CC SR 20190507 04 - CCAC ChairRANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 05/07/2019
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Regular Business
AGENDA DESCRIPTION:
Consideration and possible action to appoint a new chair to the Civic Center Advisory
Committee (CCAC), assign a Councilmember as a liaison to each City committee and
the Planning Commission, and direct committees and the Planning Commission to
report to the City Council bi-annually
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
(1) Appoint a new Chair to the Civic Center Advisory Committee;
(2) Assign a Councilmember to each City committee and the Planning Commission
as a liaison; and
(3) Direct committees and the Planning Commission to report to the City Council
meeting bi-annually, at a minimum.
FISCAL IMPACT: None.
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Gabriella Yap, Deputy City Manager
REVIEWED BY: Same
APPROVED BY: Doug Willmore, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
A) Email to CCAC from Council Civic Center Subcommittee (page A -1)
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
Due to recent events and resignations from the Civic Center Advisory Committee
(CCAC), the City Council’s Civic Center Subcommittee, comprised of Mayor Duhovic
and Councilwoman Brooks, felt it appropriate to address the current and former
members of the CCAC in the email attached (Attachment A). Mayor Duhovic and
Councilwoman Brooks requested that this item be added to the agenda for
consideration. The Council subcommittee is recommending that the City Council
appoint Carolynn Petru as the new Chair to enable the committee to continue progress
on the Civic Center program.
In addition, the Council subcommittee is recommending that the City Council adopt the
following new policies:
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1) Assign a Councilmember to each City resident advisory committee, and the
Planning Commission, as a liaison that the committee/commission can turn to if
they have questions or concerns about the direction of the
committee/commission and/or direction from Staff.
2) Having every committee and the Planning Commission report on activities and
direction at a Council meeting bi-annually, at a minimum.
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Dear Members of the Civic Center Advisory Committee (both current and former),
On behalf of the entire City Council, I’d like to thank all of you for the tremendous
work you’ve accomplished on the Civic Center Conceptual/Programming Plan. We truly
appreciate your service to the community, specifically working towards the creation of
a long-lasting Civic Center Complex for the City, one that will serve the needs of the
community for decades to come and be a source of pride for all residents. Contrary to
the perceptions of some, I cannot emphasize enough that the City Council
unequivocally values the work that the CCAC has completed thus far and, as always,
wants to hear your views, opinions, and perspectives with respect to the project.
It is truly unfortunate that there has been displeasure and discontent at times during
the last few CCAC meetings. It’s even more unfortunate that several members felt the
situation was untenable and have recently chosen to resign. We are extremely
troubled and concerned by this series of events. In hindsight, after looking at the facts
and speaking to multiple people, we are of the opinion that more frequent updates to
the City Council along the way would have helped to avoid most, if not all, of the
unnecessary upheaval by helping to ensure that everyone was on the same page.
Nevertheless, as you know, the City has worked in one way or another on improving
the Civic Center site for more than 30 years. If it were easy, it would have been
completed by now. There are/have been lots of options, opinions, strategies and ideas.
As such, it is not uncommon for disagreements and differences of opinion to arise from
time to time. We greatly appreciate your willingness to address the tough issues and
work through the process.
To address several lessons learned from these recent events, Councilwoman Brooks
and I, who make up the City Council’s Civic Center subcommittee, will suggest that the
City Council adopt the following new policies:
1) Assign a Councilmember to each City resident advisory committee, and the
Planning Commission, as a liaison that the committee/commission can turn to if
they have questions or concerns about the direction of the committee and/or
direction from staff. We believe this will enable the various committees to have a
“safety valve”, if you will, if they are unclear on the City Council’s direction or
intent.
2) Having every committee report on activities, recommendations and direction at a
City Council meeting bi-annually, at a minimum. This would allow the
committees/commission and the City Council to interact and understand, at a
more detailed level, the work and direction being undertaken by the
committees/commission.
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Additionally, we will be recommending that the City Council appoint Carolynn Petru as
the new Chair of the CCAC.
We believe these steps will allow everyone to cohesively move forward together and
continue making progress on the Civic Center Plan.
Our belief is that the two recommendations above, if adopted, will ensure a
significantly improved dialogue between the City Council and the respective
committees/commission.
We look forward to your continued progress and involvement. We also welcome any
questions, comments, and/or suggestions you may have.
Again, thank you for your time, dedication and service to our fine City!
Mayor Jerry Duhovic
Councilmember Susan Brooks
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