The City of Morro Bay has a couple of advisory board spots to fill and anyone interested has until Aug. 30 to apply.
City Clerk Dana Swanson issued the July 23 announcement: “The City of Morro Bay is seeking volunteers for the Citizens Finance Advisory Committee [CFAC] and the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee [CTAC].”
The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30. Access the application form from the Clerk at City Hall or online at: www.morrobayca.gov/268/Boards-Committees-Commissions, then click on “Applications.” Applications can be emailed in, snail mailed, or dropped off at City Hall, corner of Shasta Avenue and Harbor Street.
The CFAC was first formed after passage in 2006 of Measure Q, a 0.5% sales tax hike and was originally call the Oversight Committee. It was charged to “review the semi-annual expense report of the City relative to activities funded with the additional general purpose local sales tax monies. The Committee is to present its findings and conclusions to the City Council for its review not later than Dec. 31 of each year,” according to the City’s website.
The City Council in the Measure Q campaign pledged to use what was estimated to be about a half million dollars a year to support the police, and fire departments, plus street/infrastructure repairs and storm drain maintenance. It was also needed to repay financing of the new Harbor Street Fire Station. The take has also been greater than originally anticipated.
In order to avoid having to get two-thirds voter approval, that spending commitment wasn’t put in writing, but instead was made via formation of the oversight committee. This allowed Measure Q to pass with a simple majority.
Since the 2020 passage of Measure E-20, which hiked the local sales tax another 1%, the CFAC has also reviewed that spending. E-20 was similarly pledged to support “public safety” needs.
Over the years CFAC has also taken on other tasks, such as helping keep an eye on the City’s Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) project financing and spending.
The committee meets quarterly on the third Tuesday in January, February, May, August, and October at 3 p.m. at the Vet’s Hall on Surf Street. A full committee is five members.
Their meetings are open to the public and conducted under the Brown Act, the State’s open meetings law. The single vacancy open now is a short-term commitment, as the normally 4-year term ends Jan. 31, 2026.
There is no requirement for members to have a finance background, though it probably couldn’t hurt. Such committee participation has in the past led to citizens running for elected office.
There is also one vacancy on the CTAC, a countywide advisory board that works through the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments the countywide agency that oversees transportation programming and project funding.
SLOCOG is the middle, moneyman between the State and Federal sources of transportation revenues, primarily gasoline taxes.
Each County Supervisor appoints someone to the CTAC representing that district; each incorporated city appoints someone as well; and there are three “at-large” members chosen by the SLOCOG board (made up of elected officials).
“The committee reviews and prepares recommendations to the SLOCOG Board,” reads a City announcement, “on all phases of their transportation planning program, including public transit, airports, streets and roads, bicycle, pedestrian funding issues and plan preparation. The committee is an active, effective committee, which normally reviews and submits recommendations on transportation-related staff reports and plans.”
The CTAC normally meets from 4:30-7:30 p.m. every other month on a Wednesday at the County Government Center on Monterey Street in Downtown San Luis Obispo.
According to the committee’s bi-laws the term of office is open ended. “Each regular member shall serve so long as the appointing body allows or until resignation. Vacancies shall be filled by the appropriate appointing agency. Each regular member shall have full voting privileges.”
To get information and an application for this position email the city clerk at: cityclerk@morrobayca.gov.
