UPDATE:
Council Retreat – 5:00 p.m.
October 9, 2006 – Please note change of date
Location TBA
Mills Act Workshop – 5:00 p.m.
October 24, 2006
Council Chambers
CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
XI. Orders of Council
D. Scheduling Future City Council meetings – Please Bring Your Calendar.
XII. Adjournment
Prior to adjournment, the last tedious 15 minutes were spent scheduling a Mills Act Workshop and a City Council Retreat.
After a few minutes of chaotic talk, City Attorney Don Freeman stated, as follows:
“By way of a question, what are you anticipating a Workshop on the Mills Act is going to produce for you?”
Councilwoman Paula Hazdovac: “We will learn something. I’m not prepared to vote on anything at this point until..."
City Attorney Don Freeman: “Well, the issues are more than just the Mills Act, I would think, because what you want to know is what the criteria that we have that you have already established, that you have already adopted, whether any of those need to be amended in light of a new context statement being rewritten or amended, what effect it would have and then what effect anything would have on your budget in over however period of time...”
Later, City Administrator Rich Guillen reiterated his previous memo and suggested that the Workshop would cover Steps One and Two, public education and a discussion of the Mills Act criteria and the Retreat would cover Steps Three and Four, attorney review of a model agreement and the fiscal impacts.
Clearly exasperated, City Councilman Erik Bethel stated “Are we deciding whether or not to have a meeting at all or what we’re going to have at the meeting?”
After proposed dates of Thursday September 28 and Thursday October 5 were rejected, the City Council Members finally decided on Tuesday October 10 at 5:00 P.M. for the Workshop. However, after City Administrator Guillen made his suggestion, as described above, he then recommended that since he would be in Europe for two weeks beginning October 12, the Retreat should be held October 10 “because I’ll be here.” And the Workshop should be held either “October 17, Oct 19 or anytime after that cause I don’t think I necessarily have to be there.”
Finally, after a disjointed and chaotic 15 minutes, the City Council Members agreed to a Retreat on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 5:00 P.M. at a place to be determined and a Workshop on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 at 5:00 P.M. Input for the Retreat agenda was solicited.
Note: Mayor McCloud remarked during the discussion, “I don’t think that most people out there, Mike, know what the Mills Act is anymore than the Council does...”
COMMENTS:
That it took the City Council 15 minutes to decide the scope (?) and dates of a Retreat and Mills Act Workshop suggests that the City Council will not get a grip on the city’s Mills Act as codified in the city’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) for some time into the future. Which begs the question, what else in the city’s LCP did the City Council Members not read and comprehend in terms of its contents and consequences prior to their submission of the city’s LCP to the California Coastal Commission for certification?
Reference:
City Council Minutes
Regular meeting
August 8, 2006
City Administrator Guillen presented for Council consideration four points:
1. A City Council workshop needs to be scheduled to educate the public on how the Mills Act will be applied in our community;
2. Staff needs to present to the City Council (at a regularly scheduled meeting) Mills Act criteria that meets the minimum intent of the State Law and is in-line with City Council policy direction;
3. The City Attorney needs to review and recommend to the City Council a model agreement that can be applied to any property that meets the Mills Act criteria; and
4. Finally, staff needs to analyze the financial impact to the City’s Property Tax revenues so that the City Council fully understands the financial impact of Mills Act property approvals.
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