City Council Meeting - March 17, 2020

Video

Agenda

• 1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL: The Mayor calls the meeting to order, roll is taken, and the Pledge of Allegiance is led by the Police Chief. (00:29:13)
• Unagendized: City Staff Updates on COVID-19: Various city staff members provide updates to the Council and public regarding the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shelter-in-place order. (00:30:05)
• 3. PRESENTATION: 3.1 Swearing-In of City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Kimbra McCarthy is officially sworn in as the new City Manager and gives a brief speech. (00:48:55)
• 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: The Council approves the consent calendar items with a single motion and vote. (00:51:30)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: The Mayor opens the floor for public comment on items not on the agenda. Seeing none, she closes this portion of the meeting. (00:53:43)
• 7. NEW BUSINESS: 7.1 Ratification of the Existence of a Local Emergency: The City Attorney presents the resolution to ratify the local emergency. The Council discusses the implications and unanimously passes the resolution. (00:54:28)
• Added Item: Emergency Action on Rent Relief and Eviction Moratorium: The Council adds an emergency item to the agenda to discuss appropriating $500,000 for a rent relief program and establishing a short-term moratorium on evictions. The motion passes. (01:17:31)
• 8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS: Council members provide updates from their respective committee assignments and the meeting is adjourned. (01:42:24)

Transcript

1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL

[00:29:13] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I think we are all here, so, um, good evening. I would like to call the City Council meeting for Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 to order. And could we have attendance, please?

[00:29:28] City Clerk Lisa Natusch: All Councilmembers are present. Thank you.

[00:29:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. And then we will have the Pledge of Allegiance and I'm going to ask our former interim City Manager and now Police Chief, Max Bosel, to lead us in the pledge.

[00:29:47] Multiple Speakers: 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.

[00:30:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you.

Unagendized: City Staff Updates on COVID-19

[00:30:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, before we get into our business, uh I wanted to just make a few few comments in light of uh the situation that we are here uh today. And as we all know, tonight we are meeting under extraordinary circumstances.

[00:30:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Today, the City of Mountain View along with the rest of the world is experiencing an unprecedented public health crisis of the likes none of us in this community I believe has ever experienced. The coronavirus, COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019 and since then has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, sickening and infecting more than 185,200 people in at least 140 countries.

[00:30:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And here in Santa Clara County as of yesterday afternoon, there are a total of 155 confirmed cases resulting in the prohibition of mass gatherings, the cessation of all non-essential travel, school closures, mandatory telecommuting for many public and private sector organizations, and finally the issuance of a shelter in place order for all individuals living in Santa Clara County and six other counties in the San Francisco Bay Area to show the community, to slow the community spread of COVID-19.

[00:31:27] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I understand that many people in our community are experiencing uncertainty in the light of these recent actions. Please know that we, the City Council, with our entire city organization are working with our partners in the non-profit and public sector as well as private sector, um as well as our colleagues in neighboring jurisdictions, our state and congressional elected officials, and with the city organization to identify needs, resources and services for our community and to ensure the health and safety of all Mountain View residents.

[00:32:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I am pleased to introduce, and it's unfortunately in these circumstances, but to welcome our new City Manager, Kimbra McCarthy, who we will swear in officially shortly, but um she officially joined us two weeks ago and has hit the ground running running, especially in light of our current situation. I'd like to ask her to share with everyone what the city has been doing to address the concerns and the needs of our community. Welcome, Kimbra.

[00:32:33] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you. Good evening Mayor and members of the City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you and the community with an update on the city's response to the emerging crisis at hand.

[00:32:50] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: We are in extraordinary times and I want to assure you that we have an extraordinary team that has risen to the challenge and is responding to this crisis. For the past two weeks, city staff has worked tirelessly even on nights and weekends to respond to this crisis.

[00:33:05] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Of utmost priority to us is to maintain the health and safety of our employees and residents. To that end, we've taken several actions to respond to the public health directives. On Friday, March 6th, in response to the Santa Clara County Health Department, we postponed or cancelled large community gatherings. The city proactively took steps to cancel all city-wide community events and recreation programming through the end of March.

[00:33:38] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Last Thursday, March 12th, in response to the World Health Organization declaration, a declaration of a state of emergency was issued for the City of Mountain View. This emergency declaration allows the city to mobilize resources and reduce regulatory barriers so that we can react and make decisions quicker, as well as provide us with the ability to request mutual aid from other local, state and federal government agencies. This action ensures that critical services have the resources needed to continue and allows the city to request mutual aid for other governmental entities as well.

[00:34:18] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Last Friday, March 13th, in response to the public health order prohibiting mass gatherings of more than 100 people, also halting gatherings of 35 to 100 people, and county-wide school closures for three weeks beginning March 16th, the city took additional actions to cancel all remaining city-wide programming, close facilities, and began to transition our workforce to telecommuting from home.

[00:34:48] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I formed a crisis communication response team under the direction of Deputy Police Chief Chris Hsiung to centralize city-wide communication to the public and to the community.

[00:34:59] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Then just yesterday, in response to the Public Health Department issuance of a county-wide stay-in-place order directing all individuals living in the county to shelter in their place of residence, I notified employees that effective today, the City of Mountain View would be closing all facilities of non-essential services in an effort to stop the spread of this virus.

[00:35:23] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Throughout this period, the city has worked closely with our partners in both Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, and also throughout the Bay Area. We've worked with school districts and community-based organizations and agencies to not only understand what is currently occurring in our community, but also share resources, best practices, learning lessons, and support each other through this crisis.

[00:35:48] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: As of this evening, all Mountain View facilities have been closed, with only essential services being provided to ensure health and safety. The Emergency Operations Center has been partially activated to monitor events as they unfold and to prepare us in the event that a full activation is necessary.

[00:36:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: It is my hope that all of these actions, while difficult and unprecedented in the course of Mountain View's history as a city, will assist the greater community in which we live to slow the spread of this virus and protect the most vulnerable of those among us, and ensure that Mountain View's greatest assets, our people, our residents, our businesses, are protected.

[00:36:30] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So thank you for the opportunity to respond, and we do have three department directors here to give us an update about the essential services that are being provided.

[00:36:39] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And who would like to start? Fire Chief? Thank you.

[00:36:51] Fire Chief Juan Diaz: Good evening, Juan Diaz, Fire Chief. The fire department continues to uh respond to emergency medical calls, but we have modified our responses. First I'll tell you that firefighters are being health screened every morning at the beginning of shift. We take their vital signs and their temperature, as well as throughout the shift.

[00:37:17] Fire Chief Juan Diaz: We implemented procedures in the fire stations, which includes uh while the building is open to the public in the event of an emergency, we're not allowing visitors to just drop in and visit as they've done in the past. Firefighters uh PPE, the personal protective equipment that they wear, we are leaving that in the apparatus bay and we're not allowing that to enter into the living quarters. So firefighters are switching right there.

[00:37:38] Fire Chief Juan Diaz: As you know, as EMS and healthcare providers, we are at the front of all these uh calls that are occurring. Uh we had uh one member that you might have heard that was tested and and came back as negative, so that was really good news.

[00:37:57] Fire Chief Juan Diaz: We have activated, as was mentioned by the City Manager, the EOC. In fact, today we had planning and logistics working together. They have drafted an incident action plan in the event that it needs to be activated. Um planning and logistics today requested uh over 24 items from the Santa Clara EOC to supplement the uh equipment that we need in the City of Mountain View.

[00:38:23] Fire Chief Juan Diaz: At the fire stations, as I mentioned, um we've taken some procedures. Um one of the things that we are also doing is a deep cleaning every morning. The off-going shift cleans the entire station and throughout the day, and then the on-coming shift also performs those tasks. Are there any questions that you may have on any of these items?

[00:38:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I don't think so. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Chief Bosel?

[00:38:55] Police Chief Max Bosel: Good evening Council, Max Bosel, former interim City Manager, serving as your Police Chief. Uh our focus right now is uh continuity of operations. We've modified department objectives around uh four primary areas and those include maintaining order, providing for the health and welfare of our staff, assisting with communications for uh public risk and crisis communication, as well as finalizing potential planning around response to other pandemic-related issues that law enforcement may have to focus on.

[00:39:30] Police Chief Max Bosel: We've been in contact with El Camino Hospital, we're preparing for potential surges in patients to the facility with site security involving uh the facility there. And we've been in contact with uh local retailers and grocery and and food establishments uh just getting an assessment of what their supply chain is as well as potential problems around the fear of the situation.

[00:40:00] Police Chief Max Bosel: So our calls for service are uh sustaining at a normal level. Uh we have prioritized our response to more mission-critical um front-line response to in-progress events. We've modified our response to less priority calls to include telephone and online reporting, discouraging face-to-face contact, but we're still providing a full range of services.

[00:40:23] Police Chief Max Bosel: We have suspended uh discretionary parking enforcement as well as some other lower priority services and community engagement and we'll continue to monitor and adjust as uh the situation evolves. We have not had any reported exposures by staff, uh we hope that to continue, but we do have plans in place in the event that we do either have a suspected or actual exposure to an employee.

[00:40:49] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any questions from Council members? Yes, Councilmember Ramirez.

[00:40:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. A couple of questions and I'm not sure who best would be prepared to answer these. My understanding is that the governor directed cities to house their homeless populations. Um is that a responsibility that the county is taking on? Is that something we're actually doing and where are these folks being housed?

[00:41:18] Police Chief Max Bosel: I don't have an answer for you on that on that and that is not a part of our mission profile at this time. We are encountering a number of homeless individuals on the street, but it's normal day-to-day contact. Most of them are not in congested areas and uh we don't have resources other than what we normally do in referrals to community services or local shelters.

[00:41:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And I think Assistant City Manager will be speaking next so she might be able to answer some more of those questions. Councilmember McAlister.

[00:41:56] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, if you have to transport somebody, are your officers doing it or are you calling in like an ambulance or how are you moving them around?

[00:42:05] Police Chief Max Bosel: For non-medical calls, if we're booking someone into jail, we're transporting them.

[00:42:10] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh yeah, okay.

[00:42:12] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other questions for the Chief? No. Thank you very much. And we now have our Public Works Director Dawn Cameron. Welcome.

[00:42:22] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Good evening Council members. Yes, Dawn Cameron, Public Works Director. So in Public Works, what we're focusing on is first to be prepared to respond to any urgent or emergency public service needs using duty staff and on-call staff. For example, things that happen infrequently, but they do happen and we want to be able to respond to them should they happen during the closure is water main breaks, sanitary sewer overflows, roadway hazards, emergency permits that PG&E or another utility may need to restore service, we're we'll be set up to respond to those as and if they come in.

[00:43:00] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We're also monitoring Ask Mountain View, our phone lines, as well as our department emails for any urgent issues that may come through that way, traffic safety related, street lights out, and so on.

[00:43:15] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We're also focused on maintaining our regulatory requirements and priority operations. Examples of these include our daily and weekly water quality testing to keep and to one inter regulatory requirements, but also to continue to ensure our residences that, you know, our water is to the quality that we expect it to be.

[00:43:35] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Uh landfill closure monitoring with twice weekly on-site inspections. Uh our street staffs at least once a week is going to be doing uh street nighttime inspections just looking again at street lights, potential hazards in the roadways so that we can be proactive in responding.

[00:43:53] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We're also working with Recology for any special service requests that may come in from our businesses or residents for their needs. Our department also works hard to support other departments as they uh provide their essential services.

[00:44:07] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We will have two to three fleet mechanics on duty to continue to service police, fire, vehicles, and other city service vehicles that are in use during the closure. We have our facilities techs on call to respond should any of our buildings have an issue that need immediate response. For instance, unfortunately we had one of our elevators out today in City Hall, but we got it fixed today with our on-call staff.

[00:44:33] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: And we also are going to perform daily building checks. Now we're going to have a lot of facilities where no staff is present at all, all day long, and we just want to make sure that everything's fine, there's no water leaks, nothing happening. So our facilities, one facility staff person will be going around and visiting all buildings every day to make sure everything's okay.

[00:44:59] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: In terms of our other Public Works projects, uh for our construction and permit projects, we are suspending all but one construction project by tomorrow. Uh that means buttoning down the sites, making sure if there's any rain or storms they'll be fine, so that we do not have to have our inspection staff out there, we don't have construction workers out there.

[00:45:23] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So all of those projects will be suspended by tomorrow. We have one project under construction that's at a critical point according to the structural engineer, we have to finish a certain amount of work before it's safe to suspend it. Uh that is the Shoreline sewage pump station. We expect to complete that work by the end of this week and then we will suspend that project.

[00:45:41] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We have also notified all permittees that we need them to suspend their projects and um we actually talking to them by phone confirming that they are doing so, they are stopping work because we're not planning to provide inspection services.

[00:45:57] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: And then for all our engineering transportation administration staff that are not providing essential services and functions, they are working from home. They'll do their best to keep projects and studies continuing and handling day-to-day operations to the extent feasible, but we know some of that is going to slide.

[00:46:13] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Additional service news, we are continuing to have the community shuttle operate. It does serve uh three medical areas and several grocery stores and public transit in general is considered an essential service. However, we have closed the Recology buyback center for the time being, just to create to avoid having another place where the public is congregating. And that's my report. Are there any questions?

[00:46:40] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any questions for Director Cameron? Yes, Councilmember Ramirez.

[00:46:45] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Sorry. Thank you. I also had heard that building affordable housing was considered an essential service by the state. So are we also halting all affordable housing related activity?

[00:47:01] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Um, again I think I'm going to have to turn to another department to respond to that. A lot of the affordable housing building itself might be related to building permits, which is handled by CDD. Some of these affordable housing projects may have offsite improvements required on the public street system and so on, and that would be suspended, but I do not believe any of those projects are at a critical point where we would be delaying their opening in terms of at least the public right-of-way side of things.

[00:47:25] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, thank you.

[00:47:27] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other questions? Not, thank you. Um, could I ask Assistant City Manager if you could answer Councilmember Ramirez's question?

[00:47:41] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Certainly. Um, the county is the lead agency around looking at shelter capacity as well as other needs of unhoused folks as a priority population, and um our city staff is in coordination with them looking at opportunities to extend shelter capacity as well as providing hygiene services.

[00:48:01] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: We have uh today identified that we can add a porta-potty and hand washing station, an additional one, um at Rengstorff Park um through that collaboration with the county. Um we're also talking with them about mobile health services for unhoused and um vulnerable populations.

[00:48:21] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: A number of other collaborations that I can can talk about if uh if of interest to the council with regard to um the senior folks and medically vulnerable folks who have um limited access to nutrition services and that that's expected to be an increasing issue if the number of tests go up and therefore the number of quarantines go up and folks can't get out of their house. So that's being collaborated across the county and our staff is working with um with the county and with our CBOs on that, as well as our ongoing ongoing efforts to expand um safe parking sites um through the outreach of uh our HRC and Supervisor Simitian, um and as the council knows just on your consent calendar you'll be considering the 24/7 um expansion of that. So.

3. PRESENTATION: 3.1 Swearing-In of City Manager Kimbra McCarthy

[00:48:55] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: ...services at Shoreline lots, continuing to serve folks through the safe parking program.

[00:48:57] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, thank you. There's another question here from Councilmember Hicks.

[00:49:01] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I actually am interested in a little more detail on several of the things that you'd just mentioned. Um, the first is a little more detail on what a, uh, mobile sanitary station, is that the term you used, what that is?

[00:49:15] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, it's a, uh, there are port-a-potties that have, um, uh, hand-washing stations and even separate hand-washing stations. And we already had, I think both an ADA, or maybe that was at our safe parking site, we had at least one port-a-potty at Rengstorff already. And we are able through county resources to expand that, um, and, and to also include a hand-washing station.

[00:49:41] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And then I'm also interested in several of the other things you mentioned. Um, in particular the work you'd be doing with, uh, Supervisor Simitian and the county on, I know he, he has contacted all of us about extending, about finding more, um, safe lots.

[00:50:02] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, but if you have any more detail than what he's provided to Council, I assume you were CC'd on that email. But if you have any more detail, and also whether any of them would be, uh, 24/7.

[00:50:14] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Uh, I don't have any additional detail. I don't know that any commitments came at least as of yet out of that outreach, uh, those outreach meetings or out of the HRC's outreach. It's just an ongoing effort.

[00:50:26] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: We are in conversations with the county not only about the Shoreline lot as a 24/7 location, but their interest in providing 24/7, um, services at other locations. And we don't have any further developments on that as of yet.

[00:50:41] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. Was the VTA lot mentioned?

[00:50:43] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, the lot on Evelyn is, as a city-controlled lot, one that we could, um, have a similar lease agreement with the county, um, if that were Council's direction to do.

[00:50:56] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. And then my last question, I'm the liaison this year to Avenidas, which provides, uh, services to seniors in the area.

[00:51:05] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and they were particularly interested, in the last meeting I went to, in what you just mentioned, stepped up, call it what you will, meals on wheels or meal delivery. And we brainstormed a little about that, so I'd like to hear whatever details you have on that.

[00:51:21] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, yes, so, um, on Kimbra's behalf, I participate...

4. CONSENT CALENDAR

[00:51:30] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: participated today on a call with the City Managers Association group for all of the city managers in the county and learned about a major initiative that they are facilitating through the leadership of the city of San Jose to increase nutrition services specifically for the vulnerable populations impacted by COVID, the people 65 and older and those with medical conditions.

[00:51:56] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And there are a range of different priorities and things they're looking into including looking at the supply chain and the food distribution network, making sure that there, that if there are issues there, they're addressed, looking through the existing partners, CBOs like Second Harvest or like CSA to make sure that they have the supplies of food that they need. But also looking to expand those partnerships in a significant way with the private sector.

[00:52:25] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And then finally to look at more mobile delivery for folks who cannot leave their home. They are urging senior centers like ours that have nutrition programs to continue to provide that nutrition, but really to look at ways to do so within the public health guidelines, which, you know, become even more kind of curbside delivery. So really looking at all of the aspects of that delivery.

[00:52:48] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you.

[00:52:49] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: You're welcome.

[00:52:51] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And I can actually add to that. I'm going to be participating tomorrow at a press conference that Mayor Sam Liccardo is putting on regarding this concerted effort to provide more nutrition services to seniors. So I'm happy to share with you what I learned there.

[00:53:11] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And then personally actually I've been getting calls, and restaurants, some of our restaurants have food that they've bought for the month. So I've been able to connect them with Second Harvest Food Bank. So we're working on that delivery and what not. So those are things that, and I was going to mention that in my comments about how, what we can do to help.

[00:53:37] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Okay. I'll save the rest of my comments for then.

[00:53:39] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay. Thank you. Do we have...

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[00:53:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Community Development Director, do you have an answer for Councilmember Ramirez about affordable housing projects?

[00:53:51] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So while City Hall is closed, we are having our folks telecommute and we've got permit techs coming every so often to pick up plans and review them. So we are keeping on top of that. We are also informing all of our applicants about the delay. At this time we're not offering inspections, but I'm happy to connect with our city attorney to figure out and also see if we have any requests from affordable housing developers to see if there's anything that we need to give priority over.

[00:54:27] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Great, thank you.

7. NEW BUSINESS: 7.1 Ratification of the Existence of a Local Emergency

[00:54:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other questions from Councilmembers for any of our department heads? If not, thank you, City Manager, and thank you to all of the department heads for being here and for informing us on what the City is doing. And I hope that the residents are now assured that we are working at top speed to respond to the many concerns and needs we're hearing from folks.

[00:54:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And I personally have been fielding, I think we all have been fielding phone calls and emails, and I appreciate the way our community is coming together to address the situation. This is the greatest challenge our community has faced, and I'm buoyed by the compassion our neighbors are showing for each other, and it makes me confident that we will get through this as long as we stay united and work together.

[00:54:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: If folks are looking for ways to help, and we talked about the food bank, but please consider donating to our many nonprofits that are helping those most vulnerable in our community. We are also looking at ways to assist our small businesses and encourage everyone to support them by patronizing them if they offer takeout, maybe delivery services, or ice cream and other foods, or by purchasing gift cards to be used at a later time.

[00:55:13] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Every bit counts, and it'll take all of us working together, but I know we will be able to weather the storm if we stand united. Let's take care of ourselves first, our loved ones, our neighbors, and each other. I know how challenging it is to shelter in place per the Santa Clara County order, and we are all adjusting to the new environment.

[00:55:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: You can see here at the City, we're also trying to do the same, and even the set up this evening for our Council meeting is different. We will continue to make modifications so that we can ensure transparency and openness under the new guidelines and orders around social distancing and sheltering in place. So thank you all for your cooperation.

[00:55:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And so as a result of the new order, you will find that we have also modified our agenda for this evening, and we will be canceling the study session on the preliminary review of fiscal year 2020-21 capital improvement program. And Item 6.1, the row house development at 1555 West Middlefield Road, and Item 6.2, the new residential development at 355-365, 401, and 415 East Middlefield Road, have been postponed to a later date. So with that, I will, yes, is there... yes, Vice Mayor, please.

[00:56:03] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Sorry. I just kind of want to echo your thanks to the community as well as staff. And one of the resources that I think that I've been finding very helpful, and I think that other members of the community could, is the briefing that's now available via the City. You can text 22828 to sign up. Um, it's gonna be updated daily, so... and it'll have everything that the City, the County, the state, the federal government's doing.

[00:56:23] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: And I think as we're almost maybe almost getting inundated with various information, it's really nice to have a one-stop resource. So I really wanted to take the time to thank staff for that concerted effort, because I think it's really critical for our community and all our nonprofits to kind of know what we're doing.

[00:56:38] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: And I didn't want the time to go by without also talking about availability for school lunch. So I know that the Santa Clara County Office of Education and Mountain View Whisman has also been doing school lunch, um, as well as resources, um, for educational purposes. And I just wanted to make sure that folks knew that those are, um, additional opportunities, um, to make sure that they have the nutrition that they need while we're sheltering in place. So thank you.

[00:56:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. Yes, and all of the information is on our website at mountainview.gov, and there is a page, a coronavirus resource page, and that links to the briefing that will be updated daily. So I encourage folks to visit that site for the latest information. So with that, then, if we could move on to Item 3, 3.1, the swearing in of our City Manager, Kimbra McCarthy.

[00:57:13] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And yes, again, these are unusual circumstances, and I'm just grateful that our City Manager is here, and we welcome you with open arms. And thank you for all that you've been doing already. And with that, we'll have a swearing in.

[00:57:28] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: solemnly swear or affirm

[00:57:30] City Clerk Heather Glaser: That I will support and defend

[00:57:32] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: That I will support and defend

[00:57:34] City Clerk Heather Glaser: The Constitution of the United States

[00:57:36] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: The Constitution of the United States

[00:57:38] City Clerk Heather Glaser: And the Constitution of the State of California

[00:57:40] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And the Constitution of the State of California

[00:57:42] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Against all enemies

[00:57:44] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Against all enemies

[00:57:46] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Foreign and domestic

[00:57:48] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Foreign and domestic

[00:57:50] City Clerk Heather Glaser: That I will bear true faith and allegiance

[00:57:52] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: That I will bear true faith and allegiance

[00:57:54] City Clerk Heather Glaser: To the Constitution of the United States

[00:57:56] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: To the Constitution of the United States

[00:57:58] City Clerk Heather Glaser: And the Constitution of the State of California

[00:58:00] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And the Constitution of the State of California

[00:58:02] City Clerk Heather Glaser: That I take this obligation freely

[00:58:04] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: That I take this obligation freely

[00:58:06] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Without any mental reservation

[00:58:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Without any mental reservation

[00:58:10] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Or purpose of evasion

[00:58:12] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Or purpose of evasion

[00:58:14] City Clerk Heather Glaser: And that I will well and faithfully discharge

[00:58:16] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And that I will well and faithfully discharge

[00:58:18] City Clerk Heather Glaser: The duties upon which I am about to enter.

[00:58:20] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: The duties upon which I am about to enter.

[00:58:22] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Congratulations.

[00:58:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Would you like to say a few words?

[00:58:33] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you. I'll just say briefly that this has certainly been a very interesting first two weeks for me. And I feel very lucky and fortunate to be back with the City of Mountain View. I am honored that you chose me to be your City Manager, and I feel like we have the best organization with the best employees, and I have really seen that come to light the past two weeks.

[00:58:53] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I think what's happened the past two weeks has really just demonstrated to me just how amazing the community is and how amazing this organization is and how deeply staff care. And I'm just so honored to be back. I'm happy to be here with you tonight in my first meeting, and I look forward to many meetings and years to come. Thank you so much.

[00:59:13] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you and congratulations and welcome back. All right, we will now move on to Item 4, the Consent Calendar. These items will be approved by one motion unless any member of the Council wishes to remove an item for discussion. The reading of the full text of resolutions will be waived unless a Councilmember requests otherwise.

[00:59:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Would any member of the Council like to pull an item? And I just wanted to mention that we are not using the mics today because we're spread out. So if you can just raise your hand and I'll try to call you in the right order. Any members of the Council wishing to pull an item? Is there any member of the public wishing to provide comment on an item? If not, I will entertain a motion.

[00:59:43] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor, we're just going to check. We have a couple members of the public, so we'll just confirm they're watching live, but we'll just make sure that they didn't have any comments. I don't believe that their comments were on the Consent Calendar. Okay. Great. Thanks for your patience.

[00:59:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: No, thank you. Nope. All right, so I will close public comment and is there a motion to approve?

[01:00:03] Councilmember Chris Clark: Move the Consent Calendar, which includes Item 4.3, adopting a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute program supplement number F026 to the administrating agency-state agreement for federal aid projects, agreement number 04-5124F15, with the State of California acting by and through its Department of Transportation for West Middlefield Road improvements from Rengstorff Avenue to Shoreline Boulevard, project 19-35, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 1 to the Council report. And 4.6, adopt a resolution in support of outreach activities to ensure a complete count and participation in the 2020 decennial census, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 1 to the Council report.

[01:00:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Is there a second?

[01:00:36] Councilmember John McAlister: Second.

[01:00:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Motion by Councilmember Clark, second by Councilmember McAlister. Are there any other discussion? Is there any other discussion for this? If not, all those in favor, please raise, say aye and raise your hands. Opposed? Abstentions? Motion carries 7-0. Thank you.

[01:00:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Moving on to Item 6... public hearing... so these were the items that were... oh, I'm sorry, I have to go back to 5. Item 5, Oral Communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Council on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic for up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits the Council from acting on non-agenda items. Are there any members of the public? Yes, please. Welcome.

[01:01:18] Public Speaker: I am so sorry that we are living in such a really horrible time right now, no doubt about it. I just want to let you know that, uh, unfortunately, this situation is not going to be turning around very quickly, soon, for a long time. Recently Donald Trump actually admitted that this situation may be going on at least until July or August. And that means we are in for a long haul.

[01:01:38] Public Speaker: And for me, it's been personally ugly because I was being onboarded for a new job in Hawaii when the virus hit, and I have been now cut off of that job. And I have currently applied for unemployment benefits. I am supposed to be getting them, but it looks like the unemployment insurance offices are now not working.

[01:01:53] Public Speaker: And I have not yet received my unemployment insurance transaction card even though I've already submitted over a month and a half's worth of claims. And so the real issue I'm wanting to address is that, again, even though it was on your website, it's currently not on your agenda, I think at this point in time it is very important that an emergency moratorium on all evictions be passed by the City Council because there are people like myself and there are going to be a lot more like me very shortly.

[01:02:13] Public Speaker: Mnuchin just indicated that there could be as much as 20% unemployment as a result of this situation. So we've got ourselves a really ugly situation that we have to address. And unfortunately, until the federal government gets into play and starts getting into action, we are going to, of course, ask our local governments to at least provide some kind of assistance.

[01:02:28] Public Speaker: In this case, again, if at all possible, provide a moratorium on evictions for not only for cause but no cause. Because I've just read a report saying that because of it being not included in the San Francisco emergency ordinance, they are actually seeing people being thrown out by people who are claiming that the owners are either moving in or renovating or doing other things to get around the moratorium.

[01:02:48] Public Speaker: Now, if the City does make it so that it also covers no fault, I would imagine that yes, you might wind up with some kind of litigation. But I would say at the same time, it would look pretty foolish under these circumstances for a landlord to try to challenge this situation. This is going to be a very ugly picture. It's not going to end soon.

[01:03:03] Public Speaker: It's probably the fact is that we are still about a year or so away from even having a vaccine for this virus. And because of that, we are looking at that long a time. And this is going to be a very prolonged issue. We have to really start getting that into our psyche and start dealing with it. That's all I'm asking. Thank you very much. Have a great night.

[01:03:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[01:03:38] Public Speaker: Good evening. I'm sort of acting as a guinea pig. I have not contracted the virus. I hope I don't contract the virus. But should I contract the virus and I go through self-containment for two weeks and I still am sick or I have determined that I am sick, where am I going to get care? Where is my bed? Where is my food? I'm sick.

[01:04:03] Public Speaker: Is there communal care for me? No. Yes? Are we eliciting or soliciting doctors to take care of people like me in my exhibit, who can't go out because we're restricted, we can't go to the food store, we can't get delivery of food? Where am I going? Where is my head? And where are you going to bury me after I'm dead?

[01:04:23] Public Speaker: Are you going to cremate me? Let me, throw me in the Pacific? Is there going to be a funeral? We, I don't think we're prepared for 2,000 or more people like myself, my exhibit, to actually be sick and to do something. Now, I sent a suggestion, and one of the things I sent in was I thought we would set up temporary facilities in areas that are, would be available.

[01:04:48] Public Speaker: And I thought number one about football fields. Open space, okay, no buildings, restroom facilities sort of nearby, probably electricity and water etc. could be done, temporary buildings could be made out of Quonset huts like we did in the military, or possibly greenhouse type situations, plastic greenhouses where people could be contained, okay, and get care.

[01:05:13] Public Speaker: I mean, all of these things have to be considered because if it's true what the statistics say, there are 2,000 people in this town that are going to be sick without beds. That's all I have.

[01:05:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak? If not, I will close public comment. And we will move on to... so 6, we do not have any public hearings, those are the items that were postponed, and we move to 7, New Business. And this is the item where we will be discussing our emergency... the state of emergency.

[01:05:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And so, Item 7.1 is the ratification of existence of a local emergency, and we have a staff presentation from our City Attorney.

[01:06:08] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. This item follows the Director of Emergency Services' proclamation of a local emergency which occurred on March 12, 2020. The Council must formally ratify the local emergency via resolution, and that is the item before Council tonight.

[01:06:23] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: The proclamation and subsequent ratification empowers the Director to exercise extraordinary police powers, as detailed in the staff report. Note, the resolution was revised after it was included in the agenda packet to reference the County's recent shelter-in-place regulations and also describe the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on staffing levels at the City, which result in the need to suspend various timelines with regard to processing development projects and other matters which involve processing deadlines.

[01:06:48] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Council was provided with a revised version of the resolution, and copies are available for the public as well. Staff's recommendation is to adopt a resolution ratifying the existence of a local emergency and we're available to answer any questions that Council may have.

[01:07:08] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Are there any questions from Councilmembers? Yes, Councilmember Hicks.

[01:07:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I just thought that maybe the City Manager, because it's kind of dry reading and the public that may be viewing either outside or online may not have read it, that maybe the City Manager could explain in just a few sentences what this allows the City to do differently and how it addresses I guess the previous gentleman's some of his concerns, not all of them in detail, but maybe just a brief recap in plain English, not legalese.

[01:07:43] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. So the emergency declaration essentially allows the City to mobilize resources, and that also really makes the ability for us to get mutual aid from other agencies easier. So that's mutual aid for public safety services, our fire and police, from not only our regional partners but also state and other federal resources.

[01:08:03] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: The other thing it does is it allows for us to get rid of regulatory barriers that are in place, so certain processes or procedures that may take a very long time normally can be expedited. And it really just allows us to be a lot more agile and quick with our decision-making in order to respond to the needs of the community. So it allows for us to make decisions that are in the best interest of the health and safety of our community in a very quick manner.

[01:08:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other questions from Councilmembers? Yes, Councilmember McAlister.

[01:08:43] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, you mentioned police powers. So when I hear that, that sort of perked up a little bit. So is the City Manager or City Attorney could somebody give us a little more background and details of what when you say police powers?

[01:08:58] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, I can. The police powers is a term of art in municipal law, meaning it applies to all actions a city would take to protect the health and safety of its residents. It has the word police in it, but it doesn't connote a police action necessarily. It's any action designed to protect the health and safety of the residents.

[01:09:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Other questions? No? All right. I will open this up for public comment. Any members of the public wishing to speak on this item? And I know we're going to check outside as well.

[01:09:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Doesn't look like there's anyone. So I will close public comment and bring it back for discussion. Councilmember Clark, and then Councilmember Matichak.

[01:09:53] Councilmember Chris Clark: So I'm happy to make the motion, but I see there are other folks who want to talk too. I just, as part of that, I just wanted to make sure that we... I want to first thank the City Manager for declaring an emergency. It is not something we do very lightly.

[01:10:08] Councilmember Chris Clark: It only occurs when, you know, earthquakes, situations like this, which unfortunately are unprecedented, and to be faced with that in your first few weeks on the job is... I'm sure it was very sobering, and not something that we do lightly.

[01:10:23] Councilmember Chris Clark: And then I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank the Mayor for her response during this over the last week or so. This is... many of us at the dais have been Mayor, we've been very lucky that we haven't had to face something like this during... there are always challenges, but having to face this, and I think in your prior Mayorship the prior downturn... and so I just I just I have tremendous respect for the amount of time and energy that you've put into not only responding to this and helping our community to feel like, you know, we're on top of it and confident and bringing us all together to work as a team, but also the time and energy that you're putting into all the coordination efforts that the City Manager and all the City staff as well that's surrounded by this.

[01:11:03] Councilmember Chris Clark: I just I deeply appreciate your leadership during this, and everyone else's leadership during this, and I'm very happy that we have such an experienced individual in the Mayor's chair this year to guide us through this. So that's all I had to say.

[01:11:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other comments or did you have a comment councilmember

[01:11:33] Councilmember Chris Clark: well um so I'll move that we adopt a resolution ratifying the existence of a local emergency to be read in title only further reading waived attachment one of the council report as incorporating the revisions that the city attorney had previously mentioned

Added Item: Emergency Action on Rent Relief and Eviction Moratorium

[01:17:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. Motion by Councilmember Clark, second by Councilmember Matichak. Any other discussion? Yes, Councilmember McAlister.

[01:17:41] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I just, again, a lot of information has to get out there and a lot of clarity needs to be done, so I'm going to ask the question. So in this proclamation, which we have to review in 60 days, I understand, but there is a statewide emergency which waives this provision while the statewide emergency is in effect. Could someone sort of explain the hierarchy of the state having an emergency, the city has an emergency, and how they are interrelated?

[01:18:13] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: The declaration of a local emergency is focused on local needs, and certainly it's informed by state and even federal actions, but really this is the first immediate local response that the City of Mountain View is taking. So this typically will have detailed parameters about what the local needs are in our community, and certainly it is informed by state declarations and even federal, but they all work together. I hope that answers your...

[01:19:26] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, I guess if it says that ours has to be reviewed 60 days, but if by the Governor's proclamation that it goes longer, then says that provision is waived?

[01:19:38] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, and that would extend.

[01:19:39] Councilmember John McAlister: So the Governor actually has the final say when the state emergency would end.

[01:19:44] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, and we would work in conjunction with that.

[01:19:50] Councilmember John McAlister: So does that mean that ours is automatically tied into theirs, or do we still have to review it after 60 days?

[01:19:55] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: We would have to look at that depending on what happens at that 60-day mark. It could be a matter of re-ratifying the local emergency, but we would look at that. It's an unusual occurrence, but it would either extend automatically or it would be a continuation by the Council.

[01:20:54] Councilmember John McAlister: And to the City Manager who was talking about mutual aid, could the state request our public safety people to be dispatched in other parts of the state if that's under their authority?

[01:21:12] Fire Chief Juan Diaz: Correct, the state Office of Emergency Service can always make a request, but it's the local jurisdiction or agency final say if we can provide that service. We're not obligated. As you know, we have a state fire engine in our city, an OES engine, but even under that contract, we're not obliged. We can actually turn down the request if we have an emergency in town and we can't fulfill the request.

[01:21:36] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you. And my final comments is, yeah, this the city is pretty resolute, and you know, the people that are up here are very passionate about making sure that people are protected, always providing public safety, public works, essential duties. I think we have some excellent people, as everybody mentioned. It's been my privilege to over eight years working that everybody steps up and they don't ask questions. They say, "How can I help?" And that's always a proud moment when I go to these national conferences and we start talking about Mountain View. You just, I just beam about how we do it, we do it, we do it. And these guys are going to say, "Well, we gotta try it, we gotta try it." And I'm just impressed by how progressive Mountain View is or just how proactive Mountain View is in handling public safety, all these other issues, and the people in need and so forth. So it's it is a real privilege to sit up here with my fellow councilmembers and talk about what we're doing. It's something that's sort of ingrained in our culture and it just feels natural for us to help and reach out and do the right thing. So thank you for all that everybody's done.

[01:23:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And we are going to, we actually are adding a new or hoping we can add a new item. We have an item that is in need of immediate action related to, the ratification of our resolution that we just did, and I would like to ask our City Attorney to lead us in this.

[01:23:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other comments? I just wanted to also add my thanks. I've been working with our new City Manager pretty much through the weekend and every hour on the hour, I think we've been speaking. And I'm just grateful to all of you, my colleagues. You know, in times of crisis, this is when we're tested the most, and I'm always been proud of our organization, but never more than this. And I really appreciate everybody pitching in, our leadership with our new City Manager, our entire organization. And I think Councilmember McAlister said it correctly that, you know, it's that "how can we help" attitude that gets us through these times and makes Mountain View the special place it is. And thank you, Councilmember Clark, for your kind words. Yeah, I do sometimes wonder if it's me or just the timing, but the Great Recession was my first challenge, my first time, and then here we are. But again, I know that with working together, as we're doing, and I want to say too that thanks to the relationships that we have with our other partners, some of the information that we've been getting has come to us more quickly and so we've been able to react more quickly. So I just feel very proud of our organization and grateful to everyone for all that they're doing. So with that, I will call the question. So all those in favor of the motion? Opposed? Abstentions? Motion carries 7-0. Thank you.

[01:23:35] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. This item, which we'll call 7.2, is a late addition to the agenda and is being presented for Council consideration under the authority of Section 54954.2(b)(2) of the Brown Act, as it constitutes a need for immediate action. The Brown Act authorizes discussion on an item not appearing on the posted agenda if immediate action is necessary. A two-thirds or five votes of the Council is required to determine that both of the following circumstances exist for this item. First is the need exists to take action immediately, and second, the need for action came to the attention of the agency after the agenda was posted. I'm now going to turn over things to the City Manager who will describe the essence of the item and present a recommendation for Council's consideration.

[01:24:33] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So, as the City Council knows, we are in this rapidly evolving crisis that we've been discussing, and the Council's received a large amount of correspondence from the public after the agenda for this meeting was posted. And correspondence has continued to come in even up until the start of this meeting from residents who will not be able to pay rent due to the loss of their work income directly resulting from COVID-19 impacts. And also landlords in our community, especially small landlords, are also impacted by this because of the uncertainty of tenants who potentially might be unable to meet their rent obligations in the near term. So just this afternoon, staff identified Below Market Rate funds of $500,000 currently available which could be allocated towards focused rent relief efforts for the near term. And staff is also working with community partners to contribute additional funding to leverage this effort. So as a result of that, in an effort to respond to the urgent needs of the community, it's staff's recommendation to approve the following, and the City Clerk will bring up the recommendations for the City Council to see the detailed recommendations. The first two of which are the Brown Act findings that the City Attorney just referenced, and the third and fourth items which you will shortly see are actions related to rent relief.

[01:26:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. So are there any questions from councilmembers? Yes, Councilmember Matichak.

[01:26:46] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So we also received a few emails regarding folks who are having difficulty paying their mortgage. So I was wondering if we were factoring that into this recommendation. Is this strictly for rent, or would it also be potentially for folks who are struggling to pay their mortgage?

[01:27:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: At this point, we thought it would be for folks who are renting, but that would certainly be a policy decision that the City Council could take to direct staff otherwise, so I would look towards Council's direction on that piece.

[01:27:25] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Okay, and I was also wondering if we had also considered businesses who might be struggling to pay their rent as well. But it sounds like what staff's recommendation was strictly for tenants, people who are renting a place to live. So are we going to talk about the other two at a later date, or can we do that now, or what was the plan?

[01:27:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: If I could add to that, so there are a number of efforts actually being conducted right now, and different entities, I did want to call out as our City Manager mentioned, there is a corporation that asks not to be named that is looking to contribute to this fund. This is the short-term rental housing assistance fund that CSA has, although we're open to other entities that could help us administer the same assistance if possible. But there's also, we've been in contact with the Chamber of Commerce, and again, another a corporation who has expressed interest in trying to come up with some assistance for small businesses. So they're all still in the works, things are moving very quickly, and we're trying to move as quickly as possible, but it's just taking it takes a few days at least. So I think you'll start hearing things online is my hope, and if they run into some kind of barriers, then maybe we could revisit those other items. It would be my recommendation, but...

[01:29:05] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So, can I ask for clarification on that? So it sounds like folks are looking at how to help small businesses. Are they also looking at potentially helping folks with a mortgage?

[01:29:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: That one, no, actually, I haven't heard of anything, and so I don't know if we can include that in this item this evening, but why don't we discuss that further?

[01:29:29] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yeah, because if somebody is not working, they might be struggling to pay their mortgage just like somebody might be struggling to pay their rent.

[01:29:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yep. Okay. Councilmember McAlister, and then I had Ramirez, Kamei, and Hicks.

[01:29:44] Councilmember John McAlister: So for Councilmember Matichak's question, I know since this is a new item, but it says for rent relief, but can it, can we take action tonight for small businesses and mortgage?

[01:30:01] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Well, the facts which precipitated this item were focused mainly on rent relief, but I would have to check to see if we received a high volume of late comments about mortgage relief. Do we have any more information on that? I don't have that.

[01:30:24] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, no, but that's a different question. The question is can we legally take up rent relief, mortgage relief, and businesses?

[01:30:34] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: I think we, the City has received concerns about all of those items after the agenda was posted, so yes, I think that could be factored into tonight's discussion.

[01:30:46] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you, Adán, and again, I'd like to thank Councilmember Matichak for bringing up mortgages and small businesses. The other question I have on number four is with community partners, and CSA is one that has an existing program that does short-term bridging, usually one month, I don't know if they do two. And I know things are happening quickly, has anybody reached out to CSA to see if they have the capacity to handle something, or would we have to go in-house?

[01:31:21] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So I can answer that, tee that up. So yes, staff has been talking to CSA all day today, and I would ask our Assistant City Manager to provide additional information on that piece.

[01:31:38] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Thank you, and we are also joined by Housing staff, Wayne Chen. Yes, our office and our Housing office have been in contact with CSA about their sense of the need for expansion of and additional capacity for rental assistance, and their interest in participating in that. I don't, I don't know if we've had in-depth conversations enough to know exactly how that would be administered and what the capacity is, but I think that we would work with them and any other community partners, as would be necessary to make this aid available to the community.

[01:32:19] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, how does that program work now?

[01:32:21] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Right now, my understanding is that CSA is part of a network of rental relief providers and receives funding not just from the City but from other sources for those purposes. Our funding historically through the BMR program was focused on 80% AMI and hasn't been fully subscribed, and so what staff really would want to do with CSA is to look at what parameters would meet the existing needs specific to COVID, and that might include looking at income levels that were not as limited as 80% AMI and really looking at what would be the need to bridge this gap that people are experiencing in light of the current emergency.

[01:33:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Well we have, say, two weeks before the, you know, end of the month, beginning of the month. Do we have the capacity to get that knowledge of policies in place and be able to get the funds to CSA so that they could distribute them?

[01:33:26] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: I am not able to say what our exact timing would be, but it would be expedited to the full extent possible, with certainly a very willing folks on city staff and a very willing partner in CSA to make that happen.

[01:33:40] Councilmember John McAlister: And the 500,000 came from whose assessment that that would be the dollar amount that would be needed?

[01:33:48] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: We were looking at what might be needed in the way of number of months at an average rent in the city per month and the number of households that that could serve. And I don't know if Wayne wants to say more on that, but you know, the parameters aren't entirely fixed, but that felt like it would be an amount that would allow us to serve potentially between 50 and 100 households depending on how many months of assistance were provided. And we, if I might also, we also have, as the City Manager mentioned, an intention to reach out to other funding partners, and the Mayor mentioned there are others who are interested in this, so that we might be able to have our funds go even further.

[01:34:39] Councilmember John McAlister: And could, if we wanted to, if the Council will was to appropriate more money to expand it for mortgage and small businesses, would that be possible tonight?

[01:34:52] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: I believe that was the question answered by by Krishan and the City Attorney, and that you can have that as an urgency issue tonight because of the the need being both urgent and coming after the agenda packet, but it is the Council as a whole who can decide whether to direct that those funds. Either additional funds, they wouldn't be BMR funds, however, they would have to be General Fund or other funding sources, but that could be taken. I think the City Manager wanted to speak, could you give her a...?

[01:35:26] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes, City Manager, do we have more comments?

[01:35:34] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Why don't we take our other Assistant City Manager?

[01:35:37] Multiple Speakers: I don't want to take any more time, but I especially wanted to just focus on the Below Market funds. Just the funding needs to change.

[01:35:44] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Great, thank you.

[01:35:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And then I'm going to go back to the City Manager.

[01:35:49] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you. I think we're we're kind of arriving at the same place, so the $500,000 from BMR would be, there are certain restrictions to the Below Market Rate funding, but if it is Council's desire to look into other funds from the General Fund, we can certainly do that if that's the direction from Council. I think we do have options and resources where we would be able to craft such a program for small businesses or those with the mortgage as well. And I think I would ask staff to talk to the BMR funds that might be available to those who have mortgages, who meet those BMR levels, so I think that could certainly also be an option. So it's really just looking at the threshold of our BMR funds, and where the threshold is, and then whether people are renting or whether they own and they're paying a mortgage, it would just be if they're under that threshold, but certainly we can look at General Funds as well.

[01:36:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Mr. Chen, did you have comments or?

[01:37:00] Housing Director Wayne Chen: Good evening, Wayne Chen, Assistant Community Development Director. Just add some context to BMR funds, because of the Phase 2 modifications, the fees can be used for up to 120% AMI, and because the program covers rental and ownership, we believe it could cover both groups.

[01:37:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. I have Councilmember Ramirez, and then Vice Mayor.

[01:37:24] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. So you've answered, thank you, Councilmember McAlister, because that did answer several of my questions. Just to clarify, I think item 4 is intended to address the eligibility concern. With the existing program, only certain people would be eligible for the existing program, and the intention is to expand the eligibility criteria. Is that a fair assessment of the fourth recommendation?

[01:37:55] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So, thank you for the question. To clarify, what recommendation 4 is asking for is for authority for staff to seek a broad variety of working with community partners. So we didn't want to just specify one agency because there may be certain other agencies that we may be able to work with to provide whether it's rent relief or mortgage relief, should the Council choose to give that to a wide variety of people and work with different agencies. So that's really what number 4 is getting at is just broad community partners.

[01:38:32] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So we're not working within the confines of the existing emergency rental assistance program?

[01:38:40] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I would ask staff to clarify that.

[01:38:43] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: No, it would be beyond that. We tried to build in flexibility beyond that.

[01:38:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, fantastic. Thank you. And then we received some correspondence indicating that the Governor's order included a moratorium on foreclosures due to loss of income, and I wanted to confirm that that was actually true.

[01:39:15] Housing Director Wayne Chen: Yes, correct. The Governor's order does include the issue of foreclosures due specifically to increased health costs to address COVID-19 or job or wage-related impacts due to COVID-19, and foreclosures are part of that order.

[01:39:30] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, but it did not include a suspension of evictions for non-payment of rent due to COVID-related income loss?

[01:39:40] Housing Director Wayne Chen: It also includes that as well.

[01:39:42] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So I thought it was an authorization to allow cities to do the rent piece, the suspension of evictions piece, but explicitly directed a moratorium on foreclosures.

[01:39:57] Housing Director Wayne Chen: And I should clarify. The order provides the ability for jurisdictions to develop, for example, an urgency ordinance to address the issue of non-payment due to COVID-related items, and then it also includes language regarding foreclosures as part of that protection.

[01:40:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But there is currently not a statewide suspension or moratorium on evictions due to non-payment of rent?

[01:40:32] Housing Director Wayne Chen: Based on the Governor's statement in the order, it's a provision that would essentially waive the preemption that state provisions would have over local jurisdictions to do such a thing, but it doesn't require cities to do such a thing.

[01:40:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Got it. So we would have to initiate that as a separate action.

[01:40:52] Housing Director Wayne Chen: That's correct.

[01:40:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Vice Mayor?

[01:40:55] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thanks. That had been my question, and I think with the fluidity of the situation, being able to take into account what's coming from the state, from the county, as we're looking at these different types of assistance type of services for, I think are something that I'd like us to be able to to share with the public. I think because this executive order came out late last night and we won't be meeting until next month, just being able, and I don't know if this could be something that where the these executive orders and what the City is also doing is can live on that briefing page, but I think just really having that clarity in terms of what's within the scope of what we can do and what the state's doing, I think would be really helpful and how that's kind of working in tandem. So that was my question. And I am comfortable with increasing the scope for rental assistance beyond just tenants but for mortgage and small business. I think that that's going to be a great need, and any type of flexibility as the City Attorney was saying I think is going to be really critical. For the executive order that came from the Governor, that has that's in effect till May 31st...

8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS

[01:42:24] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: So I think as we're looking at our different assistance programs being clear in the timeline with which the relief can is available is also something I'd like staff to be able to look into and maybe being able to stick to the same type of time frame, um, state, county, whatever makes sense I think would also be helpful. Um, and so, sorry my questions turned into comments.

[01:42:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Councilmember Hicks.

[01:42:57] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I think minor questions and comments too. Um, so I I generally agree with the direction that that Council's moving in. I I also would like to cover foreclosures and small businesses. I think it's for the health of the small businesses and also for the health of the city. I think if we start losing small businesses it's harder to set them up, they are employers, so it's the kind of thing where, and they are taxpayers, so it's the kind of thing where, um, if we help them a little now I think down the road we're all fiscally healthier.

[01:43:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, so, you know, I think it's kind of a, like sending my kids to college, it should pay off in the end, I hope. Um, so in addition to that, I feel, so, so I will be supporting this staff recommendation, but I also feel like this is, uh, it's as Vice Mayor Kamei said, um, this is a fluid situation, so I'm feeling the need for...

[01:44:01] Councilmember Alison Hicks: ...I don't know how much money we're talking about in terms of need all together and I'm feeling the need for some reporting back on, um, you know, on how much additional funding is found and what the requests are for funding, and also reporting back because I was only able to skim the, um, governor's orders.

[01:44:24] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I I would like reporting back on the additional tools that that gives us as cities and what other cities are doing, um, if they're doing eviction moratoriums or what they're doing in terms of foreclosures in particular, so if we have to look at those in the future.

[01:44:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I would also like, I'm fully supportive of the way that we've canceled our our next, our our, uh, the meetings, council meetings that we had scheduled and moved them out later, but I would like to be able to call emergency meetings possibly online ones to keep in touch with this this and other situations.

[01:45:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Councilmember Matichak.

[01:45:06] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So, um, a couple more things. Um, I am supportive of the staff recommendation for, uh, renters. Um, and in expanding, um, this, so to speak, or adding to this, um, to help other groups of, um, people or businesses, I don't think CSA is in a position to implement that kind of program.

[01:45:34] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I'm not sure if there's another organization that is, um, maybe for businesses there is, but I also wonder about folks with mortgages. So I feel like we do need to look at how do we implement, um, the expansion of this.

[01:45:50] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: And I also, um, while I appreciate that we might want to be in the same time frame as other, uh, like the state or the federal government, I would like to make sure that we leverage the federal, state, and county resources, um, as much as we can.

[01:46:13] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Um, I feel like the county is the one that, uh, did the most recent order. I'm hoping they also thought about the impact of it and maybe are putting programs in place to address that. I think we can move more quickly, and I'm very happy to do that.

[01:46:31] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Um, but I want to make sure if the federal, state, or county resources are available that basically duplicate what we're doing here, that we move to those.

[01:46:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Councilmember Clark, did you... Okay. Um, I'm going to then open it up for public comment. Any members of the public wishing to speak on this item?

[01:46:53] City Clerk Lisa Natusch: I have actually confirmed there are no members of the public present. Thank you.

[01:46:57] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. I will then close public comment. Uh, start with you Councilmember Clark.

[01:47:03] Councilmember Chris Clark: So I'll make my comments and then maybe, maybe that also sort of provides a path forward for a motion. But, um, so I I generally agree with a multipronged approach.

[01:47:18] Councilmember Chris Clark: So I think this is the right thing to do immediately. Um, so from a prioritization perspective, um, you know, if you don't pay rent, um, the eviction process can proceed pretty quickly, and we have an existing partner and infrastructure set up to distribute these funds, and they're they're flagged for this.

[01:47:37] Councilmember Chris Clark: And so I feel comfortable with moving this forward with this amount part and giving staff the ability to sort of work through and distribute this as as a rental program.

[01:47:49] Councilmember Chris Clark: I think sort of the second phase of this is looking at things like, um, you know, homeowners, especially those in BMR ownership units, um, who may be struggling to pay mortgages. I think if we look at all mortgages broadly, we're just going to have to have a discussion about and research this because all mortgages broadly, those payments are probably way higher than rents would be.

[01:48:10] Councilmember Chris Clark: And so we would exhaust our funds pretty quickly and those are probably going to be General Fund monies and hopefully we'll be able to get matching funds from other entities. Um, but not to say that we shouldn't do a program like that, I just think it's a separate animal.

[01:48:24] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um, and I think commercial rents also are probably a totally separate thing which are probably even more money, um, higher than rents or mortgages.

[01:48:33] Councilmember Chris Clark: And I'm guessing that there are going to be sort of super funds set up for this at the state, county, federal, and and I think that we should participate in those things, but I think that we should, um, one, I think there are going to be sort of steps taken to prevent, um, folks from losing their businesses in the near term while we sort of figure it all out.

[01:48:54] Councilmember Chris Clark: I think probably the same with foreclosures. The foreclosure process is a long process, it's not as quick as a rental eviction is. And so I think we're going to have time to sort of figure this out.

Additional Content 1

[01:49:06] Councilmember Chris Clark: sort all those things out. And so, I guess what I would propose is when we get to a motion would be um do this tonight, but also direct staff to sort of pay attention to what things are being set up to protect, you know, homeowners who can't make their mortgage payments and and how can we participate in those things and then also the same with our our small businesses and and um commercial rents. So that that for me I think is the the path forward that I would um it's just a two-pronged approach that's what I would support in the in the near term. And then we can the Mayor can always call us back um before the next regular scheduled meeting if um if we need to you know take actions prior to that but

[01:49:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm gonna jump in um and thank you for the comments. Thank you to staff for bringing this forward very quickly. So um as you heard the genesis of this was we're getting a lot of emails about rent challenges. Um actually I I was uh a board member of CSA board member that we all know very well um reached out to me and reminded me of the short term rental assistance program CSA has mentioned that there have a a uptick of requests and as you probably most of you know, we do annually fund that program with about $150,000. So I had talked with um the Executive Director as well and asked well you know what kind of um what what more could we look at off um offering of or in terms of funding. And so this was a number that came about from from our conversation with CSA. Um I think there was there might be some questions or about um their their staffing right now. Um so that's why um the suggestion was to open it to other community partners if they are available but my conversation they all work together whether it's Destination: Home, under the Housing Industry Found Industry Foundation so I think they and and he met he mentioned that the funds that we offer doesn't cover everybody anyway. So they actually get funds from other places as well. So the immediate request was this amount um to be able to address the uptick that they are getting and and expect to get. So that was what how this came about. I um appreciate thank you Councilmember Matichak for bringing up the mortgage issue. I think that is also something that we should look at but I agree that we might have a little bit more time in in terms of mortgages. So I would be supportive of looking at that. And then the commercial rents and this is a hard one um because I've been hearing from restaurants especially saying that you know they're closed and this is challenging and so this is the conversation that we've been having with um one of our private partners and um like I can't say a lot right now but um I you know I could I can say that there is something happening for small businesses. Um so we could look at um adding to that effort. Um I think to me that I knew we had housing affordable housing funds available and that's why this to me seemed easy to do. I wanted to do what we could do quickly. Um if we get into commercial rents or or small businesses we get into general fund money and that might be a little bit more challenging in light of the fact that our city may be experiencing some down the downturn as well and we may be having to relook at our budget. So I'm a little more hesitant in doing that right now. Um I also have heard you know there's Small Business Associ uh agency SBA they have funds. Um some of it is just helping the businesses access those programs. Um but I do I have also seen that heard that it's what they need like in the next week or two all these other funds might be coming um later so if there's interest in trying to bridge that gap maybe through a loan program um so that you know the funds can be returned to the city once things are better um I would actually prefer to go that route.

[01:53:40] Councilmember Chris Clark: I just I I don't think we'll be able to set up something fast enough. Like, we're not set up to lend funds at 0% interest and it's not that I don't want to contribute to that and figure out a way. I just think there are going to be other organizations that set that up in a pretty near term manner that we can work with and maybe contribute to to some limited extent until we know the full budget picture. Sure. I'm just not sure that we should be the ones to um in the next couple of weeks to just sort of try and set up something from scratch. I just don't think it will work out very well. Um I think it would be well intentioned but I just don't think it would have the impact that we want. And the only other thing I was going to say on the rental front was just I think staff would do this naturally but I wouldn't I think it's fine to flag the 500,000 but until we know the exact need I would just sort of transfer in increments as as the need sort of develops um as opposed to just sending half a million dollars over to CSA tomorrow. Um I would just sort of monitor the the needs in the situation and say you can go up to this amount if as as need arises not just to CSA but to the other organizations too.

[01:54:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Another other comments? Yes, Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:54:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor and echoing the comments of others. Thank you for all of the conversations you've been having to uh explore other ways of providing um financial relief for the folks who are economically impacted by uh the pandemic. Um I've been I think all of us have been um a little stressed out about how how to respond appropriately and I I'm going to support um the recommendation. Uh I would support uh Councilmember Matichak's um recommendation to explore ways of providing uh financial relief for for other impacted parties that, you know, people who are paying mortgages or um small businesses. Um I think you know what what our primary obligation is that the time critical element to all of what we're doing is to slow the spread of the virus right because as long as it is spreading um we can only I think the economic impacts persist and get worse because they will compound against each other. Um and I what I'm concerned about and I think Councilmember McAlister had referenced this is uh it would it's great to make available the funding but I I just I don't know what our ability to disperse to to make sure folks are aware of the program and to disperse the funding quickly enough to avoid um things like eviction for non-payment of rent due to the economic impact of the virus. And you know, while we explore partnerships that could help us uh provide financial relief whether it's Silicon Valley Community Foundation or others, I think it's also appropriate to look at um you know temporary emergency measures like a suspension on evictions for non-payment for for 30 days and no more. That I think will buy us the time to make this program um well known to to folks and to make sure that we have the the staffing capability to to disperse the funds because any any eviction that would occur you know the the financial impacts to people could exacerbate the crisis. Um you know what my understanding is the homeless population is identified as one of the most vulnerable and they're in a position to to spread the virus. So we we don't want to you know exacerbate that prob problem and it may very well be that we can do this quickly but this is one of those things where I think I think the risk-averse approach would be you know I'll support this recommendation and maybe we could do a separate vote for this but but a uh an urgency ordinance just temporarily suspending evictions for non-payment I think could go a long way in in providing the financial security that folks need while we ramp up these kinds of programs. So that's the only other thing I would want to consider and I guess do this first and then we can explore that.

[01:57:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Councilmember McAlister.

[01:57:56] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, um, are we done with questions or are we going into comments? I

[01:57:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh this is comments, yeah.

[01:58:01] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Um, I personally would like, you know, to do all projects because we don't know, you know, the 500,000 to Councilmember Clark's, you know, we don't know how long this is gonna last. This could be one, two, three or four months and if they keep checking in with us then we're kept doing it. I'd rather give our staff and whoever the community partners are the ability to hey we have to they know what they have and in custo I mean clients that they gotta deal with and if it goes out two or three or four months, they know what's going to be needed. So I rather be on the generous side or conservative as you might think and give people another community members enough money so that they can take care of whatever they need to be without coming back to us and then we'll have a much better sense of okay they didn't use it it comes back. But I want to may able sure that you know again on a conservative I would like to see you know maybe three months rent. I don't know Wayne and what he if he has an idea where the 500,000 came to is well is it one month two months um I'm going to say hey it could be three three months or four months and that way then we we can do it and so I want to do that. And in in response to uh I recommend this but I also like to work on Councilmember Matichak's I'm so used to saying Mayor Matichak uh former Mayor Matichak that we need to get the process uh going that if we are going to do the funds for these other mortgages or uh business evictions and I know I think the governor put a temper on that but we need to get the process going because it could be a long period of time and if we just say well let's kick it down the road and come back to us, I think we need to be proactive and getting these things started. If we meet back in if we meet in our next schedule meeting of April the 14th, you know that's quite a bit of time that's going on and people are going to be seeing and you know you know it could be exponentially going higher. And so I'd rather be proactive so that when people need our help we're there. I don't want to see us do like the federal government and our elected president was yeah it's not impo you know it's we're just going to kick it down it's not as bad it's not as bad it's not as bad and then all of a sudden it gets hit. So I'd like this to be not in that and show an example of leadership and get ahead of these things and so when people need our help we can react and take care of it.

[02:00:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Councilmember Hicks.

[02:00:31] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I agree with the previous two speakers and I would like I would like to um go with the staff recommendation and then have uh authorized staff to explore the um the other two things that we talked about the for uh mortgage payments and small business and come back to us with a report on how that could be set up and what, you know, what other entities uh you know county, state, federal are doing and how we can hook into those so that we can move on that as quickly as possible. And I also am interested in an eviction mora short term eviction moratorium because I would hate I again I think it's a we're in a public health emergency and I think that uh I would hate to see people evicted and then we have to do clean up. I think a short term moratorium is a much is a much cleaner solution and and it's short term everybody almost everybody is taking some kind of hit, you know, there are all sorts of businesses that aren't aren't open at all. So I think like a one or two month moratorium is kind of like closing your business for a month. I I so I would support what Councilmember Ramirez brought up as well.

[02:01:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm going to ask the City Attorney actually if you could um comment on the the moratorium issue.

[02:01:52] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Sure. This item before you right now is really focused on on this uh financial aid for uh rent relief. It doesn't encompass a uh discussion of a bring back of a of a moratorium for unevictions. However, uh and and the reason there there are different things happening here, this is a identifiable uh need that there is funding available for and it's uh we've discussed that it's uh can be administered. The a moratorium ordinance uh is much more detailed and involves uh a lot more work in making sure the the um terms work with the city's existing regulations. However, later tonight in item 8 if if council members are interested in bringing up the topic of a short term eviction ordinance and a majority of council were to support that uh concept we could we could um be directed to bring that back bring that back to council.

[02:03:08] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. Did I see Vice Mayor, did I see your hand? No? Councilmember Clark and then Councilmember Matichak.

[02:03:15] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um, so not quite sure exactly how to do this, so I'll give it my best try. Um, so I move that we um find that an immediate need exists or that a need exists to take action immediately um on the the following to take the following actions and that the need for those actions came to our attention um or to the attention of the agency after the agenda was posted. And that those actions are that we appropriate $500,000 from below market rate funds for rent relief aid um that we authorize staff to work with community partners to develop and administer rent relief aid to the broadest spectrum of tenants possible. And um a fifth item that we um direct staff to um work with um to sort of research um options that we may have to um to extend um benefits such as these to um to those in ownership units who who might be struggling to make um a mortgage payments especially especially those in um um you know BMR ownership units but but not limited to that and that we also um that staff would also um look into ways that we can tap into other things uh either sources of funding or other programs that that might be developed um at various levels of government and in various agencies um so that um at when the time is right at at the soonest possible time that we can also look at um contributing to um programs that would allow um small businesses to tap into the funds that they need to to um remain afloat.

[02:05:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Is there a second for that motion?

[02:05:06] Multiple Speakers: Second.

[02:05:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, thank you. Um any other discussion on this item?

[02:05:12] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I just had one thing, I just wanted to make it clear that I was not suggesting that we slow down the contribution to CSA for the immediate rent relief because I do recognize um some of the other uh situations people find themselves in might take longer to come to fruition so to speak um than this. Um but I'm under the impression and maybe those of you who have spoken with CSA um I I think they have the capacity to help people, right? They just need funding. Okay.

[02:05:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Alright, any other discussion? Yes, Vice Mayor.

[02:05:48] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: The only thing I I just want to highlight again is just making sure that this information is out there um after council action tonight um you know we did receive many many emails on this topic and just making sure that folks are aware one um things are things are things are available for them when they are looking for them. So finding ways to to push it out through all our different channels. I know our our OCM team does amazing work to to do that but really making sure whatever community partners those are they go forward um and having that information I think will be really important since we're moving to just essential services. So.

[02:06:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay any other comments? Is that one um so yeah I I just wanted to mention that this was really an attempt to try to respond as quickly as we could and um because we have a program that's already set up and I think it is a matter of getting the word out um but for those who have written in and others who are having challenges um meeting their rent um this seemed to seem to me to be the quickest way to respond to that without having to bring have staff do more research and bring things back and you know certainly if there's interest in doing that um we can discuss that I guess in item 8 um but my my my um interest was to do this and I also just felt that this was a more equitable way to approach the issue um so for that reason I definitely support this. Thank you again to staff for working so quickly to make this happen and with that I'll call the question. So all those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? Abstentions? Motion carries. Thank you.

[02:07:26] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go on to Item 8, Council Staff Committee Reports. Are there any council members wishing to yes, Councilmember McAlister.

[02:07:34] Councilmember John McAlister: I had the high honor of representing the City of Mountain View at the National League of Conference City Summit in no City Conference in Washington, D.C. I also had the privilege along with Councilmember Clark going to the US Army and having a good chat with the Shenandoah and Orion's Park and how they are amazed that it has taken six years to go nowhere and so um that was quite interesting. I because I was mayor when we first sat down and talked to them and that was in 2015. So that was they were impressed with our us. Yeah I also had the opportunity to talk with the Department of Transportation. I had a very good meeting. In fact I've passed on some information to our public works director about funding that they have a mechanism instead of having us to go out for a bond they fund projects for 80% and it's a much easier way to do it. So um I also took some classes in um asking the right questions and so it was I think we did a great job we had dinner with the representative for um NLC uh rep rep advocate for NLC from uh California and so uh California had their traditional nice dinner that we were able to go and with everybody else. It was very well run. It was at great honor and it was great and I went to a transportation committee meeting and we talked about the things that are important about getting money and all the things that the federal is doing and working for it. So uh it was a very well meeting that I enjoyed it and uh I wish more of you could have attended.

[02:08:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I can see that class really helped. Councilmember Matichak.

[02:09:00] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I also attended the National League of Cities Conference and um I took classes, attended sessions, uh I didn't do as much networking as I have in previous years because we were all kind of trying to stay away from each other in some ways. Um but it was still a very valuable conference. Um I also attended the Airport Land Use Commission meeting uh I've sort of forgotten the date of this at this point of when that was. Um but um that commission uh has got a lot of projects coming forward because of the proposed expansion of the San Jose Airport as well as changes that the City of San Jose wants to make to land use to increase intensity in a couple of key areas. And that comes to the Airport Land Use Commission for um an evaluation of whether or not those proposed changes are consistent with the um plans that we have for with the um regulations around the airports I should say. Um and then I also attended the airplane noise roundtable meeting, it's the Santa Clara Santa Cruz roundtable, and uh we established a couple of committees, uh one uh a technical working group that's going to look at procedures and then also a legislative committee and I'm the chair of the legislative committee. Because I firmly believe that the solution to airplane noise is going to be legislation. Um because it's very difficult for the FAA to uh make other changes. So I thought okay then let's just see what we can do there when it comes to it uh from a legislative perspective. And that's it.

[02:10:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Councilmember Clark.

[02:10:56] Councilmember Chris Clark: As Councilmember uh McAlister also noted, I was in Washington, D.C. um had um unfortunately it wasn't as timely now that we know what we know um I fear that the community economic development um group's uh um will change significantly from where it was uh a week or so ago in terms of lobbying for all of the disaster relief and all of the economic development aid that will probably be um wrapped up in some of these mega mega measures. So I wish we'd known this when we had met um but um we'll figure that out one way or another. Um and then um we we did I think have a good meeting with the Army at the Pentagon. Um they did provide some good information at the time on um sort of where they thought the administration was headed on things but I also fear that some of that is now up in the air um as much else is. So anyway I wish I had more to report there but um I just wish we'd had that meeting a week from you know a month from now as opposed to last week. So anyway.

[02:12:01] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Councilmember Hicks.

[02:12:04] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Vice Mayor, did you go as well? Did you want to read it? Okay. Well as I mentioned earlier I uh I am the liaison to Avenidas and I went to their first meeting and it was not surprisingly all about uh their response to COVID-19. Um and teaching people how to use Zoom. Um so uh one of the big takeaways was that they would like to provide more meals hot meal delivery and maybe do it in a way that um supports small businesses and I know that some other countries that have had uh that are unfortunately ahead of us in terms of the the virus um have developed more uh sanitary and no touch meal deliveries like drop-off meal deliveries with kind of a systematic approach so that you feel safe getting that delivery. Um so that was one of the topics that we discussed but didn't fully flush out and it sounds like from what the Mayor said earlier that she's been having oh I also reached out to the Chamber of Commerce the other takeaway was to reach out to the chamber about that and they're very open to talking about that and developing some methodology as well and it sounds like the Mayor has been talking to people as well so I would like to you know I I would like to work together with all the partners who would like to develop something like that.

[02:13:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Uh Vice Mayor.

[02:13:36] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um so last week before uh the shelter in place the Santa uh Santa Clara County held a media-only press conference related to the Census. We are two weeks away from Census Day April 1st. Um and I know at least two of the of us on the dais have already filled out their Census questionnaire. Oh three, oh yay, so many. So um I just and so as we are all sheltering in place and um um unable to to be out and about we have the five minutes that it takes to fill out the questionnaire. It's really simple. Uh you can do it on the phone, you can do it online or you can fill it in. Um you know I think now more than ever facing this pandemic it calls to mind how important funding is for our municipalities, for our agencies um and the census is how how we get all that money. Um and we are provided these essential services that we so desperately need. So just want to make sure that happens a severe undercount is predicted in our state um with the thought that we would lose at least one congressional seat and with this pandemic my fear is that we will lose even more um and uh that it's going to be uh not good. So call on everybody uh to to fill it out and um if you have any questions we have all the information on our on our website as well.

[02:15:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Um I wanted to report out that I attended the Silicon Valley Clean Energy meeting gosh it was last last week. Um and two points uh SVCE is expanding the reach code program to provide additional support to member agencies and the greater development community as they implement new codes. Support will consist of increased technical support for city staff, architects, developers and affordable housing providers in their transition to all-electric buildings. And the second item SVCE signed a 15-year contract with Coso Geothermal Power Holdings LLC to provide a total of over 4.3 million megawatt hours of clean power throughout the course of 15 years. This will supply approximately 7% of SVCE's clean renewable power needs. This Coso Geothermal project allows SVCE to deliver clean electricity to your community to our community on a 24/7 basis increasing the availability of clean energy throughout all hours of the day. And I also noticed that with everyone working from home I think our carbon emissions will be uh lowered uh during this time. So any other oh I do yes City Attorney, you had a report?

[02:16:24] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: I do actually tonight. Um this closed session report links back to the February 25th meeting and at that meeting in closed session the city council voted unanimously for the City Attorney to reject two claims. The first is Mario Melendez, uh claim number 20-3 and the second is Ching Shay that's claim 20-4 and those claims have both been uh rejected by our office.

[02:16:55] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. Yes, Councilmember Ramirez.

[02:16:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. I just wanted to see gauge the council's interest in directing staff to return ideally before the end of the month with with the urgency ordinance um providing protections against uh evictions for non-payment of rent. And I found I found a letter from CSA that was sent I think earlier today in which they they do request the council explore this. Uh CSA would find it particularly helpful in this time of crisis if council could explore moratoriums on evictions and rent increases and increased funding for rental assistance. So they do make the ask I think as part of a part of a broader um attempt to convey that they're anticipating um a dramatic increase in in requests for assistance and maybe I think part of the concern would be even though it's not a dispensation from the obligation to pay rent, it's it could result in some non-payment of rent. Um and I think it would be important to couple with the couple this with the confirmation that the governor's order did in fact include a moratorium on foreclosures to help protect folks who might be financially impacted if the council does decide to proceed with this because they may they may result in a in a loss of um of uh rental income. But I think you know first and foremost it's it's just to provide us some time to make sure that the program that we've just authorized um is uh is established and folks have a chance to to become aware of it so that way we they can start paying rent even with with the assistance that we're providing. So that my my my request would just be to see if there's interest in the council in pursuing this.

[02:18:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Is there a show of hands? One, two, three.

[02:18:53] Councilmember Chris Clark: I have a number of questions that what about agendizing it. Um so one of those is so I read the executive order last night um somewhat confused by it. So my my understanding is that the governor himself does not have the authority to in a statewide manner sort of impose a moratorium on evictions like um like the action he was able to take on foreclosures. And basically what the order was doing was removing any um sort of state preemption around municipalities being able to impose a moratorium on evictions if they wanted to, is that right?

[02:19:51] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, actually the order really placed it on the cities. If cities are interested in a moratorium or suspension on evictions it would be that the cities are allowed to do that and the order suspended uh the concept of preemption and other state law that would would otherwise prohibit that. So it essentially allowing the cities but the state is not uh imposing any uh of their own restrictions on that.

[02:20:22] Councilmember Chris Clark: And then we and then I think the two other questions I had we we um I guess we don't have to get into this now but I think one of the things that if we were to agendize this that we would look into would be the the interplay between doing this and the RHC and whether you know if we were to say it's it's for you know for non-payment of rent as long as you can prove that you're economically damaged by this I assume that paperwork would be reviewed by some entity and that would probably be the RHC unless we took it and put it on our housing staff to review all of that. There has to be an apparatus to review all of that I assume.

[02:20:56] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yeah those are just a few of the careful considerations that that we'd have to uh evaluate in how to administer such an ordinance and also how to enforce it. So there's quite a few that's certainly one of them it would be uh allocation of which staff and and also what that review uh process would be and if there would be a uh how how disputes could get resolved, whether that's mediation. So all this needs to be thought through. It's it would be uh uh fairly significant administrative uh component.

[02:21:34] Councilmember Chris Clark: At the lowest level though, if um if it were let's forget about the RHC for a second, if the city like San Jose were to do this um and but the city didn't want to adjudicate these things, I guess it would just be an unlawful detainer that they would bring and they'd settle it or or does there have to be in San Jose's case is it settled or is it like does the city review all of that and make a decision.

[02:21:55] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: You know, I'm not uh it's a pretty fast-moving uh area. I'm not that familiar with uh the workings of San Jose uh but also there has to be uh consideration of for example what happens after the 120 days. Then then do the so all of it has to be thought through.

[02:22:15] Councilmember Chris Clark: And then I and then my last question is right it's more of a what impacts my thinking on whether or not to agendize this is um an urgency ordinance like that would require five votes. That's correct. So just for my colleagues from a staff workload potential or um I think even though four of us can agendize something, I think it would be good to only do it if we have five votes to agendize it because I I don't want to be in a position where four of us vote to agendize it with um with um where we there's just no clear path forward. Um so I actually support agendizing it but I also in my thinking is sort of what is um what are other folks thinking about whether or not to agendize it and I don't want to go down the path of doing all of this work if if we're not going to have the votes to to pass an urgency ordinance.

[02:23:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So I I wanted to speak to um my thought was um number one, time and um I think the governor's order is only until May 31st. Um time, resources, how does this interplay with the CSFRA? You know the emails were getting are well San Jose passed this ordinance so can you also do that? San Jose's rent control is I believe an ordinance by the City Council it's not a charter amendment like ours. So that was my question is what can we really do and not do and should this be the RHC declaring the moratorium not us. Um so my thought was before we jump into this and agendize this and you know schedule an emergency meeting, perhaps we can ask staff to do a memo as to what we really can and cannot do and then based on that and what the RHC can do because it does seem like it's it's their authority not ours. We can't do an ordinance on rent control, right? So um anything on rents my understanding was the RHC's bailiwick. So um that was my thought was we just get a memo about what we really can and cannot do before we delve into this and um have staff put a lot of staff time into it. So I'll go Councilmember Matichak and then Councilmember Hicks.

[02:24:53] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yeah I just want to note that um I don't necessarily assume that everyone who might be facing this situation is in a unit that's covered by rent control. So I'm not sure the RHC would have authority to do something for non-controlled units. Um so I think it's a little bit more complicated than just can the RHC do this. Um but I'm actually hoping that what we did tonight earlier tonight it it's so much faster and um I feel like it's simpler and I'm hoping it solves the problem. So um I'm not necessarily up for allocating staff resources to look at something that's going to take a while to do when we've just done something that I think will help a lot of people very quickly so we don't have to do uh an ordinance.

[02:25:54] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So actually I like the idea of a memo. I feel like I need a little information gathering. I mean I I appreciate the the difficulties that everybody's pointing out at the same time and well I only skimmed the the governor the executive order and don't fully understand it, I also have heard that other cities are doing this but I don't understand how it would apply to our situation and because things are moving so fast and because I think this is really one of the most important things we can do if it was something smaller I I wouldn't want staff to spend time doing the information gathering but if if we really have to I would like all our ducks to be lined up and that we could come back and and grapple with this quickly and make a decision. So I support the Mayor's suggestion of uh doing a memo so we can gather a little bit of information and be prepared.

[02:26:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Councilmember McAlister, Councilmember Clark, and Vice Mayor.

[02:26:54] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, you know, I think the actions that we took today the 500,000 is uh resolves I think solves a potential problem because what a moratorium might do is it it helps one but it hinders another. And by us having the money available the person gets to keep their house and those people that have to pay mortgages, the small mom and pops that have a fourplex that they have their mortgages to pay, I think everybody is whole and so I think it's a much fairer approach um to uh Councilmember Hicks concern I don't think many cities are up in a you know they might pass an ordinance but I don't think they're putting in 500,000 plus our 150,000 and working with an agency to pay rent for the short term or whatever it takes. So I think we're very unique and very proactive in trying to prevent people leaving their houses and maintaining their space so I think we uh we should work with what we have because it works it's fair and it's and it's immediate it's something that we do right now.

[02:28:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I think we saw Councilmember Clark.

[02:28:05] Councilmember Chris Clark: I was just gonna say if we do move forward with the memo piece since we have outside counsel that is very very familiar with um our set up, the more that we can lean on them to draft the memo and save the City Attorney's office time right now I think I would be perfectly fine with that. I don't think it has to be um something that we I don't expect it to all be done in house and be done perfectly um since we've utilized them before.

[02:28:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Vice Mayor.

[02:28:35] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Uh I I was gonna look to Councilmember Ramirez to see if he might augment his motion to the suggestion the Mayor the Mayor made. I think that that that you bring up a good point as does um Councilmember Clark and I think part of it is wanting to explore all the different options to help folks and while I think what we did tonight will be a big step in that. Um you know one of the things I firmly believe is um you know doing as much as possible to keep people housed, right? Um because once they're they're homeless that's a really difficult thing and so that's why the the EAN, the Emergency Assistance Network exists within the county and we participate it participate in it through the short term rental assistance program. So I was going to look to you to see um

[02:29:32] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I appreciate that Vice Mayor. So I I'm comfortable with a um a memorandum uh analyzing our legal legal authority to provide these protections and then I guess a conversation with the potential partners and whether they have the ability to distribute the funding quickly based on the numbers that we're gonna see over the next week? Because I think that's that's really if if they can, if if we're very successful in making sure folks are aware of the program and getting it distributed quickly and if there isn't a problem in dispensing the funds then then this solves the problem. But if there is an indication that really we do need to buy ourselves a little bit of time, then my request would be if we have the legal authority to do this um and our partners in distributing the funding feel that this is this is important for us to do that we do agendize um a meeting to to talk about um that we direct staff to to do the exploration and then agendize a discussion about whether to adopt such an urgency ordinance.

[02:30:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So actually, so um, did if you wanted to make a straw vote we can take that.

[02:30:53] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And that this would be for the the memorandum um analyzing our our legal authority to provide these protections and then I guess a conversation with the potential partners and whether they have the ability to distribute the funding quickly based on the numbers that we're gonna see over the next week?

[02:31:06] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Well they have already said that they can that this was a request they made based on what they need. Um so you know I'm gonna trust them. Uh we don't know obviously we don't know what the uptick will be but um yeah, that this was that money money was based on a conversation we had.

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[02:34:03] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: is just people are facing such uncertainty day-to-day. Um, between the different um, kind of recommendations for their their safety. Um, and their health and so I think that that uh the sheltering in place and the uncertainty and just the high percentage of folks who live paycheck to paycheck is just leading people to a lot of stress. And so um I I think that's where my intent is in in in the exploration. If there's other things that we can do that are not as staff heavy um and and time consuming and that could meet that immediate need to make people feel reassured, like that they'll be able to to afford to be able to stay where they they are. You know, I'm inter I'm interested in that. I I just um you know the governor putting that out there I think um made people feel like there was an additional hope in inter in out there um more than just rental assistance. Um so they had kind of that certainty that they wouldn't be facing eviction. And I think that's where um I I don't know what what other kind of things we can do other than than what Councilmember uh Ramirez brought up. And so you know I don't know if it can be once we um distribute the funds to CSA if we can get some sort of like report back and hear back in terms of like do they need more funding, is there more that the city can do? And then we can call an emergency meeting at a later time if we need to move down that path of looking at an an emergency eviction ordinance. I mean, I I'm just trying to respond to the ever-changing needs. Um so.

[02:34:49] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, Councilmember Hicks and then Councilmember Clark.

[02:34:52] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah, I want to support what the Vice Mayor just said and I I feel like we're we're very much operating in a bubble right now and that the the discussion we're having might feel very different if members of the public were in the audience, but I know that the the emails I've gotten have been, I've gotten a tremendous number of emails on uh on the uh on having some sort of eviction moratorium. And I I I just feel, I guess I feel what uh what the Vice Mayor said, giving people um some backup assurance that that we're looking that we have a backup plan. And although although the um Governor's emergency was short-term, we never know um whether that's going to be extended. We don't know how this is going to play out and the President just made an announcement that that it it may be until June or July. Um so so I would like to have a plan B and I would like to have some something that's a little reassuring. And I I thought that the the memo that you raised was kind of a good um you know, less work and so a good backup plan.

[02:37:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Councilmember Clark.

[02:37:04] Councilmember Chris Clark: So, I I agree and in light of just now thinking about what um Wayne had said earlier about the number of families that will probably be served by the 500,000, I think we will there will probably be way more than that number of families ultimately who need um access to that and we'll have to figure out the funding for that. But I think Councilmember Ramirez, I'll I'll support the memo if if the general direction is to engage outside counsel as much as possible to draft the memo 'cause I I think we just need to conserve staff resources right now as much as possible. So.

[02:37:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, Councilmember McAlister.

[02:37:38] Councilmember John McAlister: Question for staff. So a moratorium the maximum the city council can do is 45 days?

[02:37:46] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: No, that's a good question. There's there's two types of of moratorium ordinances. The one you're referring to is more for land use matters, such as we did for the cannabis regulation. This one would be for the the term that that the City Council determines.

[02:38:01] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh, so it's open-ended.

[02:38:02] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes. It's a kind of a general emergency not a not in the land use context. So.

[02:38:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, so once we put it in place then it could stay in place for...

[02:38:12] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, as long as the emergency uh persists.

[02:38:16] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Okay, then I have a question for Councilmember Ramirez. We just did a deal so uh we authorized $500,000 and it sounds like there's a support to continue to fund that. If we have a moratorium, how is that going to help the person that actually owns the property if they are deprived of their funds? By doing what we're doing now, we everybody is taken care of, the the moratorium is sort of re you know, not a high priority because everybody is getting their funding, the people are in place, they know that they'll get it, they know that the city is backing them. So what is the advantage of a moratorium that is fair for both sides?

[02:39:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Well, I'll I'll answer in two ways. The first is my understanding is that the property owners are protected from foreclosure because there is now a moratorium statewide on foreclosure of properties based on loss of income. So at least they're protected from that particular concern.

[02:39:25] Councilmember John McAlister: But do they still have to pay it back though? Are they not forgiven of the money? Are they given they don't have to pay that money? They still have to pay them back. Right, so you're delaying a payment so they're not evicted, but you're delaying a payment for them. So, I'm sorry to just I just want to clarify that point.

[02:39:43] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So it's it's there's multiple things we're addressing, right? So um the the the immediate concern is my property will be foreclosed because I'm not receiving income is is addressed at least temporarily. And I think that's why I'm I'm very supportive of of this fund because that could also provide some my my guess is most people will will want to pay their rent. Um, and it's more about buying us the time to make sure that we have the the infrastructure in place to make sure that folks are aware of the program and can access the funding. Um, it people will have to work through a caseworker. It's not we're not giving people checks, right? There's going to have to be some kind of analysis of household income and eligibility. Um, I don't think we actually give, my understanding is we don't give the households the check, the check is given to the landlord. So there's there's there are some steps that have to be taken. Um, and you know, some people are working with case workers. People who are working with CSA may find that CSA staff become ill, you know, and and and their capacity is deprived. So, it's more about can we buy ourselves 30 days to make sure that we have the infrastructure in place to make sure that this program is successful. I think it'll be successful for the subsequent month, but I I don't have the as the assurance that that it will be successful immediately and folks are looking at having to contend with this in in just a couple of weeks.

[02:41:11] Councilmember John McAlister: The program, if I if Wayne you could help me, but I think the program's been going on for about three years. So they already have the infrastructure, they already have the how to do it. So it has been successful. So, I'm just curious what you think would make it not successful? And Wayne, do you have the answer how long they've been doing this particular... Yeah, I just want clarity.

[02:41:36] Housing Director Wayne Chen: I don't have the exact number of years but it's definitely been a few years that the city has provided funding. Um, and uh based on today's uh staff's conversation with CSA, um it does appear that they have already received a a fairly sizable um number of new increase just kind of based on their on their load. So I believe currently they're serving 20 households. They've received an inquiry uh inquiries um seven new inquiries. So they're they're they're looking at that and they they are seeing a bit of an increase already this week.

[02:42:07] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you. So, I mean it is a it's a working program. So maybe, you know, we should get some feedback on how it's monitored and but it is successful and it does work.

[02:42:16] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: That's that's why all I'm seeking is is the the memorandum 'cause I I think we will we really won't know what the demand will be until we hit the peak of the impact of the epidemic. And, you know, what worst case scenario, we have a scenario like Italy where there are tens and tens of thousands of cases and people are deeply impacted. And I hope it doesn't come to that, but in the event it does, we can't guarantee that CSA staff will be present to help administer the program or whichever partners we're working with. That's why it's more about buying ourselves the time to to get the program up and running so it can be successful in the medium to long term. I'm not seeking a moratorium indefinitely, you know, or even two months, just one. But it would be contingent on the analysis in the memorandum justifying a a suspension on evictions.

[02:43:06] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So I have a quick question for you, Councilmember Ramirez, since you work for the City of San Jose that did this type of ordinance. Um, do they do you does the city have um like a short-term rental assistance program like we do?

[02:43:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I don't work on housing policy, I should know this, but I don't know off hand.

[02:43:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay. Um, and then do you know um... Oh, Mr. Chen, do you know what San Jose has? And the other question was um I think this is what Councilmember McAlister was going going to is, yes, we could have help the tenants but there may be some property owners who cannot afford to forgive rent for a month. And so does San Jose have a fund or something to help the property owners?

[02:44:03] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: This issue did come up. Um, there were a number of property owners who expressed concerns about this kind of program. Um, and included in the greater package I guess of financial assistance is an intention to help provide funding for impacted small mom-and-pops as well. So, small businesses is fairly broadly defined, I think, and um they're they're meeting today was supposed to flesh that out. I um, you know, I I haven't been able to get an update on what the council ended up authorizing today. Um, but uh that that certainly did come up and there's an intention to to address that concern as well.

[02:44:39] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Mr. Chen, did you have some information for us?

[02:44:44] Housing Director Wayne Chen: I don't have the specific programmatic details there, uh but if staff were directed to provide a memorandum, uh we've already begun to create a matrix of the other cities and we could fold that into the um the analysis.

[02:44:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Okay, um so any other comments? If not, I'm going to take a straw motion on Councilmember Ramirez's request to have a memo. Um, and would that include uh Councilmember Clark's suggestion that it come from outside counsel? Um, I would actually also add um the update on how our fund is um doing in terms of administration, um as well as the matrix of what other cities are doing.

[02:45:30] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: And I I just wanted to get uh clarity on the the mechanics of sharing that memo with council. If that's the desire to have a off-agenda memo that you can all digest and then I'm I'm thinking ahead to how that that does get agendized eventually if that's uh direction from uh direction from the mayor or uh or it's just brought back in a special meeting for discussion uh among the whole council. I just want to be mindful of how we're how we're proceeding with the memo.

[02:46:10] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Is it possible to um ask after the memo is provided to ask councilmembers for interest in agendizing the item at a special meeting?

[02:46:23] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, I mean well that's that's a little tricky because that's a collective uh uh concur, you know, we'll we'll figure out the best mechanism. I don't want to take up time now.

[02:46:34] Councilmember Chris Clark: Anyway, I know the mayor can call a meeting but I think there's a way for four council members to also call a meeting. I'd have to go back and read the charter but maybe that's a better, I don't know, so.

[02:46:42] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Let me I will look into that, the details about how to bring that back most efficiently with you know the awareness that time is of the essence. So I'll I'll figure that out.

[02:46:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. Thank you. Yes, Councilmember Hicks.

[02:46:55] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I was just going to make one last pitch. I I think one of the reasons I feel a need for a backup plan is that I'm in frequent communication with in-laws... actually they're my sister's in-laws in Italy... and I know there in in Italy a lot of people are thinking about things that they wish they'd done in the past. And to me a a memo is you know, it's it's something that uh is not I mean it's easier for me to say, but it's not that difficult to do and I would like to have... I would hate that we looked back at this moment later and say we wish we'd done it. It seems like at this point to me the least we can do.

[02:47:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Alright, um with that, all those in favor of the memo, raise your hands. Four. So that's uh unanimous. Alright. Any other items from councilmembers or staff? If yes, Councilmember McAlister.

[02:47:52] Councilmember John McAlister: I would like to invite everybody to share a uh welcoming ice cream cake to honor our city manager tonight. And it's our favorite ice cream some second favorite ice cream it's Oreo cookie and cream so it's available uh in the uh committee room and then you're all invited to recognize our new manager, city manager and welcome her with all the sweets we can give her.

[02:48:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Um, is there a closed session report?

[02:48:27] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: We we ended up jumping ahead earlier tonight so I did that. I I didn't know um Councilmember Ramirez had that. Yes, we're all set.

[02:48:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. So uh then we stand adjourned at 9:08. And the next city council meeting is currently scheduled to be held on Tuesday April 14th 2020 at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers. Thank you again everyone. Please stay safe and healthy. And we stand adjourned. Good evening.

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