CITY OF PACIFICA
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Council Chambers
2212 Beach Blvd
Pacifica, CA 94044
Mayor Sue Beckmeyer
Mayor pro Tem Mary Bier
Councilmember Christine Boles
Councilmember Mayra Espinosa
Councilmember Greg Wright
City Council Regular Meeting 1 January 27, 2025
SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETING
January 27, 2025 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Sue Beckmeyer called the meeting to order on January 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM 5:30 PM - CLOSED SESSION
A. CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATORS. Property: Tract No. 23-118, San Mateo County APNs 023-730-030, 023-730-120, 023-730-210 (commonly known as the “Pedro Point Headlands”. Agency negotiator: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager and Michelle Marchetta Kenyon, City Attorney. Negotiating parties: United States Department of the Interior (National Park Service). Under negotiation: Price and terms of payment.
B. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-EXISTING LITIGATION, pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1): City of Pacifica v. Millard W. Tong et al., San Mateo County Superior Court No. 18CIV05455, Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District (Division 1), Case No. A168115, A169714, A169273 7:00 PM OPEN SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Beckmeyer reconvened the meeting at 7:10 p.m.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Sue Beckmeyer Mayor Present
Mary Bier Mayor pro Tem Present
Christine Boles Councilmember Present
Mayra Espinosa Councilmember Present
Greg Wright Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call.
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney; Yulia Carter, Asst. City Manager; Maria Sarasua, Police Chief; John Mullins, PW Interim Director; Samantha Updegrave, Community Development Director; Ron Myers, Fire Chief; Marisol Gómez, Finance & Admin. Services Director; Scott Leslie, PB&R Director; Roland Yip, PW Dep. Director (Field Services/Engineering); Bill Glasgo, Police Captain; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk; Emily La, Dep. City Clerk.
City Council Regular Meeting 2 January 27, 2025
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Beckmeyer read the Land Acknowledgment.
Salute to the Flag led by Mayor pro Tem Bier
Closed Session Report
City Attorney Kenyon stated that there was no reportable action.
Mayor Beckmeyer proposed adjusting the Agenda to move Staff Communications and Council Communications before the Consent Calendar, then proceed with the remainder of the Agenda.
Council consensus agreed to the proposal.
Council Communications and Staff Communications are detailed in the corresponding sections below.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Beckmeyer opened public comments.
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, referred to Consent Item #1, and appreciated the work staff has done on this proposed policy amendment and asked about quantification of staff time spent on proclamations as well as examples of proclamations that may not be accepted.
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comments.
City Manager Woodhouse explained that the City does not receive many requests for proclamations that would not be granted. He stated the proclamations over the last two years were all appropriate and this policy would not prevent them from being agendized. He thought the important point about this policy is that it establishes policy parameters for if or when an inappropriate request comes in. He stated that is why he uses the analogy of why we have a flag policy in Pacifica, i.e., the policy gives the rationale, reason, and consistent application of decision-making so inappropriate requests are not elevated to Council discussion. He stated that there have been a couple of requests that came in that do not relate to Pacifica and we reviewed that on an ad hoc basis and conferred with the Mayor and did not grant that. He stated that the thrust of this is that it is best practice to have policies that are laid out so when the difficult request comes in, such as a proclamation supporting hate speech, we have the basis to say no, that is not going to be considered by Pacifica.
City Attorney Kenyon added that the policy does allow another avenue for residents or constituents to put forward their request for a proclamation. If the Mayor or City Manager rejects it for whatever reason, that resident or individual requesting the proclamation can go to any Councilmember; that is the language we added to make clear that any Councilmember can ask to have a proclamation put on the agenda. She stated that there are two ways to get a proclamation on the agenda: through the City Manager with consultation of the Mayor if he chooses or to any individual Councilmember to request that an item be placed on the agenda.
City Clerk Coffey added that there are some recurring proclamations that come up through staff each year, and there are requests for proclamations that come in directly to the City Manager or City Council Regular Meeting 3 January 27, 2025
City Clerk’s office from members of the public; those are reviewed with the City Manager and Mayor through the City’s standard practices.
Councilmember Boles concluded that, if the City Manager denies one and the member of the public would like to question that, they can always reach out to any Councilmember and we can put it on the agenda if we felt it was appropriate.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that, as the public speaker said, things do come through Councilmembers and sometimes from outside of the City randomly and land in our email. She stated that she has always forwarded it to the City Manager and discussed the staff time and significance tied to it. She liked the safety of being able to have the ability, should there be some hateful group that comes forward.
City Clerk Coffey added that also has the advantage of providing some consistent guidelines for the public for requesting and time frames so we are not receiving last minute requests to accommodate. It provides some consistency and expectations to the public about how and what type of information the City needs in order to prepare a proclamation so we are not dealing with very limited details to put together a proclamation that has been requested.
Councilmember Boles stated she had a question about item #3, Peninsula Clean Energy solar project, which includes a carport over the parking spaces adjacent to 155 Salada Ave. She did not see any drawings for the carport in the packet and the City Manager stated that it would be coming later. She is curious about what the height is and if we have looked at the building next door because they have doors and windows on that property line. She is guessing that this is our only opportunity to review it publicly; otherwise, it is happening at a staff level to complete the review of the project.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated that we have a representative from Peninsula Clean Energy, Ross Fisher, available to answer some questions regarding timing and details on the carport.
Ross Fisher, representative of Peninsula Clean Energy, stated that the array itself is somewhat malleable so this design is meant to represent what the intention is. They have not gone through formal engineering which includes geotechnical soil samples as well to determine the final carport footprint. What they have been doing for other agencies as well is providing 3D renderings so you can see isometric views and planned views underneath the array itself and they will be doing that for this project as well.
Councilmember Boles asked if that is something that would come back to Council. She is mostly concerned about the neighbor next door.
Representative Fisher stated that approval today would just be the intent to move forward with the project, but the actual layout and footprint is adjustable; they have the ability to adjust it based on feedback from Council and staff.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated that staff have met with the neighbor who is open to the idea and does not have any issues and we continue to coordinate with him as the project progresses.
Councilmember Wright noticed that there was a prevailing wage contingency on the PCE project and he was wondering if they would be willing to consider a local hire if possible when it comes to apprenticeships.
City Council Regular Meeting 4 January 27, 2025
Representative Fisher stated that they are working with a local union contractor on this entire portfolio, McMillan Electric, and would also be the installation contractor for this project.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
1. Adopt a Resolution Adopting a New Administrative Policy No. 84, "Guidelines for Issuing Proclamations, Commendations and Ceremonial Documents" to Establish Criteria and Procedures for Official City Council Recognition in the form of Proclamations and Ceremonial Documents
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a Resolution titled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Adopting Administrative Policy No. 84 ‘Guidelines for Issuing Proclamations, Commendations and Ceremonial Documents’”.
2. Second Revised and Restated Joint Power Agreement (JPA) with the San Mateo County Operational Area Emergency Services Organization
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a second Revised and Restated Joint Power Agreement (JPA) with the San Mateo County Operational Area Emergency Services Organization.
3. Peninsula Clean Energy Solar Photovoltaic System Procurement PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt a Resolution authorizing the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to install a Solar Photovoltaic System (Solar PV System) at the Pacifica Civic Center Community Development and Engineering (CDE) building and new carport structure with Peninsula Clean Energy and authorize the City Manager to execute all documents related to the project.
4. Third Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement between the City of Pacifica and Eisenberg, Olivieri & Associates Inc. for Commercial and Industrial Stormwater Inspections and Related Services
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the Resolution entitled “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Approving Third Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement between the City of Pacifica and Eisenberg, Olivieri & Associates Inc. and authorize the City Manager to execute all documents.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE POSTED AGENDA
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, shared his concerns about the current federal administration’s actions on immigration, including what to do in the case of warrants, where to go to get help, how to establish the warrant as valid, what the available options are, etc.
Aren Clark, Pacifica, referred to a rough draft of a fire mitigation plan by PW as well as qualified employees, funding, and equipment to pursue the plan, but expressed frustrations that the City Manager did not move forward with the project for fire safety and preparedness.
Michael Wahlman, Pacifica, asked if the Measure G funds from 2023 were being used to construct 70 housing units on Oddstad and asked if the Council was aware of any intentions by the Pacifica School District to turn the Ocean Shore School into housing units following the City Council Regular Meeting 5 January 27, 2025
closure decision.
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, shared her concern for Pacifica’s immigrant population and she thanked City Manager for clarification of our Sanctuary City and support of immigrants. She also thought it would help to share this information to the public.
Kathy Moresco, Pacifica, stated that the vote to appoint Mary Bier as Mayor pro Tem was unanimous and shared her disbelief at ensuing community and Council reactions. She stated her sadness at Mayor pro Tem Bier stepping down from the role. She emphasized there is no default position in the case of a revote.
Lynn Adams, Pacifica, gave a report for the Pacific Beach Coalition for 2024 by sharing information on this organization’s accomplishments, including the amount of trash, cigarette butts, and green waste included, as well as the number of volunteers gathered. She invited everyone to Earth Day on April 26.
Anita Rees, Pacifica, shared information about the Pacifica Resource Center working hours and their programs, such as tax preparation, grocery program, Holiday Joy program gifts and gift cards, Unhoused on the Coast, etc.
Cindy Abbott, Pacifica, referred to concerns about the January 13 meeting based on the Mayor pro Tem agenda item and shared her thoughts on follow-up to that issue as well as the democratic process that allowed for that. She thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for stepping down.
Dawn Zidonis, Pacifica, stated she is in support of Councilmember Boles and stated there is confusion about the process about appointing Mayor pro Tem. She emphasized transparency and a fair process and expressed interest in seeing District 2 represented in the mayoral seat.
Marj Davis, Pacifica, shared requirements for qualifying for the tax assistance and shared a quote on kindness from Connect with Pacifica.
Sue Digre, Pacifica, stated December 9 was painful and stated we do not wish to see pain in the City. She emphasized respect for every person on the dais. She encouraged trust within the community as we go past this issue.
Irene Lee, Pacifica, thanked Councilmember Bier for stepping down as Mayor pro Tem and hoped for fairness for all districts in this selection process. She also shared suggestions for fire and earthquake preparedness and recommended more non-combustible home construction.
Erin Macias, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for stepping aside and wished for integrity in City leadership. Regarding short-term rental requirements, she asked for 60-day limits on unhosted nights, on-site occupancy, in-person inspections on all STRs, platform accountability, and 1 STR per owner.
Summer Lee, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for stepping down from the role and thought there was much to learn from December 9. She also spoke to the democratic process for the Mayor pro Tem selection issue.
Lyla Reinero, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for stepping down and echoed everything stated by Erin Macias.
City Council Regular Meeting 6 January 27, 2025
Robin Brun, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for righting the wrong for the Mayor pro Tem selection issue and spoke in favor of Councilmember Boles for the Mayor pro Tem role.
JoAnn Arnos, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for taking the high road and shared her thoughts on future guidelines and parliamentary rules for the selection. She also shared that OSPAC is taking nominations for their Preservation Award.
COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor pro Tem Bier announced her intent to step aside from the Mayor pro Tem role and she will submit a letter before February 5 to be included in the next agenda. She began updates on her work the past two weeks. On January 14, they attended Captain Clements’ retirement celebration. On that date, there was the Economic Development Committee meeting; there was a lot of public participation and collaboration, and she thanked the public for giving them feedback, especially the Seaside Merchants. On January 16, she attended the Pacific Coast Television meeting with Councilmember Espinosa and shared that there would be a live town hall meeting featuring CORA on January 17. She also went to the Pacifica School Volunteers meeting, who are always looking for volunteers. There was an Age Friendly Coalition meeting she could not attend and she thinks they are looking to schedule a new meeting. She had a meeting about Pacifica Pride and they will be meeting two times a month to prepare for our Pacifica Pride event on June 7. She thought it would be helpful if we had a Council ad hoc committee to help support that. She stated that we can talk about putting it on the agenda moving forward. On January 17, she attended the Mayor’s Mental Health Initiative, which is an initiative she has been working on for the past few years. She is lucky to have the strong relationships that she has built across the region to keep working on this very important topic for her. She is working with South San Francisco Mayor Eddie Flores and the chair of the Mental Health Initiative, San Carlos Mayor Sara McDowell, on many initiatives: teen mental health first aid training (with Behavioral Health and Recovery Services) and “Be Sensitive, Be Brave” training on suicide prevention. They will be collaborating with Stanford, StarVista, and Rosanne Foust from SAMCEDA to bring in training for elected officials. She thanked Healing Overdose Prevention and Education (HOPE) and Lytt, our cannabis merchant, for installing the first NARCAN vending machine in the County. On January 22, she attended the HEART Board meeting, and she thanked everyone for reappointing her to another term on the HEART Board.
On January 23, she attended a webinar from Sustainable San Mateo County which was power up solutions for San Mateo County’s future, including a presentation about a strategy dashboard. She attended the City and County Association of Government’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting, where they received updates from projects that they awarded to cities in the last few years and scored applications.
Councilmember Boles stated she was unaware of Councilmember Bier’s decision regarding her intent to step aside from the role of Mayor pro Tem and knew they would continue talking about that. She shared that the Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission is working on goals for this year and the next meeting is February 20. On January 17, she met with the engineers and scientists working on the concept for the offshore reef project off Sharp Park and they will hold a presentation on March 20 at the Pedro Point Firehouse. She shared that there might be some grant applications that Stanford is writing to tie into some of their research and analyze some of the data coming off the sensors that were on the pier. She was excited for those connections to be made and they are bringing a tour of some Stanford students and some professors in early March to look at all of our histories on the coast. She stated that the Lytt NARCAN event was terrific and she would like to ask for some training on how to use NARCAN too. She met with Dignity Moves about a potential project in Pacifica for interim housing and it City Council Regular Meeting 7 January 27, 2025
was an exciting conversation. She met with Lennie Roberts from Green Foothills, an environmental champion for our area; there is a leadership transition, and Alice Kaufman is their new policy and advocacy director and Alexandra Mendoza will lead efforts on the San Mateo Coast. She attended the Sustainable San Mateo County event and there are resources where you can map the canopy and look at different criteria to help you decide what the best area is.
They had the Peninsula Clean Energy Board of Directors meeting and they are working on the strategic plan for the next five years; they had a $40 million surplus so right now they charge 5% less than PG&E for the electricity and PCE voted to reduce those rates to 10% below PG&E.
She learned at the San Mateo Sustainability event that the County has reduced greenhouse gases 13% just by having Peninsula Clean Energy the last few years. She was at a conference with the California Environmental Assembly at UC Davis; the morning session was about the Coastal Commission history and where they are now and some of their challenges, in addition to information on wildfire and infrastructure.
Councilmember Wright stated he went to the Council of Cities, volunteered at the Art Center at Cabrillo and at Oceana High School, and attended a LAFCO meeting and met with LAFCO staff. He went to the County Supervisory Ray Mueller event and to the Captain Clements’ retirement. He attended OSPAC and BAC meetings.
Councilmember Espinosa appreciated all the councilmembers for doing what they are doing.
She has met with the City Attorney and City Manager every week learning about government.
She is going to a training event this coming week. She attended the Fairmont Association meeting at the beginning of the month, and she encouraged residents to attend. She noticed that the City Manager is working on the potholes, some of which were repaired on Hickey. On January 25, she volunteered with the Beach Coalition and then she visited West Fairmont to address more potholes. On January 22, she attended the School Board meeting. She read the report and one of the things that came up is that we have been losing residents and it is hard to live in Pacifica as it is expensive. She stated that we need to build homes for people and it is important if we want to have more schools.
Mayor Beckmeyer reiterated that Mayor pro Tem Bier was reappointed to HEART for a fouryear term and announced that Councilmember Wright is the alternate for LAFCO. She shared that one of the OSPAC members has been working on some apps for eco-tourism, hiking, etc., and different ideas and concepts that he has been doing as an entrepreneur and he brought that forward to the Economic Development Committee. She attended on January 16 was the County briefing for elected officials, staff, and non-profit organizations. They were talking about Coastal Commission reactions to the changes in Washington, and one of the things they were talking about is the shifting emphasis for grants and federal money. They talked about different concerns in the County, such as health care, funding for older adults, and all the funding we depend on for the health system at the County level. She attended the Fog Fest check distribution evening, where they also saw a preview of the exhibits at the Sanchez Art Center.
Last week, she met with the Local Government Working Group, which is comprised of leadership from the Coastal Cities group of the League of Cities and Coastal County and Coastal Commission staff and Commissioners. She stated that the topic of the day was the work plan for the year and what are they going to do with regard to the neighborhood approach, local input, how everybody’s issues are different, and how they are going to apply statewide consistency with local flexibility. She stated that the Coastal Cities met on the same day. She also shared that former Congresswoman Anna Eshoo had gifted the City with a flag that had been flown over the United States Capitol at her request.
City Council Regular Meeting 8 January 27, 2025
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Woodhouse stated that there have been questions about the President’s Executive Order on immigration. He stated that we are evaluating that but will continue to abide by Pacifica’s Sanctuary City Ordinance and California’s Sanctuary State Law until we have analyzed the Executive Order. He then stated that there have been questions from the community related to the Pacifica School District and their decision regarding Ocean Shore School; he stated that the School District is a separate governmental agency from the City. He stated school districts are separate state agencies and are not subject to local city regulations unless the California Constitution or legislature specifically consents to such regulation. He stated, in this case, the Pacifica School District Board’s decision to co-locate schools is a decision solely within the authority of the School Board and the City has no authority to regulate or direct the School Board and the City also does not have any authority over the School Board’s determination that the co-location of schools is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and that is a decision made solely by the School Board as the lead agency under CEQA as part of its approval of the co-location. He stated, while the co-location of Ocean Shore School with Sunset Ridge certainly impacts families and neighborhoods in Pacifica, the City Council does not have any ability to regulate or override the decisions of the School Board. He announced that, for the third year in a row, the City was awarded the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award with Special Recognition for the Strategic Goals, which represents the transparency striven for in the City’s financial documentation.
City Manager Woodhouse also highlighted wildfire preparation in staff communications. He mentioned the City is working on wildfire mitigation work along the Highway One corridor just north of the Devil Slide Tunnel to Pedro Point area. The Coastal Conservancy is leading that project and the City sent a letter of support for their funding request from the Coastal Conservancy for over $4 million to begin the planning and design and some vegetation management implementation of that project, which is a critical project for evacuation safety in Pacifica. He read a statement from North Coast County Water District Executive Director Adrianne Carr in light of the Los Angeles fires questions about water supply and pressure: The NCCWD is committed to serving Pacifica and always on alert about emergencies that could threaten critical infrastructure. Their system delivers water to approximately 130 miles of pipeline supported by 11 active storage tanks with a total capacity of 18.25 million gallons. The District owns and maintains over 1,000 fire hydrants and regularly updates its hydraulic water system model to evaluate performance and prioritize improvements. NCCWD is also prepared to keep water flowing should the power go out during an emergency to ensure reliable water delivery and keep tanks full. The District operates several pump stations which are each equipped with permanent standby generators to provide electricity in emergencies. The District also maintains six emergency inter-tied connections with three neighboring water agencies as backup water sources. Their system is designed to meet both residential and commercial demands, as well as fire flow requirements for our community and actively working on multiple capital improvement projects to enhance the system and increase both fire flow capacity and emergency water storage. Currently the District is completing a tank replacement on Sheila Lane, increasing storage from 100,000 gallons to 600,000 gallons at that location, and design is underway for replacement of the tank at the end of Fassler which will increase storage from 500,000 gallons to 1.2 million gallons. The District recently completed several pipeline projects, fire hydrant replacements, and upgrades and construction of new pressure regulating valve installations, which all enhance the distribution system and fire flow capacity. They continue to proactively ensure its infrastructure is ready for emergencies, and staff is trained to respond to emergencies that might arise and actively engages in emergency planning and values its City Council Regular Meeting 9 January 27, 2025
collaborations with other local entities in emergency preparedness activities.
Fire Chief Myers stated that he was accompanied by Battalion Chief Nicholas Gracia who is in charge of their emergency planning division. He stated that North County Fire Authority (NCFA) sends numerous topics daily from wildfire preparedness on social media, as well as their “Ready Set Go” brochure. He stated that the brochure is available online and is handed out at every event they attend, which has a lot of information to prepare before a fire, make their home defensible, and what to do if there is a wildfire. He shared “Know Your Zone” regarding evacuation zones and evacuation plans. He mentioned working with Police, Public Works, Caltrans, etc., to help them evacuate on surface roads and keep Highway One moving. He mentioned information on their website for disaster preparedness, fire safety, and property preparations; they teach CPR classes, provide CERT training, and share a quarterly community Emergency Preparedness newsletter. They also started a monthly preparedness meeting including questions and answers, and NCFA has a mutual threat zone agreement and can get immediate response of aircrafts, etc. He encouraged everyone to go to their NCFA website. He stated that he discussed with the City Manager about fire severity zone designations and we will be receiving from the State a letter designating the areas in each community by those severity zones and NCFA will get the information out in 30 days and adopt a model ordinance.
Mayor Beckmeyer appreciated him being here and asked if Council had any questions.
Councilmember Wright referred to the ember cast and asked what that amount of space is.
Fire Chief Myers stated it was based on the velocity of the wind, such how hard is it blowing and how far can it pick it up and move it somewhere. They probably look at the general area and the wind occurrences and what that might look like.
Councilmember Wright concluded that it would affect the amount of defensible space.
Fire Chief Myers stated the State has determined that you have to have a five-foot clearance around your home, i.e., no vegetation, no impingement of anything that creates fire spread, and 30-100 foot clearance of the property in terms of reducing vegetation and making it fire safe.
Councilmember Wright asked, if the public has questions about their fire safety, what is the best way for them to reach out to someone for local Pacificans.
Fire Chief Myers stated that they can call NCFA’s main office at 650-800-6580.
Battalion Chief Gracia shared the monthly emergency preparedness meeting where members of the public can join on Zoom and get questions answered by NCFA staff. NCFA is trying to encourage all the communities in the north end of the peninsula to join the Zoom meeting and bring their questions.
Councilmember Wright thanked them. He assumed they are utilizing the data from the recent tsunami warning to sort out evacuation plans.
Fire Chief Myers stated that there is a plan for that and it is a matter of implementing that plan when appropriate.
Councilmember Wright stated that there was mention of the standards for NCCWD in terms of usage. He asked if they knew if those same standards apply in Los Angeles and if they were City Council Regular Meeting 10 January 27, 2025
sufficient in the case of a catastrophic event.
Fire Chief Myers believed, with that amount of fire and that many buildings on fire, if you open a majority if not most of the fire hydrants, they are not built to handle that and you will have an issue. He stated that he can only imagine in an urbanized area with everybody using a fire hydrant every 300 feet to try and suppress that fire that no water system would sustain that.
Councilmember Wright asks if he thinks it is worth reevaluating that standard.
Fire Chief Myers stated, from what he has seen and heard from NCCWD, he is comfortable with what they are talking about. He thinks the available water is there and everything they are doing to improve it is there. If they have a conflagration like in Los Angeles with 80-100 mile winds coming through, he did not think there would ever be enough water or fire engines to go and put that fire out.
Councilmember Wright asked if he can share how many of our brave Pacifica firefighters went down to Los Angeles.
Fire Chief Myers stated that we had 18 personnel there from all of NCFA working since the start of the Los Angeles fire and they rotated out after 14 days and then a new crew went down and they are on their way back now.
Councilmember Wright thanked NCFA very much for that mutual aid and how much they did to deal with that in such a bad situation.
Fire Chief Myers stated that it is something NCFA do all summer long, as they are sending resources out every summer and someday we are going to need those resources here for a wildfire, earthquake, etc.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that those expenses are fully reimbursed by the state.
Fire Chief Myers stated that there is a California Fire Systems agreement and it reimburses anytime we go to assist forest agencies, CalFire, etc. There is reimbursement that comes for the backfill and for the time out there and we are made whole.
Councilmember Boles thanked him for being here to educate them about all the things NCFA does to make sure we are prepared. She asked if the newsletter was something people could subscribe to and get automatically or do they have to check their website.
Battalion Chief Gracia stated that he believed it was just through the website, but they keep trying to up their contents. He stated that they wanted to have a lot of different options for people to explore what they need, as they are trying to engage the community through social media, etc., to maximize their footprint.
Councilmember Boles thought it would be helpful.
Fire Chief Myers stated that they can put it on social media and say it is available.
Councilmember Boles thought there were some tools where, on a website, you can push “subscribe” and then it sends it out automatically.
City Council Regular Meeting 11 January 27, 2025
Mayor pro Tem Bier thought it might be a good idea for us to have a section on Connect with Pacifica for both fire and law enforcement.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that it is there. She stated that she saw the newsletter last week.
Fire Chief Myers stated that most of the resources he shared ends up on Connect with Pacifica.
He stated that they will try and market more on different social media platforms.
Councilmember Boles stated that what she hears from residents is when there are trees in open space near their homes that are potential fire hazards but they are not on their property, they cannot prune them. They also thought NCFA does not have the resources to take care of all open space vegetation nourishment. She asked if there are any means by which, if a person has a concern, there is a path.
Fire Chief Myers stated that it is not provided for NCFA to deal with those types of issues under the fire code and it ends up being a blight as it is more of a code enforcement issue and he thinks there has been success by going to code enforcement.
Councilmember Boles stated she was excited that the fire maps are finally coming out. She has been to several insurance events and they have their own maps looking at topography, roof material, overhanging trees, etc.
Fire Chief Myers stated that these maps will assess the potential for wildfire spread. He stated that it may not be completely helpful for people on their insurance.
Councilmember Boles referred to maps and stated the Housing Element EIR is out, and this is the first time she has seen wildland urban interface maps published for Pacifica. The danger between what is developed and what is open space with a lot of forest next to it is also more of a hazard, which is a separate designation than the very high fire hazards. She knows that in, other cities, when you are building in wildland urban interface areas, there are very different code requirements about how you build. She asked, if you are building a new house or remodeling over a certain percent, if those are rules we are enforcing now.
Fire Chief Myers stated that the change has come in and it triggers Section 7A of the Building Code, which means you will have to use different kinds of building materials that you were never required to use before. He stated, with the overlay of the fire severity zones, it is going to trigger some of the things she is talking about. When they come before Council and talk about the ordinance, they can talk more about it.
Councilmember Boles stated that it is good to give people a heads up that, if they are remodeling a certain amount, that might trigger it.
Fire Chief Myers agreed that it will trigger certain kinds of fire protection features with a general remodeling, but as it relates to the wildfire component, they can talk more about that. He knows it will trigger materials that are going forward that may increase the cost and there are other issues related to development, i.e. how and where you develop.
Councilmember Boles stated it may increase the cost, but hopefully it makes them safer too.
Mayor pro Tem Bier thanked NCFA for being here and for hosting a Zoom meeting as it is important to have opportunities for people to come on and talk directly to them.
City Council Regular Meeting 12 January 27, 2025
Councilmember Espinosa stated that she would like to have a community event to educate the community and she would like to invite NCFA to be at the community event to talk about fire hazards that we are potentially facing.
Fire Chief Myers stated that there will be a NCFA community event in May at the Community Center where they have it, and they can dovetail in what she is talking about as well. He stated they can always provide information at other community events.
Councilmember Espinosa asked what the timeframe is to give them.
Fire Chief Myers stated more time is easier on people’s schedules as they may have to bring them in on overtime or weekend, etc.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked about the date for the next monthly emergency preparedness meeting.
Battalion Chief Gracia stated that the next one is going to be February 25. He reminded the community that the firefighters are very active with training and everyone should feel good about the crews out here as everyone is practicing their skills every day and all the different disciplines they have to be aware of. He stated that the community should take some peace in knowing they are out there practicing and training.
Mayor Beckmeyer appreciated that as well as the aid they sent to Los Angeles. She appreciated their thoughts and expectations, and if we need it at some time, it will be there for us as well. She asked if it is possible to open public comment for this item.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that they can allow it if Council agrees.
There was Council consensus.
Mayor Beckmeyer opened public comments on this specific item only.
Irene Lee, Pacifica, stated she looked at the map and her question was where they would evacuate to and asked if they could put in the map and location for each zone where they need to gather in case of evacuation from fire and earthquake.
Fire Chief Myers stated that, if there was an evacuation, they would be channeling the public to the right location as they may not know where the fire is going and it is hard to tell the public to go to a location. They will take the public away from where the emergency occurring and then they will direct them away. He stated that is part of the job between all of them in trying to direct people to the right location and where to go temporarily and where to end up going permanently. They have the locations lined out but it is imperative that people are evacuated to the correct location. Thus, NCFA will announce a zone is being evacuated and go to a specific location for a temporary spot to assemble and, from there, if needed, NCFA can move people to a permanent location.
Erin Macias, Pacifica, requested to put this item on the agenda again for another meeting for a fully fleshed out public comment period. She spoke with previous City staff about wildfire preparedness and raised issues with the code enforcement process for addressing unruly groves in Pacifica. She suggested a task force to address this complicated issue.
City Council Regular Meeting 13 January 27, 2025
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comments.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - NONE.
CONSIDERATION
5. Appointment of Council ad hoc subcommittee to evaluate policies for annual selection process for Mayor and Mayor pro Tem; and continuation of discussion from the January 13, 2025, agenda item regarding the Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem selection PROPOSED ACTION: Consider appointing a two-councilmember limited-term ad hoc subcommittee to work with City staff to evaluate potential process changes for the annual Mayor and Mayor pro Tem selection process; and continue discussion on Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem selection.
Mayor Beckmeyer opened public comments.
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for stepping down and asked that a selection of a new Mayor pro Tem be done in the next meeting and shared data on Councilmembers named Mayor pro Tem and then Mayor during their terms.
Jenifer Behling, Pacifica, stated Mayor pro Tem Bier was nominated unanimously during the December 9 meeting and expressed confusion at the process. She stated it was not a public nomination but a Council nomination. She stated standards needed to be set to prevent dissension and emphasized nominations be made on merit.
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, shared her thoughts on Councilmember Bier’s leadership qualities and suggestions for the process of an equitable rotation for Mayors and Mayor pro Tems.
Lynn Adams, Pacifica, stated she is representing District 2 and brought signatures regarding objections to there not being a discussion before a nomination and vote and voiced support of Councilmember Boles in the Mayor pro Tem role.
Kimberly Finale, Pacifica, shared her concerns on the precedent-breaking behavior on display since December 9. She emphasized that Pacifica stands united in love and expressed support of Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem.
Mark Hubbell, Pacifica, shared his thoughts on the State’s districting mandate and stress the impact the Mayor has in relationships with the State. He spoke in favor of Councilmember Boles for the Mayor pro Tem position.
Sue Digre, Pacifica, shared her concern about a sub-committee of two as opposed to a staff report for an agenda item. She also asked for consideration of a fair and civil process.
Cindy Abbott, Pacifica, shared her thoughts on keeping this simple and following protocol, as well as mentioning Half Moon Bay’s process, and approved of the ad hoc subcommittee.
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Pacifica, shared his thoughts on previous public comments and suggestions to look at the processes in Palo Alto and South San Francisco.
Dinah Verby, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for her leadership, shared support for district rotation, and hoped to get it done quickly. She also stressed the need for separating City Council Regular Meeting 14 January 27, 2025
public comment periods for incoming and outgoing councilmembers.
Peter Loeb, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for her stand and thought an ad hoc committee was not necessary. He suggested adopting South San Francisco’s model with a clear-cut rotation system based on district.
Summer Lee, Pacifica, shared her thoughts in support of an easy fix and hoped a redo is done quickly, as well as concerns on how they were put in this position of division and misuse of time.
Irene Lee, Pacifica, thanked Mayor pro Tem Bier for stepping down and referred to her followup to the previous meeting with written suggestions for the best process. She also stated the ad hoc committee would not be necessary with a rotational process.
Lyla Reinero, Pacifica, echoed the comments of Cindy Abbott.
JoAnn Arnos, Pacifica, referred to Councilmembers’ experience of what happened on December 9 and proposed that Council come up with guidelines for the future to ensure residents feel they are all being represented by Council.
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comments. She called for a short break and then reconvened the meeting.
Councilmember Espinosa asked if we can have two Mayor pro Tems and two Mayors for this next year. She stated that both of them can work together.
City Attorney Kenyon stated, if she is asking is if we can make the new selection at this meeting, we cannot as it is not on the agenda, but Council can give direction to the City Manager to place it on the next agenda; however, we cannot take action now.
Councilmember Espinosa suggested, for the next term, to have two Mayors.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that is something that Council can decide, and there are some Councils that have split the term, i.e. one councilmember is Mayor for six months and then another councilmember is a Mayor for the final six months. She stated that there are no regulations related to how the Council wants to select their Mayor or Mayor pro Tem, and the Council can decide, and that is what the ad hoc subcommittee is supposed to be considering.
Councilmember Espinosa stated it is a suggestion that may make everyone happy.
Councilmember Boles stated that there are city samples from the agendas that we might want to review for the future as we are setting a policy to prevent the current confusion and frustration. She stated that she could summarize what she learned from the different cities if helpful but she is happy hearing from all Councilmembers about particular ideas.
Councilmember Wright loved the creative thinking. He preferred the nomination process, but there are some difficulties with a nomination process and he would look at the rotation process and think that through. He thinks the ad hoc committee can take the time to come to what is the best policy. He thinks everybody wants a chance to be heard and have their opportunity, and thinks that is what we want to try to accomplish. He suggested that the ad hoc committee is the way to go and stated focusing their discussion about how to get there as opposed to going through the specifics.
City Council Regular Meeting 15 January 27, 2025
Councilmember Boles thought it is important to have this discussion at this meeting about what is important to put in this. She stated that we have examples, and the more direction we can give, the clearer path that the ad hoc committee knows the direction Council wants to head.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked if there was a value in determining who the ad hoc committee is.
Councilmember Wright asked, since he and Councilmember Boles are paired on this item, if they have an ad hoc committee, are they precluded from being on the ad hoc committee with anybody else.
City Attorney Kenyon stated no, as this agenda item will be done at this meeting. The committee will be a new discussion point and would not be a Brown Act violation.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated, looking through all the policies, she liked South San Francisco and Half Moon Bay’s policies.
Councilmember Boles stated that Half Moon Bay’s their protocol is based on following Rosenberg’s Rules that allows nominations and then discussion of the nominations.
Mayor pro Tem Bier thought that both should be looked at by the ad hoc committee.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that she heard from public comment that there needs to be a clear rotation and she thought the ad hoc would have to look at all those details and figure out what the rotation should be and codify that so it is clear. She also heard a preference or suggestion that, with two years of experience on Council, anyone is eligible. She stated that makes sense to her.
Councilmember Wright asked clarification that it is for Mayor, Mayor pro Tem, or both.
Mayor Beckmeyer thought it was Mayor.
Councilmember Boles stated we could go through the different options in each city.
Councilmember Espinosa liked South San Francisco as well. She wanted to see that, when we get to Council, everyone knows what is going to happen with Mayor pro Tem and Mayor. She does not want to be questioned why she did not vote for a specific person and that is why she would like to take that out of the equation, as after being elected, their job is to work for the City.
Mayor Beckmeyer agreed. She thinks the issue is if there is a preference for period of time one has been on Council. It seemed like rotation among the districts was of the highest value.
Councilmember Espinosa stated that, by the time someone is able to be nominated, as now she and Councilmember Wright just came on, two years is going to happen before them for Mayor and Mayor pro Tem.
Councilmember Wright stated that there are a lot of communities that ask for 11 months as a point of reference, and that pertains to the Mayor pro Tem so that by the time they are Mayor they have two years’ experience. The reason he brings it up is because he and Councilmember Espinosa have two and the rest of Council has three. If you have a two-year requirement before you can be Mayor pro Tem, you are automatically guaranteeing that there is a potential for an City Council Regular Meeting 16 January 27, 2025
inexperienced person in their turn for Mayor.
Mayor pro Tem Bier asked if most of them said two years.
Councilmember Boles stated, for clarification, that Los Altos requires 11 months for Mayor pro Tem and 23 months for Mayor. South San Francisco has a setup of a strict rotation by district and they have a caveat that says, “In the event of new councilmembers being elected and beginning their term on the district’s mayor year, it will be required for any new councilmember to start their first year as Councilmember and subsequent year as Vice Mayor and third year as Mayor.” She stated that there is a caveat as you have to have a year of experience to be Mayor pro Tem and two years to be Mayor. She felt that made sense.
Councilmember Wright asked, for clarification, if that automatically resets the order.
Councilmember Boles stated that it says the order will temporarily skip that district’s new Councilmember next in line until they are in their third year for Mayor or second year for Mayor pro Tem.
Councilmember Wright thought it was a temporary reset and then you go back to the same order; you could theoretically have somebody be Mayor, sit out a year, and become Mayor pro Tem again in the following year, if you skipped and had to wait two years before you are Mayor because you missed your turn.
Councilmember Espinosa assumed that, if you do not want to be Mayor, then you will be the next on the line waiting in case you wanted to run and, if not, you go to the back of the line.
Councilmember Wright stated that perhaps it is better served being dealt within the ad hoc committee.
Councilmember Boles stated, if you were not the next in line but the second next in line, you would probably be put in first before that Councilmember had their experience and moving up the rotation.
Mayor pro Tem Bier assumed that those were going to be the details that the ad hoc committee was going to look at and bring comparisons so we can talk about it.
Councilmember Wright stated he tried all the different permutations and there is no way to have something perfect.
Mayor Beckmeyer agreed that it is not as we are human and we make mistakes.
City Attorney Kenyon she stated that generally when you have an item for consideration about whether or not you want to form an ad hoc and then provide direction to the ad hoc, you would usually appoint the ad hoc first so you would know who was going to be on the ad hoc so that, for the other three who are not going to be on the ad hoc, it provides them a more robust opportunity to give their input to the ad hoc committee.
Councilmember Wright asked what process is typically used for the appointment of the ad hoc.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that it is a motion generally made by the presiding chair or by a Councilmember who is interested in being on the ad hoc; first, there needs to be an interest by City Council Regular Meeting 17 January 27, 2025
Councilmembers of who wants to be on the ad hoc.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked who wants to be on the ad hoc committee.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated she would like to be on it.
Councilmember Wright thought it would be great if Mayor pro Tem Bier and Councilmember Boles were on the ad hoc as there may be some benefit to Pacifica for the two of them to be on it. He added that, if Councilmember Boles was not willing to serve, then he would step up.
Councilmember Boles stated that she is willing to serve, but she did not necessarily think she needs to and she was okay if anyone else wanted to do it.
Councilmember Espinosa volunteered to be part of the ad hoc committee but asked if Councilmember Boles wanted to do it.
Councilmember Boles stated not necessarily as she would like to review the Housing Element EIR. She thought the sooner we can do it would be better as it is on everyone’s mind.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she was not putting her hat in the ring.
Councilmember Wright stated, in the absence of others, he would be willing to serve.
City Attorney Kenyon asked if anyone wants to make a motion, now would be the appropriate time or Council can continue to deliberate.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that Council heard from public comment that it does not need to happen at all and we can make it simple. She does not agree with that point of view, as there were other comments that is within the bounds of this item that does need to be done, including scheduling voting for a new Mayor pro Tem.
Councilmember Wright asked if she thinks we should not follow the new process.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that is not what she heard and she would like to hear from Council.
Councilmember Espinosa suggested we do what we have to do now and then work on the process for the future.
Councilmember Boles asked if she means to decide the Mayor pro Tem now.
Councilmember Espinosa agreed, and then we work on the process thereafter.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated that we cannot do that until next time when it is on the agenda. She stated that they are two separate things, the ad hoc and then putting the vote on the agenda.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that the question that Councilmember Wright was raising was do we need to have the ad hoc make the rules and then follow those rules in selecting the Mayor pro Tem for 2025 or do we use some other process to select the Mayor pro Tem because we have a vacancy and the ad hoc does its work over the time period it needs to take.
Mayor pro Tem Bier assumed we would vote at the next meeting and talk about the process at City Council Regular Meeting 18 January 27, 2025
this meeting as to what it would look like, but she thinks the ad hoc is going to need time.
Councilmember Boles agreed and thought we can do the vote respectfully and say what the rules are and give time for public comment.
Councilmember Wright asked if we can decide on what the process will be for the vote.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated that we can first establish the ad hoc.
City Manager Woodhouse offered one observation about the ad hoc, i.e., this was a real working ad hoc to do the work and research as opposed to staff doing it, and he wants to make sure it is clear that, while staff is there to help however they can, all the research and policies would be an ad hoc committee-led work task.
There was understanding among Council.
Mayor pro Tem Bier moved that she and Councilmember Espinosa be appointed to the ad hoc committee, seconded by Councilmember Boles.
APPOINT MAYOR PRO TEM MARY BIER AND COUNCILMEMBER MAYRA ESPINOSA
TO THE AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE TO EVALUATE POLICIES FOR ANNUAL SELECTION
PROCESS FOR MAYOR AND MAYOR PRO TEM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Mayor pro Tem
SECONDER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
Mayor Beckmeyer then stated, as suggested by Councilmember Wright, we discuss the process by which we will select the Mayor pro Tem at the next meeting.
Councilmember Wright stated that a process he would like to see would be a process allowing people interested in the position to either express that or be nominated and then having a discussion prior to calling for seconds.
Mayor Beckmeyer concluded that people can express if they have an interest, all of those people discuss why prior to being a nomination or self-nomination. She stated that someone makes a motion and there is a second to that motion.
Councilmember Wright wants to make sure we have time for a discussion.
Mayor Beckmeyer questions if we want the question before the motion or after.
Councilmember Wright stated before asking for a second so we are not locked into a vote before there is a second and we have to figure when public comment comes in.
Mayor pro Tem Bier suggested we take a look at what is usually done and then we clarify so everyone understands how things are usually done and we can go from there.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that, with the type of protocols we have, we do not follow a formal nomination process. Our protocols allow currently is that, if there is a motion on the floor, that City Council Regular Meeting 19 January 27, 2025
motion must be seconded in order to move forward for a vote. Prior to the motion being made, that is up to Council to determine how they want to conduct that discussion. She suggests, when this item is on the next agenda, the process would be what we normally do when a motion and second is made, and there could be deliberation. She thinks she is hearing from Council is that they want more deliberation before a second is made, and thus what they would do, in the beginning, before there is a motion made, the presiding chair would ask for any interest in anybody being Mayor pro Tem. If there are any people interested, there would be that discussion. She stated that the discussion and deliberation would go wherever Council wants it to go. Following that, we could get a motion. She stated that generally, on these items, public comment is before Council deliberation. Before there is any discussion on who is interested, they would have public comment as soon as they have the staff report on the item and the report can talk about the process. Her recommendation would be the first point after the staff report and before questions of Council or before deliberations, we would want to have public comment so, before the discussion on who is interested in being Mayor pro Tem, you would have the public comment. She recommended that process, but if we want to create a more detailed process, that will make it more complicated. She reiterated a way to provide a more robust opportunity for public comment on the item of selection of Mayor pro Tem than was allowed at the December 9 meeting.
Councilmember Espinosa thought even if she and Councilmember Wright want to be appointed, they cannot.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that they can, as there are no rules.
Councilmember Espinosa stated that it is a problem no matter how they put it.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated we are going to have to nominate and vote again.
Councilmember Wright stated that either we have an ad hoc committee to make a process and follow the process and do it or we go through the nomination process. He stated that is why he was in favor of the ad hoc committee coming to a process first.
Mayor pro Tem Bier questioned how long that will take.
Councilmember Boles thinks we have learned to do this better and listen to each other and understand who is interested and be able to talk about it respectfully which we can do at the next meeting as it will take too long to have it all worked out. She stated, if Mayor pro Tem Bier is resigning, she could change her mind as she has not written her letter yet. She stated that it is okay if she changes her mind, but added we could consider Councilmember Espinosa’s idea.
Councilmember Espinosa thinks her idea works as that way both of them could be the Mayor pro Tem and she thinks that idea will reunite Council.
City Attorney Kenyon added that that idea can be discussed at the time when the Mayor pro Tem selection will be on the agenda. Whether or not Council chooses to discuss that option at this meeting, that option will be available at the point where Council chooses a Mayor pro Tem.
Councilmember Wright stated that the only thing he does not like about that suggestion is that District 4 has been represented when Tygarjas Bigstyck was mayor, District 1 when Sue Vaterlaus was mayor, District 5 is now represented, and that leaves two who will share one term; the whole idea is to have it be fair and equal and it is not fair and equal. He stated that it City Council Regular Meeting 20 January 27, 2025
may solve their immediate problem but does not address the equity issue. He stated that we would still have to figure out for the next rotation.
Councilmember Espinosa added that the only district that has not had a mayor is District 2. She stated that all the other districts had a mayor before.
Councilmember Wright stated that District 3 has also not had a mayor.
Councilmember Boles stated Mayor pro Tem Bier was mayor before but when it was at-large.
Councilmember Espinosa requested to figure it out.
Councilmember Boles stated that it will be on the agenda and we can talk about it at the next meeting and we do not need to decide it now.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she is hearing is staff report, public comment, is there any interest in anyone being Mayor pro Tem, discussion, then a motion and a second.
Councilmember Wright stated all nominations or interests first, and then call for a second. He stated that it could be that we only have one person interested.
City Attorney Kenyon stated a nomination is a different process. A nomination is someone nominating somebody else, and the process presently being discussed is staff report, public comment, and deliberations by Council where the presiding officer is going to ask if there is any interest by anyone who wants to be the Mayor pro Tem. Then, if multiple people respond, there will be discussion on who should be selected, but if only one person raises their hand, then there is not much of a discussion.
Councilmember Wright asked how, in that process, we address Councilmember Espinosa’s idea of a split.
City Attorney Kenyon stated it would be brought up during deliberations because, if the majority of Council decided that they wanted to split the term, that would be the motion: to move to appoint Councilmember A as Mayor pro Tem for a term of six months and move that Councilmember B the Mayor pro Tem the following six months.
Councilmember Wright concluded that they could not be concurrent.
City Attorney Kenyon stated she has never seen concurrent.
Councilmember Espinosa asked if the two Mayor pro Tems perform at the same time.
City Attorney Kenyon stated that would require changing their protocols as the protocols anticipate the Mayor as being the presiding chair and run the meeting and Mayor pro Tem would be the presiding chair in the absence of the Mayor and, if we are changing to have two mayors, that would be a different approach. She stated that is something for the ad hoc to consider.
Councilmember Espinosa stated it is an exception for one year, not the whole time.
City Attorney Kenyon thought there is an issue with having two mayors and the way to make City Council Regular Meeting 21 January 27, 2025
that happen that she has seen that occur is when you have two people interested and Council cannot pick, they usually split the terms, half for one and half for the other.
Councilmember Espinosa asked what would happen if two of them who wanted to be appointed.
Councilmember Boles stated that we cannot decide that today.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that we know the process at the next Council meeting on February 10.
Mayor pro Tem Bier thought the City Clerk would explain the process beforehand.
Councilmember Boles thought the point Councilmember Wright raised is that, if there are two people, are there two motions and which motion gets voted on first. She stated, with Rosenberg’s Rules, the last motion gets voted on first.
City Attorney Kenyon stated, because of our protocol, there can only be one motion on the floor.
You can amend the motion if it is on the same subject or you can substitute a motion but you cannot have multiple motions on the floor.
Councilmember Wright asked if we can substitute as it would be a completely new motion.
City Attorney Kenyon stated substitute is a new motion, amend is not a new motion but to amend the current motion on the table. A substitute would be that you do not want Councilmember A and would like to have Councilmember B and then make a substitute motion.
Councilmember Wright stated he would like to get the process clear first and then do the vote but he will yield to the will of the majority.
Councilmember Boles moved to extend the meeting to 11:30 pm; seconded by Mayor Beckmeyer.
EXTEND MEETING TO 11:30 PM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Mayor
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
Councilmember Boles asked about giving more directions or raising questions for the ad hoc committee.
Councilmember Wright stated that was his understanding for the reason for selecting the ad hoc committee also. He mentioned that one public comment referenced four councilmembers to vote against someone who they thought was inappropriate.
Councilmember Boles stated that, if we have a set rotation and wanted to break the rotation, it would take four.
Councilmember Wright would appreciate it if the ad hoc committee would consider it, something more than a simple majority if there was someone they thought was inappropriate.
City Council Regular Meeting 22 January 27, 2025
Mayor Beckmeyer stated there was public comment that suggested, once the rotation is determined and set, if Council wishes to break that rotation for whatever reason, it needs to be a super majority of Council that votes to do so, which would be 4.
Councilmember Boles stated she saw a couple of things in other cities. If we are doing a set rotation by district, it may not apply. In Burlingame, if there are two new councilmembers that equal, the way those are prioritized is by drawing straws, and it is completely equal and not controversial. From discussions with Councilmember James Coleman of South San Francisco, she stated that, even if there is someone who is not appropriate and not following Council rules, it still takes three councilmembers to vote for that person. Even though they have the strict rotation policy, there is a way out, which she liked.
Councilmember Wright liked that idea also, as long as there is an out clause.
Councilmember Boles agreed that either of those could work. She included the agenda for Palo Alto; in Palo Alto, the outgoing councilmembers step off the dais, receive the new councilmembers, decide on the rotation, and then they bring the old councilmembers back and do that at the end.
Councilmember Espinosa stated it is very stressful to vote for city councilmembers.
Councilmember Boles agreed and stated we they are going to change the policy and that might be different, but she is saying that, whatever policy it is, we go through that and then we bring the old councilmembers back to say their thank yous.
Councilmember Wright concurred with that.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated it was fine to her.
Councilmember Boles likes the idea of requiring one year for a Mayor pro Tem and two years for Mayor.
Councilmember Wright clarified 11 months and 23 months, respectively.
Councilmember Boles stated different cities have slightly different ways that they do the rotation.
Mayor pro Tem Bier asked if she would forward her notes to the City Manager.
Councilmember Boles agreed.
Councilmember Wright stated he has full faith and confidence in Councilmember Boles.
Councilmember Espinosa stated we will see how to make this process easy.
Councilmember Boles thinks one of the main differences is that some cities weigh experience and others make sure new councilmembers have an opportunity to serve during their terms.
Councilmember Wright stated that district elections are new to everybody and we are all struggling with this transition and this policy is not set in stone. If it does not work in a year or two, some future Council may decide to change it.
City Council Regular Meeting 23 January 27, 2025
Mayor pro Tem Bier asked Mayor Beckmeyer if she had some suggestions.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she has said what she thought was the will of the community that they were most concerned about, such as rotation and district representation.
Councilmember Wright would go further to say that it seems like we have a set pattern which he would consider continuing.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that there are features like, if you served before, you go to the back of the line, etc., and she was not sure what he was saying about set patterns.
Councilmember Wright stated that we have a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, order and whatever that order is.
Mayor Beckmeyer believes the suggestion was that the first district in that rotation is based on how long ago that district ever had mayor representation. She stated that starting with districts that have not had mayor representation, perhaps the ad hoc committee can think it through and determine the rotation, similar to how districting first came about.
6. Receive Update on City Council Workplan Item for Review of City Committee / Commission Charters and Provide Direction to Staff to Confirm this Workplan Item and Provide Updated Timeline; Establish Ad-Hoc City Council Subcommittee to Provide Input for Charter Reviews; Adopt Resolution to Amend the Charter for the Library Advisory Committee to Designated Two Positions for Youth Members PROPOSED ACTION: It is recommended that the City Council take the following actions:
1. Provide Direction to Staff to Confirm the City Council Workplan Item to Complete the Review and Update to Council Advisory Committee / Commission Charters and Updated Timeline; and
2. Establish Ad-Hoc City Council Subcommittee Consisting of Two Councilmembers to Provide Input to Staff for Questions to Pose to the Members of Specific Committees / Commissions to Facilitate Review and Staff Recommendations Regarding Charter Reviews for the Remaining Bodies: Beautification Advisory Committee; Emergency Preparedness & Safety Commission; and Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission; and
3. Move to adopt the attached resolution titled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Rescinding Resolution No. 67-2023 and Amending the Charter of the Library Advisory Committee”.
City Clerk Coffey presented the staff report.
Councilmember Wright asked, in terms of the timing, would spreading out the decision process on the committees and commissions better for staff for the workflow or is there a particular time of the year that it would be better for staff to address that issue.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the timeline for achieving by June 2025 for the Beautification Advisory Committee and Emergency Preparedness Safety Commission falls within staff’s availability. She stated that it is an aspirational goal and may take longer depending on scheduling for bringing to Council if we choose to have a joint study session; if Council chooses to do an ad hoc subcommittee to pose questions, there would need to be some work to meet with that ad hoc subcommittee to develop the questions, pose the questions either in survey format to the committee members, and/or to bring those questions to the committee for discussion and that may take 1-2 committee meetings to do that before developing City Council Regular Meeting 24 January 27, 2025
recommendations.
Mayor pro Tem Bier asked if we have the questions created from the other ad hoc committee.
City Clerk Coffey stated that there were no questions developed for Library Advisory Committee. There were questions developed both in survey format and posed to the body for discussion for the Economic Development Committee and the Open Space and Parkland Advisory Committee, and those are summarized in the staff report for which links were provided in the questions and answers to Council.
Councilmember Wright asked why 18 years old for youth members.
City Clerk Coffey stated that under 18 for youth members and at-large would be 18 and older.
She stated, for the at-large members, in the Pacifica Municipal Code, there is a caveat for people who are not residents of the City or not 18 years old or over, and we are using that currently in order to designate the youth members. For the Library Advisory Committee, we specifically recruited for youth members in the at-large recruitment.
Councilmember Boles asked about revisiting interview questions with the ad hoc committee.
City Clerk Coffey stated that would be a different purpose than what is designed for this ad hoc committee. She would not recommend conflating the two. She has heard from Council during the committee/commission interview dates that, at some point, there may be interest in revisiting those interview questions, but her understanding from Council’s feedback of the most recent interview was that Council seemed to be satisfied with the questions posed during the interviews. She stated that, if Council feels differently, they can direct that as a separate process, but that is not contemplated in this agenda item.
Mayor Beckmeyer assumed we would bring that as a separate agenda item on a future agenda.
City Clerk Coffey agreed that it would be the purpose for the regular committee/commission recruitment.
Councilmember Wright asked how much staff time would be involved or would it be completely handled by Council as an ad hoc that would minimize staff input to that and allow Council the discretion to develop better questions.
City Clerk Coffey stated it depends on what the Council’s asks, but she does not foresee that it would be a significant impact to staff time.
Mayor Beckmeyer thought it would have to be reviewed by legal.
Councilmember Wright would support revisiting those questions.
Mayor Beckmeyer agreed.
Mayor pro Tem Bier also agreed.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated it would be a future agenda item.
There were no public comments.
City Council Regular Meeting 25 January 27, 2025
Mayor pro Tem Bier liked the process from last time with the committees and commissions and she is curious about why we are thinking about changing that.
Councilmember Boles asked if in terms of having the study session.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated creating the survey questions, getting them out, bringing the answers back, talking about all of it at a study session, and then making the changes. She thought it worked well. When we are talking about Planning Commission, that is a whole other thing, but she thinks the other three we can take a look at. She liked the process we did last time that was equitable and interesting to hear back from all the commissioners about their experience and if they felt like their voices were being heard. She stated that, if we are going to have an ad hoc committee to look at the committees and commissions listed here, it should only be one meeting to review the questions from last year and see what needs to be changed, according to the commissions and committees.
Councilmember Boles asked if some questions were general and others more specific to the committee or commission.
Mayor pro Tem Bier agreed.
Councilmember Boles thought there was something we can take from that.
Mayor pro Tem Bier thought there should be a conversation about the specifics of the committee or commission itself.
Councilmember Boles agreed, as she loved the study sessions and being able to meet the people and the freedom for everyone to ask questions.
Mayor Beckmeyer recalls we did those study sessions an hour before the regular Council meeting. She is concerned about workload and time. She stated that there are four committees on the list. She wonders if it is realistic to do two before June and two more before December.
She thought in the past they did two, not four.
Mayor pro Tem Bier agreed. She stated that, if we do the other BAC and EPSC in the next year, then PB&R Commission the following year, and lastly Planning Commission.
Mayor Beckmeyer thought that was reasonable in 12 months.
Councilmember Wright will defer to their experience.
Mayor Beckmeyer concluded that those are the priorities for 2025.
Mayor pro Tem Bier agreed and that is what she was proposing.
Councilmember Boles asked if we have heard anything from Planning Commission or PB&R that they are chomping at the bit to review their charters.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated both PB&R Commission and Planning Commission needed their own time. She would like to discuss making an amendment to either our Council Rules or to the Committee/Commission Handbook to allow for councilmembers to make appointment from the City Council Regular Meeting 26 January 27, 2025
pool of previous applicants, should there become a vacancy on an interim basis. She stated that we frequently have qualified pools, not enough seats, and we always suggest they come back and apply again. She does not understand the benefit of bringing applicants back to an interview for a seat that has opened up after the first round.
Mayor pro Tem Bier asked if she was talking about a partial term.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated if someone needs to resign, and we have a vacancy all the way into the next time we are doing appointments, and if we had their pool of applicants from before, we could make an appointment.
Councilmember Wright asked if she can explain how that would work in this case now with him having left Planning Commission.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she has no idea.
Councilmember Wright stated that neither he nor Councilmember Espinosa had the benefit of interviewing those people.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that was a good point.
City Clerk Coffey stated that from recruitment to recruitment, we have varying levels of interest and sometimes we need to extend the application deadline in order to get more applicants in the pool to consider; when we have a limited number of applicants, we make it a practice at times to reach out to the pool of previous applicants to see if they are interested in renewing their interest. She stated that we have mixed responses on that, as some continue to be interested and others’ circumstances may change over a few months’ period of time and some are not interested or do not respond. We also provide the opportunity for an interview and make it equitable for all so they are not precluding someone from not having that face to face in the interview process because they applied in a previous round. She stated that the interview is not required because it is a special Council meeting and we cannot make flexible adjustments based on applicant’s schedule and there are scheduling conflicts that come up.
Councilmember Wright moved to extend the meeting to midnight; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Bier.
EXTEND MEETING TO 12:00 AM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Greg Wright, Councilmember
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
Mayor Beckmeyer stated defining procedures for selecting the Chair and Vice Chair. When it is done in January, the committee shall choose and the same individual may serve no more than two periods in a row. She is not saying the exact rules, but she thinks we need rules that are clear as we have had experiences of Chairs staying on and on and there is not really a process.
Councilmember Boles asked if that is something in each committee charter or is that something in the Handbook.
City Council Regular Meeting 27 January 27, 2025
Mayor Beckmeyer stated it should be in the Handbook. She does not know where that fits and asked if it was part of this.
Councilmember Wright stated that, with some of those, he would agree, but for Planning Commission he is not in favor of a short number of terms. In terms of process, he could see them following whatever process our ad hoc committee comes up with.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she will put it out there as a suggestion for the ad hoc to think about.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated that we also have to talk about the Robert’s Rules of Order with committees and commissions and it may relate to money for training.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated so there is an inclusive and intentional guiding comments from all the committee/commission members, even if they are not the first one to jump in.
Mayor pro Tem Bier agrees so everyone has an opportunity, whether they choose to share or not. She also thinks, if we get the schedule where it is once a year, then you can train them all before they start serving.
Mayor Beckmeyer agreed.
Councilmember Wright stated he had the opportunity to attend a few different meetings, and he knows that, on Planning Commission, it seems that everyone has had the opportunity to be heard. He stated that it is not that others did not have the opportunity but they have not participated in the same way. He supported whatever they can do to facilitate additional input.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that was what Mayor pro Tem Bier was saying about training, guidelines, and suggestions.
Councilmember Boles stated that it comes down to the Chair and how inclusive they are.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated that, in her mind, Planning Commission is separate from the rest.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked if PB&R Commission follows Robert’s Rules.
Mayor pro Tem Bier thought they did a good job there as well.
Councilmember Wright asked how much staff time will be involved in the training.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated that is a good suggestion to bring back that information.
Mayor Beckmeyer had one last thing for consideration, i.e., we have youth seats on LAC and she wanted to throw out the idea of creating an opportunity for youth seats on other committees and commissions. She stated that we have the YAB. She thought this could be a good opportunity for youth to get experience.
City Clerk Coffey thought it may be an opportunity for the ad hoc subcommittee to inform the Council to pose a question to the individual committee/commission. She mentioned that Council did appoint youth to an at-large position to the Economic Development Committee and the applicant appointed declined.
City Council Regular Meeting 28 January 27, 2025
Councilmember Wright thought there was a lot of insight to be gained from youth and he encouraged that and do what we can in their process to encourage them to have input even though that may not be their first inclination.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated to put that on the ad hoc work task list.
Mayor pro Tem Bier agreed, as there are youth development strategies as well.
City Clerk Coffey added that currently, the way the Municipal Code is posed, there is the opportunity for youth to serve on an at-large seat on any of the committee/commissions and we are not locked in to necessarily having 18 or over. There may be something to be said to allowing this flexibility but not necessarily designating a youth seat as that may be vacant if there is lack of interest.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that the terms of the seats are four years. She stated that the Municipal Code probably does not speak to that and could that be in the charter.
City Clerk Coffey stated, in the amendment for the Library Advisory Committee, the youth positions are designated as one-year terms.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked, if we want to say to add a youth position for BAC, that would come at the time the charter is amended, and then Council votes on that charter amendment.
Councilmember Wright stated that we would have the option to make that a one-year seat to make more opportunity for more youth.
Councilmember Boles mentioned it is hard for youth to commit to long terms.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that is a high demand on youth. She stated those are all her points and thought we need to select an ad hoc committee.
Councilmember Boles stated that, at the Economic Development Committee meeting she went to, there was a discussion about who was supposed to take the minutes.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that should be clarified.
Councilmember Boles agreed that should be clarified for all committees and commissions. She stated that there were two staff members.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she was going back and when former Economic Development Manager Thomas Myers was here, it was a committee member taking minutes. She then asked who wants to be on the ad hoc committee.
Mayor Beckmeyer moved that Councilmember Wright and Mayor pro Tem Bier be the ad hoc subcommittee for the Committee/Commission Charters; seconded by Mayor pro Tem Bier.
City Council Regular Meeting 29 January 27, 2025
APPOINT MAYOR PRO TEM MARY BIER AND COUNCILMEMBER GREG WRIGHT TO
THE AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE TO PROVIDE INPUT FOR CHARTER REVIEWS RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sue Beckmeyer, Mayor
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
Mayor pro Tem Bier asked if we need answers to any of the other questions.
City Clerk Coffey stated that we need Council direction on the process, and she was hearing the same as before.
Mayor Beckmeyer agreed with that. She asked what other direction is needed.
City Manager Woodhouse clarified that he heard earlier the thought of 2025 would be EPSC and BAC and 2026 would be PB&R and Planning Commission.
Mayor pro Tem Bier stated we should do PB&R in one year and Planning in another.
City Manager Woodhouse concluded we are just designating EPSC and BAC for 2025.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that we need to have a motion on the LAC item.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated the resolution to change the charter of LAC because we are adding the youth positions but making them one year.
City Clerk Coffey stated that they are going from a 7-to-9 member at-large voting positions to 9 member voting positions, two of which would be designated as youth under the age of 18, each for a one-year term that would expire in October of each year; seven of the nine would be voting member positions at-large for four-year terms and expiring in October and then designating the five Council specified stakeholder groups for the ex officio non-voting members.
Councilmember Boles stated that her only question was the October expiration because, if you are a senior, you would be starting college in August/September.
City Clerk Coffey stated that the October starting terms aligns with the general expiring term of October for the Library Advisory Committee. For Committee/Commissions in general, we have committees where terms expire in either March, May, or October, and if we mix expiration dates on a single committee, it may be confusing. It may be something to look at when we are looking at the administrative efficiencies and whether to choose a single time of the year to do term expirations to consolidate to a single time for recruitment and term expirations for consistent onboarding.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated she is hearing that it was probably advisable to leave it alone and pick it up when we look at consolidating later.
City Clerk Coffey stated that would be her recommendation.
Mayor pro Tem Bier moved to adopt the attached resolution titled “Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Rescinding Resolution No. 67-2023 and Amending the Charter of the City Council Regular Meeting 30 January 27, 2025
Library Advisory Committee”; seconded by Mayor Beckmeyer.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Mayor pro Tem
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Mayor
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
7. Additional 2025 City Council Liaison and Committee Assignments PROPOSED ACTION: Review the updated list of City Council Liaison and Committee Assignments, make additional appointments, as needed, for the calendar year 2025, and approve the final list.
There were no public comments.
The City Council made the following changes: Airport Community Roundtable alternate changed to Beckmeyer; Colma Creek Flood Control Citizens Advisory Committee primary changed to Boles and alternate to Wright; and Fog Fest Committee Liaison primary to Bier.
The following assignments will have the primary check in with the chair (no alternates):
Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission, Fog Fest Committee Liaison, North Coast County Water District, and Open Space and Parkland Advisory Committee.
AGENCY Council
Representative(s)
Council
Alternate
ABAG General Assembly Delegate WRIGHT BECKMEYER
Airport Community Roundtable BOLES BECKMEYER
C/CAG Representative BECKMEYER WRIGHT
Colma Creek Flood Control Citizens Advisory
Committee
BOLES WRIGHT
Emergency Services Council SMC BOLES WRIGHT
Fog Fest Committee Liaison BIER
Housing Endowment and Regional Trust
(HEART) - Member Agency Committee (MAC)
BIER BOLES
Housing Our People Effectively (HOPE) - Inter
Agency Council (IAC)
BIER BOLES
North County Fire Authority JPA ESPINOSA &
WRIGHT
North Coast County Water District (NCCWD) WRIGHT
Pacifica Community Television ESPINOSA BIER
Pacific Beach Coalition BOLES ESPINOSA
Pacifica Resource Center WRIGHT BOLES
Pacifica School Volunteers BIER BECKMEYER
Peninsula Clean Energy JPA BOLES WRIGHT
Peninsula Congestion Relief Alliance
(Commute.org)
BIER BECKMEYER
SMC JPA Advanced Life Support / Pre-Hospital
Emergency
WRIGHT BOLES
SMC Library JPA BIER BECKMEYER
* Local Agency Formation Commission WRIGHT n/a
City Council Regular Meeting 31 January 27, 2025
(LAFCO)
* C/CAG Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Committee
BIER n/a
* C/CAG Legislative Committee n/a n/a
* C/CAG Resource Management & Climate
Protection Committee (RMCP)
BECKMEYER n/a
* Housing Endowment and Regional Trust
(HEART) - Regular Member Board of Directors
BIER n/a
*LCC Coastal Cities Group (CCG) Leadership
Committee, North Central Representative &
Chair (through mm/dd/yyyy)
BECKMEYER n/a
* San Mateo County Shared Prosperity Council
(formerly San Mateo County Recovery Council)
TBD
CITY OF PACIFICA COMMITTEES /
COMMISSIONS:
Beautification Advisory Committee ESPINOSA BECKMEYER
Economic Development Committee ESPINOSA & BIER n/a
Emergency Preparedness & Safety Comm. BOLES none appointed Library Advisory Committee BECKMEYER BOLES
Open Space Parkland Advisory Committee WRIGHT none appointed * Representative selected by listed Agency not City Council
ADJOURN
Mayor Beckmeyer adjourned the meeting at 11:54 p.m. in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED: 5 - 0; 3/10/2025
__________________________
Sue Beckmeyer, Mayor