HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 05-19-2026 Youtube and Zoom TranscriptionYoutube and Zoom Transcription
https://youtu.be/nig2ctRWIP8?si=OEegCcl3jpHefuK
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Good evening, it is 545, and I call this May 19th, 2026 special meeting of the Cupertino City Council to order.
200:00:17.030 --> 00:00:19.199Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Madam City Clerk, will you please call the roll?
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Councilmember Fruen? Here. Councilmember Mohan? Here. Vice Mayor Chao? Here. Mayor Moore? Here.
400:00:26.130 --> 00:00:28.840Speaker 2 (Community Hall): And, Councilmember Wong is absent this evening. Okay.
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. We begin with a study session, which is an update on the health and safety element of the Cupertino General Plan. Madam City Manager, do we have a presentation?
600:00:39.040 --> 00:00:45.279Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you, Mayor. Yes, this is a study session on the update to the health and
safety element part of the City's.
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00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:53.519Speaker 3 (Community Hall): general plan, the presentation will be conducted by Community Development staff and the City's consultant team working on this update.
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Speaker 3 (Community Hall): The Planning and Public Safety Commissions have had the study sessions on
this, health and safety element, and a public comment period soliciting resident input recently closed on May
8th.
900:01:05.459 --> 00:01:11.889Speaker 3 (Community Hall): We have also received feedback from council members, which we have consolidated as a desk item.
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Speaker 3 (Community Hall): And I will now turn it over to our consultants from Fairs and Peers and Place
Works. Luke Connolly, Assistant Director of Community Development, is also here to introduce and answer any questions. Okay, I'll keep it brief to be mindful that the regular meeting starts at 645.
1100:01:29.500 --> 00:01:46.130Speaker 4 (Community Hall): I don't really have a lot to add, but again, I just would like to remind the Council that the… one of the reason we're really doing the update at this time is because you're required to
do so after updating the housing element, which is now, some time ago, so we've had this in the works for some time. We did…
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): received some comments during about a two-month public comment period,
and I believe you all have a desk item, because we have comments that came in this afternoon, which we're
going to address, but we're not going to be able to get through all of those tonight, so we do plan on having
1300:01:59.860 --> 00:02:04.419Speaker 4 (Community Hall): this item come back before the City Council again, which would be required anyway.
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And I just also want to introduce, the team tonight. We have, Eli Crispy will be taking the lead. He is with Placeworks, and we also have, Francisca Church with Farron Piers, and Dan Rubin with Farron Piers.
1500:02:20.330 --> 00:02:27.230Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Tammy Seal, who is a principal at Placeworks, is on Zoom. I will turn the
presentation over to them.
1600:02:27.310 --> 00:02:32.830Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And we should have time to answer some of your questions afterwards. So, with that, here's the presentation.
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Good evening, Mayor Moore, City Council members, Eli Crispy with Place
Works.
1800:02:40.130 --> 00:02:47.869Speaker 4 (Community Hall): started. For today, we are going to go over the health and safety element and what it includes. We'll talk about some of the key updates.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have made from the currently adopted version.
2000:02:50.705 --> 00:02:54.535Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We'll also recap the study session that we held
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): with the Planning Commission a few months ago.
2200:02:57.355 --> 00:03:01.715Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Francisca will be here to talk about the evacuation study in a little more depth.
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00:03:01.905 --> 00:03:05.734Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And we will then go through, next steps and open it up for discussion and questions.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): So the safety element is a mandatory part of the city's general plan. Every city
and county in California must have a safety element. And the role is really to identify what are the hazards of concern in the community.
2500:03:22.385 --> 00:03:36.385Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And to spell out policy to protect the community against these hazards. Primarily those that are natural disasters or have the potential to become natural disasters, but it also
addresses some human-caused hazards as well.
2600:03:36.485 --> 00:03:48.755Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And the city's current element was adopted back in 2014, so as part of this update, we have been making a number of revisions and changes to make sure it is up-to-date and consistent with current requirements.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): As Luke mentioned, state law does require that the housing… that the health
and safety element be updated after the housing element has been revised, so that has to happen about
once every 8 years.
2800:04:01.505 --> 00:04:16.434Speaker 5 (Community Hall): As part of the revision to the health and safety element, we have been making a number of changes to comply with a number of new state laws that have been passed in the past 10 to 12
years, which have really added to the health and safety element, and are being much more detailed.
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00:04:16.495 --> 00:04:29.785Speaker 5 (Community Hall): now about what has to be in these documents. These include a number of pieces of information, maps, and policies relating to climate change, climate vulnerability, wildfire, and most recently, extreme heat.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We also want to incorporate the most recent draft, or the most recent version,
of the county's multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan, which the city is a participant in.
3100:04:40.535 --> 00:04:53.334Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And inclusion of that plan in the health and safety element helps to make the city more eligible for various grant programs and potentially increase disaster relief funding, should that ever become necessary.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Here are some of the changes to state law. I would note, in particular, Senate Bill 379, which was adopted in 2015, that requires that the health and safety element include a climate change vulnerability assessment, looking at how climate change may exacerbate the frequency and severity
of future natural disasters.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): and what sort of impacts these disasters may have on the community, and then that the health and safety element include goals, policies, and actions to increase adaptation and resilience to these future conditions. There is also Senate Bill 99 and Assembly Bill 747.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Both of which relate to identifying evacuation constraints and evacuation
routes and their capacity, safety, and viability in the community.
3500:05:42.365 --> 00:05:56.985Speaker 5 (Community Hall): In our overview to the health and safety element, and in our updates, we have gone through the document and made fairly extensive additions and revisions to the background information, to the maps, and to the policies and actions that are included.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): In general, we have aligned the wildfire standards that are in the health and
safety element with the most recent changes to state law, and the new mapping of wildfire hazard severity zones, which the city adopted last year.
3700:06:10.115 --> 00:06:25.234Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There is some new information and new policies around floodplains, especially around protecting critical facilities against flooding. I mentioned that we have greatly expanded the
discussion of climate adaptation and climate vulnerability in the health and safety element.
3800:06:25.455 --> 00:06:30.314Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There is some greater planning around infrastructure resilience in the community.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And ensuring continuity of government operations. And then we have also
added in a number of new policies and new information related to the findings from the 2025 evacuation
Route Capacity Analysis and the Residential Evacuation constraint parcel Analysis, which you'll hear a little bit
more about later.
4000:06:49.385 --> 00:06:58.854Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Just to go through some of these updates in a little more detail, as part of the City's revisions to the emergency preparedness and Infrastructure Resilience policies.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There have been a number of new and revised policies that relate to topics such as emergency communication, emergency alerts, including making sure that those alerts are available in multiple languages.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Making sure that Cupertino is coordinating effectively with the county and with
other cities in the region on larger-scale emergency events.
4300:07:19.225 --> 00:07:33.684Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Making sure that the city's municipal infrastructure is resilient and is being hardened against emergencies, and also recognizing that the public safety power shutoffs are an ongoing
risk and do pose a threat to the community.
4400:07:35.445 --> 00:07:41.745Speaker 5 (Community Hall): On the subject of wildfire, we have revised the maps in the health and safety element to include
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): the most recent, wildfire mapping, as I mentioned, and this replaces the
previous… what was previously called the Wildland Urban Interface Fire Area Mapping with the new, local
responsibility area mapping that was adopted last year.
4600:07:55.925 --> 00:08:09.075Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And then we have also significantly revised the wildfire risk reduction policies, including those that relate to new development in the wildfire area, to better align with state law. And that is consistent with,
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): the standard recommendations for policies that CAL FIRE recommends.
4800:08:14.255 --> 00:08:20.494Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Here are some of those changes that we've made to the policies. I'm not gonna go through every single one, but as you can see.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There are policies that relate both to new development, making sure that new development is being built to be resilient and to be fire-resistant, and also to make sure that existing development is being maintained in a way to minimize fire risk.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): You'll also note that for many of these, there is a citation or a reference to
parts of the building code.
5100:08:41.835 --> 00:08:52.094Speaker 5 (Community Hall): or the Public Resources Code, or the Government Code. And what we're trying to indicate there is that we have made sure to align Cupertino's policies with what the state requires, so that way.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The state policies are fully consistent with what the city is requiring of both
new and existing development.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): On seismic and geologic hazards, we have updated some of the mapping around landslides, including how that mapping and the landslide hazard zones are discussed.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have added some discussions around what is called cascading impacts,
essentially where one hazard results in another one, so we have tried to clarify those interactions between
multiple hazards that may happen together or in a close period of time.
5500:09:26.585 --> 00:09:38.194Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There's also some new geotechnical review requirements for any new development occurring within landslide hazard zones, again, to better align with what the state is requiring, and what is already on the books at the city.
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00:09:38.425 --> 00:09:49.975Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And we also tried to clarify some of the limitations related to grading on steep slopes. Again, just making sure that what the health and safety element contains is consistent with what is already in the city's municipal code.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): On the topic of hazardous waste and materials, there have been a number of
changes to update the regulatory references, making sure, again, that we are aligning with the current state
and county oversight requirements.
5800:10:03.135 --> 00:10:08.765Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have reinforced some of the environmental site assessment requirements that are spelled out in the health and safety element.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have generally maintained a number of policies, including those related to
stringent risk reduction measures for development that is occurring near known hazardous materials site.
6000:10:19.515 --> 00:10:31.665Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And the new policies do strengthen the City's commitment to better coordinate with state, regional, and federal agencies on any ongoing cleanup and monitoring activities related to
hazardous materials.
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00:10:33.835 --> 00:10:40.694Speaker 5 (Community Hall): On flooding, we have updated the floodplain mapping to just reflect what is currently adopted by FEMA.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have clarified some of the hazard zones from flooding and related issues.
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00:10:46.315 --> 00:10:53.165Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have identified some of the critical infrastructure and other essential facilities that are located in flood-prone areas.
6400:10:53.465 --> 00:11:11.794Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There are a number of new policies that relate to strengthening the city's standards for development, new development and redevelopment, occurring in flood-prone areas. And then for existing development, we have adjusted the policies, again, to make sure that the city… what is on the
books with the city is aligning with state and federal policy.
6500:11:12.045 --> 00:11:14.604Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There's also some language about greater control.
6600:11:14.865 --> 00:11:19.924Speaker 5 (Community Hall): With some of the regional flood control, or greater coordination with some of
the regional flood control agencies.
6700:11:22.045 --> 00:11:23.805Speaker 5 (Community Hall): On climate change.
6800:11:24.015 --> 00:11:40.765Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have integrated the results of the vulnerability assessment, and yet trying
to identify who and what in Cupertino is most susceptible to harm as a result of the increase in frequency
and severity of natural hazards as a result of wild… of climate change. The…
6900:11:41.125 --> 00:11:55.494Speaker 5 (Community Hall): primary hazards of concern related to climate change are flooding, extreme heat, and wildfire in Cupertino, although most of the hazards that are identified in the health and safety element do relate to climate change to one degree or another.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And then there have been a number of adaptation and resilience strategies,
again, meant to sort of counteract this increase in risk and make sure that the city is protected not only against what has been the historic and what is the current hazardous conditions, but that the city is protected against what is projected to occur in future years and decades.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): This includes a lot of language related to emergency preparedness.
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00:12:18.675 --> 00:12:29.515Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Community outreach and education, and support for those who simply need the greatest assistance, or who are likely to face the greatest potential for harm as a result of climate change.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Going a little more in depth about some of the development standards, we
have revised some of the language to be clear.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Partially based on Planning Commission feedback about whether requirements
around development standards are applying to new development, redevelopment, or both. Again, consistent with what the state is doing.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We've tried to identify some risk reduction standards for… Cases where
existing neighborhoods.
7600:13:00.425 --> 00:13:10.675Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Risk reduction standards for new development that is occurring within existing neighborhoods, you know, recognizing that many of the state's policies apply to new development and not the existing ones.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We have clarified policy triggers, essentially when… when does it… is a development required to comply with a particular…
7800:13:20.735 --> 00:13:24.995Speaker 5 (Community Hall): A policy or mandate whenever he chooses a certain size, or is of a certain use.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): In general, trying to improve the transparency and predictability in development review so that applicants understand what the requirements are, city staff are all clear on what the requirements are, the community understands, and that the development review process can proceed smoothly without any surprises.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And again, in general, just trying to make sure that what the city is doing is
consistent with what the state is doing.
8100:13:47.855 --> 00:13:52.164Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And around particularly wildfire safety and evacuation planning.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There were some changes to the noise parts of the health and safety element
as well. These were not nearly as comprehensive, but there were some revisions. These include some minor
updates to be consistent with Cupertino's current requirements.
8300:14:08.465 --> 00:14:12.515Speaker 5 (Community Hall): To add some implementation strategies around guiding
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The review of noise-generating uses, including public and private recreational
activities.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And to add some discussion of potential restrictions on quarry truck operations
during designated quiet hours. And these edits largely reflect the input from the Planning Commission and from the Public Safety Commission during study sessions that were held last year.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The Planning Commission did also hold a study session on March 9th, a couple
months ago, to review the draft public health and safety elements.
8700:14:45.725 --> 00:14:50.925Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And there were a number of comments that we received from both members of the Commission and members of the public.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): In response to those comments and to that discussion, the Commission
directed staff to incorporate some more
8900:14:57.795 --> 00:15:05.405Speaker 5 (Community Hall): evacuation-related strategies that are related to the supply side, simply making sure that the evacuation capacity
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): It's been, adequately increased or assessed, and that it can accommodate
9100:15:10.975 --> 00:15:14.735Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The demand on the system, if an evacuation should be necessary.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And also to strengthen some of the heat-related policies
9300:15:18.375 --> 00:15:28.994Speaker 5 (Community Hall): to incorporate findings and strategies from the state's Heat Action Plan, which just came out a few months ago. And this includes policies around emergency alerts for heating, for extreme heat.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Improved access to cooling services.
9500:15:31.815 --> 00:15:44.134Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Building standards to reduce indoor air temperatures during extreme heat, and what are called nature-based solutions, or using trees, plants, and other natural systems to help reduce the impact from extreme heat.
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00:15:46.355 --> 00:15:56.155Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Going a little more in depth, there were also some comments from the Planning Commission about providing greater clarity on how wildfires and evacuation standards are applied in the community.
9700:15:56.445 --> 00:16:09.544Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The Commission requested that there be some added language about emergency management as a sort of pillar of the city's public… City's public health and safety framework.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): There'll be some more information about emergency communication, including relating to the city's Block Leader program.
9900:16:16.355 --> 00:16:25.154Speaker 5 (Community Hall): that we add some language about maintaining and improving the city's community rating system score, which is a score that's issued by FEMA.
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00:16:25.155 --> 00:16:36.405Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And the score correlates to discounts that people in flood-prone areas can receive on flood insurance. So the more flood mitigation activities a city enacts.
10100:16:36.485 --> 00:16:42.585Speaker 5 (Community Hall): consistent with FEMA direction, the greater the discount city residents can
receive on this insurance.
10200:16:43.385 --> 00:16:50.514Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The Commission also requested… made some comments about incorporating federal EPA standards for hazardous materials.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Considering some objective noise standards for trucks, and that we clarify
some standards and requirements related to law enforcement emergency response and fade requirements
for parking lots and commercial development.
10400:17:04.724 --> 00:17:09.554Speaker 5 (Community Hall): In addition to the Commission comments, there were also some comments from the public at that March 9th meeting.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): This included some requests to consider designating additional evacuation
routes, and to provide some clearer standards around evacuations, to make information about evacuations more accessible to members of the public.
10600:17:23.015 --> 00:17:31.604Speaker 5 (Community Hall): That the health and safety element include policies about increasing wildfire
resilience to incorporate the most recent hazard mapping, which we have done.
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00:17:31.985 --> 00:17:45.715Speaker 5 (Community Hall): To better retrofit some city properties against earthquakes, and again, to include objective noise standards, as well as some policies for freeway noise mitigation, and to include a
noise confer map in the health and safety element.
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And with that, I will turn it over to Francisca to discuss the evacuation study.
10900:17:50.955 --> 00:17:52.245Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Great, thanks, Eli.
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members. My name is Francesca
Church, and I'm going to provide an overview of the Cupertino.
11100:18:00.130 --> 00:18:03.369Speaker 6 (Community Hall): evacuation route assessment, yeah.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): So, first off, why did we conduct this study? Really, the intent of the study is to
comply with Assembly Bill 747 and 1409 that, directs, agencies to identify evacuation route… evacuation routes and analyze their capacity, the safety.
11300:18:21.730 --> 00:18:31.460Speaker 6 (Community Hall): and the viability of the… under various evacuation scenarios. And we also
looked at… and we're also required to look at various evacuation scenarios.
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00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:51.560Speaker 6 (Community Hall): This is a planning-level analysis of evacuation capacity, so it's not necessarily a study on an evacuation operations plan or detailed evacuation time, but does provide a good framework for understanding where some of the bottlenecks are within the city under various evacuation scenarios.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): And so, it really is intended to then support the general plan safety element
that I was just discussing, and making sure the city has, policies and can make decisions on how to consider
evacuation within Cupertino.
11600:19:08.850 --> 00:19:25.589Speaker 6 (Community Hall): The evacuation assessment was conducted following a six-step process. I'm not necessarily going to talk through each of these in detail, but it's important just to note that they follow kind of a rigorous process in terms of first identifying what are the evacuation scenarios we're going to
evaluate.
11700:19:25.700 --> 00:19:30.210Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Defining the evacuation areas. Where will the evacuees end up?
11800:19:30.340 --> 00:19:41.869Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Looking at the evacuation routes, estimating the demand for those evacuation
routes based on the scenarios, and then assigning those vehicles to the network, and then doing the
capacity analysis.
11900:19:42.820 --> 00:19:52.479Speaker 6 (Community Hall): So, for the scenarios themselves, we looked at three scenarios. We identified those scenarios in collaboration with city staff, as well as county fire.
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00:19:52.640 --> 00:20:05.889Speaker 6 (Community Hall): So the first scenario, Scenaria A, assumes a wildfire that happens in the middle of the day in the fall, so around 2 o'clock, so school's in session, there's general traffic on the roadways, just, you know, traveling through and around Cupertino.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): And that would have a demand of about 70… almost 8,000 vehicles that would
need to evacuate under that scenario. That includes residents, employees, students, and visitors that are
just in Cupertino during the day.
12200:20:19.560 --> 00:20:29.250Speaker 6 (Community Hall): We then looked at the second scenario, which is… assumes a wildfire and earthquake. This is something that would hap… we're assuming under this scenario would happen early in the morning, 6 AM.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): School would not be in session, but due to the earthquake, one of the roadways would be, obstructed, and this place, McClellan, would be closed near the clubhouse lane, kind of on the eastern end, kind of, preventing access from the 287, or 85, the main routes.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): This has a higher evacuation demand, just because most people are at home
at 6 in the morning, right? Most people are still at home, but you don't have as many employees or visitors
in the city, so it's primarily residents and some employees that are in the city at 6 AM.
12500:21:04.000 --> 00:21:21.769Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Both scenarios A and B, we evaluated qualitative… quantitatively, and then we looked at Scenario C at a qualitative basis, which is built on Scenario A, the first one, but then assumed that there's access restrictions on Stevens Creek at 87, including the southbound ramps to 87.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): So, some of the key, findings from the scenarios, thing… between all three scenarios, to be honest. So, we have an evacuation demand of anywhere between 8 and 9,000 vehicles, depending on the scenario.
12700:21:39.300 --> 00:21:51.599Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Generally speaking, the routes are relatively short, so getting from the hillsides
in the high-fire areas, getting over to 85 or 280 on the other side, is about 2, 2.5 miles at the longest.
12800:21:51.600 --> 00:22:08.899Speaker 6 (Community Hall): But nonetheless, this means short routes means a lot of demand for those short routes. So, we saw that pretty much in all scenarios, the hillside evacuation routes exceeded their one-
hour clearing capacity. So essentially what that means, you have capacity per hour, and the demand was higher than that within a given hour.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): So each route generally had some segments that were capacity constrained
under each of the, evacuation scenarios. Main bottlenecks that we really found, were west of 85 and 280 as
you're approaching, kind of, the, evacuation points.
13000:22:26.880 --> 00:22:39.980Speaker 6 (Community Hall): The most constrained, maybe not necessarily surprising, is Foothill Boulevard, especially as you're traveling towards 280, Stevens Creek towards 85, as well as McClellan, towards the center of the city.
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00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:51.460Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Scenario C, which was the qualitative, scenario that we evaluated, probably in some ways, you know, builds upon Scenario A.
13200:22:51.460 --> 00:23:08.890Speaker 6 (Community Hall): And the reason we looked at Scenario C instead of Scenario B, even though the
vehicle demand is only 8,000 versus the close to the 9,000 for Scenario B, is that there's more traffic on the
roadway, general traffic on the roadway, in the middle of the day, and so Scenario A was actually the more
constrained scenario.
13300:23:09.110 --> 00:23:26.449Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Found essentially similar, even though we're looking at this qualitatively, really what it would do is just compound the effects that we saw under Scenario A, where the roadways near Foothill Boulevard, McClellan, and De Anza Boulevard, would become constrained as people are trying to
evacuate, the area.
134
00:23:28.710 --> 00:23:39.760Speaker 6 (Community Hall): So, what does this really mean for the city? In many ways, this sets a great foundation. You know, the city already has a unified multi-jurisdiction emergency coordination.
13500:23:39.840 --> 00:23:46.019
Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Already has battery backup for their traffic signal, so should the power go out,
that the signals are still operating.
13600:23:46.100 --> 00:23:54.849Speaker 6 (Community Hall): and already has established emergency communication protocols. This provides, then, a framework for the city to think about, policies for implementation.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Relative to supply side, demand side, and information side strategies. Supply
side strategies, essentially, like, how can you potentially have targeted and flexible capacity improvements
on the roadway to add additional capacity for vehicles?
138
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Better traffic control, or different type of traffic control during evacuation, and finding ways to just have faster clearances of the roadways, during closures.
139
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Demand size strategies are actually also really important. This can be
carpooling or vehicle reduction strategies. Our analysis generally assumed a household that had two or more
vehicles would take both vehicles, and drive them, try to evacuate.
14000:24:33.380 --> 00:24:42.239Speaker 6 (Community Hall): And so, if you have scenarios where, you know, a household could pledge potentially to take one of their vehicles versus two, you can substantially reduce the demand for evacuation.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): And then also phased evacuation approaches. Demand-side strategies obviously depend on cooperation and people complying with them, but nonetheless, those are strategies, for consideration.
14200:24:54.290 --> 00:25:05.859Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Another part that is also important is the information side, so having early
hazard detection, real-time traffic management, so as you're evacuating, there's signage that can say.
14300:25:06.190 --> 00:25:17.149Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Foothill Boulevard is congested, continue straight and go to De Anza Boulevard. That's the safe, quickest way to evacuate right now, having those kind of signs to help direct, vehicles where to go in real time.
144
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): And just overall community preparedness in advance of evacuation so,
community knows what to do, during an evacuation scenario.
14500:25:26.140 --> 00:25:45.369Speaker 6 (Community Hall): What's important to note here is at the bottom of the slide, like, evacuation outcomes really depend on coordination, operations, and behavior. There's a lot of different dynamic pieces that play together, but it's important, and roadway widening alone really will not solve, evacuation capacity
constraints, though they are certainly a part of the discussion.
146
00:25:47.870 --> 00:25:49.400Speaker 6 (Community Hall): I'll hand it back to Yale.
14700:25:51.370 --> 00:26:07.680Speaker 5 (Community Hall): Thank you, Francesca. And I will also reiterate that the supply side, demand
side, and information side recommendations in the evacuation study have largely been reflected in the
updated policies around evacuation that are included in the health and safety element.
14800:26:09.800 --> 00:26:19.949Speaker 5 (Community Hall): So, following the public review period, which, as you heard, public comment
period recently closed, and we are now conducting these study sessions, following this, we will incorporate
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): The feedback received tonight and from any other meetings into a revised version of the health and safety element.
15000:26:27.710 --> 00:26:33.890Speaker 5 (Community Hall): We are required under state law to submit the health and safety element to
state agencies, including CAL FIRE,
151
00:26:33.990 --> 00:26:39.629Speaker 5 (Community Hall): They have a mandatory 90-day review period that must occur prior to any adoption hearings.
15200:26:39.680 --> 00:26:56.879
Speaker 5 (Community Hall): At that time… around that time, we'll also be conducting the environmental
review, as mandated by the California Environmental Quality Act, and ultimately, the health and safety
element will be brought back to the Planning Commission and the City Council for public hearings, which we
are currently anticipating will take place in the fall.
15300:26:59.360 --> 00:27:06.960Speaker 5 (Community Hall): So the recommended action for you all tonight is to receive the presentation and provide input on the public draft of the health and safety element.
154
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Speaker 5 (Community Hall): And that does conclude our presentation. Thank you for your time, and we'd be happy to answer any questions.
15500:27:13.230 --> 00:27:20.169Speaker 1 (Community Hall): All right. Thank you, Eli and Francis. Is that Francesca or Francesca?
156
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): You had it right, Francisca. Francisca.
15700:27:24.105 --> 00:27:29.245Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you. So, I would like to get a little bit of,
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): suggestion from staff about how to manage… we have a short amount of time,
and when I look at the desk items, I…
15900:27:41.545 --> 00:27:49.315Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Looking at item, one, the… Tables that we have?
160
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): There's a number of, suggestions. So, this is a combination of,
16100:27:57.595 --> 00:28:13.675Speaker 1 (Community Hall): the Vice Mayor's, suggestions, Planning Commissioner comments, and I appreciate that the Planning Commission comments had the italics, portion after, each suggestion, but my
understanding is that that
16200:28:13.715 --> 00:28:22.265Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Means that it wasn't incorporated, it was just… it was commented on, on whether or not it would be a good idea to incorporate, essentially.
16300:28:22.395 --> 00:28:24.214
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Is that… that correct?
16400:28:25.670 --> 00:28:32.099Speaker 3 (Community Hall): I would like Luke to confirm the Planning Commission comments are incorporated or not into this update today.
16500:28:33.190 --> 00:28:50.230
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And I could rely on Eli a little bit, too, but I believe most of them have been.
So, in the cases where they were feasible to incorporate, they have been. I think, as Eli noted, going through
that, many of the comments we were going through have been incorporated into this draft.
16600:28:50.470 --> 00:28:51.130Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Okay, so…
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So it's, I can't tell when I'm looking at the staff report which ones did get
incorporated or not, so that was something I'd need a little bit of clarification on.
16800:29:04.630 --> 00:29:10.649Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And I think we could do that, and at the outset, I said, I know we had a lot of comments this afternoon, which…
169
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): we'll need a little bit of time to go through those as well, and I think…
17000:29:15.280 --> 00:29:28.410Speaker 4 (Community Hall): getting another look from the Council would probably be helpful, because I know one of the things on the next steps is… and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe when this goes to CAL FIRE, it's similar to HCD's review of a housing element, though not
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Quite as formal, but it is a 90-day period.
17200:29:32.270 --> 00:29:39.879
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And once blessed by CAL FIRE, if we were to then, say, change things related to evacuation or fire hazard.
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): We would essentially be having to go back to them to let them know there
were changes, so…
17400:29:44.700 --> 00:29:53.169Speaker 4 (Community Hall): I think before we submit anything to CAL FIRE, we'd want to feel comfortable that the Council is fine with the draft we have, so we wouldn't
175
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): be going through multiple iterations with CAL FIRE.
17600:29:56.590 --> 00:30:04.819Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, so my hope is that this, that we would be providing our input, and that it would come back kind of like the TBD items.
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Where, for each, you'll let us know if this is… if you think it's feasible or not
feasible, if we're making too specific, of a suggestion, perhaps, on, evacuation route objective standards, for instance, because I think that… that could be one, that could be difficult, to implement.
17800:30:23.870 --> 00:30:26.329Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So, how would you like us to proceed?
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Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Mayor, I think we definitely need, time to take in all of the good suggestions that we've received so far from Council members, and of course, the Planning Commission suggestions. We need to confirm which ones are incorporated already.
18000:30:41.160 --> 00:30:52.830Speaker 3 (Community Hall): I like the idea of creating a table, I just want to clarify the TBD format, you're…
you don't mean add it to TBD, you just mean, like, add it as a table and then have a staff recommendation
column?
18100:30:52.920 --> 00:30:54.369Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Yeah, I think, I think that's true.
18200:30:54.375 --> 00:30:58.224
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Correct. And so, just to clarify, like, the ones that I
18300:30:58.355 --> 00:31:06.085Speaker 1 (Community Hall): suggested I took the, public comments and added those to,
184
00:31:06.285 --> 00:31:14.514Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Some of the other cities, like 5 different cities, their, health and safety element, and came up with a list of 25.
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Combining those, and then…
18600:31:18.125 --> 00:31:34.304Speaker 1 (Community Hall): in this table, this attachment, you've got the Planning Commissioner comments, and then my recommendations, which are, you know, a mixture. They're not just my own as well, so I've tried to add in particularly the, from the
187
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): public, like, around the sound walls at the 280 and the 85, that being a missing area, for noise abatement.
18800:31:44.205 --> 00:32:00.554Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So I'd like to open it up for questions from the other council members, and if you have some suggestions about, how we collect these, suggestions. Sorry to interrupt through the Mayor.
189
00:32:00.555 --> 00:32:09.334Speaker 2 (Community Hall): We have, Planning Manager, Hugh Ghosh virtually with her hand raised. I think she might have some comments or additions to add. Please. Okay.
19000:32:09.340 --> 00:32:26.929Piu Ghosh, Planning Manager: Thank you, Lauren, and my apologies for a froggy voice here. I just wanted to
clarify that the draft that is presented to the Council does not incorporate the comments from the Planning
Commission. That is the draft that was presented to the Planning Commission as well. I just wanted to clarify
that.
19100:32:29.140 --> 00:32:35.379Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you for that. That is my assumption, so I'm glad for that clarification.
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So I'm going to move to the home panel here and see if we have some hands
raised. Vice Mayor, and first, if you have some suggestions about how to
19300:32:43.610 --> 00:32:56.100Speaker 1 (Community Hall): proceed through all of these suggestions, and I think you have some separate ones in your written communications. Yeah, thank you. So, yeah, I was confused whether the comments
from Planning Commission.
194
00:32:56.100 --> 00:33:05.610Speaker 7 (Community Hall): she was included or not. Good to clarify, it's not included. I think the mayor's such… sounds like, yours.
19500:33:05.670 --> 00:33:19.439Speaker 7 (Community Hall): we likely will have… maybe we'll have another study session, where we might have the table, like a 2PD, with recommendation for each of the suggestions, and then…
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Maybe… are you thinking for, in that meeting, we will have a draft we could consider to adopt with some revision at that meeting?
19700:33:30.770 --> 00:33:34.190Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Or are you thinking we might need a third meeting?
198
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Difficult to say. It might be possible to have it.
19900:33:39.570 --> 00:33:43.390Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Finalized where we could have a draft, but…
200
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): I think if I'm understanding the format, the goal would be
20100:33:47.920 --> 00:33:56.699Speaker 4 (Community Hall): to have a table where we have all the comments, the source, Planning Commission, City Council, were they incorporated? Were they not incorporated? If not, why not?
202
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Or if they were modified, how were they modified? And I think if we did that,
and you had consensus on those comments, you could probably turn a draft around then.
20300:34:07.660 --> 00:34:09.510Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And have it ready to go.
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Would it be helpful if we have a council subcommittee that work with the staff,
so that you at least, have a recommendation that, work with two council members, we bring it to the council, then maybe in the second meeting, we might
20500:34:27.684 --> 00:34:31.764Speaker 7 (Community Hall): have a version that have…
206
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): mostly, approved, probably minor revisions, minor revisions at the second meeting.
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Yeah, I… I don't know. I think two meetings, for sure, I don't see why we couldn't have a finished draft.
208
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): So…
20900:34:48.500 --> 00:34:49.060Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay.
21000:34:49.239 --> 00:35:03.669
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Yeah, my only concern was not sending something to CAL FIRE that was
subsequently changed, because it would be a big step back. And if I could clarify on the Planning
Commission, too, is there were Planning Commission comments incorporated, because the Planning
Commission has seen this twice.
21100:35:03.900 --> 00:35:07.650Speaker 4 (Community Hall): The comments were from the first Planning Commission meeting, not the meeting in March.
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, the ones listed in the staff report and in that presentation are the ones who have not been integrated, I assume?
21300:35:18.475 --> 00:35:25.214Speaker 4 (Community Hall): They're not called out. They would have been from the earlier meeting in 2025, when it went to Planning Commission and Public Safety Commission.
214
00:35:25.215 --> 00:35:34.974Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I'm saying those that's already integrated are likely… it's already in there, so they are not called out in a staff report. Correct.
21500:35:34.975 --> 00:35:50.105Speaker 4 (Community Hall): The future draft would need to incorporate the Planning Commission
comments from March and indicate whether they were incorporated. Similarly, the comments we've received
from Council tonight and in written form would need to be treated the same way.
21600:35:50.360 --> 00:36:04.509Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, so I do have a question about the evacuation study. So we know that there is evaluation of the volume over capacity, and there is a ratio
217
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): But I do wonder, everyone, even if we can get to Foothill, Stevens Creek, the
answer.
21800:36:14.530 --> 00:36:30.249
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): maybe the freeway would be all blocked to have you evaluated, can we even
get out of Cupertino in case of earthquake? Wildfire, it's okay, it's more regional, they just need to get out of the wildfire area, but if it's a…
219
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): A severe earthquake.
22000:36:33.210 --> 00:36:36.849Speaker 7 (Community Hall): What's the evacuation out of Cupertino?
22100:36:37.390 --> 00:36:40.830
Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor, for the question. So…
222
00:36:40.930 --> 00:36:52.829Speaker 6 (Community Hall): During an earthquake, typically the emergency protocol, unless there is an event that is triggered, like a wildfire or flooding, is to shelter in place and stay in home. So generally speaking.
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Speaker 6 (Community Hall): You would not have more… greater demand on the freeway because of an
earthquake, because usually you must try to stay in your home and shelter in place, unless there's some
other secondary event that gets triggered.
22400:37:04.110 --> 00:37:05.150Speaker 6 (Community Hall): Okay.
225
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Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, yeah, since… that's good to know, yeah.
22600:37:09.480 --> 00:37:12.150Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay. Councilmember Fruen?
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Community Hall: You should be.
22800:37:15.030 --> 00:37:21.250Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. First of all, I want to thank the Mayor and the Vice Mayor for the amount of input that they provided here. I wish I'd…
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Speaker 8 (Community Hall): seen more of it earlier to be able to offer something, to piggyback on top of it,
but one of the things that I will, I'd really like to hear from staff is sort of.
23000:37:35.300 --> 00:37:49.349Speaker 8 (Community Hall): just to underscore that the tension that I'm seeing in some of the
recommendations between what is typical for a general plan element that is rather high level versus an
implementation document like
23100:37:49.660 --> 00:37:51.879Speaker 8 (Community Hall): you know, an ordinance, etc. So…
232
00:37:52.620 --> 00:38:10.790Speaker 8 (Community Hall): regardless of what you can answer now, to the extent that in this table that we get back later, you can explain, you know, what's appropriate to have in… and advisable to have in a general plan document versus an implementation document like an ordinance, I'd really appreciate that, but if you could
233
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Speaker 8 (Community Hall): Maybe explain the difference here as to maybe why a level of granularity that's
being sought is perhaps better for a different discussion.
23400:38:21.030 --> 00:38:35.230Speaker 4 (Community Hall): No, that's a good point, and I've not had a chance to go through all of the comments, but there's always that issue of a general plan is called a general plan for a reason, is you want to start more broadly and work to more detail as you go from policies and strategies, but then typically.
235
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): to get to that objective, more granular level, you typically have ordinances or other documents that can be very specific, that are, you know, the regulations implementing the policies identified in the general plan, so…
23600:38:49.370 --> 00:38:53.899
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): I think as we go through the comments, that's one of the things we're looking
at, is…
23700:38:54.130 --> 00:39:02.899Speaker 4 (Community Hall): the idea is, I get, I think many of them, from what I read, were very good. It's just a matter of, would they be something more appropriate elsewhere?
238
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And I think that's a comment we, as a team, need to look at as we go through
this, is
23900:39:09.420 --> 00:39:13.280Speaker 4 (Community Hall): This may not be the place for them, but they may belong somewhere else.
240
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): No, so I…
24100:39:14.425 --> 00:39:19.044Speaker 8 (Community Hall): I broadly agree with that. One of the ones that I'll underscore is a…
24200:39:19.685 --> 00:39:24.605Speaker 8 (Community Hall): Let's see, there was a… recommendation here…
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Speaker 8 (Community Hall): to do some advocacy with, Caltrans, for example, but that doesn't really seem
like a general plan policy to me. I would think that we would establish a general plan policy and then
24400:39:36.975 --> 00:39:38.834Speaker 8 (Community Hall): Align our advocacy.
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Speaker 8 (Community Hall): around that.
24600:39:41.040 --> 00:39:49.379Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Yes, that's true. I mean, we already have a number of policies working with regional and state agencies on a variety of issues, so,
247
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): again, the intent is good, I think it's how we word it, and how we want to
implement it as a practice. Okay, yeah.
24800:39:56.285 --> 00:39:58.595Speaker 8 (Community Hall): That all makes sense to me.
249
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Speaker 8 (Community Hall): I may have more in a bit, I'll… Reserve my time.
25000:40:04.770 --> 00:40:14.909Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. It is, 625. We do need to have, public comment as well, and the regular meetings at 6.45.
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): With that, Councilmember Mohan, and if you have some suggestions on how
we can, combine our comments and make sure we've got clear direction for staff, that would be appreciated. Oh, sure, I'll keep my,
25200:40:28.380 --> 00:40:31.790Speaker 1 (Community Hall): comments brief. This is meant to be,
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Speaker 9 (Community Hall): policy document, right? So, one of my,
25400:40:37.010 --> 00:40:43.999
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): questions or confusion was, there was parts of the document that was high-
level policy.
25500:40:44.230 --> 00:40:52.089Speaker 9 (Community Hall): And I think that's how it… that was what was intended. And then there were
parts where you went into really specific,
25600:40:52.470 --> 00:40:58.120Speaker 9 (Community Hall): strategies and, fairly detailed,
25700:40:58.660 --> 00:41:03.389Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Options to mitigate some of these,
258
00:41:03.760 --> 00:41:19.129Speaker 9 (Community Hall): problems that we could have. So, I was a little confused as to whether this is the kind of document that is not just high-level policy, but specific suggestions for, mitigating these
25900:41:19.530 --> 00:41:25.690Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Problems that could arise, because most of them are.
260
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:31.830Speaker 9 (Community Hall): We are anticipating things that have not happened, or may not even happen.
26100:41:32.000 --> 00:41:47.210Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Yeah, if I could just answer it. It does, this element follows the city's general plan as a whole, that you generally start with goals and then policies and strategies, each of which gets
more… you go from broad to more detailed.
26200:41:47.510 --> 00:41:59.710Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Whereas ordinances get even further detailed in implementing that. So I think that the format is pretty typical and reflects what you'd see in the housing element or circulation element in the city.
263
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): some things do get, I think, a little more specific.
26400:42:02.840 --> 00:42:08.630Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And that could be related to specific laws or measures that need to be addressed in the document, but…
265
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Speaker 4 (Community Hall): You generally start with a broad statement and work towards your strategies
that will Help you realize that goal.
26600:42:17.390 --> 00:42:18.170
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): Okay.
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Speaker 9 (Community Hall): I'll get back to that later. But another question, Mayor and staff, I see the document that you have submitted with your,
26800:42:29.050 --> 00:42:34.339Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Questions, and since we haven't had a chance to really look at it.
269
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Speaker 9 (Community Hall): what would be the best way? And then staff hasn't
27000:42:38.650 --> 00:42:41.489Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Made comments on these suggestions as well.
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Speaker 9 (Community Hall): So at the next meeting, Is there a way that…
27200:42:46.690 --> 00:42:53.340Speaker 9 (Community Hall): There's a column where you say, staff agrees, not agree, or it's not feasible, or it's,
273
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Speaker 9 (Community Hall): It's sort of a pie-in-the-sky recommendation.
27400:42:58.240 --> 00:43:00.320Speaker 9 (Community Hall): That, that would help. Yeah.
275
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Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Councilmember, that's exactly what I was clarifying earlier, is I think the format
that could work is we'll take all of these recommendations, create a table out of it, and then just like the TBD
was used as an example, so when I bring the TBD back.
27600:43:14.795 --> 00:43:27.614Speaker 3 (Community Hall): there is a TBD language. Next to it is a column that says staff recommendation, so we'll include a similar column that will kind of give you what our analysis of these
recommendations are, and what our
277
00:43:27.825 --> 00:43:34.484Speaker 3 (Community Hall): From our staff, from our technical perspective, what the recommendation is.
27800:43:34.815 --> 00:43:41.685Speaker 3 (Community Hall): And if they were already included in the health and safety element, we'll
include that language under that column as well.
279
00:43:42.155 --> 00:43:48.155Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Okay, and that'll give us a chance to spend some more time on these recommendations.
280
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Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. Quick question, for the manager. Is there a way that, if,
28100:43:53.965 --> 00:44:01.674Speaker 1 (Community Hall): the other council members, or even we want to add a little bit more to it, can we have, like, a Friday deadline where we can still add?
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Speaker 3 (Community Hall): I was going to suggest that, I just want to make sure that works for… for our
team. If Friday is the deadline for any Council comments that, that you, any of you would like to send to staff, would that… would that work in terms of timeline for… Friday's fine, yes. Okay, I think that's a good idea, yeah. This Friday?
28300:44:20.860 --> 00:44:22.279Speaker 3 (Community Hall): 5PM?
284
00:44:23.990 --> 00:44:26.419Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Very good. Vice Mayor?
28500:44:27.460 --> 00:44:30.700Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And then we'll go out for public comment.
286
00:44:31.640 --> 00:44:39.380
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I'll make comment after… maybe I'll make that now. I think, the recent state laws,
28700:44:39.500 --> 00:44:48.319Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And planning guidance have increasingly emphasized the need for objective, measurable standards in the general plan.
288
00:44:48.330 --> 00:44:57.909Speaker 7 (Community Hall): policies. And for development review. Therefore, when I try to develop a potential revision of the policy.
28900:44:57.910 --> 00:45:17.460Speaker 7 (Community Hall): my process, I go to the chat GPT, I say, compare our draft with the other
jurisdiction's elements, and compare, and they… it will give me recommendation where we are strong, where
we have gaps, and where we could have stronger policy. And then I would then
29000:45:17.790 --> 00:45:28.489Speaker 7 (Community Hall): with the recommended policy, I say, could you evaluate, is it the objective
enough for enforcement? So, that's the kind of policy that I was…
291
00:45:28.490 --> 00:45:40.200
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I… my process of getting that. So I think that if we only say evaluate, that's a policy that's really useless in the current state.
29200:45:40.290 --> 00:45:59.590Speaker 7 (Community Hall): law of environment. We have to have some objective standards. Without
objective standards, we know it's a standard as if it doesn't exist. So I will share what I… I hope to quickly
go through the things that I have gone through after the public comments. Yeah.
29300:45:59.590 --> 00:46:02.619Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, Councilmember Fruen, quick…
29400:46:03.250 --> 00:46:17.880
Speaker 8 (Community Hall): Yeah, just to continue sort of in the vein of my commentary from before, if
we're going to have this deadline for comments, it would be helpful to have sort of a philosophical statement
from staff as to what really belongs in the general plan.
29500:46:17.880 --> 00:46:28.150Speaker 8 (Community Hall): And what might belong in an ordinance. It would be helpful for us to be able to then provide you with the feedback that is not going to send you on a wild goose chase.
296
00:46:29.540 --> 00:46:33.829
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): I mean, there is a fine line, but I think looking at how…
29700:46:34.260 --> 00:46:41.540Speaker 4 (Community Hall): general plans as a whole are written… again, they're different from ordinances. We don't specify building heights in a general plan.
298
00:46:41.850 --> 00:46:52.059
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): But we do specify a lot of other things related to what buildings should look
like. We spec… density is specified in the general plan, so… things that are more site-specific.
29900:46:52.370 --> 00:47:00.300Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And, again, objective. Those are typically found in ordinances. I think it does help where you can be objective. But…
300
00:47:00.580 --> 00:47:07.920
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): This document is really something about stating a policy, what your… how your community sees itself, what your community wants.
30100:47:08.290 --> 00:47:13.129Speaker 4 (Community Hall): And then working down to your strategies from there. How do you get to that goal you stated?
302
00:47:13.650 --> 00:47:18.879Speaker 4 (Community Hall): and not trying to get too granular, which was the word you used, and I… it…
303
00:47:19.050 --> 00:47:25.430
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): It has gotten, I think, tougher, for the reason the Vice Mayor says, is there's
been an increasing push to be more objective. Sure.
30400:47:25.540 --> 00:47:26.250Speaker 4 (Community Hall): But…
305
00:47:26.570 --> 00:47:32.920
Speaker 8 (Community Hall): Presumably, you could put your objective standards in an ordinance, you don't
necessarily need to have them in the general plan.
30600:47:32.925 --> 00:47:37.935Speaker 4 (Community Hall): you can, or even in other documents. I think you do want to be mindful of
307
00:47:38.775 --> 00:47:40.455
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): It's a general plan.
30800:47:41.270 --> 00:47:43.560Community Hall: And always kind of pulling back with…
30900:47:44.630 --> 00:47:50.250
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): what is it you're trying to achieve is kind of the overarching thing, and then
there's usually a way to write that.
31000:47:50.255 --> 00:48:05.995Speaker 8 (Community Hall): want to make sure that we're using the right vehicle. I'm certainly sensitive to what the Vice Mayor is saying, I think we all are, but, you know, if we make the general plan so inflexible that we can't fix it if we need to, and you've got to go back through this process of getting a state blessing on it, that seems like its own problem.
311
00:48:05.995 --> 00:48:08.574
Speaker 4 (Community Hall): If you have concerns about noise.
31200:48:08.795 --> 00:48:14.015Speaker 4 (Community Hall): a decimal level should be in your ordinance, not necessarily in your general plan. Yeah. Okay.
313
00:48:15.030 --> 00:48:22.169
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you. We do have some of these things in both, including the heights and the noise decibels. Madam City… In the general plan. In the general plan.
314
00:48:22.175 --> 00:48:25.935
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Correct. Instead, those observed numbers… Yes, thank you, Vice Mayor.
31500:48:25.935 --> 00:48:31.294Speaker 1 (Community Hall): We are short on time. Madam City Clerk, do we have members of the public
who'd like to comment on this item?
31600:48:31.295 --> 00:48:45.194Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Yes, Mayor, we do not have any requests to speak in person at Community Hall. I am seeing one hand reads virtually, and I may have another request to speak who is… who emailed me who was having difficulties raising the hand feature. So at this time, we will welcome San Rao.
317
00:48:53.520 --> 00:49:06.900
San Rao: Good evening, Mayor Booh and Councilmembers. I'm a Planning Commissioner, and was the chair
in 2025 that led the first hearing on the Planning Commission on this draft health and safety element,
speaking on behalf of myself only as a Cupertino resident.
31800:49:06.940 --> 00:49:17.959San Rao: I do agree with the comments that were made by Councilmember J.R. Froon, and I believe Sheila Mohan. I think we have to think about this as a policy update.
319
00:49:18.050 --> 00:49:30.350
San Rao: And while there are aspects of policy that can be objective and should be objective where they can be, I see a number of suggested additions that increase the burdens on residents.
32000:49:30.600 --> 00:49:47.169San Rao: that may be living in the, in the corridor of traffic, or that may be living in, frankly, most of
Cupertino, if we start to treat moderate, high, very high as one category for additional restrictions on major
home remodels.
32100:49:47.220 --> 00:50:07.120San Rao: that does add a burden on residents. So, I do want us to be sensitive to adding costs to residents. It is already unaffordable to live in California, in Bay Area, and in Cupertino, and when we add costs, it makes it further unaffordable. So I urge you to really think about how
322
00:50:07.390 --> 00:50:08.290
San Rao: your…
32300:50:08.410 --> 00:50:26.839San Rao: suggested policy changes may add a cost of living burden onto residents. Further, I would also urge you to look at the cost you add to commercial developments, because that translates directly into the cost of housing, or the cost of rentals, and that is eventually a burden on future residents.
324
00:50:27.120 --> 00:50:34.950
San Rao: And so what I… what I see sorely missing in this is… interagency… policy…
325
00:50:35.160 --> 00:50:41.639
San Rao: That encourages and requires the city to work with the county and with the quarry
32600:50:41.830 --> 00:50:48.199San Rao: To periodically interlock on the status of fire management and brush management.
327
00:50:48.300 --> 00:50:55.900San Rao: And to do that, not only with the county and the quarry, but also other agencies like Union Pacific Railroads, where the rail track runs through the city.
32800:50:56.180 --> 00:51:03.049San Rao: what, what I see is our biggest risk is the hillside, the quarry, and the railroad.
329
00:51:03.720 --> 00:51:22.700San Rao: And while we are over-regulating and adding burdens to new construction and major home remodels and restaurants and truck corridors, we are doing absolutely nothing about policy to engage with the county and all of these other agencies. So I urge you to really take a step back, have another hearing if you must.
330
00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:26.699
San Rao: To think about what can be the priority here.
33100:51:26.900 --> 00:51:30.069San Rao: The biggest risk is the hills around us.
33200:51:30.370 --> 00:51:47.569
San Rao: And if we can have policy that requires a 2x2, I've suggested this before, maybe the city starts a
2x2 with the county, so that you have the ability to interlock locally, to invite them locally, to have the
members of the public engage with them locally, because when the public gives the county feedback, there
is no…
33300:51:47.570 --> 00:51:57.120San Rao: responsiveness to residents of Copatino. So I urge you to really think about what you can do here. Also, think about pickleball noise. That was discussed, but not covered.
334
00:51:57.120 --> 00:51:59.339
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Sam, that is your time.
33500:52:00.530 --> 00:52:01.780Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Okay,
336
00:52:02.270 --> 00:52:09.900
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Jennifer Griffin has emailed that she's having difficulties raising her hand
virtually, so I'm gonna ask her if she would like to speak.
337
00:52:11.640 --> 00:52:14.340
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Jennifer, are you there?
33800:52:23.310 --> 00:52:25.510Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Jennifer, I'm trying to… there.
339
00:52:27.100 --> 00:52:30.110Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Lauren, are you able to unmute? Yes, she's…
34000:52:30.110 --> 00:52:39.810Speaker 2 (Community Hall): She is unmuted. Jennifer… You are unmuted, I'm just… we're not hearing anything on your end.
341
00:52:44.950 --> 00:52:46.070Speaker 2 (Community Hall): So, Jennifer…
34200:52:46.070 --> 00:52:46.880Jennifer Griffin: Hear me?
343
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:48.650
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Oh, we can hear you now, and just.
34400:52:48.650 --> 00:53:07.819Jennifer Griffin: Yes, okay. Yeah, so anyway, thank you so much. My husband was telling me what he thought it was permissions problems, but we're gonna, during your dinner break, we're gonna get off and then come back on again. So, thank you, for this, I'll talk real fast. Thank you for having this, item come up.
345
00:53:07.820 --> 00:53:10.050Jennifer Griffin: I appreciate you bearing with me.
34600:53:10.050 --> 00:53:23.660Jennifer Griffin: I just wanted to add a couple of things. This was an excellent presentation. I did read all the notes on it. You guys are doing a wonderful job of trying to keep us safe. I just wanted to state,
347
00:53:23.660 --> 00:53:42.179Jennifer Griffin: If you all weren't aware, there was, in 1981, the Malathion storage tanks that had been stored on Highway 85 exploded. I was at De Anza College at the time. They had to evacuate, the schools and De Anza, and it was a complete
34800:53:42.180 --> 00:53:52.760
Jennifer Griffin: the roads were completely choked up. I waited 4 hours for the bus to come at the Oaks. So,
we need to be mindful of
34900:53:52.780 --> 00:54:04.560Jennifer Griffin: things that can happen, that affect a group, like evacuating a school, it's bedlam. They
actually wound up leaving a classroom of
350
00:54:04.560 --> 00:54:14.430
Jennifer Griffin: hearing impaired students in DeMza after they forgot about them. I'm not blaming De Anza, but these are the types of things that happen when you have
35100:54:14.550 --> 00:54:22.550Jennifer Griffin: some sort of a disaster like that. The other thing I was gonna say is we need to be mindful
of tornadoes now.
352
00:54:22.550 --> 00:54:36.850Jennifer Griffin: If you weren't aware, last December, there was a tornado that hit the Target store in Scotts Valley. I happened to have been through there the day before, and the day after, it did extensive damage to the roof of buildings.
353
00:54:36.850 --> 00:54:44.320
Jennifer Griffin: And routinely, where my… in Santa Cruz, they will send out tornado warnings, because they
see
35400:54:44.390 --> 00:54:49.210Jennifer Griffin: Thunderstorm activity, et cetera, et cetera, beginning to build up.
355
00:54:49.290 --> 00:55:08.410
Jennifer Griffin: And these are things that we need to be mindful of, that yes, maybe it's a change in the
climate, but there are places in this country where they have regular tornado siren warnings, so we need to
think about that. Also, I'm really…
35600:55:08.440 --> 00:55:23.080Jennifer Griffin: as you're aware, I'm concerned about… I feel like a lot of the authors of the current housing bills, AB130, have blinders on, and they're not… they're not thinking about public safety. Anyway, thank you so much for helping me get on.
357
00:55:23.080 --> 00:55:28.800Jennifer Griffin: And, keep up the good work, because we need to keep everyone safe. Thank you so much.
35800:55:30.770 --> 00:55:34.560Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Jennifer, and Mayor, that concludes the request to speak on this item. All right.
359
00:55:34.565 --> 00:55:44.705Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. So, I would like to hear more about the general plan, policies. This discussion that we've been having, I think, is very interesting regarding the
36000:55:44.945 --> 00:55:49.505Speaker 1 (Community Hall): perhaps the policy strategies and goals. I would…
361
00:55:49.535 --> 00:56:14.055Speaker 1 (Community Hall): due to the, shortness of time, move that we direct staff to, clarify the general plan policies, that previous discussion we've been having, I think that's very helpful, in that the Council has until 5 o'clock on Friday to, submit or resubmit your suggestions. If you made suggestions, and have already turned them in and you would like to alter them, you have until Friday
362
00:56:14.055 --> 00:56:29.104Speaker 1 (Community Hall): at 5 p.m. to do that, and then we asked that staff will compile those suggestions into a TBD format, which will have their recommendations in a separate column, which will come back as a study session
36300:56:29.105 --> 00:56:32.014
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): at a date uncertain.
36400:56:32.415 --> 00:56:42.675Speaker 1 (Community Hall): would anyone like to modify that motion, or second it? Oh, second it. Okay, thank you. Do we have any, Council comments at this time?
36500:56:42.675 --> 00:56:55.694
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I talked too quickly. One more question. So, is it possible we have policy
strategies, but also implementation action? I think similar to the in-housing element.
36600:56:57.970 --> 00:57:02.819Speaker 1 (Community Hall): That can be part of… of what they come… brought back in a study.
36700:57:02.825 --> 00:57:08.005
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah, so I'm just asking if that's feasible for staff to recommend.
36800:57:08.540 --> 00:57:11.110Speaker 1 (Community Hall): I'll take that as a friendly amendment to the motion.
36900:57:11.760 --> 00:57:21.889Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Should we talk about implementation? It could include the implementation
action. Yes. Which could be, like, adopting an ordinance to do something.
37000:57:21.895 --> 00:57:28.634Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Right, it would be suggestions. If something doesn't fit here, where does it fit, and then what are the steps that we need to do to make that happen? Yeah.
37100:57:28.635 --> 00:57:31.235
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, great, thank you. So.
37200:57:31.240 --> 00:57:36.130Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And the seconder, you've made a friendly amendment, and you accept that.
373
00:57:36.135 --> 00:57:40.825Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I know time is short, I want to quickly go through my written comments. No, I'm sorry.
374
00:57:40.830 --> 00:57:48.130
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): No, you have till Friday at 5pm, you can make changes to your current ones,
and otherwise we're going to be running into the next one.
37500:57:48.135 --> 00:58:01.644Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, then I just quickly mention I did address the pickable noise issue with impulse noise, how to quantify that, and then the nighttime trap noise in my proposed policies, and then there are
376
00:58:01.645 --> 00:58:14.765Speaker 7 (Community Hall): on, hopefully, requiring evacuation study for development projects, which is not currently required in the draft. So, please check the three written communications I have submitted. Thank you.
37700:58:14.770 --> 00:58:16.460
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. Councilmember Fruit?
37800:58:16.640 --> 00:58:17.490Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Sure, just…
37900:58:17.490 --> 00:58:30.789Speaker 8 (Community Hall): With regard to the recommendation that would be brought back to us, I would
hope that usually staff do this, but I would like to see some fulsome reasoning as to why the
recommendation is being made, just so that it's clear for our discussion.
38000:58:31.930 --> 00:58:37.690Speaker 1 (Community Hall): That sounds reasonable. At this time, are we ready to call the question?
38100:58:38.040 --> 00:58:46.229
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, looks like it. Adam, City Clerk, will you please set the voting lights for us?
38200:59:01.430 --> 00:59:04.060Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay. Okay, thank you. Please vote.
38300:59:06.550 --> 00:59:08.670Speaker 1 (Community Hall): The motion carries with Wong absent.
384
00:59:09.040 --> 00:59:17.869Speaker 1 (Community Hall): All right, thank you, and we have about half a minute before our regular meeting starts, so with that, this special meeting is adjourned.
385
00:59:22.350 --> 00:59:23.980Community Hall: Don't go anywhere.
386
01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:31.649
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Morning's going on for us.
38701:00:33.760 --> 01:00:35.570Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay.
38801:01:11.180 --> 01:01:12.630
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): We're gonna go.
389
01:01:15.800 --> 01:01:24.490Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Good evening, it is 646, and I call this May 19th, 2026 regular meeting of the Cupertino City Council to order.
39001:01:25.440 --> 01:01:29.410
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): If you're able to stand, please do so for the Pledge of Allegiance.
391
01:01:31.290 --> 01:01:34.800Speaker 1 (Community Hall): I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
39201:01:34.805 --> 01:01:35.655Speaker 9 (Community Hall): America.
393
01:01:35.655 --> 01:01:40.805
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And this will republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible.
39401:01:40.805 --> 01:01:43.385Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Free, liberty, and justice for all.
395
01:01:46.225 --> 01:01:49.455
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Madam City Clerk, will you please call the roll?
39601:01:49.460 --> 01:01:55.540Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Here. Councilmember Mohan? Here. Vice Mayor Chao? Here. Mayor Moore?
397
01:01:55.680 --> 01:01:58.560
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Present. And Councilmember Wong is absent this evening.
39801:01:58.920 --> 01:02:02.030Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. Madam City Attorney, do we have any closed session report?
399
01:02:02.420 --> 01:02:08.210Speaker 1 (Community Hall): We do, we have a report out from the closed session we had. I'm sorry, would you.
400
01:02:08.210 --> 01:02:16.390
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Could you remind me the date of that closed session? May 11th at 8pm. May
11th. And the item was heard, but no reportable.
40101:02:16.395 --> 01:02:20.644Speaker 10 (Community Hall): action was taken. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much.
402
01:02:22.220 --> 01:02:32.619
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Madam, okay, next we'll begin with one ceremonial item, recognizing the Public
Works Department in conjunction with Public Works Week.
40301:02:33.220 --> 01:02:36.190Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And I wanted to say a couple comments on this.
404
01:02:36.190 --> 01:02:59.090
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): The 66th Annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American
Public Works Association, focuses on public works being rooted in service, powered by community. Public Works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to the sustainable and resilient communities, and to public health, high quality of life.
40501:02:59.090 --> 01:03:01.789Speaker 1 (Community Hall): and well-being of people of California.
406
01:03:01.910 --> 01:03:23.339Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Everywhere we look in Cupertino, we see the great work of our Public Works Department, from our beautiful parks, our orderly and beautiful boulevards, our environmentally responsible programs, energy-efficient lighting, everywhere you look in the city, you see the work of our Public Works Department out taking care of our built environment every day.
407
01:03:23.400 --> 01:03:29.979
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you for all that you do to keep Cupertino beautiful. Madam City
Manager, do you have some comments on this item?
40801:03:30.260 --> 01:03:42.870Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Thank you, Mayor. I do. Public Service Week… Public Works Week, sorry, is an opportunity to recognize the essential services that keep our community safe and connected.
409
01:03:42.870 --> 01:03:54.590
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): and functioning every day, from maintaining streets and infrastructure to
delivering vital muni services. Behind the scenes, public works staff care for a vast and complex system, as you have mentioned, Mayor.
410
01:03:54.590 --> 01:04:03.380Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Maintaining over 3,400 public lights that enhance visibility and safety. Stewarding more than 23,000 trees.
411
01:04:03.380 --> 01:04:22.100
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): that contribute to the city's urban canopy and environmental health, and the
team also manages nearly 200 acres of parks and open space. In addition, Public Works maintains approximately 300 miles of streets, and 60 signal… traffic signals to support mobility and reduce congestion
41201:04:22.100 --> 01:04:25.490Speaker 3 (Community Hall): While proactively protecting neighborhoods from flooding.
413
01:04:25.490 --> 01:04:29.740
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): From cleaning nearly 2,100 storm inlets each year.
41401:04:29.790 --> 01:04:41.289Speaker 3 (Community Hall): So collectively, this work, as well as countless other efforts, reflect a sustained commitment to public safety, environmental stewardship, and quality of life. Thank you to Public Works staff for all of your work.
415
01:04:41.290 --> 01:04:52.269Speaker 3 (Community Hall): And thank you, Council, for recognizing the department. I would now like to invite the Director of Public Works, Chad Mosley, and any department staff in attendance to come up on stage and receive the proclamation.
41601:04:58.120 --> 01:04:58.840
Community Hall: Beautiful.
41701:05:09.000 --> 01:05:17.219Speaker 3 (Community Hall): It's just me. All my folks in the early side, so… I'll work in here at 65 minutes.
41801:05:17.710 --> 01:05:19.199Community Hall: Director of the way that…
419
01:05:32.710 --> 01:05:34.380Community Hall: There you go. Yeah, you got it.
42001:05:39.250 --> 01:05:39.940Community Hall: Utah.
421
01:05:50.100 --> 01:05:55.680
Community Hall: Okay, congratulations! Congratulations!
42201:06:11.470 --> 01:06:12.620
Community Hall: Oh, great.
423
01:06:13.090 --> 01:06:13.780
Community Hall: What?
42401:06:15.520 --> 01:06:16.860Speaker 1 (Community Hall): All right.
425
01:06:21.830 --> 01:06:28.219
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Our next ceremonial item is the recognition of Asian American Pacific Islander
Month.
42601:06:29.150 --> 01:06:52.979Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Tonight, the City of Cupertino is proud to recognize May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Our sister and friendship city relationships reflect who we are as a
community. Through our sister city relationship with Shinshu, Taiwan, and our friendship city partnerships
with New Taipei City and Taichung City, we've built strong connections through
42701:06:52.980 --> 01:06:58.349Speaker 1 (Community Hall): culture, exchange, and friendship. We also recognize Taiwanese Heritage Week.
428
01:06:58.500 --> 01:07:16.209
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Observed from May 10th through May 17th, and celebrate the contributions of
the Taiwanese American community here in Cupertino and beyond. We're pleased to recognize the two
groups here with us this evening, the Asian Pacific American Public Affairs.
42901:07:16.230 --> 01:07:20.309Speaker 1 (Community Hall): group, and the Asian American Parent Association.
430
01:07:20.530 --> 01:07:28.389
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Stacy Tang, Regional Director of the Formosana Association for Public Affairs.
43101:07:29.130 --> 01:07:37.800Speaker 1 (Community Hall): on behalf of Asian Pacific American Public Affairs will receive the proclamation. So you're Stacy? Hello. Okay.
432
01:07:37.805 --> 01:07:40.675
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, okay, make a short comment.
43301:07:40.745 --> 01:07:57.745Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, I'd like to mention that we just held the AAPI Festival the last Saturday. This is the fourth year it was held, but in Cupertino, I wish that we could have invited the founder of that event for hosting it.
434
01:07:57.745 --> 01:08:04.984
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): But the same event is also, sponsored by the AAPA organization that's also recognized today.
435
01:08:05.195 --> 01:08:06.245
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Thank you.
43601:08:06.465 --> 01:08:10.714Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And I think four council members attended that event.
43701:08:13.025 --> 01:08:18.095
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Because today, our, Tauranese American community will also, have a lot of.
438
01:08:18.100 --> 01:08:31.579Speaker 11 (Community Hall): work from tech industry, or from, like, engineering, like, language, so I will also invite them, yeah, because this is the book. Yeah.
43901:08:31.580 --> 01:08:41.879
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): That, that constitutes the, like, the reach, the community, and then to
coordinate. Thank you.
44001:08:41.880 --> 01:08:46.640Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Yes, so we're doing… this is AAPA first.
44101:08:47.430 --> 01:08:49.339
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): So, I think we're… This is great.
442
01:08:49.340 --> 01:08:50.470Speaker 10 (Community Hall): fast timelines.
44301:08:50.479 --> 01:08:55.109Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, so we have… we have a second propaganda.
444
01:08:55.270 --> 01:08:55.859
Community Hall: duty.
44501:08:56.069 --> 01:08:58.229Speaker 6 (Community Hall): I think we… so we have…
446
01:08:58.229 --> 01:09:06.119
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): We have AAPA first, and then we have a second group. Oh, yeah, just ABA.
44701:09:06.420 --> 01:09:09.139Community Hall: Oh, that's on the AAP.
44801:09:09.330 --> 01:09:11.309Community Hall: I think that because that's all.
449
01:09:11.319 --> 01:09:24.809
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): the same… oh. Okay, yeah, because under the same proclamation, but two,
two groups. Oh. Oh, okay, sorry, sorry, okay.
45001:09:24.810 --> 01:09:28.000Community Hall: Sorry, can you go ahead and speak more?
451
01:09:28.130 --> 01:09:39.369
Community Hall: Let's bring everybody forward.
45201:09:39.569 --> 01:09:49.710Community Hall: Alright, I think it is.
453
01:09:50.620 --> 01:09:51.550
Community Hall: No, it wasn't.
45401:09:53.930 --> 01:09:56.009Community Hall: Just make sure you consume me tonight.
45501:09:56.890 --> 01:09:58.009
Community Hall: You will kill me.
456
01:10:01.730 --> 01:10:02.800Community Hall: Awesome.
45701:10:03.620 --> 01:10:04.120Community Hall: Goodbye.
458
01:10:08.960 --> 01:10:09.630
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Sorry.
45901:10:20.720 --> 01:10:24.530Community Hall: We can link all these pictures to match up to Stacy. Oh, okay.
460
01:10:25.230 --> 01:10:31.350
Community Hall: Alright, thank you very good.
46101:10:31.350 --> 01:10:33.090Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Thank you. Absolutely.
46201:10:33.090 --> 01:10:33.790Community Hall: So we could…
463
01:10:33.790 --> 01:10:35.589
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Think about this one, secondly.
46401:10:35.590 --> 01:10:36.410Community Hall: Okay.
465
01:10:43.840 --> 01:10:46.310
Community Hall: One more time.
46601:10:50.250 --> 01:10:54.180Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Yes, Senator.
46701:10:57.430 --> 01:10:58.250
Community Hall: Interesting.
468
01:10:58.250 --> 01:10:59.630Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Thank you.
46901:10:59.630 --> 01:11:03.070Community Hall: I wonder… So, description.
470
01:11:07.690 --> 01:11:08.240
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Okay.
47101:11:11.060 --> 01:11:20.269Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So this is Betty Yang, member of Asian American Parent Association, AAPA, will receive the next proclamation.
472
01:11:29.840 --> 01:11:42.070
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Perfect.
47301:11:47.520 --> 01:11:48.849Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Is it okay with cannabis?
474
01:11:49.770 --> 01:11:50.500
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Yep.
47501:11:54.410 --> 01:11:55.799Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Or,
47601:11:58.920 --> 01:12:03.960Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.
477
01:12:16.860 --> 01:12:19.129
Community Hall: I'm getting all these pictures, etc.
47801:12:23.990 --> 01:12:33.130Speaker 1 (Community Hall): All right. Thank you all for coming. Our next item is postponements and orders of the day. Do we have any postponements and orders of the day, Madam City Clerk?
479
01:12:33.440 --> 01:12:35.570
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): We do not, Mayor. Okay, any members of the.
48001:12:35.575 --> 01:12:36.935Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Council wish to…
481
01:12:37.285 --> 01:12:48.265
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): move any of the items? Not seeing any hands raised. Our next item is oral
communications. Madam City Clerk, how many comment cards do you have for oral communications at this
time?
48201:12:52.060 --> 01:13:04.709Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, I'm seeing one request to speak in person, and I currently see one hand raised virtually. The request in person is a group, so… of more than five, so it'll be 10 minutes for this one.
483
01:13:05.930 --> 01:13:07.480Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you.
48401:13:07.740 --> 01:13:14.540Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Madam City Clerk, will you please provide the, instructions for all communications and conduct the item? Certainly.
485
01:13:15.075 --> 01:13:39.685Speaker 2 (Community Hall): This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Council on any matter within the jurisdiction of the Council and not on the agenda for discussion. Oral communication shall be limited to 30 minutes. Additional speakers wishing to comment on non-agenda items may be given time to speak at the end of the agenda after the City Manager's report. Individual speakers are limited to 3 minutes. As necessary, the mayor may further limit the time allowed to individual speakers
486
01:13:39.685 --> 01:13:50.435
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): or reschedule remaining comments to the end of the meeting on a first-come,
first-her basis with priority given to students. In most cases, state law will prohibit the Council from discussing or making any decisions.
487
01:13:50.435 --> 01:13:53.144Speaker 2 (Community Hall): With respect to a matter not listed on the agenda.
488
01:13:53.145 --> 01:14:10.924
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): A council member may, however, briefly respond to the statements made or
questions posed by speakers. A council member may also ask a question for clarification, provide a reference
for factual information, request staff to report back concerning a matter, or request that an item be added to a future City Council agenda in response to public comment.
48901:14:11.315 --> 01:14:26.295Speaker 2 (Community Hall): And, as a member… as a reminder, members of the public wishing to speak regarding the… this item under oral communications shall submit a request to speak or raise their hand
virtually within the first 9 minutes of the start of the public comment period, or before the public comment
period is closed, whichever comes first.
49001:14:26.315 --> 01:14:38.365Speaker 2 (Community Hall): So again, Mayor, one request to speak in person, and right now we have three hands raised virtually. So at this time, we will welcome Helene Davis's, group. So, so welcome, you guys will have,
491
01:14:38.465 --> 01:14:40.365
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): 10 minutes. Excellent.
49201:14:40.365 --> 01:14:41.105Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Thank you.
493
01:14:41.105 --> 01:14:44.165
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Good evening, Mayor Moore, Council Members, and.
49401:14:44.165 --> 01:14:45.235Speaker 10 (Community Hall): staff.
49501:14:45.240 --> 01:14:52.720
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): My name is Helene Davis, and I am the president of the Cupertino-Cupertino
Sister Cities Association, and we just completed our.
49601:14:52.720 --> 01:15:12.300Speaker 12 (Community Hall): sixth student exchange with Cupertino, Italy. We sent seven delegates and 2 chaperones, and we thought it was really important that you hear directly from the students before they disappear for summer break and such. I do want to acknowledge especially our chaperones.
497
01:15:12.300 --> 01:15:15.919
Speaker 12 (Community Hall): Janine Waddell, who is here tonight, and Nick Prague.
49801:15:15.920 --> 01:15:31.630
Speaker 12 (Community Hall): Joko, and also the parents, of course, I have to acknowledge them. And I
want to thank the Council and the city staff for all your support of our program and all the sister city programs through the years. So I will turn this over to the first delegate, which I think is Javen.
499
01:15:34.260 --> 01:15:38.789
Speaker 12 (Community Hall): Hi, my name is Jaden, and I'm an 8th grader who attends Hyde Middle
School.
50001:15:39.970 --> 01:15:54.239Speaker 13 (Community Hall): When the Italian students first arrived at San Francisco International Airport, they were excited but tired, and immediately noticed how big everything seemed. The roads, the cars, the schools, and our community.
501
01:15:54.500 --> 01:16:02.150
Speaker 13 (Community Hall): They stayed in our homes with our family, sharing dinner at home that first night, and starting to get to know one another.
50201:16:02.190 --> 01:16:21.310Speaker 13 (Community Hall): During their visit, they discovered that life in Cupertino is a little bit different from life in Italy. At school, they noticed how much technology we use and how involved students are in
activities and sports. In our homes, they experience busy schedules, meals from different cultures, and…
50301:16:21.430 --> 01:16:30.540Speaker 13 (Community Hall): everyday American family life. We also got to show them some of our favorite places, including San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
50401:16:33.310 --> 01:16:35.590
Speaker 11 (Community Hall): Maybe you're a second slide.
50501:16:35.590 --> 01:16:38.709Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Video, next slide. Each speaker will have a slide.
50601:16:38.710 --> 01:16:41.809Speaker 12 (Community Hall): That's Jaden's slide. Okay, so the next slide.
507
01:16:41.810 --> 01:16:43.990Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Next slide. Next slide.
50801:16:44.450 --> 01:16:45.130Speaker 2 (Community Hall): I agree.
509
01:16:45.790 --> 01:16:52.110
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Hello everyone, my name is Udav, and I'm in the 7th grade at Miller Middle School. After a brief flight delay.
510
01:16:52.110 --> 01:17:07.479
Speaker 14 (Community Hall): We arrived in Coppertino right at dinner time, which is around 9pm in Italy. When we got there, we were greeted by our Italian friends and their families with a warm welcome and dinner at home. Everyone was really nice and excited to meet us, which made us feel comfortable right away.
511
01:17:07.500 --> 01:17:20.650
Speaker 14 (Community Hall): Our first impressions of Coppertino were really interesting. The pace of life felt much slower than what we're used to. It also felt more rural, with lots of open fields around the town, but also very small, tight streets in the center.
51201:17:20.670 --> 01:17:37.370Speaker 14 (Community Hall): We spent time at school and with our families, learning a lot about the
culture. The school gave us a presentation that included Italian dance and music, specifically from the
Cupertino region, Puglia. We exchanged gifts with the mayor of Cupertino and the school officials, and ate
homemade regional food made by the families.
51301:17:39.600 --> 01:17:40.559Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Next slide.
514
01:17:41.290 --> 01:17:48.190
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): And speaking of food, the food was one of the best parts of our trip. Hi, my
name is Sithara Siva, and I'm in the 7th grade at Hyde Middle School.
51501:17:48.400 --> 01:18:05.889Speaker 15 (Community Hall): While we were in Italy, we ate fresh, homemade dishes made by the Italian mobs. A lot of the food, ironically, included some variation of bread, tomato sauce, and cheese. Lots of cheese, including ricotta and mozzarella. We also had a lot of gelato. The chocolate they had was always
dark chocolate, and everything seemed less artificial.
516
01:18:06.310 --> 01:18:12.569Speaker 15 (Community Hall): Sometimes the best place to stop for a gelato was at a bar, which was more like a cafe, where people get coffee, snacks, and desserts.
51701:18:12.770 --> 01:18:14.400
Speaker 15 (Community Hall): At the school, we had…
518
01:18:14.730 --> 01:18:27.829Speaker 15 (Community Hall): a chance to learn how to form our own horizete as one of the activities at the school. And we got the chance to visit a bakery and make our own pasticciotto, a local custard-filled dessert. The food helped us experience real Italian culture and family life in a really fun way.
519
01:18:30.070 --> 01:18:34.349
Speaker 15 (Community Hall): Hi, my name is Anshika Daga, and I am in 7th grade at Lawson.
52001:18:35.480 --> 01:18:36.690Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Next slide, video.
52101:18:37.650 --> 01:18:43.859Speaker 2 (Community Hall): I truly loved enjoying hanging out with my host family. I loved hanging out with every single family member, as well.
522
01:18:43.860 --> 01:18:44.690
Speaker 16 (Community Hall): As the dog.
52301:18:44.695 --> 01:18:45.345Community Hall: Ray.
524
01:18:46.020 --> 01:18:54.780
Speaker 16 (Community Hall): I love being able to spend every single day with my host student, Sophia,
from being able to get ready for activities together to eating meals together.
52501:18:54.890 --> 01:18:57.780Speaker 16 (Community Hall): Every single day in Coppertino is memorable.
526
01:18:58.400 --> 01:18:59.860
Speaker 16 (Community Hall): I love being…
52701:19:00.810 --> 01:19:13.269Speaker 16 (Community Hall): I love being able to cook with the grandma and playing with the dog, but I think the moment I will forever cherish and keep in my heart is how every single night, no matter what it was… no matter whether it was 9pm or 2AM,
528
01:19:13.590 --> 01:19:22.099
Speaker 16 (Community Hall): They would always watch movies and play games with me and include me in everything, which made me feel so loved as if they were my second family.
52901:19:22.100 --> 01:19:37.779Speaker 16 (Community Hall): I love learning everything in Coppertino, from how to cook your pasta, and how to greet each other with kisses. But something I never thought would happen is that I learned how
much I would miss the family, and every day I look back on the exchange program and truly miss everyone.
53001:19:40.240 --> 01:19:41.760Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Next slide. Next slide.
53101:19:42.810 --> 01:19:48.700Speaker 13 (Community Hall): While we were in Italy, we had the chance to visit San Gusipe School of
Cupertino.
53201:19:48.970 --> 01:19:51.410Speaker 13 (Community Hall): Which was really different from our schools.
533
01:19:51.750 --> 01:19:57.420Speaker 13 (Community Hall): First, we noticed that the school was a single building, which was interesting because…
534
01:19:59.450 --> 01:20:10.230
Speaker 13 (Community Hall): we, we could access classrooms from internal hallways. I also noticed that it
was a K-8 school, which I was familiar with because I attended McAuliffe.
53501:20:10.380 --> 01:20:11.859Speaker 13 (Community Hall): Which is K-8.
536
01:20:12.650 --> 01:20:18.549
Speaker 13 (Community Hall): The time they spent in class, which was much less. The school was dismissed
at 1.30,
53701:20:18.770 --> 01:20:24.829Speaker 13 (Community Hall): The school bell was different and sounded old style, and the students presented Italian culture
538
01:20:25.220 --> 01:20:28.340
Speaker 13 (Community Hall): That was really interesting and exciting to watch.
53901:20:29.560 --> 01:20:38.169Speaker 13 (Community Hall): We got to read books to the younger students about San Francisco that were about cable cars and the seals on Pier 39.
540
01:20:38.550 --> 01:20:41.590
Speaker 13 (Community Hall): The schedule and subjects were a little different, too.
54101:20:42.000 --> 01:20:59.970Speaker 13 (Community Hall): They relaxed the schedule while we were there so that students got to spend time meeting a lot of students and attending presentations. The classroom setup was more traditional, with desks facing the teacher. We were able to watch and participate in group activities.
542
01:21:00.130 --> 01:21:07.969Speaker 13 (Community Hall): The best part was definitely the students. They were super nice and friendly and kind, and they made us feel welcome right away.
54301:21:12.280 --> 01:21:18.399Speaker 13 (Community Hall): Hi, good evening. My name is Maya May, and I'm a 7th grader at Lawson
Middle School. We experience memorable.
54401:21:18.400 --> 01:21:36.779Speaker 17 (Community Hall): places in Italy. What I liked best were the little matching huts in Alberabello, where we walked through its streets' famous Truli houses. We visited Oriento, a beautiful coastal town with
historic streets and the amazing view of the Adriatic Sea. It was incredible to see the 11th century cathedral
and its stunning mosaic floor.
54501:21:36.860 --> 01:21:50.709Speaker 17 (Community Hall): What impressed me most was the cave tour in Grote di Castellena, where we
saw massive underground caves. The tour guide stopped every couple minutes to show something truly
fascinating, like how the stalagmites and stalactites form a bull-like creature.
54601:21:50.950 --> 01:21:53.440Speaker 17 (Community Hall): We also visited a historic tower.
54701:21:53.940 --> 01:21:58.749
Speaker 17 (Community Hall): In Santa Caterina, overlooking the coastline, where we had a panini picnic.
54801:21:59.190 --> 01:22:13.770Speaker 17 (Community Hall): We also had one evening in Lecce, the largest city in the region with a small coliseum of its own and unique architecture. We even had sushi. In Lecce, we did a scavenger hunt, where we had to find certain places and take pictures with our mini group.
549
01:22:14.000 --> 01:22:23.450
Speaker 17 (Community Hall): In short, surrounding areas of Coppertino were very cool, and each had their
own traits. All the places we visited were very enduring, and I would love to go there again.
55001:22:25.940 --> 01:22:27.759Speaker 17 (Community Hall): Hi, my name…
551
01:22:27.940 --> 01:22:29.429
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): My name is Melina Mae.
55201:22:29.435 --> 01:22:36.434Speaker 15 (Community Hall): And I'm an 8th grader at Kennedy Middle School. I am now going to talk about speaking the language in Italy.
553
01:22:36.605 --> 01:22:40.804
Speaker 15 (Community Hall): While the Italian students from Coppertino could speak quite a bit of English.
55401:22:40.805 --> 01:22:41.555Speaker 18 (Community Hall): Most…
55501:22:41.855 --> 01:22:56.384
Speaker 18 (Community Hall): Cupertino California students did not know much Italian. With the help of
digital translators, human translators, and the universal thumbs up sign, in addition to the traditional Italian
hand gestures, like this.
55601:22:56.445 --> 01:23:03.335
Speaker 18 (Community Hall): We successfully broke the language and made communication not only
possible, but sometimes entertaining.
55701:23:06.315 --> 01:23:12.435Speaker 18 (Community Hall): Hi, I'm Janine Waddell. I'm a member of the Cupertino-Cupritino Sister Cities
Association, and I was lucky enough.
55801:23:12.440 --> 01:23:13.190Speaker 19 (Community Hall): to be a student.
55901:23:13.190 --> 01:23:15.809Speaker 10 (Community Hall): chaperone on the trip. I would just like to say.
560
01:23:15.815 --> 01:23:21.324Speaker 19 (Community Hall): A final thank you to the City of Cupertino for supporting this program, along with,
56101:23:21.385 --> 01:23:28.074Speaker 19 (Community Hall): Cupertino, Italy, St. Joseph's School here in Cupertino, and San Giuseppe
School in Cupertino.
56201:23:28.075 --> 01:23:42.704Speaker 19 (Community Hall): also with the Cupertino Union School District, and the Cupertino-Cupertino Sister City Association, of course, and, the families of our kids who supported the students, the Italian students, while they were here, and were brave enough to send their students abroad.
563
01:23:42.755 --> 01:23:44.464
Speaker 19 (Community Hall): So thank you very much.
56401:23:52.280 --> 01:24:05.130Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Helene. Next, we will move to the request to speak virtually. We have 3 hands raised. At this time, we will welcome Jennifer Griffin, followed by Nori, followed by Sanrel. Welcome, Jennifer.
565
01:24:11.470 --> 01:24:12.890
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Jennifer…
56601:24:12.890 --> 01:24:13.989Jennifer Griffin: Can you hear me?
567
01:24:13.990 --> 01:24:15.079
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): We can hear you now.
56801:24:15.080 --> 01:24:29.070Jennifer Griffin: Okay, thank you. We loaded the app on the tablet, and it's working better. Thank you so
much. Just on the side, I loved hearing about the students, going to Coppertino. I just wanted to mention
again.
56901:24:29.280 --> 01:24:36.400Jennifer Griffin: There is a housing bill which I've been following. It's AB50… I'm sorry, AB1751,
570
01:24:36.420 --> 01:24:43.659Jennifer Griffin: by, Buffy Wicks and, Mrs. Quirk Silva. I think it's Sharon Quirk Silva of Southern California.
57101:24:43.670 --> 01:25:01.850Jennifer Griffin: And this bill… I… I'm just real… every time I read the contents of the bill, it gets worse. They're trying to do ministerial approval for townhouse projects, and then the text of the bill says that the
public is not supposed to be able to give comments about
57201:25:02.090 --> 01:25:18.160Jennifer Griffin: the townhouse, projects, and I just find something really, really strange about this whole bill. I really hope that it can be modified. Evidently, some cities in Southern California have already expressed
57301:25:18.400 --> 01:25:35.550
Jennifer Griffin: their frustration with it, because they said that it is overriding the planning departments, and
what I'm concerned about is that we have a lot of issues coming up concerning water accessibility,
telecommunications.
57401:25:35.710 --> 01:25:52.039Jennifer Griffin: traffic control, etc, etc, with CEQA, and I don't think… I think having a lot of things that are ministerial really defeats the whole purpose. We want to be safe. You guys just spent, you know, a whole bunch of time, and
575
01:25:52.040 --> 01:26:01.690
Jennifer Griffin: Research trying to have a safety element that is required by the state, but why… why would we have a bill like this that would be
57601:26:01.840 --> 01:26:20.070Jennifer Griffin: have… permitting something ministerially and preventing the public from asking pertinent
questions. What kind of government is that saying that they're promoting? I… as we're going in with the new
governor, I… I have some very serious questions about
57701:26:20.600 --> 01:26:35.710Jennifer Griffin: what the purpose of a bill like this is to do. Is it supposed to expedite construction? Okay, yes, I understand that, but if you have the public having a lot of questions pertaining to
578
01:26:36.090 --> 01:26:39.149
Jennifer Griffin: CEQA environmental issues.
57901:26:39.180 --> 01:26:50.540Jennifer Griffin: To me, it's trying to punish the public for asking questions, and it's also trying to prevent the
city council, the planning commission, and the planning department
580
01:26:50.560 --> 01:27:08.290
Jennifer Griffin: to do their due diligence. I… I really think that we're on the long… the wrong road with this type of a bill, and I do hope Ms. Swicks and Mrs. Quirksilva can try to maybe alter this bill so it becomes something useful
58101:27:08.290 --> 01:27:20.530
Jennifer Griffin: But to me, it's a boat anchor. It's an exercise in futility, and it's try… I'm sorry, it's an
exercise to try to frustrate the public. I'm frustrated, so let's hope it goes away. Thank you.
58201:27:21.400 --> 01:27:22.420Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Jennifer.
58301:27:22.890 --> 01:27:25.349
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Next, we'll welcome Nori. Welcome, Nori.
584
01:27:29.080 --> 01:27:30.289Nori: Can you hear me?
58501:27:30.290 --> 01:27:31.269Speaker 2 (Community Hall): We can hear you.
586
01:27:31.680 --> 01:27:43.150
Nori: Thank you for this opportunity. Burnley Drive is used for business district, including many Apple office buildings, Apple Cafeteria, Business Building.
58701:27:43.440 --> 01:27:50.940Nori: That for small businesses, and Academy for children. It is not for housing area.
588
01:27:51.580 --> 01:27:59.899
Nori: Have you been to look at the 10268 Bundley Drive and walk inside the
58901:28:00.260 --> 01:28:02.449Nori: Our office to look at it?
590
01:28:02.500 --> 01:28:20.879
Nori: If not, please do so. 10268 Banley Drive Building is used for educational building, businesses, and small
commercial businesses, law office technology incorporation, architect Office, and Inner Building.
59101:28:21.240 --> 01:28:36.460Nori: Most importantly, Mirai Gakuen, Japanese Language Culture School for Children, the Anza Learning Center, Chinese Language, Taiwanese Culture Education Academy.
592
01:28:36.610 --> 01:28:42.470
Nori: Capybala Clay Studio, Add Clay Studio for Children.
59301:28:42.630 --> 01:28:53.929Nori: Niwa Shu Academy Chinese Martial Arts Training Center, and Enjoy Dance Studio for many young
594
01:28:54.010 --> 01:29:12.529Nori: Student learning… learning dance are in the building. Many, many children enjoy to attend those schools. Summer school will restart soon. Once again, summer will develop properly to townhomes, where those academies
59501:29:12.750 --> 01:29:22.750
Nori: For children can go. Many office buildings are developed to townhome by Summerhill, and the city
always approved.
59601:29:22.850 --> 01:29:42.580Nori: If you have a compassion to those children, please let the building stay where they are now for Children Academy for School. Please do not take the school for children. Please find an alternative location. Please help.
597
01:29:42.690 --> 01:29:45.270
Nori: Thank you very much for listening.
59801:29:48.320 --> 01:29:50.599Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Nori. Next, we will welcome San Rao.
599
01:29:53.090 --> 01:29:58.970
San Rao: Good evening, Mayor, Commission members, council members, speaking on behalf of myself only
as the resident.
60001:29:59.160 --> 01:30:15.089San Rao: Even though I'm a Planning Commissioner, I have a few different issues to bring up for your attention. I hope you will consider agendizing and addressing these. I encourage you all to take a drive during peak hours in the morning and evening on De Anza Boulevard.
601
01:30:15.280 --> 01:30:18.930
San Rao: on Stevens Creek and, Homestead.
60201:30:19.200 --> 01:30:28.999San Rao: The traffic conditions have never been worse. I have lived here 30 years, I've driven these roads for 30 years, I've worked in Cupertino for 30 years almost.
603
01:30:29.440 --> 01:30:32.680
San Rao: And the traffic that I see has never been worse.
604
01:30:32.800 --> 01:30:37.230
San Rao: And I urge you to drive and experience it personally. I urge you to stand.
60501:30:37.560 --> 01:30:42.170San Rao: at the block corners on Stevens Creek in the evenings, between 5.30 and 6.
606
01:30:42.290 --> 01:30:51.780San Rao: or 5 and 6, and experience it, particularly Tuesday to Thursday. The conditions have gotten considerably worse than what it was even 2 years ago.
60701:30:51.890 --> 01:31:03.529San Rao: And this is not the time to be exposing our bicyclists to the smoke of these vehicles, that pollution
is unhealthy. I encourage you to look at off
60801:31:03.780 --> 01:31:17.030San Rao: Off main corridor bike lanes, and to look at ways to accommodate our multimodal traffic without putting our bicyclists in the midst of that kind of smoke, and without putting
60901:31:17.030 --> 01:31:24.090
San Rao: barriers to the free flow of our automotive traffic. So I urge you to agendaize and bring back the
fourth lane on
61001:31:24.200 --> 01:31:30.209San Rao: The answer that was taken out, that that plane really needs to be restored, and we need to keep our traffic flowing.
611
01:31:30.330 --> 01:31:42.520
San Rao: Secondly, I want to bring to your attention that the solar panel project on the Sports Center has
completed, but the parking lot has not been cleared. That parking lot is always fully occupied, and right now
we have
61201:31:42.780 --> 01:31:46.860San Rao: paying members, the Cupertino SportsCenter members.
613
01:31:47.010 --> 01:31:52.959
San Rao: generate revenue to the city of $1.3 million a year, and we have paying members having to park.
61401:31:52.960 --> 01:32:13.070San Rao: by Quinlan, or park by Whole Foods, or Adianza, and then cross and come over to the Sports Center. I encourage you to have the parking lot clear. You may move it to the Quinlan parking lot, and staff may park somewhere else and walk that distance. When you ask paying residents and non-residents to park
somewhere else so that
615
01:32:13.070 --> 01:32:16.780San Rao: You do not inconvenience the Quinlan parking. What message are you sending?
616
01:32:16.840 --> 01:32:21.969San Rao: Are you sending a message that, residents and non-residents and the members that pay
617
01:32:22.340 --> 01:32:29.450
San Rao: insignificant amount do not matter, and matter less than the occupants of Quinlan.
61801:32:29.840 --> 01:32:43.779San Rao: Think about that. I hope you will clear that. This was never something that was told to Council, that you would keep this as a storage for public works during and after this project. This was never disclosed, and pleased to clear that.
619
01:32:43.980 --> 01:32:49.940
San Rao: And then finally, I want to bring to your attention that the… That the city has…
62001:32:50.210 --> 01:32:58.690San Rao: not address the truck traffic noise, and while I have received an explanation for that, I encourage you to work with the county to bring back the conditional use permit. Thank you.
621
01:32:58.690 --> 01:33:00.379
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, San. That is your time.
62201:33:00.870 --> 01:33:04.019Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, that concludes the request to speak under the oral communications.
623
01:33:06.240 --> 01:33:20.660
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you very much. Next, we move on to the consent item. Madam City
Clerk, have any items been pulled from consent? No, Mayor. Okay, do any council members wish to pull an
item off of consent?
62401:33:21.370 --> 01:33:27.329Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Hearing none, do we have members of the public who would like to comment on the consent calendar?
625
01:33:30.470 --> 01:33:35.650
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, I do not see any requests to speak in person, and I do not see any hands raised virtually.
62601:33:36.600 --> 01:33:37.550Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Alright.
627
01:33:37.980 --> 01:33:41.099
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Do I have a motion to move the consent calendar?
62801:33:44.960 --> 01:33:47.629
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): I had a comment, Mayor.
629
01:33:47.635 --> 01:33:52.135
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Shall we move the consent item and then comment on it?
63001:33:52.915 --> 01:33:56.834Speaker 9 (Community Hall): No, I didn't really want to spend too much time on the item that…
631
01:33:57.075 --> 01:33:58.294
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Okay. Why don't talk about stuff.
63201:33:58.295 --> 01:34:02.905Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Happy to move it from 3 to 17. Thank you.
633
01:34:02.905 --> 01:34:06.505
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Moore, second. And, Councilmember Bonia?
63401:34:06.870 --> 01:34:19.570Speaker 9 (Community Hall): I just wanted to make a comment on item number 5. I've questioned this, and I've had a really good detailed explanation from the former city clerk.
635
01:34:19.590 --> 01:34:29.229
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): And I'm satisfied with the explanation, but I'm not satisfied with the need to
have this on the agenda. So, it's on the agenda. We can leave it on.
63601:34:29.470 --> 01:34:36.189Speaker 9 (Community Hall): For now, if you want, but I would prefer that in future years, we just don't have the site.
637
01:34:38.330 --> 01:34:45.409
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): All right, so noted. Do I have any further comments on the consent calendar
before we go to a vote?
63801:34:46.530 --> 01:34:48.880Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor?
639
01:34:49.810 --> 01:34:55.529
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I guess I should comment on item 9, because we did receive some public
comments on that.
64001:34:55.730 --> 01:35:00.759Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So… I think in the past,
641
01:35:00.930 --> 01:35:19.060
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): there… there were some, designation for candidates who elect to abide by the
campaign limit. It's voluntary, and, some people think it helps them to make a decision, some people doesn't, but…
642
01:35:19.110 --> 01:35:41.600
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I do support the item, because I think the intent is to encourage more
grassroots campaigns so that they are… the candidates spend more time going door-to-door and using
volunteers, rather than hire a professional consultant, as have been done, in some campaigns. So the…
64301:35:41.600 --> 01:35:47.629Speaker 7 (Community Hall): The… the amount is reasonable, I think, for a grassroots campaign. Thank you.
644
01:35:51.510 --> 01:35:54.099
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Can I… Yes, please, Councilmember Mohan?
64501:35:54.105 --> 01:36:11.774Speaker 9 (Community Hall): My only response to the Vice Mayor's comment was that everyone who runs for election, these elections are adults, they can make a decision as to how much they want to spend and how much time or money they want to spend on consultants, etc. So I'm not sure how we as a city need to make that decision for them.
646
01:36:11.875 --> 01:36:15.975Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Given the fact that it doesn't really carry any weight.
64701:36:18.380 --> 01:36:22.199Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Great. Okay, thank you. Seeing no further hands raised…
648
01:36:23.080 --> 01:36:31.209
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And we've already gone for public comment. Madam City Clerk, will you please, set the lights for a vote? Thank you.
64901:36:42.470 --> 01:36:44.309Speaker 2 (Community Hall): The motion carries with Wong absent.
650
01:36:52.480 --> 01:36:57.470
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, our next item is a public hearing. It is item 18.
65101:37:00.680 --> 01:37:13.360Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And it is a public hearing pursuant to Government Code Section 3502.3 to receive a report on the City of Cupertino vacancies, recruitment, and retention efforts. Madam City Manager, do we have a presentation?
652
01:37:14.650 --> 01:37:32.849Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Thank you, Mayor. Yes, tonight, with this item, we're providing a report on City's vacancies, recruitment, and retention efforts in compliance with the new law, which is the AB2561, and presenting this item tonight will be Vanessa Guerra, our Human Resources Manager, and I will turn it over to
her.
653
01:37:35.930 --> 01:37:39.459
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Hi, good evening. Madam Mayor and Council Members, my name is Vanessa.
65401:37:39.465 --> 01:37:47.334Speaker 18 (Community Hall): Seguera, I'm your Human Resources Manager for the City, and as you may recall, Assembly Bill 2561 went into effect on January.
655
01:37:47.340 --> 01:37:53.770
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): 1st, 2025, and the focus of this bill, assembly bill, is to ensure transparency, accountability.
65601:37:53.900 --> 01:38:06.280Speaker 20 (Community Hall): in the recruitment process, and to provide human resources with an
opportunity to update the Council and our community of our ability to recruit and attract talent, to work with
the… our great city of Cupertino.
65701:38:06.450 --> 01:38:09.370Speaker 20 (Community Hall): So with that, I'm going to start the slides.
65801:38:21.650 --> 01:38:23.959
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): A brief overview of the Assembly Bill.
659
01:38:30.560 --> 01:38:46.999Speaker 20 (Community Hall): A brief overview of the Assembly Bill is that it requires us, on an annual basis, all public agencies to assess and address vacancy rates, as well as to present information on the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts at least once per fiscal year.
660
01:38:47.000 --> 01:39:04.549
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): And identify any policies, procedures, or recruitment activities that may
present obstacles in our hiring process. There are additional obligations that we have if our vacancy rate is,
in a particular bargaining unit exceeds 20%, and I'm happy to report that we do not have any
66101:39:05.020 --> 01:39:07.750Speaker 20 (Community Hall): Any vacancies exceeding that 20% mark?
662
01:39:07.960 --> 01:39:20.590
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): As a reminder, we have two union and bargaining units with the city. Our
operating engineers are OE3, and our Cupertino Employee Association, IFPTE Local 21, or CEA.
66301:39:20.770 --> 01:39:38.960Speaker 20 (Community Hall): And OE3 is our maintenance classifications, which you just celebrated earlier this evening. CEA is our professional and paraprofessional technical and clerical positions here. And then we have an unrepresented group of employees, and those are our managers, our confidential positions here
with the city.
66401:39:42.360 --> 01:39:49.710Speaker 20 (Community Hall): The next slide is just a diagram of our budgeted full-time equivalent positions. This does not include our part-time staff.
665
01:39:53.450 --> 01:40:09.590
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): Next, you'll see a graph going back 10 years, which will give you some metrics on new hires, promotions, and transfer information, back to fiscal year 16-17, and inclusive of 25-26 through April the 15th of 2026.
66601:40:22.360 --> 01:40:35.059Speaker 20 (Community Hall): And then we broke it down by vacancy rates by department as of April the
15th, and you can see here that we've got all of our offices, represented, CMO and City Attorney's Office are
represented, separately.
66701:40:35.190 --> 01:40:45.290Speaker 20 (Community Hall): So they have a 13% and 33% vacancy rate, together. Administrative Services, which is still here as one group.
668
01:40:45.290 --> 01:40:57.630
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): is 16 total FTE with 4 vacant positions, or a 25% vacancy rate. CDD has
dropped significantly with a total FTE of 34 positions and 1 vacant position.
66901:40:57.630 --> 01:41:01.400Speaker 20 (Community Hall): INT15FTE with one vacancy.
670
01:41:01.740 --> 01:41:17.779
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): Parks and Recreation, proud to report no vacant positions, and Public Works,
we just filled a large number of vacancies, have 89 full-time equivalent positions, and 2 vacant FTEs, and
hopefully, down to one later on in the month.
67101:41:18.320 --> 01:41:28.510Speaker 20 (Community Hall): So you'll see here that with a total of 210 full-time equivalent positions, we have 12 vacancies throughout the city, and that is a vacancy rate of 5.8%.
672
01:41:37.580 --> 01:41:43.680
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): By bargaining unit, we've broken it down for 0A3, 54 budgeted positions, and again.
67301:41:44.060 --> 01:41:50.110Speaker 20 (Community Hall): 54 budgeting positions, 53 are filled, so our vacancy rate is, just shy of 2%.
674
01:41:50.160 --> 01:41:57.310
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): CEA, we have 72 budgeted positions, and 69 of those positions are filled.
675
01:41:57.350 --> 01:42:13.389
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): And that's a vacancy rate of just a bit over 4%. Our unrepresented or appointed group has the largest amount of vacancies. Budgeted positions are 84. We have 76 of those positions filled, and that has a vacancy rate of 9.5%.
676
01:42:16.330 --> 01:42:35.330
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): Ways in which the Human Resources Department proceeds to attract and
retain our talented workforce include posting our job opportunities to attract a talented workforce on our city's website. We do utilize NeoGov, which goes by commonly in the public government jobs.com, to post our
67701:42:35.330 --> 01:42:39.109Speaker 20 (Community Hall): our job postings. We work with our departments and their
678
01:42:39.160 --> 01:42:52.959Speaker 20 (Community Hall): internal or external professional organizations to post. We look at different ways to market our websites, and we have been pretty successful this past year in retaining our workforce and recruiting
67901:42:53.060 --> 01:43:04.140
Speaker 20 (Community Hall): a very innovative, challenged, and creative workforce here at the City of
Cupertino. So with that, I'll conclude my presentation.
68001:43:04.950 --> 01:43:06.570Community Hall: I'll open to any questions you may have.
68101:43:07.030 --> 01:43:08.999
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Great, thank you so much, Vanessa.
68201:43:09.260 --> 01:43:14.389Speaker 1 (Community Hall): comprehensive report, and we'll start with any Council clarifying questions.
68301:43:15.750 --> 01:43:18.990Speaker 1 (Community Hall): If I don't see any hands raised, we can go to public comment.
684
01:43:19.150 --> 01:43:24.489Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Madam City Clerk, do we have members of the public who'd like to comment on this item?
68501:43:25.600 --> 01:43:34.230Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, I'm not seeing any request to speak on this item in person, but I do
currently see one hand raised virtually, so at this time, we will welcome Sandra.
68601:43:37.110 --> 01:43:41.499San Rao: Good evening, Mayor Moore, Council Members, speaking on behalf of myself only as a resident.
687
01:43:41.640 --> 01:43:47.549San Rao: I do want to ask that you consider proactive measures Around staffing.
688
01:43:47.920 --> 01:44:01.519
San Rao: The agencies all around us have a structural budget deficit. The city of San Jose has a $50 million
budget deficit. The county has a nearly $800 million budget deficit. Depending on where our sheriff's
contract lands, we may be short.
68901:44:01.690 --> 01:44:06.699San Rao: Of where our revenues are, and our revenues are declining, and our forecast does not
690
01:44:06.880 --> 01:44:09.869
San Rao: And accurately account for that decline.
69101:44:10.210 --> 01:44:15.670San Rao: And so, I'm asking that you proactively close all open recs.
692
01:44:15.810 --> 01:44:20.920
San Rao: First, so that we take that saving first.
69301:44:21.250 --> 01:44:26.830San Rao: And then to start to look at where and how you can reduce the maximum
69401:44:26.970 --> 01:44:35.409
San Rao: Amount of costs out of our staffing, particularly with a focus on minimizing impact to the
community.
69501:44:35.600 --> 01:44:40.139San Rao: We have had this… Cost reduction in the past.
69601:44:40.260 --> 01:44:47.250
San Rao: In 2023-24, and the approach taken was to maximally impact the community
697
01:44:47.450 --> 01:44:53.500San Rao: By raising taxes, fees, cost recovery, and so on, While minimizing impact to staffing.
69801:44:54.070 --> 01:44:56.929San Rao: And we have to change that.
699
01:44:57.080 --> 01:45:00.009
San Rao: We have now a different council majority.
70001:45:00.040 --> 01:45:05.610
San Rao: The council majority is a grassroots council majority that was elected based on that distinction.
701
01:45:05.640 --> 01:45:21.100
San Rao: And it is time to work for residents and not impact the community. I'm asking you to look at consolidating departments, at eliminating either a director or assistant director, and looking at consolidating departments. We cannot impact our fleet
70201:45:21.140 --> 01:45:28.999
San Rao: workers or ground staff and people that serve the community directly. We cannot get savings at
the lowest levels, but you do need
70301:45:29.330 --> 01:45:30.770San Rao: to take actions.
70401:45:30.880 --> 01:45:36.199
San Rao: That are hard actions, so that you do not impact our budget, and you do not impact our residents.
705
01:45:36.820 --> 01:45:39.009San Rao: I also urge you to look at
70601:45:39.120 --> 01:45:45.310San Rao: What you can do to turn existing staffing into contract staffing to save on healthcare and pensions.
707
01:45:45.440 --> 01:45:50.100
San Rao: You can certainly save the jobs, you can save the roles, you can save the people's,
70801:45:50.420 --> 01:46:01.200San Rao: existing employment. However, we have to recognize that healthcare and pension is a growing plot of the, of the liabilities of the city, and this is an area you need to address.
709
01:46:01.410 --> 01:46:11.999
San Rao: All around us, agencies are having to take steps, and if you act proactively, you can manage this in a controlled manner, rather than having to deal with even larger cuts.
71001:46:12.320 --> 01:46:20.429San Rao: And I encourage you to do a realistic study of what our actual revenues are, because it is not going
to be at the run rate that is being projected. Thank you.
711
01:46:22.860 --> 01:46:23.750Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, San.
71201:46:23.920 --> 01:46:27.140Speaker 2 (Community Hall): And Mayor, that concludes the request to speak on this item.
713
01:46:27.480 --> 01:46:28.390
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Okay.
71401:46:28.395 --> 01:46:35.065Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Do we have any Council clarifying questions on this particular item?
715
01:46:36.455 --> 01:46:39.174Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor. Oh, hey.
71601:46:39.680 --> 01:46:43.489Speaker 7 (Community Hall): A question for staff.
717
01:46:43.880 --> 01:46:54.239
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, are the… the vacancy ratio normal for Cupertino? And, do we expect to fill those vacancies?
71801:46:54.510 --> 01:47:01.680Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Or could they be considered for potential… Reduction.
719
01:47:02.370 --> 01:47:04.100
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, is there…
72001:47:05.890 --> 01:47:15.370Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor, there is currently no plans to reduce these, open positions. There are, however, plans to fill some of the vacancies that you saw tonight.
721
01:47:15.960 --> 01:47:24.230
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, as, they have been vacant because we… Haven't been recruiting, or…
72201:47:24.555 --> 01:47:29.285Speaker 3 (Community Hall): We're either, active recruitments, or were in the process of,
723
01:47:29.415 --> 01:47:36.325
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): either opening recruitment soon, or they're actively being recruited for. Okay.
And…
72401:47:36.920 --> 01:47:40.009Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Actually, I was trying to… do we have,
725
01:47:40.290 --> 01:47:43.730
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): What's our staffing level? Do we have,
72601:47:44.040 --> 01:47:50.409Speaker 7 (Community Hall): A chart of our staffing levels, so we can take a look at how… how historically.
72701:47:51.460 --> 01:47:56.739Speaker 3 (Community Hall): We do. I believe it was included in the budget document, and also in Vanessa's slide. Yeah.
728
01:47:57.390 --> 01:47:58.580
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, that's true.
72901:47:59.830 --> 01:48:00.740Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay.
730
01:48:01.900 --> 01:48:03.719
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And, yeah, thank you.
73101:48:06.930 --> 01:48:09.230Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Are there any further clarifying questions?
732
01:48:11.040 --> 01:48:19.059
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, I'm not seeing any, so we're closing the public hearing. Do we have a
motion for purposes of deliberation on this item?
73301:48:19.060 --> 01:48:22.030Speaker 8 (Community Hall): I will move the recommended action.
734
01:48:22.035 --> 01:48:31.484
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you, Councilmember Fruen. Do we have a second? I'll second it. Okay,
thank you, Councilmember Mohan. Do we have any further comments from the Council before we go to a
vote?
73501:48:33.225 --> 01:48:35.265Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor, your hand is raised.
736
01:48:37.605 --> 01:48:43.395
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, I see no hands raised. Madam City Clerk, will you please set the lights
for a vote?
73701:48:54.555 --> 01:48:55.954Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So everyone voted?
738
01:48:59.230 --> 01:49:02.180
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): The motion carries with Wong absent. Okay.
73901:49:02.180 --> 01:49:04.610Speaker 1 (Community Hall): With that, thank you very much, Vanessa.
74001:49:04.920 --> 01:49:12.240Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And we will take a 5-minute break, and be back at, 740.
741
01:49:12.930 --> 01:49:13.459
Community Hall: Thank you.
74201:56:01.620 --> 01:56:02.970Community Hall: Okay.
743
01:56:08.980 --> 01:56:15.819
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Next is our action calendar. The first item is our third quarter financial report.
74401:56:16.340 --> 01:56:25.360Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Madam City Manager, do we have a presentation for item 19, Acceptance of the City Manager's Third Quarter Financial Report?
745
01:56:25.715 --> 01:56:33.295
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Thank you, Mayor. We do have a presentation. Tonight, Council is requested to
approve the third quarter financial report for
74601:56:33.295 --> 01:56:51.005Speaker 3 (Community Hall): fiscal year 25-26, and the budget modifications. Presenting this item tonight with… will be, Jonathan Orozco, Acting Director of Administrative Services, and Tony Oase Anderson, our Budget Manager. And I'm going to turn it over to staff to lead us with the presentation.
747
01:56:56.245 --> 01:56:57.554
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Good evening, Mayor.
74801:56:58.220 --> 01:57:06.670Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Councilmembers Tony Owase-Anderson, Budget Manager, here to present to you the fiscal year 2025-26 Third Quarter Financial Report.
749
01:57:06.850 --> 01:57:08.500
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Sorry about that.
75001:57:11.860 --> 01:57:15.499Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Oh, video, if you can please, show the PowerPoint presentation, thank you.
751
01:57:22.460 --> 01:57:31.109
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The third quarter financial report for fiscal year 25-26 outlines the City's
financial status as of March 31, 2026.
75201:57:31.210 --> 01:57:45.910
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This is the third of three quarterly reports for each fiscal year. It covers the
analysis of how the current year is trending compared to Q3 of the prior year, and also covers any recommended budget adjustments as of the third quarter.
753
01:57:46.590 --> 01:57:52.350
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Then we will, cover the budget roadmap, followed by next steps and
recommendations.
75401:57:56.250 --> 01:58:01.169Speaker 21 (Community Hall): So, as mentioned earlier, the third quarter financial report outlines the city's financial status.
755
01:58:01.310 --> 01:58:04.230
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Up until March 31st, 2026.
75601:58:10.710 --> 01:58:27.630Speaker 21 (Community Hall): As of March 31st, 2026, the City's amended budget across all funds is $229.7 million, an increase from the adopted budget of $136.1 million. The amended budget is higher, primarily due to carryover appropriations.
757
01:58:27.630 --> 01:58:32.939
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Which consists of budgeted amounts not spent in the prior fiscal year that were carried forward
75801:58:32.940 --> 01:58:38.030Speaker 21 (Community Hall): For unfinished projects or purchases, and encumbrances, which represent funds
759
01:58:38.320 --> 01:58:43.200Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Committed under existing contracts that have been set aside, but not yet expended.
76001:58:44.150 --> 01:58:48.440Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The increase also reflects additional budget adjustments that were approved
by Council.
76101:58:48.650 --> 01:58:52.890Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Between July 1 and March 31st, 2026.
76201:58:53.840 --> 01:59:01.059Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The largest carryovers and encumbrances in the general fund are primarily
due to the dollars associated with the RISE project.
76301:59:01.420 --> 01:59:12.260Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Carryovers and encumbrances in the special revenue and capital project funds are due to multi-year CIP projects that are fully budgeted and carried over until the project is completed.
76401:59:12.430 --> 01:59:18.820Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Additional information on these carryovers and budget adjustments can be found in your packet as Attachment D.
765
01:59:25.020 --> 01:59:37.490
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This chart shows the estimated use of fund balance in the general fund from the adopted budget and throughout each quarter of the fiscal year. The estimated use of fund balance over time is due to changes that have been made
76601:59:37.870 --> 01:59:47.559Speaker 21 (Community Hall): throughout the fiscal year. So at budget adoption, expenditures exceeded
revenues by approximately $2 million, resulting in the use of fund balance.
76701:59:47.810 --> 01:59:54.130Speaker 21 (Community Hall): During the first quarter, both revenues and expenditures increased significantly compared to the adopted budget.
76801:59:54.650 --> 01:59:59.520
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This is due to carryovers and encumbrances and council-approved
adjustments.
76902:00:00.130 --> 02:00:17.429Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The projected use of the fund balance was $1.1 million at the Q1 financial update, and in the second and third quarter financial updates, revenues remained relatively flat at approximately $134.6 million, while projected expenditures continued to increase
770
02:00:17.560 --> 02:00:22.110
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): From $135.4 million to $137.7 million.
77102:00:22.380 --> 02:00:25.830Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And $138.4 million as of third quarter.
772
02:00:28.020 --> 02:00:32.570
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): As the expenditure projections increased without corresponding revenue
growth.
77302:00:32.690 --> 02:00:38.029Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The projected use of fund balance rose to $3.2 million, and ultimately at $3.9 million.
774
02:00:42.970 --> 02:01:01.289
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): So, as of third quarter, staff anticipates the general fund will end fiscal year
25-26 with $178. 178 million in fund balance, which is an increase of $22 million from the fiscal year 26 adopted budget fund balance projection.
775
02:01:02.650 --> 02:01:10.559Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The increase from the adopted budget is a result of both year-end revenues exceeding expenditures and budget savings achieved in the prior fiscal year.
776
02:01:10.820 --> 02:01:14.530
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And it's important to note that the only portion available for use
77702:01:14.880 --> 02:01:17.990Speaker 21 (Community Hall): According to city policy, are the unassigned funds.
778
02:01:18.240 --> 02:01:23.660
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): As shown here, unassigned funds as of third quarter is $63.5 million.
77902:01:29.320 --> 02:01:32.540Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Now we'll move on to the proposed third quarter budget adjustments.
78002:01:33.280 --> 02:01:46.750
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Departments continuously monitor their budgets throughout the fiscal year.
When unanticipated operational needs arise, departments may request budget adjustments throughout the
quarterly financial reporting process.
78102:01:51.320 --> 02:02:08.760Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This slide summarizes the total request adjustments… requested adjustments by fund. Across all funds, staff is requesting $526,184 in new appropriations, partially offset by $372,500 in revenue.
782
02:02:09.880 --> 02:02:16.560
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Resulting in the net use of approximately $153,684 in fund balance.
78302:02:21.000 --> 02:02:24.770Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This slide here provides a high-level summary of the department requests.
784
02:02:26.000 --> 02:02:43.519
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): First, the City Attorney's Office is requesting $175,000 for legal services due
to several unforeseen matters, including personnel matters, affordable housing, builders' remedy cases, and anticipated responses to a recently released grand jury report. There is also a requested budget adjustment
78502:02:44.000 --> 02:02:53.469Speaker 21 (Community Hall): for the senior assistant city attorney's salary alignment, to a department director, from January through the remainder of the fiscal year.
786
02:02:53.800 --> 02:03:03.830Speaker 21 (Community Hall): With a one-time cost of $15,696, and an ongoing cost of approximately $31,191.
787
02:03:03.940 --> 02:03:15.839Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And this alignment reflects the classification's executive-level responsibilities, which include, department… reviewing department staff reports, increased PRA requests, complex special projects.
788
02:03:16.260 --> 02:03:23.929
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And interagency agreements, plant board appointment duties, and expanded, risk and insurance management responsibilities.
78902:03:25.840 --> 02:03:39.280Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Second, Community Development is requesting $150,000 in additional appropriations for bank charges, which is partially… was offset by $200,000 in revenues from credit card
transaction fees.
79002:03:39.600 --> 02:03:46.390Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This is needed to correct budget line items that were inadvertently omitted from the original base budget for this year.
79102:03:48.000 --> 02:04:01.640
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Community Development Department's also requesting $25,000 in additional
appropriations for the Human Services Grant Program, which is needed to meet the funding
recommendations awarded to the applicants of the grant program.
79202:04:04.010 --> 02:04:18.410Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Also in community development, there was a request for $150,000 in appropriations due to increased contracts for large residential development projects under AB130, which requires expedited city review timelines.
793
02:04:21.100 --> 02:04:29.120
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): There's also a request for $3,000, for advertising and legal notices. This is needed,
79402:04:29.450 --> 02:04:37.659Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Since more hearings are required, it necessitates, more advertising and legal
noticing. That is an…
795
02:04:37.810 --> 02:04:40.529Speaker 21 (Community Hall): That was not anticipated in the beginning of the year.
79602:04:41.910 --> 02:04:45.440Speaker 21 (Community Hall): The last request here is for the Innovation and Technology Department.
797
02:04:45.700 --> 02:05:04.079
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): For $7,488 to ensure compliance with SB707, language accessibility requirements by providing real-time translation for Chinese-speaking residents at City Council meetings to improve transparency and civic participation.
79802:05:07.240 --> 02:05:27.049Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Those are the requests for third quarter. Next, we'll cover the City Manager Discretionary Fund, which Council originally approved as part of the fiscal year 26 adopted budget. As of March 31st, 2026, the discretionary fund was used for the property appraisal services for the Finch Avenue.
799
02:05:27.080 --> 02:05:30.449Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Property at a cost of $9,850.
80002:05:31.240 --> 02:05:36.899Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And staff will continue to report on the use of this fund as part of the quarterly financial reports.
801
02:05:42.380 --> 02:05:49.959Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Next, we'll just move into the, the budget roadmap that you've seen, frequently. This, again, highlights,
80202:05:49.960 --> 02:06:04.399Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Just a high-level overview of where we are in our budget process. As a
reminder, we started with the budget format in the fall, which was approved, by the Budget Format
Subcommittee, Audit Committee, and City Council.
80302:06:05.560 --> 02:06:08.970Speaker 21 (Community Hall): In December, we presented the Q1 financial report.
80402:06:09.180 --> 02:06:18.639
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Followed by the mid-year report and the CIP program, in March. And, in April,
we also held our successful community budget meeting.
80502:06:20.050 --> 02:06:23.900Speaker 21 (Community Hall): which highlighted the OpenGov's Financial Transparency Portal.
80602:06:24.870 --> 02:06:35.759
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Last week, we had the fiscal year 27 proposed budget study session, and here
we are today presenting the fiscal year 26 third quarter financial report.
80702:06:36.160 --> 02:06:42.260Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Next month, we will bring forward the, Final budget, adoption.
80802:06:44.590 --> 02:06:53.139
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Oh, for… Sorry. Next month, well, staff will return to Council in mid-June, for,
final budget adoption.
80902:06:58.760 --> 02:07:09.250Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And here are the recommendations for this evening. First recommendation is
to accept the City Manager's third quarter financial report for fiscal year 25-26.
810
02:07:10.780 --> 02:07:25.649
Speaker 21 (Community Hall): Also, to adopt a resolution approving budget modification number 2526-443, increasing appropriations by $526,184, and increasing revenues by $372,500.
81102:07:26.520 --> 02:07:34.279Speaker 21 (Community Hall): And lastly, to adopt a resolution amending the Unrepresented Employees
Compensation Program to incorporate revised salary schedule.
812
02:07:34.910 --> 02:07:39.859Speaker 21 (Community Hall): This concludes the presentation, and we are available for any questions you have.
81302:07:40.510 --> 02:07:46.170
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): All right, thank you very much, Acting Director Orozco, and for our senior
814
02:07:46.170 --> 02:08:00.750Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Management Analyst Tony, for this report, and also especially for the prep sessions that you provided for all of the Council, and I believe all of the Council took the opportunity to attend these separately. I think it really helps a lot.
815
02:08:00.750 --> 02:08:05.800
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So we're going to begin with some clarifying questions, and Vice Mayor.
81602:08:07.680 --> 02:08:13.999Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Hi, thank you for the presentation. Could you show the adjustments page?
81702:08:14.450 --> 02:08:15.320
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Peace.
818
02:08:16.020 --> 02:08:23.110Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So my question is about, a environmental review contract due to expedited,
81902:08:23.230 --> 02:08:31.750Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I guess, AP130 requirement. Are these costs going to be covered by
development fees?
820
02:08:39.060 --> 02:08:40.619Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Your mic…
82102:08:40.740 --> 02:08:59.179Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I talked too fast. There you go. Okay. All right. Thank you for the question,
Vice Mayor, Ben Fu, Director of Community Development. Those… that item is entirely passed through and
paid for by the applicant. Yeah, and also the advertising and legal notices, I'm guessing. That one as well,
yes. That also, yeah. Correct. That's good to know.
82202:08:59.330 --> 02:09:11.240Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And then for the translation service to, for Chinese, required by the state law, I'm just wondering, is there any state funding for this mandate?
823
02:09:12.340 --> 02:09:13.720Speaker 7 (Community Hall): by the state.
82402:09:15.720 --> 02:09:17.720Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Funding we can apply.
825
02:09:18.770 --> 02:09:22.200
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah. Terry? Or…
82602:09:22.820 --> 02:09:26.449Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. Terry Gerhardt, Director of Innovation.
827
02:09:26.455 --> 02:09:26.975
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): and technology.
82802:09:26.975 --> 02:09:29.214Speaker 3 (Community Hall): There is no.
829
02:09:29.215 --> 02:09:34.785
Speaker 15 (Community Hall): funding for this, for the SB707 initiatives.
83002:09:34.790 --> 02:09:35.760Speaker 22 (Community Hall): As far as I know.
831
02:09:36.950 --> 02:09:43.269
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Mmm… So, how many… how do they determine what language we need to
provide?
83202:09:43.275 --> 02:09:50.014Speaker 22 (Community Hall): It's 20%, any language spoken outside of English that's 20% or greater.
833
02:09:50.255 --> 02:09:51.525
Speaker 22 (Community Hall): in your community.
83402:09:52.585 --> 02:09:55.814Speaker 22 (Community Hall): So the census, gives us that information.
835
02:09:57.100 --> 02:10:06.390Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, so we get that from the census, I see. And then for this service, if you add one more language, how much is the additional cost? It jumps it up.
836
02:10:06.395 --> 02:10:17.995
Speaker 22 (Community Hall): pretty, pretty high, exponentially. So it's beyond what we could do, without
going out to, multiple bids and,
83702:10:18.575 --> 02:10:22.555Speaker 22 (Community Hall): Basically, we didn't have the funds to go to that level.
838
02:10:22.815 --> 02:10:25.184
Speaker 22 (Community Hall): It's something we could do in the future, but…
83902:10:25.435 --> 02:10:31.735Speaker 22 (Community Hall): This is not something that we could foreseeably do with the, immediacy of this action now.
840
02:10:32.320 --> 02:10:38.689
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, so that's not provided, like, through Zoom or those…
84102:10:39.600 --> 02:10:56.039Speaker 22 (Community Hall): Yeah, so it's a QR code that's available, for residents to use. They come up, and they can use headphones, or use their own headphone set, and, tap into the QR code, and it pops up, and it's… it's almost, real-time.
842
02:10:56.400 --> 02:10:59.020
Speaker 22 (Community Hall): Language translation. So, in audio.
84302:10:59.600 --> 02:11:01.709Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah. Audio. Do they get transcript?
844
02:11:01.715 --> 02:11:06.864
Speaker 22 (Community Hall): And they can get text as well, and the text is a little bit faster. Oh, okay,
thank you.
84502:11:06.870 --> 02:11:07.970Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Sure.
846
02:11:08.390 --> 02:11:21.370
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): That's pretty cool. Okay, I did have a quick question for, Director, Ben Fu. I
was just curious what the $25,000 for the grants, amount, what that was for.
84702:11:24.590 --> 02:11:26.920
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Yes, Mayor.
848
02:11:26.925 --> 02:11:34.674
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): So that item, it was a county grant, to the emergency services, Division.
84902:11:34.845 --> 02:11:43.875Speaker 23 (Community Hall): And so, it's a two-year grant, I believe, and when the unhoused functionality was transitioned from CMO to CDD,
850
02:11:43.985 --> 02:11:52.025
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): It was inadvertently left out, in the budget book, but we already got the money, so it's just more reflective of what's there. Alright, thank you. Thank you.
85102:11:53.460 --> 02:12:06.370Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And do we have any further clarifying questions? None at this time, so I think
the prep sessions went extremely well. So, Madam City Clerk, do we have any members of the public who
would like to comment on this item?
85202:12:07.640 --> 02:12:15.720Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, I don't have any requests to speak in person here at Community Hall, but I do have one request with a hand raised. Virtually. We will welcome Sandra.
853
02:12:30.140 --> 02:12:34.080
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Dan, are you there? I don't see your microphone. Oh.
85402:12:34.080 --> 02:12:40.009San Rao: Thank you. The unmute is lagging, so I just hit the unmute a minute after you may be unmuting.
85502:12:40.120 --> 02:12:43.570
San Rao: Speaking on behalf of myself only, Mayor Moore and council members.
856
02:12:44.130 --> 02:12:49.680San Rao: I'd like to… the members of the public don't have the benefit of your prep sessions.
85702:12:50.210 --> 02:12:53.310San Rao: So, actually, you should consider having less prep sessions.
858
02:12:53.650 --> 02:12:57.339
San Rao: So that you're on the same page as the members of the public.
85902:12:57.670 --> 02:13:00.270San Rao: And you should actually extend these discussions.
860
02:13:00.730 --> 02:13:03.650
San Rao: So that… the…
86102:13:03.860 --> 02:13:10.369San Rao: benefit of what you are getting is the same as what members of the public get, so consider that if you can.
862
02:13:11.300 --> 02:13:16.439San Rao: It's unclear to me what the carryovers are, and maybe that was explained and I missed it.
86302:13:16.870 --> 02:13:19.169San Rao: But if the carryovers are one time.
864
02:13:19.420 --> 02:13:23.940
San Rao: And we're budgeting based on the additional revenue shown during the carryovers.
86502:13:24.150 --> 02:13:27.749San Rao: It's a concern whether we are kicking the can down the road, because the…
866
02:13:28.030 --> 02:13:33.909
San Rao: Carryovers do not recur year over year, and so the actual revenue may be smaller than the
86702:13:34.130 --> 02:13:37.069San Rao: Increased revenue that appears to…
868
02:13:37.310 --> 02:13:39.990
San Rao: So, because of the carryover. So, just want you to…
86902:13:40.380 --> 02:13:45.790San Rao: Plan for something that really does not Zoom catio verse.
87002:13:46.200 --> 02:13:48.410
San Rao: And hold ourselves to a high bar.
871
02:13:48.730 --> 02:13:51.239San Rao: In being frugal with our budgets.
87202:13:51.850 --> 02:13:57.360San Rao: I'd really like to also encourage, if we can cut the contracts with these consultants.
873
02:13:57.720 --> 02:14:00.649
San Rao: And see if we can do less without consultants.
87402:14:00.920 --> 02:14:06.910San Rao: Can we encourage staff to… to take on some of these projects. For example, can Council Research
875
02:14:07.080 --> 02:14:11.290
San Rao: If the no net loss Housing Element Citish edition.
87602:14:11.430 --> 02:14:14.629San Rao: In other cities has had to use consultants.
877
02:14:14.880 --> 02:14:17.570
San Rao: Why do we need consultants to identify sites?
87802:14:17.820 --> 02:14:19.870San Rao: Is that something other cities are doing?
879
02:14:20.230 --> 02:14:23.669
San Rao: And so, look at creative ways to really cut costs, because…
88002:14:23.880 --> 02:14:26.500San Rao: Right now, there's only limited levers we have.
88102:14:27.040 --> 02:14:33.709
San Rao: You cannot recoup the costs that we need out of this budget, and the budget keeps rising because
of healthcare and pension costs.
88202:14:34.500 --> 02:14:37.980San Rao: I also want to encourage you to look at reducing the CIP.
88302:14:38.610 --> 02:14:40.950
San Rao: And we need to take some hard cuts here.
88402:14:41.160 --> 02:14:43.139San Rao: And so I hope you will…
88502:14:43.480 --> 02:14:49.020San Rao: Look at structural changes to reduce the CIP projects.
886
02:14:49.160 --> 02:14:54.249San Rao: Finally, I want to remind you once again that the General Fund is subsidizing the Senior Center non-restaurants.
88702:14:54.370 --> 02:14:57.569San Rao: And there is no limit on the number of non-restrants that can be signed up.
888
02:14:57.890 --> 02:15:12.709
San Rao: And while we talk about the member annual fee, that is not the only cost of the senior center. So you need a study session on the actual cost of the senior center per non-restaurant. And why should the general fund pay for an unlimited number of non-restrants at the Senior Center?
889
02:15:12.780 --> 02:15:19.410
San Rao: And let's not just look at the $30 fee versus the $25 fee, that's not… that's not telling the whole
story.
89002:15:19.660 --> 02:15:22.229San Rao: So I encourage you to make sure that costs.
891
02:15:22.740 --> 02:15:24.570
San Rao: That are in the general fund.
89202:15:25.330 --> 02:15:29.879San Rao: are not in any way being applied towards non-Testrians.
893
02:15:30.680 --> 02:15:34.790
San Rao: And I hope between the consultant cost, The non-resistant cost.
89402:15:35.430 --> 02:15:38.409San Rao: and taking a more holistic view at CIP,
89502:15:38.580 --> 02:15:42.479
San Rao: And finally, looking at staffing at the top level, so that you can consolidate.
896
02:15:42.670 --> 02:15:44.019San Rao: you can save some costs. Thank you.
89702:15:44.020 --> 02:15:49.359Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Sam. That is your time. Mayor, I don't see any further requests to
speak on this item.
898
02:15:50.690 --> 02:16:13.490Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you for that. I do want to mention that we have an excellent informational memo from staff regarding the Parks and Recreation Department, which addresses the residency and the cost recovery of the programs that are through the Parks and Rec Department, and it's several pages long, and I think you'll
899
02:16:13.490 --> 02:16:35.900
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): find some very good information there. I do want to comment on the,
consultant, issue. A consultant is a contractor, so it… on the one hand, if you're saying you want to reduce, staff that's, that's a full-time employee, and you want to move to consultants, then on the other side, those, those are,
900
02:16:36.330 --> 02:16:43.320Speaker 1 (Community Hall): contractors, so you're… I'm hearing mixed messages there, so I'm not really sure what… what to do with that.
901
02:16:43.450 --> 02:16:45.540
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): I do see some hands raised.
90202:16:45.900 --> 02:16:47.639Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor.
903
02:16:49.150 --> 02:16:55.750
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I wonder if the staff can address the question about carryover from the
speaker?
90402:16:58.959 --> 02:17:05.869Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yes, so carryovers is an attachment that is included in every quarterly report. And so, for the most part.
905
02:17:05.879 --> 02:17:18.639
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): for instance, in this last report, which was included in Q1 and mid-year,
majority of the mid-year, or of the general fund transfers, or carryovers, is relating to the VTC or the Falco project.
90602:17:18.729 --> 02:17:30.029Speaker 24 (Community Hall): And this is just a multi-year project. And there's corresponding revenues to those as well. So, although you're seeing an increase in expenditures, you're also seeing an increase in
revenues.
90702:17:30.434 --> 02:17:42.114Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah, okay. I do have one more question regarding the adjustments. So, we see $200,000 in credit card transaction, but that's a revenue.
90802:17:42.324 --> 02:17:47.024
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So I thought that that would be an expenditure, so…
90902:17:49.540 --> 02:18:02.490Speaker 24 (Community Hall): You'll see two lines. So, I believe you see $150 in expenditures for bank fees, which are your merchant fees for credit card processing, and the $200,000 is for the revenue. The… if I…
91002:18:02.620 --> 02:18:10.509
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): if I remember correctly, it's about 3 and some change percent, for that credit
card fee, and so if,
91102:18:10.680 --> 02:18:22.510Speaker 24 (Community Hall): a resident or contractor chooses not to pay with a credit card, they don't incur
that charge. So, you'll just see that there's a relationship between the two.
912
02:18:22.510 --> 02:18:32.789
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): In general, the two are supposed to balance, or essentially be a zero cost to the city. However, there's other expenditures the city incurs by processing that.
91302:18:32.790 --> 02:18:44.690Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So at this time, Council… what's being asked of Council is just $150 in
additional appropriations to cover the, the cost that the department doesn't have available to it.
914
02:18:44.700 --> 02:18:46.179Speaker 24 (Community Hall): To absorb those costs.
91502:18:46.629 --> 02:18:47.949Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you.
916
02:18:49.459 --> 02:18:54.209
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, for purposes of deliberation, do we have a motion and a second on this item?
91702:18:54.840 --> 02:18:58.190Speaker 8 (Community Hall): I will move the staff recommended action. Thank you.
918
02:18:58.195 --> 02:19:04.994
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor seconds. And do we have any further, questions or comments on this item?
91902:19:05.775 --> 02:19:08.935Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor Gary Hernandez? Actually, I have one more.
920
02:19:08.940 --> 02:19:15.350
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay. So for Parks and Rec, we have a lot of payments through either bank or…
92102:19:15.480 --> 02:19:20.469Speaker 7 (Community Hall): credit cards also, right? So how come we don't see these adjustments?
922
02:19:21.010 --> 02:19:23.040
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So, Parks and Rec is a…
92302:19:23.170 --> 02:19:30.229Speaker 24 (Community Hall): a bit unique in that they use a system called ActiveNet, where those fees can be passed on
924
02:19:30.530 --> 02:19:32.339
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Actually, correct me if I'm wrong.
92502:19:32.820 --> 02:19:35.899Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, the residents pay for it?
926
02:19:35.905 --> 02:19:42.874Speaker 24 (Community Hall): it's assumed by the, the, the, the, individual taking the, the, the, the.
92702:19:43.025 --> 02:19:49.035Speaker 24 (Community Hall): the, the class, right? And so the city doesn't incur that expense, nor does it see the revenue.
928
02:19:49.760 --> 02:19:53.430Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, I remember we adopted, I think it was a consult…
92902:19:54.390 --> 02:20:00.200Speaker 7 (Community Hall): When we were trying to reduce costs. So the… customers.
930
02:20:00.990 --> 02:20:03.039
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Pay the credit card fee.
93102:20:03.230 --> 02:20:06.599Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So that's not the case for the CDD?
932
02:20:06.720 --> 02:20:07.640
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Customers?
93302:20:08.235 --> 02:20:18.704Speaker 24 (Community Hall): They do, except in this situation, the city bears the expense. It pays, essentially, fees. However, it collects a revenue.
934
02:20:18.805 --> 02:20:24.894
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Whereas with Parks and Rec, through that, the ActiveNet system, the,
93502:20:25.195 --> 02:20:38.914Speaker 24 (Community Hall): the individual taking that class or paying for their… whatever service they're getting, pays that fee directly to the merchant. So it's essentially the city never sees the revenue nor the expense. I see. Okay, thank you.
936
02:20:41.430 --> 02:20:49.039
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, so we have a motion and a second, and I don't see any further hands raised. Madam City Clerk, will you please set the lights for a vote?
937
02:20:55.940 --> 02:20:57.660
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): The motion carries with Wong absent.
93802:20:58.690 --> 02:21:14.039Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you. Our next item is 20, and thank you to staff for the great work
on this item, and we move on to item 20. It's the annual review of the OPEB and Pension Trust Investment
Policies. Madam City Manager, do we have a presentation?
93902:21:14.375 --> 02:21:33.614Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Yes, Mayor, thank you. Council has requested to review and adopt changes to the OPEB and Pension Trust investment policies. This was discussed at the Audit Committee, and it was recommended that this is brought to Council. Presenting the item tonight will be Jonathan Orozco again, he can stay where he is.
940
02:21:33.675 --> 02:21:38.534
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Acting Director of Administrative Services, and with that, I will turn it over to him.
94102:21:40.860 --> 02:21:51.109Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Good evening, Honorable Mayor Moore and Council Members. Tonight's item
is the annual review and adoption of the City's OPEB and Pension Section 115 Trust Investment Policies.
942
02:21:51.310 --> 02:22:01.249Speaker 24 (Community Hall): At a high level, the policies continue to prioritize prudent long-term investment management while maintaining the city's balanced investment approach for both trusts.
94302:22:01.630 --> 02:22:06.239
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): The proposed updates this year are relatively minor, and primarily include
944
02:22:06.450 --> 02:22:18.860Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Clarification of fiduciary responsibility language within the policies to further emphasize that investment decisions must be made prudently and in the best financial interest of the trust and their beneficiaries.
945
02:22:19.160 --> 02:22:36.290
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Inclusion of soft ESG, or environmental, social, and governance language,
acknowledging that ESG-related factors may be considered as part of the overall investment valuation
process when consistent with the City's long-term investment objectives and fiduciary obligations.
94602:22:36.560 --> 02:22:49.219Speaker 24 (Community Hall): And adjustments to the strategic allocation table to include global infrastructure as available asset class at a target allocation to 0%, consistent with the Audit Committee's recommendation.
947
02:22:49.580 --> 02:23:05.989Speaker 24 (Community Hall): The Audit Committee reviewed the policies on January 26th and provided general direction supporting the consideration of ESG-related factors within the broader investment
evaluation process, while emphasizing that fiduciary duty and prudent financial management remain the
primary judging
94802:23:06.570 --> 02:23:09.229Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Primary guiding principles of the policy.
949
02:23:09.620 --> 02:23:18.600Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Overall, the city's trust continued to perform well. As of June 30, 2025, the OPEB Trust was approximately 103% funded.
95002:23:18.800 --> 02:23:24.829Speaker 24 (Community Hall): And both trusts continue to exceed their long-term target rates of return since
inception.
95102:23:25.460 --> 02:23:30.359Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Staff is recommending approval of the updated policies, and I am happy to answer any questions.
95202:23:34.240 --> 02:23:40.939
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you, and… I have one hand raised. Councilmember Mohan.
95302:23:42.550 --> 02:23:45.030Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Thank you, Jonathan.
95402:23:46.030 --> 02:23:48.089Community Hall: What exactly is ESG?
955
02:23:49.010 --> 02:24:02.869Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So it is environmental, social, and governance. Right. In short, we're looking for green, investments. At least that's the thought process behind it. At the…
95602:24:02.870 --> 02:24:09.449Speaker 24 (Community Hall): meeting at the January 26th meeting. Our consultant at PARS and U.S. Bank.
957
02:24:09.450 --> 02:24:24.499Speaker 24 (Community Hall): did a brief analysis, comparing what a ESG portfolio, or inclusion of an ESG portfolio, versus the existing portfolio, what that would look like, and for the most part, it yielded no change in the return.
95802:24:24.500 --> 02:24:32.960
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So, at this point, if we were to incorporate some of those, types of
investments, the city would, for the most part, at least
95902:24:33.020 --> 02:24:43.030Speaker 24 (Community Hall): based off of their analysis, would not see a decrease in the returns, which is,
for the most part, it's a win-win situation for the city.
960
02:24:43.810 --> 02:24:45.650
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Did we not do that before?
96102:24:45.980 --> 02:25:04.779Speaker 24 (Community Hall): that wasn't its primary target. It… essentially, its sole focus was, to earn… balance, the preservation of principle, liquidity, and the, the rate of return. There's a more balanced
approach. However, if we're emphasizing some of these more green investments.
962
02:25:04.870 --> 02:25:10.830Speaker 24 (Community Hall): It… for the… again, based off their analysis, it won't have a… a,
96302:25:10.950 --> 02:25:24.440Speaker 24 (Community Hall): a material change to the rate of return. However, as we all know, the current
market for some of these types of investments may not be the same as when we had this first conversation
in January.
96402:25:26.430 --> 02:25:28.340Speaker 9 (Community Hall): What does that mean?
96502:25:28.345 --> 02:25:47.565
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): For instance, the war in Iran has changed some of the return, or the…
essentially what the value of some of these assets would be, right? And so, whether that's kind of pushing
the investments more or away from green, I'm not sure. As we can see on the March
96602:25:47.745 --> 02:26:04.905Speaker 24 (Community Hall): the last investment, which, the quarterly report, it did not provide a, a positive outlook, so there was a, negative rate of return for the last quarter, so, which spanned January 1 to March 31st.
967
02:26:07.285 --> 02:26:24.884
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So, it's not having a positive effect, so whether… we would have to perform that analysis once again to see whether an ESG portfolio or incorporating some of those more green investments, it still makes sense. However, at this point, we haven't,
96802:26:25.195 --> 02:26:27.135Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Implemented any of those changes.
969
02:26:27.820 --> 02:26:31.919Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Right, the bottom line is it has to work for us, financially, right now.
97002:26:33.440 --> 02:26:34.830Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you. Thank you.
971
02:26:36.440 --> 02:26:37.350
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor?
97202:26:39.510 --> 02:26:48.559Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah, thank you for bringing up that question. I think each company gets a
rating for the ESG, and
97302:26:49.390 --> 02:26:50.840Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah, it's true.
97402:26:51.020 --> 02:26:58.129Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Sometimes the companies where I hire ESG may or may not perform well
because of some…
97502:26:58.200 --> 02:27:18.199Speaker 7 (Community Hall): policy changes. And so, based on this policy, the city, the first priority is our fiduciary duty, right? So, if two companies, projected the return is about the same, but one has a higher ESG, they are doing…
976
02:27:18.290 --> 02:27:25.939
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): good things. We will then make a decision to maybe invest in that company
rather than the other one.
97702:27:26.240 --> 02:27:38.700Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Right, it's… so provided they would have provided the same return for the city, right? That is correct. Okay, and then you said that we will incorporate soft ESG
978
02:27:39.080 --> 02:27:41.790
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): What does that mean, soft? By soft.
97902:27:41.795 --> 02:27:52.284Speaker 24 (Community Hall): it's more of, we are not committing to, investing in ESG. However, if the market shows that it's in… there's no change.
980
02:27:52.285 --> 02:27:53.145
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Official to the city.
98102:27:53.150 --> 02:28:11.590Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Yeah. And certainly, let's move forward to that. Kind of to your previous example, if you have two companies, one with a higher ESG rating, and they both yield the same rate of return, we would prioritize that, that, that greater, that, that second company that has that greater return,
or that higher rating. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.
982
02:28:13.400 --> 02:28:19.199Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, not seeing any further hands raised. Madam City Clerk, do we have members of the public who would like to comment on this item?
98302:28:20.960 --> 02:28:29.030Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, don't see any requests, in person here at Community Hall, and I do see one hand raised virtually, so at this time, we will go ahead and welcome San Rao.
984
02:28:33.390 --> 02:28:37.010
San Rao: Good evening, more Council members, speaking to myself only.
98502:28:37.270 --> 02:28:44.429San Rao: I did wanna… Refresh your memory on a comment I sent in previously, that
986
02:28:44.800 --> 02:28:52.029
San Rao: The city should look at the investment portfolio mix of other cities' pension funds.
98702:28:52.330 --> 02:29:08.509San Rao: And as I recall, some of our neighboring cities, and I may have this wrong from memory, but I did write this in previously to the city, I believe the city of Sunnyvale and Mountain View allow for investments to be in ETFs and mutual funds.
988
02:29:09.040 --> 02:29:12.140
San Rao: Whereas we seem to have a policy that
98902:29:12.580 --> 02:29:20.949San Rao: prevents us from doing that in the US, but allows it overseas, which is really some sort of legacy artifact, I guess, because there is no reason
990
02:29:21.140 --> 02:29:24.540
San Rao: to allow it overseas while not allowing it in the US.
99102:29:24.690 --> 02:29:27.050San Rao: I encourage you to look at
992
02:29:27.390 --> 02:29:33.890
San Rao: What is allowed in the other cities, and what is practiced in the other cities, and to… highly…
99302:29:34.030 --> 02:29:42.849San Rao: adopt… highly encourage adopt the… adopting the use of ETFs, and an S&P 500, or a total market.
994
02:29:43.020 --> 02:29:44.770
San Rao: investment.
99502:29:45.300 --> 02:29:49.849San Rao: Approach should be used to diversify so that you're not having to make these decisions.
996
02:29:50.340 --> 02:29:55.200San Rao: The current set of investments are all single investments, or single asset investments.
997
02:29:55.980 --> 02:29:58.220
San Rao: The returns certainly can brew.
99802:29:58.340 --> 02:30:01.650San Rao: far better. They are underperforming the S&P in many cases.
99902:30:01.880 --> 02:30:20.939
San Rao: And so I encourage you to look at how you can adopt the best of breed for the policy as seen from
neighboring cities, and to particularly try and adopt the ETF investments and invest in market indices, such
as the S&P 500, the whole market. I also would highly recommend that you not prioritize ESG
100002:30:21.010 --> 02:30:24.749San Rao: Your priority should be to responsibly
1001
02:30:24.830 --> 02:30:34.079
San Rao: manage the funds of our employees, and not to try and apply your ideologies onto the future
retirement of our employees, you know, that.
100202:30:34.310 --> 02:30:43.609San Rao: That is not okay. So, I think this ESG should be lifted, and if you went with the market index approach, it would be immaterial in any case. Thank you.
1003
02:30:48.120 --> 02:30:51.880
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, San. And Mayor, I don't see any requests to speak on this item.
100402:30:52.340 --> 02:30:56.730Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Okay, do we have a motion to move the recommended action?
1005
02:30:57.265 --> 02:31:00.475
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I'm happy to move the recommended action. All right, thank you.
100602:31:00.480 --> 02:31:02.060Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Second. Thank you.
100702:31:02.360 --> 02:31:05.420
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And, Vice Mayor, your hand's raised?
1008
02:31:05.815 --> 02:31:11.955Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Could you please answer the speaker's question about Lutzu Fund investment?
1009
02:31:12.885 --> 02:31:19.534
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): either we allow it, or not, and… or is it for foreign country? Yes.
101002:31:19.540 --> 02:31:29.700Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So, the Pension Section 115 and OPEB Trust Investment Policy allows for
ETFs, or exchange-traded funds.
101102:31:29.770 --> 02:31:39.870Speaker 24 (Community Hall): What does not… the investment policy that does not is the city's general investment policy, which was, approved earlier today in consent. There is,
101202:31:40.650 --> 02:31:46.330
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): State code that prevents the city from investing in ETFs.
101302:31:46.460 --> 02:31:51.009Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So I think there's a bit of confusion, confusion there from the speaker.
101402:31:51.450 --> 02:32:00.849Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, so the state code prevents the city from investing, then how come
Sunnyvale and Mountain View could…
101502:32:00.855 --> 02:32:10.924Speaker 24 (Community Hall): There are two different investment… technically, three different investment policies the city Cupertino has. One is its general investment, which restricts it to
101602:32:10.925 --> 02:32:21.724
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): more of, bonds and whatnot, whereas these policies are BOPED and pension,
section 115 allows for those types of investments.
101702:32:22.280 --> 02:32:25.190Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, okay, so this doesn't allow… Correct.
101802:32:25.380 --> 02:32:32.090
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And general fund investment policy doesn't allow because of the state code.
Correct. Okay,
101902:32:32.140 --> 02:32:45.950Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And for the global infrastructure, I see that it's added so that we have the option to invest if we want. The target is currently zero. So, what's global infrastructure considered?
1020
02:32:46.235 --> 02:33:00.074
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): So this could range, unfortunately, Dennis Mullins, our, our representative
isn't here, but this could range, and he is an expert on this, but it could range from,
102102:33:00.075 --> 02:33:16.615
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): dams or, just general infrastructure. It could be, even AI data centers. It
could even be, water, infrastructure. It can be a variety of different types of general infrastructure type of projects.
1022
02:33:20.190 --> 02:33:23.880
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, it doesn't… does not mean global in foreign country.
102302:33:24.050 --> 02:33:28.440Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Certainly. It's also mean, does… oh, okay.
102402:33:31.480 --> 02:33:34.239
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): However, there was some hesitancy in
1025
02:33:34.270 --> 02:33:42.890Speaker 24 (Community Hall): investing outside the city or outside the country. Yeah. For that reason, it was set to zero, but to bring the policy, kind of.
102602:33:42.910 --> 02:34:00.249
Speaker 24 (Community Hall): current to what the industry is moving towards as a separate, investment
category, the city, or the, audit committee decided to include it as a category, however set it to 0% for the
benchmark.
102702:34:00.480 --> 02:34:01.850Speaker 24 (Community Hall): Okay, thank you.
1028
02:34:07.200 --> 02:34:15.720
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So, not seeing any further hands raised, we do have a motion and a second on
the recommended action. Madam City Clerk, will you please set the lights for a vote?
102902:34:26.750 --> 02:34:28.590Speaker 2 (Community Hall): The motion carries with Wong absent.
1030
02:34:28.955 --> 02:34:29.515
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Great.
103102:34:29.615 --> 02:34:42.554Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you very much, Director Orozco. And with that, we move on to item 21. It's the authorization of the Below Market Rate Housing Administration contract execution. Madam City Manager, do we have a staff report?
1032
02:34:42.970 --> 02:35:02.330
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): Thank you, Mayor. We have a staff report and also a presentation. This item is
requesting Council to grant authority to the City Manager to execute the agreement with Rise Housing for below-market rate administration services, and approve the budget allocation for the contract. The City's current contractor for
1033
02:35:02.330 --> 02:35:12.059Speaker 3 (Community Hall): contract for BMR administration services expires on June 30th of this year. To ensure that the City's program remains innovative and follows best practices.
1034
02:35:12.060 --> 02:35:28.569
Speaker 3 (Community Hall): staff completed an RFP to find the best fit vendor through a fair and
competitive process for the next BMR administrator. Presenting this item tonight will be Senior Housing Coordinator Nikki Wu, and Ben Fu, Director of Community Development, is also available for questions.
103502:35:31.180 --> 02:35:37.489Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you, Tino. Good evening, Madam Mayor and the City Council. My name is Nikki, and the item we have before you tonight is an agreement.
1036
02:35:37.495 --> 02:35:40.655Speaker 25 (Community Hall): for administration of the City's below-market rate housing program.
103702:35:40.815 --> 02:35:51.515Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Our recommended action for you tonight is to authorize the City Manager to execute that agreement, and to also make the necessary budgetary appropriations from the General Fund to
execute this agreement.
103802:35:53.125 --> 02:36:07.714Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So first, a little bit of background about this program. Since 1992, the City of Cupertino has required that all market-rate housing developments provide a percentage of their development to be made affordable to low-income households. This is known as the Inclusionary Housing Program.
1039
02:36:07.975 --> 02:36:20.305
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): These units are individually owned and operated by the property managers
and developers who constructed them, but when it comes to the leasing, the waitlist, the lottery,
recertification, and
104002:36:20.305 --> 02:36:28.654Speaker 25 (Community Hall): resales. That process is jointly administered by a single entity. This is to ensure compliance with our affordable housing.
1041
02:36:28.685 --> 02:36:34.885
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): program, right? And then also to try to centralize the program into a single waitlist for ease of access for our applicants.
104202:36:35.415 --> 02:36:50.395Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Price Housing has been the city's current BMR administrator for this program.
Their contract expires this June in 2026, so in accordance with City Financial Procurement procedures, we
enacted a request for proposals to get a competitive bid.
104302:36:50.535 --> 02:37:03.084Speaker 25 (Community Hall): We announced the RFP in October, during a regular meeting of the Housing
Commission. We also posted online, the Cupertino Courier to advertise it.
1044
02:37:03.085 --> 02:37:10.964
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Email blast as well. The official, RFP opened November 3rd, 2025. It was open for responses for 1 month.
104502:37:11.015 --> 02:37:29.644Speaker 25 (Community Hall): After which it closed December 3rd, 2025. During this time, we received three
proposals from qualified consultants to run the program. After that, staff… three panel, of staff evaluated the
three proposals based on a four-point criteria that was outlined in the RFP.
104602:37:29.645 --> 02:37:47.734Speaker 25 (Community Hall): and assigned each one a score. The two highest scoring consultants moved forward, into an interview stage, which took place in January 2026, which we allowed the consultants to further elaborate on their proposals, after which we had one frontrunner proposal.
1047
02:37:47.735 --> 02:38:00.534
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): At that time, we went to the Housing Commission at March, during the
regular meeting for a kind of a new step in our process for transparency. We did a presentation to the Housing Commission on our evaluation process.
104802:38:00.535 --> 02:38:08.495Speaker 25 (Community Hall): And during that time, we solicited comments, suggestions from the Housing Commission on our evaluation process, as well as anything that they would like to see.
1049
02:38:08.515 --> 02:38:26.015Speaker 25 (Community Hall): included for the BMR program. We took into account those comments that we received during that Housing Commission meeting, and we entered into what we call the final negotiation stage, where we studied the feasibility of enacting these changes, with the frontrunner, as well as all the necessary parties, like our legal team.
1050
02:38:26.045 --> 02:38:36.884
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): finance team, all the necessary parties. And now, in May 2026, we are here
before you today to ask you to authorize execution, as we believe it is currently ready in its, form.
105102:38:39.605 --> 02:38:53.645Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So let's go into the evaluation criteria of the RFP. There were four categories. The first was firm and project team qualifications. This was where they could demonstrate, essentially, their credibility in running the BMR program and their experience. So…
1052
02:38:54.055 --> 02:39:09.735
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): former BMR applicants that have been in, you know, this industry for a long time scored high, as well as those that could demonstrate local experience, meaning those that work in California, even better if they were in the Bay Area, even better in Santa Clara County, and of course, best if they could work with the City of Cupertino.
1053
02:39:10.065 --> 02:39:18.544
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): This is not just, the firm, but also, like, the individual, employees'
qualifications as well in each, consultant.
105402:39:18.665 --> 02:39:31.515Speaker 25 (Community Hall): The next criteria was work plan approach. This is where they could
demonstrate their knowledge of the City of Cupertino's BMR portfolio, and also the kind of opportunities and
challenges, right, that we are facing
105502:39:31.515 --> 02:39:47.185Speaker 25 (Community Hall): in BMR administration, and for them to describe their work plan approach of how they would do BMR administration for us, and what are their processes. These are the two highest weighted categories, because this is really their ability to demonstrate that they understand the work that they are applying for.
1056
02:39:47.215 --> 02:40:03.784
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): The next two categories, first is California slash Bay Area Integration. This is their ability to demonstrate that they are connected within the region, and they know some of the best practices that are happening in BMR administration that they could suggest for us to adopt to better improve our program.
1057
02:40:03.855 --> 02:40:16.515
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): And then the final category, pricing and cost. This is the most subjective, part
of our criteria. This is where they could demonstrate, number one, having a complete cost proposal, and
two, having a very,
105802:40:16.775 --> 02:40:20.645Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Effective and cost-efficient, cost schedule.
1059
02:40:23.115 --> 02:40:30.235
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So while we were doing our own staff evaluations, we really kept in mind the
program priorities, right? And this is not just,
106002:40:30.425 --> 02:40:35.314Speaker 25 (Community Hall): city-dependent being in Cupertino, but, time contextualized, right? What is…
1061
02:40:35.405 --> 02:40:50.165
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): the priorities that are… the program is facing right now. And without a doubt,
the biggest issue that the BMR program is facing in the next 3 years is going to be the expiration of 95 out of our 119 rental units in the portfolio due to a 30-year sunset.
106202:40:50.165 --> 02:41:00.305Speaker 25 (Community Hall): These rental units, they were constructed back in the 90s, and with them, they were required to be kept out affordable for a period of 30 years, because these are owned privately.
1063
02:41:00.305 --> 02:41:07.784Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Once this 30-year mark ends, the, the individual property owners and landlords are going to be able to start charging market rate rents.
106402:41:07.785 --> 02:41:30.975Speaker 25 (Community Hall): on these units, so we do need to find a way to work with the tenants and the landlords as they navigate this issue. And so, while this on paper might look like a reduction in work, what this means that we know is that there's going to be negotiations of final leases, there's going to be a need
for support to tenants during the reapplication process to try to get rehoused, landlord compliance for all the
necessary noticing that they need to send out.
106502:41:31.055 --> 02:41:37.375Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Before the expiration of these units. And then finally, just general support services to both of these parties, right?
1066
02:41:37.645 --> 02:41:49.985
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): During our evaluation, Rise Housing showed the strongest understanding and
preparation of the work expectations based on these priorities. In addition to this, they also had the most
complete multi-year cost proposal.
106702:41:52.635 --> 02:42:07.244Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So they were the frontrunner that we identified after the interview stage, which we brought to the Housing Commission on March 26th for our staff presentation. After we give a
presentation on our evaluate process and our thoughts, we took in feedback from the Housing Commission.
1068
02:42:07.245 --> 02:42:19.094Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Generally, they were in agreement with staff's decision. However, it was clear that they wanted staff to consider some of the proposed innovative process improvements and the best practices that the other jurisdictions are currently implementing.
1069
02:42:19.215 --> 02:42:24.564
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): into, what we could potentially do with Rice Housing for the next program
cycle.
107002:42:24.795 --> 02:42:39.714Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So, when we entered into the final negotiation stage, staff explored the possibility of enacting these improvements through final negotiations for Price Housing, and also consulting our legal team, our finance team, and also other regional groups that work in housing who have done this before.
1071
02:42:41.075 --> 02:42:53.145Speaker 25 (Community Hall): we are prepared to present what are the, kind of, findings from these studies. First, the first process improvement that was suggested was trying to reduce costs in… to the city, right, in the BMR program by charging
107202:42:53.145 --> 02:43:02.005
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): the price of BMR homeowner resale as an administrative fee to the sellers of
the BMR homeowners, right, in the program, rather than the city paying for it out of pocket.
107302:43:02.085 --> 02:43:12.574
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): This is a successful model that has been used in some other cities. However,
procedurally, this is technically required… this requires a separate council action, as this constitutes approving a new fee.
1074
02:43:12.685 --> 02:43:25.164
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Right, so this is not necessarily something that we can do with, execution of a
contract, but it is something, potentially, if the Council desires, something we could explore in the future for,
you know, program,
107502:43:25.395 --> 02:43:43.795Speaker 25 (Community Hall): process improvements. The other item that we wanted to explore was trying to reduce wait times for getting placed into a BMR unit by utilizing the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, or BAFA, doorways portal. This is a centralized listing portal that a lot of cities have put their BMR listings
onto.
107602:43:43.795 --> 02:43:57.624Speaker 25 (Community Hall): It does require cities to kind of adopt very standardized practices for their BMR program, but the benefit to this is that it makes for a uniform application process, so it encourages applicants to apply to multiple cities.
1077
02:43:57.635 --> 02:44:04.065
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Right, thus casting a much wider net in their search for a house, and could
potentially reduce their time to getting placed into a unit.
107802:44:04.145 --> 02:44:20.985Speaker 25 (Community Hall): But of course, the issue that I've kind of alluded to with that statement is that it does require a separate council action to really move a lot of the current BMR program structure into very, very standardized practices. Namely, we currently use a waitlist system that's open for one month out of the
year, and then we have a
1079
02:44:21.085 --> 02:44:33.084Speaker 25 (Community Hall): centralized lottery that we, continue to pull from for the entire year. And in order to move on to Dorys, we'd have to move to a year-round open waitlist, right, where people can continue to play throughout the year.
1080
02:44:33.555 --> 02:44:40.724
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So this is not necessarily something, again, that we can do with the execution
of a contract. It would be a separate City Council item.
108102:44:40.725 --> 02:44:44.945Speaker 25 (Community Hall): And also something to consider with this is that whereas the previous item would…
1082
02:44:44.945 --> 02:45:03.194
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): most likely, right, be a cost savings. This might potentially require us to revisit
the cost proposal to add additional work items, right? One of them being purging the waitlist, right? Without a natural sort of refresh mechanism in the waitlist, we'd have to start purging the waitlist for, you know, old applicants that are no longer interested.
108302:45:05.395 --> 02:45:18.765Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So, knowing this, we wanted to move forward with the housing… rights housing proposal as it was submitted. Going into what is in that proposal, it is for a 3-year contract starting from FY26-27 going to FY28-29.
1084
02:45:18.915 --> 02:45:37.484Speaker 25 (Community Hall): The costs are approximately $160,000 per year, and this covers the cost of a three-person team, a team lead, a program manager, and a program specialist, and this is to cover the three areas of general administration, the purchase program for BMR homeowners, and then the rental program for the apartments and rental units as well.
1085
02:45:39.195 --> 02:45:49.635
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): In addition to this action, we are asking that the City Council approve a
general fund appropriation in order to execute this contract. This is aligned with the City Council direction we
previously received on April 15th.
108602:45:49.675 --> 02:46:01.145Speaker 25 (Community Hall): 2025, doing housing funding awards, we were told that we should prioritize our funding in our BMR Affordable Housing Fund towards available new construction of affordable housing
projects, of which we have two.
1087
02:46:01.145 --> 02:46:12.005Speaker 25 (Community Hall): And we have. And so, in order to execute this next administration cross-check, we are asking that we reprogram administration services with an appropriation through the general fund.
1088
02:46:13.915 --> 02:46:31.585
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): We have a recommended staff motion for this item. It's to authorize the City
Manager to execute the agreement with Ricehausen, Inc. for bull market rate administrators for FY26-29,
and appropriate $470,000… $650 from the General Fund. With that, I'd like to open it to the Council for any clarifying questions.
108902:46:32.930 --> 02:46:42.220Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Great. Thank you very much, Director Fu, and our Senior Housing Coordinator, Nikki, for a very thoughtful approach and explanation.
1090
02:46:42.330 --> 02:46:49.510Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Do we have some… Questions at this time from the Council? Councilmember Mohan.
109102:46:52.400 --> 02:46:55.399Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Thank you for an excellent presentation, Nikki.
1092
02:46:56.000 --> 02:47:00.550Speaker 9 (Community Hall): this, rise, we will…
1093
02:47:00.820 --> 02:47:04.029Speaker 9 (Community Hall): you've been working with Rice in the past, right? So…
1094
02:47:04.920 --> 02:47:14.699
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): what, what is the difference in cost? We've obviously been paying them for the
previous contract, so how much of an increase is there for the…
109502:47:15.110 --> 02:47:16.880Speaker 9 (Community Hall): This, this contract.
1096
02:47:16.885 --> 02:47:26.164
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): be about a 50% reduction, in the overall contract. Previously, we were paying
about $250,000 to $300,000 per year. This is $160,000 per year.
109702:47:27.040 --> 02:47:28.690Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Isn't that a little unusual?
1098
02:47:30.190 --> 02:47:35.489
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): I think this is the result of a competitive and thorough procurement process.
109902:47:36.810 --> 02:47:41.700Speaker 25 (Community Hall): And also, you know, a reduction in the size of our portfolio as well.
110002:47:42.260 --> 02:47:43.530
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Huh. Yeah.
1101
02:47:43.670 --> 02:47:45.120Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Okay, so…
110202:47:45.590 --> 02:47:47.879Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Oh my god, it's a good thing that's happened, but…
1103
02:47:48.290 --> 02:47:51.119
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): I'd like to think we were not overpaying last year.
110402:47:53.310 --> 02:47:58.000Speaker 23 (Community Hall): I may also add, we, we, contract to Arise
1105
02:47:58.170 --> 02:48:01.840
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): Prior to RISE, the system for the city was,
110602:48:02.130 --> 02:48:16.220Speaker 23 (Community Hall): old school, if you will. So, we work with RISE a lot to kind of digitize our
process and programs. So, that's why the cost was a little higher in the previous year, is because of that,
onboarding.
110702:48:16.220 --> 02:48:32.590Speaker 23 (Community Hall): And ramping up into making our process, our program, 21st century. So, I
think moving forward, that process has been set up already, so I think, with their familiarity with our process
and our program, that's why you see the significant reduction, in the cost.
110802:48:33.610 --> 02:48:42.139Speaker 9 (Community Hall): Okay, and one last comment, so you're not really asking for new monies. The money's already been budgeted, I take it, because…
1109
02:48:42.530 --> 02:48:44.880
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): We've had this contract in the past.
111002:48:45.325 --> 02:48:50.565Speaker 25 (Community Hall): We have, it's previously been paid for out of the BMR administration.
111102:48:50.565 --> 02:48:54.525
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): So you're switching it to a general fund. Okay, thank you.
111202:48:56.560 --> 02:49:06.619Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Right, that was part of, trying to move some of the administrative costs out of the BMR program, and we probably need to revisit the BMR manual at some point to
111302:49:06.730 --> 02:49:11.250
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Make that more, solidly written up. Vice Mayor.
111402:49:13.600 --> 02:49:24.189Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Hi, thank you for a great presentation, but I… I see that you have received 3 proposals total, and 2 are,
111502:49:24.770 --> 02:49:41.009
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): invited for an interview, but you didn't include the names of the applicants,
which I think it was usually included when… for Public Works, when they present an RFP, so could you share
who are the… who are the other applicants?
111602:49:41.310 --> 02:49:41.880Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah.
1117
02:49:41.880 --> 02:49:48.150
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): The three applicants were Rise Housing, Housing Incorporated, and the third
was, Heart of San Mateo County.
111802:49:50.410 --> 02:49:52.980
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, who were invited for interview?
1119
02:49:53.110 --> 02:49:54.119
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): The top.
112002:49:54.125 --> 02:49:57.865Speaker 25 (Community Hall): That was Rise and Housing Incorporated.
1121
02:49:59.925 --> 02:50:01.275
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Okay.
112202:50:02.200 --> 02:50:13.269Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And, I see that the four ranking criteria did not include anything about… Customer feedback.
1123
02:50:13.730 --> 02:50:25.790
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): for example, either feedback from applicants, and feedback from agencies like
Project Sentinel, or, other…
112402:50:26.030 --> 02:50:34.799Speaker 7 (Community Hall): who are others who are helping applicants to find housing? Because how… otherwise, how do we really evaluate?
1125
02:50:35.130 --> 02:50:39.009
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): The quality of surveys, customer surveys they provide.
112602:50:39.325 --> 02:50:58.065Speaker 25 (Community Hall): That's a great question. So, the first priority, which is firm and team qualifications, we ask that they provide references for other cities that they've worked for, and we actually
call and ask them to ask if they are satisfied with their level of service, and if there's any difficulties that
they've experienced with onboarding, right, any of the different.
112702:50:58.065 --> 02:51:01.295Speaker 7 (Community Hall): But the other city may not talk to their customers either.
112802:51:01.695 --> 02:51:08.035
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So you basically talk to a counterpart of yourself in another city.
1129
02:51:08.185 --> 02:51:08.935Speaker 7 (Community Hall): True.
113002:51:09.095 --> 02:51:20.444Speaker 25 (Community Hall): We all hear from our constituents, right, if there's an issue with service,
whether it's, you know, through our phones or emails, or when we come into public hearings like that.
1131
02:51:20.445 --> 02:51:24.925Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Next question, what is the mechanism there for,
1132
02:51:24.975 --> 02:51:40.524
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): applicant to file anonymous complaint, because what I think we have heard for
a lot of these housing providers, people are afraid to lose their BMR units, so they are afraid to report any
mold issue, and that's an…
113302:51:40.575 --> 02:51:51.645Speaker 7 (Community Hall): a prevalent issue, actually, with a lot of the housing providers. I spoke to people who directly was evicted because she reported a mold issue.
1134
02:51:52.305 --> 02:51:58.564
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So… That's a great question. Is there any mechanism for people to…
113502:51:59.430 --> 02:52:15.610Speaker 25 (Community Hall): I've personally received, you know, lots of feedback from our program participants, whether or not that is attributable to Rise's service, or whether it's actually their property manager, or whether it's another party, right, that's a part of this whole system.
1136
02:52:16.110 --> 02:52:22.339Speaker 25 (Community Hall): we would like to include an anonymous, way to give feedback. We can certainly explore that as well.
113702:52:22.340 --> 02:52:27.489Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I… I think someone who has worked with Rice to try and rent
1138
02:52:27.620 --> 02:52:36.869Speaker 7 (Community Hall): sell their for-sale condo has, told me that their experience really wasn't very good with rice.
113902:52:37.550 --> 02:52:42.090Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And it was taking a very long time, for them to…
1140
02:52:42.440 --> 02:52:53.210Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I think we will have a lot of below market rate for 3-bedroom, for-sale homes that's coming up, and somehow they feel that wasn't handled well.
114102:52:53.490 --> 02:52:58.620Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I don't know the specifics, but I do wonder, do I have a mechanism
1142
02:52:58.780 --> 02:53:02.789Speaker 7 (Community Hall): To ensure the process is smooth.
1143
02:53:03.150 --> 02:53:09.419
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And through the mechanism for people to… To address any concerns, yeah.
114402:53:11.540 --> 02:53:29.769Speaker 23 (Community Hall): Yeah, Vice Mayor, right now, the mechanism in the past have always been
similar to, sort of, your code enforcement process. The public's more welcome to email us and can connect
with us, in terms of the fear of eviction, from filing a complaint. That's not how BMR, units, work.
114502:53:29.770 --> 02:53:36.959Speaker 23 (Community Hall): you know, you qualify the unit, you're in that unit for the duration that you continue to qualify for the unit. So, I think
1146
02:53:36.960 --> 02:53:50.370
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): the mechanism is there and exists now, is through a complaint with the city,
whether 301 or direct contact with staff. But if you're looking for something more concrete, we can certainly
look into that, have that discussion with the consultant.
114702:53:50.560 --> 02:54:01.259Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah, and for that particular example, it's not… it's a new unit that's been just built, constructed, and then it seems right on…
1148
02:54:01.870 --> 02:54:16.879
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): brought in potential tenant, potential buyer of the BMR units, but then, even for a very new unit, they were making a lot of demands on, you need to fix this, you need to fix that, you need to fix that.
114902:54:16.880 --> 02:54:22.140
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And it was… went through multiple rounds, and then the seller didn't want the
unit.
115002:54:22.450 --> 02:54:34.040Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And so, I don't know if that's maybe just one single incidence, or there might be other ones, but then, what is the mechanism for them to even reach out
1151
02:54:34.220 --> 02:54:37.359
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): to the city staff to address that.
115202:54:37.630 --> 02:54:38.180Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yes, sir.
115302:54:38.185 --> 02:54:51.115
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): I'd be happy to look into that specific example. If you have something you
can share with us offline, we can look into that. But for the sale of the units, it's very strict, the process. We
want to make sure the units are up to a certain standard.
115402:54:51.115 --> 02:55:09.515
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): So that's why it's a very strict process for resale processes, and there's a lot
of different steps you have to go through, as opposed to market rate, because it is for low market rate property owners, both selling and also buying, so…
1155
02:55:09.710 --> 02:55:18.429
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, and another question is, the Housing Commission proposed, innovative,
process improvement.
115602:55:18.730 --> 02:55:26.709Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Are these… are those the ones you mentioned in your slides about future negotiation, or are they different ones? Those are the same.
1157
02:55:26.715 --> 02:55:40.614
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): And I hope we demonstrated that we, in good faith, tried to explore every
avenue, right, to try to incorporate those as we could at this time. But unfortunately, both of those, procedurally speaking, they can't be done without a separate City Council action.
115802:55:40.975 --> 02:55:52.815Speaker 7 (Community Hall): That's what I'm wondering. Innovative process improvements, will they require Council approval? So both of those proposed will require Council approval. Correct, yes. Okay, thank you.
1159
02:55:54.580 --> 02:55:56.950Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you. I, I…
116002:55:57.470 --> 02:56:05.439Speaker 1 (Community Hall): I do wonder about the two suggestions that you had for whether or not, that would be something that could be addressed,
1161
02:56:05.450 --> 02:56:20.039Speaker 1 (Community Hall): more fully in an informational item that could talk about pros and cons of each one of those. Okay, that would be appreciated. And, Madam City Clerk, do we have any members of the public who would like to comment on this item?
116202:56:22.520 --> 02:56:31.949
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Mayor, don't have any requests to speak in person here at Community Hall, but
I do see two hands raised virtually, so we will welcome Jennifer Griffin, followed by San Rao. Welcome,
Jennifer.
116302:56:33.710 --> 02:56:35.030Jennifer Griffin: Can you all hear me?
1164
02:56:35.320 --> 02:56:36.340
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): We can hear you.
116502:56:36.340 --> 02:56:49.159Jennifer Griffin: Oh, good. All right, thank you. Thank you for a very, very helpful, presentation about BMR. I
will say I was shocked that so many of the BMRs are going to be going
1166
02:56:49.260 --> 02:56:56.740
Jennifer Griffin: essentially away, and I just was wondering if I could ask, what is the breakdown between
116702:56:56.880 --> 02:57:05.490Jennifer Griffin: Rental units that are Going to be, still available versus…
1168
02:57:05.690 --> 02:57:24.469
Jennifer Griffin: For sale units, could you talk about that a little bit? And how does that change RISE's
management of… of the BMR stock for Cupertino? Also, one other question is, I think you said that it is more…
116902:57:24.640 --> 02:57:29.350Jennifer Griffin: is more for rent BMR stock coming online.
1170
02:57:29.420 --> 02:57:31.250
Jennifer Griffin: I, I see that…
117102:57:31.280 --> 02:57:45.630Jennifer Griffin: the rent rates are so high in the Bay Area, I think it's really good to have rental units available for BMR. Could you all talk about that a little bit? And in the new,
1172
02:57:45.630 --> 02:57:54.740
Jennifer Griffin: for sale BMR units coming up, how long is their, availability as BMRs. Thank you.
117302:57:58.140 --> 02:58:00.700Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, Jennifer. Next, we will welcome San Rao.
1174
02:58:04.230 --> 02:58:09.570
San Rao: Yes, good evening, Mayor Moore and Councilmembers, speaking on behalf of myself only.
117502:58:09.810 --> 02:58:16.420San Rao: In addition to seeking feedback from occupants or potential occupants of the units.
1176
02:58:16.570 --> 02:58:24.300
San Rao: I'd encourage you to seek feedback from the applicants that have built new housing in Cupertino
that
117702:58:24.490 --> 02:58:26.709San Rao: have 4 sale BMR units.
1178
02:58:26.960 --> 02:58:32.939
San Rao: My understanding in… And informally polling for feedback.
117902:58:33.210 --> 02:58:38.710San Rao: Is that there has been negative feedback And, the concerns…
1180
02:58:39.280 --> 02:58:41.649
San Rao: And the feedback that was expressed was…
118102:58:42.210 --> 02:58:48.059San Rao: quite numerous, and I will give that offline to Director Fu, since it may not be
1182
02:58:48.310 --> 02:58:50.699
San Rao: Feedback that can be shared here, but…
118302:58:51.020 --> 02:58:57.589San Rao: I would encourage you to talk to the applicants that build for sale VMR units, and I would encourage that to be
1184
02:58:57.840 --> 02:58:59.390
San Rao: hopefully…
118502:58:59.800 --> 02:59:07.780San Rao: an independent method of getting feedback, they should not feel that giving feedback to planning or building or CCD is going to jeopardize their
1186
02:59:07.940 --> 02:59:27.299
San Rao: their ability to work with the city. And I know that's not the case, and that should not be the case,
but there is always that concern, especially from single-family homeowners in an unrelated context around
feedback for planning and building. So, regardless of that, I do want to express that I have talked informally to some applicants, and I have received feedback
118702:59:27.450 --> 02:59:31.700San Rao: That'd be, the current vendor.
1188
02:59:31.820 --> 02:59:33.440
San Rao: The service was horrible.
118902:59:33.750 --> 02:59:39.130San Rao: And there… there are a little more specifics there, but I can share that offline with Director Fu.
1190
02:59:39.750 --> 02:59:45.060
San Rao: Specifically, you know, there's concerns around the time they take, for processing.
119102:59:45.460 --> 02:59:49.899San Rao: And the recommendations they make on the realtors, and the realtors that were used.
119202:59:50.530 --> 02:59:53.369San Rao: And there's also some concern around having to pay for
1193
02:59:53.830 --> 02:59:56.499
San Rao: Both the buyer side and the seller side for commissions.
119402:59:56.910 --> 02:59:59.209San Rao: And, it's unclear why.
1195
02:59:59.350 --> 03:00:04.949
San Rao: applicants had to pay both sides of commissions on a BMR unit. So overall, very slow process, and
119603:00:05.130 --> 03:00:11.620San Rao: very non-responsive process, and there were concerns around staff not responding to emails as well, so I want to put that out there as well. Thank you.
1197
03:00:14.480 --> 03:00:17.680
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): Thank you, San. Mayor, that concludes the request to speak on this item.
119803:00:19.200 --> 03:00:20.830Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Alright, thank you.
119903:00:21.670 --> 03:00:22.780
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Vice Mayor?
1200
03:00:25.010 --> 03:00:27.370Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Whoa.
120103:00:27.920 --> 03:00:39.589Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So, I… first, do you remember what Jennifer's question? I kind of… about PMR
exploration, but I don't remember exactly what was the question.
1202
03:00:40.390 --> 03:00:56.030Speaker 25 (Community Hall): I think her question was, are there any new BMR rentals coming online, and what's the mechanism that we have in place to prevent them from expiring in 30 years? The second question, we've amended the program since to go to a 99-year expiration.
1203
03:00:56.030 --> 03:01:06.019
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): So hopefully that prevents that problem in the future. And as for new projects
coming along with rentals, I think the biggest one we know of is Valco Rice, and then the next one would be
the Mary Avenue project.
120403:01:06.995 --> 03:01:16.045
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So these rental units are… they're all inclusive units, so they're mixed in with
market rate. It's harder to buy them out.
120503:01:17.050 --> 03:01:23.390Speaker 25 (Community Hall): In the Valco Rise project, it is a mixed-income project, right? So there are
market rate units, and they're essentially subsidizing.
120603:01:23.395 --> 03:01:29.814Speaker 7 (Community Hall): I mean, the expiring ones, 109 rental units.
120703:01:30.025 --> 03:01:33.155Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Oh, 95 expiring.
1208
03:01:33.155 --> 03:01:36.735Speaker 23 (Community Hall): 95 expiring units, yes, they will go to market rate. Yes.
120903:01:37.000 --> 03:01:41.390Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So they are inclusive with market reunit.
1210
03:01:41.395 --> 03:01:44.475
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): They're within a market rate development, privately owned.
121103:01:44.480 --> 03:01:49.590Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So it's harder to get funding to potentially buy them out.
1212
03:01:50.080 --> 03:02:06.930
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): Yes, I mean, it would first be kind of impractical legally, right, because you
can't individually buy rental units out of an apartment building, and then also, yeah, we would essentially be purchasing them at market rate from a private owner to try to restrict them for affordability.
121303:02:07.045 --> 03:02:11.345Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, and another question is from Santosh.
1214
03:02:11.795 --> 03:02:21.704
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So… It sounds like Wayne is some kind of feedback form, feedback form from
121503:02:22.195 --> 03:02:31.784Speaker 7 (Community Hall): current applicants, or even the applicants who were on the waitlist and then got rejected. I think recently, we had a case of someone
1216
03:02:31.985 --> 03:02:44.335
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): who almost got a unit, but then she was rejected the last moment because of her credit check. But she's a long-time employee of COSD.
1217
03:02:44.545 --> 03:02:56.454
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): recently divorced, and they're going through hard times. Single mom, of course, her recent credit history is not as good, and Rice rejected them.
1218
03:02:56.565 --> 03:03:07.584
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So is that something… is the city policy issue, or is it the Rice who is inflexible
when they're administering the policy?
121903:03:08.420 --> 03:03:20.820Speaker 25 (Community Hall): I think I'm aware of this example, and this is a great example of when there's multiple actors that kind of contribute to the outcome, and it's not necessarily something that we can attribute to Rise as service, right? So, even though RISE does control things like
1220
03:03:20.850 --> 03:03:29.409
Speaker 25 (Community Hall): advertising units and, you know, finding applicants for units. Ultimately, these are privately owned by their individual property managers who can
122103:03:29.470 --> 03:03:41.019Speaker 25 (Community Hall): choose to accept or not accept any applicant for their rental units, including using mechanisms like a background check or a credit check. So in that scenario, they were actually rejected
by the property manager.
122203:03:41.025 --> 03:03:47.384Speaker 7 (Community Hall): So the… so that's, so that criteria was set by the property manager. That's correct.
122303:03:47.645 --> 03:03:52.544
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): But somehow they were not informed of this particular
122403:03:53.215 --> 03:03:58.035Speaker 7 (Community Hall): criteria until the very last stage. So, I guess…
122503:03:58.385 --> 03:04:02.894Speaker 7 (Community Hall): The rice could help improve the process by screw…
1226
03:04:03.025 --> 03:04:15.725Speaker 7 (Community Hall): screening the applicant ahead of time, rather than telling them, you got the unit, and then finally credit check failed, because that's a very objective standard that can be checked.
122703:04:16.640 --> 03:04:28.549Speaker 25 (Community Hall): We can explore adding that. I would just also add that that would be adding a
new work item, too, right? Now, in addition to doing their intake, they're going to be doing credit checks for
each potential applicant at the front end.
122803:04:28.555 --> 03:04:39.954Speaker 7 (Community Hall): checks, I guess, telling the applicant what information will be, I guess, required
for them to qualify for the unit, right?
1229
03:04:40.245 --> 03:04:48.745
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): I believe that is already part of their, educational, package, and they also do, conduct a BMR program,
123003:04:48.745 --> 03:05:03.504Speaker 23 (Community Hall): town hall presentation annually, so that's already part of what they advise,
each applicant, the potential, what you need to bring to the table, what could potentially be issues. But we
can certainly, reach out again and make sure that process is more robust.
123103:05:03.505 --> 03:05:06.434Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Okay, so one other comment from St. Tash is…
123203:05:07.205 --> 03:05:20.715
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): according to the ones he has spoken to, the service was horrible. I don't know
how true is that, but I… for me, I'm just wondering
123303:05:20.835 --> 03:05:29.465Speaker 7 (Community Hall): what kind of process could there be? So, in the future, going forward, people had a way of…
1234
03:05:29.685 --> 03:05:32.585
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Providing feedback like that.
123503:05:34.575 --> 03:05:42.854Speaker 7 (Community Hall): And then there was a comment about if the response was slow or non-responsive in the application process.
1236
03:05:42.855 --> 03:06:00.164
Speaker 23 (Community Hall): We always ask for a feedback, whether it's a permitting process or a resale or
rental process, but that doesn't mean the applicant, is required to provide that feedback. I will say that we
do not… the city does not have a lot of turnover in terms of sale units.
123703:06:00.165 --> 03:06:18.674Speaker 23 (Community Hall): what, 2, 3, per year or so, so it's not a lot of it. We haven't heard feedback-wise, that the service is poor. I think the duration of the process itself, like I've mentioned, is very detailed, so that could be frustrating, but that is just… that is just a process. Rental unit-wise, there's a lot more units
1238
03:06:18.845 --> 03:06:31.405Speaker 23 (Community Hall): That, that, that do turn over, because there's annual check for, applicability, qualification check for renters, so that… for the renter rental units, they do turn over more often than for sale, so…
123903:06:31.630 --> 03:06:41.549
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Hopefully, we'll have more, I think we'll have more for sale BMR units coming
up with a new development. I hope so, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay.
124003:06:46.120 --> 03:06:50.579Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Do you have any further, questions or comments from the Council?
1241
03:06:52.730 --> 03:06:57.999
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And I'm not seeing any, so we have had public comment on this item.
124203:06:59.720 --> 03:07:03.560Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Do we have a motion to move the recommended action?
1243
03:07:04.620 --> 03:07:07.809
Speaker 7 (Community Hall): Yeah, happy to move the recommended action.
124403:07:08.295 --> 03:07:13.004Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Just say who came in first there. I'm gonna say Vice Mayor.
1245
03:07:13.010 --> 03:07:13.550
Speaker 9 (Community Hall): opened.
124603:07:13.555 --> 03:07:15.855Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Sure. We have a second from…
124703:07:17.315 --> 03:07:27.344
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): I second. From Councilmember Mohan, wonderful. I don't see any further
requests to speak. Madam City Clerk, will you please set the lights and we'll vote?
124803:07:33.220 --> 03:07:35.089Speaker 2 (Community Hall): The motion carries with Wong absent.
124903:07:35.260 --> 03:07:35.810
Speaker 2 (Community Hall): All right.
1250
03:07:35.815 --> 03:07:50.845Speaker 1 (Community Hall): Thank you, and with that, we have completed the action calendar. We have no items removed from the consent calendar, and we further have a few reports that you may read at your leisure.
1251
03:07:51.655 --> 03:07:57.264
Speaker 1 (Community Hall): And if you have a future agenda item, you know you can ask for a second and
send that in as an email.
125203:07:57.625 --> 03:08:13.275Speaker 1 (Community Hall): So we are moving on to the adjournment, but before we adjourn tonight, I ask that we close this meeting in honor of Memorial Day, May 25th, to remember the brave soldiers who gave
their lives in defense of our nation's freedom.
125303:08:13.585 --> 03:08:31.585Speaker 1 (Community Hall): While Veterans Day in November honors all who served, Memorial Day
specifically asks us to pause and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.
This meeting stands adjourned in their memory.