An agreement between Del Rey Oaks and TAMC, which looked settled, is now in limbo.

David Schmalz here, wanting to correct the record on a story that refuses to go to bed. This is going to take some explaining, so please bear with me.

Last Thursday morning, March 30, I wrote about the Del Rey Oaks City Council approving, in a 4-0 vote, a supplemental agreement with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County to agree to pay maintenance costs for the 1.5-mile segment of the planned Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway (FORTAG) that will pass through the city (ie the first funded segment of the approximately 28-mile loop that will extend to Marina and the coast). 

The controversy around the project runs deep, and even led to a ballot measure—which was narrowly defeated—to stop it. And all along the way, there have been questions about who can (or can’t) vote on decisions related to it.

That’s because state law, per the Fair Political Practices Commission, says that elected officials should recuse themselves from voting on a project within 500 feet of their home—if they own it—as it might bring them financial benefit. 

At the March 28 meeting, council members Bill Ragsdale-Cronin and Kim Shirley, who both live within 500 feet, declined to recuse, believing that the project—which is regional in impact, and the biggest infrastructure project in the city in decades—was too important to not vote on. Jeremy Hallock, who also lives within 500 feet but is a renter (a fact revealed during the meeting) decided to recuse himself anyway. The vote happened, the agreement was approved, etc. 

But then, on Thursday afternoon (March 30; after I posted my story), City Manager John Guertin emailed members of the council saying he couldn’t sign the agreement because there wasn’t a “quorum” that made the vote legit. (Neither Guertin, nor City Attorney Alex Lorca, counseled against proceeding with the vote during the meeting.) Three council members are needed for a quorum and, per the FPPC, both Ragsdale-Cronin and Shirley don’t count toward the quorum because they live within 500 feet of the project.

On Monday, I spoke with FPPC spokesperson Jay Wierenga for clarification on this rule, because when I read the statute it seemed like there was a lot of latitude that can be granted for projects that are regional in nature, and don’t specifically benefit a person, but the community at large. That seems to apply in this case. Wierenga told me, in essence, that the FPPC will provide a city with advice in cases like this, but the agency needs about three weeks to make their determination. Per Wierenga, as of Monday afternoon, no one from Del Rey Oaks—city staff, council members—had reached out the FPPC for guidance. If they had—and this has been an issue on the docket for years—there could have been clarity on that fact, and perhaps everyone could have voted. (Shirley did seek the FPPC’s advice on the issue on Monday afternoon.)

TAMC Executive Director Todd Muck tells me that approving the FORTAG agreement will be back on the agenda for the April 25 council meeting. (A special meeting was called to discuss the issue tonight, but it was canceled yesterday.)

So that’s where the story stands. The agreement between Del Rey Oaks and TAMC is in limbo, which is not so much a delay in the project as a delay in knowing where the project stands. (Guertin has not responded to multiple text messages and voicemails in the past week to clarify the situation.) And the timing is important because there’s a deadline ahead—the council must vote on the agreement by May, as TAMC needs to put in a request to the state by the end of April to secure funding—they have get their ducks in a row well before the California Transportation Commission, which will fund much of the project, meets June 28. I’m still looking for answers on what’s happening and how this will move forward—and when I know more, I’ll keep you posted.