Saturday, February 6, 2016

City Council meeting, Monday, February 8, 2016


Attend in person, 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd floor.  Or, view on local television or live feed Pacificcoast.TV, (formerly pct26.com).  If you miss civic meetings, view on  PCT 26 You Tube!  The city council meeting begins at 7 p.m., or shortly there following.  City council updates and archives are available on the City website.   

Interactive City Council Agenda, 2/8/16.      Full City Council Agenda, 2/8/16, pdf pages 536. 

Closed Session, 6:00 p.m. 

88 comments:

Anonymous said...

no chamber of commerce funding in this budget. Apparently chamber forgot to ask or has no programs of value to this community Council thought warranted $$ support. Curious...

Anonymous said...

Now it looks like you have to register for an account and sign in to see the disbursements. Very open and transparent city hall.

Kathy Meeh said...

1229, try again, the link comes up on my computer.
(There are some changes on the City website, and the "please register" message may be a transient glitch.)
In setting-up the article last night, I encountered a few of these messages too, but trying again solved that.

Glad to see City Clerk, Kathy O'Connell's picture and contact information on the City Council Agenda website. Kathy collects the Agenda information from the various City Departments, and posts these reports.

Anonymous said...

1:43

It wouldn't let me in all morning, now it is. Maybe the IT department was working on the servers or website.

Anonymous said...

Are the Taxpayers now also paying for Tinfow's groceries?

1 33128 $522.32 01/21/16 00045 2 ALBERTSONS / SAFEWAY

Anonymous said...

Looks like our city attorney is milking the taxpayers once again:

33139 $65063.73 01/21/16 02502 0 BURKE WILLIAMS AND SORENSEN LLP

Anonymous said...

9:10 AM

Here you go Kimosabe!

33256 $4566.00 01/28/16 01249 0 PACIFICA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Kathy Meeh said...

156. good. 156, 157, 200, the problem you seem to have with your ongoing "audit" of City expenses is that you remain clueless.
If you really care about why certain expenses occur in the course of the City doing business, call and inquire-- rather than just cry foul. Super Duh!

Anonymous said...

Children Please!
Mommy and Daddy are just trying to make ends meet with our meager incomes.
We are cancelling vacation again this year but at least we're keeping the lights on, so far.

Anonymous said...

3:10

You are the only person who defends city hall.

Triple Duh!

Kathy Meeh said...

342, no, the problem with you posting ordinary City expenses described by you as wasteful, negative value (even suggesting these expenses may be fraudulent) should be obvious to anyone, including you.

Your anonymous postings of these expenses with made-up descriptions designed to trash the City or City employees goes way beyond opinion into your own deceptive and irresponsible behavior. Shame on you!
Unless you can do better, I'm not posting more of your anonymous fake expense description comments. And if Steve should override such comments from you, you'll hear from me again. Hope that's clear enough for you to understand.

Arnie from accouting said...

Bravo Kathy. Posting expenses without access to receipts and explanations is a useless exercise in rabble rousing.

Anonymous said...

Unlike some other Pacifica blogs, Fix Pacifica won't bury viewpoints we disagree with.

Kathy Meeh said...

633, I think most of us can recognize the difference between a "viewpoint" (opinion) vs. intentional lying, slander, smearing, and abuse. Can you?

615, funny. In addition to the line item paid vendor, possibly a brief public description might be welcome. Examples: Meeting X lunch, office supplies, vendor contract, X conference, legal fees, erasers.
Still similar to his above comments, 342 might read those descriptions as "groceries for Tinfow" (156); City Attorney's fault for lawsuits (157); Chamber rips City (200).

Anonymous said...

Before the Tinfow era started we had a description.

A bill was listed, the check number, the vendor who was paid and a reason why:

such as check number 1000 vender attorney's reason: Highway 1.

Anonymous said...

654 is right sometime last year we stopped getting the memos on what we spent each amount for. Looks like we never got item descriptions after May?

Anonymous said...

In all things remember that Tinfow reports to Council. And, Ms. Tinfow is no novice. She knows her way around city government. Those central to her hire must be pleased.

Anonymous said...

11:26 then why are they so displeased?

Anonymous said...

Kathy, isn't the City almost bankrupt?

Kathy Meeh said...

1152, "They"? You must be referring to the one minority City Councilmember, John Keener.
Even Councilmember Sue Digre supports the work of our City Manager. Voting 4-1 with the others and speaking eloquently regarding the update and approval of City Manager Tinfow's contract with the City (Minutes, 1/11/16, Digre's comments, pages 32-34.)

Our City is better run now with the leadership of City Manager Tinfow, her Team, and this accountable City Council-- all of which trends toward fair process, infrastructure progress, a sustainable economy, and administrative efficiency. That should be clear to anyone who is paying attention.
In the future, clue to all concerned: support and vote only for City Council candidates who will move this City forward-- the alternative Gang of No is a City dead end (which ultimately may be the nimby game plan).

Kathy Meeh said...

210, who will save the City: the nimbies who have caused several decades of City economic imbalance, and who have covered-over that fiasco in questionable financial bookkeeping?
Or, will the current accountable City Executive Team (City Staff and City Council) save and improve this City?
Through their continued positive actions, I'm counting on the current Executive Team.
And in City Council elections later this year, we need to support and vote for progress candidates. (The nimby experiment has long since failed, as expected.)

Anonymous said...

Kathy are the progress candidates the same as the Samcar realtor candidates, Mary Ann Nihart and Karen Ervin?

I love those guys!!!

Anonymous said...

I could accept the so-called progress candidates if the package didn't include that new library--and make no mistake, it's included. I expect there'll be some deals with the devil being made come election time. Tinfow won't hang around forever.

Kathy Meeh said...

246, that's good, "you love them". Keep supporting and voting for them (or similar pro-economy candidates, depending upon who runs for City Council later this year).

Anonymous said...

Yikes, that city council agenda you posted shows our emergency fund is bare, as in empty?

We've been warned for years to keep a reserve.

It's on the list of city priorities for this year. Is that really possible?

Tom Clifford said...

The City Council set up the fund but put no money in it. The excess ERAF money is being used to cover the current emergency spending, that means the Palmetto street scape is on hold and may not happen for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Did you say ERAF? We have money left over from something called ERAF?

Anonymous said...

We spent all of our ERAF last year, on Palmetto Streetscape, Colt property, and tearing down an Esplanade apartment, we have zero emergency reserves and the coffers are bare.

Any ERAF we spend would be part of the 2016 property taxes that have probably not yet been collected.

Anonymous said...

City manager wants Council direction on saving Pacifica!Council can no longer deny sea level rise and must float bond in millions.Flood insurance costs $$$$!

Tom Clifford said...

I don't think much is left now since the Council has set aside $400,000 to tear down the building on the bluffs. Another $450,000 for the sea wall is on Mondays agenda along with $83,000 for the Resource Center,$3,000 for the Beach Coalition,$13,000 to cover cost of permits & staff time to process the building expansion of the Recourse Center. Total $949,000.00

Anonymous said...

You people do realize that the city can not just tear down the buildings. They are in Bankruptcy court? Plus what happens to the loan on both apartments. I tell you what happens, the lender files an emergency motion to sue the city of Pacifica for the balance owed on the apartments.

Anonymous said...

OMG, did you read that agenda? We truly are bankrupt.

One of city council's top goals for last year was to create an emergency reserve and they spent every dime.

The ERAF is from next year's education funds, is unlikely to be reimbursed fully and is not even guaranteed.

We NEED an emergency fund people! Sue Digre, Karen Irving, John Keener, Maryanne Nihart, Mike O'Neill are you listening?

Anonymous said...

Does the financial fail that we find ourselves in really surprise anyone?
Thanks to decades of faux-enviro abuse which was dutifully carried out by their trained monkeys on council (Vreeland, Lancelle, deJarnut, Digre and now Keener) Pacifica is reaping exactly what it has sown. Nancy Hall famously said it years ago,
"Truth be told, I care more about frogs and snakes than I do about people."

Chris Porter said...

9:10 AM Chamber of Commerce has not received (or asked for) money from the City for the last two budgets. The monies paid to the Chamber are the BID monies collected by the hotels on a self assessment of $1 a night. The City is the middle man for payment of these funds. These monies are not to be confused with the TOT (transient occupancy tax) that is paid directly to the City and I believe goes into the general fund.

Anonymous said...

Coming sooner than you think...beach front property on Francisco!

Anonymous said...

@Chris Porter, looks like almost every city council agenda this year had big chamber of commerce checks on it.

Is there any easy way to look up how much the city gives to chamber of commerce every year?

When belonging to BID is a prerequisite for any developer submitting an RFP on old sewage plant at Beach Blvd (and what was going to be the library), it really is money that the city is diverting to chamber of commerce.

Anonymous said...

Newsflash: PACIFICA IS BANKRUPT! http://pacificawatchdogs.home.mindspring.com

Oh wait... that's 2003. Sorry. Old news.

Anonymous said...

950 Emergency fund? In Pacifica, that's the sewer fund. One constant Pacifica can count on. The crap never ends.

Anonymous said...

@910, Chamber of Commerce asks for money all the time.
It was one of their specific questions of all candidates at the debate they hosted.

Business improvement district is mandatory for hotels. That's a tax.
If you think otherwise name one hotel that doesn't belong.

Anonymous said...

It's that time of year again. You know, when Council mugs for the camera, wrings hands, and threatens the Pacifica Resource Center. The PRC is the reason Pacifica is always broke. Got to be the PRC or El Nino. No connection between the dopes in City Hall (past and present) and our chronic fiscal crisis. None whatsoever. Spending millions they didn't have on things we don't need--all good. Losing track of 5 million? Hey, these are nice people. Yes, time to tussle over the PRC, divert the focus from the real problem, vow to save the PRC, and then we can get back to spending, ohboyohboyohboy, as usual. There's always the sewer fund.

Anonymous said...

All poodles are dogs, but not all dogs are poodles.

Kathy Meeh said...

1256, in most cities, there are cooperative city arrangements with Chamber of Commerce organizations. Tourism and Commerce organizations help bring-in revenue to a city.
If you have questions about this, do call 1) the City and 2) the Chamber of Commerce, and let us know your findings.
The Chamber also makes an accounting report to the City at a City Council meeting annually. Your questions, let us know the answers.

Anonymous said...

1:08
Good link. Thanks for posting.
Everyone should read it, especially the last paragraph. Pacificans for Sustainable Development caused this mess and they still have no answers or accountability.
Pacifica continues to smoke it's own home grown dope.

Anonymous said...

1:08 continued
I meant to say, read the second to last paragraph.

Anonymous said...

Tom Clifford has been saying we need to fund our emergency accounts since last May.
Why is he the only one who is paying attention?
Read that report, we are really bankrupt!

Anonymous said...

220, you're blaming Pacifica 2016's bankruptcy on 2003?

Why not go back another three years and make it all Bill Clinton's fault?

You Bernie Sanders liberals are all the same.

Socialism is great until you run out of other people's money.

We need to elect more Realtor supported candidates that know what it takes to raise home values and increase our property tax base.

Property taxes pay almost ten times what local businesses pay.

Anonymous said...

108 cites an interesting link. So, we were broke in 2003 and we're broke today. And we knew why in 2003 and we know why in 2016. Thirteen years later, beating the same tired old drum (mostly because it feels good)but unable to change one damned thing for the better. In fact, we are probably worse off now than then. Good thing we've got that drum. Keep it handy.
How long can this go on? Pacifica has become nothing more than an employer of crafty bureaucrats reporting to ambitious and often inept public serpents who will prolong the agony for their benefit and at our expense.

Anonymous said...

241 LMAO. There's no future in being a bedroom community unless you're willing to supplement the property tax revenue with additional taxes and bonds like Atherton and other high value towns do. Pacificans don't seem all that willing. Haven't we learned that it takes more than property taxes to run a city in the Bay Area? The only reason our prop taxes pay "almost ten times what local businesses pay" is that Pacifica's sales tax revenue has disappeared even as we added housing in the past 6 decades. It's not coming back and property tax won't pay the city's bills. You do want to pay the city's bills, right? Right? What else ya got?

Anonymous said...

326 Spend less money.
Pacificans are taxed to death and we're not going to take it anymore.

Anonymous said...

235 Clifford also wrote a letter to the Tribune demanding a forensic audit of the City's books.

City keeps claiming it did one but hasn't released the results yet.
Probably because the audit said we're bankrupt ;-)

Tom Clifford said...

I have no doubt that both the Resource Center & the Beach Coalition will get the ERAF funding tonight but I think this is a poor way to Fund these Groups. They provide vital services and their funding should come from the General Fund and not depend on what is left in the ERAF fund.

Anonymous said...

526 Of course you'll take it. Spend less, you say? Sadly, given that mandate, the politicians' priorities predispose them to spend less on the dull stuff like infrastructure and services because they have political favors to repay, personal agendas and ideologies to advance, ambitions and egos. It's long-standing SOP in Pacifica to rob Peter to pay Paul. When the streets crumble or the sewage spills, they'll remind you that you told them to spend less as they ask you for more money. I guess we can say no. Who needs infrastructure?

Anonymous said...

Happily surprised that $1,600,000 ERAF 2016 money will pay for pier repair,sea wall patch,etc. and still leave a little for additional expenses.

Anonymous said...

1041, you must not have been at that meeting last night. It went until one o'clock.
City is insolvent.
Nothing else matters if there's no money and you can't run the city.

Anonymous said...

1041 Whoa, now that's a rosy outlook. I hear Pacifica will soon colonize Mars using that same 1.6 million. The letter Tinfow just sent the Guv claims damages of 29 million to the wall and pier. And an empty cookie jar.

Anonymous said...

Wow the City Council of Mary Ann Nihart, Karen Ervin, Sue Digee, John Keener and Mike O'Neil will try to figure out a way to kick this can down the road. Maybe Mary Ann and Karen will bow out and not run again and kick bankruptcy over to the next City Council.

Anonymous said...

Pacifica is Solvent! Special thanks to Loeb, Vreeland, Lancelle, deJarnutt, Digre, Keener, Curtis, Bray, Hall and all the other know-it-alls who helped make this a safe place for frogs and no place for humans.

Tom Clifford said...

Anonymous 1:14 Please post a copy of this letter or a link to it.

Rib-it and they will come said...

Hi, Froggy here. No, not Shoeless Joe, Kevin Costner or Barry Zito, for that matter. Just little old me, Froggy. Just want to thank you folks for building me this nice little habitat here on the coast. Don't worry a lick about bankruptcy. People will come. They’ll come to Pacifica for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll take the Sharp Park exit, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at the pier, as innocent as children, longing for the past. “Of course, we won’t mind if you look around,” you’ll say, “It’s only twenty dollars per person.” And they’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll line up along the beach on a completely fogged-in afternoon. And they will cheer our City Councilmembers. And it’ll be as they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come. The one constant through all the years, has been Pacifica. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But Pacifica has marked the time. The ocean, the habitats, the abandoned sewage treatment plant, the empty Quarry, the zero population growth, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come. People will most definitely come.

Anonymous said...

City of Pacifica is sadly bankrupt.
Tinfow would never have gotten her raise three weeks later, smart girl!

Wonder if that audit we keep getting promised mentions that all our reserve funds, like our new library, are underwater?

Tom Clifford said...

We will receive a report that will be called an audit but it will not be a forensic Audit. This report will not state the source of the fund (were did the road repair money come from) that were transferred to the capital improvement fund. The reason this is important is both State and Federal grants come with a lot of strings an can not be used for anything other then what they were slated for. I can understand why City Staff does not want to expose this part of the equation but as someone who pays both State & Federal taxes I want that money spent on what it was intended for.

Anonymous said...

Measure A Transit money was used to build trails.

Anonymous said...

Tom I remember you talking about that on the television and in the Pacifica Tribune.
Wish we would have listened to you, buddy!

Anonymous said...

12:26: City is getting money from state & has to pay only 25% repairs.John Keener watches the money and proposed giving resource center $125,000, because he knows they could pay it.There is grant funding coming!Ask Mary Ann.

Anonymous said...

Don't count the money until it is in the bank, and once it is there only spend it ONCE. I am always amazed at how our elected officials can promise to spend three times the money they have.

Tom Clifford said...

25% of 30 million is 7.5 million so what do we cut to come up with that much money?

Anonymous said...

Our throats, Tom, we cut our throats. Furthermore, who trusts these lunkheads with grant money or any other funds? Will they spend it on what it's supposed to be spent on? Measure A funds spent on trails. 4.75 million unaccounted for. I can hear it now...no paper trail, incomplete repairs, more damage to come, where'd that money go? It's all quite familiar. SMC, save us!

Anonymous said...

Council has no intention on cutting anything.City manager is really good at creative financing.If you talk doomsday,they do not want to hear it.Library is full speed ahead and like New Jersey beach front property is sought after!

Anonymous said...

Joe Tanner was also real good at creative financing. Smoke, mirrors and madness once again loose in Pacifica.

Anonymous said...

Sewage Tank = seventeen million.
Library = fifty million
Palmetto = two million

Never being solvent again = priceless

Anonymous said...

Vallejo fired Joe Tanner 2 years after he left Pacifica and they had to file for bankruptcy.

At the time Vallejo stated they fired him because his salary was too high- it was the fourth highest in the state - while he was simultaneously trying to gut the police and fire union.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Vallejo-council-to-fire-embattled-city-manager-3163219.php

Anonymous said...

House of cards.

Anonymous said...

904 Oh really. An untimely end to that job was in the cards from the get go. They were headed for bankruptcy and went looking for a known hired gun named Tanner. High risk position with a commensurate salary. Happens all the time at that level job in both private and public sectors. Part of the job was "gutting" the unions and he was able to get a few concessions included in the bankruptcy plan. The price the unions put on the deal was that Tanner go. His salary was the city's convenient and rather comedic exit strategy. Done and done.

Anonymous said...

Just dis-incorporate this sorry excuse of a town. This is no longer a financially feasible town that can manage itself.

Anonymous said...

1024: Since you are the expert, what specific work experience did Tanner have at the time of his hiring in Vallejo that would have classified him as a "hired gun"?
I do find this interesting, however: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article6564483.html

And no, the "Tanner scenario" does not happen "all the time" in the private sector. In the private sector, there are these strange precepts known as "accountability" and "fiduciary responsibility" that very much dictate one's behavior. That is because there are actual shareholders who demand this so they can know where their investment dollar is being spent. But in the public sector, all we have are these poor schmucks called "taxpayers" who are just ripe for all kinds of fiscal abuse from the city officials. If you deny this, you are either a fool or a public official.

Anonymous said...

904 Part of the City Manager's job in Pacifica is ALWAYS gutting the unions.

When they can't cut their salaries any further the offer them firewater and shiny beads just like the Ohlone native americans we originally stole Pacifica from.

1121 It is absolutely time to un incorporate and become part of San Mateo County.
Every homeowner's property taxes would drop overnight, we'd get better services, better police crime labs and roads, the scores of our schools would soar upward, and we'd avoid all the expensive lawsuits with the Coastal Commission.

Un incorporating as a city would save every single property owner reading this message hundreds of dollars per year.

City Council thinks you're rich and stupid.

Anonymous said...

Why do we need a city hall and a slew of city departments whey they cannot fund and manage themselves? This is just stupid.

Anonymous said...

@1212 In November we'll be asked to vote five new taxes upon ourselves.

I retired ten years ago, am taxed to death and am to the point where I would rather vote to become part of San Mateo County than pay another dime myself.

This November I'm going to vote to kick these bums out of office.
Every single one of them, from Senate to Councilmen and women.

Anonymous said...

The Pacificans for Sustainable Development won!
Congratulations: Lancelle, Vreeland, Digre, deJarnutt, Shoemaker, Keener, Verby, Hall, Leon, Curtis, Bray, Goldberg, Runneals, Maekle, Loeb, et al.
They said it couldn't be done but you did it. You wrecked Pacifica. Now you can all line up and catch more welfare from San Mateo County.

Tom Clifford said...

Dis-incorporating is the worst thing that could happen to local property owners. The County would take control of any assets the City of Pacifica has and any debts the City owes will be transferred to the local property taxes.

Kathy Meeh said...

145, campaigning under Anonymous cover on this thread, you've been running your anti-City, now anti-State sentiments for a while. How about time for YOU to quit?

Let's do keep all the people/Staff and Councilmembers currently trying to fix this broken City-- broken mostly thanks to the Gang of No who have been working to transform the original plan for this City into wilderness.

And 1212, you would also disincorporate this City? Well, NIMBY, property owners would receive that giant bill in the mail. Although your dream rural town may look more like Moss Beach or La Honda, most of us who live in the Bay Area really do not want to live in the outback.

219 am (etc.) anti-city manager campaign-- the time of Intrum City Manager Joe Tanner and that NIMBY City Council is many years past in this City. And the City in question was Vallejo, a bankruptcy he probably didn't cause.

Anonymous said...

Dis-incorporating is the worst thing that could happen to local property owners. The County would take control of any assets the City of Pacifica has and any debts the City owes will be transferred to the local property taxes.

I don't know if you've been paying attention, but that's EXACTLY what's happening right now. Except the city wants to incur EVEN MORE debt to fund projects we can't afford.

Anyone familiar witht the city’s financial history can see that we’re incapable of governing ourselves. We want it all, but we're not willing to pay for it.

Quite simply, our administrative overhead is not sustainable -- it never was. And to top it off, we’ve got a city council that doesn't know squat, run by weekend warriors who routinely ignore the will of the people. So local control is a joke.

Let the county take over, they can recapitalize our assets and set us on a path of fiscal sanity. We're going to be paying the debts one way or another.

Give it up, Pacifica. It’s over.

Anonymous said...

Kathy, why do you allow anonymous comments anyway?

Of the 80 comments here, only you and Tom Clifford and Chris Porter are real people?

Not a single person under 65 is willing to use their real name on the internets.

Wouldn't we have a better conversation if it was just a small set of grownups who could guide the City Council with our collective wisdom?

You could even collect money here for candidates and endorse them with a PAC here. i don't know if you ever think of that but you have a lot of power here, why not use it to your advantage instead of being so neutral all the time?

Anonymous said...

I don't know if Pacifica can be salvaged. Its time to cut the losses and move on.
Dis-incorporate please!

Kathy (real person) Meeh said...

523, we're also looking for the collective wisdom of anonymous people on this thread. Some of you are "real people". Some of you have wisdom.
Some of you are shortsighted, biased cavemen who have wreaked havoc on this City-- but, that's just my "neutral" opinion.

Anonymous said...

1137 I suppose you're not kidding. Tanner had decades of experience as a CM. Very well thought of, knew how to work with small time politicians and yet get things done--whether that's good or bad depends entirely on to whom he reported, ie, the political agenda. Unquestioned loyalty to whichever council person was the dominant force. Lots of experience with municipal unions. He understood the dangers of unintended consequences, but also how to kick the can down the road when politics required it. Vallejo aggressively recruited him and was willing to pay the big bucks because, pay attention, when a city or a company is dying, you want cold hearts and clear vision to do what has to be done. You won't find that in the employee lunchroom. The hired guns are well-compensated and expendable. And they have plenty of customers in the public sector and in private industry. Just an observer who's been around.

Anonymous said...

627 what about deleting all the pro environment Gang of No posts. Surely they don't add anything.

I know being neutral means post everything, both sides of the viewpoint, but sometimes the Gang of No here vastly outnumbers the Realtor group and it doesn't seem fair.

Anonymous said...

What un-incorporating would cost property owners remains to be seen. Lots of scary stories, but no facts. Thirty-five years in Pacifica and I'm so sick of being fed outright lies and lies by omission by our politicians and watching their limitless stupidity that I'd welcome being rid of them--not at any price, but pretty damn close. It's going to happen anyway. Why not try to make it as painless and beneficial as possible by not waiting until there's no choice?