[0:00] All right, welcome everyone. I'd like to

[0:01] call this meeting to order. Veronica,

[0:04] would you do roll call, please? And we

[0:06] need to do the um announcement of remote

[0:09] attendance. So, why don't we start with

[0:10] that?

[0:10] >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. I want to state

[0:12] for the record um that this meeting is

[0:15] being conducted pursuant to the

[0:16] teleconference rules um under the Brown

[0:19] Act and that Council Member Flynn is

[0:21] participating remotely uh from Greece.

[0:24] Um the address is posted on the agenda.

[0:26] I will not try to pronounce the name of

[0:28] the street. Uh, and in accordance with

[0:30] the Brown Act, uh, the teleconference

[0:33] location has been identified in the

[0:34] agenda for tonight's meeting. Uh, and I

[0:36] want to note for the record that we have

[0:38] a quorum of council members present here

[0:39] in person. Um, Council Member Flynn, can

[0:42] you hear me? Okay.

[0:44] >> Yes, I can.

[0:45] >> Great. And you have you been able to

[0:47] hear the proceedings up until now?

[0:50] >> Yes, I have.

[0:51] >> Uh, do you have a a copy of the agenda

[0:54] for tonight's meeting?

[0:55] >> I do. And have you posted the agenda at

[0:58] your location?

[1:01] >> I have. Yes.

[1:02] >> And is your location reasonably

[1:04] accessible to the public such that any

[1:06] member of the public could participate

[1:08] in this teleconference from your

[1:10] location if he or she wish to do so?

[1:12] >> Yes, it is.

[1:14] >> And is there any member of the public

[1:16] with you now?

[1:17] >> No, there isn't.

[1:19] >> Okay, great. Um, and so, uh, as a

[1:21] reminder to the council, all votes

[1:23] tonight need to be taken by roll call.

[1:26] And um now I'd invite the town clerk to

[1:28] proceed with the roll call.

[1:31] >> Council member Walter

[1:33] >> present.

[1:34] >> Council member Hasco

[1:35] >> here.

[1:36] >> Council member Flynn

[1:38] >> present.

[1:39] >> Vice Mayor Huy

[1:41] >> present.

[1:41] >> Mayor Taylor

[1:42] >> present.

[1:43] >> We have a quorum.

[1:44] >> Thank you. All right. So our first item

[1:47] of business is a proclamation. Helen's

[1:49] going to present and I was happy to

[1:51] sign. So Helen, go ahead.

[1:53] >> Good evening. Thank you, mayor. Um, so

[1:57] as many people know, June is Pride

[1:59] Month, and here in our community, that

[2:01] means something real. We're a small

[2:04] town, but we've never been a

[2:05] small-minded one. Our neighbors include

[2:07] people of every background, every

[2:09] identity, every story, and that's not a

[2:11] weakness, which is exactly what makes

[2:14] this place worth calling home. Pride

[2:17] isn't just about celebration, though.

[2:19] celebration matters, it's also

[2:21] about remembering where we've been. It's

[2:24] about remembering the people who stood

[2:26] up so that their neighbors, their

[2:28] children, and strangers they'd never met

[2:30] could live openly, honestly, and with a

[2:33] authenticity.

[2:34] Here in the Bay Area, we've been part of

[2:36] that history. And here in Porto Valley,

[2:39] that history isn't abstract. It's the

[2:41] kid in the high school down the street

[2:45] um who needs to know they belong.

[2:51] Um,

[2:53] okay. Um, it's the couple who moved here

[2:56] because they felt safe. Um, it's the

[3:00] coworker. I'm like totally tearing up.

[3:03] It's the co-orker, the neighbor, the

[3:05] friend, the uncle, and the niece. So,

[3:07] this month, let's be intentional. Let's

[3:10] make sure every person in this community

[3:12] feels genuinely welcome, not just in

[3:15] June, but all year long. Happy Pride

[3:17] Month.

[3:18] Thank you, Helen.

[3:19] >> So, thank you. And I know we have some

[3:21] speakers who um folks who have joined me

[3:24] to say we can do a stand after.

[3:28] >> Yeah, please.

[3:29] >> Hello. Um hi, my name is Marilyn

[3:31] Hollinger. I'm a commissioner on the

[3:33] Sanonteo County LGBTQIA plus commission

[3:37] and um we are delighted we are delighted

[3:39] that Portola Valley is doing this. Um,

[3:42] part of our job as commissioners is to

[3:45] advise the county supervisors on policy,

[3:49] on budget and actions um that affect our

[3:52] comm the LGBTQIA+, sorry about the

[3:55] alphabet, um, community. Um, and so and

[4:00] having cities do these types of things

[4:02] um, is so meaningful because we could do

[4:05] things at the county level. We had a

[4:07] pride flag raising. We have a

[4:08] proclamation that was issued by the

[4:10] board of supervisors, but having each

[4:12] town, and most of the towns in the

[4:14] county, by the way, are doing this. Um,

[4:16] having each town do this brings it

[4:19] closer to home, as as Helen said. Um,

[4:21] and it's meaningful. It means something

[4:24] because when you have a public uh body

[4:26] that is publicly saying, "We support, we

[4:30] support this community, and this is a

[4:32] safe place," it means something. I

[4:35] raised my kids in Santa CL in Sonteo

[4:37] County in in Milbury actually where I

[4:39] was this morning and um and knowing that

[4:43] it was a safe place that I could go to

[4:46] the schools. My my co-mother and I

[4:49] brought our child to the first the first

[4:51] week of school we went to see the the

[4:53] principal and we said we are this

[4:55] child's mothers and we don't expect

[4:58] there'll be any issues. And this was a

[5:00] long time ago. This was 25 years ago.

[5:03] and he looked at us and he looked at us

[5:05] and he said, "There will be no issues."

[5:09] And you know what? There weren't. Well,

[5:12] there were questions. Um, you know, when my kids drew the the pictures of

[5:16] what their family looked like, the

[5:18] teachers would often take us aside and

[5:20] say, "Who's this and who's this?" Um,

[5:23] because and and it was it was important

[5:25] that they felt comfortable asking

[5:27] questions and getting to know us and

[5:29] that we felt my our children were safe.

[5:32] Um, both of my kids are transgender.

[5:35] That's a big thing. And one of them came

[5:39] out as transgender in high school at

[5:41] Mills High School and was safe.

[5:46] And I can't tell you how important that

[5:47] was. And I Are we going to do the flag?

[5:50] I don't know if there's going to be a

[5:51] flag raising. Not today. It's okay.

[5:54] >> Oh, great.

[5:54] >> I think we've had it up all day.

[5:56] >> Great.

[5:57] >> So, we have it. It's over at our town

[5:59] hall.

[6:00] >> Oh, okay.

[6:00] >> This is slightly different than here.

[6:01] We'll take a walk over there maybe. Um

[6:04] and

[6:06] >> Oh, so I won't see.

[6:07] >> So, and yeah. Yeah. So, we we raise it

[6:09] and put it down, but we do have a

[6:10] proclamation when you're ready and we'll

[6:12] all stand together for a picture if you

[6:14] >> That'll be great. Well, the flag, let me

[6:16] just say something about the flag and

[6:17] why that's important because how many

[6:19] people use this facility a lot, right?

[6:21] They're playing ball out there. They

[6:22] bring their dogs. They bring their kids

[6:24] and they see that. And especially for

[6:27] the kids as they're growing up, they'll

[6:28] ask, "What is that?" and hopefully their

[6:30] parents will say good things about it

[6:32] and they'll know it's a safe place to be

[6:34] who they are. And so I want to thank you

[6:36] on behalf of the commission and the

[6:38] county supervisors. I want to thank you

[6:39] for doing this for your town. Um and

[6:42] invite you by the way to the pride

[6:44] celebration that for the county that is

[6:46] in San Monteo on Saturday. It's from

[6:48] 11:00 to 5:00 at Central Park in San

[6:50] Monteo and it's a family-friendly event

[6:52] and we'd love to have you join us.

[6:54] >> Great. Thank you.

[6:56] >> Okay. Pictures.

[6:57] >> Yeah. So, we'll do a quick picture.

[6:59] >> I'm here.

[7:02] >> You need a flag.

[7:16] » Whatever you like.

[7:23] You guys

[8:06] Yeah, we're gonna be freezing soon. So,

[8:09] okay.

[8:18] All right, let's move on to the next

[8:20] agenda item, the town manager report.

[8:26] » Good evening, Darcy Smith. I will give a

[8:28] brief report, but first start with

[8:31] upcoming town events. So, today was a

[8:33] very busy day because we had the

[8:35] Ormandell

[8:37] end of year celebration and tonight we

[8:40] were having the Cormandera graduation

[8:42] party.

[8:44] So

[8:46] hold on next.

[8:49] We have summer concert series coming up

[8:51] July 9th, August 6th, September 10th,

[8:54] and then PV Palooa and our town picnic.

[8:56] So make sure you have these dates. But I

[8:58] would like to encourage everyone after

[8:59] today to do two things. One is please

[9:01] carpull if you can or walk or bike or

[9:04] ride your horse. And two, please, if you

[9:08] bring trash, pack it out because we

[9:10] spent basically all afternoon picking up

[9:12] trash, including tiny water balloons,

[9:15] which we will not have at Town Center

[9:18] again. So, today will always go down as

[9:21] the infamous day of the water balloon

[9:23] fights that were the last ones at town

[9:26] center.

[9:27] >> The last water.

[9:28] >> The last ones.

[9:31] >> Yeah. And then two quick slides on the

[9:33] audit which Tony has been living

[9:36] breathing losing many hours of sleep

[9:39] over. So as you know we completed 2122

[9:43] and he's now working on 2223

[9:48] and then we'll finish up the next two as

[9:50] soon as possible. But a quick update on

[9:52] the 2223 audits and all the work that

[9:55] has been done and will continue to be

[9:58] done. But most importantly, we've set

[9:59] the finance committee meeting for June

[10:01] 30th at 4 p.m. So, please try to attend

[10:03] that. Tony completed the MDNA.

[10:08] I had to ask him many times what that

[10:10] meant. Management discussion and

[10:11] analysis. That's the beginning 10 or so

[10:14] pages. The auditor prepared their

[10:16] opinion yet letter, which is very

[10:18] important. And last, all what's being

[10:20] done right now is the very important

[10:22] memorandum of internal control. That is

[10:25] what it sounds like, the auditor's

[10:27] observations and recommendations for any

[10:29] compliance items and that's being

[10:30] prepared right now, but it will be

[10:32] published with the finance committee

[10:33] packet which will come out uh about 5

[10:37] days before June 30th. That concludes my

[10:40] report.

[10:43] >> Thank you, Darcy.

[10:46] All right. Sorry. Let me get back to

[10:50] my agenda. Everything's open. All right.

[10:53] So then I'd like to open it up. Number

[10:55] five, oral communications. So is there

[10:58] anyone in the schoolhouse that would

[10:59] like to speak on something not on the

[11:01] agenda? Kim, please.

[11:08] Good evening. This is Kim Giulia,

[11:10] division chief and fire marshall with

[11:12] Woodside Fire Protection District. It's

[11:14] really nice to actually talk about

[11:16] something not on the agenda for once and

[11:19] I'm really excited to make this

[11:20] announcement because it comes at a good

[11:23] time given the safety element meeting

[11:25] that just happened is Woodside Fire is

[11:28] going to be hosting a town evacuation

[11:31] drill

[11:34] date set on September 11th of 20

[11:40] happened to be on a Friday

[11:42] and we thought Hey, what what a great

[11:44] date to do this on. It will be of course

[11:47] in partnership with the town of Portola

[11:49] Valley and staff and partnering

[11:52] agencies. So, this will be a large scale

[11:55] with having Woodside Fire, Redwood City,

[11:59] Menllo Park, PG& Cow Water. So, we are

[12:03] making it as real of a drill as we can.

[12:07] To answer the biggest question that

[12:08] everybody has, not all of the town of

[12:11] Portulla Valley is evacuating.

[12:13] There will be specific zones that will

[12:16] be called out. We are going to be

[12:18] utilizing um SMC alert as well as

[12:21] Genesis so that people can get familiar

[12:24] with using those tools. Some areas will

[12:27] be put on warning. Some areas will be

[12:29] actually the ones under evacuation. The

[12:32] scenario will be shared later on on

[12:34] where the fire is actually taking place

[12:37] in the district or in sorry in Porto

[12:39] Valley. And we through fire modeling are

[12:43] getting all the information of data of

[12:45] how quickly the fire would actually

[12:47] spread and grow, which direction, and

[12:49] that's how we're going to call out the

[12:51] zones. Currently, Woodside Fire, our

[12:55] south zone training, which means Redwood

[12:57] City, Cal Fire, uh Menllo Park, they are

[13:00] doing wildland fire drill training this week, and they're up in the Los

[13:04] Tranos area. There was an announcement

[13:06] they put out specifically to the

[13:08] residents. they're working out on Red

[13:10] Berry Ridge. A lot of it was for a

[13:12] familiarization for our adjoining

[13:15] jurisdictions who would be coming to our

[13:17] aid if there was a wildfire. And it was

[13:20] because that area is very complicated.

[13:23] And when you're not used to driving in

[13:25] areas such as those conditions, it's

[13:28] very complicated to fight fires. So,

[13:31] they're doing realistic wildland fire

[13:34] drills. They are also doing some

[13:36] simulated smoke out there. um to make it

[13:40] seem as real as possible. They're also

[13:42] placarding homes so that homes are used

[13:45] to what it is for another jurisdiction

[13:48] that has no idea what these houses are

[13:50] and basically assessing each house if

[13:53] it's a house worth defending or passing

[13:55] on because they they aren't able to

[13:58] safely protect the structure. So,

[14:00] there's a lot of different levels to

[14:02] that um evacuation drill that they're

[14:04] doing this week. And it comes at a great

[14:06] time because now when we come into

[14:08] September to do the actual evacuation

[14:11] drill, they will have that kind of

[14:13] training just fresh in their minds for

[14:15] what was done this week. Thank you.

[14:18] >> Thank you, Kim.

[14:21] All right. Is there anybody else that

[14:23] would like to make a oral communication?

[14:26] Looking online, I see no hands.

[14:30] All right. So, I will move on.

[14:33] Okay. So moving on to the consent

[14:35] agenda.

[14:38] Are there I guess let's see we usually

[14:41] take

[14:44] well okay.

[14:46] Thank you.

[14:49] Uh go ahead Christie.

[14:53] Is it oral communication?

[14:55] >> Yes. Thank you.

[14:58] Um, I didn't get to talk at

[15:01] the last 2-hour meeting, but after

[15:03] attending the 5 to7 study session on the

[15:06] state safety element, I was interested

[15:09] in reading the individual planning

[15:11] commission letters such as Ronnie and

[15:13] Karen Vatras as a public member. Yet,

[15:16] those letters were not made public and

[15:19] sent only to the consultant for the 5:00

[15:22] meeting. So, this is our town. We live

[15:24] in it. And often when we read these

[15:26] letters, we often uh it produces

[15:30] questions and uh education in our minds

[15:34] and whether agreement or not. So it was

[15:39] just awkward to only see the BPTS

[15:42] letter, one letter listed for the public

[15:46] and not the other letters. So, I guess

[15:48] my

[15:50] question is to always list the letters

[15:53] so the public can read um because we

[15:56] like education. Um

[15:59] let's see. Consider requesting um

[16:04] from the state to have the ability to

[16:06] have a third lane on our evacuation

[16:09] exits. I think that's an important

[16:10] request from Karen Vatra. I want to see

[16:14] a practiced evacuation and I was so

[16:16] happy to see that. Thank you, Kim. I

[16:19] don't even have to read it. Um,

[16:22] we would like to see the color changes

[16:25] on the new and old terminology of the

[16:27] safety element and be able to see the

[16:30] state requirements versus our local uh

[16:34] requirements that we're adding. I want

[16:37] to see the exact process for if there

[16:39] was an earthquake to occur. And I want

[16:42] to thank the geological committee for an

[16:44] excellent committee meeting yesterday.

[16:46] Uh it was very educational and I

[16:50] encourage everyone to listen to that

[16:52] meeting. Um you know something I gained

[16:55] from the meeting is 6.7 or greater

[16:58] earthquake may happen in the Bay Area

[17:00] and there's twothirds of a chance in the

[17:02] next 30 years. So um let's get on top of

[17:05] this. Thank you.

[17:08] >> Thank you Christie.

[17:13] All right. So, I will now open up public

[17:16] comment on the consent agenda. So, I see

[17:19] no one in the room.

[17:22] Is there anyone online that wants to

[17:24] make a comment about the consent agenda?

[17:29] All right. I see no hands online, so I'm

[17:31] going to close public comment. Um, are

[17:34] there any,

[17:37] excuse me, consent agenda items that

[17:39] any, um, council member would like to

[17:41] pull, Ellen?

[17:42] >> Um, I'd like to pull uh 6C, please.

[17:47] >> And I have a question on D.

[17:50] >> 6B. Did you say

[17:51] >> D?

[17:52] Okay. And did you want to pull it for

[17:56] discussion or is it a quick question?

[17:59] >> I think it's a more complicated

[18:01] question.

[18:02] >> Okay. So, we should pull it.

[18:04] All right. So, I would entertain a

[18:06] motion for A, B, E, and F.

[18:10] >> Motion to approve 6 A, B, E, and F.

[18:14] >> Second.

[18:15] >> Thank you. We have a motion in a second.

[18:17] Ronic, can we have roll call?

[18:19] >> Council Council Member Walter.

[18:21] >> I.

[18:22] >> Council member Hasco.

[18:24] >> I.

[18:24] >> Council member Flynn.

[18:26] >> I.

[18:27] >> Vice Mayor Huy.

[18:28] >> I.

[18:29] >> Mayor Taylor.

[18:30] >> I.

[18:30] >> Motion carries 5-0. Okay. So, let's

[18:33] start with 6C.

[18:36] Ellen, what's your

[18:37] >> Yep. Um,

[18:38] >> question comment.

[18:39] >> So, I wanted to be clear on the costs of

[18:42] the EV charging situation.

[18:45] Um, sorry, I'm getting to that on my um

[18:50] So, is the cost 322,695

[18:56] less? It says entitlement portion is

[18:59] currently estimated at 53,000.

[19:03] 711

[19:05] could I so because init our grant is for

[19:08] 317

[19:11] so has have there been so are we've gone

[19:15] up in cost I need clarification on this

[19:20] my understanding the costs are still

[19:21] what was identified in the budget the

[19:23] you know the 320,000

[19:26] grant plus the 64

[19:29] or 67,000 for cost. So that's our

[19:32] portion of the costs for the project.

[19:34] But with now that we're going to be

[19:37] combining resources there, there are

[19:39] opportunities for cost efficiency. So it

[19:42] could go down. So but as I rec so what

[19:45] I'm unclear on is um is the entitlement

[19:51] portion which could go down because of

[19:52] the scale of economy. Um, and obviously

[19:56] this was not supposed it was supposed to

[19:58] be not in cash but in staff time,

[20:01] >> correct?

[20:02] >> So is that still that's still the same.

[20:05] So you're saying the entitlement

[20:08] uh portion is for staff time.

[20:10] >> Mhm.

[20:11] >> Okay, great. That's what I wanted to

[20:13] clarify. Thank you.

[20:15] >> Okay. Any other questions on C?

[20:16] >> Just a real quick one. Um, and it it

[20:19] goes to the contract itself. we are

[20:22] promising to

[20:24] indemnify and hold harmless these other

[20:27] jurisdictions which are way bigger than

[20:29] us. Um is that I don't want to get into

[20:31] the legal theory but I just want to make

[20:33] sure that's been looked at by

[20:36] um the town attorney and and viewed as

[20:39] ordinary course. It's on page 32

[20:43] in the packet or 33 depending.

[20:49] I will say yes um we did provide legal

[20:52] review of thisou and it is based on

[20:54] otherus that the cities within the

[20:58] county have entered into for other types

[21:00] of projects. So this is yeah a bit of a

[21:03] standard form. I do hear your point

[21:04] about relative size between these four

[21:07] jurisdictions though.

[21:08] >> Yeah and I assume it only kicks in if we

[21:10] do something bad.

[21:11] >> Correct.

[21:12] >> Okay. Thank you. Anything

[21:15] bad?

[21:15] >> Yeah. No bad. All right. Any other

[21:17] comments on 6C? All right. I'd entertain

[21:20] a motion for 6 C.

[21:21] >> So moved.

[21:22] >> Second.

[21:24] >> Thank you. Motion is second. Bronick.

[21:26] Roll call.

[21:27] >> Council member Walter.

[21:28] >> I.

[21:29] >> Council member Hasco.

[21:30] >> I.

[21:30] >> Council member Flynn.

[21:32] >> I.

[21:33] >> Vice Mayor Hufty.

[21:35] >> I.

[21:35] >> Mayor Taylor.

[21:36] >> I.

[21:36] >> Motion carries.

[21:37] >> Thank you. Judith 16.

[21:39] >> Yeah. So mot uh good to see them moving

[21:45] on uh legislation on organized metal

[21:48] theft. That's we've obviously been

[21:50] significantly impacted. My question is

[21:54] trying to make sure that we haven't

[21:57] invested a ton of legal fees analyzing

[22:00] legislation that's probably going to

[22:02] change. I assume this is like a form

[22:05] that other jurisdictions have signed up

[22:08] to.

[22:10] Yes. So,

[22:12] in a simple

[22:14] world, we get off we often get requests

[22:17] from the League of California Cities,

[22:19] which we're a member of, and they send

[22:20] us these sample letters. And believe me,

[22:24] we get a ton and usually I sort through

[22:26] them and don't believe that they weren't

[22:28] bringing to council, but especially

[22:29] given the public concerns about the

[22:33] telecommunications

[22:34] copper theft recently and the fact that

[22:39] it's ongoing and pervasive throughout

[22:41] the state. I thought after conferring

[22:45] with the mayor and vice mayor, this was

[22:47] warrant warranted bringing to council,

[22:49] but it was a very minimal amount of work

[22:51] and they are form letters

[22:53] >> because the legislation's going to

[22:55] change. I'm I just want to make sure

[22:56] we're not committing to weigh in on a

[23:00] constant basis. Okay. Um all good then.

[23:04] Motion to approve 6D unless there's

[23:07] other questions. I didn't mean to get

[23:08] ahead of the process. Were there any

[23:10] other questions or discussion on 16?

[23:13] Okay, great. So, we've got a motion and

[23:15] a second. Roll call, please.

[23:18] >> Council member Walter,

[23:19] >> I.

[23:20] >> Council member Hesco,

[23:21] >> I.

[23:22] >> Council member Flynn,

[23:24] >> I.

[23:25] >> Vice Mayor Huy,

[23:26] >> I.

[23:27] >> Mayor Taylor,

[23:28] >> I.

[23:28] >> Motion carries.

[23:29] >> Thank you. All right. I'm going to close

[23:31] out agenda item six and move on to

[23:34] agenda seven. So 7A is reauthorizing the

[23:38] town treasurer.

[23:40] So Tony, is this your staff report?

[23:42] >> Uh yes. And this is a pretty much an

[23:45] administrative matter. Every year we're

[23:47] required by the code to reauthorize the

[23:51] town manager as town treasurer. U

[23:53] included in this year was a small slight

[23:56] uh clerical change to the investment

[24:00] policy where uh authority was delegated

[24:04] to the finance manager. that position

[24:06] will not be filled um this year being be

[24:09] replaced by the assistant town manager.

[24:10] So we just changed the language uh from

[24:13] finance manager to assistant town

[24:14] manager but this is a an annual

[24:16] administrative process that the the town

[24:18] is required to do by the municipal code.

[24:20] >> Okay. Thank you. Any clarifying

[24:22] questions for Tony?

[24:24] All right. Let me see if there's any

[24:26] public comment. So I see no no public

[24:29] comment in the room. Is there any public

[24:30] comment online?

[24:35] All right. I see no public comment, so I

[24:37] bring it back. But I get a motion for

[24:39] 7A.

[24:40] >> Um I minor

[24:42] >> sorry

[24:42] >> clerical effect. Um page 60. Bunch of

[24:46] typos and grammatical issues. So

[24:49] including Mayor Craig Taylor.

[24:52] >> So just clean it up, please. It's my

[24:55] only request.

[24:57] >> So can you just give them a after the

[25:00] back? Just

[25:00] >> Yeah. Yeah. No, no. So, I'm I'm ready to

[25:02] approve it.

[25:03] >> Yeah. No, that great. Thank you.

[25:05] >> Take that on.

[25:06] >> Okay. So, can I get a motion to approve

[25:08] 7A?

[25:09] >> Motion to approve 7A.

[25:11] >> Thank you. Second.

[25:12] >> Second.

[25:13] >> Thank you, Veronica. Roll call.

[25:16] >> Council member Walter.

[25:18] >> I. Council member Husco.

[25:19] >> I. Council member Flynn.

[25:22] >> I.

[25:23] >> Vice Mayor Hufty.

[25:24] >> I.

[25:25] >> Mayor Taylor.

[25:26] >> I.

[25:26] >> Motion carries.

[25:27] >> Thank you. All right. Moving on to 7B.

[25:30] provide an update and receive direction

[25:31] on proposed budget for fiscal years

[25:34] 2627. Tony,

[25:38] » thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, good evening.

[25:46] Your presentation will be brief. Um,

[25:53] have not changed much since the finance

[25:56] committee presentation of I think

[26:10] So tonight we'll I'll give you a brief

[26:12] overview of um the preliminary uh 2627

[26:17] budget. um primarily focusing on the

[26:20] general fund because that is our main

[26:21] operating fund and there's really not a

[26:24] lot of activity in our other funds um

[26:26] that are um

[26:29] out of the ordinary uh some carryover

[26:33] activity from 2526 but this presentation

[26:36] will primarily focus on the general

[26:37] funding

[26:40] so but I wanted to give you an update on

[26:42] 2425

[26:44] um and these are numbers as of May uh

[26:47] revenue revenues are about 7 million. Um

[26:51] about 88% of the budget. Uh so 11 months

[26:55] into the year, we're right on track with

[26:57] budget. Um so we're anticipating to be

[27:00] at or around 7.9 million uh by the end

[27:03] of the fiscal year.

[27:06] Um we are seeing um

[27:10] uh property tax for about 90% that was

[27:13] budgeted um and 86%. So as long as we're

[27:19] around 88% at this time we're right on

[27:22] track with budget.

[27:24] Then on the expense side um

[27:36] Uh again, we're about 88% for the year.

[27:38] Again, 11 months into the year. Uh so

[27:41] we're looking to be um we have a deficit

[27:44] budget of 263,000. We're currently

[27:47] running a deficit at 204. So we're

[27:49] underneath um where we are. So we're

[27:52] tracking according to the budget plan.

[27:54] Uh and we should be around the deficit

[27:58] amount by the end of the fiscal year.

[28:01] We're not out of areas or other all categories are tracking within the budget.

[28:11] So moving on to the 2627. These are the

[28:13] council priorities that have developed

[28:15] uh the 2627 budget. Um and I won't go

[28:20] over them but um they are well ingrained

[28:24] in our minds as we um develop this bill.

[28:31] So looking at general fund revenues,

[28:33] we're projecting about 8.2 year, which

[28:36] is a 3.9%

[28:38] increase as of right now. Um we still

[28:41] have to do um analysis on the impact of

[28:44] the user fee study. We still haven't

[28:47] added or we still haven't approved all

[28:49] of uh the user fees. So staff still uh

[28:53] going through planning and building and

[28:54] engineering and what impact uh the fee

[28:57] study will have on those revenues. So

[28:58] the 8.26 26 million number will probably

[29:00] change, but right now it's 3.9% increase

[29:06] and it's primarily tax revenue. So

[29:08] property taxes we're looking at 5.3%

[29:11] increase. Uh sales and use tax about

[29:14] 7.7%.

[29:16] Um business license tax um we are

[29:20] trending very well. business licenses.

[29:22] We're issuing about 700 business lic

[29:25] and um and primarily most of that work

[29:28] is contractor work. Um and but also the

[29:34] budget for 2526 was based on historical

[29:38] trends based on numbers that were posted

[29:41] and as we've been completing the audits

[29:44] and making the corrections in the

[29:46] previous fiscal years, we're getting

[29:47] truer numbers in regards to the activity

[29:49] that's coming in revenue. I'm I'm able

[29:51] to adjust some of our revenue numbers uh

[29:54] upward. Um and but so but as of right

[29:57] now, we've done an analysis on the tax

[29:59] revenues. We're still waiting to um

[30:03] uh see uh determine the impact of uh the

[30:06] user feed uh the new user fees that will

[30:09] be adopted.

[30:14] and user fees are basically licenses and

[30:16] permits and those categories.

[30:22] Um, looking at a property tax, what is

[30:24] driving the growth in property tax? You

[30:27] know, it's it's you we're not building

[30:29] new homes. Um, and we're not and it's

[30:32] partially part due to uh remodels. Uh,

[30:36] but it is the basically the sale of

[30:39] property uh from year to year. So this

[30:41] chart shows uh single family resident

[30:45] sales from 2021 through 2025.

[30:48] We're averaging about 51 sales per year.

[30:52] U and the median median price has been

[30:55] 5.2 million. Uh and then for non-s

[30:58] single family resident homes. Um these

[31:01] include multif family residences,

[31:02] commercial, industrial, um we we're

[31:05] averaging about four sales a year with

[31:07] 3.1 million. So when so when there is a

[31:10] new sale the the the assessed value of

[31:13] the home is then reassessed at the

[31:15] market value of the house that uh so

[31:18] establishes a new baseline uh for the 2%

[31:21] increase per year.

[31:27] So looking at general fund expenses u

[31:30] planning about 8.85 85 million, the 7.7%

[31:34] increase primarily driven by the

[31:36] increase in the sheriff's contract. Uh

[31:38] to the general fund, it's going to be

[31:40] about $488,000.

[31:42] Um and we're currently projecting a

[31:44] $584,000 deficit. Um we are still

[31:47] reviewing the consultants um for

[31:50] planning and building um and just

[31:52] determining what hours are going to be

[31:54] town work which will be charged to the

[31:56] general fund and what will be applicant

[31:58] work which will be charged to the u the

[32:01] customer deposit fund. Um and we're

[32:03] doing that for planning and building and

[32:05] engineering and uh we'll have those

[32:07] numbers updated uh for at the next

[32:10] council meeting but as of right now

[32:12] we're currently projecting a 584,000

[32:19] As you can see, the largest increase is

[32:21] the $498,000 in contract and contract

[32:24] work includes the sheriff's contract,

[32:26] Woodside Fire and um town attorney. Um

[32:31] so, but the largest increase is about

[32:34] 488,000 of that 498,000

[32:37] um is the sheriff's contract to general

[32:39] fund.

[32:45] And as I said, we're still under review.

[32:47] We're looking at our subscriptions, the

[32:49] use of consultants, and what the final

[32:51] number will be for transfers out.

[32:55] Um the budget will have funding for 15

[32:58] full-time equivalent positions. And

[33:00] these are how the the positions will be

[33:01] allocated by division. Administration

[33:04] will have six positions. Um finance will

[33:07] have well it'll be the assistant town

[33:10] manager will be split between

[33:12] administration and finance uh planning

[33:15] and building. We'll have the director,

[33:16] the senior planner and then a we are

[33:18] currently going to be recruiting for the

[33:21] senior development review technician

[33:22] building inspector. Um and then we'll

[33:25] also be uh starting recruitment for

[33:27] finance manager and accountant one um as

[33:29] soon as possible.

[33:35] Um other cost increases um retirement

[33:38] although the contribution rate has gone

[33:40] down for fiscal year 2627 we are

[33:43] starting the year with a higher number

[33:45] of employees uh with fewer vacancies. So

[33:48] the more employees we paid throughout

[33:50] the year is going to result in increased

[33:52] retirement contributions over the

[33:54] previous year. So we're currently

[33:55] projecting about 135,000 retirement

[33:58] contributions for the year. uh which is

[34:00] about a $24,000 increase from 2526.

[34:07] The U or the unfunded acred liability,

[34:10] this is our advertised

[34:12] uh cost of the pension liability. Um

[34:15] this year it's going up about another

[34:17] 27,000 from 168 to 195. Um and this

[34:21] number goes up every year. Uh there are

[34:25] we can elect one-time savings if we

[34:27] prepay. Uh but the savings are not um

[34:32] it's less than 1% savings. So I'm not

[34:35] currently recommending that we prepay

[34:37] the U at this time.

[34:42] Medical uh this is a significant

[34:44] increase uh in our personnel costs uh

[34:47] medical premiums on average. We have two plans that most of our employees

[34:51] use. There's the Anthem plans and

[34:53] there's Kaiser plans. Anthem rates have

[34:56] increased approximately 12% per year

[34:58] since 2122 and uh concurrently Kaiser

[35:02] rates have increased 8% as well. Um and

[35:06] um these are medical premiums that the

[35:09] uh town pays. However, um a portion of

[35:12] that cost is also um paid for by the

[35:14] employees.

[35:18] So, we're looking about 252,000 for

[35:22] medical premiums uh this year, which is

[35:25] an increase of about 27,000

[35:30] and contract services talked about

[35:32] earlier uh town attorney, sheriff's

[35:34] office with site fire and then we also

[35:36] have uh consultants with uh planning and

[35:39] building uh good city is our planning

[35:43] consultants. CSG consultants do building

[35:46] inspections, plan review, and then Inner

[35:49] West does town engineering and also CIP

[35:53] project management. Then we also have a

[35:56] contract with Shims Kota that helps with

[35:58] permit processing. And then our

[36:01] subscriptions uh you know just a list of

[36:03] some of the subcriptions open gov other

[36:06] IT infrastructure

[36:08] starlink ring zoom um the biggest uh

[36:12] we're no longer using well we won't be

[36:14] using intergov this will be the last

[36:16] year of intergov uh we we'll not we will

[36:20] not have any future payments towards

[36:21] intergov it's all being switched to open

[36:23] gov uh but there will be a slight

[36:24] increase in costs um with the annual

[36:26] subscriptions but in the long run it'll

[36:31] result in better better c customer

[36:33] service for our applicants through

[36:35] planning and building.

[36:38] So looking at the sheriff as you can see

[36:41] for 2627 the contract increased $197,000

[36:45] which is 8.4%.

[36:48] However in previous years we've been

[36:49] using ARPA funding uh we also were using

[36:53] expired credits uh to offset some of

[36:55] these cost increases. um 2627 those use

[37:00] of additional onetime funds is no longer

[37:02] available. So there's going to be a

[37:04] $488,000 increase to the general fund

[37:06] and it's made up of the $197,000

[37:09] increase uh to the contract plus the

[37:13] expiration of the $211,000 credit.

[37:16] And then we're not using ARPA funds. So

[37:18] that's another $100,000 that we do no

[37:20] longer have available. Um, we will use

[37:23] an additional $20,000 in cops funding uh

[37:26] to help offset this cost. Now, we do

[37:28] receive from public safety sales tax and

[37:31] cops uh about

[37:35] it's less than 10% of the total contract

[37:38] cost. Uh so it really is not it's not

[37:41] really going to make any significant

[37:42] dent in offsetting the cost of the

[37:44] general fund. Uh so this $488,000

[37:49] increase will adjust the baseline per

[37:51] share for the sheriff's contract in the

[37:53] general fund moving forward.

[37:58] Westside Fire um

[38:02] the costs are about the same uh from

[38:05] previous year. Uh not much increase. Uh

[38:08] we will be using uh Woodside Fire for 60

[38:10] days of vegetation management. uh the

[38:13] chipper costs there was a decrease in

[38:16] the chipper cost from previous year and

[38:18] then uh education costs of 59,000

[38:26] and the capital improvement plan um went

[38:30] uh council reviewed this a couple

[38:32] meetings ago we're looking at about 1.45

[38:35] million total for capital improvements.

[38:38] However, post adoption, we probably have

[38:40] some additional decisions to make on the

[38:42] Fordfield bathroom, Valley Oak Trail

[38:45] Bridges, and the Shauny Path speed

[38:46] humps. Um, and but you know, we're in

[38:51] development of those projects as we

[38:52] speak or there's other mitigating issues

[38:54] in regards to u the trail bridges and

[38:57] then bathroom. We're waiting the results

[38:59] of the feasibility study,

[39:01] but we probably will not have those in

[39:03] time for the adoption of the budget.

[39:07] So this is the fiscal forecast. Um it

[39:10] has not been updated u with projected

[39:14] revenues and full expenses for 27 or

[39:17] 2627.

[39:19] Uh so this this chart will be updated um

[39:21] when we bring the budget back for

[39:23] adoption. But this is this has been our

[39:26] story for since November of 2024.

[39:32] So that concludes my report. Okay, yield

[39:35] back to council for questions and

[39:36] direction.

[39:37] >> Thank you, Tony. So, clarifying

[39:39] questions on the presentation.

[39:43] » Yeah, ju just a handful. Um, the graph

[39:46] you just said that you just showed, you

[39:48] said it hasn't been updated since 2024

[39:52] like

[39:53] >> No, it has been updated. I just haven't

[39:55] updated it with 2627.

[39:57] >> Oh, okay. Okay. Do you expect it to have

[40:00] any material difference?

[40:02] >> Yeah. Well, with the user fee study and

[40:06] you know putting those into the analysis

[40:08] where revenue ends up, but also we're

[40:10] all looking at the consultants. So there

[40:12] there's going to be a change in the

[40:14] general fund for 2627 based on the

[40:16] numbers now.

[40:18] >> But it's still, you know, 6% increase in

[40:22] expenses, 4% increase in revenue, but

[40:24] those numbers are going to change

[40:26] >> once we complete our analysis.

[40:28] >> But it doesn't sound like it's night and

[40:30] day different. like we we can assume

[40:33] ballpark

[40:35] >> it will still look similar.

[40:37] >> Yeah.

[40:38] >> But there might the the gap between

[40:39] revenues expenses might shrink a little

[40:41] bit.

[40:42] >> Okay.

[40:42] >> But the overall direction of the black

[40:44] line is not

[40:46] >> Yeah, that's my question. Um remind me

[40:49] of the speed bumps. Was that I can't

[40:52] recall

[40:52] >> the the young man from was it CO Madera

[40:55] made the presentations.

[40:58] >> Oh,

[40:58] >> okay. Now I remember. Thank you. you

[41:01] know, engaging the BPTS committee,

[41:04] >> okay,

[41:05] >> kind of developing and we do have we do

[41:07] have funding for that project. Uh we do

[41:09] receive transportation funding. We got

[41:10] measure A, measure W. So, this is a

[41:12] project that we could probably do.

[41:15] >> Um and uh the town attorney

[41:19] and the legal services, one is for non

[41:24] uh shoot maholi expenses. Is that

[41:26] correct? Two lines.

[41:27] >> Yes. And there were changes in those

[41:31] costs. Are you projecting needing less?

[41:33] It was page 74 of the packet. I don't

[41:36] know if you want to flip to that.

[41:39] >> Yeah, because well, we've we've had some

[41:43] activities this year that uh have

[41:45] increased those costs. We're not

[41:46] anticipating them for 26 27.

[41:49] >> You're not anticipate. Okay, that was my

[41:50] question. Okay. And then the last thing

[41:52] is um the consultants I know we've done

[41:56] a good job already analyzing Sarah I

[42:00] think heavily involved in analyzing who

[42:03] are using for what is that work going to

[42:05] continue and might that have an impact.

[42:07] >> Yes. This is the first year since I've

[42:10] been here where we actually have

[42:12] somebody in planning and building can

[42:13] actually review

[42:15] >> uh the consultant's work. Uh this was

[42:17] work that was started by former interim

[42:19] uh Steve

[42:21] >> um and was something that was sorely

[42:23] needed and but we go going forward we

[42:26] will be monitoring okay this is town

[42:28] work this is applicant work

[42:30] >> and these are the hours and and really

[42:32] working with the consultants uh to keep

[42:34] that in mind

[42:35] >> we're not done that's still going to

[42:36] continue

[42:37] >> still going to continue yeah because I

[42:38] mean we don't this is augmenting staff

[42:40] levels that we have

[42:42] >> yeah okay those are my questions thank

[42:44] you

[42:45] >> thank you Mary you have any clarifying

[42:46] questions.

[42:47] >> Well, I do uh I I'm just been trying to

[42:51] sort out uh

[42:53] how we're doing with our checks and

[42:55] balances. Um are our bank accounts uh

[42:59] reconciled monthly and do we have a sec

[43:01] a separate person who rec reviews it and

[43:04] how does that work and have all our

[43:06] findings of the completed audits been

[43:08] done and are any have any findings in

[43:11] our in our audits that are in process?

[43:13] >> Right. So the bank wrecks are an ongoing

[43:16] process because we're refining and but

[43:18] we are capturing everything that's

[43:20] coming through

[43:21] >> current. Yeah.

[43:22] >> The the reason why we're recruiting for

[43:25] a finance manager is to ensure that the

[43:27] checks and balances remain that there's

[43:30] another level of review.

[43:32] >> Okay.

[43:33] And because I we just want to make sure

[43:36] that not one person doing everything

[43:38] that's part of the process of cash

[43:39] handling, depositing and

[43:42] >> but right now without that person we are

[43:44] doing that.

[43:44] >> Right. We are still doing that. Yes,

[43:46] >> that's all I want to know. Yeah. Thank

[43:48] you.

[43:50] >> Thank you, Mary Rebecca.

[43:54] >> Uh yes. Um uh thank you Tony for your

[43:57] hard work and diligence that's gone into

[43:59] this. I I very much appreciate that. Um,

[44:05] under services, I don't think we

[44:06] mentioned laser fees. It's it's a small

[44:08] thing in there, but um,

[44:12] uh, it's something to think about, I

[44:13] guess. Um, it's included as one of our

[44:17] services and it's a it's a chunk of

[44:19] change. So, I just wanted to clarify

[44:21] that that is

[44:23] >> still going to be uh on our budget for

[44:25] next year.

[44:27] Yes, we do have subscriptions that we

[44:29] are reviewing.

[44:31] >> And could you clarify um in the in the

[44:36] records it says capital replacement

[44:39] emergency fund a million dollars and

[44:41] then there's a fund 401 capital projects

[44:44] for something like 692,000.

[44:47] What are the differences of those two

[44:49] items? So the the capital replacement is

[44:53] a category within the general fund

[44:55] reserve

[44:57] and normally would be used to fund any

[45:00] transfers into

[45:03] uh fund 401 which where we actually pay

[45:06] for CIP projects out of that fund. Uh

[45:09] but it is that fund 401 is

[45:14] supported by transfers from the general

[45:15] fund which we have not been able to do

[45:18] the last two fiscal years.

[45:21] Okay, thank you. And um when do our

[45:25] franchise services fees get

[45:27] renegotiated?

[45:30] >> Uh well, three of the four are

[45:33] established by state law. Um the energy,

[45:38] cable, and water. Uh the only one that's

[45:42] negotiable is the wastewater

[45:45] is the waste with green waste. Um, and

[45:50] I'm not sure when that contract is up

[45:52] for renewal.

[45:55] >> Okay. Um, and then under the town

[45:58] manager salaries list, it shows a

[46:00] $100,000 reduction. I was just curious

[46:03] how that happens now that we've filled

[46:05] the assistant town manager position.

[46:09] >> Well, my salary is still being allocated

[46:11] between town manager and

[46:16] » Okay. And you're anticipating that for

[46:18] what period of time for next year?

[46:21] >> I am anticipating that to remain because

[46:24] I finance will still report to me.

[46:26] >> Oh, okay. And then just a clarification,

[46:29] I wasn't clear on what cafeteria plan

[46:31] management meant versus sort of the

[46:33] health insurance line items.

[46:36] >> Yeah. Cafeteria plan, the town

[46:38] contributes a portion of um it's to

[46:43] offset the cost of the premiums.

[46:47] Oh, and and the the line item for the

[46:49] health insurance and whatever. That's

[46:51] what is that then?

[46:52] >> That's that is the medical premium.

[46:55] >> That's we pay that.

[46:58] >> Yeah.

[46:59] >> So, what what are we paying for the

[47:00] cafeteria plan management then?

[47:02] >> Cafeteria plan goes to the employees.

[47:04] >> Goes what?

[47:05] >> It goes to the employees.

[47:11] » I I guess I'm still confused about that.

[47:13] So we are paying a portion of their

[47:15] health insurance and their vision and

[47:16] whatever.

[47:17] >> Yeah.

[47:18] >> And then we are paying something else

[47:20] towards

[47:22] >> and then the employees are turning

[47:24] around and paying the medical premium.

[47:31] » So why isn't that all under health as

[47:33] opposed to being a separate?

[47:36] >> Because they're paid to separate

[47:38] entities.

[47:40] >> So we account for we account for it

[47:41] separately.

[47:43] I see. Okay. Um, do you not expect any

[47:46] costs associated with the November

[47:48] election given that we're considering a

[47:49] ballot measure and it's the midterms? Is

[47:52] there

[47:53] >> Yes, we are still reviewing those. We do

[47:55] have some consulting costs that will be

[47:57] related to the election, but yeah, we

[47:59] are still reviewing those. There'll be

[48:01] attorney time

[48:02] >> as well.

[48:03] >> Okay. But that would be put into a

[48:05] different bucket.

[48:07] >> Yes, there will be a separate line item.

[48:08] We have a we have a project number or a

[48:11] project code uh for the election.

[48:16] » But you're saying attorney time would

[48:18] fall under um the town clerk's budget or

[48:21] would it be under the attorney's budget?

[48:24] >> It would be under the town attorney's

[48:25] budget. Um but the there there will be a

[48:29] code that says 26 election. Um, and we

[48:33] also have the same code in the town

[48:36] manager budget for the consultants. And

[48:39] then we also have um elections cost that

[48:42] will be out of the town clerk, but we'll

[48:44] be able to run a report by project to

[48:46] show um what the costs are.

[48:50] >> Okay. Excellent. And but you've already

[48:53] put some estimates for those costs into this um study budget or we're still

[48:58] you're still working

[48:59] >> Well, we we did put some of these

[49:01] numbers in at the midyear with the

[49:04] intent of carrying over those numbers to

[49:06] 2627.

[49:08] Um but that gives us an idea what the

[49:11] number is going to be. Um and then we'll

[49:14] roll it over into 2627. But we're still paying consultants. We're

[49:19] still tracking time. Uh so we'll have

[49:22] that number um for the 24th.

[49:26] >> Okay. And what exactly is a fuel

[49:28] mitigation engineer?

[49:34] » You want to answer that one?

[49:35] >> Oh, we know. I know that.

[49:42] » I actually just sent an email to Tony

[49:44] about that. Um, but a fuel mitigation engineer. He is my

[49:49] manager that manages the fuel mitigation

[49:52] division at Woodside Fire. And that's

[49:54] the crew that does all your rightway

[49:56] work and chipping. However, um, I'm just

[49:59] looking at that as a separate line item

[50:00] because I'm not sure if that was because

[50:02] I saw public education mixed with that.

[50:04] So, I'm wondering if there was a mixup

[50:06] with titles because it's usually that

[50:08] you're funding the emergency

[50:10] preparedness coordinator and public

[50:11] education officer that runs the epic

[50:15] organization that is funded by the town

[50:18] and Woodside Fire. So, we'll follow up

[50:21] on that, but that's what the FME is.

[50:25] >> Okay, great. Thanks. Um, and I noticed

[50:28] that there was quite a few different um

[50:30] line items for software.

[50:33] Um, so it it's included for the

[50:35] community hall and it's included for

[50:38] software and licensing for roads,

[50:39] repairs, facilities, development

[50:41] section.

[50:43] Um, I'm just trying to understand what

[50:46] that what that software is that we're

[50:49] using for for those different areas.

[50:52] >> Well, so for open gov, we have several

[50:55] modules. One's finance. So those costs

[50:57] are allocated to finance. Uh we're

[50:59] enhancing permit licenses and coding and

[51:01] that covers planning and building code

[51:04] enforcement, public works. So we're just

[51:06] allocating those costs across all

[51:08] divisions.

[51:11] » Okay. So

[51:13] >> we also have

[51:15] >> yeah community hall has um

[51:19] uh community pass. So there's a software

[51:21] that we use for uh recording um the

[51:25] transactions for reservations and

[51:27] payments. Um so those costs are

[51:29] allocated to community hall uh for

[51:31] classes. Um we also have um other

[51:37] subscriptions that we have for um other

[51:40] items other than open gov like blue beam

[51:42] starlink um and those costs are

[51:44] allocated out according to each

[51:46] division.

[51:48] >> Okay.

[51:50] Those are my questions. Thank you

[51:52] so much.

[51:53] >> Thank you Rebecca.

[51:56] Hi.

[51:58] Um,

[52:02] hold on. Let me um staff is currently reviewing all

[52:09] consulting contracts for building and

[52:11] planning and engineering. When will we

[52:13] have know what those contracts what we

[52:16] have?

[52:16] >> By the 24th. We'll have it for budget.

[52:19] >> Great. Um,

[52:22] can you remind me what the intergovern

[52:25] budget. What?

[52:26] >> I'm sorry.

[52:26] >> I I didn't hear the end of your

[52:28] sentence.

[52:28] >> We'll have it for the 24th when the

[52:30] budget

[52:31] >> meeting

[52:31] >> when the budget it's adopted. Thank you.

[52:34] >> Okay. Could you remind me of the 7500 in

[52:36] government intergovernmental charge or

[52:39] revenue?

[52:41] >> I believe that's the motor vehicle fee.

[52:46] » Motor DM fee or are you saying

[52:51] >> DM? That's the motor vehicle fee. It's a

[52:53] Santa Sanonteo County measure that was

[52:56] passed years ago. We get separate um

[53:01] it's either that or it's hopped. I can't

[53:03] >> Okay.

[53:04] >> Yeah.

[53:04] >> Okay. Um

[53:10] BLF.

[53:13] >> Yes.

[53:13] >> You recognize it's not in the governor's

[53:15] budget or the legislaturator's budget at

[53:18] this point.

[53:19] >> And I never budget the short ball.

[53:21] >> Okay. I always budget what the county

[53:22] tells me what's available.

[53:27] » I think that number is optimistic.

[53:30] >> No, this is the number. This is what

[53:31] they have.

[53:32] >> That's what they got.

[53:33] >> This is what the county has.

[53:35] >> Oh,

[53:36] >> yeah. It's the shortfall that they're

[53:38] fighting for.

[53:39] >> Got it. Okay. Thank you for clarifying.

[53:43] Um

[53:45] Okay.

[53:46] Um

[53:48] because of our senior new senior

[53:51] planner, are we expecting good city

[53:54] costs to decrease?

[53:57] >> Well, we're currently doing that

[53:58] analysis.

[53:59] >> Okay.

[54:00] >> I can't say yes or no, but I mean

[54:02] they're still doing work for us even

[54:04] with the senior planner in in tow. Um so

[54:08] it's still it's still a cost that's

[54:10] going to be uh something to acknowledge.

[54:13] >> Okay.

[54:15] Thank you. Thanks. Those are my

[54:17] questions.

[54:18] >> Thank you, Helen.

[54:20] >> So, Tony, just two quick questions. Um,

[54:22] the master fee schedule, what do we

[54:24] think the rough number is going to be?

[54:27] >> I I

[54:27] >> Do you have a range?

[54:28] >> I It could be 250, it could be 400,

[54:32] somewhere in that range.

[54:33] >> Okay.

[54:33] >> The what number?

[54:35] >> The master fee schedule if once we

[54:37] implement it.

[54:38] >> Yeah. What you what was it? What was

[54:40] your question?

[54:41] >> What that number? how much we would earn

[54:43] in addition by implementing the master

[54:45] piece.

[54:46] >> Right. In addition, that's my question.

[54:48] Okay. Thank you.

[54:49] >> So then Tony, last year we had a, you

[54:52] know, a 200 some odd Kk deficit

[54:56] and this year we have a 584 deficit,

[55:00] but the sheriff's contract was like 488

[55:03] hit to the general fund. It seems like

[55:05] it's 688. So seems like there's 100k

[55:08] somehow missing there.

[55:10] >> Not following you. Um well I was just

[55:12] trying to take what was our deficit for

[55:16] this year?

[55:18] >> 263.

[55:20] >> Okay. So 263

[55:22] >> and if you took 263 and added 488 to it

[55:26] which is what I was roughly trying to

[55:27] do.

[55:28] >> Mhm.

[55:29] >> That and that number is going to be you

[55:31] know six I'm not doing the exact math

[55:33] here but it's you know 700k roughly.

[55:35] >> Right.

[55:36] >> But yet we're projecting a deficit of

[55:39] >> in revenue too. So that takes it that

[55:41] >> so that and you so that's the difference

[55:42] is we're expecting that increase of

[55:44] roughly 200k in revenue.

[55:47] >> Okay, great. Thank you.

[55:48] >> I I have one more question.

[55:50] >> Okay.

[55:50] >> Sorry buddies.

[55:52] >> Um it it uh we want to have a successful

[55:56] efficient welcoming organization uh that

[55:58] gives satisfaction to residents and

[56:00] employees alike. What level of ongoing

[56:03] annual revenue would be required to

[56:05] restore structural balance to the

[56:07] general fund while maintaining or

[56:09] possibly improving current service

[56:11] levels and preserving reserves at policy

[56:14] targets?

[56:17] >> We are still I mean

[56:21] >> what number are we using?

[56:24] are we imagining

[56:25] >> 1.5 to two million

[56:28] that keeps our reserve at 20% helps to

[56:31] absorb any cost increases with the

[56:33] sheriff's contract. Uh helps us to

[56:36] continue funding capital projects. Um we

[56:40] have a $350,000

[56:42] maintenance of effort requirement of the

[56:44] general fund which we have not met in

[56:45] the last two years. So we are at risk of

[56:48] losing our SB1 RMR funding which is

[56:50] reduction in transportation funding. Um,

[56:53] and there's other capital projects that

[56:56] we need to fund like storm drains for

[56:59] one. That could be about half a million

[57:01] there just for a master plan and then

[57:04] ongoing um costs for maintenance and

[57:08] repairs that will be identified in the

[57:11] master plan. That's just the tip of the

[57:12] iceberg.

[57:13] >> Yeah.

[57:14] >> But there are other items that need to

[57:16] be addressed. The the vehicle fleet

[57:18] needs to be replaced. um that could be

[57:20] about hundred to $150,000 right there.

[57:23] Uh because trucks are not cheap. So um

[57:27] you know, we don't have exact numbers,

[57:30] but we do have a list of what items need

[57:32] to be addressed and estimates, but yeah,

[57:35] it's well 1.5 would be the range, but if

[57:39] we can get more, then we could also

[57:40] address our pension liability. We could

[57:42] pay that down. Um, so there are some

[57:45] costs that the town has not addressed

[57:48] historically. Um, and this is an

[57:50] opportunity for us to do that.

[57:52] >> Yeah.

[57:52] >> And Tony, when you said 1.5, it's 1.5 to

[57:55] two is probably

[57:56] >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just

[57:58] >> this is something that we're going to

[57:59] discuss in July.

[58:01] >> Yes. Well, what I'm what I'm hoping for

[58:03] is to ask that we have that a slide that

[58:07] clearly shows exactly what you just

[58:09] finished saying for the presentation.

[58:12] Yeah, that's all I'm asking.

[58:14] >> Okay, thank you.

[58:18] All right, so with that, let me move to

[58:20] public comment. So, any hands in the

[58:22] room? I see no hands in the room, so

[58:25] I'll go online. Rita,

[58:29] » hi,

[58:30] >> welcome.

[58:31] >> Thank you for taking my comment. Um, you

[58:33] know, we just had that meeting about the

[58:36] uh safety element and um that item that

[58:40] I mentioned, I guess it was S5 on the

[58:43] safety element talked about the storm

[58:45] drains and I think we have a mandate or

[58:47] something about how we're supposed to be

[58:49] u checking them. And I saw on the slide,

[58:52] one of the previous slides, there was

[58:53] $20,000

[58:55] for in the budget in the proposed budget

[58:58] for fixing some storm drains. But um

[59:02] because of the safety element, do we

[59:04] have to now make sure that the money to

[59:09] do what we have to do for the storm

[59:11] drains in the town are part of this

[59:13] budget? Thank you.

[59:17] >> Thank you, Rita. Are there any other

[59:20] public comments?

[59:22] >> I can answer that question.

[59:24] >> Yeah, let me just let's just capture all

[59:26] of them if there's others. Um, okay.

[59:28] Zoom user, I'm assuming Dana still.

[59:32] >> Yes. Uh, just following that comment,

[59:35] um, Portullah Valley historically has

[59:38] never used curbs and things like that so

[59:42] that the water spills onto the the soil

[59:47] and and filtered itself naturally. So

[59:50] that's only the only thing I'm offering

[59:52] up is that idea is that we tend to be a

[59:55] curbless town. Thank you.

[59:59] >> Thank you, Dana.

[1:00:01] Any other public comment?

[1:00:06] All right. I don't see any other public

[1:00:08] comment, so I will bring it back to

[1:00:10] council for discussion. And Tony, is

[1:00:14] there anything specific that you're

[1:00:15] looking for from us? uh just you know

[1:00:19] what you've received and it's this is

[1:00:21] the right direction that we're going but

[1:00:23] I wanted to answer um Rita's question

[1:00:25] because the 20,000 yes that's coming out

[1:00:28] of fund 401 but we also have additional

[1:00:30] funding coming out of our gas tax fund

[1:00:32] of about 50 to $50,000 for storm drain

[1:00:34] repairs and these are just for minor

[1:00:36] repairs on the storm drain system

[1:00:39] >> right

[1:00:39] >> not just 20

[1:00:40] >> right and when we talk about the 1.5 to2

[1:00:42] million that's the place that we would

[1:00:44] actually start raising money to deal

[1:00:46] with our storm water.

[1:00:47] >> Correct.

[1:00:47] >> Yeah.

[1:00:49] >> Okay. Who would like to go first? Helen,

[1:00:51] how about you?

[1:00:55] >> So, do you have any comments?

[1:00:59] Sure. Rebecca, would you like to go?

[1:01:02] You're bright. I mean, it's early for

[1:01:03] you, right?

[1:01:06] >> Um, well, I I again, I'll just reiterate

[1:01:09] that I really appreciate the efforts of

[1:01:10] the finance department and Tony in

[1:01:12] particular to putting this together. I

[1:01:14] think it's an excellent excellent work,

[1:01:17] very diligent. Um it certainly shows us

[1:01:20] how we are um in a situation with that

[1:01:24] black line where in a couple years we

[1:01:27] will have passed below our reserve

[1:01:29] levels and within a year or two beyond

[1:01:32] that and possibly sooner we will run out

[1:01:35] of money and need to do something about

[1:01:36] it. So um I feel like this was the best

[1:01:40] that we can do for this coming year.

[1:01:42] We're obviously not a balanced budget.

[1:01:44] We continue to have a hole that's

[1:01:46] growing. Um we don't have a lot of

[1:01:49] options in terms of squeezing here and

[1:01:52] there. And I feel like the depart the

[1:01:54] staff have done a pretty good job of

[1:01:56] really looking um everywhere and trying

[1:01:59] to be more efficient and trying to find

[1:02:01] efficiencies wherever we can. So in that

[1:02:04] respect um I appreciate that and um I

[1:02:08] don't know that there's too much more.

[1:02:10] for them and we can look at tiny little

[1:02:11] things, but they're not going to have

[1:02:13] huge impacts on the budget. Um, so yeah,

[1:02:16] I mean, I I I think we've I think

[1:02:18] everything's really been covered what we

[1:02:20] can do. So, I I I appreciate the work

[1:02:22] and I I look forward to having all the the open items that were mentioned

[1:02:27] completed in terms of all the analyses

[1:02:29] that still need to happen in the next

[1:02:32] two weeks, I guess. Um, hopefully we'll

[1:02:35] have a little bit more clarity on some

[1:02:37] of those going forward. Thank you.

[1:02:41] >> Thank you, Rebecca. Mary.

[1:02:44] >> Yeah. I just wanted to follow up on on what I was saying before, which is

[1:02:48] that I think as the um people who are

[1:02:52] supposed to be doing the policy, we we

[1:02:54] really need to really clearly have the

[1:02:55] list of what of I mean, we all know what

[1:03:00] the big things are, but with a ticket

[1:03:03] with how much it's going to cost and and

[1:03:06] really know what we're going to be up

[1:03:07] against if we uh

[1:03:11] if we keep moving in this direction In

[1:03:14] other words, we can tighten our belts in

[1:03:16] various different little ways, but we're

[1:03:17] going to lose some major major uh things

[1:03:20] that that characterize our our town and

[1:03:24] which we all think are necessary and we

[1:03:27] need to understand what they are and the

[1:03:30] general public does too.

[1:03:32] >> So, I really appreciate your work.

[1:03:33] >> Mary, can I ask clarifying? Are you

[1:03:35] suggesting that we add something to the

[1:03:38] proposed budget or you're just saying

[1:03:40] that people need to understand

[1:03:41] >> in the presentation we need to have a a

[1:03:44] pretty clear uh view of what we're not

[1:03:47] going to be able to do?

[1:03:49] >> Okay. Thank you.

[1:03:54] » Sure. I I don't have too much. I do

[1:03:56] appreciate all the work and the

[1:03:58] continued communication. It's a vital

[1:04:01] time for a town to have information

[1:04:04] flow. It may be redundant. It might be

[1:04:07] um kind of pretty basic, but I think

[1:04:10] educating the public on our budget and

[1:04:13] how we how what elements feed in is

[1:04:16] really important. So, sessions like this

[1:04:18] are very helpful. Um the only clarifying

[1:04:22] point um and I forget the timing for the audits and the like. Um there is not

[1:04:29] a possibility between now and the next

[1:04:31] meeting when we're going to be asked to

[1:04:32] approve the the budget that there's any

[1:04:35] feedback that could impact the budget or

[1:04:39] likely to impact the budget from the

[1:04:41] auditors or from any controls, anything

[1:04:45] like that. So that's to come later

[1:04:49] and we'll see if any adjustments are

[1:04:51] needed later. But just want to confirm,

[1:04:54] we're not expecting or you have you're

[1:04:57] not aware of anything.

[1:04:59] Okay. And just to put a fine point on

[1:05:03] the um I always refer to it the

[1:05:06] Christian Co report. We're we've made a

[1:05:08] lot of progress. We're still looking at

[1:05:11] that from time to time and ticking off

[1:05:14] further things. Okay. That's all.

[1:05:17] >> We're not done.

[1:05:18] >> Yeah. We're not done.

[1:05:19] >> Yeah. Okay. We're in a state of constant

[1:05:22] improvement.

[1:05:24] >> Okay.

[1:05:24] >> And even if it's a recommendation for

[1:05:27] Christian company that they didn't make,

[1:05:28] if we find it, we we'll implement.

[1:05:30] >> Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you very much.

[1:05:33] Those I think you've been thorough. I

[1:05:35] have no other comments.

[1:05:37] >> Thank you,

[1:05:38] >> Helen. Thank you. Um yeah, just really

[1:05:42] minor, you know, just a big thank you to

[1:05:44] staff for the belt tightening and you

[1:05:47] know, this um

[1:05:49] you guys have done a lot um with a

[1:05:52] little and so I appreciate that. Um you

[1:05:57] know, tonight the conversation for

[1:05:59] instance around the safety element to

[1:06:01] bring that to where it's at is

[1:06:03] impressive. Um it does sound like we

[1:06:05] might need there is scope creep there I

[1:06:07] think. So, we're probably going to need

[1:06:09] to budget a little bit more for that.

[1:06:11] >> Um, but uh

[1:06:15] I think we're I appreciate what you've

[1:06:18] got you've done and I think we're we're

[1:06:21] in as good of condition as we can be

[1:06:23] right now. So, um that's my comments.

[1:06:26] Thank you.

[1:06:27] >> Thank you, Helen.

[1:06:30] So, I would second it. Thanks, Tony. Um

[1:06:32] doing a great job. Um I also appreciate

[1:06:34] I mean I do think we built up our staff.

[1:06:36] I mean, we're we're starting to fill the

[1:06:37] positions, you know, we're not sitting

[1:06:38] there like with half our positions

[1:06:40] empty, so our budget looks better

[1:06:42] because we're not paying people. Like,

[1:06:44] that's kind of the wrong solution. So, I

[1:06:45] really appreciate that we're actually

[1:06:47] even though we don't have a lot of

[1:06:48] choices in this budget, I I appreciate

[1:06:50] at least we're starting to come together

[1:06:52] with a full staff um and that this

[1:06:54] budget represents that. So, I think

[1:06:55] that's great. Um and I would second

[1:06:57] Helen's um working with Sarah to figure

[1:07:00] out if we're going to need any

[1:07:01] additional money on the safety element.

[1:07:03] did seem like there's going to be some

[1:07:05] additional work involved. Um, but other

[1:07:08] than that, um, I I think it looks good.

[1:07:09] So, thank you.

[1:07:10] >> Thank you.

[1:07:12] >> Okay. So, with that, let me close 7B and

[1:07:16] move on to 7 C. So, Veronica, I think

[1:07:20] this is you.

[1:07:25] » Yes.

[1:07:41] Okay.

[1:07:42] So, uh with the recent signing of SB77,

[1:07:46] there are a couple uh policies we need

[1:07:50] to implement before July 1st.

[1:07:53] So uh the first one is a telephonic or

[1:07:57] internet disruption policy

[1:08:01] uh for council meetings.

[1:08:08] So starting July 1st uh council meetings

[1:08:12] need to be conducted by a two-way

[1:08:15] telephonic or audiovisisual service such

[1:08:18] as Zoom uh which we will continue to

[1:08:20] use. And as part of that requirement,

[1:08:23] council needs to adopt a policy uh in

[1:08:26] the event of a disruption during the

[1:08:29] meeting. Uh the policy outlines

[1:08:31] procedures for recessing and reconvening

[1:08:34] meetings and the efforts uh council or

[1:08:38] staff will undertake to restore service.

[1:08:42] Uh so in the event of a technological

[1:08:45] disruption or internet outage uh that

[1:08:48] prevents public access to the council

[1:08:50] meeting, council must immediately recess

[1:08:54] the open session and uh make good faith

[1:08:58] efforts to reestablish

[1:09:00] uh telephonic or internet service. Uh

[1:09:03] the recess must be at least for one hour

[1:09:06] or until service is restored, whichever

[1:09:08] occurs first.

[1:09:12] Uh if service has not been restored

[1:09:15] after an hour, council must reconvene

[1:09:18] and either adjoin the meeting or adopt a

[1:09:21] finding by roll call vote that

[1:09:23] reasonable efforts were made to restore

[1:09:25] service and that continuing the meeting

[1:09:27] in person outweighs the public interest

[1:09:30] in maintaining remote access. Uh

[1:09:33] however, in the case that there is

[1:09:35] little to no possibility of service

[1:09:37] being restored, such as uh a power

[1:09:40] outage, council may decide to adjourn

[1:09:42] the meeting uh without attempting to

[1:09:45] restore service.

[1:09:50] Uh second policy is uh public posting

[1:09:53] board for agendas.

[1:09:56] um council agendas

[1:10:00] uh need to be translated into applicable

[1:10:02] languages based on uh census data for

[1:10:06] the town. So even though Portola Valley

[1:10:09] doesn't meet the language threshold to

[1:10:12] provide translated agendas, we still

[1:10:14] need to provide a space for the public

[1:10:16] to post their own translations of

[1:10:19] council agendas. Uh this space has to be

[1:10:22] adjacent to the current uh existing

[1:10:25] posting board for council agendas and it

[1:10:28] must be freely accessible to the public.

[1:10:31] The town is not responsible for the

[1:10:33] content or accuracy of the translations.

[1:10:36] We're just providing space.

[1:10:39] Uh so a designated board will be

[1:10:41] installed next to the existing agenda

[1:10:43] posting board outside town hall. The

[1:10:46] space is reserved for translated

[1:10:48] versions of council agendas only. Uh

[1:10:51] there will be specific language posted

[1:10:54] indicating such use. Um that language

[1:10:57] will also include

[1:10:59] uh language that stating that the town

[1:11:02] is not responsible for any of the

[1:11:05] materials posted and anything not

[1:11:07] related to council agendas will be

[1:11:10] removed.

[1:11:13] Uh, so that's for the first item, the

[1:11:16] two policies in the packet. Um,

[1:11:20] >> so you're going to stop there, right?

[1:11:22] >> Yes. Yeah. Great.

[1:11:23] >> For now.

[1:11:23] >> All right. So, any clarifying questions

[1:11:26] for Veronica?

[1:11:29] >> Yeah. Um,

[1:11:31] the good faith determination of the cost

[1:11:33] benefit. Are there any guidelines or

[1:11:35] examples given for or is it really in

[1:11:39] our judgment?

[1:11:41] Yeah, the code mostly or only states

[1:11:45] good faith efforts. Does not define what

[1:11:47] those efforts are. Um I think

[1:11:50] >> No, it's the I don't mind that. It's the

[1:11:54] we have to either terminate the meeting

[1:11:57] or decide to keep going, but that

[1:12:00] requires a finding.

[1:12:02] >> Uh yes. So when the disruption occurs,

[1:12:06] we will uh recess the meeting while

[1:12:10] staff uh attempts to fix the outage.

[1:12:14] Like if it's a bad connection in the

[1:12:16] schoolhouse, we try to restore that. Um

[1:12:19] but

[1:12:21] uh if service is not restored after an

[1:12:24] hour then council needs to reconvene

[1:12:28] and then make a actual determination to

[1:12:31] either continue the meeting or adjourn.

[1:12:34] Um and if you decide to continue you

[1:12:37] need to make a finding that continuing

[1:12:40] the meeting outweighs public interest.

[1:12:42] And and I'm asking about the legal

[1:12:43] standard for that very last point and

[1:12:45] only that point which is

[1:12:48] >> public interest in continuing the

[1:12:49] meeting outweighs the public interest in

[1:12:52] remote access. We can continue. Are

[1:12:55] there any guidelines?

[1:12:56] >> Okay. I was going to add add just that

[1:12:59] this is obviously a new statute so there

[1:13:01] isn't any precedent. Um but I think that

[1:13:03] the council could in it reasonable

[1:13:05] determination determine if it's there's

[1:13:08] an item where there's a statutory

[1:13:09] deadline to complete that item. say an

[1:13:11] election resolution, you've got to get

[1:13:13] the election

[1:13:14] by a certain date. Um that would argue

[1:13:17] for the public interest um uh you know

[1:13:21] uh weighing in favor of continuing

[1:13:23] despite the inability of the public to

[1:13:25] zoom in for the meeting. Okay, got it.

[1:13:27] Thanks.

[1:13:29] >> Could I just add a question? So

[1:13:32] what if there's, you know, the next four

[1:13:35] agendas have no room on them for

[1:13:38] continuing? Is that a reasonable

[1:13:41] or is it not a statutory deadline? But

[1:13:43] it's just like there's not going to be a

[1:13:45] place to fit it in unless it's sort of

[1:13:47] continued and get sort of getting

[1:13:49] finished. So I mean I'm just trying to I

[1:13:51] mean to J's point it's just kind of this

[1:13:53] judgment call. Um do are we going to

[1:13:56] come up with some kind of policy on

[1:13:58] roughly what we think are going to be

[1:14:01] our approaches or we're just going to

[1:14:02] wing it after an hour and try to figure

[1:14:05] it out on the fly?

[1:14:07] >> I'll I'll take a stab at that. feel feel

[1:14:08] free to um to jump in. I mean, I guess I

[1:14:11] would say the council actually has

[1:14:13] unfortunately had the opportunity to

[1:14:14] make some of these judgment calls in the

[1:14:16] past because we we've experienced these

[1:14:18] outages um here at town hall and I think

[1:14:20] that you know the council has um done a

[1:14:24] good job of figuring out well this item

[1:14:26] you know there's a lot of public

[1:14:27] interest in it. No one's physically

[1:14:29] here. We don't have any ability to

[1:14:31] communicate to them to tell them to come

[1:14:33] here you know to get here to the

[1:14:34] schoolhouse. Uh, and so while there's no

[1:14:37] legal precedent here, um, I would say,

[1:14:40] you know, the council has some

[1:14:43] discretion to make that judgment call

[1:14:45] based on the facts and circumstances for

[1:14:47] that particular meeting and that those

[1:14:49] items.

[1:14:50] >> Okay. Thank you, Mary. Clarifying

[1:14:52] questions.

[1:14:52] >> Yeah, clarifying question is um going

[1:14:55] back to the uh safety element and the um

[1:14:59] the possibility of not having any

[1:15:01] electricity for months that can follow

[1:15:03] an earthquake. Um is there a way that we

[1:15:07] could have a not notify what we have

[1:15:11] done in the past is notify people

[1:15:14] upfront that if they are really want to

[1:15:18] hear what's going to happen they uh and

[1:15:20] the and it gets disconnected they can

[1:15:23] they need to come to the town hall so

[1:15:25] that we can actually move ahead in an

[1:15:27] emergency situation because uh the

[1:15:30] function of the town has to go on. Um,

[1:15:34] and I I'm probably going to be the one

[1:15:37] who pushes for the town being a viable

[1:15:40] entity of its own without electricity if

[1:15:43] it if if necessary. Uh, and I' I'd like

[1:15:47] to be able to see a way forward for us.

[1:15:51] That doesn't always depend on having the

[1:15:53] electronic system up and going.

[1:15:57] In other words, and and that could be

[1:15:58] just as simple as a statement at the

[1:16:00] beginning of the agendas. uh we had and

[1:16:04] we do have that right now. Um we're

[1:16:05] going to have to under SP77 actually

[1:16:08] remove that statement because the

[1:16:09] legislature has determined that uh the

[1:16:12] public has the right to attend those

[1:16:13] meetings by Zoom and that this is the

[1:16:15] established procedure that we use in the

[1:16:17] event that Zoom is not working. I mean

[1:16:19] you raise a situation that I don't think

[1:16:21] the statute contemplates and maybe the

[1:16:23] legislature would have to address in the

[1:16:26] event of a you know I mean it's not

[1:16:28] outside the realm of reality. there's a

[1:16:29] major earthquake and then we don't have

[1:16:31] power for for weeks and the um council

[1:16:34] needs to meet because there's priority

[1:16:37] items. Um I I don't have the answer. I

[1:16:39] know with with COVID the legislature did

[1:16:41] that quickly to amend the Brown Act to

[1:16:43] allow for fully remote Zoom meetings. Um

[1:16:46] so I would expect something like I would

[1:16:47] hope something like that would happen

[1:16:48] and we talked to our local legislature

[1:16:51] um legislator members to make sure it

[1:16:53] does. Um but yes that we will not be

[1:16:56] able to continue to use that language.

[1:16:59] uh on our agendas to uh provide for the

[1:17:02] inperson I'm sorry to to provide for the

[1:17:04] um

[1:17:05] >> even though there is an out there you

[1:17:07] can uh determine that it's important to

[1:17:11] meet

[1:17:13] >> the the the out is essentially the the

[1:17:15] um procedure that's that Veronica

[1:17:18] outlined

[1:17:19] >> uh that if there's the disruption we've

[1:17:21] got to actually try really hard for an

[1:17:24] hour to restore it and um and only then

[1:17:27] could we continue the meeting uh where

[1:17:30] the public interest balancing test

[1:17:33] basically would allow us allow the

[1:17:35] council to make those findings.

[1:17:37] >> Thank you,

[1:17:39] Rebecca.

[1:17:42] >> Uh yes. Um it's just a small practical

[1:17:44] question. When when we're required to

[1:17:46] put a new space for a bulletin board, um

[1:17:50] is there a physical board going to be

[1:17:52] new physical board installed or are we

[1:17:54] making room on our existing board? I was

[1:17:57] a little unclear on that.

[1:18:00] >> Uh yeah, a new board that is not locked

[1:18:04] will have to be installed.

[1:18:07] >> Okay. And um is that an expensive

[1:18:10] proposition?

[1:18:14] » Um no,

[1:18:16] it's just a regular bulletin board.

[1:18:19] >> I'm just wondering a little bit about

[1:18:20] the aesthetics.

[1:18:22] >> Well, it it is very interesting. We used

[1:18:25] to have post them in a lot of different

[1:18:27] places and now we're not posting them.

[1:18:29] So, we must have a whole bunch of those

[1:18:32] hanging around

[1:18:34] >> or maybe they've been

[1:18:35] >> they're still there and we do use them

[1:18:37] occasionally when we're required to use

[1:18:38] three different postings.

[1:18:44] » Yeah, that's it for me. Thank you.

[1:18:46] >> Thank you, Ellen. Um, just to be clear,

[1:18:48] obviously we've been talking about

[1:18:50] outages, but I'm assuming this also

[1:18:52] applies to Zoom bombing

[1:18:56] >> to what? Zoom bombing like you know to

[1:18:59] stop the Is that disruptive? No.

[1:19:02] >> No. But Zoom bombing I think is a little

[1:19:04] different. If Zoom like let's say Zoom

[1:19:06] had a catastrophic cyber attack or a

[1:19:09] failure and Zoom stopped working, I

[1:19:12] think

[1:19:13] >> that's a different issue. But like Zoom

[1:19:14] bombing, the act of like

[1:19:17] getting a lot of public commenters that

[1:19:19] may I mean to be honest that still is

[1:19:21] happening and as long as

[1:19:23] >> they're following the threeminut rule

[1:19:26] they're generally allowed to talk and

[1:19:27] say what they want.

[1:19:30] >> Okay. So that this does not deal with

[1:19:32] that. Okay.

[1:19:36] » Thank you.

[1:19:36] >> Okay.

[1:19:38] Thank you. I I don't have any

[1:19:40] comments. Um so I'll open up for public

[1:19:42] comment. Any public comment on this

[1:19:44] item?

[1:19:53] All right. I don't see any public

[1:19:54] comment online, so I'm going to move on.

[1:19:59] » So, we I think once I close public

[1:20:02] comment, I this sort of coming in late

[1:20:05] after I've waited a significant amount

[1:20:07] of time. So, um, I will open it up

[1:20:09] again, but generally once I move off

[1:20:11] this screen, it's sort of back and forth

[1:20:13] doesn't work. So, this this will be my

[1:20:15] last time doing this. Once I've closed

[1:20:18] it and moved off, then we're we're done

[1:20:20] with public comment. So, go ahead,

[1:20:21] Christie.

[1:20:23] >> Thanks. I'm on my phone and it takes me

[1:20:25] a minute to get

[1:20:28] moving on it. Um, I'm wondering a lot of

[1:20:32] times on the Almanac or the PaloAlto

[1:20:34] weekly or the daily, I see the agendas

[1:20:37] posted for other council meetings. I

[1:20:41] find it interesting to read them just to

[1:20:44] compare. Oh, this time of year they're

[1:20:45] working on that. What is our town doing

[1:20:48] in comparison? So I think it is

[1:20:51] important to at some point when our

[1:20:54] budget gets to the point we can post

[1:20:57] which the daily you can post free I

[1:20:59] think but the almanac might charge

[1:21:02] um to get more people reading our

[1:21:06] information attending the meetings. We

[1:21:09] only have one place you're posting now

[1:21:11] which is right by town center. So I

[1:21:15] think we should let everyone know and so

[1:21:18] we get more than 10 people at meetings.

[1:21:20] Thank you.

[1:21:22] >> Thank you Christie.

[1:21:25] >> All right. So I'm going to bring it back

[1:21:26] to the council. Is there any discussion?

[1:21:29] The only comment I would have is this

[1:21:32] highlights the importance to me of

[1:21:35] resurrecting

[1:21:37] not immediately the PV fund attempt to

[1:21:40] improve our tele communications

[1:21:44] capabilities particularly in the

[1:21:46] schoolhouse. Um, I know that's it's

[1:21:49] related because I think this policy

[1:21:53] which we have to adopt is,

[1:21:57] you know, problematic because we've got

[1:21:59] to hang out for an hour,

[1:22:01] etc., etc. So, the right way to fix this

[1:22:04] is to have a little bit of of a better

[1:22:06] system, but that's it. I don't see any

[1:22:09] room to do anything but adopt the Right.

[1:22:13] >> Thank you, Mary. No,

[1:22:15] >> Rebecca.

[1:22:17] Yeah, I wanted to follow on on the whole

[1:22:19] idea of resilience for the town. Um, and

[1:22:22] I forgot to mention this during the

[1:22:24] discussion for the budget.

[1:22:25] Unfortunately, um, the PCE grant, um,

[1:22:30] it's it's been listed as being for

[1:22:32] improving energy efficiency, and I think

[1:22:34] it absolutely needs to be switched over

[1:22:36] to to installing battery backups.

[1:22:40] uh storage for the town center.

[1:22:42] Obviously, we won't be able to afford to

[1:22:45] have enough batteries to allow us to

[1:22:47] operate for even 72 hours, but if it can

[1:22:50] allow us to stay in operation for the

[1:22:54] time of a town council meeting, that

[1:22:56] would be pretty critical. So, in the

[1:22:58] event of an outage. So, I think we

[1:23:00] really need to make sure that any money

[1:23:02] we have available from like the PCE

[1:23:04] grant that it goes towards battery

[1:23:07] storage.

[1:23:09] >> Thank you, Helen.

[1:23:13] » Thank you for reminding

[1:23:16] us of that. Obvious uh obviously that's

[1:23:18] not the agenda item, but I would second

[1:23:22] the battery backup. Um but in terms of

[1:23:26] the um telephonic uh I'm you know I

[1:23:32] think I'm fine with that. Thank you.

[1:23:34] >> Thank you. All right. So I don't have

[1:23:36] any comments either. I would entertain a

[1:23:38] motion to approve this item.

[1:23:40] >> Motion to approve.

[1:23:41] >> Second.

[1:23:43] >> Okay. Veronica. Can I roll call?

[1:23:46] >> Council member Walter.

[1:23:48] >> I. Council member Husco. Hi.

[1:23:50] >> Council member Flynn. I. Vice Mayor

[1:23:54] Hufty. I

[1:23:55] >> Mayor Taylor. Hi.

[1:23:56] >> Motion carries.

[1:23:58] >> So, Veronica, on this next one, could I

[1:24:00] ask maybe you just summarize the slide?

[1:24:02] You know, we we got them in the packet

[1:24:04] and I can read the slides. So, maybe

[1:24:06] just summarize them rather than read

[1:24:07] them all the way through.

[1:24:08] >> Uh yes. So basically, uh, town council

[1:24:13] has authority to, uh,

[1:24:16] >> you should put, you should put them up

[1:24:17] so everybody can see them, but just then

[1:24:19] just summarize the slide

[1:24:21] >> to, uh, extend

[1:24:24] teleconference

[1:24:26] uh, capabilities for subsidiary bodies,

[1:24:30] which would be for the town uh, town

[1:24:34] council Brown Act committees.

[1:24:38] Uh so

[1:24:42] eligible subsidiary or advisory bodies

[1:24:44] are ones that are purely advisory. Uh

[1:24:47] they don't have any final

[1:24:49] decision-making authority or primary

[1:24:52] subject matter over things such as

[1:24:54] budget and taxes.

[1:24:56] Uh

[1:25:01] so these advisory bodies would be

[1:25:03] excluded from using this

[1:25:06] teleconferencing.

[1:25:08] uh

[1:25:10] capability

[1:25:11] and the remaining committees here are

[1:25:15] the ones that would be eligible.

[1:25:17] Um

[1:25:19] so if council authorizes them to meet

[1:25:23] fully remotely uh they need to make

[1:25:25] specific findings that remote

[1:25:28] participation

[1:25:30] uh would enhance public access and

[1:25:32] participation in those meetings and also

[1:25:35] consider the impacts on member diversity

[1:25:38] and retention of these uh bodies.

[1:25:43] Uh these findings are required for both

[1:25:46] the initial approval and council needs

[1:25:49] to reauthorize

[1:25:51] uh every six months.

[1:25:54] Uh if approved, the bodies conducting

[1:25:56] the remote meetings need to comply with

[1:25:59] certain requirements

[1:26:01] uh such as uh the body themselves need

[1:26:05] to vote uh on meeting fully remote. Uh

[1:26:10] physical meeting location needs to be uh

[1:26:13] available for public attendance. uh at

[1:26:16] least one staff member should needs to

[1:26:18] be physically present at that location

[1:26:21] and remote members have to appear on

[1:26:24] camera during the meeting.

[1:26:28] Uh another stipulation of

[1:26:31] uh this authorization is it allows

[1:26:35] subsidiary bodies to make formal

[1:26:37] recommendations to council uh using the

[1:26:41] following process. If they such as uh if

[1:26:45] they formally request to present their

[1:26:47] recommendations to council, council has

[1:26:49] to schedule a discussion within 60 days

[1:26:52] of getting that request at a regular

[1:26:55] meeting. It cannot be a special meeting.

[1:26:57] The item cannot be placed on consent and

[1:27:01] final action on the recommendations

[1:27:04] cannot occur until a subsequent meeting.

[1:27:07] So you can't meet and discuss the

[1:27:10] recommendation and vote on it. It has to

[1:27:12] be done at a following meeting

[1:27:17] and that is it for this one.

[1:27:20] >> Thank you. Thank you for the summary.

[1:27:22] All right. Any clarifying questions for

[1:27:24] Ron?

[1:27:26] >> Yeah, I have one.

[1:27:27] >> Yeah, and I have one too.

[1:27:28] >> Well, I have a couple. Um, so the

[1:27:31] conservate, so the test for whether you

[1:27:35] can do this and who's excluded

[1:27:39] if I'm only looking at your report. It

[1:27:41] says serves in an advisory capacity only

[1:27:45] and does not have final decision making

[1:27:47] authority over various things. But then

[1:27:51] there's a second prong which is and does

[1:27:54] not have primary subject matter

[1:27:56] jurisdiction over budgets, elections,

[1:27:58] police oversight, privacy, public

[1:28:00] library access, taxes or related

[1:28:02] spending proposals. So I am questioning

[1:28:07] um the conservation committee fitting

[1:28:08] into that because it's not only what

[1:28:13] >> they don't qualify. Yes, I'm questioning

[1:28:16] why because it's a two-prong test and

[1:28:20] they definitely have final decision

[1:28:22] making over tree permits, but that isn't

[1:28:25] a budget item or, you know, police

[1:28:28] oversight, privacy, etc. So, are we sure

[1:28:32] about that is the question.

[1:28:36] >> I I can maybe take a stab at this. So,

[1:28:39] um this only applies to advisory bodies.

[1:28:43] So we we as a preliminary matter

[1:28:45] excluded all decision-making bodies and

[1:28:47] then of those advisory bodies there are

[1:28:50] more there are certain bodies that are

[1:28:51] excluded. So the finance committee is

[1:28:54] only advisory but they're excluded

[1:28:56] because they have primary jurisdiction

[1:28:57] over the budgets and related spending

[1:29:00] appro approvals. Um

[1:29:03] so anyway that's that's the the reason

[1:29:06] for

[1:29:07] including uh sorry ex excluding

[1:29:12] conservation committee they are

[1:29:14] decision- making like um the planning

[1:29:17] commission and ASC while they really we

[1:29:20] were only able to identify one topic

[1:29:23] where they had decision-m authority uh

[1:29:26] we as staff felt like that was

[1:29:28] sufficient to take them out of the

[1:29:29] category of eligible subsidiary bodies.

[1:29:32] And so maybe I I'll just take this

[1:29:35] offline and go look at the legislation,

[1:29:37] but it does say it's not just a one

[1:29:40] trick, one trigger. It's a couple

[1:29:44] different prongs

[1:29:46] and like you get they are um not an

[1:29:50] advisory capacity only. I guess you're

[1:29:53] just stopping there and saying that

[1:29:56] takes them out. Okay, I'll I'll go off

[1:29:58] and read it. It just was interesting in

[1:30:01] the way it was phrased

[1:30:02] >> and we could bring this back if if you

[1:30:04] find that you think that it's really you

[1:30:06] have to have both to be yeah

[1:30:08] >> excluded then we'll bring it back and we

[1:30:10] can add them to the other list.

[1:30:12] >> Yeah, I I'm not feeling strongly right

[1:30:14] now. We could always do that separately

[1:30:16] because we've got to adopt something

[1:30:18] along these lines. It sounds um I am a

[1:30:21] little concerned about the one staff

[1:30:22] member must be physically

[1:30:26] present for public attendance. So, is

[1:30:29] that going to change how staffing

[1:30:31] currently works for these bodies?

[1:30:35] >> Yes, it could change it.

[1:30:38] But I think when we discussed in the

[1:30:39] past, we said the volunteer could staff

[1:30:41] that. So, for example, we had one

[1:30:44] committee member attending, they say,

[1:30:46] "Hey, I want to attend

[1:30:49] in the Buckeye room and have the AV

[1:30:51] running there." Then they would open the

[1:30:54] door and the public could come in and

[1:30:57] use the AV system there. We could use

[1:30:58] the town hall conference room if nobody

[1:31:01] wanted to come. We have staff in town

[1:31:03] hall,

[1:31:05] >> but it has to be a town staff member. It

[1:31:07] can't be a member of the committee

[1:31:09] >> because that the way it's written, it

[1:31:10] sounds like a town staff member.

[1:31:13] >> And that was my concern as well.

[1:31:15] >> Yeah.

[1:31:15] >> Versus I I I'm fine with a member of the

[1:31:18] committee having to come open it up and

[1:31:20] let the public in. That's makes total

[1:31:22] sense.

[1:31:24] So

[1:31:25] >> we can double check that, but I assure

[1:31:26] you that won't be a a barrier. And I

[1:31:30] should add that I talked to all the

[1:31:32] committee chairs about this to solicit

[1:31:34] just feedback. And the only one that was

[1:31:36] really interested was bicycle.

[1:31:39] >> Mhm.

[1:31:40] >> Because they have a chair who travels a

[1:31:42] lot and they've had a hard time getting

[1:31:44] it members and but then they were deemed

[1:31:46] ineligible. But actually I got to be

[1:31:48] honest no feedback from anyone. They

[1:31:50] seem to think it didn't seem that

[1:31:52] interesting to them. But anyways, back

[1:31:55] to this. It's not going to be a barrier.

[1:31:56] I mean, usually if staff needs to be

[1:31:58] there, we'll come and work if we abs,

[1:32:01] you know, if we have to.

[1:32:02] >> You don't think it's a huge burden? No.

[1:32:03] In other words, okay, that's

[1:32:04] >> and there was also a conversation I had

[1:32:06] about could we just use the town hall

[1:32:07] conference room? Fine. Yeah.

[1:32:09] >> Okay.

[1:32:09] >> Because we would just really want

[1:32:11] reliable AV system.

[1:32:14] >> Okay. Two quick questions. Oh, sorry.

[1:32:17] Did you have

[1:32:18] >> No, it's just a great point.

[1:32:20] >> Um, so open space, I thought they did

[1:32:22] have jurisdiction over recommending on

[1:32:26] the budget, but so you pressure tested

[1:32:28] that. They they don't

[1:32:30] >> just

[1:32:31] >> on their funds. Okay. All right. Um, and

[1:32:37] the last is if you have a committee of

[1:32:39] committees

[1:32:41] that's also a subsidiary body

[1:32:45] and could take advantage of this because

[1:32:47] we do have these other bodies we form

[1:32:49] from time to time.

[1:32:55] I think if they if the body was made up

[1:32:58] of members of other eligible subsidiary

[1:33:01] bodies, I think that would uh that would

[1:33:04] qualify. But if you have a a body that

[1:33:07] has a a planning commissioner or an ASC

[1:33:09] member, for example, that would take it

[1:33:10] out of uh consideration. I wanted to add

[1:33:13] one other note just to make it really

[1:33:15] clear. Um there is no deadline for

[1:33:17] adopting this resolution for the

[1:33:19] subsidiary bodies. Um unlike the the one

[1:33:22] the resolutions that you just adopted,

[1:33:24] there was a July 1 deadline. This one is

[1:33:26] actually entirely optional. So council

[1:33:28] could decide tonight to move forward. It

[1:33:30] could decide to continue it or it could

[1:33:31] decide not to move forward at this time.

[1:33:34] Okay, thank you.

[1:33:35] >> I just wanted to say that geologic

[1:33:37] safety is very excited about this and

[1:33:39] wants to us to move ahead

[1:33:42] if that makes any difference.

[1:33:44] >> Thank you, Rebecca.

[1:33:47] >> Yeah, a couple questions. Um, I have a

[1:33:50] little bit of a concern about the uh

[1:33:52] requirement to that town council must

[1:33:53] schedule a discussion on any

[1:33:55] recommendations within 60 days and then

[1:33:57] it requires actually two meetings given

[1:34:00] how packed our schedules are. Um, is

[1:34:02] there any kind of um level where a

[1:34:07] recommendation

[1:34:10] I'm trying to figure out how to say

[1:34:11] this. I mean, our committees make

[1:34:13] recommendations every day of the week.

[1:34:15] Um,

[1:34:16] you know, is there any kind of limit

[1:34:19] that we could put that it has to be

[1:34:20] based on a goal, a specified goal that's

[1:34:23] in their charter or that's that's been

[1:34:25] determined for that fiscal year that

[1:34:27] then they've studied it and then they

[1:34:29] make the recommendation to town council

[1:34:30] as opposed to, you know, sort of, you

[1:34:33] know, a random a more random um

[1:34:37] recommendation to the town. um that's

[1:34:40] not in their budget, that's not in our

[1:34:42] budget, that's not in their goals for

[1:34:44] the year, that you know just comes up

[1:34:46] sort of randomly. Is there any kind of

[1:34:48] limit that can be placed or should be

[1:34:51] placed

[1:34:52] um on that requirement?

[1:34:56] >> U Veronica, I'm happy to take a stab at

[1:34:58] that. Feel free to um add to it. So the state statute SB77

[1:35:04] refers to any recommendations

[1:35:07] um of these eligible subsidiary bodies

[1:35:09] have to go through this um kind of

[1:35:12] prescriptive process for taking the

[1:35:14] recommendations to council. Uh Veronica

[1:35:17] actually went back and forth on this

[1:35:18] because I I will say the first time I

[1:35:20] read this I I didn't really believe what

[1:35:21] it said. I thought could it really does

[1:35:23] this really mean any recommendations?

[1:35:24] But um after talking to some colleagues

[1:35:27] about it, we just believe this is sort

[1:35:28] of the quid proquo that the legislature

[1:35:30] determined for allowing um committees to

[1:35:34] you know meet uh entirely remotely.

[1:35:36] They're just adding more procedures uh

[1:35:39] to the process for you know in exchange

[1:35:41] for their ability to do that.

[1:35:45] >> Okay. And then in the um paperwork in

[1:35:47] the report it it mentioned something

[1:35:49] about any elected officials serving on

[1:35:51] the body must comply with you know the

[1:35:53] remote code uh including publicly

[1:35:57] noticing their remote location making

[1:35:59] accessible to the public. Is it correct

[1:36:01] in my assumption that a town council

[1:36:03] liaison who has no voting ability is not

[1:36:07] actually officially serving on the body?

[1:36:10] They're just serving as they're just

[1:36:11] there to report back on on what the

[1:36:15] discussion was, but they they serve no

[1:36:17] official capacity on that um committee

[1:36:20] and therefore don't have to comply with

[1:36:23] any of these um remote uh messaging

[1:36:28] rules rules.

[1:36:30] >> Correct. Correct. And is there a way to

[1:36:33] include that clarification within

[1:36:36] whatever ordinance we end up um

[1:36:40] approving or or deciding to approve that

[1:36:42] town council leaison are not not

[1:36:44] included just for clarification.

[1:36:55] I'm just looking at the language. I

[1:36:56] mean, certainly the the council we we

[1:36:58] included a draft um policy here for

[1:37:01] consideration and uh the council would

[1:37:04] have discretion to amend that to make

[1:37:06] any clarifications before adopting the

[1:37:08] resolution and adopting the policy.

[1:37:11] >> Okay. Thanks.

[1:37:13] >> Thank you, Rebecca. Ellen.

[1:37:15] >> Um, so this is a weird one, but I had a

[1:37:19] I know someone who

[1:37:22] moved away during CO and didn't tell

[1:37:25] anyone and stayed on a commission

[1:37:27] committee body um, multiple. And so, so

[1:37:33] what I'm curious about um

[1:37:38] is if we then have committee or

[1:37:40] commission members who just always

[1:37:43] remote in like I think we would lose

[1:37:45] something. Um, so I'm kind of wondering

[1:37:50] I I'm somewhat interested in potentially

[1:37:52] limiting to four times a year or

[1:37:55] something um because of that situation,

[1:37:59] but

[1:38:01] that would be my s my comment and

[1:38:03] suggestion.

[1:38:07] Okay, thank you.

[1:38:10] >> All right, let me check and see if there

[1:38:11] are any comments from the public. Rita

[1:38:13] Combmes has her hand up. Rita, go ahead.

[1:38:17] Hi, thank you for taking my comment. Um,

[1:38:20] this policy may help us with some um,

[1:38:23] retention of people and I am aware of

[1:38:27] some people um, that have been on

[1:38:29] committees and whatnot in the past that

[1:38:31] did move away. Maybe they had something

[1:38:34] going on in that address um, in town,

[1:38:37] but uh, that I think it's not for us as

[1:38:41] residents to police that, you know. Uh I

[1:38:44] think everyone that's on these different

[1:38:47] committees and whatnot, they're

[1:38:48] appointed by the council. So uh maybe

[1:38:51] there's a liazison with the council that

[1:38:53] can follow up on uh where people

[1:38:55] actually reside, but people do travel.

[1:38:58] And so it' be nice if um if some of them

[1:39:01] can be on um remote and uh you know many

[1:39:05] times the uh the geo safety meeting

[1:39:08] which I'm really glad that we've been

[1:39:10] doing for a while. It's an important

[1:39:11] group. you know, their meetings are on

[1:39:13] Monday mornings and if there was a

[1:39:16] outage that weekend, they do not have

[1:39:19] power to run their meetings and there's

[1:39:22] nobody around to to help them. So

[1:39:26] perhaps um you know for meetings that

[1:39:28] are are happening at odd times, you

[1:39:31] know, there will be uh staff and maybe

[1:39:34] uh the internet will be more secure for

[1:39:37] those for those different um meetings.

[1:39:40] And this idea of if a uh committee or

[1:39:44] commission proposes something and wants

[1:39:47] to meet with the council, you know, uh

[1:39:50] there are times planning commission

[1:39:53] hadn't met for months. You know, it was

[1:39:55] nice to see them today, but uh the

[1:39:58] residents don't have a chance to ask

[1:40:00] questions if they're not meeting and we

[1:40:02] can't send all of them a question. And

[1:40:06] so this might be a way to uh to fix that

[1:40:08] loophole. Uh I'm and I really appreciate

[1:40:12] uh you know the five of you that have uh

[1:40:15] stepped up to be elected into this

[1:40:17] position uh to keep our town safe, but

[1:40:21] uh our council has not always been as uh

[1:40:24] proactive as this particular one is. And

[1:40:27] so um I think moving forward having uh

[1:40:31] issues followed up would be a good

[1:40:33] thing. Thank you very much for

[1:40:35] listening.

[1:40:37] >> Thank you, Rita. Any other public

[1:40:39] comments?

[1:40:42] Okay. Going once, going twice, going

[1:40:45] three times. All right. I'm closing

[1:40:47] public comment.

[1:40:49] All right. So, bringing it back to the

[1:40:51] council for discussion. Who would like

[1:40:53] to go first?

[1:40:59] » Okay, Judith. Thank you.

[1:41:01] >> Sure. Um, look, I do think it's worth

[1:41:04] trying myself. Um, we have the right to

[1:41:07] revoke the authority at any time for any

[1:41:11] reason if we adopt it. And I am curious

[1:41:15] to see if we can get greater

[1:41:18] participation

[1:41:20] um by some of these bodies and make it

[1:41:23] easier for them to to meet. Um, so I

[1:41:28] would I would be in favor of trying it.

[1:41:31] I I think there are some legitimate

[1:41:33] questions that are being raised here.

[1:41:35] Um, but I think we can try it out for a

[1:41:38] while and see if it's um something

[1:41:40] that's manageable. That's my view.

[1:41:43] >> Thank you, Mary.

[1:41:44] >> Yeah, I I totally agree that we should

[1:41:46] give it a try. Um, in particular, I

[1:41:49] think committees like parks and wreck uh

[1:41:52] we've gotten the idea that we it's not

[1:41:54] possible to be a Brown Act committee.

[1:41:56] Well, it is possible and hopefully these

[1:41:59] little modifications will little by

[1:42:00] little will make it easier easy enough

[1:42:03] so we can actually get people

[1:42:05] participating again.

[1:42:08] >> Thank you, Rebecca.

[1:42:10] >> Yeah, in general, I'm uh supportive of

[1:42:12] allowing uh these bodies to meet

[1:42:15] remotely. Um

[1:42:18] I I would like to get a confirmation on

[1:42:21] Judith's question about the triggers

[1:42:23] whether the two are required to meet the level or if it's if it's one or the

[1:42:29] other. Um

[1:42:32] uh I don't know I don't have a strong

[1:42:34] opinion on whether the committee should

[1:42:36] meet at least a certain number of times

[1:42:38] in person. Um, I think it would be

[1:42:41] helpful to have it, you know, a minimal

[1:42:43] amount,

[1:42:45] you know, at least maybe a couple times

[1:42:46] a year in person or something if it made

[1:42:49] sense. Um,

[1:42:52] otherwise, I do support committees being

[1:42:54] able to meet remotely and attendance as

[1:42:56] well for, you know, individual people to

[1:42:59] be able to remotely as well as and still

[1:43:01] participate as a voting member when

[1:43:03] they're traveling. I don't know if

[1:43:05] that's part of this at all. So, that's my viewpoint. I don't know if it

[1:43:09] requires

[1:43:11] um I if we can go ahead and and and

[1:43:14] approve this tonight or if we need to

[1:43:16] have it have it come back as a consent

[1:43:18] item after there's been a little bit

[1:43:21] more um clarification on some of the

[1:43:23] open issues or if I don't know I don't

[1:43:25] have opinion on that one.

[1:43:27] >> Okay. Thank you. Helen

[1:43:31] » maybe I misunderstood. I thought this

[1:43:34] was for someone traveling for instance.

[1:43:36] Is this for the entire body to be Yeah.

[1:43:39] >> remote? Oh, I sorry. I missed that memo

[1:43:42] somehow.

[1:43:43] >> Somebody has to open it up, right?

[1:43:45] >> In person.

[1:43:46] Okay. So, um, you know, I

[1:43:49] definitely like the idea of being able

[1:43:52] to be remote, but I do I think it would

[1:43:55] be important to have, um,

[1:43:58] first of all to I I would have like a

[1:44:02] maximum of a person who's traveling individually

[1:44:09] do it four times a year. um is what I

[1:44:12] would like because if if they're always

[1:44:16] traveling, I'm concerned about that. Um

[1:44:21] so, and it would be to me it would be an

[1:44:25] honor system out of respect and things

[1:44:27] happen, but I would like that. And um

[1:44:30] and I do like Rebecca's idea of having,

[1:44:33] you know, them meet in person

[1:44:38] x number of times. I don't know you know

[1:44:41] four times a year also keep it same same

[1:44:43] or something so that people can remember

[1:44:45] it four and four or something um I you

[1:44:49] know and not everyone has to be at that

[1:44:52] those four but like that it would be an

[1:44:55] in-person meeting at least four times a

[1:44:57] year um and if people are traveling then

[1:44:59] they can zoom in as well so that's what

[1:45:01] I would recommend

[1:45:04] >> thank you um I mean I think we just do

[1:45:07] everything we can to support

[1:45:08] volunteerism in the town. So, I'm in

[1:45:10] favor of doing this. I have serious

[1:45:12] reservations about this any random issue

[1:45:15] getting brought to the council um and

[1:45:17] having to be dealt with in 60 days. But

[1:45:20] I think we should do is we should just

[1:45:21] pass it. I would recommend we just pass

[1:45:23] it as is um and that we try it and see

[1:45:27] if we, you know, if we if we find that

[1:45:29] there are problems, we can then change

[1:45:31] this. I mean, we got to renew it every

[1:45:32] six months anyway. So, I would say let's

[1:45:35] start it and see if, you know, if we end

[1:45:37] up getting a lot of random requests,

[1:45:38] then maybe we stop doing it. Or if we

[1:45:40] end up with people who are doing remote

[1:45:42] all the time and never seeing each other

[1:45:44] and we decide that's not a good thing,

[1:45:46] then maybe we add additional language.

[1:45:48] But I think we should just pass the

[1:45:49] resolution tonight and see how it goes.

[1:45:52] >> I second the motion.

[1:45:54] >> Um, okay. Not sure that is exactly a

[1:45:57] motion, but but but but that wasn't

[1:46:00] quite a motion. But but I will make the

[1:46:02] motion that we pass the

[1:46:06] now. If you want to second that, you

[1:46:07] can.

[1:46:07] >> I'll second that motion.

[1:46:08] >> All right, Veronica, we have a motion

[1:46:11] and a second.

[1:46:12] >> Council member Walter.

[1:46:18] » Um

[1:46:20] uh and happily, yes.

[1:46:24] >> Council member Hasco,

[1:46:26] >> I. Council member Flynn.

[1:46:30] >> Uh, yes. Since we are reconsidering this

[1:46:32] in six months. Yes.

[1:46:35] >> Vice Mayor Hufty.

[1:46:37] >> I.

[1:46:38] >> Mayor Taylor.

[1:46:39] >> I.

[1:46:39] >> Motion carries.

[1:46:40] >> Thank you. Thank you, Helen. I mean, I I

[1:46:44] appreciate your comments. I I think we

[1:46:45] should just, you know, let's just review

[1:46:46] it in six months.

[1:46:48] >> Yeah.

[1:46:49] >> I know we've already moved, but can can

[1:46:51] the committees make decisions about the

[1:46:53] what they'd like to do? In other words,

[1:46:55] would they like to say, I we have to

[1:46:57] have at least one live meeting.

[1:46:59] >> So, they can do whatever they want,

[1:47:00] right? This just gives them within this

[1:47:02] window, they they can do what they want.

[1:47:04] Um,

[1:47:05] >> okay. I' I'd like to move on to agenda

[1:47:07] item number eight.

[1:47:09] >> Um, so are there any oral reports that

[1:47:14] need to be made?

[1:47:17] >> No. I mean, the finance committee um

[1:47:20] meeting was held.

[1:47:21] >> I'll make that one. That's right. I

[1:47:24] mean, I'm the le I'm the lean actually.

[1:47:27] >> But um yes, but um happy to trade.

[1:47:31] >> No, that's okay. I gota I got to admit I

[1:47:34] lose track. But if you're the because I

[1:47:35] was going to make that comment, but if

[1:47:36] you're feel supplement because I I'll

[1:47:39] get it started. You supplement and then

[1:47:41] we'll deal with it. It I mean we heard

[1:47:43] about the budget. So no need to repeat

[1:47:45] that. Tony did a great job on that. And

[1:47:48] then um you know I will say that um

[1:47:54] it was not clear to me that the members

[1:47:58] knew what they needed to do. In other

[1:48:01] words, some of them felt like they

[1:48:02] needed to make a recommendation and

[1:48:04] didn't. So there was a little bit of uh

[1:48:07] lack of clarity there. But I think it

[1:48:09] ended up with them, you know, hearing it

[1:48:11] out, asking good questions, and the

[1:48:14] result was the the presentation tonight.

[1:48:16] So, I'm going to turn over to Craig

[1:48:18] about the the presentation that he made.

[1:48:21] I don't want to characterize that. So,

[1:48:23] and anything else you want to fill in?

[1:48:25] >> Yeah, I actually wasn't going to speak

[1:48:26] to that. I was just going to say that I

[1:48:28] thought it was a good robust discussion

[1:48:29] and if people are interested in the

[1:48:31] finances, they should watch the video.

[1:48:33] >> Yep.

[1:48:35] >> And everybody should watch the video of

[1:48:38] the airport roundt

[1:48:41] is fascinating. It's fascinating.

[1:48:44] President Trump's unleashed American

[1:48:47] drone dominance so that we can have

[1:48:49] vertical uh transportation right into

[1:48:52] Portolo Valley LA. It's going to be

[1:48:53] great.

[1:48:54] >> I I had actually had to go look that up

[1:48:57] and got really went down a big rabbit

[1:49:00] hole. It was really fun

[1:49:01] >> actually

[1:49:03] right

[1:49:04] >> but I did want to make a small

[1:49:06] correction.

[1:49:07] >> Oh god.

[1:49:08] >> Um you have contact Licardo or Mueller

[1:49:11] to let them know.

[1:49:13] >> Uhhuh. it. I think you meant maybe

[1:49:14] Mullen. Congressman Mullen.

[1:49:17] >> Um Oh, yeah.

[1:49:19] >> Yeah.

[1:49:20] >> Oh, Mullen. Okay.

[1:49:22] >> Yep. Um

[1:49:23] >> can't even remember.

[1:49:24] >> Yeah. Mueller has no jurisdiction over

[1:49:27] federal.

[1:49:28] >> Mullen.

[1:49:28] >> F A M U L E N.

[1:49:31] >> Mullen. M U L L I N.

[1:49:33] >> I N.

[1:49:35] >> Um. So,

[1:49:37] >> thank you. Sorry, small correction.

[1:49:40] >> It's okay.

[1:49:40] >> Okay.

[1:49:42] But there's an opening.

[1:49:45] >> You do conserve.

[1:49:46] >> I just want to get money from the SFO.

[1:49:49] Really, that's all I wanted for the

[1:49:51] town.

[1:49:53] Um, I do have a small conservation

[1:49:56] committee I covered for Rebecca. Um,

[1:50:02] it's a contentious committee. There's a

[1:50:04] lot of tension on it. I just uh I hope

[1:50:06] that people who know people who are on

[1:50:08] it, we need to talk to people about

[1:50:10] being respectful of each other.

[1:50:13] Um and they are working on a list. I'm

[1:50:18] going to try to get this straight. List

[1:50:21] of planting that would be ministerial.

[1:50:24] Did I get that?

[1:50:26] It's Yeah, it

[1:50:30] objective standards. Thank you. Not

[1:50:32] ministerial. Thank you. You're right.

[1:50:34] objective standards. So a plant list

[1:50:36] that would be objective and we you know

[1:50:39] so that they can easily plant when

[1:50:42] things are being developed. So but the

[1:50:47] but right if you have remind people to

[1:50:50] be kind and respectful on on that

[1:50:52] committee if you know people there

[1:50:54] >> we we also I'll just point it out. I

[1:50:57] don't want to discuss we have the code

[1:50:59] of ethics that applies so it might be a

[1:51:02] tool

[1:51:04] >> for you it

[1:51:06] >> well it's usually Rebecca's but I was

[1:51:08] sorry Rebecca

[1:51:13] » but we you know I just you know we all

[1:51:17] have um know people on that you know on

[1:51:20] that committee so there's been some

[1:51:22] chatter to me so um just it we need to

[1:51:28] make sure that the tone on committees

[1:51:31] are thoughtful and kind and

[1:51:35] thank you.

[1:51:36] >> Thank you. Okay. Um so with that I will

[1:51:40] open it up to public comment.

[1:51:44] Is there any public comments?

[1:51:47] See no one in the room. I see no one

[1:51:49] online. Going once, going twice, three

[1:51:52] times. Gone. Okay. Um then I would look

[1:51:55] for a motion to adjourn. So moved.

[1:51:57] >> Second. Thank you everyone. Great.

06-10-2026 Town Council Meeting

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