Recording in progress.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Um, so call the meeting to order.

It's our afternoon session for today's council regular meeting, December 2nd, 2025.

Um pass it to Clementine for roll call and share announcements with the public.

Councilmember Barber present.

Councilmember Garcia.

Here.

Councilmember Rash.

Here.

Councilmember Smith.

Here.

And Mayor Williamson.

Here.

And public comment and participation information is provided on this meeting's agenda, which is online at Monterey.gov slash agendas.

In-person attendees, please keep your electronic devices muted to prevent audio interference.

Consistent with the First Amendment and the Brown Act, individuals have the right to speak at public meetings, which includes the right to criticize or support city policies or actions.

The city encourages your uninhibited and robust feedback on public issues affecting the city.

Thank you for participating in your city government.

Awesome.

Thank you, Clementine.

And with that, we'll go into our presentations.

The first item on our agenda is to recognize city employees for milestone anniversaries in 2025.

With that, I'll pass it to Hans.

Thank you.

And I was told by Ned not to worry about anything he would do at all.

So I hand it over to Ned.

Well, I know we we start off uh with uh recognizing city employees uh today.

I know many of us are here to recognize not only employees, but of course the next agenda item, Hans as well.

And of course, uh Hans is so humble he is the one who specifically requested to recognize employees first.

So thank you, Hans, for that.

Um it's my honor to recognize Angie Blake for her 25 years of dedicated service to the city of Monterey.

She wasn't able to join us and isn't able to join us this afternoon, but truly appreciates city council's recognition for her years of service, as well as others who are reaching their milestone anniversaries today.

Angie's journey with the city is one of career growth with the city of Monterey.

She began her career with us in October 20 of October of 2000 as a network specialist, then as a systems analyst in 2005, information solutions manager in 2010, and assistant director of information resources in 2017.

Today she leads our technology strategy and technology team as our chief information officer, a role she was promoted to in 2023.

Angie's work in information technology touches every department in the city.

We rely on technology for everything we do in today's modern government.

And under Angie's leadership, we've modernized operations in every area.

Her team ensures that our police and fire departments are connected when they're in the office, inside their vehicles, or out in the field.

In infrastructure, she supports the critical technology that keeps our city moving, including parking automation and traffic signals.

In operations, she ensures that the vast network of software systems, databases, and finance systems allows us to operate efficiently and effectively.

And in security, she led the migration of the citywide IP security video solution, implementing the cameras that help protect our facilities and our community.

In addition to her experience, she's has impressive professional credentials.

She holds a master of business administration and technology management and is a certified government chief information officer through Wreckers University.

Her experience not only has benefited us internally, but has garnered external recognition as well.

Under her watch, the city is received the MESAC Excellent in IT Practices Award, validating that Monterey's technology infrastructure is top-notch.

Beyond that, she's always approachable, positive, and forward-focused.

She leads her team effectively and inspires those that she works with.

It's been an honor to be able to work with Angie over the years.

Angie's work and leadership of the IT team is the backbone of our city operations.

And we thank Angie for her 25 years of keeping Monterey connected and secure.

Thank you.

Next, we have our public works director, Andrea Rennie, who will be recognizing three members of her staff.

Good afternoon, councils, mayor, members of the public.

Um it is my honor to acknowledge uh three people from public works that are to have anniversaries today.

So the first one is Crescible Cortez.

So unfortunately, he is not here.

He is celebrating 20 years with the city of Monterey.

Chris started his career as a city custodian.

He worked hard to keep our city facilities clean and well stocked.

In 2022, Chris applied and was successful candidate for the position of streets maintenance worker.

You can now see him around town doing everything from traffic control, job side preparation, repairing potholes and sidewalks, installing signs, and may the many many other duties.

Chris is a hard worker, always has a very positive attitude, always smiling, and I always enjoy seeing him around a town.

And so I can discuss a little bit of soccer with him.

Chris has really excelled within the streets division, and he is an integral part of our team.

So Chris, congratulations on your 20 years with the city.

Next, I like to call on Daniel Diaz.

Thank you, Daniel, for being here.

I appreciate it.

So Daniel started his career as a street maintenance worker and worked his way up to senior maintenance worker before moving to the parking division in 2007, where he is now a senior parking controls technician.

Through hard work, dedication, and very high standards.

His path to his current leadership role reflects years of expertise, reliability, and a commitment to excellence.

Daniel hasn't just maintained our parking systems, he's elevated the entire division standards.

His leadership has shaped a team that takes great pride in their work and operates with the professionalism our community deserves.

His direct reports, colleagues, and supervisors all have tremendous respect for him, both the quality of his work and the study mentorship he provides.

In public works, we have a yearly award, and they're nominated by their peers and voted on by their peers.

And Daniel received the Public Works Award for a collaboration this year.

Beyond his technical contributions, Daniel has trained in parking operations, improved services, and led the implementation of a new software in parking.

He's also worked to revitalize the Monterey City Employees Association and has organized events that bring our entire city staff together.

So congratulations on 25 years.

Yes.

Congratulations.

Okay, so now I'd like to call on Ramon.

Thank you, Ramon, for being here.

And so Ramon is an exceptionally talented individual who started with the city as a custodian.

From that to building maintenance crafts worker and now a senior locksmith supporting our IGSA, which is our intergovernmental support agreement at the Presidio.

His expertise makes us shine.

He worked at the Sports Center for a few years, and he is highly regarded for his expertise in the mechanical operations of the pool system and the complex as a whole.

He quickly built a strong rapport with both guests and staff.

Walking through the facility with him is a testament to the relationships he has formed.

Countless guests stop to greet him.

It's been described as walking around the sports center with a local celebrity.

He received the Public Works Award for adaptability this year.

Ramon is deeply respected and appreciated by everyone he works with and supports.

We thank him for his commitment, professionalism, and many contributions through his 20 years of service.

Thank you.

And let's take a photo.

And next we have our finance director, Rafela King.

Good afternoon, Council and Mayor.

Everyone else.

She said, I was hired on 1211, 2000.

This month will mark 25 years of service with the city of Monterey.

My mom, Sharon Rodriguez, who worked for the city public works department, encouraged me to leave the finance AG community to come to work here.

And she was very proud.

Employee and always praise the city ethics and principles.

I started with the city and finance revenue department, assisting the public with various duties such as dog licenses, parking and sports, center daily cash counts, TLT payments, and other accounts receivable duties for four years.

I moved to accounts payable and have been here ever since.

I work with all departments within the city, processing invoices for the bi-monthly check runs.

I take pride in my work on a daily basis, knowing what I do efficiently helps the city and a community of Monterey.

Since I've been at the city, I got married to Mart Robert Martin, and we have three wonderful children, Bella 23, Nate 18, and RE12, and a spunky little shihtzu dog named Chewie.

Outside of the city, my husband and I run a nonprofit youth sports organization, which develops kids' fitness skills and teamwork through youth football and cheer and dance.

Um, this is why she couldn't be here tonight because she had a board meeting.

So I just wanted to say, in addition to that, Melanie is a joy.

Um I remember my first day.

Um met with all my team and I talked to her and she's like, This is what I want to do.

I love my job, but I'll support you in any way.

So just don't ask me to move to another position, but I will support you.

And she has done just that.

She is very, she's amazing.

She's one of the people when I need to kind of decompress, I go find her.

I go to their office, I go, Scoot over, let me sit by you.

So she is she is wonderful.

She is admired.

She's um she's supportive, she's kind.

And when I told her about the award, her face just lit up.

She was so appreciative, and she wanted me to express her appreciation to everyone for her recognition.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rafela.

Next up, recognizing Pat Moore, assistant fire chief for 25 years of service, is fire chief Andrew Miller.

Thank you.

Pat's gonna stand by my side like he has been doing for the last uh few years.

Um mayor, members of council, thank you so much for this opportunity.

I'm truly honored to recognize uh Pat Moore, our assistant fire chief for his 25 years of exceptional service to the great city of Monterey.

Uh he started a couple notes here, so bear with me.

He started in 1987 as a part-time fire inspector.

Excuse me, 1997 as part-time fire.

That's why I have him by my side all the time.

He was hired as a full-time firefighter in January 2000.

Uh, promoted to fire engineer, is an operator driver of uh engines and trucks in 2004.

Uh promoted to fire captain in 2011.

I know that because I promoted him, became a number one on the list.

It was a really easy promotion.

Um, then in February of 2024, uh, I was fortunate enough to promote Pat again to division chief.

He was number one on the list, and we had an opening, another really easy decision.

Um, and then in September of 2024, um, we had an assistant fire chief's position come open.

We did an internal process, and I'm happy to say today that Pat was promoted to assistant fire chief in 2024 in September.

And you all know that he'll be promoted to fire chief uh January 2026.

Um Chief Moore will become the 14th fire chief in the Monterey Fire Department, our 141 year history, and the first Monterey fire chief since 1980, 45 years to have begun his career as a firefighter within the Monterey Fire Department and he worked his way up through the ranks.

That's a very successful succession planning process.

You know, it gives all of our firefighters great hope that they can look to Pat to know that he started in Monterey as a firefighter.

What a great investment we made in him as a city.

And for them to see that, it gives everybody the opportunity, and they know they have the opportunity that they can also follow in his footsteps.

Um a little bit about Pat.

He has a bachelor's degree from Sack State.

He's a certified California chief officer, certified California fire officer, holds a numerous other professional certifications and qualifications.

Uh last two years, he's been our operations chief, managing our six fire stations, nine daily staff fire apparatus.

It's a very complex system.

As you know, we all provide fire service to PG, Carmel, Airport, San City, uh, and La Mesa Village.

Uh he's in charge of our infrastructure.

That's fire station repairs and remodeling.

Uh, he rebuilt our entire apparatus service maintenance program, which was one of the things we were tasked with a couple of years ago.

And I'm proud to say today that for well over a year, our all of our apparatus is strong, has been in service.

He's been has a lot of uh policy development and implementation responsibilities.

Uh he develops our deployment models.

That's how we deploy our resources, auto-aid, mutual aid, uh working with the office of emergency services out of county and out of the state.

And with all that, with the two o'clock in the morning, when we get an alarm of some type that requires multiple chief officers, Pat will respond from home, and he's super dependable.

Uh, and that's part of his job as well.

Um with that said, I just want to let you all know that Chief Moore has my full confidence and trust to be the next Monterey Fire Chief.

I admire his values, his morals, his ethics.

He's real, and what you see is what you get, and he's organic.

So I really appreciate that about him.

We share leadership philosophy of servant leadership, where we prioritize people first, their health, their safety, their welfare, and their empowerment to do the difficult job that firefighters have to do every day.

It takes a lot.

Um, I am confident, and I want to let you know that I am confident that every decision made by Chief Moore will be in the best interest of our shared mission protecting life, property, and the environment, our firefighters, health, safety, and wellness, and the city of Monterey and all the partner cities that we serve.

So, with that, I can go on all night and talk about all Pat's accomplishments and kudos.

But with that, I want to turn it over to Pat to give him an opportunity to say a few words.

Thank you.

Wow.

Thank you, Chief.

That was uh too kind.

I really appreciate it.

So honorable mayor counsel.

You know, as I hit these milestones of my career, I try to take uh time to reflect back on my career, and I've had a lot of chance to reflect lately.

You know, as you know, time goes by pretty quickly.

In uh the mid to late 90s, I was testing all over the state to be a firefighter.

And who would have thought that I would have got the opportunity in my backyard?

Um, I'm truly more appreciative today for this opportunity than I was probably 25 years ago.

You know, my employment with the city of Monterey has given me so much.

It's given me an opportunity to provide for my family.

It's challenging me in ways I can never imagine.

Give me great opportunities.

And I've met some lifelong friends in the fire service through it and within the city.

So I'm really looking forward to this next stage of my career.

Um, not only because I get to serve the community in which I live, but also I get a chance to represent the men and the women of the Monterey Fire Department.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, it's good.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sam.

And last but not least, recognizing Andrea Rennie for 25 years of incredible service to the Monterey community and serving currently as our public works director, city manager Hans Uslar.

Yes, uh, thank you so much.

And um, thank you for allowing me to uh speak about Andrea.

Um Andrea came to the city of Monterey 25 years ago, and uh she started in the public works department um just as one of two or three engineers from the left.

Uh we had a lot of engineers in those days, and then she was uh coming on board and uh showing us quite uh from the from the beginning uh that she was uh in our own league.

She was a different caliber of engineers and she distinguished herself uh almost immediately.

Uh Andrea uh almost uh uh became uh the um engineer of choice for every issue of traffic engineering, and you had a great master in in teaching you and in our city traffic engineer Rich Deal, who still to this day I call the best presenter of the city because he couldn't sell the council on any traffic solution.

But uh Andrea is not far behind it.

She learned it from Rich.

She learned from the best.

And uh, hey, what's going on?

And and so um uh she um uh she became uh our second traffic engineer that that was working there, and then also she um uh uh became for quite uh period of time, it was not as long as I had wished the Presidio engineer.

And uh as such, uh Andrea showed us her skill set with respect to normal engineering, shall I say, not just the complex traffic engineering.

And she was very, very good at that job.

And I I uh worked very closely with her.

Uh and also with uh you worked also closely with our city engineer at that time, uh Tom Reeves, who I also uh say hi to here in the audience.

Um over the years on Andrea grew through the ranks.

When you when you start as an engineer, you need to qualify, you need to become a PE, you need to become a TE if you want to do traffic engineering.

And Andrea excelled in all of that.

Uh while she was busy doing that, she also found the time to find someone in our police department to marry.

And uh and uh and um it was a fairly much accepted choice by all of us.

Uh at the time we would have seen you more, we would have loved it more to have someone in public works, but uh police was okay with us.

John was an excellent choice, and uh John uh and and uh Andrea um have two wonderful children and Lizzie is in the audience.

Hello, Lizzie, and uh, and also her son uh who is I don't think in the audience right now.

And then um uh Andrea kept distinguishing herself uh very annoyingly every four years uh when we have the World Cup going on.

Uh Andrea is is is cheering for Brazil, and uh I'm cheering for Germany, and annoyingly she always challenges me for bets.

While I always bet with our custodians uh and also enjoy talks to the custodians because there are not so many people who can talk contemporary soccer with us.

Um she always made me do crazy things when uh when Brazil won uh against Germany.

Uh I never bragged about the win of Brazil in in 2014.

I never bragged about it, but felt good.

Um then uh fast forward.

Um Andrea became our first female public works director in the city of Monterey.

And as such, Andrea oversees the largest department that we have.

It includes parking, it includes harbor streets, fleet maintenance, uh engineering, traffic engineering, construction management, and um all of that is is led by Andrea.

Andrea is not shying away from making tough decisions.

Uh she her department has the budget comparable to small cities around us.

Uh public works is a great uh department, and she works also uh very closely uh with the army on the IXA and is our point person for for the intergovernmental service agreement.

Um Andrea has a great caring heart for her employees, ask her family.

Uh she spends hours at a laser printer to uh make little awards and things like that, and it helps her to relax, which is also equally important to have that kind of refuge uh where you can go into a safe place and and uh get your mind off all the crazy projects that we are doing, i.e.

Casa Verdeway.

Um so uh with that with all of that.

Uh uh I I just want to congratulate Andrea for 25 years of services.

You have a bright future ahead of you.

Uh use your talents wisely.

I'm looking forward uh to to see you grow uh in in your position, and uh congratulations Andrea for 25 years sorry, I know I'm just it's gonna be very brief.

So I just wanted to thank everybody.

And 25 years ago, I started with the city of Monterey, a shy engineer with a dream and a commitment to serve.

Today, as I reflect on my journey, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for everybody.

From entry-level staff to public works director, every step has been shaped by the incredible people around me.

Teammates who show up every day to keep the city running, mentors who supported me, a community that inspires me to lead with purpose.

Leading our public works team is so much more than directing a department.

It's about the barbecues and potlucks that built camaraderie, the very early morning solving problems side by side, the shared pride when we complete a project or a program that improves someone's daily life.

It's about championing each other's growth and knowing that our work really matters to this community.

To my wonderful family, my husband, son, my daughter.

Thank you for understanding the time and the heart that I pour into this work.

Your support and patience make everything possible, and you're my foundation.

And to this council, thank you for the trust you've place in our department to deliver great service.

To every person who's been part of this journey, thank you.

Public service is about people.

And I'm grateful every day to serve alongside the very best.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

All right.

And with that, we are going to take public comments on the milestone anniversary.

So the item that we just had, we're going to take public comments specifically on that.

This is not time for general public comments for items that are not on today's agenda or any other agenda item.

This is specifically to do with the employee milestones, how public comment works for those that aren't familiar as we identify those individuals at the beginning of the public comment period.

After those folks are identified, we close it off, and then only those folks will be able to speak.

So I'll check in with folks on Zoom.

You can use the raise hand function while you're navigating your way there.

I'll check in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item.

All right.

I'm not seeing any takers.

So we'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have one person on Zoom.

Let's go ahead and take that caller.

Esther, you can go ahead.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I just want to comment on the fact that today you see a perfect example of how lucky we are as residents of Monterey to have all of these the caliber of people that work for the city of Monterey and make all our lives, you know, better.

And they listen to us when we complain, and they try and help us when we, you know, need their input or their support on individual projects and other things.

And so I just want to thank them all.

And um, I want to particularly mention um our new fire chief.

I've recently had the pleasure of spending some time with him.

And I am very confident that we are being left in wonderful hands.

And I know that I'm not the only one to see Chief Miller leave.

Um, but we are going to be left in very good hands.

So thank you to them and all of you that are in the audience and all the city workers that I've especially had the pleasure of working with over the years.

Thank you.

Okay.

And with that, we'll go ahead and close public comment on that item and move to number two, which is I'm sure a reason why a lot of you are here today.

Uh, two is to congratulate City Manager Hans Usler on his retirement and recognize his 28 years of service to the city of Monterey.

Um, so I'll kick us off here and um and on behalf of the council, just want to give uh some remarks.

Um first, what I would say is although we are celebrating um at this time, we still have you to December 30th.

So we'll push through all the way to the end here.

Um, but and it kind of showed in his remarks for Andrea.

Um, the first thing I want to speak to about Hans is his humor.

And and that's something that's particularly speaks to me because I I like to laugh a lot.

And um, and the work that we do in this space um can be very contentious.

Um, there can be a lot of disagreement.

And even though there might be a disagreement, Hans knows how to create a space to help lighten the mood.

And um, and and again, it and it showed he he has everybody laughing.

Um, sometimes during the council meetings, I'm not sure if anybody's ever noticed.

Um I'm sure people have.

Um, I can't look at Hans uh uh because then I will probably bust out in laughter.

Um, but truly, truly, that's a special gift that that he has in um and I I appreciate you for it because it can really change the dynamic in the room.

Um, the the second thing I oh, and speaking to the humor, um, how dedicated he is.

Um, it goes to even so far as the annual Halloween costume party uh that the city staff hosts every year in the in the parking lot right here.

I mean, if you see some of these pictures of the costumes that Hans wears, he is he is full in and and and full of humor.

Um the second thing I would speak to is his analytical skill set.

Um and I think the classic example, and many people have heard me um speak about this, but Hans is really what got us through COVID, uh, led us through COVID.

Um, when as soon as we found out, um kind of it was clear that there was a uh pandemic happening.

Um Hans pulled the council together and communicated to us really quickly from the beginning uh a three-legged stool strategy, um, which um included the the support for our business communities, um, support of our our rental population, um, and addressing the deficit, which over the two year period we've lost, we lost 30 million dollars.

And so his quick response to that is is an example of being able to pull together the team, come up with a proposal and get that implemented quickly.

Um, and so I want to thank you for for your efforts there, Hans.

Also, um, I think and I'm I'll come back kind of actually interested in in your perspective on this, but um, when we transition to district-based elections, I think that was a huge lift for um the city, but particularly the city manager, um, because even though we're we try to carry the city in the same format where everybody in the council represents everybody um in the city, which is is which is true.

Um, there is more of a focus on issues specific to districts.

And that has also increased the workload for for Hans and the expectations that we as a council and the community have of him.

And so um, I think you've handled that beautifully and and appreciate your efforts in in helping to create that transition.

And then um the last thing I'll speak to on this analytical piece is our deficit.

And although we're still working our way through trying to figure that out, um, leading the team uh to come up with the card exercise and really be creative around trying to find solutions towards really vexing problems.

Um you you're you're amazing at your craft, Hans.

Um, the last um adjective, I guess I if you will, um, to to describe Hans Um is his dedication.

Um he is completely dedicated.

And whether you agree or not, um Hans, you've been fully dedicated to the city of Monterey, and it's not often where I call and you don't answer.

Um, and it could be in the middle of the night on the weekend.

Um, and you've given your life in a lot of ways to the city of Monterey, and I've only been able to be a part of it towards this tail end here.

So um I'm truly humbled to have the opportunity to to work with you.

I know that you're not gonna be too far away.

In fact, you told me yesterday in our one-on-one that you're we will be available for a call.

So um, so if that's ever needed, I will definitely be tapping into that.

So for your past presence and and future contributions to the city of Monterey, just wanted to thank you on behalf of the city council.

So thank you, Hans.

We want to show this now.

Um, so on behalf of the council, we um got Hans uh a gift, and we just wanted to share it with you all to just check out a little piece.

It's a check, correct?

Check 10 million dollars.

Is that where it went um not yet?

Um so this is a little gift on on behalf of the council uh to you, Hans.

Um so thank you for for your years of service and dedication to the city.

Bigger than the picture looking.

It's bigger than the picture.

Subjects may appear bigger in person.

There's no retirement blanket wrap.

Uh I I want to thank you for for giving me that bench.

Uh I always uh talk to Tom Reeves and Louis Macuso, uh they are in the audience that once we are retired, we will all sit on a bench and we will talk about all the projects we screwed up.

And uh now we have the sitting opportunity.

So I have I appreciate that very much.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

All right.

And I think up next we have um some representatives from elected offices.

So I think is there a rep from Jimmy's office here?

Hi, Aaron.

Why don't you come on up?

Um good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Aaron Davison.

I am here on behalf of Congressman Jimmy Panetta, who is in Washington, TC today.

Um, Hans, I am here to present you with a very illustrious copy of the floor remarks that were given on the House floor today by the Congressman um in recognition of your service to the city of Monterey.

Um, these will be in the um official House record for the United States and will remain in perpetuity there, hopefully for eternity.

We'll see.

Um I'm just gonna read a few of these very briefly from the Congress's mouth.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise today to thank Hans Uslar for his outstanding leadership as Monterey City Manager, who has served the city of Monterey for 20 years, 28 years and retires with an impactful career on December 30th.

Hans is born and raised in Germany and moved his California Central Coast in 1997, where he joined the city of Monterey as a management analyst.

Ascended to his current leadership position, Mr.

Hans Uslar was appointed to city manager in 2018.

As city manager, I'm gonna say that a lot more times.

His leadership was crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic when the city faced unprecedented health and fiscal challenges, and also helped manage several major city initiatives, including the implementation of the city's fiscal health response plan, the launch of several housing and rental assistance programs, the implementation of programs to fund infrastructure improvements, and more.

As the city's chief executive, he underscored the need to strengthen workplace culture, support professional development, and ensure that civil servants feel connected and supported.

Hans's leadership extends beyond the civil sphere, though, and is deeply embedded in Monterey community and culture.

He serves as a member of the International City County Management Association, a trustee of our local Naval Postgraduate School Foundation, a founding member of the Monterey Bay Defense Alliance and California Defense Communities Alliance, and a member of the Association of Defense Communities.

I am grateful for my partnership with Mr.

Uslar after nearly three decades of service to the people of Monterey.

You will retire at the end of this year to spend more time with family and friends, I'm sure.

I am grateful for his leadership and confident that his impact will be felt in the city of Monterey and beyond for many years to come.

Congratulations.

No, those two.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's good.

All right, I think up next we have Isabel from Layard's office, Senator Laird's office.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Isabel Mesa, and I'm here on behalf of State Senator John Laird.

I'll keep my comments very brief because Aaron did a wonderful job.

But I just want to say it's been a pleasure working with you with the last three years.

I've been with Senator for three years and know you've known the Senator longer, but it's been a pleasure.

We've been able to move some critical projects along, and we thank you for your decades of service.

So on behalf of uh State Senator John Larry and Assemblymember Don Adidas, congratulations on your retirement.

I know.

That's great.

Oh, hi.

All righty.

And I up next, um, I believe is Chief Hober.

No.

Go ahead.

It's fine.

I was gonna just uh say, you know, there's so many amazing things to say about Hans, his achievements and accomplishments.

And again, not just the what, but what he's accomplished, also the how.

Now, as an executive team, rather than having you know all of us come up and speak for three minutes each, we all agreed that we wanted to have one department head speak on our behalf.

And there's nobody better to represent the city department heads than someone who's never short on words, and that's David Hober.

So Dave.

Roast away.

Thank you, Nat.

Good afternoon, Mayor Williamson, council members, city manager Uslar, not Ulcer, as I once said.

And most importantly, Alison and Ben Ooslar, who I know are probably watching, or maybe even among us.

I'm Dave Holbre, you chief of police.

And as Nat related, the City of Monterey executive staff debated on how best to recognize our boss, Hans Uslar, on the occasion of his retirement.

I was voluntled by the executives to be the representative and was instructed to make sure I violated the Hans four-minute maximum speaking rule.

It's truly my honor to be able to acknowledge and thank Hans on behalf of the executive staff, which includes all of the department heads and the city attorney for his dedication, leadership, guidance, weird German sense of humor, his very loud laugh and accompanying ear-to-ear smile, his sometimes gruff manner.

Well see, there's no timer.

And most importantly, his friendship.

As the agenda report relates, Hans has served the city of Monterey for over 28 years.

What the agenda report does not say is that Hans initially came to Monterey to attend the Naval Postgraduate School as a German naval officer and met a girl.

As I understand the story, after he graduated from NPS, he and Mrs.

Uslar returned to Germany.

Germany was cold than a long way from Mrs.

Uslar's hometown of Monterey.

And so they returned to our great city, and Hans was hired by the city as a management analyst in June of 1997.

From on analyst, Hans worked his way through the plans and public works department, the largest department in the city.

He became the deputy city manager of plans and public works before being selected as the assistant city manager in 2014.

He was later appointed the interim city manager in 2018.

He was named the 14th city manager of the city of Monterey, a position he has held for over seven years.

The job of city manager is one of the most complicated in public service to navigate due to all of the variables that must be constantly addressed and balanced.

And that one variable, the one that is so many different perspectives, the people variable, if not handled professionally and with care, can lead to failure in many arenas.

Hans has a mug that reads failure is not an option.

And that is how he has led by ensuring that while we were faced with issues like a worldwide pandemic, financial challenges, and all of the other issues that are presented while running a city enterprise.

And Andrea wanted to make sure that I related his saying, don't foul it up.

This is PG rated, so he won't say what he really says.

Hans provided leadership that put the city's interest at the forefront.

And that at times meant courageously saying no to department heads, to staff, to policymakers, to the community.

But the no was always after thoughtful consideration of all perspectives and trying to find a way to provide an alternative.

Hans has built an executive team that truly works together to ensure that the community is served, the council's direction is implemented, and the city staff are appreciated, trained, and held accountable.

An example of Hans' personal outreach, as we just saw with Andrea, is that he outreaches to city staff in handwriting birthday cards, thank you notes, and good job cards to all city staff.

He consistently takes time to recognize the hard work that staff are doing.

As has been related, Hans developed the city's fiscal health response plan, directed business transformations at the sports center and parking, guided all of us through the COVID-19 pandemic, generated the parks and recreation facility fee, secured a sales tax increase and a hotel tax increase.

He initiated the city's reserve funds, launched the Honda Academy Leadership Program and First City Academy, held the weekly Cafe Clatch, whatever that means, virtual staff meeting, initiated the first city community outreach academy, and constantly developed and nourished relationships with our partners at the Naval Postgraduate School, DLI, Defense Communities Alliance, Central Coast Energy, MPUSD, MPC, and with all of our neighborhoods and business communities.

A boss manages, a leader leads, and a great leader leads by putting people first and understanding that their greatest resource is the people they are allowed to lead.

Hans Uslar is a great leader.

City Manager Hans Uslar, on behalf of the executive staff and all of our departments, we thank you for your leadership, guidance, and friendship, your 28 years of service to our great city, and we wish you and your family all the best in your future endeavors.

With that, I would like to invite all the department heads up so that we can present with City Council your sign.

Yeah, you gotta open it.

I remember the first time I saw this.

I was like, that's so cool.

Oh, those are great.

Oh, I don't know.

Who's that way?

Oh, yeah, whatever that is.

Oh man.

Wait patiently.

People first.

Exactly.

Absolutely.

Sorry, don't worry.

Waiting.

You are now.

Uh-uh.

All right.

And with that, I will pass it to my colleagues.

Somebody else first.

Please, Dr.

Barber.

Uh, where do I begin?

Um, Hans is just amazing.

Um just like the mayor talked about so many different levels of and parts of him of the analytical piece of of the managing piece and and of the humor piece.

I love his humor because I it it definitely get gets you, right?

But I I really appreciate you, Hans, because coming on, you were able to be patient with me and be helpful.

And I and I really appreciate you doing all those things uh for a new council person, and then being the one of the new ones that came on the district at that time in 2022.

So I appreciate you.

I appreciate your service.

And one of the things that I learned even today as we were celebrating uh Helen Rucker's um life celebration is about service with love.

And I feel like you couldn't have done 30 years at the city of Monterey if you weren't serving with love.

And I really appreciate all the service that you've done, not just in this capacity of city manager, but for all those 30 years.

And I'm just gonna go ahead and round it off, you know, instead of saying 28, I'm gonna say 30.

But I just really want you to know that you are appreciated, and that um I know that we still have lots to catch up with because we're in the same neighborhood.

So I I plan on seeing your do you walk on your dog and having chats with you.

So thank you so much for your service.

Well, Hans is the new kid on the dais.

I really appreciated your mentoring.

And um especially the respect that you showed when talking about other people, other council people, other leaders in the community.

The respect that you showed in your words was very important to me to see that that would be um the role model and that would be the standard.

And I I wanted to tell you how much I respected that.

I also was struck when you said that part of your job is to make the council look good.

And I thought that was um so touching that you thought about how you presented us, and um, in return, I've always tried to make you look good because I was so touched by you sharing that belief system.

So I thank you for those.

So I think I'm gonna start by saying that uh 28 years, 28 years.

That's uh um a long time to to you know be anywhere and um to be able to get through the ups and downs, especially in this line of work.

Very commendable.

So congratulations on that.

Um I shared a little bit in our uh one-on-one yesterday that um as uh as a new council member and somebody who hasn't necessarily been in this role, um coming into this role could be a little bit overwhelming.

Um there are there is a little bit of a learning curve.

Um, and I really appreciated our initial check-ins when I first was appointed.

Um, and you fill in the gaps and and uh offering um context for items that were coming up to council and and also historical context um for a variety of items that um some of which were controversial, some of which maybe not so much, but um just the ability and and your um I'm gonna say grace in terms of offering information to not necessarily persuade one way or another, but to help inform and in uh upcoming decisions.

I really appreciate that.

Um I I and I also share this in our uh one-on-one in that no secret that there were instances where you and I disagreed on items.

Um I think that also to me demonstrated your high level of leadership in that we were able to walk away from those conversations.

Um I I think feeling like either there were next steps that we needed to address, or or that we could come to uh uh something in the middle, right where we can continue to work on and and elaborate um solutions or whatever the case.

So all that to say, I really appreciate your leadership, really appreciate um your work, your dedication.

It shows um, you know, I I've seen over the years, over the few years that I've been in this role that you're um you a lot of folks know of you and have collaborated with you.

And uh I I think that again demonstrates the high level of leadership.

So thank you so much for your service.

Well, I didn't want this day to come, honestly, but we we know that our careers go through many, many ups and downs, but we reached that point where we we just know that it's time.

We first met when I was at the police department.

You were uh younger, younger man with uh aspirations, no gray hair, still a little bit of blonde.

And uh we we had this, we had this sort of saying when we first met you, is you had to have kind of a notebook to figure out what he was saying sometimes, like coffee clutch, like kaput.

Uh so we we quickly learned um a lot of good things about Hans.

And we were we were really lucky to be able to have you starting in 1997, and 28 years later, here we are.

Um, I'm gonna just say that I know that you're gonna be in good hands because Alison is gonna make sure that you have things to do.

And since she graduated from Pacific Grove, like I did, she is a local lady that knows how to get around.

So she will keep you, she will keep you busy.

Um, you're gonna hear a lot of comments tonight from the public.

I know that the audience is still here and they want to they want to address Hans.

Uh believe them all, because Hans has touched so many parts of this community with his relationships.

I'm gonna hit a couple of highlights that I just wanted to shout out to you, because I know you're not gonna listen to me after December 31st.

So it's gonna be difficult to get appointments with you because you're gonna be on your bench in your backyard and be council members.

You may not answer our call anymore because there's gonna be uh a new leader in your seat.

But your relationships, your phenomenal commitments, your memory, your professionalism, your humor, as has been touched on tonight, a high level of competence.

And if you did not know where you could get, or you did not have those answers readily available to you, you knew where to get it.

And it never was much of a delay.

You've been a mentor beyond measure to so many different people.

I want to say that I think I only yelled at you once and you didn't yell back.

Was it twice?

Yeah.

He remembers.

Yeah, he remembers.

But you know, um, when you manage the personalities and the styles of your five council, well, four council members and the mayor, and over 500 employees.

Um, although we had short, like blunt, that's just the way we kind of both operate.

And I think we've always appreciated that we get right to work when it's our valuable time.

Um, so sorry if I yelled at you too many times.

You didn't need it, and it was probably me that was wrong.

So I'll take that.

Um, in 2018, when you took the helm of the city as a city manager, um, it wasn't under the best of circumstances, but wow, did you just jump right in and took the reins and did exactly what your council and mayor at that time asked you to do, and and you got us through the ups and downs of municipal government, we know that happened, but man, were you steady?

And then COVID happened.

So your ability to navigate us and give us advice and help us create the right environment for us to not spin out of control during COVID was was masterful.

But then you never stopped there.

You just went right back to work and you raised the bar on all respects for everything that we needed to have done.

Our meetings weekly um were limited to 45 minutes to an hour.

Sometimes I would be out of town, sometimes he was not available, but we always managed to almost have weekly contact, and that was always valuable for me.

We usually started off with let's go to the eds list, and then when we had 45 minutes done, then we had 15 minutes.

Let's go to the Hans list.

And I always wanted more because there is more, so much more.

Um you bring uh depth that is hard to describe.

It's it's difficult to put it into words, but I know that your relationships have meant so much to this city for so long.

And as I try and compose myself to get back to my point, I want to say one of the things that I always really really appreciated was for a leader to recognize how important it was to get on the floor, the dance floor, and the capability to get to the balcony to lead, to get back on the dance floor and to be able to do.

And and you were artful at that, never shy of work, and always capable of stepping back to supervise all of the demands that we have with a very large team.

Um the job well done.

And don't forget, we still have a meeting next week.

I want to hear more from you, and we hope that you'll open your gate and let us let us in and sit on that ugly bench.

And we'll bring we'll bring coffee to that bench, and you manage your dog so the dog doesn't bite us.

Congratulations.

Well earned, well-earned next career.

And I know that you're gonna figure out how you're gonna spend your time.

You will still be involved to the high level.

We know that, but we know that the new boss Allison will tell you what you're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So we have one more uh group to present before we go to public comment.

So I want to invite um Colonel Artino and Captain Smith up um to share a few remarks as well.

Mayor, city council members, hello.

Hey, first, let me just say this real quick.

So I'm Captain Robert Smith.

Uh, I just wanted to say this.

What I've heard at this meeting today about you, Hans, is that you give the greatest gift that you can possibly give to anyone.

And that is time.

We all have a limited time on this earth.

And you're an amazing person.

You give your time to everyone.

So thank you for that.

All right.

So for on behalf of the Navy, because of the time you have given to us and the city is our our neighbors, our partners, uh, we have an award for you.

Where did she go?

Where did she go?

So Marlena is a rock star, so she keeps me on point here.

So always working on the back.

So on behalf of the United States Navy, I would like to extend our deepest appreciation for your outstanding service and dedication to city manager of Monterey.

Your consistent and steadfast efforts to communicate with Naval Support Activity Monterey personnel ensured our staff and our tenants were well informed of critical issues involving emergency services, major weather events, infrastructure, and city policy, which has truly made a lasting impact in safeguarding our military mission.

Your leadership and thoughtful approach in fostering a collaborative, engaged and constructive environment between the city of Monterey community, organizations like the Monterey Bay Defense Alliance and Naval Support Activity Monterey have contributed significantly to the quality and life of our sailors and our families.

Your professionalism, support, and leadership have been invaluable, and your presence will surely be missed by all of us at Naval Support Activity Monterey.

Also Naval Postgraduate School, because everybody likes to call Naval Support Activity Monterey, Naval Postgraduate School, but that's okay.

As you move on to your future endeavors, we wish you fair wins and following seas.

May your future be filled with success and fulfillment, and may the same dedication you've demonstrated in the community continue to guide you in all that you do with the deepest gratitude and best wishes.

Thank you.

Oh, he remembers the military way.

Let's do the military way.

There you go.

Smile.

Well, if we're going to do military way, because I have to one up my where's he at the time.

Thanks, Butch.

Tough after follow-up.

Mayor Williamson, uh Council members, I truly appreciate the time tonight.

Um, you know, the the history of this city and the history of the Presidio of Monterey are interlinked, inextricably interlinked.

And the relationship uh between us is one that is required um constant attention and constant care.

As the current commander, uh, I think I speak for four of my predecessors when I say the most consequential relationship I've had with the city leadership has been with Hans.

Um there were very few times that we could not put our heads together uh to solve some very wicked problems.

Uh and I just have the deepest admiration because uh Hans always treated our military community and the Monterey community as one.

Uh so thank you, Hans.

Um, and with that, it is my honor to announce tonight um and to certify that the Secretary of the Army has awarded the public service commendation medal to Mr.

Hans Usler in recognition and appreciation by the United States Army for 28 years of distinguished public service to the U.S.

Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey and its surrounding military community.

Mr.

Hans Uslar's leadership, integrity, and dedication to the military community as the city manager of the city of Monterey has been exemplary.

His stewardship has ensured enduring mission success for the Presidio of Monterey, the Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center, and the hundreds of thousands of service members, families, staff, and faculty who have lived, worked, and trained on our installation.

These efforts are in keeping with the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage, and they represent the very best ideals of public service to the nation.

Thank you, Hans.

Thank you so much.

Wear a nice watch.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen, for your remarks.

And I actually do have one more before we go to public comments.

I just wanted to check in with you, Hans.

Did if you wanted to share some remarks.

I will actually speak about a medal.

So didn't know.

So thank you very much.

And I keep my remarks uh shorter than the police chiefs.

Um thank you all for coming tonight.

Um it's my distinguished honor to express my gratitude to our city to allow to serve me for the past 28 years.

Monterey has become my home away from home, and all of you have made this happen for me.

Uh first and foremost, I like to thank my family for allowing me to apply for the position as city manager a few years ago.

The job comes with responsibilities and duties, and some of them are affecting firm family routines.

So my thank you.

First thank you goes to Alison and also to Ben for their understanding and their support.

Uh I also like to thank all the city councils I have worked with.

Uh, every single council member, every single mayor has the best interest for Monterey in mind when they work for our residents and our neighbors.

And I encourage this council to continue the good work you're doing.

Always think of Monterey first.

I like to thank our staff.

Our team is fueled by passion to provide the best services for our community.

You all are truly public servants.

I look around in the chamber and I see so many individuals who are who are making Monterey the best place to work and live in.

Your jobs, our jobs are not easy, and all too often our residents and neighbors are easy to criticize us.

I'm so proud of you on how you all perform.

And this city council knows and appreciates you, your work, and your passion for your profession.

Our entire executive team represents the best of the best.

Over the past years, we have gone through so many challenges, and you all stayed calm and cool when tackling challenges this city had never faced before.

Your loyalty and your support were a tremendous asset throughout my time as city manager.

Thank you all.

Lastly, I like to thank uh Monterey and all the partnerships we have with our residents, our military missions, our businesses, so many partners and our neighborhood associations.

Our residents are engaged on so many levels.

Their input has so many times made our city decisions and our city actions so much better.

Recently, I I reminded my wife that she once gave me a postcard showing Dorothy and Toto from the movie Wizard of Oz.

And this is not another ploy for wicked uh the final the final ending.

Uh so the card's message that my wife gave me was there's no place like home.

And I kept this card with me on the ship so I served while in the Navy, and so allow me to conclude uh with the following statement.

The city is my home now, and there is no place like Monterey.

And beautiful and complex and difficult, Monterey reflects also the l the lessons taught by the wizard.

Like the characters in the Wizard of Oz, we all have the power within us.

The scarecrow, the tin men, and the cowardly lion don't receive new brains, hearts, or courage or medals.

The wizard simply helps them to realize that they have all those qualities already within them, and that's our city.

The city has people working on all levels with brains, hearts, and courage, and I want to thank you all for that.

And like Dorothy, please enjoy the journey, face the challenges, continue to work and lead with brain, heart and courage, and there's no place like home.

Thank you.

All right.

And with that, we will now open it up for public comments on this item.

For those that are on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item, just ask that you stand up to the left of the podium.

And if you'd like to remain seated, I'll ask for hands here in a second once everybody's situated.

You have the board, right?

Yeah, I just want you to squish that.

Here is there anybody that's still seated that would like to speak on this item.

So I gather that everybody that's going to speak is standing.

Um I'm going to do a count.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.

So I have the 13 with Hans.

Interestingly enough, Hans Yanish is the last person.

So we have 13 in the chamber.

Any last minute folks?

All right.

So we'll cut it off to the 13 in the chamber.

One minute.

Yep.

Okay.

And then we will check with folks on Zoom.

I'll do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have five on Zoom.

We're going to leave it to one minute.

So I apologize, everybody.

We have a couple of items, and Hans was actually the one that gave the direction for a minute.

So feel like I'm safe to go that direction.

So we'll go ahead and start in the chamber with Lori.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

I'm Laurie Walga.

I work in the city manager's office.

Uh with a great opportunity to that I've had to work with Hans since 2001 and more directly for about the last dozen uh years.

So Hans, I wrote a little note to you, so I'm gonna read it tonight.

I haven't given it to you yet, but I will.

Um it goes, uh, dear Hans.

I learned so much from you.

You had a very positive impact on me.

Thank you for your confidence and trust.

You reinforced in me to dig hard to make difficult decisions based on what's best for the most, and also what's right, honest, and true.

Your kind heart shined through, even when you had a hard truth to tell.

You led our community during many difficult periods.

The COVID 19 pandemic was probably the most challenging of all.

Your leadership without a doubt saved lives.

You led us through many challenges with courage and wisdom, an active shooter, awesome scare, uh um awesome storm, several earthquakes, tsunami alerts, there are budget deficits, bad roads, wild wind, uh wild winds, wild rants, and wildfires.

And you were the right person for the job every time.

You not only got us through the city of Monterey, uh, but the city of Monterey was a regional leader through each incident.

This organization, the city, region, and beyond are all better for your dedication and service.

Your sense of humor helped a lot, and we and we'll be missed.

I hope you're eager to rest, relax, and make a list of to-dos that will take you to all the places you want to go and new things you want to experience.

It's time for us to figure it out without you.

Thank you for leaving us in a good place.

Congratulations and enjoy the honorable mayor of city council, good evening.

Lou Bauman, Monterey resident and former county administrator.

Um, I came to the county in 99 a couple years after Hans joined the city of Monterey, and I've had the pleasure to watch him progressively promote throughout the city and perform in an extraordinarily professional, uh, cool and um it's just been really a treat to see you grow.

And it's it's bittersweet to see the culmination of that tonight.

I know you're gonna enjoy your retirement.

Um I think it's been said um how complicated the city manager position is.

It requires calm, cool, um, decisive strategic thinking.

And Hans exemplifies all those characteristics.

I've only seen him lose his cool once.

And if you recall about five years ago, we had some YouTubers come in and drive their Ferraris around Canary Row, and Hans just about lost his cool.

And at the county, they they kept coming and they say the city manager of Monterey is calling again, and he would like you to ban these Ferraris.

Um, and so we couldn't do that, but uh again, Hans, we thank you for your dedicated service.

And I know you're gonna have a wonderful many healthy years of retirement.

Uh good evening, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Um, PKDF and Boss Superintendent MPSD.

I want to thank Hans for his great collaborative relationship with the school district.

Um, from early morning text to remove a tree that fell so a bus wouldn't be late uh to support with extra parking for large events uh to facilitate Monterey PD to come to graduations at the fairgrounds.

Nothing was ever too small for Hans's attention.

And Hans never said, um, let me pass you off to someone else.

He always took care of the district, and I'm thankful for that.

Um, with his deadpan comments, I wasn't always sure that he was joking.

Uh, but when I figured it out, I always laughed.

Um, I want to thank you.

And on behalf of over 10,000 preschool to adult school students, uh, your leadership has made a difference to our district.

Thank you, Hans.

Hi, my name's Haley.

Many of you know me as the face or voice you get before talking to or seeing Hans.

For the past three years, I've had the pleasure of being Hans's final admin assistant.

And in recognition of his retirement, I thought I would highlight a few things about him.

Before my interview, I watched a few council meetings, not whole meetings, and a couple of mornings with the managers to see who I would be interviewing for.

My first impressions were okay, he's pretty straightforward and to the point, but I can see some wit there.

And as as they say, first impressions are not wrong.

Hans is a to-the-point kind of guy, but with all things with all the things in the city he manages, you have to be.

He has high expectations because he sees the potential and what we can accomplish as an organization.

We always can improve on things that we have that we have done.

There's always a way to reflect and make it better.

He also knows the heart of the organization is its employees.

Skips, skip, skip, skip, skip.

For me as admin, I had the unique opportunity to gain a lot of insight into a variety of things that I wouldn't have had if I was in another office.

I know a lot of people across the organization because of my boss.

I know a lot of community partners because of my boss.

I know a lot about local government because of my boss.

I'm grateful that he gave me the chance three years ago to work here.

Hans will miss having you as my boss, and thank you for all the years you've dedicated to the city.

Your presence in the office and in the organization will be greatly missed.

Good evening.

And this is for Hans.

Uh, now you get to practice law.

That's life after work.

So you can now find out something else you want to do, or you can be an interim.

But I wish you the best of luck.

Hans is always very professional in our meetings, but then he can also get down to a personal perspective in your conversations.

And I I was always glad as a citizen to go in and talk to Hans because I could get an unvarnished idea of what was going on.

And he was he didn't varnish it.

And sometimes he was very nice.

But I always appreciated your professionalism and the way you communicated with the people of the city of Monterey.

And I wish you the very best of luck.

28 years.

And about the time you became city manager, I became president of first night.

And I used to always enjoy meeting with you and Mayor Clyde at the time.

And I'd wax nostalgic.

I moved to Monterey in 1952, and I remember, you know, the good old days.

Anyway, the thing that was so special to me was 2020, 2021, about that time I'm coming in, and things were really tough for first night.

Things were tough for everything.

And I was getting ready to come into the meeting, and I'm thinking, well, I'm worried about one night, December 30th.

Hans is responsible for the other 364 days managing Monterey.

This is going to be a short meeting.

So I go into the meeting thinking I'm going to be brushed off because he had plenty of problems.

We had a two-hour meeting.

He shared all his wisdoms, kindness, and compassion, and he did everything he could to help first night carry on.

And that's how he handles everything.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, community members.

I'm Ellen Martin, and I am the director of First Night Monterey.

I wrote a two-minute speech, but I'll put it to one.

I want to say that I want to speak from the heart about someone whose presence has shaped the city in ways that people have seen and unseen.

And that's you, Hans.

You have embodied uh what we call uh the Monterey Way, a leading that's rooted in service and humility and a deep commitment to the people.

You're a true public servant.

Um, your door has always been open to all.

And for first night, your support has been invaluable.

You're the third uh city manager that I've worked with.

I won't say that you're my favorite, but I'm gonna be sorry to see you go.

You know, you've championed our event.

It is one night, but there's many other days uh that we produce so many of our art programs.

Um I just want to say that you've led with integrity, kindness, joy, humor, and respect.

You've mentored, you've guided, you've reassured everyone, and you set a standard for what leadership looks like in Monterey.

We're going to miss you.

We know that you're up near Archer Park, and we wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Hans, hi, uh Mark Ackerman from City Manager's Office here.

Hans gave me the opportunity to serve this great city, and I will always be thankful for that.

Thank you for all that you've done.

Thank you for letting me sit outside your door and ask you crazy questions all the time.

Um, I think it's also really cool that you said I was uh I was part of your biggest blow up you ever had.

I don't know if you remember saying that recently.

I was pretty um proud of that.

Um I want to say just thank you for teaching me so much.

Your legacy lives through all of us.

Thank you for being kind to Luna.

Thank you for just always having your door open and uh wish you the best.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Rick Aldinger, uh Monterey County Hospitality Association tonight.

Uh uh hospitality drives Monterey's economy.

Understanding this, Hans has been a steadfast and wonderful partner to our industry, to the benefit of the city of Monterey, to our industry, uh, and maybe most importantly to our visitors and top of the list, the residents of Monterey.

Uh on behalf of hospitality, uh, we we thank you for that steadfast partnership, Hans.

And wish you the best in the next chapter.

Uh on a personal note, about 10 years ago, you gave me a piece of advice.

Yeah, yeah.

How could it not?

I and I I have to say, I was sitting there waiting.

Well done.

Uh the first thing Hans did when he stood up to talk was thank his wife.

And uh that's something I'll always remember.

Congratulations on and Hans enjoy.

Hans, you knew I couldn't miss this occasion.

So, as many of you probably know, I was on Hans's original interview panel.

And I would have to say that that was probably one of the best judgment calls of my life to rank you highest.

And because of that, you became our city manager.

You serve the city so well.

On the on the subject of your management style, one day I was in Hans's office looking at all the kitschy, strange stuff he has on the walls at Cal Bell, whatever else was in there.

He was late to a meeting as usual.

And one of the things was a book uh about Ernest Shackelford and the Endurance.

Was that the name of it?

And the story of leadership.

And that's really what it was a story of leadership.

But if that's Hans's secret, he he follows that.

One other little thing, the bench.

Now I'm glad to hear it's going to be in your yard because if it was in a public place, it has to mean you would have died.

So don't put it in a public place.

And now we have a place where we can have our cup of tea and coffee in your yard and enjoy stories.

Okay.

Good luck.

Good evening, um, council, uh, mayor, and uh city staff and residents.

My name's Elizabeth Yanish.

Um, and I remember the day that my Hans came up home and said, hey, there's a guy downtown whose name is Hans.

Did you know?

I said, no, but I think I like him already.

But anyway, in thinking about what to say, um, I know this is going to sound funny, but my dad retired as a private pediatrician uh after 30 years of of practice.

And there's some parallels that I found in his retirement that you know I think are very um similar that uh you might share.

There might be in common.

But you know that uh both uh private practice and uh practice where you're appointed more or less to your job, uh is a commitment to serve um uh over the general public through sickness and health.

And so um, and then it builds trust.

Um and you're the one person who has a pulse on the on the entire city.

So this is very important in terms of administering your job.

So we welcome uh your next phase or time, and um I look forward to seeing you in passing again.

Thank you so much.

Uh good evening, uh Mayor, council members.

Thank you for an opportunity to speak.

Thank you, Mayor, for cutting the time down to one minute instead of three minutes because I thought this was a roast and I didn't have anything else to say until the when the chief started speaking.

I was I was uh hopeful there, but no, I'm uh regroup.

Um, no, I just want to say thank you, Hans.

You've been personally and professionally uh a mentor, whether you knew it or not.

We've been through a lot together.

I'm uh Bravo Keefe, president CEO of C Monterey, and uh we've been there and back together uh uh with COVID, and we came out of it stronger.

And I really appreciate uh the partnership you've had with us at C Monterey.

I want to thank council members and mayor.

You've had an excellent steward for the investment that you make in tourism.

And as Rick had said, it's so important, not just to the people who visit us, but to the residents who live here because it's an investment in community, and that investment has gone further and will go further based on a lot of the decisions and the leadership that uh Hans has shown.

So I really appreciate you, Hans.

And um, I congratulate you.

And I hope you'll come back to our last board meeting in January.

That's an invitation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rob.

And I'd like to introduce you to our parking superintendent because you've asked me repeatedly for a discount for all your parking tickets.

Uh she is investing.

She is sitting there.

That's all I'm he's always delegated so well.

Well, thank you.

Uh I'm as often referred to as the other Hans.

Um, but I would like to um before I get to you, I want to quickly make to make it efficient.

Also thank Andrea.

I've worked a lot with her, and it's been great.

She's been one of the city team, so I want to also acknowledge your work.

Um, working with us at the so uh you Hans have been a great mentor for me.

Uh, I've been with a with the neighborhood association for over 20 years, and throughout that time, I've always looked up to you, as sought advice from you, and it's been um been great advice I've gotten from you, and I've learned to really respect you and understand a lot of how to work with a community and so forth, and that's been really great.

So thank you as a mentor, and I look forward to some cafe clutches and uh midak essence and maybe even an obdessent as a family.

Thank you so much and look forward to it.

Congratulations, Sunka.

All right, with that, we'll go to our callers on Zoom.

Yes, first I'll call on Esther.

Good evening again.

Ooh, my goodness.

I've been meeting with you on so many different things over the last couple of years, and I'm sure there were plenty of times that you rolled your eyes and said, Oh God, here she comes again with something else to complain about or more work for our staff.

But I will say, um, even though I may have been a thorn in your side, I hope that I have been an ally to you at some times as well, because that's how I feel about you.

Um, you have always been extremely responsive.

I've always been impressed with how quickly you would reply to an email, regardless of the time of the day or the day of the week.

I I really learned a lot from you, and I want to echo all the comments about your sense of humor, because that is absolutely the most enjoyable and standout characteristic of yours that I will always refer to when I think back on our experiences together.

And I look forward to seeing you more as a civilian.

Thank you, Esther.

Next speaker is Adam.

Uh good evening.

Uh congratulations, Hans.

I I don't think I can possibly say anything that hasn't already been said, but but it's it's all so well deserved.

And I I just want to thank you for for your sense of public service, but also for your steady hand at the wheel.

Uh I I know it's uh not always fun to juggle everything, and I only know the half of it, I'm sure.

So thank you so much for everything you've done.

Thank you for introducing us to some new words now and again.

You know, I think we'll be wrestling with household for a little while longer, but that's not really your problem now, is it?

So um uh Hassan Glückwunsch.

Uh, congratulations on your retirement and uh thank you.

Thank you, Adam.

Next is Lori.

Hans, I cannot possibly one up the beautiful and heartfelt sentiment so many have expressed to you tonight.

So from Zoom land, I simply want to express a sincere thank you for your 28 years of dedicated service to Monterey and congratulate you on your retirement.

Your steady leadership, your sense of humor, as so many have talked about tonight, and your guidance through COVID and other challenges have truly mattered to our community, and you will be missed.

I wish you fair wins and following seas and a well-earned retirement.

And I hope you have many days ahead, enjoying the sunshine and a good book on that beautiful new bench.

And for at least the first six months of retirement, I strongly encourage you to keep your phone off just in case someone tries to drag you back in.

Thank you, Hans.

Thank you, Laurie.

Except for us, of course.

Except for me.

And next we have Chiny.

Hi, Hans.

I wanted to also extend my congratulations and also thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the city.

Um, I also want to thank you for your willing willingness to start and have difficult conversations uh with the city council as well as with the public.

And while we have not always agreed, I've always believed uh that you wanted what was best for the city, and I've admired your uh commitment to try to leave things better than the way that you found it.

Um I respect you and I have also felt respected in turn.

And I wish you have a um a wonderful uh retirement.

And I also want to uh extend a congratulations to Andrea as well.

It's been a pleasure to work with you uh on NCIP, and I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday for our meeting.

Thank you.

Thanks, Shannon.

All righty.

Well, let's give one last uh final applause for tonight uh for Hans and in his celebrating his retirement.

All righty.

We'll give a second here for folks to transition if you are wanting to head out.

All right, up next we have general public comments.

So this is for items that are not on today's agenda.

If you're here to speak to an item specific to an item on today's agenda, you can speak to it at that time.

At this time, this is for non-agendized items.

For folks on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak for non-agendized items.

I see three.

Anybody else in the chamber wishes speak on non-agendized items?

All right, with that, we'll go ahead and close it off to those three, and we'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have nobody on Zoom.

So we'll go ahead and start in the chamber.

Thanks for letting me allow me to speak.

Uh congratulations.

Also, and good luck.

Um, my name is Rich Quelson.

Um, we have a six-unit apartment on 320 Foam Street.

I'm here to speak about the parking.

I want to reiterate that my building has no off-street parking and it was purchased within that condition.

I attended the November 4th meeting when this item was on the agenda while I was appreciative of it.

The existing tenants may be grandfathered in if they reapply.

I am extremely concerned about the following provision.

Upon the change in property ownership or tenancy, the address will no longer be available, eligible to receive on-street permits and must use available off-street parking.

Uh private parking, public garages.

Uh, it also states that the intent of the residential parking permit program is to serve neighborhoods experiencing significant external parking impact and to protect the neighborhood access and maintain parking availability for residents.

And further states that the updated plan aims to enhance equity.

Yet the proposal to revoke permit eligibility upon change in tenancy does not enhance equity.

In fact, it creates inequity by treating the Canary Road neighborhood differently from other neighborhoods that you retain uh eligibility indefinitely.

My street is meter parking only, and tenants have relied on long standing permit system for decades.

Removing permit eligibility for new tenants will severely impact our ability to rent the units.

Units I intentionally keep affordable so that people like school teachers and working families can continue to live in Monterey.

Requiring tenants to pay $600 a year for parking and walking long distances at night raises real safety concerns, particularly for older residents.

At the last meeting, Miss Dixon commented that the residents aren't guaranteed parking close to their apartment.

But in this case, that is not accurate.

There is always available parking, but it's metered, and that's precisely why the permits matter.

I strongly urge the council to attend to amend the proposal so that Canary Row is treated the same as every other RPP area.

And the permit eligibility is not eliminated upon changing in tenancy.

After 30 years of maintaining this building, providing reasonably priced housing.

It is disheartening to see a policy that changed that would disport disapportionately harm this neighborhood and long-term residents.

It seems unfair that the other neighborhoods get to pay $25 per year for the permit to park in front of the residents.

I think my time's run out, but thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hello, Mayor, City Council members.

Mr.

Manager, thank you for your service.

Get some rest.

Um couple items.

One thing here, um, and this is something that it's been over six months.

And um council member Jean, it's something you brought up in a meeting.

On on April 15th, you mentioned in the park area.

Um you asked if it could be less than 50 feet in the park area for the street vendor.

I don't know if you remember that comment you made.

And there was um, I guess uh one person that suggested the dogs get in the way, another person suggested um it needs to be left open for um the surfers or the the divers.

And I think there should be um adequate room in that park area to put, even if it's 10 feet up.

I mean, let's stay you asked 10 feet apart.

Why can't you put a dozen vendors on the park on um San Carlos Beach Park?

There's plenty of room.

And I mean, I heard a comment against it.

I mean, having dog run having dogs run off leash like today when the dog is running through the room.

That's unacceptable.

It's law, and yet certain laws are left to be um adapted or presented as it's okay when really this subject probably should be voted on, not just an idea like Ed gave us an idea against it and it dropped the idea.

Well, really, you should have had a second motion.

You should probably take it to a vote instead of an opinion of one member of the board dropping or making the subject go away.

Another situation with Mr.

Ed.

Um, I brought up a the fact that I've been vending for over seven years.

And Mr.

Ed I requested that if maybe I could be grandfathered in since I've been paying taxes on that place of business for over seven years.

And once again, Mr.

Ed in his opinion said um, like, no, when really it should be voted on.

And excuse me, um another issue with the street vending is um we have a 12-foot gap between uh once again on the April 15th meeting.

Levi stated that there should be um 48 inches, that's ADA required.

I would suggest both directions ADA request requires four feet, four plus four, eight feet.

It shouldn't be twelve.

I don't know where that twelve came from, but require a yeah, both lanes, both directions, eight feet is plenty of room for um space between booths.

And really, it'd be more a general more plan, other than someone come up with all these ideas.

It was never worked out with somebody with um kind hearted thinking it out through.

It'd be much more room if she put two tables back to back.

It was provide for my security.

And there's about a 15-foot space in that block area that I have to worry about being robbed from every time I'm working.

But I thank you for your time.

And once again, thank you.

All right.

With that, we'll go ahead and close general public comment and we'll move to consent.

There's been a request by a council member to pull number six and number eight.

Does the council wish to pull anything else on the consent?

All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and open it up for public comment.

This is an opportunity for the public to be able to pull an item or speak to an item on consent agenda.

For folks on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak or pull an item on the consent agenda.

Eight is late.

I apologize.

Okay.

Not seeing any takers in the chamber.

So we'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And there's nobody on Zoom.

We'll bring it back to the council.

Thank you for the clarification.

Eight is not on the consent.

Um, so we will focus on polling number six.

Is there a motion?

So move.

Second.

So move and second it.

Any other discussion?

All those in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Any oppose?

Motion passes unanimously.

With that, we will go to item number six, approved purchase of four forward police interceptors in the amount of 235,571 dollars and four cents from Folsom Lake Ford.

I understand this has been pulled by um Councilmember Garcia.

So I'll go ahead and pass it to the vice mayor for questions, comments.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So I just have a question.

Um I support the item as it is.

Uh just a question for staff, uh, either public works, finance.

Just curious to um or or maybe not even curious because I don't necessarily need a response, maybe just uh a way to look at these items moving forward.

Could these items be uh maybe split up specifically to this item, say the purchase of two vehicles the current fiscal year and two the additional two vehicles the next fiscal year as a way to retain some of those funds every little bit counts.

Um, and then also creating maybe uh the staggered schedule of uh not having to buy four vehicles in one fiscal year.

So just wanted to pose that as a question or maybe guidance, not necessarily for this item.

Um, unless staff requires additional uh direction.

Um we could also look at uh that kind of process for any other items moving forward.

Do you need to answer?

Okay, I think he's good.

All right, thank you.

Um anything else from the council.

All right, so with that, we'll go ahead and open up for public comment.

Anybody on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

All right, I'm not seeing any takers, so we'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

Nobody on Zoom, bring it back to the council for motion and deliberation.

I'll make a motion that we approve of item number six.

Second, it's been moved and seconded.

Any other discussion?

All right, all those in favor, aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously.

With that, we'll um switch over to our ocean view community services district meeting.

We have one item on the consent agenda.

It's item number seven to receive Ocean View Community Service District quarterly report.

With that, I'll pass it to our city attorney, Chrissy Davi for a brief verbal report.

Thank you.

There's nothing new to report.

Deep.

All right, thank you for that, Chrissy.

Um, all right.

Any questions from the council?

Please, that's one.

Uh appreciate the in-depth report.

Um, but uh, you know, as always, we we we don't control the outcome in terms of the requests of the of the property owner, but do you know what the status of their request to get on the coastal commission's agenda is?

I was unable to get an update on on that before this was published, so I'm not certain of the status at this time, and I haven't heard from them.

Um so I'll circle back to that and find out for you.

Well, and this is a quarterly report.

It is the next quarter would be fine.

Okay, okay, great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chris.

All right.

Any other questions?

All right, with that, we'll open up for public comment.

Folks on Zoom can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

Not seeing any takers, so we'll close it off in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

Nobody on Zoom.

So with that, we'll go ahead and reconvene the council meeting and we'll start in with our public appearance items.

First on the list is item number eight to receive a report on the concept for a community center space at 205 Montecito Avenue in partnership with the boys and girls clubs of Monterey County and provide direction to staff.

Um I understand that there's some concern with this item.

So before we kick it off, I'm just going to pass it to our vice mayor here for some quick remarks.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So this item um I I think uh I at least I've been tracking um and I've been working with staff um to um detail this for the past I don't know, year or so.

And um I think that um in general uh I'm I'm supportive of the item.

Um but I think uh and especially seeing um a few comments come in from the public, um it feels like it might be a little bit uh premature to bring it um in front of council um for what I see is just additional um I guess analysis or assessment of the item um given that I think those at uh as far as I know those conversations have already taken place with property owner and and boys and girls clubs.

So uh not necessarily uh um opposing the item, but I I'm not exactly sure um if now would be uh a good time to to really uh start you know detailing this or continue to detail this without really hard uh information so just um I I'll piggyback on um Vice Mayor Garcia's um comments I think the thing that I'm I'm worried about here is and and and I want to reiterate our my agreement in that I think this is a good concept and I want to be able to move forward with our partnership with Boys and Girl Girls Club.

Um I think the concern is there's been a lot of discussion around what recreation looks like in district four and there's been um an effort or proposals to eliminate um Castle Casanova Oaknill Park Center and if we don't have a big picture conversation around what rec what recreation looks like across the district, um I think we're we're we're getting a little bit over our skis here.

So I don't I'm I'm I'm hesitant to move forward at this time without us maybe pulling back a little bit and making sure that we have a conversation from a from uh the 50,000 foot view here a little bit.

Um so I'm gonna go ahead and and make a motion that we can I well wait go ahead go ahead.

It's a published item.

Yep.

Uh there's no action tonight other than receive a report.

I'd like to receive the information um to see what it is that staff is going to present to us because it I think it's premature to just cut something off until we've even heard the depth of the information so I'd like to receive the report.

I I I hear you um I'd still like to make a motion to continue this item.

Um I'm particularly compelled by the council member that represents that district and I think with him spending a little bit more time with staff and um getting this a little bit clearer for us particularly given light of our agenda tonight we're kind of already behind and I'm trying to get us to move along here a little bit so it's not a lack of interest in wanting to hear it but just hearing council member garcia's concerns um along with with our our tight agenda tonight I'm gonna go ahead and make a motion to continue this item second oh please for clarification is that to any particular date um no it'd be uncertain okay um so we have a motion in a second um any questions at this point before we take it out to the public and then we'll bring it back for final discussion.

Well I join in feeling that the conversation that the community and the council was prepared to have would only be beneficial toward the end goal of understanding what we're talking about.

In other words reviewing it and talking about it would would only help so I'm I'm not I'm surprised and I'm unsure why why it would be tabled um I would love to hear the report and and I can add a I think a little bit of um to to your point um I I have a reading the report I I have a sense that the only information here that has changed has been the uh the estimated amount of what it would take to get that site up and running so from my perspective is not really new information um so I just I don't I'd prefer not to continue um down this path of of thinking that we're sharing new information with the public when we're not and if these uh dollar amounts keep going up

So from my perspective, it's not really new information.

Um so I just I don't I'd prefer not to continue um down this path of of thinking that we're sharing new information with the public when we're not.

And if these uh dollar amounts keep going up, are we um you know, really setting up the neighborhood to be excited about this specific project when the feasibility might not even be there?

So that's really what where I'm coming from in terms of that specific site.

Uh, but to uh mayor's point, um, I think there is also a broader conversation to be had about um what what do we do with Casanova Park Center, right?

Because I I also feel that this item is is kind of shifting the attention from an effort that community has already um expressed that there's a strong interest to do something with that center, right?

We're we're kind of shifting the attention to uh a new site that we don't even know is is viable.

So I that's and and that's what I've also heard uh some feedback coming into this meeting with this item from the public.

So I I would also add um this isn't in it, this is this in no way this is this an effort to stymie public input, having the discussion.

Um, if anything, I think it might be a great opportunity to have like a town hall and have a space where community can engage in a way that we couldn't engage in a council meeting.

Um, and to council member Smith's point about this being a presentation, there's a section in the agenda report that talks about near-term steps and should the city council provide preliminary support for this proposal, the staff would follow those steps.

Um so there is a little bit of an ask here, even though it's a presentation.

And I feel like again, we're just getting a little bit over our skis here when I think that there needs to be a broader conversation with the community around um what does recreation look like in in that district?

Um let me let me let me just do a little pause real quick.

I we could discuss this more, but let's use this as an opportunity to do questions and then we'll come back after public comment.

So are there any other questions on the council at this point?

Quick questions about the agenda item or terminating the agenda item.

I mean, I think questions about uh either question, a question about the item in any context.

Well, I I have questions about the subject matter that was on the agenda.

I know the community does.

Um actually let me clarify.

Okay, all right.

We do have a motion on the table, so maybe focus the questions at this point um on the motion.

Okay, well, question.

It's a statement.

I think when something's on the agenda and and the public is informed, we should continue the discussion.

But but it'll go the way it'll go.

I I just I know people are ready.

We've congregated, I worked on this all day.

I don't see why it would be detrimental to start the discussion, but go ahead, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay.

And I have a question.

Please.

Okay.

So I agree with everything that uh Ms.

Rash said, but my question is in preparation for this when this was published on Friday or Thursday or Friday.

Um you, Mayor and the uh uh vice mayor serve on the agenda building subcommittee.

So you have a meeting, I think on Wednesday last week.

So this is an item that came out of the calendaring of an agenda.

First time I've heard of any concern.

So I kind of feel like this is a process.

I mean, that you that you were cutting off the process when you were part of the process.

So did you discuss with the city manager postponing this item coming?

And did this topic come up at the agenda setting process where it was a request to staff to postpone and wait on this item coming?

So I did talk to the city manager's office about it, but we did not meet last week because it was the holiday.

So the agenda was actually posted without me having a chance to have reviewed it.

So I had a conversation with assistant city manager in the review of this, and I explicitly requested to have this item removed from the agenda and postponed for that very reason.

But staff decided to move forward with it.

And that's fine, you know, because here we are now having that conversation.

But that was one of my specific asks.

Okay, we're gonna go out to public comment.

Um so folks on Zoom can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item?

I have one, two takers.

Anybody else?

Never mind.

Eight.

So we have two speakers in the chamber.

Anyone else?

All right, so we'll cut it off to those two speakers.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have two on Zoom.

I'm gonna leave it to two minutes, please.

Um my name is John McClellan, and I live in the neighborhood.

Um and um I'm in support of this proposal.

Um, and I have a lot more to say about it, but the time is short.

Um it it I think it's a separate thing what's happening in Caso Nogue Ognals.

They have a separate thing going, and whatever happens there is hopefully the best.

Um, it doesn't change the need um for this in in our neighborhood.

Um, so anyway, I'm in support of it.

I realize the discussion is not gonna go any further tonight, but uh hopefully there'll be an opportunity to come in the future.

Um thank you.

Thank you, John.

Good evening.

Again, Mike Brassfield.

Two points.

Uh when we had the Kona Center operational, I don't think Hans or anybody else told Rachel she was not successful.

I thought she was always successful, and she was amazing because she had that center run so efficiently and very busy.

The second thing is, and I appreciate the concern for some study because the city of Monterey is looking at this 10 million dollar deficit.

That cost for the first year for moving it to on a Montecito would be one tenth of that deficit.

And that's a concern that you know we we have to look at cost now.

We're we're in a crunch time.

And I think that that's enough I can say because I don't uh I don't I don't want to dwell on any other negative issues.

I really want you guys to study it.

Thank you.

All right, that will go to our callers on Zoom.

Calling on Esther.

Good evening.

I wanted to just say that I want to commend staff for coming up with such a creative and different approach to what the needs um for our side of North Fremont um could use.

I mean, it's it's got a lot of nuance to it, and I think it's really really interesting and beneficial.

Um, I do support it.

I just think that the timing might not be great right now fiscally and in general, um, with however the council members feel about the presentations timing or whatever.

But um I do want to point out that staff has looked at the people from our side of North Fremont do not come over to the Kona side and the Kona side people don't come over to our Montecito Park.

So I agree with John that it's really a separate issue.

They really um one shouldn't exclude the moving forward on the other.

Um, the Kona situation has been ongoing for for a long time.

I have yet to see anything interesting and creative come out of that, you know, all the support from that neighborhood.

I don't know that they're ever going to be able to get that location up and running to the successful rate that it was in the past.

And I don't think that that should be stand in the way of the Montecito project becoming a possibility.

But I do 100% agree that the timing is not great and that it should be considered possibly in the future.

Thank you.

And our next speaker is Lori.

Yeah, good evening.

Yeah, it's uh sort of derails things we're gonna say.

That this was the first I'd heard about it.

Um, and maybe it's been discussed, but to hear my district rep Tino Garcia say that he's been discussing this for a year.

Yeah, I don't think anybody's heard about it.

And I think a town hall or or something like that would be in order.

And if you talk to people from Kona, I'm not familiar with why Kona's not successful, why there's not more staffing there.

Um, but I do know that there's another free Santa event coming up, free donuts with Santa this weekend.

And again at Montecito, which I'm not opposed to.

I think that's great.

Um, not for the prior amount of money to create it that we're talking about, but sounds like we're going to talk about that at another time.

Um, but I think if you hosted, you know, Monterey Recreation, Monterey Fire, Monterey Police and My Museum in the same collaboration at the Kona Center.

I think all the free Santa events with free donuts, I think they people would show up.

Family will show up wherever you have it, whether you have it there, Laguna Grande at the park, at the fire station at Colton Hall, the wharf, people would show up.

So I also just sort of warn about how the data is being presented.

It's got to be equal.

And I didn't like the way it was presented in the staff report.

Um using the free events versus revenue at Kona Center.

So there I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done and agree.

This is definitely not the time to look at spending this big chunk of change.

And maybe the boys and girls club is a powerful group.

They can figure out how to get that building themselves.

Thank you.

All right.

With that, we'll go ahead and close general public comment or public comment on the item, bring it back to the council um for deliberation.

Please, Dr.

Barber.

So just listening to what the council has said and what the public has said.

It sounds to me like it's a little bit more premature, um, and wanting to present and and give the information.

And it sounds like the neighborhoods have a little bit more detail that they want to, even listening to hear that it sounds like a town hall is something that they're asking for.

So I would I would want to, and then on top of that, the the timing of this and not having all of the information with the money.

I I would rather see it when it has a little bit more um um confirmation from the neighborhood in the town hall, um, specifically um talking um to council member uh Garcia, since it's in your district, to make sure that all of your people are feeling heard before we get all the information to have a discussion because I think without doing that is a little premature.

So um, this is an unusual way to approach it.

Um we have a staff report, we have an analysis that is part of the attachment.

Uh your motion cuts off even a preliminary staff report where our staff has already invested a considerable amount of uh thought, and we haven't even heard what the item is.

Um tabling it, continuing it without even hearing the basic premise of the partnership seems to me like it's not very transparent because we have um members of the audience that came.

We have a speaker from Boys and Girls Club that came.

I'd love to hear what uh what thoughts there are about a collaboration with the city of Monterey.

We know there's a tremendous need there, but we're we're getting mushed down into the weeds and process.

I'm not opposed to having community meetings to figure out the nuances of this, but I haven't even had the presentation.

Gino has apparently been um more privy to more of the information.

But the city manager did share with me over a year ago the concept.

But the analysis is attached.

I've read it, I've got several questions, but to cut it off before we've even had a presentation just seems weird to me.

Um I don't understand what we're afraid of hearing because we would ultimately have a vote to give staff direction of whether we want to as a first step have a community meeting and do an analysis to determine a need if we think that we are not satisfied with the data that's here.

If we think that we are not satisfied with the data that's here, I think there are next best steps.

We would give those instructions to staff that we would take a vote on what it is that we're looking at.

If we want to have more of a deep dive in terms of, let's say uh master plan of all city centers and how we're using them.

I don't see this as part of the Kona at all.

I don't see we're not talking about Kona.

This about this is about a new opportunity across the street from the fire station where the city staff has proposed to rent the facility.

And there is an opportunity where we might need that space to transfer the fire department for a short period of time under construction when they're certainly going to be displaced and not able to occupy the building.

So if we secure the property across the street under a lease agreement, then we will go through the process of what it is that we really want to make the building in partnership with the program delivery through the boys and girls club.

But this is like step one of about 18 steps.

And I think we're cutting ourselves off by not even listening to the staff, the analysis, and giving us an opportunity for having the questions to say, okay, this this has promising promising concept.

Let's keep looking at it, but we haven't made any hardcore decisions that are monetary yet, because we would give direction to the staff.

So I just think that the process of this is very awkward.

I want to hear the report.

I want to ask the questions of staff.

I want to hear from Mr.

Johnson and other speakers about what they would say about a potential of an expanded service for District Four that is not mutually exclusive and separate from Kona.

Kona still is there.

It's our building, it's on a city park.

And we're not talking about Kona.

We're talking about enhancing delivery of services with a program partnership and a new space where we might be able to figure out how we're not encumbering large dollars because we're renting it and partnering.

And I think it's an opportunity to bring services to District Four, which we can't deliver at any other park in District Four.

So I want to hear the report, and I want to hear staff, and I want to be able to answer questions.

The same.

I have questions.

I would love the dialogue with the community.

Um I'd love to hear from Mr.

Johnson.

And we're we're hearing opinions from the public that I can't even add to.

I mean, you know, I haven't been able to say what the public has said.

I I think the questions would be beneficial.

Um it's very frustrating, the whole thing.

The way it's handled, it's very frustrating.

Um, I don't even know how to vote.

You know, I don't want to object to to you as the as the district leader.

I honor that.

You're the mayor.

It's just we've started something that is incomplete and it's handled backwards.

So thank you.

So your last statement, I I think we're in agreement.

And that's that's my that's part of my frustration.

Um this didn't come to council initially to first explore what this site could potentially look like, right?

Um there's actually been an assessment, a needs assessment done already, right?

Um, to your point, council member Smith, that there has been an assessment, but that information hasn't been shared yet to the public, right?

So tonight's four.

Well, no, so my point is let's slow it down and really get the uh the input from community, right?

Let's really uh figure out umce we can get you know more specific information, right?

Then bring it.

So I I'm not opposed to this item because I I think and and I'm in agreement there is need along uh Montecito and along that that community, but let's look at uh what the need is um district wide, because this center is has the potential to serve the various neighborhoods, not only in district four, but the rest of the city, right?

We're looking at uh very specific details in this report that apply just to that neighborhood uh along Montecito.

Great that that information is there, but I think we should we should have a broader approach.

And and I also think that it would be beneficial as part of uh of a bigger strategy to really uh determine what this would look like, a broader strategy from the uh director of parks and rec.

And we don't have that person yet.

So so I think there's there's something to be said there strategically about that.

So hold please, please, Ed, please.

So everybody spoke.

I haven't had a chance to speak, and I'm actually going to call the question after I speak because we have a motion on the table, and I think we have a kind of sense where everybody is at.

I just wanted to be able to quickly respond to the comments made by John and Esther.

Um so and and Lori brought the uh um this up in her comments too.

This has been discussed in front of the council.

Staff has presented this, so it wasn't the first time that this has been shared publicly.

Um so perhaps there was just a meeting missed um where this item came up and it wasn't heard.

Um, and when it was presented, this was presented as an alternative to continuing Casanova Oaknill Park Center.

So they are connected in the sense of if we move forward with this, is there going to be an effort in the background to close down the Kona Center?

I think we need to have that brig bigger, broader conversation before we talk about one specific program, thinking that it has no impact on anything else, because that's exactly how it was presented.

Um, so with that, I'm gonna go ahead and call the question.

All those in favor of the motion to continue.

Aye.

All those opposed?

No.

All right, no.

Motion passes three, two.

With that, we will go on to item number nine, receive public testimony on the proposal to modify um to modify the management plan of Monterey County Tourism Improvement District to add the cities uh of San City to the district.

Uh with that, I'll pass it to Hans for presentation.

I'm sorry, Christy, did you have something?

Did I miss if it was continued to a date?

Um a date not certain.

So it's tabled.

Tabled.

Okay, okay.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yep.

Okay.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, that will um talk about San City into the mix.

That's right.

We are bringing San City into the mix.

And good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Uh, the item before you this afternoon is a public meeting regarding the modification of the Monterey, uh, the management district plan for the Monterey County Tourism Improvement District, also known as the MCTID.

As many of you know, the city of Monterey, we serve as the lead agency for the MCTID.

And this district creates a stable funding source for marketing and sales promotion efforts that drive overnight visitation to our region.

It's a self-assessment of uh of a fee on those who visit uh the hotels in Monterey County, and it's managed by the Monterey County's destination marketing association, the DMO, also known as C Monterey, that all many of you are familiar with.

Uh Rob is in the audience, Rob O'Keefe, CEO this afternoon.

Currently, the district is a regional partnership and it includes lodging properties from the Monterey Peninsula as well as other areas.

It includes all of the unincorporated areas of Monterey County, the cities of Carmel by the Sea, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside, and Salinas.

The proposed modification before you this afternoon is to modify the district boundaries to officially add the city of San City to this partnership.

This has been over 20 years in the making.

Uh San City long ago joined the CBB in the initial TID, the initial tourism improvement district.

And it took them over 20 years to actually have a hotel uh join and be built in San City.

So uh with uh with the addition of new hotels, a courtyard and a residence in by Marriott in San City, scheduled to open in January 2026.

The MCTID Owners Association is requesting that us as a lead agency modify the district boundaries and add San City to the partnership.

The City of San City is uh the council is also supporting uh this effort as well.

And uh today's action again comes directly from the owners association of the MCTID.

And uh the inclusion would allow the district to begin collecting assessments in San City starting on February 1st of 2026.

It allows that those businesses will have assessments that will then contribute to the regional marketing efforts for C Monterey and the Monterey County Tourism uh Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

And and so uh just wanted to emphasize again the changes to the management district plan before you today is the same plan as council has seen in the past and as currently exists, with the exception of San City.

The only other change to the plan, just to clarify, is that it reflects the updated assessment rates, which happen every two years.

And that's approved by the district board.

And uh there are no new rate changes being introduced by this modification.

It just reflects what happens every two years.

Okay.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

But uh again, uh the recommendation before you is to receive uh the report uh and uh take any public comment.

The next couple of uh actions will on January 20th of next year.

We'll be returning with the final public hearing.

So uh that'll be council's first meeting in the new year, where council will be asked to adopt the resolution of modification and take formal action through that public hearing.

Thank you.

Thanks, Nat for the presentation.

Any questions from the council, please, Dr.

Barber.

Um, thank you for the uh presentation.

Um quick question.

So I see the city of Monterey initiated the MCTID in 2018.

Um it serves as the lead agency.

So does this require a vote from all jurisdictions?

Um, and not just um us um for this for us to add San City.

It's it's from uh us as the lead agency.

San City has made that request, but it it doesn't uh uh and Rob can provide clarification, but it doesn't go to every uh city in the district.

It's just us as lead agency and the lead, correct?

As the lead, that's my question.

So as the lead, it only requires this vote.

That is correct.

Yes, Dr.

Barber.

Any other questions, please?

So San City is in support.

They are in support.

That is correct.

Any other questions?

No questions, but a comment.

All right, with that, we'll go ahead and go out to public comment.

For folks on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item.

We have one taker.

Anybody else?

All right, we'll go ahead and close it off to the one speaker in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have nobody on Zoom.

Hi.

Uh, just very quickly, I I support adding San City to the to the mix when we project a unified welcoming message from the entire county, particularly the Monterey Peninsula.

Uh it it uh it raises the votes for everyone.

And it's it's it's just it's a good thing to do, and I support it.

That's all.

Thank you.

All right, with that, we'll go ahead and close off public comment, bring it back to the council for motion and deliberation.

Uh comment first, please.

Yeah, so I support this, and this is uh a process that we need to honor as as a lead agency, but also as San City has um established their first hotel.

Uh this started in the process with C Monterey as well as the City of Monterey to include them in the marketing dollars, the marketing attempt as or the marketing efforts.

And as Mr.

Aldinger has pointed out, um, we're stronger as a whole, and we don't exclude any of our municipalities who also have uh facilities that people will come to and then stay.

And then the money that they collect goes into the collective marketing.

So this is a good thing that I support awesome.

Anyone else?

I'm sorry, and I I got indication from staff, and I apologize.

This there's actually no action needed from the council at this time.

I think it'll come back in the new year.

Um, so we're just receiving the public input.

Any last minute comments from the council on this one?

All right.

With that, thank you, staff, for the presentation on that.

Um we'll go on to item number 10 measure P and S special sales tax annual report on conformity with requirement that expenditures be used exclusively for the rehabilitation repair and improvement of city streets, sidewalks, and storm drains and disabled access improvements.

And with that, I'll pass it to Hans for staff presentation.

Thank you so much.

I just see here.

Uh hi, Carol.

Uh Kel Chabajian uh will uh as as Andre Galdinger, I think Rick will be the person again to speak about the Measure P report for us.

Who speaks first?

I hope there's not an expectation that I'm giving the details of the report.

uh as as and regarding or i think rick will will be the person again to speak about the measure p report for us who speaks first i hope there's not an expectation that i'm giving the details of the report actually what what i do want to say is uh it's uh uh as chair of the pns uh oversight committee it's been a pleasure working with staff uh again this this past year uh staff has always been incredibly responsive to our sometimes i'm sure seemingly endless questions and and asking for clarification and modifications on how information is presented to us uh to to make sure that we have a really good understanding of what's happening and and uh collaboratively i think we we do just that we understand and uh uh again it's just it's been a pleasure uh working with staff on this and uh uh i'm sure that uh when the report is presented you'll see that uh uh we all agree that uh this program has uh the the money this past year has been uh uh allocated properly according to the uh the language of the measure and um the only other thing i'd like to add is uh just how uh productive this program has has been uh you know we uh when we started this we we had poor streets and you know we welcome visitors from all over the world here who who love monterey and have high expectations of us and uh uh before before uh measure p was passed uh uh it was a little bit embarrassing uh you know that we would have people come and uh uh the the just the condition of the city streets i can't remember what the uh uh pavement condition in set uh index was when we started but it was uh i think it was somewhere around 50 uh the goal was to bring it up to uh uh better than 70 we've done that uh and so the last thing i'd like to say is how important it is to continue this uh as this uh this second chapter of the of the measure sunsets uh we really need to be looking toward chapter three uh we haven't completed all of the work we need to do and and the fact is uh uh those streets that were the first to get addressed with measure p eight years ago uh uh it's it's time for them again uh to to get the attention they need to to maintain those high standards and expectations that we all have of of the presentation that that uh we want Monterey to project uh and and again thank you to staff uh council everyone who has supported this program uh and uh we look forward to uh working together in the future we're waiting for those numbers eight and and thank you very much thank you Rick Carol did you want to share some comments as well I agree with Rick we have been it was I think 50 51 percent it is up 79, 80 but again and I still welcome you to come on a tour with me to see the street segments in my volunteer driving that I see that are still and I'm surprised we don't hear more from the residents about this looks nice but this stinks um so I think it is important as I said I think I said it before when somebody told me I didn't it was brought up to me it's like the Golden Gate Bridge by the time we finish painting it it's gonna be time to start all over again so it is something in the program where we don't have any extra money lying around that it is important if we have storm drain's collapse if we have uh something that happens with streets we have the program we have funding to take care of that and we've had that I mean it it has happened and we don't at least this is something where we have some semblance of protection so we it's been staff has been great some of the things we ask for every time we're like oh can we could you make this into an Excel spreadsheet so we can sort it differently they're brilliant they're just great with us and they listen to what we ask and they are always pleasant with us too but yes I it's a great program and we really want to see it continue.

Thank you.

Thank you girl great anything else from staff on this one no seeing any okay any questions from the council no questions so I I was looking at the um at the report and um I'm gonna focus the attention on uh North Fremont um and I would say the the extent of it from the on off ramp to highway one to city limit um I see the PCI um being in its high numbers which is great I'm I'm hoping I could get some guidance in terms of how to communicate the quality of the uh the pavement or or the streets the the quality of the material

Um I see the PCI um being in its high numbers, which is great.

I'm I'm hoping I could get some guidance in terms of how to communicate the quality of the uh the pavement or or the streets, the the quality of the material that's currently on North Fremont, which according to the PCI, it's high.

But comments that I get from the public is that it's very patchy, that it's bumpy, the aesthetics of it.

If you could maybe shed a little light on that.

Yes, good evening.

Great question.

North Fremont is on our radar.

Uh, we actually we have an active project that was uh awarded by council a couple months ago that we're still in contracting to granite.

So we're gonna treat the segment that's closest to Safeway in 218.

Uh, but North Fremont is kind of uh uh uh an unique road where there's some concrete portions, the the shoulders are also asphalt, so it's not a continuous um type of material, and so that it does create some bumpy conditions.

So it's on our radar, it's something that's kind of in the preliminary planning phase where we're thinking that we're gonna have to do a project, a larger project in the future, but we have got the two problem areas um on the north side and the south side is coming.

That will be addressed soon.

So um there's just some complexity with just how the roadway was widened with two different material types, and and we do have a larger project as planned in the future.

And and that larger project is for the uh entire extent of North Fremont.

We haven't scoped the exact limits.

Uh, but yeah, we we are aware that there are some bumpy sections that are in need of attention.

And so um it's in the preliminary planning phase at this point.

And and can you um describe what material is as best you can in in simple terms?

What what is laid down on North Fremont now and compared to like the uh black asphalt that we see on other streets?

So there's North Fremont was uh as I understand the original Highway One, uh part of the original Highway One network.

So the you'll see that there's concrete portions that were probably probably a part of the original highway network.

Uh, when it was widened out at some point, for some reason we chose a different material, uh, hot mix asphalt.

And so you'll notice that the the center lanes are concrete and then the shoulder and the outside lanes are are sometimes asphalt.

Um the two end treatments I was just talking about, those are also both hot mixed asphalt.

So that you'll see black top conditions, uh, the section that's closest to uh to safe way in 218.

What we're planning to do is called a full depth reclamation where a contractor will come in, they'll mill off all the surface material and sub base, and they'll compact it, they'll put in some mix and cement uh material so it hardens, and that'll become the new base, and they'll come in and overlay on top of it.

So it'll continue to look like blacktop asphalt.

Great.

And and the reason I'm asking is because it's my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, that some of that concrete could be more expensive, right, to replace.

And and then my my final question is would measure as funds cover that kind of repair since it's more expensive.

So yes, that would be an eligible expense.

Uh concrete in general is more expensive to replace.

It's also harder to maintain once it starts to fail.

Uh, but it does have a large a longer lifespan.

And so as we approach these kind of more complex streets like foam and Franklin, we're which are also on our radar, we have to have an engineer kind of come and do a benefit cost analysis to say what's the appropriate treatment gonna be here?

What's gonna give the city the biggest bank for its buck?

So, how do we kind of maximize our investments to stretch it out and to ensure that the roadway is gonna last a long time?

Oftentimes that is blacktopping these concrete streets, but we do have an engineer run the numbers and calculating and give us a benefit cost analysis.

All right, thank you, Andrew.

Appreciate it.

Well while you're there.

Question.

Oh, sorry.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh I know across the city we we have things that are planned and and we have a pretty robust uh community facing where you can look at a map to see what's been constructed and what's pending.

Um at what point do you put it in the map in the portal where people can see okay?

So is that once the project's been presented to city council and we've approved of the funds?

Is that when it triggers to go into uh the maps and the grids for the public to see?

So what's what's the what's the go point where we say, okay, look, this is coming.

Sure.

I think that's a great question.

And it's a great plug for our website, monoray.gov fixing slash fixing streets.

Yeah.

Uh so we do have our measure PS projects.

Um and I do try to update that map annually as we kind of get a good idea where we're going with our future maintenance project.

So it's not necessarily when a project's been awarded to a contractor, but we have a street saver software that is kind of um a GIS budgeting tool that really helps us understand when's gonna be the best time to pull the trigger to do a slurry sale project.

When is a roadway falling off uh the maintenance curve where our story sale is no longer gonna be appropriate and we'll have to do a road rehab project?

So we use that modeling software to kind of tell us where we're gonna be going.

And I we don't have a perfect crystal ball, but a couple of years out into the future, I can forecast relatively well.

And so when we have an idea of kind of the scope and limits and the uh type of treatment of the project, um we update our GS maps, and that's usually good for a year or two out.

Uh anything beyond that's maybe a little too speculative at this uh at this point.

So I don't go much further than a couple of years out.

Okay.

And one last question for my friends in uh district two that go on Cass Street frequently.

Uh and my apologies for not looking uh recently, but is that on the we're getting close to being able to say when we think it's gonna start construction?

Cass and El Dorado are getting really close.

And that one is also uh is SB1 funds.

So uh not necessarily we're not using anything any measure PS funds for that job, but uh that one's coming down the queue uh real soon.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, any other questions?

All right, with that, we'll go ahead and go out to public comment.

Thank you, Andrew, for that.

Um, folks on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes speak on this item.

All right, we have one taker.

Anybody else?

All right, so we'll close it off to that one speaker in the chamber and I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have one on Zoom.

So we'll go ahead and start in the chamber.

Yes, a little insight on between cement and um the two different grades of material.

Um you cannot I mean, he he made a good suggestion to go down deep on the cement because you cannot have cement and other materials.

The one's stronger than the other, one will always fracture one um just like a diamond and a regular stone, one stronger than the other, one will chip, one will stay, and you'll always have an imbalance.

You got to go down a few inches and re car the whole thing or else make it all cement.

Because you can't have both sides.

It will never um it'll it's a difficult task because a portion of the cement um I would suggest remove the cement because um you'd have to you have to have one or the other.

And um and and with the cement that needs to be graded down.

If you go down a few inches, the road will be more durable than because if you remove it all, um it's gonna the cost and the work is gonna be five times more.

But if you grade it down, he he said graded I he gave a sample of a few inches.

So I would say go double what he suggested and and and repave it because that would be the best um functioning method.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, that we are caller on Zoom.

Yes, it's a telephone caller.

You can go ahead, please.

Good evening.

This is Nina Beattie.

Um measure PNS funds were used to fund the Kaya Principal closure without any public disclosure on the city council consent agenda, April 16th, 2024.

It was misrepresented as ADA work and stop sign installation without any information on the actual being a street closure.

And it was approved by the city council, but the council was not briefed.

Was the PNS committee even briefed?

I don't find any PNS committee approval for this.

There was no public notice or process, and it eliminated the post office drive by mailbox.

It appears to be a very expensive private project that is misused public funds.

So I'm concerned about if there are other projects hiding in the queue that are not um that have not been uh disclosed to the public or to the council.

Um, and how many streets could have been repaired with the money that was used to close Kaya Principal?

So I'm still waiting for answers to some of my questions on that project and um and not getting any.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, we'll go ahead and close public comment, bring it back to the council.

Um there's no vote on this one as well.

So any last minute comments.

Yeah, just a comment on the last caller.

Um maybe the staff can send the uh the call or the staff agenda item that we did vote for and on that project.

So I distinctly remember that because I had someone call me the next day that basically said, What do you mean you're taking away our mail drop box for the postal service on that island?

So I know that's a specific agenda item that the council voted on and approved.

So if staff could respond to the caller and send a copy of that agenda, that would be great.

Thank you.

Any other comments on this one?

I'm just gonna throw out um, and I I know I brought this up before in the past a couple of times.

Um, but I I feel like there's still a level of effort that we can put into whether that's working with state legislatures on trying to shore in utility providers because they come in, whether it be Calium or PGE, and they'll tear up a road right after we've spent public tax dollars on repairing it, and they don't put it back at the same quality that the city did.

And it's really frustrating that we can't have a greater level of coordination.

And I know staff reaches out to the utility providers to be more intentional on the front end.

Um, but we have to figure this out.

I mean, this isn't something that's unique to the city of Monterey.

So whether that's we need to do some advocacy with our state legislatures or what have you, but we need to be more intentional around saving taxpayers' dollars.

So just wanted to throw that out as a last minute comment.

And please, Hans.

Yeah, uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor, for pointing that out.

That is very helpful.

Um we uh as an initial step at the next council meeting that will be uh in front of you uh an uh uh street opening moratorium or street opening ordinance.

I believe that is ready to roll out on December 16th.

Oh, two thirds done.

It will be done definitely.

It will be defin uh uh yeah, it will be definitely done in January.

So we are almost uh done with with with the staff work on that.

That will be a meaningful first step because it will hit the utilities in the pocketbooks.

And uh then we got to see if we still need the state legislature to do something, but uh that's uh absolutely a second grade step.

But uh your team will will present this to you at the uh second meeting in January.

Awesome.

Thank you for that, Hans.

All right, with that, we're gonna go on to our next item 11.

Approve interim city manager employment contract with Lou Bauman.

Pass it to Hans.

I'm assuming this will be a really quick short.

Yes.

Uh so uh you had a chance to see uh Lou Bowman tonight tonight when he when he spoke on the public comments.

Uh this is basically the uh public approval of the interim city manager employment contract with Lou Ballman.

He will start on January 26th, uh January 1st, 2026.

Um the the uh contract uh terms are outlaid here.

Lou Bowman is uh a new attendant, a called person, so he cannot work no longer than 960 hours within the fiscal year.

Uh his early rate is set based by my uh annually rate.

And um, with that, I uh uh ask you to approve this with at least a full fifth vote.

All right, are there any questions on the council?

All right, with that, we'll open up for public comment.

For folks on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber?

All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have one on Zoom.

We'll go ahead and take that caller.

Ms.

BD, you can go ahead.

This is Nina Beattie.

I oppose appointing Lou Bauman as interim city manager due to lead leadership problems occurring while Monterey County CAO.

Supervisors were not allowed to put items on the agenda, unlike other counties.

The county failed to conduct an EIR on VISTRA 1 and PGE battery storage facilities despite the known risks from lithium ion batteries, or to require a hydrogen fluoride monitor in the county.

County studies focused on construction impacts.

The disastrous fires have contaminated homes, land, water, and air, injured many people, and caused stillborns and animals and huge impacts to Monterey County's economy and reputation.

The county failed to recommend protective measures during PGE smart meter rollout or to support support efforts at the CPU C to hold PGE accountable despite evidence of negative impacts and the county's policing powers.

As a result, the county has a fire and electrical hazard and ignition source in every home and building except those wise enough to opt out.

The county recommended approval of the Gonzalez Wind Turbine Project, extra residential neighborhoods without an EIR, despite known health, environmental, and public safety hazards to humans and wildlife, including collapse and fire risk.

The county stalled negotiations for months with in-home supporter service workers who were only earning $12.50 per hour.

The county failed to prioritize solving San Lucas drinking water contamination.

The county failed to address pesticide exposure to families, workers, and schools.

The county failed to address deaths at the county jail.

Five lawsuits happened between two thousand thirteen and two thousand nineteen, requiring oversight, but monitor reports were sealed by the county when the supervisors should have been reviewing them and no changes to conditions until last month when a new health medical provider was chosen.

This isn't positive leadership.

It seems the count the city wants a firm and politically connected hand to push forward its aggressive plan, steer city manager selection, and instruct a new city manager on its predetermined goals and project while the public is in the dark.

Monterey is ill prepared for major challenges and problems already appearing.

I oppose this election.

And with this city structural deficit, I request this council appoint assistant city manager Rogan Sethera as interim city manager rather than the is this expensive route of hiring someone else.

Okay.

So moved and seconded.

Any other discussion?

All right.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously.

With that, we'll do public comments on closed session agenda items.

Items twelve and thirteen are both conference with legal counsel for existing litigation.

The first is stronghold engineering, Inc.

versus City of Monterey, and the second is Rappa versus City of Monterey Workers' Compensation Appeals Board Case.

And then item 14 is conference with legal counsel significant exposure litigation pursuant to government code section five four nine five six tact nine D two E one six cases.

With that, open it up for public comment for folks on Zoom.

You can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on any of these items.

And there's nobody on Zoom.

I'm going to ask that we start the evening session at seven fifteen.

So for folks that are paying attention, give us a little bit of extra time to handle closed session, and we'll start the evening session at seven fifteen.

All right, thank you, everybody.

Well, I was waiting at seven fifteen and it didn't happen.

No.

In the north I can call me.

Gabe was hanging out in the cold waiting.

We appreciate you, Gabe, though.

We appreciate you.

It's okay.

Look at you trying to be a good guy, and this is what happens.

You'd think you'd wear your so we push it.

Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to our evening session of this council meeting on December second, twenty twenty-five.

We're going to go to reconvene, and we're going to start off with the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'll ask Council Member Smith to kick us off.

And just to remind folks, what we do is we identify public speakers.

Oops, sorry.

And then only those speakers will be able to speak.

So we'll go ahead and start with folks on Zoom if you want to navigate your way to the raise hand function.

Yes, uh, mayor and council.

So there were a couple of items in closed session on the uh existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D1 stronghold engineering incorporated v City of Monterey in Santa Clara Suit County Superior Court.

Uh that has no reportable action uh taken.

And item 13, this is Rapa v City of Monterey, a workers' comp case.

Uh this uh was confidential uh upon uh unanimous roll call vote, confidential direction provided to staff.

And uh for item 14 significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D2E1 six cases, confidential direction was uh given to staff on a unanimous roll call vote as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nat.

With that, we'll go ahead and go to our public appearance item for this evening, item 15 to receive presentation on phase one poll of likely voters, potential tax measures to reduce the city's 10 million dollar structural annual budget deficit.

And with that, I'll pass it to Hans for staff presentation.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh FM3 um uh put together uh uh a survey and uh um of um potential voters and um it's always a very exciting time to hear the uh report from FM3.

And I hope uh you will share with me this type of excitement because the the data points that are provided through their uh polling and through the survey are highly uh interesting for us.

And um following our presentation tonight in a couple of weeks, there will be also um uh more detailed report being provided that also analyzes some of those um connections and using cross uh taps, cross-tabulation uh to basically characterize also how certain voters feel about certain things.

So they are drilling even more down into the data uh describing what uh a voter who is tending to vote Republican in this age group might think is is an interesting message or might think what are the the challenges the city is facing.

So tonight with that, I uh hand it over to Nat to introduce that topic.

Great.

Thank you very much, Hans.

It is very exciting the data that we'll be going through today and this evening to provide some context for those who may be joining the conversation uh a little bit late.

As all you know, we've discussed in our meetings from August through October.

The city is facing a 10 million dollar structural budget deficit.

And uh where we we do see expenses that are outpacing our revenue growth.

The puzzle pieces are starting to come together, and one big piece of the puzzle are potential tax measures that, if approved by voters, could help address the budget deficit.

On September 16th, council directed staff to engage a public opinion research firm to assess voter support for potential tax measures that could help close this gap.

And we've retained FM3 research, the same firm that got us through polling in 2014, 2018, and 2019.

What this is is a two-phase strategy that council supports.

We're gonna be going through the phase one of the polling.

This is the first phase with the poll conducted this past November to gauge sentiment regarding the potential June 2026 ballot measures specifically, and the focus being on sales tax and parking tax.

Phase two, which is another poll that's being planned for mid-2026, will be specifically for the November 2026 election.

And the focus of that phase will be on the measure P and S renewal as well as potential bond measures for public safety or other types of facilities.

So the recent data that you'll be hearing from FM3 today is very fresh.

There were 438 likely voters that were polled between November 5th and November 13th.

And again, the primary focus of this survey and the data is number one, sales tax, testing support for extending the existing sales tax versus enacting a new.

And the sales tax, as all of you uh know through our exercise would bring in 4.5 million dollars to the general fund.

The parking tax tests tests the voter appetite for anywhere between a 10% or a 15% tax on private parking facilities.

The 15% parking tax would bring in roughly 1.35 million dollars to the general fund based on our estimates.

FM3 also tested specific ballot language to see how voters would respond to finding uh different uh types of funds and uh also the fiscal safeguards.

And then finally, the survey also took a pulse check on three other potential revenue streams to see if they're viable.

We've discussed this recently.

The one is the vacant parcel tax on homes empty for more than 180 days, the real estate transfer tax option, as well as an admissions tax on tickets to large venues and venues, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

So tonight we have Lucia Del Cupo from FM3.

She's here to walk us through the detailed findings of this phase one poll, and we'll turn the presentation over to Lucia.

Thanks for joining us.

Great.

Thank you so much.

It's a pleasure to uh be here this evening with you, council, or be here virtually.

Um I'm gonna go ahead and walk through a slide deck.

Um that was a very comprehensive introduction that um so I won't add to that additionally.

Um I'll just go ahead and dive in right into the results so we can get to the interesting part.

Um, so I do want to quickly touch on our methodological approach.

Um so as was noted, we were in the field between November 5th and 13th, so just about a month ago.

This is a dual mode voter survey.

So it was available online and via telephone.

Telephone outreach was done via landlines and cell phones.

The online outreach was done via email invitation and text invitations.

And it was a random sample of likely June 2026 voters.

Uh we reached uh just over 400, 438 likely voters, and these matched there were demographic quota set to ensure that this random sample, despite using a random sample, uh, we were able to match the demographics of the of the likely electorate.

The margin of error on the data on the whole sample is 4.9%, so just under 5% at the 95% confidence level.

And um on the half sample, it's 6.9%.

And I will call out throughout the deck because there's a few places where we split questions to compare different scenarios.

Um, and so I will definitely highlight where that comes into play just to make it a little bit easier for folks.

Um then as was noted, we have had the pleasure of working with the city for several uh years.

And so we have some data points trending over time as well, integrated here into these slides this evening.

So as we dive in, these initial questions kind of cover mood of the electorate and how folks feel about life in Monterey.

Uh, we had this question, the first question in the survey asking about overall quality of life in Monterey, whether folks felt like it was excellent, good, fair, or poor.

We saw that 84% said that life in Monterey is excellent or good, so more than four and five.

So very, very positive rating, uh, with only 15% saying it was only fair or poor.

And this level of uh quality of life rating is very comparable.

It's within the margin of error of where folks were six years ago when it was 86%.

Slightly lower than 2018 and 2014, um, a little bit less likely to say excellent, but overall a very, very positive rating on the whole.

We asked about the favorability of the city government in general and the city council, and these two items were randomized.

Um, and we saw that in both instances, a majority said that they had a favorable opinion of Monterey City government and of the city council.

Um, only about a quarter or less had an unfavorable opinion, and then about another quarter were unable to really offer an opinion.

Um, if we compare that to how uh to the 2019 levels, it's a very, very slight decline, but really it means it's relatively unchanged and again within the margin of error of where things were six years ago in terms of use of the council and city government.

We also asked folks if they approved or disapproved of the job being done by the city in providing basic services and taking care of the needs of Monterey residents.

And what we saw was that um nearly four and five approve of the job being done.

And this is a number that has remained really consistent over time with 78% approved and only 18% disapprove.

Um, the strong approval has um fluctuated over time, so it actually is a little bit better than it was in 2019, um, and more comparable to 2018.

But overall, uh again, I think this is a really positive um rating.

We also asked folks if they feel like there is the city has a great need, some need, a little need, or no real need for additional funding to provide services that residents want and need.

And what we saw is that three and five said there was at least some need.

Um and this is really again comparable to 2019.

Um, but only 15% said there was a great need.

So there is a widespread sense that there's some need, uh, but not maybe a lot of intensity or urgency necessarily.

And we also asked about folks' perception of the job the city has done in managing local tax dollars.

And again, this is something that is pretty comparable to 2019, slightly lower, but folks are a little bit more divided on this one.

44% approved, 33% disapproved, and about one quarter or 23%.

So under just under one quarter didn't really have an opinion.

And we're in a similar place to where things were in 2019 at this point in time.

We also asked folks about a series of potential problems facing the city.

And we asked them whether they felt like each of these was extremely serious, very serious, somewhat serious, or not too serious of a problem.

And they're ranked here by the percentage who said each was extremely or very serious.

The top tier issues relate to cost of living.

So we see cost of housing, 81% saying was extremely or very serious, with 51% saying it was extremely serious.

So it was extremely or very serious with 45% extremely serious.

So those cost items are really the top tier concerns and present for folks.

A majority said homelessness is extremely or very serious at 58%.

And then we kind of move into the next tier where we have just under half citing climate change and sea level rise, the need to underground utilities, traffic as very serious problems.

So 36% said that was extremely or very serious.

As we move further down the list, um we asked about the city's financial stability, and only 30% felt like that was an extremely very serious problem.

So I think again, uh this ties back to the kind of lack of lower level of intensity that we saw around the need for funding.

I think it's a a little bit maybe folks might not be aware um of kind of the city's current um fiscal situation.

Um folks were relatively um had relatively little concern about waste and inefficiency in city government.

Only 29% saw that as a problem, and only 29% said they said they saw the amount they pay in local taxes as a problem.

Um and then there was less lower levels of concern overall when it came to specific infrastructure, like the age and condition of the library, of police and fire stations, or the Monterey Sports Center and community centers.

Um and there were also low levels of concern about cracks.

Um of these items we have asked over time, not all of them.

Um, and what we see is that for many of them, you know, the variation is is relatively minimal.

Um, but if we look at the bottom of the slide, we do see kind of a big um drop in concern around homelessness.

When in 2019, 74% said that was extremely a very serious problem.

And in 2025, only 58% said so.

So getting into the measures.

Um, so first we'll look at kind of the sales tax measure.

So this was the language tested, and this is these measures are tested relatively early in the survey to um avoid any bias.

And what we try to do is write them in a way that kind of is would is very similar to how they would actually appear on the ballot if you know the city were to decide to proceed and at the and um and we actually even have the city attorney review them to make sure that you know they are compliant with all the various rules.

Um, and we split sampled this into test two versions of um of a general purpose sales tax.

One version enacted a new 0.375 cent sales tax, and another version um extended the existing sales tax at the point as 875 cent dollar rate.

Um, and what we saw was that overall a majority supported a sales tax.

So if we combine the two splits, we saw 58% support and 35% oppose.

But we did see a difference in how um in support, depending on how it was framed.

So the idea of enacting a new uh 3.375 cent tax, um, 52% of voters supported that.

So that was very, very close to that 50% threshold.

And especially since those split samples had that 6.9% margin of error.

Um, it kind of is is extremely close.

The extension of the existing tax, so that framing um garnered greater support at 63%.

Um, and again, it's a six, seven near nearly seven-point margin of error, but you have more of a buffer there with that 50% level starting there.

Um, on the on the framing of the extension.

Yeah.

Bad connection.

Yeah, no, I don't think we're looks like let me um send a text message over to her know that we lost her.

Yeah, sorry to get buffered a little bit, but so we're situation because she's presenting and she's probably not going to be here.

We lost her sound.

Yeah, she's frozen.

She's not there.

We go.

Okay, I'm so sorry.

Yep.

Um, we hear you now.

You can hear me.

Okay, I might go off camera just to preserve bandwidth.

Um, and I apologize for that inconvenience.

Um I'll repeat what I just said in case it got cut off.

But essentially, um, what we see here is that the framing of the um extension is is more appealing, and the the intensity of the no vote on enacting a new tax matches the intensity of support, whereas on the extension, there's a little bit um more support overall.

Um the support is is relatively soft, with you know, you have the same amount of people saying they're definitely a probably yes, but again, overall um it it does appear that that framing um is is more palatable to the community.

What is the total mean?

The total is we combined the two splits so we could look at kind of the full sample um combined combined.

But it but they are two different scenarios.

So the question, I guess in the total that's being answered is if they answered yes or if they answered the same to both I'm I'm I'm still a little confused.

Yeah, well, we that's just the the full sample data.

So anyone who said it combines the two the the two halves that's a definite yes, the two halves that say prebably yes, um, it's not a different question, if that makes sense.

Okay, okay.

Yeah.

So it's kind of the average of the two, essentially.

Please.

Um, and we do that just because it gives us a little bit of a larger sample, lower margin of error to look at, but it's true that when you have kind of two divergent scenarios, it becomes a little bit less useful of a of a tool.

Lucy, uh council member Rash here with a question.

Yeah.

So when you phrase it, extending an existing sales tax at the point eight seven five cent per dollar rate, you aren't really telling them, right?

That it's right now 0.5 and we're adding on through 0.375.

You're just phrasing it as an existing, the existing sales tax amount.

Um, well, I can flip back to how it was phrased.

So we yeah, we're just saying it's extending it at the point eight seven five rate.

Um this was something the the city attorney was comfortable with.

So okay.

So what I'm thinking is that that a lot of them probably don't even know what's at 0.5 now, right?

We don't owe them that information.

Yeah, I'll preface it with I I know you know, these are we took time to look at the sample language, but there is more analysis for the final final ballot language before it moves forward.

So I want to preface uh the the statement that uh city attorney is got it 100% on board with the the language.

We did go through a cursory review.

Could I ask maybe it's an obvious question, and I'm probably the only one that doesn't get it, but where's the 0.875 come from?

Yeah, come on.

0.875 is the maximum that we can go to based on the state statute.

So there's only so much of an increase in a sales tax uh measure that uh that we can go based on the maximum unless authorized by the state legislature.

So in the Bay Area, LA County as examples, they're close to 10%.

But here in Monterey County and in the city of Monterey specifically, that's the max for us is 0.875%.

Now, if we go to the state legislature in say two years, we couldn't make it work for this upcoming cycle.

We even thought about how quickly can we get approval and support from our legislators for this?

It will take another two at least two years to increase that max limit.

So I think the mayor will wanted to know also we had measure G on the ballot with 0.5% that runs out in June 2029.

And if you add the point 375 to that, that is the point eight seven five.

Exactly.

And so and so the idea that council discussed and that that we discussed also uh with uh with staff was um can we just um uh extend measure g by nine years and add uh the point five and the point three seven five together to point eight seven five.

Okay, and then my final question on this is do we feel that the language as drafted here is defensible by saying extending if only five of that is actually being extended in a point three seven five is new.

So if we're saying it's extending it's kind of misleading a little bit, no it would be broken down in the final ballot.

In the final ballot.

But shouldn't we be testing that language now?

Isn't that the point of the survey?

Yeah.

In other words, I can understand how people reading this would go, oh, we're just continuing what we have now.

It's it's 0.875.

And they're oblivious to it being 0.5 now, and we're adding on 0.375.

So if they come down to the ballot and all of a sudden it I would not recommend it be worded like that.

And and I don't even know that I anyway.

Um isn't the point of the survey to test the language that the the voter will actually be reading.

Rather than oh, it's existing at point the existing tax at 8.75, not really telling them it's 0.5, and we're adding on 0.375.

I agree with that.

I'm not the um policy person in that I'm kind of at a loss for the answer that would that would be ideal.

And I think part of the challenge we ran into this is the language that we uh put together and and very candidly with the uh I think the staff the time frame and the staffing resources and our ability to have a full uh legal analysis uh on on this was language that we drafted, it was language that was recommended by FM3, and so we tested it now.

Absolutely.

I I agree, I think there's concurrence among all uh a staff uh that we want to make sure I ideally we would test it based on the full language, but it needs more uh needs a little bit more time to uh go through that, especially given uh given the time sensitivity we wanted to go through the polling in November.

So will it go out to the public again with in a test survey?

And can I ask the question in a different way?

Is there time to have this go out again?

And I would I would add an additional part to it too, which is and I'm probably putting the cart before the horse here a little bit, but given the outcome of the polling for the parking tax, which I think was probably part of the priority.

Do we want to test the sales tax initiative alongside another one to kind of get better assessment of what could potentially go on the uh primary ballot?

Yes, we can do that.

Yeah, yeah, and there's enough time for it.

Yeah, yeah, there should be enough time.

Uh we would work with uh FM3 team.

The final ballot language is due for the June ballot in uh March.

So we would need to move uh quickly and make an amendment also to the FM3 contract uh slightly.

But um I in some cases when there's polling, there's a follow-up survey.

So I'll ask actually ask Lucia.

There is from a timing standpoint we can do a follow-up survey if uh needed.

Yeah, we could move very quickly and do a very short to the point survey.

Yeah.

And and and for whatever it's worth, whatever we move forward with, I would hope that we get that language in front of our city attorney before we actually go out and start polling people.

Um just add um oh, I'm sorry, I just uh one final clarification is that um there is case law that says if there's like final approval of this is going to be the ballot language, and then that goes out that might be construed as um campaigning, and um the council hasn't decided yet to put a ballot measure on.

So it's just tread um with that in mind.

We're just exploring ideas at this point.

You're not advocating for a measure.

Uh it's just an exploratory process.

And before one is put on, it will have full legal vetting um before the council approves it.

And it may or may not match what uh precisely what the public is pulled on, but I think you get the general gist of whether it's something that in concept people like or don't like.

And um totally yeah, I I think my only grievance with it is the language is pretty misleading, which it can change the results of the polling pretty dramatically.

So kind of testing that I think is the important part, but 100% want to be in compliance with uh case law.

And then um, Dr.

Barber, and then we'll go to Ed.

Um, so I wanted to ask Nett as far as when you were if we were to uh modify the contract with FM3.

Um what kind of cost are we looking at that's a uh question that um we haven't discussed with FM3, so I can't provide that answer, but no that before moving forward with okay.

Um so i wanted to ask that as far as when you were if if we were to uh modify the contract with fm three um what kind of cost are we looking at that's a uh the question that um we haven't discussed with fm3 so i can't provide that answer but no that but before moving forward with okay um ed um what what did the survey cost with our vendor for this we we have a two phased approach with fm3 and uh lucia could you remind me what the uh amount was for the first phase yeah the first phase um and it came in a little bit lower because we ended up doing a slightly we were originally originally look at November and June so um I believe then the number came in a little bit lower and it was 31,500 for the survey that said um if there was desire to amend the contract and kind of do a short survey to kind of test updated language for this June uh or potential language it would be a much much shorter survey because it would it would literally kind of be a very very short track so it wouldn't be of the same of the same scale as kind of the two main surveys that were planned for phase one and phase two.

Okay and and the other question um with the uh the parking the parking tax piece we don't have to go back to the questions but I I want to say that that was uh it looked to me like it was kind of a benign statement of would you vote favorably and then the results were pretty strong.

Uh could you could you address what that response was yeah and if it's helpful I can continue going through the slide deck and walk through some of the more results because we have we have more data kind of showing how folks reacted to the parking data and then both um both measures after hearing more about the issue I think there's a lot more information in here if it's helpful I'd be glad to walk through it.

Yeah Lucia before you you go through um I think what yours your first slide on the parking tax was the question was of a 15% tax is that correct we asked we split sample that we asked about a 10% rate and a 15% rate.

Okay so it was it was two and go back to that table at some point and I'll let you continue on your presentation.

Yes I can go ahead and and share and that's actually kind of the next section here is looking at the parking tax.

So the parking tax language again here was was modeled to be something that could you know again realistic language and we tested a 10% rate and a 15% rate.

Yeah and what we saw here as you can see is that um it it was below 50% initially um we so folks were pretty divided on the parking tax regardless of the rate okay put pause there just a second to digest digest and comprehend this okay 10% 15% 10 and and Lucia again this is initial support before more information is presented about the measure correct or did we lose her okay thank you we may have lost uh Lucia again I'll I'll reach out to her where is she geographically she's uh joining us from the uh east bay in the San Francisco Bay area so not not that long of a connection but uh hopefully Lucia can you hear us?

I can I'm so sorry I don't really know why this is happening right now.

Um I'm happy to switch to my phone if it's helpful.

You know I can also share the slides if you prefer and that way you can uh keep your bandwidth for your audio and and maybe even just video.

Yeah sounds good all right so I'll switch over to uh being the presenter we get them cleaner anyway okay here we go hopefully you all see that and uh Lucia can you explain again uh the initial support yes so we this is the initial level of support for the parking tax when folks have only heard that you know potential modeled ballot language um and what we saw was that 47% uh said they would vote yes on the 10% level 43% were opposed um on the 15% it was 33% yes to 51% no uh when you factor in that roughly seven point margin of error they're very close together the by the rate but overall it's it's below 50% so it it does start low what we'll see later on in the deck is that when folks get more information um they're more open to the parking tax um but it it it is starting kind of in a lower place um we did ask this question where we asked folks if they felt like um if they knew that both measures were appearing on the ballot um whether they would vote yes on both yes on only one or no on both and what we saw was that um the presence of both measures on the ballot does seem to impact overall support um 50% said they would vote yes on the sales tax in this scenario 35% on the parking tax um so it does hurt the parking tax more than it hurts the sales tax but it it there does seem to be kind of an impact of having both on the ballot.

Um we did ask this question where we asked folks if they felt like um if they knew that both measures were appearing on the ballot.

Um whether they would vote yes on both, yes on only one, or no on both.

And what we saw was that um the presence of both measures on the ballot does seem to impact overall support.

Um, 50% said they would vote yes on the sales tax in this scenario, 35% on the parking tax.

Um, so it does hurt the parking tax more than it hurts the sales tax, but it it there does seem to be kind of an impact of having both on the ballot.

And again, was the amount 1.53 million from the parking tax if it was 15%?

1.35.

Okay, 1.35.

Thanks.

Um, this is where we then followed up as um was mentioned earlier, this idea of doing a potential pulse check on um various um other mechanisms.

We saw that two thirds said they would support the idea of a tax on residential homes that are empty 180 days per year or more to provide funding for city services and cities fiscal stability.

Um, a real estate document transfer tax, folks were pretty evenly divided on statistically, 38 to 41, but there's a lot of more intensity on the and um we we lost Lucci again, so I you know uh apologize.

Maybe we should have uh folks join in person next time given technology uh challenges.

But uh Luci, are you there?

If not, I'll just go ahead and present on your behalf uh as best as I can as staff.

But um, you can see here the third uh item that was a quick pulse check uh was on the potential admissions tax.

And it was very clear that this admissions tax did uh not have support.

37% combined a level of support between strongly support and somewhat support, and then 57% combined.

And I think what's noticeable here is that 6% don't know.

So it's very clear people have a position either in support or opposed, either strongly or or somewhat.

Uh unlike the real estate document transfer tax, maybe folks don't know as much about it.

They're at a 20% unknown.

There's only six percent unknown here with uh with only a 37% support.

So uh I think that's that's notable.

It looks like she may have joined on her cell phone.

Do we want to check it with?

Yeah, are you there?

Yes, I am deeply apologetic about the technical issues.

Yes, I am back on, so I'm happy to kind of jump back in here.

All right.

Are we good with the slide?

Yeah.

Okay.

We'll go to the next one.

Uh Lucia, can you guide us through elements of the proposal?

Absolutely.

Um, so one of the key parts of the survey really was understanding what are the priorities for the community on how they want to use measure funds.

Um, and so we asked folks to tell us whether a range of different provisions of a potential measure were extremely important to them, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

We saw that the thing, one of the things that really resonated and was highly important to folks was uh requiring the public disclosure of funds with 87% extremely or very important.

And 85% said it was extremely or very important to maintain overall quality of life in Monterey.

More than four and five felt like we're requiring that funds be spent locally, so ensuring you know local control and maintaining local beaches, parks, trails, and forests was very important.

And nearly four and five um also said maintaining the long-term financial stability of the city, maintaining clean and safe parks, keeping trash and off beaches, maintaining city services, and fixing roads and potholes were all highly important priorities.

As we continue on to the next slide, we see a range of other items that roughly two-thirds or more felt were very important.

And these include maintaining library services, litter control and park maintenance, services for use in senior residents, preventing cuts to local beach parks, trails and forests, uh, maintaining city parks, continuing maintenance maintenance of street medians, roadsides, and trails, preventing cuts to preschool programs, preventing cuts to street medians, roadside trail maintenance, and preventing cuts to city parks.

I will say you'll see some items here throughout this list that seem similar or are very similar.

Um and what we do sometimes is just test different ways of talking about certain priorities to understand if there's certain things that are more understandable to the community.

And what we really saw was that um when we framed things in terms of maintaining versus preventing cuts, in many instances, uh Monterey voters tended to uh prioritize maintaining um things slightly more than preventing cuts to services, if that makes sense.

Um and then you'll see on the next slide this list continues.

And these are items that a majority or more overall felt were highly important, but maybe again are a little bit less intense, a little bit less resonant than the previous slides, whether it was maintaining a small town feel, improving emergency preparedness, preventing cuts to city services, traffic flow, keeping the library open six days a week, addressing effects of tourism, sea level rise and requiring independent annual audits.

All of these things again, a majority felt were important, but they they're a little bit less urgent to people overall.

And then as we continue on the next slide we see things that about half or less felt were very important.

So these were the things that maybe had just a little bit less urgency and were not as urgent priorities.

And I think as we saw earlier on when we were looking at some of the problems in the community, the things that related to infrastructure were not top tier whatever whether it was the community center or police and fire station.

And we sort of see that popping up here too where the maintaining the neighborhood community centers and updating aging police and fire or building new police and fire stations, they overall were just not the the top priorities.

As we move into the next section we see how folks move as they learn more about the issue.

So on slide 26 here you can see this is the combined two versions of the sales tax measure.

So when we combine them, they started at 58% after hearing positive educational statements on the measure, we saw support go up to 63%.

And after they heard negative statements so criticisms, things that could come up in the community as things that people might say as reasons to vote no, we did see support remained pretty steady at that roughly 60% level.

So it went from 58% to 63% to 62%.

The next slide disaggregates the two versions and we do see that the 0.375 version reaches 59% support after positives and 56% after negatives.

So it is within that margin of error at the end to the 50% level but we do again see kind of it's consistently majority supported.

The version that frames it as an extension is a little bit stronger with starting at 63% and reaching over two thirds support after messaging.

And then on the parking tax so this one was interesting because there was quite a lot of movement on the parking tax.

So this is the both rates combined and we'll look in a moment at this disaggregated rates.

But what we saw was that 45% initially supported it and 47% opposed after positives it moved to 61%.

So it is quite a substantial amount of movement.

And after negatives we are at 56%.

What we saw on the next slide is when you look at it broken out by amounts is there was a little bit stronger support of you know after messaging for the 15% but after or but in general I think you know they're within the margin of error of each other on the rates.

I think what's really notable on the parking tax is that it it does start below 50% there is a kind of a big swing in movement but it does require um it would require kind of non-advocacy communications to the community to make sure that that happens that that movement happens because otherwise the initial level of support doesn't really look viable but after folks learn more about it it isn't a better place.

Quickly you can see on the next slide the a series of kind of educational statements that were tested to as ways, you know, as reasons to support the measures and what we saw was that the you know all of the messages or statements that were tested overall were convincing but the dark blue bar is the percentage you said they were very convincing and kind of the top messages were ones that focused in on this idea that you know visitors to Monterey pay these taxes.

And that's something that we've seen in the past in Monterey really resonate.

We also saw accountability and local control resonate.

So we saw that if you'll recall when we broke out some of the different elements of the measure we did see that the accountability piece really was important to folks and they that kind of came through in the messaging as well.

We did see that preventing cuts to city services resonated with 33% very convincing and 32% found an argument saying you know this is a small monetary impact for the services received that was very convincing.

Towards the bottom, the things that were a little bit less convincing were the thing we're talking about building a new police and fire station, the benefits of property values, or even the reason why um the city kind of needs to um needs is considering the measures, and the reason being you know, rising costs overall, that was not um quite as compelling as kind of those top arguments of um of the fact that visitors will contribute to this, the accountability and preventing cuts to services.

Um so on the on the final slide here.

Um I think you know, you have a community where overall uh for many many facets, folks are highly satisfied with life in the city.

Um, but there is a pronounced concern about the cost of living um that I think is worth keeping in mind as as you kind of think through about next steps and and and think through um the the viability of the measures.

Overall, as we've discussed, uh the between the two versions of the measures, it framing kind of the framing of the extension of the tax of the measure G extension does test better.

Um we did see majority support for that 0.375 cent version throughout, but again, it was just closer to that 50% level.

Um, and the parking tax was a little bit more divisive, and I think you know, is is a little bit more vulnerable overall, just because of where it's starting.

Um, and then yeah, I think overall public disclosure of funds was really important, ensuring funds are spent locally, uh protecting quality of life, as well as cities, beaches, parks, trails, and forests, those were all things that really jumped out as is highly important um to voters as well.

Awesome.

Thank you for the presentation and sticking with this, even despite the technical issues there.

Um for questions to go to Dr.

Barber.

I just needed to get clarification on slide 30.

Uh, where you have the asterisk.

Um, what is that?

I was looking for what the oh it is split sample on the asterisk.

Yeah, so so in places where the messages were a little bit similar, sometimes we'll split sample them so folks don't have to hear kind of similar things over and over again.

All right, thank you.

Anybody else have questions at this time?

No.

Um couldn't could we?

I'm sorry, could we get the last slide just left up there for a minute?

Absolutely.

And go ahead, Gene.

I just needed to see that slide.

The the last slide.

Well, um it's up.

No, the the just the last slide that was up, not this.

So um I I remain seriously concerned that we didn't ask the right question about the sales tax.

Um I don't see that we got valuable information by portraying 0.875 as the existing sales tax.

It can't be conveyed that way on a ballot.

So we should be admitting that, and we should be putting forth the language that would be more accurate.

So I'm disappointed in that.

Um, I also have a question on after things were explained or educated, I think the visitors, the slide that started with visitors, 72 percent.

I I I took that to mean and I'm asking if I'm perceiving it right, that when the public or when the residents understood that we were asking visitors to contribute to the costs of our services.

72 percent saw the sense in that.

Am I interpreting that correctly?

Yeah, so and I again on this slide, those are just abbreviations of of what was uh the language I was tested, but what yeah, 72% felt like that was a reasonable reason.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, so then the to me, the projection of that would be that you would go back and and re-language or re resubmit to them the admissions tax.

So if if they're starting to perceive and be educated that visitors have to pick up some of the burden that visitors are creating, roads, ambulance, fire department, police department, then and they seem to have gotten that.

If there's 72%, then I'm um it doesn't correlate that they aren't supportive of an admission tax.

So what's the disconnect there?

What am I not understanding?

Or is it just an educational effort that we would have to make if we want to pursue the admissions tax?

I think uh Lucia, if you can um put up the the question for the admission tax because it was more broad-based, uh, that included uh uh theaters, etc.

etc.

plus you if I recall that correctly.

So it was uh so it's to venues such as the aquarium and special events.

So the the I think the sentiment that you see there is reflective of the question that it is also for other venues that maybe residents also frequent more than the aquarium, and there you saw probably uh lower numbers because it's not just the visitors in this case, it's also residents who are going to the movie theater or to Golden State performances, um, etc.

So I believe the the the this type of question uh was more inclusive than then the other one.

So that would go back to a question that came up when we first started the discussion on an emissions tax, and that is can we focus it just on the aquarium?

Yeah, yeah, I think that's value.

And I think my understanding is and Chrissy can correct me.

Perhaps it um we're still trying to find out whether that's uh that's something we can do legally, just target only aquarium, right?

Versus versus others.

We're there to that cardinal question.

Any other questions at this time from the council?

All right, let's go ahead and open it up for public comment.

Um so folks on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item?

We have one take your in the chamber.

Anybody else?

We'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber to the one, and we'll do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

We have two folks on Zoom.

So we'll go ahead and start in the chamber.

Hello.

So just dive right in here.

Um I want to start with the parking.

Um right now the parking at the harbor area is $14 for a whole day.

And I don't think 10% is enough.

I think um it needs to be closer to like maybe six 16% to make a bigger impact, because if it goes from 14 to 17, which isn't too much, I would pay 17 a day.

And the other thing, the benefit of that is, and maybe a question to the city manager the extra cash that goes into the till, does that get collected through that private business, or does it go back to the city?

Because that amount can add up.

Like if you pay the 17 and ask for correct change, it would then be 20.

That extra three dollars, where does it go?

And then another issue would be um getting back to the um the increase in um sales tax.

I believe it should be stated as show the what is it, point three five or point three seven.

I would show that as an increase now, and later on when you get close to the continuing of the um 2029, show effectively, or you put in the motion the full amount increase in time period, where it doesn't it's not deceptive, it's just right now you're asking for an increase now, and you can always add on that full amount to extend it rather than showing a false sense of what's not there.

And another another point would be um with the um I'm sorry, gotta slow down here.

Um there's a lot of money that goes to um the aquarium.

And um, I feel like they generate so much business, and for it to be a nonprofit and the revenues are going to them anyway, it would not hurt them to um put a share of what's really required because they're collecting so much income and there's an abundance, and even though it shows a nonprofit, um, they get so much extra money from donations, and really the city needs to tap into that.

And I don't think the city should be looking at all these other taking away from other programs when these three items can pretty much solve the entire um $10 million problem altogether.

Uh once again, 10% on the parking fee is not enough.

If you're gonna move it, a 10% fee does not move the bar hardly at all.

16 you you had asked for 15, go 16 because that'll take it to more than a million and a half.

I'm sorry.

Um, just trying to add those facts because they are important and um the city needs to find results, and this would solve a portion of those results.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, with that, we'll go to our callers on Zoom.

Yes, calling on Lori.

Laurie, if you could unmute, you can go ahead and speak.

There you go.

My the unmute thing went away and then it came back.

So okay, I was just trying to type out some notes and questions.

Okay, interesting results.

Uh I think number one thing to keep in mind, I think is coming clear.

It's the bottom line always ends up being uh personal wall, the personal wallet.

And we see that in the cost of living and housing being the top two.

Um so I think we have to keep given that local businesses in mind.

Uh when it comes to things like the admissions tax and the sales tax increase.

Unlike uh a TOT tax increase, which is was easy to make a case that's very clear that that the visitors pay that, more of the visitors pay that than the locals.

I think that's gonna be a harder case to sell when it comes to admissions tax and sales increase tax because everyone pays that locally as well.

Uh I agree that the admissions tax, if it's just focused more on the aquarium, is probably going to be a better sell and what would be for me.

Um and I just full disclosure, I I was one of the ones that took this survey.

So I have the experience of seeing all the questions and how they were asked.

And I did pick up immediately that that was deceitful in the way it was framed with the 0.875.

Um, because I know we're paying 0.5.

So I agree with council member Rash and Mayor Williamson that that sales tech like language, it can't be misleading.

And um I think it would be better to leave trying to increase measure G for an extra nine years right now and just leave it plainly at the point three seven, because that doesn't sound even as bad to the voter, at least from my perspective as when you see 0.87 versus 37.

Um, look at some of my other notes.

Um I think that oh, I wondered about cost.

Um, thinking of the costs of like that we may possibly modify the FN3 contract to possibly pay a little more to have for another short survey.

How much does it cost to if we have to try to go to two ballots?

Does it cost the city more?

And is that out of the general fund that we would have to pay for a June ballot?

Um, and also keeping in mind that that's probably lower voter turnout than a November ballot.

Okay, that's I think all I have for now.

Thank you.

Thanks.

And our next speaker is Esther.

Hi.

Um I took the survey as well.

And at the time I took it, I sent feedback to staff with a lot of detail.

I actually took screenshots of the questions and addressed a couple of them specifically.

So they have that.

I don't want to go over each and every one of them.

One of the things I did suggest is to maybe change the order of some of the questions that were being asked.

So at some point, you know, staff can show that.

I'm sure you're so happy that you don't have to go through this whole thing next year.

So I completely would love to be in your shoes.

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we had to go through this with increasing TOT and increasing the sales tax, but here we are again.

Um I agree with the aquarium having to bump up their admissions.

There, I don't think anybody would disagree on that other than people that work for the aquarium and the and the owners of the aquarium.

The simple fact that they don't pay property taxes is enough of a giveaway to them that anything else we ask of them, they shouldn't have a say in yes or no, in my opinion.

Um as far as that admissions tax on other things, I I completely disagree with that, especially for locals.

I do wonder if there's a way that if something like that were to be put in place, there could be a locals exemption.

Like some of the local restaurants have local specials and uh like you know, the city has special parking concessions to to residents and whatnot.

Um, but yeah, I don't I don't um think that the aquarium is going to be a problem to um any anybody going there if they're already paying as much as they're going and they're coming here to go there, they're not gonna hesitate because they have to pay another couple of dollars.

So that argument is going to be the main argument from the aquarium and that's basically unrealistic.

Other than that, I think the survey was good.

But again I did provide feedback that you know I don't want to go into I I'm pretty sure I sent it to some some of the council members as well.

But I was under the impression that there is a follow-up survey to this based on the reply I got when I sent that I think um Hans mentioned that they would take that my feedback into consideration when they did the next survey so other than that I I think that it's good that we're doing this and thinking ahead and tweaking the verbiage um I also think it's really good that we're doing another city academy um because I think this survey shows that there's a lack of education by people who aren't on every single council meeting like those of us that are here tonight.

So that might be something also to plan on bumping up thank you.

All right with that we'll go and close public comment um did you there were some questions there um not sure if staff wants to answer those or have any additional thoughts yeah you can answer the questions maybe Matt we can get we can go ahead no it does you want to go through which uh which questions I'm well there's going through some editors that I remember and I apologize because I wasn't jotting down um but the uh laurie's question around the ballot language and like yeah the cost and I think the general question answer response is yes there's a cost associated with every ballot language but there's some level of economy that scales in this case adding there's actually no cost difference what I from what I understand with uh adding we can add two or three in uh it's just getting on the ballot it's once you do it that's where the costs come through I can explain yeah it's being on the election at all that's the cost um it's really hard to say how much each measure costs but I think that it's even possible that having two could end up being like the same as one um okay get two for the price of one the one the one thing to be cognizant of is putting too many items on the ballot where we over uh obligate the replicate yeah and and folks they get that ballot fatigue together there may have been but I from Lori or Esther well let me let um Hans go and then maybe if the if the question comes back up yeah so um I I want to say Councilman Rash you're absolutely correct that question needs to be re-asked and council members also who pointed that out when we talked about the extension uh that that is not um uh a fair question in in in that context uh if you want to have polling so we will do a uh we will do a quick check in again with with different language we had internally communicated uh with each other how the question will be asked but we realized that there was internal miscommunication so there was coordination internally uh but it was not uh though we we just figured out where we had a disconnect in our communication um however uh I want to be absolutely clear on my last day here that should have been uh better I agree a hundred percent with all of you who who pointed that out and and I'm I'm sure Lucia is listening to that and we'll connect with her tomorrow and then we'll we'll get better numbers out uh with respect to that question.

So I just wanted to to state this for the record.

I before I forget the thought I just want to throw it out that it would be good to have a couple of options there with the sales tax initiative so maybe re-ask the same questions um obviously not you you have to clarify that second one so that it's clear um but it would be good to just see the point 375 by itself and then them combined and I don't know how that language is drafted in a way um so I'm sure I'm sure everybody will vote okay right up and this came up in our very first discussion and I said what what Daniel said kind of leave the point five that we have for several more years alone.

Yeah and just ask do you want are you supportive of a point three seven five increase yeah because I can simple I can almost sense that combining it and then that the how the language has to be drafted can almost be confusing um and harder to understand renewal is 2029.

The point I'm trying to make.

And unless you're real clear, which takes a lot of language and a lot of understanding, people are going to get confused.

They're going to go, why should I have 8.75?

Yeah.

So I had a question related to that sequence.

There's no limitation on when a sales tax ballot measure can be on the ballot.

On the ballot, is there?

Well, for this upcoming June, you would have to declare a fiscal emergency first.

Okay.

To have a June tax.

Okay.

But if uh 2029 is a tax measure that expires in June, that would mean that we could put it on the November 2028.

Yes.

So it's not an emergency, it's a renewal.

Right.

Yeah.

And I and I think that's the cleanest way.

It looked to me like the numbers would be strong, but I think we need that new question.

And I concur with the theme of everybody's talking about it to be accurate.

But I think that the question should be about the 3.75 and not confuse the matter.

Because what would the benefit be of trying to combine it and have a white knuckle moment and hope that that passes, but then we then we lose the point five.

Why not wait and do that at the right time?

Standalone three point the point three seven five first.

Um I had a another question on the question related to the parking tax.

So there's no limitation for us when we look at the rate that we charge for our parking lots when we do an annual review and we increase the fee for parking.

That that process can occur, and we would likely see an increase of what it is today within the next year if we had the proper process that we internally follow, which is renewal of the annual renewal of fees.

Correct.

So the parking tax applies in its current suggested form just on private parking lots.

I got that.

The rate of pay of our parking lots also uh we have to uh use a very sensitive step step increases there because the coastal commission assumes uh the privilege of reviewing our parking fees if they are deeming them too in too high.

So when we increased uh parking fees, we we we just recently increased it by 50 cents.

Uh, and then we increase it the next year also by 50 cents.

So that we know is within the tolerance of the coastal commission.

So yes, we can set the fees when we set the fees, we have to be considering do we want this in front of the coastal commission, or do we want to increase the fees within our own authority that will not trigger a coastal commission review?

Right.

So yes, we can increase the fees, and it's it's a strategic decision.

How do we increase it?

Do we want uh the coastal commission to tell us what we should charge, or do we want to increase it stepwise and get to the same um uh parking rate that we that we strive to get one time?

Right.

But we we do look at the parking revenue where we can project what that revenue would be based on call it a CPI next year.

We know it'll be more than it is last year.

If you have all things being the same that everybody visits and they park, yeah, and if we have increase in parking rates, right?

Yes, and the parking lot.

So the parking rates are somewhat in our control, but as you say, if we go too far, then it's supposed to commission.

Exactly.

Yes, okay.

Um, and then I think that there's some fine-tuning on the questions on the parking tax because I got some feedback from some folks that were not really clear because when they read it, they thought that they were answering questions as if it was a paid parking lot that we own.

And so some distinguishing language that makes it clear the question is really about the privately owned parking lots, not the city-owned parking lots.

Yes, I think that well, it says that, but I think that there needs to be some more robust language that is helping, because I got several people that asked me and called and said, why are we increased in the rates and why do you have to put that on the ballot?

So there's some confusion about um private parking lots versus the public parking lots.

And I know we can't help the comprehension of it, it's got to be up to individuals to read it, but hopefully we can see if there is some opportunity to upgrade that question.

Um I think that the follow-up questions specifically on the aquarium.

Can we get an answer relatively quickly about can we?

I guess it's a question of we can ask, but can it be a ballot measure that really is just for the aquarium?

But it seems to think that what I remember happening was Pacific Grove had a ballot measure.

It was an admissions price, but I don't know if it was only for the aquarium or if it was all admissions for theaters and entertainment.

So theirs is all yeah, Pacific Grove it was all, and I think one of what we heard uh was one of the reasons why there was so much opposition to it.

The nonprofit organizations that operate events were also going to be charged.

So the aquarium partnered with other nonprofit groups to to push opposition on that ballot measure.

So it's a question of if we said just the aquarium, is that a ballot measure that would be legal ballot measure?

And we need to see questions that really answer that question.

Because if we follow the theme that like the TOT, like sales tax, the majority of the payer of that tax are out of town visitors, and so the question should reflect that on the question of the aquarium.

That's all I have.

Dr.

Robert, I I basically am still with the um uh course, but the sales tax, I agree with uh council member Ross on what she was talking about with the point 375, but also with the emissions tax.

I did want to see as you're going back into uh reword that question, uh same thing about emissions tax for aquarium only, how that would actually be um received would be what I would like to see.

Um, and and taking the rest of it out because that I think that's what I had talked about before, is not having the other pieces in.

So I'm just curious as if you do take that out, is that acceptable?

And if not, then we see if if it comes back basically the same, then we know it's this emissions tax period.

Beautiful.

Also agree with the uh um reverage for the uh sales tax.

I have a question that I think um separate from sales tax.

Uh I have a question that I think would uh apply to um the various tax measures, but for simplicity, focusing on the parking tax.

I'm curious if um there has been thought about the uh the administrative cost to implement.

I mean, I don't know what it would take to implement, to manage to administer.

Um, seeing that for one option, potential yield is 900,000.

Second option 1.3.

Um is the cost of administering also factored into that.

So uh we look at it like uh a hotel collecting the TOT on behalf of the city.

This is a tax then that is approved by the voters, and uh the uh vendors or the operators of the private parking lot have the obligation then to collect the money on behalf of the city and then submit it by day two.

Uh TOT is, for instance, uh said to be submitted per city ordinance on the 15th by the 15th of the following month.

That is basically a check that goes over to the finance department, the finance department uh uh registered it, collects it, uh, deposited it, and that's the administrative work.

So, yes, there's administrative work, but it's not that we are out there um collecting it's it's the obligation then of the operators, and an additional administrative burden would be also that every two, three years we would conduct audits to ensure that that the vendors or the operators are collecting funds.

But that's I think uh to to the degree answering the question about what is the administrative burden, which is we we put it on the operators to pay by uh if somebody doesn't pay operative burden is then to to send the letters out and then ask for payments.

So I see it similar to a TOT collection.

we would conduct audits to ensure that that the the the vendors or the operators are collecting funds but that's i think uh to to the degree answering the question about what is the administrative burden which is we we put it on the operators to pay by uh if somebody doesn't pay operative burden is then to to send the letters out and then ask for payments so I see it similar to a TOT collection um I think I made a lot of comments already on this so I don't want to repeat myself um I would just add though that since we're taking another bite at the apple and I I guess I'm repeating myself a little bit here just to emphasize that it would be good to shift your augment the ballot language now that we've tested parking with sales tax maybe we throw in vacancy tax to that and see if that's an op an opportunity since there's such strong support for it um and see how they play together.

And and and I'm I'm compelled by um Ed's comments I mean if there's a way that we can change the ballot language for parking I mean it does say for occupying a parking space and private far parking facilities with no additional cost for parking in city owned lots and structures because of partial exemption.

So the language it does kind of seem to be like it's there but also I if I were a lay person what is partial exemption there's some questions around what that all means.

So if there's a way that we can clean that language up to to try it again in a different way that makes it clear um private public.

Yeah yeah so anyways um yeah I'm let's take this out again uh with one other thing that was hanging out there still the data showed not favorable by a lot on the transfer real estate transfer tax so do we all agree that that's kind of an uphill battle and not that much revenue well I wonder I mean where I'm at with it is that it's probably not worth spending too much energy on right now but I would be interested in looking at it again in the future because I wonder how that education piece like I wonder how many people just don't understand what that means and and also what what were the assumptions that were being made in regards to how that tax is implemented because in my mind we would do it based off of a certain dollar amount so let's say your house is more than two million dollars anything above that two million dollars would be the tax as opposed to the entire sale um so I wonder how we implement um a proposed initiative impacts the support for it um but you can't do everything at one time and I think that's kind of where battle on that yeah and I think that conversely any ballot measure once the city is done with its statutory obligation the city's done somebody has to go out and actually participate in doing the education 100% and that's us and that's us asking for people to join us individually and that's potentially signs flyers callers walk I mean we've all run campaigns so we know what it takes so any one of these number of campaigns is going to suck the oxygen I don't think the real estate transfer tax is one that's necessarily worth the battle to confuse everybody else when we really need the larger wins which is the sales tax the parking fee and the admissions tax or the aquarium fee on their ticket sales.

I think those are the big big items that are worth the capacity it's going to take for various uh the ballot measure committees can I ask um where why is there a concern around I know we have to I know staff has to look more into it but where is the concern around potential legal concerns of just doing the aquarium it it needs further research um it's just a big unknown there's not there's not like an inklink of something that where we're just there's a lot of stuff actually um it just needs to be read and synthesized and analyzed could you give an example of what some one of the things yeah if you give me a minute I'll pull some stuff up what she's doing that can I please blather on with the question so admissions tax could in my mind could be theater aquarium a special event a concert um a nonprofit event where they charge an amount a campaign that I charge an event fee for could possibly apply but also would it even apply to events at the fairgrounds because that's the city of Monterey but it's owned by and state property and so what would their events be subject to that tax.

Yeah.

And specifically regarding the fair grants, because we did uh Chrissy and her team researched that question because they're a state entity, we're not able to implement a surcharge on the fairgrounds.

So they're actually exempt, and we we know the answer to that uh to that question.

But in our conversations with the fairgrounds, it's been interesting, and we can talk about it uh further.

There's been some interest in them, maybe even doing a voluntary surcharge that they'd be willing to uh to give to the city given our fiscal situation.

But that's a separate conversation that we'll need to continue to have with uh Kelly and her team.

Yeah, and I think that's the example of how it's a difficult question in a uh ballot survey polling because we're not listing the possible exemptions to that, but there could be multiple exemptions, but the inquarium is included, but maybe movie movie theaters are not maybe or or they are included, like the aquarium, but special events at the other locations are not included.

So it's difficult to get a good read because if somebody is saying, well, I don't want to pay extra to go to that concert.

Um, and then they're saying no, but actually it wouldn't apply to them.

So I don't know that we've got a really good accurate um polling survey on that question.

Uh so just to give you a preliminary rundown.

I think I've pulled up about six different cases, some even from out of state and not necessarily addressing this on point.

Um, it looks like Anaheim in 2022 did prepare an agenda report and a ballot measure that ultimately did not get placed on the ballot um because of some of these issues.

So there's a lot more exploring that needs to be done.

My recollection and the research with the fairgrounds is that an admissions tax could not apply to the fairgrounds with regard to carving out and having exemptions.

Um, I think generally speaking, that can be done, but it needs to be justified.

So I gave staff an example of Santa Monica's parking ordinance, and they did a great job delineating why it wasn't applicable to public parking lots versus private, and that was because 90% of their public parking lots are in the coastal zone, and um they had a uh breadth of findings that made a rational basis for the distinction.

Otherwise, you need to be able to explain why are you treating one parking lot different than another, you know?

And if if there's reasons for that that are valid, then you should be good to go.

And it we just haven't explored it, I don't think to that level.

I've posed the question to policy staff uh what would be the grounds?

Um okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, Chrissy.

I appreciate you doing that on the fly here.

Um I'm good, I think at this point.

And I think we can all talk to staff on the side too if there's more that comes up after we've had time to rest.

So um we'll move on from this.

Um council comments.

Thank you, Lucia, by the way, for joining us tonight.

Thank you.

And you're sticking around.

But before we go to council, well, it's gonna be my council comment or but uh I just wanted to ask um it's a follow-up, and I know this has nothing to do with we're doing tonight, but I wanted to find a follow-up about uh NCIP with the three to four million.

When are they supposed to be coming back to us with that?

Uh they are supposed to come to back uh us um by uh January, the next 2020.

January 2026.

Okay.

Uh and and the the task was to come up with um project savings out of the appropriate allocate out of the already approved projects uh in the past of three to four million.

And my understanding is they are coming back with that in January.

Okay, I just wanted to get clarification and follow-up.

All right, thank you.

I'll have the comments.

That was my point.

Anyone else have council comments?

Um, just one.

Um, it was great to see the comments um on our city manager.

Uh it's always good to laugh, it's healthy.

Um, we know he's had a fabulous career in a very, very busy November and December.

Um, we're not gonna see you the next council meeting.

No.

But I still there was no hesitancy there.

You're a little too eager to respond to that question.

But I did confirm today that I still have one more meeting with him on Tuesday.

And uh I look forward to that.

And uh, I'm so glad the fact that he is not moving out of town.

He'll still be here.

We'll get to see him on Farmers Market and wherever uh his wife and family choose to go.

But congratulations one more time.

Thank you so much.

Awesome.

Thanks so much.

I'm gonna be I'm gonna be out on that day for the next one.

Um at Hans House.

On the bench.

Um, anybody on this side?

Um I wanted to quickly share.

Are we good to top this up?

I wanted to quickly share that I had the um distinct pleasure and honor of uh doing a ride-along with the fire department um uh Sunday.

And um, and so uh I I first just want to start off by thanking all of the folks on the shift.

Um, interestingly enough, Ross, who is the pres as the council knows is the president of the fire union.

He's based out of the Carmel station, but he's also in the process of getting certified for um captain, and so he happened to be working on the shift as well that day.

And so I had the um pleasure of riding along in both the um fire engine and the the ladder truck.

And so I started the day in the fire um engine, and as you can suspect, most of the calls were actually all the calls were medical related only, and it was just so incredible to see um our firefighters in action and and and how professional they are in handling the situation, um, and then how the community responds to them.

Um, and so it was it was great to to see them in action and and uh and participating that can you scroll through again?

There was the daytime photo.

Um so while what while I was on the engine, Ross.

We went up to so our training facility used to be at the airport.

Um, but right, we had to tear that down when we when we had a transition, we had to move the fire station to the other side of the other of the runway.

And so um montage has given us a space up in Ryan Ranch where our training facility is now constructed.

So it was nice to go up there and see where the new spot is.

And this photo here is Ross having to go through the process of acting as if the he's the captain.

He had a run around the facility, they did a fictitious situation where there was a fire, and it was just great to see him.

I mean, he's been a firefighter for years now, but still learning on the job.

And um, and kudos to uh uh our fire leadership for taking training seriously, and you can feel it, the energy from our fire team and just how much of a difference there is now under the new leadership.

So, anyways, that's that picture.

And then the the other picture at nighttime was when I was on the fire ladder, and we are standing on top of I think it's the emissions building at MPC.

So you could see the ladder behind us, and we got to climb up the ladder and go to the top of the building.

And I'm like, Did you guys get permission to do this?

And they're like, nope, we we can just do it.

And and so it's like, wow, you can do this kind of stuff when you're with firefighters.

Um, and so it was just really cool.

Again, all of them very gracious, and then at the end of the night, we took that group shot at the end, the last picture.

Um, so just want to give a lot of um uh appreciation.

Oh, and I started the day by doing a workout session with them, which was um also kind of intimidating, but it ended up being fun in a good time, and um just truly truly uh grateful for that experience.

So thank you publicly to our to the fire team and shift C that allowed me to join them for the day and cook me breakfast and um and had a lot of good conversations and good laughs.

Um, and I just encourage the the rest of the council if they haven't had an opportunity to do so to to jump in and and check that out because it gives a different a different different level of appreciation for what they do.

So that's it.

I'm gonna end my comments there, and with that, I'll pass it to Hans for his last city manager report.

Yes, and uh it's it's on the nap.

Very official because I felt good forgot my my notebook in in my office when I uh ran over.

Uh reminder, tomorrow is the boards and commission reception.

And if you have returned in your 12th bottles, uh please.

Are you looking at me?

Yeah, I and and I and I know who you are.

Um call it out that most of us met the deadline.

And we already sampled it a little bit in the city movement.

Uh so uh tree lighting is on Friday at five.

Um, please appear at 4 45.

Uh, so we can arrange everything up on the on the balcony.

Um on Sunday, we have uh uh the the yacht club is is organizing again the boat parade uh on the bay in the time uh between 5 to 7 p.m.

Uh forgot on uh Saturday this week, Saturday from 9 to 12 30 at Fire Station 13, that is in Montecito uh park next to Montecito Park.

We have donuts with Santa and photo show shoot with Santa as well.

9 to 1230, fire station 13.

And then the following weekend uh uh is uh Christmas in the Adobe organized by state parks on the 12th and then the third on 13th.

Somebody's in the Christmas spirit.

Yep.

Yes.

Then we'll be swearing in the council chamber, and uh it will be it will be on Friday uh at four o'clock, and it will be uh the promotion of one police officer to to Sergeant Mike Gosia.

And uh, I think there will be one or two others.

Yeah, this Friday of four.

This this Friday at four.

And it it would be really awesome to have consults for this.

We'll be done with that in time to go to the train.

And then you have a council meeting on Saturday morning, as you all know.

Which we're gonna have red stonuts, I think.

It's a busy week.

It's the season.

I don't know about you all, but it definitely gets busier during the holiday season.

Um with just all the events.

Um, thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you for that.

Let's give Hans a round of applause for his last city manager for it.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you so much.

Okay, and then um before we adjourn, um, I want us to adjourn in memory of Kay Russo.

Um, we would like to adjourn this meeting in memory of a former parks and recreation director Kay Russo, who passed away on November 23rd.

Born in Monterey in 1942 to a Sicilian American fishing family.

Kay was deeply connected to her community, developing an early talent for organization and engagement within our city.

Inspired by her work as a playground leader and a meant and mentored by Peter J.

Aldretti, she pursued a degree in parks and recreation administration, setting the stage for a career in public service.

Kay significantly shaped Monterey's recreational opportunities by implementing numerous programs for all ages and abilities.

She first began working on a part-time basis as a playground leader in 1958 while she was a junior in high school.

Her leadership skills led to appointments as recreation superintendent in 1966 and director of recreation and community services in 1988.

K was involved in developing many facilities, including Hilltop Park Center, Archer Park Center, Via Paraiso Park, Cypress Park, Senior Citizen Center Renovation, Casanova Oaknill Park, the Monterey Sports Center, Window on the Bay, Bike Path, Rec Trail, Tennis Center, Skateboard Park, and Ballfields at the Presidio.

She officially retired in 2005.

However, Kay stayed on part-time as the director for an additional six years.

A key achievement and essential part of Kay's legacy was her pioneering work in mainstreaming children with special needs at Whispering Pines Day Camp.

Expanding participation and demonstrating that with the support, these children could fully integrate into camp activities.

This innovative approach earned her national recognition, including the Joseph P.

Kennedy Junior Foundation Award.

K expressed pride in mentoring thousands of young people she hired, many of whom continued her legacy in community service.

Her memory lives in on her memory lives on in the programs and people she inspired in the community she worked so hard for.