April 14, 2026 City Council Meeting

Video

Agenda

• 1. CALL TO ORDER: 1. CALL TO ORDER (00:01:15)
• 2. ROLL CALL: 2. ROLL CALL (00:01:23)
• 3.1 Fiscal Year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Program: 3.1 Fiscal Year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Program (00:01:43)
• 1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: 1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (01:27:22)
• 3.1 Teen Month Proclamation: 3.1 Teen Month Proclamation (01:29:05)
• 3.2 National Volunteer Week Proclamation: 3.2 National Volunteer Week Proclamation (01:32:40)
• 3.3 Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month Proclamation: 3.3 Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month Proclamation (01:39:22)
• 3.4 VTA Local Investment Plan Presentation: 3.4 VTA Local Investment Plan Presentation (01:44:02)
• 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4. CONSENT CALENDAR (02:31:08)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS (03:20:38)
• 6.1 Adopt City Council Policy A-13a, Disruption of Telephonic or Internet Service During City Council Meetings: 6.1 Adopt City Council Policy A-13a, Disruption of Telephonic or Internet Service During City Council Meetings (03:35:04)
• 6.2 Approve the Public Safety Building Construction Financing Plan and Recommended FY 2025-26 Fund Transfers and Appropriations: 6.2 Approve the Public Safety Building Construction Financing Plan and Recommended FY 2025-26 Fund Transfers and Appropriations (03:39:43)
• 6.3 Preliminary Review of Fiscal Year 2026-27 Recommended Budget: 6.3 Preliminary Review of Fiscal Year 2026-27 Recommended Budget (04:00:57)
• 7. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS: 7. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS (04:50:16)
• 8. ADJOURNMENT: 8. ADJOURNMENT (05:10:23)

Transcript

1. CALL TO ORDER

[00:01:15] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. I'm calling this meeting to order. Good evening everyone. Calling this meeting to order at 5:03.

2. ROLL CALL

[00:01:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: The City Clerk will take attendance by roll call.

[00:01:26] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[00:01:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:01:29] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[00:01:30] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Here.

[00:01:31] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[00:01:33] Councilmember John McAlister: Yep.

[00:01:35] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[00:01:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yep.

[00:01:37] City Clerk Heather Glaser: We have a quorum with four members present.

[00:01:42] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you.

3.1 Fiscal Year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Program

[00:01:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And now we will begin with item three, or 3.1, Fiscal Year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Program. The purpose of this study session is to provide the City Council an overview of the Capital Improvement Program and obtain City Council input on the draft recommended Fiscal Year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Program.

[00:02:05] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Public Works Director Jennifer Ing and Senior Civil Engineer Joy Hotton... Hotton. Okay. Will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. On to you guys.

[00:02:29] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Thank you Madam Mayor. We are pulling up the slide deck uh now. While we're doing that um again I'm Jennifer Ing, Public Works Director. Sitting to my left is Joy Hotton, who's Senior Civil Engineer uh in the Public Works department. Our topic for tonight is the Fiscal Year 2026-27 CIP.

[00:02:51] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: We're getting our technology to hopefully cooperate with us. There we go. We're up on the screen. Um we can flip to the next one Joy. Thank you.

[00:03:04] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um so our CIP is a biennial, meaning every two years planning process. This year is a roll forward year and is primarily an update to the CIP from last year. Two categories of projects that we'll be discussing tonight include nondiscretionary and discretionary projects. Uh definition of nondiscretionary is up there on your screen.

[00:03:26] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Next, we want to switch to what we have actively going on right now. We have a lot going on. We have 290 active projects underway. The vast majority of that 290, 221 are led by Public Works. And 13 of those projects are Council Work Plan projects.

[00:03:46] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um just quick note that 221 is a slight deviation from what you saw in your staff report. We had reported out 222 uh but we forgot to attribute one project to Community Services.

[00:03:57] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um on the right hand side you can see that the volume and funding allocation breakdown, the bulk of our time and our money spent in Public Works for these projects is allocated towards three main categories, of transportation and streets, utilities, and facilities.

[00:04:14] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: We do have a quarterly update of 25 featured projects on our city's website. We started that at the end of last uh calendar year. And we're currently in the process of doing our quarter one update for 2026 and that will be up on the website shortly.

[00:04:30] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: You'll see that it'll be slightly reorganized to categorize projects by type of project so it's um a little bit easier to find if you're looking for a specific uh project type and what's going on in that area.

[00:04:44] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um on our Pavement Management Program, in 2024 we reported out that our Pavement Condition Index, PCI for short, uh is at 67. And this is generally considered in the fair category for our roadways.

[00:05:00] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: We've been trying to increase our pavement condition up to 70 to elevate us from a fair uh condition report to a satisfactory condition report.

[00:05:10] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: In doing so we plan to spend um quite a bit of money on our paving program between '24 and '27, 2024 and 2027 excuse me, we plan to spend over 62 million dollars on paving projects. Several of these do have active transportation elements.

[00:05:28] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: As an example, Moffett will receive Class 2 bike lanes where there are none now. Middlefield will have Class 4 bike lanes where there are currently Class 2 bike lanes and part-time bike lanes. And a section of Shoreline will be upgraded from Class 2 to Class 4 bike lanes.

[00:05:45] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And just as a reminder cause I know I'm doing engineer speak right now, Class 2 bike lanes are on-street stripes adjacent to the vehicular lane. Class 4 bike lanes have a buffer and a vertical component separating bicyclists from vehicles.

[00:06:01] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: As we look ahead to our paving program on the left-hand side you can see a map of the city. Um a little bit of Shoreline is chopped off but we don't have lines on there. Um but it shows all of the pavement work scheduled from now through 2028.

[00:06:17] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: You can see that several arterials and major collector streets are being addressed, which is consistent with the direction that we've received from Council last year.

[00:06:26] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And it's part of the budget item that you'll hear later tonight from the Finance Department, Measure G funding has picked up and as a result we were able to capture an additional 125,000 dollars towards the paving program. That's a win for us.

[00:06:41] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um in terms of our strategy here in Mountain View, we employ a best-first strategy in which we spend money to maintain our fair condition streets to keep them from fully deteriorating. Cost exponentially rises as we have to rehabilitate a roadway as opposed to maintaining a roadway.

[00:07:04] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And then one last thing to mention is that we have a standard details update planned in the upcoming year which is going to complement the work effort that CDD is advancing on objective design standards.

[00:07:14] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Our standard details update will look at filling in the gaps between recently approved precise plans with respect to the roadway. So we want to look at roadway widths and allocation, we want to look at um widths for standardized vehicular lanes, bike lanes, sidewalk and landscape strips.

[00:07:33] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And we want to create a couple of new details for duckouts um as well as green street infrastructure.

[00:07:42] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Since active transportation, improvements, and paving tend to go hand-in-hand, this is what we have planned for the Active Transportation Plan. The draft plan will be undergoing community review starting next week.

[00:07:56] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: It will go to the BPAC at the end of April, and CTC in mid-June, and then finally adoption by City Council is scheduled for September of 2026.

[00:08:10] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: When we look at funding sources for our CIP there are five main buckets... five buckets I shouldn't say main buckets, five buckets that are utilized in our CIP. Unrestricted funds are our most valuable funds and can be used by any project.

[00:08:26] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Enterprise funds are used for our utilities, so water and wastewater as well as solid waste projects. Transportation funds are a combination of Gas Tax, SB1, Vehicle License Fee, and VTA Measure B sources.

[00:08:41] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Shoreline funds are generally for projects in the Shoreline area and are the source for landfill post-closure and sea level rise projects. And there are a subset of utility and transportation projects that fall within the boundaries of the Shoreline area um that are funded that way.

[00:08:57] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And as you're aware a major source of funding for our parks and open space projects comes from the Development Fees and Charges category.

[00:09:07] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: When we look at trends over the past four years for our CIP funding sources, you can see that the funding has been relatively flat with Enterprise funds receiving a bump in this past year due to a revised fee study taking effect.

[00:09:27] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: With respect to workload, that's something we're always monitoring in Public Works because we do have a heavy workload. One of the major things that we've done this year to help address workload is creation of a new fourth division within Public Works.

[00:09:40] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: This new division we're going to call the Transportation Division and it will be headed up by a Chief Transportation Officer. And we're going to take the two sections of Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning and merge them together into this new division.

[00:09:55] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: This group will focus on delivery of initiatives that are currently underway. One of the benefits of doing so... um moving the traffic section out of engineering allows the Engineering Division to really focus on delivery of those capital projects.

[00:10:11] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Other workload that sits below the waterline, using an iceberg analogy, analogy, takes up staff capacity. So this year we've seen the numbers of public information and Public Records Act requests increase substantially.

[00:10:26] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: In addition um Mountain View in general as a city has taken on many large policy documents which do end up requiring significant coordination and effort from Public Works staff, even if we are not leading that particular effort.

[00:10:41] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So I mentioned earlier how valuable unrestricted funds are because they can be used by any type of project, and this is a strategy that we've been employing for how to prioritize projects uh utilizing that funding source.

[00:10:56] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So on the left, starting with nondiscretionary and pavement first. Then funding amendments to existing projects, and finally discretionary projects. In terms of criteria that we use there are six main ones, and they include safety, regulatory, maintenance, matching grant funds, pavement, and Council priorities and Council Work Plan.

[00:11:23] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So for Fiscal Year '26-'27 nondiscretionary projects and going into that year coming up we have 21 projects total, with two projects needing modifications to increase funding.

[00:11:37] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: The first project is an increase of 90,000 dollars to the annual parks and renovations improvements, and that supports activation and maintenance of amenities for the Castro pedestrian mall.

[00:11:50] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And the second project to receive a modification is an increase of 390,000 dollars to replace 15 analog irrigation controllers with digital controllers and an antenna. Uh the digital controllers will focus on and help us achieve water conservation and efficiency out at the golf course.

[00:12:12] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Moving on to projects needing amendments, 27 projects need amendments, and not all amendments are increases. Some projects need increases because we add scope, typically there's some sort of hidden issue that makes itself known as we progress along during design.

[00:12:30] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Or we get favorable bids and can decrease funding. A recent example of that is the Shoreline pathway project. Um or we're swapping funding sources.

[00:12:43] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: With respect to discretionary projects, there were 24 new ones scheduled to roll forward from last fiscal year, Fiscal Year '24-'25. But due to shifting priorities staff is now recommending that 22 projects proceed ahead in '26-'27.

[00:13:00] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So we recommend two projects move forward as high priority. Those are Crittenden Field, which is led and managed by the school district and the city pays a cost share, and the Fire Station Master Plan, which will set a foundation for how we plan to renovate and or replace our fire stations.

[00:13:19] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: 11 new projects are being added because they can't wait for the next cycle of the five-year CIP planning, and those include um categories of building renovations, park renovations, and a safety project.

[00:13:32] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: And 12 projects are being recommended for deferral, predominantly due to resourcing, whether that's staffing or whether that's funding, and or project phasing not being ready to proceed.

[00:13:46] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: In terms of next steps for the CIP, we next plan to go to the BPAC, the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, later this month. We will visit the Parks and Rec Commission um next month in May. And then Council adoption in June.

[00:14:01] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So that leaves us with the one question that we have for you all tonight, and that is does Council support the staff recommendations for projects in the Draft Fiscal Year 2026-27 CIP or have any suggested changes.

[00:14:17] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So thank you, looking forward to the discussion.

[00:14:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh 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 City Clerk.

[00:14:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have... looks like we only have two speakers so three minutes. So first speaker will be Edie Keating.

[00:14:55] Edie Keating: Hi. Good evening. Um I want to thank staff for the additional detail provided in response to Council questions, including the breakdown of projects and associated funding, and um overall depth of uh an organization of the CIP. That's all very useful context.

[00:15:20] Edie Keating: Um but I did want to uh sort of point out something that seems to be missing, um and that's the next layer and how those investments translate into measurable measurable outcomes.

[00:15:32] Edie Keating: Um so right now it seems to be at the level of categories, subcategories, and project counts. But it doesn't clearly map to what is actually being delivered on the ground. Um and that's what's important and needed to evaluate effectiveness, cost benefit trade-offs, or compare investments across projects.

[00:15:51] Edie Keating: Um for example with complete and green complete streets, parks, and biodiversity, um I feel it would be helpful to track outcomes outcomes like canopy coverage and distribution, tree counts and retention of um trees including heritage trees,

[00:16:07] Edie Keating: green stormwater performance, um miles or linear feet of protected bikeways, um and as well as parks and open space. Um all of this could be tracked with an equity lens as well, so we understand how much not not only how much is being delivered but where and for whom.

[00:16:24] Edie Keating: Um I want to point out this is already being done elsewhere. Uh in my role as Vice Chair of the Caltrans D4 Bicycle Advisory Committee, I've been reviewing the SHOPP projects um at the PID stage, and they clearly identify for every single project how many linear feet of bikeways are Class 4, Class 3, Class 2, etc.

[00:16:44] Edie Keating: So it's being done, I'm guessing we have this data, but I I I feel that if we start tracking that in addition to how many projects we have and just how much we're spending, um that could help us better connect the um what we're doing to actual outcomes.

[00:17:00] Edie Keating: Um we also see this with stormwater under the water permit requirements we have with MRP 3.0. Um they require a certain number of acres of impervious um pavement, land to be converted to green stormwater infrastructure.

[00:17:18] Edie Keating: Um and I and we do this in a way with the PCI as well in terms of having that index that we're monitoring. So I feel like taking it to the next level we need just a little bit more data to really quantify um and track some of that.

[00:17:34] Edie Keating: Um I realize this is a newer way of thinking about this. Systems, but um today pavement and vehicle infrastructure tend to be treated as core assets and we're tracking that clearly. But bike lanes, sidewalks, parks, urban forests are often treated more as secondary or project-based elements.

[00:17:52] Edie Keating: And this is not necessarily unique to Mountain View. I've seen this in Caltrans and other cities and regions as well. Um however I do think that there is a

[00:18:07] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. We will now take uh virtual speakers starting with Robert Cox.

[00:18:24] Robert Cox: Hi, uh thanks for the opportunity to speak tonight. Um I just like to briefly touch on three things in the staff report.

[00:18:34] Robert Cox: First, I think the reorganization of the new Transportation uh Division is really important and I certainly applaud the administration for this path. I think it's going to help with communication, coordination, and most importantly, project delivery.

[00:18:54] Robert Cox: Palo Alto has a similar uh organization and I've observed over many years that they've really pushed forward with good project delivery.

[00:19:04] Robert Cox: The second thing I'd like to uh to to say is that I really do support the importance of the 54,000 dollars for the Standard Details update, project 27-27.

[00:19:19] Robert Cox: You know, we've talked a lot about uh green complete streets. I think um as Ms. Ing uh mentioned this will be an important addition to the current details, but there's a lot of best practices that need to be updated.

[00:19:36] Robert Cox: And and this will have a uh an important return on investment for the city, for the transportation planning and in the new division. So I really applaud this and really support it.

[00:19:50] Robert Cox: And then just finally, I'm really happy to see uh the pickleball solutions going forward. We added 13 hours and and the pickleball club has been working really closely with uh city staff, and we're really making a lot of progress.

[00:20:09] Robert Cox: There's uh the courts are really packed and we're really looking forward to hearing more about the update of the private property public pickleball court uh in the near future.

[00:20:22] Robert Cox: But I'm happy to say that things are going extremely well right now and the communication between our club and the city has been excellent. Thank you very much.

[00:20:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Alex Brown.

[00:20:41] Alex Brown: Hi, um good evening. Um I'm Alex Brown, resident of Mountain View. Um a couple things, um I was excited to see in the report that we're going to get a transportation manager. Um it's been I think a year. I think um we lost ours May 8th last year.

[00:20:59] Alex Brown: Um so I really hope that that is expedited and we start seeing that impact um because I think it's been a department that's been really missed um for many months.

[00:21:14] Alex Brown: Um we I also um noticed in it um again our repavement plan. Um the Miramonte project, the part between Castro and Cuesta was supposed to be done in the summer of '24.

[00:21:26] Alex Brown: Um and that's what it said then, and so I hope this time it happens because I believe it does lose some of its federal funding if we don't start it this year.

[00:21:34] Alex Brown: Um while we got postcards that it would start in February, it has not actually started, so um I hope that someone can maybe look into that and double check that that will be completed.

[00:21:44] Alex Brown: Um and then also I wanted to also um give support for um the the street standards. Um I think this is something that could help a lot of projects going forward.

[00:21:51] Alex Brown: I think many of our projects end up repeating work um that standards we apply to the one, we then have to start over again on the next one instead of being able to kind of learn and make progress and use best practices when it comes to alternative transportation. So I'm excited to see that. Um thank you very much.

[00:22:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have James Kuzma.

[00:22:19] James Kuzma: Good evening. Um James Kuzma, uh just speaking as a personal resident. Um I wanna I wanna dec- echo some of the prior comments about being cautiously optimistic about the transportation department reorganization.

[00:22:31] James Kuzma: Um as well as to look forwards to some of the updates and the standard details which uh have not been meaningfully updated in a while.

[00:22:38] James Kuzma: Um the one other thing I wanted to call out as a place where it would be lovely to see the city defer more work from the CIP is on the Lot 5 parking garage.

[00:22:49] James Kuzma: Um we're talk- it looks- I can't tell the exact status of the project from the description but that's a project that's continued to be deferred for a while and is currently on the books for some design work.

[00:23:00] James Kuzma: And I would hope that long term we're not going to be adding hundreds of new parking spots which would drain the city coffers of tens of millions of dollars and just continue to stifle our downtown with excessive traffic.

[00:23:13] James Kuzma: If we have if we want to spend tens of millions of dollars getting more people to downtown there's far more cost-effective ways to do it with improvements to the community shuttle, more bike lanes, that sort of thing.

[00:23:24] James Kuzma: So, if we're concerned about staff capacity it would be lovely to see um the design work on that further deferred. Thank you.

[00:23:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Bruce England.

[00:23:42] Bruce England: Thank you Mayor. Bruce England, Wisman Station Drive. I will be brief because most of my efforts today were working with Edie Keating on the comment letter, so a lot of our thoughts kind of came out of that, so um.

[00:23:52] Bruce England: And uh but I've heard all the comments and I agree with everything that everybody said. So I won't repeat them. A few things that I want to note in particular that maybe weren't in the comments, I have to get to my notes.

[00:24:07] Bruce England: Um the question about how to handle the Pavement Management Program. I would really like the city to refocus the pavement management to take into account the areas where vehicles aren't traveling.

[00:24:20] Bruce England: So all the sidewalk areas, the walking areas, the biking areas. Um and the maintenance procedures that happen around those areas too, because sometimes you see clean roads and then there's a lot of stuff all over in the bike lanes, uh broken things and screws and all kinds of stuff like that.

[00:24:38] Bruce England: So um be great to see that. And the last thing I wanted to bring up, I've brought it up before, is the General Plan update, because the current General Plan is targeted for 2030 and presumably pretty soon you'll start working on that again.

[00:24:53] Bruce England: And that's gonna be an ideal way to consolidate a lot of these ideas that people are talking about as sort of a forward path.

[00:25:00] Public Speaker: for Mountain View. Um, and also uh to take advantage of the newer precise plans like the North Whisman Precise Plan and East the East Whisman, sorry, North Bayshore and and East Whisman Precise Plans. So those are my uh thoughts in short. Thanks.

[00:25:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Tracy.

[00:25:24] Tracy: Hello. Um, I just wanted to keep it brief and say I uh agree with the updated standard details and support um the comments by uh Bruce and Celia and April and I don't remember the other speakers' names, but um thank you and I hope you will uh fund this. I'm done.

[00:25:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. All right, um that is it for our oh wait, never mind, uh Jesse.

[00:26:00] Jesse: Uh thanks Emily. Yeah I got kicked out of the Zoom for a sec, now I'm back. Um I kind of generally agree with everyone. I you know would like to see the design standards updated uh so that we can have better bicycle infrastructure and more street trees and things like that. Um yeah, that's pretty much it. So thank you.

[00:26:21] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. All right, now the council will have the opportunity to ask questions. Mayor, you still have one person... Oh shoot, they just keep on popping up! Uh, Rashmi.

[00:26:36] Rashmi: Hello, yes, thank you. Um, I also wanted to just express my support for the standard details and updating those so that we can align um our design more with our values and our vision and our strategic goals of Mountain View. Thank you so much.

[00:26:54] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. I'm watching the Zoom. Going once, going twice... okay, we're now going back to us. Okay, so the council will now have the opportunity to ask questions and then discuss and provide feedback on the study session question. Does any member of the council have questions?

[00:27:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Hicks.

[00:27:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well I have lots of great comments, but I'll save them for comment period. Um, just a couple of questions. One is the Evelyn Avenue bikeway study. Um, actually the um uh we got a a comment letter and I'll just quote them, 'is the city considering a broader green complete streets approach to that uh bikeway and is there coordination with the city of Sunnyvale?'

[00:27:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I know that when I talked to the mayor and council members in Sunnyvale, they envision a wonderful green street that connects our two downtowns. There's been a lot of visioning, and I'm wondering how much we're connecting to their vision um and and how green it might be. I do know that on our end there's more there are more difficulties with that than on the Sunnyvale end. But any um you know any additional uh details you can add would be appreciated.

[00:28:17] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Yeah, so the first thing I want to say is um you know we got we recently got um a grant from VTA to uh help us look at the Evelyn Complete Streets, so that was definitely a win for us. Um we haven't quite started the study yet, but absolutely the intent and end goal of this project is connectivity. Um basically to connect from Sunnyvale's Caltrain station all the way to Mountain View's Caltrain station, right, would would be the limits.

[00:28:45] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Um, as you noted, we do have some constraints in Mountain View that Sunnyvale does not have. We have a beautiful planted median um in the middle of Evelyn. My understanding is that went in something like 20 years ago, um and the trees are beautiful, and Sunnyvale doesn't have that constraint. Um we also have some very nice trees that are planted along the edges of the corridor that will have to be taken into account as we start planning for this area.

[00:29:13] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So long story short, absolutely we want to keep our our vision and our values true to what we um have here in in Mountain View. But um because the study is we just got the funding and um haven't even gotten a consultant on board yet, the study hasn't quite started.

[00:29:30] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay, well I'll look forward to seeing how that rolls out, and I know there are a lot of members of the public who will as well.

[00:29:37] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um then another question is the um the scooter pilot. Do you have I I actually in our written questions asked one question about that, but do you have multiple locations um chosen for the pilot or one location or can you give a little more detail on that?

[00:29:57] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Uh the study for the pilot is citywide. I know one of the questions that was asked in particular was around the San Antonio area and could there be scooter hubs in that area, and the answer is yes, that can absolutely be evaluated.

[00:30:12] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So you haven't chosen any and you're just in the process of evaluating. You've chosen no particular locations at this point?

[00:30:19] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Correct. Happy to take feedback.

[00:30:21] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. Thank you. Um, I think those are my questions for now.

[00:30:27] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, thank you Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember Showalter.

[00:30:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, um there were a lot of um questions submitted, and so first I just want to thank you for your patience and wading through all of them and answering them. I know they rep that represents a lot of work. Um but it but it's really helpful for us, so and um and we do try and read them very carefully, which is you know we have to kind of sit down right in the afternoon to do that because we don't we don't have much time for them as well as you don't have much time for them.

[00:31:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But anyway, uh one of them I wanted I did ask a couple questions about the Safe Routes to School, and I um uh I appreciate you know your answers, but I I wanted to kind of parrot them back because I think it's important for um the city to get credit for this project. I think a lot of people might think this is something that the school district is doing.

[00:31:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But it's not. Um we run the Safe Routes to School program, and what the school I think what you said um very uh diplomatically is that the school donates class time for the kids to take the um uh the the classes and the rodeos that we have to teach um safe practices, and we we run this program, and we also provide the um uh uh the money for most of the money for the school um crossing guards.

[00:31:55] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I just, you know I just wanted to ask you how that um negotiation is going to go forward. You there was some mention of talks in the not too distant future with the school district about about the program.

[00:32:08] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Certainly we always try to keep an open line with the school district with respect to communications. Um to date they haven't had a whole lot of excess money in their coffers in order to share with us for advancing those programs. Those programs are very important to us in this particular city, and so thus far we've been um handling the bulk of that cost.

[00:32:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And and I get that. Um I just do think that when we talk about the collaboration between the schools and the city, we don't want to um uh we don't want to be too quiet about our contribution. Because um as the logic has been explained to me um and I think it's really good logic, it's our streets, and um so we want these kids our kids to be safe on our streets. But um still still because it's a Safe Route to School, I think a lot of people jump to the conclusion that it's um it's a school district project. And I think it's important for us to take advantage of it. So that's why I'm asking this question.

[00:33:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um and then uh kind of following up on when is the Miramonte um complete streets happening? I know in the questions you said that it the construction had started, but I've driven by several times and I haven't really noticed what has started, so I thought maybe you could go into that in a little more detail.

[00:33:31] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Yeah, so we've engaged the contractor and the contractor, we're doing a bunch of pre-construction type activities right now. We're setting the schedule, we're reviewing submittals, um basically getting ready for construction. So you might not have seen you know a a big um yellow caterpillar truck out in the middle of the street quite yet, but we are we are getting there.

[00:33:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. And do you does it still look promising to get that first section completed this summer?

[00:33:58] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: That's our goal, yes.

[00:33:59] Councilmember Pat Showalter: That's excellent. Okay. Summer is prime construction season.

[00:34:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, yeah. We have to have the temperature above 70 degrees, isn't that what it is or something like that?

[00:34:07] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: I want to say 60 degrees and rising for paving. Am I right?

[00:34:11] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: 55. 65. Say that again.

[00:34:14] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: 55 and rising.

[00:34:17] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Oh okay, all right.

[00:34:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um then I um the next question is related to the CCTV cameras at the police um safety building. So um this capital project is to put in CCTV um at the current building, and that building will probably be in use for another 5 to 10 years before we um so...

[00:34:44] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: What?

[00:34:46] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. So uh hopefully less time than that. Construction is anticipated to start on the Public Safety Building sooner. So within 5 years, I'd say.

[00:34:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. We heard it here. All right. So those those CCTV's will uh cameras will be um valuable for the next five years at least until... okay. Thank you so much.

[00:35:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Any other questions? All right, we will move on. Is it questions or are you ready for comments now essentially? Oh questions. Okay, Councilmember Hicks.

[00:35:21] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So that brought up another question, which is the Safe Routes to School. When it was last brought to the Council Transportation Committee, that plan was brought as a sort of completed plan to just um say that we had received it. Um and I I think that the Council Transportation Committee at the time asked whether we could have a more thorough review because it is so important to, because the city plays, as Councilmember Showalter said, a large role in it, uh and uh because it's very important to many members of the city.

[00:35:58] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um and in particular there were two things. It it focuses primarily on biking and somewhat on walking. Whereas I know from when my when my own children went to grade school there were a lot of people on scooters. Um and uh I've also seen recently people arranging uh walk pools, kind of like a car pool only without the car.

[00:36:25] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I'm wondering whether the we could make it regular that the Council Transportation Committee review that and whether we could add additional modes that we look at. I guess we are adding electric bikes. But those are two things. Can we can we um add those things?

[00:36:46] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Well, rolling is already a focus of the Safe Routes to School program. Um so rolling would be as it implies anything with wheels, right, and so that does include um scooters as part of that. I know scooters are at least when my kids were younger super popular amongst the elementary school set uh as a means to get to school. Um so I think that's definitely something that can be um included and is already in the process of being included into the program.

[00:37:15] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Uh the program itself um you know we we bring a yearly update back to the CTC. Um if you're looking for more, perhaps we can talk a little bit more about what that looks like offline.

[00:37:30] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Sure, I'd love to do that. Great. And then my last question is members of the public, many of them have uh brought up the um updated standards for roadways. And I noticed one of their questions was will uh standard details, updated standard details include um context-sensitive approaches.

[00:37:51] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I imagine what they mean is more than one standard detail depending on, you know, perhaps is there a stream nearby, are there existing trees, uh is it a small, medium, or large roadway. So that actually did interest me, will there be multiple, for standard details will there be multiple approaches and context-sensitive approaches?

[00:38:16] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Yeah, I envision that just just looking at the different types of roadways that we have, we will have to develop different details. For example, a sidewalk and a landscape strip on a small residential street or a cul-de-sac looks very different than what a sidewalk and a landscape strip would be on a major arterial like Rengstorff or like Moffett. Right, um and so we will have to take that kind of context into into account as we are looking at updating the standard details.

[00:38:48] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Now they are standards, right, there's always room for a deviation. If there's a beautiful heritage tree that is you know blocking a portion of the sidewalk and we say our standard is to have you know a specific type of configuration, um you know obviously we would try to save the tree and deviate from our standard in that case. So there's always you know there's always engineering judgment that goes along with um application of standard details.

[00:39:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Good. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

[00:39:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember McAlister, are we still in questions or are we in comments?

[00:39:28] Councilmember John McAlister: Questions.

[00:39:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, perfect. Go ahead.

[00:39:30] Councilmember John McAlister: So I have three questions along the lines of uh cost efficiency and expedition of projects for the city. And my first question was under the objective design standards and I asked the question, will the the street projects, will they be cost more effective, efficient and more common sense valued. Um and I wasn't I didn't see the real answer in your response, but I've seen a couple of projects recently where we've had a lot of signs.

[00:40:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh subjective from my point that there might be too many signs, too many confusing and so forth like that. And so going forward with the sense of cost, because we are at a particular point in time where we don't have a lot of excess funds, will this particular standards help control costs, help the the lens of the people that design these to say what can we do versus what has been done in the past? And to give them more flexibility if standards are just sort of like guidelines but is it guarantee that they gotta do certain things but there's some discretion in how they design them.

[00:40:41] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Standards are, the standards that we're looking to update are intended to be focused on the roadway itself, so the pavement, the sidewalk, um the landscape areas and any sort of green stormwater infrastructure that goes in those landscape areas. Um signage is more geared towards safety and those uh guidance documents that govern safety, you've heard of a bunch of them, you know MUTCD, we use NACTO as guidance documents, etc. etc.

[00:41:11] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Um those uh we absolute there's there's requirements that must be followed um and so our traffic engineer when he's looking at application of signage to roadways um starts with safety first.

[00:41:26] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. My second question is that we have 229 projects and I asked the question the dates. And so I pulled out this attachment one and I looked at active projects. And there are 22 projects that are active projects on this thing that are 10 years old. And I wonder why are they still really active, why are they still here, what can be done to eliminate 20 10 of them that are 10 years old, there's 9 that are 9 years old.

[00:42:02] Councilmember John McAlister: We have a lot of old projects here. And um if we could what can we do to get these type of projects off your list and make the workload easier and spend less money?

[00:42:17] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: They're active projects now, so we're spending time and effort on those particular projects. Some of them are large and long-scale long-range projects um that will absolutely take several years to design and work through issues and come up with funding plans. Um other projects uh are lingering because a few years back we got ourselves into a situation where um as we've discussed in the past, there were a lot of projects that were um in the CIP that we just did not have the staffing resources to complete.

[00:42:54] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So our goal over last year and continuing into this year you'll see a trend of completing more projects than we are starting new projects with an attempt to um essentially dig us out of this hole.

[00:43:06] Councilmember John McAlister: Would it be possible to give us a stage of completion on some of these older projects?

[00:43:13] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Sure. Um if you want to give me a list we can follow up with that information.

[00:43:20] Councilmember John McAlister: Because we have one here from 2004. And it's the Huff Park Restroom. And I'm glad to say that it got completed this year. So that was one that we can consider done. So okay.

[00:43:35] Councilmember John McAlister: And my last question for you is what can the council do in guidance to help your department re-evaluate a lot of these projects out of the 229 and give you the flexibility to re-prioritize these items including the council's work plan to get things done in a more efficient and quicker manner so that you can get that list from 290 to something that's more reasonable.

[00:44:07] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: All guidance that we receive from the council is valuable. It helps us prioritize our projects. Other things that we look at include outside influences such as have we received grant funding, right. Those shoot to the top because they have grant deadlines. Um is there other external influences um other than council work plan items that need to be considered. Um so all of that gets taken into effect when we look at how to prioritize projects.

[00:44:36] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Um as for what can you do to help, I would say that your continued support of staff is greatly appreciated. You know we do have a lot of workload on our on our plates, we're doing the best we can. We try to tell the story of how we're advancing and making our way um through this giant list of things to deliver for you.

[00:44:56] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you.

[00:44:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Showalter, is it still questions?

[00:45:04] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I just remembered one that I forgot to ask. And that's um uh related to the ev uh Evelyn corridor you know the bike path. And um I think I've asked this before and I've been given an answer but that I didn't like but I think I'm going to ask it again just in case. And that is, is it possible to create a bike path on Evelyn um uh kind of on the railroad side that's two-way?

[00:45:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Because on our side, you know on the other side of the street, there's all these you know cross uh there's all these streets that come in, there's driveways, there're all these things that you know that interfere with a bike path or a. But if you could put it two-way on the other side, you know that would just be so much nicer.

[00:45:54] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Thank you for the question Councilmember Showalter. I think what you're referring to is commonly called a cycle track. And that is what Sunnyvale is looking at doing, so as we look at how we're going to butt up our project and merge um our project to Sunnyvale's we will absolutely be looking at that as a as an option.

[00:46:13] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Excellent. Thank you. See, you ask and you get the answer you want.

[00:46:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um and don't forget please remember to unclick when you say your questions. Um next is Councilmember Kamei.

[00:46:26] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Uh great. Okay, so um I just have a question for staff about our like how Vision Zero interfaces with the CIPs we adopt. So I know we adopted the action plan, the safety plan, um you know that's more like the plans, policies, procedures of what we do. But I feel like um recently council gets feedback on why are you doing this project or um I don't like this. But it all is a lot of it is to tie into our larger plans that we're adopting like Vision Zero.

[00:47:09] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um and so I just wondered, and that's one of the seven E's, right, the engineering part of the Vision Zero plan. Um so I was just wondering is there a way for us as we're looking at our certain CIP projects to be able to either have like a column or something where we can have that highlighted. I think it would be really helpful as staff was mentioning to um support these projects that are going forward for us to help on that education component of why certain elements may be added or I don't know if staff has any comments on that.

[00:47:35] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: But that's just one of the things I was thinking about as Councilmember Showalter brought up the Safe Routes to School. And it can be maybe answered later but...

[00:47:46] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Is the question how to um tag essentially certain projects uh if they fall under the umbrella of Vision Zero?

[00:47:54] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We currently do, um you'll see on the featured projects page and and even um throughout the document that we have before you tonight, we've tried to flag those projects which have active transportation improvements. Um I don't know if you're looking for a combination of both active transportation and Vision Zero or if you're looking for something...

[00:48:15] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Underneath which tell me which category it should, so the in the various attachments which how is it tagged or how can I find that?

[00:48:25] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Let me pull up a page for you as an example.

[00:48:28] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay. Because I went through the document and you know I don't...

[00:48:31] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Yeah, so if we look at Attachment 5, which is the pretty pink one...

[00:48:39] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Hold on, hold on. Mm-hmm.

[00:48:51] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We've specifically called out in a column those projects which have active transportation elements and what we anticipate those elements to be.

[00:49:01] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So I see the elements. I guess I just didn't see anything tagged Vision Zero. But if it's an active transportation element, is that considered Vision Zero?

[00:49:14] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Um Active Transportation is really more focused on how people get around. Vision Zero is really more focused on, you know, safety and getting to zero accidents. So um if we're looking to distinguish between the two, um I don't have a specific column right now for Vision Zero projects.

[00:49:33] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Right, so that was the crux of my question is, you know we we adopted that in 24, I think we're implementing that. But finding a way for the the public and therefore council to be able to champion those projects and to be sharing that. To keep the document I would call it maybe more more evergreen, right? You adopt something and we're we're adhering to it, but I think that that would just be that was the question that I had. It's...

[00:50:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: sounds like staff is tracking it. And if there's a way for it to be perhaps more apparent, cause I looked through all the attachments and I didn't see anything.

[00:50:09] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Yeah, we absolutely do refer back to the Vision Zero document as we are creating projects. Um, I think the trick, as you mentioned, to trying to capture how we do that in projects, um, on our spreadsheets without making it look too cluttered is, that's sort of the trick, right?

[00:50:24] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So, let me look at, um, how, how we might be able to do so simply, um, and get back. Thank you.

[00:50:32] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei. Seeing no other questions, we will now move to comments by Council, which should include feedback on the ques- on the question staff posed in the staff report.

[00:50:42] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And the question was, does Council support the staff recommendations for projects in the draft Fiscal Year 2026-27 CIP or have any suggested changes? We will begin with Councilmember Ramirez.

[00:50:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. Um, first, uh, I appreciate the questions submitted, um, and, uh, provided by, uh, Council colleagues. Uh, a lot of, uh, important information and, um, some food for thought.

[00:51:11] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I don't have any questions. I just had, um, a few comments. Uh, first, at a high level, I support the staff recommendations. Um, and want to call out a couple in particular.

[00:51:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: The first is, um, I wasn't sure how to charac- characterize them other than as sort of general administrative updates. But those were the, the efforts described in the staff report, uh, to increase transparency, clarity, and simplicity.

[00:51:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, closing out, making an- an- a concerted effort to close out projects as Councilmember McAlister was, uh, describing. That's a, a concern I've, I've had in the past too.

[00:51:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and I think staff has done a phenomenal job to, to do that. So I, I, um, commend you for that work. I think it is, um, this is a tough item for the Council, I'm sure you can appreciate. There's a lot of attachments.

[00:52:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: The, um, Councilmember, um, uh, Showalter and I were just talking about the very small print. My eyes are not as good as they used to be.

[00:52:06] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And so you have to blow things up to see, you know, what all is happening in the city. And there's a lot happening. I don't, um, uh, envy you, uh, the, the responsibility of, um, monitoring and, uh, making progress on so many projects.

[00:52:20] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so any, any work that you're doing to make our jobs easier and understanding, uh, the Capital Improvement Program, and also increase the, uh, the, the transparency and clarity to the public is good.

[00:52:32] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So thank you for doing that. Um, I, uh, as men- members of the public, uh, and, and Council have done, I want to, uh, uh, highlight and praise the inclusion of the standard, uh, details update.

[00:52:45] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I was joking with someone at work, uh, earlier, um, there aren't many people who would be very excited to see 'update to the standard details.'

[00:52:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, uh, but we are wonky and technical and it's, you know, it's a very important thing. One of the things that, that Councilmembers have struggled with for many years—my entire time on Council is, um, when we are talking about development outside of a precise plan, we have limited ability to make changes to things like the streetscape.

[00:53:15] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so this is the way to do that. Um, I, uh, I like to break the fourth wall. I envy you who are running for City Council, uh, because you will be the beneficiaries of our work today.

[00:53:26] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I'm sorry that we—this Council that is departing—won't have the opportunity to provide a lot of input into that. But I'm, I'm, I'm grateful to the staff for, uh, including that in the, the Capital Improvement Program.

[00:53:37] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And, and, um, as a relatively high priority. This is not something we're talking about, you know, five years out. This is something that you're going to begin working on very soon. It's very exciting work.

[00:53:47] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, the last thing I want to, uh, call out is, um, uh, the, the unfortunate news that, uh, three of the five budgeted positions in transportation planning are vacant.

[00:53:59] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, and that diminishes our ability to achieve Council and community goals. I know there's a lot of good work to recruit and, um, uh, you know, fill those, those, uh, those positions. But in the meantime, it means projects, that we have to do a little bit of triage.

[00:54:15] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and I don't remember if this was last year or two years ago, but I remember making a valiant effort and failing, uh, to, uh, postpone or, uh, uh, eliminate the Terra Bella Avenue bikeway feasibility study.

[00:54:22] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Which I don't think is anyone's high priority right now. There are a lot of important things that I would personally rather see completed sooner, like the Active Transportation Plan, like the Transportation Demand Management Ordinance,

[00:54:32] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: um, like the higher priority, um, uh, bicycle facilities, including Miramonte and others, uh, that the community has, um, been very, uh, aggressively advocating for.

[00:54:41] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Terra Bella has never once been elevated as a community priority. Uh, so I would, um, I'm not gonna, if other Councilmembers want to join me, you know, in my once again valiant effort to try and postpone or, or, uh, eliminate that program entirely, I'd welcome that.

[00:54:56] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but that's, that's one thing. I think if we're, if we have two staff, right, and we're down three, um, we, we have to, we have to pick and choose.

[00:55:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: We can't expect the staff to, uh, advance every project in this, uh, very ambitious, um, project schedule, expeditiously when we just don't have the people to do it. So with that, I will say I support the staff recommendations.

[00:55:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I think this is excellent work and very exciting work. Um, I'm, I'm a little sorry I won't be around to, um, to see it executed.

[00:55:25] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but um, I'm, uh, very proud of, of the work that we've done over the past several years to, to bring us to this point and very proud of the staff for, uh, for, uh, achieving the goals that you've been able to achieve thus far.

[00:55:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I do, I would like, you know, Council input on the Terra Bella project in particular, um, but, um, I'm not gonna fall on that sword, um, if, uh, if no one else stands up for it or stands up to oppose it. Thank you.

[00:56:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. You could always come back after two years. Councilmember Showalter.

[00:56:14] Councilmember Pat Showalter: That's right, and even if you're not on the Council, we would welcome you for public comment any time you want to come. Uh... uh, wouldn't we? Yes. Uh, I would, I, I would like to sort of follow up on, on, uh, Councilmember Ramirez's, um, uh, congratulations on this report.

[00:56:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It was easy to read. I mean, it, it took a long time because there is a lot in it.

[00:56:42] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But, I mean, for instance, I don't know, the folks at home can see, we had six pages of this sort of single-spaced, but by alternating the colors, uh, I don't know what the type font is on this, this is on an eight and a half by eleven, I, I think it doesn't pass the rules for many...

[00:57:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: It's not ADA compliant.

[00:57:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It's not ADA compliant. But that said, you know, the use of color and that kind of thing, that did make it easier to read. So I appreciated that. And on the ones that were... I, I had to print them out, I, I, it was too small on my little iPad screen.

[00:57:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, but, but on this one, you know, it, it with the, the color helped a lot and, um, helped focus. So thank, kudos to that. I think the way things are laid out, um, does make a difference in how easy it is to absorb the information.

[00:57:30] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So, it, you know, that, that, that counts. Um, I, uh, I too basically think that, um, I'm very supportive of, um, what is suggested here.

[00:57:42] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I was delighted to hear kind of the groundswell of support of the standard details. It is a very kind of engineering, geeky thing, but it's very important. And it's kind of like, um, the objective standards that we need to have, um, for, for, um, our housing and zoning development.

[00:58:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, so it's, it's, it's good. And I think it'll be very helpful. Um, the one conceptual thing I wanted to bring up is artificial turf. And, um, it's, it's, uh, we do have a number of projects where we are, um, working on replacing, uh, fields that have, um, artificial turf.

[00:58:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And there's, apparently the, the current practice is to replace, um, uh, with what's there, uh, going forward. But I think that we do need to have a community conversation about, um, about artificial turf. Uh, the, there are pros and cons to it.

[00:58:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: There are certain places where it allows you to use the land where you probably wouldn't at all.

[00:58:52] Councilmember Pat Showalter: For instance, the Shoreline Athletic Fields, which are on top of, um, a landfill cell, you wouldn't be able to have a field there if you had something that had to be watered. Period. So, um, you know, that, that's, that, that to me,

[00:59:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: that's a place where we'll probably need to have artificial turf or something, um, very different from regular grass, uh, pretty much forever if we're going to use that as a field.

[00:59:16] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But, um, I'm not so sure that's the case other places, and I, I would, I really do think that we should be having a community conversation about that. So I wanted to bring that up as a comment.

[00:59:29] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, uh, then the other thing I was gonna say is that, um, you do do, as part of your projects, you don't just do engineering.

[00:59:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I mean, you, you do a lot of planning and you do public outreach, and you do, you know, you do all of all of those things. So I, I was pleased to see that you mentioned those, that that was a im- important part of your job,

[00:59:53] Councilmember Pat Showalter: um, because I do think that how, um, how the city brings all these, um, all this expertise to bear on a single project or, or, or issue that we're moving forward on is really important.

[01:00:07] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And it's important to share with the community what we're doing. And I hope that you feel like you have the breadth of expertise, you know, like on public outreach or various things, um, available to you so that, you know, you can do the best job possible.

[01:00:25] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, I think that's important. And, um, then I, um, I just want to say keep up the good work.

[01:00:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember Hicks.

[01:00:44] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I'll start off by saying thank you for, um, you know, the comprehensive report that was, you know, maybe a little difficult to read, but much easier than it would have been if it had been, um, presented differently. Um, and also that I do support the staff recommended projects.

[01:01:04] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and then, uh, as for what the pre- previous, uh, speakers have said, previous Councilmembers, I, I would, um, I would go along with eliminating the Terra Bella project if other Councilmembers agreed. And also I do agree that we should have a community conversation on artificial turf.

[01:01:26] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, so in addition, I thought I would have a, a really unique comment to make when I, um, when I said I was really, I was going to say I was really excited by the Mountain View standard detail update that you put on the, um, as one of the projects, but I can see absolutely everybody is saying that.

[01:01:43] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So that makes me happy, not, and people have said it's, uh, very kind of wonky and so forth, and but the Council is that kind of body, but it's our public as well. Like, how many members of the public spoke up for it?

[01:01:58] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I guess I'll just, I'll say in addition to being excited about it, I want to highlight a few details about it that I think are important and why, um, members of the public and maybe Council as well are excited.

[01:02:15] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I think that this is really good timing, although, okay, it's, the standard details are, are very out of date. So in that way, maybe not good timing. But that we are, uh, in the midst of updating our, our parks and rec plan, so parks. I know standard details are about streets, but I'll link it in, don't worry.

[01:02:35] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, so we're updating our parks, our biodiversity and urban forestry, and our Active Transportation Plan. So all of these things I think interface with the standard details. And that the standard details are, are, can be a vehicle for delivering some of the things that members of our community really want.

[01:03:01] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Like more, uh, trees and canopy in particular over our sidewalks and bikeways, so that during those hot days it's comfortable to walk and, and bike. Or, uh, or, uh, buffers. Landscape buffers on very car-intensive roads, so that we feel comfortable again walking or biking there.

[01:03:21] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, uh, other things like, uh, bioswales and other landscaping for drainage, to prevent, um, flooding. Um, let's see what else. Uh, pocket parks, if there's excess, um, roadway in some place.

[01:03:35] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Uh, linear parks, uh, through possible, uh, lane reallocation if there's that much extra room, both in the streetscape and, uh, beside it.

[01:03:47] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I think there's a number of things that we can pull out of, of the standard details. And I like that you said that we could have multiple possibilities, context-sensitive. And I'm hoping that we can have enough, um, public and Council interaction with it because I do with the plans.

[01:04:06] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I hope that they'll be on- ongoing over the years, because I do think that it's, I mean, I guess you can tell from the public testimony and the email we've received, it's one of the things... how we use our streetscapes is one of the things that, um, people are very interested in.

[01:04:32] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, let's see if I had anything in addition to that. You know, I'm just going to also call out what, uh, Councilmember McAlister has said from time to time. That, um, that sometimes some of our projects seem a little over-engineered.

[01:04:47] Councilmember Alison Hicks: To me, sometimes there's maybe, um, maybe a little too much concrete, too much signage, which he said is not a part of the, um, of these particular guidelines.

[01:04:59] Councilmember Alison Hicks: But that if we can lean a little more into green infrastructure, and a little maybe lean a little less into some of those things, I think it would make members of the public very happy. So those are my comments. Thank you.

[01:05:15] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember McAlister.

[01:05:19] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, thank you. So, uh, I just wanted to, uh, before I bring up my first ones, I do agree with Councilmember Showalter about the turfs. Uh, we need to have a conversation. Uh, the staff report did say that they are not recommending them at the time or doing it, but that was, uh, that was a concern. And I appreciate you bringing that up.

[01:05:41] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, we cannot talk about CIP projects without talking about project number 14-54. And that's my favorite, McKelvey Ballpark. And getting some benches, and getting that resolved, so that people can enjoy it.

[01:06:00] Councilmember John McAlister: That when we put on league tournaments and so forth, the people appreciate coming to Mountain View and able to see the ball game. So, um, every opportunity I usually do try to do it, but yes, 14-54. Hopefully that's on your calendar to get, or radar.

[01:06:17] Councilmember John McAlister: Um, going back with my, my feelings, that I support the staff report, but I also like to be able to say, to get some of these done, get them off. Uh, there are some projects that we were talking, that goes on when it comes up, that's five-year projects,

[01:06:33] Councilmember John McAlister: but I would like to see a concerted effort that somebody reviews and says, this is dead, this isn't going anywhere, let's clear up the clutter.

[01:06:42] Councilmember John McAlister: Because I think it's a distraction potentially to what is important to us. Um, my focus on CIP projects is infrastructure. Parks, roads, streets, water lines, mains, public facilities, parks. Those to me are important because that benefits the whole city.

[01:07:03] Councilmember John McAlister: And we have a very passionate group of people that speak up on active transportation and bike lanes and etc. And that's important, but I don't think it is as important as addressing the concerns of the whole community.

[01:07:19] Councilmember John McAlister: We have 85,000 people that we need to look out for, and we need to make sure that their life, their quality of life is, is listened to, even though it's not here at the Council meeting, but it's out there that people are talking about.

[01:07:32] Councilmember John McAlister: Let's take care of our streets, take care of all the other necessary things that keep us safe.

[01:07:39] Councilmember John McAlister: So, um, keeping that in mind. If you need any help to cut a few projects, be glad to. If you need a shovel to help on McKelvey, I'll be glad to help you out. So, thank you.

[01:07:53] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Kamei.

[01:07:56] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thanks. Um, just wanna echo colleagues, thanks to, to staff. Um, really appreciated um, how the information was presented, and just all the hard work that goes into it. Thankfully we sit on the Council Transportation Committee, so we get to see some of these and get some previews of some of the projects.

[01:08:18] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, so I think, um, I'm not sure I wanna pull any of the threads that my colleagues brought up yet. Um, but I I did want to call out um, thank you for finding ways for us to just highlight the Vision Zero, want to um, double tap on Councilmember Showalter's comments on the Complete Streets, cause I think Councilmembers, we could well we get a lot of comments on on that as well.

[01:08:43] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And then um just wanted to provide just a brief comment on the Historic Preservation Ordinance project, which is um, just wanted to highlight that as we're looking at the various elements and actions that will go into that, making sure that like language accessibility, ADA accessibility is built into that um for for our residents.

[01:09:03] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, those are my comments, look forward to when this comes back as a final action, I feel like a lot of these things we've been talking about for a long time, um, but I can see the progress and I'm very excited and heartened to know that when this comes forward next year, you're going to have all these things um, on the completed list for Councilmember McAlister. Yeah.

[01:09:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei. Um, with no other comments, I'll go into mine.

[01:09:30] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, I will agree with uh Councilmember McAlister's elevation of McKelvey Ballpark. I'm, I am happy to join you with a shovel as well. Let's go. Um, uh, I um am also, I'm I guess another one of the plus ones for the Standard Detail update. Um, I would love to get that through.

[01:09:52] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I also would like to elevate the, the conversation about artificial turf. Um, it, it's not something, like I I know we we had some people advocate to us to put it down in our, you know our Council priorities, and and clearly none of us did.

[01:10:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, cause we we we wanted to elevate different priorities, but the idea of like just continuing and then adding artificial turf in our CIP is kind of, doesn't feel great.

[01:10:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Kind of thing like, it's one thing to be like, okay we're going to actively like study and work on like this issue on artificial turf, it's another thing to be like, yeah we're happy to just let it happen. And we're like, I'm not, I'm not there.

[01:10:30] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, and I guess I am also okay with killing the the Terra Bella bikeway. I I... um... I... we could delay it, um, if that's also kind of an issue, I'm not entirely sure. It, it feels kind of weird to kill a bikeway. Um, so that, that... um, I'm okay with opening up that that conversation there.

[01:10:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, but I guess, uh, oh, I see Councilmember Kamei in the comments. Oh no, that's done. Councilmember Clark, Vice Mayor Clark.

[01:11:09] Councilmember Chris Clark: So, it was just um, just to chime in overall, I I'm fine with the staff recommendation, uh, and I don't... I have some reservations about completely removing the Terra Bella bikeway.

[01:11:24] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um, we, my thoughts behind that initially was that um you know we are putting in housing, including subsidized housing, uh and that is kind of the main thoroughfare in and out. And I think that, I think it would be short-sighted to um to just completely ax that.

[01:11:48] Councilmember Chris Clark: So whether, in terms of prioritization, you know, I think there are other projects, I I would agree with my colleagues that there are other projects that probably warrant higher priority than that, but um I think we would do a disservice to the future residents of that area if we um just completely take that off the map.

[01:12:06] Councilmember Chris Clark: I think, I think it needs to be understood long-term that our plan is to um connect that area, those areas that we're increasing our housing in um to ensure that they have the proper connectivity to get over to Shoreline, to Middlefield, to access the the services that they need because there aren't a lot of services in that, that neighborhood today without being able to get to Shoreline, Middlefield, and those other areas.

[01:12:36] Councilmember Chris Clark: So I don't know about the... yeah, in terms of prioritization I'm fine with changing the priorities there. I just don't want that to, to get lost in the ether.

[01:12:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I'm assuming in response to that, Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:12:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. Maybe a question for staff. Would staff feel comfortable with placing that project on the unscheduled list pending resources and council prioritization? Would that be reasonable?

[01:13:07] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: We can certainly defer this particular project. The consultant has already been under contract for this project and started some of the outreach with the surveys and such for the Terra Bella bikeways.

[01:13:22] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: However, due to staff resourcing, that effort has sort of been put to the side in favor of advancing our higher profile projects such as our TDM ordinance and our active transportation plan.

[01:13:38] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So it is entirely feasible to push this project off and defer it, moving it to unscheduled. I'm not sure exactly how that works when a portion of the project is completed and a portion of the funding has already been spent.

[01:13:51] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So staff would be comfortable with deferral pending resources and... Okay. That seems reasonable to me.

[01:14:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Can I just ask how that's any different from what you're already doing? I guess it sounds like you've kind of already...

[01:14:12] Councilmember Chris Clark: You're, you're so well versed in this that you've probably already taken those particular actions, so I guess I'm not sure us telling you to defer it even more really does anything, but...

[01:14:25] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Yeah, in my mind it's really a question of how long to defer. We've already had to triage, like a ER room, with all of the work that's on the transportation team and the limited bandwidth that they have.

[01:14:39] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So at such time as we get fully staffed, we would be looking at pulling this back up to the front because it is a partial work completed type of situation. But if you were to tell me that you wanted to defer it out, you know, several more years, I would certainly take that into consideration.

[01:14:57] Councilmember Chris Clark: Okay.

[01:15:01] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, could you push your button for me? Councilmember Showalter.

[01:15:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Um. I don't know if. Um, so now we're at the point where I get to ask staff the summary of the majority of Council direction. Where did we land, staff?

[01:15:15] City Staff: I am looking at my notes. Um, for the most part, uh, we are seeing support for the staff recommendation. A couple of things that came up that seem to, uh, resonate, uh, with the majority of you include, uh, discussion around timing of the Terra Bella bikeways project. Um, some for elimination and some for a deferral. Um, and then there were multiple comments around having a community conversation on the use of artificial turf.

[01:15:49] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Does that sound right to everyone? Councilmember McAlister?

[01:15:55] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Does that sound right to everyone? Is that... okay. Councilmember...

[01:15:59] Councilmember John McAlister: I was going to vote ridiculous, but that's okay.

[01:16:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I would just follow, it it just sounds like that they're, this this um project is underway. And I think we should just defer to the judgment of the um, public works staff about, about when to, uh, provide resources to it. I I don't think we need to do that from the, the dais.

[01:16:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I mean we've talked about how, from our point of view, uh, nobody's clamoring for it. And yet on the other hand, if work has started, um, that's important. And the other thing that, that um, Councilmember Clark, um Vice Mayor Clark said that's very important is that we do, uh, expect to have quite a bit more housing there.

[01:16:47] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Although it's not in the short term necessarily, and um, but not too long term. And the bike lanes will be important. So I, I just feel like you know, we can defer to staff, uh, uh, staff judgment.

[01:17:03] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Before we get to Vice Mayor Clark, we have City Manager McCarthy.

[01:17:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you Mayor. So I would just like to ask, um, Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour to provide some context on the work that staff has been doing with quite a few of the business owners along Terra Bella, um, just to provide some context as to what is going on versus what's been paused.

[01:17:28] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Uh, thank you City Manager. Audrey Seymour, Assistant City Manager. Um, there are, uh, a number of large property owners and businesses on Terra Bella that have contacted the city with concern about traffic safety, um, uh the circulation for their employees coming to and leaving their sites,

[01:17:49] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: um, and that that is impacted by, um, concentration of parking by oversized vehicles. And they, um, did, uh, participate in the initial outreach that, um, Public Works Director Ing mentioned has been started about the potential, um, use and need for bike lanes in the area.

[01:18:12] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: And I know that they have interest in, in that, um, uh, as as one of the constituents in, in the area.

[01:18:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Vice Mayor Clark.

[01:18:26] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah. So, I, I don't know where we'll end up with the majority, but, uh, my, my preference would be to kind of leave this at the discretion of staff. And the thing that I, the ultimate outcome is, you know, it's, uh, at least the, the ultimate goal from my perspective is that by the time that housing gets built, which is going to take a few years,

[01:18:48] Councilmember Chris Clark: um, because we've, we've just been approving some of those entitlements and there are second phases to some of these things, that, you know, the folks who live there, that this ultimately gets done, you know, reasonably close to when, um, some of that housing farther down Terra Bella is, is actually occupied.

[01:19:07] Councilmember Chris Clark: Because it isn't sustainable, the business concerns aside, um, I would not, I would not want to be a resident there who is strongly encouraged to, to bike, walk, do all those things, and I can't do that on a, what ends up being a very busy street, uh, especially a couple of times a day, with lines of RVs where there's just, you're, you're forced to just go with traffic, right?

[01:19:33] Councilmember Chris Clark: So I think the long term, I think it's just really important that we have safe facilities there when that housing comes online. And that's, that's what was driving the timing in my mind. So.

[01:19:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Vice Mayor Clark. Um, City Manager McCarthy, are you still in the queue? Okay. Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:19:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. I guess, uh, this will be the last effort I make on this. I, I'm a little sad that we said the quiet part out loud, that the, the bike lane is, it's, it's the pretext for getting rid of the RVs in the area.

[01:20:11] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: There are a lot of RV... well, that's. Sure. But and, and there are safety concerns also near that school, where the representatives have come time and again, every Council meeting, to express similar concerns. And we're not talking about a bike lane there, where there are actual students going every day to school.

[01:20:28] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I, so, um, if we want to use the bike lanes to get rid of the RVs, the future Council will have extraordinary ability to do that. Um, and that's fine. But we've heard extensively from the community about a bunch of different, I think, higher priority areas, including Miramonte and Moffett and Middlefield and Shoreline.

[01:20:50] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And we've really struggled with transportation planning in part because we don't have enough people. If we had five people, I wouldn't have said anything. But we have two of five. And I think our, um, our attempt to try and get all of the things through has not worked because we don't have the capacity to do it.

[01:21:12] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so that, that's, that's why in a previous version of this conversation I suggested this is not the priority that we're hearing from residents. There aren't a lot of people who live there today. There's not like, the same business intensity that we have in, in other parts of the city. It doesn't strike me as a high priority.

[01:21:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: There are other areas where there are RVs that would love a bike lane too. I have a hard time personally prioritizing this and expending staff capacity on this area when we've struggled immensely in other parts of the city. But I will leave it at that. That's something that the next Council gets to take care of. Thank you.

[01:21:49] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Does staff have what they need? Is...

[01:22:01] City Staff: Um, for Terra Bella yes. Um, do we want to come back to artificial turf?

[01:22:07] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. Do... Councilmember Kamei.

[01:22:13] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, at this time I don't, I don't feel comfortable adding or subtracting from our CIP list. And so I welcome when this comes back for final action, if at that time there, staff can evaluate and see if there's anything they would want to remove or add,

[01:22:34] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: because I'm hearing some ideas of what could be removed, I'm hearing some things what could be added. I think hopefully in a, as a compromise, we, we could just turn to staff and say, is there anything that you all recommend, um, maybe for deprioritization or prioritization. I'm open to that.

[01:22:53] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: However, adding anything at this point when there are already 221 projects just doesn't feel like the, the appropriate time for, in, in my experience. Um, or my point of view. But, um, so that's why I would prefer not to take a straw poll on it. If we do, I will vote no, and that's why. Thank you.

[01:23:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Showalter.

[01:23:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, although I think that this, that you know this is the kind of, because there are artificial turf involved in projects we're moving forward with, um, I, I think that it's not necessarily a, a um, a CIP project, it's, it's um, another kind of work plan project. And I'm not sure when is the appropriate time to be talking about that. So I'm looking to the City Manager. Perhaps she has an answer for me.

[01:23:49] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. So I think this has more of a nexus with the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan. Um, there are various, um, things in the works like for example the Los Altos School District, 10th school site. Um, you mentioned the Shoreline athletic fields.

[01:24:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, and I know that our Community Services Director has more context and I also know that, uh, we've received feedback as staff from a lot of the youth sports groups about it. So I would ask our Community Services Director to just let Council know what's in the Parks and Rec, Parks and Rec Strategic Plan, and then I think, um, as Councilmember Kamei said, staff can figure out how to perhaps weave this topic into what we're already planning on working on.

[01:24:40] Community Services Director John Marchant: Good evening. John Marchant, Community Services Director. Uh, thank you City Manager, uh, thank you Council for, for the questions. And uh, in regards to the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan, we have not identified a specific use of synthetic turf versus natural. Basically, as the Q&A stated, to the question asked is,

[01:25:02] Community Services Director John Marchant: at this time moving forward, we are not looking to add any new, net new artificial turf, but looking to replace in kind with what we have. Um, and as far as moving forward, I don't know if you have seen some of the other agencies that have taken on this, um, this item.

[01:25:22] Community Services Director John Marchant: Uh, typically it is a very long process. Uh, at least three of the most local, um, agencies that have done this, it has been multiple months if not more than a year of discussion. And so we are, um, in this case, under, um, a timeline in relation to Crittenden.

[01:25:41] Community Services Director John Marchant: This is a school district repair that is necessary for safety. And so the timeline is, um, coming upon us to do that. And the fact that it also has lights, the number of youth sports organizations that utilize that site, if, if it, if we were to try to change that dynamic at this point, it would be a significant delay to getting that done. And so that needs to be taken into consideration as we, we look to, to schedule this item.

[01:26:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. Does staff have what they need?

[01:26:20] City Staff: I believe so. Thank you Mayor.

[01:26:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Uh, with that, we, we have a two-minute break essentially before regular session starts at 6:30. Um, I'm just going to extend that to about 5 minutes too, so we'll come back at 6:33. Um, see you guys then.

1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

[01:27:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Good evening everyone. Welcome to the joint meeting of the Mountain View City Council and Shoreline Regional Park Community of April 14, 2026. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[01:27:36] 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.

[01:27:52] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Great job everyone. Now the City Clerk will take attendance by roll call.

[01:27:56] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[01:27:57] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[01:27:58] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[01:27:59] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Here.

[01:27:59] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[01:28:00] Councilmember John McAlister: Yep.

[01:28:01] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[01:28:02] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[01:28:02] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[01:28:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Here.

[01:28:04] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[01:28:05] Councilmember Chris Clark: Here.

[01:28:05] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[01:28:06] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yes.

[01:28:06] City Clerk Heather Glaser: You have a quorum.

[01:28:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, thank you. In recent weeks, the City, along with a few of our neighboring elected decision-making bodies, have been subjected to disrupted, disruptive, racist, verbal attacks by anonymous callers during virtual public comments.

[01:28:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: The City of Mountain View is fully committed to racial, religious, and cultural equity and justice as we strive to create a welcoming, safe, and inclusive community for all. The Council welcomes respectful, non-threatening public comments on matters within our jurisdiction.

[01:28:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Comments deemed otherwise, pursuant to the Council Code of Conduct and the Government Code, may be grounds for terminating a speaker's comment period. We will now move on to presentations. Um, please note, there are these are presentations only. The City Council will not take any action.

[01:28:54] Councilmember Emily Ramos: 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 City Clerk now. So now we will, uh, go to item 3.1, Teen Month Proclamation. Yay.

3.1 Teen Month Proclamation

[01:29:05] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So we are happy to be joined this evening by the Youth Advisory Committee Chair, uh, Shahana, um, Rajasekar... ran. I hope I really got that right. Um, and Vice Chair Sophia Lu to accept this proclamation. Commissioners, will you join me on the dais? ... I mean, right right there on the podium.

[01:29:55] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Um, the proclamation reads: Whereas, youth and teens account for approximately 20% of the Mountain View population and play a vital role in shaping the character and future of our community; and teens represent an often untapped resource with diverse perspectives and innovative ideas that can contribute to positive change and help strengthen our community; and, you can like stand right here.

[01:30:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Whereas, recognizing, including, and amplifying the voices of teens empowers them to become leaders and changemakers in our community and beyond; and the contributions of teens in student-based organizations and youth committees are invaluable as they lead initiatives addressing critical areas such as educational access, mental well-being, climate action, and the promotion of inclusion and diversity; and

[01:30:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Whereas, since 2017, the Youth Advisory Committee has championed Teen Week, now Teen Month, as an annual celebration designed to showcase the talents, creativity, intellect, activism, and overall well-being of Mountain View's teens, while underscoring their immense value to our community;

[01:31:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and Teen Month emphasizes the importance of celebrating teens and fostering positive connections among teens, families, schools, organizations, businesses, and community leaders; and Whereas, in recognition of Teen Month, teens can attend teen-only events including a simple sewing and clothing repair workshop, oh that sounds like fun, um, and dodgeball and donuts,

[01:31:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: while community members can show their support by attending the teen art showcase, cultural diversity fair, and teen open mic night. Um, 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 April as Teen Month in the City of Mountain View,

[01:31:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and encourage all residents to recognize, celebrate, and support the youth who strengthen our community today and will lead it tomorrow. Alright, congratulations.

[01:32:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: You're gonna invite them up to the mic, right? Just, we'll do a great karaoke. You guys should come grab, grab the mic.

3.2 National Volunteer Week Proclamation

[01:32:40] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Thank you, Ellen. Um, National Volunteer Week Proclamation. We are happy to be joined this evening by Clara Hubel, Chief Operating Officer and Founder of the United Effort, and Edie Chong, volunteer usher at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, to accept this proclamation. Clara and Edie, will you join me?

[01:33:07] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. So, the proclamation reads: Whereas, volunteers generously share their time and talents across the City of Mountain View programs and facilities, including park beautification, ushering, tutoring, activity leaders, docents, front desk support, and serving as community greeters, thereby enhancing the quality of life in Mountain View;

[01:33:28] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and volunteers serve as an essential partners to City departments and local organizations, helping deliver critical services, expand access to opportunities, and ensure programs remain inclusive, effective, and responsive to community needs;

[01:33:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and Whereas, volunteers advance literacy and lifelong learning at the Mountain View Public Library, preserve local history and culture through their service at Deer Hollow Farm and Rengstorff House, and strengthen community engagement through the arts, recreation, and environmental education programs through the City programs;

[01:34:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and youth engagement remains a cornerstone of the City's volunteer efforts, with teens participating in structured programs such as the Teen Volunteer Summer Program, where participants develop leadership skills while supporting recreation and environmental education initiatives; and

[01:34:19] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Whereas, the City hosts bi-annual volunteer fairs that strengthen connections between prospective volunteers and community organizations, broaden volunteer participation, and encourage residents of all ages to engage in meaningful service;

[01:34:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and the City gratefully recognizes the dedication of volunteers serving at Deer Hollow Farm, the Mountain View Public Library, Shoreline at Mountain View, the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, and Rengstorff House, and the Mountain View Senior Center, the View Teen Center, citywide special events, and through programs such as Cool Block Leaders, Police Explorers, Kindness Ambassadors, and the Community Emergency Response Team;

[01:34:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and Whereas, National Volunteer Week provides an opportunity to celebrate and honor invaluable contributions volunteers bring to our community. Now therefore I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the City of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do hereby proclaim April 12th through April 18th as National Volunteer Week in the City of Mountain View. Oh, we have two. Yay. Okay.

[01:35:46] Clara Hubel: My name is Clara Hubel, and I'm honored to accept this volunteer proclamation on behalf of the United Effort organization. Our organization works in a volunteer capacity with members of the community who are homeless or unstably housed, helping them navigate a complex system of benefits, services, and housing opportunities.

[01:36:05] Clara Hubel: Since our inception we have always been a volunteer driven organization. As such, we have seen the benefits of volunteering not just for our community but for our volunteers themselves. Several of our key volunteers are former clients who have found their involvement with our organization has given a sense of purpose and meaning to their lives,

[01:36:24] Clara Hubel: keeping them engaged and giving them a family of people working towards a common goal. We are thankful to be part of a community in Mountain View that appreciates and recognizes the value of volunteering for all those involved. Thank you.

[01:36:43] Edie Keating: I represent the Center for Performing Arts, right across the, the way here, and I want to thank the City Council for all of the support you give to that, uh, organization. There are probably about 200 of us who volunteer, and we are so grateful. We're grateful for the diversity of programs that are presented at the theater. We're grateful for the diversity of the patrons who come to our theater.

[01:37:13] Edie Keating: I saw your, your Mayor on Sunday, uh, greeting the group called The Links, and it was a group of African American women who belong to a sorority and from various colleges, but, uh, they're based now in, in South San Jose. And they presented a, uh, concert or recital for 13 young people who came from all over the Bay Area.

[01:37:38] Edie Keating: And it was such a thrill to have people come from everywhere and be so impressed and pleased with what you have to offer us. And we are so grateful to get to have that diversity of people who, who come to us.

[01:37:54] Edie Keating: Sometimes we have in, in our group of seven people who were ushering or being the house managers that day, one was an immigrant from Hungary, one was an immigrant from Romania, and one was an immigrant from Iran. And I think how fortunate I am to be able to go and interact with these people,

[01:38:16] Edie Keating: uh, not, not only the ones who come as clients but the ones who come as patrons, and certainly the ones who come as volunteers. So thank you so much for, uh, acknowledging the, the volunteers that I get to represent this evening. Thank you.

[01:39:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. The proclamations just keep on coming. We have a lot to celebrate. So 3.3, Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month Proclamation.

3.3 Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month Proclamation

[01:39:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We are happy to be joined this evening by Adriana Marisol, Executive Director of the Community School of Music and Arts to accept this proclamation. Adriana, will you join me at the lectern?

[01:39:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Whereas, the 2026 Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month in April marks the eighth annual statewide celebration of this vital role that arts and culture play in enriching communities throughout California, recognizing themes of joy, action, and power;

[01:40:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And the City of Mountain View recognizes that arts and culture are essential public goods that foster civic pride, strengthen neighborhood identity, and contribute to the social and economic vitality of our community. And,

[01:40:14] Councilmember Emily Ramos: whereas the City of Mountain View's commitment to public art enhances public spaces, reflects shared values, and makes art accessible to all residents and visitors through permanent installations, temporary exhibitions, and community-driven projects. And,

[01:40:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: the City's Visual Arts Committee advance public art initiatives that integrate creativity into civic spaces, support local artists, and expand equitable access to cultural experiences. And,

[01:40:41] Councilmember Emily Ramos: whereas arts education provide youth and lifelong learners with opportunities to develop creativity, confidence, collaboration, and critical thinking skills essential for success in school, work, and civic life. And,

[01:40:54] Councilmember Emily Ramos: whereas the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View has served the community for decades by providing high-quality arts education, performances, exhibitions, and outreach programs that inspire thousands of students of all ages and backgrounds.

[01:41:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And through its commitment to access, inclusion, and artistic excellence, the Community School of Music and Arts strengthens Mountain View's cultural landscape and nurtures the next generation of artists, performers, and creative leaders.

[01:42:01] 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 April as Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month in the City of Mountain View,

[01:42:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: and recognize the Community School of Music and Arts for its outstanding contributions to arts education and cultural enrichment in our community. Let's make some art. Do you have any comments to say?

[01:42:25] Public Speaker: Sure. Yes I do. Thank you so much.

[01:42:30] Public Speaker: On behalf of the Community School of Music and Arts, we are honored to receive this proclamation from the City of Mountain View, especially during California's Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month.

[01:42:42] Public Speaker: The Community School of Music and Arts has served Mountain View residents for 58 years. It has grown from a grassroots organization led by just ten volunteers committed to providing music lessons to youth, to a 7 million dollar widely respected arts organization with a reach across the Bay Area.

[01:43:00] Public Speaker: CSMA's success has been in large part due to deep support from the City of Mountain View and its residents who believe, as we do, that art strengthens a community and fosters a sense of pride and belonging.

[01:43:13] Public Speaker: Today CSMA continues our mission of inspiring excellence through music and arts education for people of all ages and abilities, now serving 28,000 people annually, including 8,000 Mountain View residents.

[01:43:26] Public Speaker: In Mountain View we provide low-cost arts and music for the Mountain View preschools, offer music and arts classes for teens and adults with disabilities through our Artistic Intelligence program,

[01:43:36] Public Speaker: and when only 11% of K through 12 students in the state of California receive arts education, we are very proud of our longstanding partnership with the Mountain View Whisman School District to provide art and music to all elementary students, TK through 5, during the school day.

[01:43:52] Public Speaker: Thank you so much to Mayor Emily Ramos and the council members for recognizing CSMA and for supporting arts education in our community.

3.4 VTA Local Investment Plan Presentation

[01:44:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright, um, in our next presentation, we have item 3.4, Local Investment Plan Presentation. We are happy to be joined this evening by Greg Richardson, VTA Deputy General Manager, and Manolo Gonzalez-Estay, uh, Government Affairs Policy Analyst for this presentation. Welcome.

[01:44:25] Greg Richardson: Is it on now? You got it. Thank you. Um, well, thank you Madam Mayor, and to the City Council, and to the City Administration, thank you for giving us this opportunity uh to present to you. Um, I am Greg Richardson, as it was said, Deputy General Manager for VTA,

[01:44:42] Greg Richardson: and I am joined actually by Sam Sargent, our Director of Strategy and Transformation, so he'll be joining me in this presentation. For Sam and me, this is part of what we're referring to as our little concert tour, the spring tour, to introduce this draft investment plan related to the, to the proposed regional transportation revenue measure.

[01:45:00] Greg Richardson: Ideally to gain insight and solicit feedback from the cities and community groups directly impacted by the measure. This evening we'll provide a little background, a framework of the draft investment plan, and seek feedback, again as we said, on what's important to you as we continue to refine the plan. Next slide please.

[01:45:17] Greg Richardson: So I'm trusting that each of you um is aware of the role that VTA plays in the region, but just in case, this slide provides uh a brief snapshot reflecting our responsibilities in transit, as the Congestion Management Agency uh and as well as a funding partner.

[01:45:32] Greg Richardson: And we fundamentally see VTA's role as connecting people to the things most important to them. Jobs, medical needs, school, and family and community.

[01:45:43] Greg Richardson: Next slide. Oh, she's good. Um, the City of Mountain View sees and experiences some of VTA's major transit service uh via bus and light rail uh options as shown here.

[01:45:54] Greg Richardson: And it actually serves as a major connection for passengers uh traveling to Super Bowl 60, and we'll do the same for the upcoming six FIFA World Cup matches.

[01:46:03] Greg Richardson: Additionally, the city and VTA have partnered and collaborated on projects in the Mountain View area focused on multimodal solutions with a few shown here as reference. And you'll see these projects range from bike-ped improvements, to grade separation, to local streets and roads, and highway work.

[01:46:18] Greg Richardson: And I would be remiss if I, if I did not mention uh really how excited we are with the recent work and collaboration with the City of Mountain View on the Rengstorff grade separation project. Uh, we're very excited about how that's moving forward.

[01:46:30] Greg Richardson: The next slide um provides a brief summary of the fiscal elements of the regional measure specific to Santa Clara County. The regional measure is designed as a citizen's initiative, meaning that uh it requires a 50% plus one vote for approval, rather than the two-thirds.

[01:46:47] Greg Richardson: Through our board, VTA was able to ensure a full return to source component with the measure, ensuring that over 84% of sales tax generated in Santa Clara County is returned to the county through VTA.

[01:47:00] Greg Richardson: The 84% return is after contributions of 5.25% to MTC for uh transit transformation initiatives and administration, and then our obligation to help fund Caltrain capped at 10.38%.

[01:47:13] Greg Richardson: And using the measure's base year of Fiscal Year 2031, this means that approximately 264 million dollars annually will come to the county through VTA to support transit in the region.

[01:47:25] Greg Richardson: And it's at this point here that I'm gonna turn it over to Sam uh to take you the, the rest of the way. Thank you.

[01:47:30] Sam Sargent: Thank you Greg. Uh, Sam Sargent, I serve as the Director of Strategy and Transformation here at VTA. Next slide please.

[01:47:38] Sam Sargent: So this evening we're really talking about SB 63, which was the name of the enabling legislation for the five-county regional measure uh that the VTA board unanimously um agreed to be a part of back in August, and I'd like to recognize that Chair Sergio Lopez is in the audience tonight.

[01:47:53] Sam Sargent: But very important to wrap our minds around sort of what this money could be used for. And so SB 63, different than Measure A or Measure B where you had a much broader range of investments that could be made, uh this is for public transit expenses and roadway repavement projects on roads served by fixed-route transit.

[01:48:12] Sam Sargent: So it's transit operations, transit-related capital, and roadway projects as long as we've got a VTA bus or light rail line on that corridor. Next slide.

[01:48:22] Sam Sargent: And over the course of uh of a number of meetings, including a workshop on February 27th with our board, we've got a second workshop uh this Friday to talk about the local investment plan, which is what we're calling the Santa Clara County portion of the regional measure,

[01:48:35] Sam Sargent: principles, we focused on outcomes. Because we think whether it's for the regional measure or really any of the investments that VTA makes going forward, we want to be focused on outcomes that are measurable and are impactful to the people that we serve.

[01:48:49] Sam Sargent: So we are focused on growing ridership, on increasing productivity so that we can be a more efficient system and make better use of taxpayer dollars, and enhancing the customer experience. Which can mean a lot of things, but I think for a lot of people safety, security, and cleanliness come to mind.

[01:49:02] Sam Sargent: And doing so in a way that's financially sustainable. As Greg mentioned, this is a 14-year measure. So how can we make changes to the way that VTA delivers its service and conducts its business so that potentially we do not have to come back out to voters at the end of these 14 years. How can we make a better VTA transit system with these new dollars. Next slide.

[01:49:23] Sam Sargent: We've also focused on three strategic areas. So foundation, which is leveraging our expertise and data to drive our decision making today. Reimagine, which is modernizing our business model and improving our service delivery, including implementation of our Visionary Network.

[01:49:38] Sam Sargent: And transformation, which is new technologies and partnerships with the public and private sector to futureproof the system. Next slide.

[01:49:45] Sam Sargent: And because this is an invitation for input, this is not meant to be any kind of ask for an endorsement or any decision by this body this evening, we want the public and we want our cities to be thinking about potential uses of these funds.

[01:49:59] Sam Sargent: So we'll be organizing the local investment plan into these strategic areas, and if you think about foundation here are some of the things that we're talking about. These are examples. Bus corridor improvements, station upgrades, improvements to transit service, and transit capital improvements. Next slide.

[01:50:14] Sam Sargent: Reimagine. Again, the Visionary Network, which at a highest level you can think about as how do we get more of our bus routes that are at 30 minute service to 15 or better. Speed improvements to enable that type of service, which would be things like transit signal priority.

[01:50:28] Sam Sargent: Fare programs for seniors and students so that we can better serve a greater swath of Santa Clara County residents, including the next generation of transit riders. Safety and security enhancements. Next slide.

[01:50:39] Sam Sargent: And then transformation. How do we look at new technologies to drive a better customer experience, including the replacement of our light rail fleet, advanced vehicle technologies, and continuing to work on our transit-oriented development program. Next slide.

[01:50:52] Sam Sargent: And at the end of this process, which we will wrap up with our board in June, we will have something that looks like this. And it will be a list of projects put into these categories, the percentage of revenues that would accrue to each of these program areas, what are the three outcomes, one, two, or three, hopefully many of these hit all three, outcomes will these projects drive,

[01:51:11] Sam Sargent: and then what are the key performance indicators or KPIs uh for each of those projects. Because we want to make sure that we can measure and manage this so that we can make course corrections as needed. Next slide.

[01:51:23] Sam Sargent: And we're with you tonight just inviting that feedback. We have our workshop on uh Friday. We'll continue to refine in April and May, and then June 4th our board will take action on the local investment plan. And then I believe I'll close with uh a final slide.

[01:51:37] Sam Sargent: And so just we want the city and we want the public to be engaged. This is your plan. We want this to mirror the needs of our communities, which are very diverse in this county.

[01:51:48] Sam Sargent: And investment.plan@vta.org comes to a number of staff members including myself. The QR code goes to our landing page. And with that, uh Greg and I welcome any questions you may have. Thank you.

[01:51:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Um, so uh we will now take public, oh, would any council, would any member of the council like to say a few words? Um, I guess about really any of the uh presentations.

[01:52:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, thank you Mayor. Uh, and it's tricky I think because we've grouped together all of the presentations, and uh one of the four is substantially different from from the others. Um, uh, so I'll confine my comments to uh the presentation by VTA staff.

[01:52:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And first I do want to appreciate uh you, Greg and Sam, for the presentation, uh, and uh also recognize Manolo, who I've had the pleasure of working with for many years. You have a great team over at VTA.

[01:52:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I guess some high level thoughts. I I wish this were agendized a little bit differently, maybe more like a a study session or or even an item for action, um, to allow the council to provide um uh some uh input uh as a body rather than just sort of one-off ideas here and there.

[01:53:08] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so I I would welcome staff's feedback for um if there is an opportunity for for us to do that. Um, but I I did want to share uh at a high level. I'm, I I had the uh the privilege of uh serving on the uh citizen uh advisory uh group or committee, it had multiple names, uh way back in 2015 and 16,

[01:53:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: and and had the opportunity to uh um participate in various public processes for the development of uh 2016 Measure B. And that was an extensive process. That was two years of work, and maybe even a little bit longer.

[01:53:43] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and I'm um, I've been a little disheartened that there hasn't been the same um uh robust approach to uh soliciting input. I know there there are different circumstances, some of which are beyond the control of of VTA.

[01:53:56] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: But um it's a very uh truncated timeframe that you're working under, um, and I think it makes it hard for um the uh the councils who I think would generally like to provide robust feedback, and the communities who to participate in a meaningful way.

[01:54:10] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I feel like a lot of it is uh a little rushed, and um less less than clear about how how best to participate, what kinds of input are actually useful and relevant. Um, and uh I would love I think maybe at a staff level to collaborate and figure out how we can do something a little bit more substantive than what you're likely to receive uh tonight.

[01:54:31] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, but with that the the one thing I did want to highlight was um uh we've uh done a lot locally, uh and I'll I'll I'll be charitable, I think, you know, there's um uh a recognition that um, you know, we could be better served by transit,

[01:54:48] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: um, and because uh our uh residents and uh the major employers and and small businesses also uh have not uh received the the level of service that we would like to enjoy from VTA, uh we've really stepped up locally through the creation of the uh Mountain View uh Transportation Management Association.

[01:55:08] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, and uh have provided that that uh that service ourselves, right. Uh, through uh collaboration with major employers, uh, through conditions of approval for development, and also through local funding for the community shuttle.

[01:55:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, and if there's one thing I would love to see come out of this measure, it's um VTA stepping in and saying, look, we're the experts on providing transit, um we're happy to to take on um that service and free up uh city funding for capital, right, or or some other type of transportation uh enhancement investment.

[01:55:44] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So that's that's if there's nothing else that comes of this, that's the one thing I would love to see. Um, I love the community shuttle, um I think it's a great service, I hear nothing but but good things from our our constituents, but it's a it's a major operational cost.

[01:55:58] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and it's ongoing, and we don't really have a a a long-term strategy I think for making sure that that um that doesn't become uh, you know, an increasing burden on our general fund, especially if, you know, as I hope we do someday, we we decide to expand it, adding additional stops or uh increasing the frequency of service.

[01:56:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: That's uh a core uh service provided by VTA. You're the experts locally, we're not, I think we do a great job, um but I do hope that VTA uh is able to work with the city long after I'm gone from the council, I'm terming out just so you know, I'm never to be seen or heard from again.

[01:56:34] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, uh so I I would love to see uh VTA um to to collaborate with the city, uh and I would uh welcome ideas from from the staff or or the Mayor about uh ways we can provide um formal feedback as a body. Thank you.

[01:56:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Ramirez. Councilmember Kamei?

[01:56:51] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, so just a question on the information. Is this, when I scan the QR code, it goes to a site that's um 100% in English. And, you know, trying to serve our diverse populations, is there going to be, and it's just one question, which is,

[01:57:12] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: and I can um, 'Please give us your thoughts on VTA's draft local investment plan for the potential five-county regional sales tax measure in November 2026.'

[01:57:25] Sam Sargent: It it is very open-ended. Because for for for a lot of reasons. The website should have translation, but I will go back and confirm, and when we've done our public meetings we've obviously made sure to have the right translation, but I I appreciate you calling that out because it's a it's that's a problem. So let me circle back and then I can share with city staff when we make that adjustment.

[01:57:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay, yeah, on your website it's English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

[01:57:51] Sam Sargent: Okay.

[01:57:52] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, when you scroll to the bottom of the join the SB 63 conversation at a community meeting. So, um, really appreciative of the conversation of VTA's staff being here, but I think, I don't know if we're allowed to give comments, but that would be my request, if if open to it.

[01:58:10] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I think for our residents in the city of Mountain View it would be great to have it in, we have a whole multi, um, like multilingual engagement program, um, and we have different leadership academies that we provide, and so I think that that would be useful. Also want to thank Councilmember McAlister for his service on the VTA board. I'm sure he's bringing up these thoughts to all of you as well.

[01:58:38] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, so I I also wanted to ask, so given Councilmember Ramirez's um kind of questions, aside aside from joining a community meeting or the SurveyMonkey question, are there other ways where our residents can provide input? Is is that something you'll be sharing with the 15 cities in the county? Perhaps you could share a little bit of next steps with us. Thank you.

[01:59:04] Sam Sargent: Yeah, I think uh so Councilmember Ramirez and Kamei, um great great points. I think that a lot of the input is very broad in part because it is a very different type of measure. I mean not only do we have a truncated uh period of time to take the engagement compared to a Measure A or Measure B,

[01:59:22] Sam Sargent: but the fact that it has a lot of breadth to it, and because Santa Clara County is in the fortunate position to be able to have a local investment plan because we're not putting all of the money into keeping the lights on at at, you know, at our main transit agency, we have the ability to program it for something else.

[01:59:39] Sam Sargent: And so um it is very broad, it is a little bit open-ended. I think it's something that we can work on with both our the the web form, including making sure that it uh adheres to our language access policy, which we did during the public meetings, but I want to triple triple check because that's very very important.

[01:59:55] Sam Sargent: Um, but it is meant to be broad. And in terms of how cities can provide input, they've done it in different ways. The city of San Jose passed a resolution where they had their priorities. Others I think that we've mainly been speaking with the city managers.

[02:00:08] Sam Sargent: I would expect that sometimes we'll get individual input from members of city council, and we welcome it in in all of its forms. I think if a city wanted to do it in a formalized fashion, that would be totally fine between now and June 4th when our board takes action.

[02:00:23] Sam Sargent: And I think the one other thing that I will mention, because I think it's a really important caveat, is that unlike a Measure A or B, what goes into this local investment plan is not going to wind up on the ballot. Because what's on the ballot is going to be common between the five counties.

[02:00:37] Sam Sargent: And so VTA through the board will have the ability on some kind of cadence, could be the biennial budget cycle, to make adjustments. So if we're measuring how well these investments are doing, some things we may want to expand and other things we may want to contract.

[02:00:50] Sam Sargent: And so what goes into the June 4th uh resolution that the board will take on um is not going to be the end all be all for 14 years. I think that that's important to note.

[02:01:03] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, so one of the other boards I sit on is the Cities Association as well as the Peninsula Division for the League of California Cities. I think it'd be great if you would join both of those bodies to provide information, I don't know if you're already going to be, I serve-

[02:01:17] Sam Sargent: I believe that we are, but I'll confirm because yeah, thank you for that, that's fantastic.

[02:01:21] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Cause June 4th is coming up quickly, so thank you. Yes, thank you very much.

[02:01:24] Sam Sargent: Yeah, and and again, public meetings, our councils, the board of supervisors, a couple of dozen of our community based organizations, and each time we go to a community based organization we share the link, which we will improve upon,

[02:01:35] Sam Sargent: but we also ask people to be a force multiplier, which is that if your neighborhood, your church, whatever it might be, wants to hear from us, we want to go to you. So thank you.

[02:01:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Kamei. Councilmember Showalter.

[02:01:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes. Well, I am going to talk um just first about the other presentations, and um I wanted to say that these...

[02:01:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: ...these organizations are organizations that were started in Mountain View because of a Mountain View need. And I really appreciated having them recognized. And I also appreciate the sort of grassroots initiative that they um they represent.

[02:02:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I mean certainly CSMA is a is a wonderful I mean their their story of how they got going with a few teachers who decided that kids needed to have art lessons, I mean it's just a wonderful tale, and the um United organization getting together to help our homeless uh work because because the bureaucracy of of the um the services is is difficult, and everybody's needs are difficult.

[02:02:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then and then the performing arts volunteers, I mean there is a performing arts center, we needed help to make it run and they and they rose to the surface. So I I just really applaud that initiative. I think that there isn't um I don't think we give enough credence to to that characteristic. Anyway, okay so changing to um this presentation.

[02:03:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, I uh I just would like to say kind of from a higher level, I'm I'm really concerned with climate change and um and what we can do to reduce our greenhouse gas um emissions.

[02:03:22] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I understand from kind of every every presentation I get that the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our in our county is um uh is transportation. And so and and it's primarily cars.

[02:03:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So what I am really interested in is what you can do to make your system so good that it reduces the amount of cars. And to me um that really has to translate into frequency of service.

[02:03:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, we've recently experienced how nice um it is to have that service increase on Caltrain. You don't really have to have a schedule anymore on Caltrain. They're basically pretty much every 20 minutes or half an hour, and you can just show up and wait a little while and you know there'll be a train.

[02:04:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: That and they for the most part they stop at every station, so you don't have to worry about where they're going either, they're going where you're going. If you're on the line. Um, and that is uh that is a big change.

[02:04:32] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And but the bus system is not like that. You really have to know how it works. And um it needs to be much more seamless. So um that driver of GHG reduction is what I want to um bring up.

[02:04:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then the other thing is I I really like the idea that... I forget the amount you mentioned, 264 million or something?

[02:05:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, okay, of of um funds will come to Santa Clara County every year. Um, that's, that seems like an amount of money that we can do some significant good with. So um, I think concentrating on what we can do locally is is really important. Thank you.

[02:05:21] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Mr. Transit, Councilmember McAlister.

[02:05:27] Councilmember John McAlister: You heard that uh Manolo, Mr. Transit over here. Okay. Um, thank you gentlemen for coming. And you too Chair. So uh it was interesting that Councilmember Ramirez mentioned the 2015 measure B. Uh I'm proud to say that myself and Mayor Showalter at the time were very instrumental on keeping the budget, the money going to services and not BART.

[02:05:53] Councilmember John McAlister: So with that said, when you said you'll get this money, how much of it could go to BART? Will there be a cap or could it all go to BART?

[02:06:03] Public Speaker: I am on record saying that none of the measure uh of our of uh SB 63, none of that money is going to BART phase two. It all stays in transit, it all stays within the service and the systems that we are operating right now today, exclusive of BART phase two.

[02:06:20] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, so there's enough funding to to get BART going without tapping into that?

[02:06:26] Public Speaker: Um, that's a different question, but-

[02:06:29] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, you know, things change, and you said the board has discretion.

[02:06:34] Public Speaker: But the board does have discretion, but our our primary goal on this is to make sure that this fun- these funds are available for transit operations, the transit net- the transit system overall. The basically the the CTA as what um um VTA operates overall for the county, it's really to focus on those core items that need to be focused on, exclusive of BART phase two.

[02:06:58] Councilmember John McAlister: So those core things, sitting here representing the City of Mountain View, is there any way to determine how much money you would allocate to the City of Mountain View?

[02:07:11] Councilmember John McAlister: You were very generous in the other projects, and I was just wondering if that would continue to help us with our grade separations, our light rail, local transit systems and so forth.

[02:07:22] Public Speaker: I mean I I I don't want to say, you know, yes or no to a question right now to to that degree. But I think once once we've identified what the priorities are that Sam was talking about, and we go through all of the different levels of needs that exist,

[02:07:36] Public Speaker: once there becomes a more clear picture of what it is that we need to do from the overall system, then we can maybe identify the places in which they become more beneficial. So then the cities that might have the greatest impact and greatest return, um, might be the areas that we would then focus on.

[02:07:51] Public Speaker: So that's when I would say we'd probably have an opportunity to start focusing specifically on, um, I'll call it a return to source of the cities from the funding perspective, as compared to what the county is doing.

[02:08:03] Councilmember John McAlister: So we can, you hold that to you?

[02:08:04] Public Speaker: No, you can't hold me to the return to source to the city. But the concept is what I'm referring to.

[02:08:09] Councilmember John McAlister: 'Cause that's what the county is asking for, a return to source.

[02:08:11] Public Speaker: Yeah.

[02:08:12] Councilmember John McAlister: Um, I have an o- I'm gonna bring in some inside knowledge maybe or whatever. So down the the forecast for the VTA down the road is that there may be some shortages in funding. How much of this potentially could go to cover our deficits?

[02:08:29] Public Speaker: Um, there will be some that most likely will have to cover deficits. Uh, we're in the process now of um reforecasting um our next 10 years. Um, I think um, although I and yes I was a part of it, um, but um I think we might have been a- one we were a little aggressive in some of the exp- um uh assumptions we were making.

[02:08:50] Public Speaker: I shouldn't say aggressive, we were too too too conservative, and we were showing some pretty substantial deficits that were going to be happening, starting actually um in in fiscal 20- 28, which is our, not our coming fiscal year but the following.

[02:09:04] Public Speaker: Um, things have changed a little bit, and I think we'll see some exp- we'll see some forecasts that'll change that to some degree. Again, plus what Sam was talking about, some of this effort is any any projection that we've got from a long-term perspective that shows deficits, the same way that BART, Caltrain, uh Muni, and and AC Transit are doing it,

[02:09:24] Public Speaker: um, we cannot simply rest on the fact that this measure would fund those deficits. We have to figure out how we change that business model. And that's the focus that we've got.

[02:09:36] Public Speaker: And so even if we're showing deficits in five, six, seven, eight years, we're gonna have to fi- we have to figure out ways utilizing some of this money over the next four or five years to figure out how we how we close those deficits without utilizing these this measure, but by doing it in other other uh means.

[02:09:53] Public Speaker: And so that's part of the work that has to go on. Productivity, uh reducing cost, increasing ridership, all of these different things that will help offset some of those things that we're projecting. Those are the efforts that we've got to put forward now, utilizing these dollars to make sure that those deficits don't happen in the future.

[02:10:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Is it too early to say some of this money will be discretionary and some will be non-discretionary?

[02:10:15] Public Speaker: Um, I guess if you if you term it n- uh non-discretionary, if it's if it's something that we're gonna have to utilize from an operations perspective because it's there and it just has to be fixed, then I would say that's probably a block that would be at least identified.

[02:10:33] Public Speaker: Now whether that's identified on the front end, I can't guarantee that. Um, there's there's gonna be an understanding that if there's deficits that need to be filled just like the other agencies, we'll have to address those. Um, but everything that we'll do, we'll do everything in our power to reduce that number so that there is more discretionary money than non-discretionary.

[02:10:53] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you. One last question. Light rail. $30, $83 per person to operate. I'll just leave you with that thought.

[02:11:02] Public Speaker: I appreciate that. That qu- that question was raised to me earlier today, so I I it was embedded in my mind, but thank you.

[02:11:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Hicks. Oh wait, actually, uh, City Manager Kimbra McCarthy? Oh wait, okay, we'll go with Councilmember Hicks first.

[02:11:20] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Thank you for taking your time to come visit us tonight. Um, I just have a brief comment for your both short-term and long-term outreach. Um, I'm I'm just hoping that when you do outreach you can take time to uh do outreach to parents of young children. I have to say I took transit a great deal before I had young children, and I found it surprisingly difficult to use once I did have young children.

[02:11:47] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I will not give you my list of difficulties here, but tonight, but um, you know, there were a number of them that could have been fixed. And it kind of, it kind of made a a break in my use, and I didn't end up using it with when I had young children, medium children, older children, and and probably stopped me from using it to some degree even today.

[02:12:08] Councilmember Alison Hicks: It was that kind of break. So I do encourage you to um to do outreach to parents of young children.

[02:12:16] Public Speaker: Are you open to sharing that with me separate of this meeting?

[02:12:19] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Sure.

[02:12:19] Public Speaker: Thank you very much.

[02:12:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. City Manager McCarthy.

[02:12:27] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, Mayor. So I just have a couple technical questions from staff perspective because this is the first time that I'm hearing this or seeing this. Uh, so a couple things. First, how is VTA staff going to determine proportionality once you all get the Santa Claus wish lists from every city of what they want on their local investment plan, how are you going to determine what you're recommending to the board on June 4th?

[02:13:01] Public Speaker: Um, I think part of that's gonna be informed by the list that we receive, and recognizing where those priorities exist from the information that we've we've uh received.

[02:13:12] Public Speaker: I think when Sam talked about the foundational reimagine and the transformation components, I think what we've got to figure out is within those, um, what are the critical needs, what is it that we've got to address, um, that might require a little bit heavier funding maybe on the front end, not so much on the back end.

[02:13:33] Public Speaker: And that's gonna then dictate sort of how the f- the percentages will break down. Um, I think anything related to kind of that foundational reimagine component that has to do with ridership and increasing um frequency and doing the things to the system that need to be done, that's where you're gonna most likely see the the funding go.

[02:13:48] Public Speaker: Um, but anything we can do on the back end from a capital perspective, even leveraging those dollars, not necessarily using 100% of those dollars for the purpose of what we're looking at from a capital perspective, but if there's a way for us to leverage a certain percentage of it to then uh finance or fund through grants or other mechanisms to to do additional funding for some of those capital projects.

[02:14:12] Public Speaker: Then we'll find ways to utilize these dollars, not necessarily 100% going to one single project but but leveraging and and attaching it to other funding uh options.

[02:14:20] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So what I'm hearing is the funding priorities will go towards those projects that increase ridership. So for example, if council should decide to put different uh projects on Mountain View's list, for example, as Councilmember Ramirez says, perhaps community shuttle funding, perhaps funding for our streets and roads, perhaps funding for our Rengstorff grade separation project, is that then going to be less of a priority because it doesn't increase ridership?

[02:14:49] Public Speaker: No, I I think we we need to keep in mind that there's I use the increased ridership as one of the examples. But of the three that Sam had talked about with the priorities that we had, I think we've got to keep in mind those critical items that are necessary that we're saying for VTA and for the the agency and the system to succeed.

[02:15:05] Public Speaker: But we hast- also have to recognize we have a large county that has needs that go throughout all of the the cities, and we've got to figure out where those priorities are as well. Um, there's gonna be a large list, and so not everyone's gonna get everything they want or need. And it's gonna be up to us and through this process to to really prioritize those effectively so that we can at least address what everyone believes to be the most critical items.

[02:15:29] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Okay, thank you. So June 4th will be the actual vote of the board on what you are prioritizing in the plan.

[02:15:36] Public Speaker: Yeah, and and I guess I um I'm gonna I'll say it this way as well. I I think the the the effort is to what Sam had said before, um to provide some flexibility so as this evolves, 'cause again we're trying to put something together as it's been talked about, this is a pretty quick process.

[02:15:55] Public Speaker: Trying to put something together that gives us the flexibility to identify things that could come up later that need to be done, but still stay within the framework of what's been basically approved with the measure.

[02:16:06] Public Speaker: So you know, if there's gonna be specific specific projects may not be as as concrete, but it it may be something that's more in a in a framework that makes sure that we are addressing some of the critical needs that are being identified and then prioritize as we move forward.

[02:16:22] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Okay, Mayor, may I address Council?

[02:16:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yep.

[02:16:25] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So I would just um suggest to Council that I talk to our Public Works Director Ing, um if you would give staff direction to let us think of what a lists might look like for Mountain View, for our local um priorities um that we would have specific to our city.

[02:16:42] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And then staff could bring something back for Council to react to, maybe on consent or otherwise, but I can talk to all of you um about it and just kind of let staff um think about what that might look like.

[02:16:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Sounds good. Sounds good.

[02:17:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. We are now going to public comment. Finally. Um, we will now take public comment for the presentation items. This is all for the all the item threes. Um, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on the presentation items listed on the agenda? If so, please click the raise hand button on Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk.

[02:17:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We will take in-person speakers first. Each person will have two minutes. So, Mr. Zahorski.

[02:17:35] Jim Zayorski: Jim Zayorski. I'm speaking on the VTA issue as an individual. Um, I've lived here for 40 years, and I remember how excited I was when the light rail was built. My wife at the time worked at the DA's office on 70 West Hedding, and she was really excited that she was going to be able to take the light rail to work. Until the first day when it took an hour and 20 minutes to make the 15-minute drive, and then she never took it again.

[02:17:59] Jim Zayorski: John McAlister correctly pointed out that $83 a person is something that the people in Mountain View don't really like. We don't want to fund that. We don't care about that. We see the VTA coming up with plans to extend uh VTA light rail into East San Jose while doing nothing to bring the light rail into Google or places where lots and lots of people work and lots and lots of cars could be taken off the road and lots and lots of people could be put on light rail and not driving and not causing traffic problems.

[02:18:30] Jim Zayorski: Yet the VTA has consistently shown that it's willing to take political paths of least resistance and thus make the jobs of our City Manager and our Council harder. I know you're constrained by political things, and you've been very kind today, but the public is very frustrated that none of the benefits of VTA funding is going to North County, and we're very upset that we're not looking at our advantages as a region, not as an individual city where everybody gets a couple crumbs and VTA gets to close its deficit.

[02:18:59] Jim Zayorski: We would ask the Council to look at asking VTA to take a regional approach, look at Mountain View as a major employer, and extending VTA into the major employing centers. It would do a lot of good to have downtown Mountain View and Caltrain attached to North of Bayshore, where lots of people work, and lots of people in Sunnyvale work, and lots of people in Santa Clara and San Jose work, so they're not riding on 101. Yet we don't see any of that here. So I can say this, you can't, and I did. Thank you.

[02:19:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Mr. Zayorski. Okay, let's uh, we'll keep the clapping down to a minimum for now. Uh, next is April Webster.

[02:19:41] April Webster: Hi, thank you. Um, I'll echo what uh Jim had to say. Um, it would be great to actually service uh locations where a lot of people are moving. It just makes sense. Um, I also wanted to echo what Councilmember Showalter said about frequency of service. This is a key part of usability. Um, if service isnt frequent and reliable, kind of what Jim said as well, uh people just don't use it, it's hard to use in practice.

[02:20:07] April Webster: Um, I'm originally from Vancouver and I rarely needed a car there, which I absolutely loved, um but then I'd only have to wait on certain lines maybe five minutes, and there was a bus within a block of me. And a lot of other people used it too in business suits, many people going downtown would use the bus, so it was a very common practice.

[02:20:27] April Webster: Um, I'd also want to maybe talk about, I I think the framework that was presented was really good, um but I'd also sort of emphasize how people get to the bus and what they're doing while they're waiting is part of the user experience and usability. And so I think it would be helpful to include in those measurable outcomes some that first and last mile access, um how accessible it is to biking and walking, what are people doing when they're waiting.

[02:20:52] April Webster: I've seen so many bus stops where there isn't enough room, people are sitting on the sidewalk, there's no shade. This isn't - especially in the summer, it's very uncomfortable. Um, so I think that part of usability in addition to what's happening while they're actually using transit, um, that whole experience is really important to consider.

[02:21:11] April Webster: I also want to support Councilmember Kamei's comments about equitable outreach. Um, if we want these investments to be effective, it's important that outreach reaches the people who are most impacted. And there are really strong models of this in other cities. Um, Sacramento, there's an organization called Civic Thread where they go into the communities um and work directly with the people there. There are the Promotoras in San Francisco, that model. And these engagements, um, they work with local leaders in the community who have are much more impactful. Thank you so much.

[02:21:45] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next, we will move on to virtual public comment. Um, Bruce England.

[02:21:53] Bruce England: Thanks Mayor. Uh, Bruce England, Whisman Station driver again. Uh I ask that you do what you can to ensure that the funding you're considering tonight goes as far as it can to help lead the way toward sorely needed improvements to both VTA and SamTrans service.

[02:22:07] Bruce England: For certain we need uh we need to see more frequent service than we do today, and with as many forms of transit as possible supported. Service to underserved communities is also essential, where it is lacking or falls short today. As you know, making reasonable connections across the network is challenging, as folks navigate across shuttle, bus, light rail, shuttle, and uh train systems. Um, and assurances that riders will arrive at their destinations can be uncertain.

[02:22:33] Bruce England: If we want to see the mode shifts we dream of today, these improvements are essential toward helping to get more people out of their vehicles. Also I agree with Jim's comment on adequately serving North County. Thanks.

[02:22:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next is Arjun Govindji.

[02:22:51] Arjun Govindji: Hi, my name is Arjun. Um, I live near Downtown Mountain View. Um, I'd like to start uh by seconding uh Councilmember Showalter's comments on improving frequency. Um, to make transit a viable alternative to driving, it has to go where people want to go, when they want to get there.

[02:23:11] Arjun Govindji: Um, I'd also encourage council to work with VTA to consider uh improved weekend service, particularly on routes 51 and 52 that cross Mountain View. Um, and increased frequency across the board. Um, this would provide our residents better daily access um to our neighboring cities of Los Altos and Cupertino. Um, this is a unique opportunity for us to bring VTA service up to par um with our neighbors to the north.

[02:23:46] Arjun Govindji: Um, we should prioritize funding for transit priority projects that make service faster and more reliable, while ensuring seamless connections within VTA and to Caltrain and BART. Thank you.

[02:24:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next is Daniel Holst.

[02:24:08] Daniel Holst: Hi, can you hear me?

[02:24:09] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[02:24:10] Daniel Holst: All right. Uh, yeah, so my name is Daniel Holst. I live uh in the, I guess, northern part of Mountain View, uh by San Antonio Station. Um, I guess uh what I'd like to see from this this plan, you know, I I support this measure, uh and what what I'd like to be supporting in this measure is better service on our on our bus routes. And I I think especially when you think about Mountain View specifically, we've we've got a great route on El Camino. If we could get something perpendicular to that so you could take it throughout the system, that would that would be good.

[02:24:50] Daniel Holst: Um, and also like infrastructure that that improves service, and improves experience. So, you know, I I ride my bike lots of places. We've got two new uh great bike lanes. One of the missing links in those bike lanes though on both California Street as well as El Camino is you've got all of these conflict points with buses.

[02:25:15] Daniel Holst: And so I think better bus stops that deconflict buses so they don't have to wait for bikes and bikes so that we're not afraid of buses, uh, would be just really uh better for all users of the road. Um, and so I I think doing stuff like that throughout the county would be great, but especially here in Mountain View.

[02:25:40] Daniel Holst: And then finally, you know, I I want to stress that we need to think functionally about this. You know, you take transit from one place to another, it's not about what's happening in one one city, it's about the whole place. So I I want to take a orange line all the way to Milpitas and not have it take 45 minutes, I want it to take 20. I want to take transit to Valley Fair, I want to take it to Tr- San Francisco. Uh, let's think uh region-wide.

[02:26:11] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next is Adina Levin.

[02:26:17] Adina Levin: Hello, uh, good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. Adina Levin with Seamless Bay Area and Friends of Caltrain. Wanted to echo uh what a number of the previous community members have said. And um, uh, you know, starting actually to thank VTA for a lot of the thoughtful work um upstream of this presentation asking about the expenditures.

[02:26:42] Adina Levin: In laying out some really good um goals and strategies to increase ridership and to uh deliver service more cost effectively. The Visionary Network um is a um high level plan to really uh increase service bringing it up to par where Santa Clara County has for many years um, you know, not grown its bus service um with the population growth and has uh less service than other parts of the region and other parts of the country.

[02:27:15] Adina Levin: And funding the Visionary Network would do that, and that is paired um really well with the plans for transit priority to make uh local transit, bus and light rail faster, more reliable, more cost-effective, and more competitive with driving. And the combination of the Visionary Network and the transit priority investments together are something that this pot of funding can really uniquely do to uh uh really greatly improve uh VTA service, um, you know, including with the lens of serving Mountain View and uh North County.

[02:27:50] Adina Levin: And so we'd really encourage uh putting a high priority, as some of the council members have spoken about, um to that service frequency and the speed and reliability and competitiveness and cost-effectiveness in order to move people who depend on transit, in order to uh help achieve the climate goals. Thank you.

[02:28:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Adina. Next is Kevin Ma.

[02:28:23] Kevin Ma: Good evening Council. My name is Kevin Ma. I'm speaking in my individual capacity today. I agree with some of the speakers, but I would like to emphasize that I would like to see a lot of the money to go to operations specifically.

[02:28:35] Kevin Ma: Operations money is incredibly hard to get compared to capital projects, and operations pretty much always depend on ballot box money. Which means they're rare, they're- and then they should be spent in the best they can be. Everyone has talked about, you know, the buses aren't that great. The buses aren't that great because there's not enough money, so money goes to the places where ridership goes most, because that makes the most amount of, any sense.

[02:29:00] Kevin Ma: So therefore I do believe that we should be focusing on operations so we can get things like the 51. 51 doesn't run on weekends, maybe we can get it on weekends. People have discussed the 40 not being reliable enough, maybe it can be made reliable, maybe it can be spread out. But that requires the city to be focusing on the needs of the service.

[02:29:19] Kevin Ma: I would rather not see this on projects like grade separation. At the end of the day grade separation is really a road project, not a transit project, and um there will be capital again is easier to find.

[02:29:32] Kevin Ma: And I would like to see the city also to do its part to make sure that transit is successful. You know, we have talked about, you know, there's some things that VTA does and there's some things the city needs to do, right. The city does not have a transit priority policy, even though MTC will probably push you guys to do it one later this year.

[02:29:48] Kevin Ma: But as mentioned, you know, transit is also a regional thing. Most peo- you know, the community shuttle does do a lot of transit within the city, but for the people complaining about, you know, where are the Googlers going, you know, they do live in other cities. This helps them basically.

[02:30:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: cities, other counties, and there's not a lot of connections because again due to how stringent we are with money, you know, VTA doesn't even go cross county borders compared to AC Transit or SamTrans. So there's a lot to fix and there's a lot that money can help with that.

[02:30:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, thank you. And that ends public comment for item three. Yay. So as we finish that up, um, uh, I will end item three with your mayor's call to service, call to action, call to community, and to note that this Saturday is the Spring Volunteer Fair. Please sign up, volunteer for your community. It will be fun, I promise. It's going to be at the Mountain View Community Center at 10:00 a.m. to noon.

[02:30:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Um, oh, do we have more comments, Councilmember McAlister?

[02:30:52] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, just one comment. I will be at the workshop at VTA on this Friday. So if anybody wants to, uh, give me some ideas and channel anything through me, I will be there.

[02:31:05] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. With that, um, we will now go to item four, Consent Calendar.

4. CONSENT CALENDAR

[02:31:08] Councilmember Emily Ramos: The big event. Uh, these items will be approved by one motion unless any member of the council wishes to pull an item for individual consideration. If an item is pulled from the Consent Calendar, it will be considered separately following an approval of the balance of the Consent Calendar.

[02:31:30] Councilmember Emily Ramos: If you would like to speak on these items, or the next item, Oral Communications on Nonagendized Items, in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. Councilmember Hicks, do you have an announcement to make?

[02:31:44] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I do have an announcement to make. I will be recusing myself from discussing, uh, the Downtown Entertainment Zone Pilot Program, which is item 4.7, because of the proximity of my residence to the Downtown Entertainment Zone.

[02:32:04] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I would also, as your next question is going to be would any member of the council like to pull any items, I would just, uh, it would be item, the item regarding burrowing owls, I would just like to ask a question on, but not pull it.

[02:32:24] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, that is item...

[02:32:27] Councilmember Alison Hicks: 4.3.

[02:32:28] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yes, it is. Uh, does anyone, does anyone else on council want to pull an item? Seeing no other councilmembers, uh, Councilmember Hicks, feel free to ask your question for item 4.3.

[02:32:41] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So, I have received a number of email messages on this, uh, item and also read a, an article in the Voice on it, so I believe there's a lot of community concern around it. And one of the questions I've been asked is whether we are going to hire a biologist.

[02:32:59] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I would just like our staff to answer that question 'cause it's not clear if we just pass the Consent Calendar. Or if we don't pass it, either way.

[02:33:10] Community Services Director John Marchant: Good evening, Council. Once again, John Marchant, Community Services Director. Uh, looking forward at the position of the biologist for Shoreline, uh, we are interested in filling that role. We are in the process of analyzing exactly what those responsibilities would be, um, possibly in coordination with continuing some of the consulting services that we're using now.

[02:33:33] Community Services Director John Marchant: They do bring, the consulting, uh, service that we're using now, do bring a lot of positive resources to us, and so it's a matter of being able to look at what that position may look like in the future to also support, um, Shoreline, the environment, and it's just a matter of being able to put together, um, how, how these can work together.

[02:33:51] Community Services Director John Marchant: And so that's what we're working on right now. Right now, the goal is to look to, um, fill the position by the end of the calendar year is what we're looking at.

[02:34:02] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay, I think that's what many people wanted to know, so thank you very much.

[02:34:06] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Councilmember Showalter.

[02:34:09] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I, um, as I often do, I, I have a couple comments on them, but I do have a question about the, uh, biological services one. I think, um, I really appreciated kind of the, the breadth of the, um, biological services package that you, um, you put together.

[02:34:29] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It seems very appropriate for the range of, um, issues that the city needs to be on top of. Um, it's not just burrowing owls, it's also, um, with our upcoming Biodiversity Plan, there will be a need for, um, somebody with quite a bit of, not only just wildlife but also, um, uh, botanical, um, knowledge that can help with, uh, trees and that sort of thing.

[02:34:59] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I can see how, you know, we do need more biological services, so I'm glad to hear that. But I did want to, um, ask you a little bit about how you share your, uh, the information about the, uh, the monitoring with the, um, I understand it's shared regularly with Parks and Rec,

[02:35:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: and if you could share that with the audience at home today, I would appreciate it. We had a discussion earlier today and I, um, I hadn't understood how this was done, so I'm probably not alone.

[02:35:32] Community Services Director John Marchant: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Yes. Each month, to the, the Parks and Recreation Commission, staff completes a monthly report of the different things that we have completed month to month. That also shows a graph of each of the last five, six years of burrowing owls, where we are currently.

[02:35:52] Community Services Director John Marchant: That report is available in two locations on the website. Number one, if you go to the, the, Community Services Department website, on the left-hand side, you can see the, the reports available there.

[02:36:07] Community Services Director John Marchant: And then the public can also go to the Parks and Recreation Commission, under Commissions, and then look at the agenda items for each of the months, and one of the attachments will be the, uh, monthly report that shows those numbers.

[02:36:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. It's, it's good to know that and, um, we can, uh, we can get that information whenever we need it. And then I just wanted to, um, I wanted to speak positively about the, uh, the National Opioid Settlement.

[02:36:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Uh, I think it's good that we take part in these opportunities, um, and, uh, so I'm, I'm happy that we're doing that. And the Entertainment Zone, is that gonna get pulled? I don't think so. Okay. I was just gonna say, I, um, this is a, this is a fascinating concept.

[02:36:55] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It's a new law, and when you, when I first heard it, I thought, well, entertainment zone, entertainment is sort of a broad thing. But, um, but really this law has to do with being, largely being able to turn, to serve alcohol in public, um, outside of a store or, you know, a restaurant that has an, a license.

[02:37:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And it's going to be, um, because of the pedestrian mall we have, it, it will really be nice to have this area set up so that people can, um, buy a, you know, buy a cocktail or a glass of wine somewhere and, and walk down the street to play cornhole or sit and talk to friends or, you know, someplace else.

[02:37:41] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, and utilize the facilities of the whole pedestrian mall, not just the tiny area in front of the, um, the restaurant where they bought their, their drink. So I think that's, that's really a nice idea and I'm glad we're going forward with this, particularly in time for the World Cup.

[02:37:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: That's, that's, uh, that's our deadline, I know, for getting this pilot started and it's a good one. But I also hope when we move forward, after we've done the pilot and we've had a little more time to think about it, that we take a little broader view of what entertainment means.

[02:38:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, we might think of, you know, like, do we want to encourage people to do busking? Or, um, do, um, we want to have some other areas besides the downtown? So, um, I, uh, you know, I look forward to seeing how this project, uh, how this project evolves. Thank you.

[02:38:35] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember McAlister.

[02:38:38] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I'm gonna take a big stretch here on, uh, 4.2 because I see the Fire Chief and the Police Chief. Does anybody know why on Easter that the power went out in Mountain View?

[02:38:56] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember McAlister, I can answer that question. Oh, okay.

[02:39:00] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So, our Intergovernmental Affairs Manager, um, found out from PG&E, and let me find the, it affected about 40,000 people and it was out for 11 minutes. And apparently it was due to work that was being done. PG&E work.

[02:39:22] Councilmember John McAlister: And that's all they're giving you, work?

[02:39:26] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I am summarizing. Let me find the email.

[02:39:34] Councilmember Chris Clark: Councilmember, I, if I may, um, I, I had a summary from PG&E. I'm happy to forward it to you. And or the entire council if you want, but you know, it may be general knowledge that, if, okay. But, but what the City Manager said is correct.

[02:39:47] Councilmember Chris Clark: There was a, I think there was work, there was a, there was a switching issue during that, that, um, created a, an outage for a big chunk of the city if you looked at the map when it happened, including, including our building, but.

[02:40:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, as you get the answer to that, well, maybe you could share that with the rest of the public too, they may be interested in that too.

[02:40:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Is that everything? All right. With that, um, we will have, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on these items?

[02:40:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have, because there are more than 10 people signing up, we're gonna go down to 90 seconds, which is a one and a half minutes.

[02:40:40] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, there we go. Um, so our first speaker, Albert Jeans, followed by Donna Kirisako, followed by Shani Kleinhaus, followed by Ping Li.

[02:40:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: So if you could, uh, get, uh, into like a line so we don't have to wait for you to mosey on down, that would be great. Go ahead, Albert.

[02:40:57] Albert Jeans: Okay, hi, Albert Jeans, longtime resident. Um, yeah, I'm a big fan of the burrowing owls. I, you know, I'd like to see anything done to increase the numbers.

[02:41:05] Albert Jeans: Ever since the biologist left, um, it seems to just be going downhill. You know, I go by there probably every at least every week through Shoreline to check and see how they're doing. And all I see is the burrowing areas are a bit left unkempt, the weeds grow up too high, the owls leave.

[02:41:22] Albert Jeans: And so we've seen the number of owls decrease. And so I don't know why we're paying this outfit, you know, $250,000 and another $100,000 just to band them. Are they just watching the owls decline? Is that what we're paying them to do?

[02:41:35] Albert Jeans: They don't seem to be doing anything to really encourage the growth, like the biologist did, where they had, you know, captive breeding and little aviaries set up here and there, and the number of owls was actually increasing for a, for a while.

[02:41:47] Albert Jeans: So I really, you know, think you should rethink whether we need to pay these people another $100,000 as opposed to, you know, just hiring one or two biologists who can probably do a much better job. Thank you.

[02:42:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Donna Kirisako, followed by Shani Kleinhaus, followed by Ping Li.

[02:42:10] Donna Kirisako: Good evening. Um, I'm here to speak on, um...

[02:42:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Can you speak into the microphone?

[02:42:16] Donna Kirisako: How's that? Yes. Perfect. Okay. I'm here to speak on item 4.3. I've been a Mountain View resident for over 20 years and I use Shoreline quite a bit and I really love the burrowing owls.

[02:42:30] Donna Kirisako: They, they are a bird that's found around the world and I think it's very important what Mountain View is doing here because Mountain View is one of the last bastions of burrowing owls in the Bay Area.

[02:42:43] Donna Kirisako: I really am, was heartened to hear about the idea of hi re, hiring the, um, a new wildlife biologist. But I think the timeframe needs to really be sped up. Right now it's breeding season for the burrowing owls and from what I saw of the information sp provided on the, um, monitoring of the burrowing owls, there hasn't been a report since January.

[02:43:09] Donna Kirisako: So I really think that it's important to find a qualified biologist to work on this project and support this project, and so that we can continue to fulfill the obligation of protecting the burrowing owl and the habitat that Shoreline has. Thank you.

[02:43:26] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Shani Kleinhaus, followed by Ping Li, followed by Zoe Zarowski.

[02:43:31] Shani Kleinhaus: Good evening. I'm Shani Kleinhaus with Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance, and I would like to support the additional funding for the program. Um, I think it's primarily for the scientific monitoring and for compliance with state and federal laws.

[02:43:49] Shani Kleinhaus: However, in the last few years, as you well know, the maintenance for the burrowing owls, the programs that supported them, the programs that increased their numbers, have stopped.

[02:44:00] Shani Kleinhaus: And so the Burrowing Owl Preservation Plan calls for 10 pairs, breeding pairs, at Shoreline, which was the estimate by the biologists who prepared the plan of what is feasible in terms of all the activities and needs of Shoreline.

[02:44:16] Shani Kleinhaus: They didn't want to go above that and they didn't want, think that below 10 pairs would survive, the population would survive. I'm told that there's one pair this year, there may have been three last year. That is not enough to sustain this population.

[02:44:31] Shani Kleinhaus: And so the Burrowing Owl Preservation Plan needs to be resumed and I hope this is the beginning of that. Beyond that, the collaborations with the habitat agency is what brought the success, and I think that should be resumed as well.

[02:44:49] Shani Kleinhaus: So, I'm, we're happy to see that there is investment and that the city is serious about it and the public supports the burrowing owls, but there's got to be urgent, urgent action to, to revive them. Thank you.

[02:45:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Ping Li, followed by Zoe Zarowski, followed by Tracy Ferrea.

[02:45:11] Ping Li: Hello. Um, my name is Ping Li. Um, I live in Saratoga and I'm a birder and I particularly am fond of, um, burrowing owl. And sometimes I volunteer, uh, to help, um, for the habitat for them.

[02:45:27] Ping Li: Um, this is very special, this is my first time to speak in front of any City Council. Uh, but what the heck, um, I feel like we're like a bunch of Lorax and trying to speak for the owls, because they can't come here.

[02:45:45] Ping Li: Um, so, um, I think we all know they are struggling to survive, um, in the Bay Area. Um, and we're seeing their decline significantly and I feel like we, um, have the obligation to help them.

[02:46:01] Ping Li: Um, and so I strongly support, uh, the, the investment, uh, to monitor and, and recover and consist with the city's, uh, 2012 Burrowing Owl Preserva, um, Preservation Plan. And I also support the hiring of a qualified, uh, biologist and dedicated to, um, to save them. Thank you.

[02:46:26] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. And welcome to your first public comment. So next we have, uh, Zoe Zarowski, um, followed by Tracy Ferrea, followed by April Webster.

[02:46:36] Zoe Zarowski: Thank you. I'm Zoe. Uh, I wanted to say that I support the funding of the burrowing owls, uh, monitoring and banding at Shoreline Park. And, um, I am a runner, so I run in the Baylands often and I see the burrowing owls.

[02:46:51] Zoe Zarowski: Uh, when I was younger, they used to be at the Googleplex where the fields are, um, and now they're astro turf fields. Um, and so, um, just some, some data's here, there used to be fe, there is fewer than 25 breeding pairs remaining in Santa Clara County.

[02:47:09] Zoe Zarowski: Um, the species has been extirp, extirpated from, uh, 19 counties across California. And in October 2024, the state designated them, um, a candidate for endangered species list, an a decision expected by August of this year.

[02:47:28] Zoe Zarowski: Um, the state is watching what we do. Um, and so, um, meanwhile, the owls along the Bay Trail are vulnerable. Uh, they, they actually go beyond the Googleplex and, um, and into the tiny strip of land where the runners, cyclists and dogs are, um, and, uh, there's no buffer.

[02:47:50] Zoe Zarowski: Uh, and so having a, a dedicated biologist to watch after them and, and, um, hopefully grow their population back would be great. Thank you.

[02:48:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Tracy.

[02:48:06] Tracy Ferrea: I'm Dr. Tracy Ferrea and I want to thank you for, um, bringing up this extra funding and I support the extra funding for the consultants 'cause our owls desperately need it.

[02:48:18] Tracy Ferrea: However, I'm deeply concerned about the Burrowing Owl Program. I haven't seen any owls the last few times volunteering out there in the preserve, and the program that was dismantled by Parks and Recs really needs to be restored.

[02:48:32] Tracy Ferrea: We had one and a half biologists working and that program worked. The population says it all, after dismantling the program, the numbers have kept dropping, before the owl po owl population was increasing.

[02:48:46] Tracy Ferrea: The question is, will we even have one successful brood this year? And if the City Council doesn't really take immediate steps to get this program back on track, this could be the council that may unfortunately be remembered for presiding over the loss of the city's owls.

[02:49:04] Tracy Ferrea: Remember, the plan changed from the Shoreline Burrowing Owl Management Plan to the Burrowing Owl Preservation Plan because the city and the residents wanted to preserve the owls and their legacy as a home to the burrowing owls.

[02:49:21] Tracy Ferrea: Um, we were meeting the numbers before the program was abruptly, uh, dismantled. Uh, the report says that staff is anticipating recruiting a biologist in Q3 2026. It makes it seem they don't really understand the urgency of the situation. Thank you.

[02:49:40] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Finishing up the in-person speakers is April Webster.

[02:49:48] April Webster: Hi, thanks. Um, please include me as one of the Lorax speaking for the owls. Ah, um, so I support funding, uh, continuing the funding to avoid gaps in protection.

[02:50:01] April Webster: But I'm also concerned, like others, about that shift from more of a hands-on stewardship, um, with expertise, and to more of a consultant-based focus mainly on monitoring, especially when it comes to wildlife, um, and, and being good, um, stewards of that.

[02:50:19] April Webster: Um, I usually speak about the trees and people, but this is part of a la a larger ecosystem and the wildlife in our community also matters for maintaining that. Um, as Shani pointed out, um, with this change in how we're, um, managing this, um, this thing, this, uh, the owls, um, the population has dropped.

[02:50:39] April Webster: Um, so I strongly encourage council to pair this funding with a clear plan to hire a full-time biologist, but sooner than the end of this year. Um, given how long the position has already been open, um, this just makes sense. And, um, yeah. Thank you.

[02:50:57] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. We will now move on to virtual speakers, Dasha Leeds.

[02:51:03] Dasha Leeds: Hello, my name is Dasha Leeds. I'm the Conservation Coordinator for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter. Uh, I'm speaking on item 4.3 on the Consent Calendar, the Biological Services Professional Service Agreement.

[02:51:16] Dasha Leeds: Please approve this item and please do everything you can as quickly as possible to hire an on-staff city biologist to support our local burrowing owls.

[02:51:23] Dasha Leeds: Uh, as other speakers have said, uh, we've seen a rapid decline in breeding pairs in these burrowing owls. These precious, adorable, and vulnerable beings need our help and support. Their recovery is extremely important.

[02:51:32] Dasha Leeds: Please, let's do everything we can to save this species of special concern. Time is of the essence, so let's act now before it's too late. Thanks for your time.

[02:51:42] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next is Connie.

[02:51:50] Connie Cunningham: Um, good evening, um, Mountain View City Council. Um, I am speaking on item 4.3, with the burrowing owls. My name is Connie Cunningham.

[02:52:00] Connie Cunningham: I am an advocate for birds with, um, Santa Clara Valley Birding Association, especially in California and along this Pacific Flyway. I have followed the burrowing owls for years.

[02:52:11] Connie Cunningham: I urge this body to reinvigorate efforts with additional funding to continue the good policy the Mountain View did have before with the 2012 Burrowing Owl Preservation Plan.

[02:52:22] Connie Cunningham: Please invest with an additional funding for monitoring and recovery of the burrowing owls, and please hire as soon as you possibly can, not the end of the year but now, because it is urgent, hire a qualified biologist to carefully manage and maintain the burrowing owls at Shoreline.

[02:52:42] Connie Cunningham: The biologist needs to put recovery measures in place to fix recent losses. And as someone has already noted, it is the breeding season. Burrowing owls are charming, they're small, they're long-legged owls who live in open grassy habitats and often can be seen during the day.

[02:53:01] Connie Cunningham: In 2024, California Fish and Game Commission accepted the petition to list these vulnerable birds as a candidate species for threatened or endangered status under the California Endangered Species Act. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

[02:53:20] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next is Bruce England.

[02:53:24] Bruce England: Thanks Mayor. Bruce England again. Um, this is for item 4.3. Uh, I would like to express my support for the requested funding for the Burrowing Owl programs, including monitoring and recovery measures, which are both consistent with the city's 2012 Burrowing Owl Preservation Plan.

[02:53:41] Bruce England: We cannot delay this work as Burrowing Owl populations are falling dangerously low according to multiple measures as has been mentioned by others too. To make all of this work properly both the funding and hiring a biologist with Burrowing Owl expertise must happen as soon as possible. Thanks.

[02:53:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Okay. Uh, Bruce England... Ena Monger.

[02:54:08] Ena Magner: Hi, good evening. My name is, uh, Ena Magner, and I live in Foster City. I'm a, I'm a strong supporter of, um, funding for the recovery program for burrowing owls.

[02:54:23] Ena Magner: Um, please help in this recovery, their population is in such decline, and, uh, I definitely hope that Mountain View will approve additional funding for monitoring and banding of those owls.

[02:54:38] Ena Magner: Um, they are very unique birds and it's such a shame to see them disappear from our environment. Um, I really thank Mountain View for taking this, uh, step to kind of recovering them. Uh, hopefully they won't disappear in our area. Thank you.

[02:55:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Rowena D.

[02:55:07] Rowena Dodson: Hello, this is Rowena Dodson. I live in Los Altos. I'm a member of the Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance. And I'm also speaking um with great concern about the owls, and also implore the council to, um as so many of the speakers have said, urgently take action to help restore this, this still tiny population, but surviving, hopefully, population in our county.

[02:55:32] Rowena Dodson: And um, thank you so much for your efforts, and just wanted to be here to to uh, to give voice to that. Thank you. That's all I.

[02:55:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Linda Ruthruff.

[02:55:50] Linda Ruthruff: Hi. I'm Linda Ruthruff, and I have been following the plight of the burrowing owl for about 17 years now. For a long time it was doom and gloom. All the sites with burrowing owls had declining populations. The first big win was when they were finally included in the habitat conservation plan. Uh and then when Mountain View developed a management plan and hired a biologist, it was amazing. And it worked.

[02:56:22] Linda Ruthruff: For many years, things improved tremendously for the burrowing owls, and then due to unfortunate circumstances the implementation pretty much declined. So I am pleased that you're planning to once again hire a biologist. They don't need to reinvent the wheel. What was being done was extremely successful. Uh they, you know there's already a plan in place. Um I agree with other people that the end of the year is way too far off.

[02:56:56] Linda Ruthruff: I I urge you to hire somebody very soon because this population is is disappearing. Thank you.

[02:57:07] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Leslie Friedman.

[02:57:14] Leslie Friedman: Hello. Thank you very much for this time. I want to speak, as so many other and very well educated on this program, it's you you are in a position where you can save a species. I can't understand how anybody would think, well, we'll need to think it over, do we want to kill them all or do we want them to live?

[02:57:44] Leslie Friedman: I've lived here in Mountain View for more than 20 years, and I remember a number of times when the burro burrowing owls um came up and down, and then they came up and down again. And this is just it. Let's let's go for it. You guys are going to be in the books. You saved a a species. Don't let it go the other way.

[02:58:13] Leslie Friedman: That's about it. I hope that the help that's a possible funding will go ahead and work. And thank you very much.

[02:58:25] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh next we have Diane McCoy.

[02:58:32] Diane McCoy: Okay. Now, can you hear me?

[02:58:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[02:58:35] Diane McCoy: Oh, thank you. Okay, thank you for the time. And I'm also speaking on item 4.3. And I just want to echo what everybody has said. Um I love burrowing owls. And I believe like many others that have spoken that they are very extra special.

[02:58:54] Diane McCoy: I applaud Mountain View for their 2012 burrowing owl preservation plan. But there have been challenges of late. So unfortunately, their population has been declining.

[02:59:08] Diane McCoy: I also want to echo that very urgent action is needed very much right now. So please support and invest in the recovery of the owls, especially by high hiring a qualified biologist as soon as possible to steward the owls' recovery. Thank you very much for your time.

[02:59:33] Diane McCoy: I just want to echo what Leslie said. Mountain View could be the town that continues a species and brings it back. So you can be the heroes. Thank you very much.

[02:59:51] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Karen Jeffrey.

[03:00:03] Karen Jeffrey: Hi, my name's Karen Jeffrey and uh I'm also speaking on burrowing owls. First of all, thank you very much City Council for taking up this issue. And I can only echo what all the previous speakers have said, that uh we implore you, those of us who love the owls, uh we and I implore you to approve the funding and to please hire a qualified biologist ASAP.

[03:00:32] Karen Jeffrey: As has been pointed out, this is breeding season, the population's been declining. The numbers tell the story. If we don't have a viable breeding season this year, we may not have burrowing owls left next year. So the safeguards that a biologist, a qualified biologist can put in place needs to start happening immediately.

[03:00:54] Karen Jeffrey: And I really don't think that um you know because the owls live on their own cycle uh and are not subject to um legislative schedules, I don't think they can wait until the end of the year to get the biologist that they need. Um we we need to demonstrate also that we are good stewards of our land and that we're not going to let this species disappear.

[03:01:23] Karen Jeffrey: So thank you all so much for giving us this opportunity to speak. Please prove the funding, please hire a biologist. Thank you so much.

[03:01:33] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Tatiana Kuvaldina.

[03:01:39] Tatiana Kuvaldina: Hello. Uh, can you hear me well?

[03:01:41] Councilmember Emily Ramos: We can hear you.

[03:01:42] Tatiana Kuvaldina: Thank you very much for this opportunity. Uh my name is Tatiana Kuvaldina. I'm speaking on behalf of Art Fellows about item 4.7 Entertainment Zone. Art Fellows is located at the intersection of Castro and Villa streets. And um with the current proposal our main concern is safety. We open our doors to the public during city events as we accommodate art and craft shows.

[03:02:09] Tatiana Kuvaldina: And um unfortunately drunken people have proven to be an issue for our artists, especially when only female artists are present. With the entertainment zone enactment, we can expect the number of intoxicated people to considerably increase. I am hopeful the safety will be taken seriously and um the necessary oversight will be provided for events when entertainment zone is active.

[03:02:33] Tatiana Kuvaldina: We don't want to choose between artist safety and engagement with the public. We don't want to close our doors during the city events. So please consider what can be done and how we can manage it. Because I understand the necessity to help the businesses and the desire to improve the experience for people. But safety has to be taken seriously as well. Thank you very much.

[03:03:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Annie Yang.

[03:03:06] Annie Yang: Good evening Mayor and council members. My name is Annie Yang and I'm a big supporter of helping burrowing owl populations recover in the South Bay. I'm happy to see that Mountain View will be adding funding for scientific monitoring and banding of the owls, and I really hope to see the city reignite the stewardship of the burrowing owls at Shoreline as soon as possible. Thank you.

[03:03:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Annette Hertz.

[03:03:36] Annette Hertz: Hello. Uh my name is Annette Hertz. I'm a Mountain View resident since 2007. Um some of the older folks around here might remember me because I was part of the original advocacy on the burrowing owl um preservation. And um I have been proud of living in Mountain View and of Mountain View itself since then, um especially because of the way that you treated the owls.

[03:04:02] Annette Hertz: Uh meanwhile I'm also a naturalist docent at Jasper Ridge and Stanford's preserve and at Midpen, and I've been telling people about Mountain View and what Mountain View did for the owls. So when I realized what was happening, um that you dismantled the program, that the biologist was gone, and that there is a consulting company, I was really literally horrified.

[03:04:24] Annette Hertz: This is my first conservation project. I'm really proud of it. I love the owls. Um and the biologists that you had were clearly very very passionate. They were not just qualified, they were passionate. And owls and uh any endangered species needs more than just knowledge. They need a passion. And clearly the consulting company didn't bring the passion because you can see it in the numbers.

[03:04:47] Annette Hertz: So like all the speakers before me, please please use the money better. Hire a not only a qualified but a passionate consultant. And please have him do what the previous consultants did, because it simply worked. Thank you.

[03:05:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Melanie B.

[03:05:09] Melanie Barnett: Hi, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm Dr. Melanie Barnett, and um we've live my family we've lived in Santa Clara County for 40 years. And I'm here for item 4.3 to support the burrowing owls and specifically to meet the requirements of the 2012 preservation plan and to hire a qualified biologist.

[03:05:36] Melanie Barnett: Where we live, where we've raised our kids, we used to be able to walk 10 minutes from our house and see a spot where burrowing owls bred. It was uh the last time I saw an owl there was 2011. My husband we we still my husband and I we still grieve for those owls. They're just gone. We know they're not coming back to that spot.

[03:06:04] Melanie Barnett: If we had known, we would have probably been out there every few days. I mean I regret not spen- they're just such special iconic species everybody loves them. And Mountain View is now the closest spot to our house where they breed. And it's somewhat of a comfort, but seeing the decline over the past few years has just been really sad.

[03:06:31] Melanie Barnett: I was there a couple years ago, and there was a dad with his child, and the child's like, there's burrowing owls here! I don't think they were there at the moment, but he knew they were there behind that fence.

[03:06:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Alex Brown.

[03:06:53] Alex Brown: Hi friends. Uh I just wanted to call to speak in support of biologists. I think that seeing the decline in their population over recent times given all the circumstances has been really unfortunate, and I think that we should do our part to maintain the biologist population, uh by feeding them burrowing owls, I guess.

[03:07:15] Alex Brown: I I I I think I understand what's going on. Anyway, uh I support funding biologists to actually help the burrowing owl population, and I think that we can do our part to invest in the ecology of the area. Thanks.

[03:07:31] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Aisha Theesen.

[03:07:38] Aisha Theesen: Good evening, Council. I'm Aisha, we meet again. I also speak on behalf of our owls. I am the organizer of the Burrowing Owl Guardian Project, our community's volunteer effort to save our burrowing owls in Shoreline Park through habitat enhancement.

[03:07:53] Aisha Theesen: While I support maintaining care for our burrowing owls, especially adding banding for better tracking, I am deeply concerned by the lack of fiscal and ecological sense in this proposal. Parks and Rec staff is asking for a total of 345,000 for contract biologists this fiscal year. By contrast, our last dedicated full-time biologist cost roughly 165,000 and provided at least twice the value.

[03:08:17] Aisha Theesen: LSA's expanded services for over double the cost still lack essential conservation efforts we've lost, such as volunteer supervision and on-site public education, supplemental feeding, juvenile overwintering and captive breeding programs, regular camera monitoring, and artificial burrow maintenance.

[03:08:34] Aisha Theesen: Since moving to this contract model, the owl population at Shoreline has dropped from 27 to just 16 in one year, a 41% decline. Furthermore, the contractors haven't been mowing adequately. There has consistently been tall vegetation around the burrows that should be barren to protect our owls from predators.

[03:08:51] Aisha Theesen: I urge the council to approve this funding only as a stopgap, but more importantly to demand that Parks and Rec staff immediately begin recruitment for a permanent full-time wildlife preservation coordinator. We need a dedicated expert on site to ensure our tax dollars actually result in the survival of our owls. Thank you.

[03:09:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Rashmi.

[03:09:16] Rashmi Sahai: Hi, yes. Rashmi Sahai, um resident of Mountain View and Green Spaces member. Um I'm also here to support the burrowing owls, um support the funding of 4.3, and also to urge that we hire a biologist as soon as possible so that we can properly take care of the owls.

[03:09:36] Rashmi Sahai: Um I was very surprised to hear the former speaker share those um cost numbers. Um clearly what's happening now is not working and we're spending a lot of money on it, so please shift the approach. Um let's rehire another biologist and um yeah, let's um try to get these owls back. Thank you so much for um your attention on this issue.

[03:10:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next, Celia Pamer.

[03:10:07] Celia Pamer: Hi, good evening. Um I'm Celia Pamer, resident of Mountain View and also member of Green Spaces. Um I am also speaking on 4.3, echoing others' comments. Um in support as others have said. Um while I am in support of the funding for consultants, it is a band-aid. And it's a band-aid on a kid who needs stitches. It's only going to buy a little bit of time.

[03:10:27] Celia Pamer: A cynical person may think that given the evidence of the precipitous decline in burrowing owl numbers after the removal of the full-time biologist and the lack of filling the role per the preservation plan, that the goal is to entirely remove the owls out of convenience to city staff. I absolutely hope that this is not the case.

[03:10:45] Celia Pamer: Please prioritize and expedite the hiring of a new full-time biologist. We don't have the time to wait a year like we have been forced to wait for the hiring of a transportation manager. Clearly, based on the comments tonight, there are many community members who are keeping eyes on this hiring process.

[03:11:01] Celia Pamer: I would hope the city finds a way to fill the position with a person as qualified, as good at public communication, and as dedicated to preserving burrowing owls as our previous staff member. As someone who frequently attends city meetings, I see how the wait for large plans often prevents the implementation of projects desired by residents.

[03:11:20] Celia Pamer: This request already has a plan. If our city plans are not enacted once approved, I think it'll be hard to convince residents that our Big P plans should be waited for and trusted to meet our city needs. Please hire a full-time staff member to make sure we preserve our owls. Thank you.

[03:11:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Our last virtual speaker is Yili.

[03:11:45] Yili: Hi, um good evening council members. My name is Yili. I live in Sunnyvale and work at Google's Mountain View campus next to Shoreline Park. I've organized volunteer habitat restoration events there and seen the decline first-hand. Burrow areas overgrown with invasive weeds, artificial burrows deteriorating.

[03:12:03] Yili: I'm here to support item 4.3, but also to urge you to think beyond it. The city's former full-time biologist did comprehensive work for about um 16 sorry 165,000 a year. Captive breeding with DNA testing, a juvenile overwintering program, supplemental feeding, predator trapping, habitat enhancement, and trespasser deterrence. Since he was placed on leave, nearly all of that has stopped, and the owl population has crashed.

[03:12:29] Yili: The contract before you tonight would pay a consulting firm up to 345,000, more than double, for a scope that essentially adds only banding on top of bare minimum monitoring. No breeding program, no feeding, no predator management. Please approve this funding tonight because something is better than nothing, and these owls can't wait. But I also urge the council to prioritize hiring a dedicated full-time biologist who can do the comprehensive recovery work this population actually needs to survive. Thank you.

[03:12:58] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh we will now...

[03:13:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I will now bring this back to Council for action. And note that a motion to approve the consent calendar should also include reading the title of the ordinances and resolutions attached to consent calendar items 4.1, 4.2, and 4.7. I see Councilmember Kamei in the queue.

[03:13:18] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thanks, thanks so much Mayor. Um appreciate all the comments from the public on on all these items. Um I just um had a quick question for staff on item 4.3. I know that um there's uh a lot of the there was the staff report, um we've heard a lot of feedback. I just wanted to give staff the opportunity if there's anything you wanted to clarify from um the plan.

[03:13:43] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I I know that one of the things I asked staff was um updating the burrowing owl plan, and I think that that is something of of interest. Um for the city so I think there's going to be some other next steps. So I want to give staff the the opportunity to come forward before we uh vote on our consent calendar. Thank you very much.

[03:14:04] Community Services Director John Marchant: Thank you once again. John Marchant, Community Services Director. There's a number of items um that are related to tonight's ask. Number one, as stated by members of the public, the um the status of the burrowing owls are being reviewed. And so a as California Fish and Wildlife, Fish and Game are looking at that, once that decision is made, then they're going to be giving us some new guidelines.

[03:14:33] Community Services Director John Marchant: It is at that time that we expect to look at our 2012 burrowing owl preservation plan and make some updates based on what comes out of that transition. In addition, part of the the request is um necessary for additional funding for this year, is because of that change in status. And so whereas prior the the burro the biologist on site was able to understand that there was going to be a project that was being taken place, he would review the site, he would clear the site, and let staff know they could do the job. He would not have to be on site to do that.

[03:15:13] Community Services Director John Marchant: Under the new guidelines, while the status is being reviewed, the Fish and Wildlife is making us actually have a biologist to be on site, with boots on the ground, during each and every one of our projects. And so that's another reason why w- we're seeing a significant increase in the cost for the biologist services.

[03:15:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Councilmember Hicks.

[03:15:41] Councilmember Alison Hicks: You may want to walk back up. So the other uh concern of members of the public was the timeline for hiring. And I know given what the answer that you just gave us, it's not I know you can't immediately find an appropriate person and you don't know the the items to do, but can you add more clarity to um what the timeline would be in terms of people's immediate concerns, and then the timeline for hiring?

[03:16:12] Community Services Director John Marchant: So the immediate concerns um the there is a sense uh tonight that we have seen a significant decline in owls. If you look over time, um we were working with the habitat agency to bring forward some of the elements that were talked about tonight: the overwintering program, supplemental feeding. That has been put on hold. So during the two years that we did provide those services, it was not necessarily directly through that biologist but through the habitat agency's assistance um that brought those burrowing owl numbers up.

[03:16:54] Community Services Director John Marchant: If you look at the history of the burrowing owl population numbers, um then you will see that the burrowing owl numbers are similar, not exact, but more similar to what they were before the actions were taken with the habitat agency. And so um just want to to clarify that.

[03:17:17] Community Services Director John Marchant: Number number two related to the staffing, um I understand the desire to have someone sooner. We will do what we can to expedite that process. Um in it just depends on how much we need to change job description. Um then there's some additional steps through HR to make that happen. So it's just a matter of getting through some of the administrative um situation as well. And so we we will work as quickly as we can to fill the position.

[03:17:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So you will expedite it as much as possible?

[03:17:51] Community Services Director John Marchant: As much as we can. We understand there's a a desire in the community and understand that there's that we have the duty to do so.

[03:18:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Thank you Councilmember Hicks. I see that Councilmember Showalter is ready to make a motion.

[03:18:10] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you. And thank you to Councilmember Kamei for seconding. Um yes, I would like to um uh move the uh balance of the consent calendar. And I need to read um a few items. Item 4.1: Adopt an ordinance of the city of Mountain View approving a zoning map amendment for the properties located at 922 to 950 San Leandro Avenue, APN 153-18-026 and 153-18-031, from the MM General Industrial Zoning District to the R3-1.5 Multiple Family Residential Zoning District as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[03:19:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Item 4.2: Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View acknowledging receipt of the Mountain View Fire Department's annual inspection report pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 13146.4 to be read in title only, further reading waived. And 4.7: Introduce an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Mountain View establishing an entertainment zone on portions of Castro Street consistent with Senate Bill 969 as codified in Business and Professions Code Section 25692 to be read in title only, further reading waived. And set a second reading for April 28th, 2026.

[03:19:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter, it has been moved and seconded by Councilmember Kamei. Um I'll just say before we get to the vote...

[03:20:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: very clear that our uh community really cares about our burrowing owls. We view this as a yes and kind of scenario. Um, so hopefully uh we will get this through and our staff will be working very hard to um make sure our burrowing owls are are protected and safe. They're really adorable and we know we love them in our city. All right, shall we go to a vote?

[03:20:35] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yay, unanimous. So now we will go to item 5, Oral Communications from the Public.

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[03:20:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic within the city's council subject matter jurisdiction up to for up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits the 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 city clerk now.

[03:21:03] 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 city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first because we're kind of behind now. Um each speaker will have 90 seconds or one and a half minutes.

[03:21:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Uh, first we'll have John Satcher... Satcher. Sorry.

[03:21:33] John Schachter: Uh, thank you Mayor and thank you City Council members. Uh, my name is John Schachter and I am speaking about the uh twilight membership at Shoreline Golf Links. I have been a twilight member at Shoreline Golf Links for eight years. Twilight members pay an annual fee of approximately $1,700 per person to golf at Shoreline in the late afternoon during off-peak golf hours. KemperSports, the private equity company that the City Council has hired, has made the decision to cancel all twilight annual golf memberships. This is deeply disappointing.

[03:22:10] John Schachter: Shoreline twilight members are a large friendly group including golfers of different abilities, races, religions, ages, political beliefs, and income levels. We play together, we talk, we joke, we argue, we enjoy each other's company. Um, we come together for recreation, connection, and well-being. Thank you for creating the Shoreline Golf Course and funding it, City Council members.

[03:22:33] John Schachter: The purpose of a municipal golf course is to provide a recreational amenity at an affordable price for the community and should not be operated with the primary objective of maximizing profit. Thus, why is the City of Mountain View allowing KemperSports, private equity, to eliminate Shoreline twilight memberships? City Council members, did you know that in 2025 Shoreline Golf Links reported an annual profit of $345,000?

[03:23:04] John Schachter: Did you also know that loyal twilight members are a key...

[03:23:07] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you.

[03:23:08] John Schachter: That money could go towards saving the owls. Just let everybody know. I have pictures of them! I love them too.

[03:23:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we'll have, next we'll have Ramesh Babu... Patta... biraman... followed by Glenn Stewart, followed by Hormazd Romer. I'm hoping I'm getting these names right, and then followed by June Lim. So if you could uh line up so that other uh we can move quickly to the podium. Go right ahead, sir.

[03:23:41] Ramesh Babu: Yeah, hi my name is Ramesh Babu, resident of Mountain View since 1994. I'm a twilight member from 2012. Uh, my membership is expiring within a week. I went to renew it in the Shoreline, they're saying we cannot renew it. They did not email us or communicate with us. It's abruptly they're saying like that from March membership. Whoever renewed in January, they gave them a year. But we need some time. They should have communicated, you know?

[03:24:11] Ramesh Babu: They cannot say you cannot renew, you have to switch to other member like... So that's my concern and John talked everything about you know profit and other stuff. So City Council should address to Shoreline what is happening or give us more time. And give everybody like three months or four months, switch to other memberships or whatever. Or you can raise the fee. Okay, that's my concern. And I've been living here for 25 years so. Or 30. Thank you.

[03:24:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Just a reminder that uh we can't take action on items for um open public comment. Uh we can maybe in item 8, but we you won't hear that till the very end of this meeting. Um Glenn Stewart? Followed by Hormazd Romer, followed by June Lim. Glenn Stewart? Seeing that he's not here, can I...

[03:25:09] Public Speaker: No.

[03:25:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: No, we don't... we don't cede time like that. Um, Hormazd Romer? Followed by June Lim, followed by Jennifer Yoon.

[03:25:22] Hormazd Romer: Hi, I'm Hormazd Romer, I'm also a member at Shoreline Golf Links, uh and I'm facing the same situation. Uh, I really enjoy being a member at Shoreline Golf Links, I've been there maybe five years, and it brings great joy and peace to those of us that get to participate in the golf there. We are very disappointed because we don't know if staff was aware of these changes. There was no communication to the members, uh there was no call for public uh opinion or anybody inquiring with the members on how they felt about it.

[03:25:53] Hormazd Romer: Um, we do feel, we suspect that KemperSports, which just was uh which is private equity owned, which took over and bought a management company that was already there, um is driving a lot for we think corporate profit, we don't know. But we would like the city and the staff, we would like to work with them collaboratively, to uh give us some time. Let's review and let's examine what is going on, what needs to happen, uh what can be done about the membership program, and how we can save this uh from uh being canceled where it's a service to the community um that seems to be taken away to profit some private equity uh stakeholders, so uh we hope something can be done about that. Thank you.

[03:26:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. June Lim, followed by Jennifer Yoon, followed by Theresa Cho.

[03:26:44] June Lim: My name is June Lim. Uh I've been the uh twilight member uh for many years. I'm here the uh to save twilight membership. The Shoreline Golf membership program has provided a space where the people of all background, across age, income, and ability, can come together for recreation, and connection, and well-being. However, I recently realized that Shoreline Golf Links seems operated for maximizing profit. As a public asset, Shoreline Golf Links should not be operated this way.

[03:27:16] June Lim: It should be balancing the financial responsibility evenly with the public accessibility and community benefit. Prioritizing higher margins over risk reducing limiting access, reducing participation, and undermining the public purpose of the facility should be avoided. But unfortunately, KemperSports seems to pursue this direction. We respectfully urge the City Council and Park Recreation to carefully evaluate whether KemperSports's current strategy is fully aligned with the public interest and the long-term mission of Shoreline Golf Links.

[03:27:54] June Lim: We ask that the city ensure engaged management decisions to reflect community values, access, and sustainable operation so that the course continues to serve people broadly by keeping twilight membership rather than shifting toward a highly profitable golf course business model. Thank you.

[03:28:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Jennifer Yoon.

[03:28:20] Jennifer Yoon: Hi, my name is Jennifer Yoon and I'm here for um saving twilight membership and I've been member for six more than six years. And then you know this is a public golf course, so it should be treated like a library or like a park. And for the Shoreline, for us who is a golfer, playing golf is like um you know people go to the library for a book and then for people who like us who play golf it's like this Shoreline golf course because it's very affordable.

[03:28:56] Jennifer Yoon: So I'd like to maintain that one. And then also people like us who like to play golf, this is where we socialize people. Like John mentioned, we talk with people, we meet new people, so it's really good for us. And then third one is even though it's money is reasonable, but this is the one let me, let me read this thing. While expensive rounds make more money for people, cheap memberships show up consistent consistently. Even in the off season which is winter time when it's raining we still pay.

[03:29:28] Jennifer Yoon: So they provide a steady cash flow, keeps the golf course running year round. So what I'm saying is like um this is since it's a public, should be... re- the money should be um reasonable, and then this is what twilight membership is. So I'd really like the council looking into it for the keeping this um twilight membership. Thank you.

[03:29:55] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Theresa Cho.

[03:30:04] Theresa Cho: My name is Theresa Cho and my daughter is called Melinda Cho. We are from Special Olympics. I serve as a volunteer coach for the head golf for 30 years. And uh and then um we also participated in the uh Santa Clara Special Olympic golf training in the summertime since 2021. Melinda Cho, my daughter, she loves to play golf. So I like her to have a longer training.

[03:30:50] Theresa Cho: So we purchased the twilight membership so that we can play golf after the uh sea- uh training season. But she works full time, she could only play golf on weekends. Now Special... now Shoreline is canceling the twilight membership, and that is affordable for members to play on weekend. So Melinda, my daughter is concerned whether she can be able to afford to play at Shoreline in the in the future when she had to go up to a higher...

[03:31:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh next our last in-person speaker is Albert Jeans.

[03:31:49] Albert Jeans: Obviously chose the wrong night. Um yeah next slide please. Yeah just an update on the number of RVs, last April sec- Thursday a couple weeks ago it was 393. That's five more than the previous month, still going up. The reason is next slide. Yeah, in Palo Alto they really rolled out their street cleaning by-weekly um so that severely cut down the number of RVs on their streets. Gone from 172 at the beginning of the year to 108 and probably falling still. Next slide please.

[03:32:21] Albert Jeans: Now at the last council meeting, you know staff said we are paying what something like $3 million going forward for the safe parking lot at Shoreline for it to be 100 spaces. $30,000 a space. Now wouldn't that be used better used as a relocation allowance? It turns out Zillow is a very good tool for looking at apartments in other cities. This is for Dallas-Fort Worth. Median price for a two-bedroom is $1,800 a month. Next slide please. And there's a 10,000 rentals available.

[03:32:51] Albert Jeans: Here it is Silicon Valley. $4,000, 1,200 rentals available. Next slide please. And it's even worse. At $2,200 there's only eight available. That's why safe parking is not working. These people have nowhere to go. You can't expect those people to pay $2,000 a month, where are they going to find that kind of money? Whereas they can go to, next slide please, they can go to Dallas-Fort Worth or hundreds of other cities in the US for $1,300 they can get a two-bedroom apartment, there are still 2,000 rentals available and this is just one city in the US. There's hundreds of others. Thank you.

[03:33:26] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. We will now move on to our virtual speakers, Tim McKenzie.

[03:33:34] Tim McKenzie: Hi all, I'm Tim McKenzie, he/him pronouns. I've lived in Monta Loma for over a decade now. Um, I have a Flock camera directly across the street from my house, my driveway, it is impossible to leave without seeing it or being seen by it. I know that we've turned off the cameras, I know that we've canceled the contract. Um, I'm just curious as to when we will be getting the cameras actually taken down.

[03:34:04] Tim McKenzie: I know that installing the cameras took more than a year, much longer than was anticipated, and part of that had to do with getting permits, working with Caltrans, things like that. But we shouldn't need permits to take them down. Um, I would like to see these cameras gone. Like physically removed, not just turned off. That would be lovely. It is a bad reminder of the surveillance state every time I leave my house.

[03:34:34] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Tim. Uh we have now concluded uh item 5, Oral Communications for public comment. We will now go to item 6 and 6 point... a new business, so 6.1, Adopt City Council Policy A-13a, Disruption of Telephonic and Internet Service During City Council Meetings. City Clerk Heather Glaser uh will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk now. Go ahead.

6.1 Adopt City Council Policy A-13a, Disruption of Telephonic or Internet Service During City Council Meetings

[03:35:04] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Good evening Mayor, City Council members. So the item before you arises from recent updates to parts of the Ralph M. Brown Act, which requires cities to adopt a formal policy by July 1st of this year in order to continue offering two-way remote public participation for City Council meetings. Um, this policy provides a clear framework for how the city will respond to service disruptions, restore access, document all actions taken, and determine whether meetings may persist um may proceed if an an issue persists.

[03:35:38] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Um its purpose is to ensure compliance with state law, maintain transparency, and support continued public access during technical outages. Adopting this resolution and policy will ensure the city remains compliant while continuing to provide reliable and accessible public meetings. Um, this concludes my presentation but I'm available for questions.

[03:35:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the council have questions? Seeing none, would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star 9 on your phone. A timer will be displayed on the screen. Each speaker will have 90 seconds or one and a half minutes.

[03:36:20] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I am seeing no public comment. We will now take virtual speakers. I am seeing no virtual speakers. We will now bring this back item back to council for questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendations should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. I see a motion by council member Clark. Go right ahead.

[03:36:42] Councilmember Chris Clark: Thanks Mayor. I move the the uh staff recommendation which is to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View adopting City Council Policy A-13a, disruption of telephonic or internet service during City Council meetings to be read in title only further reading waived.

[03:37:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh motion by Vice Mayor Clark, seconded by Councilmember Ramirez. I believe we are ready for a vote.

[03:37:27] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And that looks like that motion passes unanimously. We are actually going to take a 10-minute break. Um so uh we will it is 8:51 right now, and so we will be back at 9:00 PM.

6.2 Approve the Public Safety Building Construction Financing Plan and Recommended FY 2025-26 Fund Transfers and Appropriations

[03:39:43] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right let's get back to business. All right, so it is 9:09 and I'm calling the meeting back to order. All right, so now we are at item 6.2, Approve the Public Safety Building Construction Financing Plan and Recommended Fiscal Year 2025 to 26 Fund Transfers and Appropriations.

[03:40:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk now. Go ahead.

[03:40:17] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council. The item before you this evening is the culmination of almost a decade of proactive council reserve policies, community support for new revenue generation, and the ability because of our fiscal soundness to actually access the municipal financial markets in a prudent and cost-effective way. I probably should have said I am Arn Andrews, one of your assistant city managers, and with me is Derek Rampone, your finance director.

[03:41:07] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So one of the reasons we're here tonight with your financing plan is because of a couple of developments that have happened on the public works side. One of them was the successful environmental clearance through the CEQA process, and then followed by a bunch of detailed design that is currently underway. What you see before you is the phased packages that Public Works has been working on, and phase one is a package, as you can see, that will be ready for dissemination in July.

[03:41:37] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So as such, the financing team that's working on several aspects of the funding plan is ready to come forward with the final financing plan. So as detailed in the staff report, staff went through what we refer to as like a building block process to put together the funding. So some of the primary building blocks we're going to walk through right now, and one of those is one of the actions that was taken back in 2018, which was making sure that the Ameswell revenues were reserved for a future public safety building, and that the annual revenues are something that could be utilized to pay annual debt service.

[03:42:16] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: I mentioned that the community supported additional revenue generation, and so in 2024 Measure G was passed, and Measure G has an annualized average expectation of about $3.2 million per year. So with those two components, we now have close to an approximate 8.5 million combined that we could use towards debt service. And so from a staff perspective, we started working with our underwriters and our financial advisor, and you can see that that would yield approximately 135 million in bond proceeds. So that was the first building block uh as we work towards a funding plan to eventually get to the 189 million that we saw on the previous slide.

[03:43:00] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: In addition, over the years the public safety building actual CIP project has had monies uh allocated to it, including just I believe last month there was additional money allocated, bringing the total there to about 16.3 million. In addition, the Shoreline Regional Park actually uh benefits from public safety infrastructure and apparatus. And so once we put together the other funding structures, then we turned to Shoreline as one of the last building blocks, and you can see here that the current recommendation was for 10 million. But I should caveat that a couple ways.

[03:43:36] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So the 10 million was simply predicated on that was the remaining gap. However, back in 2025, the finance department actually went through a very laborious cost allocation process. And through that cost allocation process, they came up with what they thought were reasonable expectations, looking at everything like the service calls, looking at the different structures, whether it's a beat structure or whether it's a firehouse structure.

[03:44:02] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: And through that analysis, they came up with an expectation that it's reasonable to think that a public police department allocation cost would be approximately 17, I'm sorry, public uh police department allocation cost would be approximately 17.6%, and a fire allocation cost would be approximately 13.5%. If you look at the current staff recommendation of 10 million, that's about 5.3% of total proceeds.

[03:44:29] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: And so as the project moves on, or this evening, one of the alternatives was the ability for council to make suggestions, staff thinks it's reasonable to go up to the lower tier of fire at about 13.5%. And I will remind folks that back in, I believe it was December of 2024, the new scope of the public safety building does include a parking garage, it was reduced to three floors, but it also includes a cold shell on the roof, and by rescoping it to that...

[03:45:00] City Staff: just have the cold shell that was about a 14 million dollar savings. So you could see where additional monies could eventually come into play whether it's from Shoreline or other avenues, but that is an alternative and as I mentioned the analysis would warrant that ability to go higher on Shoreline. So these are the stacks that we just went through, the building blocks. You can see an estimated 135 million in bond proceeds, the Public Safety Reserve at about 26 and a half million, the Public Safety CIP at 16.3.

[03:45:34] City Staff: You do have two action items tonight which are the 10 million current recommendation on Shoreline and then this is the wrong slide, but there's also two million that we're uh suggesting in the budget process for this evening also. And that brings us to a total of actually 189.8 million and so the project cost is currently estimated at 189 and so this got us to the project cost. Other sources include things like interest earned on the bond proceeds. It's reasonable to expect that the bond proceeds could earn between 5 and 10 million.

[03:46:10] City Staff: Also there's administrative fees that are built into the project, those administrative fees are something that may or may not meet full fruition so there could be savings there. So as we move through the project and we start to see the actual expenses as bid packages come back, there are additional sources of funding that could get us upwards of a 197 million. And then we already covered the Shoreline aspect which has some more room there as well.

[03:46:38] City Staff: So with that, the next step in the process is we return to you on April 28th. April 28th is where you actually act in your fiduciary capacity to approve all the bond documents that are required to go to market. You will actually get a brief training at that meeting to re... how would I say it... well it's been a while since the city has issued debt. So it'll be a a briefing on what it entails as your fiduciary role as you look at these bond documents and eventually approve the bond documents for us to go to market. And that concludes staff's presentation. We're available for any questions.

[03:47:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the council have questions? I see Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:47:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor and uh thank you Aaron for the presentation. Um if we wanted to proceed with the alternative suggested by staff what modifications would we have to make to the resolutions?

[03:47:35] City Staff: So I'll get us started and then I'll defer to the City Attorney. But I believe you have the ability to amend that this evening. I think it would have to be read into the record. Currently the resolution states 10 million. Uh I saw the City Attorney nod so I'm assuming I haven't gone off track yet. That number could be amended verbally into the record at whatever council deems appropriate.

[03:47:56] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um I'm not very good at math. What is so if it would have to be a numb a dollar amount we can't say 13.5 percent. What would that number be?

[03:48:07] City Staff: Okay I I see where you're going. So if we went to the lower threshold which would be my suggestion if you're gonna go uh additional, 13.5 percent would equal roughly 25.5 million. So you'd have roughly another 15 million in capacity.

[03:48:24] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Thank you very much.

[03:48:27] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Any other questions? Alright. No other questions from council. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star nine on your phone. A timer will be displayed on screen. Each speaker will have 90 seconds or one and a half minutes.

[03:48:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um I am seeing someone walk up to the podium. Are you... will you be speaking Mr. Zaretsky? Alright, so Mr. Zaretsky is going to be our public comment speaker. And then we will take virtual speakers right after him. 90 seconds.

[03:49:02] Public Speaker: Oh you had to set my clock down. Okay. Mine is more in the form of a question than a comment. I've heard from people that the cost of the building has inflated to 300 million since the initial um estimate was done. What you've done is good work and it shows how we can get this done within the constructs of what of what we anticipated. I know that Pat was very disappointed to see that the original building had gone from 139 million to 189 million in a year and a half and she voiced her opinions about that.

[03:49:38] Public Speaker: The community is concerned that this isn't gonna become another high speed rail. That we don't have a plan that starts at 6 million and goes to 66 and we're committed to funding it no matter what. So we'd like some assurance that we've done our homework on the 189 and we're not putting the cart before the horse and we're gonna approve this money but find out later that we need another 150 million. So that is the concern because we have so many other things that we need in terms of SP 79 infrastructure.

[03:50:06] Public Speaker: We're gonna need sewers, we're gonna need roads, we're gonna need parks, we're gonna need a lot of things. And none of that's funded. And if we're gonna have pain we want to make sure that we know that the pay what the pain is and that it's going to be shared. So that's my question and anything that you can do to say oh this is a good estimate this is not a two-year-old estimate and the real estimate's 300 million.

[03:50:29] Public Speaker: And oh by the way no sewers, no parks, no downtown. People aren't gonna go for any kind of revenue measure that looks like that. Thank you.

[03:50:40] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Next we have um it's it's gonna be at 90 seconds um but and then we now move on to our virtual public comment. Tim McKenzie.

[03:50:52] Tim McKenzie: Hi Tim McKenzie he him pronouns Monta Loma neighborhood. Um following up on uh the previous speaker uh one way to be certain that the uh estimate is correct or that we're not going to overrun costs is to reduce the footprint of the public safety building.

[03:51:13] Tim McKenzie: Uh there I don't know that there's a need for a shooting range. I don't know how much that really contributes to public safety. Uh there's been material changes in conditions. The Public Safety Advisory Board which was in existence for ma uh many of the decisions and discussions about this building no longer exists. So some of that public oversight that we used to have doesn't exist anymore.

[03:51:36] Tim McKenzie: I ask and implore that you reduce the scope, scale of the Public Safety Advisory Building, the public safety building uh because it's not big buildings and the fanciest new technology to the police that actually keeps us safe. There are many elements to public safety uh such as stable affordable housing, access to nutritious food.

[03:52:00] Tim McKenzie: Uh what's the... there are ma uh many many elements beyond giving a big new fancy building to the cops um and I'd ask you to reassess in light of changes of in material conditions to lower the footprint, lower the costs. Thank you.

[03:52:20] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you and that completes our public comment. Uh we will now bring the item back to council questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolutions attached to the report. I see we have Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:52:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. Um I'll go ahead and move to approve the slightly revised staff recommendations. Uh including uh adopt a resolution of the board of directors of the Shoreline Regional Park Community amending the fiscal year 2025 to 26 adopted budget to transfer and appropriate $25.5 million from the Shoreline Regional Park Community fund to CIP 20-49, Public Safety Building Design to be read in title only further reading waived.

[03:53:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View amending the fiscal year 25 to 26 adopted budget to appropriate $2 million in the general operating fund for a transfer to the public safety building reserve to be read in title only further reading waived.

[03:53:19] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I do appreciate uh the additional analysis provided by staff and um agree with the findings. Um I I also think it is important... my the question I'll I'll conclude with is um the the uh concerns raised by Mr. Zaretsky and and um providing some assurance to the public that there won't be substantial cost overruns and um you know further risk to the general fund. What assurances can can we provide to the public?

[03:53:50] City Staff: I'll get it started but then I'll probably look for some help from our Public Works Director. She's still here, thank you. Uh so when the first bid packages release it's going to provide a lot of clarity just alone on that, and that'll happen this summer. And then my understanding is with the design work that's been done and with the engineering's estimates we're still in the ballpark. With the action that Council's considering tonight you're going to increase the contingency availability in the event that it's above the cost of increases that are currently worked into it along with the administrative costs. But I'm gonna stop there and uh I'll ask uh our Public Works Director.

[03:54:37] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Good evening, Jennifer Ing Public Works Director. Um let me give you a sneak peek into into my world and as to how this works. So we have several phases of this project, there are three phases. The first one is a demolition phase, the second one is construction of the main building, the third phase is site work as well as the garage. Um at each phase there are several check-in points throughout the design so there's typically a 35 percent, a 65 percent, and a 90 percent, and then finally we get to 100 percent.

[03:55:14] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: At each of those phases uh we get an updated estimate from our design team that allows us to do checks and balances along the way so that we can see how we're progressing in the design um relative to the amount of funding that we have available. The nice thing about this particular project being phased is that that third phase of the garage is our off-ramp in case something happens catastrophic in the world.

[03:55:43] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: I don't want to wish ill on anybody but if there were another pandemic and bids went to heck all over again like they did five years ago um you know and and went crazy, you know that garage component of the project is um our um is one of the major off-ramps that we have in order to keep the rest of the project on track.

[03:56:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Great. Thank you.

[03:56:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Any other... okay. Uh Councilmember Kamei.

[03:56:06] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Thanks Mayor. Um just a quick question for staff. So I um I know we have uh a webpage for our public safety building and it had like the designs and and things like that. As we're moving forward through our process would we be able to maybe like update and provide links and maybe that can address some of the public comment that we heard tonight in terms of making sure that it's daylighted and transparent on the process?

[03:56:34] City Staff: Yeah I think the financing team would be happy to work with Public Works to embed financial components to what they currently have for the project itself and then as we move forward we can continue to update the financials.

[03:56:46] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you very much.

[03:56:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Great. Councilmember McAlister.

[03:56:51] Councilmember John McAlister: Right of way. We own the property, so could you explain the right of way of 2 million 670 thousand dollars? I'm looking at project detail. Is that obsolete or is that still current?

[03:57:07] City Staff: So once again I will call on our Public Works Director.

[03:57:18] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Let me make sure I understand what we're referring to. Can you point me to a page in the staff report?

[03:57:22] Councilmember John McAlister: It's uh page two project detail, construction consult consulting services city services then right of way CEQA permit. Two million six hundred and seventy thousand dollars. But we own the property.

[03:57:35] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Oh we do own the property. I that's just a generic titling I guess I would call it for how we typically bucket our um our buckets of money. In this case we own we do own the uh uh property that the building sits on. Uh we do need to pay for CEQA and permits. Um part of the right of way fees um is going to include um some additional work that we need to do to provide parking in the area uh for any sort of displacement during construction.

[03:58:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Thanks.

[03:58:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Any other questions? Any other comments? Oh. Uh Councilmember Hicks.

[03:58:19] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I just wanted to refer I do not have an additional question but I wanted to refer to members of the public who are interested in how this is being paid for and the financial feasibility there council does get the opportunity to ask written questions ahead of time and there are uh I don't know nine, ten some number of written questions which if you're super interested in digging into the details you can read they're available to everyone online. Thank you.

[03:58:49] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Hicks. We have a motion on the floor made by Councilmember Ramirez. We are still waiting on a second. Vice Mayor Clark.

[03:59:02] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um can I just ask staff can you I want to make sure in my head I understand the difference between the the text that was presented to us to ob transfer and appropriate 10 million from Shoreline Regional Park versus the motion that was made. Are we essentially just giving ourselves some extra cushion there or

[03:59:25] City Staff: I I believe that's the intent. The intent is to utilize the full capacity that's available through the cost allocation study that was done. And as a staff perspective we would just have that as additional contingency funds as we move through the project.

[03:59:40] Councilmember Chris Clark: Got it. Okay I understand now. Thanks.

[03:59:44] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay. So now we have the motion by Councilmember Ramirez uh seconded by Vice Mayor Clark. Um I guess if there are no other questions or comments we are oh Councilmember McAlister.

[03:59:58] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay I guess I guess I was uh reading something else. I'm a little confused so there was two uh options one is two million one is 10 million and you went you recommended the two million dollar...

[04:00:11] City Staff: Thank you for the it's the other way around. The two million is a general fund allocation through the budgeting process which we'll take care of this evening. It's the 10 million portion from Shoreline that's being increased to 25.5.

[04:00:24] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh so we're doing both you're gonna do both this evening anyway. They were an options. There were two objects. Oh that's what I was okay thank you for the clarity.

[04:00:36] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Alright. Once again, any more questions? Any more comments? It looks like we are ready for a vote. Let's vote.

[04:00:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And the motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much to staff. Alright, we are now at item 6.3, Preliminary Review of Fiscal Year 2026-27 Recommended Budget.

6.3 Preliminary Review of Fiscal Year 2026-27 Recommended Budget

[04:00:57] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Finance and Administrative Services Director Derek Rampone and Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director Grace Zheng will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. Whenever you're ready.

[04:01:25] City Staff: Okay.

[04:01:58] City Staff: Good evening Mayor and Councilmembers, Vice Mayor and Councilmembers. Derek Rampone your Finance and Administrative Services Director and joining me tonight is Grace Zheng the Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director. Tonight we are presenting a preliminary review of the fiscal year 2026-27 recommended budget. This is the second year in a row that we've been uh coming to Council with this preliminary look at the recommended budget.

[04:02:24] City Staff: And then just as a reminder, this presentation focuses mainly on the general fund of the city. On this slide is a high-level overview of the budget development timeline. As you know the process really begins in November um as when we kick when we send a kickoff memo to departments and departments then will prepare their budget requests and submit them to FASD each December around the holiday timeframe.

[04:02:52] City Staff: In January the budget team compiles and reviews all of those requests and in February the budget team and the City Manager meet with each department to discuss priorities and proposed funding. Also in February we provided the midyear budget update to Council. And then tonight marks the preliminary review of the fiscal year 26-27 budget. This is an important opportunity for Council and the community to provide input that will help shape the recommended budget.

[04:03:21] City Staff: The recommended budget will be published prior to June 1st with an anticipated release uh by the end of May. Following that release uh the public hearing will be held on June 9th and then the final step in the process will be on June 23rd when Council considers adoption of the budget which includes the capital improvement program.

[04:03:42] City Staff: As we've discussed previously the city has a long history of sound fiscal practices. Um we consistently adopt structurally balanced budgets aligning ongoing revenues with ongoing expenditures and using one-time funds only for one-time costs. In recent years uh revenue growth has generated operating balances that have allowed us to make additional payments towards our long-term liabilities including pension obligations through CalPERS and fully funding the retiree health benefits.

[04:04:15] City Staff: The city also prioritizes maintaining healthy reserves to prepare for economic uncertainty. Under Council Policy A-11, the general fund reserve target is 20 to 25 percent of expenditures and we're currently around 20 percent. These practices have all supported the city's AAA credit rating from Standard and Poor's, the highest possible rating, which helps reduce borrowing costs such as was on the previous item just heard. In addition the city has received national recognition for excellence in budgeting, financial reporting, and procurement.

[04:04:50] City Staff: I'd like to provide a brief uh economic update since the midyear budget report was presented on February 24th of this year. Since then there has been a notable increase in economic activity and volatility. Uh this level of uncertainty does make it a little more challenging to forecast future conditions with uh confidence. We've seen escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, a partial federal government shutdown, and significant swings in the stock market lately.

[04:05:20] City Staff: In addition, gas prices have risen which have increased costs for both consumers and businesses. Turning now to the local economy, we are seeing mixed signals. While revenues are not experiencing as much growth as in prior years, sales tax and business license tax revenues are projected to experience modest growth while property tax revenue remains relatively strong.

[04:05:43] City Staff: Unemployment remains relatively low around 3.7 percent, while this is higher than a year ago it is still below the recent peak of 4.1 percent in July of 2025. That said though unemployment is expected to increase slightly in the near term. Fewer employees working in the city can impact local sales tax performance as a reduced worker presence and visitor activity may lead to lower spending.

[04:06:10] City Staff: In addition as we all know the high cost of living in the Bay Area continues to be a challenge for a lot of people. With that said though there are some positive indicators. Uh several companies have recently relocated to or expanded within the City of Mountain View including Toyota, OpenAI, and Glean, which all help support the city's economic base.

[04:06:34] City Staff: As we look towards building the Mountain View of tomorrow I'd like to highlight a new revenue source that's now available to the city. Measure G, a property transfer tax on transactions over 6 million dollars became effective on December 20, 2024. This measure was approved by over 72 percent of local voters in November of 2024.

[04:06:57] City Staff: For the current year, staff is projecting approximately 5.1 million dollars in Measure G revenue. And consistent with Council's approved allocation plan, that funding is proposed to be distributed as shown on this slide with 2 million or 40 percent for the public safety administration building, 1.5 million or 30 percent to the parks and open space acquisition reserve, 1 million or 20 percent for affordable housing,

[04:07:24] City Staff: and 500,000 or 10 percent across several priorities including citywide design standards, street maintenance, sustainability projects, and a new economic vitality reserve.

[04:07:36] City Staff: This slide highlights several of the city's ongoing continuous improvement efforts. At the February midyear budget update, Council approved the transportation division reorganization, combining the transportation planning and traffic engineering under a new Chief Transportation Officer. Council also approved the addition of one librarian and one lead security services guard position allowing the library to expand Sunday hours.

[04:08:04] City Staff: Now looking ahead, staff is recommending the addition of a Principal Planner position in fiscal year 26-27. This position will be funded across the general fund, development services fund, and the Shoreline fund, and will support key planning functions including policy development, development review, and implementation of adopted plans.

[04:08:24] City Staff: The recommended budget also includes uh continued investment in public safety including funding for fire department equipment such as testing, cleaning, and replacement of personal protective gear as well as ongoing health screenings for public safety personnel. Finally the city continues to prioritize technology improvements with several major systems currently being upgraded or planned for replacement to enhance service delivery and operational efficiency.

[04:08:55] City Staff: Also included in the 26-27 recommended budget, um along with some actions taken at midyear, there are several investments related to economic vitality and small business support. Staff is recommending 365,000 in limited-period funding for small business grant programs and downtown storefront activations to support local economic development.

[04:09:18] City Staff: In addition 150,000 in ongoing funding is proposed to expand support for businesses, arts and culture programs, and community activities. As part of the Measure G allocations discussed earlier, staff is also proposing the creation of the new economic vitality reserve initially funded with $100,000 to support future initiatives in this area.

[04:09:41] City Staff: At midyear Council approved a new Public Art Administrator position to further strengthen arts and cultural programming. And finally 186,000 in limited-period funding is being recommended to support programming and event setup for the 35th anniversary of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

[04:10:02] City Staff: I'd like to just highlight a few key assumptions and risks underlying the forecast for next year.

[04:10:09] City Staff: As always there's an inherent uncertainty, no one has a crystal ball, so the forecast is based on current economic data and is informed by input from economists and other sources.

[04:10:20] City Staff: Overall, I would say revenue growth is expected to be moderate. Our key assumptions include a 3% increase in the property tax base, a 2.4% increase in sales tax which is driven by recent business activity and higher prices, which are offset by any business closures.

[04:10:41] City Staff: Approximately 2% growth in lease-related revenues, which are consistent with inflationary adjustments.

[04:10:49] City Staff: And at the same time expenditures are expected to grow at a faster rate than revenues, which is an important dynamic to monitor.

[04:10:57] City Staff: There are also several key risks and unknowns including how quickly inflation returns to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, and the potential impacts of federal policy decisions on the local economy.

[04:11:09] City Staff: Finally it's important to note that the current forecast does not assume a recession scenario.

[04:11:17] City Staff: In addition to the uncertainties and risks already reflected in the forecast, there are several potential headwinds we'd like to highlight.

[04:11:24] City Staff: First there is a proposed statewide ballot initiative that could significantly impact the City's property transfer tax revenue, particularly for cities like Mountain View that have adopted higher tiered rates.

[04:11:37] City Staff: Depending on the outcome of that, the City could see an annual revenue loss in the range of 10 to 15 million dollars depending on how it shakes out.

[04:11:46] City Staff: This estimate is based on historical activity and includes the Tier 2 revenue from Measure G which was approved by voters in November of 2024.

[04:11:57] City Staff: Mountain View has been engaged actively in opposition to this initiative and is working closely with our legislative advocacy team to provide data and ensure the City's perspective is well represented.

[04:12:10] City Staff: In addition, there may be multiple revenue measures placed on the November 2026 ballot by other agencies, as we heard earlier this evening.

[04:12:19] City Staff: A crowded ballot environment could create voter fatigue, limit voter attention, and increase competition amongst jurisdictions for voter support.

[04:12:27] City Staff: This dynamic could make it more challenging for any individual measure to succeed.

[04:12:34] City Staff: And finally, a broader economic conditions remain a concern. If the cost of goods, particularly essential items continue to rise, discretionary spending may soften.

[04:12:46] City Staff: And given that consumer spending drives nearly 70% of the economic activity, a slowdown in spending could definitely have a downstream impacts on the City's key revenues.

[04:12:58] City Staff: But city staff will continue to closely monitor these potential headwinds and will provide updates as more information becomes available.

[04:13:06] City Staff: Now we turn to the preliminary numbers for 26-27 for the operating general operating fund.

[04:13:13] City Staff: As you can see the budget is balanced and stable, showing a slight operating balance of 172,000.

[04:13:22] City Staff: This slide shows recent and projected amounts for the general operating fund. As mentioned on the slide before, fiscal year 26-27 recommended budget is currently projecting a small operating balance, oh, wrong slide, 172,000 as can be seen in the bold column.

[04:13:40] City Staff: However, future years are projected to have negative balances, beginning in fiscal year 27-28 with a deficit of 329,000, increasing to a deficit of 3.4 million in 28-29, and a deficit of 1.8 million in 29-30, and then 30-31 we're expected to or projecting a small operating balance of 354,000.

[04:14:04] City Staff: That positive balance is actually a result of anticipated declines in pension costs. And those declines are related to the recent higher investment returns that have been realized at CalPERS and the drop-off of prior losses at CalPERS.

[04:14:22] City Staff: Next we have a snapshot of the City's estimated available balance and how staff is proposing to use it. This is really a bucket of one-time revenues that can be used for one-time expenditures.

[04:14:34] City Staff: As you can see we're estimating a balance at the end of this fiscal year of nearly 20 million dollars. After limited period expenditures proposed in this budget, along with some transfers to the self-insurance and general liability funds, we are estimating a carryover balance of nearly 5.7 million for 26-27.

[04:14:55] City Staff: This 5.7 million will be needed for future limited period expenses and any reserves transfers.

[04:15:04] City Staff: Included in the 26-27 recommended budget are several proposed position changes as shown on this slide. One IT position is being proposed to be converted from limited period to ongoing.

[04:15:15] City Staff: In addition, there are five new ongoing positions being recommended, along with an increase to an existing warehouse position from 0.5 to 0.75.

[04:15:24] City Staff: More detailed information on these changes can be found on pages 10 and 11 of the staff report.

[04:15:32] City Staff: As detailed on pages 9 through 11 of the staff report, this slide summarizes the ongoing general operating fund recommendations for next fiscal year.

[04:15:41] City Staff: The non-discretionary items reflect required costs to maintain current operations including investments in technology, the janitorial services contract, and fire and health safety programs among others.

[04:15:54] City Staff: The 3 million in discretionary funding provides support for the six ongoing positions changes discussed on the previous slide, as well as other high priority programs and services.

[04:16:07] City Staff: Now we turn to limited period investments recommendations. These focus on one-time strategic investments, and highlights basically items over 250,000 that are being recommended for limited period funding.

[04:16:20] City Staff: Staff is proposing a total of 7.9 million recommended for limited period funding for fiscal year 26-27.

[04:16:28] City Staff: Key investments include sustainability outreach and staffing, temporary IT support including two desktop technicians, upcoming election costs, and contract services to develop economic development programs and grants.

[04:16:42] City Staff: Additional funding supports firefighter recruits attending the Firefighter Academy, a limited period financial analyst- senior, sorry, senior management analyst in finance to assist with purchasing and contracts, and consulting services to evaluate the City's planning, permitting, and land use processes.

[04:17:00] City Staff: For a more detailed list, you can refer to pages 12 through 15 of the staff report.

[04:17:06] City Staff: And to wrap it all up, I've listed the next steps in the budget process on this slide. June 9th will be the public hearing for the recommended budget, and then on June 23rd a public hearing for the adoption of the operating budget and CIP will be held.

[04:17:21] City Staff: And that concludes our presentation, we look forward to answering any questions you may have.

[04:17:27] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. I will now bring the item back for Council... oh. Does any member of the Council have questions?

[04:17:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember McAlister.

[04:17:42] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah I'll I only have three. Um when you were talking about the downtown... the grant funding or... did you just say downtown or the whole city? I just heard downtown, but I didn't see if you were referring to the 265,000 dollars for the whole city. Because there's a 100,000 for... oh, there we go, Amanda. You should know.

[04:18:08] Amanda Rotella: Good evening, Amanda Rotella, Economic Vitality Manager. So, um, the grant funding is related to the facade improvement grant program that we discussed I believe at last Council meeting. So we've heard the interest from Council of some prioritization of downtown but it's for the entire city.

[04:18:29] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, I just heard the downtown that that grabbed my attention. Okay then the next question I had for you was, and this sort of ties into uh the public safety building. So I asked the question for the Standard & Poor AAA rating underlying credit rating, reserves are set at 20%. Can the policies be modified to set... to still meet the Standard & Poor's AAA rating and free up money for current projects? 'Cause I know you got 20% so, how does... do they look... there's more than one criteria for the AAA so go ahead and explain.

[04:19:07] City Staff: Yeah thanks for the question. The 20% I would say is a relatively standard industry for cities to follow. We have seen some cities that are low- lower than that, but I would say we wouldn't want to get too much lower. We have I think historically had strong reserves here who have helped us through um downturns. And so I would, you know, have to s- I would recommend that the Council seriously consider reducing that to free up any funds, but obviously that's up to Council's discretion.

[04:19:37] Councilmember John McAlister: So you're saying if we could reduce the reserves to maybe 18%, free up money, still maintain a AAA rating and pay for things now instead of having inflation eat the money up?

[04:19:50] City Staff: I don't want to speak for Standard & Poor's, um so, so I would say that anything under 20% they are going to definitely look at more closely.

[04:19:59] Councilmember John McAlister: Would that be all funds or are we looking at specific-

[04:20:01] City Staff: General fund.

[04:20:03] Councilmember John McAlister: The general fund. Okay. And what was my third question for you? Uh... I'll think about it and come back, thanks.

[04:20:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Showalter.

[04:20:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah I um I was just hoping that you... or somebody would go into a little more detail about um what we're doing to advocate against this ballot measure, um that is putting... I think it's called Save Prop 13 is that or that's one of the... Is that that's one of the names that's been put forward, right? Yeah, what what are we doing um along those lines? It hasn't... I mean I don't know exactly where it is in the process, has it qualified yet?

[04:20:56] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Councilmember Showalter, so we've actually had a lot of activity between our staff team and our uh legislative- state legislative lobbyist, Dane Hutchings, over the last I'd say a couple days and even last week. So there is a clean-up bill that has been... I guess clean-up bill might not be the right term for it, but there has been a bill proposed by Buffy Wicks. Um that they are working on and there are um considerations that they are giving to trying to figure out a way to uh exempt cities from um basically not having to... I guess not having to be impacted by this potential measure.

[04:21:24] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And so what they're trying to do is see if the folks that are supporting this measure will remove this measure from consideration. They are close to getting all the signatures, from what I understand they don't have all of them yet. They're very close. So there are active negotiations happening at the state level between certain state legislators to try and see if they can get this taken care of.

[04:21:50] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Mountain View has a seat at the table. Uh we very specifically provided uh detailed financial information that is being used by legislators to illustrate the severe impacts that Mountain View uh and we are using the 15 million dollar number because that is frankly more likely to happen. Um if we were to have the property transfer tax eliminated.

[04:22:28] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: We're not the only city locally. San Jose would also be impacted by this, so um it's my understanding that they are also at the table talking about this. So there are multiple cities across the state that would be im- impacted by this, but um it's really fast-moving. But in the last I'd say like I said few days, the last week or two, we've been very actively engaged on this.

[04:22:53] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay so if it if it does get on the ballot um then we can we could pass a resolution that we're not supporting it.

[04:23:04] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Correct. And we would certainly recommend Council to do that.

[04:23:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Right. Okay. But um all right, well I just wondered because um as these things go, if there's something we can do personally to advocate, I'm sure you'll let us know.

[04:23:17] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes, for sure.

[04:23:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. All right. And um yeah that was my major question. I thought it was a really good report, thank you.

[04:23:29] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember Hicks.

[04:23:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So like I did with the last agenda item I did not have more questions but I just wanted to draw the public's attention to the fact that that this is a big budget, not a lot of questions from Council, but there were 10 pages of written questions that the Council asked. So if you think we're we're not digging into this enough refer to the written questions.

[04:23:56] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember McAlister.

[04:23:59] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh I got I figured out my third question. So we're set setting aside 77,000 dollars for uh Park and Rec for registration. Is there any money... I understand there was some discussion with the Performing Arts Center to get a new ticketing service in. So is that in a prior budget or is that being considered at this time?

[04:24:24] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Well it's not your money... oh that's right it's under you. Sorry.

[04:24:28] Councilmember John McAlister: Is that the money? Are you tired of me yet?

[04:24:31] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: No no... not yet.

[04:24:34] Community Services Director John Marchant: Once again, John Marchant, Community Services Director. So yes, the we are looking to get a new ticketing system at the Center for Performing Arts. That is funded, we are actually in the process of doing that right now.

[04:24:48] Community Services Director John Marchant: Um as far as the 77,000 dollars, we have a uh set amount of funds set aside for the fees that we are assessed for registration fees. And so that that fund is basically allowing us to to stay stable to pay the fees to the vendor that we use for the the registration system for recreation.

[04:25:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay you could have just said yeah we already have it funded, thanks.

[04:25:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Any other questions? Any other questions? Vice Mayor Clark.

[04:25:18] Councilmember Chris Clark: Just a I'll bring it up now as a question instead of later. Um I think at some point in the past either an item 8 or some sort of referral um we looked at... there were this is a very minor thing in the overall uh piece of the budget...

[04:25:35] Councilmember Chris Clark: ...but we'd look at um I think some of the escalators that were in place for things like Council operations like um travel and other things got paused during the pandemic and I don't think they've been addressed, and I think um um I think they might have I think at some point we talked about this previously...

[04:25:53] Councilmember Chris Clark: ...and I didn't know whether the Finance Committee or CPPC or the Council directly should address that with you if we wanted it in this budget. Um I assume we can just work together offline um since there was I think prior Council direction on it but if there wasn't we can maybe ask to reaffirm it tonight but.

[04:26:12] City Staff: You're correct, there haven't been increases in in some of the travel budget for Council in eight years almost 10 years actually, so um I think that they would go to the CFC at first um pending your you know and then take it to Council.

[04:26:28] Councilmember Chris Clark: Okay, I'll bring that up in comments then.

[04:26:30] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Council member Clark, may I make a comment? So I I think the CFC meeting would be too uh it if Council were to make direction tonight for staff to include it, we could include that in the budget, it would not need to go to CFC.

[04:26:44] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: My concern is that the CFC will not be meeting until too late in this process to where the budget's already developed and the books already developed as well. Um I think an elegant solution is that we have already had to increase the travel and training budgets for almost all of the departments for similar reasons.

[04:27:01] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And so should you give staff direction tonight to just have staff look at that and apply that escalator, I think that's the easiest way of doing it. That's what I would recommend.

[04:27:12] Councilmember Chris Clark: Okay. I'll bring that up in comments then 'cause I definitely don't want anything special for us I just want to make sure that at some point we address um so that we five years from now we aren't in a world where we're looking at 50% increases or something weird so.

[04:27:26] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yeah and that would be very consistent with what we've done across the organization.

[04:27:31] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Vice Mayor Clark. Council member McAlister.

[04:27:34] Councilmember John McAlister: Just clarification for for the Vice Mayor. So was it travel or all uh Council expenditures?

[04:27:42] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um I'll I'll raise it in in um I'll raise it in comments but I I was thinking just kind of taking a look at at anything that was paused then and just seeing if we need to get anything up to match what the staff more broadly is doing so.

[04:27:59] Councilmember John McAlister: Thanks for the clarity, thanks.

[04:28:01] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Seeing no other questions from Council, would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, um please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star nine on the phone, um or turn in your blue card. A timer will be displayed on the screen, each speaker will have 90 seconds or one and a half minutes. I am seeing no speakers in person, but I have one online. Uh Tim McKenzie.

[04:28:31] Tim McKenzie: Hi all. Um I have a specific concern about one of the line items for a uh uh one-time expenditure. There is a line item for 158,800 dollars for public safety equipment costs.

[04:28:48] Tim McKenzie: Um one concern is that this seems premature to be pre-allocating money before the AB 481 Military Equipment Use uh meeting, uh last year it happened in May, um I don't think it has happened yet, and pre-allocating funding before approving the actual list of equipment seems not to be prudent.

[04:29:11] Tim McKenzie: I also question how necessary it is, uh Flock safety cameras which the Council unanimously canceled the contract with, was public safety equipment and that was I think not the most prudent use of funds, I and it seems Council agrees with that as well.

[04:29:30] Tim McKenzie: And there was just 10 million dollars or more for the public safety building, uh last year approved almost half a million dollars for essentially a tank for police officers. Um how how much money and why is it every year there's consistently more funds and more funds for policing, for equipment that has questionable efficacy or need, um and not for other needs of the community. Um so I would request that that line item be struck. Thank you.

[04:30:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. We will now bring it back to uh Council for uh questions and deliberation. Council member Ramirez.

[04:30:12] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. Um and uh thank you also to uh staff for uh providing the preliminary review or budget workshop. Um I uh had my one-on-one check-in with the City Manager and we agree it's a very helpful addition and I appreciate staff uh taking the time to walk through um uh what you're um planning to include in in the upcoming uh the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. So it's it's a very worthy and helpful exercise.

[04:30:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um I am going to highlight a few- so I support everything. I think this is a great budget. Uh I'm going to uh highlight a few of the uh line items that I thought were were um elements that I thought were particularly uh um commendable.

[04:31:02] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: One is uh being forward thinking and including the ongoing uh child care subsidy program funding. Um I uh had recalled that the reserve was going to uh um cease to be uh in existence um and had been monitoring that and I'm I appreciate staff for for being forward thinking and uh including that that funding uh as an ongoing expenditure even beyond the expiration of that reserve.

[04:31:35] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um really pleased to see the the long-range planning staff included. I know members of the Council had talked about that. I think going back to January when we were discussing um SB 79 and recognizing the increasing importance of being able to be nimble and respond to a lot of the state mandates. Uh so that's that's very encouraging to see, and I'm very happy to support it.

[04:32:00] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um again the library hours expansion, that was great to see in uh the mid-year and then uh that commitment um being advanced through this budget is is terrific. Um these are uh really um valuable uh investments in our community and I'm I'm very grateful to staff for for finding a way to make it work.

[04:32:18] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: This is one is just for me, this is the last time you'll hear this. Um but I was really happy to see the equipment replacement reserve below 20 million dollars. That's great! Keep spending it down! It's like a cancer, so you have to you have to remove it so it doesn't metastasize, so that's terrific.

[04:32:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um uh so I'm going to go ahead and move to accept the report and advance the staff recommendations. I'm also happy to include, I don't want to put words in your mouth Vice Mayor, but I understood it to be um an escalator or sort of a rightsizing of the um uh you didn't limit it to City Council, but I think looking at some of the like travel expenses and things like that, I'll let you fill in the gaps. Thank you.

[04:33:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, it looks like we have a motion by Council member Ramirez, uh seconded by Vice Mayor Clark, who is now next on the docket to speak.

[04:33:10] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah I this was a very helpful preview. Um I think we're we're heading the right direction and I really appreciate staff um these previews in advance of the actual budget sessions are really helpful.

[04:33:23] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um just to clarify sort of what what my request was, it's uh I I think um I think previously um for for Council operations whether it's um training or or travel or some of the other expense allowances, I think a lot of those just kind of got frozen in time and rightly so um around the pandemic. And I don't know what the right answer is there.

[04:33:50] Councilmember Chris Clark: I just don't want to get in a- there's two things I'm trying to avoid. One, I just don't want to be in a position in a in a few years where we realize we haven't caught up and then we are asking for really significant increases to get everything um um caught up, uh which I don't think is is fair to anyone...

[04:34:08] Councilmember Chris Clark: ...and then the second is it it does put the mayor kind of in an awkward position to um to have to review requests to release reserve funding and we haven't had a a lot of those recently and I just don't want to be in a position for our current mayor or future mayors um to where they have to um weigh those those options.

[04:34:28] Councilmember Chris Clark: So the goal here is just to um apply whatever whatever formulas the staff is currently using um for management employees or whatever the right formula is just to take a look at at um what applies to the council and and try and get everything caught up to where we all know how much airfare and all the other things have increased over the last five or seven years.

[04:34:49] Councilmember Chris Clark: Um so I just want to make sure we're thinking ahead about all that um uh as we go forward. So if you're comfortable with that as a friendly amendment, I-

[04:35:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Councilmember Ramirez, that's fine.

[04:35:01] Councilmember Chris Clark: I am.

[04:35:02] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Okay, thank you.

[04:35:07] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Uh, next is Councilmember McAlister.

[04:35:10] Councilmember John McAlister: So, in the vein of Lucas, I have a request. Um, there is a, um, hundred thousand dollars transferred to the CIP sustainable, sustainability projects. And we know that grants and funding for sustainability projects are, are far and few between.

[04:35:30] Councilmember John McAlister: And I was considering that we could transfer that to street maintenance projects for, and hopefully get that moving ahead. Uh, you always hear me talk about road structures and so forth like that.

[04:35:44] Councilmember John McAlister: And this is a, only a hundred thousand dollars to help get our streets in better shape sooner than later.

[04:35:51] Councilmember Chris Clark: I'm not sure that's gonna fly by a lot of our colleagues, so probably best to hear what folks have to say before including that.

[04:36:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Anything else, Councilmember McAlister?

[04:36:03] Councilmember John McAlister: And then I had one other thing. So, when I was talking-- so do you want to do that now, Mayor? Straw vote on that one, or I got this other one I would just want to consider.

[04:36:13] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Uh, let's, let's, I'll write it down and then we'll go back to that one.

[04:36:18] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, sure. And then when I was asking about the reserves, um, you said it was possible to, um, lower the reserves, free up some money to get projects done. How would we do that? Would we run it through the finance committee, or would we do it now if there was council support for freeing up some money to get some projects done sooner than later?

[04:36:42] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: Council Policy A-11, which is the reserve policy, usually goes through the CFC for any modifications.

[04:36:49] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. So, okay. So how's the formal request to do that from council or from an individual?

[04:36:59] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Right now. If you want council to consider that, you can have deliberation on it and provide direction to staff.

[04:37:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. I would like the CFC to consider, uh, reviewing reserve balances to see if we still can maintain our AAA, but also free up money to get projects, uh, moving along.

[04:37:22] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, question for staff. I underst-- so, my reading of the report suggested that you were already planning to go to CFC with this council policy for review, is that right?

[04:37:35] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: That's correct. It is on our li-- it is on our list for modification, but we would need direction on what you're-- what other changes you're looking for.

[04:37:42] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh, no, I was just-- I wanted to review to see... and when would that be taking place?

[04:37:47] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Mr. Ramponi, can you clarify what we're taking to CFC for A-11, because there's a lot of parts of A-11, and it's not a change to the reserves.

[04:37:57] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: Correct, it's not a change to the reserves. For what we're, uh, planning on taking in May, sometime we don't have a date scheduled yet. Um, the first one is for our, some other reserve balances to like the, uh, compensated leave reserve, which needed to be updated for a recent GASB pronouncement. So we're updating that.

[04:38:16] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: Go ahead with the others.

[04:38:19] Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director Grace Tan: There are a few items. Good evening. Grace Tan, Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director. Thank you for the questions. Um, there are a few items that we are planning to bring it back to CFC in May, um, for the Council Policy A-11. Including, uh, recommendation for modify our current reserve policy for compensated absence reserve, um, to align with our operating needs.

[04:38:39] Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director Grace Tan: Um, and then the second one is to clean up some languages on what budget or what expenditure are allowed to spend on capital improvement programs and the closing timeline of the capital improvement program. That's the second item. And then the third item is to provide a little bit more detail about our city's current cost allocation plan, um, process.

[04:38:57] Assistant Finance and Administrative Services Director Grace Tan: And then the fourth item is to... I think that's all. Yeah, that's all we have. Thank you.

[04:39:05] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, 'cause I don't think my ask is in there. Just to review-- I would like to add that you would also review the, uh, reserve for the general fund and see if we can, if just review that 20% policy and see if we were able to, if we could lower it and use the money directed to pay, you know, to do more projects sooner than later. And still maintain our...

[04:39:29] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I, I have... I actually support that, but I do want to check in with staff, is that a reasonable addition to the scope for the next CFC meeting?

[04:39:42] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So we only have about a month. Um, and I'll just frame what is typical for a body to look at reducing a general fund reserve level. It's typically done in a deficit situation where an agency is seeking to find various methods to save funding, um, to decrease expenses, raise revenues.

[04:40:10] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Uh, so it, it could take longer. But I suspect that, um, given the short amount of time we have, what we would likely do is try and talk to Standard and Poor's, um, the rating agencies, and even just have a conversation with them to say, hey, if we were to even consider decreasing from 20%, will this jeopardize our bond financing?

[04:40:33] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, and so that would probably be the basic conversation that we would have. And then we could bring an update to CFC if that's something that they say it won't jeopardize it, it wouldn't matter. Um, but typically this sort of situation is looked at more closely in a, in a deficit year situation. So we could do it, but it's not going to be a robust, uh, analysis because we just don't have that much time.

[04:41:02] Councilmember John McAlister: And the reason, one of the reasons I'm bringing it up, 'cause we're looking at some big projects that we're going to be doing, we're also going to be looking at a bond measure that may or may not get through, and so I'm just looking at okay, if we start looking at how we can get some of the money to go to these other projects, we'll be ahead of the game.

[04:41:20] Councilmember John McAlister: So all it is is, do you have a update on the...

[04:41:29] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: I apologies, Art Ramponi again, Assistant City Manager. Just to update the council on the progression of what's happening with the public safety building and us going to market. We will actually be presenting, uh, S&P with an updated, what they refer to as a POS or a preliminary official statement, likely this week.

[04:41:49] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: They've agreed that because we already presented to them once, and so our AAA rating is still pretty current, that any questions they have we will do through a back and forth in email. Once the official statement also comes to council on April 28th and it's approved, it's referred to as redlined, which means anything material that happens we would have to update the official statement.

[04:42:13] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: My advice, while this is a good conversation to have, I would recommend having it later.

[04:42:21] Councilmember John McAlister: You would recommend?

[04:42:23] Assistant City Manager Art Ramponi: I would recommend delaying this aspect of the reserve conversation until later.

[04:42:28] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. I mean, it can be delayed. I've just, I just want to get it out there to talk about it because it is a source of... if it's going to jeopardize the bonds, yes, that's what I always said. We're not trying to lose the AAA rating. But it's something that I would like to see discussed. So maybe later part of this year, we bring it up again and we'll go from there. Yeah.

[04:42:53] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Showalter.

[04:42:58] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Yeah, I have a couple of comments. First, I, I really enjoyed this, uh, reading this report. Um, and one of the things about it that I really liked was your description of the economic situation we find ourselves in.

[04:43:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, you know, in the last few weeks there has been constant, really serious volatility in all of the markets. And there have been so many economic forces that, you know, are just, um, changing really, really rapidly.

[04:43:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And, um, I have had trouble following it all. And I, I don't think I'm alone in that. I mean, I have a lot of trouble following it all. And it was really nice to see it, um, you consolidated it in, in, you know, about three paragraphs.

[04:43:54] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I'm sure that if you write this next week, you know, it would be different. But, but that said, I really appreciated um, having you uh, pull all that information together for us and talk about, you know, how these things interacted. Um, I thought that's really helpful.

[04:44:12] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I hope because the situation will be different when, you know, you're putting the bu- the budget together for June 2nd or whatever it is, that you'll do it again. Because it's, it's, it's really um, you know, it's really edifying. So, so thanks for that.

[04:44:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, I uh, just on in a detail, following up on the um, on the changes for travel. One of the things that's changed over the years is um, kind of whether or not it's a good idea to really be flying basic economy or, or economy or whatever.

[04:44:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I think maybe, I hope there's some discussion of that in, in it. And, and what's refundable, do we care about those things. I, I don't, I'm not, I don't necessarily have the answers, but sometimes I think that following the rules that the city has, aren't necess- when you add in you know, baggage charges, etc., isn't necessarily the least expensive.

[04:45:11] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um, so I um, I'd like, you know, to sort of somebody to consider the flexibility of that. So that the city does get a good job and we also get, you know, good, good um, good coverage for uh, going places.

[04:45:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, and then um, much more general. I want to say that I'm really pleased to see all these positions added. Having been a government worker for most of my life, I've, I've observed how there is an inverse effect to um, what the general economy is doing and how good recruiting is for the government.

[04:45:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: In a situation like this, where, you know, there's been a lot of tech jobs cut, uh it's very hard to find a position now, um government jobs are considered very desirable. And um, you, we can get really high caliber applicants, and we can get a large number of applicants.

[04:46:11] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I think that um, it is, it is really wise that we are adding some, some headcount here. I I really approve of that and I'm glad you're doing it. And I know I've mentioned it many times. But um, it's good to see. And uh, so I wanted to thank you for that. Um, and uh... that's, that's basically my comments. Thank you.

[04:46:35] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember Hicks.

[04:46:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well, many of my comments on the budget were going to be virtually the same as Councilmember Showalter's. So I, first, I do appreciate the opportunity for the preliminary budget review. I really like that we, we did not do that when I was first on council.

[04:46:57] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I think particularly, as Councilmember Showalter said, during this time of economic volatility and geopolitical tensions - those are your words, not mine - um, but that summarize a lot of the things I've been hearing about on the news for the last several weeks, if not several years.

[04:47:15] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, you know, I, I think it's good to see things ahead of time. I, I don't know when we see the final, given the volatility, uh, when we see the final budget, maybe much of it will be different. I don't know.

[04:47:30] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, but I, you know, this, I think we're in the most uncertain times we have been since, um, since we've been here during the pandemic. Um, and you know, who knows where it's headed next. So, um, so I'm just going to ask staff to look at this with a great deal of caution, um, because we really don't know where, where this path is going.

[04:47:56] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and although I, you know, I think it's right to not look at the changing the reserves right now. I think that was an interesting discussion that may be fruitful in the future. So thank you for bringing that up.

[04:48:10] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and then I'll go to the, I, I will be supporting the motion and the happier things. You know, I see a lot of things in the budget that people have been asking for. Um, the, uh, you know, people have been concerned about the transportation division given like the ATP work that we're doing.

[04:48:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, people have wanted library hours expanded. The focus on long range planning, particularly because of SB 79 and making sure that we like the way we grow. Um, the small business and economic vitality investments, I know people have wanted to see more investment in the downtown.

[04:48:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And also the public art and culture, um, particularly the new public art administrator position. Many people have asked me about that. So there's a lot of good things here, a lot that I haven't even mentioned, and I will be supporting the, the motion.

[04:49:06] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. We will move on to, I believe a couple of straw pulling. Um, the first one is the moving about, this is from Councilmember McAlister, and if I say this wrong you can correct me.

[04:49:22] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, it's a straw pulling to move uh about 100k of funding from sustainability projects for pavement projects. Is that right? All right. Uh, all in favor of that please raise your hand.

[04:49:38] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Shoot your shot, I guess. Um... next... oh we're not, we're not going to do the CFC one... okay, sounds good.

[04:49:50] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, seeing nothing else in the speaker line, thank you staff for your work on this. Um, we will now go to the vote.

[04:50:10] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Hooray! Congratulations, staff.

7. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS

[04:50:16] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right, we will now move on to item seven, Council, Staff and Committee Reports.

[04:50:20] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Do we have any Council, Staff and Committee Reports? Councilmember Ramirez.

[04:50:25] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I don't. But I do have an item eight for our item seven. Um, so I, uh, I've spoken about this with, with the city manager, um, and I, I would love to get, um, council support for having staff, um, think about ways we can regulate council questions submitted in advance of the meeting.

[04:50:51] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I think we're getting to a point where, um, the amount of time that staff take to respond to the questions is, um, is, is counterproductive, right? Diminishing returns, right? We're asking so many questions that they're not doing the stuff that we actually want them to do. Many of these questions don't really have, um, a lot of impact on our final decisions.

[04:51:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and, uh, um, I, I don't necessarily want staff to, to, um, I think this is a good thing for the council to sort of self-regulate, but, but I think, with some staff guidance and assistance for thinking through, like, what is actually the capacity available that they have in the, whatever it is, 8 hours you have to respond to often very technical questions.

[04:51:42] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, so I, I don't necessarily think we need to say, no, we can't do it anymore, or, you know, impose extremely rigid, um, uh, guardrails or prohibitions. But I, I think we need to recognize that staff capacity is a very real issue. I'm grateful to the council candidates who are still here, 'cause that's something that you will understand very quickly.

[04:52:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, and, uh, I think it's something that merits attention, if not by the CPPC, through some other venue. But I think staff's, um, guidance would be very helpful.

[04:52:18] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. So we can choose to do that straw poll now, or we can go through people's things... uh... we'll, we'll do the straw poll now. Oh, so, go ahead Councilmember Showalter, we're gonna take up this item now.

[04:52:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: When we first started having these questions, that I remember anyway, the idea was that we didn't want to surprise staff on the dais. You know, we wanted to submit council questions so they weren't surprised. And, and I think that, and that's a good thing. We don't-- I mean, I think that's a good goal.

[04:52:51] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But I do agree with you that it's kind of gotten out of hand. And I would really like for us to be able to maybe mark our questions as things that we really would like to hear them talk about, or maybe they can decide.

[04:53:07] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But, but I think there are a lot of things that they can just answer when they give their presentation, you know, they can know that-- and they don't have to write it down. So I, I'm wondering if there's a, a way for, um, us to work on that.

[04:53:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Because I do think that that initial goal of we don't want to surprise staff, we want, uh, or embarrass staff, we want them to be ready to answer the questions is, is valid, but it just seems like the methodology we have now is a little, uh, I mean it's gotten a little out of hand.

[04:53:46] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Go ahead Councilmember Kamei.

[04:53:52] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thanks. Um, I'd like to comment on this, which is, you know, maybe we've, we've had the discussion now, um, in an open and public meeting, and maybe we can use this as an opportunity to self-regulate and reset.

[04:54:09] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And then if it continues to be a problem, or, not a problem, an item of concern, then um, we can revisit. Is that okay, Councilmember Ramirez? I will admit I, I do not submit council questions at all.

[04:54:26] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So, um, you know, so I would say what I try to do is use my time with our city manager to ask any questions and then funnel any staff questions through her. That's how I do it. Um, and then if I forget anything that's usually when I ask a question in a council meeting.

[04:54:48] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, that's been my approach, but would that be, would colleagues feel comfortable with kind of we talked about it a little bit, maybe we can see how the next meeting or two goes, and if the concern persists, then we can bring it back as an item seven or item eight? Or... you okay?...

[04:55:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Well, so, I, I think part of the challenge is none of us really know the amount of staff time and capacity that is expended on this.

[04:55:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So I, I, I think, you know, we have a similar challenge in that we work full time, right? So we get our 30 page packet right here, and, like, is it actually a meaningful exercise for staff to have spent that time to prepare a document that many of us may not actually have realistically the time to invest reading before the meeting?

[04:55:44] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I do appreciate what Councilmember Showalter has suggested about we don't want to surprise staff, there's a lot of value and merit to the process. Um, but I guess maybe I would-- maybe it's not a problem, I think it would be helpful to hear the city manager's perspective on this.

[04:56:04] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, councilmember. So I have a, kind of a nuanced perspective on this. First, I think that you all being able to ask council questions in advance of the meeting helps with good governance. It also helps us understand the things that you are, uh, wanting to know about.

[04:56:24] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: To your point, Councilmember Showalter, it does help us, uh, figure out what are the themes that we may need to address during the meeting. And I will talk to the department heads about it. You know, once I have my meetings with each of you, once I see the questions, um, it's kind of a mad 48 hour dash, starting early Monday morning.

[04:56:47] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Uh, so I do think that it is valid and has merit. So let, let me just say that. I did ask, uh, my executive assistant to count how many questions have been asked just in the last, uh, few meetings alone, and there have been over 700 questions asked just since, uh, September.

[04:57:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So we're on track to hit over a thousand questions, um, just in this fiscal year alone. And that's also with around 30 to 40 briefings offered in that fiscal year as well. So there are different opportunities to engage with staff, to ask questions, to learn more about the agenda items.

[04:57:29] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So perhaps what you want to do is just give direction to staff to think about how could we make this more effective and efficient for everyone, uh, and then we could maybe come back with some, some options and solutions.

[04:57:45] Councilmember Emily Ramos: That sounds okay? Councilmember Ramirez? Okay. All right. Councilmember McAlister, you're up.

[04:58:25] Councilmember John McAlister: Thanks. So, uh, my one of my positions on the transportation is that I was in, uh, coordinating a solution for the Whisman light rail station. And our effort paid off and we got a ruling from the CPUC to modify the situation there and improve it for the people.

[04:58:50] Councilmember John McAlister: And the way... okay. I did it for you. I did it for you people. And so, uh, VTA now has permission to go ahead and adjust the gates, the timing, the lights, uh, and so forth. So, it worked out. Yes, it was a long time. I guess you guys started, Councilmember Ramirez, you started on that a long time ago, so we just wrapped it up.

[04:59:13] Councilmember John McAlister: So, well it's in VTA's court, and they're aware of it, and they're gonna start working on it. We also did a noise study and we got that reviewed. Uh, it was interesting how they did one side but not the other, so. That was good news to get that squared away.

[04:59:28] Councilmember John McAlister: So that was, uh, it. And we had, uh... yeah, that's about it.

[04:59:35] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. I remember being in a meeting with, uh, Councilmember Hicks where things, things went down. Things went down, and we're happy that there is a solution now. Congratulations.

[04:59:48] Councilmember Emily Ramos: All right. Um, for item seven, Councilmember Showalter.

[04:59:52] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, this is a more mundane report really than that. Uh, March 26th we hosted the...

[05:00:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: um, Stevens Creek Watershed Summit. We had been planning this for about a year. Um, it was started, the idea of the Friends of Stevens Creek, um, to sort of bring together people who were interested and learn about kind of what natural, um, improvements are, uh, going on all over the watershed. And um, we had 106 attendees from 40 organizations. And um, it was really, uh, a, uh, quite a day. Um, ah, one of the things I learned is that in addition to the segment of the Stevens Creek Trail that we all know and love, there is a segment of the Stevens Creek Trail, um, up in the mountains of about five or six miles that is currently in, in really serious planning. So, that was, you know, that was fun to hear about.

[05:00:57] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And um, I went to a follow-up meeting yesterday, and I think we're probably going to, um, try and, and have, uh, a biannual very small meeting, ah, as follow-ups from, from this. But it was, um, it was really interesting to see. And one of the things that happened is we, um, we hired an artist, um, Obi, to, um, create a, ah, a poster of Stevens Creek, and I'm sure you will be seeing it around.

[05:01:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It will be available, um, from the Friends of Stevens Creek at Earth Day and at many events. But it's, uh, really, um, a lovely piece of art. Uh, along with many other people on the 28th, I went to the NO KINGs event. Um, on April 7th, uh, I, we had our final meeting of the Sediment and Beneficial Reuse, um, subgroup for BCDC. We have been working for, um, about three years now on putting together policies to change, um, how we use sediment for flood risk reduction.

[05:02:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And that sounds kind of esoteric, but, um, in fact, ah, I guess it is, but, um, it's it's been a, it has, uh, all to do with what is done with sediments that are dredged out of our navigation channels. And for many years, the vast majority of those, um, sediments have been dumped out at the Farallon Islands. And over time, the, um, the idea has changed from those dredged materials being a waste product to them being a construction material. And so, um, now, uh, we are, are changing the rules so that this, this stuff can be beneficially used to help in projects like our, our Pond A1 and A2 restoration, to, um, help with marsh restoration, and, um, other, other, um, uh, projects that are needed to protect the Bay Area from sea level rise in the next, um, 50 years or so.

[05:03:12] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So, um, there were a group of, uh, there were three commissioners on it, but there were a group of 35 people who came to these meetings for three years. Um, so, uh, because dredging and and creating our channels is is actually, I mean, it's actually a big deal for maritime commerce and all sorts of things. So that, that was that's pretty interesting. Um, and I think that, um, ah, one of the things that that we do in government is we change policies. And it's really not that easy to do and it's slow.

[05:03:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So, that's kind of why I'm sharing it with you. I mean, it really took a long time, but I think that this is, this is kind of the work of government to to change the policies that were appropriate, um, these policies were appropriate in 1965 when BCDC was founded, but they aren't anymore. And so we've had to adjust, and, and that's, and that's a good thing for, for the Bay Area.

[05:04:07] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, and then, um, on April 8th, went to a Silicon Valley Clean Energy meeting, and, um, we talked about, um, the Integrated Decarbonization Roadmap, and, um, we received informational updates on the impact of SVCE programs and the development of our new, um, SVCE headquarters. We would should be able to have our first, um, board meeting in the new headquarters building in, um, July. So, that's, that's exciting. It's it's um about two blocks from Murphy Street in Sunnyvale. Yeah.

[05:04:45] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, so, uh, and then, and sometime in the next couple of months, there will be a staffer from Silicon Valley Clean Energy who will come and share what the, um, uh, what the impact of the SVCE programs has been on Mountain View. For us, they they do that for every town, and um, it's pretty impressive to hear about the all the greenhouse gas emissions that have been reduced through these efforts. So that's, that'll be fun.

[05:05:17] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then on the 11th, I, um, attended the Trail Talk with Marc Berman and, uh, our Mayor, um, Emily Ramos was there to welcome everybody, and Ellen came as well with, with Kenzo. Um, and uh, I also want to thank Brady Rouchebrush and, uh, Dave Halsing for going along. Um, the, uh, it was it was a nice opportunity to share, uh, the, uh, the great Shoreline Park with with, uh, Marc Berman and and the people who showed up.

[05:05:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: It was interesting, um, to me that because it was a, you know, it was a district event for the Assembly, about half the people were from Palo Alto and half of them were from Mountain View. It wasn't all. But it, but it was a, it was a very nice way to interact with our, our legislator. So thank you.

[05:06:06] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember Kamei.

[05:06:10] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. And thanks to Councilmember Showalter, that was a the Stevens Creek Summit, I I attended for a bit. It was really it was really great. And I thought it was a deep dive, that's very interesting. And I things ran a little bit late because the the topics and the panels were so interesting or the presentations. So I thought that was that was really great.

[05:06:34] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, I attended the the Trail Talk. Um, attended, I I did want to share the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, we met last week with our Legislative, um, Advocacy Committee. They are asking for cities to submit bills of interest that they would like the Cities Association to take positions on. So if there are any additional bills, um, of interest, please let me know. Um, in particular, e-bikes. I think there's something like eight pieces of legislation related to e-bikes.

[05:07:11] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So I I think um our Public Works staff is is gone, but just so that we're all all aware of of that. And then um the League of California Cities did a um like capitol bill round-up. So I routed that through our City Clerk, she'll be passing that along. Um, and then I attended the API, what is it, leadership summit? API public API Public Policy Summit where I got to see, um, our Mayor.

[05:07:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I also got to see our our Mayor and Councilmember Ramirez at the Solidarity Summit, um, led by um Sacred Heart. Um, but CSA was one of the partner agencies, um, and so elected officials were invited to be part of the fishbowl and just listen. Um, which I found really useful and helpful. Thanks.

[05:08:04] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you. Uh, closing us up. Um, I'm glad that some of this stuff was covered. So I also, like, uh, Councilmember Kamei and Showalter went to the Stevens Creek Watershed Summit. I did a keynote speech for the CSA luncheon, and then I did the welcome speech for the Chinese Language Leadership Academy.

[05:08:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I actually went to my alma mater, my high school alma mater to do a keynote speech for for them. It's a I realized that I haven't been in college since before they were born, and that was challenging for me. I was I was like, oh my god. Um, I had a great morning with the Mayor. Um, thank you to staff for for for everything on that. And I was joined by Vice Mayor Clark and Councilmember Kamei.

[05:08:49] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, we were limited by the Brown Act. Um, so I'm sorry if the rest of you couldn't come. I also spoke at the Rally for the Trans Day of Visibility. We also had a, um, a ribbon cutting for Shake Shack, um, which ruined my diet, but that's okay. And I was joined by Councilmember McAlister and Councilmember, um, Showalter.

[05:09:11] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Um, as Councilmember Kamei mentioned, the uh API Public Policy Summit. And, uh, as Councilmember Showalter and Kamei mentioned, the Trail Talk with Assemblymember Berman. And, uh, the Solidarity Summit with Councilmember Kamei, Councilmember Ramirez. Um, and it was mentioned earlier when we did our, um, proclamations, I did a welcome speech to the San Jose Links, which is like a service organization, that they had an event here in the Center for Performing Arts,

[05:09:39] Councilmember Emily Ramos: which in the middle of, uh, a duo of a piano player and a a violinist, viol, violinist, I don't know, um, the power went out, and they were still playing, it was pretty amazing. And then, uh, um, our staff was really good about getting power back on. I don't think they actually did anything to get power back on, but um, but that that was fun.

[05:10:00] Councilmember Emily Ramos: And then, um, Congressman Liccardo had a meet and greet at, um, I want to call, I just I kind of call all of that Moffett Field, but it was in the basically the different service branches. Um, and that was fun. So, uh, seeing no one else, and um, what time is it?

8. ADJOURNMENT

[05:10:23] Councilmember Emily Ramos: I'm calling this meeting, over. Uh, wait, adjourned. Uh, the next council meeting, I'm so tired. Uh, the next council meeting will be held on April 28, 2026. This meeting is adjourned at 10:40.

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