What Happened at the City Council Meeting This Week?

The Half Moon Bay City Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 4, was a piece of cake — literally, cake and punch were served. The Cub Scouts Pack 263 joined the first half of the meeting to help lead the pledge of allegiance. After a photo op with the troop, the meeting was recessed for a short snack break followed by serious talks amongst council members about funding, city selection committees, and mountain lions.

Half Moon Bay city council was saddened to announce that two small mountain lion cubs were shot and killed Saturday night by the State Department of Fish and Game wardens. The cats were first discovered by a resident who saw them in a yard and called the State Department of Fish and Game. Wardens came and shot the mountain lions, stating that they were fearful the animals would escape the yard, becoming a public safety issue. The city council stated that they had nothing to do with the decision to kill the mountain lions.

The council discussed nominations for the San Mateo County City Selection Committee. City Clerk, Siobhan Smith, listed the numerous appointments to be made including a City Selection chair and vice-chair. Amongst the nominations for the City Selection Committee was councilwoman Marina Frasier. Council members also received some slack during the meeting’s public forum for past actions that one citizen believed was unacceptable. 

John Ullom, a resident who ran for city council this year and lost, congratulated his opponents and asked the council to be more transparent in the future. He accused the council of lying about past uses of the Build America Bonds that were approved in July 2009. Vice Mayor, Rick Kowalczyk, asserted after the meeting that these accusations were false.

City manager, Laura Snideman, talked about potential government grant opportunities to fix the bridge that Vice Mayor Rick has deemed “seismically unsafe.” The bridge will cost a little over $7.5 million to repair. Further discussion of possibilities to fix the bridge will commence at a public input meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 19 at the Department Operations Center.

Half Moon Bay has had luck receiving government grants in the past, most recently with the 2009 Homeland Security grant that allowed the city to open a $1.2 million Department Operations Center right next to the Ted Addock Community Center on Kelly Avenue. The grant was issued for $750,000 with Half Moon Bay picking up the tab for the rest of the $1.2 million total.

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