Good afternoon, good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us.
For this regular City Council meeting Tuesday, August 25th. I
will ask the City clerk to do a roll call
vote. Bidding Mayor call. Thank you. Council Member Edwards. Here,
Council Member Landrum. Here, Councilmember Le Fay. Here. Mayor Pro
Time Eccles. Here. And Mayor Wixon. Here. Council Member Edwards.
Thank you, Mayor. I will be participating remotely under Usb
707 Just Cause. Provisions due to medical condition, which limits
my ability to participate in person. Thank you. With that,
we will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Mrs. Armin
is my favorite part. Many, begin. I pledge allegiance to
the flag of the United States of America and to
the Republic. For which it stands one nation under God.
In the best visible and justice for all. Just like
the paper to it. You are. City Attorney, Mr. Stack,
Close Session Report, please. Good evening, Mayor Council members and
members of the Public. The City Council did meet this
afternoon in closed session to discuss three items. The first
of which was a real property negotiation matter regarding the
Morro Dunes RV Park at the Address Commonly known as
1, 700 Barcadero. The second item was a potential litigation
item. And the third was a Public Employee performance evaluation
for the City Manager and no reportable action was taken
under the Brown Act on any item. Thank you, Mr.
Stack. With that, we will move on to reports and
announcements from City Council Member Edwards. All I want to
include this evening is that I wish I could be
there with all of you tonight, unfortunately. I thought I
was going to be able to, but I'm just not
there yet. So be there soon. Thank you. Mayor Pro
Tim. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you all for being
here. It's good to see so many people out in
the audience. Last Saturday, let me get the date for
you. Yeah, actually it was a week ago Saturday on
the 15th. I hosted office hours in the form of
a town hall at City Park. That's the park between
the fire station and the police station. It was great.
I got more people there than I expected. So we
had about 20 people show up. Wonderful discussion. It was
open topic, round table. And then what was really fun
and neat is at the end of it, I brought
some plastic gloves and some bags. And we went around
the park. And when we left, there wasn't a piece
of trash nor cigarette, but in the park. So it
looked beautiful when we left. So it works so well.
This coming Saturday, I'm going to have office hours at
the park from 10 to 12. If you're on my
mailing list, I'll send that out. The next day or
two as well as a reminder. And if you are
so inclined, we'll pick up trash and cigarette, but then
as many now, but I've been to many of the
meetings that I'm sure my colleagues are going to discuss
here. Thank you. Council Member Landon. Oh, I get to
announce all the meetings. Test my memory. Well, I'm so
glad to be in Morel Bay. I had reason to
go to San Lewis today. And, you know, Cal Poly
started this week. And San Luis Coastal. And San Lewis
found it a good time to start striping their streets,
especially right around the Cal Poly entrance. And so the
traffic was awful. So I'm just glad we live here.
I attended the CFAC meeting, the Planning Commission meeting. The
Public Works Advisory Board meeting. And also the home builders
Public Officials Night. I attended the National Estuary Program meeting
board meeting that I learned at that meeting that some
interesting things diesel prices have made Albacor fishing for our
local fishermen almost impossible. Um, let's see.
The levels of. What is it called? The kelp in
the Bay are a little bit lower, but they're still
really high. Um, there's lots of concern about the El
Nino. Supposa del Nino that's going to be here this
winter and whether the creeks are ready for that. Um,
the eel grass. Sorry. It's not the kelp. Um, they're
not seeing, um, they're seeing not a large scale die
off of eel grass, but some has disappeared at higher
levels and they think this has to do with, um,
the heat. And I think that's it. Good evening,
everyone. I also attended the Planning Commission meeting, the CFAC
and the Public Works last week. But I also attended
a discussion at the pickleball court to Del Mar Park.
We met with the seniors down there. And there is
them discussion of adding pickleball courts. And I believe it
will be agenda dyes on the October 13th City Council
meeting to look at, uh, some options to add some
pickleball courts for the pickleball players. Um, I also wanted
to announce that I was, I'm under the impression. And
I was told that we are replacing the playground equipment
at LISIKES or park. And it will be done by
the end of the year. So those are two announcements
to improve our City parks. And I wanted to announce
them to the public here. Welcome. Thank you. Um, as
was shared, we've attended a lot of the meetings jointly
sitting separately just so everybody knows our City Attorney keeps
a good eye on us. Um, public works in which
I'm the liaison for during Public Works. They had a
lengthy discussion about the, um, quarterly report. The Wharf Quarterly
Report, which is on tonight's agenda. So for those of
you who haven't had an opportunity to see that you
can follow that on the Public Works Advisory Meeting from
last week, it was just an update on all the
activities over the last three months. And, um, comments and
recommendations from them. Along with some of my fellow council
members attended the Public Officials night, uh, hosted by the
home builders association, uh, council member landrough myself had a
subcommittee meeting with our new Public Works director and staff
on the Water Reclamation Facility. And, uh, I met with
Supervisor elect D'Antona. We had an opportunity to just network
and talk about, uh, interactions for the City and County
in regards to emergency preparedness. And how best to support
each other. And the county's rolling that. And also had
an opportunity to talk to him, uh, briefly about some
of the library programs that have recently been cut in
Moral Bay.
Meeting for mayors and city managers. This is all seven
cities that participate in that. And, um, just to give
an update and get a report card from them. So
far, we're looking good. We haven't heard anything from them.
That's always good news. And I attended the mayor's meeting.
We meet once a month of seven cities. And during
that, the liaison, not the liaison, the staff, um, from
the Sanlos County homeless services gave us an update from
the point in time. And just to share the countywide
report that was done January 26, 2026, they identified 1,
118 individuals experiencing homelessness in Santas Vespo County. Of that
number, three percent are on the coast. That's Morbay, La
Sosa's, Cayucas, and Cambria. So we are very fortunate out
here that, uh, we've had this port we do. And
that, um, that our unhouse population is very minimal compared
to the rest of the county. With that, I will
move on to the City Managers Report. Thank you, Mayor
Council. Uh, for the managed report tonight, I attended many
of the meetings which you've already discussed in - house
as well as, uh, one important meeting that we discussed,
that we attended was the, uh, department, the commission of
fishing wildlife discussion about, um, marine protection areas off the
coast of not only Morbay, but several other areas around
the state, three of which directly impact our fishermen. It
was an all day meeting. Uh, which Harbor staff and
I were on. And we're able to give our comments
about how that might affect our, uh, not only our
community, but also our commercial fishermen and residential fishermen. And
we are opposed to that. The commission took no action
on the August meeting. They're planning to come back in
October and take action on the items they heard. But
it was a well, uh, it was a good turnout
of people and the speakers offered good comments. Uh, most
of which were, uh, against, uh, MPA that was planned
for his petitioned for officer off of Moro Bay basically
from the rock up towards Cayucas. And so, uh, wait
to see on that. Also attended with our staff, uh,
our monthly meeting with the coastal commission staff had a
lot of conversations with them about ways in which we
might ensure that we're doing, um, good by them, uh,
do, uh, the proper protocols in each of our issues.
One item we discussed was the potential of volleyball, uh,
on the beach. Council Luffe is interested in that. And
so we did discuss with them the ins and outs
about how that might work. Uh, and so, uh, I
think that, uh, that's a go. And we actually have
a conversation with him about that. And good, good feedback
on how we might go about doing that and allow
for volleyball courts down on our area. Uh, as well
as many other items that really affect the city. So,
um, this month seemed to be reaching out to, uh,
state commissions and committees and a lot of work with
not only our elected officials, but also state government advocating
on behalf of the city and the citizens here. So
with that, I'll answer any questions that you may have
on any of the issues. Thank you. Um, I just
want you to know that I'm in favor of volleyball
courts on the beach too. I saw you look at
that. I'm sorry for saying, no name counselor fake. Thank
you. With that, we will move into no subcommittee reports.
So, um, I have one proclamation this evening. We will
be recognizing Hunger Action Month. Whereas each September, the nationwide
hunger action month campaign Unites millions of people across the
country to raise awareness and provide nutritious food to neighbors
facing hunger. And whereas the region's high cost of living
frequently forces many of our neighbors and San Luis Biscouny
to make impossible choices between pain for essential needs such
as rent and buying groceries. And whereas the San Lozo
Food Bank provides food for 50, 000 neighbors every month,
a 58 percent increased over the past five years. And
whereas the San Luis Bispo Food Banks Hunger Relief Network
reaches more than one in six county residents, including over
3, 700 neighbors each month along the North Coast. And
whereas this work is made possible by a collaborative network
of 70 nonprofit partners who distribute food directly within their
own neighborhoods, including a sterile bay kindness coalition. Coastland's vineyard
church, Mor Bay Lyons Foundation and ROC Harbor Fellowship and
Morro Bay. Whereas the slow food bank's mission is to
make, where the slow food bank's mission is made possible
by the profound generosity of our community with more than
70 percent of the organizations funding coming directly from local
individuals, businesses and nonprofits. Whereas the expansive reach and daily
operations of the slow food bank are sustained by the
dedication of over 1, 300 active volunteers who generously give
their time to nourish their community. And whereas hunger action
month serves as a countywide call to action inviting all
residents to learn, raise awareness and contribute their time and
resources to help feed as subtle low county together. Now
therefore be it resolved that the Mor Bay City Council
does hereby proclaim September, 2026 as hunger action month in
Moro Bay. And I would like to invite their director
up. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. Thank you so much
for having me. My name is Savannah Kolevins. I'm the
director of community engagement at the Slow Food Bank. Um,
Mayor Wixom and council members, thank you for shining a
light on this vital issue, food insecurity is something that
happens behind closed doors. Um, there's no way to know
if your colleague, your child's friend, or even the person
bagging your groceries is experiencing food insecurity. During hunger action
month, we open those doors to make sure that thousands
of our neighbors know that they are not alone. And
that the entire county is working to alleviate hunger and
build a healthy community. As you shared in this proclamation,
our community is experiencing food insecurity at a level we
have not seen in our 36 year history. Um, for
some context prior to this year, the most people that
we had ever served in a single month was 47,
000 during the COVID - 19 pandemic. We are now
regularly serving 50, 000 or more each month. We are
honored to provide compassionate nutritious, hunger relief to the tens
of thousands of slow county neighbors. Through our direct Hunger
relief efforts and a network of more than 70 independent
nonprofits whose kitchens and pantries we stock. While hunger is
a challenge that is very much part of our local
community in Moro Bay and across So County, the solution
is local. In the compassionate hearts of our agency partners,
the hard work of hundreds of volunteers, the support of
thousands of donors, large and small. We are so grateful
to be this community's food bank. Thank you again for
your kindness for helping us share our story and supporting
our mission on hunger action month and throughout the year.
If you are ever interested in learning more, invite you
or anyone in the community to come and take a
tour at our warehouse volunteer and see firsthand, uh, the
difference in nutritious meal can make. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We appreciate your advocacy and hard work. What
that will move into Public comment is for items not
on the agenda. I have some speaker slips to start
out with. Sugar cliff followed by Linda Winters followed by
Linda Merrill. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Sugar Cliff and I'm the owner
of grandma's Mercantile on Maine on Main Street. I wanted
to talk about our farmer's market. Recently there has been
a rumor going around that our farmers market is going
to be moved to the city park. And so I
was inundated with not only vendors, but other business people.
And they told me go find out if it's true.
Do we need to get a coalition together? Do we
need to argue? Do we need to do what? So
I'm here to tell you that the farmers market where
it's at is wonderful. It has kept my business and
other business going. That's one of the biggest things that
we count on to keep our downtown businesses. So, um,
basically I just instead of walking around and asking other
people and rumors, I thought I'd come to the horse's
mouth and find out if this is something that is
truly being considered or if this is just something that
we can rest on. So that's really all I had
to say. I just wanted to let you guys know
how much the farmer's market means to not just that
one, the two blocks that covers, even just the whole
downtown area. You know, that's where we get a majority
of our business. And right now the way things are,
I know my business open last year. So, um, thank
you for being letting me know if that's real or
not so I can tell all my friends on the
street whether or not we need to get petitions together.
Because I don't want to tune into that if I
don't have to. All right. Thank you very much.
There was an old studio building out in front of
the community center. If anybody remembers this studio room, was
studio building. It was like falling down. And so we
just met there for our art group. I mean, it
was covered with paint and all of that. So we
met there and it had been used like for 10
years before that. And so I'm hoping what happened was
when the new building was built, the seniors were promised
the senior area because they eliminated. They used to have
a trailer that they met in. So they eliminated that
trailer. So they were promised the senior center area. We
were promised a studio room in the new building. So
it's been a long time and everybody that I know
that would have known this story isn't around anymore. So
if there's anybody else in the audience that knows this
and can support me, please let me know. And thank
you all for everything you do.
Good evening. I would like to ask if the City
of Morro Bay would consider lowering the flag in honor
of Dolly Barton. Thank you.
Hello, Mayor Wixim and Council. I'm Sidney Ramos of 40
plus year Moro Bay residents. Since the last council meeting,
I've continued to look into Motorola's automated license plate readers.
The company itself and they're associated database learn, which is
an acronym for law enforcement archival reporting network. I found
dramatic stories of misread license plates leading to innocent people
being held at gunpoint arrested and handcuffed before they were
able to straighten anything out. While I'd like to believe
that these positive outcomes, oh wait. Okay, I also looked
for positive outcomes to balance any bias that I may
have. And while I'd like to believe the positive outcomes
outweigh the instances of abuse or error, I just don't
believe that they do. My concern is much less about
this tool being in law enforcement hands, but it is
also in the hands of Motorola. Specifically Motorola gives direct
databates access to the federal government and other third parties.
And what this means is that they are enabled to
directly search databases without needing local intermediaries or warrants. And
some studies are already facing backlash and repercussions from illegal
data sharing. In addition, Motorola acknowledges flaws, which allow unauthorized
parties to view feeds in real time, along with vulnerabilities
to hacker tampering. There's currently a class action suit against
Motorola for violating state privacy laws. The gist of the
suit is that the methods used for collecting and storing
data need laws to be put in a safeguard. New
Hampshire is starting to enact laws requiring purging within specific
timeframes. And this is probably more of a state issue.
Finally, Motorola is participating in unmonitored mass tracking. The recordings
of our movements and patterns and location and histories can
be used to predict our future whereabouts. And while I
thought of that, this, it reminded me of being on
Instagram and the algorithm finding just that cute thing for
me to order. But in this case, you and I
are the product. So I'm urging the City of Morro
Bay to take a stand against a nationwide video surveillance
system, which is contrary to the guarantees of our Constitution.
So I would ask the council to please put it
on an agenda so our concern citizens. Can talk about
it. Thank you. I have no more speaker slips, Public
Common is open for items not on the agenda.
Good evening, Council. On Lee. I just wanted to mention
and experience I had a week ago Sunday. I was
at the ROC bathroom. And it was locked, you know.
So they had three port - a - potties or
more. And then there was a sign that said you
could use those or you could walk a half a
mile down the road to the new ones. And my
mind did a quick assessment thinking, because it's after sunset,
maybe those are locked. I don't know. I didn't know,
I didn't care. Well, anyway, so fortunately I had some
tissue paper with me because they were empty. And when
I got out, there were some maintenance workers there. And
I asked them if they wouldn't mind putting some toilet
paper in the bathrooms. And I just wanted to say
thank you to them just because, you know, they were
there. They actually had, I guess it was their job.
I don't know, to carry toilet paper around. But there
were people gathering. So, you know, but are those bathrooms
down the road? That's one of the other questions. It's
like, is there a time when it closed them? You
know? But I just want to say, he didn't know
if I was a tourist. Or if I was a
citizen and that I would thank them. So whatever, whoever
that person was, um, on a Sunday night, he was
needed because there were others gathering. Thank you. Anyone else
for Public comment for items not on the agenda. Betty
Winholtz, I'd like to read something to you as chairman
of the Recreation and Parks Commission. It's email that came
from Cambria in light of one of our programs. It
was actually a very long letter that came to Mr.
Carmichael. But I did grab the last paragraph because I
thought it was, um, a pertinent that we, um, like
just did, uh, honor our workers. So it says you
have been tremendous partners for the Cambria Youth Athletic Association
and the Cambria Community at Lage. As such, a small
community, we rely on partnerships with our friends and neighbors.
So our kids can participate in youth sports. And this
one has been tremendous. Our kids never had the opportunity
to play flag football locally until we started playing with
the league three years ago. All the kids ages K
through six have had such a great experience. And we
hope to add seventh and eighth grade next year. It
has been such a privilege to watch these kids grow
and learn to play the game together over these past
three years. Cheers to the Moro Bay Reck League team
that helped make it possible. We took, we look forward
to playing with you again next year and in the
years ahead from Lex. And this was to our, um,
Ken who works in the parks and rec department and
coordinates all that. So I thought it was just really,
uh, glowing report and that rather than just keep that
among the Parks and Rec and the, and the staff,
I thought the whole community should know that we're doing
such a fine job. Anyone else for Public comment
for items not on the agenda. I. Didn't. Stay. That's
fine. Please come forward then. If you can't stay.
My name is Marley Nowens and I'm an old timer
in Morel Bay. I can remember sitting here and speaking
here when Lila Kaiser was sitting up there on that
bench. And she lila Kaiser was a person I'm talking
about in that day because she has to do with
moral elementary. A whole bunch to do with Moral Elementary.
Lila Kaiser was of all things she loved parks recreation
and kids. And she wanted them a place to play
and a place to be. There is only one place
in Morel Bay for kids to play on a flat
ground and play soccer. Most of the parks are sloped.
More obey is sloped. But kids can play soccer at
Morrow Elementary. And it's very important. And I remember when
Lila was, was working with Lila to put in the
playground at Harbor Street Park. And she would be very
much impressed if you put in a playground at Moro
Mountain. And there's room. And it's a place where kids
can hit a baseball. Or a softball. And let it
roll and say, wow, did you see how far that
role? And I remember days like that, I can remember
them because we, my husband and I coached little league.
And there were four teams in the minor league in
that day. And there were at least four teams in
the major league. And some of those kids went on
to college scholarships. And so on. Because they could play
at Morrow Elementary. And you know that for a fact.
So in Lila's memory, we need to make sure that
the kids have a safe place to play with a
ball roll into the street. And where they can kick
a soccer ball and it won't just keep rolling because
to the bay, because it's downhill, it's flat. It's set
up for that. Thank you. Thank you, Marlene. Anyone else
for Public Combat for Items not on the agenda. Hi,
I'm Margaret Carmen. And thank you Mayor Wixom for mentioning
the library. And so I'm going to continue the theme
of talking about children because I want whoever's listening and
whoever's in here to realize what just happened that the,
uh, library director decided to, uh, cut our children's librarian.
And we only get her for one day one, what
do you call it? The reading where they do the
help me out. Storytelling, storytelling, yes. And she's being sent
to San Luis Obispo. It's not where she wants to
be. And we, I mean, I could just cry because
I worked in the library in elementary school. It was
my school, my campus job in college. And any kids
who want to be in the library and not on
their phone doing nothing. We need to support that. And
I don't know who we write letters to or what
we do. And I just really appreciate that you mentioned
it at that meeting where you were. But we need
to get that director on our side to say, we
need the full - time children's librarian. And we're down
to only four days a week of the library because
it's closed on Friday mornings. And it's closed on Saturday
afternoons now when a lot of families would come in
after they've done their chords in the morning. And they
come to the library. So we need help keeping our
library open for adults and children. Thank you very much.
Anyone else for Public Comit for Items Nut on the
Agenda. Rare, are there any raised hands in the queue.
Yes, there is one raised hand. Layla Fabians, go ahead.
Yes, I wanted to say that I support the City
purchasing the property of Moral Elementary. I think it's very
important for the community as a historic site for City
offices and especially for the school. And the sports field,
as was mentioned before. Thank you. Thank you. Any more
raised hands, Ray. There are no more raised hands in
the queue. Thank you. With that, I have a close
Public comment and bring it back. Um, I would just
share with the community as a whole Board of Supervisors
reach out to them in regards to the library programs
or anything regarding the library. Supervisor Gibson is District 2
supervisor. And I would encourage you to, um, write or
call. You can watch their meeting, I believe two weeks
ago. They addressed library funding. And, uh, I would just
encourage you to use that avenue. Bathroom sun up to
sun up to sundown. Is that the bathroom howers? Sounds
good. Thank you. I believe it's, uh, you know. Our
three week into his job's Public Work Director, Dave Laccaro,
may have an update on it. Uh, yes, Mayor, members
of the Council, David Lacaro Public Works Director. So yeah,
I leaned over a little bit to our utilities Division
Manager got a little bit of a, uh, background on
this. So the locked restroom was due to, uh, a
couple of weekends ago. We had, so we're backup. So
we needed to make sure that that was locked for
the safety of the Public, uh, especially with exposure and
so forth. We're also in the meantime banking those fixes
and doing the cleanup necessary to get that restroom back
in order. I believe it's open now. Uh, so there
is accessibility. Um, and then for future, uh, I will
be working with D'Ames to make sure that we can,
uh, make sure that this doesn't happen again. It's a
very difficult bathroom. Thank you. Mayor, I just add that,
uh, the President Trump, I believe this afternoon ordered flags
at half staff for one week, American flags at half
stat for one week on behalf of the dolly pardon's
death. So to answer that. Yes. For those who didn't
know. Thank you. With that, we will move on to
the consent agenda. Um, Public Common is open. On items
on the consent agenda. Betty
Windholtz, just want to briefly ask a couple of questions.
One's on 6E clarifying our hydro geological investigations. Are those
ongoing or is it a different kind of investigation that's
happening now? It was in the report that went to
PWAP last week and is in your report this week.
Um, also, um, in particular, uh, on items 6B and
6F, it affects board communication, advisory boards, commissions to the
council. And at what point will you all be clarifying
that so we know that what we talk about comes
to you in an official way? And then finally, um,
I was hoping that on 6D, um, where it talks
about your goals, um, that you would ask that the
Reserve discussion come back sooner than later. Um, that we
can make that part of the discussion regarding financing or
not financing of the elementary school. Anyone else for comment
on items on the consent agenda. Where are there any
raised hands in the queue? There are no raised hands
in the queue. Thank you. With that, I will close
public comment on the consent agenda and bring it back
to council. Are there to my left. Anything to pull?
Council Member Edwards. I'm good Mayor. Thank you. Thank you.
Council Member Landrum. Um, I think we have to pull
six C. And. I guess six, maybe there could be
more clarity for six B and six. Is it six
at F. Sorry. I need to know what you're asking.
Six B and six F. Six C and six F.
Six B C and F. Six B C and F.
Yes. Okay. Council Member Lafay anything? I'm done. Thank you.
I'll ask for a motion to approve the other items
on the consent. And a second. You have a motion
and a second. Roll call vote, please. Council Member Eccles.
Yes. Council Member Le Fay. Yes. Council Member Edwards. Yes.
Council Member Landry. Yes. And Mayor Wixon. Yes. Motion carries
five. Oh. Thank you. Council Member Landrum 6B. 6B. I
just wonder if we could get a little, a little
more. Just an update, or not an update. Just a
quick. My question about that was that is, they're doing,
the cities doing an archaeological review in that area. Who
am I talking to. Public Works Director? Yeah, where is
he? He's over there. Oh, I can't see him, but
it's awkward. Um, so I'm not, I'm unclear since there
was an archaeological investigation that was negative. Does that mean
that no further archaeological, um, work needs to be done.
In that like development phase or any future. Thank you.
I believe we're going to have our utilities manager.
Evening's Division Manager. Um, I believe you're talking about further
wells that we did archaeological studies for that. And they
came back. Yes, that there was no, um, no findings
or anything there for those locations. Okay. So that's all
clear in that whole area. And then, um, since we're
nearing the end of a new quarter, will there be
much change or an increase in costs or anything? For
the whole program or for. Yeah. That we're still working
on other parts of the program that, um, part of
it is a ASR permit that we discussed before that
we'll have to, um, do some more work on that
one as well. But I think you're asking if there's
going to be changes with it? Yeah. I mean, because
we're already approaching the end of a new quarter, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Is it going to be much different than
this one? I'm just wondering if it's looking to be
much different than this one. There may be some changes
due to the ASR permit because the regional board asked
for more requirements on this ASR permit than they did
the previous ASR permit. So we're still working through it
all though. Okay. Thank you. Demaris quick question. Um, on
the mitigation effort that we're working with with the, um,
Chorro Valley, uh, it's stated in here that, uh, we're
requested to give between 200, 000 and 250, 000. Would
that be the total amount that we will be obligated
for the mitigation for the, um, farmland in that area?
That is the amount that the coastal commission has put
on the value of the land, um, but we're still
working through a lot of details on where we're going
to land with that whole project. So. Oh, that could
be more money that's involved in that. Or other negotiations
with it. Maybe property and other things. Thank you. Um,
why don't we move on and do the other two?
I'm going to do one motion then. Okay. Then, um,
on six C. That one, it seems like it's not
complete. Like there is no, there has to be a
voting delegate. And I don't think one has been, it
doesn't appear to me in this item that that has
been determined. And I think we should determine that. City
manager. Thank you, council. This is regard to the, uh,
business meaning of the California League of Cities, which is
coming up where I believe Councillor Landron, the mayor Artinian,
as well as myself. And so, uh, the request from
the League of Cities, we are voting body of, uh,
Voting member of that body. And so, uh, they, they
need an official motion by the, uh, council to select
the voting delegate and up to two alternates for that
conference. And so that's the council's purview tonight to a
point one of the three of us as the Voting
Delegate and two, as alternates. Do they need a name
for who the person is or just that two of
us are alternates and one's a voting member. My understanding
is they need the name of the Voting Delegate. So,
so that's why I thought we should pull it. There's
only one vote. Yes. Council Member Lafayette. Yes. I'd like
to make a motion to appoint Mayor Wixtrum as our
voting delegate for the California League of Cities meeting in
Anaheim and the two alternatives would be council member Landrum
and City Manager. John Craig. I'll second that. That's fine.
I have a motion and a second. Any discussion. Thank
you. I'll go back to the other one. Sorry, Dana.
Roll call vote, please. I was trying to do all
three of ones. Council Member Le Fay. Yes. Council Member
Landry. Yes. Council Member Edwards. Yes. Council Member Eccles. Yes.
And Mayor Wixom. Yes. Motion carries five. Six F. Yeah.
Um, six F. I guess I would ask. Is this
Mr. Heimel? I'm asking. Um, I guess I would ask
the same kind of question as far as, um, will
there be, does this look like the future more changes
to this? More additions. Oh, okay. Trevors. Mr. Evers. There
you go. Evening Matty versus Utilities Project Manager. The question
that was asked earlier, are there additional archaeological investigations required
for the extraction well? No, that was completed with the,
um, already, um, sonic coring. The amendment is for additional
hydrogeological, um, services. So that includes finalizing the design of
the well, not further investigations. And to answer the question
about whether future costs are expected to change, we foresee
currently. Okay. Thank you.
Any other questions, Council Member Edwards? No, I'm good. Thank
you, Mayor. Thank you. So Councillor. Okay. I move that
we approve item 6B and 6F. I'll second that. Thank
you. I have a motion and a second. Roll call
vote, please. Council Member Landry. Yes. Council Member Le Fay.
Yes. Council Member Edwards. Yes. Council Member at Eccles. Yes.
And Mayor Wixon. Yes. Mosh carries 5 - 0. Thank
you. With that, we will move on to our business
item of the evening. 8A, Acceptance of Moreau Elementary Site
due diligence report, determination regarding the City's intent to purchase
a property and direction to staff regarding close of escrow.
And with that, I will turn it over to Mr.
Craig. Thank you, Mayor, before say that Council of Faith
and mayor may want to have word with you in
the parking lot after the meeting, it sounds like. It's
voting delegate and your motion to appoint her as voting
delegate. I'm just, I'm not sure. I just want to
make sure you take care of yourself on the way
home. Yeah, I know. I'm parking next door in the
council. Tonight, uh, the item in front of us is
discussion of the due diligence report and the more elementary
purchase that is. The council was currently agreed to with
the unified school district. So tonight's discussion concerns, uh, the
city's potential acquisition of the Moro Elementary School site at
1130 in 1330 Napa Avenue from the St. Louis Coastal
Unified School District. On March 10th of this year, the
City Council approved a purchase and sale agreement established in
a 5. 3 million dollar purchase price. And initiating a
due diligence period to investigate the properties physical, environmental title,
historic and regulatory condition. Over the following months, city staff
and the coordinated consultant team, uh, led by Michael Godrin
at the EMBC Planning Strategies conductedtion and engage the community
through two Public meetings, uh, in written comments. The due
diligence period closes on October on August 31st. And under
the agreement, the council has with the school district, the
council must now determine in its sole discretion whether the
property is suitable for the city's intended purposes and whether
to proceed towards closing on October 31st. Tonight's action is
to help council determine that suitability determination inform the due
diligence report informed by the due diligence report before you.
And the Public and Public receives night as well as
the recommendation of the City manager. Tonight's discussion was not
built to be a referendum on the merits of the
purchase. Uh, the council has already agreed to the purchase
of the property. This is also not a decision of
what the council would like to do with the property,
how much housing will or not be approved on the
site or any other questions. Really, the discussion tonight is
solely for the council to receive the information. Listen to
Public comment and decide whether they find the property suitable
for the city's needs. Uh, as part of that, obviously
there are a lot of questions and dynamics around that.
And I think that what our discussion will play out
with tonight. So part of the suitability question is whether
or not cost associated with using the site for city
purposes, including as a new City Hall or some other
purpose coupled with any potential revenues that might be created
from the site for housing parcels or any other purpose.
Makes the property suitable for the city. With that, we
have a short slideshow to present on the findings on
behalf of our due diligence team. And after that, we'll
be happy to discuss any questions. Councillors have regarding that.
So I'll turn it over to Michael Codrin who head
up, held up, are headed up our staff due diligence
team to go through a short presentation. All right. Well,
thank you City Manager Craig. Good evening. Madam Mayor, members
of the City Council. My name is Michael Codran. I've
been hired by the city to serve as the due
diligence manager for this project. Uh, tonight is an important
milestone in the due diligence process. And I'm happy to
present to you the final due diligence report for your
consideration. Let me start by providing an overview of the
due diligence effort. The PSA or purchase and sale agreement
with the school district has provided the city with an
extended period for due diligence to look carefully at the
property. And not just its condition, but its suitability for
future uses. In order for the, to properly frame and
answer the question of suitability. We began the process of
engaging with the public and conducting site investigations. The City
hired an array of consultants who contributed really important information
about the condition of the property as well as its
historic status. Ultimately, this process has led to a detailed
and lengthy report that was published and made available to
the Public on August 12th. I'm going to summarize the
report in this presentation, but want to be clear that
the intent is to support cancel discussion. The report itself
doesn't include any recommendations. My hope is that the council
will find the information helpful and that the report will
continue to be useful reference document well into the future.
So the entire report is centered on the question of
whether or not the property is suitable for the city's
use, which is the City Council's call to make. If
the council decides that the site is inacceptable condition and
suitable for future city use, then the acquisition process can
proceed. However, if the council does not want to move
forward, tonight is the night to say so, because after
August 31st, the city won't be able to recover its
due diligence to positive 500, 000 dollars except under very
limited circumstances. The report is organized around six dimensions of
suitability and present information relative to each of these topics.
This is how the report defines suitability based on the
site's physical, environmental, title and boundary. Historic and regulatory and
cost and value characteristics. And the report uses a working
scenario as one lens through which we can assess its
suitability. It considers rehabilitation of the schoolhouse building for a
future City Hall. It looks at housing across multiple properties
and considers what the process would look like if the
council wants to pursue a public - private partnership to
accomplish its vision. It is important to know, however, that
the scenario used in this report to evaluate suitability is
not a council commitment to any particular use. Ultimately, the
council may choose to do something completely different with the
property. One important point to make about the working scenario
is that it was shaped by Public Input. Community meetings
were held on April 22nd in June 24th. The purpose
of the first meeting was to share the plan for
evaluating the building and to hear feedback from the community
on those concepts that were shared. During the second meeting,
we were able to provide some of the results from
the consultant studies that had been concluded at that point.
And overall, the community expressed broad support for the acquisition
itself. There was consistent feedback about the value of preserving
the historic buildings. There is community support for housing on
this site and potentially off - site on the current
City Hall campus. And there is definite interest in preserving
open space for sports fields. These themes helped inform the
working scenario evaluated in this report and confirm that we
were on the right path with our study. So let's
jump into the question of physical suitability. Much of this
information was reported during the Second Community meeting. Consultant reports
allow us to conclude that the buildings are fundamentally sound
for their age. Spectre Company was the architect that evaluated
the building condition and their report includes a structural analysis
from T. Y. Lynn and engineering firm. Their conclusions are
that the rehabilitation scope can be targeted, not wholesale, which
is great news. Another consultant net positive consulting engineers evaluated
the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing requirements, as well as fire
sprinklers. They recommended modernization of systems that are at the
end of their useful life and the installation of fire
sprinklers, which becomes an important part of the historic preservation
process as well. Hunter Smith is another architectural firm that
performed an evaluation to determine if the functions of the
city's current City Hall could fit in the building, and
they concluded that it could. Uh, the report concludes that
no physical condition of the property or the primary schoolhouse
buildings was discovered that would preclude an adaptive reuse. Regarding
environmental suitability, Earthsystem - specific conducted a phase one environmental
site assessment and identified no recognized environmental conditions. Padre Associates
surveyed identified asbestos containing materials, survey, and identified, asbestos containing
materials and lead surface codings. They found that the amount
of material and abatement required was normal for a building
of this age requiring standard debatement management during renovation. As
a result, there are no environmental conditions on the property
that would preclude an adaptive reuse. Another important consideration is
tile and boundary. The City needs to be sure that
the property they are buying is exactly as it has
been described and that there are no surprises such as
easements or other encumbrances that surface later. And alta survey
was prepared by MBS land surveys, which also gives the
City the ability to obtain tidal insurance to cover any
surprises that do emerge. During the Second Community meeting, it
was noted that there may be a reversion clause to
a previous owner if the school used discontinued. However, the
City Attorney directly reviewed the 1936 Herrera deed to the
Moro Union School District and confirmed that there is no
reversion clause. Therefore, we've concluded that the property is suitable
relative to Title and Boundary Concerns. Regulatory and historic suitability
are considered together. First, I'll discuss the zoning and its
suitability for potential future uses. The property is currently zone
RH or high - density residential. So is natural for
the report to consider housing development on a portion of
the site. However, the current zoning would require a general
plan amendment and rezone to chain some of the residential
land to Public Facility if the historic schoolhouse buildings are
rehabilitated for a new City Hall. Similarly, the current City
Hall would need to be rezoned to residential to allow
housing at that location for that to be developed on
that site. This process would also include a local coastal
plan amendment, subject to coastal commission review and approval. So
from a regulatory standpoint, there is a defined and manageable
pathway. But that will add time to the process.
Regarding historic suitability, there are four buildings on the property
that contribute to its historic significance. Two separate architectural historians,
Robert Chattel and LSA Associates have concluded that the four
buildings are eligible for the national register of historic places.
And there is a nomination pending state review. This report
assumes that the building, that the property is a historic
resource that would be eligible to employ the California Historic
Building Code and earn federal historic tax credits. Both of
these regulatory features would help with the financial feasibility of
a future rehabilitation. Through the due diligence process, we also
were able to determine that rehabilitation of the school for
use as a city hall could be accomplished consistent with
the Secretary of the Interior's standards for the treatment of
historic properties, which would ensure a good outcome on the
CECLA front. To highlight the historic work covered by the
report in a little more detail. I want to note
that the city hired LSA Associates to conduct a peer
review of the complete historic resource assessment that was prepared
for the Friends of Mora Elementary by Robert Chattel. The
LSA work confirms chattel's conclusions and recommends a preservation framework
based on avoidance and minimization to preserve the building's character
- defining features as much as possible. LSA also prepared
a follow - up memo recently published on the City's
website, which includes their opinion that the interior modifications identified
in the Hunter Smith test fit. And these include cloak
group partition modifications, the chalkboard treatments, and classroom door adjustments,
that those can be designed to comply with the Secretary
of the Interior Standards for rehabilitation, which is abbreviated as
SOI on this slide. Now on to value, the report
discusses four value streams, but only one of those has
a calculated value. For example, there is intrinsic value to
the community of preserving a historic asset. There is also
value in having a single civic campus where residents can
go to get the services they need and consolidating operations
will have some efficiencies for the city. Um, also along
these lines, the fields currently provide open space and recreational
value to the community. Those items are difficult to calculate
the value of, and we have not attempted to do
so. But to the extent that there is a future
housing development on the property or on the current City
Hall site, we have calculated value, and we've used a
method called residual land value, or RLV as it's abbreviated.
Um, to make that calculation. This is discussed in chapter
10 of the report in detail. Residual land value is
essentially the amount of money that a home builder will
be able to pay for the land after taking into
consideration home values, construction costs, and profit, and it is
very different from what the appraisal says is the market
value of the property. It is a conservative estimate, but
one that gives the City more control over the final
development scenario than would occur if the city just decided
to sell the land to the highest bidder. There are
also additional sources of revenue for the city. Some of
these are noted in the report, and some include placeholder
amounts. For example, there is the potential for historic tax
credits to help offset certain rehabilitation costs. Uh, there could
be grants available for some of this work. And there
are other city properties, uh, such as the teen center
site, uh, that the city could use to support the
cost of acquisition of the property. All of this cost
and value information is pulled together in chapter 10. Of
the report to highlight a total city investment. Of purchase
price and rehabilitation cost of approximately 14. 7 million dollars.
And I think I got off. Did I get off.
Okay. All right. All of the cost information, all the
cost and value of information is. Yeah. Okay.
This is. Going to get, um.
I'm sorry. Okay, I'm going back to, um. Slide 13,
and, uh, to talk about, uh, cost, because I think
I jumped, I captured slide 13 and 14, John. What's
that? Word from here. Okay. Thanks. Okay, sorry. So I
just concluded the, um, the second slide on historic preservation
more in depth. And now instead of jumping a value,
I wanted to talk about cost. Um, so obviously cost
is an important consideration and no doubt on everyone's mind.
The report looks at this in two ways. First of
all, the purchase price is below the appraised value of
the property. So that is an important starting point. Next,
the report looks at the cost of rehabilitation of the
primary schoolhouse building and annex for a future City Hall.
The rough order of magnitude estimate for this work is
eight and a half million dollars, which is covered in
detail on the report. Some of the major cost items
identified in the estimate include fire sprinklers, millwork and lighting
requirements to name a few. The decision about whether the
cost of the property and the rehabilitation project are suitable
to the city is a determination for the City Council.
The report supports the council's decision by also looking at
the value that could be created to help offset these
costs. But before discussing what the report says about value
generation again, sorry. I want to spend a little more
time discussing the rough order of magnitude cost estimate what
it is and what it isn't. Um, so the ROM
is a, it's a pre - designed pricing exercise. It's
not a bid. This is a price prepared by qualified
and experienced architects and engineers before architectural and engineering design
has been completed. It is a certainty that the actual
cost will differ up or down depending on the final
project design. The ROM builds in a contingency of 30
percent that specifically covers costs associated with design, inflation and
construction. All of this is to say that the ROM
is not a menu of costs. Um, in order to
arrive at a more accurate cost estimate, the City would
have to move forward with additional design work and studies.
Um, so this information in terms of the cost is
essentially the best information that we could develop at this
time. Um, and now onto value, we did cover this
slide. And sorry, I went out of order. It's been
a challenge to work with reading glasses at the same
time. It's looking at the City Council at Distance. So
I appreciate you hanging with me on that. Um, but
just to summarize this slide, as I mentioned, some of
these streams are qualitative. Others are quantitative. Um, the rehabilitation
value, the operational consolidation, the fields. Those are intrinsic values
that weren't quantified. But the, uh, the report does quantify
the residential land sale and proceeds that the city might
receive, uh, from a development partner. And that was what
I was discussing about residual land value. Um, and so,
uh, the next slide then gets into what the details
of those revenues are. So all of the cost and
value information is pulled together in chapter 10 of the
report to highlight a total city investment and purchase of
purchase price and rehabilitation cost of approximately 14. 7 million
and considers three different development scenarios to show what the
long - term remaining funding requirement would be for each
scenario. Each of these scenarios includes 50 Affordable housing units
generating 2. 25 million dollars in value for the market
rate units, the residual land value is 52, 800 dollars
per unit so you can see that in this model,
the more units you build, the lower the remaining funding
requirement. Based on this scenario, which is just an exercise,
not a plan of any sort. The remaining funding requirement
would range from 7. 8 million to 2. 5 million,
depending on the number of market rate units constructed. The
report also highlights that these units could be located on
any city - owned property. The scenario isn't specific as
to how many units are constructed on the Moral Elementary
property versus the current City Hall property, for example. On
another note is that these numbers do include a placeholder
of 2 million dollars for the Teen Center property, which
has been discussed as a potential funding source for the
acquisition. Items not factored in, but mentioned in the report,
include the value from the historic tax credits, achieving a
higher residual land value. Creating a CFD to support infrastructure
costs, as well as grants. So there are important caveats
that are detailed in the report. The revenue model is
based on a study completed by Deloitte of this actual
site in 2020. The analysis is similar to the ROF
order of magnitude cost estimate in that this is a
model, not an actual bid. The model uses the residual
LAN value, which is a conservative measure of value that
the City might receive for the land. Developer Prophet is
assumed at 22 percent if the city chooses to go
down that path. In the model, home sale prices are
escalated 30 percent from 2020 values, which is lower than
what we have actually seen in the market. But we
thought it was reasonable as it keeps houses, the home
prices below 1 million dollars in today's money based on,
and that's based on preferences expressed by the community. Construction
costs are escalated to their current levels according to the
California Construction Cost Index. The Report highlights in chapter 10
that the calculated remaining funding requirement is very sensitive to
all of these factors. Construction costs, home values, developer. So
it is important to note that the actual values the
City will experience in the future will certainly be different
from what these numbers are today. Uh, and as we
all know, the market can go up and it can
go down. As a result, these numbers and the remaining
funding requirements should be thought of as a snapshot of
a point in time. One assumption included in the report
is that if the city moves forward with the purchase
and ultimately pursues a project like the working scenario described
in the report, execution through a Public - private partnership
is assumed. This is because a multifaceted project that involves
historic rehabilitation, uh, with housing development, um, that span specialties
that are beyond city staff's capability to perform while also
doing their normal work. In addition, a partner is needed
to take advantage of any historic tax credits that may
be earned through the rehabilitation of historic buildings. Since the
City is not a taxable entity, you are not eligible
to earn those tax credits directly. The visioning process pursued
by the council would help shape the terms of selection
of a partner, and that could be accomplished through a
competitive qualifications process for example. If the city decides to
move forward and closes escrow to acquire the property, there
is no commitment to any future use. The City would
have time to re - engage the community and enlist
technical experts to help inform what is possible. The visioning
process that the City pursues could be designed to help
shape the development program and the search for a development
partner. Most importantly, council retains full discretion over the next
steps. So this is the next - to - final
slide and it highlights the findings included in the report
across each of the six dimensions of suitability, the physical,
environmental, title and boundary, historical and regulatory, as well as
cost and value. And to conclude, uh, the report indicates
that no condition that we found on the property obviously
disqualifies from acquisition and consideration of the rehabilitation and development
scenarios that we evaluated. The working scenario is feasible under
identified regulations and processes. There is a remaining funding requirement
present that the city would have to address and some
sources of potential additional revenue are identified. The determination of
whether or not the property is suitable for the city's
use under the current purchase and sale agreement is a
decision that only the City Council can make. If the
city chooses to move forward, pass this due diligence period,
close of escrow is scheduled for October 31st. So again,
I'd like to thank you. I'm Michael Codrin, the due
diligence manager for the project. And, uh, this final slide
lists all the consultants who contributed to the report. I'm
available for any questions you have, but I think first
I'll turn it back to City Manager, Craig. Thanks, Michael
Counsel. Um, uh, that's our report. Obviously, the due diligence
report. We've released it. Wanted to release it early from
this meeting as opposed to the normal timeframe. We did
that about two weeks ago. Uh, and so the community
and the council, you had time to review that report.
It's a lot of information. Uh, I certainly understand that
there are rules of procedure in this meeting because it
is more of a formal setting as it is a
council meeting. But we certainly stand available to have back
and forth with a council with answering any questions, providing
any input. We can on any comments you hear tonight
that you would like clarify or some answers on. So,
uh, I'll leave that up to you to respond to
us with questions. We have several different items in each
of the areas in which we gave a brief overview
tonight financing use, potential, uh, for revenue off the site.
We've got a lot of information in each of those
categories. And so we'd be willing to offer you up
any back and forth you'd like as a council as
you go through the meeting. Thank you, Mr. Craig. Thank
you, Mr. Caldron for the report and for everyone who
participated staff, Mr. Singwald and Ms. Conrad. Questions starting on
my left. Thank you, Madam Mayor. The report generally answered
all my questions. So, uh, so that the Public may
be aware, however, uh, Mr. Cawdren, could you estimate approximately,
well, can you tell us, um, how much time it
took to compile the report and maybe approximately the hours
that went into it just so that we have an
awareness of, uh, the level of depth of this report.
Well, your city manager drives a tough bargain. So I
did not bill hourly for this project. There were a
lot of hours. We met weekly, um, as a team,
uh, you know, there were a lot of visits to
the property, uh, working with the consultants to oversee the
work that they were doing. Um, and to understand the
property. So I can't give you an estimate of how
much time, but every week we were, you know, putting
in 10, 15, 20 hours at least, uh, of my
time. But everybody contributed. And yeah, it's been consistent efforts
into March to get to this point. I'll just add
to that appreciation of, uh, subcommittee from the council, counselors
Luffay and Landrum, um, were a big part of this
and received updates regularly from us throughout the process. Uh,
and gave their input. So thanks to them for being
involved as well. Any other questions. Councilmember Edwards questions.
Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to also express,
um, my gratitude for all the work that went into
the due diligence report. Thank you, Mr. Codran. And you
working with the support of staff, um, that's greatly appreciated.
I would also like to express, um, thank you to,
um, council members, Landrum and Le Fay for working alongside
all the parties and stakeholders as that was very informative
as well. Everything that they brought to us, um, all
the previous council meetings and other meetings. I'm going to
pass on questions right now. Mayor, I'm looking forward to
hearing some of what the community has to say, um,
and all of you as well. And so I will
reserve my questions. Um, I don't, I don't really have
any questions either. I just really want to thank, um,
Mr. Caudrin and the City team for this such an
extensive report and so much information here. I think we're
really going into this with our eyes wide open. Thank
you very much. Um, we're going to move into Public
comment. I have some speaker slips to start out with.
And I asked the City clerk, but I didn't announce
it at the beginning. I was hoping to keep everybody
at two minutes so that we have enough time to
deliberate and we're not doing this at 9. 30 tonight.
Um, so, uh, I will use the speaker slips in
just a minute. And I will ask for those few
of you who signed up for three minutes. If you
can just be a succinct and quick as possible. But
before we move into that, because I expect this to
be, um, a little time consuming for the Public comment.
We're going to take a really quick break.
Thank you everyone. We're ready to resume the meeting. I
know.
Everyone. Before we get started on Public Comment, I want
to turn it back over to City Manager Craig real
briefly. Thank you, council. One item I wanted to share
with you is regarded to the financing of the purchase
and or a conversation that I have been having with
the personnel from the school district about three weeks ago.
I contacted the business manager, I believe it's a business
manager's time. Ryan Pickerton with the Unified School District and
asked him if we could meet to talk about the
5. 3 million that we may owe them, or the
4. 8 remaining. We met together and have met for
a couple times, and they have agreed to, if the
city is interested, they have agreed to carry the debt
of the 5. 3, again, 4. 8 remaining, because we've
put 500, 000 dollars. If the council chooses to continue
with the process this evening, they have agreed to a
scenario under which they would carry the debt for our
remaining purpose. We would take ownership of it by the,
as the purchase in sale agreement details by October 31st.
We would own it outright. We would also enter into
a binding contract with them that we would owe them
the remaining 4. 8 million over the next three years.
That would be no payment. Three years. That would be
no payment, further payment this year. And a 500, 000
dollar payment in one year. And then that would leave
us with a 4. 3 million deficit. After one year,
when we give the first 500, 000 of the principal
remaining, interest with start. One
year from then, but two years from now, we would
pay a balance of 2 million dollars. And then in
the third year from this fall 2029, we would pay
the remaining 2. 3 million of principle, and any accumulated
interest that would begin on the 4. 3 and a
year from now. So that'd be no interest accruing and
no payments until one year from now. And then in
one year we would pay them 500, 000 dollars and
they would begin accruing interest on the remaining balance. That
interest amount would be. Our student finance directors less than
200, 000 dollars, as I believe what we calculated to
be over that, over the final two years of that
agreement. There was some discussion that if we were to
pay off early with selling property or coming up with
a large sum, uh, that they would forgo that interest
that had been accumulated over that time. And so, uh,
that's a long way of saying that the school district
has agreed to be our carrier of our debt payments
would be 500, 000 in one year. Give us two
years then to come up with another two million to
pay them. And three years to pay the balance of
2. 3 final payment and then any accrued interest that
would be still outstanding in three years from now. So
that is one scenario, another scenario that the finance director
and I looked at was borrowing from different area USDA
loans or EDA loans or other instruments that the state
may offer interest rates are very high on those, certainly
more than two percent that would be willing to do.
I think that, um, we have done some preliminary looking
about how the City might come up with, uh, the
4. 8 additional money's. And with this added two years
to come up with the main portion of what would
be due, I think we could enter into some other
sort of agreement if we, at that time, hadn't sold
property or didn't have any, uh, additional revenue coming in
that we could borrow the money from somewhere else at
that time, uh, to repay them. And so that, uh,
that ended yesterday afternoon in discussions with the school district
personnel, uh, they, uh, he gave me a green light
to discuss this. He had discussed it previously with the
school district board. And they, uh, again, reiterated that their
goal was to have the City own this site and
they would be willing to work with us. And I
think this is proof. They have worked very well with
me as we've gone through this process. And so I
just want to let you know that that is an
option that the city has. Should we end up continue
with this and pushing it as of October 31st. Thank
you for sharing that update. Yes, ma'am. Appreciate that. And
apologize for the late notice in getting that to you.
It has been an ongoing discussion over the past three
weeks. And again, we just confirmed that in dealt with
get that deal yesterday. So. Thank you. With that, I
will open public comment, um, again, reminder, um, that we're
doing two minutes. Thank you very much, everybody. Um, I'm
going to read three at a time. Tina Wiener followed
by Barry Brannon followed by Pat Mangioni. Ma'am, Manginia, I
hope I'm saying I'm right. Sorry. Bull, am
I? Cause sitting in the cheap seats, I don't always
hear everyone. Um, thank you, uh, City Manager Craig. Uh,
he addressed some of my questions. So I'm not even
going to use the two minutes that I was allocated.
I look forward to hearing and seeing more detail about
how we're going to put a plan together for that
property and what those details may look like and what
properties we may be considering for sale and subsequent development.
And, uh, thank you for letting the city manager present
that information and do away with my last minute and
a half. City manager mayor council.
Thank you for that news. Uh, this obviously is a
legacy property. And if you look at the pictures, you
can see how it Kaiser Community Center, which will be
the future City Hall with the, all the opportunities there.
Uh, 20 years now. Thumbnail got saved. Wow. Those guys
really had it figured out. Look what we got here.
Look what we got here. So I want to say
thank you for all your efforts. I did read the
due diligence report. Oh, what a pain. And that's a,
that was tough. But, uh, we could pay for it.
We could pay for it with properties we have. The
Teen Center. And if you look at the plot plan
we had this parcel is actually three parcels. We have
the green space. Then we have the part on the
other side of Surf Street. So basically my vision is
to sell the piece on the other side of Surf
Street for someone to put in the proper number of
houses. That's high density already. That satisfies some housing requirements
generate some revenue. So I think that we can finally,
the rest of the money. And then facetiously, um, the
Montessori schools have agreed to increase their monthly payment to
cover the rest of it. Uh, Pat Manjoni, my letter
got a little outdated just by his speech also. But
I do feel that the city has to consider other
things that need to be done here, especially street repair,
um, a lot of us would probably vote for street
repair, um, over a new City Hall. Sorry. Um, I
felt that you were maybe a little bit in a
hurry to get all of this completed. I come from
South Pasadena where we are the little city that has
fought the 710 freeway forever. Moving a library is a
big deal. And especially a beloved library. And I think
that's what kind of doomed the 710 freeway in South
Pasadena at that time. Um, so I would like you
to consider that. Um, the city is having a hard
time meeting other expenses. And we all need to be
aware of budget deficits. We need more revenue generating things
and property in the city to help us out. Um,
all of us want to see old buildings, um, reserved
preserved. Um, so I am for that, but I want
it to be used in a good way. And maybe
a revenue generating idea. Thank you. Thank you. Tim Crawley
followed by Courtney Schepler followed by Janice Peters.
Good evening City Council. Everybody else, including the guy who
just ripped up about half of my presentation here. Um,
I'm not a friend of the Mortal Elementary, but I
have fond memories of it. Like that first day of
kindergarten for my kids or the great staff and the
teachers that live there and the fierce protective dedicated PTA
moms. And I don't know. I'm just, um, concerned about
the funding. I said he put a he alleviated a
lot of my fears, but there are still some serious
concerns. I mean, right now, according to the budget, Public
Works doesn't have enough money to go clean effectively the
community center every day. And now we're going to give
them a nine acre campus to take care of. How
are we going to pay for that? I'm also worried
about where all the money's going to come from. I
mean, I've read some people are talking about going into
the tapping entire reserve fund. And that doesn't seem like
a wise thing to do with a monster Elninia supposedly
approaching us this winner and with homeless populated Tinder dry
state park on the east side of our city. I
mean, it's a big concern. I live right near there.
Um, I'm pretty sure I know how this vote's going
to go tonight. But the question is ultimately, are we
going to end up spending 500, 000 or 14 million
dollars still is an unessential, unfunded, unbudgeted property that's going
to generate an unknown amount of revenue from an unknown
source. It's your decision tonight. I've seen this happen. 40
over the last 40 years, I've seen something like this
happen numerous times. Some passion group comes in, you know,
representing the majority while the majority's out there distracted just
by life. Um, and then when it hits the fan,
it hits the fan. I mean, it's your choice tonight,
but there are going to be consequences, especially if you
mess with our library. Thank you very much. Good evening.
Courtney Schepler, I think I'll just keep it short and
say I agree with most of what Tim just said.
And I really do appreciate the work that, um, Mr.
Craig has done on the, uh, short term financing arrangement
with the district. So it's, it's one thing to think
about this as the current five million dollar proposal, but
I feel like the conversation always gets lumped in with
and we're going to have this new City Hall. And
that's going to cost this extra, you know, eight plus
million, um, and I think it would really help the
Public to have clear heads about this. If you can
put some bookmarks around what we're really talking about tonight,
what you're committing to and what you're absolutely not committing
to yet until you've got more information that pencils out.
And that's what's been missing. We have this huge potential
expenditure, but we're not seeing how you actually pay for
it and what the rest of that plan look like.
Thank you. Hello, I'm
Janice Peters. I have a different viewpoint on all of
this. I think there is a lot of things that
we, well, first of all, I took the tour the
other day. And I was impressed with the condition of
the property. I thought it was going to be, you
know, moldy and all that stuff. It's in really good
shape. I know the stuff behind the walls that needs
fixing. But we can do that. And eight million dollars
extra, City Hall for a million dollars. It's actually cheap.
And this is a good property already that people love
and could be a wonderful civic center. Which I've hoped
for 10 years on now, I think. Anyway, I think
that what can happen, having seen the condition of the
building, there are certain rental opportunities there, offices could be
rented their. Montessori is already there still paying rent. And
once the consolidation of the city offices, you could have
your police department there, everything. It could save money in
the long run to consolidate all of that together. Um,
what else? We also would have this room available for
rental again. If we use the auditorium over there for
the meetings, this one would now be available for more
activities. We always need conference space. We always need office
space. I've personally looked for both of those things. And
it's a challenge with what we have now available. So
this could be a win - win. I think we
could make enough money on renting things. To cover our
costs as we go along improving everything and end up
with a beautiful Civic center. Thank you.
Sorry Glenn Sellaway followed by Marlus, Mike Pearson.
Good evening, Mayor and Council and staff. Uh, my name
is Glenn Sillaway. I am 25 year resident of Morel
Bay and I'm the president of the Historical Society of
Morro Bay. I want to say we started looking at
the historical society started looking at these buildings seriously, maybe
six years ago whenever the school district first started talking
about redeveloping that property. And the report that came out
of Deloitte that Mr. Cogwin has talked about in his
paper was in the works then. At that time, we
were arguing with them that they should preserve the buildings.
And our interests in doing that has, is long set.
One of the reasons that we developed a historic preservation
ordinance draft for the city six years ago was to
partly preserve these buildings. So we're glad, I'm glad we're
finally getting to it. And I appreciate the effort that
Mr. Cottern has put into putting that process in paper
and to the friends for starting it. The fact is
tonight you are going to make a decision. If you
think about this as kind of like an environmental, uh,
review process, you typically have alternatives. You have two alternatives
in front of you tonight. One is no change. That
would be no. Give us back our 500, 000 dollars
The other one is yes. We're going to have a
change. The thing is that we don't know what that
change is going to be. There is no real plan.
We have a working scenario. It's valuable for a framework,
but you're going to have a lot of work to
do. Luckily, uh, because of our good news on financing
tonight, you have some time. You probably are going to
need quite a bit of it two or three years.
It wouldn't be surprised. I would like to see several
things happen in that planning process. The first one would
be, and I hope this would be fairly simple for
you to do. Put together some kind of document that
would show. Set three minutes. We're doing two minutes. So
I go ahead and finish your comment. Just real quick.
I document that you could produce that would show us
the capital expenditures overall. This plan, this project being part
of many. And let the Public see that as soon
as possible. Because these are opportunity costs. You're going to
have to consider. The second thing is you need a
process going forward that would be acceptable to the community,
uh, in a neutral way to evaluate as we go
forward and learn more about it to the point where
you get to a process or plan that can be
priced. When you can do that, put it to a
vote of the people. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Good
evening. Madam Mayor City Council Member staff. Well, I'm here
as the fiscal conservative because I really care about how
we're going to pay for the property. And while I
really appreciate and thank Mr. Craig for the work he's
done to get a good deal with the school district.
I still have questions about how that deal fits in
with our current budget year and with our future, the
forecast. Because I know I've seen the budget forecast and
it's forecasting, um, deficits. And so you've got to find
a way to pay that money. The other thing I
want to say is that I don't think the City
has to own this property to control it. And if
you think about it, um, historic preservation ordinance application goes
through. It'll be preserved. And that's going to limit the
amount of development and what kind of development can be
done there because that property, and I'd like to know
what the boundaries of that are so that we know
how much more land is available for housing and what
the value of that property is. Because it's going to
decline once we do, uh, get that designation. And it
seems to me that if we worked with the, if
we let the school district. Just keep the property, they
run the risk of finding that developer that you have
to work with because they're still going to be interested
in selling it. And you're still in control because you
control zoning. You control the entitlement process. You control the
final decision of what will go there. And it would
be to me, it would make sense because they're accepting
the risk because you can't really move forward until you
have that, uh, partner. So I do want to thank
everybody who works so hard on the report and the
staff and I'm grateful to have it. And thank you
very much. I have no more speaker slips, public comment
is open on this item. Please come forward. Line up
if you need to. Or whatever we can do to
move it. Good evening, distinguished council staff. Shirley Frazier 30
year resident. I guess the way I'm seeing it as
we're getting this property, which is a valuable piece that's
right in the middle of town, um, for almost half
the cost. And if we go ahead and acquire this,
I believe there precludes us in the future from selling
this property and even making a profit on it, um,
to a developer. We hold the ultimate control on it
that way. Um, more so than what we could do
even with a historic designation, which may preclude development to
one or two buildings, but not the entire site. And
then the site that the city seems, um, again, a
lot of the residents seem very, um, concerned about keeping
the fields and things could easily be developed away. So
it seems like the ultimate control, um, would lie with
us in purchasing it, even though money is tight for
everyone these days, I believe, um, but we're getting absolutely
amazing favorable financial terms for this. And even buying it
at a discount. So I would just ask you to
consider that. And perhaps the, again, I understand fiduciary responsibilities
and being conservative financially. But the total amount of renovations
seems like really a lot, again, considering what is in
there already and what need to be upgraded. So maybe
there is a compromise there too. So you have a
lot to think about, but I think it is a,
um, potentially a very good deal. And we're under the
most favorable terms for it. So thank you for your
diligence and careful consideration.
Good evening council staff and residence in Mor Bay. My
name is Mike Gerson candidate for Mor Obesi City Council.
I had a really hard time wrapping my head around
this deal financially. At first. You know, I like to
see a spreadsheet with data and, uh, return on investment
at the bottom and all that stuff. And I really
wanted to get behind the project. So I picked up
the phone and started calling other members of the community.
And between that and the favorable financing that Mr. Craig
has presented to us tonight, I do see a path
for making the deal work with minimal impact. To our
city's financial reserves. I want to say that my vision
for the Moro Elementary property is to lean into, um,
preserving the open space and making it a great public
park. I'd love to see this City hold a special
meeting specifically to ask the community what they want that
space to become. And personally, I envision a dog park
there. And this is always too low for me. I
envision like a dog park preserving the fields. Um, and
even like a walkway that connects the community center to
the new city hall and creating, uh, civic plaza, something,
I mean, like look at what a task it arrows
done with their City Hall. It's amazing. Um, I don't
believe that sports fields are where the housing belongs. There's
already two potential housing opportunities. Um, we've talked about the
northern parcel at the elementary school for workforce housing. And
if City Hall relocates, uh, using the existing City Hall
property for senior housing. And between those and the favorable
financing, um, I think we can really make this happen.
Thank you very much.
Things always ridiculously high. Okay. All right. Well, you must
have you know me. I'm DRC Castro. I'm a resident
here in Morro Bay. I live here. I work here.
I raise my four kids here and I love living
here. Um, and I'm here to talk on behalf of
Friends of Mor Elementary, which you all know I belong
to. We encourage the City to approve the purchase and
sale agreement of the Mora Elementary site. We believe it
is in the city's best interest to maintain control of
such an important piece of land that sits at the
heart of the community. Converting the use of the 1936
building into a city hall addresses the current City Hall
building that needs additional space and repair. The savings to
Retrofit Moral Elementary versus building a new City Hall alone
could be worth acquiring the site. I would like to
thank the City for their extensive due diligence, the report
tonight and publicly posting the reports. Um, along with the
tours of the site. I feel like the due diligence
reports establishes confidence in the buildings conditions. Um, Moreau Elementary
was first built. 1936 issue of the sun stated one
of my favorite quotes. Citizens will pride themselves and their
foresight. This site is celebrating 90 years of serving the
community in November. And I have no doubt it can
serve our community for the next 90 as well. Thank
you, council, for your consideration in supporting this valuable purchase.
And we urge you to proceed in escrow. So thank
you. Anyone else for Public Common on this item?
I'll be fast. Um, same with Taurus. I'm here to
give my support for 8A and say thank you to
everybody who's worked on this for so long. I've been
paying attention. Um, for quite a while. And it has
been a lot of work. And I think the, many
people in the community that appreciate it. I agree with
many people that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity
for a city, especially when you separate. I know right
now a lot of people are putting together the moving
of City Hall and the property. But when the decision
is just about the property, it's really a no brainer.
I mean, if you bought it one day, the next
day the city already has a lot more value. Um,
when you consider the value of that property in that.
So thank you very much. That's it. Yeah. Mall for
it. Thank you.
Hello counsel staff. May I request three minutes since we're
doing so well? Okay. I'm Judy setting a very grateful
59 year resident of Moral Bay. It is encouraging to
see the amount of community participation, the Moral L site
acquisition is generating. The very thought of acquiring our very
own community civic center is exciting, inspiring and symbolizes and
investment in the growth, unity and future of our community.
I believe in each of you. And your ability to
make this sound real estate venture happen. The historic site
is valuable. I also believe in the value of remaining
debt - free. We have the means to make this
purchase independently while it was generous of the school district
to offer five years of salary financing. We can essentially
lend the money to ourselves and preserve the interest savings
for a rainy day. Moving our library has been of
concern. I personally would like to keep the library land
and mural intact. I need to say that I'm speaking
independently of friends of moral and mentary. Regarding housing after
discussions with a successful retired developer, I have changed my
stand. We suggested that the he suggested that the entire
site be dedicated to community service. As that would create
a fair scenario. I now believe that new housing development
can be located on other city - owned properties. To
maintain control of building codes, the city should consider 99
- year leases for these future housing properties. It has
been said that many community members are basing this purchase
decision on emotions. They are correct. We love this historic
site and we will go to the ends of the
earth to keep it as our own. Thank you to
everyone who has worked to move this valuable project forward
and a special thanks to Mr. Cauldron for his hard
work. And if you did put in time that gave
us the benefit of a break in price, thank you
so much.
Good evening. Um, Debbie High Phil. I've lived here 25
years. Um, I think this land is a good deal.
I think we've got lots of options. If worst case
scenarios happen, um, we're getting it below cost. And we
can always sell if, you know, it was the worst
case scenario. I would like to also talk about the
programs that are presently at the site. It is the
only Montessori that is a public Montessori, which in the
whole county. That I'm aware of. And as an education
who has gone through the monastery training as well as
Public School, it's exceptional. And I just would really love
to see the programs that are there right now. Stay
there. And I definitely would like to see that beautiful
field preserved, at least for the most part, because it's
well used. Thank you.
I'll talk fast. Well, we think about buying, when we
think about proceeding with buying the property, we should ask
ourselves the questions. What consequences are there from not buying
the property? For instance, replace our only, how much would
it cost to replace our only soccer fields in Morro
Bay. What is the cost of repairing deferred maintenance mentioned
in the due diligence report on the current City Hall
or to create additional space for. Outgrown city offices and
departments? What is the cost of a housing developer building
high density housing in which state overrides local. Decisions on
development in which 20 percent of wave parking requirements? What
is the cost of the strain of Public Services such
as fire and police. Street congestion and parking nightmare. What
is the cost of losing tuition fee from the Montessori
School that serves approximately 60 families? So tonight I ask
you. To please approve moving forward with this purchase. Thank
you very much.
Anyone else for Public comment on this item. Ray, are
there any raised hands in the queue. Yes, sir. Raised
hands in the queue. Let's see, we have Jamie Motley.
Go ahead.
Hello. Um. I'm actually Jamie Motley's husband. This is Nicholas
Cueva. Resident of Morro Bay, father of a student at
the Montessori School there. And hopefully a father of multiple
more children that go there. So we support the City
purchasing the property and we think it's important for the
community as a historical site. For City offices for the
school and for the sports fields. Um, thank you very
much for your time. And I second that Jamie Motley,
thank you so much. Okay. We have another person under
the name Zoom user. Go ahead. Hello. My name
is Tondi Bansi Stapleton and I am a longtime resident.
Of Morbe currently raising my three children here. And I
very much want to think City Council for recognizing the
community's desire to keep in utilize this property. I strongly
support the City acquiring the property. I feel it's important
as a historical site and that it would be great
for city offices. Um, I would love to see the
sports fields continue to be available for use by our
community. And for the school to remain there as well.
Um, please continue to move forward with the purchase. Thank
you. There are no more raised hands in the queue.
Thank you, right. Anyone else before Close Public comment. Seeing
none, our close public comment and bring it back to
council, Mr. Kreg, is there anything you want to address
from Public comment. Either one. I don't believe so. We'll
answer any questions. Um, so before we move into deliberations,
I'll see if the other questions from council. Council Member
Edwards. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. If I may, for Mr.
Singwald, um, can you please just clarify that we don't
need to own the property in order to control it
with regard to zoning land use, et cetera. Thank you.
So good evening, Mayor Council. I'm Ehrliching Wald, community development
director, study of Mor Bay. So if the city does
not purchase the property, a private developer, um, seeking to
develop the property and or, um, potentially demolished or significantly
alter. The schoolhouse building, um, would have to obtain a
coastal development permit. And very likely a conditional use permit
from the City of Morro Bay. Those entitlements would trigger
environmental review. Under the California of our reminder quality Act.
Or CEQA. One of the questions that CEQA asks is
whether the proposed development would impact a historic resource on
a state or federal registry. Or a resource that is
eligible for listing as a historic resource. We know from
the chattel report that the schoolhouse is eligible for listing.
Therefore, under SEQA, this development would require an environmental impact
report. The planning commission would be the review authority, um,
to evaluate and review a discretionary coastal development permit and
also to certify the environmental impact report. Um, and then
of course the Planning Commission's decision will be appealable to
the City Council. Since, um, in this scenario, uh, EIR
would be required in order for the City to approve
a development project that would impact a historic resource or
resource eligible for listing as an eligible for listing. Would
require the City, again, the planning commission or the council
on appeal to make findings overwriting consideration that the, uh,
benefits of the project outweigh the historic significance of the
schoolhouse building. So that's the long wind and answer. There's
short answer is, um, there would be a process available.
For potentially for, um, demolition or altering the Schoolhouse building,
but it would require an EIR. And it would be
up to the city would have full discretion of that
process. Thank you, Mr. Singwald. Um, if I
may, uh, get some clarification from Mr. Caudran. We're, we're
having multiple, uh, pieces of property and parcels, uh, in
this working scenario equation, uh, with regard to the housing
component mentioned, even there was mentioned, uh, the library parcel.
I am hearing this evening that there is, uh, both
through correspondence and this evening there is concern, obviously over
the library and being mentioned in the report. Although I
understand why it was in terms of available parcels that
we own. But I think if you could just give
clarification more to as where the housing, the 100 to
200 units that were mentioned in the scenario, um, could
be placed. That might be helpful. Sure. And, uh, the
process did not involve a site planning exercise to fully
program the property in terms of, um, how many units
could be developed in any particular location? Um, however, based
on the zoning and the acreage, um, the number of
units, uh, included in the study is allowable. Um, the
idea of using the City Hall property and then the
library property is mentioned as well. Um, really came out
of the community meetings. And I think that, um, after
the, in the second community, meaning what we proposed were
alternatives that showed, um, different levels of preservation of the
sports fields because the community had expressed that concern. And
then, um, you'll notice that the final report doesn't really
hazard a guess as to, it doesn't suggest exactly where
those units should go or how much of the fields
would or would not be preserved. Um, but the, um,
ability to develop 200 units on the moral elementary property
and on the City Hall site would necessitate, you know,
would make less sports fields, less open space available in
the future. That space would be needed for those 200
units. And so, um, there would have to be other
properties where those units would be located. And please let
me know if that answers your question or if I
can provide. No, it does. Thank you, Mr. Caudran, because
I think that, uh, it speaks to just one concern
that I'm having this evening, um, that I all get
to. Also, uh, City manager Craig really appreciate you giving
us this information tonight. It's a lot to digest. Um,
I have to say, um, and I am concerned how
this or any loan, um, that pertains to a project
of any kind that has not been put into our
fiscal 26, 27 budget. Would at all or how it
would affect us moving forward with our other, um, projects
and things that we have going on in the city
of which is a lot. Um, but I want to
say that that's a, that seems to be a much
more favorable, um, idea than some that I've heard floating
out there. Um, but I'll speak to that in a
second. Um, just to clarification, I, I know we are
saying that this would be uniting our, our, our, um,
our departments, but I think somebody mentioned, and I may
have heard it wrong. So I apologize. Was the police
department mentioned because I did not believe that was something
that would fit into this, um, frame. Counselor. That was
not considered in our, uh, scenario under which we asked
just for if the possible, um, Departments that are currently
in City Hall and the annex building next door, uh,
HR that is temporary located in the Chamber of Commerce
building and visit Mor Bay Building. That is not include
any movement of the, um, recreation division, uh, the police
department or the fire department staff or the Harbor Department
staff. All other staff. Or the, uh, maintenance division that's
currently in the courtyard down on 41. So it's only
City Hall staff that are located in the main buildings
of City Hall and environs around there. I hope that
makes sense. It does. I appreciate clarification because I think
this is being framed as it's all under one roof.
And that's not really the case in my opinion. So
I just wanted to have that clarify. Um, thank you.
That's, that's my questions for now. Questions. I'm just Councilmember
Lefay. No more questions. Um. We will begin comments and
deliberation. I'm going to just start off with a few
couple things. Difficult to have capital expenditures. Scenario when we
don't know yet what the plan is. I think as
far as that goes for me, I'm not interested in
the library building being any part of change in use
there and being factored in. What I would consider is
the, um, modular that our fire department used to be
housed in temporarily while we built our fire station, um,
that we've just recently moved one of our departments into
because we've outgrown the space at City Hall as a
potential piece of the element. And potentially, maybe you take
a few parking spots or something from that side of
the library. That would be about the extent of a
library impact for me personally that I would see. But
that could, um, open up an opportunity for some housing
structures there too. We didn't really factor that in. But
I look at it as a district kind of in
that whole area and what do we own and what
can we fit in? That being said, um, funding. I
see revenue stream potential from the teen center, which is
for sale. And I believe we're getting our commercial realtor
here shortly that'll be looking at our city properties. That
piece of property where the modular is from the old
fire station that's currently housing a few business, the chambered
a few things. Also our market street property. We've been
waiting for the waterfront master plan to move into its
final phases. Um, and kind of paused that, but there's
an opportunity to move forward with the sale of that.
So if you parlay those together, um, we get pretty
close to that purchase price. I think having it out
three years allows us to have an opportunity to look
at other revenue streams. If the potential grants, we can
apply for. I personally have zero desire to touch our
reserves at all, um, as someone said, we have to
be diligent about what the weather could be this year
with the potential El Nino and what that could incur.
So, so the, I see this project as phases, to
council member Edwards comment about the police department. It was
not factored in nor was the maintenance or the other
departments, but I do see the potential on a 10
acre site to have a future in a phase where
there might be the police department located, relocated out of
that little tiny building they're in that they're bursting at
the seams also. But I think that this is a
phased approach to what all those things will be with
community input and hopefully, you know, maybe a blue ribbon
committee or something put together with, um. Semi - professional,
professional people who, who have experience in these things, um,
that can, can shed some light on how to move
that project forward with some scenarios for community use. This
is not, and correct me if I'm saying it wrong,
Mr. Craig, this is not taking any money from any
capital projects whatsoever that we have currently funded. I know
we have approximately four million dollars going to streets. It's
still going to streets. This doesn't detract from that as
far as I'm concerned. It might not add funding, but
this is, um, is spread out at two percent, which
is pretty favorable. So I'm going to stop right there
and let my colleagues, um, have their comments and then
I'll finish up later and I'll start down on my
right with council member Lefe. Yes. Uh, thank you Mayor.
You know, this is a pretty simple decision for me.
I started working on this with Council Member Landrom about
a year and a half ago. We're on the subcommittee.
And we've met with developers. We've met wood. People self
help. Um, I'm looking at it as a purchase of
5. 3 million dollars period right now. And with the
favorable financing, um, this is a no brainer. I mean,
this is an opportunity, a legacy that we would be
foolish to pass up as far as I'm concerned. I
bought, you know, probably eight pieces of property here in
Moral Bay. And I buy my properties based on really
what the universe tells me on that particular site. I
know you're probably being a little weird, but I've walked
that site many times. And the first time I did
walk on it, which was just a year and a
half ago, it just had a special meaning, a special
place. And that's what we could achieve here. We have
a blank sheet of paper. Weather City Hall moves in
there or not. Um, I'm not going to tell you
that it's going to happen. I think the, um, due
diligence report was really just to tell us that what
we're buying here and to give us up here an
opportunity to make sure that if we do purchase this
property tonight, that it's really a no risk on us.
And it's not a financial burden for the city or
the citizens. So, I mean, it's pretty simple for me.
I mean, I'm already in favor of making that decision
to purchase this site for 5. 3 million. Yes. Um,
council member Le Fay and I started, when we started
working on this, um, I want to thank friends and
Morro Elementary for all their work on this project. And
when we first started this, they weren't even created yet.
They weren't even a nonprofit. And, um, the trajectory to
get them there, we were looking for, um, support in
trying to get the building because we felt, as council
member Le Fay said when he viewed the property, um,
he felt that it was, you know, it's just gives
you such a sense of place when you're on the
property and you're looking at the school. And I think
he saw, I'm speaking for you, but I think he
can, he can tell me if I'm wrong. But I
think he just realized that that needed to be protected
and saved. And so, um, to get that property, um,
deemed historic, um, we naturally went to the historical society
of Morel Bay and asked them if they would sponsor
this to, to be, you know, deemed historic. And, um,
unfortunately they were unable to do that. But it was
a blessing in disguise because then Friends of Morro Elementary
formed, um, in a really quick way. And, um, got
to work. And they are moving towards having that property
certified historic, which as we see in the due diligence
report saves money on, on the property on any renovations
and work done on the property. So I think, um,
I really want to thank them. And I call out
the enormous effort that they have put in into all
of this. And, you know, we're, we're always, you know,
people travel, I'm sure many of us in this room
go to Europe and to, um, countries like that, that
value old, old buildings. And, um, I, I think that
this is such a step in the right direction for
Morbay in a really big deal. Um, I, I, um,
I know that there's, you know, if we buy the
property and we still have time to assess what we
can do there, but there's just tonight I've heard all
different kinds of options for revenue creation. And the brainstorming
as a community, I think we can come up with
ways to make this happen. I think that the, you
know, I hear really loudly that the, uh, the open
space is important to the community. I know that housing
is important. I think that there can be a mix
of all of those things within this project. And I
think the way I see it is that it can
be a project and something that we can all be
proud of here in Moro Bay. Thank you, Council Member.
Pro Tim. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have to say,
um. I am, I'm just humbled to be sitting up
here tonight. And Bill privileged to be part of making
this decision. One of five council members on behalf of
all the residents. It's a big decision and it's not
something that I've taken lightly. It's not something that staff,
uh, has taken lightly. I don't think anyone in the
community has taken this decision lightly. We put a lot
of, uh, effort and thought and passion into it. Um,
that said, I can tell you, uh, easily and I
echo a lot of what my colleagues have said. I
support moving forward with the purchase of the property. And
I wrote down a few comments to make sure that
I'm conveying what I want to acquiring this site is
already an adopted city goal. And the purpose of the
due diligence process was to answer really a straightforward question.
Is there anything about the condition title environmental status historic
constraints or regulatory framework that should cause us to walk
away. Based on the work that has been completed. I
did not believe there is. The buildings are fundamentally sound.
No recognized environmental conditions were identified no title issue has
been found that would prevent the cities use of the
property and no regulatory obstacle has been identified that would
preclude moving forward. We have done our due diligence and
the report did exactly what it was set out to
do. Just as importantly today is not a decision on
a final City Hall plan housing density open space configuration
library plans or any other specific future use. Those decisions
come later with robust public input. The financial questions, of
course, are important, our paramount. Staff has been clear that
funding options will come back to the council before closing.
They've been working on it consistently ever since we gave
them this direction as a city goal. And tonight was
more evidence of that hard and diligent work. So for
me, the due diligence has done what it was intended
to do. It has shown that this is a viable
property and a significant long - term opportunity for more
obey. I believe the responsible decision today is to preserve
that opportunity and move forward with the acquisition. This obviously
is a once in, well, we say once in a
lifetime, it's once an eternity, because if we don't seeze
this opportunity, it's gone and it's gone forever. So I'm
proud. I believe I know the direction or I hope
the direction that this vote is going to go tonight,
uh, if we decide to acquire the property, I want
to say that I am proud to be sitting on
a council that has the courage and the vision to
move this acquisition forward. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member
Edwards. Yeah. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm a
creative person. I'm a lover of, um, old buildings reuse
repurposing the creative aspect of this project is absolutely exciting.
The idea, even if it's the working scenario, a civic
center that is inclusive of everyone, um, staff wise, that
is brilliant. I just want to give a little bit
of peppering here tonight of just some thoughts that I'd
like everybody to go away with. Um, my eyes are
wide open on this. And for me, it actually isn't
that simple of a decision. Um, we were here, brought
here tonight to determine whether or not we continue to
perceive with the closing escrow and completing the purchase of
Moreau Bay Elementary. By accepting the due diligence report, it's
suitability findings. We're presented with the following. As Re mentioned,
um, by ProTem Eccles. The one that stands out to
me is totally investment that significant and partially offset by
value streams identified leaving remaining funding requirements. This leaves me
with questions and concerns. Is the balance of consideration a
suitable moving forward. Part of my job as an elected
is to approve our annual budget. This project or this
working scenario was not budgeted in. Our annual budget and
represent the community and its best interests, both establishing goals,
long and short term and being fiscally responsible in delivering
upon them with the help of our staff. This council's
goals that were set forth were three, not just this
one. One economic vitality, two infrastructure resiliency three, Morro Bay
Elementary. It's important that I refer to this because nowhere
in our goals set forth should we necessarily have to
forgo one for another. It jeopardizes the ability potentially for
us to pursue, um, other things that we need to
finance with regard to our economic vitality and infrastructure resiliency
goals. Perhaps we may be asked to prioritize those. Base
our decisions on the economic climate and our budget balancing
reality. I think it seems clear that most of us
don't want to dip into our reserves, which are our
emergency funds. And this is in reality not an emergency.
Can we rationalize tonight with little time to digest the
questions that we were given through correspondence and new financing
information and only one site plan alternative to opine on.
We've been unable to identify significant new revenue streams to
compensate for our increased expenses and flattening out revenues. A
seriously critical component of our first goal of economic vitality.
We've looked at our reserve policy, as I said before,
and to my knowledge, um, there was no, uh, desire
to, to lower those and use that money. Although I'm
happy we're getting to our five year capital improvement plan
soon, very soon. I'm very happy about that. How does
the purchase of this school affect our second goal of
infrastructure resiliency? There is a component of this goal that
I want to read here to include regular maintenance to
prolong the life of existing infrastructure while implementing and prioritizing
new ones. Staff has worked incredibly hard to get us
here tonight to assist in our being able to deliver
on our goals. This one being more obey elementary. The
status update attached to consent agenda item 60 confirms this.
I applaud them. Before I could deliver a vote on
tonight's item, I needed to state all of this for
the record and for the Public to hear. Because I've
been struggling with this fiduciary obligation. And of course this
is a wonderful opportunity that may come to fruition if
we moved with a swift timeline with all the moving
parts in play and being confident that this community can
come together in agreement that the housing element is needed
and necessary for this to happen. Thank you. Can I
make a motion. Can I finish? Oh yeah. Thank you.
I was just starting. I wanted to be the last.
Thank you, council member Edwards. Um, I want to, um,
share my gratitude also for Council Member Landerman Le Fay
for their diligent work over this in the last year.
And our city manager, um, who brought this project, this
goal home in the first place, uh, in a short
time that he was here moved this forward, um, and
was able to negotiate a deal with the district that
the council and the community found acceptable and has gone
to the next step to find an option for funding.
Without touching our city funds right now, um, someone talked
about being a fiscal conservative. I think I consider myself
a fiscal conservative. I'm self - employed. The others up
here, we work very hard and are very cognitive of
what our Reserve Funds are. They're the highest they've ever
been. And we watch that piggy bank because it's your
money. The decisions we make, we always weigh that in.
It's your money. We're residents also when it costs you.
It costs us. So, so we're very conscious and very
cognitive. I think of it every time that I look
at 120 million dollar sewer that was funded that's now
at 100, almost 70 million that was done by our
predecessor. So I'm very aware of what that can be
and that cost and that burden to the community we
see it constantly as the Project can't even close out
at this point. Um, so, so I take it very
seriously. I look at a task at Arrow City Hall
when I go over there for meetings or to visit.
And it's the most beautiful building. And it connects that
downtown area with their park and the opportunity for moral
elementary to be that space. To be that building for
us is huge. I didn't go to school there. But
my husband did. My kids did. So yeah, I have
an emotional attachment and I'm not making this vote based
on those emotions. I make in it based on this
legacy idea of what that property can be for this
community and what it means to the community moving forward,
the opportunities are endless. And what we can do there.
And I agree. I hope we can coalesce and come
to decisions that we can all agree on or best
we can do to agree on. And move forward. And
the opportunity and the considerations, which again, are all conversations
about City Hall being there is because that's allowed us
an opportunity to utilize that space. For housing. It allows
us the opportunity to not spend the money that would
need to be reinvested into those buildings. Public works for
people who don't know is in part of modular. I
mean, it's, it's not even a real complete building. Sorry,
Irland. But to maintain those and to consider upgrading those
will cost millions of dollars. So that offsets some of
what it's going to cost us to make that move.
So I see those things as finding a balance as
you move forward to weigh those out. The grants and
the other opportunities. But, um, I feel that this opportunity
will rival any other city hall. And that's my comments.
We will, um, certainly be back soon. What future meetings
for financial planning and discussions so that the community can
be part of that. I think we're very fortunate to
have this opportunity. And I would just say that, um,
there's a comment about not having this in the budget
based on what the city manager is telling me we
don't have to address it for the next year because
they're not requesting any funding. So, um, it gives us
time to move forward and how to manage that and
what that looks like. But it's not putting us at
a deficit of our budget that we've already approved this
year. So, um, any other comments before we move into
a motion. Member Landry clarification on the motion or do
you know? Is it the second? I need to do
all three of them. Well, the motion's going to be
one, two, and you have to do three A. Okay.
And then I move that we receive and accept the
Morro Elementary School site due diligence report and make a
determination pursuant to Section 1. 5 of the purchase and
sale agreement, whether to find the property suitable for city
purposes and confirm the city's intent to purchase the property
and proceed through the due diligence period. And based on
the determination provide direction to staff on next steps, which
are proceed to close of escrow and return to the
city council in October with the final terms of the
purchase, including the potential for seller financing. Do I have
a second? I'll second that. I'm emotional. Second. Mr. Steck.
NFA may real quickly Bryce Axety attorney here to confirm
that item two we should delete the word weather. And
it will make, it said, if you make a determinant,
determination pursuant to Section 1. 5. Of the purchase and
zero agreement to find. Can you strike that weather? Just
wanted it clear for the record. Yep. You agree. I'm
the second degree. I'll second. I agree. Okay. Thank you.
Council Member Landrum. Yes. Councilmember Le Fay. Yes. Council Member
Edwards. No. Council member Eccles. Yes. And Mayor Wixom. Yes.
Motion carries 4 - 1.
Thank you everyone. And we look forward to the continued
participation as we move into the next phases. And, uh,
I know Mr. Craig will have some information available on
what that looks like any future agenda items. With that,
we are adjourned. Thank you.