Morro Bay-Cayucos to Hire Lobbyist
by Jack McCurdy
Synopsis: The city of Morro Bay and Cayucos Sanitary District plan to hire a lobbyist to asses their chances of winning approval of the California Coastal Commission for their proposed new wastewater treatment plant, which the Commission staff has rejected in a detailed 23-page report that some think makes those chances moot and, therefore, hiring a lobbyist a waste of taxpayer money.
The hiring of a lobbyist to assess the potential of the California Coastal Commission approving the proposed new Morro Bay-Cayucos wastewater treatment plant has been approved—but that was before the Coastal Commission staff recommended rejection of the project 10 days ago, which some are convinced makes the chances of gaining commission approval moot.
Why? Because that 23-page report identified innumerable flaws in the project that the Coastal Commission's staff is convinced make it in violation of city and state policies and therefore unacceptable as a plan for construction of a new multi-million dollar plant. And staff's recommendation will carry immense weight with the commission, which is scheduled to consider the matter on March 11 in Santa Cruz.
It seems clear that when the Morro Bay City Council and Cayucos Sanitary District board, meeting together as co-owners and operators of the sewer plant under their Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), were not aware when they met on February 10 to consider hiring a lobbyist that the commission staff report would be issued so soon and would be so firm against the project. So the situation has changed significantly since that action was taken to hire the lobbyist.
What will Morro Bay and Cayucos do in light of the significant new information? Meet again between now and March 11 to review the situation?
"No," said Morro Bay city attorney Rob Schultz. "I do not see any extremely important new information in the Coastal Commission (staff) report that requires a special meeting prior to March 10 (the date of the next regularly-scheduled joint Morro Bay and Cayucos meeting)." Instead, hiring the lobbyist will move ahead, he said, and "the agreement should be finalized and executed in the near future."
The plan was to have Susan McCabe, owner of McCabe and Co., a lobbying company, and a former member of the Coastal Commission, meet with city and Cayucos district staff in order to become familiar with the project and then advise on the chances of it being approved by the Coastal Commission. The idea seemed to be, although not stated explicitly at the February 10 meeting, to decide whether to continue to pursue the project as it is after getting her advice.
But the release of the Coastal Commission's staff report on February 18 came quicker than nearly everyone expected since the deadline for appeals of the project to the commission was only on January 31. And the city's application for approval had just been submitted shortly before that.
At the February 10 JPA meeting in Cayucos, Dennis Delzeit, the project manager, had recommended hiring McCabe and Co. as an "advocacy consultant," or lobbyist, apparently for an estimated $130,000 for 12 months, according to City Council member Noah Smukler, who mentioned the figures in the meeting, although they were not in Delzeit's public report. Smukler said the figures were "soft," meaning they could go higher.
The purpose of that contract, as Delzeit described it, was to persuade the Coastal Commission to support the Morro Bay-Cayucos project. City and Cayucos district staff would accompany McCabe in lobbying members of the commission. "If you felt we are not getting value, you could terminate the contract at any time," he said.
Mayor Bill Yates said, "I'm on board the lobbyist train as well."
But after Smukler and Mike Foster of the Cayucos board raised objections to hiring the lobbyist and several members of the audience called it a waste of money, the support started to wane. "We're going to be pouring money into this consultant position, and it's not really going to get us anywhere farther than where we are now," Smukler said.
"This is not adversarial, not lobbying, it's bribery," Foster said.
If the JPA members are going to lobby, "who is a better advocate to explain this project to the Coastal Commission than your dream team," referring to city staff members who have been working on the project for years. Delzeit and Bruce Keogh, wastewater division manager, had been called a dream team by Rick Grantham, former City Council member, who spoke at the meeting.
The idea of asking the lobbyist only to assess the project's chances before the Coastal Commission—rather than lobby the commission to approve the project over a longer period—started with Smukler, who said the JPA members really need "honest advice on what's going to be the best success option for this project." Foster added, "I understood we had talked to McCabe about sending us an opinion about our chances of getting it through the Coastal Commission."
Cayucos board chair Robert Enns asked Delzeit if he had talked to McCabe about giving advice on the project's chances and Delzeit said a "preliminary analysis" could be sought before "determining what we want to do" in pursuing the project.
"I agree that McCabe should go through the material and give us advice where we need to go from there," Enns said. "Then we would have a better understanding of whether we should hire her for further services."
Council member George Leage said he thought it would be "a waste of time to analyze if we need a lobbyist."
Enns suggested "a motion to contact McCabe and arrange a contract not to exceed $12,500 a month." Board member Hal Fones made a motion to hire McCabe and "in the first month report to Yates and Enns on the potential for success." The exact terms of the contract were not stated. But the motion was approved 4-1 by the City Council with Smukler in opposition and 4-1 by the Cayucos board with Foster opposing.
Since the February 10 meeting, questions have been raised about McCabe as the lobbyist, resulting from her comments in an email about "spoon feeding" a member of the Coastal Commission she was lobbying last year. The chair of the Board of Port Commissioners she was working for was quoted as saying he was "appalled" by what she said.
The staffs and members of the City Council and Cayucos board reportedly had been looking into the matter.
