Councilmember Carrie Downey presented the proclamation to designate Lions White Cane Days October 26 and 27, 2018. She urged everyone to donate to the Lions Club during their upcoming White Cane Days. The Coronado Lions Club has been in existence for 62 years, fulfilling the mission to help people with the gift of sight.
In honor of Stan Searfus, the Mayor presented his wife Jan, and twins Jake and Josh, with a proclamation declaring March 3, 2018, as Stan Searfus Day, to commemorate the paddle-out honoring him and his incredible impact here in Coronado.
Steve Johnson, Alisa Kerr, and Rob Crenshaw presented a check to the City for $45,156 from monies raised from 92118 Day to contribute to costs incurred. By the numbers, 92118 Day stacked up like this:
- 10,000 people attended the once-in-a-lifetime event (estimated by Coronado Police)
- $155,000 was generated by the 98 local vendor and non-profit booths
- 400 VIP Tickets sold (100% of proceeds given back to the City
- 140 letters collected at the Surfrider Foundation Booth to advocate for cleaner oceans
- Four local bands performed amazing music and Christine Molly did an outstanding rendition of The National Anthem
- Hundreds of volunteers made this possible, including staying up until 11 p.m. that night to make the area was spotless
- 75 volunteers showed up the next morning for clean-up and had little to do because the street and beaches were spotless
The Mayor thanked these organizers and everyone involved in the event and said, “You proved the naysayers wrong.”
Alisa Kerr presented a 92118 Day proclamation from Congressman Scott Peters Office, and said the event was “For Coronado, By Coronado and About Coronado in the best possible way.” Rob Crenshaw thanked the council “for your trust in us” and showed a proposed memorial plaque to commemorate the event.
Successor Agency Community Development Bonds
City Manager Blair King discussed the completion of the Refinancing of the Outstanding Successor Agency Community Development Bonds. “Mr. Jim Krueger did a fine job as lead in doing this and I wanted to publicly acknowledge that there are a lot of moving parts, and when you get up to our total bond amount of $120 million, those are big numbers. The transaction has been completed.”
Jim Krueger, Director of Administrative Services, gave a presentation on the tax allocation refunding bonds (TARBS) completed on September 19. He highlighted that they received an average of 2.65 percent. Krueger explained that, “The coupon rate is five percent, which is the rate most bond buyers like to pay and is not associated with the assessed value growth. Premium rate of $15 million was used to pay off old bonds and the new bonds have a new principal amount and savings are used to retire the new bonds at an earlier date. The Turbo redemption feature also allows us to pay off the bonds sooner. We estimate the bonds will be retired by 2026, which is a significant savings over the old bonds.”
Councilmember Donovan said, “You guys hit a real home run on this, to pull this together in six months to get California to agree to it, the Finance Department, get all the bonds worked out with the tax exempt part of it.”
Councilmember Downey pointed out that “This is the first time, when refinancing our redevelopment bonds, that we’ve gotten all our money back on our loan at one time.” She asked about obligations on how we spend that money? Jim Krueger answered that Tax Exempt Bonds come with obligations from the IRS that the money must be used for public purpose capital projects within allowed time frames. He pointed out that both the School District and the City benefited from this venture.
Karl Mueller, Superintendent, Coronado Unified School District, commented “I want to echo ‘outstanding job.’ This is a huge victory for Coronado and for our current and future students. It’s going to make a huge impact on what we are able to provide for our students.”
SANDAG report
Terry Sinnott, Board Chairman, Kim Kawada, Interim Director, and Victoria Stackwick, Principal Legislative Analyst, showed a video and presented the SANDAG 2017 accomplishments in the region. Highlights include: continued double tracking of the region’s 60-mile coastal rail line, continued implementation of the $200 million Regional Bike Early Action Program on 25 projects, SANDAG, with partner agencies, invested more than $3 billion in the transit system, including the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, Centerline Rapid stations, and the South Bay Rapid project, partnered with Caltrans on major highway improvements, environmentally cleared several projects, successfully managed South Bay Expressway, I-15 Managed Lanes, 511, and the Freeway Service Patrol.
Programs that specifically benefited Coronado include: $583,460 in Fiscal Year 2017 for the TransNet Extension Local Street and Road allocation; in 2017, the City of Coronado provided over 1000 rides to seniors through its Seniors Out and About Program; updated city greenhouse gas emissions inventory, participated in South Bay and San Diego Energy Action Collaboratives, continued work on the Bayshore Bikeway, which will ultimately extend 24 miles around San Diego Bay (a new 2.25-mile portion opened in National City during the first quarter of 2018); Coronado’s Active Transportation Plan is in progress.
PAWS report
Sharon Sherman, Chairman of the PAWS Board, presented the year’s highlights from this successful public-private partnership of animal care and advocacy for Coronado. They partner with the Police Department to handle all animal needs, and receive both tax and non-profit funds to provide outstanding animal care. “You can’t get more animal friendly than Coronado and many people donate,” she said. They have a special foster program for older animals and a medical and hospice program.
With the police, they process about 500 dogs per year with 100 dogs getting adopted. They do 100 cat adoptions per year, and this number is growing as the cat season has lengthened. About 150 animals are returned to their owners. They work with other agencies like Sea World, Wee Ones, Project Wildlife, and others to care for birds, turtles, pigs, reptiles, possums, rabbits, sea mammals, and other animals. They also handle all the pet licensing for the city. With 100 volunteers, they are able to provide personalized care for the animals like daily walks and petting. They have joined the San Diego Coalition for Animal Welfare that promotes that no animals in San Diego County will be euthanized for lack of space. Shelters work with each other to provide space for all animals. PAWS also focuses on animal education for service organizations and schools.
In the City Manager’s Report, Blair King mentioned the final Active Transportation Plan (ATP) had been finalized incorporating all the input from the City Council.
Regarding utility undergrounding, they looked at reprioritizing areas as advised by the council and have moved the Silver Strand (SR-75) up to number four on the list. Councilmember Downey presented her suggestions for rescoring and prioritizing. There are still many questions to be answered on this project, and community meetings will be held during the first quarter of 2019 to solicit public input.
He acknowledged Jim Krueger, Director of Administrative Services, and Brian Lewton, Information Technology Manager, for the 2018 Award for Achievement for Information Technology Practices that the city received from the Municipal Information Systems Association of California (MISAC).
He noted that the City of Coronado participates in the county urban entitlement program to remove barriers for ADA purposes and monies received will be used for additional curb ramps and include adding truncated domes.
The council unanimously approved the 2019 Major Special Event Requests, after Councilmember Downey pointed out that the Fourth of July Committee should be given veto power over the newly added run. Approved events include the following five traditional events:
- Fourth of July Celebration (Thursday, July 4) as proposed by the 4th of July Committee.
- The combined Flower Show and Library Book Sale (Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14) including the Floral Association’s request to have a separate beer garden tent within the confines of the Flower Show; and the Friends of the Library Board request to have a wine and cheese event within the confines of the Book Sale (Friday, April 12).
- Motorcars on MainStreet (Sunday, April 28).
- Coronado Promenade Concerts in Spreckels Park (Sundays, from May 26 through September 1).
- Chamber of Commerce Holiday Open House (Friday, December 6).
And the following eight non-traditional events, which have been previously approved:
- KOZ Events request to hold the Valentine’s Day 10K (Sunday, February10).
- Naval Special Warfare Superfrog/SuperSEAL request to hold the SuperSEAL Triathlon (Sunday, March 17).
- Naval Special Warfare Superfrog/SuperSEAL request to hold the Superfrog Triathlon (Sunday, September 15).
- The request of MWR Naval Base Coronado to hold the Over the Bridge Run/Walk (Sunday, May 19).
- San Diego Bicycle Coalition request to hold the Bike the Bay (Sunday, August 25).
- Coronado Historical Association request to hold the Coronado Art Walk in Tidelands Park (Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27).
- KOZ Events request to hold the Silver Strand Half Marathon (Sunday, November 10).
- San Diego Padres request to hold Pedal the Cause (Saturday, November 16)
City Manager King presented the need to appropriate $4 million to execute a professional services agreement with Kleinfelder Engineering to design and construction plans to complete and connect the wastewater collection system to serve the coastal campus site. “This has been a simmering issue during the consideration of environmental impacts and looking at our sewer collection system. We began a dialog between Imperial Beach and the Navy to complete this project. Doing it now improves the viability of the recycled water plant…and benefits the Cays,” he commented. There are options of where the money could come from. Councilmember Sandke asked for this item to be taken off the Consent Calendar and highlighted so the public can be informed on this issue. The motion was unanimously approved.
Other items of note ~
In excess of $2 million surplus was noted with the close out of Fiscal Year 2017/2018, due to higher than anticipated revenues and lower budgeted expenses. The mayor noted that the money will be used to make some budget adjustments for Fiscal Year 2018/2019, with the rest going back into savings.
Reappointment of incumbents, Christopher Toogood to a second, three-year term, and Commissioner Alison Lancaster, to a first, three-year term, to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Reappointment of incumbents, William Lowman and Maryellen McMahon to a first, three-year term on the Cultural Arts Commission.
An ordinance was adopted to amend the code regulating taxi cabs and drivers. The city will work out an agreement with Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) to continue control over local taxicabs which allows the regulation of the number and manner in which taxicabs serve the population. Limiting the number and areas outside taxicabs can operate will likely reduce street and curb congestion that would otherwise occur, while still maintaining adequate response time and coverage. Carolyn Reynolds from Coronado Taxi and Livery thanked the council for finding a way to keep local oversight.
Councilmember Downey brought awareness to the Navy Complexes Meeting that meets the third Monday of the month and provides an opportunity for city and Navy leaders to discuss issues of mutual interest. She encouraged residents to attend if they want answers to questions, like Strand traffic issues. The Navy also has a 24-hour phone line for people to call.
