Tonight’s City Council contemplated mortality. It was broader than the notion that people
die—though there was a fair amount of discussion about that. Ken Pulskamp’s impending retirement, the
cause of feeding the homebound elderly, TimBen’s failed committee appointments, a sense
of inevitability about Cemex…all contributed to a focus on the end and the
finite this evening[1].
Perhaps Mayor Ferry’s invocation is to blame for the tone. He spoke about the many preventable
deaths and serious injuries plaguing the valley: tragic accidents involving
children at swimming pools, motorcycle accidents that result from speeding, and
alcohol- and heroin-related deaths among teens.
Ferry was particularly frustrated with the last group, noting that
dealers are offering heroin for free in order to get kids hooked. Drug prevention efforts will continue, and a
plan to raise awareness about reckless motorcycle driving is in the works.
Next, there was a departure from the normal meeting sequence to address City Manager Ken
Pulskamp’s impending retirement. On
Monday, he submitted his resignation to the council, stating his plans to
leave his post at the end of the year. He
has been city manager since 2002 and was assistant city manager for many years
preceding. Having been here since
incorporation, Pulskamp was probably justified in saying that he was proud of “helping
to shape its [Santa Clarita’s] destiny.”
With four months left, it wasn’t clear whether this was his big farewell
speech, the kickoff to a string of farewell speeches, or something else
entirely, but he touched on some of his proudest accomplishments. High on the list were his close, productive
associations with a stellar staff and the city council members. The council gave brief responses, nearly all
highlighting Pulskamp’s greatest legacy of mentoring, training, and developing
the hundreds of City staff members.
McLean thanked Pulskamp for always treating her with respect, observing
with a smile “You gave your opinion, and I could either take it or not.” Laurene Weste, the city council’s most practiced
eulogizer, was reflective and ended by saying, “Thank you isn’t enough, but it’s
all we have.”
Mayor Ferry pointed out the recent departures of
City Clerk Sarah Gorman, City Planning Manager Lisa Hardy Webber, and City
Manager Ken Pulskamp was a lot to endure, and there will be a closed session
meeting this Thursday to discuss “personnel issues”—primarily the need to fill
Pulskamp’s post. Reliably, though, Ferry
would bring this discussion to a more upbeat note with his promise of a raucous and thorough roast of Pulskamp
before year’s end. “We’ll have four
months to really send you off right,” Mayor Ferry said, to the inscrutable
Pulskamp’s delight or dismay.
Oddly, tonight’s awards and recognitions included one
for work opposing Cemex. I’ve always
thought it’s more customary to make proclamations once the battle is done, but
the Sierra Club and Sandra Cattell were thanked for their legislative work,
lobbying, and community outreach regarding Cemex mining that may still very well happen. At the microphone, Cattell encouraged
Congressman Buck McKeon to “stop talking about his influence and start using it”
to keep Cemex from mining in the SCV.
This topic spilled over to Public
Participation. First, Cattell may have ruffled
feathers of some on council when, after accepting her award, she advocated
appointing Valerie Thomas and Alan Ferdman to Arts and Planning Commissions. Both were snubbed by a majority of the council at the last meeting, so she was essentially telling her awardees they messed up. When Duane Harte spoke, he was a little
peeved that other key figures in the fight against Cemex--including his wife and
members of SAFE--didn’t get an award like Cattell’s. He sounded at once resigned to the victory of
Cemex yet committed to fighting the corporation.
McLean would assure him that all the key parties would be getting an
award in time. Other comments came from
Dr. Gene Dorio, who offered a tortured analogy about the Senior Center being an
ailing old woman in need of help, and a business owner wanted to build a public square in
downtown Newhall and even presented a diorama complete with miniature trees and
a wall of water to hide an auto shop.
Councilmember reports followed. Boydston suggested that residents support
non-profits like Carousel Ranch and asked for a public meeting on city manager
selection. Kellar suggested residents
patronize his friend’s steakhouse, Bergies.
McLean spoke on transportation issues and advertised a $60 library gala
to be held at the Newhall Library benefiting Friends of the Santa Clarita
Public Library. Weste mentioned the
library grand opening and coincident street fair, and she remember the late veteran and
community advocate, Harry Gratz. Ferry
asked for broader dissemination of the results of a 400-person community
poll. Highlights included 80% of
residents saying they trusted or strongly trusted the City and 82% of those
interviewed assessing libraries as good or excellent. He read off a number of figures that had one
underlying conclusion: the vast majority of people in Santa Clarita are content
with things.
Consent
Calendar
There were a few highlights from the consent
calendar. Some $75,000 will be spent for
a conference center master plan to meet a need identified in an earlier study
and shared by local hotels that want to attract conferences and conventions that need bigger meeting spaces. Funds were
directed to construction for the Canyon Country Community Center. A contract for sport field lighting was
awarded. It seems Realtor/Astronomy
Enthusiast/Lighting Pollution Advocate Steve Petzold commented on this item to
the Council, as Councilmember McLean said
“we are very concerned with night sky contamination,” and asked for
details on the lighting plan, which City Manager Ken Pulskamp was ready to
answer in considerable detail, stressing that lighting was carefully planned to
minimize adverse impacts. The calendar items
passed with unanimous approval, excepting item 13. Boydston pulled it for a separate vote and
abstained. He said he had only been given materials about the item 15 minutes
before the meeting, leaving him too uninformed to give his support for a plan to
allocate money for unforeseen landscape maintenance repairs. As you might expect, this little discussion went over extremely
well with other council members, especially McLean.
Boydston Digs on Climate
In order to avoid future litigation and other
unpleasantries, Santa Clarita is charged with developing a Climate Action Plan
(CAP) by the State of California. Jeff
Hogan presented on this topic, noting CAP mitigation goals based on greenhouse
gas emissions from the year 2005. To
meet mandated cuts in carbon emissions, planners are modeling (i.e., hoping)
for a major reduction in vehicle miles traveled. During the question-and-answer session that
followed the presentation, it would be revealed that mixed, denser, and smarter developments are
seen as significantly reducing the average distance of trips people will be
making in the future. Open space
acquisitions also helped meet greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. Essentially any development that is
consistent with Santa Clarita’s new General Plan will also be consistent with
CAP. However, projects that require
modifications to the plan will need to show a 12% greenhouse gas reduction (relative to what, I'm not sure) in order to meet CAP mandates.
TimBen Boydston asked numerous questions on this
topic, most revolving around use of old versus new general plans and old versus
new projections and data. He expressed
disbelief at an assessment that traffic conditions and resulting air quality would not get much worse
despite adding more cars to unimproved roads over future years. But it is modeled (again, hoped)
that the future of Santa Clarita will be characterized by shorter car trips, more
walking, and more public transportation, helping alleviate traffic woes.
Public speakers on this item were generally upbeat,
excited, and supportive of making a better environment. The Lutnesses
spoke about the serious problem of global warming and their hope for
community-wide efforts to ensure a better future. Two girl scouts, one of whom was their
granddaughter, spoke on this item as well.
They talked about wanting to work with the City to get more kids to walk
to school and to make streets more walkable with sidewalk additions.
Mayor Pro Tem Bob Kellar had a somewhat different
take on the whole idea of CAP. He believed
that state mandates compelled him to vote for it and that many ideas from the
plan were good and worthwhile. But then
he got to his real point, saying that we’re losing jobs, businesses, and people
because “we’re losing balance.” Kellar
said the focus on greenhouse gases was coming at a dear cost in other
areas and was entirely too much.
No Val or Al;
Kellar Upset at Boydston
Following a 15-minute recess, it was time for TimBen
Boydston to appoint members to Arts and Parks Commissions. Recall that at the last meeting, he could not
get a majority of votes for Val Thomas for Arts Commission, and he couldn’t
even get a second for Alan Ferdman for Parks Commission[2].
Mayor Ferry asked City Attorney Joe Montes very
explicitly: “Your legal advice is we cannot take a second vote on previously
rejected people?” Montes said, “Right.”
Following this clarification, 14 of 15 public speakers
asked TimBen to submit Valerie Thomas and/or Alan Ferdman for a vote again,
some questioning Montes’ legal opinion.
The extensive qualifications of Thomas and Ferdman were highlighted, and
Ray Kutylo said of the at-times outspoken community activists, “These people
are not adversaries.” Allan Cameron
remembered an incident from 1998 in which Frank Ferry had expressed a strong
desire to let council members take responsibility for their appointments rather
than seeking approval from the full council, a position he has now clearly
rejected. Other speakers pointed out
that the resolution prohibiting re-nomination of Thomas/Ferdman could be voted
down (Montes would say such a vote requires placement on the agenda at a future meeting). In general, then, people wanted Thomas and
Ferdman to get commission seats. But one
out of the 15 speakers, the indomitable Berta Gonzalez-Harper, supported the move
not to appoint Alan Ferdman.
With comments completed, TimBen Boydston said he wanted
to present a video about Al Ferdman.
Mayor Ferry simply would not have it.
He told Boydston the presentation was useless since Ferdman could not be
nominated again, and he challenged Boydston to defend his assertion that the
video would be in keeping with a norm allowing for presentations relevant to
the item at hand (Ferry’s point being a video of an ineligible candidate was a
waste of time). McLean gave one of the
most vitriolic scowls I’ve ever seen (and she’s scowled quite a lot through the
years) after she said Boydston wouldn’t give a complete or accurate view of
Ferdman from a single, biased video clip.
Ultimately, Boydston did not get to show his video of Ferdman praising City
staff for something or other, and he could not renominate Valerie Thomas or
Alan Ferdman.
Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Kellar was quite upset at the
whole production. He said it’s “going to
be a tough four years,” implying that Boydston opposes almost everything. Kellar expressed particular outrage at being
asked to do something very basic: explain why he didn’t want Alan Ferdman as a
commissioner. He took it as a personal
affront that he should have to justify his rejection of Boydston’s candidate--because public officials are expected to make decisions and never bother
justifying them to the voters. In
classier Kellar fashion, he talked about meeting personally with both Ferdman
and Boydston and hoping to maintain relationships with both.
$200,000 for
kids and seniors
Three hours into the meeting, we arrived at an item
to address the dire financial circumstances of the Santa Clarita Valley Senior
Center and Boys and Girls Club. Mayor
Pro Tem Kellar made a motion to give a one-time infusion of $100,000 to each of the
two organizations considering that their services are vital and their finances
extremely tight. There was a great deal
of conversation on the potential $100,000 from staff, directors, the council,
and so on. The public, too, chimed in. Carole Lutness said that Santa Clarita's affluence should mean donations of $200,000 each, not a mere $100,000. She said this would help to “make up for the sins of the rich
oligarchs that have brought us to this terrible place.” In the end, the seniors and kids got the
money, which will go towards feeding homebound seniors and to avoiding furlough
days at the Boys and Girls Club. The long-term
outlook for these local institutions is far from secure, but McLean is pushing
for a letter to Supervisor Antonovich, asking if he will use discretionary
funds to make a matching contribution.
Finally, the second round of public participation began
with Doug Fraser speaking on behalf of residents of manufactured homes. He said the CPI dictates rent increases, but
home residents are not informed of these changes while home park landowners
are. He asked for the City to do a
better job of communicating the kinds of rent increases residents might see,
and was referred to the City Attorney’s office.
Berta Gonzalez-Harper spoke in favor of “shopping local” to fill the
City Manager position. “Consider the
other Ken, Mr. Striplin,” she said. When
she talked about knowing both of the Kens for a long time, she had to scold the
mayor with “Frank, Frank, Frank!” as he made a comment about hair loss—his second
for the evening. Finally, there was
another Girl Scout comment on adding a sidewalk to a stretch of Orchard Village
Road to improve walkability. Ferry
promised to help the scout work on her goal while teaching a lesson in “Government 101” about trying to
make multiple parties happy.
[1]Here’s the agenda.
[2](I recapped the events of the meeting on SCVTalk which, as you well know, has archives that are temporarily offline after Mr. J-to-the-Wilson had hosting troubles. I am restraining myself from making comments about the newest incarnation of SCVTalk as Notes from Newhall, a land where only pithy, anonymous comments thrive. Like other loyal SCVTalkers, I hope things all work out.)
1 comment:
Excellent as always, thanks for posting. Miss your updates on scvtalk.
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