1 ATTACHMENT A
BAC Charter Review – Individual Survey Questions
1. What do you think the scope / mission of the Committee / Commission is? • I believe the mission of the BAC is to help enhance the public landscape and public art of the City of Pacifica for the citizens and visitors to the City to enjoy. In conjunction with this effort, beautifying our City also helps to create a space that welcomes visitors, is appealing for business owners to want to invest in, and creates a City that people want to come live in and make their community. Lastly, it unites volunteers in a mission to enhance the ecology and climate goals of the City of Pacifica, as well as, offer up opportunities to bring joy into our City through the color and whimsy of art.
• I believe the mission of the BAC is to beautify public areas to encourage visitation/ use. This was intended to be done by creating a plan of the public areas available to be beautified, prioritizing those areas on the basis of visibility/impact, and then creating plans & methods for how to scale efforts to keep these areas beautiful through community/ volunteer participation & with strategies to lower maintenance requirements. This is clearly said best in the Beautification Plan, quoted below:
• “In August of 2011 the City Council approved a proposal presented by then Mayor Mary Ann Nihart to create a Beatification Task Force (BTF) with the following objectives: 1. Identify and map city owned parcels of land throughout the City with particular emphasis on main thoroughfares for planting and beautification. 2.
Establish themes and plants appropriate for use by community groups in these parcels with emphasis on native plants and water saving plants. 3. Identify possible methods, outreach and funding sources for ongoing organization/volunteer participation and maintenance of these areas.”
• The mission of the BAC is to Keep Pacifica Beautiful (KPB). This program is meant to develop guidelines and policies, locate appropriate sites for beautification, engage and educate the public about beautification in our community, and to work with various groups to reestablish public areas.
• To make + keep Pacifica beautiful, mainly for our own citizens, but also to attract tourism to bring some financial benefit to our city.
2 • The Mission of the Beautification Committee is to aid the City Council by being open to the general public for comment about what makes Pacifica a beautiful place and return this to the City council. BAC also makes recommendations for improvements and help the Public Works Dept. to implement those ideas when possible.
2. How do you feel about your work on the BAC?
• I have greatly enjoyed my work with the BAC. My greatest satisfaction is in seeing others joining in our efforts and watching the community of volunteers grow. I also have enjoyed watching some rather underutilized and vacant spaces be refreshed and revitalized over the years.
• I am new to the BAC so feel I am just getting started. I enjoyed the volunteer events.
Recently I made a push for the team to go into planning mode as I felt there was an opportunity for us to be more forward looking and fulfill the commitment from the Beautification Plan to tackle new priority sites. I do appreciate the addition of the Art subcommittee since I think limiting to only gardening efforts is overly limiting in terms of how we might beautify the city.
• I think we have evolved into a committee that has been able to successfully get community volunteers to join our workdays. By posting on various social media platforms regarding upcoming workdays, Pacifica community members have been able to join us. We are working with the sponsors along Palmetto, Cabrillo PTO members and their children, and members of the Rotary Club. When someone volunteers with us, I add their name to a volunteer list so that the individual is invited to our workdays. The BAC, along with Palmetto bulb out sponsors, Rotary Club members, and other community members cleaned up the Palmetto Plaza area. The Public Works Department cut down dead trees and repaired an already existing irrigation system. Shrubs,Iris bulbs, succulents, and poppy seeds were planted in the planter areas. The group next painted all of the arches in the plaza.
The Rotary Club generously provided the funds to purchase the paint and an anonymous donor supplied the brushes, rollers, plastic sheeting, and ladders for the group's use. This was all completed BEFORE FogFest! The group wanted to complete painting the arches on the north and south sides of the entrance to the city yard. This was completed on Sunday, October 5.
• I love the work that we do I was the instigator of the murals on our community center. I wish to have more murals added to our beautiful town! 3 • I have been a home owner in Pacifica for 48 years and have fallen in love with our Coast Side town and wish to make it continue being a beautiful place and hope that our children will be able to enjoy the resources we already have. I have been a member of local church groups and a longtime member of the Pacifica Garden Club which has donated and worked on community projects.
3. How do you feel like you could make a greater contribution on the BAC? • As the committee chairperson, I think updating our webpage and links as well as posting to social media - Connect with Pacifica, NextDoor, and the City of Pacifica's Facebook page are crucial to get the word out to the Pacifica community. • I have a lot of ideas on how we can build upon this momentum the BAC has created over the years. I feel like we can add to our committee’s mission or expand our subcommittes to include other offerings and programs. Continuing to lean into the volunteers that are eager to be a part of this movement is a way of dividing the load and passing along some of the work and maintenance of the programs that have been running smoothly for awhile – such as the Adopted Bulb-Outs along Palmetto – to allow room for new initiatives to take place. I think helping to develop one of these new initiatives would be a goal of mine.
• I'm one of the most active on the committee, among other things I do + groups I'm a part of. I feel like I'm very happy to be able to continue beautification projects. • I think I can contribute more to the BAC in 2 ways:
o I have been working with Public Works on creating an Adopt a Tree program that we just did a second pilot of for the street trees planted in the Sharp Park PDA project. This feels like it would fit squarely within the realm of the beautification committee’s intent/goals. Particularly, it helps to create methods to establish a no-cost maintenance program to keep trees alive (which trees are very high impact to beautification efforts). I would like to see the BAC take this program on officially, and I would be happy to lead this effort. o My work profession is in planning and prioritizing projects. I think I could support in this effort to help the committee take a more forward looking approach to how we might expand our impact to more project sites, etc. • The BAC has grown more and more of a Hands-on work committee with ·certain Public Works projects rather than just a referral and advisement committee. This 4 way we have shown that we are committed to beautifying Pacifica and we are regularly thanked by the public when they see our group involved with the actual work.
4. Do you feel able to express your opinions and beliefs as a member of BAC? • I feel like the members of the BAC are all very caring and invested in the City of Pacifica and doing what is best for it and the community members. I always feel like I can voice my opinions at the BAC. I do feel that sometimes change can be slow or that new ideas can take a lot of time to get moving. • Yes, I think the BAC members are very understanding and listen to all members' opinions during both our monthly meetings and at our workdays! • I think the environment of our committee is very welcoming and anyone is free to state what they feel.
• Our meetings are very open to each member to express their views and we welcome the general public to our meetings. We listen to what everyone has to say.
5. Are there any ways you believe BAC’s meetings could be structured or operate more efficiently?
• I find them very efficient and enjoy my time at them. • I raised this in our last meeting, and we are already making good steps towards improving on this, but I think we should have a running list of priorities we are wishing to tackle. And we should consistently be striving to work down that list.
Having a consistent view into what we want to accomplish coming up in the next XYZ time frame and how we are tracking towards that I think would facilitate a lot of good discussion and keep the momentum high.
• I firmly believe that our structure is really good. Gail (Chairperson) is really great at getting all to participate + share their thoughts + opinions. • At the recommendation by two BAC members, we are planning to prioritize projects after we brainstorm ideas. We will be working on the BAC charter review discussion questions at our November 5 meeting, which will be the start of our next couple of meetings.
• It would be nice if we could hold once each quarter a combined meeting with other 5 committees to share each others views and what their aiming to accomplish. Some times we find out that the other committees are working in a another direction and this would avoid confusion.
6. Do you feel like you received sufficient onboarding and initialtraining to function effectively as a commission/committee member?
• I think it took a month or two to understand the full role of the BAC. It would have helped if I was given a copy of the BAC charter upon coming into the committee. I am currently reading a copy of it now. I appreciated attending the City of Pacifica Ethics training and learning about the Brown Act to further understand some of the nuances of serving on a City committee.
• I raised this in our last meeting, and we are already making good steps towards improving on this, but I think we should have a running list of priorities we are wishing to tackle. And we should consistently be striving to work down that list.
Having a consistent view into what we want to accomplish coming up in the next XYZ time frame and how we are tracking towards that I think would facilitate a lot of good discussion and keep the momentum high.
• When I joined the BAC, there were two members that were part of the original Beautification Task Force (BTF) and I knew two other BAC members personally. I felt very comfortable when I joined as I had attended a couple of meetings prior to applying. I do feel the need for more training and information to be given to NEW members of the commissions/committees, so they have a better understanding of the time commitment, the attendance policy, and other events that the different commissions/committees are involved with. Example: BAC has workdays during the weekends at different locations throughout Pacifica. We try to keep it at one day per month, but sometimes it is two times a month.
• I don’t personally feel that “training” is really required for this committee. A person just needs to care deeply for our city + be able+ willing to do work to keep it as an attractive place for all.
• Yes and the yearly review of ethics is a good thing.
7. What would help you to fully bring your voice to the table? • I feel like my voice has been heard at the BAC meetings. I do think one needs to speak up as we develop the agenda for the next meeting – adding new business to discuss, for instance – and to volunteer to get the process going on a new idea or to 6 do research into it. We are all volunteers and the only way to be a part of it is to step in and contribute.
• Mostly yes. Perhaps some explanation of norms would have been good, but I picked up on those pretty quickly.
• Nothing. We are very comfortable speaking and listening to each other's ideas. • I have had experience on other clubs and groups but experience and a willing to listen to other s is important.
8. What role do you feel the City Council liaison should play to make BAC most effective?
• I have enjoyed hearing the liaison give a summary of the City Council meetings/issues each month. This keeps me apprised of other elements happening within the City of Pacifica. I have also enjoyed having the liaison participate at our volunteer “action days”. It’s a great way to meet the Council member and for them to see the work we do.
• The City Council liaison should share updates from the BAC, so the City Council is aware of what we are working on. The BAC works on landscaping projects and there is a subcommittee, Public Art/Murals, that works to include public art in Pacifica. The City Council liaison should report on City Council meetings, so we are informed of current topics of discussion.
• This is very helpful for our meetings as we do need to know the direction the City council is moving and is our only means to hear what other commissions and committees are involved with.
9. Do you have any otherinputfeedback that you would like to share? • Just hoping we can continue to keep our current programs moving forward and look to expand the BAC. It’s a wonderful opportunity for getting involved in your community!
• I think the liaison should keep the BAC in sync with the direction of City Council. I suspect this entails the council member communicating what the BAC is up to back to City Council and similarly, they represent the City Council’s wishes back to the BAC. For example, if we were to reignite a recurring prioritization process of upcoming initiatives we plan to take on, the liaison could report back to Council 7 on our intents, and then come back to BAC with feedback that the BAC can take under consideration.
• As I said I have lived in Pacifica for 48 years and wish to keep this beautiful City in as good as possible. This means that we MUST protect our open spaces in order to maintain our unique seaside lifestyle. We must prevent over building and insist that our local zoning laws be respected by the State.
10. Do you have any otherinputfeedback that you would like to share? • I think its clear above, but for due diligence I will reiterate. I believe having an Adopt a Tree program actually already fits within the scope laid out for the BAC in the originating Beautification Plan. If that is not the case, then I would like to request that we amend the charter to include this program officially as it has clear impact to the beautification of Pacifica