This Tuesday’s City Council meeting could be another long night as the agenda is positively filled to bursting point.
Among the Special Agenda Items is a proclamation for Library Lover's Month and a commendation for City Manager David White, who is soon set to depart our fair city and return to Oakland at the end of February.
A total of 10 Consent Calendar Items include the approval of accepting an Environmental Protection Agency Grant and subsequently purchasing four new street sweepers and a second reading and adoption of ordinance amending the Santa Monica Municipal Code concerning use of the City seal and other City symbols.
The number of Closed Session list of items is mercifully short, so fingers crossed that might reduce the length of this meeting. However, the Item 7 Study Session will almost certainly create discussion and quite possibly dominate public input.
Staff will recommend that Council provide direction on the key areas of focus for a City Reparations & Landback Program to study the historical harms done to Santa Monica’s marginalized communities and provide recommendations on how to address those harms.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of Santa Monica as a city and, as the Staff Reports suggests, this is a perfect opportunity for self-reflection on both the collective accomplishments in addition to the harms we’ve created along the way.
On January 23, 2024, the Council directed staff to survey reparations efforts in other jurisdictions, identify any potential legal issues with pursuing our own reparative efforts, and report back to the City Council. On February 13, 2024, the Council directed staff to consider a series of recommendations, including adopting a city-wide land acknowledgment initiative and a restorative justice approach to repair harm of past actions of the City of Santa Monica impacting diverse groups from various heritages and cultures.
Following engagement with the community to develop the City’s equity plan (which will come to Council later this spring) and the evaluation of different jurisdictions’ reparations programs, staff intend to launch a comprehensive Reparations & Landback process. This 18 month operation will be centered around a “task force of community members and experts” who will explore and recognize the “multiple historical injustices faced by marginalized communities” in Santa Monica as well as identify priorities and recommendations for how to repair those harms.
At the conclusion of this process, the Council will be presented with the Task Force’s recommendations and the opportunity to adopt the policy framework for the City’s Reparations Program.
Interestingly, the issue of gifts and gratuities once again raises its head, this time as a Resolution, should councilmembers decide to allocate time to it. Staff will recommend the City Council adopt the resolution adopting a policy regarding acceptance of gifts by members of Council.
Finally, a total of 14 Discussion Items are listed on the agenda, many of which are the acceptance of resignations and confirmation of new vacancies on a number of boards and commissions, including the Recreation and Parks Commission, the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism, the Architectural Review Board and the Human Services Commission.
There is also a plan to establish and appoint a temporary ad hoc Council committee for the City Manager recruitment process.
Another particularly interesting item, should councilmembers have time to get around to it, is a request of Councilmember Jesse Zwick, Mayor Lana Negrete, and Mayor Pro Tem Caroline Torosis that the City Council direct the City Manager and City Attorney to expedite the issuance of building permits in Santa Monica without reducing building integrity and still adhering to life and safety requirements through the development of a Voluntary Self-Certification Pilot Program for non-structural commercial tenant improvements, single-family home improvements, and accessory dwelling units.
According to the Staff Report, the Self-Certification Program “shall allow licensed professionals who agree to self-certify that building plans are compliant with all California codes and local ordinances to bypass the normal plan review process and get approval for permits in one to five business days” facilitating the city’s economic recovery and reducing the workload on plan check professionals, allowing them to focus on the more complex projects that require their attention.
