Title
Proposed Library-Historical Commission Reconfiguration and Advisory Position to Address the Lack of Historic Preservation Expertise on the Commission
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
At the City Council Meeting of May 3, 2021, Councilmember Cox requested that the City Council Rules Committee consider adding a Commissioner to the Library - Historical Commission (LHC) who has an historical or building preservation background. Under this solution, the LHC would increase to 9 members with the Mayor appointing another At-Large Commissioner. This request arose because of the concern that when historic preservation issues were reviewed by the LHC, the Commission has lacked the expertise to evaluate them.
After discussion among City staff (Library Services, Community Development and City Manager’s Office), community stakeholders, and commissioners, other challenges and concerns regarding the LHC and Arts Commissions emerged.
Concerns include:
• Limited Architectural Preservation Actions - Only 2 registered historic properties have come forward to the Library-Historical Commission within the last 15 years and both were under the State’s Mills Act, which provides tax incentives for historic property owners.
• Commissioner Attendance - Even during pre-pandemic times, commissioner attendance has been and continues to be an issue.
• Meeting Cancellations - Meeting cancellations are due to lack of substantive agendas or lack of quorum.
• Finding People to Serve on Commissions - It has been a challenge, especially for the Arts Commission, to find people to fill open seats.
• Expertise Gaps - Architectural preservation issues come before the Library-Historical Commission, but the Library does not have staff expertise in architectural or building permit matters; Community Development has familiarity with architecture/design but no one on staff has historic structure preservation expertise.
• Inefficiencies of Process - About 20 years ago, the Library and Community Development Department heads established an informal historic preservation review process. The Library has become an unnecessary go-between. The public should be contacting Community Development staff directly for historic building preservation cases.
Based on the feedback we received, staff have developed two options that address the need for Commission consolidation/efficiencies and historical preservation expertise.
1) Combine the Library-Historical Commission and Arts Commission into a new Library, Arts, and Culture Commission AND have the Mayor appoint an Ad Hoc Advisor to PC/BZA who is a qualified historical preservationist.
OR
2) Combine the Library-Historical Commission and Arts Commission into a new Library, Arts, and Culture Commission AND have the Mayor appoint 1 member to the PC/BZA who is a qualified historic preservationist.
Staff Recommends option 1 above. Option 2 may be problematic as it may constrain future Mayors from independently appointing someone as his/her/their representative on the PC/BZA.
Board/Commission Review and Actions
The Acting Library Director, Bill Sherwood, brought the original idea to expand the Library-Historical Commission in the Councilmember Cox Item 14 Request during the May 3, 2021 City Council Meeting to the Library - Historical Commission on July 20, 2021. The Library-Historical Commission was supportive of the idea to increase the commissioner count by one member who has a historical background or experience in historic preservation. However, they voiced some concerns.
• There was concern in the difficulty to fill the position. Commissioners have a high turnover, and it can be a challenge to find commissioners with the existing general criteria; adding experience in historical matters, historic preservation, or historic knowledge would likely add an additional challenge and may prove to be too onerous to consistently fill with a San Leandro resident with the credentials, willingness, and time to commit.
• Neither the Historical Society nor the Library-Historical Commission should make the nomination. Instead, the nomination and appointment should follow the same process as the rest of the adult Library-Historical Commission nominations and appointments. Applications can be made to be on the commission, and in this case, the Mayor would appoint, subject to the Council’s approval.
• There was concern making sure the process followed having the City Clerk’s Office oversee the process to provide accountability and transparency regarding the application, nomination, and appointment processes.
Since then, the more robust solution has emerged and Library Director Brian Simons has met with the Library-Historical Commission Chair, Arlene Lum and Commissioner Kelly Ritter. They are in support of the more robust solution detailed in the Summary and Recommendation section of this staff report.
Library Director Simons is scheduled to meet with Arts Commission Chair, Erika Garcia April 19, 2022.
Summary of Public Outreach Efforts
• April 14, 2022: Library Director Simons met with Historical Society President Erin Ouborg regarding the more robust solution options. She was supportive of it since it puts the building/landmark preservation under the appropriate City Department.
• April 14, 2022: City Manager Fran Robustelli met with Historical Society President Erin Ouborg regarding the more robust solution options. She was supportive of it since it puts the building/landmark preservation under the appropriate City Department, and she offered the recommendation of including historic preservationist involvement in the PC/BZA.
Legal Analysis
The City Attorney was consulted on the proposed options. The Municipal Code will need to be modified and updated.
Fiscal Impacts
There is no fiscal impact to the City.
Attachment(s) to Staff Report
Att A - Minutes of the July 20, 2021 Library-Historical Commission
Power Point Presentation - Library-Historical Commission Size
PREPARED BY: Brian Simons, Library Director, Library Department