TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Mark Leyman, Parks and Recreation Director
Linda Robb, Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
South Bay Cities Council of Governments Request to Send a Letter Opposing Measure A Steering Committee Recommendations (Parks and Recreation Director Leyman).
APPROVE LETTER OF OPPOSITION
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council direct staff to send a letter opposing the recommendation of the Measure A Steering Committee to allocate 30% of the competitive grant funds to “high” and “very high” need areas.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action. However, should the County approve the Steering Committee’s recommendation, the City of Manhattan Beach may be less likely to receive additional Measure A competitive grant funds.
BACKGROUND:
In 2016, the Los Angeles County Safe, Clean Neighborhood Parks and Beaches Measure (Measure A) was passed by the voters receiving 75% approval. Measure A asked voters to continue their support for local parks, beaches, open space, and water resources by approving an annual parcel tax of 1.5 cents per square foot of development. Generating approximately $94 million per year for our local parks, beaches, and open space areas, Measure A replaced expiring dedicated funding from the voter-approved Propositions A of 1992 and 1996.
Measure A was developed with extensive stakeholder input from throughout Los Angeles County and designed to meet the Countywide Comprehensive Parks & Recreation Needs Assessment of 2016. The Needs Assessment was an 18-month process which provided detailed information from all 88 cities and unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County about the quality of their local parks, their current access to parks and recreation facilities and overall park needs, including public meetings and project lists developed and prioritized by members of each community.
DISCUSSION:
On December 12, 2018, the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) alerted its members of concerns regarding the allocation of Measure A funds to municipalities (see attachment).
Measure A funds are implemented by the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District (RPOSD) with approval by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Measure A funds are recommended by a Measure A Implementation Committee or (Steering Committee) consisting of a large percentage of non-profit organizations and a much smaller representation of municipal agencies.
Within the SBCCOG email alert (attached), the SBCCOG stated concerns related to the final Measure A report. Specifically, the Implementation Committee recommendations to carve-out or target funds within the Competitive Grant Funds in the amount of approximately 30% so that only 70% of the remaining funds would be distributed between all agencies who did not qualify as having high or very high need study areas. For reference, the City of Manhattan Beach qualified as a low need City. The Competitive Grant Scoring Rubric has already provided additional scoring points for the high and very high need areas within each grant proposal. Therefore, this additional funding set-aside does not provide fair and equitable opportunities for funding within each of our communities. Measure A’s language does not call for allocating 30% of the Competitive Grant Funding in this manner and high and very high need areas are already receiving special consideration. The voters approved Measure A to address their highest needs within each of their own communities.
However, the SBBCOG representative of the Steering Committee indicated that the intent of Measure A funds was that 100% of the funds within the competitive grant areas would be provided to the most deserving individual projects within Los Angeles County, not the ones qualifying as having the most need.
Since there is high need in every community based on condition and deferred maintenance of their parks, the SBCCOG does not support the 30% set-aside for the Competitive Grant Funding as defined by the Steering Committee request. If this 30% set-aside were approved, the Competitive Grant Funding would not be fair and equitable for all communities which have identified needs of their own.
Consistent with the concerns and the possibility of Measure A funding allocation being changed beyond the intent of the voters, the SBCCOG has requested that its members send a letter to their respective county supervisor indicating their opposition to the report’s recommendations.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will be hearing the Measure A item at their Board Meeting at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. This final report is currently available on the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Recreational District website at this link: <http://rposd.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DRAFT-Measure-A-Grant-Administration-Manual_2018.10.23.pdf>.
Therefore, staff recommends that the City Council approve the attached letter, opposing the recommendation of the Measure A Steering Committee to allocate 30% of the competitive grant funds to high and very high need areas.
PUBLIC OUTREACH/INTEREST:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
Attachments:
1. Letter of Opposition to LA County Supervisor
2. Email from the SBCCOG