[0:02] Okay, I'm going to call the the
[0:06] regularly scheduled August
[0:09] meeting the Breen City Council.
[0:11] >> I'm sorry. Will you go ahead and turn on
[0:13] the microphone?
[0:15] >> Okay. Well, now with the microphone on
[0:17] call to order the regularly scheduled
[0:19] meeting of the Nino City Council and
[0:21] would you please uh stand and join the
[0:24] pledge of allegiance.
[0:28] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:31] United States of America and to the
[0:34] republic for which it stands. One nation
[0:37] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:40] justice for all.
[0:43] >> M city call the role.
[0:47] >> Council member Craig
[0:48] >> here.
[0:49] >> Council member Mata
[0:51] >> present.
[0:52] >> Council member Torren
[0:53] >> here. Vice Mayor Shannon
[0:55] >> here. to Mayor Allen.
[0:58] >> Um,
[1:00] do you colleagues want to change the
[1:02] orders of the day and anything?
[1:05] >> Being none. Um,
[1:08] madam city clerk, are there any
[1:10] announcements?
[1:12] >> None.
[1:13] >> Okay. Well, then we
[1:16] make sure
[1:18] >> I would like to make an announcement at
[1:21] the end of the meeting under council
[1:24] member comments. So, so we don't sort of
[1:27] I'll put that to the end. You
[1:31] >> like
[1:33] Okay. Uh, we have a We're going to start
[1:36] with a presentation by Moroc
[1:40] District. Please, your name and
[1:47] social security. Am I on here?
[1:49] >> Wait, let's check. Let's make sure we're
[1:51] recording you
[1:55] and all the viewers in team.
[1:57] >> Yeah. Uh my name is Craig Gleon. I'm
[1:59] award one director for region regional
[2:02] open space district and um uh next slide
[2:06] please.
[2:09] So starting out um just to encapsulate
[2:12] our our mission it boils down to five
[2:14] words. Preserve, protect, restore,
[2:16] educate and enjoy. And that represents
[2:18] the the braiding of the natural resource
[2:20] preservation, land preservation with the
[2:23] public access to these lands. Next
[2:25] slide, please.
[2:29] So we currently have uh over 72,000
[2:32] acres under management all the way from
[2:34] up near Half Moon Bay to over to the
[2:37] coastside near Pescadero and then down
[2:40] all the way to the edge and actually a
[2:42] little bit into Santa Cruz County by um
[2:45] so-called demonstrations forest. Next
[2:48] slide please.
[2:51] And we um we divide it up into seven
[2:54] wards. So ward one is the dark green one
[2:57] that you see down to the right. Uh it
[2:59] encompasses Monte Sereno, Saratoga,
[3:02] Loscatos and parts of Certino and then
[3:05] uh the lands that you see going down
[3:07] through Sierra Azul Mount area and Lum
[3:11] Pria area. Next slide please.
[3:15] So we protect many many things. So you
[3:17] can see uh redwood forests, creeks,
[3:20] rivers, um grasslands, wetlands, and
[3:24] also many sensitive species. And one
[3:27] that I point out here is the the one on
[3:29] the middle of the left is the San
[3:31] Francisco garder snake. So we have a
[3:33] very interesting project there with the
[3:34] San Francisco Zoo as well as other
[3:36] wildlife agencies to u protect and
[3:40] restore the populations of the the
[3:43] garder snake. and the very interesting
[3:46] project where we're essentially trying
[3:49] to make the uh remaining populations of
[3:52] the snake more sustainable and
[3:54] [clears throat] sometimes raising in
[3:56] captivity and then in u introducing
[3:59] those snakes back in when they're at an
[4:01] age where they're much more likely to
[4:04] survive to adulthood.
[4:06] Next slide please.
[4:08] So um few facts about men. We were
[4:11] created in 1972 through a grassroots
[4:13] voter initiative and initially just in
[4:15] Santa Clara County. Then in 76 it
[4:19] expanded to San Monteo County and then
[4:21] finally in 2004 to the San Monteo
[4:23] coastside. Uh we have 27 preserves. 25
[4:27] of those are currently open to the
[4:28] public. They're open all day and um
[4:32] [clears throat] no charges no charge for
[4:34] parking. Um we our main office is up in
[4:38] Los Altos and we're moving on towards
[4:41] 250 employees now. Uh we also have a
[4:45] major bond fund that was passed in 2014,
[4:48] Measure Double A, which uh provides $300
[4:51] million over 30 years for major projects
[4:55] that were prioritized by the public. And
[4:58] we'll we'll speak to some of those
[4:59] projects here. Next slide, please.
[5:03] Um, so I'll go through some of the uh
[5:05] nearby preserves here. Uh, you can click
[5:07] through these pretty quickly.
[5:10] [clears throat]
[5:11] Um, there there four right around the
[5:12] Loscatos Moni area. So, El Sareno, you
[5:15] know this one. This is this is your
[5:16] mountain. [clears throat] Um, and uh,
[5:19] Sierra Azul is our biggest preserve
[5:22] extending all the way down into Santa
[5:23] Cruz County.
[5:25] St. Joseph's Hill, I'd say small but
[5:28] mighty. It's uh one of our most populate
[5:30] or most popular preserves uh right out
[5:33] of downtown Loscatos. And then Barrack
[5:36] Redwoods, we've done a lot of work to
[5:38] open this up since 2019. Uh and we have
[5:41] major projects going on there right now
[5:43] building a bigger parking lot which we
[5:44] need and um also uh uh more trails and
[5:50] ultimately a bike legal trail there as
[5:52] well. So I'll go on to some of the
[5:54] program and project updates. And the
[5:57] first one I'm going to talk about is
[5:58] wildland fire resiliency which is very
[6:01] important to to all of us. Um this is uh
[6:05] become a really big part of midpen's
[6:07] work and it's a a real partnership
[6:09] project.
[6:11] Next slide please. So there are a number
[6:13] of different components to this. One big
[6:15] one is vegetation management and then
[6:19] I'll speak to one part of that project.
[6:21] Um also uh prescribed burning is
[6:24] becoming a bigger part of this and then
[6:27] there are a number of other components
[6:28] including training and monitoring and mapping. Next slide please.
[6:34] Uh with respect to prescribed burning,
[6:36] you saw the picture a couple slides ago
[6:38] and then this one as well is from a
[6:40] prescribed burn that we did at the end
[6:42] of 2024 uh over in Cherry Springs which
[6:45] is an area of Sierra Azul off of Hicks
[6:48] Road. And this particular burn was 9
[6:52] acres and we're gearing up to do a much
[6:54] larger one there uh hopefully by the end
[6:57] of this year. So they've been preparing
[6:59] for it by doing pile burns and then um
[7:02] ultimately we hope towards the end of
[7:03] the year to do this larger um somewhere
[7:06] between 50 and 150 acre burn. Next slide
[7:10] please. Um, our rangers are not the
[7:13] primary firefighters, but they are
[7:15] trained in firefighting and often
[7:17] because of the their position in the
[7:19] preserves. They're the first ones on the
[7:21] scene. Um, so you can see the picture of
[7:24] the rangers helping to fight the fire at
[7:27] um the CCU fire in 2020 there. Next
[7:30] slide, please.
[7:32] And the biggest part of the vegetation
[7:34] management in our area here has been the
[7:37] Splatos Creek WHED collaborative. It's a
[7:39] partnership program between Midpen and
[7:43] um Santa Clair County Parks, San Jose
[7:46] Water um and the Fire Safe Council and
[7:49] then the fire agencies CalFire and and
[7:52] [clears throat] County Fire. And this
[7:54] has rolled out in three phases. Um now
[7:57] that you might have first seen it a
[7:58] couple of years ago up in Sandborn Park
[8:00] area and up towards Skyline and then it
[8:03] um went into Elsereno. So up at the top
[8:06] the Aenus trail there was a lot of
[8:08] vegetation management uh removal done up
[8:11] there and then the most recent phase um
[8:15] you you might see at Kennedy fire trail.
[8:18] So a lot of shaded fuel brake creation
[8:21] and more vegetation management in the
[8:23] shop rail up top there. Next slide
[8:26] please.
[8:28] a really interesting project and one
[8:30] that I've become more involved with is
[8:33] um ADA accessibility
[8:35] and uh the this project sort of started
[8:38] out as a barrier removal project.
[8:40] Sometimes you may have seen these these
[8:43] physical barriers uh which I think were
[8:45] originally installed to prevent
[8:47] motorcycles from going into the
[8:48] preserves but they unfortunately also
[8:50] prevented anybody with a mobility
[8:52] device, wheelchair uh from getting onto
[8:55] the trails. And so this project started
[8:58] out as a literal barrier removal project
[9:01] systematically removing those barriers.
[9:04] Uh but we've also expanded to include
[9:06] improving the surfaces on our easy
[9:09] access trails. So now uh we have several
[9:12] projects at Russian Ridge, Skyline Ridge
[9:14] and Pulgus Ridge as well as some other
[9:16] places um to install these granite
[9:19] surfaces which look and feel like trails
[9:22] but are much more uh sustainable and and
[9:25] hardened. Uh so they're they're truly
[9:27] wheelchair accessible. Next slide
[9:30] please.
[9:32] Um many people are interested in uh
[9:35] careers in conservation and we held our
[9:37] first career conservation fair this
[9:39] year. It was tremendously successful. Uh
[9:42] many hundreds of people uh attended this
[9:45] and we had presentations from MIDIN and
[9:47] other agencies um where people came in
[9:50] and talked about their careers and tried
[9:52] to interest people in uh in similar
[9:55] careers. Next slide please.
[9:59] Um, our interpretation and education
[10:02] programs are are very extensive and I
[10:05] think very successful. One place you see
[10:07] this is the Daniels Nature Center which
[10:09] is up at Skyline Ridge. Uh, that's a
[10:12] drop in center on weekends. And then
[10:14] also we we host um school classes there.
[10:18] Um,
[10:20] I think maybe [clears throat] several
[10:22] thousand students come through the
[10:24] nature center each year on these
[10:25] programs. And next slide.
[10:28] Another part of this is our dosent
[10:30] naturalist program. So every week we
[10:32] have many events across the different
[10:35] preserves and they focus on all sorts of
[10:37] different uh activities and um primarily
[10:40] hiking and biking but different interest
[10:43] areas. So, for example, if you want to
[10:45] find a hike that will teach about
[10:47] mushrooms or oak trees or galls or maybe
[10:51] birds, then you can find these hikes and
[10:54] hikes of of different lengths and
[10:58] different activity levels. Next slide,
[11:00] please.
[11:03] Uh, another thing that we're really
[11:04] concentrating on is partnerships and
[11:06] particularly partnerships that bring in
[11:08] a more diverse set of people to the
[11:10] preserves. Some of the partners shown
[11:12] here are Latino Outdoors and Safe by
[11:15] Nature. And then um we also have a very
[11:18] interesting partnership now with the
[11:20] Vista Center for the Blind and Visually
[11:22] Disabled. And u we just had a a dosent
[11:27] light hike that was tailored
[11:28] specifically to that group. Next slide
[11:31] please.
[11:33] Uh wildlife linkages are a
[11:36] important topic for many of our agent or
[11:39] local agencies. So you'll see agencies
[11:42] like post and open space authority um
[11:45] the land trust of Santa Cruz have all
[11:48] been working on this and um particularly
[11:52] we uh the area of the Santa Cruz
[11:54] Mountains is uh it's a biodiversity
[11:57] hotspot but it's also sort of hemmed in
[12:01] by our civilization our our cities and
[12:04] our towns and our roads particularly
[12:05] highway 17 is a barrier to wildlife
[12:08] crossing and um has many hot spots for
[12:11] roadkill. So, this is one thing that
[12:14] we're we're really concentrating on
[12:15] improving. And next slide, please. U one
[12:19] way we're doing that is by building a
[12:21] major wildlife undercrossing for um at
[12:25] Highway 17 up by the Lexington Dam. So,
[12:28] just below the dam, there'll be a a very
[12:30] significant wildlife undercrossing. And
[12:33] this is a place where there's a creek,
[12:35] trout creek that comes down and
[12:37] currently crosses in a culvert that's
[12:40] not suitable for wildlife crossing. Uh
[12:42] but this will provide a much better
[12:46] pathway for the wildlife.
[12:49] And uh next slide, please. In
[12:51] conjunction with that, we're connecting
[12:53] the Bay Area Ridge Trail across a point
[12:56] very close to there, a little closer to
[12:58] Loscatoos.
[13:00] Um, so this will connect from the
[13:02] Loscato Creek Trail up into Elsareno and
[13:06] then ultimately we'll connect that on
[13:07] the back side of Elsereno down to San
[13:10] Park. Next slide please. [clears throat]
[13:13] And these um so these projects are well
[13:16] underway. They're in the design phase
[13:18] and we're also doing a lot of uh grant
[13:22] seeking fundraising for these projects.
[13:25] So, Midpen has a substantial amount of
[13:27] uh measure doubleA allocated to these,
[13:30] but we're still seeking grant funding
[13:32] from external agencies and u
[13:36] optimistically we would hope to break
[13:38] ground as early as possibly uh next
[13:40] year. Next slide, please.
[13:44] Um something that we've really been
[13:46] trying to increase our outreach on is
[13:48] rodenticide. So, in areas around the
[13:51] preserves or close to the um the city
[13:55] boundaries, we often see these uh sickly
[13:58] animals, particularly coyotes, sometimes
[14:00] bobcats or foxes, and they've been
[14:02] poisoned by eating um rodents that have been poisoned with rodenticide. So,
[14:08] we're really trying to step up the uh
[14:11] public awareness of this and get people
[14:14] particularly around these these um
[14:16] wildland urban interfaces to reduce
[14:19] their use of rodenticides and use other
[14:21] methods to control the rodents there.
[14:24] Next slide, please.
[14:26] And another really interesting wildlife
[14:28] project is for the kang Santa Cruz
[14:31] kangaroo rat. So several years ago, I
[14:34] think there was only one known
[14:35] population of bees in Henry Cowell State
[14:37] Park, but another one was discovered up
[14:39] in El Soul. So up on the LMA Pria Ridge
[14:45] and Midpen is for
[14:47] >> just just one
[14:49] >> a population Okay.
[14:51] >> One.
[14:53] So now there there are two populations.
[14:56] >> Okay. uh known. And what what Midban is
[14:59] trying to do is is really expand the the
[15:02] habitat and connect these little islands
[15:05] of habitat up there uh to make it so
[15:08] that that population can be more
[15:09] sustainable and and less likely to be
[15:11] wiped out by you know some particular
[15:14] event. Um [clears throat] next slide
[15:17] please.
[15:19] Okay. So that's what I wanted to talk to
[15:21] you about. Uh, I would definitely
[15:23] encourage you all to visit our
[15:24] preserves. And um, also I I love to be
[15:29] out there hiking or or riding bikes. So
[15:32] if uh, anybody would be interested in in
[15:35] touring some of these preserves and
[15:36] maybe hearing more about some of these
[15:38] projects that we have coming up, I would
[15:40] be very happy to do that for you or any
[15:43] of your constituents. And I'd take any
[15:47] questions you have now. colleagues.
[15:49] Well, I first I want to thank you for a
[15:52] very interesting presentation. Uh
[15:55] questions of the speaker.
[15:56] >> Well, I just thanks so much. Um it's
[15:59] really wonderful work you're doing. Um
[16:01] question is what so
[16:05] we may take you out on your offer to go
[16:07] on a hike or a bike ride. Um but what what else can we do? What what do
[16:12] you need from us?
[16:15] Is there something specific?
[16:19] Maybe I I could also ask my my colleague Alex
[16:24] here. Um I I think what one thing is
[16:28] sort of helping to spread the word,
[16:30] right? We have we have a lot of good
[16:31] programs particularly the dosent
[16:33] naturalist program. We have um very
[16:37] established volunteer program. So, uh,
[16:41] started out primarily [clears throat]
[16:42] >> put you on our website. That might be
[16:44] very
[16:44] >> website. Do we have material? I I think
[16:46] that would be great. Maybe links to our
[16:49] events and activities page.
[16:50] >> Okay. I I I think your colleague wants
[16:52] to She's looking like,
[16:54] >> please. The first amendment breathe
[16:56] free. Why don't you introduce yourself
[16:58] and add whatever you'd like to add?
[17:00] >> Hi everyone. I'm Alex Ree, the
[17:02] government affairs specialist. Sorry, I
[17:03] was a little late. I wasn't used to the drive in this part of the peninsula
[17:08] during rush hour. Um, I think exactly
[17:12] what you said just about getting the
[17:14] word out and that's really why we do
[17:15] these introductions and presentations is
[17:17] to spread awareness about this amazing
[17:19] resource that exists across the Santa
[17:21] Cruz Mountains. Um, I'll be happy to
[17:23] share information that you could add to
[17:25] the Montes Reno website as well. And
[17:28] like Director Gleason said, our
[17:31] volunteers accomplish so much. Like we
[17:33] would not be able to accomplish the
[17:34] habitat restoration efforts we do
[17:36] without our volunteer base. We have over
[17:38] a thousand people that support that. So
[17:41] getting people involved in that way is
[17:43] really valuable.
[17:44] >> Well, um, our city clerk should become
[17:46] your new best friend. And Senator
[17:50] Craig comments,
[17:53] » um, I have a number of comments.
[17:55] >> Go, go.
[17:57] And hopefully I won't embarrass Craig
[18:00] too much because I met Craig years ago.
[18:02] Who were you work? What were you working
[18:04] on with the town of Lascatos? Was there
[18:06] a trail system or
[18:08] >> We we put together a um uh trail
[18:13] connectivity report that
[18:15] >> we were looking at potential connections
[18:17] between trails and parks and open space.
[18:20] >> That was before you joined Bit Pen,
[18:22] right?
[18:23] >> Yes, I believe so.
[18:24] >> That doesn't sound too embarrassing.
[18:26] Well, um, so
[18:30] >> Greg,
[18:31] he's on Straa and I, we follow each
[18:35] other and every time you go,
[18:38] >> Strava,
[18:39] >> for those of us who are alive, what's
[18:40] Straa?
[18:41] >> Straa is an app where you record what
[18:45] you're doing from an activity
[18:46] perspective, exercising. So I see
[18:50] >> So social media,
[18:51] >> social media. Okay, that's so so I see
[18:55] when Craig goes out into the open space
[18:59] preserves and he's taking all these
[19:01] wonderful photos of the wildlife and
[19:03] everything else. Um, and it's just he
[19:07] takes a lot of really great photos. Um,
[19:10] so, uh, and when when I'm going through
[19:15] Elserino open space and I see a
[19:17] motorbike there, I'll take a picture and
[19:20] then send it to Craig and [laughter]
[19:22] Craig's like, "Okay, we we're on it."
[19:24] So, um, I appreciate that because you
[19:27] shouldn't have, you know, motorbikes
[19:30] going through in the open space. Um,
[19:33] and, uh, it's interesting. Now, now I'm
[19:36] going to make a comment because I don't
[19:40] comment on Next Door, but I kind of
[19:42] watch it every once in a while and I see
[19:44] all these photos of the mangy coyotes,
[19:49] you know, and how sickly they are and whatnot. And I didn't know that it's
[19:54] a result of uh rodent size. So, that's
[19:57] really interesting. And it's I find that
[20:01] offensive that
[20:02] >> well we don't have much of that here
[20:04] because every coyote I've seen in the 47
[20:07] years I've lived here has been very
[20:08] healthy. So I don't think
[20:11] >> I have I have seen them on on
[20:13] >> maybe in your neighborhood
[20:14] >> university. Yeah. In our in our
[20:16] neighborhood
[20:17] >> yeah um so I'm in a more uplash
[20:21] neighborhood I really surprised you.
[20:24] >> Um thank you. But I want to commend you
[20:30] on the work that you've done and how you
[20:33] support MIDI pen and this is really good
[20:37] to see that you know your presentation.
[20:40] >> Yeah. I I just want to say that I think
[20:42] we on the board have the easy part and
[20:44] it's it's our staff members who are are
[20:47] doing hard work. So I I really
[20:49] appreciate them.
[20:50] >> Well, we and the city council have the
[20:51] same thing. We know who does the work
[20:53] for staff. So hope we resumple that.
[20:57] >> Um,
[20:58] >> yes, please.
[21:00] >> A couple of quick questions. I did ask a
[21:02] bunch of questions. I'm very interested
[21:03] in mid pen. Uh, the highway 17
[21:06] overcrossing I
[21:09] over one for the humans.
[21:11] >> Oh, okay.
[21:12] >> Um, did you mention when will that one
[21:14] expected to be finished?
[21:16] >> Our our goal is to treat those as the
[21:19] two as one project. um because there's a huge savings
[21:25] um in in dollars if we can do those two
[21:28] projects uh sort of as as one. So um
[21:34] this has to be uh worked out
[21:36] [clears throat] with I I think VTA is
[21:37] the lead agency and you know PALR is
[21:41] involved. So um it's a fairly complex
[21:44] thing but our goal is is to sort of do
[21:48] that in one shot. Um and then there are
[21:52] other parts of it as well. For example,
[21:53] building the trail up into Elseno. So
[21:57] the our trail crews marching orders are
[22:00] to make sure that that's done by the
[22:01] time the overcrossing is done so that
[22:04] people have someplace to go.
[22:05] >> So it sounds like it's not approved and
[22:07] all of that yet. So it could be quite a
[22:08] few years before we actually see it. Is
[22:11] that what I'm hearing you say?
[22:12] >> You want to speak to this?
[22:13] >> I I I think I would say we have all the
[22:16] approvals, but there's a funding gap.
[22:18] Um, and so we're going to be ready to
[22:20] break ground by the end of the year. And
[22:23] so it's really far along. It's just
[22:26] about filling that funding gap. So the
[22:28] overcrossing and the undercrossing can
[22:30] be completed simultaneously as you
[22:32] suggested, but our trail crew is already
[22:34] out building trails on the other side of
[22:37] where it will go. So things are already
[22:40] in motion.
[22:42] >> Okay. And then just another quick one.
[22:43] Um, I'm actually looking at one of the
[22:45] slides and I don't think it came out the
[22:47] last slide. It looks like on the website
[22:49] we can see things, events on the event
[22:52] calendar. Is this where residents can
[22:53] actually go onto the website and sign up
[22:55] to go on a guided tour? So,
[22:58] >> that's right. There's an events and
[23:00] activities page. And yeah, I apologize
[23:02] for not floating through to that slide.
[23:05] Um, and if if you go there, you'll be
[23:08] able to search by different types of
[23:10] events, you know, whether they're
[23:11] volunteer events or doentled hikes. Uh
[23:14] many of the dos doesn't let hikes do not
[23:16] require a sign up. You can just show up
[23:19] and then there are certain ones that
[23:20] might have limited parking or other
[23:23] considerations where they do ask for a
[23:25] sign up.
[23:25] >> Gotcha. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you very
[23:27] much.
[23:27] >> Okay. Well, thank you both again. Uh we
[23:30] really appreciate it.
[23:31] >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
[23:33] >> Thank you.
[23:34] >> I'll follow up with more information.
[23:36] >> Great. Thank you.
[23:37] >> The next item on the agenda is all
[23:39] communications. Is there anybody uh here
[23:42] in chambers who wants to comment on
[23:44] anything that is not on the agenda?
[23:48] See no hands. Madam city clerk,
[23:52] >> hands are raised.
[23:53] >> Okay. And written communications. I
[23:56] think madam city clerk you've already
[23:58] distributed to members of the
[24:00] >> everything that we've received um has
[24:02] been mailing for an item that is um and
[24:06] everything has been posted on our
[24:07] website as well as distributed a copy
[24:09] for each of you to review
[24:12] >> uh the consent calendar I think council
[24:15] member Craig you said you wanted to
[24:17] remove an item from the Yeah I wanted to
[24:20] remove the the warrant list item three does anybody wish to remove
[24:25] item
[24:26] uh do which is of the approval for the
[24:29] last minutes. If [clears throat] not,
[24:30] I'd ask for a motion to approve that. M
[24:34] vice mayor, you
[24:37] may make a motion to approve item two on
[24:43] the consent calendar.
[24:44] >> Second,
[24:46] Matt, city attorney, a voice vote or a
[24:49] roll call?
[24:50] >> Voice.
[24:51] >> All in favor of approving item two. Hi.
[24:54] I think it's unanimous. Okay. Uh,
[24:57] council member Craig on the warrant
[24:58] list. Uh,
[25:00] >> so I I just had a quick question. I
[25:01] noticed that there was a lot of letters
[25:04] missing between the words. I think
[25:06] Council Member Machuk explained to me
[25:08] before the meeting that some sometimes
[25:10] that can be an issue with our system.
[25:12] >> So, um, Vice Mayor Shannon pointed this
[25:14] out to me yesterday. um the PDF file
[25:18] that was created and then uploaded into
[25:21] our agenda system
[25:24] reads clearly. So it was some error
[25:27] message or error happening with our
[25:29] agenda system and so we will follow up
[25:32] with our vendor.
[25:32] >> Oh, okay. Great. And from what I could
[25:34] pick out, one of the one of the charges
[25:37] on the uh on the warrant list was a
[25:41] annual license for our watch guard
[25:43] firewall system. Is that correct?
[25:45] >> Yes. So that is um a security measure
[25:48] that we recently implemented and that
[25:51] was due to recommendations from our
[25:53] insurance company from a cyber security
[25:55] audit that they performed for us.
[25:58] >> Okay. All right. Very good. Thank you.
[26:00] Uh
[26:02] would you now like to make a motion to
[26:04] adopt it? Uh with that explanation given
[26:09] I would like to um move that we approve
[26:12] item three the warrant list. Is there a
[26:15] second? Second.
[26:16] >> Okay. Again, just a voice. All in favor?
[26:19] >> I.
[26:21] >> Okay. Um I show we have nothing under
[26:24] public hearings, nothing under
[26:28] unfinished business, new business. Uh
[26:31] item four is to discuss a climate
[26:33] resilience district. I'm Steve Manager.
[26:36] Are you giving a presentation on that?
[26:38] >> Can give a brief introduction. Yes.
[26:40] Thank you. Um, a climate resilience
[26:43] district is a separate public agency
[26:46] that may be established by a city or
[26:48] county to fund and implement projects
[26:50] intended to improve climate resilience,
[26:53] mitigation, and adaptation.
[26:55] Unlike traditional city departments or
[26:58] special programs, a CRD operates as a
[27:01] separate government entity and with its
[27:03] own governing board, budget, reporting
[27:05] requirements, and financial
[27:07] responsibilities similar to um JPA's um
[27:11] that the city is involved in. And um
[27:14] attachment one to the staff report is a
[27:16] white paper that was prepared by the
[27:17] city of Saratoga and provides um a lot
[27:20] of information on the formation of a
[27:23] CRD, its governance, funding mechanisms,
[27:26] and potential implementation
[27:28] considerations.
[27:30] And we are honored tonight to have
[27:32] Saratoga Native Chuck Page here to
[27:34] provide presentation with some more
[27:37] details and information on climate
[27:41] resilience districts.
[27:46] We're delighted to have you here.
[27:47] >> Well, thank you, mayor, vice mayor, and
[27:49] members of the council. It's my honor to
[27:50] be here. Um, I got involved in climate
[27:53] resilience districts when they first
[27:55] came out in 2022. Um, back in 2019 and
[27:58] 2020, I led a wildfire public safety
[28:01] task force in Saratoga. Learned more
[28:03] about fire than than I think uh I ever
[28:05] would have learned unless I was a
[28:06] fireman. And uh and and they're
[28:08] disastrous as we know. And so I've been
[28:11] constantly paying attention to the
[28:13] changes in the industry, the changes in
[28:15] law to see what it is we can do to help
[28:17] better protect us. And and the climate
[28:18] resilience district appears to me and a
[28:21] bunch of people that I've talked to,
[28:22] including the town manager in Los
[28:24] Moscatus and uh wildfire task force that
[28:27] the may the mayor Hudas had going last
[28:29] year that continues. Um it seems to be
[28:32] one of the key mechanisms to allow us to
[28:34] be able to do some things. So I got a
[28:36] short presentation. It'll be as long as
[28:38] uh as long as you guys want it to be.
[28:40] I'm I'll answer any question that I can
[28:42] within the reign of what I know. Um
[28:44] which in the scope of government stuff
[28:47] is probably very minimal because it'll
[28:49] change tomorrow. So um anyway, if you
[28:51] could go to the next slide. Uh climate
[28:54] resilience district is essentially a
[28:56] special district as explained um that
[28:59] was designated by the state in 2022. Um
[29:02] it provides for uh the opportunity to
[29:05] raise money to do the mitigation of
[29:09] things that are caused by climate
[29:11] change. So it could be wildfire, floods,
[29:13] sea level rise, a whole bunch of things.
[29:15] You you name it, you could probably fit
[29:17] it into there. Um it also came with a change to the funding, but it is
[29:23] not a project. It is it is the purpose
[29:25] is it create a a dedicated funding
[29:27] mechanism to invest in long-term um
[29:31] climate resilience. So we go to the next
[29:33] slide. Um what can it fund? Well, it can
[29:36] fund a whole lot of things. So we I
[29:38] listed a few here. Uh wildfire fuel
[29:41] reduction. It could it could do home
[29:42] hardening projects. You could do
[29:44] evacuation room improvements, backup
[29:46] power for critical facilities. Um,
[29:49] anything that we that you can actually
[29:52] allocate or or justify as being caused
[29:54] by climate change, you could probably
[29:56] fit it in here. It's very wide open. Uh,
[29:59] this the state as most of the laws they
[30:01] passed, well, except for the housing
[30:03] ones, of course, they uh they're kind of
[30:05] wide open. And so, this one is also wide
[30:07] open. So, these are a few of the things.
[30:10] Um, just listed a few to uh try to give
[30:13] you an idea of the things that that it
[30:15] could could be used for. If we go to the
[30:18] next one.
[30:19] So how does it work? So the first thing
[30:22] that happens is it's it's formed by one
[30:24] or more public agencies.
[30:26] This could be formed by a city. Uh you
[30:28] could have the Monosino climate
[30:30] resilience district and then say
[30:32] Saratoga does it and then Los Scatos
[30:34] does it and then you all decide hey you
[30:35] know what wildfire doesn't give a darn
[30:37] about the city limits. So let's merge
[30:40] these together. And there may be reasons
[30:42] for that. There may not be. And I'm
[30:44] going to go through an example of how
[30:45] you might create one and talk a little
[30:47] bit about how I think ideally it would
[30:50] work in our communities knowing some
[30:51] things about our budgets and how much
[30:54] money we have to spend which I don't
[30:55] know about you but I don't have very
[30:57] much. So we we need to find funding
[31:00] mechanisms that'll work. Um but the
[31:02] things that they talked about that we
[31:04] could we could have an assessment
[31:05] district so the property owners within
[31:07] the district could contribute. Um we can
[31:09] go out for grants so you could go to
[31:11] state or federal grants. One of the
[31:13] things I like about a climate resilience
[31:15] district is that it doesn't say doesn't
[31:17] have to say Monosino on it. Monosino,
[31:21] Saratoga, Certino, and Los Altos Hills,
[31:24] for example, as you know, were singled
[31:26] out when Prop 13 went in place. And up
[31:28] until 2014, we only got three and a
[31:30] half% of the property taxes that were
[31:32] generated. line. You remember this from
[31:34] your time or some of you may or may
[31:36] remember that uh 2014 finally got Jim to
[31:39] do a bill that wasn't just singling us
[31:41] out and saying, "Hey, we need to get
[31:42] more." But it was that everybody should
[31:45] be treated the same, which
[31:46] [clears throat] is how it should be. So
[31:47] now we're
[31:48] >> What a crazy thought.
[31:49] >> Yeah, I know. Exactly. So we now worked
[31:51] our way back up to the 6 whatever
[31:54] percent it is of property taxes, which
[31:56] still isn't a whole heck of a lot as you
[31:58] know. We've got roads and I don't know
[32:00] what parks you've got, but you've got
[32:01] the facilities here. You've got lots of
[32:03] things to spend it on. We've got that
[32:05] much and then some. So, it's uh it's
[32:07] difficult at best. Um you could form
[32:09] public and part public uh private
[32:11] partnerships to get things done. You can
[32:14] go out to the voters and get a bond
[32:16] measure. You could do um a tax increment
[32:19] financing, which is the one thing they
[32:21] added for this that is kind of unique. a
[32:25] tax the tax increment funding would be
[32:27] to me that's not something you do right
[32:28] away and I'll talk about that in the
[32:30] next slide but um it's something that
[32:32] says okay when you form the district or
[32:34] at some date and time you take a
[32:36] snapshot of the property taxes of the
[32:38] people within this district so say the district was your wooi for example
[32:43] so that's the severe you know the the
[32:45] very high high moderate and then the
[32:47] wooi wrapped around the fire fire areas
[32:50] and you say okay let's take the property
[32:53] uh what what the the property taxes are
[32:55] from that that section.
[32:57] We're going to take 2% of the increases
[33:00] from now on and we're going to put it
[33:02] into the district. And you could do
[33:04] that. Now, again, I don't recommend that be the first thing we do because
[33:07] we're still trying to catch up with the
[33:09] stuff the state's slapping at us and
[33:10] it's it's kind of difficult to do. Um,
[33:14] but the CRD itself does not create a tax
[33:17] at all any way, shape, or form. There
[33:20] are some expenses that go along with it,
[33:22] especially for staff, as I'll talk about
[33:23] in the next slide. But anything, any
[33:26] assessments, any taxes would have to
[33:29] come from the way that the state
[33:30] requires it, which as we know is a vote
[33:33] of the people. And if they would approve
[33:35] it, then we could go and either do a
[33:38] property tax or an assessment or a, you
[33:40] know, sales tax increase, whatever, method you decide to use. Um,
[33:45] so it's um it's interesting. Any
[33:47] questions so far? because I'm going to
[33:49] get into some some meat in a minute.
[33:52] >> Do you have examples of CRDs that have
[33:57] been created?
[33:58] >> There is one CRD in the state of
[34:00] California and it was not created. It
[34:03] was grandfathered in. So, nobody in the
[34:06] state has done this yet. Englewood,
[34:08] California, down south in LA, uh they
[34:12] have an intent to form a climate
[34:14] resilience district. Um, and there's a
[34:17] couple other entities in the LA area.
[34:19] There are some entities down in very
[34:21] southern California that have also said
[34:23] they're going to do it. I don't think
[34:24] anyone has passed the resolution of
[34:26] intent to to form one yet. Um, when I
[34:29] looked at what LA was trying to do and
[34:31] Englewood specifically.
[34:33] To me, it's it's very very narrow and I
[34:35] don't I don't know if it'll actually
[34:37] ever fly, but it's um it's a
[34:40] possibility. But right now there's one
[34:42] in Soma and it was grandfathered in when
[34:44] the bill was created. So they haven't
[34:46] gone through this process.
[34:47] >> Okay. So my as you said um fire is
[34:51] another thing to note
[34:53] respect geographical or jurisdictional
[34:56] boundaries as
[35:01] former mayors know once a month the fine
[35:05] west valley cities get together with the
[35:07] mayors and managers. If we are to look
[35:10] into this rather than municipality by
[35:13] municipality
[35:15] as [clears throat] the five West Valley
[35:17] cities work together by so many things,
[35:20] wouldn't you recommend that that
[35:24] we [clears throat] look into this as a
[35:26] group rather than separately, separate
[35:29] municipalities?
[35:30] >> Personally, I do not I do not recommend
[35:32] that.
[35:33] >> Okay?
[35:33] >> And and I'll talk a little bit about it
[35:36] in in a couple of slides, but okay. The
[35:38] reason is that locally,
[35:42] if we've got funding for something
[35:43] locally, we can decide what to do with
[35:45] it locally. And by locally, I mean the
[35:47] people that live in the district. Okay?
[35:50] If I'm doing a if I'm doing a CRD with
[35:53] Loscatos, Monosino, um parts of Certino,
[35:56] Loscatos, uh you know, if there's some
[35:58] entity, Los Altos Hills wants to be in
[36:00] it. The unincorporated county wants to
[36:02] be in it. Everybody's got their pet
[36:04] project. Okay. in Monoserino might be
[36:07] well we want the money to go to the
[36:09] eucalyptus take down the eucalyptus
[36:11] trees on highway 9 in Saratoga it might
[36:13] be you know we want to cut the
[36:14] vegetation on our evacuation routes so
[36:17] they could be competing and I think if
[36:19] you do it locally meaning city by city
[36:22] and you have the people within the
[36:23] district make that decision you've got a
[36:26] lot better ability to a have personal
[36:29] responsibility in what goes on and and
[36:31] you set your own parameters for for the
[36:33] priority so That's personal opinion.
[36:37] Humbly my personal opinion.
[36:39] >> Yeah.
[36:40] >> One more. The the CRD has physical
[36:45] boundaries.
[36:46] >> Correct. When you form it, you form it
[36:48] with a physical boundary.
[36:49] >> Okay. And just because it's the city of
[36:52] Monty Serino doesn't mean it's it's our
[36:55] city. It could be those properties south
[36:58] of Highway 9.
[37:01] >> You you might define it. I mean
[37:02] certainly you couldn't go beyond your
[37:04] city and include stuff unless you
[37:05] included that government agency as part
[37:08] of the governing board. Um so you might
[37:11] like for example in Saratoga my
[37:13] suggestion is that we do the WOOI. Okay.
[37:15] The WOOI includes the very high high and
[37:18] moderate fire hazard zones and the
[37:20] wildland urban interface that's
[37:22] including and around it. That makes the
[37:25] most sense to me because those are the
[37:27] folks most at risk of a wildfire and of
[37:30] the subsequent flood that happens after
[37:32] the wildfire and the rains come and the
[37:34] ground doesn't catch the rain. So it
[37:36] forms well whatever it forms and then it
[37:38] catches some mud and feet down the
[37:39] [clears throat] hill and all of a sudden
[37:41] your house is you know knee deep in mud
[37:43] or worse and that would be a flood. So
[37:46] you could protect against that you know
[37:48] you do things to to try to protect
[37:50] against it. So that's again
[37:52] >> no my thought. Well, thank you. Thank
[37:54] you.
[37:55] >> Okay, so the next I I put it to this
[37:57] slide. It shows the benefits and
[37:59] considerations just some of them. I
[38:01] mean, obviously there's a million
[38:02] different ways, but I looked at okay,
[38:04] it's a dedicated funding source, but you
[38:07] got to consider it. It takes some time.
[38:08] When I presented this to my council and
[38:11] we had a couple of discussions about it,
[38:13] I said, you know, the thing is this
[38:14] isn't a one-year project. It's probably
[38:16] not a three-year. It's maybe not a
[38:18] fiveyear or a nine-year. It might be a
[38:19] 10-year project. It's going to outlast
[38:22] me on the council for darn sure.
[38:25] >> Everything's going to unlatch because
[38:27] we're done at the end of this year.
[38:29] >> Yeah, that's not going to happen. But
[38:31] the thing is, if we don't start at some
[38:33] point, we'll never get it.
[38:35] >> And and this kind of thing happens when
[38:37] somebody gets the I hate to say the
[38:40] word, but the fire inside and says we
[38:42] got to do something and tries to lead
[38:44] it. If people choose not to, then then
[38:46] we'll end up, you know, having the
[38:48] discussion maybe over time, but nothing
[38:49] will happen. So, I don't want to end up
[38:51] seeing Saratoga, for example, in six
[38:54] years with a burned out hillside because
[38:56] we did I mean, we're doing a lot. We're
[38:58] now a fire we since 2024, we're a fire
[39:00] risk reduction community in the state of
[39:02] California, one of only 11 in 2024. Uh
[39:06] the only one in Santa CL County. This
[39:08] year, Loscatus got it too. So, there are
[39:10] two. Um that gives people an advantage
[39:13] on insurance and and discounts if you
[39:15] got the fair plan. So, different things
[39:17] can happen. But we started doing things
[39:19] and this would put more attention on
[39:21] that and provide some funding for it. So
[39:23] let me go through. So you know the
[39:25] benefits access to grant supports short
[39:27] and long-term resilience. Um it can
[39:30] leverage outside funding which I think
[39:31] is really really key. And then your
[39:34] >> issue uni bonds
[39:36] >> if and again that would be a vote.
[39:38] >> Yeah. Right. Right. But but mechanically
[39:41] is
[39:41] >> it could the possibility is there to do
[39:43] that? Absolutely.
[39:45] Again, the mechanisms or the the the
[39:48] vehicles to fund it are up to the to the
[39:50] board essentially. And I'll go through a
[39:53] scenario of how I I would recommend it
[39:55] be done. Uh because I think that the
[39:57] people that live in it have to have the
[39:59] most vested interest. And if they set
[40:01] the priorities and they determine the
[40:02] projects, the things that the money will
[40:04] be spent on, it's probably much more
[40:07] likely to go. I personally, when
[40:10] somebody says, "Hi, I'm from the
[40:11] government. I'm here to help. I'm
[40:12] curious about which part of my bank
[40:14] account's going to get affected next. I
[40:16] just I'm sorry. It's the truth, you
[40:18] know. Um I've been on the government for
[40:20] in the government for a long time. It
[40:22] took me many years of being, you know,
[40:25] somebody would say, "Well, you're a
[40:26] politician." And and it took me many
[40:27] years before I stopped cringing when I
[40:29] heard that, you know, now I accept it.
[40:31] It's like, okay, I guess I am. Um but to
[40:33] me that just means we work together to
[40:35] solve problems. And so that's what, you
[40:37] know, to me this is it's a way to work
[40:39] together to solve a problem. So I think
[40:42] the next one is my scenario. So here's a
[40:45] startup scenario that is how I think it
[40:49] would work best in Saratoga. It may or
[40:51] may not work for your city. There are
[40:52] lots of ways to do it. So the first
[40:54] thing is that the governing body creates
[40:57] a CRD. Um first there' be a a resolution
[41:01] of intent to form and then you form it
[41:02] and there's planning that goes on and
[41:04] I'm glossing over all the dirty steps
[41:06] that staff would have to go through and
[41:08] whatever consultants you might need.
[41:10] What it really takes is a whole lot of
[41:13] marketing, if you will, engagement with
[41:15] the community. Um, getting out, doing
[41:17] town halls, meeting in neighborhoods,
[41:19] getting, if you've got fire wise
[41:21] communities, those are the natural
[41:22] places start because the folks are
[41:23] paying attention to it. If you don't
[41:25] have some firewise communities, start to
[41:27] work on that. That neighborhood is going
[41:29] to be your nucleus. And when I've talked
[41:31] to people that live in the hillsides in
[41:33] Saratoga, and Saratoga is very anti-ax.
[41:36] I mean, we you do any kind of a a survey
[41:39] of folks um
[41:40] >> unlike any other community.
[41:41] >> Yeah, we don't know any of them around
[41:43] here. But, um you know, so to say, hey,
[41:45] we're going to do a property tax to
[41:47] solve XYZ, the answer is going to be a
[41:49] big fat no.
[41:51] >> But I think that the people within this
[41:52] district have a vested interest and if
[41:54] personal responsibility means anything,
[41:56] they will actually help. So, so the
[41:58] first thing that happens, I think
[42:00] there's a question here.
[42:01] >> Oh, sorry. Um
[42:03] if there's a path going forward and it
[42:06] hasn't been done before in the state of
[42:08] California per se by starting from zero
[42:10] >> y
[42:11] >> then if you blaze the trail then can
[42:16] others then we could leverage off that
[42:19] >> absolutely
[42:20] >> imitation is the highest absolutely
[42:22] flattery right
[42:23] >> there is something
[42:24] >> search and replace city of Sarah
[42:26] Saratoga to Monty
[42:28] >> we could certainly do that um you might
[42:30] want to change the boundaries a bit but
[42:31] Um, yeah. I think it wouldn't offend us
[42:33] if you went first drunk. Is that what
[42:35] you're saying,
[42:36] >> Brian? And, and I got no problem with
[42:37] that. I just have to get
[42:39] >> two other council members, too. Okay.
[42:41] So, it's like
[42:42] >> you have to count to three.
[42:43] >> That's the, you know, one of the key
[42:45] things you learn when you're a council
[42:46] member. You got to know one. That's what
[42:47] it takes to get a thing on your agenda,
[42:49] and you got to know two because that's
[42:50] what it takes to get it passed along if
[42:51] you're voting that way. Yeah.
[42:52] >> So, absolutely. Thank you. Um so the
[42:56] first thing that happens is the board is
[42:57] formed and the board consists of three
[42:59] members of the governing body that
[43:01] created the district. So in this case it
[43:03] would be three members of the council
[43:05] and two members of the public. Now it's
[43:07] very loosely defined as how you pick
[43:10] those people but there there are lots of
[43:13] methodologies and things that could be
[43:14] used. I personally would probably think
[43:16] we'd want to get people that lived in
[43:18] the district. That might be that might
[43:20] make a lot of sense. I think we should
[43:22] go one step further. Like in Saratoga, I
[43:24] would propose that we form a climate
[43:27] resilience commission and that would be
[43:29] five to seven people that actually live
[43:31] within the WOOI. Their job would be to
[43:34] define the projects that any funding
[43:36] that comes in will be allocated to. What
[43:39] are the priorities of the projects that
[43:41] we want to do? And then go through the
[43:44] actual process of, you know, might be
[43:46] grant writing. might be how do they how
[43:47] do we go out and search for somebody to do the consulting or to do the
[43:51] creation of the grant request all kinds
[43:54] of stuff and of course your governing
[43:56] body would then be the entity that would
[43:58] make the decisions upon your that that
[44:00] commission's recommendation. So it's
[44:02] just my way of saying we need to have
[44:04] the people that live there be really
[44:06] involved. I think at least in my town
[44:09] that's what we need. we really need them
[44:11] because they're they're the ones that
[44:12] are going to otherwise they're going to
[44:14] say man the government's doing it to us
[44:16] again and I don't ever want to see that.
[44:18] Um so as I said the commission
[44:21] identifies the projects and you know in
[44:23] Saratoga these are the things that come
[44:25] out the most frequently. One is the
[44:26] evacuation route vegetation clearing. I
[44:29] want to make sure that if we need to
[44:30] evacuate we can actually get out that
[44:32] road because there's only one. So or in
[44:35] some different areas there's one. Um,
[44:37] number two might be creating homeowner
[44:39] defensible space. Okay, so we got a
[44:41] grant program for people that need to
[44:42] clear out vegetation. Let's put it in
[44:45] place. And then number three could be
[44:46] home hardening. We just did a xyop plant
[44:49] study. Xylopan's a company that does
[44:51] these wildfire analysis.
[44:53] Thousands of scenarios of wildfires
[44:55] where they start in Saratoga, where they
[44:57] travel to. It was discovered that if for
[45:00] every home that is hardened, three homes
[45:03] don't burn. For every one home that is
[45:06] hardened, three don't burn. Now, I'm not
[45:09] saying that you only go, okay, one, two,
[45:10] three, but that's a that's a great thing
[45:13] to keep in mind. So, the home hardening
[45:15] I I think would want to be a part of
[45:17] this. Now, how you define who gets it
[45:19] and stuff, that's whatever your
[45:22] community decides. Um, and the funding
[45:25] plan is created. Now, the order of these
[45:26] things may vary, but personally, I think
[45:29] that the first funding should come from
[45:32] the community members, the people that
[45:34] live in the district. I have proposed
[45:36] that and and when I talk to people about
[45:38] it, I'm like, "Hey, would you be willing
[45:40] to pay $80 a month to raise money to
[45:45] protect your community, your the WOOI
[45:47] from wildfire?" And what is 80 bucks?
[45:50] Well, that's, you know, if I got a
[45:51] family of three that drink coffee,
[45:52] that's probably, you know, 10 less cups
[45:54] of coffee a week at whatever favorite
[45:57] Starbucks or coffee place I go to,
[46:00] right? That's not a whole heck of a lot
[46:01] of money. If I do that, that's a,000
[46:04] bucks a year from each household. In
[46:05] Saratoga, we have 2,000 homes in the
[46:07] wood. That's 2 million bucks. I now have
[46:10] some serious dollars to get this
[46:13] started. So, to me, that's the best way
[46:15] to do it. And that would, from what I
[46:17] understand, it's a Prop 218 protest
[46:20] vote. So it' be a letter would go out to
[46:22] all the people in the WOOI. Do you want
[46:25] this or not? Would you be willing to pay
[46:26] 80 or not? It gets back. If it's 50% of
[46:29] the responses plus one, boom, on the
[46:32] property taxes next year, $1,000 is
[46:34] added. 500 bucks every six months or
[46:37] every time we got to pay that bill. You
[46:39] know what? Not such a bad deal. But not
[46:41] to increase property taxes that the
[46:43] community did and it took a twothird
[46:45] vote as opposed to because we're
[46:47] thinking about one to pay for police
[46:49] services assuming the thing on the
[46:51] November ballot doesn't pass. So I'm
[46:54] interested in how you could increase
[46:56] property taxes which is your
[46:58] >> So this is an assessment district. It's
[46:59] actually not increasing their property
[47:01] taxes. They would pay it in their
[47:02] property taxes and it goes to the
[47:05] district. So, [clears throat] for
[47:06] example, in Saratoga, in a lot of our
[47:08] flatlands, we have what we call
[47:10] landscape and lighting districts.
[47:11] They're individual neighborhoods that
[47:14] have said, you know what, you know,
[47:16] getting three people out here to clean
[47:17] the entrance way and to butter up our,
[47:19] you know, entry sign and plant the
[47:21] perennials or the annuals that we plant
[47:23] all the time and try to come out and
[47:24] water it, it doesn't happen. People do
[47:26] it for about two weeks and then they
[47:27] stop and everything's dead.
[47:29] >> Please help me.
[47:30] >> Yeah. Yeah. If if you say that that the
[47:32] city of Saratoga or the city minus
[47:34] Freedom is an assessment district
[47:36] itself,
[47:38] you could increase things with just a
[47:40] simple majority, not a two3 vote. I'm
[47:42] looking at my majority.
[47:43] >> It's a little different, I think. But
[47:45] >> so there are under state law there the
[47:48] cities have the ability to create
[47:50] special districts or special areas and
[47:52] provide specific types of benefits to
[47:55] those. We have in the past had two in
[48:00] town. We had the Rose Andrews.
[48:02] >> So there's not going to be an answer for
[48:04] a partial tax for police service.
[48:06] >> Completely different.
[48:07] >> Right. Okay. Absolutely.
[48:08] >> And I'll please continue checking.
[48:12] >> I'm looking for a way to fund that. So
[48:14] >> absolutely. So to me that and and the
[48:17] people that I've spoke with, they they
[48:19] and and these are some of the people
[48:21] that I know are very anti most of the
[48:24] things we've asked for and they come
[48:25] down to the council meetings, they
[48:27] demand certain things. Everyone that
[48:29] I've talked to, they've been very pro very positive about this. It's like
[48:34] 80 bucks. Yeah, I can do 80 bucks a
[48:35] month, no problem. I tell them it's 500
[48:37] bucks twice a year, but it they would do
[48:40] it and and they said they they believe
[48:42] in it. So, I think that we can make that
[48:43] happen, but it is a lot of community
[48:45] engagement to make that happen. Whether
[48:46] you get a consultant to do that or you
[48:48] try to do it, that's the key way of
[48:50] making that happen. Um, this group could
[48:53] also go out for state and local funding
[48:55] based on the people I've talked to at
[48:57] the state, the federal government, fire
[48:58] environments, the people who have money
[49:00] that they're allocating to organizations
[49:02] that will do things to solve fire
[49:05] problems or prevent it. The first one
[49:08] that gets this district is going to get
[49:10] all the attention. and they got the best
[49:12] chance of getting that funding. So keep
[49:16] that in mind. Whoever's for, you can
[49:18] absolutely let Saratoga go first.
[49:19] Whether it happen or not, I would
[49:21] suggest you think about it and if you if
[49:24] you got the burn, go for it. Um and I'll
[49:27] be glad to help you. So whatever I can do to have community
[49:31] meetings, whatever you need. Um
[49:33] charitable contributions. I don't know
[49:35] if you you probably all remember and
[49:37] Aland does we've got a thing called the
[49:39] Saratoga Monosino Community Foundation.
[49:42] They were formed so that people could
[49:44] make contributions to a 501c3
[49:47] and then that organization will do
[49:50] grants to fund different things that the
[49:53] city needs to do. So um you know it
[49:56] can't be just a pass through. It's got
[49:57] to be allocated and defined by the board
[49:59] and stuff. There's all rules about that
[50:01] which you know I'm not going to answer.
[50:02] Kristen might be able to. Is that
[50:04] dormant or is it still active?
[50:06] >> Still active. In fact, I'm using it
[50:07] right now. On Saturday, if you all want
[50:10] to come down to Wildwood Park in
[50:12] Saratoga, starting around noon, we're
[50:13] gonna have Saratoga's 70th birthday
[50:15] party. And as you guys just celebrated
[50:16] yours, so we're going to have our
[50:18] >> We're a year behind you. We're
[50:20] >> behind.
[50:20] >> Yeah. You were 57. 57. Okay. But we're
[50:23] saving energy for Sunday for our annual
[50:26] picnic.
[50:26] >> Oh, there. Well, that's cool. But if you
[50:28] want to come and dance a bit to get your
[50:29] kinks out and get the butterflies out,
[50:31] come down to Wildwood Park at noon on
[50:33] Saturday. Um, and then long-term to me
[50:36] the carrot here is if we raise this
[50:38] money and we smartly execute and use
[50:41] that money effectively, then you've got
[50:44] the carrot of the tax increment funding
[50:46] that can say, you know, if the city gets
[50:48] whole with the taxes we've got and we
[50:50] don't get too many more unfunded
[50:52] mandates,
[50:54] then perhaps that's a way to help fund
[50:57] it. Um, there are other ways. There
[50:59] could be districts that go away that are
[51:01] currently funded by something else and
[51:03] we can move the money in. Um there
[51:05] there's lots of different ways to do it.
[51:07] These are just some that I've thought
[51:09] about that that may work in my community
[51:12] and maybe will work in yours. That's
[51:14] all.
[51:14] >> Yes.
[51:15] >> One of the benefits would be the
[51:18] reduction or the ability to get
[51:21] insurance now.
[51:23] >> Could be. And I mean that's that makes
[51:26] the $1,000 a year kind of
[51:29] [clears throat]
[51:29] >> Yes. Now there's no guarantee. Um,
[51:32] >> of course not.
[51:32] >> I've I've been having some very lengthy
[51:35] in fact I just this afternoon I had a
[51:36] lengthy conversation with Sam Licardo
[51:38] who's got a program. He's trying to work
[51:39] with a couple of insurance companies to
[51:42] say yeah we'll give discounted rates if
[51:43] we can get two to two to 300 people or
[51:45] two to 500 I think is the number he used
[51:48] uh of people within a given area to
[51:50] harden their homes. Okay, I'm paying
[51:54] $10,000 a year for my my home insurance.
[51:58] Um, you're going to give me 10% off if I
[52:01] spend $30,000 this year on home
[52:03] hardening.
[52:05] Okay, you got to define what needs to be
[52:07] done. It's not just about the first
[52:09] thing in front of you. The the discount
[52:11] sounds great, but there's something
[52:13] behind it. I got to do something to make
[52:15] that happen. So, I think there's a
[52:17] reality check. And Sam and I were
[52:19] talking. He goes, "Chuck, what about the
[52:20] brokers? What about agents like you?"
[52:21] It's like, dude, I get the fair plan is
[52:24] cutting their commissions on new
[52:26] business from 10% to 7%, I think, and on
[52:29] renewal business to 3%. I'm I'm not
[52:32] making that much. I And what is my $75
[52:36] going to do to your $10,000 charge? It
[52:39] It's nothing. So, yes, we could all
[52:42] share in this, but the homeowner at the
[52:45] end of the day has to decide, yeah, I'm
[52:47] going to spend 30 grand to harden my
[52:49] home, and I don't know how many of them
[52:51] will.
[52:53] That's that's the reality, you know. So,
[52:55] we've got we got work to do in that
[52:57] area. So, that's kind of a scenario that
[53:00] I I think would ultimately work. And and
[53:04] the way that the reason I talked about
[53:05] just the city itself at first is because
[53:09] you the people that live in that CRD are
[53:12] the ones defining where the money goes.
[53:14] And who better to do that and control
[53:17] those funds than the people that live
[53:19] there. The larger you make it, the more
[53:21] diverse it gets, the more dispersed it
[53:23] gets. Like diverse is not the right
[53:24] word,
[53:25] >> right?
[53:25] >> But you know, all of a sudden you got,
[53:28] you know, Certino weighing in on where
[53:30] all the money in the district's going. I
[53:33] don't know. I don't know if the if the
[53:34] Monerinans will think that's a good
[53:36] thing. I I I don't know. Maybe it is
[53:38] because they've got the right thing in
[53:39] mind. Um
[53:41] >> even though we really like Katie more,
[53:44] >> long as there's AI, we we like that.
[53:46] It's all good. It's all good. It's all
[53:48] good. Um so, so that's why I think that
[53:50] locally is better. Now, if it makes
[53:53] sense at some point to merge the CRDs,
[53:56] then let's do it. But I think start off
[53:59] it's better locally.
[54:00] >> I can't. We we've all had a lot of
[54:02] experience who've been on the council
[54:05] for years with joint powers authority.
[54:07] >> Oh yeah.
[54:07] >> I take your point about priorities which
[54:10] I hadn't thought of. So thank you. I I
[54:12] got that now.
[54:13] >> Yeah. [clears throat] So I just got one
[54:15] more slide and it's basically just a
[54:17] summary. This is not a project. It is a
[54:20] tool. And it's a it's a tool that here
[54:24] before no one has used in the state of
[54:26] California. The one that's been
[54:27] grandfathered and I don't count them.
[54:29] They didn't have to go through the work.
[54:30] They didn't have the the funding
[54:32] mechanisms. We are going to create all
[54:34] that. But I really believe that
[54:36] whoever's first is going to, you know,
[54:40] when when Saratoga was out for a grant,
[54:42] they look at it and they say,
[54:44] [clears throat] not that rich city of
[54:46] Saratoga, so they don't have areas of
[54:49] need, o areas of opportunity. So we're not going to fund that one. We're
[54:54] going to fund Turlock before we do that.
[54:56] >> We've heard that too.
[54:57] >> Right. It it happens. And so to me, you
[54:59] know, the the Elserino, whatever, you want to call it, you know,
[55:04] call this climate resilience district,
[55:07] that's got that certainly garnered some
[55:09] attention from some folks who might not
[55:11] otherwise have paid attention. And
[55:13] that's personal opinion. I may
[55:15] [clears throat] be wrong, but after
[55:17] talking enough people, I think it's
[55:19] probably more accurate than not.
[55:21] >> Okay. [clears throat] Before I open it
[55:23] up to uh the council chambers for
[55:25] questions, any of my colleagues have any
[55:28] questions I'd like to ask of
[55:30] >> just a comment. Just first of all, thank
[55:32] you so much. This is amazing.
[55:35] >> Uh and I've heard about climate
[55:37] resilience districts ever since I got
[55:40] involved with the what is it called?
[55:41] West Valley Wildfire Council. I think
[55:44] >> the mayor's Yeah.
[55:45] >> Um and what I like about this is it
[55:49] makes our community safer.
[55:51] It engages people and flexibility of
[55:54] funding and we could focus on wois or
[55:59] areas that you know whatever are area we
[56:01] want. So there's so so there's great you
[56:03] know there's great opportunity to focus
[56:06] and I think it's a terrific idea and I'd
[56:08] love to be the first one state of
[56:10] California to do it.
[57:33] every year. So, while I love the concept
[57:37] of Firewise Community, the ultimate end
[57:39] result, if I'm doing one hour a year, am
[57:43] I really doing it? But what it does is
[57:46] it keeps people's in mind on the fact
[57:48] that they've got to be paying attention.
[57:50] And that's the real key. So, that's an
[57:52] individual thing that's done within a
[57:54] neighborhood. The fire risk reduction
[57:56] community is um is a designation that
[57:58] comes from an application that you
[58:00] provide to the board of forestry which
[58:02] is a division or department within
[58:04] Calire and they every two years they
[58:08] review the applications that they
[58:10] receive and based on the the way that
[58:13] you've answered the questions the things
[58:14] that you've done in your city um to
[58:16] protect them or to create ordinances
[58:18] like we've we've got a safety fund now
[58:21] so if somebody takes down trees in our
[58:23] willie
[58:24] Instead of having to replace the tree
[58:26] with something of equal value, they can
[58:28] put money into the safety fund, which
[58:30] could be used to help clear vegetation
[58:32] on the evacuation routes or to build a
[58:33] turnout or something else, you know,
[58:35] whatever we define that to be. Um, we
[58:38] didn't have that a while ago, so it's a
[58:39] new mechanism that we've got. Um, so
[58:42] that that's the kind of thing you could
[58:43] do. So, making those decisions both in
[58:45] your planning and your your ordinances
[58:47] that you pass that can help you get
[58:49] that. Um, but that is a board of
[58:51] forestry and the next one will be in
[58:52] 2028. Um, but it's really cool. I mean,
[58:55] I brought this up at the at the Ken was
[58:57] talking about the wildfire task force in Loscatus. That's where I first
[59:02] proposed this and I told them about it
[59:03] when they hired their emergency services
[59:06] manager. I'm like, you guys ought to try
[59:07] for this. And so now we have two cities
[59:09] in Santa Clair County, which is really
[59:10] kind of cool.
[59:12] >> Did you have a followup? I Please go
[59:16] ahead.
[59:17] What do you estimate the organizational
[59:21] or administrative costs would be for
[59:26] uh CRD per year?
[59:28] >> That's a a really good question. Um our
[59:32] staff in in the report that's attached
[59:34] there is a staff report that was
[59:36] presented at our council meeting. Um and
[59:38] it talks about some of those both the
[59:40] startup costs.
[59:41] >> Yeah.
[59:42] >> Um
[59:42] >> those are one times.
[59:43] And then the
[59:45] ongoing would be well how many grants
[59:47] are you going to try to get you if you
[59:49] don't have a grant writer on staff maybe
[59:51] this district wants an executive
[59:52] director so you have to spend. Now the
[59:54] thing that they did when they created
[59:55] this entity at the state they said only
[59:58] 5% of the funds can be spent on
[1:00:00] administration. So the cool thing is
[1:00:03] it's limited in that which is another
[1:00:04] thing that I like uh because you know as
[1:00:07] one of these people who thinks the
[1:00:08] government might be out you know not to
[1:00:10] be my pal I know that it's limited and
[1:00:13] so you you start to gain another level
[1:00:15] of
[1:00:16] >> 2 million you get 5%
[1:00:18] >> 5% can be used on administration so
[1:00:20] that's all you can do now hopefully the
[1:00:22] city might contribute something you know
[1:00:24] the entity that created it if they've
[1:00:26] got it if they don't then you don't got
[1:00:29] it So,
[1:00:31] but you know, and is grant writing, you
[1:00:33] know, you're going out for a grant. Is
[1:00:34] that administration or is that part of
[1:00:36] the grant writing and you'd have to talk
[1:00:38] to lawyers and finance people about
[1:00:40] that?
[1:00:41] >> You you would also need to prepare
[1:00:42] financial information. So, someone's got
[1:00:44] to do
[1:00:45] >> and and you know, typically that might
[1:00:47] be somebody from the body that created
[1:00:49] the entity. Um, but it's all that's all
[1:00:52] TBD and that's part of the being the
[1:00:55] first, you know, and how you do it.
[1:00:57] There's a whole lot of questions and and
[1:00:59] I'm I know I'm giving the the Oh, here's
[1:01:03] the the sky is you can't because we
[1:01:05] don't have one. No one could have those
[1:01:08] answers. I'd like to now open it up and
[1:01:10] see if there are people in chambers to
[1:01:12] question either our speaker or the city
[1:01:15] manager.
[1:01:17] See no hands. Madam uh city clerk, are
[1:01:21] there any hands raised online?
[1:01:25] » No. But bringing it back to council,
[1:01:30] again, I find this very interesting.
[1:01:33] Personally,
[1:01:35] my primary goal next year is raising a
[1:01:38] parcel tax, which by the way would be
[1:01:41] what we need would be $80 a month or
[1:01:44] $1,000 a year because our we don't have
[1:01:47] sales taxes unlike Saratoga or
[1:01:50] Loscatoos. our property tax revenue goes
[1:01:53] up about 5% a year and just like with
[1:01:56] Saratoga, our cost of police services
[1:01:59] goes up more than 5% a year. So
[1:02:03] my own view is
[1:02:06] to keep this in mind, but at least next
[1:02:09] year until we pass a parcel tax, I I'd
[1:02:14] like not to have the residents see us
[1:02:16] spending a lot of money when we're
[1:02:17] asking them to uh to go from $150 a year
[1:02:21] parcel tax to $1,000. That's my
[1:02:24] comments, but I'll let comments from my
[1:02:28] colleagues. I I agree that that's the
[1:02:31] priority, but I do think it's something
[1:02:33] that we should keep on the list of
[1:02:36] things to consider and do because I
[1:02:39] think it's a a valuable way to do all
[1:02:42] the things I mentioned, which is make
[1:02:44] our community safer and do it in a
[1:02:46] flexible way and engage more people.
[1:02:48] >> Yeah, Vice Mayor Shannon,
[1:02:50] >> um I agree with you that that it's the
[1:02:52] parcel tax is a priority, but this
[1:02:54] information is very good information
[1:02:56] that we can use down the road if needed.
[1:02:58] I know we currently have other things
[1:03:00] we're doing getting um [clears throat]
[1:03:02] getting the city better ready for a
[1:03:05] wildfire, including something we're
[1:03:07] going to talk about later, the
[1:03:08] eucalyptus trees, including updating our
[1:03:11] emergency handbook, including doing a
[1:03:14] study on our evacuation routes. So, I
[1:03:17] think we're still gathering data. We're
[1:03:19] not to the point yet where I think we
[1:03:21] would need something like this, but we
[1:03:22] might get there.
[1:03:25] Greg.
[1:03:26] >> Well, thank you very much, Chuck, for
[1:03:27] coming in and talking to us about this.
[1:03:29] I think this is a great tool and one of
[1:03:31] the few things that I think our state
[1:03:33] legislature has done right these days.
[1:03:35] And
[1:03:36] >> that's a short list burning it.
[1:03:40] >> Well, it's it's something that I think
[1:03:43] most of our residents are thinking about
[1:03:45] more and more now because every year,
[1:03:47] you know, 10% of California is on fire
[1:03:49] for the most part. And it's just it's not if, it's when. And I think a
[1:03:55] lot of people are starting to realize
[1:03:56] that. And if uh if they don't, their
[1:03:59] insurance companies sure do. And so I
[1:04:02] think as a as a one of our jobs as
[1:04:06] government officials is to make sure
[1:04:08] that we give our residents all of the
[1:04:10] tools that are necessary to help build a um a a community that can withstand a
[1:04:16] disaster. So, I hope this is something
[1:04:19] that will be on our plate. Um, as Lon
[1:04:22] said, we definitely got to get our our
[1:04:24] parcel tax for police services uh
[1:04:26] settled, but I hope that this is going
[1:04:28] to be right behind it. And that's what
[1:04:30] I'm looking to do um in my next term if
[1:04:34] I'm still here.
[1:04:36] >> Well, you know, you will be because
[1:04:38] later
[1:04:42] in the two, Chuck and I are the two has
[1:04:45] in the group. I can't be back. Um, yes.
[1:04:50] My question is how do you work this
[1:04:56] through at your city council? Do you
[1:04:58] have an ad hoc committee? Like, how are
[1:05:00] you working this to move it forward so
[1:05:03] it doesn't all of a sudden stop? Um what
[1:05:07] I'm trying to do is to get the council
[1:05:09] to uh put forward a resolution of intent
[1:05:12] to form one at which point it would be
[1:05:15] an ad hoc. It could be a um a committee
[1:05:19] of people that live in the WOOI for
[1:05:21] example to help define it. Um because I firmly believe that I need the
[1:05:26] community to push this as much as any
[1:05:29] council member or even if the entire
[1:05:30] council wanted it. It's not going to fly
[1:05:32] unless the people that live there buy
[1:05:35] into it. But what you said earlier,
[1:05:36] right now you're still looking for two
[1:05:38] more folks.
[1:05:38] >> I still am.
[1:05:39] >> I [laughter] I got we all sound like a
[1:05:42] city. We understand how that works.
[1:05:44] >> Yeah. Yeah. So, it it's a challenge
[1:05:46] without a doubt. Um and I think that's
[1:05:48] one of the things that most of the
[1:05:49] communities have talked about doing this
[1:05:52] are running into because it it isn't for
[1:05:53] the faint of heart. And yeah, you oh
[1:05:56] yeah, Sonoma's got one. Yeah.
[1:05:58] Grandfathered in by law. It's like
[1:06:00] that's a whole lot easier than what
[1:06:01] we're trying to do.
[1:06:02] >> And and by the way, what are they doing
[1:06:04] with it? Good question.
[1:06:06] >> Yeah, yeah. Um, let me wrap this up
[1:06:09] again. You have brought something to our
[1:06:12] attention and I think we all realize
[1:06:14] that we have to be proactive.
[1:06:18] Uh, because I agree with Council Craig.
[1:06:21] It's not if we have a wildfire, it's
[1:06:25] when we have a wildfire. Um I think
[1:06:28] madam city attorney that this was a
[1:06:30] discussion thing so u there's nothing
[1:06:33] for us to vote on but I think what I
[1:06:35] hear is consensus of the council was
[1:06:37] done once we get the parcel tax behind
[1:06:39] us this is things that the this council
[1:06:41] may wish to look into
[1:06:43] >> there was no um action for this item so
[1:06:46] I think the direction was heard by staff
[1:06:48] and we will proceed accordingly
[1:06:52] >> and if there's anything I can do to help
[1:06:54] you uh in my day job I do have insurance
[1:06:57] and other stuff. So, I live this thing
[1:07:00] constantly and it scares the living
[1:07:01] daylights out of me because you're
[1:07:03] right, it's not if, it's when. And all
[1:07:06] we need is that lightning strike that
[1:07:07] happened in 2020 on the other side of
[1:07:09] the hill to happen over here in the
[1:07:11] middle of the open space district. And
[1:07:14] when somebody told me a story, I I lived
[1:07:16] here at 85. You know, a fire came down
[1:07:18] in Broadway.
[1:07:20] >> And but when you look here, I don't
[1:07:22] think you see anybody. You're shy.
[1:07:25] >> [clears throat]
[1:07:25] >> We understand our responsibility to the
[1:07:28] residents of our community and uh none
[1:07:31] of us is here for the big bucks
[1:07:34] >> otherwise we can go to something else.
[1:07:35] [laughter]
[1:07:36] >> I'll [clears throat] see you in is it
[1:07:38] next Wednesday or the week.
[1:07:41] >> I'll see you next Wednesday lunch.
[1:07:43] >> Thank you again.
[1:07:44] >> Thanks. I'm going to stay for next time.
[1:07:45] >> Oh, you're very welcome.
[1:07:46] >> Thank you. Thanks.
[1:07:47] >> Okay. Well, uh I think the next item is
[1:07:50] probably the the big on the agenda.
[1:07:53] I'll ask our Sydney manager to uh make a
[1:07:57] presentation, please.
[1:07:58] >> Thank you. Um the city council's goals
[1:08:01] for the current year um as well as of
[1:08:04] last year included improving wildfire
[1:08:06] prevention and preparedness and this
[1:08:09] goal includes um maintaining evacuation
[1:08:12] routes and as well as efforts to reduce
[1:08:15] um the fire hazard risks along Highway
[1:08:17] 9. Um, highway as highway 9 would likely
[1:08:20] serve as a main evacuation route for
[1:08:22] many Monsino residents in the event of a
[1:08:24] wildfire. Reducing risks that may
[1:08:27] prevent the roadway from being used in
[1:08:28] an evacuation
[1:08:30] has been identified as a priority for
[1:08:32] the city council.
[1:08:34] The eucalyptus trees in the median of
[1:08:36] Highway 9 are of concern as they can be
[1:08:38] problematic for several reasons um
[1:08:41] including they can contribute um to fire
[1:08:45] hazardness due to the oils um in their
[1:08:47] leaves. They are also susceptible to
[1:08:50] sudden branch drop which causes limbs to
[1:08:52] fail without warning and their shallow
[1:08:55] roots can make them susceptible to
[1:08:56] falling. Attached um to the staff report
[1:08:59] is a draft resolution that the city
[1:09:01] council may want to consider adopting
[1:09:03] which would establish a city policy that
[1:09:05] the eucalyptus trees in the median
[1:09:07] highway 9 are potential hazard for the
[1:09:09] residents of Monoserino and neighboring
[1:09:12] cities and supports removal of these
[1:09:14] trees. That completes the staff report
[1:09:17] and I'm happy to answer any questions
[1:09:19] you might have. Um
[1:09:21] >> I'll start without hearing questions of
[1:09:24] the city manager. Um,
[1:09:28] well, there's a lot to talk about here.
[1:09:31] Um,
[1:09:32] >> I like to start with questions question
[1:09:35] from the council and then from the
[1:09:36] public.
[1:09:37] >> Okay. We can make
[1:09:39] >> I have no questions. I'll wait till the
[1:09:40] rest.
[1:09:41] >> Okay, that's fine.
[1:09:43] >> I don't have any questions.
[1:09:45] >> Neither do I.
[1:09:47] >> Can I check questions?
[1:09:48] >> Um, I do have a few questions. Um I
[1:09:50] understand that um you amended what was
[1:09:54] said um by
[1:09:57] uh someone from the town of Lascatos.
[1:10:00] >> Chris Todd I think is his name right the
[1:10:03] isn't that
[1:10:04] >> it's not in the staff report.
[1:10:05] >> Okay. I believe it I believe that's who
[1:10:07] you're referring to.
[1:10:08] >> Right.
[1:10:09] And my question to you is, did you have
[1:10:13] any discussions or email correspondence
[1:10:15] with uh Chris Todd regarding the
[1:10:19] definition of a eucalyptus tree and uh
[1:10:22] the difference between the species?
[1:10:25] Um yes, I did have um conversations um
[1:10:29] yesterday as well as a few months ago
[1:10:31] with or maybe about a month ago I should
[1:10:33] say um with Chris Todd who is the Los
[1:10:36] Gatos um emergency manager and um
[1:10:39] discussed this issue in general um
[1:10:45] and yes regarding the the trees
[1:10:48] the eucalyptus
[1:10:49] >> right so I spoke with him and he said
[1:10:54] that Oh, no. I'm going to make us I'm
[1:10:56] going to ask a question.
[1:10:57] >> Okay. Okay. Cuz we'll do the comments
[1:10:59] later. Okay. Fair enough.
[1:11:00] >> No, I I get it.
[1:11:01] >> Okay. Fair enough. Please proceed.
[1:11:04] >> And he said that he had asked you to
[1:11:08] differentiate between the species
[1:11:11] and I expected that to be done but it
[1:11:14] was not done. Can you explain that?
[1:11:17] >> Yes. So the um information that I was
[1:11:20] asked or the question that I was asked
[1:11:23] of um Chris Todd yesterday was to
[1:11:26] clarify in the staff report that this is
[1:11:28] his professional opinion and not an
[1:11:30] opinion a policy of the town of
[1:11:32] Lascatoss or approved by the Loscatos
[1:11:36] town council. I had talked to him
[1:11:38] separately about other issues, but his
[1:11:40] request for the modification to the
[1:11:42] staff report was limited to this being
[1:11:46] um a professional opinion of his.
[1:11:50] >> I'm surprised because that's not what he
[1:11:52] explained to me, but um
[1:11:55] I do and I don't know at what point in
[1:11:58] time. Oh, I'll ask it as a question. Um
[1:12:01] you uh distributed this document to
[1:12:05] everyone on council.
[1:12:07] Um have you gone through it and uh do
[1:12:12] you understand the difference in the uh
[1:12:15] in the different trees?
[1:12:18] >> Correct. I did um review it today. I
[1:12:21] don't wouldn't say that I had a chance
[1:12:23] to to read every um page, but I did
[1:12:28] review it. and they do understand the
[1:12:33] points that you're making regarding the
[1:12:34] difference in the species of the
[1:12:35] egyptus.
[1:12:37] >> Okay. Okay. I will if there are no other
[1:12:41] questions I will ask if anybody in
[1:12:44] chambers has any uh questions of of the
[1:12:48] city manager. If so, you have three
[1:12:50] minutes to come up and ask your
[1:12:52] question. Point of order. Um, are they
[1:12:55] allowed to make are they asking
[1:12:57] questions or can they make comments or
[1:12:59] are you going to take public comments
[1:13:01] separately?
[1:13:02] >> Let me ask the city attorney for
[1:13:04] clarification. Am I asking just
[1:13:06] questions or comments?
[1:13:07] >> So the public it is their opportunity to
[1:13:09] make public comments.
[1:13:11] >> Okay.
[1:13:11] >> They can ask questions and that
[1:13:13] >> or they so members unlike the council uh
[1:13:16] members of the public will start with
[1:13:18] those in chambers and we'll go to those
[1:13:19] online. They have three minutes to uh
[1:13:22] make any comment they wish.
[1:13:26] Okay, Ed, please come up and speak into
[1:13:29] the microphone so that we have it. Ed,
[1:13:32] if you would tell us your name, please,
[1:13:34] ma'am.
[1:13:34] >> My name is Kelly Weissberg. I live at
[1:13:38] 15927 Viewfield Road. I'm also the head
[1:13:41] of the neighborhood watch for Viewfield
[1:13:43] neighbors. Um, I'd like to speak in
[1:13:46] favor of the resolution to remove the
[1:13:49] eucalyptus trees in the median strip of
[1:13:51] Highway 9. I want to speak to what makes
[1:13:54] uh these trees uh uniquely so dangerous
[1:13:58] in fires. Particularly, I want to
[1:14:00] highlight five reasons, some of which
[1:14:02] were mentioned. Um, I want to elaborate.
[1:14:05] Um, first, the extreme flammability of
[1:14:08] the trees. They contain oils that make
[1:14:10] them highly combustible. The leaves and
[1:14:12] wood contain compounds that act like
[1:14:15] lighter fuel. They're so combustible, in
[1:14:18] fact, that they don't simply burn in
[1:14:19] high heat. They vaporize. They really
[1:14:22] explode. This allows the fires to burn
[1:14:25] with extreme ferocity. Second, the deep
[1:14:28] litter accumulation. The trees
[1:14:31] continuously drop leaves, twigs, bark
[1:14:33] that piled up in deep layers at the
[1:14:35] base. This ground layer easily ignites,
[1:14:38] creating a bed of tinder that fuels
[1:14:41] intense ground fires. Three, a stringy
[1:14:44] bark creates a ladder of fuel. The trees
[1:14:48] contain stringy peeling ribbon-like
[1:14:50] bark. It easily [clears throat] catches
[1:14:52] fire, allows the ground flames to climb
[1:14:55] rapidly up the trunk into the upper
[1:14:57] canopy of the tree. Four, fast ember
[1:15:01] dispersal. When the tree when the flames
[1:15:04] climb up the bark into the upper canopy,
[1:15:07] the burning strips of bark easily detach
[1:15:10] and catch the wind, sending embers
[1:15:13] flying over long distances to spark
[1:15:15] fires to residences that are far away
[1:15:17] from the main front. Five,
[1:15:21] these trees complicate firefighting
[1:15:23] efforts. Firefighters call these trees
[1:15:26] widow makers because the trees
[1:15:29] complicate firefighting efforts. Why
[1:15:32] does the flying embers breach
[1:15:34] containment lines, forcing the
[1:15:36] firefighters to constantly retreat and
[1:15:38] establish new defensive positions? The
[1:15:41] firestorm created by these trees creates
[1:15:44] massive clouds of severe radiant heat,
[1:15:47] preventing the ground crews from getting
[1:15:49] close enough to fight the fire. In
[1:15:53] addition, the dense limbs and bark drop
[1:15:55] unexpectedly during any blaze, creating
[1:15:58] an additional safety hazard for the
[1:16:00] firefighters that are working underneath
[1:16:02] them. Because of these factors, these
[1:16:04] trees have contributed to several
[1:16:06] historic fire disasters such as the
[1:16:09] Oakland Hills firestorm. It killed 25
[1:16:11] people, destroyed over 3,000 homes.
[1:16:15] This makes these trees a permanent focus
[1:16:17] for local fire safety efforts to remove
[1:16:20] them like this one tonight. Thank you.
[1:16:26] » Yeah, that's a good question. Uh
[1:16:28] [snorts] I would have been surprised if
[1:16:30] you didn't. So, please go ahead. Brian,
[1:16:32] thank you very much for describing the
[1:16:35] uh dangers of these particular of of
[1:16:39] eucalyptus trees. Are you aware? My
[1:16:43] first question. Are you aware of the
[1:16:45] difference between a red iron bark tree
[1:16:49] and a Tasmanian blue gum?
[1:16:52] >> Yes.
[1:16:53] It's my understanding all of these trees
[1:16:55] are flammable. And if we're talking
[1:16:57] about a question of degree, these trees
[1:16:59] are not native to California. They were
[1:17:01] brought here from Australia during the
[1:17:03] Gold Rust days. If you want me to go
[1:17:05] into the history of the trees, I'm happy
[1:17:06] to continue.
[1:17:07] >> I I we can have that discussion. I but I
[1:17:10] want to ask you questions.
[1:17:12] >> I'm not a um I know there are people who
[1:17:15] are um lawyers who who are forensic
[1:17:20] arborists. I know that is a specialty.
[1:17:22] I'm a lawyer. That's not my specialty.
[1:17:24] So I prefer not to address it in detail.
[1:17:27] I think
[1:17:28] >> I'm just going to ask you a question.
[1:17:30] >> Yes.
[1:17:31] >> Okay. Um one of the things that is well
[1:17:35] first of all I'll make a comment then
[1:17:37] I'll ask a question if that's okay. The
[1:17:39] comment is that California because
[1:17:43] there's so many quote eucalyptus trees
[1:17:46] planted here, there's all kinds of
[1:17:48] literature that's available.
[1:17:50] >> Absolutely. But one of the one of the
[1:17:52] items is the overall uh fuel hazard
[1:17:56] assessment guide the fourth edition um
[1:17:58] via the state of Victoria that talks
[1:18:01] about the bar bark hazard classification
[1:18:04] and spotting distances
[1:18:06] >> and they differentiate and identify the
[1:18:09] difference. This is not this is
[1:18:11] >> I understand where I understand where
[1:18:13] you're going with that. It's a question
[1:18:14] of how many kilometers that the sparks
[1:18:17] travel
[1:18:17] >> but and the rating of the different
[1:18:19] trees.
[1:18:19] >> Absolutely. If embers travel distances,
[1:18:23] I'm not going to question whether my
[1:18:24] home is 30 kilometers or 10 kilometers,
[1:18:27] it's a question of how how high those
[1:18:30] winds are that are occurring during a
[1:18:32] given fire. Usually, we've seen in
[1:18:34] California, we've seen high winds whip
[1:18:37] around. I mean, you've seen on
[1:18:39] television the high winds during fires
[1:18:42] in in Southern California just last
[1:18:45] summer. This is true in Portugal, too. I
[1:18:48] mean, the high winds take these embers
[1:18:51] really vast distances from the front of
[1:18:53] the fire. These trees, if you Google
[1:18:56] what's the most flammable tree,
[1:18:59] surprise, surprise, it's the eucalyptus.
[1:19:01] And it doesn't make a distinction
[1:19:02] between the blue gum or the red one.
[1:19:05] >> Okay. Um,
[1:19:08] I will ask you a second question or
[1:19:11] another question and this will be my
[1:19:13] last question.
[1:19:13] >> Okay. I just this is you know I practice
[1:19:17] law for 50 years. She's you know I I
[1:19:20] don't want us beating up on people
[1:19:22] speaking.
[1:19:22] >> I'm just asking questions.
[1:19:24] >> Just tell me where I'm coming.
[1:19:25] >> I'm a law professor retired. He's not
[1:19:28] beating up.
[1:19:31] » Maybe you should reference that me.
[1:19:36] » Are you Have you seen the three groves
[1:19:42] of
[1:19:45] Tasmanian blue goats on the south side
[1:19:48] of Highway 9.
[1:19:51] >> Are we talking about the ones in the
[1:19:52] median strip?
[1:19:54] >> No, I said on the south side.
[1:19:57] >> Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm confused.
[1:19:59] >> Well, explain that to me, too. Which
[1:20:01] ones are the ones on the south side, cuz
[1:20:02] I don't know where.
[1:20:03] >> Okay, so at the corner of Rich Crest and
[1:20:06] Highway 9.
[1:20:07] >> Yes, that's only a couple blocks from
[1:20:08] where I live. on the southeast corner
[1:20:11] there is known it's across the street
[1:20:14] from view if I could
[1:20:15] >> Okay,
[1:20:16] >> that's the south side.
[1:20:17] >> Okay. Have I seen them? Probably
[1:20:19] hundreds if not thousands of times. Your
[1:20:22] point is
[1:20:24] >> Oh, if you're ask my point My point is I
[1:20:26] believe those trees should be removed
[1:20:29] and taken care of. Okay,
[1:20:30] >> that's one. The second one is have you
[1:20:32] seen the ones at Decatur and Farra?
[1:20:36] There's a small group of of blueg cedars
[1:20:39] there. Tasmanian bluegs.
[1:20:41] >> Uh I don't remember that. Okay. Grove in
[1:20:44] particular.
[1:20:45] >> Then there's another two that are by
[1:20:48] Montavo Oaks.
[1:20:50] >> I'm sure there's several online read as
[1:20:52] well. And the point is,
[1:20:56] >> may I ask her her answer question? I at
[1:21:00] this point I think you've asked her
[1:21:02] questions. I think she's answered it.
[1:21:04] So, I'd like to uh let her go. Uh
[1:21:08] I know with the law school for 12 years,
[1:21:10] too, by the way. Um [clears throat] so,
[1:21:13] thank you. I think I'd like to see are
[1:21:15] there other people in chambers who would
[1:21:17] like to uh comment and so please come up
[1:21:20] and introduce yourself. Madam, thank you
[1:21:22] very much for your presentation and uh
[1:21:26] and I as I [clears throat] said to the
[1:21:28] vice mayor, it became clear to me that
[1:21:31] you didn't need me to protect you.
[1:21:33] You're doing very well.
[1:21:35] >> Yes, sir. If I had your name, please,
[1:21:36] sir.
[1:21:36] >> I am George Blumenthal. I also live on
[1:21:38] Viewfield Road. I also want to speak in
[1:21:41] favor of this resolution. And just I
[1:21:44] don't want to repeat what the previous
[1:21:46] speaker said, but I do want to just make
[1:21:48] a couple of points. One is many of us
[1:21:50] live on culdeacs
[1:21:52] and our culde-sacs lead into Highway 9
[1:21:56] and therefore Highway 9 represents the
[1:21:58] escape route for us from a big fire. And
[1:22:02] um it's really important that that
[1:22:04] escape route remain free and capable of
[1:22:08] taking on the traffic of people fleeing
[1:22:11] from a fire. And that's why I'm
[1:22:13] concerned about particularly the trees
[1:22:16] that are in the median strip on Highway
[1:22:18] 9. Just incidentally, my son is a lawyer
[1:22:22] who happens to have represented many of
[1:22:24] the victims of the Soma fire from a few
[1:22:27] years ago and his comment to me was that
[1:22:30] the most important thing that you have
[1:22:32] to prepare for is an escape route from
[1:22:35] such a fire and I completely agree with
[1:22:37] him and I encourage you to think about
[1:22:39] that as you consider this matter. Thank
[1:22:41] you.
[1:22:45] » Questions? Any questions? Sir, thank you
[1:22:48] very much. Are there others in chambers
[1:22:51] who would like to comment on the
[1:22:52] eucalyp?
[1:22:55] Sir, please come up and introduce
[1:22:57] yourself.
[1:22:59] >> My name is Raj. Um, live on Bridge Crest
[1:23:01] on Bank Avenue.
[1:23:03] >> You're name sir?
[1:23:04] >> Roger Ry.
[1:23:05] >> Okay.
[1:23:07] We corresponded.
[1:23:08] >> Yeah. I think he spoke to my mother.
[1:23:11] >> I thought we exchanged.
[1:23:13] >> I think he spoke to my mother some.
[1:23:15] >> Yeah. Um I would just u ask the council
[1:23:18] to consider the degree to which um the
[1:23:22] treatment of median should be a priority
[1:23:25] because um as I think the other council
[1:23:27] member described on the corner of the
[1:23:30] street leading to mine which is
[1:23:31] Ridgerest there's a gigantic um
[1:23:33] eucalyptus and there are a few more
[1:23:35] along the side of Highway 9 and those
[1:23:38] present like represent a huge amount of
[1:23:39] biomass and flammable oil and they also
[1:23:43] drop a lot of bark on the base of the
[1:23:45] ground which I from what I understand is
[1:23:48] really represents the most of the danger
[1:23:51] in in the in the event of a wildfire. Um
[1:23:55] one the other thing I understand is that
[1:23:56] there's some difference between the two
[1:23:57] types of between a few types of
[1:23:59] eucalyptus and it kind of struck me
[1:24:02] because I didn't even realize that the
[1:24:04] trees in the median were eucalyptus
[1:24:05] trees because you're so used to seeing
[1:24:07] those big ones with the stringy bark and
[1:24:09] they're kind of pale. These I thought I
[1:24:11] thought were something else. Someone
[1:24:12] said acacia. I thought they were aac
[1:24:14] walnut. Turns out they're eucalyptus.
[1:24:16] But I think phenotypically they're
[1:24:18] completely different. And maybe because
[1:24:20] I saw Calrans working on them for months
[1:24:23] and months. I think maybe if they're
[1:24:25] able to manage those, we could maybe
[1:24:27] direct your resources to these more
[1:24:30] problem problematic ones just much
[1:24:32] bigger and seem to present have a lot
[1:24:36] more fuel in case of a fire. And if
[1:24:38] those fell, I don't think there'd be
[1:24:39] really any way to get around the
[1:24:41] obstacle presented. Whereas these ones
[1:24:44] in the median seem a little bit lighter
[1:24:46] weight and probably maybe not as
[1:24:48] hazardous, whereas the ones on my street
[1:24:50] and around it, I think they could
[1:24:53] present a big problem if anything ever
[1:24:54] happened. So I just ask the council to
[1:24:57] consider um more than just the median
[1:25:01] and maybe prioritize more problematic
[1:25:03] trees. That's it.
[1:25:04] >> Right. Questions of
[1:25:08] member, did you have questions on the
[1:25:10] speaker?
[1:25:12] Um,
[1:25:15] no. [clears throat]
[1:25:17] Are there others in chambers? Yes,
[1:25:19] madam. Please,
[1:25:20] >> if they have a moment of time,
[1:25:23] >> everybody who's here gets to speak. Add
[1:25:25] your name, please. Madam
[1:25:26] >> Roi and I emailed some of you.
[1:25:29] >> Okay. Yes. I think we each feedback.
[1:25:31] >> And first of all, I'd like to thank all
[1:25:33] of you for taking care of us and
[1:25:34] watching out for us, being here on
[1:25:36] Tuesday night worrying about what to do
[1:25:38] with the city and how to make things
[1:25:39] better for all of us. We appreciate that
[1:25:41] very much. Uh, having said that, of
[1:25:44] course, I'm here because I want to make
[1:25:45] some noise about the eucalyptus. I will
[1:25:49] >> through emails.
[1:25:51] >> Well, one of them was a corre correction
[1:25:53] because I was appalled when I read my
[1:25:55] own emails. So, I had to do all the
[1:25:57] corrections. Um,
[1:26:00] I have to say that I absolutely love
[1:26:02] Highway 9. When I didn't live in this
[1:26:04] area, we used to come for a drive and it
[1:26:06] was just so magical to be there. uh come
[1:26:09] on a summer evening, you know, you turn
[1:26:11] off the air conditioning, turn on the
[1:26:13] recycling and able to get the lovely
[1:26:15] fragrances, which hasn't happened for a
[1:26:16] while uh last couple of years, but
[1:26:18] generally speaking, it used to be
[1:26:20] heavenly. Um you just feel proud of
[1:26:22] saying I I'm now I live off Highway 9.
[1:26:24] You know, you try to be as casual as
[1:26:25] possible when you say it, but you feel
[1:26:27] great about it. And to lose those trees
[1:26:30] would be something else. I'll give a
[1:26:31] very quick example of uh these the
[1:26:34] notorious um eucalyptuses the tall ones
[1:26:37] that were on the on the bend around
[1:26:38] Rididgerest when you go and there's a
[1:26:40] little street going up Scott and there's
[1:26:42] a hill u both are private roads I
[1:26:44] believe but they were majestic and they
[1:26:47] were more than 100 years old. Uh one day
[1:26:49] they were just cut down and then that
[1:26:50] time there was Jinny and Rocky Road over
[1:26:52] here and I remember talking to Jinny.
[1:26:54] She stopped by for some work that we had
[1:26:56] were getting done. And I said, "What
[1:26:58] happened there?" And she said, "Oh, you
[1:26:59] know, we've got them to agree to
[1:27:01] planting several oak trees. If you go
[1:27:04] around that around the creek, you'll see
[1:27:06] lots of oak trees have been planted."
[1:27:08] So, yes, they took down those
[1:27:09] eucalyptus. The red hawks were
[1:27:10] displaced. We don't hear owls that much
[1:27:12] anymore. I'm not sure if they, you know,
[1:27:14] they go off s hand in hand, but
[1:27:18] there was a plan in place. So while I
[1:27:20] can't presume to tell you not to cut
[1:27:23] this down because you are finally the
[1:27:24] managers literally no there's a city
[1:27:26] manager managers of our well-being if
[1:27:30] you will I would really say if you could
[1:27:32] have one project in which you cut it
[1:27:34] down but put something else rather than
[1:27:36] leave it as a second phase that would be
[1:27:38] my you know humble request and I'm sure
[1:27:42] that if the city and again I don't mean
[1:27:44] to be in any way um insulting but if
[1:27:47] there's a lack of funds then I'm sure
[1:27:48] there are plenty of arborists etc who
[1:27:50] live in the city will be happy to donate
[1:27:53] or you know send manpower or whatever it
[1:27:55] is to replace the trees we could always
[1:27:57] try to ask for help and there might be
[1:28:00] plenty who will come forward so that
[1:28:03] would be my request I mean we the
[1:28:04] quail's gone out of Monteino so we don't
[1:28:06] want to lose anything else I mean I busy
[1:28:08] I asked the mama's market guy who sells
[1:28:10] quail eggs can can you get me quail so I
[1:28:12] can put them out here and he'll say we
[1:28:13] are not allowed to do that but there was
[1:28:15] a one pair that came to our house and
[1:28:17] we've been trying to feed her and
[1:28:18] they've gone Okay. So that was my my
[1:28:21] little bit. Thank you so much.
[1:28:22] >> Thank you very much.
[1:28:23] >> Uh questions of the speaker.
[1:28:26] >> Yes sir. Um
[1:28:29] are you aware of the difference between
[1:28:31] the the trees in the center median and
[1:28:36] the blue gums on the south side of
[1:28:41] highway 9?
[1:28:42] >> Yes, I am. And I actually feel that the
[1:28:44] ones in the middle are not they may I
[1:28:47] mean all trees will will get burnt at
[1:28:49] some point of time but I don't think
[1:28:51] they represent that much of danger to
[1:28:53] us. We do have several. In fact, I was
[1:28:55] wondering when I read this and driving
[1:28:57] down, I literally tried counting how
[1:28:59] many trees do we have of the blue
[1:29:01] eucalyptus. There are several on the
[1:29:03] sides even on the right side. There are
[1:29:04] some, yes, I know in the corner,
[1:29:06] Ridgerest or Datur and Faragut. There's
[1:29:08] some on the right side when there's one
[1:29:09] odd coming up every now and then. Which
[1:29:12] are the flammable ones? I know the
[1:29:14] difference. And I also see the canopy
[1:29:15] and how how much calans because I was
[1:29:18] wondering earlier why is why are people
[1:29:19] working on these trees all the time. Now
[1:29:21] it makes sense. So the canopies are far
[1:29:23] away from each other. They have been
[1:29:25] trimmed upwards if that makes any sense.
[1:29:27] So I don't think they represent that
[1:29:30] much danger. But the final word I guess
[1:29:32] like is you know with all of you. What I
[1:29:35] can say is that if there is any if I may
[1:29:38] call it deforestation loosely then I
[1:29:40] would really request there to be a plan
[1:29:42] B which is part of you know this A and B
[1:29:44] together rather than a B coming along
[1:29:46] the way at some point of time. That
[1:29:48] would be devastating. practice making we love I mean I I don't want it to
[1:29:52] become a stream in CO even sunny girls
[1:29:54] down I mean this sounds insulting but
[1:29:56] down after big basin way the same street
[1:29:59] looks so different it doesn't have this
[1:30:00] beauty
[1:30:03] >> thank you
[1:30:04] >> um anybody else in chambers well I think
[1:30:07] everybody has spoken uh hands online
[1:30:13] city clerk
[1:30:15] >> uh no hands are raised
[1:30:16] >> okay well I'm going to bring it back and
[1:30:18] I'm going for myself the privilege of
[1:30:21] speaking first. Uh we've been looking
[1:30:24] into uh the trees for u several years
[1:30:29] now as fire
[1:30:31] and u
[1:30:34] until
[1:30:36] 5 minutes before the meeting when I got
[1:30:38] members back I hadn't heard anybody say
[1:30:43] that
[1:30:44] the trees were not fire day. I've had a
[1:30:47] number of meetings personally with CALR.
[1:30:50] Calrans has raised the issue. It's a
[1:30:54] scenic highway and so we have to get
[1:30:57] permission and we'd have to replace it
[1:30:59] with something else going to what you
[1:31:01] said, madam, that we'd want to maintain
[1:31:04] it as a scenic highway. But there's
[1:31:07] nothing in the law that says to be a
[1:31:09] scenic highway you need to trees. But in
[1:31:12] all my conversations uh with Calrans and
[1:31:16] I had some one-on- ons that uh our
[1:31:20] citizen of the until tomorrow leader
[1:31:23] Carl Gardino set up uh Calrans has never
[1:31:26] said and they've been they have
[1:31:29] exclusive jurisdiction since the trees
[1:31:32] were planted to maintain the trees. over
[1:31:34] the last 60 years cal has maintained and
[1:31:37] they have never said that uh gee um
[1:31:43] these are eucalyptus trees that aren't
[1:31:46] flammable. They've never raised the
[1:31:49] argument. Uh they've just said gee we
[1:31:51] need permission because of the state
[1:31:53] highway. Also I've had meetings with
[1:31:56] several meetings with county fire. uh
[1:31:58] our county treasure chief Sana Kerto has
[1:32:02] come to our meetings. She wrote a letter
[1:32:04] last year. There was a letter that Craig
[1:32:07] wrote and in it she talked about
[1:32:10] training a county fire has never raised
[1:32:13] the issue that the these trees are not
[1:32:16] flammable. So my view is we u as
[1:32:22] the view field speaker said we only have
[1:32:25] two arteries Winchester and state
[1:32:28] highway nine but for hundreds of our
[1:32:30] residents on both sides of nine who live
[1:32:33] on culde-sacs
[1:32:35] uh uh if they if nine is impassible they
[1:32:40] are trapped in their fold we're talking
[1:32:42] about uh several hundred presidents I
[1:32:46] think as a council, we have an
[1:32:47] obligation
[1:32:49] to uh remove it. And again, uh until
[1:32:53] this evening, I've never heard either
[1:32:56] Town Trans or County Fire say that the
[1:32:59] kind of eucalyptus we have are
[1:33:02] blackable. So, that's my comments and
[1:33:04] I'd be pleased to I'm going to start
[1:33:06] this one because I with respect I I I
[1:33:09] know what council member Machek's
[1:33:11] position. No, ma'am, it's not open
[1:33:13] anymore. Sorry. uh customer inventory.
[1:33:16] >> Well, um I um
[1:33:20] there's a couple things. Number one,
[1:33:24] this is not a new issue. It seems like
[1:33:26] you've been patr. We've talked to many
[1:33:28] people about this. Uh you know, we're
[1:33:30] not ar n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n none of us were arborists, so we
[1:33:32] don't really know. We know that there
[1:33:34] are different species of eucalyptus
[1:33:36] trees. Eucalyptus trees are flammable.
[1:33:39] There are other there are trees there
[1:33:41] are species of trees that are more
[1:33:44] flammable than others. That's a fact. Um
[1:33:48] we also know that there's a lot of brush
[1:33:50] that the uh eucalyptus trees cause on
[1:33:53] both sides of Route 9 which is also a
[1:33:56] major problem. Um that has to be
[1:33:59] addressed too. Um, you know, I I think
[1:34:03] it's a dialogue we have to again have
[1:34:05] with Calrans because it's their it's it
[1:34:09] they are the lead agency and I think we
[1:34:12] have to go in with with with a plan. Um,
[1:34:16] one of the things that's important to me
[1:34:18] as part of this plan is to demonstrate
[1:34:21] to CALR uh what we're doing uh with
[1:34:24] regard to
[1:34:26] emergency prep preparation in our
[1:34:28] community. I don't, you know, judging
[1:34:30] from what Mayor Page uh presented
[1:34:33] earlier, there's a lot of things that we
[1:34:35] could be doing in this community to
[1:34:37] prepare people for wildfire that I'm not
[1:34:40] sure that we are doing. Um some of the
[1:34:43] some of those things were mentioned
[1:34:45] earlier and I I think they're all, you
[1:34:47] know, they're all to be considered. So,
[1:34:49] you know, when we go to talk to Calrans,
[1:34:52] which is something we definitely should
[1:34:54] do, um I think we should be prepared to
[1:34:57] at least um offer a a plan
[1:35:01] to deal with evacuation, deal with home
[1:35:03] hardening, deal with fire risk, deal
[1:35:04] with all the things that were mentioned
[1:35:06] earlier today, even to engage our youth.
[1:35:09] Um um council member Craig and I had a
[1:35:12] meeting with the youth commission and
[1:35:13] talked to them about maybe getting doing
[1:35:15] a project to create go bags for the
[1:35:17] residents of Monerina. So there's a lot
[1:35:19] of things that we should be going into
[1:35:21] saying we are not just looking at
[1:35:23] eucalyptus trees in this area that area
[1:35:26] this species or that species. We're
[1:35:28] looking at creating uh a a safer
[1:35:32] community in general. Um, so, uh, but I,
[1:35:36] you know, but I, but I'm not an
[1:35:38] arborist. I'm not, I'm not an expert. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I
[1:35:41] can do the, the research that everybody
[1:35:43] else can do to determine, you know, uh,
[1:35:46] the the various species and which ones
[1:35:48] are more flammable than others. Um, so I
[1:35:52] look I look to experts that that can at
[1:35:54] least offer their advice and counsel and
[1:35:58] help us figure figure this out.
[1:36:00] Something needs to be done. That's
[1:36:01] clear. But I I I would defer to who
[1:36:05] whomever is an expert in this area to be
[1:36:08] able to help us, you know, facilitate a plan that makes sense over time. The
[1:36:14] last thing I will say is there is a cost
[1:36:17] and I think these trees are very
[1:36:21] expensive to take down. Uh many of them
[1:36:24] are huge. [snorts]
[1:36:26] Um so that has to be addressed and I'm
[1:36:29] not sure how that how that works. Well,
[1:36:31] I can too. I I spoke with uh James
[1:36:34] Williams on this very issue. Uh I got to
[1:36:37] know him when uh he was county council
[1:36:40] because county council provides legal
[1:36:42] services to the civil grand jury. And
[1:36:45] after my first conversation with Calrans
[1:36:48] when uh they
[1:36:51] gave this information they said uh 100%
[1:36:55] of cost of removing the trees falls on
[1:36:58] city where they are located. of Saratoga
[1:37:00] minus Seno 100% as it's seen anything
[1:37:03] replanning would be on Saratoga and my
[1:37:07] Seno and putting in irrigation and so I I called up James Williams and I said
[1:37:13] gee this is what Calran said and um he
[1:37:18] said well that's actually 100% false u
[1:37:22] that the cost of removing the eucalyptus
[1:37:25] trees falls 100% on Calrans the cost of
[1:37:29] Saratoga and money will be zero because
[1:37:32] of the senior road the cost of putting
[1:37:35] in appropriate
[1:37:38] u
[1:37:40] not replacement thing
[1:37:43] uh is on Calr not a penny from Saratog
[1:37:47] putting in irrigation and maintaining it
[1:37:50] just like Calrans has maintained this
[1:37:52] for the last 60 years. So um
[1:37:57] you know uh I am embarrassed that I so
[1:38:01] misunderstood
[1:38:03] what CALR said because I thought they
[1:38:05] said we had a bear cost 100% and county
[1:38:09] council and I went back to Calr. They
[1:38:12] said they misunderstood
[1:38:14] me and they Cal France has now agreed in
[1:38:17] the conversations that there will be
[1:38:19] zero cost to either removal or finding
[1:38:23] something else to keep it as a scenic.
[1:38:24] The zero cost to the cities of Saratoga
[1:38:27] and Sereno and I'm so embarrassed that I
[1:38:31] misunderstood them is one of the major
[1:38:33] reasons I'm not running for reelection.
[1:38:35] >> Well, that's that that's good news
[1:38:38] because I I heard differences.
[1:38:41] of opinion too. And
[1:38:43] by the way, the last thing I'll say is I
[1:38:45] am complete in favor for if if to
[1:38:48] replace any or all of the eucalyptus
[1:38:52] trees with other other appropriate
[1:38:54] plants and trees and things of that
[1:38:56] nature because I think preserving that
[1:38:58] beautiful scenic route. I I agree with
[1:39:00] you and I think we we have a well first
[1:39:01] of all I think we have a legal
[1:39:02] obligation but I think as a number of
[1:39:05] the speakers have said um you know I
[1:39:08] said I've lived in this town 47 years
[1:39:10] and we live here because it's a
[1:39:12] beautiful place to live and so but u I
[1:39:17] think there are so many other things
[1:39:21] that we could plant there that will
[1:39:23] still make it a beautiful thing and
[1:39:25] we'll make it the Boulevard. Uh but we
[1:39:29] will be fulfilling our obligation to our
[1:39:31] residency. Vice Mayor Shannon,
[1:39:35] >> uh you just touched on this both just so
[1:39:38] that it's you know clear to the
[1:39:40] community that what we're talking about
[1:39:43] with this resolution is just to say that
[1:39:46] we if we adopt it that we are supporting
[1:39:49] efforts to remove these trees. this
[1:39:51] council doesn't have the power to remove
[1:39:54] the trees and then as you just heard
[1:39:55] it's a CALR issue and CALR would be
[1:39:58] paying for it. It's just whether or not
[1:40:00] we're going to pursue having this done.
[1:40:02] And based upon the comments that came
[1:40:05] from the citizens, and I'm, you know,
[1:40:06] happy when the citizens get involved and
[1:40:08] they have comments, whether it's here in
[1:40:09] chambers or via email, um there were
[1:40:12] some people who were in favor of keeping
[1:40:15] the trees. I think more were in favor of
[1:40:17] trying to get them removed because of
[1:40:19] all the buyer safety issues we've all
[1:40:21] just heard us all talking about. Um, I
[1:40:24] think the big concern that kind of keeps
[1:40:26] coming up is, as you just said, Mayor
[1:40:28] Allen, the beauty of that corridor and
[1:40:31] if those trees were to be removed, um,
[1:40:33] that something beautiful would be put in
[1:40:35] its place. Um, again, my understanding
[1:40:38] is, correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be completely up to CALR and
[1:40:42] that we would not necessarily have a say
[1:40:44] in what those replacement fees would be.
[1:40:47] May I add to that my conversation they
[1:40:49] would
[1:40:51] >> they will discuss it with us
[1:40:54] >> uh because it is a scenic highway uh but
[1:40:59] you know it's their nickel but I I
[1:41:03] didn't get the feeling
[1:41:05] my sense was that they would want to
[1:41:07] know what the that the residents of my
[1:41:11] thought and the residents of Saratoga
[1:41:13] because the trees are in these two
[1:41:15] cities.
[1:41:16] Uh but the CalR
[1:41:19] one of the people I spoke to there her
[1:41:21] whole job was preserving scenic highways
[1:41:25] around the state. That's her job at
[1:41:27] Calrans. So I think they are very
[1:41:30] sensitive that subject to fire safety
[1:41:34] that to keep it as a scenic highway that
[1:41:37] we can all be very proud of. And so I
[1:41:40] would think that when we are inspection
[1:41:42] from Cal Friends, what we would do just
[1:41:45] like we're doing with this resolution is
[1:41:46] we'd send out special notice to all the
[1:41:48] residents and get input from the
[1:41:53] residents because we're all neighbors.
[1:41:55] We all live here. So I think that uh the
[1:41:59] uh as I say the the two people who won't
[1:42:02] be on the city council next year are
[1:42:04] Chuck Page and myself. Uh but I am sure
[1:42:08] uh that [clears throat] you and uh
[1:42:11] council member Zyler will uh be reaching
[1:42:14] out uh just like we do on all major
[1:42:17] issues. We want to hear from from the
[1:42:19] residents. Council member
[1:42:23] please was not I just want to make sure
[1:42:25] that that was clear. But that's very
[1:42:27] encouraging that you know Cal Rams if if
[1:42:29] this should happen that they'll work
[1:42:31] with the city to keep our our city as
[1:42:33] beautiful as it is now is important I
[1:42:35] think to all of us. Um [clears throat]
[1:42:38] council member Meccachuk brings up
[1:42:41] really good points about these trees and
[1:42:43] the difference in the trees and he even
[1:42:46] though I didn't know exactly where you
[1:42:47] were talking about um there are other
[1:42:50] big eucalyptus trees in our city. So,
[1:42:52] aside from what we're talking about, the
[1:42:53] dangers of the ones on Highway 9, um I
[1:42:56] think we need to be discussing these
[1:42:58] other eucalyptus trees, and I know it
[1:43:00] has been discussed at council before,
[1:43:02] but the ones that are on private
[1:43:04] property, how we can encourage um owners
[1:43:07] to remove those trees, how we can kind
[1:43:09] of just encourage over time getting some
[1:43:11] of these dangerous trees uh taken
[1:43:13] [clears throat] down.
[1:43:14] >> I think you're Yes, you're exactly uh
[1:43:18] right. And um uh I didn't realize till
[1:43:25] I uh I got this uh memo this evening
[1:43:30] from Council Mechek that uh that the
[1:43:34] eucalyptus of whatever variety on the
[1:43:37] sides were on the right way and that
[1:43:39] Calrans had jurisdiction on it. And I
[1:43:42] want to add to our resolution that that
[1:43:46] we want Calrans I my [clears throat]
[1:43:49] vote would be for Calr that any
[1:43:52] eucalyptus streets on the state highway
[1:43:55] 9 right away whether they're in the
[1:43:56] median or the sign it's the same danger.
[1:43:59] I just didn't realize before that those
[1:44:01] were on the highway 9 right away not on
[1:44:04] private property.
[1:44:06] >> Um anything?
[1:44:07] >> No I'm done. Thank you.
[1:44:09] >> Okay. Council Member Craig. So, I'll
[1:44:11] simplify it by saying I'm going to
[1:44:14] support this resolution. Now, I'm going
[1:44:16] to kind of go off vote a little bit.
[1:44:20] First of all, I was on that call with
[1:44:21] you with CALR and they absolutely
[1:44:23] presented that it was our responsibility
[1:44:26] to fund the removal of those trees. So,
[1:44:29] you you did not get that wrong. Great.
[1:44:31] >> And um it was very nice of u James to
[1:44:34] kind of set the record straight. And I
[1:44:37] and um I will also um if you're
[1:44:40] listening Aver thank you very much for
[1:44:42] bringing up this topic way back in 2013.
[1:44:45] This is this is how long we've been
[1:44:47] trying to get something like this moving
[1:44:49] and every every discussion has just had
[1:44:54] a an outpouring of support from the
[1:44:56] community in favor. I know that there
[1:44:58] are a few folks that do not want to
[1:45:00] remove the trees, but I think once we um
[1:45:05] explain that we're not looking to take
[1:45:08] away the beauty of Highway 9, it's it's
[1:45:11] understood what what our goal is here.
[1:45:14] Um I think the the the bigger issue, as I think Kelly was pointing out, was
[1:45:20] the massive massive trees that are on
[1:45:23] the side of Highway 90, though. Um, and by the way, um, thank you very much
[1:45:28] for noticing that, uh, Calran came out,
[1:45:31] uh, I guess it was after our
[1:45:33] conversation we had with them and they
[1:45:35] went out and and took care of 68 of
[1:45:37] those trees and they look a lot nicer
[1:45:39] now. Um,
[1:45:41] but there's also a very large issue with
[1:45:45] not only the trees on either side of
[1:45:47] Highway 9, but we also had that same
[1:45:50] issue on Winchester. And I don't want to
[1:45:52] forget about Winchester in this whole
[1:45:54] discussion, but I know we're focusing on
[1:45:56] Highway 9 and there's some on Dave on
[1:45:59] Dave's Avenue before the school and I
[1:46:02] don't know again if it's on
[1:46:05] uh part of the rightway or not on the
[1:46:09] rightway it that wouldn't be Calr's
[1:46:11] nickel that our nickel is on private
[1:46:14] property. I agree with Vice Mayor
[1:46:16] Shannon.
[1:46:18] uh we have to find a way to uh approach
[1:46:23] residents
[1:46:24] uh see if they but I think the first
[1:46:26] thing to figure out if it's on the
[1:46:27] rightway or not.
[1:46:28] >> Yeah. Yeah. So again I know we're
[1:46:30] focusing on the rightway but this is
[1:46:32] where I'm going off book even a little
[1:46:34] bit more now. Um, over the years we have
[1:46:37] done everything that I think we can as a
[1:46:40] city council to make it easy for these
[1:46:43] trees to be removed by the owners of the
[1:46:46] property that they're on. Anything. The
[1:46:49] only thing we can't do is pay you to do
[1:46:50] it. And I know that the cost to remove
[1:46:53] these trees are substantial, upwards of $20,000 if you have a 50ft plus uh
[1:46:59] eucalyptus tree on your property. And I
[1:47:02] know that because my neighbor who had an
[1:47:04] 80ft tree cost it cost her about 20
[1:47:07] grand to remove it. And she only did so
[1:47:09] after 2,000 lb branches fell. One of
[1:47:12] them almost killing my wife missed her
[1:47:14] by about 6 f feet. The other one
[1:47:16] destroyed the front of her car. So she
[1:47:18] finally
[1:47:18] >> was that highly motivated to do that.
[1:47:20] >> She was a little bit more motivated
[1:47:22] after my after it smashed my little
[1:47:25] bunny rabbit. But no. Um yeah. So, I understand that there's a
[1:47:30] huge cost for these things. Um, the the
[1:47:34] last thing that I wanted to point out
[1:47:36] though is we have a lot of eucalyptus
[1:47:39] trees in the city. And
[1:47:42] it's not really practical to say we're
[1:47:45] going to get rid of them all, especially
[1:47:47] by the time that the next big fire is
[1:47:49] going to get here. We could definitely
[1:47:51] mitigate it, especially working on the
[1:47:54] median strip of Highway 9. But I think
[1:47:56] just to think a little bit out of the
[1:47:58] box, the other thing we should take a
[1:48:00] look at is some type of mechanism to
[1:48:04] quickly clear either Highway 9 or
[1:48:07] Winchester should one of these trees
[1:48:10] fall and block the roads. And they do
[1:48:13] make this type of machinery. They're
[1:48:16] called tree sharers or excavators or
[1:48:18] there's a number of different types of
[1:48:20] these machines and it might be something
[1:48:23] to take a look at especially as Chuck
[1:48:25] was was talking about a CRD. That was
[1:48:27] one of the things I'm thinking about.
[1:48:29] You know, we put two of these things
[1:48:32] inside of Minus Areno in Saratoga. One
[1:48:34] in our parking lot, one over on the
[1:48:36] corner of Saratoga and Highway 9. And if
[1:48:40] any trees fall on Saratoga, these things
[1:48:42] roll out and they get rid of these trees
[1:48:45] immediately. Same thing if it was to
[1:48:47] happen on Winchester. So, you know,
[1:48:50] let's let's keep our minds uh you know,
[1:48:52] let's expand this a little bit
[1:48:55] where we
[1:48:56] >> we [clears throat] have to be thinking
[1:48:58] outside of the box and we have to be
[1:49:01] proactive. I absolutely agree. Uh,
[1:49:04] council member Magichek.
[1:49:08] » I just want to say one one last thing
[1:49:10] and and as one speaker um also pointed
[1:49:13] out because this this was something that
[1:49:16] Alr threw out and and immediately I was
[1:49:19] like, "Oh my god, you're you're really
[1:49:21] going to do this." They they really
[1:49:24] started to go on this. There's the red
[1:49:26] iron bark and then there's the blue
[1:49:28] spruce and some of these burn in this
[1:49:30] direction and some of them will burn at
[1:49:31] this. Let me tell you something. When a
[1:49:33] fire comes rolling down this hill at
[1:49:35] 2,000° plus, it's going to burn. I don't
[1:49:38] care what kind of tree it is, unless
[1:49:39] it's a concrete tree, it's going to
[1:49:42] burn. And if it's concrete tree, it's
[1:49:44] just going to burn a little bit slower.
[1:49:47] Cuz if you've never seen concrete melt,
[1:49:49] it's actually a pretty amazing thing to
[1:49:51] see. So, I don't care what kind of tree
[1:49:54] it is. Um,
[1:49:57] I'm going to support this motion. Yeah,
[1:50:00] >> I'm about ready. I'm all done.
[1:50:03] >> Council, is there anything that is not
[1:50:05] in your memorandum that you'd like to
[1:50:07] add before I bring this to a vote?
[1:50:10] >> Absolutely.
[1:50:11] >> If you if you would I believe this
[1:50:14] motion is limited to the center median
[1:50:19] of Highway 9. So therefore, we can't
[1:50:22] discuss items that are outside of the
[1:50:24] scope of that. Is that correct?
[1:50:29] So the item on the agenda is to discuss
[1:50:32] to take action on the median. If you
[1:50:34] wanted to take action on anything
[1:50:35] outside of the median, we would have to
[1:50:37] bring it back for at a future meeting.
[1:50:39] >> Just a point of order here. We have to
[1:50:42] take this action if we want Calrans to
[1:50:45] move forward with this though. Correct.
[1:50:48] >> I don't believe we are required to. I
[1:50:50] think they understand
[1:50:52] >> based on my conversations we do.
[1:50:54] >> Yes.
[1:50:55] >> So, so our goal here tonight is to get
[1:50:58] this particular
[1:51:00] operation moving forward though.
[1:51:02] >> Yes.
[1:51:05] >> Well, yeah. I would draw council's
[1:51:08] attention to page 11 in the document.
[1:51:16] I I might say for the record that
[1:51:18] getting something before the meeting
[1:51:20] started. I've not had a chance. I I
[1:51:23] appreciate that. That's why I'm going to
[1:51:24] page 11. What I'd like to do is support
[1:51:28] the following motion. Um and any council
[1:51:32] member that wants to make it.
[1:51:33] >> I'm not asking you to make a motion.
[1:51:35] >> Just just may I make my comment, please?
[1:51:38] You may make your comment. You may not
[1:51:40] make a motion.
[1:51:42] >> Okay.
[1:51:44] I believe this item should be continued
[1:51:47] to our meeting on September the 1st
[1:51:51] regarding the removal of trees and
[1:51:55] taking action on the south side of
[1:51:58] Highway 9 as well. So, we're expanding
[1:52:00] the scope of them. Not saying that we
[1:52:02] can't do anything at that meeting, but
[1:52:04] between now and then, we can certainly
[1:52:07] ask Calrans not necessarily to remove
[1:52:09] the trees, but to remove the the the
[1:52:14] litter under that's caused by the one
[1:52:18] grove of trees by Montalvo Oaks that's
[1:52:22] near our highest density um
[1:52:26] uh per acre housing in the city of
[1:52:29] Monteno. and there and it's all set
[1:52:31] forth in this and I apologize Lon for
[1:52:33] you getting this at the last minute and
[1:52:35] not being able to go through it but
[1:52:36] you've worked on this for some time and
[1:52:38] so have I and in fact I know and to get
[1:52:42] to another point that was raised um
[1:52:45] there the trees the trees the red the
[1:52:49] red iron bark trees in the median were
[1:52:52] planted 50 ft on center and there were
[1:52:56] two instances where they're they are 100
[1:52:59] ft apart
[1:53:00] I measured with council member Torrent
[1:53:04] on Sunday morning. We went there and we
[1:53:06] walked through the media and there's one
[1:53:10] instance where there's two missing. So
[1:53:12] previously when the trees were removed
[1:53:14] by Calrans, they were not replaced and
[1:53:17] they need to be replaced. So there's and
[1:53:20] you can see those two gaps there and
[1:53:22] they're 50 ft on center exactly except
[1:53:25] in three locations. Those were car
[1:53:28] accidents. They had mentioned that
[1:53:30] during our conversation we had them from
[1:53:31] last year.
[1:53:33] >> U so
[1:53:37] yes
[1:53:40] » I believe and I ask that this item be
[1:53:45] continued
[1:53:47] to September the 1st and broaden the
[1:53:50] scope to include the south side of
[1:53:54] Highway 9. No, I understand.
[1:53:56] Okay.
[1:53:58] Uh,
[1:53:59] >> are you taking more comments?
[1:54:01] >> No, I
[1:54:03] No, I'm going to make a motion that we
[1:54:06] have approved the thing that is on the
[1:54:09] agenda. We could do things on the south
[1:54:12] side and other there are a lot of things
[1:54:14] we could do, but I want to get the train
[1:54:16] out of the station. So, I am making a
[1:54:19] motion that we approve the items on the
[1:54:22] agenda.
[1:54:23] I
[1:54:25] am going to second that motion because
[1:54:28] we have been promising to do something
[1:54:29] about this and I really do not want to
[1:54:32] have any more continuences. And if we h
[1:54:34] and this gets the ball rolling and from
[1:54:37] the center we can go to the um outside
[1:54:40] of Highway 9 and work from there. But
[1:54:43] this is something that our residents
[1:54:45] have been asking for for years and years and we've discussed discussed. So that's my second.
[1:54:52] >> Madam city attorney, is this a roll call
[1:54:55] or a quick
[1:54:56] >> Are we able to make any comments?
[1:54:58] >> Yeah. So um once you vote on it, it will
[1:55:00] be a roll call vote.
[1:55:02] >> Okay. U so there's a motion
[1:55:06] there people comment on the motion.
[1:55:10] >> Technically someone can call for the
[1:55:12] question and require the vote. Um but
[1:55:14] typically you would allow comments.
[1:55:17] >> Okay.
[1:55:18] Do you want to go first? Yeah, you
[1:55:21] >> um so
[1:55:25] we are going to talk to Katrans about
[1:55:28] the uh and root nucleot
[1:55:34] in the media
[1:55:36] >> in the media.
[1:55:38] However, in the course of conversation
[1:55:41] with Calrans,
[1:55:43] there may be o other options or maybe in
[1:55:48] other words, there may be like um a
[1:55:50] phased a phased approach because there
[1:55:53] are there there are other other areas
[1:55:56] that do contain rather large eucalyptus
[1:56:00] trees that are extremely of the red gum
[1:56:04] species of blue, whatever you said. Uh,
[1:56:08] and so I, you know, I I I had this
[1:56:12] notion that we we were going to have a
[1:56:14] conversation with Calrans about our
[1:56:18] priorities and state our case, but they
[1:56:21] may have a different but we've had a
[1:56:23] number of conversations in
[1:56:25] >> but it hasn't gone anywhere. Well, but
[1:56:27] they've never said that some of these
[1:56:30] trees were they've never made the
[1:56:32] distinctions that council member has
[1:56:35] made that they're they the only thing
[1:56:38] they've said is it's a state highway.
[1:56:42] We have permission.
[1:56:44] >> Understand? And uh but they but it's
[1:56:48] also clear to me that they are removing
[1:56:50] eucalyptus trees around the state and we
[1:56:53] are not asking for special treatment to
[1:56:56] jump the queue. What I want to do
[1:56:58] tonight is as council member I want to
[1:57:00] get the law rolling to have a resolution
[1:57:04] because also one of the things that
[1:57:06] they've said in past conversations is
[1:57:08] well you your council hasn't asked us to
[1:57:11] remove these trees and u uh I've heard
[1:57:15] that from uh uh uh supervisor
[1:57:22] and from Perin that we need a city
[1:57:24] council resolution to get the train
[1:57:26] where the council says we want these
[1:57:29] trees removed. That's what I want to do
[1:57:31] this evening and that's why I made the
[1:57:32] motion. But but in the course of
[1:57:35] conversation with Calr might be there
[1:57:38] might be a phased approach. There might
[1:57:40] be alternatives. There might be options.
[1:57:42] There might be other considerations.
[1:57:44] Maybe they'll say no. In fact, we don't
[1:57:47] we we aren't going to pay for it. You're
[1:57:49] going to pay for it. Well, so I I don't
[1:57:52] know.
[1:57:53] >> We don't know until we get there. Well,
[1:57:56] >> so we can make any resolution or motion
[1:57:58] we want, but I think we need to be a
[1:58:01] little more open, not adversarial, not
[1:58:03] go in and demand
[1:58:05] >> adversarial,
[1:58:06] >> but have a conversation with them that
[1:58:08] they are much more uh expert than we are
[1:58:11] on this subject.
[1:58:12] >> We have to the train has to leave it.
[1:58:14] That's why
[1:58:15] >> Well, I'm I'm okay. Anyway, I I would
[1:58:19] call the question I mad the city
[1:58:22] attorney, I can do that, I assume, and
[1:58:24] let vote on this.
[1:58:26] >> I I
[1:58:28] >> I mean, you know, if we're not, you
[1:58:31] know, some of us have been working on
[1:58:32] this for a number of years, Kevin, and
[1:58:35] we have to get the train. Uh
[1:58:39] I agree with council member Craig. We
[1:58:41] have to get this thing going.
[1:58:43] That goes to the point of council member
[1:58:45] Makachuk.
[1:58:47] Yes, I think we should kind of get the train rolling. I mean, a lot of
[1:58:50] work's been done behind it, but if there
[1:58:53] are additional trees that are Altrans
[1:58:55] trees, we should be conscious of that
[1:58:58] and try to pull those. I don't want to
[1:59:01] preclude those trees because
[1:59:03] >> the only reason we talked about the
[1:59:05] median is that for no one before I
[1:59:08] didn't understand that the those trees
[1:59:10] were not on private property or we would
[1:59:13] have had
[1:59:15] a resolution. I think the next
[1:59:17] resolution is that all the trees that
[1:59:20] are on the on the state.
[1:59:22] >> So that's a separate that's thing that
[1:59:24] we could do out of a future meeting.
[1:59:30] Please.
[1:59:32] Okay.
[2:00:41] Hi, good evening. This is city clerk
[2:00:43] here with the city of Monino. We'd like
[2:00:45] to inform you that we're having a quick
[2:00:48] 5m minute break. Unfortunately, we had a
[2:00:50] system issue. So, we'll go ahead and
[2:00:54] restart as as soon as we get the
[2:00:56] computer started. Just give us about
[2:00:57] five minutes. Thank you.
[2:08:58] Jack
[2:09:02] [clears throat]
[2:09:05] the bus.
[2:09:08] >> I think we're back.
[2:09:11] >> And I'm going to call the question and
[2:09:13] I'm told I need a second. Great. I will
[2:09:16] second that. Okay. Then madam city
[2:09:19] clerk, let's have a roll call vote on
[2:09:21] this, please.
[2:09:26] » Uh, council member mech.
[2:09:27] >> Nay.
[2:09:30] >> Council member Torren,
[2:09:31] >> nay. [clears throat]
[2:09:33] >> Council member Freight,
[2:09:34] >> yes.
[2:09:36] >> Vice Mayor Shannon,
[2:09:38] >> yes.
[2:09:39] >> And Mayor Allen,
[2:09:40] >> yes.
[2:09:41] >> Motion passes. Three to two.
[2:09:45] >> Okay. Um, may I make your comment?
[2:09:48] >> Absolutely.
[2:09:50] I believe that a motion that's unanimous
[2:09:53] would carry more weight externally
[2:09:57] and if you bring it back uh as
[2:10:01] recommended on the next meeting, then I
[2:10:05] think you would have a unanimous vote.
[2:10:07] >> I think that's a great suggestion and I
[2:10:09] would be very pleased to do that at the
[2:10:11] next meeting. that encompass the um
[2:10:14] cattle trains everything on cattle
[2:10:16] trains. Yeah. Uh as I say I I never
[2:10:20] realized until this evening with all the
[2:10:22] discussions that the eucalyptus
[2:10:26] were on the right of so that's valuation
[2:10:31] u item seven u the volunteers
[2:10:36] for commission is really council member
[2:10:40] I assume she is that council I think
[2:10:44] we're on are we on six vote Oh, excuse
[2:10:48] me. You're right. The discussion which
[2:10:49] is also your thing. So, uh Matt, city
[2:10:52] manager, are you going to present or
[2:10:55] council to wrote
[2:10:57] >> you could just give a quick introduction
[2:11:00] um about how this item ended up on our
[2:11:02] agenda? Uh this item was placed on the
[2:11:04] agenda tonight at the request of council
[2:11:06] member Torren to discuss how the city
[2:11:07] communicates with the community. Um,
[2:11:10] currently the city uses um the website
[2:11:12] and email distribution list, social
[2:11:15] media, and the semi annual peaceful
[2:11:17] mountain monitor as methods of
[2:11:19] communication with the committee, I'm
[2:11:20] sorry, with the community. And um
[2:11:23] attached to the staff report is a
[2:11:24] listing of emails and social media posts
[2:11:27] that were sent for the first half of
[2:11:28] this calendar year um just to give
[2:11:31] council um a summary of the different
[2:11:33] types of topics that have been sent out.
[2:11:36] And um with that bit of background
[2:11:38] information, I'll ask council member
[2:11:40] Torin to provide his additional yeah
[2:11:43] discussion points.
[2:11:45] >> Um this really came about when I was
[2:11:48] appointed to the council and spoke to
[2:11:52] people about um this experience being on
[2:11:55] the council and was asked well we don't
[2:12:00] hear much about what's going on in
[2:12:02] Monserina. I don't really know what you
[2:12:04] know and not not not knowing what what I
[2:12:06] do you know what I do as a count what a
[2:12:08] council member does
[2:12:10] what happens in the in the city they you know there was this this notion
[2:12:15] that they weren't communicated with so
[2:12:19] you know I thought that's kind of odd
[2:12:21] you know that's there's something we
[2:12:23] could do about that so
[2:12:26] I don't think this has to be a lengthy
[2:12:28] dis discussion I know that we do we have
[2:12:30] the peace peaceful
[2:12:33] >> mountain
[2:12:35] >> monitor and that's twice a year.
[2:12:38] >> That's correct.
[2:12:38] >> Right. And we do not have a newsletter
[2:12:43] per se. We do have we have email blasts.
[2:12:46] >> That's correct.
[2:12:47] >> Right. Um and I just feel and and that's
[2:12:52] sometimes to report on meeting notices
[2:12:56] plus other other other things. Right.
[2:13:00] Correct. Okay.
[2:13:02] It just occurs to me that, you know, we
[2:13:05] always say we wish that people would be
[2:13:07] more engaged in our community. We wish
[2:13:09] that they would know more, wish that
[2:13:11] they would, you know, come out to things
[2:13:12] and volunteer, etc. Um, and if we don't
[2:13:17] broadcast what we're doing and we don't
[2:13:20] share what we're doing and not it's not
[2:13:22] only what each of the council members
[2:13:24] are doing but all the committees that
[2:13:25] they serve on which I think could be of
[2:13:27] interest to to to many people not only
[2:13:30] from the city perspective but from a
[2:13:32] regional perspective.
[2:13:34] I think we need to think about how we
[2:13:37] can broaden our uh communication with the residents of the city. I think
[2:13:45] that goes hand inand with engagement. So
[2:13:48] we just talked about CRD as a you know a
[2:13:51] possible thing that we're going to
[2:13:53] consider and that's going to involve
[2:13:54] engagement with the the public having
[2:13:57] residents involved. Um we have a picnic
[2:14:00] that we have. I mean, wouldn't it be
[2:14:02] great if we had maybe a committee or a
[2:14:05] people or some some group that would be
[2:14:07] involved in this? We have citizen of the
[2:14:09] year. Maybe it would be nice to have
[2:14:12] some residents involved with. So,
[2:14:15] >> you're sort of slipping over to item
[2:14:17] seven.
[2:14:17] >> Well, I'm I'm What I'm saying
[2:14:20] >> what I'm saying is it's part of
[2:14:22] >> you're saying the two sides of the same
[2:14:23] coin.
[2:14:24] >> They're essentially the same. I know I
[2:14:26] know the city attorney is going to talk
[2:14:28] about the the the notion of volunteers. That's
[2:14:33] a different subject but it goes hand in
[2:14:36] hand. Um there is a platform that I'm
[2:14:40] aware of which I um can share with you
[2:14:44] separately. I've shared it with a few of
[2:14:45] you called my go tools and it was it's
[2:14:49] developed actually by the mayor of Santa
[2:14:51] Monaco uh Lana Negretti and I spoke to
[2:14:55] her and someone from her team and she
[2:14:57] developed this because she was
[2:14:59] experiencing the same thing that that I
[2:15:02] I'm I'm experiencing and perhaps you are
[2:15:05] too a lack of communication with the
[2:15:09] city um and uh and a lack of sharing
[2:15:14] information. So, I think it's something
[2:15:18] that we should think about using. It's a
[2:15:21] tool that helps both council members
[2:15:24] individually communicate with their
[2:15:27] constituents as well as the city
[2:15:29] communicate with their constituents. Uh,
[2:15:31] I get Rob Mayor Rob Moore's uh,
[2:15:34] newsletter which is highly effective and
[2:15:38] um, there's so many people that look
[2:15:40] forward to it and share it and just love
[2:15:43] the information that he provides. So
[2:15:47] I don't make one comment on that
[2:15:49] briefly.
[2:15:50] >> He pays for that himself. That's not a
[2:15:52] Cindy.
[2:15:52] >> I'm just saying yeah that's great. You
[2:15:55] know that's certainly an option. I I
[2:15:58] just feel that we have social media
[2:16:01] posts. We have a website that I think
[2:16:05] needs some attention. We have um we
[2:16:08] don't have a newsletter. We have a
[2:16:10] publication twice a year. That doesn't
[2:16:13] seem to be enough for all the things
[2:16:15] that all we're doing. can u I've heard
[2:16:20] that I am not aware of anything the city
[2:16:25] is doing that isn't in the emails that
[2:16:29] we send out. So with people and of
[2:16:32] course I think one of the goals at
[2:16:34] picnic is to get more of our residents
[2:16:36] to sign up but offhand I can't think of
[2:16:40] anything that the city is doing that
[2:16:44] hasn't been sent out in email. I've been
[2:16:47] curious, are there some things that you
[2:16:50] think that you're aware of in the last
[2:16:53] couple years that the city is is doing
[2:16:55] that we haven't notified the res?
[2:16:57] >> Well, I I've been in the city for I
[2:16:59] don't know probably four or five years
[2:17:01] now. And before coming on council, I
[2:17:02] didn't know anything of what was
[2:17:05] happening other than other than through
[2:17:07] Melissa who you know.
[2:17:08] >> Well, did you were you were you getting
[2:17:10] all the emails?
[2:17:12] >> I don't I don't think so. Well, but had
[2:17:15] you what I'm trying to find out is if
[2:17:18] someone has signed up to get our email
[2:17:20] traffic, I'm not aware of anything we're doing
[2:17:26] that we're not already notifying the
[2:17:28] people about. So,
[2:17:33] you know, it may not be the most
[2:17:35] effective way to communicate. I don't
[2:17:38] think we have a very good social media
[2:17:40] presence. I I don't think we are
[2:17:44] frequently enough posting things and get
[2:17:47] and and sending out information and ju
[2:17:50] just
[2:17:51] >> you don't have you have any examples
[2:17:53] >> just in general about what we're doing
[2:17:55] about what the council members are doing
[2:17:57] about the the things that we're
[2:17:58] attending about all the things you know
[2:18:01] we we've attended a a variety of
[2:18:03] wildfire things lately we should be
[2:18:05] sharing that um you know I mean all the
[2:18:09] things all the things that come up that
[2:18:11] We attend,
[2:18:13] we go, we get information and then we
[2:18:16] bring it back to council. We share it,
[2:18:18] we apply it, but we don't share.
[2:18:20] >> Well, no, it's it's in our minutes
[2:18:22] through through the chair.
[2:18:24] >> Yeah, please.
[2:18:25] >> Yeah.
[2:18:26] >> Um,
[2:18:27] this is a topic that we have talked
[2:18:30] about a lot over the years and um before
[2:18:34] I came on the council, I try not to say
[2:18:37] that too often.
[2:18:40] >> [clears throat]
[2:18:43] » We used to give jelly out to new
[2:18:45] residents. So when a new person moved
[2:18:48] into the city, we would welcome them
[2:18:50] with a jar of jelly.
[2:18:53] >> And and a little newsletter that said,
[2:18:56] "Here are the resources that your city
[2:18:58] has offered you."
[2:18:59] >> That's nice.
[2:19:00] >> And um it just as we continued to get a
[2:19:03] high turnover, it it was just
[2:19:06] impractical to do that. And as
[2:19:11] I will also say back back in the day,
[2:19:14] you know, we didn't have
[2:19:17] 4,000 telephone books thick worth of
[2:19:19] regulations that our staff had to deal
[2:19:21] with every day either. And it's gotten
[2:19:24] to the point where the stuff that would
[2:19:27] the stuff that we would have our the
[2:19:30] stuff that staff would need to do to be
[2:19:33] able to have any meaningful impact on a
[2:19:35] social media account be able to generate
[2:19:38] enough traffic to be able to generate
[2:19:40] enough hits that it would start to get
[2:19:42] into people's algorithm is going to be
[2:19:45] very very time consuming for our staff
[2:19:49] and
[2:19:50] at at some point I have to push back on
[2:19:53] people that tell me this stuff and say,
[2:19:54] "How much effort have you put out there?
[2:19:58] How many have you even tried to have you
[2:20:00] ever come to a city council meeting? Do
[2:20:02] you even know where city hall is?" And
[2:20:05] they don't even know those kinds.
[2:20:09] >> Uh yeah. So, and I think that's a great
[2:20:12] So, so I think on the flip side, I look
[2:20:16] at the fact that we have close to 800
[2:20:20] people on our mailing list. I look at
[2:20:23] the fact that when we post stuff now for
[2:20:25] the ice cream social, we actually have
[2:20:28] 50 60 people showing up for that and
[2:20:30] it's going to continue to build every
[2:20:32] year. When we first started doing the city picnic, 100 people was like,
[2:20:36] "Oh my gosh, I didn't know we had this
[2:20:38] many people in the city." Now we're at
[2:20:40] 300.
[2:20:42] And so it continues to get better and
[2:20:44] better every day. I mean, you when you
[2:20:47] look at the um
[2:20:50] I don't want to say apathy, but when you look at the amount of people
[2:20:55] that do engage, it it's actually a
[2:20:58] little impressive in my in my opinion
[2:21:00] what we've been able to get people to
[2:21:02] do. I'm not saying that that there isn't
[2:21:04] more work that that that needs to be
[2:21:06] done, but when people come and tell you
[2:21:09] that because I mean I I would get
[2:21:10] disheartened all the time about it. I
[2:21:12] didn't know this was going on. I didn't
[2:21:14] know this. I remember
[2:21:17] gosh, what was it? 2009 back in the day.
[2:21:20] >> Back in the day. No, that
[2:21:24] not only was a resolution passed giving
[2:21:27] the city council members a salary,
[2:21:31] but then it it actually passed for
[2:21:33] second reading and then when it was
[2:21:35] actually about ready to go into effect,
[2:21:37] that's when somebody said, "Hey, what's
[2:21:39] going on here?" And all of a sudden,
[2:21:42] this place was filled with people.
[2:21:45] or when the the the city was going to
[2:21:49] discuss annexation of the uninorporated
[2:21:52] pockets around man, they were overflowed
[2:21:55] into the parking lot over here. So, when
[2:21:57] there's important issues that people
[2:21:59] need to deal with, and we've seen it
[2:22:00] with things like housing,
[2:22:03] um there's there's going to be certain
[2:22:05] buttons that will push people to want to
[2:22:08] participate more in in our government.
[2:22:11] And um but I I wouldn't take it to heart
[2:22:14] that the city is is is not doing enough
[2:22:18] to communicate with people. So
[2:22:22] >> two publications a year and email
[2:22:25] blasts.
[2:22:27] Uh
[2:22:28] >> but I mean we're doing 30 40 email
[2:22:30] blasts a year. We don't do that much as
[2:22:31] a city. And and you know it's also
[2:22:33] interesting on the flip side. People are
[2:22:35] like I don't expect our city to do a
[2:22:37] lot. This is supposed to be a low
[2:22:40] government city. This is what it was
[2:22:41] founded on. And you'll hear people come
[2:22:43] in and tell you, "Well, the world
[2:22:45] doesn't want all of this."
[2:22:46] >> And I hear I mean, look, we can we can
[2:22:48] go back and forth, bro. I I I hear I
[2:22:51] hear the opposite. I hear I don't know.
[2:22:54] I wish I did know. What do you do? Where
[2:22:57] >> they would subscribe to the email blast.
[2:23:00] Again, I you know, I challenge you to
[2:23:02] point out something that the city is
[2:23:03] doing. I think it's really effective the
[2:23:05] effectiveness of these things
[2:23:08] >> and and and maybe we can take a look at
[2:23:11] making our communication more effective.
[2:23:15] That's that's what I'm that's what I'm
[2:23:17] saying. There's there's a lot more that
[2:23:19] we do that most people don't know and
[2:23:22] I'm just looking for a vehicle to share
[2:23:24] it. Right.
[2:23:25] >> And I think it it has a positive impact
[2:23:27] on on the resident's knowledge of what
[2:23:30] we what we do. It could further uh could
[2:23:34] further encourage their engagement in
[2:23:35] some of the things we're trying to get
[2:23:37] them to to get involved in. I think that
[2:23:39] they could we could get more community
[2:23:41] engagement if we communicated more
[2:23:44] effectively with the in the community.
[2:23:45] >> But, you know, it's interesting. I've
[2:23:47] been involved with city government for
[2:23:49] more than 15 years. And you were the
[2:23:51] first person I heard of who said, "Gee,
[2:23:54] I don't know what the city is doing."
[2:23:56] you know, uh, as you know, I put my cell
[2:24:00] phone number on my business card and on
[2:24:02] the website, and I did it when I was
[2:24:04] mayor 10 years ago, and [clears throat]
[2:24:06] I've gotten calls, a lot of calls from
[2:24:09] residents about a lot of things,
[2:24:11] especially the the cost of monthly water
[2:24:15] bills. But, uh, I never once had a
[2:24:19] resident say, "Gee, I didn't know the
[2:24:22] city was doing this." Because if they
[2:24:24] subscribe to the emails, there's nothing
[2:24:27] that the city or city is doing that
[2:24:30] isn't covered in our we can always do it
[2:24:32] better.
[2:24:35] Well, I can't you can Yes. anything we
[2:24:39] do, we can do better. But I'm just
[2:24:42] responding where you were saying u I
[2:24:46] didn't know what the city was.
[2:24:47] >> That was me. That was I I'm I'm saying
[2:24:50] my experience in moving from Loscatoos
[2:24:53] to Monosino
[2:24:55] in talking to people when I first got on
[2:24:58] the council was consistently I what what
[2:25:02] do you do? What do you do? I don't I
[2:25:03] don't What does a council member do?
[2:25:04] Like what what do you do? And when I
[2:25:06] explained to them the things that I do,
[2:25:08] they said, "Oh my god, I didn't know
[2:25:09] about that." Any of those people like
[2:25:11] you said when you first came here, you
[2:25:13] got the stuff from Melissa. You
[2:25:15] >> you you weren't getting the emails. No,
[2:25:17] you hadn't signed up.
[2:25:19] >> I didn't know to sign up.
[2:25:21] >> Well, of course, that's our That's why
[2:25:24] we have a That's why we all have picnic.
[2:25:26] I didn't know about anything because it
[2:25:28] was a resident in Monino, you know, but
[2:25:31] u Well, look, if if you're saying can we
[2:25:33] do things better, but more efficiently.
[2:25:36] >> Yeah. But, u you know, we we have four
[2:25:40] full-time people and we so so let me
[2:25:44] just you know, suggest this. Okay, we
[2:25:46] have one person that handles the forget
[2:25:49] it. What is it?
[2:25:52] The newsletter.
[2:25:54] I can never remember,
[2:26:01] but I cannot I I cannot and probably
[2:26:05] will not remember that. But that
[2:26:08] periodical is done twice a year.
[2:26:12] What if we take those resources to do
[2:26:14] something twice a year and do something
[2:26:16] more frequently and communicate more
[2:26:18] frequently? Why do we have to have one
[2:26:22] that one publication twice a year when
[2:26:25] we can use those resources to have more
[2:26:27] frequent publications throughout the
[2:26:29] year?
[2:26:30] >> What What do you mean? Instead of having
[2:26:33] a twice a year publication, have a more
[2:26:37] frequent use those resources to have a
[2:26:39] more frequent
[2:26:41] >> more frequent uh way to communicate with
[2:26:44] residents. more more frequent.
[2:26:48] >> I think we were
[2:26:50] >> um now
[2:26:52] I have sat at this day
[2:26:55] continuously [clears throat] more than
[2:26:57] anyone on this council because I have
[2:27:01] was elected in 2020
[2:27:04] >> and I agree
[2:27:07] with council member Torren. There are so
[2:27:10] many people that don't know what's going
[2:27:12] on and some of the organizational
[2:27:15] knowledge within the city or call it as
[2:27:18] you wish when people leave or whatever
[2:27:22] the new people coming in are not do not
[2:27:25] understand and some of them don't care.
[2:27:27] I get that
[2:27:29] >> about residents or uh commissioners and
[2:27:31] council members. I I'm missing your
[2:27:35] I'm just trying to understand when you
[2:27:36] say new people coming in are you talking
[2:27:38] about new residents or new people in
[2:27:40] involved in government new people come
[2:27:43] into the city of an new res.
[2:27:46] >> Yeah.
[2:27:48] >> And
[2:27:50] you know for example at the picnic last
[2:27:54] year I went up to Ken Torren and said
[2:27:58] hey Ken would you be interested in being
[2:28:00] on city council? You know, I've gone out
[2:28:03] and solicited with different people to
[2:28:06] become involved in our community. And I
[2:28:09] don't want to go too deep into this, but
[2:28:12] there was a person that came to council
[2:28:16] and talked about safety on Highway N on
[2:28:20] Winchester going into going up to Dave's
[2:28:23] school. I never knew it, but I ended up
[2:28:27] at the end of a dinner the other night
[2:28:29] that I spoke with her parents.
[2:28:33] >> You know, like it's a small community,
[2:28:35] but it's it's still different
[2:28:37] neighborhoods and we're not quite
[2:28:39] connected there. And I think that's an
[2:28:40] opportunity. And I think Council Member
[2:28:43] Torren is [clears throat] saying, "Let's
[2:28:44] try something different. Let's not do
[2:28:46] the same old same old because it's not working." And if you say what's
[2:28:52] our metric to getting more people
[2:28:54] involved, you know,
[2:28:57] we need to get more people involved. So
[2:29:00] I I if you've got an alternative that
[2:29:04] you'd like to pilot, for example, let's
[2:29:07] try something different. You know, this
[2:29:09] [clears throat] is just one I mean this
[2:29:10] is my gov tools is just one. I'm I'm
[2:29:12] sure there are others. It's just that
[2:29:14] they they they
[2:29:16] um I received this uh in in um in my uh
[2:29:21] city of Monino email in the outlook. I I
[2:29:24] didn't know where it came from, but it
[2:29:26] looked interesting. And so I called I called the mayor. We had a
[2:29:30] conversation and she she was experienc
[2:29:32] and this is Santa Monica. She was
[2:29:34] experiencing the same kind of thing
[2:29:35] there.
[2:29:36] >> What is the mayor as we're concerned
[2:29:38] about money? Um
[2:29:40] >> I don't know.
[2:29:41] >> Okay. because we have limited resources
[2:29:45] as I'm talking about and um uh
[2:29:50] the thing that would be free and you
[2:29:53] know why we're all taking 30 minute
[2:29:55] things at table on Sunday is if we get
[2:29:59] more and more residents to sign up uh
[2:30:03] you know
[2:30:04] everything the city quite the city is
[2:30:06] doing is sent out to people so that
[2:30:09] would be a starting place to we have 200
[2:30:12] plus households
[2:30:14] the goal should be to you know at
[2:30:16] today's you know
[2:30:17] >> get them all well you know even people
[2:30:19] in their 80s are not on their computers
[2:30:21] I'm told so uh the goal should be to try
[2:30:25] to really get virtually all of them on
[2:30:28] that and then as a starting point and
[2:30:32] then beyond that
[2:30:34] because if people will look at see
[2:30:37] what's on the agenda
[2:30:39] uh you know we We don't have it isn't
[2:30:43] just people here. I mean, we always ask
[2:30:45] the city clerk, are their hands raised?
[2:30:47] People aren't calling in where they can
[2:30:49] do it from their own home, but we, you
[2:30:52] know, if people would read the agendas
[2:30:55] and if they'd read the minutes where
[2:30:56] afterwards
[2:30:58] all council members talk about the
[2:31:00] commissions that they are on,
[2:31:03] uh,
[2:31:05] I think that's a starting point and we
[2:31:07] can do that without increasing our
[2:31:08] budget. Well, they're not going to
[2:31:10] that's not the way they should be
[2:31:11] finding out about things of the city
[2:31:13] coming to a meeting. Coming to a meeting
[2:31:15] is important. You want to encourage them
[2:31:16] to do that. Uh and they usually come if
[2:31:19] there's an issue that they care about or
[2:31:21] they're passionate about. But there are
[2:31:23] there that's not that's not the way to
[2:31:26] get to communicate with people. There's
[2:31:28] much much more much
[2:31:31] more of a variety of ways to do that. Um
[2:31:33] I So look, we let let me sum up this
[2:31:37] conversation. So what I'd like
[2:31:40] >> you're going to sum it up, but I still
[2:31:41] would like to make some comments about
[2:31:42] the topic. So
[2:31:44] >> you want me to do it before you sum it
[2:31:45] up?
[2:31:45] >> No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry.
[2:31:47] >> So just a couple of things. I think
[2:31:49] sometimes the the message does get out
[2:31:50] there. I think we do have a lot of
[2:31:51] residents that are signed up for the
[2:31:53] emails and the examples are the soccer
[2:31:55] balls. People found those free soccer
[2:31:57] balls. You know, people came tonight
[2:31:59] about the eucalyptus trees because they
[2:32:00] saw the email blast about that. I agree
[2:32:03] with you. There's probably more and
[2:32:05] better ways to communicate with the
[2:32:07] community. Diana keeps hearing me talk
[2:32:10] about we need a better Instagram
[2:32:12] presence.
[2:32:13] >> Um maybe Tik Tok. I don't really do Tik
[2:32:16] Tok, but a more modernized approach
[2:32:19] including the emails.
[2:32:20] >> I don't know that I'm in favor of doing
[2:32:23] like another kind of website because we
[2:32:25] have a website and if people aren't
[2:32:27] going to that website now, why would
[2:32:28] they go to a new kind of website? But
[2:32:32] again, in agreement, in agreement with
[2:32:33] what you were saying earlier, I think
[2:32:35] our website needs a little sprucing up%
[2:32:39] >> or maybe in those email blasts or in the
[2:32:42] peaceful mountain monitor, we can find
[2:32:44] ways to kind of redirect residents to
[2:32:46] our website for more information. Um, I
[2:32:49] think it's on all of us on Sunday to
[2:32:52] really get people involved in our
[2:32:54] website, let them know we have social
[2:32:56] media, get, you know, we need to
[2:32:58] communicate with residents when we have
[2:33:00] opportunities and the picnic is kind of
[2:33:01] the biggest opportunity that we have.
[2:33:03] So, I agree there's more we can do to
[2:33:06] communicate with our residents and I'd
[2:33:09] like to look at some of those things. I
[2:33:12] don't agree that giving them more emails
[2:33:16] or another website is the way to do it
[2:33:18] because the feedback that I get from
[2:33:20] people is they kind of want to be left
[2:33:21] alone. When I say you should sign up for
[2:33:23] emails, the response is often I don't
[2:33:26] want any more emails. I don't need any
[2:33:28] more emails and I have to assure them
[2:33:30] it's not a lot and you get kind of a
[2:33:33] headline and then you know if you want
[2:33:34] to read more about it. So that's kind of
[2:33:36] where I fall in office.
[2:33:37] >> So I'm again thank you. I'm not
[2:33:40] suggesting another I'm not suggesting
[2:33:43] yet another thing. I'm suggesting taking
[2:33:45] a look at all the ways in which we are
[2:33:47] interacting with our community and maybe
[2:33:50] consolidating some of those things into
[2:33:52] more simple more simplified uh system
[2:33:56] and and not building another website.
[2:34:00] >> We only have one website and that that
[2:34:02] in itself needs to be updated. I agree
[2:34:04] with that. I'm just suggesting that
[2:34:06] there's a a better way there is possibly
[2:34:10] a better way to communicate with our
[2:34:12] residents than the way we're doing it.
[2:34:14] That's that's essentially what I'm
[2:34:16] saying. And I so there's no action.
[2:34:21] So, what I'd like to do is sit down with
[2:34:24] staff, somebody, you know, anybody, and
[2:34:28] talk and and get a further understanding
[2:34:30] of exactly what we're doing, how we're
[2:34:33] doing it, who's doing it, and maybe, you
[2:34:36] know, come back to you with a a plan
[2:34:38] that, you know, that maybe incorporates
[2:34:41] some of the things we talked about.
[2:34:42] >> I think that's, you know,
[2:34:43] >> it's not agendaized, but you could have
[2:34:46] an ad hoc if you want.
[2:34:47] >> I I I don't know what the process. I
[2:34:49] think you could um you could be a you
[2:34:52] know as I was throwing stones. let me
[2:34:56] now support of the of you because
[2:35:01] conversations and
[2:35:04] getting the get this spread by the way
[2:35:07] you know if you talk to Chuck Page is
[2:35:09] the same thing trying to get the word
[2:35:12] out of it used to be when nightmare
[2:35:16] owner news we had Judy Peterson who
[2:35:18] would come to our council meetings work
[2:35:21] uh no Cruz has never come to any of our
[2:35:24] meetings and uh she's been replaced.
[2:35:27] >> Oh, has she already?
[2:35:28] >> Okay.
[2:35:29] >> But the short answer is you're coming to
[2:35:31] it with fresh eyes and you know
[2:35:36] spite of all the rocks out here. I think
[2:35:38] if you have some creative ways probably
[2:35:41] getting more effectively people
[2:35:45] involved, I would absolutely support it.
[2:35:48] Okay.
[2:35:51] Um, so again my my um
[2:35:56] my my comments were I don't want you to
[2:35:59] feel dishearten that people come to you
[2:36:01] and say this um because
[2:36:04] >> I'm not the only one. Let me just say
[2:36:07] for for all of us because I mean I I I
[2:36:10] hear this all the time and and I asked
[2:36:12] them I said so what have you done
[2:36:17] and it's it's amazing that I mean I I
[2:36:21] still meet people that don't know we're
[2:36:23] a city
[2:36:25] just to let you know that's that's
[2:36:27] >> not that live in the city I
[2:36:28] >> Yes. Yes. People in the city. I I met
[2:36:31] this one guy and I said, "Oh, so um you
[2:36:35] live in the same city?" He goes, "Where
[2:36:37] a city?"
[2:36:38] >> As opposed to what? A town or something?
[2:36:40] >> As as you know, like Willow Clark,
[2:36:42] >> you know, like like like a neighbor or
[2:36:45] something like that.
[2:36:46] >> So, I mean, you're you're going to meet
[2:36:48] all kinds of people. Um, and one thing
[2:36:52] that I would now like to also throw out
[2:36:54] is a long time ago we used to be on Next
[2:36:56] Door and we probably still have an
[2:36:59] account and I think it would be
[2:37:00] worthwhile to possibly get a little bit
[2:37:03] more um engagement with Next Door
[2:37:06] because that is I think between our
[2:37:09] mailing list and the people who are on
[2:37:10] Next Door, I think you're going to have
[2:37:13] a really a really good um amount of
[2:37:16] coverage of of the folks that live in
[2:37:18] the city.
[2:37:20] That'll be great.
[2:37:21] >> Yeah. And
[2:37:21] >> I think you're bringing this topic up at
[2:37:23] like the perfect time since this Sunday
[2:37:25] we're going to be at that picnic and we
[2:37:26] can actually ask people how can we
[2:37:28] better communicate.
[2:37:29] >> Yeah. Do you know do you know Yeah. You
[2:37:30] do like an informal survey, you know,
[2:37:32] with people. Yeah.
[2:37:33] >> Yeah. I think it's a
[2:37:35] >> great thing for us to be looking at.
[2:37:37] >> Yeah. And I'll share this for you to
[2:37:40] take a look at. I'll share my gov tools.
[2:37:42] I think it's a it's a you know what I
[2:37:44] like about this is it's a mayor
[2:37:47] of a city
[2:37:50] that that experienced this problem and
[2:37:53] developed a solution to it.
[2:37:56] So that's what that's what I would
[2:37:58] >> I think it's $200 a month, isn't it?
[2:38:00] >> I don't know. I I
[2:38:02] >> maybe you could research if that's
[2:38:04] something that you think you'd like to
[2:38:06] try if you come back to council
[2:38:09] >> through the through the mayor. I would
[2:38:11] say, you know, we could look at it and then you say, okay, if we do this,
[2:38:16] then we readjust some funds and and and
[2:38:19] maybe and obviously get some feedback
[2:38:22] from people at the picnic.
[2:38:24] >> Okay.
[2:38:25] >> Anything that's is that is quote free
[2:38:27] generally
[2:38:30] >> that's true. Um [clears throat] yes,
[2:38:33] please. So, one thing that I've I've um
[2:38:37] tried to get a handle on in the past is
[2:38:40] it would be nice maybe during a um city
[2:38:45] manager report if we could get some web
[2:38:47] statistics. How many visitors did we
[2:38:49] get? What pages are they going to
[2:38:52] >> um and and just just kind of some
[2:38:55] general information on when people are
[2:38:57] trying to find stuff about the city. Um,
[2:39:03] how many people are actually trying to
[2:39:04] do that?
[2:39:04] >> Who does our social media posts?
[2:39:08] >> Um, our
[2:39:10] management analyst, Michelle Boom.
[2:39:12] >> So, just I'm just thinking I was looking
[2:39:15] at you and thinking
[2:39:16] >> I do some too.
[2:39:18] >> I figured you know what?
[2:39:19] >> And I was thinking, you know, could we
[2:39:23] have somebody maybe from our youth
[2:39:25] commission help us do that? I mean kids
[2:39:27] know social media much better than
[2:39:30] adults do.
[2:39:32] >> So did did you have you tried that
[2:39:34] before?
[2:39:35] >> No. Um so right now we do get emails. We
[2:39:38] have a contact particularly with you
[2:39:41] know each of the uh boards that you guys
[2:39:43] are part of. Um some of them use us more
[2:39:45] than others. They will forward
[2:39:46] information that they are posting on
[2:39:48] their website so that we can convey that
[2:39:50] and normally that goes onto our website
[2:39:52] as well as you know what we share
[2:39:54] through eblast. So, um, typically,
[2:39:57] again, we're the main point of contact.
[2:39:59] And so, I I see those emails that come
[2:40:01] in to Michelle. So, if she's not in the
[2:40:04] office, I make sure to I'm the second
[2:40:06] person to post um anything or if I have
[2:40:08] anything, you know, that I need to get
[2:40:10] out rather than just giving it to her.
[2:40:12] We wear multiple hats. So, I just check
[2:40:14] in with Diana and usually post it
[2:40:16] myself.
[2:40:16] >> But I would go back to what you're
[2:40:18] saying with the youth commission. I
[2:40:20] think besides the fact that any one of
[2:40:25] them is more technology literate than
[2:40:28] all of everybody in this room combined,
[2:40:31] it would be interesting
[2:40:34] of what they
[2:40:36] think
[2:40:38] people should know about
[2:40:41] from and how and how to do it. How to do
[2:40:44] it. And so I think you and Burton uh I
[2:40:48] think they I think that that would be
[2:40:50] exciting and also are helping these
[2:40:53] young people put something else on their
[2:40:55] college resume.
[2:40:57] But seriously, I think that they are
[2:40:59] aware and they may have more awareness
[2:41:03] and certainly I would of what is
[2:41:06] happening than residents would want to
[2:41:08] know about. And also if then we have
[2:41:12] more school kids, middle and high school
[2:41:14] kids checking out things, the kids will
[2:41:18] speak to their parents about
[2:41:21] u what's going on. So I I think that
[2:41:24] that's
[2:41:25] um I would encourage the two of you who
[2:41:28] are sort of our youth commission to
[2:41:30] throw that out there. I think the kids
[2:41:32] would be very interested in doing this.
[2:41:36] >> I I I will say we have broken the
[2:41:38] subject with them in the past. we didn't
[2:41:39] get a lot of traction on it, but I will
[2:41:42] I I do keep pushing. Um, and can I make
[2:41:45] one other suggestion? So, so something I brought up a while ago um and and the
[2:41:51] town does this
[2:41:53] is that they do their committee
[2:41:55] commission reports at the beginning of
[2:41:56] the meeting and um that way they've got
[2:42:00] a captive audience and that way by the
[2:42:02] time the end of the meeting concurs, you
[2:42:05] know, our audience is usually gone. So
[2:42:08] just another thing to think about as
[2:42:10] you're mentioning you want people to
[2:42:12] know what we're doing. So any week we
[2:42:15] go, you know, I always say does anybody
[2:42:17] want to change
[2:42:19] and
[2:42:21] speaking and wearing my mayor's hat? If
[2:42:24] Saturday the next meeting people want to
[2:42:26] do commission reports and comments, it's
[2:42:28] a meeting.
[2:42:29] >> I I would have no objection to that. And
[2:42:31] maybe in your mayor's remarks at the
[2:42:34] picnic, which I'm assuming you're going
[2:42:36] to
[2:42:36] >> well the actually well we I believe my
[2:42:40] only role is to uh give to Javeed is a
[2:42:45] plan for being citizen of the year. I
[2:42:48] wasn't and I think u Margareta is also
[2:42:53] Koga is also going to give him a thing.
[2:42:56] >> I wasn't uh [clears throat] frankly
[2:42:58] people are there to have a good time. I
[2:43:00] don't was really coming. They said I
[2:43:03] wasn't other than just saying some nice
[2:43:05] things about
[2:43:06] >> Well, we can talk to them at our booth.
[2:43:08] >> Yeah, at the booth. Yeah, I wasn't
[2:43:09] invited to give any remarks, guys.
[2:43:15] » Just a
[2:43:17] piece of information. So, another item
[2:43:19] on our agenda tonight is about the
[2:43:20] guidelines. And so, you could actually
[2:43:23] move the committee reports in our order.
[2:43:26] The order of business is in those
[2:43:28] guidelines. So if you wanted to make
[2:43:29] that change tonight, you could.
[2:43:32] >> Well, I would think that
[2:43:33] >> not to put you on the spot, but it is an
[2:43:36] option.
[2:43:36] >> It may be that time when we get to that council or may suggest a
[2:43:41] modification to do that and I would
[2:43:43] support that.
[2:43:45] U council member I you look on your face
[2:43:49] and you wanted to add something to this
[2:43:51] conversation.
[2:43:52] >> No, I think the conversation is going
[2:43:53] well. Um,
[2:43:56] I
[2:43:58] commend Council Member Torren for being
[2:44:01] quote completely new to council and
[2:44:05] saying, "Hey, here are some observations
[2:44:07] and, you know, we may be um testing on
[2:44:12] that, but but I I think you're making
[2:44:15] your point, and I think that um uh
[2:44:19] council member Craig to suggest that we
[2:44:21] put that at the the council member
[2:44:24] comments at the beginning of the
[2:44:25] meeting. I think that's a great thing
[2:44:27] that we should consider at the
[2:44:29] appropriate point in the agenda tonight.
[2:44:31] >> Well, I I I think that we will I guess
[2:44:34] other comment on that particular thing.
[2:44:36] I really like the idea of changing the
[2:44:38] orders of the day every now and again
[2:44:40] that we may have people in chambers or
[2:44:43] if we know people are watching because
[2:44:45] uh well maybe that maybe that's the
[2:44:46] wrong time to do it. My concern is we
[2:44:49] try to get through stuff more quickly
[2:44:51] when people are waiting on us. At the
[2:44:53] end of the meeting when we make all of
[2:44:55] our comments and talk about our
[2:44:56] commissions and things that's sort of
[2:44:57] the end people have already left. So
[2:45:01] we're trying just
[2:45:02] >> we can do it
[2:45:04] Lisa numbers I agree that if people are
[2:45:08] here on one agenda I think it's
[2:45:10] courageous to take that first but after
[2:45:13] we do that uh and chamber's empty then
[2:45:18] we might want to do that for people
[2:45:20] listening in figuring that
[2:45:24] if they didn't submit comments or
[2:45:26] questions about particular agenda items
[2:45:29] And this goes to the point the council
[2:45:31] member Torren said in terms of all the
[2:45:33] other things we are doing in the
[2:45:35] community. Um maybe that's a way to
[2:45:38] generate some interest by moving it
[2:45:39] forward to uh see if uh more residents
[2:45:44] pick up on that and uh uh you know one
[2:45:48] because u you know all of us spend as
[2:45:52] much time if not more on things we do in
[2:45:56] the community than actually you know
[2:45:58] attending the two council meetings each
[2:46:00] month. So I'd like to segue to your next
[2:46:04] thing because I agree it's the other
[2:46:06] side of the coin pen which is the other
[2:46:09] side of the communication point is the
[2:46:13] volunteerism. So, uh, madam, city
[2:46:16] manager, you want to give a brief.
[2:46:19] Oh, please. No, no, no, no.
[2:46:21] >> Oh, I don't see any, uh, hands raised in
[2:46:25] that. Uh,
[2:46:27] yes. He reminds me and then Brian teases
[2:46:32] me and I accept. I, uh, I deserve the
[2:46:34] teasing, Brian. So, you know, any time
[2:46:38] we're in public, he brings it up and I
[2:46:39] say, "Guilty is charged." So, go ahead.
[2:46:42] Uh there I don't see any hands raised in
[2:46:44] chambers. Uh madam city clerk any hands
[2:46:47] raised online?
[2:46:48] >> No raised.
[2:46:49] >> Okay. Then I would ask the city manager
[2:46:51] to give the presentation on item seven
[2:46:54] of fun. Then ask again council member to
[2:46:57] as it is to supplement what the city
[2:46:59] manager is saying.
[2:47:01] >> Thank you. Um, this item was also placed
[2:47:04] on the agenda tonight at the request of
[2:47:05] council member Warren to discuss how the
[2:47:07] city uses volunteers in the community
[2:47:09] and how the city engages the community
[2:47:11] for various commissions and committees.
[2:47:13] Um, currently the city has three
[2:47:15] commissions, site and architectural
[2:47:17] commission, youth commission, and the
[2:47:18] better students commission.
[2:47:20] Additionally, the city council has
[2:47:21] appointed residents to represent the
[2:47:23] city on the BTA bicycle and pedestrian
[2:47:25] advisory committee and as an alternate
[2:47:28] on the Silicon Valley clean energy
[2:47:30] board. Um, the city council has also
[2:47:33] established special committees for
[2:47:35] specific purposes and limited durations
[2:47:38] um, in the past as needed. I think the
[2:47:41] most recent example of that was the
[2:47:42] community center committee. Um, so this
[2:47:45] is just some background information on
[2:47:48] what the city has been doing to date. It
[2:47:50] completes um, the information I was
[2:47:52] going to provide and see if council
[2:47:55] member stats. Well, first um want to
[2:47:57] thank our city attorney for
[2:48:00] uh for providing this information. So,
[2:48:02] did you want to add anything about this?
[2:48:06] >> Any clarifications or any
[2:48:08] >> I wasn't planning on it.
[2:48:10] >> Okay.
[2:48:12] So, so she pro so city attorney provided
[2:48:15] some structure to this. Um again, I I
[2:48:21] think we've already kind of talked about
[2:48:22] it. It kind of goes hand in hand. we
[2:48:24] communicate more effectively, we're
[2:48:25] going to get more people engaged.
[2:48:26] >> The other side of the story.
[2:48:28] >> So, I think we I think we kind of talked
[2:48:30] about it. Um, but I, you know, I I think
[2:48:32] we should be open to taking a look at
[2:48:35] how we can engage people in things more
[2:48:38] people in things that we're already
[2:48:40] doing. Uh, I I
[2:48:44] gave a few examples. Um, and
[2:48:47] [clears throat]
[2:48:47] uh, I think I think if we do a good job
[2:48:50] communicating and sharing what we do,
[2:48:52] perhaps we could get more engagement in
[2:48:54] things that we need people to get more
[2:48:56] engaged in.
[2:48:57] >> Yeah. Going back to the youth commission
[2:49:01] uh, be able
[2:49:04] helping with communication. It seems to
[2:49:06] me as those kids are so interested that
[2:49:09] maybe at meetings uh if it's
[2:49:11] [clears throat] appropriate saying you
[2:49:12] know this is something maybe your mom or
[2:49:15] dad might be interested in. Uh
[2:49:20] because I'm surely at home, mom or dad
[2:49:22] says, "Well, what do you do today at
[2:49:24] youth commission?" [clears throat] And
[2:49:25] I'd say, "Yeah, we're doing this." And
[2:49:27] they were saying they they could use
[2:49:30] some volunteers to do whatever it is
[2:49:31] XYZ. It just it's a zerorost way to
[2:49:36] involve more people. And so so this so
[2:49:39] do at the picnic and I recall last year,
[2:49:43] are there ways for people to say if
[2:49:45] somebody says, "I want to help
[2:49:48] I want to do something. Is there do we
[2:49:51] have a list of things that they can do?
[2:49:55] Sign up or do something, take action.
[2:49:59] >> So, I think we've got it down to um what
[2:50:04] we as staff take care of. Um but I
[2:50:08] haven't had really anybody step in to
[2:50:11] ask that question. So we usually just
[2:50:14] kind of coordinate that you know between
[2:50:16] the city manager and I discuss the
[2:50:19] picnic itself what it entails and then
[2:50:22] we offer that to the staff to attend um
[2:50:25] just to enjoy it or to participate in
[2:50:28] the sense of working and then we
[2:50:29] distribute the work amongst us
[2:50:32] >> but that's for the picnic only it sounds
[2:50:34] like you're talking about I think Ken's
[2:50:35] question is more along the lines of
[2:50:37] people walk up and say I want to be
[2:50:39] involved in the city for something I'll
[2:50:41] pick up garbage I talked to uh people
[2:50:44] that um I was here when the when you're
[2:50:47] doing the soccer balls and I I I talked
[2:50:50] to many many of them and and this woman
[2:50:52] was was there and she said you know I
[2:50:55] never knew I never came here I never I
[2:50:56] never knew you know I saw the soccer
[2:50:58] balls I came over it was the free soccer
[2:51:00] balls it was wonderful and she said what
[2:51:02] you know what can I do you know you know
[2:51:04] I've been thinking maybe I should get
[2:51:06] involved with city government you know
[2:51:07] and so I you know we talked talked it through with her and And um
[2:51:12] and she said she said I I explained a
[2:51:15] little bit about site and architecture.
[2:51:16] She seems to be more interested in that
[2:51:18] point is you know I I I live in a world where
[2:51:23] people are always saying well what can I
[2:51:24] do? How can I help? You know, and so
[2:51:27] that's, you know, if if you create
[2:51:30] opportunities for people to help and and
[2:51:33] they can take action on something, if
[2:51:35] there's a committee to, you know, to
[2:51:37] volunteer or something clean street,
[2:51:39] whatever it is,
[2:51:41] especially for a for a, you know, a
[2:51:44] picnic, it's going to attract what, 300
[2:51:46] people or whatever. It's going to some
[2:51:48] something like that.
[2:51:49] >> Over
[2:51:50] >> 300 people. I mean, I think there should
[2:51:52] be options for people to get engaged.
[2:51:54] >> For those that have expressed that sort
[2:51:56] of interest, I definitely always let
[2:51:58] them know that we do have commissions,
[2:52:00] you know, available. Um, but of course,
[2:52:02] sometimes they do ask during a time
[2:52:04] where, you know, the seats aren't
[2:52:06] available and I always let them know
[2:52:07] that towards the end of the year to be
[2:52:09] on the lookout. Sometimes that's my
[2:52:12] initiative to just, well, let me have
[2:52:13] your email if you don't mind. can you
[2:52:15] know insert into our eblast if you don't
[2:52:17] receive those east already because
[2:52:19] that's how we notify folks to our
[2:52:21] website and um you know elast and for
[2:52:25] the most part a lot of them are telling
[2:52:27] you um even from right now uh people
[2:52:29] that have signed up I think more than
[2:52:31] 90% of the people that are RSVP were
[2:52:34] folks that were already in the eblast
[2:52:36] system because everybody has a list of
[2:52:39] their emails and I kind of cross checked
[2:52:42] >> more than 90% of those individuals
[2:52:44] actually.
[2:52:46] their their part. But going back to a
[2:52:49] new race this morning and coffee, uh we
[2:52:53] decided to jump and have a table at the
[2:52:57] picnic because when we didn't have one
[2:53:00] for the soccer balls and that was an
[2:53:02] opportunity there was and and it was be
[2:53:05] because of that when we talked about it
[2:53:07] that's when we said let's have a table
[2:53:09] at the picnic and everybody take a 30
[2:53:11] minute thing and number one thing is if
[2:53:14] they if they're not on the email list
[2:53:17] have a thing where they follow our
[2:53:19] email. You don't let them leave the
[2:53:21] table, but they don't sign up because
[2:53:24] not that we're based on discussion doing
[2:53:27] other things, but that's the starting
[2:53:30] that's the study on the list. So you get
[2:53:34] the notices and more and more when there
[2:53:37] things of special interest, we do send a
[2:53:39] special email and
[2:53:43] then maybe people from time to time may
[2:53:45] just go up to the website and
[2:53:49] yes, it could be refreshed where we try
[2:53:52] to make sure that whatever is going on
[2:53:54] that
[2:53:56] you know anything that's important
[2:53:57] should be on our website and then we
[2:54:00] could use the website for other things
[2:54:03] whether it's the open space thing or
[2:54:07] uh you know other things that we're doing to do more.
[2:54:14] >> Uh yes.
[2:54:17] Um I think we're we're limiting this to
[2:54:22] commissions and committees and Brown Act
[2:54:26] uh things that turns off a lot of people
[2:54:29] and that's I think a barrier and I've
[2:54:33] read the battle for peaceful mountain uh
[2:54:37] which is that thick typewritten book
[2:54:40] that was put together years ago. Um and
[2:54:44] there were a lot of volunteers
[2:54:46] back in the formation of the city of
[2:54:48] Monty Sereno
[2:54:51] 19
[2:54:53] 56 [snorts]
[2:54:54] through six the early mid60s
[2:54:58] and we don't have that anymore. and the
[2:55:02] gentleman Craig Gleason from um the open
[2:55:06] space he talked about their doses and
[2:55:09] how many volunteers they have and like
[2:55:12] we don't have any volunteers in fact we
[2:55:14] push them away and to get to your point
[2:55:17] you know someone comes up and says what
[2:55:19] can I do well you know the only
[2:55:23] alternative is join a commission well I
[2:55:25] don't want to do that I don't want to
[2:55:27] crown act it's it just there's too much
[2:55:30] friction there.
[2:55:32] >> It's like a whether we call it Dosens or
[2:55:34] Friends or Don Brown Act thing where we
[2:55:38] won't get a a dirty look from our city
[2:55:41] attorney.
[2:55:42] >> Yeah. I don't know how it's structured,
[2:55:45] >> but if the Mid Pen can do it, we can do
[2:55:49] it. [clears throat]
[2:55:50] >> Yeah. Well, I think the first question
[2:55:51] is what can we do that doesn't fall in
[2:55:54] Brown Act? The second thing is what would we like these people to do?
[2:56:01] Uh
[2:56:03] because again unlike you know
[2:56:07] Loscatos or
[2:56:09] we don't we don't really get we have the
[2:56:13] picnic and the Christmas parade and the
[2:56:15] youth commission and maybe had ice cream
[2:56:18] social but we we we have very very few
[2:56:23] activities that the city puts out. So I
[2:56:26] yeah I'm sorry. Well, you finish and
[2:56:28] then I'll then I'll
[2:56:29] >> I think that that was my point. Just
[2:56:30] thinking uh the idea of having all these
[2:56:34] volunteers sounds great. Uh
[2:56:40] I'm not sure I'd be I'd be interested in
[2:56:44] what we'd like we want to involve them
[2:56:46] in the city, but what would we like them
[2:56:50] to do uh where they would find it, you
[2:56:54] know, worthwhile do?
[2:56:57] So, I'll give you an example.
[2:56:58] >> Okay.
[2:56:59] >> Right. Um Terry McCarthy.
[2:57:03] >> Sure. I know you know.
[2:57:04] >> Yeah.
[2:57:05] >> Um he reached out to me and said, "Hey,
[2:57:09] how could I get involved? How could I do
[2:57:11] something?" And he wanted to help. And
[2:57:14] then it was the opportunity through
[2:57:18] Silicon Valley Clean Energy and having
[2:57:20] an alternate because it just didn't work
[2:57:23] for for all of us. Um
[2:57:26] and then he went through a lot of
[2:57:29] turmoil and friction just getting him.
[2:57:32] He was the only one that well no there
[2:57:34] was actually one other person that
[2:57:35] applied I believe but it was difficult
[2:57:38] for him and then once he got on as the
[2:57:40] alternate he was coming to meetings and
[2:57:43] then he's like well I want to get more
[2:57:46] involved. How do I do that? And now he's
[2:57:48] on the audit committee but it just he
[2:57:50] was very frustrated. He's not here
[2:57:52] tonight. And I know that he's on
[2:57:54] vacation
[2:57:55] um doing some diving, but he is an
[2:57:58] example of someone that came out and got
[2:58:02] involved, but it was very difficult for
[2:58:04] him to get involved. What the rules are
[2:58:06] that we have and you know one of the
[2:58:09] things is um we don't have for example
[2:58:12] an audit committee. you know that could
[2:58:16] you don't want to have all the friction
[2:58:17] of a Brown act but even someone to
[2:58:20] review something like our financial
[2:58:22] statements that he's a retired CPA with
[2:58:26] ex Deoy partner you know I'm just
[2:58:28] tossing that out because that's what I
[2:58:30] know but there's probably other people
[2:58:33] that want to somehow get involved but
[2:58:35] not to the extent of a Brown act more of
[2:58:38] a and I'll just use the word dosent in
[2:58:43] quotation or maybe subject to hearing
[2:58:46] from the city what where I'm coming from
[2:58:51] why when I think anybody here identifies
[2:58:54] a place where we think the city would
[2:58:58] benefit from volunteerism
[2:59:00] then we could arm wrestle with the city
[2:59:03] attorney to see if we could do that in a
[2:59:05] non broad thing because I take your
[2:59:08] point when I first got involved 15 16
[2:59:10] years ago get I served on a dozen
[2:59:13] for-profit boards and an equal number of
[2:59:14] nonprofit boards. And you never went
[2:59:18] into a board meeting if you didn't have
[2:59:20] your ducks lined up. And when I got
[2:59:21] involved in city government was, oh no,
[2:59:24] you can't line up your ducks because of
[2:59:26] the Brown Act. And I found that very
[2:59:28] frustrating. And uh if you drop down on
[2:59:33] me, the city attorney will tell you that
[2:59:34] I still find that very frustrating. But
[2:59:37] maybe we have to start with where we
[2:59:40] think
[2:59:41] we could use some volunteerism and it's
[2:59:44] something that residents would find to
[2:59:46] be worthwhile and then we get back into
[2:59:50] how is there a way to structure it uh
[2:59:54] you know
[2:59:56] informally. Uh but I think we should
[2:59:59] start with things that we'd like these
[3:00:01] people to do. I mean, Terry's doing this
[3:00:03] because the work is of interest to him
[3:00:06] because of what he's done his whole
[3:00:08] life. So, you know, I would say let's
[3:00:11] figure out things where it would, you
[3:00:13] know, because we only have four
[3:00:15] full-time employees here. Uh thing where
[3:00:18] gee, we this is something we'd like
[3:00:21] done, but we don't want to add someone
[3:00:23] to the payroll. Uh it'd be nice to have
[3:00:25] an informal committee doing whatever it
[3:00:28] is. Volunteers. Volunteers. And I think
[3:00:31] if people have ideas, uh, they should,
[3:00:34] you know, we should look [clears throat]
[3:00:36] into it. Yes. [snorts] So, while we're
[3:00:39] talking about volunteers, I wanted to
[3:00:42] talk about getting more volunteers on
[3:00:45] this to at least run for city council.
[3:00:48] >> We're now going through our third
[3:00:49] election period where we did not have
[3:00:52] anybody run. And and I find it a little
[3:00:55] interesting that we didn't get anybody
[3:00:58] sign up, but yet when there was a
[3:01:02] open position, we had five people sign
[3:01:05] up.
[3:01:06] >> Yeah. When it was to be appointed, we
[3:01:07] had five people
[3:01:08] >> and because no one wants to go through
[3:01:10] the BS of running for an election.
[3:01:13] >> Exactly. So, so one of the things I was
[3:01:17] hoping to work on um leading into the
[3:01:21] next election is how can we get more
[3:01:23] people to run for office? And I think um
[3:01:27] part of it is making sure that we can
[3:01:30] explain to people what does running for office entail? And
[3:01:36] I know some people think I mean I talked
[3:01:38] to one guy like well I don't have
[3:01:40] $20,000.
[3:01:42] I said, 'Well, it doesn't cost 20,000.
[3:01:44] >> It's at least 100,000. It's not unique.
[3:01:47] Saratoga has three openings. They have
[3:01:50] four people running for three openings.
[3:01:53] So, you know, Las says five for two, I
[3:01:57] think. I thought it was seven.
[3:01:59] >> I heard six for three.
[3:02:00] >> I thought I heard seven.
[3:02:01] >> I heard seven.
[3:02:02] >> Seven for three.
[3:02:04] >> That's what I heard seven. But, um,
[3:02:07] yeah, it's
[3:02:07] >> it could be six. So, I'm not sure about
[3:02:09] >> six or seven. Let's say that. whatever.
[3:02:11] I know it's worth I'm just saying, you
[3:02:14] know, some of the some of the things
[3:02:16] that um we we might want to consider is
[3:02:20] maybe doing something like paying for
[3:02:22] the candidate statement that runs about
[3:02:25] $300.
[3:02:26] 3,000
[3:02:27] >> 3,000 now.
[3:02:30] >> But the other thing I was thinking about
[3:02:33] is why do we have to pay for that when
[3:02:35] we could I mean we're such a we could
[3:02:38] literally send out a special edition of
[3:02:41] the peaceful map monitor with a profile
[3:02:43] of all
[3:02:46] edition of whatever you call that thing.
[3:02:49] >> I love it that we're going to we're
[3:02:51] going to have three of them.
[3:02:53] >> Whoa.
[3:02:55] change or something like that. But
[3:02:57] >> some rules on what how the city can be
[3:02:59] involved in campaigns, but
[3:03:02] >> but you could,
[3:03:04] >> you know, there's things that you could
[3:03:06] probably
[3:03:07] talk about it so that people wouldn't
[3:03:09] feel intimidated by the cost because
[3:03:12] they're like, "Oh, I got to buy yard
[3:03:14] signs." No, you don't have to do all
[3:03:15] that. All you have to do
[3:03:18] and we'll help you take care of the rest
[3:03:20] of it. I mean, Boyisey does a great job
[3:03:22] making sure all the paperwork gets
[3:03:24] filled out and it all gets filed and
[3:03:26] making sure that you understand what a
[3:03:28] form 700 is all about. I'm already
[3:03:30] making it sound.
[3:03:32] >> Look, I think it's a good point and we
[3:03:35] have an election in uh two years and u
[3:03:42] you know, I never focused on the point
[3:03:44] you didn't do. We have five applicants
[3:03:46] to fill a seat where they don't have to
[3:03:47] go through the election process. I don't
[3:03:49] think it's the money thing we,
[3:03:54] you know,
[3:03:56] >> I know there's more to it, but I just
[3:03:58] >> I think it's just the
[3:04:00] uh it's just doing an election.
[3:04:05] uh and uh
[3:04:08] yeah,
[3:04:10] >> yeah, I I don't know why, but I I take
[3:04:13] your uh point, but it it is interesting
[3:04:16] that even in Saratoga, they only have
[3:04:19] four people in your seats.
[3:04:20] >> And and last year, all three of our
[3:04:23] cities did all appointments. Nobody ran
[3:04:26] for office except for the incumbent.
[3:04:30] >> Well, we have two years to address that.
[3:04:32] Oh, I was going to say um I think we're
[3:04:37] leading into the next item on the agenda
[3:04:41] uh which is the um new the appointing
[3:04:46] the the
[3:04:48] not having the election.
[3:04:50] >> Well, I
[3:04:54] Okay. On item uh seven, I see no hands
[3:04:56] raised for public comment. So, this is a
[3:05:00] two-step process that I explain to
[3:05:03] everybody here in TV land. Step one is
[3:05:07] that Vton reminds me and I need you to
[3:05:09] be reminded every time to do this. And
[3:05:12] step two is that Brian giggles and I
[3:05:14] deserve the giggle. So, you've done step
[3:05:17] one, want to do that.
[3:05:18] >> You already did it.
[3:05:19] >> Oh, you already did it. Uh, any hands
[3:05:20] raised?
[3:05:21] >> No hands raised.
[3:05:22] >> Well, let's go to the next one. Uh, and
[3:05:25] not spend money. Uh so please madam city
[3:05:28] manager are you giving the madam city
[3:05:30] clerk?
[3:05:30] >> Sorry. Yes.
[3:05:32] >> Okay. So item item eight.
[3:05:44] So, at the June 16, 2026 city council
[3:05:47] meeting, the council adopted resolution
[3:05:49] number 26-3960
[3:05:52] calling the November 3rd, 2026 general
[3:05:54] municipal election and requested that
[3:05:56] the county consolidate the general
[3:05:58] municipal election with the statewide
[3:06:00] general election. The municipal election
[3:06:02] is for the election of the three council
[3:06:04] members for the four full four uh year
[3:06:07] terms. The initial nomination period ran
[3:06:09] from July 13, 2026 through August 7th,
[3:06:13] uh, 2026.
[3:06:15] At the close of the regular nomination
[3:06:17] period, one eligible incumbent did not
[3:06:19] file nomination papers in accordance
[3:06:21] with the California Elections Code
[3:06:22] section 10225.
[3:06:26] The nomination period was extended for
[3:06:28] five uh, calendar days for individuals
[3:06:31] other than the incumbent to file
[3:06:32] nomination documents. At the conclusion
[3:06:35] of the extended nomination period, the
[3:06:36] total number of qualified candidates did
[3:06:38] not exceed the number of offices to be
[3:06:41] filled. Additionally, no petition
[3:06:42] requesting the elections to be conducted
[3:06:45] was filed has been filed. The election
[3:06:49] code section 10229 authorizes the city
[3:06:52] council to cancel the election and
[3:06:54] appoint the nominated candidates in lie
[3:06:56] of the conducting the uncontested
[3:06:58] election.
[3:07:00] As of the closed of the election
[3:07:02] extended nomination period, sorry, uh,
[3:07:05] Ken Torren, Burton Craig, and Allison
[3:07:07] Zidler filed nomination papers and were
[3:07:10] reviewed by the city clerk, myself, uh,
[3:07:13] and determined to meet the requirements
[3:07:15] for submission.
[3:07:17] So, in tonight's meeting, um staff
[3:07:20] recommends that the council adopt a
[3:07:21] resolution cancelling the November 3rd,
[3:07:24] 2026 general municipal election and
[3:07:26] appoint the nominated candidates to the
[3:07:29] city council.
[3:07:30] >> In the interest of time, if there are no
[3:07:32] questions of council members, I will see
[3:07:35] if there are any public comments. You
[3:07:37] could still go Brian. Uh I assume from
[3:07:41] our discussion there are no questions. I
[3:07:44] don't see hands raised. Any hands raised
[3:07:46] online, madam clerk?
[3:07:48] >> No hands are raised.
[3:07:49] >> Then uh yes, I council member Mache,
[3:07:52] >> I wanted to make a motion.
[3:07:53] >> Please make the motion.
[3:07:55] >> I would like to make a motion adopting
[3:07:58] the resolution as set forth in the staff
[3:08:01] report.
[3:08:02] >> Is there a second?
[3:08:03] >> I'll second it.
[3:08:04] >> And madam, city attorney, is this a
[3:08:07] voice or a roll call?
[3:08:08] >> Okay, [clears throat] madam. City clerk,
[3:08:10] would you call the role, please?
[3:08:12] >> Council member Torren,
[3:08:13] >> I. Council member Craig,
[3:08:15] >> yes.
[3:08:16] >> Council member Mecca,
[3:08:17] >> hi.
[3:08:18] >> Vice Mayor Shannon,
[3:08:19] >> yes. And Mayor Allen,
[3:08:21] >> yes.
[3:08:23] >> Um
[3:08:24] the the Let's go on to the last item on
[3:08:27] the congratulations.
[3:08:30] >> Thank um
[3:08:31] >> and thank you for Sorry, Chair. Thank
[3:08:33] you for stepping forward, you know, once
[3:08:35] again to continue your service and we'll
[3:08:38] look forward to welcoming Alison.
[3:08:41] >> How long is the ter the term? It's It's
[3:08:43] a four-year term.
[3:08:47] >> Just checking.
[3:08:48] >> Congratulations. Somebody said two
[3:08:50] years.
[3:08:50] >> No, no, it's four years. The next
[3:08:52] election is uh I I want to say that I
[3:08:56] think for the residents swapping out an
[3:09:00] 83y old and getting a 50-y old is very
[3:09:03] good for the city. U
[3:09:07] they they they're getting uh they're
[3:09:09] swamping an 83y old, they're getting a
[3:09:11] 50-y old. I think that's a good grade.
[3:09:14] >> And u wow.
[3:09:15] >> And I also want to point out that for a
[3:09:18] long time, Council Mech has talked about
[3:09:20] getting a younger generation involved.
[3:09:22] So I'm doing my part. I noticed Chuck
[3:09:25] Page was also doing his part and not
[3:09:27] running for reelection. Um on the next
[3:09:30] item, I don't see manager within the
[3:09:33] same time. I want to go on record saying
[3:09:36] I I like the u drafting changes that
[3:09:39] contor mech is proposing but maybe you
[3:09:42] could present madam city manager and
[3:09:44] been practicing macheek you could uh u
[3:09:49] make your comments and maybe uh as a
[3:09:52] modified resolution uh which I assume
[3:09:55] attorney will allow us to do.
[3:09:59] So madam city manager please.
[3:10:02] >> Yes thank you. The regulations and
[3:10:04] guidelines for the conduct of public
[3:10:06] meetings includes procedures for
[3:10:09] attending council meetings um including
[3:10:11] the agendas, rules for addressing the
[3:10:14] council, selection of mayor and vice
[3:10:16] mayor, rules of procedure and debate
[3:10:19] minutes and disciplinary procedures. A
[3:10:22] suggestion was recently made to consider
[3:10:24] changing the start time for city council
[3:10:26] meetings to 6:00 p.m. from 7:00 p.m. and
[3:10:29] the draft policy would change um that
[3:10:32] start time if obviously if council were
[3:10:34] to adopt it tonight. There are some
[3:10:37] other proposed administrative um changes
[3:10:39] in the um to the policy and those are
[3:10:42] provided in a redlinined um version
[3:10:45] attached to the staff report tonight. Um
[3:10:47] those do not change any policy or
[3:10:49] current practices but are um
[3:10:52] administrative clarifications.
[3:10:55] And council member Mechach has proposed
[3:10:57] an additional modification to the policy
[3:10:59] which was provided to each council
[3:11:01] member tonight. And this would clarify
[3:11:04] that members of the public with
[3:11:05] materials to distribute to the council
[3:11:08] should hand those materials to the city
[3:11:10] clerk for distribution rather than um
[3:11:12] approaching each council member to do
[3:11:14] so. And that concludes the staff report
[3:11:17] and I'm happy.
[3:11:20] Would you like to add to the uh staff
[3:11:23] report?
[3:11:24] >> No, I'll just make a comment, but I can
[3:11:27] do that afterwards. Or do you want me to
[3:11:29] make the comment right now?
[3:11:30] >> Why don't you make the comment now and
[3:11:32] then we'll see if there are questions.
[3:11:33] But I I thought if you'd add to the
[3:11:36] report then when people ask questions.
[3:11:38] >> Oh, I understand. Okay. Um
[3:11:41] I guess I've been trouble. So, when I
[3:11:44] first came to council meetings in 1999,
[3:11:49] um, former mayor Dorothia Bamford at the
[3:11:52] time was kind of coaching me a little
[3:11:55] bit on how to deal with council and
[3:11:57] stuff. And then the other thing was back
[3:12:00] then, no one would approach the deis if
[3:12:04] they had something that they wanted
[3:12:06] distributed. And it was for a number of
[3:12:08] years that they would have to go through
[3:12:10] the clerk or through the city attorney
[3:12:14] to give them materials and ask that they
[3:12:16] be distributed. And then in the last few
[3:12:18] years, it seems to have become more
[3:12:21] informal. And when there's people that I
[3:12:24] don't recognize in chambers and they
[3:12:27] start approaching the podium or sorry
[3:12:29] the deis saying I want to distribute
[3:12:31] some information, I'm getting uh I'm not
[3:12:33] feeling comfortable about that. So what
[3:12:36] I did was given the opportunity when I
[3:12:39] saw it on the agenda to make changes, uh
[3:12:42] there happened to be uh item five that
[3:12:45] was vacant. Um and uh the our city
[3:12:51] attorney dropped in the language uh that
[3:12:54] and she's gone through and she believes
[3:12:57] it's robust. So that's the background on
[3:13:01] why I thought the changes there that
[3:13:03] items should be added.
[3:13:06] >> Are there questions either of the city
[3:13:09] manager or council member MCH?
[3:13:12] If not, I will open it to questions. I
[3:13:16] see no hands raised. U madam city clerk,
[3:13:19] are there any hands raised online?
[3:13:21] >> No hands are raised. Well, let me bring
[3:13:22] it back and as it's 10:15,
[3:13:26] if anybody has comments, please make it.
[3:13:28] If not, I would call for a vote and
[3:13:30] maybe you would. Yes, council member.
[3:13:32] >> We had discussed using this agenda item
[3:13:35] to also move council member um committee
[3:13:38] and commission reports to the front of
[3:13:40] the meeting.
[3:13:41] >> Well, u maybe either you or council
[3:13:43] member Mack, I can make a motion that
[3:13:46] encompasses all that.
[3:13:49] if I could just make one comment on that
[3:13:51] and then I'd be pleased to make a motion
[3:13:53] or a second a motion. But I think that
[3:13:56] if the if council chambers are full,
[3:14:00] then I think it's good to deal with that
[3:14:04] with whatever the matter is for
[3:14:06] expediency and and with respect and
[3:14:09] courtesy for the people
[3:14:09] >> and courtesy for the people. But I think
[3:14:11] it's it's the job of the mayor who's
[3:14:15] chairing the meeting to read the room
[3:14:18] and maybe ask something like, you know,
[3:14:20] if it's okay with everyone, we're going
[3:14:22] to we're going to move this item out
[3:14:25] like whatever it is, but just not take a
[3:14:27] to be [clears throat] able to move it to
[3:14:29] for courtesy.
[3:14:30] >> You're saying a capella and I guess it
[3:14:33] would also be helpful to have a mayor
[3:14:35] members ask for public comments.
[3:14:38] I wasn't going to point that out, but okay.
[3:14:42] >> Um, are there other comments or could we
[3:14:44] have one of these gentlemen make a
[3:14:46] motion and the other one second?
[3:14:47] >> Well, I don't understand where we're So,
[3:14:49] we're talking about the committee and
[3:14:50] commission reports and then also the
[3:14:52] council member comments, both those
[3:14:54] items or just the council member
[3:14:55] comments.
[3:14:56] >> No, just just the committee and
[3:14:58] commission reports. I believe that's so
[3:15:00] that people see what we're doing.
[3:15:04] >> And so, that would come at what point in
[3:15:05] the agenda? I mean it's going to be
[3:15:07] after the roll call
[3:15:08] >> after after a present the presentation
[3:15:11] has everything right like you want to
[3:15:12] have the people that are presenting
[3:15:14] which are off in the fire the police
[3:15:15] they're here they're gone
[3:15:17] >> then
[3:15:17] >> right it would be before oral comments
[3:15:20] >> yes
[3:15:21] >> on items that are not on the agenda.
[3:15:23] >> Yes.
[3:15:26] >> So where's the actual page
[3:15:28] >> uh section nine page three.
[3:15:32] So if you wanted to do that you would um
[3:15:36] move item
[3:15:38] N
[3:15:40] to
[3:15:42] just before um oral communications. That
[3:15:46] would become the new G and then
[3:15:50] everything else would move down. So it's
[3:15:51] on page 112 of 130 sorry
[3:15:54] >> in the lower right
[3:15:56] >> in or
[3:15:57] >> in the packet
[3:16:00] >> and it would be moving item N
[3:16:04] to
[3:16:06] >> the G new item G between old F or F and
[3:16:12] old G.
[3:16:14] >> See where that is?
[3:16:16] >> Yeah, it's at it's page 105.
[3:16:21] Okay.
[3:16:22] Are there more questions or are we So, that's what it is. So, I would make a
[3:16:28] motion to adopt the um resolution
[3:16:34] as set forth with the addition of the um
[3:16:40] item five, distribution of doc documents
[3:16:44] to council during meeting and moving
[3:16:49] item N to uh after item F
[3:16:55] >> in section 9
[3:16:56] >> in section deny.
[3:16:57] >> That's your motion. Is there a second?
[3:17:00] >> I I would just like to see if I could
[3:17:01] add one more friendly amendment just
[3:17:04] since we don't do this very often and
[3:17:08] we'll never need it, I'm sure, but some
[3:17:11] other jurisdictions put a limit on oral
[3:17:15] communication where they will limit it
[3:17:18] to the first 30 minutes or 15 minutes of
[3:17:21] the meeting. After that, everything gets
[3:17:23] moved to the end. And so this would be
[3:17:27] our time to try to do something like
[3:17:28] that if we want.
[3:17:29] >> Has we ever
[3:17:31] I'm just saying at least we have the
[3:17:33] rule in case we needed it.
[3:17:35] >> I I don't have strong feelings,
[3:17:36] >> you know, like in case we get zoom
[3:17:38] bombed again now that we're doing all of
[3:17:40] our
[3:17:41] >> uh does it make is that agreeable to the
[3:17:44] maker of the motion? [clears throat]
[3:17:45] >> I figure out where it is first. Hold on.
[3:17:49] But you talk about
[3:17:52] going to stare at you. So pretty. I I
[3:17:56] just want to find out if if
[3:17:58] >> Yeah, it's I the town of Loscatoos does
[3:18:01] that today and other councils do that.
[3:18:05] We that hasn't been a problem here. You
[3:18:08] could put forth if it becomes a problem,
[3:18:10] let's address it or you could say let's
[3:18:12] spend the time and put it in now. It's
[3:18:14] six to me. It's I don't have strong
[3:18:17] feelings.
[3:18:17] >> Yeah.
[3:18:18] >> I just figured we're doing it.
[3:18:20] >> Okay. that she had to do. That's
[3:18:22] >> if you have the word in.
[3:18:26] » Uh she's still looking. Um can we just
[3:18:29] make sure So as part of this, we're
[3:18:31] changing our meeting time to 6 p.m.
[3:18:33] >> Can we please make sure that that gets
[3:18:35] updated every place the public might
[3:18:38] look or where our meetings are?
[3:18:43] do [clears throat]
[3:18:43] meetings
[3:18:45] if they are if if they become SRO
[3:18:49] >> we can maybe charge a fee raise a little
[3:18:51] revenue that
[3:18:52] >> I love that
[3:18:54] >> um
[3:18:56] come early get a parking spot you'll let
[3:18:59] us know madam city attorney when we
[3:19:01] could proceed with this motion
[3:19:02] >> so um this would be my suggestion so in
[3:19:06] section
[3:19:12] three, which I apologize, it's page six
[3:19:16] of the staff report. I I see each
[3:19:19] separate item. I don't have one giant,
[3:19:20] so I'm happy to, so I don't know what
[3:19:22] page it is. Um, but if we would add
[3:19:26] language that
[3:19:32] um, sorry, I'm sure
[3:19:34] >> why don't we just give the concept in
[3:19:37] the motion and and then as uh put forth
[3:19:41] by the city attorney if you are with
[3:19:44] that.
[3:19:44] >> Yeah, that would be fine. So we would
[3:19:46] change it in two places that we would
[3:19:47] reference the time limit um under
[3:19:52] this is just for oral communications
[3:19:54] correct?
[3:19:54] >> Yes.
[3:19:55] >> Okay. So we would address it by that
[3:19:57] where it would be 30. It gives me 30
[3:19:59] minutes.
[3:20:00] >> 30 minutes.
[3:20:01] >> Oh that's agreeable there. We did make
[3:20:03] >> so 30 minutes um for oral communications
[3:20:08] as item
[3:20:14] new H we changed G um in section A9. And
[3:20:20] then in addition, we would add to that
[3:20:28] where would you put it at the end after
[3:20:30] future agenda items?
[3:20:33] >> I mean the the oral communications.
[3:20:36] >> Yeah. So we could do 30 minutes and then
[3:20:37] if we happen to have more than that at
[3:20:40] the end of the items before we get into
[3:20:43] well council member comments because
[3:20:46] we've already done reports before. will
[3:20:48] be after the agenda before council
[3:20:51] member comments and before the uh city
[3:20:53] manager report. I think that's where we
[3:20:55] put it.
[3:20:58] >> Yeah, I was put
[3:20:59] >> so the order right now is council member
[3:21:02] comments, city manager report, future
[3:21:05] agenda items and then adjournment. So
[3:21:07] you could do if you want to do it at the
[3:21:09] very end it would be after future agenda
[3:21:11] item.
[3:21:12] >> Maybe before future agenda item.
[3:21:13] >> Okay. after the city manager report.
[3:21:15] >> After the city manager report, I I
[3:21:17] accept that. We have a motion, a second,
[3:21:20] roll call. Sorry.
[3:21:22] >> I just make sure I understand what we're
[3:21:24] talking about here. So, we have an item
[3:21:26] on the agenda and there are so many
[3:21:27] people that want to
[3:21:28] >> No, this is oral communication that are
[3:21:31] not on the agenda.
[3:21:32] >> So, this is somebody in the beginning of
[3:21:33] the meeting.
[3:21:35] >> Yeah.
[3:21:36] >> And each person still gets three
[3:21:37] minutes. We have to have that many
[3:21:39] people.
[3:21:40] >> Okay.
[3:21:40] But now with with 707 and people
[3:21:44] are able to organize on social media,
[3:21:46] there have been more and more instances
[3:21:49] of just having these ridiculously long
[3:21:52] oral communication [clears throat]
[3:21:53] sessions. And so if we ever needed it,
[3:21:56] we could say our our period for oral
[3:22:00] communications is over and it will
[3:22:02] continue at the end of
[3:22:04] >> It's like a parachute on an airplane
[3:22:05] that you hope you don't have to use.
[3:22:07] >> Exactly. Uh, madam, city attorney, I
[3:22:09] assume a roll call vote on this.
[3:22:11] >> Yes, please. So, be the resolution as
[3:22:14] amended to include
[3:22:17] the changes we've discussed this
[3:22:19] evening.
[3:22:20] >> [clears throat]
[3:22:22] >> I got one more thing.
[3:22:25] We we seem to have gotten out of using
[3:22:28] speaker cards and I think that is
[3:22:32] kind of made some of our larger meetings
[3:22:35] a little bit awkward to just say next
[3:22:37] person come on up you know.
[3:22:39] >> So we can no longer require people to
[3:22:41] give their name. We can ask but they
[3:22:44] don't have to.
[3:22:46] >> Yes.
[3:22:47] But if we can we require them to give a
[3:22:50] speaker card and just put Joe on it.
[3:22:53] I'll say Joe, come on up.
[3:22:54] >> They can just give you a blank speaker
[3:22:56] card. There's no your name at all or
[3:22:59] >> Okay. It was just something I was
[3:23:00] thinking about.
[3:23:01] >> Number them. You number them.
[3:23:02] >> Yeah, you can number them. Again, I just
[3:23:06] brought it up because we we
[3:23:09] >> it was actually and I'm just going to
[3:23:10] say why probably shouldn't do this, but
[3:23:13] it gives the mayor a chance to maybe run
[3:23:16] a very contentious agenda item a little
[3:23:19] bit more effectively. You know, if he if
[3:23:22] he sees when they say they are yay or is
[3:23:25] that what you're saying?
[3:23:27] >> I'm not saying that any of us have ever
[3:23:28] done that.
[3:23:30] >> I I don't have strong feelings. So u
[3:23:33] just informally given that it's almost
[3:23:34] 10:30
[3:23:36] would people like to
[3:23:38] >> but since since we can't require speaker
[3:23:40] cards or it's more of a courtesy
[3:23:42] >> I think yeah I think what we can do is
[3:23:44] we can have that we don't need to put it
[3:23:46] in the guidelines we can have them and
[3:23:48] use them when we have meetings and if
[3:23:49] someone doesn't want to fill it out they
[3:23:50] don't have to
[3:23:52] >> just start the meeting if you wish to
[3:23:54] speak out of them you are encouraged
[3:23:57] >> to fill out the card why do it that way
[3:24:00] I'm now ready for the uh I think for the
[3:24:03] roll call vote
[3:24:04] >> I don't think we need to include that.
[3:24:07] >> No, we're not.
[3:24:07] >> No, I was kind of like this.
[3:24:11] >> I can tell you for the rest of my I will
[3:24:14] encourage people speak regards and
[3:24:17] I won't be here next year but I'm sure
[3:24:19] that
[3:24:22] >> Oh, absolutely. because I don't want you
[3:24:24] to deal with well I'm hoping if the
[3:24:27] thing doesn't change I will be kindly
[3:24:29] signatures for par
[3:24:31] >> so just to clarify motion maker and the
[3:24:33] amendment that you suggested was in
[3:24:35] regards to the movement
[3:24:39] other than that then is there a second
[3:24:41] to that
[3:24:42] >> so I'm seconding I'm I'm making
[3:24:44] >> amended
[3:24:46] >> amendment friendly amendment which I
[3:24:47] accepted and now and I'm seconding that
[3:24:50] now
[3:24:52] council member
[3:24:54] Yes.
[3:24:55] >> Council member Ma.
[3:24:57] >> Hi.
[3:24:58] >> Council member Torren.
[3:24:59] >> Yes.
[3:25:00] >> Vice Mayor Shannon.
[3:25:01] >> Yes.
[3:25:02] >> Mayor Allen.
[3:25:03] >> Yes. I should also say amend.
[3:25:06] We are now going to go through uh
[3:25:09] committee commission for its did we
[3:25:13] >> and is it's 10:25.
[3:25:15] Obviously I believe in the first
[3:25:17] amendment but if people would like to be
[3:25:19] brief that would be very
[3:25:21] >> I'll be very brief. I attended the VTA
[3:25:24] public policy committee meeting. There
[3:25:26] were various action items bundling
[3:25:29] various
[3:25:32] VTA related uh project priorities. I can
[3:25:36] give you I can send you uh those items
[3:25:38] and the interest of time. Uh and the
[3:25:42] legislative committee um
[3:25:46] we had one, two, three, four, five, six
[3:25:49] bills that we voted on. uh to approve uh
[3:25:53] several yeses, several nos. Again, in
[3:25:55] the interest of time, I could send that
[3:25:57] to you in greater detail if you wish.
[3:25:59] And then the city's association meeting
[3:26:02] um we had um
[3:26:06] I don't remember the agenda, but I can
[3:26:08] send you the agenda and we'll share that
[3:26:10] information with you.
[3:26:14] understand.
[3:26:15] >> Uh so last Wednesday I attended just the
[3:26:18] monthly West Valley sanitation district
[3:26:20] meeting and it was a pretty much a
[3:26:23] general meeting like the others. There
[3:26:25] was nothing particularly interesting to
[3:26:27] report on. Um but the sanitation
[3:26:29] district is doing well under it new
[3:26:31] leadership.
[3:26:33] >> Okay, great. We had a very good first
[3:26:36] meeting for the youth commission and we
[3:26:38] installed a a um our a chairperson and
[3:26:43] vice chair and uh we discussed their
[3:26:46] participation in the picnic and some
[3:26:48] other activities we will do this year
[3:26:50] and that's all I have to report today.
[3:26:52] >> Council check.
[3:26:54] >> Um Silicon Valley Clean Energy had a
[3:26:57] meeting last week and I will attach to
[3:27:00] the minutes a uh the speaking points
[3:27:03] from that. um as I usually do. Um the
[3:27:08] other commissions that I'm on are all
[3:27:10] meeting uh in the next two weeks. So I
[3:27:14] have have more to to discuss. I will say
[3:27:19] uh I I've got a comment a council member
[3:27:22] comment that I'd like to make.
[3:27:23] >> Well, I'm going to start with when
[3:27:25] you're done with your reports. I'm going
[3:27:26] to start with you with the comments.
[3:27:29] >> Okay. Um, so I attended the Silicon
[3:27:32] Valley
[3:27:34] Climate Youth Action Summit last
[3:27:38] Saturday morning and there were 75
[3:27:42] electeds there with a keynote by um,
[3:27:45] Senator Becker and Margaret Abakob was
[3:27:50] there and other people were there. Um,
[3:27:53] and there were 225 youth. Wow. and they
[3:27:57] are very energized and excited. That's basically almost countywide and
[3:28:04] lending in a little bit to uh San Monteo
[3:28:07] County. Um so that was that was very
[3:28:11] positive. Um, one of the things that I
[3:28:15] also am involved with is West Valley
[3:28:18] Solid Waste Management Authority. And
[3:28:22] they and I'm not sure if anyone received
[3:28:25] one of these on their on their
[3:28:28] collection bin.
[3:28:29] >> No, you did.
[3:28:30] >> We did. And a sticker on my actual bin
[3:28:33] says batteries go here.
[3:28:35] So, so this is a pilot that we're doing
[3:28:41] and they selected 600 homes in the city
[3:28:45] of Monte Serino and that's the only
[3:28:47] place in the four cities that they're
[3:28:50] doing the pilot and if you could so up
[3:28:52] here you can see the slides that were
[3:28:54] prepared. So this is the objective of
[3:28:57] the pilot and it's one single family
[3:29:00] route for sorry 480 customers and
[3:29:03] afterwards they're going to do an
[3:29:06] evaluation to see if we move the needle.
[3:29:09] So how many batteries are we talking
[3:29:11] flashlight batteries or car batteries?
[3:29:14] No, no, no. This is
[3:29:16] >> your little
[3:29:17] >> Oh, if at the Saratoga Library when I go
[3:29:20] every week, there's a receptacle there
[3:29:22] for
[3:29:24] flashlight batteries, which I always
[3:29:26] use. So, but this is different. Can you
[3:29:28] go to the next slide, please? So, you
[3:29:31] can see that the circulation calculation
[3:29:34] of the baseline data is there. Then they
[3:29:36] distributed the materials, which is
[3:29:38] done, which is this. Then they're going
[3:29:41] to do this postcard and then do a pilot
[3:29:43] in or pilot completion and then they'll
[3:29:46] measure against the baseline to see if
[3:29:48] it moved the needle.
[3:29:49] >> May I ask you a question? Absolutely.
[3:29:51] Pilot project since I got one of these.
[3:29:53] So I already have one of those bags, an
[3:29:56] orange bag that we got when they came
[3:29:58] and spoke to us.
[3:29:59] >> Should I remove those batteries and put
[3:30:01] it in the yellow bag? Does the yellow
[3:30:02] bag
[3:30:03] >> they should be the same bag?
[3:30:05] >> Okay. So it doesn't matter if it's the
[3:30:06] orange bag or the yellow bag. I put it
[3:30:07] out there, they'll count it towards
[3:30:09] this.
[3:30:10] >> Oh, yeah.
[3:30:11] >> Well, I've got a bags almost ready to
[3:30:13] go, so I'll put it in.
[3:30:14] >> So, so they're doing this to try to
[3:30:16] measure participation in in this battery
[3:30:18] program. Well, yeah. To see if they
[3:30:20] should roll this program
[3:30:23] to all of the all of the pickups that
[3:30:27] they do. I thought I thought well as
[3:30:29] council member Shannon said they've been
[3:30:31] distributing the other bags for the last
[3:30:34] this this
[3:30:36] goes on your bin.
[3:30:37] >> Yeah. The other one we were supposed to
[3:30:39] No no no when they give it to you.
[3:30:42] >> So it's like a new way to get the word
[3:30:44] out. It sounds like
[3:30:45] >> Go to the next slide please.
[3:30:47] >> All right.
[3:30:48] >> Here's So here on the left hand side you
[3:30:50] see this side, right? Yeah.
[3:30:53] >> And then on the other side it shows
[3:30:55] where it
[3:30:58] see
[3:31:02] » they put it on my bin
[3:31:04] >> on your bin. And then you see the two
[3:31:06] pictures above. Those are in the
[3:31:07] postcard.
[3:31:08] >> So it's like, hey, this is what you have
[3:31:11] to do. Here's where you put it. Put it
[3:31:12] on the target. Okay. So, so they're
[3:31:15] making it a little bit more obvious
[3:31:17] because before they just would leave it
[3:31:20] on on on top of the bin and it would
[3:31:22] blow off or whatever.
[3:31:23] >> That's why I always took mine to the
[3:31:25] library because I knew when I put it in
[3:31:28] the little slot there, it would
[3:31:30] disappear or a driver would hurry
[3:31:34] wouldn't see it and it would get tipped
[3:31:36] off.
[3:31:38] What? I I'm just I'm just trying to
[3:31:42] answer the question that if you got it,
[3:31:44] you're kind of like where did this thing
[3:31:47] came out of the clear blue sky?
[3:31:49] >> Was it was it distributed to just a few
[3:31:52] neighborhoods in Mont
[3:31:54] >> four on one collection route there's 480
[3:31:57] homes in the city of Monero that they
[3:32:00] went to. This is not outside of the city
[3:32:02] of Monero.
[3:32:04] >> So it's about a third of that. We have
[3:32:06] 1,200 plus homes. It's about a third of
[3:32:09] the homes.
[3:32:11] >> And but you never got one long and you
[3:32:13] never got one. So you're in the 2/3 that
[3:32:16] didn't get one. So we're
[3:32:18] >> so special.
[3:32:19] >> And what what I'd like to do um is uh
[3:32:24] I'd like to do an eblast on the pilot so
[3:32:27] that our residents understand what's
[3:32:29] going on that they're part of the pilot.
[3:32:31] And then after Can you go back one
[3:32:34] slide? After
[3:32:37] the pilot is complete and they know what
[3:32:39] the metrics are, I would like um the uh
[3:32:43] West Valley Solid Waste Management to do
[3:32:45] a presentation on the results of the
[3:32:47] pilot so we see, you know, did it move
[3:32:49] the needle or not. Um
[3:32:52] so
[3:32:54] that's my that's that was my what I
[3:32:56] wanted to make as council member
[3:32:57] comments. So, thank you very
[3:33:04] » I think Ken might comment on the same
[3:33:06] thing, but I know Ken and I both
[3:33:07] attended the wildfire safety town hall
[3:33:09] meeting that was hosted by Sam Licaro,
[3:33:12] Chuck Page, and Margaret Alvakakota. And
[3:33:14] it was well attended and there was some
[3:33:17] good information. Some of it was kind of
[3:33:18] a repeat of what they've done for the
[3:33:19] council members previously.
[3:33:21] >> Um, but it was interesting to see what
[3:33:23] questions and things the members of the
[3:33:25] community had and I thought it was a
[3:33:26] very good meeting. very well-run
[3:33:28] meeting.
[3:33:28] >> Yes. We also attended the
[3:33:31] >> scouts Saturday.
[3:33:33] >> Scouts and Yes.
[3:33:36] >> It was vegetation was
[3:33:38] >> Yes. Well, it it was
[3:33:41] program for wooies
[3:33:43] >> and uh council member and I attended uh
[3:33:49] just it's sort of what you know learning
[3:33:50] from what chick page said about the CRD
[3:33:54] what they're doing uh because they you
[3:33:57] know they have full-time employees
[3:34:00] doing this. So yeah, we did that. I
[3:34:02] think, you know, I think that, you know,
[3:34:05] I I, you know, there's there's always
[3:34:07] more that you can do, you know, in terms
[3:34:09] of that, you know, evacuation, wildfire
[3:34:12] preparation.
[3:34:13] Uh but what I've seen in the last year
[3:34:18] essentially maybe maybe even less is
[3:34:21] just a lot of of town halls and a lot of
[3:34:26] meetings about this very so it it shows
[3:34:31] you how important how important this has
[3:34:34] be become as an issue from for elected
[3:34:37] official standpoint from jurisdiction
[3:34:39] standpoint which is a really really good
[3:34:42] thing. Now we want that to filter down
[3:34:44] to people taking action for you know
[3:34:47] their homes and you know preparing
[3:34:48] themselves. Uh but I think it's a really good sign that we are thinking in
[3:34:55] the in the right way. It's a very good
[3:34:57] sign. Now the
[3:35:00] no one should be surprised the uh Ken
[3:35:03] and I were there with three other people
[3:35:06] who goes to the Wednesday monthly
[3:35:08] meetings that Ken and I have been going
[3:35:10] to for a long time and other than that
[3:35:13] there were maybe five or six people in
[3:35:15] the room. So we're not the only ones
[3:35:17] that are having problem getting
[3:35:19] anything.
[3:35:20] >> But that's just what that was really
[3:35:22] focused. No, but they sent a letter. I
[3:35:23] think this one's Scottish and if you
[3:35:27] know Kevin me they they got fewer than
[3:35:31] the people there. My one comment is uh
[3:35:34] I'm looking forward to the picnic and I
[3:35:37] think that uh because of the
[3:35:40] observations of the soccer balls. We are
[3:35:44] for the first time having a council
[3:35:46] member table where our goal would be to
[3:35:49] get people to sign up uh to be at
[3:35:52] receive all of our email traffic and
[3:35:55] also at the same time we could say is
[3:35:57] there anything else you'd like to do to
[3:35:59] be involved in the city because
[3:36:04] I think each of us
[3:36:06] not to work inventive but let's see who
[3:36:08] can sign those people on the on the
[3:36:11] email stuff and on add
[3:36:15] one.
[3:36:15] >> Absolutely.
[3:36:16] >> Okay. I'm not sure if every and I um I
[3:36:19] apologize for not bringing this up a
[3:36:21] moment ago, but there's something that's
[3:36:24] very controversial that's going around
[3:36:26] right now, and it has to do with the ban
[3:36:29] on the sale of natural gas hot water
[3:36:33] heaters that Bay Area Air Quality
[3:36:35] Management District is dealing with. And
[3:36:39] there is a set information session for
[3:36:43] elected officials that's going to be in
[3:36:45] Sunnyvale at their uh council chambers.
[3:36:49] And if I if I would give the details on
[3:36:52] that
[3:36:54] not a Brown Act problem
[3:36:55] >> so that that Yes. But if I believe that
[3:36:59] they would like to have the or other
[3:37:02] people that are sitting here attend that
[3:37:04] meeting.
[3:37:05] >> Why don't you have the city clerk? Yes.
[3:37:06] So we don't have a brown act thing send
[3:37:08] it out to us.
[3:37:08] >> But we are I'm signed up. You're signed
[3:37:10] up.
[3:37:10] >> Oh, you and I. Oh,
[3:37:12] >> we're car pooling.
[3:37:13] >> Oh yeah. The favorite vice are
[3:37:16] carpooling for that.
[3:37:17] >> Which is which is this Monday?
[3:37:19] >> It's Monday quality. [clears throat]
[3:37:22] >> Yeah. This is another thing. I think we
[3:37:24] got the thing from Gina Wio, right?
[3:37:26] >> Yeah. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah.
[3:37:28] >> Oh, that's because you're on the um
[3:37:30] >> Yeah. So we're
[3:37:32] >> associations. At least two of four I can
[3:37:35] tell you are going right. Um
[3:37:38] >> three.
[3:37:39] >> Yeah. Okay. Well, um
[3:37:45] if people if if everybody has commented
[3:37:48] to what they want to comment, I will now
[3:37:50] ask the city manager for her hopefully
[3:37:52] very brief
[3:37:55] u report.
[3:37:58] Um so I just wanted to let the council
[3:38:01] know that um we are expecting about 340
[3:38:04] residents at the on Sunday. And then um
[3:38:08] in addition sorry in addition to that
[3:38:10] would be also the different service
[3:38:12] providers um that will be in attendance
[3:38:15] also. So total of over 400 people
[3:38:18] >> really
[3:38:18] >> which I think might be the highest
[3:38:21] attendance that
[3:38:22] >> Why do you think that's the case?
[3:38:25] Um, I would guess similar to to what
[3:38:27] council member Craig said earlier is,
[3:38:29] you know, each year more and more people
[3:38:31] hear about it
[3:38:32] >> and more and more people get involved in
[3:38:34] kind of, you know, those types of
[3:38:36] routine um, annual events [snorts]
[3:38:39] >> and
[3:38:41] I think people once they come to it,
[3:38:45] they repeat. They come, it's very
[3:38:48] congenial, it's lowkey, it's in a
[3:38:50] wonderful venue. The parking is right
[3:38:54] there and no one complains about what
[3:38:57] the six bucks or whatever it is to park
[3:38:59] your car. Uh the food's very good and uh
[3:39:03] we have a proud tradition of the mayor
[3:39:05] not giving a long speech, actually not
[3:39:08] giving any speech at all, which is
[3:39:10] probably one of the major draws last. I
[3:39:13] mean, I'll keep that in mind. Um
[3:39:17] the um future agenda items match.
[3:39:22] >> Um no, but if I come up with some I will
[3:39:25] actually we talked about
[3:39:27] >> Yeah, the putting the
[3:39:29] >> Yes, we did.
[3:39:30] >> all of Highway 9.
[3:39:31] >> I would think we want that on Do we have
[3:39:33] room on the September one agenda? Then
[3:39:36] why don't we say we'll put it on the
[3:39:38] September agenda?
[3:39:40] Uh any colleagues? Any other future
[3:39:43] agenda items? If not at 10:40,
[3:39:47] uh, this may be the record for this
[3:39:49] thing. We are adjourned.