The Campaign

It’s the first of September in an election year.  That means that campaigns have begun, not only for President, but for Mayor of Marina as well. I thought I would give you a little insight into the process and what it’s like to be a candidate.

There are many places to be, places to speak, places to talk to people and to hear what you the voter have on your mind. These are important opportunities to understand your concerns and what you want to see for our City. Of course, part of this process also includes walking your neighborhood, knocking on your door and talking to you. If you would like me to attend your meeting or an event please let me know by e-mail (emersonformarina@gmail.com) or phone (595-6282).

There is also the planning and design of campaign materials. This means translating my thoughts and desires for Marina in a way that the voter can understand who I am and what I stand for. It’s an interesting challenge but as a whole this Marina Matters column has helped to define these positions for the voters. The decision to produce our own newspaper evolved from this column and is chocked full of detail that goes beyond the typical campaign sound bites and slogans. Let me know if you have not seen one yet and we will do our best to get one to you.

Another aspect of the campaign that you may not think about is the endless questionnaires and endorsement meetings with various newspapers, interest groups and organizations. These are great opportunities for a candidate to communicate ideas but you wonder just how many of them have made up their minds long before the candidates arrive to answer their questions. Time will tell if that is in fact the case.

Of course, this past Saturday was the Labor Day Parade. This was the first real event of the campaign where you could meet and greet the candidates after the parade. I was honored to have the opportunity to ride “Star” a beautiful white Percheron horse down the parade route to lots of great cheers and support. She was a favorite of everyone young and old. Afterwards we met many of you at our booth and I was amazed at how many of you asked for a lawn sign for your homes. We also registered people to vote and were grateful for your support.

Next up for us will be the Marina in Motion debate this Saturday, Sept. 8^th. Here the candidates for Mayor and City Council have their opportunity to debate each other, to explain their thoughts and to defend their records. It promises to be an interesting hour and a half. I hope you have the chance to watch it either live or on ‘video on demand’ before the election.

The bottom line is that I am proud of the campaign so far. We have a positive message for the future of Marina that resonates throughout our community. It’s clear that many of you want to see a positive common sense approach to the management of our City going forward. I hope to earn your support and VOTE in November.

More later...

Economic Development

A recent set of meetings of the Marina Economic Development Commission (EDC), of which I am a member, has brought up a rather interesting discussion - one in which I think is important enough to continue through this election cycle.

As a Commission we heard a report from staff that outlined the restructuring of the Development Services Department into what will now become the Economic Development Department. We also heard about other changes that came or will continue as a result of the new City budget that was finally passed in July.

To make a long story a bit shorter, the EDC Commissioners asked a lot of questions and determined that the half funding of an Economic Development Manager and not hiring an Airport Manager was important enough to Marina’s economic future that we should ask the City Council to reconsider these positions. This was a unanimous vote by the four commissioners present. Our Chairperson volunteered to write a draft letter for the EDC’s review and approval at a special meeting scheduled for the following week.

At the Special Meeting called to review the letter, we found extreme opposition from members of the public to bringing this item back to the City Council for consideration. This opposition, led by our current Mayor, really missed the point. Their primary points were that we should wait on these decisions until we hire a new City Manager next year and that hiring these positions will do greater harm to our budget.

I have an issue with each of these points. One, the hiring of an Airport Manager comes from a separate Airport budget, not the general fund where we have the problem. Second, we are asking to consider adding full funding for the Economic Development Manager so we have the ability to accomplish the work already requested by the City Council. Each of these positions should pay for themselves over time.

Finally, waiting for up to a year for a new City Manager to decide on these positions puts Marina way behind the economic development curve. We have heard of many new projects proposed by Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside and Del Rey Oaks lately. We have our own areas that we wish to redevelop, that include our Downtown, and our Airport, as well as many infill projects around Marina that will need proper staff support to see them become a reality.

This is not a case of waiting for the economy to recover since projects take years to come together. If we wait we will miss the opportunities and try to start something at the inevitable down cycle that will come years from now. Now is the time to plan and do the work needed to facilitate these projects for Marina’s future economy and we need the staff to help make that happen.

The discussion should be encouraged and pursued as we look to Marina’s long term economic health and vitality.

More later…

Baseball

Imagine if you will, some 100 or so twelve and under boys, all thrown together in a big room after having spent the entire day traveling from around the country, with little food and no place to blow off steam. I can only imagine what you would be thinking, but I bet it’s nothing like what really happened.

This was the story this past Wednesday night as the City of Marina and Marina Pony Baseball hosted the teams in town for the Bronco World Series. These teams came from New York, Puerto Rico, Texas, Illinois, Mexico and others from California. The team from Taipei would not arrive until 3 or 4 in the morning. This was their chance to meet each other and they did just that. Getting up to welcome a new team as they arrived, shaking hands and trading pins. There were no politics, no arguments, no judging - just a feeling of excitement and friendship.

Did you know that Marina has hosted this welcome banquet for the Bronco teams for the past five years? Did you also know that these teams all stay in Marina while they compete in Monterey? It’s just another case of our Marina citizens and City Recreation staff working to benefit others, and boy do they work. Putting on this event and housing the teams here requires hours of logistical planning, cooking, practice field prep, transportation coordination, and most importantly- volunteers.

I had the opportunity to help a bit this year and what an experience it was. To see the wonder and excitement in the eyes of all these kids, the coaches and parents grateful for a break after a long day and the work of our Marina volunteers making it as flawless as possible for all involved. This is the Marina that I know, the community that comes together for the good of others.

Perhaps it’s our diversity, perhaps it’s our military heritage or perhaps it’s a bit of everything that makes our community just a little more special than most. We have a history of helping ourselves as a community, from building a new community funded Library to volunteering for events like this one. We have a tendency to give of ourselves. The hours of public service put in by volunteers for our youth sports, our schools, our churches, our service and community organizations are all what makes Marina such a special place.

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Vision

The Marina City Council finally passed the City’s 2012-13 budgets this past week. On several levels it’s a good thing, especially since there were not any significant cuts that would further affect the level of service to our community. On the other hand, the budget was completely void of a vision for the future of our City.

As a result of the budget decisions, the City will maintain the status quo. This means we will remain understaffed in key areas, thus resulting in a continuation of our endless pothole battle, building maintenance deferred, and staff shortages in the key areas of Recreation, Finance, Planning, Engineering and Economic Development. In other words, there is no forward vision for our City.

The City simply cannot move forward with any conviction without a vision for the future. We need new revenues and new jobs- it’s as simple as that. The approved budget does not address these issues. The current Mayor expressly removed a new airport manager from the budget. This is a position critical to the development of the airport as an economic driver of jobs in Marina. The current Mayor also removed the funding for both the Development Services Director and an Economic Development manager, the key people responsible for bringing new businesses and jobs into the City.

While I am not advocating solving every issue out of one budget that is still drawing on our reserves, it does not get fixed without looking to the future and knowing what you want to accomplish. There are key areas that need attention now and others that need to be addressed as soon as possible. This budget did neither.

It’s been four years and we have yet to see a vision for Marina. So let me suggest a start. Let’s concentrate on growing our revenues now so that we can fully fund our core services first. By funding key personnel positions, we put the City in the best place to create new revenues and to move forward. We will then use these new revenues to find the permanent solutions needed for the future. It’s a simple vision, one that can be acted on now. It is a vision that will show results quickly and one that we can afford today. So let’s make it happen!

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4th of July

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

On this July 4^th week perhaps it’s time that we all take a few moments to truly think about the words that we speak when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

We may disagree on the details of some political policies or how we accomplish this program or that one but we do so as one nation. In our Country we have the right and responsibility to speak our minds - to work together no matter how uncomfortable the process. We have a tendency to forget that.

There are events that happen from time to time that remind us of this. Unfortunately many of them are tragic but certainly not all. As we watch some of the Olympic trials this week we can think back to many chants of “USA!, USA!” that came with so many events in the past like the 1980 US Hockey team, the entire 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles or even the latest accomplishments of Michael Phelps. We celebrate them together as one nation.

We seem to spend far too much time looking for the political differences between us and not enough time on what we have in common. We take great pride in finding these divisions and using them as a wedge but I truly believe that our desire to seek liberty and justice for all is a common trait among us. How we get there is a question solved by discussion, diverse opinions, understanding and compromise. It’s not dictated or mandated by any one individual, group or organization. It’s worked through and resolved by each and every one of us on a daily basis. Sometimes the process is not pretty but it has worked for well over 200 years and we are not about to give up on it now.

So enjoy the holiday this week and take a moment to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as you see the flags flying around your neighborhood. Then think about what it means to you.

Happy Birthday America!

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2012-13 Budget, Part II

In my last column/blog I talked about our City’s budget issues and the challenges ahead. In this edition I want to back up a bit and examine things from a larger prospective. One of the things that our Interim City Manager has suggested to Council is a re-examination of the service levels they provide our citizens. The thought behind this is that once the Council determines the service level then they can adjust the budget accordingly.

I would agree with this methodical and reasonable course of action. Too many times we see government agencies simply take an action without taking into account the full scope or knowledge of their actions. The City Council has not reviewed these service levels in years and it is extremely important to do so after all our economy has been through.

Let’s look at a few examples. In 1977 the Marina Fire Department had 14 firefighters, covered 5 square miles and handled some 600 calls annually. Today the Marina Fire Department has 15 firefighters, covering 10 square miles and handles some 1700 calls annually. Is our Fire Department right sized for our community? We should talk about this extensively.

Another example; the City has several economic development projects on deck. These range from a new Hampton Inn hotel to the new Theatre at the Dunes. We also know we will have the new Veterans’ clinic and other projects coming fairly soon. Currently we do not have enough staff to review the plans for these projects in a timely manner. What are our options at this point? How can we help facilitate the projects that will bring new revenue to our City and help our budgets in the future?

Finally, our Community has several public facilities that the City is responsible for maintaining, including our beautiful new library. The care and maintenance of these facilities is important to make sure they are there for our Citizens use. Right now our staffing levels and budgets make it very difficult to fulfill this obligation. What are our options here and how can we make sure these facilities remain available to all of us?

These questions really need to be answered sooner than later. Yes, we will draw from our reserves during this discussion time but that is why they are there. Our Citizens deserve to have the services they voted on maintaining when they approved Measures M & N in 2010. Nothing has changed since that time which is really the issue.

We all deserve an adult conversation that explores all of our options that focuses on the level of service we want, a conversation that looks at the things our local government can do and should do. This is a conversation that should cross all party and ideological lines that is unique to our Marina community. This is something we can accomplish if we work together as a community. Let’s make it happen.

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2012-13 Budget, Part I

Well, here we go again! Our City Council has the duty to work on and approve the 2012-13 annual budget between now and June 30^th. Let the games begin.

As part of the annual budget process the Interim City Manager Doug Yount has provided a 20 page budget message. It is a well thought out and detailed document that explains Marina’s overall financial situation, our staffing issues and his recommendations for what he calls a “status quo” budget.

What is even more important, Mr. Yount has asked the City Council to review the level of services that the City provides its citizens. This would include our police and fire protection, our recreational services and our public works services such as pothole repair, building maintenance, etc. If the Council decides to make cuts in the overall budget, he has asked that they decide on what services they wish to eliminate.

The document is very clear that there is just no more excess in the budget, and that any cuts made will directly affect the level of service that the City can provide. The document is also very clear that our City staff have been incredible stewards of our City’s funds. They have done their best to save monies where possible. Unfortunately, some of these savings were due to a lack of staffing that made it impossible to get some important things done in key departments such as finance and planning.

Another part of the document outlines the importance of Measures M & N to our City budget. It shows that the Citizens of Marina stepped up to cut the City’s overall budget deficit in half by passing the measures in 2010. Unfortunately, this also means that our City Council majority has essentially done nothing to narrow the revenue gap since then.

There will be a series of public meetings over the course of June (June 9, 12, 13, 19 and possibly the 20^th) to discuss the budget and to hear your input. I would ask that you pay attention to the process, add your input to the discussion and let your Council know what level of service you want from your City.

There will be much discussion over the next month and I will weigh in with some very specific ideas and solutions to our current situation. One idea that needs to be a part of any discussion going forward is to consider a two year budget cycle. We just simply do not have the staffing to stop everything and take almost two full months every year to approve our budgets. A two year cycle with 6 month updates will be far more efficient and allow our staff to focus on the services the City needs to provide our citizens.

More later…