"MINUTES"
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
December 2, 2008
X. Resolutions
A. Receive a status report on the Forest Theater Renovation and adopt a Resolution entering into an agreement with RFM Architects for architectural services in an amount of $131,000.
City Administrator, Rich Guillen, presented the staff report.
Mayor McCloud opened the meeting to public comment.
Stephen Moorer, Executive Director of PacRep, Representatives of the Forest Theater Guild and Children’s Experimental Theatre and Residents of Carmel, including Carolyn Hardy addressed Council. Concerns about the construction period were expressed; specifically the desire to have construction accomplished during the months of Fall 2008-Winter 2009.
Mayor McCloud closed the meeting to public comment.
Council Member ROSE moved approval of a Resolution entering into an agreement with RMF Architects for architectural services in an amount of $131,000, seconded by Council Member HAZDOVAC and carried by the following roll call:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: HAZDOVAC, ROSE, SHARP, TALMAGE & McCLOUD
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
C. Consideration of a Resolution authorizing an interim agreement with the City of Monterey to provide Fire Department administrative and Division Chief services.
Public Safety Director, George Rawson , presented the staff report. The expenditure is the “status quo.”
Mayor McCloud opened the meeting to public comment.
No public comments.
Mayor McCloud closed the meeting to public comment.
Council Member ROSE moved adoption of a Resolution entering into an interim agreement with the City of Monterey to provide Fire Department administrative and Division Chief services, seconded by Council Member TALMAGE and carried by the following roll call:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: HAZDOVAC, ROSE, SHARP, TALMAGE & McCLOUD
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
XI. Orders of Council
A. Receive report and provide policy direction regarding options for future Carmel Fire Department management.
This Agenda Item was not presented at the City Council Meeting as scheduled on the Agenda. Instead, this Agenda Item was presented under IV. Extraordinary Business.
Pulbic Safety Director George Rawson presented the Staff Report.
City Manager of the City of Monterey Fred Meurer and Monterey Fire Chief Sam Mazza addressed the public at the meeting. City Manager Fred Meurer presented a history of fire departments consolidation, excess liaibility carriers concerns, financial realities and finally his commitment to provide fire department services to the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea by consolidating what had once been three fire departments into one "extraordinary" fire department, if the City Council should decide to commit to consolidation.
Interestingly, during deliberations of the City Council, all City Council Members articulated their endorsement of moving forward with the contract option with the City of Monterey, all except Mayor Sue McCloud.
(Source: Archived Videos, Regular City Council Meeting, December 2, 2008)
5 comments:
The city of Monterey is having and is projected to have budget deficits for this year and next, at the very least. So, Carmel, if it contracts with Monterey, the city will have to put up $3 million annually for fire services, it seems to me.
What was Rich Guillen thinking when he said the city was interested in contracting but not if the cost was over half a million dollars. He is so over his head it is pathetic to watch. We voters need to get rid of him and that means voting Sue out of office in 2010.
It will be interesting to see how the city council justifies the amounts of money spent for the new construction at the Forest Theater versus the amount spent on a long-term solution for the Carmel Fire Department. Will millions of dollars be spent for entertainment just to get it done by the 100 year anniversary in 2010 or will more sober heads prevail and put it off and fund the fire department the way it should be funded. In other words, as this blog has pointed out many times, is entertainment more important to the council than the public safety of residents and visitors, that is the question.
It continues to amaze me how many carmel voters are fooled by Sue McCloud and her many accomplices. She too is over her head. When will carmel voters get it? What will it take for them to realize the arrogant self serving motivations and decisions of the mayor and the ways the city has become a city of one person, not a city of laws and respect for all residents, not just her friends and supporters. It is never too late, but the time is late for a change we can all believe in for carmel.
But why is it one or the other? ? The city is more than capable to deal with both issues. I will admit, however that our cultural heritage is priceless, and the economic benefits that the Forest Theatre generates cannot be ignored - economic benefits that pay for things like our fire and police departments.
There is a tendency for people with a vested interest in a certain outcome to lavish praise on those people seen as advocates for their cause. For instance, PacRep, Forest Theater Guild and CET have a direct interest in seeing the renovation of the Forest Theater become a reality. The more objective and dispassionate among us however, see a city government which has done virtually nothing for the Forest Theater since the Forest Theater Master Plan was completed in 2001, when it could be argued the city was as capable of realizing the Forest Theater Master Plan then as the city is capable of realizing the McCann Plan now.
Let us all be cautiously optimistic about the long overdo renovation of the Forest Theater while not losing sight of the past performance history of the city. Parenthetically, I sincerely hope Sue McCloud keeps her commitment to the Forest Theater, unlike her about face in not allowing the Carmel Convalescent Hospital proposal to have a vote of the council when she had been a Robert Leidig advocate previously.
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