MINUTES

JANUARY 9, 2006 MEETING OF THE

CITY OF SANTA MONICA

SUSTAINABLE CITY TASK FORCE

 

The meeting was convened at 7:10 p.m.  SCTF members in attendance: Sandy Grant, Jim Ries, Mark Olson, Roe Johnston, Genevieve Bertone, Dennis Woods, Leonard Mitchell, Euri DeOliveira and Christina Erickson.  City staff: Dean Kubani and Brian Johnson.  Others: Council Member Pam O’Connor, Mark Gold, Louisa Fish and Jerry Rubin

 

Public Input on Agenda Items

Louisa Fish discussed the draft recommendations as part of the SCP Implementation Plan and suggested that the SCTF be more concrete in its recommendations to support its funding request.

 

City Environmental Programs Manager Brian Johnson announced his retirement at the end of the month and thanked the Task Force members for their hard work and wished the group well in its future efforts.

 

Jerry Rubin noted that City Council will be addressing an item on community gardens at its January 10, 2006 meeting and suggested that SCTF members attend and support the item because the gardens contribute to the sustainability of the community.

 

Approval of Minutes from the November 14 and December 12, 2005 Meetings

The minutes were unanimously approved by a vote of 6 – 0.  Genevieve Bertone abstained because she did not attend the December meeting.  Dennis Woods and Christina Erickson were not in attendance at the time of the vote on the minutes.

 

Discussion and Recommendations Regarding SCTF Composition, Policies and Member Responsibilities

 

SCTF members reviewed meeting attendance records for the past 19 months and discussed the urgent need for better consistency with member attendance at monthly meetings.  Euri DeOliveira announced his resignation from the SCTF due to new work responsibilities and an impending move to Boston.  He noted that he will remain on the SCTF until a replacement is appointed by City Council.  Sandy Grant noted that Terry O’Day had offered to resign his position in the past due to his inability to attend meetings.  The SCTF recommended that she contact him to determine if he still wished to resign but also to request that he continue to participate as his time allows as the Planning Commission liaison to the SCTF.  Staff will begin the process to fill the vacant position(s) once Terry has responded.

 

After discussion the SCTF unanimously approved the following motion:  “The Sustainable City Task Force recommends that City Council fill the vacant SCTF position(s) with a person (or persons) with expertise and/or experience in one or more of the following areas: housing, hospitality sector, environmental policy, business owner, and strategic planning and management.”

 

The group then discussed possibly changing the requirements for a quorum for SCTF meetings and agreed that the minimum number of members required for a quorum would remain at six.

 

Discussion and Recommendations Regarding SCTF Leadership and Goals, Modifying the Process for Obtaining Community Input and Developing Recommendations to City Council on SCP Issues

 

Leonard Mitchell noted that he agendized this item because he has a sense that the SCTF hasn’t been making good progress toward meeting its Council directives.  He feels that the SCTF hasn’t created an efficient structure to achieve its goals and feels that the current subcommittee structure fractionates communication among the entire SCTF.  He recommended that the SCTF change to a regular forum or roundtable structure and invite community stakeholders to attend and provide input.  Various SCTF members indicated that this would be helpful to do after the SCP Implementation Plan is completed as a way to roll it out to the community and encourage community involvement.  Dennis Woods recommended that Leonard bring a specific proposal for changing the SCTF structure to a future meeting for additional discussion.  No action was taken on this item.

 

 

 

 

Discussion and Recommendations Regarding Draft Sustainable City Plan Implementation Plan

 

Sandy Grant presented a model to clarify the structure of the SCP Implementation Plan and the roles for the SCTF, community stakeholders, experts and the proposed community sustainability liaison in implementation. Sandy then led a discussion about the most recent draft of the SCP Implementation Plan.  The group agreed on several additions and changes to the text of the draft, which will be compiled by staff and presented prior to the next SCTF meeting.  Following discussion the SCTF adopted the following two motions:

 

Motion 1

“The Sustainable City Task Force approves Recommended Implementation Measure 4a  (Community Sustainability Liaison) in concept, with the understanding that the text may be edited in the process of finalizing the draft.”  This motion was approved on a vote of 8 – 0 with 1 abstention (Genevieve Bertone abstained from voting and left the room during discussion of this motion to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest).

 

Motion 2

“The Sustainable City Task Force approves the remainder of the Draft Implementation Plan, including the implementation model presented by Sandy Grant and the SCP Policy Toolkit prepared by Jennifer Wolch, in concept with the understanding that the text may be edited in the process of finalizing the draft , and with the caveat that Recommended Implementation Measure  4c (Economic Development) will be revised and completed after Leonard Mitchell and Jennifer meet and present recommendations to the SCTF.  All sources of funding, in addition to City funding, for implementation of the plan will be explored.”  This motion was unanimously approved on a vote of 9 – 0.

 

Leonard noted that he will contact Jennifer Wolch this week to arrange a meeting and prepare a draft recommendation for section 4c prior to the February 13 SCTF meeting.

 

Subcommittee Reports

Dennis Woods presented information on the Land Use and Circulation Element update Process and noted that City Council will begin taking public input on the LUCE Alternatives Plan at its January 10, 2006 meeting.  He noted that the SCTF will not have time to prepare formal comments for that meeting but that this should be agendized for discussion at the February 13 meeting to develop specific recommendations to present at future Planning Commission and City Council meetings.

 

Discussion Regarding Scheduling Meeting with New City Manager

Discussion on this item was deferred until the February 13, 2006 meeting.

 

Public input on Non-Agendized Matters

There was no public input.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:55pm