Meet the Candidate: Hal Cole says his experience and calm leadership will guide City

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, Hal Cole gives his responses as he attempts to return to the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

1. With recent changes in Senior Management at the City, is there anything you would have done differently, knowing what you know now? Please explain. The changes in senior management translates to the departure of our city manager, Nancy Kerry, and yes it should have been handled differently.

First, let’s go over “what we know now”, understanding that much of the actions precipitating Ms. Kerry’s departure were done in closed session. We do know that in June, 2017, Ms. Kerry was given an evaluation that included the hiring of a consultant who interviewed staff and reported back to council. The net result of this process was a glowing evaluation and a raise.

We also assume that in a closed session on Sept. 19th to appoint a city attorney Mayor Sass recommended the city do a culture assessment and that he had just the person to hire for the task: a private investigator named Mary Egan. To make matters worse, the council never reviewed or authorized a contract in public as required by law. What was supposed to be a team building exercise turned out to be a search for any and all negative comments to present to council.

What should have been done is for the mayor to be honest with his fellow council members. If indeed he was dissatisfied with the city manager’s performance, let his fellow council members know. Let the council as a whole determine what action to take. Inform the city manager that they wanted to revisit her evaluation. The mayor was less than transparent not only with the public, but with his fellow council members as well.

2. Do you feel there is some mistrust in local government? Why do you feel this way? Does this need to be changed and how do you suggest that change is made? The distrust began in earnest when the council received Ms. Egan’s report and put Ms. Kerry on leave. They did not let her know why, told the newspaper she was gone, and left to public to speculate.

This mistrust was exacerbated with a public records request by the Lake Tahoe News for texts on the council members phones in hopes of learning what conversations took place between Ms. Egan and the mayor. The request was made on April 4th and Mr. Sass’s City’s phone and ipad were reported stolen on April 6th. When the texts were finally released, there were pages of unredacted messages on the phones of Mr. Davis, Ms. Laine and Ms. Kerry, but totally blank pages for Ms. David and Mr. Sass. It is no wonder there is some mistrust.

3. Many people say there is money hidden in the City budget that can be spent on roads. What is your budget experience and where will you find money for roads? Our budget is based on our best guess of what the projected revenues will be for the coming fiscal year. Since much of our revenue is derived from TOT and sales tax, it is very dependent on the economy.

When I was on the council, we were very conservative in our projections and often at midyear we saw an opportunity to redirect some of our monies. There were also times we did not have any surplus.

From what I have learned from experts in the field is that given the state or our existing roads, funding has to be aggressive and predictable. To be more specific, it will take an annual investment of 3 million dollars a year for the next 20 years in order for our city roads to be rated “good”.

Our budget will be under tremendous pressure in the near future as the retiree pension obligation (PERS) is expected to double in the next five years. That’s an additional 5 million per year. The idea that we can somehow carve out 3 million every year is very unlikely. Even more unlikely is that future city councils will honor funding policies we adopt today.

My solution to the road issue is the same I proposed when I left the council in November 2016. We need to do the following. Create an entity (a district like we have for sewer and water) that is separate from the city general fund. It might be called the “Road Management Authority”. The sole responsibility of this agency is the repair and maintenance of the city streets. It would be the recipient of all funds road related. It could apply for grants and put initiatives on the ballot. The state allows no more than .005% increase in sales tax. If the voters approved such an increase, it would generate about 2.5 million per year. The voters in this town have taxed their own property to fund improvements to our college and high school. They also voted to raise the TOT tax for a recreation center. I do believe we as a community would be willing to pay an extra 50 cents for every $100 we spend on retail goods if we knew it was going exclusively to our streets. I would also recommend that we sunset this tax in 2037 as that is when the last of our redevelopment bonds are paid off, generating an extra 5 million dollars to the general fund.

Our roads are on life support. Putting bandages on only when money is available will not cure the problem.

4. Do you think you must trust your fellow councilmembers? If yes, what will you do to keep trust levels in tact? If no, please explain why.
Yes, absolutely. We don’t need to agree with each other. We don’t even have to like each other. The public demands that our decisions are made in public and without hidden agendas. Trust comes with honest communication. Council members should report to their peers and the public at every meeting on every action or commitment they have made on behalf of the city since the last session.

5. Tell us why you should be elected. Experience and calm leadership. Never in my 20 years of public service have I seen such a mass exodus of senior staff. We’ve lost two city attorneys, a city clerk and most importantly a well respected city manager. We are now paying $19,000 a month to a manager who is planning to leave in November.

The public will be electing three council members this cycle. That’s a voting majority. They will be shaping our city’s policies for years to come. They will be facing a variety of issues over the next four years. Ideal boards comprise of members with a diversity of ideas, interests, talents and experience. We need a team that can not only rebuild our city’s management team, but the public’s trust as well. I believe I am uniquely qualified to fill that role.

6. What qualifications do you have to win a seat on City Council? I have previously served on the city council, leaving in 2016. During my tenure I was appointed to serve as mayor six times. I’ve sat on numerous boards and committees during my tenure including the TRPA, and the CTC. More importantly I have lived and worked in this community for nearly 60 years, moving here as a young child. I started my own construction company in 1976 and know how much the local regulations affect our livelihood. I also know how much the development of this basin has affected its natural beauty. It is a delicate balance, but one I will always appreciate.

7. If elected, what would you like to see in the City over the next four years?
• Create a Roads District that will be responsible for restoring our city streets with the hope it will sponsor a dedicated sales tax initiative insuring funding for the next 20 years.
• Finish the design and construction of a new recreation center
• Continue the effort to rebuild our aging infrastructure, including removing more aging motels and building new low and moderate income housing
• Start serious focused discussions on our traffic congestion. There is no silver bullet, but there is universal recognition of the problem. There are many players that will need to come together.
• Continue the work on the Bijou Creek Watershed (contiguous to the Whole Foods project) in order to capture more sediment and alleviate flooding.
• Less divisiveness and more collaboration within our community. There is too much at stake. (OK, I’m a dreamer)

8. Does the City need an economic and/or housing development department? Why? Perhaps the answer lies in the second part of the question: Why? A new department in and of itself will not generate more housing or stimulate our economy. A “department” usually means 2 or 3 new employees, which can translate to $200,000 or $300,000 annually. For a city struggling to fund our public works and recreation departments, let alone considering staffing a third fire station, that is a significant amount of money.

When we had redevelopment we had an economic and housing department. We had funds provided by the tax increment set aside to leverage new affordable housing. In fact we built over 340 units during our redevelopment era. There is presently no significant identified funding source

I do understand that there is talk of a “pilot housing project” and having a coordinator would certainly help. Perhaps we should hire a “consultant/project manager” and house them in our city offices with administrative support. This would be much cheaper than a fullly burdened employee and staff.

9. What should be done with VHRs? If they stay, do you support a cap and occupancy cap? Do you think VHRs fit residential zoning? Should some rules of VHRs go to full-time residents too, including bear box and no parking on dirt requirements? This question will most likely be answered by “Measure T”. If the measure does not pass, every sitting council has agreed VHR’s need to be strictly regulated with reliable enforcement. That was not implemented in the past, thus the initiative.

I do believe bear boxes for all of our homes is a desired outcome.

10. Do you favor a strong mayor city? Why? NO, NO, NO. Managing the day to day operations of a city should be left to professionals. Setting policy should be the job of the electeds. However, I do think our method of selecting an annual mayor could be revisited. I do think there should be some correlation between the voters preference when it comes to determining our leadership. Perhaps the council member with the most votes becomes mayor in two years, and 2nd place becomes mayor pro tem? So every election would determine a future mayor.

For a look at the previous candidate replies:

Wendy David - http://southtahoenow.com/story/09/29/2018/meet-candidate-wendy-david-seeks-second-term-south-lake-ta...

Patrick Jarrett - http://southtahoenow.com/story/09/30/2018/meet-candidate-patrick-jarrett-would-see-south-lake-tahoe-...

Austin Sass - http://southtahoenow.com/story/10/01/2018/meet-candidate-austin-sass-says-experience-key-serving-com...

Devin Middlebrook - http://southtahoenow.com/story/10/02/2018/meet-candidate-devin-middlebrook-says-transparency-and-tru...

Bruce Grego - http://southtahoenow.com/story/10/03/2018/meet-candidate-bruce-grego-bring-fairness-and-honesty-council

Tamara Wallace - http://southtahoenow.com/story/10/04/2018/meet-candidate-tamara-wallace-wants-city-concentrate-basic...

Tom Davis - http://southtahoenow.com/story/10/05/2018/meet-candidate-tom-davis-promises-continue-be-fair-open-an...

On Sunday, look for replies from our final candidate, Cody Bass.