CC 10-07-2025 Item No. 17 Audit Committee Duties & Responsibilities_Written CommunicationsCC 10-07-2025
Item No. 17
Request CASCC to
amend the Joint
Powers Agency
Agreement and Bylaws
Written Communications
From:Jean Bedord
To:City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Attorney"s Office; City Clerk
Subject:Agenda Item #17 Cities Association JPA Amendment, Oct. 7, 2025 City Council
Date:Monday, October 6, 2025 10:37:35 AM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Please include in the public record for this meeting
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Mayor Chao, Vice-Mayor Moore, Councilmembers Fruen, Mohan and Wang,
This agenda item baffles me. First of all, "undemocratic practices" makes no sense in the
context of a JPA (Joint Powers Authority). It's a regional body of 15 cities who have
agreed to organize for the benefit of all. No one city has more authority. The objective is
collaboration and information sharing among equals. The fact that all of these cities signed the
Agreement is impressive - getting consensus is very hard. The sections were all carefully
vetted by the members. So why would Cities Association consider major changes by a
single city, and specifically a mayor, which already has a reputation for poor
governance?
Secondly, as a JPA, the Cities Association meetings are open meetings governed by the Brown
Act and are subject to open meeting rules. Anyone, including individual council members,
can attend and speak. It's a similar situation to the library JPA where I personally spoke
against another poorly crafted proposal by a previous Cupertino city mayor, which the JPA
rejected on a 8-1 vote against Cupertino.
Thirdly, selection of Officers is based on interest and subject matter expertise (SME) -
getting a quorum can be challenging. Generally, members know each other and their
reputations from interactions in other contexts. They know who are effective collaborators,
and those shifted to minor roles due to personality conflicts. Recommendations come from
personal interactions, not paper qualifications and committee/commissions/etc. salad.
Recommendations from respected mayors outside Cupertino carry more weight. The JPA, as
a regional body, can authorize non-voting members whose SME provide expertise to
the organization, provided they are elected council members. No other jurisdictions seem to
have an objection to the current practices.
This is not a City Work Program item - it's a whim of the Cupertino mayor and an
embarrassment to our city. I urge the council to reject both resolutions. Why waste time
(particularly expensive hourly lawyer time) on a request that is highly unlikely to be
approved by the 15 Cities Association members?
Good governance advocate,
Jean Bedord
From:Kirsten Squarcia
To:City Clerk
Subject:FW: Comments on Item 25-18366—Council Policy Change
Date:Monday, October 6, 2025 8:20:39 AM
Please include with the written communications. I've already communicated it's not possible
to add as an additional attachment since the agenda has already been published.
Kirsten Squarcia
Interim Deputy City Manager/City Clerk
City Manager's Office
KirstenS@cupertino.gov
(408) 777-3225
From: Sheila Mohan <SMohan@cupertino.gov>
Sent: Sunday, October 5, 2025 10:11 PM
To: Tina Kapoor <TinaK@cupertino.gov>; Kirsten Squarcia <KirstenS@cupertino.gov>
Subject: Fw: Comments on Item 25-18366—Council Policy Change
Tina, Kirsten: Please include Larry Klein's email to Council in Written Communications and as
an additional attachment to Item # 17 on the 10/7/25 agenda.
Thanks.
Sheila Mohan
Councilmember
City Council
SMohan@cupertino.gov
(408)777-1326
From: Larry Klein <larry@larryklein.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 9:08 PM
To: Liang Chao <lchao@cupertino.gov>; Kitty Moore <kmoore@cupertino.gov>; Sheila Mohan
<smohan@cupertino.gov>; J.R. Fruen <jrfruen@cupertino.gov>; R "Ray" Wang
<rwang@cupertino.gov>
Cc: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.gov>
Subject: Comments on Item 25-18366—Council Policy Change
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Honorable Cupertino Mayor and City Council,
I was informed that tonight you are looking at changing policy concerning ratifying
appointments by outside bodies (with tonight’s Item 25-18366; Adding Section 5.3.1 to your
Council Policy). In Sunnyvale, we have a similar policy, however, this is a perfunctory
approval of a decision that ultimately lies under the power of an outside body that we have no
real control over.
Sunnyvale Council has never not automatically approved the decision of an outside body as
far as I know in my 20 years of serving the city (and I’m uncertain of the general power that
we would have to do so). Even though we have additional powers as a Charter City; this
Council Policy is perfunctory and informational at best.
Speaking on my own behalf, I urge you to not approve this specific change to your Council
Policy.
Best regards,
-Larry
Larry Klein
Sunnyvale Mayor