From: David Moller
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 3:41 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Cc: Cory Bytof <[email protected]>; Jim Schutz <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment on Item 6b for August 1, 2022 City Council Meeting Public Comment on Item 6b for August 1, 2022 City Council Meeting Dear Mayor Colin, Councilmembers and Staff,
This is to comment on Agenda Item 6b: “RESOLUTION APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL’S RESPONSE TO THE 2021-2022 MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY REPORT ENTITLED “ELECTRIFYING MARIN’S BUILDINGS: A COUNTYWIDE APPROACH.” I’m submitting these comments on behalf of the fifty members of the Marin/Sonoma Building Electrification Squad, several of whom live in San Rafael. They also follow-up my written comments for the Open Time for Public Expression at the July 18, 2022 San Rafael City Council meeting.
In general, we support the proposed response to the Marin County Civil Grand Jury Report included as Attachment 3 to staff’s report on this item but believe it should be revised in one specific regard: that it show more leadership. In particular, the proposed response seems to make San Rafael’s participation in developing a Marin Countywide Building Electrification Plan (Recommendation R3) conditional on the eleven other Marin jurisdictions all “agreeing,” “participating,” “contributing,” and “committing to implement.” These are reasonable aspirations but should not be threshold conditions for San Rafael’s participation in developing the Plan. If one, or even a few of the smaller jurisdictions did not participate, it’s hard to see how that would eliminate all value for the participating and implementing jurisdictions.
San Rafael is one of only two larger jurisdictions in Marin County and is the first to publicly present and discuss its response to the Civil Grand Jury’s report and recommendations. San Rafael’s response is likely to influence the actions and responses of the other jurisdictions. We recommend that San Rafael take a strong leadership position and encourage the other jurisdictions to join with it. The Civil Grand Jury’s report represents a great opportunity to accelerate countywide actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and recommends a path to do so. This isn’t the time or subject for timidity. It’s the time and subject to take action and to lead!
Rather than conditioning its response on the actions of others, we urge San Rafael to revise its response to make a strong commitment to participate in the joint effort to timely develop a Marin Countywide Building Electrification Plan and to encourage the other Marin jurisdictions to also join in that effort.
Best regards,
David Moller