SQUIDFRY 12.27.18: Awkward Ending

AWKWARD ENDING… Squid decided to ooze over on Dec. 14 to a Fort Ord Reuse Authorityboard meeting to see – depending on your viewpoint – how the sausage gets made, or, how quickly paint dries.

Presented to the board were a handful of different draft transition plans that are the product of three years of meetings and planning to prepare for FORA’s legislative sunset in June 2020. As part of the legislation, FORA is required to submit a transition plan to the Local Agency Formation Commission of Monterey County by Dec. 30.

After more than an hour-and-a-half of discussion about the various plans, board member Jerry Edelen, the former mayor of Del Rey Oaks who was serving at his last FORA board meeting, made a motion to approve the staff-prepared transition plan, as is. A few other board members then suggested approving some of the alternatives, but none had majority support; some suggested amending Edelen’s motion to add minor details, but he wasn’t having it – he said he wanted to keep his motion “pure.”

County Supervisor and FORA board member Mary Adams pressed on, suggesting a couple tweaks, to which Edelen said, “I want to keep it pure, but everybody says I keep coming back over and over again like an STD or something, but that’s another story.” As the room cringed, Adams responded, “That’s the second time I’ve heard that joke from you. It was old the first time I heard it.”

Edelen’s “pure” motion passed 11-2.

HOME TEAM… Squid’s lair is cozy, and sometimes Squid longs for a little more space to unfurl the tentacles. So Squid’s interest was piqued when Carmel officials announced in October the city was looking for a curator to live (rent-free!) for 20 years at the city-owned 1925 Tudor Revival Flanders Mansion, located in the Mission Trail Nature Preserve. It has nearly 6,000 square feet of livable space.

Then Squid looked at the fine print. The curator has to repair the 93-year-old home. Squid’s watched enough HGTV to know that can get very expensive very fast. Per the city’s online brochure: replacing the electrical system, $50,000; plumbing, $40,000; asbestos and mold testing and remediation, $25,000; replacing furnace, hot water heater and other mechanics, $35,000.

An estimate in 2009 put the repair price tag at $1.15 million. A 2011 estimate put it at $800,000. But the city won’t require the curator to do it all in one fell swoop – he or she must spend $60,000 a year for the first five years, meaning the “free” rent will only cost the curator $5,000 a month for the first five years.

Squid checked Squid’s piggybank and skipped the Dec. 12 deadline to apply. But eight people turned in applications.

Squid hopes they’ve done their math homework.