Things were respectful but a bit tense at the Carmel City Council meeting on Feb. 1, after Councilmember Jeff Baron said to City Administrator Chip Rerig that he didn’t understand why the 55-year-old police station, in desperate need of renovations for many years, wasn’t a part of the budget discussion on the night’s agenda. “This isn’t a ‘blame-the-staff situation,’ this a ‘things seem to fall between the cracks,’” Baron said.
“My staff has been eviscerated,” Rerig replied. “Just a reminder that we had no idea of the impact of this horrible global pandemic. We cut 20 percent of the staff. Things may have fallen off the agendas, they have not fallen through the cracks indefinitely.”
The police station was put on the council’s March 1 agenda, and on that night they voted 5-0 to budget $2 million toward renovations. The good news for Carmel is that Rerig’s conservative approach to spending at the start of the pandemic, combined with better than expected hotel and sales tax revenues and over $900,000 in American Rescue funds, put the city in a relatively solid financial position.
After recent aggressive hiring efforts, staffing is approaching pre-pandemic levels – although Rerig says it’s been a challenge since Bay Area cities also rehiring are offering higher salaries.
The police station is just one of the major priorities Carmel has on its plate, along with capital improvements that were frozen in March 2020 and other issues. These include bringing paid parking to downtown and updates to the city’s general plan, zoning ordinance and housing plan. It also hasn’t touched its wireless communications ordinance since 2004 and is now updating it in the wake of being sued on Jan. 20 by Verizon for the council’s denial of a proposed cell antenna.
In all, Mayor Dave Potter counts 38 priorities the city wants to tackle. He says residents expecting projects to get done quickly need to adjust their expectations. “You can only do so much with what you’ve got. We only have so much capacity,” he says.
On Thursday, March 10 the council is holding a strategic planning retreat where Potter hopes councilmembers will whittle the list of 38 down to eight or nine high-priority items. He wants councilmembers to take responsibility and work with staff toward completion. The retreat is open to the public. It’s taking place from 4-7pm, at Carpenter Hall inside the Sunset Center. Proof of vaccination and masks are required to attend.