Tag Archives: Matt Mogensen

Mr Mogensen, Tear Down These Walls

Posted on by

Ugly donkey corrals to be replaced by wider sidewalks for dining. Let’s see how many people want to eat in the fog with seagulls overhead.

Parklett Parking

The pandemic parklets that saved a number of Pacific Grove restaurants from closure as well as kept sales taxes flowing into city coffers, will come to an end by Oct. 31, the P.G. City Council voted on Wednesday, April 2.

City Manager Matt Mogensen was asking the council for direction on the parklet program as a deadline loomed for restaurants to renew parklet permits on June 30 for another year.

Since the city was moving toward sidewalk dining, Mogensen asked if they should sunset parklets. He suggested they give restaurant owners an incentive to remove their parklets early by waiving sidewalk dining fees costing $905 for the first year.

With the tourist season coming up, the council decided to extend sunsetting the program until Oct. 31. In the meantime, owners could choose to end by June 30, with fees waived and the city bearing the cost of removing their parklets.

Mr Mogensen, Tear Down These Walls

New Police Chief Starts March 31

Posted on by

Kung Fu Chief starts soon.

City manager Matt Mogensen said he selected Casey Day, a law enforcement officer with about 25 years of experience who’s spent the last five years as the chief for the City of Fortuna in Humboldt County. Day will start the job March 31 and will be sworn in April 2 in P.G. City Council chambers.

Day will replace former PGPD Chief Cathy Madalone, who said on Sept. 27, 2024, that she was retiring after five years at the department. Madalone’s retirement came after she suffered an undisclosed injury in late 2023 and worked from home for months. Madalone, 56, eventually went on paid leave for about six months before retiring. She declined to disclose the nature of her injury. Brian Anderson has been the acting chief since her departure.

New Police Chief Starts March 31

So Cal Consultants Hired To Roll Up Weed Permits

Posted on by

City manager Matt Mogensen hired the consultants for $24K. Two years sales taxes on PG Weed might cover the fee, eh?

Butterfly Weed

The initial term of the contract with HdL is expected to be less than $24,000 through December 2026. “Consultant fees to the city will only be charged for the hours necessary to finalize the application process and establish the user fees,” according to a report by Mogensen presented to the council at its Dec. 18 meeting.
“The user fees will cover all other costs associated with the consultant’s work and will be charged to the applicant,” the report said. After voter approval of a pot shop, the council directed city officials to create a licensing program to allow the operation of a retail storefront. A cannabis business must first obtain a license to operate from the city before getting a use permit.

Citizens Inge Lorentzen Daumer and Mike Gibbs opposed hiring HdL, with Gibbs, a member of the city’s Economic Development Commission, saying he believed the company’s services were “particularly poor,” while Daumer said she had “never been a fan” of the consulting firm. The city council did not entertain their concerns.

So Cal Consultants Hired To Roll Up Weed Permits

Police Chief On Leave, Commander Takes Over In Interim

Posted on by
PG PD Pride Flag

PG PD Flagpole

Chief Cathy Madalone, 55, told The Pine Cone last October that she was given a special accommodation, in lieu of a full leave of absence, to work from home based on “physician recommendations and city policy.” Madalone has declined to say how or when she was injured and started working from home but has called the arrangement “temporary.” This week, though, Pacific Grove’s new city manager, Matt Mogensen, told The Pine Cone Madalone is not working.

Police Chief On Leave, Commander Takes Over In Interim