POINT ARENA CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Scott Ignacio
Vice Mayor Barbara Burkey
Councilmember Anna Dobbins
Councilmember Jim Koogle
Councilmember Richey Wasserman
MEETING MINUTES
MAY 24, 2022
6:00 PM
VIA TELECONFERENCE
https://zoom.us/s/84888251095
NOTE: A full transcript of this proceeding is attached.
I CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
The Point Arena City Council met via teleconference for a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Mayor
Ignacio called meeting to order at 6:00 pm; and roll call was conducted:
Councilmembers Present: Mayor Scott Ignacio, Vice
Mayor Barbara Burkey, Councilmembers Jim Koogle and
Richey Wasserman
Councilmember Absent: Councilmember Anna Dobbins
Administrative Staff Present: City Manager Paul Andersen, City Attorney Giny Chandler, City Engineer Jason Island and Deputy City Clerk Amy Herman
II READING
Councilmember Koogle read a selection by George Carlin
III APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Motion to approve agenda by Vice Mayor Burkey, Seconded by Councilmember Koogle. Motion passed 4- 0 with Councilmember Dobbins absent.
IV MAYOR’S REPORTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sheriff Matt Kendall provided a monthly update of law enforcement activity on the South Coast.
V COUNCIL REPORTS
Vice Mayor Burkey and Councilmember Wasserman reported on the last Redwood Empire Divisions meeting of the CA League of Cities and noted Point Arena will host the next one on August 19,2022.
VI PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
None.
VII CONSENT CALENDAR
Motion to approve consent calendar by Vice Mayor Burkey, Seconded by Councilmember Koogle. Motion passed 4-0 with Councilmember Dobbins absent.
VIII PRESENTATIONS
A) Review of 2021-2022 Public Works Projects – City Engineer Island provided an overview of recently completed projects at Arena Cove and on Mill and Center Streets.
GOVERNING DOCUMENTS GENERATED:
Resolutions:
2022-14 (Covid Emergency)
2022-15 (Virtual Meetings)
2022-16 (Alcohol Ordinance exemption)
2022-17 (CalTrans Encroachment)
2022-18 (Signature Authority)
2022-19 (Road Project 22-23)
City of Point Arena
City Council Meeting Minutes – May 24, 2022
IX ORDINANCES/RESOLUTIONS
A) 2022-2023 Public Works Projects – City Engineer Island reviewed the proposed Windy Hollow Rehabilitation & Repair Project and answered questions.
Motion to approve Resolution 2022-19 by Councilmember Wasserman, Seconded by Vice Mayor Burkey. Motion passed 4-0 with Councilmember Dobbins absent.
B) Return to In-Person City Council Meetings – City Manager Andersen explained various options for returning to in-person only meetings or in-person meetings with a virtual component.
Council provided direction to staff to develop a “hybrid” meeting system.
X CITY MANAGER/CITY ATTORNEY REPORTS
CM Andersen and City Attorney Giny Chandler provided updates.
XI INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
A) CalCities State Budget Analysis
B) Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Rural Playbook
XII FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS (next 45 days)
A) Next Meeting: June 28, 2022
B) Veteran’s Building Technical & Feasibility Study Update C) Downtown Park Improvement Project Coastal Development Permit
XIII CLOSED SESSION
A) Conference with Real Property Negotiations (GC § 54956.8): Property: 24000 South Highway 1, APN:
027-061-20; Agency Negotiator: Special Projects Manager Richard Shoemaker & City Attorney Ginevra Chandler; Negotiating Parties: City of Point Arena and County of Mendocino; Under Negotiation: Price, terms and conditions.
Instructions were given to the negotiating team on a real estate transaction.
XIV ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Mayor Ignacio adjourned the meeting at 7:56 pm.
MINUTES APPROVAL
Minutes approved at the June 28, 2022 City Council
Meeting:
_________________________________________
Paul Andersen City Clerk
Scott Ignacio, Mayor
May 24, 2022 City Council Transcript
SPEAKERS
Amy Herman, Scott Ignacio, Paul Andersen, Barbara Burkey, Matt Kendall, Richey Wasserman, Jason Island, Giny Chandler, Jim Koogle, Richard Shoemaker
Scott Ignacio 00:13
Okay, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's May 24. It's approximately 6 o'clock Pacific Coast and this is the Point Arena City Council. Thanks for joining us. Can I get a roll call please? Amy Herman 00:28
Councilmember Wasserman. Here. Councilmember Koogle? Here. Vice Mayor Burkey? Here. Mayor Ignacio? Here. Also present is Sheriff Matt Kendall, City Manager Paul Andersen and Deputy City Clerk Amy Herman.
Councilmember Anna Dobbins is absent by prior arrangement.
Scott Ignacio 00:56
Folks, I ask that everybody in attendance and those watching out there in cyber land are going to join us in a moment of silence for the folks involved in the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas and the children that suffered that tragic incident.
Scott Ignacio 01:34
Thank you for that and our thoughts and prayers are with those families.
Scott Ignacio 01:43
Tonight, I would like to hand off item to the reading to Councilmember Koogle, please.
Jim Koogle 01:50
I'm going to read from a chapter entitled The Bovine Feces Trilogy E Pluribus BS from George Carlin.
Jim Koogle 02:07
Every time you're exposed to advertising in America, you're reminded that this country's most profitable business is still the manufacturer packaging, distributing and marketing of BS, high quality great A prime cut pure American BS. And the sad part is that most people seem to believe BS only comes from certain predictable sources:
advertising, politics, salesmen and lawyers. BS is everywhere. BS is rampant. Parents are full of it. Teachers are full of it. Clergyman are full of it, and law enforcement, present company excluded are full of it. This entire country is completely full of it and always has been from the Declaration of Independence, to the Constitution, to the Star Spangled Banner. It's nothing more than one big steaming pile of red, white and blue all American BS. Think of how it all started, America was founded by slave owners, who informed us all men are created equal all men except Indians, blacks, women. And remember, the founders were a small group of unelected white male landholding, slave owners, who also by the way, suggested their class be the only one allowed to vote. To my mind. This is what is known as a stunning and embarrassingly full of it. And everybody bought it all Americans bought it. All of these Americans continue to show their ignorance with all the nonsense about wanting their politicians to be honest. What were these cretins thinking? Do they realize what they're wishing for? If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, everything would collapse. It would destroy this country because our system is based on an intricate and delicate balance. It's a balanced system of lies. And I think somehow deep Page - 2 - of 26
down Americans understand this. That is why they elected and reelected Bill Clinton because given a choice, America preferred their BS right out in front where they could get a good strong whiff of it. Clinton may have been full of it, but at least he lets you know he let you know it. And people like that. And 96 dole tried to hide his BS. He lost he kept saying I'm a plain and honest man. People don't believe that. And what did Clinton say? He said, Hi, folks. I'm completely full of it. And how do you like that? The people said, You know what, at least he's honest, and at least he's honest about being completely full of it.
Scott Ignacio 05:24
That was very good. Jim, thank you for that. Thank you. Okay. Item III is approval of the agenda. Council, you've had an opportunity to preview and hopefully read your packets for tonight's meeting. If there's not any questions, additions or changes, or even if there are, I would introduce an adoption motion of the agenda. And at such time, we could, once the seconds received, we can then make adjustments and move on. Vice Mayor Burkey.
Barbara Burkey 05:56
I move to accept the agenda.
Scott Ignacio 05:59
Thank you for the movement. Is there a second?
Jim Koogle 06:02
I'll second.
Scott Ignacio 06:05
So that's Vice Mayor Burkey, and Councilmember Koogle, are there any adjustments changes or updates from either staff or the dais? Any questions on the motion? Can I get a roll call? Barbara Burkey 06:27
I think we do have an adjustment, though. Aren't we including a closed session tonight? Scott Ignacio 06:32
So the packet you got went out before that went to the public, the public has been updated. And I want to confirm with Amy Herman that this agenda was properly posted.
Amy Herman 06:32
Yes.
Scott Ignacio 06:33
With the inclusion of the Vice Mayor Burkey's question about the closed session.
Amy Herman 06:52
That will have to pass to Paul because I think he posted them.
Paul Andersen 06:56
Yes I updated them.
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Scott Ignacio 07:00
All right. So, yes, the public's agenda and tonight's agenda does include closed session. There's a motion any other question or adjustment? Can I call for a vote, please?
Amy Herman 07:13
Councilmember Wasserman? Yes. Councilmember Koogle? Yes. Vice Mayor Burkey? Yes. Mayor Ignacio? Yes.
Motion passes 4-0 Councilmember Dobbins absent.
Scott Ignacio 07:26
Thank you. The next item is the Mayor's Report. So I will defer to my good friend Sheriff Matt Kendall.
Matt Kendall 07:45
Well, thank you Mayor Ignacio. I actually appreciated that reading. I love listening to George Carlin because sometimes I think a lot of us are thinking this stuff. But he seems to be the only one saying it or back in my days, he would seem to be the only one saying it. Calls for service, we're pretty far down on the south coast, doing pretty good on our investigations, we just haven't had a lot of them. We are experiencing a lot of work on the south coast with some behavioral health issues. And we're working with behavioral health mostly specifically dealing with mental illness. And so we're working with them to make sure that we can get services in place to keep these people from dying. They fall into that gravely disabled or danger to self or other categories.
Matt Kendall 08:26
Across the United States, we're seeing as well as we see today -- a huge, huge rise in behavioral health issues. And you know, what a tragedy. I'm just heartbroke for everybody in the room who's got children. I'm certainly sad and broken right along with this.
Matt Kendall 08:44
I would like to be able to touch on the Owens Fire for a few minutes and answer any questions and tell you what my observations were. I was down there with Supervisor Williams. This time of year where the fog is not rolling in is pretty dangerous because we have those strong winds off the coast. That fire and those bold lines just outside of Bill Owens Road, the smoke was so thick that I could literally taste the pitch in the air. And it burned all the way down to the ocean. It was absolutely wind driven, but that fuel was ready for it. And so one of the things that I wanted to bring up to everyone -- 96% of the fires in Mendocino County, are manmade, and it's vehicle accidents, it's running equipment, it's you know, powerlines it's all of these different things. So let's try to do our part to make sure that we aren't the cause or the origin of that fire and believe it or not in nature, there's very few things that cause fires. There's dry lightning volcanic activity, believe it or not, causes a lot of fires at parts across the world and throughout our nation. However, besides that, I guess there's some things that can happen in coal seams and things like that that tectonic plate movement in a coal seam can cause fire. But that's pretty darn rare.
Only a few times has actually been documented to my knowledge.
Matt Kendall 08:53
And so if everybody can think about, you know, being as safe as we possibly can, this time of year, and this fire season is going to be a tough one. This year, we had a lot of rain right at the end, or what we consider to be a lot of rain lately. And the grass shot up, we've got a lot of fuels out there, a lot of brush, but everything that I'm seeing and everything that I'm reading, we're seeing timber die off in Mendocino County, because of the drought.
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The pine beetle is getting in, we could have a canopy fire, that is just terrible. So let's do what we can as human beings not to cause it. If the Almighty does, you know what we'll deal with it. But knowing that that's only 4%. I'd rather have those odds then 96% on me. Does anybody have any questions for me? Scott Ignacio 11:05
Sure. Can you confirm more for me that nobody was injured? There was an evacuation that I'm sure your department was a part of. And no structures were lost during this event.
Matt Kendall 11:17
No structures lost, nobody injured. It was probably one of the most incredible rollouts of fire departments from South Coast Fire to help from Albion. Supervisor Williams was down there with me saying, hey, you know, I'm your guy, whatever you need, I know you're in the thick of things. And so we were bouncing ideas off of each other and doing our best to get everything taken care of. And, you know, the fact that you guys have got a bulldozer over on the coast. Nobody ever thought that the South Coast would need a bulldozer, but we absolutely needed it on that one. And, you know, it's just, it was a really good showing of first responders coming together and working for the people. And I'm pretty proud of it.
Scott Ignacio 12:03
Yeah. Chief Warner at South Coast, he called that one right. And I was really surprised to see that they had gotten a dozer. But I think they were the first on scene. I saw at least two more roll through Point Arena from the Fort Bragg area. Good job to all of you, first responders and law enforcement alike. So thank you for that. Anyone else? Questions for the sheriff? Including Brian, I see you're out there. Let's go to Councilmember Wasserman first.
Richey Wasserman 12:34
Just a comment. I was coming back from Elk during the early part of the fire. I saw many engines heading south and then. And then the next day also, I saw a Brooktrails engine returning up the coast. So that far away is pretty impressive.
Matt Kendall 12:59
Councilmember Wasserman, I honestly thought the fuels being so ready for that to go just amazed me. It just amazed me. And I think that we're going to have to really start taking a look at this drought and coming up with some solutions that will work for everybody. You know, a lot of this is environmentally driven. We are seeing climate change. Anybody who says that we are not, did not step out in January this year in a T shirt like I did, and thought that it was May, you know, we are seeing that. We can't deny it.
Scott Ignacio 13:30
Yeah, yeah. Brian, thanks for raising your hand. Could you unmute your mic and state your name and status for the sheriff.
Scott Ignacio 13:40
Bryan Cebulsky, ICO reporter. Sheriff Kendall I can more than believe that 96% stat. I just wonder, where were your sources for that? Just for context
Matt Kendall 13:54
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From CalFire. I was meeting with CalFire. And believe it or not across the state, I think it was last year 93%. But in Mendocino County, I believe we were actually up to 96%.
Scott Ignacio 14:11
Thank you, Brian. Well, Sheriff, thank you, you and your staff are doing a wonderful job. Is there anything that the city can do for you?
Matt Kendall 14:21
No, but I appreciate you guys letting me speak for a little bit. Last night was my anniversary. I got home a little late and my wife promised that she would cook me dinner tonight. And I promised that I would do all the dishes when we were done. Now. I think that that's a pretty good agreement.
Scott Ignacio 14:34
I do too.
Matt Kendall 14:35
I don't want to eat my own cooking
Scott Ignacio 14:37
I want to make sure we get you there so you can wash them dishes.
Matt Kendall 14:41
All right. Well, I appreciate you folks. Thank you. Reach out to me if we have any concerns, and we will just keep getting after it.
Scott Ignacio 14:49
Sheriff it'd be nice if more often we had an opportunity to call you up and say you're doing a great job but and you recognize that so thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Scott Ignacio 15:05
So moving on to Item Five, Council reports. Are there any city related meetings or council committees or Commission reports that we'd like to update? Vice Mayor Burkey.
Barbara Burkey 15:17
Richie and I attended a League of California Cities meeting in Eureka a couple of weeks ago. And it was a really amazing meeting, we had a lot of territory to cover with a lot of really wacky bills. And it just is mind blowing. All the poorly crafted bills that go through our legislature, and we got to hear about a lot of them and give advice on a few of them in turn a few down and did a lot of great networking at that meeting. It's a very dynamic group of people. And I especially enjoyed meeting my Blue Lakes counterpart and talking to her later in the meeting about parks and trails. It was a great experience. And I hope you all can do it someday. Richey, did you want to add anything?
Richey Wasserman 16:18
I enjoyed being there very much there. Great activities going on on the north coast, north of us. It was very good to hear and I'm looking forward to the meeting that's going to take place here in August, August 19.
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Barbara Burkey 16:38
Yes, we'll be hosting the League of California Cities here in Point Arena. We're going to craft a roster of great things for them to partake in and we'll have our business and our legislative meeting here as well.
Scott Ignacio 16:55
Oh, is that going to be like the meeting we had a few years ago? We're their already? Wow, Barbara Burkey 17:03
I know. It's here again. That's awesome.
Scott Ignacio 17:06
All right. Any other reports? Thank you. Not seeing any we'll move on to privilege of the floor. This is the time for members of the public who wish to be heard on matters that do not appear on the agenda. The council's policies limit each member are each speaker to three minutes pursuant to the Brown Act, we will not be taking actions on items that come up during privilege of the floor. With that, we will open the floor to the public. Please use the raise hand feature on your application. If you're on the telephone. I believe it is star six. Would anyone like take privilege on the floor? Going once, going twice.
Scott Ignacio 17:59
All right. Moving on to consent calendar item seven. There are a number of items on the consent calendar. This is the category that is considered to be routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. Unless a council member or more would like to table or pull any of the items for separate discussion. If there's no questions, I would entertain a motion to adopt the Consent Calendar as presented.
Barbara Burkey 18:31
So moved.
Scott Ignacio 18:32
Thank you Vice Mayor Burkey. Is there a second? Second. All right. Thank you, Councilmember Koogle. There's motion and a second. Is there any discussion on that motion or question from the public on the motion? Hearing none, can I get a oll call vote, please?
Amy Herman 18:46
Councilmember Wasserman? Yes. Councilmember Koogle? Yes. Vice Mayor Berkey. Yes. Mayor Ignacio. Yes.
Motion passes four to seron four zero with Councilmember Dobbins absent Scott Ignacio 19:00
Item eight. . We are looking at a review of the 2021-2022 public works projects and I believe this will be Jason.
Good to see you again.
Jason Island 19:22
Thank you everyone. I was looking back on my notes and I realized that it's been over a year since we put the first of these three projects out to bid. That's the Arena Cove parking lot repair, Center Street, and Mill Street. That construction lasted 10 months. So now we're on the other side of that. Construction is by its nature challenging, Page - 7 - of 26
it's disruptive. And, and we're on the other side of it, and I just wanted to take some time to look at what we accomplished, review that, share some before and after photos and answer any follow up questions. So if I may, I'm going to screen share I have a presentation here that I'm going to run through so I believe I can do that.
Jason Island 20:18
So our first project that got underway starting in in June, when we engaged in the process and got a contractor hired for the Arena Cove parking lot repair. And I'm going to share first some before and after photos. So this is something I've been trying to do is take before photos, and then take the exact same perspective afterwards that you know when they're tiled together, it really gives you an idea of what we accomplished, On the left, you can see the sidewalk that that was torn out the parking lot being undermined. And then on the on the right hand side, you can see our new valley gutter, the bench in the background, what you can't see is that that valley gutter now extends three feet below the surface. So it prevents that undermining with the new pavement butting up against the new footing. Next slide here we have the boat storage area. On the left, this is the area that was prone to seasonal flooding, that low area that didn't drain well. On the right side, you can see our bioretention.
Jason Island 22:05
But it is also our new focal point that is properly located, it's actually raised a foot so that seasonal flooding as of last year, although the project wasn't complete, the arena Creek never got above the level of the bioretention when there was flooding it was because the paving hadn't been completed and it was still left low. But over the course of this year and the heavy rains, this area that had always flooded before stayed below the level of the new parking lot, which is really encouraging. And we now have a positive outlet with that outlet that flows through the flooding. Here we have a picture of that just the parking lot area that the jetty rock that stayed the same, the bench that now provides an area for the picnic tables kind of gives it an enclosure.
Jason Island 23:02
So you can see that there and then I had to include a picture of the skate day which I think is really cool that happened. So just first review of the project benefits what we what we set out to accomplish with this project in completing it. So, as I talked about, we installed a deep footing, which did not exist prior, along the length of the south edge of the parking lot to prevent undermining. A two foot concrete bench adjacent to the existing jetty rock that helps to mitigate. In the course of studying the jetty rock, we learned that the rock has lowered and moved outward over time. it actually has not moved much since the event that triggered this work in 2017. But prior to that it has moved significantly so that two foot bench particularly with the removal of the jetty rock for the project, mitigates that and helps from keeping wave overtopping. We raised the parking lot level particularly down by the boat storage to reduce the seasonal flooding and the incoming of storm surge when it goes up Arena Creek during big swell events. We installed a valley gutter that goes across the parking lot from the Chowder House, which further helps to reduce the flooding over by the boat storage. All that water that during a storm event comes around the back of the Chowder House and off the hill and off the approach to the pier now is routed and dumped into the creek rather than going all the way down to the boat storage area. That's worked well since its installation and the bioretention facility will improve water quality, especially on those first flush events. So say from now until September, hopefully when we get our first rain, all that summer traffic, all that oil, whatever ends up on that parking lot, that first half inch or inch of rain, that will get a lot of those oils and pollutants normally would just go right into Arena Creek, but they're captured now in the bioretention.
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Jason Island 25:33
There are generally some additional benefits and changes to the project that were beyond the scope of what we set out to do. The public engagement resulted in really valuable discussions and a really productive process. We reviewed the history of the parking lot especially the jetty rock movement, modified the final project, As you're all aware of we had incredible public turnout, both at the on site meetings, as well as the council meetings where this was discussed. The Arena Cove Stewards was formed, which is a really, really positive thing for the future of Arena Cove.
Jason Island 26:30
We engaged in a jetty rock study. We hired Moffitt and Nichol and we did a survey of the current situation and compared that with the jetty rock survey that was done in 2017 right after the storm event. And compared that with historic photos. The coastal engineer prepared a study that resulted in the final project and the outcome of that study was a contributing factor. And that study is now public record for Arena Cove Stewards as well as the city. That's an excellent starting point for applying for grant funding in the future for a restoration project of the creek. We learned a lot there. And the Pier deck which I know was something that really needed to be repaired.
We were able to accomplish that which is great.
Jason Island 27:31
So we wanted to thank everybody that engaged in this process and recognize the level of engagement that we had. I think it's great that we understand a lot more about the jetty rock, it's a big concern for a lot of people. And the formation of the Arena Creek Stewards that can act as an advocate for Arena Cove, and work towards future restoration projects.
Jason Island 27:56
I'm gonna go through all three of these but maybe it'd be best to ask questions, comments on each one. So we don't get too far down the line. Any questions or comments about the Arena Cove parking lot project? Scott Ignacio 28:12
I very much appreciate your efforts and your crew's efforts and working with the public. I think that's really important. It was a good lesson for all of us to make sure we take that extra step to give everybody an opportunity to have input. And I just wanted to add that. You mentioned the Arena Creek Stewards -- I just saw a flyer down at the Co-op today for a community chat meeting on Sunday, June 5 from 2 to 5 with a discussion at 3. I'm looking for some good input from the city side to receive input from the Stewards and hopefully like you said use some of the information we've gathered from this project and the public input to move forward. Those are my comments.
So thanks again, Jason. Anyone else?
Scott Ignacio 29:15
Jason, the floor is yours.
Jason Island 29:17
All right. So moving on to Center Street, that little project in the middle. I have this before and after photo. So this is the north end the upper end of Center Street that we paved. You can see I waited until the pharmacy parking lot was paved as well. So you can see that Center Street has now paved over its length. One of the biggest issues with Center Street was the run off from the hill. There was no protection on the right hand side of the road to Page - 9 - of 26
prevent water from collecting. Building foundations which are lower than the street, so they were vulnerable to water damage. We heard a lot of comments from the library and the pharmacy owners about this issue. You can see the curb that we installed that will resolve that issue. The water that's corralled against that curb then is translated into a valley gutter, the length of the length of Center Street all the way to the bottom photo that benefits within the original scope. So we have new pavement and concrete valley gutter over the length of the street to improve drainage and improve the street surface. The new curb at the north end will keep stormwater runoff in the gutter and keep away from those businesses. Additional project benefits -- this project helped to facilitate additional paving at the pharmacy and at the dental clinic. The paving at the pharmacy was really nice because it it made that connection from Main Street to Mill Street.
Jason Island 31:13
Any questions about Center Street? Okay, onto Mill Street. So these before and after photos are the most dramatic and something I've noticed with construction, the minute something changes, it's hard to reach back into your memory and remember the way I used to look the changes, you know, we just assimilate them so fast.
So it's really nice to have these before and after photos we can go back in and really look at what was accomplished with this project. So this is a view at the at the east end from the south. This was one of the one of the big project goals was to fix this problem which was a big trip hazard stepping out of your car and jumping over a curb and down to a drop sidewalk. This was actually one of the tougher issues to resolve because we had to interface with wall of the properties at this end of the street that were that were lower. It resulted in retaining walls on the backside and new step interfaces into the existing patios which I think all those interfaces, we manage to work through them gracefully. And I believe all the homeowners are very happy with their new entryway configuration. So that was one of the dramatic changes that we made out there. And of course you can see the new road surface here's a photo from the West End. You can see the old high curb at the sidewalk, a non ADA narrow sidewalk that was backed away from that and the overly crowded street here and obviously the poor condition of the street.
Jason Island 33:10
In this view, it looks like a normal street with normal sidewalks. Another one of the big project goals was to figure out a solution for these really unconventional awkward driveway approaches and then you could see the drainage issues that that were on the north side. This was also very challenging and our answer were these bumped out driveway approaches, but with a curb traditional curb on the sidewalk and we have these planters that will get planted out. We heard a lot of comments from the from the homeowners that they really appreciated the planters and the opportunity to soften the hardscape out there. Here's another one of these unconventional driveway approaches. I don't think any one of these driveway approaches was the same. Every one was different.
Now there's sort of this uniform driveway approach that goes down on the north side that helps to make the street look better.
Scott Ignacio 34:35
That telephone pole that sits in the sidewalk, what's the distance between that and it looks like shale or gravel edging on the north side?
Jason Island 34:44
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It is four feet. And so we took care to make sure that the ADA minimum you can actually go down to 36 inches around a power pole. Thankfully it too is sort of the minimum for a pathway, We stuck with either for six or five feet. But a minimum of 36 inches is code compliant for ADA.
Scott Ignacio 35:10
Thank you.
Jason Island 35:15
This is a good view, you can see, as Scott mentioned, there's gravel behind the walks. Dealing with a subsurface water was a huge issue on Mill Street. As you all know, water is constantly coming off that hillside. So what you can't see in the finished project is all of the subdrains that we put in. There's a six inch subdrain running the length of the street, behind all the new sidewalks. That collects it so that water both surface level water and sub surface level water is being collected in a French drain behind the sidewalks and then routed into our new storm drain the length of the project. A lot of the folks on the south side complained of settling foundations and other issues with their foundations. Capturing this groundwater should alleviate some of that.
Jason Island 36:22
So now we're back on the south side. This just highlights the generally poor condition of the street and driveway approaches and the sidewalk that we started off with. This is on the on the right hand side, you can see what it looks like today. And you can see our solution for capturing the water in a valley gutter that goes across the face of the driveways. One of the other complaints we had was that water running across the street would enter the driveway approaches that were existing. The water would not be captured in in the gutter and would run down the homeowner's driveway. We now have a valley gutter the length of the project that captures that water and keeps it safely out of out of any of the homeowner's driveways.
Jason Island 37:22
Here's another photo highlighting just how high that curb was on the north side that we were able to turn into a normal sidewalk with an eight inch curb, a standard curve that you can open a door over. This was a very crowded street prior to this project, and the cross slope on the street. We were able to hold existing fixed points that we needed at the back of sidewalks on both sides and still eliminate that three to four foot curb on the high side. That is also how we resolve the dropped sidewalk on the south side that I showed on the first slide. As I mentioned the surface water is controlled by the driveway valley gutters and the two new drain inlets on the south side, one on the northeast side and one at the very end of the street. A ton of advances with these conveniences that help to control and capture stormwater and groundwater.
Jason Island 39:12
Mill Street had the most additions in terms of additional scope items that that resulted in further improvements to the project. I want to highlight those. The original project did not did not capture that last stretch of unconventional sidewalk with the stairs going from Center Street to about 200 feet moving east on the north side.
We got a lot of feedback from homeowners requesting that that we complete that section so that the whole project had had standard sidewalks. The reason it wasn't in the original project was for budgetary concerns. We were just trying to tackle the worst parts of the project but as the project and unfolded, we felt that we could do that so that was completed as additional scope. The original scope of the sidewalk did not extend on the south Page - 11 - of 26
side all the way to the end of the street. This was an extremely challenging section of sidewalk with very high retaining walls. But based on the homeowners requests, and again, looking at our funding, we were able to accommodate that.
Jason Island 40:36
As we worked through this project, we discovered that all of the sewer laterals -- and a great insight into the general condition of the collection system in Point Arena -- these terracotta sewer laterals were just beyond repair. We went in and replaced all of the old terracotta sewer laterals over the length of the project on the north and the south side with new ABS encased in slurry. That was an expensive part of the project with a lot of extra wor. We had great cooperation from homeowners, everybody was really supportive. That did a whole lot to improve water quality. There was a ton of I&I happening there. We also added a new a new sewer manhole.
There was a length of sewer line that was an unconventionally long distance between three manholes and was really difficult for city staff to inspect and clean if necessary. So mid-line, we installed a new sewer manhole.
Jason Island 41:59
One of the difficulties of this project is we did not have good maps of the utilities going into this. We did potholing and our survey gave us an idea. But we discovered all kinds of things that were not where they were supposed to be. There was there were a lot of unknowns, and that again is pretty consistent throughout the city. But Mill Street is probably one of the worst for that. As a result of this project, we did record drawings. So the city now has plan and profile of sewer water laterals and storm drains that are all accurate and up to date. So for the future, all those utilities are now known to really high degree of accuracy, which just a good thing to have. And finally, on Mill Street, you have to thank all the residents that supported the project and that were very patient with all the disruptive activity to their day-to-day day life. The residents treated us all really well out there. They provide a lot of insights that were able to help us make the project better, and they tolerated six months of construction. So that's the recap of the projects. Are there any questions on Mill Street? Or comments? Jason Island 43:05
Vice Mayor Burkey?
Barbara Burkey 43:38
First of all, it looks great, Jason, and it was a really amazing project. I'm just so happy that you were able to fix all the sidewalks on the north side of the street, even though it wasn't in the plan in the beginning. But I think that was a really good call to do the whole thing. I had a question about the bulb outs on the north side of the street, that are where the driveways are. And there's like the planters on either side. Who is going to plant those? Is that for the homeowners to do or is it for the city?
Jason Island 44:15
Paul, do you want to feel this one? Yeah,
Paul Andersen 44:17
That's not determined yet. I think the initial hope was that the homeowners would take the challenge to plant but the more I think about it, it might be worthwhile for city staff to plant and the homeowner to maintain. And it wouldn't have to be anything too fancy. It could be plants that grow to a larger size. I think there are people in the community we can reach out to talk about that. Like being one to talk homeowners about what we want to see Page - 12 - of 26
there. I don't want it to be a situation where we have to maintain it constantly. But I think giving a start is a good idea.
Barbara Burkey 45:04
Okay. And I had another question. And that's about the laterals, the sewer laterals. I know that was a huge unforeseen cost. And how did we manage to cover that cost? Jason Island 45:17
I can tell you what the cost was. And I'll let Paul answer the question about the how of the payment. So it ended up being about $70,000. I went through and quantified all these additional benefit costs just for our own knowledge, just as sort of a looking back at the project. And that's what those laterals, many of which were very deep and extended across the street. And, and were hard to get to that that was the cost. Paul, I'll let you feel the other the other half the question?
Paul Andersen 45:56
So this was a project with a budget of about $1.4 million, and about a quarter of that was city contribution. And so by that metric, we will pick up the costs of that change in our match. The bid that came in from Granite Construction was below our original estimate. There were some savings initially, but that savings was eaten up over time by these different things that we added to the project. All of which I think were good ideas.
Jim Koogle 46:33
Paul, has any calculation been done on the savings of removing the I&I on Mill Street that is one of the greatest expenses for wastewater to pump all that extra storm runoff, my point is that, while it costs a lot, there should be considerable savings from having done it,
Paul Andersen 47:03
We're doing a city-wide I&I which will address those issues in the rest of the town and now we don't have to address them as much on Mill Street. I'll also note that our plant operator notice a 300-gallon decrease in I&I resulting from our recent storms which is likely the result of improved sewer laterals on Mill Street. The less water you have in the system, the easier it is to clean the system, Scott Ignacio 48:18
Jason, when you said that the laterals -- is that the laterals to the house or laterals to the property line? Jason Island 48:29
That is the lateral from the back of walk to the main, so within the city's right of way. Those were the big contributors to to the I&I in most cases because it because it's within the street. Short of someone doing their own project, getting an easement and doing an underground project in the street, they had never been repaired.
Whereas on the homeowner side, we saw new ABS cleanouts and modern plumbing because it's just a shallow trenching project in your yard. So those are actually in pretty good shape throughout. It was just from the back of walk to the street, the inaccessible areas and there's no better time then when you have the whole street gutted and the sidewalks torn out to do that. This was the time to do it. It was the right call.
Scott Ignacio 49:27
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Good job. Could you tell the public what I&I stands for so they know what we're talking about? Jason Island 49:47
Inflow and infiltration. What we see in this system and it's good thing we're doing a repair to the collection, as the system goes up, I believe, almost 10 fold during the winter from the summer months. So that is actually through damaged pipes, crack terracotta pipes, poor connections between sewer mains, and sewer laterals, to the mains, that's groundwater entering the sewer stream ending up at the plant. To put that in perspective, that's that means that whatever that flow is, when there is no groundwater coming in, that it goes up by a factor of 10.
During the winter, there's that much water coming in. Paul, if I'm correct on this, right, it's somewhere in that order, I believe.
Paul Andersen 50:45
Yes it is. That causes a huge problem at the plant in the winter, because the ponds rise rapidly. And even the ponds up top when we pump the clean water up there. There's so much water coming into the system that shouldn't be in this system that, you know, it makes it difficult for the plant. And we've had times in the past, not recently, but many years ago, where the ponds, we have four ponds up top, they were all filled. And you know, we don't want to spill from that. And so we were able to prevent that that time. That was the bad storm in 2017.
With the I&I study, we'll be able to identify and repairing the sewer lines and be able to remedy that so that not so much water is showing up at the wastewater plant.
Jason Island 51:33
And of course, the flip side of I&I is what can go in can also go out, right. So it's also a water quality issue. And Mill Street as you know parallels Arena Creek. And it's a direct downhill shot from Mill Street. You know, the entire length of Mill Street is running parallel to that equal length of Arena Creek. And so in the same way that groundwater can get in sewage; sewage is leaching out from these from these crack pipes. And so there's also water quality issues. And so by repairing those pipes, which probably for Mill Street is the primary source of I&I, its a big improvement.
Scott Ignacio 52:24
Thank you for that explanation. All right, Jason, do you have more for us? I think you're probably up on the next item here in a second, right.
Jason Island 52:39
Yes. Well. I just want to say thank you to Council for your working with us on all these projects.
Scott Ignacio 52:45
So before we close off that item, I want to make sure that we give the public an opportunity to ask questions. If there's anyone out there, including Brian, that would like to ask questions on this topic, use the raise hand feature, let us know. Not seeing any let's move on to thank you again, Jason. That was a great report. Appreciate the visuals that, like you said, it jogs the memory of what it was. And as a little kid, I played on Mill Street and those tall sidewalks as a little kid or like cliffs, and not nearly as scary hopefully.
Scott Ignacio 53:23
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Okay, moving on to Section IX, Resolutions and Action items. IX A is the 2022-2023 street rehabilitation project.
And, Paul, unless you want to correct me, I'm going to turn it over Jason? Paul Andersen 53:37
Actually, I'm going to give you a overview. And then Jason will discuss some options for the project that he's looked into. So as you know, through these projects, we participated in the Local Partnership Program of the California Transportation Commission. That's a program that provides money to cities that have their own approved tax programs for roads. And so we are able to supplement the amount of money that we receive through the pothole tax, as it's called, with this state funding. We've been able to use that to great advantage in this town. The state covers about 75% of the cost share. We're responsible for about 25%. It's allowed us to rehabilitate Port Road from Iverson to Arena Cove; Riverside Drive from Main Street to the Hay Industrial Park; and all of Center Street. The City was also the recipient of a million dollar grant through the competitive program of LPP.
Paul Andersen 54:47
By July 1 of every year the city is required by the California Transportation Commission to identify projects for the next round of funding via resolution. The City then requests CTC program and allocate the funds just before construction begins. At your November council meeting, you approved a revised Capital Improvement Program that envisioned future projects over the next several years. One was the Windy Hollow Road Rehabilitation and Repair with .6 mile of the roadway from the intersection of Riverside to the northern city limits. It also included rehabilitation of Port Road from Main Street to Iverson and a sidewalk inventory and replacement program to prioritize sidewalks for a replacement or addition.
Paul Andersen 55:36
For the 22-23 funding cycle, your City Manager and City Engineer are recommending utilizing the funding to rehabilitate Windy Hollow Road from Riverside Drive to the city limits. One of the criteria used to determine projects is the pavement condition index. It's a numerical index between zero and 100 used to indicate the general condition of a pavement section. According to the county's review, the City's portion of Windy Hollow Road currently has a PCI of 14 out of 100. That's a figure that places it in the serious classification and not very far from a failed classification of a roadway. Windy Hollow Road has been on the CIP since 2007. A small portion of the roadway was improved with subsurface drainage in 2018. But that was a temporary measure to extend the life of the roadway until a more thorough rehabilitation could happen.
Paul Andersen 56:32
Windy Hollow Road as we know is the only entry and exit point for residents of the Manchester Rancheria, visitors to the Garcia River casino and for emergency vehicle access. The City's portion of Windy Hollow Road also provides access for several residences, a PG&E corporate yard and Windy Hollow Farm. Over the years the city has received numerous complaints about the condition and safety of the roadway including vehicle damage from potholes, a lack of roadway markings at night, speeding vehicles endangering pedestrians and cyclists and then the general image it presents to visitors to Point Arena and a perceived lack of respect for the Native community as that the roadway is in such poor condition and it's the only available access point for the Rancheria.
Paul Andersen 57:21
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The road crews maintain Windy Hollow Road as well as possible given its condition. They routinely fill potholes, ensure proper drainage and clear limbs and debris after heavy storms. But it continues to deteriorate and could at some point become a serious liability for the city. So for those reasons, we believe Windy Hollow Road should be the next capital improvement project in Point Arena and would theoretically occur during the 22-23 fiscal year.
I'm going to turn it over now to Jason who has taken a look at the roadway and has some thoughts and ideas about how to remedy the situation.
Jason Island 58:00
Thank you Paul. I'm going to go ahead and screen share again here. Okay, so I have two sheets that just depict the portion of Windy Hollow that we're talking about it I think everybody is familiar with. But you can see in this upper panel, this southerly portion where Windy Hollow comes off of Riverside Drive this section is in particularly bad condition with a lot of potholes, as Paul mentioned, failing subgrade in this middle section. This is the section where water was translating down an AT&T trench and actually coming up through the asphalt and three years ago we put a series of sub drains across it very effectively cut off that water and stopped it from infiltrating up through the asphalt but did nothing for the overall condition of the road or the failing subgrade.
Jason Island 59:11
This just in terms of logistics, you can see that there are several aprons right here that we'll have to deal with. In that first section. There are no roads or aprons coming off of it, which makes the project certainly easier when you're talking about redoing the entire surface. There's the final panel, this is moving on beyond the PG&E yard.
There's a section in here that is not quite as bad as the rest, kind of in front of the PG&E yard. And then there's another section that's getting pretty bad again, due to the presence of the wetlands and the drainage. You can see the roadway has sunk in because of the saturation there. And then we reached the portion that's the county road that is in pretty good condition.
Jason Island 1:00:11
So that's the project that we're talking about, it's approximately six tenths of a mile long, an average with about 22 feet to 11 foot lanes. We'll obviously engage in a full design process, including core sampling, subsurface investigation, looking at the project as a whole, and the most effective ways to rehabilitate the road. But just to give everyone an idea of what we're looking at, the initial thought would be in the portions that are the worst, doing a grind of the entire surface, recompacting those grindings, so basically taking that maybe three inches of existing grindings, adding that to whatever subgrade is there, then putting a top coat of new base rock, really stabilizing that base rock, and then three inches of new asphalt over the top. So just short of a full rebuild, but definitely more cost effective to work with the base that's there, recycle the grindings, rather than having to pay to haul them off.
Jason Island 1:01:20
I'm optimistic that in this middle section, there are places in the interest of saving money and resources that we can get by with some isolated dig outs and a two inch overlay, which is still a really good surface with a long lifespan. And then I think at that intersection, that last section that we looked at, we're probably looking at it the grind and recompact option. So it's just a balance of how can we get the best performing product budget is going to be an issue. This is this is going to be an expensive project. And so in order to complete it with the funding available, we certainly want to do everything we can to not put resources and materials in the ground that don't Page - 16 - of 26
need to be there. So that's the initial approach. But we'll do the diagnostics and the subsurface investigation to proceed with the design. Any questions about the project or input? Yeah. Barbara? Barbara Burkey 1:02:34
You mentioned earlier that the roadway was unsafe for pedestrians? And, you know, I agree that it is and is there any mitigation for pedestrians in this project?
Jason Island 1:02:48
There is not in this project scope. We looked at at the cost. I mean, very these are very, very preliminary cost estimates, but I did some basic cost estimating. There are there are significant challenges with putting in, say a bike lane similar to what we have on Port Road out to arena Cove. Initially, just the costs associated with adding road width, and additional pavement and base. But probably the more significant hurdle is the presence of mountain beaver, it's difficult even to maintain shoulders on this road. And any expansion would be a significant environmental hurdle. Not impossible by any means. But a different project than a simple road rehabilitation. It would be a big permitting and planning effort. So you know, in talking with city staff about this, I think that that could and probably should be a candidate for a future product by adding some kind of a bike lane. This work we're doing in no way would preclude that future work. It would just be more with added outboard to it but it's just a longer running project that would require a lot more planning and permitting up front.
Barbara Burkey 1:04:25
Thank you.
Jason Island 1:04:26
You're welcome. Jim,
Jim Koogle 1:04:28
I know that from the city to county line on the road that BIA funded the entire improvement other than the beyond the asphalt that the county paid for the studies and stuff for that. Has BIA been reached out to about helping with funding so that the quality of the road would be the same from the reservation? Scott Ignacio 1:05:01
I'll follow up on that, but Jason give a shout out?
Jason Island 1:05:05
You know, I was going to defer either to Paul or you Mr. Mayor.
Scott Ignacio 1:05:10
Special Projects Richard Shoemaker and I attended meetings with the tribe out here, last October or November I think. And we sat down and we talked to the roads manager for the tribe. It was it was an initial introduction meeting to see if there were funds available. There's been a change in councils since then. So if we were to try that again, it would have to start from basically zero. But right now, with the fiscal environment, with not just our community's tribe, but other tribes in the region. It will be a very uphill challenge to find funding from that source at this time. So it's, so to answer your question, yes, it's been talked about. It just hasn't gotten any traction at this Page - 17 - of 26
point. We'll keep trying. Any other questions for Jason on this? How about questions from the public on this topic?
Scott Ignacio 1:06:27
Not seeing any, so Jason, what's going to be the next step that we can expect to see or hear from you on this particular item, assuming that the Council is going to go forward with the resolution.
Jason Island 1:06:47
So our first step is to do some core sampling to learn what kind of base we have to work with under there. And based on that, figure out what the sections are over the length of the road and come up with an initial cost estimate. So our first step is to do the diagnostics so that we can better define the project and know what it's going to cost. Right now, the current estimates that I have are in the $600,000 range, if we can apply some of these cost saving methods, just to give you a sense of scale, but we need to do the subsurface work to confirm that.
Scott Ignacio 1:07:33
Council, you've heard the excellent report from our City Engineer. Is there any discussion to be had? Or any questions that you'd like to go over as a Council right now? Not hearing any, I would like to report to city staff that normally I'd ask for an adoption or motion to adopt or deny or modify resolution 2022-19. But my packet doesn't seem to have a copy of that. And so if you have a copy there, would you help me entertain a motion and tell me what that resolution is titled?
Paul Andersen 1:08:20
Let me pull it up. Hold on one second.
Scott Ignacio 1:08:28
And I was assuming it was just a mixup on my packet. Does the rest of the council have a copy of this resolution in their packet that I'm seeing. No? So Paul, I'd like you to walk us through that resolution and for the public in real time, please. Yes, hold on one second. While Paul's doing that, we should welcome Paul back. He was off for a week. And he looks really good for someone that's been off for a week doing what he's been doing. So welcome back, Paul. Thank you.
Paul Andersen 1:09:03
Thanks you Mr. Mayor. So this is a pretty standard resolution we pass every year. It's a resolution adopting the Windy Hollow project for the 22-23 Fiscal Year. And so it has some information about the background. We have $9,300 in funding from the road maintenance account, which is something we get every year, we have still an allocation at LPP of $552,000 which is basically two years plus half of another year of funding. We were getting funding year by year but in this last round of three years they said you can take the money anytime you want it.
You don't have to wait a year to take another $200,000 And then another year. So there's that funding available.
We'll forward this to the CTC and they will put it into their system so that we can at a later day, get the money programmed and then allocated so we can begin the project. It just has a simple project title and description, where it's located, the estimated project schedule and the estimated project useful life. Those were all things that the CTC requires for the resolution to be complete.
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Scott Ignacio 1:10:23
Okay, just want to reiterate, I don't know if Jason said it. If they did, I missed it that this Windy Hollow project would take this year's and next year's funding from this funding source to possibly do and Jason, did you give us an early estimate? I know you said you were working them up. But do you have an early idea of what this would cost?
Jason Island 1:10:48
In the in the $600,000 range is where we're at. So we're in the ballpark.
Jason Island 1:10:53
All right. And Council, while it's up on the screen, if anybody just raises their hand as I'm looking at you on my other screen. Are you happy with this? Do you want to scroll back? Do you have questions about the statement? Councilmember Koogle.
Jim Koogle 1:11:09
My question has to do with the overall scope of the roads within Point Arena and their needs as it relates to you know, spending two years and maybe some change on Windy Hollow road there. Is there a greater road study that this fits into?
Paul Andersen 1:11:33
Well, the road study we mostly go off is the PCI study that the county updates yearly. And according to that, you know, Windy Hollow road is by far the worst in the city limits currently. I mean, we've rehabilitated three roads so far. With the PCI being 14, the other project that was suggested was Port Road, from Main Street to Iverson that currently has a PCI of 60. And so when we were looking at the conditions of roadways in the city limits, it was pretty obvious that Windy Hollow was more needed, I would say from a safety perspective than Port Road and that but that doesn't mean the Port Road will never happen. In fact, funding through the new infrastructure bill that was passed earlier this year, or last year, has a lot of funding for small rural communities and roadways. And so that's something we'll be exploring to try and find funding for that project in the future Scott Ignacio 1:12:35
Paul you said the PCI was 60 Yes. Thank you versus one for gym.
Jim Koogle 1:12:47
And PCI stands for?
Paul Andersen 1:12:50
Pavement Condition Index.
Scott Ignacio 1:12:52
Thank you. It's the rating we use the traditionally in our region in the county. Normally when the county does the PCI index, they break out the municipalities but Point Arena is just so limited. I think we had less than four miles of roads that they just included our PCI numbers in the overall county report. That's why we don't have a separate one. But each street is in there in the report, and we work on that with through Mendocino Council of Governments. Any other questions?
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Scott Ignacio 1:13:29
I had a thumbs up from Richie I think he's good there. Because of a minor mishap this is first time we're seeing the resolution. Are there any questions about the verbiage? Okay, and with that, I would go to the public. If anybody has questions from the public or from the ICO if you want to ask questions about the resolution, we're getting ready to receive a motion on happy to call on you with the raised hand feature. If not, I will entertain a motion to either approve, deny or modify resolution. What number is that? Paul Andersen 1:14:12
2022-19.
Richey Wasserman 1:14:15
I move approval of Resolution 2022-19.
Scott Ignacio 1:14:26
Okay, there's a motion is there a Second? Vice Mayor Burkey provides this second. Now. Is there a discussion on the motion or post motion that can either come from the Council or the public? Not seeing any we'll go for a roll call vote.
Amy Herman 1:14:44
Councilmember Wasserman?
Richey Wasserman 1:14:45
Yes.
Amy Herman 1:14:46
Councilmember Koogle?
Jim Koogle 1:14:47
Yes.
Amy Herman 1:14:48
Vice Mayor Burkey?
Barbara Burkey 1:14:50
Yes.
Amy Herman 1:14:51
Mayor Ignacio?
Scott Ignacio 1:14:52
Yes.
Amy Herman 1:14:53
Motion passes 4 to 0 with Councilmember Dobbins absent.
Scott Ignacio 1:14:57
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All right, thank you very much, Jason, it was an excellent report. Paul, thanks for the having the resources available. We'll move on to Item IX B, a return to in-person Council meetings. I believe this was the item that was tabled over from the last meeting a month ago. Paul?
Paul Andersen 1:15:18
Yes. As you know, since the lockdown of March 2020, we've been meeting virtually using Zoom. And you know, after we got through a couple of hiccups at the beginning, the system has performed well and the largest benefit I think, has been the increase in public participation. The indoor mask mandate was lifted recently, and as the pandemic recedes, many jurisdictions are returning to in-person meetings. For example, the County Board of Supervisors returned to in person meetings on April 19, with a Zoom component. And also Ukiah, Willits and Fort Bragg are seeking to return to in-person meetings with a virtual component as well.
Paul Andersen 1:16:01
One of the biggest topics among City Clerks is retaining the online component of the meeting, I've investigated the possibility of a hybrid meeting structure. Under that model, City Council and staff would attend in person with any members of the public who wish to do so while members of the public could still attend online and provide input and comments as they do today. That model is aimed to ensure all members of the public have continued access to meetings in a format that's comfortable for them.
Paul Andersen 1:16:29
The three options that have been discussed at a City Clerk level are in-person meetings, so returning to in person meetings at City Hall/Veteran's Building; virtually via zoom, which is subject to Brown Act provisions that we're currently following; or both in person and via zoom which is referred to as a hybrid meeting.
Paul Andersen 1:16:54
I will say from other jurisdictions, there are some growing pains, converting from virtual only to hybrid. And one of the main things is, you know, with a virtual meeting only it's a little easier. We've learned how to manage the situation that way. And with hybrid, it is a little more complicated and would probably require more than one person or two people to manage the meeting. Because you will be having people live and then people online to manage on both sides. The current equipment that we have, should be able to function with a hybrid system.
Paul Andersen 1:17:37
Eric Dahlhoff and I tried recently to set up the audio and it worked great. And so we're going to work on the video portion of that and making sure that it aligns up, I think the main issue will be the audio feeds, which have been correctly have been remedied, I believe. And then we would need to purchase some video equipment, for example screens or a projector and screen, that type of thing, to be able to show the Zoom component. So that Council and members of the public there can see it and then people on Zoom can also see the Council and the dais.
Paul Andersen 1:18:20
That's my report and I want to get some direction from the Council about which way to go. I will mention there is a bill I just found out about today in the legislature that would make virtual meetings permanent in the sense that so before virtual meetings before the pandemic, somebody could phone in or video into a city council meeting, but they there were requirements for posting about that you had to post at city hall that and such person was not Page - 21 - of 26
going to be there was going to be telephonically, and then the person that was going to call in would have to post at their location and allow the public to participate at their location which maybe in Hawaii wouldn't be a problem. But maybe here would be.
Paul Andersen 1:19:11
This new bill would basically change that so that some Council Members could participate virtually at any time without having all those posting requirements. So it provides a little more flexibility. But that bills wasn just got introduced and so I don't know when or if that would actually go through and be signed. It would probably be around the summer when most bills are completed but I can't give you an accurate date. My question is, what the council feels about going back to in-person only or having a hybrid situation.
Scott Ignacio 1:19:49
I'll let anybody who wants to jump in. Why don't we go with Vice Mayor Burkey? Barbara Burkey 1:19:54
I'm for a hybrid model. I like going in for the meetings and being in person. But I understand that we get a lot better participation if we have a virtual element. And if we can master the nuts and bolts of it, which I think we can, it'll just be a little rocky in the beginning. I think we should go with hybrid.
Scott Ignacio 1:20:16
Anyone else want to weigh in? How about Richie?
Richey Wasserman 1:20:19
I concur with Vice Mayor Burkey. I think that it's a really, other than the growing pains, a win-win. I've always thought that even before COVID it had many advantages and very few disadvantages.
Scott Ignacio 1:20:37
Thank you, Richie. Jim?
Jim Koogle 1:20:42
I like the idea of having hybrid meetings. And I can see, once the the technology and production is refined, that it can be a real benefit. We're in this period here, where we're being told that we're at a place where the pandemic theoretically is backing off. But at the same time, there's news that as you all know, that there's continuous risk.
And so the thought that I had, the concern that I have, wherever it is in that spectrum of risk or less risk, being, you know, masked, having good ventilation, what are the issues that, you know, where we could have hybrid meetings and not put anyone at any greater risks than necessary? Scott Ignacio 1:21:33
So I just want to make sure the Council's clear on the understanding of what hybrid is. Hybrid would basically be we would attend live. But the hybrid part would be the online portion, we'd be answering the public online, we'd still be at the council live. Does everybody understand that? The hybrid part? The virtual part won't be the virtual part in this form where individual council members would be able to participate virtually. Go ahead, Jim.
Jim Koogle 1:22:06
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So only only the Council and members of staff that that choose to be, you know, physically in the hall. Is that what you're saying, Scott?
Scott Ignacio 1:22:24
Yeah, let it also be open to the public at that point to the hybrid part was to make sure that the online portion that we benefit from with people seeing us in real time participating with us real time at the physical dais that would be the hybrid part of being able to do both in person, which the council would be, and virtual, which basically the public would be, unless Paul wants to change that.
Jim Koogle 1:22:54
just clarify, for me, the public would not be present?
Scott Ignacio 1:22:58
They would on the hybrid, they'd be both present and virtual. That's, that's the hybrid part of it.
Richey Wasserman 1:23:08
Am I to understand that the present proposed bill in the legislature, or that will be before the legislature sometime this summer, would provide for absentee participation by city council members if they were out of town at the time? I mean, for instance, we're going to be in Hawaii this late in June, during the time that our City Council meeting will take place in the future would that possibly provide for participation even when out of town? Paul Andersen 1:23:47
Yes. And it would not require the posting notifications that currently are required or were required before COVID started.
Richey Wasserman 1:23:56
Thank you.
Richey Wasserman 1:23:58
I also just want to throw in a pitch that we've had a number of presentations that have happened over the last couple of years that have been virtual and they've been from people who aren't in locally in the area. And I also want to mention that our City Attorney is in Ukiah and that certainly would be a benefit for her to be able to attend virtually would save her travel time and save us cost.
Giny Chandler 1:24:46
I'll just weigh in that I am willing to be there in person if that's what's necessary. I just won't drive home Mountain View Road at night. I can't do that anymore. But I'm I am willing to be be in person if that if it's that would be a benefit to the city council.
Paul Andersen 1:25:16
Scott, your audio is off. You're checking the mute area on the left. Now you're not getting anything. Sorry. Would you like Vice Mayor Berkey to take over for now? Yes. Are you prepared to? Barbara Burkey 1:25:50
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Yeah, I am. Okay. So do you feel directed Paul? I do. Thank you. Okay. Great. Thank you. So moving on to Item X, informational items. Are you back, Scott?
Scott Ignacio 1:26:08
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was trying to fix this. It just went out. I'm sorry, folks.
Barbara Burkey 1:26:13
You're good now, you're fixed.
Scott Ignacio 1:26:16
You please continue. Barbara, you're doing a great job.
Barbara Burkey 1:26:20
Okay, so our informational items is the CalCities state budget analysis, which is really juicy if you like that kind of thing. And our second item is the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Rural Playbook, which is a little less juicy. But are there any questions or comments about these two items? They're simply informational items for the council.
Hearing none, I'll move on to item XI City Manager & City Attorney reports. Paul, do you have a report? Paul Andersen 1:26:58
Just a brief one. So as you all know, maybe the public doesn't know, our deputy city clerk will be leaving shortly ouremployment. And so we will be recruiting a new Deputy City Clerk but also a bookkeeper too. We're currently in the process of figuring it out. The bookkeeping is the most important element that I am concerned about. I'm not as concerned about a deputy city clerk, I do need the help. But I'm not as familiar with the bookkeeping part of the operation anymore. And so we will need to secure a bookkeeper pretty rapidly to keep paying our bills and making our deposits.
Paul Andersen 1:27:42
We will be talking Thursday with our accountant about that, if there's a way that he can backfill that until we find a permanent bookkeeper. Because of that, we'll be down staff in the office. It'll be basically me. And we do have a staff member who will be available Monday through Thursday, to answer the phones, get the mail, sort the mail, the basic elements of administrative work, until we find somebody more permanent, so we're covered there.
Paul Andersen 1:28:17
But I would like to reduce the hours of City Hall in the interim. Instead of from 9 to 4, we would be open 9 to 1 and then closed in the afternoons, which will allow staff to have the time to work on projects uninterrupted, which is difficult when we're open all the time. So that is my suggestion. 9 to 1 Monday through Thursday, remaining closed Friday. Another option is open in the mornings. And one day open in the afternoon as another option, if that makes sense. Just to make it easier for people.
Paul Andersen 1:29:01
On June 5, as Richey said, the Arena Cove Stewards will be having a community listening session at Arena Cove from 2 to 5pm. So anyone interested in that, please participate.
Paul Andersen 1:29:16
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And then the final thing I'll say is what was mentioned earlier about, I think Jim talked about the pandemic. And I will say that although the mask mandates been lifted, and things are supposedly returning to normal, according to County Public Health Office, the incidence of COVID infection has increased. It's at least doubled, perhaps tripled over the last couple of weeks, in the whole county and including the south coast, and I will attest to that personally, because I've spent the last eight days in isolation because I got COVID. After doing everything that we were asked to do, and then I got a little lax on the mask wearing and kind of gave it up. And I'm just raising this that people should be cautious right now and take safety precautions if they can, because it is spreading pretty rapidly in our community. Thankfully, I didn't get very sick, I'm vaccinated, and that's makes a big difference. So I'd also encourage anybody that who is not vaccinated out there to get vaccinated as well. And that is my report.
Giny, do you have something?
Giny Chandler 1:30:37
I don't really have anything to report. I am supportive of whatever the City Council wants me to do in terms of being present physically, or by Zoom. My job is to be support for you guys. So whatever you feel comfortable with, I'm willing to do. I probably won't drive Mountain View after the City Council meetings, I'll find a place to stay. But that's not a that's not a big deal.
Barbara Burkey 1:31:07
Thank you, Jenny. Paul, I had a question for you about the new hours of City Hall. If you do decide to go with 9 to 1, Monday through Thursday, would you take afternoons by appointment only for people who can't come in the morning?
Paul Andersen 1:31:24
Yes.
Barbara Burkey 1:31:26
Okay, great. And Amy, thank you for everything you've done for the city. I've really enjoyed working with you.
You're an amazing person and good luck in your new venture. Richie, would you like to say something? Richey Wasserman 1:31:43
As I understand it, this will be her last meeting. Is that correct? Paul Andersen 1:31:47
That is correct.
Richey Wasserman 1:31:49
I would like to then say that it's been a great pleasure to have Amy's smiling face there. Whenever one comes to the office. She's been dedicated and helpful in every way. And I just want to thank her for all she's done for us and hope that her next incarnation in, as I understand it, Ukiah goes smoothly and at least as well or better. Thank you, Amy.
Barbara Burkey 1:32:28
Mayor Ignacio?
Scott Ignacio 1:32:28
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Yeah. First, the follow up on the hours. I would support Paul and whatever he needs. And I would suggest that we pick maybe one day, maybe a Wednesday to maybe be open in the afternoon and closed in the morning and staff could work in the morning and then be available for those people in the afternoon. But I liked your suggestion, Barbara about the appointments. I think we need to make sure the City Hall operations, at least have an opportunity to be open during regular business hours where those people that could not make the morning may be able to make the afternoon if they had the opportunity.
Scott Ignacio 1:33:08
The second thing is I would like to appreciate Amy Herman. I've worked with her since she's been here. She's amazing. And and you know, I'm going to miss you. And I hope this isn't the last we hear of you. In fact, I expect that we'll hear great things where you're going to land and you're going to do a great job and I'm hoping you're going to enjoy doing what you want to do. Because you deserve that. So thank you.
Barbara Burkey 1:33:37
Okay, now that we've been very embarrassed, Amy. Richard, do you have your hand up? Yes. Go ahead, Richard.
Richard Shoemaker 1:33:54
I'd like to throw some more wood on the fire and embarrassing Amy and say that, working with her as support staff to Paul, it's been a pleasure. She's always been a great support to the work I've done for the city while she's been here, and she's been kind of my right hand person and a lot of committee work and she doesn't miss much.
She points out to me things that happened that I don't even see. So thanks very much, Amy. Good luck to you.
Barbara Burkey 1:34:28
Thank you, Richard. Now we'll move on to item XII which are future agenda items of which there are three. First one is our next City Council meeting is June 28 2022. The second item is Veterans Building Technical and Feasibility Study update. And item three is the Downtown Park Improvement Project Coastal Development Permit. So I believe we're gonna go into a closed session now. Paul are doing a breakout room? Paul Andersen 1:35:04
Yeah, I'm gonna get that set right now. And then we'll come back after we're done.
Barbara Burkey 1:35:11
Okay, thanks everyone for attending the first part of our meeting and we will come back to report on our closed session when we finish.
Amy Herman 1:35:19
And thank you everybody, and really enjoyed working with all of you. Thank you Scott Ignacio 1:35:27
Don't make this the last we see of you, Amy, we want to stay in touch.
Richard Shoemaker 1:35:34
Now, you could be a rowdy in the audience.
Paul Andersen 1:35:40
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Okay, I'm moving us in.
Scott Ignacio 1:36:06
Reporting out on the closed session. Instructions were given to the negotiating team on a real estate transaction.
No further information to report. We're adjourned at 7:56pm Good job, everybody. And bless you all. Good night.