The City Council meeting kicked off with Mayor Bailey proclaiming June 19 as ‘Chief Jon Froomin Day’ in honor of Froomin’s five years of service to the City and for his 30 years in law enforcement. “My goal was to leave the city in better condition than when I got here… and I feel I’ve accomplished that,” he said. He cited relationship building and improvement in the schools as a few of the items that have been achieved. Mayor Bailey mentioned some of his career highlights since he became Chief: hiring 23 employees, giving 14 promotions within the department, creating the police school resource officer position, reinstating the Police Explorer Program, working with Special Olympics, fully implementing the body-worn video camera program, and representing the city at many civic organizations, just to name a few. Froomin gave credit to his wife and family for their support through his years of service. Mayor Bailey also awarded him with a “Key to the City.”
Councilmember Downey pointed out that people often feel they are not in the know about why things are happening in the city. City Manager Blair King and staff helped develop an app called ‘Ask Coronado,’ which debuted in July 2016 along with the city’s updated website. It’s easy to download on your smartphone from the Apple or Google Play store, or access on the city’s website; then if you have questions about what’s going on in the city, you can get “ask Coronado” and get an answer. You can also submit service requests, such as reporting a street or tree issue and even take a picture of the problem to include with your report.
Roger Miller, Director of Recreation and Golf Services, gave a presentation on the schedule for updating the eight Coronado parks to Universally Accessible Playgrounds. Spreckels and Tidelands Parks have been updated with new rubberized surfaces and swings, but there are additional features that could be added to make them more fully accessible, barrier-free playgrounds. Five community members spoke up about the importance of making the parks more accessible for children of all mobility levels and their families. The City Council unanimously voted to change the playground replacement schedule for our neighborhood parks. Matthewson Park will updated next and the timeline for Spreckels Park has been moved up to 2019/2020 and the rest of the parks will follow the recommended schedule.
When the reconsideration of the 12-month trial suspension of the Decal Parking Permit Zone came to the floor, 10 residents spoke in favor of reinstating the permits, citing incidents to show that parking is a greater problem since the permit parking has been suspended, and a petition signed by 147 residents. After much discussion, the Council unanimously voted to reinstate permit parking in a portion of the parking district adjacent to the NASNI entrance. This area includes First to Sixth Streets and Alameda Avenue to H Avenue. The city will continue to monitor the entire area and reassess the parking inventory at the end of the 12-month trial period in the northwest quadrant of town. City Manager Blair King said that the permit signs will go back up within two weeks, allowing for a delay due to the Fourth of July holiday.
City Manager King presented background on the proposed 2018 Tax Allocation Refunding Bonds. A Community Development Agency between the City and the School District was set up in 1985. In 2011, ABX 126 and 127 passed causing the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, so the Successor Agency (SA) was established to continue the collaboration. The current state funding formula for schools does not benefit the 3,000 students of the Coronado Unified School District and makes it difficult for the School District to maintain all its high level programs.
Maria Simon, CUSD Governing Board President, said, “Our partnership with the city is one of the main reasons for the success of our school district…We appreciate the city’s effort to help us reach basic aid at the earliest possible date. The State does not have an equitable school funding formula and our schools receive far less funding per pupil. There is a misconception that our property taxes fund our schools and that will be true once we get to basic aid.”
CUSD Superintendent Karl Mueller said, “The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) places us at a significant disadvantage to neighboring school districts. The state gives base funding per pupil and then provides supplemental funding that falls into three categories that the state has classified as unduplicated pupils, which are English language learners, lower social economic status, and foster children. While we have a very diverse and unique student body, with 38 percent military-connected student body, we do not meet the supplemental funding requirements. CUSD is currently funded 36th out of 42 districts in San Diego County. We have high standards and are an exceptional school district, but we are faced annually with an untenable situation to provide programs and resources to which our students and community are entitled.”
Jim Krueger, Director of Administrative Services, gave a presentation on the Refinancing of the Coronado Successor Agency School Bonds. Two issues involved in this process: an expeditious wind down, and what will happen to the tax monies after that occurs. Upon dissolution of the SA, CUSD gets to keep 100 percent of tax monies formerly used by the SA to repay bonds and other obligations. To achieve expeditious repayment of debt requires special expertise available from underwriters and a financial advisor who have this type of debt financing experience. They opted for a negotiated bond sale by three firms on a collaborative basis. “From a pure economic perspective, for a $1 million investment in bond issuance costs, we get savings of $44 million from a cost-benefit perspective,” said Krueger. A review by the State Department of Finance can take up to 60 days and they are hoping the new bond sale will take place in September 2018.
The City Council voted unanimously to take action that will help the Coronado Unified School District get Basic Aid Status and receive additional funding starting as soon as 2027/2028. Without this action, the school district would have remained under their current funding formula until 2036. Mayor Bailey thanked King and Krueger and their team, who were instrumental in making this possible.
Other Items of Note:
- Wes Bomyea, the Navy’s Coronado Community Planning liaison officer is retiring, and he introduced Dana Lyons as his replacement.
- Councilmembers Downey and Donovan gave an update on their subcommittee for the Historic Preservation Program. They will present final recommendations at the July 17 City Council meeting. They held two public forums and received approximately 40 comments. The community has until June 30 to submit suggestions.
- Councilmembers Sandke and Benzian recused themselves for the vote to reconsider the decision to designate the residence at 1405 10th Street. The council upheld their April 17 decision.
