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Transcript
[00:05:22] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us for closed session. City Attorney Logue will make a closed session announcement and then we welcome public comment on the items listed for closed session.
[00:05:30] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council members. There are two items on the closed session agenda this evening. Item 2.1 is a conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9.
[00:05:42] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: The name of the case is Ella Kobzanets versus the City of Mountain View and JJR Construction Incorporated, Santa Clara County Superior Court Case Number 23CV420311.
[00:05:53] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: And item 2.2 is a conference with legal counsel regarding one item of anticipated litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 d2.
[00:06:05] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card.
[00:06:17] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Not seeing any public with us, so we will uh recess to the Plaza Conference Room for closed session and return to the Council Chambers at the close to continue to the regular session. Thank you.
[00:22:34] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right everyone, thank you for your patience. Good evening. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Mountain View City Council of September 23rd, 2025. I invite you to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[00:23:09] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. The City Clerk will take attendance by roll call.
[00:23:14] City Clerk: Councilmember Clark?
[00:23:15] Councilmember Clark: Here.
[00:23:16] City Clerk: Councilmember Hicks?
[00:23:17] Councilmember Hicks: Here.
[00:23:18] City Clerk: Councilmember McAllister?
[00:23:19] Councilmember McAllister: Yes.
[00:23:20] City Clerk: Councilmember Ramirez?
[00:23:21] Councilmember Ramirez: Here.
[00:23:23] City Clerk: Councilmember Showalter?
[00:23:24] Councilmember Showalter: Here.
[00:23:25] City Clerk: Vice Mayor Ramos?
[00:23:26] Vice Mayor Ramos: Here.
[00:23:27] City Clerk: Mayor Kamei?
[00:23:28] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Here.
[00:23:28] City Clerk: You have a quorum.
[00:23:29] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So before we begin tonight's meeting, I'd like to take time to honor and recognize our Fire Engineer Paramedic Gabriel Shimaya, known affectionately as Gabe, who passed away at the age of 36 on Monday, July 14, 2025, after fighting a fearless two-and-a-half-year battle with terminal disease.
[00:25:34] Deputy Fire Chief Brian Jones: Good evening, Mayor Kamei and Councilmembers. On behalf of the Fire Department and the Shimaya family, we'd like to thank you for honoring Fire Engineer Paramedic Gabe Shimaya with this proclamation. Your recognition not only honors his service and sacrifice to the community, but also brings comfort to his family, friends, and fellow firefighters. The Fire Department is very grateful for your support and for ensuring that Gabe's dedication to the community will never be forgotten. We thank you.
[00:26:15] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. We have prepared also a Mayor's Proclamation for Gabe and the Fire Department and his family. So I'd like to come down and present it to the two of you. That's all right?
[00:27:14] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you to our Mountain View Fire Department who joined us tonight. Thank you again.
[00:27:23] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Thank you. No reportable action was taken in closed session this evening.
[00:27:27] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. So we will move on to Item 3, which are our Presentations. Please note these are presentations only. The City Council will not take any action. Public comment will occur after the presentation items. So if you would like to speak on these items in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.
[00:28:13] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right. And the proclamation reads: Whereas September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness of food insecurity in communities across America and inspire action to end hunger; and whereas every member of our community deserves the nutritious food they need to thrive, yet due to the prohibitively expensive cost of living in Silicon Valley, food insecurity across our region is an unfortunate reality; and whereas for more than 50 years, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley has served as the hub of the charitable food system, partnering with 400 community organizations across San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to support our neighbors with nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, grains, and other essential staples, and provides food assistance to almost half a million individuals, one in six residents each month.
[00:29:28] Tracy Weatherby: Well, thank you so much. Many people know that Second Harvest is the food bank for Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. I think later in your presentations, you're going to be hearing about a lot of the impacts of H.R. 1 and our community, and hunger and CalFresh cuts are right up there as well, although you'll be hearing a lot more about the health and Medi-Cal side. So, you know, our work is more important than ever, and we couldn't do it without partners like Ellen Kamei, who is on our board, and partners who help us get this food to the community. We provide the food to all of our partners for free. And as Councilmember Kamei said, you know, the Mountain View Senior Center is one of our locations. We support the CSA, the Community Services Agency, Hope's Corner, and Mountain View Hispanic are just a few of the partners we have here in Mountain View. So, so appreciative of the support and the recognition of hunger challenges in our community. Oh, and the food bank has been undertaking a huge effort since the people we served doubled during the pandemic. And so we are trying to build—we are building—a facility to unify our locations because we have a lot of inefficiencies, we have two different locations in San Jose. So we just broke ground a couple of weeks ago on a piece of land in Alviso where we are going to be building a one big integrated facility to be able to provide that much better support to our community. Thank you very much.
[00:30:30] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So, I'll do a photo with the Council.
[00:30:48] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So we have another presentation item. Item 3.2 recognizes National Suicide Prevention Month. We're happy to be joined this evening by Andy Sweet, Associate Clinical Director at Pacific Clinics, to accept this proclamation. And Andy, are you here? Okay, perfect. Great. And some in the audience may know that Pacific Clinics is at our former CHAC site, our Community Health Awareness Council is now Pacific Clinics. It has a nice sign there that says that. And that's been about a year now, I think, right? Okay.
[00:32:41] Andy Sweet: Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Mayor and the City of Mountain View, for this recognition during Suicide Prevention Month. Rates of suicide among youth continue to increase, making it essential to raise awareness around this critical public health issue and emphasize the importance of behavioral health services, which can help to identify warning signs, provide interventions, and offer treatment. On behalf of Pacific Clinics, I'm honored to accept this recognition. Pacific Clinics has been providing services in the community for more than 150 years, and we will continue providing services in the North County community with much-needed services such as our Family Resource Center, which provides counseling and parenting workshops, and our family shop where families can pick up essential items such as clothing, bedding, and toiletries, as well as our school-based services, outpatient clinic, crisis services, and more. We are very proud to continue CHAC's legacy serving this community and ensuring residents have access to behavioral health care and a continuum of services. We have a deep understanding of the community's needs and a capacity and commitment to care that allows us to create sustainable outcomes for the people we serve. Thank you again for this incredible honor.
[00:33:57] Mayor Ellen Kamei: I think before we take our photo with Council, I just want to say, kind of end this presentation the way I did my remarks at the Youth Wellness Retreat, which is: You matter. And we have 988 as well as a resource in every language. So, thank you.
[00:35:24] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right, and I'm moving back to up here because our next presentation, Item 3.3, is a presentation from Santa Clara County. We are happy to be joined this evening by Santa Clara County Executive James Williams, another great Mountain View resident, for a presentation about the impacts of federal cuts through H.R. 1 in Santa Clara County. We're also happy to be joined, and I think I saw her sneak in, our former Mayor and Councilmember, and now upgraded to our current County Supervisor for District 5, Margaret Abe-Koga. So I will turn the podium over to the two of them to do their presentation.
[00:36:12] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: Good evening, everyone. It's a real pleasure to be back in my old 'hood here and in chambers with all of you. And I just wanted to also share, pay my respects to our amazing firefighter, Gabe Shimaya, and just a real epitome of Mountain View's finest and bravest. And just really offer my condolences to his family and to our firefighter family. But it's great to be back to see all of you, all of my former colleagues. And I often think about you all as I've now joined the County Board of Supervisors, and really do refer back to the many things that we were able to do here and accomplish, and many of the best practices that I refer back to from our days here at the City Council. So it's really an honor to be back and now to be serving on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors as your representative, the first one from Mountain View in 50 years. And I think it was time for that, Mountain View be represented on the board. So I'm very proud and grateful to have that opportunity.
[00:38:50] James Williams: Thank you, Supervisor Abe-Koga. Good evening, Mayor Kamei, members of the Council. It's a privilege to be here in front of you. Yes, as a Mountain View resident, but also as your County Executive. I'm going to walk as quickly as I can through a presentation around what H.R. 1 means for our community and the really significant impacts that it has for every single one of our Santa Clara County residents, including everyone living here in Mountain View. And then happy to answer whatever questions you may have. So if we can go to the next slide, please.
[02:15:00] James Williams: part of acute behavioral health services in this community, including operating the only 24/7 emergency psychiatric services facility. So there's a number of integrated impacts that occur across a variety of safety net services that are critical to taking care of individuals in need across our community, including here in Mountain View. Next slide, please.
[02:15:23] James Williams: To give you a sense of the Mountain View specific numbers, right here in the City of Mountain View, nearly 14,000 residents rely on Medi-Cal. 9,000 of them receive care directly from Santa Clara Valley Healthcare. And there's 10,000 visits to our North County clinics, including the dental clinic here in Mountain View. 3,400 residents rely on CalFresh. These are Mountain View specific numbers.
[02:15:49] James Williams: During the pandemic, you may recall that we used Santa Clara Valley Healthcare resources to stand up extraordinary vaccination and testing resources, including here. And with the support of the City for facilities access, we vaccinated 141,000 vaccinations were delivered right here in Mountain View, and 43% of Mountain View residents received their vaccinations from the County's healthcare delivery system. Similarly, you see the numbers here around the families served directly by the County's homeless effort, prevention and outreach efforts. Next slide, please.
[02:16:28] James Williams: So what are we doing? We're not just standing still. This bill passed July 4th. We're facing these catastrophic impacts. We're moving forward boldly and aggressively to try to preserve as many services as we can for our community. We have a three-part set of solutions, and I say set because each part has a multitude of elements. Including the largest, reducing costs and restructuring our services. We know dealing with over a billion dollar hole, we're going to have to do a lot as an organization on that front.
[02:17:08] James Williams: We also believe the State needs to step up. The State can't fill this entire gap by any means, but we do believe that the State needs to step up, especially given the outsized role that public hospital systems play in serving and providing a backbone for healthcare delivery for all Californians. But the reality of the magnitude we're facing also calls upon local solutions. Next slide, please.
[02:17:33] James Williams: And one of those is the Board of Supervisors did unanimously place a 5/8 cent sales tax measure on the November ballot. Unlike cities, counties have very limited legal authority related to taxes. A sales tax is one of the only, is really the only mechanism that we have available as a county government, hence the reason for a sales tax. And 5/8 of a cent is due to the specific legislation authority that we have. Counties can only tax based on authority that is granted by the Legislature.
[02:18:07] James Williams: This measure would provide about $330 million. Far less than the billion dollar hole, but a very meaningful and impactful amount that would make a difference for the services that we provide. Next slide, please.
[02:18:19] James Williams: This is an emergency. It's a fiscal emergency for our County organization, but for our community and for the vital services that we provide and otherwise often take for granted as baseline services that are available and accessible to all residents here in our County. We're doing and are committed to doing everything that we can to ensure access to these critical and essential services. We're happy to answer questions that you may have, but we're certainly seeking support from every ally and partner we can in this endeavor. Thank you.
[02:18:59] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So I think we, if colleagues have questions for County Executive Williams, we can do that. I see many other people in the audience who I'm sure can help us answer questions as well from their team. So does anyone have any that they would like to ask while we're receiving this presentation? Councilmember Ramirez.
[02:19:24] Councilmember Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the presentation. I had the opportunity to watch also the County presentations to the City of Sunnyvale and the City of San Jose, and I'm very much looking forward to the presentation to the City of Cupertino. Good luck. So a few questions based on what I've learned from some of those presentations. During the San Jose presentation, you made I thought an important point that cutting certain services may not, there's a different value to the County, right? So for instance, there's revenue associated with public health, and for other certain cuts, you get a dollar, right? You cut a dollar, you get a dollar.
[02:20:04] Councilmember Ramirez: So can you help provide a little bit more information about why we should anticipate cuts to public health in particular, knowing that there are revenue sources that would be lost as a consequence, and why not focus on some of those services where you get the full dollar if you make that cut?
[02:20:19] James Williams: Absolutely. I think this is a really important point and what the Councilmember is alluding to is some of the questions that I was answering from the San Jose City Council where I was walking through the complexity of our County budget. But one of the important things to understand for Santa Clara Valley Healthcare in particular is that it is largely revenue backed. And so when you cut a service or you cut a dollar, given that 88 cents on the dollar comes from other revenues, you don't get a full dollar of savings, you lose the accompanying revenue sources as well. And that poses a particularly catastrophic challenge when we're facing the magnitude of cuts that we're talking about targeted to our healthcare delivery system.
[02:21:08] James Williams: Because what it means is that if we were to try to balance that budget solely within the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare budget, if we, I'll give you a very concrete example. The gross operating costs for O'Connor, Regional, and St. Louise hospitals, the three other County hospitals beyond Valley Medical Center, the gross operating cost is about $1.3 billion. Now the net cost is of course far, far less because significant amounts of those services are backed by revenues, whether it's Medicare fee-for-service, Medi-Cal fee-for-service, commercial insurance payers, even in some modest cases private payers.
[02:21:53] James Williams: And so if you just shutter those services, you don't save $1.3 billion net if you closed all those facilities. You actually save only a net amount, which is a much more modest few hundred million. And so even though Medi-Cal services don't make a profit, and even though they don't fully cover all the cost of care, they do cover the majority of the cost of care. And so we're able to deliver an incredible amount of care and actually support a broader ecosystem.
[02:22:29] James Williams: Let me give you a second concrete example. Take our rehabilitation center. Now this is the best in the West Coast, it's a top 10 in the nation center. We have patients coming to us from Kaiser, from Stanford, from other private hospitals not just in our area but across the region. But a majority of patients served by that center are Medi-Cal patients. So a majority of the revenue is Medi-Cal. You can't run the center if you lose a significant portion of your majority revenue source.
[02:23:03] James Williams: So these are the complexities as we tackle and stare down service line reorganizations. There will be service line reorganizations. There will be significant service line reorganizations in the health system. But the idea that you would be able to take a billion dollars out of that system without cataclysmic impacts on healthcare delivery doesn't add up because of that revenue piece.
[02:23:29] Councilmember Ramirez: Thank you, that's helpful. And if there's time, a couple of quick questions about some of the accountability-related concerns that I've heard from constituents and elsewhere. In Mountain View when we've placed revenue measures before the voters, we have historically adopted a resolution articulating some type of expenditure plan, and the staff have done a very good job of helping demonstrate to the voters subsequent to approval that we've adhered to our commitment. And I'm curious why that's something that the County has not explored to help make the case to voters that you intend to spend that money in the way that you're sharing?
[02:24:14] James Williams: Yeah, I think this is a great question. And I think the answer is this: we're facing over a billion dollar impact to primarily our health system. Unlike a typical revenue measure where you're talking about new programs or program expansions, what we're talking about is how do we put together a comprehensive plan to ensure preservation of critical services. And it's a multi-pronged strategy that includes the State stepping up, it includes our local community stepping up, and it includes really significant service line reorganizations.
[02:24:49] James Williams: But $300 million dollars of course does not equal over a thousand million dollars. And so the magnitude of what we're facing, mathematically, it's addition and subtraction, mathematically shows the place where we have need and the place where we're going to have to leverage as much as we can in order to preserve these critical services. We do have accountability measures though. We have significant ones. Included in the ordinance that the Board passed is independent oversight as well as independent auditing and reporting.
[02:25:24] James Williams: Our plan is to model it on the successful 2016 oversight model that was used for the Measure A housing bond, which has been widely acclaimed as a very successful oversight model and approach. And so there will be not only full transparency in how money is utilized—it is a limited five-year tax—but also an independent oversight process that will be put in place as well.
[02:25:58] Councilmember Ramirez: Can you remind us how the members of that oversight body are selected for the 2016 Measure A oversight?
[02:26:03] James Williams: Yeah, there's a number of seats kind of set aside and these folks are appointed by the Board of Supervisors. But that committee happened to be chaired by the former, now former Assessor, but included representatives from a variety of financial and in that case real estate and other relevant backgrounds, and included the hiring of an independent CPA firm to audit the expenditures. So it won't be an exact one-to-one because we're talking about a different type of tax measure, but representatives of various relevant stakeholders and independent support for that body.
[02:26:44] Councilmember Ramirez: Thank you. And last question, I promise Mayor. Mayor Klein in Sunnyvale asked a question that I felt didn't get a very good response, so I'm hoping to give you another opportunity. I wasn't there for the Sunnyvale presentation.
[02:26:59] Councilmember Ramirez: I don't blame you. But so what he asked was there have been reports in the media that the Mayor of San Jose has been negotiating with the County in some way shape or form, and for those of us who have concerns about that, it feels a bit like a quid pro quo, right? In exchange for your support, we're going to give you some political win. My question is, is there any way that for instance, you know, our Mayor or our City Manager could negotiate with you also for a cut for Mountain View?
[02:27:33] James Williams: So let me be very clear about one thing. And there was some unfortunate statements made by a public official who has not been part of any conversations between the City of San Jose and the County. So let me say one thing very unequivocally and very clear. There have been no conversations, none, about expenditure of Measure A funds, carving up Measure A funds. And candidly the answer for that is very straightforward. I just presented to you all about how we're facing over a billion dollar impact and $330 million doesn't equal a billion. Measure A alone isn't sufficient. And so carving it up for other things doesn't make any mathematical sense.
[02:28:20] James Williams: What we have continued to have conversations about, productive ones, is parts of ongoing conversations around deepening work that has already been underway related to homelessness activity, partnerships that we already have very strong ones with the City of Mountain View, including things like making sure that city-run temporary housing sites are part of our countywide network. So those are things that are long-standing conversations we're eager to continue those partnerships with San Jose and yes with Mountain View and other cities. And I'm very pleased to say Mountain View is actually one of our examples of really strong partnerships in those programs.
[02:29:02] Councilmember Ramirez: Thank you. That's helpful.
[02:29:03] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Councilmember Showalter.
[02:29:05] Councilmember Showalter: Well, thank you so much for coming to Mountain View to tell us about this. It's not good news, but we need to be informed. And so I really appreciate that. One of the things that I've heard people talk about a lot is the difference between a sales tax and a bond measure. And how a sales tax is fundamentally regressive because, you know, if you're less well off you have to spend more of your money on things that have sales tax. And so I'd like to hear a little bit more about what the County's ability is to raise money because I was really surprised to hear you couldn't bond for this.
[02:29:49] James Williams: Well, this is my favorite topic so, by background I'm a revenue and taxation attorney, so you've really touched on my favorite topic. So, there's a couple really important legal parameters that are relevant here. One is there's a big difference between cities and counties in taxing authority. Counties, even charter counties like Santa Clara, under the California Constitution and California State Law can only levy taxes with the express permission of the Legislature. So the types of taxes that we can levy and the amounts require specific authorization from the Legislature. By contrast, charter cities can levy any kind of tax except where prohibited by the Constitution or State Law. So it's kind of the inverse. So that's one.
[02:30:49] James Williams: Second specific related to bonds. Under Proposition 13, bond measures can only be used for the acquisition or improvement of real property. So you can do a bond to buy land, to build buildings, to renovate buildings. But you cannot issue a GO bond and spend that money for any services or operations. And the issue we're talking about here, we certainly have facility needs, I know Mountain View does, the County very much does, but the issue that we're talking about here is revenue to fund staff, operations. We're talking about nurses and equipment and supplies, right? You cannot use bond money to fund services and ongoing operations.
[02:31:31] James Williams: So for the County, we have very limited choices. There are certain kinds of taxes that we can levy, but only in unincorporated areas. So for instance, TOT, business license, can only be levied by a County in unincorporated areas. As you know, there's not a lot in unincorporated Santa Clara County. There's no meaningful revenue to generate there. So the only measure that we could put on that would generate any meaningful revenue that's countywide is the sales tax. And it's only because we actually have special legislation that grants Santa Clara County that authority for a sales tax up to 5/8 of a cent. So that's where the amount comes from as well.
[02:32:02] James Williams: So we are really cabined. And I will say one thing about the regressive nature of sales taxes. You're right compared to say an income tax. That being said, services are exempt and some of the more common essential goods such as groceries are exempt from sales taxes. So they're certainly not as progressive as an income tax, but those are not options available to us. And perhaps most importantly, the services and impacts that we're talking about, as is often the case when we're talking about critical government services, the impacts that we're talking about would far and away disproportionately harm those individuals who are the most vulnerable in our community.
[02:32:32] Councilmember Showalter: Okay. And then my other question is that, well I'm hoping if it's the Legislature that gives you the rules, you know, perhaps we can come up with some legislative changes. We have some legislators who are always asking us for there ought to be a law. And so I think it would be a good idea to put something together. I don't know exactly what it would be but just, you know, the County has a lot of creative people.
[02:33:07] Councilmember Showalter: And in particular I look at that because we have a little time. I mean if you look at this, the cuts are bad now but they get catastrophic as time goes on. So, you know, looking at this from the long term, which hopefully it isn't the long term because we might have a chance. Anyway, I just think that the possibility of future legislative changes to fix this taxing problem are something to be considered. So thank you very much.
[02:33:30] James Williams: Thank you. If I could just say one thing. You know, counties have long sought broader taxing authority from the Legislature. There are some constitutional restrictions too, but I think we would certainly welcome partners in that effort. But that's a long-standing legislative ask that counties across the state have been making. So thank you.
[02:33:52] Councilmember Showalter: Thank you.
[02:33:53] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Councilmember McAllister.
[02:33:54] Councilmember McAllister: Yeah, really quick question. The $1 billion is how many years is that spread over? Do you get a lump sum or is it spread over what period of time?
[02:34:03] James Williams: These are annual amounts. So these are ongoing revenue losses. So what you see on that chart, I think it was on page four, yeah. Those are growing because some of the cuts from H.R. 1 do phase in. So there's some that we are facing immediately as soon as this current fiscal year. There's some that kick in during the course of the upcoming fiscal year. There's some that kick in the following fiscal year. But the amounts that you see are reflective of ongoing annual revenue losses.
[02:34:39] Councilmember McAllister: Okay, so the billion dollars is gone going forward. Okay, so you're anticipating a theoretical $330 million a year. So you've got about $650 million deficit. What other ways are you going to try to, you're going to have to make cuts one way or whatever. What do you expect to do to fill that gap?
[02:35:04] James Williams: Well that's where we're taking a number of different approaches. One is we're going to have to push hard on that portion of the payer mix that is commercial and increase those rates. A second is we're in the midst of a really significant restructuring that we brought forward and the Board of Supervisors approved related to Medi-Cal managed care in our community and how the Medi-Cal managed care plans are structured in this community that is an effort to increase the base rates associated with Medi-Cal. Those are examples of revenue-related solutions.
[02:35:43] James Williams: We're going to have to look at service lines and service line consolidations and what services are provided where, including which kinds of services are most able to be supported from a revenue standpoint. We also in coalition with the other public hospital systems in California are seeking from the State assistance. Now the State is not in a position to backfill this full hole, and we understand that, we're clear about that. But we do believe that a piece of this the State needs to step up and mitigate impacts to public systems, in particular given the role that those 6% of hospitals play in providing more than 50% of the trauma and burn centers and training more than 50% of the doctors in California.
[02:36:28] James Williams: So those are all examples of a multitude of things. We're of course going to need to deal with costs in our County organization, both on the labor side and services and supply side. But we're going to have some very difficult, very, very difficult decisions that we will be confronting. And we're taking actions already. We have a very aggressive hiring freeze for example in the County organization. We're moving forward a significant package of proposals that the Board will consider at mid-year this year because as you see from the chart, there's impacts that already affect this current fiscal year too. So it's a range of things, but what Measure A does do is it very meaningfully makes the difference in magnitude in what's on the table and our ability to ensure the continuity of services for some of the most critical and essential services within the health system.
[02:37:28] Councilmember McAllister: And what would be the potential theoretical effect on El Camino Hospital if your funding, if you shut down hospitals, are they going to all people going to come north? Or are they just going to, how is that going to affect us?
[02:37:43] James Williams: Well that's where I was pointing out the number of ED beds we have in our community. We already are at the very, very low end of the spectrum per capita as a County as a whole. That's inclusive of all public and private beds. I actually personally think El Camino of all the non-County healthcare systems in our community has the most at stake here because their ability to mitigate some of those impacts I think is much less than some of the other systems. The reality is, when you look at our volumes, our hospitals are busy. There's patients in acute care beds, the ED volumes are extraordinary.
[02:38:34] James Williams: These folks need those services and since there's an obligation on the part of all hospitals to provide emergency services to anyone who presents, those patients will go somewhere. A majority of ambulance transports countywide come to County hospitals today. And those patients will get transported by ambulance somewhere. So we I think have to recognize that healthcare is an integrated system. We happen to have a system in this broader community as a County that's stratified by payer mix. What I mean by that is that the County system disproportionately serves Medi-Cal and Medicare patients.
[02:39:19] James Williams: It's really interesting the Medicare piece of this by the way, which has grown over recent years. The County system disproportionately serves Medi-Cal and Medicare patients and we have other systems in our community that disproportionately serve commercial payers. But collectively the system has to serve all patients. And we're already seeing impacts elsewhere in the State. There's at least three hospitals already that have said elsewhere in California that have said that they are closing. And there's significant pressures on hospitals up and down the State.
[02:39:43] James Williams: The last thing I'll say about our other hospitals here in our community is that we are already a very expensive healthcare location. Seven of the ten most expensive hospitals in the State of California surround the County Hospital system and are located right around here. That's a reflection of a number of factors, but having significant impacts to the County system and to Medi-Cal is going to exacerbate those impacts and is going to exacerbate impacts on healthcare costs for everyone in the community. That is actually one of the things that will happen I believe nationally as a result of H.R. 1 as well.
[02:40:20] Councilmember McAllister: So if El Camino Hospital beds are all full, you call ahead beforehand to say we're going to send somebody and they say we're full, then they just, what happens then hypothetically?
[02:40:34] James Williams: Well the way it works is the patient gets transported right by ambulance, they call 911 or they come in as a walk-in, and the hospital has an obligation to triage and to serve as best as they can on a triage basis. So it's not a matter of call ahead, it's a matter of patient arrives and then the system has to triage.
[02:40:52] Councilmember McAllister: Thank you.
[02:40:56] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So I don't see anyone else in the queue so I'm going to ask a couple questions. I think you and I have talked about them a little bit but hopefully you'll be able to share with the community. So a lot of the conversation has been focused on the hospital system, but one of the things that you've highlighted and really appreciate the community impacts to Mountain View slide is how H.R. 1 is going to be affecting food assistance, disaster response, and also those for our unhoused community. So can you maybe share how you'll be addressing that or how Measure A might address some of that?
[02:41:45] James Williams: Yeah, these are interrelated systems. So take for example our Behavioral Health Services Department. A quarter of its budget comes from Medi-Cal. And Santa Clara Valley Healthcare itself provides all the acute care behavioral health services that the County delivers. A significant number of resources that support supportive housing, especially the service delivery piece, also comes from Medi-Cal. There's a whole initiative you may have heard of, CalAIM, which is really a waiver the State's obtained from the federal government that allows more flexible utilization of Medi-Cal revenues in order to deploy them for community supports, including housing-related supports, that have been proven to help provide and lead to better healthcare outcomes and save healthcare costs in the long run. Those are all Medi-Cal based funding streams that are dependent on the federal Medicaid program. So those are just some examples, but you're absolutely right that these are interconnected systems: public health, behavioral health, supportive housing, and Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, and they work in tandem.
[02:42:50] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Because I, and I asked that question because this is going to be a general tax and so when folks are asking about the focus on the hospitals, it's important to share that there's other information. And then my other question, which we also discussed a little bit, was the carve out that the County is receiving for having it not be, the monies received will not be taxed, is that correct? And that for those of us who are in cities who may want to pursue different measures...
[02:43:30] James Williams: You're talking about the cap? Yeah, so in general under State Law there's a cumulative cap for local sales tax measures. The legislation under which this tax has been proposed, the specific state legislation, this sits above that. So this doesn't affect that cap and has no impact on that cap. So that's just an important thing to know legally about this particular measure.
[02:43:58] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. And then just to follow up on Councilmember McAllister's question, I think in Mountain View we have many private hospitals. But I'd like to pull the thread a little bit on the strain on, you know, how the public health system, the impacts of the public health system will really affect the private. And so I didn't know if you wanted to share a little bit more on what you see could be the impacts, you know we have PAMF, we have Sutter, we have Kaiser, El Camino, Stanford, all in Mountain View, so maybe you could share a little bit more.
[02:44:44] James Williams: Yeah, as I said earlier, you know healthcare is an integrated delivery system. And I think we saw that particularly true during the pandemic where there was deep inter-reliance across the systems and where Santa Clara Valley Healthcare and the County Public Health Department really had to step forward and fill some really critical gaps in terms of vaccination and testing. As I said in response to an earlier question, we're somewhat distinct in our County in having stratified payer mix between different hospitals. And so some systems like the County's disproportionately serve certain types of payers and other systems disproportionately serve different types of payers.
[02:45:36] James Williams: But the reality, and this is the reality up and down the State including in communities that don't have the benefit of having the kind of investment, and it's really been a decades-long investment that this community has collectively made in having the kind of public healthcare infrastructure that we have with Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, that in those other communities that payer mix across private systems does look different. I go back to that cost piece. Our healthcare systems here locally, and I'm sure all of them would agree with this statement, are under a lot of pressures cost-wise.
[02:46:22] James Williams: And it's due to a multitude of factors, including the economics here around healthcare labor costs in particular. And for those systems, the burdens associated with shifting payer mix can be quite significant. And so the reality is that the health of all of our healthcare delivery systems is dependent on the other systems as well. And the County system has really provided a tremendous amount of indirect fiscal support candidly to those private systems in our community. And I think there's no better example of that than what's happened over the last decade with Medicare.
[02:47:03] James Williams: Over time, Medicare cost reimbursements have not kept up with cost of care. And what you see today is that the County system is now the largest Medicare provider in this community. And the percentage of Medicare patients coming to the County system is growing every single year. And so as we have an aging population in our County overall, and as that continues to worsen in terms of the revenue and cost, that's something that's going to only be exacerbated. So it is integrated, you know, we are one County and one County together and I think the most tangible evidence of that is what happened during COVID where it was County staff, County nurses delivering those shots right here in a City facility with our partnership with the City.
[02:48:04] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Did either of you want to make any closing remarks? I don't see anyone else in our question queue. So I want to provide you, maybe where people can learn more information?
[02:48:15] James Williams: We have a tremendous amount of information regarding H.R. 1, the federal impacts, the health system, also the impacts to CalFresh, we didn't talk as much about those but the impacts to CalFresh, and those are all available at scc.info/federalfunding. It's scc.info/federalfunding and I'm sure you'll hear some public comment from Measure A folks about how to get that information.
[02:48:44] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you both for your presentation.
[02:48:47] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: I just wanted to say thank you and going back to Councilmember Ramirez's question about how do we work with cities, whether it's San Jose or Mountain View or all of the 15 cities, I think what's really critical and I think we're learning through this process even more is the importance of working together and communicating. And actually I think it was Mayor Klein who brought up that during COVID, you know, we instituted that every Saturday morning call with County staff and all of the mayors. And so that sort of ended after COVID died down, but this has really brought up the importance of trying to bring back those types of communication lines.
[02:49:33] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: So for myself and our office, we have started a monthly call with the mayors in District 5. So Mayor Kamei was on our first call. And that's really the commitment that I would like to make to you all. Obviously you hold a special place in my heart, but it's really about communicating and letting us know what your needs are, what we can work together on. And with San Jose, I will say I've been talking with the Mayor there too about that, that I think we all agree that we can have better working relationships and that's really the intent is that we build that strong relationship between County and all of the cities. So that's my commitment as your representative, and one that has nine out of the 15 cities in my district. I hope you know that cities have a big place in my heart and will always be committed to communicating and to working with you. Thank you.
[02:50:14] James Williams: Also just wanted to echo that but add one other thing. As a Mountain View resident, just a huge thank you for all the service that you provide our community.
[02:50:28] Mayor Ellen Kamei: So now that our three presentation items are over, would any member of the Council like to say any words on any of the three items that presentation items? All right, not seeing any, we will open public comment for the presentation items. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on the presentation items listed on the agenda? So if so, I see a few hands raised on Zoom and a few cards it looks like that went through. So we'll do our in-person speakers first and each of our speakers will have three minutes. We'll start with Tim McKenzie, then Raymond Goins, Vivian Lowe, Jerry Manoukian, and then Kylie Clark. And then we'll move to virtual.
[02:51:39] Tim McKenzie: Greetings Council, good to see you in the meat world. Tim McKenzie, resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood for more than a decade. I'm here today as a member of the Steering Committee of Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America. DSA, we have endorsed Measure A because the County is under attack. I'm personally furious at Donald Trump reaching into our pockets and stealing from us to the benefit of his billionaire buddies and the biggest corporations. I am not thrilled that it's a sales tax, but as we heard this is the only tool in the tool belt that we have to try to have a stopgap measure.
[02:52:26] Tim McKenzie: This is a common strategy we see of attack the public goods, the commons, say it doesn't work, then let private equity swoop in, ring it for every cent that it can. There was just today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, there was a peer-reviewed paper demonstrating that when private equity buys healthcare systems, patient care decreases, more people die. This is what we're facing. We're under an attack. Our health, the public good is under attack. So DSA, we've endorsed Measure A. Every week we are phone banking and canvassing together with the South Bay Labor Council. Right now there are more than a dozen working class DSA members along with Labor Council allies phone banking down in San Jose to talk to residents.
[02:53:18] Tim McKenzie: I invite each of you to come join us at a phone bank or a canvas sometime before the election happens. And I'd also ask that, we heard the County is limited in what it can do, but municipalities have different rules. And getting back to large corporations, we have one of the biggest corporations in the world here in Mountain View that just cut down hundreds of trees to dig a ditch and then fill it back in. I think that there are revenue streams that we could have that stop putting things on the back of working people and that we can fight back, build the public commons, not allow huge corporations and the wealthy to dictate everything that we do. So I ask that you use your position as leaders in the community to let people know about Measure A and come out and canvas with us in DSA and the Labor Council. Thank you.
[02:54:12] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Raymond?
[02:54:17] Raymond Goins: Good evening, my name is Raymond Goins. I'm a Community Health Worker whose patients come from some of the most marginalized communities in Santa Clara County. And these communities will be impacted by these cuts in ways that will have a rippling effect throughout the County if this is not passed. So I support Measure A and I ask that you to vote yes with me. In my role as a Community Health Worker, I am afforded the opportunity to have patients that live throughout the cities that make up this great County. Some of my patients live right here in this very city and some may be family and friends each and every one of you have.
[02:54:53] Raymond Goins: So I am here to ask you to vote yes for Measure A for them. For the population that this County is not forgetting. For the homeless that feel that they are not seen because people just walk by without giving them a second thought. I am here for the single parent households who depends on these services to support them. So I ask each and every one of you to vote yes on Measure A. And I ask that the City of Mountain View endorse Measure A and stand by the community that will be impacted by these cuts, but will benefit if this measure is passed. The community that I represent and I work with, my patients, need this measure to pass or some of my patients will die because they are not afforded the services that they usually would have. I implore you to vote yes. Thank you.
[02:55:47] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Vivian.
[02:55:55] Vivian Lowe: Thank you. I am a recently retired Registered Nurse who worked at El Camino Hospital for 25 years. I am speaking for myself independently. I've been a resident in this County since 1976. I support Measure A. To assume that citizens in higher economic areas would not be impacted by funding cuts from H.R. 1 is alarming to me. We are not a stationary society and you could be anywhere in the County when a medical emergency occurs. When one hospital is overburdened and has to deny patient access, the burden shifts. Ambulances are diverted, care is delayed. The magnitude of the cuts that would impact the entire hospital ecosystem is daunting.
[02:56:48] Vivian Lowe: As soon as a crisis occurs, it levels the playing field regardless of where you live. Cooperation during the COVID pandemic guides us. I was part of your local staff that administered vaccines. I saw the integration with all South Bay hospitals. I witnessed how safety improved and lives were saved when all County resources worked together. I knew the risk we all took together in delivering care and felt the immense gratitude from our community and our voters. We can't get complacent now. The cuts are so horrific. These are not normal times. Arguments about seeking better structural design or reform as a solution take time. The risk of delay is too high.
[02:57:37] Vivian Lowe: The massive level of funding cuts from H.R. 1 required the unanimous vote and brave leadership from the County Board of Supervisors to maintain emergency trauma and public healthcare for all. Today just happens to be a New Year's for some cultures, an opportunity for setting good intentions moving forward. Please endorse Measure A. Thank you for your time.
[02:58:04] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Jerry?
[02:58:13] Jerry Manoukian: Hello, I'm Jerry Manoukian. I live and vote in Mountain View. I'm a practicing physician for a little over 30 years. I trained at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. I was there for the 1989 earthquake. And I'm on staff at El Camino Hospital which has a very busy emergency room and cannot afford to have more traffic from the South. A famous bumper sticker reads: Think education is expensive, try ignorance. I say: Think healthcare is expensive, try hospital closures. Our gentleman here has already talked about how Valley has taken over several other hospitals in the area. Those hospitals were teetering on the brink.
[03:00:00] Jerry Manoukian: closure at the time that they were taken over. The county hospitals are our main defense against things like earthquakes and we are always one earthquake away from another tragedy. Fires, mass shootings, the occasional pandemic or measles epidemic. Not to mention the mental health services. If the county system cuts back on these services or heaven forbid closes, our patients are still going to get sick and they will come to the other hospitals. When I work in urgent care here in Mountain View, I see patients from Morgan Hill. It works that way. When an earthquake happens, people are not always in their residence. They might be across town. Lastly, as a Santa Clara Valley Medical Center trainee, I owe a debt of gratitude to the impoverished and marginalized people who trained me in my profession when I was a student, an intern, and a resident. Thank you. Support Measure A.
[03:01:09] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Kylie Clark, Celine Ho, and then Eric Poicon.
[03:01:20] Kylie Clark: Hello, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. My name is Kylie Clark and I'm the campaign manager for Measure A. I know that tonight you've heard about how this will impact our most vulnerable and this is, of course, about them. This is, of course, about your 14% of residents who are on Medi-Cal, who will be looking at a very, very bad situation if Measure A doesn't pass. But this is also about all of us. Nobody wants to wait longer for an ambulance to arrive. Nobody wants to sit longer in an emergency room, and nobody wants their healthcare to get worse, which would unequivocally happen to all of us if Measure A doesn't pass. Importantly, nobody asked for these cuts, but here we are and we're in this position and we have to do something to address them. Like you've heard tonight, the healthcare system is an ecosystem and this is our one shot to protect it. It might be easy to sit back and not do anything right now, but it would be hard to justify having done so in a year when these cuts come into effect. I'd like to end on three specific notes. First, I have to tell you that you can learn more about Measure A at saveourlocalhospitals.com. You can also contact me at kylie@saveourlocalhospitals.com. I'm always more than happy to talk with any of you. Second, I somewhat ironically chair the 2000 Measure A Citizens' Watchdog Committee, so I know a good amount about citizen oversight. I've seen what it looks like and I just really want to tell you I believe you can place your trust in that and in the oversight that there will be for this measure. And third, I want to address the point about the regressive nature of this tax. There are no taxes on groceries, childcare, rent, healthcare, or education. So what is more regressive? A temporary tax outside of these five categories or a severe depletion of our life-saving healthcare system? I ask that each of you individually and that you collectively as a Council endorse Measure A. Thank you.
[03:03:23] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Celine.
[03:03:30] Celine Ho: Good evening. My name is Celine Ho. I work for the Valley Homeless Healthcare Program at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare. I come to you in my own capacity as a Mountain View resident and on my own time. I've been a resident here in Mountain View for 14 years. My two sons were actually born here at El Camino Hospital. I strongly support Measure A. I'm proud to be part of this Mountain View community where we stand together in solidarity in times of great success, but also in times of crisis. And here we are in an unprecedented crisis that's not only affecting a few hospitals and a few Medi-Cal patients, but affects all of us. When the emergency rooms close, patients don't simply disappear. They crowd into the nearest hospitals and this leads to longer wait times, increased costs, and a decline in our quality of care. Many Mountain View residents rely on Santa Clara Healthcare for their services. Our Valley Homeless Healthcare Program at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare provides vital services to our unhoused neighbors here in Mountain View. Our medical team is right here at Hope's Corner tending to our clients' medical needs. They're at the safe parking lots down the street providing care to those who don't seek services in traditional clinics. And our backpack medicine team is out in the streets providing street medicine to the folks in the RVs along our streets. In addition to these critical services, we have our Santa Clara Valley Dental Care down the street on El Camino that provides high-quality adult, pediatrics, and emergency dental care for our residents here. These federal cuts to healthcare can restrict access to care for Mountain View residents that rely on these Santa Clara Valley Healthcare for primary care, homeless healthcare, specialty care, and emergency services. Because these cuts are beyond our control, our Measure A gives our county the power to act locally, allocate the resources, and make the decisions for our community's health. We must meet this moment and fight and protect not just the residents of Mountain View, but all residents in the county. Thank you.
[03:05:45] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Eric, Cassandra, then Jane Lombard.
[03:06:05] Eric Poicon: Good evening Mayor Kamei and Councilmembers. My name is Eric Poicon. I'm a proud resident of Mountain View, also a proud employee of the County of Santa Clara, here representing myself. As you heard today, many of our neighbors rely on Santa Clara Valley Healthcare. In just the past two years, about 130 Mountain View residents were taken to Valley Healthcare hospitals for emergency services and nearly 14,000 of our residents are enrolled in Medi-Cal and could lose access to funding if we lose this... as a result of these funding cuts. If hospitals throughout the county are forced to scale back or close services, the hospitals in Mountain View that families rely on will be overwhelmed, creating impossible wait times when people need help the most. This crisis doesn't stem with us. It stems from federal decisions that slash healthcare funding to pay for tax cuts benefiting the wealthy. Measure A is the only tool we have right now to protect access for our most needy communities. But it's going to really take an effort from all of us, not only as you as electeds, but us as residents to vote in favor of this. So I'm hoping that we're all able to pull together and ensure access to all our families throughout Santa Clara County. So I implore you all to support Measure A. Thank you.
[03:08:15] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Cassandra.
[03:08:19] Cassandra: Hi Mayor and City Council. Do you guys know why I love Mountain View City Council? It's because I never have to show up. That's how much trust and faith I have in all of you guys to support Measure A. I'm just here to say that because I have so much faith in you guys. I sit at six city council meetings, that is my day job, including the Board of Supervisors meeting. I do this for my job. So I am so confident in the Mountain View City Council that I don't have to explain. James just told you guys what's gonna happen. I don't need to tell you guys anymore. I will say that 14% of our residents, that that's a lot. I think the one category that does not get talked about is the low-income taxpayers who are private insurance holders who do not qualify for Medi-Cal because I, when I started my job, I got kicked off of Medi-Cal but I also require specialized services from Stanford. I am a Stanford baby, so I do have a lot of love for Stanford and the private system, but just because they offer the care that I need to keep me alive. That's something that unfortunately I was kicked out of Medi-Cal and there's a lot of us who have to have private health insurance to even get the specialized services to keep a lot of people alive. I will also say that it comes at a cost when you are no longer extremely low-income. I pay upwards $1,200 a month just for my medications, all the specialized services that I require. That is probably true for a lot of people and that puts a lot of us in debt. That would mean that we would have to pay higher premiums at the end of the day because of these cuts. I was a Medi-Cal user. I've been through the system. Unfortunately, San Mateo County system which is a different health system which is why I was born at Stanford, but you know, there is a portion of us who are low-income taxpayers and if I had the decision to pay 5/8 cents tax on anything to help save those critical needs services, I would do it. I wouldn't even blink. I wouldn't even notice. None of us would notice. We would just swipe the card and look away. Most of the residents here, I know that for sure because it's unrecognizable. You won't even notice that that's how the sales tax works. But again, I'm just here to show my support. I have so much faith in all of you guys and our city staff and I don't even know why I came. I already know that you guys will stand by the community because I trust you guys that much. Thank you.
[03:11:32] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Okay, Jane. And then Alex.
[03:12:00] Jane Lombard: Well, thank you Council for giving me an audience. My name is Jane Lombard. I'm a practicing cardiologist and I've been practicing in Mountain View for 25 years. But I also trained at the county and I worked at Kaiser, I worked at Stanford, I worked at the VA. I've worked every single system there is. And I'm short. So, one thing I think, you know, you were asking about the billion dollars. The billion dollars is basically the operating budget for El Camino Hospital. It's about a billion to billion and a half. So if you take that away, you just wiped El Camino off the slate. And just imagine, you know, I mean, hospitals were closing even before the big beautiful bill or whatever. Doctors Hospital Manteca, they had a shut, they almost closed, they shut down because their primary population was Medi-Cal and a few Medicare. San Pablo closed. Lots of hospitals were already on the brink, they were on the brink of bankruptcy as you mentioned. And now this is just going to make it worse. And as a cardiologist, I think, you know, if you're having a heart attack, what are you going to do? Let the guy just sit out there because you have no bed and you, you know, we're full. What are you going to do? We can't let people die. So I'm petitioning for everyone to vote in support of Measure A from a social justice point. Santa Clara County is the fourth richest county in the United States followed by San Mateo. I mean, actually San Mateo is a little bit ahead of us, but we have three times the population. 25% of the county's population is Medi-Cal. That gives us 500,000 people who depend on these services. You know, it's terrible because the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poor or die. And so I think that in order, you know, these 500,000 people, as the previous speakers has said, they're not going to go away. When your life is in danger, you look for help. And the worst thing is there are more children who are Medi-Cal recipients because a lot of them don't, you know, their parents' insurance don't cover them. And I think that's, if we don't invest in our future, we are a dying civilization. And I just want to say one quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes. I don't like paying taxes, but this is what he says. Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society. Thank you.
[03:14:24] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Let's see. Alex, Cassandra, then Jane Lombard.
[03:14:25] Alex: I'm for it.
[03:14:30] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right, and we'll move on to virtual public comment. Judy Stroyer? See if you can unmute.
[03:14:53] Judy Stroyer: Yeah, can you hear me?
[03:14:55] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.
[03:14:56] Judy Stroyer: Okay. I was calling about something that I thought was in the purview of your group there and I would like to have...
[03:15:03] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Is this public comment or is this on the presentation item?
[03:15:06] Judy Stroyer: Is this not public comment right now?
[03:15:09] Mayor Ellen Kamei: It is not, no. We're doing presentations right now. We had three presentation items. Then we'll do consent and then we'll do public comment.
[03:15:18] Judy Stroyer: All right, I'm sorry about that.
[03:15:20] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Oh, no worries. We'll come back to you if you can. Okay. All right, how about Catherine Naglee?
[03:15:24] Catherine Naglee: Hello, my name is Catherine Naglee. I am a Mountain View resident and I live just a few doors down from Mayor Kamei. And I don't have a healthcare background. I just know that if emergency rooms close and if hospitals close, we're all going to end up paying a much larger, you know, dollar amount for people not getting the services they need in the long run. And I very much support Measure A and I know that Measure A is not the only thing that we're going to need, but it is an important piece of the puzzle. So I just want to express my support. Thank you.
[03:16:13] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. All right, I'm not seeing any more in person or virtual public comment. So I'm gonna close the presentation items. Thank you to the public and our presenters for coming today. We'll move on to the Consent Calendar. And before we move on to the Consent Calendar, I'd like to share that we are actively recruiting for volunteers to serve on our boards, commissions, and committees. Applications for our Environmental Planning Commission are due to the City Clerk's office by October 8th. And applications for all other bodies are due by October 15th. The applications can be found online at mountainview.gov/bcc. These items... and then we'll move on to the consent... these items will be moved by one motion unless any member of the Council wishes to pull an item for individual consideration. If an item is pulled from the consent calendar, it will be considered separately following approval of the balance of the consent calendar. If you'd like to speak on these items or the next item, Oral Communications on non-agenda items in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. Would any member of the Council like to pull an item? I see Councilmember McAllister.
[03:17:47] Councilmember McAllister: I had a... I wanted to... not pull but comment, but I did have a question on 4.4 and then comment on 4.7 and 4.8.
[03:17:57] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay, 4.7, 4.8. Okay. Why don't you go ahead.
[03:18:01] Councilmember McAllister: Okay. So Public Works Director, I believe this is for you. On 4.4, the Magic Bridge, what was the original bid estimate back in 2016, 17?
[03:18:16] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: Good evening Mayor and Council, Jennifer Ng, Public Works Director. Let me just refer to my notes real quick here. Oh actually I don't have that written down. I'm going to turn back and see if Ed's got that handy. We don't have that handy right now, that's something that we would need to look back up in the files back at the office. We can certainly get back to you with this information.
[03:18:49] Councilmember McAllister: Do you think the Community Services Director might have an idea of the original? Okay. I'll go ahead and make comments based on what we have here. Since I've been back on the Council, I was off for four years, came back and I've noticed a lot of projects that started on when I was back on the Council in 2016 or through 2020. And it concerns me that every time we have a project that's delayed, it costs us more money for the... and time is to get these projects done. And we have a lot of projects that have been delayed. For the 4.4 the Magic Bridge, 4.7 Miramonte, and those are the ones that I look at and I know what... Miramonte, that was 2019 that money was supposed to have been allocated to this. And we need as a Council to start looking at projects and be concerned or be aware that every time we change something, every time we add something, it extends the life of these projects and it costs more money and therefore it's taking money and resources of staff away for other things that we want to do and that's why our list of projects keep going on and not getting many done. On 4.8 I want to comment, there's property manager. So many of you know that I've been asking that why don't we buy apartment complexes and rent them out? And here we are using a property management. So this could be an example of something that if we can do that on a rental property, we could probably do that for if we wanted to start buying our apartments that we then we could control and be able to take care of the rapid rehousing, the homeless, the domestic violence, teens, and whatever needs we do. So keep that in mind. Let's watch this how this property management works going forward. And maybe this will relieve some of your concerns about when we want, if we do buy some property that it will work. Thank you.
[03:20:23] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Councilmember Showalter?
[03:20:24] Councilmember Showalter: Thank you. Yeah, usually I just make comments about the consent calendar because there really is a tremendous amount of work behind these items and they don't get talked about too much. But and that's true tonight too, there are 12 items and they do represent a tremendous amount of work. But this time I would like to pull one. I'm going to pull 4.9... No, 4.10, which is the one about the federal legislative platform. So do you want me to talk about that now or later?
[03:21:06] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Later because you pulled it. Do you have... did you want to make comments on anything else?
[03:21:11] Councilmember Showalter: Oh, then the other one... yeah, okay. And the comment I'd like to comment on 4.9 and that's just that's the one about the work plans for our Council Advisory Boards. And I just wanted to to thank all of the people who serve on those boards. It was great that the Mayor made the announcement about the openings for that. They're coming up. But we do pay special attention to the recommendations and comments we get from Advisory Boards and we really appreciate all the time that's put in. Thank you.
[03:21:43] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay great. So I'll bring this back for Council action and note that a motion to approve the consent calendar should also include reading the title of the resolutions attached to consent calendar items 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.12. Councilmember Hicks.
[03:22:04] Councilmember Hicks: So I am making a motion to pass the consent calendar except for... is 4.10 pulled? We'll come back to that item. Yes. So except for 4.10. And I see that it is seconded. So that would be a motion to include item 4.1, adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View: One, repealing Resolution Number 17235 and all amendments thereto which established and or prescribed the duties, responsibilities, powers, and membership of the Youth Advisory Committee; and Two, reestablishing the Youth Advisory Committee and prescribing anew the duties, responsibilities, powers, and membership thereof, to be read in title only, further reading waived. Item 4.2, adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View authorizing the City Manager or their designee to enter into an agreement with EV Energy for the installation of four electric vehicle charging ports at 1000 Villa Street for City fleet vehicle use for a total amount not to exceed $48,153, and finding that the project is categorically exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act, to be read in title only, further reading waived. Item 4.3, adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View: One, approving a Special Event Permit and Sound Amplification Permit for the German Holiday Market Special Event subject to conditions; Two, approving the closure of certain public streets in the Downtown area on Friday, December 12, 2025 at 12:01 PM through Sunday, December 14 at 1:00 AM for the German Holiday Market Special Event pursuant to California Vehicle Code 21101E; and Three, delegating authority to the Community Services Director for future German Holiday Market events, to be read in title only, further reading waived. And lastly item 4.12, adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View amending the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Salary Plan for regular employees to update the salary grade for Performing Arts Assistant, to be read in title only, further reading waived.
[03:23:49] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So we have that motion from Councilmember Hicks seconded by Councilmember Showalter. And I think before we vote, our Public Works Director has I think a something to say so we'll turn to her.
[03:23:59] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: Thank you Mayor. Quick follow up from Councilmember McAllister's question. Initial budget for the Magical Bridge project in 2018 was $4,525,000.
[03:24:13] Councilmember McAllister: Do you know what the ending budget was?
[03:24:15] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: We're looking that up right now. I just asked.
[03:24:20] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. I think updates as the meeting goes on we'll get to. All right, let's vote.
[03:24:30] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right, and the consent calendar passes unanimously. So we'll move back to item 4.10. Councilmember Showalter.
[03:24:37] Councilmember Showalter: Yes. That one is the adoption of amended federal legislation platform. And this has been very hard to do this year because so many things have been changing on the federal government side, you know, kind of daily. So I wanted to add a few more items and I asked the questions in our question and answer and the staff was fabulous and coming back with suggested language for these. So I'm wondering, City Attorney, do I need to read that special language or can we since it's in the question and answers, can we just cite it or how do we do this?
[03:25:30] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Councilmember Showalter, we can include it. I believe it was three items? Yes, so we can include those statements that were in the Council Q&A as part of the motion.
[03:25:43] Councilmember Showalter: Thank you. And just to tell everybody about it, one is basically more information about tax credits for affordable housing which was one of the few things in HR1 that was positive but didn't go far enough. So something about that. And then two more are, one of them is supporting the development of and continuation and funding of weather data for disasters and for ongoing needs that we all need for public safety. And then a third was essentially supporting science, federal science. As we all know, we have NASA and the USGS and science and innovation is just a point of pride for our city. So including a statement about that I also thought would be a good idea. So I hope my colleagues will support this. And I just move that we add those three items to our list.
[03:27:13] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay, so for item 4.10 for our federal legislative platform, we have the motion by Councilmember Showalter and then seconded by Councilmember Hicks. And I think what's important to note, these three items that Councilmember Showalter is putting forward is in addition to other amendments that we're making. As Councilmember Showalter stated, we're kind of in an ever evolving climate and so just grateful to staff as well as our partners in Washington who are helping us navigate this. So this will be kind of in aggregate we'll be able to put this forward. So seeing no one in the queue, let's vote.
[03:28:00] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great and that passes unanimously. So we'll move on to item 5, Oral Communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Council on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic within the City Council subject matter jurisdiction for up to three minutes during the section. State law prohibits the Council from acting on non-agenda items. If you'd like to speak on this item or the next item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button Zoom and we will take our in person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. First we have Dylan Rich and then we have Ray.
[03:28:50] Dylan Rich: Hello City Manager, City Attorney, Councilmember, and Mayor. I really appreciate your time and all the work that you guys do for the city here. It's very much appreciated. I want to talk... I am Dylan Rich, I am from Palo Alto Preparatory School, we're a non-profit. Chris Keck spoke about two weeks ago. I wanted to update you guys on the issues that we're having with the oversized vehicles in our area. This is only incidents that have occurred in the last two weeks that we've been dealing with. There's been three incidents of dumping feces and sewage down the storm drains. Two times buckets that they're using manually dumping. Today we had leaking sewage from an RV. Each time the city has to come out and provide a truck that cleans up. I don't know what expense that is to the city, but I'm assuming it's quite a bit. We had a woman in daylight, and sorry this is a little graphic, use a business sign to proper herself up and then promptly pulled her pants down and defecated in front of... in the view of students. I had a staff member get yelled at what the F is wrong because she was moving a van that and they didn't like where it was parked. I had to intervene because she was quite scared. They're leaving doors open blocking the sidewalk. Our female students walk by nervously because there's half naked men lying inside of these RVs that they're crossing path just to go get lunch. These are teenagers. RVs, I think this is the biggest problem that we're dealing with and why it's causing so much of an issue, a lot of the RVs in our neighborhood are being bought by other people and then rented out. A lot of the people living there don't have access to the keys even. And I think cause of the pressure of other cities of moving RVs out, I think Mountain View is getting disproportionately more RVs and we're seeing more issues. You will notice I have not come to speak in front of you guys for many years because it has not been an issue, but it is an issue now. Finally, most importantly, we had a student who was nearly struck while biking because they couldn't see the car. This... once again, these are all issues that have happened in the last two weeks. Chief Mike Canfield was kind enough to visit and walk our streets and see what our kids are seeing every day. I invite you and City Councilmembers to come out and visit. I would love for you to see our beautiful campus and I would love to walk the streets with you so that you guys can see what we see. Thank you.
[03:31:32] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Ray?
[03:32:07] Ray: Okay sir... being old is not easy. Okay you ready? Thank you. Um, why am I here? Well we have Trump to thank for a lot of our problems. But I'm here to talk about these guys in blue. As long as I've been here, any problem I've had or any robberies or damage to my property, they don't respond. They don't respond because I'm a gay man. They're bigots who hate people. And they've practiced hate for the 50 years I've been here. My life means nothing to them. Nothing. Just hate and bigotry. I've been robbed, I've been marginalized, I've been... my house has been damaged. But they don't help. They help themselves though. And my life is nothing. What are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do? What are you going to do? What are you? Are you gonna do anything? Nah. Why? Why would you help a gay man? You never have, you never will. These are hatemongers. These are people who want to... well they've tried to kill me. They wanted to incarcerate me for complaining. 50 years. 50 years of this kind of behavior. Are you gonna do anything? Are you gonna say anything? Or are you just gonna follow their hate and bigotry? Or are you just gonna follow their marginalizing my life? They've minimized it so they can feel like men. These are not men. These are not men. Extremely dishonest. But you believe the cops. Oh gods. We're all in trouble. These are men that practice hate and bigotry and minimize people. These are not responsible cops at all. I've been treated like that for the 50 years I've lived here. And my life means something. It means something. But they don't think so. They don't think I'm worthy of anything. How long are they going to minimize me? How long are they going to marginate my life? Marginalize my life? How are they?
[03:33:59] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Right. I am not seeing any other speakers in the queue virtually or in person so I'm gonna close public comment and we'll move to item 6 which is our public hearing. Item 6.1 is our residential condominium development at 266-272 Tyrella Avenue. Spanish translation services are available for this item. We'll now hear from our interpreter.
[03:34:39] Interpreter: Muy buenas noches. Para las personas que necesitan interpretación en persona, tenemos auriculares disponibles. Hoy ofreceremos interpretación en persona y de manera virtual. Para aquellos que necesitan interpretación mediante Zoom, favor de hacer clic en el botón de interpretación y después elige el idioma de su preferencia. También estaremos ofreciendo interpretación durante los comentarios públicos en persona y virtuales. Las personas que necesitan interpretación consecutiva, por favor hablen en bloques de tres oraciones, luego tomen una pausa para nosotros interpretar y así consecutivamente poder interpretar todos sus ideas. Muchas gracias.
[03:35:32] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Would any member... would any Councilmembers like to make any disclosures? Vice Mayor Ramos.
[03:35:42] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you Mayor. I went and saw the site. I knocked on some doors and I spoke to some of the residents who live in that apartment complex.
[03:35:53] Councilmember Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. I had a phone call with the applicant.
[03:35:58] Councilmember Showalter: Phone call with the applicant.
[03:36:02] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. Anyone else want to make any disclosures? All right, not seeing any. We'll move on to the item. Principal Planner Diana Pancholi will present the item. If you'd like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. And we will have a presentation first from the City and then from the applicant.
[03:36:33] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: Thank you and good evening Mayor and the Councilmembers. My name is Diana Pancholi, Principal Planner with the City's Planning Division. And I am joined tonight by Senior Planner and the Project Manager Krisha Penollar. The item in front of you tonight is a request for residential condominium project located at 266-272 Tyrella Avenue. The approximately one acre project site is located on the west side of Tyrella Avenue between Middlefield Road and spans across two parcels. One parcel has a single-family residence on it and the other includes two existing duplexes. The General Plan land use designation for the project site is Medium-High Density Residential and it is in the R3-1 Multiple-Family Residential Zoning District. The surrounding land uses are primarily Medium to Low Density residential buildings such as two-story apartments, condominiums, and single-story single-family residential developments. The request before you tonight includes a Development Review Permit to redevelop the site by demolishing all existing buildings and construct a four-story 47-unit residential condominium building above one-level of underground parking, and a Heritage Tree Removal Permit to remove eight heritage trees, and a Tentative Map to combine the two parcels to create one common lot and 47 residential parcels. Additionally, the project is utilizing State Density Bonus Law for 31% density bonus above the base units. The proposed unit mix consists of one, two, and three bedroom units ranging in size from approximately 720 square feet to 1,500 square feet. Staff has reviewed the project for conformity with applicable City codes and regulations. The proposed project is consistent with the General Plan designation which allows for multiple-family residential development. Per the General Plan, the project has a base density of 36 units. The project will provide five very low income units which qualifies the project for up to 42.5% density bonus and 16 additional units. The project proposes to utilize only 11 bonus units to construct a total of 47 units. Under State Density Bonus Law the project is eligible for up to two concessions and unlimited waivers of development standards. To accommodate the proposed number of units, the developer is requesting four waivers of R3 zoning development standards including maximum height, reduced setbacks for floors two to four, maximum floor area ratio, and maximum site coverage. A detailed list of the analysis of the requested waivers is discussed in the staff report. Staff has determined that the project could not be constructed as proposed without these development standard waivers as full compliance would generally require a reduction in the proposed number of units or density. The affordable housing units proposed for the project must comply with the local and state regulations such as the State Bill 330, State Density Bonus Law, and the City's BMR Ordinance. To meet the City's Below Market Rate housing requirement, the project is proposing five very low income units. The proposed five very low income units exceed the replacement unit requirement under SB 330. And the details of the project compliance with the state and local requirements have been discussed in the staff report as well. In terms of the site design, the proposed site plan includes a project frontage along Tyrella Avenue, a below grade parking garage, a white accent paved walkway at the entry lobby along the project's northeastern corner, and trees and landscaping along the project perimeter. All the project parking is proposed in one level of underground parking garage and vehicular access to the garage is located off of Tyrella Avenue. The primary pedestrian access to the project site is located on the northeast corner of the building along Tyrella Avenue. The building ground floor includes the main lobby and a mail room, nine residential units, two courtyards, a paseo, a bike room, and a service utility areas. The project has a contemporary design, but includes traditional design elements such as angled roof forms and wood awnings. The building materials include board and batten siding, cementitious siding, stucco, brick wainscot, and wood-like metal railings at the balconies. The balconies stack on the building break up horizontal massing while changes in the material at the fourth floor help de-emphasize the four-story massing in the project. A prominent wood trellis above the main pedestrian entrance announces the building's main entry as well. In terms of the trees on site, the project site currently contains 24 trees including 20 heritage trees and four non-heritage trees. The project is proposing on removing eight heritage trees and two non-heritage trees for a total of 10 tree removals. The heritage trees are in poor condition and due to the conflict with the proposed building and the utilities, it would be infeasible to save the trees as reviewed by the applicant's arborist and confirmed by the City Arborist. Additionally, the applicant's arborist reviewed the viability of transplanting the heritage trees but found there were not suitable candidates for the transplant due to the poor condition of the trees itself. To mitigate the loss of these trees, the applicant will be planting 38 new trees including four new street trees and 34 on-site trees at a 3.8 to 1 replacement ratio which exceeds the typical 2 to 1 replacement ratio for heritage trees. Parking. The project is located within one half mile of of major transit stops and is not required to provide any on-site parking spaces as per the City Code Section 36.32.50. They would be subject to providing EV equipped installed spaces and ADA spaces. The applicant is still voluntarily proposing 47 parking spaces on in the underground parking garage along with bicycle parking for residents and guests. Related to the previous meetings, the applicant voluntarily participated in a neighborhood meeting on July 16, 2024 and attended a Design Review Consultation meeting on July 17, 2024. Subsequently, the Zoning Administrator and the Subdivision Committee reviewed the project at a joint public meeting on August 13, 2025 where three members of the public commented on the project as detailed in the staff report. At this meeting, the Zoning Administrator and Subdivision Committee recommended the City Council to conditionally approve the project and Tentative Map per the conditions of approval attached to the staff report. In conclusion, staff finds that the project aligns with the General Plan policies and supports diverse housing options and is in compliance with the applicable provisions of the Zoning Code. The project utilizes State Density Bonus provisions which permits the greater densities and the proposed waivers. Additionally, staff finds that the project is categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15332 for In-Fill Development. Therefore, City staff recommends that the City Council to adopt a Resolution to approve the project and the Tentative Map subject to the conditions of approval. Staff received three public comments on this item which have been provided to the City Council prior to the meeting via email and also available on Legistar. This concludes staff presentation. Staff including the Community Development Director Christian Murdoch and Assistant Community Development Director...
[00:00:00] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: ...are present here tonight and are available for any questions that you may have. Additionally, the project owner applicant representative is also present here tonight and has a brief presentation for City Council. Thank you.
[00:00:15] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. We'll now have a presentation from the applicant, project architect Bill Maston.
[00:00:20] Bill Maston: Good evening. I'm gonna actually make it very brief. I'm really here to not only endorse the project but talk briefly about the experience of this project in particular, because there were so many rules and regulations that one way or another touched this project. And it really was a collaboration on many levels, and sometimes frustrating, sometimes not, of, you know, dealing with differences of opinion about, um, design elements, um, where to locate the front entry, uh, where to put parking for not only cars but for bicycles.
[00:01:08] Bill Maston: But all that work and all that level of detail was done early in the process. That's a little bit of a change from the past, and I just wanted to compliment staff and other people that we interacted with because it actually made it easier for us to come up with a solution that we have here today. So, um, other than wanting to make that, uh, comment of appreciation, I'd really like to just answer any questions that you have.
[00:01:38] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, well we will do Council questions next, and I'm sure my colleagues, if you just want to sit in front, I'm sure my colleagues will let you know, um, if they have a question for you. Um, so with that, does any member of the Council have any questions? For staff or the applicant. Councilmember McAllister.
[00:01:58] Councilmember McAllister: Yeah, I'm, uh, getting used to some of these new rules and I just... could you go to your slide 10? Uh, the parking. I'm still trying to get a better handle on this, how the parking is working, because every time we take off parking it impacts the neighborhoods. And you said it was a half a mile and I was wondering if you can demonstrate to me a little bit or show on your slide, what... how you consider a half a mile? So where... yeah, I can see that, but where are the transit stations? Where is your point from one to the other? How does that... how does that work out?
[00:02:44] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: So as per the, um, as per the code and HCD guidance that we have received, the distance is measured in a straight line from the parcel, the project parcel, to the transit center... so there are two, uh, major transit stops. One is the Mountain View Transit Center in downtown and the other is the Whisman Station light rail station which is right here in dark blue. So a straight line from the edge of the parcel, of the project site, to the edge of the parcel of the transit center or the other transit stop, that is how we measure the half... one-half mile distance.
[00:03:30] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: The dark blue and the pink, uh, that shading that you see on the slides in here is the one-half mile radius around those, uh, transit center. But that shows you the straight distance between the project parcel and the... and the major transit stops is one-half mile.
[00:03:44] Councilmember McAllister: Okay, so it's not feet it's just, uh... well in this case you had enough overlay so it didn't matter. Okay. And even though we had a highway, that looks like 85, is blocking the easy access to the Mountain View Transit Center, and at the Whisman Center I guess you can get to it. Um, okay. Do you happen to know how many parking spaces that are on the street that surround that property?
[00:04:13] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: Staff does not have that information.
[00:04:15] Councilmember McAllister: Okay. That's all right. Thank you.
[00:04:18] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Vice Mayor Ramos?
[00:04:20] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. This is, um, more for staff. And I am looking over the questions, uh, that were, uh, asked before. Um, and I... I'm gonna... I'm gonna preface this. Um, I... this is not to do any kind of attack. I'm just trying to find out where the disconnect happened. Um, I had the ability to... to... to go over and knock on doors at that property. I spoke to two households there. Uh, both of them were primarily Spanish speaking. Um, and one said she did not get any kind of notification about the tenant relocation assistance.
[00:05:13] Vice Mayor Ramos: The other one showed me hers, the notice of intent. It was only in English. She managed to get a Spanish one because she went to a community meeting, um, uh, and so she managed to talk to someone who emailed her a Spanish version. Um, so it... it... it... it's... it's kind of different than what the answers that were given to us in our packet and I... I... I really would like to know where the disconnect kind of happened. If at all possible, is it... is it also possible to see, uh, a notice of intent that you sent out? Uh, you could... you could... you could redact everything, um, but it... it would also be helpful as... as well.
[00:06:00] Julie Barnard: Ah, it's my first time. There we go. Uh, good evening Council, Julie Barnard, I'm the Affordable Housing Manager. Um, Do you mind speaking directly into the microphone? Maybe we can... All right. How about this? Is that a little better? People virtually can't hear. Thank you. Okay. Um, good evening, uh, Council. I'm Julie Barnard, the Affordable Housing Manager. I believe that, um, our Rent Stabilization Team handles the tenant relocation, um, benefits and I do believe that they are available virtually to answer the question. So, um, is Andrea Kennedy on? Yes, she is unmuted. Perfect. Okay, great. Thank you.
[00:06:33] Andrea Kennedy: Thank you Julie. And thank you, uh, City Council members. This is Andrea with the Rent Stabilization Division, with the Housing Department. And thank you Emily... or sorry, Councilmember Ramos for letting us know that information. I will, um, confirm with our tenant relocation consultant. However, we do have copies of the English and Spanish versions of the notice of intent that were mailed to the tenants.
[00:07:12] Andrea Kennedy: And I do know that, um, the relocation consultant has also contacted via phone and in Spanish via phone, um, at least three of the four... they were able to get ahold of three of the four residents at the property to go over the relocation benefits and the application process. Um, I do know there's one tenant that they're still working to get ahold of over the phone. Um, but again we are more than happy to resend any notice that maybe did not make it through the mail. Um, so we will go ahead and work on that. Um, and I also believe that, um, staff will reach out to you directly to get a little bit more information regarding the tenant who, um, was... was not receiving that information.
[00:07:57] Vice Mayor Ramos: Um, thank you for that. Um, as you've had... or your staff had conversations, uh, with the residents there, um, have you had any... any indication why they have not applied for tenant relocation assistance yet?
[00:08:14] Andrea Kennedy: Yes, thank you for the question. Um, we have not specifically myself had conversations with the tenants, however our consultant who speaks Spanish... um, I do not speak Spanish... um, but our consultant, um, has had conversations with the residents and it seems, um, that they haven't applied for assistance as of yet, um, mostly because the vacate date is so far in the future. They have not received any termination notices as of yet.
[00:08:43] Andrea Kennedy: And of course with SB 330, the residents do have the right to stay in their unit up until six months before the start of construction, so that's, um, pretty far out in the future. Um, and it seems like they're a little bit more interested in waiting closer to that date to do the application and receive that funding closer to the move out date.
[00:09:05] Vice Mayor Ramos: All right. Thank you.
[00:09:09] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Does any other member of the Council have any questions? All right, not seeing any, we'll now open it up to public comment. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on any item on the con... or on the ca... on this item, sorry. Um, let's see. We have a couple in person and a couple virtual. So start with Lan? Pham? Is that right? And then Roger Noel? Or Roger Noll? And then we'll move on to virtual. How much time Mayor? Three minutes. You could rock paper scissors if you want.
[00:09:46] Roger Noel: Hello again. My name is Roger Noel, I'm a 45-year resident of Mountain View. I live on Tyrella Avenue. And I'm here to oppose the new condominium project that we're talking about right now. Um, there are five reasons why I don't think this project is a good idea. Neighborhood fit, parking, excessive waivers, affordability, and other projects on Tyrella. Regarding neighborhood fit, this is primarily a one and two story residence neighborhood and the massive four-story building towering over existing structures should not be permitted. It's just not right.
[00:10:24] Roger Noel: Parking. The applicant appears to be misinterpreting AB 2097 regarding parking minimum exemptions based on the one-half mile distance from transit station provision. There are a lot of intricate rules in that... in that, uh, Act that should be looked at more closely. The project appears to fall... fail both geometric tests required under AB 2097. The project has inadequate parking. Currently there is a major parking availability problem in the neighborhood. Parking will only get worse if 47 more residents are built in this area.
[00:10:58] Roger Noel: Waivers. Four waivers would not be needed if the project was scaled down a bit. Regarding height, floor area ratio, setbacks, and site coverage. Affordability. The project has no net increase in the number of affordable units based on the ones it's gonna tear down. There's also an oversupply of market rate apartments and residences in Mountain View.
[00:11:24] Roger Noel: Um, other projects on Tyrella. The city has recently approved another large project at 294 or 296 Tyrella Avenue. A seven-story 80 unit plus apartment building on less than half an acre. This is one tenth of a mile away from this project at 266 Tyrella. Why is the city approving these two massive projects on one residential block? The impact on the neighborhood by adding over 120 more residences in one block will be very severe. In conclusion, this project should not be approved. Thank you.
[00:12:00] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you.
[00:12:05] Lan Pham: Hi, my name is Lan Pham. I'm a resident, um, on Tyrella and, um, I'm coming to share with you how much I oppose this proposal because I live there and I can see the impact it will have on the area. Um, so I'm not a public speaker so forgive me if I don't get all the things tied in properly. But, um, one of the key element argument that developers use is that they're using... there's a shortage of, um, affordable housing. That's why they need to massively build in the area.
[00:12:43] Lan Pham: Um, if you look around, I think Mountain View, I've lived here for a while too, there's been a lot of, um, uh, apartment buildings that's been built on Shoreline, on West Middlefield, on Moffett and Castro just around the area. These are four, six, seven stories high but the difference in that is that the streets are much bigger. Um, and often times if you go by there's still a lot of advertisement saying that, um, it's still available for leasing or rental. So if there's such a shortage and that leads them to build so massively, why aren't these units occupied? Why are there so many vacant?
[00:13:23] Lan Pham: So there should be some type of, um, studies to really do, um, an impact on if they argue that this is for affordable housing, um, addressing that issue, um, that should be addressed, right? And not just leave it in my community there. Once these massive buildings come up and there's no, um, accountability to make sure that those problems are addressed, um, you're leaving a huge problem for the people who live there to live with these massive buildings with, you know, the streets that we live on are literally one, um, one direction to and from. And so right now there's parking, there's no parking if you come there... I... I urge you to go at night when people come home from work. There's no parking. So if there's no parking, um, how do you expect to have 47 and 80 more units on these one street like one direction street, um, with 120 more. And just say, you know, you have 47 parking spaces. Nobody lives in there with just one family and one car. It... it's just not realistic. Typically a family has three or four cars there.
[00:14:28] Lan Pham: So if you come out there now we're not... I mean people sometimes drive so fast in that narrow street, I fear there's a safety concern there as well for people who live there. So I know I'm... I'm going all over the places but these are real concerns. So one of the concerns I really need for you guys to address is if you argue that this is to address the affordable housing, um, issue, there's got to be an answer that when... once this is done, it should address that, right? But if you have things that are still for lease or people aren't buying it because they're not affordable, then I think that argument is flawed. The other... so I'm sorry. Yeah. So please consider that and say no. Okay?
[00:15:10] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you.
[00:15:14] Mayor Ellen Kamei: I don't see your name in the queue but I saw you fill out a card so. Go ahead. Alex Brown.
[00:15:19] Alex Brown: Uh, hello? So, yeah, no I... I think that it is unfortunate that we have a lot of new units that are going vacant because the rents are not being lowered to a point where it's affordable for the people who need it. Uh, that is really unfortunate. I do think it's something that we need to address because we... we need more housing but we also need housing that's affordable and accessible to the people who are currently struggling. Uh, that said, I'm for it. Thanks.
[00:15:44] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. So now we'll move on to our virtual public comment. Uh, Natalie Solomon.
[00:15:53] Natalie Solomon: Hi. Hi. I first want to introduce myself. My name is Natalie Solomon. I live on Tyrella Avenue. I actually live directly next door to the proposed development. Um, I wanted to start by just thanking you all for taking the time to hear from the neighbors and the community. My main concern is with what I really think is the misinterpretation of the half mile from a major transit stop law. So I am aware in what was discussed earlier, which is that there are not minimum parking requirements for a project within a half mile of a major transit stop.
[00:16:34] Natalie Solomon: However, AB 2097 also incorporates the definition of a major transit stop which is contained in CEQA. Which says, and I'll read a brief quote from the law: "A project shall be considered within a half mile of a major transit stop if all parcels within the project have no more than 25% of their area further than one half mile from the stop. Or if not more than 10% of the residential units in the project are further than one half mile from the stop." So thus, the project would need to meet these percentage requirements.
[00:17:22] Natalie Solomon: If it did, then I agree with what was said earlier, that one could take the measurement from the nearest edge of the parcel as the crow flies. But if it does not meet these percentage requirements, as it appears not to, then it simply does not escape standard parking requirements. You know, I am new to this. I'm not a lawyer, so I actually asked a lawyer to look over the report and they also strongly believed the project does not meet the law of AB 2097's actual requirements.
[00:17:52] Natalie Solomon: So I just really am urging someone to please relook at this, to please reject the project. It does not meet the law. And one other small note I wanted to make is that on page 11 and 12 of the council report it states that 272 Tyrella is vacant. Um, it absolutely is not vacant. Our neighbors and friends live there, Kevin and Daniella. Um, and they've lived there for several years. So thank you again for hearing our comments and I really urge you to vote no.
[00:18:24] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Next is Evelyn Gavino?
[00:18:33] Evelyn Gavino: Hi. Can you hear me?
[00:18:34] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes, we hear you.
[00:18:35] Evelyn Gavino: So my name is Evelyn Gavino and, um, I am severely going to be impacted by this project. Um, I live in a complex at the back, uh, on EC Street so the project will be directly behind my fence and all the rest of the complex owners. I strongly oppose this as, yes, it will be a towering four unit over all our units. The impact on us with dust, construction noise, and once you guys begin digging, how will that affect our complex because you're digging deep down.
[00:19:23] Evelyn Gavino: I also have a concern that we were told that our fence will be changed. If that happens, will we still have access to our back gates? Four of our units have access. And yes, I'm very much concerned with parking. Right now it's already a concern for us on EC Street. Then if this big monstrous, uh, condominium project is approved, then what happens to our parking? Those residents will be grabbing our parking and we don't have any right now. I mean we're short of it.
[00:20:01] Evelyn Gavino: So I am speaking on behalf of the other homeowners. I'm not sure if they'll be able to make comments but yes, we strongly oppose this because it will disturb the peace and quiet of our complex which we so dearly love. I'm... I've been a, um, resident for about 16 years now. Thank you.
[00:20:24] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Uh, next is Sarah Celas? Sedas?
[00:20:32] Sarah Celas: Yes, hi there. Hello. Um, can you guys hear me?
[00:20:36] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes, we hear you.
[00:20:38] Sarah Celas: Good, sure. Okay. Um, hi there. I am speaking, I know this issue was covered a little bit earlier, but, um, uh, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about Measure A, um, which I strongly support.
[00:20:51] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Oh, sorry. We can only take public comment now on the item that's before us. Oh, okay. I'm so sorry. I... It's okay. That... we've just closed public comment on that item. So you're welcome to mess... email the Council, citycouncil@mountainview.gov if you'd like to. Okay. I'll... I'll just say I'm a medical social worker and a lot of... Thank you. Okay.
[00:21:15] Mayor Ellen Kamei: So we'll move on to our next virtual public commenter is Judy Stroyer.
[00:21:28] Judy Stroyer: Hello. Yes, am I live? Can you hear me?
[00:21:34] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.
[00:21:35] Judy Stroyer: Okay, yeah. This is the moment where I can, uh, talk about, uh, the issue that we're having with Jewish supreme...
[00:21:45] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. Nope. This is Tyrella. All right. So that concludes public comment, um, on this item. So I'll bring the item back for Council questions and deliberation. And please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolutions attached to the report.
[00:22:07] Mayor Ellen Kamei: And then I just had a quick question, um, for the applicant since it came up in the public comment with the... the access with the fence? Can you talk to us about that? Did you hear that question in the public comment? That the... that they have the access on the back side of the property and would that be able to be continued for the rest of the neighbors?
[00:22:27] Bill Maston: So, um, this was brought up at one of the out... outreach meetings that we had. And there are no recorded easements anywhere on, uh, the properties that would allow such a thing. I think those were fences of convenience if there's gates on them.
[00:22:44] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Oh, so is the... the answer would be no?
[00:22:46] Bill Maston: That's correct.
[00:22:47] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, Councilmember Hicks.
[00:22:50] Councilmember Hicks: So some of the public commentary brought up and... and uh, Council commentary or questions brought up. So some questions. Um, one is that it was said that we can, correct me if I've understood wrong, that we can continue to track, um, over... there's still time to track whether there are residents who possibly might want to take advantage of relocation. Is that... am I hearing that correctly?
[00:23:24] Julie Barnard: Yes, good evening. Um, and our... our RSD... sorry, Rent Stabilization Team is are the experts here but yes, there is still plenty of time for the tenants to apply for relocation benefits. Um, and I'll have Andrea confirm.
[00:23:41] Andrea Kennedy: Hello. Yes, that is correct. There is still plenty of time for all of the tenants to apply for tenant relocation benefits. Um, and we have also, I can also address the tenancy in 272 Tyrella. Um, that tenant was occupying previously the space and had moved out and just last month they moved back in. Um, but we did receive income documentation showing that that tenant is above income to be eligible for relocation benefits under SB 330, um, or tenant relocation assistance.
[00:24:19] Councilmember Hicks: Okay. Thank you for your foresight 'cause that was my next question. Thank you. And then why... why do we appear to be hearing two different for this distance from, um, from transit centers? What... are we hearing two different, uh, definitions from different, um, documents?
[00:24:41] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, Great. So I think, um, you're reading my mind Councilmember Hicks 'cause I was gonna ask the City Attorney about that. Um, to speak to the Assembly Bill. So, um, City Attorney Logue?
[00:24:51] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Yes, I would be happy to address that. Um, so the definition that was read by one of the speakers this evening comes from the Public Resources Code and it just does not apply. Um, the HCD guidance is crystal clear that when you are talking about AB 2097, which is Government Code section 65863.2, and you are measuring the distance for purposes of AB 2097 which explicitly prohibits public agencies from imposing minimum parking requirements on projects that are going up within a half... one-half mile, the way you measure that is the straight line distance.
[00:25:35] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: And so the Public Resources Code applies to their... that section that they are reading from has other requirements and it talks about one-half mile in that section. And for purposes of that section, one-half mile is measured differently. But that's that Public Resources Code section. We are under AB 2097 and HCD has been very clear for purposes of AB 2097 how you measure and staff did that correctly. So it's a little confusing but they're just two different statutes.
[00:26:08] Councilmember Hicks: Thank you Mayor, I was reading your mind for sure. Yeah, thank you so much for explaining that clearly, that it's... it's two different legal documents. Um, 'cause I know that residents were very concerned about that and it needed, I think a clear explanation. Um, with that I'm willing to make a motion, um, and people can second or... or tell me they... they totally disagree. Um, and... and I'll say along with the motion, you know, I would like to track this for parking because although I think... I think legally we have to approve this but I don't know whether it is actually a transit oriented, um, development.
[00:26:53] Councilmember Hicks: I... I think these kinds of developments may cause some kind of parking problems. Um, so I would just like to keep track of it. There's not much we can do, uh, because it is state law and there is a housing crisis but, you know, as a Council I would like to kind of see what... what's going on with parking around these developments. Um, and, uh, on a, um, on a happier note I should say. Um, I was really... I think for these developments one of the big things you see is the cladding, the siding. That's what you see as you walk down the street.
[00:27:32] Councilmember Hicks: And I was super happy to see that residents had asked to change stone to brick because I think that's much more appropriate for sort of a transitional, um, architectural, uh, development like this. And I hope that's something we do in the future.
[00:27:45] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Thank you Councilmember Ramirez. Um, so we have a motion by Councilmember Hicks and that's been seconded by Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember Hicks will you indulge us with reading the two resolutions, um, before we go on to further comments from our colleagues?
[00:28:00] Councilmember Hicks: If you insist. Um, so, uh, it would be that the City Council, one, adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View conditionally approving a Development Review Permit to construct a four-story 47 unit residential condo development utilizing State Density Bonus Law and a Heritage Tree Removal Permit to remove eight heritage trees on a 1.01 acre site located at 266 through 272 Tyrella Avenue. Um, APN is 160-32-006 and 160-32-007.
[00:28:49] Councilmember Hicks: And finding that the project is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act, also known as CEQA, pursuant to section 15332, uh, Infill Development of the CEQA guidelines to be read in title only, further reading waived, um, which is attachment 1 to the Council report. And number two, adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View conditionally approving a Tentative Map to create one common lot and 47 residential condominium units at 266 through 272 Tyrella Avenue, uh, which is APN, uh, 160-32-006 and 160-32-007, to be read in title only, further reading waived, and which is attachment 2 to the Council report.
[00:29:44] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Vice Mayor Ramos.
[00:29:48] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you Mayor. Um, I... I largely with this project the main thing I... I largely wanted to address is making sure that those residents who are... are currently living on the property that is being demolished is, um, they... that we are continuing to follow them to see, um, that they aren't displaced from our community. That they aren't, um, that the policies that we are in the process of putting in place... because we have not really adopt... we... we haven't really moved forward... well we're moving forward but we haven't completed our displacement response strategy, um, and so, um, that is largely the thing that I am looking at with this project.
[00:30:33] Vice Mayor Ramos: Um, it... it... it... it's... there... the... the differences between what's currently there and what's going to be there, it's going to be ownership. So there's... there's interesting things to look through and... and see what kind of barriers, uh, those residents will face. Um, whether or not, uh, they'll... they'll actually have an opportunity to be homeowners, which is an incredible thing especially since according to the staff report the current residents there are under the 30 to 50% AMI level. Just imagine having homeownership units at that level, we... we don't see that. Um, on, um, but one of the things that we need to make sure is that the... the actual implementation is... is... is done correctly. That they... they aren't falling through the cracks.
[00:31:23] Vice Mayor Ramos: And it is only four or five households but it's... it... it is going to be important for us to follow it as we look at our evic... our... our displacement response strategy. Similar on how 660 Mariposa provided, uh, that kind of like learning opportunities for us to see what barriers there were and that was even just a renovation and a takeover kind of thing. Um, so I really hope that as we look at this project, this is an opportunity for us to... to move forward on our goals to prevent displacement while providing the... the housing that we need and ownership housing at that. So, uh, I hope... I plan on supporting this motion. Thank you.
[00:32:05] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Councilmember McAllister.
[00:32:06] Councilmember McAllister: Bill. It's good to see you again. Uh, I've always enjoyed Bill's projects because they were always ownership. And that was a big thing that was very important to me when I was on the Council before because, uh, we weren't getting enough ownership and it was all apartments and so Bill has been known to develop a lot of condos and I always appreciate that. So this going forward, this is great that there are a lot of ownerships and for various levels. But another concern of mine is that parking or the quality of life or the impact on existing neighborhoods always has to be reviewed and looked at.
[00:32:50] Councilmember McAllister: And unfortunately we got... we got two projects... no, your project is nice... but there... we do have another project down the street that's going to be impacting the neighborhood and the streets and I was glad to hear my fellow Councilmember Hicks say, you know, we got to keep an eye on this traffic. And we really do because you could build... I know one of our... you know, you could build, build, build, high, high, high, but it's only... is it really going to impact the neighborhoods? And that's very important because when we look at projects we always say we want to have a good project. Does it benefit the neighborhood?
[00:33:25] Councilmember McAllister: And this project with the parking as it is, and I appreciate that, uh, Mr. Maston put in the 47 parking lots... of parking spaces is not adequate and there is going to be spillage out into the streets and therefore, um, it makes the streets unsafe, it makes walkability not as nice, and there are things that are concerning to me. While I support the project, I will not support the project going forward and it's more of a symbolic thing cause I know all of you will be voting on it and it's a great deal. But we need to be aware of the impact that we do on our neighbors no matter where it is.
[00:33:58] Councilmember McAllister: And I was looking at the map and yes it's a half a mile. But, you know, who's going to walk a half a mile? If you get older folks in there or what... young people... are they really going to walk a half a mile either directions in this particular one? But somewhere down the line it's going to be as people get older, as the families get greater, there's more cars are going to come into it and it will impact the neighborhood. So please let's always look at the impact and not just what it's going to do. So those are my thoughts.
[00:34:23] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Councilmember Showalter?
[00:34:25] Councilmember Showalter: We do always need to look at sort of the total impact of a project and... and, um, uh, we... there are a lot of constraints with... with... with, uh, state law now. But... but I'm really pleased to see this particular project because, um, we... we have had experience with this... this builder and we know that they do really good quality work. That's important. It will be a very nice, um, project. Uh, they've been responsive to requests from the DRC and to, um, neighborhood requests. Not all of them, but they have been responsive.
[00:35:08] Councilmember Showalter: I think that's really important. Um, we... we... we talk about all the time how we want to have ownership condos because that is some, uh, though... that's some ownership units that, um, are much more affordable than townhouses or single family homes. And we need that in our community. So I think that's really good. Um, I, uh, um, I'm also pleased that of the waivers that they didn't choose. Um, we've had some, uh, builders go forward with density bonus units and they... one... the first thing they ax it seems like, or one of the first things besides parking is, um, is private storage space.
[00:35:54] Councilmember Showalter: But if you're going to live someplace for a long time, you need to have storage space. So I'm glad that that was not axed, that there's... there's storage space, um, for each unit. I think that's really going to make them more livable. Um, there's lots of balconies, that's nice. And then another thing that I think that will contribute to, um, helping make this more transit oriented is all the bike parking. There is quite a bit of bike parking in this, um, in this, uh, building and it's... it's easy to get to and there's also space for bike, um, bike repair which I know from having a bike that, um, just yesterday my husband spent three hours on my bike. Thank you very much. And that just has to happen from time to time.
[00:36:40] Councilmember Showalter: So, um, so for all of those reasons I... I... I'm really supportive of this. And yet at the same time we do need to keep our eyes on, um, what are the impacts to the parking? Does... does... is this the right amount? And, um, and, uh, um, watch it going forward. And the other thing I want to say is for the people who get to li... live into... move into this new building, it's a great neighborhood. I mean it's close to a school, it's close to the Stevens Creek Trail, um, it's close to the transit. Uh, this is a very desirable place to live as the individuals who've lived here a long time kind of testify. So, um, I, uh, you know, I... I, um, I really look forward to seeing this, um, this, uh, building completed.
[00:37:23] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, so no one else is in the queue so I'll just, um, say some comments which is, um, thanks to staff, um, and thank you to the community who are sharing their, um, concerns with us about how we as a, you know, Council can... can watch things and make sure that things work for our residents as Councilmember McAllister likes to remind us. I think that, um, projects where we see displacement are always difficult. Um, at least they're difficult for me.
[00:37:56] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, but, um, being able to move to much needed, um, ownership, um, is what heartens me. Um, particularly as the Vice Mayor mentioned for our extremely low to, um, very low income individuals. And I just wish there were... it was more than five units. Um, but, um, I will say, having lived in this, um, area that, um, the trail access is nice for the... for bike ped, but, uh, there also is the community shuttle which, uh, the Council has, um, expanded, um, routes and hours. And so I'm hopeful that though it's not considered maybe, to me it's... I consider it kind of a mode of transit.
[00:38:36] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, but, um, uh, that in addition to the light rail and the Caltrain, uh, while those are a little bit I would say farther and... and accessibility, right, is... is partially the issue, so I'm thinking folks might use, um, the... our community shuttle more. So at least there... it'll be ameliorated by that a little bit. Um, but I... I think in this area a lot of people enjoy, um, going to Creekside Park, Stevens Creek Trail, and to hear that they won't have like the access on the property to be able to maneuver through, um, is... is something that I wish that we could work on.
[00:39:16] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, the other thing is, um, the tenant relocation assistance. I think as we have talked about on a coun... on this Council, we have looked at TREO so many times. And, um, to hear that there's still some difficulties with that is, um, hard to hear. Um, and so, um, I echo colleagues' sentiments on being able to track that, make sure that people are truly utilizing that. Um, and what lessons we might learn on how we can be even more proactive to share that information, um, to meet those residents', um, needs. Um, and with that, let's vote.
[00:40:04] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right and that passes 6-1. So we'll move on to item 6.2, fiscal year 2024-25, the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report CAPER. Housing Officer Alec Vibrial... Vibriol... and Housing Manager Julie Barnard will present the item. If you'd like to speak on this item in person please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. We'll begin with a staff presentation.
[00:40:38] Alec Vibriol: Hello Honorable Mayor Kamei, Vice Mayor Ramos, and Council members, I hope you're all doing well. My name is Alec Vibriol, Housing Officer, and I am joined by Julie Barnard, Affordable Housing Manager. Today I will be giving you a presentation on the Federal Fiscal Year 2024 through 2025 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, also known as the CAPER.
[00:41:05] Alec Vibriol: The City receives grant funding on an annual basis from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, for two programs: the Community Development Block Grant program and the HOME Investment Partnerships program, known as CDBG and HOME for short. As a condition of receiving this funding, HUD requires the City to complete an annual report called the CAPER. This report summarizes how CDBG and HOME funds were used over the fiscal year, how those activities align with the City's five-year Consolidated Plan, and how effectively the funds addressed community needs.
[00:41:36] Alec Vibriol: The Fiscal Year 2024 through 25 CAPER covers the period of July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025 and reports on accomplishments from the Fiscal Year 24-25 Annual Action Plan. This year's CAPER also marks the end of the fifth and final year of the City's 2020 through 2025 Consolidated Plan period. Please note that the CAPER must be completed using a HUD required template which includes set questions and tables to describe the City's housing and community development efforts. Also, while the City provides General Fund grants to support additional public services, these are not included in the CAPER as it only reports on the City's CDBG and HOME funds.
[00:42:22] Alec Vibriol: As a part of HUD requirements, the CAPER process includes a 15-day public comment period and a public hearing, after which staff finalize the report and submit it to HUD by the deadline of September 30th. CDBG funding was provided to local nonprofits for public service programs which were successfully able to help over 5,300 low-income residents of Mountain View over the fiscal year. These programs provide services that help seniors, people at risk of homelessness, people with disabilities, and victims of domestic violence. You may notice a difference between the initial and final funding allocations. This change is due to the redistribution of funds following the closure of LifeMoves' Graduate House Case Management program.
[00:43:09] Alec Vibriol: The Minor Home Repair Program administered by Rebuilding Together Peninsula provides critical repairs at no cost to low-income homeowners who cannot afford to make repairs or modifications to their homes. This reporting period, Rebuilding Together served six households. Affordable Housing Capital funds were carried over to Fiscal Year 2025-26 and allocated to new initiatives including rehabilitation work at MidPen Affordable Housing communities and the Lot 12 Affordable Housing development.
[00:43:43] Alec Vibriol: Construction on the Heartwood Apartments, formerly known as the Crestview Hotel, was completed in November 2024. The project consists of a total of 49 units, 48 of which provide permanent supportive housing to assist households experiencing homelessness, including some units dedicated to transition-age youth.
[04:30:00] Dylan Rich: ...with the final unit being for the property manager.
[04:30:05] Dylan Rich: Staff recommends that Council hold a public hearing to receive public comment and approve the CAPER to be submitted to HUD by the deadline.
[04:30:15] Dylan Rich: This concludes staff's presentation. Thank you for your time, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have.
[04:30:23] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Does any member of the Council have any questions? Councilmember McAllister.
[04:30:30] Councilmember McAllister: Bless you. So, uh, if you go to your slide three, but I'm looking at page four in the Summary of Accomplishments, and under the Community Services Agency, it says public services, homeless prevention, CDBG funds of $31,201, and it said it served 10,063 Mountain residents. How was this, uh... how did this program work to reach so many people? Because I think in your slide it said maybe 5,000.
[04:31:44] Dylan Rich: Yes, thank you. That's a fantastic question.
[04:31:48] Councilmember McAllister: It is. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[04:31:50] Dylan Rich: The CDBG funding that's provided to CSA for their homelessness prevention program goes towards staff and personnel costs. And in supporting their staff and administration of the program, we are assisting to benefit all the beneficiaries who receive their services. And although CDBG is only a small piece of the overall pie of their budget, it's crucial to ensuring that they can continue providing services at the level that they do.
[04:32:16] Councilmember McAllister: Well, thank you for that, but how did they come up with the... Could you go to your slide two, please? Or slide three.
[04:32:25] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, if... if I may, I think that this came up in Council questions. Um, so if staff can... thank you.
[04:32:33] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: Yeah, I think, um, the 10,000 odd number, I think, is a little inflated. Um, we had a...
[04:32:41] Councilmember McAllister: A little what?
[04:32:42] Principal Planner Diana Pancholi: Inflated. Um, the way that the subrecipients should be reporting is based on the number of people served rather than the instances that they have been served. And I think there's been a little bit of a miscommunication in the way CSA have been reporting their numbers. We've had since had a conversation with them, and we think we've straightened up... or at least straightened out that it is not the 10,000 number, it's closer to 5,000.
[04:33:08] Councilmember McAllister: Okay. And this is people that the Community Services Agency made contact with or provided services, or was it more than just... just contact?
[04:33:21] Dylan Rich: Yes. Um, CSA provides services through their homelessness prevention program like rental assistance, transportation assistance, and utility assistance.
[04:33:30] Councilmember McAllister: So 5,000 people came by and we helped them out. Okay. Thank you.
[04:33:37] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. I don't see anyone else with a question. So we'll bring this to public comment. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to comment on any item... on this item? All right. I don't see any in person, but I see virtual. So, Madeline Musante?
[04:34:16] Madeline Musante: Yeah, hello. Are you able to hear me all right?
[04:34:18] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes, we hear you.
[04:34:19] Madeline Musante: Wonderful. This is Madeline Musante. Uh, I'm here representing Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. I'm our Director of Institutional Giving. And I first just want to thank the City Council so much for your support of, uh, of our community. Um, disability services are often some of the first that are cut, particularly when we're under threat from things like HR 1 and other federal attacks. So just thank you again for your support last fiscal year as well as the current fiscal year of our program.
[04:34:49] Madeline Musante: Uh, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired provides independent living skills and life enrichment services to folks of all ages who are blind or visually impaired to help them live independent, joyful lives. Our CDBG grant, uh, allowed us to serve 45 unique clients over the last year with mobility assistance, assistive technology, home safety, um, things like cooking... learning how to cook independently and manage their own medication so that they're able to live safely and independently.
[04:35:18] Madeline Musante: Um, the majority of folks who are blind or vi... who become visually impaired in life are seniors. And, uh, as we all know... as we all know, uh, age... retirement ages have been getting, uh, have been getting pushed back farther and farther due to the high cost of living, um, and high medical costs. So the fact that Vista's services are able to help folks age in place, uh, despite their vision loss is huge for our community in terms of preventing premature institutionalization and homelessness. And I just again really want to thank the City Council for your support. Um, your services are life-changing for our clients.
[04:35:57] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Our next virtual speaker is Georgia Bacil.
[04:36:08] Georgia Bacil: Good evening. Georgia Bacil, Directing Attorney of Senior Adults Legal Assistance, or SALA. We provide free legal services to Mountain View residents 62 or older, targeting clients that are low income or at risk of abuse or loss of independence. We provide our services at appointments at Mountain View Senior Center and by phone for clients that cannot leave their homes or with emergencies.
[04:36:28] Georgia Bacil: We are a current CDBG grantee, and we thank you so much for your support. Your funding supports expanded availability of our services to Mountain View seniors. We're also a CDBG grantee from last year, and a summary about our services is included in the staff report for the CAPER. Specifically, the CAPER notes that we served 61 unduplicated Mountain View residents 62 or older last year.
[04:36:52] Georgia Bacil: I wanted to share a little bit more information about them with you. 77% of these clients had very low incomes at or below 50% of the area median income. They would not be able to pay a private attorney for legal services that we provided to them at no fee. 66% were also 75 or older, placing them at higher risk of abuse or loss of independence. Uh, we want to thank you for your support. It's very important to us because we cannot charge fees for our services or accept fee-generating cases. The primary way we support our services is through grants like Mountain View CDBG. Your funding helped us provide the highest level of service possible last year, and hopefully, it will continue to do this in the coming year. Thank you so much again for your support.
[04:37:41] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. All right. That concludes our speakers. So I'll bring the item back for Council questions and deliberation. This was... I see a motion from Councilmember Clark, seconded by Vice Mayor Ramos. I don't see anyone else, um, needing to speak, so I think we should vote.
[04:38:01] Councilmember Clark: Just... I don't think you need to... Do you need to read?
[04:38:03] Mayor Ellen Kamei: No.
[04:38:04] Councilmember Clark: No, it's just a motion to approve the staff recommendation.
[04:38:06] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. Perfect. Just like making sure I didn't have to read anything.
[04:38:19] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right. And that passes unanimously. Thank you to staff. So we'll move to Item 6.3, our Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 1 Annual Report and Levy of Business Assessments. Councilmember Clark, do you have an announcement to make?
[04:38:43] Councilmember Clark: Mmm, yes. Uh, I'm recusing myself from participating in any discussion or determination about the Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 1 due to the proximity of my personal residence to the improvement area.
[04:38:53] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Councilmember Hicks, do you have an announcement to make?
[04:38:56] Councilmember Hicks: Yes, I'm also recusing myself from participating in discussion about the Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 1 due to the proximity of my personal residence to the improvement area.
[04:39:07] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella and Community Development Director Christian Murdock will present the item. If you'd like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.
[04:40:05] Amanda Rotella: Oh, excuse me. Let me just share it to Zoom.
[04:41:14] Amanda Rotella: Thank you for your patience. Uh, good evening, Mayor, Council. Amanda Rotella, Economic Vitality Manager. Uh, tonight we're holding the first public hearing in the long-standing annual renewal process for the Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 1. And the second public hearing will take place on October 28th, 2025 to approve the renewal and levy the fines.
[04:41:40] Amanda Rotella: There are two Business Improvement Districts... There we go. Okay. There are two business improvement areas. Uh, BIA No. 1 includes all businesses along Castro Street and side streets between View and Franklin and between Evelyn Avenue and El Camino, and that is on the screen outlined in red. And BIA No. 2 includes businesses in the 100, 200, and 300 block of Castro, and it's in the light blue.
[04:42:08] Amanda Rotella: The BIA assessments generated from both areas are used for specific programming, events, and promotions to support downtown businesses. And in the Annual Report prepared by the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, which is Attachment 3 in your packet, the 2026 projected revenues from both areas is anticipated to be about $50,000.
[04:42:32] Amanda Rotella: Tonight, uh, City Council may discuss BIA No. 1 and receive any comments or input from the public. And then the recommendations are to approve the Annual Report for 2025 and also adopt a resolution declaring intention to levy an assessment in BIA No. 1 for 2026. Uh, that concludes staff presentation, and, uh, myself, Community Development Director Christian Murdock, and Chamber CEO Peter Katz are available to answer questions. Thank you.
[04:43:03] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Does any member of Council have any questions? Councilmember McAllister.
[04:43:10] Councilmember McAllister: Um, I always ask the question so I might as well be consistent. No one ever increases their levy. Are they even allowed to increase, uh, for inflation? And the reason... why is there... the levy increased over all the years? I mean, they vote on it, right? Has anybody proposed to them to increase it or taken that step?
[04:43:37] Christian Murdock: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Christian Murdock, Community Development Director. Uh, my understanding is the way that the BIAs are currently, uh, structured based on their, um, creation is that they do not include an index for inflation. And so an increase to those levies would require essentially a vote, uh, very similar if not identical to the formation vote. And so, uh, I'm not sure of the full history of the entire, uh, duration of these as to why that maybe hasn't been done. Uh, but we are, uh, considering ways to raise more funding to provide the kinds of services that, um, businesses in the downtown and that the community expects. And so that is something that the Council will be seeing at a future date.
[04:44:13] Councilmember McAllister: Why doesn't anybody reach out and do another vote? Well, I haven't... and I mean, I mean, you're fairly new, but over the years, why hasn't somebody reached out and says, "We need, you know, you want more money, here's an opportunity to do it." And has there, to your knowledge, been a vote to increase the... the levy?
[04:44:35] Christian Murdock: Again, I'm not aware, uh, of a recent effort to do that. Uh, I'm not sure if others on the staff have, uh, longer, um, history or time horizon on that point. Um, what I can say is we know that, uh, additional resources are important to the business community today, and we are looking at ways to try to address that need, um, after all these years.
[04:44:54] Councilmember McAllister: Going forward, would you propose raising... doing a vote to raise their fees?
[04:45:01] Christian Murdock: I think what I can say is, um, we have identified a need, uh, from working with our business community in the downtown, um, to try to generate more resources for the kinds of upkeep and activations that they're looking for. And so, um, revisiting or expanding or reauthorizing the current BIA is one potential future strategy. We are looking at a broader range of strategies at this point to try to find the right amount of funding and the right mechanism to make an equitable and effective, uh, program in the downtown.
[04:45:30] Councilmember McAllister: Thank you.
[04:45:33] Amanda Rotella: Uh, and if I could just add, um, it's important to note that the business improvement area, the funds, uh, can be specifically used for activation and events and promotions. So there are some limitations on how the funding can be spent, which, um, we're looking at the right match of what funding sources and what's... what it is allowed to be used for and looking for that right size for the community's needs.
[04:45:56] Mayor Ellen Kamei: And I think this is being, um... is it co... co-presented with the Chamber? Is that... Or does... do we need to wait for public comment for his...
[04:46:04] Amanda Rotella: Uh, Peter is available to answer questions. Um...
[04:46:06] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. Perfect. Yeah.
[04:46:07] Amanda Rotella: But if... do you want to make some com... initial comments if that's all right?
[04:46:10] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay.
[04:46:13] Peter Katz: Thank you very much. And good evening, Council. And, uh, thank you for the opportunity just to clarify a little bit, uh, at the, uh... uh, question about, uh, renewing the BIA. Um, I've only been here for six years but have actually con... consulted with others who have been here longer. And the understanding is that the BIA kind of acts like homeowners dues in that the businesses themselves need to vote for themselves that they want to have the fees increased. And according to some of my predecessors, that's never been, um, explored because of the danger of losing the entire egg because, of course, you put it up and they could say, "Well, you know what? We don't want any tax whatsoever. We don't want anything. Um, there... there's no value."
[04:47:06] Peter Katz: That said, in different jurisdictions where they have looked at increasing, uh, BIA, um, it is a long, painful, and expensive process, and it often involves, uh, many of the same, um, capabilities or... or, um, requirements that a campaign would. And as all of our elected officials know, that takes a lot of time, energy, effort, and cost. Um, that all said, um, the Chamber has in our few years of... of running the DBA have been talking to businesses, um, on and off about, you know, what the value is that they're getting and so on, so that we can look at the right way to do it.
[04:47:45] Peter Katz: One thing that's important to note is, and I think it was said a little bit earlier, is that given the rules under which the BIA was formed many years ago, um, it's rather restrictive. And so it's restricted to certain types of activities. We at the Chamber have actually been doing more than it says that we should, if you will, and, uh, want to look at a new approach, whether it be a BIA, whether it be a property-based, um, improvement district, i.e. a PBID, or some other mechanism before we go out to the public and basically say... or to the businesses and basically say, "Hey, we have a new plan for you." Does... does that help?
[04:48:24] Councilmember McAllister: Thank you.
[04:48:25] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Any other Councilmembers have questions? All right. Um, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card. I am not seeing any. So I'll bring the item back for, uh, Council questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. Vice Mayor Ramos.
[04:48:57] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. Um, I move to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View approving the Annual Report of the Downtown Bus... Mountain View Business Improvement Area Number 1 and declaring its intention to levy assessments for 2026 to be read in title only, further reading waived, and set a public hearing date of October 28th, 2025.
[04:49:24] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Councilmember Showalter.
[04:49:26] Councilmember Showalter: Yes, I just wanted to thank, um, the staff of the... the Chamber and... and, um, the City for preparing this report. It's always good to just see, um, listed all of the activities that go on downtown, um, that bring people together and to have a good time and to do more business for our, um, our businesses. So I really appreciate that, and, um, uh, it... uh, you know, it... it... it... it's good to sort of see the totality of it.
[04:49:59] Councilmember Showalter: Um, that said, I think we're all hoping that, um, as time goes on, we'll get more, um, you know, more activity in those vacant, um, locations. I know that's something you work on very hard and thank you and until we get them filled, please keep doing it. And, um, then the other thing I... I'd just like to put in a plug for a com... uh, a comment is that, um, we have had some pop-ups in the past. I know we've talked about that, and they are again a lot of fun and good activity. So I hope we can go forward with that. But mostly I just want to say thank you.
[04:50:39] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Um, let's vote.
[04:50:51] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right. And that passes with five of us and two of us absent. So we'll invite our colleagues back, um, to move on to Item 6.4, Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 2, Annual Report and Levy of Business Assessments. So we'll turn it back over to staff for a presentation.
[04:51:14] Amanda Rotella: All right. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Um, this presentation might sound familiar, so bear with me. Uh, tonight we are holding the first public hearing in a long-standing annual renew process for the Downtown Business Improvement Area Number 2. The second public hearing will take place on October 28th, 2025 to approve the renewal and levy the f... uh, the fees.
[04:51:37] Amanda Rotella: There are two business improvement areas. The first is Business Improvement Area No. 1, which includes all businesses along Castro Street and side streets between View, Franklin, and between Evelyn and El Camino. Again on the map, that is the area outlined in red. BIA No. 2 includes businesses in the 100, 200, and 300 blocks of Castro indicated there in light blue.
[04:51:59] Amanda Rotella: The BIA assessments generated from both areas are used for programming, events, and promotions to support downtown businesses. And in the Annual Report prepared by the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, again Attachment No. 3 in your packet, the 2026 projected revenues from both areas is approximately $50,000. Tonight, City Council may discuss BIA No. 2 and receive comments or input from the public. And there are two recommendations, uh, before you. The first is, again, to approve the Annual Report for 2025 and adopt the resolution declaring an intention to levy, uh, an assessment in BIA No. 2 for 2026. And again, myself, Christian... um, Community Development Director Murdock, and Chamber CEO Peter Katz are available for questions. Thank you.
[04:52:52] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Does any member of the Council have any questions? All right. Um, not seeing questions. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? I am also not seeing any. So I'll bring the item back for, uh, Council questions and deliberation. And please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. And I believe that's been moved by Councilmember Showalter and seconded by Vice Mayor Ramos. So Councilmember Showalter.
[04:53:28] Councilmember Showalter: Yes, I would like to, um, approve, uh, to move approval of the Annual Report and to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View approving the Annual Report of the Downtown Mountain View Business Improvement Area Number 2, and declaring its intention to levy assessments for 2026 to be read in title only, further reading waived, and set a public hearing date of October 28th, 2025, Attachment 1 to the Council Report.
[04:53:56] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Let's vote.
[04:54:01] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right. And that passes unanimously. Thank you to staff. We'll move on to Item 7, which is New Business. Item 7.1 is the Annual Compensation Increases for the City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager and amending the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Salary Plan for regular employees to update the salaries for Council Appointees. Vice Mayor Ramos will present the item.
[04:54:26] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. Each year, the City Council reviews the performance and compensation of the Council Appointees. The Council Appointees include the City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager. As the Vice Mayor, I oversaw this process, and the Council was assisted by a professional facilitator, Nelson Fi... Fialho from the Renne Public Management Group.
[04:54:48] Vice Mayor Ramos: Based on the annual evaluation process for each Council Appointee's performance and strategic contributions, the City Council prepared to consider adjustments that align with both individual accomplishments and organizational goals for the year ahead. All of the Council Appointees have provided important and valuable service to the City of Mountain View over the last year, and the Council is pleased with their performance.
[04:55:11] Vice Mayor Ramos: The Brown Act requires the City Council to orally report a summary of the Council action on the salaries, salary schedule, or fringe benefits of Council Appointees during an open meeting of which the final action is to be taken. To satisfy this requirement, I am providing this report of the recommended adjustment for the City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager.
[04:55:34] Vice Mayor Ramos: For the City Attorney, 1% merit increase and an additional 1% base salary as an ongoing City contribution to a 457(b) deferred compensation plan. For the City Clerk, a one merit... 1% merit increase, an additional 1% base salary as ongoing City contribution to a 457(b) deferred compensation plan. For the City Manager, a 1% merit increase and an additional 1% of base salary as an ongoing City contribution to a 457(b) deferred compensation plan.
[04:56:10] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Does any member of the Council have any questions? Not seeing any, we'll move on to public comment. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? All right. I'm not seeing any in person or virtual public comment. So I'll bring the item back for Council deliberation and action. And please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. That has been moved by Vice Mayor Ramos and seconded by Councilmember Hicks. So I'll turn it back over to you, Vice Mayor.
[04:56:44] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I was told that I was supposed to be the one that makes the motion. So I move to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View approving annual compensation increases for the City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager, and amending the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Salary Plan for regular employees to update the salaries for Council Appointees to be read in title only, further reading waived.
[04:57:09] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Let's vote.
[04:57:15] Mayor Ellen Kamei: All right. And that passes unanimously. So we'll move on to Item 8, Council, Staff, and Committee Reports. Does anyone have a report? Councilmember Showalter.
[04:57:26] Councilmember Showalter: Yes, I wanted to share a couple meetings I've been to on, uh, City behalf. One, uh, I represented Mountain View at the BAWSCA meeting last week. And I'm pleased to report that the San Francisco PUC, um, water supply system is, um, just at a great level this year. We've... we've really had a good water year and, um, so the, uh, storage levels are very high. And, um, that's... that's good news.
[04:57:56] Councilmember Showalter: Um, the, uh... uh, we are very concerned, of course, on the... the passage of the, um, water supply, um, amendment, uh, package that will, uh, reduce the minimum purchase requirement... I mean, you know, it will get rid of the minimum purchase requirement or reduce it to, uh, levels that are not a problem. And they have been a... a substantial financial problem for us over the last, um, 10 years or so.
[04:58:29] Councilmember Showalter: So anyway, um, there are 26 contractors, um, in BAWSCA that have to approve this. And thus far, 24 of them have. So we have two outliers. And, um, one of them is, uh, scheduled. And another one isn't scheduled yet, but, um, says that that... that their, um, meeting to go over this will be scheduled in October. So, um, we're, uh, very optimistic... cautiously optimistic... BAWSCA is cautiously optimistic that this will go through. And, um, that will provide quite a bit of financial, um, relief for Mountain View. Last year, we spent, I think it was over $4 million on, um, on this minimum purchase requirement. And as we all know, there are just so many other things that we would rather spend that money on.
[04:59:24] Councilmember Showalter: So, um, wanted to share that with you. Uh, uh, another thing I wanted to mention was the National... I serve on the National League of Cities Energy, Environment, and, um, Natural Resources Committee... policy committee. And we've been working on developing resolutions, um, that will be up for the vote at the City Summit in, um, Salt Lake. And one of those resolutions, uh, wa... was one of the things that I asked to be added to our federal legislative, um, platform. And I just want to thank everybody for, um, you know, going along with that.
[05:00:01] Councilmember Showalter: Um, I think that... that this... the one that we worked on in particular was the need for weather data, um, for both for disasters and for just, um, the day-to-day operations that we all use it for. It's really a matter of public safety. And, um, the federal government is uniquely, um, qualified and... and positioned to be able to provide that. So I wanted to thank everybody for that.
[05:00:29] Councilmember Showalter: And, um, Silicon Valley Clean Energy. We should all, um, be fi... seeing a rebate of $40 on our bills this month. And, um, uh, I was wonder... yeah, so that's my report. Thank you.
[05:00:45] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Councilmember Clark.
[05:00:46] Councilmember Clark: I just briefly wanted to share, since, um, I think almost everyone here has, um, been involved with the City for long enough to... have worked at some point with John Igoe. Um, he passed away, um, uh, I think a week or 10 days or so ago, and I just wanted to share that with everyone. A few... um, I read his obituary, and there were just some really unique things about John that I... I didn't realize at the time. Um, for example, he was, uh, he was a... a captain in the Air Force and worked on the SR-71 Blackbird in Alaska before, uh, ending up in the Bay Area. And then he was the Construction Manager for the Moscone Center in San Francisco and a whole host of other things. But I just thought that was really interesting. I really enjoyed working with him, and I'm sure, um, sure others did as well. So I just wanted to share that news with everyone.
[05:01:35] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. Vice Mayor Ramos.
[05:01:38] Vice Mayor Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. We had a CNC, uh, meeting since our last open session. Um, and it was, uh, covering Cuesta Park, Phyllis, Springer neighborhoods, and they had questions about Pickleball. Um, which we... which we heard, and staff gave wonderful answers. And traffic. Um, those were the two major things. And then I also attended, um, the ABAG Executive Board meeting. I'm the Cities Association alternate.
[05:02:08] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Councilmember McAllister.
[05:02:11] Councilmember McAllister: Uh, I have a question for, uh, Councilmember Showalter. Who are the two holdouts?
[05:02:19] Councilmember Showalter: You know, I'm positive that Hayward is the last one. And that... that's the one that hasn't been scheduled yet. They have two... they have a very complex system, and it has to go to two committee meetings. I understand they have been scheduled, and then it goes to the Council meeting, which my understanding is has not been scheduled yet. I am honestly not sure who the la... other one is.
[05:02:44] Councilmember McAllister: Did Palo Alto...
[05:02:45] Councilmember Showalter: They did. Okay. They did. And, um, I, uh... uh, I have to say, I was really pleased by their Council comments about it. They... I did go and, um, urge them along and brought up the fact that we were a neighbor and we were supposed to help each other and, you know, we had a history of doing that. And they, um, they talked quite a bit about that, uh, how being a good neighbor was important.
[05:03:18] Councilmember Showalter: And... and even there was opposition at their meeting. There was public opposition from some members of their utility, um, uh, group. And the, uh... uh, Greer Stone, their representative on BAWSCA, went through very carefully to talk about how they were really separate issues. And, um, the Utility Commission was concerned about how, um, SFPUC considers and calculates droughts. And, um, uh, that that is... is an issue that's being followed up with BAWSCA, but that's completely different and separate from this minimum purchase requirement, um, uh, process. And that, um, they... they... they need to separate them. And so the Council paid attention to his comments, and, um, they passed it unanimously.
[05:04:11] Councilmember McAllister: Great. So I was going to sort of reflect... it's been six months since I've been on this board and things have come through. And I was going to, uh, reflect and observations that I've seen for the first six months, but I want to get my thoughts together a little more concisely and bring them to you to see how we can make this Council work much more efficiently in getting projects done on time, less projects done on time, more projects done within budget, less stress on staff. And, um, that's very important to me.
[05:04:48] Councilmember McAllister: Because today, I saw two projects that are... uh, that I mentioned earlier, the Magical Bridge, which they said started out at 4 million and it ended at 8 million. And that was what happened sometimes. But I just give you a general thought is every time we add something at a meeting, even if it's just one line, or if we respond to people... the loudest voices in the room has impact. We represent 82,000 people. We don't represent the one person that says, "Oh, hey, can you add this?"
[05:05:30] Councilmember McAllister: Because what that actually does is staff ha... one, it's disrespectful to the Council because we haven't had a chance to vet it. And second, to the staff, they spend hours on projects, and when somebody comes along and says, "Oh, you could add that," it wasn't fully vetted. So we need to be careful about when we say something to staff because they're getting worked. Or when we heard one person comes up and I've seen too much often that we respond to the one person and that says, "Okay, that's great." We shouldn't do that. It's our fiduciary responsibility and our obligation to the community at whole to make sure that we represent anybody.
[05:06:07] Councilmember McAllister: And I've seen again... and it frustrates the bejesus out of me because we know we can do it. There is everybody on this Council has a lot of projects they want to get done. But if we keep delaying projects or we add one item to a project or something, it's going to take time and money away from the other things we can do. I've seen tens of millions of dollars wasted... or not wasted, but well, yeah, wasted because of delays, changes, reviews, um, that have caused us. And it's... starts with us. We Councilmembers have to set the stage to say we are going to discipline ourselves, we are going to be financially responsible, we are going to be efficient up here, and we're not going to continue to add these things to it.
[05:06:53] Councilmember McAllister: Again, we had a work plan. Instead of... it grew instead of getting smaller. So there was a position... there was an item on the work plan, it came up at the very end, and it took a lot of time. A lot of time and money to do. And it was only going to benefit a few people, maybe, well, I'll say a thousand or so. So please, when you bring up something, and you... don't... don't listen to the people in the room, consider them, but consider it in context of the whole community and what are we trying to achieve in a broader sense because there's so many things that we need to get done and we want to get done, but if all of a sudden we're sidetracked for something that's only going to benefit a thousand or 2,000 people, they're important and all the issues that you bring up are important, and you have the right to bring up anything you want.
[05:07:40] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Are you going to be proposing an Item 8, Councilmember McAllister?
[05:07:43] Councilmember McAllister: No, I'm just speaking.
[05:07:44] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Okay. Because I think this... this is for, um, staff... Council Staff Committee reports on official City business or bringing forward Item 8.
[05:07:55] Councilmember McAllister: Okay.
[05:07:56] Mayor Ellen Kamei: So, um...
[05:07:56] Councilmember McAllister: I guess I transitioned into number eight.
[05:07:58] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yeah. So I think, um, when you're ready to put forward an Item 8, um, colleagues can... can take a straw poll on that. Um, I'd like to make my report, um, on some official City business I've been, um, working on. Um, so one of them is we had our, uh, quarterly Mayors and City Managers meeting, um, last Thursday. The focus was preparing for... you know, our big events, um, regionally... uh, Super Bowl, World Cup. Um, but it's beyond just public safety, it's talking about, you know, transit and, um, commerce.
[05:08:39] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, and then, um, later that evening, um, I attended the Silicon Valley Structures Awards where Eden Housing received an award for their, um, project that we have out on La Avenida. Um, and then, um, some of us joined, um, last week the, uh, new fire apparatus celebration where we were able to see, um, in person the new ladder truck and seven new fire engines, which celebrates 150 years of our, um, fire service. Um, and then many other events but not official City. So, um, seeing no one else in the queue, I'll move to adjournment.
[05:09:27] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Um, and as was mentioned at the top of our meeting, um, tonight we adjourn in the memory and honor of Mountain View Fire Engineer and Paramedic Gabriel "Gabe" Shamiya, who passed away on July 14, 2025 after fighting a fearless two-and-a-half-year battle with a terminal disease. We honored Gabe at the beginning of the meeting, and he will be deeply missed. Our next City Council meeting will be held on October 14, 2025, and this meeting is adjourned at 10:05 PM. Thank you everyone and have a good night.