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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTC Minutes 2014-03-25TOWN OF TIBURON 1505 Tiburon Boulevard Tiburon, CA 94920 MEMORANDUM Date: April 1, 2014 To: Mayor and Town Council From: Diane Crane Iacopi, Town Clerk Subject: Summary of March 25, 2014 Council -Staff Retreat At 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 25, 2014, the Town Council and staff met for a retreat at Servino Ristorante. All members of the Council were present; staff members present were Town Manager Curran, Town Attorney Danforth, Police Chief Cronin, Director of Administrative Services Bigall, Director of Community Development Bigall, Interim Director of Public Works Al Petrie, Police Captain Dave Hutton, Planning Manager Dan Watrous, Superintendent of Public Works Joel Brewer, and Town Clerk Diane Crane Iacopi. Building Official Lustenberger joined the group for the afternoon portion of the meeting. r Mayor Fredericks welcomed everyone. Town Manager Curran gave highlights of projects IL completed since the last retreat including: Lyford Drive parking lot, new downtown restrooms, Dairy Knoll recreation facility, street overlay in Del Mar, CART findings on traffic, the creation of the Tiburon By The Bay brand mark and related brochure and website work, and an extensive customer survey for Town Permit Services resulting in a streamlined RBR checklist. Engineering for the Tiburon Boulevard median planting groject was completed and fundraising is now underway, as is planning for the Town's 50 Anniversary celebration. Councilmember O'Donnell asked whether the undergrounding of utilities between Lyford Drive and Mar West would be completed in the coming year. Al Petrie said that this was in process. O'Donnell asked whether funding for the project would roll forward into the next fiscal year and was assured by Town Manager Curran that it would. The meeting moved on to a report from Director Bigall on the Town's unfunded liabilities. Bigall had distributed a detailed written report prior to the meeting, which she summarized. The report, which discusses unfunded liabilities related to Ca1PERS pensions, OPEBS and compensated leave, is attached (Exhibit A). Town Manager Curran commented that the Town compares very well to other agencies in minimizing unfunded liabilities. She noted that the Town has only one OPEB, a retirement medical allowance, which is no longer available to new employees. Councilmember Tollini r asked whether our percentage of unfunded liabilities is typical. Director Bigall said that because L the Town had paid off its PERS side fund, it was much better off, but said she did not have access to the actual percentages of liabilities in other cities or towns. Town of Tiburon Tollini asked whether, barring any catastrophic collapse of the economy, there was a "real world" risk to being funded at less than 100 %, particularly since 80% is considered "healthy ". Town Manager Curran said the risk was minimal. i Councilmember Fraser said he understood the Town was limited in its ability to contribute any more to the unfunded CalPERS liability, but asked if it could reduce its unfunded OPEB liability. Director Bigall said that CalPERS was in fact looking at an opportunity to provide public agencies the ability to pay off their unfunded pensions liabilities and side funds, but warned that these might be pretty big numbers. Mayor Fredericks asked about actuarial calculations and variability. Bigall noted that CalPERS conducts annual actuarial analyses upon which it sets employer rates. She explained that in the late 1990s, the Town (and other agencies) were "super- funded" (over 100 %); but that all changed as a result of the "great recession" in 2008 when the value of PERS assets plummeted. Mayor Fredericks commented that some agencies, such as UC, took a statewide holiday (when it was overfunded). Bigall said the Town elected to put the amount it would have saved by taking the payment holiday into a PERS General Fund Reserve. The Town used the funds in the PERS reserve to soften the blow when the Town was again required to make payments. Councilmember O'Donnell asked some questions about the new state PEPRA law that reduces benefits for new hires. Bigall described this process and how it works. O'Donnell noted that on a "macro level" future numbers for unfunded liabilities were still "scary high ", creating employer liabilities of up to 30% of a person's salary. But Bigall noted that PEPRA will reduce future costs and there are also ways to address escalating liabilities through future contract negotiations. Mayor Fredericks said this might mean employees taking on a portion of the employer rate. O'Donnell noted that PEPRA splits it evenly between employer and employee for new hires. Councilmember Tollini asked whether staff had any recommendations to reduce the unfunded liabilities, such as setting additional monies aside for the compensated leave reserves. Town Manager Curran said that staff has always encouraged setting aside additional reserves for unfunded liabilities. During the ensuing discussion of General Fund Reserves, staff received the direction to boost the reserves for unfunded liabilities. Council also decided to change the way the CalPERS side fund pay -off is depicted in the budget. It currently reflects the same charge to each department as before the pay -off, with those funds going into a specific line in the reserves rather than to CaIPERS. Councilmember O'Donnell requested these funds be put into the OPEB reserve instead. Mayor Fredericks said that this mode of accounting for the repayment had been adopted by the Council when it decided to pay off the side fund, but she agreed with Councilmember O'Donnell that the new characterization would in fact demonstrate that it was an accomplishment, rather than suggesting it was a liability. In her discussion of reserves, Bigall reviewed 15 different funds, their purpose and how they were funded. Council asked many questions but provided no specific change of direction to staff other than for the unfunded pension liabilities. A reserve fund of interest was the Parks and Trail Development Fund, and the Open Space Maintenance Reserve. Town Manager Curran said that as a result of Marin County Parks SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Page 2 of 9 Town of Tiburon Measure A, $52,000 was anticipated to come to the Town annually for the next nine years. She said that the question of how to use this allocation would be brought forward during the Town's budget hearings to allow interested members of the public to weigh in on the use of these funds. Il Councilmember Tollini asked about a "bunch grass" fund. Director Anderson said that this was a CEQA mitigation measure from a particular project and could be used to acquire land to replace the loss of bunchgrass but that it was limited to use on the Tiburon Peninsula. Mayor Fredericks asked about Town policy for the use of restricted funds. Director Bigall explained that most "restricted" funds reflect external constraints rather than Town policy, using State Gas Tax funds as an example. Capital Improvement Projects were discussed next. Town Manager Curran clarified that no budget decisions sought at this meeting; rather, she said this was a preview of items that were likely to be presented for funding in the coming year. She listed technology improvements, as software replacement, Council Chambers AN upgrade, and improvements to the Town's website for navigation, functionality and improved resident content. A spreadsheet was also distributed and reviewed depicting proposed capital improvement projects and possible funding sources over the next five years. On the capital side, the Town Manager highlighted an increase in funding drainage improvements and the median improvements project for which fundraising was in process but $235,000 is sought for 2014 -15. She also noted the Pt. Tiburon Marsh major clean-out project was complicated because it had to go through multiple agencies for oversight. On the subject of the marsh (and surrounding area), Councilmembers O'Donnell and Fraser pointed out that the Library expansion project might create an excellent opportunity for complementary Town improvements. Mayor Fredericks said that the Town had looked at acquiring the former Abrams lot at one time. Curran agreed the Library project and potentially relinquishment, which will be under study this year for subsequent consideration, could expand options for Library-area public improvements. Curran touched on other projects on the list: Hacienda trail right -of -way, Rule 20A & B projects in the vicinity of the Lyford Drive Parking Lot, a Downtown Parking Plan (public forum on this at Town Hall on April 10), a new access path to Dairy Knoll, and the need for a new Corporation Yard at some point in the future. She also mentioned the need for repair and expansion of the DG (decomposed granite) path along the Old Rail Trail. The Town Manager called Council's attention to several "maybe" projects including the possible major rehabilitation of McKegney Green, a roundabout at Mar West, Blackie's Pasture overflow lot improvements and flood protection at Beach Road and Tiburon Boulevard. Curran noted that the five -year projection for capital projects assumed that there was a surplus of $500,000 budget plowed back into the Town's reserves each year. Mayor Fredericks said there was much talk in the media about the decline of gas tax revenues and she wondered how this impacted the Town. Director Bigall said that in fact, the Town received a very small percentage of gas tax revenues from the state due to the size of the Town. She said SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Page 3 of 9 Town of Tiburon this represented a loss of around $10 — 15,000 over five years. However, Bigall also noted that because the Town had a street impact fee, when combined with gas tax revenues, the Town was able to cover its annual streets rehabilitation costs. Town Manager Curran circled back to the beginning of the project list to discuss audio - visual upgrades and improvements to the Council Chambers. She said the Marin Telecommunications Agency (who provides these types of service to other municipalities) estimated the cost at $50,000. Curran said these improvements might include overhead projection and ability to stream live audio of meetings on the Town's website, which would also have archived audio of past meetings. Councilmember Fraser led a more in -depth discussion of the Town's website. He said that the site was indeed a new paradigm for the Town, one that had great potential to serve tourists as well as residents. However, he said the amount and degree of ongoing support needed to maintain the site had been underestimated, and questions had also been raised about whether the content was really in fact as useful as it should be for both guests and residents. The good news, according to Fraser, is that the Tiburon Tourism Group had been created and had hired a very talented marketing director (Anh Sundstrom) to take on the promotional aspect of the site. Fraser said she was also providing some website support to the Town. Now that these resources were in place, Fraser said it was a good time to make changes to the site going forward. Town Manager Curran said the website really was ground- breaking, but agreed that it was not as user - friendly as it should be and would benefit from more content for residents (such as the ability to download all forms and an expanded ability to conduct business Town business on line) and improved navigability. She described a planned bifurcation of the site into two: a tourist site, to be managed by the Tourism Group and Sundstrom, and a resident site, to be managed by the Town. Each would link to the other. She noted a benefit of this arrangement was that each site would now be unencumbered in accomplishing its mission without trying to also serve another purpose; in particular, the tourist site would be free to be more creative, edgy and marketing - centric than might be appropriate for a Town site. Councilmember Doyle said that as a web designer, he had seen this failure of expectations before. He said that in many cases, the architecture of a website is good but the ability to support content falls short. Or, he said in some cases, the reverse is also true. Doyle said that Word Press (the Town's platform) is good, but he asked who would maintain the Town's website, and how content be managed going forward. He said these were important questions to answer. Mayor Fredericks said that the business of the Town was government; however, she said our other business is "community". In that regard, she suggested that the website provide links to local non - profits, homeowner's associations and the like, as well as commercial interests. Fredericks said that improvements were needed to make the site more easily searchable, to provide more archival information, as well as link to the regional agencies on which Council members serve. Councilmember Tollini asked whether there was a way to provide a "Contact Us" function for general questions from the public who do not know where to direct their inquiry, rather than have SUNwARY OF TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Page 4 of 9 Town of Tiburon them directed to individual Council members. Mayor Fredericks said that when she receives a question that needs to be directed to staff for follow -up, she simply forwards the email to staff. Councilmember Fraser said he thought it was a good idea for the Council to be accessible through the website. But it was also noted that a general contact link was common to many websites. The Town Manager said staff planned to aggressively tackle these website issues in the coming year. Council had some questions about the McKegney Green policy. Director Anderson said that the goal was to create a more standardized, more recognizable policy similar to those already in use around the County. Councilmember Fraser asked that the Beach Road/Tiburon Boulevard roundabout, something envisioned in the Nelson/Nygaard study of downtown circulation issues, be added to the list of "maybe" projects. There were questions about the replacement of irrigation lines in the vicinity of the Beach Road Tennis Courts. Superintendent Brewer said the tree roots had caused the needed replacement. Councilmember O'Donnell asked if something could be done to eliminate or at least ameliorate the sight of the porta -pottie at Teather Park by the tennis courts. Councilmember Tollini said she had seen lattice screens used successfully for this purpose. O'Donnell wondered whether it should be removed altogether. Town Manager Curran said that the porta - pottie had been placed there at the request of Joint Recreation for use by the tennis players. Mayor Fredericks said the community had requested a facility there for many years. Curran noted that Mill Valley Refuse Service provides the porta- pottie and its maintenance free of charge to the Town. Rather than remove it precipitously, Councilmember Fraser suggested moving it to the adjacent Town parking lot, or perhaps looking into an "up market" design. Council also discussed the occasional flooding in the downtown area (primarily in the vicinity of Beach Road and Tiburon Boulevard). Mayor Fredericks asked what the long -term vision for downtown was in light of the most recent FEMA maps.. She suggested that the Town do outreach and "stay in the loop" for regional planning solutions to address the issue of Bay rise. Councilmember O'Donnell asked whether improvements could be made, or required by the Town, when the Sharks Deli property was developed. Director Anderson said that the property owners would have to comply with flood regulations, but that the flood issue was greater than the solution for that property alone. Shortly before the lunch break, the Town Manager began a review of the lengthy list of work objectives. Curran said the list was prepared to both inform the Council and solicit its feedback on priorities. Thoughtful questions and suggestions put forth, like what about developing the medians if the Town was facing a drought, and whether some empty wall space in the downtown area could be used to create a map of businesses and directions for tourists. SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Paoe 5 of 9 Town of Tiburon Councilmember O'Donnell asked why there was still parking on the Tiburon Boulevard shoulder in various areas now that the Town had completed the Lyford parking lot. Chief Cronin described how the parking is exceeded nearly every day by Reed School parents. Other users, such as oversize vehicles and trucks, also need temporary parking for construction projects in Town. He said these vehicles could be moved into the neighborhoods but that often created more problems in those locations. He said that the parking areas were primarily on Caltrans right -of- way, but said that the Council might direct staff to find a way to limit it to two hours, for instance, or ban overnight parking to reduce the problem. Councilmember Fraser agreed that this parking was an eyesore, but that it needs more thought before any action was taken. Councilmember O'Donnell said this might be a topic to discuss at the Parking Committee. Mayor Fredericks supported this suggestion, but noted that people, such as the workers at the Child Care Center, may also need parking in this location. After lunch, the Council began the discussion of "topics of interest ". 1) Requirement for solar devices on new construction. Councilmember O'Donnell said that he thought this was a way to advance green energy while saving homeowners money. He said he was surprised to learn how much the costs had come down. Planning Manager Watrous said he was aware of two cities that had adopted ordinances requiring solar or new homes, remodels, or commercial expansion projects. There was some discussion of incentivizing homeowners rather than making it a requirement. Councilmember Doyle said that the new building codes would require zero energy use by 2030. He wondered whether the Town might encourage solar by giving some sort of discount on the valuation of a project. Mayor Fredericks said that having solar was a great benefit. But Councilmember Tollini said that some homeowners, like she and her husband, had taken a different approach and had rebuilt their home in a highly energy efficient method that reduced their utilities to almost nothing. She expressed concern about overregulation and said an incentive might be preferable to requiring solar panels. Councilmember Fraser suggested soliciting more input from the community on this topic, through Tiburon Talk, and other means. Council directed staff to flesh out some options for incentivizing solar installations and bring them back for Council's consideration. 2) Grey water capture. Mayor Fredericks said that she had asked this item to be placed on the agenda. Building Official Lustenberger described two new California Building Code Sections that were adopted in 2013 that allowed for grey water capture. Lustenberger said that the Marin County Building Officials were discussing how to allow for grey water systems in coordination and consultation with Marin County Environmental Health (the regulating body). Mayor Fredericks asked if the County was ready to take this on. Lustenberger said they had indicated a willingness to take the leadership role but he suggested that the Town prepare its own bulletin for homeowners and review it with the County first. Mayor Fredericks agreed that this ( was a good approach, and that it was not wise to get ahead of the agency that will ultimately have to regulate these systems. SUMMARY of TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Page 6 of 9 Town of Tiburon 3) EV Stations. Building Official Lustenberger said it was an area of growing interest and that the California Electrical Code and Energy Code both addressed it. He said they should be placed where they are accessible (ADA) and had certain grade requirements. Planning Manager Watrous said that there potential funding sources, namely ABAG and Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM). Director Anderson noted on a map of downtown that there were three spaces on Beach Road that had been identified as potential street charging locations as part of the emerging downtown parking plan. Other possible public locations are the Lyford Drive parking lot, the new Library parking lot, the lot at Teather Park, the Town's lot across from the Caprice Restaurant and at Blackie's Pasture. He said more might be installed in private parking lots. Anderson said that other cities regulated their EV stations by time (e.g. two -hour limits) but he did not have information on rates. Mayor Fredericks noted that while grant money might be available to install EV stations, bringing utilities to these locations would have to be funded another way. Town Manager Curran said that the Parking Committee would consider these issues, and that the Town staff was moving forward to find locations and funding sources. 4) Plastic Bag Ban. Planning Manager Watrous identified the Marin cities that had not yet adopted a single -use bag ordinance as Tiburon, San Anselmo, Ross, Larkspur, Corte Madera and Belvedere. He said that San Rafael had banned plastic bags at public events and were looking to perhaps expand their legislation, and Novato banned plastic bags for large businesses only and included a 10 cent bag charge. He said this might be a model for the Town to consider. Mayor Fredericks said that there was legislation working its way through the state legislature and she thought it might be problematic to adopt something ahead of the state -wide ban. Councilmember Tollini asked whether the model ordinance being proposed in Marin had kept up with the research on plastic v. paper, etc. Town Manager Curran said this was the point of the EIR, to determine the impacts, and she said the EIR had concluded that it was environmentally sound to ban plastic bags. Town Attorney Danforth said she had read the arguments for paper vs. plastic vs. reusable, and said it was clear that reusable bags win the day. Councilmember O'Donnell noted the detrimental effect of plastic waste in our waterways is well known. He said that he was not keen on charging for paper bags, however, and suggested that decision be left to the business owners. Town Manager Curran said the EIR analyzed imposing a charge to steer users towards reusable bags; she was unable to say whether a charge for paper was a critical element of the EIR's conclusions. Planning Manager Watrous said that the local ordinances do allow local stores to keep the fees collected. Council directed staff to proceed with drafting an ordinance and report back with information on whether an ordinance must include a charge for paper bags to rely upon the EIR's findings. 5) Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ban. Town Attorney Danforth said that because of recent changes in the law, now would be the time to take action to ban dispensaries, if the Council chose SUMMARY Or TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RGTRGAT Page 7 of 9 Town of Tiburon to do so. She said reasons for a ban might be that dispensaries are inconsistent with Tiburon's small -town, residential character. She said that many cities have bans in place which allows them to deny a permit. Danforth discussed the fact that the cultivation and purchase of marijuana could still take place for compassionate use, but patients would need to obtain their product elsewhere. Council directed staff to bring back an ordinance banning dispensaries for its consideration. 6) Communication — expanding the reach of Tiburon Talk and other ideas. Councilmember Fraser noted the comments of a citizen at a recent hearing caused him to ask himself how we could improve communication. Town Manager Curran said that shortly after Tib Talk was launched, a letter was sent to every household in Tiburon inviting people to sign up; the mailing resulted in a doubling of subscriptions. Councilmember Doyle suggested running an ad in the Ark to expand the subscriber base. Mayor Fredericks said that links in Tib Talk to regional agencies might be useful. She noted that her homeowner's group is very proactive about tracking issues and publicizing hearings, so she said she would encourage other HOAs to look for links and visit the appropriate websites for information. Councilmember Tollini said there were additional avenues through social media, such as Next Door and Facebook, as well. Councilmember Fraser said that anything the Town could do to reach out farther, perhaps even to the Strawberry area or Paradise Cay [both outside Town limits], would be helpful. Mayor Fredericks said she thought this might raise expectations that the Town government could deliver for these residents, which it cannot. Councilmember Fraser said that he viewed it as all one community, with broad shared interests, not just government. 7) Drones. Mayor Fredericks described a recent incident involving her family and a man at Shoreline Park who was flying a drone. She described it as very loud and possibly dangerous to passersby. Town Attorney Danforth said she had researched this subject and that the FAA maintains it is the sole regulatory authority for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS); however, she said an appellate court is now considering whether the FAA had jurisdiction over the recreational use of UAS below 400 feet. She noted that the use of drones raises privacy, safety and noise concerns. Chief Cronin said that if the police were called out to Blackie's Pasture, for instance, because someone was concerned about their safety as a result of someone flying a drone, the officers could tell them to cease and desist. Councilmember Fraser said that he had employed professional photography companies that use drones for his real estate practice many times. He said that they notified the neighbors prior to doing their work. He said they had not had any complaints or problems. The Council decided to put this issue on a long -term list and to keep an eye on whether there were complaints or issues about the use of UAS that might warrant their regulation in the future. 8. Town Council Reports on Regional Agencies. Councilmember Fraser reported on the L travails of MTA in sorting out the funding question for the Community Media Center of Marin and what the next steps might be. He noted that Larkspur had submitted a letter giving notice of SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Paoe 8 of 9 L Town of Tiburon possible withdrawal from MTA a year hence. Councilmember O'Donnell reported on the success of Marin Clean Energy and said that users now paid rates that were lower than PG &E. Vice Mayor Doyle said that CDBG had less money and none of it was earmarked for Tiburon; he also reported on his work on the MCCMC Homeless Committee that was looking for permanent shelters in each community. Councihnember Tollini reported on the undertaking of RBRA to remove undocumented and unregistered vessels from the Bay. Mayor Fredericks reported on TAM grants and programs for the benefit of the Town (such as the 219 shuttle), as well as projects before the GGBHTD and MCCMC Legislative Committee. 9. Closing Comments In closing, Mayor Fredericks thanked the staff for its work in making the Town successful, and personally thanked many staff members for their consistent delivery of services. She also thanked her colleagues on the Council for leaving no issue unexamined on behalf of the Town. The meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m. ALICE FREDERICKS, MAYOR ATTE,ST� /� /`�- DIANE CRANE IAfedPl, T CLERK SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL -STAFF RETREAT Page 9 of 9