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HomeMy WebLinkAboutS23 - Marine Environmental Division ReorganizationITEM S23 TO: Members of the Newport Beach City Council FROM: Homer L. Bludau, City Manager SUBJECT: Reorganization of Marine Environmental Division RECOMMENDED Receive and File. ACTION(S): SUMMARY: This agenda item describes the transfer of the Marine Environmental Division - currently a division within the Fire and Marine Department - to the City Manager's Office. Given that the City Charter authorizes the City Manager to "exercise control of all administrative offices and departments of the City ...;' this information is provided to the City Council and to the public as a courtesy for their review and comment. BACKGROUND: The Marine Environmental Division is one of four divisions within the Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department - the others include Life Safety Operations (with 103 personnel), Administration (14 personnel), and Fire Prevention (4 personnel). The Division's duties include the administration and /or enforcement of: • 1,200 Harbor Permits held by businesses and individuals; • Certain property leases on State tidelands properties; • The "General Permit" under which the City and certain harbor permittees are authorized to do maintenance dredging; • The Balboa Yacht Basin; • The City's two staffed parking lots - the Balboa Parking Lot and the Corona del Mar State Beach Parking Lot; • Harbor use regulations (commercial boat operations, residential piers, onshore and offshore moorings, and more) and harbor - related building permits; • The City's marine life refuge protection and school escort program at Little Corona Beach in Corona del Mar. Marine Environmental came to be within the Fire and Marine Department in 1995, when the then -city manager consolidated the then - Marine Department and the then - Fire Department into a new Fire and Marine Department. At the time, the city manager believed that the consolidation of these two departments would save revenue and still maintain service levels to harbor users. Since that time, several important issues have arisen that have heightened the importance of the City's harbor resources to the City Manager's office — these include (see Attachment A for more detail): Newport Beach City Council Page 2 -- Nezv Harbor - Related Activities -- • The work of the Harbor Committee to develop and implement a Harbor Element to the General Plan. • Ideas to improve the management of the City's harbor - related income properties like the Balboa Yacht Basin. • The pending implementation of TMDLs for fecal coliform and toxics. • The States new focus on non -point source pollution reduction. • New attention to water quality standards for oceans and beaches. • Marine life protection at area tidepools. The Proposed Reorganization. Given these new demands on the Marine Environmental Division, I have directed the reorganization of this Division to my office, under supervision of the Deputy City Manager. The proposed organization of this Division - referred to in the future as the Division of Harbor Resources -- will be as follows: I CITY COUNCIL I CITY MANAGER I Deputy City Manager Division of Harbor Resources Division Director Tony Melum Marina Manager Harbor Inspector John Reilly I I Wes Armand Dock Attendant Maintenance Worker (PT) I I (PT) Department Assistant Lorne Arcese Parking Lot Supervisor I I tidepools Sue Davis Marine Preserve Supervisors Officers (2 PT) I 1 (10 PT) Attendants (20 PT) Office Location. Personnel from the Harbor Resources Division will work out of the City's property near the Balboa Yacht Basin. As such, I plan not to renew the City's current lease (a lease which pays the City approximately $16,120 per year and which expires in July 2000) with Heritage Yacht Brokers and will "house" the Harbor Resources staff in those offices. I believe that City staff will be able to use the same offices with little or no renovation requirements - these may be limited to MIS - related improvements that will link the offices to City's computer network. Attachment A NEW HARBOR - RELATED ACTIVITIES • Harbor Committee & Harbor Element. The recent work of the Harbor Committee in developing a Harbor Element for the City's General Plan has highlighted the importance of protecting the variety of uses in Newport Bay - including commercial activities, visitor and tourist access, residential properties, and the preservation of critical habitat. The retention of a General Permit for maintenance dredging is but one aspect of good stewardship of the Harbor. • Tidelands Property Management. The Council's review of responses to an RFP for the management of the Balboa Yacht Basin sugggested that the City should be doing more to maximize the visitor - serving, tenant, and water quality operations at the BYB. Other tidelands- related properties deserve similar scrutiny and effort. • TMDLs for Fecal Coliform and Toxics. To ensure compliance with these Total Maximum Daily Loads - an outgrowth of the federal Clean Water Act as enforced by the State Water Resources Control Board ( SWRCB) and the SWRCB's nine Regional Boards - the City will have to aggressively monitor and limit sediment, nutrients, fecal coliform, and toxic materials entering the Bay from all sources. • NPS Pollution. New attention at the State and Federal level to Non -Point Source pollution (contamination from a source that cannot be immediately identified) will lead cities across California to educate the public about the impacts of urban runoff on the Bay and our environment. Further, the California Coastal Commission and the SWRCB have formalized 61 different Management Measures ( "MMs ") as a part of their Plan for California's Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program (1998- 2013). The Plan includes an entire section on marina operations. • Beach and Ocean Water Quality Standards. When AB 411 became effective last year (July 1999), the more stringent standards for three indicator bacteria set a new record for the posting and /or closure of area beaches. The postings and closures occurred in Newport Beach during 1999 will continue in 2000 - suggesting the need for a focused City effort towards helping the public understand the purpose of the closures and what they can do to stop them. • Marine Life Protection. The recent work of the Orange County Coastal Coalition's subcommittee on Marine Life Refuges has highlighted the importance of protecting sensitive tidal habitat along our shoreline, including the tidepools at Little Corona. Further, the initial funding of a Marine Education Center at Shellmaker Island will allow the City and its partners at the California Department of Fish and Game to better protect marine life refuge areas by diverting visitors to a more controlled educational environment like Shellmaker. Newport Beach City Council Page 3 Effects on Other Departments. The proposed change will: • Transfer duties away from the Fire and Marine Department, which will in turn become the Fire and Rescue Department. • Add duties to the Building Department, which will take on additional responsibility for the processing of harbor - related construction permits (arguably, these permits should be treated just like any building permit). Building will thus increase its revenues (revenues from fees for the permits) and may need an additional appropriation (in the range of $10,000) to transfer and input the handwritten records now held in Fire and Marine. The Harbor Resources Division will remain responsible for "signing -off' on proposed construction plans in the harbor, but will no longer start or end the process. Freeing the Harbor Resources Division of the administrative obligations of processing harbor - related construction permits should enable Division staff to give additional focus to the annual inspection and compliance - related enforcement of harbor use permits. Timing. I have proposed that this reorganization take effect July 1, 2000, upon adoption of the City's FY 2000 -01 Budget. The actual move of the personnel will occur after the expiration of the lease with Heritage Yacht Brokers and after we are able to physically move the Division's offices to the new location. In closing, I will take this opportunity to thank and recognize the work and cooperation of the City staff members affected by this change - the Marine Environmental Division, the Fire and Marine Department, the Building Department, and the Deputy City Manager. Change is never easy - but I believe that this reorganization will be beneficial to the City, to the issues being dealt with, and professionally satisfying to all involved. ATTACHMENT: Attachment A - New harbor - related activities since the previous reorganization.