Councilmember Marian Brady pulls unexplained disappearing act from votes

By Charles Douglas
Humboldt Sentinel

New amendments introduced to building regulations tonight will make it easier to construct, restore and rent out carriage houses and other ancillary structures as secondary dwellings, otherwise known as ‘mother-in-law’ units.

With next to zero public comment and the stamps of approval from the Historic and Design Review Commission and the Planning Commission already given late last year, the Eureka City Council wasted little time in unanimously adopting the three sequentially numbered bills.

Unanimously, that is, with 4-0 votes; First Ward Councilmember Marian Brady slipped out at the start of the first public hearing, saying she was “recusing herself” with absolutely no further explanation.

Even though it’s entirely possible that Brady, or Brady’s immediate family, has a personal investment in a historic structure and/or a property with a secondary dwelling unit, public interest legal experts tell the Sentinel that this is insufficient to create a specific personal benefit via the passage of an ordinance with city-wide implications in terms of zoning and building standards. There’s also no justification under state law for such a recusal — and any recusal due to a conflict of interest must be specifically disclosed, according to Government Code Section 18702.5:

(b) Content & Timing of Identification: The public official shall, following the announcement of the agenda item to be discussed or voted upon but before either the discussion or vote commences, do all of the following:

(1) The public official shall publicly identify:

(A) Each type of economic interest held by the public official which is involved in the decision and gives rise to the conflict of interest (i.e. investment, business position, interest in real property, personal financial effect, or the receipt or promise of income or gifts), and

(B) The following details identifying the economic interest(s):
(i) if an investment, the name of the business entity in which each investment is held;
(ii) if a business position, a general description of the business activity in which the business entity is engaged as well as the name of the business entity;
(iii) if real property, the address or another indication of the location of the property, unless the property is the public official’s principal or personal residence, in which case, identification that the property is a residence;
(iv) if income or gifts, then identification of the source; and
(v) if personal financial effect, then identification of the expense, liability, asset or income affected.

(2) Form of Identification: If the governmental decision is to be made during an open session of a public meeting, the public identification shall be made orally and shall be made part of the official public record.

The specter of a false recusal isn’t new to Humboldt County politics.

Arcata’s deposed ex-Councilmember Harmony Groves, since relocated to Marin County, staged a false recusal in her first year of office in 2005 when the subject of civilian review over the Arcata Police Department came up on a City Council agenda. Even though there was no specific ordinance being introduced and the item only carried the prospect of providing direction to the City Attorney on the development of such a law, Groves declared that she couldn’t be in the room to discuss such a proposal because she worked with one of the community members who was present to provide testimony — a claim which has no basis in the aforementioned law.

Unlike tonight’s votes in Eureka, however, Groves’ absence left the mid-2000s Arcata Council deadlocked 2-2 on the subject of police review, and they never took up the issue again. These housing ordinances provided a rare show of unity between remaining Councilmembers, as it represented their first step as a body in implementing their newly revised Strategic Visioning document for Eureka’s future.

“One small unit at a time is a nice way to add affordable housing, it doesn’t overwhelm our infrastructure,” Second Ward Councilmember Linda Atkins said, referring to the ability of owners to rent out mother-in-law units without the requirement that they live on the same property.

Eureka’s ordinances, presuming they are formally adopted in two weeks after their introduction tonight, greatly increase the number of areas in which secondary units are allowed without special permits; these include Multi-Family, Office Residential, Hospital Medical and Commercial zones. In the last three years, 11 applications for secondary units have been received — however, eight of these were from property owners caught in a code violation who were trying to legalize existing uses.

Wake planned for redevelopment

In his close-of-meeting report, city manager Dave Tyson said the Council may need to hold a special meeting later this month to have the City take up the mantle of successor to the Eureka Redevelopment Agency; all redevelopment agencies in California were eliminated by the State Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown last year, and the state Supreme Court put the final nail in the coffin last week in a ruling which also threw out an attempted work-around allowing cities and counties to fund the continuation of their agencies.

“The [California] Supreme Court didn’t just kill redevelopment, they ruled to trigger an entire funeral procession on redevelopment as we know it,” Tyson said. “Hopefully we’ll salvage something.”

Mayor Frank Jager noted that several employees in City Hall were paid for by the redevelopment agency, and asked for an update on what those positions were and how the Council might compensate for the loss of funding. Tyson replied that the General Fund could see significant impacts, as the salaries of most top city officials were partially paid through redevelopment.

If the City of Eureka took over the assets of the redevelopment agency, an oversight committee consisting of a Councilmember, two Humboldt County Supervisors, a member of the county Board of Education and a director from the largest special district in the county would form. This oversight committee would monitor the actions of the Council in regards to former agency property — and would even have veto power over these actions.

In addition

The fuzzy feelings about the Strategic Visioning plans moving forward only lasted until open public comment; Henderson Center resident Neal Latt distributed a letter from the Coastal Commission which slammed the city’s plan to extend Waterfront Drive through the PALCO Marsh as triply non-compliant with the Coastal Act.

“Any further monies spent on this would best be spent elsewhere,” Latt said. “It’s irrational and irresponsible.”

The evening’s public safety report from fire chief Ken Woods came with welcome news of a $200,002 grant awarded to install fire sprinklers and alarms in two fire houses and the Eureka Fire Department headquarters. Woods, who heads a joint Humboldt Bay Fire effort which includes Humboldt Fire District No. 1, is looking to upgrade EFD personnel training to have paramedics, instead of emergency medical technicians, on the crews of all fire engines — as is the standard already at HFD.

When Woods mentioned the formation of a committee to look at the replacement of a 35-year-old ladder truck with a new vehicle, Brady suggested he pick up surplus fire equipment to save money. The fire chief begged to differ.

“They have a lot more miles, the pumps have a lot more usage on them, you’re really buying something that has a potential for problems in a lot of areas,” Woods said.

The Council also reshuffled their appointments and alternate positions on various local joint powers authorities. Atkins’ position on the newly controversial Humboldt Waste Management Authority has been handed to Fifth Ward Councilmember Lance Madsen, who said he’d like to take on additional duties as he recovers his health after an extended hospitalization last year.