[2:37] Good evening, everyone. Welcome
[2:40] Welcome to City Hall. Please, everybody, if you could grab a seat. We'd like to get started.
[2:45] like to call this special meeting of July 28, 2026 to order
[2:51] I would like to ask Councilmember Shiao to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[3:00] through the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
[3:15] Thank you, Councilmember Xiao.
[3:18] Next, we have roll call
[3:23] Council Member Zhang.
[3:26] Here
[3:30] Council members
[3:31] Here
[3:32] Present. Councilmember Kimberlin here. Councilmember Campbell. Here. Councilmember King. Here. Vice Mayor Liu. Here, Mayor Solwood
[3:43] Present
[3:44] I have some brief announcements. There are current vacancies on city boards and commissions. The city clerk's office accepts applications year-round.
[3:55] To apply, please visit the Boards, Commissions, and Committees page at fremont.gov, or contact the City Clerk's Office.
[4:02] For members of the public participating electronically this evening
[4:07] You may provide public comment by selecting the raise hand feature in Zoom
[4:13] Or by dialing star 9 if calling in
[4:16] I will announce when public comment is open for each agenda section.
[4:21] Please state your name, and if representing an organization, identify the organization.
[4:27] Emails submitted to the City Clerk are distributed to the City Council and staff
[4:32] published in the Agenda Center at fremont.gov and retained part of the public record.
[4:38] This meeting may go on until 11:30 PM if needed.
[4:42] We will allow for 30 min for general public comments.
[4:47] additional speakers wishing to speak during the oral communications period can be allowed to speak after at the end of the meeting if there's more speakers
[4:57] I will now turn the meeting over to City Manager Karina Shackleford to make any announcements and to introduce her staff.
[5:04] Thank you, Mayor Salwan. Good evening. Good evening, council members. To the left of me is our city attorney, Rafael Alvarado. And next to Rafael is Assistant City Manager Christina Briggs. Across from the three of us, we have Assistant City Clerk
[5:21] Dina Lewis and former city clerk making a special guest appearance this evening, Susan Gothier. And then just one announcement. I just like to remind folks and invite everyone out to the Fremont Festival of the Arts
[5:37] This weekend, August 1st and August 2nd, 10 am to 6 Pm. So please come out and enjoy some good music, good food, good things to buy everything. So looking forward to seeing y'all out there. Thank you, Mayor.
[5:50] Thank you.
[5:52] And it's great to see a familiar face. Welcome back, Ms. Gauthier. So at this time, we'll go to public communications
[6:00] This is a time for any person who wishes to speak on an issue that is not on the agenda may do so during oral communications.
[6:10] Members of the public participating via Zoom may raise their hand using the Zoom raise hand feature or by dialing star 9 if you're calling in.
[6:20] If your name is not displayed, please state it before speaking.
[6:25] This is an opportunity for the public to address the council on matters that are not on the agenda.
[6:30] Council cannot take action nor respond to items during this comment period
[6:35] Though items may be referred to staff for possible placement on a future agenda. When speaking on behalf of an organization, please identify the organization you represent.
[6:46] A bell will ring when 30 seconds remain, and again when your time has ended.
[6:51] So with that, do we have any speakers for oral communications?
[6:56] Currently, we have four speaker cards and one hand raised on Zoom. Okay
[7:02] So this is we can allow 2 min for this period.
[7:07] And again, this is for items that are or not on the agenda today.
[7:14] Two minutes. Yes
[7:16] Okay.
[7:17] first speaker on Zoom is Cameron Lee
[7:27] Cameron Lee
[7:36] Yes, hi, hello?
[7:40] You may go ahead.
[7:44] Yes, hi. I just wanted to… My name is Cameron Lee and I'm speaking tonight on this agenda for Fremont's becoming a charter city. Is what I'm calling in for.
[7:55] So, sir.
[7:56] And I just
[7:57] We'll come back to you. Right now, we're an oral communications, so we'll go to the next speaker
[8:03] I see, my apologies.
[8:04] Thank you.
[8:06] Next speaker is Cynthia Tanian
[8:13] Cynthia Tanya
[8:14] Yeah, so I think this is not on the agenda yet.
[8:20] Followed by Jack Rogers.
[8:25] Teresa Deanda.
[8:28] And Pat Maypow.
[8:31] with Polly.
[8:35] I've never done this. Is this right? Yep, you're doing good. Just make sure the button's pressed.
[8:40] Yeah, and
[8:45] There we go. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, I just have a brief question and
[8:51] My concern, it's an ongoing concern, and I'll probably be showing up here and there and is about the data centers and future of data centers and the Fremont data centers in the whole Tri-City area.
[9:05] My question is brief, and it's directed just to the mayor is, have you
[9:12] Ever signed a NDA and non-disclosure agreement
[9:17] With any tech developers.
[9:21] And I can that's my only question.
[9:25] Thank you, ma'am. Just the way this oral communication works, I can't respond to you on this item because it's not agendized, but you're welcome to email me and I'm willing to give your email back response.
[9:36] Arsal1atfremont.gov
[9:39] Yes, sir.
[9:44] My name is Jack Rogers.
[9:47] 78 year, 79-year-old resident here of Fremont. I just wanted to speak on public hearings in general
[9:56] and encourage the Council and the mayor to think about people who come before you
[10:03] And you limit their input on a public hearing to one minute. After giving your name and location, you get down to about 45 seconds worth of communications. And I don't know that that really meets the test of a public hearing. So I want to encourage you to think about
[10:19] giving more time to people even if there's a large crowd, having been an employee of the city for more than 33 years. I sat through meetings that went till 2:30 in the morning, but in the end, the public was heard. Thank you
[10:37] Thank you. Sorry, no clapping, booing, hissing, cheering. Thank you. Come on up, ma'am.
[10:47] My name is Teresa Deanda, and I've been a longtime Fremont resident, and I'm here tonight to thank you all for spending your time here on Council and Mayor, because I know that it takes a lot of effort and time. I'm here to say that
[11:03] I respect the fact that I got response from many people on emails, and I appreciate and respect that you take your time to do that, but I also appreciate and respect that I take my time, and I would really like to
[11:19] get responses from other council members, which I'll talk about in the agenda item. But one thing I'm here for tonight is I want to make a suggestion in I live in Niles and in Niles we have a Niles e group that is spans many, many families
[11:35] And we get pushed out emails to us to keep us engaged in what's going on in Niles and why we come together and we will show up in groups here at City Council. I would like to suggest that each council member
[11:54] In the different districts, come up with their own email address for that and ask people to sign up so that you can then push information out to them versus them going onto your email and looking for it. Push it out. That way, we don't have to spend
[12:10] Payer money mailing, and we are informed of what's going on. I think that's a great suggestion. I really would like for you to consider that. Thank you.
[12:20] Thank you. Next speaker.
[12:28] Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. My name is Pat Mapelli, lifelong resident of City of Fremont and 20 year resident in the Mission Lakes neighborhood. Right across the street from Quarry Lakes.
[12:39] I'm here to talk about new city signs that were posted along Nutman Lane. The street that I live on. And Dominici Drive stating no stopping any time.
[12:49] Last week the signs just showed up
[12:52] There was no notice, nothing sent to the neighborhood, no warning. And most importantly, no reason why.
[13:00] These signs are posted along a curb that is adjacent to what is called Isherwood Park.
[13:06] It's a linear strip that's essentially an asphalt path with dirt around it parallel to Alameda Creek Trail
[13:12] There are people that come in to our neighborhood from outside. Park along this curb to access the creek trail and access Quarry Lakes every day of the week.
[13:22] They're parking along this curb has never posed a problem in our neighborhood. At least in the 20 years that I've been there.
[13:29] If these people choose to abide by the signs
[13:32] They will be forced to park their cars in front of our homes
[13:36] Thereby leaving no parking for us as homeowners or guests or visitors that we have to our home.
[13:43] And we will be forced to then go down side streets and park in front of other people's homes
[13:48] Which is just a trickle-down effect and very disturbing to those homeowners.
[13:52] But most disturbing component of this change is the lack of communication and the respect to the homeowners along these two streets. A component of why we bought the home in this neighborhood was the abundance of parking.
[14:05] And this change now affects the value of why we bought there. And with no just cause explanation or communication to us as homeowners.
[14:15] So lastly, I just want to bring up enforcement
[14:18] Who is going to enforce this? If somebody calls the Fremont PD for a non-emergency call for parking in front of a no stopping anytime soon sign
[14:29] nobody's gonna respond because they're just stretched thin with resources and it's a non-emergency action.
[14:36] So hopefully at a minimum, someone
[14:42] Next speaker is Mr. David Bonacorsi
[14:48] And thank you, sir. You could probably find some… one of the staff members to go over that with you.
[14:56] Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is David Bonacorsi. I want to
[15:03] I guess in sadness, but in reality, recognize that you only had 1 decision last week not to put the $0.5 cent sales tax measure on the ballot.
[15:13] I was a co-chair back in 2002 of Measure B, which was a school bond measure
[15:20] And 4 of you have had very close ties to the school district and know how difficult it is to get a bond measure passed or a parcel tax measure passed
[15:31] And I would
[15:32] urged the council to consider that not having the measure on the ballot in November is not simply a question of
[15:41] poll numbers that may shift over time. This is really a wonderful opportunity to do what I think the school district has done successfully over the years, which is to have a lot of lead time to engage the public. First of all, I want to thank
[15:57] the city for removing the barrier here. I want to join the comments of Jack in terms of having more time to engage, but we need more town hall meetings, we need more opportunities, like the school board members and the staff and the school district
[16:12] selling the school district to our community. I think that the city has an opportunity of doing it. You have a great story to tell. We've been very fiscally conservative
[16:21] And we want to sustain that in the future. So if there's a lesson, yes, be sad that we can't get it on the ballot in November, but let's move forward in looking at more ways of engaging our community.
[16:38] So that concludes our oral comment period. Now we'll go to the
[16:44] Main item which is
[16:46] Item 3A, which is the city charter consideration. Today is the decision regarding the placement of the proposed City Charter on this November 2026 election. So I'll turn it over to staff.
[16:59] Thank you, Mayor. If I can ask the city clerk to just pull up the presentation, please.
[17:18] Thank you very much. And good evening, Mayor and City Council. We are pleased to be with you tonight for the third and final meeting for Fremont's Charter City Initiative. Following City Council's discussion and direction at the two prior public hearings, staff has made revisions based on your feedback and are presenting the item for final consideration tonight.
[17:37] Next slide, please
[17:39] Just as a quick reminder, this initiative has carried out the direction set forth in the city council's charter work plan, which was approved on March 3rd. The topics are included here on the slide. Next slide, please.
[17:55] Can you hear me okay? I heard someone out there.
[17:59] Also, as a quick recap, the process that has taken place on March 3rd, the City Council approved the charter work plan and established a charter advisory committee.
[18:10] During the months of March and April, the committee convened and developed recommendations responsive to that work plan, and then on June 2nd and June 7th, the City Council held two required public hearings to consider the committee's recommendations and provide input on the draft city charter.
[18:25] Next slide, please.
[18:28] This is just a quick, you've seen the slides before, a quick reminder of the timeline that was developed in order to accomplish this work in time for the ballot placement deadline of August 7th. Next slide, please.
[18:42] And next slide.
[18:45] After conducting the first public hearing on June 2nd, the City Council accepted the Charter Committee's recommendations and directed staff to revise the draft charter to include additional language, including the following topics, adding the ability for the mayor to independently place items on the City Council meeting agendas
[19:03] Clarification that the mayor and City Council can participate in hiring or terminating any allocated direct staff
[19:09] Development of a process for fulfilling future vacant council seats with the individual who received the next highest votes, or number of votes, and the authority for the city attorney to appoint and remove employees of the city attorney's office.
[19:24] Next slide, please.
[19:27] At the second public hearing on July 7th, staff presented a revised draft charter which included those amendments just mentioned. The City Council accepted those amendments and it requested one addition, which was to include language in the draft city charter that explicitly acknowledges that the city charter does not contemplate an increase
[19:47] to the real property transfer tax.
[19:50] Last week at the July 21st City Council meeting, research firm FM3 presented polling results to the city council, which included a question regarding the viability of the charter measure currently under consideration.
[20:03] 25% of likely voters expressed support for this measure, suggesting that it may not be viable at this time.
[20:11] A revised draft city charter is included in your agenda packet this evening and reflects all recommendations and amendments requested to date.
[20:20] Next slide, please.
[20:22] The fiscal impact of these recommendations includes a one-time cost of up to about $850,000 for ballot placement, and would require an ongoing increase of about $162,000 to the city's general fund.
[20:37] Next slide, please.
[20:40] That concludes our very brief presentation and tonight we are asking the City Council to either defer consideration of a charter due to a future election and continue community dialogue or approve the proposed city charter measure and adopt a resolution calling for the election
[20:59] and approving submittal of a charter for the city of Fremont for consideration at the November 3, 2026 election.
[21:06] Thank you
[21:08] Great. Thank you, Christina and City Manager and Mr. Alvarado. I know you guys worked very hard on this. I just want to take a few minutes to just kind of frame where we are. You know how we got here and where I think I heard the council leaning in our past meeting
[21:25] Because whatever we decide, this process deserves to be named for what it is. Which is democracy in action.
[21:32] This conversation began with a referral from Vice Mayor Zhajing Zheng
[21:38] And I thank her for that leadership
[21:40] But this is not an issue that belongs to any one of us, not her, not me.
[21:46] It belongs to the entire city council.
[21:48] A majority of this body voted to study it and move it forward for very good reasons
[21:54] And this entire body made it a council priority for this year.
[21:59] We had seven residents who stepped up and served on our advisory committee
[22:04] Across 6 public meetings
[22:08] We had two public hearings. Every session noticed, televised, and open.
[22:14] The Brown Act in a full display
[22:17] And it's worth remembering that Fremont has been here before.
[22:21] A charter was studied back in the 1990s and set aside by a previous council
[22:27] And the short story I heard was the council was for it, and I think one council member had a change in heart.
[22:36] So this is not a new question. What's new is that this council had the discipline to study this in the open
[22:43] together from start to finish
[22:45] And here's a result that no one should overlook. More Fremont residents understand what a charter is today than that many previous points in our history.
[22:55] And that alone is an achievement.
[22:58] And let me say why this work matters.
[23:00] A city should look hard at its own governance every few years
[23:05] Not out of dissatisfaction, but out of discipline
[23:09] because the communities needs change over the years.
[23:13] and the public's expectations of us
[23:17] are higher today than any time in our history
[23:20] Their residents don't grade us on our structure
[23:24] They greet us on whether we deliver
[23:27] And nothing, nothing matters more to me and to this Council than our ability to get things done.
[23:34] So again, I want to thank each and every member of our advisory committee
[23:38] It took a very difficult assignment
[23:41] And they gave it real time and real care
[23:44] And I'll be honest with this community about how the work unfolded.
[23:49] When we launched this process, the goal was to take a look at governance itself
[23:55] Not on peripheral issues like term limits or compensation or other things
[24:01] But on the biggest structural questions, the committee encountered genuinely differing viewpoints.
[24:08] For example, some wanted strong mayor form of government
[24:12] Some wanted a hybrid form of government
[24:15] And some wanted to continue as is the council manager former government
[24:20] And understandably, they moved forward on the items that they could find most agreement or unanimous support
[24:27] And left those difficult items where there was more disagreement.
[24:32] So the result is a set of recommendations that are thoughtful but very modest. And frankly, I mentioned that they're watered down, so it doesn't address the main challenges that we're facing today.
[24:43] So this was slightly different than what we initially intended to do
[24:48] And again, that's not a criticism of seven volunteers. It is a recognition that the deepest governance questions need more time
[24:56] And a broader community conversation.
[24:59] Because here's what that homework revealed. This was never just a charter discussion. It was a governance discussion.
[25:06] We asked a bigger question.
[25:08] How does Fremont govern better? And how do residents hold us accountable for what we do?
[25:15] And here's what came back.
[25:17] Several of the reforms that we've been seeking do not require a charter
[25:22] We can adopt them right now by ordinance as a general law city
[25:27] Now, think about that for a moment.
[25:30] These options have been available to Fremont for decades
[25:34] And no previous council has moved on them.
[25:36] Not because anyone was hiding the ball or had bad intentions, but because the question had never been asked this directly
[25:44] In this much depth
[25:46] And with this much public scrutiny
[25:48] And that's how governance works
[25:51] Answers surface when someone does the work of asking.
[25:55] So this process has already delivered something real before a single vote is taken tonight
[26:02] It surfaced reforms that were sitting there, available, unused
[26:07] And put them within reach of this council
[26:09] And that is a process working exactly as it should.
[26:14] And at our last meeting, I listened carefully to all of my colleagues and what I heard was striking
[26:20] Nearly every council member supports the idea of a charter
[26:24] And nearly every member wants the same thing first. More community engagement before it goes to the ballot.
[26:32] Every council member wanted more engagement. Every one of them welcomed it.
[26:37] And let me be clear about what I did not hear. Not one council member said no.
[26:42] Not one council member said that we've had enough
[26:45] Town halls, work sessions, open-ended dialogues with residents, every member of this body said yes to more of it.
[26:53] And that's not division, that is alignment. And tonight we should act on that
[26:58] So let me kind of share where I am and what I hope that we will consider tonight.
[27:03] First, let's take the work product of this process. Everything that we have learned that we can lawfully do today
[27:10] And adopted by ordinance as a general law city.
[27:14] While we wait for the longer charter conversation to continue
[27:19] Tonight, we can direct staff to return with ordinances for every reform this process revealed that we can implement without being a charter city
[27:29] Practical governance improvements that are lawful today under the authority that we already have.
[27:36] The ordinances come back for formal adoption in future meetings. And each one happens within the laws we already have.
[27:43] The same open meetings, the same public records, the same guardrails that have always applied these council meetings. So small changes, real differences
[27:54] deliverables
[27:55] Tonight without waiting
[27:57] Second, on the charter measure itself
[28:00] I would propose let's defer it for a future election and direct staff to design the deeper community engagement this Council has asked for.
[28:11] Peripheral questions like salaries and term limits belong in that conversation, and they should be considered by the community as part of the charter, not decided tonight.
[28:21] A charter is our city's constitution. It should reach the ballot when residents fully own it and when it's ready to succeed, not before it's ready.
[28:31] And not a dollar spent putting it to voters until that day comes.
[28:36] So let me be plain about what I hope we adopt tonight
[28:40] I like to see a motion in two parts. First, that this Council defer consideration of a city charter to a future election and continue the community dialogue.
[28:51] And second, that we direct staff to return at a future regular meeting with the ordinances and administrative actions necessary to implement under the city's existing general law authority.
[29:04] The reforms that were outlined in the staff reports that do not require a charter. So again, two parts deferred the charter, deliver the reforms.
[29:12] So tonight, let's do things that we can deliver today, what we can bank on. Let's keep building toward the charter
[29:21] at the pace that our community wants and deserves
[29:24] Everything that we adopt tonight, we adopt for the residents who sent us here. And this all began with a good question asked by the Council. It ran in full public view
[29:35] And it will end tonight with the real results for our residents.
[29:39] And now I want to hear from my colleagues so that they can weigh in, and then we will open it up for public testimony
[29:47] Yes.
[29:49] Council Member Zhang has their turn it over to Councilmember Zhang.
[29:57] Thank you, Mayor. And hello, everyone from China, my hometown. I'm visiting my elderly mother and
[30:07] And
[30:09] Say hello. And I agree. So when I start the charter. My intention is having a performance charter, have a performance Fremont and not a city council member benefit charger. Absolutely not.
[30:26] And I thank the staff and the committee members during the short time, and we have accomplished a lot, and we have discovered problems, we have proposals, which is already in the charter, and which can be implemented without a charter. I agree with Mayor Sawan's comment
[30:46] And I think that what needs to be done is
[30:51] focus more going forward in the operational improvement, so that the
[30:57] the committee, the city of Fremont people can clearly see the benefit of being a charter, and what feature can address the benefits, the improvement clearly, which is clearly
[31:13] Transparently and
[31:16] people, when they see that, they would understand. And now that, because, I mean, in the previous meeting, I have mentioned about modern procurement and government transparency and auditing, and those are very important
[31:31] features which belong to charter alone, and that those going forward when we study further, should be
[31:39] A focused and be implemented in the operational improvement section, which I think is largely missing in this current one. But I think that there is no pointing fingers. I think that we decide to move forward because we want to get something done, and we did
[32:00] And I feel actually proud of all the things we have achieved together. So we having a work product, and let's move forward. I agree with Raj Sawa
[32:14] Councilmember Shiao
[32:16] Thank you, Mayor. I echo what Mayor just said, and I also heard a motion, and I don't know, it's appropriate for me to second it, but even if the mayor is not looking for a second to the motion
[32:33] I just want
[32:35] I agree with what the mayor just said. And if it's counted as a second, then I'll be glad to second it. But I want to share with you that I'm sitting here today with a heart full of gratitude
[32:51] Why? Because at the end of my 8-year tenure as a city council member, this is the first time I ever was exposed to this topic
[33:04] I heard that there were 2 times in the history of our great city where the city council was
[33:12] Exploring the possibility of converting into our charter city. But in both those times it didn't succeed. And I also feel grateful that finally this Council was
[33:29] Out of self-discipline, looking at the possibility of making our city government more efficient and providing better service to you. So it was actually quite exciting for me
[33:45] To see how far this effort could go, but as of now, I'm still filled with gratitude. Why? Because throughout the whole process, I witnessed the full support
[34:00] Of the community, support doesn't mean that you agree with what the Council has proposed or drafted. Rather, your presence today, your engagement shows the support because
[34:16] Since last meeting, I haven't heard anyone who openly opposed the conversion. Rather, we're all working in the same direction. The only difference is as of
[34:31] You know, is the timing
[34:32] So today, I'm sure later on when you come and speak, and you will, once again, point out the issue of public engagement and also the timing of this effort, which I fully understand.
[34:48] I'm also very grateful that, as the mayor put it, we have already found out a lot of opportunities where without converting into the charter city, we can resort to alternative ways
[35:03] to make this government more efficient
[35:06] I was always challenged with the question, what is something that
[35:13] Fremont cannot do, but a charter city can do. And thanks to our city manager, I found out, for example, for starters, a lot of restaurant owners and also representatives of the Chamber of Commerce
[35:29] Have come to our city council meeting complaining about the rampant illegal food stands
[35:39] That not only would be considered a health hazard, food safety hazard, but also would compromise the best interest of those legal businesses,
[35:54] Fremont
[35:57] Without being a charter city right now. Unfortunately, according to the current state law.
[36:04] That's not much the city can do about it
[36:08] Okay, the police cannot just get rid of those, I mean, that's after some legal studies. That is where the limit is.
[36:19] Believe it or not. So just keep that in mind. We may face further challenges in the future, and that makes everything that we have done so far on this topic
[36:34] Worthwhile
[36:36] I hope to see this effort ongoing dialogue ongoing and engagement ongoing so that
[36:46] We are working as a team, making joint efforts towards the same goal, which is simply to turn the city government a better one, to serve the residents
[36:59] And with that, I don't know whether it's too early to second. I think we still have to hear from the public, so we'll we're comments are good. Okay. And then and then we'll hear from public, then we'll bring it back. Certainly. Yeah. And
[37:16] Thank you
[37:18] Councilmember Liu
[37:21] And then Councilmember Campbell after that.
[37:23] Thank you, Mayor. So, first off, I want to give my opinion on this. I also believe that, you know, it would be best and prudent to table this item at this time. My reasoning draws mainly, you know, is pretty much the same reasoning as we used last week for the potential half sales tax measure
[37:41] I think in both cases, Fremont is facing real budgetary constraints, and I think we should have responsibility to carefully prioritize where we devote, you know, our
[37:54] Resources
[37:55] But, I also agree with the fact that, you know, that has been mentioned by other people before, that there are many suggestions and ideas that were brought up throughout this whole process that could be implemented immediately. And I would hope, like.
[38:11] Our staff would also, you know, begin evaluating and pursuing those opportunities immediately, rather than waiting for the next time we bring up the whole idea of having a city charter or not. Because to me, that really seems like the most practical path forward
[38:26] If there's any improvements, we can, you know, make today, right now, without incurring the costs or complexities of having a whole city charter process, of having a whole ballot election, then to me, it's a no-brainer that we should implement them immediately. And lastly, I also want to echo the thoughts about how I'm so gladened to see that we have a full House today
[38:46] And I really hope we can see this in our future meetings as well. There are too many times when we hold a public hearing, and there's nobody who comes up and says anything, or give their opinions at all. And today, having a full house, this is what I want to see
[39:02] And, I really want to see that in the future, especially given how, you know, we can participate remotely through Zoom using technology and everything like that. And those are my thoughts. Thank you very much.
[39:12] Thank you. Councilmember Campbell. Thank you, Mayor. It is nice to see so many people out this evening to support this charter. I think that's one of the things that we initially wanted to do from the beginning
[39:27] was to have more community dialogue, to have more community engagement. And I've been a strong proponent of that since we started this back in February, that we have a more robust opportunity
[39:42] for the public to be able to weigh in on the work plan. What is it that we're trying to accomplish? I know I've been saying that all the time. What is the problem that we're trying to solve, and how do we get the community involved in helping us solve these problems?
[39:57] But as everyone has already said, and I don't want to repeat myself, we did discover quite a bit of things that we could do
[40:06] As a general law city, we don't we don't have to go to a charter to be able to do that. So there is some good that came out of this process. I'd like to see the conversation continue. I'd like to see us be more engaged with the public
[40:22] around what they would like to see for their city, and how we might be a vessel to implement those changes that the citizens want us to have. I'm equally concerned about the expense of
[40:37] I'm putting a ballot measure on the November election, and of course it not win. We want to be… if we're going to do it, we want it to win. We don't want to put something before the voters that will not win. And with a 24
[40:53] approval rate, it doesn't look promising for us to be able to do that. And I also echo what the mayor said, that we would defer this particular, item for more public dialogue and engagement
[41:09] I'd like to
[41:11] work with the city as well to see what ordinances and administrative regulations that we can immediately implement, and I'd like to hopefully hear from the community as well as we look at these ordinances and administrative regulations, get your input
[41:30] into what that might look like and whether that's something that the citizens of Fremont are equally feel important for this governing body. So, Mayor, I know that you didn't really want to
[41:47] I make a motion right now, so I will defer that until after the motion. I think it's I think it's good, you know, it's great that everybody's sharing their feedback, but maybe wait from the public, maybe there's something new that comes out, and then we can decide collectively
[42:03] Which way to go, if that's okay. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Councilmember Kimberlin.
[42:10] Thank you, Mayor. So thank you all for being here tonight. And I'm not going to pontificate on everything that you've already heard. I will mention a couple things. I think your being here is very important. I think you've been very respectful and very aligned in what you see as a community
[42:27] And to me, this is this is my survey right here. I've been listening to the emails, listening to you, seeing you come to these meetings and speak, and truly appreciate it. I must say the teamwork up here, I'm really proud of it. It's been really good. We all thought we should do the homework
[42:44] But where we kind of separated was with the timeline. So I think the teamwork was still very good and very strong up here. I think that we need more time. And it looks like we're going to have more time.
[42:56] So with that, I wanted to say, why do we need more time? We didn't really get the opportunity to meet with the advisory committee up front. They really didn't understand what their full scope was to be. We should have had that time to meet with them, work with them. We also should have had time, in my opinion
[43:11] To meet with all of you in like a study session. And I know that in the past, there have been meetings that have been very volatile and very hot and passionate and very upsetting. I don't think this would be one of them, and I'm not afraid for us to have study sessions and meet with everyone
[43:29] who will have ideas that I might not have or my colleagues may not have. So we're going to push for that
[43:36] And then also want to know that, want you to know that I'm going to work very closely with my team and the city manager's office to implement the changes. This is the reason a lot of this came up is we felt we needed some changes. We needed to be sure that we were not rubber stamps
[43:51] That we can represent as people think we're representing and have a little bit more knowledge and a little bit more information. That's really what kind of started this whole thing. So if we can work closely with our city manager's office and implement some of the changes that have surfaced, and they know we want, and we know we want
[44:10] So that we can serve you better and then work on a charter plan later that will benefit everyone, not look like it's just benefiting us, because I don't think any of us are comfortable with that. That kind of changed and
[44:24] I think
[44:25] That's it, I'm on the same page with everyone here tonight as well, and have been for a while saying, pause, please pause, please pause. Let's work some more. So thank you. Councilmember King.
[44:36] Thank you, Mayor, and thank you everyone for being here again. I think we have actually heard a lot of you guys already on how this process was rushed and not receiving or engaging the public
[44:50] opinion or educating everyone on why the reasons why we need charter city, and I think even some of us didn't really fully understand, because this is a very big topic, and
[45:06] Why we need to make sure we can convince the citizens why we're changing if we are, what are the benefits to the community, not just benefiting benefits to the city council members. And I think actually after some studies myself, I think one of the areas we really need to
[45:26] If we are to look at it again at a closer look with a longer engagement process with the community, one of the things we really should look at is a modern procurement contracting
[45:39] process, modernize our public contracting process, because some of the legally, there's a lot of things that we cannot do under the California laws, but some of these,
[45:52] Changing some of the procurement methods that will
[45:58] That will save costs and also speed up the process and make it more clear, more a transparent process. And things like this that will really bring benefits to the citizen. And I think some of when we do
[46:14] Make another go at this process. I do think that we need a third-party facilitator that has experience with Charter City that can kind of guide the committee and
[46:27] Through the process, and what are the specific things that the Fremont can look at to make our city a better city to serve our citizens. Thank you.
[46:38] Councilmember Zhang has her hand raised. Okay, Councilmember Zhang.
[46:43] Oh, okay, so I just want to, so then after this discussion, we will have public comment, and then we will make a motion. And
[46:56] And then I'll come back later
[47:00] Okay, thank you.
[47:01] But I do want to add… yes, thank you.
[47:02] Go ahead. Sorry, go ahead, go ahead.
[47:04] Oh, okay. So I do want to add, because I keep on hearing from a Councilmember Campbell, like, what problem are we trying to solve. I want to tell the public. We want to solve performance. We want to follow, we want to
[47:24] Having a modern structure which can cater to our growing population, which is
[47:34] As I mentioned, procurement, because when we change the procurement procedure, which can only be adopted within the charter, and then we can deliver the renovation, the work and save money and you know with the parks and recreation, we can get it done much faster and save money and that that's one of the important features and also public transparency. And we have independent auditor
[48:03] Which auditor the city's different department, and so that we were not having some corrupted city manager in the past. And sometime I want to tell the public
[48:13] Excuse me, please let the council member finish.
[48:17] Okay, so we don't know what we don't know, but charter is a very powerful
[48:25] Vehicle. It's a product, and we need to carefully decide what feature we need to put into this vehicle, these tools, so that would truly benefit Fremont
[48:37] Okay, I'm done.
[48:41] Thank you.
[48:43] I just want to toss it over to the attorney, Mr. Alvarado. The few council members have mentioned about a motion. I think it's a little early. Would you agree with that assessment? Yes, Mayor, I think you are response to that inquiry was the best approach. Okay, thank you.
[48:58] So we definitely want to hear from the public. I'll ask one more procedural question to Mr. Alvarado. There was a mention about the time. Could you highlight what my authority is in this regard?
[49:14] The chair may set reasonable regulations regarding procedural matters, including time limits, so long as each speaker is afforded the same opportunity time wise that satisfies applicable legal requirements.
[49:31] Okay, thank you. How many speakers do we have? We have one via Zoom and 33 in in person
[49:41] Okay
[49:43] Okay, let's hear from the Zoom speaker first, since I know he was there, and then we'll go to the public
[49:51] So I'll do the same as last time, 1 minute, 30 seconds.
[49:56] And one welcome change, you see there's no wall. We've taken down the walls, so hopefully you guys appreciate that.
[50:03] Emerging from the post-COVID era
[50:06] We used to have a little partitions here too, so we'd have to look through the glass. So it's nice to see that change.
[50:13] So I'll turn it over to Assistant City Clerk to call the speakers. We now have 3 online speakers. The first is Ben.
[50:39] Ben
[50:44] Maybe we can come back to that one.
[50:45] Yes, hi, sorry, I realized I was on mute. Can you hear me now?
[50:50] Hello?
[50:52] Yes, we can hear you. Please go ahead.
[50:54] All right. Yeah, so what I wanted to say was that when it came to the topic of voting on a city charter. As a citizen, I'd really value living in a city where I feel like my local government has more agency to just
[51:09] Work within things to change things for the better, because I feel like in the absence of that, what we, the reality we'd have is we'd be living in a city where it'd be mostly subject to state laws where it doesn't really account for the different the differences compared to any other city
[51:25] And I feel like you all obviously seem to care about listening to your citizens and addressing their concerns and just the greater flexibility that we'd have under a city charter. I feel like that would mean a lot to me as a citizen knowing that our
[51:40] our governmental officials are empowered to really not just listen to us, but do everything within reason to take that feedback into consideration, and just continue allowing Fremont to be a place that grows for the better and continues to be that
[51:55] great environment where there's clearly a sense of collaboration and community between citizens and between the policymakers and those who have the ability to make change happen.
[52:08] And yeah, that's about all I have to say, but thank you for the time and the opportunity to voice my opinion on the matter.
[52:17] Thank you.
[52:20] Next speaker is Rio Collette.
[52:26] I just wanted to start off by saying thank you for introducing Zoom speaking. It makes it a lot easier to attend meetings with a busy schedule, so I just want to say that. But I'm calling in today to voice my support for the city charter. I do believe that the people that we vote for as citizens of Fremont should be the ones with the power
[52:45] And if possible, I would like those people to do it full-time, and not have to worry about other jobs and careers, because I want them to focus on the city
[52:55] As they were elected to do so, I want the people that I vote for to have the power so that we know who to hold accountable if things do not go our way, and who to praise, and who to write letters to, because they're actually going to make a difference in our city.
[53:08] Thank you. That's all
[53:13] Thank you.
[53:16] Next speaker
[53:19] Is Justin Wan
[53:21] Wasn't there Eric earlier that we
[53:26] He was speaking under oral communication. Is that is this still on?
[53:30] Oh, Cameron, sorry, yes. Oh, hands. Okay. Okay, I know he wanted to speak at that time earlier.
[53:38] So now the next speaker is Justin Wan.
[53:42] Hey, hello. Yeah. As someone who graduated from Forest Park Elementary
[53:49] Thornton Junior high or middle school and Irvington High School. I've seen firsthand how much our city has grown and evolved over the years. You know, Fremont is no longer just a collection of neighborhoods. It's a diverse and thriving community with unique needs, opportunities, and challenges. That's one of the reasons I support exploring a city charter
[54:05] Charter gives local residents a greater voice in determining how their city is governed, and rather than relying entirely on rules written in Sacramento for hundreds of different cities, a charter allows Fremont residents to help shape a governing framework that reflects the priorities and values of our own community
[54:20] And I also believe that a charter encourages civic engagement. It gives residents an opportunity to learn more about how local governments work, participate in public discussions, and ultimately decide for themselves what kind of city they want Fremont to become. And as a graduate of Fremont
[54:37] public schools, I was taught the importance of civic participation and local involvement. The charter process embodies these values by putting important decisions directly before the voters.
[54:48] So yeah, this is why I support the charter
[54:51] The charter initiative and just thank you for your time and thank you for listening.
[55:00] Zoom speaker, the next set of speakers are in person.
[55:07] Cameron Lee has
[55:17] Cameron Lee
[55:18] Yes. Hello, can everyone hear me?
[55:21] Yes.
[55:22] Yes, I also wanted to speak tonight in support of Fremont's becoming a charter city. And I just wanted to say that at its core, you know, city chart is about local control and I feel like Fremont is no longer a small city. We are in fact one of the largest cities in the Bay Area
[55:38] With our own unique challenges and opportunities. And that can differ from those faced by other communities across California. You know, a charter, it allows local residents through their elected representatives to have greater flexibility just in deciding how municipal affairs should be governed.
[55:53] And also to the point, many of California's most successful cities, which include San Jose, Sunnyvale, Sacramento, Santa Clara, they operate as charter cities. So, in fact, you know, while charter cities make up a minority of California cities, they represent a majority of the state's population
[56:09] You know, they chose these charter statuses because it allows them to tailor certain policies to meet local needs. Just rather than relying solely on one size fits all state laws.
[56:19] So with that in mind, you know chart is not a blank check. Any charter must ultimately be approved by the voters, and any future amendments would require voter approval.
[56:27] So, residents remain in control in the process. So that's just why I wanted to mention as Fremont continues to grow and evolve, I believe a city charter can provide additional tools and flexibility to help our city just respond to future challenges while remaining accountable to the people we serve.
[56:42] So that's why I wanted to voice my support for this initiative, and I want to thank you for your time.
[56:58] By the way, can we turn the volume up a little bit? I don't know if it's on their end or if it's on our end, but if we could
[57:03] Trump the volume just a little bit
[57:06] Oh, that's in the back
[57:08] Oh, okay.
[57:10] Okay.
[57:13] They can hear us? Okay.
[57:27] TJ, can you unmute?
[57:29] You're ready.
[57:30] All right
[57:31] Good evening, everyone. Mayor and City Council Member and City Staff
[57:36] My name is TJ Dhami, and I'm in a Fremont residence
[57:40] iSport become a charter city because I believe this season about Fremont should be made by the people who live here, not always by Sacramento.
[57:50] A chart charter does not change who is in charge
[57:55] We still elect our mayor and council member, and if we don't like the direction they are taking, we can vote them out
[58:04] What it does is give our city more flexibility to solve local problems in a way that fit Fremont's unique needs.
[58:15] I also appreciate that any charter is voted on by the people, nothing happens unless Fremont residents approve it.
[58:25] And encourage the council member to move this forward so the voters of the Fremont can make the final decision. Thank you so much.
[58:41] And that was the last Zoom speaker.
[58:46] The next in-person speakers we have
[58:50] Steve Medeiros
[58:53] Followed by David Stark.
[58:56] Annie Koruga
[58:59] Kim Marshall.
[59:03] Teresa Deanda.
[59:06] Jack Rogers
[59:11] Herbert Chu
[59:13] Frank
[59:15] Guan Junior
[59:17] And Robert P. Tayares.
[59:20] Do you want them to all line up here? Yes, please. Okay, please come on up if your name was called, and if you could just line up so that we can be efficient.
[59:30] Welcome, Mr. Medeiros. That's my dad. I'm Steve Medeiros, longtime resident here of Fremont. It seems like everything's going the way I hoped it would when I was here last time when I suggested that we pump the brakes.
[59:45] I think that the real reason we're all here is because it's Mayor Salwan's birthday today and a lot of people don't know that. So I know you said no hissing, no booing, no clapping, but you didn't say anything about singing. Happy birthday to you
[1:00:03] Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Mayor Selwyn. Happy birthday to you. All right. Thank you.
[1:00:17] Well, that's why we had this meeting, so we can celebrate my birthday, right? No. Mr. Stark.
[1:00:24] Thank you, I appreciate that. Mr. Stark is also my father. I cannot follow that, but happy birthday, Mayor Sal. When I'm David Stark, I'm representing the Bay East Association of Realtors. And I do want to acknowledge the fact that a real estate transfer taxes were included in the staff report and included
[1:00:42] some of the ballot language and appreciate that. However, real estate transfer taxes are not the only issue that we have in the city of Fremont. You've created an incredible place to live here, incredible place to work, and we're concerned that
[1:00:57] About anything that would take away from the attractiveness of the city of Fremont.
[1:01:02] I get a sense of where you all going with this tonight, and we generally support that. However.
[1:01:08] If you're prioritizing where to allocate staff resources, I would encourage you to focus on your priorities of economic development, financial feasibility, addressing homelessness, and ensuring a safe community before you continue down this path
[1:01:25] towards a charter city. Work on those things first. Make those things your priority, and once you've figured all those things out working with the community, then circle back to the charter city. Again, we support the direction that you've outlined, Mayor Sawan
[1:01:41] And we just ask that you prioritize city resources correctly to ensure this continues to be a great place to live and work. Thank you.
[1:01:49] Thanks
[1:01:52] Thank you, come on up, ma'am.
[1:01:55] Next.
[1:01:59] Oh.
[1:02:00] Yeah, Annie Karuga, then Kim Marshall, then Teresa Dienda.
[1:02:04] Hi, thank you. I'm Annie Karuga, and I'm saying a message that it sounds like most of you agree with. Please do not put the charter on the ballot this November. Respectfully, the process was rushed and just didn't give us enough time to consider all of the views in our community
[1:02:21] And all of the potential implications, both positive and negative, in becoming a charter city. A charter is not inherently bad, as many of you have stated, but we need a really clear reason as to why we are doing this. If you do this again, if you reconsider this
[1:02:36] Please let one of those reasons be the expansion of democracy. Charter cities, but not general law cities. Can one expand the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds? Two, implement ranked choice voting, and three, do public fund matching in elections
[1:02:52] Please include these expansions of democracy if you attempt to put a charter on the ballot in any future election, and please do not put a charter on the ballot this November. Thank you.
[1:03:06] Kim Marshall
[1:03:09] My name is Kim Marshall. I'm a retired City of Fremont employee, have lived in Fremont for over 35 years, and I recently had the honor to serve as a member of the Fremont Charter Advisory Committee. And I couldn't come here earlier
[1:03:23] to… because I was on vacation celebrating my birthday. So I wanted to just make a few comments
[1:03:29] When I was appointed to the Charter Advisory Committee, I was very neutral about Fremont becoming a charter city, but it didn't take me long to understand the benefits of a charter versus a general law city
[1:03:41] I quickly determined a charter city gives more control to the residents through the officials that they elect. It's a living document that can be modified by the voters as the needs of the residents and city changed. I also learned that there are over 120 charter cities in California and in the Bay Area
[1:04:00] Of the top 5 cities by population for our charter cities, but Fremont is not.
[1:04:06] So the Charter Advisory Committee came to consensus and brought the city council the framework for a Fremont City Charter.
[1:04:13] And while I personally wanted a strong mere charter, I understand that
[1:04:20] the others didn't, and we came to consensus on this, and I respect the Council's
[1:04:25] Taking a step back, getting more public input and waiting for it. So I think charter is the way to go. And I'd love to be part of that process in the future. Thank you.
[1:04:35] Thank you.
[1:04:40] Yes, I'm Teresa Deanda again here tonight. And I want to say that I'm not opposed to a charter city. However, what I am asking for respectfully from all council members and the mayor is to communication, community, community, community
[1:04:58] I live in a community in Fremont, and I feel very blessed to be a part of that. And I know that our city is growing. But that does not take away from us being community. So, I mean, I heard many people on Zoom
[1:05:14] Charter City, let's move. What I ask, again, is that we have communication, create these groups on Google Maps, send information to your district people, get them engaged
[1:05:29] We want to be engaged. I was really perplexed at getting a message at four o'clock in the evening that there was a meeting in my town that was on a charter city and I had
[1:05:44] things going on that night, I couldn't make it and I said, why is this not coming to me sooner? So again, I'm going to ask all of you on City Council, please communicate, and there are ways to do that without spending taxpayer money doing mailings
[1:06:00] So thank you again for your time and effort, and I look forward to speaking to my district. And thank you for responding to my emails to all who did, because that means something. So thank you.
[1:06:15] May I ask all of the participants online to make sure that they're muted. Thank you.
[1:06:25] Jack Rogers. Coming up, Mr. Rogers.
[1:06:29] You're next. Yeah.
[1:06:33] Again, my name is Jack Rogers. I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page.
[1:06:39] I heard several comments from council talking about leaning towards a decision that's already been made. And it sounds like we would come back in the future to approve a charter. And I want to make sure that
[1:06:55] That most of you, I hope, are thinking that we're going to look at a charter before making a decision on whether it's good or bad. This is a risk reward decision
[1:07:06] We know that there are risks and we know that there are rewards, but I don't think anybody understands that clearly, including you, and I think that's what you owe the people here that you're representing.
[1:07:17] The second thing that I'm a little concerned about is that several of you have talked about introducing ordinances
[1:07:24] to fix things. And quite frankly, I don't understand what's broken yet. No one has told me what's broken. And so, as you introduce these ordinances, I encourage you to engage with the public. Tell them why it's important to change the ordinance
[1:07:41] Otherwise, we're going to be right back here doing the same thing again. So I really want to thank you for your time. I know it's difficult up there where you are making these decisions and giving your time freely here. But you are our representatives and you owe it, we owe it to you to communicate and you owe it to us to communicate
[1:08:00] Thank you.
[1:08:02] Okay.
[1:08:03] Herbert Chu
[1:08:07] Good evening, Council members, and happy birthday again, Mayor.
[1:08:12] My name is Herb Chu. I would like to express my appreciation to Councilmember Zen for her prudent referral of the charter initiative, Mayor Sawan, the entire City Council, and especially the Charter Advisory Committee members
[1:08:29] Who dedicated times and work over the past few months. I'm in full support of Fremont becoming a charter city.
[1:08:38] And starting city reform under the current general law city framework
[1:08:44] provide that our community has ample opportunity to review, to discuss, and offer input on the key elements of both when our community is truly ready to build it
[1:08:56] Together. Thank you.
[1:08:59] Thank you.
[1:09:01] Frank Juan
[1:09:06] Hello, hello, Mayor Sawan and council members.
[1:09:11] My name is Frank Guan Jr.
[1:09:16] A resident of Fremont. I grew up here
[1:09:21] from your class of 2000 in Mission San Jose
[1:09:25] And actually one of your valedictorians
[1:09:28] from that time
[1:09:30] One of the things that hasn't been talked about as much
[1:09:35] whether or not it's regarding a charter, not a charter
[1:09:40] It's also about the timing
[1:09:42] And I'm probably one of the
[1:09:44] few that actually believe that
[1:09:47] It should be done this year or as soon as possible
[1:09:52] I had the opportunity to work at the state level for close to 5 years
[1:09:57] And
[1:09:58] I remember when I was leaving Sacramento, coming back to Fremont
[1:10:03] The thing that stuck out in my mind was that
[1:10:07] People would be livid if they knew what was going on.
[1:10:11] At the state level.
[1:10:14] And in my opinion, this charter is our ability to define
[1:10:20] our own future. We are moving into a time that is greatly uncertain
[1:10:26] And people are making decisions for us whether you realize it or not. And this is one of the best ways for us to retain our autonomy.
[1:10:37] Thank you. Robert Tavares?
[1:10:42] Can we call the next batch of speakers while it's coming up
[1:10:45] Yes, Mayor and Council, my name is Robert Tavares, a longtime resident of Mission San Jose
[1:10:51] The charter is something that I think you've opened up a Pandora's box. There's a lot of things to think about, a lot of things to really engage in. If it was so great, I think there'd be more cities within the state having charters
[1:11:06] So please give it a lot of attention. I don't know if I'm forward or against it. I don't know if you have done enough study on it. And lastly, I could be wrong, but
[1:11:18] People think that we're going to be more independent if we have a charter city. A lot of money comes from Sacramento into this town in order to make it exist. So the state is still involved heavily on what happens here.
[1:11:34] You don't become you don't become that independent, I don't think. Thank you.
[1:11:39] Thanks. The next group of people to line up. Vanita Verma.
[1:11:45] David Bonacorsi.
[1:11:48] Robert Wachowski.
[1:11:51] Dominic Dutra
[1:11:54] A new Nataranjan
[1:11:57] Sue Chan
[1:12:01] Richard Keller
[1:12:04] VPIN
[1:12:07] Felix Lechner
[1:12:09] Joanne Schwab
[1:12:16] Bonita Verma, please come to the lectern.
[1:12:28] Sorry, one at a time, please. We have Vanita. Then this is our League of Women Voters supporters. This is board and the members of League of Women Voters.
[1:12:39] Good evening, Council Members and Mayor. This is Vinita Verma speaking for League of Women Voters of New York, Fremont, Newark, and Union City. And as you might have received our email, and you have the hard copy coming to you
[1:12:55] The League of Women Voters of Fremont and New York Union City respectfully urges the City Council to postpone placing a city charter measure on November 2026 ballot.
[1:13:07] League believes the following principles should guide the decision as a
[1:13:14] consequential as, changing the fundamental structure of city's government. Citizens must inform… must be informed in order to participate effectively.
[1:13:24] Public engagement is not optional. It is foundational to democratic governance.
[1:13:31] Consensual
[1:13:33] Consensus, building strengthens public trust and leads to better decision. Responsible government is accountable to an informed and engaged community.
[1:13:48] So, with that, we would request you, and as we have heard from you guys, I'm hoping that you will stick with your words and not put it on the ballot for 2026 and wait for the more
[1:14:04] David Bonacorsi
[1:14:12] On June 2, 2026, at the first public hearing, this Council had a problem.
[1:14:18] The advisory committee had come up with four recommendations. If you'd read city staff report, and I did, all four recommendations
[1:14:26] Could be then and could be now subject to a general law city. You did not need a charter. If this was really all about
[1:14:35] Disgusting in the abstract a governing structure with a charter is a subsidiary issue about it, as we were hearing this evening, you would not have had a November 3rd ballot deadline, with tonight being the last public hearing. You would have shut down the process on
[1:14:51] June 2nd and said, let's have that discussion, let's have that dialogue. We're listening to the public. But no, you were not listening. You went ahead on July 7th and had the second public hearing for the very first time, you had something in that charter that was proposed
[1:15:06] That actually required a charter. When you throw away all of the other material, what was it? How we can raise our own salaries without a state law cap. Yeah, Sacramento won't tell us how to reduce our salaries. We can have whatever salary we want.
[1:15:21] That's not a fair process to all of us that did not respect the public. Many of us here are not just for a charter, we're for a process that respects us as citizens of this city. So please do it right the next time. Thank you.
[1:15:37] Robert Witkowski.
[1:15:43] Good evening. For the record, I oppose the charter. I spoke earlier two weeks ago and said I thought you should study it, but today I want to come before you and say I think it's a bad idea.
[1:15:56] I think some lessons we can learn is after you had your retreat at the beginning of the year and you all voted that you wanted to have a charter put on the ballot this year, there was a fatal flaw in that, because changing the Constitution
[1:16:11] And not having the data in front of you of what is the difference and not have done the hard study of the difference between the generosity was a fatal flaw. So the motion that was done in earnestness and the committee that was set up in earnestness were flawed from the beginning because it was rushed and you
[1:16:31] And it took the spot of we want to be a charter city. How can we justify that? And this nonsense about Sacramento telling you what to do, governance comes from communications with you, with staff, and with the public
[1:16:46] A lot of people are angry here tonight. They're angry here not because
[1:16:51] Because they don't feel that you've been diligent in your study. You've said staff come back with a recommendation and we're ready to… we're going to do it. We want to be a charter city like we're grown up being a charter city. That's nonsense. 365 cities in California are general law cities to protect the public
[1:17:10] From you! I sat on that dais, so I can say it.
[1:17:16] And you work for the state, too. Dutra.
[1:17:20] Mr. Dutra
[1:17:26] Dominic Dutra, resident of Fremont, beautiful Niles. Let me just speak to this. I came on July 7th with a full chamber here. This was full
[1:17:38] And we asked for one simple thing. Please listen to us. Please take the time to go out and listen to us
[1:17:47] There were three council members, Councilmember King, Kimberland, and Campbell, who listened to us and said, let's put it off. In fact, they put off, they wanted to put a motion. They were shut down by the mayor and the other four council members. Why?
[1:17:59] The council member, the mayor told us why, because he wanted to hear a poll first. They didn't want to listen to us, the community to say, please talk to us. They wanted to hear a poll first. You've heard the poll. That's the only reason why the four majority council members are pulling it
[1:18:16] You don't listen to us. We asked you to please come listen to us. We're asking you to do it again. And what did we hear tonight? An immediate motion to move forward with the ordinances that nobody hears knows anything about
[1:18:29] So there's a fundamental disagreement about what is leadership
[1:18:34] Servant leadership is what council members do. You listen to your community. You find out what they need and want. You don't come up with great ideas like extending your terms from 2 to 3 years, extending your compensation, and then we tell you we need you to talk to us more. You tell us
[1:18:51] No, we've talked to you just about enough, and we have four votes, and we're going to do what we want.
[1:18:57] That's not a pro
[1:19:00] A new Nadarahan
[1:19:05] It's Anu Naturajan, resident of Niles. Thank you so much for removing this horrendous barriers. I really want to applaud you for that. This is probably the first time in forever that five former council members have come here for the second time
[1:19:20] to address you on this issue, which is… which shows you how important that was. But I want to address something that was
[1:19:27] That happened at the previous hearing, one council member dismissed older residents as though their voices mattered less.
[1:19:35] I hope we never reach a point where experience is treated as a weakness instead of strength
[1:19:41] Those who have served this community for decades didn't resist change
[1:19:46] I don't want you to be smiling
[1:19:49] Councilmember Liu
[1:19:50] Those who serve their community for decades didn't resist change, they led it
[1:19:55] We made tough decisions, embraced innovation, and helped shape Fremont as we know it today.
[1:20:02] Experience brings perspective
[1:20:04] Humility and lessons learned. The strongest communities don't choose between experience and fresh ideas. They bring them both together.
[1:20:13] Let's slow down, engage the community, and do this the right way
[1:20:19] Excuse me, no clapping, no booing, hissing, making noises. Please be respectful of everyone.
[1:20:28] Thank you. My name is Sue Chan. In June, the city spent over $300,000 on a community survey to gauge residents' priorities, the quality of life, and feedback on key proposals. The findings were clear. Residents did not
[1:20:46] Either support the sales tax revenue tax measure or the charter city initiative.
[1:20:53] Citing these results, last Tuesday, the Council wisely voted to drop the sales tax revenue measure from the November ballot instantly
[1:21:06] We save, you save the taxpayers $800,000. The mayor said, I think the responsible call at this time is to postpone this measure, not to put it on the ballot when we know it's going to fail and it's probably not a good
[1:21:23] Use of public funds
[1:21:26] Tonight, the Council considers is considering the charter city proposal.
[1:21:32] Logistically, this dictates that they should come to the same conclusion, that pushing an unpopular measure is ill-advised. Rejecting the charter city proposal will save another $80,000, bringing a total of $1.6 million that we just saved
[1:21:50] This is real money that should be directed towards the services and needs of the community and what they want. Thank you.
[1:22:05] Richard Keller. Go ahead. Dina, go ahead and call more names while he's coming up.
[1:22:11] Mr. Vieppin
[1:22:15] Pretty spooky
[1:22:17] Up to you as a resident of the city of Fremont since 1972 when I got out of the Air Force. I practiced law here for 24 years. I've sat on your municipal court bench. I'm retired from the Superior Court bench. The one thing I have not heard in any of this discussion
[1:22:34] about the possible charter is the charter can not only give you powers, it can restrict your powers. No one's talked about what restrictions you would place on your ability under the charter
[1:22:47] I think that's something that needs to be openly discussed.
[1:22:51] It's one of those things that just you know someone says, well, we have a charter. It lets us do this. What does it not let you do?
[1:23:00] And I would just simply suggest if you restudy this matter, that you consider things that you would want to restrictions you would want to put on yourselves without having to come back to the public to support you
[1:23:13] Thank you very much.
[1:23:16] Okay, the next set of speakers following the current group Azee Agbari, Ramesh, Sathyamurthy.
[1:23:29] Donna Monden Vinkantu
[1:23:36] Ramanja
[1:23:41] Sorry, I'm missing your names.
[1:23:44] Jingmin Yang
[1:23:46] Keith Parker
[1:23:49] Adelyn
[1:23:56] Do you want to repeat those names again? Maybe those people didn't hear.
[1:24:00] Aziz Akbari
[1:24:03] Ramesh Sathyamurthy
[1:24:09] Dayanandan.
[1:24:17] Balaji
[1:24:19] Apology, maybe.
[1:24:22] Okay
[1:24:23] Vijaya
[1:24:26] Jing Min Yang
[1:24:29] Keith Parker.
[1:24:31] Adelyn
[1:24:34] Go ahead, sir.
[1:24:36] Hi, my name is Vipin, and thanks for Council Member staff and
[1:24:42] Charter committee. I know, like, I was involved in from day one, and this
[1:24:47] Whole charter city concept was very close to my heart. So that's why I was involved from day one. We spent, like, 5 months almost
[1:24:56] But… and we know all, like, what Charter City can do and what it cannot do.
[1:25:01] And until, like, last Friday, I was very open-minded, I was looking forward to it. Like, we can become a charter city, and we had a good opportunity to do much better.
[1:25:12] And I also appreciate the final draft, it is one of the important concerns what we have for transfer tax. That's been taken care. But regardless
[1:25:20] But I don't believe that current draft proposal shows clear, lasting benefit for the Fremont residents. Many of the improvement discussed
[1:25:27] Can be done with the ordinance change. We already know
[1:25:32] Estimation cost of replacing this measure on the ballot, we know it is going to cost like 850, but that's not the reason I'm opposing it. Because that cost is not going to go away whenever we put it on the ballot.
[1:25:44] But my main opposition for this charter is because it's not delivering what we thought that it's going to deliver.
[1:25:53] like modernization and transparency and accountability, those things are missing in this charter, and that's the reason I'm opposing it. Thanks.
[1:26:02] Felix Lechner
[1:26:05] Happy birthday, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. My name is Felix Lechner. I brought my daughter Stella and my son Lisa right here. Hello. Christina already mentioned the survey from FM3.
[1:26:18] I only came here tonight to show my fellow residents and your constituents that slide from last week. I don't know if Susan
[1:26:29] Okay, thank you so much.
[1:26:32] all meeting laws were followed, but I felt that the slide belonged here tonight. I'll leave it up here so you and others can refer to it if you like
[1:26:42] Personally, I think you're doing a great job, and people simply want things to stay the same. Thank you for all your faithful service and good night.
[1:26:54] Joanne Swab.
[1:27:00] Good evening, members of City Council, Mayor, happy birthday. And residents and guests. I am speaking tonight in regard to the study charter initiative
[1:27:14] I… there's been much discussion about the city council members and what they want to do with the charter
[1:27:23] Councilmember Zhang mentioned that she would like to see an improved operational
[1:27:30] practical government improvement. The mayor said that he sees democracy in action
[1:27:39] Let me be clear, it is vital for all Fremont residents and council members to recognize the strict legal and structural standards and limits of city governance
[1:27:51] With that being the case
[1:27:54] The current city council
[1:27:56] Has decided on themselves, upon themselves to have an elected mayor
[1:28:03] That is something that needs to be put before the voters. Also adding to additional seats. So we don't even have an actual
[1:28:13] recognized City Council. If you want to see an improvement, go back and follow the laws under the state of California. And let's go back to having five member council and appointed mayor and get rid of district voting because
[1:28:32] United, we stay
[1:28:35] Next speaker, Azee Akbari.
[1:28:43] Good evening.
[1:28:45] Zach Barry, I'm a longtime Fremont resident. Firstly, happy birthday, Mayor Salwan. I'd like to thank you all for putting in the effort on this issue so far. The last time Fremont seriously considered a charter was back in 1998, nearly 30 years ago, and most residents today have never had an opportunity to have a say
[1:29:04] So I respect the desire to finally give them that voice, but a charter reshapes the basic relationship between the residents and their government, a decision this foundational shouldn't be made on a rush timeline. I'm not here to speak either pro or anti-charter, but I'd like for us to have a deeper conversation within the community about the benefits and drawbacks
[1:29:24] Of moving in this direction. For instance, I agree with Annie Karuga's comments about using the charter to expand democracy. But we haven't had the time to debate these issues. So I want to push you to delay this from the 2026 ballot
[1:29:39] And give us the time to educate ourselves and the public on this proposal. Based on the mayor and Council's comments, it sounds like that's the direction we're moving in, and I hope you'll stick with that. Thank you.
[1:29:52] Ramesh Satya Murthy
[1:29:58] My name is Ramesh Satyamurti. I am a 27-year resident of Fremont, raised both my boys here. I wanted to thank the city of Fremont and the elected officials and Mayor Sullivan. Happy birthday again today for celebrating it, for giving this such a nice opportunity to raise a family
[1:30:15] In the happiest city in America, gain water at Fremont number 1. Thanks for maintaining that
[1:30:20] that trend here. I'm here to support the charter initiative, but after hearing today, I'm still wanting to support the initiative, however
[1:30:31] The things that are missing today, listening to all the people who spoke before me, everybody have a mixed feeling about charter. Of course, charter is needed, as someone mentioned, about 122 cities in California are charter city. In Alameda County alone
[1:30:47] We have 3 cities already charter, Alameda, Berkeley, and Oakland. In Bay Area, in 9 Bay Area counties, there are 14 cities or charter city. There are examples that we can learn from those cities, what's good and bad. There are definitely a significant amount of benefits that comes with the charter city status
[1:31:03] The city can make the decision in supporting the local priorities and taking care of the public contracting procedure. As someone mentioned, there's a cost-benefit comes with it. So it's a matter of the residents to understand and communication. So what I recommend when you have a Next Steady workshop, as Kathy Kimberly mentioned
[1:31:21] Have the workshop session in each district within the city so that people can attend one and also put together a frequently asked question
[1:31:31] Thank you, sir. The next speaker, Dayananden.
[1:31:40] Balaji
[1:31:45] The Jaya Azuri
[1:32:00] Try again
[1:32:02] Hello, yes, hi, Honorable Mayor, happy birthday and council members, and I'm Vijaya, and I'm a longtime Fremont resident, and I'm here today to encourage everyone who said to place the proposed City Charter in the November 2026 ballot
[1:32:17] The Charter Advisory Committee invested, we feel that it's significant time reviewing the issues, gathering public input
[1:32:26] And thoughtfully developing its recommendations. And regardless of where people stand on the proposal, every voter deserves opportunity to make the decision through a fair and open election and respectfully ask you to give our community the choice by placing the chatter on the ballot
[1:32:41] Thank you for your time and consideration.
[1:32:45] Jing Min Yang
[1:32:50] Good evening, Mayor, City Council, guests, and also all the guests, especially the prior council members. My name is Jingming Yang. I'm a longtime Fremont
[1:33:06] citizens. So here I would like to thank very much for the charter community's hard work. They have started the charter city initiate to start. And I fully support
[1:33:23] This is on the way, good path to start. Yeah, now as residents, we get a lot of feedback from the leaders. Think about that. If without
[1:33:39] This discussion, how can attract so many residents come to this room full house and discuss this thing. But however, I think maybe the time is a little bit in rush. We need much more time
[1:33:55] To make all the details and more discussions. Of course, it's not only the community's work, it's the whole not the committee's work. It's the whole community's work
[1:34:10] The pool surveys and all communication with the residents that's critical is important. We hope to push
[1:34:25] Thank you. Following Keith Parker and Adelis Fond, we have Sandra M.
[1:34:31] Chung
[1:34:32] Maniska Pathak
[1:34:36] Rajesh
[1:34:39] And Audrey Famborough.
[1:34:43] How many more speakers do we have?
[1:34:49] 10, okay.
[1:34:52] Okay
[1:34:55] On Zoom. Okay.
[1:34:57] Okay
[1:34:58] Good. All right. All right. First of all, of course, happy birthday, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. And so I actually was able to attend the majority of the Charter Advisory Committee meetings, so I was able to witness the process, see what went through, understand the reasoning behind it. So I have a pretty good idea of
[1:35:15] Why you want to have a charter city. It's because you want to be able to be accountable to people for the things they hold you accountable for. So, that makes sense, but clearly the community isn't there yet, and I do think the charter needs a little bit more work, and so doing what you proposed
[1:35:34] Shelving it for now, going ahead and putting forward with some of those different things that we need to have passed so that you can do the things you want to do is the right way to go. So I completely support that. So thank you.
[1:35:53] Good evening, Mayor and Council Member. My name is Dallas Fan, and I'm a Fremont resident. I support the idea of becoming a charter city because it can improve
[1:36:07] Transparency, efficiency, flexibility, and accountability. As our elite officials, the mayor and the city council members should hold the final authority in this in decision making. However, I believe
[1:36:23] Current proposal is still incomplete. I would like to ask the City Council not to rush this process. Please table this proposal and bring back
[1:36:34] Complete or better version in the future. In the meantime, the city can continue to improve and reform its operations under the current general law city system. Thank you for your listening
[1:36:51] Again, happy birthday, Mayor Sullivan. Thank you.
[1:36:55] Sandra N.
[1:37:02] Good evening, my name is Sandra Moore from Mission San Jose.
[1:37:06] I'm sure that you've received my letters and have read them
[1:37:11] And thank you, Kathy, for replying to that letter
[1:37:19] I'm here to point out an incredible amount of money that would be wasted, obviously. And so I'll talk about how that money can be used.
[1:37:30] If you can please allow Councilwoman Campbell to go ahead and second or move make this motion, and somebody second this, and we can put it to rest. It's obvious that the community has a great deal of mistrust
[1:37:45] At this time
[1:37:47] So, with that being said, we're looking at $1.6 million that we could save at this time.
[1:37:55] Can we please take a look at what community services that we can apply that towards?
[1:38:01] Thank you.
[1:38:04] Chang
[1:38:07] Chang, followed by Manishka Pathak
[1:38:13] Is the document camera available somewhere?
[1:38:30] So here's a snapshot
[1:38:33] Sorry. Here's a snapshot of the website about Charter City Initiative, and let me read something out. It says that
[1:38:41] The committee will consider topics
[1:38:44] Previously identified as priorities by the city council, including but not limited to the following seven topics, including but not limited to
[1:38:56] So for the record
[1:39:00] It's come to our attention that during the sixth Charter City Committee meetings, Fremont City staff did not follow city council directions correctly and severely restricted the committee from discussing important topics.
[1:39:14] Consequently, we ended up with an inadequate city charter. In light of this, while the reform being advocated by this charter city initiative is in principle a good idea
[1:39:27] And we thank the city council, especially Ya Cheng, for the bold actions
[1:39:33] We have to take a step back
[1:39:35] Please delay the full city charter vote by Fremont people in order to provide more time to develop a proper city charter. And also, please carry out an investigation on why this happened during the sixth Charter City Committee meetings, and hold the city staff accountable for the mistake
[1:39:52] Thank you.
[1:39:55] Maniska Pathak
[1:40:02] Hello, council members and mayor. Happy birthday, Mayor. My name is Manisha Patak, and I'm a longtime resident of Fremont.
[1:40:11] I heard that the Charter City proposal is for the good governance for Fremont
[1:40:17] But as I was talking to my neighbors, the residents of Fremont, I felt like they are not really ready to take it on at this time
[1:40:26] I would like to sincerely thank the mayor for listening to the concerns and sentiments of Fremont residents
[1:40:33] Taking time to hear community voices and thoughtfully consider their feedback reflects the spirit of good governance.
[1:40:41] I also appreciate the decision to defer the charter city proposal to a future election. This gives residents more time to learn about the issue, engage in meaningful discussion, and make an informed decision at the ballot box
[1:40:56] Thank you for demonstrating responsiveness, transparency, and the respect for the community input. Thank you so much.
[1:41:03] Thank you.
[1:41:06] Following Rajosh and Audrey Fonbro, we have David Epps
[1:41:12] Rajesh.
[1:41:14] Nadia Aji
[1:41:17] Kate Aman
[1:41:19] Kelly Abru
[1:41:21] John Hines
[1:41:23] And recalling
[1:41:25] Balaji
[1:41:27] And I am knowledgeable
[1:41:33] What was the last one you said?
[1:41:36] Die in London? Okay.
[1:41:39] Rajesh.
[1:41:46] So, good evening, Mayor, Council members, and fellow city residents. And happy birthday to you, Mayor Salvan.
[1:41:53] So I know Fremont has grown to a like one of the leading cities in California known for its innovation, diversity and economic opportunity. I think last we checked, it is the fourth largest city in Bay Area.
[1:42:05] So it's our community continues to evolve. It is worth exploring whether becoming a charter city would provide the flexibility needed to better serve our residents
[1:42:14] I don't know, as far as I know about this, becoming a charter city does not mean leaving California laws behind or state laws continues to apply to many of our important areas. So
[1:42:24] And it is, I think, I think the duty of everyone here to give opportunity for the voters of Fremont to decide on it and have this come to ballot
[1:42:34] For a city with a strong technology sector, world-class employers, and a diverse population like Fremont, local decision-making can encourage innovation, improve responsiveness, and help attract investment while preserving the values of our community shares. So
[1:42:50] Based on that, I would request you guys to move forward with the chart city proposal with taking due consideration from the feedback from the community.
[1:42:59] And of course, the top 3 cities before us are all charter cities, so what is good for the goose should be good for the gander, too. So hopefully that thank you
[1:43:07] Audrey Fonborough.
[1:43:14] Good evening, Mayor and Council members.
[1:43:18] I'm Audrey Fambro, and 1st I want to say, where was I when this was happening? How long has this been going on? But seeing the flyer that came across
[1:43:28] I saw the conversation just started this year
[1:43:32] Which makes me say, oh my goodness, this timeline is too fast. I oppose a chartered city
[1:43:39] I oppose all this coming together, knowing that it wasn't done right
[1:43:44] And that our time.
[1:43:46] Community members. I've been in Fremont over 35 years
[1:43:51] is not being respected by having us here to oppose something that shouldn't be happening right now.
[1:43:58] We all should have known about this a long time ago
[1:44:01] And it seems really unclear that
[1:44:04] You're not really clear about how we will be as a charter city. So first, you have to get together on what you want to present to us. And then present it to us.
[1:44:16] Because that did not happen as far as I'm concerned. And I try to follow things that's happening here in this city.
[1:44:23] There's a lot of unclearness. There is a lot of visions that I don't see. I don't know what the vision for the city is 5 years, 10 years for this charter city.
[1:44:34] I don't know
[1:44:36] But I agree it's a waste of time. It's definitely a waste of money that can be used in other ways
[1:44:43] And I don't feel like transparency was made
[1:44:49] David Epps
[1:45:05] Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council members. My name is David Epps. I am a retired servant leader for Santa Clara County and a 40 year resident of Fremont.
[1:45:15] I am asking that you not move forward with these charter city proposal without more scrutiny. First, charter status won't guarantee the local control we've been promised. California courts have repeatedly let state housing
[1:45:30] And land use laws override the override charter cities when the state shows a statewide interest. Cities have spent years and real money in court finding that out the hard way. Second
[1:45:45] A charter trades our predictable government code for a locally drafted document nobody has tested. Every gap in the charter, election timing
[1:45:56] Contracting, council pay becomes a fight the city has to litigate on its own dime.
[1:46:02] Third, the charter status lets us
[1:46:07] Let's future council exempt itself from competitive bidding and prevailing wage requirements on city contracts. That's less oversight and not more.
[1:46:17] Before we rewrite our entire governing structure, I'm asking the Council to commission an independent costs and legal analysis separate from the drafting process before this goes to a vote. Thank you.
[1:46:32] Nadia
[1:46:40] I second some of my previous speakers that the charter city should not be on the ballot this November. I have repeatedly heard right now that a charter city would provide full control of local control and efficiency, efficiency depends on sound leadership, transparency, physical responsibility, not adopting a charter
[1:46:58] The real question is who benefits from this? If the current system already allows us to allows our city to deliver essential services, then changing our structure requires compelling public need and a charter is not really a need right now
[1:47:14] We've also seen that that charter becoming a charter city is not a guarantee of better financial outcomes or rules out possibilities of corruption. Charter cities are not immune from ethics violation or corruption. In fact, that is one of the first concerns I had
[1:47:33] When I read about the charter city proposal, we have laws in place regarding corruption. So the question is about implementation. The unusual fast-tracking of such a significant change and using confusing legal language
[1:47:48] Makes me question the Council's commitment to the community's opinion and our interest. I respectfully ask the Council to let this issue remain settled, and I hope that it is not proposed in any future election
[1:48:03] And as I said, charter city is not in need, but a fancy idea to just be different. Thank you.
[1:48:10] Next speaker is Kate Aman, followed by Kelly Abru, John Hines, and last call for Balaji.
[1:48:18] And Diananden
[1:48:21] Good evening, Mayor and Council. It is incredibly frustrating with this fast tracking because it really undermines citizen confidence because we can see mainly how the timing of this would benefit with the change term limits and
[1:48:37] Benefits for certain members on the council, but now how this benefits
[1:48:44] Anyone else in the city to fast track this to November ballot. So it should absolutely put off to a later time to be done right for real benefits
[1:48:54] And let's do the smart thing and not just do this to benefit certain lame duck politicians. Thank you.
[1:49:09] So
[1:49:11] This
[1:49:14] polling measure that was this polling that was just done. Alameda County, our supervisor who represents most of Fremont just spent $150,000 of his discretionary money to sponsor his own poll countywide. And the results came back at like 47 or 49% and not very good, and they decided not to go ahead with whatever it was
[1:49:34] And then they said, you know, but that was a countywide poll of all the voters. Maybe we should be asking just the farmers
[1:49:42] Because we're, you know, they're the ones who we really care about or, you know, and here in Fremont, we've got the same kind of thing, you know, when you run polls, their poll was very detailed. They came back with slicing and dicing every kind of thing. They asked
[1:49:58] Well, who do you trust more? The Board of Supervisors or the Sierra Club? And they didn't like the answer that was the Sierra Club, I guess. You just ran this poll, 24%. That is not
[1:50:13] A polling result, that's a disaster.
[1:50:16] That's a disaster. And for you to say, you know, we would just kind of skip over that, you know, you need to ask yourself what the people don't trust these politicians, I guess, here. And another thing we've heard about population growth increase in Fremont
[1:50:33] Since the last census, it's dropped 1 or 2%, so where's the increase?
[1:50:40] Following Mr. Hines, the last speaker will be online.
[1:50:47] Hello, everyone.
[1:50:50] One of the cool things about living in a place with democratic processes is that we get a say in government, which we exercise by voting for council members and mayor. Our influence is maximized when their influence is maximized.
[1:51:05] Having attended something like 200 of these meetings, some things I've observed is that years ago, city staff fell into some bad habits of minimizing the council by herding them into a narrower and more constrained decision space
[1:51:25] Which minimizes us, too. I could give some examples, but there's not time, and that's all right.
[1:51:32] Council Member Zhong's referral kicked off some really important discussions this year, which I think have already borne some fruit, and I applaud all the people who worked on it. Thank you.
[1:51:46] The next speaker is Viparthy on Zoom.
[1:51:55] But Parthy
[1:51:57] Yeah. Can you guys hear me?
[1:51:59] Yes.
[1:52:00] Yeah. My name is Anand Viparti. First of all, thank you so much for giving an opportunity.
[1:52:07] Happy birthday to Raj. I like to request that all the council members to make a decision to make this as a charter city, because we all voted to the you know Council members and mayor
[1:52:22] For our benefit of the free market. So when
[1:52:25] They got the opportunity to do something better. We should empower them. So that's how I look at it. So all the all these council members, whoever is supporting that, I really support that, and at the same time, I actually congratulate all
[1:52:40] People who really work hard to make this as Dr. City. And we need to empower them, and I request all the citizens to make this happen.
[1:52:49] Thank you.
[1:52:53] That was our final speaker.
[1:52:55] Thank you. Well, that concludes the comment period. I want to thank everyone for coming out and speaking your mind. We appreciate it greatly.
[1:53:04] I did want to highlight
[1:53:08] These recommendations, they came from the advisory committee
[1:53:12] And that's, what I was highlighting earlier, was that the most challenging issue regarding governance was one that had the most disagreement
[1:53:21] So these were, like, for example, as far as pay or term limits were not
[1:53:27] decisions made by the city council, but these were the advisory board, the 7 folks who all agreed that this was what needed to be brought forward. So we do feel that this doesn't address the concern some of the concerns that we had so I did want
[1:53:42] Answer that
[1:53:43] Second, there was a mention about having meetings on this topic
[1:53:49] Which I think is good. We had 3 meetings, so there's more people, different people at every single meeting, which I think is a good thing short shortcutting the process, not necessarily is necessarily helpful. I think folks have an opportunity to engage, and we're getting a lot of engagement on this issue
[1:54:07] So we had the first hearing, the second hearing, and then we were scheduled for this final hearing date to make a decision. And I think all that input in each of those meetings was invaluable.
[1:54:19] And so at this point, I think we've had some general comments on where we all are.
[1:54:26] And I think hopefully we'll hopefully get a motion soon. I also wanted to clarify, there was a comment made about the second hearing
[1:54:36] There was a motion made by Councilmember King
[1:54:41] But it was not seconded.
[1:54:43] And furthermore, it was withdrawn because, see, I assume that she thought that the votes were not there. So I wanted to see if the city attorney could procedurally address that issue that was raised.
[1:54:58] The record will speak for itself, but I think it's accurate to state that the motion was withdrawn and the council directed us to come back this evening for further public input.
[1:55:10] Thank you.
[1:55:11] Councilmember King, is that
[1:55:14] You understanding as well
[1:55:15] That was accurate.
[1:55:17] Okay, good.
[1:55:19] So I know council member Zhang wants to make a motion. Are there any questions, comments before that or okay. We'll go to Councilmember Campbell, then Councilmember Kimberlin
[1:55:36] Actually, I was gonna just go ahead and make a motion so we could move this, on, but if you have already accepted a motion from Council Member Zhang
[1:55:47] I think she wanted to make the motion. That's what she said, since it was kind of her referral, and if there's no, nobody has difficulty with it, I think that's just acceptable. We've done that in the past.
[1:55:59] Okay. I'll second it if it was the motion comes forward.
[1:56:05] It's okay, so yeah, you can second it. Is that okay, Councilmember Shao? She can second it.
[1:56:11] Okay, okay, wonderful.
[1:56:13] All right, so we're just… I think we have heard what she is motioning.
[1:56:18] That's right.
[1:56:19] And I have something else to say. Yeah, we'll have that
[1:56:21] Yeah, we'll just put that as a placeholder
[1:56:24] And then when we hear that motion, we will confirm that what motion has been moved. Make sure we all have an understanding and we'll have a second. And once that is clarified, then we'll go from there. So
[1:56:36] We've been doing this for a while, so we understand how the process works
[1:56:40] So I'll go to Councilmember
[1:56:45] Kimberly
[1:56:48] Just kind of wanted to wrap up a couple things. I did talk about the city manager's office earlier, and I wanted to clarify that
[1:56:55] We're working well together. We don't always see eye to eye. Nobody you work with will see eye to eye. Sometimes I want to do something. You go, no, you can't do it. So I think the commitment to working together with the city manager's office is a good intention. It's
[1:57:10] you know, anytime you have a working relationship with anybody, you know, you have to grow and learn, and so I didn't want it to be taken as anything derogatory, what I said earlier. So I wanted to clarify that. The other thing I wanted to say is, you know
[1:57:23] The hardest, one of the hardest things for us to do up here is to get feedback before people are angry, and so if you can help us with that, that would be great. For instance, the survey that we put out to 230 residents, we got just over 600 responses
[1:57:39] Because those were maybe the angry ones. And we get people to meetings when people are upset. And we'd really like to have more engagement before that. So if you can help us, I mean, we do things, and we've talked about it before, all the ways we put information out
[1:57:54] All the ways we try to get information to social media websites, flyers, at events, and so any ideas you have on how we can be really more inclusive and engage people before they didn't know about the charter, it's got a whole page on the website about the Charter
[1:58:10] And all the work that's been done. So I know it's hard to go to the website and find what you want to find, but just saying it's there. But if you can help us be more transparent, help us get the word out, you have ideas
[1:58:23] I'm all ears. Thank you.
[1:58:26] Thank you, Councilmember. Next, we have, Councilmember King.
[1:58:30] Okay.
[1:58:33] All right, I think when we first voted to kind of start this charter city process, we really gave the staff a pretty difficult job of guiding the charter committee in this short time. So they didn't have an easy job and they weren't experts on
[1:58:49] you know, studying or forming a, like, guiding this process, and we really did have a very short time. So but I think, you know, it was a
[1:59:00] Kind of
[1:59:02] kind of a trial, you know, for us to see some of the benefits and and you
[1:59:08] And we did see that four of the five
[1:59:13] largest cities in the Bay Area are charter cities, and I think we really do need to have more time to study why some of these cities, or why the other 125 cities are adopting charter city as their
[1:59:28] format, but then in the process that engaged the public hear everyone and but really look at how the charter city system will benefit Fremont as a city, such as
[1:59:44] Modernizing public contracting, allowing more time for flexible procurement methods, more kind of clear procedures for emergency
[1:59:56] Procurement and disaster response and under the Charter City Fremont can create an independent ethics commission and city auditor that can avoid
[2:00:10] Something like kind of
[2:00:15] What happened with our former city manager before. So we also, you know, could have faster delivery of economic development
[2:00:23] projects that could have stream… could streamline the business permitting process, industrial development, some of the infrastructure supporting and new housing. So I do support
[2:00:39] Just like many of you are interested in studying
[2:00:43] How the charter would benefit Fremont, and I do support having a longer process that engage the public, having more workshops and see whether Fremont do need a charter city or not, and hopefully when the next polling comes, we will have
[2:00:59] Very supportive polling before we
[2:01:04] Give it another try on the ballot. Thank you.
[2:01:08] Councilmember Liu
[2:01:10] Right, so, I've already discussed my thoughts on the charter, so I'll leave it there. But I just wanted to bring up something that I heard other people bring up today saying that they didn't know that this was an ongoing process, that this is the first time they've heard about it, or maybe they only heard about it last week. I just want to say we do actually do have a free weekly
[2:01:31] email subscription, the Fremont connection. I highly encourage everybody to subscribe to it, you know, that gives you updates on, you know, what's occurring in the city, whether it's a charter city or, you know, any events going on in Fremont. I actually get a lot of people coming to me saying that they have no idea what goes on
[2:01:48] And then, the first thing I always tell them is just subscribe to that. So if anybody here is not subscribed to it, I encourage everybody to subscribe to it. Thank you very much.
[2:01:57] Good. And
[2:01:59] Download the Fremont app, that's another great, I'll make that pitch as well
[2:02:04] Councilmember Campbell
[2:02:11] not to hit that button. I think I hit that button earlier. Thank you. Seeing no further comments, I'll kick it over to Councilmember Zhang.
[2:02:21] To articulate emotion
[2:02:23] And see if we can get a second
[2:02:27] Thank you, Mayor. So, my motion
[2:02:32] Class second
[2:02:39] Okay, before I make a motion, I want to comment on a resident. She said she would like us to engage with them and send out our mailing list to communicate with our district citizens directly
[2:02:55] I thought about it a lot. I think I asked our fellow council to see whether we have the budget to do that
[2:03:02] And the answer is no. If I want to do a MailChimp, I have to come up with my own pocket. So you have great feedback. So I want to go, you know, going forward, would
[2:03:16] We'll discuss this subject so that we have some budget, you know, within our city council's authority to do that, to do the further wider wide engagement. And also, I mean, the point is that
[2:03:31] you will appreciate people's response to you, but we… we have no support. We only have one person who we shared with city manager, and I just want to tell you the facts
[2:03:46] So with that, I think you have all great inputs, and I hear you, and we hear you, and I'm going to go with a motion to defer consideration of a charter to a future election and continue and strengthen our communicate engagement and dialogue
[2:04:05] in the format of a workshop study session and town hall and personal meetings at a coffee shop. And I think those are important not only to Charger, but to future ballot, you know, etc. measures
[2:04:21] And also, and that's my first motion. The second emotion is to with ordinance to implement
[2:04:30] the several
[2:04:33] several items which can be done and implemented to help the city without a charger, such as
[2:04:43] a council is representative, which is already put as a full-time member, and agreed with the city with the city. And the second is, of course, I think this this is a given, but I want to clarify
[2:04:59] that mayor can be directing the city meeting, the content of the meeting and the third is already approved. I mean, a consent that
[2:05:14] The city will confirm the future appointment of a major department head
[2:05:21] I think that's my motion.
[2:05:25] So, council, excuse me, please. Council Member Zang, I just want to clarify. I think I want to simplify what you're saying. If you could
[2:05:44] Yes
[2:05:45] Listen and see what you think. So I think first part is you want to, you said you want to defer consideration of a city charter to a future election and continue the community dialogue. Is that correct?
[2:05:47] Yes.
[2:05:48] And the second part, I think
[2:05:51] You get into specifics, but I think it's basically we want to direct staff to return to a future meeting
[2:05:57] With the ordinances that can be implemented under the general law framework
[2:06:03] Kaz
[2:06:04] Yes.
[2:06:05] Okay, so that's, I think, a simplified way. Now, as far as the specifics, I think staff will have to come back later and tell us, do they want to do a town hall or a community forum, or consultant, or I think all that has to be flushed out. I think right now, I think we have commitment from staff that they will do community engagement, but the format, I think, needs to be flushed out
[2:06:24] So is that okay, Councilmember
[2:06:32] Yes.
[2:06:35] That's right.
[2:06:36] Oh, yes, absolutely. I think for the future, I would like to continue the dialogue. And for the future election. But also the content of the ordinance, which is already included in the proposal can be implemented without charter. And I think that's used the fruit of this five months labor
[2:06:48] And make the city better
[2:06:51] Okay.
[2:06:53] So we have that simplified motion, two parts, defer the charter, community engagement, and adopt the things that we can adopt in the general law framework that were outlined in the staff report.
[2:07:05] Excuse me
[2:07:06] Correct.
[2:07:07] Yeah.
[2:07:08] I'm sorry, are you trying to say something, Councilmember Dutra
[2:07:15] Okay. Okay, I will ask
[2:07:19] I will ask our city attorney to specify
[2:07:23] For purposes of this evening, I think we have sufficient direction. Okay. When we come back, we're not coming back with ready to move ordinances. We're coming back with the future discussion about
[2:07:38] Sections of the charter that could be implemented.
[2:07:42] In a general law city, and then the city council can then have a discussion about and communicate with the city manager's office about the scheduling of those items at a future time.
[2:07:53] So for this evening, I think we have direction, and that is sufficient. Okay, so we have a motion, Councilmember Campbell, do you want to second? Do you agree with that?
[2:08:02] Well, I did have an additional comment I wanted to make to the motion. I think
[2:08:08] I would for the second part of that, I would say to revisit the areas of the work plan recommendations that can be implemented by ordinance or administrative regulation with community input
[2:08:24] As a general law city
[2:08:26] So I think city attorney has confirmed that correct? Is that… as long as that's what
[2:08:32] I heard, I think for purposes of direction to staff, the motion is sufficient as is any when we come back as staff to, let's say, identify the areas for Council input that could be implemented by ordinance
[2:08:48] In a general law city, that'll be the opportunity the council can have that discussion and have not only robust discussion about which items it wants to advance, but the scheduling of those items. This evening. The only agenda item is
[2:09:03] Whether we're continuing with this charger and I understand the motion is to continue the discussion under option A
[2:09:12] With the additional direction that the City Council is interested in exploring further.
[2:09:19] potential updates by ordinance that are available to general law cities and we'll continue that discussion at public meetings sometime in the future
[2:09:27] Okay.
[2:09:29] I'm okay with that
[2:09:31] Okay, so that sounds like a second. Yes. Okay. And please make sure that my recitation of that motion that Councilmember Zhang conforms to that. I don't want to misrepresent what she is moving forward this evening. That's just a staff's understanding at this point of what would take place. Thank you, Mr. Loretta. That's a good point.
[2:09:49] Councilmember Zang, is that acceptable to you?
[2:09:57] Okay, okay, yes, okay, deferred consideration of a charger to the future and continue dialogue of the charger because and with the ordinance, we will come back at a later session to decide what items would
[2:10:13] included in the discussion of an ordinance, which is currently discussed on the charter
[2:10:21] Correct.
[2:10:22] But that would be implemented under the general law city
[2:10:26] Okay.
[2:10:28] Yes.
[2:10:29] Correct. But they'll come back for future meetings where we will have further dialogue and discussion.
[2:10:31] Yes.
[2:10:32] Yeah. Okay. I see staff nodding. I think we're all on the same page now, so I think we're ready to vote.
[2:10:36] So since Councilmember Zhang is not here, let's do a voice vote.
[2:10:40] Council Member Zhang.
[2:10:44] Councilmember Shiao.
[2:10:46] I
[2:10:48] Council Member Kimberlin? Aye. Council Member Campbell? Aye. Councilmember King I Vice Mayor Liu aye Mayor Solen. Aye
[2:11:00] Motion passes unanimously
[2:11:02] Thank you, everyone. Thank you to the staff for your hard work. Special shout out to Mr. Alvarado
[2:11:08] for doing the legal work
[2:11:10] And thanks to Christina, you conducted a lot of the meetings
[2:11:14] I want to thank all the community members for coming out
[2:11:17] Let's keep the discussion and the dialogue going. We appreciate all the feedback and comments, and we look forward to working with you to making sure that we have a great outcome.
[2:11:26] So thank you again. Have a great evening everybody. Look forward to seeing you after the recess.