January 25, 2022 Regular Meeting of Mountain View City Council

Video

Transcript

[00:00:00] (archive recording) Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Hey, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our closed session. I am going to read the usual announcement as required. This meeting will be conducted in accordance with California government code section 54953 E as authorized by resolution of the city council. Please contact city.clerk at mountain view.gov to obtain a copy of the applicable resolution. All members of the city council are participating in the 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. Legisstar.com, on YouTube at Mountain View.gov slash YouTube, and on Comcast channel 26. As noted on the meeting agenda, members of the public may provide oral public comments during the public comment period. by visiting mountain view.gov slash meeting to enter the Zoom meeting or by phone by dialing 669-900-9128 and entering webinar ID 843-512-67142. Any emails received by 430 PM today were received directly by the city council. Interim city attorney Quinn will make remarks, and then the city council welcomes public comment on the item listed for the closed session.

[00:01:23] Interim City Attorney Jannie Quinn: Good evening, and my remarks consist entirely of the closed session announcement. Item 2. is conference with legal counsel, existing litigation pursuant to government code section, 54956.9 D1. The name of the case is Salarina Navarro, Janet Stevens, Armando Covarubius, Evelyn Estrada, Gabrielle Rangel, Jaime, Alma, Aldacco, and all other similarly situated versus the city of Mountain View, in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, the San Jose Division, case number 521 dash CD dash 05381 NC. And then item 2.one, 2.2, is conference with your labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6. The agency designated representative is Sue Rush, the human resources director, the unrepresented employee is a city is the city attorney. For public employee appointment, pursuant to government code section 549. 57 and the title is city attorney, and that concludes the closed session announcement.

[00:02:31] (archive recording) Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on the closed session item listed on tonight's agenda? If so, please click the raised hand button in Zoom or press star 9 on your phone. A timer will be displayed on the screen. I'm not seeing any members of the public raise their hands, so we will uh, recess to closed session and return to this webinar at 6.30 p.m. for the regular session.

[00:06:17] (archive recording) Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Good evening, everyone, welcome to the city council meeting of January 25th, 2022. I'm going to read the usual announcement as required. This meeting will be conducted in accordance with California government code section 54953 E as authorized by resolution of the city council. Please contact city.clerk at mountain view.gov to obtain a copy of the applicable resolution. 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.legisstar.com on YouTube at mountain view.gov slash YouTube and on Comcast channel 26. As noted on the meaning agenda. Members of the public may provide oral public comments during the public comment period by visiting mountain view.gov slash meeting to enter the Zoom webinar or by phone by dialing 669-900-9128 and entering webinar ID 843-512-67142. Any emails received by 430 p.m. today were received directly by the city council. Now, please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Thank you. Uh, the city clerk will take attendance by roll call.

[00:07:55] (archive recording) City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Abbe Coco?

[00:07:57] (archive recording) Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Here's

[00:07:58] (archive recording) City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Lieber?

[00:06:18] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Here.

[00:06:19] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Counselor Romatachek,

[00:06:21] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: here.

[00:06:22] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Shel Walter. Counselor Michelle Walter? Uh, Vice Mayor Hicks.

[00:06:37] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:06:38] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramirez?

[00:06:43] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: And now we'll proceed to 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 and ordinances will be waived unless a city council request otherwise. A reminder, the purpose of the consent calendar is for the council to efficiently and quickly consider a high volume of routine or administrative business items with one motion. Although council members may remove items, it is generally not intended for the council to have a lengthy substantive discussion on consent calendar items. Would any member of the council like to pull an item? Once in our believer.

[00:07:24] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, mayor. Um, uh, brief point of order. Um, I know that our slide said, uh, that the updated time for starting was, um, 7 PM. And I know that there's a, um, an item on consent that, uh, concerns, uh, council member show Walter, that she's a, a very strong supporter of is, um, is a member of VCDC. And, um, so I'm wondering if it's, uh, possible for a very, uh, slow reading of the, uh, uh, items or something like that.

[00:08:04] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Uh, I think, uh, since council member show Walter isn't currently present, maybe if you want to guarantee that she has an opportunity to provide comment, we can pull it. Um, and that way, um, we can dispense with the balance and hopefully she's returned by then and is able to provide comments. Would you like to pull the item?

[00:08:26] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Um. Yes, I'd like to pull item 4.2.

[00:08:37] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, thank you. Any other items? Any, would any, uh, member of the council like to pull any other items? Being none. will turn to uh public comment. Uh, pull up the agenda flow. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on any item on the consent calendar? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star 9 on your phone. A timer will be displayed on the screen. Um, so this is the opportunity for public comment on, uh, the remaining items on the consent calendar. Being no members of the public wishing to speak will return to the council. Uh, a motion to approve, the consent calendar should also include reading the title of the resolutions attached to items 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4. Council member Leaper.

[00:09:45] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, Mayor, I'd like to, um, move the consent calendar. Um, with the exception of item 4.2 and on 4.3 I'd like to move that we adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of Mountain View, declaring city-owned, uh, real property commonly referred to as LATC that comprises part of the site located at one amphitheater parkway as surplus land, and not necessary for the city's use. And taking related actions under the surplus land act to be read in title only. For their reading waived. And, um, under 4.4, I'd like to move that we adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of Mountain View, acknowledging receipt of a report made by the Mountain View fire chief regarding the annual inspection of certain occupancies, pursuant to sections 13146.2 and 13146.3 of the California Health and Safety Code, uh, to be read in title only, uh, further reading waived. And I think that, captures everything that includes a resolution.

[00:11:03] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, member. Thank you, Council member Believer, uh, comes to member Medic check.

[00:11:06] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: I'll second the motion.

[00:11:10] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Any discussion? Being none. Uh, we'll have the city clerk commenced the roll calling.

[00:11:19] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Lieber?

[00:11:21] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Hi.

[00:11:21] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Mattachek. Council member Abbe Koca.

[00:11:26] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I,

[00:11:27] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member, Chowelter.

[00:11:29] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Hi.

[00:11:30] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Hicks?

[00:11:32] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:11:33] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Mirez?

[00:11:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yeah.

[00:11:36] City Clerk Heather Glaser: The motion carrier 6 year.

[00:11:39] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Uh, we will now return to item 4.2. Uh, and since it was pulled from consent. I'll do a quick check to see if there's any public comment. Would any member of the public like to speak on item 4.2. Being none will return to the council. Uh emotion is in order. Council member Liever.

[00:12:06] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, and uh, I know the council member, show Walter, will probably want to make comments on this as well. Um, but I'd like to move that we adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of Mountain View to support the Bay Adapt, Regional Strategy for Rising Bay Joint Platform, to be read entitled only for the reading waived.

[00:12:32] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Council member, Matt, check.

[00:12:36] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Uh, I was all that Pat did this. I didn't see her raising her hand, though.

[00:12:41] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:12:42] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, I would like to 2nd this. Um, this is an important um, uh, platform that has been put together through a consortium of, um, uh, regional agencies, uh, and it will, it describes how we should plan as a region for sea level rise. So it's very important for us to take part in this.

[00:13:06] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Thank you. So we have a motion from Council member Liber, 2nded by Council member Show, Walter, any additional comments? Being none, we'll commence the roll call.

[00:13:19] City Clerk Heather Glaser: I'm from reliever.

[00:13:21] Councilmember Sally Lieber: I,

[00:13:22] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Transmer Matachek? I mean I'm show Walter?

[00:13:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[00:13:25] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Counselor at my Koga?

[00:13:27] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi.

[00:13:28] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Medvechek?

[00:13:30] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[00:13:31] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Hicks?

[00:13:33] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:13:33] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramirez?

[00:13:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yeah.

[00:13:36] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Motion carry 6 zero.

[00:13:39] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: You very much. I will now move on to item five, 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, uh, for up to 3 minutes during the section. I'll note that if there are a great number of speakers, I will reduce, um, the allotted time accordingly. State law prohibits the council from acting on non-agenda items. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raised hand button and zoom or press star 9 on your phone. A timer will be displayed on the screen. 2 members of the public. Um, Bruce England.

[00:14:23] Bruce England: Thank you, mayor. This is item 5, right? I want to make sure I've got it right.

[00:14:27] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: That's correct.

[00:14:28] Bruce England: Yeah. Uh, just wanted to let you know this is informational, but um, a group of us in Mountain View, uh, community members and also in Sunnyvale are discussing opportunities for an open streets events similar to Viva Cai, San Jose, um, that would go through parts of Mountain View and Sunnyvale. Part of the conversation includes Brandon White and Rio O and public works, and they actually had a similar idea before we even brought it up. So there are parallel tracks going on for this. And we're just starting early stages on this, but I want you to be aware of it, council members, and also the city manager, and others on staff. And then we will be reaching out to you for support and assistance with making this happen, but not at least you know. Thank you.

[00:15:23] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: You very much. Miriam Connor.

[00:15:29] Miriam Connor: Yeah, hi. This is not a very exciting comment, but I just wanted to ask if it's possible to change the view on Zoom to gallery mode so we can see all of the council members. Right now, it kind of pops face to face and it's a little strange, but if not, it is not a big deal. Thank you.

[00:15:48] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: You very much. Both Chambers.

[00:15:56] Bruce England: I think you called on me again.

[00:16:02] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Sorry about that. Zoom is not being...

[00:16:13] Cliff Chambers: Okay, you hear me?

[00:16:13] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes, we can. Sorry.

[00:16:15] Cliff Chambers: Okay. Thank you. Uh, a cliff chambers, resident of Mountain View, and I play pickleball four times a week. I had the pleasure of actually playing with council member Mattachek, when the courts first opened at Rankstorff, uh, Rankstorff Park, we really appreciate the two dedicated courts there, and one, uh, temporary court that you can put a net up in play. And the recreation department during rainy season really made efforts to have made available at the pavilion. On Saturdays, where I normally play, supply is limited, and the demand is growing explanentially. There's a real need for increased a number of dedicated courts. And I'm happy to report that I've had really good conversations with Christine Crosby, the recreation manager, who's considering a process of creating some stand alone courts at Ringstorf Park, but also, I mean, was involved with that, and then is also interested in exploring some options for some shared court facilities. We really appreciate that. The demand for pickleball is great. Palo Alto next door, where I play, has eight dedicated courts, seven temporary courts, and a really good shared use arrangement with tennis players that I'm hoping that we can explore in the near future in Mountain View to meet this very growing demand. And by the way, if there's any council members that would like to play pickleball, I'd be happy to do it, and you probably know how to get ahold of me. So I'd be happy to show you how. Thank you very much.

[00:18:06] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Cliff. Alex Brown.

[00:18:11] Alex Brown: Hey, I still don't believe the pickleball is a real thing. I'm pretty sure it's just an elaborate prank. I would like to echo Miriam's request. I also prefer to see gallery mode. I like to watch all of your beautiful faces as you deliberate and listen to public comments. So please make Zoom gallery. Thanks.

[00:18:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. There do not appear to be other, okay, one additional public comment. Um, Janine Baladez.

[00:18:49] Janine Baladez: Hi, I really would like to echo. Uh, prior to commenters on getting gallery mode. It's, uh, somewhat disconcerting to be talking to a city council and not seen who's actually there from a transparency standpoint. I would hope we would remedy that. Thank you for the time.

[00:19:10] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Seeing no additional members of the public wishing to speak, will proceed to the next item, 6.one legislative program priorities for 2022. The purpose of just study session is to receive council input on the proposed legislative program priority issues to guide the council's regional and state legislative advocacy during the 2022 legislative session. After the staff presentation, the council will answer the following question in turn. Are there any policy issues, priorities, or policy statements that counsel would like to discuss, seek further clarification on, add, or remove from the proposed 2022 state legislative platform? Assistant to the city manager, Christina Gilmore, Dane Hutchings, uh, managing director, uh, Rennie Public Policy Group, Insuring themselves as, uh, director of government affairs, Renee Public Policy Group, will present the item, but I believe our convention ordinarily is to take public comment 1st. So we'll take public comment. We'll, um, sorry, we'll, we'll do the theft presentation. We take public comment, and then, um, proceed to counsel questions and uh, deliberation. So, um, staff when you're ready, feel free to begin the presentation.

[00:20:30] Christina Gilmore: Thank you mayor. Good evening, mayor and council, Christina Gilmore, assistant to the city manager. As the mayor stated earlier, the purpose of the study session is to receive city council input on the proposed legislative program priority issues to guide the city's regional and state legislative advocacy during the 2022 legislative session. Joining me this evening are Dane Hudgings, managing director and Sharon Gonzalez, director of Government Affairs, from Rennie Public Policy Group, the city's legislative advocacy firm. Dane and Sharon will present the proposed legislative platform to the city council for discussion and input, after which staff and RPPG will be available to answer questions about the proposed platform. With that, I will now hand the next portion of this presentation over to Dane and Sharon. Thank you.

[00:21:23] Dane Hutchings: Good evening. Mayor and council. I am going to share my screen and you tell me if you're able to, see it. Let's see here.

[00:21:36] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Uh, I believe I can do.

[00:21:45] Dane Hutchings: Everyone, see this okay? Just anyone give me a thumbs up and I'll know we're in good shape here. Perfect. Thank you. Um, As Christina said, my name is Dane Hutchings. I the managing director with the ready public policy group, I am joined by my colleague, Sharon Gonzalez. Uh, I'm going to run through our initial presentation. Um, and then uh, Sharon and I are both here to answer any questions or provide any guidance as needed for the study session. Um, so, uh, just a quick introduction. I know we've met most of you all, but, um, again, Dane Hutchings, Cher Gonzalez, and then Jake Whitaker, who is not here today, but is part of your core team, uh, as the city is also uh, working with. We're also working with the city on grant writing services as well. And so, we're not only going to be looking out for funding opportunities within the state budget, but also really going to be working with your departments, uh, trying to seek both state and federal funding through grant programs. Um, just a real quick snapshot of what's happening right now, um, in the legislature, and so, um, there is, um, a ton of legislative turnover, uh, happening in the state folks are either running for Congress, or with, uh, redistricting happening. Folks are deciding the other night not to run or have been drawn out of their districts. Um, and so that is having a, uh, quite a quite a bit of an impact on some of the legislation that's been, uh, introduced so far. Um, we are also, uh, seeing, you know, the governor has proposed, uh, with his initial budget proposal in January, about a, uh, about a, really a $45000000000 surplus, although most of, uh, you know, about 200000000 of that has already, uh, been earmarked for prop 98 and other other obligations, so about 25000000000 in discretionary, discretionary, uh, uh, funds, that, um, you know, is really up for grabs for, for a host of, of things. Um, one thing of note that actually broke this evening. I sent the I sent a brief summary to Christina already. Uh, there will be an early budget action uh, item. Uh, this in the next probably couple of weeks on COVID response, um, with response, with, uh, extended paid sick leave, um, and some other, um, uh, issues around, um, uh, paying for, um, uh, testing and things like that. So I provided a quick detail on that, but actually moving the next couple of weeks. Also going to be seeing some budget items with respect to homelessness housing and retail crime. We have already seen 100s of pieces of legislation that have been introduced this session. We will likely see about 15 to 1700 more bills be introduced by February 18th, which is the bill, uh, legislative, uh, deadline for this year. So moving on to the main, main course here, our state legislative platform. Um, and so we are creating a robust set of policies uh, for engagement. Um. And so really, the point of establishing a state legislative platform is to allow, uh, staff, uh, your legislative team here to really quickly triage and assess when we see all of these measures getting introduced, uh, really allows us to say, okay, where's the city provided us guidance on issues of importance, and we take all of those measures and we really try to distill them down to something that, uh, is is much more easy for, uh, the city to be able to engage and respond to. Um, also provides a focus for uh, proactive council member engagement. Once the council agrees to a set of policies. Uh, then it's you know, it's much easier to move in a unified voice. And so, uh, it helps, um, it helps your team help you become better advocates, uh, for your city. It also allows us to quickly triage and uh, review, um, uh, you know, 1000s and 1000s of bills that introduce each and every year. And so, you know, given the platform structure and how many 1000s of bills we see each and every year, um, you know, we, we, we traditionally try to make these statements slightly on the broad side just to encapsulate so many different policy areas. Um, you know, platform statements are divided by issue area, but there may be some crossover. For example, there could be a, uh, uh, potential policy that touches in the transportation policy area, but also has implications in climate adaptation and resiliency. And so, you know, being able to look at, you know, different variations of your of your platform statements to make an informed decision is helpful because not all policy is very clear cut. Um, and so, you know, it really helps us, uh, find that balance. Um, we also like to advise our clients that we look at the platform as a living document each and every year. Um, uh, it is advised that the platform is, is evaluated. Do we need to make room for improvements? Uh, some things, in fact, um, what spurs some changes in, in, in each year in the platform, is that if, if the platform does not touch on a, on a specific policy and a, uh, council member or the city wants to engage on a, on a, on a bill, that the policy doesn't touch on, there's more of a deliberative process where you would have to potentially create a staff report, analyze the bill, take it to council for approval, um, and, uh, that, you know, may cost some delays, and so saying, okay, well, we'll do it this time, but then next year, let's add a policy statement that encaps some of that policy. So if something comes up again next year, we can be a little bit more nimble and engage quicker. And so we do we do plan on looking at this each and every year to refresh it, uh, uh, in advance of each of the legislative session. And so, through when we, um, uh, adopted, or when we created the platform, We really worked really hard to work with each one of your, of your department heads. And so over between November and January, we had about 16 individual meetings, where we walked through, not only met with, um, with most of the folks in the council, but also, uh, met with really every department head, uh, and actually had some follow-up meetings, uh, 2 additional standalone meetings, uh, with housing, and community development, understanding that that is certainly a huge issue for the city, uh, as well as with the city manager's office. And so RPPG, along with CMO staff, met, uh, with really all department heads to assess a variety of different factors that will jump into for about an hour apiece. And so we really took, um, quite a bit of time, meeting with folks, uh, then reviewing, reviewing the platform, uh, and refining those statements. And so, when we, um, when we met with folks, uh, really the, the, uh, the genesis of the meetings are really the, the, the theme, which I know all of you who we, we met with, you sort of heard the spiel a little bit, but, uh, you know, wanted to get a sense from each council member, what state policies have an impact on, on departmental operations, um, assessing major issues or projects or initiatives within the city that we wanted to get a better understanding about. Um, you know, a lot of times, you know, cities can be doing really fantastic things in their community and there can be a bill that, uh, can actually complement those efforts. We just want to try to align those things together. So having an understanding of what's happening. The city certainly makes us better advocates for you. Um, major policy uh, uh, areas of importance that we should be monitoring more closely analyzing more closely. Um, what are the critical funding priorities that the city is really looking to try in advance and how perhaps do those align with some of the state budget goals? So we can find some alignment there and we're working hard for you on that already. And, and then I think most importantly, how can we, your advocates, support the city in its advocacy efforts? And so trying to get each of your perspectives to see how we can be the best advocates for the city of Mountain View. And so the key takeaways, you know, really what we saw from the, what overlined both with what we were hearing from uh, departmental staff as well as members of the council. Housing, land, use, and homelessness, of course, uh, a huge issue for the city. Um, and really the theme that we heard was that. The city is doing really great things in these areas. We want to continue to try to be recognized as a state leader in addressing these housing needs, the things you're doing in homelessness as well is fantastic, and advocating for more ongoing resources to help support those great efforts that you were doing. Um, climate resiliency and adaptation, um, continue to lead the region, and innovative and solutions based approaches to GHG production and carbon neutrality. I'll tell you that is a goal that I know your state senator, Senator Becker, certainly, um, feels very strongly about, uh, and has has already established quite a reputation, uh, in that space. And so it's great to have that alignment with your state representative. Um, transportation, public works continue to seek opportunities to modernize transportation, connectivity, and advocate for funding to support the city's needs. Um, one thing that we were really impressed about was the community shuttle program that you that, um, you all are operating, uh, the fact that it's 0 emission, uh, battery powered. Uh, it's just really, really, you know, uh, uh, forward thinking and we were certainly impressed by that and we're looking to see, we can't help continue to keep that program going in perpetuity. Uh, so with regards to next steps, Christina, would you like to um, take it from here?

[00:30:46] Christina Gilmore: Great. Thank you, Dane. Staff city council input on the following question. Are there any policy issues, priorities, or policy statements that council would like to discuss, seek further clarification on, add or remove from the proposed 2022 state legislative platform? The next steps after this evening study session will be following feedback from the council. Staff will finalize the proposed legislative platform and bring the item back to the council for adoption on the consent agenda on February 8th. This concludes staff's presentation. Staff and RPPG are available to answer any questions. Thank you.

[00:31:29] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Christina and Dane. So we will 1st go to the public, and I will invite, uh, Senator Josh Becker to join us as a panelist, uh, and provide a presentation, and then, um, I believe also we have a presentation from Congresswoman Anna issues office, but we'll begin with you, Senator Becker. Thank you for joining.

[00:31:56] Senator Josh Becker: Okay, well, it's great to hear those priorities, and good to see the alignments. And, um, I promised, uh, uh, Council number Libra, I would only have 37 PowerPoint slides, uh, tonight, um, to share with you. But yeah, we'll just, you know, keep it brief just to say that, um, you know, we are aligned as, as was noted. You know, in generally, I see my legislative agenda for myself, my team. really focusing on 2 things. One is quality of life issues on the peninsula. Um, and then two, um, broad issues like climate where I think our region has to lead the state, which has to lead the country. Um, uh, which has in the world in many ways. Um, so, um, just to talk briefly about those, um, you mentioned housing and homelessness. It was really, uh, proud to work with Mountain View, uh, and securing money for the Lot 12 development, uh, last year, and we look forward to further partnerships and appreciate the council's leadership uh, there on home, and of course, on homelessness as well, with the, um, the, uh, the, uh, light news uh, project um, in the district, which is great in Mountain View, where the governor came. Um, and, uh, That was really pioneering, now we'll keep you up with people across the state. So we've allocated $14000000000 for homelessness last year and this year. That's a tremendous amount of money. And what we're working on now is the oversight of that to make sure that is deployed effectively and refer to working with you on that and getting your feedback. Uh, transportation of a fair integration bill, as, you know, if you follow seamless Bay Area, um, if you get more ridership, we have many different trans agencies and promoting fair integration, schedule integration, or 2 of those priorities, I'll have a fair integration bill, uh, this year, many other bills on education, other things that I think you will, um, you know, be really, um, interested in. And then on the other side, on the climate side, working on a really comprehensive climate package. This is just a critical year for leadership to come out of our state and working across the board in transportation and buildings in the grid, um, and other areas like ag and, um, industrial, like a favorite topic of cement, uh, cement and concrete. So, um, really appreciate um, your leadership. It helps me go back to Sacramento and say, hey, look, here's what's happening on the ground. Um, so they're happening in my cities, or it's happening through PCE, Pennsylvania energy, or sologotic the energy, and then helps me, uh, then advocate for more aggressive uh, policies. So appreciate what you're doing and look forward to being in touch.

[00:34:44] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much, Senator. Um, and now we will invite uh, Nicholas Hargis, uh, from Congresswoman SU's office to provide a brief presentation as well.

[00:35:00] Nicholas Hargis: Representative issue is humbled and grateful for the trust you have placed in her to represent you. He also appreciates that Mountain View will be participating in a briefing tomorrow with the national telecommunications and information administration on how best to distribute the broadband funding from the new infrastructure law. First, I'd like to start off with some accomplishments from 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act. The American Rescue Plan Act, secured over $15.60000 for Mountain View to respond to the virus and its economic impact and replace lost revenue to fund city services. It provided monthly checks of $250 to $300 per child to $27,800 households in California's 18th congressional district through the expanded child tax credit. They invested $93000000000 in pandemic response efforts to vaccinate more than 2000000 Americans in one year. And I'm sure many of us and residents have benefited from the Ranksdorf Park clinic that we're so proud of. Next I want to talk about the bipartisan infrastructure law. The bipartisan infrastructure law is the largest investment in public transit, water infrastructure and broadband in our nation's history. The Bay Area will receive $45000000 in guaranteed funding through formula grants and can compete for $1400000000 in competitive grants. The infrastructure law will support the electrification of Caltrain, which will take the equivalent of 5.5 lanes of freeway traffic off the road every hour. Next for priorities for 2022. First in housing. Representative issue has been a strong supporter of funding for programs like community development block grants. And the home investment partnership program to help develop new affordable housing. In the Bay Area and protect existing stock. Representative issue voted to increase funding for federal housing programs by $6.8 billion. The climate crisis. Representative issues supports policies to meet our commitments under the Paris climate agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. She voted for the build back better act, which is the largest investment in clean energy in history. Next voting rights. Representative issue voted for legislation to expand access to the ballot, combat voter suppression, and reduce the influence of money and politics. For legislation to make election day, a federal holiday, has passed the house, as part of this voting rights package. Finally healthcare. To build back better act, cast the price of insulin at $35 per month. Additionally, representative issue encourages all eligible Americans to get vaccinated and boosted and wear a high quality mask, as recommended by the CDC. He supports the Biden administration's effort. To provide 400000000 masks and 5000000 at home COVID tests. And if there are any questions, I'd be happy to connect counsel with our legislative team in DC so that they can clarify.

[00:38:46] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Um, so we will, uh, if Senator Becker, um, and you, Nicholas, are, uh, able to stay, um, you, you're welcome to, we'll take public comment. We'll return to council for questions and then once we've concluded the questions, we'll begin the deliberation. Uh, but 1st uh, I will now invite, um, members of the public to provide comment. Um, we will allocate 3 minutes. Uh, and we will begin with Bruce England.

[00:39:21] Bruce England: Thank you mayor. Uh, yeah, just a few quick comments. I had a question to start with. I'm wondering about the ongoing input process and what that will look like. Um, People in the public. Any council members might have some thoughts about what to promote and advocate for and lobby for right now, but then bills get introduced later on. And um, we might learn about them and want to provide input. And I'm not sure how best to do that. Should it just be letters, public comments, ask Mountain View. I think it would be good if there was some process for enabling that. And then in the various categories under environment, climate change and sustainability. Um, I'd like to ask for supporting legislation that would help Mountain View meet our tree canopy goals. Um, And those are called out for us. They're called out in the community tree master plan. And as far as we can tell, we're not meeting those goals yet, and that plan is going to be updated soon, and maybe those numbers will be even higher, and we can use help to meet that. And then under, um, Transportation and public works, any legislation that would help Mountain View develop slow and green complete streets be great, and also to support our ongoing active transportation goals. Thank you.

[00:40:49] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Both Chambers.

[00:40:55] Cliff Chambers: Uh, thanks. Mayor mayor Ramirez and members of the city council. I really commend staff and the consultants for developing a very comprehensive 11 page list of state legislative priorities. I would like to suggest an additional state legislative priority that would be something along the lines of support legislation and funding that facilitates the implementation of slow green and shared use street network in Mountain View. The pandemic has really been a catalyst for more opportunities for walking and bicycling in our neighborhoods. And recent legislation, such as AB 43, has enabled the reduction of the speed limit by five miles an hour, such as the 20 miles an hour, can now be the speed limit on designated neighborhood streets, AB 773, authorized local authorities to implement Slo Street program to close or limit access to vehicular traffic on certain neighborhood, local streets. Future legislation and funding opportunities should continue to be explored for additional tree canopy, as Mr. England just stated, on really a network of slow green streets that facilitates increased active transportation in Mountain View. I'd also like just to take a minute just to support the amendment that's in the list that you have of the Pedestrian Mall Act of 1960, that really needs to be updated in a streamlined process, that can be used for Castro Street, which has this, has very strong community support, and the process really does need to be expedited. Finally, I really support the priority for finding long term funding, for the community shuttle program, with frequent service throughout Mountain View to really give increased mobility options for Mountain View residents. Thank you.

[00:43:01] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Quiz, and, uh, you will be happy to know that a member of the council submitted the recommendation regarding the slow green and shared youth street network, uh, recommendation, um, in advance of the meeting and staff, uh, included the policy statement in the legislative platform. Thank you for the suggestion, uh, Tim McKenzie.

[00:43:25] Tim MacKenzie: Greetings, all, thank you for a moment to speak. With the new infrastructure bill that was passed in Mountain View, consistently being a leader and wanting to remain a leader, I'd love to make a plug for municipal broadband as a service that this is something we had the electrification of America with a new deal almost a century ago. Municipal broadband is a necessity in the modern world, as we've seen with the pandemic, and work from home, which will probably continue along. And Mountain View is the heart of Silicon Valley, we could be a leader on this. So would that be a great thing? And, um, AB 1400, um, Tealcare, healthcare for all, is coming up soon. That's something that I think the city should support, and would love to see my representatives that also love to see my federal representatives bring forward Medicare for all. I know that our representative is the chair of the Health Subcommittee. So that would be great to see too, because it would really help all the residents of Mountain View. Thank you.

[00:44:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Kevin Moth.

[00:44:39] Kevin Ma: Evening, city council. Um, I'd like to thank the council for providing many of the informative ideas on this platform, which are fundamentally good, such as defending the CSFRA, or encouraging more, um, Like I said, to assist finding alternative housing sources. Though I will say that the current wording of the arena portion seems more like a dodge against trying to build the housing, because it's about flexibility, and what counts. arena, but I also would like the council to perhaps, in the future, open up a broader discussion about the council policy, A 16 on local control. Inherently, and we're facing, obviously, with many items we see constantly on the consent calendar, that sometimes, uh, we do not have enough staffers to handle their work, you know? R3 has been delayed for a long time because it's not about snapping. We've had these projects, like bike lanes delayed, because we don't have enough staffing to do that. So, maybe at some point, we could revisit that and just determine whether that might be better handled at a separate level of government with more money, or, in the meantime, obviously, getting more money for us to provide local input, to make the output, something that everyone can semi agree on, at least. I also would like to pay the council for emphasizing for the community shuttle program, that the money should be going to operations. Inherently, while buying a bus is all, you know, ribbon cutting your eyes, but, you know, we need to pay the drivers to drive the bus, and given the nature of the shortage of transit workers, um, is needed more than ever. So, thank you.

[00:46:20] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Being no other members of the public. We will return to council for questions. What any member of the public Sorry, would any member of the council like to ask questions of either our panelists or staff or uh, any public policy group. Bye snare hit.

[00:46:44] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Well, I'll ask the question that some of the members of the public asked how they can participate. I assume that the answer might be some of the, the, uh, suggestions that they raise, like ask Mountain View or email a council person as a champion for that particular item. But, um, if I'm wrong, or if I, there are additional ways for the public to make suggestions, I'd like to hear about that. Thank you.

[00:47:16] Christina Gilmore: Thank you, Council member Hicks, um, for the for the question, and you are correct. Um, members of the public have multiple ways of, um, sharing um, legislation or um, advocacy on bills. One is, as you mentioned, through Ask Mountain View. Another is to directly contact members of the council or the council as a whole. Um, and another option would be for members of the public to attend council meetings and um, during the public comment portion of the meeting, they can raise the issue that they would like the council to consider.

[00:47:57] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Any additional questions by Mayor Hicks?

[00:48:02] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: No, that was it. Thank you.

[00:48:04] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Council member Mattis Jack.

[00:48:07] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thanks. Just one quick question on page 4 of attachment one. The 3rd point. Support efforts to maintain fiscal solvency, then it goes on. Um, Is that the city's fiscal solvency or Cowper's fiscal solvency?

[00:48:29] Christina Gilmore: Good evening, um, customer Amanda check, um, the intent behind the statement was to support efforts for the city's fiscal solvency with respect to uh, unfunded mention liabilities.

[00:48:42] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thanks. Very much.

[00:48:48] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Any other questions? Being none, uh, will begin the discussion, so, uh, just, uh, the benefit of the council, what I intend to do is, um, select, um, or create a catalog of all of the recommendations that members of the council bring up individually. Um, and uh, once we've finished our deliberation, all go back and we'll take a straw, um, whole for, uh, each of, uh, those items, um, and then I'll summarize everything at the end and we'll, we'll do a, a final straw motion to make sure we, uh, we have council consensus on, on all of the items. Uh, Senator Becker, uh, and Nicholas, thank you very much for, um, participating tonight. Um, you're welcome to continue to observe the meeting. Um, if you have to go, uh, no worries, but uh, thank you very much for, for, for joining us. Um, council member show Walter.

[00:49:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Well, 1st off, I'd like to thank the, um, the, the city staff and the new consultants that we've hired for this report, I really think that you've done a great job. And, um, I'm, uh, I'm very pleased with it. There was, however, one policy that I could not find in here that we need, that I think we need to add, and I hope, I think everyone else may agree with me because of what we just passed on the consent calendar. And that is on page eight, under environment, climate change and sustainability. I think we need a specific policy that says, support, um, funding and planning for sea level rise protections. I was not able to find that in here, um, so, let me know if it's somewhere else, but otherwise, I think we really need to add sea level rise protections, um, very explicitly. And, um, So that's my main comment, and thank you. I also would like to say, I really enjoyed our discussion. Um, uh, this song. I think it was this summer, um, about, you know, about the policies and how you were gonna work, and, um, I look forward to working with you in the future.

[00:51:10] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much, Council member Lieber.

[00:51:13] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, Mayor. Um, well, I'd like to go ahead and start with um, several labor related issues. And I'm looking at page 3 of the proposed platform. And, um, the 1st um, bullet point. Um, I'd like to make an amendment to say that we will monitor slash watch, measures providing for flexibility for local government in contracting. Um, My next one is at the top of uh, page four. Um, the 1st bullet point. Um, instead of opposed, um, monitor slash watch measures that reduce local control over employee relations issues or mandate newer enhanced local government employee benefits. On the 2nd um, bullet point. Uh, I'd like to change that. to monitor slash watch. Um, measures that provide uh, for compulsory and binding arbitration. Um, Under, uh, the 2nd to last bullet point, on page 4 on government transparency, um, rather than oppose, I'd like to monitor slash watch legislation that increases the cost of municipal elections through new requirements. Um... I have a couple of items that we, uh, refer to our community members living with disabilities. So on page 5, The 2nd to last bullet point. Um, support legislative or funding mechanisms that promote affordable housing projects to meet the unique populations of city residents. Including housing for people living with disabilities. Uh, on page six, I'd like to add an additional bullet point. Uh, to support funding for public health measures and expansion of healthcare services.

[00:53:42] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Council member, Libor, my apologies. I missed that one. Which item was that?

[00:53:48] Councilmember Sally Lieber: It was on page six. Uh, I'd like to add a new bullet point that would say support funding for public health measures an expansion of healthcare services. Um... On page 10? Under transportation and public works, under the 1st bullet point. I'd like to, um, When it says uh, enhancing uh, bicycle, pedestrian, and disability safety. And I think that those are all the ones that I have right now.

[00:54:41] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: So that that last one was uh, enhancing bicycle and pedestrian safety, and then I, my, I apologize, you said, and uh, And what was the addition?

[00:54:52] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Bicycle, pedestrian, and disability safety.

[00:54:56] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Ability safety. Ability safety. Thank you. trying to practice what I preach and I've, uh, complained about study session for a very long time and now my opportunity to try and do it the way I would like to do it. Uh, thank you very much. Thank you. Bye. You're next.

[00:55:18] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: So, I'm not as thorough with all the page numbers and so forth, but, um, under, uh, in the title of environmental, environment, climate change, and sustainability, I spoke with, um, some people from Carbon Free Mountain View, our community group in particular, uh, Bruce Carney. And he had some suggestions that I thought were good, and I'm going to add them in. By the way, these are from a, um, From a webinar that Aktera did on how we could accelerate the fighting climate change, which is available on YouTube, and I encourage everyone to watch. So the 2 items that I would like to add are the 1st is any action, most likely funding related to Caltrain electrification, because there's trouble with the funding at this point. Um, and the second one is legislation or funding relating to acceleration of heat pump installation in California, um, that may include training workers to install heat pump, HVAC, and water heaters, and actions to speed up and simplify permitting and building inspection. And that's just tremendously important for cities that are trying to accelerate their, um, their, uh, you know, fight to get down to net zero or as close as possible to that. And it could also mean a tremendous number of new jobs. So any funding for jobs, for training that whole realm of things. I also strongly support what people have said about slow, green, and, um, slow, green, complete streets. And then I also wanted to add the one that several members of the public have mentioned on any, I assume it would be any funding. I'm not thinking of legislation, but if there's legislation, I'd go for that too. But any funding related to tree canopy, expanding tree canopy for carbon sequestration or other purposes. So thank you. Those are mine for now.

[00:57:55] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Council member Robbie Kogo.

[00:58:00] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to our, um, staff and our, um, new, um, colleague of part of our staff, um, for, um, this, uh, platform. This is really, um, very extensive and I, um, I'm very appreciative of this. This is something that's been a long time in coming and I'm really glad to see it. Um, with that, I just had a couple of, um, additions that I wanted to suggest. Um, when I didn't see it, it would probably fall under public safety, um, but it would be to support legislation that strengthens gun safety. Measures. Um, the 2nd one is similar to council member Hicks's, um, suggestion. Um, I guess I was thinking a little broader, broader, um, regarding heat water pumps, but actually broadening it to, um, supporting legislation or funding, um, or expanded funding, and funding mechanisms for the electrification of existing buildings. And then the final one, I'm not quite sure how to, um, word this and, um, and it might be in here in different parts, but what I'm seeing at the regional level in particular, um, with what my work at MTC A bag is, um, an attempt to tie more string. I call them strings, of transportation funding, um, to, um, well, frankly, it's to housing policies. Um, and my, I understand the reasoning for that, but, um, you know, I think the, the, the danger of that is that, number one, our, our region, as I brought up before, is not getting its full share and adequate funding. And so I would, um, I would, you know, shy away from anything that ties our hands even more. Um, so I'm not quite sure how to say it, but, um, I guess it would be just to continue to, um, you know, support increased, uh, funding for transportation and particularly transit without, um, attaching additional requirements. to those friends. Thank you.

[01:00:22] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much.

[01:00:25] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Additional. Requirements.

[01:00:28] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: My apologies, I'm writing seriously. Council member Mattachek.

[01:00:35] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. I'm also writing seriously. Um, so I want to start by saying I really like that we now have a legislative platform. And I'm really hopeful that it leads to more influence on state legislation. Um, it's been something that we've needed for quite some time, so I'm really happy to see it come to fruition. But I must admit, I did not expect such a long platform. Um, and it's, I'm not gonna suggest adding anything or taking anything off because um, there's a lot of important topics here. Um, and I appreciate the additions and tweaks that folks have made. Um, I would also like to make a few tweaks, um, and that's to make the statements here consistent, um, with our council policy. Um, and in some instances, I feel like the wording isn't necessarily in alignment with our council policy. And, um, specifically, I do want to make sure we protect the city's financial position and our ability to, um, have a, to help have a great quality of life for residents here. Um, and so anything that would take away our ability to collect fees for things, like parks, or transportation impact, and those kinds of things. Um, I want to make sure that doesn't happen. Um, and along the same lines, um, I do want to maintain local control of lots of things. I think Mountain View's done a good job of planning, and while other cities might not have, you know, that's their problem. Um, but I think we've done a good job and I don't want to see that, um, undone or overridden, um, by state laws. So, um, It's, so for a lot of the things I'm gonna, um, suggest it's not necessarily that I, um, think the, the concept is, um, not correct. cases it, I think it is. It's just the initial wording of like support. To me, it would be more monitor for many things. Because we don't really know, at least I don't, what is being proposed. And, um, I would want to know the details to see whether or not it, you know, maintains our, um, cities finances or it maintains local control, consistent with our council policy. So, um, This is kind of a long list. Mayor Ramirez of 28 items. Where, um, I would change, um, support to monitor.

[01:03:31] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Um, I'm sorry to interrupt. I have, I think you and I share the same concern. Um, and that's fundamentally that we want to make sure that the council is able to provide input on a lot of these matters uh, rather than give that discretion to the mayor and city manager. Um, so, uh, we can do it your way. That works for me. I had, um, a suggestion for an approach, um, if the council supports that that would achieve a substantially similar objective. So, um, would you like to go through the list or um, see if, if maybe there's, there's another way to achieve the same goal?

[01:04:08] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: If there's another way. absolutely open to that.

[01:04:12] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, um, and my apologies again for the interruption. Were there any other, okay, anything else that you wanted to, um, recommend outside of that, that list.

[01:04:25] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: I guess the only, not when it comes to the list. Um, but I have a related suggestion. Um, and I can do that afterwards if you want me to.

[01:04:36] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Uh, sure. Yeah, I'll go ahead and share the suggestion, if the council supports it great, if not, totally okay. Um, then we can go through the list of 28 and and see where there's um, support from the the council. Um, I think, the, the concern I have, which I've shared with staff, and I, I, I appreciated the, the question uh, submitted in advance in the meeting, is there are certain things where there's a level of discretion or interpretation, and a different mayor or a different city manager may come to different conclusions. And it may not necessarily reflect the will of the council. Um, we, we want to prevent a scenario where, you know, I, I have strong views about certain issues. Other members of the council have different views. We want to prevent a scenario where just because the mayor is different. Um, you know, we, we, we end up sending letters or not in, in support of or in opposition to items that the full council really hasn't had a chance to weigh in on. Um, so the, the suggestion is that we grant that expedited review for 2 kinds of things. One is, so that would be the, the Marin city manager work together and submit a letter without counsel approval for, uh, legislation or regulatory measures that buy funding to the city. I think there's probably no instance where the council would object to us advocating for more funding or where, uh, the city is advocating for a power or authority that it doesn't currently have. So, for instance, we needed regulatory release to provide 247 safe parking, so we advocated, and the state granted, that authority to, uh, to the city. Everything else would go before the council, either as a package or individually um, on the consent calendar. So if, uh, the council or the public had concerns about something, then, um, there would be an opportunity for, for members of the council or public to speak to it and we can take things off if there, if there isn't consensus. That was the suggestion. And because I interrupted you, council member, Matchjack, I'll, I'll see if that's sort of consistent with your line of thinking or if you had a different approach.

[01:06:55] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I was concerned about us weighing in on every single topic. And, um, I want to make sure that our voice is not diluted by sort of, um, over contributing, so to speak, and sending a letter about everything, or talking to our representatives about everything. I feel like we really need to focus and to have uh, a good impact, um, on the things that are truly the most important to us. Um, so, I guess I don't disagree with what you said. Um, certainly funding is important. Um, and having authority to do things that we don't currently have authority to do. In principle, that sounds okay. Um, I'd have to think about that one a little bit to see if I could come up with an example where I wouldn't be okay with that. Um, I guess I wouldn't be okay with that if um, along with it came an unfunded um, obligation. Um, but that's in our council policy that says we don't support things that, uh, where it's an unfunded obligation. Um, but I do think it's important, um, to have the platform reflect, um, what we really mean. And so I still would like to change, um, the areas that say support to monitor, um, in almost, I guess I could say, in all those instances, except for funding, um, because I didn't cross those out as I was going through this, um, or, um, if it gives us, uh, the power or authority to do something we don't currently have. But I want the platform to reflect what we really mean. Um, and perhaps that's because sometimes I feel like we're not really careful about our words. And it creates confusion. Um, and miscommunication and misperceptions, um, especially, um, among our residents who were not part of this discussion. They might just be looking at the piece of paper. So I'm not sure. Do you want me to, I mean, I could say in general, um, and when this comes back to us, if there's any that haven't been tweaked, um, then we can address it then, um, or because in general, it is the ones that say support, should say monitor, unless it's funding or authority.

[01:09:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, thank you. Um, so maybe what we'll do is, um, uh, and uh, the council is invited to provide additional comments if you would like. Um, we can go through the other items, um, that were brought up before, do quick straw votes, um, and we can re, we can revisit this topic in sort of a broader way, the process by which we actually formally take a position one way or the other, um, because there might be other ideas, um, that, that, um, neither of us have, have articulated here. Um, any additional comments before I go through the list that I compiled, council member leader.

[01:10:13] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, mayor, just on the general topic of the value of having some affirmative support positions, is that, um, at times, the legislative process can move quickly. And if you're waiting for 2 weeks for a council meeting, you've therefore missed the window of opportunity to comment on something. And I think that if every, um, every bill has to come to council, even on consent, it, uh, it slows the process down greatly. And, um, I mean, there are things that we've identified that we are for through our goal setting process. And I think that this list is very much keyed off of our strategic priorities. And, um, the one thing about the legislative process is it starts on a particular date, and it does not stop moving. until the end of session. And, um, bills can fail in committee, they can fail in approbes, they can fail on the floor, and a letter coming in the week after does not help to make that a not dead bill. It's dead. And, um, many of the the items that we've identified as our strategic priorities are affirmative in nature. They are out in front, particularly in terms of the environment of where other cities are at. And I think that's the investment in effort that we've made. Um, so I, I definitely appreciate, uh, council member Manachek's comments, and I, in every meeting, I learned something different from council member Manachek. So it's good, and I do want to hear her 28 items. But I think that we have to have items that we are just for, and we can proceed at a staff level and get it out and get on with our lives.

[01:12:21] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: The manager.

[01:12:24] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, Mayor. Um, I would also ask that counsel consider as part of the discussion, the fact that sometimes staff does use the legislative platform to also communicate and advocate with the county. So, for example, we've had several things during COVID where we have turned around very quickly and sent in letters of support or somehow been able to talk about Mountain View's position, for example, distribution of free COVID tests, advocating for North County health center, mental health efforts that the county is trying to do for pilot projects. So, they may not necessarily fit in those neat categories. So I would just ask that you will consider the fact that sometimes we need that flexibility to turn around really quickly, to send letters to regional bodies as well. Um, and that would include the county. So it may not necessarily be, uh, state built, but we do use the legislative platform in general to really look at council's priorities as a whole and then reflect that in terms of, um, things that we need to turn around quickly.

[01:13:36] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Council member Medicheck.

[01:13:39] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yeah, I certainly, um, don't want to imply that, um, we miss opportunities by slowing things down and having it come to council. Um, when I said having it come back to council, I'm at the platform. Um, because that's coming back to us on consent calendar, and I would just give the general direction to staff to tweak it. Um, and there will absolutely be, from my perspective, items on here that say support. Um, it's just there's quite a few that I am worried that we don't know enough about what might be proposed, um, to outright support it. Um, and so there's a couple things we could do. Um, like, if we added to it to say, as long as it, you know, is funded and doesn't, um, impact local control, that's fine with me. Um, if that's an easier way and just provide that general direction. I'm good with that. And then we wouldn't have to go through the 28. Thanks.

[01:14:48] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: So, so actually, I can't remember Magicic, if you wouldn't mind repeating that one more time so I could include it in the list that I'll use for the straw bowls.

[01:14:56] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Sure. So for, um, the items where it says support. Um, take a look at those and, um, if needed, add that, um, we support it as long as, um, there, it's not unfunded, and it doesn't erode local control.

[01:15:19] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Perfect. Thank you very much. Council members show up.

[01:15:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I was just going to say that that I think a system we have works pretty well. There's there's enough checks. I think there's pretty good set of checks and balances. We have the city manager. Um, we have the, uh, legislative, uh, we have Christine Christina, um, who's been working with us on developing these. We have the consultants, and they get into the nuts and bolts of the legislation. Most of us aren't going to be able to do that with very few exceptions, and then the mayor is the final check. And, um, I just like to say, I think I think the system works. Um, and, uh, I think that timeliness of, um, uh, these things is very important. And I also think that sometimes in the letters, um, they're two piles, you know? There's a support and a pose. And then there's a, there's often groups that will support based on one or two things, and that, that gets into piles, but, uh, I still think that, um, to really be effective, we need to be fast, and we have a system that works. So I don't think we need to change it very much. Thank you.

[01:16:49] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: I'll share a couple of quick thoughts and actually a question for staff. Um, there was a question submitted in advance of the meeting regarding the value of developing a federal platform. And I know many public policy group, um, handles state matters, but, um, I would be interested in staff's thoughts about the value of, uh, creating a similar type of platforms that would apply to federal matters as well. Is that something that would be helpful to provide direction on tonight?

[01:17:24] Christina Gilmore: Yes, a mayor fest, the council's desire that they would like to, um, provide input on the development of a photo platform that that would be good to receive that input this evening.

[01:17:37] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Fantastic. Thank you. Um, and then sort of related to that. Um, one of my, 2 of the biggest takeaways from the U.S. Conference of mayors last week, uh, were, one, there's a tremendous amount of opportunity, and I think others have spoken about this already, uh, including the presentation we got from Nicholas from Congresswoman Eshu's office, uh, a tremendous amount of opportunity at the federal level, um, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and, um, and the funding opportunities that come out of that, as well as. assistance provided by a friendly administration of the White House. Um, and, uh, I, I do think it's, uh, staff may already be doing this, but to the extent, it's, it's value, valuable for the council to say this is a priority for us as well, to make sure that we're dedicating some amount of resources to, uh, evaluating those opportunities, doing the deep dive there, and then working with, um, with the, the White House and and our congress members and senators to, to take advantage of that. Um, is that something that could be incorporated into a federal platform? Is there any value in providing direction tonight? Regarding those issues. Are you already doing that?

[01:19:04] Christina Gilmore: So, uh, mayor, let me see if I can, if I understood your question. So, in addition to providing input on a, um, federal platform, you're asking if we can also incorporate that that we will monitor federal issues? Is that was that was your question?

[01:19:22] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Um, more specifically, um, dedicating resources to seeing what funding opportunities can benefit Mountain View, for instance, in the bipartisan infrastructure law, and then also dedicating resources to reaching out to, uh, various, uh, departments, uh, and any federal agency or entity that could provide technical assistance. If there's, um, you know, any question about whether we're eligible for some funding or if a particular project, you know, um, may be eligible for, for, um, some, some federal opportunity.

[01:20:06] Christina Gilmore: Yes, and so. Oh, I was gonna, if I could, if I just could add mayor, um, that is part of our contract with Renny, um, public policy group that, as part of the grant, um, portion of their contract, they will, um, assist us with identifying both federal and state funding, um, that would align with the city's priorities.

[01:20:28] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: City manager, did you want to add to that?

[01:20:30] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes, thank you, Mayor. Thank you, assistant to the city manager, Christina Gilmore. I really appreciate that answer. That's exactly what I was going to say. Uh, yes, part of uh, what um, our PPG is going to help us with the seeking grant opportunities. So some of those might be federal opportunities, others might be state, but more specifically to your question. Staff is very aware of all of the opportunities now that I've just come out of the infrastructure bill. Certainly ARPA, all of the different funding streams that not only we are getting information from our PPG about, but also the League of California cities, our financial officers, statewide group, even the statewide city managers group. There are emails and information sessions coming fast and furious about the different opportunities. So staff will be taking a deep dive into this and certainly working with our PPG on it. So, I don't think it would hurt if you will want to just add some sort of statement saying that we will work with our PPG on any federal opportunities available as part of the federal infrastructure bill, um, or any other funding that's available. And a lot of those monies come flowing through the state anyways. So it's not that we would be going right to a federal agency. Um, so I think we can certainly add something uh, related to that and then go from there.

[01:21:53] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Great, thank you. That's very encouraging. Um, so, uh, we'll take some final comments. I'll go through the, um, uh, the items that, that, we've come up with and then if there are any final remarks, I'll, I'll return to the council. Council member, I'll be Koko.

[01:22:11] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, here. Um, I just wanted to go back and I guess my understanding or my perception of this platform was, although it does say state and that's our focus, but, um, as city manager mentioned, there are things that will come up at the, you know, local level, county level, the regional level and federal level. And I, my thought was that we use this platform as our guideline and, you know, deciding how what kind of positions we take at any level of government, um, so I know that there was a question about the federal, a federal platform. Um, I'm all for creating one. Not sure how much more different it would be than what we have now. But to me, this was like the baseline of what we would reference when we are taking positions or seeking funding at any level of government things. You

[01:23:07] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: and city manager, did you want to respond to that? And still up.

[01:23:12] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Apologies, mayor, council member. I still had my hand left up, getting back into the Zoom environment. Um, I think we can certainly incorporate that, um, just the federal, the, the federal priority, as I mentioned, will include those, um, pieces of legislation that we know about. And yes, we would use our platform as a launching point for all the other advocacy efforts as well.

[01:23:37] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very good. Council member.

[01:23:39] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, Mayor. I think that sounds great, what the city manager has mentioned. And, um, we used to have a federal uh, list of priorities that related to Moffat Field, uh, to the Bay, uh, to our toxic situation. Uh, definitely to sea level rise, and and perhaps we could bring that back so we don't have to really noodle around in it as much tonight. Thank you.

[01:24:08] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Comes to member Mediche.

[01:24:10] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I was going to bring this up later, but we're kind of talking about it now, and that is, um, you know, since we have a platform. Um, you know, all of us are on regional boards, and, um, I, I don't know if we need to put this in the council policies and procedures or what, but I think when we are on those regional boards and that board is taking a position that, um, our position or our vote on it should be in alignment with whatever this policy is. Um, And so I don't know if we need to put that in words in our policies and procedures, but, um, we could refer that to the CPPC to just write down. Thanks.

[01:24:57] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. And then, um, just a question for staff, is that something we can take on to the context of this item or what you prefer for that to return as, um, part of, uh, item nine.

[01:25:16] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, Mayor. So I would uh, suggest that this item, if it's a change to council policy, that we would update the council policy, and then it would go to the CPPC, should council want to? So you can also make that as one of your straw poll votes, and then if counsel wants to do that, then we can make sure that it's moved forward in that way. But I certainly think it can also be incorporated as part of what you will do in terms of the regional boards that you serve on and making sure that your votes that you take are aligned with our platform. So, both you can do it in the platform and also if you want to actually put it in the policy itself. It would have to go to the CPBC.

[01:26:04] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Great, thank you. So then I will include it, um, in this, uh, list of items for straw motions. Um, any final thought? Okay, so, uh, I'll try and uh, be as clear as I can. Uh, the 1st um, recommended change was to, uh, add, uh, support for funding, um, and I think advocating for regional planning for sea level rise protections, is their support for that. Raise our hands and that is unanimous. Then the next one is uh, change the, I think, um, it's a support position. For, uh, the 1st item, the administration finance and human resources and risk management item, uh, support maximum flexibility for local government and contracting, the recommendation is to change that to monitor and watch, is their support for that. That's unanimous. Um, Similarly, change from support to monitor and watch for, uh, legislation that promotes efforts, uh, I'm sorry, uh, this is uh, measures that reduce local control on, uh, employees relations. Um, and that's the 1st item. Um, and uh, on page 4 and my apologies, that's currently opposed, it would be changed to monitor and watch. Or for that. Also unanimous. Um. And then there's the imposed compulsory or a binding arbitration that's currently opposed that would be changed to monitor and watch. support for that. That's also unanimous. Thank you. Um, monitor and watch, uh, this is related to cost of municipal elections. Um, I think that is on the bottom of page 4, it's currently opposed legislation that increases the cost of municipal election through a necessary new requirements, change to monitor and watch their support for that. Unanimous. Thank you very much. Um, or, uh, the, uh, item towards the bottom of page 5 support legislative or funding mechanisms that promote affordable housing projects to meet the unique populations of city residents, the recommendation was to add, including housing for people with disabilities, is their support for that. Unanimous. Um, I might need your assistance with this one council member lever, so there was a recommendation to add, um, support funding for, um, uh, public services or an expansion of public health services. Is that an accurate?

[01:29:18] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Is support funding for public health measures and expansion of healthcare services.

[01:29:26] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, support for that recommendation. Unanimous. Thank you. Um, and then uh, page 10. Uh, where uh, under transportation and public works, that 1st bullet point. Um, enhancing bicycle and pedestrian safety, and the request was to also include disability safety as their support for that recommendation. And that is unanimous. Thank you. Um, we're almost halfway done.

[01:30:04] Councilmember Sally Lieber: On that one?

[01:30:04] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[01:30:05] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Just real quickly. I feel like maybe there's a little bit better wording on that one. Um, And I'm not sure what it is, but, um, disability safety sounds just kind of odd to me. Maybe it's um... Uh, including safety, with disability? For people with disabilities or something like that, just to make it. Yeah, thanks.

[01:30:28] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, no problem. And I think, um, the the broad direction to staff would be to, um, modify the wording as they deem appropriate. Um, so if, if, if there's a reason to not include this, literally, that's okay. It's just the, I think we're trying to add the spirit of the idea. Um, a recommendation to add support for um, additional funding for Caltrain electrification. The support for that recommendation. Unanimous. Um, Support, so another recommendation to add support for, um, so I think, council member, obviously, um, had a more comprehensive version of this, so support for, um, I, I, I think this would be funding, um, if there's anything else, let us know for the electrification of existing buildings. Support for that. Go ahead.

[01:31:25] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: It's gonna just, it is funding and funding mechanisms, so. That would just be a minor edition.

[01:31:33] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Oh, that's okay. Funding and funding mechanisms for, um, like, so, um, vice mayor, so I'll go to you in a 2nd but to support that recommendation. Funding and funding mechanisms for the electrification of existing buildings. Um that is unanimous. Thank you, Vice Mayor Hicks.

[01:31:52] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: And then anything to add to this, a lot of it may include workforce training. So anything related to also funding or mechanisms for workforce training related to electrification.

[01:32:06] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, perfect. Support for that recommendation? Unanimous? Um, We, I think staff had already indicated that they were comfortable adding the slow green complete streets item that, uh, Mr. Chambers had to recommend, uh, recommended. But just to confirm, is their counsel support for that recommendation as well? And once again, I think that's unanimous. Council member of Yoko, do you support that as well? There you go. I thought so. Um, and uh, support, uh, funding or funding mechanisms, um, for tree canopy expansion, for carbon sequestration, support for that. That's unanimous. Um, strengthen, uh, support for, uh, measures that strengthen, uh, sorry, support legislation that would strengthen gun safety measures, support for that recommendation, that is unanimous. Um, so, so this one, um, staff might need to, to think about, um, some specific wording for, but to support funding for transit without attaching additional requirements. Um, council member, does that, to your recommendation?

[01:33:22] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I think so. I think that's um actually. They brought in brought that, it'll satisfy a lot of concerns, things.

[01:33:32] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Fantastic. So support for that recommendation. That is not unanimous, but it's 5 to one. Um. Then, um, So, uh, support for this is my recommendation about, um, uh, adding a, a federal platform, but I think council member Avikoga had suggested that we use this platform as the basis to include federal batters. I okay with that. Is there support for, just to be clear, that we're on the same page, is there support to use the state platform also to cover federal matters? There's unanimous support for that. Um, Council member, Mattachek had recommended that we refer to the CPPC, um, consideration of an update to the council policy to require that a council member serving on a regional board should vote, um, on, uh, a, uh, a legislative matter in a manner that is consistent with our platform. Uh, city manager. Did want to speak to that?

[01:34:35] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes, thank you, Mayor. App appreciate it. So, um, in thinking further about just the process, it may be easier if counsel wishes when we bring back the platform next month on consent. We could actually bring back the legislative policy itself and just include those one or two sentences that make sure that you are in alignment, you know, when you're on your regional bodies voting. That way, we can just include that with the platform, and it's much easier, I think, for council and for staff. So if that works for you, that would be my suggestion.

[01:35:08] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Or for that. Recommendation. Raise your hands, one, two, three, four, 5 that appears to be unanimous. Um, thank you. Council member show Walter. You want to speak to that?

[01:35:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, it seems like on, you know, we have slightly different roles when we serve on regional boards. Sometimes we represent, we serve on regional boards as a Mountain View City council member, and sometimes we serve on regional boards, um, from another, uh, uh, appointed process. Sometimes we're assorted, appointed by A Bag. I'm I'm appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, the BCDC. So, you know, I can't imagine, um, a time when there's been something that's come before BCDC that was at odds with the Mountain View, um, uh, these Mountain View legislative goals. But at the same time, you know, my charge is is to take a regional viewpoint. And I would think that that would be similar, in a sense, when Margaret serves on MTC. You know, that there would be very few instances where she... Well I don't know. I shouldn't put words in your mouth. But, um, but I just, you know, I, I, I wonder if, if, again, this isn't something that, uh, is appropriate for us to use our best judgment on as the situation arises. I mean, certainly, this would be a valuable guidance to all of us. But do we really think it's necessary to put this in the council policies or not? Uh, I, I just, I question that.

[01:36:52] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: I'm the member Robbie Coca.

[01:36:55] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Aaron, thank you, Council member, Show Walter, for bringing up that point. Um, I guess my init- my thought was, um, it kind of depends on where the vote is gonna be taken. So, um, you know, for example, I serve, um, I'm at the point to MTC from the city's association, but usually the city's association will take positions on, you know, certain pieces of legislation, and so, when that vote is being taken, I guess I would use, you know, mountain, I would represent Mountain View and use our platform. But if the city's association vote ends up being different from, you know, my initial vote as a Mountain View rep, then I do feel compelled to represent the city's association with MTC. So, I, yeah, so I, I, I would like, think, I think we do need to clarify that. Like, I don't feel like I can continue to represent, you know, take the mountain view position if it, if the city's association position is different. Yeah, because that's who's appointed me to that, to MTC.

[01:38:07] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: I think just as a matter of process, if the council is comfortable with revisiting the policy, we don't have to make that determination tonight, but simply to refer it. It sounds like bypass CPP return to the council with that update. And if the council wants to make adjustments to the language at that time, um, we're, we're able to do so. Is everyone comfortable with that? for the process. So that way we don't have to make the determination tonight. Um, So, so then, uh, all, the direction would be to return to council with, um, an update to the council policy, and then, if the council is dissatisfied with the language, we can, we could figure it out then, city manager.

[01:38:53] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, Mayor. So just to clarify, uh, what I was suggesting to make it easier before, um, heard the straw poll vote was to bring the update to that policy back with this platform when it comes back to you well next month. So we would include councils already adopted legislative policy, and we would include a sentence or two about, you know, your voting in alignment with the city platform on your regional bodies. If you're suggesting that you want to talk about this further then, as opposed to simply doing that update, then I do suggest a go to CPPC. So it really depends on your comfort level of, you know, whether you're okay with it moving forward and adding another sentence or two, which is more simple than just having a longer conversation about your regional bodies, which should go to CPPC. So I would ask that you make that determination.

[01:39:53] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: I'm some member of Medic check.

[01:39:55] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I'll clarify, um, it was my intention to say when you're representing Mountain View. You are in alignment with the platform, not when you're representing a different group. Um, and so that would be what I would be looking to have in the council policies.

[01:40:16] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, but, but, everyone, so with, with the, um, the addition from the city manager, is everyone comfortable with, with the proposed approach or do you feel there's a need for additional discussion and it would be more appropriate to refer to the CPPC? So currently, we've directed staff to come back with the legislative platform adoption in February. Do we still feel that that's appropriate?

[01:40:45] Unknown Speaker: Mhm.

[01:40:45] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, so then we're not changing that direction. We're not going to refer it to CPBC. Um, The manager, do you want to add anything else? Your hand is still up. Okay. Um, and then the last item, um, is, uh, change where it says support in the platform. Um, add a clarifying language that it would be support as long as it is not an unfunded mandate and it does not erode local control. Comes to memory matter check.

[01:41:19] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I, I just want to add, it's not every single instance where it says support. Um, because, um, I agree there are some things on here, like, I just happen to be open to page 11 at the moment. Um, support legislation that preserves net neutrality. That doesn't need any qualification. Um, so it's the ones where it might need qualification about, um, something being an unfunded mandate, or it erodes local control.

[01:41:49] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, I guess I I would say we could leave that up to staff to interpret that and come back to us, and if we have additional tweaks, when this comes back to us, we'll pull it from the consent calendar and talk about it.

[01:42:05] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Uh, thank you, Mayor. I just want to, um, uh, caution counsel and and staff and the consultants, um, about making a major part of our message, local control. I think there's a common sense side, um, to local control, but it's become, um, such a mantra within the process that, I think it does cause, um, uh, individuals to then close their ears to the rest of the message. And, um, so I I want to make sure that our priorities are really, uh, the thing that that shines through. And, um, Uh, and I, I, I think that, um, If there is a major issue as far as local control, maybe we could bring that back to council, but not make local control, the overarching message in, in Sacramento, um, in Washington, because I think you get, you end up with less for your community by, um, bringing up that catchphrase. Thank you.

[01:43:20] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: So I think that the direction would be, um, allow staff, the discretion to interpret that sentiment, and I think it's it's understood that we're, we're intending this, I think, to apply where there might be some, uh, substantial impact to the city that we're, we want to avoid. Um, but if, if the council's comfortable with giving staff that discretion, then when the final products returns in February, we can make modifications as, as we see fit. Um, so is is that recommendation supported by the council. 123. Okay, so 4 to 2 I believe. Um, uh, so, um. That's everything on my list. Did I miss anything? Are there any final remarks before we conclude this item? Okay. Seeing none. Thank you very much, staff and um, Dane and Sharon. Um, I appreciate your patience. Um, but I think what we, what we all agree is we have a, a strong foundational document and I think it's just important to make sure that we sign. Council consensus on these items before we, uh, we give the discretion to the Marin city manager to, to proceed, um, with, with the advocacy. Okay, um, thank you very much. Uh, we will end. Um, item. Point one and then move to item 8. school resource officer program update. Assistant city manager, uh, and Chief Operating Officer Audrey, uh, Ramberg will present the item, police chief Chris Chung, and police, police Captain Michael Canfield will be available for questions. So we will start with the staff presentation. We'll take counsel questions. We'll go to public comment and then we'll return for deliberation. Um, so, um, uh, Audrey, uh, Chris, uh, begin when you're ready.

[01:45:28] Assistant City Manager Audrey Ramberg: Thank you. Good evening, counsel. Um, I am pleased to be joined by Chief Shung and Captain Canfield. I'm the current co-liaison to the public safety advisory board following the transition of our principal analyst, Melvin Gaines, to another agency. Um, and, um, I will be presenting tonight and they will be available for questions, um, as needed. Um, in June 2021, the council referred to the P stab, um, a review of the school resource officer or SRO program. This was, um, in response to community concerns, um, regarding, um, racial justice and police reform, which included some concerns about police officers at schools. The purpose of this item is to report back on the PCAV's work and seek council direction on staff's recommendation for how to use the PCAV's input, to improve the program, build on its strengths, and address the concerns. I'd like to thank and commend the members of the peace app for their dedication and thoughtful undertaking of this rather challenging task. My presentation will cover highlights of the PCAB process and staff report, starting with some brief background about the SRO program. Um, I'll summarize the findings, the rather the process and the findings of 5 months of PSAB work, uh, which involved the creation of a subcommittee, um, discussion at 3 public peace sub meetings, and engagement of many people from the Mountain View school community. It's important to recognize right up front that there are, um, different personal experiences and deeply held um, feelings um, on this topic. And, um, those perspectives may vary depending on whether or not a student or family was directly assisted by the SRO program, um, by other experiences with policing or any number of other factors. Um, while a unanimous viewpoint is not likely. We did through this process work in good faith to identify areas of strength and concern, and then develop suggestions for how to move forward in a way that improves the program that clarifies and documents our intentions and our best practices. Um, this um, effort resulted in 11 recommendations by the public safety advisory board, um, uh, which staff then reviewed for feasibility and identification of the most effective way to achieve the recommendations. In the 1960s, the um, cities, police department established its 1st dedicated youth position, seeing this as a best practice um, in policing, for gang prevention, and for other youth um, related public safety matters. This evolved into the current youth services unit, or YSU, of which the SRO program is a part. SROs used an approach that emphasizes mentoring and building relationships with youth, providing enrichment opportunities, collaborating with families, and teachers and counselors at the schools, um, nonprofit and community resources. Um, in order to, um, uh, better meet needs, and to address, um, and prevent and address criminal behaviors as they emerge before they emerge and in ways that, um, avoid involvement in the criminal justice system. SROs are um, carefully selected for their passion and um, for assisting youth, and are, um, and their ability to be effective in this role, and they receive, um, special training, um, to, uh, participate in this coveted assignment. The piece have appointed a three person subcommittee that worked with the two staff liaisons from June to November of 2021. They met with staff from schools. In addition, I met with the superintendents of both of the school districts. Um, they met with parents, and that included, um, for example, parents from Cafecito and Castro and Mist, um, Castro and Mistral schools. They met with community groups, which included the Mountain View Coalition for Police Performant Accountability and Justice Vanguard. Um, they wrote a survey, um, that was translated into English, Spanish, sorry, written in English, translated into Spanish, Mandarin, and Russian, and then distributed by the school districts to high school and middle school students, um, as well as their parents and teachers. Um, if surveys were returned from students or teacher or parents who were not from the classes of 2018 to 2021. Their responses were not included in the results. The subcommittee met with staff multiple times to discuss the input from these meetings and from the survey. And with that, they identified themes that then were used to develop recommendations.

[01:51:13] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Audrey, I'm sorry to interrupt. So I I didn't realize that we had Spanish interpretation, uh, for this item, uh, and uh, I should have invited the Spanish interpreter um, to uh, share that with the public. Um, is it okay if I uh, allow the interpreter an opportunity to speak? My apologies.

[01:51:36] Assistant City Manager Audrey Ramberg: Absolutely.

[01:51:36] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: And we will now hear for, uh, from our interpreter.

[01:51:42] Spanish Interpreter: Look, can you hear me?

[01:51:44] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[01:51:45] Spanish Interpreter: Okay, perfect. Is that tendremos interpretación disponible, sigala syndicación se la pantalla del zum, para teneri interpretación selecione idiomma que corresponda? Selecion el icono de interpretación con non globo en la parte inferior de la pantaya. Selecione Lidio Español, y si tien alguna pregunta tamie puede elevantar las mano, gracias.

[01:52:08] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you.

[01:52:09] Assistant City Manager Audrey Ramberg: Thank you, mayor. No worries. Thank you. I think that might have been Elena. Um, so I was just about to talk about the participation in the survey. Um, it was completed um, by 137 students, most of whom were from high school. Um, and of the 103 high school students who, um, the largest percentage were, um, identified themselves as white, and that was 34 students or 37%. That was followed by Asian or Asian American students, which was 30 or 29%, 30 students, 29%, followed by, um, 20 um, Hispanic or Latino um, students, which is 19%. And then 6 students who identified as black or African-American, and that was 6%. And there were 10 students who did not answer the question regarding race and ethnicity. Um, for middle school, of the 34 students, the largest number, um, that uh, answered the question regarding race ethnicity were Hispanic or Latino, and that was 11 students were 32%. Followed by Asian or Asian American students, which was 9 students at 26%, the same amount for um, white students, and then um, one, black or African-American student from middle school. Students answered questions about their experience with and perceptions about the SRO program. When asked about their feelings of having, um, SROs on campus, for the middle school students, the largest percent provided a response that they were neutral about it. That was 43%. And then there were 30% who were positive or very positive and 27% who were negative or very negative. For middle school students, The largest percentage relates to those who gave a positive or very positive rating. That was 54%, with 37%, neutral and 9% negative or very negative. When asked what services by SROs, um, uh, were valuable to have on campus, um, 19% of the high school students said, uh, and 12% of the middle school students said that they should not be on campus. Um, this level of negative responses as well as the neutral responses really indicates the need for greater awareness of the SRO program and, um, changes that would address the, um, the negative perceptions and that opportunity to improve. As you can see here, the vast majority of parents, um, support, um, who participate in the survey support the SROs at schools. Um, the piece have subcommittee met with staff to identify themes from all of this input, with the most widespread theme being that, um, there is a lack of awareness of the SRO program, um, and or, um, a lack of clarity about what it is that SROs do, um, even from those who know about the program. Important feedback was also shared, um, about some students' discomfort, with armed officers being on campus. And I think that's especially the case if the purpose of them being there is not clear. Um, concern that students of color have been, uh, treated with bias and discrimination. And also a sense that there are negative repercussions for students who are interviewed or searched, um, in view of their peers. Um, another theme, um, was that SRO time at high schools, would be, um, better spent if it were more structured, which would be more effective in, uh, relationship building with youth, and also less likely to result in, um, misperceptions, um, or discomfort. The Peace Have subcommittee, um, at 1st developed 7 recommendations, um, in response to that input, which were presented to the Peace Ab at its November 18th meeting. There was considerable public comment and deliberation by the PCF members. And, um, ultimately the group adopted 11 recommendations. uh, that, um, are listed on the slide with shortened titles. Um, and um, these are more fully stated in table one of the staff report, um, on page eight. Um, in follow-up, uh, to that November 18th meeting, staff assessed each of these recommendations to understand the administrative operational and fiscal feasibility, um, and also talked with the 2 school superintendents and heard their um, general support, um, for these recommendations. Staff determined that some of the suggested actions would be best accomplished through, um, a memorandum of understanding our MOU, um, which is, um, at a policy level, um, providing direction while many changes in actions, uh, could be implemented at an administrative level by staff. The breakdown of the P sub recommendations into those categories of MOU and um, and staff level, um, is shown in table 2 of the staff report, which is on pages uh, 14 and 15. And then these next 2 slides, I will briefly go over that, that kind of summarize those different policy MOU level, um, actions that, uh, carry forward the P step recommendations and the next slide will, um, will look at the, um, recommendations that would be carried forward in an administrative manner. Um, so, uh, this uh, recommendation is to develop and execute MOUs with the high school and Mountain View Wisman, um, elementary school district, and that this would include, um, uh, responses to the majority of the P SAB recommendations by clarifying responsibilities for either the city, the schools, or both related to communication related to annual reporting and also related to creation of a student input process. Um, the MOU would also include a list of goals, um, the program types, and guiding principles, um, which would address a lot of the sensitivities that were, um, communicated during the input process, um, uh, discomfort with police, uh, as well as the emphasis on planned activities and calls for service when, um, at the high school campus. So, um, in addition to the MOU staff is recommending that we create um, a procedure manual for the services unit, and that this would address, um, nearly all of the P sub recommendations and, um, further defining them, including those that were also addressed at a policy level in the MOU. And this relates to the things on the screen that you can see regarding communication methods, annual reporting, um, metrics, um, coordination, uh, collection and coordination of suggestions and concerns, quarterly reporting of complaints, um, development of specific programs, um, and other items that you see here on the screen. So the staff recommendation is that you receive this update, which you you did through the staff report in my summary presentation, um, and any follow-up discussion you wish to have about it, and also that you direct direct the city manager to execute MLUs with the high school and the Mountain View Lisbon school districts, um, based on the key terms, um, that are, um, in table 3, um, of the staff report, which is on pages 16 and 17. Um, this slide lists the general categories of terms that have been, um, proposed by staff as, um, the starting point for the MOUs, uh, and these, um, are in, um, as I mentioned on table 3, And they reflect the input from the PCM process as well as terms from the former MOU that, um, had been in place between the city and the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School district. And while I do have slides that list the specific proposed key terms in each of these category areas. I'm not going to go through those in the interest of time, but they're available during your deliberation, should you wish to visit any of those broad categories or any of the specific terms, to discuss, ask questions, or suggest, make suggestions. Um, so with that, um, that concludes staff's presentation, and I am happy to answer questions, um, and also, um, refer questions to our 2 police chief representatives.

[02:01:38] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much for the presentation. So we will turn now to the council for questions, and then once we're done with that, we'll move to public comment. Council member Leaver.

[02:01:46] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Um, an issue that I'm really struggling with is in understanding how the security functions are separated out from the socialization, recreation, leadership building kinds of things. So I don't know how to interpret the reaction of parents versus the reaction of students. Because I think that it, it makes sense that a very high percentage of parents would want to have the security needs taken care of. Um, but it seems that there's a, a disparity of opinions among students, um, And definitely in the narrative sections of of the input that the PC have gathered. Um, so, I don't know exactly, uh, if we're still on a hunt for what the objectives of this program are, Um, and I'm a little bit concerned that we would try to figure ourselves out during the MOU process without further direction. So how should how should counsel be interpreting this? How are those functions kept separate? And what is the purpose of the program overall?

[02:03:19] Assistant City Manager/Chief Operating Officer Audrey Seymour Ramberg: I'm happy to provide a 1st response to that, and then, um, Chief Shung, um, can speak more specifically to, um, kind of the the program as it operates on the ground. Um, but from a purpose standpoint. The purposes of the program are both. They are to provide enrichment, um, opportunities and mentoring, um, for kids who are at risk of, um, uh, gang involvement or other types of behaviors that are, um, you know, not a path towards their best outcomes and that their parents are concerned about or that have resulted in, you know, potentially all the way up to criminal behavior, but the, the effort is to, to get to that point sooner. And, um, and so there are, there's definite engagement of, of, of kids, um, in those kinds of activities and opportunities. Um, in addition, um, uh, the, Establishing officers who are specifically selected and trained, um, for their ability to connect with youth and having them engaged with youth in a, um, structured setting where there aren't, um, uh, criminal behavior issues, allows for the kinds of dialogue, um, and relationship building that can, um, positively influence, um, police and youth, um, relationships, um, which have, uh, I think, um, outcomes that are perhaps, uh, a little bit less immediate and tangible, um, but, but still, um, beneficial for, um, the youth and for, uh, um, the school community. Um, and I'm gonna, uh, you know, I can also point to, in the staff report, the purpose and goals of the program. I don't know that we're still kind of searching for those. We do have, um, uh, a list and this is, um, gleaned from the, the, uh, the way that the program currently and has been operating as well as the MOU that, um, was previously in place with the high school district, and those, um, goals and purpose are to create a safe and secure school environment. Um, to um, prevent or reduce juvenile delinquency. to reduce referrals to criminal justice system, and to have positive engagement, um, and relationships between the police and students. So, um, Chris, can you, um, uh, augment what I've been providing?

[02:06:13] Police Chief Chris Hsiung: Thank you, Audrey. Good evening, council members. Chris Chung, police chief. Um, I guess I, the best way to fill in the blanks there would be to look at the past, um, and how we've operated in the schools, and, uh, and this goes back decades, and it's, the majority is a relational purpose, um, and much the same way as maybe, uh, a detective, their main duty is to do follow-up on cases, but as, there, there, they are a police officer at the same time if they see something when they're down the street. They still have some duties. So in the school setting, the main purpose of our SROs is to develop relationships, not only with the students, but their parents, their families, siblings, as well as school staff. Um, it is not so much of a security guard role as, uh, we we don't patrol the hallways per se and and do any sort of, um, you know, mandatory checks on, and that you may hear about in other, uh, parts of the country where there's metal detectors. This is very much based on relational. both to kind of identify, potentially at risk youth, to just provide a mentoring relationship. And a lot of it behind the scenes is planning for the various events that take place over the course of a year. Um, and these are events that you may have heard of, cops to care, cops and gobblers, um, pal mentoring, pal boxing. Um, these all have a large degree of behind the scenes, um, organization. So, um, it's a huge span of different things, but uh, I would say the vast majority of it is to build relationships.

[02:07:47] Councilmember Sally Lieber: And a follow-up question, um, are there written protocols about when and how and for what reasons, um, students can be searched or detained? I know that the PC said that they had spoken to students who, um, felt like there was, you know, embarrassment or, um, a dimension that was added when certain students were, uh, had their belongings searched, or they were, or they were detained. And I'm wondering if counsel can look at written protocols about when and how students are searched, when and how and with who else present students are questioned. Um, and and those, so the council could feel like we have, um, we have an understanding that we've fulfilled our responsibility in terms of the privacy of minors and, uh, the safety of the entire school community. I don't think I've ever seen a manual or any kind of written documentation. About this. And I know it's a very substantive part of what Mountain View does. And I think he did a great job of enumerating the programs throughout the year and uh, the things that are ongoing. But I don't feel like I have a, um, particularly good understanding when kids say that they've been, uh, searched, uh, under what conditions would that be warranted? When would they be detained? Why are they detained in public, uh, view or, Or even in, in, in a private situation where there might not be a parent, I don't know what the protocols are about calling parents and having a parent there when youth is questioned. Is there a written Protocol material?

[02:09:50] Police Chief Chris Hsiung: There is not a specific written protocol as it relates to schools in our SROs, and that's something that we and the police department have already begun discussing and are working towards. There are, however, general policies that apply to all of our officers in regards to searching, not just juveniles, but adults as well. This would, in general terms, be, you know, making sure that it's the same sex person searching someone. There are other rules and protocols as it relates to, um, if a juvenile is arrested when, uh, we notify the parents when we notify legal counsel. So those are general, but there is not to your question, not a specific one policy manual that outlines just school operations, but that's in the works.

[02:10:32] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Okay, that's good to know. I'm very concerned because it's compulsory for youth to attend school. Uh, they're truant if they don't. And, um, so I I feel like we have, uh, as council, an extra duty of care, to understand how a situation could come about, where, uh, where they would be searched or detained, or, um, where they would be, uh, what are the protocols in terms of, um, questioning in front of other students, or, or, um, Questioning without a parent being present. And, um, that is a very great concern to me. Thank you.

[02:11:29] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Uh, Vice Mayor Hicks.

[02:11:33] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Okay, for a totally different line of questioning. Um, the staff report talked about some additional possible programs. It was, uh, an MVPDY, uh, for students in addition to the MVPDX program that now exists to familiarize, um, residents in general with the police. This would be for students. And then also life skills class. Um, I won't go into details with the, uh, the details that were spelled out in the staff report, but there, I'm wondering, since we're talking about MOUs and not so much talking about funding how this was, uh, how it was envisioned to add these additional programs, was, is the idea that there will be funding at it over time, or is it at the same funding level, will other activities be reduced? How are these, um, additional activities going to be, um, How are they going to be involved with this program?

[02:12:42] Police Chief Chris Hsiung: Thank you Vice Mayor Hicks. Um, so these, uh, programs that you named, um, would be, uh, capable, the police department capable to do it, um, just with existing staffing and funding, much in the same way that MVPDX was done through just, uh, uh, officers and staff, um, stepping up to just, uh, kind of facilitate and and plan for these programs. So the one in the school, the life skills one, that was a, I believe it's called the community service club, uh, and concept. It's just more of a, uh, uh, uh, an opportunity for, um, the student body to kind of get to know, not just police officers, but firefighters in other service industries. And again, these would not require any additional funding per se. They're not that heavy of a lift for our school resource officers. The MVPDY program also is a short-term program that would be capable to be done with existing resources and staff.

[02:13:37] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: So, I mean, something must be, if I add something to my to-do list, I have to take something off or spend extra time, so it's, uh, I don't know what would be subtracted patrolling the school, maybe don't refer to it as patrolling. What would be, if there's no additional budget, what would be subtracted?

[02:13:59] Police Chief Chris Hsiung: Um, the school resource officers are pretty good at managing, um, there's, there's items that are, like, seasonal, for instance, um, if there's a cops that care event comes up, you know, that will kind of ramp up, and they'll plan for that, and then that happens, and then they'll prep for the next thing. So there's an ebb and flow to the number of community events and things that we can, you know, commit to the MVPDY program is a short term. I believe it's for sessions, maybe maybe a couple more, with only about 10 students. So on a whole, not too difficult to pull off.

[02:14:35] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Okay, thank you.

[02:14:41] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Any additional questions before we move to public comment? Being none. Um, we will now take public comment. Uh, would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star 9 on your phone. Timer will be displayed on the screen. And given uh the number of public comments. Let's allocate 2 minutes per speaker. Uh, the 1st speaker is Dana Petey.

[02:15:16] Dana Pede: Good evening. Can you hear me?

[02:15:18] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yeah.

[02:15:19] Dana Pede: All right. Hi everyone. My name is Dana Petey, and I'm here on behalf of the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform and Accountability. We'd like to thank the Peace Ab and staff for all their hard work on this topic. And as NBC Pro, we see 3 major next steps that we'd like the council to approve tonight. First of all, the manual for the youth services unit should be developed with significant community involvement. It should also be presented to the PC app at a public meeting in its draft stages to give opportunity for feedback from PC app and members of the public. This presentation should happen during the development stage, as I mentioned, when there's still time to gather and incorporate community feedback rather than waiting until the end to present a final product. Our 2nd ask is about the MOUs. We believe that MOUs should be in place for all schools that are served by the program, and that they should be created with similar levels of transparency to the community. If you do not create an MIU with the private schools due to the limited scope of services provided, there still needs to be transparency to the public regarding what those agreements are. For example, under what circumstances are the SROs participating in events or providing services at the private schools. Is that work being funded by the youth services unit budget, the MVPD budget more broadly or the schools themselves? Finally, we appreciate the need for an annual presentation to PCAB regarding the outcomes of this program. It's important that this presentation focuses on clearly established metrics, and that those metrics are determined in a transparent process with opportunities for public engagement. Thank you for your time this evening, and I do hope that you hear and consider the significant public interest in serving our young people of Mountain View appropriately. Thanks. Have a good night.

[02:16:51] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. The next speaker is Renee Rashid.

[02:16:58] Renee Rashid: Hi, I'm Renee Rashid, president of Los Altos for Racial Equity, Lair, and an MVLA parent. Thank you to the P Sabin staff for their hard work. Uh, having followed the work of the PCAB and looking at the goals of the MVSRO program. Lair believes that there are better ways to achieve those goals than an SRO and through the YSU, programs for which we have no concrete data about effectiveness. Safety and security will always be provided through police coming on campus, and mentorship and relationship building with kids and families is better done through counselors, teachers, and coaches, and mentors, not police. Having 30%, nearly 30% of high school students who view the SRO program negatively does not equate to needing more awareness of the program, it equates to needing to reevaluate the program altogether. So we are hoping that the city council can agree to take a step back and take a comprehensive look to see what the problems are, that we want to solve, and then figure out the best, most cost-effective ways to solve those problems. If the council does vote to continue the SRO program, Then we hope you will vote to continue to develop the YSU procedural manual in a transparent and open process with the PCAB and the public. And require the program to publicly release their goals, metrics and performance yearly. Thank you.

[02:18:25] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very much. The next speaker is N M.

[02:18:31] Nellie Meyer: Yes, hello. Hello, council, city staff, and committee members. My name is Nelly Meyer, and I'm the superintendent of Mountain Bulo Saltos High School District. I would like to start by thanking the public safety advisory board for their thoughtful work, the meeting they held over the last year, and the robust conversations that occurred during these discussions. On behalf of the Mountain View Los Alto School District, I would like to support the recommendations made by city staff committee and express the full support of our Board of Education and our site leaders at Mountain View High School. The SRO program is part of a multifaceted program of student support and intervention on our high school campus, and the work of the PSAB has continued this critical conversation. Recently, we have had incidents on our campuses that have caused shelter in place actions as well as the need for detective work. The communication and collaboration with Mountain View PD led to positive results in these cases. Lastly, I want to share that the relationships between students and our SROs, the staff and our SROs, as well as our community members and SROs, are the most valued part of this role. Our relationships, and the SRO's understanding of how our school system works, has been invaluable as we use a multi pronged approach to supporting our students. Thank you.

[02:20:07] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very much. Tim Mackenzie.

[02:20:12] Tim MacKenzie: Hi, all, uh, to Mackenzie, uh, lived in the Monte Elmer neighborhood for nearly 7 years, maybe 8 years now at this point. I just want to note that by construction, this entire process was made to justify school resource officers and expand the program. There was their by construction. Again, there was no approach to consider alternatives. I have been... I am a regular commenter on that council. Maybe I speak too frequently and dilute my power, but one thing that has really shown up over the past year and a half, and especially the past several months with regards to this issue, is the number of people who show up. It really, it's pretty, it's powerful. And there have been repeated calls to eliminate the school resource officer program, that have been ignored. Um, I think it's, I'm engaged on this issue. I want to try to build the type of city that I could see myself raising family in. Um, but I think we should listen to the people who have most direct experience. Um, and if we view the survey as a longitudinal cross section, we see that there's actually a tripling of negative views as students move from middle school to high school, which is troubling. Um, just with regards to the recommendations, uh, having MOUs so that we can finally actually have metrics for the program seems really important. Um, I think a five year term is too long, as some others have said, there should be yearly reviews, where we go over, and the staff report, I know, said that we shouldn't be doing assessment as we create the MOUs, but if this is a program that's worth investing over a million dollars a urine, then we should also be seeing if we're living up to the goals. So that I, thank you for your time.

[02:22:07] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Bruce England.

[02:22:11] Bruce England: Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just getting to my comments here. So it seems that the YSU programs have changed in mission over time was largely informal guidance in place. That's what I'm reading in the staff report. For that reason alone, the recommended changes were certainly called for. And I support all the points raised by NBC, Bra. I'd like to emphasize that all SRO materials, including the operations guide, need to be reviewed in a public context, and that these materials, including the MOUs, need to apply to all participating schools, including the private schools. Thanks.

[02:22:49] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Tony M.

[02:22:55] Toni Moos: Hi everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Tony Most, and I am an embulate parent and have 4 kids go through the school district. First, I'd like to just address one thing that Superintendent Meyer mentioned, which was the incidents on campus that took place. I believe it was a shelter in place as well as a gas leak and a bomb threat. I just wanted to just remind everyone that has nothing to do with the SRO program. The police came to respond as they would continue to do. I just wanted to clarify that. So thank you for the opportunity. I've been keeping track of what has been going on with the peace app, and I thank them for their time and attention to this manner matter. I know that it has not been easy. I want to clearly state that I understand the efforts were made to gauge student, staff, and public feedback about the SRO program, but I also want to remind you that you're likely only getting information from those least impacted by the presence of SROs on campus. Having had 4 black children attend the MBALA school district. I know that my children would have been very unlikely to have given feedback. Yet every one of them had negative interactions with SROs. Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for all students. So if even one student feels that seeing an armed guard, a police officer on campus is distressing, that is one student too many. There is a perception that security will be compromised by the absence of SROs on campus, but police will still be called on campus for any emergency. Instead, if issues arise with students that do not rise to criminal behavior, trained and trusted staff and mental health professionals are the personnel who should be interacting and supporting these students. Thank you very much.

[02:24:52] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Yoshi Taylor.

[02:24:58] Kiyoshi Taylor: All right, I'm calling, uh, to really request you guys to make extremely strong language in the MOU and manual. Uh, deliberately detailing all the reasons why the SROs would be on campus, what their duties will be on campus. Um, and also, uh, just how to conduct themselves on campus. Um, their attire, um, whether or not they are allowed to, um, corner kids or talk to them in any facet, um, and there needs to be strong language, talking about how police can no longer be lingering on our campuses, um, apparently they don't do that currently, and you would like that to continue. Um, but this MOU and manual can't be something like the current program where it just kind of deteriorates and it turns into the Wild West. Um, For some reason, we are willing to fund these programs that have caused a lot of public uh, division and scrutiny towards this, these programs. So if you're gonna continue to fund these kind of programs, I also hope you fund other programs such as, such as mental health resources, not only in our school systems, but in the broader community as well. Thank you.

[02:26:27] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very much. Catherine Vonnegut.

[02:26:42] Catherine Vonnegut: Hi. I'm Catherine Vonnegut. I am the President of the Board of Trustees of MVLA, and I have just a couple sentences. One is that MBA continues to see value in the SRL program, and I should say, Specifically, after the public safety committee, and public input, have recommended positive changes to the program, that should detail, more specifically, the interactions with students, and the SROs, and manuals to help guide the interactions. And thank you for the public safety committee's input, and thank you. To our city council.

[02:27:39] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Been in most.

[02:27:45] Kenan Moos: Good morning. My name is Keenan. I graduated from Los Alos High School in 2016. Austin was on Mountain View High School campus as well. Uh, didn't really want a calling, so I feel like often my words fall on deaf ears as from the beginning when this was done, a great, great amount of time an effort was put into this, but from the beginning, there was no chance that the Astro program was going to end. It was just how could we change it and do things like that? A lot of students former previous to the 2018 that was looked at in the the surveys, which all which were excluded. Are many of the students who are, like, I'm 23 years old, and I can't even talk about for having to count my issues that I had with the SROs on campus. So not only did a lot of the students who now are feeling confident enough, myself included, to speak of about it, are not even included in the survey and the actual statistics of it. It excludes what the issues that we're dealing with here, which is students with mental health problems, students who need better support systems and not having someone there with a gun who is untrained. And yes, there's some hours of training that people go through, but compared to someone who goes to 4 more years of college to deal with students, their mental health, and their issues. It's not close to the same. So, yes, it's important that we outline the mental, or we outline the MOU and what the police purposes are when they're on campus and making sure they're not staying there. This is a very small step and a lot more needs to change, which part of is removing that program. So thanks for the time. Thank you, everyone, for the effort you've put into getting here, and I hope that we continue to push this forward to make greater change. Thanks.

[02:29:24] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very much. Mean Valadez.

[02:29:31] Jeanine Valadez: Hello, can you hear me? Hello?

[02:29:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes we can.

[02:29:36] Jeanine Valadez: Okay. Good evening. I'm a commissioner in Los Altos, but I'm speaking as a member of the public, as a 33 year resident, and as a parent alumna of the high school district. Before I begin my prepared comment, and with all due respect to Superintendent Meyer, Los Altos High has no SRO, and yet proper involvement from PD, the police department, and good collaboration therein occurred with no loss of response integrity during both emergency response to the shelter in place, and during any investigation of crime. Now to my prepared comment. As I've attended meetings in Los Altos, Mountain View, and all over the county, it pleases me how virtually every initiative must be analyzed, surveyed, and adjudicated in great detail before any plan moves towards implementation. Significantly, community feedback is a vital prerequisite to any decision, with legislators always attentive to negative reactions to the proposal. Legislators, in my experience, go so far as to add weight to the negative reactions more than the supportive reactions when it comes to issues like playground structures, house designs, dog parks, and city services in general. But tragically, whenever it seems feedback highlights, negative impacts felt by marginalized members of our communities, legislators suddenly lose their hearing. The concerns of black and brown people who have suffered negative experiences, or who anticipate negative experiences based on their history, suddenly seem not as important. Why is that? Thank you.

[02:31:13] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: You very much. Glinda Price.

[02:31:19] Kalinda Price: Hello, good evening. Um, my name is Kalinda Price and I'm a teacher at Los Altos High School. Um, having personally witnessed officers communicating, Officers from Mountain View, communicating and attempting to charge one of my students in failing to notify parents. Um, students, uh, behavior being escalated during mental health breakdowns. When officers are called, having a personal, negative experience, and being threatened by an officer, in charge, after identifying who I was. Also observing several different occasions where black and brown parents, or families, um, were disrespected, accosted. Um, having numerous reports of my, uh, from my students or students that I mentored about their experiences, whether it was in the community, on campus, heading to school, I just don't understand why we have to continue having this conversation. Just like other members. Um, or other people on this panel, they have communicated that, um, about the lack of transparency, um, about incidents that's happened on campus, and they, they've had response without the SRL, the SRL is never on campus when things are, you know, I'm not saying never, but they're usually not on campus, um, when things are happening, but things are still being taken care of. And I don't understand why we have to jump through so many hoops and repeat ourselves over and over again to have some resolve in reference to this issue. Um, it just seems like, Um, there's a lot of time and effort being put on things that doesn't support the people who look like me or the students that I serve, and it's, it's really, it's outright disrespectful, especially for our schools to fly, to fly a Black Lives Matter flag, or anything and say that they support, but yet you continue to put people on campus. I have worked in a classroom in the therapeutic program, and I know that.

[02:33:26] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: I'm sorry, you're out of time and I have to be fair with all the speakers. Thank you very much for your comments. Uh, the next speaker is Salim D'Amerji.

[02:33:36] Salim Damerdji: Hi, yeah, I live in work in Mountain View. I used to work in Mountain View High School as a debate instructor. I don't think this topic is complicated. Teacher should teach. Police should police. Um, we're not putting students 1st if we ask police officers to be teachers or psychologists or anything else they're not trained for. It's the question of years of experience versus the training that officers get, which can be measured in hours. Um, so it's not putting students first. It also makes us less safe. Police officers cannot be walking the street or doing walking their beat. If they are busy teaching a program, a boxing program at Mountain View High School. So I wish the recommendation from the public safety advisory board was to end this program, but short of that, I hope that the MOU is as strong as possible. I do think that if there is a serious, you know, um, incident at campus that requires a police officer, we should try to make sure that someone like, uh, Officer Lloyd is the one dispatched. He seems like a great guy. Um, but uh, I hope, you know, in general, we try to limit the amount of involvement that police play on campuses outside of serious crimes. Um, students deserve care, not cops. Uh, additionally, I think the recommendations about tracking metrics, uh, kind of evidences how poorly designed the SRO program is, there aren't any key performance indicators. People even disagree on what the performance indicator should be because they have different understandings of what the point is. The teachers disagree with what the police department will say. about the purpose of this program. Um, the fact that we've never measured whether the program works or achieves any of those purposes, uh, is evidence of the fact that it's not a well-designed program. So I think it was a mistake for, um, the community or for the public safety advisory board to recommend modifications of this program. Um, but I hope we try to make it as reasonable as possible, um, moving forward.

[02:35:42] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Very much. Chris Little.

[02:35:51] Chris Lytle: Hi there. Um, see, yeah, I'm at Los Alto's high school alumni. Uh, and I just want to call in, speak on, uh, SRO removal as well. Um, I think a lot of people have brought up some great comments about it. Um, and I think that, like, many of the others said was, If one student feels uncomfortable with SRO, then that's one too many. Um. But I also wanted to mention, like, uh, I strongly believe we need more, um, resources for mental health, um, and mental health professionals on campus. Um, like, I have a family member who were struggled a long time with, uh, his own mental disorder, and, uh, he's had some nightmarish stories where, uh, the staff, and I started officers had, don't know, didn't know what to do or how to handle the situation. Um, and it would just make it worse, and it would make it harder for him to go to school, focus. Um, So having resources on campus or, um, safe space for him. would have been very beneficial. Um, But yeah, that's it for me. Yeah. you.

[02:37:09] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: You for your comments. No additional speakers from the public. Um, I will think, uh, the uh, members of the community who spoke for sharing their thoughts. Um, we will now return to uh, the council for deliberation. Um, I I want to strongly discourage this. Um, members of the public, please raise your hands during the public comment period. Um, There is one additional speaker. Kevin Ma. Um, I'll give you this opportunity, but moving forward. I'm gonna cut off public comment period. After I don't see any more hands, but this is, I'll allow this one last opportunity.

[02:37:56] Kevin Ma: Sorry, mayor. I was expecting more speakers, but, um, as you've heard with the, with all the testimony here tonight, inherently, we're dealing with a program where we're still facing a lot of questions about, like, what is the actual root issue we're trying to solve with SROs on campus, that, uh, inherently, it's kind of this, like, feeling game where we still have yet to fix actual metrics, which we can, you know, look back and say, well, we were successful at all about this. So I do wish to see that we actually come back this at an annual basis to make sure that it is doing what we're supposed to be doing. If Los Altos could get rid of them and nothing seems to be catching on fire, I don't see why we can't get to, you know, why, for us, it has to be basically becoming mandatory. Um, inherently, it does lead to, perhaps, a situation of, you know, a discussion, like, where do police have to be stationed at, that I don't really think we need to discuss right now, given the general, you know, lack of city resources right now due to budgeting, but, um, I guess that's a conversation, piece of, which, unfortunately, not send a rep, for some reason, here tonight. Uh, we'll deal with in the future. Thank you.

[02:39:08] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Now we will conclude public comment. and return to the council for discussion. Um, I did want to ask a couple of quick questions, um, of staff since they, they came up during the public comment period. So just to clarify, if the council were to end the SRO program entirely. Um, what happens with the $1300000 that, uh, we've currently allocated to fund it.

[02:39:41] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Mayor, if I may. Thank you. So the 13000000 in funding does cover 5 employees, staff positions in the police department. So the decision would have to be then, if the program itself ends, that funding would still remain in the police department and those positions would be repurposed for, um, other duties and other assignments within the department. So there are a number of things that those positions do work on now as needed. So there are a variety of things that I believe the police chief could speak to and provide further details about. Um, but that funding would still remain in the department, um, Should the program end itself? And obviously that would be counsel's determination, but that does cover employee salaries.

[02:40:41] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Okay, thank you. In other words, it would not be available for a discretionary use outside of um, the police department's operations.

[02:40:51] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Correct.

[02:40:54] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: For, uh, for answer that question. Um, okay, uh, counsel my reliever.

[02:41:00] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, mayor. Um, well, I I came into tonight's discussion, um, very prepared to support the, the program going forward, uh, with enhanced oversight, um, from the PCAB. But I have to say that I am concerned by the things that I've, I've heard tonight. Um, I would have never imagined that we would have this kind of, um, presence in schools where youth are compelled to be without having a protocol manual. And I know that it says, in here, that a protocol manual could be developed. Uh, there is not what we would consider overall program design. Or, um, Data, data driven, measurement or functions, and I understand that with some of socialization kinds of programs, you maybe can't really get that data. But the data that is here that says that a 3rd of the students are uncomfortable or want the officers removed. And A thing that has really stood out for me is that we're living in a more complicated world now. Uh, when I went to school, the only time that we saw a police officer in school was on career day. And, um, we did have bomb threats. We didn't have, uh, school shootings, et cetera. But we heard from the chief that that they are not there to be a security guard for the school. And I assumed that that was at least half of what was what was going on. Um, and the community members who have spoken pointed out that when there has been an incident that we don't just rely on one officer who's who's there, um, in a room within the school, that, that there's an overall police response, that's, that's responsibly sized. And I don't think we could expect one police officer who's teaching a class about leadership to handle, um, an incident or the threat of an incident. So I am, uh, I am very concerned, and there is not an option that's presented. Within the staff report to terminate the program. And there should have been such a recommendation. Um, I think that they're, are you fit, uh, enjoy these programs? Um, but I think that the the overall numbers point to the fact that this is likely to be uh, contact that is problematic. And that concerns me very much. I think you can hear that my voice is shaking because uh, this concerns me, uh, very, very much. And I would like to know from staff, what is a reasonable wind down, if there's support from counsel to go in that direction? We're also spending more than, I believe, that we were, because I believe that we had, that the 1300000, I believe that it was a $10000 in the budget for the program. And I believe that some of that went to security functions and, and I'm learning tonight that, That is not likely to be the case. Um, I, and I'm also very concerned that new programs are being instituted without any council involvement, seemingly. It's just popped up that, oh, there's going to be a new thing. Um, and given what's been going on and um, what the response from the community has been, I'm, I'm very concerned. Um, so... I think that there's there's a lack of clarity here. It feels like we're, we're kind of throwing spaghetti at the wall and, and, um, Then we see what sticks and what has a positive impact. And we are sophisticated enough of a city that. We are data driven in our other city functions. Um, we, we do have, um, manuals and protocols that, that council can see and understand. And it's not within a black box that says, trust me, there's something great going on. Um, so, of course, I want to provide the best security, uh, possible. I want to have mental health response to youth. By individuals who are qualified, qualified clinicians, providing mental health response. And, um, this just isn't it. So, I, I cannot be on this train. This is not the best that we can do. Um, this is, this is, uh, uh, a program that's grown over time very clearly. Um, I have no doubt that it works for um, some students. But, I don't feel like I can be responsible in supporting this continuing when there is such a lack of information and so much coming from the students. Uh, that is negative towards it. Um, I just don't think that I could support, um, continuing to put 1300000 per year in.

[02:47:56] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Council member Abby Koga.

[02:48:01] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, staff, for the presentation, and I also want to thank the members of our public safety advisory board for their incredible hard work on this issue. Um, I was just extremely, uh, impressed by how, um, how seriously they took the task at hand. Um, I, I personally spoken with some of the, um, advisory board members and, um, learned about, you know, how they really went, I think, above and beyond to, um, understand the issue, research the issue, um, you know, put together a survey. And, um, I mean, I was actually impressed by the, the response rate we got, um, you know, in the 100s. It's actually really good. Um, so I just want to thank the Pisa board members for, for their, their work. And, you know, I watched their meetings and these are definitely difficult issues. Um, you know, I saw that um, in the, in the conversations and the deliberations that went on. I mean, I personally have, you know, experienced it too, and as being a part of, those discussions and conversations. Um, so, you know, I want to note that, that, um, this has been challenging, um, but especially with the P sub board members, um, they've really risen to vacation. So thank you for that. Um, I have a completely different perspective. And as the one person here that has, um, still has a daughter at Mountain View High School and has, has had to go through the entire public school district system in Mountain View, um, as well as, um, being a part of the city council since 2007 and being actually the one who, um, 1st raised the issue of, um, adding budget, uh, budget to the POW program. back in 2007 time frame. Um, and the reason being that at that time, we were experiencing a rise in gang activity. And, um, you know, the concern for me, and at that time, my children were, um, like, one was in elementary school, and I saw firsthand, um, the, the challenges, the threats that children faced, um, with, with gang activity on the rise. And I had asked our police chief back then, you know, what can we do to, um, prevent gang activity, prevent children, um, you know, get young people from being recruited, and, um, having had experience. And before, in a different, uh, city department, um, establishing a very strong pile program. Um, you know, I was convinced that that was a good, um, approach and supported that. And so I've had a really, um, I would say, you know, firsthand view of the program, um, I've tried to as much as possible, um, you know, participate or I can, um, with the community events. I've, you know, been on campus, um, with my kids, um, you know, frequently as a student as a volunteer, um, weekly. back in elementary school, and even now at the high school, I go, I'm on campus quite a bit. Um, and frankly, you know, I saw, um, the most recent incidents, um, when it comes to public safety, I was actually on campus a few weeks ago when there was a lockdown. I was going to do a TEDx talks there. And when I arrived, I was told I couldn't get on campus because they had a lockdown because of a threat. And finally, it was within 30 minutes that they lifted that. And when I got on campus and then was walking out. I saw our SRO and had a chance to talk to him. Um, so, my, my approach to this has been that, you know, I, I don't, I don't think we should take a scorched earth approach. I think we have a program, and I will say that I have heard, and, you know, seeing that I think our program is different from what the Los Altos Police Department offered. Um, and going back to incidents. Um, there was an incident at Los Altas High School a while back too, and I had been hearing about it, getting reports on it as a parent. And then my daughter, too, told me, she had been, you know, they're on social media, so they were getting play by play on what happened. And, um, frankly, the way that was handled was, it took a lot longer, and it was a lot less organized than, um, what we have I've seen at Mountain View High School. So, you know, I put that out there, too. But my feeling is, is that, um, this is a positive program, and, um, you know, I, I don't, I think we shouldn't be putting people in silos, um, just because you're a police officer or a firefighter, um, shit doesn't mean that you can't be a role model. Um, you know, and frankly, the reason why this program, I think part of the reason why this program was established is that, you know, when kids are little, they actually look up to police officers. And, um, you know, firefighters, everybody loves firefighters. Um, right? And, and then if you do, you know, we've done community surveys, and when we ask the residents of Mountain View, you know, what is the most valuable service that city provides, it's always public safety and fire and police come up, number one, in the 90% tile range. So that's why that part of being a role model is incorporated into this program. Um, and frankly, you know, nowadays, I actually feel that, um, the idea of, like, um, career path is important because we're having a really hard time recruiting police officers and firefighters, you know, to work for our city. And, you know, my pet pee, frankly, as much as I love our, you know, this community in Silicon Valley, um, is that, you know, having a daughter who wasn't a tech person. Um, when you're not involved in tech, you don't, there's not a lot of options out there. And what I would like to see is to be able to provide, you know, young people with options, to alternatives, you know, if you're not an engineer type, it's okay. Maybe you look at police, you know, police or firefighting. Or my daughter wanna be an artist. And that's what I really, you know, think of when I think of the educational system. And, you know, that we, as people, like, I'm not a professional, I don't know what am I, a professional, is there such thing as a professional city council member? Probably, you know, I mean, I think, I mean, doing this for a while, but does that prevent me from, you know, doing something else. I'm a mom too. I've worked in tech. You know, I've worked in a nonprofit world. So why do we need to put put ourselves in silos? I totally understand. I have come, and I'll say I have come to understand the challenges, the perceptions, the negative perceptions, you know, especially given what has happened in the last couple of years, nationally, um, in terms of police and police conduct. Um, my feeling has been that, why not try to foster positive relationships in a safe environment, rather than keeping people away from each other? I feel that the only way we can deal with these issues of discrimination, racism, you know, everything that's happening right now, is that we need to interact with each other more and learn from each other more, and understand each other more. But when we talk about, let's get rid of this because, you know, and I, I, you know, I absolutely, So empathize with the folks that have had negative experiences. And my question is, how can we? Change that, how can we provide, you know, resources, opportunities to change that into positive experiences and relationships? And for me, and this is also my trust in our police department. I know most of our officers, I know the SROs, you know, we pick SROs who really care about kids. The one, you know, one officer I know who, you know, I heard him speak at a, at a school event saying that he, he became a police officer because when he was young, when he was little, he was bullied. And he didn't want that to happen to other, you know, people, other kids. Um, We are very. I think, you know, there's a lot of improvement we can make in the program, but I think that this program has been pretty intentional in terms of who we have in the program in our unit. You know, the idea of, yeah, providing that role model, um, role model role. Um, and so I think it's a good program, but I definitely, and I appreciate this whole conversation we've had had over the last year or so, I think we can definitely improve on it. And that's where I really appreciate staff and peace of coming together with these recommendations. I think these points are definitely gonna help improve a program that, you know, is the intentions are good. Um, And we can make it better. And so, let's give it a chance first, um, rather than just, you know, dismantle it, I, I, I, I understand, um, you know, it's hard to please everyone, it's hard to satisfy everyone. Um, you know, I certainly agree that there are other um, issues and areas that, you know, that we can focus on. You know, if you ask. I mean, I was the one who brought youth mental health as a, a priority because I know there's a lot of gaps there. Um, you know, I had personal experience with my own daughter. And I know, and I know the schools are working on that too. Um, So, and frankly, if you ask me, this totally different conversation, but if you, you know, I would like to actually talk about how the city addresses mental health and youth mental health, because I think there's a lot of improvement we could be making there too. But, you know, I'm looking to enhance, I'm not looking to dismantle. I think we are on a positive path, and we should be moving forward. And if we got rid of this program, we would be taking a step back. Thanks.

[02:59:15] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Vice Mayor Hicks.

[02:59:20] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: So, I thought that the Black Lives Matter, um, protests last year were kind of a a breath of fresh air. Um, offering us the space to rethink priorities and rethink the way we do things. And I feel like the, and also a lot of the local input from residents, you know, in our public commentary period. And I feel like, um, kind of the, the procedure and recommendations have, um, not really allowed us to rethink things or reprioritize. I know rethinking things and reprioritizing is not always, always quick, but, um, I feel that councils should have a place to do that, a little more than the, the, what's agenda is tonight, seems to be tweaking MOUs, and I hope that we have the opportunity to do a little bit more than that. Um, you know, I, one of the things that this, uh, whole procedure has made me think about is what do people really want our police department to do, and what do we really want at our schools, and what do the schools really want funded? And, you know, some of the things, uh, that, um, people in my neighborhood have brought up are things like they, they, um, have heard of, uh, intensive, uh, programs for reducing bike theft, because one of the reasons that people, um, that people choose not to bike is they keep losing bikes. Uh, or they're also innovative programs to reduce catalytic converter theft, or to reduce, um, scamming of elders, teaching elders to not be scammed. So, When I think of priorities, I'm not sure that an SRO program of this size is really, you know, if you were to talk to people in the community, would be the top priority for our spending. And I think that we could, um, you know, I think we could shift things around. And, um, like, uh, the city manager said, uh, if we changed anything about this programmer, the police officers would go back, Uh, you know, and uh, work with other police officers, I think that there would be, you know, there'd be things that might be a bigger priority for the community that officers could do. So, and not only that, when I, the reading I do tells me that only 10% of grade schools in California, and 25% of middle schools in California, have school resource officers. So, you know, it's not something that's absolutely necessary. Um, I, I also have, uh, two children who recently went through the school program, um, and, and friends of theirs as well. Um, you know, and they have, I think, mixed feelings about the SRO program. I know some of them, frankly, some of them had good interactions with the program, and others would have preferred that they had some alternative ways to address mental health. For example, the high school drama program was cut. And many of the children involved in that thought that that was, that was kind of their anchor in terms of mental health. Um, I think earlier tonight, um, well, I'll say, I'm also all for alternatives to tech careers, but I hope that we're offering, um, something more than, uh, you know, what is fine to offer, uh, police, uh, joining the police force as an alternative, but I hope we're offering much more than that. I would not want to focus solely on that as the alternative to tech. Um, you know, I I would rather have a more, uh, more mixed introduction to, uh, alternatives to tech careers. Um, I, I kind of, uh, gravitate towards something that, uh, council member Lieber said earlier tonight that she would like to see the, um, line items separated out from, uh, the, uh, security and the, uh, socialization aspects so that we could look at those. When we look at the budget, we could look at them separately, and we wouldn't have to make a decision on both. And, um, I also do think that any, uh, MOU and, uh, procedural manual should, any changes in that or, or, for any definition of it should be done in a public process. Thank you.

[03:04:24] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much, council member Show Walter.

[03:04:30] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, I knew this was going to be a, um, a very, uh, poignant, uh, discussion and it certainly is. Um, keeping our community safe is, you know, is very vital to all of us. It's just a fundamental thing. We can't have a civil society without, um, uh, you know, laws and, um, and people behaving well, and, um, so... it's, you know, it is fundamental, and that's the reason, one of the reasons why we spend so much money on it, and why we think it's so important that we have a good police force, and my understanding is that we actually do, a very good police force, but, of course, that doesn't mean they're perfect. perfect Um, uh, last summer, you know, we were all awakened by just horrible incidents, um, that took place, that created, or brought to light this national narrative of of real bad behavior on the point of police officers. And I think that it became incumbent on everybody to look at their own community and say, What's happening here? And to me, that's what we were doing with the P SAB. We were establishing a group, a long term group, to say, What's happening here? Are we behaving properly? And we were very careful about selecting the members of the PCAD group to come from a broad range of individuals and backgrounds. Um, we, and the first major task that we gave them was, um, to look at this SRO issue, which had certainly come up. And they've looked at it, and I... I've talked to several of them about it, and they were actually a bit surprised by what they found, and how, in particular, least supportive the adults were who were, um, uh, surveyed. I mean, we have heard, of course, that the kids said there were about, you know, a third of them said they were neutral, a third of them said they should get rid of them. A third of them said we should keep the program, or it was very good. But with parents, it was really different. With parents, it was over something like 82%, or 84%, were positive or very positive about the program. That's not, you know, that's not, um, equivocal at all. That's a very strong support. So, um, so that, that's important to me, because I think that parents look at how their children respond to things, and, and over a long period of time and say, this either helped. My child or this didn't. Now, that doesn't mean that there weren't specific encounters for specific children, at one time or another, that weren't as good as they could have been. But it does mean that there's a strong perception that this program was very helpful for, um, a group of kids over a long term, for a long term. And that's important to Nate. And also, I think what's important is, my discussions with the peace ad members, they were kind of surprised that they found that the parents of kids who had been interacted with many of these SROs over time, that they'd had a really positive influence, and they appreciated the impact that it had on their children's development. That said, we heard loud and clear from the survey, and from PCAB, that there's a tremendous amount of confusion about what this program really is. Well, that's not good. We need to have that clarified. And, um, I know in reading these reports, I found that, um, I thought some of the reasons for having the, um, you know, for having this program were a little buried. They shouldn't be buried. They should be front and centered. You know, people, we should be able to rattle them off on our tongues as city council member, and certainly all the SR officers should. And the best one I've kind of heard is that the purpose is to help support positive youth development and guide youth away from gang involvement and criminal behavior. And then this involves enrichment programs, mentoring home visits, and other activities, as well as investigating and responding to criminal matters in a way that avoids engagement in the criminal justice system to the full extent possible. That's what I've sort of taken out of the staff report and stuff that I've read. That's the purpose. I think we need to have some people, not an engineer, thank you very much. We need to have some people, Wordsmith this, and get it out into a very clear statement of, What's the purpose? And that needs to be, you know, what's the mission for this project? That means to be the lead in for the MOU. And everything needs to build off of that. And that's not at odds at all with what has been recommended. So, um, I, uh, My, my feeling is that we should continue to support this program, but we should follow the recommendation of the peace ad, which and the officers involved, and the school, which is to develop a, you know, a much clearer MOU. And I don't think, I think the idea of maybe setting out the differences between the, um, uh, the, the mentoring type parts of the program and the, and the, um, security part, that, that could be a good, as, as council member Lieber mentioned. I think that could be valuable. Um, But still, I do think that we, you know, we've had a group do an investigation, and we've gotten their answer. And, um, uh, and, and to me, it has largely answered the question of, how is our program different from what we're hearing and the national narrative? And, um, that's what we, that's the basis of what we wanted to find out. And we found out that it's largely positive, but it has problems with clarity. And, um, uh, also, I think that, uh, well, particularly problems with clarity and communication. And, um, So, I, um, I just, again, want to thank the peace ad for their work. And, um, I think that that moving forward with the recommendations is is a reasonable, a reasonable way to go. Thank you.

[03:11:51] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Comes a member of Metachek.

[03:11:56] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. Um, I'll start by saying I largely agree with the comments that council member Abbe Koga made, as well as council member Showalter. Um, I do appreciate all of the time and effort that so many people have put into this topic. Um, I have watched all of the PCAD meetings. And, um, it really is great to see the level of engagement by all of the members of the PCAB, and the willingness and the openness, and the collaboration, and the, um, just the spirit of the discussions that are had among PCAB members as well as, um, with members of the MVPD. Um, The one thing I probably would have done slightly different is, had a different approach to the survey the piece had did. Um, I felt it left a little bit, um, too much open to people's interpretation of what they thought the role of the SRO was. Um, I thought it would be better to just define it and then say, and do you think they're meeting those, that role. But um, nevertheless, I think we have a lot of valuable information from the survey. Um, and like others, um, I, I think I was surprised at the, um, conclusion that the PCAB came to, um, but I, I personally think they came to the right conclusion. Um, I think the SROs do play a good role. Um, with our students. Um, For all the reasons that my colleagues have mentioned. Um, I kind of summed it up when I was, uh, talking with someone about, uh, the SROs that I feel like it's another adult who cares about a student and is there to help them and support them. And just be another caring adult in their life. Um, I shared that, I feel like I was fortunate to have, you know, people in my life that were additional carrying adults beyond my parents, and it's nice to have a variety. Um, they have different experiences and can share different information. And I think that's really important. And was mentioned, you know, um, I think police officers are a role model, as well as lots of other people. And it's just one more person. Um, that enriches a student's life. Um, I was just made to hear about, um, the incidences that people have brought up, and clearly, uh, we can, you know, I haven't heard those necessarily about our police department. Um, but, um, certainly we can work to improve the program. And I think we're on a good path to do that. Um, and, you know, like lots of issues. It's always hard to, um, find the right solution and strike the right balance, but I think, uh, the staff recommendation, um, with the MOU and the contents of that, as well as the manual, so that it's more clear, um, about the role of the SRO program, um, are, go a long way to, um, addressing concerns. And I'm very happy to support the staff recommendation. And actually, I'm prepared to make a motion, uh, Mayor, unless you want to say some, Share your thoughts and then I'm happy to make the motion. Thanks.

[03:15:53] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Emotion is in order. I should have said that from the outset. Um, I did have a couple of um, comments. Um, and uh, then we'll, um, we'll presume, um, comments from the other members of the council. Um, As a, as a Catholic, I have a proclivity for arcane and obscure metaphor. And on this issue, I am, my approach is much more akin to that of Erasmus than to Martin Luther. That will mean very little to anybody here, but I support the reform from within concept. I think that, before we conclude that a program is truly broken and should be eradicated, we should make the best effort to fix it. Um, and I think that the peace have recommendations, uh, provide a strong foundation for, uh, at least the initiation of a public process that helps us get to a better result. Um, so I, I, I do want to thank the PC app for their efforts and, and also, uh, thanks staff for providing, uh, a framework for this discussion. Uh, I've been, um, a little apprehensive about this item for quite some time because it is very challenging to talk about. There are many different elements and, um, there's, there's a lot of opportunity, I think, to, to pull the conversation one way or another. And I think the framework that staff has provided is is a very good one. Um, My sense is that we, we do weigh uh, the stakeholder input very carefully. Um, it's very difficult to do that in this case. We have, um, uh, diverse set of opinions represented within the student body, you know, although the survey wasn't, um, you know, isn't sort of scientifically uh, rigorous in its approach. I think it does demonstrate pretty clearly that not everybody has had a good experience. It's important to know that some people have thrived with the program, but it's equally important for us to know and understand that some people, uh, students, uh, have been negatively impacted. And I think that's very concerning. And I think that's what I want to focus on as we continue the public process to improve the program. Um, so that's, that will be um, part of the, the recommendation I'll support. I don't think that, um, we have a final product. Um, I, I do think it's important for the public, um, to have the opportunity to review the final draft of the MOU, um, I think making the YSU procedure manual public is critically important, um, um, uh, there was an, an individual who shared an anecdote that, uh, she had heard from, uh, the student body, you know, uh, who had engaged the SROs, um, that, Uh, some concerning activities had occurred. I think that this was related to the inspection of of backpacks in front of other students. That's, you know, it's a, it's a, it can be a traumatic experience to go through. And then hearing from the SROs themselves, no, that's not part of our practice. So, it's, it's problematic when there's a perception that something is occurring, and uh, the, you know, the officers themselves dispute that, saying that's not part of their current set of procedures. So making that document public. I think there's a critical 1st step for us to get on the same page about what's actually occurring day to day. It's not that they don't trust one side or the other. But if we have a public procedure manual, then if there is a violation of a procedure, the accountability mechan mechanism becomes much stronger. Um, and I I agree very strongly with members of the public, um, who, uh, says that it's important for there to be an opportunity to provide some input on the metrics that are used to evaluate the relative success or failure of the program. We don't have that. Um, and until we do, I think we're not going to find consensus on whether the program is working or not. And I think that's why it's critical to, to um establish, establish those metrics. Um, uh, again in in a public process. Um, the last thing I'll say is, uh, eliminating the SRO program, um, may free up some resources for other police operations, and that's important to know, and that might be something that down the road, we, uh, can choose to explore if we're finding that the program isn't meeting expectations or if there were other priorities that we want to fund. But what eliminating the SRO program does not do is free up $130000 for discretionary spending on things like mental health services or, um, or other unrelated programs, um, outside of MVPD, uh, the only way you would free up that money is by terminating city employees, and that's not something I'm comfortable doing right now. Um, so, uh, my suggestion would be, um, that, so, uh, we'll, we'll go, uh, well, emotion is in order, so I'll, I'll, uh, allow members of the council to, um, a particular approach, but I do think that if we proceed with the staff recommendation, um, which I'm inclined to do, that we provide additional direction for, uh, the final draft of the MOU, uh, to be, uh, 1st uh, reviewed by the council youth services. Um, and for the, uh, YSU procedure manual also to be, um, uh, provided to that committee, um, not for Ford Smithing, but again, just to make that document transparent, and finally, for the council youth services committee, um, to provide input on a draft set of metrics prepared by staff. Um, and that, I think, provides an opportunity for, uh, uh, the members of the community who have shared their thoughts on this to, to better understand what the final product of the MOU will look like, um, and also to, uh, see if we're going in the right direction on what metrics we use for, uh, for the evaluation of the program by the PC app, which I think is, is an important part of the MOU. So I do support retaining the um, the, I think it's an annual evaluation. Uh, so those are my thoughts. That's my recommendation. Um, council member, Lieber, you're in the cue.

[03:22:33] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you mayor. Um, for clarity sake, as well, I, I, I'd like to see the, um, manual also go to the PCAB. Because, uh, for my part, um, what I took into consideration when appointing the members of the PCAB was in certain cases, their actual experience in law enforcement. Um, and uh, their, their study of the subject matter overall. Um, which is is something that, um, I think in the youth services committee, we're all, um, very interested, I come from a law enforcement family, so I'm very interested. Um, but I think that we're, uh, trying to develop the expertise within the PCAB. And, and so I would like to have them, um, see the manual, see the review, um, and, and see the the performance metrics. Um, as well. That's kind of what we established, the PCAB for. Um, And so I'd like to suggest that to the maker of the motion when she does make the motion. Um, I think that that's appropriate for the sake of transparency, the public has come to understand that, uh, the PCEB is the body that will oversee, um, technical aspects of public safety issues. And I think, in particular, when we're dealing with an issue that, where there's been a real lack of clarity and a lack of understanding among the, the public and others about what is actually going on, um, with youth in this regard. I think that would be an important transparency measure.

[03:24:25] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, and I appreciate you, um, mentioning that council member, Leaver. One thing I neglected to say in my comments is the, the reason I prefer counsel, you services committee over the PCAB is the PCAB still has a very ambitious work plan, um, that I'm hoping that they will complete before the end of the fiscal year, and that will include, for instance, um, I think a, a presentation on, um, the, uh, public safety budget. That was something that was personally important to me. So not that I oppose that concept. I don't, I mean, the intention is to make the youth services unit, um, procedure manual public, so providing, you know, the peace ad, an opportunity to see that document, I think is, is perfectly consistent with their mission. I am a little concerned about keeping making this a big focus of their work plan for the balance of the fiscal year because there's a lot of other stuff that I'm hoping that they will complete. Um, just, uh, to include that thought. Council member Mattachek.

[03:25:25] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thanks. Um, so I was going to ask you why you were. Thinking it would go to the youth services rather than the peace app, so thank you for responding to that. Um, I will move the staff recommendation. Um, I'm a little bit torn about, um, though, while I totally agree with the MOU and the, um, manual being public. Um, everything the city does, it's public. So, um, it's not like we're hiding in that. Um, I kind of feel like the Peace Ab has now spent a lot of time on this topic, and is more up to speed than the U Services committee. So, um, I guess I, I would, I think I'd prefer to have it go to the P SAB. But, um, I guess if staff or other council members felt strongly that, um, it should go to use services, um, I'd be open to that too. But again, I will move the staff recommendation for the rest.

[03:26:32] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. So, just to clarify, is that the staff recommendations, um, with the addition that the, the documents cited, go to, and then this could change, but currently the PC app for review and then back to council for final approval? Is that, is that part of the motion or is that not part of the motion?

[03:26:54] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So, um, Only the MOU would come. Well, actually, yeah, I don't think they would come to the council, right? We're directing staff, what should be included in it, and then staff would just, um, implement that, right? The MLU wouldn't come back to council, would it?

[03:27:16] Assistant City Manager/Chief Operating Officer Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Council member Mattachek, that is staff's recommendation. I've heard a couple other ideas from other council members, but staff's recommendation is to direct the city manager to negotiate the MOU, as we would with other MOUs in the city, um, and also the procedure, manual, um, which is programmatic. And so that is staff recommendation, but certainly counsel. You can make a motion or tweak that if you have other ideas.

[03:27:46] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Okay, so, um, I agree with the staff recommendation on that. I think we've, um, seen what would be in the MOU, and I don't feel like that has to come back to council in terms of the procedure, manual. Um, I'm open to that being discussed at the PCAB or the youth services. I don't think that has to come back to counsel. That's not a policy document. Um, and so I would trust Stack to work with others to put that together.

[03:28:23] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you for the clarification. Um, anything else, comes remember? Council member Abe Koca.

[03:28:32] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Um, I would 2nd the motion, um, and um, I do agree. I think the MOU, it's like every other MOU that we, um, handle. We usually direct the city manager to execute an MOU, so that would be just being consistent with our procedures, um, you know, reminding ourselves that we are policymakers. We are not the day-to-day operation managers here, um, and in the same regard with the handbook, um, you know, I would, um, leave that up to, um, our, our professionals, um, to be able to take care of that. I think, you know, we have all, I think, we've all heard loud and clear the concerns, um, that have been raised. And I trust our staff as, as well and will take that into consideration and incorporate as much as possible. But at the end of the day, There's, you know, professional expertise that I rely on for that for them on. And so, um, I would leave it up to them. As far as, um, where do you want to direct the, um, either to use services or peace app? Um, I don't really have a preference. I understand both concerns. Um, I, you know, I would just say that, I mean, I, and I, I'm on the youth services committee, but, um, I think I'm pretty familiar with this topic now as my colleagues on the committee probably are too. So I wouldn't think that, you know, that's that would be a concern. Thank you.

[03:30:10] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Comes member show alter.

[03:30:13] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I'm going to be supporting this. And, um, I, I like the idea of it, it, um, of the MOU and the, um, Well, particularly the MOU being and the, and the procedures manual being shared with the PCAB. I really think that the, um, the, uh, the staffs should develop it, and, um, it should go to P SAB before kind of final, um, recommend, you know, if they, if they want to make final recommendations. But I don't think peace app should necessarily be, um, spending a lot of time on the review, then based on on the comments that they get, I think it's fine for the city manager to, um, approve it. Uh, I feel like they've given, um, in this report a lot of direction about what should be in the MOU, which is great. Um, and so I think staff can go forward with that. Thank you.

[03:31:14] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Bye, Samare Hicks.

[03:31:16] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: So, I'm becoming unclear on, uh, whether council member show Walter, whether that was a friendly amendment, to have the PC, or whether that's, whether that's the understanding that the manual will go to the PC, I'm, with that comment, I'm, I'm unclear on where we plan.

[03:31:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I thought it was the understanding, and I was supportive of the understanding.

[03:31:40] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Okay. So, the manual would, so, under this motion, the manual would be going to the PCAB.

[03:31:49] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Well, we should confirm with council member Metachek.

[03:31:55] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. So, um, I feel like both the PCAB and the council have given direction on the MOU, so staff can just take that. Um, it doesn't need to go back to either the council or the PCAB or any other body. When it comes to the manual, I feel like I'll leave it up to staff to figure out what's best, if they want to run it by the PCAB. I'm fine with that. They want to run it by the youth services committee. I'm fine with that. But I would trust staff to take the lead on that. Um, and let them make the decision.

[03:32:32] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you for the clarification. Com member show, Walter.

[03:32:35] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Then I just want to question about, we would we want to, you know, we've all talked about how it's important to be transparent, so we would want to make it, you know, at public. So, um, typically the way we make an MOU public is it's on the Kent Cent calendar, or, um, or how dare we typically make an MOU public. Maybe that's a question to our attorney.

[03:33:03] Interim City Attorney Jannie Quinn: It's a public document. So typically, this, you know, the city clerk keeps all of our public records and they're available. So if there's additional direction, um, from the council to do something different than that. We welcome that.

[03:33:23] Police Chief Chris Hsiung: If I may, may or I could add some, uh, Claire, do that. The police department does have kind of a transparency page where we post our entire policy manual. Um, so there's locations on our police department website where we could house that.

[03:33:39] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very much. Vice Mary, go ahead.

[03:33:42] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: So I want to just, uh, an assurance, in order to support it, I would want a little more assurance that the PCAB would be able to review the manual, um, not just, uh, you know, staff can decide, but, but some kind of review that's a little more open.

[03:34:00] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Assistant City Manager, did you want to, um, speak to this?

[03:34:07] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, I was actually, um, gonna add on to Chris's response on the, you know, public nature of the MOU and the procedure manual once they're created, that, you know, as he noted, that there are places that that information lives for the purposes of transparency and accountability already on the website and these would be added to that. But it's also in the MOU that there is the expectation of ongoing communication. Um, uh, and clarity around um, the program that, um, we could develop, um, ways to, um, share that information with the school community, um, above and beyond what would just be more kind of available as a repository on the website. Um, and then, um, the, uh, question from council member, Vice Mayor Hicks, um, uh, would you restate that, please?

[03:35:10] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: So, my understanding, uh, from the council member, Mattachek, the maker of the motion was that it was staff's discretion, whether it was brought to the, whether the manual was brought to the PCAB, and I just want some more opportunity for not just, um, you know, making sure that once it's done, it's posted somewhere where, um, you know, transparency in terms of people being able to read it over, but, um, some kind of review and input is what I had wanted. Thank you.

[03:35:45] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Anything else? Audrey?

[03:35:48] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: I would just say that if that is the, um, uh, included in the motion that we, um, can bring the procedure manual to piece app, um, uh, for their input, um, and awareness, um, if that is the desire of the maker of the motion.

[03:36:12] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: I have a quick question. So the MOU is not complete. The school districts have not uh, had an opportunity to provide input. Is that right?

[03:36:25] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Correct.

[03:36:28] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: So, so there, there could be some evolution, uh, depending on where the, the trustees and the superintendents are on this issue. Um, Council member labor.

[03:36:41] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, mayor. So, um, It was, it was good that someone, uh, uncouncil. I think it might have been council member, Abbe Koga, or perhaps council member, Metachek, brought it to my mind that there were some up to 400 people that participated in the PCAB, uh, process. So, it, it just seems logical that the changes that are the end product of that or, or a way station on the, the route of, um, the process would go back to peace app. Um, I think if we don't have transparency about those steps, then it really raises the question of why is the transparency not there? Um, and uh, the PCIP has a significant, um, investment in this process. 400 people from the community. Uh, that's more than the number of people who have commented on the downtown. Um, but 400 people from the community have taken time to participate. And if we wait for them to discover that it's on a web page somewhere, rather than giving an actual posted notice of a time to give comment. Then I, I feel like we really aren't keeping faith with, uh, the public. And, and I don't think we should fear, uh, the input from the public. Um, and hide from it. Um, and try to not have it on a public agenda, but say it's a public document. If people want to come in individually or they want to go on the web individually and seek it out, then they could leave a voicemail individually. It is just not as public, open and public as having it on a public agenda.

[03:38:41] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Council member Medachek.

[03:38:49] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Sorry, I'm having trouble unmuting tonight. Um, I don't think we're trying to hide anything. or not have this discuss. I feel like a lot of the things that I think are going to be in the manual have been discussed by the PCAB and MVPD has participated in those discussions and have heard, um, what their thoughts are. So, I don't have any problem having the PCAB take a look at this. Um, I don't think we're trying to hide it. I was responding to the comment the mayor made about. Uh, there's so much on their agenda. Do we really want to add more to it, but, um, I'm fine either way, and, um, I'm happy to include that in the motion that the manual will be discussed at a PCAP meeting.

[03:39:40] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: And then we'll check with the, uh, secondary council member, Abikoka. Are you comfortable with that addition?

[03:39:46] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: That's fine.

[03:39:50] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Any other comments? So then, uh, to restate the motion, it's a motion made by council member, Mattachak, 2nded by council member, Abbe Koga, to approve the staff recommendation, with the addition that, uh, and correct me if I'm wrong, it was the, the YSU procedure manual, which would return, um, to the peace ad in the future. Uh, uh agenda for discussion. Is the motion clear? Any additional thought? Not, then I'll turn to the city clerk uh for the roll call.

[03:40:26] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Mattachek?

[03:40:29] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[03:40:30] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Abi Coco?

[03:40:31] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I,

[03:40:32] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Lieber.

[03:40:34] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Hi.

[03:40:35] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member show Walter?

[03:40:37] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[03:40:38] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Hicks?

[03:40:40] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Yes.

[03:40:41] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Amirez.

[03:40:43] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[03:40:44] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Motion carry 6 here.

[03:40:48] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Thank you, staff. for the presentation and work on this issue. Uh, that concludes item 8.one um, I think technically a motion to continue the meeting past 10 o'clock might be necessary, even though only item 9 remains, so I'll go ahead and make that motion. Is there a 2nd Council member show alter?

[03:41:11] Councilmember Pat Showalter: A 2nd it?

[03:41:13] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. I think we need a roll call vote for that as well.

[03:41:19] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramirez?

[03:41:21] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[03:41:22] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member show Walter?

[03:41:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[03:41:24] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Abbe Coca?

[03:41:26] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I,

[03:41:26] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Lieber.

[03:41:28] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Hi.

[03:41:28] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Council member Matachek?

[03:41:30] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[03:41:31] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thanks, Mayor Hicks.

[03:41:32] Vice Mayor Alison Hicks: Yes.

[03:41:33] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Session carry, 6 years.

[03:41:35] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: You very much. I will now move to item 9 council staff committee report. Um, I have a very brief one in accordance with city council policy A2. I would like to report that I attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C. from January 18th, uh, through the 21st, 2022. Um, and I, uh, if, if it weren't so late, I would provide a, a brief report on, on what I did there in short, I participated in a number of programs related primarily to, um, uh, the ARPA funds, the bipartisan infrastructure, law, um, uh, small business relief, uh, and workforce development. Uh, council member Abby Koka.

[03:42:20] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to, um, Report on in a couple of things. I know several of us were at the joint ventures, Silicon Valley hosted bike super highway forum. Um, which was very interesting. Also with Silicon Valley Clean Energy. Um, I just uh, ended my chair ship and the new chair is uh, council member Liz Gibbons from uh, Campbell, and the vice chair is uh, council member George Tyson. Actually, I think he's mayor now, George Tyson from Los Altos Hills. Um, we also, um, met with Steph, the SPCE staff. Um, We did the reach codes, as you remember back in 2019, every 3 years, the building codes, um, has a revision time frame. So we're in that next cycle. Um, so, uh, as we are looking at reach codes 2.0 and what that could be. Um, so, um, SECE staff is reaching out to all the cities and, um, we'll be providing some options and recommendations, I believe, um, in the near future. Also, I am a part of, as mentioned, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority. This is part of MTCA bag and looking for ways to fund affordable housing. Um, the BAFA, what we call it, um, received a $20 million grant from the state, um, to kind of kickstart things. Um, I brought this up before. Um, the continued focus is on some kind of, um, bond measure down the road, a regional bond measure, um, to be able to provide, um, financing for for housing projects. Um, as I think I mentioned, they pulled, it didn't do, the poll, it didn't do well. So they chose not to move forward with ballot measure this year. Um, apparently there was an attempt to do a statewide, um, ballot measure, but that too did not pull well, so that's been pulled back. So, it looks like 2024, maybe this earliest ballot measure would happen if it happens. Um, and then I just wanted to announce um, I think she's fine with it. But, um, happy news, our, uh, former mayor, our council member, Ellen Kame, uh, had a healthy baby boy on Sunday, and she and her, um, the family are doing well. She's still in the hospital, recovering, but, um, he's beautiful and healthy, and, um, so congratulations to her. Thank you.

[03:45:03] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much. Good news indeed. Council member Metachek.

[03:45:12] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So I just want to report that I participated in, um, a board meeting of the Bay Area, water supply and conservation agency, Bosca for short. And um, Each time we have a meeting, we get an update on the um, water situation. And remember that, uh, Mountain View gets the vast majority of their water from the SFPUC's regional water system. And um, it's great that we had. Such, um, incredible rain, precipitation in December, um, because that certainly helped the situation with water storage. And, um, While we're still not out of the woods when it comes to the drought, it certainly improved things. Um, the system that we rely on is now at 74.7% of the total system storage, um, which is below the normal for this time of year, which is 81.6%. Um, but they are forecasting that uh, we should get a little bit more rain in February, which will help. Um, we, there was a chart that showed for each of the reservoirs throughout the state of California, um, where they were versus average. And it was really interesting to see the differences across the state. And how much some had improved with the, um, rains we had in December. Um, so, um, I feel like I say this every time, I always want to remind folks, though, that even though we had those wonderful rains. Um, we still need to conserve water. And, um, SFPUC has adopted the 10% system wide voluntary water reduction target. And we appreciate every appreciate everyone's um, efforts to conserve water. It helps, and we need to keep on doing it. Thanks.

[03:47:13] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Council member show, Walter.

[03:47:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I just wanted to um, share that, uh, uh, BCDC. I, um, attended the environmental justice meeting on committee meeting or on January 18th, and we are working on with our, uh, environmental justice advisors on getting a directory of community-based organizations around the whole Bay Area region who, um, might be, uh, good groups to work with when environmental justice issues came up from place to place. And then, on the board meeting, on January 20th, we had a very significant discussion of Bay Adapt. Thank you, everybody, for supporting Bay Adapt on the consent calendar today. We are part of about, I think, 30 plus organizations that have passed a resolution to date. And, um, the idea for the next steps is basically that BCDC will function as a backbone agency, um, for moving forward with sea level rise planning. And we went back and forth about what a backbone agency is, and, um, as that gets clarified, I will explain it to you better, but, but, um, but basically, it really means that, um, we conceptually, uh, uh, lead the efforts, but in collaboration with lots of other regional agencies, as has been going on, it's, it's, um, Bay Area regional collaborative is part of it. MTC is part of it, A Bag is part of it. The Coastal Conservatives, Cindy, as part of it. And so is the California waterboards. And so is the San Francisco estuary partnership, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if more groups join over time. Um, so, uh, Oh, then I wanted to share that today, um, the National League of Cities, energy, environment, and natural resources committee met for the first time this year, and, um, we basically just introduced ourselves to each other, and talked about what are the jobs of, um, serving on one of these policy committees. It's basically to develop the policy recommendations for NLC, to help NLC advocate for these policies, and then to share best practices. And, um, Supposedly, we'll have three, three annual meetings in person this year. You will have to all stay tuned for that. Thank you.

[03:49:55] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you very much, Council member Lieber.

[03:49:58] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you, Mayor. Well, I appreciate hearing from my Bay sister about everything that DCDC is doing. And, uh, I am serving on the, um, the board of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, and we also have, um, a very good emphasis on working with the environmental justice groups, and so I think I can um, share some sources there. Uh, with you and with BCDC. And, um, I wanted to recognize that this week, we, uh, recognized Ed Roberts Day in California, and Ed Roberts was considered the, uh, parent of the disability rights movement, was very pivotal in the formation of the ADA, and the independent living movement that has really seen so many strides forward for people living with disabilities. Ed Roberts also taught a class in conjunction with Foothill College during the '60s, and was one of the first students to attend UC Berkeley as a student with disabilities. And, um, there are, now, many, um, uh, who are inheritors of the genius of Ed Roberts. And so I wanted to, uh, raise his name here and say that he is still, uh, remembered in our area and that we can have policy development, uh, that is very successful around empowering people with disabilities and providing, uh, for good and meaningful lives that help them reach their dreams. So Viva, Ed Roberts.

[03:51:43] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Any other comments, questions, reports. Being none, we'll move to item 10 close session report. City Attorney Quinn, do you have a closed session report?

[03:51:55] Interim City Attorney Jannie Quinn: There is no closed session report this evening.

[03:51:58] Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Very good. Then, uh, we will move to the final item. Thank you so much for joining us and our next city council meeting will be held on February 8th, 2022. The meeting is adjourned at 1038 PM. Thank you for joining us. Take care.

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