February 24, 2026 City Council Meeting

Video

Agenda

• 1. CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT (OPEN SESSION): 1. CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT (OPEN SESSION) (00:00:00)
• 1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/ROLL CALL: 1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/ROLL CALL (00:02:14)
• 2. CLOSED SESSION REPORT: 2. CLOSED SESSION REPORT (00:03:13)
• 3. PRESENTATIONS: 3. PRESENTATIONS (00:04:19)
• 3.1 American Heart Month Proclamation: 3.1 American Heart Month Proclamation (00:04:37)
• 3.2 Certificates of Recognition to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Winners from the Santa Clara County 2025 Synopsys Championship Science Fair: 3.2 Certificates of Recognition to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Winners from the Santa Clara County 2025 Synopsys Championship Science Fair (00:08:53)
• 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4. CONSENT CALENDAR (00:15:55)
• 4.3 Thompson Mini Park, Project 26-35-Professional Services Agreement: 4.3 Thompson Mini Park, Project 26-35-Professional Services Agreement (00:25:00)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS (00:30:08)
• 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract: 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract (00:37:50)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS (01:40:00)
• 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract: 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract (02:05:00)
• 6.2 Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update: 6.2 Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update (03:12:23)
• 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract: 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract (03:20:00)
• 6.2 Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update: 6.2 Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update (03:20:00)
• 7.1 Small Business Streamlining and Other Minor Zoning Code Updates: 7.1 Small Business Streamlining and Other Minor Zoning Code Updates (03:57:39)
• 7. PUBLIC HEARING: 7. PUBLIC HEARING (04:10:00)
• 7.1 Small Business Streamlining and Other Minor Zoning Code Updates: 7.1 Small Business Streamlining and Other Minor Zoning Code Updates (04:29:12)
• 8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS: 8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS (04:33:23)

Transcript

1. CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT (OPEN SESSION)

[00:00:00] Assistant City Clerk: Joining us for our closed session, City Attorney Logue will make a closed session announcement and then we will welcome public comment on the items listed for closed session.

[00:00:10] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers. This is City Attorney Jennifer Logue. There are two items on this evening's closed session agenda. Item 2.1 is a conference with real property negotiators pursuant to Government Code section 54956.8 regarding City lots 4 and 8, assessor parcel numbers 158-20-069 and 158-20-004.

[00:00:36] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: The agency negotiators are Arn Andrews, Assistant City Manager, Dawn Cameron, Assistant City Manager, Christian Murdock, Community Development Director, Amanda Rotella, Economic Vitality Manager, and Angela LaMonica, Real Property Program Administrator.

[00:00:53] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: The negotiating party is the Robert Green Company and under negotiation are price and terms for payment of lease of real property.

[00:01:00] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Item 2.2 is a conference with um real property negotiators pursuant to Government Code section 54956.8. The address of the property under negotiation is 928 Mariner Drive, Mountain View, California.

[00:01:16] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: The agency negotiators are Arn Andrews, Assistant City Manager, Christian Murdock, Community Development Director, and Angela LaMonica, Real Property Administrator. The negotiating party is the Department of the Army and under negotiation are price and terms of purchase. Thank you.

[00:01:33] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide public comment on the closed session items listed on tonight's agenda? If so please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk.

[00:01:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes. Seeing none, uh, we will now take virtual speakers. Also seeing none, um, the council will now recess to the Plaza Conference Room for closed session and return to Council Chambers at the close to continue regular session.

1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/ROLL CALL

[00:02:14] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Good evening everyone. Welcome to the joint meeting of the Mountain View City Council and Shoreline Regional Park Community of February 24th, 2026. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.

[00:02:30] Councilmember Emily Ramos: 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.

[00:02:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, the Assistant City Clerk will take attendance by roll call.

[00:02:51] Assistant City Clerk: Councilmember Hicks?

[00:02:53] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:02:54] Assistant City Clerk: Councilmember Kamei?

[00:02:56] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Here.

[00:02:57] Assistant City Clerk: Councilmember McAlister?

[00:02:58] Councilmember John McAlister: Here.

[00:02:59] Assistant City Clerk: Councilmember Ramirez?

[00:03:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:03:01] Assistant City Clerk: Councilmember Showalter?

[00:03:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Here.

[00:03:03] Assistant City Clerk: Vice Mayor Clark?

[00:03:04] Councilmember Chris Clark: Here.

[00:03:05] Assistant City Clerk: Mayor Ramos?

[00:03:05] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Here.

[00:03:06] Assistant City Clerk: Thank you. We have a quorum with all members present.

[00:03:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. City Attorney Logue, do you have a closed session report?

2. CLOSED SESSION REPORT

[00:03:13] City Attorney Jennifer Logue: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor and Councilmembers. City Attorney Jennifer Logue. Um, no final reportable action was taken in closed session this evening.

[00:03:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, City Attorney Logue. Before we go on to presentations, I have my... my... not annual, my meetingly tradition of encouraging people to get involved with our city, with our call to action, call to service, call to community.

[00:03:35] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And this time I'm encouraging people to join our Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. Um, we have free trainings. Uh, the next round will be, uh, will begin April 9th, 2026 and will finish Saturday April 25th, 2026.

[00:03:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: You can register for CERT training. Um, these, this training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster and when emergency services may not be available. CERT members receive training in earthquake awareness, disaster fire suppression techniques, disaster medical operations, and light search and rescue, as well as team organization and management.

[00:04:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Trained emergency personnel, including firefighters and emergency medical, uh, personnel teach all classes. So you can sign up on our website. Thank you so much.

3. PRESENTATIONS

[00:04:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And now we will go on to item 3, presentations. Please note these are presentations only. The city council will not take any action. Public comment will occur after the presentation items. If you would like to speak on these items in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the assistant clerk, city clerk now.

3.1 American Heart Month Proclamation

[00:04:37] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So we will go to our item 3.1, our American Heart Month proclamation.

[00:04:42] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We are happy to be joined this evening by Dr. Carol Somersille with El Camino Health, and Dr. Neal Scott, Mountain View resident, cardiologist, and innovator at the Fogarty Institute of Innovation, to accept this proclamation. Dr. Somersille and Dr. Scott, would you, would you please join me at the lectern?

[00:05:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay, the proclamation reads: Whereas American Heart Month, also known as Heart Health Month, is observed every February, and whereas heart disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, with significant impacts on diverse communities, and...

[00:05:32] Councilmember Emily Ramos: ...whereas American Heart Month is a time to raise awareness about risk of cardiovascular disease and the importance of healthy behaviors such as eating a balanced diet and staying physically active and managing blood pressure, and...

[00:05:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: ...whereas the first Friday of American Heart Month is also National Wear Red Day, as part of the... American Heart Month's Go Red for Women initiative.

[00:05:56] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Go Red Day is an ideal time to remind everyone to focus on their hearts and encourage them to get their families, friends, and communities involved. And whereas by taking action, including screenings, lifestyle changes, and supporting research, we can reduce the burden of heart disease in our society.

[00:06:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Now therefore I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the City of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of February as American Heart Month in Mountain View, and urge all residents to join in this effort to make our community a healthier place. Dr. Somersille, Dr. Scott, would you like to say a few words?

[00:06:34] Dr. Neal Scott: Sure. Um, I'd just like to to thank uh the City of Mountain View for this. Uh, I'm accepting this as Carol is on behalf of El Camino Hospital.

[00:06:47] Dr. Neal Scott: Uh, just like to say the progress that we've made over the past decades. For instance, when I started training in the 70s, um, if you had a heart attack, a myocardial infarction, your chances of leaving the hospital alive were about 60%.

[00:07:06] Dr. Neal Scott: In the 70s, 80s, with um new drugs and new techniques, that went up to about 80%. Uh, now, if you have a heart attack today, uh you will pro- you have an greater than 90% chance of leaving the hospital alive.

[00:07:24] Dr. Neal Scott: Here in um Mountain View at El Camino Hospital, I gave you national averages. El Camino has a much higher, significantly higher uh percentage of patients leaving the hospital alive. And that's mainly because of all of the research that has been done.

[00:07:43] Dr. Neal Scott: And El Camino Hospital actually has been a participant in a lot of those research studies, just like you would expect from a major academic center.

[00:07:53] Dr. Neal Scott: So we're lucky to have a community hospital that has the personnel, the physicians, the staff, that operate on the same level as a major uh academic institution. So thank you very much for this commendation.

[00:08:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay, so we'll now take a quick picture with my colleagues, up here.

[00:08:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Oh, with the proclamation! Oh, of course, sorry!

3.2 Certificates of Recognition to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Winners from the Santa Clara County 2025 Synopsys Championship Science Fair

[00:08:53] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okey dokey. Now we'll um on item 3.2, Certificates of Recognition to STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, Winners from the Santa Clara County 2025 Synopsys Championship Science Fair.

[00:09:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I am happy to acknowledge and congratulate the student recipients of the STEM Award Recognition at the Santa Clara County 2025 Synopsys Championship Science Fair. I would like to welcome Anastasia... Aliashvili... I'm so sorry if I'm getting this name wrong. Who is in attendance to accept her certificate.

[00:09:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, we're just double checking, were there any other uh certificate- Okay, we are good. So, here is your certificate.

[00:09:51] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Would you like to say a few words? Or tell us what your project was?

[00:09:55] Anastasia Aliashvili: Um, sure. So, my project is about foot and mouth disease virus that affects cloven-hoofed animals. And it's mainly a big problem in Africa and it has large economic impacts, especially on farmers and just the reproduction.

[00:10:13] Anastasia Aliashvili: So, we fo- our- we focused on modifying an inhibitor, and this inhibitor will block the RNA dependent RNA polymerase that is prone to replication, and this is what- uh this is why it's a big problem in like farm animals and stuff.

[00:10:31] Anastasia Aliashvili: So, we did like synthesis and molecular docking and stuff. So yeah.

[00:10:41] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you so much. Let's take a quick picture with my... we're gonna take a quick picture with my colleagues. And, uh... oh. Yes. Oh! Someone from the science fair! Oh, wonderful. Uh, former uh Vice Mayor Forrest Williams.

[00:10:55] Councilmember Emily Ramos: But not of Mountain View, San Jose, but we won't hold that against him.

[00:11:02] Kathy Jarvis: Uh, I'm Kathy Jarvis and I'm a volunteer. Forrest Williams is the uh chairman of the Committee for Public Relations. And the idea of the city council recognition for these events was all- all his when he was on the San Jose City Council a few years back.

[00:11:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you.

[00:11:18] Forrest Williams: Uh, I- I take this opportunity to thank the Mayor. I want to thank the council members, and I want to thank the staff for all the work they've done to present to you our science fair winner for 2025.

[00:11:40] Forrest Williams: I know all of you have views of what the world is like. But there's nothing new under the sun. It's discovery. You must go in and find out what works together for the goodness of mankind.

[00:12:04] Forrest Williams: And we starting out with our students to encourage them to find those secrets that are hidden to make our lives better.

[00:12:15] Forrest Williams: Now, there's a little thing that I want to bear- want you to take with you tonight. There is nothing that you touch, that you can touch, that has not had an engineering touch to it.

[00:12:39] Forrest Williams: So think about that. And these students are now beyond what we've known over the years, and they're into new environments, new challenges, new opportunities. And we want to just encourage them. And I am so happy that you guys have felt the same way and brought them here to recognize them. Thank you very much.

[00:13:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Here join us for a photo.

[00:13:51] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, we love our students in STEM. Um, congratulations uh to all of you.

[00:13:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Would any member of the council like to say a few words? Seeing none, we will now take public comment for the presentation items. This is for the presentation items. I know some of you are here for another item. Um, that is not this item.

[00:14:14] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So this is for the presentation items. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on the presentation items listed on the agenda?

[00:14:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: If so please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk now.

[00:14:30] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes. I am seeing no in person. I see one raised hand in- virtually.

[00:14:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, Eva.

[00:14:46] Eva: Yeah, this is for 3.1. Um, this is crazy, I think Dr. Scott, or Dr. Scott was my cardiologist back in the day, like a few years ago.

[00:14:58] Eva: So, Dr. Scott, shout out to you. Um, eating less four-legged animals, eating more plants, and working out more. So, kudos to you. Happy American Heart Proclamation month.

[00:15:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Eva. Next we have uh, Quinton.

[00:15:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: You are unmuted now Quinton.

[00:15:27] Quinton: Hi, can you hear me?

[00:15:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[00:15:30] Quinton: Okay, is this the time to speak on the... uh... Sorry, is this the first city council meeting I've attended. I'd like to comment on the flock cameras. Would that be now, or...

[00:15:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We're not- uh it's in a future time, so feel free to lower your hand and we will let you know when it's time. There's a couple of items before then.

[00:15:46] Quinton: Okay, thank you.

[00:15:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, thank you. Alright, seeing no other comments, uh, we will now move on to item number 4, Consent Calendar.

4. CONSENT CALENDAR

[00:15:55] Councilmember Emily Ramos: These items will be approved by one motion unless any member of the council wishes to pull an item for individual consideration.

[00:16:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: If an item is pulled from the consent calendar it will be considered separately following approval of the balance of the consent calendar.

[00:16:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: 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 Assistant Clerk now.

[00:16:21] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Would any member of the council like to pull an item? Oh, that looks like a bunch. Um, Councilmember Ramirez.

[00:16:26] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor, I'd like to pull item 4.2.

[00:16:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, 4.2. Um, Councilmember Showalter?

[00:16:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I just wanted to make a few comments. So is it okay if I just go ahead with those, or...

[00:16:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Uh... Before you do that, Councilmember Hicks, was there an item you wanted to pull?

[00:16:43] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes, I'd like to pull 4.3.

[00:16:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. Alright. So, 4.3. Alright. Um, Councilmember Showalter, was there anything you wanted to talk about that wasn't 4.2 or 4.3?

[00:17:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, I just wanted to mention 4.4, the Miramonte Pump Station item, and um talk about how it's really important for us to keep up our infrastructure.

[00:17:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And this is a job that's important for our water supply infrastructure, and um people don't think about those things very much unless they're not working.

[00:17:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But we have to do a lot of work here to make sure that they do work properly. So I just want to um thank the staff for bringing this forward and um wish them the best of luck with the project.

[00:17:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Great, thank you Councilmember Showalter. Um, we will now go to public comment uh for the consent calendar items. Not for item 6.1, friendly reminder.

[00:17:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, so would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on the consent calendar items?

[00:17:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk now. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes.

[00:18:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, we'll take our first uh speaker, Jim Zarowski.

[00:18:25] Jim Zarowski: So, this is good- this is gonna sound a lot like a car commercial. Um, real quick, starting now.

[00:18:32] Jim Zarowski: Everybody knows that Monta Loma Park became Monta Loma Elementary Field. There were- talked to the community about installation of fences, gates, and the use of the school field became actively discouraged by the school district, and it caused a lot of harm in the community. Next.

[00:18:49] Jim Zarowski: Because of this, the the Monta Loma Thompson area went down to .33 in dedicated park space. That's about one-tenth of the Quimby ratio. Next slide.

[00:18:59] Jim Zarowski: City with the help of Ellen and Alison and staff purchased the property on 35- 538 Thompson back in 11/22. Next.

[00:19:11] Jim Zarowski: It was pos- the development has been postponed, and we were told in December that it was going to be slated for development 3rd quarter '27, and it's now coming forward now, which we're happy about, and we're thankful for.

[00:19:22] Jim Zarowski: We're thankful for this. But we're a little concerned, and I'm not gonna use any more slides, because we're being told that we're going to have a Texas developer write a proposal about how to develop this. We went through this once with the Parks and Rec program.

[00:19:35] Jim Zarowski: Why are we going to use a Texas consulting company? And go to the last slide, please. Last slide.

[00:19:42] Jim Zarowski: Um, we know as a community that the the things that we need to do in the community that we need, we don't want to waste city resources on something that doesn't meet our needs, and we don't want to foreclose our options.

[00:19:54] Jim Zarowski: So I want to encourage that the city listen to the community first before the consultant comes back with a plan that says do we want red or yellow slides. Thanks.

[00:20:05] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Mr. Zarowski. Alright, we will go to our virtual public comment. Uh, Robert Cox.

[00:20:17] Robert Cox: Can you hear me?

[00:20:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[00:20:21] Robert Cox: Okay, thank you. I just want to make comment on item 4.2. Thank the Council for the inclusion of the pro-housing city flexibility.

[00:20:30] Robert Cox: And uh, SB 79, it should be SB 79 I think, not SB 70. Alternative plan timelines.

[00:20:38] Robert Cox: And um, uh, good work. Let's hope that this has some fruition when it gets up to our lobbyist and state legislature. Thank you for giving me the time to speak on this.

[00:20:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Mr. Cox. Um, we will now take it back to council for action. Um, we will start with the balance of the consent calendar, which is items 4.1 and 4.4.

[00:21:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We have a motion by Councilmember Ramirez, and a second by Councilmember Kamei. Councilmember Ramirez, you have a comment?

[00:21:08] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: No, I moved to approve the uh balance of the consent calendar.

[00:21:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, we are ready for a vote.

[00:21:28] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And it's unanimous, yay. Um, alright, we will now go on to item 4.2, which was pulled by Councilmember Ramirez. Go ahead.

[00:21:40] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. I know we're doing public comment separately I think for this item or do we- do we read- do we take public comment for everything already?

[00:21:49] Councilmember Emily Ramos: For everything. Okay.

[00:21:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Then I'm going to go ahead and uh move to approve the staff recommendation um with with one modification.

[00:21:56] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: First I'm grateful to staff for making the revisions that were uh directed by the Council uh in the previous meeting. Um, a lot of really good additions and and I appreciate um the suggestions made by my colleagues.

[00:22:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I did want to clarify that my intent in making the modification to the e-bike item was uh to eliminate the language that suggests uh discouraging the use, so I wanted to clarify.

[00:22:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh that K-21 and K-22 uh were- they're broad, they provide I think the flexibility that staff needs to um make recommendations to our legislative delegation.

[00:22:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But they were intended to replace K-20. Uh so I'd like to move to approve the staff recommendation excluding K-20 which was the original language related to e-bikes.

[00:22:47] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and then separately make a comment that um I have heard that there is um at least a a bill under consideration that would again strengthen um the state density bonus law uh allowing additional concessions.

[00:23:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I really do hope um that uh city staff working with our uh legislative delegation can uh prioritize either amendments to that bill or um some alternative legislation.

[00:23:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um that would address some of the concerns that we have talked about. Basically ensuring that State Density Bonus Law concessions don't allow uh developers to uh waive or bypass or uh otherwise uh reduce uh local inclusionary requirements.

[00:23:28] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And specifically the number of affordable units and the depth of affordability. Uh so I know that's not a direction in the motion, but it's based on what I've heard about some of the new bills. I hope that's something we can continue to prioritize. Thank you.

[00:23:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, thank you Councilmember Ramirez. Is anyone else in the docket? Alright, we have a motion by Councilmember Ramirez, seconded by Councilmember Showalter. I believe we are ready for a vote.

[00:23:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And the motion passes unanimously. Only all votes could be like this. Um, now we will go on to item 4.3, Councilmember Hicks.

[00:24:09] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So this one is uh Thompson Mini Park, uh the professional services agreement for the planning of that park. And I pulled it because I know there is um there is concern in the community and that people want um want to make sure that the park is planned according to the desires of the people living in the neighborhood.

[00:24:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I pulled it so that I could uh query our staff about uh to give a little more information to members of the public about um about how that planning process would take place and how the community can have input.

[00:24:58] Public Speaker: Good evening.

4.3 Thompson Mini Park, Project 26-35-Professional Services Agreement

[00:25:00] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Good evening everybody. Jennifer Ing, Public Works Director. So the item before you tonight for council approval is the council action to enter into a consultant agreement with Westwood Professional Services. Um, as noted in public comment, this firm is headquartered in a different state. However, they do have a local presence with several nearby cities, most notably Pleasanton is where the um staff that will be performing the consultant services for this project will be based out of.

[00:25:32] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um we start a project off by by obtaining consultant services. So this is the first step in moving forward with the park development. And then one of the first orders of work that the consultant will be tasked with doing is really figuring out our um and getting off the ground our community outreach. Um in this case we're targeting our first community meeting with the community to happen um this spring um before school gets out of session so that um people don't start leaving to go on vacation and they are able to provide meaningful input.

[00:26:08] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Typically um outreach is comprised of about three public outreach meetings. The first one will be really to sit and listen with the community, understand what the desires and needs are, provide um any constraints that the city staff has such as budget, um but really listen and take that information in thoughtfully so that it can be incorporated into a future concept design.

[00:26:37] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um the consultant services contract before you is full scope, for the full project, so it's from beginning to end, starting all the way from public outreach, which is our first step, all the way to um construction support services, so through the end. Uh this is for the Thompson Mini Park as the land that we currently have acquired. I do want to note that we do um keep an eye out for potential to purchase additional land to expand this particular park area,

[00:27:11] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: noting that um you know this park is a little bit uh this park land area is a little bit uh deficient in park space. So as we design the park, we will be giving uh direction to the consultant to make it in such a the design in such a way that is easily expandable if we are able to acquire additional property. So high level, um time frames,

[00:27:38] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: we are going to be starting outreach this spring. Um in early 2027 we will have a concept ready for the council uh to weigh in and hopefully approve. And then by the end of 2027, we are looking to be completing final design and then rolling into construction um in early 2028. So that's sort of the overview of the project.

[00:28:07] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Come on up. And director, CSD Director John Marchant would like to add a couple words.

[00:28:14] Community Services Director John Marchant: Good evening council, John Marchant, Community Services Director. I'd like to reiterate uh part of what Director Ing was was speaking about and our number one goal is to listen to the neighborhood, the community, the wants, the needs that we can provide in this area. And you may also know that we're already working on some of the playground improvements to uh the Monta Loma actual playground that's part of the the campus itself.

[00:28:38] Community Services Director John Marchant: But also available to the public um during the day while school is in session it is available. So we're doing a number of improvements in that area. Um and just want to once again reiterate that the process that's being talked about tonight um to develop this park is our typical park development process in which we come in and uh it's first listening and then bringing options forward to the community to give their um their feedback and we can take that and start really designing the the park.

[00:29:10] Community Services Director John Marchant: So at this point there has been no design started, we're really starting with a clean slate. Thank you.

[00:29:16] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Thank you.

[00:29:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I guess in summary I'll say, I know the community, some members of the community were concerned that it was a Texas-based consultant and that maybe we would do some abbreviated form of community outreach, but I I hope that we've clarified that it's uh a a firm with a local basis as well and that will be doing full community outreach. And with that summary, if there are no more comments I'll make a motion to approve.

[00:29:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, we have a motion by Councilmember Hicks, seconded by Councilmember Showalter. With no other comments, we're ready to vote.

[00:30:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Motion passes unanimously.

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[00:30:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Now we will go to item 5, oral communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any matter not on the agenda. Um speakers are allowed to speak on any topic within the city council's subject matter jurisdiction up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits council from acting on non-agenda items. If you would like to speak on this item or the next item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk now.

[00:30:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes. Um, and um, I probably will add in now, I know um I wouldn't I hate to um dampen anyone's joy, but I'm gonna ask everyone, please um for when the public uh when people speak in public comment, we try not to do any clapping or booing or any of that right now.

[00:31:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Hold it in, hold it in. You can clap after everything is done um or boo after everything is done, outside. Um, so we will begin with our oral communications. Um, we have Elena Tyson.

[00:31:31] Public Speaker: I'm here to talk about something else so sorry everybody else. Um I have about a minute and a half. I have some pictures I think. Uh thank you very much for allowing me to speak. Um I'm here to respectfully request that the 2022 smoking prohibition be amended uh explicitly to include duplexes. Otherwise making it revisable so that it can be enforced in a situation like mine.

[00:31:54] Public Speaker: So you can see in my backyard I have a neighboring duplex across the way and the distance between their backyard and mine is that common shared fence. They have probably about five feet. They sit in their backyard and they smoke. I did call the Mountain View Fire um department Environmental Protection Division and the gentleman that I spoke with there said that he would go out to the complex. The problem was it is not listed as an apartment um and it does not fall under the wording of the 2022 smoking prohibition the way it is written for the city of Mountain View.

[00:32:24] Public Speaker: And so there's really nothing he can do to enforce it. Every time they sit out there and smoke, it blows into my backyard along with my neighboring units. I have to close my door. I can't sit in my backyard without inhaling the secondhand smoke. And so my request to the city council is to please either adjust the wording to include duplexes which are listed under the state of California as a multi dwelling multi-unit dwelling um or to adjust the prohibitions wording to include a certain amount of distance around shared fences.

[00:32:53] Public Speaker: Um next please with the slide. I have a couple more angle slides so you can see the narrow space. Next. That's going the other direction and then next down on the ground where I'm sitting in my backyard and it just blows right in. So I'm respectfully asking you to please modify the wording in the 2022 pro um prohibition against smoking so that I can actually enjoy my backyard. Thank you.

[00:33:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Alright, Dylan Rich. And then after Dylan Rich we have Tim McKenzie.

[00:33:29] Dylan Rich: Good evening city council. Um I'm Dylan Rich, I'm a director at Palo Alto Prep School in Mountain View. Um uh we're a small non-profit uh that works with students on the spectrum, students with anxiety, students with ADHD. Um I've come several times before but I want to continue um to make you guys aware of the uh sight lines right now students have to when they end come to school and leave school uh they have to walk quite a good distance into the street before um they can see oncoming traffic.

[00:33:58] Dylan Rich: It has caused uh many near misses uh with students in traffic. Um please uh please try and take some kind of action. I I don't want there to be an accident uh with our students. Uh thank you.

[00:34:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Tim McKenzie.

[00:34:17] Tim McKenzie: Greetings council, uh Tim McKenzie. I use he/him pronouns. I have been a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood for over a decade at this point. Um I I'm not free on Tuesdays most days but I'm here for another item later on so I wanted to use the opportunity to bring a comment forward. Um I know that we're undergoing a city charter review and my understanding of the plan is that there's a uh kind of a clean up, inoffensive, just sort of a clean up language, make it smoother, streamlined uh for the next cycle and then after that there will be a more substantive more substantial charter review that may perhaps be more controversial, may or may not pass.

[00:34:58] Tim McKenzie: Um I know that staff time is at a premium. I know that staff really works hard and does thorough reporting on everything uh and researching on everything. So I ask that even while we're doing that sort of cleanup uh less large charter review that we consider the other items and start doing the research on them now. And specifically I'd like to ask that the city adopt ranked choice voting as the method that we use for our elections. Uh we get proportional representation, it's a way of extending and expanding democracy in a time when we are seeing it under attack.

[00:35:31] Tim McKenzie: Um so I I don't expect that to be coming up on the upcoming charter review that's more minor, but I know that the research may be substantive and I would like to ask that that be included. Thank you.

[00:35:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh next we have Karen Burkey. And this is for items not on the agenda.

[00:35:51] Public Speaker: Yes, I came for the other one but this is a new one. So um thank you council. I actually wanted to bring this up. There was a a survey that was sent out about how to improve Rengstorff Avenue for like safety considerations. And I filled it out, and it wasn't specifically addressed in one of the questions but I put it in the other category, and I would really like it to be considered.

[00:36:11] Public Speaker: I have to cross with my two young children to Monta Loma Elementary right at the uh flashing yellow light signal that is just past Middlefield, that is along Rock Street, okay? And the speed limit is 35 miles an hour and no one goes 35 miles an hour. There is a uh contracted crossing guard who is there to help people cross safely and police have advised him to make sure that we cross on the same side he's on, etcetera etcetera.

[00:36:38] Public Speaker: People constantly ignore him. People constantly drive right past him, almost hit us, almost hit him, go around us because they don't want to wait. And I would like staff and council to consider with those improvements to Rengstorff Avenue that that section be lowered to 25 miles an hour and that light that light be considered to go to a red light. All must stop because right now it's only worded as cars may not stop, cross with caution.

[00:37:05] Public Speaker: Well, the caution is not helping because cars are literally almost hitting us. We've had five or more near misses and he tries to keep track of the license plates but it's not working. So that's my recommendation is 25 miles an hour with all red light stop. Thank you.

[00:37:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Perfect timing. Um now we will take virtual speakers. I see none. Um and therefore we are now onto item 6, new business. 6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract. Chinese and Spanish translation services are available for this item. We will now hear from our Chinese interpreter.

6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract

[00:37:50] Chinese Interpreter: 大家晚上好。对于需要现场口译的观众，我们提供耳机。今晚我们将提供现场和虚拟的口译。对于需要Zoom口译的观众，请点击口译按钮，选择您想要的语言。我们也在现场和虚拟公众评论期间提供口译服务。对于需要连续口译的发言者，请以三句话发言之后暂停一下，让我们为您翻译您的想法。谢谢。Thank you.

[00:38:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. We will now hear from our Spanish interpreter.

[00:38:26] Spanish Interpreter: Para las personas que necesitan interpretación en persona, tenemos auriculares disponibles. Hoy ofreceremos interpretación en persona y de manera virtual. Para aquellos que necesitan interpretación mediante Zoom, favor de hacer clic en el botón de interpretación y después elija el idioma de su preferencia. También estaremos ofreciendo interpretación durante los comentarios públicos en persona y virtuales. Las personas que necesiten interpretación consecutiva, por favor hablen en bloques de tres oraciones, luego tomen una pausa para nosotros interpretar, y así consecutivamente poder interpretar todas sus ideas. Gracias. Thank you.

[00:39:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Now Police Chief Michael Canfield and Lieutenant Evan Croll will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk now. Alright, go ahead.

[00:39:23] Police Chief Michael Canfield: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I am Mike Canfield, Mountain View's Police Chief. With me is Captain Evan Croll, and this is item 6.1, our automated license plate reader presentation. Uh this evening I'll be presenting on an overview uh of our previous ALPR program, staff's recommendation, uh the previous city council direction, as well as our system's design and implementation, the Mountain View Police Department's use of our ALPR system, as well as our auditing and access uh access revelations of the system, our next steps uh and our lessons learned.

[00:40:00] Police Chief Michael Canfield: For background, the proposed system that we built uh was designed very purposefully to have access limitations surrounding privacy uh but also balance for, oh thank you Evan. I appreciate that. Uh but also balanced for uh public safety. So it had rear images only of license plates. It it kept those logs for only 30 days and had no facial recognition capabilities. There were strict external access controls built into this proposed system that required authorized uh signature approval for external access.

[00:40:40] Police Chief Michael Canfield: There was auditing abilities of this system, as well as a public transparency dash uh dashboard that everyone in the public could see that would list all of our agencies that we had granted access to. Additionally, we built a policy based on the system's configurations and the manner in which the system was purported to function. That meant no out of state sharing of information, no sharing of information with federal law enforcement, absolutely no use of the data for immigration enforcement, uh that training was required in our policy uh before any use could be used and all use of the system had to be for law enforcement purposes, and there was absolutely no data sales allowed.

[00:41:33] Police Chief Michael Canfield: At the May 28th, 2024 city council meeting, staff presented our proposed uh plan, that proposed plan that I just described. Like at that meeting, like at the Public Safety Advisory Board meeting before, and that meeting, Flock uh Flock Safety staff was present, the staff that we had built worked with and built that system. At that meeting, City Council authorized the city manager to enter into a one-year agreement with Flock Safety, and authorized the city manager to make modifications to the Flock Safety program including the number of cameras and the locations of the cameras.

[00:42:12] Police Chief Michael Canfield: The uh City Council authorized the police chief and city manager to adopt our Policy 460 on ALPR systems, and directed staff to return to City Council a year after the pilot for approval for renewal. Additionally, uh City Council directed staff to present our auditing information in our then twice yearly reporting to PSAB and to send that to City Council.

[00:42:37] Police Chief Michael Canfield: Before our first camera was installed, Flock's team worked very closely with our staff on the onboarding process, very specifically in how they would uh or how we would authorize access for outside allied agencies within the state of California. So agencies that uh I would approve or my designee would approve to have access, showing us uh how the portal would notify us, the manner in which they would sign a letter nota uh accepting the use of our policy, uh and then we would receive an email and then we would manually approve that that approval.

[00:43:13] Police Chief Michael Canfield: Which meant that everyone uh to the best of our understanding that would be utilizing this system would have to go through that that process uh and that we had close controls over who had access to our data. And Captain Croll will talk a little bit about how we used our data.

[00:43:29] Captain Evan Croll: Thank you Chief. Good evening council. After council approval there were significant delays in the installation process uh which were due to a number of factors, uh but those delays ultimately pushed back our project timeline. Uh in 2025 our cameras had hundreds of uh important alerts which are include 794 alerts for custom hotlists, which are created for vehicles involved in investigations, 233 alerts for stolen vehicles entering into Mountain View, and 51 felony vehicles, meaning vehicles that were known to be associated to a felony crime and then entered in a statewide database.

[00:44:04] Captain Evan Croll: Our use of Flock Safety generated real actionable leads in at least 87 commercial burglaries, 65 vehicle break-ins, 42 home break-ins, and resulted in at least 41 suspects being identified and or arrested. In addition our staff conducted almost 25,000 searches uh with the Flock system between August of 2024 and December of 2025. This information is highlighted by several significant cases that were outlined in our staff report, uh including the arrest of a domestic violence and carjacking suspect,

[00:44:39] Captain Evan Croll: uh rescuing a kidnapping victim, locating a missing family including an at-risk missing adult, along with identifying and arrest arresting the primary suspects of a mail theft ring involving over 500 victims in Mountain View and several other surrounding counties.

[00:44:56] Captain Evan Croll: Throughout the pilot program, administrators audited our Flock system. Uh our Flock system use believing that the system was functioning as we had collaboratively designed. In addition, random selections of external data were reviewed along with regular audits of our Mountain View PD internal use. The data sets were extremely large, uh but we did not notice any use outside of policy during these audits. Our internal use consistently showed throughout the entire process the professionalism and adherence to our policy.

[00:45:31] Police Chief Michael Canfield: Initially uh staff and I monitored news stories about access to Flock data systems outside of agencies' policies. However, as we were monitoring those stories, we didn't see anything that alerted us to any outside of policy use or concerning access. However, as our program pro progressed and as we began to audit more, we looked deeper and deeper back and we did determine, unfortunately, that there was access from outside of the state of California uh early in the program in August of 24 through November of 2024.

[00:46:07] Police Chief Michael Canfield: This was uh a huge surprise and a shock to us. Um this was contrary to our understanding, contrary to what we had been told, and the communications that we had with Flock Safety. Uh and we were shocked to learn of this this data access. Um we had been we received assurances about the manner in which the system was set up and the manner in which it functioned, and this fell short of that. It's our understanding that this access was enabled or allowed through a a system or a tool called National Lookup.

[00:46:42] Police Chief Michael Canfield: And uh National Lookup, uh as we have learned from speaking with numerous other law enforcement agencies uh as well as the city manager speaking with her peers, uh that National Lookup uh was a large scale problem both in California and likely larger abroad, that allowed folks to access data outside of their awareness and outside of their policies. To be very clear, uh we did not know this was going on. We had not set it up. Uh and we were surprised to learn of it. When we pressed Flock about how it could have happened, they told us that they no longer had records for how the system was turned on or how it was turned off.

[00:47:26] Police Chief Michael Canfield: However, it was turned off for us in November of 2024. Flock Safety turned it off for the whole state of California to the in early 2025. However, they never notified us that this had happened, they never notified us that it had been on, nor that they had turned it off. Which was very concerning.

[00:47:50] Police Chief Michael Canfield: For context just so you're aware, and I know it's in the staff report, but at that time we only had one camera in place. It was at uh San Antonio and Charleston. And that was from November uh sorry August of 2024 to November of 2024. As we looked back and continued to research, we located another system's function called Statewide Lookup, which worked very similar to National Lookup but within the state of California.

[00:48:14] Police Chief Michael Canfield: That system also uh created access outside of our policies and outside of our understandings. Essentially other state or other cities or municipalities within the state of California could look at our data if they also had that function enabled. This was counter to the assurances that we had been provided by Flock Safety and counter to how we had built the program. In conversations with other law enforcement leaders and other city managers in the region, it is very clear that this is not a Mountain View problem, that this is a Flock Safety problem and affected many other folks as well.

[00:49:00] Police Chief Michael Canfield: Based on the system not working how we had designed, uh not working with the assurances that we had been given, I made the decision to deactivate the cameras immediately, to allow staff time to come to City Council and to allow you to make the policy decision about what to do with these cameras. Additionally, we met with local media and shared information with our community groups, letting everybody know what we had discovered.

[00:49:28] Police Chief Michael Canfield: I want to be very clear: Mountain View Police Department has nothing to hide. When we discover this information, it was very clear that we were going to be transparent and share what we had learned. Both with the media, our community, and with our law enforcement partners. We also reached out to Flock Safety and their leadership team to express both my anger and frustration, but also to inform them of the things that we had discovered to help better improve this system so it did not continue.

[00:50:04] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: There are a lot of lessons learned uh in this pilot program. Uh certainly that separating the staff that do the auditing from the staff that do the onboarding and the program implementation is important.

[00:50:17] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh that the firsthand confirmation of system settings, uh even if we're not aware of the settings, is essential. As is a regular check-in with the program managers from the vendor, in case uh a vendor chooses kind of mid-program to change settings without notification.

[00:50:39] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh additionally, data is significantly easier to audit when it is smaller. Uh and that a program like this should really scale with the auditability of the data.

[00:50:50] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: And lastly, that audits should be purposefully designed to find violations of policy, uh in their construct.

[00:51:04] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: For our next steps, uh staff will begin to implement whatever it is that City Council directs us to do. Uh we'll also continue to evaluate the effectiveness and vulnerability uh and and value of new technologies as it relates to public safety, privacy protections, and data protections, uh and harm reduction in our community.

[00:51:27] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: I will be creating a community feedback group or a community feedback partner group to better inform those conversations. To engage in dialogue with me and the department about community harm protection, crime prevention, data concerns related to new technologies, and public safety.

[00:51:45] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Additionally, the police department and I will be presenting to our HRC annually on significant issues uh such as these. And of course, we'll continue to collaborate with our partnering agencies and neighboring law enforcement agencies to provide essential uh protection and community safety needs, as well as to collaborate about data sharing and privacy.

[00:52:10] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: With that, Council, uh brings us to the recommendation, which is to authorize the City Manager or designee to terminate the existing automated license plate reader contract with Flock Safety. And Madam Mayor, I'll turn it back to you.

[00:52:25] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Chief Canfield. Um, we will now, uh... Does any member of the council have questions? We will do council questions, then we'll do public comment. Any questions? I'm... Oh, it's not. Oh. Okay, we'll start with Councilmember Ramirez, then.

[00:52:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I have three uh questions that you um partially addressed, but just to uh allow you the the opportunity to to provide some additional uh commentary.

[00:52:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh can you uh share again uh how the nationwide lookup and statewide lookup uh could have been activated without uh the knowledge or consent of uh MVPD?

[00:53:07] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: That's a really great question, uh one we would like to know. Uh I know this: we are one of many agencies that had both of those activated outside of our knowledge.

[00:53:16] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: To the best of my understanding, I I believe there's a new news story uh about the City of Denver having the exact same problem, uh that just came out today. Now I can't speak for the validity of it, but I believe the news story just came out today.

[00:53:29] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh I'm confident that this is much larger than a regional problem, much larger than a California problem, but it is a big problem with the access. We did not allow it, we weren't aware of it, we didn't uh accept it. It came in the system without our knowledge.

[00:53:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Thank you. Um, in your uh communication with Flock, what have uh Flock representatives told you?

[00:53:57] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Candidly, uh Flock representatives in private conversations have been pretty blunt about their failures. Uh they've admitted that they failed, especially related to the implementation of this program for us and for other vendors.

[00:54:11] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: And I agree. I think they have absolutely failed to to perform in the manner in which they assured us that they would.

[00:54:20] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, I I appreciate that. And final question. Um many of us, many of us wear multiple hats and uh hear from other jurisdictions, uh staff and uh council members.

[00:54:31] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh and uh you you acknowledge that it it's almost certainly it is not unique to Mountain View. Uh I'm curious about what you've heard about other jurisdictions, including uh ones that have been referenced in the media like Woodside.

[00:54:45] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So I I don't know much about Woodside's uh program, in fact I don't know anything about Woodside's program, their ALPR program. Uh but what I do know is what I saw on the news. What I read in the news, and what I watched in their Town Council meeting was a completely inaccurate statement about our program from a Flock Safety representative,

[00:55:07] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: who either didn't know anything about our program or completely uh provided false information. The program that we created had a policy in place, was implemented uh in close partnership with Flock Safety, and failed to perform in the manner in which they told us, and they assured us that it would.

[00:55:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Chief, and thank you Mayor. Those are my questions.

[00:55:32] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Councilmember Hicks.

[00:55:37] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I have just one question. But I just want to tell members of the public first that if, in case you haven't been to Council meetings before and and don't know the nature of this and wonder why we're asking so few questions,

[00:55:51] Councilmember Alison Hicks: um we we do have the opportunity to ask written questions before we come to this meeting. And so this Council has already asked 26-- asked and had answered 26 questions. So these are the remaining, you know, half a dozen questions that we still have. And the the questions that we've asked previously and the answers are available to you online.

[00:56:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um so my my remaining question is um, you talked a little about community feedback going forward. Can you say a little more about how you envision that happening?

[00:56:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: You mentioned both our uh HRC and also uh other community feedback, and I'd like details on both.

[00:56:38] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Absolutely. I we have spoken in the past and been present at HRC meetings and I I see a lot of value to that. And I believe that it would be uh important for us to continue to engage and I think at at least on an annual basis, if not more regularly,

[00:56:53] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: uh to present on issues like this, uh or other updates like our annual police department report to the HRC.

[00:57:01] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: In relation to emerging technologies and public safety, and the complexities uh and communities feedback as it relates to privacy and data control, um that is something that I think is a very in-depth conversation that needs to be had uh without the same confines and constraints.

[00:57:21] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So department you know meeting at the department, having deep conversations about systems access, about configurations with subject matter experts within our community. As well as community stakeholders who just have very strong opinions uh about both public safety and the balance of data control.

[00:57:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And then do you see formalizing those in any way? I I've heard that the HRC had more interactions uh with the MVPD in the past, I may be wrong. Um so do you see formalizing those in any way? And then of course just to let the members of the public know that that would be on the agenda, members of the public could attend those meetings, I assume.

[00:58:05] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Absolutely. So the HRC meetings would be agendized and and uh would be structural uh and public.

[00:58:14] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: The what I'm recommending for a community feedback partners group is much like my Latino Community Advisory Committee or my Faith Leaders Advisory Council. So groups that I meet with regularly that can provide feedback uh both both scheduled but also ad hoc uh and direct conversations about really in-depth complex issues.

[00:58:35] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Those are not um Council appointed boards but those are boards that that I meet with and that have direct access to me and the information within the police department.

[00:58:45] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay so let me see if I understand. You're you're thinking of kind of doing this through two groups, one which is publicly noticed and the other which is a a group, how is that other group assembled?

[00:58:57] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: It it is assembled much like the Latino Community Advisory Committee and that Faith Leaders group, from within our community of people that are interested in the issue, uh have uh a passion to be engaged and provide feedback.

[00:59:09] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: And in this case I would think it they would have either subject matter expertise in technology or strong concerns about privacy uh and public safety.

[00:59:20] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. That answers my question. Thank you.

[00:59:25] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, Councilmember Showalter.

[00:59:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, um, uh thank you for getting all this information to us. I know that this has not been a happy subject for you. Um I uh I I have a couple questions. One is, we ask it in the council questions but I'd just really like to uh have you answer it a little bit um in the public, because I think it's it's uh it's just the kind of thing everybody would would want to wonder, would wonder about.

[01:00:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And that is, um, how would some of these crimes have been solved if we didn't have Flock cameras? I mean you've been solving crimes forever, right? And so...

[01:00:13] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: I personally have not, but the Mountain View Police Department has since 1902.

[01:00:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I stand corrected, thank you very much. Anyway, but, but you have a track record, your your organization has a good track record of solving crimes. And that that was true before we had Flock. So I'd like to understand a little bit about kind of what's the delta that you get with Flock? Time? Um, uh, you're able to do some things you wouldn't have before? You know that sort of thing. And maybe if you could explain it with a specific example, that would be helpful.

[01:00:46] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Certainly. So I I will say that the Flock Safety or... quite frankly it's not a proprietary technology... ALPR systems, so license plate reader systems, do provide an ability to uh look in an area like a large scale space uh and look for suspicious vehicles or vehicles associated to something that's of significance to our community, whether it's a missing person uh or a crime afoot.

[01:01:13] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Um in a way that a human being just would be very pressed to do. If they had to scour, maybe ask neighbors for for their cameras, uh or to stand on every block and look at every license plate going by.

[01:01:26] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So they provide a lot of eyes and a lot of information about who's coming in and who's leaving an area. And in some ways they provide information that would not otherwise be able to be garnered uh and provide leads for investigations, uh or even like essentially the the direct suspects uh in cases or missing persons.

[01:01:46] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh in a way that nothing else can really provide easily. Maybe an officer who happens to be lucky in the right place. In other ways, they help support kind of traditional law enforcement investigations.

[01:01:58] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: They point an officer in the right direction, and then that officer then has to maybe go and follow up on a a vehicle without a license plate, but it it matches a certain type.

[01:02:08] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: And they may uh canvas a neighborhood, see a suspicious vehicle that then aligns with what was seen on an ALPR system, and kind of pick it up from there. Interviewing the person, looking to see if they're on probation or parole, or kind of any number of maybe not quite infinite, but but any, you know, significantly number of different avenues that that one would go down.

[01:02:28] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh there are also uh technological systems and things that we do to investigate crimes including uh digital cyber forensics, that's an a very important field. Um but I would say that that this is a very significant technology that both improves efficiencies and does uh does redirect officers or direct officers to suspects of crimes and victims of crimes in a really important and meaningful way.

[01:02:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. So say my house is burgled. And um uh you you didn't have the license plate readers. But you you still had the emergency or the the um the list of uh the hot list. Where do those hot lists come from?

[01:03:13] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So a hot list in this case is basically a a license plate or a vehicle description that we we think is associated either to a crime or to somebody that we're looking for. We would enter that into uh in this case into the Flock system or into somebody else's system. And then when the car comes by, uh whether it's our camera or someone else's, it would notify them.

[01:03:34] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So in that example, uh it would not... we would not have a lead from a hot list. We would need an ALPR system or perhaps somebody's surveillance camera or a neighbor who would have seen a car to provide that information.

[01:03:48] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: You could think of this as kind of a neighbor on watch who's constantly at a kind of a a significant intersection in a neighborhood, always looking for the license plate, for the car from your break-in. But let's say a a break-in happened at someone's house... I I don't want to say it's yours, your house. Let's say that someone's house...

[01:04:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Fortunately I haven't had one.

[01:04:07] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: We we would traditionally we would both look at neighbors' uh security cameras, speak to neighbors about what they saw, but also look for cameras for vehicles coming and going. And we might then try to match up a surveillance camera at a neighbor's house uh with an ALPR uh image capture of a vehicle then to try to pair those together. It may be the plate, it may also just be the vehicle description. Uh but that would be one way in which we would initiate an investigation. And then from that vehicle it provides us with a series of other leads. It may be the person's vehicle, it may be borrowed, could be rented, any number of things.

[01:04:48] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Um...

[01:04:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So then going on to the uh another one which I thought is easy to understand is the one about the missing person that you put in it. That obviously, you put that, you know, the family was concerned, they knew what their the license plate was, it didn't have to come from a reader in that case necessarily, but they knew the license plate. So you could put that in the system and query other people for it. And um couldn't you do that with a kind of an old-fashioned APB or something like that as well?

[01:05:25] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Absolutely. Um Councilmember Showalter. We can enter a vehicle into a system uh absent an ALPR system. Uh so we could enter it into a state database. A CLETS database, but there's a a million law enforcement acronyms, but we could enter a missing person or a felony vehicle or a stolen vehicle, those are entered into a state database.

[01:05:48] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: In this case um what happens is a a license plate reader camera, an ALPR camera is tracking, is running running those uh license plates through that database. Um you don't need that that camera to to find those people, you might need a keen observer, an officer kind of getting lucky or or with a good sixth sense who sees a vehicle and decides to run that plate.

[01:06:11] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: But you would need somebody manually to enter in that license plate. And if you've driven down El Camino at 2:00 PM it's pretty hard to to manually enter in all those license plates. So it is much harder, but it is certainly not the only way in which to to find someone.

[01:06:26] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Okay, thank you. I just I just think we need to you know we need to think about these things as we're talking about what ok.

[01:06:32] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Then the other question I have, which kind of goes back a little bit to um what Councilmember Hicks said, and that is how would the community feedback partners differ from PSAB um or working with the HRC? And I think you answered that a little bit before. You answered how it would differ from um how you would work... But how would it differ from PSAB?

[01:06:53] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Well I I think for one uh the selection of those folks um... when we're when we're working uh in our other advisory bodies so our Faith Leaders Advisory Council, that Latino Community Advisory Committee, um it's a a group that's nimble that we can meet regularly. I can schedule a very quick meeting or often meetings need to be canceled and rescheduled.

[01:07:18] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: It it doesn't have to have a a work plan. Uh it is able to be adapted to what is going on. So you can imagine uh my Latino Community Advisory Committee has had to shift kind of topics and issues of interest very quickly as issues related to that community have changed very quickly.

[01:07:36] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So it doesn't it's not um it it's not tethered to a work plan in the same way, and it is much more adaptable uh in a good way uh to the to the needs of what's going on. And if we're looking at emerging technologies, um I think that that is really something that specifically aligns well with the ability and the importance of remaining very nimble as we review.

[01:08:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Thank you.

[01:08:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. I have one follow-up question from our our docket of questions. Uh question 12 in our docket. I ad- um someone asked, it may not have been me, 'What exact data was shared nationwide and with nationwide and statewide agencies? What are the names of the agencies that gained access to our data? What were the reasons behind the searches?'

[01:08:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And then the answer was, 'From August to November 2024, nationwide lookup appears to have been enabled on the Flock safety system. A review of the federal law enforcement access indicated the following agencies included MVPD in their searches: However, there's no ability to determine whether any Mountain View ALPR data was actually accessed.'

[01:08:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So it was ATF offices in Kentucky, Nashville, Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, the US GSA office of Inspector General, Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada, and an Ohio Air Force Base.

[01:08:56] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Was there any indication as to what they were searching for and why they were searching MVPD data?

[01:09:01] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh I don't remember the the search terms or reasons. Uh Captain Croll, do you recall?

[01:09:09] Captain Croll: I do not.

[01:09:10] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: So I I there was nothing that stood out in our initial review. We didn't see anything that was, you know, immediately alarming, uh but it I couldn't say without taking a deeper look as to to what their reasons were.

[01:09:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: What were the usual reasons for people to search our data?

[01:09:26] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Uh well crime investigations, uh burglaries, uh sometimes it's a case number. Um the same reason that in general I would say the same reason that we search our data is the same reason, and the same reason we search other law enforcement agencies' data, is is the same reason that agencies are searching ours.

[01:09:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. All right, uh Councilmember McAlister.

[01:09:50] Councilmember John McAlister: Thanks. So let's take current events, sort of tying on what Pat said. Savannah Guthrie. That that incident's going on right now. There they don't have, do they have the cameras' uh accessibility to do what it's doing? Because I see a lot of quote old-fashioned methods of tracking, talking, knocking, and so forth. So would this this new technology be helpful in this particular incident?

[01:10:17] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Yeah to the best of my knowledge um I don't know any specifics about that case but um it looks like there are they are knocking on doors and looking for everything. This technology uh would absolutely be key in a case like that.

[01:10:32] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: I can tell you we utilized ALPR technology specifically uh for a kidnapping victim, a domestic violence kidnapping victim to help locate her. Um this short answer is yes. Uh and the longer answer is kind of the the process that that Councilmember Showalter was talking about, but absolutely this is essential technology for for a case that's that significant and important uh and difficult to investigate.

[01:11:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Is the term uh oh what is it uh... I'm looking for... um... time is of the essence? That technology would help get them to that point quicker when you're doing kidnapping or a child's lost or something along those lines?

[01:11:17] Police Chief Shawn Canfield: Absolutely and and that's why Captain Croll highlighted uh in his uh slides and also it's in in uh kind of greater detail inside the staff report, uh some cases that time really was of the essence. Some some very serious uh domestic violence suspects as well as uh a kidnapping suspect that we were very worried about.

[01:11:40] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Thank you.

[01:11:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. We will now move on to public comments. Um... would any member on the line um would any member of the public on the line like to provide public comment on this item? Please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star nine on your phone. A timer will be displayed on the screen. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes.

[01:12:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um we will take in-person public comments first. Um I'm going to name like the first five names so I'm hoping that you guys will line up so we'll get quicker. Um so we'll have Melissa Livanous starting first, followed by Karen Burkey, followed by Brandon King, followed by Kimberly Wu. If you guys could all make your way to line up for that and we'll start with Melissa.

[01:12:33] Melissa Livanous: Hi. My name is Melissa Livanous and I'm a resident of Santa Clara County. I've never spoken at a City meeting before or attended one, but I was moved to do so today because of the importance of this moment and how critical it is that we safeguard our data and our communities.

[01:12:47] Melissa Livanous: We urge the City of Mountain View to support the staff report to permanently end their contracts with Flock, as Los Altos Hills and Santa Cruz have already done.

[01:12:54] Melissa Livanous: We applaud the City Police, the City Police Chief for immediately turning off the cameras after learning how Flock shared our personal data with out-of-state agencies. However, we reject the report's proposal to engage in community discussion about the positive outcomes or explorations of future use of ALPR,

[01:13:10] Melissa Livanous: because mass surveillance doesn't keep our public safe, but rather endangers the lives of our most vulnerable residents.

[01:13:16] Melissa Livanous: Motivated by the Chief's promise in holding Flock accountable, we further call for reimbursement for the associated Flock fees and for a city class action lawsuit against Flock who breached our contract and shared our data, violating our trust.

[01:13:28] Melissa Livanous: We must refuse all ALPR contracts because we must not replace Flock with another harmful weapon of mass surveillance. We need to do our part to protect the vulnerable in our communities.

[01:13:39] Melissa Livanous: We've seen how flock surveillance from, we've seen how mass surveillance from services like Flock have been weaponized already. It's already happening. It's been used to racially profile people of color, to sue people seeking reproductive healthcare or gender affirming care, to endanger our neighbors by sharing their data with ICE.

[01:13:55] Melissa Livanous: We need to protect our bodily autonomy and our neighbors and our own rights to protest and to have protected speech, and to a reasonable expectation of privacy without mass warrant, warrantless tracking. Thank you.

[01:14:06] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next is Karen Burkey, followed by Brandon King, followed by Kimberly Wu, followed by Austin Marshall.

[01:14:15] Karen Burkey: Hello Council. So um I just want to commend the police department that on February 2nd I believe it was, they turned off the cameras and that's my birthday so thank you for the wonderful birthday present.

[01:14:25] Karen Burkey: Um I would like you to make sure that they get completely canceled and I don't want any new technology of any ALPR continued in any way shape or form.

[01:14:34] Karen Burkey: Um as they just demonstrated in their own data, they did have 41 arrests and a couple people were found, which is great, um but that was out of more than 25,000 somethings scans. Um so this is not that big of a city okay so obviously that's makes sense because we're not that big of a city.

[01:14:50] Karen Burkey: But then in the City of San Jose, they have just gotten sued as well as the City of Oakland um because all these are done without a warrant. Okay? It doesn't matter how long you...

[01:15:00] Public Speaker: or it doesn't matter who's using it, who has access, it's done without a warrant. And in City of San Jose, they specifically only had .2% of their millions of scans in the year of 2024 actually match the hotlist of actual like suspected crime or associated vehicles with that.

[01:15:18] Public Speaker: So that's 99.8% of the rest of the scans are just random people living their lives. This is mass surveillance. It is not making anyone safer. The contract needs to be completely canceled and it needs to not be replaced by anything else.

[01:15:31] Public Speaker: Because I'm sorry, that's not enough data to support continuing this mass surveillance and a massive invasion of our privacy. Thank you.

[01:15:40] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Brandon King, followed by Kimberly Wu, followed by Austin Marshall, followed by Brian Jones.

[01:15:47] Brandon King: Hi, I'm Brandon and I'm a Mountain View resident. I'd like to urge the City of Mountain View to support the staff report to permanently end their contracts with Flock, and refuse any future proposals for other ALPR systems.

[01:15:58] Brandon King: We applaud our city's Police Chief for immediately turning off the Flock cameras after learning how Flock shared our personal data with out-of-state agencies. However, I reject the report's proposal to engage in community discussions about the positive outcomes of ALPR and the exploration of any future use of ALPR,

[01:16:14] Brandon King: because mass surveillance does not keep our public safe, but rather endangers the lives of our most vulnerable residents. ALPR systems have shown themselves to have systemic flaws, nationwide, ranging from technical mishaps that have resulted in things like guns-out traffic stops for misidentified persons,

[01:16:31] Brandon King: including in San Francisco, spying on peaceful protesters, illegally sharing data with federal officers, and many, many more. Mass warrant-less dragnet location tracking surveillance of all persons in a community, regardless of their criminality, is not public safety,

[01:16:46] Brandon King: and we cannot sacrifice our constitutional rights to privacy for the dangerous illusion of security. Not only should we terminate our Flock contract, we must refuse all ALPR contracts, and we must not replace Flock with another harmful weapon of mass surveillance. Thank you for your time.

[01:17:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next up we have Kimberly Wu, followed by Austin Marshall, followed by Brian Jones, followed by Jenny Schroeder.

[01:17:12] Kimberly Wu: Good evening council members. My name is Kimberly Wu, and I serve as a community organizer for Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network, otherwise known as SIREN. And I cede my time to Tim McKenzie.

[01:17:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: There's multiple people... Oh, man. Okay. All right. So, when Tim gets up, I'm going to have people who have ceded their time to just raise their hands.

[01:17:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: You don't have to come up, but you did have to put in a speaker thing. Um, so, uh, if you are in the docket to speak and have it ceded to Tim, um, just let us know very quickly, and then we'll move on from there until Tim has his...

[01:17:52] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Actually, should we just have Tim speak now? I think it would be better to get an idea of how many people are going to cede their time, and then we can calculate how much time Tim can speak.

[01:18:11] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

[01:18:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. And all of you turned in a blue card, correct?

[01:18:22] Public Speaker: Yes.

[01:18:23] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor, the agenda provides for up to 10 minutes.

[01:18:25] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. So we will... once, uh... if you guys can go to the City Clerk to confirm your card. I'm going to have Tim come up and do his 10 minutes now.

[01:18:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Do you have slides, Tim?

[01:18:38] Tim McKenzie: I do not have slides.

[01:18:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Oh, thank goodness.

[01:18:40] Tim McKenzie: Thank you. Uh, I am Tim McKenzie again, still. Uh... Sorry.

[01:18:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Let's let's let you confirm there first.

[01:18:51] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor, do we want to call for a quick recess?

[01:18:53] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yeah, let's do a 5-minute break while we get that settled. Uh, so we will...

[01:19:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, let's have everyone get back to their seats so we can get the meeting back into order. Um, I'm calling the meeting back to order at 19:55.

[01:19:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, and we can get started with our... we're... apparently we're getting two 10-minute speakers. Um, thank you for consolidating many of your times. Um, so we will now lead it up to Tim McKenzie.

[01:19:26] Tim McKenzie: Greetings, council. Uh, Tim McKenzie, still. He/him pronouns. On the steering committee of Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America. I'd like to thank my community partners for ceding time so that we can, uh, go through this larger letter that we that we've put together, uh, for you.

[01:19:42] Tim McKenzie: Um, we are urging you as council to one, support the staff's memo to terminate the city's contract with Flock Safety and seek reimbursement for the $154,650 for the associated fees from the Flock agreement.

[01:19:55] Tim McKenzie: Two, refuse all ALPR contracts, because we must not replace Flock with another harmful weapon of mass surveillance. And three, sue Flock Safety Company in a class action lawsuit for breach of contract, California SB 54 violations, and data sharing, violating our residents' trust in our government.

[01:20:14] Tim McKenzie: Our presentation is supported by our submitted written public comment, which was endorsed by 17 community organizations and updated based on the staff's response to questions.

[01:20:23] Tim McKenzie: These Flock cameras are the equivalent of placing a GPS tracker on every resident in our city. In a time when our neighbors are wrongfully criminalized and detained regardless of immigration status,

[01:20:33] Tim McKenzie: when our Black and brown loved ones are pulled over for the way they look, and when the federal government assaults any peaceful protester exercising their First Amendment right to free speech,

[01:20:42] Tim McKenzie: we must refuse an AI mass surveillance system that will threaten our human lives and mental well-being.

[01:20:48] Tim McKenzie: Mass surveillance does not keep our public safe, but rather endangers all our residents and visitors to the City of Mountain View. We generally approve of the council's public notice... uh, council report's public notice about the Flock ALPR violations,

[01:21:01] Tim McKenzie: but we strongly oppose any ALPR vendor replacement for Flock, and further urge the Mountain View City Council to sue Flock for their breach of contract in violating and sharing our residents' and visitors' personal data.

[01:21:14] Tim McKenzie: The council report explains the thorough process in securing Flock Company as the city's ALPR vendor and attempts to recommend a different vendor. However, we express the following concerns against such detrimental action,

[01:21:26] Tim McKenzie: as no guardrails can prohibit any ALPR vendor from violating our fundamental constitutional rights to privacy. Sections like Initial Exploration of ALPR Technology, Community Engagement, and City Council Review and Direction

[01:21:38] Tim McKenzie: presume there is a policy that will ensure a safe ALPR vendor system. However, no perfect policy will protect us from the harms of AI mass surveillance.

[01:21:48] Tim McKenzie: Flock does not just read license plates, but it can also extend to identify and categorize people based on height, weight, race, gender, articles of clothing, bicycles, or animals.

[01:22:00] Tim McKenzie: It would be nearly impossible to find a vendor that only captures still images, especially when Flock's AI-powered cameras use the Condor model to track, pan, zoom, and tilt on people's movements.

[01:22:11] Tim McKenzie: Auditing our personal Flock data regarding ICE cooperation could produce a false negative. According to pages 4 and 10 of the Department of Homeland Security's Data Retention Policies,

[01:22:22] Tim McKenzie: DHS requires vendors to not leave a trail of ICE in audit logs on any ALPR except their own. We may not see any query results about ICE or if ICE accessed our data because ICE systematically does not leave any evidence of wrongdoing.

[01:22:37] Tim McKenzie: The reason why we see searches related to immigration enforcement or ICE is due to side-door access, but given the given current political climate, we can only surmise that ICE is accessing our data to weaponize against our communities.

[01:22:51] Tim McKenzie: Side-door access is when local police departments conduct searches on behalf of ICE or CBP. Our local police data is shared with other police departments who may use this side door to expose our personal data to ICE.

[01:23:03] Tim McKenzie: Also, Mountain View Police Department participates in the Fusion Center of Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, we're on their transparency page, which gathers and shares data, including ALPRs from other Northern California agencies to national, state, and local intelligence networks.

[01:23:19] Tim McKenzie: The specific training requirements for who can access our data are still not public information. How can the public and the City Council hold the ALPR vendor system and our staff accountable when the community is excluded in the creation and review of the policies?

[01:23:33] Tim McKenzie: How can we hold them accountable if investigations of policy violation is handled as a personnel matter through MVPD's Professional Standards Unit?

[01:23:41] Tim McKenzie: We must redefine public safety in our constitutional right to privacy. Mass surveillance does not keep our public safe. When it violates the constitutional rights of every resident and visitor to our city for this dangerous illusion of security,

[01:23:58] Tim McKenzie: when our private data is weaponized to separate our immigrant families, control the bodies of those seeking reproductive services, target individuals exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech, and surveil our Muslim neighbors outside of mosques,

[01:24:12] Tim McKenzie: AI mass surveillance is a dangerous threat to public safety, and no perfect vendor will protect us from the systemic, fundamental harms of AI-powered cameras.

[01:24:22] Tim McKenzie: The section on Vetting of Flock Safety and MVPD Operational Data Sharing Procedures emphasize how the City Council, city staff, and the Police Department proactively collaborated to prioritize residents' safety when selecting a vendor.

[01:24:35] Tim McKenzie: Our issue is not with the city's meaningful work to protect us, but our issue is with Flock and with all ALPR vendors. The technology itself is the problem.

[01:24:45] Tim McKenzie: We cannot trust Flock to act in good faith, especially when they conveniently omitted their statewide and nationwide look-up tool from our police department. Flock's lie by omission thoroughly disrespects the extensive work that the Police Department and City Council did

[01:24:59] Tim McKenzie: to convince the public in Flock's safety and ensure compliance with our privacy standards. Per the council report, Flock's lie by omission is what caused this breach in our data and broke our residents' trust.

[01:25:10] Tim McKenzie: Quote, notably, staff have since learned that both the nationwide and statewide interfaces were enabled for many other agencies that were also unaware of them. MVPD is not an outlier in this regard. End quote.

[01:25:23] Tim McKenzie: Which is why we're asking for a class action lawsuit. We applaud the Mountain View Police Chief - thanks, Mike - for immediately turning off the cameras on February 2nd and personally apologizing to us.

[01:25:33] Tim McKenzie: However, our residents have seen Flock cameras blinking their lights and are concerned that they may still be on and collecting our data. Despite staff's assurance that no new data is being recorded and Flock is not recording license plate information,

[01:25:46] Tim McKenzie: recent Flock transparency pages for Mountain View brings their note into question, because while the detected vehicles and hotlist hits decreased, the number of searches increased from 556 searches to 558 searches,

[01:26:00] Tim McKenzie: from February 18th to February 22nd. Our data is still being accessed and searched. We encourage the city to explore physical barriers in covering up the cameras, effectively disabling their use, because remember, we lease them, we don't own them.

[01:26:14] Tim McKenzie: Not only is Flock a deceptive company, their cameras are susceptible to being hacked in 30 seconds and have at least 51 confirmed vulnerabilities. If we cannot trust Flock, who pride themselves as the industry leader,

[01:26:26] Tim McKenzie: how can we expect other ALPR vendors will meet our high standards?

[01:26:31] Tim McKenzie: Because of Flock's lie by omission, MVPD was included in federal law en search... law enforcement searches from ATF offices in Kentucky and Nashville, Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, the US GSA Office of Inspector General,

[01:26:44] Tim McKenzie: Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada, and an Ohio Air Force Base. Additionally, outside agencies' searches from August 2024 to December 2025 were approximately 3,070,960,

[01:27:00] Tim McKenzie: compared to the 25,000-some-odd that Mountain View Police Department did, which represents over 124 times more than MVPD personnel in this time frame.

[01:27:10] Tim McKenzie: We further express grave concerns about the search terms as 'others' can encompass a broad range of abuses against our communities, especially during this time of federally sanctioned violence when people are being executed in the street.

[01:27:24] Tim McKenzie: We strongly oppose that granting Flock worldwide rights to our data is a reliable service, as it shows a grave violation of our Fourth Amendment constitutional right to privacy.

[01:27:35] Tim McKenzie: We further support the staff's interest in seeking reimbursement from the total $154,650 that our city invested into Flock because our city's valuable money must be reinvested into community priorities like affordable housing.

[01:27:49] Tim McKenzie: In a budget crisis, our city must protect all our valuable resources and refuse to waste any money in weapons of AI mass surveillance, nor in defending ourselves from valid lawsuits that our residents may pursue for these data violations.

[01:28:03] Tim McKenzie: Finally, we urge the City Council to unite with their constituents against our common enemy of Flock, and sue the company for breach of contract for sharing our personal data with external agencies without our consent.

[01:28:15] Tim McKenzie: Based on the above reasons and the voices of our fellow constituents, we strongly oppose the premise of a community dialogue about the positive outcomes of the ALPR pilot program. We were harmed.

[01:28:26] Tim McKenzie: And any exploration of any future use of ALPR in Mountain View from the Next Steps section. We cannot replace an AI mass surveillance camera with another weapon of mass surveillance against our communities. ALPRs are not necessary, as per our city staff.

[01:28:41] Tim McKenzie: Quote, other investigative methods may have ultimately produced results in some cases. No perfect policy can secure the safest vendor, as all AI-powered cameras rely on the same mass surveillance technologies that violate fundamental constitutional rights to privacy.

[01:28:58] Tim McKenzie: We must refuse all ALPR vendors because that is truly how we keep our public safe.

[01:29:04] Tim McKenzie: Beyond our residents' and previous concerns, we would like to highlight further evidence against Flock, which, uh, I will not be able to get through the rest of it, but, uh, one of my colleagues and compatriots will be coming up to finish the next bit.

[01:29:17] Tim McKenzie: Um, please, get rid of Flock. Sue Flock. No ALPRs. And I will pass on over here. Thank you.

[01:29:25] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Mr. McKenzie. Next is Melissa Dinwiddie. I'm sorry if I got your last name wrong, but you will also get, uh, some additional time as well.

[01:29:37] Melissa Dinwiddie: Hi, I am Melissa Dinwiddie. I'm a Mountain View constituent for 23 years, and I represent Indivisible Palo Alto Plus.

[01:29:48] Melissa Dinwiddie: The Flock Safety Company cannot be trusted, and our government is now responsible for violations on our data.

[01:29:55] Melissa Dinwiddie: Investigators have found Flock portal access credentials on the dark web. Anyone with $120 can easily create a Shodan account to access 24/7 live streams of our personal lives.

[01:30:13] Melissa Dinwiddie: One user found a live stream on a children's playground, making these cameras a prime accessible weapon for human traffickers.

[01:30:25] Melissa Dinwiddie: Flock's track record on security places its customers in violation of SB 34's requirement that ALPR operators maintain reasonable security procedures and practices. From enabling broad searches of investigation and crime to granting CBP access to its systems, Flock has violated reasonable security measures and wrongfully misled their law enforcement partners.

[01:30:53] Melissa Dinwiddie: Oregon Congressional Senator Ron Wyden boldly wrote to Flock CEO Garrett Langley, abuses of your product are not only likely, but inevitable, and Flock is unable and uninterested in preventing them.

[01:31:08] Melissa Dinwiddie: Mass warrant-less tracking of every driver to the second violates our Fourth Amendment right to a reasonable expectation of privacy. US Supreme Court cases Carpenter v. US and US v. Jones affirmed that all residents have a constitutional right to privacy even in public spaces.

[01:31:30] Melissa Dinwiddie: Near-perfect surveillance, cell phone location data, and GPS tracking on public roads gives our government a precise, comprehensive record of all aspects of our personal lives, from our familial, political, professional, religious, and sexual relationships.

[01:31:48] Melissa Dinwiddie: Organizations such as SIREN and CAIR-CA and ACLU Foundation of Northern California and Electronic Frontier Foundation are suing San Jose, Oakland, and Norfolk, Virginia, for their Flock contracts because these unblinking cameras retain our data for extended periods of time, stalking our residents' every movement to the minute, and failing to require a valid judicial warrant before sharing our private information.

[01:32:19] Melissa Dinwiddie: We the people refuse to waste our precious city resources defending ourselves from valid lawsuits.

[01:32:28] Melissa Dinwiddie: The Flock company and other ALPR vendors violate State Sanctuary California Values Values Act SB 54 and our city's non-cooperation policies by sharing our data with ICE to deport our neighbors.

[01:32:47] Melissa Dinwiddie: When the federal government has given ICE and CBP authorization to discriminately arrest our people based on the color of their skin or their accent, and break down doors without warrants, along with physically assaulting and fatally shooting our loved ones, like Rene Nicole Good, Alex Predi, and Keith Porter Jr.,

[01:33:08] Melissa Dinwiddie: we must protect our immigrant communities who have built our vibrant, bustling, and diverse City of Mountain View.

[01:33:15] Melissa Dinwiddie: However, AI-powered ALPRs, including Flock Safety, threaten the safety of our immigrant loved ones by sharing our personal data with ICE, giving federal immigration authorities an accessible GPS-like weapon to deport our neighbors.

[01:33:32] Melissa Dinwiddie: State laws prohibit data sharing with federal agencies and out-of-state police departments, but Flock allowed such sharing for years. At least 75 California police agencies were sharing these records out of state as of 2023.

[01:33:50] Melissa Dinwiddie: In 2025, San Francisco Police allowed access to out-of-state agencies, and 19 searches were related to ICE.

[01:33:58] Melissa Dinwiddie: On January 13, 2026, Santa Cruz became the first city in California to terminate their Flock contracts due to data-sharing concerns with outside agencies, including federal law enforcement and ICE.

[01:34:11] Melissa Dinwiddie: Two days later, on January 15, 2026, our neighboring town of Los Altos Hills also terminated their Flock contract due to privacy concerns, cost considerations, and overall effectiveness.

[01:34:24] Melissa Dinwiddie: We must refuse all relationships with a company who violates our city's strong non-cooperation policy and will jeopardize our immigrant loved ones for the sake of a profit.

[01:34:35] Melissa Dinwiddie: Police departments have weaponized ALPR data to racially profile Black and brown communities, harass people seeking reproductive services and/or gender-affirming care, and target people engaging in their First Amendment right to protest.

[01:34:50] Melissa Dinwiddie: AI cameras have high risks of false positives, racially profiling innocent individuals. In October 2025, an AI-powered gun detection system at Kenwood High School in Baltimore County mistook a Doritos bag in a young Black teenager's hands as a firearm, triggering an armed police response.

[01:35:17] Melissa Dinwiddie: In another instance, a 12-year-old in New Mexico was handcuffed after an ALPR camera misread the last digit of a license plate. These things are not foolproof.

[01:35:29] Melissa Dinwiddie: Without adequate human review, AI cameras can escalate innocent matters to armed law enforcement, inflicting psychological trauma on our Black and brown communities.

[01:35:42] Melissa Dinwiddie: And the ICE victim who received five shots and got seven bullet holes, do you all remember that? That was an ALPR Flock camera incident.

[01:35:56] Melissa Dinwiddie: According to Electronic Frontier Foundation, companies like Flock Safety allow law enforcement agencies to stake out locations like abortion clinics or create hot lists of license plates to track in real-time.

[01:36:09] Melissa Dinwiddie: Flock's technology can also search for a vehicle based on color, make, and model even without a plate number.

[01:36:15] Melissa Dinwiddie: Anti-abortion activists have long been documenting the plates of patients and providers who visit reproductive health facilities, researching data that can now be easily cross-referenced with ALPR databases.

[01:36:28] Melissa Dinwiddie: More than 50 law enforcement agencies across the country have conducted searches through Flock to track protest activity, going so far as to employ the terms no kings or simply protest.

[01:36:42] Melissa Dinwiddie: For example, local law enforcement agencies have scrutinized and queried Flock nine times related to the activists of Direct Action Everywhere, an animal rights organization known for using civil disobedience tactics.

[01:36:55] Melissa Dinwiddie: When the authoritarian federal government is threatening to arrest and detain people for publicly speaking up against their tactics, we must not make it easier for them to use our data to target dissenting community members, undermining our nation's principles of freedom and democracy.

[01:37:16] Melissa Dinwiddie: For these reasons and more, we urge the City Council to continue your unwavering protection of our immigrant communities and boldly stand against federal overreach and AI mass surveillance.

[01:37:31] Melissa Dinwiddie: No matter how perfect the policy, the current federal government has proven that there are no bounds to their lawless terror and violent propaganda on our communities, and we can expect and witness how they will weaponize any tool and data against our people.

[01:37:51] Melissa Dinwiddie: Standing by our values means choosing community trust, privacy, and immigrant safety over unconstitutional hyper-surveillance. We must terminate our Flock contract and reject all ALPR vendors.

[01:38:08] Melissa Dinwiddie: Get the Flock out of Mountain View City! And will everyone who is opposed to ALPRs please stand or raise your hand.

[01:38:17] Melissa Dinwiddie: Thank you.

[01:38:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Miss Melissa. Just to confirm with the City Clerk, everyone who turned in and ceded their time has already been removed from the queue.

[01:38:33] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Okay.

[01:38:33] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So we will now go back to, uh, one-and-a-half minutes. We have our next speaker, Cara Silver, followed by Tim Domke, followed by Heidi Valky. I recognize the name, but I can't pronounce it. Lucian Eckert. If you guys can line up over here, so that we save some time as you get called. Go ahead, Miss Silver.

[01:38:57] Cara Silver: Thank you, Madam Mayor and Council. My name is Cara Silver. I am the co-lead of the immigrant rights action team for Indivisible Palo Alto Plus. I'm also a public agency lawyer, and I've been practicing law for over 30 years.

[01:39:14] Cara Silver: First of all, I wanted to say a special shout out to our law enforcement colleagues. We respect the job that you do and we appreciate your efforts in keeping Mountain View safe.

[01:39:26] Cara Silver: But let me turn to Flock Safety. The lack of transparency by Flock is deeply, deeply troubling, especially as it relates to sharing data with out-of-state entities and the federal government.

[01:39:41] Cara Silver: As you may be aware, ICE has been contracting with ALPR vendors for many years. In 2017, ICE signed a contract with Vigilant Solutions to gain access to their commercial LPR database.

[01:39:58] Cara Silver: And in 2024, they contracted directly...

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[01:40:00] Public Speaker: that can be weaponized with no clear guard rails. Additionally, Flock cameras set us down the road of mass surveillance. Our community should be able to drive and walk along our streets without worrying about their, whether their information will be used and shared. The federal government is not equipped to regulate this far-reaching technology, and even our state government um is not equipped to do that either, as Governor Newsom recently vetoed a bill providing reasonable guard rails for

[01:40:37] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you.

[01:40:38] Public Speaker: Flock.

[01:40:39] City Clerk Heather Glaser: All right. We have our next speaker, Tim Domkey, followed by Heidi Baiki, Lucian Eckert, followed by Brandon Downey, and then Serge Bont.

[01:40:48] Tim Domkey: I'm Tim, view resident. Um, I'm very happy that Chief that you took the action to shut off the cameras. Uh, I think you see a lot of momentum and a lot of enthusiasm tonight to get out of this relationship with Flock. Um, Mountain View is not the first or only community to come to this decision.

[01:41:06] Tim Domkey: Uh, and as we look at communities that were a little further ahead of us, it may not be as easy as canceling a contract. Uh, in December of this year, in Eugene, Oregon, they disabled their cameras, they made a city decision, they disabled their cameras, Flock reactivated those cameras afterwards.

[01:41:25] Tim Domkey: Uh, in Spring-, I'm sorry not Springfield, in Evanston, Illinois in September, they went even further. They removed Flock cameras from poles in their city. Flock reinstalled them. It may not be as simple as canceling a contract or getting our money back. We need to not stop until these are out of our city.

[01:41:46] Tim Domkey: They have to be disabled, they have to be removed. They have solar panels and wireless transmissions, and as long as they are up on poles, nobody in this room, even you Chief, have control over those cameras, as proven by some of the experiences we've had already and from other cities. Thank you.

[01:42:09] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next we have Heidi Baiki, Lucian Eckert, followed by Brandon Downey, and then Serge Bont.

[01:42:16] Heidi Baiki: Hi, I'm Heidi Baiki. Um, and I am a over 20-year resident of Mountain View. I also work for the Mountain View Whisman School District. These comments are my personal comments. Um, I thank the Chief and the MVPD for turning them off. Um, as was just stated, I have been seeing that these cameras are not always turned off and citizens are um taking it into their own hands and taking them down.

[01:42:47] Heidi Baiki: I was just reading about um different places that people are just climbing the poles and taking them down and destroying the cameras. Um, which maybe would violate our um, our standing of having a lawsuit against Flock. Um, being able to return everything unharmed may help that.

[01:43:11] Heidi Baiki: I also want to reiterate that no ALPR is going to be safe at this moment um in the environment we're finding ourselves where our First Amendment rights are being violated, our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights are being violated. So please, no, no more ALPRs. Thank you.

[01:43:34] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Lucian Eckert, followed by Brandon Downey, followed by Serge Bont, followed by James Kuzma.

[01:43:41] Lucian Eckert: Hey folks. Uh, I'm Lucian, uh resident of Mountain View. Um, I am a tech worker and a lot of us are concerned that there is no actual rejection of warrantless dragnet surveillance in the current proposal. Um, we can't just take a tech company's word that they're not going to, like, enable unauthorized access of our data.

[01:44:00] Lucian Eckert: There needs to be, like, a structural, physical impediment from that happening. And with current ALPR technology, that is not, not feasible, uh unfortunately. Um, it's not good enough just to wait until, like, something goes wrong and then acting on it after the fact, when one of our community members could be harmed by that.

[01:44:16] Lucian Eckert: Um, insofar as Mountain View is associated with the image of Silicon Valley, there is a unique opportunity and perhaps a responsibility to set an example for other cities in the area and beyond, um, by rejecting ALPRs in general. Um, and joining a lawsuit would also help with that as well. So that's uh, yeah pretty much what I got. Thanks.

[01:44:38] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next is uh Brandon Downey, followed by Serge Bont, followed by James Kuzma, followed by Raul.

[01:44:47] Brandon Downey: All right. Uh, my name is Brandon. I've lived here for 20 years. Uh, I've worked in information security for 25. Um, if you've used a product from any number of tech companies, I've probably done a security review on it or a privacy review. And uh, I'm here today to tell you that it's not just Flock. Uh, ALPR cameras and the tech is dangerous.

[01:45:07] Brandon Downey: By way of analogy, some technologies are like gunpowder. A little bit can be used for fun, think fireworks. Bigger amounts even for defense when used responsibly. But store enough gunpowder and it becomes too dangerous to store in bulk around people. This technology is the same. It is gunpowder tech.

[01:45:25] Brandon Downey: Um, that's because there's tech that stores and correlates personal information about us and our location are like gunpowder. Because however convincing the story from the people whose job it is to sell it, the risks of recording and keeping this data cannot be made small enough to justify the damage done when inevitably a data breach occurs.

[01:45:48] Brandon Downey: Our inability to keep personal data safe at scale is not a theoretical risk. The history of the last decade is the history of one data breach after another. Uh, we now live in a world where the consequences of mishandling data are dire. Out of control agencies like ICE and DHS are desperately trying to gather as much data about us as possible to build a literal panopticon to decide who they can harass and who they can lock up.

[01:46:11] Brandon Downey: These agencies have already added look into the camera for facial ID to 'your papers please' to their demands. We don't have to make

[01:46:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you.

[01:46:20] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Next is Serge Bont, uh James Kuzma, then Raul, then Lana Sheridan.

[01:46:27] Serge Bont: Um, good evening. Um, my name is Serge Bont. Um, I have been a resident of Mountain View for uh close to 30 years and I've always appreciated Mountain View's tradition of good community policing. One that makes sure that everyone trusts the officers so that issues, crimes can be reported and information shared without fear.

[01:46:48] Serge Bont: In contrast, I and many other of your residents are uh have no trust at all with the current uh federal uh level policing. Um, so when I saw the the, you know the the fact that Flock um, you know, could could share information with federal governments, I think that's a it's a big risk of eroding the trust that we have in in our um Mountain View Police Department.

[01:47:13] Serge Bont: So I'm very appreciative of the Chief taking the courageous decision to uh to to remove Flock from from Mountain View. And I urge you to to to approve this. Uh, in terms of next steps, I I have similar concerns that have been expressed about that technology in particular.

[01:47:31] Serge Bont: Uh, so for next step, I think you we should have probably a community discussion, maybe a a community forum um held by the HRC so that all these issues can be surfaced before you you commit to to moving forward with anything like this. Thank you.

[01:47:49] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Mr. Bont. James Kuzma, followed by Raul, followed by Lana Sheridan, followed by Yun.

[01:47:56] James Kuzma: James Kuzma. Uh, 28-year resident of Mountain View. I just want to echo the comments of many of the other speakers, um, encouraging Council to adopt the staff recommendation to cease the contract with Flock and as well as to echo the comments to avoid future use of of ALPRs in the way that they've been used.

[01:48:14] James Kuzma: Um, I can certainly, I know I personally working on a lot of advocacy for street safety, see a lot of value in things like very tightly targeted um red light cameras and speed cameras. But even those, seeing how much vendors and the such mismanage data, that makes me nervous.

[01:48:33] James Kuzma: And that is a case where we have a specific purpose to the use of the automated um enforcement mechanism. ALPRs are just sort of a generalist dragnet for all the data and are not serving a targeted purpose in the same way, which makes them, as some other speakers have argued, unacceptable constitutionally.

[01:48:56] James Kuzma: And so I would encourage Council to not um continue with this category of automated enforcement. And I wanted to thank uh staff for all their work on making sure that they respond to community issues. Um, and to thank Council for their time.

[01:49:13] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Mr. Kuzma. Next we have Raul.

[01:49:20] City Clerk Heather Glaser: If you guys can come uh down. Raul? Going once, going twice. Um, Lana Sheridan.

[01:49:30] City Clerk Heather Glaser: All right. Next we have Yun. Followed by Huy Tran.

[01:49:38] Yun: Um, the Council has the responsibility to apply the precautionary principle before imposing any product on the people. The precautionary principle holds that the product has the burden of proving that it's safe and effective. In the US, um, the predominant use of the principle is in the medical domain.

[01:49:55] Yun: But um in the case of mass surveillance, it's more crucial to apply the precautionary principle because in this case, we do not have free, prior, and um informed consent as we do in the medical domain. Um, ALPRs fail the safety and effectiveness test miserably.

[01:50:16] Yun: Um, there have been multiple cases of ALPR abuse in which external entities and um owning jurisdictions have uh used the data to track down, intimidate, and retaliate against observers and critics. As for the effectiveness, there have been a few um rigorous statistical independent studies.

[01:50:38] Yun: And all of... in all of those cases, researchers have found that no statistical evidence that ALPR deter crime or help solve crime. Um, when you look at the so-called benefits, please please insist on statistical um analysis that um um accounts for confounding factors, not just accept raw data that usually comes out of police reports. We urge you to um reject all ALPR. Thank you.

[01:51:09] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next we have Huy Tran, followed by Ariel, followed by Evan Barnes, followed by Angelica Guadalupe.

[01:51:17] Huy Tran: Good evening Council members. My name is Huy Tran. I'm executive director of SIREN. You've already heard about our lawsuit against the City of San Jose, but I want to talk to you about another one. Last year, the DOJ sued the State of California to try to get access to all of our unredacted voter rolls.

[01:51:32] Huy Tran: We, you know, for all the bluster from the admin- administration about being anti-immigrant, this action was important for us because for us to uplift the voices of immigrants, we have to get our communities registered to vote, and we want them to participate in our democracy because that's how we hold power to account.

[01:51:49] Huy Tran: Last December, we intervened... Last December, we filed a motion to dismiss. Last month, we won on all counts and the DOJ was prevented from accessing the voter the voter rolls for uh California residents. One sentence in that opinion, though, stood out. Judge David Carter stated, quote, 'It appears that the DOJ is on a nationwide quest to gather the sensitive private information of millions of Americans for use in a centralized federal database.'

[01:52:20] Huy Tran: The risk of federal seizure is why we have to oppose the creation of mass surveillance locally. Even if our local law enforcement shows that it stands with immigrant communities, each and every vulnerability, each and every weakness, each and every pathway we create that allows outside parties to access ALPR data creates enormous risks on our residents.

[01:52:42] Huy Tran: We're really happy to see how Mountain View handled this data. But every time we create a mass surveillance state

[01:52:49] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you.

[01:52:50] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Next is Ariel, followed by Evan Barnes, followed by Angelica Guadalupe, followed by Yurizi.

[01:52:58] Ariel: So um, first of all, I really just wanted to say that I I can't imagine how this happened in the first place. Um, I'm glad that we're all seeing our mistakes here, but I personally wish we had kept AI mass surveillance in horror sci-fi movies where it belonged.

[01:53:18] Ariel: Um, that said, I do agree with everyone else here, we need to get rid of Flock immediately. That includes taking down the physical cameras. Um, that also includes never having another contract with another similar company for a similar purpose in the future, and preferably again, also suing Flock for the city funds that were completely wasted on that program and misused.

[01:53:41] Ariel: Um, let's see, what else. Oh, yeah, okay. So, let's talk about me. I'm a law-abiding citizen. I've literally never even had a traffic ticket. Uh, I'm not an immigrant. I'm not coming from out of state to seek an abortion. Um, generally like an average person, except I do help organize protests and these cameras fucking scare me.

[01:54:06] Ariel: Um, and I don't feel like normal law-abiding citizens should feel scared that they're being constantly watched by the police because that doesn't sound like a very free democratic society to me. And I and I would really hope that that's not, you know, how anyone else um sees our our country, you know, as a place where you're always watched by law enforcement. Thank you.

[01:54:27] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next we have Evan Barnes, Angelica Guadalupe, Yurizi, Katie Pleitez. I would like to uh do a friendly reminder. I have this trouble all the time as my colleagues would know, please limit swearing to to not. Um, so thank you. Uh, go right ahead.

[01:54:47] Evan Barnes: Hi Council members, my name is Evan Barnes. Thank you for hearing me and uh thank you Police Chief for immediately turning off the cameras. I appreciate that. I'm here to urge you not just to not renew the contract, but to pursue legal action against Flock. They very clearly violated California law and they should actually be punished for that.

[01:55:03] Evan Barnes: Uh, I would also urge you to say no new ALPRs or automated surveillance systems at all. Um, just imagine for a minute that you found out that your neighbor had been watching you out their windows and keeping a log of every time you left for work and came back from work, and the clothes you wore, and maybe what makeup you had on that day.

[01:55:20] Evan Barnes: And that they then started installing cameras along your commute and outside your gym and at your grocery store parking lot. I think you would feel violated. I know I certainly would. You would feel like they were stalking you, which they are. But that's what Flock has been doing.

[01:55:35] Evan Barnes: That's what automated surveillance does, is it's stalking on a mass scale. And the fact that it's on behalf of the state doesn't make it any better. In a lot of ways it makes it worse because it's susceptible to abuse. Uh, I just wanted to say that humans are are bad at understanding consequences on societal scales.

[01:55:52] Evan Barnes: I see the compelling use case for tools like Flock in solving crimes like kidnapping. I understand the costs of violent crime. In 2017, one of my best friends was murdered while she was at home alone in the house that we shared. And I still with that in mind don't think that mass surveillance is worth it.

[01:56:04] Evan Barnes: The tradeoffs have to outweigh the costs. The benefits have to outweigh the costs. And the with Flock they just don't. 41 cases solved with the help of it is great. But they violated the civil liberties of hundreds of thousands of people who fell in the view of their cameras, and that trade is not worthwhile.

[01:56:19] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next we have Angelica Guadalupe.

[01:56:29] Angelica Guadalupe: Okay. Hi, I'm Angelica Guadalupe. I'm here with SIREN Youth Liberation Institute. Um, I'm gonna repeat what a whole bunch of these people have been saying, so I apologize, but first of all, um, we want to thank the Police Chief for turning them off after realizing that they were sharing our data.

[01:56:54] Angelica Guadalupe: Um, but not not just that, but youth in Mountain View deserve to feel safe. And with these tracking devices and, you know, being monitor-, you know, being tracked. To be honest, every step we take is not safe for our youth. And we just ask for the city to um end all contracts and um, you know, any future contracts that you guys would have with these uh companies that do survey our com-, our citizens and residents of this area.

[01:57:28] Angelica Guadalupe: And then, um, yeah, I think that the youth deserve to feel safe, not surveilled. Yeah, thank you.

[01:57:41] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Yurizi, followed by Katie Pleitez, followed by Al Brooks, followed by John Scarborough.

[01:57:54] Yurizi: Hi, my name is Yurizi. Um, and I live in uh San Jose, but I'm here to represent SIREN and the youth uh that I work with who also live in Mountain View. Um, uh as many of my peers have said, we urge the City of Mountain View to support the staff report to permanently end their contracts with Flock, following the leadership of cities like Los Altos and Santa Cruz.

[01:58:23] Yurizi: Um, and we applaud the City Police Chief for immediately turning off the cameras after learning how Flock shared our personal data. However, we reject the report's proposal to engage in community discussions about the positive outcomes of ALPR and the exploration of any future ALPR because mass surveillance does not keep our public safe.

[01:58:46] Yurizi: I know you've heard this countless times, but I'll say it one more time. Mass surveillance does not keep our public safe. This is a fallacy that is weaponized when there is a lot of economic turmoil because this is when people feel most vulnerable.

[01:59:01] Yurizi: And so it feels like an easy way out to present this as a public safety issue. Um, and many people want to believe that, but ultimately mass surveillance only leads to most to more violence to the most vulnerable. Thank you.

[01:59:16] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Katie Pleitez, uh followed by Al Brooks, followed by John Scarborough, followed by Ada.

[01:59:26] Katie Pleitez: Hi, my name is Katie Pleitez. I'm a senior at Mountain View High School, and I'm here to represent the SIREN Youth Liberation Institute. We urge the City of Mountain View to support the staff report to permanently end their contracts with Flock.

[01:59:40] Katie Pleitez: We call for reimbursement for associated Flock fees and for a city class ac- action lawsuit against Flock who breached our contract and shared our data. Flock violates our Fourth Amendment right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.

[01:59:54] Katie Pleitez: Flock also violates Section 3 of California Values Act, SB 54, by directly sharing with ICE or indirectly sharing with immigration authorities through fusion centers, weaponizing our data to deport our neighbors. Think about the vulnerable, undocumented youth, the youth of color who are living in Mountain View who should not live in fear.

[02:00:13] Katie Pleitez: We should be protecting this community. And by protecting this community is refusing to invest in AI surveillance. As a young woman myself, I already walk in fear alone on the streets. I wouldn't also want to add cameras looking at me when I'm walking on the streets of Mountain View. Thank you.

[02:00:28] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next we have Al Brooks, John Scarborough, Ada, then Jesus Romero.

[02:00:35] Al Brooks: Good evening. I unite with essentially everyone else here in calling for an end to the Flock contract, and calling for the City Council to not engage in any future ALPR contracts or the use of such surveillance technology.

[02:00:48] Al Brooks: Uh, I also want to just explore some of the fundamental principles at uh play here. Councilor Mc- Councilmember McAlister, earlier you raised the example of uh the Savannah Guthrie case, a case in which uh license plate readers and the like have not had a meaningful impact to this point.

[02:01:04] Al Brooks: Um, I I want to a- lift up a case in which uh license plate readers have had a meaningful impact. It was uh raised slightly earlier, um the case of Marimar Martinez. A an ag- advocate against uh the occupation of our communities by Border Police um, who was shot five times uh by a Border Police for her advocacy, um.

[02:01:26] Al Brooks: Content warning for gun violence and misogyny, um. After shooting her, one of the uh officers said, 'I fired five shots and she had seven holes. Put that in your book, boys.' And I think this raises the issue that that we need to highlight about the ways that power concentrations are continuously causing harm in communities.

[02:01:46] Al Brooks: Uh, those who seek power tend to take it from everyone else. And we do not need to help them. We should be very suspicious of instances where people are seeking to use technology and new data and AI tools in order to concentrate the people's power. And instead we should be investing in our people and treating them as partners in public safety, rather than enemies. Thank you.

[02:02:05] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next we have John Scarborough, followed by Ada, followed by Jesus Romero, followed by George Duke.

[02:02:13] John Scarborough: Hello Mayor, City Council members, Chief. Um, I'm John Scarborough, I'm a long-term resident in Mountain View. I'm really glad we have uh community for all. I'm really glad we have a lot of our community out here today. I like the diversity we have. It makes it a great community.

[02:02:36] John Scarborough: Um, I agree with a lot of the stuff folks have said technologically about this technology and socially. But what I'd like to do is set the scene. So if you notice, a lot of dystopian movies have mass surveillance. There's a reason for that. Surveillance is a foundational tool for repressive systems, from the Panopticon prison through the Stasi secret police in East Germany, 1984, The Hunger Games, to repressive regimes around our around our world now.

[02:03:07] John Scarborough: It is a tool to repress people, to repress democracy. So it is a problem with the system, not a problem with Flock. It is a problem with surveillance and the lack of privacy that we have here. So it's not a friendly neighbor looking out for you. It's a Stasi police that never sleeps. So I encourage you to continue canceling and not renew it with any other ALPR or other surveillance technology. Thanks.

[02:03:37] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Mr. Scarborough. Next we have Ada, followed by Jesus Romero, followed by George Duke, followed by Yan Ming Wen. Ada?

[02:03:50] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Ada? All right, seeing no Ada, Jesus Romero?

[02:03:55] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Following Jesus Romero, we have George Duke, followed by Yan Ming Wen, followed by Connor O'Brien.

[02:04:02] Jesus Romero: Good evening. My name is Jesus and I'm here for a PSA and to make one suggestion. We prefer you don't, but if you ever consider entering any future contract with any surveillance vendor, you must require an independent third-party technical audit, not just of policy compliance, but of the actual hardware, firmware, and capabilities of every device deployed in Mountain View.

[02:04:22] Jesus Romero: I want to begin with a retake on the famous quote from poet Dylan Thomas because it captures exactly why we're here tonight. We cannot go gentle into that good night when it comes to civil liberties. We must rage against the dying of the light when it comes to transparency, accountability, and the truth.

[02:04:40] Jesus Romero: We owe it to the community to shine a light on every part of this system. The city's own report confirms that Flock breached their contract and therefore our trust. But it raises a deeper question, if Flock hid these features, what else might be hidden?

[02:04:52] Jesus Romero: A cybersecurity researcher who has spent seven months analyzing Flock's uh theories, I mean, man... um, Flock's technology recently laid out a series of claims that

6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract

[02:05:00] Public Speaker: serves attention for verification purposes. He states that Flock's license plate readers feed video into an AI model trained not just on vehicles but on people, animals, and even bikes. Um... shoot, I'm sorry. (laughs). Um, he claims that after training this model, Flock expanded into full video cameras with live streaming, people detection, and vehicle detection. He states that in early 2025 during a private seminar, Flock announced that all ALPRs nationwide were upgraded into video cameras for free, meaning every ALPR...

[02:05:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Sorry, I know it gets really fast. Um, George Duke, followed by Yan Ming Wen, followed by Connor O'Brien.

[02:05:45] George Duke: Hello council, my name is George Duke-hay and um, about 35 years ago my mother, uh, and my older sister and I fled Colombia, uh, and uh landed here in Mountain View. Um, for the next 35 years we've lived uh, on Bush Street, uh, Whisman area, uh, Easy Street, and uh, and yeah now Tyrella.

[02:06:08] George Duke: And uh, you know, I'm raising my kids. Um, my kids have gone to all the schools here, I went to all the schools here. And you know, I, you know, with all of this talk I can't imagine how I would have felt, uh, you know, knowing that I was being watched, uh, knowing that ICE, uh, was coming after, uh, people like my family. And so, uh, I wanted to make sure that I, uh, came today, uh. I didn't write anything, I probably should have wrote something, but um, being a long, uh, long-time resident of Mountain View, you know I've I've lived in Campbell and Sunnyvale for a few years, but I've always come back to Mountain View, right. Mountain View's been my home.

[02:06:36] George Duke: I'm fortunate to have been able to raise my kids here and um, you know, they're here so that they could understand, um, what what they need to know as long-term residents of Mountain View in the future, um, for uh when they need to come to city council to speak uh their mind. And so I um, I hope that you guys don't uh renew a contract with uh any other vendor, um, and uh take everyone's uh words seriously. Thank you.

[02:07:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Mr. Duke. Yan Ming Wen, uh followed by Connor O'Brien, followed by Julie Myerson, followed by Alex Brown.

[02:07:24] Yan Ming Wen: Hi, I work in Mountain View just down the street. I'd like to echo everyone else in rejecting the use of ALPR systems to surveil us. I'd like to say that this data is too sensitive and too granular to trust any vendor with, let alone one as unreliable as Flock. The E- the EFF reports that other ALPR ve- ALPR vendors including 3M, Motorola, and more have serious vulnerabilities that allow even unskilled attackers to gain access to camera feeds and troves of license plate data.

[02:07:53] Yan Ming Wen: This is beyond just speculation. In 2019 Perceptics, the ALPR vendor for US Customs and Border Protection, experienced a massive data breach of ALPR and biometric data including over 100,000 images of license plates. And as we all know, despite their promises of data restriction, Flock says it retains the right to share municipal data with federal agencies such as ICE even if local police departments restrict sharing. These are only a few examples of the risks we take by allowing ALPR systems in our community. I urge us to reject any future use of this technology. Thank you.

[02:08:27] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Connor O'Brien, followed by Julie Myerson, followed by Alex Brown.

[02:08:35] Connor O'Brien: Uh thank you, good evening. Uh, Connor O'Brien. I am a resident of Mountain View and like Tim a member of Silicon Valley DSA. Uh, I wanted to ask that the council absolutely terminate the existing contract but with Flock but also not pursue any ALPR program in the future with any other company. Uh, I wanted to emphasize one dimension of the problem with ALPRs in general that goes beyond the untrustworthiness of Flock in particular. The whole case for these programs hinges on the benefits that are meant to flow from participating in wide reciprocal sharing of the data with agencies outside of Mountain View. The scale of that means even if we have perfect policies and the restrictions are perfectly implemented, it still would not be enough to prevent data from ending up in the wrong hands.

[02:09:17] Connor O'Brien: We know this because there have already been reports of local departments doing searches on behalf of federal agencies and even informally sharing, uh, their passwords with federal enforcement, which means that engaging in any of these networks is asking all of us to trust that not just MVPD but every single agency or person with quote unquote legitimate access to our data, uh, will not share it onto federal immigration enforcement or anyone else who's not meant to have it. It only takes a single individual weak link in that trust to compromise people's safety. I think for the city to pursue ALPRs despite these risks would be a choice to roll the dice with the safety of our most vulnerable neighbors, in the hope that putting them at risk might buy some extra measure of security for the rest of us. And I really hope that's not what our city stands for.

[02:10:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Mr. Connor. Next, Julie Myerson, followed by Alex Brown.

[02:10:08] Julie Myerson: Uh hello everybody, my name is Julie Myerson. I'm from Sunnyvale, just down the road. Uh, first off I want to commend you guys for um coming publicly explaining what has happened with Flock and shutting them off. Um, I want to continue to keep those off. Make sure that we get as much of the data back as we can and make sure that they can't continue to share that data. Uh, it's kind of weird to think that our data, you know me a a citizen, a law- law abiding citizen, would be uh monitored every time I drive down certain roads. That does not make me feel safer. That makes me scared because I recognize how powerful that is and uh in the wrong hands

[02:10:44] Julie Myerson: and it seems to be, I mean I just got a letter from a company I've never heard of saying that there's a data breach from some medical files that were shared. I can't even get my doctors to share the medical information I need to share, but these dark web companies are able to get my information and it does not make me feel good. And I can't imagine what it would feel like if I were more vulnerable. So, thank you and let's do more.

[02:11:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. And our last in-person uh public speaker before we go to-- we have lots of Zoom ones so, um, Mr. Brown, go ahead.

[02:11:21] Alex Brown: Hi friends. Alright, you know I got, I got it written down, just going to be a fun one. Uh, first things first, shout out to 404 Media and Jason Koebler especially for all the coverage of Flock. Uh, same for Ben Joffe and GeeseSec, keep up the good work. Uh, second, Mike, great job. Uh, credit where it's due for living up to your commitments and for protecting the integrity of like the city of Mountain View and MVPD. Uh, third, Alfred Hitchcock warned us about birds. Uh, flocks are dangerous. We should heed that warning. Uh, fourth, have we considered replacing Flock with all the drones that the government used to replace the birds that they murdered back in the sixties by dissolving our bones?

[02:11:50] Alex Brown: Uh, that bird-themed surveillance system seems much more battle tested. I mean, like 60 years. Uh, finally, an option that could help a lot of people: uh, an MLPR system where we hire people to stand at corners around the city and write down license plate numbers that they see in notebooks and the PD can just ask them to go through them when they're looking for cars. Just throwing out ideas. Uh, thank you.

[02:12:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And I have 30 seconds left. Okay, now we will have our uh, we will now have our virtual public comments. Uh, we will start out with Victor Sin.

[02:12:33] Victor Sin: Good evening Mayor and council members. I'm Victor Sin, chair of the Santa Clara County chapter of the ACLU of Northern California. Automated license plate readers is a surveillance technology that makes it less safe for us, particularly immigrants, Black and brown people, religious minorities, people seeking reproductive health care or gender-affirming care, and protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. Flock's Transparency Portal for Mountain View data shows that less than 0.2% of the data are related to a hot list. The vast majority of the data is gathered on law-abiding people going about their everyday business.

[02:13:06] Victor Sin: The Trump administration is looking for ways to exploit local surveillance systems in order to target immigrants and activists. Some states are plowing through ALPR data to detect people seeking abortion. The only type of secure data is no data. In other words, do not gather the data to begin with. We urge you to terminate the Flock contract and end the use of ALPR immediately and permanently. Thank you.

[02:13:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Leo.

[02:13:50] Leo: Hi there. Uh, thank you, I'm Leo. I'm a resident of San Jose. Uh, I also work a little bit in IT and through that experience know that this sort of technology is not as safe as people who are buying it would like to believe. It's very easily, uh, as other people have mentioned, easy to hack, get into. Uh, abusive ALPRs endanger the lives of our most vulnerable residents. Uh, we must refuse all ALPR contracts because we must not replace Flock with another harmful weapon of mass surveillance.

[02:14:23] Leo: Uh, Flock is not the only issue. It's a problem with the technology and its abuses as a whole. Police trust this technology far too much. As explained by other speakers, false positives have already shown to be common, and these false positives often lead to an elevated police response that can also end in the harm of residents. Um, it's wasting city resources for the purpose of violating the Fourth Amendment rights of city residents. Thank you.

[02:14:51] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next up we have Lucila Ortiz.

[02:14:58] Lucila Ortiz: Hi, good evening City Council. Um, thank you for having me. Um, my name is Lucila Ortiz and I'm here representing Silicon Valley Rising. Uh, first of all I want to commend the police chief for doing the right thing as soon as he found that there was a breach and the promises that the tool um, you know, that were being used was um happening, that he turned it off right away. Um, you know, so I want to commend him for that. And also to repeat what he said is that this is a tool and um this is a tool that was developed for the purposes of profit. And right now the people that are giving them the the most profit is uh federal government that is leaning towards authoritarianism.

[02:15:41] Lucila Ortiz: And we have learned um those of us of uh of us who have taken history lessons, we have learned that authoritarians abuse uh data um to kind of extort their power in any way, and that puts us all at risk. And so I want you to think about that as you're thinking about the pros and cons of this um future contracts, you know, nobody is um going to be safe, especially in this political environment that it is. And if you are giving your money to companies that have um supported authoritarian governments, um you know, that in itself is being complicit in this anti-government uh pursuit um that the federal government is doing. So thank you.

[02:16:21] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Eva Tang.

[02:16:29] Eva Tang: Hello council. Eva Tang, formerly of the Public Safety Advisory Body. Uh, Old Mountain View, been here almost a decade. I really actually haven't been happy about this despite flexing my hip mobility at you two weeks ago. It has real- put real people at risk. People I love and have shared joy and laughter with. People with beating hearts who are part of the daily Mountain View community, who fear for their lives, so they can't speak like I'm doing right now. This PD has shown me it is not indeed committed to transparency. I could have caught this data breach for you in December if you let me see the files. But you didn't. External audits done at quote random intervals when the data breach wasn't caught for over a year? Chief, you gotta be kidding me. I teach middle school. I teach gaslighters all day, alright? How do I teach 12-year-olds to take accountability when my local PD doesn't?

[02:17:12] Eva Tang: This is a tool that puts our community at risk and a tool that puts our community at risk is not public safety. It is subsidized private security. Another thing you should know is that the Department of Homeland Security has a policy on um ALPRs. The vendors are not permitted to use any of ICE's query data and they're not even allowed to retain it. So how would we be able to keep track of them not accessing our data? No ALPRs period. We can't trust you with them. Thank you, I yield my time.

[02:17:54] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Eva. Next we have Bruce England.

[02:18:00] Bruce England: Thank you Mayor. Um, Bruce England, living on Whisman Station Drive in Mountain View. Um, I'm really enjoying hearing all these comments from people and I uh agree with a whole lot of it and I also am even more concerned than when this meeting started. Um, I I also commend the chief for having taken immediate action uh against the the Flock cameras and I also just want to mention I have great respect for Chief Canfield and many people on PD force. I'm glad we have a PD that we do. And yet, we're faced with huge challenges like this one. As I've said a number of times, I feel that folding the PSAB was highly premature and I think that that was done because a former council member wanted it, um, when they probably should have frankly held their tongue as they were leaving council.

[02:18:51] Bruce England: Um, you might reconsider that because HRC is not a replacement for PSAB and um the uh the groups that Chief Canfield brings together, those are not public meetings and there's no public record and so that's not a replacement either. Please revisit PSAB, we need this kind of oversight um that you're hearing in public comment tonight. The FOIA requests were handled uh poorly and the cross-department work, I encourage that. And lastly the transportation dashboard is uh pretty slim and not effective right now, so I hope the PD will have a look at that and get it updated. Thanks.

[02:19:32] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Uh thank you Mr. England. Next we have Anna Marie Morales.

[02:19:44] Anna Marie Morales: Hi, can you hear me?

[02:19:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[02:19:47] Anna Marie Morales: Awesome. Good evening to the Mayor and council members. I'm Anna Marie, she/her. I've lived in our beautiful city for over 40 years. I thank our police chief for turning the cameras off, it is truly appreciated. Um that is not enough though. I ask that they be removed permanently and not replaced with another mass surveillance system now or in the future. There must also be real transparency and accountability. This is an urgent matter. You have the opportunity right now to permanently end our contract with Flock Safety and you must do it. Follow Los Altos Hills and Santa Cruz who have already acted. Our data was shared outside the state with- without our consent. These are not harmless license plate readers. These are mass surveillance systems that track every driver's movements, building a precise record of where we go and when.

[02:20:35] Anna Marie Morales: That kind of mass warrant- warrantless tracking violates our Fourth Amendment rights. It put us all at risk, especially our brown and Black neighbors. Investigators have found Flock portal credentials for sale on the dark web. This-- if the city claims it owns this data, then the city is responsible for protecting it and therefore must act now. Um do not reopen the door to more community discussions about future ALPR use, and this- permanently seek reimbursement, hold Flock accountable, sue them and re- refuse to replace one mass surveillance system...

[02:21:17] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Anna Marie. Next we have Michael Molhop.

[02:21:24] Michael Moltop: Uh no. Uh hey, can you hear me?

[02:21:27] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I can hear you.

[02:21:28] Michael Moltop: Great. Thanks everybody. I'm Michael Moltop, a Mountain View resident. Mountain View and Mountain View PD have set up what I believe to be good ALPR guidelines. But unfortunately all the city's effort means nothing because with Flock it is impossible to ensure that these guidelines are followed. The problem is that Flock's system is trivially abusable. In this last year we have seen law enforcement officers using other Flock's cameras to track girlfriends they thought were cheating. We have seen California departments defying California law and sending their Flock data out of state. We have seen local law enforcement officers in Chicago literally giving their Flock logins to ICE. So ICE can use Flock, even if Flock says they don't work with ICE.

[02:22:09] Michael Moltop: I'm gonna mildly disagree with some folks here and say that there are ways that a better company could improve this system. Searches could require case numbers, searches could be done by departments, searches could require local approval. But Flock implements none of this and has no protections. I would love to live in a world where we can use surveillance to catch more bad guys. But for this surveillance to be a positive benefit, we have to be able to trust that the surveillance won't be abused. Flock is not trustable. Flock is the diametric opposite of a trustworthy entity. Stop Flock surveillance. Get rid of the actual cameras. Ban private Flock cameras. Thank you.

[02:22:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Sam Guzman.

[02:22:55] Sam Guzman: Hello city council members. I'm here to urge you all not only to terminate the existing contract with Flock but to terminate any and all future investment with ALPR surveillance. This pilot program has perfectly demonstrated the fundamentally unethical, exploitative, and invasive nature of this mass surveillance technology, and the myths of its possible regulation. There is no amount of regulations Mountain View can propose to ensure that ALPRs don't risk our communities. Federal agencies have been fatally attacking our communities and building databases of immigrants and activists to be their next victims. Time and time again local police have failed to regulate their violent overreach. Whatever promises Mountain View has made to protect our data have already been violated.

[02:23:35] Sam Guzman: The warrantless collection of our data in itself is already a betrayal to the community. The appropriate response is to stop entirely. There is now no more room to claim ignorance and apologize for negligence. Future investments with ALPR vendors would now only be interpreted as an intentional and direct threat to all residents of Santa Clara County at the behest of our local law enforcement. Please choose us. Reject ALPRs, sue Flock, and invest that money back into the communities you've risked. Thank you.

[02:24:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Sebastian Brisbois.

[02:24:22] Sebastian Brisbois: Hello. Uh, can you hear me fine?

[02:24:26] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yes we can hear you.

[02:24:27] Sebastian Brisbois: Okay, yeah, thank you. Um, yeah, so hi, my name is Sebastian Brisbois. I'm a Mountain View resident and um, yeah it would be foolish to trust ALPRs after this incident. Uh these surveillance companies do not have our best interest in mind. They care about making money above all else, which is a concern when they handle valuable data that can be shared with others that shouldn't have access to it, whether it's on purpose or not. One thing we've learned over the years about tech companies in general is that they are likely to violate our privacy and security. So we shouldn't ever choose again to build infrastructure that can violate our privacy and safety like this. This is especially a concern with how our federal government is, since it's constantly violating our rights and bullying private companies into bending to their will.

[02:25:16] Sebastian Brisbois: So it's important to remember also the false positive ALPRs, as other speakers have mentioned, and yeah they just have a possibility of harming people and we shouldn't be accepting that. So I don't think this is what public safety should look like. We have other ways to do it with housing, better roads, etc.

[02:25:54] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Sebastian. Next we have Hannah Leonard.

[02:26:00] Hannah Leonard: Hello, yes. Um, can you hear me?

[02:26:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[02:26:05] Hannah Leonard: Okay, I'm going to cut to the chase here. My name is Hannah Leonard and I'm with the Silicon Valley DSA, just like the certified hero Tim McKenzie. Um, I'm going to cut to the chase here and talk directly to Chief Canfield. Um, speaking as an Air Force veteran who has worked on the flight line, as in someone who knows what it feels like to be charged with upholding the safety of others, I can tell you that back in my active duty days no one would have thanked me for repairing a mistake that endangered the security of others. They call it doing it the bare minimum, and I'd get written up. Full stop. A lot of people have thanked you for ending the Flock contract, and I agree that it was the right call. Um, but to be honest with you, just giving constructive criticism, in my opinion if you want to deserve all the thanks that you've gotten here today, you need to drop your recommendation of searching for another ALPR contract entirely.

[02:26:44] Hannah Leonard: The fact that you even suggested it suggests to me that MVPD didn't actually learn the lesson that needs to be learned here. It indicates to me that you want to normalize a technology that encourages warrantless surveillance and creates an infrastructure that is inherently dangerous. It is an uphill battle to control ALPRs and eventually someone who you do not want to control that technology will get their hands on it, just by creating the infrastructure alone. So please seriously reconsider uh even the notion of going back to ALPRs. That is something that we need to get taken down if we want to live in a safe community. Uh, don't let yourself get scammed, basically.

[02:27:33] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Hannah. Next we have Batman of San Jose.

[02:27:45] Batman of San Jose: Can you hear me?

[02:27:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I can hear you, Batman.

[02:27:48] Batman of San Jose: Perfect, because I'm not going to sugarcoat this. Like the last speaker mentioned, this is the bare minimum, turning off the cameras. If they put the cameras back up, you need to build a box around them and lock the box. I don't care what you have to do, you need to stop this. We have already seen the damage that Flock has done across the country. And switching over to another brand of, you know, fascist surveillance is not a solution here. Good community policing should not have our neighbors watching their back 24/7. Good community policing should involve discussions with the community, transparency, openness. Not this backdoor overreach into our private lives.

[02:28:36] Batman of San Jose: I work in Mountain View and I don't want to see my coworkers get taken by ICE. And this tool will allow that to happen. Tools like this will allow that to happen. So remove any cameras that are still up, do not, and I repeat, DO NOT go over to a different form of surveillance, because again, the voters will remember this, and each and every one of you will be up for election at some point, and they're not going to be so kind if you don't...

[02:29:17] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh, next we have Claire Wait.

[02:29:27] Claire White: Hello, uh can you hear me?

[02:29:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[02:29:30] Claire White: Hi, um, my name is Claire, I'm with Silicon Valley DSA. Um, I'd like to urge the council to cancel the Flock contract. It's my belief that Mountain View cannot guarantee compliance with SB 34 and continue using the Flock cameras. Flock Safety has a known track record of poor security practices and misleading law enforcement about data-sharing policies. Mountain View's Flock data have already been shared more widely than intended, and I believe that this company has already demonstrated that they are dishonest or incompetent, and for that reason I believe Mountain View needs to cancel their contract.

[02:30:00] Public Speaker April Webster: policy violations are likely.

[02:30:02] Public Speaker April Webster: Even assuming that Mountain View's sharing policies are followed, it has been reported that local police departments, including ten California departments, have conducted searches on behalf of federal authorities.

[02:30:12] Public Speaker April Webster: This includes SFPD, which Mountain View currently shares its Flock data with.

[02:30:17] Public Speaker April Webster: Anyone who has viewed Flock search audits has seen that a large proportion of searches have missing reason uh missing reason uh codes or use vague uh codes such as like investigation or suspect,

[02:30:30] Public Speaker April Webster: which means that um access is completely unaccountable and any agency um with access to Mountain View's data can search on behalf of ICE with no evidence.

[02:30:43] Public Speaker April Webster: Um, so yes, please protect our immigrant neighbors and all of our civil liberties and cancel the contract. Thank you.

[02:30:50] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Next, we have George Lance.

[02:30:57] Public Speaker George Lance: Uh, yes, look, can you hear me?

[02:30:59] City Clerk Heather Glaser: We can hear you.

[02:30:59] Public Speaker George Lance: Okay, great. Um, I know you guys know the First Amendment and the uh importance of not discriminating, and our viewpoint discrimination is about as bad as it gets.

[02:31:09] Public Speaker George Lance: Please refrain from that. Um, and remember that you can be offensive with your free speech, and if people want to say fuck cops, they can say that.

[02:31:18] Public Speaker George Lance: And you can't stop them. This is free speech. The Tal versus Ham and so on. Don't make me uh file a a restraint against your city cause I'd be happy to do it.

[02:31:26] Public Speaker George Lance: Um, we have a problem with this flock group that they're trained by the same genociders in Israel that train these groups that come through and treat us all like ice,

[02:31:39] Public Speaker George Lance: and the rest of them are all trained by the IDF. Um, and if there's one efficient group of um killers and authoritarians, that would be the genociding Zionist Jews in Israel.

[02:31:49] Public Speaker George Lance: And uh their friends like Epstein and the financiers that keep us enslaved in our countries.

[02:31:54] Public Speaker George Lance: Um, we should get away from groups like Flock. We should also make sure that our city uh governments don't send any money with Jeffrey and his group of Jewish supremacists um in their deviant sexual perversions.

[02:32:06] Public Speaker George Lance: Um, some of the board there may not um intellectuals out there daddys uh the Zionist, but the rest of the world is coming out to real section that they're not quite their premises.

[02:32:18] Public Speaker George Lance: There are certainly loose premises and we need to wake up to that just as we're waking up to this Flock stuff, everybody.

[02:32:24] Public Speaker George Lance: It's time to take action.

[02:32:27] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, your time is up.

[02:32:29] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Um Next, we have Quinton.

[02:32:39] Public Speaker Quinton: Hello, can you hear me?

[02:32:40] City Clerk Heather Glaser: We can hear you.

[02:32:43] Public Speaker Quinton: Thank you.

[02:32:45] Public Speaker Quinton: Uh to the Mountain View Police Department, well done auditing and turning off these cameras.

[02:32:50] Public Speaker Quinton: To council, you buffoons excitedly voted for the surveillance state, and now you clutch pearls and do your best surprised Pikachu face when the surveillance state is abused.

[02:32:59] Public Speaker Quinton: Who could have seen this coming besides everyone?

[02:33:04] Public Speaker Quinton: Of course the system was abused. Abused is its raison d'être.

[02:33:09] Public Speaker Quinton: This company's product is an intentional Fourth Amendment violation.

[02:33:13] Public Speaker Quinton: This is not taking a photo in public, it is taking a photo, GPS and timestamp tagging it and then putting it into a searchable database.

[02:33:19] Public Speaker Quinton: There is case law here, Carpenter v. United States, where warrantless access to timestamped cell phone location data has been ruled a Fourth Amendment violation.

[02:33:27] Public Speaker Quinton: Even if we decide to have some sort of public surveillance cameras, they should never be accessed without judicial oversight.

[02:33:34] Public Speaker Quinton: I think we've seen enough headlines of how police and other parties have abused these systems that requiring an actual warrant should be table stakes.

[02:33:41] Public Speaker Quinton: Many people supporting these surveillance cameras will say you should not care about these cameras if you have nothing to hide.

[02:33:49] Public Speaker Quinton: Saying you do not care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.

[02:33:56] Public Speaker Quinton: In conclusion, I guess better late than never. Get these flocking cameras out of my flocking city.

[02:34:02] Public Speaker Quinton: Thank you.

[02:34:04] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, and we have our last uh uh virtual speaker, Larry Fink.

[02:34:10] Public Speaker Larry Fink: Yes, can you hear me?

[02:34:15] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Yes, can you hear me?

[02:34:16] Public Speaker Larry Fink: We can hear you.

[02:34:17] Public Speaker Larry Fink: All right, great. Thank you. Uh, see the time's already going.

[02:34:21] Public Speaker Larry Fink: Okay, um, so good evening there, city members and especially the leftist hypocrites in the audience.

[02:34:26] Public Speaker Larry Fink: I'm here to talk about the flock safety cameras, those license plate readers that could finally bring some accountability to our streets.

[02:34:35] Public Speaker Larry Fink: But let's be real, these cameras are just another brick in the police state wall, surveillance monster that's already out of control.

[02:34:41] Public Speaker Larry Fink: But here's the ugly truth: the police aren't protectors, they're corrupt puppets taking orders from the left of criminals.

[02:34:46] Public Speaker Larry Fink: While Antifa thugs riot, burn cities, and assault innocents, the cops stand down, twiddling their thumbs because their democrat overlords tell them to.

[02:34:53] Public Speaker Larry Fink: But God forbid a white man, a Christian, or anyone daring to stand against them show up.

[02:34:58] Public Speaker Larry Fink: They all get harassed, they get doxxed and persecuted. Leftists get away with murder literally, while conservatives are hunted like dogs.

[02:35:05] Public Speaker Larry Fink: And let's not forget about the beautiful irony of it all: the same leftists who are sobbing and whining about the police state cameras and fascist ice just watched their precious René Good and Alex Pretty get lit up by federal agents in Minneapolis.

[02:35:16] Public Speaker Larry Fink: Pretty and good, more like pretty dead and good riddance. They stood in the way of real enforcement, played hero for illegals, and found out what happens when the machine they built finally turns on their own.

[02:35:25] Public Speaker Larry Fink: Cry harder, hypocrites. Your woke martyrs got exactly what they're entitled to.

[02:35:29] Public Speaker Larry Fink: Ice wins.

[02:35:30] Public Speaker Larry Fink: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.

[02:35:34] Public Speaker Larry Fink: It's just uh it's just crazy watching these liberal retards crow.

[02:35:39] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you so much for your comment.

[02:35:40] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Um we will now um that was our last public comment.

[02:35:45] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Um so I actually am going to ask my colleagues uh would you rather take a break now or at or power through?

[02:35:53] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Okay, we're powering through.

[02:35:55] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Um

[02:36:00] City Clerk Heather Glaser: All right. How how does everyone feel? Do you want to take a break now or

[02:36:09] City Clerk Heather Glaser: All right, let's let's let's um we will take break after this item.

[02:36:13] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Um

[02:36:17] City Clerk Heather Glaser: All right. So we have on the docket list uh Councilmember Kamei.

[02:36:22] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you.

[02:36:24] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um so I have a a few questions.

[02:36:27] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um so for uh chief, there was a couple council questions that asked about some of the concerns the public raised about

[02:36:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: um the blinking lights, worried about that the cameras could, you know, so operable.

[02:36:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And then another question about um, you know, should um Council uh vote on the staff recommendation and end the contract.

[02:36:50] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: How fast could we expect the cameras to be removed? So maybe if you don't mind sharing that information and answers to those questions with the public, I think that'd be helpful.

[02:37:00] Assistant Public Works Director Ed Arango: Certainly. I'm going to pass the technical question to Captain Crown.

[02:37:03] Captain Crown: Okay.

[02:37:05] Captain Crown: In regards to the blinking lights, we were made aware of that issue.

[02:37:07] Captain Crown: Um we had been consistently reaching out to Flock since Chief turned off the cameras to ensure that they were actually turned off and not collecting data.

[02:37:17] Captain Crown: Um they shared us they were aware of the blinking light issue.

[02:37:19] Captain Crown: We have not received any specific uh about what the lights were, but we've been assured that there's no data being captured.

[02:37:26] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay.

[02:37:27] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So we I know that there was um some conversation or some question too in the council questions about physical barrier alternatives to covering the cameras.

[02:37:37] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So is that something that council would need to provide direction on or or would need to be explored?

[02:37:45] Captain Crown: the the the second question that you also asked,

[02:37:47] Captain Crown: Yes.

[02:37:48] Captain Crown: Um the contract, I believe it states that the cameras would need to come down in a reasonable amount of time.

[02:37:56] Captain Crown: An alternative that has been discussed between city staff is uh bringing in a a vendor or our own staff to have the cameras removed by electricians to expedite the process,

[02:38:04] Captain Crown: but it would be at the uh obviously an expedited intent, but we'd need to see uh what the timeline would be with Flock safety.

[02:38:14] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay.

[02:38:15] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And given the level of interest from our community, would there be a way for us to share with the community when the cameras are removed? Should we go in that direction?

[02:38:27] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Not trying to jump the shark on my recommendation, but pending the city council's direction, communication would not be a challenge for staff to to provide to the community.

[02:38:37] Captain Crown: Okay, great.

[02:38:38] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: All right. Well, um thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor.

[02:38:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um I'm going to make a motion.

[02:38:44] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um and first I just want to thank our community and express my solidarity.

[02:38:51] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I also want to thank our police chief and our city staff for their swift action once the unauthorized access to our data was discovered.

[02:39:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I appreciate the professionalism, transparency, and community-focused leadership shown in this moment by our city.

[02:39:07] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Acknowledging a situation, acting quickly, and communicating openly reflects integrity in public service.

[02:39:16] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: We've talked about how our city is known as a community for all, and being a community for all means telling the truth.

[02:39:23] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Even when it's difficult, it means choosing accountability and it means centering trust.

[02:39:30] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So tonight, as a council, we have the opportunity to act with unity.

[02:39:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: The policy decision before us, I believe, is clear.

[02:39:39] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So I am making the motion uh to support the staff recommendation to authorize the city manager or designee to terminate the existing automatic license plate reader contract with Soft with Flock Safety,

[02:39:53] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: and also hoping that that will include um not looking into uh other ALPRs at this time and when the cameras are removed being able to provide a community message so that residents know um that the cameras are no longer um in our city.

[02:40:16] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um and I think this is all um taking into account and not lost on me, um just last week February 19th was the day of remembrance.

[02:40:27] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And the day of remembrance is um in to acknowledge when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced removal and incarceration over 120,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry living in the West Coast.

[02:40:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Families were forced to abandon their homes, businesses, and livelihoods.

[02:40:52] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: No Japanese Americans were ever charged or convicted of espionage or sabotage, yet they were targeted and imprisoned simply for having a face that didn't look like everyone else's.

[02:41:06] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I believe this history reminds us of what can happen when civil liberties are overwritten and when safeguards fail.

[02:41:16] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So at this moment, I believe it's incumbent on all of us as city council members to be vigilant in protecting both our public safety, but also our civil rights.

[02:41:28] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I believe by taking this action, we can do both.

[02:41:31] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Thank you.

[02:41:34] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei.

[02:41:35] Mayor Emily Ramos: Um we have a motion by Councilmember Kamei and it was seconded by Councilmember Ramirez.

[02:41:40] Mayor Emily Ramos: And next we have on our uh docket is Councilmember Clark.

[02:41:45] Councilmember Chris Clark: Thank you.

[02:41:47] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um I I I think I support the motion.

[02:41:50] Councilmember Chris Clark: I just wanted to um clarify a couple or one thing and then make a um just a friendly suggestion if um if others are amenable to it.

[02:41:59] Councilmember Chris Clark: One, the the first would be um well I certainly agree, I don't think we're we're going to be interested in implementing a new um ALPR solution anytime soon.

[02:42:10] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um I do um the the wording of you know looking into things, um I just want to make sure that the I think I'm um as bad of a situation that the as this is, I'm I'm really proud that we have the the chief who we that we have and the team um that he's surrounded himself with as well as our city um management leadership.

[02:42:36] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um and I I just want to make sure that they have uh I think that they should have the the the tools and the ability to bring you know any solution to us um um whether any technology to us that they think will help improve um the the the safety of of our community.

[02:42:56] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um obviously I don't think we'll be interested in ALPRs uh or replacement ALPRs anytime soon, but I just want to make sure that they were not limiting their ability to to research other things.

[02:43:07] Councilmember Chris Clark: So as long as we clarify that, and then the only other thing that I was going to um bring up is I think it um I don't know how the termination process works with respect to the actual provision in the contract or if there's a if there would be a runoff period or something like that.

[02:43:22] Councilmember Chris Clark: But to the extent that there is, I'm happy to support the motion authorizing staff to you know terminate the contract if they wish.

[02:43:30] Councilmember Chris Clark: If there's if there's some um if there's some negotiation that occurs that maybe I think before um before we open and implemented this system, we had access to like a query only um uh query only account.

[02:43:44] Councilmember Chris Clark: And so maybe um if there was a a way for us if if the chief and the city leadership wants to um preserve a query only ability, um obviously no cameras not providing data or anything like that, but still have the ability to query those databases when, you know, something significant happens.

[02:44:04] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um that way we're we're still getting the benefit of that.

[02:44:08] Councilmember Chris Clark: And obviously that we would only do that if there's no cost to it or or or maybe um uh but I just uh I just want to give staff the negotiating um flexibility to uh if there's an opportunity to preserve some of the uh the more helpful um aspects of this that doesn't involve us, you know, having cameras or providing data

[02:44:31] Councilmember Chris Clark: or spending or giving any more money to Flock as part of it, um that might be that might be helpful.

[02:44:35] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um so I would just suggest that we give them the ability to to do that if they wish, not not not directing them to do that, just giving them the ability to to do to do that as part of the termination process or or the um or the wind-down process for this.

[02:44:53] Councilmember Chris Clark: Maybe as like an interim um an interim uh an interim option.

[02:44:54] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um those are the only two things that I suggest.

[02:44:57] Councilmember Chris Clark: I think I'll uh like we support the motion, but if others want to chime in on those, I think that might be uh that might be helpful or if staff has any comments on that, they can comment on that too, whether it would be helpful or not.

[02:45:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Showalter.

[02:45:13] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I um I appreciate uh Councilmember Kamei's statement. That was very good. Um, we are really proud that the um the police department has been honest and straightforward and come come forward to us with this problem. Um, and uh and it's also very interesting how this problem is so widespread. I mean it's not just us, it's it's many organizations. So I hope that as we move forward with this, we will, you know, we will take this lesson to heart, but we won't necessarily take it to heart by ourselves.

[02:45:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: We will think about, you know, what are ways that we can protect, continue to protect, but protect our residents um as the Mountain View police and also working with other police in in ways that, you know, that safeguard everybody's, everybody's um liberty.

[02:46:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The other thing I want to talk about here is the idea of value and cost. You know, when we first talked about this in um uh 2024, uh that's when the proposal to install these came forward,

[02:46:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: the world, our nation in particular was in a very different place. And um so we heard uh on the City Council, we heard about all of the safeguards that the police were putting in place, and we we thought they were a good idea. But I think that in retrospect, we can we can say we were naive, and we should have been more skeptical.

[02:47:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And certainly the place we find ourselves in as a nation, I mean, it it's just completely different now. And um it means that this sort of thing has to be looked at with a completely different lens than it did before. Maybe it should have been looked at that lens before, but it's just really crystal clear now that it needs to be looked that way before.

[02:47:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But I just want to I want to say that I really appreciated when you first laid this out to us, you talked about what would be the value for um uh for law enforcement. And you had lots of examples and and many of them have come through.

[02:47:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And you talked about the cost, and the cost was in terms of money, because that's kind of where we were as an, at that point, we weren't so concerned about civil liberties.

[02:47:52] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But times have changed, and now the cost for money is really inconsequential. I mean, we don't want to spend a hundred thousand dollars on something that we shouldn't spend it on, but what's the real cost is the cost to our civil liberties.

[02:48:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And so I think that sometimes we have a tendency to think just in terms of money. And it's really um important for all of us to remember that costs aren't just money. There are other things as well. And so that's why it's so important that we move forward with um getting rid of these cameras.

[02:48:32] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um and also I think um still, we we maybe have a little bit of a um of a hole in our uh in our communication about crime statistics. I know we do have a transparency page and if somebody goes to that transparency page, they can see the crime statistics. But I know um I I just get very busy and um I I've never done that, and clearly I should have done that.

[02:48:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I would just ask that moving forward, maybe every year when those crime statistics are fresh, or in in whatever time frame that you think makes sense, Chief, I would appreciate it if you would just send me an email with a little update about this is where we are this year and this is how it changed.

[02:49:17] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So that um I uh I just don't get um, you know, overwhelmed by day-to-day activities and forget about these things because they're very important. So thank you and yes, I will be supporting the um the the motion. Appreciate it.

[02:49:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Hicks.

[02:49:36] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well, I can keep this short, because um former Councilmembers have said much of what I much of what I would have said. Thank you, Councilmember Kamei, for um I think really wrapping that up um in a good way.

[02:49:51] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and I will be supporting the motion, and in particular, important to me are um yes, authorizing uh termination of the ALPR readers with Flock Safety, also taking the cameras down. I like the way you said expediting that process and communicating it to the community.

[02:50:13] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, I guess, will we be securing the remaining money from the contract? Is that implied? I'm not sure that I heard that said.

[02:50:26] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Uh, thank you, Councilmember Hicks. That will be part of uh the discussions with with legal and with staff.

[02:50:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay, so we don't need to add that to the motion, but I assume that will happen. And then most important, or equally important, uh what you said, not starting up a new contract, not shopping around.

[02:50:46] Councilmember Alison Hicks: In particular to me, while the situation with ICE continues to evolve, you know, there's a State of the Union going on tonight, I don't know what's being said, and, you know, the state that we're in now is not the state that I would have been able to envision five, ten, fifteen years ago.

[02:51:05] Councilmember Alison Hicks: You know, we're in uh a really novel and not good situation, and I would not want license plate readers out in while we're while we're in this particular state, and I hope we can get out of it.

[02:51:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember McAlister.

[02:51:25] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Um, I'm going to put a little context into my uh answer. Uh, I recall when I was on the Council last, there was a concern among many of you in this room that we should defund the police department.

[02:51:44] Councilmember John McAlister: And that was part of the national narrative at the time and it seemed to have influenced a lot of people in Mountain View. And so I'm putting that in the back of my mind. And now we have a concern about privacy and the national narrative is about ICE coming along and taking care of it and going after people, and I'm totally on board with that.

[02:52:07] Councilmember John McAlister: I mean, uh, the abuse of the political system going right now is is outrageous. And we are a community involved, and we should protect them. But sometimes we got to take a look at what we do right here in Mountain View.

[02:52:23] Councilmember John McAlister: We don't want, I don't want the national narrative to affect what we do, what we know how to do things. This, um, and I've been here longer than most of you, and I have trust in the Mountain View Police Department.

[02:52:38] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, back when we were talking about defund the police back then, I said I had trust in the police department. And then people went out and said, let's get a board. And the board went through its process, and they came out that Mountain View police were good people, good organization.

[02:52:55] Councilmember John McAlister: And so I wanted to bring, go back to that, that they're still excellent people, and we should trust the Mountain View police. The Flock, I totally agree with what everybody's saying. That's got to go.

[02:53:09] Councilmember John McAlister: But I also take the position, Flock goes, technology is a tool. Is it the right tool at this moment? No. Does it need a lot of work? Yes. But it is a tool for to protect, protect all of our residents in Mountain View.

[02:53:25] Councilmember John McAlister: Now, when we're talking about ICE, that's a particular niche people in town, but they deserve, but we all deserve the same protection. But that's what it's going at. But I know of a personal incident where the Chief came, there was a burglary ring in Mountain View, well throughout the area,

[02:53:46] Councilmember John McAlister: and they were targeting Indians and and Asians, because they kept money and gold. And they were doing daylight break-ins and taking money, and I don't know if many people, this was in uh 2024. Uh, late of 24.

[02:54:02] Councilmember John McAlister: And technology like this helped solve the crime. And that's important, that it is a tool that will help protect our residents from these type of deals. We also have to understand, again, the technology is not there, but thieves don't live in Mountain View.

[02:54:19] Councilmember John McAlister: They come in. There, we know we're a prosperous city, we have things, you know. So whoever the criminals, they're always going all the way around. So we need all the help we can get, and some of the technology of, you know, the old fashioned as Pat was saying, it's not going to help us protect the whole city as a whole. And so that's important.

[02:54:41] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, I was having a nice conversation with Tim over here, he says he's a scientist. And I said, Tim, you're doing something, you're doing an experiment, and uh if it fails, do you just quit? Do you pack up? And he goes, no, we change... I said, do you change the parameters? Do you change some of the stuff? And he goes, yeah. Well,

[02:55:00] Mayor Emily Ramos: Councilmember Showalter.

[02:55:00] Councilmember John McAlister: I think we will be in that position now that we tried something. It failed. And we will wait until the technology or something that will help that whenever if we do decide to go down that path, maybe something. But personal liberty is very important. Um and I I just I'm amazed and proud of the passion that I saw tonight. It was just incredible.

[02:55:26] Councilmember John McAlister: Even those people from Mountain View came in to say, hey, let's protect all. And that that's really nice. Um I mean that was that was nice of them to come down to this city to figure it out. They know that Mountain View is a pretty uh a damn good city, I'll say. Not the best, but a damn good city.

[02:55:44] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh So, I will support the motion. Um but I also say we need to trust our police. Don't start and unfortunately you guys, I mean the group was pretty unanimous about Mountain View Police is good. Flock's not good. Technology's not good.

[02:56:04] Councilmember John McAlister: And so I would like everybody to walk away tonight still thinking trust our police, because with they don't have trust, they can't protect you. Bottom line. And whatever issues are out in the national narrative coming down, just remember these guys are there day in and out protecting us.

[02:56:23] Councilmember John McAlister: And again, I've been here a lot longer and I have not seen any of the incidents that have occurred elsewhere in the United States, elsewhere in California. So, um those are my words. Thank you, Chief. And the newbie up here, first time up here, nice under fire. So that's pretty nice.

[02:56:41] Councilmember John McAlister: Um, but that's it. That's all I got to say.

[02:56:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember, are you good? No, no comments. Okay.

[02:56:50] Councilmember Chris Clark: Uh Thank you, Mayor. I I wasn't in the queue uh and that's because I uh agree with uh the motion of the floor. I appreciate Councilmember Kamei's comments uh introducing um uh the the concerns and uh appreciating uh the input from uh the community.

[02:57:06] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um In addition to uh I think your generally effective advocacy. I appreciate the fact that you were uh very courteous and respectful and adhered to uh the Mayor's request not to uh you know be loud and and and applaud.

[02:57:20] Councilmember Chris Clark: Thank you for for um I think your uh important civic participation and and uh uh in this important issue. Um the only other thing I wanted to share uh since I'm in the queue involuntarily now is uh

[02:57:35] Councilmember Chris Clark: I'm grateful to uh the the chief for uh being proactive on this issue. Uh reiterating that this is not unique to Mountain View. I think what is unique about Mountain View is our response.

[02:57:46] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um grounded in uh in the community and and uh um and I think we're very responsive uh to to the concerns that that we've been hearing tonight and and earlier. Thank you for uh your work on this.

[02:58:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Um So, I guess my comments. Um So, when we considered the ALPR contract in 2024, I mentioned I had feelings about it.

[02:58:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I I couldn't put into words and and I got a lot of flack for saying I had feelings and I really couldn't explain it.

[02:58:21] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I had a lot of time since then to really understand why I had concerns. I mean like obviously what happened recently was a nice uh validation of that.

[02:58:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: But um my parents grew up under martial law in the Philippines. It was a system there was a system where surveillance wasn't abstract.

[02:58:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: It was a tool to use monitor, imitate uh intimidate and silence. And I grew up a lot with those stories on why my parents fled the Philippines to come to the US.

[02:58:57] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um even though I was born in this country, I grew up with the awareness on how belonging can feel conditional.

[02:59:05] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um I think Councilmember Kamei for sharing her story and her family. But since 2016, I've carried a passport card with me at all times.

[02:59:14] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Not because I I was unsure of my own status. I was born in this country. I I I have citizenship. But like I felt like I needed that safety blanket

[02:59:25] Councilmember Emily Ramos: um to to show I belonged in case I would get picked up in the street. And keep in mind, this was 2016. This was Obama administration.

[02:59:33] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um and so for many immigrants and communities of color, surveillance technology carries that same historical weight. It's it's not neutral.

[02:59:42] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um So, I I am glad that the police chief was proactive um in removing the cameras or taking our cameras offline.

[02:59:53] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I am hopeful that we can expedite it. I am also hopeful that as you do your conversations, I know some people are concerned about like those conversations could lead to other um ALPRs.

[03:00:06] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I I hope that it doesn't quite honestly. Um I hope that these community conversations actually draw into how can how can our police department protect our community all of our community um especially with these threats from the federal government.

[03:00:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: It is out of all the things um as mayor right now, this is the one that keeps me awake at night.

[03:00:31] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And I was scared in 2016. I am now it is suffocating how terrifying it is for our community now.

[03:00:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And I I hope you continue that conversation with those who are most vulnerable in our community on how we can we can protect them.

[03:00:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I support the motion on the floor. I I'm glad that I'm hoping I it sounds like it's going to be unanimous, so that's going to be great.

[03:00:57] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, I'm really hoping that more cities take a deeper look at their program. I I I am slightly worried that they don't have the same care that our police department has and and the the push that our community has on our police department to to ensure

[03:01:15] Councilmember Emily Ramos: that these that we have that kind of accountability. Um So, with that um once again, I'll be supporting ending this contract with flock and I hope it is expedited and I hope that we can uh find a way to get those cameras out.

[03:01:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So, thank you. And now let's move to a vote.

[03:01:38] Councilmember Chris Clark: Oh Councilmember Clark want to clarify the motion?

[03:01:41] Councilmember Chris Clark: I just wanted to clarify that. So the motion is essentially the the staff recommendation it sounds like. And then um the only question is um maybe maybe to the chief,

[03:01:50] Councilmember Chris Clark: I don't know how the the determination process works. Would it would it be helpful for you to have the authority within you know we're we're authorizing you to to um to terminate the agreement?

[03:02:03] Councilmember Chris Clark: Would it also be helpful for us if there's support to authorize you to um negotiate access to a to a quarry only ability like you had earlier?

[03:02:13] Councilmember Chris Clark: That way you can do you know if there's a kidnapping or something like that and you want to run um run a quarry through some neighboring jurisdictions that are part of the network or something like that, you'd have the ability to do that or is that just maybe maybe that isn't helpful.

[03:02:28] Councilmember Chris Clark: I just want to make sure we're giving you the the tools you feel you need during this interim period.

[03:02:32] City Staff: Uh to to answer the question, it it is helpful to be very clear. I am very proud of how we utilized our ALPR data.

[03:02:41] City Staff: Very confident in the manner in which it was utilized within the police department. Um it it is an important tool.

[03:02:48] City Staff: Uh it could provide significant uh leads and uh insights into important investigations.

[03:02:56] City Staff: If that's the direction of Council, then we'll take a thoughtful approach to how that is utilized within the organization and what access controls those are uh those are provided to our folks.

[03:03:05] City Staff: Um if that's direction, then certainly it would be something that we would examine utilizing.

[03:03:11] Councilmember Chris Clark: Okay. Yeah, it wouldn't be. I guess it's up to the motion maker and the seconder. It wouldn't It's not directing you to do that. It's just giving you the ability through the the the negotiation process to to do that if you'd like.

[03:03:22] Councilmember Chris Clark: But that's up to the the motion maker and the seconder whether they they want to include that or not.

[03:03:36] Councilmember Chris Clark: You want me to It's essentially before we rolled out the cameras in the fully ALPR system, we had query only access so that we could run

[03:03:44] Councilmember Chris Clark: let's say there's a a kidnapping or a significant um event that occurs and there's a plate or something associated with that, they could query the database

[03:03:51] Councilmember Chris Clark: um of the of of the of the rest of the network, so like San Francisco. I'm maybe the chief can describe this better than I can.

[03:04:01] Councilmember Chris Clark: But they would they would be able to get some of those hits. So there's no data being provided by Mountain View. It's just a query only account so that they are not losing access to that database tool

[03:04:11] Councilmember Chris Clark: that they previously had access to. If they want it, it's up to them.

[03:04:21] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I I I appreciate the suggestion. I I guess it would be helpful to to better understand whether flock or other jurisdictions actually would would want to participate if we're not contributing to the to the system.

[03:05:08] Councilmember Chris Clark: I I think that would be a conversation that we would have with them. My initial feeling is that likely uh there is a a path for us to have access without providing any information.

[03:05:20] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um but that's not something that we've discussed with them. Um however, that was in place as Councilmember Clark stated prior to this pilot program, and I believe that numerous agencies do utilize the the data without inputting any data or having any cameras.

[03:05:37] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And do you need direction from the council to achieve this? It feels like an operational matter.

[03:05:46] City Staff: So I think just to explain a little further, one of the things that uh most ALPR vendors do before an agency would enter contract is they provide kind of a

[03:05:59] City Staff: say what our system can provide you. Um sort of access. And so that's essentially what MVPD did before

[03:06:06] City Staff: we entered into a formal contract. We had no data that we were providing. We had no cameras that we were providing,

[03:06:14] City Staff: but it allowed the um police department staff to be able to query a search, even though we were not giving anything to anyone.

[03:06:25] Kimbra McCarthy: Um So I think operationally that is something that um the chief could discuss as we cancel this contract.

[03:06:33] Kimbra McCarthy: I just don't think we have a resolute answer as to whether that's possible.

[03:06:41] Kimbra McCarthy: But it is something that I believe um most of the vendors allow.

[03:06:46] Councilmember Chris Clark: I think my suggestion isn't directing them to do that. Thou shalt do that, just giving them the option to have that as part of the conversation of the of the termination process.

[03:07:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay, um All right, we are going to Councilmember McAlister.

[03:07:09] Councilmember John McAlister: So, I just asked the chief, uh the data that we collect is for only 30 days and then it's deleted?

[03:07:16] City Staff: That is the standard data sharing is in the system is a 30 day. Um I think there are some agencies that have variations, some more, some less.

[03:07:26] City Staff: But as a a rule of thumb, 30 days is the duration.

[03:07:27] Councilmember John McAlister: So to uh Councilmember Clark's deal, the most it would last would be 30 days to queue up the information.

[03:07:34] City Staff: That's correct.

[03:07:34] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay.

[03:07:36] Councilmember John McAlister: Just bring some clarity that what's going on. I know going to last 30 days or whenever we cancel it.

[03:07:41] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Hicks.

[03:07:44] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah, I'm just a little skeptical. I'm a little um confused about the implications of of this uh of how it would affect our negotiations.

[03:07:55] Councilmember Alison Hicks: It's we would be canceling with Flock, but keeping a connection with them.

[03:08:01] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I'm wondering, I'm does it expire in 30 days and then also um and then also how does this affect our negotiations with them uh for getting money back, for taking the cameras down?

[03:08:15] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I don't think we'll have the answers to this tonight, but it sounds like it might not be a path we would want to go down.

[03:08:21] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah, those aren't questions that I'd be able to answer immediately, but I do think that they're um the

[03:08:26] City Staff: they are the access is potentially separate from uh the removal of the cameras, etc. I don't see one uh at first pass as being impeding the other.

[03:08:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah, it seems like there might be a payment system for continued use. It just seems like there are a whole bunch of questions we don't know the answer to, and I don't feel like I can like I can um make that kind of decision right here.

[03:08:52] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I'm a little skeptical that it's a good idea.

[03:08:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Kamei.

[03:09:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay. Thanks. Well, I I guess as the motion maker, I should say say if I accept. I think I um I appreciate the sentiment, Councilmember Clark.

[03:09:09] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I think given that there seems to be more follow up and information um necessary, perhaps um that can I don't feel comfortable at this time including it, but I understand the intent.

[03:09:28] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I um appreciate colleagues um input in terms of wanting to make sure that we have public safety tools that are evolved to be able to um meet the needs of our residents.

[03:09:42] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I think at this time it was also agendaized as

[03:09:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: a recommendation to terminate the contract.

[03:09:49] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I feel conflict in terminating a contract, but then negotiating other aspects of a contract when the staff recommendation was to terminate.

[03:09:57] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, so I think at this time I'll just keep it as the staff recommendation and perhaps uh staff chief can provide an off-agenda memo on the other tools that are available. Uh, I'm assuming that it's not just these query query systems anymore that there might be other um

[03:10:20] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: elements to public safety that we are not aware of as a council because we are not in that line of work um day in and day out. So that would be hopefully a a compromise Councilmember Clark if that's

[03:10:33] Councilmember Chris Clark: That that's perfectly fine. I mean if there if there are uh if there are databases that solutions that you want to bring to us at some point um that's query only um you know I I'd personally be be fine with reviewing that but

[03:10:48] Councilmember Chris Clark: but yeah if you want to just keep things simple and uh just go with the staff recommendation tonight that's fine with me. I just wanted to raise it so.

[03:10:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, now the docket is clear, I think we are ready for a vote on a clean motion.

[03:11:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Motion passes unanimously. We will now take a 10-minute break, we're gonna reconvene at 10 o'clock.

[03:11:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, I call the meeting back to order at 10:06 p.m. There is uh because it is past 10 o'clock we need a motion to extend past 10 o'clock.

[03:11:30] Councilmember Chris Clark: So moved.

[03:11:31] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Clark. Thank you Councilmember Kamei. We have a motion to continue the the uh meeting past 10 o'clock, moved by Councilmember Clark, seconded by Councilmember Kamei. Uh we are ready for a vote.

[03:11:46] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Do we wait for Lucas?

[03:11:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: No.

[03:11:59] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yay.

[03:12:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Subtraction.

[03:12:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Oh my gosh, so uh a bare majority passing it, 4-2 with uh Councilmember Ramirez absent. Um, so now we will move on to Item 6.2, Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments

6.2 Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update

[03:12:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update.

[03:12:37] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone and Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director Grace Zen will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk now.

[03:13:08] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: All right, good evening Mayor Ramos and Vice Mayor Clark and the Council members. Derek Rampone, your Finance and Administrative Services Director, and as you said earlier, I'm joined tonight with Grace Zen, the Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director.

[03:13:21] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Tonight's item is the Fiscal Year 25-26 Midyear Budget Report. As you know this is our standard annual midyear report where we look at how the city is doing financially for the first six months of the fiscal year and if any adjustments or changes to the adopted budget are needed.

[03:13:41] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: The city has a long history of sound fiscal practices, um between uh prudent budgeting practices of balancing ongoing expenditures with ongoing revenues and only using one-time revenues for one-time costs, not for ongoing expenditures.

[03:13:58] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: In addition, the city makes it a priority to adopt structurally balanced budgets uh every year, and in recent years the city has experienced strong revenue growth resulting in larger than normal operating balances at year end.

[03:14:11] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: These operating balances have allowed the city to address a portion of our unfunded liabilities, such as making additional payments directly to CalPERS to pay down the city's pension liability and to fully fund the city's post-employment benefits that are due to retirees for health insurance.

[03:14:28] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Another one of the city's financial practices is to build reserves in anticipation of potential budget constraints and to maintain sufficient funds to withstand significant temporary declines in revenue.

[03:14:41] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: This slide is a reminder of the financial recognition that the city has received and continues to receive, from the AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor's, the highest rating possible, to the continued recognition by national organizations for our budget document, our annual audited financial statements, and excellence in procurement as well.

[03:15:03] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: All of these uh accomplishments are great examples of not only the strong fiscal health of the city but also the excellent product that the city prepares in relation to the budget and reporting and procurement.

[03:15:16] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Here's a timeline just as a reminder of where we are in the budget process. As you can see we're here at the midyear budget update in February. We'll be bringing back um a preliminary review of the Fiscal Year 26-27 Recommended Budget uh in April, as well as there'll be a study session for the Capital Improvement Program.

[03:15:38] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Uh in May, at the end of May we'll release the Recommended Budget, and then two meetings in June, two public hearings that will see adoption of the Recommended Budget.

[03:15:49] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: It's important that we paint a picture of what's happening at the national and state level before we dive into the local economy overall. The national economy entered calendar year 2026 on relatively solid footing um and has remained resilient despite ongoing economic uncertainty and market volatility.

[03:16:10] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Inflation still remains a concern as consumer prices remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels. Adding pressure to the inflation is the uncertainty surrounding tariffs on imported goods, and as of recently inflation still remains above the Federal Reserve's goal of 2%.

[03:16:28] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Consumer spending continues though to drive the be the driving force behind much of the economic activity and growth in the nation. However, it appears that only higher-income households continue to increase their purchasing while lower-income households have reduced their spending due to rising costs.

[03:16:45] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: With that being said, the nation faces continues to face significant potential challenges. Changes in federal policies, federal government shutdowns, and the threat of federal funding freezes and reductions all add to the uncertainty and have potential to negatively impact economic activity and consumer confidence.

[03:17:05] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: And then at the state level, uh the state budget is facing a shortfall of $21.0 billion, and in order to balance the budget the state has moved funds around and is dipping into some of their reserves.

[03:17:16] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: This is another potential issue that we need to watch as this could have a negative impact on the local economy.

[03:17:23] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Now turning to the local economy, I do want to say that even though we are continuing to see signs of a slowing economy we are doing better than others. Um other cities are experiencing similar issues as us showing basically a slowdown in in growth uh in revenues.

[03:17:42] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Um specifically the City of Mountain View is not experiencing the same growth rates as it has in the past, especially with property tax revenues and even other revenues that are flattening.

[03:17:54] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: While unemployment remains low around 3.5%, it is higher than a year ago um but is lower than when it hit a peak of 4.1% in July of 2025. But we are expecting local unemployment to continue to increase in the near future.

[03:18:10] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: And as this impacts uh the City of Mountain View locally, we see fewer employees that are working in the city um impact the sales tax revenue that is generated.

[03:18:24] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Now we're turning to the numbers for 25-26. You'll see uh this is just a comparison slide of the estimated what staff is estimating for the current fiscal year in the far right column compared to actual amounts from 24-25 in the far left column, and the adopted budget in the middle column for this current fiscal year.

[03:18:44] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: As you can see, uh we the adopted budget uh estimated an operating balance of 743,000, and now with the midyear um amendments we are expecting an a balance of about 1.7 million at the end of this fiscal year.

[03:19:01] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: To put some of that in context, uh just wanted to say that uh the you can see that the revenues are coming in slightly higher when compared to the budget for this fiscal year, but only about 0.3% higher than we budgeted at the beginning of the fiscal year.

[03:19:20] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: This is the General Operating Fund revenues for 25-26. As you can see, they're mostly expected to be the same as the adopted budget, with a few increases um in some of the categories, but a decrease in property tax of 2.5 million or 3%, and other local taxes such as utility users tax which is estimated to be 10% or $1.2 million lower than the budget.

[03:19:46] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: And as you can see on this slide, sales tax is actually expected to be in line with the budgeted level of about 23 million dollars.

[03:19:53] Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone: Now we turn to expenditures. Uh they are expected to be slightly lower than the oper- uh than the adopted budget.

6.1 Automated License Plate Reader Contract

[03:20:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: an off agenda memo on the other tools that are available. Uh I'm assuming it's not just these query query systems anymore, that there might be other

6.2 Fiscal Year 2025-26 Midyear Budget Status Report and Adjustments, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Preliminary General Operating Fund Forecast, and Fiscal Years 2025-27 Council Work Plan: 6-Month Project Update

[03:20:00] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: but only by .2% or $378,000.

[03:20:05] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: As you can see on this slide, we continue to see savings in salaries and benefits. Um, these are in line with expected salary uh savings due to normal vacancies.

[03:20:17] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: This slide is a snapshot of all the other funds or some of the major funds of the city, I should say. Um as you can see really the Development Services Fund, which um is anticipated to end the year with revenue that is higher than the budget and expenditures coming in lower than budget.

[03:20:37] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: As you probably recall, this is a reversal of recent trends of negative budget variances in the Deva Development Services Fund.

[03:20:46] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The Shoreline Regional Park Community Fund is trending to have revenues that are also coming in below budget, which is mainly due to lower than expected property tax revenue.

[03:20:56] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: However, expenditures are also expected to be below budget.

[03:20:59] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Here is a summary of the recommended midyear budget adjustments by fund type.

[03:21:01] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The largest items on here are transfer of funds to reserves, as can be seen by the arrow there. Um that includes $2 million to be transferred to the CIP Reserve, a million to the strategic property acquisition reserve and 1 million to the parental leave reserve.

[03:21:23] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The other large item you'll see on this page is the $11.7 million decrease in revenue in the Shoreline Regional Park Community Fund.

[03:21:31] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Of that amount, 14.2 million is actually the lower than expected property taxes, but that's offset by 2.5 million in expected investment earnings coming in higher than budget.

[03:21:45] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: From further details on these adjustments, they can be found on pages 34 through 39 of the staff report and in attachments two and three.

[03:21:53] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: As part of the midyear report, staff is proposing various position changes as can be seen on this slide.

[03:22:01] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: There are two new limited-period positions being proposed, three new ongoing positions and a few reclassifications of existing positions, including a reorganization of the Transportation and Business Services Division to create a new division that focuses solely on transportation and traffic.

[03:22:19] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: More information on these proposed position changes can be found on pages 39 through 42 of the staff report and attachments four and five.

[03:22:26] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Now we turn to fiscal year 26-27 forecast.

[03:22:33] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um these details of this section start on page 43 of the staff report.

[03:22:39] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: As you can see on this chart, the general operating fund revenues are flattening, while expenditures continue to climb, leading to a much smaller operating balance as previously discussed.

[03:22:52] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Staff is projecting an operating balance of around $453,000 as can be seen on the far right for next year.

[03:22:59] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: It should be noted that this projected operating balance does not include any 26-27 ongoing budget requests that are currently under review by the city manager and budget team.

[03:23:11] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: I would also like to note that this projected balance of 453,000 will likely change between now and the preview of the recommended budget in April.

[03:23:21] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Staff is currently analyzing projected revenues and expenditures and will include these updates in the April 14 item.

[03:23:32] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: I would also like to point out just a few assumptions and risks that are related to the forecast.

[03:23:38] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Unfortunately, nobody has a crystal ball. We are using current data with input from economists and others to build our forecast.

[03:23:46] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: As stated earlier, revenue growth is expected to be minimal with expenditures that are increasing at a higher rate than revenues.

[03:23:54] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Some of the risks or unknowns when developing the forecast are how long will it take for inflation to get back to 2% target,

[03:24:02] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: any uncertainty with policies that are coming out of Washington and what their impact may be on the local economy.

[03:24:10] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: And it also should be noted that a recession scenario has not been included in this forecast.

[03:24:18] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Attachment one to the staff report lists out each department's performance measures and provides a six-month status update on each.

[03:24:25] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: As you will recall, a few years ago the city brought in a consultant to revamp and improve all of the performance measures for every department.

[03:24:33] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: And now that we are in the second year of implementation of these performance measures, um we've been monitoring them and have been updating them slightly as needed to refine them to align with tracking capabilities.

[03:24:48] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The final item in the staff report is attachment six, which is the six-month project update for the fiscal years 25-27 Council Work Plan.

[03:24:58] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Another update on this will be provided in June.

[03:25:01] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: And then just next steps on this final slide showing the next steps, the next the next touchpoint for the budget will be the preliminary review of the fiscal year 26-27 recommended budget and the CIP study session on April 14.

[03:25:18] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The first public hearing on the recommended budget will be held on June 9th and the final public budget public hearing and adoption of the budget and the CIP will include will occur on the 23rd of June.

[03:25:30] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um we want to thank you for allowing us to present this item and that concludes our presentation.

[03:25:35] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Grace and I are happy to assist with answering any questions.

[03:25:38] Councilmember John McAlister: Thank you, Mr. Repponi.

[03:25:40] Councilmember John McAlister: Um was any member of the council have any questions?

[03:25:48] Councilmember John McAlister: Anyone?

[03:25:49] Councilmember John McAlister: Councilmember McAlister.

[03:25:51] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh my questions are more towards the uh

[03:25:58] Councilmember John McAlister: the performance uh criteria and and that.

[03:26:01] Councilmember John McAlister: So I don't know if that has to do with your or will this be the time to ask those questions.

[03:26:09] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, so I will.

[03:26:11] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, so under community

[03:26:17] Councilmember John McAlister: um Community Development Department uh item 10, number of companies receiving business assistance from the city, says 75.

[03:26:26] Councilmember John McAlister: So exactly what type of assistance are these businesses receiving?

[03:26:34] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Uh good evening. Thank you. Amanda Rotella, Economic Vitality Manager.

[03:26:38] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: So it's a variety of services, um everything from receiving receiving support around our facade improvement grant program, to support from our business ambassador team, permit facilitation, site selection support.

[03:26:52] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Um we meet one-on-one with businesses to understand their challenges and then do resource uh resource referrals.

[03:27:00] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: So a whole range of services they receive.

[03:27:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh, it's not financial, it's just knowledge and guidance.

[03:27:05] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Some of them do receive, you know, our facade improvement grant funds, but it's not just that. It's a variety of services and support.

[03:27:12] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay.

[03:27:13] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Thank you.

[03:27:25] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, let's go to Public Works.

[03:27:27] Councilmember John McAlister: I have a question for Public Works.

[03:27:38] Councilmember John McAlister: Thank you for staying.

[03:27:42] Councilmember John McAlister: So, my question to you is more it's the clarity.

[03:27:46] Councilmember John McAlister: Um on your performances, number of construction projects awarded and percentage of time approved bids is within 25% of the engineer's estimate.

[03:27:56] Councilmember John McAlister: So, what does that mean?

[03:27:58] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: That means that as we finish 100% design plans and specs, um our engineer or our consultant, our design consultant at that time gives us a 100% estimate for how much they think on bid day our project should cost.

[03:28:15] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: And then so what this number is is it's a comparison between that number that the consultant gives us, say they say X project should cost a million dollars, and on bid day we get five bids, and the lowest responsive and responsible bid is, you know, $1.1 million,

[03:28:33] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: then our difference is that $100,000 difference between the engineer's estimate and what we actually get for a low bid.

[03:28:43] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: In this particular instance, just doing quick math, that's a 10% um differential, and so it would count as being within this 25% differential in the performance measure.

[03:28:54] Councilmember John McAlister: So you you use the word the consultant gave you a bid.

[03:28:56] Councilmember John McAlister: How often does so how do uh do we use consultants mostly for getting us to the point or how much do we do in house to get to that estimate?

[03:29:06] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: The vast majority of our projects are done through consultant design.

[03:29:11] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: We utilize their expertise and their um I'll call it their embedment in the industry and keeping track of what current trends are with respect to material pricing and labor cost to give us the most um as best as they can predict the the best estimate for the project at that time.

[03:29:30] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, reading this chart here, you've had 15 projects within the first six months and 80% of your projects come within 25% of the engineer's estimate.

[03:29:42] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: That is correct.

[03:29:43] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay.

[03:29:44] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: And that is um 25% either above or 25% below.

[03:29:47] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: So it's a you know, it's a plus or minus.

[03:29:51] Councilmember John McAlister: Is that a good number to work with?

[03:29:53] Councilmember John McAlister: I mean, is that I mean, there could be industry standards, but is it something that we can we strive to do? Of course we strive to do better.

[03:30:04] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: It it's data that we use in house really to track how our consultants are doing.

[03:30:10] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Um personally in my experience, any any low bid that comes in about 10% or so of the engineer's estimate, that that that's pretty good.

[03:30:20] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Thank you.

[03:30:21] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: You're welcome.

[03:30:23] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, uh city manager's office.

[03:30:29] Councilmember John McAlister: This is the uh item 17, exit to permanent housing from city-funded homeless programs.

[03:30:35] Councilmember John McAlister: I was just

[03:30:36] Councilmember John McAlister: is there a dollar amount? Well, maybe our finance director, is there a dollar amount for that particular program?

[03:30:46] Councilmember John McAlister: City manager's number uh 17.

[03:30:54] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh, we have a volunteer coming down.

[03:30:58] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um Audrey Ramberg, Assistant City Manager.

[03:31:02] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um the city's investments in our programs for unstably housed include our safe parking program, which is um approximately a million dollars in city funding per year.

[03:31:17] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um in addition, there are um contributions in partnership with the county for permanent support of housing um and rapid rehousing and I don't remember the precise dollar amounts for those, but they're um in the amount of um around a couple hundred thousand dollars.

[03:31:36] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, the reason I ask is I'm again being nitpicky, well not just just being me, that you did 60 people uh exited permanent housing and I'm just trying to say how much did it cost us to to get 60 people into

[03:31:52] Councilmember John McAlister: permanent housing?

[03:31:54] Councilmember John McAlister: So I just see how we're doing with our money is it and the programs that we're doing are a good uh worth the value.

[03:32:01] Councilmember John McAlister: So if you could get to that to later on, that'd be appreciated.

[03:32:05] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Sure.

[03:32:08] Councilmember John McAlister: And I think uh one other thing I uh I don't know if it's a comment, but the fire department or is that a question?

[03:32:20] Councilmember John McAlister: Comment. Okay. Thank you.

[03:32:24] Councilmember John McAlister: All right. Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Showalter.

[03:32:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I just have a couple I just have a couple of questions. Um

[03:32:35] Councilmember Pat Showalter: and they're things really that were in the the answers, but I I just want to share them because I think they're they're sort of an interesting change.

[03:32:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: One is the $4 million

[03:32:46] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I think 34, question 34.

[03:32:47] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The staff report says appropriate 4.1 um million dollars in the Shoreline Regional Park Community Fund for administrative overhead provides increase funding for administrative overhead costs based on updated uh cost allocation study.

[03:33:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Can you tell us a little bit about that cost allocation study and and what the um impacts of that are throughout the city?

[03:33:10] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Yeah, thanks for the question.

[03:33:11] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: So this uh we two years a year ago we conducted a uh independent cost allocation plan study, which basically looks at all the administrative costs throughout the city and uh determines who's benefiting from those costs, which departments or funds of the city are benefiting from.

[03:33:32] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And specifically, if you think about um Shoreline as a standalone agency, um we provide accounting services, the financial accounting services, IT, human resources, police and fire, all those costs would be, you know, should be borne by uh a separate agency like that that receives those services.

[03:33:49] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And so we had not done a study in 10 years, and as a result of that study, we um it was determined that in increased uh charges need to be allocated throughout the city to different funds.

[03:34:03] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And so as a result, that's what we're bringing to the council tonight, that Shoreline should be paying $4 million more at midyear um for those types of overhead and administrative fees, including police and fire and the ones I mentioned.

[03:34:17] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, that that makes good sense.

[03:34:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Is there some sort of an industry standard for how frequently you update that kind of thing?

[03:34:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes. Uh every five years.

[03:34:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Every five years. Okay.

[03:34:35] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And but but time goes by so quickly when you have to do studies like that. It's really hard to keep up with that kind of thing.

[03:34:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, then the other questions I have relate to the council work plan.

[03:34:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um one of them was the first one was the city code cleanup.

[03:34:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I thought we had kind of done the clean up that we were going to do and it was it was taken care of.

[03:34:57] Councilmember Emily Ramos: It would. It's not your turn yet, Councilmember Showalter.

[03:34:58] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Council Councilmember Showalter. So there's been a a few items related to the code clean up and actually the next item on tonight's agenda is part of this work plan item um code clean up for our small businesses.

[03:35:13] Councilmember Pat Showalter: You know what, I didn't ask that question completely enough. I'm sorry. That's why it didn't make sense. Yeah, I got that. I read that. But but I was thinking the reach code part. The reach code part we have completed. Is that not the case?

[03:35:27] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: That is a very resounding yes. We completed it. We completed it in August of 2025.

[03:35:35] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well that's what I was worried about. Yeah, you're right. We are doing um commercial code updates here and that's very important. But I um I didn't lose any sleep over that whereas I did lose sleep over the reach codes earlier. Um, and then the- so that's really, that's- and then there was a council question about the volunteer framework and the answer was that you would attempt to get it back in time for this council. Very much appreciated. Thank you.

[03:36:42] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Any other questions? All right. We will now take it to public comment. Would any member of the public online like to comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star nine on your phone. A timer will be displayed on the screen. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes. I will reiterate that this item is on the mid-year budgets. I have one hand raised. Um, George Lance.

[03:37:18] Public Speaker: Yes, hello. Can you hear me?

[03:37:20] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[03:37:22] Public Speaker: Okay, great. Um, this this budget um seems okay with me. One thing I will say is from a from a citizen's perspective, it's important that we know who we're doing business with. Um, and when we do these budgets, I think from a from a commoner's perspective, the numbers get a little bit hard to understand. Um, they all seem like they're 6 million, and um it's hard to know what's what. But these numbers could be just the same as 271,000, and you wouldn't know the difference. Most people don't know the difference there. Um, and there's important things that people are thinking about as far as like who we're doing business with, and um in this age, people want to make sure and and there should be an audit to make sure that the groups that we give our money to, our top 20 um clients and recipients, that we need to make sure that these people are not in bed with the same Jeffrey Epstein types that do Jewish supremacy and deviant sex

[03:39:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you for your comments. That ends public comment. Um, next we have council member - oh, we'll bring it back to council. To Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:39:51] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. First, I want to share uh my appreciation and gratitude uh to staff for preparing the document and uh for the recommendations that you've made. Uh, this is um uh a fantastic mid-year budget review. Uh the the projections are concerning, right? We we have to be mindful and and prudent. And I think that's something that uh the future council will will certainly take to heart. Um, but the the recommendations in the mid-year are are uh uh excellent. And uh again, very uh community-minded, thinking about a lot of the um uh the the challenges that that many are facing, um uh related to uh, you know, the federal government uncertainty, um uh the the attacks by the federal government, uh homelessness, and uh and uh the you know, sort of myriad uh economic hardship uh uh issues that that many are are contending with.

[03:41:33] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so I I just want to say thank you for uh in particular expanding uh library hours, uh for jump-starting uh the direct financial assistance program, uh for uh the the grants that are being provided to uh CBOs that serve the unhoused. These are remarkable things that you don't typically see in a mid-year um uh budget update. So I wanted to highlight those. There are other may- good things that that other members of the council have highlighted as well. Um, uh I think uh many will appreciate the public art administrator uh that you're recommending to fund. So there's there's a lot of really good stuff, and I I wish we could um uh project a little bit more uh vocally um to the community some of the the things that we're we're recommending. Um, so I'm going to read uh the motion, uh and this is another good example of why we need to amend the charter, incidentally, so that way we don't have to do this every single time.

[03:43:07] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But I'm going to make one modification. So first I'll move to uh approve the staff recommendations, including: adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View, one, amending the Fiscal Year 2025-26 adopted budget to reduce revenue appropriations by $2,177,370 in the General Operating Fund; increase revenue appropriations by $2 million in the Capital Improvement Reserve; increase revenue appropriations by $1 million in the Strategic Property Reserve; increase revenue appropriations by $1 million in the Parental Leave Reserve. Two, appropriate $2 million in the City Attorney's Office liability self-insurance fund for litigation cases; appropriate $2 million in the General Operating Fund for a transfer to the Capital Improvement Reserve; appropriate one uh $1.8 million in the Public Works Department wastewater fund for wastewater treatment costs; appropriate $1 million in the General Operating Fund for a transfer to the Strategic Property Acquisition Reserve;

[03:44:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: appropriate $1 million in the General Operating Fund for a transfer to the Parental Leave Reserve; appropriate $300,000 in the General Fund Parental Leave Reserve for the parental leave program;

[03:45:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: the City of Mountain View salary plans for regular and hourly employees to be read and title only for the reading waived. Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View, one, authorizing the addition of ongoing positions, 1.0 full-time equivalent or FTE public art administrator position in the community development department, 1.0 FTE facilities maintenance maintenance supervisor in the public works department, 1.0 FTE lead security services guard and 1.0 librarian to FTE in the library department.

[03:45:31] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Two, authorizing the addition of limited period positions through the end of fiscal year 2026 to 27, 1.0 FTE limited period account clerk two position in the finance and administrative services department, 1.0 FTE uh senior human resources analyst position in the human resources department.

[03:45:52] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Three, authorizing reclassification of 1.0 FTE deputy city attorney position to 1.0 FTE city sorry, senior assistant city attorney position, 5.0 FTE parks and open space worker two positions, and 5 two 5.0 FTE trails and open space worker two positions.

[03:46:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: 1.0 FTE senior IT analyst position in the IT department to 1.0 FTE senior systems analyst position in the finance and administrative services department, 1.0 FTE transportation planner position to chief transportation officer position, 1.0 FTE transportation planner position to associate transportation planner position.

[03:46:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And four, authorizing a title change for 2.0 FTE transportation planner positions positions to be read and title only, further reading waived.

[03:46:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so the the the reason for the modification is uh because after um speaking with um the uh housing director Wayne Chen and with the City Manager, um we were talking about uh some um some of the impacts of federal decisions in particular that have a disproportionate impact to um um some in our community who uh are at risk of uh potential uh displacement and other uh economic hardship.

[03:47:18] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um and uh in consultation with um with both the housing director and and the uh city manager uh a modest increase of funding to that uh direct financial assistance program I think would would help to mitigate uh some of that impact.

[03:47:35] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um and we'll also be able to talk more about that program uh in the context of the budget adoption later in the year, but just seeing the program get started I think is very encouraging, uh very welcome.

[03:47:47] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um again, I I can't uh emphasize enough how uh how grateful I am to all of you for putting together a remarkable um set of recommendations in this midyear budget uh review. Thank you.

[03:48:02] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Next, we have Councilmember Clark.

[03:48:13] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Oh, Councilmember Hicks.

[03:48:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I guess I didn't know what I was seconding when I seconded it, but I but I will continue to second it with that amendment. I support that.

[03:48:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um and um you did uh uh Councilmember Ramirez, you did a great job of summing up why we should why we should support this budget.

[03:48:37] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um I was just going to call out my favorite things in it. Um some of which you did, but uh I was particularly happy to see that we're adding a public art administrator position because uh the people I know in the on the visual arts committee have been calling for that.

[03:48:55] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Uh and also telling me that all the cities around us all have that and that it can be an important part as we densify we should become we should enhance our cultural component and that it's also a good way to um encourage economic vitality in our entertainment district.

[03:49:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So um so that's one item that I um have been advocating for and strongly support along with many other things in the budget.

[03:49:22] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I also particularly like seeing the um increase to uh parks and open space worker and trails and open space worker given that um given our biodiversity plan and the planning and the expansion of our trails, I was super happy to see that.

[03:49:39] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And also power washing, because um because my neighbors ask me about that all the time, I live near the downtown and they want power washing very badly. So those are my favorite things.

[03:49:53] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. I see City Manager McCarthy is on docket.

[03:49:58] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to clarify uh Councilmember Ramirez's um addition of the extra $50,000 for the direct relief program.

[03:50:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So what the uh budget recommendation is is uh using 35,000 for the unfunded amount, so it's tacking on the 50 to that. So it's really 85,000.

[03:50:21] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So I just wanted to clarify that for our finance team since you read all that in the record, so if that could also be reflected in the recommendation as well. That's the actual amount.

[03:50:35] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Sounds good. Sounds good. Councilmember Showalter.

[03:50:37] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I just wanted to um weigh in and thank the staff for producing this report.

[03:50:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: There was there's a lot to it. And I know that um you know, of course the people that are sitting up here at the dais had a great deal of work and and contributed to it.

[03:50:56] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But you know, there were people from every department who contributed to this. And I um I really appreciate your um you're getting all this information to us.

[03:51:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: As I was saying to somebody outside in the hall, you know, um us looking at the budget is really one of the most important responsibilities that the city council has.

[03:51:17] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And so getting the information um put in a form where we can digest it uh is uh is is really, really important for us to do our jobs well.

[03:51:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So thank you for doing that. And then talking about favorite things, power washing, very, you know, I I too have heard people complain about that and particularly in the in the uh the the parking lots uh the parking structures.

[03:51:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um it's not a big thing, but it makes it makes a difference.

[03:51:46] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then the other thing I I wanted to thank you the um for going and doing the allocation, the administrative fees allocation.

[03:51:55] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It's just really important to keep up with that sort of cost and how it's distributed and um keep it up to date so no one gets surprised.

[03:52:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um and then I also wanted to thank you for this um chart in particular, well for the the new positions, but particularly this chart.

[03:52:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: You have a slide 14 that sort of explains them. Um that really uh you know, that really depicted it well.

[03:52:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um I um I'm particularly excited that the these um positions reflect are are continued um value in transportation.

[03:53:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So, I'll be very happy to um support the motion.

[03:53:07] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember McAllister.

[03:53:11] Councilmember John McAlister: You know, I'd like to thank uh Councilmember Hicks for reminding me of the public art position.

[03:53:19] Councilmember John McAlister: I've been advocating for that for oh, since 2014.

[03:53:22] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, you know, active transportation, bikes, trails, but also our transportation system and how we're making this, you know, more um more prominent and better, you know, hopefully better organized by this this um uh these changes.

[03:53:25] Councilmember John McAlister: So I mean, we got it through the gate sort.

[03:53:30] Councilmember John McAlister: But um I travel a lot, a lot of you do, and we go to all these cities and we see the art and the sometimes the art is a placemaker.

[03:53:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I I really applaud that. Thank you for doing that. I know you've heard people talk about that a lot.

[03:53:38] Councilmember John McAlister: We have people come to it. The pioneer um in Salt Lake City, the Pony Express.

[03:53:44] Councilmember John McAlister: You know, she's taking her picture next, all that, but I mean there's stuff um a lot of it does and we need that vitality. We need something to make us stand out.

[03:53:53] Councilmember John McAlister: And I think that's great.

[03:53:55] Councilmember John McAlister: Now we just need to let them go and do it.

[03:53:58] Councilmember John McAlister: And if there's people that want to do it for free, let them do it.

[03:54:03] Councilmember John McAlister: And so that's great. Um I did want to follow up on a comment that the Fire Department did. And this is something in the context of consequences of some of our actions.

[03:54:17] Councilmember John McAlister: And it says and I'll let me read it to you. The average response time is below the required response time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds established by the County of Santa Clara Emergency Medical Services.

[03:54:29] Councilmember John McAlister: This is the fire department getting to some. The average travel time for the first unit uh for the first due unit to arrive for a building fire is 3 minutes and 32 seconds, which is great.

[03:54:41] Councilmember John McAlister: But here comes the kicker. Population growth has contributed to below target travel times.

[03:54:48] Councilmember John McAlister: Over the past 10 years, the population has increased by 8%, while on average call volume has increased by 44%, which implies an exponential relationship between population increase and call volume.

[03:55:03] Councilmember John McAlister: And so I've always said before we start doing all this housing, we said we got to make sure our foundation is strong and that now we're putting anything in jeopardy.

[03:55:13] Councilmember John McAlister: So here is an example of where building, but what are we doing on the other side of the fire department to take care of the people getting help uh and it is transportation, but it's the traffic.

[03:55:27] Councilmember John McAlister: The more people we bring in, the more traffic, the slower the response times.

[03:55:32] Councilmember John McAlister: So always if we're thinking about safety, we're doing something, to me safety is prominent.

[03:55:38] Councilmember John McAlister: That that if we build, we have that foundation, we have the transportation available there to take care of it.

[03:55:44] Councilmember John McAlister: And this is a, you know, a red flag to say let's make sure that if we're doing this building this housing, we are able to get take care of these people going forward.

[03:55:52] Councilmember John McAlister: Thanks.

[03:55:56] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you, Councilmember McAllister. Do we have any more comments before we go take our vote?

[03:56:02] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Seeing none, let's take our vote.

[03:56:11] City Clerk Heather Glaser: And it's unanimous.

[03:56:14] City Clerk Heather Glaser: All right, we move on to our next item.

7.1 Small Business Streamlining and Other Minor Zoning Code Updates

[03:57:39] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Good evening, Mayor Ramos and Councilmembers. I'm Lindsay Hagen, Assistant Community Development Director, and I'm here tonight with Amanda Rotella, Economic Vitality Manager, to present the proposed amendments to chapter 26 36, sorry.

[03:57:55] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: It's late of the city code, also known as the zoning code um related to streamlining permit procedures for certain small businesses and other minor code amendments.

[03:58:05] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um the package of proposed zoning code amendments before you implement various actions from the Economic Vitality Strategy and with the purpose of reducing certain zoning barriers experienced by businesses.

[03:58:18] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Specifically, the amendments implement actions 1B7, 4A6, and strategy 5D, um which are shown here on your screen.

[03:58:27] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um they center around removing two of the largest barriers um to small businesses in Mountain View, which is permitting and parking.

[03:58:35] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Specifically, the proposed amendments remove change of use permit requirements, um and include a reduction in the required number of parking spaces for retail and personal service uses, and for certain small footprint land uses, the amendments propose waiving requirements for a conditional use permit and for requiring new or additional parking spaces to be provided on existing sites.

[03:58:53] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So implementing this package of amendments removes city permit regulatory requirements that disproportionately impact small businesses and instead simplifies the process to support these businesses in choosing Mountain View um to locate.

[03:59:09] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um in addition to the Economic Vitality Strategy, staff has initiated these amendments to implement the council work plan, um to complete some city code cleanups.

[03:59:19] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The proposed amendments update inconsistent language and modifier, add new land uses and definitions to reflect modern land use terms and advance a more user-friendly zoning code.

[03:59:29] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um additionally, staff routinely uh prepares minor code amendments um to align our zoning code with state and federal laws, improve consistency and transparency and update procedures.

[03:59:42] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Uh one of the major components of the zoning code amendments tonight includes establishing a new small-footprint land-use streamlining framework.

[03:59:50] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um city staff reviewed the last five years of planning use permits, so this includes change of use permits, conditional use permits and provisional use permits, to identify a list of activating land uses that could benefit from streamlining.

[04:00:15] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um as outlined in the staff report, we identified that over a third of the use permits that we have processed are represented by four primary land uses.

[04:00:24] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um these uses all bring foot traffic and activation that in turn um bring vibrancy to commercial areas.

[04:00:30] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So staff is proposing to geographically focus the streamlining provisions to uh for these small-footprint land uses within the city's existing commercial zoning districts as shown in the map on your screen and in attachment three of the report.

[04:00:33] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um they're listed here on your screen, they include retail, restaurant, personal service, which is like hair salon, nail salon, massage type uses, um as well as indoor recreation and fitness centers.

[04:00:43] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um it's important to note that the package of amendments before the council tonight do not include any changes to precise plans.

[04:00:51] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um these changes we are discussing would only impact a precise plan if the specific precise plan refers back to the zoning code.

[04:00:57] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um in the commercial districts where these four uses are currently allowed, um either permitted or conditionally permitted, staff is proposing these uses be permitted if they meet a list of objective um operational standards, which I will talk about in a moment.

[04:01:11] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um so if a business complies with these three criteria, so they include one of these qualifying land uses, they're located in in one of these commercial zones, and they meet the operational standards, then no conditional use permit is required and no new or additional parking is required beyond what exists on the site.

[04:01:30] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um this streamlining would allow a business to submit directly for a building permit, um uh and that would save, you know, anywhere from six months or more of time as well as $10,000 or more in permit fees or other carrying costs um on the unoccupied leased space.

[04:01:47] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um so touching briefly on the operational standards, um they're listed here on the screen.

[04:01:52] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So these standards were developed through a review of the conditions of approval of past permits, as well as our um city code requirements.

[04:02:01] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um these standards include a maximum tenant space size of 4,000 square feet, um compliance with other applicable codes and laws, as well as basic objective requirements related to loading, solid waste, outdoor activities, noise, and any change in ownership.

[04:02:17] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: To further implement the economic vitality strategy, the proposed amendments also include changes to parking standards and permit requirements.

[04:02:25] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So first, uh to stay competitive in the retail market, regionally, staff recommends update updating the minimum parking standards for retail and personal services from one parking space per 180 square feet, um which is our standard today, to one space per 250 square feet.

[04:02:42] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: This update is based on the survey of 10 cities in our region, uh which were summarized in the staff report.

[04:02:48] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So through staff's research, you know, Mountain View was identified to have the highest parking requirement for these two types of uses, um and frankly there's no need for the city to have such a high standard.

[04:03:00] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um second staff recommends removing change of use permit requirements from the zoning code entirely, um which is a planning use permit approved at staff level.

[04:03:08] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Uh this permit can be a burden for businesses in a confusing step in the process, uh when you're proposing a change from one permitted use to another permitted use.

[04:03:18] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um it also can make what should be a ministerial permit process uh discretionary and where a condition could be applied.

[04:03:25] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So if approved, both of these changes would have impacts in all commercial and industrial zoning districts and not just for small footprint businesses.

[04:03:33] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um and again, the changes to parking standards would only impact precise plan areas if the precise plan specifically refers back to the parking standards in the zoning code.

[04:03:43] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: In addition to implementing the economic vitality strategy, the package of proposed zoning amendments include a comprehensive set of minor cleanups which have been um drafted to improve consistency and usability, um and to add new land uses or update existing land uses with modern business types and definitions.

[04:04:00] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: The proposed cleanups can be generally categorized in the areas shown on your screen.

[04:04:05] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Most of the amendments include broad updates to the residential, commercial and industrial land use tables and the parking standards table to align land use category names um throughout the code, to match with definitions, to use similar formatting, grammar and capitalization, to clearly list all land uses with a parking standard and to incorporate appropriate references to sections where definitions and applicable requirements can be found.

[04:04:28] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um it should be noted that the intent behind this package of cleanups was not to introduce a bunch of new regulations, but rather clarify, simplify and modernize existing regulations.

[04:04:39] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um speaking a little bit more specifically into the land use changes, uh land use terminology changes, these proposed amendments add greater clarity to the zoning code, um and they can sort of be categorized in four different ways.

[04:04:51] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Uh one is adding new land uses. Um a good example of this is adding a new public recreation land use to distinguish recreational facilities managed by a public agency versus privately operated facilities.

[04:05:04] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um so as part of this package, staff is proposing that land use designation as well as um uh permitting it in all zoning districts.

[04:05:14] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um another package of these amendments includes combining similar land uses under an existing or renamed land use category.

[04:05:21] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So an example of this would be um the community assembly, which is a proposed new land use name that combines a series of assembly uses that we have in the code um for things such as meeting halls or for fraternal or social clubs, um and community centers.

[04:05:38] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um another category is sort of renaming an existing land use category to reflect a modern or more inclusive reference.

[04:05:45] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: A good example of this is replacing the land use name of churches with a more inclusive term of religious institutions because as we know, um in a diverse community like Mountain View, there are more religions practiced outside of than just churches.

[04:06:03] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um and so using the term religious institutions is is more inclusive.

[04:06:03] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: And lastly, a major component of these code cleanups is to carry the same land use category um name across the entirety of the zoning code so that a user can easily track where a given use is allowed, um where the what that parking requirement is and what the definition of that land use is.

[04:06:20] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So a number of updates were done in the industrial zoning district land use table to replace outdated or unclear land use terms with um with existing land use terms used elsewhere in our code.

[04:06:32] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: A good example of this is the public quasi public recreational use.

[04:06:37] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um the term quasi public is quite an odd term that can be quite unclear.

[04:06:42] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um and so staff has proposed replacing that term with existing land use categories that represent the equivalent use uh mentioned elsewhere in our code.

[04:06:51] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: So in this case, replacing it with um indoor recreation and fitness centers, outdoor recreation and public recreation.

[04:06:58] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um with these updates, staff has proposed to maintain the existing permit requirements um already established in the code and simply just update the reference to land use names.

[04:07:10] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um city staff met with various members of the business community to verify that the proposed amendments before council tonight would have meaningful in improvements.

[04:07:19] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um so that included one-on-one meetings with brokers, property owners, consultants and business owners, um as well as meeting with the development community and the Chamber of Commerce.

[04:07:29] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um staff received unanimous uh feedback with uh that the proposed amendments are are positive improvements to support the retail and service services business community.

[04:07:40] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um in addition, the business community expressed interest in city staff expanding the streamlining provisions into certain precise plan areas.

[04:07:48] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um and so if these amendments are approved tonight, staff will prepare a second reading of the ordinance for March 10th.

[04:07:56] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um if that is approved, then the code updates would become effective in early April.

[04:08:00] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Additionally, these changes may uh require text changes to various precise plans to ensure consistency with the zoning codes. So staff will undertake this effort as resources and workload allow.

[04:08:10] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um and also staff will be evaluating expanding the ExpressPermitsMV building permit program to incorporate these four land uses.

[04:08:22] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: For council members who are not uh as familiar with that program, um this program allows for a more condensed review for building permits um and includes a scheduled Zoom meeting with city staff reviewers and the applicants.

[04:08:33] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um in conclusion, staff recommends that the city council adopt an ordinance amending uh city code chapter 36 as presented tonight and find that these amendments are not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act as described in the staff report.

[04:08:47] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um that concludes staff's presentation and we are available to answer any questions. Thank you.

[04:08:52] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you. Does uh any member of the council have any questions?

[04:09:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. Uh I love having back-to-back uh positive items. So, thank you again for for the work uh to uh prepare uh these amendments. All of them are are very good.

[04:09:12] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um a couple of quick questions. The um I asked uh the last two questions um in the uh packet submitted uh in advance of the meeting,

[04:09:30] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: uh staff responded saying that yes, the uses that I um asked about uh should be permitted in the referenced commercial standard uh commercial districts.

[04:09:38] Mayor Emily Ramos: Councilmember Ramirez.

[04:09:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um and it and then says uh uh it says that staff will include this cleanup in a future package of zoning code amendments.

[04:09:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I I guess what I'm curious to understand is it feels like it's just changing CUP to P in the land use matrices.

[04:09:52] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Is there is there something more complicated than that? Is there a reason why we couldn't just fold them in tonight?

7. PUBLIC HEARING

[04:10:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Appreciate the question, um, Councilmember. So, uh, there is state law provisions that say, um, if an item goes ordinance goes to EPC, or in our case EPC, Planning Commission, and then to council, if EPC didn't consider that item, um, it can't be included as part of this. And in this case, those two, those particular items that you highlighted are ones that were not proposed change areas for this text amendment package, and so it wouldn't be able to be incorporated as part of this package.

[04:10:31] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Your memory might be better than mine, but I I the child care facilities one in particular, I remember asking about when we were updating, I think it was the, uh, commercial residential arterial district. This was a few years ago. Uh, and in that case, the the change was made the night of the meeting. So, I'm I'm I'm

[04:10:51] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: curious to understand the the difference. Why in that case we were able to make that change, which is which is a trivial change immediately, and in this case, like what what's what's different between the two?

[04:11:05] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um, unfortunately, might be a little challenging for me to answer that only because I don't know the particulars of the package of the CRA amendments that were that were you're mentioning. But, in general, um, it is in in state code that, um,

[04:11:21] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: substantial changes to items that were brought before the EPC can't be made by council without being referred back to the EPC essentially in our case.

[04:11:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Is it substantial even though this is mandated by state law?

[04:11:34] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: I may refer to either the director or the City Attorney. But, um, that's my understanding of of why we couldn't move forward with this proposed amend or this ask.

[04:11:52] Bruce England: Good evening, honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers, Christian Murdock, Community Development Director. Uh, I think fundamentally it's it's a legal question and I I don't want to put the City Attorney on the spot. We may want to give her an opportunity to to consider this.

[04:12:06] Bruce England: I think, um, in reviewing and responding to the council question, we were trying to be conservative and not, uh, jeopardize this package, which is, uh, time-sensitive and important for some of our business members, uh, and was part of the motivation for us to focus on this and get it to the council as quickly as possible.

[04:12:23] Bruce England: Um, you know, in the event that we're not able to incorporate those further amendments tonight, um, this is something we can try to prioritize in light of council interest, uh, as far as a next batch of cleanup items.

[04:12:33] Bruce England: The main concern, again, to reiterate, was not slowing down this process and potentially having to refer it back to the Environmental Planning Commission.

[04:12:41] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. I I I guess now I'm I'm curious. So, we we basically can't make any changes at all then, right? Any change would require going back to the EPC.

[04:12:49] Bruce England: No, not quite. The issue, uh, in the government code is issues not considered for recommendation to the council, so, uh, you know, whether to make something, uh, permitted or conditional use that's proposed to change if council disagrees with that recommendation, um,

[04:13:05] Bruce England: they have the prerogative to change it. It's these other areas that weren't really the discussion and focal point of the recommendation from the EPC that are of greater concern to me and that would benefit from a legal opinion.

[04:13:19] Bruce England: Um, okay. Uh, I think those are the only questions I have. Thank you.

[04:13:24] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez, Councilmember McAlister.

[04:13:27] Councilmember John McAlister: So, you came out with a small print of 4,000. So, um, anything above that will stay the status quo?

[04:13:37] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Uh, in terms of whatever is currently in our code, it would still follow that process, yeah.

[04:13:41] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. And will that be reviewed at some time?

[04:13:46] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um, I mean, as part of this package of amendments and this work that we do, city staff continually looks at this. I think this is the first time we're taking a step like this, so we'd like to see how it plays out, um, before considering any further amendments. But, yeah, that's

[04:14:01] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: it could be considered in the future.

[04:14:03] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, will there be discretion on the part of the Community Service Director to those properties that are bigger than 4,000 square feet to maybe look at some like waivers or something along that line?

[04:14:20] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um, so there isn't that level of discretion here. I think the intent behind a lot of these amendments is to add sort of that objective, clear direction on what what the requirements are.

[04:14:34] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Um, so adding in a discretionary review process wasn't really the intent or approach of, you know, this package. Um, but as I said, as as we see how this rolls out and how this plays out, um, you know, tweaking it in the future is a possibility.

[04:14:48] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay.

[04:14:49] Assistant Community Development Director Lindsey Hagen: Thank you.

[04:14:53] Mayor Emily Ramos: All right. That is it for Council questions. We will now go to public comment. Would any member of the public join us virtually or in person like to provide comment on any item on this, uh, or provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 1.5 minutes.

[04:15:19] Mayor Emily Ramos: The first, uh, speaker is Vladimir Osipo, followed by Tim Vago, and then followed by Peter Katz.

[04:15:32] Public Speaker Vladimir: Vladimir Osipov. I'm from Bal- on Bal Academy. You can see our Bal school in 1495 Western Caminal. I'm resident of Mountain View and Bal School is resident as well.

[04:15:48] Public Speaker Vladimir: Uh, I kindly ask, uh, to the City Council members is, uh, update city, uh, building code because more than one year I'm seeking a new space for my Bal school.

[04:16:04] Public Speaker Vladimir: And, uh, I need a large open space without any columns and pillars inside. Currently, uh, there are a lot of light industrial manufacturing buildings. So, it's, uh, MM zoning, ML zoning is not allowed for dance studio, unfortunately.

[04:16:22] Public Speaker Vladimir: No conditional use permit. Uh, nothing. Only, uh, recreation zoning is allowed, uh, for dance studio or, uh, general commercial zoning after conditional use permit.

[04:16:38] Public Speaker Vladimir: But I need, uh, large open space, uh, for dance. Uh, as for as for parking, it's a great idea because, uh, currently, I must have, uh, one parking lot for two students.

[04:16:53] Public Speaker Vladimir: If I have 100 students at 50 parking slots, it's like, uh, uh, Plaza, but asking price, it's enormous. It's very expensive for me. Thank you for your

[04:17:06] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next, we have Tim Vago.

[04:17:16] Tim Vago: Good evening, council members. I'm Tim Vago. I am the manager of Rankstore Center, which I guess colloquially is known as where the Costco is. Um, I'm here just to, uh, voice my support for this item on the agenda.

[04:17:32] Tim Vago: I mean, uh, the streamlining and the zoning code updates are going to be extremely important for improving small business here in Mountain View. Um, I think that the zoning code had become a little antiquated.

[04:17:46] Tim Vago: Uh, there were current uses that, uh, really weren't allowed. For example, last year we had a resident of Mountain View who wanted to open a Pilates studio at Rengstorff Center, um, and just found that she couldn't get it done and decided to open up in Sunnyvale.

[04:18:07] Tim Vago: So, um, you know, just streamlining the permitting process is going to reduce a lot of frustration for tenants that would like to locate and operate here in Mountain View.

[04:18:20] Tim Vago: Um, I know that the staff has taken a lot of time to reach out to the broker and development community and has, you know, kind of heard of what we had to say and has incorporated that into these, uh, zoning code updates.

[04:18:33] Tim Vago: Um, you know, and everything is going the, uh, what do I want to say?

[04:18:43] Tim Vago: That the that the updates, um, are they seem to be very reasonable and accommodating to what we need.

[04:18:49] Tim Vago: Thanks.

[04:18:50] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, Peter Katz.

[04:18:58] Peter Katz: Thank you, Mayor and esteemed council members, Peter Katz, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce. I want to thank you very much for staying late.

[04:19:04] Peter Katz: I mean, even though the title of this is minor changes, these really are going to have an important impact. And so thank you all for staying late, and also thank you very much to the staff for all of the work that they've done on, uh, business streamlining.

[04:19:20] Peter Katz: Um, we're grateful because the chamber also has been consulted on a number of times on this, a number of times, and overall we see this code cleanup as being overdue, necessary, and very beneficial, especially to our small businesses.

[04:19:33] Peter Katz: Um, as noted, there are a number of outstanding issues in the zoning code, and only some are addressed by this. But they're the important ones, and we need to get them done because, unfortunately, they become barriers to our ability to attract the kind of businesses that residents want and need in Mountain View.

[04:19:52] Peter Katz: The zoning code needs updating to reflect modern business trends and to support the vitality of our commercial areas and retail centers, many of which have struggled to fill the vacancies over the years.

[04:20:02] Peter Katz: The proposed changes will provocatively and proactively remove zoning barriers and encourage a number of popular businesses to locate in our shopping centers and commercial areas.

[04:20:13] Peter Katz: We also often hear from our members that Mountain View has is a reputation for being a tough place to do business. This will really help.

[04:20:21] Peter Katz: So let's keep it going. We'll and extend these changes to our precise plan and expand more of the elements.

[04:20:28] Peter Katz: Thank you.

[04:20:29] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, Mr. Katz. We will now move on to virtual public comment. We have James Cuzmal.

[04:20:37] Public Speaker James Cuzmal: Good evening. Can you hear me?

[04:20:38] Mayor Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[04:20:39] Public Speaker James Cuzmal: Good evening, council. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to comment. Since there are parking minimums on the table, I wanted to add a reminder that parking minimums serve essentially no good public policy purpose in a city like Mountain View where we have a great many alternatives and generally want to discourage single-occupancy vehicle use.

[04:20:58] Public Speaker James Cuzmal: I would encourage Mountain View to do better than the, um, middle of the pack for retail parking spaces, rather than just improving to 201 space for 250 gross square feet for retail uses, at least goes to the one per 400 that Berlin Game has, if not even less parking.

[04:21:13] Public Speaker James Cuzmal: And I don't see any reason at all why we should be requiring parking for retail businesses that are less than two or 3,000 square feet. Um, and as a general comment, I have very little interest in streamlining, uh, bars or liquor stores, but I do find it odd that we continue to require parking for establishments where we expect people to buy or consume alcohol.

[04:21:37] Public Speaker James Cuzmal: Um, I realize that is actually just a zoning code cleanup and not actually a new parking minimum, but it is bizarre to still see that sticking around in the zoning code. Thank you.

[04:21:53] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, James. Next, we have George Lance.

[04:22:05] Mayor Emily Ramos: Oh, and he's gone. All right. Now, we will take it back to council. Um,

[04:22:11] Mayor Emily Ramos: For questions and deliberation, please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the ordinance attached to the report. And I see, uh, Councilmember Kamei.

[04:22:23] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Uh, thanks, Mayor. So, um, I made the motion. So, um, maybe I can read it and then I'll give a couple comments if that's okay.

[04:22:32] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Just Councilmember Ramirez did the last one, so I feel like I have to have to help be equitable in the way that we're all carrying.

[04:22:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, so I, uh, move to adopt an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Mountain View amending chapter 36 zoning of the Mountain View City code to implement the economic vitality strategy by streamlining permit processes for certain active small footprint land uses.

[04:22:57] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Remove change of use permit requirements and reduce minimum parking standards for retail and personal service uses.

[04:23:05] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: To make other modifications, clarifications, and technical corrections throughout the chapter to align land uses in the residential, commercial, and industrial zones with parking standards and definitions to improve consistency and clarity, and to modernize definitions and land uses to align with current business trends.

[04:23:24] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And finding that the amendments are exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission, to be read in title only for the reading waived and set the second reading for March 10th, 2026.

[04:23:38] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Attachment one to the council report. Uh, so just a big thank you to staff.

[04:23:44] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I feel so excited that, uh, things that we're talking about were implementing and changing, um, particularly related to, um, our city code, which I know is Councilmember Ramirez's number one priority.

[04:24:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And as well as to implement our economic vitality strategy. Um, thank you to, uh, Mr. Katz and the chamber, um, your chamber members for the input, um, but also the collaboration, I would say, um, to make all of things these a reality.

[04:24:15] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, and then the only other thing I wanted to add was just thank whoever asked all these, um, child care center questions and our council questions.

[04:24:23] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, it's exciting to to see what we did on the budget and now to see what we're doing with our small business streamlining and other code amendments because I feel like we're kind of meeting the moment.

[04:24:37] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Where, uh, our community has given us a lot of feedback and we're pivoting and moving things forward based off of that feedback that we're receiving in real time.

[04:24:43] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I think for a government entity, we're moving pretty swiftly. Um, and, uh, but on the child care part, um, I know that there was a couple, there was an assembly bill that was mentioned, a couple other comments on how we can streamline, and I would just ask staff,

[04:25:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I think that's been a priority, particularly over the last few years where council's been trying to ask that, whether it's in our all affordable housing developments or other city-owned properties and how we can be a partner in, um, bringing more child care opportunities, um, to the city.

[04:25:22] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So, I know that there was like reference to, you know, square footage issues, um, sounds like this bill is held on in concurrence right now, this, um, AB 752.

[04:25:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: But if we, you know, if it falls into as well as like our legislative platform, a letter of support on these bills like this that we would want to implement, um, I'd also be interested in that. So, I just wanted to to add that. Thank you.

[04:25:51] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei. She has made the motion and it was seconded by Councilmember Ramirez, who's next up on the docket. Would like to speak to your second?

[04:25:59] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you Councilmember Kamei for making the motion. I agree with your, uh, your observations and and comments.

[04:26:07] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I I wanted to speak, also to, uh, some of the specific recommendations made by, uh, staff.

[04:26:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I think, uh, I I I I appreciate that we focused on the two biggest hurdles identified by the business community to, uh, to opening and and operating a business in in the city.

[04:26:25] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, the change of use permit, uh, is a big deal and it's a a great thing to, uh, eliminate that obstacle.

[04:26:34] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I also agree, I I support the the the recommendation and and, uh, and uh, I'm proud to second the motion made by Councilmember Kamei, um, regarding the parking adjustments.

[04:26:43] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But I do think, uh, one thing to consider, you know, as we continuously, uh, review and adjust our modifications, in in some cases, a a high parking standard simply means that a business cannot locate and and existing shopping center for instance.

[04:27:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So it's it's a de facto, um, uh, prohibition and in some cases, the parking requirements, even as proposed, as modified, um, are still, uh, an insurmountable barrier.

[04:27:11] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I'm thinking about some of the smaller shopping centers that don't have as much parking, um, where you you might have, uh, an opportunity for a thriving business because there's a lot of foot traffic, for instance, but we're we're requiring people, um, essentially to, uh, we're sort of trying to induce that demand and saying you must, you know, drive here to benefit from this business.

[04:27:30] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But because the parking may be too high, what we end up doing is preventing a business from occupying a vacant space that would otherwise serve that neighborhood.

[04:27:40] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I I used to live, um, in the, uh, uh, Lath- Latham Esquela area, and there were some older shopping centers there that don't have a tremendous amount of parking and, um, there are some, uh, long-standing vacancies in those shopping centers.

[04:27:54] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I think about those shopping centers in particular that might benefit from, um, uh, further adjustments or review of the parking.

[04:28:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, uh, I appreciate, uh, I've got, uh, some, uh, information from the city attorney. I I I'm curious to, this is something that I would love to understand over time, maybe not necessarily tonight, for, for something that it is not actually a change, but it's required under state law.

[04:28:18] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: It's, it's peculiar to me that we'd have to go back to the planning commission, but if that's the law, then it's the law.

[04:28:24] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but if there is a way to, to incorporate the, uh, the modifications if, you know, under further review staff finds an exception for compliance with state law or something, um, hopefully it could be included when it comes back on the second reading.

[04:28:37] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but, um, I think this is this is great work, um, happy to support it, uh, looking forward to, uh, continuing work on this as we continue to implement the economic vitality strategy, um, and, uh, we'll be voting yes. Thank you.

[04:28:52] Mayor Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez, Councilmember McAlister.

[04:28:56] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, here is Debbie Downer. Um,

[04:29:00] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, just a heads up on the parking, uh, as one that requires parking because I have a business and I have a lot of young families that come by.

7.1 Small Business Streamlining and Other Minor Zoning Code Updates

[04:29:12] Councilmember John McAlister: Finding that balance on parking is is very important because if you don't have enough parking, you don't have the business won't survive. And so you have sort of have a competing uh between the tenant and the landlord. The landlord says hey you got plenty of parking, but when all of a sudden it's filled up there's not enough parking and the business will fail.

[04:29:34] Councilmember John McAlister: So it's always you want to go 400 or whatever, yeah so the tenant, you know landlord says yeah come on in you got plenty and then when it happens it fails. So be careful about how you work at that um percentages. Some big park uh like the uh Rengstorff Center has a lot of parking well on a Costco it's crazy you can walk around.

[04:29:57] Councilmember John McAlister: So just be cautious of the the need that small businesses need parking, big or small, and the the uh concept that people won't drive if they want to get there, they're still going to drive. We haven't gotten to the point where our transportation system is going to elimi- eliminate people trying to drive. So just be aware of, and I've already had the conversation with the community's uh development director about parking and,

[04:30:23] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes we hopefully will get more businesses in there, but the consequences is will they survive? And we are seeing a lot of businesses go down. Uh on the deal on daycare, as one that owns a daycare, uh there's more businesses, more daycares are going out, so and I've always br- bring this up that we're talking about it,

[04:30:43] Councilmember John McAlister: People don't realize that you could have the indoor space but there's the outdoor requirement that's very important too. And there's a ratio, so even though you can put it somewhere you got to make sure you have the outside. And so that's always a delicate balance. And we again with traditional TK the transitional kindergarten uh it's making it tough for small businesse- childcares to exist because they can go to the school and get it for free.

[04:31:10] Councilmember John McAlister: So. I appreciate it. I think yes to everybody's point it's going in the right directions, it making it easier. For the gentlemen at the Rengstorff Center, yeah you get some people in there you do have plenty of parking at certain times of the day, before Costco opens up. But um, I appreciate that you're coming in and needing it. Though uh shopping center on Grant Road has a lot of vacancies on that one next to the uh City Sports and so forth, so,

[04:31:36] Councilmember John McAlister: Hopefully this will make life easier for people to come in, they say hey I can do it. And uh that's what we need, we need some more businesses coming through and it serves our population. Thank you.

[04:31:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Hicks.

[04:31:55] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well I think this is a great ending to the meeting and I will, I'm thrilled to be supporting the motion and really happy to see, I've been looking forward to seeing streamlining like this for some time um for the um change of uses. Um I I like the reduction in parking to the average, I think it could maybe even go below average but we can see how that rolls out.

[04:32:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um I know that makes you happy John. Uh and um let's see what else, oh I like the mentions of indoor recreation. I think that's a a an up and coming use uh and that I'm glad that that was included in this update. And um I agree with the comments on uh childcare, supporting childcare legislation as appropriate.

[04:32:44] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I wanted to also thank Mr. Katz and members of the business community who've stayed with us until almost 11:30 at night to get this done. And also staff, I know you're required to stay here, but thank you for doing so.

[04:33:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, thank you Councilmember Hicks. And with that, no other comment, let's let's take it to a vote.

[04:33:11] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And it was unanimous. Yay. I the irony is not lost on me that the only non-unanimous vote this time was the move past 10. So.

8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS

[04:33:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, we now will move on to item 8, Council, Staff and Committee Reports.

[04:33:28] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Do we have any Council, Staff, and Committee Reports? I I'm seeing, I'm seeing papers hand out, I'm assuming because it's water it is Councilmember Showalter. Uh, go ahead.

[04:33:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: You've got it. Alright. Well I wanted to um just share a couple of meetings that I attended. I uh the day after our last meeting, February 11th, I went to the Silicon Valley um Clean Energy Board and um we uh we approved an agreement for technical assistance for the development of community grants, which we get.

[04:34:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um we received an update on Silicon Valley Clean Energy's communi- uh -cations and marketing strategy. And we also received um uh reports on how grants had been used in our community. And somebody from Silicon Valley Clean Energy will be coming uh sometime in the next couple months and make a you know a presentation and public comment about it.

[04:34:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And there's special sheets that um you know that uh show how much our community used and and um and how much energy we saved. So that's good. Um the other thing is we had a presentation on um uh kind of the Brown Act and some rules with the Brown Act. So if you want to see that that's on the presentation page um one through 11. I I thought it was it was helpful.

[04:34:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um then uh on February 19th we had a BCDC meeting and I wanted to share this um this uh State of the Estuary um uh fact sheet with you. The State of the Estuary is a it's been a conference that's held every other year for at least 30 years.

[04:35:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And the idea is is literally to say you know, what is the State of the Estuary? How clean is it? How are we meeting all the th- we do a lot of monitoring and how are we doing on that monitoring. And so um this is um, every two years they've had a conference and they put out this report, well now we're moving into sort of the modern age and it's a um it's an interactive um it's an interactive uh web uh web page.

[04:35:35] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But this is kind of the fact sheet associated with it and I thought it was quite attractive and um it's kind of fun to see. For instance, do you all know that it's actually safe to swim in the Bay? I mean, when most of us moved here that wasn't true. But it's true now. And that's a cool thing. It's too cold mind you but anyway, that's not the problem.

[04:35:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, um so I wanted to share that, and um then I also um want to uh thank, oh at BCDC we're working on new um permitting guidelines to modernize our processes just like we're doing here. And um so that we can do a better job and make it easier for staff and permittees.

[04:36:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um and since BCDC is a state agency we have to go through a very specific lengthy process to do that and then the rules we approve have to be um approved by the State Attorney's General Gen- General Office so that will take a while. But still in all it's a you know it's a good thing that we're we're working on it because we really need to have people do a lot of projects like we are doing um to promote um sea level rise protection.

[04:36:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um the uh the permitting for them is really onerous. I mean it's just very very hard, so anything we can do to make that easier is in everybody's best interest.

[04:37:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, and then last Friday, February 20th, I had a great day. Um we had the celebration, um several of you were there, thank you for coming, um the Mayor spoke too. We we had a celebration of the construction completion of Pond A2W and the opening of our new 1.2 mile trail that essentially extends the Stevens Creek Trail out into the Bay.

[04:37:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um it's uh I understand it's quite windy out there, so you might want to time your walks when it's not too windy um because it's really exposed, I mean there's no you know there's no trees or anything. But the view from out there is is is really amazing, and um so I think we're all going to enjoy that.

[04:37:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um we've gotten some great coverage in the Voice and the Mercury News, it was on the uh front page of the local section today on the Mercury News. And um I uh I also want to make sure to thank um some of our staff members who have been involved in this for a long time.

[04:38:04] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I myself have been involved in it for over 15 years, um but with my hat on as a as a staffer at Valley Water and here and and on BCDC. Um but I I certainly wasn't alone. Um lots of people have worked on it a long time.

[04:38:22] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um so this was kind of a reunion for the South Bay Salt Pond um program as well as a celebration of this one. But, the stars in Mountain View that we should really be um thanking for their service on this is um is really Raymond Wong.

[04:38:39] Councilmember Pat Showalter: He's a um PhD engineer who has um really led the charge on this for many many years and um makes sure that we do a good job from an engineering point of view and from a scientific point of view. Lisa Au is the Assistant um uh Public Works Director and she provid- provides a lot of leadership.

[04:39:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then Brady Rubach, who is the Shoreline Park manager, has done many many many many things to deal with the logistics of um this project on the edge of Shoreline Park. And he um he's really just very very well respected by all the people involved which says a lot for the quality of the work he does.

[04:39:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So you know I I um I just wanted to share that with everybody and if anybody would like a tour of um of this project or or a walk, I'd I'd be glad to take you out there. Thank you.

[04:39:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. Any other item 8s? Councilmember Kamei.

[04:39:45] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to to disclose, so um last uh uh February 12th the Cities Association had our um legislative advoca- uh legislative action committee. Um many cities had just um adopted their legislative advocacy platform.

[04:40:07] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And so uh we'll be sure to share those bills um with City staff if we want to take positions on those. Um we had a presentation from Assembly Member um Patrick Ahrens on the bills he'll be introducing.

[04:40:23] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um and then um last week attended the um Cal Cities Board Meeting February 19th and 20th held in Berkeley, um sitting on the Cal Cities um board as the representative for our Peninsula division for the 36 cities. Thanks.

[04:40:41] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Kamei. Um I will report out that I went to the New Frontier Lunar New Year celebration. Uh the New Frontier is the mobile home park that's in like that area um next to like Sunset Estates and all that Sylvan Parkish area.

[04:41:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And then uh like Councilmember Showalter I was also there at the celebration that we got our South Bay Salt Pond-ness. Um and then uh shortly after that I ran off to uh represent our City for uh Congressman Liccardo's press conference, he uh set aside about $2 million for affordable housing for us so, yay us.

[04:41:26] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um hopefully we will get more money. Please. Um and so with that I don't see any other reports. We are good. Oh.

[04:41:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, so um uh we will adjourn this meeting, the next City Council meeting will be held on March 10th 2026. This meeting is adjourned at 23:34.

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