HomeMy WebLinkAboutTC Minutes 2015-06-17TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Doyle called the regular meeting of the Tiburon Town Council to order at 7:30 p.m.
on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Town Council Chambers, 1505 Tiburon Boulevard, Tiburon,
California.
ROLL CALL
PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Doyle, Fraser, Fredericks, O'Donnell, Tollini
PRESENT: EX OFFICIO: Town Manager Curran, Director of Administrative
Services Bigall, Director of Public Works/Town
Engineer Barnes, Chief of Police Cronin, Town
Clerk Crane Iacopi
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools, thanked the Town Council on behalf
of the 104 elected school trustees, and 37,756 school children of Marin, for hosting the meeting
of Community United on May 27, in Tiburon. She said the group celebrated its 10th anniversary
this year; she underscored the importance of all the elected officials working together, shoulder
to shoulder, on issues of such importance to our community. She also thanked Councilmember
Fredericks for her partnership in this endeavor.
CONSENT CALENDAR
1. Town Council Minutes — Adopt minutes of May 20, 2015 regular meeting (Town Clerk
Crane Iacopi)
2. Town Investment Summaries — Accept reports for April and May, 2015 (Director of
Administrative Services Bigall)
3. November 3, 2015 Council election — Adopt resolutions calling an election on November 3,
2015 for the purpose of electing two councilmembers, requesting consolidation of election
services with the County of Marin, and establishing the filing fee for Candidate's Statements
(Town Clerk Crane Iacopi)
Town Council Minutes 413 -2015
June 17. 2015 Page 1
4. Annual Streets Rehabilitation Program — Recommendation to award the 2015 Various
Streets Overlay Project to Darren Taylor Construction (Director of Public Works/Town
Engineer Barnes)
MOTION: To adopt Consent Calender Item Nos. 1 through 4, as written.
Moved: O'Donnell, seconded by Fredericks
Vote: AYES: Unanimous
ABSTAIN: Tollini (Item No. 1)
ACTION ITEMS
1. Town Attorney Appointment — Consider appointment of a Town Attorney, Benjamin Stock
of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP law firm, and approval of contract setting forth the
terms of service (Vice Mayor Tollini/ Councilmember Fredericks/ Town Manager Curran)
Town Manager Curran said that the Council subcommittee, comprised of Councilmember
Fredericks and Vice Mayor Tollini, had worked with staff on the recruitment and selection of
finalists for the position of Town Attorney. She said that three finalists were interviewed by the
entire Council and Benjamin Stock of Burke, Williams & Sorensen had been unanimously
selected as the top candidate. She said it would be appropriate for the Council to move to
appoint Mr. Stock and approve his contract at this meeting. She noted that the proposed contract
had been reviewed by outside counsel, and said that Mr. Stock would be available to start work
for the Town on June 29.
Curran also noted that the retention of an outside firm would be a departure from the Town
which has employed in-house counsel for a number of years. However, she said the arrangement
will ultimately result in cost -savings for the Town while still maintaining a high level of service.
Councilmember O'Donnell expressed his pleasure, on behalf of the Council, to Mr. Stock upon
his selection. Mr. Stock also thanked the Council for the opportunity to work for the Town and
said he was excited to begin work. He introduced his wife, son and daughter, who were present.
MOTION: To appoint Benjamin L. Stock as Town Attorney and approve his contract,
as written.
Moved: O'Donnell, seconded by Fredericks
Vote: AYES:Unanimous
PUBLIC HEARINGS
1. FY 2015-16 Municipal Budget — Continuation of budget hearing and consideration of
resolutions adopting Town of Tiburon Municipal Budget for FY 2015-16 and establishing an
appropriations limit (Gann Limit) for FY 2015-16 (Town Manager/ Director of Administrative
Services Bigall)
Town Council Minutes #13 -2015 June 17, 2015 Page 2
Director Bigall gave a brief report, recapping the prior hearing and recommending adoption of
two resolutions; one to adopt the FY 2015-16 Municipal Budget, and the second to establish an
appropriations limit (Gann Limit) for FY 2015-16. She said the latter resolution had been
inadvertently omitted from the packet but was now on the Council dais.
Bigall noted that after hearing public testimony at the June 3, 2015 meeting, $10,000 had been
placed in the budget as a contribution to the Landmarks Society for relocation of the Gallows
Wheels to the Donahue Building. Also, Bigall said that the Town Engineer noted that a capital
project not carried forward from the prior year (the Paradise Drive foundation project), was now
in the coming year's budget, at Council's direction.
Vice Mayor Tollini, in her capacity as Council representative to the Richardson Bay Regional
Agency, asked if there were funds set aside to explore a mooring field in Richardson Bay. She
said that $51,000 to fund the project was proposed, with $9,100 as the Town's portion. Director
Bigall said there were funds specifically earmarked for this in the coming year's budget.
The Vice Mayor explained that the mooring field was seen as the best option to address the issue
of derelict boats in the bay; however, she said that while the City of Sausalito initially supported
the idea, in subsequent meetings it was reluctant to pursue the idea without further community
outreach. She noted that Tiburon did get a lot of the brunt of derelict boats washing up on our
shores, and the RBRA had proposed doubling its "rapid response" budget, from $7,000 to
$15,000, to help address this in the meantime.
Councilmember O'Donnell agreed that consensus was needed to find a solution for the derelict
boat problem; but he said it lay primarily with the City of Sausalito and the County to find a
solution. He said that if Sausalito is not "in for the money", neither should be the Town. He said
that the Town funded 10% of the RBRA budget currently.
Vice Mayor Tollini concurred, and said she had received assurances from Sausalito's
representative, Herb Weiner, that the city would participate in community outreach for the
proj ect.
While noting that Tiburon did indeed suffer the consequences of derelict boats, Councilmember
Fredericks asked if a mooring field would really help prevent boats washing onto our shores.
Vice Mayor Tollini said that it had worked to limit derelict boats in other locations, such as San
Diego. She also said she had inquired whether there would be a maximum number of spots
available and was assured there would be. Tollini said that hopefully, there would be excess
funds from the project to deal with the derelict boat problem.
Councilmember O'Donnell and Mayor Doyle expressed skepticism at a ready solution (such as a
mooring field) to the problem. O'Donnell said that it was not uncommon for people to abandon
Town Council Minutes #13 -2015 June 17, 2015 Page 3
their boats and literally walk out of Richardson Bay. He said that the harbormaster spent most of
his time dealing with derelict boats.
Vice Mayor Tollini said that it was understood by her RBRA colleagues that she would discuss
this budget expenditure with her fellow councilmembers, before proceeding.
Councilmember Fraser said that he agreed with Councilmember O'Donnell that if they [City of
Sausalito] is not "in", then Tiburon is not "in", either.
Council discussion moved on to the topic of the use of Town reserve funds.
Councilmember O'Donnell said that he would like this agendized at a future meeting,
specifically what those "silos" are, and what to put in them. He said that the Town was not a
"for-profit" entity, and funds which exceed 5% of the operating budget should be used to give
back to the taxpayers in various improvements they can identify.
Councilmember Fraser agreed; he said that having worked on the downtown revitalization
initiative for several years, he was indeed aware of the needs of the Town in this area, as well as
the priorities of the "millennials" who now reside in Town.
Councilmember Fredericks said that this might mean updating the Town's five-year capital
improvement budget and identifying priorities.
Mayor Doyle said he had "done his part" to come forward with several projects. He agreed with
his colleagues and referenced the old adage to "enjoy it while we're here".
Town Manager Curran said the topic of reserve spending was something staff had indeed
promised to bring back to the Council.
Councilmember Fredericks also suggested that staff should identify "best practices" for uses of
reserves, including the use of unallocated reserves for "rainy day" funds.
Mayor Doyle opened the public hearing.
Gail Dorph asked if there was an allocation in the coming year's budget to fund the expansion of
the REST [homelessness] project in Marin.
Town Manager Curran said that there was. Councilmember Fraser added that the Council
wanted more information on goals and accomplishments of the program before it released the
funds.
Ms. Dorph said she understood that the funds would be placed at the Marin Community
Foundation and would be overseen by the Marin Managers group.
Town Council Minutes #13 -2015 June 17, 2015 Page 4
The Town Manager said that some of the questions of governance and accounting would be
answered by the Marin Manager's Association, but she agreed that the Council would want to
revisit this item before releasing funds.
In response to a question from Council, Curran said that the majority of Marin's cities had agreed
to participate in the expansion of the REST program; and she said that the Town of Ross had
agendized the matter.
There was no additional public comment. Mayor Doyle closed the public hearing.
MOTION: To adopt the resolution approving the Town of Tiburon Municipal Budget for 2015-
16 and to adopt the resolution establishing an appropriations limit (Gann Limit) for
FY 2015-16, as written.
Moved: Fraser, seconded by Fredericks
Vote: AYES: Unanimous
TOWN COUNCIL REPORTS
Councilmember O'Donnell and Vice Mayor Tollini reported that they would miss meetings in
August (O'Donnell, August 5 and 19; Tollini, August 5).
Town Clerk Crane Iacopi noted that the August 19 Council meeting might be used to consider
the question of whether to hold or cancel the upcoming Council election [after the filing period
for Council closes].
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
1. Request for appointment of a Town Council ad hoc "Town Manager Recruitment Committee"
Town Manager Curran asked if the Council would appoint an ad hoc committee to work with her
and Director Bigall to fmd her replacement. Councilmember Fredericks said she thought the
word "successor" was more appropriate than replacement. Councilmembers Fraser and
O'Donnell volunteered and were appointed.
Vice Mayor Tollini noted that former Councilmember Tom Gram had been involved in the
recruitment of the last two Town Managers and might be a good resource for the group, as well.
Town Manager also noted the upcoming MCCMC meeting in Belvedere, with Senator Mike
McGuire as the speaker. She also referenced the Regional Transportation Planning Meeting on
Saturday, June 20, in San Rafael.
Town Council Minutes #13 -2015 June 17, 2015 Page 5
WEEKLY DIGESTS
• Town Council Weekly Digests — June 5 & June 12, 2015
Accepted.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the Town Council of the Town of Tiburon, Mayor Doyle
adjourned the meeting at 8:08 p.m., in honor and memory of long-time peninsula resident and
pundit, Mervyn Field.
FRANK X. D YLE, MAYOR
ATTEST:
DIANE CRANE IAC I, TOWN CLERK
Town Council Minutes #13 -2015 June 17, 2015 Page 6