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DEC 16, 2025 | City Council

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Agenda

Transcript

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:00:02] Mayor Matt Mahan: A couple comments on item 2.18. We have a couple memos here. So, uh, want to thank Jennifer, uh, Lee, Eric, Matt Lesh, everyone who has done tremendous work this year to expand our interim housing system. We are the only city on the West Coast this year to open over 1,000 new beds and see the level of reduction in unsheltered homelessness and as was just announced today, reduction in death on our streets. We were down 23% year over year on the number of people who have died outside. Uh, still a long way to go. Don't want to celebrate prematurely. We still have thousands of neighbors who will be out on the streets through this holiday season. Uh, but we've we've made some real progress.

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:00:15] Councilmember Doan: Today we are honored to recognize Venerable Thich Phap Luu for his faithful service as an Abbot of Di Lac Temple, for his long-standing commitment to the Vietnamese American community in the City of San Jose. Under his leadership, the temple has been more than a place of worship. It has been a center for cultural connection, bringing families together through Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and other community gatherings that help preserve Vietnamese traditions across generations.

Call to Order and Roll Call

[00:00:31] Mayor Matt Mahan: Excellent. Looks like our colleagues have joined us.

[00:00:33] Mayor Matt Mahan: I'd like to call to order this meeting of the San Jose City Council for the afternoon of December 16th. Toni, would you please call the roll?

[00:00:43] City Clerk: Kamei.

[00:00:43] Councilmember Kamei: Here.

[00:00:44] City Clerk: Campos.

[00:00:45] City Clerk: Tordillos.

[00:00:46] Councilmember Tordillos: Here.

[00:00:47] City Clerk: Cohen.

[00:00:48] Councilmember Cohen: Here.

[00:00:48] City Clerk: Ortiz.

[00:00:49] Councilmember Ortiz: Present.

[00:00:50] City Clerk: Mulcahy.

[00:00:50] Councilmember Mulcahy: Here.

[00:00:51] City Clerk: Doan.

[00:00:51] Councilmember Doan: Here.

[00:00:52] City Clerk: Candelas.

[00:00:52] Councilmember Candelas: Here.

[00:00:53] City Clerk: Casey.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:00:53] Mayor Matt Mahan: Financially, we're at a point where we're going to be shifting from system expansion to system optimization. We can't just build another thousand beds, unfortunately, our our budget does not allow for that. So, uh, a lot of work being done across the board including better system integration with our partners at the County, advocacy in Sacramento, things we can save for another day. Um, but as we think about system optimization and cost effectiveness, I did want to comment on item 2.18 and we have a group memo that builds on work that's already underway but I think frankly needs to be a top priority for our city leadership and our nonprofit partners. So I want to thank Vice Mayor Foley, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Mulcahy, and Councilmember Casey for working, uh, together on this group memo.

Call to Order and Roll Call

[00:00:54] Councilmember Casey: Here.

[00:00:54] City Clerk: Foley.

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:00:54] Councilmember Doan: Venerable Thich Phap Luu has also placed a strong emphasis on education and care, supporting a Vietnamese language school for children and ensuring elders are not forgotten through a senior nutritional program that provides meals, companionship, and dignity. In addition, the temple's weekly grocery distribution and social services continue to meet real needs for families throughout our community.

Call to Order and Roll Call

[00:00:55] Vice Mayor Foley: Here.

[00:00:56] City Clerk: Mahan.

[00:00:56] Mayor Matt Mahan: Here.

[00:00:57] City Clerk: You have a quorum.

[00:00:59] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. Well welcome everyone and happy holidays. Now if you're able please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance.

Pledge of Allegiance

[00:01:08] Attendees: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:01:27] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you.

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:01:29] Councilmember Doan: Through his compassion, service, and leadership, Venerable Thich Phap Luu has strengthened not only the Vietnamese community but the broader San Jose community as well. And we are proud to recognize his impact today.

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:01:31] Mayor Matt Mahan: For my last invocation in December, I would like to invite Alicia Garcia, Chief Operations Officer of WeHope, to join us at the podium. Is Alicia here? There she is. Hi, welcome. Let me do a quick intro.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:01:43] Mayor Matt Mahan: Uh, so first, well today's item extends grant agreements through June 30th of 2026, we cannot wait until then to realize cost savings and operational efficiencies. We all have a sense of the budget outlook. Uh, it's going to be critically important that we accelerate that work. Eric, you've talked to us about centralizing property management, uh, security, and food and I just, um, sorry I don't have a question for you quite yet, but just want to prioritize make sure we prioritize and accelerate that effort, I apologize, so the resulting cost savings can inform the next budget planning cycle that we're about to enter into. And then, uh, so that's part of what you see in the recommendations here.

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:01:48] Mayor Matt Mahan: WeHope is a Bay Area nonprofit dedicated to helping people become healthy, employed, and housed through innovative and compassionate solutions. WeHope began as a small volunteer shelter in East Palo Alto and over the last 26 years has grown into a regional network serving communities across the Bay Area.

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:01:59] Venerable Thich Phap Luu: Thank you, the Mayor and all the Councilmembers, especially Councilmember Bien Doan. He in my district and he one of my long-time friend and it's my honor to be here to get this recommendation. And I have been in San Jose almost 25 years, but the service I provided to the community and other people are 18 years. So right now at the present time, we serving 300 senior meals a day, so five days a week. And that help a lot for the community and I know.

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:02:05] Mayor Matt Mahan: Alicia joined the WeHope team in 2012 after a career in education and years of volunteer service in homeless shelters. She's made a career of uplifting others and even finds the time to be a published author sharing her insights and experience in nonprofit leadership.

[00:02:25] Mayor Matt Mahan: In San Jose, WeHope operates the Dignity on Wheels mobile shower and laundry program and manages the Berryessa Safe Parking site, which I know Councilmember Cohen is very happy about. And I'm thrilled to say that Alicia will soon be sharing her talents with our community a lot more as WeHope will be taking over the operations of a couple of other sites in the city, providing safe, dignified alternatives to the streets for our homeless neighbors and helping them toward a better life.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:02:27] Mayor Matt Mahan: And then second, we're asking city staff to develop a dashboard, a public facing dashboard similar to the excellent utilization dashboard that publicly reports on use of these beds we've created and exit data across our interim housing portfolio. I think it's really important for transparency, accountability, and policy and budget insight and council direction to know when people exit our system, what those outcomes are. Whether or not they require, uh, further support and subsidy in their next step, when they're declining to move on, the things that we've outlined in our group memo.

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:02:49] Venerable Thich Phap Luu: Thank you all the support I got from the county and the City of San Jose, especially the protection, because I am very close to the wetland, to the jungle. So we have to face a lot of problem in the homeless jungle. So thanks to the protection from the city of... policemen and all the members pay much attention to. Thank you for recommending me as... my contribution to the people. Thank you.

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:02:55] Mayor Matt Mahan: Alicia, thank you for everything you do for our most vulnerable neighbors. I thought it would be fitting to have you give the invocation as we head into the holiday season and give gratitude for all of our blessings and think about how we can care for and love our neighbors. Alicia, I'll turn it over to you.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:03:07] Mayor Matt Mahan: Um, and then finally, as we explore additional ways to optimize and improve the system, our memo asks city staff to report back with a summary of acuity levels of those we're serving, employment and income, and permanent housing rejections which unfortunately we're sometimes seeing and we're going to need to figure out how to manage given that the truth is, interim is meant to be interim and one person per year in the interim system costs taxpayers about $25,000. So we need to focus on those throughput numbers. And then we speak in the memo to engaging those with lived experience as we always do, but to continue that practice to inform our work. I also just want to acknowledge and thank Councilmember Campos for her memo. Um, and I I I support the general efforts though I think it's a little early to direct an MBA, but we can get into that in the discussion.

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:03:14] Alicia Garcia: Thank you, Mayor. WeHope stands for We Help Other People Excel. This organization was started in 1999 by Pastor Paul and Cheryl Bains. It started out as an all-volunteer nonprofit to reduce recidivism, reduce truancy, and provide a hot and a cot at our warming shelter during inclement weather.

[00:03:34] Alicia Garcia: Today, WeHope operates five shelters in three Bay Area counties, one RV safe parking program, a food bank, Dignity on Wheels—our mobile hygiene program—and Hope Jobs, our job training program. Through the years, we have had the honor to see hundreds of people exit homelessness and return to self-sufficiency.

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:03:34] Councilmember Doan: Thank you and now the Mayor will present the commendation.

[00:03:39] Mayor Matt Mahan: So on behalf of the Council would like to commend you for your contributions to the community. Thank you. Why don't we move here...

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:03:55] Alicia Garcia: It is a blessing to meet people in the most difficult time in their lives and have the honor to watch them rebuild their hopes and dreams with the assistance of case managers. This holiday season, I want to encourage all of you to do something to give back to the most vulnerable members of our community.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:03:55] Mayor Matt Mahan: Um, so Eric, the first question I do have for you, I have a couple questions and then I'm going to turn to colleagues. There is a lot of work underway. Can you just provide a brief update on where we are in this work to find cost efficiencies and, um, optimize the system we've built?

1.2 Venerable Thich Phap Luu

[00:04:00] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. Next I'd like to invite Councilmember Ortiz to join me at the podium where we will recognize...

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:04:05] Erik Soliván: Yes. So Erik Soliván, Director of Housing. So first, we have completed the first RFP in this series, which was security RFP. So we'll be moving to the selected contractor beginning in January and rolling that out across the sites as we have to first amend the contract, uh, then push the service out. So we'll be doing that in phases and that has already recognized just over 20% of savings on the current cost, uh, structure forward. Two, we have moved forward with the food RFP. We're reviewing those bids right now and will be entering into negotiations in January getting into the processes for best and final offers with again the target being to begin rolling that out to the sites with centralized sort of food delivery through two or three providers by roughly March of next year.

Invocation (Mayor)

[00:04:14] Alicia Garcia: This can be something as simple as taking a moment to stop when you see an unhoused resident and engage in a brief conversation. It can be something like carrying hygiene kits or snack packs in your car to help meet a small need and wish them a happy holiday season. Or something bold like treating them to a meal.

[00:04:36] Alicia Garcia: Whatever you do, please remember: Kindness costs us nothing, but it means everything to the marginalized members of our community. Please bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, we ask for your blessing upon this Council. Inspire them to listen with open hearts, to seek understanding, and to make decisions that uplift the vulnerable and benefit everyone in our community. May compassion and truth guide their deliberations today. Amen.

[00:05:05] Mayor Matt Mahan: Amen. Thank you, Alicia. Appreciate you doing today's invocation at our last Council meeting of the year. We are on to ceremonial items.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:05:11] Erik Soliván: And third, we just posted the RFP for property management. So that'll be up, it's either up today or tomorrow, up here soon. That will then allow us to centralize the cost structure regarding ongoing maintenance at the different sites. We know what the baseline target is for existing cost structure and how we can achieve the 20% reductions on that as well. The fourth item is related to caseload management. As we're continuing to roll out our collaboration of services, providing direct services at the different sites, we're going to be start throttling down some of our case management, I'm sorry, going the opposite, throttling down the values, increasing the case management loads on the providers as we're having more direct services being brought on site. So comprehensively, we think that four set of strategic goals would allow us to reduce our costs and hit our targets.

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:05:15] Mayor Matt Mahan: Councilmember Kamei and Councilmember Doan, if you would join me at the podium, we will recognize Happy Hollow Foundation. The happiest place in San Jose.

[00:05:43] Councilmember Kamei: It is truly an honor to recognize and commend the Happy Hollow Foundation for its outstanding commitment to our community, our families, and our children. The Happy Hollow Foundation plays a vital role supporting Happy Hollow Park and Zoo by expanding access to education, conservation, and enriching experiences for all visitors of all ages.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:05:55] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thanks for that context. And and the spirit of the group memo is to kind of just build on that ongoing work, accelerate it as I mentioned, and then provide some public reporting. Okay. Here's here's what I'm going to do. I, um, I would like to get a motion on the floor if we can on the group memo and then have some discussion about the additional requests and recommendations from Councilmember Campos that came in in a single signature memo yesterday. So I'm going to first go to Vice Mayor and then come to Councilmember Campos and see where we land on a motion that hopefully integrates and is is aligned with what staff thinks is feasible. So I want to just have a little bit of a discussion here. But I'm going to turn to Vice Mayor first on the the staff the item coming from staff and the group memo and then I'll turn to Councilmember Campos.

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:06:08] Councilmember Kamei: Uh, through its dedication to educational programming, animal care, and inclusive community initiatives, the foundation helps ensure that Happy Hollow remains a welcoming and inspiring space of learning, play, and connection.

[00:06:23] Councilmember Kamei: The Foundation's work reflects a strong belief in the importance of environmental stewardship, early childhood education, and equitable access to cultural and recreational resources.

[00:06:34] Councilmember Kamei: We especially want to recognize the Foundation's partnership with city departments, educators, volunteers, and donors whose collective efforts strengthen the impact of this beloved community institution.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:06:40] Vice Mayor Foley: Great, thank you Mayor. Uh, actually I'm really excited to see this item come through because it actually means, uh, many of us our sites are moving forward including Cherry Avenue. And I I want to point out the contribution that Good Samaritan Hospital made last year, the commitment they made to fund affordable housing and the Cherry EIH, uh, in uh to the total dollars of 3 million. This memo require allows for 2 million of that to go to Cherry in offset some of the operation costs. So I want to give a public recognition to Good Samaritan for truly, uh, giving back to the community and helping support the the neighborhood.

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:06:48] Councilmember Kamei: Because of the Foundation's leadership and generosity, countless families and children are able to experience hands-on learning, develop curiosity about wildlife and conservation, and create lasting memories.

[00:07:03] Councilmember Kamei: One of their biggest accomplishments this year was the capital campaign and updating of the Danny the Dragon ride. For so many, we know that Danny is more than just a mascot; Danny is a figure that fosters a magical experience for all visitors.

[00:07:18] Councilmember Kamei: And we have him here today. I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Happy Hollow Foundation for its continued contributions, services, vision, and dedication to our community.

[00:07:32] Councilmember Kamei: I want to ask Ronda Nourse to say, who's the Executive Director, to say a few words.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:07:35] Vice Mayor Foley: Um, I should also note that they gave blankets to each of the individual units at Cherry Avenue and will continue to support Cherry Avenue. Um, it is exciting news that we are opening up or will have about 2,000 EIH beds in by the end of this year in early January with, uh, Cerone coming online. That's exciting. Um, and all but but we need to know that we're being successful and we need to know that when they're exiting the EIH, we know this is temporary. They come from our mo our hotels, they go to the EIH and then to affordable housing or something more permanent. And we need to track that and notice know how successful they are and how successful our strategies are. So that's one of the reasons I signed on on the memo is that it really detailed all of those things that were important to us. So with that, I will move the staff recommendation and our memo which includes, uh, the signatures of Mayor Mahan, Councilmember Cohen, Mulcahy, and Casey.

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:07:44] Ronda Nourse: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei for that introduction. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. Happy holidays from Happy Hollow.

[00:07:54] Ronda Nourse: Yes, my name is Ronda Nourse, and I am the Executive Director of Happy Hollow Foundation, and for 67 years, the foundation has been dedicated to our city's zoo. I'd like to thank my staff. Staff? Wave.

[00:08:12] Ronda Nourse: And my Board of Directors represented by Cami Van Keuren, our Board Chair. Our Board dedicates their time, they volunteer, and they give out of their own pockets.

[00:08:22] Ronda Nourse: And we do this work because we love Happy Hollow, and we want Happy Hollow to be a place for every constituent and everyone in this room to experience the joy that only a day at Happy Hollow can bring.

[00:08:33] Ronda Nourse: And our vision is truly to foster pride and involvement so that Happy Hollow remains a community asset that is highly valued and accessible to all.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:08:39] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you. Okay. I want to turn to, um, Councilmember Campos and I think what would be helpful Councilmember is maybe we can discuss how you want to add elements and just my one caution would be to confirm that we can collect all the data without too much additional work and I'm a little concerned about adding an MBA that could have a fiscal a new fiscal impact given the outlook versus the emphasis on finding cost reductions. But happy to op I'll give the give you the floor.

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:08:44] Ronda Nourse: Just this month, we for— we had our sixth season of our Title I educational enrichment program in which we served Title I school students. We served nearly 5,000 older adults through a Senior Safari program.

[00:08:58] Ronda Nourse: We hosted a Friendsgiving for over 200 foster youth and families enrolled in Dependency Wellness Court. And as Councilmember mentioned, we embarked on our very first capital campaign and raised over a half a million dollars to renovate the Danny the Dragon ride.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:09:10] Councilmember: Yeah, thank you Mayor. I'll I'll get to that when I, um, make a substitute motion and really want to thank your Brown Act group for submitting a thoughtful memo last week. I to your point about the data that we collect and the feedback that we solicit from individuals with lived experience, it's all to inform us, uh, and the decisions that we make as we build out and improve our city's shelter network. So additionally I want to thank city staff, Eric Sullivan, Jim Shannon, um, for helping me and my staff prepare the memo that we've submitted. Um, there are some edits that I will, uh, make given staff's recommendations but truly I am grateful for the incredible work and the tremendous effort of city administration as we transition from rapid development to system optimization and cost reduction.

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:09:14] Ronda Nourse: And so many of the Councilmembers were here to celebrate with us for that exciting ribbon cutting, so thank you very much.

[00:09:19] Ronda Nourse: As we look to the future and we create a new operating agreement with our partners... thank you Council members for all that you do. Thank you for our partners with Happy Hollow Park and Zoo.

[00:09:32] Ronda Nourse: We are committed as a foundation to be good partners and we're excited for what the future holds. This commendation, we are very grateful for it, and we want you all to be invited to come to Happy Hollow. Our doors are open for you. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:09:49] Councilmember Kamei: Thank you so much and on behalf of, um, our Mayor, he will be presenting the commendation on behalf of Councilmember Doan, myself, and the entire City Council.

[00:10:01] Councilmember Kamei: I also want to ask my colleagues to come down for the photo because we've all had really great Happy Hollow experiences, so whoever would like to come down, I would encourage that.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:10:05] Councilmember: So based on the recommendations from staff, there is one change I'd like to make to my memo. In place of recommendation 4, I recommend instead that the City Manager report back to City Council in quarter 3 of fiscal year 26-27, um, is that right? I think that might be 25-26. Yeah. Uh, quarter 3 of fiscal year 25-26 with an assessment of no encampment zones and the city's homeless outreach and engagement programs including a budget component as needed to ensure that these programs are sustained at existing sites and expanded as new priority locations are identified. This will give staff time to think about resource implications related to staffing and resourcing with the no encampment zones as we have committed to our residents. And with that, I, um, am making a substitute motion to approve the memo from the Mayor, Vice Mayor Foley, uh, Councilmembers Cohen, Mulcahy, and uh Casey as well as my memo, um, and rep uh replacing recommendation 4 again with direction to the City Manager to return to Council in quarter 3 of fiscal year 25-26 with the assessment I referenced earlier.

[00:11:13] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thanks for that. And then, so I appreciate the revision to rec 4. I think that addresses the concern I had. I know we're not in the Brown Act so couldn't discuss but that's great. And then just finally Eric, can you before we vote on the motion, can you tell us, and then I'll turn to Councilmember Ortiz, just on item 3 if that's feasible to add all of that to the dashboard and if there's a timeline here we should be aware of?

1.1 Happy Hollow Foundation

[00:11:18] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. Thank you all, especially Danny for being here.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:11:43] Erik Soliván: Yes. So in, uh, Councilmember Campos's memo, the breakdown of just sort of demographic data, length of stay, percentage of individuals, and state mandated requirements, that's the existing data that we collect so we can certainly add that in.

[00:12:00] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Okay. Let me go to Councilmember Ortiz.

[00:12:10] Councilmember Ortiz: Uh, thank you Mayor. Uh, I want to thank both the Mayor's Brown Act and Councilmember Campos for both of their memos. I support both of them. Uh, Councilmember Campos's memo does an important job of strengthening our emergency interim housing system by pairing compassion with accountability. By calling for clear outcome metrics, transparency through a real time dashboard, and feedback from people with lived experience, this memo helps ensure we are not just investing dollars but delivering results. This memo builds on the work already underway, asks the right questions, and gives us gives us the tools to make smarter, more equitable decisions. And so for those reasons I look forward to the vote and will be supporting the motion.

[00:12:45] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Any other questions, comments? Okay. So we've got the staff rec, the group memo, items 1, 2, and 3 with the modification, uh, removing the request for an MBA, but coming back in Q3 of this fiscal year to Council or a committee? I I've forgot what you said.

[00:13:12] Councilmember: It's for Council.

[00:13:14] Mayor Matt Mahan: Council as a whole. Okay. All right. Unless there are any other questions or comments? Can I Yeah, please.

[00:13:20] Vice Mayor Foley: Can I, uh, Councilmember Campos, can you read the item number 4 again? I don't think I completely

[00:13:25] Councilmember: With my amendment for recommendation 4? Yes. So the replacement language for recommendation 4 is direction to the City Manager to return to Council in quarter 3 of fiscal year 25-26 with an assessment of no encampment zones and the city's homeless outreach and engagement programs including a budget component, um, as needed to ensure that these programs are sustained at existing sites and expanded as new priority locations are identified.

[00:14:00] Vice Mayor Foley: Can I ask a clarifying question then? So, uh, when you say the budget component, are you anticipating that the City Manager would come back with a budget request and that would we we would be approving it at that point in Q3?

[00:14:20] Councilmember: It's up to the Manager's discretion.

[00:14:22] City Manager: I think... yeah, so I think we can do an informational memorandum and get Council that type of information. One of the things, we were just in front of all of you and your council committees on the council focus areas and kind of that last slide showing how this process will work next year. So coming out of the Mayor's March message of, you know, assuming reducing unsheltered homelessness is still a council focus area. One of the things that we'll be doing is getting that feedback, what's the direction, and starting to build out what those goals, the change initiatives are, which, you know, Jennifer has us working on on optimizi optimizing the system already. So we'd be building that into the budget and then when study sessions start as well, showing all of the direction we've taken today, all of the direction through the council focus area in the context of the budget and what's achievable, you know, with those dashboards as well. So Council will also see it then as well as part of the budget process. It's really baked in.

[00:15:25] Vice Mayor Foley: Okay, in in in light of that then, and given that it's, uh, we're that's just before, well the Mayor's March message will come out by that point real uh theoretically. And, uh, anything regarding this would have a budget impact related to possible staffing and and other issues. Ar is it your recommendation, uh, Jennifer that it be an info memo rather than an action item to Council? Wha what are you recommending?

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:15:40] Mayor Matt Mahan: ...proclaimed December 2025 as Native American Heritage Month.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:15:48] City Manager: I'm recommending an information memo so then that that information can be taken into context with all of the other budget policy work you'll be contemplating as part of the March budget message.

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:15:55] Councilmember Ortiz: Uh, members of the tribe would like to join us down here, please? Thank you so much. Uh, thank you, Mayor. Today we stand on the unceded ancestral Muwekma Ohlone land. We are here to acknowledge history, a culture that is still thriving, and a sovereignty that cannot be erased.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:16:00] Vice Mayor Foley: Okay, in in in light of that then, I'd like to request a frie a friendly amendment to change item 4 to a to an info memo to be submitted to Council in, uh, the same time period.

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:16:14] Councilmember Ortiz: The Muwekma Ohlone tribe has been here long before this city, long before this state, and long before this nation. Their story is not just part of our past, it is part of our present and our future, and it deserves visibility, respect, and advocacy.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:16:15] Councilmember: I'm okay with that friendly amendment.

[00:16:19] Mayor Matt Mahan: Happy to support that amendment. Thank you. And the seconder, remind me who the seconder was? Thank you. Sorry. Who who was the seconder?

[00:16:28] Councilmember Candelas: I'm good with it.

[00:16:31] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Apparently we have a few seconders. Okay. Councilmember Candelas is okay with it. Um, yeah, I appreciate the catch on that so I think that clarification is helpful and just as a reminder to folks, we will kick off our budget discussions with a priority setting session that I'll be bringing to the Council in February and we'll start that conversation about priorities in in a process that allows us to think holistically about a budget that I'll just flag for folks is is unfortunately going to involve a lot less of what do we hope to spend more money on versus what do we hope to protect and not cut. But we will take that up as we start with priority setting in February. I'll bring that item as an opportunity for the Council to give me initial input on priorities that can inform my March budget message and then we'll get into the process including all of the budget study sessions that the City Manager's team puts together as we get into tradeoffs and costs.

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:16:33] Councilmember Ortiz: This proclamation reflects our city's commitment to acknowledge the long-lasting impacts of colonialism, honoring Indigenous people and their ancestral homelands, and uplifting Indigenous voices in our civic life today and into the future.

[00:16:49] Councilmember Ortiz: I want to express my deep gratitude to Chairwoman Nijmeh for her leadership, advocacy, and her partnership. Her work strengthens the understanding of history, advances visibility for the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, and reminds us of our responsibility to move from acknowledgment to action.

[00:17:10] Councilmember Ortiz: And so it's my honor, uh, alongside our Mayor, uh, to present the proclamation to the Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, who accepts it on behalf of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe in recognition of Native American Heritage Month, and in honor of the enduring culture and sovereignty and contributions of the Muwekma Ohlone people.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:17:26] Mayor Matt Mahan: Um, and through that process of course we can request MBAs and get those along the way. Okay. So we've got a motion. I think it's clear. I don't see any other hands. Tony, do we have public comment and so sorry we're we're just to keep everybody clear, we're on Consent and we had a motion on th this is item 2.18. It's been moved. We've got memos. Do we have public comment on item 2.18?

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:17:32] Councilmember Ortiz: And it was also a great honor and partnership with the tribe to raise the tribal flag in front of City Hall for the first time in modern history. Before, uh, before the Mayor presents the proclamation, I would like to, uh, invite the tribal Chairwoman to say a few words.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:17:53] City Clerk: I have no comments on this specific item.

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:17:55] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: Horashe Tuuxi, good day in our native Chochenyo language. Um, good afternoon esteemed Mayor Mahan, members of the San Jose City Council, distinguished guests, members of the Ohlone community, and all our relatives here today.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:17:59] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. And then we're going to come back for the rest of Consent. So let's vote on item 2.18 and the motion from Councilmember Campos.

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:18:12] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: Today as we raised the flag of the Muwekma Ohlone, we affirmed more than just a symbol. We proclaimed a living truth: we are the original people of this land.

2.18 Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites

[00:18:14] City Clerk: Motion passes unanimously.

[00:18:19] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thank you. All right. Two other items that were pulled for question and comment. Next is item 2.21 and I'm going to turn to Councilmember Mulcahy.

1.3 Native American Heritage Month

[00:18:24] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: But today with more than 600 members, enrolled members, we continue the struggle to reaffirm our sovereignty. The federal government acknowledged that our tribe was federally recognized and never terminated, but because of the past administrative errors and present-day politics, we remain in limbo.

[00:18:48] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: Congress can correct this mistake, just like they are doing right now. They are correcting the status of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina. And just like in 2019, they corrected the status of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

[00:19:08] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: And I want to remind Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who wrote a letter to this very body suggesting Congress has never overturned a negative declaration of the BIA. That she herself signed the bill that reversed the BIA negative determination of the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

[00:19:33] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: Yes, Congress has plenary authority in In- in Indian affairs and can overturn the BIA, the BIA's negative determination, and they have done so many times in the past.

[00:19:48] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: This year Union City and Livermore have both passed a resolution requesting Congress to act to restore our status. Many other cities are also planning to pass similar resolutions in the next coming months.

[00:20:04] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: Although I am grateful for today for this proclamation and for raising our flag here at the City Hall, I must continue to ask all of you of a resolution requesting Congress to restore our status. Muwekma needs your support now, San Jose, and you should be the leaders on this issue.

[00:20:27] Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh: San Jose needs to show the federal government that you support your local tribe. It's been a very long road for us, but I believe that justice bends to persistence, not politics. And so we will continue to press and press our case, and we hope you will join our cities in our homeland in supporting the restoration of our status. Gi shor she, kinnon. Thank you very much.

[00:21:44] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay, I'm usually extremely strict about limiting ceremonials to three items, but, uh, last meeting of the year I'm gonna exercise my mayoral prerogative to add one special one that's come up recently, and I want to invite Councilmember Mulcahy to join me. Um, and are the Garcias able to join us as well? I'd like to recognize and and invite the Garcia family to come down.

[00:22:28] Mayor Matt Mahan: On Black Friday this year, 100,000 people came through Valley Fair. Unfortunately, all 100,000 eventually made it home, but not without a tremendous amount of chaos and fear.

[00:22:49] Mayor Matt Mahan: A couple dozen of those people were kept safe by Irene and Martin Garcia, who opened their home, invited their fellow residents inside, and showed us what humanity looks like in the midst of chaos.

[00:23:06] Mayor Matt Mahan: Irene and Martin, thank you. Thank you for opening your door. Thank you for making so many people feel calm and safe in such a terrible moment. Thank you for exemplifying what it means to be a good neighbor.

[00:23:19] Mayor Matt Mahan: It would have been easy to turn off the lights and lock the door that day when thousands of people began running through your neighborhood. But you all chose differently. You chose to help. And for that, we are deeply grateful.

[00:23:35] Mayor Matt Mahan: In a moment when it's so easy to feel divided, we need more people like Irene and Martin who bring us together. They have reminded us how to care for each other. Thank you both. I want to invite Councilmember Mulcahy to say a few words and then we do have a commendation for the Garcia family.

1.4 Garcia Family

[00:23:55] Mayor Matt Mahan: Garcia family. Councilmember?

[00:23:57] Councilmember Mulcahy: Thank you, Mayor. Today we have the honor of recognizing two extraordinary District 6 residents, Irene and Martin Garcia, whose response during really one of the most frightening times in San Jose showed remarkable humanity and courage.

[00:24:14] Councilmember Mulcahy: Irene and Martin stepped up when our community needed them most, showing compassion, generosity and a deep sense of responsibility to others. The Garcia family provided refuge to many in a moment of fear without hesitation. I think you've seen the videos.

[00:24:32] Councilmember Mulcahy: Today their open door stands as a lasting symbol of courage, kindness, and hope. Thank you, Irene, Martin, and the Garcia family for stepping up for District 6, San Jose, and Santa Clara.

[00:24:46] Councilmember Mulcahy: When we first heard this story, we knew it was important to lift up the Garcias and formally recognize them. I'm grateful for the Mayor's partnership in coordinating this commendation, so on behalf of the City of San Jose, we recognize the Garcia family for their extraordinary humanity, courage, and selflessness.

[00:25:34] Martin Garcia: Uh, first of all, thank you Mr. Councilman and Mayor for recognizing my family. Uh, really truly means a lot. We were never expecting anything like this.

[00:25:44] Martin Garcia: Um, I also want to thank our family and friends for coming and supporting us. I have, uh, some friends and family up there from my colleagues from EQ1 Real Estate. Uh, as a real estate agent, I think that was the most substantial open house I've ever hosted.

[00:25:57] Martin Garcia: Um, but I want to, uh, just say that, uh, my wife and I are being recognized quite a bit for this whole thing through all the interviews, but I want to make sure that my boys, they also are recognized. This is my son, Nathaniel. Um, they were so gracious and kind and loving that, uh, making sure everyone was safe in the house as well. My other son is at school right now. Um, but I want to, uh, make sure that they're mentioned, that we mention that.

[00:26:16] Martin Garcia: And Irene and I never really wanted to be recognized publicly, but we wanted to recognize the fact that in our home, at some point, these people were terrorized and afraid for their lives and they sought refuge in our home when God put us there to be able to help them with that.

[00:26:30] Martin Garcia: But at some moment we realized there was so many diverse people. It was so diverse and there was so many different races and religions in our home at one time. Although it was a horrible reason for them being in my home, there was this level of peace and togetherness that I've never ever experienced before and it was a beautiful thing.

[00:26:48] Martin Garcia: So we just want to make sure that people take care of each other. We hope that the same thing would be done for my wife and my kids. Um, uh, and we just hope that people are kind and loving to one another. May God bless you all and Merry Christmas to you all. Thank you very much.

[00:27:47] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right, thank you all again.

Orders of the Day

[00:27:51] Mayor Matt Mahan: Commendations are ceremonial items and we are on to Orders of the Day.

[00:27:56] Mayor Matt Mahan: Uh, let me first turn to colleagues and ask if any colleagues have changes they'd like to recommend to the printed agenda.

[00:28:03] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. I'm not seeing any. We do have a request from the City Manager's Office and City Attorney's Office. They would like to defer item 10.1 A.

[00:28:16] Mayor Matt Mahan: Uh, so I'm gonna go ahead and ask uh for a motion or if there are any questions on that. We'll take up that action and then we do have an adjournment but why don't—why don't we go ahead...

[00:28:28] Councilmember: Move to defer.

[00:28:29] Councilmember: Second.

[00:28:30] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, I'm not seeing any other hands. Tony, do we have any public comment on orders of the day?

[00:28:36] City Clerk: I have no cards.

[00:28:38] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thank you. Let's come back to the Council to vote. Again that's on the deferral of item 10.1 A.

[00:28:52] City Clerk: I'm still waiting on one.

[00:28:54] Mayor Matt Mahan: Everybody check your screen, please. Do we have every—there we go.

[00:28:57] City Clerk: Motion passes unanimously.

[00:28:59] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you, Tony. All right. We do have an adjournment today. Today's meeting will be adjourned in mem—

Adjournment Recognition

[00:29:05] Mayor Matt Mahan: ...Vu, founder of the Viet Museum, who passed away on November 29th, 2025. As a driving force behind the museum's creation and growth, he helped preserve the history of the boat people and the Republic of Vietnam for future generations. He also founded the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center and was an author, dedicating his life to lifting refugees and giving them a voice. He leaves a legacy of service and deep impact in the Vietnamese community and far beyond. Councilmember Doan will tell us more.

[00:29:40] Councilmember Doan: Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Vu Van Loc was born in 1933 in Nam Dinh, Vietnam. He graduated from the Dalat Military Academy and served with distinction in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. During his military career, he held several key leadership position, including Colonel in the General Logistic Department and Chief of Planning Department of the Joint General Staff. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Mr. Loc and his family resettled in the United States and made San Jose their home. In 1980, he founded the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center, known as IRCC, to provide English classes, job training, housing assistant, and citizenship support to thousand of refugee beginning a new life here in America.

[00:30:55] Councilmember Doan: His lifelong commitment to preserving Vietnamese history led him to establish the Viet Museum, also known as the Museum of the Boat People and the Republic of Vietnam. Over more than three decades, he collected artifacts, documents, and story that honor that sacrifice of the Vietnamese people and the journey to freedom. The Viet Museum opened in 2007 and remain the first and only museum of its kind in the world.

[00:31:35] Councilmember Doan: Mr. Loc, also known by his pen name Giao Chi, was a prolific writer whose work reflect the resilience, memory, and spirit of the Vietnamese diaspora. We recognize Mr. Vu Van Loc for his legacy of service, cultural preservation, and community building. His work ensure that future generation will understand where we came from, what we endure, what we contribute to this nation. We honor his life, his dedication, and his lasting impact on the Vietnamese American community. At this point, I be honored to introduce Mr. Minh Le, his son-in-law, to speak on behalf of his family.

[00:32:50] Minh Le: Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, City Manager, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of my family... Thank you for today's memoriam and for recognizing the lifetime contributions of my father-in-law, Mr. Vu Van Loc, as a servant leader to his community and to the city of San Jose as a whole. We receive your heartfelt recognition with gratitude. Over many decades, this city and its leaders have supported his work, stood alongside him at important moments, and gave space for a refugee community to tell its story with dignity. For that, we are truly thankful.

[00:33:55] Minh Le: Vietnamese spiritual tradition teaches that during the first 49 days after passing, the spirit is in transition. I'm not a superstitious person; I got educated in the United States. But at 4 o'clock this morning, his spirit woke me and instructed me for what to say today. And at this moment, I actually do believe his spirit is with all of us in this chamber and with all those across the city who are watching. I would like to invite his presence to be with us. And all of you in the chamber who are here to honor him, I invite you to stand with me.

[00:34:55] Minh Le: During this sacred time, the family's wish is very simple: that we help his spirit release the worldly attachments and find peace. And that IRCC and the Viet Museum, the work that he devoted his life to, the refugee families he cared so deeply for throughout this beloved city, and their history, heritage, and culture be treated with care, integrity, and respect.

[00:35:30] Minh Le: Before he fell gravely ill, and again while in skilled nursing care, he wrote two final reflections. The family asked that these be entered into the public record and shared with the community. These are not political documents. They are the words of an old soldier, a refugee, and a community builder, putting his affairs in order and preparing to go into the next world. These are his final testimonies to us. I invite everyone to read them because when you read them, you will know best how to honor him in the spirit of sincerity and goodwill.

[00:36:20] Minh Le: Thank you for honoring him. Thank you for standing with us and with his spirit in this sacred moment. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for coming on the 22nd to honor my father-in-law, to comfort his family, and for reassuring the community that his legacy will be preserved and protected. Thank you, everyone.

[00:37:00] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you, Mr. Minh Le, and we just want to extend our deepest condolences to you, your entire family, and all of friends, community members impacted by this terrible loss, but a great legacy and set of contributions that live on beyond Mr. Loc Vu's life. So, thank you so much for being here. Um, and I wish you all the best through this difficult period. We are going to continue now on to...

Closed Session Report

[00:37:38] Mayor Matt Mahan: Our closed session report and I'll turn it over to our City Attorney.

[00:37:42] City Attorney: There is nothing to report out of closed session today, Mayor.

[00:37:45] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thank you, Susanna. All right. Next is the...

[00:37:48] Mayor Matt Mahan: The consent calendar, which is often, as is often the case, is, is pretty full here at the end of the year. So we do have, um, I'm aware of a number of items folks would like to pull.

[00:38:00] Mayor Matt Mahan: Um, I'd like to pull items 2.17 and 2.18.

[00:38:07] Mayor Matt Mahan: I, I know we have a couple of memos on item 2.18 that we'll obviously take up as we discuss that item. I believe Councilmember Mulcahy would like to pull item 2.21, and Councilmember Candelas has asked to pull item 2.27.

[00:38:22] Mayor Matt Mahan: Before we jump into any items, is there anything I'm missing? Are those the four, I believe that's four items we're going to pull for discussion?

[00:38:31] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. No one's flagging me down, so I'm going to assume I've got that right.

2.17 The Pun Group, LLP Agreement Amendment for Grant Monitoring Services

[00:38:35] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. So, uh, just on 2.17 and I will I will try to keep this quick, Erik uh Soliván, if you don't mind making your way down just for the sake of efficiency, uh, we've got a question or so for question or two for you here. Um, I think it's it's great that we're extending our contract with the Pun Group for additional oversight capacity.

[00:38:55] Mayor Matt Mahan: Uh, just today alone on this agenda for everyone's context, we're approving 22.1 million dollars worth of grant agreements for various homeless programs run uh primarily by external non-profit partners. So Erik, can you just uh describe for us briefly the range of audit and compliance activities the Pun Group uh engages in on our behalf and how we monitor that all public funds are being used appropriately.

[00:39:29] Erik Soliván: Yes, so Erik Soliván, Director of Housing, thank you Mayor for the question. So in the past what we've done with prior contract work with the Pun Group, that they pooled the last set of 52 contracts out of the roughly over a hundred total contracts that the department operates and looked at a period between 2023 through—oh sorry, 2022 through 2024.

[00:39:52] Erik Soliván: And that was the initial set of review. This set of scope of work will be pooling a balanced set of those contracts, which is also a mix of internal sort of administration for the interim housing program as well as federal side contracts for ongoing compliance.

[00:40:09] Mayor Matt Mahan: Can I just ask, and I hate to bring up such a negative topic as we head into the holidays, but given the news coming out of Minnesota, allegations of maybe misuse of funds uh with pandemic dollars that we've heard in various places including in California. How rigorous is the audit function? Because it's one thing to have a contract and then get a report that a service was provided. It's another thing to actually know that it happened and the quantity and quality of it.

[00:40:35] Mayor Matt Mahan: And I'm just I just want to make sure we feel we have sufficient controls in place and and just curious to learn a little more about the level of auditing that the Pun Group is able to provide or if that may be a topic for the Council to take up in the new year.

[00:40:49] Erik Soliván: Okay. So the level of review that the Pun Group provides tracks along our reviews. So it begins with desk audits. It does a rigorous sampling of existing contracts and performance as well as data review. A third, it gets into invoice compliance. And then the fourth item it then looks at comparable contracts in order to see the vendor's performance compared to other similar vendors within the city.

[00:41:15] Erik Soliván: An initial report is then issued to staff. Staff then reviews. Then a report goes out to the vendor. The vendor is allowed to provide comment, try to provide additional information as needed to fill any gaps. A second review is then done in order to ensure that the holistic set of challenges and opportunities for improvement are found.

[00:41:36] Erik Soliván: In the last set of 52 contracts that they found, all 52 had some version of additional compliance that needed, on a varying scale from severe to just sort of missing some paperwork that needed to be filled out. So it's a pretty vigorous review that tracks along the work that staff does. It's just given the sheer volume of contracts and the expansion of the shelter system, our work with federal funds, this is just adding added capacity.

[00:42:04] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. And then last question from me on this item. Do they have the capacity to send people out physically into the field to better understand the delivery of service?

[00:42:14] Erik Soliván: Yes. Depending on the severity of the initial set of findings, they will send individuals out into the field to do actual one-on-one interviews and reviews. That subject to and it's included in the contract, sort of staff determination about whether the severity of what the finding is substantiates in-person interviews.

[00:42:34] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. I just, again, I mean, disturbing to hear not that it's I don't want to pick on one case but some of the the early reports out of Minnesota, we'll see how that plays out. But I just want to make sure when we're using our hard-earned taxpayer dollars to provide a meal, to pay for a meal, to pay for an hour of counseling, that it's actually happening and that we're serving the people we intend to serve.

[00:42:57] Mayor Matt Mahan: Uh, appreciate the up the answers on that. Don't go too far, I suspect we're going to have some questions for you on the next item. Colleagues, did anyone since we're going sequentially here have additional questions or comments on item 2.17? I'm not seeing anyone. Okay. So thanks, Erik.

2.21 Gardner Community Center Grant Program and Facility Management

[01:01:36] Councilmember Mulcahy: Thank you Mayor. Um, just want to make a few brief comments and recognize a few people on this item.

[01:01:45] Councilmember Mulcahy: After a long and meaningful community engagement process, at long last, the city has selected a new partner to bring much needed programs, services, and activities to the Gardner Community Center in District 6.

[01:01:59] Councilmember Mulcahy: I want to thank Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department for leading a thoughtful and thorough RFP process. Um, you know, as a councilmember, um, sort of the wall between our office and PRNS is, while frustrating, I think valuable. Um, we were not part of the process, part of the review of the RFPs, couldn't even look at the RFP before it went out. And so I just want to recognize that as a first year councilmember, while that was frustrating, I I get it.

[01:02:36] Councilmember Mulcahy: Um, but I also want to thank the Gardner Neighborhood Association and residents for their patience and their continued advocacy. The center was closed during the Great Recession due to city-wide budget cuts and while limited programming has occurred over the years, the community has waited a very, very long time for this moment.

[01:02:58] Councilmember Mulcahy: I see um some leading neighbors of the community here today, Daniel Peralta... the guy in the hat who's waving. Um, but also Patty who I think, you know, when I was a candidate running for office spent a pretty significant amount of time in in the neighborhood and at meetings and the passion that you bring is and also evidenced by the letter that she submitted today. I just want to recognize that they're here uh today.

[01:03:28] Councilmember Mulcahy: So today I'm pleased to welcome Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County as the recommended partner. Their deep commitment to community service makes them a strong fit for Gardner. And with this partnership, the neighborhood will finally have a fully activated community hub serving children, families, and seniors.

[01:03:49] Councilmember Mulcahy: We're also grateful to Google for its generous support including a one-time one million dollar operational grant that will help launch services, strengthen community programming, and bring the center to life.

[01:04:03] Councilmember Mulcahy: We're also pleased to have, I think Fred Buzo may be here on behalf of Catholic Charities. He's the Director of their Advocacy and Community Engagement Group. He's here to represent the organization.

[01:04:17] Councilmember Mulcahy: And for background and clarity, this recommendation comes out of a competitive RFP process that I referred to. The city received 26 proposals. 21 met the minimum qualifications. And full evaluation and review of two protests occurred during this process. So it's been through a lot and it's moving forward now with confidence.

[01:04:42] Councilmember Mulcahy: Importantly, a contract still needs to be executed, PRNS, I know you've got that at the top of your list. So today's action authorizes the intent to award a future agreement. And I look forward to seeing this work move forward and the Gardner Community Center finally activated in the way that the Gardner community deserves.

[01:05:05] Councilmember Mulcahy: So with that, I'd like to move uh item 2.21.

[01:05:10] Mayor Matt Mahan: Could I ask before we get a second that maybe we hear the final question comm... take up the final item and get a motion on consent as a whole?

[01:05:19] Councilmember Mulcahy: I'm totally game for that.

[01:05:20] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt.

[01:05:23] Councilmember Mulcahy: No worries.

[01:05:24] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay, great. I'm going to turn and... you guys can do the motion together, but I'm gonna turn to Councilmember Candelas to offer his question and comment on 2.27 and then we'll take it as a whole. Yes Vice Mayor.

[01:05:33] Vice Mayor Foley: Make a comment on the Gardner item.

[01:05:35] Mayor Matt Mahan: Sure.

[01:05:36] Vice Mayor Foley: If I... if I could be brief. Prior to being a City Councilmember I was a school board member for 14 years representing the Willow Glen area which represents the Gardner Academy that's right across the street. I'm really excited to see that the Gardner Community Center is going to be reactivated. The children of the school district and the school nearby needs that support and involvement of the community so I'm 100% supportive of this. I just wanted to weigh in and share a little commitment on where... how I became all involved in Gardner Eleme... Gardner Academy. Thanks.

[01:06:19] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Vice Mayor and... and thanks Councilmember Mulcahy for your comments. I'm going to turn to Councilmember Candelas to uh comment or question on item 2.27 and then we'll work out a motion on consent as a whole hopefully. Up to you all.

[01:06:34] Councilmember Candelas: Thank you Mayor. Um, you know I just had a few short remarks. Um, from the memo, uh Duran Construction Group, um, uh was the uh initial lowest bidder uh however did not receive the award recommendation.

2.27 10594 - 2026 Local Streets ADA Curb Ramps #2 Project

[01:06:50] Councilmember Candelas: Item 2.27. And the memo states that Duran was deemed non-responsive for failing to submit the correct compliance documentation with their initial bid package, which they subsequently submitted the correct certificate but were still deemed non-responsive per the bid process. Curious from staff if they could talk a little bit about this and provide just some insight into this specific process if you will.

[01:07:20] Matt Loesch, Director of Public Works: Morning Councilmember. Afternoon, sorry. Matt Loesch, Director Public Works. So Spencon is the recommended awarded contractor because they are the lowest responsive and responsible contractor. Duran Construction was not responsive in this bid because of two items. One, they did not supply the required documents and there was a subsequent email that we allow them 24 hours after the bid was submitted. We sent an email—well, that day we sent an email saying this document is not in, you have 24 hours to submit the document. They did not submit that document or respond to the email. Secondarily, we required three example projects or sample projects that expressed the experience that they've done this work. They submitted two projects that met the threshold of what was required for this particular project. So for those two reasons they were not responsive to this bid.

[01:08:15] Councilmember Candelas: Got it. Um, and you know, I totally understand the need to have a level playing field and thus why the CARB requirement is a standard. So, you know, contractors aren't utilizing old equipment that historically is heavy in greenhouse gas emissions and, you know, that creates an unfair advantage to those folks and those contractors or suppliers that rely on this old equipment. So I see the need for it and I appreciate your note about letting the awardee know that they could rectify—correct—within a 24-hour window on what appears to be—and you all are the experts in the procurement process—a document or like a form issue or form question because the way I see it they did submit the certificate but it was just after that window and it was because of that. And obviously the the experience qualification was the second piece.

[01:09:19] Councilmember Candelas: Um, and you know, I did also want to note that there is a, according to the memo, there's a wage theft—a wage violation for Spencon Construction while the violation did not meet or exceed a threshold for mandatory disqualification, it does give me some pause. And I wanted to just note that and I and you know, I obviously appreciate all the work of our businesses and contractors to help us do the work in our city. But, you know, as I've previously mentioned, I believe that, you know, our a more San Jose focus and a more San Jose centered local preference...

[01:09:55] Councilmember Candelas: policy is in order for this exact specification, this exact situation. And I just wanted to take this opportunity to uplift that issue because if you Google SpendCon construction, it says Sunnyvale, but their headquarters is in San Ramon. So, that being said, I believe you motioned for the approval of the entire consent calendar, Councilmember Mulcahy?

[01:10:18] Councilmember Mulcahy: Sounds right.

[01:10:19] Councilmember Candelas: That sounds right. Okay. And I will second that motion.

[01:10:24] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you. And then we'll go... Thank you, Councilmember Candelas. We'll turn back to Councilmember Mulcahy for a final thought.

[01:10:29] Councilmember Mulcahy: Well, I'd be remiss. I just wanted to make sure... our District 6 office has been all in with Gardner and just want to specifically point out Karina Castro on our team who has really gone above and beyond and just want to recognize her a bit. So with that, we'll go to our vote.

[01:10:49] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay, thank you very much. Toni, we have a motion for the remainder of consent and wanted to ask if we have public comment before we take that vote.

[01:10:58] City Clerk: I have six cards, so I'm going to call your name. When you hear your name, please go ahead and come down to the microphone. You do not have to speak in the order you are called. Pascal Garcia. Fred Buzo. Daniel Peralta. Patricia. One doesn't have a name; it just says Duran Construction Group. And then Angel Luna, come on down. Go ahead.

[01:11:30] Fred Buzo: Good afternoon Mayor and Council. My name is Fred Buzo. I'm the Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement for Catholic Charities. This is the division in which the Gardner Community Center will sit along with the Washington United Youth Center.

[01:11:44] Fred Buzo: So on behalf of Catholic Charities, I want to begin by thanking you for honoring us and trusting us to be stewards of this community center. We recognize that the space carries history and that history matters. It informs how trust is built and how partnerships are judged. Our approach is to learn from the past, but not to stay there, but to move forward together with clarity, humility, and shared purpose.

[01:12:13] Fred Buzo: The Gardner neighborhood has long demonstrated resilience, leadership, and a strong sense of community. The center gives us an opportunity to invest in a space where residents are not just served but heard. Not just invited in, but empowered to help shape what happens there. We see the Gardner Community Center as a place where families can gather safely, neighbors can connect and organize, and people can access resources that support stability, dignity, and opportunity.

[01:12:43] Fred Buzo: Most importantly though, we see it as a platform for community voice and civic participation, where residents play an active role in shaping solutions and defining success. Moving forward, we are committed to a strong partnership not just with the city, but with partner organizations and with the community itself. That means clear communication, shared accountability, and a willingness to adapt based on what the community tells us is working and what is not working. We welcome that responsibility.

[01:13:15] Fred Buzo: I'd also like to thank Google for the funding associated with this item. It's really their investment that will make this vision possible. We are grateful for your trust and we look forward to building together a Gardner Community Center that is responsive, community led, and positioned.

[01:13:33] City Clerk: Thank you. Next speaker.

[01:13:40] Pascal Garcia-Mopty: Good afternoon everyone. My name is Pascal Garcia-Mopty. I am the Program Director for Santa Teresa Safe Parking. It is a pleasure and an honor to speak with you today. The same that it is a pleasure and an honor to speak with our community members that we serve every day.

[01:13:53] Pascal Garcia-Mopty: As the Santa Teresa Safe Parking Program's origins as a pilot program, we have navigated many different challenges and journeys throughout the course of this program. From having an office the size of the space that you see behind me, to going through six and now potentially as of this morning seven generators to make sure that we have the basic necessities to meet the needs of our clients.

[01:14:20] Pascal Garcia-Mopty: Over the last six months, we have doubled the positive transitions with our community, whether it's permanent housing, transitions to EIHs and other support. And we continue to build on the raw potential that this site and our community that we serve has each and every day.

[01:14:40] Pascal Garcia-Mopty: Whether that is working with different partners in the community such as Premier Credit One Union to offer financial literacy classes, offering shelf stable foods through our pantry, and even shutting off our lights in the evening to make sure that we have fresh dinners available throughout the course of the evening. We push the site to its limits and our staff in order to ensure that we support our clientele and our community with their basic needs and meeting them where they're at.

[01:15:05] Pascal Garcia-Mopty: In the same way, we invite the community and yourselves to continue this conversation about how we can best do that. Whether it's in ankle deep water, whether it's in the freezing weather...

3.3 Fire Department Inventory Controls Over Controlled Substances

[01:15:25] Public Speaker: or where we give workshops for housing and employment applications or whether it's shouting over the 80 85 decibel generators that we use to run our site. We welcome any conversation.

[01:15:41] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you, that's your time. Next speaker.

[01:15:50] Daniel Peralta: Good afternoon Mayor and City Council, Mr. Mulcahy. I'm Daniel Peralta. I worked 55 years in the private sector. I worked 40 years at Lockheed Missiles and Space so I'm retired. So I belong to Gardner Community Center. I'm one of the seniors that's advocating. And I have a list here of over 40 residents, seniors that attend Gardner that are in favor of the Catholic Charities. So looking forward to having them and again thanks very much to City Council, Mr. Mulcahy. Appreciate it very much for your support. Thank you.

[01:16:32] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. Next speaker.

[01:16:40] Public Speaker: Good afternoon everyone. I'm just here in the support of the Gardner community. And I'm just basically excited that there is gonna be a community center because somebody that has benefit through my whole entire life here in San Jose from community centers I think this is the right move. But it's been 10 years since it's been closed so it's been too many years, too many days, too many seconds. So I think it's the right... it's the right step that we're taking so thank you for the Gardner community for being so resilient and to basically pushing this forward through Catholic Charities.

[01:17:15] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. Next speaker.

[01:17:25] Public Speaker: Walking with Google to show them what Gardner was as we were closed was a big impact. They walked the streets. They saw the need. And somehow I touched their heart. I brought out families showing them the need. This Google money is important because for more than 10 years it's been closed. I accept Catholic Charities to help us to support our families in the need. We have kids from Gardner, Hoover, Lincoln who walk through the streets with no services. Yet other communities have had services for their children, for their students. But yet right now, I want to cry because I didn't think that walk would mean a lot. Because I seen mothers without having food for their children. Or our seniors, at least they were the only ones who were blessed to have a meal because that was also a fight. Yes, Gardner has gone through many levels of being disrespected, of ignored because we're on the blue line. And that hurts because we are not on the blue line. We are the power because of our parents of cannery workers worked hard for Gardner when it was just a little shack. It's a building now but it's empty. But with Catholic Charities coming in, it will bring life back again because it is the second home of many families. A sad story when the center was closed, one of our youth 16 year old, Donya, got hit by the train because there was not that second home open no more. So like him being gone, I lost a child. Like that, I lost many seniors too because we couldn't gather up no more. So thank you for allowing the process.

[01:19:30] Mayor Matt Mahan: Sorry, that's your time. Next speaker.

[01:19:45] Ismael: Hey good afternoon Mayor Mahan, City Council. My name is Ismael with Durant Construction Group and here to talk about 2.27. And we did not provide the document in time when we were given the chance. But I did address a concern on my letter of protest. Everything was answered but this question. There were seven other contractors that provided a bid. Not one provided a CARB certificate for their concrete supplier. All but one of the seven does haul their own concrete. The other six don't. And we're being deemed for providing the incorrect CARB certificate. But the other six contractors didn't list their sub for concrete hauling. So you know with that being said I think that raises a flag there right. We did. We provided the incorrect one. They didn't but the next lowest bidder is gonna move on with the contract when they didn't provide a CARB certificate or list a sub for the concrete hauling. And then in regards to the statement of bidder's experience, the gentleman before me is correct. We only provided two completed, two of three completed jobs that meet 70% of the engineer's estimates threshold. The company's been around for 25 years. 21 we've been doing work for the City of San Jose for five departments: Muni, DOT, Public Works, Parks and Recs. And all we do is emergency work, concrete emergency work and you know...

[01:21:45] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. That's your time. Back to Council.

[01:21:49] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. Coming back to the Council. Tony, let's vote.

[01:21:55] Mayor Matt Mahan: Oh. I'm on the wrong item. I'm on an individual. Hold on.

[01:21:59] Mayor Matt Mahan: There we go.

[01:22:05] Mayor Matt Mahan: Motion passes unanimously.

[01:22:10] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Lan Diep's consent item was deferred under orders of the day. We'll do our regular agenda. Thank you all for being here. We're gonna go on then to item 3.1 Report of our City Manager.

[01:22:25] City Manager Jennifer Maguire: Thank you very much Mayor and Council and happy holidays to everybody. I have no report today.

[01:22:30] Mayor Matt Mahan: Happy holidays. Thanks for the gift. Just kidding. We love your reports. We're onto item 3.3, Fire Department Inventory Controls over Controlled Substances Audit Report. Joe when you and the team are ready please begin.

[01:23:05] City Auditor Joe Rois: Good afternoon. I'm Joe Rois, City Auditor. I'm joined by Alison Pauly and Maria Valle to present our audit report: Fire Inventory Controls over Controlled Substances. Also in the box are Chief Robert Sapien and Deputy Chief Steven Bowey. This audit was added to our work plan following a request from the Fire Chief in April earlier this year. Containers of controlled substances were found to be damaged and suspected to have been tampered with at a fire station. Following an investigation, the San Jose Police Department arrested a Fire Captain related to these incidents. Our audit focused on inventory controls in place starting in late April of 2025. I'm going to turn over to Ali who's going to walk through a little bit of the background as well as the findings and recommendations in the report.

[01:23:55] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: Good afternoon. I'm Alison Pauly from the Office of the City Auditor. Per the City's contract with the County of Santa Clara, Fire has supplies of two substances that are controlled by the DEA. These are administered by paramedics to provide advanced life support. The two substances are morphine, which is used for pain management and midazolam, used to treat seizures and for sedation. These medications are ordered by the EMS division and they're stored at a central facility before EMS staff distributes them out to fire apparatus. Our audit had two findings that focused on the two parts of this process: the management of the inventory on fire apparatus and then the central supply management.

[01:24:37] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: So the first finding focused on the fire apparatus. The finding was that policies require securing controlled substances on fire apparatus but should be clarified to reflect current practices. The first thing that I want to note is that we reviewed the controlled substances at 17 fire stations over the course of several days in the summer of 2025 and we found no evidence of theft or tampering. A few key controls to highlight that Fire has in place: Medications are kept locked and bolted to the apparatus. Paramedics are doing daily verifications where they inspect every vial on their apparatus. A witness is required to be present and the paramedics are instructed to report any discrepancies immediately. Both of these controls were expanded and strengthened in April and May of 2025. Fire also uses electronic records and records in their system an ID number for every vial so they can track it individually. All these controls are in line with what we found in other jurisdictions.

[01:25:35] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: There are a few aspects of Fire's current inventory management practices that should be formalized into policy. These include clarifying requirements for the daily and periodic reviews of controlled substances boxes on apparatus, the storage of medications on reserve apparatus, and the protocols for remote handoffs of medication. One other thing to note is that Fire is in the process of acquiring biometric safes. Once Fire has those safes in place they should review their policies regarding access, monitoring, and usage.

[01:26:03] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: So that first finding was all about the fire apparatus and the second finding is about the central supply. So the finding was that separating the duties for central supply management would strengthen inventory controls. Again I want to start off by saying that we conducted an unannounced audit of the main safe in the summer of 2025 and that showed no evidence of theft or tampering.

[01:26:23] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: A Fire Captain is the Controlled Substances Program Manager. That position oversees the central supply which involves receiving, labeling, securing, distributing, and destroying medications. What we found is that this is too many duties to be concentrated onto this one position and that Fire should split up the responsibilities to ensure the security of the medications. For example, the Controlled Substances Program Manager's responsibilities include system administration over the department's inventory management software, entering and reconciling information within the system, and also handling medications which includes receiving and distributing them to stations and collecting and destroying expired medications. So our recommendation is to separate these duties to improve the security of the central supply. Fire should assign medication handling, system administration, and certain record keeping duties to separate staff.

[01:27:16] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: We also noted a few additional security measures and policy updates. Because the safe can be physically accessed by one person, having a camera or a biometric safe would provide a record of who's accessing the medications. We also recommended conducting periodic inventory counts and having management regularly review inventory reports. Lastly, we recommended updating the policy in a few areas including to specify the process for what happens when a vial has suspected tampering and when the county should be notified of that.

[01:27:48] Alison Pauly, Supervising Auditor: Our report had seven recommendations. We ask that you accept the report. With that we will turn it over to Chief Sapien for the Administration's response and then we are available to answer any questions.

[01:28:24] Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief: Good afternoon Council, Robert Sapien, Fire Chief, San Jose Fire Department, joined by Deputy Fire Chief Steve Bowey who oversees our Emergency Medical Services Division. The Fire Department appreciates the City Auditor's willingness to include the Fire Department inventory controls over controlled substances audit in its fiscal year 25-26 work plan. The department recognizes and values the collaboration of the City Auditor's office as well as its close scrutiny of our systems and processes and concurs with the two findings and seven recommendations offered. We appreciate the time and resources that the City Auditor committed to its comprehensive review.

7.1 Digital Empowerment and Broadband Strategy

[01:29:05] Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief: ...Fire Department Inventory Controls and Field Practices. The Department has already completed several corrective actions and continues to evaluate and monitor its controlled substance security program to ensure alignment with best practices and regulatory requirements. We are happy to take any questions. Thank you.

[01:29:25] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you, Chief. Joe, Alison, Maria, thank you for the audit. Tony, do we have public comment?

[01:29:32] City Clerk: I have no cards for this item.

[01:29:35] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Going back to the Council. Turn to colleagues, we'll start with Vice Mayor.

[01:29:42] Vice Mayor Foley: Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and Chief, thank you for your response. So, uh, I want to focus a little bit on your response, Chief, that uh there are several items and and the majority of them are green light green lit except for the biometric uh item I think is the one that is a little bit later. Uh and but those all indicated a timeline of December 1st 2025. Since that was a couple weeks ago, are you saying those have been accomplished or what can you tell us what status those are in?

[01:30:14] Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief: Yes, most of those recommendations were were policy in nature and we actually had begun drafting those as we were hearing feedback as the audit proceeded. And so they're very much in final draft form and ready to be implemented as the systems come online.

[01:30:29] Vice Mayor Foley: Excellent. Uh I am happy to hear that. And what's the status of the biometric uh system?

[01:30:35] Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief: Good news uh on that front, just as uh I believe a day or two ago, we are in the field with an RFP so that procurement is proceeding apace.

[01:30:44] Vice Mayor Foley: Wonderful. That that is fabulous news on on all fronts. Thank you. With that I will move approval of the audit.

[01:30:53] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you. Uh again appreciate the audit, very straightforward common sense recommendations. Appreciate the Department's swift implementation and agreement and uh seems like a great way to have better control and accountability uh over controlled substances. So thanks for the practical, actionable audit. Tony, I don't see any other hands, so let's vote.

[01:31:21] City Clerk: Motion passes unanimously.

[01:31:24] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. Thank you all again. We are on to Item 7.1, Digital Empowerment and Broadband Strategy. We have a staff presentation, so we'll give folks a moment to switch over.

[01:32:07] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. Joe, when you're ready, take it away.

[01:32:09] Jill Bourne: Awesome. Well, good afternoon, Mayor, City Councilmembers and members of the public. I am Jill Bourne, the City Librarian, and we are very excited to be here to present on the Digital Empowerment and Broadband Strategy today. I am joined by our team leading this work from the Library. We have Ann Grabowski, our Deputy Director of Public Services; Abigail Shull, Division Manager of Digital Empowerment and Public Technology; and Uarporn Nopmongcol, the Program Manager for Broadband and Partnerships. And we're joined by Harrison Phelan from Guidehouse Incorporated.

[01:32:50] Jill Bourne: At the heart of this strategy is our vision that every San José resident should be able to benefit from and fully participate in the digital economy. Today that means having reliable internet access, the right devices, and the confidence and skills to use technology safely and effectively. This is what we refer to as digital empowerment. Digital empowerment is essential and integral to other city priorities as well, including those of workforce and economic development, and the Children and Youth Services Master Plan. This strategy will be our roadmap for tackling persistent aspects of the digital divide while embracing new technologies and ensuring equitable access for all. The strategy builds on the success of our earlier efforts and renews our commitment to making sure that San José, the capital of Silicon Valley, remains both a global leader in technology innovation and a city where the digital future is truly shared by everyone.

[01:34:02] Harrison Phelan: All right. So San José has been active in this space for some time. Longer than many other state and local government entities that that we've seen and is nationally recognized as a leader. The program has adapted over the years from like especially during the pandemic time when needs surged across the country. Uh but almost 10 years later from the initial strategy, needs, resources, and technologies have evolved, which makes now the right time to refresh the strategy.

[01:34:37] Harrison Phelan: And so one of the major decision points for any like broadband and digital equity strategy is really the role of the city and where does this fit in. And so back in the 2017 strategy, we set out the spectrum of uh there's a fully market-driven model, a municipal ISP model, and then somewhere in the middle, which is the partnership model, uh which was set out in 2017 and which we continue to pursue today. We see this as a bit of the best of both worlds where the market-driven model uh leaves market forces on their own is a little bit more hands-off, and so that's what led to like the challenges that we experience today. But the municipal, the full municipal ISP model can be very costly and also very complex. And so that's where partnership model feels a bit like the Goldilocks fit and that's where it's being more proactive, working with entities in the community to then meet digital equity and broader needs.

[01:35:34] Ann Grabowski: Thank you, Harrison. My name is Ann Grabowski, Deputy Director of Public Services for the Library. What our census data shows us about the digital divide in San José is something many of our residents have felt for years. The digital divide doesn't fall evenly across our residents. Communities that already face economic and social barriers are the most likely to be left behind when it comes to digital access and opportunity. Lower income populations, those over the age of 65, those with less than a high school or two-year degree, and our Black and Latinx communities are disproportionately impacted. While this is unsurprising to most of us, it confirms what we understand anecdotally and this data helps us focus our attention, our outreach efforts, and program development specifically to those in our community that are digitally disconnected.

[01:36:28] Ann Grabowski: As we look at the progress we have made since the initial 2017 strategy, we we can be happy. We can celebrate we've made strong progress. Since then, more San José more San José residents have been able to get connected online at home with roughly 10,000 additional households connected now. At the same time, more residents are relying on cellular only internet and the number of households with only a smartphone at home has more than doubled. This signals that affordability remains a key barrier. During the pandemic, the federal Affordable Connectivity Program helped nearly 40,000 San José households gain or keep their home internet by providing a subsidy that covered about $1.2 million per month in local internet bills. When that program ended in 2024, about 16% of those households canceled their service entirely because it was no longer affordable.

[01:37:28] Ann Grabowski: As we focus our efforts on ensuring that people can access new and existing technologies safely, the Library's programs and online courses offer structured pathways where residents at any experience level can learn everything from online safety to job-ready tech skills. As Jill mentioned, this work aligns with several city priorities, especially the city's Children and Youth Services Master Plan and the city's Education Strategy. To reach more residents where they are, we've opened six Tech Hubs hosted by community-based organizations inside multi-service centers that provide walk-in access to computers, Wi-Fi, and culturally responsive support. These Tech Hubs are located at Sacred Heart Community Service, Catholic Charities, ICAN, VIVO, the International Rescue Committee, and we have a Tech Hub in the Roosevelt Community Center operated by Sourcewise. These sites have supported more than 5,000 residents in the last year and are made possible through grants from the city's Digital Inclusion Fund, which is administered by Library staff in partnership with the San José Public Library Foundation. At the same time, our new SJ Access pathway within the city's Resilience Corps program gives disadvantaged youth in San José a living wage as well as real world IT and coding experience helping them launch careers while closing the digital divide. Now I'll pass to Uarporn Nopmongcol, Program Manager for Broadband and Partnerships.

[01:39:01] Uarporn Nopmongcol: Thank you, Ann. As with the internet, if we don't bring people along now, the AI divide will only grow. The city takes a multi-pronged approach to AI. On the economic development side, the city is leading the nation with the AI's intensive program and the new Plug and Play AI Center of Excellence downtown. To empower the community, the Library's AI-focused digital training courses have reached more than 3,500 people and a new AI for All initiative adds free AI training from leading tech companies, both in person and online. And internally, the city aims to safely and responsibly leverage AI to improve services. Over 400 city staff have completed introductory AI training with more than 50 participating in deeper upskilling courses.

[01:39:51] Uarporn Nopmongcol: Our broadband approach is grounded in partnerships. By forming public-private partnerships and streamlining permitting, we made it faster and easier for providers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to invest in San José. Small cells on city streetlights now move through city review in days instead of weeks and macro projects in weeks instead of months. As a result, broadband that meets the federal basic speed standard is now available citywide. Gigabit service is steadily growing and we are seeing more home wireless, fiber, and more competition.

[01:40:32] Uarporn Nopmongcol: Our Community Wi-Fi initiative is a Tech Bond funded public-public partnership for outdoor safety net connectivity in school attendance areas most impacted by the digital divide. It's a targeted investment in equity and opportunity. The eight networks ensure students and families can get online for school, services, and daily life even if home access is uncertain. I'll hand off to Abby Shull, Division Manager for Digital Empowerment and Public Technology.

[01:41:06] Abigail Shull: Thank you, Uarporn. The Digital Empowerment and Broadband Strategy is organized around three goals, all grounded in the partnership approach with telecommunications providers, technology companies, and community-based organizations. Their continued investment, collaboration, and contributions are key to closing the digital divide in our community. Goal one is closing the digital divide in San José through digital empowerment. This means stabilizing long-term funding for core programs and expanding community access to digital skills, cybersecurity, and workforce training. We will continue to advocate for affordable internet service and devices, an area where our private sector partners play a critical role by offering low-cost plans and expanding coverage in underserved neighborhoods. Goal two is ensuring universal broadband availability and future-ready connectivity. Our goal is universal one gigabit service availability for all residents by 2030. To achieve that, we must work hand-in-hand with the telecoms and internet service providers to expand infrastructure through ongoing private sector investment, increase the number of provider options so every household has meaningful choice, and build long-term resilience into the region's broadband network.

[01:42:24] Abigail Shull: Goal three is providing best-in-class broadband permitting processes and enablement structures. We will continue to streamline city permitting and align regulations so our partners can deploy broadband faster and more predictably. We will continue leveraging city-owned assets and existing infrastructure to reduce deployment costs and we are improving coordination across departments and with telecom partners to accelerate planning and build out. Across all three goals, closing the digital divide requires sustained private sector partnership and coordinated cross-departmental collaboration.

[01:43:06] Abigail Shull: Today we're asking City Council to take four key actions to guide our next chapter. First, to accept the status report on the digital equity assessment and the recommendation to renew the city's strategy. Second, to adopt the new Digital Empowerment and Broadband Strategy, which formalizes and continues our hybrid approach to telecommunications partnerships, leveraging both public and private investment to close the digital divide. Third, adopt a resolution to formally incorporate the Federal Communication Commission's broadband standard of 100 megabits per second download speed and 20 megabits per second upload speed and to set an aspirational future goal of 1 gigabit down and 500 megabits up speeds so our policies stay aligned with where the technology is heading. And finally, to direct staff to implement the strategy's work plan and return to City Council in 2027 with a status update. And I'll turn it back to Jill to close.

[01:44:06] Jill Bourne: Thanks, Abby. As we wrap up, I just want to note that San José has long been a leader in digital inclusion. The SJ Access initiative has been awarded multiple distinctions. Most recently, San José was awarded the 2025 Digital Equity Project of the Year by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, and the 2023 and 2024 Digital Inclusion Trailblazer award from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. The 2025 announcement is pending and you know we are seeking a three-peat on that. City Council's approval will continue the momentum behind this work, strengthening our programs, our partnerships, and investments that we have made in San José as a national model and ensuring we can keep expanding access, opportunity, and empowerment for every resident for years ahead.

[01:45:00] Jill Bourne: And before concluding, there are many people and organizations to thank for contributing to and supporting this work. Um I'd like to shout out just a few as shown on this slide. We want to thank our six SJ Access grant funded Tech Hub operators for being pioneers and for their dedication to incorporating digital empowerment into their work in community. We also want to thank AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile for their public-private partnerships and for citywide broadband deployments as well as other partners like Comcast and East Side Union High School District for their creative support of our efforts. And not on the slide, but I know that our Library team wants to thank our partner city departments. Everyone from IT, Public Works, Department of Transportation, Planning Building Code Enforcement, API, uh Office of Economic Development, PRNS, Budget Office, Housing, and Office of Emergency Management, and I'm sure I forgot somebody but thanks to everyone for their collaboration. This truly is a citywide effort. And lastly, thanks to all of you for your support. This concludes our presentation and we welcome your questions and dialogue.

[01:46:13] Mayor Matt Mahan: Awesome. Thanks for the report and the thoughtful recommendations. Tony, do we have public comment?

[01:46:18] City Clerk: Yes, I have uh six cards. So when I call your name, please come on down. Um you don't have to speak in the order that you're called. David. Come on down, Jeremy, Charlie, Daniel, Lennis, and Brian.

[01:46:49] David Witkowski: Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I'm David Witkowski. I'm the Executive Director of Joint Venture Silicon Valley's community uh Community Broadband Initiative, Wireless Communications Initiative, which rolls up under our civic technologies program. I want to start by commending the team for all the work that they have done. We have been partnered with the City of San José for several years uh on these projects and other projects. And when the National Telecommunications Information Administration set out the Digital Equity Competitive Grant opportunity in 2025, I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to apply for that. I took San José's model and I scaled it across two counties, Santa Clara, San Mateo, using the same partners that were mentioned here today. We were recommended for an $11.6 million award uh the day before the inauguration uh which the Executive Order then nullified that. We are hoping that we will be able to restart that award at some point in the future. I would encourage all of you, if you have contacts with the federal government, to en uh urge them to consider moving that forward for us because we have a lot of people that we want to serve, not just in the City of San José but this model works and we want to scale it across uh the Bay Area in Silicon Valley. So thank you for your support. Thank you to the team. I always really enjoy working with them and um I hope in the future we will continue our partnership with you. Thank you.

[01:48:26] City Clerk: Thank you. Next speaker.

[01:48:31] Jeremy Stroop: Good afternoon, Mayor Mahan and City Councilmembers. My name's Jeremy Stroop and I'm a Municipal Engagement Partner with Verizon Wireless. Uh we'd like to express our appreciation uh for the productive relationship that we uh have developed within city staff and with the Mayor's office. Uh we believe our current collaboration and partnership with the City of San José has been highly effective. Uh this success is evident across a couple of key areas. The first one being our uh robust network build out. Uh secondly it would be our critical coordination um for major upcoming events like the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup. And then finally the increased public safety coordination related to the critical infrastructure here. Uh Verizon is committed to continuing to support San José's connectivity needs and ensuring that Verizon's Verizon's substantial network investments across the city are maximized. Thank you.

[01:49:25] City Clerk: Thank you. Next speaker.

[01:49:31] Daniel Pell: Good afternoon. Daniel Pell, uh Senior Manager of Network Development at T-Mobile. Um I actually born and raised in District 6 um and thrilled to have a partnership with uh this team over here on um helping expedite our infrastructure delivery from uh from T-Mobile. As they mentioned, um bridging the broadband divide is is really important to us at T-Mobile, but beyond that as well is uh the critical services for um public safety and things of that nature. So by having a partnership like this where we can understand exactly how long it's going to take for some of our building permits um and and other approvals from your jurisdiction, it really helps us calculate our strategy to supercharge the investment in the City of San José. So just came to speak in support of this team, speak in support of this partnership, and looking forward to additional partnership. Thank you.

[01:50:25] City Clerk: Thank you. Next speaker. Also Quinn, come on down.

[01:50:31] Charlie Mastoloni: Good afternoon, honorable Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Charlie Mastoloni and I'm the External Affairs Manager for AT&T. AT&T is proud of our strong working relationship with the City of San José and we greatly appreciate staff's support and work with us. AT&T has been a strong advocate of San José's public-private partnership and we support the city's digital empowerment efforts to connect every household to high-speed internet. That's why we've continued to invest in our wireless and fiber network in the city and will continue to do so. In fact, over the past five years we've invested nearly $475 million into our network infrastructure in the City of San José. I'm also excited to share and this is this is hot off the press here that uh as of this week we've uh we've finalized a $20,000 donation to the uh San José Library Foundation to provide Chromebooks for classes for low-income adults. As of today, AT&T reaches nearly 580 neighborhoods in San José making AT&T Fiber available to over 148,000 customer locations including residential and small business locations. We continue to invest heavily in our wireless network in San José to ensure a best-in-class wireless experience for residents and communities. This includes building macro facilities, over 800 small cell tower sites and upgrading sites with our latest technology. I'm also excited to share that uh the California Public uh Utilities Commission recently announced their proposed Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, also known as BEAD, uh awards for California and uh we were awarded eight applications specifically for San José where uh if approved we'll expand broadband to over uh 3,300 customer locations throughout San José including the East

7.2 Abandoned Shopping Cart Retrieval Pilot Program Status Report

[01:52:15] Public Speaker: ...Eastern Hills of the city. All that to say, um, you know, we have genuinely really appreciated working with the city and we look forward to continue to work on our partnership and continue to bring high-speed internet to as many residents as we can. Thank you.

[01:52:38] Public Speaker: Hi, I sort of come at it from the other end. I've been providing adaptive equipment for people with developmental and physical disabilities since about 1980, where I pretty much built most of it myself and I'm self-funded. And have provided computers to get access to the internet since probably 1997, '98, using Linux machines, legacy machines that you put Linux on. Adaptive switches, adaptive communication systems. Software to buffer so that people who maybe cannot use a standard screen reader can use one of these. Anyways, I'm here just to offer my limited services if people want to get ahold of me. Did this last year too, didn't hear anybody. But if you have constituents that need access or need someone to advocate for them to get equipment, I don't charge. I drive to them if they need me. I can bond myself if you require that. I just would like to help folks. Thanks.

[01:53:45] Queen Vong: Good afternoon, my name is Queen Vong from ICAN. We work with the Vietnamese children and families in San Jose and Santa Clara County. I am here to thank Mayor Mahan and the City Council of San Jose as well as the San Jose Public Library teams. And now I get to hear AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. So thank you all for supporting this incredible, incredibly important project. A lot of Vietnamese seniors need to know how to get online so that should another breakdown, shutdown happen, they're not so lonely and so desperate as before. So our tech hub is held at the Santa Clara Service Center at the corner of Tully and Senter. And it's a beautiful three-way partnership between the city, the county, and ICAN. So we are there to man that tech hub three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And the rest is part of the... and the location is at the VASC. A lot of seniors came to learn how to turn on the computer, how to set up the computer. They ask us to show them how to get online and pay their bill. So things like that. And I appreciate that the funding is still there even though it's been reduced. But we grateful that the funding is still there and the clients keep on coming. So thank you for your continued support for this incredibly important project. Thank you.

[01:55:25] Lennies Gutierrez: Hi, good afternoon. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmembers, City Staff. My name is Lennies Gutierrez. I am the Director of Government Affairs with Comcast. And I am here to offer support on this item. I've met with most of the Councilmembers earlier this year on this item. So hope you're familiar and remember my comments. And you know, part of the staff presentation provided the 2016, 2017 digital study, which we actually helped support. And we have also been involved with the Digital Inclusion Fund. And were an active participant, which was an amazing experience. And we worked through the pandemic. We attended connect fairs. We supported the Mayor when you had your press conference on the Affordable Connectivity Program, which was an amazing federal subsidy when that was available. And we want to continue to engage with the city and the San Jose Library as you implement and update this important strategy. So I do want to focus my comments on the importance of the public-private partnership. We have active Lift Zones in the city where we offer free community-wide Wi-Fi, including the African American Community Services Agency, the Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley, Grail Family Services, the School of Arts and Culture. And we have also worked closely with Sacred Heart Community Services, which is one of your tech hubs, and other partners. And it's important to note that for us to do our work, we appreciate the city's progress on streamlining permitting. Thank you. Permitting, permitting, permitting. I think you hear that a lot, but even for broadband connectivity, it's important. So thank you to City Staff for that. And we believe a clear and coordinated strategy provides the predictability needed for continued infrastructure investment. So we look forward to our partnership with the city. And I do want to offer a special thank you to U and to Abby who have been amazing partners and to Jill and to Ann. And since I have nine seconds, I do also want to mention that Friday is my last day at Comcast. It's been an amazing 15 years, everyone. And the City of San Jose has been a big one.

[01:57:30] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. Congratulations. All right. Coming back to the Council. Great to hear in public comment from so many of our partners in this work. This really is one of the most kind of innovative and impactful public-private partnerships we're engaged in that I'm aware of. And I just want to give quick credit where it's due. You know, this work really precedes any of our time in these offices and goes back to a previous Council that, all the way back in 2017, working closely with our administration, put together our first broadband and digital inclusion strategy and then two short years later actually set up the Digital Inclusion Fund. And really premised on the idea that as private, large private telecom companies are leveraging city-owned assets and infrastructure, we can generate revenue to close a digital divide that frankly the private marketplace on its own just isn't going to close fast enough. And so the sort of openness from large global companies to think differently and partner with us in this way has been really transformative and unlocked opportunity for thousands and thousands of families. I know former Mayor Liccardo and his team worked very hard on this in partnership with the administration, and particularly our library team that spearheads the work. Thank you, Jill and Abby. I know for years now you've really toiled away at expanding the program. And during the pandemic, we saw just how important this was as folks were sheltering at home, kids needed to get online, and it was these resources, this fund, that enabled us to do hotspot distribution, community Wi-Fi expansion, remote learning support. And I also, I just want to flag for folks, we've done a number of community events together on this, but for those who haven't followed it as closely, it's one of the important lessons we've learned is it isn't just about the connection and it isn't just about the device. It's also about the education. And that's where our nonprofit and community partners come in who have done a lot of work to make sure we're meeting people where they are, in language, in their neighborhood, and really helping them learn how to use the tools and take advantage of the connectivity. I do have one question before turning to colleagues. So we've made a lot of progress and we still have a lot of work to do. And I'm particularly interested in fiber adoption. So when we started in 2017, we had 1% penetration of fiber in the city. We now, six years later, have jumped to 37%, which is awesome. But the national average is 56%. And we're the capital of Silicon Valley and a data-driven bunch. And what I'm hearing from the industry is they really appreciate that we're streamlining permits and we're doing everything we can to facilitate. But there are still barriers and particularly just cost. The cost of doing anything in California is high. We're seeing that with housing, with the grid, with all sorts of things. Can you give us a little more insight into either the barriers or what we might be able to do to incentivize broader adoption of fiber in San Jose so that that option is out in more of our neighborhoods? It's really frustrating that we're almost 50% behind the national average in this regard. Or alternatives you see on the horizon, other approaches that may be better. So I'll leave it at that.

[02:01:20] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: Yes, so thank you for the question. I will get started while my super genius tech people have better answers. But I think overall, to your point, we've grown by 36%. We also did have a pandemic with shifting priorities and really sort of dramatic priorities. But also really shifting funding sources available. And so we've worked closely with our... this is part of the answers about our public-private partnerships and how we continue to work closely with them on each having a solution to broadening and solving for this fiber gap. But also, so some of them have some plans in the works, which are pretty exciting. And then also the fact that technological changes keep happening suggests that maybe fiber only isn't necessarily the future solution to this problem. And so I was going to offer for my staff to say...

[02:02:05] Mayor Matt Mahan: That's what I was hoping you'd get to next, is what else is on the horizon we should be thinking about.

[02:02:10] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: Yeah, so I was going to offer the staff to add some comments with more details for you on that.

[02:02:20] Abigail Shull, Division Manager: Yeah, so on the horizon. So we have seen wireless grow as a faster speed option and higher capacity. So during the pandemic, there was a shift from small cells which do have high speed but don't have as much capacity because they're able to cover a footprint that's just within a couple of blocks radius of those cells. But what has come to prominence lately is C-band, which is a mid-band, it just travels further out, it gives greater capacity, greater speed across a longer distance. And so we've seen wireless options grow. So not only in like a cellular, so on your cell phone option, but now there are in-home cellular home service options that are coming available that have grown from 0% to 57%, I believe it is, in terms of looking at the stats. So 1 to 37% on fiber, but the wireless growth has been tremendous. And so that is growing in terms of competition with fiber. And then also Comcast on their cable side, they are working on fiber-like upgrades to their system that can achieve great speeds of... I'll invite Lennies to come back down and to speak on it more eloquently than I can, but definitely in the 1 gig plus speed range and are working towards symmetrical that is a fiber-like option as well.

[02:03:37] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. I think she's left the building. On that second, the middle option of wireless you described, what are those download/upload speeds roughly? Are they competitive?

[02:03:50] Uarporn Nopmongcol, Program Manager: Right now we are seeing advertised speeds could hit 1 gig or plus, but you know, that capacity, they have to have that allocation of how many houses they can serve for that capacity. So there is that variance there.

[02:04:08] Mayor Matt Mahan: Got it. All right. And then micro-trenching? Is that happening? Are we doing it in San Jose?

[02:04:15] Abigail Shull, Division Manager: Yes, we had a micro-trenching pilot that was very successful. Started with Verizon. AT&T also did a pilot to test various strategies that are lower cost, faster to implement. There are some newer options that they are working with us on actively now. So we're working with our partners in Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works to understand those better and see where we can potentially optimize further what's possible to do to get to better speed and predictability there.

[02:04:45] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. Thanks. Okay. Just as I wrap up since Lennies has not left the building, sorry. Would you just give us quickly your perspective on kind of the technological trend and how we get... what's the fastest path to 100% access to high bandwidth internet?

[02:05:00] Lennies Gutierrez: Continued work in public-private partnerships. I think continued periodic conversations with our network team, you know, I think with the city and available assets. And yes, technology is improving. So whether it's to 2 gig or up to 10 gig, symmetrical speeds, right, so not just up but down, is really important. So I think just having continued conversations because infrastructure and the investment infrastructure is always just going to... is going to continue. I don't know if that's helpful but...

[02:05:32] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thank you. All right. Let me turn to colleagues. Thank you all again for all the good work over the years on this. Councilmember Campos.

[02:05:40] Councilmember Pamela Campos: Thank you Mayor. And thank you for the presentation. First, thank you to library staff for the briefing for the work here and the consulting partner Guidehouse and all the partners who participated in the development of this phenomenal assessment and strategic plan. I know it's been a lot of work invested. And what it tells us is that low-income and vulnerable communities have digital access challenges that are both persistent and structural. Neighborhoods with lower fiber coverage have to rely more heavily on fixed wireless and community Wi-Fi. For example, in my district, we see this around Oak Grove where students and families are dependent on community Wi-Fi access points to get online, which reflects ongoing need rather than a temporary gap. And District 2 is one of the districts with some of the highest concentrations of mobile home parks in the city. And we know that in mobile home parks, affordability and infrastructure limitations make reliable home internet especially difficult to obtain. And as a result, we have many residents relying on shared connections like public Wi-Fi or even smartphones to meet basic needs like schoolwork and accessing services. This is highlighted particularly for our children and youth living in mobile home communities who lack reliable home internet, which can affect school participation, access to enrichment, and connection to prevention, health, and city programs that are increasingly operating online. These conditions mirror the barriers that were identified in the Latino Health Assessment where access to education, healthcare, and prevention services is constrained by structural inequities which includes digital access. And last week, NSC... our committee emphasized sustainability and the need to move beyond pilot-based approaches. So this access challenge shows why long-term solutions are necessary. And it's wonderful to have philanthropic partners who are playing an important role in this work. But philanthropy cannot be the backbone of access to foundational infrastructure in communities where the need is ongoing. And so as conversations around AI and data centers become more prominent, we should be very clear that many families cannot benefit from those investments if they cannot reliably get online at all. And if digital access underpins children's outcomes and community health, it does belong in our broader budget conversation. Addressing the digital divide is central to equity, prevention, and opportunity for our neighbors. So I have a few questions. The first is, what are the current affordability options provided by our telecommunications partners?

[02:08:43] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: Thank you for the question, Councilmember. We have... we have a lot of information about the different plans. They... the most affordable monthly plans range from 15 dollars an hour... or sorry, a month, sorry. 14.95 to 80. And with the average being... I think we calculated it as like in the 30 to 50 dollar range.

[02:09:13] Councilmember Pamela Campos: Thank you. And with the given scale and persistence of affordability challenges, what role can the city be prepared to play over time to ensure that access remains stable and equitable, particularly as external or federal funding fluctuates?

[02:09:35] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: That is kind of the quintessential question for us with this program. And the current strategies that we have outlined in this proposed work plan are really to seek greater choice for our residents so that we we drive affordability in neighborhoods. So really working with our with our partners to ensure that we have affordable plans for residents. And at the same...

7.3 Tobacco Retail Licenses Moratorium

[02:10:05] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: I can't remember uh which of our colleagues said it, but the uh you know continuing to lean in on the digital inclusion and the digital skill building work that we do so that people are more likely to seek adoption and they're more likely to be able to utilize the tools.

[02:10:20] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: And so working through our tech hub model seems to be a good solution at this time because we have trusted community partners who serve the community in a variety of ways already and they've taken this on like you heard from one of the um representatives of ICAN today.

[02:10:35] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: And we have a and there's four others that are funded through the

8.1 Alameda Business Improvement District

[02:10:40] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: and so that was an intentional shift to really be able to bring the training out into trusted partners that could reach the hardest to reach or the, you know, so the folks with the least access and be able to do it in language and in the community. And so that is one strategy we're trying. We're also work through libraries, we work through community centers, we work with our partners in PRNS, but we are open to other solutions. We're constantly seeking grants as you mentioned and other opportunities to expand that reach.

[02:11:19] Councilmember Pamela Campos: Yeah, thank you and I'm glad you brought up the public comment related to I-CAN. I think we may have also received all a letter from AARP that highlights seniors having access to internet but also the support to figure out how to enhance their digital literacy and skills. And so the strategy indicates that outreach efforts will include social media campaigns along with direct engagement through existing library programs and partnerships. But if the outreach strategy is trying to reach neighbors who are disconnected from the internet or don't currently benefit from City programs including the elderly, are there other opportunities or other ways we're thinking about doing outreach and engagement?

[02:12:09] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: So as I mentioned the primary way has been through our trusted partners. In the past we have also even partnered to do flyering at all households in an area that could qualify for a service such as the affordability plan that had been that was there for a brief amount of time. And we work with our partners to come up with other solutions. I'm going to have Ann talk more about it.

[02:12:38] Ann Grabowski: We've also had conversations with the Parks Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department who is the city's lead at serving seniors about deploying citywide to the senior nutrition program and having a monthly programming series at those locations and finding other avenues to reach them directly. Most of our social media campaigns and online engagement is really directed at reaching the children of the elderly that are disconnected or trying to make sure that our reach is as broad as possible so that they can then go tell their friends, their grandmothers, their parents, their neighbors what they, you know, what might be available to them. So it is a it is an 'and' approach, but we are we are working diligently to expand operations this next year into other existing city programs.

[02:13:34] Councilmember Pamela Campos: Yeah, thank you. Leaning on those trusted messengers is critical especially in multigenerational households. And so one last question for staff. As the city plans physical infrastructure investments, for example we're looking in District 2 at updates to Monterey Highway potentially with you know power lines and things like that which is going to require construction. Are there opportunities to lay digital infrastructure more efficiently by linking broadband installation with existing capital improvement projects such as transportation or street work rather than treating it as a standalone effort?

[02:14:19] Abigail Shull, Division Manager: So that particular project I believe we already are working in partnership with the city departments and our community Wi-Fi provider SmartWave to make sure that we are keeping the Wi-Fi system up during that transition and we're looking at also what upgrades we might make to that Wi-Fi network in relation to a grant that we received from the CPUC to look at what technologies we might be able to use that would expand the capacity of that network and the ability of that network to get indoors because that network is an outdoor network most primarily but wanted to look at potential upgrades that could be affordable and for those opportunities where if we're already doing something and we need to change this equipment out, then it gives us that opportunity to say well this is the better technology that we could change to. So that's on the community Wi-Fi side. I think to your broader question of is this an opportunity to work with our telecom communication partners and see if they can upgrade their infrastructure, so the private infrastructure side, that's certainly an opportunity and we do work with them when there are larger projects and with something identified in all of the conversations we had with all of the internet service providers that that was a key area that they wanted to explore with us as where are those opportunities for cross-alignment and so we are getting started on that work in the work plan.

[02:15:44] Councilmember Pamela Campos: Thank you. And lastly, this isn't a question for staff but it's one for my council colleagues and I to reflect on because last year or not last year last week our NSC committee met jointly with the county and our council chambers were packed with community members that are invested in the necessary work to bring about more equitable outcomes for everyone in our city particularly our children our youth and our neighbors who have been underinvested in and have and are living in neighborhoods that have been historically under-resourced. And we know that there is so much important work to do and fund but as I was looking at the Children Youth Master Plan and thinking about how we're going to effectuate that policy and looking at this one as well, you know I I I'm left thinking why is it that our equity oriented work is typically funded through philanthropy external grants or occasional special funds and fees when we have a General Fund that you know we can be using to ensure equity in our neighborhoods? And again I'm not looking for a response from staff or colleagues right now but it's just for us to reflect upon because we have difficult decisions that we're going to be making in 2026 and I want to make sure that when we have so much invested in work like this that we're not just listening to the concerns of our community but truly doing the work to make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors and communities. And so I thank you for hearing that that reflection that I've had looking at this work and I will move to approve the staff recommendations.

[02:17:24] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Councilmember. Let's turn now to Councilmember Kamei.

[02:17:27] Councilmember Kamei: Thank you so much. Um, first of all, we've really really come a long way. I was involved prior to being on council and I know how the evolution has occurred and how technology is just going faster and faster than we can imagine. I want to thank the library team as well as our partners. This is not something that's going to happen just with the City of San José. This is something truly that is that partnership that makes it work. So I want to thank Abby in particular who's been with this for a while and just really you know the work that's being done to create that access. And that's what we really want. We want our community to have that access for telehealth, for making any kind of of online work that they need to do, you know it was mentioned that you know even paying bills right. So I think that we have come a long way. It has been sort of a little bit different over time as technology improves and I I really think that the the library team has been very very adaptable. And so I'm very very impressed about the work that you that you do. And it is that public private partnership that that's going to make this work. So I I just wanted to say thank you. I want to thank our partners and speakers today and and really know that this is something that we will continue to work towards and and make sure that you know our community is connected.

[02:19:15] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Councilmember. Councilmember Cohen.

[02:19:18] Councilmember Cohen: Yeah thank you and it's gratifying to see us I think we have this report we've had this report a few times over the years and it's been gratifying to see the continued emphasis on this topic by your department but also the city. I was as a school board member one of the founding members of the Digital Equity Coalition that sort of started the conversation about how we partner with the city to begin to propagate broadband to places that don't have access so I'm really excited that we've continued to stay with it for this many years. You know it's not it wasn't just a matter of getting things installed and then moving on to the next project but continuing to to push the envelope. The the school district on which I was the board Berryessa was one of the first to sign on. I don't see them on the partner list at this point. I assume that's because the installations haven't really gone quite as far north as we as I had hoped at the time but you know we'll continue to see what we can do to to propagate. I was going to ask about the new technological improvements and I know that was already asked about wireless in particular. I I I was glad to hear your answer and that we're looking at the new technology. I will ask in in the context of one of the one of the gaps in what we've been doing has been access at mobile home parks and I kind of have this feeling that wireless will be the way that we can crack that nut. Can you just talk a little bit about what we might be doing in some of those areas because there's some access limitations right now within some of these communities.

[02:20:53] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: Yes thank you Councilmember. The you know the complexities of mobile home parks are many including governance models and and other more technical and just structural issues. And so the approach that we have in the plan is to start district by district with the the mobile home parks that we've outlined for each of you and and you know work with your office on connections but but start the process of actually talking with each of those and and with our partners about what what some of the solutions could be. Because in some cases it might be there's a solution available but some changes need to be made to the park which will need to be made by the residents or decided by residents. And so there could be some facilitation that needs to happen in that approach but that is part of our plan is to really you know start district by district. We mapped all them so that we could see where those gaps were. And then next step is if if approved we would go forward with developing the strategy for each of them.

[02:21:51] Councilmember Cohen: And given given the the the new tech the wireless technology that we that allows for further distances and and not having necessarily need line of sight, is it possible that we can is that there's a less cost then to these properties by putting in a couple of these units around the perimeter of some of these sites and providing access?

[02:22:15] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: My my understanding is the answer is it depends so if our if our tech folks want to give some more information. I know that the the structure of the actual mobile home park can vary in terms of what works to to bring wireless into there.

[02:22:35] Uarporn Nopmongcol, Program Manager: Right, it depends on what kind of poles or infrastructure that we can attach the wireless equipment to and how large the communities are, what the density of the metal. Most of the mobile homes are made of metal and that is the number one enemy for Wi-Fi. It's really hard to penetrate inside the home, so we have to overcome that. And then the limitation on you know rights of entry, whether we can go inside the perimeter and you know if we can even have a pole right in the middle of the property or can we only have to extend those poles just around the perimeters. All of these factors we need we need to think through to come up with the strategy.

[02:22:58] Councilmember Cohen: Okay. So what I heard is that you might be asking for some partnerships and so I'm certainly happy to act as a conduit to some of our parks. I know that Casa Del Lago was a particular of interest and I would certainly be excited to try to reach out to them and see if we can create a partnership that might allow us to move forward so let's let's talk about it.

[02:23:16] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: We will one hundred percent be reaching out for that assistance. Also just understanding who you know who best to talk to from from your perspective and also whether there is an interest in moving forward with some of these solutions.

[02:23:27] Councilmember Cohen: Okay. Thank you so much.

[02:23:29] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thanks Councilmember. Let me turn to Councilmember Ortiz.

[02:23:35] Councilmember Ortiz: Thank you Mayor. I also want to thank staff for this very thoughtful work. I really appreciate how directly this presentation lays out the disparities in digital access across our city and how intentional this strategy has been in regards to closing them. The digital empowerment vision makes clear that internet access skills training and device access are no longer optional. They're foundational for participation in modern life particularly here in San José where we're at the technology capital of the world. But still it it still feels a little jarring to see a slide describing how one in eight homes in the city lacks its own internet access next to a slide highlighting our focus as a city on artificial intelligence. I'm not saying we can't walk and chew gum at the same time but this is a perfect example of why I'm always talking about ensuring that with every innovation we bring to this city every resident should feel the benefits particularly when it comes to data centers and AI. I don't want to detract from the really important progress being made but I believe we should take a moment as a city to reflect on this divide. What it truly means for our residents and how we can continue to close it and do better as a government agency. If we're truly in the innovation capital of the world then every household regardless of zip code must be able to benefit from the opportunities that AI and digital technology will shape in the next decades to come. Simply unacceptable that any family in San José does not have reliable internet access in 2025. Um so I just want to thank again our our staff for tackling this issue head on. I know that there's been comments um today at council in regards to budget constraints and that's always difficult um when we look at um uh programs that serve our most vulnerable because time and time again those seem to be always the ones that are on the chopping block when when tough decisions uh have to be made. But I know that this this initiative has personally helped uh communities like the one I represent District 5 and know it's helped pretty much a large portion of East Side Union High School District and so I just really want to thank our staff for being innovative and transformative uh uh as well as leaning on transparency uh where the gaps still exist because you know if these things were simple and easy then they would be solved in in every city. But I'm confident in the leadership of our department our department head and and our and our team members um to bring the roadmap that brings all our residents into the digital future. So thank you so much and I look forward to the vote.

[02:26:25] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Councilmember. Councilmember Candelas.

[02:26:27] Councilmember Candelas: Uh thank you Mayor. Um no thank you Jill to you and and your team for your um comprehensive status report and presentation. You know it's it's really great to see the positive uh progress we've made since 2017. Um but you know it's a little bit disheartening to see that uh there are still a significant number of households that are uh either underconnected or or unconnected in our city and you know uh obviously it's not surprising that the digital divide is most negatively affecting um those lower incomes uh those with uh lower education our seniors and Black and Latino residents and so um you know I I I want to quickly ask a question on um uh accountability. Uh I appreciate the ambitious work plan and the report um uh back to us in 2027. Until then how does staff plan to keep us apprised um of the uh progress within that work plan?

[02:27:24] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: Thank you for the question Councilmember. Um we as as mentioned just in previously uh we will be seeking your council offices uh assistance with council district specific issues potentially like uh outreach to mobile home parks um and neighborhoods you know we've provided maps of connectivity in your district so any neighborhoods where you may be hearing from residents that there are issues our team is ready to work with you on those um issues and um we also um we do present to the Neighborhood Services and Education Committee and so that could be agendized as a precursor to the annual report. But we could also you know come back with uh reports at any time on different aspects of the work plan if that is the council's preference.

[02:28:16] Councilmember Candelas: Yeah I I mean me personally I'd like to see a like a checkpoint um you know uh whether it's you know I I leave that to the administration uh whether it's NSC or an informational memo so we can take action if something or if there is an opportunity for for one of us to to be able to uh to leverage and and uh see if there is additional partnerships needed I I think that would be important uh because a year from now is a is a long time and there's a lot of things that could happen and so um uh obviously I I don't want to be too prescriptive on what it what it is if it's a check uh a check back or a checkpoint at NSC so be it but I know those are quarterly quarterly meetings now and uh whatever whatever vehicle you deem fit I I would appreciate that um and um and and I you know I just hope that with the implementation of our strategy we uh help make uh progress and help move the needle especially as we're as we're pushing uh an economy that's more rooted in AI and and um and and the um the the the future of of what the internet looks like hopefully more people have access to it. So thank you.

[02:29:23] Jill Bourne, Director of Library: Thank you. We'll work with the administration. Thank you.

[02:29:25] Councilmember Candelas: Thank you.

[02:29:27] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Councilmember. Councilmember Doan.

[02:29:29] Councilmember Doan: Thank you Mayor. Thank you for the presentation and thank you for the hard work that you've done and you know decreasing the amount of um home without internet and and cellular internet and computer and so on. But my question is because of the cut in federal funding what is the total amount that that was cut that affect 40,000 residents?

[02:30:03] Ann Grabowski: Thank you for the question. Um about 50% of San José residents who were eligible to receive that subsidy um so there were 80 I mean just for simple math 80,000 residents were

8.2 Alum Rock Santa Clara Street Business Improvement District

[02:30:15] Ann Grabowski: eligible 40,000 received that subsidy, it was for that 40,000 it was $1.2 million per month that was distributed locally in a $30 per month credit essentially to their bill. So you double that, you get to 2.4 million and then you set the duration that you're looking to subsidize and and we can do some math from there.

[02:30:35] Councilmember Doan: That's a quite large number. I have about 17 mobile home or manufactured park mobile home parks in my district. And you know, it's it's no longer a a want, it's a must. In orders for us to move toward the AI hub, our children need those internet connection and our elderly need to pay their bills or or just to to be entertained um from being alone.

[02:31:06] Councilmember Doan: I I think it's important to be able to reach out to family members from across the world or across the street for that matter or friends. Um I think that if if there's a will there's there's a way to find out um how we can, you know, reduce this gap either through or uh philanthropic um partnership, perhaps some fundraising and hopefully the economy will pick up. But I just want to say thank you so much for your hard work.

[02:31:50] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Councilmember. All right, looks like that exhausts questions and comments from my colleagues. I think we're ready to vote.

[02:32:08] City Clerk: Motion passes unanimously.

[02:32:10] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you. Thank you again to Jill and the team for all the great work.

[02:32:15] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. So, we are on to item 7.2, Abandoned Shopping Cart Retrieval Pilot Program Status Report. We do have a staff presentation.

[02:32:52] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Chris Burton, Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement. Uh joined today by Rachel Roberts, our uh Deputy Director for Code Enforcement. Uh we're also supported today by Deputy City Manager Angel Rios and Peter Hamilton from the City Manager's Office.

[02:33:09] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: And we're here today to report back on the abandoned shopping cart retrieval pilot program. It's quite the mouthful. Um and to share what we've learned from this effort both in terms of outcomes uh and what it takes to deliver them. This pilot is another example of our Code Enforcement team testing new ways to respond to persistent citywide issues. It shows that with the right resources and coordination that we can make tangible improvements that residents notice.

[02:33:39] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: At the same time, it's really important to be clear that these results don't happen in a vacuum. They require focused effort, coordination across departments, real staff capacity and resources. This pilot focused on the visible symptom of the larger issue of abandoned shopping carts throughout the city but it's also part of a broader three-part strategy that the City Council has already advanced.

[02:34:03] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: That included uh ordinance changes approved earlier this year, legislative advocacy at the state level to unlock cost recovery, and now on the ground testing of a service model that could work citywide. I also briefly want to place this work in the context of our recent operational assessment and the work plan that we're advancing to re-engineer Code Enforcement.

[02:34:25] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: Exploring innovative solutions like this a are absolutely consistent with the spirit of that assessment. At the same time, this pilot was additive to our ex existing workload. To make that happen the team had to make deliberate tradeoffs and temporary shifts in resources away from other ongoing priorities. That's really important uh context as we look ahead.

[02:34:49] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: Today's presentation is really about what worked but also about the opportunity, the costs and the operational considerations involved should we cons choose to pursue this further. Before we get uh into the details I just want to recognize the people who made the pilot possible. Uh Rachel and her team created the capacity to deliver this work alongside everything else they're responsible for.

[02:35:10] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: Uh in particular I want to recognize Inspector Angelica Garcia, Senior Analyst Raymond Ho, uh Supervisor Don Donald Timoteo, uh our Beautify San Jose and Department of Transportation partners, as well as Peter Hamilton in the City Manager's Office for all of their support throughout this effort. And with that I'll turn this over to Rachel to walk through the pilot results, the lessons learned and the path forward.

[02:35:23] Rachel Roberts: Thank you. So as Chris noted, this work has been underway over the past year. Um to recap, beginning in February um of this year, City Council considered various policy options and directed staff to pursue changes to state law and amend the city ordinance to allow for more flexibility and strengthen enforcement. And also to explore a contract for cart retrieval services.

[02:35:48] Rachel Roberts: Um shortly after, a proposed state law was introduced into the Senate and it began the process through the legislature. In May of this year, City Council approved the revised regulatory ordinance which included a mandatory requirement for retailers with 76 carts or more to more effectively prevent abandoned carts. In August, staff implemented the shopping cart pilot program.

[02:36:10] Rachel Roberts: And then in October, after moving through the state legislature, the Governor signed the bill into law. And then just recently in mid-November, staff concluded the pilot program, conducted analysis and prepared the report being presented today. So the pilot began on August 14th and ran through November 14th.

[02:36:30] Rachel Roberts: Um the effort covered two pilot areas, one um in the vicinity of Coleman Avenue and Taylor, and area two which was in the vicinity of Almaden Expressway and Blossom Hill Road. Uh through the duration of the pilot, a total of 734 carts were collected with 202 collected in area one and 532 in area two.

[02:36:54] Rachel Roberts: On or about week three, staff implemented ride-alongs to observe the contractor's efforts in the field and we worked with the contractor to improve the results and ca carts collected. The graph here on the right shows the cart collection through the duration of the pilot with area one cart collection being represented in blue and the area two cart collection in orange.

[02:37:16] Rachel Roberts: So this slide here we wanted to provide the maps of each of the area. Um area one provided on the left and area two on the right. Um but also the legend provides key insights, um noting the number of carts that were collected at each location and the location of the retailers in relations to the carts that were found.

[02:37:40] Rachel Roberts: So another key insight from the pilot was the number of abandoned carts that were retrieved for each retailer within the first 10 weeks of pi of the pilot which is shown in this data table here. Um we've provided from that data the top 10 retailers with abandoned carts in the pilot areas with Costco and Whole Foods at the top of this list uh followed by Walmart and Safeway.

[02:38:05] Rachel Roberts: We also had a number of key conclusions and lessons learned um that came out of the pilot um that would is going to be very instrumental in helping to inform a sustainable um permanent model. Um so first we found that a significant a number of carts were collected in a very short amount of time. Um and the use of the ride-alongs with the vendor improved our cart collection.

[02:38:30] Rachel Roberts: In particular a two-person team um seemed to make the most difference in effectively navigating the pilot areas as well as locating carts. Area two had a high number of carts collected um likely because this area was smaller um and had a higher number of larger retail stores such as Safeway and Walmart, Whole Foods and Costco and also um subsequently had a higher density of carts.

[02:38:55] Rachel Roberts: We found the retailer data also to be useful um allowing us to track the retailers um and being able to note high cart abandonment rates um could definitely help us improve um and inform um our existing oversight of our cart management plans and our enforcement tools under our existing program. Um there was a re relatively small number of carts that had trash or belongings. Um roughly 6% of the total number of carts collected had trash or belongings.

[02:39:26] Rachel Roberts: Um despite this low number, these carts still required coordination with other city departments for pickup and which sometimes resulted in the cart being gone before the co the city could retrieve it. Our data also su suggested that there were sever several reasons as you can imagine that carts may be aband uh abandoned. Uh the most prevalent being either use of the carts by the unhoused or um by customers that were transporting their purchases from those st stores in the area to their nearby homes and apartments.

[02:39:55] Rachel Roberts: And then lastly retrieving the abandoned carts um requires um a significant amount of effort across multiple departments whether that was Beautify SJ picking up the carts with the trash, um Department of Transportation managing the service yard once the carts needed to be stored, um the IT Department supporting the 311 uh complaint intake and then Code overseeing the vendor um coordinating o the retailer engagement and enforcement.

Open Forum

[02:40:11] Rachel Roberts: So while these partnerships proved critical during this pilot, they also revealed the need for potential streamlining and process improvements.

[02:40:21] Rachel Roberts: Understanding the desire to continue to address the issue of abandoned carts through a proactive retrieval model, we wanted to provide an overview of the costs for the pilot.

[02:40:29] Rachel Roberts: The total pilot costs shown here include staff time as well as vendor costs. These were absorbed by staff and funded with salary savings for a total of $32,000.

[02:40:40] Rachel Roberts: There was also additional costs to the department in opportunity cost as there was no activity under the fee for service abandoned shopping cart program happening while the inspector pivoted to oversee this pilot.

[02:40:50] Rachel Roberts: Those opportunity costs can be quantified as the equivalent of 62 proactive inspections, 10 potential citations, and review of 30 shopping cart management plans during the pilot duration.

Adjournment

[02:41:05] Uarporn Nopmongcol, Program Manager: scaling the costs of the pilot and um and lessons learned we were able to estimate that continuing the pilot for a year would cost approximately 120

Additional Content 1

[02:41:13] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: Taking this a step further to implement the program permanently citywide, although there is the potential to offset the cost of the program through cost recovery fees under the new state law, there are startup costs which we have calculated to be approximately $686,000, including $563,000 in vendor costs and $123,000 for a new analyst position to oversee the program. Our initial cost recovery estimates are based on a 12,000 carts retrieved annually for up to approximately $1.2 million in cost recovery revenue. However, there are some factors that could decrease this estimated amount as carts, excuse me, decrease the amount of carts retrieved as, with the recent ordinance amendment put into place, retailers with 76 carts or more will now have mandatory abatement cart measures in place, which could reduce the number of carts that we find out in the community. And the 48-hour notice requirement implemented by the new state law before carts can be retrieved by the city could impact the number of carts collected. So in addition to the 48-hour notice, the new state legislation also prevents carts from being, from recovering costs for inaccessible carts. So, excuse me, it also prevents the city from recovering costs for inaccessible carts, which we as a city will need to define what an inaccessible cart is. And the new law also caps the cost recovery fee at $100 per cart despite the true cost incurred by the city for retrieval. So what are the next steps? To complete the analysis of the pilot, staff is in the process of implementing a customer survey with the retailers that were within our two pilot areas to collect and analyze their feedback on the pilot, including how successful it was from their perspective and how much the pilot impacted their operations. We'll also continue to evaluate our lessons learned with our internal partners to inform a potential RFP as well as enforcement and oversight of our existing program. To establish a permanent cart retrieval service, we will need to conduct an RFP to select a contractor to provide that service on an ongoing basis. And while staff would seek to achieve cost recovery for the program, initial funding would be necessary to start the program, potentially including staffing to administer the program. And then lastly, as far as proposed timeline, if the spring 2026 March Budget Message indicates that funding would be likely, staff would seek to complete the RFP process by June of 2026 so that the new service could be implemented soon after the start of the new fiscal year. And that concludes our report and with that, we are here to take questions. Thank you.

[02:44:18] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you for the report. Tony, do we have public comment?

[02:44:20] City Clerk: I have no cards for this item.

[02:44:23] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Coming back to the Council, Chris, Rachel, want to thank you for bringing forward and running a successful pilot that gives us real data on where abandoned carts are showing up and where they originate from. I thought the table on retailers was quite informative. I'll come back to that in a moment. As we all know, and I think the reason this has been a strong IGR priority for the city and was something that Senator Cortese gladly took up and helped us with, and I want to thank him for that, and Peter Hamilton and the City Manager's IGR team. You know, these are, the thousands of carts that are lost every year and scattered across sidewalks and parks and our trails and waterways are not just a visible quality of life issue for our residents, not just an eyesore, but they actually really damage the environment. And I can't tell you every single cleanup along the waterways we do, we are fishing dozens of carts out. So I appreciate that we're looking to find a measured, targeted program that's got cost recovery baked in, that holds retailers accountable and incentivizes them for upstream loss prevention while keeping our neighborhoods and waterways clean. I do, so with these tools in place, I think it's important that we minimize the gap between doing this research and getting this data and then actually deploying the program now that we're kind of a year into the discussion and have some data. I do want to just ask a question on how we might get there. So given, back to the chart, that a majority of the carts came from just 10 retailers—looking at you Costco—what is the plan to proactively engage these retailers, whether through outreach, stronger cart management plans since we already have those in place? We don't actually have to do an RFP to do that. How much can we do now with the data we've just collected through this pilot to work with the folks who really ought to be doing more to invest in loss prevention?

[02:46:16] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: Thank you for the question. So this report actually, in the culmination of the pilot, is quite timely. We actually just issued the invoice for their annual plan review. And so we'll be reviewing those plans as they come in through January. And so we're definitely going to be using this data to help inform those conversations and that review of their plans. But also the new ordinance amendment will be in place where they're required to have a mandatory mechanism, whether it's contracting with a cart retrieval company, having locks on carts, or some other means or tools. So that's new. So we're hopeful that we'll be able to have more direct, more specific conversations. But our enforcement efforts will continue as part of the shopping cart program that's already existing, if that's needed.

[02:47:27] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. And when are, I'm sorry, when are those plans due back to you? You said you just initiated the conversations?

[02:47:31] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: Yes, so the invoices go out in November, but we will be reviewing those through January of this year, or next year.

[02:47:37] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. And at that point they will have to have one of the prevention strategies?

[02:47:45] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: Yes. If they have 76 carts or more, yes.

[02:47:48] Mayor Matt Mahan: Right. Which includes, and actually that was a question I had, of the top 10, I assume they all fall into that category?

[02:47:55] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: That is correct.

[02:47:56] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. Thank you. Okay, good. Yeah, I just don't want to end up in a situation where we have to wait half a year to start anything again because of just the nuances of our budget process. I think we've learned a lot and there are some levers we have today, especially with this state legislation. Thanks again to our Senator, Dave Cortese. Okay, let me turn to colleagues for additional comments and maybe a motion. Councilmember Cohen?

[02:48:18] Councilmember Cohen: Well, thank you for the pilot. And I was actually going to focus on the cart management piece because I feel like that is the low hanging fruit and potentially a place where we can make big impact without having to do this large program. And just sort of to follow up on that, going a little deeper, the chart you showed, you mentioned in that list of key learnings, one was that we can understand better how different retailers are managing their carts. Have we not, is that the next step? Have we done anything to understand why some are rising up higher on the list than others? I was struck by the Target being somewhat low on the list, but I know that they have a pretty robust cart management compared to some of the other places. I'm just wondering if we have any feeling yet as to what different retailers are doing that might lead to some of these differences.

[02:49:10] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: Thank you for the question. I think that work is still happening now. As I was saying, there's still a little more analysis to do, especially after we get the survey from those retailers, but I think that would be the types of questions we're going to be asking because we too were surprised to see that with a big retailer like Target. So what are they doing that these other stores are not doing?

[02:49:28] Councilmember Cohen: Okay. Appreciate that. I'll be interested to hear what you learn and what our next steps will be. Thank you. I'll move approval of the staff report.

[02:49:37] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks, Councilmember. Councilmember Candelas?

[02:49:40] Councilmember Candelas: No, thank you. I appreciate the report and I too want to thank Senator Cortese for his advocacy in Sacramento. It's no easy feat to pass a bill. I know that firsthand and I know the Mayor was instrumental in helping move the needle and get the Council on board to support this pilot which ultimately provided a lot of valuable positive information for us to be able to assess. And you know, I'm glad the Mayor and Councilmember Cohen mentioned our retailers and as it relates to the cart management program because I think there's a lot of work and opportunity that the pilot showed us with regards to making sure that they're doing their fair share to make sure that they're preserving their own carts. And so, you know, but you know, something that was stressed earlier is the city budget next year is something that concerns me. And something that we are seeing, the jobs report came out today, showed a weakening labor market. We have a challenging budget year next year. And you know, we're going to be in service preservation mode as a council, which you know, I'm going into my third year. This is the first time and I'm a little nervous about investing $700,000 in upfront costs. So does staff have any insight and/or some things that we can proactively do or do to kind of alleviate that concern? Or is that something we're going to have to discuss as part of the budget considering it's essentially going to be a new service for PBCE?

[02:51:28] Chris Burton, Director, Planning Building and Code Enforcement: Yeah, thanks for the question, Councilmember. And that's entirely right, right? This is a new service and so really we can make estimates on what we think cost recovery would look like, but with the changes in the ordinance, we really don't know what the landscape for retrieval looks like. So that's why we have to put the startup cost on what we assume would be the cost to just deliver the service without a cost recovery component included. I think that's really the value in the pilot, is being able to kind of use sort of, you know, dig through the couch cushions to find resources so we could experiment and see what it looked like. And it is, it's a successful program, right? It works. But it gives you the opportunity to understand what that balance looks like and what that investment looks like to really get that kind of return.

[02:52:12] Councilmember Candelas: Yeah. And given the $100 cap, if you will, per cart, and looking at, say a retailer like Costco, that's 204 carts at $100 a cart, you know, do they know that they're on the hook potentially for this? And what kind of engagement are we doing with the retailers on this potential new fee that they would be assessed? And assuming, you know, I mean anytime we talk about fees and/or taxes, you know, they always say, oh, it's going to affect the consumer. And we already know affordability in our city is, you know, an issue. Curious to hear what engagement with these retailers on a potential new fee to the tune of what, $20,000, $2,000, you know, what that looks like.

[02:53:10] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: So we have not conducted that engagement just yet. I think if we were to get the funding and the direction to go forward with a permanent program, I think that that would probably run in parallel while we're doing the RFP to secure a contracted vendor. We also would have to do an ordinance amendment which is part of our upcoming work plan to make sure that the current ordinance aligns with the new state law to actually be able to charge that $100. So I think that is still to come, but it would definitely be part of our outreach.

[02:53:43] Councilmember Candelas: Got it. Yeah. And you know, that's, I think it'd be, you know, having proactive communication with these retailers as a, you know, as part of these cart management programs and being able to, you know, after today's conversation, being able to debut and/or talk about, hey, there's this potential state, there's state law that's, you know, in effect that would allow us to do this to the tune of $20,000 for Costco, for example. Sorry, not to pick on Costco, but they're the highest amount of carts out there. So you know, that's something for thought. And obviously I'm supportive of the pilot program and obviously this is a conversation for us to have during the upcoming budget cycle. And this is one of those tradeoff conversations that we need to be able to have with our residents to see, you know, what kind of things are we giving off and putting onto PBCE's plate, considering they're probably the most likely department tasked with overseeing this new contractor, if you will, that we select to be able to manage this cart retrieval program. So anyways, I'll leave it at that and curious to hear from the rest of my colleagues on this.

[02:54:57] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks, Councilmember. Councilmember Mulcahy?

[02:55:03] Councilmember Mulcahy: Thank you, Mayor. And thanks for the work on the, on the program. I would certainly support, having been involved in this from the jump and testifying in Sacramento, and again, shout out to Senator Cortese. Because I see the cost on the other side, and I think as part of the evaluation moving forward, I think it would be interesting to know, you know, when we think about these carts in our waterways or in our catch basins, it'd be interesting to know what cost back to the city this is, you know, what we're incurring in terms of potential damage, you know, the cleanup after the fact if we don't have a program to go out and collect these proactively. I think that's a fair part of the evaluation we should add to the list of what we need to know before a decision is made certainly around the budget. I won't pile on about what we need to do with our retailers, but we now have a short list, so if anybody else is game for it, you know, this pilot was done in the Coleman area. I know exactly who those retailers are and who those managers of those stores are. We can be proactive agents ourselves and be requesting these property owners and store owners to be better custodians of their carts because when we started this, as a property owner myself of some of these retailers, you know, it's really important that we're pushing them to be more responsible. We don't haven't always required and don't require cart retrieval systems, and we should. So I would sort of look maybe to, you know, Chris from your standpoint, I can't remember if we made any determinations on this for approvals moving forward, but really being, you know, playing hardball on cart retrieval and other systems. Do we include that before? I can't remember.

[02:57:15] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: I'll answer this Councilmember. So the ordinance amendment that we did in May did add a provision that requires any vendor with 76 carts or more, they have to have, yeah, that mechanism. They get to choose one of the three that we've included in the ordinance, but they have to have it, which is different than before.

[02:57:33] Councilmember Mulcahy: Yeah, everyone on the list would qualify.

[02:57:37] Rachel Roberts, Deputy Director, Code Enforcement: They absolutely do, yes.

[02:57:39] Councilmember Mulcahy: Great. All right. Thank you.

[02:57:43] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks, Councilmember. Yeah, appreciate your point about the existing costs. And I think at least along the waterways, the reality is we may have to do it either way. The question will be, is it Beautify? Is it trying to find more volunteers? Or is it incentivizing the retailers to do more loss prevention and cover our costs when we need to have a contractor do it? I will be interested to see how it plays out though, because I don't think there's one mechanism. I think the idea is to get to the outcome. This creates, gives us more tools, to Councilmember Candelas's point, and allows us to incentivize more of that loss prevention investment. I mean, if the retailers can take actions that prevent us from ever needing to hire a third party to go collect carts and then charge them for cost recovery, that's the, that would be wonderful. I think we need this likely in place to incentivize that behavior, in which case maybe our costs are significantly lower or closer to cost recovery. But we'll all learn more as we head toward the budget process. So appreciate all the questions, comments. We've got a motion on the floor. Tony, I think we're ready to vote. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Thanks again to city staff on that item.

[02:59:03] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay, we're on to item 7.3. There's no staff report. This is the extension of the urgency interim ordinance on the temporary moratorium on the issuance of tobacco retail licenses. Sorry, that was a mouthful. Tony, do we have public comment on item 7.3?

[02:59:20] City Clerk: I have no cards.

[02:59:23] Mayor Matt Mahan: Coming back to the Council. Thank you. I don't see any other hands. Don't want to rush my colleagues, but I think we're good. Tony, let's vote. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you all.

[02:59:43] Mayor Matt Mahan: Okay. We're on to item 8.1. This is the preliminary actions required for the creation of the Alameda Business Improvement District and levy of assessments for fiscal year 2025-2026. We have a brief staff presentation. I believe I'm going to turn it over to Jen Baker once staff's ready.

[03:00:17] Jen Baker, Director of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs: Good afternoon, Mayor, City Manager Maguire, and Council. Jen Baker, Director of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs. I'm here today with Vic Farlie, Sal Alvarez, and Jessica Muñoz from our small business team who have respectively shepherded these two projects, 8.1 and 8.2, over the course of the last two years. I would like to give a quick shout out to our colleagues in the City Attorney's Office and also the Finance Department for their support and work also in bringing these processes to you. Likewise, I would like to acknowledge Annie and Kat, who are under contract with the city and who supported the Business Association and led the campaign on the ground for the Alameda corridor. Today, City Council has the opportunity to pass a resolution of intention to establish a business improvement district from active tax certificates, which will complement the formation of the property assessment improvement district or CBID, which Council approved earlier this year. This new BID will significantly expand the boundaries and number of businesses in the business district. And I'd like to hand the mic over to our team, Vic Farlie and Sal Alvarez on item 8.1, to take you through the presentation.

[03:01:35] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Thank you, Jen. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. The establishment of a BID must follow California law, which allows for the creation of a special assessment district to raise funds within a specific geographic area. What is important here is that all the funds raised by businesses within the district are used exclusively for the benefit of the district. A BID must be renewed annually by City Council and the business community must adhere to a high level of transparency and engagement locally, including the adoption of Brown Act regulations and maintaining at all times accurate and complete financial records.

[03:02:20] Sal Alvarez, Senior Executive Analyst: Thank you, Vic, and good afternoon, Mayor and Council. The Alameda BID area is shown in green on the map, stretches from Hedding Street at the top of the map, all the way south to West San Carlos Street at the bottom, eastwards as far as Stockton Avenue, and westwards as far as Dana Avenue. In total, there are 1,731 businesses with an active tax certificate sustaining roughly 5,000 jobs. For reference, the CBID approved by the City Council in June is highlighted in the brown area in the middle of the map. If you look at the proposed assessment fee for all businesses, you can see there are two categories defined by headcount and there will be exemptions. The TAB board adopted a more cautious approach for the first year of operation, assuming a 70% collection rate, generating $258,930 for the first fiscal year. City staff will be meeting with the consultants in early January 2026 to update all the figures and will be reporting back to the City Council as part of the steps outlined in the state law to form a business improvement district. This is the first budget identifying the proposed allocation of funds, emphasizing the business association's strategy to promote the neighborhood, host events, and market local businesses as detailed in the service plan. The board will review and present a new budget each year to City Council as part of its annual renewal process, analyzing assessment fees, projects, and expenditures.

[03:03:59] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Here is the timeline for City Council taking us from the resolution of intent today, setting out the key milestones required including an information mailing to businesses, the public meeting for business owners, then the hearing itself and the first and second reading of the ordinance. If the City Council approves the resolution of intent today and subsequently approves an ordinance, then assessments could commence in April 2026. As Jen has said and as Sal has mentioned, the city has the opportunity today to continue to support the creation of a fiscally sustainable business district, building on the formation of the CBID and engaging directly 1,730 businesses. The Alameda BID was discussed at the recent Small Business Advisory Committee on December the 4th, which enthusiastically endorsed this approach to improving and highlighting local commercial and economic resiliency. Thank you very much.

[03:05:03] Mayor Matt Mahan: All right. Thank you. Do we have public comment?

[03:05:06] City Clerk: I have no cards for this item.

[03:05:08] Mayor Matt Mahan: Excellent. Thank you. Coming back to the Council. Councilmember Mulcahy?

[03:05:14] Councilmember Mulcahy: Thank you, Mayor. I first want to start by thanking the entire staff in the box from OEDCA, Finance Department, and the Alameda Business Association and Kat and Annie who are here in the audience today, who seem to be in the middle of so much progress on the Alameda along with many of the faces there in the box. I just want to point out, so the BID is a separate initiative than the CBID. There's only one other place in the city of San Jose where we have both and that's in the downtown. And I just want to take a moment to sort of talk about a couple of things and then, you know, sort of talk about why for the Alameda it's specifically beneficial in a couple of different ways. So back in June when we voted to establish the Community Benefit Improvement District, we'll call it a CBID, which was the assessment added to a property tax bill based on a specific calculation. That's different from what we're doing today, which is a BID where the fee is attached to the business tax. Practically speaking, it's riskier for an organization to rely on the business tax levies and as we discussed recently with that whole amnesty conversation, we're dealing with a situation where many businesses don't register or renew their licenses, which is a key reason the amnesty program was needed. Property taxes on the other hand, which is tied to the CBID, is almost always paid in part because enforcement is much stronger. This is one of the reasons why before my time on the Council and going back 15 plus years when we passed the CBID in Willow Glen, we actually sunsetted the BID because they are fees that, you know, a retailer may end up paying both depending on whether the landlords pass those costs through from property tax to the tenants. The work, so the work kind of being done here with the Alameda is genuinely impressive and I hope the BID and CBID managers of other districts take note. As I mentioned, this is the first business outside the downtown to pursue both and their plan for the funds essentially, you know, serves some very specific purposes. So in the case of the BID, the idea is those resources would go towards sort of marketing and generating interest in the Alameda businesses themselves while the CBID funds might go to more beautification, security, etc. So it really allows them to have a marketing fund that allows them to sort of gang together and compete with some of these other places like Valley Fair, Santana Row that have the corporate dollars to really be an attraction. So it allows our small business community to be more competitive, which frankly is good for ultimate sales tax generation. And these businesses are running on razor thin margins, so I think the cost of this is fairly sensitive to that. It's annually $350 a year which is about 29 bucks a month for these businesses to participate and specifically allows solo artists and contractors working in salons to pay about $100 a year. So it is an opportunity for, and Vic, can you tell me how many businesses are in this kind of basket of businesses?

[03:08:53] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Thank you, Councilmember Mulcahy. We have currently 1,730 active business tax certificates within the enlarged area.

[03:09:03] Councilmember Mulcahy: Right. So to your point, there's a lot of businesses that think about themselves as part of the Alameda Business District sort of economy if you will, but they're not geographically tied together, so they wouldn't necessarily be qualified to be in the CBID anyway, which is geographically tied.

[03:09:22] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Correct, that's exactly right, Councilmember Mulcahy. And we'll be running a new list on January 1 and our current assessment is that the numbers are increasing in the district which is a very good sign in terms of the overall approach that the association has taken in the last six months to really reach out to the business community in this enlarged area.

[03:09:43] Councilmember Mulcahy: Great. So I appreciate the outline of the timeline. We'll be looking forward to supporting you however we can. So with that, I'm proud to move staff's recommendation on 8.1 to begin the process of forming the Alameda Business Improvement District.

[03:10:03] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you, Councilmember. Thanks staff for your work on this. I don't see any other hands. Tony, let's vote. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you.

[03:10:18] Mayor Matt Mahan: Item 8.2. Preliminary actions required for the creation of the Alum Rock Santa Clara Street Business Improvement District and levy of assessments for fiscal year 2025-2026. And I will turn it back over to Jen and the team.

[03:10:38] Jen Baker, Director of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs: All right. Joining from the OEDCA team on this presentation is Vic Farlie and Jessica Muñoz. And this particular business corridor was supported by consultants at Community Strong Strategies under their contract with the city to build capacity and manage the campaign on the ground. So CSS engaged directly with business owners and partners and worked to help build this momentum. And I would create a quick prelude in that even though there are two BIDs that we're presenting to you today, these are really two very unique opportunities for two different neighborhoods with different dynamics. And so what is similar is that in each of the districts the business community unified, they identified priorities, they accumulated the capacity and the political will to want to bind together and to adopt this tool and propose this tool for their community. So while we're presenting two, please be mindful that they're very unique and uniquely meaningful to their respective communities and leaders. So today we have the opportunity to pass a resolution of intention to establish a business improvement district that covers both District 3 and District 5 focused on the city's East Side business community. This has been a subject of discussion for many years and we're delighted to be able to bring to City Council today this opportunity. So Vic and Jessica with the presentation.

[03:12:08] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Thank you, Jen. And good afternoon again, Mayor and City Council. The establishment of the BID, as we referenced in 8.1, must follow California law which allows for the creation of a special assessment district to raise those funds within the geographic area. And what is important here is all the funds raised by the businesses within the district are used exclusively for the benefit of that district, which is important to Alum Rock and East Santa Clara Street. A BID must be renewed annually by City Council and the business community must adhere as I've mentioned to a high level of transparency and engagement locally, including the Brown Act rules and regulations and maintained at all times accurate and complete financial records. Thank you.

[03:12:55] Jessica Muñoz, Senior Executive Analyst: Good afternoon, everyone. As you can see in the map, the geography of the BID is narrow and long, extending on the west from 22nd Street along East Santa Clara into Alum Rock Street to the Capitol Avenue, crossing the 101 and 680 and includes diverse neighborhoods such as Little Portugal, Plata Arroyo, and the Mayfair North. There are over 540 businesses in a variety of sectors from retail to professional services with a current business tax certificate employing over 1,700 people, many of whom are local to the area. The businesses are a mix of Latino, Asian, Portuguese, and for many, this is their first time experiencing creating an effective association and engaging positively with the city. This milestone marks the first ever Business Improvement District in East San Jose, representing a historic investment in the area's small businesses and vibrant cultural diversity. If we look at the proposed assessment fee for all the businesses, you can see there is a flat rate of $350 and assuming a 70% collection rate, it will generate $133,035 in its first fiscal year. City staff will be discussing with the business association the continued work of the consultants to ensure there is a managed transition into the first half of 2026. This is the first budget identifying the proposed allocation of funds with 50% focused on safety and beautification and the balance equally divided between marketing and promotional work and administration. The board will annually review and present the budget to City Council analyzing current and planned expenditures.

[03:15:01] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Here is the timeline for City Council taking us from the resolution of intent today, setting out the key milestones required including an information mailing to businesses, the public meeting for business owners, then the hearing itself and the first and second reading of the ordinance. Again, similar to the Alameda, if the City Council approves the resolution of intent today, then assessments could commence in April 2026. As Jen has said, the opportunity for City Council today is to create a business-led improvement district to unify the local business community and provide a clear sense of purpose with the prospect of long-term resourcing under the control of the business community. This BID was also discussed at the last Small Business Advisory Committee on December the 4th, which again enthusiastically endorsed this approach to strengthening local community and economic resilience. Thank you.

[03:15:58] Mayor Matt Mahan: Great. Thank you. Do we have public comment?

[03:16:00] City Clerk: Yes, I have three requests. Helen, Cynthia and Nathaniel, come on down. You do not have to speak in the order you're called. Come on down, it doesn't, the order is flexible. Welcome. You have two minutes once you begin.

[03:16:28] Helen Masamori: Hi, my name is Helen Masamori. I'm a very proud to be president of Santa Clara Street Alum Rock Business Association. I'm just gonna speak in Spanish and they're gonna speak in English. Gracias al Consejo Municipal y especialmente al Matt Mahan. También muchas gracias a Victor y a Jessica, estamos trabajando juntos mucho tiempo. Y también lo más importante especialmente al Concejal Peter Ortiz por su apoyo invaluable para formar este BID. Y gracias al Concejal Tordillos por su apoyo. También esta es una inversión para nuestro distrito como destino para las celebraciones de 2026 y el aniversario especial de 2027. Gracias.

[03:17:33] Cynthia Velazquez: Good afternoon. My name is Cynthia Velazquez. I am the owner of Dulceria Mi Carnaval on 24th and East Santa Clara Street for over 30 years here in San Jose. I am also secretary of the Alum Rock Santa Clara Street Business Corridor. Thank you to City Council for believing in this community and a special thank you to our Councilmember Peter Ortiz and Councilmember Anthony Tordillos for their invaluable leadership and steady support in helping bringing this business improvement district to life. You all and also OED brought CCS into help organize us. This investment allows us to reinvest locally, supporting small businesses, improving safety and beautification and strengthening this vital East Side artery that connects our neighborhoods directly into the heart of downtown San Jose. Thank you for your time.

[03:18:33] Nathaniel Lim: Good afternoon. My name is Nathaniel Lim. Business owner for 38 years on Alum Rock and East Side. Basically we are here taking that first step and want to thank Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Tordillos for helping us take that step. This helps us, the businesses pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, not waiting for anybody else to do it for us. So this is very exciting. Thank you for your continued support and have a good afternoon.

[03:19:23] Mayor Matt Mahan: Back to Council. Great, thank you. Let me turn first to Councilmember Ortiz.

[03:19:32] Councilmember Ortiz: Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank staff for all this hard work. I appreciate that timeline you shared earlier, but really these conversations regarding a business improvement district started actually with the previous councilmember. And I know that Daniela from District 3 was involved in those conversations as well as many who stayed on with my team like Brisa and Kim. And so I'm truly excited about and incredibly proud to support the formation of the Alum Rock Santa Clara Street Business Association's Business Improvement District, a milestone that has been a long time coming for this corridor. This corridor is the heart of East San Jose. It's home to more than 500 small businesses, thousands of jobs, and generations of immigrant families who've built their livelihoods here. Alum Rock isn't just a place you pass through. It's where culture, commerce, and community come together every single day. And as part of my East San Jose revitalization strategy, I've been very clear about one thing. Revitalization doesn't happen from City Hall alone. It happens when we invest directly in the people who are already doing the work: our small business owners, our entrepreneurs, and our neighborhood leaders. And the reality is this: city services, while essential, are not designed to meet every day-to-day need of a commercial corridor. Cleanups, beautifications, marketing, activation. These are all kinds of services that too often fall through the cracks when budgets are stretched thin across the city, especially with a budget like we're going to be discussing next year. This BID changes that. This is about business owners choosing to invest in themselves and their community. It's about creating a stable, dedicated funding source that stays right here in the corridor, supporting safety, cleanliness, marketing and activation in a way that is responsive, flexible, and led by the community itself. And for me, this moment is deeply personal. I was one of the founding members of the, founding board members of this Alum Rock Santa Clara Street Business Association, helping bring business owners together, build trust, and lay the groundwork for long term change. And now, and I did that before I ever thought about being a councilmember, but now that I am a councilmember, I'm able to be a part of helping them take that next step to become a BID. And it truly feels like coming full circle. This BID builds directly on the momentum we've already created through the entertainment zone along Alum Rock corridor. We've opened door to door, we've opened the door to more events, more foot traffic, and more opportunities for families to gather and support our local businesses. And through our current work in partnership with the association and the School of Arts and Culture, establishing a cultural district, we are uplifting the identity, creativity and history that makes this corridor unique. This is what economic, equitable development looks like. It's not about waiting for outside investment to arrive. It's about empowering the people who are already here to shape the future of their own community. So I just really want to thank the Alum Rock Santa Clara Street Business Association. Thank you to the board members who are here as well as Community Strong Solutions, who I know has been a major support with these efforts as well as our city staff. I know that, you know, this isn't the first time we've tried to do this BID and, you know, multiple times we've hit roadblocks and you know, I was grateful to be able to secure some money from the previous budget in order to fund, you know, this last shot to try to get it done. And so I'm glad to see that, you know, hopefully in the next couple of months, I'm surprised it takes that long, but over the next couple of months, I think I read April, you know, District 5 should get its first BID. District 5 and District 3 and I'm proud to partner with our District 3 Councilmember to be an advocate for these businesses. I do just have one quick question. So I know that, as we mentioned in I think it was CED yesterday, Nathan and Community Strong Solutions have essentially supported them in getting to this point. But I think that contract should be ending soon or I'm not sure necessarily when that ends. How are we going to make sure that, you know, these business owners get support in actually governing the BID or getting training on, you know, how to stand, understand how to properly govern the BID? Because getting us here is one thing. I want to make sure that our business owners have the tools to then successfully lead the BID.

[03:24:08] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Thank you, Councilmember. The answer to your question is that Community Strong Strategies are under contract to the city through to December '26. So we have a full 12 months. The current funding profile takes us through to June '26 and we'll be sitting down with CSS in early January to just plan out the work from June through to August on the assumption that Council does approve all the various steps that were outlined in the presentation. If you then factor in when the timeline would be for the first payment to the association in terms of their ability to then make decisions on the use of that money, that's estimated to be August. So we're looking at a period from June to August to ensure there's sufficient cover to enable the board to be effectively trained and developed in Brown Act regulations and the necessary transparency rules that have to come with managing a business improvement district. So there will be, I can assure you, a smooth handover through the period from January to June and then June to August and then the board will make decisions from August onwards.

[03:25:13] Councilmember Ortiz: Okay. Just want to make sure I confirm. Did you say that within the contract with Nathan's firm, there is language on making sure that the business has an understanding on how to manage the BID? Is that what I just heard?

[03:25:22] Victor Farlie, Senior Economic Analyst: Correct.

[03:25:23] Councilmember Ortiz: Okay. He's not here so I'm not able to ask that question. So okay, I'm happy to hear that and I look forward to supporting this BID and let's get this across the finish line. Thank you so much. Oh, yeah, and let me actually move this item. Great idea, great idea. Thank you, Councilmember Doan. Yeah.

[03:25:40] Mayor Matt Mahan: Somebody want to second it? Great. Councilmember Tordillos already did. I saw it across the dais. It is partly in his district. We'll turn, thanks, Councilmember. We'll turn to Councilmember Tordillos next.

[03:25:53] Councilmember Tordillos: Thank you, Mayor. You know, we obviously spend a lot of time thinking about how we take care of our downtown core, but I think today's presentations really emphasize just how important it is that we are also making sure that we are investing in and looking after all of our neighborhood serving business districts. So I'm personally really excited to see how this new BID is going to help to revitalize and support this corridor, make it safer and more vibrant for everyone and also support all of our

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[03:26:13] Councilmember Tordillos: small businesses, but obviously a model like this could only work with the partnership and support of the community. So just want to thank all of the business owners and leaders who came out to speak in favor of this today and all of the community members and community leaders who've really been advancing this initiative over several years now. So thank you all.

[03:26:32] Mayor Matt Mahan: Thanks Councilmember. And just to pile on the thank yous, I I do want to just thank everybody who leaned in to make this possible.

[03:26:43] Mayor Matt Mahan: You know, starting a few years ago we were talking about how long it had been since we had a new BID and we... a strategy is to invest in them, but it really, and I think it's exemplified this evening, it's when you have Councilmembers like Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Mulcahy, Councilmember Tordillos, and others on this body who I know have leaned in, who really personally make it a a passion project and go to the meetings and talk to the business owners and lean in.

[03:27:08] Mayor Matt Mahan: And then we have the business owners and neighborhood leaders who step up and say, 'We share this vision, we want to invest in ourselves and control our own destiny and be a little little more um kind of self-sufficient and and really be strategic together.' And then of course it doesn't happen without staff actually facilitating and and making it possible and bringing all the structural and legal compliance and process to it that we need.

[03:27:28] Mayor Matt Mahan: So, I'm just grateful that Council colleagues have leaned in and made this a reality because without that leadership I I just don't I don't think we would see all these BIDs coming to fruition and I think they're going to be a great thing and give us a lot more resiliency as a city as we head into some tough fiscal years just from a a General Fund perspective here at the city.

[03:27:47] Mayor Matt Mahan: So, thank you all around, everybody who's got us to this point. I don't see any other hands. We've got a motion on the floor. Last one of the year I think. Uh Tony. Let's vote.

[03:28:03] City Clerk: Motion passes unanimously.

[03:28:08] Mayor Matt Mahan: Excellent. Congratulations everybody. Thank you. All right. So we are on to Open Forum which is an opportunity for members of the public to address the Council on city business that was not on today's agenda. Tony, do we have any comments?

[03:28:21] City Clerk: Brian?

[03:28:43] Brian: Thank you. First of all, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everybody. I sent you all a card. I don't know if you got it; I actually brought them here. One of the reasons I did that is instead of hearing a lot of negatives, I went through and your newsletters and found some positive that each of you have done. And I just said thank you for that.

[03:29:06] Brian: The second thing, Mr. Mayor, I sent you some information about um uh your you posted it on Facebook about um traffic accidents, DUIs, CalMatters I believe had four articles. I just want to let you know the stuff I wrote that I sent to you was sent to Senator Wahab and my Assembly person and they said they're going to put it before their legislative committees.

[03:29:27] Brian: So anyways, Happy New Years and Merry Christmas. Take care. And you guys are right, you are heading into some very perilous times. I ask you please to watch the President's address on Wednesday. I have a feeling that's not going to be something we're going to enjoy. Thank you.

[03:29:40] City Clerk: Back to Council.

[03:29:42] Mayor Matt Mahan: I muted myself. Thank you, Tony. Colleagues, thanks for a great year. A lot of impact and work together. I appreciate it. Want to wish each of you and your families a very happy holiday season and Happy New Year, though I suspect I'll see each of you before then, but uh thank you. And thank you to our City Manager, City Attorney, and everybody here on the team that's helped us move our city forward this year. Happy holidays everybody.