[0:00] I'm sorry.
>> Now I'll call the meeting to order at
[0:04] 7:13
of the melody
[0:08] board of directors on April 14th, 2026.
Roll call, please.
[0:15] » Uh, yes. Director Bernstein,
>> present.
[0:19] » Director Bloom
>> is excused. Absent.
[0:23] » Yes.
>> And uh, Director Jones
[0:26] » here.
>> Director Solano
[0:28] » here. and director uh Carly
>> present.
[0:32] » Thank you.
>> Thank you. We have
[0:37] the flag
[0:44] to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for it
[0:49] stands one nation under God, indivisible
with liberty and justice for all.
[1:03] There are no reportable items from close
session which at 703
[1:08] and I'll take I'll open it up now to
public comment for items not on the
[1:14] do we have any
>> uh we have no hands raised online.
[1:19] » Okay. Um then I'll hold public comment
and then we'll go to item one which is
[1:24] the report of the fire department. Thank
you director for all the members of the
[1:30] board and of our for our staff and any
members of the public that are on. First
[1:34] of all, I'm just gonna quickly introduce
SOA who is our interim cler.
[1:43] Um thank you to Nicole for pointing us
in RTS's direction. So we will have
[1:49] Denise with us until we have a
permanent. Um, with that, I'm going to
[1:54] uh share with you some information that
has occurred over the last month in my
[1:58] uh monthly fire chiefs report. First of
all, just a quick update on fire station
[2:04] one. The only item of significance on
the update is that city of Clark has
[2:09] actually initiated a kickoff meeting on
our sequel process. So, that is good.
[2:17] Um, we're looking forward to getting
that your way. Quick update on the first
[2:24] minutes and promotions. Our firefighter
recruitment is ongoing. We've um already
[2:31] had applicants complete video
interviews. We had 292
[2:38] video interviews out of we had 500
applicants. So, the numbers are already
[2:42] shrinking. 292 participated in the video
interviews. They each each uh applicant
[2:48] is going to have their video reviewed by
three members of our rank and file
[2:53] firefighters, engineers, and captains.
Then we're going to
[2:59] file the the scores and take the top 75
to 90%
[3:04] your next step. So that is underway very
quickly and I know will share some of
[3:09] this in your presence report. We have
our recruitment is ongoing. We had
[3:13] selection interviews today. I think the
rest
[3:18] uh just updates on the community
engagement community.
[3:24] What's going on?
Quite a bit. Um
[3:30] some school group and station tours.
Station six with a Girl Scout fourth
[3:35] grade tour. Station two had a rock and
event. Station six uh tour with second
[3:42] grade girls scout. Station board visit,
Little Angel's preschool visit. Station
[3:48] two, East PaloAlto Primary School Walk
to School Day. Station 77 Bell Haven
[3:54] School Career Day. on classes of giving
patients. We had
[4:00] lost par educator staff CPR training,
EPA center staff CPR training, Sacred
[4:08] Heart Schools, parents hands on CPR
training,
[4:12] job trained staff, hands-on
hands-on CPR training, and we had a
[4:18] regular monthly CPR Red Cross on stop
elite classes. Uh they also assisted
[4:23] with evacuation drill and local
business. Uh CIR they completed their
[4:29] latest CR cabinet added 13 more members
to clean right
[4:34] » 13
>> 13
[4:36] uh the C team was invited to a
presentation for the San Francisco GPA
[4:42] events.
Uh they had an East Palato disaster prep
[4:47] workshop and then a very big event, two
events actually, Easter events in Memo
[4:52] Park in East Palo Alto. I just share a
couple notes from Mike Sony who was our
[5:00] our on duty or our our firefighter
coordinator for the just recognizing
[5:05] anyone between the two locations.
Uh they estimate that they served
[5:10] approximately 3,000 community members in
no product and close to 1500 in East
[5:15] Kawazo. This was our first event in East
which is great.
[5:19] » Um it's an incredible day.
They distributed over 10,000 eggs. And I
[5:25] just want to recognize
some names. Captain Marido,
[5:30] engineerelli,
engineer, firefighter Francis Con, and
[5:35] fire fire. really big and instrumental
in helping this happen and engineer
[5:41] Wagner who drove whole time around from
10 to 4 non-stop. So also yeah shout out
[5:50] to our two board members that were there
director Jones and
[5:55] then also to Heather and for everything
we did. We also had quite quite a good
[6:00] presence for our cert members helping
out at the event. So really good good
[6:06] way for us to connect with our
community.
[6:09] Um
fire response analysis report. So just
[6:15] in reviewing that nothing of
significance. I will share that we're
[6:20] still working on correcting issues that
director Bernstein brought up at the
[6:23] last meeting and that they um the
vertical lines on some of those graphs
[6:28] don't match up to the numbers of these.
So working on adjust adjusting them
[6:33] over. So, they're in the appropriate
spot. Uh, the new new development
[6:37] update, not need to report on this
month. Next month, I'm going to actually
[6:40] include a printed out report to bring
all the board members up to speed on all
[6:44] the projects that are going on and their
status. So, I think that will be helpful
[6:48] and we get some feedback on how often
you like to see that. Budget sessions
[6:54] are done, which is why we are going to
be talking and sharing with you the
[6:58] first look at our budget tonight.
Uh I attended along with Chief Cole and
[7:05] Chief McDonald the Redwood City Bashion
on March 25th
[7:09] Easter egg I chatted about. I also had a
meeting at the request of the new PA
[7:16] fire chief ste.
He came up from Lin in the ranks. uh we
[7:21] sat down and chatted uh just kind of
kind of a get to know you thing, but
[7:26] also had some pretty fruitful
conversations
[7:29] on trying to reestablish our automatic
aid between us and city of Palo Alto.
[7:37] And so already Chief McDonald and Chief
Foy have met with the with his one of
[7:44] his number twos over there on how we can
start making that work out. We had some
[7:50] I think some technology issues there but
I think we can overcome them. The issues
[7:55] related to their staffing have been
mostly resolved where they had some
[7:58] stations round up. They they only have
one station now where they actually use
[8:03] the engine to cross staff an ambulance.
Everybody every other station is fully
[8:07] staffed. And the nice thing all the
stations that are immediately adjacent
[8:12] to our district are fully staffed. So uh
I'm optimistic that we're going to make
[8:17] some progress on that.
Do you have what they were thinking?
[8:22] » No, I don't have a timeline. I I I gave
a timeline to
[8:28] my two saying I'd like it at least some
papers all by the end of the
[8:32] » Yeah.
>> Right. So trying to figure out and we
[8:35] may not have it all the way fixed, but
there's got to be a way where we can
[8:39] hack it, so to speak. You know, even if
our two computer aated dispatch systems
[8:44] can't talk to each other, there's some
old school ways where we can do that. We
[8:48] were actually talking about uh there's
the ability for us to decide to share
[8:53] information over tablet command. We both
agency use that and that tablet command
[8:58] can also pre-alert us to call. So we
have bright minds on that. One one of
[9:03] them is retired chief delay. He works
for tablet command now. So, I'm
[9:08] optimistic that we're going to come up
with some creative solutions for
[9:12] addressing the niche.
Uh, we've got a list of our outstanding
[9:18] staff reports here and then I wanted to
share with you briefly some information
[9:23] on our structure fires here.
[9:32] Oh, and before I get to the structure
fires, I also wanted to share with um
[9:37] going back to the a little bit on the
community engagement update, I just uh
[9:44] Heather shared with me an email from
the YCS, the youth community services
[9:51] youth that participated in our shirt
training program. And Mora, how do you
[9:57] say Morris's last name?
>> Omar. Mora sent us uh some notes from
[10:03] all the students that went through it
highlighting some of the things. So I
[10:06] just I have a couple highlighted things
I wanted to share here from our youth
[10:10] that went through our search training.
One notes he or she said participating
[10:17] in the YCS CERT program has been one of
the most impactful experiences of my
[10:21] high school. Through this ter I have
learned valuable emergency preparedness
[10:25] and response skills but more importantly
I have developed confidence
[10:29] responsibility and stronger commitment
to serving my community. Another one
[10:33] says participating in in the youth
community service team
[10:39] program has been a transformative
experience that redefined my
[10:42] understanding of civic duty. To me, this
program is vital because it transforms
[10:47] young people from passive bystanders
into active, capable guardians of their
[10:51] neighborhoods. Through YCS, I have
learned that community resilience is
[10:54] built on the preparation and empathy of
its individual members. So, I just
[10:59] thought that wow
articulate
[11:04] » see what I started.
>> So, what a good program director Jones
[11:09] and you have some really gifted
articulate young members. They're very
[11:14] articulate and they in all the words I
can attest to that when they go through
[11:20] the exercises they their eyes just light
up. Yeah.
[11:24] » It it really feels like it was impactful
and I think in some cases potentially
[11:28] life changing for them to dissipate
through the month.
[11:32] » And then just on the u the two incidents
we had structure fire on no court on
[11:39] March. bigger incident was a structure
fire on the 1200 block at Million Drive
[11:44] and we spent a lot of fun on April 4th.
Uh a couple things to note was there was
[11:49] a pretty significant fire. We also had
our DFR drone as a first responder unit
[11:56] overhead. It's even noted in here by
Chief Stall. But one of the operational
[12:04] strengths he noticed was that DFR2
that's the drone out of station two
[12:09] provided valuable intel confirming a
working fire while you were still in
[12:13] route increased their situation
awareness for officers while route and
[12:18] the IC the incident commander while he
was on scene. Interesting thing is Tom
[12:24] texted me to say it was in route clicked
on a little link and actually watched
[12:30] the response. watch truck two lad the
roof cut a hole get off. It was u yeah
[12:35] really interesting and fascinating to be
able to watch that in real time and then
[12:40] also just you know I know part of our
conversation tonight
[12:46] about a mutual aid automatic aid
conversation but on that fire there
[12:51] which I think went second alarm we had
six additional units besides our own
[12:57] that were sent on automatic a two
additional VCs from out of our
[13:00] jurisdiction three engines and one truck
to help support that fire. And with
[13:06] that, that concludes my chief control
>> question. Chief
[13:11] » Yes,
>> on the fire on Chameleia. Uh
[13:15] I I heard there was an explosion, you
say? Was there an explosion over there?
[13:20] » I don't have the cause.
>> Oh,
[13:23] » but I'll find out if it's been released.
>> Yeah, that's good because um that
[13:28] actually happened the day of the their
Easter event.
[13:32] » Yeah. So,
Yeah. Yeah.
[13:38] So, um people were just wondering. I
heard from neighbors that there were
[13:42] cables in it spark, but no one really
knows. So, we can just
[13:47] » get some kind of
>> I'll let you know. I know it was pretty
[13:51] um impactful
>> to the the members that live there
[13:54] negatively and these bow PD reached out
to us asking if they if we were aware of
[14:00] any
ways we could find some financial help
[14:04] and I know referred them to I don't
remember the name
[14:08] » well Red Cross was there
>> Red Cross was there
[14:12] » and they were looking at some you know
Ed Young
[14:17] financial challenges
Also, I know I was hurt, you know,
[14:23] because of those homes over there in
that area. They have a lot of knob and
[14:26] tube kind of
>> wiring.
[14:29] » Yeah.
>> So, if it's that, I think the city need
[14:32] to really try to figure out a way to get
get many of those homes taken care of
[14:37] because it's going to happen even more.
So,
[14:40] » that's what I've heard from some of the
neighbors there. So I don't know if
[14:44] that's true but agree
>> with
[14:51] I want to ask two questions about
recruitment.
[14:54] » Oh sure
we're recruiting now but the academy has
[14:59] to start until next January. Is that
right?
[15:01] » Correct.
>> What's the rationale for doing it so
[15:05] much earlier than the academy?
>> That's a that's a great question. Um the
[15:11] the real explanation is
um since we partner with the college of
[15:16] salmon
in that in service academy it's actually
[15:20] sponsored by them we get the fire
service gets half of the slots in there
[15:25] and then the other half are opened up to
the public.
[15:29] In order for us to
um fill our half of the slots, we have
[15:35] to have the names of our firefighters
ready to submit by
[15:40] » I think it's Julyish somewhere around
it.
[15:42] » And that's because that's the
application time for the community
[15:45] college for entry into that. So it
accelerates every agency that's
[15:51] interested in that January 2027 academy.
It accelerates everybody's process. We
[15:57] have to have agents that are
But do we expect then to have to lose a
[16:03] lot of them?
>> I don't expect so. The nice the nice
[16:06] thing is, you know, if people are
interested in Sanonteo County,
[16:09] everybody's in the same boat as us and
the the timeline's similar. So, we don't
[16:14] think so. And
we'll see.
[16:18] » The other question I had, I I'm not
asking this in any critical way, but I'm
[16:23] a little bit surprised when you said
video interviews.
[16:27] One of the things that I know that
they've been trying to do in recruit so
[16:31] forth is make it
somehow
[16:38] blind towards you know color natural
national origin all those kinds of
[16:44] things and obviously in the video
interview it's going to be immediate not
[16:50] absolutely but to some extent it's
apparent people's backgrounds for better
[16:54] or worse Um,
have you discussed this or is this has
[16:59] this been an issue that you debated or
>> It's interesting. We we haven't
[17:03] discussed the idea of just an audio
interview and what that might look like.
[17:06] Obviously, when you get to inerson
interviews, you can't hide people's
[17:11] ethnicity or gender. Um, I will say the
the purpose of the video interview
[17:15] process is
many departments around here,
[17:21] actually, I don't know of anyone that is
up here that's doing it right now. And
[17:24] so,
they go to the the testing group and ask
[17:29] for the let's say they want to do 70
interviews, inerson interviews, they'll
[17:33] ask for the top 70 highest scores on the
written exam and they'll take those and
[17:41] um there is
when you take everybody that's got a 95
[17:45] or above on the written exam, it very
much causes artificial barriers that are
[17:50] based on often times, you know, your
your background, your ethic, ethnicity,
[17:55] your economic background, so your
education.
[17:59] » Yeah. All all of those things. And so we
have purposefully
[18:04] said that all we needed to do is pass
the written test and every everyone out
[18:09] of the 500 people that submitted
applications. If you passed it, you got
[18:13] a video. So you had an opportunity at
least to
[18:17] um share your story. They're very short.
uh and but people aren't allowed to
[18:22] share their names
uh on there. They have to have
[18:26] non-escript backgrounds, no any nothing
that identifies them or connects them
[18:31] with the agency. Uh but that way we're
not creating um any kind of artificial
[18:37] barriers and gives us the opportunity
for all 500 candidates potentially to
[18:42] have an opportunity to share, you know,
answers. I think it's three or four
[18:46] questions.
>> Okay. Yeah, that was amazing because I
[18:48] was concerned about it, but I just
people are trying to figure out better
[18:52] ways of doing all this.
>> Yeah. But ultimately, we're gonna we're
[18:55] gonna see the candidates in person.
>> So, what happened between the 500 you
[19:00] had in hand and then the 300 who showed
up for the 200 just say no, they don't
[19:05] want to.
>> Yeah. My my guess is some just decided
[19:09] they didn't want to do it. Some weren't
able to get to the testing facility and
[19:14] take the test or didn't pass the test.
some couldn't get their CPAT, the Cyrus
[19:21] California physical agid physical
agility tested. So there's a number of
[19:26] things. So that we kind of anticipated
we'd have a lower number which is
[19:29] helpful for us. So we don't have 500
video interviews to review, but that's
[19:34] not a surprising.
>> And remind me at the end you want six to
[19:40] fill six positions. Is that
>> four positions?
[19:42] » Four.
>> And we will so
[19:46] they, you know, we'll have the in-person
interviews. They're going to see two
[19:50] panels. Each person is going to see a
panel with three people on two or two
[19:54] different panels.
And then the top, let's say 16 scores,
[19:59] we'll kind of coil myself up and do
selection interview. And then we'll
[20:04] yeah, we'll have some alternates also in
case somebody doesn't stick with four
[20:09] people finalists in a sense. Yes.
>> Okay.
[20:15] » And we might potentially even hire more
than one class on this list. Yeah.
[20:19] Sometime we could use this list. Yeah.
[20:24] » Any other questions or comments?
[20:32] » Just back. Francine was looking at the
fire report. The fire was an electrical
[20:37] fire. somebody heard a big I don't know
if that means an arc or transformer or
[20:42] something
>> cable anyway
[20:46] » I know we had some power line issues in
the backyard that were safety concern
[20:50] sounds like that was the cause
>> okay we'll move on to the consent
[21:04] » go ahead
>> I I just want to get back to you what
[21:08] scenes here is in terms of finding out
about the if it's electrical
[21:14] it should anyone go to public works
department or or is that a followup
[21:20] something that the fire department does?
>> I'll check with fire prevention and see
[21:24] if they follow up if there was something
unusual about it.
[21:27] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. It's it's I mean that's obviously
[21:30] a very generic electrical issue. So if
it was related to
[21:36] you know old wiring like you said the
knob and tube or just I don't know if
[21:40] they have it narrow down to a specific
issue.
[21:42] » Yeah but I'll check let me know if you
>> sure
[21:47] » okay is there a motion to approve the
consent
[21:51] » move second. It has been moved by
director and seconded by directors. Any
[21:59] » I'm sorry.
[22:04] » Okay. Um any discussion? Not roll
please.
[22:09] » Uh yes. Director Bernstein.
>> I.
[22:12] » Director Jones.
>> I.
[22:14] » Director Solano.
>> Hi.
[22:16] » Director Cwley.
>> I.
[22:18] » Thank you. Motion carries.
>> Motion carries. And we'll move on to the
[22:22] regular agenda item number four which is
adopt the resolution declaring seasonal
[22:28] fees a public
thing.
[22:31] » I will handle this and we've got fire
marshal twice on the line if we call my
[22:38] friend but this is an annual uh item
that we bring before the board prefire
[22:44] season every year to declare a number of
particles as nuisances. And there's a
[22:50] list attached. And with that, I will
open questions. And if there aren't any
[22:56] board set to report and adopt a
resolution those
[23:07] » is he on
[23:11] there's no question
>> any question
[23:17] every jurisdiction
[23:24] Please speak.
>> Is there a second?
[23:28] » Oh, sorry.
>> Moved by director and seconded by
[23:33] director B. Any discussion?
Okay. Then all we just do all in favor
[23:40] to do a roll call.
>> Uh, you could do roll call.
[23:44] » Roll call. Yeah.
>> Director um, Director Bernstein.
[23:48] » Hi.
>> Director Jones.
[23:50] » Hi.
>> Director Salano.
[23:52] » Hi. Director Crowley,
>> I motion carries.
[23:59] » Moving on to item five.
>> Sure.
[24:02] » This is just a technical question here.
We skipped over it too fast. I'm not
[24:07] going to discuss anything, but I just
want to point out that in my
[24:12] packet,
>> there was this
[24:16] » page,
>> pardon me,
[24:18] » page. Um, if you look at going back to
the
[24:22] » 84,
>> no, the monthly report, the fire
[24:26] marshals report, the packet jumped from
page 16 to 22.
[24:32] And I want to see if I missed something
from the packet 16 to 22.
[24:38] » Page 16.
>> I had page 86.
[24:44] » 16.
>> Oh.
[24:45] » Oh, yeah. You did. Yeah. And then
>> did your I just want to make sure I
[24:50] didn't miss some pages that were
essential.
[24:54] » Yeah, maybe.
>> Oh, I see. You see what happened on page
[24:59] if you clip mine is print on both sides.
I got 22 on one sides, 16 on the other
[25:05] side. So, I had to reverse it and clip
it in here. So,
[25:10] » but that's why I saying there's no 17,
18, 19, 20, 21. I just want to be sure I
[25:14] haven't missed
[25:21] Yeah.
[25:28] » Yeah.
>> Oh, this is from Okay. I think this
[25:38] » Well, normally they have a packet
number. So,
[25:43] » I I think
>> but yours is the same as mine.
[25:45] » Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think what
happened was that the four minutes were
[25:50] from the previous agenda which also says
agenda item number 285 page which may
[25:56] have been page 22 in the previous agenda
package. That's how I
[26:00] » but there was no page 16 anywhere.
[26:06] » There's nothing missing. It's just
missing.
[26:09] » The temporary bumps that we have is what
transition
[26:12] » effects. Okay. I'm sorry. Not
>> no.
[26:17] Yeah, I've noticed.
>> That's a legitimate question.
[26:20] » Not sure.
[26:24] » Okay, you're ready. Are we ready for
item five?
[26:27] » Yes. I will this up and hand it over to
Elaine.
[26:31] » This is to review and discuss the
district's fiscal year 2627 preliminary
[26:36] budget and fulltime equivalent staffing
level chief. So, and we're not we're not
[26:41] asking for the board to decide anything
tonight. You know, we this is going back
[26:45] a couple years. The desire for the board
to get eyes on the budget, the proposed
[26:50] budget and the draft budget earlier. Um
and so over the course of our budget
[26:55] process, the board and in combination
with committees has been have an
[26:59] opportunity to see the budget five
times. Two at the finance committee and
[27:04] three at the board. And so this was um
last Tuesday reviewed uh in depth by the
[27:13] finance committee. Um I think we went an
hour and 45 minutes in the committee
[27:19] meeting to
>> go through a lot of the details of that.
[27:22] So and the finance committee has
recommended moving it forward to the
[27:27] board for review. And with that I'm
going to turn it over our fiscal wiz.
[27:33] » Thank you chief. Uh so good evening
director everyone. So as the chief
[27:37] mentioned uh this is just a preliminary
budget that we're presenting at tonight.
[27:42] There's no action that needed to be
taken. So I'm just going to uh give an
[27:48] overview or background you know how we
came up with the budget just an over
[27:51] overview of the process in itself. So we
started the budget process around
[27:55] November of last year. So what we did uh
was we rolled you know forward uh our
[28:01] current year's budget and then we
actually included all of the information
[28:05] that's needed for the program managers
to actually uh come up with their budget
[28:09] with the proposed budget. So we have
their current budget uh they also have
[28:13] like historical information of actual
numbers that uh that came up like past
[28:19] like you know fiscal years. So with that
um once we set it up in our system you
[28:24] know we sent you know all of those you
know um uh black template proposals to
[28:29] the program managers uh to the division
chief of flaw in December like early
[28:33] December as soon as December one and we
gave them about two months uh to
[28:37] actually prepare their budget like put
the numbers on it like uh give like some
[28:42] sort of description uh for the new
requests or if there's uh no change you
[28:47] know explain why there's no change and
things like that and uh in February and
[28:52] March as the chief mentioned we did a
lot of budget sessions uh with you know
[28:56] the executive you know leadership I
think we did at least uh six or seven um
[29:01] so what we did is you know each program
uh we went line by line uh we determined
[29:07] uh the budget you know for each line
item you know we discussed you know what
[29:10] would be appropriate for that line item
budget uh we took a look at you know all
[29:14] the descriptions all the um uh
justifications if there are new uh
[29:19] request, you know, for the next fiscal
year. And then we also analyze
[29:23] historically information what the
actuals are to determine whether or not,
[29:26] you know, what they're proposing is
reasonable. Um, so it's very extensive.
[29:30] Um, we did that, you know, for all of
the programs. Um, and then of course,
[29:35] you know, we came with we summarized
everything and then now that's, you
[29:40] know, the packet that's, you know, in
your hands. Um, and if you turn on page
[29:44] 190 of the packet, that's actually the
last page of the packet.
[29:50] So that's attachment C. So this is just
to show you the budget adoption
[29:54] timeline. I think the chief brick
mentioned this as well, you know,
[29:58] earlier. So for the April meetings, um,
this is really just, you know, a review
[30:03] and discussion of, uh, again the
preliminary budget, the action that's
[30:09] needed to be taken on the main meetings.
um we're going to present it again, you
[30:13] know, to the finance community. Um if
there are any comments or any like
[30:18] suggestions that, you know, we think
that, you know, it's appropriate to
[30:20] actually change in our budget. We're
going to present it again to the finance
[30:23] community and then in the main meeting
for the pool board, uh that's where
[30:27] we're going to adopt a preliminary
budget. Um so again, that's preliminary.
[30:32] Um and then by the June by June, uh
we're again we're going to present it
[30:37] to, you know, the finance committee. Um
again if there are any changes like any
[30:42] final changes with the budget and then
for the full board in June that's going
[30:46] to be the final adoption. So that's just
you know an overview of um the adoption
[30:51] timeline for our fiscal year 67 uh
project.
[30:57] So now um I'm going to go over the staff
report. Um I'm not going to go over each
[31:02] of the page and each of the the
languages here, but uh we're going to
[31:05] focus on things that I think are
important to highlight. So if you turn
[31:11] on page uh 96
of the packet.
[31:19] So 96 of the packet. So this is
something new uh this you know fiscal
[31:23] year. So what you know I did or what we
did is we tried to actually uh uh put
[31:29] some commentaries or narratives on you
know what actually affected what are the
[31:34] things that are needed to be considered
in you know the whole budget process. So
[31:38] it start from page 9 page 99 the first
one on there is no tariffs and
[31:44] inflationary environment which everyone
is aware. So even with the um Supreme
[31:48] Court decision there are still some
tariffs that actually are not going away
[31:52] and there are actually new ones. So we
try to incorporate you know uh like any
[31:57] increases potential increases you know
for you know uh the inflationary
[32:01] environment with the tariffs. Uh the
second one on page 96 question. Sure.
[32:09] The discussion was really good by the
way that the the tariffs fall on
[32:13] imported things when we're doing
construction. Haven't we kind of
[32:17] specified that we need to buy American
stuff wherever possible?
[32:23] uh that one uh I'm not sure if there is
already a discussion of whether or not
[32:27] it's you know a choice or it's required
for us to actually uh buy American steel
[32:33] or uh for constructions that one I'm not
quite sure I don't think we did have any
[32:39] discussion on that uh but I think with
uh all of the things that's going on
[32:45] right now with all the uncertainties um
I think it's you know apparent that you
[32:50] know we have to set aside like
contingencies or like plan for like
[32:54] things that we can't really control of.
But uh with your question Dr. Bing, uh
[32:59] that one I can't really answer. Maybe
that's going to be a future discussion
[33:03] once we go into the actual construction
phase. Uh and then probably that has
[33:12] » I think normal construction
>> the market for steel for example is also
[33:16] could be looked at as a worldwide
market. So prices in one place affect
[33:20] prices in another. But I thought the
discussions were really good by the way.
[33:24] So but I was just curious how much we
think these kind of things are really
[33:29] going to affect our construction costs.
>> I think the steel is going to be the
[33:33] main
>> because we're going to be using a lot of
[33:35] steel
>> supply.
[33:40] I think we'll definitely check in with
John Chief and then maybe you know we'll
[33:44] probably have a separate discussion on
that um as we go through you know the
[33:48] process of this uh station one regular
check. Um then the next one is of course
[33:54] you know uh interest rate environment.
So this is more uh related to the
[34:00] revenues that we're going to receive for
uh interest uh right. So, uh I think
[34:06] there's going to be right now the
average expectation is there's going to
[34:10] be uh another cut interest rate cut for
2026 and another rate cut in 2027. But
[34:16] with again with all the things that's
happening right now with the geopolit
[34:20] political like you know conflicts and
such you know uh uh inflation and you
[34:25] know the job market you know we don't
know exactly what's going to happen. um
[34:29] even like a year before like you know
we're expecting you know the interest
[34:32] rate to have I mean the cuts to be like
you know more than like two or three but
[34:35] now uh we don't know I mean right now
it's just like one I think later this
[34:40] year and then another one for the next
fiscal year so this is really going to
[34:44] affect you know our uh investment
revenue although it won't the impact
[34:52] won't be that significant because even
if you know there's going to be rate
[34:56] cuts uh so we're anticipating less
revenues But we're also anticipating
[34:59] like inflows of cash. So it's going to
probably offset uh the increase in the
[35:05] investment balance probably going to
offset with you know the decrease in you
[35:09] know the interest rate cuts. And this is
you know again just going to be like you
[35:13] know some sort of heads up you know
we're not really going to have this
[35:16] interest rate environment for the next
like five years. So in the next you know
[35:20] future years when we do our budget of
course we're really cautious and
[35:23] cognizant of you know what the interest
rate would be and then we're going to
[35:26] give you know the board a heads up
because you know you might probably like
[35:30] you know uh notice that you know oh why
do we have last year we have $6 million
[35:34] of interest you know right now we only
have $3 million. So this is just to set
[35:38] you know uh expectations I guess but you
know for the next fiscal year you know
[35:44] we you know uh incorporated uh I'm going
to discuss this more when we go through
[35:50] you know the revenue budget especially
for the use of money and property but we
[35:54] incorporated this you know rate cuts you
know to our budget.
[35:59] Uh the next one um
uh real estate market. Um this is always
[36:06] going to be you know uh one of the key
budget considerations you know for the
[36:10] district. Uh because I think 90% of our
uh revenue budget actually is property
[36:17] taxes or property taxes. I mean so for
real estate market you know we there's
[36:23] uh overall there's still you know some
you know uh slow down or pulling with
[36:27] you know uh the interest rate I don't
know there's the real estate you know uh
[36:32] market but relatively on average is
still you know stable and you know
[36:36] strong so I think for the next fiscal
year at least for the uh assessed role
[36:42] right now for the district um I think
we're anticipating about 3.7% in the
[36:47] assessed role But that doesn't mean that
that's the same amount of percentage
[36:52] increase that we're going to receive for
our revenues. It's just a good indicator
[36:56] of you know what we're going to receive
for the next fiscal year. It's not a one
[36:59] is to one uh but at least gives us an
idea of you know maybe like you know
[37:03] we'll get about like 3.7% or even higher
when we actually receive our actually
[37:07] property tax revenues. Um the next one
on page 98
[37:15] uh the Genentech uh property tax uh
settlement. So this was briefly uh
[37:21] discussed uh or at least uh mentioned in
the last board meeting as well. So in
[37:25] February we received a notice from
county you know uh Sato that you know
[37:30] there is going to be an adjustment with
you know our you know property tax you
[37:34] know revenues for the upcoming you know
fiscal year. Um, and it's mostly uh
[37:40] unsecured, you know, property taxes. So,
uh, right now the effect of that is
[37:46] about $469,000
uh, refund. Uh, so, uh, it's a reduction
[37:52] of our property tax, you know, revenue
for, you know, the next fiscal year. So
[37:56] in general what I got from the county is
you know any adjustments with you know
[38:00] the assessed roles uh due to like you
know things like this like property tax
[38:05] disputes you know settlements it's going
to affect the countywide you know
[38:09] revenue proportionally so as it's going
to reduce the countywide revenue
[38:13] proportionally um we will also get that
you know particular share based on you
[38:18] know the ADA you know allocation so and
this is only for tax years 2005 to 2000
[38:25] uh uh I think it's for 6 years 2000 to
2005. Um so uh our share is about
[38:31] $469,000 including the interest already.
It may change it may uh increase or
[38:37] decrease depending on where they when
depending on when they actually um uh
[38:42] send uh us the money or settle the
actual you know um funds you know to uh
[38:49] Genet. But it's probably going to be in
the November and this or October and
[38:54] November um
uh aortionment for the next visit here.
[38:59] And I think in the
uh narrative I also mentioned that um
[39:06] there is still like disputes ongoing for
the succeeding years. So right now the
[39:12] ones in review are from 2006 to 20 you
know uh 18 and the county is estimating
[39:17] about 4 to5 million plus interest. So
given that amount um if it's also
[39:25] proportional to the first you know round
of you know the tax settlements we're
[39:30] probably going to be expecting another
reduction about maybe I I would I mean
[39:34] I'm just you know guessing based on you
know uh the numbers here uh with
[39:38] interest I would assume maybe around
$150 to $160,000 in the upcoming years.
[39:45] So when are we going to know that?
>> Um that director Kerali I'm not sure
[39:50] because again it's still under review.
Um they're saying it's going to be in
[39:54] one to two years uh the settlement in
itself. So we might expect you know uh
[39:59] more like information from them in about
like two years I would say.
[40:04] So, uh, Elaine, I think I missed the
first time we talked last week, but are
[40:10] we talking about for the district, we
have a total obligation of $468,000?
[40:16] » Correct. That's correct.
>> With a annual um payout back or rebate
[40:21] to to the county of aboutund
will be it would be proportion every
[40:27] year.
>> Oh, it's not every year, director uh
[40:30] Jones. So this one in particular since
it's already kind of like resolved. Uh
[40:34] so the dispute was already you know um
resolved. So this is kind of like I
[40:39] wouldn't really say one time but it's
the whole uh dispute is you know one
[40:45] thing right but they're they're doing it
in peace mill basis. So this one in
[40:49] particular is just from 2000 to 2005. Uh
so that's one piece and then from 2006
[40:55] to 2024 we don't know yet.
>> Okay. Uh but right now I think from 2006
[41:00] to 2018 that's the one that they're
currently under review and that's you
[41:04] know the one that I mentioned probably
will you know have another like you know
[41:08] refund or deduction for a property tax
revenue of about 150 160k just based on
[41:13] my uh own estimates.
>> Yeah.
[41:18] » Hey lane did the county did the
assessor's office say how they're going
[41:22] to communicate this this has been going
on for a long time. when I first got on
[41:27] the board, I think that's when the
appeal happened and there was no
[41:31] communication from them and then all of
a sudden there's this, right? So it
[41:35] shouldn't, I guess, be that much of a
surprise, but you know, I mean, at least
[41:41] we can kind of absorb some of these,
>> right?
[41:46] » I'm just thinking there are other pieces
that can't, but I mean, are they have
[41:52] you given them feedback like how that
they need to communicate this a little
[41:56] more regularly to us? Yeah, we haven't
gotten any um news or any communication
[42:01] whether or not it's going to be more
frequent. But you know what um we did on
[42:06] our end at least is because at the end I
think you're right, directly correct
[42:10] because you know we were actually
surprised you know oh it's settled right
[42:13] February we received the notice then we
have to plan for it like right away uh
[42:18] during the budget cycle pretty much
because it's already budget cycle. Um
[42:22] I'm not sure if you know they're going
to have like you know uh improvements on
[42:27] you know communications or at least like
do it more frequently. But again on our
[42:31] end I think what we're doing right now
is you know we're I mean we're trying to
[42:34] contact you know the county to see you
know who actually is responsible you
[42:37] know for like you know this you know
assessments or this you know reviews. So
[42:41] I actually got a contact you know from
the assessor's office and you know I
[42:45] think he or she is the one uh
responsible for um uh or to contact
[42:51] point of contact for like you know ask
if we have like any questions you know
[42:54] in regard to this you know dispute or
tax you know settlement. Um so that's I
[43:00] think you know our
solution is to just reach out uh
[43:05] frequently you know um to them and see
you know if there are any updates
[43:10] because I'm not sure if you know there
is going to be more um if they are going
[43:15] to take you know more initiative on you
know letting you know all the agencies
[43:19] you know within the county that you know
this is ongoing and there's you know
[43:23] constant updates. um that one you know I
can't really tell but on our end you
[43:28] know we're trying to be as you know uh
proactive as well
[43:32] uh to you know just reach out to them at
least you know without contacting a
[43:36] person you know from the county now who
can probably you know uh um answer you
[43:42] know some of our questions if ever
>> I just want to follow up on that the
[43:48] major loser in this is going to be the
county itself and I'm wondering how that
[43:53] might affect affect our district in
terms of funding that we get from the
[43:58] the county and so forth. I'm talking
about the cost of dispatch and all those
[44:02] kinds of things that's going to have to
be cuts
[44:04] » any other services.
>> Yeah, I I I don't know the exact
[44:07] percentage, but it it could hit $15
billion just for the county or something
[44:11] like that.
Have you heard any talk or anything
[44:15] about how this might affect county
services?
[44:18] » Uh no. um we haven't you know uh really
have much information on whether or not
[44:24] you know uh it's going to affect us when
it comes to you know to those type of
[44:27] services but I think you know from based
on you know the actual letter the
[44:33] agencies that actually got hit the most
are the school districts so the two
[44:38] school districts are a million dollars
>> let me say that that also then I expect
[44:44] is going to come back and affect the
Yes. I mean, it's all inter all
[44:50] interrelated for sure.
>> Yeah. I think you know that's why I
[44:54] think you know on our share like we have
about like 51 or $52,000 the refund on
[44:59] the ERP you know out of the $469,000.
So uh in terms of you know actual
[45:06] services um we don't know what's the
effect uh on us yet. Uh but you know I
[45:13] mean if we're gonna anticipate any you
know um cuts you know for services like
[45:18] for dispatch I think that's probably
going to be an even a bigger disc or a
[45:22] separate discussion with you know the
county when you know it's you know time
[45:27] to actually you know do that. I know um
dispatch services has always been you
[45:32] know a topic of discussion you know for
for us and you know for all other you
[45:37] know fire districts as well. But it's
going to affect the ambulance stuff as
[45:40] well.
>> I think the bigger revenue issue for the
[45:44] county right now is related to the
vehicle license.
[45:46] » Yeah. Yeah. But that only affects mainly
the cities,
[45:49] » cities and counties.
>> Yeah. It's not going to affect the
[45:52] school districts or the um the the
special districts,
[45:56] » but the short for the county and Yeah.
>> Yeah. for the services. Yeah.
[46:01] » My county is going to be looking for
>> that gap.
[46:06] » I mean, we Yeah. Anyway, that's a
different discussion which I think we
[46:10] probably need to have at some point.
>> Yeah. And then uh the next one would be
[46:16] uh geopolitical conflict. So this one we
kind of like know already and this
[46:21] really affects you know our you know gas
you know fuel and um compressed you know
[46:26] um oil like you know uh budgets. Uh
the next one on page uh 99 uh pension
[46:35] obligations. you know, I put this here.
I think it this is kind of like some
[46:39] sort of a reminder as well. I know we
actually adopted, you know, pension
[46:43] funding policy, but you know, we
continue to be uh wary and cautious
[46:47] with, you know, our pension obligations.
So, even with, you know, our um UI, you
[46:53] know, uh funding, you know, uh policy
that, you know, we adopted a couple of
[46:58] years ago, uh I think, you know, we
started to actually reap the benefits of
[47:02] it. You know, I'm going to discuss it
later with the retirement, you know,
[47:05] budget.
uh but this is I mean 2697 is going to
[47:09] be the third year uh of the
implementation for the virtual or strong
[47:14] pressure you know policy that we did or
that the board adopted a couple years
[47:18] back. Then last one would be the fire
station one. This is going to be an
[47:21] ongoing one until we actually complete
the project. Now the reason it's here is
[47:26] because of course you this is a huge
project. So we're trying to balance you
[47:29] know our operating needs and capital
needs.
[47:32] So uh we're trying to like you look into
our options and as director uh Bernstein
[47:36] had mentioned as well earlier you know
about the costs you know there's going
[47:40] to be a lot of you know uh projections
on that and considerations when it comes
[47:44] to investigation project
>> I think the optimum uh sentence
[47:51] uh I'm sure everybody read it was in the
one through third paragraph and it's
[47:55] about the third line down and start
about uh it says that this proactive
[48:00] reserve strategy strategy support major
infrastructure investment. I think
[48:05] that's to me that's we we really need to
keep our eye on uh what we can do to try
[48:11] to increase that because there there
will be increase in cost just because of
[48:16] inflation just because of what
>> cost of supplies
[48:20] » supplies and the whole thing. So we just
need to keep an eye on on that and I'm
[48:24] sure Alan gonna let us keep
>> Yeah, I think uh that's a good point
[48:28] director Jones. Second thing what we're
doing at least on our budget process is
[48:31] you know uh every time we do the budget
we uh I think we're lucky that you know
[48:36] every year when we do the budget you
know we have uh an excess like you know
[48:40] uh revenue over you know our
expenditures um I think right now an
[48:45] average is about like $20 million like
you know every year or more depends on
[48:49] the savings and we'll know more once you
know of course you know when we you know
[48:53] we have our reconciled you know balances
at year end uh but you know what we're
[48:58] doing you on our on the budgetary
perspective is you know for example for
[49:03] that $20 million right you know a part
of it you know let's say four or $5
[49:07] million you know would be you know
allocated to the current year's you know
[49:11] project current year projects IP
projects and then the rest we keep as a
[49:15] reserve so um to your point uh director
Jones you know we are doing that um
[49:21] during the be the beginning of the year
and then at the end of the year as well
[49:25] when we know uh basically analyze and
reconcile what the actual savings would
[49:30] be and it depends on you know the fun
balance reserve policy that we have then
[49:35] you know we're allocating into the
different reserve categories and that
[49:38] includes you know uh CIS
[49:44] then um so that's you know again that's
the fiscal environment you know that's
[49:48] you know the project considerations you
know that you know uh we you know
[49:52] tackled you know during you know the old
you know budget process so they'll go
[49:56] over now with you know each you know,
>> before you leave the general things, I
[50:01] was going to ask about our contracts
with with um the state and federal
[50:07] governments for when when we're called
up and so forth. Is there are there
[50:12] adjustments for fuel prices changes and
things like that? And those are is that
[50:17] a fixed cost and we just eat the the
higher cost of fuel
[50:22] » there? Uh I think the chief is part of
you know but there is a rate letter
[50:28] » uh there are adjustments you know every
year uh for um uh for I think for the
[50:35] vehicles right chief you know for um
>> mainten
[50:45] state and US force but they do make
adjustments in in theory
[50:51] Um, when we're on the incident, we get
fuel for free from the incident. Our our
[50:59] travel from home to the incident is in
theory on us, right? So, no
[51:05] reimbursement for getting there. The um,
interestingly enough, that they
[51:10] reimburse us at the FEMA
for the FE the FEMA vehicle rates per
[51:15] hour, and in theory, the FEMA rates are
a wet rate that include the cost of
[51:19] fuel. So, we nice nicely enough actually
get
[51:25] kind of double reimburseed, right?
They're giving us a FEMA rate that in
[51:29] theory includes fuel plus they actually
fill up our vehicles while we're at the
[51:33] fire. So, fuel cost should be almost
fully covered except
[51:39] » travel to
>> uh I think I think the FEMA I'm not
[51:43] super familiar with how how FEMA
reimburses us, but I think our fuel
[51:47] costs are all covered. It's all it's all
reimbured as long as it's approved. Um
[51:53] it's it's there's a form pretty much for
FEMA as well. For Calia's side, um we
[51:58] have the ICS 213. So if it's on there,
then you know we're going to get reverse
[52:02] for that. Same thing with you know um
FEMA. So for FEMA, it's almost as if you
[52:06] know we get 100% reimburse for any uh
expense renewal related you know uh for
[52:12] I mean deployment related expenses
including uh fuel.
[52:17] Let me just ask what we're talking about
that
[52:20] you're saying that when we take an
engine or a truck down to Los Angeles,
[52:26] say we pay the cost of getting there. We
pay the cost of getting back.
[52:32] We we pay for fuel to go there. The
we're also at the same time getting
[52:39] reimbursed an hourly rate for driving
our type one engines there. That's I'm
[52:44] just gonna say for the sake of
conversation is $200 an hour. And in
[52:48] that $200 an hour rate that they pay us
includes the cost of fuel.
[52:54] » And does that rate also include for
example the depreciation on the vehicle?
[53:00] » Depreciation maintenance
annual maintenance etc.
[53:04] » Okay. Thank you.
[53:08] uh
ask some questions under topic areas.
[53:15] » Oh, are we
wait till we get there?
[53:18] » Well, I'm asking which
>> uh which topic
[53:23] » uh tactic tactical medics
>> uh maybe um I can go over uh
[53:29] » I thought you were done with the others.
>> Oh, okay.
[53:32] » Can we continue with that? You got 10
more question.
[53:37] » Uh, it says here that there four law
enforcement SWAT teams.
[53:45] » Oh, I'm sorry. 165.
[53:54] want to start basically on page 100
right now
[54:00] the specific spreadsheets charts. Yeah,
I think um we can go over like you know
[54:06] uh the next few pages and then if there
are questions along the way and then you
[54:11] know if we actually don't go through
this in specific
[54:16] then we can yeah then we can have the
questions you know
[54:20] » our our intent is not to go through each
and every program but
[54:24] » after yeah's done if you have questions
that you have
[54:29] I think I just want to make Sure.
[54:34] » Okay. You want to start You want to go
and start on the general funary budget
[54:38] summary.
>> Uh so if you turn on page 100 uh of the
[54:43] packet. So the general fund preliminary
budget you know uh summary. So um
[54:48] overall um our revenue budget is 101.
It's on the third from the last column.
[54:54] Uh $101.7
million. is our expenditure budget for
[54:59] the general fund is $81.9 million and
then the excess uh is about $19.8
[55:06] million and that's operating transfer
out that you see there. Uh that's um uh
[55:12] the transfer out with the CIP fund which
I mentioned earlier director Jones is
[55:16] going to fund you know the current CIP
budget or expenses plus you know the
[55:20] rest is going to be you know put on the
resource. So uh I think overall the b
[55:25] the balance is uh the budget is balanced
uh meaning the our anticipated revenues
[55:29] are greater than you know our uh
expenditures or greater than or equal to
[55:33] our expenditures and you know uh
transfers. So um for revenues um on page
[55:40] eight uh which is on page 102 of the
packet.
[55:47] So the table there again as I mentioned
um it's $101.7 million uh which is about
[55:53] 6.5 million or 6.8% increase uh from you
know the prior year uh prior year's you
[56:00] know budget uh property taxes uh again
it's comprised about 90 90% of you know
[56:06] the proposed budget. So I'm not again
going to go over each of you know the
[56:11] line items here but I just want to
reiterate that you know with you know
[56:14] our budget you know process for you know
property taxes we consider you know the
[56:18] $469,000
refund from you know the gen property
[56:22] taxes
um so if you go on page um 108
[56:33] uh so I wanted to actually again discuss
you know the use of money and property
[56:38] uh again as I mentioned earlier we
considered you know the interest rate
[56:43] environment. So what we did here is um
so right now we have two um uh we have
[56:50] two major portfolios right now for
investment one is you know our liquid
[56:54] portfolio and then the other one is our
core portfolio. So for our fourth
[56:59] portfolio portfolio we actually budgeted
about 4%
[57:04] um for the interest rate and that is
because I mean if you would notice 4% is
[57:08] actually higher than you know the
current you know interest you know rate
[57:12] right now which is 3.575%.
But the reason why we actually have 4%
[57:17] is because 4% is the current yield uh
yield cost. uh right now what it means
[57:25] is you know um if we actually uh keep
everything at maturity that's the amount
[57:31] of you know um interest you know person
in percentage wide that that that we're
[57:36] going to get and it's higher because you
know we're pretty much locked in into
[57:40] those rates because we did not just you
know put you know those investments
[57:44] right now when the interest uh rate you
know was low we actually have you know
[57:49] um investments like you know two to
three years back when we actually, you
[57:53] know, uh we were able to actually lock
in, you know, those, you know, better
[57:56] rates. That's why you see that right now
it's at 4%. But for our liquid
[58:00] portfolio, um we budgeted uh 3%. So, we
want to be a little conservative on this
[58:05] one. Although, um right now, um the
current rate, um our interest rate right
[58:12] now for a liquid portfolio is about
3.7%, 3.7 to 3.8%.
[58:17] Um we actually budget I just
>> yes that's correct that's correct that's
[58:23] late at our camp um it's about 3.7 3.8
you know percent uh we budgeted 3% again
[58:30] because of you know uh two anticipated
rate cuts within the fiscal year um so
[58:34] we decided to go with you know 3%.
And I think that's uh all I wanted to
[58:41] actually emphasize for you is the
revenue budget. So if we can go to the
[58:46] general, you know, uh expenditure
budget. Well, wait. Can I can I just And
[58:51] I don't know where the right place is to
bring this up, but um just to be on the
[58:57] lookout and I'm not gonna say too much
about this because I think the chief
[59:01] might talk to you, but I was at the CSDA
legislative day and one of the proposed
[59:06] legislation talks about local or talked
about local revenue and blade in the
[59:12] community's community reinvestment fund
that um that would require the state
[59:16] treasur to set aside 5 to 10% of the
funds in Lif were deposited into a
[59:22] community reinvestment account quote
unquote and then so I mean I can so just
[59:28] to be aware of that um that you know
[59:35] » well let me read this is how they the
legislature proposal has defined it
[59:40] funds so deposited to be used as a c
quote a catalyst for small business
[59:45] lending firsttime home ownership and
community reinvestment connected to
[59:50] measurable community lending performance
while prioritizing safety liquidity and
[59:56] unquote. So, and there's a separate risk
controls, liquidity thresholds, etc. But
[1:00:02] the point isn't that I'm just giving you
a heads up that we should be on the
[1:00:07] lookout if we want to take more money
out and that's something that the board
[1:00:11] has to decide, but something that we
need to research or keep an eye on.
[1:00:15] » Yeah, definitely. I think you know what
we're doing right now even you know in
[1:00:18] general with the investment portfolio
we're trying to actually you know even
[1:00:22] even if we're doing I think we're pretty
doing doing pretty well with our
[1:00:26] investment portfolio right now what you
know we've been doing is we're
[1:00:29] constantly trying to actually look for
you know opportunities not just with you
[1:00:32] know our
>> uh core portfolio because you know
[1:00:35] that's managed by PFM but you know with
our liquid portfolio director Kerali you
[1:00:38] know we have you know other options that
we're looking into we have la we have
[1:00:43] you know cab we also have actually met
with you know uh two other um LGIP
[1:00:49] providers I think in the last couple of
weeks just to see what's out there um
[1:00:53] other options you know that we may have
eventually doesn't mean that you know
[1:00:57] we're going to you know jump onto it
like right away uh but at least like we
[1:01:01] know uh what what's out there and then
we can act you know pretty quickly when
[1:01:05] we need it. So uh thank you director for
mentioning that. I'll definitely take a
[1:01:09] look at that and see.
>> It's AB2214.
[1:01:14] » Yeah. So, um there's nothing to be
alarming alarmed about right now, but I
[1:01:18] just want to put it out that this is
kind of floating around.
[1:01:25] » Thank you, director. So, um
>> getting back to the expenditure budget.
[1:01:31] Uh so, um on think uh page
I would say
[1:01:37] » page 15. Oh, page 109.
>> 109.
[1:01:42] » So, page 109. uh of the packet, you
know, the table there um shows
[1:01:49] uh $81.9 million and this is excluding
the operating transfer. Uh it's
[1:01:55] reflecting $4.9 million or 6.4% increase
from, you know, last year's budget.
[1:02:01] Again, I'm going to focus on maybe two
or three things here. Um the first thing
[1:02:05] um or if you look on page 110
the next page actually it's it's at the
[1:02:14] very bottom but it really starts on page
111 and it talks about
[1:02:20] uh the information technology specialist
FTE.
[1:02:23] » So I think you know um we currently have
153 um uh FTE right now. So we are or
[1:02:30] the district is request I mean we are
staff is requesting you know addition
[1:02:34] for an IA specialist. So um overall I
think you know the reason for that is
[1:02:39] you know there's I mean the
technological environment actually has
[1:02:44] grown a lot and then the complexity as
well actually has evolved um and that
[1:02:50] actually led to you know an increased
you know workload for you know for our
[1:02:54] staff our IT staff to keep up with you
know our technologies you know maintain
[1:02:59] you know uh operations you know minimize
downtime you know address you know cyber
[1:03:03] security risks all of those
responsibilities activities. So um this
[1:03:07] request is really to actually help with
you know the current you know workload
[1:03:12] for us to be able to maintain you know
reliable operations you know um the
[1:03:16] capacity as well to um improve and
address you know current and future
[1:03:21] technological needs. Um so that's you
know uh the main reason for you know uh
[1:03:27] our request. I think you know the
overall narrative is actually explaining
[1:03:31] in more detail you know uh the
justification for that request is
[1:03:35] actually presented on that page
and then um on page uh 112
[1:03:47] uh page 112 or it starts on page 112 uh
for retirement. So for retirement uh so
[1:03:55] we are budgeting $14.9 million which is
actually $27,000
[1:04:02] decrease uh
>> $217,000 decrease uh it's a decrease. So
[1:04:09] um this is you know what I was referring
to earlier when um when we're starting
[1:04:14] to actually reap the benefits of you
know the policy that you know we adopted
[1:04:18] you know a couple of years back. So even
though there is definitely an increase
[1:04:24] in you know the fionable salaries
because of you know anticipated increase
[1:04:28] in you know um costs you know for you
know our staff. Um the decrease is you
[1:04:34] know uh related to I would say related
to three things. Number one is um for
[1:04:39] the investment return Kalpers investment
return actually for fiscal year um
[1:04:46] uh 2495 I believe is uh 9 you know uh 3%
which is well over the 6.8% 8% you know
[1:04:56] um target you know uh rate you know of
return for caler. So that actually
[1:05:02] contributed to you know a lesser uh
unfunded you know acred liability for
[1:05:07] the district. Uh the second one is you
know in relation to the annual payments
[1:05:13] that you know we are paying to Kalpers
um that you know additional
[1:05:18] discretionary payments uh which is part
of the policy again um for 10 years you
[1:05:24] know for that soft virtual fresh start
you know um we're contributing more
[1:05:28] right now so we're fronting the money
but you know we're um uh benefiting from
[1:05:33] you know longer term uh interest you
know uh not just interest but you know
[1:05:38] UI let you know reductions because you
know we're smoothing out the volatility
[1:05:42] for the UL so now you would see that you
know um there's actually an overall
[1:05:48] decrease in you know the unfunded
overall unfunded liability which is I
[1:05:54] believe on page
uh 114
[1:06:00] » uh so that that first table uh on page
114
[1:06:06] so that bridge shows you know, uh, cuz U
is really a big part of, you know, of
[1:06:11] retirement budget. So, there's actually
about 534,000
[1:06:16] decrease, uh, for our overall, you know,
um, U, uh, budget.
[1:06:24] » And then,
>> yeah, so again, we're starting to reap
[1:06:27] the benefits of, you know, our policy.
Uh, plus, you know, I think in the next
[1:06:31] year or so, I think Calver still had
like a good, you know, investment
[1:06:35] return. I think it's about 11 point
something%. So we're going to have we're
[1:06:40] going to continue to see at least on uh
if we're going to keep it simple if
[1:06:45] everything stays the same and then uh
there's no um increase in UL due to you
[1:06:50] know uh assumption changes or actial you
know um uh costs then next year we will
[1:06:56] also expect you know another u it's
probably another good year for us
[1:07:01] because of the investment return.
And then lastly is um if you turn on
[1:07:06] page um
uh page 113
[1:07:12] uh that first table
[1:07:16] uh this is the normal contribution rate.
So normal cost uh so besides classic uh
[1:07:22] safety classic there's actually a slight
or modest decrease uh in the normal cost
[1:07:28] you know percentage you know 4.697. So
that contributed you know to the overall
[1:07:33] decrease of you know their retirement
budget.
[1:07:38] And then
um
[1:07:42] last thing for contract for uh
expenditure budget um if you turn on
[1:07:46] page 114
uh so contract services.
[1:07:53] So for contract services I wanted to
emphasize this because this actually has
[1:07:57] the biggest jump you know out of you
know our budget. So for contract
[1:08:01] services um we are budgeting 11.3
million uh which is $2.7 million
[1:08:08] increase
uh for the next fiscal year. So that one
[1:08:13] is you know uh there's four major
factors why we're increasing you know
[1:08:18] that you know budget by a lot 2.7
million increase. First one is um oh
[1:08:23] actually first and second one this goes
hand in hand. Um so we are budgeting
[1:08:28] about $1.5 million for the temporary
fire station and then $120,000 for
[1:08:35] temporary office relocation. So in
preparation for you know the
[1:08:38] construction for the fire station one
rebuild. Uh we the plan right now of
[1:08:43] course might change but the plan right
now is you to demo uh the yellow house
[1:08:48] or you know the annex building and you
know set up a temporary fire station you
[1:08:53] know for uh for uh that you know piece
of land. So that's you know where the $
[1:08:57] 1.5 million um increase is you know
coming from. And of course, we're going
[1:09:02] to have to relocate, you know, uh HR
staff and then the payroll, uh staff
[1:09:07] right now, as well as, you know, uh
staff at, you know, fire station one,
[1:09:11] which is training and, you know, uh our
senior management analyst for the BFR
[1:09:16] program. So, that's the $120,000.
>> Demoing the building behind us here.
[1:09:21] » Uh not this one. Uh the building right
next to
[1:09:27] » next to what? next to the admin
building.
[1:09:30] » The back part of the 170
>> the yellow building.
[1:09:33] » Uh there's the yellow house there.
>> Oh, I'm turning around that way.
[1:09:37] » Oh,
>> this way. This way.
[1:09:38] » Yeah, I got it.
>> Yeah.
[1:09:41] » Wow.
>> Yeah. So, I think right now that 1.5
[1:09:44] million is, you know, just an estimate.
you know, talking to John, uh, I think
[1:09:48] that's, you know, what it would cost to,
you know, set up, you know, the Empire
[1:09:51] Fire Station, set up those two trailers,
uh, um, pretty much, you know, uh,
[1:09:56] getting it ready, uh, for all
operational, you know, uh, needs.
[1:10:00] » So, when we were all done, we just have
a big bot.
[1:10:02] » Uh, when we're all done, I think the
plan right now, is this actually
[1:10:07] » it's going to be vacant, but probably
going to sell.
[1:10:12] » That's interesting. Um
yeah, the plan is we'll have it'll
[1:10:16] probably be a parking lot and we'll sell
once we're ready to move in here, we'll
[1:10:21] sell both the admin building and that
parking lot together separately. And
[1:10:26] John's opinion was that with the quality
of that yellow house that's there
[1:10:31] the raw land is worth almost as much as
having the building on it. And it's just
[1:10:38] uh for
kind of a value initiative.
[1:10:43] Seminary was willing to rent us um about
half an acre, 3/4 of an acre. Uh but the
[1:10:52] the cost over the um the timeline for
the construction was going to be almost
[1:10:59] $3 million in just ground rent for
nothing. And so it made more sense for
[1:11:06] us to spend the money to do some demo
over there and then just put the
[1:11:10] temporary station there. And ultimately
I think it would probably one and a half
[1:11:14] to$2 million to the good having the
temporary station there. And then yeah
[1:11:19] the value of the property at least in
John I think and also talking the
[1:11:24] commercial real estate brokerise
that makes sense but yeah we ran through
[1:11:29] those things. It is also possible we
have some other possible conversations
[1:11:35] going on with
uh USGS, well not USGS, the developers
[1:11:42] of the new USGS property because they
may not need to do anything or with it
[1:11:47] for six years and so there might be an
opportunity to uh put the temporary
[1:11:53] station there and also provide office
stations but very pre
[1:11:58] » yeah we're just looking at a variety of
options but That's the current
[1:12:02] » or the ideas.
>> Yeah. I guess I'm only reacting because
[1:12:06] it's historic. I don't know about
historic, but certainly very old house.
[1:12:10] » It's old. It's uh interestingly not
enough. Not not its original location.
[1:12:13] It was moved there
>> decades and decades ago. And yeah, and
[1:12:18] the city of Melo Park doesn't have any
historic recognition for it.
[1:12:23] » It is a tired old Victorian house for
sure. And I think also chief in our
[1:12:30] discussion in the facility committee
there is a kind of another option that
[1:12:35] seemed like it's being looked at a
little bit more u at least talked about.
[1:12:40] They haven't gotten any conclusion yet
about the acquisition of
[1:12:47] some more property from seminary.
[1:12:52] » Yeah. So uh continuing the discussion.
So uh those are the two major things and
[1:12:56] you know the other two that uh actually
uh is affecting that 2.7 million
[1:13:01] increase is now uh third one is the
workers comp. So for workers comp you
[1:13:06] know we've just seen you know a
significant increase you know in the
[1:13:09] past couple of years for the claims. So
uh we're trying to anticipate that in
[1:13:13] the upcoming year as well. So we
increased our budget by $55,000
[1:13:17] for that. And then the last one is you
know uh the mobilization exercise grant.
[1:13:23] So that um it's a $519,000
grant that the board actually approved
[1:13:28] last year as well, but most of the
expenses are going to be in the next
[1:13:31] fiscal year. Uh so for this one in
particular, um $450,000 is allotted for
[1:13:38] contract services. It's for our other
participating agencies, but this is
[1:13:42] actually completely reimburseable. So
we're going to get the money back, you
[1:13:47] know, for this one particular.
So I think that's for the general fund
[1:13:51] expenditure budget and if you turn on
page 116
[1:13:57] 116
uh so page 116 to page 122 so this is a
[1:14:04] continuation of you know what we did
last year as well last year this is the
[1:14:08] uh this is the second year that we're
doing it. So what we're trying to uh
[1:14:11] accomplish here is you know for budget
highlights and new initiatives. So we
[1:14:16] are trying to um present you know things
that are new uh for the next fiscal year
[1:14:22] or any other things that you know u we
think that it's important you know to
[1:14:27] highlight uh particularly if there's a
significant increase in the budget. So I
[1:14:33] think there's about 12 of it uh right
now I'm just going to go over uh it real
[1:14:38] quick. Uh the first one is community
hubs. This is the search cache. I think
[1:14:42] gauge our farm mash le actually did a
demo or um a walk through of you know
[1:14:47] the first you know community hub uh that
third cache you know uh so there's going
[1:14:52] to be two more this fiscal year before
the end of fiscal year and then I think
[1:14:57] the plan is to add additional three in
the next fiscal year so total of six uh
[1:15:02] the next one is the see-through
navigator devices uh that's on page 117
[1:15:10] uh these are the quake cameras that we
received uh this you know fiscal year.
[1:15:14] So we are actually just uh budgeting for
you know the subscription for a software
[1:15:19] that's needed for us to be able to
utilize all the functions of you know
[1:15:23] those.
The third one is the drone as first
[1:15:27] responder program. So this is you know
uh there's going to be an expansion of
[1:15:32] the program. So overall, I think we're
requesting about $84,000 and that's
[1:15:36] going to be for a new dock and then for
all other requests, you know, for any
[1:15:40] other things that's needed for that.
The next one for pay on page uh 118,
[1:15:48] election services. So there's going to
be an upcoming election, you know, this
[1:15:52] year. This there's three um seats uh
this cycle. So we're looking to fill
[1:15:58] those positions. Um and we budgeted
about $180,000 for that. I think last
[1:16:04] time we did it was 4 years ago. Um the
actual cost of that is about $148 or
[1:16:10] almost $150,000
but with anticipated you know share you
[1:16:14] know cost increases throughout the
years. You know we decided to budget
[1:16:18] about 18.
Next one is facility condition
[1:16:22] assessment. This one was actually
already approved last year by the board.
[1:16:27] uh we are just rebudgeting it because we
are postponing the project you know uh
[1:16:31] just uh priorities came up you know uh
other priorities actually came up this
[1:16:35] fiscal year so um this project is going
to get postponed for the next
[1:16:42] the next one is IT infrastructure
equipment replacement so there are just
[1:16:47] you know a lot of you know um uh
equipment you know IT related you know
[1:16:52] uh equipment that we needed to replace
because it's already um uh nearing the
[1:16:58] end of life or it's already uh non
functioning. So that's you know pretty
[1:17:02] much you know what the budget is. The
next one is the Nox key secure upgrade.
[1:17:07] So we're just upgrading that our uh Knox
uh uh branded key secure units uh to uh
[1:17:13] I think secure system. Uh I think all
the functions are actually written on
[1:17:18] that. Uh but if there's questions feel
free to ask.
[1:17:23] » Is it is that an electronic system?
>> Uh does it require power? Yes.
[1:17:28] » Does it require power?
>> Uh I think they those knock systems
[1:17:32] already have power going to them because
they operate electrical gates. But also
[1:17:36] for just the fixed ones that are on a
building that don't have power, it would
[1:17:39] be battery operated. Yeah. It'll have a
battery in there. Um, but this will I
[1:17:46] don't know if that's your question, but
it's yeah, completely digital um with
[1:17:51] full tracking of everyone who removes
the digital key and accesses it and also
[1:17:56] the ability to recode. I mean, we won't
we won't ever lose. I just
[1:18:03] I I hope we take a hard look at these
because this idea of not being able to
[1:18:09] get in a Knox box because the batteries
run out or something of that sort.
[1:18:13] » I'll double check. There's got to be
some kind of redundancy.
[1:18:17] » Yeah,
every time I get one of these things
[1:18:21] that's supposed to be fail safe,
[1:18:26] I'll double check and get back to you,
but I'll check with our expert gauge.
[1:18:32] How much how how much is an up the
upgrade is really just
[1:18:38] so on private property with an upgrade.
Um
[1:18:41] » we're going to Yeah, we're going to
upgrade everybody's box. We're not
[1:18:44] asking the community to do something
that we want to do because they've
[1:18:48] already got it installed, but it's on
it's everyone's gate. It's everyone's
[1:18:51] building. It just replaces the tumbler,
the mechanical tumbler with this
[1:18:56] electronic entry. But somebody like um
like Facebook for example might have I
[1:19:02] don't say 50 of those things but yeah we
we will replace whatever is necessary to
[1:19:08] make everybody digital
>> that that project would come before the
[1:19:12] board though at some point right
>> assuming the funding exceeds my ability
[1:19:17] to sign for it.
>> Yes. But it looks like we're asking for
[1:19:21] funding for $9,000.
Um, so it might not.
[1:19:26] » Well, it's hard to imagine it would only
cost 90,000, but I thought it would make
[1:19:32] 90 million.
>> No. Yeah.
[1:19:35] » So,
>> I'd probably be saying no to that.
[1:19:38] » Never got
>> So, Chief, are you saying that the
[1:19:41] knockbox are run off of batteries?
>> I'm going to check
[1:19:44] » because
answer. It's got to be.
[1:19:47] » The question didn't become who's going
to replace the batteries
[1:19:51] » and the call. Who going to pay for that
cost? I'm gonna have a good answer for
[1:19:54] you at our next board meeting.
[1:20:01] » So, uh the next three one uh the next
three are actually things that we
[1:20:05] already discussed. The temporary office
relation, the whole grant and the
[1:20:10] temporary fire station as well. Uh and
then if you turn on page 121, uh the
[1:20:17] wellness initiatives. So this one I
think in the past like two years I think
[1:20:22] it started uh when we actually asked for
uh some budget for some wellness
[1:20:28] initiatives. So uh we the board actually
approved you know the 25 sessions you
[1:20:33] know psychological
uh counseling sessions you know for each
[1:20:37] you know employee and then for next
fiscal year we're budgeting $180,000 for
[1:20:41] that. But there is new next fiscal year
that you know we wanted to actually do
[1:20:46] as well. Um it's we're budgeting about
$170,000
[1:20:51] you know to implement a critical
wellness you know program you know aimed
[1:20:55] at strengthening the health performance
and resilience of the district
[1:20:59] personnel. So all the components are
there. Um the chief could probably talk
[1:21:04] about this more but our goal really is
you know of course you know collectively
[1:21:08] to deliver like short term short and
long-term you know benefits you know uh
[1:21:12] enhancing you know of course you know
the the person's you know operating
[1:21:15] readiness uh the risk of injuries um um
reducing the risk of injuries and you
[1:21:22] know and eventually um we're hoping you
know to actually um lower our workers
[1:21:28] you know compensation costs you know
with this. So uh chief
[1:21:32] » yeah I will share shortly as Elaine
noted as we were talking about our
[1:21:37] workers comp is on the rise significant
I mean that's the same
[1:21:43] with everyone the cost of treatment the
cost are 48 50 times so what we're
[1:21:47] trying to do yeah and I I love our
employees and really seriously
[1:21:51] interested in their wellness I'm also
interested in trying to reduce and
[1:21:54] control costs
and we have um there's four four major
[1:22:01] fire departments, LA City, Dallas,
Fairfax County, and Phoenix that have
[1:22:05] all implemented similar programs
um where they're bringing some uh some
[1:22:12] physical therapy therapy and rehab and
recovery elements into the fire stations
[1:22:17] kind of to proactively treat. You know,
as we get older or with this job, we
[1:22:22] always have nagging injuries. were
trying to prevent them turning into
[1:22:25] something more serious work result in
treatment or time off and the results I
[1:22:31] will just share you know somewhat
anecdotally because there's so many
[1:22:35] variables but in general the return on
investment is two to five times um on
[1:22:42] this we'll see over time but again
that's that's part of it is trying to
[1:22:47] also reduce our costs in addition to the
you know by other
[1:22:51] health and safety.
>> I like that thing, you know.
[1:22:56] » So, are we
>> I was going to just say, oh, one other
[1:23:00] thing. Even though the we're spending
$170,000
[1:23:03] approximately on this new program. Um, I
made some reductions in the overall RMS
[1:23:09] budget. So, the net increase is right
around $100,000. Still, we made some
[1:23:14] reductions in some areas. So, it wasn't
such a
[1:23:18] Sorry, Dr.
>> It's okay. I It may be a rhetorical
[1:23:21] question, but are are we uh keeping a um
any kind of analysis database as to
[1:23:32] from the beginning as to
>> yes
[1:23:35] » five years from now to see if this if
there's going to be
[1:23:38] » we'll be collecting data. I'm going to
call it as I do with most of new
[1:23:42] programs a kind of a pilot program and
you know actually I don't anticipate
[1:23:47] we'll be able to measure its efficacy
after a year but after a couple years
[1:23:50] we'll be able to measure the data uh
we'll collect that internally and also
[1:23:54] working with ICS our workers comp
provider our third party administrators
[1:23:59] so that that's our plan and we'll report
back on the results too
[1:24:06] » I think I think the last one for the
budget highlight I can new initiatives
[1:24:10] is the workers comp which we actually
already discussed in detail so I'm not
[1:24:14] going to go over you know that um then
the next one so that's the general pond
[1:24:19] budget so uh we uh the next two uh pawns
is probably going to be very quick so
[1:24:25] for CIP um if you turn on page 123 of
the packet
[1:24:34] so again on third to the last column you
know our total budget Right now, our
[1:24:40] proposed budget for fiscal year 2627 is
about $4.5 million.
[1:24:45] Um, and it's uh $3.4 million is for
actual, you know, constructions and CIP
[1:24:51] projects. Then the 1 million $1.1
million are is related uh to uh purchase
[1:24:57] of fixed assets. So,
>> purchase of what? fix.
[1:25:01] » Uh those are things that are um
[1:25:07] uh unit uh those are purchases with a
unit cost of $10,000 or more based on
[1:25:12] our current policy. Um so if you turn on
page um 126
[1:25:23] so um so that table over there just
summarizes you know the ongoing
[1:25:27] projects. So, uh that we currently have.
So, we don't have any uh new projects uh
[1:25:33] that you know we're going to have
besides the ones that we have right now
[1:25:36] or at least on the construction you know
piece of it. So, uh all of the budget
[1:25:41] you know that we propose are anything
that's ongoing. The only item that you
[1:25:46] know is new for the next fiscal year um
is the ERP system upgrade. So, we
[1:25:51] budgeted $300,000 for that. Um, so
although it's not a construction, you
[1:25:57] know, uh, per se, it's, you know, under,
uh, CIP, it's an improvement because
[1:26:01] it's going to be a long-term, uh,
there's going to be long-term benefit,
[1:26:04] you know, for that ERP system upgrade.
So, we're going to have to capitalize
[1:26:07] it. And you know with you know the
discussions in the past that keeping
[1:26:11] everything that you know we are
capitalizing into the CIP fund we
[1:26:15] decided to actually uh be consistent
about it and you know we are um putting
[1:26:20] you know this you know budget you know
of $300,000 you know for uh the CIP fund
[1:26:26] for the next fiscal year. So uh just a
little bit of background on this one.
[1:26:29] We're actually already starting with you
know the project. So this has something
[1:26:32] to do with you know our you know
financial and HR systems. So right now
[1:26:38] um we have like the four or five like
different systems. You know what we want
[1:26:41] to do is you know we want to change you
know our overall like ERP system to
[1:26:45] enhance functionalities because right
now our system is really outdated. um it
[1:26:50] doesn't really give us you know uh much
you know uh capabilities um and with you
[1:26:55] know all the you know things that's
going on you know with you know the
[1:26:59] growth um and then the difficulty and
complexity of just you know with you
[1:27:03] know accounting finance and HR you know
processes you know we decided that it's
[1:27:08] time to actually you know switch to a
better uh hopefully a better like you
[1:27:12] know ERP system so we're starting the
process now um we are looking for we are
[1:27:18] actually in the process of you know um
doing our due diligence you know
[1:27:21] reference checks with you know our uh
consultants uh who actually um uh
[1:27:28] submitted you know proposals for the
first phase of the project. So we are
[1:27:32] anticipating you know by I think I would
say at the earliest last quarter of next
[1:27:38] year uh we're going to start with you
know the implementation of the new ERP
[1:27:42] system.
Implementation meaning not like fully
[1:27:47] ready but starting to actually switch
doing you know the all you know the uh
[1:27:53] data entries migration you know parallel
testing all of that stuff.
[1:27:59] It implies in here that you won't have a
payroll service anymore. You're going to
[1:28:03] do it in house. Is that correct?
>> It's not nec it's it doesn't necessarily
[1:28:08] mean that you know we're actually going
to you know uh I mean it's an option but
[1:28:13] you know what again what we're doing
right now is you with the consultant you
[1:28:16] know is you know we're trying to
actually have them help us you know with
[1:28:20] the needs assessment part of it. So that
means like you know we are trying to
[1:28:24] understand you know how our current
system actually functions you know what
[1:28:28] can we improve what do we need what do
we want um and what it makes sense what
[1:28:33] what is really better for the district
based on our you know current you know
[1:28:36] operations. So we may actually you know
uh do it in house we may keep it
[1:28:42] separate it all depends on you know um
the results of you know of the first
[1:28:47] phase of you know the project. Um, so
we're not really um decided yet whether
[1:28:53] or not, you know, we're going to do it
inhouse or yet continue to, you know,
[1:28:57] outsource, you know, the cutting of the
checks uh pretty much. So, we're trying
[1:29:02] to weigh all of our options and again,
there's going to be a lot of work uh
[1:29:07] during the first phase of, you know, the
project where we're going to really
[1:29:10] analyze, you know, all of that needs.
>> The goal would be to pull into the ERP
[1:29:14] if possible. Um but we just have to go
through the process to see because
[1:29:19] especially with public agencies and
special districts and bar groups um we
[1:29:24] need to make sure that it that it can
manage effectively all of the rules. Um
[1:29:31] the goal would be to
not have a system.
[1:29:37] » Have we had any problems with that
>> with our current payroll?
[1:29:41] » Yeah.
>> No. Um the issue is um not that there's
[1:29:44] necessarily problems. It's that um our
payroll system doesn't substitute for an
[1:29:51] HS system. And so it's not um
comprehensive. So like say for example
[1:29:58] when we do um a wage table change which
is anou negotiated increase um it's
[1:30:05] basically updating an excel spreadsheet
and manually entering those changes into
[1:30:10] our payroll system versus if you have an
ERP and you can go and do these manual
[1:30:15] mass updates. It's just less like room
for error, less manual entry, just kind
[1:30:23] of having an ERP system that can
actually store salvary tables versus
[1:30:28] having these Excel tape, you know, it's
just it's just antiquated the process we
[1:30:33] currently use. So, it's just trying to
kind of bring it up to date.
[1:30:38] » Yeah. I think also uh in addition to
that as you know uh with um with
[1:30:43] advantage of you know have keeping it
you know in-house or having it in house
[1:30:46] is we have more control of you know uh
uh the system. So if there's going to be
[1:30:52] any change you know with you know uh
theus you know we can pretty much you
[1:30:57] know uh do our own thing and then start
to you know just you know uh
[1:31:01] incorporated into the system instead of
like relying on you know uh the third
[1:31:06] party system which sometimes can be
really difficult uh because you know
[1:31:10] there you can have like a good customer
service rep and then the next day you
[1:31:14] know uh no one knows about you know what
we're talking about. So at least with
[1:31:18] with this one you know we have more
control so we can have like more backups
[1:31:21] and you know more training cross
trainining you know with you know people
[1:31:24] in you know the finance departments. How
how how do you now two things how do you
[1:31:29] deliver checks to employees
um
[1:31:34] because not everybody's at work all the
time. And then um
[1:31:40] are you having payroll taxes paid
automatically or are you writing checks
[1:31:46] for the various
>> uh no so we're using ADP so they do all
[1:31:50] of that for us. So um they're cutting
the checks you know sending the payments
[1:31:55] you know to to employees. I think right
now most of our employees are
[1:32:00] » uh no not by mail it's electronic. So I
think you know I would say about 99%
[1:32:06] I would say of you know uh the district
person are getting paid through
[1:32:09] electronic direct deposit electronic
payments. Um there's a few instances
[1:32:14] where we have to cut checks. Uh but
that's only when there is let's say um
[1:32:18] there's a new change in you know their
bank account and uh payroll already was
[1:32:23] processed. So we have to actually you
know uh cut you know an actual manual
[1:32:28] check you know to them. And again, ADP
is, you know, mailing that. Um, so other
[1:32:33] than that, it's all electronic. Um, so
that's, you know, I mean, in terms of
[1:32:38] taxes, you know, of course, we still do
the reconciliations. We do all the work.
[1:32:42] Um, ADB is pretty much just, you know,
um, sending it out like for
[1:32:47] communications, you know, to people when
it comes to, you know, the tax, you
[1:32:50] know, things like that.
>> Yeah, that's good for record keeping.
[1:32:55] So with the new system you got you going
to bring where is the data going to be
[1:33:00] stored in house or it's going to be all
>> yes it's going to be
[1:33:03] » the goal is as Francine mentioned the
goal is you know um it's going to be uh
[1:33:10] a news it can be stored in the new
system whatever that system would be uh
[1:33:15] but you know most of the work or all of
the work like you know all the
[1:33:20] reconciliations like sending out W2s
it's all going to be in counts like
[1:33:24] cutting the checks. Uh when I say
cutting the checks, doesn't mean that
[1:33:27] it's a manual check, but you know,
sending in those payments for like, you
[1:33:30] know, their salaries, you know, their
compensation, it's all going to be the
[1:33:34] responsibility now of, you know,
finance. So, we're going to set it up
[1:33:37] all in the system, all into the system.
But once it's set up, um it's pretty
[1:33:42] much, you know, uh good to go unless,
you know, of course, there's going to be
[1:33:46] like, you know, changes like, you know,
uh here and there. uh but everything is
[1:33:51] going to be in-house now meaning we
we're not you know using any third party
[1:33:55] uh to do you know some of those you know
responsibilities.
[1:33:58] » My thought and concern was what if you
have a fire in the office
[1:34:03] » and you got to get to the data.
>> So it that it won't be on prem meaning
[1:34:08] that we're storing this on servers. Um
it's actually these are cloud-based
[1:34:12] systems. That's
>> I mean at least our goal is cloud-based
[1:34:17] right? Um it helps us with you know uh
controls as well like financial
[1:34:21] controls. Um of course we're going to
need to have like you know some sort of
[1:34:24] like you know compliance requirements
like stock to like certifications you
[1:34:28] know things like that. Uh but it's going
to be cloud-based. So it's going to be
[1:34:31] stored uh um into that you know that
system that cloud-based system. So it's
[1:34:36] not stored like
>> physically manually. So even if there's
[1:34:39] a fire um as long as we have a laptop or
an internet connection we can still you
[1:34:44] know process you know payments
and I think the last one would be the
[1:34:49] special budget which is on page 113.
[1:34:56] So, uh I apologize. I think you know uh
some of the tables got messed up uh
[1:35:01] during the process. Uh but uh that table
um
[1:35:07] I don't I don't it's table second kind
of table. The the table in the middle
[1:35:13] » table 2.5.
>> Yeah.
[1:35:14] » 2.5.
>> Yeah. The table in the middle. Uh so uh
[1:35:17] we are budgeting $1.4 million in
preliminary for the special revenue
[1:35:22] fund. Again as a refresher uh special
revenue fund this actually houses you
[1:35:26] know the operative agreements. So that
1.4 million really is just the estimated
[1:35:31] carryover
of you know you know grants you know
[1:35:36] that we have. So since it's a cost
reimbursement grant uh the budgeted
[1:35:41] revenue and budgeted expenditures are
the same. Um and then I think the rest
[1:35:47] are you know forformational purposes you
know um only we also did you know some
[1:35:53] five-year you know projections you know
for our budget uh on page 136 to 138 uh
[1:36:00] and then the rest are just some sort of
details you know per per
[1:36:05] » so uh I think that concludes you know uh
my uh budget presentation so um if there
[1:36:12] are any questions uh I think director
Before you guys ask questions, I I
[1:36:17] texted Gage. I'm like, "How does this
Knox system work?" It's you love this uh
[1:36:22] brilliant answer. The battery is
actually in the key that we carry in the
[1:36:27] engine. So, when you plug the key in,
>> it powers the unit
[1:36:31] » and it's always being charged by the
12vt battery in the fire engine.
[1:36:36] » I'm not a billionaire.
>> I couldn't think of that. I'm like, "Oh,
[1:36:42] it's actually I'm like, "Wow, what a
great idea."
[1:36:44] » Yeah.
>> No need to ever charge the battery and
[1:36:46] carry it.
>> You just got to be to plug it in every
[1:36:50] now and then.
>> You put it in somehow it powers it up.
[1:36:53] Beyond that, I don't know the answer how
it works, but I just know that's the
[1:36:57] answer. And I can check that off my
list. I will not report back on it.
[1:37:02] » I have a question on page 165
talked about the impact of
[1:37:12] in the paragraph says
[1:37:20] well I think it should be broken down
you see the paragraph
[1:37:27] yeah the
sheriff's office has one regular city
[1:37:32] has one then there's a north county one
so I think they just need to
[1:37:37] specifically break that down
from just the the generalized counties
[1:37:43] four and I'm sure each one of them have
different training commitments
[1:37:48] » and you'd like that called out to
identify is it three or four teams but
[1:37:53] it's 14
>> so they're not the counties you just
[1:37:55] want so there isn't a misunder
[1:38:03] think of the sheriff's office those
other agencies should
[1:38:12] Can I comment? This is something we
discussed before. Um, and this is where
[1:38:19] we as a district are supporting the law
enforcement, other districts and so
[1:38:25] forth. And well, I'm not opposed to
that. That's one of these things where
[1:38:30] the county is coming and asking for more
money because all the supports they give
[1:38:35] us. But I I think we should be clear
that this is a this is a commitment of
[1:38:42] ours to provide this,
>> right?
[1:38:44] » And it is it's not just the county. It's
like all it's that collaborative of all
[1:38:49] law enforcement agencies across the
county, whoever utilizes each other's
[1:38:53] SWAT teams. And we're we are almost all
that of the fire agencies in the county
[1:38:59] are providing medics to the SWAT team to
actually protect this. I understand what
[1:39:04] I don't remember that that they didn't
all do it. We were one of the few that
[1:39:09] provided it.
>> I don't know how many people from us or
[1:39:12] what the makeup of the teams are. I
think we have three active participants
[1:39:16] in the team.
>> But you're probably right. Not every
[1:39:18] agency has somebody on there just
because some of the smaller agencies
[1:39:22] don't even have staff. But yes, that's
>> and again this is this is not in support
[1:39:29] of the county. It's in support of the
law enforcement officers there.
[1:39:33] It almost never was we almost never
supported a real incident. Most of the
[1:39:37] support was for training set purposes so
>> but it just when we did it again it
[1:39:43] increased our overtime and all those
kinds of things
[1:39:52] » Rob you finished.
>> Yeah.
[1:39:53] » Yes. Thank you.
>> Uh I have one last question before we
[1:39:56] leave the lane spreadsheet. uh on page
188 and Chief can probably answer this.
[1:40:04] It has to do with the explorer program.
Um
[1:40:10] the general question is we can be all
>> 181
[1:40:16] » 181 or 88
>> 181.
[1:40:21] » You know I got that sug.
[1:40:26] Um first question is is is um
um you talked about to ensure success
[1:40:34] successful completion of explorer
program and prepare student to advance
[1:40:38] into a mill park fire cadet program. So
is this what you was kind of making
[1:40:43] reference to earlier the cadet program
is that the one that's related to sail
[1:40:50] or something entirely different?
>> Um it's it's entirely different. The
[1:40:55] explorer program is in general supported
by I don't know it's not it's no longer
[1:41:00] called boy scout area but it's for
people that are generally in I don't
[1:41:06] know what the age range is
>> high school
[1:41:09] » yeah 17 to 21 kind of in that range and
that's for people just to get some
[1:41:14] exposure they come do ride alongs hang
out at the fire station and do very
[1:41:19] limited duties
the cadet program that we have is also
[1:41:24] So,
this is for people that have been
[1:41:27] through
a um
[1:41:32] not an inservice academy, but a
community college academy and they um
[1:41:39] will come and participate as kind of a
fourth person. They spend the night at
[1:41:44] the station, one shift a week. Um oftent
times it's a stepping stone to
[1:41:50] employment with us. We've hired uh I
know over half of our department are
[1:41:55] people who have formerly been cadets.
So, but it's a separate separate
[1:42:00] program. Some of our our explorers is
kind of like a work experience program
[1:42:04] » that you get in high schools to give
people exposure to that and it's local
[1:42:08] kids for us. Uh the cadet program, it's
a little bit broader reach, you know,
[1:42:12] for the people that come and apply and
it's a that's that's usually a stepping
[1:42:16] stone from our cadet program to buy
service somewhere.
[1:42:21] fire department hire from our cadetses
all the time and hopefully we do.
[1:42:26] » So this is
>> Yeah. And then and the whole community
[1:42:29] college thing is completely separate
with us putting our people in. We may
[1:42:33] end up hiring some of our cadetses and
putting putting them into the College of
[1:42:37] Sonale program. So they'll go through a
second academy,
[1:42:41] » but it's an inservice academy that's
geared specifically towards
[1:42:46] um Sanontale County Fire Agencies. So
the exporters is at um middle Aston. Is
[1:42:52] that where it originate from?
>> Uh I don't know if they just come from
[1:42:57] MA. Um I'd have to check. I think we
allow it from any of our schools, public
[1:43:03] or private school program.
>> Okay.
[1:43:07] » Thanks.
Any other question?
[1:43:18] » Just for clarification, Franc said it's
age 14 to 21.
[1:43:22] » 14 to 21.
[1:43:34] » Okay. Okay. So, there's a lot more. Do
you have any comments? I don't know if
[1:43:40] anyone's
in out in in Zoom for public comment,
[1:43:45] Denise, but there's no one here, but I
wanted to check.
[1:43:49] » Yeah. No, we have no hands raised
online.
[1:43:51] » Okay. Okay. Well, so um thank you. Great
job. And this is the preliminary budget
[1:43:58] book. And I guess next month are we
getting
[1:44:02] » Yes. Next month. Next month. Yeah. We
still uh have an opportunity to actually
[1:44:07] take a look at the budget, but we're
going to adopt it pretty narrowly
[1:44:09] budget. Thanks. Next.
>> Yes. Okay.
[1:44:13] » Sure.
>> Do you is the staff essentially done
[1:44:17] with this now or do you expect some
significant revisions?
[1:44:21] » Uh we don't necessarily expect
significant revisions. I think in the
[1:44:25] past, you know, few years, you know,
there's, you know, uh two or three
[1:44:28] things here and there. It depends on you
know uh how significant the information
[1:44:32] you know we received during you know
April to you know May and June. So uh I
[1:44:37] think last year you know there was a
change you know because of you know the
[1:44:40] influence increases. So again it would
depend but I think I'm right now I'm not
[1:44:45] anticipating any big changes besides
probably um uh the uh personal cost uh
[1:44:55] budget. So between now and then uh I
think you know depending on you know how
[1:45:00] uh yeah so we so be that might be a a
cause of the change but you know we
[1:45:07] don't know yet.
>> So I don't want to ask the number or
[1:45:10] anything but when you prepare this did
you make an assumption about
[1:45:16] what the contract was going to be?
>> Seven assumptions.
[1:45:21] » Okay. So that there's a it's possible
that there would be no change in what's
[1:45:26] going on, but but we're dealing with it
to some extent plus or minus I don't
[1:45:32] know 30% or something like that.
>> Not necessarily 30%
[1:45:37] 10%.
>> Yeah. So our assumptions I mean uh it's
[1:45:42] really just you know since you know it's
not final and without authority uh
[1:45:46] there's nothing yet in place. So this is
just a reasonable you know um assumption
[1:45:52] based on you know um historical trends
plus you know uh current you know market
[1:45:56] uh surveys. So that's you know what we
kind like you know put preliminary. So
[1:46:02] » good answer. So within what you're
saying is there a um area of
[1:46:08] fluctuations or area that may create
this change that that that Chuck might
[1:46:14] be alluding to in terms of dollars
amount. um um
[1:46:19] » anticipated
>> in terms of percentage director or
[1:46:23] » yeah percentage or or errors that may we
may we may think that it's x today but
[1:46:31] tomorrow it may based upon what's going
on may change like
[1:46:35] » uh yeah I mean I would say of course
again can't really say much about you
[1:46:39] know what's going on right now but um I
think the changes that you know might uh
[1:46:45] have an effect with you know the budget
probably would be of course you know um
[1:46:50] colas of course and then probably health
uh and I think those are the two major
[1:46:56] ones uh but then again we didn't really
disclose anything but yeah
[1:46:59] » no I will say for for anyone that may be
watching this live or the recorded thing
[1:47:04] there's no need to go and try to reverse
engineer the numbers because they're
[1:47:08] just
you know there's we not based on
[1:47:13] anything related to board authority or
where we need to end up being it's just
[1:47:17] reasonable
exceptions.
[1:47:21] » Okay. Then can we move on to proposed
agenda items?
[1:47:27] Discuss the underest
[1:47:31] position on mutual aid versus auto aid
and related issues in advance of the
[1:47:36] county requesting addition.
So this is um
[1:47:45] I mean I guess
figure out
[1:47:50] » really it's an opportunity for director
Bernstein since it's on the agenda more
[1:47:55] clearly explain what you'd like to
accomplish versus that and for you to be
[1:47:59] able to have questions and then via a
vote decide whether or not to place it
[1:48:04] as the future. You
>> want to kick it off Chuck? Yeah, let me
[1:48:08] let me ask a question first in reference
to what you were talking about with
[1:48:12] PaloAlto.
>> Yeah, I was just
[1:48:15] » um
[1:48:19] can we legally do
auto aid across county line?
[1:48:30] » So Mark and I kind of talked about that.
He's trying to
[1:48:33] » I don't know. I mean that you're asking
a legal question. I I know in my last
[1:48:36] jurisdiction we did it u with Santa
Barbara County agencies and LA County
[1:48:42] and LA city agencies wanted the issue.
Then we had a formal agreement that I
[1:48:47] think was approved by our board.
>> U we had done this before the the fire
[1:48:54] chiefs
[1:48:59] » chiefs it was that they had like a
little council where they met once a
[1:49:02] month or whatever.
San
[1:49:06] » sanitary county and they vetoed it um
and basically made it hard for us to do
[1:49:12] but I I don't know how they had any
authority to do that and
[1:49:16] » I don't yeah I don't anticipate that
>> yeah the group dynamics have changed I'd
[1:49:23] be surprised if anyone wasn't
>> well let me this is really important to
[1:49:27] me I live in the south end of the county
it's heavily wooded
[1:49:32] » and um we have nobody on our southern
end that can come and aid when we've got
[1:49:39] things that involve migrating north
because of something that's happening in
[1:49:43] Mexico City or San Carlos whatever and
so that's that's important and we're
[1:49:48] very close to Alto both particularly
station two um
[1:49:56] we're very close to be able to help them
as well so to me I I I think it's
[1:50:02] important but I I I don't like us I
don't like the fact that dispatch could
[1:50:10] send our units elsewhere and leave us
potentially uncovered in places that
[1:50:17] that bothers me. I wish we could get
back I don't know if it's possible to
[1:50:21] get back to a place where we had some
detail follow and where this
[1:50:26] particularly became an issue was when
Redmond City decided to close its
[1:50:32] station on our
>> downtown our northern border the one the
[1:50:37] closest one there and then we were
responding to all their calls and they
[1:50:41] did it to save money which was very nice
but it left us sending moving you know
[1:50:47] people to legislation
and
[1:50:52] that's not cooperative. I mean, and I'm
troubled by the fact that the county
[1:50:57] doesn't cover weekend neighbors. They're
fortunate
[1:51:01] and that's us doing it.
>> They get the money and we get we get the
[1:51:05] work and that that just doesn't seem
fair. So, I'm I've been troubled by
[1:51:12] Also, we we we buy a water tender. Well,
that's wonderful. But the fact that I I
[1:51:19] was I am against us putting that into
the pot that that um and I think maybe
[1:51:26] you reassured us slightly last time that
that dispatch couldn't just send it
[1:51:32] somewhere and leave us without it if he
needed it and so forth. But I think the
[1:51:39] county has been trying over the years
to, you know, they talk about, oh, being
[1:51:44] a team player and and participating with
the whole community and all this kind of
[1:51:50] stuff to to effectively try to create a
countywide fire department.
[1:51:58] And I I just don't think that's right.
Also, if we care about our training, if
[1:52:02] we think our training is really
superior, we put extra money into it,
[1:52:08] why should we let it go to Redmond City
[1:52:13] when we might need it? And why should we
get red cities coming in if we don't
[1:52:18] think it's
as well trained? And I know that's
[1:52:21] politically incorrect to say, but here
we are trying to beef up our training,
[1:52:26] do a better job, getting better
equipment, getting better apparatus
[1:52:32] so that we can serve. And and again, no
reports, and I know why politically it
[1:52:36] would be
um explosive for us, but we do not
[1:52:42] provide a report, which we used to do,
on how much aid we send out and how much
[1:52:47] aid comes back in. You never see you
never see that because it was a huge
[1:52:54] imbalance. We were a giant exporter of
fire services. Um and I don't think it's
[1:53:01] fair to our taxpayers. So I I I think
the auto aid
[1:53:07] is a blank check for agencies that want
to cut their budgets and so forth. Now I
[1:53:12] realize Palo Alto did that for a time
being. They they they've put that back.
[1:53:19] restaffed at South Palo Alto fire
station that they had a millfield and
[1:53:25] things like that um after they had a big
fire and there was I think a delay in
[1:53:32] getting fire engines to it. But um
anyway, I I I just think we should
[1:53:38] retain more control. I think but I I
know operationally that's hard to do
[1:53:42] because dispatch needs to know what it
can send out. For a time, we did not put
[1:53:48] all our engines into the pie because we
weren't being reimbursed for them. But
[1:53:53] now, I believe they're all in the pot.
So, all of our all of our engines can be
[1:54:01] dispatched and all of our when we first
bought the second truck,
[1:54:06] um it it was not put into the pot and
but now it's in the pot as well. So we
[1:54:12] could be in a situation where both of
our our ladder trucks are out in other
[1:54:16] jurisdictions and we don't happen to
send. So all that troubles me and I just
[1:54:21] don't know how we can manage that if
auto is just the prevailing subject.
[1:54:28] Well, I think the probably the largest
well
[1:54:33] the door that was open when we all
turned over dispatch services to the
[1:54:38] county and gave them with the old
dispatch
[1:54:44] responsibilities to use a CAD system
where they could dispatch engines and
[1:54:50] personnel and equipment where they they
needed to. So that door was open a long
[1:54:56] time ago. But you know, you bring up a
good point. Just the aspect of water
[1:55:00] rescues.
According to our budget, uh we're
[1:55:05] spending between 724,000
and 566,000
[1:55:10] to do water rescues on the bay because
we have the airboats. I mean and of
[1:55:17] course we have task force three that
uh completes all those rescues and you
[1:55:25] know that responsibility falls with us
and Paul Alto doesn't even they have an
[1:55:30] airport they don't even have rescue
responsibilities there. So yeah, it's
[1:55:36] it's a huge problem, but you know,
like we had he ate a home fire and we
[1:55:44] sure needed help.
>> People came along,
[1:55:48] » right?
>> Well, I was just thinking the community
[1:55:52] fire in East Pal,
right? Did he have backup from
[1:56:00] backup?
>> It was mostly in
[1:56:04] » Yeah. So,
>> so in that way it works.
[1:56:07] » Yeah. Well, but you know it's not not
one agency
[1:56:13] it's a major incident including
taking calls for service you know huge
[1:56:19] volumes of emergency calls. So I mean
you know when we had our own dispatch
[1:56:24] there'd be no way that we could handle
all those calls for help. So,
[1:56:30] » so is my understanding
>> a little, you know,
[1:56:35] » well, we're trying to figure out if we
want to put this on the agenda. So,
[1:56:38] » yeah, I think we need to put on agenda
because I'm following what Rob just got
[1:56:41] to see on the fly. That's what I
>> we get you as the backup came from River
[1:56:48] City rather than Palto.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And so that Yes.
[1:56:52] » Yeah. Because it's a different county,
Robert.
[1:56:54] » Yeah. I mean this is only a half a mile
you know.
[1:57:00] So I mean I would be willing to put this
kind of agenda item on the agenda if the
[1:57:06] chief is okay with it. But specifically
with regard to PAL working off
[1:57:12] » again it's it's easy for me to
>> put an item on my chief's report because
[1:57:18] a lot of director Bernstein's concerns I
I could address right now. I just
[1:57:25] » I'd probably get kicked in the shin.
>> Yeah, I would kick you in the shin. But
[1:57:29] um and I think it would give you a lot
of um comfort in hearing what my
[1:57:34] response would be. Um so I could easily
put it on my next month's chief's
[1:57:40] report.
>> And we can and then we can see whether
[1:57:44] that answers the question sufficiently
enough and I'll I'll put it out there
[1:57:47] enough so there can be some discussion
around it.
[1:57:49] » Oh, sure.
>> But I don't think it would, you know,
[1:57:51] require a really robust staff report as
much as a conversation. I talked about
[1:57:56] Palatoto, what we're trying to do, the
issues like you mentioned about with
[1:58:00] Redwood City shutting down a station
because there's similar issues in North
[1:58:04] County that they've been able to address
through technology now. So, it equalizes
[1:58:10] things.
if that's satisfactory. I
[1:58:15] » I'm not arguing with that, but I was in
the past I think we tried to make the
[1:58:21] chief's report not a discussion
place
[1:58:24] » generally and but it's I'm I'm finding
that we can address some of these things
[1:58:29] if I appropriately agendaize it so that
the public's aware
[1:58:33] » that we can have a discussion without it
creating a lot of staff work and a
[1:58:38] formal board or stat report. um you know
and then we can just kind of have a an
[1:58:45] open dialogue about it and there could
be a discussion and we can see if there
[1:58:49] if there's anything else that needs to
be addressed but
[1:58:52] » as long as they have a discussion I'd be
fine
[1:58:55] » then why why don't we hit that on next
month's change report is that
[1:59:00] » I got it that's
>> does that work for you
[1:59:04] » yes
>> okay then let's do that and see that
[1:59:07] it's satisfactory okay then moving on to
item Seven. Are there any new proposed
[1:59:13] agenda items?
[1:59:17] None. Okay. Then we'll go to reports.
Committee reports. Emergency
[1:59:22] preparedness. Gary
facilities. Robert.
[1:59:27] » Oh, we made I think the chief report we
talked about it.
[1:59:30] » Okay.
HR. We did not need finance. Robert, I
[1:59:36] know that Er's channel is actually
muted.
[1:59:39] » Well, I think we went Elaine went over
the same stuff that we went over
[1:59:43] tonight. So, I don't think I don't have
anything else to add.
[1:59:47] » I've got one thing unless you saw his
email.
[1:59:49] » I saw his email about the audit
committee.
[1:59:52] » Yes.
>> Yeah. So, um does any basically he sent
[1:59:57] Gary was Did he just text? Actually,
Robert, I don't know if you've seen it.
[2:00:00] No, I haven't.
>> Okay. So he just emailed it to us a
[2:00:04] couple of hours ago right before the
meeting started and he basically says
[2:00:08] that the audit committee concurred with
concurred with the staff recommendation
[2:00:13] to run an RFP process for our external
auditors. So I don't know if anyone on
[2:00:19] that Robert or Mark
>> basically that was yeah it normal
[2:00:24] process I don't know every what was the
number how frequently six years
[2:00:29] » so just it's a best practice that we
>> yeah we were in agreement that we we
[2:00:35] should do it and it's possible that we
may select and it's permissible to
[2:00:40] reseelect I Bailey but
>> but different members
[2:00:46] » but anyway Anyway, it's just a good best
practice. And so that's what the finance
[2:00:50] audit committee agree and in concurrence
with staff's recommendations.
[2:00:56] » Are we required to take the proposal
with the lowest price if we do it that
[2:01:02] way?
>> Uh no. Uh since it's an RFP cost is only
[2:01:06] one of you know the criteria uh for uh
selecting you know there our you know
[2:01:13] external auditors. So it can be a
combination of different things. So we
[2:01:17] don't necessarily need to actually
choose you know the lowest cost b for
[2:01:21] that's
[2:01:24] » okay. Anything else from finance
you outd did yourselves. Okay. Uh,
[2:01:31] liaison reports county
has east.
[2:01:38] » I don't have anything.
>> One little park. Really nothing to
[2:01:42] report except that I went to their
spring fest and east drive hunt um on
[2:01:49] April 4th and it was a huge success.
Thank you to the firefighters. they
[2:01:55] really outdid themselves and made sure
that everyone who was there had a a good
[2:02:02] time. And then I went to um East Palato,
it was the same thing. So it was
[2:02:06] wonderful.
>> Think of anything else. I don't think I
[2:02:10] have anything else for you. Um Santo
County
[2:02:17] for Santo County, but for the premed.
>> Okay. Yes, that's the next thing. JPA.
[2:02:22] You know, I just emailed uh the board
about 5:15 today some correspondence
[2:02:29] that they sent me involving the new uh
contractor that
[2:02:47] contract.
>> Yeah. The gist of it is is that JPA is
[2:02:53] hiring federal engineering to do an
evaluation at the radio infrastructure
[2:02:59] as well as some procurement processes
with the thoughts on
[2:03:07] anyway that's can be discussed at the
meeting.
[2:03:14] » So they haven't cancelled the meeting.
No, maybe not. And I don't think
[2:03:18] » Well, I mean, it's really problem,
you know, they're doing this kind of
[2:03:24] hiring all that. Okay. Well, give us an
update in May, I guess.
[2:03:31] » Nothing for the San Francisco
[2:03:36] director reports.
[2:03:40] I just wanted to
shout out what you just talked about the
[2:03:45] the fire
staff at the Easter egg hunt. I mean, I
[2:03:49] had a I had a great time and the
families that that I was associate or
[2:03:54] interacting with, it was uh they was
thrilled. I I have never seen that many
[2:03:58] kids in one location in the city since
I've been there the last 45 years. And
[2:04:05] they all had fun. I mean, if I I wish I
had have been taking some pictures
[2:04:09] because when they threw out the eggs,
you could just s see a wave of kids just
[2:04:15] chasing after those eggs and it was I
was just I was really tickled because if
[2:04:20] you can imagine when that happened and
and the staff was good, too. I mean,
[2:04:24] they were very interactive with the uh
the young kids that came by and did the
[2:04:29] face painting. And the balloon lady, she
was there for almost what, three hours.
[2:04:34] And she stayed there and blew up every
balloon for uh for every kid that was in
[2:04:40] line. She gave balloons. So, it was
really good. It was real organized.
[2:04:45] So, thanks to the staff, the fire the
fire folks for being there and putting
[2:04:51] it on.
and and city council members, a couple
[2:04:55] of them came by and it was actually uh
uh related to the turnout.
[2:05:04] » Okay, Chuck, anything? Yeah, just just
one quick minor thing and that is um
[2:05:11] when I read the fire the fire analysis
reports report um I was amazed you look
[2:05:20] at the fires and there's less than 2% of
the calls are fires and this huge
[2:05:25] percentage of calls for false alarms and
for so-called good intent whatever
[2:05:30] whatever that mean I mean we've talked
about what that means but it really
[2:05:33] doesn't mean anything Um, and I somehow
think we ought to see what we can do
[2:05:41] about reducing that because those by the
time we add up the fuel costs and the
[2:05:47] depreciation and the people's times and
I don't know if these are coming at 3 in
[2:05:52] the morning or if these are coming, you
know, during the daytime primarily
[2:05:57] » they got the time on there. They got the
time when all that stuff happens
[2:06:01] » but not on each different kind of call.
In other words, for the false alarm, I
[2:06:05] don't know if people are doing false
alarms at three in the morning or most
[2:06:08] of them are like school kids during the
afternoon or whatever, but the idea of
[2:06:13] waking up people and and disturbing
their sleep and so forth for false
[2:06:18] alarms, I think we should make some sort
of an effort to reduce that. And um but
[2:06:24] since I don't know what the problem is,
I don't know I don't have any idea what
[2:06:27] the solutions would be. But it would be
worth some sort of a study or perhaps
[2:06:32] even a consultant or something um to to
see how we could reduce the number of
[2:06:38] times those vehicles go out for a
meaningless run.
[2:06:50] » President actually have a few things to
talk about. Um, one, as I mentioned
[2:06:56] earlier in the meeting, I I attended the
CSDA legislative day. I was there for
[2:07:03] SDRMA.
Um, but it was really really good. One
[2:07:07] of the things that I mentioned earlier
was about the LE potential LE
[2:07:11] legislation. Um the other thing that was
very interesting was
[2:07:18] a lot of the proposed legislation
revolved around AI
[2:07:22] and um just limiting AI or you know just
constraining innovation and not even
[2:07:32] realizing that AI is being used for a
lot of things and not you know that
[2:07:37] doesn't necessarily replace employee
needs right so I just wanted to just put
[2:07:43] that out there. I talked about our
drones as a first responder and some of
[2:07:46] the initiatives and the things that
we've been doing and not just recently
[2:07:50] just over the last 10 years, right? The
drone policies and things that we were
[2:07:56] doing early on. So, um I don't know if
this is going to be a trend, but I hope
[2:08:02] that next year if there are any
directors because we used to send
[2:08:06] directors there and even I mean Harold
was Mark maybe you should go next year
[2:08:10] just because a lot of these um these
proposed legislation legislative well
[2:08:17] proposed legislation
might affect what we're doing I mean
[2:08:22] technologically and even with the life
situation financially. So, I think that
[2:08:27] the more that the special districts get
engaged, the more they take us
[2:08:33] seriously. So, I just want to put it out
there that I think it's if if anyone's
[2:08:38] available to go next year, it's I think
they're going to move the legislative
[2:08:42] days as a CSDA to April. I I think it
would be worth it right now because
[2:08:48] there's just so many changes going on
that I think we should hear about or
[2:08:53] give input about or input for. Um I also
met with Josh Becker's office with Joan
[2:09:01] Dipler his district director and this is
regard to the family on Alamita Del or
[2:09:08] in Atheus
[2:09:12] uh in the sirens and all of that. So, I
don't know what the solution is, but I
[2:09:18] kind of offer us work with Gary and
maybe Josh's office to go and talk to
[2:09:25] the family and maybe with Travis, but
maybe I I don't know. So, we're we're
[2:09:30] trying to put figure out who should be
there just so they to kind of educate
[2:09:35] them, right? I mean, it's not really
there's nothing intentional about, you
[2:09:39] know, making having the sirens just go
off willy-nilly there because that's not
[2:09:43] what we're happening. But I think it
would be a good thing if we met with
[2:09:47] them face to face. So that so she wanted
to to talk about that. Um, and the third
[2:09:53] thing was we had the interview with the
potential clerks, the our board clerks.
[2:09:58] We interviewed three candidates today.
They were all very very good and um
[2:10:04] based on the timeline I'm hoping that
we'll have someone maybe by May by the
[2:10:10] May meeting. And so they're all
experience. They come from um you know
[2:10:16] just different backgrounds, different
parts of the state, some with larger
[2:10:19] cities, some with smaller cities,
special districts, you know, that kind
[2:10:23] of thing. So any one of the three that
we get, I think will be really good. And
[2:10:28] I just want to thank the board for you
know kind of asking me to go and sit in
[2:10:33] on the interview. Um I did mention that
the the importance of um the board clerk
[2:10:41] to the board and what it means you know
for us to to have a very very close
[2:10:45] working relationship with with this
whoever becomes the our next board
[2:10:50] clerk. So they understand that you know
the board um input and the board's
[2:10:55] importance is is for us and it's
important but also for the public it's
[2:11:02] important and I think they all stressed
their role and responsibility to the
[2:11:07] board and and recogn
[2:11:19] Francine and Mark, thank you for being
here and really fancying for your team
[2:11:23] for putting this process together. I
thought it was really good and I think
[2:11:27] we have three good candidates. You can't
go wrong with any of them.
[2:11:31] » Do you have anything to add about it? I
think we um you know it was fast process
[2:11:36] but I think the candidates are you know
we have
[2:11:48] » Okay.
I'm just curious, do do most or all of
[2:11:53] them live locally?
>> Um um well, what do you mean by locally
[2:11:57] in the Bay Area? Yes. But locally,
there's one who lives um in Sano County.
[2:12:05] » But we're not planning to relocate.
>> No, there's not a relocation issue that
[2:12:13] I know of.
>> They Yeah, they all live within
[2:12:15] community distance.
>> Yes.
[2:12:17] » Yeah.
Okay. Anything else? Okay. Well, then I
[2:12:21] guess uh we'll adjourn on to the meeting
of May 92 at 9.
[2:12:29] Thank you. Thanks, Denise.
>> Thank you, everyone. Have a great
[2:12:32] evening.
[2:12:36] Thanks.