Bikeway and Walkability Committee Meeting Summary

ANOTHER GOOD MEETING
Last night I attended the Costa Mesa Bikeway & Walkability Committee meeting - my first in many months - and found the Senior Center lobby in full Christmas mode.  I saw a few new faces but the same focused attention to business as I've observed in the past.  Most of the members attended - Ralph Taboarda, Cynthia McDonald, Russell Baldwin, Cindy Brenneman, Leah Ersoylu, Maggie Gallagher, Rick Huffman, Jim Kane, Jim Kerins, Andrea Marr, Flo Martin, John Merrill and Chamber of Commerce Liaison Brent Stoll were in the room,  with only Jim Erickson, Brian Valles and Newport Mesa Unified School District Liaison Dr. Kirk Bauermeister absent.  Council Liaison Katrina Foley attended this meeting, too, and provided some momentum to the process.

 FLO ON MERRIMAC WAY DANGER
During member comments Flo Martin presented a slide show depicting what she described as a dangerous situation on Merrimac Way - the same presentation she made at the recent City Council meeting.  The combination of pending major construction, narrowed roadways and lack of sidewalk space is, as she put it, "An Accident Waiting To Happen" - she used a slide for emphasis.  Member Russell Baldwin affirmed her opinion.

Cindy Brenneman opined that fallen pine needles from the recent wind event are making many of the existing bike paths treacherous.

Jim Kerins, who arrived late,  inquired about the status of the 19th Street Bike Trail project, since it was the subject of discussion at the recent council meeting.

Maggie Gallagher observed that the lights are STILL not working along the new Harbor Blvd. bike path.

Jim Kane also chimed in on the Merrimac Way situation and asked for an update on the 19th Street Bike Trail.  He also wondered about the crossing on Placentia at Fairview Park - work seems to have stopped.  Acting Public Services Director Raja Sethruaman explained that there had been a delay.  Later he said something about the contractor defaulting and the bonding company was now involved and a new contractor will soon finish the project.  Kane also spoke briefly about a Sustainability Seminar and will provide handouts and business cards dealing with bike racks.  He was also concerned about the condition of the pavement on the Harbor Cornerstone Trail.  Foley opined that perhaps the contractor could repair it under a warranty.

RALPH WAS ANGRY TUESDAY
Chairman Ralph Taboada told the group that Copenhagen recently passed a law that 50% of the communters must do so by bicycle.  He then addressed the council meeting discussion of the 19th Street Bike Trail, citing that he left the meeting angry because he was forbidden to address the issue as a commentor because he got his card in late.  He had wanted to set the record straight that their committee had NOT discussed the environmental portion of the planned trail.  Sethruaman had been charged with contacting the relevant agencies to determine whether our current plan is satisfactory before spending any more money on it.  That has not yet happened.

MORE ON THE 19TH STREET TRAIL
Rick Huffman complained that they didn't have enough notice on that item because it was a Consent Calendar item - something that might not be discussed at all.

Sethuraman gave a history of that project, observing it went way, way back - perhaps as far back as 2005.  He said that Federal grants are involved and that Cal Trans, US Fish and Wildlife and other agencies are also involved.  The discussion went on and on and on and it was left that Sethuraman will be addressing the issues with "resource agencies" and report back to the council before proceeding, even though the council approved this part of the project.

PRIORITIZATION OF PROJECTS
They approved the minutes of the prior meeting then went about the lengthy process of trying to prioritize their projects.  Foley played an active role in this process and, in fact, good progress was made toward winnowing down their long list if potential projects with an eye toward obtaining budget funding for the most important.  They defined specific areas where individual projects contribute to a larger plan.  It was an interesting process to watch because this group continues to be tightly focused and collaborative.

GIVING BICYCLERS SPACE
In future meetings members may hear solutions on how to make the public more aware of the need to provide bicyclers 3 feet clearance - state law requires it.  In the meantime, Foley suggested Public Information Officer Tony Dodero should write something for public consumption on the issue that could be "blasted" out to the school district.

Regarding the cost to produce a completed Bike Map for the General Plan, Sethuraman indicated the latest bid they received was $50,000, and that he's going to ask for more bids, since that number seems high.

ARLINGTON DRIVE PROJECT
The committee was advised, in response to a question, that the Arlington Drive Project MUST be completed by June, and that it's well underway.

NO JANUARY MEETING
There will be no meeting in January due to the holiday closure of City Hall and the fact that their meeting would have been scheduled on January 3rd, with insufficient time for any kind of staff preparation.  It is presumed the next meeting will be the first week of February.  The meeting adjourned shortly after 8:30.

STAFF SHORTAGES IN PUBLIC SERVICES
A side note:  it was mentioned again that there are about a dozen vacancies in the staff ranks in the Public Services organization.  This shortage cannot help but create slowdowns throughout the management of projects.  Human Resources is working hard to fill those slots and contractors are being used in the meantime.

FOUR OF US ATTENDED
So, I'm glad I was among the four attendees at this meeting.  I missed watching them work and appreciate the progress they've been making and am looking forward to more good works next year.  Kudos to all.

More Slow, Steady Progress Made By Bike Committee

LIP-READING MY WAY THROUGH THE MEETING
The Costa Mesa Bikeways and Walkability Committee met again Wednesday night and continued to make progress toward carefully crafting their goals, objectives and policies.  And, this time a few members of the community showed up at the Senior Center to watch!  As many as eight members sat in the cheap seats and watched the deliberations.  I say "watched" because it's difficult to hear the discussions due to the lack of amplified sound.  Beth Refakes told the committee that the Orange County Fair Board approved the plans for a Bioswale along Arlington Drive at their last meeting.  Parks and Recreation Commissioner Bob Graham bemoaned the lack of bicycle etiquette at Fairview Park.  Former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Dean Abernathy addressed the possibility of working with the Fair Board on a more bicycle friendly venue.  A young woman who didn't identify herself suggested that the impounded bicycles be used as bicycle safety inducements and then be given to children in need who attend the classes.

MOST MEMBERS ATTENDED
Members Kathleen Brown, Tony Capitelli, Dr. Kirk Bauermeister and Brent Stoll were absent and Melissa Duggan represented the consulting firm, Stantec, at the meeting.  Consultant Rock Miller was out of town.

PLOWING FORWARD
As I said above, the committee methodically plowed through the framework they created in a previous meeting, further refining and defining objectives and policies of the goals they had established.  The optimism of Chairman Ralph Taboada of making more progress didn't turn out the way he'd hoped, but they did cover a lot of ground, nonetheless.  My estimate is that they are about half-way through the process at this point.  Their discussions continue to be focused and cordial, with a true spirit of teamwork.  Most members seem to have done their homework and make significant individual contributions to the process.  While the process is sometimes tedious, it's a pleasure to watch them work.

GOOD STAFF SUPPORT
Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz, Transportation Services Manager Raja Sethuraman and their team continued to provide guidance and technical expertise to the group.  Councilwoman Katrina Foley, the council liaison for this committee, attended this meeting and gently nudged it back on course.

FLO'S SHOW
Near the end of the meeting member Flo Martin gave a brief slide presentation to demonstrate the deplorable lack of bike racks throughout the city.  She and her husband are regular tandem bicyclers around town and are familiar with most parks and other areas where bike racks are needed.  She showed a slide with a segment of the municipal code dealing with bike racks, then showed a few recent slides to illustrate how those rules are consistently being violated.

BACK TO THE REGULAR SCHEDULE
Next week the committee returns to the regular meeting schedule - the first and third Wednesday of the month.  It will be a quick turnaround when they meet on November 4th, also at the Senior Center and also at 6:30 p.m.  In addition to completing more segments of their goals and objectives, there will be presentations by Stantec and by a representative of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA).  There is no television coverage of these meetings - so if you want to see them in action you must visit the Senior Center.  Of course, you can always read about the meetings here - always a good choice, but you miss the "excitement". 

Budget Study Session Draws A Crowd

VENUE CHANGE A GOOD MOVE
The Budget Study Session held by the Costa Mesa City Council Tuesday evening drew a pretty good crowd for a change.  It's a good thing technological complications forced the change of venue from Conference Room 1A to the Council Chambers because there would not have been enough seats to accommodate the more than three dozen residents, staffers and the council members in the conference room.

LIVE AND IN LIVING COLOR...

Because of the venue change the meeting was televised and streamed live by CMTV.  It will also be available for later viewing, both on CMTV and via the streaming video system at the City web site.   If you did not already watch it and are interested I suggest you use the streaming video and just skip around to the segments that you want more information about.

FEW SPEAKERS
Rookie Mayor Steve Mensinger began the meeting promptly at 5:00 p.m. and opened it up to Public Comments.  In the Study Session environment speakers only get 2 minutes, and the total time allotted for all speakers is only 15 minutes.  As it turned out, that was not a problem.  Only three people stood to address the council.

Flo Martin, long time resident, educator and former Daily Pilot columnist reminded the council of the need for intelligent debt management, citing her personal experience with mortgages, car purchase, etc.  She also reminded the council that Newport Beach has made a dramatic, meaningful move to rein-in their pension debt with a 19 year plan to pay it down and will likely save $23 million in the process.  She suggested Costa Mesa seriously consider doing something similar.

Mary Spadoni told the council about a new program the Newport Beach Police Department has that

is interconnected with the Nixle notification program that links directly to police department data bases, and suggested Costa Mesa look into it - and provided council members with literature on the program.  She also concurred with Martin about the pension situation, and mentioned that Irvine was implementing a similar plan with even greater expected results.

Tamar Goldmann was the final speaker and echoed both Martin and Spadoni regarding the pension situation and suggested that more budget dollars should be put toward police hiring.

HATCH HANDS OFF TO DUNIVENT
At precisely 5:07 p.m. CEO Tom Hatch then kicked off the agenda - two items dealing with the current budget - and then handed it off to Interim Finance Director Steve Dunivent.  A reminder here - the council cannot vote on anything during a study session.  They can only give direction to the staff on issues.

Dunivent began with the first item on the agenda, HERE, the discussion of Financial and Budget Policies as recommended by the staff and the Finance Advisory Committee.  I'm not going to quote him on this plan - the staff report has plenty of good information and the detailed discussion of the policies is contained in this 7 page attachment, HERE.  He discussed the following:

• General Revenue Management
• Operating & Captial budgets
• General Expenditure Management
• Fund Balance/Reserves/Cash Requirements
• Debt Management

POSSIBLE ADOPTION OF POLICIES NEXT WEEK
The discussion on this segment, the back-and-forth between Dunivent, Hatch and the council members, took about 30 minutes.  Katrina Foley arrived near the end of this segment.  The staff will return at the next council meeting on the 17th with the policies fine-tuned and ready for the council to consider for adoption.

A PAUSE, THEN THE BUDGET REVIEW
As an aside, at this point Mensinger seemed to be having trouble following what was going on - he was ready to adjourn the meeting, but was reminded that the best was yet to come - the Mid-Year Budget Review.  Hatch again deferred to Dunivent for this discussion.  You can read the staff report for this segment, including the links to the seven (7) attachments, HERE.


FUND BALANCE, VARIANCES, AND MORE
The initial discussion got a little convoluted, trying to explain fund balance, variances, etc.  The upshot was that we are projected to have a little over $9.6 million in the fund balance due to greater revenues than anticipated and fewer expenditures.  Of that amount, $3.2 million represent "carryovers and encumbrances" - monies already earmarked.  For the remainder of about $6.3 million the staff recommended $2 million placed in reserves; $4 million in Capital Projects and the remainder in unassigned fund balance, where it could be spent later.

PRIORITIES
The Finance Advisory Committee had reviewed the draft and the draft policies.  They recommended the following priorities for use of the net budget variance:

• First priority should be to increase reserves if reserves are below target.
• Second priority should be to assess the prepayment and accelerated payoff of debt.
• Third priority should be to allocate additional funds to capital facilities.

During the discussion it was pointed out by Foley, who had attended the meeting where this was discussed, that the "debt" discussed above was NOT the unfunded liability debt.  It was also clear from the discussion, particularly by Gary Monahan, that he didn't necessarily agree with those priorities.  That particular discussion next week should be very interesting.

HATCH'S SLUSH FUND
You might find Attachment 6, HERE, of interest.  This is titled "2014-15 Allocation of General Fund Contingency Account as of 01-27-15".  This is a list of the money spent out of CEO Hatch's Contingency Fund - the $1 million the current council has been giving him to spend as he (and they) see fit - generally without a subsequent vote of the council.

As you scroll down the list you'll find some interesting numbers.  Foley, for example, wondered about the $42,000 and $19,000 spent on mailers and mailing to promote the Charter last year.  She wondered if the proponents of that failed ballot measure might want to hold a fund raiser to reimburse the city for the costs.  I think she was asking that tongue-in-cheek, but I'm not sure.

There was also a discussion of the $47,000 for portable field lights and snack bar improvements (for the Jack Hammett Sports Complex Snack Bar)  It was an interesting exercise.

90 MINUTES AND GONE
Finally, just after 6:30 Mensinger got it right and adjourned the meeting to the next council meeting on Tuesday.  Watch the video or the televised discussion on CMTV.  The replay is not yet on the schedule, but you can check HERE to find it later.  You can look for the streaming video on-demand HERE.