December 10, 2024 Joint Meeting of Mountain View City Council and Shoreline Regional Park Community

Video

Agenda

• 5:00 P.M.-CLOSED SESSION: 5:00 P.M.-CLOSED SESSION (00:01:49)
• 1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: 1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (00:03:46)
• 2. ROLL CALL: 2. ROLL CALL (00:05:31)
• 3.1 Proclamation for Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo: 3.1 Proclamation for Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (00:05:43)
• 3.2 LAMV Community Foundation Update: 3.2 LAMV Community Foundation Update (00:25:00)
• 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4. CONSENT CALENDAR (00:36:18)
• 4.7 Senior Advisory Committee Review and Term of Service: 4.7 Senior Advisory Committee Review and Term of Service (00:50:00)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS (01:58:29)
• 6.1 Public Safety Advisory Board Review and Term of Service: 6.1 Public Safety Advisory Board Review and Term of Service (01:59:33)
• 7. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS: 7. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS (03:45:00)
• 2. CLOSED SESSION: 2. CLOSED SESSION (03:53:11)
• 8. CLOSED SESSION REPORT: 8. CLOSED SESSION REPORT (03:53:54)
• 9. ADJOURNMENT: 9. ADJOURNMENT (03:54:06)

Transcript

5:00 P.M.-CLOSED SESSION

[00:01:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Good evening, I'd like to um, thank you for joining us for our closed session. Um, City Attorney Logue will make a closed session announcement, and then we will welcome public comment on the item listed for closed session. City Attorney?

[00:02:05] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor and Councilmembers. There is one item on this evening's closed session agenda. Item 2.1 is a Conference with Legal Counsel regarding one item of potential litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(4).

[00:02:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on the closed session item listed on tonight's agenda?

[00:02:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom. I see that there's nobody in the chamber. Is there anybody on Zoom? Okay, so we don't have any speakers, so we can close the public comment, and um, we will adjourn to the plaza conference room for our closed session and return to the chambers for our regular session hopefully about 6:30. Thank you very much.

1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

[00:03:46] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Good evening everybody. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Um, welcome to the joint meeting of the Mountain View City Council and the Shoreline Regional Park Community um, of December 10th, 2024. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:04:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:05:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I would just like to say that we recessed um, we uh, our uh, our closed session, we didn't finish. So after the end of the regular meeting, we will be going back into the closed session to finish that.

[00:05:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, but the tonight we have two very um, very wonderful oh, roll call. Let's do roll call first. Go ahead.

2. ROLL CALL

[00:05:31] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Abe-Koga?

[00:05:32] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Here.

[00:05:33] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[00:05:34] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:05:35] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[00:05:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Here.

[00:05:36] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[00:05:37] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:05:38] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramos?

[00:05:39] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Here.

[00:05:39] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Matichak?

[00:05:40] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Here.

[00:05:40] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Showalter?

[00:05:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Here.

[00:05:41] City Clerk Heather Glaser: You have a quorum.

3.1 Proclamation for Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo

[00:05:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Great. Well, tonight we have two very special presentations, and um, uh, one of them will be starting up on Zoom shortly uh, with our uh dear Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. And um, then uh, we will also have a presentation from uh the um Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation following that. So um, does anybody know if um, if Congresswoman um, Anna Eshoo is available at this point?

[00:07:04] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: I'm here.

[00:07:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Oh!

[00:07:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Welcome.

[00:07:08] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: I'm here, good evening.

[00:07:10] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Welcome, we're so glad to hear your voice.

[00:07:12] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Oh, I'm excited to be with you, it's wonderful to be with you. I just wish it could have been in person, but uh, the House uh is still in session, so I'm uh meeting with you uh by voice, and uh, it's an honor to be with you, and I thank you uh, Mayor Pat Showalter, Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak, Councilmembers Margaret Abe-Koga, Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei, Lucas Ramirez, and Emily Ann Ramos.

[00:08:26] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Uh, it is uh, it's wonderful to be with you, and uh you know, as I reflect uh over my years of public service, I served for 10 years, as you know, in local government before I was elected to Congress, so I know very well uh how important the work you do is, and I thank each one of you for your service uh to the community. Uh, it's been the honor of my lifetime to represent Mountain View in Congress for 32 years.

[00:08:58] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Uh, I was the first woman and the first Democrat to be elected uh in the history of the district uh to represent it, and I'm very proud of the bipartisan body of work I've been able to accomplish to help not only our district but the entire country. Uh, during my 16 terms in Congress, five presidents have signed 68 of my bills into law, including legislation to create two Advanced Research Centers for biosafety and for medical cures.

[00:10:12] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Uh, and I'm also very proud to have secured over a billion dollars, hard to believe, for the electrification of Caltrain, uh 2.35 million for affordable and emergency housing in Mountain View, and two and a half million dollars for the pedestrian undercrossing at Bernardo Avenue.

[00:10:34] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Uh, my top priority for the remaining days that Congress is in session this year is to first fully fund the government, that's the job of the Congress, uh including securing the three million dollars I requested on behalf of Mountain View for the Linda Vista Avenue affordable housing project, it's so important to get that uh funded.

[00:10:59] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Uh, in in closing, I know that there is both um happiness on the part of some, and um, uh deep disappointment on the part of others, the result of the uh national elections. But I uh I firmly believe in the following. The seeds of democracy are planted right there in your chamber by you and the people of the community. Uh, it all begins at home. And when we have strong communities, we have a stronger country.

[00:12:17] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Uh so uh my hopes and and uh uh for our collective future uh are with the sentiments for our democracy, uh together with people across our country. Uh I've always drawn my strength uh from the people that I have represented, and uh uh we're we're going to face some difficult times, uh but I have always thought that um, uh the taller the challenge, uh the greater the opportunity. Uh and America is always worth it.

[00:13:33] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: So thank you my friends, and I could not mean this more. Uh you have my unending respect and gratitude uh for your friendship, for your leadership, uh and for choosing me to be your voice in the United States Congress. Uh as I said, it's been the honor of a lifetime.

[00:13:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, thank you so much. Um, I have a proposition here, a proclamation here to um, that thank goodness the uh election is over, yeah. I have a proclamation for you Anna, but many of the things that are in it you already mentioned. Um, but one of the things that you didn't mention is that um, you have taken a personal interest in each and every one of us who are sitting on the dais here.

[00:15:10] Councilmember Pat Showalter: You have gotten to know us as individuals, and you have given us um advice and uh and and knowledge, and um, and not to mention you have just been an incredible role model, not only for women serving in politics but anybody serving in politics. You are just such an incredibly competent individual, so kind, and so hardworking.

[00:15:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: You've you've come home almost every weekend, and it's a five or six hour commute on an airplane. I mean that is no small thing. So I think all of us are really um just very, very grateful for that friendship and um and training and mentorship that you've given us.

[00:16:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I'm going to give my colleagues um an opportunity to say a few words, I'm sure most of them will want to. And um, uh first up is uh Councilwoman Emily Ann Ramos.

[00:16:56] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um, uh thank you Mayor. Um, I I did want to use some of this time to really express my appreciation for Congresswoman Eshoo. Uh I had the opportunity to learn a great deal from you and in really such a short amount of time, especially when when you look at the breath and time of your total service. the my time, my time with you was was very small comparatively, but I learned so much.

[00:17:24] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And the the timing of it too was related we we got to see both how you could still fight for your constituents, no matter which party is in power in Congress or in the White House. You found a way to fight for us. You found a way to empower people in our in in this district to to fight for ourselves as well. Um, I take so much of what I have learned from you with me as as I continue on my own service.

[00:18:39] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: So I am so grateful that we are um, we're we're honoring you in the City Council because you have done so much, I believe, for all of us, um, and we are, we are so grateful as a city and and as our individual selves. So thank you so much Congresswoman Eshoo.

[00:18:59] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Thank you dear Emily.

[00:19:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And next is uh Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[00:19:07] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Hello Congresswoman Eshoo.

[00:19:10] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Hi dear Margaret.

[00:19:11] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: How are you? It's hard not to get uh emotional um, as you as you know and I think folks know um, I've been so fortunate to have a long um history of starting out as a 17-year-old high school student meeting you, and then um, you really are the inspiration for why I'm here and why I'm doing what I'm doing.

[00:20:15] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And um, I just look, I've just been so fortunate. I I words can't really express how grateful I am to you for all that you've done, and you really are the gold standard of what public service is about and to be able to have seen that up close and personal, I'm just so um humbled and and grateful to you and for everything that you've done for our community.

[00:20:39] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Um always keeping us in mind, fighting for us through through different administrations, good ones and some tough ones too, and I just um really can't thank you enough uh from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done for our community, um, your your um dedication to our our country and democracy, um just everything as I said you really are the gold standard, and as I continue my service, continue to strive to um to meet the your standard.

[00:21:53] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And so, thank you very much, congratulations to you on your retirement. Um, humongous shoes to fill, um, but well deserved and I just also want to wish you an early happy birthday.

[00:22:08] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Oh, thank you dear Margaret, and how proud I am of you, as you continue on and uh will be joining the uh Santa Clara Board of Supervisors. Bravo to you.

[00:22:22] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, next is uh, Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak.

[00:22:26] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Thank you. So um, it's hard to follow all these comments because basically I have the same thoughts. Um, I do want to thank you for representing us for so many years in Congress. Um, we appreciate all that you have done for us as individuals as well as for our city and the region.

[00:23:26] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And um the list of things you've done you mentioned quite a few, and I'm sure there's more in the proclamation. Um, but a huge thanks for all of those. It's nice to know we have someone watching out for us, and you've certainly done a terrific job of doing that.

[00:23:42] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, I also just want to thank you for being such a good role model, um, as the Mayor mentioned. Um, as well as your friendship. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you over the years, and um, yeah, you are the gold standard that I think a lot of us strive to be. Um, and I I can't say enough good things about um what you've done for us um for me personally, and I will really miss you. So um, please keep in touch with us. Thank you.

[00:24:13] Public Speaker Anna Eshoo: Absolutely. Thank you uh for your beautiful words, I so appreciate them.

3.2 LAMV Community Foundation Update

[00:25:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. And we are joined this evening by Christa Crames, the Executive Director of the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation, and she's going to provide us with an update. Welcome.

[00:25:17] Christa Crames: Thank you for this invitation, Mayor Showalter. Um, just briefly, uh, I am Christa Crames. I am currently the Interim Executive Director for Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation.

[00:25:27] Christa Crames: I know that many of you, uh, collaborated with my predecessor, Adin Miller, so shout out to him. I'm also a Leadership Mountain View graduate of 1999, whoop whoop, and probably just dated myself.

[00:25:41] Christa Crames: Uh, with me I have, uh, our Vice Chairman of the Board, Eileen Eng, uh, and uh, I just, I'm hopeful that we have a video that I can run for our overview. Yes? All right, thank you, Roger.

[00:25:56] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: Imagine for a moment the potential: your vision and engagement supporting your local community foundation.

[00:26:04] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: There are so many great causes out there in need of support. Where do you start?

[00:26:09] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: We are a platform for local people who want to pay it forward, reminding residents of the connection between their hearts and their generosity.

[00:26:18] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: Here's how we work: you can start a fund by giving cash, stock, real estate, or other assets.

[00:26:24] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: If you wish, LAMVCF will help align your giving with your interests.

[00:26:30] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: Community foundations offer tax advantages and personalized services that create a seamless giving process for you.

[00:26:37] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: And as your giving helps better your community, everyone benefits.

[00:26:42] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: Together we can drive collective impact. Challenges require partnerships that match financial resources, volunteers, and public attention to bring about positive change.

[00:26:53] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: We are small, but mighty. Proud to celebrate community building through connections with neighbors, collaborations with our non-profit partners and grantees, and engagement with local residents ready to innovate a project or through civic participation.

[00:27:10] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: When we're able to harness the power of collective generosity, we become a force for good.

[00:27:17] Public Speaker Video Voiceover: LAMVCF looks forward to partnering with you.

[00:27:27] Christa Crames: Okay. So that just gives you a little overview on community foundations. So I wanted to start with that, so thank you for indulging me with that.

[00:27:34] Christa Crames: Uh, I have a few slides that I want to get through just to go specifically on Mountain View, and really highlight what we're doing here in, in this community. We are a hyper-local community foundation that focuses on Los Altos, Mountain View, and Los Altos Hills.

[00:27:50] Christa Crames: Uh, we are, uh, different. Focused mostly on, we're different because of that hyper-focus, but also because we, um, we are a fiscal agent for some non-profit incubator programs that is unlike, uh, traditional community foundations.

[00:28:05] Christa Crames: So you see Mayor Showalter there and part of her connection and joy. Uh, we collaborate, we engage. Next slide.

[00:28:15] Christa Crames: So this is the Foundation at Work, and this is our, uh, really our annual report card. In the last fiscal year, we have distributed $3.4 million in grants. 2.7 million of that was from our donor-advised funds. Uh, nearly half a million of that is from our designated funds.

[00:28:35] Christa Crames: Next slide. Some of our community impact areas that I just want to make sure I'm highlighting for you all: we've given out 125 grants in the past year, and we are currently incubating 21 projects that look to launch and transform into their own non-profit.

[00:28:54] Christa Crames: Next slide. Yes, this one is one that I'm sure most of you are familiar with, uh, Fondo, and they are indeed going to be launching off into, uh, Mountain View Community Land Trust. We're very proud of these guys.

[00:29:08] Christa Crames: Uh, it's an example of collaboration, I think, this incubator project. It was formed during the pandemic. LAMVCF as the fiscal agent supported the team at Fondo and creating this public partnership, um, private partnership, and it resulted in $2.13 million for housing stabilization.

[00:29:29] Christa Crames: So I just, I just highlighted a few things, there's a lot of good things about that, but, you know, over 1,100 households received this money in rental relief. And so, uh, I just, I want to thank you guys as the Council for, for recognizing the potential in this, uh, and the growth that's happened, uh, over the last three and a half, four years with, uh, Fondo.

[00:29:54] Christa Crames: Uh, so, uh, we're gonna still continue to support them as they graduate into their own non-profit, but they've been a great partner with the City, and the three of us together, I feel like, um, created a wonderful public-private, uh, dynamic to, to get people stabilized that were otherwise not traditionally able to access the hardship funds.

[00:30:14] Christa Crames: So the, so the next slide is around our Community Grants Program. These are 16 organizations specific to Mountain View that I'm highlighting. But as I said, we, um, we do, uh, usually around 250 to 300,000 in community grants every year.

[00:30:32] Christa Crames: Uh, our community grants program, that's just specific to community grants, uh, that we do, not the ones that we support, uh, between our donor-advised funds and designated funds.

[00:30:43] Christa Crames: Uh, our community grants program is funded by a couple of private family foundations, but this year additionally it was the County of Santa Clara and the wonderful Joe Simitian, Supervisor Joe Simitian, who helped secure, uh, additional funding for us. So we'll have another 167,000 that we'll be giving out in the next few months in the new year.

[00:31:03] Christa Crames: We collectively invest in the local non-profit ecosystem so that we're improving the community for all.

[00:31:12] Christa Crames: Next slide. MVLA Scholars has been our commitment for decades. I'm sure many of you Council members know this, but, uh, this program because it has been around for a very long time, and there's a lovely dynamic duo of volunteers that have a whole cadre of additional, uh, 150 volunteers that are supporting and mentoring our MVLA Scholars.

[00:31:36] Christa Crames: We give away nearly 600,000 in scholarships, uh, that are awarded each year. 90% of the scholarship awardees are first-generation college students, and most of these students do reside in Mountain View.

[00:31:50] Christa Crames: Next slide. We have, uh, started a series this year, uh, in the last quarter, of our, of celebrating our Gardner Community Impact Recognition Award winners. If you see, uh, our newsletter and some of our local papers, uh, recently we highlighted, uh, Supervisor Simitian.

[00:32:10] Christa Crames: We have also highlighted, uh, Shali Sirkay, who was a, uh, whose active volunteer with Mompreneurs and Reach SVs program here in Mountain View that you would know. But she's, she's also known to us as a board member, and she's been on the Juvenile Justice Commission, she's part of M V L A, uh, or, or LA M V C F School Board.

[00:32:30] Christa Crames: So, um, this is just a good opportunity to, to make sure that we're holding true as a Community Foundation to the John W. Gardner values, uh, that he championed as a public servant. And we want to make sure that his teachings continue to be the guidepost of which we highlight members of our community.

[00:32:49] Christa Crames: Soil & Water is a grassroots community-based gardening organization. They are also part of our non-profit incubator program. They've been empowering environmental leadership and, uh, in the last year they've distributed over a thousand pounds of food production. The volunteers grow their own food.

[00:33:08] Christa Crames: Um, they have over 635 volunteers just for 2024. And, uh, what we really love about this particular incubator program is that 95% of the members don't have land space at home.

[00:33:22] Christa Crames: So this garden that is part of the Mountain View ecosystem is really demonstrating this community building, uh, opportunity for neighbors to have social engagement, enjoy gardening together. They exchange new recipes, they're part of their own little Facebook group. So it's really, it's really a lovely, uh, community building non-profit incubator project.

[00:33:47] Christa Crames: Next one is our MVHS Ambassadors Fund. This is a designated fund that I want to make sure that you all Council members are aware of. We partner with the Ambassadors to designate gifts to this fund so that they're tax-deductible and they encourage more donations.

[00:34:02] Christa Crames: It's a student-led group that supports inclusion and acceptance to help foster positive mental health, but they also create, um, on-campus gift drives. They have little basket leaders that cultivate a culture of giving which we're happy to support and nurture that culture of giving with any and all of our, our, um, uh, engagement, uh, in, uh, students and adults.

[00:34:26] Christa Crames: Their Treasure Closet that they've created raised $35,000 to, to, to offer basic necessities, hygiene projects, food, and every student at Mountain View High School has access to that fund.

[00:34:39] Christa Crames: So it's just a really great group of kids that approached us about how they could fundraise legally, and then we became that partner with them and cultivated this opportunity at the high school.

[00:34:52] Christa Crames: So we are celebrating our 33rd year of the Foundation's collective impact. And as I said, I really appreciated Mayor Showalter inviting me here tonight because I want to make sure that all of you understand what a community foundation does and why we're here to make sure that we're supporting the needs of Mountain View.

[00:35:12] Christa Crames: Uh, we've always operated in Mountain View. Uh, we were instrumental in establishing the Day Worker Center. Uh, formally in 2021 we included Mountain View in our name. But, uh, this is just an opportunity to make sure that I can answer any questions that you all have, and that we can celebrate the partnership that we've had together.

[00:35:31] Christa Crames: Thank you for your time.

[00:35:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um, Council members, anybody have questions?

[00:35:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Perfect, very clear. And, um, okay, well thank you so much for coming Christa, we really appreciate it. And we do appreciate the partnership, um, that we have had with this Foundation and we look forward to having in the future. It's, it's an important part of our community.

[00:35:59] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, we also, I also wonder, is there any public comment on this? No?

[00:36:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. All right. Thank you so much, we appreciate it. Okay. So, um, now we are coming to, um...

4. CONSENT CALENDAR

[00:36:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The Consent Calendar. And this is going to be a little longer than some nights because there's a lot on it. And, um, we have not had a break since 5 o'clock. So, um, the Council is going to take a 10-minute break and we will be back. Thank you.

[00:36:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Welcome back. Um, now we are on item 4, the Consent Calendar. These items will be approved by one motion unless any member of the Council wishes to pull an item for individual consideration. If the item is pulled from the Consent Calendar, it will be considered separately following approval of the balance of the Consent Calendar.

[00:37:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: This is also true if you would like, so if you would like to speak on these items, or the next item, Oral Communications on non-agendized items in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.

[00:37:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, we also, it's also our, our um, our custom to pull items just to discuss them or comment on them not necessarily because we feel that we want to vote no on them. So, I see first up is Council member, um, Alison Hicks.

[00:37:32] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I'm going to pull item 4.7, uh, which is the Senior Advisory Committee Review uh etc. For, I think for asking some questions and then we'll see whether we have to tweak it or not.

[00:37:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Uh, Council member Ramos?

[00:37:54] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I would also like to pull 4 4.7. Um, probably in hopes of a different vote.

[00:38:04] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Uh, Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak?

[00:38:08] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: I would like to register a no vote on item 4.2. Thank you.

[00:38:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And what is that?

[00:38:16] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: That is the Eliminate Minimum Parking Standards. I didn't support that when it came to Council. This is the second reading and so I'm voting no on it again.

[00:38:26] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay.

[00:38:30] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, Council member Abe-Koga?

[00:38:33] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Mayor. Yes, me, I will also uh register a no vote for item 4.2. Thank you.

[00:38:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. And can somebody help me out? What was the one for the election results?

[00:38:48] City Clerk Heather Glaser: 4.6.

[00:38:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: 4.6. Okay.

[00:38:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, I would just like to speak on 4.6. Um, I was um one of the candidates and um I just wanted to thank everybody who took part in our City Council race. We had an amazing array of candidates, people who were very well qualified stepped up to serve our community.

[00:39:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I just want to appreciate all of the people who did that, and who were willing to have discussions throughout the campaign on the issues. We never got personal, and um in today's politics that is something to be celebrated.

[00:39:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I also wanted to take this moment to thank our colleague, um, Lucas Ramirez, on shepherding Measure G um through the uh through the um to a successful completion. We um, we will all benefit from that. So that's what I wanted to say about 6.

[00:39:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So, um, then uh, let's go to uh, item 4.7. Um...

[00:40:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Oh, yes. Do I have a motion for the balance, please? And public comment. And public comment. Yeah.

[00:40:12] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Would anybody like to comment on the balance of the agenda items? We have one virtual speaker. Bruce England.

[00:40:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Bruce, can you join us?

[00:40:33] Public Speaker Bruce England: Yes, I can now. Hi everybody. Bruce England, Whisman Station Drive. Just want to comment quickly on 4.10. I have comments on 4.7 also, but I'll wait.

[00:40:42] Public Speaker Bruce England: For 4.10, this is a very interesting project because what it does is it uh closes off one end of Wasatch Drive. And my understanding it's the first time Mountain View's done something like this. Other cities have done it, say in Palo Alto around the College Terrace area.

[00:40:58] Public Speaker Bruce England: Um, but it's going to be a great help for people who are uh walking and biking who have found that stretch in Mountain View to be quite dangerous with the cars speeding through there. So I just want to commend the City for uh making that happen in that location, and hopefully we'll see more of this in um future locations as appropriate. Thanks.

[00:41:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um, Council member Ramirez, do you have something to read? Yes.

[00:41:26] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I will move the balance of the Consent Calendar including: Item 4.2, Adopt an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Mountain View Amending Chapter 36 (Zoning) of the City Code to Implement Subtask B of Housing Element Program 1.2, including updates to Section 36.32.50 (Required Number of Parking Spaces) to eliminate minimum parking requirements for residential developments in certain areas, and making conforming and clarifying changes to other sections of Chapter 36 (Zoning), and finding the amendments to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission, to be read in title only, further reading waived, registering the two uh no votes read into the record.

[00:42:14] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Item 4.3, Adopt an Ordinance of the City of Mountain View Amending Chapter 33 of the Mountain View City Code to add additional, efficient mechanisms for collection of Transient Occupancy Tax, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:42:27] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Item 4.4, Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View Amending City Council Policy A-15, City of Mountain View Ticket Distribution Policy for Shoreline Amphitheatre and Other Tickets, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:42:40] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Item 4.5, Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View Authorizing the City Manager or Designee to Amend the City of Mountain View's Salary Plans for Regular and Hourly Employees, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:42:53] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Item 4.6, Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View Reciting the Fact of the General Municipal Election Held on November 5th, 2024, Declaring the Result and Such Other Matters as Provided by Law, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:43:07] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And Item 4.11, Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View Authorizing the City Manager or Designee to Submit an Application for an Award of Prohousing Incentive Program Funds in an Amount Not to Exceed $890,000, to Execute and Deliver on Behalf of the City Any and All Documents, Including Amendments, Necessary to Receive an Award of Prohousing Incentive Program Funds, and Certifying to the California Department of Housing and Community Development Compliance With the Prohousing Incentive Program Requirements, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:43:39] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um, Council member Kamei?

[00:43:42] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, I'll be supporting the motion. I just see a few folks that may be here for Item 4.10 for our Neighborhood Traffic Management Program. And so I just wanted to clarify that this is on consent and it's moving forward and I wasn't sure. I didn't see any speakers listed. So, but I recall that some of you may be here from the CTC meeting.

[00:44:04] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So I just wanted to let you know that it's going to be going forward. Okay, I didn't know if you, I didn't, we weren't sure is it a good thing they don't have to comment or do they want to comment, you know. So before we go forward with the vote I just wanted to make sure. So we will be voting. Thank you.

[00:44:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. You're welcome. And thank you for bringing that forward. So, and you are all comfortable with not commenting? Good. All right. Okay, so with that we will take a vote. We will take a vote on the um remainder of the uh uh Consent Calendar.

[00:44:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And it it passes unanimously with the exception of item 4.2 um where there was a negative vote registered by um Council member um Abe-Koga and Vice Mayor Matichak.

[00:45:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. So now we move to um the item that was pulled, which is 4.7. And the first um part of that will be to discuss um uh to have the the public comment.

[00:45:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So if anyone would like to speak on um 4.7, the Senior Advisory Committee Review and Term of Service, um please come forward or raise your hand in Zoom and we will call on you.

[00:45:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I'm not seeing anyone coming forward in the chambers, but I do see a hand raised on Zoom. Uh, that is um Mr. Bruce England. Um, Bruce.

[00:45:50] Public Speaker Bruce England: Are you there? Go ahead and speak.

[00:45:57] Public Speaker Bruce England: Sorry, I had to get the unmute button there again. Um, hello again, Bruce England, Whisman Station Drive. Um, as many of you know, I'm a strong supporter of the advisory bodies in general, and I think the Senior Advisory Committee is an important one. However, I do recognize the challenges with uh getting people to apply for that.

[00:46:18] Public Speaker Bruce England: I feel that uh it's very likely that people in the community just aren't adequately aware of it, because if they uh knew that it was at risk they might um have some concerns. Um, I I don't know how you can resolve this. If you don't have enough people applying for it, then you really can't have a functioning committee. Um, but I do think that it's important enough for me to comment on it and I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

[00:46:35] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. And also we have um Nirvana?

[00:46:43] Public Speaker Nirvana: Hi, this is Nirvana. Um, yes, I'm also speaking on uh item 4.7. I think I'm a little bit concerned that um this resolution is being brought forward to rescind and dissolve the Senior Advisory uh especially because I actually interviewed for this position. And um before interviewing, I did do my best to engage with um the staff or the liaisons, and also current and past members of this committee.

[00:47:17] Public Speaker Nirvana: I have a heart for the seniors and I don't want them to be neglected. And I feel that I may be able to bring something um to this committee. And um I don't know much about it, or as much as I try to um get engaged in it. And most of the times the meetings were canceled because of not enough people, so there was no quorum. And so, um, I'm just concerned and I'm a little bit sad if this does not go forward. That's all I have to say for now. Thank you.

[00:48:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Um, so um that closes the public comment period, and we'll bring it back to Council for deliberation. We'll start with Council member Alison Hicks.

[00:48:16] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes, thank you Mayor. Um, I pulled this and for those of you members of the public who have not read the um full uh Council agenda and staff report. This is the um Senior Advisory Committee Review and Terms of Service, and the staff recommendation is to adopt a resolution of the City Council rescinding uh a certain resolution with a long number, and uh dissolving the Senior Advisory Committee.

[00:48:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And um I have to say I was a little surprised to see this on the Consent Calendar with without much discussion, because we we just brought it up in I think a member of Council in Item 8. Um, and I thought it was going to be reported back to us for further a report back on kind of the status of it and further discussion. I didn't know it would end up dissolving it on the uh being proposed that it be dissolved on the Consent Calendar.

[00:49:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and I'm I'm just a little concerned with the um upcoming dramatic growth of seniors and lots of needs. Sometimes this is called the Silver Tsunami, um that we would be just dissolving the committee without any uh talk about the needs and uh how we might address them and get input, or not very much of that.

[00:49:46] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, there you know, and then at the same time we have nationally right now talk of possibly cutting Social Security and Medicare. I think there are just a lot of needs that we that may come back and impact us.

4.7 Senior Advisory Committee Review and Term of Service

[00:50:00] Councilmember Alison Hicks: in uh Mountain View regarding seniors and senior input on that. So I wanted to take time and have a little more discussion and maybe um if there's well, we certainly have other council members who have things to say but also if staff could recommend maybe some ways that um we might we might uh be able to have um you know more input than what's suggested in the brief staff report.

[00:50:30] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I should say because um because we had public comment from Nirvana we also appointed her or suggested appointing her to the committee without really giving her any um any sugge- she

[00:50:44] Unidentified Speaker: She withdrew.

[00:50:45] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah, well she dropped off her um she also applied to the HRC and she sort of agreed to not be on that and be on this instead. Uh so so I have several things that I feel need addressing in a little more than just on the consent calendar.

[00:51:11] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, Councilmember Ramos.

[00:51:14] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I am uh not inclined to uh disband the the Senior Advisory Committee. There's a lot of um I'm trying to contain my thoughts. Uh there's a lot of things that I feel like is a broader conversation and there's thoughts that I think are limited to this one. But um I when people think the Senior Advisory Committee there are a lot of people in our community that feel that you have to be a senior to serve on it, kind of like how we have our Youth Committee.

[00:51:46] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um and so that also may have been like a limitation to it and I was like oh okay we'll just make sure that it's open to everyone. Then I find out when those meetings are. It's at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday. Like people work. I mean not everyone has the same times but this is like the most common time when people work. Um so I think in order for us to be essentially realistic about the actual barriers that lead people to sign onto this commission,

[00:52:16] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: um I have incredibly fond memories when I was the the chair of the RHC the someone from the member of the Senior Commission actually reached out and they did this full program not really a program but like every meeting they had they brought on a chair of an advisory committee. And like they did like two advisory committees at a time so it was me and at the time uh Mary Ann who was in the Downtown Commission and they had us essentially present what does our commission do and then they asked what do you do for seniors?

[00:52:48] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And I was just like oh no, what do we do for seniors? And it gave me that opportunity to really have that conversation with senior needs and the need and the the mandate of the committee that I served on at that time. And I thought that was actually really incredible. That wasn't that long ago, that was during the pandemic, which made it easier for me to show up at like 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday um because we got to zoom in instead.

[00:53:17] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: But I think in order for to make it an to to make it viab- I think we could have there were more levers that we could have done that we could do instead of pulling the plug on it. Um so I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm not inclined to to uh withdraw it without taking a look at some of those levers. Um because I do think there are people that are willing to serve on this committee.

[00:53:46] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um and I I know and I'm very I really tr- I I'm really sensitive to staff time and I know that this is something that staff keeps on like um sharing their concerns with us, but there has to be a way that that our residents feel that they can really engage as part of our government without it just always being an issue of staff time. Uh and and like I know that's going to be a constant struggle but I feel like this is too premature for us to pull the plug on this commission.

[00:54:24] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um so uh I am open to other possibilities to if you we you want to narrow down the number of meetings or or any thing like that I'm I'm I'm open to that I just I think I think we can we could keep it going. Thank you.

[00:54:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um next up is Lucas Ramirez, I mean Councilmember Ramirez.

[00:54:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. Uh I I appreciate um the remarks that Councilmember Ramos just shared. Um I have a different perspective uh and informed in part by my uh work in in my day job. I I think as an overriding consideration not everybody has to be Brown Act restricted. We can achieve substantially similar goals in many different ways and it doesn't have to be um uh regulated very rigidly through the Brown Act.

[00:55:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I I don't know if there are staff representatives who work with the Senior Advisory Committee here but it might be helpful to to come down because I may ask questions to help get a sense of viable alternatives that that may work for the city. But I um we'll have we'll have this conversation twice so I think it's good to start with this. Um but I I want to share uh maybe as a starting point uh we have uh in in my boss's district a uh very uh active uh senior center uh Southside Community Center.

[00:55:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And there is a uh a an informal committee that meets regularly and is staffed. My colleague Helen Chapman goes to all those meetings and reports back to the councilmember and to uh her colleagues uh what what concerns that the people who are attending, it's open to the public anyone could participate, um care about. Uh food distribution or um you know maintenance of the facility, that kind of thing. And I I I was curious to understand from staff's perspective, let's say we wanted to continue the utility of a of a regular meeting you know at the senior center open to the public,

[00:56:27] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: um if we were to cease the Brown Act restricted component of it, roughly how much time does that save you?

[00:56:41] Michelle Petersen: Good evening council, Michelle Petersen, Recreation Supervisor and liaison to the Senior Advisory Committee. Um I don't think time staff time is a concern and I d- it would probably be about the same amount of time. Our concerns have been attendance and um lack of quorum.

[00:57:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I agree with you, but I think is there it is a nontrivial thing to have to notice meetings that are cancelled, right? It is a nontrivial thing to prepare a staff report. Um not that that's necessarily the justification for the staff recommendation but if you were to could you convene uh regular meetings with uh folks who participate in Senior Center programming to talk about things of interest without the constraints of the Brown Act fairly easily?

[00:57:34] Michelle Petersen: Certainly.

[00:57:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And then do you really need people to participate to be appointed by the City Council? Is that useful in any way in helping advance the goals of the Senior Advisory Committee?

[00:57:48] Michelle Petersen: I believe your suggestion would be more beneficial because we'd probably have more active participation.

[00:57:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, thank you, that's very helpful. I others may have questions but but I appreciate your your responses. So I I I do support the staff recommendation. Um I think if it if if it provides some comfort to the council I think some guidance to staff to uh continue to host regular meetings, right, keep them open to the public and in particular to uh uh folks who go to the senior center who I think are the most likely to be interested in the content or presentations that you may have to offer.

[00:58:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh it could be informal. You can you can include people, you can go out and talk to you know the current committee members for instance and say would you be willing to volunteer to help convene these meetings, right? They don't have to be appointed by the City Council, they don't have to be constrained by the Brown Act, they don't have to be you know noticed in the very elaborate way that we have to notice meetings. But we could still get very useful information, our staff can still present material that may be beneficial for seniors to to know in our community,

[00:58:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: um and and we could still achieve I think the same objectives just without the constraints of the Brown Act. So that's that's my position. Uh and I would welcome staff's input for how we can continue to achieve these goals um through some other alternative forms, right, that aren't constrained by the Brown Act um that save you a little bit of time, maybe not an extraordinary amount of time but but you know enough to you know allow you to focus on actual programming that's that serves our community. So that's my perspective um but I'm interested in hearing what others have to say. Thank you.

[00:59:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[00:59:31] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Mayor. Um so as one of the council members who was on the council when we established the Senior Advisory Committee I um have uh very strong feelings about this and um I appreciate the item being pulled because I am not planning to support the dissolution. Um as mentioned we and you know going back to when we established this committee I believe we had a Senior Center Advisory Council or Board or something committee

[01:00:11] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: and the interest at that time was frankly to expand the issues that a board a body would uh um look at. Um understanding and acknowledging that uh there was a gr- is a growing continues to be a growing senior population in our city. At that time um Dr. Elna Tymes was very vocal about this, I know that they worked on a report of the status of seniors over the years.

[01:00:43] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Um and uh we had Avenidas had had come on line. So it seemed like there was issues and there were issues and um uh so a a need to um expand the scope. And so um you know I have you know I've been on commissions, I was on the HRC, um EPC, and I think it's a great way to get uh residents to become more involved in our city and to understand uh how things operate um beyond the you know the occasional community meetings we might have.

[01:01:22] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Um giving folks that opportunity to take on the role of you know running a meeting, being chair, being vice chair and so forth. And also you know I look at the representatives on all of our commissions as really kind of our emissaries in the community and if folks you know had issues specific they could talk to one of the commissioners in addition to the council. So I've always been a strong advocate for wanting to expand opportunities for resident citizen involvement and so that was why um I supported the establishment.

[01:02:00] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I understand over the years um you know the challenges. Um I don't know frankly don't think that maybe we need they need to meet every month but um I hope that you know we would continue to have a body that could work on the state of seniors or some kind of report. I don't think they've ever actually reported out to the council and that's something that um you know we could look at doing because I don't think we've really had a lot of um conversation about um our seniors.

[01:02:35] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And um you know we talk specifically about housing and what not but I would have liked to have this committee flesh out some of those issues that have come forward and I don't think we've maybe given them the charge to do that. So frankly you know when this came up about looking at this and then PSAB later, my suggestion was and I know there was a suggestion to look at all of the commissions and committees, and that was my preference um because frankly I was on the Human Relations Commission at a time when there was a lot of question about whether the HRC should exist.

[01:03:16] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: We didn't really have much scope in terms of our work, we were trying to figure out what to do ourselves, and our meetings were cut into every other month and so we couldn't get anything done even. Um but then since then you know we re- we reviewed everything and you know recommitted to the HRC I think they found work to do and they you know really become active. And so we go through cycles um and I think you know it's worth uh reexamining what the SAC can do um and uh

[01:03:54] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: again yeah if we want to look at what commissions or committees to keep I think we should look at them all and look at you know the history and the context of all of them, not pick a couple out just because at this time we don't have um you know we're having trouble filling the seats. But yeah, if we did maybe six meetings a year or however many quarterly perhaps we could get more participation, you know let's let's talk about what their charge could be and um and then you know reconfigure it so that maybe it could be more successful. So that's what I would prefer to do before we go forward with dissolving any commission or advisory board. Thanks.

[01:04:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Uh Vice Mayor Matichak.

[01:04:43] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Thank you. Um I do have a quick question. Um how did we decide uh the meeting time? Has it always been at 2:00 on a Wednesday, did we try other times? Did we land on that?

[01:04:59] Michelle Petersen: We have always had our meetings on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. Most seniors don't like to drive in the evening. Um we do have a requirement that you be 55 or older and a Mountain View resident or a senior service provider to be on the committee. Um and that seemed to work best for the um commission or committee members when we started early on and each year we vote on time and day of the week and it's always come back with the same.

[01:05:37] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Okay, thank you.

[01:05:39] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: So um I uh brought this up because uh I had you know noticed and had seen input information on um the fact that it's been challenging to get a quorum. And so we're not really accomplishing what perhaps that advisory body was um asked to do because we can't have meetings because there's not enough people.

[01:06:04] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um I actually agree that um if we tried a different format and just had specific topics that were well advertised you might get um more people to participate because it wouldn't be such a big time commitment and they could participate on the topics that are of great interest to them.

[01:06:27] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: So I actually think um we might get more input if we did that. Um and having it at a convenient time and convenient location um would be good. Um and since we do have sort of a captive audience at the senior center um you know they might want to take an hour out of their time there to participate in a meeting about a given topic.

[01:06:50] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: So um I agree with what Councilmember Ramirez said that I don't think we should feel constrained um by the having a Brown Act group and try something different to get the input we're looking for from seniors. So and I think that was well laid out in the staff report about we have alternatives um that I thought gee these sound pretty good let's at least try them. Um and move away from the current format to something that we think might work better. So um I will be supporting the staff recommendation because I think it's actually uh a better way to get input from seniors than the current way we're doing it. Thanks.

[01:07:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um Councilmember Kamei.

[01:07:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great uh thanks Mayor. Um so I just a quick question for staff. So um in the report it showed three years of um I would say like ongoing difficulty with the um recruitment and attendance. Um do you mind sharing um what you maybe you're seeing in terms of each year it seems since it's like 2022, '23, '24 it seems to be dwindling each year in terms of the ability to meet. Is there any trends or things that you've noticed over these last three years or

[01:08:14] Michelle Petersen: Not specifically in the last three years but the Senior Advisory Committee has struggled for numerous years to fill vacancies when they've occurred.

[01:08:28] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Do you think perhaps since its creation it's struggled or just more recent?

[01:08:34] Michelle Petersen: Probably in the last ten years. The first five years I think it was very strong, the committee did report back to Council on the State of Mountain View Seniors report, but there's been conflict amongst the members and how they wanted to move forward s- and that's been probably the last ten years.

[01:08:54] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Thank you. I appreciate that.

[01:08:56] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So um thanks so much for the discussion. I know that this is something that Santa Clara County is looking at um I think it's 25% of the population by 2030 will be um categorized as seniors so I know it is top of mind. I think um just for me it's not a staff capacity issue so much as just seeing the trend within the commission.

[01:09:22] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: This data was the last three years but hearing from staff that it's been the last ten years of difficulty um getting um people to want to serve I think shows to me that something needs to be different. I think that having it 55 years and older, having a senior serving provider those were creative ways I think to try to get more people to apply.

[01:09:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: It's also great to hear that staff was creative in terms of um having the group vote and select a day and time that works for them and it just ended up being that it would always turn back to the to the recommended of the Tuesday or sorry the Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. So um I think it sounds like staff has worked really hard to try um different augmentations to um have the advisory body work um and those are currently um I think not

[01:10:20] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: it's not um our seniors are not interested in the different iterations even though we've we've tried different different um methods. And so I am open to a new way to get that engagement. Um I I think that uh Councilmember Ramirez and Vice Mayor Matichak brought up some creative ways. I think that input uh there's value in the input of course we want input from our community particularly our seniors but I I just feel like this body is not the one where people are feeling drawn and I'm not sure um what that's about but it sounds like staff has um tried quite a bit.

[01:11:01] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I do know that the county has a variety of Senior Care Commissions with different um committees that are part, so um maybe it's just being able to share a bit more about what the what the county is doing with their Senior Care Commission. But I I'm supportive of the of the staff recommendation. I think we need to do something new to engage our seniors and um I feel like the staff report and what staff is sharing with us um needs we need to heed that advice and and make some changes. Thank you.

[01:11:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, well I'm gonna take a turn too. I uh one of the things that that I find um a problem with this is it seems to me that it's come up with not very much public notice. And um so we really haven't given the people in the community a a chance to say wait a minute, do we really care about this? The last few years have been pretty um uh have been pretty out of the ordinary. You know since COVID um we're supposedly I mean we're out of COVID but there's still so many things that um aren't working as they did before.

[01:12:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And certainly seniors typically are more immunocompromised, coming to meetings is harder, etcetera, etcetera. So so I um I'm I'm really troubled by the lack of public notice for this. Um you know it was brought up at an Item 8 at the end in September and here it is it's a couple months later and it's just on the consent calendar. I I don't that that uh that doesn't seem enough daylighting to me. Um and then the other thing is I one of the problems is the whole idea of a quorum.

[01:12:48] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I I would really like to understand a little bit better about why this has to be a Brown Act meeting. Um and could we have a Senior Advisory Board that wasn't did was I mean what what does the Brown Act do to this group? Um and that was one of um Councilmember Ramirez's arguments. I don't really understand how that's an issue.

[01:13:09] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But anyway, one of the things I do think is an issue is having a quorum. And um uh it's it's a seven-member board and it would be easy enough for us to just say let's try it at five and see what happens. We have um some new life, uh we have a very energetic individual who want is anxious to serve on this and um I I kind of feel like um if anybody could get this going, Nirvana um Nirvana's the woman for the job.

[01:13:42] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So so um I I'm loath to to cut it off at this point but I would like to change the um the number of people on the board because I think that's that's creating a problem right now and make it five and then maybe if it turns out it still doesn't work in another year we should or even maybe six months we should we should um revisit it. But I I would really like to give them a little bit of space to to try something else out.

[01:14:13] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I do like the idea of having meetings that are on a specific topic. I don't know if that's what happened before or not but that does sound like it would it would be interesting. So anyway that's that's my comment. Um and it looks like Councilmember Ramirez and uh Councilmember Hicks um are up now and um we have a public comment submitted late. I'm sorry we don't we don't that that's not part of the process. So um okay, so Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:14:44] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. Uh well and you actually um uh anticipated my next line of thought. You asked what does the Brown Act mean. The Brown Act means that the Senior Advisory Committee uh cannot meet virtually. Right? Every a majority of the members must...

[01:15:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: must be physically present, which means people who are mobility constrained or have some other uh uh accessibility issue cannot be a member of this body. They they might be able to a couple of times, right? You could use the emergency provision of the

[01:15:13] Unidentified Speaker: Just twice a year.

[01:15:14] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yeah, so, but you can't do that all the time, right? So, you were...

[01:15:17] Unidentified Speaker: Under the same rules.

[01:15:19] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: They would have to notice every single time, right? Um, and you know so that's that's what's the point with a Senior Advisory Committee though. Right? So why why not allow staff I I'm well I we may we may disagree on this, right? But but that that's a significant constraint.

[01:15:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, if the body meets less frequently, quarterly, and there is a meeting where there is no quorum for whatever reason, then they meet the following quarter. Right? So I I feel like allowing staff and the members of the committee to have the flexibility to meet in whatever way makes sense for them,

[01:15:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: uh and to have a meeting and then find out oh hey only three people showed up, the people who showed up they can decide at that moment whether they want to have a meeting rather than say well we do not have a quorum so we will have to wait another quarter before we meet again. Feels like it's it's a it allows for more meaningful and consistent input,

[01:16:12] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: and uh and allows the the committee to actually do some work. Um, there's also, so this this was mentioned in the in the staff report I think, but um the the there is diminishing volunteer contributions to the the work product of the Senior Advisory Committee. The staff actually prepare the State of the Seniors, right? That's nontrivial.

[01:16:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and maybe that's important for the council, but we will be talking in January about the process for our goal setting um uh and and priority setting uh discussion. And what we will learn is we will have to significantly curtail the number of priorities that we establish for ourselves because the staff are really busy on a lot of this other stuff.

[01:16:56] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I feel like unless this is a high priority of the council and it really needs to be a Brown Act body, then we can you know pursue a similar structure. Um, but that comes at the expense of our ability to achieve other council-initiated goals, and I think that's really important for us to be mindful of.

[01:17:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: This is subject to the Maddy Act, right? You have, if you want to be a member of this committee, you have to go through this process to apply, you know, be interviewed by the Council Appointments Review Committee and then go to a City Council meeting. It's all staff time, right?

[01:17:27] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Preparing the reports and everything. It's it may be very intimidating for a number of folks who, you know, don't want to go through such an arduous process just to be a member of a body that talks about a very important issue. Why not allow prospective members to just go to a meeting?

[01:17:44] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, uh so allow staff a, you know, if we if we need to have a formal body, I think staff appointed makes more sense than council appointed. We have to approve their work plan. The Senior Advisory Committee has to be able to meet to make a recommendation to the council for a work plan that we then approve. Why not just allow the committee to decide what it wants to work on?

[01:18:03] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I'm I'm not seeing tremendous value in having this be a Brown Act restricted body. It it does add incrementally, right, over the course of many different processes and meetings, a tremendous amount of workload to the staff for not a lot of benefit. Um, and uh let's see here,

[01:18:22] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: virtual meetings, lengthy delay of quorum, staff work on the actual Maddy Act, council right so I think that was pretty much everything. But I I'm I am struggling to see I I I absolutely believe that a committee or some similar type of uh effort is is worth preserving.

[01:18:45] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Many of us have been caretakers. You know, many of us, I think, have been with folks who have really struggled in their in their aging. You know, none of us thinks this is this is a triviality. But the Senior Advisory Committee as it is currently crafted is not working.

[01:19:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: It's not actually serving our senior community. And I think a big part of that is the Brown Act and all of this process that we encumber it with. And I feel like it would be better to find an alternative that allows a group of people to do good work and meet with staff at a time that is convenient for them,

[01:19:21] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: and to change the meeting without having to go back and amend bylaws that are approved by the City Council. I I feel like there are better ways of doing this. So I'm going to move to approve the staff recommendation,

[01:19:33] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View rescinding Resolution Number 17420 and dissolving the Senior Advisory Committee, to be read in title only, further reading waived. But uh also to uh to direct the the staff to identify um uh some alternative ways to continue to solicit uh uh public input

[01:19:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: and and allow for senior uh participation in um the the development of work plans and to do all the stuff that the Senior Advisory Committee does, but just with a process that doesn't require the constraints of the Brown Act and allows staff to appoint participants. Is that um is that a are you cool with that direction? Thank you.

[01:20:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, well I I have a question to staff, I'm not sure which staff is appropriate, but um why does this have to be a Brown Act, why is this a Brown Act um board and and and can we just declare that it isn't a Brown Act board and basically have it do the same thing? I I'm I'm still a little confused by this.

[01:20:39] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, thank you Mayor. So I believe that this was a council created advisory board, which would go through the typical process which would make it a Brown Act body with the formal agendas and meeting times. But I think if you want to explore, perhaps an option is to,

[01:20:56] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: with the motion on the floor, if if council wants to support it, um to have staff draft an alternative plan, uh much like what is in the motion maker's um motion, and um see what this informal, non-Brown Act body might look like. And perhaps we can return to you to let you know how the attendance has been,

[01:21:20] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: if there's more people attending at the Senior Center, uh what topics are interesting to them to discuss, and then bring that report back to council and maybe just pilot this um if that's something that council is interested in. And if this isn't working, then we can come back to you and council could create a Senior Advisory Committee again as a Brown Act body.

[01:21:43] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um but I think this is uh an alternative that you could explore to encourage more participation. But initially the reason why it's a Brown Act body is because it's a a council created body.

[01:21:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So that's really just standard practice. It's it's not...

[01:22:03] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Correct.

[01:22:04] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Is it legally required that it be a Brown Act body?

[01:22:07] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes. It's state law.

[01:22:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It well that's a good reason! Okay! Got it. Alright. And another thing um I, you know, sorry as the mayor you don't really um get the floor in the normal manner. Another thing I wanted to bring up the possibility of is is establishing something like um

[01:22:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: and this could be along the lines of what you're discussing, we're discussing, something along the longs of uh lines of Friends of Mountain View Seniors and or Friends of the Mountain View Senior Center. Like we have for instance, Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail.

[01:22:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I mean they're they're an organization in our community that has been very supportive of one of our amenities. And um a Friends group might be kind of another way to look at what a...

[01:22:57] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: They are 501c3s, yeah.

[01:23:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um.

[01:23:02] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: They are typically 501c3s. They don't start out that way though. They start out just people getting together and then over time they might become those.

[01:23:17] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, that's right.

[01:23:21] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, so we have a motion on the um uh we have the motion on the floor, and we have a seconder. Do we have any questions related to the motion? Okay. Councilmember Hicks.

[01:23:31] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes, so thank you everyone. This is why I pulled it. I thought it deserved a little more, a little more than just a vote to dissolve it. I had no idea where we were going next. Um, to me, so there's a question because to me it's still a little vague.

[01:23:46] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I think um a group that uh that meets on occasion with different topics is really different than what the Senior Advisory Commission has been. Um, I think there's some value to having the same people come over and over again as opposed to, you know, kind of a movie of the night kind of thing.

[01:24:05] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, movie of the week, whatever. Um, and uh so I'm hoping we, I like the idea, I may be able to support the motion but it's not specific enough yet. Um, I the staff drafting it, saying that staff drafts it and it comes back to us is is good.

[01:24:29] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, I should say and I would want to know, you know, how could we make sure that there's a committee of people that kind of guides it besides staff. Um, and then the other thing I should say is that um I'm the representative to Avenidas, which is our regional senior group, and that serves Mountain View and Palo Alto.

[01:24:55] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And Palo Alto does not have a Senior Advisory Committee but they have um I think both staff, they they work with the HRC within their um within their city. And they also I think if I have it right they have both uh staff and council rep to Avenidas with a little more say teeth than what we have.

[01:25:21] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I was, they have a new executive director who I was just about to meet to talk through how Palo Alto does it and whether we would want to move more to something like that. But, so I could uh support a change like this.

[01:25:35] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I could also support something like what Pat had, the Mayor, had brought up um saying that we go on for six months, tweak it a little, you know, fewer meetings, not seven people, five people, change a few things and see if that works out. Either way is fine with me.

[01:25:54] Councilmember Alison Hicks: But I would like a little more teeth than just just the Senior Center has a meeting on occasion and people from the Senior Center can show up. That's a little too vague for me to support.

[01:26:06] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Is this an invitation to respond first before I just take...?

[01:26:11] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Sure.

[01:26:12] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so I I I appreciate the um the the concerns and I I I will solicit staff's input on this for for how to make this um meaningful and actionable. Um, what I'm thinking is as a starting point, the staff will approach the current members of the Senior Advisory Committee

[01:26:31] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: and um you know folks like Nirvana who haven't been appointed yet but who have expressed clear interest in uh in participating and invite them to be uh to be appointed by staff to serve on a committee that is not Brown Act restricted, is able to meet in person or virtually or hybrid based on its will,

[01:26:53] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: decides when it wants to meet but meets regularly, is open to the public, and addresses issues of concern to the Senior community. I don't feel comfortable prescribing a work plan because those needs and concerns will evolve with time.

[01:27:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but I I would if if if staff can help maybe guide the council a little bit in how this might be structured and how we can make it work, I I think we would welcome your your feedback.

[01:27:24] Community Services Director John Marchant: Good evening. John Marchant, Community Services Director. Um, and I'm going back in time a little bit to the previous task force. Um, as as Councilmember Ramirez is saying, we see a benefit in pulling together maybe five members of the community to be on that task force, if you will, if we want to call it that, a committee.

[01:27:47] Community Services Director John Marchant: Um, and be able to work with them and also make sure that the citizens of not only the Senior Center but but city-wide are aware of these meetings taking place. Um, the benefit of not being a Brown Act group is that the topics can change in the moment based on what is necessary,

[01:28:06] Community Services Director John Marchant: whereas right now we're we're posting what those items are, we're we're talking about those specific items, whereas there isn't a good discussion of what maybe some other topics that folks would like to talk about. Um, and so this would provide a better benefit for community engagement,

[01:28:21] Community Services Director John Marchant: discussions on different topics in the moment if you will, and then if there's a desire to make this a pilot program we can then come back with some of the benefits thereof in six months and then at the end of the year to say how that program is going. Hope that's helpful.

[01:28:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. So and I I will maybe amend... so thank you, that that that's very helpful. I think for for the uh the benefit and assurance for the for the council, periodic reports. Um, and I I'm open to suggestions. It could be council connections, it could be an off-agenda memo,

[01:28:54] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: but just some understanding of um, is this resulting in increased participation? What are the kinds of things that we're hearing from the community? Um, are there uh ways that the council can support uh this committee? I think we would love to to see uh if this is um helpful in making this body more successful. Is the seconder okay with this?

[01:29:18] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: I'm okay with all of that. I just have the question, is this a pilot and if so for how long?

[01:29:26] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, boy, gosh, uh... I'm sorry. The the reason I'm struggling with this question is I I'm I think the the body really needs to to have some level of self-determination. We're not creating a body. Right?

[01:29:41] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: The staff are basically the the direction is they're going to work with the Senior community to figure out a a structure that works for them. If there's no interest, even if you remove the constraints of the Brown Act, then I I don't think the body exists. You know?

[01:29:54] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So I I would say if if there's robust interest and staff needs some support from the council, resourcing or you know some dedicated staff person or something, then I think they they can come to us and say we really need some support to make this um even more beneficial to the community because we're finding there's a lot of interest.

[01:30:15] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Right? The the Senior Committee that that I I don't work with but my colleague does, um is quite robust. You know? It's not Brown Act um restricted, but there's a lot of support needed because there's there's a lot of interest.

[01:30:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So the memos to council are not only about is a new format and process working but also what are they talking about?

[01:30:35] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yeah.

[01:30:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. I'm okay with those changes. Okay, um Councilmember Ramos.

[01:30:42] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I um I'm not inclined to support the motion. Um I I feel very strongly that we need to lean into our advisory committees, invest more into them. And I feel like we're we're coming up with these great solutions right here on the dais, which is is wonderful,

[01:31:03] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: but it almost feels like oh we could still have them uh have their say, um but it really feels very ad hoc-y as as we're like okay well we could pilot a program or we could have um uh ad hoc meetings or a task force. And I feel like we should have that plan before we dissolve the committee.

[01:31:26] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um, I I I can't, I I feel like one of the things, if you have members of the Senior Advisory Committee as part of an official committee within our city, that means they are functionally part of our government, and like more than just as a resident as a voter, it's it's it's a step further. It's it it is a commitment.

[01:31:51] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And I actually do think that as we look at our comm... well our committees in general, but like that that feels like a big project right now, but as we're looking at the the Senior Advisory Committee, there there does need to be changes. I think we all acknowledge that.

[01:32:08] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I just I don't want to get rid of it before we have those changes locked in so that we are we are sure that whatever um the intent of when this committee was created to look after our Senior population of our community is is fully addressed through.

[01:32:28] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I I have this like deep fear that as Councilmember Ramirez mentioned we're gonna come up to goal setting next year and we're going to have to pare things down and I don't want this to go to the wayside um now that then we don't have a committee, we don't have a plan um because it'll take staff time.

[01:32:51] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And so I am I'm not inclined to to support this motion. Even I I think about like I I look at other cities and how they're handling different committees and commissions and quite honestly yeah there there isn't a Senior Commission in Palo Alto and I don't think they have one in in San Jose either I'm not sure.

[01:33:13] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um but like the committees that they do have, they have things like they have a council member liaison to their to their committees. And it's there's like an additional like connection to from council to these committees and I feel like that's more of a direction we should be going.

[01:33:30] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Now if we have to pare down uh like the number of committees in order to make that happen, that is ah I don't mind that too much. I just mind that without a proper replacement of it. So I am I'm not inclined to support this motion.

[01:33:47] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um next is Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[01:33:50] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Mayor. Um yes I'm gonna uh agree with Councilmember Ramos. I would like to see uh the proposal before we dissolve uh this committee.

[01:34:03] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And um I mean frankly all of the issues you brought up Councilmember Ramirez can be handled in terms of the Brown Act and um you know I we do it all the time with our regional boards, we poll for when folks are available, we notice we have noticed you know tense sites at times. So it's all doable,

[01:34:25] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: it's just a matter of you know whether we want to make it happen or not. And I agree we could go to five members instead of seven. There's so many configurations that we can come up with, with the meeting times, days, how many times, members.

[01:34:40] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: But I actually would like to do and this is you know again what I was hoping when we if there were to be a comprehensive review of all of our advisory boards and commissions is to see what other cities do.

[01:34:51] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Los Gatos I know, and as you know I've had a chance to visit quite a few of our neighboring cities, and they have an extremely active Senior um I think it they call it the Senior Services Committee. Um and so and there's you know source-wise at the county,

[01:35:09] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I think there are there are best practices that we can uh look at and I would like to do that to see you know what else we could do before we move forward with dissolving a committee.

[01:35:21] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I just really think it is important civic participation is one of the most important um aspects of what we do. I do agree that there is something to be said about being a part of the city um government or organization by being on a commission and advisory board.

[01:35:39] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: The ad hoc you know I I think the council should take some time and talk about what they want to see the Seniors um provide input on and come up you know perhaps come up with some of those topics um and you know it's kind of a chicken and the egg situation.

[01:35:56] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Like I think part of the problem of lack of interest could be that they don't really know what they're supposed to do. And that was very similar to the Human Relations Commission way back when. So maybe the council should spend a little time frankly on all of the commissions again and advisory boards to see you know what they what the council wants to get out of all of our um advisory groups. So that's what I would suggest and recommend, so I will not be able to support this motion. Thank you.

[01:36:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Are there any more questions? Okay. So I will call... um does anybody need to review? Okay, uh no. Alright. So uh it's time to vote.

[01:36:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. So the um motion failed four to three. So does somebody have another motion they'd like to put forward? Councilmember Ramos? No? I mean I'm I'm not really good at at cobbling together a motion um but...

[01:37:23] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: There was one of the one of the alternatives was either to drop it... there were the two alternatives was one to um continue as it was. I don't think any of us agree with continuing as it was. The other one was um well continuing as it was and then check back in a year.

[01:37:42] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And then the other one was like turn it into um quarterly. Um I don't I do think that maybe we should check back in a year. I think that that is reasonable. I think there but um I'm probably open to some of the changes I think a lot of people...

[01:37:56] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, well let me make a suggestion then, that I I would suggest that we move forward with what was suggested in the previous motion, but that we don't formally dissolve the Senior Committee until the existing Senior Committee and this task force has had a chance to talk and put together a program.

[01:38:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then you know say the staff comes back to us in three months or six months or I don't know what's the appropriate length of time, and we um we either adjust it to a task force or um a uh and we dissolve the Senior Committee or we decide to go forward um...

[01:38:44] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: I just wanted to seek clarification when you're referencing the prior motion there you're going to still have a Brown Act body. So the prior motion involved not having a Brown Act body because the body would be created by staff right and this and the council would have no role in appointing or anything like that.

[01:39:08] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: So it's really hard to have a I just wanted to make sure I understood what you're saying that there there really can't be a hybrid if if you kind of move forward and you keep the members that have been appointed it's a Brown Act body because it's been created by councils and the resolution will still exist that created this body.

[01:39:28] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: So in order to have a non-Brown Act body you do have to actually repeal the resolution that created the body and allow put control in staff's hands. So I just wanted to say that when you referenced back to the prior motion, we would need clarification.

[01:39:48] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, and well I don't have a second anyway, so I will um ask uh Councilmember Hicks.

[01:40:04] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Hicks.

[01:40:07] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I think we have to have a second in order to continue discussing once there's a motion. So, um, so, uh, what I would add to that, if we can, and uh, the city attorney can tell me whether we can or cannot do this. Um, right now reduce it from seven to five members. And also, um, I guess I don't know if this is part of its charter or whatever, but I think that people should not have to be 55 years of age.

[01:40:39] Councilmember Alison Hicks: You know, if I'm a caretaker, I am over 55 by the way. So I'm eligible, but, um, you know, I'm, I've been a caretaker for my parents and it really doesn't matter what, I could do that at any age. Um, so somebody with an inter- I could be an upcoming caretaker when my pa- there was a time when my parents needed no care but I knew that they would in the future. So just an- you could be interested in senior housing. I don't think you should have to be 55 and over.

[01:41:09] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So, if we had those, if we reduced the number of members and reduced that requirement, um, then I think it may be easier to um, to accrue members of the committee.

[01:41:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I I see that our clerk has um, something she'd like to contribute.

[01:41:33] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Yeah, I just wanted to clarify, um, in 2021, um right before I got here, the council actually adopted a resolution that removed the age requirement. Um, so as far as my office and recruitment are concerned, we have not been using an age requirement.

[01:41:54] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay, we don't need to add that. Thank you.

[01:41:56] City Clerk Heather Glaser: To pass applicants through for the SAC to consider. So that's just one thing to note that in the past three years there has not been that restriction.

[01:42:07] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. Very good to know and I hope the outreach reflects that.

[01:42:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Kamei.

[01:42:18] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So, um, I'm sorry, so can you clarify what the motion is now?

[01:42:24] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well, I think we've been told that it's illegal. So. So, I think, you know, really... So what is the motion? I I think I I think we need to, I need I think I need to withdraw the motion because if if it's illegal to have both, is that what you're saying?

[01:42:42] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: So I'm just saying that if you don't repeal the resolution, you have a Brown Act body. It's created by city council, so you still have your Brown Act body. If you want to, I'm hearing some suggested changes by Councilmember Hicks. If you want to do that, I would recommend amending your motion to direct staff to bring back the resolution with the amendments that you would like to make.

[01:43:09] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: So we already have the age that's that's been changed, but if you want to make other amendments like changing the pe- how often frequently the meetings are occur, or you want to make other changes to the body, just make your motion directing us to bring the resolution back with all of your amendments. You'll still have a Brown Act body for the time being. 'Cause you can't have both. It's either created by council or it's not. That's that's the one problem with Brown Act versus not Brown Act.

[01:43:46] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: May I ask a question while we decide on what the motion is? So, um, the questions for... So, is the Senior Advisory Committee able to meet currently?

[01:44:01] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Right, so I know but you're saying that you just appointed one individual, but it still wouldn't be able to meet, correct? I I'm not sure how many um I I guess it's a question for staff. I think we're having this robust conversation about the committee, but my understanding is even with a new appointment, there's still vacancies and it's unable to meet. Is that correct?

[01:44:22] Community Services Director John Marchant: That's correct. We currently have two members that are currently active.

[01:44:25] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Right. And even if with SAC's recommendation, it would still...

[01:44:31] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Yeah, they would still be without a quorum unless you reduce the body size.

[01:44:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay.

[01:44:37] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Right. If we reduce...

[01:44:38] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Right, but just for the clarity of the conversation, as it is currently, we're having a discussion about you know the prior motion failed so I'm trying to understand what motion might come forward. And my understanding is that the body is still unable to meet, correct? Even with the recommendations that SAC would be put forward. So I just wanted to clarify that as we're having this discussion. Thank you.

[01:45:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. So we only have three people who are actively involved in this, is that what you're saying?

[01:45:14] Community Services Director John Marchant: There's currently two members of the Senior Advisory Committee.

[01:45:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, and and one recommended. Okay.

[01:45:28] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So can we... yeah. So...

[01:45:32] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, um. So if we have this continue forward as a um, a Brown Act body with a a um... a quor- I mean a...

[01:45:51] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Mayor?

[01:45:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[01:45:51] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: May I make a suggestion for how to potentially move forward? So what you have is a situation where you have a body that did not meet in 2024 because there was never a quorum. Um, and you have two current members and one new member who, um, we've heard and have much trust in, uh, helping reinvigorate. So you have three of seven.

[01:46:15] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Uh, what you could do is reduce the body from seven to five members. If you have three, that will show up, then you'll have a quorum. And I think what you could do is, um, also move to quarterly meetings, I would say three to four meetings a year, and what staff can do is work with these three members in their first meeting on how to think about maybe recruiting new members, and potential, um, ideas for how to make this committee work.

[01:47:15] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So, um, that could be a potential path forward for you this evening to keep it the way it is but make some of these tweaks, and if we need to we'll, we'll talk to the City Attorney's office about what resolutions or what we may need to do technically to bring it back, but I just wanted to make sure that council understands that, um, you know, there's only three people on this and it, and it never met in 24.

[01:47:32] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And, it's three is small but three could also be powerful, and, um, try that. And if it doesn't work, then staff will be coming back to you to say, we tried this, there's really no engagement through this Brown Act version, we believe that it would work better as a more informal group through the Senior Center.

[01:47:38] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So these three folks would be tasked with reinvigorating this this committee. Or if it doesn't work, um, try this alternative route which is a non-Brown Act body.

[01:47:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I would presume that part of this reinvigoration would be um identifying programming that they could support.

[01:47:58] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes. Yeah. Yes.

[01:48:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Good. Okay. Uh, Councilmember Ramos.

[01:48:05] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I I I should know the answer to this but I don't because it kind of deviates from what um, the normal process is. People turn in their applications November 8th of this year, then it goes to SAC, then they decide who gets on it. So now that we do have vacancies for it, are we, is it a continuous application? Um, so like people can turn in applications tomorrow, correct?

[01:48:33] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And so when would that go to SAC for them to... if, if we magically get applications tomorrow essentially.

[01:48:42] City Clerk Heather Glaser: I'm sorry, can you read repeat the question?

[01:48:44] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: For the current vacancies that we have on the Senior Advisory Committee, if we get applications as early as tomorrow, I don't know if we will, I don't know if we won't, um but if we somehow get applications as soon as tomorrow, what is the process now? When does SAC see it? How soon could they be seated? Um, how does that work?

[01:49:06] City Clerk Heather Glaser: So it would be a matter of scheduling another SAC meeting. So it would depend on the members of SAC and when they were available.

[01:49:16] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Do you have a general timeline of that? No? Okay. Yeah. We'd have to pull the members to see. Okay. All right.

[01:49:28] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um, and I guess the only other thing I would add to the motion is, I'm actually willing to put a deadline. If we can't reinvigorate this committee after one year, then I'm okay. But like, I kind of just want to give it a little bit...

[01:49:43] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Six months.

[01:49:44] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Six months! Oh! That's a little tight for me, but...

[01:49:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Nine months.

[01:49:50] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Nine months? Nine months! Nine months. All right. I don't know how the makers of the motions feel about that.

[01:50:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: That's okay with me.

[01:50:02] Councilmember Alison Hicks: That's fine.

[01:50:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Alright. Um, Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[01:50:07] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Mayor. So I'm not quite sure where the motion is right now. It's, um, I believe it's to reduce to five, three to four meetings a year, and to give this this small group a chance to invigorate themselves for nine months. Is that right? Um, I could support that, but I really want to focus on what the mission of the SAC is. Based on what I'm re- I read in the staff report, you know originally it was, um, well, I mean it sounds like the requirement to to be on it is your senior center user or professional service provider, and I think we need to expand that.

[01:50:46] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Like, I don't, you could be a senior and not use the senior center. You could be a care provider, just as a as a like a family member, so I would like to expand that, um, and also just expand the scope because you know, it started out with the Status of Seniors Report, then it moved to a resource guide, and frankly if that's all they're doing, I can see why there's not very much interest.

[01:51:08] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: So part of this I'd like to see happen is to have the SAC hold have a process to take community input on what the community thinks the Senior Advisory Committee should be working on, 'cause there's so many issues like aging in place and housing and transportation and food insecurity. Like, I hear it all the time and I can't believe that that's not an issue for seniors in our community. But I believe the real issue here is we have really narrowly scoped this. I didn't realize that. And I think we should be broadening the the the scope of the work that they do. So if you can include that in some way in the motion then I would be able to support it.

[01:51:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I I think that what we would want them to do as part of the invigoration is to suggest a broadened scope.

[01:51:58] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, that sounds fine.

[01:52:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Okay. Alright. Um, Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:52:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. So I I can't support the motion. I I feel like what what frustrates me is we we have people who can start working tomorrow if we wanted them to. But instead we're going to subject them to a process that has no value add, right? The resolution has to be drafted by staff, it has to come back to us, be approved by the City Council. Then they have to wait for the next regularly agendized meeting. If one person can't go, that meeting is cancelled, and then they wait another quarter. Or they could meet whenever they want, right, and do good work for our community tomorrow.

[01:52:41] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I I feel like we're at risk of confusing process for effectiveness. I think if we want a group of people to do good work for our community, we should empower them to do that, and not subject them to the constraints and burdens of a process that actually impedes their ability to do good w- do good work for our community.

[01:53:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I trust our staff on this. I think we have like Nirvana is ready to go. Great, let's have her work tomorrow and not wait for, you know, have her wait for us to come back and fiddle with bylaws and then, you know, again, she she may not actually participate in a meeting until June, right? Or or or never, right?

[01:53:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: If if one person gets sick or resigns, then, you know, the members of the SAC have to, well first we have to solicit applications. Hopefully we get one, and then SAC has to interview them, and then it has to go to Council. I I I fail to see the value of this process. I think it actually stifles participation and makes it hard for folks to do good work.

[01:53:37] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And then mo- the other thing that came up is the the noticing of the agenda. They could only talk about what's in that agenda, and if somebody comes in and says I have a concern I want to share, they get to have their three minutes of comment, and the committee says thank you very much, and that person walks away frustrated because they can't respond.

[01:53:54] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I So let's, let's remember the the problem is the Brown Act. The problem is the process. That's what's stifling participation and making it hard for this group to do good work for our community. So I can't support the motion. Thank you.

[01:54:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Um, Vice Mayor Matichak.

[01:54:11] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Thanks. I had a question about the motion. Um, I had heard it mentioned but I didn't hear it mentioned in the summary of the motion, um, about what happens at the end of nine months. Does it automatically com- become a non-Brown Act group? Or what? Or whoever made the motion, what's...

[01:54:30] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I I think we we get a we get a report at that time from the uh, the staff about whether the invigoration process has worked, or whether they feel like um it hasn't and they would like to morph into um something else.

[01:54:47] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Okay. Um, thank you for that clarification. Um, I agree with Councilmember Ramirez. I feel like we do have someone who's very um energized to do some good work in this area, and I would just like to see that happen. Um, and so I'd be more supportive of just right now moving to a non-Brown Act group, um, as was kind of outlined in the staff report. I think we'd get a lot of value out of that. It would be easier for people to participate, um, and it would result in, you know, better better information coming to council, and better things happening in the community. Thanks.

[01:55:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, um, Attorney Logue.

[01:55:30] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: I just wanted to clarify, whatever the motion is, it's going to need to be restated. There's, and and I, and if you can, when, whatever it is you restate, if it is direction to amend the resolution, can you open it with a motion to direct staff to bring the resolution back to amend to accomplish these things: reduce membership, reduce meetings, change scope. So it, just so that we have a really clear record on what you'd like us to do. Thank you.

[01:56:04] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. I move a motion to direct staff to um amend the resolution um after they have worked with the existing um, no, to amend staff- First thing that first thing that will be amended will be the size of the body, will be reduced to five members instead of three. Instead of seven.

[01:56:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Instead of seven. I'm sorry. Five members. So there will be at least three there. Um, and it will be um, they will meet at least quarterly. But they could meet more if they wanted to. And um, uh, their job will be to reinvigorate the Senior Committee and broaden the scope as they see appropriate.

[01:56:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And they'll report back, or the staff will report back, in approximately nine months as to whether or not this has been successful. Or their recommendations. Okay, is that better?

[01:57:15] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Can I add a friendly amendment to that? Um, could we also eliminate the requirement that they be a Senior Center user or professional service provider, and open it up to say those interested in senior issues.

[01:57:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes. Yes. Thank you.

[01:57:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. We have a second. A motion and a second. So it's time to vote.

[01:57:56] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The motion passes, um four to three. Is that right? Yes. Um, with um Kamei, Ramirez, and Matichak dissenting.

[01:58:12] Councilmember Pat Showalter: All right. So, that's the end of the consent calendar. Yes! Yay! Um... and now after that we move to item five, which is oral communications from the public.

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[01:58:29] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, 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 within the City Council's subject matter jurisdiction for up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits the Council from acting on non-agenda items.

[01:58:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: If you would like to speak on this item, or the next item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. Um, would any member of the public joining us in person or virtually like to speak on non-agendized items? Seeing none. Okay. Do you see any? No. Okay. Well that, that closes the um, uh, the oral communications.

[01:59:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So now we move on to item six, which is New Business. Um, 6.1 Public Safety Advisory Board Review and Term of Service.

6.1 Public Safety Advisory Board Review and Term of Service

[01:59:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: We are joined on the dais by Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg, um, to present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. Thank you.

[01:59:50] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Thank you Madam Mayor, members of Council. I'm also joined out in the audience by Police Chief Michael Canfield, who is available to answer questions. Um, and with that I'll start the presentation. I think I will.

[02:00:13] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, so the PSAB was, um, discussed and created in the midst of, uh, national, um, uh, outrage at, uh, the tragedy prompted by the death of George Floyd. And there were calls across the country for reform, um, in policing. The calls locally, um, did not, um, claim or substantiate that type of misconduct, but did voice some very specific concerns,

[02:00:44] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um, and those primarily related to, um, the presence of police officers on school campuses, um, having police officers be the ones to respond to mental health crisis, with the fear of unintentional escalation of those situations, um, and also the concern about potential bias, um, for the way that the police department might be conducting its, uh, stops and contacts with, um, with community members.

[02:01:20] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, so at the same time, the Council had created the Race, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and this was one of the first issues that the committee took up, and they directed staff to review the matter. Um, and, uh, that included staff analyzing, um, the different kinds of options for community police, um, advisory type bodies, um, and also the conditions in Mountain View, uh, around such things as use of force, and the, uh, personnel complaints, and, um, the general tenor of the relationship between the police department and the community.

[02:02:01] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And, um, in comparing those two sets of analysis, it was staff's recommendation that, um, uh, a community police advisory board model, um, was the one, um, that has been seen in other places that would be most appropriate in Mountain View, rather than something that would be more investigatory or oversight.

[02:02:24] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, the purpose then was established consistent with that for the PSAB to be a bridge between the police department and the community, um, on public safety matters. Um, and, uh, that was the background for creating the PSAB. I'll have a little bit more background, um, coming up.

[02:02:45] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And, um, also just acknowledge that we're here this evening and that there was a request in September at a council meeting to look into, uh, the PSAB, its work, its membership, um, and, uh, any challenges it was facing, and whether or not to sunset the body or to suggest a different direction.

[02:03:05] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: So the, uh, recommendation from the Race, Equity, and Inclusion Committee came to the council in December of 2020. Um, at which point the council formally, um, uh, acted to establish the PSAB. Following a recruitment process, the, um, PSAB members were appointed in April and then immediately that next month, um, met in May of 2021. Um, which means there's been three and a half years of operation, um, to date.

[02:03:38] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, the, uh, action to create the PSAB or the staff recommendation said for there to be up to seven members, and seven members were in fact appointed. And there was always the intention for the PSAB to be staffed by both the City Manager's office, um, as well as the police department. And the current staff for the PSAB are myself, um, and Police Chief Canfield.

[02:04:08] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: So the work plan for the PSAB, um, is developed in the spring of each year through a two-meeting process, and then adopted along with all the other advisory body work plans that come to council in September of each year. Um, over time, the, um, projects that have been on, um, PSAB work plans include 10 special projects and five reports that have wound up becoming ongoing, um, agenda items, and on the work plan each year.

[02:04:41] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Uh, typically of the special projects, two to three are not able to be completed within the year and are carried forward. Um, at this point there are currently two special projects underway, the ones that are in italics on the slide, which are the, um, Youth Substance Abuse Trends and Prevention Resources,...

[02:05:00] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: is than that one has carried over from the prior year and then a new one um regarding vehicle resident safety and access to police services. So I'm going to talk a bit more about the um many of these projects in this next slide that um starts with the major accomplishments of the PSAB. Um uh and it is I think a a credit to the PSAB that of the major issues of concern that I mentioned at the um creation of PSAB,

[02:05:30] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: the the body has um uh accomplished important work plan projects related to each of those. Um and the first is about school officer or police officers on school campuses or the school resource officer SRO program. Um that was a project that had a very high level of engagement from the public with a very active sub committee that identified stakeholders and helped put together a survey.

[02:06:00] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Uh the survey was conducted and and um participated um um in by students and parents and members of the school community as well as other um uh uh stakeholders that were met with in one-on-one or group meetings. Um and then there were the meetings of PSAB itself and the the public speakers that was the most highly um attended uh meeting was when the PSAB made its recommendations around the SRO program.

[02:06:31] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And what um happened through the work of this sub committee was um further insight about the concerns. Um when people talked about um not wanting uh SROs on campus or police officers on campus that was everything from um that it was difficult for some members of the community to see um police officers um when they weren't expecting to see them.

[02:06:59] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Uh up to uh concerns around um the discretion that they wanted the police officers to use when they needed to um interview somebody um a student for having engaged in something or whether they needed to search a student that they were wanting discretion around that. Um there were there was feedback about the need for clarity um through both memorandums of understanding with the school districts as well as the um School Resource Officers own procedure manual,

[02:07:29] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: around what are the best practices, what are the outcomes, um and how are we communicating with the school community so people are clear about the purpose of the program. And so those were all really beneficial outcomes that happened as a result of the PSAB's work. Um a second area that I mentioned was the response to mental health crisis and the desire for there to be a non law enforcement um option for that.

[02:07:57] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And um and so at the same time that this was on the agenda for PSAB, um the afore mentioned um federal grant that Congresswoman Anna Eshoo helped secure um to support alternative non-law enforcement responses to mental health crisis had been uh awarded to Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Los Altos.

[02:08:24] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And um the staff from those three cities um uh worked closely with the county around their plans to develop what's called the TRUST program. Um and that program is a mobile community-based program with the team here based in North County um that has um is staffed by people with lived experience and other um uh clinical backgrounds and medical backgrounds

[02:08:55] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: to be able to be part of the community become known and to get referrals for people in crisis so that they don't go through the 911 dispatch system. Um and um in order to support that PSAB um developed a community profile on mental health issues, like what are the needs that we're hearing out in the community, what do the statistics show around such things as

[02:09:23] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um suicide attempts or um substance um overdose. And um what are who were the key stakeholders that any new program or any program that was expanding into Mountain View as was another county program called the Mobile Crisis Response Team. And really needed to know about our community people to connect with in order to raise awareness and to reach the people in need.

[02:09:50] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um and so PSAB does continue to um get updates from uh the county and from Momentum for Health which is the the contracted provider by the county for the North County TRUST team. And staff independent of that also meets on a regular basis with the TRUST folks and they have become part of our monthly um CBO or community based organization network. And so they're very kind of plugged in to to Mountain View thanks to our efforts.

[02:10:20] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um and then the the the other concern we had talked about was the um having heard from the community at the creation of PSAB was whether, how do we know whether or not there was bias in the way that the police department was conducting its stops and contacting people.

[02:10:37] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And so we were fortunate to have the services of a PhD fellow who conducted um rigorous um uh scientific um um experiments um or tests. Um including something called the um I think the Veil of Darkness test where um the ability to see what um the um background or um ethnic um uh background of a of a driver in a car might be,

[02:11:09] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: and how that uh compared to when that you know was earlier during the day and could be seen. And it was the the fellows finding that there was no finding of bias. And um PSAB built on that work by um talking about the Racial um Identity Profiling Act or RIPA which is a state piece of legislation requiring all law enforcement agencies to report on a quarterly basis to the Department of Justice,

[02:11:39] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um around the um uh racial makeup of the um people who are stopped. And so that um data is available in um what's called uh CSV format um which allows anybody to um analyze the data. Um and it's also part of the transparency dashboard that the um Police Department has um put on its website.

[02:12:07] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And it is part of the twice annual report that the PSAB receives from staff about a whole range of uh contact and feedback data about um the police. And then the last thing I would mention in terms of accomplishment is the council has delegated to the PSAB to be the uh reviewer and discusser of the annual report that's required each year on the the purchase and um uh possession and use of what the state has defined as military equipment.

[02:12:41] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um and to have the required community meeting so that community members can have input um into that. Um so I just mentioned the twice yearly report and we call it twice yearly because I can never get right whether biannual means twice a year or every two years. Um I think it means both actually so hard to be clear. Um the PSAB does hear from the um Police Department twice a year on a range of contact and feedback information.

[02:13:14] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Some of which is on this this slide. Um so one of the ways that the police department provides information and gets feedback from the public is through social media, Nextdoor is one of the most effective ways to do that. And I think we have a data issue in that we have a big variation between the first six months and the next six months and then back down to the the same number again in the last six months.

[02:13:39] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And we we know that that's there was a data glitch there that we're unfortunately unable to backtrack, but I think if you just assume that there's about 14,000 households that are hearing from our police department and that the number of engagements is around 250,000, I think that's pretty significant. Um the Police Department also has a um anonymous survey for people who are in contact with the Police Department to ask them about that experience.

[02:14:08] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And here are a couple of the data points in that survey, um one about how they felt after the encounter and with uh um well over um uh 3/4 um stating that they were positive or very positive. And also um that higher higher having agreeing or strongly agreeing that they were treated with respect.

[02:14:37] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um we uh one of the first things that the the PSAB wanted to know about was personnel complaints and so even before the twice yearly report was um created, um uh we uh brought to them regular information about personnel complaints. And for the last three um six month reporting periods there were a total of seven complaints, those might be some of the same complaints carrying over because not every complaint is resolved within a six month period.

[02:15:07] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: But just to give you a sense of those about half of them um at least in those first two reporting periods were generated not by a member of the public complaining about something that they experienced with the police but with our own Police Department um raising issues where um a procedure wasn't followed or may not have been followed and it was important for the department to um look into that.

[02:15:33] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And see if there was any sustained um uh um infraction or violation. And so far over the past 18 months there have been three sustained personnel complaints. And then um since the SRO program review, one of the important um uh um outcomes of that was that there is an annual report that staff provides to the PSAB,

[02:16:02] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um and a process that they have in place now to to um connect with an appointed person at each school site um to uh to get a report out on any complaints that have been made about the SRO program and to date there have not been any complaints.

[02:16:23] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um so those are some important and impressive accomplishments. Um now I'm moving on to challenges. Um the first I would highlight is the scope of the work plan. Um in those um accomplished projects that I just mentioned they tended to have in common that they were um pretty well defined in scope with deliverables that were concrete and were within the the feasibility of not only the police department or city manager's office or other staff in the city but also the PSAB members themselves who are volunteers with full lives.

[02:17:01] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And there was this tension that has existed um not necessarily from the start but but consistently more recently between the desire for the the the PSAB members' desire as well as members of the the public including the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform and Accountability or MVC PRA,

[02:17:24] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um to really have the PSAB members be the drivers of not only what the topics are but also the work on the topics and the reporting out on the topics. And then there is the desire to have ambitious important subject matters be discussed but not necessarily clarity about what was the particular value added or role that the PSAB could bring to it and and was that um feasible.

[02:17:49] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um and um and so that's a an issue that has been a challenge for the PSAB. Um and then as there has been you know some resignations within the the PSAB some challenges of um scheduling committee meetings, we're finding that more of the leg work um uh is um being handled by staff and that's not necessarily inappropriate, that's true in other commissions as well.

[02:18:18] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: But for the PSAB there really is this desire for the PSAB to to to be a bridge um to the to community and for the PSAB members to be driving as much of the the work and the um the the recommendations as possible. Um and the the the PSAB like just by virtue of it being a public meeting and a Brown Act body which was a conversation that you obviously just had with regard to the Senior Advisory Committee,

[02:18:48] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um there is a a a certain amount of work that is purely because it's a Brown Act body. In terms of um how the agendas are prepared and the items are posted um how the um the the meeting is run. And we've estimated that it's probably um 20 hours for the three staff because we have three staff probably not all um advisory bodies have three staff,

[02:19:19] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: but we find especially in the um era of hybrid meetings which are really important because that's how basically all of the participation in PSAB is happening is through people um participating by Zoom, we really need to have somebody there who can manage the meeting set up and the the the participation from folks both in person if they come and remotely.

[02:19:43] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And then the the chief and myself as the two I'm the secretary so I I do the things that you know about uh um calling roll call and um uh taking votes. Um and also you know providing input when asked or when I can be helpful. Um and the same for the the chief but then we often have other people um from usually the police department usually uh a captain and sometimes a lieutenant or a sergeant depending on the issues being discussed.

[02:20:15] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um and so uh there and then each project above and beyond the the work just to prepare for the the having a meeting just to be able to conduct a meeting there's the the work to prepare the content of the meeting. And that really varies depending on the topic some things have been like the SRO program we you know I went back through my my colleague Melvin Gaines and the work that he did because he was the primary staff at that time.

[02:20:42] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And you know just tried to estimate based on all of the things that I could see that he worked on that it um and then the work that the um Police Department staff did with um ride alongs and people coming to Dreams and Futures and and really the committee really getting a chance to learn from the SROs about the programs, we estimated that was a 300 hour um staff um effort.

[02:21:07] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um next um and this has been more recent I'd say the scope issue and the capacity issue has has increased over time and and been an issue but the vacancy and meeting attendance issue has really been um in 2024 with three resignations. Um and uh you know those are those often happen for you know unexpected reasons that are out of um the PSAB's control but are what makes sense for the individual members.

[02:21:37] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And um that has made it harder to have a quorum. So we did need to cancel both the October and November meetings of the PSAB. Um and um it has made the subcommittees be less robust and therefore um again uh having more of that uh leg work being done by by city staff. Um and then the final um challenge has been community engagement. We've been able to track the number of speakers that have come to each PSAB member over its three and a half years.

[02:22:07] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And have found that uh again that as I mentioned the School Resource Officer issue had 17 speakers at a meeting and it is more common to have on average two to three sometimes you know one or two. These are very dedicated people, they tend to be members of MVC PRA and they follow these issues very closely they prepare um for how you know they want to participate in the the items and make recommendations.

[02:22:36] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um so their their participation is very robust but but you know a relatively few number of people. Um I wanted to share this wasn't in the memo but um uh it was a a thing that had been on my mind is just to wonder um where is Mountain View compared to the other cities in um the county um around having a Brown Act council appointed board um addressing public safety matters.

[02:23:09] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And um uh I imagine I do believe I just um uh didn't uh find the prior work that this was also something that principal analyst Gaines looked at when um the PSAB was first created. And what we see is that in in Santa Clara County there is one city that has a council appointed Brown Act board. There are three others that you see with some superscripts there Palo Alto PD, San Jose and Santa Clara,

[02:23:38] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: who have other types of boards, they are not Brown Act and council appointed, um but they um are tending to be things that are advisory to the chief and they are appointed by staff. Um so the other thing that staff wanted to look at is you know it's not um a statement as to whether it's worth staff time to do this work or whether the engagement with the public and the focus on these issues is important, it is. You know also are there other ways to accomplish this that might um work as well or better and um take less of uh staff capacity.

[02:24:25] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um so that staff capacity could be used for other priorities. Um and um certain things we would want to and would need to continue for example the military equipment annual report and community meeting that is a state requirement. And um it there was a conversation when council first adopted its military equipment policy as to whether or not it wanted to have a separate community meeting or wanted to um uh assign that to PSAB to host. And it was ultimately decision to do the latter.

[02:24:58] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: But it would certainly be possible for the city to um plan and conduct and and advertise um a uh community meeting each year to review the um military equipment um annual report. Um not required by law but a practice that has really um been valuable and important has been the preparation of the annual report on the the SRO program. And an alternative way to accomplish that could be one or more community meetings at school sites and really made up of the people who are the most familiar with the SRO program so students and parents and school staff.

[02:25:41] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um in addition there are things that are already in place that serve um to be a very good connection between the police department and the community and uh work to create transparency and uh help build trust. Um there have been I think six cohorts of the MVPD X program which is very highly interactive.

[02:26:05] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um there's the um chiefs advisory councils there's a Latino community advisory committee and a faith leaders advisory council which which meet on a regular basis with the chief and command staff. And there's flexibility around the topics, those tend to be topics that are of interest to those groups so for example in the Latino community advisory committee there was a real concern about towing of um uh predatory towing um practices um by towing companies.

[02:26:38] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And another around theft of tools and equipment from some um uh vehicles of um uh landscaping um businesses. And so those were things that the PD was able to have interactive conversations about in real time and then follow up with solutions. Um there has been an informal um connection between MVC PRA steering committee and um our police chief it's kind of a a very direct line that they have to the police chief,

[02:27:11] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um to talk about issues of interest and if the the PSAB were to um uh no longer um uh be in practice then um the police department would um make a more formal commitment to have that on a regular basis. Um and then the the last thing I'll mention is that there's just access to um Mountain View Police Department information through the transparency dashboard that I mentioned.

[02:27:39] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: There's also an um information not only about the police department but every department's budget through the um OpenGov um budget web portal. Um and a lot of other things on the city's website. So that leaves me to staff's recommendation um which as a result of all of that analysis um uh I came to the conclusion that I wanted to bring to you for your consideration um the uh dissolution of the Public Safety Advisory Board.

[02:28:09] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um I was able to speak with the four members of the current um PSAB and they really um were in agreement about both the accomplishments and the challenges. Um they did see value in the PSAB um in in some ways not because there's a crisis now um but that it's good to have that kind of body in place um for when it's needed.

[02:28:36] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um and but but generally some some understanding about what the challenges have been. Um and so with that I am happy to um answer any questions, oh not with that. Um I did want to present that there all are were some alternatives in the um uh staff report um and those include having a less frequent meeting schedule with two meetings per year and really focusing on those those um annual reports that um have a lot of meat to them and a lot of opportunity for um a PSAB if it were continuing its members as well as the public to really hear what's happening in the police department to ask questions and raise issues.

[02:29:22] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And then a second alternative would be to continue with the the same basic um schedule but really take a look at the the work plan and try to right size it to the capacity that the PSAB's uh committee members and staff um um have been talking about. Um and so with that I'm happy to um answer any questions.

[02:29:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you so much for that presentation. Um so uh this is not a study session so we'll have council questions and then no no public comment first and then

[02:30:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: No, I think we we have Council questions, right? And then we have public comment and then we have Council. Okay. All right. I thought so. All right. Um, first Council question would be uh Councilmember Lucas Ramirez.

[02:30:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple of questions, uh, and I'm not sure if it's for the Assistant City Manager or for the Chief. Uh, the first is, um, it would be helpful, we've gotten some requests to consider other scopes or other types of authority for the PSAB. Um, I wanted to better understand uh the existing policies and procedures we use to address personnel complaints. So, uh, whoever would be most appropriate for that.

[02:30:41] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Good evening Council, Mike Campfield, Police Chief. Uh regarding the the policies and procedures related to our personnel complaints, there is a very specific policy driven approach to how we handle our complaints, both Police Department and City policy. The Police Department has a Professional Standards Unit that reports directly to me, the Police Chief.

[02:31:01] Police Chief Mike Campfield: That that unit uh is uh filled by a sergeant who investigates all of our formal police complaints. They work in partnership uh with Human Resources and the City Attorney's office both on findings and discipline associated to those complaints. Uh additionally they work on a um presenting to a board of review that reviews the the facts of the investigations.

[02:31:26] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Uh and that uh goes then to the discipline assuming that it is confirmed. Uh but there is additional uh oversight at the state level with the Police Officer Standards of Training which reviews significant internal affairs investigations. Uh they look at our investigations but they come to their own findings and their own discipline specifically associated uh at the the highest level to decertification of a police officer.

[02:31:51] Police Chief Mike Campfield: And kind of one last catch in that that process is also the District Attorney's office reviews significant internal affairs investigations and they also have the ability to, although it's not a technical decertification for the state, to assert that the officer can no longer testify in court uh which does essentially the same thing regionally.

[02:32:11] Police Chief Mike Campfield: And then just one one last element, uh we have software in place that very purposefully monitors our internal affairs investigations, provides red flag alerts if we're seeing an increase in the number of complaints associated either by topic uh or by individual officer, uh and then ensures that the um the investigations are carried through and shepherded properly and are not, you know, lost on a stack of paperwork etc. So they are completely virtual.

[02:32:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, that was very helpful. And then uh the second question is um related to you have an internal auditing function uh to ensure compliance with MVPD policies. Can you share a little bit more information about that? And um maybe not um you know with with too much specificity but if there are examples of the kinds of things that you have audited maybe recently and any findings that maybe can be shared publicly.

[02:33:04] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Yeah, the department uh both audits our internal affairs investigations, one of the ways is through that software that evaluates where all of the cases are, uh but also we have a a Professional Standards Unit audit where we look at all of the cases that are pending, what's completed, and then a a follow up conversation and report on those pending cases uh in addition to the software system.

[02:33:27] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So um just for I don't I'm not sure how much of this is public so I want to be very careful about how I ask the question but as an example what are some types of policies that you might audit for whatever reason?

[02:33:41] Police Chief Mike Campfield: So one of the main things that we audit is our use of RIPA data, uh the the manner in which our officers uh enter in the data and the uh factual accuracy of that data. So our sergeants will all uh review individual officers, every single officer on their teams, they'll review those officers uh RIPA data entries.

[02:34:04] Police Chief Mike Campfield: And then that Professional Standards Unit Sergeant, he will audit, in this case it's a he, but they will audit uh randomly officers throughout the department uh so not the direct supervisor but a random audit from the Professional Standards Unit of that policy to ensure that there is no violation uh or if there's a technical issue etc that it is addressed.

[02:34:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Great. Thank you very much.

[02:34:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember um Ramos.

[02:34:29] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Just a quick question. I think it's more for the City Clerk. So um we have three vacancies and when the time came for the application they we only got one application. How many applications are in the docket now?

[02:34:45] City Clerk Heather Glaser: I don't think that we have any additional applications.

[02:34:49] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I guess I because in the there was a Voice article um that came out today and it said um since September several more committee members have submitted applications to serve in PSAB bringing the total number of applicants to five.

[02:35:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um yes. Um by the deadline for the application process for all advisory boards, which had actually started earlier for PSAB because we had um resignations in the fall in the spring. Um there had been one applicant right up until uh sometime in September. And then another four applications came in.

[02:35:28] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And so the the Council Appointment Review Committee was able to interview those five candidates and I believe... no we didn't have they didn't all show up. Okay. So there was um there is a recommendation for appointment of two. So two of the three vacancies have accounts.

[02:35:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: City Clerk, do you have something to add?

[02:35:52] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Oh no I was just gonna clarify that we haven't received additional applications since the CARC met. But yeah not all of the applicants showed up for the interviews.

[02:36:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, and and at least one of them we knew, you know, they had told us why they weren't gonna be, there was a family emergency or something, it was, you know, very legitimate. Um it wasn't just that they ghosted us.

[02:36:18] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Well it does show that there's enough interest in it, but that's comment, so that was something that I was wanting to clarify.

[02:36:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[02:36:30] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Mayor. Uh I believe my questions are directed to the City Attorney. Um as mentioned that I um when we formed the PSAB it was the composition would be up to seven. Um is it very like can we make it variable?

[02:36:55] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: I sup- hmm that's a good question. Um I was gonna say I think that might create problems with how you calculate what a quorum is.

[02:37:09] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And that's my second question is how do we calculate a quorum because, you know, with us right at times it's calculated based on seven and the number of seats versus how many are in attendance at a meeting. Um so can we have that kind of flexibility with quorum for our commissions and advisory boards?

[02:37:31] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: So I haven't looked at the resolution that created this in some time.

[02:37:37] City Clerk Heather Glaser: There is no resolution.

[02:37:39] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Oh. Okay.

[02:37:42] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So that is something staff was uh coordinating with the City Clerk's office on, just as um she is bringing forward resolutions to clarify and clean up um for other advisory bodies. We recognize that we needed one for PSAB and did not have one.

[02:38:01] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, thank you. Um for the Chief, I I know and have read that there are other advisory bodies that the you or your predecessor started with like the youth and the Latino community. Um how often do they meet?

[02:38:19] Police Chief Mike Campfield: It's a very good question Councilmember. The Latino Community Advisory Committee and the Faith Leaders Advisory Council, uh those are Chief Advisory bodies that meet generally quarterly. Um it can ebb and flow depending if there's a greater need. uh In fact there's a meeting next week with faith leaders related to immigration concerns that that we called or that I called.

[02:38:40] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Um but generally the answer is quarterly.

[02:38:43] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And would have you ever asked them or discussed whether any of them, those members or those who participate in those groups would be interested in serving on PSAB as a representative of these different constituencies?

[02:39:00] Police Chief Mike Campfield: I think perhaps some of those community members that were are very engaged at the beginning of PSAB we let them know that there was that Council would be looking for members for the Public Safety Advisory Board but I haven't had any follow up conversations uh in in more recent times.

[02:39:17] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, great. Thank you.

[02:39:21] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Ramos.

[02:39:24] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Uh I guess it's uh for City Attorney. Um is there the RHC has an alternate member that could just fill in when someone's absent. Is there anything preventing us from doing that with any other commissions?

[02:39:38] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Yes. Uh the Maddy Act. You cannot do that with... The RHC was created by charter and it's just a completely different body. It was approved by the voters and to the extent that it allows an alternate member, that was something that was voted on and it's just different.

[02:39:55] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: For all of the bodies that are created by Council and appointed by Council, anytime there's a vacancy you have to, you know, post notice and so the alternate can't just slide into the spot. Um you can have alternates that are part of the body that can participate I suppose if somebody is sick but they can't just fill a vacancy when one occurs.

[02:40:22] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Do you see what I'm saying? They would have to apply after notice was posted of the vacancy and they can be appointed to the position. But they can't just fill a vacancy of a regular member.

[02:40:37] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: But okay, so what your... um I actually wasn't even looking for someone to just automatically fill the vacancy cause that's not like an automatic thing at the RHC either. Council usually decides whenever they want to fill that person into the official position.

[02:40:50] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: But essentially what happens is if someone's sick and doesn't go to the committee meeting, then the alternate just votes instead. Is that something that could only be happen if we change the charter to do so?

[02:41:07] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: The, you mean for the RHC or for this body?

[02:41:12] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: For any body. Um because so in the RHC, hypothetically, like we we had lots of meetings with this where we had our five member RHC and then we had our alternate member. The alternate member actually sat with us. I actually don't know if that was anything of any guidance or anything and they could even weigh in.

[02:41:34] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: But it was just like he doesn't vote. Um and then if we had someone who was sick, then he would just vote. Uh that that means it meant that he could vote. Or someone was delayed or something, then that meant he could vote. Um and he actually did a lot of votes um during my time in the RHC. Um we had like three or four alternates during the time I was on it.

[02:41:54] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And that was even before he slated in as like an official member because like a vacancy did occur and bam, we we he could just vote.

[02:42:06] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: So let me clarify, the RHC it's not a good comparison because that's a charter created body that was voted on by the voters. So any change to that body or anything would require a charter change and a vote. So these other bodies like PSAB were created by either resolution or by motion of the City Council.

[02:42:30] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: And those the memberships of those bodies can be changed by the by Council. You can have a body of five members and an alternate that are appointed when notice of vacancy goes up so you can create a body that has five members and an alternate. And the alternate, you can define the role of the alternate where they step in if somebody is sick.

[02:42:56] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: But they are appointed all at the same time when notice of vacancy goes up. If you have a regular, non-alternate member that drops out, that alternate cannot become a regular member. They stay an alternate. That's all I'm saying is they stay an alternate, you open, you post notice of the vacancy and that alternate can apply for it. So...

[02:43:18] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: I think it just depends on, it really depends on how the body was set up. I I would have to read, I mean it could, I guess in theory, it just sort of depends on how the body was created by Council and how the how a resolution reads if there's a resolution. And if there is no resolution, how it was ever clarified in a motion. I mean these things could probably be addressed by a resolution and setting forth the the makeup of the body.

[02:43:57] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Yeah, so I I think that the alternate if you set it up that you have five regular members and an alternate that can weigh in or can step in when someone is sick presumably they could count towards quorum for that meeting because their role is to step in when someone is sick.

[02:44:20] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Right? If it's set up that way. So a resolution could probably be laid out and that and that's because they're appointed at the same time right? They go through the entire appointment process. So they it could in theory if we had a resolution that set it up that way.

[02:44:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Kamei.

[02:44:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, um I have a couple questions. Um so to staff, um one of the um community concerns was being able to find avenues to be able to comment on for example the uh military equipment or the SRO report if there's no PSAB body.

[02:45:09] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And so does staff have um any comment on how residents may be able to comment on those such items if PSAB um no longer is a is a body that meets?

[02:45:26] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um staff would um very much want to continue having community input on those two items and would develop um ways to do that that would allow for community input.

[02:45:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um and then the second question was about the Public Safety Budget. Um as as council members we've never taken MVPDx so I'm not sure of the the curriculum. But looking to you Chief, is that something that you cover as part of your MVPDx curriculum or how you um decide on your public safety budget or do you think that could be something incorporated for residents to be able to provide input?

[02:46:08] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Thank you Councilmember Kamei. The, to answer the question, first I'll say we have had a couple of council members come through MVPDx and perhaps in the future we'll have more.

[02:46:18] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I didn't think we could participate. This is new news for me.

[02:46:21] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Oh, before Council. Okay.

[02:46:24] Police Chief Mike Campfield: But to answer the question, uh we ha- so MVPDx does allow for the cohort to shape and kind of have a fair amount of input on the content. Uh we have at times during some of those six MVPDx sessions uh included presentations on the budget, including changes to the budget or proposed changes to the budget that we anticipate. So the the short answer is yes.

[02:46:49] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you.

[02:46:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Vice Mayor Matichak.

[02:46:53] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: I did participate in MVPDx as a Councilmember. Um and I appreciated that um they start out by asking the group what you're interested in hearing about and discussing. And so there's some variation between all the different cohorts uh because it's driven by the people who are in attendance. Um but we I think usually you do talk about the budget. Thanks.

[02:47:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um I have a question. I was wondering if your Faith Leaders group is the same as the Safe Parking Faith Leaders group.

[02:47:31] Police Chief Mike Campfield: Not exactly, but I believe that there is some overlap with the the Faith Leaders community. So some overlap in, uh but not not it's not one for one the same group.

[02:47:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Interesting. Um I believe we're at the end of our questions. And so that brings us to the public comment period. We have at least one person in the chamber who would like to speak to us on this topic. Um Alvin Kurro.

[02:48:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um I think we have at least two hands raised. Anyone else is interested please um provide um a blue speaker card or raise your hand in Zoom. Um Mr. Kurro.

[02:48:23] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: Mayor Showalter, Vice Mayor Matichak, Council, Staff, Chief, good to see you again. Um so uh thank you by the way for all the discussions you've been having this evening. It's been great. And I and I feel very encouraged that you know wherever you lead with this is gonna be you know something good for us.

[02:48:40] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: From what I can tell, uh the thing with the PSAB has to do with two things right? The form and the function. The function comes from that it was originally established in 2020 as a response to the George Floyd thing. And staff has shown that a lot of those specific objectives have been met. And that there's other ways to carry it forward.

[02:48:56] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: Uh Councilmember Ramirez has pointed out the Brown Act was that, thank you. I had never googled it until it came out of your mouth at 4.7. Um so I suppose it's a worthy question of whether or not a PSAB board or a Brown Act board is actually, you know, the proper form or venue you know to to carry that on.

[02:49:12] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: But I think the opportunity in front of Council is to think about uh you know what kind of community and public engagement do we need uh you know with the police department. And also in minding the treasure of trolls that you can find in the Voice about, you know, oh what's the point of a toothless board or a toothless body or whatever.

[02:49:28] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: Perhaps uh it's an opportunity to actually be a bit more succinct. Remember in our interview you said what do you think that that that the PSAB does? And I'm like, I think whatever it is that it does is probably gonna change. So uh I wasn't too surprised to see this on on the agenda.

[02:49:43] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: Um but I would offer that uh there probably is still value to the community to think about uh you know especially in light of what's happening in San Mateo County. Not to put too fine a point on it, right, about where, you know, what is our engagement with our with our police department.

[02:49:57] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: How many people, aside from myself for instance, who totally by accident knows how uh how Sergeant Medina helped with an assault, uh apprehending an assault on in the Stevens Creek trail? Or that Sergeant Barajas injured himself jumping over a fence? I mean our police department is great.

[02:50:13] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: And I think there is a part of it that has to do with with uh community engagement. So viewing the PSAB meetings, it's a slog, okay? I mean those things are like three hours long. I'm not surprised that people don't sign up for a board that's three hours long. It's hard it's hard to do. It took like a week and a half of me, you know, listening to it on YouTube on the way to work.

[02:50:33] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: So a tighter agenda might help. A smaller quorum might help. Is a quorum actually needed? Because again, I don't know the intricacies of the Brown Act but as I understand it through Robert's Rules, you need a quorum in order to vote. If you don't need to vote, you can have a committee of the whole. A committee of the whole maybe makes recommendations. Maybe we can get creative with this kind of thing.

[02:50:51] Public Speaker Alvin Cura: So um I'm just very encouraged that you'll come up with the right thing and I just wanted to thank you for working on it.

[02:51:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. And then we have um Bruce England on Zoom. Welcome Bruce.

[02:51:09] Public Speaker Bruce England: Thanks. Uh thank you Mayor and thank you all. Bruce England, Wisman Station Drive. Get to my comments here. Okay, so as I'm sure you recall, PSAB was formed after significant community concern was voiced following the killing of George Floyd, as you've already discussed. And rightfully so.

[02:51:24] Public Speaker Bruce England: Since that time and starting with the review of the School Resource Officer program, PSAB work has evolved but not remarkably so. And some members of the community and the committee have become somewhat discouraged as a result. I do urge you to keep the PSAB in place though perhaps with fewer members required, and with new input from stakeholders in the community, given where we stand with public safety concerns in Mountain View at this time.

[02:51:48] Public Speaker Bruce England: And with adequate acknowledgement of challenges to staff time and bandwidth, which could mean more work done by PSAB members themselves. While folks in the community and you council members might have varying thoughts on PSAB purpose and work, and on public safety interests for Mountain View broadly speaking, how public safety is addressed in our city requires robust discussion and input on the part of the community.

[02:52:10] Public Speaker Bruce England: And as in all cases, the city advisory bodies fill a critical need for interfacing between the public and city officials and staff. All that said, if you choose to modify PSAB functioning in some way, and given your earlier discussion on the Senior Advisory Committee, that might be fine. But I urge you to seriously consider some form of evolutionary process on this.

[02:52:30] Public Speaker Bruce England: Four primary reasons for this I'd like you to consider. Over time engaged members of the community have established and maintained constructive communications with MVPD staff and the chief in particular. This has been enabled to a significant extent with the existence of PSAB.

[02:52:46] Public Speaker Bruce England: Two, anticipated changes at the federal level in 2025 have raised fresh alarm about public safety across the country, which more raises the bar than lowers it. Three, the new PSAB applicants forwarded to council by the Appointments Review Committee at their November meeting, these are Alvin Cura who you've just heard from and Kelsey Quigley.

[02:53:08] Public Speaker Bruce England: They both have interesting and fresh ideas that could instill some welcome inspiration into upcoming PSAB proceedings if appointed. Without knowing how this will play out in the next year or two, City Council can't adequately assess how PSAB will grow during the next year or two.

[02:53:24] Public Speaker Bruce England: Lastly, while the council report indicates a drop off of public commenting over time, it's important to note that our community group MV COPRA has been compiling most member commenting into talking points to be shared during PSAB meetings by a designated spokesperson. More so over time. So commenter head count could be higher than the data indicate.

[02:53:45] Public Speaker Bruce England: Um I didn't know if I'd have time to mention these but we have, MV COPRA people and other members of the community have raised additional topics for PSAB to take up. And um just have had some real roadblocks in getting that done. So I hope you will consider that there are additional topics that could expand the scope. And I'll I'll stop at this point. Thanks.

[02:54:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um Dana Peattie.

[02:54:14] Public Speaker Dana Peattie: Hi all. This is Dana Peattie, Mountain View resident. Thanks for hearing us out. Um I appreciate the comments of the two speakers I just heard before. Um I just want to share kind of my two cents on it. Um first of all this process has appeared to be somewhat swift um to a lot of folks who pay you know maybe not every single attention to the city meetings.

[02:54:34] Public Speaker Dana Peattie: But you know the Mountain View Voice article was only published yesterday. This was a really thoughtful and really important piece of work and a lot of folks didn't know that this was happening until very recently and haven't had time to really think about what this means for our community.

[02:54:46] Public Speaker Dana Peattie: Uh it was a really thoughtful process over the course of months to develop the PSAB and it feels a little bit rushed to dismantle it within the appearance of days. I know that elements of this have been working behind the scenes for a while now but it's only really come to light very recently and it feels a little bit rushed.

[02:55:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I do want to acknowledge that there have been a lot of challenges that PSAB has faced. Those meetings are, you know, challenging and, and dense and there's a lot going on there. It's not a perfect or a painless space for this work, but the space to do this work is important because this work is important.

[02:55:13] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, I want to highlight that this is about more than just public comment. It's more than, you know, just getting my two cents out into the world. I'm not such an egoist that I think that just one piece of a thing, it makes me feel better and sleep better at night, but I believe that the act of engaging back and forth in meaningful ways with the public creates that, um, transparency, creates that trust, creates that capacity to believe that these institutions work for us.

[02:55:37] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I think that's going to be more important than ever coming into these next four years. It's not just about getting our voices heard in a snapshot, but it's about the work and the engagement that we do with our community. Um, you know, back, this was created back in 2020 and the conditions that we were facing in the wake of the murder of George Floyd,

[02:55:54] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: but it wasn't just about a one and done study to ask, do we have problems here in Mountain View? No, we don't. I've regularly been encouraged by some of the things that I learned from Chief Campfield, and yet the process of engagement back and forth is how we grow and develop our mutual understanding of these things. Um, it's that transparency, that public visibility that's more important than anything else.

[02:56:13] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, particularly preventing systemic issues and whatever issues could be coming down the pike for us in the future around this corner. Um, I'll highlight, I had Bruce's notes from earlier, some of the points that he was mentioning were transitioning of various services currently provided by MVPD to unarmed personnel. PSAB has done really important work with uh, publicizing the Trust program and things like that.

[02:56:33] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Uh, reallocation of funding in the MVPD budget to support other community needs related to public safety. Expansion of the scope of PSAB to include disaster response, fire services, traffic safety, and public health, reflecting a a broader definition of public safety, as well as the regular review of legislative priorities related to public safety.

[02:56:49] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: How are we as a community connecting at the state level is really important work, and clearly folks want to do this work. So if it's not PSAB, I get it. I know PSAB isn't perfect, but we can't lose the opportunities and the spaces to have meaningful engagement between our institutions and our public. Now more than ever, that's what we need. Thank you.

[02:57:10] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. Um, uh, Singh, are you available?

[02:57:19] Public Speaker: Hello. Is every con, everyone can hear me?

[02:57:22] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, we can. Thank you.

[02:57:23] Public Speaker: Hi. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Um, I just wanted to highlight um that as a small business owner, I noticed that we do everything uh legally and we pay our taxes, um, and we employ um all um people with skill sets what they need. However, licenses and everything. Um, however, I have been noticing there's a lot of businesses um that are not following these things

[02:57:51] Public Speaker: and running businesses from home without licenses, on the streets without licenses. Um, they have no permits. They are not paying taxes. They are not employing uh legitimate people. Um, and this is causing unfair competition with all the businesses. And be it any business, be it a restaurant, any other businesses that, that you can see.

[02:58:14] Public Speaker: Um, and it's very difficult for businesses to survive and thrive thrive if um the city is not taking any measures. Because what happens is when we talk to our controlling bodies, um they usually say it's out of our jurisdiction, the city has to take action, and the city says it's out of our jurisdiction, they have to take action.

[02:58:36] Public Speaker: So it's very difficult for us to uh grow and prosper in this economy when the city is not supporting the small businesses and taking action and uh citing these people and being strict about these thing where other businesses are following all the protocols. Thank you.

[02:58:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, I think that that was a general public comment and not necessarily related to the PSAB. Um, uh, but noted. Yes. Um, uh, now we will bring it back to the um Council for deliberation and discussion. I I'm going to um mention a few things at the beginning.

[02:59:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, this is something that I've really given a lot of thought to, and um I'm really glad that we're um we're doing this. We're having this discussion. I think it's a very good part of governance to evaluate ongoing programs from time to time, to see if they were doing what they were designed to do, as well as to um change their charge to be more appropriate as circumstances change.

[02:59:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I think that's a very healthy thing to do. And and I really appreciated um Miss um Ramberg uh thanking the PSAB members for their service. I think that we all need to thank all of the advisory board members. But PSAB in particular has um has really um ch- uh been challenged with the uh the type of subject that they needed to take up.

[03:00:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And so we appreciate this service. Um, I also was a little taken aback by how abruptly this came back to us. But um here we are, and we're having a good discussion, so that's good. Um, and I um I also think that um we we have, the the staff report did a really good job of laying out what PSAB has accomplished.

[03:00:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I thought that was very interesting and heartening and um and also thought-provoking. So so thanks for that. And they, and I think it's clear that they, they have accomplished the primary things that they um were set to do. But to me, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's time to dissolve them.

[03:01:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It it means more um of an evolutionary process of what is the best advisory body, what is the best way to do this and meet these needs. Um, and I I was particularly interested by table two in the staff report. It lists all the, you know, all the topics. Um, uh, that was also in one of the presentation slides.

[03:01:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And it listed things as short-term or long-term. But when I went through them, it seemed like it might have been a shorter term work item, such as, for instance, um keeping fentanyl from our children. That is not a short term work item. We want that to go on as long as there's a problem, right? Um, or uh, now it might not be something PSAB discusses every time.

[03:01:46] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But they're the most um, police interaction with mental health is another one. That was a short term, we've gotten some things set up in the community, but that that are really a huge improvement. But um, there will be needs over time to re- reconsider how that works. So I think that, and again, the um the issue of the new administration, we are all very concerned about um what that may mean.

[03:02:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I think in particular, um the concern with respect to that will be a potential increase in fraud in our community. Where um not so much, I mean I don't know whether we will have sweeps or not. But I know that um there will be many people in our community who are quite frightened. And they legitimately so.

[03:02:37] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And therefore they will be um uh much more uh easy prey for somebody who wants to commit fraud on them. And um, I think that's also something we might want to think about with the Senior Committee. That might be a discussion, because fraud is a huge thing with seniors too. Anyway, so it seems to me that there are some big subjects um that uh are are really front and center, and will be.

[03:03:07] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then another thing I think is just important is is um uh the amount of money that we spend on the police force. Um, it's about 28% of our budget. So it's it's it's a lot of money. And um, so making sure that there is a way for there to be regular public interaction um uh with them I think is is valuable.

[03:03:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, then the other thing I wanted to talk about is when you go out and talk to people about why they like Mountain View, I have found over the years that that one of the things that almost everybody says is because it's safe. And so what that means is people feel like our police um uh department can be counted on.

[03:04:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And they have created an atmosphere, everybody else has helped create that too, that is pleasant and safe. And that is a huge deal. So to may, to do, you know, to have public interaction to sort of maintain that, um, or to help maintain that, I I feel like that's something we should be, you know, we should be thinking of.

[03:04:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So for me, you know what I want to think about with PSAB is not so much the cost of it, it's kind of the value and how we get these um, you know, how we get these needs met. And and some other methodologies have been put forward in the staff report, but um I don't think they're quite as flexible as having a standing committee that people can come to if they have an issue and bring it up.

[03:04:52] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Granted it wouldn't be on the agenda and so, you know, you'd have to, you'd have to um uh bring it up and see if there was interest in moving on it in the future, but still in all, it's a place where people can, you know, can bring their um their interests. So those are some things I wanted to share. And now let's uh move on to Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:05:16] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate your introductory comments. Um, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, and I have a very small mind. Uh, so my arguments will sound very similar to what we heard 45 minutes ago or thereabouts. Um, but first I, I think it's, it's probably well known that I give staff a hard time. Um, sorry.

[03:05:44] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but I do want to um recognize that our staff are uh extremely accessible. Several of us routinely participate in community groups: Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning, Cafecito, League of Women Voters Affordable Housing uh Committee. And very frequently our staff are present and um and accessible and ask questions of the committee or um, you know, provide uh responses to questions that that folks who are part of those groups um may ask.

[03:06:16] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, and recently I think a couple of us were in the Cafecito meeting where the Chief uh stayed I think for three hours. It was remarkable. A lot of really good thoughtful questions about one of the issues that that has come up. There's a lot of fear in the community. That was one of the better attended Cafecito meetings.

[03:06:35] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and I I feel like um, so one, I I think one of the primary values of the PSAB is to serve as uh a a source for the uh distribution of information, right? I think you alluded to this, Mayor. Um, there's been a lot of very valuable information uh requested by the PSAB, and then uh provided to the public through the PSAB.

[03:07:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I think one of the things I'm I'm reflecting on is many of the community groups that many of us participate in regularly have or enjoy public participation that is typically greater than what we see in our Brown Act restricted bodies, right? We might have one or two people routinely come to PSAB meetings if the PSAB meets.

[03:07:28] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And then in contrast, right, we invite the Chief or, you know, somebody from the command staff to Cafecito, and we have 30 or 40 people. Um, and I I think we might want to think about whether the PSAB as it is currently constructed is actually a very, is is a meaningful body in achieving that particular goal.

[03:07:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Making sure that the community has access to uh command staff to the Chief, to City Manager's office. Um, and if, you know, maybe we're missing the mark on that. That's not actually the venue that most members of the community want to interface with to access our police department or to access um administration leaders.

[03:08:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Right, instead, I think what we probably would find if we um if we analyzed it is most people want to engage on their terms, right? Coffee with a cop, right, that kind of thing. Um, or, you know, many of the the uh advisory groups that were referenced earlier, the Latino leaders and faith leaders, MVPDX.

[03:08:35] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I think all of these have have been very successful venues or forums for the distribution of information, providing access to uh the leadership of our police department. Um, providing I think uh one of the public speakers spoke to the paramount importance of public visibility and transparency. I agree with that. And I think we do an excellent job of providing the information that our community seeks.

[03:08:58] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So um I I would like to continue to empower uh the police department staff to participate in these meetings that I think have been very effective and allowing members of our community to engage the police. Uh to consider uh establishing maybe another um general advisory group to the Chief. Um, right now, faith leaders and the Latino community, I I really appreciate that, and I think that's that's excellent.

[03:09:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But those are fairly restrictive groups, right? There are many other members of the community, many different constituents uh or constituency groups, stakeholder groups that I think have very legitimate um issues or concerns that the police department would like to be able to engage with and respond to. Um, the Chief already meets regularly with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform and Accountability steering committee regularly, right? That's that's remarkable.

[03:09:58] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so I I I feel like we are achieving these goals through other venues that are I I disagree with your characterization of flexible, Mayor. I don't think Brown Act bodies are flexible. They're intended to not be flexible. But these other groups are, right?

[03:10:14] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Can you imagine a world where you know, MVCSPA or Cafecito has to adhere to the Brown Act, right? And if they fail to notice their agenda, then nobody can come to the meeting, we can't, you know, talk about things that the community cares about. So I I I want to, and I don't want to dominate the conversation. You've heard my arguments, you know.

[03:10:33] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I don't think Brown Act bodies actually are a value add uh in most in achieving the goals that we've been talking about in the context of PSAB. I think there are other ways, including the the many alternatives listed in the staff report, including some of the ideas I think we've heard from the Chief. Um, and being accessible to the community, providing information, um soliciting feedback.

[03:10:58] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Like many of the things that we've seen over the past couple of years are implemented, are our ideas that we've heard from our own community, uh not necessary not necessarily through PSAB. Um, so I I I want to encourage the Council to to take a uh a broader view of of how we can achieve these goals, free up staff capacity from the the mundane and the the minutiae associated with strict and rigid compliance with the Brown Act.

[03:11:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and actually get out into the community, right? If you have five people who meet a quarter, is that really doing the the community a service, right? Is that is that achieving the public's business? And if a meeting, you know, I I'm I think I'm sounding like a broken record at this point, but if if a meeting gets canceled, you meet the next quarter, who is that serving, right? How is that serving our community?

[03:11:53] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, so I'll be supporting the staff recommendation. Um, I don't mind losing, so I'm happy to make a motion whenever uh we're ready. But I I I just would encourage, you know, too often I think uh we are the architects of our own demise. And I would encourage us to stop doing that and to think about other ways of being effective. Thank you.

[03:12:14] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. Wow, two uh two agenda items in a row where I completely disagree with uh Councilmember Ramirez. Um, that's a it's an it's a not a common feeling for me. Um, but I think as we we we we go, you you talk about the Brown Act, um, we, I admit that the Brown Act is, can be uh very stifling at times.

[03:12:48] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: But I, I think back to why does the Brown Act exist? The Brown Act exists to essentially prevent corruption, to prevent prevent um, meetings that are behind closed doors, secret meetings or anything like that. Um, and that is because the decisions that that body makes matters. It is, I, I view it almost similarly to how important like an inside-outside strategy is.

[03:13:17] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: You talked about MVCSPA, which is a wonderful organization. Um, but and and they make really great comments and advocacy to, to many bodies. They aren't the ones making that decision. Um, and I think that's that's where we we kinda differ on it. Um, I've been part of many organizations that went through Mountain View, some have uh flourished, some have died.

[03:13:51] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um, and and they weren't Brown Act groups, and I do think that they did significantly good work. But it wasn't work that was necessarily representative of the city, because there was no official mechanism behind it. And that's why I do find value in our advisory committees that are subject to the Brown Act because they represent our city.

[03:14:18] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: This is why when we, when I know we've had certain conversations with some members who are on advisory committees that tend to be a little bit more activis-y than than than most, that we're like, you also represent the city and so therefore you need to carry yourself with that uh understanding as you speak and uh uh advocate and um, do your work. There is a difference.

[03:14:44] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And I'm not ready to, to remove those avenues for that option for people. Um, I struggle though with PSAB more, a little bit more than the previous item, the Senior Commission, because I do feel like the Senior Commission just like still needs a little life support and I think it has the possibility to flourish. And then I'm okay if it doesn't flourish, then like done.

[03:15:09] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: My my issue with with this board in particular is I, I have talked with members who were previous on there, currently on there, and there is, there there there they staff has mentioned that that push and pull of, they're really hungry to do more, and staff doesn't have the capacity to support that more.

[03:15:30] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: And I get to some degree the answer is when we do next year our priority setting, we, we, we give them more, but I don't even know if we have the votes to even do that. And so I, I worry that sometimes just by having the Public Safety Advisory Board, we're just putting it there so that we can say, hey, hey, we're doing something, but we, we're not fully committed to it that the way that we hoped it would be.

[03:15:58] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um, because that means we do have to provide more staff time related to it. Um, I, I, I'm, I have been involved with some of the groups that was um mentioned, I I was uh I was a on the cohort for MVPDX before I was on council, I think I was class of, it was the it was during the pandemic actually.

[03:16:20] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: But like, it was like as we were coming off of the pandemic, and it was a, it was a very interesting cohort because we had um, it was a cohort that really liked to challenge um, uh, MVPD to come up with, with answers and solutions and, and really address those concerns. And I do think MVPD actually does a really good job um, in in in meeting many of the needs of the community.

[03:16:49] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: The Public Safety Advisory Board, I believe the vision was it for it was a step further than that. Um, so I'm not inclined to dissolve it, I guess that's what it's called, yeah, dissolve the Public Safety Advisory Committee. I do think, but I do think we do need to push farther than what we have anticipated them to do.

[03:17:15] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Um, and I'm not entirely sure we're ready to do that either. So that, that's where I'm lying on. Thank you.

[03:17:30] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Thank you. Um, so I have watched uh many PSAB meetings, and um I've also attended some of the PSAB-driven events, the community events they had this past year. And um, I appreciate that staff pulled together all this information in the staff report, because it provided more context for me about what was really happening with the PSAB meetings and the community events.

[03:18:00] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, because I was noticing that there were um fewer members of the public participating or attending a meeting. Um, I think I was one of the eight that attended one of the community meetings, and there were probably more people from city staff there than there were attendees. Um, and that was not um something I wanted to see, I guess I'll put it that way.

[03:18:27] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, that's a whole lot of resources put against something that um, not sure the public had a great interest in. Um, so um, what really caused me to think about this was um a comment by actually one of the PSAB members who said, well, I think we've accomplished everything we set out to do.

[03:18:49] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, and I thought, wow, this was someone who was very outspoken in the past, and for them to say they've accomplished everything they set out to do, um really caught my attention. Um, and we received an email today pretty much saying the same thing, um, from somebody else, from the members of the public.

[03:19:07] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: So then I was thinking back to when this was originally started, and, you know, in hindsight, perhaps this should have been a uh task force that had a limited scope and limited horizon um that could accomplish the things that they've done. Um, because now they're looking for well, now what do we do?

[03:19:28] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And I don't think the thing or I think the things they want to do are not within the defined scope of what we said their responsibilities would be, um based upon the analysis we did of what was needed, um and what other cities are doing, um, and we chose um a specific format and a specific scope based upon what we thought the City of Mountain View needed.

[03:19:55] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, I appreciate um Councilmember Ramirez's uh comments.

[03:20:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: events. I have the same perspective that I think we've got a lot of other avenues that have been created for dialogue, communication, resolution if there are issues, and I think it's pretty comfortable for a lot of people to have those either one-on-one or small group conversations with our police department to really get things resolved.

[03:20:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: You know, I think these larger topics, it was appropriate to have it in the advisory body, but I think a lot of the stuff that's happening and being discussed in the smaller groups are not as big of a topic as the ones that the PSAB originally addressed.

[03:20:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: We also have a lot more forums or venues for people to look at information and do their own analysis if they want to, because it's downloadable in CSV. And that's great. It's great that MVPD has made so many changes and provided so much more transparency than the people were asking for. And it's there now.

[03:21:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I do feel comfortable with the staff recommendation as I said, and I think it is time to sunset this body because we have put in place so many other things to I think serve the needs of the community. Thanks. Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[03:21:41] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: So I don't know about the comment about small minds and consistency. I beg to differ on that. But I imagine some of you can guess where I am on this issue based on our earlier conversation.

[03:21:58] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: As you know, I was mayor in 2020 and was, frankly felt the responsibility of this issue as we were confronted by it at that time. And so you know I spent quite a bit of time meeting with different individuals and groups, with the then police chief and separately, and exchanging notes or what we learned from the community.

[03:22:26] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And really, and came up with this idea, modeled after one of our PSAB members' experience with a similar body that his father served on. And as I had these meetings and discussions and listening to the public comment we were getting at our council meetings, what I felt or realized was that

[03:23:00] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: there was information and input to be had in both ways. And others have commented about it. As much as it's important for us to take input, I also felt it was very important for us to put out information into the community because what I was hearing was not really what I have experienced and seen with our police department.

[03:23:29] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And I know there was the national outcry and what was going on nationally, but you know I have spent a lot of time, and many of us have, trying to understand and learn about our department, and I just didn't see what was happening nationally happening here.

[03:23:47] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And so I really wanted our residents to also understand that, and understand the differences, and understand exactly what's happening here. So it was really that about an exchange of ideas and input, information that I thought this PSAB was the best vehicle to do that in.

[03:24:11] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm grateful and thank you to the PSAB members. I know that there was a lot of work put into the initial charge of the board. I think there were many accomplishments.

[03:24:26] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: But I guess for me, I had envisioned that this would be a standing body for the longer term because there could be other issues that come up. And we have these standing issues. The review of military equipment, the budget. And I'm going to say 28% may sound like a lot, but there are cities that, and at one point there were cities that were 60%, 70% of their budget was public safety.

[03:25:19] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: So perhaps we, again like we talked earlier, perhaps we don't have to have the body meet every month, but at least quarterly have a review of all of this, all of these items. And you know, as much as I appreciate, and I really do appreciate the chiefs and how they have reached out to the community,

[03:25:34] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And we've always been under, like under budget compared to other cities. So I'm actually very proud of that. But you know the RIPA data, SROs, like to me I look at these as something that we should have a frankly a formal Brown Act body look at at least once a year.

[03:25:39] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: and these advisory groups, they're very specific to certain, frankly organizations, existing organizations. And as much as I appreciate that, whether it's Cafecitos or SIPRA, there's 85,000 people in this city. And you know, I know we hear from a small group quite often, but there's 85,000 people in this city.

[03:26:02] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And when I was out in the community asking, knocking on doors and asking what's your top issue, public safety was always the one that came up. So there are other issues out there, and maybe we don't hear from them all the time because life is busy, but I want to keep a venue open for that opportunity for folks to be able to feel like they can go somewhere without having to belong to an organization to be able to give input.

[03:26:29] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And that's how I see this body. I see other, again it's about the scope. And someone brought it up and I would bring it up again, that I think the council should review all of the commissions and advisory boards and review what their scope of work is. And it changes over time.

[03:26:49] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: But I have personally, and I'm leaving so I don't have a say, but I have interests in, and it's on here, the fentanyl issue or drug use by youths. Because I have heard that time and time again, you know, when my kids were in high school. That's a real issue I believe. And whether it's fentanyl, or we had a presentation on cannabinoids, there's a lot there that I think could be researched, looked into, and have a forum on.

[03:27:20] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: So that's an issue. Traffic safety, I think Cupertino's Public Safety Committee deals with that. That's an area that I see that our board could look into. And then as mentioned by the public comment, I too have been thinking, given the change in the federal administration, there could be issues that are going to bubble up in the next few years.

[03:27:44] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: So I think it's premature at this time to say we finished our job and we should dissolve this body. I think we should, and it looks like we had enough applicants to at least fill most of the slots. Didn't we have two out of the three? So I looked on the list, we have four. And then did you fill two more? So there's six out of seven?

[03:28:09] Councilmember Pat Showalter: No.

[03:28:10] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: No? Did I what did I get I just... should we just an- the people on the committee answer?

[03:28:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I think there's seven slots altogether.

[03:28:20] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[03:28:21] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Something like five people applied, but it's typical for not everyone to show up. You know, they they look at that it on YouTube and they're like, not for me. So I think we had two people show up and we appointed two. And so...

[03:28:38] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, but there's four right now on the committee already. Or on the board.

[03:28:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well I would have to-

[03:28:44] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Yeah, they're four. On... if we- we recommended them, so there would be, if council approves the people we recommended, how many would there be altogether?

[03:28:54] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Six.

[03:28:55] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Six.

[03:28:56] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Six out of seven.

[03:28:57] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Yeah. So we're almost there. But you know, if we wanted to go down, and this is a question I had earlier, is like, can we say at least five and no more than seven, and then make the quorum based on the number that is seated at that time, just to allow for more flexibility?

[03:29:14] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Because you know, if we have more interest in the future, then I think we could expand it, but I think if we had a minimum and then a floor and a ceiling, that just allows for you know, the changes. And I'll say like, you know, I've been around doing this for sixteen years and I think there's frankly just a change in the you know, just folks are busier now.

[03:29:38] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: You know, if things like two- two-income households. There's just, I mean we see it in like the service clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis, what not. People are just busier and there's not, they don't have as much time maybe to volunteer. And so I actually just look at this and you know, even the senior advisory committee, like that's probably the more underlying issue with all of this.

[03:30:00] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: But I mean at this point in time if we have six out of seven, I'd say let's move forward. But you know, if we can say at least five, no more than seven, to give us that flexibility in the future, I would you know, prefer that. And then the meetings too, we could say at least quarterly but you know, no more than ten or whatever, it's however many, to give them again flexibility to decide how often they need to meet. That's right, yeah. I think that's it. Thanks.

[03:30:30] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you so much. Um, Ellen. Uh, Councilmember Kamei.

[03:30:35] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, so first just want to, want to thank staff for looking into this, the robust information. Um, as well as just even looking at the presentation today that of the 15 cities in Santa Clara County we're one of two that has a public safety advisory board.

[03:30:56] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And just want to say kudos to staff and those who are serving on PSAB, or who have served on PSAB, for their service. I think that's quite an accomplishment. And so I guess at the offset I am hearing comments about what may come with a new federal administration.

[03:31:18] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I just want to share that in my opinion that is not a place where, that item does not live with with PSAB. My understanding is that lives in our city manager's office. Just three weeks ago or so our communications office sent out a formal statement restating our community for all principles.

[03:31:48] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Had a message from I believe our chief talking about how the city of Mountain View does not cooperate or share any type of information based off of immigration status. And so I just, I hear us talking about public safety and I really just want to make sure that we're couching that in the correct place, which is the city manager's office.

[03:32:09] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And that the city already has been very proactive with the community on that. And I believe, and as Councilmember Ramirez was saying, the Cafecitos group meets every Monday, and the chief was there discussing that. And I believe there are people designated in our, in our city manager's office who are leading those efforts.

[03:32:29] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So really hope we can shift that conversation to to the appropriate venue. And I just don't want to conflate that into being a PSAB work item. So I just wanted to clarify that. And then to to move on, I did want to share that in discussing both the senior advisory committee and then talking about PSAB tonight, I'm hearing almost that it's not good to achieve your goals.

[03:33:01] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: We need to keep going. And, and I think it's okay if those, if we achieve goals and item sunset, I think that's kind of a natural progression of policy items. We hear about these things happening in the state legislature, we have administrative policies in different jurisdictions where things sunset, and it's I think a badge of honor to be able to say we had goals and we achieved them.

[03:33:30] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And it's time to move on to the next item. I just, I think that that can, that is a testament to the good work of our city staff as well as the PSAB members, that we've been able to accomplish so much.

[03:33:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And as this item came forward, I was really trying to reflect on where the heart of how we created PSAB to where we are now. To as staff mentioned, maybe one or two people from the public attending the PSAB meeting as well as speaking.

[03:34:08] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And it had me reflecting similarly to our senior advisory council that are we providing the correct venue? Are we meeting people where they are to get that information that's needed? So I think that we're very unique in Mountain View as well, that we have MVPDX, that we have a police department that's very accessible, as some of us have set up on the dais.

[03:34:40] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And for me, the public comments that I receive from residents in the community are more related to community safety of property, so theft, crime, burglary, home invasion.

[03:34:53] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Those are the things that people are asking me about when I am out in the community, and that is not necessarily what has been scoped within PSAB's work plan. And part of the public comment that we received earlier, I think kind of tangentially touched on, you know, the issue of being a small business owner in Mountain View.

[03:35:17] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: We hear a lot from our business community about how this has been an issue. So I agree that there's value in getting input on our public safety. I'm just not sure that PSAB is the appropriate venue any longer. I'm comfortable with the staff recommendation. I'll just make the motion, I'm not sure that it has the votes.

[03:35:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So before we go into, and I know we have some additional speakers, I will implore those maybe who are looking to keep an iteration of this, to really look at the alternative. Alternative one, which was the PSAB two times a year. I'm not going to be voting for that, but I would implore you to look at that.

[03:36:06] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And perhaps moving as we looked at the senior advisory body down in terms of the number of people, so maybe it's five instead of seven, just so there's no quorum issues. And not everybody that applies for a commission makes their interview or may be a good fit for the commission. So I think it's more than just saying, oh okay, there's gonna be six, so all we need is, you know, one more.

[03:36:35] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: We want to make sure that it's also people who have a true interest. So those are my comments, and thank you for the second, Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:36:48] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Councilmember Hicks.

[03:36:53] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So regarding the comment about small minds, I actually felt fairly different about this, about the PSAB item compared to the Senior Advisory Commission item. It was not on consent, and I felt like it was fleshed out more. And in addition, I'm just reading the staff report. I was almost overwhelmed, Chief, with the amount of work you do.

[03:37:23] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Maybe it's not just you. But going to, whether it's faith groups, the Latino group Cafecito, MV CIPRA, MVPDX, coffee with a cop. I mean, there's just a lot more out there on this one than there is for, I mean, we do have a senior center, but we also have a police station.

[03:37:51] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I am more willing with this one to say that we have a good amount going on. I do, and several of the people involved with MV CIPRA who did urge us originally to set up something like the PSAB, some of them have said that they do think that the work is accomplished and we could move on.

[03:38:17] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Others have not said that. And you know one person on the committee though on PSAB did say when I talked to her that she wanted it to continue existing so it would be there in case some issue erupted, that we wouldn't have to you know, kind of spin our wheels and start all over again.

[03:38:38] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So with that in mind, I'm thinking I could either go for this motion or if somebody's putting forward an alternative motion that follows closely something like that, then I could go for that. I'm kind of, you know, but I don't want it to continue going on seven members, whatever, ten meetings a year, that whole thing. I would prefer to cut it down.

[03:39:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. So, Councilmember Ramirez, do you want to speak again, or is it time to vote?

[03:40:03] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I'll I'll be very brief. Thank you, Mayor, and and thank you for all of the, I thought this was a second, but equally enlightening and insightful conversation.

[03:40:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And thank you, Councilmember Kamei, for moving the staff recommendation. I did want to share, so I certainly a lot of time invested by MVPD in this work, but I also want to acknowledge the time from the City Manager's Office, which is no less important.

[03:40:30] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And Audrey, you're working on many other council priorities including sustainability and climate resilience. So I would encourage the council to think also about, should we free up some capacity in the City Manager's Office, we can also redeploy that to other work that is also a priority.

[03:40:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I wish there were a little bit more attention to that in the staff report, I think it would have been helpful, but I did want to acknowledge your work also on helping guide this body and encourage all of my colleagues to support the motion on the floor. Thank you.

[03:41:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Time to vote.

[03:41:20] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Apologies, I thought I did the hard part by pressing the button here. Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View to dissolve the Public Safety Advisory Board, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[03:41:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The motion passes four to three. Okay. Well, we certainly had a robust discussion. And now we move on to Item 7, which I suppose is committee reports. I do not see my flow. Here you go. Um, yes. Council, staff, committee reports. And first up is Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:42:14] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I'll be very brief. So I have served for the past, gosh I think maybe two months on the Mountain View Whisman School District Housing Oversight Committee, which has met a fairly rapid clip.

[03:42:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but we've done a tremendous amount of work, and I did want to acknowledge the support of Wayne Chen in particular, but also the City Manager and City Attorney and many other, um, I think Arn also, you've been, and Audrey I think you may have looked at a lot of the materials coming our way.

[03:42:45] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Too much to summarize I think in a short period of time, but I would, if there is time and capacity, it might be helpful for the council to receive at least a brief update on some of the work coming out of that committee and approved by the Board of Trustees, or or soon, because it does have some meaningful implications for staff, Mountain View staff, city staff, who would like to benefit from the housing. So thank you for your support.

[03:43:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Ramos.

[03:43:25] Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Mayor. I don't know if I'm supposed to report out that I went to the City's Association holiday party, um, because I think the city paid for that for me. So I figure I should report that. Um, and just a quick, um, I had the opportunity this past weekend also to check out two programs that were essentially funded by CNC grants, which was the Cocoa Clatch with Santiago Villa's Neighborhood Association and the Holiday Lights in Mariposa Park, which was the Shoreline West Neighborhood Association. It was really cool. Recommend everyone to try it.

[03:44:01] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. And I think Councilmember Ramos will also say we had a CYSC meeting on the 25th. And then we, I also attended the League Leaders for the League of California Cities last week, as well as the City's Association Holiday Party. Thank you.

[03:44:26] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Vice Mayor Matichak.

[03:44:28] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Thank you. I do have a few things. On November 21st I attended the Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Authority board meeting. And Mount View, you know, the membership in that for the North Counties at least, Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto rotate for two-year terms. And so since I am terming out, Mountain View will need to appoint someone to that body.

[03:44:39] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Kamei.

[03:44:56] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And then it moves to Los Altos.

7. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS

[03:45:00] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Yes, I believe after that. Because Palo Alto was before us. Um, also on November 21st, and so it was a challenge to get there, uh, in time going from Santa Clara to Burlingame. Took Caltrain.

[03:45:12] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Nice.

[03:45:13] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Yes, worked well. Um, uh, we had a Bosca, Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency board meeting, and, um, once again we got an update on the new tier two allocation plan, and that is the plan for the allocation of water among the 26 Bosca agencies, um, when there's a declared drought.

[03:45:35] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And that will be coming to the council for approval, um, I think in the second quarter of 2025. Um, and I know I've talked about this before but it bears repeating, that, um, what's also part of this is a change to the minimum purchase requirement for the four jurisdictions that have that.

[03:46:00] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And again, I cannot give enough kudos and thank yous to Elizabeth Flegel in the Public Works department. She has been tenacious about addressing this issue. And because of her, um, the allocations, er, or the purchase requirements are going to change, and the penalties that we've been experiencing, um, will go away.

[03:46:31] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: So, again, huge thank you to Elizabeth Flegel for all her work on this one. Um, we also had, on November 22nd, the Council Appointment Review Committee meeting. Um, lots of people were interviewed, and I believe the, um, recommendations from the CARC, as we call it, come to the council at the next meeting. Um, December 17th.

[03:46:57] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, on December 4th, we had a meeting of the ad hoc goal setting committee. I think that's its new name. Um, and we had a great discussion about the process for the next year to, um, check in on the, um, I always want to call them goals, but they have a new name. No, the, um, overall strategic priorities.

[03:47:22] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, and then the, uh, projects that are on the work plan, and that process will come to council for approval before it's implemented. Uh, on December 6th, we had the Council Investment Review Committee meeting, and at that we reviewed the, um, city's portfolio of investments.

[03:47:46] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And we, um, discussed a tweak to the investment policy to open up the allowed investments just a little bit, um, because Mountain View is one of the most conservative, um, cities around. And, um, that will also come to the council for approval.

[03:48:06] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: And right after that meeting we had the Council Finance Committee meeting on the same day. And we reviewed the auditor's report and the ACFR, um, Annual Comprehensive Financial Review, report.

[03:48:22] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: Um, and we recommended appointment of, uh, Tara Rampone as the city auditor. And, um, those both come to council as well. Um, so, lots of activity here in the last part of the year. Thank you.

[03:48:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Abe-Koga.

[03:48:46] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Mayor, I have a few meetings to report out from. Um, last week we had our Bay Area Air Quality Management District board meeting where we did a review of, um, our gas appliance replacement ban rules, uh, that will be in effect starting in 2027.

[03:49:05] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, part of it when we voted for this about a year or a year and a half ago, uh, part of it was to do a review of where we are and have established a working group, um, to look at issues such as grid reliability, um, cost and equity. And so we had a review of all of, many of those issues.

[03:49:28] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, positives, it looks like the grid is, um, ready to take on the new heat pump water, heat pump water heaters, um, and so forth. The challenges still rely, um, remain in the area of equity and affordability.

[03:49:45] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And so those will be areas that the, um, working group will continue to work on. But as of now we are still, um, moving forward, uh, with the implementation of these rules, uh, starting in 2027.

[03:50:00] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, I did, I had my trifecta of transportation boards. Uh, Caltrain met. Uh, as hopefully you've seen, the ridership numbers for our electrified service are have really shot up. And I think it was 750,000 riders we had in the last month. Um, so very excited about that.

[03:50:20] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, I reported out before, you know, I was very, um, dismayed at the increased costs of our grade separation project at Rengstorff. And we'll be meeting with Caltrain staff and our staff here as well as VTA on the cost increases and ways to try to reduce some of those costs.

[03:50:40] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, and, uh, at VTA, uh, we, we've been spending quite a bit of time about the BART project and its budget creep and, um, looking at ways that we can, um, control some of those cost increases.

[03:50:57] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And then yesterday I had a special meeting with the MT, uh, Metropolitan Transportation Commission and unf- which made me miss the tree lighting ceremony. But we had a special meeting to discuss and take a vote on the potential regional revenue measure for 2026. And, uh, the vote was to move forward to begin polling on a couple of options.

[03:51:23] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, for Santa Clara County, our proposal, which seems to be moving forward by the commission, is that we will do our own sales tax measure. Uh, so, our county is very self-help. We are a very self-help county, we have four sales tax measures that fund transportation.

[03:51:42] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: And, um, a regional measure could conflict with the renewal of any of some of those. And so we have proposed that we will go out on our own, most likely renew those measures, and then pay into a regional pot to assist with some of the transformational, um, strategies to, to just basically improve transit.

[03:52:06] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: So, um, that's where our county stands. And then I did attend the Cities Association holiday dinner as well, and thank you to those who attended as a, uh, a member of the executive board. Thanks.

[03:52:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Councilmember Hicks.

[03:52:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I also went to the Cities Association annual holiday party. Um, as well as the, uh, Council Appointment Review Committee, and the Council Ad Ho, Ad Hoc Goal Setting Committee.

[03:52:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. I have quite a few things to share. Um, uh, on December 4th, that was a quite a busy day. I went to the Four Cities Mayors meeting. Um, that's between, um, the mayors of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, and Cupertino, and I hope the, um, new mayor will take part in this. It's, it's, we've had a lot of interesting and productive, um, conversations.

2. CLOSED SESSION

[03:53:11] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, then we have the goal setting session which, um, has been mentioned, and that really was a interesting discussion and more will be coming to the council about that shortly. Um, we also had a call with Marion McFadden from, uh, Assistant Secretary from HUD to talk to us about, um, things that we might do in the next month or two to, um, make sure we're making, getting the most out of our, um, uh, getting the most out of HUD.

[03:53:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And she suggested a loan program that we hadn't heard of before, so, um, that was valuable. Um, the big news really was the next day, uh, that was December 5th, and the BCDC met, and we passed the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan guidelines.

8. CLOSED SESSION REPORT

[03:53:54] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you everyone for sticking around. Our closed session is over. Um, City Attorney, do we have a closed session report?

[03:54:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And you'll probably all remember that, um, there was a, a bill passed at the end of '23 that, um, uh, gave the responsibility to, uh, BCDC and the Coastal Commission to, um, uh, to provide guidelines and for every city or county to prepare a sea level rise protection plan.

[03:54:02] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: No reportable action was taken in closed session tonight.

9. ADJOURNMENT

[03:54:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you very much. With that, our meeting is adjourned at 11:36. And we will see everyone next Tuesday for another meeting.

[03:54:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, it could be done, um, on a multi-jurisdictional basis or by jurisdiction by jurisdiction. But anyway, the guidelines needed to be passed by the end of this calendar year, and, um, we did it. It was I think the longest BCDC meeting I've ever been part of, but, uh, we did it. So, um, and it had, it was in the news a, a couple of times so that was pretty exciting.

[03:54:53] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, on Monday we had a meeting with a small delegation from Belgium. Uh, it was, uh, Christina Gilmore, um, Audrey, and myself. It was very interesting. Um, they are our other, uh, sister city, Hasselt, Belgium. And so, um, they had several representatives to talk to us about potential, um, uh, future endeavors together.

[03:55:21] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, it will, it will be interesting to see what transpires. I think, um, in the past all of the interaction with the, um, Hasselt has been primarily through the, um, the visits. The, the, the home visits that, that students, high school students have.

[03:55:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And that, that program that's gone on for many years, but they're interested in some economic, um, uh, connections as well. And they were talking about how they are sort of in, in Belgium they are kind of, um, Flanders where they are is, is very much considered a, a center of, um, of research. So I thought that was really interesting.

[03:56:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, last night we had the, um, uh, oh, and December 6th, I met with the safe parking faith leaders. That was a very interesting conversation, and, um, they have, uh, a great deal of insight and, and desire. So I hope we can make, you know, good use of that group in, in, um, uh, promoting our safe parking program.

[03:56:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Then of course, the big fun of the week was last night, the tree lighting ceremony. Thank you everyone for taking part. We were hecklered, heckled by, you know, a very green heckler, a very large green heckler, the Grinch, who has come previous years but he came back again. So that was, that was great fun.

[03:56:52] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, I'd like to really, you know, thank all of the people on the staff who took part in that. I know that these huge events just are, they demand a tremendous amount of effort, and, um, but everybody really had a wonderful time. And, and the civic center, uh, and, and, and city looks just beautiful with all the, um, holiday decorations. So that's my report.

[03:57:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And that brings us to, um, going back closed session. Going back to our closed session. Which, um, we will, um, recess to the closed session.

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