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 August 28, 2023
SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETING
August 28, 2023 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck called the meeting to order on August 28, 2023 at 5:35 PM 5:30 PM - JOINT STUDY SESSION - CITY COUNCIL AND OPEN SPACE & PARKLAND
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Mayor Bigstyck called the study session to order at 5:35 p.m.
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call of Councilmembers.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus requested participation remotely via Zoom pursuant to AB 2449 Emergency Circumstances clause, stating that it is due to an emergency physical illness.
Mayor Bigstyck explained the requirements, including disclosing any other individuals above the age of 18 years old present at her remote location.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that her husband, Brent Vaterlaus, and son, Ryan Vaterlaus, are currently in the room.
City Clerk Coffey asked for a roll call vote of Council to approve Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus’ participation via Zoom due to emergency circumstances. She then took a vote by verbal roll call.
APPROVE REMOTE PARTICIPATION PURSUANT TO AB2449 - VATERLAUS (EMERGENCY CIRCUMSTANCES)
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Joint Study Session of City Council and Open Space & Parkland Advisory Committee (OSPAC) to discuss committee survey results and consideration of revisions to OSPAC's authorizing resolution.
PROPOSED ACTION: Provide direction to the City Manager after consideration of survey results and OSPAC's request.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the joint study session between Council and Open Space and Parkland Advisory Committee (OSPAC) is to discuss committee survey results and City Council Regular Meeting 2 August 28, 2023
consideration of revisions to OSPAC’s authorizing resolution. He asked City Clerk to take a verbal roll call of OSPAC members.
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call of the OSPAC members present: Chair Arlene Patton, Vice Chair JoAnne Arnos, Sarah Cardona, Ian McDermod, Julie Lancelle, Lauren Goodmiller, Ellen Natesan, and Amanda Skaggs.
City Manager Woodhouse and Planning Director Murdock presented the staff report.
Councilmember Boles thanked OSPAC for their service. She read that they have reviewed four projects since 2020 and wondered if other developers were invited but declined from participating.
Planning Director Murdock stated that they have made the offer to all applicants with projects on sites in the Open Space Task Force report but not all have taken up the opportunity to present to OSPAC.
Councilmember Boles asked if they have an idea of how many declined.
Planning Director Murdock thought the majority opted not to present to OSPAC.
Councilmember Boles referred to OSPAC’s request to include HPD and land adjacent to existing parcels and asked how many parcels they are talking about.
Planning Director Murdock estimated 100 or more additional parcels.
Councilmember Boles asked the City Attorney, regarding development projects, to confirm there are no legal issues with the current mandate.
Asst. City Attorney Sharma confirmed.
Councilmember Boles asked if the Planning Director could explain the project process for OSPAC, and Planning Director Murdock explained how staff keeps OSPAC up-to-date on projects within the Open Space Task Force report at their meetings.
Councilmember Bier asked staff how the opportunity is presented to developers.
Planning Director Murdock stated it is an optional opportunity and not mandated.
Chair Patton referred to Councilmember Boles’ questions and stated they need more dialogue regarding developers and their acceptance/declination of presentations to OSPAC.
Planning Director Murdock thought they could add to their report that they extended an invitation and whether they received an acceptance.
Vice Chair Arnos followed up regarding Councilmember Boles’ question and suggested a different process to consider, such as a minor development plan or more background. She also noted a more direct approach from OSPAC to Planning to the developer.
Planning Director Murdock responded to two topics: 1) a more in-depth description of the project and 2) formalize how the invitation to developers is conveyed.
City Council Regular Meeting 3 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Beckmeyer thanked the committee members for being here and shared some thoughts on their process.
Councilmember Bier stressed that the relationship building piece is important.
Councilmember Boles shared some information about previous OSPAC meetings and asked if there was a fee for this process now.
Planning Director Murdock stated that they do charge for staff time preparing for the OSPAC presentation. In response to Mayor Bigstyck’s question of the general cost, Planning Director Murdock estimated $1000 for preparation time and meeting presentation.
Committee Member Skaggs asked if $1000 was the cost given to each of the four projects since 2020 or the cost for a more formalized process.
Planning Director Murdock stated the latter, as the current process is about $500; the process requested by OSPAC would be more expensive, requiring a more intensive staff report.
Ms. Skaggs asked if a less formal option would be more viable.
Planning Director Murdock thought the low-cost process is what OSPAC has currently requested and can’t imagine it being less formal with less staff time and less money.
Ms. Skaggs asked about additional options and costs associated with them.
Planning Director Murdock stated that it was open for Council direction on the method.
Regarding the process, they have the least formal and structured process possible currently, and along the lines of OSPAC’s suggestions would be more expensive. He stated that, as Vice Chair Arnos mentioned, the OSPAC members need some amount of information and analysis to understand the project in relation to the Open Space Task Force report, which takes staff time to prepare.
City Manager Woodhouse thought cost was an important topic, but there is no private development application process that does not reimburse the cost for the city and all time is billed to that developer. He then acknowledged that the current quick update process will cost the developer less than a more robust one.
Vice Chair Arnos referred to the budget funds OSPAC has.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that this has come up for other committees and commissions, and there is no such thing as separate funding for them but all city publicly funded dollars. He stated that the issue was a gift of public funds to a private entity and is the cost recovery basis for charging all of the staff time related to private projects. If OSPAC had its own budget and allocated it to certain projects that came before, that would be an inequitable treatment of public funds between development projects across the board.
Vice Chair Arnos concluded that they don’t have a budget.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that it does have a budget because any work plan items directed by Council are funded by the city so they do indirectly have a budget that Planning City Council Regular Meeting 4 August 28, 2023
manages through, i.e., training for OSPAC members. To exempt certain projects would be an inequitable treatment of private development projects.
Vice Chair Arnos understood.
Committee Member Ellen Natesan asked what would be different or added to the current reports they are generating if under a more formal required process.
Planning Director Murdock thought, if there is the expectation that OSPAC will have a more indepth analysis and recommendations, they would need to do more background information as to how the project relates to the General Plan, etc., that could modify a project, in addition to follow-up process.
Ms. Natesan asked if the background research would be done for the Planning Commission or wouldn’t have been done otherwise.
Planning Director Murdock stated it depends on the project and the degree they need to prepare regarding different policies and issues regarding open space; this would be a deep and focused open space related analysis that probably wouldn’t be done for Planning Commission.
Ms. Natesan asked about developers’ concerns about costs.
Planning Director Murdock thought time was more important to applicants than money in most cases as it can impact the project timeline.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus asked how much additional time it will take and how OSPAC can make a decision based on a portion of the information. She also asked where the funds could be located from.
Planning Director Murdock stated that scheduling under OSPAC’s current request could add 1-2 months: Considering the process, they would not be able to make the first OSPAC meeting after application submittal, thus 1-2 months in best case scenario, and meetings may be canceled, adding 1-2 months more. Regarding information, OSPAC is trying to balance engaging with applicants early enough where applicants may be willing to make changes to the project and having enough information to understand the project. Thus, OSPAC may need to speak to requesting engagement with applicants prior to application completeness.
Chair Patton stated funding may be available from grants with OSPAC and staff’s collaboration.
Regarding what they hope to recommend to Planning or Council, they would like to comment in terms of Open Space Task Force Report in terms of natural resource, adjacency, etc.
Ms. Natesan stated that, in terms of commenting on a project, it would help to look at the project at a high level in the context of the larger landscape trail. She referred to various funding types, where they can help get a grant to address the various issues.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Peter Loeb, Pacifica, stated he is present mainly because he was on the Council that created OSPAC, as well as Sue Digre and Julie Lancelle, and he explained the reason for creating that report, and didn’t support a new level of legislative review but supports an opportunity to have a conversation with a developer.
City Council Regular Meeting 5 August 28, 2023
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, stated he read the staff report which was about time and money, and he wanted to present them a different view, sharing his thoughts on the process.
Sue Digre, Pacifica, stated she agrees with both speakers, and shared her thoughts and suggestions on the public being engaged in the process of government by and for the people.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, stated he wanted to share his comments on the need for this committee reviewing the projects in the HPD.
Dinah Verby, Pacifica, stated that she is speaking as an individual but most Pacificans know she is the Vice President of the Pacifica Land Trust Board and is looking at this issue through that lens as well. She supports restoring OSPAC’s original function rather than expanding and shared her thoughts on the issue.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments.
Councilmember Boles asked about the end time of the meeting, and Mayor Bigstyck checked with Asst. City Attorney Sharma. Asst. City Attorney Sharma stated it is the purview of the body to keep going as desired, provided that, if they get too late in the hour, she would have concerns. She thought extending about 30 minutes should be okay.
Mayor Bigstyck concluded going to 7:30 would be acceptable.
Asst. City Attorney Sharma responded affirmatively.
Mayor Bigstyck appreciated everyone who attended and commented and he appreciated all the community sentiment and respectful tone. He thanked OSPAC for their presence and expressed his hope that they all feel comfortable that this is a conversation. He welcomed every viewpoint during the discussion. He stated that he would like to take about 20 minutes for the discussion, or more if necessary, but he would like to reserve the last 15 minutes for Council to deliberate about direction.
Committee Member Sarah Cardona stated that they are learning a lot about how the city works.
She stated that they want to find ways to work together to maintain the beautiful Pacifica we have while balancing the decision-making and better understanding of the Planning Commission to enable more lines of communication. She also stated that there are many ways OSPAC can support funding with staff.
Mayor Bigstyck shared his thoughts on a liaison from OSPAC and asked staff for feedback.
Asst. City Attorney Sharma referred to the liaison’s role which is to represent the views of the majority of the body. She shared her thoughts on the issue and concluded a concern she would have on the formality that such a decision takes to come to. Referring to the Housing Element process and HCD, she mentioned the trend of state laws and any additional hurdles or costs will be scrutinized by the state.
Councilmember Boles asked if Planning Commission is trained on and aware of the Open Space Task Force Report and OSPAC issues.
City Manager Woodhouse mentioned what the Planning Commission reviews regarding the City Council Regular Meeting 6 August 28, 2023
application staff analyzed; there are master plans that can be analyzed and included in the report to the Planning Commission.
Councilmember Boles concluded that nothing precludes an OSPAC member from coming to Planning Commission meetings for projects under the Open Space Task Force Report and commenting as an individual.
City Manager Woodhouse stated any Commission or Committee member can speak as an interested citizen on a project.
Vice Chair Arnos stated that their committee has had experience with liaisons, which was for sharing information and building community.
Planning Director Murdock commented further on the question of why there aren’t liaisons from other committees or commissions present at the Planning Commission meeting to share information and perspectives. He mentioned thoughts on other considerations and the difficulty in defining where the line is to be drawn for providing the opportunity for several committees to share information and perspectives from their advisory documents.
Mayor Bigstyck referred to the staff report regarding the Open Space Task Force Report being used as a reference for various committees to identify issues of concern. He asked if staff included that information when a development comes before the Planning Commission.
Planning Director Murdock didn’t think there were many projects advanced to the Planning Commission from the Open Space Task Force Report; the relevance of the Open Space Task Force Report wasn’t clear with no formal role in regulations evaluated and applied to projects, so they may consider where that role is carved out or not in the General Plan or zoning regulations that apply to the development.
Mayor Bigstyck had two questions: 1) Would they amend the General Plan to include specific reference to the Open Space Task Force Report in such a way that it becomes a requirement of Planning Commission? 2) Is the nature of the narrative in the report such that it might give clear indications to Planning Commission on the latitude they may have related to that document regarding suggestions on a project.
Planning Director Murdock thought it was yes, when it makes sense to make that a General Plan amendment, adding that the Open Space Task Force Report is mentioned in the General Plan but doesn’t have any implementing or guiding policies related to applying that when considering General Plan consistency. Regarding the effectiveness of the Open Space Task Force Report to provide a more formalized role, he wasn’t sure. He concluded that, if Council is considering a General Plan amendment, they need to think about how the Open Space Task Force Report can be updated to identify open space opportunities and how they can be capitalized in the development process.
Mayor Bigstyck thought he was saying the Open Space Task Force Report could be more powerful for the Planning Commission if updated and he asked if there was a role for OSPAC during the update process.
Planning Director Murdock stated that yes, if the General Plan were amended to explicitly reference the report, the Open Space Task Force Report would need to be updated and then could provide a useful tool; to whatever extent OSPAC continues to have a role in reviewing City Council Regular Meeting 7 August 28, 2023
projects, an update to articulate and highlight what those Open Space opportunities are to be capitalized on is essential to having an effective review of the development project and provide up front guidance. He stated that they can have significant community input into a plan update process in a way that is not as easy to achieve in a single meeting on a specific project.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated Planning Director Murdock was echoing her thoughts throughout the course of this meeting. It was informative to hear the perspective of those who came before and she felt they were at a place that is striking her as not being that different from past times when there was keen interest in development. Now it is coming from HCD. She thought there was some urgency around this community regarding a need and desire for collaboration for legal reasons. She stated that the Open Space Task Force Report is not the law, but an opportunity.
Ms. Natesan sees the value in an updated document, but updating a large document would be expensive, time-consuming, and controversial. She has some concerns about launching the process of revising it while projects and developments are moving through; the underlying process is to engage early with the community and developers to find opportunities.
Vice Chair Arnos thought the Committee would be open to some compromise to tighten up the invitations, get developers to come, get the community to come, and allow the public to call in.
She felt they were a valuable committee and they want to build community. She appreciated this meeting to do this as it is important to the committee and thanked Council for the time.
Councilmember Boles thanked Vice Chair Arnos for her comments. She asked if there were other ways they can strengthen the process now, define their purview and role to help them do their job, and get more projects to come before them. She referred to their meetings allowing more public participation. She stated that staff was looking for input on prioritizing the items that weren’t completed, and she would like to hear from everyone on what they think are the most important things they want to work on.
Chair Patton thought, in their proposed resolution, they outlined what they thought were the most important things to their committee. They all understood there were some legal constraints in terms of what can be done, but they feel that a real opportunity is being lost because they aren’t being engaged the way they could be. In support of what Ms. Natesan was saying, she thought they have to tread very carefully with updating with the Open Space Task Force Report. From her perspective, when she read the Open Space Task Force Report for the first time, she saw an aspirational document; from a land owner point of view, here’s a way of being included and identifying some of the more significant environmental issues.
Councilmember Bier stated she is ready to give her feedback and direction, and she thanked them for responding to the survey. She thinks there is room for some changes in meeting structure where every single commissioner has an opportunity to speak. She thinks having OSPAC being very involved in creating the invitations to our developers and the community is important. If they have an opportunity to look at budget next year, they can have a budget for brochures or flyers where OSPAC is able to express how important it is with a positive opportunity about it.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus thought the first thing to do would be to standardize the letter between OSPAC and Planning as it is an ask for the developer to see if they want to come but she didn’t think you can make them. The public has the opportunity to speak at Council and Planning Commission meetings and it would give then an additional place to speak about a project. She City Council Regular Meeting 8 August 28, 2023
didn’t feel like OSPAC should be making decisions on development. She stated that the city has a list of all projects that anyone in the public can go to and see if people have submitted projects and where they are in the process, if done, incomplete, and has information.
Councilmember Boles was leaning towards keeping the process as it is, informal and not required, but she wants to strengthen the process and do more to encourage more participation by developers. She asked whether they can ask a developer to outreach to find neighbors and further define the role, purview, and what items would be discussed, which is part of the communication to the developer. She was uncomfortable saying to add all HPD sites or add all the sites that are adjacent to what is existing now, but if OSPAC was to make a list, as there is a map in the General Plan of sites that are currently HPD, she thought it would be easy to add those parcels. She thinks having a thoughtful process of reviewing and deciding what sites would be added would be good. She would love to see a map digitized as well as Zoom meetings. She noted OSPAC input in various city aspects could be helpful as well.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that she is looking forward to working on this further. She thought it was important to have a meeting between OSPAC and the Planning Commission at some time.
Mayor Bigstyck felt the importance of updating the Open Space Task Force Report was highlighted by Councilmember Boles. He thought studying what that would mean at an OSPAC meeting and seeing where it could go would be a good first step. He heard consistently was a letter penned by the Chair and Vice Chair inviting applicants to voluntarily come which sounds like a good idea. He stated updating OSPAC on what is going on at different sites would benefit from reference materials like the Open Space Task Force Report. He thought OSPAC could discuss what would be helpful to discuss as a group, including retreat opportunities. He would like to pitch back to OSPAC on a debrief and deconstruction of how they felt about this study session and if they all feel like they would like to come back and engage with Council more; he suggested staff listen to what OSPAC says and encouraged a second round of discussion.
City Manager Woodhouse wanted to understand and be more specific about the direction. He stated that Mayor Bigstyck is directing OSPAC to take this up and discuss and staff to bring back potential future joint study session again. He felt there has been a lot of input and ideas shared, as well as robust discussion. The goal is revisions to the charter and direction. Staff could take all of that as they do with other issues and process it and bring it back to a consideration item for the Council to have that more robust discussion about what to decide to do and what direction to give. If it is being kicked back to OSPAC, his request would be to provide more clear direction about what they are discussing and bringing back to Council.
Councilmember Bier thought this is the time to extend their study sessions because they are taking the time to review charters, including an extended conversation with OSPAC.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he is recommending that this item go back to OSPAC for them to debrief on it so they can deliberate on how they felt heard and on which issues they might like to discuss more with Council.
Chair Patton understood that they would bring the discussion back to OSPAC, get more information from where they came from, and potentially return for another joint study session.
City Council Regular Meeting 9 August 28, 2023
JOINT STUDY SESSION - City Council and Open Space & Parkland Advisory Committee No Vote Required.
ADJOURN JOINT STUDY SESSION
Mayor Bigstyck adjourned the study session at 7:42 p.m. 7:00 PM OPEN SESSION - REGULAR MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL
Call to Order
Mayor Bigstyck reconvened the regular meeting at 7:55 p.m.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Tygarjas Bigstyck Mayor Present
Sue Vaterlaus Mayor pro Tem Remote
Sue Beckmeyer Councilmember Present
Mary Bier Councilmember Present
Christine Boles Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus requested participation remotely via Zoom pursuant to AB 2449 Emergency Circumstances clause, stating that it is due to an emergency physical illness.
Mayor Bigstyck explained the requirements, including disclosing any other individuals above the age of 18 years old present at her remote location.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated that no individuals were currently in the room with her.
City Clerk Coffey asked for a roll call vote of Council to approve Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus’ participation via Zoom due to emergency circumstances. She then took a vote by verbal roll call.
APPROVE REMOTE PARTICIPATION PURSUANT TO AB2449 - VATERLAUS (EMERGENCY CIRCUMSTANCES)
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Deepa Sharma, Asst. City Attorney; Lisa Petersen, PW Director; Yulia Carter, Asst. City Manager; Christian Murdock, Planning Director; Maria Sarasua, Police Chief; Bob Palacio, PB&R Director; Bill Amable, Dep. Fire Chief; Tara City Council Regular Meeting 10 August 28, 2023
Schiff, Economic Development Manager; Vicente Romero, Police Sergeant; Raymund Donguines, Sr. Civil Engineer; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk; Emily La, Dep. City Clerk.
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Bigstyck read the Land Acknowledgment.
Salute to the Flag led by Councilmember Beckmeyer
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
A. Presentation by San Mateo Resource Conservation District (RCD) - Kellyx Nelson Kellyx Nelson, Exec. Director of Resource Conservation District (RCD) in San Mateo County gave a presentation regarding their role in helping with conservation.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated what Ms. Nelson does is amazing and she loves how she partners with so many people in our community. She stated that she would add mental health to her comment on the benefits for human members of the ecosystem. She noted the engagement and passion present in the opportunities to their citizens.
Ms. Nelson thanked her. One of the things she loves about working in Pacifica is that Pacifica has so much community capacity for conservation. She stated that the capacity in this community for conservation is amazing.
Councilmember Boles added the overlaps between the work with fire management and habitat restoration and its overlap with OSPAC. Ms. Nelson would welcome the opportunity to meet with them.
Councilmember Bier thanked her as she has learned so much.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked her for being here and touching on bacteria as that is a huge hot topic in Pacifica. He asked her about Eucalyptus removal in general.
Ms. Nelson stated that she feels the same conflict:while they are beautiful, they damage soil health and accelerate erosion, impair bio-diversity, and disrupt ecological function, and from all those ecosystem process related perspectives.
Councilmember Boles asked what happens following removal of Eucalyptus.
Ms. Nelson stated it depends on the project as every project is designed differently and they start a project by saying what are our goals. If it is for forest ecological restoration, what it looks like is going to be different from a shaded fuel break which is about disrupting the continuity of fuels or giving an egress route. She stated one might look less vegetated than another.
Sometimes there are other habitats that are valuable if ecological restoration is your goal. If your focus is narrowly on fuels reduction, it might look very different from an ecological restoration project.
Mayor Bigstyck again thanked her and stated he favored opportunities later to learn more about what ecological restoration might look like. He stated that it was good to have her breadth of knowledge and to hear about the copious amounts of work our city is doing. He stated that they will get her some information about OSPAC if she would like to connect with them in the not-too- City Council Regular Meeting 11 August 28, 2023
distant future.
Ms. Nelson added the experts in the fire issues are CalFire and the fire professionals. As natural resource management professionals, they take a lot of their priorities and cues from those experts.
Councilmember Beckmeyer wanted to add her appreciation for giving acknowledgement and a nod to our water district, and the partnership opportunity that we have between all of these agencies are phenomenal. They are excited to keep working with her.
B. Proclamation - Recovery Happens Month - September 2023 Mayor Bigstyck read a proclamation honoring National Recovery Month. He then welcomed Greg Thompson and Veronica Antonelli.
Greg Thompson and Veronica Antonelli from Voices of Recovery in San Mateo County thanked the Mayor and Councilmembers on behalf of Voices of Recovery and the Recovery Happens Committee for joining them to proclaim September as Recovery Happens Month.
Veronica Antonelli stated that National Recovery Month started in 1989 and it is held every September to promote and support the nation ‘s strong and proud recovery community. Voices of Recovery in collaboration with San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Offices of Diversity and Equity, and many community members and allies, come together each year to increase public awareness surrounding substance use with mental health recovery.
Together, they continue to bring awareness to people who can and do recover. Over the course of the month of September, hundreds of people in our community will gather to help reduce the stigma of substance use and mental health challenges. They celebrate accomplishments of those successfully entering recovery and beginning fulfilling lives, not only in San Mateo County but recovery programs all over the country. They raise awareness about recovery and share the positive stories of their transformed lives. They also have some flyers that they would like to distribute.
Mr. Thompson thanked Council again for their amazing proclamation that September is Recovery Happens Month in 2023 and they encourage everyone to promote their theme. They hope they will continue to support their events throughout the month of September.
Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus stated at 8:29 p.m. that she would need to exit the meeting.
Councilmember Bier thanked them for being here. She stated that, in her day job, she works with young people doing brief intervention and primary prevention, trying to prevent addiction, and using harm reduction approaches to prevent addiction in our young people and hopefully lead them to a path where they can choose healthier habits. Recovery is the basis to everything she does and is the most important thing in her life.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that he could delve into numerous stories about being affected by loved ones with substance issues; he appreciated them being here to tell them their story and to receive this proclamation.
C. Proclamation - Suicide Prevention Month - September 2023 Mayor Bigstyck read a proclamation honoring Suicide Prevention Month. He then welcomed Chloe May and Michael Lynn.
City Council Regular Meeting 12 August 28, 2023
Michael Lim of the San Mateo County Behavioral Health Commission and Chloe May of the San Mateo County Youth Mental and Behavioral Health Commission Youth Action Board introduced themselves.
Mr. Lim thanked Council for joining the county and neighboring cities and towns to proclaim September as Suicide Prevention Month. He was honored to accept the proclamation on behalf of the Commission. He encouraged Council and Pacifica residents to promote this year’s theme. He stated that the act of sharing, whether it is through sharing stories, time, resources, or experiences, can serve as a powerful tool in suicide prevention.
Ms. May stated that they can achieve this theme by knowing the signs of suicide, i.e. checking in with people in our lives who we are concerned about and sharing resources.
Mr. Lim described other ways to share hope together. He extended an invitation to everyone to attend the Behavioral Health Commission meetings which happens on the first Wednesday of every month. He thanked Council for recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked them for being here.
Councilmember Bier thanked both of them.
Councilmember Boles thanked them for being here. A majority of the police responses in Pacifica are not crime related but mental health related. When you reach out for help, there are people who really do want to help you. She shared a personal story and said she is so excited about their program. She thanked them for all their work and for sharing these resources with our community.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thanked them for being here and for the work they do and the advocacy. She also noted our Police Chief established Bridgewatch Angels, and she appreciated all they are doing and all they are bringing to our community.
Mr. Lim shared the trainings provided by the County in conjunction with the San Mateo County Library System that hopefully will alleviate some of the apprehension that most of us feel and be ready to engage and help save a life.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he had two things to say: 1) He is a big believer that speaking a word often takes its power away from it, and it makes it important that we are able to incorporate suicide into our conversational language because it should be a conversation. He stated that, having gone through that training a year or two back, it was important that, when you approach somebody in that state, you are not denying them their state of being. 2) He is being reminded of his own family background, which connects the proclamation he was giving at this meeting.
He thanked both of them for being here.
D. Proclamation - National Preparedness Month - September 2023 Mayor Bigstyck read the proclamation honoring National Preparedness Month.
Dep. Fire Chief Amable thanked Council on behalf of Chief Myers of North County Fire Authority for the proclamation recognizing National Preparedness Month. He stated it was a reminder for them all to think about emergency or disasters that might occur for individuals, family, City Council Regular Meeting 13 August 28, 2023
businesses, and neighbors. He stated that the theme this year is on the elderly. He stated they should look around the neighborhood and see if someone else might need some assistance while they are looking at preparing for emergency or disasters. He stated that there are resources available for everyone locally, statewide, and nationally.
Councilmembers Bier and Beckmeyer appreciated him and thanked him for being here.
Councilmember Boles noted our CERT program in Pacifica has a "Map Your Neighborhood" program, which is a key part in understanding the neighbors and who the elderly or disabled community are so we can look out for each other and assist them in an emergency. She was a fan of the CERT program, with the public to be empowered to do basic first aid, etc. She thanked him for all he does to help us be prepared.
Mayor Bigstyck asked Dep. Chief Amable to describe SMC Alerts.
Dep. Chief Amable stated that people can sign up for SMC Alerts for any notifications that might be broadcast in the county.
Mayor Bigstyck thanked him for all his work.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Bigstyck asked if any Councilmember wanted to pull any item from the consent calendar.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that he has one change he needs to note regarding Item 2.
He stated that there were two agreements inadvertently attached to the item and Attachment B is the correct signed agreement and they would like to note for the record that Attachment A will be removed from that item.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comment on consent items.
Kimberly Williams, San Mateo, represents San Mateo County Chapter of Surfrider and referred to Item #3, Amendment #4. She thanked RCD for all the important work they do and Surfrider encourages the city to adopt the resolution to amend the interagency agreement to add the Bacteria TMDL Special Study Services, sharing her thoughts on the issue.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, referred to Item #2 and thanked Planning Director Murdock for addressing that issue and shared his thoughts on the issue. He then stated that it was a great presentation by the Historical Resource Committee and he encouraged them to continue dealing with the San Pedro Creek and are doing a good job.
Councilmember Boles moved to approve the consent calendar incorporating the City Manager’s amendment for Item #2; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
City Clerk took a vote by verbal roll call.
City Council Regular Meeting 14 August 28, 2023
RESULT: ADOPTED AS AMENDED [4-0]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ABSENT: Vaterlaus
1. Approval of Minutes
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve the minutes of the City Council Special and Regular Meeting held on August 14, 2023.
2. Award of Contract to R V Stich Construction, Inc. for the removal of the soil nail wall at 330 Esplanade Avenue
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a Resolution entitled "A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving the Construction Contract with R V Stich Construction, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $190,576.00; Authorize a budget authority in the amount of $220,000.00, which includes contingencies in an amount not to exceed twenty-seven percent (15%) of the Construction Contract amounts; Authorize staff to Execute Future Change not to exceed the contingency amount; and Authorize the City Manager to sign Contract Documents related to the 330 Esplanade Soil Nail Wall Project.”
3. Amendment No. 4 to the Inter-Agency Agreement with the San Mateo Resource Conservation District and Agreement with San Mateo County for the Pacifica State Beach Bacteria TMDL Special Study Services
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the Resolution entitled “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving Amendment No. 4 to the Inter-Agency Agreement with the San Mateo Resource Conservation District and Approve Agreement with San Mateo County for the Pacifica State Beach Bacteria TMDL Special Study Services; and authorize the City Manager to execute all documents.”
4. Response to San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury Report Titled “Accessory Dwelling Units: Affordable Housing’s Panacea or Prevarication?”
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve the response to San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury Report Titled “Accessory Dwelling Units: Affordable Housing’s Panacea or Prevarication?”
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE POSTED AGENDA
Lynn Gallo, Pacifica, stated she is a volunteer with the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce and is present to introduce their new map and explain it for tourism and businesses.
Gail Benton Shoemaker, Pacifica, stated she is speaking as a member of Tree City Pacifica.
She expressed her thoughts on updates on legal tree permits, etc.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, thanked Frank Vella for putting on a community meeting with the Police Chief and City Manager regarding update on city matters and specifically addressed infrastructure.
City Council Regular Meeting 15 August 28, 2023
COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
Councilmember Bier shared information on events and meetings, including Overdose Awareness Night and CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse) SPEAK UP Program. She thanked the Police Department and Police Chief for the relationship they have with CORA and how successful that relationship is which is important to our community. She attended the Library Advisory Committee interviews and the Pacifica School volunteers meeting, and she met with residents in Rockaway to talk about a grant that they are looking at to work with the Sanchez Art Center and the Pacifica Collaborative. Lastly, she attended the Women’s Conference in South San Francisco and met with Jackie Speier, Sheriff Christina Corpus, and City Clerk Sarah Coffey.
Councilmember Boles thanked PW Director Petersen and Dave Bishop from CSG for their work in managing the street paving work in Manor. She attended the Library Advisory Committee interviews. She met with the Emergency Preparation Safety Commission and had a great presentation from AMR who provides our ambulance services with cooperation across other agencies. She went to Jackie Speier’s event about starting a non-profit focused on ending child poverty in the county, which brought together elected officials and leaders from other non-profits working to build partnerships. She had lunch with the Police Chief, and she also met with the Beach Coalition regarding the dog surfing contest and safety concerns with the amount of people that arrived. She stated that a group is working on the airport noise, and she encouraged people to send in their own letters describing the impact of airport noise to them.
She also shared an experience with the San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District, who assist with removing yellow jackets.
Councilmember Beckmeyer also attended the Library Advisory Committee interviews and Jackie Speier’s symposium. She attended a County meeting of Resource Management and Climate Protection and the OSPAC meeting. She had three Sea Level Rise Local Government Working Group-related meetings this month. They are working on stakeholder interviews with cities and counties to find out what the basic issues are and their experience in terms of sea level rise planning and adaptation and to get their thoughts and input about the notion and the concept of a neighborhood approach to address how we deal with adaptation. She stated the Coastal Cities group had a leadership meeting which was largely to plan our session at the CalCities conference coming up. Coming up this week are stakeholder meetings with San Mateo County, Santa Cruz County, and the City of Santa Cruz. Lastly, she had the opportunity to attend the Labor Council Dinner.
Mayor Bigstyck appreciated Jack Burgett and Josh Cosgrove from the Water District for being present earlier. He attended the OSPAC meeting. He stated there is a new superintendent for GGNRA in the area, Dave Smith. He attended that initiative to end childhood poverty led by Jackie Speier with fellow councilmembers and Anita Rees of PRC. He stated that he went to Millbrae where there was a community meeting around the counties proposed permanent supportive housing project. He watched the Planning Commission meeting around objective standards and zoning. He was invited to a campaign event by Mr. Adam Schiff, who is running for U.S. Senate. He was happy to have the opportunity to show him our infrastructure needs.
He stated that later there was an ABAG presentation on investing in the future of Bay Area housing and was largely about the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA). They want to put a $10-20 billion bond measure on the ballot to address housing needs in the Bay Area region. That evening, there was a Peninsula Clean Energy meeting. They gave direction on a $10 million revolving loan fund for electrifying government buildings specifically. He attended the COPE Banquet, the San Mateo Labor Council big fundraising event of the year. He stated City Council Regular Meeting 16 August 28, 2023
that episode 2 of The Mayor’s Office aired on PCT Channel 26. He got to begin today by giving a tour to the Chair of the California Coastal Commission, Donne Brownsey. One of his major takeaways from having the discussion with her and showing her some of the amenities we offer and some of our needs and challenges was that she talked about the need to work together.
There are concepts brought forth by Coastal Commission that are viewed in negative ways and ways that the community can easily take it as combative, but through a conversation with her, she gave him the perspective that they want to make sure these topics are left on the table for discussion because it is important that everyone has that discussion. He urged our community to take a proactive stance in engaging each other.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Woodhouse stated that he had the opportunity to meet with the new Pacifica School District’s superintendent, Dr. Darnise Williams, along with Police Chief Sarasua, as an introductory meeting and a conversation about all the ways that the school district and the departments of the city collaborate closely. He also had the opportunity to present a version of the State of the City presentation to a community meeting, so it was a great opportunity to update them about the city’s Strategic Plan, the budget, as well as the status of many major city projects. At that meeting, Chief Sarasua talked about her experience and her perceptions after several months in Pacifica. He stated, related to that community meeting, there were a couple of handouts: The Strategic Plan and a March summary of Pacifica’s coastal infrastructure issues. On the note of coastal issues, he wanted to provide an update about the Local Coastal Land Use Plan update process, with more information to follow. The present summary is that Council adopted our Local Coastal Land Use Plan back in 2020 and submitted it to the Coastal Commission. In March 2023, Coastal Commission staff completed their analysis of our submittal and agendized it for a Coastal Commission hearing. The city requested a continuation of the meeting, and they continued that meeting to be scheduled sometime in the future so that we could get with Coastal Commission staff and City Planning staff, and analyze the 125 comments that were made to understand where Coastal Commission staff is coming from so city staff can bring it back to Council for summary and action as to the next steps. That timeline is to be determined. City staff has had several meetings with Coastal Commission staff and is continuing those because there are a lot of comments. The other topic they are talking about with Coastal Commission staff is related to review timeline. He stated final comments relate to a couple of economic development updates. Today they had a great event called “Meet the Lenders” that was assembled by Alyssa Barranti, Economic Development Management Analyst, and Alex Greenwood, Economic Development Consultant. People are really interested in more technical assistance, core function of economic development, technical assistance to businesses, and that is what this program provided. Then, he wanted to end his communications to introduce City of Pacifica’s new Economic Development Manager, Tara Schiff.
Economic Development Manager Schiff thanked him, stating she was delighted to be here in Pacifica and honored that she was offered this position. She hopes that her years of experience and the contacts she has in the state will help economic vitality in this beautiful city.
Councilmember Beckmeyer welcomed her and stated they were thrilled to have her here. She stated that she and Councilmember Bier are the liaisons for the Economic Development Committee and have been seeing tremendous work. She also commended Economic Development Management Analyst Barranti for her work as well as contributions from Management Analyst Elizabeth Brooks.
City Council Regular Meeting 17 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Bier welcomed her, and they were happy to have her.
Councilmember Boles agreed, adding that each of them would love to walk her through their communities. She is excited about what they can do and is grateful for her presence.
Economic Development Manager Schiff agrees 100% with the opportunity.
Mayor Bigstyck appreciated her jumping on the opportunity because he thinks she encapsulates the excitement with which we should properly be welcoming her.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - NONE.
CONSIDERATION
5. Meeting Minutes Format for City Council, Planning Commission and Other City Committees / Commissions
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to adopt the Resolution entitled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving Creation of Administration Policy No. 84 Establishing Format of Action Minutes for City Council, Planning Commission and Other City Committees / Commissions” to transition from the preparation of Semi-Verbatim Minutes to Action Minutes.
City Manager Woodhouse and City Clerk Coffey presented the staff report.
Mayor Bigstyck asked what style of minutes committees and commissions, outside of Planning Commission, use.
City Clerk Coffey stated that it depends on the committee or commission. For example, PB&R Commission has transitioned from more detailed minutes to summary-type minutes.
Mayor Bigstyck concluded that it ranges from summary to action.
City Clerk Coffey stated they are mostly doing summary minutes with the caveat that most do include some level of individual narrative.
City Manager Woodhouse added that, depending on the body and the meeting, some are more like action minutes and some do have a brief summary. He stated that part of the direction they are seeking from Council is to make that consistent across all commissions and committees that aren’t recorded and televised.
Councilmember Boles asked how the minutes are prepared.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the process of the minutes preparation for Council and Planning Commission is similar. They have an audio recording of the Council meeting and provide the part-time transcriptionist to prepare the minutes. She reviews the audio in conjunction with looking at the YouTube video available that is provided by PCTV. She typically spends, on average, about 20 hours per meeting and creates the draft of semi-verbatim minutes, which is provided to City Clerk and Dep. City Clerk, and then Dep. City Clerk takes a pass through.
There are often highlights where the transcriptionist was not able to capture or understand certain phrases or what an individual said and often Dep. City Clerk or City Clerk will go in and City Council Regular Meeting 18 August 28, 2023
review the meeting audio or video as well to fill in some of those gaps. They also review to better paraphrase some items as well as correct grammar, spelling and information before the minutes are presented in the agenda packet for Council review.
Councilmember Boles stated that one member of the public suggested an AI transcription service and asked if there is an option of just verbatim that is done by a computer program.
City Manager Woodhouse stated AI tools are an evolving technology and an issue in our community and Pacifica will continue to monitor situations in which AI might help. He stated that he doesn’t anticipate, in the near future, that it would supplant the responsibility and accountability of the city for the end product, and it will require city staff to still review those minutes. He stated that, at this point, he wouldn’t recommend verbatim and that’s antithetical to what the City Clerk’s Association would recommend with minutes. He wouldn’t recommend verbatim minutes because then the city staff’s review would be that much more intense and time-consuming for all of that verbatim context.
City Clerk Coffey added that a component of it is the staff time and expense incurred, but the crux is that it is staff time and expense incurred for a product that is not recommended by the industry’s best practice, thereby spending additional resources to produce a product that isn’t recommended. She stated that, in looking at AI and whether that can be a useful tool rather than say a live transcriptionist, it isn’t getting at the crux of producing a product that is concise and accurate, instead slipping into the level of detail including a narrative that provides information that is not supporting the final action by the collective body.
Councilmember Bier also wondered if AI transcription could be transferable to a city process.
Mayor Bigstyck thought it might be possible to time stamp individual items in a video link. He has seen the technology that the county supervisors seem to use, which time stamps the various agenda items specifically. His understanding of the moment is that PCTV uploads the meetings on YouTube. He has seen on YouTube where people will time stamp the YouTube video. He didn’t know how much control they have over that and whether they can work with PCTV for them to be able to time stamp the YouTube video in terms of agenda items. He is curious if staff has analyzed what technology options are available to them if the community is looking for something specific.
City Clerk Coffey stated that there are agenda management systems that provide video integration and they can look into replacing their current agenda management software to allow for the component of video integration which could be time stamped and jumped to specific areas of the meeting as integrated with the agenda. She pointed out that, in preparation for this item, the City Manager asked her to look for the meeting in which the Mayor asked for this item to be brought back to a future meeting; it took about 15 minutes to find the exact meeting and scroll to the exact point in the meeting to listen to the comments that were made verbatim and see what the request actually was. She stated that, without the video integration and time stamps, what is being provided online now with the footer information that PCTV provides in the video is helpful so they can take the scroll bar and scroll to the portion of the meeting they are interested in. She stated that, on looking at the minutes without the video integration, she can look at the minutes that provide the outline of the agenda items and then go to that meeting date on YouTube and scroll to the footer indicating that they are at that agenda item. She stated that it takes a little more manual effort but it’s doable in a very short time.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that he appreciates the importance that the community has the ability to City Council Regular Meeting 19 August 28, 2023
have some sort of rendition of what took place, as a summary might not be adequate. If PCTV were to malfunction, he asked if they would go to semi-verbatim minutes for that particular agenda, do they have a recording, etc.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the minutes are the official record of the meeting and they would not advise going to a different format of the minutes because of a failure of a video recording.
They typically audio record the Council meetings and that could be used as a back up. Those are not considered the official record of the meeting, as the official record of the meeting is intended to capture the final action and votes by the body, not necessarily the detailed individual comments leading up to the final action of the body.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if it was possible to include YouTube address link in the agendas and/or at the end of the action or summary minutes.
City Clerk Coffey stated that, on the city’s website presently, there is the live stream page that embeds the most recent City Council and Planning Commission video recordings from YouTube and it is on the website presently and can be made more visible.
Mayor Bigstyck clarified that they could possibly transfer the link for a specific meeting into the minutes, such as a link to the YouTube video at the end of the action minutes.
City Clerk Coffey stated that a link to the minutes is provided in the format of the agenda software being used now and she doesn’t believe it has the capability for the specific link to the video to be incorporated without transitioning to a different agenda management system.
Mayor Bigstyck clarified adding an address instead of video integration.
City Manager Woodhouse reiterated if there is a link provided for the YouTube video, is there a section in the minutes where they can insert that.
City Clerk Coffey wouldn’t recommend inserting a link to the video in the minutes themselves.
Mayor Bigstyck clarified hyperlinking the full meeting at the end of the minutes.
City Clerk Coffey asked if he was asking for each meeting.
Mayor responded affirmatively.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the minutes are a permanent record and for the audio and video, according to the city’s retention schedule, if the city was the custodian of the video and audio recording of the meeting, then the retention period is the current year plus 2. PCTV is the custodian of the video recording of the meeting. To have a link to a video that does not have the same retention period as permanent record of the minutes, you are losing that component.
Mayor Bigstyck understood that an outside agency may not retain the video to the extent that our policy says it needs to be retained.
City Clerk Coffey stated that, in speaking with PCTV currently, they have video recordings of Planning Commission and City Council meetings that go back to the year 2000; they have no policy or anticipation of purging or destroying those records, so they are retaining those records moving forward.
City Council Regular Meeting 20 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Boles assumed that they have no policy but we don’t have a contract with them that says they have to keep them and expressed concerns about retention.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that one point is that they have a contract renewal that they need to negotiate with PCTV to address part of this issue in that new contract. In the future, ideally it is a big software implementation undertaking but they want to move towards a new agenda management system and part of that would be looking at a video integration. He thought the point about the link to a YouTube video is that you wouldn’t want that in the permanent minutes record because links break or go away for whatever reason, but he thinks the intent of what the Mayor is saying is to make it as convenient as possible for a member of the public to link to the video on PCTV’s YouTube channel. We can try to figure out a way to do not in the official minutes records but someplace else on the website showing the link.
City Clerk Coffey stated she has not seen that practice employed by other cities in their minutes and haven’t seen it as a recommendation for best practices and she would hesitate to adopt a practice that is not consistent with the municipal government practices.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if they have any further questions of staff before going to public comment.
Councilmember Boles stated that she has one more. She asked if they have looked at video technology and retention policies of other cities as a comparison as well.
City Clerk Coffey stated that she has not looked at specific policies from other cities. She did a comparison of what is available on other cities’ websites as far as minutes and links to videos.
It varies depending on the city’s agenda management platform, their website platform. The City of Millbraehas a similar practice that we do and provides a link to the minutes and they employ MCTV to do their video recordings so their videos are available through their local cable TV station’s YouTube channel.
Councilmember Boles didn’t check Millbrae but she looked at Half Moon Bay, Portola Valley, San Mateo, and Brisbane, and what struck her was that their videos are hosted either on the city website or on the city’s YouTube channel, not on a third party. Part of what bothers her is keeping control over the contents so it is available for the public and it’s something we should manage very carefully. She thought the majority of other cities do that also and it would be good to have those comparisons.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, shared his concerns about moving to action minutes and the various formats and his thoughts on leaning towards the summary minutes to give a little bit more information.
Cindy Abbott, Pacifica, appreciated the conversation and she found viewing video recordings of meetings helped her understand what is said by the tenure and tone of comments but not everyone has access to that so she shared her concerns on changing the format and made suggestions on the entire issue.
Mayor Bigstyck closed the public comments.
Councilmember Bier thought they weren’t ready to do this transition. PCTV is their trusted and City Council Regular Meeting 21 August 28, 2023
loyal partner, and they need to trust their capacity to hold onto our meetings; we should have a conversation with them as the city plans this big a transition and take the community’s needs into consideration.
Councilmember Boles agreed that they would be doing a disservice to our community. While they are comparing them to other cities, they also have a more engaged community than other cities. She has read a lot of old meeting minutes before she got elected, and it is more than the decision but understanding the issue and what they considered in coming to that decision. She felt it was important. She was willing to consider another format if they have robust video and knowing it’s kept. She didn’t think 2-3 years was enough and she would want a different retention policy so things stay and not in the sole control of the third party whose contract might change in the future. She stated most cities were controlling their content and where it was stored and that is important to have the records that people can go back to.
Councilmember Bier thinks PCTV has kept recordings since 2000.
Councilmember Boles understands that, but she wants to know what the contract says and what they are committing to in the future.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated she is a librarian and archival information is important to her profession. She is echoing what she is hearing. With regard to PCTV, she was aware that our contract was a little out of date and was surprised when she saw the year the last time they did a contract with them, and wondered how many TV providers have gone away. PCTV has expanded, and they were able to expand the advances in digital technology and the ability to store. She stated that they are further along in the state of the arts in terms of digital media than we ever have been, but she has concerns about the policy around retention of digital records as she doesn’t have enough information on that now. She would want the city to have control over those records, but she doesn’t know what the retention schedule should be for those records versus what our policy says. She referred to the session with OSPAC and felt they were fortunate to have people in the room where it happened but, having done research with action minutes, you don’t get the flavor or color; she understands the peril it may leave them in by putting in all that color. She felt City Clerk Coffey made it clear about the purpose of the minutes and why we do them. She stated that they have gotten used to the minutes for purposes other than what the government code says they are supposed to be for and, if they change it, they need to do it in a step-like fashion. She defers to the City Manager and City Clerk on timelines. She knows that it is important but not urgent because it is working as is, even though it is clunky and time-consuming. She thinks they can do better, but agencies mentioned in comments have a lot more resources than us. She mentioned the process they presently have and wondered about various issues, like accessibility. She stated the issue generates a lot more questions and she wants to make a good decision for our community. She mentioned that we are the 6th largest city in population and No. 1 in terms of number of pages of minutes. She referred to what the code says they have to do, but we are outside of the strict requirement and have provided something else that is valued by our community.
Mayor Bigstyck thought they were all on similar tracks. When he heard Councilmember Boles’ frustration over the minutes, he thought they should agendize this and discuss it. He stated that they are not implementing the best practice as there is a lot of staff time devoted to it and money associated with it. He thought they could be doing this in a way that makes more sense in other circumstances. His thoughts track with a lot of comments Ms. Abbott made regarding ease of use of technology. He stated that informs how he would get technology in general which can be of great benefit to them. He would feel a lot more comfortable going to summary City Council Regular Meeting 22 August 28, 2023
minutes, and having brief summary minutes would get the gist of what a commenter is saying. If he reviews the video, he wants that experience to be very user friendly because, if he is going to help his neighbor who wants to view those minutes but is not as technologically adept, he wants it to be a friendly experience for him to help them. He hears that they need to upgrade their agenda management system in terms of video integration. He thought he would like to see summary minutes supplemented by a very simple-to-navigate video system. Even if YouTube had the time stamps, it sounds like they need to discuss with PCTV regarding archival or we may need to figure out a system of our own and be responsible for our own documentation. He sees value in transitioning to best practices, but our community wants to be engaged and they need to have an experience where they can easily access what happened and analyze that. He mentioned earlier how important conversation is for contentious issues and it is important that the community have every resource available to know what happened and he looked forward to converting to a sparser style of minutes when they can offer a video record that is easy to navigate.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, because City Clerk Coffey and Dep. City Clerk La are pretty adept at navigating the video pretty quickly, one idea is that, in the minutes, they could manually time stamp the different categories of items, so that would achieve some of that time stamping of benefit. He stated comments were made about PCTV having our meetings back to 2000, and that won’t change. When they negotiate a new contract, they can put something in related to that. He appreciated Council’s discussion and deliberation about the fact that we have a two-person City Clerk office that has an intense amount of work to achieve and they are spending dozens of hours on every meeting transcribing the minutes.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the amount of time spent on transcribing the minutes is not lost on him; on the other hand, we have a community that needs to be thoroughly addressed and have the tools at their disposal to get the information they crave.
City Manager Woodhouse added that, in terms of accessibility issues, all the other cities in our region and around the state do brief summary minutes or action minutes, and the accessibility issues are addressed by those systems.
Mayor Bigstyck stated a part of the answer is whatever they need is put in place first and they transition second. He thinks they should be transitioning but he wants to be sure we have a system in place that is user-friendly to the community first, then transition out.
Councilmember Boles thought, in terms of resources, she doesn’t disagree, and would like to see what the transition would look like, but if the City Clerk’s office needs more resources, they can have that budget discussion, as they need to empower what the community wants and needs. She referred to mentions of changing to another system, and she thought she heard that they use Granicus now.
City Clerk Coffey stated that they have a Granicus product for their agenda management currently and there are other products offered through Granicus.
Councilmember Boles thought some of the videos she has seen where the agenda is linked and they can click on an item are also done through Granicus and there may be options that aren’t a complete reinvention of the system and be a different version of the software.
City Clerk Coffey stated that there are other products offered by Granicus and any of those would require some transition that would impact staff resources as well as IT resources.
City Council Regular Meeting 23 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Bier moved to extend the meeting to 11:30 p.m.; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
MOVE TO EXTEND MEETING TO 11:30 PM
RESULT: ADOPTED [4-0]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ABSENT: Vaterlaus
Councilmember Boles stated that they haven’t discussed the other commission meetings and Ms. Abbott brought up some good points there. She stated that, if they only doi summary or action minutes on all these committees, how can they share that information with a community who wants to know what was discussed in more detail than those minutes are providing. She refers to the question of Zoom meetings as a possibility for OSPAC and others.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if they need a motion or direction.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that, for meetings that are audio recorded, if they receive a request, they could provide the audio recordings as a Public Records Act request. He stated to try to change to semi-verbatim or verbatim minutes for committees and commission would be a huge staff impact and he wouldn’t recommend that.
Councilmember Beckmeyer had a clarifying question on that about the audio recordings and asked if the audio recordings are retained for 30 days.
City Clerk Coffey stated that, if they do have an audio recording, the requirement is 30 days but, according to our retention schedule which governs our practice, it is the current year plus two.
Councilmember Bier stated she still didn’t think they were ready to do this transition and they need PCTV in the room for the discussion and they need more information about how they can be more prepared to do the transition. She isn’t ready for this transition and the community isn’t either.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that they have consensus.
City Manager Woodhouse stated what he is hearing is, if they ever get to video integration in a future year, they could re-agendize this item and move towards it.
Mayor Bigstyck stated it isn’t lost on him on why they are having this discussion, i.e., legally and best practices, and this is not the way any other city in our county does it, but they need to address the level of engagement that our community expects and he thought we are blessed in our community as they wishes to engage in this robustly.
6. Introduction of Ordinance and Policy on Pacifica Police Department Militarized Equipment and 2022 Annual Military Equipment Use Report.
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to take the following actions:
1. Waive the First Reading of and Introduce by Title an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Repealing and Replacing Chapter 19, “Acquisition and Use of Military City Council Regular Meeting 24 August 28, 2023
Equipment” of Title 4 “Public Safety” of the Pacifica Municipal Code Renewing the Military Equipment Policy; and
2. Approve the Pacifica Police Department 2022 Annual Military Equipment Use Report. (CEQA: The Ordinance and Policy are exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) because they will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment and is not a “project,” as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines.)
Police Chief Sarasua and Sergeant Vicente Romero presented the staff report.
Councilmember Bier asked if he can define “less than lethal”.
Sergeant Romero stated that it is force that is not intended to be lethal or deadly.
Mayor Bigstyck asked what makes the shotgun less than lethal, and Sergeant Romero explained the difference in the shotgun ammunition.
Police Chief Sarasua and Sergeant Romero completed the staff report.
Councilmember Boles understood the ordinance was to authorize the use of the unmanned aerial systems and the SWAT team so this would allow them to have control when those were used.
Police Chief Sarasua stated that, for increased transparency, they are expanding the inventory to include the equipment that may be used within our jurisdiction should they request mutual aid assistance.
There were no public comments.
Councilmember Bier moved to waive the First Reading of and Introduce by Title an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Repealing and Replacing Chapter 19, “Acquisition and use of Military Equipment” of Title 4 “Public Safety” of the Pacifica Municipal Code Renewing the Military Equipment Policy and Approve the Pacifica Police Department 2022 Annual Military Equipment Use Report; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
RESULT: ADOPTED [4-0]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ABSENT: Vaterlaus
7. Appointment of Members to the Library Advisory Committee PROPOSED ACTION: Move to (1) appoint a minimum of seven (7) and maximum of nine (9) applicants to at-large positions on the Library Advisory Committee, specifying the terms for each; (2) designate one Councilmember to serve as Primary Liaison to the Library Advisory Committee and one Councilmember to serve as an Alternate Liaison; and (3) provide direction to staff and make specific determinations with regard to the selection of three to five non-voting ex-officio members of the Library Advisory Committee.
City Clerk Coffey presented the staff report.
City Council Regular Meeting 25 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Boles moved to extend the meeting to 11:45 p.m. Mayor Bigstyck stated that he wanted to have a further discussion about youth and recommended extending the meeting to 12:00 a.m. Councilmember Boles’ motion failed to be seconded.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to extend the meeting to 12:00 a.m.; seconded by Councilmember Bier.
MOVE TO EXTEND MEETING TO 12:00 AM
RESULT: ADOPTED [4-0]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ABSENT: Vaterlaus
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the staff report mentioned not being able to outreach to the high school students. His understanding of the staff report was, if they leave one or two spaces open for youth, they would probably appoint them when they do interviews for a group of other committees and commissions.
City Clerk Coffey stated that they have some expiring terms on other committees that would expire in October and they were looking at opening a recruitment for those shortly and can conduct recruitment for youth applicants for the Library Advisory Committee to be appointed with those other October expiring terms.
Mayor Bigstyck presumed they begin the LAC with seven members and the other two would join and it wouldn’t delay any timeline.
City Clerk Coffey stated, if they have the minimum of seven members, that would not delay any timelines for kicking off the meeting of the Library Advisory Committee.
Councilmember Bier assumed those are non-voting.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the youth members, if contemplated, would be voting members of the committee.
Councilmember Boles asked if another option for them would be to appoint seven with two backups in case they weren’t able to recruit youth.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the survey was put out to the Youth Advisory Board and they were prompted for how many youth seats on the committee they would like to see. They had responses between one and two seats. They also expressed the length of the term that they would prefer would be limited to a one-year term and expressed some concerns with juggling other activities that youth are involved in.
City Manager Woodhouse stated, regarding that issue, one option that Council could consider is holding the two spots for follow-up recruitment. The direction they can give at this meeting is, if it doesn’t generate at least two qualified candidates, they bring back to Council other remaining applicants here to select two.
Councilmember Bier asked if they were able to appoint nine and add two seats for youth.
City Council Regular Meeting 26 August 28, 2023
Mayor Bigstyck referenced the resolution.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked for clarification that the feedback from the youth was a preference for one-year terms.
City Clerk Coffey stated they were prompted for whether they would be interested in a one-year or two-year term and all of them responded that their interest was in a one-year term.
There were no public comments.
Mayor Bigstyck stated he favors leaving it open for the two youth and, if they don’t get two, they can open it up one more time for two more members and they appoint seven at this meeting.
Councilmember Beckmeyer asked, in light of the youth’s preference for one-year terms, what the City Clerk’s recommendation is regarding the four-year versus two-year terms and how they divvy up and allocate terms to the remaining seats.
City Clerk Coffey suggested, if contemplating appointing seven members at this time, to appoint three to a two-year term and four to a four-year term.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated, regarding the ex-officio position, the key stakeholder groups are suggestions and she wondered if there is room to discuss other possible groups.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the nature and content of ex-officio members were not discussed in detail at the last meeting and that is under the purview of something to discuss at this time.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that they could save that discussion for later, but he was curious which other groups she had in mind.
Councilmember Beckmeyer mentioned the Pacifica Mother’s Club, possibly a representative from one or more of the PTOs at the schools, and Seniors in Action.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if they start with the seven appointments.
Councilmember Bier referred to the outreach to the youth, and asked if they can make sure that the librarians at the high schools get the outreach. Councilmember Beckmeyer added the principals to the outreach as well
Mayor Bigstyck stated they could share each of their top seven candidates.
Councilmember Boles reminded them that they are looking for a balance to include families with children, seniors, Sharp Park residence service organizations and environmental organizations.
Council shared each of their top seven candidates.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the top seven following their poll were Cindy Abbot, Erin Deis, Anne Hitz, Jennifer Hlavin, Kathy Long, Dave Sikula, and Tina Wehrmeister.
Councilmember Boles stated she would like to advocate for Shiraz Karmaz and Remi Tan.
City Council Regular Meeting 27 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Bier also considered Remi Tan.
Mayor Bigstyck recommended making the motion for the seven who had the top votes.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to appoint Cindy Abbott for a 4-year term to expire October 2027, Erin Deis for a 4-year term to expire October 2027, Anne Hitz for a 2-year term to expire October 2025, Jennifer Hlavin for a 2-year term to expire October 2025, Kathy Long a 2-year term to expire October 2025, Dave Sikula a 4-year term to expire October 2027 and Tina Wehrmeister for a 4-year term to expire October 2027; seconded by Councilmember Bier.
APPOINTMENTS TO LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Cindy Abbott (full term to expire October 2027), Erin Deis (full term to expire October 2027), Anne Hitz (partial term to expire October 2025), Jennifer Hlavin (partial term to expire October 2025), Kathy Long (partial term to expire October 2025), Dave Sikula (full term to expire October 2027) and Tina Wehrmeister (full term to expire October 2027) RESULT: ADOPTED [4-0]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ABSENT: Vaterlaus
Councilmember Bier thought the people who came out were extremely motivated and connected to libraries.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that they were 11 really good candidates and it was important to them to have youth representation.
Councilmember Bier moved that Councilmember Beckmeyer is the primary liaison and Councilmember Boles as the alternate liaison; seconded by Mayor Bigstyck.
MOVE TO APPOINT COUNCILMEMBER BECKMEYER AS LIBRARY ADVISORY
COMMITTEE PRIMARY LIAISON AND COUNCILMEMBER BOLES AS LIBRARY
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ALTERNATE LIAISON
RESULT: ADOPTED [4-0]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
AYES: Bigstyck, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
ABSENT: Vaterlaus
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the third action is to provide direction to staff and make specific determinations with regard to the selection of 3-5 non-voting ex-officio members of the Library Advisory Committee. Given the breadth of possibilities, he favors five ex-officio members.
Councilmember Bier thinks they will need five, and she definitely thinks it will be helpful to have at least one person who is experienced with outreach.
Mayor Bigstyck asked which group they think is well-equipped for outreach.
City Council Regular Meeting 28 August 28, 2023
Councilmember Boles stated she was speaking to Cindy Abbott at one point about the library and connections to the PB&R and all the spaces in the library that will be used by those programs, and she thought having someone from that commission would be great. Given that they don’t have anybody with young children that they have appointed at this time, she likes the idea of the Pacifica Mother’s Club.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the only reason he will disagree with PB&R Commission as an exofficio is because they just appointed Cindy Abbott to a four-year term.
Councilmember Boles asked if she will stay on PB&R.
Councilmember Bier stated that she has been there for a very long time.
Mayor Bigstyck added, whether she stays on PB&R or not, she has so extensive experience.
Councilmembers Bier, Beckmeyer, and Boles discussed Friends of the Library. Councilmember Beckmeyer stated Friends of the Library has been around longer than the Pacifica Library Foundation and are very well-versed in all things planning for a new library.
Mayor Bigstyck asked if they already said Jefferson Union High School District.
Councilmember Bier agrees with that.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that one assumption staff was making regarding the ex-officio is that the bodies themselves would select who is representing them and participating.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that they have three: Pacifica Mother’s Club, Pacifica Friends of the Library and Jefferson Union High School District.
Councilmember Bier added Pacifica School District.
Councilmember Beckmeyer voiced concerns about meeting attendance. She stated that she would like to suggest Seniors in Action.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that the remaining groups to select from are PTOs, Pacifica School District, EDC, and Planning.
Councilmember Beckmeyer suggested PTOs from Pacifica School District could act as liaison back to the school board and the administration.
Councilmember Boles agreed.
Councilmember Beckmeyer emphasized involving the school district.
City Clerk Coffey needed further guidance on the idea of selecting PTOs because there are several different PTOs in different schools and she would question how to go about outreach and asking one of those to designate a person amongst all of them.
Councilmember Beckmeyer thought that was a good point. In the past there has been a group called the President’s Group, and it was a group of the PTO presidents that met with the superintendent.
City Council Regular Meeting 29 August 28, 2023
City Clerk Coffey asked if the PTOs have some involvement in presenting through the school board, and she is wondering if the school board would be the one to select a representative from one of the PTOs.
Councilmember Beckmeyer stated that, if the school board can’t fill it, an idea might be a representative from one of the PTOs.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the selection can be made by the Pacifica School District but they may offer someone from a PTO.
Mayor Bigstyck stated that they have five, and he suggested the Economic Development Committee.
Councilmember Beckmeyer would love to see them engaged but prioritized the school districts.
Councilmember Bier added EDC is stressed as it is.
City Clerk Coffey repeated that the five she heard for ex-officio to reach out to is Pacifica Friends of the Library, Pacifica Mother’s Club, Jefferson Union High School District, Pacifica School District which may possibly select someone from a PTO, and Seniors in Action.
ADJOURN
Mayor Bigstyck adjourned the meeting at 11:51 p.m.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED: 5 - 0; 9/25/2023
__________________________
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor