At our March 10 RCM, we had the most detailed and thorough presentation I have ever seen on the basics of the Marina Enterprise Fund (the ‘business’ of the Marina) and I highly recommend that everyone watch it.
Marina Enterprise Fund Presentation
Dan’s presented was Part 2.
The Part I Presentation was presented at the Feb 10 RCM and focused on the dock replacement plan.
marina- City Council Marina Dock Replacement Presentation Part I Feb 10, 2022
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Whopping
Normally, we’re allowed a whopping two opportunities to ask questions during the discussion period. But the Mayor chose to cut off the second round in order to keep the meeting moving. (We ended at 2hrs which is still the shortest avg. meeting of any of our sister cities.)
Here is the question I would have asked the COO…
“How much of the Marina money goes to the City General Fund.”
And the answer is zero. As the COO said, the idea of an Enterprise Fund is to make sure that all the revenue and costs stay inside the enterprise. The Marina is like the US Post Office. It’s a private business run by a government. It’s supposed to live and die on its own.
I want to drive that point home for two reasons:
1. There are a lot of people who seem to feel like the Marina takes money from the City. It doesn’t. Never did.
2. But also, the Marina is not a source of ‘gravy’ that could fund all sorts of wonderful other stuff throughout the City. So no matter how much money the thing could potentially generate, all you could use it for would be stuff that improves THE MARINA. You can’t use its ‘profits’ (that’s the wrong accounting term, sue me) to power a new park or police officers or fix roads or whatever.
Again, I deeply respect Dan’s presentation. I had lots of disagreements on his analysis, but this was the one thing I was genuinely annoyed with. We need to make it clear that the Marina was not designed to be the economic engine of the City. It was meant to be a service that broke even. If boaters ventured into town to spend money? Schweet. But that was not the point.
Different points of view…
At discussions like tonight I automatically come off as an ingrate because Dan put in a ton of time and it was very useful. However, it was also like reading “Lord Of The Rings: Cliff Notes”, from a Boeing Sales Engineer.
1. That’s no left-handed compliment. Condensing 20 years of “Marina” into 20 minutes is no small thing.
2. Dan is not an independent analyst. He represents the City, which is selling it’s plan. It’s like any salesman selling any big ticket item. They do not lie. But they aren’t exactly giving you an objective assessment either. They believe their aircraft is the best, it’s millions of dollars, and the stakes are very high.
As I listened to Dan, I found (almost) everything he said to be reasonable. But I also had a reasonable counter-argument that should be debated out in the community. (After all, you can go to any national newspaper and read opinion columns by dueling Nobel Prize winning economists. Same numbers. Same facts. Different conclusions. Most problems have more than one reasonable solution.)
But that debate cannot happen because it looks bad to be questioning the architect of the plan after he worked so hard to prepare a presentation. Even though it’s the first such presentation in years.
Now, the public is not stupid. But even Einstein can’t walk in on Lord of The Rings at pg 1010 and get it. But if you read a chapter every month over time? Everyone gets it and can talk about it.
The venue matters…
Currently, there is a place where that happens. It’s called the Des Moines Marina Association. The City goes there every month to discuss the Marina planning with the five or six representatives of the boat owners. That is where the ideas for Marina Redevelopment are presented first. And it is a private organisation. Not even the condo owners show up unless invited.
My suggestion: Marina Advisory Committee
So tonight, in the New Items For Consideration section of the meeting, I asked that the City create a new Marina Advisory Committee, a combination of Councilmembers and residents where the City would make presentations and discuss Marina-specific issues. The DMMA board would, of course, be on that committee.
I did this because I believe that all discussion and planning should be happening at a public meeting, where residents can watch, ask questions, and be involved in the decision making of the largest capital projects in City history.
Went nowhere. And in fact, I had to argue with the Mayor to even put forward the proposal. He attempted to prevent me from even making the motion (It is not the presiding officer’s role to decide what can/cannot be put forward, but if no one objects, it happens.)
Some backstory…
This was not out of the blue. I had mentioned it last year during our Budget Meetings. And I went so far as to ask the Mayor to consider creating this when I requested my choice of committee assignments.
Instead, the Mayor created a new Council job “Marina Liaison” and assigned CM Nutting and CM Pennington. So that means that the discussion will continue to happen in private. But a Councilmember will, from time to time, present the City’s position on various aspects, or ferry back questions from the group to the Administration. Which means that CM Nutting will, by definition, have access to the City Manager and staff to discuss planning before the rest of the City Council.
The funny thing is that, Dan (among others) was already coming to DMMA meetings periodically to present. (Engineer Khai Le was at last Wednesday’s meeting giving a presentation on the North Bulkhead work that is also an update from what Council has seen.) So there’s nothing to “liaise”. It has the appearance of transparency, but is exactly the opposite.
Awkward…
This puts the DMMA in an awkward position. They have received almost all of the City’s ‘community outreach’ when it comes to Marina Redevelopment–even though only about 20% of boat owners reside in Des Moines. It’s obvious to any onlooker (including their leadership) that they benefit from having preferred access to the City every month. I’m not even talking about ‘influence’. Just the fact that they learn the story gives them an edge.
But it’s not exactly in their interest to say “No thank you” to the Mayor when he offers them an official Marina Liaison, right? It’s why so many large campaign donors have an interest in the Marina and are in the DMMA and are on the Marina Floor.
And this is why it’s so difficult to makes Des Moines more equitable. People know doing things a certain way looks a bit hmmmm… But we make it easy to keep doing it that way.
Summary
COO Dan Brewer gave a fantastic presentation, but it is information that should be discussed and debated more than once in a blue moon to arrive at the best decisions. The Marina is one of the largest sources of City revenue and the redevelopment projects represent the largest capital projects in City history.
Currently, the City’s outreach on Marina planning has been conducted primarily at the DMMA monthly meetings and not in the community.
To assure the best outcomes and equitable decision making, we need a Marina Advisory Committee to bring the DMMA into a public meeting format along with the entire community.
*Or just happen to own property near where the Van Gasken House used to be. That 132 year old house was a real buzz kill at sunset. The City now touts “the great views”