[0:00] All right. Good evening. Welcome

[0:01] everyone. Like to call town council to

[0:05] order.

[0:06] Can we have roll call? Veronica.

[0:10] >> Council member Walter

[0:12] present. Council member Hasco here.

[0:15] Council member Flynn

[0:16] >> here.

[0:17] >> Vice Mayor Hufty

[0:19] >> here.

[0:19] >> Mayor Taylor

[0:20] >> present.

[0:21] >> We have a quorum.

[0:22] >> Thank you. All right. The third item on

[0:25] the agenda is a report out from close

[0:26] session. Katherine.

[0:27] >> Uh thank you, Mayor, Council. Uh the

[0:29] council met in close session prior to

[0:31] tonight's regular meeting to uh conduct

[0:34] the annual performance evaluation of the

[0:35] town manager and provide um direction to

[0:39] uh the town attorney um as his labor

[0:41] negotiator. Nothing to report out. Thank

[0:44] you.

[0:44] >> Thank you.

[0:46] All right, moving on to number four,

[0:48] presentations and proclamations. So

[0:50] tonight we have a com com, excuse me, a

[0:54] commemoration honoring the life,

[0:56] leadership, and enduring leg legacy of

[0:58] former Portola Valley Mayor Edward C.

[1:01] Ted as we all knew him, Briscoll. Um,

[1:05] and I'd just like to give all the

[1:06] council members just a short moment to say, you know, whatever their

[1:11] thoughts are on Ted, and then I will

[1:12] basically hand the um commemoration to

[1:15] the family. Um, and we really appreciate

[1:17] you coming here tonight. Thank you. So,

[1:20] should we start Mary?

[1:23] Well, uh Ted was a a was an

[1:27] inspirational leader for all of us and uh he uh never failed in his

[1:33] optimism and he was did a wonderful job

[1:36] with of course our town center in an

[1:40] effort that uh those of us who resist

[1:42] change resisted uh mightily and he made

[1:46] a beautiful center a culturally alive

[1:50] uh meaningful place in our town and we

[1:54] deeply appreciate it.

[1:56] Also, as the more I've researched him,

[1:58] the more impressive he gets. So, thank

[2:02] you for sharing him with us for those

[2:04] many years.

[2:06] >> Thank you, Barry. Judah.

[2:07] >> Yeah. Uh the town certainly benefited

[2:10] from all of his efforts on it on our

[2:13] behalf. Um uh Ted actually was one

[2:17] interviewed me for the planning

[2:19] commission with Steve Tobin and um I

[2:23] just I it made a huge difference um the

[2:27] way he was interacting, the way he was

[2:31] describing the opportunities and you

[2:35] know being frank about the downsides. Um

[2:38] it was a great conversation and I'm not

[2:40] sure I would have stepped up at that

[2:43] point if not for him. So on a personal

[2:46] level he he made a huge difference and

[2:50] you know looking forward I'm sure I'm

[2:51] not the only one with that tale to tell.

[2:54] So he really did inspire people to step

[2:57] forward and volunteer in the good portal

[2:59] valley spirit. So, we really appreciate

[3:03] Ted and you you his family uh sharing

[3:06] him with us. Thank you,

[3:09] >> Rebecca.

[3:10] >> Yeah. Yeah. I first met Ted um through

[3:12] the town center renewal project and um I

[3:16] was very impressed with how much he went

[3:19] out to the community and listened to um

[3:23] so many people's opinions and

[3:25] perspectives on this. And I was also

[3:28] really impressed with how informed he

[3:30] was about the whole the the whole green

[3:32] building uh features of the comm of the

[3:34] town center. And he really pushed to put

[3:37] those and to get us our lead

[3:39] certification so that the town could

[3:41] actually be the town center could be

[3:43] sort of a a goal for many other

[3:45] communities. So um I I was very

[3:48] impressed with how smart he was and how

[3:50] kind he was. Thanks,

[3:53] >> Helen. Um, so while I was raised here, I

[3:57] actually didn't know your dad. Um, but I

[4:01] had, you know, my parents knew him and I

[4:05] always heard about your dad. Um, and for

[4:07] those of us who grew up here, you know,

[4:10] like I learned to drive over where the

[4:12] tennis court was in front of the old

[4:14] building over there, right? Like round

[4:15] and round in the big parking lot. So

[4:17] that your dad had the vision to help

[4:21] create what we have today. I really

[4:23] appreciate and [clears throat] um and

[4:25] I'm sorry for your loss and that please

[4:28] know that I am um grateful that he would

[4:32] that he guided our town as like he did.

[4:35] So thank you.

[4:38] >> And I would just echo the comments of my

[4:40] fellow council members. For people who

[4:43] haven't been here,

[4:45] the town center that we sit in now,

[4:48] which is the cultural heart of Portola

[4:51] Valley, was driven by TED. Ted made it

[4:54] happen. I mean, other people were

[4:56] certainly involved, but without Ted's

[4:59] leadership, it it would not have

[5:00] happened. Um, and I was here when there

[5:02] were people who were against it. I mean,

[5:04] as hard as it is to believe today, how

[5:06] beautiful it is that people would have

[5:08] been against this, but at the time they

[5:09] were. Um and and Ted drove it forward,

[5:13] has Cherrettes brought people together

[5:15] to make it happen. So again, I I think

[5:18] we were so lucky to have him both

[5:19] serving as a council member and

[5:22] basically having a vision for what we

[5:24] could have here at the town center. So

[5:26] again, thank you so much. Thank you for

[5:28] the family for sharing him with all of

[5:30] us in Portola Valley. It's greatly

[5:32] appreciated. And with that, I would like

[5:34] to hand you a proclamation. So thank you

[5:37] for coming tonight. And I'll walk to

[5:39] you. You don't have to come up to me.

[5:52] » Exactly.

[6:04] [laughter]

[6:06] Thank you.

[6:14] We We're not going to do our moment of

[6:16] silence.

[6:20] Do Do you want to do a moment of

[6:21] silence?

[6:22] >> I think they're left. I don't know. We can do a moment of silence. I mean,

[6:28] we give him the proclamation.

[6:31] I I'm I'm good with that. Why Why don't

[6:32] we just take a moment um and just

[6:35] remember some of the great things that

[6:36] Ted did for this town? Thank you.

[7:06] All right. So, I'm going to move on to

[7:09] the next one. But, um, again, I think it

[7:12] Ted was deeply appreciated by this town.

[7:14] Uh I I wanted to just say that one of

[7:18] the things that have come out of this is

[7:20] u that the uh historic resource

[7:24] committee is working hard on the

[7:26] archives the historic resource and uh

[7:29] we're hoping to have sort of a the

[7:32] personalities of the town and and a

[7:36] commemorative page at some point come

[7:38] out of that effort.

[7:41] >> Great. Well, look forward to it. All

[7:43] right. All right, with that I'm going to

[7:44] close number four and move on to number

[7:47] five, the town manager report. Darcy?

[7:49] >> Yes. Good evening. Darcy Smith, town

[7:51] manager. I'll give a brief report. First

[7:54] of all, thank you for everyone who

[7:56] attended our last summer concert series.

[7:58] I think I saw many of you there and it was packed to be honest. I would say

[8:03] for the next one, which is August 6, get

[8:06] there early, get your little spot on the

[8:09] lawn with your blanket and enjoy it.

[8:14] I have a housing element amendment

[8:16] update which is that we've checked the

[8:18] box submitted it the state housing and

[8:22] community development department and

[8:25] they have 60 days to respond and they

[8:27] will either give us another comment

[8:29] letter or they might might certify it.

[8:32] Um but that will happen midepptember and

[8:34] then the plan would be to bring it back

[8:36] to the council as soon as possible.

[8:39] So, thank you to all the council and the

[8:43] planning commission and our committees

[8:45] and the staff who helped this happen. It

[8:48] is a certainly an important milestone to

[8:50] move forward and as you know remove the

[8:52] Dorothy Ford Park and open space site

[8:54] from the housing element and replace it

[8:56] with three other sites that we're really

[8:58] excited about.

[9:00] And then an important note to the

[9:02] community, our next council meeting on

[9:04] August 12th will be cancelled and the

[9:07] next meeting of the town council will be

[9:09] August 26th.

[9:11] And that said, the town halls town hall

[9:13] will remain completely open. So we are

[9:16] there in the mornings and frankly it's

[9:19] been very busy in the mornings. So we

[9:21] welcome you in at and we open at 8:30 if

[9:24] you want to come in. And that concludes

[9:25] my short report. Thank you.

[9:28] >> Thank you Darcy. Any

[9:30] questions for the town manager? No. No.

[9:33] Good. All right. So then moving on to

[9:34] oral communications. So I'll open this

[9:37] up to the public. These is basically for

[9:40] anything that we've discussed up to this

[9:42] point and any other things that are not

[9:44] on tonight's agenda. So I don't see any

[9:47] hands in the schoolhouse

[9:52] and I don't see any hands online.

[9:56] Okay. So, with that, I'm going to close

[9:58] oral communications and move on to the

[10:00] consent agenda.

[10:08] So, are there any public comments on the

[10:11] consent agenda?

[10:13] Again, I don't see any in the

[10:15] schoolhouse.

[10:17] I don't see any online.

[10:20] All right. So, I'm going to bring it

[10:21] back to the council. Are there any

[10:23] consent ag consent agenda items that a

[10:26] council member wants to pull?

[10:28] >> No. No. No. All right. Then I would

[10:30] accept a motion to approve the consent

[10:32] agenda.

[10:34] >> I move to approve the consent agenda.

[10:37] >> Second.

[10:38] >> Thank you. We have a motion and a

[10:39] second. All in favor say I.

[10:42] >> I. I.

[10:43] >> Any opposed?

[10:45] All right. I hear no opposition. All

[10:47] right. Moving on to number eight.

[10:50] Regular agenda. First topic is the

[10:53] considering considering adoption of a

[10:56] resolution authorizing an additional um

[11:01] sorry

[11:03] basically this is a um consideration of

[11:06] whether we should spend more money on

[11:08] the auditing to accelerate the audits.

[11:11] Tony

[11:24] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening,

[11:27] members of council. Uh tonight I

[11:29] tonight's item staff is asking STE uh

[11:31] council to recommend to adopt a

[11:33] resolution authorizing an additional

[11:35] 45,000 in general fund appropriation in

[11:38] the current year in order to expedite

[11:40] the completion of the audits for fiscal

[11:42] year um 23 24 and for fiscal year 2425.

[11:57] origins.

[12:06] So, um in our meetings with Maize and

[12:10] Associates,

[12:12] um who is the town auditor,

[12:15] um they agreed to do fiscal years 23,

[12:19] 24, and 245 uh concurrently. Um and

[12:24] since uh financial

[12:28] um responsibility and long-term

[12:30] viability is one of the highest council

[12:32] priorities, uh one strategy was

[12:35] completing the backlog of the audits.

[12:37] And it's uh it's time we uh put these to

[12:40] bed. And um so in our conversations with

[12:44] Maize, they did propose a very

[12:47] aggressive schedule. I'm happy to report

[12:50] that we have reached the first two

[12:52] milestones. Uh the first one was on July

[12:54] 20th. We were to have trial balances and

[12:58] uh prepared by client checklist items

[13:01] which was schedules. Um it was about 30

[13:04] for each fiscal year. uh we were able to

[13:06] produce about 95% of what the auditors

[13:10] had asked for and um on the 20th uh the

[13:14] auditors did confirm receipt and that

[13:16] they were uh have what they need in

[13:19] order to meet the deadline of uh issuing

[13:21] both financial statements by October 15,

[13:25] 2026.

[13:26] Um this chart is the schedule as as I

[13:29] stated the trial balances and the PBC

[13:31] checklists were due to Mays on the 20th.

[13:35] we did meet that goal. Um I have already

[13:38] received the first analytical review

[13:40] questions for fiscal year 24. Um I am

[13:43] almost completed with my review of that.

[13:45] We'll probably have that back to Maze

[13:47] either tomorrow or Friday. Uh and then

[13:50] they will send 25 uh when that is done.

[13:53] And then looking at uh next month um

[13:58] we'll have the analytical review

[13:59] questions before August 10th and then

[14:03] we'll have May's conducting fieldwork

[14:05] through August 21st and hopefully with

[14:08] the first draft of financial statements

[14:10] by August 25th and then the next few

[14:13] weeks will be final review revisions and

[14:16] approval. Um when the draft financial

[14:19] statements are available we will be

[14:21] taking them to the finance committee. uh

[14:23] before coming to council. Uh so plan on

[14:27] the second meeting in October for the

[14:31] financial statements for 23 24 and 2425

[14:34] to be brought to council for acceptance.

[14:38] So yes uh some considerations for the

[14:42] before adopting the resolution number

[14:43] one. Yes, we are asking for an

[14:45] additional 45,000 appropriation for the

[14:47] current year. By doing so, we'll be able

[14:49] to reduce the finance department's

[14:51] budget by $95,000 in the next fiscal

[14:54] year. U, but one tradeoff is that um

[14:58] with this being a priority uh for the

[15:01] finance staff and myself personally, um

[15:04] the we will be delaying in hiring the

[15:07] finance manager until uh probably

[15:10] October before we can even start the

[15:12] recruitment. Um and it's not just for

[15:14] the audit. There's also other projects

[15:15] that are coming online as well. We're

[15:18] going to be bringing to council uh the

[15:20] street resurfacing contract probably in

[15:22] September and then October or in August

[15:25] we'll also be bringing a contract for an

[15:27] IT service provider as well. So these

[15:29] are some items that are on my plate as

[15:32] well and we'll be getting those off my

[15:33] plate as well.

[15:35] And um if you look on the chart on the

[15:38] right, which is the finance department's

[15:40] budget, uh the amount adopted was

[15:42] 96,000.

[15:44] U we're asking for an additional

[15:47] $45,000. We did have $50,000 budgeted

[15:50] for miscellaneous consultants. Uh the

[15:53] plan was to bring in a an additional

[15:56] person to augment uh staff and just

[15:58] focus on the 2324 audit. Uh but since

[16:02] May came back with the the proposal,

[16:04] we're just going to bite the bullet and

[16:06] uh just get these audits done. So we'll

[16:09] be reducing miscellaneous consultants by

[16:11] 50,000, but we will be increasing the

[16:13] accounting and auditing line by 95,

[16:15] which is a net 45. Um also, if there's

[16:18] any other overages since we're delaying

[16:21] hiring the finance manager, we'll have

[16:23] some salary savings as well uh to cover

[16:25] any overages as well.

[16:28] So that concludes my report. Back to

[16:29] council for questions.

[16:31] Thank you, Tony. And I'd just like to

[16:33] add to this that I think Tony probably

[16:36] spent 30 hours last weekend working on

[16:38] this. So,

[16:39] >> as a staff, we spent over 100 hours

[16:41] personally.

[16:42] >> I mean, I did 30 hours over the weekend,

[16:44] but

[16:44] >> yeah, in addition in addition to all

[16:46] your staff time. So, I'm I'm just saying

[16:47] finance staff is on this and and it's

[16:50] greatly appreciated. So, questions for

[16:51] Tony on this?

[16:54] >> I I have a couple. Um, these are pretty

[16:57] straightforward. Um, but Tony, you're saying we're putting off the

[17:01] hiring of the finance director. Is that

[17:03] because it would take time, your time?

[17:06] >> Yes. I mean,

[17:07] >> do that and we have to

[17:09] >> do applications, do interviews. Um, I

[17:12] just do not have that in my

[17:13] >> Yeah. And I understand. I just wanted to

[17:15] make sure I was following the rationale.

[17:17] >> And then in terms of the

[17:20] next year's savings, just explain that

[17:24] to me one more time.

[17:25] >> Right. So we we're not going to be

[17:27] having $50,000 for additional

[17:29] consultants and we're also not going to

[17:31] have

[17:32] >> two audits. Will we actually be paying

[17:33] for one?

[17:34] >> Oh, we're we're frontloading this year.

[17:36] Yeah.

[17:36] >> Okay. Thanks.

[17:39] >> Other questions? Helen?

[17:40] >> Yeah. Go ahead.

[17:42] >> So um I know that we've had some public

[17:45] comments about trying to get

[17:48] these audits done potentially before,

[17:51] you know, if we vote tonight to put this

[17:53] on the ballot. Um, and I'm so I'm

[17:57] wondering how much

[18:01] bec was was this decision like

[18:04] recommendation based on that idea to

[18:06] have it done before the potential ballot

[18:09] measure?

[18:10] >> That was part of it, but the other part

[18:12] of it is we just we just need to get

[18:14] these done

[18:17] >> because if if we didn't do this when

[18:21] remind me when it would be done. we

[18:23] would still be one or two years behind

[18:26] going forward. Um but with bringing in

[18:29] the finance manager, we could probably

[18:31] catch up with one more, but then next

[18:33] year we would still be two years behind.

[18:34] And so it would we would still be

[18:36] playing catch-up. Um but it probably

[18:38] would be until 2728

[18:40] that we would have had all the audits

[18:42] caught up.

[18:43] >> Got it. Okay. Um Okay. Thank you. That's

[18:48] my question. And and one other thing I

[18:50] can mention just because I was involved

[18:52] talking to Maze is we now have a partner

[18:54] doing our audits. So that's the way we

[18:57] made this work is they didn't have their

[18:59] normal sort of auditing staff to do this

[19:02] because they're already they're going to

[19:03] be booked in August, but we got a

[19:04] partner who said I'm going to cancel my

[19:06] vacation to work on this stuff. So

[19:08] that's we all along the line here we've

[19:11] gotten people who we've moved this stuff

[19:13] around. So, I think we're both The other

[19:15] thing is it's going to cost us a little

[19:16] bit more, but we're getting a higher

[19:18] quality auditor on our audits for the

[19:22] next two years. So, I think that's

[19:23] another great plus. Other questions for

[19:25] Tony?

[19:26] >> Yeah. Um, yeah, I just I really

[19:28] appreciate how much effort you and

[19:30] others put into actually

[19:33] finding a solution with Maze to get this

[19:35] work done. Um, I I understand that it

[19:39] makes sense not to delay hiring the

[19:41] finance manager because of the bandwidth

[19:43] to actually find somebody, but I am a

[19:45] little concerned about um what type of

[19:48] support you might need for some of the

[19:50] finance tasks given that I think you're

[19:51] doing at least three jobs now. I just

[19:54] kind of want to understand a little bit

[19:57] um what support you would need just for

[20:00] some of the to offload a little bit

[20:02] while you focus on the audits and the

[20:04] other jobs. Um

[20:06] >> I I'm happy [clears throat] to say that

[20:08] staff are

[20:11] happy and willing to if whatever I need.

[20:14] Um the finance staff um has been my own

[20:17] personal pet project since I started. Uh

[20:20] and it's been training and getting their

[20:21] skills up to date. Uh and they are hund

[20:25] times better than when I started. Uh so

[20:28] there's that's lessened the load for me

[20:31] a little bit. Um, but I mean there's

[20:33] still I still have my day-to-day, you

[20:36] know, I have to review and post and and

[20:39] you just because of internal controls.

[20:41] Um, but the other duties, every other

[20:44] staff member is stepping up and, you

[20:46] know, you if I don't have the answer

[20:48] that they they can help me out as well.

[20:51] Uh so it's it's um and um personal note

[20:56] um I I enjoy a challenge and so it's

[21:02] kind of been my career has been every position I've

[21:07] held has been a challenge in some sort

[21:09] of way. Uh so but I'm very happy to say

[21:12] that staff is stepping up and supporting

[21:14] me uh in my role. And then my second

[21:18] question was well well I guess I have

[21:19] three in all. Um you had said something

[21:21] about capital projects that I didn't

[21:23] quite catch. Um

[21:24] >> uh we'll be bringing the street

[21:26] resurfacing uh projects in September

[21:29] >> and that's with our interim

[21:31] >> public managers handling that right now.

[21:33] Yeah. Okay.

[21:34] >> Um and then my last question was um

[21:38] I know that the there's a certain number

[21:40] of years you can work with each auditor.

[21:42] >> Mhm. And um with Maize we we've managed

[21:46] that by working with a new partner and

[21:48] then what is the plan for 2520? Do we

[21:51] need will we need to recruit a new

[21:53] completely new auditor or

[21:55] >> No, it'll be technically it'll be year

[21:57] three with this partner.

[22:00] >> Okay.

[22:00] >> Have three additional years. Um but then

[22:03] I mean but we can always revisit that.

[22:06] But yes, every six years we're to rotate

[22:09] auditing firms unless they have multiple

[22:11] partners. And as long as we can rotate

[22:14] partners, then we can stay with the same

[22:16] firm.

[22:17] >> But I'm very pleased with May stepping up

[22:22] and helping us get through this and

[22:24] being a partner for us.

[22:26] >> Great. Thank you.

[22:29] >> All right. Any other questions for Tony

[22:30] before I open up the public? Okay. No.

[22:33] All right. Are there any questions for

[22:36] Tony or comments? I guess I should say

[22:38] for Tony um in the schoolhouse. All

[22:41] right. So, I don't see anybody's hand

[22:43] raised in the schoolhouse

[22:45] and I don't see any hands online.

[22:50] All right. So, I'm going to bring it

[22:51] back to the council for discussion and

[22:54] potential approval.

[22:56] So, who would like to start?

[23:00] >> Um, go ahead. Um, thank you so much. Um,

[23:04] we it is going to be so great to move

[23:07] beyond the discussion of why we're late

[23:11] and revisiting history. And and frankly,

[23:14] this is an opportunity to turn the page

[23:17] and get things right. And I think that's

[23:20] part of our priorities uh was to move us

[23:24] into position to get it right. Um I do

[23:28] admire your tenacity and challenge uh

[23:31] love of a challenge. So uh on a personal

[23:34] level, thank you so much for applying

[23:36] that energy here. Um you know, I know we

[23:39] don't want to pay more than we have to

[23:42] at this moment in our town's history,

[23:44] but this opens up so many better

[23:46] possibilities.

[23:48] um grants are going to be more easily

[23:50] available to us. That that to me this is

[23:54] a pretty straightforward uh analysis and

[23:57] I'm very grateful we have the

[23:59] opportunity. So I I support it

[24:01] >> and it will also free up my time.

[24:04] >> Very important.

[24:07] » Yes, I'm I'm totally in support and uh

[24:10] this makes a lot of sense. I'm just so

[24:13] glad we can finally see the finish line

[24:15] and uh go for it.

[24:21] » Yeah. Yeah. I want to um echo what my

[24:23] colleagues have said as well and I think

[24:26] it's um

[24:28] the reasons to accelerate these audits

[24:31] is that it's very important that we

[24:33] communicate to the residents that that

[24:36] our uh our financial documents are very

[24:40] high quality that um particularly since

[24:43] you've come on board and all the

[24:45] incredible work that you've put in as

[24:47] well as your team um in fixing all the

[24:49] problems that were identified us before

[24:51] you arrived. Um I I think it's really

[24:55] important that the audit will only just

[24:57] reconfirm what we all know already that

[25:00] our um our finance team and our

[25:03] financial documents are um perfectly

[25:05] well-kept and we are following all the

[25:09] uh rules and the government um auditing

[25:12] rules and um that everybody can be safe

[25:15] and feel safe and secure that the

[25:18] numbers that we're publishing are

[25:19] accurate. So again, I appreciate I

[25:21] appreciate you're missing your vacation,

[25:23] you're not going on your vacation. Um,

[25:25] and I do appreciate how much effort

[25:27] you're putting into our town. Thank you.

[25:30] >> Thank you, Ellen.

[25:32] >> Um, so I'm sorry to hear you're going to

[25:35] miss your vacation potentially. Um,

[25:39] and and I'm somewhat relieved to hear

[25:41] that it's not just about the election

[25:44] because I have this in the 2024

[25:46] election, nearly 60% of voters cast

[25:49] their ballots early and, you know,

[25:51] October 28th is early. So hopefully, you

[25:55] know, we always want people to vote and

[25:57] vote early. Um, so I I was a little bit

[26:02] concerned about that. Um, but I would

[26:04] love to get these audits taken care of

[26:06] and um it would be nice. It would be

[26:11] it's would be such a relief to have have

[26:14] it be done and so um so I support that.

[26:17] So thank you.

[26:20] So I would echo my colleagues

[26:24] this is money well spent. There's no doubt in my mind this is

[26:27] closing a very unfortunate chapter in

[26:30] the town's finances. Um, and Tony and

[26:33] your staff have been instrumental in

[26:34] leading that charge. So, so thank you

[26:36] for doing that. Um, and we're all glad

[26:39] you enjoy a challenge. Thank goodness

[26:40] for that. [laughter]

[26:42] So, with that, I would entertain a

[26:44] motion to authorize additional general

[26:47] fund budget for the maze contract.

[26:52] >> I move to authorize. Second.

[26:54] >> Thank you. I have a motion in a second.

[26:56] All in favor say I.

[26:58] >> I.

[26:58] Any opposed? I hear no opposition.

[27:02] Congratulations, Tony. Thank you again

[27:04] for your hard work.

[27:06] All right. Now, we're going to move on

[27:08] to agenda item 8B. This is considering a

[27:13] adoption of a resolution submitting to

[27:15] the voters of Portola Valley a measure

[27:18] both to adopt the CH town charter and to

[27:21] authorize a real property transfer tax.

[27:24] So, with that, who's presenting?

[27:26] >> Yes,

[27:27] >> Darcy. Yes, I have the pleasure of

[27:29] presenting this item. So, just give me a

[27:31] second to bring up the PowerPoint.

[27:39] Come on. Sorry. Okay, there we go. Oh.

[27:42] Um, I'll be presenting, but as I get the

[27:45] PowerPoint up, I just want to make sure

[27:47] everyone knows it was a real team

[27:48] effort. And while I'm making this

[27:52] presentation,

[27:53] our esteemed town attorney, Katherine

[27:55] Angberg's available to answer any

[27:57] questions after we're done. Tony

[27:59] McFarland, assistant town manager,

[28:02] is here as well. And then I want to

[28:05] acknowledge Lauren Tarpe, who's

[28:07] Katherine's associate, who's been really

[28:09] helpful on this as well. So

[28:14] hold on. It's not

[28:17] does not like to screen share.

[28:22] maybe a testament of how

[28:24] important the spell measure is to

[28:29] improve some of the challenges in our

[28:30] town like our capital infrastructure

[28:32] here. Okay. So, this is the

[28:35] consideration of a resolution and I will

[28:38] acknowledge that we have the town team

[28:40] has been working on this for over a

[28:42] year. So, this is a important milestone.

[28:46] But I want to reflect on where we

[28:48] started. In 1964, this town was

[28:51] incorporated

[28:52] primarily, although not only to ensure

[28:56] local control over development as this

[28:58] town faced development pressure in the

[29:01] hills and to preserve the rural beauty.

[29:03] As you can see in this photo from Dan

[29:05] Quinn, our local photographer,

[29:07] we have a lot of natural beauty and we

[29:09] also have a lot of ecologically and

[29:11] environmental sensitive

[29:13] um land. This town was founded by

[29:16] volunteers and in its for many decades

[29:19] run by volunteers such as Ted Driscoll

[29:21] who you just heard about and that was

[29:22] really meant to minimize our costs and

[29:25] minimize and that in turn though

[29:26] resulted in minimal taxes. The general

[29:29] plan goals which we're very proud of. Um

[29:32] the general plan is our constitutional

[29:33] growth um echo these sentiments of

[29:36] keeping our town rural and tranquil,

[29:38] familyfriendly

[29:39] and um using the land in a manner that's

[29:42] compatible with the ecological

[29:44] environmental richness of the community.

[29:47] Um when we started on this journey to

[29:49] look at this ballot measure back in

[29:51] September, we found overwhelmingly

[29:54] positive feedback from the residents

[29:55] that were surveyed that 91% of them are

[29:58] satisfied with the quality of life. And

[30:00] I think it's a credit to this town

[30:02] council and the councils before you that

[30:05] local government governance is what

[30:08] keeps our values and our character

[30:09] intact.

[30:14] So Tony talked a little bit about one of

[30:18] the council's top priorities that we've

[30:20] been working on and he demonstrated the

[30:23] work that the staff has put into that

[30:25] over a few years. Um he's been working

[30:28] hard as you've heard on the backlog of

[30:30] audits and we now have a successful plan

[30:32] in place. He's been implementing the

[30:35] financial consultant best practices

[30:37] recommendations.

[30:39] You

[30:40] adopted the master fee schedule recently

[30:43] with um improved fees that reflect the

[30:47] true cost of providing these services to

[30:49] our residents. And one of the key items

[30:51] which we're talking about tonight is

[30:54] preparation of a town charter and a real

[30:57] property transfer tax ordinance that

[30:59] placed on the ballot. And the the

[31:00] guiding mission of that is to provide

[31:03] locally controlled funding to ensure the

[31:05] town's fiscal stability and autonomy

[31:07] which I'll talk more about.

[31:09] So you've seen this slide before. I want

[31:12] to just note it has gotten worse in the

[31:15] last month as we looked at our budget

[31:17] and we looked at the cost for example of

[31:20] the sheriff's contract. Um, and I think

[31:23] some people look at this and they only

[31:25] see the $700,000 ongoing structural

[31:27] deficit and they think, well, that's all

[31:29] you need to raise. But in fact, we've

[31:31] deferred a lot of items. Um, this is

[31:34] what I would call like the life support

[31:36] plan. you know, we're on life support,

[31:38] but eventually

[31:40] um we there is an unfortunate outcome

[31:43] when you're generally on life support.

[31:44] And what we've seen is not uncommon to

[31:47] cities. It's also not uncommon to

[31:49] household budgets as they've looked at

[31:51] inflation and growing costs, but our

[31:53] expenses are increasing faster than our

[31:56] revenues. And a lot of our revenues, you

[31:57] know, comes from property taxes and it does not grow quickly. Um, I know

[32:03] this community and you have heard a lot

[32:04] about the law enforcement contract

[32:06] class, but Tony and I looked at the

[32:07] numbers recently and I'll tell you what

[32:10] I saw when I stared at the numbers was

[32:12] shocking that over f in five years since

[32:15] um the contract cars started going up.

[32:18] They've gone up 85%.

[32:21] So we were at $1.37 million cost in 2122

[32:26] and this year it's um 2.54 million.

[32:30] That's an 85% cost increase. That is the

[32:32] reality and that's not going down. If

[32:34] anything, their cost will continue to go

[32:36] up. Um and the general fund burden of

[32:40] paying that also increased more 94%

[32:42] because we had uh one time uh COVID

[32:46] funds called the ARPID funds and we were

[32:48] getting credits. But this harsh reality

[32:50] is that this this has caught up with us

[32:52] and so without new revenue our forecast

[32:55] is the black line. Um, next fiscal year

[32:58] the reserves will fall below our lowered

[33:01] 20% minimum that as you know was a new

[33:04] policy adopted. It was previously 60%.

[33:07] And our reserves will be depleted.

[33:10] So to address this issue, we started

[33:13] having the community engagement portion

[33:16] which is dubbed the Portella Valley

[33:18] conversation. Um, and we heard from

[33:20] residents about, you know, what they

[33:22] value and they told us they do value, of

[33:24] course, public safety, and they value

[33:26] emergency preparedness. Um, they also

[33:29] value town autonomy and local control.

[33:32] And they want our town, as I'm sure we

[33:34] all do, is to become financially stable

[33:36] and to maintain our autonomy, to have a

[33:39] valid emergency reserve because again,

[33:41] we are in an area that is ecologically,

[33:43] geologically sensitive and now we have

[33:46] the more increasing threat of fire. um

[33:48] and they want us to be self-reliant or

[33:51] resilient. Um what local control does is

[33:54] it ensures it can't be taken by the

[33:55] county, the Sacramento or the federal

[33:57] government, which has been a track

[33:58] record, right? We've seen that the

[34:00] county level with the vehicle license

[34:02] fees and that was a tough issue and is

[34:04] still not resolved. Um and this county

[34:07] has been fighting for every dollar and

[34:10] sometimes the state just says we're

[34:12] going to keep it. Um

[34:14] so again this conversation with

[34:17] surveying the residents um led to the

[34:20] residents prioritizing that we should

[34:22] protect our autonomy. We should protect

[34:24] our ability to make our own local

[34:26] decisions over zoning and over our

[34:29] financing. And if we did lose that

[34:31] independent status, our zone and land

[34:33] use decisions would unfortunately be

[34:35] made by the county. Um so we believe

[34:38] it's important to keep our autonomy and

[34:39] our ability to be self-reliant.

[34:42] um it's just very important to us. So

[34:44] when we surveyed the community

[34:47] there were four top priorities that were

[34:49] ranked um and in fact all there were

[34:52] many and then they sort of got clustered

[34:54] together but the number one interest of

[34:55] the community right now is wildfire

[34:56] prevention that includes the brush

[34:59] management which the town does. We have

[35:00] the chipper program and we pay um

[35:02] Woodside Fire money to do this and no

[35:06] they wouldn't do it for free if we

[35:07] weren't paying Woodside Fire. We'd be

[35:08] paying another vendor. It's expensive

[35:10] work. Um, emergency response is

[35:13] important to the community, of course.

[35:15] Main maintaining the 911 emergency

[35:17] response time, police patrols,

[35:19] maintaining our town autonomy is

[35:21] independence, as I talked about

[35:22] previously, is important. And, um, also

[35:25] important is our storm drain

[35:26] infrastructure. We've seen heavier

[35:28] flooding and heavier storms. And

[35:30] repairing this deteriorating storm drain

[35:32] is important to ensure that we don't

[35:35] have flooding and water pollution and

[35:36] sink holes. and it it can leads to lead

[35:39] to roads washing out and that would be a

[35:41] big problem in our community since we

[35:42] basically have two main roads in. So,

[35:47] this all led to the council being

[35:49] presented with the option that we're

[35:51] here to talk about tonight, um, which is

[35:53] a town charter, which I'll talk a little

[35:55] bit about what that means, and a

[35:57] transfer tax. And again, that was the

[35:58] most viable option supported by the

[36:01] residents. Our finance and audit

[36:03] committee did a lot of hard work and we

[36:04] really want to thank them for looking at

[36:06] a lot of options, but when you're

[36:07] looking at a ballot measure, you really

[36:09] have to pick one and only one. Um, you

[36:12] can't have multiple options and this is

[36:17] the one that would be the most

[36:18] successful outcome for the town. Um, so

[36:22] in April, the council directed us to

[36:25] start this work um in earnest and

[36:28] prepare the town charter. So, I'm really

[36:30] proud that we completed both hearings on

[36:32] the town charter already on in May and

[36:34] June. Um, those are required. And again,

[36:37] just to briefly up remind the council

[36:39] and any new audience members what the

[36:41] charter will do. It converts us from

[36:44] what I'll call the generic or general

[36:46] law to a charter town. Um, the this the

[36:50] focus of this is on revenue authority.

[36:52] And I want to emphasize that that's part

[36:54] of our autonomy is having local control

[36:56] over our revenue. Um the local revenue

[36:59] goes 100% to the town. Um there would be

[37:02] no change the town governance. We would

[37:05] still have the town council and the town

[37:07] manager form of government. Um and if

[37:10] the charter can only be changed by the

[37:12] voters. The again there's a lot the

[37:15] charter doesn't do. And I think you can

[37:18] read online about charters and some

[37:19] cities are over 100 pages. Ours is

[37:21] simple. It's two pages. It's meant to

[37:24] enable this taxation. Um, it does not

[37:28] affect local election procedures. It

[37:30] doesn't change voting options. It

[37:32] doesn't affect public contracting

[37:34] prevailing wages. Ours is simple and

[37:35] it's meant to accomplish what is most

[37:37] important to this town. Um, and again,

[37:41] charter towns are different than general

[37:42] laws, but important to note, we follow a

[37:45] lot of the same state laws. Um, and the

[37:47] main thing again is that we have this

[37:48] ability to enact this tax. Um, but it

[37:52] doesn't change, you know, the our

[37:54] adherence to the US and California

[37:56] constitution. Um, and some people have

[37:58] asked, is it a lot more expensive? No,

[38:00] it's not that more expensive. Um, the

[38:04] there's really no minimum no cost after

[38:06] we pass the charter. Um, and the

[38:08] election cost is about $6,000 to add

[38:12] this to the ballot since it's statewide

[38:13] ballot. Um,

[38:16] so

[38:18] now I've talked about the charter. I'll

[38:19] talk about this the real property trans

[38:22] transfer tax ordinance which the council

[38:24] reviewed in detail two weeks ago. As I

[38:27] reviewed at that meeting, this will be

[38:29] an ordinance that amends our current

[38:31] municipal code chapter and it will

[38:33] eliminate what is the existing 27.5

[38:37] cents per $500 or 55 cents per thousand

[38:40] transfer tax and replace it with this

[38:43] new real property transfer tax of $10

[38:45] per 1,000

[38:48] in locally controlled funding. That's

[38:49] the staff recommendation. We are seeking

[38:51] feedback tonight from the council, but I

[38:54] want to pause there because there have

[38:56] been a lot of community questions about

[38:57] the rate and it's just remind the

[38:59] council and the audience that the

[39:01] council is explicitly authorized to

[39:04] repeal or reduce that tax without going

[39:06] to the voters. So, if for example um you

[39:09] decide in the future that that was

[39:12] generating enough revenue, you could

[39:14] lower it to $8 or $7 and that could be

[39:16] done very quickly with an ordinance. Um

[39:19] and then if the council found themselves

[39:22] in a financial predicament and then it

[39:24] could be increased. Um as we talked

[39:27] about the last meeting, we are not

[39:30] recommending any changes at this time to

[39:32] the current exemptions again in our

[39:34] current ordinance. Those are largely

[39:35] consistent with state law and that's the

[39:37] simplest approach. We have been asked we

[39:39] staff a lot of different exemptions.

[39:41] There's a lot of well what if this or

[39:42] what if that? What if we had a wildfire?

[39:44] What if this happened? Again, the

[39:47] council can add future exemptions by an

[39:49] ordinance, which as you know goes in

[39:51] effect 30 days. And I think if we did

[39:53] have something as catastrophic like a

[39:55] wildfire that affected a lot of

[39:56] properties, all of a sudden lots of

[39:59] properties were looking for sale. Um, we

[40:02] would of course examine this. And it's

[40:03] important to note that under our GAN

[40:05] limit, which is a state requirement, we

[40:07] do have a maximum amount that the the

[40:09] count town council can authorize an

[40:12] expenditure. So there are some checks

[40:14] and balances. Another thing is

[40:17] independent oversight and I just want to

[40:19] emphasize that um that is which is in

[40:22] the ballot measure question which I'll

[40:24] show you soon. um that has been added to

[40:26] the ordinance in the sense that the

[40:28] current finance and audit committee um

[40:31] would provide this independent oversight

[40:33] that's consistent with their charter um

[40:37] which allows them to have this oversight

[40:39] of the revenue generated from the

[40:41] measure as an again an independent

[40:43] oversight

[40:45] and we've gotten a lot of questions

[40:48] about how this transfer tax actually

[40:49] works. Um, again, people pay it now.

[40:52] They may not remember they pay it, but

[40:54] it's a $110 per thousand and it shows up

[40:57] when you go to buy a property um on your

[41:01] closure um escrow closing documents.

[41:03] It's a one-time tax on the transfer. So,

[41:06] if there's, for example, um tr transfers

[41:11] of property from like a parent to a

[41:12] child, but it's not an actual sale, this

[41:15] doesn't apply. This is based on again

[41:17] the transfer the sale of the property.

[41:19] It's not an annual property tax and um

[41:23] usually buyers and sellers negotiate.

[41:26] Sometimes, you know, it's 50/50,

[41:27] sometimes it's someone else pays it. But

[41:30] um it's really important to remind

[41:32] people that if you don't own property or

[41:35] if you rent you tax and it is collected

[41:39] again by the title company when you

[41:41] close escrow and it I've heard it can be

[41:44] rolled into the mortgage for some folks

[41:45] too. But again, important to remember

[41:47] that 100% of this town's

[41:50] transfer tax would stay in the town and

[41:52] the county separately retains its

[41:54] documentary transfer tax.

[41:57] Um, so again, a little bit more about

[41:59] charter cities because a lot of people

[42:01] have asked, you know, is that something

[42:02] special? Are we unique? Um, right now a

[42:06] little 26% of California cities have

[42:09] charters. And in our area, um, there are

[42:14] other transfer taxes like Sonteo, but

[42:16] there's is only a commercial transfer

[42:18] tax, which some cities have that. Um,

[42:21] what I'm showing you here are other

[42:24] cities that are more residential in

[42:26] neighbor that n in nature that have

[42:28] transfer taxes that would affect single

[42:30] family properties. Um and our $10 per

[42:35] thousand, which is a recommended rate,

[42:37] is actually when you look at this on the

[42:39] lower side. Um there are communities

[42:43] around us like Mountain View that have

[42:45] $15 on more um higher valued property

[42:49] sales. Um, and there are places like

[42:53] Piedmont, I just want to point out that

[42:55] recently decided to have a ballot

[42:58] measure in November to increase it up to

[43:01] 1.75% because they found that their

[43:04] current rate, which is $13 per thousand

[43:06] or 1.3% isn't adequate. Um, they're

[43:09] similar to us. They're mostly

[43:11] residential community without a lot of

[43:14] tax revenue from other sources.

[43:18] So, there's been a lot of talk about

[43:20] what this money could be spent on, and

[43:23] I'm not going to show you a slide with

[43:25] any dollar amounts. Um, but I just want

[43:28] to emphasize it would be a general tax.

[43:30] and the council if this should pass

[43:32] resolution should pass and the ballot

[43:34] measure pass um they really need to roll

[43:37] up their sleeves and and get get working

[43:40] on the budgeting and the spending policy

[43:43] which I'll talk a little bit more in

[43:44] detail um after this passes and the

[43:49] council could consider a spending plan

[43:51] and policy because while this is the

[43:53] list that came out of the community

[43:54] surveying there's a lot more work to be

[43:57] done in terms of how to spend the money

[44:00] Um, generally there's allocations for

[44:03] some of the things that again are are

[44:05] safety related, but there's a lot of

[44:07] other things that this could be spent

[44:09] on. And some of this we've been talking

[44:11] about like storm drains. We talked

[44:12] earlier this year about a storm drain

[44:14] master plan and the need to do that. Um,

[44:17] so here's the ballot question and it was

[44:19] in the packet in the resolution, but I

[44:21] just want to show you this and then we

[44:24] can come back to it later in the night.

[44:26] Um this is staff's recommendation and I

[44:29] want to emphasize that it has to be an

[44:31] objective

[44:33] um factual

[44:35] um ballot question and we have been able

[44:38] to document through our past um tax

[44:42] revenues because again we collect this

[44:44] revenue already. We've been collecting

[44:45] it since 1967, the transfer taxes that the state allows us to. Um, and we

[44:52] do think approximately $2 million is

[44:54] what we would generate um when we look

[44:57] into average home sales over the past um

[45:02] 15 years, but I can bring this back up

[45:06] um for the discussion. But essentially

[45:08] what we're asking the voters is do they

[45:11] want to adopt a charter for the town of

[45:13] Perola Valley solely for an establishing

[45:15] a real property transfer tax of $10 per

[45:18] $1,000. And again, that would be a

[45:21] general tax, not a special tax.

[45:24] So if the council decides to put this on

[45:27] the ballot through adopting the

[45:29] resolution tonight, then the town

[45:30] attorney springs into action. She

[45:32] actually has a lot of work to do because

[45:34] she has the responsibility of writing an

[45:37] impartial analysis and that's again an

[45:39] impartial analysis of the effects of the

[45:41] measure on existing law and operation.

[45:44] Um so she would work on that and then

[45:46] there are other pieces of this puzzle

[45:48] including the arguments and the

[45:50] rebuttals and those are public documents

[45:53] um that are available to be reviewed

[45:55] here

[45:57] and for future consideration. I don't

[45:59] want to get ahead of us, but I've just

[46:00] we've had a lot of questions in the

[46:02] community is sort of like, well, you

[46:03] know, who decides where the money goes

[46:05] and and what's the independent

[46:06] oversight? What does that mean? As I

[46:08] mentioned previously, the current

[46:10] charter of the town's finance and audit

[46:12] committee um includes provisions for

[46:15] their independent oversight. And at our

[46:18] meeting with them last Monday, there

[46:19] were there were ideas um about a

[46:22] spending policy and some ideas of the m

[46:25] how the money could be allocated. So

[46:28] Tony and I have worked on these um tax

[46:30] measures in the past and what we've seen

[46:32] is often a spending plan um policy

[46:35] that's developed if the measure passes

[46:39] um and it would be developed with the

[46:41] committee and the community and there's

[46:44] a lot of different elements that that

[46:45] could be in but I just wanted to give

[46:47] you a flavor of what those could be. Um

[46:50] some of these things came up with the

[46:51] finance committee last week. They are

[46:53] keenly interested again in looking at

[46:54] our reserve target because they were um

[46:58] they lowered it recently to 20% with

[47:00] then you're they made a recommendation

[47:02] and you approved it but um that gives

[47:04] them a little bit of pause when they

[47:07] think about the town security. Um there

[47:10] was an interest in maybe designating a

[47:12] plan annual funding amount for capital

[47:14] and safety projects. Um they they want

[47:17] to look at

[47:19] maybe potentially again thresholds for

[47:21] when this tax and or the user utility

[47:26] tax might be lowered upon meeting

[47:28] threshold criteria. Um they obviously

[47:31] are keenly interested in the audits. So

[47:33] the this this fund would be audited and

[47:35] their interest in transparent reporting

[47:37] to the public. So, this is an item to

[47:40] work on, but I just want the public to

[47:41] know that there's a lot of work still to

[47:44] be done and a lot of it comes around how

[47:46] the money could be spent and a spending

[47:48] policy is often a useful tool to shape

[47:50] that. So, again, we've had a lot of

[47:53] meetings since we've been talking about

[47:54] this um March, April, May, June, July.

[47:59] So, a lot. And tonight is your time to

[48:02] consider placing this on the ballot. Our

[48:05] filing deadline is August 7th. And if

[48:07] approved by the voters with a simple,

[48:09] which is a 50% plus one majority, then

[48:12] the charter takes effect when the town

[48:14] files it with the secretary of state

[48:16] after the town certifies the election

[48:18] results. And the ordinance which imposes

[48:21] the tax is effective 10 days after the

[48:23] council certifies the election results.

[48:26] Um so tonight's meeting um based on the

[48:30] purview of the mayor could be separated

[48:32] into two different discussion items. The

[48:34] first could be a more detailed

[48:35] discussion of the transfer tax rate

[48:38] because in the past we haven't um had

[48:41] the rate as a discussion item and then

[48:44] the ballot question text. I will tell

[48:47] you that ballot question text writing is

[48:50] an art um and a little bit of a science.

[48:53] It was based on our you know our

[48:55] scientific analysis but we are stuck at

[48:57] 75 words which makes um it very hard to

[49:00] write this. And again, as I noticed, it

[49:03] must be a true and impartial synopsis of

[49:05] the purpose of the measure, and we have

[49:07] to include certain requirements. Um, but

[49:09] I want to also emphasize that the

[49:12] impartial analysis that the attorney

[49:14] prepares does flesh out some of the

[49:16] items that I've talked about tonight in

[49:18] more detail, um, such as the independent

[49:21] oversight and and more information. So,

[49:23] that and that will be prepared again

[49:25] very quickly and that's included in the

[49:27] voter pamphlet and so on. So that

[49:30] concludes my staff report. Again, the

[49:32] item before you tonight, which is read

[49:34] by the mayor and published on our

[49:35] agenda, is the consideration of this

[49:37] resolution,

[49:38] which would submit the item to the bot

[49:40] to the ballot for the voters on November

[49:43] 3rd. So happy to answer any questions

[49:45] you have.

[49:46] >> Thank you, Darcy. Questions for Darcy?

[49:49] Ellen,

[49:51] >> um, could you guys turn off the fan?

[49:53] It's Thank you. Okay.

[49:57] Do you have any other questions for

[49:58] Darcy?

[49:59] >> Thank you.

[50:01] It just was hitting me in the face. Um,

[50:05] so for the record, um, because we've had

[50:08] some questions and I don't mean to throw

[50:10] a ringer out, but can you remind us

[50:15] I don't uh why we're not doing a parcel

[50:17] tax?

[50:22] Well, the the simplest answer is that it

[50:25] requires a higher majority threshold to

[50:29] pass, which is 66.67%.

[50:33] And generally,

[50:35] it is very challenging for towns and

[50:38] cities to meet that threshold.

[50:40] >> Okay. Thank you. Um and can you also

[50:43] remind us um why we came down at the one

[50:48] number?

[50:49] >> Yes. So the 1% or also referred to as

[50:53] $10 per thousand um that was based on

[50:57] the town's analysis of our financial

[51:00] needs and you heard me say that we've

[51:02] estimated the revenue at that level

[51:04] would be approximately 2 million.

[51:07] That's based on analyzing the current

[51:10] property sales which we get from our um

[51:13] tax consultant. And again we're

[51:15] collecting this tax now. So, we have

[51:17] real numbers of property sales and the

[51:20] taxes that they paid. Um, and again, our

[51:23] current exemptions and it would be

[51:25] approximately $2 million and we believe

[51:27] that's um the approximate number of our

[51:31] funding needs based on where we are

[51:33] right now. [snorts]

[51:35] Thank you. Um, and remind me if this

[51:38] were to get passed, would it be clear if

[51:42] it's the seller or the buyer who would

[51:45] be responsible for it? So, that is

[51:48] negotiated

[51:49] through the private transaction. It is

[51:52] not specified by us. It's not specified

[51:54] in state law and it's generally

[51:56] something that realtors, buyers, and

[51:58] sellers are aware of now because then

[52:01] they've been paying it and they work out an agreement.

[52:09] So, um

[52:12] is uh and to add that it could we if we

[52:16] wanted to to spell that out that they

[52:18] would agree.

[52:19] >> No, we cannot spell that out.

[52:21] >> Okay.

[52:23] >> When I say they've been paying it now,

[52:25] they've been paying again the current

[52:27] authorized rate which is 110 per

[52:30] thousand. Right.

[52:31] >> Okay. Great. Those are my questions.

[52:33] Thank you.

[52:34] >> Thank you.

[52:36] Questions to my right? Mary?

[52:39] >> Any questions?

[52:40] >> No questions. Okay, Judah.

[52:41] >> Okay. Uh just a couple of uh

[52:45] confirmations, clarifications.

[52:48] When you talk about a spending plan and

[52:50] policy, that just mechanically would be

[52:54] something the council

[52:57] is before the council. It's a council

[52:58] decision.

[52:59] >> Correct.

[53:00] >> With finance and audit committee

[53:04] um consultation,

[53:06] >> correct? Input. Yes. And I would also

[53:08] advise we have one community meeting

[53:10] where it's presented and community input

[53:12] is received.

[53:14] >> Okay. And when we talk about independent

[53:18] oversight

[53:19] by the finance and audit committee, are

[53:21] we changing the role of the you said

[53:25] it's in their charter, but what is what

[53:28] does that mean? Do they how like is it

[53:32] similar to their role on audits at this

[53:34] point? They review, they discuss, they

[53:36] pressure test. Correct. It's similar to

[53:39] that.

[53:40] Also, they would have a similar role in

[53:43] expenditure. So right now in their

[53:45] charter they do review the town's budget

[53:48] and the expenditure plan and so they

[53:51] would also look at that because

[53:53] the source of revenue is folded into our

[53:56] annual budget. So it becomes part of

[53:58] that budget package in terms of the

[54:00] expenditures.

[54:01] >> Okay. So there's nothing to do to change

[54:03] that charter.

[54:04] >> Correct. The charter would not need to

[54:06] change it last week and it authorizes

[54:09] this.

[54:11] >> Okay. Those are my questions. Thank you.

[54:14] Rebecca.

[54:16] >> Um, I think I had all my questions

[54:18] answered in our one-on-one. Thanks.

[54:21] >> Okay, great. All right, so with that,

[54:24] let me open it up to the public. Um, are

[54:26] there any public comments? Are there any

[54:27] com I'll mention that on schoolhouse,

[54:29] please? Welcome.

[54:34] » I need to push a

[54:35] >> You do. No, not on that one. That one

[54:38] will just

[54:38] >> It's going. Yeah, it's going. U My

[54:40] name's Richard Murk. I live at 171

[54:42] Brookside Drive here in Portolo Valley.

[54:45] Um I spent 32 years on the planning

[54:48] commission and the town council

[54:49] combined. My pictures up there on the

[54:51] wall pretty close to Ted Driscolls. Um

[54:54] and my concern is about I'm 81 years old

[54:59] and I'm concerned about us old folks

[55:01] that live in town that might be

[55:02] transferring and oh you'll have to

[55:04] excuse me. I have not read the details

[55:06] of this. I only heard about this meeting

[55:08] by seeing an old almanac and realizing

[55:11] that there was a meeting tonight. That

[55:13] was like an hour and a half ago. So, I'm

[55:15] here unprepared. I'm sorry. But

[55:19] my concern is that it's not clear to me

[55:22] when you say a property transfer tax

[55:24] that if I move my property into a family

[55:28] trust whether I have to pay that tax or

[55:30] if I leave uh my property to a child and

[55:34] they inherit it with without having to

[55:37] incur additional taxes under Proposition

[55:40] 13 and those following uh propositions.

[55:44] Are those things exempted? How are they

[55:46] handled? Is it clear how those things

[55:50] are done? Because if if they're

[55:54] exempted, I'm totally in favor of this.

[55:56] But if they're not, um you're going to

[55:59] have a fight on your hands.

[56:04] » Thank you. Great. Thank you.

[56:07] >> So, what I'd like to do is I'll take all

[56:08] public comments and then we'll, you

[56:10] know, answer some of the questions. And

[56:12] generally, it's public comment, but we

[56:13] try to answer important ones. I think

[56:15] that the general public would be

[56:16] interested in hearing the answers to the

[56:18] questions you're asking as well. So, let

[56:20] me go through everybody's public comment

[56:22] and then we'll come back. Um, and Dart,

[56:25] are you going to be prepared? So, you'll keep track of these. So, all

[56:29] right. So, any other hands in the

[56:32] schoolhouse?

[56:34] All right. So, I don't see any other

[56:36] hands in the schoolhouse. So, then let

[56:37] me go online. Um, I see Dale's hand up.

[56:40] Dale,

[56:41] welcome.

[56:46] Great. Uh, thank you. Can you hear me?

[56:49] >> Uh, we can. You're fairly low, but we

[56:53] can hear you.

[56:54] >> I will try to speak up.

[56:57] >> Thank you.

[56:58] >> Okay. I've got uh three points. Uh,

[57:01] number one, uh, since it appears that at

[57:04] least one prior town manager and at

[57:07] least one prior town council ignored

[57:10] some fiduciary responsibilities, I would

[57:12] like to see this council implement some real teeth so we don't get into

[57:17] this mess again that includes teeth

[57:20] about ensuring that audits are completed

[57:22] on time and perhaps ensuring that there

[57:25] is a balanced budget.

[57:28] uh that would give me a lot lot more

[57:30] confidence that we've resolved this

[57:31] issue. We're not going to have it in the

[57:33] future. Um number two, the ballot

[57:38] language uh as at least I saw in the the

[57:42] documents to me appears to be

[57:45] disingenuous and maybe a little bit

[57:47] misleading because the first item listed

[57:49] is wildfire prevention. And you know, in

[57:54] at least for the past several years, the

[57:56] budget for wildfire mitigation in this

[57:59] town has been less than the legal

[58:01] budget. And I'm sorry, but but you can't

[58:04] put it number one when we all know that

[58:06] the real problem here is you're trying

[58:07] to fill a hole to solve the problem of

[58:10] the uh uh the sheriff's contract and

[58:13] maybe a few few other things that have

[58:16] been pushed off. So, I have a real

[58:18] problem with with the language and I

[58:20] think you ought to be honest about that.

[58:24] And number three, uh I'm in support of

[58:30] Betsy Morganthal's letter that I saw in

[58:32] the comments uh about maybe making it $8

[58:36] instead of 10 because let's be honest,

[58:39] you will never decrease your tax burden.

[58:42] And if it's eight, then maybe you have

[58:44] to work on a lower budget and if you

[58:46] need to, you can raise it, but I I hate

[58:48] to see it start at 10 because I know

[58:50] you'll never decrease it. Thank you.

[58:54] >> Thank you, Dale.

[58:55] Is there anybody else online that would

[58:57] like to comment?

[59:03] » All right, I don't see any hands online.

[59:05] Let me bring it back to the council for

[59:07] discussion. Um I would like to actually

[59:11] discuss both of these at the same time.

[59:13] I don't see any reason to bifrocate

[59:14] them. So as we go through um I think

[59:18] it's basically comments both on the

[59:20] amount and then um on the ballot

[59:23] wording.

[59:25] So anybody like to start?

[59:27] >> Just a procedural question. Um, do you

[59:30] want us to raise any public comments for

[59:33] clarification while we're making our

[59:36] >> Actually, why why don't we since that

[59:38] was relatively small public comments,

[59:39] why don't we do that now? So, thank you.

[59:41] I I appreciate. So, Darcy, if we could

[59:44] address um a couple of Richard's

[59:46] questions in particular and um I think

[59:48] we could comment on a few of Dale's as

[59:50] well.

[59:51] >> Yes. So,

[59:53] it's important to note this transfer tax

[59:56] is assessed essentially on a sale. And

[59:59] so, if a property is transferred into a

[1:00:02] revocable living trust where the current

[1:00:06] owner remains the granter or

[1:00:08] beneficiary, that's just a nominal

[1:00:10] change in title, not a sale. So, there

[1:00:12] would be no tax assessed. Um, a transfer

[1:00:16] to a child is consider if it was a true

[1:00:19] gift or inheritance, not like in your

[1:00:22] will, like I'm going to sell my daughter

[1:00:24] my house for $2 million

[1:00:27] versus the market value of 10 million.

[1:00:30] But if it's a true gift, as you know,

[1:00:32] there are federal and estate taxes that

[1:00:36] could be imposed, but this again is not

[1:00:38] a sale. And so it would be exempt from

[1:00:42] the transfer taxes. But I just want to

[1:00:44] pause there because many times estates

[1:00:47] are more complicated. Um, but this came

[1:00:51] up last time and I want to also say it's

[1:00:53] very different than like your property

[1:00:55] tax assessments. This is a essentially a

[1:00:59] one-time fee on a deed recorded sale.

[1:01:04] >> And and it's worth mentioning that the

[1:01:05] exemptions are the exemptions that exist

[1:01:08] today in state law. We're not adding

[1:01:10] it's exactly the same set.

[1:01:11] >> Correct. Yeah. Um, so then the other

[1:01:15] question was raised by Dale about

[1:01:17] wildfire prevention spending. And I want

[1:01:20] to emphasize, and we've talked about

[1:01:22] this with the budget, that we've trimmed

[1:01:23] our wildfire prevention budget. We

[1:01:26] trimmed our days that we pay Woodside

[1:01:29] Fire to do the work um for clearing. And

[1:01:32] it's I mean I it's significantly less

[1:01:37] than what Tony and I as your budget team

[1:01:42] would recommend to you. Um and it's just

[1:01:44] the reality that we've been living in.

[1:01:45] Again, we're on life support. So when

[1:01:47] you're on life support, you can't really

[1:01:48] fund what you want to fund. So I don't

[1:01:50] think people should look at the current

[1:01:52] budget or again the $700,000

[1:01:55] deficit and say, "Oh, that's how much we

[1:01:57] need." And I've gotten that question a

[1:01:59] lot. And and I might add on the wildfire

[1:02:02] prevention. I mean, Woodside actually

[1:02:04] provides residents a sort of matching

[1:02:07] grant and we've talked about it and and

[1:02:09] the fire department has actually

[1:02:10] recommended that we implement that, but

[1:02:12] given our current um budget situation,

[1:02:14] there's no chance we're going to do

[1:02:15] that, but with this ballot measure, that

[1:02:18] would be something that we could

[1:02:19] consider in our spending plan. We're not

[1:02:22] committing to it, but it's definitely

[1:02:23] something that we could consider um

[1:02:25] after looking at our other needs.

[1:02:27] >> Correct. Correct. and our safety element

[1:02:30] which we're working on and the local

[1:02:32] hazard mitigation plan which was

[1:02:34] prepared by the county has things in it

[1:02:37] like the grant because they're

[1:02:38] interested in how we're reducing the

[1:02:40] wildfire hazard. So yeah, we're not

[1:02:42] keeping up with our neighbors and we're

[1:02:44] not honoring our plans which is

[1:02:47] unfortunate predicament. Um the other

[1:02:49] question about the audits,

[1:02:52] we are required to do audits and we have

[1:02:55] a plan to catch up and I I know that

[1:03:00] Tony and I and the finance staff, the

[1:03:04] team you have now audits are important

[1:03:07] and we will adhere to the state

[1:03:08] requirements of completing them every

[1:03:11] year. Um, there was also a comment about

[1:03:14] a balanced budget. Um, and that would be

[1:03:18] a policy decision with council, but I

[1:03:20] think that could be part of how you look

[1:03:23] at your long-term financial plan and

[1:03:25] again the spending plan for this.

[1:03:29] >> Great. Thank you. Okay. So with that

[1:03:32] council discussion,

[1:03:35] anybody would like to go first or would

[1:03:37] you like

[1:03:37] >> I actually have a follow-up question to

[1:03:39] confirm on those points. So um I'm

[1:03:44] looking at So what you've attached is

[1:03:47] exhibit B. The ordinance shows changes

[1:03:50] from the currently applicable transfer

[1:03:52] tax

[1:03:54] which is being repealed and it shows the

[1:03:58] changes. So essentially it's the same

[1:04:00] ordinance. Um do we can we confirm today

[1:04:05] that if someone's allowing their

[1:04:08] children to inherit a property that the

[1:04:11] current tax does not apply?

[1:04:15] That's my understanding. Yeah.

[1:04:18] >> And Katherine, do you have any I I don't

[1:04:21] have any additional concern with that. I

[1:04:24] mean this is um like you said this has

[1:04:26] been on the books for a long time and

[1:04:28] I'm not aware of any tax for a gift

[1:04:31] >> for a gift. Okay.

[1:04:33] >> And a conveyance would like legally

[1:04:36] speaking a conveyance for an inheritance

[1:04:39] would be a quote gift.

[1:04:43] I just want to make sure that we're

[1:04:45] really tight on this and that we're

[1:04:47] comfortable that it like I don't want to

[1:04:49] do research tonight, but I did want

[1:04:51] confirmation that we haven't been

[1:04:52] charging less on the current one because

[1:04:55] the only thing we're changing are some

[1:04:57] of the very specific rate and um a

[1:05:01] couple of um sentences that are

[1:05:04] underlined. Otherwise, it's the exact

[1:05:06] same thing we're living under.

[1:05:09] And again, the current ordinance um

[1:05:11] refers to the tax rate. Um you know, the 27.5 cents for each $500. And uh

[1:05:20] again, it's our understanding is you

[1:05:21] know, the town is actually zero.

[1:05:23] >> If it's zero, then it's then it's also

[1:05:25] zero.

[1:05:26] >> Okay. Thank you. Um,

[1:05:30] and then to the point of

[1:05:33] a hard commitment on

[1:05:36] always doing audits on time and the

[1:05:38] like, I thought one policy like behind a

[1:05:42] bunch of laws is that this council

[1:05:44] cannot bind future councils. Is that

[1:05:48] also a factor in considering that we can

[1:05:53] decide what's appropriate for us? But I don't see how you could do that

[1:05:57] legally. Yeah, that is generally a legal

[1:06:00] principle that current councils cannot

[1:06:02] bind future councils. Uh I I would note

[1:06:06] that this ordinance does in section two

[1:06:09] contain financial sorry fiscal

[1:06:11] accountability provisions that does uh

[1:06:14] clarify the role of the um the town's

[1:06:18] finance and audit committee uh pursuant

[1:06:21] to its charter authority. uh the the

[1:06:24] idea wasn't to give them you know

[1:06:26] additional responsibilities but really

[1:06:29] to clarify that as part of their

[1:06:31] existing charter authority to provide

[1:06:34] this independent review and oversight uh

[1:06:36] the the funds that are generated by this

[1:06:39] uh tax would be included in the audit

[1:06:42] and would be reviewed uh by the

[1:06:44] committee and they would make

[1:06:45] recommendations to the council as they

[1:06:47] have been doing um in their oversight

[1:06:49] capacity.

[1:06:51] >> Okay. And and then J's one thing I'd say

[1:06:53] this I mean a council can set a policy a

[1:06:56] future council can change that policy

[1:06:59] but in between it sets an expectation

[1:07:01] with the public and so when the new

[1:07:03] council changes that policy if that's

[1:07:06] not meeting the expectations of the

[1:07:08] public then the public can speak out. So

[1:07:10] I mean at least it sets an expectation

[1:07:12] even if it doesn't bind a future

[1:07:14] council.

[1:07:16] >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm I I was just

[1:07:18] wanting to put a fine point on that

[1:07:20] because it is something that I think

[1:07:22] we've considered in other contexts and

[1:07:25] that's been a running theme for me. So I did want to bring out that principle.

[1:07:29] Okay, those are the questions that were

[1:07:30] followup. So you can do with it.

[1:07:34] >> Oh, that's great. So do you want to make

[1:07:35] you We're kind of in discussion section.

[1:07:37] >> Sure. [laughter] Okay. Um

[1:07:42] there's been a lot of work, there's been

[1:07:43] a lot of analysis, there's been a lot of

[1:07:46] consultation, input. Um this has been a

[1:07:49] long process over a year and it's very

[1:07:53] clear to me that we need to be um doing

[1:07:56] something for the viability of our town.

[1:07:59] I think we've done a lot of thinking

[1:08:03] through of how this should look. I do

[1:08:06] think that even a 50% plus one success

[1:08:11] uh is going to require simplicity,

[1:08:14] communication,

[1:08:16] um attention

[1:08:19] and I personally think keeping things as

[1:08:23] simple as possible for now is in our

[1:08:26] interest. We have to do something. So is

[1:08:31] this perfect? Um I think it's in the

[1:08:34] range of being very useful and yes I

[1:08:37] support it. Um both as to the rate and

[1:08:41] um

[1:08:42] uh the language um no ballot measure is

[1:08:46] you know Shakespeare and it's uh always

[1:08:51] going to be something that you can

[1:08:52] parse. Um and a ballot measure you know

[1:08:57] there is an art to putting that together

[1:08:59] that I'm not an expert in. So I tend to

[1:09:02] look at that language as something

[1:09:04] that's been pressure tested by the

[1:09:06] people we've engaged who are more

[1:09:09] familiar with that landscape. So I I

[1:09:13] feel pretty strongly that we ought to

[1:09:15] keep it simple. We pulled on the $10 per

[1:09:17] thousand. I respectfully disagree that

[1:09:20] we'll never put it down. I actually do

[1:09:23] suspect though the capital improvement

[1:09:26] projects we have put off for way too

[1:09:28] long are going to be a hurdle to get

[1:09:32] through because we're going to have a

[1:09:34] period of years where we're having to

[1:09:36] prioritize and set with the finance

[1:09:39] committees um consultation and good

[1:09:43] thinking ways of establishing a rolling

[1:09:46] budget or a way to identify key capital

[1:09:51] improvement projects.

[1:09:53] But at some point we will get through

[1:09:55] that and we should never be charging

[1:09:58] more than we we need the variables we

[1:10:02] deal with with the sheriff's contract.

[1:10:05] Um even with the wood chipping and and

[1:10:08] the like. Um I think people in town

[1:10:10] would probably want to spend more on

[1:10:13] wildfire prevention. I I think the harsh

[1:10:16] realities of this year and what we're

[1:10:18] dealing with have influenced um what

[1:10:22] we've been able to do within the budget.

[1:10:24] So um I think I would keep it simple. I

[1:10:29] support it pretty much as it is. I think

[1:10:32] people are asking really great questions

[1:10:35] and that I would encourage people to

[1:10:38] continue to ask questions and pressure

[1:10:41] test and understand because it's in all

[1:10:43] of our interest for the public to

[1:10:45] understand why, what, and how and uh

[1:10:50] move forward. So those are my comments.

[1:10:53] >> Thank you.

[1:10:55] Mary Rebecca might go next. Mary.

[1:10:59] >> Well, uh, I have been a long proponent

[1:11:02] of a charter, uh, town. I think it's

[1:11:05] very much in the character of Porto

[1:11:08] Valley to be a charter town. I u this is

[1:11:12] definitely not my vision of what the

[1:11:14] charter town would have looked like if

[1:11:17] we had done the full um the full charter

[1:11:20] town analysis. I looked pretty carefully

[1:11:24] at the history over the last six years

[1:11:26] at of charter towns and why we weren't a

[1:11:29] charter town. Uh, and I don't think

[1:11:31] there was ever a good reason. I think we

[1:11:33] did it uh really very quickly. Um, and

[1:11:37] sort of in an emergency kind of fashion

[1:11:39] to become a town. Um, I think Charter

[1:11:43] Town was much more suitable for for

[1:11:46] Portolo Valley. uh this this particular

[1:11:49] charter doesn't change anything in the

[1:11:51] governance um and which is a good thing

[1:11:54] because we're not ready for a lot of

[1:11:57] changes there. So uh I'm in complete

[1:12:00] support of getting the charter town at

[1:12:02] least process started. Um this the uh

[1:12:07] transfer tax

[1:12:09] um a characteristic of Porto Valley is

[1:12:12] uh is that we are a resilient

[1:12:16] uh rural community uh dedicated to the

[1:12:19] idea that we can in fact cope with

[1:12:22] emergency situations. You cannot cope

[1:12:26] with emergency situations if you have no

[1:12:28] financial reserves. We are virtually

[1:12:31] we're down from 60% which was our

[1:12:33] historic uh reserve down to 20% under

[1:12:37] our leadership. I'm not comfortable with

[1:12:39] moving forward at a 20% and I'm

[1:12:42] certainly not comfortable moving forward

[1:12:44] at a zero reserve which is what we're

[1:12:47] looking at within our foreseeable very

[1:12:51] closely foreseeable future two years.

[1:12:54] So, uh, I'm 100%, uh, in support of this

[1:12:59] ballot measure, moving it forward and

[1:13:02] moving it forward at the $10

[1:13:06] level. And the reason why I'm in for

[1:13:08] that is that within five years, we can

[1:13:11] be as resilient as we were five years

[1:13:13] ago. Uh and that to me this is this is a

[1:13:18] time when when we need as a town to

[1:13:23] invest in our town. We really can't rely

[1:13:25] on anyone else uh in an emergency

[1:13:28] situation and we need to have these

[1:13:31] resources in order to be able to move

[1:13:34] forward safely. So from a from a public

[1:13:37] health point of view but also from just

[1:13:40] a community resilience point of view,

[1:13:43] this is critical. This is absolutely

[1:13:45] timesensitive and we're doing it fast

[1:13:48] and we need to do it now.

[1:13:51] >> Thank you, Mary. Ellen, Rebecca,

[1:13:55] Ellen,

[1:13:56] >> sure. Um, so, um, you know, uh, I get

[1:14:01] asked often how this town is on the

[1:14:03] fiscal cliff, right? Um, but many nearby

[1:14:09] cities are fiscally constrained right

[1:14:12] now. hugely constrained. Um costs have

[1:14:16] just gone up, public safety, the costs

[1:14:20] of uh you know labor costs. We also have

[1:14:24] a history of volunteers in the city and

[1:14:26] because of that um

[1:14:29] uh the piece of the pie we get from the

[1:14:32] uh county is smaller than what other

[1:14:34] counties get. Um but we also have a

[1:14:38] history of pulling ourselves up by our

[1:14:39] bootstraps. So, um, and I want to

[1:14:43] continue to enjoy Portal Valley's

[1:14:46] autonomy. I, you know, Mike Calig and

[1:14:49] the county, like, God bless you guys and

[1:14:51] my friends in the planning department

[1:14:52] over there. Um, but I, I really want

[1:14:56] Port Oral Valley to have autonomy around

[1:14:58] land use and our safety issues. I want

[1:15:00] to make sure that we um

[1:15:03] uh are able to do our evacuation route.

[1:15:07] Um we have put off a lot of the areas

[1:15:10] fire protection and evacuation shortened

[1:15:12] town hours uh you know to have town hall

[1:15:16] open um a skeleton staff which stresses

[1:15:19] them out and uh doesn't always serve the

[1:15:22] public um capital projects around our

[1:15:25] storm drains like I just you know what

[1:15:29] wakes you up at night um that is one of

[1:15:31] the things that you worry about like you

[1:15:32] know as we face El Nino like is the town

[1:15:35] going to make it through this next year

[1:15:36] without a catastrophic breakdown. Um,

[1:15:40] you know, and too many potholes that we

[1:15:43] didn't used to all have those. And the

[1:15:44] list goes on. The town un, you know,

[1:15:47] this is bitter, but the town needs the

[1:15:49] money to continue enjoy uh enjoying what

[1:15:53] we've got. So, I support it. Um, I

[1:15:56] support the $10 per 10,000. Um,

[1:16:01] uh, because, you know, I do think that

[1:16:03] we have these capital projects in front

[1:16:05] of us. So, um, so I appreciate how staff

[1:16:10] has gotten us to this point and, uh, and

[1:16:12] what you guys have done and, um, the

[1:16:15] legal aspects. You know, I used to say I

[1:16:17] would never vote for, you know, I did

[1:16:19] not support a charter city and here I

[1:16:20] voted for it and I'm voting for this

[1:16:22] tax. So,

[1:16:24] never say never. Thank you. [laughter]

[1:16:27] Here we are.

[1:16:29] >> Thank you, Helen.

[1:16:31] Rebecca.

[1:16:33] >> Um,

[1:16:35] yeah. I mean, that's it's obviously

[1:16:36] always a challenging um decision for a

[1:16:40] council to decide to raise

[1:16:43] um a revenue measure to help uh pay for

[1:16:48] the town services.

[1:16:50] Um,

[1:16:51] Valley has very limited options. I think

[1:16:54] we all recognize that we are essentially

[1:16:57] a residential bedroom community. We

[1:17:00] don't have a lot of uh commercial. We

[1:17:02] have no hotel. We have no boutique

[1:17:04] hotel. We don't have a boutique

[1:17:06] uh convention center or something that

[1:17:09] might bring in extra money. Uh all we

[1:17:12] have is, you know, mainly residential

[1:17:16] mainly homes. And the reality is that

[1:17:19] our homes don't actually turn over very

[1:17:21] often, which means that a significant

[1:17:24] number of our residents have been able

[1:17:26] to enjoy living in Porto Valley for 50

[1:17:28] 60 70 80 years

[1:17:31] um because their taxes haven't gone up

[1:17:34] that their taxes don't cover the actual

[1:17:36] cost of the town to operate the town.

[1:17:39] So, um, we are at this point. We've had

[1:17:42] the finance and audit committee explore

[1:17:44] a lot of options. The staff as well.

[1:17:47] We've been looking at this for two

[1:17:49] years. Two years we've been exploring

[1:17:51] all sorts of different options. And

[1:17:54] ultimately, the decision for a charter

[1:17:56] town with um a re uh a property tax, a

[1:18:02] transfer tax is what is made the most

[1:18:05] sense. Um, we hired a very experienced

[1:18:10] uh consultant who has had tremendous

[1:18:12] success with getting their ballot

[1:18:15] measures passed and we took their

[1:18:18] advice. We are taking their advice. Um

[1:18:20] they we they had us do a survey, a

[1:18:22] scientifically um designed survey to to

[1:18:26] understand the appetite of the residents

[1:18:30] to be willing to make a larger community

[1:18:33] contribution to supporting the town and

[1:18:35] to helping the town run and be fiscally

[1:18:39] um responsible. Um I think u many people

[1:18:42] have underestimated how many how much

[1:18:45] the costs have gone up. We already heard

[1:18:47] today and in the packet that in the past

[1:18:49] five years, our public safety, our

[1:18:50] sheriff's contract has gone up 85%.

[1:18:55] Um,

[1:18:56] you know, if you look at housing, our average housing has gone up

[1:19:01] in that same five periods, less than

[1:19:02] 25%.

[1:19:04] So, obviously, we can't keep up um with

[1:19:08] sheriff costs if they keep going up like

[1:19:10] that. And it's similar in other areas.

[1:19:12] We all have had increases in insurance

[1:19:15] costs um just like the town has. Um

[1:19:18] staffing has gone up because staff have

[1:19:21] had increases in their costs. So we do

[1:19:24] have to recognize that we have very few

[1:19:25] levers that we can play with in order to

[1:19:28] have a functioning town. So this one

[1:19:31] based on many people studying it for

[1:19:34] many months um makes the most sense. Um

[1:19:39] and I wanted to say that based on the

[1:19:42] polling and based on the advice of our

[1:19:43] consultants,

[1:19:45] uh the 10% was what the community was

[1:19:48] reason what what a majority of the

[1:19:50] community 60% felt was reasonable. And I

[1:19:54] do want to say that we have built into

[1:19:56] the whole

[1:19:57] um ordinance and the whole ballot

[1:19:59] measure the ability to have tremendous

[1:20:02] amount of flexibility so that if we do

[1:20:06] stabilize our reserves and and enable

[1:20:08] them to come back up to 60%.

[1:20:11] If we um set aside a million dollars a

[1:20:14] year for our capital projects and our

[1:20:16] safety projects that have been left

[1:20:19] languishing for five years or more.

[1:20:23] um and we start making a lot of progress

[1:20:26] on that in a few years it's entirely

[1:20:28] possible that we would be able to reduce

[1:20:30] this somewhat um and by leaving it at

[1:20:33] 10% in the ballot measure means that we

[1:20:35] have that flexibility

[1:20:37] >> so you keep saying 10% but you need 1%

[1:20:40] $10 per thousand

[1:20:41] >> yes thank you for that $10 per thousand

[1:20:44] thank you for for correcting the 1%

[1:20:47] um

[1:20:48] so I I think that flexibility is really

[1:20:52] helpful And for those who say that that

[1:20:54] councils have never reduced it, that is

[1:20:55] not true. I mean, our UUT was actually

[1:20:58] reduced a few years ago. So, um, and

[1:21:01] perhaps that's led to some of the issues

[1:21:03] that we now have. But um

[1:21:07] I I think having that flexibility,

[1:21:09] having the the fiscal accountability

[1:21:11] procedures in place, um having the

[1:21:15] ability of the town council and future

[1:21:17] town councils to make modifications find

[1:21:19] that it's necessary, um is really

[1:21:22] important. Um and I think, um I I trust

[1:21:28] our finance department to keep us on

[1:21:29] track with the budgets. They've been

[1:21:31] very frugally responsible. they've been

[1:21:34] um very careful to recommend um expenses

[1:21:38] that that um we can bear right now. Um

[1:21:43] but the recognition is that we have have

[1:21:46] had a a not a 100% balanced budget but

[1:21:49] as close as we can make it based on

[1:21:51] things like deferring capital expenses.

[1:21:54] So when you I have seen costs for other

[1:21:56] towns that have done a storm drain

[1:21:58] evaluation report. This is just the

[1:22:01] report, not the repairs. Um, and then

[1:22:04] it's on the order of $300,000 to

[1:22:05] $500,000.

[1:22:07] So, if we're talking about putting aside

[1:22:09] a million dollars for safety and, you

[1:22:12] know, capital projects, the the report

[1:22:15] alone eats up almost, you know, a third

[1:22:16] to a half of that money. And that

[1:22:18] doesn't count for repairing, you know,

[1:22:21] 50-year-old um storm drains, you know,

[1:22:24] that have rusted out and that could lead

[1:22:26] to washing out an entire neighborhood if

[1:22:29] they were to fail. So, I think it's um

[1:22:33] really important and also I I've been

[1:22:35] working with Craig about um the safety

[1:22:37] element and we've been putting together

[1:22:39] this repository of all of the recommend

[1:22:42] recommended actions that our safety

[1:22:44] committees have recommended and the list

[1:22:47] has 260 items on it. Um that doesn't say

[1:22:50] all those items need to be done. Many of

[1:22:52] them or not many but quite a few have

[1:22:54] been already done and and they're in

[1:22:57] ordinances. But there's a large number

[1:22:59] of items that our our safety committees

[1:23:02] are recommending that we tackle and we

[1:23:04] have had no money to do those. So I

[1:23:06] think it's important that we um raise

[1:23:10] sufficient money to be able to safeguard

[1:23:12] the town and the polling said very

[1:23:15] clearly that people are very concerned

[1:23:16] about wildfire and that's pro that's why

[1:23:19] it's listed first. Not because we're

[1:23:20] planning to spend the most amount of

[1:23:21] money on the first item, but legally

[1:23:24] this is a um a tax that is for um

[1:23:29] general spending that will include a

[1:23:33] number of items including wildfire

[1:23:35] preparation and the others that are

[1:23:36] listed there that are priorities

[1:23:38] communicated by our town. So, um at this

[1:23:41] point, I recommend that we approve this

[1:23:43] as written uh with the 1%

[1:23:46] um tax rate.

[1:23:50] Thank you. So, I'd like to thank my

[1:23:52] fellow council members for your

[1:23:54] comments. I agree with I think all of

[1:23:57] them. Um, I'd also like to say that, you

[1:24:01] know, I believe in this town. Um, I

[1:24:03] believe in our general plan. We

[1:24:07] have can we have built a town that's

[1:24:10] special and that process has been

[1:24:12] intentional. We haven't gotten here by

[1:24:14] accident. Um, we have buildings that are

[1:24:17] subservient to the land. We have limited

[1:24:19] lighting. We have limited fencing.

[1:24:22] That's because the town exists and we

[1:24:25] control our own destiny. And I think

[1:24:27] that that's critical. And it's critical

[1:24:28] that we do that in the future. For

[1:24:31] people who don't know, because we have

[1:24:34] always been efficient and frugal, we get

[1:24:37] 4 cents on every property tax dollar.

[1:24:40] It's so low that they had to pass

[1:24:42] another ordinance to round it up to 7%.

[1:24:45] We get the lowest property tax rate of

[1:24:49] any jurisdiction in the county. So, I

[1:24:52] think it's important to know that this

[1:24:54] is not a town that's spending money hand

[1:24:56] over fist. Um, I believe that the $10 is

[1:24:59] the right one. I believe it sets a

[1:25:00] ceiling. Um, and I think that's

[1:25:02] important. Um, as I think Rebecca

[1:25:05] mentioned, we have lowered the UTS. So

[1:25:07] councils have lowered the taxes. And I

[1:25:10] would also remind the public that if we

[1:25:12] get to the point where we have an

[1:25:15] outofcrol council that is not careful

[1:25:19] with money that this can be withdrawn by

[1:25:23] the voters. This is not permanent. This

[1:25:25] is not forever. This is until the voters

[1:25:27] decide whether they want to continue. So

[1:25:30] I think we have safeguards in terms of

[1:25:32] the voters and I also think we have

[1:25:34] safeguards in terms of the council

[1:25:35] because I have found that our councils

[1:25:37] have been thoughtful and that the

[1:25:39] councils generally do not believe that

[1:25:42] overt taxing the citizens is one of

[1:25:43] their goals. So I'm comfortable and that

[1:25:46] you know the the controls that we have

[1:25:48] is we could lower UT and we can also

[1:25:51] lower the um real property tax the real

[1:25:54] property transfer tax. So, I'm

[1:25:57] comfortable with the controls we have

[1:25:59] for for lowering this. So, I I think

[1:26:01] that that stuff will work well in our

[1:26:03] favor.

[1:26:05] So, I I think in closing, I would just

[1:26:07] say, you know, I love Portola Valley. I

[1:26:08] want to protect our values. So, I'm very

[1:26:10] much in favor of this. Um, as much as I

[1:26:13] dislike taxes, I'm not in favor of tax

[1:26:15] general, but I believe that this is the

[1:26:17] right thing for the town to do now.

[1:26:20] So with that, I would entertain a motion

[1:26:23] to do we need to read the whole thing.

[1:26:26] Can I just sort of point us? I mean, I'm

[1:26:28] happy to read it.

[1:26:29] >> Uh, no, you can refer Well, the the

[1:26:31] resolution. Um,

[1:26:33] >> might be just to be clear, it might be

[1:26:35] good if we could just pull up the

[1:26:36] language.

[1:26:39] >> I mean, it's or adoption of the

[1:26:42] resolution submitted to the voters of

[1:26:43] Porto Valley. um a measure both to adopt

[1:26:47] a town charter and to authorize a real

[1:26:49] property transfer tax at the general

[1:26:51] election to be held on Tuesday, November

[1:26:53] 3rd, 2026 um as called by resolution

[1:26:57] 3001-2026.

[1:27:01] So I would accept a motion and a second.

[1:27:05] >> Second.

[1:27:06] >> Okay, we have a motion. We have a

[1:27:07] second. All in favor?

[1:27:10] >> I. Any opposed? I hear no opposition.

[1:27:14] Thank you very much everyone. This has

[1:27:15] been a long hard set of deci, you know,

[1:27:19] discussions and decisions and then we'll

[1:27:21] go on. I I think one thing we've heard

[1:27:23] from the other council members, I think

[1:27:24] particularly Judas was right, if members

[1:27:27] of the public have questions, they

[1:27:29] should ask them. We want to make sure

[1:27:31] that we are crystal clear on what the

[1:27:34] consequence of this um ordinance or this

[1:27:37] resolution is. So with that, I'm going

[1:27:39] to close 8B and move on to agenda item

[1:27:43] number nine. So are there any oral um

[1:27:47] subcommittee liaison committee or agency

[1:27:50] reports?

[1:27:52] See none on this side one. Okay, go

[1:27:54] ahead Helen.

[1:27:56] >> Um so the wildfire,

[1:28:00] do you mind if I do this report actually

[1:28:02] the wildfire or are you going to do it?

[1:28:05] >> I submitted something paper for next

[1:28:07] time, but that's welcome. You're welcome

[1:28:08] to go ahead and

[1:28:09] >> um Okay. I just wanted to um let council

[1:28:14] know I am not the leazison. So

[1:28:17] um but uh one shoreline did go to the

[1:28:20] wildfire committee

[1:28:23] um last Wednesday. I think it was last

[1:28:26] Wednesday, Thursday, sorry. and uh and

[1:28:31] they approved being part of a pilot for

[1:28:35] the for the county along with Hillsboro

[1:28:37] and then there'll be a coastal area um

[1:28:41] uh for fire to help a pilot to help with

[1:28:45] wildfire insurance and it's a minimum of

[1:28:49] 25 households and it's to be determined

[1:28:52] where in town it would be. Um so the

[1:28:55] wildfire committee is working on that.

[1:28:57] Um, do you want to add anything?

[1:28:59] >> Yeah. Can I add one other thing?

[1:29:01] >> Um, one shoreline was recommending that

[1:29:04] we identify where the greatest

[1:29:06] concentration of homes that have been

[1:29:09] forced to go onto the fair plan. So, I

[1:29:12] would really love it if our residents

[1:29:14] could let us know if they are on the

[1:29:15] fair plan because that would help us

[1:29:17] determine, you know, sort of localize

[1:29:19] what neighborhood made the most sense to um participate in this pilot. And the

[1:29:23] pilot is about home hardening and um

[1:29:26] vegetation clearance, sort of the impact

[1:29:28] of that might have on a larger

[1:29:30] neighborhood scale in terms of helping

[1:29:32] to reduce um insurance rates. So we'd

[1:29:36] like to identify that. So if you're on

[1:29:38] the fair plan, please talk to um MJ Lee

[1:29:41] over at the wildfire preparedness

[1:29:43] committee or probably you can just call

[1:29:44] into the town as well or email into the

[1:29:46] town to let us know that you're on the

[1:29:48] fair plan.

[1:29:51] Um, and also can I'll just add a couple

[1:29:54] other things. So, um, it should not it's

[1:29:57] not expected to cost the town anything.

[1:30:00] So, I wanted to bring that up. Um, and

[1:30:03] then uh the the pilot will bring in um

[1:30:09] uh um like contractors and scale of

[1:30:13] economy. So hopefully there'll be, you

[1:30:15] know, a savings to homeowners, but the

[1:30:17] homeowners would probably need to pay

[1:30:20] for their home hardening themselves to

[1:30:23] explain the economics of the of the

[1:30:25] pilot. And so not everyone will want to

[1:30:27] be part of it, which is understandable,

[1:30:29] but hopefully there's a scale of economy

[1:30:31] because of bringing, you know, uh, doing

[1:30:34] more home hardening all at once. So

[1:30:37] that's the idea, too.

[1:30:40] >> So thank you.

[1:30:41] >> Thank you.

[1:30:42] >> All right. With that, I'm going to open

[1:30:43] it up for public comment. Is there any

[1:30:45] public comment on agenda item number

[1:30:47] nine? I see no one in the room with

[1:30:50] their hands up.

[1:30:52] And I see no hands online.

[1:30:56] All right. So, I'm going to bring it

[1:30:57] back to the council um and look for a

[1:31:01] motion to adjurnn.

[1:31:03] >> Motion to adjurnn.

[1:31:05] >> Second.

[1:31:05] >> Okay. We have motion. Second. All in

[1:31:08] favor?

[1:31:08] >> I Thank you everyone.

07-22-2026 Town Council Meeting

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