Effective Leadership

By CARMELITA GARCIA

State of the City Address 2011

Over the course of this past year and a half, all of that has all changed and the change is good. The City of Pacific Grove is headed in a very positive direction. Leadership is strong. We have established a direction to go in and we have all stepped up to the plate.

It is only through the dedication of you the community, our city council, staff, and stakeholders like the Downtown Business Improvement District, the Hospitality Improvement District, and our Chamber of Commerce that we have been able to turn Pacific Grove around in a big way.

So, what happened during the remainder of 2010? LOTS!!

For several years a group of volunteers had been working on the Point Pinos Lighthouse. In April 2010, the Council approved the Lighthouse Preservation Committee and authorized this group of volunteers to take the lead in implementing the Preservation Plan for the Point Pinos Lighthouse, which was developed by Lighthouse Preservations, LLC. This group of dedicated volunteers includes Jeff Becom, Dennis Tarmina, Ken Hinshaw, and Steve Honegger, to name a few. You can always visit the Lighthouse during open hours and if you want to bring donuts to the volunteers they are there on Friday's!

During this same time period the council gave approval for a Starbucks to be included in the Safeway $3 million dollar remodel of the store on the Hill. The announcement of the remodel was exciting news for Pacific Grove and a statement that Safeway had confidence the economy would begin to rebound not only on a state level, but on a local level as well. Their investment of $3 million dollars in the Pacific Grove store was a compliment to Pacific Grove towards our own local economy. The remodel has provided new jobs and enhanced revenue opportunity.

The City of Pacific Grove would find itself responding to the 2009 Grand Jury. The issue had to do with allegations that the City's building and planning fees were excessive compared to other nearby municipalities. City Staff was interviewed during the summer of 2009, the City submitted responses by April 11, 2010, and there were no conclusions by City staff that fees were illegal. In 2010 the Grand Jury asked all cities to respond to the issues of water and CalPERS.

After much discussion the Farmers' Market moved to its current location on Central Avenue. Iris Peppard, Executive Director of Everyone's Harvest, has shared often how glad she is to have the market at the new location. A short couple of blocks away from this historic building, surrounded by the library, museum, Jewell Park, and the Chamber of Commerce the new location truly reflects the spirit of community.

In March 2010 council would reinstate the Golf Links Advisory Commission. Their charge includes providing oversight of the golf course by making recommendations regarding its management and maintenance to the City Council. Additionally, they are to ensure that the course remains a good neighbor to the community.

Through the leadership of Chinese Village descendant Gerry Low-Sabado, the Heritage Society of Pacific Grove, the Monterey Bay Lion Dance Team, Chinese Fishing Village Descendants and many members of our community gathered at the museum for the First Annual Walk of Remembrance of Pacific Grove's Chinese Fishing Village on May 16, 2010. The Second Annual Walk of Remembrance was held again in May 2011 with some 175 people in attendance. Community members have been working diligently with the Hopkins Marine staff, the Aquarium, and the City to place an interpretive panel on the recreation trail near the site of the village to continue educating the public about this wonderful piece of Pacific Grove history. Meanwhile inside the Aquarium discussions are ongoing regarding placement of interpretive panels in an area that overlooks Point Almeajas and Point Alones where the village stood.

June 2010 the City and Friends of the Library would begin to prepare again for a ballot measure to fund the library. The measure would fail not due to lack of support because it was truly there, but it failed as a result of not being able to ascertain a 2/3 vote required for a special tax. The budget for FY 2011/12 just approved by council provided an additional $100,000 of funding for the library allowing it to stay open 34 hours per week.

Also on this ballot would be a citizens' initiative called "The Sustainable Retirement Benefit Reform Initiative of the City of Pacific Grove." If approved the City's contribution to employees' retirement would be capped at 10%. There would also be an amendment to the Charter to reflect this change. Things shifted when the council voted to enact the initiative and to place the amendment to the Charter on the 2010 ballot, which was approved by a resounding 73.63% of the voters. Clearly they had spoken. Today, the City has been sued by the POA. So far the City has had to expend approximately $42,000 in attorney fees and another $13,000 on the related claim to the Public Employment Relations Board. These costs are all paid from the General Fund, legal service budget. The City's self-insured retention limit is $100,000, which means we pay the first $100,000 of costs on all claims covered by our liability insurance. The POA lawsuit is not covered by insurance due to the nature of the lawsuit. We continue to proceed. Just two weeks ago the judge dismissed many of the causes of action raised by the POA, including the POA's objection to the City Council adopting the ordinance without going through a meet-and-confer process with every one of our associations. The only remaining causes of action relate to the City's ability to reduce retirement benefits prospectively. It is interesting to note that the POA's claim rests on a single precedent, as a result of a lawsuit against the railroads in the late 1800s. City Management is in negotiations with all employee associations other than the POA to implement the adopted restrictions. The Council has also made a commitment to extract the City from the CalPERS system, as soon as this is financially viable. Thus, this council is fully implementing the advisory measure and the ordinance.

June 2010 would find the City Council going through the appointment process again to fill a vacant council seat. The majority selected Council member Dan Miller.

We approved a budget for FY10-11, which would end the year with $2,996,897 in reserves. A very nice increase considering that just two years ago our reserves were $820,000. Even better news for FY11-12, if all goes accordingly, we will end this fiscal year with a reserve of $3,103,515. Realizing the recession has continued we are fortunate in Pacific Grove that we have continued to add to our reserve balance. Much more work needs to be done, to bring the reserves up to the desired level, so that they can act both as our savings account and as a contingency for us.

Steps taken by council beginning in January 2010 led us to September 15, 2010 when the majority of council approved the second reading of an ordinance banning marijuana dispensaries in the City of Pacific Grove.

In November 2010 council held the second reading approving the Green Building Ordinance, which supports the U.N. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing the City to meet the greenhouse gas emissions requirement of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires a 7% reduction from 1990 levels by
2012. A green building program is an accepted and effective policy solution for emissions mitigation. In addition, the Council signed the Urban Environmental Accords, which promotes an environmentally sound, healthy and safe urban environment.

The end of 2010 wrapped up with six of the current council members on the ballot. Council members Miller and Huitt were elected, council members Cohen and Cuneo were re-elected, council member Fischer was elected, and I was elected.

The PGUSD and City entered into a shared agreement in order to return the School Resource Officer. Officer Eva Rasul filled this position and has done a great job. She was also recognized as one of Monterey County's Outstanding Women of the Year for 2011.

Other City staff have been recognized as well in 2011. The Chamber of Commerce named Jim Becklenberg Public Official of the Year and Linda Pagnella was the recipient of the James R. Hughes Citizen of the Year, nominated by the previous recipients. Additionally, Jim Becklenberg has been named the recipient of the International City Management Association (ICMA) Assistant City Manager Excellence in Leadership Award. This award is presented to a local government management professional who has made significant contributions toward excellence in leadership while serving as an assistant to a chief local government administrator. ICMA has 9,000 members worldwide; this is ICMA's only annual award to an assistant and, out of all the nominations they received, Jim is the only recipient this year. The award will be presented to Jim, in person, in Milwaukee, in September.

Helping wrap up 2010 in a healthy and environmentally friendly way, Council approved a sweeping amendment to the Smoking Regulations, whereby protecting all of our natural assets and lives that we value.

As we are well half way through 2011, we are only into the first month of our budget for FY11-12. Here is some of what is being planned and some of what has already been accomplished.

Council confirmed new appointments to the various boards. The appointments for 2011 brought about a great interest by women to serve. Of those new appointments, 12 were woman and 6 men. Of the re-appointments, 3 were women and 5 were men. Members of boards, commissions, and committees participated in training to help better understand the Brown Act, and their role. City Manager Tom Frutchey and City Attorney Dave Laredo conducted the training.

Our Public Works department has established an aggressive plan for improving the maintenance of the City's streets, storm drains, and buildings. A five-year citywide Capital Improvement Plan is being developed and will be presented to council in the very near future. The plan will serve as a roadmap for investment in all of the City's infrastructure assets. They will also be completing a five-year street pavement and sidewalk repair management plan, which incorporates handicap access upgrades in the downtown area and repair and upgrades to pump stations is occurring now. In 2010 55 lane-miles of streets were maintained, 58 linear miles of sewer line were maintained, 332 storm drains were cleaned, and 699 streetlights were maintained. A total of 600 potholes were patched. Projects for 2011-2012 include completion of the hydro-jet cleaning of all sewer lines and additional root-foaming on the highest risk sections of the system to reduce clogged lines and reduce chances of sewer spills. The completion of City Pump Station 12 is on schedule as well as completion of the design engineering for the reconstruction of City Pump Station 11. The design and construction to replace approximately 6,300 feet of City main sewer line(s) and reconstruction of eight new manhole access portals is also scheduled. A meeting with the community of Del Monte Park will take place before the end of 2011. Staff is working through the process to bring the Franchise Ordinance before Council.

The Community Development Department has completed the Housing Element and the process to have it certified initiated. Upon certification this will enable the City to apply for CDBG monies and also provide us with an opportunity to apply for other grants.

The draft Historic Context Statement is under review and held its first community meeting on July 13th. You can also review the draft on the City's web site.

The first meeting of the Advisory Committee for the Urban Forest Management Plan was held on July 14th. The committee members are Joe Belici, Barbara Thomas, David Dilworth, and Tom Moss. They will be assisting the consultants as the plan is developed. All meetings are open to the public and you can view the schedule on the City's web site. One of the major end products of the plan will be a tree ordinance for consideration.

Measure C comes before the City Council at our meeting this Wednesday. This has been a two-year process to get it to a council for consideration as a ballot measure. Measure C was voter approved in 1986, limiting the size and activities of motels and hotels in the City. The original intent was to protect the residential character of the City and to prevent adverse impacts of motel developments on adjacent residential neighborhoods.

April 2009, the project of the Little House in Jewell Park began. A little over a year later, all the work has been done by volunteers and the house is waiting to be painted. This has been a combined effort of the Chamber of Commerce and PG Rotary as well as many community volunteers. Congratulations and thank you to all the volunteers who made this possible.

The Old Bathhouse sees the light at the end of the tunnel. The Gilbert Family will be occupying the restaurant and promise to deliver a wonderful service geared towards welcoming the local community. Council will receive the first of a series of quarterly reports on the project in a couple of weeks. The Lovers Point Park has undergone a facelift and now provides accessibility throughout.

The City is now looking at additional ways that we can partner with the downtown business improvement district, the local hoteliers, the chamber of commerce, and the visitors and convention bureau, to stimulate our local economy. It is clear that we must take action on our own, as the state and national economies are not recovering at the needed pace.

Staffed by Senior Planner Dee Van Donselaar, the Downtown Public Improvements Committee met for the first time on June 1st. The members are Jeanne Byrne, Scott Hall, and Rick Steres. The purpose of the committee is to develop specific plans for the use of the portion of the Jeanette McIndoo bequest, which is approximately $190,000. The committee is developing a plan that focuses on the intersection of Lighthouse Avenue and Forest Avenue as well as pedestrian improvements such as sidewalks and bump-outs, street trees, vegetation and street lamps. The committee's current plan will be based on all the other charettes that have been developed over the years.

We were recipients of a grant by the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District and we have our Trolley. The ribbon cutting was June 30th and the Trolley has been packed since then. It runs from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. through September 5th. The route begins at the Asilomar Conference Grounds and ends at the Aquarium. The trolley has been averaging 148 riders per day and this number comes from the boarding at the Aquarium. This count does not include those riders that are picking up the trolley at other stops. There is a great audio that tells the rider about the beauty of Pacific Grove, making the Trolley experience informative and educational. The best part is it's FREE.

Vacancies downtown have dropped from 25% to 12%. Quest Diagnostic, the nation's largest lab service has signed a lease at the Country Club Gate Center. Rabbobank moved from Monterey to Pacific Grove and I am told this is a great sign because banks follow the money! A Pacific Grove resident is opening a new Italian restaurant on Central Avenue, called Il Vecchio and recently welcomed ZOOM ROOM on a business that makes having a dog even more fun. The Hallmark store will no longer sit empty. The Alliance on Aging, which was established in 1970 and is a provider of senior services to over 14,000 individual each year, will open a consignment shop Labor Day weekend. The shop will be called "Spirals" representing the never-ending cycle of renewal and is in keeping with the green principles that will be promoted there.

Yes, how can we not mention the Tourist Information Center with that great new sign? Talk about a community effort and having a vision that actually became a reality. This is as good as it gets. The center has been averaging 137 people per day. I am so pleased that the first experience visitors have is the center. If you have not been there it is a must see for your bucket list. Make sure you make time to watch the three screens slide presentation. The clarity of the images is fascinating.

Many thanks to the FOL BOD for bringing the Feast of Lanterns back to Lovers Point. Yes, there will be fireworks thanks to their efforts in raising $8,000 to pay for them and to everyone wherever you are for contributing to the success of the FOL this year. Be sure to get your copy of the schedule of events for this year. There are copies available here this evening.

Be sure to come downtown Friday for the Wine, Art and Music walk. Also we have the First Friday event. While visiting the galleries you can also visit those merchants who have the green flags displayed. This is really a fun evening and a great opportunity to dine at one of our fine restaurants before you enjoy the festivities.

As Mayor, I have been working with the other peninsula mayors to ensure the interests of Pacific Grove ratepayers are fully addressed by the proposed regional desalination project. Unfortunately, the recent revelations of potential conflicts of interest by some of the project's leading parties have, at the very least, has created some bumps in the road. Having said that the project continues to move forward in hopes of meeting the December 31, 2016 deadline. As a reminder the regional desalination project is the approved project for our water source. However, there are groups still advocating for other alternatives. However, let the truth be known, the responsibility of our water source really belongs to the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. They were elected to specifically carry out this responsibility. So my challenge to them is to step up to the plate and show the ratepayers what they can do to ensure the CDO is not fully implemented on December 31, 2016.

There is some good news for Pacific Grove. In developing the three-year goals for the use of recycled water, the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency adopted a goal whereby the General Manager will present to the PCA BOD for action, a plan to supply recycled water for the Pacific Grove Golf Course. The projected date for this presentation is November 30, 2011.

For the first time in a decade, the City has funded code compliance efforts, to address situations--such as illegal second units, structures not being adequately maintained, oversized boats and RVs being parked in front yards, and other problems that impact the livability of neighborhoods and the value of neighboring properties. Since last October, John Willett as served the City on a half-time basis, ably supported by Terri Schaffer in the office. Many neighborhoods have already seen a marked improvement.

Although Pacific Grove had one of the first, and certainly one of the most comprehensive ordinances combating underage drinking parties, our community has still suffered, from time to time, the tragedies that can ensue from our teenagers drinking and driving. The council will be holding second reading Wednesday night of an ordinance designed to tighten up our current Social Host Ordinance and try to further minimize the risk of these tragedies.

Thanks to outside experts and a citizen committee effort led by Sue Renz, Frances Grate, and Barbara Thomas, we now have a comprehensive management plan for the Monarch Sanctuary, to guide our efforts going forward. Working with Bob Pacelli, to extend "Operation Pacelli" for a second year, we have planted the boxed trees that so successfully sheltered the over wintering monarchs this past season, and acquired over 30 additional boxed trees to provide additional sheltered habitat for this season. In addition, staff is developing the detailed steps needed to upgrade the visitor serving features at the Sanctuary.

Unfortunately, when the City designated Brokaw Hall (the old barracks in the Monarch Sanctuary) as an historical structure, 20 or so years ago, it did not also take the steps necessary to preserve the structure. Water intrusion, termites, a crumbling foundation, and other problems have accelerated over recent years. As a result, the Chief Building Official was required to condemn the building this past spring, due to safety concerns, and ordered that it be demolished. Thanks to Dee van Donselaar and James McBride, we have full plans for the building, to allow us to rebuild it in the future. Thanks to our new Public Works Superintendent, Mike Zimmer, salvageable items--including windows, doors, many of the rocks used in the two fireplaces, and other items--have been preserved and are being stored in the City's maintenance yard. The space freed up by the removal of the building will be used to plant nectar-bearing shrubs, as a further attraction to the monarchs.

As many of you know, Julia Platt was almost single-handedly responsible for securing state action to create the marine reserve off Lovers Point. John Pearse, who sits on our Museum Board, had the wonderful idea to seek a name change for the reserve, from the "Lovers Point State Marine Reserve" to the "Julia B. Platt Marine Reserve." Council approved a resolution supporting the name change and I will be attending the October Fish and Game Commission meeting with Mr. Pearce to present the request.

The City is accelerating its review of all of our operations, to contract out those services best performed by the private sector, share administrative costs with other cities, and ensure we are absolutely as cost effective as possible. Next up will be a comprehensive review of our golf links, to see if privatization of some or all of our golfing operations will be of value. We are already benefiting at the Point Pinos Grill, the result of Dory Ford, Diane Kleindienst, and Aqua Terra, our new restaurateur.

When I look around at other cities throughout Monterey County and the experience they have had and are continuing to have with their budgets, I remind myself of how fortunate we are. While the state has voted to eliminate Redevelopment Agencies, which will make budget difficulties already being faced by these cities and counties more difficult, that devastating impact will be felt by all of us. No matter where you live, the loose of sales tax, property tax, tourism, employment, affordable housing, will be felt by all. The League of California Cities has filed a lawsuit in Superior Court to stop this illegal action that we made against the law with the passage of Proposition 22.

Although you may not actually "see" results around town or in neighborhoods, things are being done. Some have taken a considerable amount of time perhaps too much time and we are working on improving that. I want to thank those community members who have taken the time to reach out to our staff and help resolve issues. An individual that comes to mind is Ron Russell who put together a list of potholes and their locations for public works. This was a sincere effort by Mr. Russell and those potholes have been repaired. Two others are Melissa Shea and Bob Blade who through their efforts helped to get the Kiddy Pool at Lovers Point opened for a period of time this summer.

This year-and-a-half has gone by quickly. We have done a lot of work and there is plenty left to do. I am convinced we need to continue working together as a community to continue on in the same positive direction we have already established.