Ask the Bigger Questions

Over the next several weeks, City Council candidates will be asked plenty of questions. Measures M and N? Paid parking? Housing? Tourism? Candidate forums explore those issues. But I hope we ask some bigger questions too. Questions that could shape Carmel and the Peninsula for generations.

Regional Public Safety

Should we seriously explore more comprehensive regional fire and police services?  Regional cooperation is nothing new. We already share important services through many regional agencies. It would make little sense, for example, for every Peninsula city to operate its own landfill and related waste-management systems.

Fire service has already changed. Monterey provides fire services to Carmel, Pacific Grove, Sand City and the Monterey Regional Airport through separate agreements. It works, but multiple contracts are complicated and do not provide the shared governance and transparency a regional organization could.

That is why the mayors and city managers of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel previously discussed creating a fire Joint Powers Authority, or JPA, with participating cities represented on its board. The idea deserves another look.

The point is not that regionalization is automatically better. It is that the structure should match the service. A regional fire organization could create shared governance, clearer accountability, more transparency and a common long-term plan rather than a collection of separate contracts.

And if we can think differently about fire, could we someday think differently about police?

In 2022, Dr. Donna Marie White completed a doctoral dissertation examining consolidation of seven Peninsula police departments. Her research identified seven police chiefs and eleven additional command positions with combined 2020 compensation of about $3.9 million. She also examined potential benefits involving recruitment, career opportunities, standardized practices and emergency response.

That does not mean consolidation is the answer. Local control matters. A serious study would also have to examine labor agreements, governance, 

dispatch, facilities, response times and how each community would preserve an appropriate local presence. Those are substantial questions. They are reasons to study the idea carefully, not reasons to refuse to study it.

Rethinking the Site

Which leads to an immediate Carmel question: Should we simply replace our aging Police and Public Works buildings, or rethink the entire site? We have a city-owned area encompassing Police, Public Works and potentially the Youth Center complex. Should we study a Civic Center bringing together City Hall, Police, Public Works and youth services, with convenient parking for employees and the public?

Could consolidating facilities also free other city-owned properties for better public use while reducing duplicated maintenance and operating costs over time? This could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink how residents interact with city government rather than simply replacing old buildings.

Could a public-private partnership involving adjacent property to add public parking, housing, expanded open space and perhaps a new hotel while surrounding cities are building them? Could private investment and new revenue help finance public improvements without relying on a large taxpayer bond?

And before designing a police station intended to serve Carmel for another 50 years, should we first ask what Peninsula policing might look like 20 years from now?

The Twenty-Year Question

Perhaps these ideas will not work. A fire JPA may add complexity without enough benefit. Police consolidation may prove impractical. A Civic Center partnership may not pencil out. But those conclusions should come after serious analysis, not before the questions are asked.

Two years ago, much of our election conversation revolved around street addresses, sidewalk repairs, and operating expenses. We have a handle on those now. So, this year, perhaps we should ask something bigger: What is your vision for Carmel 20 years from now? And what are you willing to explore today to get us there?

To hear a podcast generated from this column go to cli.re/bigvision.

Dale Byrne, Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea dbyrne@cbts.us