Choose wisely, gadflies.
There will be many items to choose from on City Council's agenda Tuesday night.
Council will kick the meeting off by introducing new City Manager Rick Cole (and then consider approving his $329,000 annual contract plus benefits).
Cole comes to City Hall's top job by way of Los Angeles, where he serves as deputy mayor.
Height and size increases for Early Childhood Education Center
Later in the meeting, council will consider amending the Civic Center Specific Plan to allow a proposed Early Childhood Education Center to stand at 40 feet tall rather than 25 feet tall, and have a floor area of 20,000 square feet instead of 16,000 square feet. This will, according to a report to council, allow the project to serve 110 kids rather than 100.
Minimum wage hike
Santa Monica may follow in Los Angeles' footsteps and raise its citywide minimum wage requirements.
Councilmembers Sue Himmelrich, Tony Vazquez, and Gleam Davis put forth a discussion item asking city officials to begin preparing an ordinance related to minimum wage.
Los Angeles passed an ordinance that will raise its hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.
If council approves of the recommendation from the three council members, the ordinance would come back later this year.
Last year, council raised the minimum wage for all city employees and its contracted employees to $15.37 per hour after asking that hotel developers promised to pay its employees that amount. The previous wage had been $14.08 for city workers.
This wage increase didn't impact any of the Santa Monica employees who don't work for City Hall. The new ordinance would likely impact every employee in the city.
Interim Downtown zoning plan
While council waits to debate the Downtown Specific Plan, which will dictate land uses throughout Downtown, they'll debate the interim zoning standards for Downtown.
Among other things, the ordinance, proposed by city planners, would require any project over 32-feet-tall to go through council's development agreement process.
It'll alter densities in the area and allow property owners and tenants to apply for shared parking permits.
Once approved, the interim standards will be in place for 60 days.
CalPERS funding
Council will consider spending $5 million to pay down unfunded pension liabilities, which will be a significant expense for City Hall over the coming decades. Expenditures now will lead to greater savings in the future, city finance officials said.
Preferential Parking Zones
Council will consider approving parking regulations between Fourth and Seventh streets on Alta and Palisades avenues allowing two hour parking between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., except by permit.
Commission vacancies
Council will consider appointing a member to the Architectural Review Board and the Housing Commission while accepting the resignation from a member of the Social Services Commission.
dave@www.smdp.com
