If you're like us here at the Chamber, the incredible fluidity and volatility around the Coronavirus Disease in recent days has made short- and long-term planning a Through the Looking Glass moment. 

We look at our day-to-day role quite simply: if you are a Mill Valley Chamber member, we work for you, and we're here to help any way we can. To that end, we're providing a bevy of links, information, tips and resources below. But more importantly, we want to identify our blind spots. What are your biggest concerns? What information can we help you find? How can we help? Let us know and we'll get on it. Email us!

What we've heard from our members so far:

• There hasn't been an uptick in employees calling out sick for fear of being exposed.
• Owners /managers are reminding employees to stay home if they're feeling sick at all.
• Owners/managers are stepping up reminders to employees about vigorous, frequent hand washing.
• Employees are avoiding handshakes with customers etc. – elbow bumps and foot-shakes instead.

CDC-recommended strategies for employers to use:

• Actively encourage sick employees to stay home. 
  • Employees who have symptoms of acute respiratory illness are recommended to stay home and not come to work until they are free of fever, signs of a fever, and any other symptoms for at least 24 hours. Employees should notify their supervisor and stay home if they are sick.
  • Ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance and that employees are aware of these policies.
  • Talk with companies that provide your business with contract or temporary employees about the importance of sick employees staying home and encourage them to develop non-punitive leave policies.
  • Do not require a healthcare provider’s note for employees who are sick with acute respiratory illness to validate their illness or to return to work.
  • Employers should maintain flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for a sick family member.
• Separate sick employees: CDC recommends that employees who appear to have acute respiratory illness symptoms (i.e. cough, shortness of breath) upon arrival to work or become sick during the day should be separated from other employees and be sent home immediately.
• Respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene:
  • Place posters that encourage staying home when sick, cough and sneeze etiquette, and hand hygiene at the entrance to your workplace and in other workplace areas where they are likely to be seen.
  • Provide tissues and no-touch disposal receptacles for use by employees.
  • Instruct employees to clean their hands often with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60-95% alcohol, or wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
  • Provide soap and water and alcohol-based hand rubs in the workplace. Ensure that adequate supplies are maintained. Place hand rubs in multiple locations or in conference rooms to encourage hand hygiene.
  • Visit the coughing and sneezing etiquette and clean hands webpage for more information.
• Perform routine environmental cleaning:
  • Routinely clean all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace.

Planning Considerations
All employers need to consider how best to decrease the spread of acute respiratory illness and lower the impact of COVID-19 in their workplace in the event of an outbreak in the US. They should identify and communicate their objectives, which may include one or more of the following: (a) reducing transmission among staff, (b) protecting people who are at higher risk for adverse health complications, (c) maintaining business operations, and (d) minimizing adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains. Some of the key considerations when making decisions on appropriate responses are:

• Disease severity (i.e., number of people who are sick, hospitalization and death rates) in the community where the business is located;
• Prepare for possible increased numbers of employee absences due to illness in employees and their family members, dismissals of early childhood programs and K-12 schools due to high levels of absenteeism or illness:

• Employers should plan to monitor and respond to absenteeism at the workplace. Implement plans to continue your essential business functions in case you experience higher than usual absenteeism.
• Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent.
• Assess your essential functions and the reliance that others and the community have on your services or products. Be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations (e.g., identify alternative suppliers, prioritize customers, or temporarily suspend some of your operations if needed).

• Employers with more than one business location are encouraged to provide local managers with the authority to take appropriate actions outlined in their business infectious disease outbreak response plan based on the condition in each locality.
• Explore whether you can establish policies and practices, such as flexible worksites (e.g., telecommuting) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts), to increase the physical distance among employees and between employees and others if state and local health authorities recommend the use of social distancing strategies. For employees who are able to telework, supervisors should encourage employees to telework instead of coming into the workplace until symptoms are completely resolved. Ensure that you have the information technology and infrastructure needed to support multiple employees who may be able to work from home.
• Identify essential business functions, essential jobs or roles, and critical elements within your supply chains (e.g., raw materials, suppliers, subcontractor services/products, and logistics) required to maintain business operations. Plan for how your business will operate if there is increasing absenteeism or these supply chains are interrupted.
• Consider cancelling large work-related meetings or events.

More Info:

• COVID-19 Website
• What to Do If You Are Sick With COVID-19​
• Health Alert Network
• Travelers’ Health Website

Other Federal Agencies and Partners

• OSHA Guidance: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/novel_coronavirus/index.html

We here at the Chamber have not yet identified a Business Resource webpage form the State of California, but the State of Washington has outlined a number of ways they are prepared to assist their local businesses, including with financial assistance, worker assistance and insurance assistance. We'll update this post as more info from the State of California becomes available.

Again, how can we help? What are we missing? Let us know via email!!

The Mill Valley City Council this month gave the unanimous green light to a $2 million overhaul of downtown sewers, sidewalks, storm drains and streets, emphasizing the need to work with the MV Chamber and downtown businesses and residents to minimize impacts, particularly those on parking and access for downtown businesses during the most critically important time of the year for retail sales.

The Council approved Phase 1 of the Downtown Project, a multi-year effort that seeks to upgrade the infrastructure in the Downtown area, including roads, sewers, drainage, curb, ramps and more. City officials delayed the project in 2019 in response to serious concerns from business owners about the project’s adverse impact on downtown retailers’ critically important fourth quarter sales. City officials have thus targeted an earlier start to the project in 2020, with work scheduled to begin before the end of May and, with approximately 100 scheduled working days, wrap up by end of August.

At a Jan. 28th community meeting on the project, Daniel Wilkins of Harris & Associates, who has been involved in a number of municipal projects in Mill Valley over the years, explained that the downtown sewer system is “more than 67 years old, and over that span of time, “I&I, or infiltration and inflow of water and debris,” gets into cracks and joints and overloads the system to the point of overflows, one of which occurred in 2008 and caused the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin to pay $2.6 million in fines and fees and mandatory reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Wilkins also noted that the vast majority of the City’s curb ramps don’t comply with ADA regulations and that the roads “have surpassed their expected life and require rehabilitation.”
​
As described in the diagram above, the sewer system overhaul will occur in different ways on different streets, varying from the most intensive method of open trenching to least impactful “cured in place” pipe installation, or trenchless (indicated with dotted lines in the image below).

A second community meeting on the project is expected in the April/May time frame, around the time the City awards the project to a contractor, Aly said.

"We have to upgrade the infrastructure and the streets and the sewer but we do have to take into account the needs of the businesses and the residents," Councilmember Sashi McEntee said. "It's the downtown – it's a heavily used area and we have to be mindful of that."

MV Chamber Co-Director Paula Reynolds lauded the City's prior meeting on the project, noting that the presentation "was at a granular level that really mattered to our business community." 

Project Manager Ahmed Aly noted that the City is exploring alternative parking options to account for the loss of as much of 25 spaces at a time during the project. Those options could include having City employees parking in the Employee Parking spaces on Miller Ave., as well identifying private parking lots that could be used during the project.

"Parking is the major issue for us," Aly said. "We're committed to work with the community and the Chamber and to keep the project moving."

​MORE INFO.

Whether it's a state law requiring food-serving businesses to compost, the ever-growing list of municipalities banning the use of plastics as to-go food containers – or the overwhelming desire to do everything we can to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis – food business owners and managers are increasingly interested in best practices on packaging and food waste disposal.

Now the County of Marin is proposing Reusable Foodware regulations that would require the use of reusable and compostable foodware materials (e.g., plates, bowls, cups, utensils, and trays) at restaurants, grocery stores and delis, bakeries, carry-out, mini marts, farmers markets, food trucks, and other businesses requiring a health permit. The Draft Ordinance prohibits the use of single-use plastic foodware items; proposes a $0.25 charge for disposable cups (with exemptions available for Cal Fresh/SNAP and WIC customers); and establishes overall process for implementation and enforcement.
​
The proposal is a lot to digest, and the City of Mill Valley seeks your comments on the draft ordinance. In such situations, the Mill Valley Chamber's major priority is to convene our members to provide input to inform to decision makers. The City and the Chamber are co-hosting a workshop on the issue on Tuesday, March 10 from 1:30-3:30pm in the Mill Valley Community Center's Mountain View Room (upstairs). A separate forum for residents and community members takes place on March 16 at 7pm at City Hall.                   

County officials will use the public comments to further refine the Draft Ordinance and help determine the community’s interest in implementing the draft regulations within city-limits.

MORE INFO:

Why Focus on Food and Foodware?  
The largest source of waste comes from food. In addition, reducing the amount of disposable items we consume not only is better for the environment, it reduces the amount of litter in the community and lowers the amount of greenhouse gas inputs used to produce the disposable product in the first place.

What Businesses will be Subject to the Regulations?
The Draft Ordinance applies to all entities selling prepared food to the public including: restaurants, grocery stores and delis, bakeries, carry-out, quick services, farmers markets, food trucks, and any other business with a health permit. Once the County adopts the Draft Ordinance, the other 11 local Marin County jurisdictions will work to adopt the same regulations for each local jurisdiction.  

Summary of Draft Ordinance 
The Draft Ordinance contains five key features:

1. All takeout disposable foodware (e.g., plates, bowls, cups, trays) must be natural-fiber compostable (no bio plastics), certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Aluminum is allowed.
2. Reusable foodware and utensils must be used if a customer is dining in at a restaurant. Natural-fiber compostable accessories can be provided upon request. 
3. A $0.25 charge is proposed for disposable cups. Exemptions are available for Cal Fresh/SNAP and WIC customers.
4. Natural-fiber compostable straws and other foodware accessories (utensils, napkins, stirrers, cup sleevers, etc.) may be available upon request or at a takeout station.
5. Garbage, Recycling, and Organics bins must be in front and back of house with graphic-rich signage to allow customers and employees to property sort waste, as required by State Law (AB341, AB1826, SB1383).

Why Are Composting Rules Different in Marin than Other Bay Area Cities?
There is only a limited amount of synthetic material that can be composted in Marin because Redwood Landfill produces organic compost that can be used on Marin’s local organic farms and ranches; the remaining materials go into landfill. Marin County’s compost facility and local Marin County haulers therefore do not accept many commonly labeled “compostable” materials such as bio-plastics due to their synthetic nature.  

Why Doesn’t Marin County Compost Bio-Plastics?
Bio-plastic foodware is not necessarily compostable or degradable, and some may contain toxic materials.

• Some bio-plastics may contain harmful chemicals such as PFOs and PFAs.
• When non-compostable bio-plastics enter compost processing facilities, they contaminate the waste stream.
• Bio-plastics do not always break down during the composting process.
• Bio-plastics look a lot like their plastic counterparts during the composting process.
• When bio-plastics end up in oceans and bays, they behave similar to regular plastics in the way they decompose, potentially harming marine life.
• As a California Department of Food and Agriculture Organic Compost Facility, WM EarthCareTM’s compost facility is regularly inspected and sampled. Synthetic materials, such as bio-plastics are not allowed as an organic input material. 

Next Steps/Timeline
Marin County is collecting public comments in order to develop a model ordinance that can be adopted by all Marin jurisdictions. Currently, the County is collecting comments and feedback on the Draft Ordinance until the end of March 2020. The Draft Ordinance will then be refined based on public comments, and scheduled for possible adoption by the County’s Board of Supervisors later this year (April/May timeframe). Local jurisdictions will then consider adoption of the model ordinance after County adoption (summer/fall 2020).     

Why Consider a Countywide Ordinance?
Adopting the County’s model ordinance allows for a uniform approach for implementation and reduces customer/business confusion by providing consistent requirements. Adopting the same ordinance also allows the City to utilize the County’s services to conduct enforcement through its Food Service Inspectors. Enforcement is contingent on adopting the County’s model ordinance. 
 
View the full Draft Ordinance HERE.

To submit written comments on the Draft Ordinance, email Danielle Staude at dstaude@cityofmillvalley.org. Businesses and residents outside Mill Valley city limits should contact Rebecca Ng at RNg@marincounty.org.

The 411: ​The City and the Chamber are co-hosting a workshop on food waste and the County of Marin's proposed draft foodware ordinance on Tuesday, March 10 from 1:30-3:30pm in the Mill Valley Community Center's Mountain View Room (upstairs). A separate forum for residents and community members takes place on March 16 at 7pm at City Hall.  

“This town is really about participation – that’s how this town works.” 

At the Mill Valley Chamber’s City Council Candidates Forum Thursday morning, Mill Valley Planning Commissioner Urban Carmel said those words in explaining his decades-long local volunteerism, from youth soccer to the incredible revival of the Mill Valley Library Foundation. 

But Carmel also seemed to get to the heart of why each of the six candidates were running for four open seats on the council, why the Chamber organized the event, why WrapManager/Assembly founder Gabe Burczyk hosted the event at his gorgeous space at 319 Miller Ave., why Bank of Marin sponsored it and why more than 35 local business leaders showed up to hear what they had to say. 

The business-focused event kicked off with Chamber Co-Director Paula Reynolds noting the gravity of the 2020 election, which is the first time there have been four open seats on the council since the 1970s, a moment that follows the departure of City Manager Jim McCann after 10 years in the role. 

“The Chamber does not historically endorse candidates – we’ll work with the team that wins – but it’s critical that we hear from the candidates on the issues that are important to our business community,” Reynolds said.

The discussion began with brief introductions by incumbents Sashi McEntee, current Mayor Jim Wickham (running unopposed for a two-year term in the seat formerly held by Jessica Jackson), Planning Commission Chair Urban Carmel, Emergency Preparedness Commission Chair Tricia Ossa, Emergency Preparedness Commissioner Max Perrey and former Parks & Recreation Commission Chair Kirk Knauer. 

Wickham leaned on his incredibly deep ties to the community as a fourth generation resident who was with the Mill Valley Police Dept. for 37 years, including many years of working closely with the business community. “We need to support the downtown community and have a thriving Miller Avenue,” he said.

Knauer pointed to his loss by just 146 votes in the 2015 City Council election, noting his wide-ranging volunteerism in Mill Valley, his 22-year career at the Berlitz Corporation and pro-bono consulting work in recent years. “As a town, we deserve the best in city management,” he said. “Our budget is under significant pressure as our labor obligations continue to go up. I am very focused on emergency preparedness with a hard focus on evacuation, as well as a focus on creating a sustainability committee."

Perrey, a third generation Mill Valley resident who moved back to town after graduation, pointed to his recent work on housing and homelessness for Supervisor Katie Rice at the County of Marin, as well as his current business that builds high end accessory dwelling units, a needed element, he said, in Mill Valley’s housing crunch. “My three platform issue areas are environmental sustainability and tackling climate change/sea level rise, emergency preparedness and economic vitality. “The fabric of the community is the businesses that are in it,” he said.

McEntee, who currently serves as vice mayor and is herself a small business professional, told attendees, “I know exactly where you are coming from.” She pointed to her collaboration with the Chamber on a Zero Waste forum in 2019 to educate food-serving businesses as a proposed ban on plastics grows in popularity. McEntee is on the Downtown Project Advisory Committee, which will help steer a $2 million revamp of downtown sewers, sidewalks and streets. “It’s going to be a balancing act” between the need to upgrade and the fact that it will be disruptive, she said.

Longtime MV resident Ossa said she’d passed when others had suggested she run for Council in the past. But with Jackson’s departure and Councilmember Stephanie Moulton-Peters running to represent southern Marin on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, the potential dearth of strong women on the council compelled the three-time EPC chair to run. “I am very excited and passionate about this,” she said, pointing to her more than 25 years in both corporate and small local startups, including Guideboat, the former wooden boat and apparel retailer in the Mill Valley Lumber Yard. Ossa said she planned to have Mill Valley’s annual evacuation drill focus on businesses in 2020. “Evacuation doesn’t mean that we all need to get to Hwy. 101 but it means getting out of harm’s way,” she said.

Carmel, who has worked closely with the Chamber to assist the Planning Department in getting feedback from commercial applicants on their experience and suggest a wide range of possible process improvements, brings a 35-year business career with the Union Bank of Switzerland and McKinsey and Co. that brought him to Jakarta, Hong Kong and Europe. Carmel was heavily involved at multiple levels in the MIll Valley Soccer Club for 10 years, and realized a decade ago that the Mill Valley Library was seeing its programming budget dwindle as the MV Library Foundation saw its donor list dry up. Through a mult-faceted campaign, the organization now enjoys a nearly $3 million endowment. Carmel said he’s worked to support the business community, particularly where the commercial and residential areas are adjacent, and those commercials areas need regulations that help them thrive.

Each candidate spoke in support of making sure that commercial applications were expedited to avoid having businesses face lengthy, costly delays. “It frustrates the heck out of me and we’ll do anything we can to improve this process,” Wickham said. 

“A big part of this is attitudinal,” Carmel added. “One of the things we need to improve in this town is how we interact with our community. We are not a friendly town to work in. Retail is coming under increasing pressure from the Amazonification of our economy and we need to do whatever we can to support our downtown.”

The candidates all expressed their support for more public art in Mil Valley across an array of mediums, with Perrey noting the important of mapping that public art so that it’s easier for both residents and visitors to find. 

Parking, particularly along Miller Avenue, got plenty of much-deserved attention at the forum, as everyone in the room agreed on the challenge presented by the loss of 60 parking spaces from the otherwise fantastic Miller Avenue Streetscape Project, coupled with the fact that Miller has myriad parking user groups, from residents and employees to commuters and customers.

Chamber Member Suzannah Rose noted the lack of affordable housing in town, particularly for those in the service industries that serve as the backbone of the town but can’t afford to live here, exacerbating Mill Valley’s already-heightened traffic and parking issues. Several candidates suggested that creative solutions exist, including junior accessory or dwelling units or “just a room in your house.” “This kind of housing is affordable by design,” Carmel said.

McEntee said "lifecycle housing," that is, the view that people need different types of housing at different stages of life, i.e., "when you're raising a family is the most house you're ever going to need," is the future of housing, and that the community needs to be open to “housing shapes that are more dense but still palatable."

Perrey stressed the importance of collaborating with county agencies and community foundations to both fund and identify opportunities to bring more creative housing to Mill Valley. The candidates found some daylight in their positions on wildfire prevention, particularly around evacuation and vegetation management strategies. 

For 90 minutes on a Thursday morning, 319 Miller Ave. was an epicenter of local participation.

​MORE INFO on the 2020 local election.

In a Marin Economic Forum “Forecasting the Future” presentation that ranged from macro-level GDP and interest rate projections to Marin’s localized challenges business retention and sustaining vibrant downtowns, MEF Chief Economist Robert Eyler managed to strike a chord that captured the dichotomy of macro economic forces and micro-level purchasing decisions.

“How many of you are Amazon Prime members?” Eyler asked, as the vast majority of the 200-plus executives and business leaders in the room raised their hands.

“That’s not helping your downtown by the way,” he said, having noted earlier that “our downtowns need to be competitive and we need to think about that every day of the week.”

The event at the Marin Center’s Showcase Theater in San Rafael, was organized by Marin Economic Forum CEO Mike Blakeley and his team and also featured Lenny Mendonca, the chief economic and business advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as Alex Boyd, who has spearheaded much of MEF’s data collection and analysis for its Business Retention and Expansion project, from surveys and focus groups of business owners throughout Marin about the challenges they face.

Here are some of the most notable data points and commentary, in no particular order:

• Economists are not predicting any recession, i.e. two consecutive quarters of reduced growth, before 2022. They also don’t see the unemployment rate rising above 4 percent until at least 2022. “Why do we have such robust labor markets and relatively slow growth on GDP? Low wage jobs,” Eyler said.
• After a year of aggressive rate cuts in 2019, “we are probably looking at one rate cut this year, probably in June, but that’s it,” Eyler added.
• “The financial side of the house is pretty good,” he said. “The foundations of the American economy and the California economy, because California is a driver of the American economy, look pretty good.”
• 2020 elections. “Donald Trump is likely to win re-election given the makeup of the Electoral College and a continued good economy. History suggests that’s going to happen. California is not likely to decide the election, the Electoral College will. Short of a major event or a major economic downturn. If impeachment and removal from office happens, all bets are off.”
• What has been the medium- and long-term economic impact of fires and PG&E power shutoffs? “Very little,” Eyler said. “The labor market has absorbed many of those displaced people. And the power shutoffs are not going to cause people to leave California in droves. When it’s February 1 on Sunday and you’re outside playing golf, you’ll rethink the idea of moving to Minnesota.”
• Building permits. “We have had an amazing number of permits issued in Marin, but do we need to build more housing? The answer is absolutely.”
• Marin County, in net, has lost residents over the past 10 years. But births do still exceed deaths in Marin, and while some high income, high wealth families may be moving out, “unless they migrate out with entrepreneurship, it’s not a major problem,” Eyler said.

• Will relatively low wage growth jobs tend to lead to automation? "Yes, for those that can afford to make that transition," Eyler said. If construction wages continue to go up, robotics is coming more and more."

• Too much of a good thing. Several Bay Area downtowns like Healdsburg and Sonoma suffer from a big run of visitor influx that has resulted in blowback about parking and traffic problems. So while they seem to have solved the issue of downtown foot traffic, that success has caused other problems. "A lot of it is finding the right retail mix and driving visitors through these areas – as well as residents," Eyler said. "But you absolutely need to draw in those visitors."
• Mendonca, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief economic advisor, said that while the are not forecasting a recession, they are budgeting for a slowing of growth, following the lead of former Gov. Jerry Brown and “building resiliency” into the budget with a rainy day fund and “investing in things that are one-time and catalyze change on the challenges that face us, particularly “the human crisis” of homelessness, as well as climate change and sea level rise. Mendonca noted that California’s rainy day fund is larger than the entire budgets of most of the states in the rest of the country.
• The Bay Area’s massive housing shortfall. “We are extraordinarily dependent in the Bay Area on places like San Joaquin County, where 85,000 workers a day commute into Bay Area,” Mendonca said. “That’s 85,000 people spending several hours a day in their cars. It’s partly about building more housing but it’s also about creating more job opportunities in the places where people are commuting from. But this isn’t about getting rid of local control.”
• Marin County has an 18.3 percent poverty rate – a statistic that may surprise many people. “Despite 18 straight months of job creation, we are nowhere near full employment,” Mendonca said. “The reality is that while the California economy is robust and growing and you wouldn’t trade California for any other state in the world, it’s not at a level of earnings that can allow people to actually live here.” “We need to provide more opportunities for all to participate fully in our economy. That prosperity needs to be more broadly shared, not just on the coasts but more broadly across the state,” he added, pointing to the state’s Regions Rise Together initiative.
• That desire for more broadly shared prosperity would not only benefit those that are exposed to more economic opportunity, Mendonca said, particularly because some 70 percent of state GDP is based on consumer spending. “You’d like for everyone to have that money to spend,” he said. 
• California’s single largest by value export is zero emissions vehicles, up from zero 10 years ago. “That would not have happened without significant investment by the state,” Mendonca said. “Ignoring issues and expecting someone else to deal with them is not planning for the future. From that we’ve created new, better jobs and higher wages
• Small business dominates: Nearly 70 percent of businesses in Marin have fewer than 10 employees, with 44 percent having fewer than five. The vast majority of businesses in Marin are owned by people who in Marin, with 63 percent saying they live here. Many of the most successful businesses in Mill Valley are owned by people who live and work in town and are deeply invested in the community’s vitality.
• Boyd shared that his BRE data collection indicated that although by many measures the Marin business sector is doing pretty well, many business report problematic issues such as local workforce supply being outpaced by demand, high cost of living, transportation and mobility challenges and regulatory environment. More than 50 percent of respondents said permits and inspections are their biggest concern adversely affecting their business, with 60 percent saying that their biggest challenge is hiring and retaining employees.
• ​Blakeley said that identifying solutions to the challenges revealed by the BRE work will be a larger group effort in the coming months. He also shared a pair of success stories: an unnamed board member has formed an angel fund focused on place-based investing in Marin, a step toward providing local companies with better access to funding; and a proactive partnership between College of Marin and Toyota of Marin in San Rafael, which has struggled to hire and retain employees. "There just aren't enough people raising their hands to be in the automotive business, " said Toyota of Marin GM Diana Kennedy. "And these are jobs that pay really well." Kennedy connected with College of Marin Jonathan Eldridge, and they worked out the details on a training program via the college's in-house automotive shop.

The 411: MORE INFO on the Marin Economic Forum.

HERE'S A FULL RECORDING OF THE EVENT:

What’s the road map for a $2 million, much-needed overhaul of downtown Mill Valley sewers, sidewalks and streets, all while doing everything possible to avoid adverse impacts on parking and access during the most critically important time of the year for retail sales?

City of Mill Valley officials and its consultants at Harris & Associates sought to outline their plan at a Jan. 28th Community Meeting at the Mill Valley Community Center, and while it was clear that there were myriad potential obstacles for the project to finish on schedule, all agreed that sustained, robust communication about the project’s progress and impacts was vital.

The City is readying its plans for Phase 1 of the Downtown Project, a multi-year effort that seeks to upgrade the infrastructure in the Downtown area, including roads, sewers, drainage, curb, ramps and more. City officials delayed the project in 2019 in response to serious concerns from business owners about the project’s adverse impact on downtown retailers’ critically important fourth quarter sales. City officials have thus targeted an earlier start to the project in 2020, with work scheduled to begin before the end of May and, with approximately 100 scheduled working days, wrap up by end of August.

Daniel Wilkins of Harris & Associates, who has been involved in a number of municipal projects in Mill Valley over the years, explained that the downtown sewer system is “more than 67 years old, and over that span of time, “I&I, or infiltration and inflow of water and debris,” gets into cracks and joints and overloads the system to the point of overflows, one of which occurred in 2008 and caused the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin to pay $2.6 million in fines and fees and mandatory reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Wilkins also noted that the vast majority of the City’s curb ramps don’t comply with ADA regulations and that the roads “have surpassed their expected life and require rehabilitation.”
​
As described in the diagram below, the sewer system overhaul will occur in different ways on different streets, varying from the most intensive method of open trenching to least impactful “cured in place” pipe installation, or trenchless (indicated with dotted lines in the image below).

As many of you know, I am a numbers guy and I have looked at this initiative carefully and have found much to like.

The tax of $0.10 per square foot helps with the progressive ability to pay based on home size and there is an exemption for senior citizens based on income level (currently $90K year or less income).

The county is divided into 5 zones and at the 5-year mark there will be a measure to ensure that each zone receives a benefit approximately consistent with what the zone contributed. This ensures that southern Marin is not financing Novato as an example or the other way around. Also the tax expires in 10 years so the voter can reassess the value obtained for the tax. 

There is a 10 percent limit on what can be spent on management and overhead. There is adequate infrastructure within the fire force to administer the effort now. What is needed is funding. We are not building another bureaucracy.

The lion's share of taxes collected will be used for inspections, and vegetation management work done by seasonal employees that will not be receiving public pensions or retiree health care. The collaborative partnership is structured to insure it will not incur any unfunded liabilities. 

The fire chiefs set priorities, with appropriate oversight and larger projects crossing municipal boundaries are easier to accomplish with a long term $20 Million revenue source. The partnership of 17 cities, towns, fire districts and the county will be governed by existing elected officials from each agency, existing Fire Chiefs, City Managers will provide executive level support and subject matter experts from each agency will guide operational priorities. The land management agencies (National Park Service, County Open Space, State Parks and Marin Municipal Water District) will participate at the Technical Advisory level ensuring coordination and strategic priorities for fuel reduction are met.

​The impact of Mount Tamalpias on neighborhoods will be fully addressed. This plan is not to supplant funds allocated for vegetation management on public lands but to enhance and accelerate what is needed to protect against the calamities seen in the North Bay, Paradise and now Australia. This helps protect us all.

Interested in supporting this campaign beyond your vote? 

The campaign has produced 18x12 inch signs promoting the initiative. Consider putting one in your business front window. Email John and he will deliver one to you. You can also make a donation to the measure and endorse at the website. 

In a direct response to the concerns of its members about the possibility of an uptick in chain/formula businesses in downtown, the Mill Valley Chamber organized an information-laden workshop on the subject on Nov. 5, leaning heavily on the views of local officials and an array of business and property owners in attendance.

“We work for you,” Chamber Co-Director Paula Reynolds told the high-octane group at the outset of the event, which was graciously hosted by WrapManager, the financial services firm at 319 Miller, within its Assembly community gathering space. “We’ve heard your concerns about the downtown retail environment, and as you know, we’re committed to sharing valuable information as much as possible.”

As a foundation for the discussion, there are no City of Mill Valley regulations explicitly intended to prohibit chain businesses, loosely defined as stores/restaurants with multiple locations – more than 10 in many instances – and standardized signage and branding.

“The question is, should Mill Valley manage or restrict formula business, and if so, how?” Reynolds added. “What are the intended and unintended impacts of restricting formula businesses, and how do you effectively balance the desire to retain Mill Valley’s small town character with its need to remain economically viable?”

As promised, the event began with information, both from handouts and a panel of knowledgeable folks on the subject, including City of Sausalito Mayor Joe Burns and Sausalito Chamber of Commerce CEO Juli Vieira, who spoke about their city’s regulations on formula businesses. City of Mill Valley Planning and Building Director Patrick Kelly was on hand to discuss the City’s existing regulations and possible tweaks to those regulations. Jonathan Plotzker-Kelly, the owner of the Heliotrope skin care product store in San Francisco and a board member of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association.

​Sausalito's Experience
Burns noted that Sausalito passed an ordinance to regulate chain businesses in 2003, when Crazy Shirts sought to open there. “Local business owners said, ‘we have to stop this,’” he said. “We can't have companies so large that they can pay the rent that a local mom and pop can’t.”

Burns said it was important for towns like Sausalito and Mill Valley to understand their brand and act accordingly when regulating commercial applications.

“The big downside for us was that if a Crazy Shirts were to open, it wouldn’t be in sync with a small community like ours full of small businesses,” he said, noting that they’ve worked with businesses like Equator Coffees, which recently took over the former Cibo space on Bridgeway, to alter its branding a bit in keeping with Sausalito.

“I hear a lot from our small businesses that they are afraid that we are going to become another Pier 39 or Fisherman’s Wharf,” Vieira said.
​
Burns added that Mill Valley already had a deep, much-envied brand as an arts destination with venues like the Sweetwater Music Hall, Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley Film Festival, Fall Arts Festival, Throckmorton Theatre and much more.

"The future is experiential," Burns said. "The arts culture is still very much alive here in Mill Valley. We need more of that in Sausalito."

The Community Vitality section of the City's MV2040 General Plan echoes Burns' sentiment, noting that the arts sector "draws thousands of local residents and visitors into town each year to patronize Mill Valley stores and restaurants."
​
Burns noted that the City of Sausalito is in the midst of its General Plan update, which could include amendments to the formula retail regulation.

The PG&E blackout has ended (for now – fingers crossed).

The Mill Valley Chamber remains ready to help you and your business any way we can. To that end, we created a Public Safety Power Shutoff and Disaster Preparedness Toolkit to help you plan ahead for the next incident. CHECK IT OUT HERE.
We welcome your feedback! Email us with feedback here.
We'll continue to update the Toolkit with the latest info available. As you know, there's also a ton of news news and information to digest about the impact of the fires and PG&E power outages. Here's a rundown of some of the most important info of the past week or so:

FULL IMPACT ON LOCAL BIZ NOT FULLY KNOWN – BUT IT WAS SIGNIFICANT
Robert Eyler, Sonoma State University professor and chief economist of the Marin Economic Forum, told the Marin Independent Journal that the outages of October are unlikely to leave a devastating “footprint” on the general local economy. That said, he noted that businesses that were struggling before the outages could suffer from the unexpected spoilage and loss of traffic that could push them into failure. Companies whose business was disrupted because of factors such as lost computer power could also sustain damage, and lost revenue for Marin's tourism sector could lead to reduction in hotel and sales tax revenues for local governments.

DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF HOW THE OUTAGE IMPACTED YOUR BUSINESS FINANCIALLY? LET US KNOW HERE.

CAN YOU BE COMPENSATED BY PG&E?
Don't hold your breath. PG&E has said businesses and residents can file claims to be compensated $250 for businesses and $100 for residents for outage loss, but that only covers the blackout on Oct. 9. According to the Mercury News, there are no current plans for similar rebates for the three shutoffs that have followed since then, but the utility is “open to having a policy discussion with state regulators and others.”

CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE BROKERS AND UPDATE YOUR COVERAGE
An illuminating report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco suggested that there remains a significant gap between the amount of insurance coverage small businesses have and the amount and type of damage they have sustained: “Because small businesses are such important economic drivers in our country, learning more about their levels of natural disaster preparedness is critical to understanding mechanisms of nationwide economic resilience and recovery. We find that although most firms that experienced disaster-related losses did have insurance, the types of coverage appear to be mismatched to the actual damage experienced. This leaves critical gaps that need to be addressed and better understood.”

MARIN'S FOOD SUPPLY WAS SQUEEZED
With so much food needing to be thrown away after the blackout, Marin's food supply has been squeezed, according to the Marin IJ, with plenty of empty shelves in the aftermath of the outages.

CELL PHONE TOWERS FAILED
The long outages underscored the reality that cuts to electricity also translate to a blackout of emergency communications, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Here's a piece about the impact of federal climate change policy on the fires raging in California and the related PG&E blackouts. “This is the climate change that scientists have been telling us about for years and we’ve buried our heads like ostriches.”

WHAT'S NEXT?
On the larger issue of fires and outages, Cal Matters created a fantastic roundup on many of the possible ways to reduce wildfires and their impacts, including scaling back home development in high-risk areas, putting utility power lines underground, build micro-grids that limit the scale of outages, break up PG&E, and much more, along with the likelihood that regional and state leaders will look to implement some of those solutions.

The folks at Vox suggest California make massive investments in solar, micro-grids and distributed energy resources. Great read.

Bay Area interest in solar arrays and backup batteries has skyrocketed, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Marin Independent Journal reported that a group of Mill Valley residents has filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that a new ordinance aimed at preventing wildfires was adopted without a proper analysis of its environmental impacts? 

Lastly, there was a beautiful-yet-ominous piece from Mill Valley writer Jacques Leslie in the Los Angeles Times: "We faced no war, no imminent danger, and when electricity returned on Wednesday afternoon, we cheered. But what remains is an unrelenting whisper inside our heads that says we’re on a path that ends in chaos."

Let us know if you've seen something that would be useful for your fellow business owners and we'll add it here! As always, reach out anytime at 415.388.9700 or info@millvalley.org with questions/thoughts. We'll be organizing a workshop later this year on backup energy options.

In March, the Mill Valley City Council unanimously decided to keep the section of Miller Ave. between Millwood and Willow streets, the area between the Mill Valley Lumber Yard and Mill Valley Music and Critterland Pets, striped as a one-lane roadway with a single vehicle travel lane, a bike buffer, bicycle lane and parallel parking aisle along the curb. That stretch had been the subject of a pilot project at the conclusion of the 18-month Miller Avenue Streetscape Project in 2017.

Five months later, the Council backed a recommendation from Fire Chief Tom Welch, Police Chief Alan Piombo and Public Works Director Andrew Poster to create employee parking only in the southbound (outbound) direction for approximately 37 vehicles, residential parking only in the northbound (inbound) direction for approximately 32 vehicles, and no parking on Red Flag days or other hazardous weather conditions.

Now the City is set to implement those changes, and is hosting a meeting to answer questions and hear concerns from residents and employees about those parking programs. 

The meeting is set for Monday, Oct. 28 at 6:30pm within the Council Chambers at City Hall, 26 Corte Madera Avenue. More info from the Mill Valley Police Department:

Residential Parking Area 
Curbside parking is available for residents with a Residential Parking permit on the northbound side (heading into Downtown). Residential Permit parking is available daily. The Red Flag and emergency conditions restriction will also apply. Curbside parking is prohibited on Monday and Friday from 3:00 am to 6:00 am for street sweeping.
Please note: The Residential Permit Zone will not be enforced until after the Informational Community Meeting and permits are available.

Center Median Parking
The Center Median shall remain open to all vehicles. However, drivers may not park their vehicles for more than 72 hours and must move their vehicles at least 1/10 of a mile when re-parking.

Parking Permit Types:

• Business Owners & Employees: Business owners and employees may purchase Employee Parking Permits at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce. Learn more here.
• Residents in the Miller Avenue Residential Parking Zone: Residents may purchase permits at the Mill Valley Police Department (1 Hamilton Drive). Police Department staff will issue the Residential Parking Permits on a case-by-case basis with a limit of one vehicle per household upon review of available off-street parking at the individual residence or complex. All vehicles must be registered in California and to the eligible address.  Acceptable forms of residency include a valid California driver’s license, current utility bill or lease/mortgage statement.  All documents must show the current eligible address.  Learn more here.
• The Eligible Zones and Addresses will be updated following the informational community meeting.

Permit Requirements:
The City requires that permit applicants provide contact information to allow Public Safety staff to notify permit holders to move their vehicles in the event of safety or emergency conditions. 

Public Safety officials will prohibit parking along the curbside in the Parkway portion of Miller Avenue on Red Flag days or other extreme weather conditions. Police Department staff will require permittees to provide contact phone numbers capable of receiving alert text and voice messages through Nixle and/or Alert Marin. 

Once Public Safety staff announce a Red Flag Warning (or other hazardous weather conditions identified), the Police Department will send appropriate notifications to Residential Parking and Employee Parking permittees through Nixle and/or Alert Marin advising that drivers must remove their vehicles from the curbside area.

City Staff will install new parking signs to designate the Employee Parking and Residential Parking areas. 

For any questions or further information please contact the Mill Valley Police Department Monday through Friday 8:00 AM-4:00 PM. 

Resources:
Miller Ave Parking Restrictions Staff Report – August 5, 2019
Check the National Weather Service for Red Flag Days