The Garcia-Mungo agendizing memo on Garcia's letterhead is a "placeholder" and doesn't reveal how much their proposal would cost LB taxpayers; it indicates a city staff memo is pending. However as LBRREPORT.com previously reported (first again) nearly two months ago, city management told the Mayor/Council in a non-agendized November 8, 2019 memo that the costs would likely fall within a range of $100,000+ from City Hall's General Fund to as much as nearly three quarters of a million dollars annually from all City funds.

A decision on whether to pay all or some of the Mayor's advisory body appointees and to increase or double sums paid to the Mayor's Charter Amendment appointees is discretionary with the City Council.

The Mayor/Mungo agenda item comes in the context of a 2018 city management action (which triggered consternation among some Commissioners and prompted social network public push-back) that would effectively give management the ability to steer or potentially decide what topics the Mayor chosen/Council approved advisory bodies could or couldn't discuss or on which they could offer advice. Management responded by pulling its discussion-control proposal out of public view, leaving it for non-public discussion by a Mayor/management chosen "working group"...where it has never entirely disappeared (details below.)

Meanwhile, a non-agendized November 8, 2019 management memo to the Mayor/Council acknowledged the taxpayer costs of a proposal floated by management in mid-2018 [after 2018 Mayor/Council elections) regarding payments to Mayor-chosen Commissions. Management had proposed to double sums paid to the Mayor's choices for City Charter-created Commissions (with substantive voting powers: Water, Harbor, Planning, Parks/Rec), begin paying CPCC members and for the first time pay all (instead of just some ) Council-created "advisory" commissions (that have no voting enactment power), package that it estimated could cost LB taxpayers sums ranging from over $100,000 from LB's General Fund to nearly three quarters of a million dollars annually from all funds.

In the memo dated Nov. 8, 2019, city management says doubling meeting sums (from $100 to $200, up to $1,000 per month) for the Mayor's Charter Commission appointees (CPCC members are currently volunteers) and paying all (not just some) of the Mayor's "advisory" bodies $50 per meeting (capped at $100 per month) could consume $733,200 per year from all city funds with a cost of $394,800 to LB's General Fund...although "based on the number of meetings held in 2018," annual costs could be roughly $261,750 (all funds) and $109,759 from the General Fund.

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On August 13, 2019, the Council's "Budget Oversight Committee" -- Stacy Mungo, Suzie Price and Al Austin -- discussed management's proposal (agendized item here) and none of the three flatly opposed the payments. Instead Committee chair Mungo asked management to provide cost figure that maintained management's proposed meeting payment sums but capped annual costs at somewhat lower totals: $7,000 per year (instead of $1,000 per month) for Charter Commissions and $1,000 per year (instead of $100 per month) for advisory bodies. However Mungo also proposed higher sums than proposed by management for the Mayor's appointees to the Economic Development Commission (an advisory body), Airport Advisory Commission (also advisory) and the LB Transit Board of Directors (with voting powers): $75 per meeting (instead of $50) capped at $1,000 per year (instead of $100 per month.)

City management's Nov. 8 memo indicates the Mungo's suggested metrics would cost taxpayers $494,000 (all funds) with $273,000 from the General Fund although "based on the number of meetings held in 2018" the cost would be closer to $258.925 (all funds) with $112,225 from LB's General Fund.

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Currently, only seven advisory bodies receive meeting payments. Most LB's advisory commission members volunteered to meet and discuss subjects suggested by the Mayor/Council and in some cases agendized by their committee. In 2018, the matter of exactly what subjects advisory commissions can discuss and offer advice begat a loud controversy.

A City Council agenda item surfaced for the Council's July 10, 2018 meeting that proposed to tighten city management control over subjects discussed or voted on by the advisory bodies. First reported by LBREPORT.com here, it proposed to have the City Attorney draft Municipal Code provisions to prevent LB City Hall "Advisory Bodies" from agendizing for Commission discussion items not approved by the City Manager of his staff. (The non-elected City Manager answers to the elected Mayor and Council.) The same agenda item also proposed to give the Mayor the power to remove Advisory Commissioner(s) without publicly stating any reason with Council majority voted approval.

The agenda item triggered pushback from some Commission members and from taxpayers on social networks...and Mayor Garcia abruptly moved to temporarily head-off a public confrontation on the matter. Near the start of the Council meeting, Mayor Garcia stated: "Items 25 and 26 are going to be postponed...and also item 27 which is more of a technical report from city management on commissions as they relate to the way they operate. I've asked staff to please bring that back at a later date once they do a little bit more outreach with both Councilmembrs as well as some of the Commissioners and Commissions and so that will be my request..."

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On January 8, 2019, then-City Manager Pat West quietly advised Councilmembers that Mayor Garcia and the City Manager had taken the following steps:

[Jan. 8, 2019 memo]...To conduct a thorough review of the City's advisory bodies and receive information from a diverse cohort of stakeholders, the City Manager's Office collaborated with the Mayor's Office to create an informal working group of current Commissioners to review the status of the City's advisory bodies and report back to the City Council. The working group will conduct a comprehensive review of the proposed changes to the City's advisory bodies, as well as provide input and recommendations to the City Manager. Members of the working group will be selected by the Mayor and City Manager.

On June 14, 2019, a follow-up memo appeared indicating that city staff planned to move forward with putting changes into effect "that address common administerial enhancements" -- including compensation changes -- before moving forward to implement "the full menu of proposed changes to the advisory bodies..."

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For now, it's unclear exactly what limits LB's Mayor-chosen/Council-approved advisory commission members may face if they try to agendize and discuss items that don't meet with city management or Mayor/Council approval. That may become clear only after the Council decides whether members of City Hall-chosen advisory commissions will be paid or paid more for attending their meetings.

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