May 29, 2020 Special Meeting of Mountain View City Council

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Transcript

[00:03:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: instance, but um, appreciate your time this evening. I'd like to call this special meeting to or order, and um, this meeting will be conducted in accordance with the state of California, executive order N 2920 dated March 17th, 2020. All members of the city council are participating in this meeting by video conference with no physical meeting location. Members of the public wishing to observe the meeting live may do so at mountain view.legistar.com on YouTube at mountain view.gov slash YouTube and on Comcast channel 26. Spanish translation is available in Zoom for this meeting. And I will ask Nora Beltran from our community outreach team to make a brief announcement. Welcome, Nora. thank you for being here

[00:04:39] Nora Beltran: That says Margaret. Buenas tardes. Gracias, por esta, qui presentes, una vez masen una junta en bienes en la noche. Dónde vamos a, discutir la ordene, cutiva, ene ventiocho, vente, dada, en maso del dos milvente. Los que gusta, pueden, atenderes, esta junta, atreves, zum, overre, en el canarde, comcaste, el canal de comcaste. Los por favor, precion, la vandera, la vandera, de España, si gustan, Escucherla, traducion, en Español. Gracias.

[00:05:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes. And as noted on the meeting agenda, members of the public may provide oral public community comments during the public comment period for an item by signing up at mountain view.gov slash cc underscore speakers. Any emails received by 4 p.m. today were forwarded to the city council. Emails received after 4 PM and prior to the close of the public comment period for the agenda item will be read into the record by the city clerk, and any voicemail messages received will be played by the city clerk. Please note, if you provided oral public comments during the meeting, and also sent an email after 4 p.m. Your oral comments will serve as your single opportunity to provide live public comment. Oh, votes will be taken by roll call vote. Now I'd like to ask the city clerk to proceed with roll call. please.

[00:06:10] City Clerk: Thank you. Council member Clark.

[00:06:12] Councilmember Chris Clark: Here.

[00:06:13] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[00:06:16] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:06:17] City Clerk: Council member Mattachek.

[00:06:19] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Here,

[00:06:20] City Clerk: council member McAllister. Uh, Council member Ramirez?

[00:06:28] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:06:29] City Clerk: Council member Kime? I'm sorry, Vice American May.

[00:06:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: She will be joining us later.

[00:06:38] City Clerk: Thank you. Abby Koga.

[00:06:40] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Here.

[00:06:41] City Clerk: Thank you.

[00:06:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. So we have 5 in attendance at this time. Is that correct? Great. Thank you. Uh, so we will move on to item 3 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 3 minutes during this section, state law prohibits the council from acting on non-agenda items. When any member of the public on the line is in our attendee box, like to provide public comment on a nonagenda item. If so, please click click the raise hand button in Zoom, if you're in the attendee box, um, or if you're on the phone, press star 9. And the city clerk will display the timer on the screen. So let me check to see a 10 day bucks. I have one hand raised and I don't have the number, the uh, the, the name. This is the phone number that ends in 850. You um, if you can unmute yourself, please. Uh, you should.

[00:07:42] Don Lecher: Yes, my name is Don Lecher.

[00:07:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, hi, Mr. Lecher.

[00:07:47] Don Lecher: Hi. Okay. Good evening, city council. My name is Don Lecher and I'm a 21 plus year resident at 788 North Ringsdorf Avenue, Mountain View. I live 75 feet away from O'Malley's bar. At 2135 Old Middlefield Way, separated only by a chain link fence. In 2013, a 2nd extension to the old house, turned bar, put the bar within 75 feet of my home. And a conditional use permit allowed use of the outdoor open air patio bar, and restaurant, and live entertainment. The conditional use permit has passed on through 4 different owners since 2013. It has been an absolute nightmare for me, especially at nights and weekends. Now they are trying to start the whole mess again. My fight is not with the bar owners. It is with the conditional use permit. Please, city council, please you have the power to do this. Please cancel, and do not approve a conditional use permit, to allow a bar, restaurant, or nightclub, to exist on that property, in the CS commercial service district of Mountain View. That's the, that's the, point, 86 acre lot at 2135 Old Middlefield Way. Please, please cancel and do not. issue another conditional use permit for that property. Please. Thank you.

[00:09:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you very much. Uh, is there anyone else in the attendee box who would like to speak? If so, please, click the raise hand button. I don't see anyone. So, uh, city clerk, do we have any other public comment?

[00:10:10] City Clerk: No other public comment received after 4 PM on non-agenda items.

[00:10:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. So I will close oral communications and move on to item 4 new business, 4.one. Amendment to the urgency ordinance temporarily suspending evictions for non-payment of rent by residential tenants impacted by COVID-19 and I believe our staff presentation is by our city attorney, Mr. Christian Chopra. If you can unmute yourself, please.

[00:10:45] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: So sorry about that. Thank you very much, Mayor. Good evening, mayor and council members. I do have a brief staff presentation. It's just going to be oral. The item before you tonight is a proposed extension of the city's ordinance, which temporarily suspends evictions for nonpayment of rent by residential tenants impacted by the COVID-19 emergency, which is set to expire on May 31st. At its May 12th meeting, counsel requested consideration of a potential extension of the ordinance prior to the expiration of the initial term. I wanted to provide some background on the origins of the initial ordinance, then discuss staff's recommendation for extending the term, and then options within that recommendation. In March. The governor issued 2 executive orders, the 1st on March 16th, which suspends state laws which preempt or restrict local jurisdictions authority to prohibit evictions. The 2nd on March 27th, Prohibited enforcement of eviction orders for renters affected by COVID-19 through May 31st, 2020. As of today, the governor has not extended that order. Close in time to the governor's order, the city, along with 5 other cities in the county, adopted urgency ordinances which prohibit eviction of residential tenants impacted by COVID. The county of Santa Clara also adopted an urgency ordinance, which covers the unincorporated areas and all cities in the county, but allows for cities to adopt their own ordinances. 2 cities elected not to adopt local ordinances and therefore follow the county ordinance. There's been considerable uncertainty surrounding the question of whether the governor intends to extend his executive order, and if so, to what date? This has made it very challenging for those cities who have ordinances with the May 31st exploration term to determine whether to extend, and if so, to what date. What has become clear as the COVID crisis has evolved is that cities in the county are taking increasingly independent and individualized action under their own police powers and the legal authority granted them under emergency circumstances. A table summarizing the various cities approaches, as well as the county's recent action, is included in your report tonight, and will make that slide available if needed for counsel to refer to when they deliberate. A quick note on the April 6th judicial council order, which you're all aware of. That prohibits courts from issuing eviction summons and automatic default judgments against tenants who fail to file file a response to an eviction case. The order, however, importantly does not prohibit landlords from serving tenants with notices to pay rent or move. And the receipt of such notices, often results in tenants who are unable to pay the rent, moving out for fear of adverse consequences. This is another reason why many cities are considering extending their ordinances because the local ordinances do have a protective effect beyond the judicial council order. The legal basis for extending the ordinance is that the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis continue to significantly impact tenants' ability to pay rent. And the consequences of potential mass evictions justify extending the term of the ordinance. Since its adoption, the ordinance appears to have been an effective tool, which has strengthened the city's rent relief efforts, and there's more detailed information about that in the staff report. And I know we just received some updated information late this afternoon. Staff originally recommended extending the ordinance to June 30th amidst much uncertainty over the next steps from the governor and the county. Staff also acknowledged that a later date would also be appropriate if council chooses. June 30th was initially recommended as a short duration and a measured approach for an extension, and that was supported by a high degree of certainty that emergency conditions and the shelter in place order will continue through June. There is somewhat less certainty surrounding an extension to a date significantly farther into the future, for example, August 31st. 2 cities in the county, Santa Clara and San Jose extended their ordinances to June 30th. As you can see, this situation remains very fluid. Unfortunately, the way the crisis has unfolded has created different levels of regulation and interplay among the state order and the county order, which does not yield a simple one size fits all approach for the cities in the county. The county itself, as you know, will not have taken final action on this matter, extending their ordinance until after the governor's order expires on May 31st. As of today, staff has learned more information, which has been helpful in these uh, making these recommendations to counsel. Although the state still has an extended, uh, its order, staff learn that there is some more certainty surrounding the county's decision to extend to August 31st. And the county is expected to discuss their moratorium extension again at a meeting on June 2nd. In light of the likelihood, emergency conditions will just through the next several months, and based on review of other jurisdictions, varied approaches, council may consider extending the ordinance to June 30th, August 31st, to align with the county, or determine another date, uh, in between. In addition, if counsel extends the ordinance to June 30th, future extensions may always be considered if circumstances warrant. And just a procedural note, 5 votes are required to adopt the ordinance extension tonight, and if adopted, it will become effective immediately. And one final, uh, Clerical note about the report. There is one update to the table on page 5 that I mentioned, uh, that, which initially indicated the town of Los Gatos does not have a rent stabilization program. Staff recently confirmed that they do. So we've made that update to the table, and the updated table will be made available to council later, for their deliberations. This concludes my presentation and staff is available for any questions.

[00:17:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you very much. Um, are there any questions from council members? So please raise your hand. You don't see anyone? Oh, yes. Council member Hicks?

[00:18:11] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I meant Ray's hand in the box, but that's fine. I save. All right, I lost the box for a minute. Um, so as I don't see all the council members hear how many how many votes do we need if we're not all here? Are we all here yet?

[00:18:30] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: You need 5 votes no matter what.

[00:18:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. Thank you.

[00:18:36] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Mr. Ramirez?

[00:18:40] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: There we go. Thank you, mayor. Sorry about that. Um, I saw um, Tom Myers in the attendee list. Would it be appropriate to ask him some questions about the rent release program?

[00:18:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes. I don't know if we, do we need to meet them over or, can I?

[00:18:59] City Clerk: I just moved him over.

[00:19:00] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. Thank you so much. Welcome, Mr. Myers.

[00:19:07] Tom Myers: Thank you. Thank you.

[00:19:10] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Sure, no, thank you for being here, Tom. So, staff, just now, I think I just got an email with some of the rent release figures, but I wanted to, they're slightly different from what I thought they were. So can you provide us, sort of, you know, CSA's perspective on the rent relief program, any figures that you think are appropriate, and then, um, one of the things that, that, that's sort of influencing my thinking about this is, you know, knowing that the eviction moratorium supports the program, how much time you need for the program to be effective, and sort of what you're seeing on the ground.

[00:19:47] Tom Myers: Absolutely. Uh, 1st of all, let me just say that CSA, uh, uncharacteristically, actually weighed in on this topic and sent you all, uh, a letter, uh, a week ago, uh, in which we, uh, like I said, uncharacteristically for CSA advocated for an August 31st, uh, uh, extension. And the reason why we did that was precisely because we felt that an extension to the eviction moratorium would aid our ability to do rent relief. Right now, CSA has a higher number of people requesting rent relief than any other agency in the emergency assistance network. Uh, and uh, I think it's important to note that there is a big difference between rent relief. Financial assistance is what's being offered through destination home. And then, of course, the Dre assistance for those who are not eligible for federal benefits is a very different animal altogether. All of those are very different kinds of things. And rent relief is by far the most complex. And that's why as much time is needed as possible. Uh, and we have, uh, actually very, uh, provided. I'm not sure what the staff provided you as far as numbers that were late in coming to you this afternoon. I will tell you this, that we will have served 600 households over the weekend. We will reach that 600 number. And we will have allocated out one.250000 of the city funds. So of the 600 households that have been approved for rent relief. Uh, we have checks that have gone out to uh, well over 500 landlords. So well over 500 landlords have actually received and cashed their check at this point. Uh, and then the other, uh, the others uh, in the, in the system that have been approved, that's already allocated money. And that all adds up to one. 25 million. And so, yes, I do think that that does, if you start doing the math there, what it's going to take us to move forward, we're moving faster now, then we were at the beginning, and quite frankly, we're moving at breakneck speed compared to what most rental relief, uh, uh, does. But you can see that we do need, if we're going to allocate all of the city funds. And then as well, CSA has been raising funds on top of this, which will help to extend the program even further. And as we state in that letter. Uh, which came from my board of directors actually, and not from, from me alone. Uh, uh, we uh, we feel like the extent, the city funds plus the extension of fundraising funds that CSA's been able to do can help to keep this program going well into the summer. I think the closer we get to the end of an eviction moratorium, the more panicked people are going to be, the more difficult it's going to be for our clients. And so, uh, to continue rent relief, as well as all the other financial assistants and other assistants that's available to folks, uh, that's going to become much, much, much more important as we uh, move close to the end of the eviction moratorium. So the more time we can get, the more we're going to be able to do.

[00:23:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Oh, uh, quick follow-up question. So I'm looking, the staff provided us, uh, like a weekly change column for, for the figures that, that were given, and if, if I'm, if my math is, sort of, all right here, it looks like, um, Are, are we, are we looking at, how many, how many checks per week are we looking at? Because this one looks, this one says, suggests 35 additional households were helped over the past week. Um which doesn't strike me as a huge number, but maybe that's because I'm not interpreting this table correctly.

[00:23:44] Tom Myers: Uh, no, we're at the point now where we're averaging about uh, 60 to 80 checks per week. Uh, so, yeah, as I said, we're getting, getting very close to the 600 served and that's in, of course, 8 weeks. The, we got the fund, the initial funds from the city, uh, at the very end of March, and so it's been 8 weeks now that we've been doing that.

[00:24:08] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And do you intend? Do you think that that's sort of the pace that you're going to maintain? Do you expect to speed up?

[00:24:15] Tom Myers: I expect it to speed up slightly. As you know, we've ramped up quite a bit in the case management area. We're now starting to ramp up in the finance area. We've already added one temporary finance staff. We're getting ready to add an additional temporary finance staff, which will help to close the gap between, uh, uh, the number served and the number of checks that have actually gone out and been cached by landlords, uh, and then that, so I would expect that it to, to speed up. We did add 2 new temporary case management staff this week.

[00:24:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Thank you. Any other council member of questions? And city manager?

[00:25:00] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes. Thank you. Hello, everyone. I just wanted to provide a clarification to the question that council member Ramirez just asked in terms of the table. Um, so there is uh, part of the table that is including applications that are awaiting payment. So that is included in what Mr. Myers talked about. So it's not just the payments that have actually gone out, but those that have been approved and are also awaiting payment. So those should be taken together.

[00:25:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Thank you for that clarification. Any other questions from council members? If not, I will open this up for public comment. So again, if you are in the 10 day box on Zoom. Uh, please hit the raised hand button. And um, if you are on the phone, you can hit star 9. And let's see, I have some, And it's coming up. So, so far, let's say, 245. In City Correct, do we have any other public comments? Just to get a sense of total number.

[00:26:12] City Clerk: Yes, I have 3 to 4 emails so far, and I'm seeing most of the books that have raised their hand also on my list of those that have indicated they wanted to speak.

[00:26:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, so they're the same duplicates. Perfect. Alright. Let's go ahead and I, um, yeah, we'll do 3 minutes. And I'll start off with Janet Workman and please unmute yourself.

[00:26:45] Janet Workman: Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Well, thank you for this opportunity. Um, I'm Janet Workman. I, a Mountain View resident. Um, and um, I want to urge you to extend the moratorium. And um, I think that what we just heard from uh, Mr. Myers is incredibly uh, critical to this decision. Um, It, I think it is not going to be adequate to extend it to June 30th. Um, it's really not going to give CSA enough time, um, for this rent relief to be able to accomplish what you hope to accomplish with it, and the moratorium obviously has to go hand in hand with with the rent relief, um, Uh, I have heard from a number of families, who are literally in a state of panic, the anxiety level is almost hard to describe to the point where it's really, it's affecting the mental health of families because they're waiting anxiously. They're waiting anxiously to find out if they're going to get their rent really. And uh, yet they're going to have, be able to hold on to their homes, being without a job. Um is so incredibly stressful. I can't overemphasize the impact that this can happen on an entire family. Um, to extend it one more month would, I think, to a great extent, continue this state of uncertainty and panic. Um, and that, um, extending it as long as you believe that you can reasonably do it. Um, would, would um, help a great deal. Um, as would also extending the time that people are going to have to repay the rent. Because it's the next shoe that's going to drop here. Not only is it going to impact individual families. Um, having people lose housing when we know this public emergency is going to go on for some months to come. is going to create also a public health. problem. So for all of these reasons. Um, I urge you to extend it and for more than, than June 30th, as well as an extended repayment period. Thank you very much.

[00:29:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. I'll go now to Emily Hislop. And if again, if you could please unmute yourself.

[00:29:29] Emily Hislop: Am I unmuted?

[00:29:30] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, you are. welcome.

[00:29:33] Emily Hislop: Uh, thank you, Mayor Ave Koga. I'm Emily Hislop. one with Project Sentinel. As you all know, we managed the Mountain View Rental Housing Helpline in the Mountain View Mediation Program. Um, we've been dealing with or navigating a patchwork of loss at the federal state, county and city level, well, that seemed to change week, week by week. Um, that's presented some challenges in advising our, our, and counseling our callers. Um, I wanted to give you guys a picture of um, the types of calls we've received since uh, the shelter in place began. And between the Mountain View mediation program and the Mountain View Rental Housing Helpline. We have had about 280 calls or emails, and over 60% of those have been from people who are impacted by COVID-19. The callers come from all walks of life and even include those considered to be middle income. The most frequent concern, of course, is the inability to pay rent due to lost work or needing to stay home with kids. Um, There's also been issues of needing to break a lease because somebody needs to move out to care for a relative or because they can't, they've lost their job and they can't afford to live in their apartment. Um, we also get calls from landlords wanting some clarity on how they can proceed and try to work out arrangements with their tenants. Um, for a myriad of reasons, everyone has panicked and much of that has to do with the uncertainty of the, of the whole situation. What would aid our efforts in assisting parties in working out realistic arrangements around rent payment? Is that once they get back to work is some certainty? Please consider mirroring the county's ordinance or actions as much as you can, and at least extend the moratorium to July 31st. People are not back to work. Um, and they're not going to be able to pay June rent and leaving it to June 30th and extending it again is just going to create more panic and people and it's hard to get them to be realistic about things when they're panicking. Um, Also, finally, I'm sort of echoing the sentiments of Tom Myers and the other caller, but given that money are not yet back to work and we're paying a big chunk of what they previously earned towards rent, 120 days is not going to be enough time to repay run amounts that are recrued during the sheltering place period. Um, Thank you, and if you have any questions for me, I'm happy to answer them.

[00:31:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Last I came. Thank you. Next speaker, I have a former mayor, we'll meet by and welcome. And if you can unmute yourself, please.

[00:32:12] Public Speaker: There we go. Great. Thank you. Hello counsel. Um, so, I was a former mayor. I've served Mountain View and local nonprofits for many years, today I'm speaking completely as myself and not representing anyone. First, I'd like to thank the city, you its leaders and staff for how you've responded to this crisis with really courage and caring and flexibility. I've always been proud of Mountain View and I'm particularly proud of that. So thank you for putting in place the addiction moratorium as part of your response to protect the community. And thank you today for considering to extending the moratorium by another month. I'm wondering, however, why you would do it for only 30 days. I personally doubt that it will be out of the woods by July 1st. Um, and I know that the distribution of even current relief monies will take longer than one month. Our renters are terrified of losing their homes and the small landowners. Our landlords are anxious about a dangerous loss of income. Why not give them more breathing space to deal with the emergency? Also, why force yourselves and the city is very hard-working staff to revisit the issue so soon. When the likelihood of significant change very soon is really low. So please consider extending the moratorium through the end of August following the county mode. And thank you very much for your work.

[00:33:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Oh, next move on to Alex Brown, and if you could please unmute yourself.

[00:33:57] Alex Brown: I would be glad to. Good evening. Alex from the Mountain View mobile home alliance here. The Mountain Dee mobile home alliance has been holding regular weekly meetings about this ongoing crisis. Our residents are taking advantage of rent relief, food assistance, and other help offered by CSA, Hope's Corner, Mountain View Wisman School District, and other fantastic organizations. We're a strong community, but many of our members are struggling with loss of income caused by COVID-19. This is on top of years of rent increases that have made our households less resilient as systemic shocks. There's a huge emotional toll when you lose your job, but it's only compounded when you might also lose your housing. The eviction moratorium is the least we can do to try to help alleviate the burden on our community members as we weathered these harrowing times. Please extend the moratorium for as long as you can to help give people a greater sense of stability and extend the repayment schedule to allow them to recover as we acclimate to whatever we call normal going forward. Thank you.

[00:34:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public machine to speak? Please raise your hand. Alex Nunez? Please unmute yourself.

[00:35:02] Alex Nuñez: Hi, uh, so with uh, this eviction moratorium, um, you know, 1st of all, I'm definitely thankful uh, to the council for having instituted one in the 1st place. Um, the biggest hair in the soup for me is the uh, repayment uh, schedule within 120 days. Um, it seems to me to be a pretty fatal flaw in any eviction moratorium. Um, and and I've really been trying to put my head to this and think, you know, what makes the business of rental housing operations fundamentally different from any other business, such that we, that our governments, uh, are finding ways to guarantee that these business operators can become whole for any revenues that were lost as part of a market shock. Um, I really would like to see where in our market economy, the fine print exists that says rental housing operators are not subject to market risk. When I think about hair salon operators, nail salon operators, presumably all of these individuals, who operate these businesses, took on loads of personal risk at some point, uh, to finance and invest into these businesses, and now they are also, It, Totally in shambles. And the government is saying to these individuals, your businesses must be shut down because it's a public health crisis. And so, I'm again, trying to think, why is this inconsistency existing? Why are we not discussing nail salon relief funds right now? Um, is it not a taking for the government to say to a barbershop owner? Hey, all of that money that you invested into your business, all of that revenue that you depend on to maintain your livelihood and your business, you're not gonna get that. Well, why should we treat rental housing operators, why should we not treat rental housing operators the same? Um, right now, all of society, everyone is sacrificing. And none of us are going to be made whole. Is someone going to compensate me for the last business deals I had on the table when COVID started? No, is someone going to compensate the nail salon owners? No. And so we all have to take a hit. Unfortunately, that's what depressions are about. That's what a flea market economy is about. There's risk in it. There's winners, there's losers, and it's cyclical, and we all are subject to that risk. So one thing that I would really, and I have no expectation that this will happen. But I at least would like to have some kind of understanding of, you know, our our leaders understanding of why rental housing operators need to become whole when all of this is said and done, when the people who are living in their homes are absolutely not going to become whole. And they're going to be out on the streets from this eviction time bomb when it's all over in 120 days. Someone just like, please explain that to me. Thank you.

[00:38:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other members of the public pushing to speak? You don't see any more hands, so I'll bring it back to the city. Clerk, do we have any other public comment not already given?

[00:38:20] City Clerk: Uh, yes. And actually, Mira, I'll just ask if Marie C, uh, would like to speak. Um, I don't, actually, I don't see her on the line and then the other speaker, um, Sandra Esparza. Uh, if you're if you'd like to speak. Uh, I saw her, I, she, oh, contract, would you like to speak? If you, if so, please unmute yourself.

[00:38:50] Sandra Esparza: Oh, hold on. I think I actually. The wrong button. Sorry. Um.

[00:39:03] City Clerk: You able to unmute yourself, Sandra.

[00:39:09] Sandra Esparza: Okay, I did. Yes. Okay, so Goodyam New, uh, for city council members, and one thing I want to say, uh, really, thank you very much for addressing this big vacation and our community. My name is Sandra Spasa, and I'm part of the Gata City group. Um, Uh, me as a volunteer being on the ground, signs one day's shelting in place, serving our community. Uh, Being a volunteer with Hopcorner, Monty Mewatch, high school district. Now, volunteer would move Mountain View, helping as much as they can. With my partner Malia Pirates. So, um, I listen to everyone and it is really, we are in strategy. Our community is extending monitorium. They're not gonna recovering one, 2 or 3 months, please. You know, if you notice that I was supposedly school stars. So they have to deal with the rent. They cannot eventually can pay, they're not able to pay, no one at our community who has very long ingo families. They're not studying working yet. So how can you expecting to pay this month over, over the, ended up owning rent. They're really, really getting set, that kids are getting very depressed. They're getting sick. And then you imagine that everybody will be outside. Look how many homeless we're gonna have in our beautiful city. Don't we are diversity? So, please, I guess, failing from the bottom of my heart. Try to make something happen and make the difference in a community. You guys are doing the best to man this job. So keep it up and keep helping our community. Thank you so much and have a great night.

[00:41:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak? Do we have anyone else, city clerk?

[00:41:13] City Clerk: Nope. No one else, no one else that has indicated. So, I do have a few emails to read. I'll go ahead and start the timer. This one is lengthy, so I'll go ahead and start the timer. Um, this uh, email is from Phil Philip Cosby on behalf of the Mountain View Housing Justice Coalition. Honorable city council members. We are writing to we are writing to you regarding our city's moratorium on rental evictions that is set to expire on Sunday, May 31st, 2020. We urgently ask that you extend the current moratorium to at least August 31, 2020 or better until the end of the calendar year. We also ask that you consider extending the time frame for repayment of back rent beyond the current 120 day period. We further ask you to direct staff to research options to mitigate the approaching displacement time bomb that is likely when rents become due. Federal and state support may be part of this planning. The county has extended its moratorium until August 31st, 2020. Following our further details regarding the urgency of our request. Many of the renters in our community are not receiving their usual income because their employers are either temporarily closed or operating at a reduced level. This is especially true for food service, hotel, travel, and childcare employees. Many are currently paying rent from their savings, but at some point those these savings will be exhausted, even as the current shelter in place orders are lifted, the volume in these businesses and the income of their employees will only increase over time. It is important that it was important for the city to take steps now to prevent a massive displacement to our current residents due to eviction. Mountain View is quite fortunate in that many of its renters employed in the tech industry are still working and able to pay rent. In addition, social security benefits and all forms continue to be sent to recipients as their pensions and similar retirement benefits. As a result, overall landlords will continue to receive rental income from many of their tenants. Those tenants who are not able to pay right now will likely be able to pay down the road. Since the city's moratorium does include a time frame for repayment of background, landlords will get the funds they are due without, in most cases, having to resort to eviction. We request that the city also explore ways to support small landlords, whose viability is threatened by the temporary loss of cash flow. Effective response of the state, county and city is taking considerable time to implement. Many of our community report that their applications for rental assistance made to CSA in April have not yet been processed. EDD continues to struggle to keep up with the staggering pace of unemployment claims, hence many in our community have not yet received funds to which they are entitled. A longer time frame for the moratorium is less called for. Finally, the city's staff report on this topic notes that the city's rent relief program administrative administered by community services agency is significantly greater than the resources available. It adds there is only enough funding to provide approximately 1300 households, one month or rental support. 1800 households have applied and one month is not enough. Until we can find a way to close the gap, we should not be pushing people out of their home because of us to do not anticipate or control. We thank you for your attention to the economic distress of many mountain view residents and urge you to extend the current moratorium to August 31st, 2020. And then I'll proceed, um, with the next email. This message is from John McDonald. Honorable Mayor Vice Mayor and Council members. The need for extension of the moratorium on evictions is quite clear. Advocates for affordable affordable housing finds most compelling governors, nuisance, recommendation of a tax credit for landlords for 80 to 90% of loss of actual rents with a 10 year allowance for rent paid back to the state. We are aware that you cannot implement such a plan. Encourage you to adopt the county's extension, which allows 3 more months +one year's time to pay back rents at the very least. We suggest an additional clause to indicate an extension for 2 or more months following the lifting of the shelter in place order. This section would avoid having to revisit this matter repeatedly. Clearly, many jobs will not come back immediately so the ability to pay back will take a while. Mountain View will be healthier and fewer priced out of housing or rendered homeless. AAH appreciates the opportunity to weigh in on this matter. We trust you will do the right thing, sincerely, John McDonald. The next email is from Fernando Romero. Dear council members. I'm writing you today about line item 4.one amendment to urgency ordinance temporarily suspending addictions for nonpayment of rent that is set to expire May 31st, 2020. I ask you to extend the current ordinance suspending evictions of nonpayment of rent until at least August 31st, 2020, or to the end of 2020. Please direct staff to research and study the current economic environment to further help small landlords and low middle income families that have lost their jobs and their income due to the pandemic. Furthermore, please also direct staff to study solutions to prevent the future evictions of tenants due to nonpayment of rent. Thank you, Fernando Romero. And let's see. I'm just going to make sure I don't have any additional emails. No, I do not have any additional emails and I had no voicemail messages. Stay.

[00:46:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Wait, thank you. Uh, I will close public comment then and bring us back to council for uh, comments and emotion. Councilman Ramirez.

[00:46:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. Um, so, I've been thinking about this one a lot over the past week, and what I'm, what, concluded is I, I think it's probably the simplest simply to, uh, to extend the moratorium and keep it in line with the county, for, for a couple of reasons. I think one of the advantages is it would require only one educational campaign. Most folks are under the impression it will, it will. It is set to expire at the end of this month. And if we, if we allow it to extend, in the event that we'll need to extend, yes. That is another discussion, but then also conduct a subsequent education campaign. Um, and if we, you know, there's some cost to that. I think it'll reduce confusion. The other challenge, I think, is, um, if we allow our eviction moratorium to expire. The county eviction moratorium will persist, and it will be substantially similar, but lack some of the minor modifications that we've included. And I'm not recommending that we modify those at all. Um, as some of the public speakers had suggested. Um, but I, I feel like there's, there's, there's not much to gain from allowing our eviction moratorium to lapse and just sort of let the county moratorium to persist. Um, you know, that there will be sort of public knowledge associated with our local moratorium expiring, and I think confusion over, you know, what, what elements of the county, you know, moratorium, you know, will, will, will protect tomb, and, you know, things of that nature. So I, I feel like, um, extending our moratorium and continuing to align the county. I know further than that is, is in our best interest. Um, the other advantage that that was brought up, um, is, it, it allows time for our rent relief program to succeed. And I think this is, this is the elegance and the solution that we've come up with, you know, uh, something like a, a rent cancellation or rent forgiveness program, you know, may not be constitutional, it, it, it has, you know, kind of a, an asymmetric impact, but here, you know, we've allowed ourselves some time to, um, you know, help folks stay in their homes, but also make sure rental property owners are, are made whole. Um, and the eviction moratorium only applies to, uh, households that can demonstrate, right, have can provide documentation that they've lost income because of COVID, uh, and not just sort of a blanket protection for everybody. Uh to prevent abuse. So that's, that's one of the reasons why, I think, um, you know, it, it's an appropriate program and it's worked very well. Um, and you know, I, I trust Tom and CSA to, you know, continue making progress and and getting the, the rent release checks out there. Um, so for for those reasons, I'm gonna go ahead and move. Uh, to adopt an amendment to ordinance number 2.20 an urgency ordinance of the city of Mountain View, temporarily suspending evictions, or nonpayment of rent by residential tenants, impacted by the COVID-19 emergency, extending the duration of the ordinance to, and then it would be, uh, I guess it's August 31st, 2020, uh, to be read entitled only for the reading wave, effective immediately upon adoption.

[00:50:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: All right, we have a motion on the floor. Um, Is there a 2nd on the mission? and, She just raised your hand, a look. Thank you. Council number magic, so I will go to you for comments too. Thank you. Did you have comments or?

[00:50:51] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: No. Just a second. Would you like, oh, there you go. There, there. I couldn't get it, I mute. Yeah, I did have comments, but I also 2nd that motion. Um, I'm also not interested in letting our moratorium expire. Um, and so I do want to extend ours because it is more comprehensive than the one the county has. So I think it makes a whole lot of sense. I'm very comfortable with August 31st date. And similar to other things we talked about on council, I think it's good to provide some level of certainty to the community and help ease the stress that a lot of people, um, our feelings. Um, that's just not good for anyone. So I would like to, um, extend it to August 31st and, um, I also am interested in, um, extending the payback period to 180 days if council member of the nerves is open to, um, changing that as well as part of the motion. Um, so I, Given that the county hasn't acted on it yet?

[00:52:06] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: No, I, for, thank you for, for the 2nd council member, Mattachek. Just a quick question. I'm inclined to accept, um, the amendment, but a quick question for staff about, um, is, because, you know, we, we, we've communicated the eviction moratorium parameters one way. You know, I know we're going to have to work pretty aggressively to spread the word, but is this, is this a modification that staff can, um, to can incorporate and, um, and advertise pretty easily.

[00:52:41] Wayne Chen: Thank you for the question. This is Wayne Chen, um, yes, I believe so. Um, we, um, have already, um, begun the initial preparation, um, should counsel, um, extend the, uh, moratorium to have information go out um, next week. And we'll just be very clear about the action that the council has taken and then be very consistent about communicating, um, the modifications to the program. So, I don't sense that that would be an issue.

[00:53:11] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Right. And so with that, I'll be happy to accept the amendment.

[00:53:15] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Great, thank you. And I just have just a point of clarification that payback period can be changed to 180 days. I would just like to read into the record the affected sections of the ordinance, uh, when when counsel's ready or before council votes. But I want to check if any other council member has any other comments. Otherwise I would make those clarifications now.

[00:53:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other comments from council members?

[00:53:49] Unknown Speaker: I would just add that I will be supporting the motion. Thank you very much and thank you for the amendment.

[00:53:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I agree. I've been thinking about this quite a bit and um, one, I want to stay consistent as we can with the county, um, because as it was mentioned, there's a lot of different um, orders and folks are getting confused as to what affects us in here in Mountain View. So as closely as we can stay, stay with the counties of interest to me. And I do agree. I think it is helpful to have certainty and rather than doing this, you know, month by month, giving enough, a long enough period of time, also for CSA to get through the applications they've received. Um, and I was just thinking about payback time and if it was the 120 days, it would be about, I think the end of the year, which is always a challenge with the holidays and so forth, so to be able to give a couple more months, I think makes a lot of sense. So, with that, I will be supporting the motion, and if there's no other comments, uh, city attorney, please, if you will.

[00:54:52] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes. For the record, the amendment will affect the caption or title of the ordinance, changing the date from June 30th, 2020 to August 31st, 2020. It will affect section two, the opening paragraph of section two, changing the date from June 30th, 2020 to, um, August 31st, 2020, and then also the payback period sections which are affected are section 2 E and F, changing the date from 120 days to 180 days. I will work with the clerk to get the amended document to reflect that correctly.

[00:55:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you very much. Any other discussion on this item? If not, could we have a roll call vote, please, city clerk?

[00:55:47] City Clerk: Council member Clark.

[00:55:49] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yes.

[00:55:50] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[00:55:51] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:55:53] City Clerk: Council member Manage Tech.

[00:55:54] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[00:55:55] City Clerk: Council member McAllister.

[00:56:05] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes, yes.

[00:56:08] City Clerk: Council member Ramirez.

[00:56:11] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yeah.

[00:56:11] City Clerk: Ice Mayor Kame.

[00:56:14] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[00:56:15] City Clerk: Yeah, because.

[00:56:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi.

[00:56:17] City Clerk: Thank you. Thank you, so much carry 70 with no extensions.

[00:56:22] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, thank you very much, and we will move on to the next item. Item 5 council staff committee reports. Are there any, um, members of the council members with reports or council member Ramirez?

[00:56:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Oh, uh, thank you, Mayor. No report, but I just wanted to sort of remind the public and thank you for your leadership in getting the rent relief program up and running because I think it's really proven effective and helping a lot of people. And also, uh, council members, um, Matt a check and, um, McAllister for your advocacy a few weeks ago to, to bolster the sun in there. I, you know, I've been hearing a lot from the community about, about the program and, you know, while I think there's always room for improvement. I think it's really, it really sets us apart from many of the other cities in the county responding effectively to the pandemic. So just wanted to remind everyone for what's going on and thank you for helping make it happen.

[00:57:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Council member Hicks.

[00:57:23] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So no reports from me. I just wanted to talk briefly about the small landlord relief fund, which, um, I think was was really good in concept, but seems not to have even a fraction of the demand that the small business and rent relief funds do. I'm, I'm hoping that council might be interested in agendizing it to, um, to relook at it. And my thoughts are that we could roll the, I guess it's, correct me if I'm wrong, $100,000, that we could roll that fund into the rent relief fund. As it would then maybe be more accessible, my understanding from the last report we got is that no small landlords have successfully applied for it, although there may be some upcoming ones. I guess that, um, The only applicant at the time we got our last report was an Airbnb landlord. So my thoughts are if we rolled it into the, uh, tenant landlord rent relief fund that we currently have, the multimillion dollar one, that we would have more access to that, and maybe it would be more accessible to small landlords, would also mean that they would, as small landlords accessed it. They would also be keeping their tenants in the, um, in the building. So, um, so that's my uh, proposal to agendaize that in the future for um, possibly rolling it over for better access to tenants and landlords.

[00:59:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, okay, I guess I thought there were a few other applicants, but I thought there were like 10 actually, but maybe we could get that data.

[00:59:10] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, So that can certainly answer. The most recent data I got was that there were 10 but who inquired that, um, well, 1st there were 9 that inquired and one that applied, which was an Airbnb. Now I guess there are 2 more applicants, but it's certainly much lower than the number of rent relief applicants.

[00:59:36] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: City manager, which you mean commenting?

[00:59:39] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, mayor. Yes, I can provide context on the latest numbers as of today. So we have received 10 enquiries into the program. 7 of those are not interested in applying anymore or they do not meet the qualifications. One of those as council member Hicks noted, one did apply and does not qualify because they are an Airbnb property owner. And there are 2 that we are aware of that are planning to apply, although we have not received any completed applications. So that's the latest information that we have.

[01:00:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, so I don't know procedure. My thought was actually, now that we've extended the eviction moratorium, we might want to consider going out for another round of applications, but I don't know how we discussed this city attorney. Do we need to agendize this or?

[01:00:34] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: I think it would be appropriate to get an informal straw poll if the council's a majority of council is interested in discussing that topic and both topics. yes

[01:00:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay. Yes, city manager.

[01:00:51] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, thank you, mayor. I also want to clarify that this program, the applications are on a rolling basis. So there was no cutoff time period for it. So those applications can come in at any time.

[01:01:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Um, so I'll take a show of hands if you could, if you're interested in revisiting, um, I guess it's more the, um, just moving the funding over to the tenant relief fund. Can you raise your hands, please? B3. And I don't see the Counselor McCallus. Oh, Counselor McCall, there is this. Are you interested in?

[01:01:30] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, no, I had the same thoughts as yours, because once we extended it, others may come forward, so I do not want to uh, change the program at this time. So, no, to agendize it.

[01:01:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Thank you. So I only saw 3 hands.

[01:01:45] Unknown Speaker: Yes. Yeah, I feel like I might be open to this, but I feel like, yeah, since we just did extend the deadline. I don't feel like we have enough information to know how that's going to affect small landlords, there might be more demand. So it might be appropriate, but not right now. So I don't see, yeah, I don't see majority to bring this up. And if you want to bring it back up and under an item made at another council meeting before we go to summer break, then I would suggest that.

[01:02:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, thank you. I'm gonna check.

[01:02:20] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thanks. Um, a couple things. I attended the Bay Area, water supply and conservation agency board meeting, otherwise known as Bosco. And, um, also the Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, um, airplane noise round table. Um, where we approved a, the input that we will provide to the FAA on the noise certification regulations for supersonic airplanes. And our perspective is that they should need the same requirements as a subsonic airplane. So that folks living nearby. And are not exposed to greater noise. So that should be submitted pretty soon to the FAA. And then also, I just want to note that, um, There is an opening on the rental housing committee with one of the members moving out of Mountain View. So, um, just sort of, um, getting on our radar that, um, We would be doing an appointment. So if you know folks who are interested, I'd say we should all get the word out. Thanks.

[01:03:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Um, City Clerk Dewey, I'd be doing taking applications for the RHC opening at this time.

[01:03:42] City Clerk: Um, you know, we're, we're not, but we will work with um, staff to, to finalize the application and get the word out about that to fill that vacancy.

[01:03:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thanks for bringing that up. Counselor, how to check. Uh next vice mayor.

[01:03:58] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you so much. So I just wanted to share, um, I attended uh, the virtual check board meeting on Wednesday and earlier today, check held a special community conversation talking about coping and thriving during the pandemic. Um, they have been providing, um, services to our youth in our families during, um, the COVID-19 pandemic and just are sharing that, um, with folks. And so people are interested more in what Jack is doing related to youth wellness for our children and families. Please let me know. Thanks.

[01:04:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Any other comments, reports from council numbers? Um, I would just report that I, um, continue to participate in our Saturday morning, com- calls with uh, county supervisor Cindy Chavez and, um, uh, Josemitian, which resulted in the, um, test sites that we got, the pop-up test sites, and I know you all saw the, uh, reports out, but it was very encouraging to see, uh, 491 uh, tests on Monday and another 450 on Wednesday Wednesday. Um, so I think we proved that there was definitely a need for a test site in North County. Um, and then my understanding is they're working on a temp, uh, permanent, more permanent site. Hopefully next week, we haven't quite heard yet if it's happening, but, um, Stay tuned, and there's 2 sites, actually, the El Camino site and then the Planned Parenthood site and the works, but, um, Um, yeah, I was very pleased to see that um, happening and thank you to staff. It was Memorial Day and they got very late word that they were going to open that site up on Memorial Day, so they really had to scramble and they did a great job. It was very well run, I thought, and I really want to thank our staff. We're going above and beyond to make that happen. And I'm also on another call Saturday morning. And this was also, um, county supervisor Chavez's, um, leading this effort regarding telecommuting and encouraging telecommuting after, uh, we come out of shelter in place and, um, it was a group that included, uh, a variety of folks. MTC was there, VTA, A bag, um, our air district. Um, it's part of the area. I think she started it as an air district effort. Um, and the idea right now is that the air district staff is creating a pledge that they hope to be able to get out to all of the different um, agencies to pledge, you know, uh, uh, efforts are, um, are pledge to continue to encourage telecommuting teleworking in our own agencies. Um, and then also, um, uh, model policy that, uh, the agencies could follow. And then we talked more about, um, you know, um, Looking at efforts to reduce single occupancy vehicles as a way to continue to keep the carbon emissions, lowering or lower the carbon emissions. And then because we had BTA and MTC there, um, there's some, you know, concern that teleworking would create a loss of ridership. So the thought is that, um, you know, not everybody will probably test, or not everybody can telecommute. So how do we continue transit for those who need transit to get to their jobs. And so those are the 2 focus areas so far of this group. And, um, at some point we may be getting the pledge and so I'd ask, you know, all of you to consider it, but, um, we were meeting again tomorrow. So this will be an ongoing effort. And I'm excited about it. So uh, that is it for me. Any other comments? Do we have to, do we have a close session report this evening, city? attorney?

[01:08:08] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: No, we do not.

[01:08:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. Well, then we will stand adjourned at 6:04 PM and our next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 9th, 2020 at 6.30 PM. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a great weekend and we will see you soon. Take care. Bye bye. Thank you.

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