[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.

City Council - Aug 18 2026

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