that up. He stated he sees their new Police Chief, Maria Sarasua, and welcomed her.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Woodhouse had several communications, some exciting announcements and introduction at the end of his communication. He wanted to elaborate more about actions the city is taking in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month. He stated that they have lit the front of the Community Center green at night time in recognition. They are performing outreach about the importance of mental health and enhancing awareness with presentations to seniors at the Senior Center and on social media. He stated that they will be having lawn signs and green ribbons delivered to us by the County this week and will put out information if anyone in the community wants to swing by. He stated that employees are using the mental health awareness lime green background they saw in Ms. Tang’s presentation. He stated a significant milestone is coming up on Thursday morning at the California Coastal Commission meeting and it has been a long time coming. He stated, over two years ago, the city began diligent work on a diversity, equity, inclusion focused surf camp and surf school program and Council pointed that to the PB&R Commission. There was a community task force formed with stakeholders and commissioners with a lot of work going into developing that program and then had a lengthy review by Coastal Commission and their staff, and after a long time of negotiations to arrive at terms that would work for the city and be consistent with the PB&R Commission’s recommendation and Council’s direction about that program, it will be going before the Coastal Commission on Thursday. They will be providing supportive comments and answering any questions and hope the program can set a great example across the state for surf camp and surf schools. He mentioned that they have been recruiting volunteers for the Council appointed Measure Y Oversight Committee with the announcements on the back table in the Council Chambers as well as available online and the recruitment closes on Wednesday and encourage the community to make any recommendations for anyone who might be fitting for that oversight committee. Next, he wanted to speak about our distinguished award and he was proud to announce that the city has achieved for the first time in Pacifica’s history the Government Finance Officers Association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. He was even prouder of Asst. City Manager Carter’s work and all the finance staff who made this possible in addition to all the departmental staff, directors, etc., who worked on their departmental budget for the fiscal 2022-2023 year budget they just held up. He stated that last year they made significant structural changes to the budget process and the document including implementing the modified zero-based budget methodology, completely revamping the budget document format to comply with the industry’s best practices, and new budget format includes additional financial schedules, goals, objectives, accomplishments for each department, statistical and other information about the community, visuals and pictures of beautiful Pacifica to spice things up and the outcome and culmination of all that work was the GFOA award. It is quite an achievement and they will be working towards the same for this year’s budget. He wanted to introduce our new Police Chief, Maria Sarasua. She has been busy working with command staff at the police department, as well as meeting people in the community and performing City Council Regular Meeting 15 May 08, 2023
outreach. They were happy to have her here and, as mentioned by Councilmember Bier, on Wednesday at 3 pm in Council Chambers will be her official swearing in ceremony.
Police Chief Sarasua thanked the City Manager, mayor and councilmembers, stating she was excited to be present for her first Council meeting as their Police Chief. She was drawn to Pacifica because it is a model of excellence, and credits that excellence with dedicated public servants who take care of our community with care and compassion each and every day. She is excited to work with a dedicated and talented executive team and lead the brave and dedicated men and women of the Pacifica Police Department. She was looking to build upon their strength of an outstanding police department and enhance the delivery of public safety services. She was excited for Wednesday as well as excited to invite the community to be a part of this special occasion.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - NONE.
CONSIDERATION
10. City Council Strategic Planning for FY2023-24
PROPOSED ACTION: Approve the City of Pacifica 2023 to 2030 Strategic Plan Mission, Vision, Values, Goals and Strategies.
City Manager Woodhouse introduced Consultant Greg Larson, gave a brief opening statement of the staff report, then turned it over to Mr. Larson who would present the staff report via Zoom.
Consultant Larson presented the staff report.
Councilmember Boles asked if it was possible to tweak some of the words now, in terms of their comments.
Consultant Larson stated he would defer to the City Manager but Council always has authority to tweak the words they are being asked to adopt if Council majority concurs.
Councilmember Boles wondered if where it says “Pacifica will be an inclusive...” could be changed to “Pacifica strives to be” to imply that they already are and are continuing, which is the focus they want to do.
Councilmember Bier noticed that as well, and she appreciated her bringing it up.
Councilmember Boles also asked if they could alphabetize the values.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought alphabetizing things is a great idea.
Consultant Larsen completed the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, thanked Council and staff for the comprehensive Strategic Plan, and shared his thoughts on TOT.
Sue Digre, Pacifica, stated she wanted to add to her comments regarding her concerns on City Council Regular Meeting 16 May 08, 2023
affordable housing, such as deed restrictions to veterans, and shared her thoughts and concerns on public outreach.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated she is fine with the word changes.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he thought they have consensus on that. He thought City Manager had direction on that.
City Manager Woodhouse concluded they were good with the mission statement.
Councilmember Beckmeyer also reiterated alphabetizing the values. She also stated one thing they got in public comment was concern about transportation not being highlighted, public transportation specifically. She wanted to check on whether that might be part of the Climate Action Plan activity and not specifically listed.
City Manager Woodhouse thought that was an accurate perception about the development of the Climate Action Plan as transit is one of the areas that is focused on by the state as a primary area for greenhouse gas reductions and we are anticipating that there will be Climate Action and Adaptation plan strategies related to that. He stated that it is not called out in the other strategies but would be in that.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated she had a lot to say about it, but she wanted to underscore a concern she had regarding the Housing Element update and the short-term rental ordinance update.
City Manager Woodhouse asked if she was asking about the ordinance work related to short term rental.
Councilmember Beckmeyer responded affirmatively.
City Manager Woodhouse explained that the LCP amendment is for the already adopted short term rental cap for which Council has already taken action. Following that is the research and prepared draft ordinance for the major short term rental ordinance revision, where the City would work with Coastal Commission Staff, and following that are the Planning Commission and City Council public hearings, which is the Planning Commission and Council consideration of the ordinance.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that brings them to Q1 in Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
City Manager Woodhouse responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought that was July, August, and September of 2024.
City Manager Woodhouse responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Boles asked about pulling up each goal from the workplan on the screen and going through each one.
City Manager Woodhouse stated it is Council’s prerogative on how to approach this. He City Council Regular Meeting 17 May 08, 2023
reemphasized what Mr. Larson said, i.e., this is a working and living workplan document; the focus at this meeting and what Council is considering is adoption of the mission vision, values, goals and strategies, but the details of the workplan are a staff workplan to implement those.
He stated that they want input, but it is up to Council how much in depth they want to go into the workplan strategies. He stated that they can answer any questions about them and they can pull them up.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he had a similar concern to Councilmember Boles’. He asked if she was suggesting a fine-tooth comb.
Councilmember Boles stated she had a few questions.
Councilmember Bier also had a couple of comments. She returned to the discussion about the mental health resources, and thought it was extremely important that they call out providing mental health resources for our staff. She understood it being put under staff retention but she would like to see a bullet about it because it was what they talk about (staff and community resources for mental health). She is concerned about the overworked staff and she wanted to be sure they take care of them.
Consultant Larson clarified where the mental health resources were currently placed in the goals and strategies, but it was Council’s prerogative to inform staff that they think it is a high priority and could be elevated up more significantly.
City Manager Woodhouse asked if Councilmember Bier was suggesting that something related to mental health be a stand-alone strategy under goal 1 or in strategy A1 in the workplan. He stated that strategy is a bit lengthy but it talks about positioning the city as a great place to work and talks about professional development resources, mental health resources, health and wellness resources and capitalizing on all of those to show that we are an organization that really focuses on and values that.
Councilmember Bier hoped it was sufficient enough to get resources to our staff. She stated that they talked about it in one of the strategies. She sees it in the workplan but she doesn’t see it in the strategies, so she thought it would be worth having it as a stand-alone strategy.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked how she feels about wellness programs and mental health being paired together, as they mentioned before, some of the issues around getting outdoors and trying to figure out how to make those priorities, take vacation time, as part of appropriately constructing a workplace that takes care of mental health needs, in addition to specific resources that support mental health.
Councilmember Bier thought that was okay.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked if she wanted to add that to one and leave it in the community but add it up.
Councilmember Bier stated that is what she was suggesting.
Councilmember Boles asked if they can just add the words, improve staff retention, recruitment and mental health services. She asked if that was okay or prefer it to be a stand-alone item.
Councilmember Bier thought it would be great and they can add the word and that would make City Council Regular Meeting 18 May 08, 2023
her feel that she is doing her part.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated including community mental health resources.
Mayor Bigstyck confirmed with the City Manager.
City Manager Woodhouse stated he is hearing some thoughts about, in goal 1, strategy A, to say something like improve staff retention, recruitments and mental health and wellness resources and increase staffing for rising workloads.
Councilmember Bier thanked him and appreciated it. She stated she had another one on the same page. She thought where it talks about urban forestry, tree canopy inventory and projects, she felt there were a few different things in there and she thought it would help her understand it more if they were separated out.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus and Mayor Bigstyck agreed.
Councilmember Boles stated it did strike her that roads were missing from Goal No. 2 and she knows there is a sub goal for that which is at the bottom even though they have to do it next year in the five-year streets improvement plan.
Consultant Larson stated that, at Council’s last workshop, under Goal No. 2, city infrastructure and facilities, there was a discussion about the next update to the streets master plan and that was identified as an issue that they referenced would be coming back to them in 2024 as a strategy to be at a den and it wasn’t right to add it at this time as it is too early to start that work.
Mayor Bigstyck thought, if hearing Councilmember Boles correctly, it was falling in the right place but it seems that a goal regarding street conditions is what she has in mind.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus referred to continuing the street improvement projects.
City Manager Woodhouse thought their approach to the workplan was that one of the ongoing non-discretionary previously initiated projects and services is our streets plan and the next year is the year when they need to begin preparing the next five year plan, and it is an ongoing nondiscretionary workload. He stated that this goal is tricky because there are so many capital projects that are non-discretionary, preapproved and ongoing, so we don’t list them all in there, but they are all in the CIP which they will be discussing later this evening.
Mayor Bigstyck heard him suggesting that what is not discretionary, is not appropriate for a goal and not necessary to be called out as goals since they are already ongoing.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that was mostly correct, as there are some non-discretionary or pre-approved projects, etc., that if they fall into one of the strategies that Council identified, they put it in there as the workplan but there are others that don’t fall squarely under those strategies and they fall under that grey box at the top of the workplan which is all the nondiscretionary pre-approved projects, etc.
Consultant Larson suggested that, in Council’s discussion, they explicitly call out these streets improvement plan continued work on that as ongoing work like they have with the wastewater work, civic center renovation and the ADA work that the Council is communicating to the public and the public wants to know that work is going to happen.
City Council Regular Meeting 19 May 08, 2023
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked if it was appropriate to update the goal to say “city infrastructure, streets and facilities.”
City Manager Woodhouse thought that was a great point.
Councilmember Boles thought it was good to be somewhere to make sure that the public knows Council is hearing them. She also agreed with Consultant Larson’s suggestion.
City Manager Woodhouse stated he is hearing the thought to add streets to the actual wording of Goal No. 2 and add the five-year continuation of the streets plan in the non-discretionary box at the top to be explicit about that.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked for an explanation on the PEG fees.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that the PEG item is related to public communications; they have an outdated and non-current agreement with Pacific Coast TV and they need to update that agreement. PEG fees are the fees that come with community cable to the city and then are used for city technology needs to facilitate communication and collaboration, and they’re used in part to fund the local cable access station. He stated that it is governed in federal law. When they renew the PCT agreement, they will bring information forward about the PEG fees that come to the city and how they’re disbursed, and Council can discuss it at that time. He reiterated that it is important that they need to update that agreement, review those fees and how they’re used.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus concluded they are public, educational and government fees, designated only for capital expenditures that finance day to day operations of public access channels.
Councilmember Bier asked if it was possible to remove the section referencing use of PEG fees.
Mayor Bigstyck stated it wasn’t an item they have discussed prior and he feels that, as a Council, they may not all be on the same page. He asked when staff and PCT meet to reevaluate that agreement, would it be a good idea to tap our liaison to PCT along with that conversation so there is a robust understanding across the board as they engage in that process.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that Council can direct whatever wording they want, but it is his goal in these tasks to be transparent about what the issue is that will be coming before Council; when they are looking at the PCT agreement, they also need to look at PEG fees and the technology needs the city has for communication to facilitate hybrid meetings. His goal is that, if you don’t include that in there and when it comes forward and suddenly there is a discussion about PEG fees and the task in the workplan didn’t say that, which is why he included it in there, but it is up to Council to decide what wording to include.
Consultant Larson added that what was being presented in the last workshop was Council reviewing action on the goals and strategy, not on the workplan language, because that changes based on resources. He didn’t think a motion or action is needed, but staff always wants Council guidance on problematic language or concerns Councilmember Bier understands that, adding that it is in front of them, and she will take this City Council Regular Meeting 20 May 08, 2023
opportunity to talk about it. She stated that the whole statement doesn’t seem very supportive.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that he is having a hesitation in knowing what PCT just experienced to finally establish their physical place which was a long-fought battle and now, at the cusp of being able to flourish, he has a concern that they might take away the tool they need to make sure we have that resource in our community and some of the concern he is hearing on the dais has something to do with not knowing exactly what this work item entails. There is concern, given what they feel the community just went through to get PCT to where it is, a place that represents us and enabling us to be as transparent as we wish to be. He feels that the more they engage their liaison to PCT in that process, that might ease that concern substantially among them.
Councilmember Beckmeyer referred to her earlier comment of trying to pinpoint and have a better relationship from the calendar and concluded it is July to December of 2023 is when they are going to be undertaking this workplan.
City Manager Woodhouse agreed, adding that PCT and city staff have been talking over this last year about the need to update the agreement and that is the goal. He stated that there are lots of questions as he has talked with Martin about PCT offering lots of services, as we used them during COVID-19 and there is a lot they can be doing with PCT and they want to modernize all of that, and that is to amend the agreement regarding services and they can take Council’s direction if they want to take use of PEG fees out, but at the same time of doing the agreement, they need to talk about PEG fees as they need to make sure they are being used appropriately which is the core financial component part of the discussion of the agreement with PCT. He concluded that they can use whatever wording Council prefers.
Councilmember Beckmeyer would like to honor the comment from their liaison to PCT. She agrees with her that it is a hot button issue. She also thinks, from what she knows about it, there seems to be some discontinuity between the federal and state on this issue; although it is an FCC controlled issue, there is some discontinuity. At the time it is brought forward, she suspects our city attorney will give Council a full briefing on exactly what it means, interpretations, how implemented in other cities, etc.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that he is hearing interest in taking that out “and use of PEG fees” but leave the rest in.
Councilmember Beckmeyer responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Boles would like to understand the priorities for the Planning Department in the different years. She knows the Local Coastal Land Use Plan has to be done this year and the Sharp Park Specific Plan will follow after that as it needs to comply with the new LCLUP and the quarry would also follow for the same reason. She understood there was some work being done simultaneously, but she thought it would be nice to have a breakout of priorities and what staff is focusing on at specific times.
Councilmember Beckmeyer wanted to ask a clarifying question on this, possibly to Planning Director Murdock, regarding zoning code amendments flowing from a LCLUP.
Councilmember Boles thought there were some zoning issues they need to go through after the General Plan update.
City Council Regular Meeting 21 May 08, 2023
Mayor Bigstyck was also curious if this was a general list of Planning Department priorities.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, going back to intent, a lot of these, you have one box about all of our wastewater projects and is a very high level view of the workplan and not intended to be in the weeds. They thought it was important enough to call out, for transparency, the particularly high level and time-consuming tasks like the LCLUP, Sharp Park Specific Plan which is an LCP amendment, the quarry site specific planning process and a multitude of zoning code amendments.
Councilmember Boles thinks part of it is wondering if they can take some load off Planning, like the quarry. They will be hearing the reclamation plan soon but the work is a 5-year project. She thought the quarry specific plan may not need to start for a couple of years.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that they are looking at a 7-year plan.
Councilmember Boles agreed, adding that it is all lumped together and this only goes through 4.
She stated that it is a suggestion and, if they don’t think it’s necessary, she thinks it’s okay.
City Manager Woodhouse stated the quarry site specific plan work is the result of previous Council direction on Council priorities for numerous years to begin as soon as the quarry reclamation plan is approved. It is going to be a lengthy community input/engagement process and is a very central project and planning process to the city’s economic sustainability.
Mayor Bigstyck was comfortable leaving it as it is currently.
Councilmember Bier understood where Councilmember Boles is going with that, as for her it would be nice to talk to the public about what is happening now, what will happen later, and maybe they can request more details about it moving forward. She stated that would help her a lot as she gets a lot of questions for which she doesn’t have an answer all the time.
City Manager Woodhouse thought that was an accurate comment as all of these tasks have numerous Council meetings and public communication documents; they are all very significant pieces of work they are doing, communicating with the public in public meetings and Council and Planning meetings, and in the process of any specific project, there is all of that communication that occurs. This is a very high-level workplan to balance our resources and work they are doing for the next several years.
Mayor Bigstyck mentioned it occurs to him that this is essentially the list of things they aren’t discussing at this time because the discretionary workplans that follow the non-discretionary workplans fall under various goals and strategies.
Councilmember Boles stated one comment she had on No. 2 was one of the goals was to complete collected storm water and flooding improvement citywide. She remembered their drainage study that identified three priority areas, Linda Mar, Sharp Park and Monterey Big Inch Creek, and only Linda Mar is on the workplans for this year. She understood it was a priority with sewage issues and public health, but she didn’t see the others on there to be considered in future years.
Mayor Bigstyck made suggestions to the workplan to reflect that, and Councilmember Boles agreed.
City Council Regular Meeting 22 May 08, 2023
City Manager Woodhouse stated that they could add a row that talks about future storm drainage improvements and probably as well ongoing fundraising strategies for those. He stated this is an area where they don’t have funding and will have to seek grant funding for these projects or take tiny bites as they can afford it in their budget approvals.
Mayor Bigstyck stated they had consensus.
Councilmember Boles referred to Goal No. 3 regarding additional joint study session of Planning Commission and City Council after HCD comments. They specifically said “during” so they aren’t losing the time which is the direction they gave and she was concerned about that word.
She stated that, if they want to cross it out completely “after HCD comments,” that was okay with her, but she wanted to talk about it a little bit as she has a few concerns if this gets put off as they are under a short time frame to get the Housing Element and zoning updates complete for the end of January. She stated that, in this document, they say they are prioritizing the economic opportunity study but there are conflicts between some of the sites in the economic opportunity study and the Housing Element, such as the Linda Mar Park & Ride is identified as 54 units of low-income housing in the Housing Element and it’s identified in the economic opportunity study as commercial, hotel, restaurant. The second point was the zoning code updates are not just about changing commercial to residential and this is our opportunity to ask for public benefits when we’re rezoning; once they change something, such as the Sea Bowl cite, from commercial to residential, they don’t have the negotiating power anymore because state laws for housing are so strong that they won’t be able to ask for those things. She thinks these discussions are important and they will take a while, whether study session or ad hoc committee, and she spoke with Planning Commissioner Hauser about it and she was offering for the Planning Commission take it up and take a first pass. She asked how they can engage our community and how they can move it forward and make sure we have a document that not only serves HCD but also our public and our developments moving forward.
Mayor Bigstyck stated, as bringing up the LCP, he didn’t think it was first one and then the other but might be both to some degree. He stated that, when they had that joint study session discussion, they were ending on the note that there is strong consensus among both boards that they would really like to have that discussion. As he was requesting that discussion simultaneously, he mentioned if it’s doable; it would be good for staff to come back to Planning Commission Chair and him to let them know whether or not that conversation can reasonably happen before the HCD comments are returned. He is aware of one or two Planning Commissioners who have been following up on their side, but it might be a good opportunity to have an update from staff of where we are and are we able to have that conversation before HCD comments, or is it not feasible because that was where he left it at that meeting. He thought it would be good to have that discussion now to know what they’re working with.
City Manager Woodhouse wanted to make sure they are talking about the strategic plan and staff workplan for the next fiscal year, July and beyond. He stated, as Council directed, they will evaluate the next steps in parallel to HCD review of the Housing Element which will happen before the end of this fiscal year and a discussion about what the steps are sooner than before the end of the fiscal year, probably the next few weeks. He stated that this workplan is not about that nor is it about the details about the very specific steps related to the Housing Element. He wanted to point out that it is intended to be high level so, when they are talking about phase one zoning ordinance amendments, not talking specifically about the content of those as that information will come from Council dialogue as they go through the process on those projects. At this time, they are not talking about the specifics of the Housing Element steps, but about Council’s strategic plan.
City Council Regular Meeting 23 May 08, 2023
Mayor Bigstyck hears him and since the nomenclature is specifically “potential additional joint study session,” he wondered if they can take out the last three words “after HCD comments.” City Manager Woodhouse stated that this is, after July, that they anticipate that when they get HCD comments back, they will need another potential joint study session with Planning Commission and Council which is a very specific task that will require a lot of staff work and preparation and they are saying that there will be a potential for that joint study session after HCD comes back.
Mayor Bigstyck appreciated that clarification. He heard what Councilmember Boles said and he appreciated that it was helpful to be reminded of the timelines of those in front of him but those that aren’t shown in front of him.
Councilmember Boles noted that originally, after talking to the City Manager, she thought staff preferred to wait until they had HCD comments before having this meeting which could be in three months. She heard from several people that they are taking the full 90 days and that would put them in the timeframe if they are not having study sessions before. She thought the time was critical and she wanted to be sure it didn’t get lost.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if she had anything else on Goal No. 3.
Councilmember Boles did and asked if someone can explain the difference between the two different steps in the rezoning and the language they are working on.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that on information about this week, they will be preparing a longer more detailed workplan about how to proceed with all these steps in the Housing Element. They have such a tight timeline to meet state deadlines by January 31, 2024, that the phase 1 of zoning is going to be really focused on the regulatory compliance zoning ordinance amendments that they need to make to meet that timeline.
Mayor Bigstyck thought, if they are discussing one of these items, the question is whether it supports the goal. He looks forward to hearing the answer also but he thought some of the answers might have to do with when they hear the item later rather than answering all of them now because that goal is an appropriate work item for that goal and understanding it is fine but there may be more appropriate venues to seek a full understanding, whereas now they are evaluating more than less whether or not these items are supportive of the goal. He stated that, if not, they should definitely discuss that.
Planning Director Murdock stated that he will do his best to simplify what is a complex set of planning challenges facing the city over the next 12-18 months. Taking a step back from the Housing Element, Council enacted a new 2040 General Plan in July 2022. They would ordinarily undertake a lot of rezoning to change zoning classifications and do detailed zoning work to implement the General Plan but they didn’t have that luxury given where their General Plan update fell in relation to our region’s adoption timeline for the sixth cycle Housing Element.
They had to shift gears immediately, hit the pause button on more general and conventional zoning work that would follow a comprehensive general plan update and focus on preparing the Housing Element. He stated that the challenge was compounded in terms of the Housing Element process, given the compressed timeline to do the work and the deadline that they were not able to achieve, in terms of Housing Element adoption, which put them on a 12-month rezoning timeline to implement their RHNA. He stated that the phase 1 zoning program will do City Council Regular Meeting 24 May 08, 2023
is focus on the minimal legally required rezoning, i.e., changing the zoning classifications and making General Plan amendments to the parcel themselves to accommodate the particular densities needed to implement the RHNA. In the best case scenario, they would ordinarily do that combined with more detailed objective standards work and bring a package through for Housing Element related rezonings. They don’t have the luxury of time to do that, particularly with the amount of time it takes to do a thoughtful comprehensive objective standards development recreation process and that is why they had to necessarily break it into a phase 2 and once they complete phase 1, which is the minimally required legal rezonings for the Housing Element by January 31, 2024, they then have the phase 2 to do more in-depth objective standards zoning work.
Councilmember Boles asked for clarification on objective standards versus community benefit.
Planning Director Murdock stated that traditionally, objective standards mean quantitative zoning standards that are specifying things such as building height, lot coverage, floor area ratio, and can get into architectural or design related objective standards, such as percentage of glazing and minimal building setbacks, etc. He stated that what that process will take shape to be for staff remains to be seen as that is part of developing the workplan for phase 2, the community engagement, Planning Commission and Council engagement processes on that really robust zoning work. He imagines it will be more fully fledged that a minimal accomplish the legal requirement phase 1 zoning process which is what needs to happen in relatively short order to comply with state law related to the Housing Element.
Councilmember Boles wanted to confirm what she said before, i.e., if they want to impose certain community benefits on lots they are rezoning, that should be part of the phase 1.
Planning Director Murdock stated that he needs to know more about what she means about community benefits. He stated that, more often than not, community benefits come up in a different context, a negotiation for a development agreement that might allow a developer greater development potential than the baseline land use regulations. He thought she might mean making sure there are appropriate parkland areas or other community-oriented uses that are accommodated in the zoning and that is a different conversation and one that is a bit challenging to have in his opinion in the compressed timeframe where they have to do the environmental work as well as the technical work and the hearing process in less than a year at this point. He stated that they can confer as a team and figure out to what extent they can ensure there is a conversation that happens related to that before they have to do the minimally required rezonings for the Housing Element.
Councilmember Boles thought they can talk about that when they bring it back.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked that they should as she had similar clarification needs as Councilmember Boles. She asked if they could put a pin in it to make sure that, when it does come back, they are addressing the point that she is bringing forward as she thinks those community benefits like parks and other community serving resources.
Councilmember Beckmeyer followed up regarding a public comment inquiring about the inclusion or not of TOT as a possible funding strategy. City Manager Woodhouse responded affirmatively.
City Manager Woodhouse stated, if the mayor would prefer, he can review the notes he has about and for Council’s motion, what is before the Council is adoption of the strategic plan which City Council Regular Meeting 25 May 08, 2023
includes the mission, vision, values, goals and strategies and the comments and notes that were made on the workplan were noted by staff and that is not an action for Council adoption at this time. The specific changes were under vision to say “Pacifica strives to be inclusive,” etc., alphabetize the values; goals 2, to add “streets” after “infrastructure”; goal 1, strategy A, to have it say “improve staff retention, recruitment and mental health and wellness resources and increase staffing for rising workloads”; then goal 4, strategy B, he believed the wording could be “continue the urban forestry management plan, tree canopy goals, inventory and projects.” He asked if he missed anything.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus moved to accept the Strategic goals with amendments as stated by City Manager Woodhouse.
City Attorney Kenyon stated she was approving as amended by staff.
Seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
ITEM #10
RESULT: ADOPTED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
City Manager Woodhouse wanted to offer for Council consideration that perhaps they move the iBank financing item (Agenda Item #8) that was previously moved from consent to the last item on consideration that they move it next of the next three items.
Mayor Bigstyck moved the iBank financing item (Agenda Item #8) to be the next consideration item; seconded by Councilmember Bier.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked that they do the budget last and the BID because they do have members of the public waiting to speak about the BID.
Mayor Bigstyck retracted his motion.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus moved to do the iBank (Agenda Item #8) and then the BID (Agenda Item #12) and then the budget (Agenda Item #11); seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
REORDER THE CONSIDERATION ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Mayor Bigstyck moved to extend the meeting to 11:30 p.m.; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
City Council Regular Meeting 26 May 08, 2023
EXTEND MEETING TO 11:30 PM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
11. Proposed Fiscal Year 2023-24 Base Budget, budget strategies, and the Introduction of the FY 2023-28 Capital Improvement Plan.
PROPOSED ACTION: Accept the report and provide feedback and direction on the proposed Fiscal Year 2023-24 Base Budget, budget strategies, and the Introduction of the FY 2023-28 Capital Improvement Plan.
Asst. City Manager Carter presented the staff report.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus moved to extend the meeting to 12:00 a.m.; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
EXTEND MEETING TO 12:00 AM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Councilmember Beckmeyer had one question regarding the unfunded actual allocated liability for the pension. She also asked if she can go over the vehicle license fee part again, as she knows the state has been paying two years out, but it sounds as though we aren’t counting on getting those funds this year as it wasn’t on the governor’s budget.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that is correct as of now. She stated that they received the large back fill payment in the current fiscal year and why they see the fee difference in this one.
It may change as the governor may revise the budget. They have to bill their base budget based on what they know as of today.
Asst. City Manager Carter then turned it over to PW Director Petersen.
PW Director Petersen stated she is joined by PW Dep. Director Roland Yip for Engineering who is overseeing the CIP for Field Services and Milagra engineering and PW Dep. Director Maria Aguilar who is overseeing our wastewater division is in the audience and WW Engrg Manager Schlater. She then continued the staff report.
PW Director then turned it over to PW Dep. Director Yip regarding capital projects. PW Engrg Dep. Director Yip continued the staff report. He then passed it to PW Dep. Director Aguilar.
PW Dep. Director Aguilar continued the staff report. PW Director Petersen continued the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck asked what the third discretionary project was.
PW Director Petersen stated that it is the Grace McCarthy overlook, which was for $25,000 to City Council Regular Meeting 27 May 08, 2023
try to help with some of the infrastructure problems at that location.
Councilmember Boles had a general question about the disaster accounting fund. She stated we had a lot of rain in the winter and that delayed the civic center project and she sees that as a disaster, but she referred to other things like reroofing. She asked if the fund was specific for disasters versus maintenance and are there restrictions on how we use it.
PW Director Petersen thought, unfortunately, some of our infrastructure in Pacifica is left to the point where it is beyond maintenance and it has come to where, if we don’t take care of it, it is going to be a health and safety issue and that is where they are coming from when allocating the disaster accounting funds to some of those projects. She stated, if they got on maintenance earlier, that would be more desirable and as the city addresses that in the future, that would be the goal, but a lot of these projects do need to be addressed immediately because of those issues.
City Manager Woodhouse thought the history of Fund 38, the disaster accounting fund does relate to prudent saving of money for disasters when, in 2016, there were significant sea wall breaches, etc. He thought it was prudent for any city to be prepared with funds dedicated to that or reserves that can be applied to those kinds of disasters. He stated that, over the years, they have had to use the disaster accounting fund for those projects and the Council has made other policy decisions to apply some of those excess ERAF monies they received from year to year but not guaranteed. When they receive them, they are intended to fund certain things and the balance goes into the disaster accounting fund. He stated that it has become a fund that can be used for very important priority projects, including if there were sudden disasters. He thinks PW Director Petersen was saying is that Pacifica is at a point where its infrastructure is beyond maintenance and essentially disaster. He stated that is the rationale behind why the $1 million was part of the funding strategy for the civic center rehabilitation project that was taken out of the disaster accounting fund and why he is recommending that it is appropriate to also take the $6000,000 this year out of that fund. He stated that there is no legal restrictions on how it’s used, but policy wise, it is intended for those extreme maintenance/disaster or actual natural disaster fundings. He then continued the staff report.
Asst. City Manager Carter completed the staff report.
Councilmember Bier moved to extend the meeting to 12:30 a.m.; seconded by Mayor Bigstyck.
EXTEND MEETING TO 12:30 AM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Councilmember Boles was not understanding where labor negotiations and those additional costs go in. She understands they have a budget surplus of $1.2 million, and she asked if things get adjusted later on. She stated, while they are saying to allocate the money now, it might have to be revisited later, and she asked when that happens.
Asst. City Manager Carter confirmed that labor negotiations are not included in the base budget.
City Attorney Kenyon advised there should not be references labor negotiations at all.
City Council Regular Meeting 28 May 08, 2023
City Manager Woodhouse stated it was important that the $650,000 from this year’s Measure Y is one-time money and that can’t fund ongoing costs and that is why it is appropriate for a capital project. Labor is not included in any of these recommendations.
Asst. City Manager Carter added that, regarding the one-time money from Measure Y, the $650,000 that they want Council to allocate to the CIP are projected for this fiscal year. They are going approve the strategies and they can allocate to funds or not. If they don’t, they will fall back to the general fund balance. She stated that the fiscal year 2023-24 is not affected by this decision at all.
There were no public comments.
Mayor Bigstyck referred to the $650,000 and stated he thought it was an opportunity for the design for the lower Linda Mar storm drain master plan and, if they have that design in their hand, it is conceivably easier to find the grant funding for the $5.5 million for the project.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought the City Manager has proposed an additional allocation from disaster accounting fund of $350,000 from Fund 38.
City Manager Woodhouse clarified that the $350,000 is for the Anza Arguello interim storm drain upgrade project and that is different from the lower Linda Mar $6 million larger project that the Mayor is recommending. He stated that one of the challenges is that they don’t think they have the staff resource capacity to initiate that design project this year, given all the other CIP projects they are working on, as well as interim Anza-Arguello storm drain upgrade project.
PW Director Petersen stated that they definitely have staff capacity issues and she wanted to point out that two of the projects they have added to their plate is the Anza-Arguello interim storm drain upgrade project and that is related to the flooding down in Anza-Arguello. She stated that Linda Mar storm water pump station rehabilitation project for $350,000 is added as well. She stated that both of those projects are addressing concerns in that area and those are two projects that staff is having to move forward. If Council wanted to additionally add on the design, that would be another project for staff.
Mayor Bigstyck is sensitive to the fact that, when they have big projects in the storm drain master plan, that doesn’t necessarily mean it gets funded. In his mind, doing the design means they might actually get the funding. He sees they have five different projects addressed in that neighborhood to try to immediately reduce the probability of that happening.
Councilmember Boles asked if some of that money could be used to hire another staff person or is the difficulty just recruitment and being able to find someone.
PW Director Petersen stated that, ultimately, they will do whatever Council wants as they can see what their workload is; if it’s Council’s desire to move that forward, they would do the best they could to do it.
Councilmember Bier stated that the Measure Y is one-time money so that couldn’t fund a position.
PW Director Petersen confirmed.
City Council Regular Meeting 29 May 08, 2023
Councilmember Bier asked if they can explain where the money was before in the former budget when they took it out, specifically the $650,000.
PW Director Petersen stated that the City Manager’s recommendation at mid-year was to take some of the areas that did not see any street resurfacing in the 2020 five-year street maintenance program which includes areas like Pedro Point, Vallemar, Rockaway, some areas in East Sharp Park.
Councilmember Bier appreciated that. She stated that just the thought of having something to address those areas in our city is super important and she lived in one of those areas and that is all she ever hears about, which is when they’re going to pave the streets. She stated, if there is even a little movement in the areas, that is something that people will see that the city is doing.
She stated that, if she had her way, she would put it back to where it was before.
Councilmember Boles is fine with that also, but she was worried about whether they will need other money for labor as Measure Y is also for that.
City Manager Woodhouse reiterated that the $650,000 that is being raised as they speak in this quarter of this fiscal year is essentially one-time money because it wasn’t anticipated in this year’s budget. The Measure Y revenues of $2.8 million estimated for next fiscal year are ongoing revenues built into the budget revenues that they are presenting to Council and there is the difference with ongoing costs. He wouldn’t recommend using one-time funding (this $650,000 from this quarter of Measure Y) to fund ongoing future costs; that is why the prime rationale is that it goes to a capital project.
Mayor Bigstyck is hearing exactly what Councilmember Bier is saying and why he brought up these five projects that address lower Linda Mar as that shows movement for the aim of helping them. If they wind up going to road paving, everyone is going in the positive direction.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that there are two potential funding sources that they are looking at the $650,000 related to the design of the lower Linda Mar storm drain project; one is that he updated Council that Senator Berman had requested for designated funding as the state may consider one-time funding. That was one of the projects they submitted to them. The other is that they are going to keep their eyes on federal infrastructure grant funding as well as updating their legislators Becker and Berman about our need for the storm drainage funds.
There could be potential future grant funding or state funding that they can get for that and that is what they are striving for. He stated that, for extra street projects that they are talking about, there are not state or federal grant funds that can go towards those projects as that has to be local money.
Mayor Bigstyck referred to the $350,000 interim project, and asked if it might help them get a grant to do the design phase.
PW Director Petersen stated that project is just improving the storm water infrastructure in that area to help prevent flooding of Anza-Arguello.
Mayor Bigstyck asked do they need to have an answer on it at this time.
City Manager Woodhouse thought it would help to have direction at this time on this item.
Councilmember Beckmeyer pointed out that they had public comment earlier about the need to City Council Regular Meeting 30 May 08, 2023
allocate funds in a way that is addressing needs across the city; she thought the streets project is such a fund and need, as they see the need everywhere as Director Petersen pointed out.
She stated that her vote is streets.
Councilmember Boles stated she was okay with that.
City Manager Woodhouse stated he is hearing a majority view about this but he wants to confirm and get direction on this before they move on to other strategies.
Councilmember Bier agreed.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he has direction by consensus.
Councilmember Boles wanted information about the money for the Pacifica Resource Center and Beach Coalition. She stated that someone told her that for the Pacifica Resource Center funds we have been giving them the same amount since they were started and can they consider giving them a little more.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated she would like to see the Resource Center budget before they give them more as a lot of the money that comes from the county goes to the Resource Center.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, on this topic, he has not seen specific requests and pro formo and budget information from the organizations to change what has been Pacifica’s practice for a long time. It has always remained at that amount. He stated that, separately related to the Resource Center, the city is in partnership with them in funding the temporary safe parking program with a significant amount of city funding for that. He stated that the other point at a policy level for Council to consider is that these two organizations are not the only nongovernmental organizations in town. He stated that, if they open the door to change levels of funding, staff has never been directed with the task of analyzing and bringing forth information about all the ones that might be interested in funding and they haven’t put out any solicitations for those NGOs, etc.
Mayor Bigstyck believes they should bring more revenue to the PRC as he thinks their work is amazing and they can use all the help they can get, but he is very uncomfortable in this moment in time of having that discussion about giving them more money. He thinks the way they have partnered with them in terms of safe parking program, and is the city giving them above the stated amount. He thought they were serving the PRC well right now to keep them exactly where they are while we make sure we are going to be able to provide a road somewhere or allow for the possibility of that neighborhood not flooding and, while he has wanted to have that conversation about 12 years, he didn’t think this was the time.
Councilmember Bier wants to have the conversation and she can guarantee that they will bring it up again, but she didn’t know if this meeting was the time to bring it up.
Councilmember Boles stated that she didn’t know if the PRC has asked for more money, but Ms. Adams has requested that they consider $10,000. She stated that it is double, but it isn’t much money.
Councilmember Beckmeyer had a comment about another funding strategy with regard to strategy 5, a different element of the NGO conversation and, to answer the City Manager’s question about whether we want to allocate $1.75 million to the affordable housing fund, $1.75 City Council Regular Meeting 31 May 08, 2023
million of the ERAF or not. She was in favor of doing that as she thinks it is consistent with our strategic goals.
Councilmembers Boles and Bier agreed it was a good start.
City Manager Woodhouse stated he is hearing consensus on that strategy.
Councilmember Beckmeyer then referred to strategy 3. She stated that this project was always going to be a little uncertain in terms of what they are going to find when they get the walls off.
She still worries that there may be more needs coming but it seems like we are substantially at the point now between the foundation work we’ve done and the other rot that had to be addressed. She feels it is an important investment and she would support strategy 3.
Councilmember Boles agreed.
City Manager Woodhouse is hearing consensus on strategy 3.
Councilmember Bier asked if they can start with strategy 1.
Councilmembers Beckmeyer and Bier liked the idea of utilizing interns and wanted to remove the “younger” phrasing.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that they already removed the phrase from the presentation.
Councilmember Boles agreed with those, as well as the other two, just having funding for contract planning and charging for the fees for a short-term rental management.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked if they anticipate that in No. 4, i.e., it would be folding in the code enforcement cost to the best of their ability to assess what that is and into what the STR fee proposed would be.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that they already started some research into what other cities have charged in the cities that do have permittees which we currently do, but ours is relatively low. They started to do this research so the idea is to increase that fee to beef up our code enforcement division within the city and we can take home the enforcement of the STRs.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus clarified violations and all of those fees would be much higher.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that the idea for the STR permit fee to cover that service to provide additional enforcement of the STRs.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked what figure she is thinking about.
City Manager Woodhouse stated funding more code enforcement resources. Right now, our code enforcement officer spends a lot of time on STR enforcement and that can be funded out of this permit fee as well as other related staff costs for the enforcement.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that it can potentially fund another code enforcement officer.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked what a rough estimate of the permit fee would be.
City Council Regular Meeting 32 May 08, 2023
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that Council previously made the decision to cap STRs at $150 and, if her math is correct, they are looking at $1100 permit fee roughly.
Mayor Bigstyck stated it sounded like they have consensus on No. 1 and additionally confirmed consensus on No. 2. He then stated that it leaves them with No. 6. He stated that this year, he was moved to attend three different Council city events and he thought that came well under the 7K mark.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus and Councilmember Beckmeyer mentioned various Council events as well, and Mayor Bigstyck agreed and added on.
City Manager Woodhouse discussed the costs of attending events and advised that each Councilmember should manage their own training budget. He stated that they don’t have a per employee professional development budget, but they would like to move towards that in the future. He stated that you can go to more trainings but, if you see that budget, you might have to pay a bit out of your own pocket. He stated that is the high level policy driver on this and they can play around with the dollar amount and they currently have about $26,000 budgeted, related to training conferences and travel for Council and this total amount is not a big increase over that but they need to be mindful of what is a reasonable amount.
Councilmember Bier thought it was a good idea as it evens it more.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated she would have a little bit of a challenge and have to work out her figures as she is on the Coastal Cities group and there is an expectation that cities will pick up the cost of travel for those obligations so that would come out of her training budget.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that those are workshops or conferences that happen and it does fall into that same bucket.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that is something to consider for councilmembers that take on anything that is a statewide category.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to extend the meeting to 12:45 a.m.; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus.
EXTEND MEETING TO 12:45 AM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
City Manager Woodhouse stated that typically a city might have a fairly complicated policy that addresses this and says there is a category of travel that is non-discretionary as you are appointed to a board and have to go to the meeting in Southern California, etc., in conducting your duties, so he took the simple approach for this budget year to get this rolling. He stated that it could be Council’s direction throughout the course of next year that we might want to bite off developing a more robust policy about this issue and, in parallel, they could develop it for employees’ professional development that fits into one of Council’s goals and strategies to do that but, in the time constraints to get something in place, that was his approach.
City Council Regular Meeting 33 May 08, 2023
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought it was fair enough and felt this was a good starting place.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that another easy component to this could be, they will allocate an additional $5,000 that is available for use as approved by Council, etc. He stated that they can say should there be some obligation that a Councilmember needs to do on behalf of the city, Council could concur that they should use that other $5,000 for that.
Mayor Bigstyck concluded that they are all in agreement that they like the concept displayed and are, at this point, wondering what the right amount actually is and, without that data, it is hard to have that discussion, but he thinks it sounds that they have consensus that they are all in agreement that, in concept, they are heading in the right direction.
Councilmember Beckmeyer appreciated thinking of including an extra amount for new councilmembers.
City Manager Woodhouse concluded that they have consensus on that. He has consensus on all the budget strategies, and he asked if there was any other input on budget.
Councilmember Beckmeyer appreciated the detail about the capital improvement program and the projects that are needed. It gives her a good sense of what our deferred maintenance and almost emergency costs are. She didn’t have a problem with any of those. She asked if the City Manager was looking for anything else.
City Manager Woodhouse stated there was not, and he asked staff if there is any additional direction. He stated that they will be coming back at the proposed budget hearing in early June with a lot of detail.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought that would be great.
ITEM #11:
RESULT: NO VOTE REQUIRED
12. Resolution of Intention to Amend the Pacifica Hotel Business Improvement District (BID) by amending the Pacifica Municipal Code to remove provision for allocation of funds within thirty days and transition the Managing Agency role of the BID to the City of Pacifica.
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the resolution entitled "A resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica declaring the City Council's intention to amend the Pacifica Hotel Business Improvement District (BID) by amending Section 3-17.03 (administration) of Chapter 17 (hotel business improvement district) within Title 3 (Finance) of the Pacifica Municipal Code to remove provision for allocation of funds within thirty days and to replace the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce as the Managing Agency of the BID with the City of Pacifica", and set the date of June 12, 2023, for the Public Hearing on these changes in the BID administration and continuation of annual levy of assessments on hotels within the BID at the same rate as in Fiscal Year 2022-23.
Asst. City Manager Carter presented the staff report.
City Council Regular Meeting 34 May 08, 2023
Councilmember Boles referred where the city takes over the management of the program, and she asked what department staff would be managing that and did they have capacity.
Asst. City Manager Carter stated that it would fall under the City Manager’s office.
City Manager Woodhouse explained that city staff is the messenger here as Council through state law and other actions established the $1 BID assessment and that is passed through the city to the BID, i.e., representatives of the hotels, which is money to promote visitation to hotels.
The Chamber of Commerce has been managing that on behalf of the BID and through these series of meetings that Asst. City Manager Carter covered, the BID member said they want to retool how things are managed and they want the city to continue the assessment but hold on to the money while the BID members themselves decide how and who they want to manage the money moving forward. Council is not making a decision about that at this time, but technically the city will become the managing agency and that could change in the future if there was another non-profit identified to continue that in the future. He stated that one of the future options, which other cities do, if the city were to manage it, then the BID money would flow into the economic development program and new resources in the economic development program would be focused on promotion of tourism benefitting the hotels would be allocated that money for programs specific for that outcome.
Councilmember Boles thought things like the staycation they have been working on were not part of the BID money before but they might be in the future.
City Manager Woodhouse stated she was correct, as currently all the economic development staycation, Shop Pacifica, etc., is separate from the BID as the city doesn’t receive any money from the BID but, in the future, that money could go to those types of marketing programs.
Asst. City Manager Carter clarified if decided by the BID members.
There were no public comments.
Councilmember Beckmeyer moved to adopt the resolution as reflected in the staff report; seconded by Councilmember Boles.
ITEM #12:
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
SECONDER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
City Council Regular Meeting 35 May 08, 2023
ADJOURN
Mayor Bigstyck adjourned the meeting at 12:33 a.m.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED AS AMENDED: 5 - 0; 5/22/2023
__________________________
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor