Video
Transcript
Segment 1
[00:00:03] Mayor Kitty Moore: Madam City Clerk, would you please call the roll?
[00:00:05] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Fruen?
[00:00:06] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Here.
[00:00:07] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Mohan?
[00:00:08] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Here.
[00:00:09] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Wang?
[00:00:10] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yes.
[00:00:11] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Vice Mayor Chao?
[00:00:12] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Here.
[00:00:13] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor Moore.
[00:00:14] Mayor Kitty Moore: Here.
[00:00:15] Mayor Kitty Moore: So, we are conducting the City Council training. Our item 1 is City Council training. Madam City Manager, would you please start the recommendation today.
[00:00:27] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Thank you. Good morning and congratulations again to our newly appointed Mayor and Vice Mayor. This session is meant to be a brief refresher of our policies and an opportunity to align on how we collectively support Cupertino's governance and day-to-day operations. So there's nothing new that's being introduced to you. You've heard all of this before. It's just a quick way for all of us to stay on the same page as we move into a busy year.
[00:00:57] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Next slide. You'll hear briefly from each of the department leaders on the areas that are most relevant to Council's work. Our goal is to keep things high-level today and useful as we discuss governance relationships, key policies, and important operational reminders.
[00:01:12] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Slide. And we would like to start by recognizing you as our full council team and the roles that each of you hold. As you can see here, as we move into the new year with the new Mayor and Vice Mayor, staff will continue to serve this Council diligently and to the best of our ability.
[00:01:33] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Next slide. At a high level, my role as the City Manager is to carry out your collective direction and make sure that the organization's aligned with it in all the areas, such as how we support commissions, how we manage the agendas, how we manage your priorities and the city's strategic planning. This presentation will touch briefly on each of those pieces so you can see how they fit together behind the scenes to implement your direction.
[00:02:04] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Okay. And this again is a simple reminder of the framework that protects both Council and staff. Council acting as a body sets policy and direction and staff through the City Manager is responsible for carrying that out. Individual Councilmembers always have the right to information and this structure helps us avoid any perception of undue influence and keeps everything transparent and consistent.
[00:02:30] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Next. Our commissions and committees are advisory to Council. They review issues and bring recommendations to you. You appoint commissioners and set the expectations through Council Procedures Manual and through the Commissioner's Handbook.
[00:02:50] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Here's a snapshot of the City Manager's Office that supports the City and Council's day-to-day. The CMO leadership, as you heard recently at a council meeting, it includes of course the City Manager and the Interim Deputy City Manager/City Clerk, trying to change that soon. We are supported by the executive assistant who is Serena, who also supports you administratively.
[00:03:16] City Manager Tina Kapoor: I as the City Manager, I oversee citywide operations with all of the department heads and the Deputy City Manager reporting to me. The Deputy City Manager oversees the divisions within the CMO that are listed here, and these include the Clerk's Office, managing agendas, PRAs, elections, all city records. This year alone, the Clerk's Office has completed over 300 PRAs, logged over 100 resolutions and 10 ordinances, and prepared 45 city council agendas.
[00:03:45] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Economic development supports to strengthen Cupertino's economy by supporting business attraction, retention, and expansion. We recently launched the Business Resource Hub and support over 10,000 Business Connect subscribers. They've met with over 400 businesses, it's a small team as you know.
[00:04:04] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Communications engages with the community through clear, consistent, transparent citywide communication. As of this year, they produce the City Manager bi-weekly newsletter and see it completely in-house. They've also achieved nearly 3,000 new social media followers in just 2025.
[00:04:22] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Emergency management, as you're aware, prepares and protects the city through coordinated emergency planning and disaster response. And this year they have helped to revamp the existing EOC and engaged volunteers with 24 community events and prepared 40 emergency go-bags through the city's build-a-kit program.
[00:04:40] City Manager Tina Kapoor: There's also the administration division which supports Council and city operations, policy coordination, advances city's priorities, and they manage the work program, legislative affairs, department finance, contracts, and the City Hall lobby. And this team here helps the city operate and is here to continue supporting not just the department but other departments as well.
[00:05:05] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Next slide. Here's a brief overview of the Council and Mayor's budget. So these funds are allocated for you to participate in events, trainings, and community activities. Staff will be ordering new business cards for the newly appointed Mayor and Vice Mayor soon. And if you need any general office supplies for city business or City Hall, just let us know, we can do that for you as well. A document with further details on your budget is included in the online folder that is being created and will be emailed to all of you following this session.
[00:05:40] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Committee assignments are one of the ways that you extend your reach beyond the city. They allow Councilmembers to go deeper on specific topics and then bring that insight back to the full Council. The procedures manual outlines how appointments work and the expectations for reporting. So this slide is just a reminder of that framework we have in place.
[00:06:04] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Next slide. And as a reminder, the adopted work program for fiscal year 25-27 has 28 projects. These include the new items that we added on December 1st. We provide quarterly updates and maintain a dashboard online as you've seen, so that you can track the progress and look at it at a glance. The second quarterly update is scheduled to be live on the dashboard towards the end of January, early February. And with that, I will now pass it over to Floy for the really exciting stuff.
[00:06:38] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Sure. Good morning, good morning all. And so we will be walking through some high-level rules, etc., that the Council complies with throughout the year. We'll be looking at three different sections. One is the Rosenberg's Rules of Order. We won't spend a lot of time there. This Council's been together for a while, it feels like this Council is really on top of the Rosenberg's Rules and I very much appreciate that. We'll talk about conflict of interest at a high level and also the Brown Act. And then we'll also throw in the new SB 707, just some highlights from that later on.
[00:07:18] City Attorney Floy Andrews: So Rosenberg's Rules are many cities use them, they're kind of a subset of Robert's Rules of Order and they ensure that our meetings are fair, transparent, and efficient. One member speaks at a time, the Mayor calls on the speakers and you know basically controls the flow of the meeting and each item. Motions must be clear with a second. The majority decides, tie votes fail. All members must present may participate and ask questions.
[00:07:58] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Next we'll go to motions. As you know, there are basic motions where a motion is proposed, may be amended, or a substitute motion may be offered and there can only be up to three motions on the floor. Meaning once you get to the third motion, the Council has to manage the third motion and then you know work backwards to the first motion. There is a process for reconsidering. It's does require that somebody who was in the majority vote, you know bring that motion forward that that motion be reconsidered.
[00:08:34] City Attorney Floy Andrews: We can go to the next slide. Debate, the Mayor's role during debate. The Mayor has a very important role in terms of managing debate and I think we can leave it at that. Thank you.
[00:08:50] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Conflict of interest. Members, conflict of interest is a very broad area and what I would like to do is describe conflict of interest which the FPPC is engaged in. They can the FPPC has regulations that are very specific and so when a Councilmember believes they may have some kind of a financial connection to an action coming before the Council, the best idea is to reach out to the City Attorney and because the rules are very specific, I'll do the research. It's not really a body of law that you could you know fully master and just you know cite off the top of your head. Research needs to be done in each of those. But a financial interest would be something like you have a stake in a company that the City is considering doing business with. Very important that you bring it up to the City Attorney so we can work through that. Others might be you own a piece of property that is within 500 or 1,000 feet of a development or other infrastructure being installed in the City.
[00:10:01] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Basically it comes down to is there any way that you or your family member could benefit financially from a decision that the city is making. If it ever seems like you might have that kind of financial connection to a decision, that's the time to reach out to the City Attorney's office.
[00:10:20] City Attorney Floy Andrews: There's this other idea about conflicts that has to do with, you know, personal conflicts. And generally speaking, from my perspective of the law, personal conflicts meaning you as as an individual have a belief system that would cut in favor or against let's say a policy the city is adopting. Well, you're public representatives elected by the electorate and the electorate is voting for you because of your state of mind, how you think about the world, your policy positions. And so the fact that you come into office with a viewpoint about a policy doesn't mean that you have a conflict with that policy. That's in fact perhaps why you were elected. Those those personal viewpoints come into in into play when you're acting in a judicial role and a quasi-judicial role where you're hearing an appeal say from the planning commission. In that instance, you can't come to the question with a with a bias as to how you're going to rule before you've had a chance to independently hear the evidence and decide how you want to rule at that time.
[00:11:44] City Attorney Floy Andrews: So bias is important really only in that setting. So for instance, if you're a member of a non-profit organization or a community organizing organization, that membership really does not create a conflict of interest when you're dealing with issues coming before the city and that you're going to be voting on. Financial interests are really the the key here in terms of conflict of interest.
[00:12:09] City Attorney Floy Andrews: And in addition to that, you could potentially have property that might be impacted by let's say a new lighting system for a crosswalk that and the lighting system is going to shine directly in your living room window and it's not going to shine in all the other people's living room windows. In that instance, you might also have a conflict of interest in that particular decision of the City.
[00:13:38] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Okay, I'm going to move on from conflicts of interest there. There's also the Levine Act, I'm sure you've heard of it. It's been on the books for a while. It covers not so much your financial interest, but it covers campaign contributions and it's basically in place to ensure that a Councilmember isn't receiving a 500 or more campaign contribution from say a developer and then the Councilmember is going to be voting on that developer's project. This law specifically targets that. It's more nuanced and it may be something we want to dive more into but the Council's already been living with this rule so probably understands it relatively well and you know may not need further training. But recently the limits, they used to be 250 dollars, they were raised to 500 dollars.
[00:13:40] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yeah, a quick question. So what happens in this case, let's say a Union gives you 1,000 dollars but then you vote on their contract later in the year? Like why is that not a conflict of interest? This happens all the time.
[00:13:51] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Well, I think the that's a good question. I would need to dive into that. I mean, the union isn't a developer and you're not voting on the developer's project.
[00:13:59] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Well, you vote on their contracts and their salaries.
[00:14:02] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Yeah. I'm not sure if there's a an exclusion for that, but I want to look into that. I don't want to opine on that today.
[00:14:09] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Okay. But that's a massive conflict of interest.
[00:14:12] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Yeah. Thank you. But that's exactly the kind of thing we should be thinking about. Exactly.
[00:14:20] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Okay, let's move on to the Brown Act. So the Brown Act is a body of law, it's been on the books for a long time. It's revised, been revised over time and we have a recent revision coming just in 2026 called it's SB 707. But the Brown Act is set up so that meetings are run open and transparent and the public can participate in the process. It's basically meant to ensure that the Council isn't separately and closed doors making decisions for the city that the voters don't know about. Agendas are posted in advance. Obviously the public may attend and provide public comment.
[00:15:05] City Attorney Floy Andrews: There is a separate procedure, a closed session procedure that we know about and the Brown Act provides very specific direction on what can be heard in closed session and generally the items that can be heard in closed session are items that if the public knew about while you were making the decisions, it would hurt the interests of the city, like for instance a real estate contract. If you're negotiating a real estate contract in the public sphere, then the counter-party to the contract will hear the negotiation and they'll know exactly what they should offer for the property or require that you offer for the property. So it really needs to be done in closed session. It's decisions like that that the Council hears in closed session.
[00:15:50] City Attorney Floy Andrews: So let's get to SB 707. SB 707, you know we've had some interest some issues with our teleconferencing, with our Zoom when we're doing our meetings. I don't think we're the only public entity that is having those issues, which is why SB 707, I think partially was why it was passed. The new law provides procedures for restoring in the event of a broadcast disruption. So we have to follow those procedures. It also provides for if the Zoom goes down, it provides for a one-hour period where the City scrambles to try to get the Zoom up and running. And if after the one-hour period we're not able to get it up and running, the Council can take a roll call vote, confirm that a good faith effort has been made to restore the Zoom and make the finding that the public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the remote access. So it allows for a way where we can continue to do business after a one-hour remote period, after a one-hour recess while we try to get the Zoom up and running.
[00:17:03] City Attorney Floy Andrews: It also requires that Councilmembers who are participating remotely provide a legal basis in the record at the beginning of the meeting. I'm not going to go through every all of the changes just the ones that I think are are sort of most relevant to us.
[00:17:24] City Attorney Floy Andrews: It requires that any population that 20% or more of the city's population as a primary language is something other than English, that language our agendas need to be translated into that language. And we're working on different ways to make that translation happen. I think our initial idea is to hire a professional translator for a month or so, maybe three months and then also use AI and take a look at how those two translations function and if they seem to be if the AI seems to be you know nearly as good as the expensive professional translation, then we might consider going with AI, but that will be a new expense and one that we'll consult with on that.
[00:18:14] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Question for you, we have a former mayor that was camping out in Taiwan at the time taking meetings, so then because 20% of the population that's sitting there, like in that country, like would you translate to that or is it 20% of the population let's say like Councilmember Fruen was sitting in Italy for a call, I was sitting in Sweden, would we have to translate to those languages?
[00:18:34] City Attorney Floy Andrews: I don't think so. I think it's going to be the residents in the city. Okay. I just want to make sure it's demo in the city.
[00:18:40] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yeah yeah, I just want to make sure. Just demo in the city. Yeah yeah.
[00:18:42] City Attorney Floy Andrews: I really think it needs to be that, I don't I don't have the exact language of the new law in front of me but I can't imagine that the former would be the case.
[00:18:52] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So I have some question for the earlier items, I was saved to the last but then I'll just comment on ask. So I think we heard at the breakfast of mayors meeting, Sunnyvale just adopt an AI system that can translate to 60 different languages. And I've been thinking that we really should provide transcript of all the meetings. That technology is there now, so why not just also provide written transcript, it's much easier for the public search the content of the meeting. And we don't have to provide the summary, anyone can get the transcript and ask AI to get the meeting summary also. So I think the terrace is something that so YouTube moves from automatically to multiple languages now with captioning.
[00:19:46] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Exactly. The CCs will do it.
[00:19:48] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So do we need to provide that or can we just need to provide a button, here is instruction how do you get it?
Segment 2
[00:45:01] Community Development Director Ben Fu: ...and annually we- we will bring some code updates. Muni codes- um, needs a lot of refresher. Things are old and it needs- we need to look at the trends of the city, so we will bring some code updates to you when appropriate. And finally, last two items, just the highlight in the housing element implementation for development projects and I wanted to also mention that on the city's website we have a webpage specifically for major development projects and you can look up residential as well as non-residential projects. So thank you very much.
[00:45:35] City Manager Tina Kapoor: And next, Chad Mosley, our Director of Public Works, will provide an overview for his department.
[00:45:43] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: Thank you, everybody. Um, I think like Ben, you guys know what we do, but roughly Public Works is responsible for design, construction, and maintenance of public facilities, and that includes public streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, storm drains, city street trees, medians, streetlights, signs, public buildings, basically everything we own. The Public Works department is made up of nine divisions. Our capital improvement program, they're the ones who design and construct our city facilities. Development Services works closely with Community Development, and they look at private developments with respect to how those private developments affect the public right-of-way and public facilities. Our Transportation division maintains all of our traffic signals and ensures that traffic's moving throughout the city. They also have a wider planning vision, working with adjacent agencies to ensure that our projects are coordinated with theirs. Our Environmental Programs and Sustainability division basically manages our solid waste contracts, and that's with Recology as well as our- our landfills, and they also work closely to try and ensure that our environmental footprint is reduced for the city. Our Facilities and Fleet division maintains all of our existing buildings and keeps our fleet running smoothly. Grounds division takes care of all of our city properties and parks. Streets and Sidewalks division again keeps the streets running, our sidewalks in good condition, and also takes care of our storm drain system. Trees and Right-of-Way takes care of all of our city street trees as well as our park trees and keeps them in good shape. And then our Administration division kind of is the glue that keeps us all together and keeps us on track. We do also have liaisons for two commissions; that is the Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission as well as the Sustainability Commission.
[00:47:53] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: Over the last year, we've had a number of projects completed. Um, of note, we did finish the LED transition project for all of our streetlights, which should bring the city somewhere around a hundred thousand dollars a year in savings for electricity. Um, you know, a number of other items that were completed, including Jollyman All-Inclusive Playground. We have a lot of projects still in the works and that we'll be seeing over the next, you know, year or two. The Tamien Innu East design, which has been- we've been in the works for a long time, we just recently got approval from Valley Water to proceed with our concept, so that's a big step in getting to- to completion of the East. Let's go to the next slide.
[00:48:38] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: Oh, and at the bottom there, we'll also have the I-280-Wolfe interchange project that is currently out to bid. VTA is the manager of that project. They're expecting bids back Wednesday of next week. Keep your fingers crossed that we get good bids on that. Um, if we do, that project will probably start middle of next year. Um, again, I've got projects, I've got pages and pages of projects. City Hall renovation project, you guys will be hearing about on Tuesday. We have a number of bridge projects to keep our bridges in good shape. The Stevens Creek bike lanes Phase 2A project will be starting in January, and let's go to the next page.
[00:49:25] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: Just a lot of stuff that's going to be going on here. We do have the SV Hopper shuttle expansion, which will expand that program to the north into northern Santa Clara; that's to begin in July of next year. This is just scratching the surface, and this is outside of our day-to-day operations of keeping things going on. We have a lot going on. If anybody has any questions, wants to talk about any project or all projects specifically, feel free to reach out to me. I'm always happy to meet with you and talk with- talk with you, give you a little more in-depth information on those projects. So that's what we do.
[00:49:58] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Thank you, Chad. Next, we have Christina Alfaro, our Director of Administrative Services.
[00:50:07] Administrative Services Director Christina Alfaro: Good morning, Mayor, Vice Mayor, councilmembers. So Chad is very much- Public Works is an outward-facing department, where Administrative Services really ensures that we're providing all the tools necessary internally to keep our outward-facing departments um, running. And with that, we'll go through some of the divisions that we have here. Our administrative division for Admin Services really helps support the department, keep our department internally running. This division is also responsible for the administration of the city's internal audit program along with the fraud, waste, and abuse program. Our budget division is responsible for the analysis and reporting related to the city's budget, including but not limited to the proposed budget, final budget, and quarterly budget reports. Um, our budget document is a forward-looking document, making estimates for revenues and appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year and also includes a 10-year financial forecast. For our finance division, we have a full-service finance division, um, which is responsible for financial reporting, most notably the city's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, which differs from the budget as its focus is how the city ended the prior fiscal year. In addition, this division is responsible for um, ensuring our payroll is completed timely and accurately, our accounts payable, accounts receivable, and business licenses. In our HR division, which is also a full service, um, this division is responsible for employee relations, labor negotiations, risk management, benefit administration, citywide trainings, and recruitment. I think most councilmembers got to meet some of our HR folks when you first onboarded with the city. Next is our purchasing division, um, and this is the department's newest division and serves as a single point of contact on procurement processes and then newly also grant reporting as well. Um, the department supports the audit committee and also supports the Cupertino Public Facilities Corporation, which we'll talk about in just a moment, which is primarily responsible for issuing debt for the city.
[00:52:05] Administrative Services Director Christina Alfaro: So, um, we have some department activities. We generally have regular day-to-day or year-to-year items that we do, but some notable things that we will be working on is a budget format update, which will be a big undertaking to- started in this year and it'll continue into the next couple fiscal years. Our internal audit program, which I think at this point we've had 80 recommendations that have been implemented thus far since this started in 2021. We also talked a little bit about managing the- so that's- our internal audit program is really more on how to make operations more efficient. More our- external audit process really relates to our financial reporting. Um, for our kind of our newest purchasing division, we're still continuing to work on solicitation templates, updates, processes, and then continue to provide guidance to the departments to ensure we're in compliance with our policies. Um, we also manage the negotiation of two Memorandums of Understanding, of which the council passed two new contracts earlier this calendar year.
[00:53:08] Administrative Services Director Christina Alfaro: And with that, Public Facilities Corporation. So, a quick, um, brief overview, but all councilmembers are board members. The Mayor serves as President, the Vice Mayor is the Vice President. Our city clerk is the board secretary. We generally meet once per year, the third Monday in November. We usually meet to give an update on where we are with the public facility corp, any updates we need to give, or to meet to refinance any new debt or issue new debt. The last debt refinance was in 2020. It's non-callable, which means we can't refinance it early and take out new debt. It was about 2.6 million dollars in an annual payment, and we currently have a June 2030 payoff date for that debt. Thank you.
[00:53:54] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Okay, and lastly we have Terra Gehrhart, our Chief Information Officer.
[00:54:16] Chief Information Officer Terra Gehrhart: Good morning. Um, the Information Technology department delivers the city's technology strategy and ensures reliable, secure, and modern digital services for the community and city staff. We manage the city's infrastructure, cybersecurity, enterprise systems, data and GIS platforms, audio-visual and broadcast operations, and emerging technologies. Our mission is to enable efficient city operations, enhance public engagement, and support innovation across all departments of the city. The Information and Technology department is made up of five divisions as you see here. The Applications division manages Cupertino's enterprise applications for citywide systems such as finance, permitting, plan review, parks and recreation. This division manages, configures, integrates, upgrades, and um, supports all of these systems to ensure departments have reliable, efficient tools for their daily operations. The GIS division handles the development and maintenance of Cupertino's geo-referenced applications, including our 311 system, our asset management system, our disaster response tools, our dashboards and story maps. The division delivers spatial data analytics and mapping solutions to inform decision-making and enhance public engagement. Next is our Infrastructure division. They manage all of the city cybersecurity programs, our PC and server infrastructure, our wired and wireless networks, and end-user help desk services. Then we have our Video division, which you all know pretty well. They manage our production, delivery, and support of our TV and radio and web-based video content for our council meetings, hybrid meetings, events, and community programming. Last we have our Administration division, which oversees our contracts, strategic planning, governance framework, and department policies. The INT department also does manage the Technology, Information, and Communications Commission. Next slide.
[00:56:51] Chief Information Officer Terra Gehrhart: Um, so here's a quick overview of key technology initiatives currently underway across the city. So with infrastructure, we're implementing switch and firewall upgrades to modernize our secure city's network. We're strengthening our endpoint management and patch management to improve system reliability and reduce vulnerabilities. We're migrating our WORM storage device to the cloud to ensure compliance, stability, and long-term sustainability. That's where we house all of our documents, our city records. Cybersecurity enhancements, so we continuously improve the city's cybersecurity environment through updated tools, monitoring, and best practices, expanding our cybersecurity training, including mandatory annual education for all staff, council, and commission members, providing targeted reactive training for individuals who fall victim to simulated phishing attempts to reinforce and secure those systems. And then our ERP replacement, which you guys know a lot about. Um, so after a thorough evaluation, Tyler ERP emerged as the highest-ranked ERP solution in our evaluation. We are now in the contract negotiation phase with that project, finalizing scope, timelines, and integration before bringing the agreement to Council. Next, we have our data and AI initiatives. So earlier this year, we did implement an AI tool to automatically review building plans and check them against local codes, helping Cupertino speed up turnaround times and increase consistency and accuracy. External chatbot RFP has been published and is now out for vendor proposals. AI tools for PRA request processing, permitting, and staff report generation are currently under evaluation. We have recently stood up an internal AI Dev-Ops environment using Microsoft's Foundry and Microsoft's Fabric to support our AI internal development. And then we have our community-focused enhancements. So as you all know, we are advancing our WCAG 2.1 ADA accessibility compliance across the city's website, mobile applications, enterprise systems, agenda management, and video content. So that deadline is April of '26, so that's a big lift we're working on. Currently enhancing the public permit portal with a more intuitive, user-friendly interface. We will soon be adding code enforcement permits to the Accela public portal to expand online self-service, and we are rolling out a new public-facing digital forms to streamline community access to city services.
[01:00:10] Chief Information Officer Terra Gehrhart: Alright, last slide, we have a couple council technology reminders. First, city-issued devices. So each councilmember is issued a city laptop and phone. Using these devices for city business is essential for maintaining legal compliance, protecting sensitive information, and ensuring professionalism and security of council operations. Technology use policy and cybersecurity training. So the technology use policy was reviewed by each councilmember during your onboarding. This is a lot of information, it's a very large document, so please, we're happy to do a refresher training on that anytime, just let me know. Um, also, all city business must be conducted on your city-issued email accounts. So redirecting city email to personal accounts is not permitted, as it increases our security risks and may result in city business being conducted over personal email, creating legal, privacy, and record retention complications. Cybersecurity training is required on onboarding and annual for staff, councilmembers, as we said, and additional training will be assigned as um, for anyone that fails the phishing attempts. So, travel notification, very important. Please remember to notify infrastructure, thank you Liang, you did a good job of that, um, helpdesk@cupertino.org is the best way to reach us for any international travel, so we can ensure your equipment and accounts remain secure. And then last item here is council dais operations. If you would like a refresher on using the dais technology, including individual voting controls, motion, second functions, and request-to-speak tools, please plan to arrive early, a few minutes early before council meeting is really the best way, our staff's there, we can give you a quick one-on-one reminder or refresher course. Thank you very much, that's it for INT.
[01:02:28] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Mayor, that concludes the presentations, and now would be a good time for questions.
[01:02:34] Mayor Kitty Moore: Great. Well, first I want to thank all staff for providing this update. I- we didn't used to have the orientation like this, and I think it's really helpful, um, and I like seeing everybody all together for this. And with that, we'll open this up for any questions. Councilmember Wang?
[01:02:53] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I have some questions I can take the answers um, after this because I think um, we might have a hard-stop at 10:50? 10:50, right. Um, so first of all, um, thanks for all the presentation. I think I had emailed Tina earlier, other cities I've seen that they have staff directory posted on the city website, so it's easy for the public to know who is working for what, and um, that would be nice. And in the past, I think we had during the orientation an organization chart with photos of each employee. I'm terrible with faces, so it's nice to see, 'Oh, you see the person I've seen' and that's- that person actually is um, is part of the organization chart. Um, that would be helpful. The- the other things, yeah, I can just- what is the MOU successor agreement? It's MOU for...
[01:04:06] Administrative Services Director Christina Alfaro: Memorandum of Understanding.
[01:04:10] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: No, I know. For what?
[01:04:14] Administrative Services Director Christina Alfaro: So for- traditionally, the two Memorandums are with our Cupertino Employee Association and our operating engineers.
[01:04:25] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Oh, okay. Um, thanks for that specific. Okay. Um, and the other- I can take it up individually update on this. Ah, sorry, one more thing, please. So I- I'm happy to see that the 280 interchange project is moving forward. However, I don't think we have seen the design, and that design affect the Wolfe Road project emergency exit. So, um, I think we need more updates on that.
[01:05:07] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: I'll talk with VTA, see if they could come into a presentation. This is VTA's project, but we've tried to...
[01:05:12] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: But it will affect our bike path and our exit in and out of our project, right?
[01:05:21] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: Yeah, it affects the bridge there at the interchange, yes.
[01:05:33] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yeah, so I think we should have been able to at least provide some comments to the design. I don't think we've had that chance.
[01:05:33] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: The public was given opportunities to provide input to the project, um, as the interchange is technically outside of Cupertino's jurisdiction, we had no authority over it.
[01:05:43] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: When- when were the public invited for comments?
[01:05:47] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: I don't have all those dates, but I- I think it might be listed...
[01:05:50] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I- I think we, as a member of the public, were not notified.
[01:05:54] Mayor Kitty Moore: Liang, so I think we can... [to Chad] Do you wonder how would the public even know they were invited if the city did not help send out any notification to the public, right?
[01:06:46] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: I think we noticed it on our webpage. Yeah. This was some time ago. It was years ago. Um, so it may be that there's an argument that we weren't aware of this requirement for the emergency access when the design was being reviewed. And we had like the diverging diamond and then the- the fountain was only celebrated in June. So you mean the design was done- they have not updated the design? The funding was only celebrated in June, but the final donation for- final part of the funding, yeah. But the design's been in the works for years.
[01:06:51] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Six years. So shouldn't we review the design that they are open to potential modification of the design?
[01:07:01] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: At this point in time, the design's completed.
[01:07:05] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: No, there should be an opportunity to modification because things around this have changed.
[01:07:13] Public Works Director Chad Mosley: We can talk about this offline. If this is a project that's outside of our jurisdiction...
[01:07:19] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I know, yeah. But then we have an obligation to bring up any concern or to make requests for changes. I don't think anything is set in stone.
[01:07:35] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, so that can be settled offline. Have a quick question from the city attorney. Um, do we open this up for public comment and questions at this time?
[01:07:46] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Orientation don't- I don't think they do.
[01:07:50] Mayor Kitty Moore: But it's still an agendized item. So did we call for public comment in the beginning?
[01:07:55] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Ah, no, we would give the presentation first and then offer public comment after they open it.
[01:08:01] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Just a quick question to CDD staff. Um, do we have criteria that we use for um, describing what constitutes a major project? Because there's nothing really on the website that seems to tell me what- what would be major and what isn't, and it ranges across a host of things. There's a six-unit residential development on here. Granted, it's a I think a Builder's Remedy project, so I can understand why maybe that one is there, but is there a particular size threshold that has to be reached or what?
[01:08:34] Community Development Director Ben Fu: So, so we were thinking about that, but no. Because for us- for our city, a lot of projects it's hard to just say this particular threshold is quote-unquote major in terms of visibility. Um, so um, pretty much everything that we receive so far has been designated as major because of a lot of visibility to them. Um, we- we have been thinking about too whether or not to create a checklist but again, that, you know, some project may fall through because of that and- but- but may have more visible components to it. So.
[01:09:04] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Okay. Thanks.
[01:09:05] Mayor Kitty Moore: I asked the question of public comment?
[01:09:08] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Yes, we should do that.
[01:09:09] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, so we're going to open up for public comment right now. Please keep it brief. I'd like the questions to be under two minutes if possible. Are there any speaker cards? Are we- do we have those provided?
[01:09:21] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor, I have not received any- any requests to speak.
[01:09:25] Public Speaker: So I'm- I'm sorry, do I need to fill out a form?
[01:09:28] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: No, you don't need to- it's not required. Would you like to speak? Would this also take exceptions for the training item? For- no, I'm sorry. I have two of these, my apologies. Um, so I do have one hand raised. Okay, Connie Cunningham, welcome.
[01:09:45] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor, is it three minutes?
[01:09:48] Mayor Kitty Moore: Two- two minutes.
[01:09:54] Public Speaker Connie Cunningham: Anyway, good morning. My name is Connie Cunningham. Um, Chair of the Housing Commission at this time. I'm speaking for myself only. Um, I had half expected that there would be more details on the Brown Act- excuse me, sorry- on the Brown Act about what- um, we're considered not- I see the Brown Act by sign and that we want to increase what we have, like on agenda setting, but somehow our agenda setting isn't robust enough in order to pass, you know, some criticisms perhaps from um, outside. Um, so I didn't see that, and I was just wondering um, why that hadn't happened. And then the other thing that I was wondering is that under the Brown Act, there are um, rules for um, meetings that are virtual and what you can and can't do, and I didn't see any coverage of that. And I was a little bit surprised that that did not happen. So um, I would ex- would hope that you might um, flesh that out in the coming weeks to um, advise all of us, especially our commissions also are allowed to travel virtually, and so we'd like to have a little more clarity on what is expected and what the parameters are. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.
[01:11:13] Mayor Kitty Moore: Are there any further comments, questions? Okay, with that, the public comment period is ended.
[01:11:20] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: So, would it have been helpful maybe we have an info memo on- with a refresher for Brown Act to know the updates? Um, yeah. Then- because I think this kind of questions better answered in writing that people could always go back to again and again, yeah. I think it would be nice to- I think Brown Act is a very, very minimum requirement. It just requires a clear um, description and short. But we have gone beyond that, we- even the study session action is not really a required part of the Brown Act. The idea that you don't take action during study session is not a requirement of Brown Act. So I think we need to- people often don't understand what actually is in the law and what- what we are- we've been doing above and beyond. Yeah. So, that might be helpful. Thank you. Um, may we also have the slide deck um, today's presentation?
[01:12:28] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Yes, Mayor, that will be posted.
[01:12:32] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay. Moving on to the action calendar, item 2. Subject is to conduct the study session on the Mary Avenue project, including project history, project siting, the conditional transfer of city-owned property rights, affordability restrictions, and remaining steps prior to entitlement and closing on the project, and 2, consider appointing negotiator or negotiators for the possible transfer of certain rights to city-owned property in the form of a ground lease or a sale with the city's future right to repurchase, continued from December 2nd, 2025. The recommendation action is: 1, study session was completed on December 2nd, 2025, no further action to be taken; and 2, appoint the City Manager and the interim City Attorney as negotiators with the non-profit public benefit corporation, Charities Housing Development Corporation of Santa Clara County, the developer, regarding the possible transfer of property rights in the form of a ground lease or sale with the city's future right to repurchase. This- the public comment period for this item was conducted and closed on December 2nd, 2025. The public comment period remains closed such that no further public comment will be taken. Madam City Manager.
[01:13:53] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Excuse me. Um, interim city attorney, would you like to take this over on our behalf?
[01:14:04] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Happy to. Um, so um, on December 2nd, we um, presented the item and um, had robust discussion amongst the council and in- um, also um, entertained um, an extensive public comment period, and um, the council was um, after that in the midst of um, making a motion and um, making decisions about the appointment of negotiators. And so, a- and since this is a continuation of that meeting, um, it's appropriate for the council to continue from that point. And so, although we had motions on the floor at the time, I think it would be complicated to um, um, work from where we were. I suggest that we begin with the um, motion period now with a new motion.
[01:15:01] Mayor Kitty Moore: So to my recollection, um, Vice Mayor was making a motion and you were seconding.
[01:15:08] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: There was no second.
[01:15:10] Mayor Kitty Moore: Correct, she was making a motion. Yeah. And what was that motion?
[01:15:15] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Approve the negotiator, I think there was something else. You were trying to add a residency condition to it. You were trying to change the residency. But that was- that motion did not have a second. Yeah. What was the second item I had? I forgot. My- my computer wouldn't start. Um, Mayor, I don't understand the question. Your- the motion you had on the table before.
[01:15:48] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yeah, do you have... I would have to check my- my notes. Then we can just start from fresh.
[01:15:55] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I suggest, how about we start with this, I'll offer a motion to approve the staff recommended action, which is at- presentation, and then we can move from there if there's a second.
[01:16:09] Mayor Kitty Moore: I'm second, but I do have a question um, with regards to the- the staff recommended action. Um, I recall there was a slide, and perhaps we can have that pulled up. There was a slide showing um, basically the wording of this item 2, but there were a number of items below it. Like four items below it. I have it in front of me, I can read it if you'd like. Okay. Sure.
[01:16:35] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: So it reads as: Provide direction on next steps, appoint negotiators to negotiate either one, a disposition and development agreement with repurchase option, or two, a long-term ground lease, further direct staff to perfect Surplus Land Act exemption, right-of-way vacation, and prepare entitlements for future Council action, and finally to maintain timelines to support a 2026 9% tax credit application.
[01:17:16] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: So, um, for the record, I think at this point, the environmental study or any of that reports have not been put on either of the study sessions we've had on this project, and the parking has been put in an info memo, however, it has not really been placed on the council agenda either. That personally, I still am vague on there was that very tiny chart in the staff presentation, but it's- I still am very concerned about the parking. And so, I- I continue um, to request for potential alternative configurations so we won't reduce such a large amount of parking space. I was involved in approving the creation of the parcel, and at the- at the time we did not have this Westport project approved, and then when we approved that, we had two levels of underground parking, and that situation has changed. And so, I think Memorial Park parking will be taken up by senior center, we really even just the parking for Memorial Park is insufficient, and if we have any festivals, we there is no overflow parking, and we have no certainty about even having the De Anza College. And at some point, that might even be replaced by a transit center, that parking go away, we cannot count on that to be there for ever for the lifetime of the apartment. So I would like to still see on- I think I mentioned that in an email to the staff and the city- the Vice Mayor, I really appreciate, I think 99% of developers have always made good faith effort to adjust their project to address the concerns. For example, Westport, even though they removed underground parking, they- they still, after hearing the concern, try to make reconfiguration to create 20 extra spaces on Westport. But that's for the Westport residents. And the city has to date made no attempt to um, make any adjustment to create more parking space. I think as the city we should set the standard on how we serve the residents and refusing to do anything as a property owner of the project, it's not something Cupertino Council, I think, we- we do. So at this point, I- I'm still hoping we- and also that going forward we- approved to create the parcel and I was very surprised to learn last time that um, a streamlined by-right approval of the project will include the removal of parking on both East and West side of the street. That's a big surprise to me because I don't remember any Council decision to remove the street parking. Um, how can that be a part of a by-right approval? I don't understand that and I- I strongly object that. And so I found my motion from last time, the second bullet point in the motion is um, consider potential requirement in the agreement to prioritize long-term Cupertino residents. Our point system now, if everyone has the same point, as long as you have been in Cupertino resident for three months, for example. But we should prioritize the longer time you have been a Cupertino resident, then that- the year of residence should be used to break the tie on points and for our Cupertino workers, the years of um, time working for the city should also be used to break the tie on point. Um, yeah. So that was the second point I was trying to make. Um, yeah.
[01:17:45] Mayor Kitty Moore: So your motion is including all that. Yes. Okay, and I'm seconding that. Do we have comments from the Council?
[01:22:33] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay. So um... Madam City Manager, is it possible that we can um, receive more of this information about the environmental documents um, as well, um, and is for this particular um, motion, is this the time to talk about prioritizing Cupertino residents in our BMR program, or for this development, um, and there has been some suggestion from the public that the project be entirely um, for the development disabled as well, is that something that we would- could negotiate on?
[01:23:17] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Um, thank you, Mayor, for the question. I think this is something that the Council can, you know, ask staff and the developer to consider, it's not part of the recommended motion at this time.
[01:23:34] Mayor Kitty Moore: So there is the request, I would like to see if that can be considered. Yes. Um, yes. So it is also my understanding that the reason why the right-of-way was 94 feet was that there was some plan years ago that there would be an overpass for um, vehicles to go over the 280 and that's why it's so wide. So normally in a residential area, you're only going to have about 50 feet for your right-of-way and for most of our residential streets you don't have the on-street um, separate bike lane and all- all that extra width. So even with um, the two bike lanes which are- they're actually codified um, in its- in our municipal code that there you would have the two-way bike lanes there, so it is- it's actually increasing the safety in that area above and beyond a normal residential street within the city. Councilmember Wang?
[01:24:30] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I just say we're putting the cart before the horse here. I- I think it's really important to consider the environmental actions, um, environmental interests that are there. I think we've got some traffic studies that have not been put in place either. Um, we haven't had time to- restrictions on the IDD, you're setting up a negotiation where we have no leverage in the negotiation and- and I'm really concerned about how we do that. I'm also trying to understand why we can't get this down to 20 units, why we're still at 40 units and taking away the right-of-way area. I think that's- we haven't been transparent at all in this process. The designs continue to change, we're not sure what we're negotiating against, every time we see a design the design changes, every time the public sees a design it changes again. Um, and this continues quite often and- I would say um, Mr. Mohan, this- this has been a bait-and-switch operation. Um, I think the residents feel that. The reason the residents are out here in protest and have been out here in protest so many times is because they have been confused as well as to what they've seen or what we agreed to. Um, if proper notification was set up and place, they would have been like 'Oh my God, this is great, let's all do it.' So just remember that. I mean, when we put a project like this and we bait-and-switch residents, they will be very upset and that's why they're very upset. Um, and I really feel like putting a negotiation before we have all the things in place agreed to, um, having someone do the negotiations just to rush the project through, it's not what the residents want. So.
[01:26:04] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Just quickly, I mean we've been discussing this project for many years, so I don't think there's any bait-and-switch here. That just seems incredibly hyperbolic to me. Um, one thing though that I do think um, to the Vice Mayor's point is there's a pre-existing condition here with regard to parking and festivals that I think is worth the city examining independently and trying to solve and that might be something that we address through the city work program in the future.
[01:26:29] Mayor Kitty Moore: I think that's a good point with regards to the festivals, um, because one area has the restricted um, permit parking and people don't want to go to the trouble of going across the street. I used to always park at De Anza College and pay the it was two or three dollars um, before um, the- the school actually needs the money. Um, so there is ample parking there. I don't see that the transit center is ever going to happen and it sounds like they're also not going to have the clinic um, because the- the funding's not there for it, um, but they- they do have ample parking there and they have reduced the area impact, um, because the Flint Center is no longer there, so you don't have that kind of overflow, the students are coming from online primarily, you've got like 12,000 um, taking classes online and not coming in person, um, it's about a little over 4,000 full-time student equivalent for the- for the school. It's actually been decreasing. Councilmember Mohan?
[01:27:41] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Sure, I- I wanted to point out that um, last time um, the City Manager did say that there was a traffic study that had been prepared or completed, we haven't seen that as yet. So um, a big part of the traffic concerns that the people have raised with relation to Westport as well as to the Mary Avenue project, um, I think really will be um, addressed in the- in the traffic report that we will hopefully see soon.
[01:28:13] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Yes, I'll send all of Council a link, but it's already posted on the project website under Mary Avenue. Um, I'll send it out though too. And my other comment was today's action is- is fairly limited and it's not we're not deciding on the merits or demerits of um, the details of the Mary Avenue project and and I think um, this is really the first step um, in a line of several other um, steps that will happen before the deed is concluded one way or the other.
[01:28:51] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: So, um, for the record, um, we have created the parcel a few years ago. However, the very first time we have seen the project proposed for the site was um, July of this year and in- in that meeting, there was no other information provided on parking or environmental or anything. So, the idea that this has been years in the works- we've been working on years to try and create a base, but the details only just um, come out and- but I do think the developer, they have had three public community meetings and it's really already above and beyond what other developers would do. Um, but still in terms of- from the Council's point of view, um, I have not seen the full picture yet and last time the staff also um, said that um, the fiber optic line...
Segment 3
[01:30:00] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: will have to be moved, and then the developer will be taking on the cost of moving that line. But since this is a city project, likely this cost will then become a city cost. We might have to be funding that cost. So how much would that be? I would like to get some idea.
[01:30:23] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: And then we have heard also the environmental cleanup has to be done before the project. And the developer will pay for it, but likely that will then become a city responsibility. So I would like to know how much of the cost for that cleanup, too. That we are still unclear. So... and then I think the residents have asked...
[01:30:48] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: the promise to have in the agreement to provide permitted parking for the area. At least they are thinking about... what happens if it's approved, what they would like to request. Okay. So now we can look into... once the project is approved, what we can do to minimize the impact to the neighborhood. So, should we consider... in the agreement that... if the neighborhood requests permitted parking, it would be provided for the area.
[01:31:23] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: This is why I'm not comfortable with the staff's recommendation. I... I would like to leave study session as study session where I think the staff has heard from all of us that... you will address these concerns and requests accordingly and... therefore, I would like to offer a substitute motion which includes just one action item which is appoint the city manager and interim city attorney as negotiators.
[01:31:58] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: And then the rest, I would trust the staff to... take input from the entire council and address those public concerns.
[01:32:18] Mayor Kitty Moore: So we have a substitute motion. Madam City Clerk, will you please conduct a roll call vote?
[01:32:28] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Just for clarification, are you changing the staff's recommendation?
[01:32:36] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I'm removing everything else, only the negotiators. I'm not saying yes or no, because there are still questions.
[01:32:43] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: So where does that leave 'appoint the city manager and interim city attorney as negotiators' period?
[01:32:49] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: We do move forward with the negotiation, we will talk about what's in the agreement or not in the agreement. Yeah, just a point...
[01:32:59] Mayor Kitty Moore: I guess I don't support the substitute motion.
[01:33:02] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: And I... I think this does not prevent the developers from submitting their application to the... for tax credit. I do support that they move forward with that, but as of the project, there are still many open questions.
[01:33:19] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: May I make a comment? The tax credit application requires that the developer have control of the property. And so the other items that were suggested in the recommended action... I would say most of them need to be completed for that application to have the weight that it needs to be funded by the federal government. So there's just... I just want to put that out there.
[01:33:49] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Uh-huh.
[01:33:51] Mayor Kitty Moore: Do you want to comment on the permit parking? These are older developments which were... and I used to live in... on Parkwood Drive. So these are older developments which were built under older parking standards, so there is not an overflow requirement or need, I should say, because nowadays you can underpark things, which we're seeing the problems of. So I think the permit parking... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I do... we already said that about the issue with prioritizing Cupertino residents and perhaps we can clarify and restate that the environmental cleanup, fiber optic and other infrastructure relocation is to be the cost of the developer. You know, really clarify that. And... yes, Councilmember Wang.
[01:34:41] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I also would... in the negotiations and the conversations, I would also like to understand why the builder, the developer, approached Westport to purchase the land next to it for a garden. If that truly is for a garden use or if it's for expansion purposes. So, I believe someone... someone in this room probably approached them and asked for that. I want to make sure that there's no other additional uses that are going on with that property.
[01:35:11] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: If you guys don't know anything about it, but apparently Westport... someone approached Westport about the area next to it to be used as a garden plot. The question is I want to understand why that was... why that has occurred.
[01:35:22] Mayor Kitty Moore: I suggested that.
[01:35:24] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yep.
[01:35:25] Mayor Kitty Moore: No, the reason why, if you look at the... if you look at the way the site is designed, they basically walled themselves off with a structure so that they can't hardly even get to that place. And it's like bare dirt now and, you know, if they can provide some open space there, but it would be a negotiation that they would do with Westport.
[01:35:45] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: But would that mean to be set as a garden or is it an expansion?
[01:35:51] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, just curious. I don't... if it's a gift of the space where they're allowing people on, that would be a negotiation that they would be doing. But the intention is for it to stay open space.
[01:36:02] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Yeah, the intention...
[01:36:04] Mayor Kitty Moore: Yes.
[01:36:05] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Is it city space?
[01:36:07] Mayor Kitty Moore: No, it's Westport. So as you get...
[01:36:09] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I was trying to avoid building more units on it, that was the idea. So stay as a garden, so.
[01:36:15] Mayor Kitty Moore: And for someone to maintain it, too.
[01:36:19] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: And... I think as a garden that would be a good idea. Like I said last night, assume positive intent, not assume the worst. But since we have the developer there... here, I wonder if the Mayor we can ask... the public had requested to the... why this question, why can we reduce it to 20 units and why can we have 40 IDD units, which would be my preference. So, could we ask... them that?
[01:36:57] Mayor Kitty Moore: Is that part of this agendized item? I think as the Mayor you are allowed... you can if you want to ask them to ask questions, that's entirely your decision.
[01:37:08] Mayor Kitty Moore: Is there a member of the developer team that would like to address those two questions?
[01:37:17] Public Speaker: I'd be glad to address any of it. By the way, Mayor, I recall being at a rotary meeting back in... well it's only when I was at the Rotary... I think it was 2019, 2020. You had plans for this there. Yep. Yeah, so it has been in the works. You had architectural drawings of this there, and we've always... so we will continue to address every and all issues that we've heard. So as far as the ones I heard tonight, if it was five units, it would have the same issues basically, because the issue is the width. You know, you can't... you can't squeeze them any more than you squeezed... you need that just to build a project. So the number units is there. The IDD thing, we haven't answered to me legally we couldn't make it all IDD, that addresses some statutory questions. And garden thing, we don't want it to be a garden, we just want it to be landscaped and working with them as they should have done when the project was moved west. Uh, parking, we have answers to every one of the issues that's been... traffic study, floods, emissions, them all. We'll be glad to address that when... when we get to that, these issues about, you know, the actual DDA, etc.
[01:38:47] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So, just to clarify, so 20 units would not be possible financially?
[01:38:54] Public Speaker: Yeah, and it wouldn't help in the parking stuff particularly because you can't... it's not like I've got four units, now I'm going to get 20 and somehow this changes things. You can't do like four stories so that... because that's just... there's no way. So again, we have... we have answered or we have... we have evaluated all the parking things, too. I was supposed to send them all out last night, but I was out in San Francisco. So we will get those answers to the entire...
[01:39:27] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Thank you. This is all very helpful information, I think, to the council. So the extra space you are requesting, just want to clarify, is never going to be used to add additional units?
[01:39:38] Public Speaker: No, not only that, and also... it has turned out when we started looking at it, we don't want any activity there that we would be responsible for. So we're going to ask Arroyo to landscape it like they should have done originally.
[01:39:55] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay.
[01:39:56] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, thank you. Any other comments or questions?
[01:40:01] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, so as you know I don't support the substitute motion. We have the substitute motion on the floor. Madam City Clerk, will you please conduct a roll call vote?
[01:40:09] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Fruen?
[01:40:10] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: No.
[01:40:11] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Mohan?
[01:40:12] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: No.
[01:40:13] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Wang?
[01:40:14] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Aye.
[01:40:15] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Vice Mayor Chao?
[01:40:17] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Aye.
[01:40:19] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor Moore?
[01:40:20] Mayor Kitty Moore: No.
[01:40:22] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: The motion fails with Wang and Chao voting no... yes. Excuse me.
[01:40:25] Mayor Kitty Moore: So now we're back on the main question. We're voting on the main motion.
[01:40:28] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Can we add the terms about the permit parking?
[01:40:31] Mayor Kitty Moore: I've called the question.
[01:40:33] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I would like to offer a friendly amendment to...
[01:40:35] Mayor Kitty Moore: I've called the question. Under the procedures, we have to do the vote.
[01:40:40] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Then we have to vote on the call to question.
[01:40:43] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: No. She's the Mayor. Chair can call the question unilaterally.
[01:40:47] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I can object to that.
[01:40:49] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Yes.
[01:40:50] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, so I object to the call to question and we should vote on the call to question. I would like the opportunity to offer a friendly amendment so that we have certainty that...
[01:41:02] Mayor Kitty Moore: City Attorney, what's the process now?
[01:41:05] City Attorney Floy Andrews: The process is to move to a vote.
[01:41:07] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, move to a vote on your... calling the question.
[01:41:10] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Fruen?
[01:41:14] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: No.
[01:41:15] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Mohan?
[01:41:16] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: No.
[01:41:17] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Wang?
[01:41:18] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Aye.
[01:41:21] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Vice Mayor Chao?
[01:41:22] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Aye.
[01:41:23] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor Moore?
[01:41:24] Mayor Kitty Moore: No.
[01:41:26] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: The motion fails with Wang and Chao voting yes.
[01:41:28] Mayor Kitty Moore: So now the question's been called. We go back to the main motion. Madam City Clerk, will you please conduct a roll call vote?
[01:41:34] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Fruen?
[01:41:35] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Aye.
[01:41:36] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Mohan?
[01:41:37] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Aye.
[01:41:38] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Wang?
[01:41:39] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I cannot... oh, sorry.
[01:41:40] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Vice Mayor Chao?
[01:41:42] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I cannot support the motion as is because I think it's really important we include... if we are voting on something that is after the study session, I would like to include some of the things that we have requested to the staff to add clarity but I wasn't allowed to do that to offer a friendly amendment, so I will have to... vote no on this item. Please put that in the record.
[01:42:07] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor Moore?
[01:42:08] Mayor Kitty Moore: Aye.
[01:42:09] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: The motion carries with Wang and Chao voting no.
[01:42:14] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And please put my comment in the record.
[01:42:16] Mayor Kitty Moore: Noted, yes. Thank you. And with that, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you.