May 6, 2026 Council Policy and Procedures Committee

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[00:00:02] Member Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. I'll follow the leading order at 9 AM. May 6th, CTPC meeting. This meeting is being conducted with a virtual component. Anyone wishing to address the committee virtually, may join the meeting online at HTTPS following slash slash mountainview.soom.us slash J slash 847-54933805. Or by dialing 669-99128 and entering webinar ID. 847-5493-3805. When the chair announces the item on which you wish to speak. Click the raise hand feature in Zoom or dial star 9 on your phone. And the chair calls your name to provide public comment. If you are participating via phone, please press star 6 to unmute yourself. Any emails received by 5 PM yesterday were forwarded to the CPBC. Emails received after 5 PM will not be read during the meeting, but will be entered into the record for the meeting. Recently, regional and local elected and appointed bodies have been subjected to disruptive, racist verbal attacks by anonymous colors during virtual public comments. 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. This advisory body, uh, welcomes respectful and non-threatening public comments regarding matters over which the advisory body has jurisdiction. Comments deemed otherwise, pursuant to council code of conduct, to the council code of conduct and a government code, may be grounds for immediately terminating a speaker's comment period. And I'll ask uh, deputy city manager, but some to take roll call, please.

[00:01:52] Unknown Speaker: Good morning, uh, chair Ramirez.

[00:01:54] Member Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:01:55] Unknown Speaker: Yeah, if a member show well there.

[00:01:56] Member Pat Showalter: Here, joining us virtually,

[00:01:59] Unknown Speaker: and mirror,

[00:01:59] Member Emily Ann Ramos: here. Thank

[00:02:01] Member Lucas Ramirez: you very much. We'll move on to I 3 approval of the September 30th, 2025 CDPC minutes. Does anyone have any comments or questions about the meeting minutes? I have not seen any comments or questions, so we'll go to non-existent public comment. There are no members of the public. Um, would anyone like to make a motion to approve the meeting minutes? There's no one on writing. Oh, there is someone? No comments online. Oh, we do have public power. We have staff. Oh, okay. No members of the public. Okay. Although the staff could also make public comments.

[00:02:37] Unknown Speaker: No one has raised it. Okay, thank you. Um,

[00:02:40] Member Lucas Ramirez: emotion doesn't work. Second, thank you. Um, let's do, hey, roll call though.

[00:02:48] Member Lucas Ramirez: I say, uh, challenge me.

[00:02:51] Member Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:02:52] Unknown Speaker: That's another show alter.

[00:02:53] Member Pat Showalter: Yes?

[00:02:53] Member Emily Ann Ramos: Yes?

[00:02:55] Unknown Speaker: Yes. Passes 30.

[00:02:57] Member Lucas Ramirez: Awesome. Item 4 is oral communications from the public. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address any matter of the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak at any topics, 3 minutes during the section, state law prohibits, the CPBC for acting on non-agendized items. Any member of the public like to provide comments on an item that is not on the agenda. We do not have members of the public, that right? Right? That will close oral communications and move to discussion and action items. 5.one proposed council policy, A dash 13 B, immunity engagement and public meetings. Miss, honest will reset the site. Uh,

[00:03:39] Unknown Speaker: yes, then I'll be presenting that along briefly at the outset, in fact, for the right, our chief communications officer. This is a policy that will be managed by our communications division. At the outset, I know that if there are any questions you might have about the policy kind of mechanics and the various components that our communication team works on. Lincoln would be best to be able to respond to that, and then I'll carry on the rest of it for any adjustments or edits that they may like associate with the policy. Linka? Yes,

[00:04:10] Linka: and as you'll see with the uh, policy before you, the draft policy that it memorizes uh, all the facets and ways that we conduct outreach to the community, especially to those who are from underrepresented populations. Okay, um,

[00:04:33] Unknown Speaker: I do have a question. Are we to questions? What we were doing at the outset is we were going to take questions specifically for Linka about the communication of policy, our strategies, um, because she is going to step back and go back to the UFC. And so we wanted to see if you had any specific questions associated with the communications program or any of the elements that are highlighted in the draft policy.

[00:04:58] Member Pat Showalter: Yes, I did. I have a question about the use of storyboards. Um, I didn't see that listed, and that is a really important, um, way to, and I might have missed it, Lee, God, that's possible. And, um, it's, I just know that it's really important, um, for, uh, neighborhood meetings.

[00:05:22] Linka: Yeah, and can you be more specific by what you mean by storyboards because I want to make sure that what I think it means is what you are referencing and you can look more specific.

[00:05:33] Member Pat Showalter: Yeah, it's those, um, they're like, uh, realtor signs, kind of. Oh, that are put up in, um, parks and corners and things, um, that just have little, uh, notices on them of all sorts of things. Of public meetings and... Do they have another name? Okay.

[00:05:56] Linka: It depends. Okay, but I understand what you're referencing. Um, you know, This, in the policy, we have, uh, as you'll see, it's broad that it may include, but it's not, uh, exclusive of anything. So we've highlighted a lot of different ways that we promote meetings, and one of those also includes, uh, something that the city clerk's office does as far as with posting, meeting announcements outside city hall. So that is one way, but I welcome the suggestion and I will take that back. Uh, but it does not exclude us from doing that based on what is in the draft policy, but they. Well,

[00:06:38] Member Pat Showalter: it's, well, it's been the custom for many years to do it for all sorts of things and it's very effective. So, I mean, you know, all the meetings related to the um, parks and rec strategy plan were on it. We often have surveys on it when there's a neighborhood meeting. So it's just, it's, it's a long-standing custom and it is effective. Thank you so much.

[00:07:03] Linka: Yep, we can certainly add it. Yes, count from ever, we can certainly add it. and you'll see that, let's say, for various neighborhood meetings, We'll use what we will call hayframes that will have information or we'll have. Yes, and for our, uh, CNC neighborhood meetings, you'll see that we often use 8 frames that will place in the parks that are near where the neighborhood is, uh, meeting is taking place. Thank you so much. We will include it. Yes. I just didn't know the name. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much, council member, show Walter.

[00:07:43] Member Lucas Ramirez: I have a couple. Um, so I, one of the things I'm, I've grown sensitive to is, even though council policies are designed to be, uh, updated more easily than ordinances. Sometimes we forget, and we don't update them, and you end up with things like broken links or inconsistencies between practice and commitments. So I'm curious about, like, does it make sense to explicitly link to some of these, um, uh, participation, uh, venues, and does it make sense to have, uh, commitments to certain, certain frequencies. Uh, share, I, uh,

[00:08:28] Linka: with the policy that, uh, is broad. However, I think we can incorporate that because what, something that we were trying to do with the policy is not have it committed for, uh, decades to come because as we all know, technology changes and how we communicate has been involving so quickly. Because before, I think 2007, there wasn't social media. And so we're trying to make the policy flexible enough that what are the different communication tools that are being used that they could be expanded, or they can, uh, no longer be utilized. But that's a, we can incorporate them to the policy, though, as far as they check back in 5 years or have something. What were you thinking of it?

[00:09:19] Member Lucas Ramirez: Well, so for instance, I like the YouTube channel. That's typically how I watch meetings, it's easier than I just are. But YouTube may not always exist as YouTube a few years ago, X was Twitter. You know? Um, so I, I, Yeah, I mean, I didn't do it, but I think the question is, the next item is around the challenge of keeping council policies updated. Some of them haven't been for decades, and that's just because there are there's a lot of work to do. This may not be the highest priority. So does it make sense to say, this is, you know, these are the links to, like, ask not what you're supposed to be updated, right?

[00:10:03] Unknown Speaker: We could, we could probably, we could either 2 things. We can either add a section in there that says this policy will be reviewed every 3 years or every 2 years or at such time, uh, updates are necessary. For example, if YouTube gets bought or changes. So we could add a little caveat there at the end of it, or if you specifically are thinking of wording, we could add, then we could do that too.

[00:10:33] Linka: And your room is to add that you'll see on under item one public notice of participation in the 2nd sentence that it does give us that flexibility in which it stated such efforts may include, but are not limited to, the following methods for providing notice of public meetings and encouraging public participation, but are subject to modification as determined by the city. So the key aspect, such efforts may include, but not limited to. So it gives us that. So if you want to be prescriptive, or

[00:11:08] Unknown Speaker: say, well, update it or we'll look at it every few years. We can do that too. Uh,

[00:11:13] Member Lucas Ramirez: well, I'll go to the city attorney and I'll have some ideas.

[00:11:18] Unknown Speaker: Good morning. Um, I had a suggestion. We could easily incorporate language like I was looking at specifically the reference to the YouTube channel. And we could say the city's YouTube channel or other social media platform. That becomes available in the future shall provide live streams. We can definitely add language like that throughout the entire policy that says, or other, or as things become available, right? And so if what you're looking for is sort of flexibility, so that the policy itself doesn't become stale in the event that it doesn't get back to council, we can, if you just provide direction, broad direction to work with the city attorney's office, to incorporate, um, flexible language like that or other things that become available, we can absolutely write that in, this, the Brown Act is. very, um, deferential to cities for this particular policy. And so we would be happy to do that. When we reviewed it, I think, the initial thought was, what does the city have right now? And so that's what we were writing in, but we can easily put that kind of flexible language in there if you wanted to give broad direction for us to do that.

[00:12:43] Member Lucas Ramirez: I think that makes sense. The other idea I was thinking is having like a reference to an exhibit A or something that has the list of the different, um, venues or, uh, the media that we use, um, which maybe could be updated administratively. So you don't have to go to the CPBC and council. Either way, they, uh, sort of figure out how to, but the, the, the point is well taken that there's language that could be incorporated to help keep the policy evergreen. Uh, so that that was my question. Any other questions? and then we'll go back to the presentation. Yeah, which will be brief. Thank

[00:13:22] Unknown Speaker: you so much, thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you all, man. Thank you. So just with a brief preamble to that, it was a federal 707, and I that amended the brown hat, having this section to the code, which does require a cities to adopt a formal written policy, establishing a new requirements for the community engagement in public meetings, a very positive thing when we reviewed all of our outreach methods, both of our communications division, as well, as our city clerk's office, essentially all of those suggested components that were included in that bill. We were already doing or had a component that was very similar. The statute essentially required that we adopt this policy by the support of the city council, at a city council meeting, no later than July one of 2026. So that's why we have recommended this policy, as well as a prior policy, you have already adopted, which is for a separate component of this update to the Brown Act, and that was council policy in 13 A. So we're proposing this A 13 B, um, and it will all tie to the council meeting policy for the community, uh, to ensure that we are meeting the Brown Act requirements. That really, in some, is that's recommendation to the council that you adopt the policy, recommending it to the city council, and we will take it to the city council by the end of session on June to ensure it's enforced by July one of 12th. Unquote.

[00:14:54] Member Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Any remaining questions? Um,

[00:14:58] Member Emily Ann Ramos: in the community engagement center, number two, um, part C. I like it a lot But in. This might be a broader question or it might be just like, I like what it's doing, outrage to comedian, business school, nonprofit organizations and progress for more civic leadership. Is that all just under the city's multicultural engagement program or like, Is the multicultural engagement program bigger than I thought it was or?

[00:15:26] Unknown Speaker: This is under the umbrella of communications overall. It includes the components for NEP, which is our diversity outreach, in multiple languages for the community, but also other components that the city does are various events and other meetings. That does all go through our communications team. So that's what that is referencing. Also, Linka did not mention it, but there is a continual process every 2 years. They look at updating their outreach plan. So that's something that is consistently done by our communication state. Ensure they're part. Okay.

[00:16:05] Member Emily Ann Ramos: I guess the concern I have is that like, I like what's call out to, to go multiculturalization program. I just think that our outreach should be more than just the multicultural engagement program. And the aspects that it mentions that it's for the multicultural engagement program, it's actually very good, but I just, like, is it all? I'm not sure if I'm making any sense.

[00:16:28] Unknown Speaker: Here, I think I'm hearing that you would like to us to add some enhancements to this section of the policy, to ensure that we're highlighting the city's overall efforts for engagement, not specifically solely focused on MVP. Like,

[00:16:41] Member Emily Ann Ramos: I do like that there is an emphasis on there, but I like I want it. Like, the outreach, like I said, that language or the outreach of community, that's all nonprofit. All of our outreach should be. Related to that, not just MEP, but I do like there's a callout to MEP. Right. So I get what you're saying.

[00:17:00] Unknown Speaker: It's not that it's just only in the MVP section, that general, that we do outreach to nonprofits and advocacy groups, which we do. You know, I think you all are aware of that, that various departments and preparing the agenda items, we do that. So, I think we can just reframe that. Maybe it's adding and we can talk about it, Kimberly, but maybe it's even just adding a separate letter that says, uh, you know, that staff will engage with local advocacy groups, or reach local and regional advocacy groups, community, nonprofits, um, other local government, agency partners, and we can kind of figure out what the list should be so that it's all encompassing and not just under MAP.

[00:17:46] Unknown Speaker: So I get what you're saying. We'll add that as a separate letter.

[00:17:55] Member Lucas Ramirez: Any questions, council member, show Walter? No,

[00:18:00] Member Pat Showalter: I guess my only. Well, yeah, one question is about the addition that you've just made. Um, I, I do like that, but I would also want it to be as appropriate. I mean, I don't think you needed to, you know, you.

[00:18:13] Unknown Speaker: Yeah. And we could even put that language in there, you know, comma, as appropriate. Or as needed or as necessary, um, so we can make sure that we wear that enough, that would make sense.

[00:18:32] Member Lucas Ramirez: Great. Let's turn to the non-existent public comment. Do we have any? Okay. Um, well, then we'll return to the committee for deliberation. Any comments? and then I'm gonna propose a motion that I think captures a lot of what we... You

[00:18:49] Member Emily Ann Ramos: may also want to add as appropriate for like live streams, as much as I would love to have our council meeting live stream through Twitch, which would be amazing. Um, but as appropriate, uh, in whatever language kind of, like, not just YouTube, essentially, or whatever, it's person that have that group.

[00:19:08] Member Lucas Ramirez: Any remaining commons, council members show Walter? Okay. Well, then, uh, for the sake of simplicity, I will move, uh, that the committee recommend, uh, that the city council approved council policy, A dash 13 B, community engagement, public meetings, um, with the following additional direction. Uh, one, uh, for the city attorney's office to incorporate flexible language or, uh, consider listing, uh, the media websites and other, uh, communication channels and, and, uh, attachment or exhibit that may be updated administratively to ensure that the policy remains for green. And two, to add under section 2 community engagement efforts, a new sub, section. Um, that, uh, Also includes engaging other governmental partners, community groups and nonprofits as deemed appropriate by the city administration. English statistical sensation. And also, to include council member Shelter's recommendation for physical signage to for story ports to help broaden our outreach efforts. Thank you. Any remaining questions or comments? Um, if none, is that clear for staff?

[00:20:37] Ms. Thomas: And confirming with city attorneys office as well. Yes. Yes. And to never show up there. Yes, they were almost. Yes. Thank you very much. We

[00:20:51] Member Lucas Ramirez: will move on to 5.2 update on council priority to update capital policies, legislative, contracts, templates, and other documents, Ms. Thomas will precept this item as well.

[00:21:03] Ms. Thomas: Yes, thank you. And I also want to call out. I've got 2 wonderful interns that are at one that's on the Zoom with us as well as one that's here with me. They helped us significantly on a survey for this, and so we appreciate all of their assistance on this project as well. Uh, the physical year 2527 council workplan, prioritized council policies, legislative contract tempers, and other documents, a review of these to check status, uh, and see what the uh, current needs were to update those various items. The city does have a large number of policies as well as legislative contract templates and other documents. Due to this volume and staff capacity. These have historically been updated on an as needed basis, or in response to major changes in federal legislation or other newly adopted strategies. This council priority has really provided the opportunity for staff to take a more comprehensive look at these policies, as well as the various other documents, and check in on status of where we're at. We also developed a framework to provide for that analysis, to begin to prioritize them, and prioritize our work that will be done over time. So for this, what we did is we provided a review of all the council policies, we'll talk a little bit about more about that framework and what that feedback was. And then we also looked at our legislative and contract templates, delved a little deeper to see what our status was there. And we looked at the various other documents that the city does of which there are so many. But what we looked at specifically was templates, graphic identity, those kinds of things associated with those documents. So with that, I will highlight the latter 2 components 1st and then I'll talk more about the council policies because that's where I think we've got some depth of work that we still need to get to, if that's okay with. The objection. Sounds good. So we summarizing for the legislative contract templates, luckily on this avenue and this component of the goal, this is consistently updated, and we highlight for you in the memo that there has been a contract working group, working through a number of issues, and they offered a number of recent recommendations that are being implemented to ensure that the contract processes are really improved, that they're streamlined, that everything works well for staff, and the process is clear and understood. In addition, they are updating various administrative policies at the city associated with that, and deploying a new contract, software system, uh, to ensure that everything is kept fully up to date, uh, for staff in that in that area. So for this one, staff does not recommend further action on this as it is already being managed by a team, the contract software system as well, will support them. Causing for any questions on that component. I

[00:24:19] Member Lucas Ramirez: submitted some questions in advance about this. I, I, this is good work, um, but it, it feels incomplete without having a full appreciation for the universe of templates out there, but I think from the city council's perspective. Uh, among the most important are those related to land use, right? We see a lot of those, the conditions of approval. I was particularly interested in because my understanding is for the past year or so, I think we've been looking at updating the template for the conditions of approval, appreciating that state law. Case law, you know, is changing rapidly. Um, and there wasn't an update for that here. Do you have an update for us?

[00:24:58] Ms. Thomas: We actually don't have an update on that specific policy. So what this content is coming from is more of a global nature. I think I shared with you, email, that we certainly can follow up on that particular item. I think you've seen a draft, I think. Oh, so if I may. Oh, please. So

[00:25:16] Unknown Speaker: I think I'm going to need to talk to the community development director about this. There's been, as you just noted, so many changes in state law that the template piece probably has been low. on the priority scale, but I don't know where they're at. So I need to get a better handle on. Uh, what they've done. But honestly, with all of the policy issues and the development projects. I'm just not sure where they're at. And, um, how, how they've

[00:25:46] Ms. Thomas: prioritized or not, okay, in a template. I'm

[00:25:52] Member Lucas Ramirez: going to have a suggestion for a recommendation later. Um, uh, council member, show Walter, Baron Romos, any questions on this section? Okay. Yeah,

[00:26:03] Member Pat Showalter: yeah, yeah. It's never short. Um, I just wondered, um, when the contract department, I understood that the finance department in a committee is working on this, which sounds great. But um, I know having been involved in government for many years that what we think is easy. Other people might not think is easy. So I just would hope that they are doing some beta testing with people outside of our organization to try out, you know, that know they're doing beta testing. You know, some organizations, for instance, applying for a grant or applying for a contract, and I'm letting them go through it with them to see that, is it easy or not? Um, at the water district, we, we really struggled with this and we always came up short. And so I would just urge that there's a little outside testing done.

[00:26:57] Ms. Thomas: I don't know that there is going to be outside testing of the software system, but your point is very valid in that as part of the contract working group, one of the key areas of feedback was how do we make this easier and more streamlined for the vendors, the nonprofits, the others that we work with. And that absolutely was a lens that that contract working group was applying to the software, the RP and other other follow-up that they're doing on for the software. So the software system itself is internal. Yeah that's different. That's different. Yeah. Yes, but definitely the lens that you're highlighting a council member show alter was a part of the contract. Good. Thank you. Any

[00:27:42] Member Lucas Ramirez: other questions? I guess we'll proceed to the next session.

[00:27:46] Ms. Thomas: And so, uh, the template's also the same component was really, uh, that is something where it is updated by the apartments. I just wanted to make sure that was, was clear. Okay, so I'm going to go back and then I give you a little summary regarding where we got some great feedback from departments about our council policy. And so because we do have 90 policies at city, of which some have not been updated since the 70s, what we did is we wanted to get feedback from the departments that use these and really get their sense of, you know, is there any barrier? Is there any challenge? Is there a language that you can see immediately on the site needs updated? And so we did a survey for a number of weeks with all of the departments, took in a lawn of very helpful feedback. And what we used that for is to allow us to begin to prioritize the policies that we will be looking at more deeply at a staff level. We will look at those. We will look at some that were also provided, the email to it from the development department. I know you've raised a chair of some key follow-ups for the CDD, our community development department, and we do have a lot of good feedback from them. They called out, 0 gosh, I think it's 6 to 8 policies. And so we will be working with each of the departments on the follow-up here. What this is, is the initial survey offering some baseline insights into where the policies are at. And then what staff will need to do is do the more in-depth analysis working with each of the departments on whether that change is warranted and what the nature of that change will look like. There are also some policies that are flagged for potential removal, if that's warranted, and so we will be looking at that as well. And then I will also share that some of the ones that are older that were not flagged for potential consideration for removal, we will look at those as well, just given the nature of how long it's been since they've been touched. We believe that those weren't a look as well. And so that will be our complement of work over the next number of likely years as we work through all of these. Um, some of them will be batched, um, and then brought to you at each of the uh, each of the spring and fall meetings for the committee. And what our goal is, is to work through all of these changes to ensure we complete the full council goal over time. Um,

[00:30:28] Unknown Speaker: can I give you an update about the conditions of approval? Thank you, Kim. So CDD staff have been working on an update to the template for a while. And, uh, they've just identified the need to get it done and I think they're figuring out what needs to change for the template. And so they've started with the planning conditions of approval, their progressing to the public works. Um and other COAs. So staff don't have an estimated date for completion yet, but they are working on it. Fantastic

[00:31:00] Member Lucas Ramirez: news. you. Did you have any other? Okay. Thank you. Any questions before we go to the non-existent public office? Yeah,

[00:31:12] Member Pat Showalter: I'm I'm a little confused with what you want from us today. What do you want from us today? Do you want specific? Are you just sharing this process or?

[00:31:22] Unknown Speaker: Yes, just letting you know that it's being worked on, that it's underway, that we're making changes, we're making updates, because the work plan item was really broad. It was just kind of like, look at, you know, templates that are outdated or look at things that need to change. And so, this was kind of a gut check with the committee to let you know, the work is underway, that there are things that are being done. And then we wanted to identify, here's the thing so far, that we have identified, so you can see it is quite a large volume. Um, that we're working on and updating and then, um, to council member Ramirez, this question. I think the COA is, you know, that's although important, it is, it is underway. So really, it's just kind of receive a file, and then if you have any specific thoughts or direction, we're happy to receive that too, from the committee. Correct.

[00:32:15] Ms. Thomas: And it was requested by a chair at our last meeting, is just to really provide you with an update, ensure that this is moving forward, ensure that this is being prioritized, the staff level, which it is, and that was what our goal was through this item. Oh,

[00:32:29] Member Pat Showalter: okay, that's great. I spent a couple hours yesterday reading the policies and going through, you know, making a few comments about them. So, um, I, uh, I don't know if it's appropriate to share that stuff now or?

[00:32:43] Member Lucas Ramirez: Let's 1st go to the non-existent public comment and then Okay. Are there still no members of the public? Do they not like this community? This is the most important. Well, I did my due diligence. We'll return to the committee for additional comments and questions. So council member, show Walter, are you still up? Yeah, I

[00:33:10] Member Pat Showalter: just, I have about 10 things. I'll go through them real quickly. Um, and, you know, we could talk later. One table three, the service organization funding, um, I, uh, I was glad to see you're looking at this, but I wondered how it relates to the neighborhood grants. And um, then in D 13, the home loan program. I would like to see this secondary loan provision removed for all eligible employees. So that would be something to consider. Um, G4 ring store of house seems like we could get rid of it or updated completely. G6, um, update after uh, R3, very appropriate. G7 outdoor merchandise. That was one of the ones from the 70s. Um, Yeah, I think that uh, after COVID, um, this one is just completely out of date. So I'm really glad to see where we're doing it. And, um, I was thinking that, um, age 4 and age 5, they are, um, One was age 4 is plazas. I think the list of what is a plaza might be extended, there were some other park places. I think we might want to add to that. You probably thought of that, and age 5 is use of city facilities. I actually thought these could probably be put in one. Um, uh, combined in one policy and then, but you know, that's just you, you, you look, should look at it. 7 um, uh, one athletic field use. I know that this is not a short term thing, but I think this may be an appropriate place to begin looking at the use of artificial turf. Um, then age 8 commercial use of city parks. I wondered about food trucks. I know that that's come up a number of times with neighborhood get-togethers and stuff and we've given a special permit to them, but it seems like they're just something that's kind of part of our culture now that wasn't a long time ago. And then, um, flying flags at half mass. One of the things that always bugs me about flying flags at half mass is I never know. I mean, unless it's one of the national things. I never know why. So I'm wondering if there's some way we can inform the public. You know, maybe we could put a lineup on the website or I don't know what would be appropriate, but do you know what I mean? That you you'll see a flag at half mask and you'll think, huh, I wonder what happened? And you don't know? So that was one I thought, and then the park fee, the utilization of the park fee. I'm glad to see that we're working on that. I know that, um, we have, um, we've been thinking about that a lot with respect to, um, the nexus issue and all of that. And I wonder, um, if it's, if it's legally possible, uh, for us to prioritize the use of the funds in park deficient parts of the community. So that's something I would like to see evaluated. And I know that's not simple. But, um, uh, some places, as we know, like my neighborhood, we have lots of parks, and, um, uh, thankfully, and we love them, but there are other places that don't, and it seems like, um, remedying, fixing that in balance is important. So that's my list. Oh, that is really,

[00:36:42] Ms. Thomas: I appreciate that very much. We'll incorporate that into our analysis with the follow-up of the policies. Absolutely. Thank you.

[00:36:48] Member Lucas Ramirez: Council member Shelter, I have a question for you, are there any of those that you, is that intended to be just sort of general comments for the staff to consider? Is there something in there that you feel very strongly about? That we may want to recommend to ourselves that we consider?

[00:37:04] Unknown Speaker: We do need to, as you know, and as a city manager, McCarthy, do we have to follow up with the departments, do our deeper analysis, all of these, but the feedback, policy

[00:37:14] Unknown Speaker: matters come in before the council that I don't necessarily think just living CPPC, like these are flowing. We're

[00:37:21] Member Lucas Ramirez: not going to see all of them. Some of them might go to council finance and like that. And all of them go to city council. Correct.

[00:37:27] Unknown Speaker: But I mean, other policy documents. Right.

[00:37:30] Member Lucas Ramirez: Or strategy. But I think, you know, I, I, I like all of Council membership, Walter's ideas, but for instance, as an example, policy H4 and H5, you know, it suggested maybe finding those two. Is that something you feel strongly enough about that we might recommend to a future CPBC that they consider? Combining those 2 or is that is everything that you share to sort of general?

[00:37:55] Member Pat Showalter: I'm happy for for that one, I'm happy for them to figure it out. I mean, if it seems appropriate. That, that, I, that's just my view looking at looking at it. I do think it would be appropriate. I think the 2 that fall into policy that are kind of my opinions and I do feel strongly about, but I know that they might not necessarily be easy. One is under D 13, the home loan program. I, um, I'm really interested in having our employees live close and we've made a lot of, you know, changes over the time I've been the council to to help that happen. And it hasn't been as, um, utilized very much. So I'm always interested in how we might make that a little better. So, so looking through it, I thought the provision that, um, the non, right now it says non-department, I mean, it says department heads and above, can utilize that and it wouldn't be considered a secondary loan. For other people, it would be considered a secondary loan, which is um, financially a problem. So, so that's something I would, and I know that there are financial implications to this. It's not an easy question, so that's one I have.

[00:39:07] Kim: May I, uh, can I provide some context for that? Just so for awareness. So, so this, uh, there are a number of updates coming to the finance committee at the end of this month and the secondary loan piece has been updated because I think you all know, it, it has, uh, been a barrier, um, to how we're able to provide loans to staff. So that piece has been updated. Oh that's wonderful. Yeah, and there are a number of updates. The whole policy is being updated so that it can actually be used by more staff. Um, in a way that will help them be able to potentially get into the market, but also the reason why folks have not used this is not the policy itself. It's because the average home price in Mountain View is now 2.8 million. And so we're trying to make it easier for people to use this, but um, we do have a balance, a decent balance, um, in the home buyer fund, but we will be presenting this to the finance committee at the end of May. But to your point about the secondary lien. We have addressed that. There are some financial and fiduciary considerations with that, but we have address that. Thank

[00:40:24] Member Pat Showalter: you. I'm so glad to hear that, Kim. Okay, and then the other one that I think we're going to need to bring up, um, which is not, I think, which is not within the purview of of this group, really, is is the use of artificial turf. And um, that's an, that kind of comes up in age 7 because it talks about utilization, the time frame that fields wet fields can be used. Um, and, uh, But, and then I would think some of them might be pretty easy, you know, that we could do fairly fast, like the use of food trucks, permitting for food trucks, that might not be too hard to do. And then the other one I feel strongly about is, um, uh, the, uh, and it sounds like we're, you know, we're well on the way is, is the, the service organization funding. I do think that's been a little confusing. And um, so, uh, I'm making that less can, you know, it sounds like you're making that much less confusing, which is all to the good. So those are my comments. Thank you. Um, Council

[00:41:27] Kim: member, I'd also like to provide some feedback on the, um, Parks and Rec strategic plan and the artificial turf issue. So staff is preparing an off agenda memo for council about this in particular, um, because this is a very, uh, hot button or controversial or strongly filled feelings topic that, um, you know, council will have to consider for the future, uh, as other fields are built. So we are preparing an off agenda for you all. I want to say we're going to have it to you this month. Um, as I've been talking to community services director John Marchant about it. So that may provide some context as counsel considers this in the future. So I just wanted to tell you, we are going to let you know about some of the, uh, things that have happened related to this issue and just things that council may want to consider, um, beyond just the CPPC, considering this policy. Thank you. Thank

[00:42:29] Member Lucas Ramirez: you, Council member, Shelter, Shelter. I think what we've learned is ask and you shall receive.

[00:42:34] Kim: It's already in the works. All

[00:42:37] Member Lucas Ramirez: right. Yeah. Any questions for cops? So

[00:42:41] Member Emily Ann Ramos: as we're tackling all these policies, are we looking at, like, this coming back to CPC, uh, seeing some of these changes have been made? Are we taking these like one at a time and then when they eventually go to, are these, are we, are we waiting for some of these policies to get them before we actually look at them all together? Because there are a bunch that are like further review and I don't know how long further reviews gonna be. But there are things that are just confirmed. There is some that are minor changes. Although I don't know why you have a, a, a column for major change where there is no major changes, which I feel like is more of a psychological thing. I probably

[00:43:18] Kim: would have marked all of these. I was shocked. That's, uh, good stuff done moderate for a lot of people. Do it to yourself. It's

[00:43:27] Member Lucas Ramirez: a good thing you did not complete the

[00:43:28] Kim: service. Yes exactly. But I think that's a that's a great question and a good point. I think maybe what we need to think about is whether we do it in phases. So it just we wouldn't want to only bring them all back at once because then you might be waiting for a long time. So maybe we think about a phasing cadence and and we probably we need to look at not just. I mean, they're basically all moderate, but what does that mean? Which are the ones that are, the ones that are likely to be done sooner, you know, that's phase one, maybe phase 2 is, so you basically have short, medium, and long term. That's makes a little more sense, um, because if they're all moderate change, what does that mean with everything else going on and all the other projects.

[00:44:10] Unknown Speaker: And so we definitely would be bringing them back in batches at least twice a year. Our recommendation was some of the lower hanging fruit, if you will, with the minor changes that we address those 1st and work through over time. The other key thing that we need to do is we'll confer with each of the departments on these. And so we'll work on a book schedule, um, associated with that of what will work well for them as well. Like

[00:44:34] Member Emily Ann Ramos: a good Californian. I measure things through time. Like, you know, it's like, how far away is that? It's 20 minutes away. But so like, I'm looking at some of these things, like, uh, like, G2 is like, replace planning director with community development director. That should probably be like 5 minutes. And like, I'm worried like, I don't want to wait for like that. I don't want to wait for like, displacement policies for CDBG fund program and like, pulled off on that. So like the bashing idea, but like having a better sense of like, how long will this take? Because I am also very optimistic with time, which is far more optimistic than a normal person is. Um, to understand like, how long would this take? And, um, if we are batching them? Like, are we batching things that are going to take like 2 months long? Are we looking at some things that are like a year long? Are we, um, when, uh, yes, yes, and yes.

[00:45:31] Unknown Speaker: It's the mix of all of those things.

[00:45:33] Member Emily Ann Ramos: Like, some of these can be really quickly. Some of these will be after Lucas shuffles off this mortal coil. So

[00:45:42] Unknown Speaker: staff's anticipation is it's bringing bringing a batch of items, both in the spring and for the fall, the fall in the spring meetings, and working through this until we work through the whole list. And as city manager McCarthy noted, is, you know, certainly our staff has been optimistic, that many of these will be of a moderate nature, and that impact won't be, uh, uh, has onerous, maybe a major change, but it does take time to obviously work that through the process at a staff level, uh, get reviewed by the city attorney's office, and then, of course, get the packaged on before they get to a C50C agenda. So all of these things will take time and I think that's why it will be measured in years, not months, but really, I think what is so helpful about this council goal is that it did allow us time and space, which is, I think, one of the main attempts around it was really to just have staff be able to focus on this. Um, and uh, raise it as an issue and then we were working for it. That's on my list. Oh,

[00:46:42] Member Lucas Ramirez: I've got a few, um, comments. I'll start with a very short story. I work at a city that has a council policy manual. And one of my assignments is to try and update uh council policy 6 dash 14 guidelines for childcare. Um, it is a horrendously out of date policy. Um, it references that the, the, General plan for the city I work for was adopted in 2011. It references the previous general plan. Like that's how old, so like all of the links are broken. It references things that can be, you know, boards and committees that don't exist. Um, and it's a pain in the neck to get staff time and capacity, even though it's horrendously broken and it leads to frustration at the staff level, whenever they have to review a proposal for childcare, but like, well, the zoning code says this, and our policy says that the council policy says that, right? There's um, often uh, inconsistent uh, interpretation as a consequence, um, it's still hard to get, you know, planning staff to carve out the time to fix it. Um, and that wasn't necessarily the inspiration for this. It was, you know, looking through the policy manuals. I'm glad council member show alter had the time to do recently. That was actually very helpful to hear you go through a lot of your ideas. Um, but, but, like, just sort of get, going through this document and seeing, wow, some of these, you know, we haven't looked at decades, right? Um, but their council policies. Uh, and they are impactful, right? There is some type of obligation to review them and then some additional work in interpreting them in, you know, the light of an entirely different legislative, uh, or regulatory framework. Um, and so I thought this would be a good opportunity to, you know, in batches, right? Understanding will take a long time. to update them or better yet to rescind the ones that are not helpful, right? I, I think the, the, There is a kind of value in council policies, but I soured on them a little bit because I feel like we actually update the municipal code more often, even though it's hard. We update the municipal code more often than we update our council policies. So to the extent, it makes sense to put some of these in the muni code. I think there's a little bit more There's like an elevation in our consciousness. We think about it more. Maybe that makes more sense than having an updated council policy that ends up becoming a barrier for staff, down the road, or confusing to the public. Uh, so thank you for doing this. I know it was, uh, a big text. But I think this, I don't have any specific comments off, policies, I trust the staff to, uh, make the recommendations that make the most sense to, really, the attempt is to make your lives easier long after I've passed away as compared to. And I guess the only other thing is, you know, when you when you term out, you get this nice big old resolution saying all of the things that you've done. No, shopping cart abatement. And then at this already, the equipment replacement fund, and then updating the council policy. Those are the free things. Okay,

[00:49:52] Unknown Speaker: housing. I haven't done anything.

[00:49:56] Member Lucas Ramirez: I'm not sure I did anything. But that's conversation for everything. Um, any remaining questions or comments in the committee?

[00:50:04] Member Pat Showalter: I was looking over my list, and there was one more I don't think I mentioned, and that was K 9. That's the golf course memberships. Obviously, that's causing problems, and I know Parks and Rec is working on it, but maybe it's one that should be in the 1st Trump. Well, whatever staff says works best, but clearly that's when the is very outdated. But other than that, I kind of concur with what I concur with what, um, uh, Cher Ramirez said, um, it is good to look over these before, and we don't want things that are in conflict with one another. So, um, uh, I, I, that leads me to the question of, if as a council member, we see one or, I mean, how do we initiate going forward after we do this? How are we going to initiate the update of one of these policies? Is there a way that, um, you know, I guess a council member could bring it up in item eight. Or staff could make a recommendation that it needs to be changed, but I would, I would kind of like to see some very general language that says that, um, you know, this is a process for bringing forward an error or something that's out of date so we can get on it. I would, you know, leave you to come up with the language. But I think, um, uh, It's not like there wasn't somebody in the staff that knew these things were too old. There was. So I'm sure there is, very similar.

[00:51:33] Unknown Speaker: So, typically it's when we have whatever the matter is or encounter whatever it is where we need to look at the policy. And it's like, oh, this policy has been updated for 10 years or 20 years and now that we're being proactive, at least in looking at what's old. Uh, I think we can figure out how we might be able to flag these things. You know, and I'll just be really honest. It's it's tough when the policies don't necessarily dictate the every day and so you're not necessarily consulting them. But I think you raise a good and that we can think about how would a council member, how will staff raise it and what might the cadence look like? Um, so I think we can talk about that and think about what that um, looks like. I know that during my tenure, I've updated a lot of policies and normally they've been flagged by whether it's come up in a committee meeting, a council committee meeting, our staff, or just something that we've had going on that we're like, oh, this is really outdated. So, It's it's just kind of more mundane, I guess, that we're not so mired in them that, um, We're not seeing them all the time, but I like the thought of figuring out, okay, how do we raise this? You know, how do we look at them more regularly? How can we get in a cadence? Uh, there's just a lot of them. So we can think about that if that's the committee's direction. Staff can think about how that might make sense to do. No,

[00:53:06] Member Pat Showalter: I think that's a good idea, and you don't want it to be something that's, um, you know, that's a burden, just that it provides a potential pathway. Yeah. Process. Yeah. Thank

[00:53:17] Member Lucas Ramirez: you. Any remaining questions, comments or questions, comments from staff? I'm

[00:53:23] Member Emily Ann Ramos: trying to figure this out, like, my framework of understanding of different things. Now that health member Ramirez mentioned it. So, like, the fact that, uh, like some policies, Like, some pieces of municipal code are updated more frequently than our policies, it kind of, I view things, like in 3 steps, and I never actually put the concept of policies into that. So like the highest debt is like our charter, our charter, it like, it takes, uh, one council to approve and for our voters to approve and that takes a long time. So it's like, it's like core. It's like the foundation of the house. And then I kind of view ordinances as like the. This is where the, the, the metaphor kind of just collapses on you because I don't know structures of houses, but like something more like the, it's the frame and the, the walls and stuff like that, um, is like the municipal code. It requires council to vote on it. And then, um, and then the next level down is kind of view it because I was on the RHC and we couldn't pass municipal code, but we could pass regulations and resolutions. And that was kind of like another kind of a thing. Where does policies fit in that? Because it's weird that policies kind of have to be approved by council. But they're not like as strong as municipal

[00:54:42] Unknown Speaker: codes. No, they're more for kind of either routine, or either routine or sometimes discrete operations or process. So, um, just for example, like the home buyer process, you know, you need counsel's approval for that. And a lot of the policies, it actually has administrative pieces embedded in it. So, That's where, you know, the Municode piece, I think I'd want to talk to Jennifer further about that. Um, but I think, you know, the council policies have typically come up for, like I said, if you, if you look at the topics, There are certain ways we do business, really, is kind of how I think about the council policies. And it's everything from like the performance evaluation process, you know, how you do that business as a council to. As I mentioned, the home buyer policy and all of these ones you see here, you know, how, Our flag flight policy. So, they're not necessarily always, uh, related to, like, strict policy matters. It's more how we do things, how we do business. So. Yeah, I guess in the metaphor, maybe it's the windows or the curtains. Um, framing. Yeah, yeah. And

[00:55:58] Member Emily Ann Ramos: I guess like musical because I think you require like a 2nd reading and stuff like that, but is that really like the only like, like it feels like if, if, if policies are being actively used very, essentially closely, comparatively, she didn't have more flexibility in like, technically these are supposed to be

[00:56:16] Unknown Speaker: flexible, you know, to where we try to create them more frequently or more on the flight, you know, by coming to the committee and then bringing them on consent. Um, Yeah,

[00:56:28] Member Emily Ann Ramos: so what would it take for it to be the level of flexibility that we need to have it to be? I

[00:56:33] Unknown Speaker: think it is. Yeah, we have that. It's just that, We just don't always update all of them because there's so many that it's normally as we're encountered with a business issue or process that we're like, oh, this, this policy is outdated or this needs to get done. But we but the flexibility is there. I've seen some policies that I've updated, where it's like, updated in 75, updated in 88, updated in 90, updated in 2000. I mean, so you'll see the cadence where it has been updated and it's morphed over time. Um, so we do have the flexibility. I think like I said earlier, it's just more. The policies don't necessarily dictate the day to day or the major policy work that we're working on. So it's just, I, it's probably just less of a priority until it's the encounter, which is why this has been helpful, you know, to actually look at them and actually see where there's some, some gaps and problems. So, but the flexibility is there. And

[00:57:36] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: stuff does try to always write in the city attorney's office always gives a flexibility to weave that in, like you saw, with the communications policy. They want you to have that flexibility. Well, setting down the major tenets policy. That makes sense. Any other questions or not?

[00:57:53] Member Emily Ann Ramos: I mean, I just think maybe if a policy's older than a council member, we're over. Probably a lot of them. Um,

[00:58:01] Member Lucas Ramirez: customer show alter any final questions, comments? No,

[00:58:06] Member Pat Showalter: but I'm walking outside because I want to show you all the view. I

[00:58:09] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: mean, I'm jealous. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I bet this is going to be beautiful. Yeah,

[00:58:17] Member Pat Showalter: really is. Um, let's see. This house has about 8 doors, but only one of them works easily, which is why it took a while, but anyway, let's see. This way. This way. You see? This is the view. It's really beautiful. Yeah. Lovely. And there were, you know, we've seen foxes and we've seen deer and lots of birds. Yeah, and um... It's really fun Yeah.

[00:58:58] Unknown Speaker: You've definitely needed making us jealous. Yeah. I just like a comforter right now. Yeah, candy, though. Okay,

[00:59:07] Member Lucas Ramirez: with that. So I know there's no formal action, but I did want to make some suggestions through emoji. Um, 1st is uh, in the next CPDC meeting. Um, to, I will move to, for the next CPPC meeting, include an item that is sort of like a continuation of this, but just an informational, you know, quick update on the CDD, community development department templates and the conditions of approval, particular, just an update, and it could be, you know, still working on it, or you're some of the cheap, like, I think the council is very interested in land use. I think it'd be helpful just to get it, understand the CDD portion of this work. Um, the 2nd would be uh, for this next item, uh, just as, uh, I think this goes into sort of like the accountability for this work. Um, as an, uh, with the, we always have an item, council policy, procedures, agenda topics, update routine item, to include, essentially, this attachment that you've given us with that list. Um, It doesn't have to have all of the detailed information, but basically, um, the, the phasing cadence or like the, the batches that staff is anticipating. Yeah, fit, yeah, status, right? And it could be very high low, right? We think this is 2028. Or, you know, if it's near term, you know, or for 2026. So just a sense of as an ongoing update. Yeah, information also the council can see, oh, you're making progress. You know, thanks for doing that work. But I think that would be very helpful, especially for the new castle, which is going to be completely flueless and we'll have no idea where the bathrooms are. So I think that kind of ongoing capability is valuable. Um, and then the 3rd idea would be, this is more for me, but for staff to consider or to explore placing the council policy manual website, because laser fish is a gateway to hell. And it's, it's the worst thing that we have ever. Um, it's always broken. I could never get in and finding things as a pain of the next. So are we doing that? We

[01:01:21] Unknown Speaker: thought it didn't legister too, but it, I just want to clarify that legister only allows a certain number of people to access it at any given time. So usually when it looks broken, it's probably just that there's too many people viewing it. That's

[01:01:36] Member Lucas Ramirez: probably not a good thing. So, so it's, that's why it's soft language. figure out

[01:01:41] Unknown Speaker: where to put it on the website. That would be nice.

[01:01:44] Member Lucas Ramirez: Especially some of these are like a lot of them, people are not going to use, you know, very frequently, but some of them, like the gatekeeper policy, is that's important, right? And a perspective gatekeeper applicant is going to want to know what the count is looking for. It's in the council policy and right now it's really, really hard to find. So, um, Ideally, the entire council policy manual over time over the course of, you know, the next couple of years would be fine, but maybe even just starting with like the, what are the ones that are really public facing? Uh, that would be, I think, very valid. Those, those are the 3 um, components of the motion I would like to make. So again, in the next CPBC. Um, agenda include an informational item on the CDD templates and the conditions of approval in particular, just an update. The ongoing routine item attachment with the phasing cadence or the proposed batching for the council policies, and ideally, if there is one. You know, a rough estimate for the date of completion or mine will be brought to the CBBC council. And then explore, consider, placing the council policy manual on the city website for fees of access for the public. Okay. Is that? Any comments, questions? All right, well, we'll do the roll call though. Okay,

[01:03:10] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: don't share Ramirez?

[01:03:11] Member Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[01:03:11] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: Council member show alter?

[01:03:13] Member Pat Showalter: Yes.

[01:03:13] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: Mayor Romas.

[01:03:14] Member Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[01:03:15] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: That passes that feedback at recommendation. Thank you very much. Um,

[01:03:20] Member Lucas Ramirez: and now the final item council, 5.3 council policy procedures, agenda topics, update, deputy city manager. Kimberly Thomas will present this informational item.

[01:03:31] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: And so continuing along with that theme. We just made an amendment for this, but what will be coming before you for your phone meeting, which has already been scheduled for October 7th? Uh, is the city volunteer framework, uh, that, with new services department, uh, that is working on that. We'll be bringing that item forward. We'll also bring any policies that are ready as we go through the triage of the policies that we just discussed. to you as well. And then the routine item will include the amendments that you've just made to provide an ongoing status update of what that timeline looks like for the various policies that we are looking at. And again, that'll be, you know, basic preliminary estimate, but that will be included as well. So that is what you're looking forward to for the fall. And then perhaps there will be additional items, of course, for the spring. Fantastic.

[01:04:23] Member Lucas Ramirez: Any questions on the committee? Any members of the public not wishing to speak? Still not. Um, any final comments? I think that's it. So, uh, we will, um, conclude this item and then move on to item 6. Committee, Scott, thank you very much. Committee staff comments, questions, committee report. The next item is for. Committees dot comments, questions and committee reports, no action will be taken out of questions raised by the CPPC at the time. Do any CPC member, CPC members or staff, have comments or questions. You

[01:05:03] Member Emily Ann Ramos: know, like, there was a lot of things that I kind of thought to myself, like, oh, that would be good for CPC to take up, but I don't remember any of them.

[01:05:10] Member Lucas Ramirez: I would say send an email to the city manager when you remember some of them. Any, uh, from council member Phil Walter? Just

[01:05:18] Member Pat Showalter: appreciate this having this be set up virtually so I could attend. Yeah,

[01:05:23] Member Lucas Ramirez: thank you for attending, even though you were in a very beautiful place and, you know, could be enjoying life. Um, so, uh, think, think, so, but again, things do, I know, just, Council priority is, is one of the more, uh, broad, uh, A lot of work is, I guess, what I'm trying to say, and I really appreciate the, the staff for, for the, the work in reviewing all of the policies. Very exciting, but you'll probably never have another council member who will ask for this. what I want to do it. With that, um, the meeting is adjourned at insert time AM, 1010 AM.

[01:06:09] Kimberly Thomas, Deputy City Manager: you Thank

[01:06:11] Linka: you. Go away, Pat. See you later. Okay, take care. All right.

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