The County Times has a good summary of the Half Moon Bay city council’s threatened dissolution if its proposed 1% sales tax increase is rejected by voters. The full article is well worth reading.

“The council has done everything in its power to keep the city whole,” [city county member John] Muller said. “If it doesn’t pass, we could seriously not be in business much longer.” [...]

City Manager Michael Dolder admits disincorporation is one of the options on the table now. The City Council already cut $900,000 from the current budget—including half its employees—and imposed furloughs on those who remain. Some of the cuts were needed to pay for the Beachwood lawsuit settlement, a $15 million burden the city will shoulder in bond payments for the next 20 years.

Despite those efforts, the city will finish the current fiscal year with a deficit north of $500,000. And tourist dollars, the city’s economic mainstay, aren’t likely to flow in anytime soon.[...]

Although the law lays out a clear procedure for disincorporation, including public meetings and a final majority vote by residents, it’s unclear how it could work from a practical standpoint, said Martha Poyatos, executive director of the San Mateo County Local Agency Formation Commission.

“We’re in uncharted territory,” she said.

One thing is certain: disincorporation is not a bailout. The county would lay claim to revenues, including Half Moon Bay’s property taxes, sales taxes and hotel taxes, but not its liabilities. Today’s Half Moon Bay residents would be required to assume the debt burden of Beachwood bond payments, which would likely be added as a lien on their properties, according to Assistant County Controller Bob Adler.

Disincorporation: how would it work?

• A City Council, school district, special district or group of residents can initiate disincorporation with the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo, by presenting a petition signed by 25 percent of voters.
• LAFCo would then hold public hearings and choose whether to affirm the proposal with conditions or deny it.
• A special election would be held, in which a majority of voters have to approve the terms of disincorporation.
• The county Board of Supervisors would work with LAFCo and the city on disposition of the city’s assets.
• Note: Disincorporation proceedings can be subject to legal challenges.

We have very competitive races for both the Cabrillo Unified School District (five candidates for three positions) and Harbor District (five candidates for two positions) boards this year. Also, only one incumbent is running in each race. There is an genuine opportunity to make a real difference in the makeup of each board.

We’re taking reader recommendations for questions they want Coastsider to ask the candidates.

What questions do you want to see the candidates answer?

The need for a special meeting is to review, revise, and approve or deny a proposed draft Midcoast Community Council’s letter in response to the Negative Declaration public comment period which runs through 5:00 p.m. that same day.

The public is encouraged to attend the meeting to provide comments and input on the letter.

The meeting details are as follows:

Monday Aug 16, 2010 from 12 noon to 1pm
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s North Coast Substation
Conference Room
500 California Ave
Moss Beach, CA 94038
650-573-2801 (Office)

The draft of that letter to be discussed is provided after the jump. Here’s the conclusion:

Although the proposed negative declaration has not found significant public support, the process itself has been illuminating and some excellent ideas were put forth in terms of compromise solutions involving alternative, permeable trail surfaces, different replacement footbridge configurations, and changes to the ramp down to the tidepools that likely could garner broad public support.

By including the public in the process, we believe that there is a win-win situation here that will allow a narrower trail with permeable surfacing and more narrow footbridge in line with the current configuration that would be welcomed by the majority of residents and still provide the much needed accessibility and usability improvements sought by the County and consistent with Fitzgerald Marine Reserve’s master plan.

For these reasons, we take our position against the current Negative Declaration for PLN 2010-00093 but look forward to being involved in helping to revise and build support for a revised set of plans for this area.

Police Chief Don O’Keefe was confirmed by the United States Senate to become the United States Marshal for the Northern District of California.  Chief O’Keefe has been the City’s Police Chief since June 1, 2007 and is expected to assume his new duties by mid September.

Interim City Manager Michael Dolder will meet with the City Council to discuss Chief O’Keefe’s replacement. 

Chief O’Keefe said “I’m honored to have been selected for this important position and wish to thank Senator Feinstein for her recommendation and President Obama for nominating me.” 

In a press release, Chief O’Keefe said that he is particularly proud of the accomplishments his department has made in the areas of community policing, emergency preparedness, and programs, such as the Police Activities League (PAL).

Based on a press release from the city of Half Moon Bay.

San Mateo County 2009 Beachwater Contamination Results are the second worst in the state. Los Angeles County is the only County in California with more beach closing/advisory days than San Mateo County.

Closing or Advisory Days:

• Aquatic Park (117 days)
• Pillar Point (100 days)
• Lakeshore Park (98 days)
• Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (59 days)
• Oyster Point Marina (53 days)
• Pacifica State Beach (39 days)
• Venice State Beach (28 days)
• Dunes State Beach (23 days)
• Kiteboard Beach (15 days)
• Francis State Beach and Gazos Creek Access (both 13 days)

Assemblymember Jerry Hill is holding two events for the public to meet their state Assembly representative, Saturday in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.
 

From 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Hill will be hosting “Java with Jerry” at Mazzetti’s Bakery in Pacifica.  Local residents are encouraged to share their ideas, questions or concerns about legislative issues affecting the state and community. Constituents are welcome to stay awhile or just drop by for a brief chat.  No appointment is necessary.
 
From 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Hill will be in Half Moon Bay at the Coastside Farmers’ Market as he hosts “Community Office Hours.”  Assemblymember Hill and staff will be available to discuss legislative issues and help constituents with state-related programs such as renters/homeowners assistance programs, consumer complaints, veterans’ affairs, unemployment and disability insurance, State Franchise Tax Board matters, tax relief programs, and various government forms.

 
At both events, Hill will be discussing proposals to balance the state budget.
 
For more information, visit http://www.asm.ca.gov/hill or call Hill’s District Office at (650) 349-1900.

Supervisor Gordon will be holding his Office Hours on Tuesday, July 20 at 10am at the Sheriff’s Moss Beach Substation instead of on Thursday, which is the usual date.

Bruce Balshone, writing for the Examiner’s website, has written a good background piece on district elections for the Board of Supervisors and why this should have been a no-brainer.

Balshone covers the principal arguments for district elections: the County Civil Grand Jury has called for district elections, candidates for Supervisor must reach a voting base larger than a congressional district, the Board has history of using appointment rather than elections to fill vacant seats, and Board’s own Charter Review Committee recommended putting the issue on November’s ballot.

Then there’s the lawsuit that’s hanging over the board’s head:

In San Mateo County, the record of supervisorial elections is one of machine rule without contest. Over the past 30 years, according to county records, when incumbent supervisors run, approximately 50 percent of the time they are not even challenged. Worse yet, 86 percent of the time when incumbent supervisors run they face no competition or only token competition from protest candidates who rarely even mount a hint of a political campaign.

In April of this year, San Mateo County officials released a letter (see pages 23-24) from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, a San Francisco-based civil rights legal foundation, informing the County that the civil rights organization may file a lawsuit against the County for potential violations of the California Voting Rights Act due to the County’s use of at-large elections for San Mateo County Supervisors. At large elections are commonly challenged due to their impact on minority communities whose voting power is diluted if they cannot directly elect representatives from their own communities—a pervasive problem for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

The truth is that the Board should have voted not merely to put the matter to the voters, where it may well have been defeated by the county machine, but simply to eliminate at-large elections.

We’ll be writing more about this, but Bruce’s piece is a good start.

April Vargas is a candidate for the Board of Supervisors.

At their July 13 meeting, the Board of Supervisors rejected San Mateo County joining the other 57 California counties in having district elections.  Rich Gordon was the sole vote to put the issue on the upcoming November ballot. It was recommended by the County’s Charter Review Committee that voters decide whether San Mateo County should move from antiquated county-wide elections to district elections that would conform with the Voting Rights Act of 2001.

It is an outrage that the Board of Supervisors would not allow the voters to decide the issue of district elections.  By their action today, they are exposing the County to a likely lawsuit brought by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. 

Counties, cities, school districts and special districts throughout California have instituted district elections to conform with the California Voting Rights Act of 2001.  At the forefront of this change is the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights which has won court decisions up and down the state in support of the Voting Rights Act.

District elections allow minority voters to have a greater influence on electoral outcomes by localizing the contests within smaller geographical areas.

The Board’s decision today ignores the Voting Rights Act, refuses to allow a vote of the people and persists in making it difficult for Coastsiders to elect a local representative. It’s time to end this insiders game and elect a new voice on the Board of Supervisors.

The Chevron station in Moss Beach is requesting a license to sell hard liquor in addition to their existing license to sell beer & wine.  The San Mateo County Counsel has asked for public input before July 30. This has been added to the agenda for the MCC’s meeting on Wednesday, July 15.

The meeting will be Wednesday, July 14, at 7:30pm at the Seton Medical Center Coastside, Marine Boulevard & Etheldore, Moss Beach. Take Highway 1 to Marine Boulevard and follow hospital signs uphill.