[0:03] mic doesn't it's pretty loud.
[0:06] >> How do we turn the volume down on that?
[0:08] A little better.
[0:11] Thank you.
[0:12] >> Right. Right. Good evening. Um the
[0:15] Hillsboro City Council meeting is now
[0:17] called to order. Um the time is um
[0:21] 3:32
[0:25] and um February 9th, Monday. City clerk,
[0:29] may we please have the roll call.
[0:31] >> Thank you. Mayor Cole Adams,
[0:34] >> present.
[0:37] » Schwang,
[0:38] >> present. Kle,
[0:39] >> present.
[0:40] >> Braxdale,
[0:41] >> present.
[0:42] >> Cole,
[0:43] >> present.
[0:45] Um the first item um today is actually a
[0:48] study session which is why we are
[0:49] starting at 3:30 and we will be
[0:51] returning after close session for the
[0:53] regular city council meeting at 6 p.m.
[0:55] The study session today is on um water
[0:58] rates cost of stud of service study
[1:00] which will be introduced by finance
[1:02] director Jen Cook. She's here with her
[1:04] entire team. Um I'm happy to call their
[1:07] names. Uh Rick Simmonson, vice president
[1:10] HFN and H Consultants. Gibb Sasser,
[1:13] project manager, HF and age consultants
[1:16] and lufti karof partners special
[1:18] districts and public finance practice
[1:20] groups best and creger are available for
[1:22] questions. Okay, Jen, good afternoon.
[1:26] >> Good. Good afternoon.
[1:29] So, we're here today to study the the
[1:31] water rates. This is a very draft
[1:34] preliminary view and there's no action
[1:37] that is required today but we are asking
[1:40] for any feedback from the city council
[1:43] so that we can then prepare a more
[1:45] detailed uh technical report and bring
[1:47] that back for review by the city
[1:49] council. Um so just a couple of things.
[1:53] Um these would be maximum rates that
[1:57] would be considered and um should
[2:00] circumstances in any one year uh when if
[2:03] these were adopted um be more favorable
[2:07] then uh city council would have a choice
[2:09] of not adopting the maximum rate for
[2:12] that year. So again, remember that this
[2:15] is a study session, but at some point
[2:17] when we get to a proposition 218 notice
[2:20] where you will will would be um adopting
[2:24] a maximum set of rates. Those would set
[2:26] the rates for the five years, but each
[2:29] year you you will come back we'll come
[2:31] back with a resolution on how much would
[2:34] be adopted and it could be anything at
[2:36] the max rate level all the way down to
[2:39] anything like zero should there not be a
[2:42] rate needed in that one year and a rate
[2:44] increase in that one year.
[2:49] Also just to note on on uh rate study
[2:52] overall that uh the total rates cover
[2:57] the costs of the system. This is not a
[3:00] profitm
[3:01] uh situation where one set of rates
[3:05] would give you a different answer than
[3:07] another set of rates. We're going to be
[3:08] showing you two different options here
[3:11] tonight and they would both end up with
[3:13] the same resulting revenue and
[3:15] expenditures. It's just a matter of how
[3:18] those rates are configured. And so just
[3:20] to keep that in mind as well. And with
[3:23] that, I'm going to hand it over to our
[3:25] consultants.
[3:27] >> Good evening. Rick Simson, senior vice
[3:30] president with HFNH. So we have
[3:32] conducted a water and sewer rate study.
[3:34] I'll first start with the water and ask
[3:37] uh for feedback. If along the way you do
[3:39] have a question, please do not hesitate
[3:41] to stop me.
[3:46] See this way.
[3:49] There we go.
[3:52] So, the purpose of this discussion is to
[3:55] uh highlight our preliminary findings
[3:58] for our cost of service study with rates
[4:01] to become effective July 1 of this year.
[4:05] We are we have in projected revenue
[4:09] increases for the next five-year period.
[4:12] Again, these are revenue increases 6% 6%
[4:16] followed by 3 5% to cover increasing
[4:19] costs. Again, when we do rate studies,
[4:23] the maximum allowed is a five-year
[4:25] period. So, we're recommending for the
[4:27] next five years.
[4:29] Part of this review does look at
[4:32] restructuring your current rates. You
[4:34] have four tiers for your volutric water
[4:37] rates. We are presenting here tonight
[4:40] the results of bringing that to a
[4:42] two-tier or a uniform system. Uh there's
[4:47] been recent litigation and court
[4:49] findings throughout the state of
[4:50] California that has led to refining how
[4:54] water rates are sent and they can be in
[4:56] conflict with one another. So there is
[4:58] still some discretion if you have a
[5:00] uniform or two tier and that's why we're
[5:03] presenting both here tonight.
[5:07] What is driving those initial revenue
[5:09] increases over the next five years?
[5:12] First rates have not increased since
[5:14] last January. So we know some sort of
[5:16] increase will be due this year and we're
[5:18] projecting for July 1, 2026 of this
[5:22] year. One of the town's main costs is
[5:25] the cost of the water coming from the
[5:29] San Francisco Public Utilities
[5:31] Commission in which you have an
[5:32] agreement to purchase water from them.
[5:34] Those costs are increasing just this
[5:37] year 9% and over the next five years
[5:40] they'll increase 23%. So rising water
[5:44] costs along with regular inflationary
[5:46] increases for your operations and
[5:48] maintenance costs including capital
[5:51] expenditures and we'll highlight some of
[5:54] those projects in the forthcoming slide
[5:56] at about 2.9 million per year. In
[5:59] addition, there's still current debt uh
[6:02] that the city has for past projects that
[6:05] will continue through this 5-year
[6:06] period. But something that's helping
[6:08] offset some of these costs is a about a
[6:11] $400,000 reduction in that debt service
[6:14] payment in the last year of the next
[6:16] five years. So for fiscal year 3031,
[6:24] I mentioned the SFPU and their costs
[6:27] rising. So this is something that over
[6:29] the last few years they've been
[6:31] increasing their rates annually. They
[6:34] went through a period uh from 2017 to
[6:37] 2022 where they kept rates the same.
[6:39] They were utilizing their reserves to
[6:42] pay for their projects, but they
[6:43] realized that was not sustainable. So
[6:45] those costs have been increasing as of
[6:48] late and are projected to continue to
[6:51] increase. They look at their rates on an
[6:54] annual basis. So they've given us some
[6:56] projections of what to expect over the
[6:58] five years. As I mentioned, 9% this year
[7:01] and it'll continue to increase over the
[7:03] next five years. The last time rates
[7:07] were set were in 2022.
[7:09] So that's the time where they started
[7:11] when we set the rates back in 2022. We
[7:14] know they were increasing to that 475,
[7:17] but not sure how they would handle those
[7:19] increases moving forward. You can see
[7:21] some substantial increases increases
[7:24] since the last time rates were set.
[7:30] In addition to rising water costs, uh we
[7:33] have seen the town uh residents and
[7:36] businesses using less water, which is a
[7:38] good thing. Uh however, that means
[7:41] revenues are decreasing along with it.
[7:44] Uh you'll see the historical peak uh
[7:48] about 13 14 years ago was quite high.
[7:51] This is 1.6 6,00 cubic feet and 100
[7:55] cubic foot is about 750 gallons. So
[7:59] there's been a lot of conservation uh
[8:01] which is a good thing. We've seen that
[8:03] decrease since the last time rates were
[8:05] set again in 2022. Took a bit of a dip
[8:08] and it's on the rise again. But for this
[8:12] rate setting uh five years we've taken
[8:15] the average consumption of 1.13 million
[8:20] HCF per year and projected that moving
[8:23] forward. So not a significant increase.
[8:26] We're trying to be conservative and say
[8:28] water even though we're seeing an uptick
[8:31] in water sales for this purpose. We're
[8:34] trying to be conservative and not bank
[8:36] on having those uh increasing sales. So
[8:40] it it is in line with the average over
[8:42] the last seven years. So we're fairly
[8:44] confident.
[8:48] Looking at the capital expenditures,
[8:51] uh there's about a million dollars per
[8:52] year for just water main replacement.
[8:55] These are the the main with under the
[8:58] street delivering to the households and
[9:00] businesses replacing that at a million
[9:02] dollars per year. There's a couple more
[9:05] significant projects. uh pump station
[9:08] generator Clark Concar about 1.6 million
[9:11] as well as the Daryl pump line rehab and
[9:14] replacement. So these types of projects
[9:17] come along uh periodically so they have
[9:20] been included here as well about 3
[9:22] million 2.973
[9:24] per year and that's what's included in
[9:28] this analysis. So some major uh rehabs
[9:31] and repairs.
[9:36] Let's get to the crux of a cost of
[9:38] service study. Uh the first thing we
[9:40] look at as we're analyzing the rates are
[9:44] uh staff meeting with staff to
[9:46] understand the on andm costs which are
[9:48] depicted here in the light blue. Admin
[9:51] and O and M costs in the stacked bar
[9:53] chart.
[9:55] Purchase water costs on the bottom dark
[9:58] green there. We want to make sure we can
[10:00] cover those costs as well as debt
[10:03] service. As I mentioned, there's
[10:04] outstanding debt service. So, there's an
[10:06] obligation to pay that back and that's
[10:09] on the dark uh darker green and the
[10:13] light green are capital projects. This
[10:15] is a bit more discretionary, but as I
[10:17] showed on the previous slide, there's
[10:19] necessary projects that should be done
[10:21] over the next five years. So, they get
[10:23] this gives us a visual of what the total
[10:26] costs are over the next five years.
[10:28] We've overlaid on that the solid black
[10:31] line there which are your revenues at
[10:33] current rates. So if you did nothing
[10:35] with your rates you can see even in this
[10:38] current fiscal year we are covering
[10:41] those costs that must uh occur the on
[10:43] andm the debt service purchasing the
[10:46] water and most of the capital projects.
[10:49] So we know there is a shortfall that
[10:51] needs to be bridged over the next five
[10:53] years as that continues to go up and by
[10:56] 3031
[10:58] uh we would not be covering the debt
[11:00] service as well. So we know some sort of
[11:02] increase is necessary
[11:08] and some of you may be familiar with
[11:10] this chart as we look at this to
[11:12] understand how much revenue needs to be
[11:15] generated and taking into consideration
[11:18] not just those expenses and revenue at
[11:21] current rates from the last slide but
[11:23] understanding you have reserves. So
[11:25] whenever revenues come in more than your
[11:27] expenses, they're held in a reserve.
[11:29] They can't be used for other town
[11:31] purposes. So within the water reserve,
[11:34] we're starting uh in June 30, 2025, so
[11:38] the end of fiscal year 2425
[11:41] just $7 million. So we can utilize some
[11:45] of those reserves. And that's what's
[11:47] occurred in 2526
[11:49] since there hasn't been a rate increase
[11:52] uh this fiscal year yet.
[11:55] So you see the solid green line which
[11:57] depicts the fund balance at the end of
[12:00] each year assuming the percent increases
[12:03] in revenue you see across uh the bottom
[12:07] there. If you do nothing, we've depicted
[12:10] that with the dotted green line there,
[12:13] you'll dip below what we call our
[12:15] operating minimum reserve before the end
[12:18] of fiscal year 2627 and it'll be fully
[12:21] depleted by the end of 2728.
[12:24] So we use these as guidelines as
[12:26] operating minimum. That's for day-to-day
[12:30] operations, keeping in reserves. you can
[12:33] pay for uh staff on a day-to-day basis
[12:37] as revenue comes in only when build. So
[12:40] that's a minimum we never want to see uh
[12:43] the fund balance go below incrementally.
[12:47] On top of that is a capital reserve to
[12:49] help pay for those capital projects or
[12:51] emergencies that can come up during the
[12:53] year. And that's depicted in the solid
[12:55] blue line. So, as we're crafting the
[12:58] necessary revenue increases, we try and
[13:00] keep that solid green line above that
[13:03] red line and approaching the target as
[13:06] we do so here by the end of the fifth
[13:08] year. So, that's how we got to the
[13:10] percent increases you see there.
[13:15] Now, revenue increases are different
[13:17] than rate increases.
[13:20] In this particular case, when you do a
[13:22] cost of service, you need to allocate
[13:24] costs to each of the respective charges
[13:26] and customer classes.
[13:29] So currently, how we read this table,
[13:31] the current revenue from 2526 rates show
[13:35] we get about 12.6 million from
[13:37] residential volumetric charges. So
[13:40] that's based on how much water you use
[13:43] and the non-residential less than a half
[13:45] million. The service meter charge is
[13:48] that fixed charge before you turn on
[13:50] that faucet paid by all customers. So
[13:54] roughly currently you're getting about
[13:56] 71% of that revenue from the volutric
[13:59] charge and 29% from the service charge.
[14:03] As we've done the cost of service, we
[14:05] see costs have shifted between
[14:08] residential and non-residential
[14:10] volumetric charges where residential's
[14:14] coming down, non-residential going up,
[14:16] but a large shift of those costs to the
[14:19] service or meter charge increasing to
[14:21] 36%
[14:23] of the cost that should be recouped from
[14:26] the service or meter charge. So we are
[14:29] seeing a shifting of those costs which
[14:31] happened during a realignment of a cost
[14:33] of service. So though we've mentioned
[14:35] and you see there at the bottom right
[14:37] hand corner that there's a 6%
[14:40] revenue increase
[14:42] the rates will change in a different
[14:44] manner. Some higher some lower.
[14:50] So what does that look like? And I did
[14:52] mention we have two different scenarios.
[14:56] Whoops.
[14:58] First on the left side of the slide
[15:00] you'll see the service or fixed meter
[15:02] charge. These are charged to your
[15:05] customers regardless of how much water
[15:07] they use. But it is dependent on the
[15:09] capacity in the system that they have
[15:11] which is measured by the meter in which
[15:14] they need. So it is graduating. The
[15:17] smaller the meter, the less fixed charge
[15:19] you pay as you're uh using less capacity
[15:23] in the system or need less capacity in
[15:27] the system. You need a smaller system if
[15:29] you have a smaller meter, a much larger
[15:31] system to be maintained if you have a
[15:33] larger meter. So we are seeing as I
[15:36] showed in that previous slide a shift
[15:39] and an increase uh more than the 6% in
[15:44] the service charge going from 16118 to
[15:47] 23795 for the 3/4 inch meter.
[15:53] looking at the tiered volutric charges.
[15:57] We're looking at reducing just a one
[15:59] customer class instead of separating by
[16:02] monthly by residential and
[16:04] non-residential.
[16:06] Currently residential has a four tier
[16:08] system and non-residential is uniform.
[16:11] We've looked at two different scenarios.
[16:13] On the right hand side top you'll see we
[16:17] have allocated the costs and developed
[16:20] tiers with breakpoint of 42 HCF in a
[16:25] bimonthly period for customers that are
[16:28] build on a bimonthly period
[16:31] and that charge would be $9.32
[16:34] until you hit 42 units. If you hit 42
[16:37] units during that billing period, the
[16:39] following units are charged $14.75.
[16:44] And that would be the same for the
[16:46] monthly customers, which there's a
[16:48] handful of residents and the commercial
[16:51] businesses. And since that's done on a
[16:53] monthly basis, that breakpoint is half
[16:56] of the bimonthly. So once you reach 21
[16:59] units, you would charge be charged a
[17:01] $9.32
[17:04] and 1475 once you go over that 21.
[17:09] Or alternatively, and as Jan mentioned,
[17:11] both of these scenarios generate the
[17:13] same revenue.
[17:15] So it doesn't harm city staff and doing
[17:18] the work they need to get done. that if
[17:21] it's a uniform, all customers would be
[17:25] charged for each unit of water. Again,
[17:28] an HCF is 750 gallons at $11.50.
[17:35] So, as you can imagine,
[17:38] uh there was a different bill impact
[17:40] between which scenario was chosen,
[17:43] though again overall the same revenue
[17:45] will be generated just differently by
[17:47] each customer.
[17:49] So with that I have a few slides of
[17:52] showing the bill impacts and they can be
[17:54] quite significant.
[17:56] Here we're showing just those customers.
[17:59] There's uh 12 that are build on a
[18:02] monthly basis. These residents have
[18:04] chosen to be build on a monthly basis.
[18:06] So we know what their bills are
[18:09] currently with the four tier system. And
[18:12] if they use the same amount of water in
[18:14] the same months that they did
[18:16] previously, we're showing the impacts of
[18:19] the two proposed scenarios. First, the
[18:21] two-tier and then the far right two
[18:25] columns for the uniform charges.
[18:28] So, it does vary depending on how much
[18:30] water you use and when you use it during
[18:33] the year. So, you'll see a significant
[18:35] decrease in customer F of about 28,000
[18:40] for the year. Again, this is for the
[18:42] year or it could be an increase of $922
[18:47] for customer J. Again, it depends on how
[18:50] much water you use within that each
[18:53] monthly period depending on do you hit
[18:56] that tier where you pay more or not.
[19:01] There are
[19:03] also large changes to bills if you go
[19:07] uniform. So, we can't avoid uh having
[19:11] significant changes, but they do differ
[19:13] from customer to customer.
[19:16] As large as a $42,000 reduction in their
[19:19] annual bills for customer F and 1,400
[19:23] for customer J.
[19:31] We also have a limited number of
[19:33] commercial customers that we've shown
[19:36] here as well. This is each commercial
[19:38] customer because there's just a handful.
[19:43] Again, it does matter which of the two
[19:46] scenarios of chain or which of the two
[19:49] scenarios
[19:52] are chosen.
[19:55] $82,000 increase to customer A
[19:59] or 24,000 if you choose a uniform.
[20:03] That's how you read this table. So
[20:07] both options are reasonable and
[20:10] defensible,
[20:12] but we wanted to make sure you had full
[20:14] disclosure of the impacts of both of the
[20:17] decisions.
[20:20] So give you another second to peruse
[20:22] this.
[20:26] And it's a bit more difficult because
[20:28] the rest of your customers that weren't
[20:30] on those last two slides are
[20:32] residential. So there's nearly 4,000. So
[20:35] it's a little bit difficult. We can't
[20:36] put them all on one slide and show each
[20:38] individual customer's impact. So what
[20:41] we've done here on the top, if you look
[20:45] at the horizontal line and you look to
[20:48] the left, those are the number of
[20:50] accounts for each of the two options
[20:52] that would see a
[20:54] decrease in their bills for the year in
[20:58] buckets there. So, starting from that
[21:01] horizontal line and looking to the left
[21:04] and looking at the two-tiered rate row,
[21:06] that's 398
[21:08] customers would expect to see a decrease
[21:12] in their annual charge between zero or
[21:17] $1,000.
[21:20] As you go to the left, you'll see the
[21:23] numbers of customers begin to decrease.
[21:25] 114
[21:27] would see a decrease between 1,00 and
[21:30] 2500 and so forth.
[21:34] Looking to the right of the horizontal
[21:36] line, these
[21:41] oh I've been saying horizontal instead
[21:43] of vertical.
[21:46] So from the vertical line number of
[21:48] accounts with annual bill increase
[21:52] the bulk of your customers about 85%
[21:57] under the two tier will see a bill
[21:59] increase
[22:01] one to $500 is 1,128
[22:04] of that 85%.
[22:07] 501 to a,000. Most of the residential
[22:11] customers, 2,249
[22:14] out of the 3988
[22:17] and 32 could see increases greater than
[22:19] a thousand.
[22:22] You look at the uniform rate uh for
[22:28] the second option again you will see
[22:31] significant increases about 82% in
[22:35] total. will see an increase and 18%
[22:39] would see a decrease in the numbers you
[22:42] see there. So there is a bit of a shift
[22:44] with the uniform where there's greater
[22:47] decreases for example in the 20,000 plus
[22:51] one customer in the two-tier versus
[22:53] three in the uniform. You'll see a
[22:55] similar change as the impacts shift
[23:00] to make it a little easier for those uh
[23:03] that know their water use. On the bottom
[23:05] here we have shown uh average water use
[23:09] which is 240 HCF or high water use which
[23:13] is two times or low water use half of
[23:16] that. Wherever you fit within that
[23:18] category you can get an idea of your
[23:21] annual impact. Again it depends on how
[23:24] much water you use during the year. It's
[23:26] those high water use customers under
[23:28] both options that will see the decrease.
[23:38] So that was a basis of our initial rate
[23:42] study. What we always do once we've
[23:45] identified what the necessary revenue
[23:47] increases are, we look at the
[23:50] sensitivities. As you know, water use
[23:52] can change from year to year. So we like
[23:54] to see what could occur with what we're
[23:57] recommending, which is depicted here in
[23:59] the solid blue line there in the middle.
[24:01] what could occur to your fund balance if
[24:04] water sales increase or decrease? So,
[24:08] we've just shown a couple here. I think
[24:10] it gives us comfort when we see
[24:12] something like that this that even if
[24:14] revenues
[24:16] increase because there's a lot more
[24:17] water sales and what we projected your
[24:20] fund balance is still under the target
[24:22] till that fifth year but it remains
[24:25] healthy. So, you may contemplate having
[24:27] something less than what was projected.
[24:30] for example, this 5% in the fifth year,
[24:32] you may be able to do something less if
[24:34] water sales improve. But we're more
[24:37] concerned with what if there's more
[24:39] conservation, less water sales, what
[24:42] would that would do to the fund balance
[24:44] to fund the operations and capital. So
[24:46] we also depict that as well. the dotted
[24:49] orang-ish and reddish lines you see
[24:52] there some various sensitivities
[24:55] still above that minimum operating even
[24:58] if we see consistent reduction in water
[25:01] use. So with what we're recommending, we
[25:04] do have the two options, but we are
[25:07] confident with our projections that
[25:09] regardless how the water sales go over
[25:11] the next 5 years that you'll be in good
[25:14] shape. And if they increase
[25:15] significantly
[25:17] when you're setting rates, those are
[25:19] just the maximum. You can always do
[25:21] something less, which was the case about
[25:23] six years ago where council decided not
[25:25] to increase the rates because it had
[25:28] sufficient revenue.
[25:33] So that's the details of our study and
[25:34] our preliminary results. I just want to
[25:36] give you a a timeline of what we will be
[25:41] doing with next steps. So tonight we're
[25:44] here with a council study session. We're
[25:46] looking to meet with the FAC in March
[25:50] 2nd, followed by coming back to the
[25:53] council either March 9th or April 13th
[25:57] to get approval to send a proposition
[26:00] 218 notice, which is a notice that is
[26:02] required whenever you're going to
[26:04] increase rates. So, you notify your
[26:06] residents and businesses.
[26:09] At that time, you would decide which of
[26:11] the options.
[26:13] If we do not decide that tonight,
[26:16] it would be printed on that Prop 218.
[26:19] Following at least 45 days, which is a
[26:21] requirement before you have the public
[26:23] hearing, that would occur either in May
[26:25] or June, depending on when the notices
[26:27] were mailed out. Again, this is all in
[26:30] an effort to have rates effective July
[26:32] one of this year.
[26:36] » Thank you, M.
[26:37] >> So, let's circle back just real quick.
[26:39] Circle back to what we're asking you
[26:41] for. So I'd like to just summarize uh so
[26:44] a new rate study was conducted of the
[26:46] preliminary results that I presented to
[26:48] you here today for rates to be effective
[26:51] July 1st. We are uh looking for feedback
[26:56] questions how we may uh answer any of
[26:59] those questions and get your feedback on
[27:01] which of the two rate scenarios you
[27:04] would like us to come back with.
[27:05] Typically we will have a full report
[27:08] based on the selected scenario. You can
[27:11] see more of the details how rates are
[27:13] calculated.
[27:19] » Thank you.
[27:20] Mr. Simson. Sorry to cut you
[27:22] off earlier.
[27:23] >> Um I um I suspect the council have some
[27:27] questions, right? Any of my colleagues
[27:30] have any clarifying questions for Mr.
[27:32] Simson? Starting with Council Member
[27:34] Muang.
[27:36] >> Thank you. Uh thank you. Great to see
[27:39] everyone in person. This is fantastic.
[27:41] Um so thank you for your presentation.
[27:44] My question is this. Um we're looking at
[27:48] basically the
[27:51] purchasing price of the volumes of water
[27:54] that we need to purchase um and the
[27:57] capital improvements that we have. And
[28:00] based on those two factors and the
[28:02] consumers uh even if we purchases the
[28:06] consumers paying for them right and so
[28:09] based on that that's how we come about
[28:12] factoring into
[28:15] um the unit price is that is that that's
[28:19] correct
[28:19] >> is that in the nutshells how how I
[28:21] understand this
[28:22] >> yes
[28:22] >> okay so my question and this this may be
[28:26] more to our public or director And that
[28:29] is in the capital improvements. I
[28:32] noticed that there are several items
[28:35] that talk about the demolishing of the
[28:38] tank and so forth. Are those
[28:42] a long-term capital improvements? Are
[28:44] they the demolitions will be placed with
[28:49] a new tank? Is is that how
[28:53] I I guess I'm trying to figure out what
[28:54] is the cost for us to have quality
[28:56] water.
[29:06] Hello. Good evening, Madame Mayor,
[29:07] members of the council. A great
[29:09] question. So, like for example, the
[29:10] demolition of the tanks. It's fully
[29:14] considering our new tank that's in
[29:15] service, the Daryl tank, as well as uh
[29:18] anticipation of our future high water
[29:21] line, which would make some of our
[29:23] mid-level tanks um redundant or not
[29:26] necessary. These are 1950s era tanks
[29:29] where we have not spent money to
[29:30] continue to keep them up. And so our
[29:33] goal would be to fully decommission them
[29:35] and not have to continue to spend money
[29:37] on keeping them.
[29:39] So that's for that one item,
[29:41] >> right? And and I guess what I what I'm
[29:43] trying to uh look at is that for the
[29:45] duration of the next uh five or six
[29:48] years that we're in this cycle of the rate increase uh studies um are
[29:53] those in the in that time frame uh
[29:57] necessary
[29:59] and and I said it loosely. I'm not
[30:01] questioning your professional adjustment
[30:04] or assessment on that. uh not to where
[30:08] it's emergency, but it it's good to
[30:10] remove them if they're in threatened uh
[30:13] state to where they'll be structurally
[30:15] deficient or could
[30:19] again if they're unused then you just
[30:22] don't let the tank sit there and rust or
[30:25] fall fall apart. So our goal would be to safely decommission that. Uh could we
[30:31] defer them for a short period of time?
[30:34] Absolutely. We can look at that if
[30:35] that's you know one thought. Um items if
[30:39] you're asking what items maybe the other
[30:41] way is say what items here are
[30:42] absolutely essential. Uh then the water
[30:45] main replacement program is essential
[30:47] because as you know we have pipes that
[30:49] are in our system. We've been here for
[30:51] over a hundred years. We have pipes in
[30:53] our system that have been here since
[30:55] we've been incorporated that do need to
[30:57] be replaced. uh the
[31:00] water coding improvement project. That's
[31:02] essential because those are tanks that
[31:04] we want to continue to serve the
[31:06] community that are are prone to for
[31:10] excessive rust and need rehabilitation.
[31:14] So
[31:15] >> okay, that's the other way. So uh the reason I asked is because again you
[31:20] know uh there are different
[31:23] uh uh perspectives regarding uh water
[31:27] conservations versus uh you know uh the
[31:31] payments that we uh pay toward using and
[31:34] maintaining the high quality of a water
[31:37] and in the sort of in the sales with the
[31:41] uh water purchase of uh SFPU
[31:45] Is there a practice of advanced payments
[31:48] like anticipating how much volumes that
[31:50] we will be using um say in the in the
[31:55] summertime is a higher volumes in the
[31:58] winter time is a lower volume. Is there
[32:00] a sort of a predium as to the price
[32:03] break or that was not the practice?
[32:08] >> I can answer this unless you try. So,
[32:11] um, SFPU does their best to predict and
[32:14] I think there was a slide here. If you
[32:16] go back to the SFPU rate,
[32:22] you'll see between 2017 to 2022, they
[32:26] had the same exact rate every year.
[32:28] Although they incurred and they were
[32:30] underway on their water and improvement
[32:33] program which was a billion dollar
[32:35] program
[32:37] they when they had to balance out and
[32:40] came back to us they hit us with a big
[32:42] charge. Uh so unfortunately I think the simplest answer is they don't
[32:47] forecast quite the same way we do. We
[32:49] try to anticipate over the next five
[32:50] years all of our projects. they've come
[32:52] back to us with one year unveiling of a really big amount and that's when Bosa
[32:58] advocates for us and they say can't ask
[33:01] for a 60% rate how have you spread this
[33:03] out over the next five years so they've
[33:05] given us kind of a early look but what
[33:08] happens is there's an annual meeting
[33:09] that happens in the end of February with
[33:12] all the water managers and account
[33:14] holders and that will occur in the next
[33:16] two weeks and then they'll unveil just
[33:18] this year's rate increase no guarant
[33:21] guarantees beyond that.
[33:23] >> Thank you. That's all I have right now.
[33:26] >> Thank you, Council Member Schwang.
[33:27] Council member Adams, any questions?
[33:30] >> Uh, yes. Thank you. Um, Paul, don't go
[33:34] too far. Uh, wouldn't it make some sense
[33:39] for us to have that information about
[33:42] what this year's rate is going to be if
[33:44] it's just two weeks away?
[33:49] » Great question. I think timing is
[33:51] everything. Um certainly before we have
[33:54] our next meeting, we'll get the official
[33:56] stamp on that.
[33:58] >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Uh I have a
[34:02] couple more questions.
[34:05] >> Thank you. Very nice to meet you in real
[34:09] >> IRL. Yes. Um
[34:14] uh the projected increases
[34:17] that you have on this same slide vary
[34:21] quite a bit uh from 53 cents to 19 cents
[34:26] to 20 2020 20. So those are all
[34:30] suppositions correct
[34:32] >> with the exception of the 2026. This is
[34:35] July 1, 2026 rate that will be charged.
[34:39] They've received, the town has received
[34:40] notice of this is the maximum that it
[34:43] could be charged. They're still hedging
[34:45] their bets that it may be less, but this
[34:47] is the maximum they said they will
[34:49] charge. And then we've looked back at
[34:52] some of the increases and tried to
[34:54] project around a 3 to 4% annual
[34:57] increase, not knowing exact. Uh so
[35:00] that's at least built into the analysis.
[35:03] And there is a provision in Proposition
[35:06] 218 that once we divulge what the
[35:09] assumption is, if for example it goes up
[35:11] by one dime over the $6.52
[35:15] in 2028, the town can pass that through
[35:19] without going through this process again
[35:21] since it's a pass through cost.
[35:23] >> And are these then reflected in the
[35:26] 66555%?
[35:28] Yes.
[35:29] >> Okay. So on a chart like this when it
[35:32] doesn't say percentages, it would be
[35:33] great to include that information.
[35:37] I'm new, so I I get to try to sit there
[35:40] with my little calculator and figure
[35:42] everything out. Um,
[35:46] on the next slide, water demand has
[35:51] declined from previous rates study
[35:56] uh except for last year. Last year we
[36:00] increased we actually were beyond our
[36:03] projections.
[36:04] So how are we to decide whether that's a
[36:08] trend or an anomaly?
[36:10] >> That's the difficulty because of mother
[36:12] nature with a lot of precipitation, less
[36:14] water use. So we have to do our best
[36:16] with the projections.
[36:19] >> But in fact we had a lot of water. We
[36:22] had good rain and in fact we sold more
[36:25] water which is I think what we want to
[36:29] do is sell the maximum amount of water
[36:33] >> from the Oh absolutely. Uh you can't
[36:36] control how much people use. Um the last
[36:39] study when this was looked at the
[36:42] assumption moving forward is 1.2
[36:44] million. So that's where I mentioned
[36:46] we've seen a decrease even though it's
[36:48] increased the last couple years. Will it
[36:50] ever get back to that amount? We are
[36:53] projecting at this point the best guess
[36:56] 1.13 million.
[36:57] >> I mean historical a historical peak of
[37:00] this magnitude would be an anomaly that
[37:02] you'd throw out in a study because
[37:04] >> Oh, correct. We did not include that.
[37:06] >> Yeah. So, uh, the next slide, uh, you
[37:11] have future capital projects and you
[37:15] don't have any until 2030,
[37:19] at which point uh, you project $2.5
[37:23] million worth of capital projects.
[37:27] How how did you come to that?
[37:30] >> Yeah, absolutely. So working with the
[37:32] town, they have a current five-year
[37:34] program, but this is this 2627 is the
[37:38] second year. So it goes through 2930.
[37:41] And speaking with staff looking to
[37:43] project for 3031 since we are looking at
[37:46] a fiveyear, that's the average they've
[37:49] are projecting to spend over the next
[37:51] four years. So it's just uh extending
[37:55] that uh average to the fifth year.
[38:00] So no specific projects have been
[38:02] identified for that 2.5 million though
[38:06] in 2030 that's why it's escalated to 2.9
[38:10] million. So the specific projects if
[38:13] Paul has some in mind I'm sure he can
[38:15] elaborate on that but again the
[38:18] five-year CIP only went through 2930.
[38:23] » Okay. Um, the next question is on
[38:30] uh slide, it's hard for me to say. It's
[38:33] either page 10, slide nine, or page
[38:36] nine, slide 12. I don't know.
[38:37] >> I'll go slowly. You can tell me
[38:39] >> that one.
[38:40] >> This one.
[38:41] >> All right.
[38:42] Uh, this is an interesting way of
[38:45] presenting this material because you
[38:48] really have to think through what you're
[38:50] trying to tell us here. Um, in actual
[38:54] fact,
[38:56] tell me about this difference at the
[38:59] end. That's that's the really critical
[39:01] part.
[39:02] >> Yeah, absolutely. So, the reason we
[39:03] include this in all of our studies, we
[39:06] everybody asks what's the rate increase
[39:08] and that's why we're careful to say
[39:10] revenue increase for a cost of service
[39:13] year. And so, this ties back to we keep
[39:16] saying 6% 6%. So this demonstrates that
[39:20] overall what the town will see is an
[39:22] increase in revenue of 6%.
[39:25] But it will be borne by the rates in a
[39:28] different manner depending on which rate
[39:30] we're talking of. So we read this as the
[39:34] residential volumetric charge the
[39:37] revenue generated from that currently
[39:40] exceeds the cost of service. So those
[39:44] volumetric charges, revenue from those
[39:48] rates will actually bring in less money
[39:52] that's being uh covered by an increase
[39:57] in the non-residential
[39:59] and an increase in the service or meter
[40:02] charge. So again, it's at the cost of
[40:05] service, you have to allocate the cost
[40:06] into the services that are being
[40:08] provided. So we know it's not always
[40:10] exactly 6%. Some's going to be higher,
[40:13] some's going to be less. In this year,
[40:16] it's quite a disparity. Um, the service
[40:19] meter charge is going up significantly,
[40:22] bringing in 36% of your revenue because
[40:25] of
[40:27] a fire service that had previously been
[40:30] collected through the volumetric charge
[40:32] for public fire protection. Uh, the
[40:35] courts have said, you really need to
[40:37] look at those, discern what those costs
[40:39] are. they should be paid equally by each
[40:41] customer and you do that through the
[40:43] fixed charge. So those costs now are in
[40:45] the fixed charge where previously they
[40:47] were in the volumetric. So that's why we
[40:49] see this realignment.
[40:52] >> Well, the next slide shows the fixed
[40:55] charges.
[40:56] >> Yes, it does.
[40:57] >> And this has an interesting
[41:00] for me. uh if you look on the service
[41:03] charge the proposed charges don't
[41:07] actually all go up. There's a point and
[41:11] in fact when you explain this you said
[41:13] the larger the meter size the more it
[41:18] will go up but in fact it doesn't. It
[41:20] actually at a certain point at 3 in goes
[41:24] down in your projection and in the six
[41:27] inch and the 8 inch.
[41:29] >> Yeah. So, let me Yeah, I should have
[41:32] explained that while I was on the slide,
[41:33] so I'm glad you brought it up. And my
[41:35] comment about that it's increasing is
[41:38] specific to the rates that are increases
[41:42] with the size of the meter regardless.
[41:43] So 161, it's going to get larger as you
[41:47] go down. Not the increase is going to
[41:49] get larger. So I apologize if my I
[41:52] misspoke because you're right, some are
[41:54] increasing, some are going down. So when
[41:57] we develop the fixed service charges,
[41:59] it's made up of two components. A fixed
[42:02] component within that fixed charge that
[42:05] regardless of how much flow you have,
[42:08] you should pay the same as your
[42:10] neighbor. Whoever has an 8 in should pay
[42:13] the same as somebody with the one inch.
[42:15] Those sorts of costs, customer service
[42:18] billing, you get one bill with the same
[42:21] stamp on it than your neighbor does,
[42:23] regardless of your meter charge. And
[42:25] those fire flow costs are also included
[42:27] there. Everybody's getting the same
[42:29] protection. Therefore, they pay the same
[42:32] amount for those costs. Then there's a
[42:34] capacity component based on the size of
[42:37] the meter. The capital costs that you're
[42:40] maintaining. You can picture as if
[42:44] everybody had 3/4 inch meter and didn't
[42:47] use much water, you could have a pipe
[42:48] this size. But if you've got 8 inch
[42:51] meters, they have a lot more demand. You
[42:53] need a pipe this size that's in the
[42:55] ground to serve both of those customers.
[42:56] Well, who should pay more for having to
[43:00] maintain a larger system and that's why
[43:03] it's graduated and gets larger. So, this
[43:05] is a realignment again from the last
[43:08] study that occurred to how costs have
[43:11] changed and how they should be recouped.
[43:13] So, there's more on that fixed kind of
[43:15] account charge that everybody should pay
[43:17] for. So you're seeing increases in the
[43:20] smaller meters but decreases in the
[43:23] larger meters.
[43:28] » So the larger meters, what you're saying
[43:30] is, if I get it correctly, the larger
[43:33] meters are going to pay more obviously,
[43:35] but relatively they're going to have a
[43:39] smaller
[43:42] increase. In fact, they won't even have
[43:44] an increase. They're going to have a
[43:45] >> for their service charge. will have a
[43:47] decrease and then their volutric
[43:49] depending on how much water they use
[43:53] they'll see an increase on that charge.
[43:55] >> That's over on the right. Correct. I'm I'm still trying to figure out the
[43:59] left. Yes. Okay.
[44:02] >> Um
[44:03] All right. And then if you go three more
[44:06] slides, I think we'll get to customer
[44:09] bill impacts.
[44:12] This This is the one.
[44:16] >> Again, I'm with my little calculator.
[44:20] >> Yes. at trying to do an Excel
[44:23] spreadsheet so that I can really look
[44:26] at not what the current bill is,
[44:29] but exactly and and not what the current
[44:33] bill is annually, but what the customer
[44:36] is going to see on the bill they
[44:38] receive, whether they're bimonthly or
[44:41] monthly.
[44:43] So, I'm I'm dividing these up to really
[44:47] see the impact that is going to be
[44:51] reflected in the bill.
[44:54] And I would like you to do that for me
[44:58] so that I'm not trying to figure that
[45:00] out because I think that's going to be
[45:03] where we're as a council going to hear
[45:05] from people when they look at that bill.
[45:08] They're not going to think about the
[45:09] year. they're going to think about right
[45:11] now.
[45:13] So, that's information I would like to
[45:16] see presented. I also would like to see
[45:19] the mean
[45:22] because that will help us see how many
[45:25] calls we're going to get and u just be a
[45:30] little more accurate because we're
[45:32] talking and I'll just say my
[45:34] perspective.
[45:36] We've been wrestling with this since
[45:37] 2020. We've been going to court. We've
[45:40] been losing. We've been trying to figure
[45:42] out the right thing. We have neighbors
[45:45] who've been advised that they should go
[45:49] with a flat rate.
[45:52] We're trying to figure out very specific
[45:55] things. So the more data we have,
[45:59] the better we will protect our citizens
[46:02] and also make it possible for us to make
[46:06] the very best decision. So sorry to go
[46:11] through all the slides. I didn't even go
[46:13] through all the slides that I had
[46:15] questions on. But the more data we have
[46:19] that is the way our customers, our
[46:23] citizens are going to see it,
[46:26] I think the better decision we'll be
[46:28] able to make.
[46:30] >> We we appreciate the comments. It It's
[46:33] always nice when you get a fresh set of
[46:35] eyes. As we're in this day in day out
[46:38] for 25 years, we sometimes forget to see
[46:41] it through the lens of a rateayer. So
[46:44] those comments are much appreciated.
[46:47] Thank you, Council Member Adams. Um,
[46:50] Council Member Crow, any questions?
[46:52] >> Thank you. Yes. And I'll try and be
[46:53] brief because I know we have to get to
[46:54] sewer, too. Um, so to try and be fair to
[46:58] the large water users. Um, uh, we've talked about this before that
[47:04] there may be some who have large
[47:06] properties who are actually using less
[47:08] water per acre than people with smaller
[47:10] properties. Are we able if we wanted to
[47:14] calculate that and charge them at a
[47:18] lower rate if they are in fact
[47:19] conserving or under 218? If they're
[47:22] using that much water, we have to charge
[47:25] them at that rate.
[47:29] » Um, thank you for the question. I can
[47:30] weigh in on that one. So, Proposition
[47:32] 218, unfortunately, it does not allow
[47:34] for conservation to be used as the basis
[47:38] for how you allocate costs. So um
[47:42] generally you have to calculate the cost
[47:43] on a parcel basis. Whatever the size of
[47:46] the parcel
[47:46] >> so whatever they're using that's the
[47:48] volume that Thank you. Right.
[47:50] >> And then uh to build on that we brought
[47:52] this up before we have some customers
[47:55] who have 2inch pipes that they were
[47:57] inquire required to install for their
[47:59] fire sprinkler system but they actually
[48:01] don't use water at a greater rate. But
[48:05] it can we give them relief on their
[48:08] service charge?
[48:11] >> Yes, that is something that you can have
[48:13] a policy to reflect that this is upsized
[48:16] for that fireflow if they can
[48:18] demonstrate they don't utilize that. And
[48:20] typically in the jurisdictions that
[48:22] we've seen it that's monitored. So if
[48:25] they oops I accidentally went over. So,
[48:27] it is monitored to make sure you can
[48:30] stay within that smaller, but you can
[48:32] make a policy to
[48:34] um utilize that when it comes to the
[48:37] service charge so you're not paying that
[48:39] full amount.
[48:40] >> Thank you. I think that would be fair.
[48:42] And then just I think that I'm sorry to
[48:44] interject. Um
[48:45] >> I'm sorry. Could you just finish your
[48:47] question then you can comment?
[48:48] >> Interject on based on her questions. I I
[48:51] think that we over the years have adjust
[48:54] uh because of the the pipe size that
[48:57] people were concerned that we did adjust
[48:59] it. Um
[49:00] >> we were looking at it. We were looking
[49:02] at we haven't we haven't apology.
[49:06] >> Yeah. Just um one uh council member at a
[49:09] time speaking please. Um go ahead Paul.
[49:11] Do you have
[49:12] >> to clarify both uh we looked into it. We
[49:14] know all of those folks that are
[49:16] impacted that have the larger pipe, the
[49:19] larger meter, but that use water at a
[49:22] smaller volume comparable to an inch
[49:25] meter. So, we have that information,
[49:27] >> but we haven't enacted it.
[49:29] >> Yeah, I would recommend we enact that,
[49:31] but so thank you. I'm glad that you
[49:32] thought that we were doing it already.
[49:34] And then one last quick question. If we
[49:36] don't approve these increases, would
[49:39] that affect our bond rating?
[49:42] It's probably a jam question
[49:46] because we do have we still have our AAA
[49:48] bond rating, right?
[49:50] It's some we will need water rate
[49:53] increases. Um and the question would be
[49:57] when would that become critical for our
[49:59] bonds, right? Um so you can see on on
[50:02] this slide here at the bottom the debt
[50:05] coverage ratio
[50:07] uh goes from 2.15 upward. And so we need
[50:10] to keep a ratio of of 1.2. So we're well
[50:15] within it with this scenario. This um
[50:19] the rates as proposed here are going to
[50:22] be more about covering our operations
[50:25] and our capital needs um because it does
[50:28] appear that we're going to be within our
[50:30] debt service coverage. It's a great
[50:32] question though.
[50:32] >> That's all I have. Madam
[50:33] >> and thank you, Council Member Crowley.
[50:35] Um Vice Mayor Rexdale.
[50:38] >> Thank you. Um again uh like others have
[50:40] said so good to see you in person and uh
[50:43] thank you for the detailed analysis and
[50:44] also thank you for giving us the slides
[50:46] in advance is always um super helpful to
[50:48] see them in advance. Um I'm going to try
[50:51] to ask uh questions with quick answers
[50:54] because I I know um we're maybe running
[50:56] out of time and we need to get to sewer.
[50:58] Um first question is um we usually do
[51:02] this the bigger cost of service analysis
[51:05] every five years and this for water not
[51:09] sewers is we're on an earlier schedule.
[51:12] Is that
[51:13] >> that's correct?
[51:15] >> Um and um I understand there's probably
[51:20] many reasons for that so we don't need
[51:22] to go into that. Um, I noticed in the
[51:24] capital improvement projects the
[51:26] highline wasn't up there. Is that
[51:29] because it's
[51:31] under a different budget category?
[51:35] Thank you. That's a great question. Uh,
[51:36] we actually have assumed that that would
[51:39] get approved, you know, for for
[51:42] assumptions of this rate study and that
[51:44] the it would be financed with a
[51:47] short-term loan during the last two
[51:50] years of this analysis. So, it's not
[51:53] known as a capital spending because that
[51:55] would be what we spend, but we would
[51:57] actually be getting in proceeds from the
[51:59] short-term loan and paying debt service.
[52:02] So, that's why it's not shown on here.
[52:04] >> Okay. Thank you.
[52:07] >> Um,
[52:09] okay. This is a question I've had for a
[52:11] long time and this is goes in the
[52:13] category of there's no such thing as a
[52:14] stupid question, I hope. Um, we talk
[52:16] about pipe size and we talk about meter
[52:18] size. Is that the same thing? I think
[52:21] the meter is the little the thing
[52:23] outside your house that can be read, but
[52:26] that's not a pipe.
[52:29] >> So, it connects to a pipe, what we call
[52:32] a service, and that size of that service
[52:35] >> is different for each meter size about
[52:38] the capacity of what you can get.
[52:40] >> So, it's what is on the other side of
[52:42] that pipe that has the other side of the
[52:44] meter that has a different size.
[52:46] >> That's correct.
[52:47] >> Because I'm like, I think our meters are
[52:48] all the same size. Okay. Uh thank you.
[52:51] Um that is helpful. Um then um with
[52:55] regard to I think this is this the same
[52:58] question I have for two different
[53:00] things. um one is the um the
[53:05] service charge and one is the two-tier
[53:08] and given uh the various court opinions
[53:12] and all of that um how do we justify
[53:17] different service charges and different
[53:20] potentially if we went this way
[53:22] two-tiered
[53:24] um different charges based on meter
[53:31] I don't know if you want to answer it be
[53:32] legal.
[53:33] >> Yeah, I can I can weigh in. So, there
[53:36] are a lot of different court opinions
[53:38] floating around sort of in the
[53:40] atmosphere right now and they've all
[53:42] kind of had different approaches as to
[53:45] how you allocate costs. Uh, with respect
[53:47] to a two-tier structure, um, there's
[53:50] kind of two general principles that that
[53:52] would hopefully accomplish. Number one
[53:54] is that you want to make sure that
[53:56] you're allocating costs based on the
[53:58] proportional cost of service which
[54:00] includes you know the cost of the
[54:02] infrastructure particularly your storage
[54:05] your pumping and your distribution
[54:07] that's designed at a larger level in
[54:09] order to meet varying levels of demand.
[54:12] Um doing it in a two-tier structure
[54:14] tries to kind of simplify it a little
[54:16] bit and makes it really focused on the
[54:18] data that the town has. Um, there's also
[54:22] the other side of sort of the various
[54:24] court opinions that have been
[54:26] circulating, which is that you have to
[54:29] make sure not only that your larger
[54:31] users aren't subsidizing your smaller
[54:33] users, but also that your smaller users
[54:36] are not subsidizing your larger users by
[54:39] having, for example, this the cost of a
[54:41] system that's already been built, but
[54:44] that was built to accommodate multiple
[54:45] levels of usage
[54:47] Latin for everybody. So the idea behind
[54:50] the two-tier structure um as would be
[54:53] explained in the rate study would be
[54:54] that would be a means of accomplishing
[54:56] both of those goals.
[54:59] >> Could it could it be argu Thank you. Uh
[55:02] could it be argued that under a uniform
[55:04] rate structure really you would want
[55:06] uniform service charges? So the service
[55:09] charge is a little bit different because
[55:11] the service charge looks at the size of
[55:13] the meter that serves the parcel and it
[55:15] takes sort of the maximum
[55:18] demand that that could place on the
[55:20] system and so as the meters get larger
[55:23] they have the capacity to place more
[55:24] demand on the system and those go only
[55:27] to the fixed costs that the town incurs
[55:30] in order to meet those varying levels of
[55:32] demand. So the way that they're
[55:34] increased, those are based off of what
[55:37] are called meter capacity ratios that
[55:40] look at the maximum demand that each of
[55:42] those meter sizes can place on the
[55:44] system and increase them exponentially
[55:46] based off of what you know as you get
[55:48] larger. It's not like a one to two sort
[55:50] of ratio. It's
[55:52] bigger because it's a you know it's a
[55:53] circle. Um and so so that that has
[55:57] actually not really been an issue in the
[56:00] courts. Um I think the courts have been
[56:02] pretty comfortable with those thus far
[56:05] where the courts have had differing opinions is really on the
[56:08] volume side.
[56:09] >> Okay, that is extremely helpful. Thank
[56:12] you. Um sir uh the last thing quick
[56:14] comment on uh your presentation the
[56:18] customer bill impacts by monthly
[56:19] residential
[56:21] uh slide 13
[56:24] on the bottom where you have um are you
[56:28] very low low average and high um I found
[56:32] that super helpful so I I love council
[56:34] member Adam's suggestions also for um
[56:38] rateayers but um I think this maybe
[56:42] adding to it a little bit for her
[56:44] suggestions like where where am I? I
[56:47] don't know right how many how many I use
[56:49] but you know I kind of have an idea
[56:50] where I fit and so I I just I found that
[56:53] super um helpful and thank you.
[56:55] >> Thank you.
[56:57] >> Um thank you Vice Mayor Rexdale. Um
[56:59] thanks for the presentation. Um just a
[57:01] couple of clarifying points and thanks
[57:02] to all the questions posed by my
[57:04] colleagues. Um what I didn't quite
[57:08] understand in the presentation is the
[57:10] actual cost for the actual operating
[57:13] cost to have a larger volume. I mean was
[57:16] that embedded in the on&m?
[57:22] » Apologies.
[57:24] >> I think it's I think
[57:25] >> so reviewing are you referring to a
[57:27] two-tier system? What costs are there
[57:31] the incremental costs in order to charge
[57:33] more per unit? Correct.
[57:35] >> Yes. Those are on andm costs and even
[57:38] some capital costs that are necessary
[57:40] for a larger system for when there are
[57:43] times of peaking. So you only pay that
[57:45] when you actually need to utilize that
[57:48] larger system.
[57:50] >> Okay. I think what I would like
[57:51] clarification on is if everyone was on
[57:56] the two-tiered system, what would the
[57:58] capacity
[58:00] what would be required in terms of
[58:02] capacity? How how would that affect our
[58:04] total expenditures
[58:07] comparatively?
[58:09] Let's just assume everybody uses a
[58:11] thousand cubic feet. I don't know I
[58:14] didn't have the right units here.
[58:15] >> It's it's based on historic water use
[58:18] and when they peak
[58:21] >> so it's also using peaking, not just
[58:22] volumetric.
[58:24] >> Yes.
[58:24] >> Okay. the volumetric
[58:26] >> because sort of what I'm hearing is
[58:29] given that there's certain factors that
[58:31] are beyond our control such as how much
[58:34] rain we have, how much water storage the
[58:36] state has, that is well obviously the
[58:39] state can't control that either to some
[58:41] degree. The cost of purchasing the water
[58:44] is really going to be beyond our
[58:46] control. That's going to continue
[58:48] historically it's continued to go up
[58:49] even by smaller numbers. So if the cost
[58:53] continues to go up and we were to hit
[58:55] another drought session, which is
[58:57] inevitable because of weather patterns,
[58:59] >> yeah,
[59:00] >> the demand will continue to fall even
[59:02] more precipitously. So your gap between
[59:05] your revenue and your expenditure will
[59:07] continue to grow. So I think what I
[59:09] would like in our subsequent
[59:11] conversation is what infrastructure
[59:14] costs because that's all we can control.
[59:17] What infrastructure costs can we
[59:19] mitigate on the front end to stabilize
[59:22] or never be able to stabilize 100% is
[59:24] the point I'm trying to make, but at
[59:26] least to predictably say
[59:29] this is what it's going to cost us to
[59:32] provide unlimited amount of water for
[59:34] whoever wants to demand unlimited amount
[59:36] of water because we can't cap how much
[59:38] water everyone has.
[59:40] >> If you want 10 times more than the next
[59:42] door neighbor, you can have it. But what
[59:45] costs are embedded in that cap in that
[59:47] infrastructure? Because that it seems
[59:49] like that's all we can control the cost
[59:51] of water from the states
[59:53] >> can control.
[59:53] >> We can control that. How much water we
[59:55] have yearto year, we can control that.
[59:58] >> Um and certainly we can control the
[1:00:00] demand. I mean if people want to use a
[1:00:02] lot of water and they want to pay for
[1:00:03] it, that's fine. So I think I would just
[1:00:05] like more information on the
[1:00:07] infrastructure. Yeah. what what costs
[1:00:10] are we able to manipulate or change to
[1:00:14] create some predictability with regards
[1:00:16] to our cost. Um but anyways, excellent
[1:00:20] presentation. I don't have any further
[1:00:22] questions. I understand we have to move
[1:00:24] on to um the other study session unless
[1:00:26] there's additional comments from staff.
[1:00:29] I see our city manager is looking at me
[1:00:31] like um he wants to tell he wants to
[1:00:34] clarify something for me. Oh.
[1:00:36] >> Oh, go ahead, Jen, please.
[1:00:39] Yes.
[1:00:41] >> So, just to summarize a bit, uh when we
[1:00:45] bring this back, we will be putting in
[1:00:48] more transparency on bill impacts. We
[1:00:52] will be looking at um like a usage that
[1:00:57] is below like a policy as described by
[1:01:00] uh council member Kick. And um we will
[1:01:05] be
[1:01:07] looking just one last time today to see
[1:01:10] if there is any kind of initial
[1:01:13] direction on one of the two avenues for
[1:01:19] um going with a uniform rate or a
[1:01:22] two-tiered rate. If there is not, we'll
[1:01:24] be writing a report and bringing that
[1:01:26] back with um with more analysis and um
[1:01:30] transparency.
[1:01:31] >> Okay.
[1:01:32] >> Yeah. Yes. Council I miss Vice Mayor
[1:01:35] Rexdale. A quick question for that. Um
[1:01:39] I don't I think I know the answer, but I
[1:01:41] wanted to ask because I actually don't
[1:01:43] know the answer. Um, is there a way like
[1:01:46] we could like if we decided we want to
[1:01:49] go with the two-tier and then the
[1:01:53] government, the California Supreme Court
[1:01:55] says no two no two-tier ever not allowed
[1:01:59] that we could come back and change to
[1:02:01] uniform in in a year the next time we
[1:02:04] discuss rates or is that a five-year
[1:02:06] situation?
[1:02:09] It would just require a new 218.
[1:02:12] Okay, thank you. Um, the next president.
[1:02:15] Yes, Council Adams. Okay.
[1:02:17] >> Yes.
[1:02:18] >> You know, Jen, we actually didn't really
[1:02:21] have much conversation about which of
[1:02:23] the scenarios we would like you to come
[1:02:26] back with. Is there a possibility that
[1:02:29] we could just come back again with both?
[1:02:32] Because I think there were questions
[1:02:34] about details that would help us with
[1:02:38] that analysis.
[1:02:40] I'm just raising.
[1:02:41] >> Yeah.
[1:02:41] >> And that's a very good thought. Um we
[1:02:44] have um uh sort of goal setting,
[1:02:47] strategic planning. Is there any
[1:02:48] possibility we can elaborate on the
[1:02:49] subject at that point? Um certainly our
[1:02:53] consultants could join us remotely if
[1:02:55] possible, if needed. I'm not sure in
[1:02:58] terms of the calendar, but that's a good
[1:03:00] point. Maybe we can look into it to see
[1:03:01] how we can come back with more details.
[1:03:04] Yeah, I would say the goal initially for staff and our and our experts over
[1:03:08] here, the goal was to pick a direction
[1:03:10] as to which way we want to sort of
[1:03:12] invest the remainder of our experts time
[1:03:15] here to bring forth something, whether
[1:03:16] that be a uniform or two-tiered. If if
[1:03:19] that's not a decision that we're
[1:03:20] comfortable getting into today without
[1:03:22] some more information, we would set up a
[1:03:24] future meeting to answer some of the
[1:03:26] questions that you brought up. But if
[1:03:27] you're asking what was staff looking
[1:03:29] for, it it was one one of the two, but
[1:03:32] it sounds like we're at a position now
[1:03:34] where we're having a an understanding of
[1:03:36] the two of them, but we need some more
[1:03:37] information. And I would ask our experts
[1:03:39] here, do you have the enough information
[1:03:43] from the council to come back with with
[1:03:45] some of the questions they had?
[1:03:50] » Yes, we do.
[1:03:51] >> Yeah. And I think you you're right in
[1:03:53] summarizing it. We do need more
[1:03:55] information and thanks for looking into
[1:03:56] it further.
[1:03:57] >> Yeah. And as to the methodology of that,
[1:03:59] whether that's at a at an additional
[1:04:01] study session or maybe setting some
[1:04:04] additional time at a at a future
[1:04:05] meeting, you know, we can certainly get
[1:04:06] together with these uh experts and come
[1:04:09] up with a plan for it.
[1:04:10] >> Okay. Thank you, city manager. Okay,
[1:04:16] we will now move on to
[1:04:19] sewer rates. Thank you. Hello, Mr.
[1:04:22] Santgo. Good afternoon, Madam Cole. Um,
[1:04:24] and council. So, the other portion of
[1:04:27] the study session is the sewer rate
[1:04:29] study. Um, just a quick background, the
[1:04:32] last time we adopted a 218 for the sewer
[1:04:35] rates was June of 2021. We did use all
[1:04:38] five years of the rate series. We
[1:04:41] adopted the last one in July. And so,
[1:04:43] that's why we're doing the new study
[1:04:44] again with HF&H and Gabe will be uh
[1:04:48] presenting it.
[1:04:52] Good evening. I'm Gabe Sasser, project
[1:04:55] manager with HFNH. I want to apologize
[1:04:57] in advance for how quickly I might go
[1:04:59] through these slides.
[1:05:01] I'll look forward to your questions.
[1:05:04] So, the purpose of today's presentation
[1:05:06] is to present our preliminary analysis
[1:05:09] of the five-year schedule of sewer
[1:05:11] rates, which would be implemented as
[1:05:13] early as July 1, 2026.
[1:05:18] Uh there's two main takeaways from this
[1:05:20] presentation. One, projections indicate
[1:05:22] that the revenue increases
[1:05:25] ranging between two and three% are
[1:05:28] needed over the next 5 years. And I'll
[1:05:30] provide more detail as to why. The
[1:05:33] second takeaway is that in looking at
[1:05:36] the cost of service, we reanalyzed the
[1:05:39] residential indoor water use.
[1:05:42] And in doing so, uh, this is going to
[1:05:46] result in commercial bills increasing by
[1:05:48] more than residential customers bills.
[1:05:52] And that is because, uh, sewer charges
[1:05:55] are based on a single family dwelling
[1:05:57] equivalent, what's known as one .edu.
[1:06:00] And that one .edu is reflective of the
[1:06:03] average indoor residential household
[1:06:05] water use.
[1:06:07] Residents are charged one unit for sewer
[1:06:10] service as their flows are fairly
[1:06:13] consistent throughout. But in contrast,
[1:06:17] commercial customers,
[1:06:19] their flows vary significantly. And so
[1:06:22] their charges are reflective of the
[1:06:24] actual flows of that commercial parcel
[1:06:27] relative to the average residential
[1:06:30] customers.
[1:06:32] And when we last or when this was last
[1:06:35] studied, uh the indoor water use
[1:06:38] standard was based on 14400 cubics cubic units of water use annually.
[1:06:47] And this was reanalyzed this year and
[1:06:50] that figure has declined to 78 units of
[1:06:55] indoor water use. And so what this means
[1:06:57] from a billing perspective is that if a
[1:07:01] commercial customer used 144 units, then
[1:07:05] up until now they were build for one
[1:07:07] unit of uh in terms of their sewer
[1:07:10] charge, which is $4,311.
[1:07:14] However, at that same level of flow, if
[1:07:17] we use the new standard of indoor water
[1:07:20] use, reflective of conservation and
[1:07:23] changes in residential patterns over the
[1:07:26] years, this means that customer, that
[1:07:29] same customer would now be charged 1.85
[1:07:32] units for the same levels of flow. And
[1:07:35] for numbers,
[1:07:37] that's $7,975.
[1:07:41] So, a significant increase. So,
[1:07:44] something to preview for you. To take a
[1:07:46] step back, as Rich touched upon, sewer
[1:07:49] rates were last studied in 2021, and
[1:07:52] this resulted in five years of
[1:07:53] consecutive 4% annual increases. This
[1:07:57] sewer rate study covers the upcoming
[1:07:59] fiscal year 2627 through 2033.
[1:08:04] In terms of where we're going, uh the
[1:08:06] rest of the slide shows that capital
[1:08:08] improvements uh to be cash funded
[1:08:11] average $5.1 million per year and that
[1:08:14] public works continues its efforts to
[1:08:16] reduce inflow and infiltration through
[1:08:19] pipe replacement and addressing
[1:08:20] homeowners deficient laterals.
[1:08:23] These are four bullets associated with
[1:08:26] the costs uh in projecting the revenue
[1:08:30] requirement that the sewer rates uh must
[1:08:33] address. First, there's annual operating
[1:08:35] costs which are increasing by
[1:08:37] inflationary measures and no additional
[1:08:40] headcount is anticipated in those
[1:08:42] numbers. This is the largest cost
[1:08:44] category which ranges between 6.7
[1:08:47] million up to 7.7 million over the
[1:08:49] 5-year period. Next, there is Sanonteo
[1:08:52] Burnley treatment costs and those are
[1:08:54] increasing 5% annually. Those are costs
[1:08:57] really outside the city's control as
[1:08:59] these are the treatment costs and the
[1:09:02] costs required to treat every parcels uh
[1:09:05] collected sewer discharge.
[1:09:08] There are the capital expenditures which
[1:09:10] I touched upon and I'll be showing you
[1:09:12] on the next slide. And then finally
[1:09:14] there's debt coverage. There's $3.8 8
[1:09:17] million annually through the first four
[1:09:20] years and then in the fifth year uh that
[1:09:23] amount reduces by half a million due to
[1:09:26] a reduction in the schedule of the 2023
[1:09:28] refunding bond payment. Of that 3.8
[1:09:31] million, 1.9 million is the Sonteo clean
[1:09:35] water portion that the town is
[1:09:37] responsible for paying that they share
[1:09:39] with other agencies.
[1:09:42] This is a uh overview of the capital
[1:09:45] expenditure projections. Uh again, this
[1:09:48] is a five-year program and four years
[1:09:50] were available. And so as a result for
[1:09:53] 20 3031, we used the average of the
[1:09:57] four-year spend. So if you took the
[1:09:59] average of those first four columns of
[1:10:01] the subtotal, that's what generated the
[1:10:03] 4.6 million in the fifth year. And then
[1:10:06] those construction costs have been
[1:10:08] escalated to account for
[1:10:11] historic changes in labor and material
[1:10:13] costs. Collectively,
[1:10:16] from an escalated standpoint, that's
[1:10:18] $5.1 million per year that rates will
[1:10:21] pay for. This does not include the
[1:10:23] Macadamia Storm project as that project
[1:10:26] staff has determined may be funded
[1:10:28] through FEMA and insurance and thus
[1:10:31] rates would not need to uh pay for this
[1:10:34] project.
[1:10:37] This is an overview of uh the forecasted
[1:10:41] expenses shown by the stacked bars.
[1:10:43] There's four cost categories. There's
[1:10:45] the on andm expenses which include uh
[1:10:48] salary, uh labor, benefits as well as
[1:10:52] materials and services the town provides
[1:10:54] for the collection services. There's the
[1:10:57] treatment costs. Those are the external
[1:10:59] costs for the Sanonteo and Berling game
[1:11:02] treatment plants. the debt service which
[1:11:04] I touched upon briefly and the capital
[1:11:06] improvements.
[1:11:08] Um for uh clarification, the capital
[1:11:11] improvements shown are based on the
[1:11:14] actual amounts to be spent on the last
[1:11:17] slide and not the 5.1 million on average
[1:11:20] each year. So that's why if you're
[1:11:21] looking at the size of those bars, they
[1:11:23] vary from year to year. We contrast that
[1:11:26] with the revenue at current rates, which
[1:11:28] is the black line. Currently revenues
[1:11:31] are sufficient to meet the expenses for
[1:11:33] the current fiscal year. But as you can
[1:11:36] see that expenses are outpacing revenues
[1:11:39] at current rates in future years and
[1:11:41] some level of reserves use of reserves
[1:11:44] and revenue increases will be necessary.
[1:11:48] And that brings us to our five-year
[1:11:50] schedule. This is the financial plan. Uh
[1:11:53] Rick touched upon how the minimum
[1:11:56] reserve and target reserve are derived.
[1:11:58] So I'll go ahead and bypass that
[1:12:01] portion. But the goal is to set rates
[1:12:04] such that the reserve fund balance, the
[1:12:07] dark green line, maintains a threshold
[1:12:10] above or at the target reserve. And so
[1:12:12] with the recommended revenue increases
[1:12:15] that you see on the horizontal axis, uh
[1:12:18] the town can maintain and meet that
[1:12:20] goal. absent any rate increases. Uh the
[1:12:25] reserve fund balance would follow the
[1:12:28] dashed lighter green line
[1:12:31] with uh the recommended revenue
[1:12:33] increases in 2627.
[1:12:36] We evaluated the cost of service which
[1:12:39] is shown on this next slide.
[1:12:41] And so in looking at the cost of service
[1:12:44] uh we established the rates that you see
[1:12:46] in the first table. So per equivalent
[1:12:50] dwelling unit
[1:12:52] uh each residential parcel would pay
[1:12:54] $4,39347
[1:12:57] and you can see the $8247
[1:13:01] increase in that first year and then
[1:13:03] thereafter they would see um increases
[1:13:07] to their annual charge u mirroring that
[1:13:11] of the revenue increases.
[1:13:14] Now this is where the indoor water use
[1:13:16] analysis comes into play and in
[1:13:19] relooking at that and updating that
[1:13:21] assumption uh this is what's causing the
[1:13:24] commercial bill difference that you see
[1:13:26] in the second table. So specifically I'm
[1:13:28] pointing at um that four that final
[1:13:32] column on the right hand side overall
[1:13:34] generating a 3% increase but residential
[1:13:38] customer bills would collectively
[1:13:40] increase by 2%.
[1:13:42] However, commercial customers would
[1:13:44] increase by significantly more uh given
[1:13:48] their uh share of the overall flow and
[1:13:51] the change in the water use assumptions
[1:13:53] which are a proxy for sewer flows.
[1:13:58] And so to provide context, uh we looked
[1:14:01] at what commercial customers are
[1:14:03] currently charged. And so those uh 12
[1:14:07] customers are shown.
[1:14:10] And then there's two and I'll note
[1:14:16] and sorry um
[1:14:20] sorry uh so we have the current charge
[1:14:23] in the second column and then that's
[1:14:25] compared to the revised water use. So
[1:14:27] this these would be the bills uh for the
[1:14:30] same levels of flow as what they're
[1:14:32] currently being charged under the new
[1:14:34] indoor water use assumption. And you can
[1:14:37] see the dollar difference that those
[1:14:38] customers would pay. And then for
[1:14:41] context, uh maintaining the same water
[1:14:44] use standard, which is not reflective of
[1:14:47] current conditions of the system, uh you
[1:14:50] could see would lead to significantly
[1:14:52] lower increases, but again would not be
[1:14:54] reflective of the current cost of
[1:14:56] service, which is the goal of this
[1:14:57] study.
[1:14:59] Taking a step back, this is the timeline
[1:15:01] for rate adoption in order to implement
[1:15:04] rates July 1.
[1:15:07] uh with the intent to return to council
[1:15:10] in March to receive approval to initiate
[1:15:13] the 218 process for a public hearing to
[1:15:16] be held in May.
[1:15:19] Uh at this time uh we request your
[1:15:23] discussion and feedback regarding the
[1:15:24] preliminary rates presented and for
[1:15:28] reference again these are the rates.
[1:15:30] Thank you.
[1:15:31] >> Thank you very much. Um,
[1:15:34] I will take it to the council. Um,
[1:15:38] was just going to go in order so we all
[1:15:40] get a chance to comment. Um, council
[1:15:42] member Adams,
[1:15:45] I have very few questions. Yay. But, uh,
[1:15:48] the slide that is the most difficult is
[1:15:51] the second the one right before the rate
[1:15:54] adoption timeline where you talk about
[1:15:57] the actual increases for the customers.
[1:16:01] an increase of uh
[1:16:05] you know a jump of $67,000
[1:16:08] that's going to be pretty well noticed.
[1:16:10] So we don't have that many uh commercial
[1:16:13] customers. So are these the 12 basically
[1:16:18] is this
[1:16:18] >> these are all
[1:16:19] >> this is literally all right. So these
[1:16:22] are schools country club and
[1:16:26] racket club.
[1:16:29] Yeah. Okay.
[1:16:33] There's no other question other than
[1:16:36] that's going to be interesting to see
[1:16:38] how that will be accepted, but no
[1:16:41] questions.
[1:16:41] >> Thank you, Council Member Adams. Um,
[1:16:43] Council Member Trang.
[1:16:46] >> Thank you for your presentation, Gate.
[1:16:48] You're on point. Um question is on the
[1:16:52] second slide deck that you talk about um
[1:16:55] our uh treatment plan contract or
[1:16:58] services from San Mattel Berlin gain
[1:17:03] uh you you allude to the fact that it
[1:17:05] cannot be predictable
[1:17:08] that's not true right they should the
[1:17:11] agency should look at their capital
[1:17:13] improvements and their business business
[1:17:15] model anticipate like we do about the
[1:17:17] five years out how they're going to be
[1:17:20] expecting their operations and so forth
[1:17:24] and as a courtesy share that with
[1:17:27] customers which we are right uh to their
[1:17:31] services. Is that the the fact or is it
[1:17:33] not?
[1:17:35] >> Yes. So just to clarify um I was stating
[1:17:38] their external cost. So, you're right.
[1:17:40] They're uh external agency under their
[1:17:42] control and the information that we have
[1:17:46] includes what the town has budgeted thus
[1:17:48] far and uh we'd have to revisit what
[1:17:51] they've communicated how far in advance
[1:17:53] of what those costs are.
[1:17:56] >> All right. So, is that a questions for
[1:17:58] um Jan or Paul regarding the
[1:18:01] conversation with our sister cities?
[1:18:06] Great question and uh the details are
[1:18:09] all covered in the the joint hours or
[1:18:13] the multi-ity partners agreement uh one
[1:18:15] for Sonteo and the clean water program
[1:18:17] that just was signed recently and then
[1:18:19] uh recently also for Berlingame the
[1:18:22] annual cost for CIP are very direct and
[1:18:28] any increase beyond what's allowed there
[1:18:30] has to come back to you or the other uh
[1:18:33] cities for changes beyond on that
[1:18:35] regular CPI cost for actual operations
[1:18:38] um and uh staff is also in there. So
[1:18:42] you're correct. Anything beyond those
[1:18:43] parameters needs to come back to you the
[1:18:46] appointing bodies for significant
[1:18:48] improvements. So since the new both
[1:18:50] treatment plants went through a CDO
[1:18:51] recently I don't expect uh any changes
[1:18:54] on that.
[1:18:55] >> Thank you. So it's just a comments I
[1:18:58] mean it's really it's the operation and
[1:19:00] you're helping us to shape um you know
[1:19:03] in terms of the cost of operation it is
[1:19:05] a pass through we're not anticipating to
[1:19:08] make revenues on this. So to the extent
[1:19:11] that we can anticipate and be able to um
[1:19:14] understand the other agency, we rely on
[1:19:17] them to be able to calculate those
[1:19:19] factors, I think it's the better for us
[1:19:23] to have a a clear clarity on our um
[1:19:26] charges. So thank you.
[1:19:30] >> Thank you, Council Member Trong, Council
[1:19:31] Member Crowley.
[1:19:33] >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a
[1:19:34] question for Paul and while you come up
[1:19:36] just one comment um to build on what
[1:19:39] council member Adams said we said this
[1:19:41] before with the commercial sewer rate
[1:19:43] increase we are a small town and it's I
[1:19:45] think the the the importance of personal
[1:19:48] outreach to each one of those um
[1:19:50] customers will be really important and I
[1:19:52] think the city manager had um city
[1:19:56] manager the city manager city manager
[1:19:59] had noted that before the importance of
[1:20:01] personal outreach to our commercial
[1:20:03] customers. Thank you. So Paul, I just
[1:20:06] have one question. Um, how many years
[1:20:08] does the sanitary sewer master plan span
[1:20:12] and where are we in that timeline?
[1:20:14] >> So, initially, I think we first started
[1:20:16] in 2013, it was a 20-year plan and we've
[1:20:20] recently in the last two years, Natalie
[1:20:22] canir, we've gone back just to make sure
[1:20:25] we're on pace uh to meet those goals.
[1:20:28] When we initially started it, the town
[1:20:30] was under a cease and desist order where
[1:20:32] we had to do certain improvements. And
[1:20:34] we've checked off all those boxes. We're
[1:20:36] no longer under a microscope. We still
[1:20:39] do get annual visits from the regional
[1:20:42] board. But since we do have a program
[1:20:45] and a plan of how to fix the system and
[1:20:47] continue to improve it, we haven't faced
[1:20:49] any other, you know, fines or or
[1:20:52] anything.
[1:20:53] >> Is it a 20-year plan, 25 year plan,
[1:20:55] 30-year plan? It's it's a 20-year plan
[1:20:58] that we but we continue to review it
[1:21:00] every few years to make sure that we're
[1:21:02] on pace.
[1:21:04] >> So it's so originally
[1:21:07] supposed to finish up around 2033.
[1:21:10] >> So no, that that's a great question. We
[1:21:12] wish engineers wish we could do
[1:21:14] everything in 20 or 30 years, but in
[1:21:16] most cases it's more like a hundred
[1:21:18] years before you could replace it
[1:21:19] because if we're only replacing a mile
[1:21:21] of pipeline a year and we have 98 miles,
[1:21:24] well it's going to take a long time. But
[1:21:26] what we do similar to the streets is we
[1:21:28] pinpoint the worst performing areas, the
[1:21:30] areas that have INI that are prone for
[1:21:34] environmental damage and we fix those
[1:21:36] first.
[1:21:37] >> Okay. So it's ongoing basically.
[1:21:39] >> So not in my lifetime.
[1:21:41] >> Okay. Thank you.
[1:21:45] >> Is that it?
[1:21:46] >> Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Crowley.
[1:21:47] Vice Mayor Rexdale.
[1:21:49] >> Uh yes. Uh thank you. And again, thank
[1:21:51] you for the slides in advance. Super
[1:21:53] helpful. you didn't go too fast because
[1:21:55] we had them in advance so that was
[1:21:56] great. Um, a quick observation I guess
[1:22:00] with regard to the Berlin game and San
[1:22:02] Mato, you know, I presume we can we can
[1:22:04] at least look at what they are charging
[1:22:07] their customers to know if they're
[1:22:09] having a big increase. Then we can we
[1:22:12] can say what's up with that. Um, so we
[1:22:15] won't hopefully be too surprised. Um uh
[1:22:18] I had a question with regard to the
[1:22:22] decrease in the residential use.
[1:22:27] Do we know are is it a post pandemic
[1:22:30] people are not home during the day? Uh
[1:22:33] is or and or is it the increase of
[1:22:36] lowflow toilets or do we not know? Yeah,
[1:22:39] the quick answer to that is that the
[1:22:43] current analysis takes into account the
[1:22:45] last three years and it's more informed
[1:22:48] than ever with the town's work with CADC
[1:22:52] who looked at a more precise
[1:22:54] representation
[1:22:56] uh to determine indoor water use. um how
[1:23:00] it was previously set is something that
[1:23:02] was done before 2016 and not something
[1:23:06] that uh really HFNH was a part of. So
[1:23:10] it's been you know over a decade since
[1:23:12] this was last analyzed at a minimum.
[1:23:16] >> Oh since the rate of use but it has
[1:23:18] changed.
[1:23:20] >> Exactly. It's gone unaccounted for,
[1:23:22] right? I mean, so I don't want to say
[1:23:24] unaccounted for, sorry.
[1:23:27] It was not looked at during the previous
[1:23:28] cost of service study,
[1:23:31] >> nor in 2016 as well.
[1:23:33] >> So there's been a lot more lowflow
[1:23:35] toilets installed since then,
[1:23:37] >> right? in and in in a way it also um
[1:23:40] correlates to the water use patterns
[1:23:42] that Rick showed during the water use
[1:23:45] presentation where you had that peak in
[1:23:47] 2012 2013 where um water use whether it
[1:23:50] was discretionary or indoor was u at a
[1:23:54] premium.
[1:23:55] >> Okay, that's super helpful. Um then I
[1:23:58] was wondering um back to the commercial
[1:24:00] customers
[1:24:02] um is there an opportunity and I don't
[1:24:05] know who this question is for um is
[1:24:07] there an opportunity for them to
[1:24:09] challenge the assumption since there are
[1:24:11] so few and say you are looking at our
[1:24:16] water use and basing you know guessing
[1:24:18] our sewer use
[1:24:21] off of that. Hey we never flush the
[1:24:24] toilets. we only water our lawn or we uh
[1:24:30] do a lot like maybe the racket club we
[1:24:32] do a lot of dishes and we have like two
[1:24:35] tiny little bathrooms that aren't really
[1:24:37] used that much. So I don't know is there
[1:24:39] a way for them to um uh challenge that
[1:24:43] assumption.
[1:24:45] >> I'll just speak first to the fact that
[1:24:47] the same folks that calculated the
[1:24:49] indoor water use for residents are doing
[1:24:51] that on an annual basis for commercial
[1:24:53] customers. So that's been the current
[1:24:56] practice. So they're using the same set
[1:24:57] of assumptions,
[1:25:01] but as far as the challenge, maybe I'll
[1:25:03] turn it to Jen
[1:25:03] >> and and also it's using the AMI data
[1:25:08] from our own from our own measuring
[1:25:10] system as the as the back background on
[1:25:13] that. That's also uh more precise,
[1:25:16] right, with the
[1:25:17] >> and that shows how much water they're
[1:25:20] using but not how much they're using the
[1:25:23] sewer
[1:25:25] >> indoor use.
[1:25:27] >> Yeah.
[1:25:28] Oh, so we're so indoor use. So
[1:25:31] then it would really be like the racket
[1:25:33] club saying we have two small bathrooms
[1:25:35] but we do tons of dishes.
[1:25:38] Maybe not so much the country club.
[1:25:47] Yeah, I I do believe that we have a uh
[1:25:51] formula that we're factor in the three
[1:25:54] uh month of the winter sessions and the
[1:25:57] formula to calculate the sewers, right?
[1:25:59] So, it's pretty consistent and in fact
[1:26:02] some of the schools have
[1:26:05] uh lower in terms of their uh sewer uh
[1:26:09] or water usage. Correct. Yes, there is a
[1:26:12] so first it's using the AMI data time of
[1:26:16] use and then there's a formula that CADC
[1:26:20] is that um developed to look at taking
[1:26:25] that usage and then applying it to
[1:26:28] indoor usage. So we're not able to say
[1:26:31] that sink was on at that hour and they
[1:26:33] use that shower on that day. um but they
[1:26:36] have taken a very good look at their
[1:26:38] data to come up with these assumptions
[1:26:41] that um would be used for this rate
[1:26:46] making purpose. Um I think if someone
[1:26:50] really wanted to understand on an
[1:26:51] individual basis, you know, that
[1:26:54] analysis, we could absolutely sit down
[1:26:56] with them and and talk them through
[1:26:58] that.
[1:26:59] >> Okay, that that's super helpful to know.
[1:27:01] Thank you so much.
[1:27:02] >> Thank you. Um I have just one more
[1:27:06] question um regarding the treatment
[1:27:08] costs. Was that ever factored into the
[1:27:10] sewer rates in the past or has it it has
[1:27:13] it continues to be factored into the
[1:27:15] sewer rates?
[1:27:15] >> Yes. Yes, mayor.
[1:27:17] >> Okay. Um
[1:27:21] I really don't have additional
[1:27:23] questions. I appreciate the other
[1:27:24] questions that's been submitted so far.
[1:27:26] And we actually need to hear from the
[1:27:29] public before we adjourn. So, um, I
[1:27:32] don't think we've had a chance to ask
[1:27:33] the public for their opinion on this. Do
[1:27:36] we have anyone from the public waiting
[1:27:38] to, uh, comment?
[1:27:39] >> Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor Cole.
[1:27:41] I'll just ask if there anyone on Zoom
[1:27:44] would like to provide comments
[1:27:48] and I don't see any a raised hand. Thank
[1:27:50] you.
[1:27:53] » Um, yes, you may go ahead.
[1:27:55] >> That was all for you guys. Any other
[1:27:56] questions? Other than that, we'll just
[1:27:58] take your direction and move forward.
[1:27:59] Any additional questions from the
[1:28:00] council or any specific
[1:28:03] >> the mayor?
[1:28:03] >> Yes, go ahead. Mayor Rex,
[1:28:05] >> if you are seeking direction on sewer
[1:28:07] rates, my guess is we probably might
[1:28:10] feel more comfortable than with regard
[1:28:11] to the water rates to give you
[1:28:13] direction. Uh I don't know if I I don't
[1:28:15] want to I can only speak for myself. I'm
[1:28:17] comfortable with the recommendation on
[1:28:20] the on the sewer.
[1:28:22] >> Um okay.
[1:28:23] >> So we we um support the recommendation
[1:28:25] that's presently in front of us
[1:28:27] regarding the sewer rates. Thank you. We
[1:28:30] will now adjourn this uh study session.
[1:28:32] Thank you very much. Thanks for the
[1:28:34] presentations. Excellent.
[1:28:38] We will be joining a close session. Um
[1:28:40] let me
[1:29:06] Mayor Cole,
[1:29:07] >> I'm trying I'm trying to call. Well, if
[1:29:09] you guys will stay seated, I will.
[1:29:12] >> Would you like me?
[1:29:15] >> Okay. I am I was curious why everybody
[1:29:18] got up and walked away. Okay, we will
[1:29:21] turn to close session. Um so let me do a
[1:29:24] public announcements of the close
[1:29:25] session items. Item A, conference with
[1:29:27] legal council existing litigation. Town
[1:29:29] of Hillsboro versus all persons
[1:29:31] interested in a matter of the
[1:29:33] proceedings for resolution number 22-83
[1:29:36] adopting maximum rates for water service
[1:29:40] charges.
[1:29:44] Item B, conference with legal council
[1:29:48] initiation of initiation of litigation
[1:29:50] pursuant to uh government code section
[1:29:52] 54956.9.
[1:29:54] Print D, print 4, one, potential case,
[1:29:56] consideration of appealing in existing
[1:29:58] litigation noted above. Item C, public
[1:30:02] employee performance evaluation pursuant
[1:30:04] to government code section 54957, pin B,
[1:30:08] pin one, city manager. Item D,
[1:30:11] conference with legal council,
[1:30:12] anticipated litigation pursuant to
[1:30:15] government code section 54956.9,
[1:30:18] print D, print two, one or more
[1:30:20] potential um cases.
[1:30:23] All right. Um any members of the public?
[1:30:29] >> Thank you, mayor. Call
[1:30:30] >> on any of the close session items?
[1:30:32] >> No. No public comment. Thank you.
[1:30:34] >> Okay. We will now adjourn to close
[1:30:35] session. Thank you.
[1:30:45] Good evening everyone. The regular city
[1:30:47] council meeting is now called to order.
[1:30:49] February 9th, 2026. The time is 6:12.
[1:30:54] Um, city clerk, may we please have the
[1:30:57] roll call.
[1:30:58] >> Thank you, Mayor Cole. Adams,
[1:31:01] >> present.
[1:31:02] Crow,
[1:31:03] >> present. Ragdale
[1:31:07] >> present.
[1:31:07] >> Cole
[1:31:08] >> present.
[1:31:09] >> Thank you.
[1:31:10] >> Um, please stand for the pledge of
[1:31:12] allegiance.
[1:31:32] Welcome everyone. It's good to see you
[1:31:35] all in chambers tonight. Um,
[1:31:40] do we have any report from close
[1:31:41] session? City attorney Diaz.
[1:31:43] >> Thank you, Mayor Cole. Just wanted to
[1:31:44] announce for the public that the council
[1:31:45] did convene in close session and
[1:31:47] consider four agenda items um as noted
[1:31:49] on the agenda and direction was given to
[1:31:51] staff, but otherwise there was no
[1:31:52] reportable action under the Brown Act.
[1:31:54] Thank you.
[1:31:55] >> Thank you. Um before we move on um the
[1:31:59] next item we have a couple of
[1:32:01] proclamations and I have asked my
[1:32:03] colleagues to join me in reading the two
[1:32:05] proclamations for the month of February.
[1:32:08] The first proclamation is um Black
[1:32:10] History Month for February 2026 and we
[1:32:13] will all take turns in reading this one.
[1:32:16] Whereas Black History was first
[1:32:18] acknowledged 100 years ago in 1926 as
[1:32:21] part of an initiative by writer and
[1:32:23] educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson to
[1:32:26] recognize the heritage and achievements
[1:32:29] of black Americans and to enhance
[1:32:31] knowledge about black American history.
[1:32:34] And whereas the 2026 Black History Month
[1:32:38] theme, a century of Black History
[1:32:40] commemorations honors the 100th annivers
[1:32:44] 100th anniversary of the celebration
[1:32:45] initiated by Dr. Woodson. The milestone
[1:32:48] theme examines the impact of marking
[1:32:51] black history, culture, and life on the
[1:32:53] status of black people today. And
[1:32:56] whereas work work is at the very center
[1:33:01] of much of black history and culture. Be
[1:33:05] it debates among black educators on the
[1:33:10] importance of vocational training,
[1:33:13] self-help strategies, and
[1:33:15] entrepreneursship
[1:33:17] in black communities or organized
[1:33:20] labor's role in fighting both economic
[1:33:24] and social injustice.
[1:33:27] can
[1:33:28] >> whereas black history is American
[1:33:30] history and understanding and
[1:33:32] appreciating the experiences of black
[1:33:35] individuals is crucial to understanding
[1:33:37] the full story of our town and our
[1:33:40] country. And
[1:33:42] >> whereas today, black Americans lead
[1:33:44] industries and movements for change,
[1:33:47] serve our town and nation at every level
[1:33:51] and advance every field across the
[1:33:53] board, including art and sciences,
[1:33:55] business and law, health and education,
[1:33:58] and many more. And
[1:34:00] >> whereas the town of Hillsboro believes
[1:34:02] every person has the freedom to feel
[1:34:05] valued and respected and condemns racism
[1:34:08] in rhetoric or action. Now therefore, be
[1:34:12] it resolved that the city council of the
[1:34:14] town of Hillsboro hereby proclaims the
[1:34:16] month of February 2026 as Black History
[1:34:20] Month, signed by Sophie Cole, mayor,
[1:34:22] February 9th, 2026.
[1:34:25] >> Thank you. Um the next proclamation um
[1:34:28] is um National Slavery and Human
[1:34:30] Trafficking Awareness Month and um again
[1:34:34] I will ask my colleagues in joining me
[1:34:36] to read this proclamation.
[1:34:38] Whereas since 2010 the month of January
[1:34:42] has been proclaimed as National Slavery
[1:34:44] and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
[1:34:46] And whereas human trafficking is a human
[1:34:49] rights violation and a violation of both
[1:34:52] federal and California law. It also
[1:34:54] promotes the breakdown of families and
[1:34:56] communities, fuels organized crime,
[1:34:59] deprivives countries of human capital,
[1:35:01] undermines public health, and imposes
[1:35:04] large economic costs. And whereas the
[1:35:08] crime of human trafficking is present in
[1:35:13] every country and every US state and
[1:35:17] whereas San Monteo County is considered
[1:35:20] a high-risk corridor for trafficking
[1:35:23] because of its proximity to
[1:35:24] international airports and location
[1:35:26] along major north south transit routes.
[1:35:30] And
[1:35:31] >> whereas although human trafficking is
[1:35:34] illegal, victims often do not recognize
[1:35:36] their victimization, do not know that
[1:35:39] help is available or where to seek
[1:35:41] assistance. And
[1:35:42] >> whereas public awareness about human
[1:35:45] trafficking still needs to reach broader
[1:35:47] communities and communicate more
[1:35:49] information about the nuances of this
[1:35:51] crime. And whereas the town is committed
[1:35:55] to increasing public awareness of the
[1:35:57] injustice of force, fraud, and coercion
[1:36:00] that is used to exploit the victims of
[1:36:02] this heinous crime and to provide
[1:36:04] resources and support to victims through
[1:36:06] the county of San Mato Human Trafficking
[1:36:09] Prevention and Enforcement Initiative.
[1:36:12] Now therefore be a resolve that the city
[1:36:15] council of the town of Hillsbor hereby
[1:36:18] proclaims the month of January 2026 as
[1:36:22] national slavery and human trafficking prevention month signed by
[1:36:28] our mayor Sophie Cole dated February 9th
[1:36:31] 2026.
[1:36:33] >> Thank you all. Thanks to my colleagues
[1:36:35] um these are not just words they do
[1:36:37] reflect our values and our principles in
[1:36:39] a town. Thank you very much. Much
[1:36:40] appreciated. Um the next um item that is
[1:36:45] um town update
[1:36:50] by our city manager, Doug Davis.
[1:36:56] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[1:37:00] We have our H&N speaker series that's
[1:37:02] coming up. This will be uh Wednesday,
[1:37:03] February 11th, and it starts at 6:30
[1:37:05] p.m. And our speaker this time will be
[1:37:08] Heather Vandenberg, who's going to come
[1:37:10] in and talk about her experience uh
[1:37:12] during the Paradise Fires and uh or I'm
[1:37:15] sorry, Palisades Estates. Uh she
[1:37:17] evacuated from that area. And if you've
[1:37:19] never heard her presentation, it's quite
[1:37:20] harrowing all the stuff that she went
[1:37:22] through. A lot of lessons learned that
[1:37:23] are there. It's it's a great
[1:37:25] presentation. I've seen it before and
[1:37:26] I'd encourage anybody to come down and
[1:37:28] see this. Uh February 11th, 6:30.
[1:37:33] We have our Hillsboro Youth Commission
[1:37:35] is going to be taking an ebike survey
[1:37:36] and putting it out to the community. So,
[1:37:38] the deadline to get that in will be uh
[1:37:41] March 1st. And they're encouraging all
[1:37:44] of our school people, fifth graders
[1:37:45] through 12th graders, to fill this out.
[1:37:47] So, it's a a chance for them to get a
[1:37:49] kind of a an idea of exactly how they
[1:37:51] feel about ebikes. It's a controversial
[1:37:53] topic that's that's pretty uh front and
[1:37:55] center right now with everyone. and
[1:37:57] they're working with our city council,
[1:37:59] city manager's office, and the
[1:38:00] superintendent of schools as well. And
[1:38:02] later on tonight, you'll hear our
[1:38:03] assistant city manager, Mandy Brown,
[1:38:05] talking a little bit more about ebikes
[1:38:07] as well. On that same topic, there's an
[1:38:10] ebike video contest uh held by the Cal
[1:38:13] Associ California Association of Youth
[1:38:15] Commissions. And uh this deadline is uh
[1:38:19] looks like March 10th and it's a $500
[1:38:21] prize for anybody who turns in a 30
[1:38:24] secondond video that gets selected as
[1:38:26] the best video in there. And again, you
[1:38:28] can refer to the website there to see
[1:38:30] how to submit that. Um and it's open uh
[1:38:33] for students to submit grades 5 through
[1:38:35] 12.
[1:38:37] The Samaritan House is having their
[1:38:39] annual youth coat drive. Uh this will be
[1:38:42] January 4th through March 2nd. And we
[1:38:44] have a box right out here at town hall
[1:38:46] there. Most of the town halls here in
[1:38:48] Sonteo County have this as well, but
[1:38:50] ours is located out front. If you have
[1:38:52] any coats that you would like to donate
[1:38:54] towards the youth, uh that would be
[1:38:56] where to do it. Again, sponsored by
[1:38:57] Samaritan House.
[1:39:01] We have a joint venture with U Hillsboro
[1:39:04] and the city of Berlingame. And this is
[1:39:06] for if you've ever been to the voting
[1:39:08] booth and you get the I voted today
[1:39:09] sticker. Uh this is to create a design
[1:39:11] for that. It's for students uh age 18
[1:39:14] and under are encouraged to enter the I
[1:39:16] voted contest. So they'll be uh writing
[1:39:19] artwork for the I voted sticker and
[1:39:21] residents 19 and older will be making a
[1:39:23] sticker for future voters. And these are
[1:39:25] the ones that are handed out to some of
[1:39:27] the children that attend the voting
[1:39:28] booths with their parents and it's a
[1:39:30] sticker that they can place on them as
[1:39:32] well. The deadline for that is April 6th
[1:39:35] and you can enter the contest at the
[1:39:36] below email address there.
[1:39:41] And our leadership council or LEAD is
[1:39:44] having uh an event on February 19th uh
[1:39:48] and that'll be at uh Pholi and this is a
[1:39:52] uh worldclass gardens and an immersive
[1:39:56] art and culture day that'll be held
[1:39:58] there at the grounds. Obviously many
[1:40:00] people have been there. It's a beautiful
[1:40:01] area to have there and there's going to
[1:40:03] be a couple of uh creativity and
[1:40:05] leadership practices that are going to
[1:40:06] end there and also some mindfulness
[1:40:08] training that'll happen there as well.
[1:40:12] Our SER program is still running. This
[1:40:14] will be February 3rd through the 28th
[1:40:17] and this is for residents of Berlingame
[1:40:19] Milbury and Hillsboro put on by our
[1:40:22] central county fire department. If
[1:40:23] you're interested in joining this and
[1:40:25] getting into that first stage of citizen
[1:40:27] and emergency response team, I encourage
[1:40:30] you to go to the website there or use
[1:40:32] the QR code as well.
[1:40:37] And finally, we have the El Camino Rail
[1:40:39] Roadway Renewal Project that is still
[1:40:41] ongoing. Uh the dates here aren't set in
[1:40:44] stone, but it's looking like it'll be
[1:40:45] February 23rd through March 6th will be
[1:40:48] the time period that'll probably most
[1:40:50] impact our residents here in Hillsboro.
[1:40:52] I want to thank our uh public works team
[1:40:54] for working closely with CALR to
[1:40:56] mitigate the traffic as much as
[1:40:58] possible. Uh unfortunately the El Camino
[1:41:01] is a main thoroughfare so in the end it
[1:41:03] will be a much better uh roadway that
[1:41:05] we'll have. There will be some slight
[1:41:07] inconveniences that are happening during
[1:41:08] that time. For more information you can
[1:41:10] go to the Department of Transportation
[1:41:12] website which talks about the project.
[1:41:16] And then our slide for upcoming events.
[1:41:17] I would just highlight that uh February
[1:41:19] there, February 23rd, we're going to
[1:41:21] have our annual goal setting session
[1:41:23] with the city council which is open to
[1:41:25] the community. And this is where we set
[1:41:27] our goals for the following year with
[1:41:29] our city council. So it'll be staff and
[1:41:30] city council talking about some of the
[1:41:32] projects they've worked on over the last
[1:41:34] year and what they're doing in the
[1:41:36] coming year as well. And finally, our
[1:41:38] slide here for all our notification
[1:41:40] programs, SMC Alert, Genesis, Nixel,
[1:41:43] Watchd Duty, and MyShake. Uh again, as I
[1:41:46] always say, if you're going to pick one
[1:41:47] that you're going to join, I would say
[1:41:48] SMC Alert is probably the most
[1:41:50] important. I would also say that Nixl is
[1:41:52] probably the easiest to use. And from
[1:41:54] there, you can choose your entry point
[1:41:56] as you like.
[1:41:57] >> Thank you.
[1:41:58] city manager Davis.
[1:41:59] Appreciate that. Um next item is um
[1:42:02] public comment on items that are not on
[1:42:04] the agenda. Do we have any um anyone
[1:42:07] either in chambers or remotely with
[1:42:09] public comments?
[1:42:10] >> Yes, Mayor Cole. John Lockton.
[1:42:13] >> Hello, Mr. Lockton.
[1:42:18] Welcome.
[1:42:21] >> Thank you and thank you for the
[1:42:22] opportunity to address you. Uh I have
[1:42:25] been at this podium along with members
[1:42:28] of our group uh since the spring of 2015
[1:42:33] talking about water rates. You believe
[1:42:36] 2015? And I understand that uh you may
[1:42:40] be looking at uniform rates now. uh
[1:42:43] array of hope. Uh thank you very much
[1:42:45] for looking at that. Uh but I'm here uh
[1:42:48] really about uh uh a hope on our part
[1:42:51] for settling this terrible litigation.
[1:42:55] Uh it has wasted a lot of town money.
[1:42:58] It's wasted a lot of money of our group.
[1:43:01] Um we wish it hadn't started. Uh my
[1:43:05] purpose in being here today is to say
[1:43:07] what I said in an email to you uh which
[1:43:10] is uh I am here now. Our group is ready
[1:43:13] to talk. Uh we would uh we're open to
[1:43:16] anything. Um we u we believe maybe
[1:43:20] wrongly that uh Hillsboro when you
[1:43:23] brought this action had some sort of a
[1:43:26] plan what you would do if uh you didn't
[1:43:28] weren't successful. We're happy to
[1:43:30] negotiate off whatever your plan may be,
[1:43:34] but we'd like to uh start the
[1:43:36] negotiation, which is why we're here. Um
[1:43:39] just just as an aside, uh uh we do not
[1:43:42] understand why the litigation was
[1:43:44] brought. Um we wouldn't have sued and we
[1:43:49] were barred from suing by a statute
[1:43:51] which said that you had to sue within uh
[1:43:54] 60 days and that time had passed. So, we
[1:43:57] couldn't sue and you brought this suit
[1:44:00] and uh uh had you not brought it, you
[1:44:02] would have been able to take uh the same
[1:44:05] rates for five years without any uh
[1:44:08] challenge. Uh but anyway, it's happened
[1:44:11] and we would like to uh uh move ahead
[1:44:15] and have a negotiation.
[1:44:17] Whoever gave you that advice to bring
[1:44:19] the suit, I think gave you poor advice.
[1:44:22] We we we didn't need to have that suit.
[1:44:25] we didn't need to spend all Hillsboro
[1:44:27] money. Um, if they're giving advice on
[1:44:30] an appeal, please don't. You're going to
[1:44:33] lose an appeal. I assure you, I'm not
[1:44:35] going to get into the legalities of it,
[1:44:37] but uh that is that's what's going to
[1:44:39] happen and it'll just be a waste of more
[1:44:41] money. So, we hope you don't appeal. We
[1:44:44] hope you'll uh talk settlement to us and
[1:44:46] we hope uh there isn't a lot of
[1:44:48] animosity towards us. You know, a
[1:44:50] validation um proceeding is an
[1:44:54] invitation of the town to participate in
[1:44:57] finding the facts of something. Um we
[1:45:00] didn't sue. This was the town wanting to
[1:45:02] find truth about the water rates. And uh
[1:45:06] in such a proceeding, the town is
[1:45:09] invited to participate and we
[1:45:11] participated. and we gave our views of
[1:45:13] the facts and you gave your views of the
[1:45:14] facts and the town came down uh in one
[1:45:18] direction and uh could have come down
[1:45:20] the other direction. But uh we love the
[1:45:23] town. We do not want anything bad to
[1:45:26] happen to the town. We are as I said
[1:45:29] very unhappy the water rate suit was
[1:45:31] brought because it's wasted a lot of
[1:45:33] money and had it not been brought uh we
[1:45:36] would have uh not sued you.
[1:45:38] >> Thank you.
[1:45:39] >> Now I just want to reate reiterate that
[1:45:42] I'm we're willing to talk and thank you
[1:45:45] very much for the time.
[1:45:46] >> Thank you so much, Mr. Lton. Any
[1:45:49] additional comments from the public on
[1:45:51] items that are not on the agenda?
[1:45:53] >> Thank you, Mayor Cole. I'll just check
[1:45:54] to see if there are any raised hands on
[1:45:56] Zoom and I'm not seeing any. Thank you.
[1:46:03] Okay, I will now close um public comment
[1:46:08] and the next item on our agenda is
[1:46:11] announcement of conflicts of interest.
[1:46:13] Um do any of my council members have a
[1:46:15] conflicts of interest to disclose
[1:46:17] related to any item on the agenda?
[1:46:22] Seeing none through the mayor, I do have
[1:46:26] on agenda. I'm not jumping ahead but the
[1:46:29] agenda item nine. Uh I am recusing
[1:46:33] myself from agenda item nine on
[1:46:37] tonight's agenda. Um as I have a real
[1:46:41] property interest within 1,000 ft of the
[1:46:46] 1200 Jaclyn
[1:46:48] drive.
[1:46:49] >> Thank you council member Chuang.
[1:46:52] Um
[1:46:55] any other conflicts of interest?
[1:46:58] Um so city attorney, will we um remove
[1:47:00] that item um before we vote on the
[1:47:02] consent calendar?
[1:47:03] >> Yeah, thank you, Mayor Cole. Agenda item
[1:47:05] nine is actually a public hearing, so
[1:47:06] you'll hear that item and when we get to
[1:47:08] that item, uh council member Chuang will
[1:47:09] step out of the room and the rest of the
[1:47:11] council can decide that the matter.
[1:47:13] Thank you.
[1:47:15] >> Okay. Um
[1:47:18] any items to be removed from the consent
[1:47:20] calendar? I
[1:47:22] >> Council member Krley,
[1:47:24] >> I just have a question on item one uh
[1:47:26] and a comment on item six, but it's a
[1:47:28] quick question. I don't think we need to
[1:47:30] remove it.
[1:47:32] >> I through the mayor.
[1:47:33] >> Any other items?
[1:47:34] >> I also have a comments on item five,
[1:47:39] but not doesn't have to remove it.
[1:47:42] >> Um any items to be removed specifically
[1:47:44] just these are just comments on item
[1:47:46] one, five, and six and six. any
[1:47:49] additional items to be removed.
[1:47:55] » Okay. Um we we will um so
[1:47:59] >> we're not removing any of these items
[1:48:01] except for item nine which council
[1:48:03] member council will recuse. So item one
[1:48:06] council member question for the city
[1:48:07] clerk on uh under on the minutes on page
[1:48:11] 44 in our packet at the top of the page.
[1:48:15] It's under um old business item 11. I do
[1:48:19] have the last name of the resident on
[1:48:21] Moralboro Road. Is there a reason why we
[1:48:23] don't want it published?
[1:48:24] >> I didn't include it because he didn't
[1:48:26] state it for the record.
[1:48:28] >> Um and so I I just I didn't include it
[1:48:30] for that reason. When he was at the
[1:48:31] podium, he didn't. Um I noted that I
[1:48:34] said it out loud, but then he didn't say
[1:48:36] it out loud, so I chose not to include
[1:48:38] it in the minutes.
[1:48:39] >> Okay, that was my question. Thank you.
[1:48:41] >> Thank you.
[1:48:42] >> Okay. Um item five.
[1:48:45] >> Item five. Thank you. Um, I just want to
[1:48:49] um commend the staff for continuing to
[1:48:54] really identify the HMGP
[1:48:57] program grand funding for the Highland
[1:49:00] project. I know that Highland project,
[1:49:03] Highline project has been a very
[1:49:05] important project for our town. It was
[1:49:08] most unfortunate that FEMA grant the
[1:49:10] brick grant did not come through and it
[1:49:13] is a a huge project, $45 million. So,
[1:49:17] thank you so much for identify those uh
[1:49:20] grant funding and continue to move
[1:49:22] forward with this project. Thank you.
[1:49:26] >> Um I echo those statements.
[1:49:29] >> These are
[1:49:29] >> Yes, I think we all echo those
[1:49:31] statements
[1:49:32] >> and we're very grateful.
[1:49:33] Mandy. Thank
[1:49:34] you to you and the team for working on
[1:49:37] that item six.
[1:49:38] >> And I just wanted to say that even
[1:49:40] though it's on consent cal calendar,
[1:49:42] these cyber security controls are so
[1:49:44] important. So, um, I thank you, William,
[1:49:47] and for pursuing those.
[1:49:52] And with that, I make a motion to
[1:49:54] approve the consent calendar items 1
[1:49:57] through eight. And we have a second.
[1:50:00] >> Second.
[1:50:02] >> Okay. Um, all those in favor say I.
[1:50:05] >> I.
[1:50:12] Um we have unanimous consent for the
[1:50:15] consent calendar.
[1:50:19] » You're moving into agenda item nine.
[1:50:21] >> No.
[1:50:22] >> Yes. Okay. We will start with um agenda.
[1:50:25] We'll move on to public hearing for um
[1:50:27] agenda item nine.
[1:50:40] All right. Uh, good evening, mayor. Good
[1:50:42] evening, council members. My name is
[1:50:43] Doug Belchick, and I am the associate
[1:50:45] civil engineer for the town of
[1:50:47] Hillsboro. And tonight's public hearing
[1:50:49] item is for council to consider the
[1:50:51] adopt adoption and summary vacation of
[1:50:55] easements at 1200 Jaclyn Drive. um
[1:50:59] staff, property owner, property owner
[1:51:01] rep, and uh other technical staff are
[1:51:04] available for any questions after the
[1:51:06] presentation.
[1:51:09] Uh so getting started, the red dot shown
[1:51:12] on the screen is the approximate
[1:51:13] location of the property. As you can
[1:51:16] see, it's in the northernmost portion of
[1:51:18] Hillsbor, right along the border of
[1:51:20] Berling.
[1:51:24] The property itself consists of three
[1:51:26] parcels shown here on the left. Um it's
[1:51:29] the current and existing conditions.
[1:51:32] The applicants recently submitted an uh
[1:51:35] lot line adjustment application that
[1:51:37] would modify the existing three property
[1:51:41] shown on the left to something that
[1:51:42] would look more on the right. Um, as
[1:51:45] part of that lot line adjustment, the
[1:51:47] applicant is proposing to vacate and
[1:51:50] relocate existing easements shown here
[1:51:52] in red. Um, as well as dedicate some new
[1:51:56] easements, which are depicted here on
[1:51:58] the right. Effectively, this would place
[1:52:01] public utility easements along all
[1:52:03] interior property lines, which is more
[1:52:05] consistent of a typical property in
[1:52:07] town.
[1:52:12] The reason we're here tonight is because
[1:52:14] of code section 163650D,
[1:52:18] which states that if the proposed lot
[1:52:20] line adjustment includes the dedication
[1:52:22] or abandonment of easements, the city
[1:52:24] engineer shall not approve the lot line
[1:52:26] adjustment map until city council has
[1:52:29] accepted the offer dedications or
[1:52:31] abandonments in a public hearing. Uh so
[1:52:34] in short, council must consider and
[1:52:36] approve the easement dedications and
[1:52:38] abandonments before the city engineer
[1:52:40] can consider the law line adjustment.
[1:52:45] Again, tonight uh tonight's public
[1:52:48] hearing item is for council's
[1:52:49] consideration of the easements, not
[1:52:51] considering the lot line adjustment
[1:52:53] itself. Acceptance of the easements will
[1:52:56] permit town access for future
[1:52:58] installations, operation, and
[1:53:00] maintenance of any public utilities. As
[1:53:03] of now, there are no current public
[1:53:05] utilities that the town owns. Uh other
[1:53:07] public utility providers have confirmed
[1:53:09] acceptance of the easements. Um they as
[1:53:12] well don't have any any u uh any
[1:53:14] utilities. Uh and town staff have
[1:53:16] addressed inquiries regarding the lot
[1:53:18] line adjustment and process and have
[1:53:20] also clarified that no development is
[1:53:23] being proposed at this time.
[1:53:26] And with that, I can take any questions.
[1:53:29] >> Thank you, Mr. Pilchic. Um, any
[1:53:32] questions from the council regarding the
[1:53:35] presentation?
[1:53:37] Yes, council member Crowley.
[1:53:38] >> Thank you, Doug. Can you go back to the
[1:53:41] map, please?
[1:53:44] >> So, on the left, the current, that
[1:53:48] yellow slice,
[1:53:50] and the orange slice. So, who do they
[1:53:52] belong to?
[1:53:54] >> It's all part, sorry, it's all part of
[1:53:57] 1,200 jackling. Uh it's one property but
[1:54:01] three parcels. Actually it's technically
[1:54:03] four but the lot line adjustment is just
[1:54:05] for three.
[1:54:06] >> So the property belongs to 12200 Jaclyn
[1:54:08] but there's a utility easement
[1:54:12] >> existing. Correct. The red line it goes
[1:54:14] pretty much all around the existing
[1:54:16] orange property.
[1:54:18] >> But we don't actually have any utilities
[1:54:20] there. Is that what you're saying?
[1:54:22] >> Correct. It was probably done when the
[1:54:24] property was subdivided at some point.
[1:54:26] Uh but the town hasn't had any need for
[1:54:28] it as of yet.
[1:54:28] >> Okay. So there's no change in ownership.
[1:54:32] >> All right.
[1:54:33] >> Correct.
[1:54:33] >> Uh thank you.
[1:54:35] >> Thank you. Um Council Member Adams. Oh,
[1:54:38] any question?
[1:54:39] >> Um just a comment. I really appreciate
[1:54:43] having this public discussion. I think
[1:54:45] it's obvious where this probably will
[1:54:49] lead and I think it's really good for us
[1:54:51] in terms of transparency
[1:54:54] to be talking about the importance of
[1:54:56] the easements but also the importance of
[1:54:59] understanding the changes uh that this
[1:55:02] will represent. So I appreciate this
[1:55:05] opportunity to again have transparency.
[1:55:11] » Thank you. Um, Vice Mayor Rexdale.
[1:55:14] >> Um, two questions. One, just to follow
[1:55:17] up on Council Member Kick's question.
[1:55:19] So, is it probably that in the past on
[1:55:22] the left, that bottom left portion maybe
[1:55:24] was an individual lot and that's why it
[1:55:27] had easements all around it and then it
[1:55:29] was bought up and combined.
[1:55:32] >> Correct. It could be any number of
[1:55:33] different things, but yes, most likely.
[1:55:35] >> Okay. Um and then my question is um if
[1:55:38] it if we accepted the uh new easements
[1:55:42] and the vacation of easements um and um
[1:55:46] then the lot line was not uh the lot
[1:55:49] line change was not approved by the
[1:55:52] public works director.
[1:55:54] What happens to those easements? They
[1:55:56] can they can just stay the new easements
[1:55:59] or do they that's just a separate issue?
[1:56:03] >> That is a great question. Uh my guess is
[1:56:06] that they most likely will not get
[1:56:10] dedicated. Uh they need to be stamped
[1:56:12] and signed and and there'd need to be a
[1:56:14] whole bunch of processes. This is just
[1:56:15] to to accept them. Um they haven't been
[1:56:19] approved or or anything like that. Um
[1:56:22] that would take a whole a whole separate
[1:56:23] process which is what would happen after
[1:56:26] if they do get approved.
[1:56:27] >> Okay. Oh, that that's a good answer.
[1:56:30] Thank you.
[1:56:31] >> Um thank you. Um just a quick followup
[1:56:34] regarding the modifications in the
[1:56:36] easement. It looks like we now have
[1:56:38] access potentially if infrastructure is
[1:56:41] needed or easement is needed um within
[1:56:44] the property as well. So I assume the the width of those access is
[1:56:50] appropriate for the work we may need to
[1:56:52] do in the future if necessary.
[1:56:54] >> Yeah. Uh it's a typical 5 foot wide
[1:56:57] public utility easement that is across
[1:57:00] town
[1:57:01] >> and and and that access would be deed
[1:57:03] indefinitely for the town. In other
[1:57:05] words, the town owns that 5-ft access.
[1:57:09] >> They have the right to access it. It
[1:57:10] would still be part of the property. Uh
[1:57:12] it's just that the town has access to to
[1:57:15] it.
[1:57:15] >> Okay.
[1:57:17] >> And and that access basically belongs to
[1:57:18] the town indefinitely is your Yeah.
[1:57:21] Until the council abandons it or
[1:57:23] approves abandonment.
[1:57:25] Okay. Um All right. Those are the
[1:57:28] clarifying questions. I have any um
[1:57:31] Go ahead, Council Member Crow.
[1:57:33] >> One more question. Looking at this,
[1:57:34] Doug. So, the street on the left,
[1:57:36] looking at this, that's Fagan Drive,
[1:57:38] right? Is that Fagan?
[1:57:40] >> Yes.
[1:57:41] >> And then the street at the top is
[1:57:43] Armsby, right?
[1:57:44] >> Correct.
[1:57:44] >> So, h how did we get 1200 Jackling out
[1:57:47] of that? And does is the is the address
[1:57:50] going to change?
[1:57:52] Uh yes, there is a there is an
[1:57:54] application for an address change to
[1:57:56] make it more current
[1:57:58] at some point. I believe the subdivision
[1:58:00] was done in 1960 something.
[1:58:03] >> Um so it's most likely that the access
[1:58:06] was off of Jaclyn at some point, but
[1:58:08] >> Okay. Thank you.
[1:58:09] >> Subdivide.
[1:58:12] >> Any additional questions? Okay. Do we um
[1:58:15] have a motion to accept this? Um,
[1:58:18] >> Mayor Cole, uh, this is a public
[1:58:20] hearing, so we'd want to open up the
[1:58:21] public hearing and see if there's any
[1:58:22] public comment.
[1:58:23] >> Any public comments from the public?
[1:58:25] >> Yes,
[1:58:35] my name is Gordon Newman and I've been a
[1:58:37] resident on Pagan Drive since 1974.
[1:58:41] >> And um, I also am a civil engineer with
[1:58:45] a professional license. state of
[1:58:47] California. I have built thousands of
[1:58:50] homes and apartments in the state of
[1:58:52] California and in the uh other parts of
[1:58:55] the country. Um I have some concerns and
[1:59:00] I represent some uh residents of Fagan
[1:59:03] Drive that have similar concerns. We
[1:59:06] understand this is a preliminary
[1:59:08] hearing. We also understand that
[1:59:10] ultimately the homes will be built and
[1:59:13] most probably be approved by the city
[1:59:15] council. We have one major concern and
[1:59:18] that is the uh ability of uh Fagan Drive
[1:59:22] to allow emergency services to be uh
[1:59:26] accessed to Fagan uh during this perhaps
[1:59:31] four-year construction period of the two
[1:59:33] homes. Um I have spoken to Chief Colola
[1:59:38] and she has similar concerns about
[1:59:40] emergency services during that
[1:59:42] construction period. Um, I would
[1:59:46] therefore like to recommend to the city
[1:59:48] council
[1:59:49] uh if possible uh during the approval
[1:59:52] process that a construction easement be
[1:59:57] provided to the present homeowner and
[1:59:59] developer of these lots so that the
[2:00:03] construction vehicles and necessary
[2:00:06] parking etc be on their property not on
[2:00:09] Fagan Drive which would interfere with
[2:00:11] emergency services. Thank you.
[2:00:16] Um,
[2:00:17] >> any questions?
[2:00:19] >> Um, just for clarification on your
[2:00:21] comment, I I realize your time is up.
[2:00:24] Specifically, you are asking for the con
[2:00:28] uh an exception for the construction
[2:00:30] vehicle to be located within the
[2:00:34] property as opposed to Fagan Drive.
[2:00:36] >> Yes.
[2:00:36] >> Okay. Just wanted to clarify that. Any
[2:00:40] questions for the neighbor? No. Any
[2:00:44] other comments from the public?
[2:00:47] >> Thank you, Mayor Cole. I'll Is there I
[2:00:49] just checked to see if there's anyone on
[2:00:51] Zoom who would like to provide comments
[2:00:52] to raise their hand. And if there's
[2:00:54] anyone in the room who would like to
[2:00:56] provide comments, you can
[2:00:58] >> complete a speaker card or let me know.
[2:01:02] I'm not seeing any raised hands on Zoom
[2:01:06] and I'm not seeing anyone else in the
[2:01:07] room who would like to provide comments.
[2:01:14] » Okay, seeing no additional questions I
[2:01:16] have qu I have um coming back to the
[2:01:18] council um could we put the map up
[2:01:20] again? Um and also I guess the question
[2:01:22] is for you Mr. Belch or Paul.
[2:01:26] Have we ever asked the developer or
[2:01:29] builder to um not use the right of way
[2:01:33] and provide access for construction
[2:01:35] vehicles within the property itself? Is
[2:01:38] that a reasonable requ?
[2:01:42] » Yeah. Uh it's it's uh it is reasonable.
[2:01:46] I will say that typically during
[2:01:47] development the contractor will choose
[2:01:49] the the most appropriate way um which is
[2:01:52] all taken cons into consideration during
[2:01:55] design review. Um if the properties were
[2:01:58] to get developed they would still go
[2:01:59] through the proper design channels and
[2:02:01] have to go through ADRB and and planning
[2:02:04] building engineering all the permits. Um
[2:02:06] and at at that time if um if there were
[2:02:09] concerns about access off of Fagan, we
[2:02:11] can definitely condition the project
[2:02:13] that the contractor come through off of
[2:02:16] Arms Beer or any other way not to affect
[2:02:20] any anything off of Fagan.
[2:02:22] >> Then just to add a little bit to what
[2:02:24] Doug Belch has shared, um the
[2:02:25] application before you is really a lot
[2:02:27] line adjustment. Um so really just
[2:02:29] moving parcel lines on the various
[2:02:31] parcels. No development is proposed at
[2:02:33] this point with the application, but the
[2:02:35] opportune time I think for council or
[2:02:37] ADRB depending on where it lands in
[2:02:39] terms of the approvals. If there's
[2:02:40] future homes that are proposed, that
[2:02:43] would be the appropriate time for either
[2:02:44] of those bodies to basically impose a
[2:02:46] condition as outlined by the commonour.
[2:02:48] But tonight it would be a little
[2:02:49] premature just because if you if if
[2:02:52] ultimately you approve the easements and
[2:02:53] accept them and let's say our city
[2:02:55] engineer does approve the lot line
[2:02:56] adjustment, these lots could sit just as
[2:02:59] they are without any development for
[2:03:01] decades. Um and so I wouldn't want you
[2:03:02] to impose the condition now, but I think
[2:03:04] when it does come back for future
[2:03:06] development and homes are actually being
[2:03:08] proposed at that point. I think our
[2:03:10] director of building and planning is
[2:03:11] hearing the comment tonight. Um, and so
[2:03:13] they will ensure that obviously ADRB
[2:03:15] looks at that. If it ultimately comes to
[2:03:16] you at the council level, that's
[2:03:18] something you can impose at that point
[2:03:19] as a condition of approval.
[2:03:23] » Um, any question? Yes. Um, council
[2:03:25] member Adams. Thank you, Christopher,
[2:03:27] for that clarification, but I think your
[2:03:30] question was, do we have a precedent or
[2:03:32] have we ever done that? And I saw some
[2:03:34] head shaking. So, in time, that would be
[2:03:38] a good thing to make sure that we don't
[2:03:41] forget and that we hear from you again.
[2:03:44] So, um I think we're ready to take a
[2:03:48] vote.
[2:03:49] >> Yeah. I I think to to respond to the
[2:03:51] resident, it's a it's a valid concern
[2:03:54] and for the the neighbors on Fagan when
[2:03:57] if construction commences on these lots,
[2:04:00] it's a narrow entrance to the road and
[2:04:02] um building and planning um I think
[2:04:05] should and will take that into
[2:04:07] consideration and make sure that there
[2:04:09] is a plan that is safe and the least
[2:04:12] amount of disruption possible for the
[2:04:15] neighbors.
[2:04:18] » Thank you. Any additional comments?
[2:04:20] Okay. Then do I have um and no questions
[2:04:24] from the public? No additional questions
[2:04:25] from the public. Correct.
[2:04:27] >> No, Miracle. Thank you,
[2:04:29] >> Mr. Belchick. Do I um recommendation is
[2:04:32] to adopt a resolution accepting a 5 foot
[2:04:35] wide public utility easement on three
[2:04:37] parcels at 1200 Jaclyn Drive, APN's
[2:04:40] number listed. um and contingently
[2:04:43] summarily vacating an existing public
[2:04:46] utility easement on two parcels at 1200
[2:04:48] Jaclyn Drive
[2:04:50] pending relocation under secret
[2:04:52] guidelines.
[2:04:54] >> So move second.
[2:04:57] >> Could we take a roll call please?
[2:04:59] Council member Adams.
[2:05:01] >> Yes.
[2:05:02] >> Council member Kwick.
[2:05:04] >> Yes.
[2:05:05] >> Vice Mayor Rexdale.
[2:05:06] >> Yes.
[2:05:08] >> Mayor Cole says yes. Thank you.
[2:05:11] Mr. Belchure.
[2:05:12] >> It's a very special property. Good luck
[2:05:14] with that.
[2:05:15] >> Yeah.
[2:05:20] Hey,
[2:05:28] the next item on our agenda is a
[2:05:30] discussion on ebikes andformational
[2:05:32] updates and that will be presented by
[2:05:34] assistant city manager Mandy Brown.
[2:05:39] Good evening, Mayor Cole, Vice Mayor,
[2:05:41] and council members. Uh the E stands for
[2:05:44] efficient. Tonight is a very efficient
[2:05:46] meeting. Moving right along. Um I'm here
[2:05:49] to present a briefformational update on
[2:05:51] ebikes. Uh trying to provide a broad
[2:05:54] overview of what's the landscape is and
[2:05:57] uh open the discussion for council and
[2:05:59] residents to provide some feedback and
[2:06:01] ideas. Um and also just to promote that
[2:06:04] there are this is the beginning of the
[2:06:06] conversation. There are lots more
[2:06:08] discussions to be had both at the county
[2:06:10] level and higher. Um so uh if if we do
[2:06:13] not capture everything tonight uh we
[2:06:15] will continue the conversation.
[2:06:28] This is just to provide um an overview
[2:06:30] of the different types of ebikes. Um I
[2:06:33] will note that it may be difficult to
[2:06:35] tell with the eye when you're seeing
[2:06:37] these ebikes go around whether it's a
[2:06:39] class one, class 2, or class 3. Um but
[2:06:42] these are the technical definitions and
[2:06:44] it's also included um as a chart in
[2:06:47] attachment one um just to give an
[2:06:49] overview of what we're talking about and
[2:06:51] the speeds um pedal assist and there's
[2:06:54] some other details but this is really
[2:06:56] just a high level
[2:07:01] again not meant to be exhaustive but
[2:07:03] just to say why are we having this
[2:07:05] conversation ebikes do have a lot of
[2:07:07] benefits especially for a town like
[2:07:08] Hillsboro where there is a a challenges
[2:07:11] with that last mile connectivity between
[2:07:13] homes and transit stations like Cal
[2:07:16] Train station or bus stations. They're
[2:07:18] very helpful to improve accessibility
[2:07:20] especially on our beautiful hills um
[2:07:23] here in town. And it's also a very nice
[2:07:26] uh alternative to vehicular traffic,
[2:07:28] getting people out of their cars um and
[2:07:31] just be having more access to different
[2:07:33] places.
[2:07:36] That said, they do come with some risks
[2:07:38] because they do go fast and they are so
[2:07:40] efficient. there is a greater increase
[2:07:42] of injury especially when you're not
[2:07:44] using proper helmets um if you're
[2:07:47] speeding. Um also there are ways to
[2:07:50] modify the equipment to make them go
[2:07:52] faster than they're supposed to be um
[2:07:54] ridden and so that increases uh injury
[2:07:58] as well. lack of education and training.
[2:08:01] Unlike driving where you're required to
[2:08:04] get a license and go through specific
[2:08:06] training, uh there isn't necessarily
[2:08:08] formalized training and education,
[2:08:11] though this is improving and I'll go
[2:08:12] through a couple of those resources
[2:08:14] tonight, but it's not mandated the same
[2:08:16] way it is um with driving vehicles.
[2:08:21] Um and then the enforcement of the
[2:08:22] regulations. Um our uh wonderful HPD
[2:08:26] does a wonderful does a great job of
[2:08:28] making sure that they have resources and
[2:08:30] they're going out proactively to the
[2:08:32] community. Um but there are a lot of
[2:08:34] ebikes um around town and so uh HPD
[2:08:38] can't be everywhere. And so um also
[2:08:40] offering some tools to uh just increase
[2:08:43] the public education for some self-p
[2:08:45] policing as well.
[2:08:49] Just a broad overview of what I'll talk
[2:08:51] about tonight. The staff report has a
[2:08:52] lot of detail. I've kept it a little bit
[2:08:54] higher level for the PowerPoint. Um, so
[2:08:56] I'll just go over kind of big to small
[2:08:59] what's being done at the state level,
[2:09:00] some other counties in the state, what's
[2:09:03] being done in Samonteo
[2:09:05] County in the town, and then offering
[2:09:07] some tools and resources.
[2:09:12] So there is a lot that's been done um at
[2:09:15] the state level and also continuing to
[2:09:17] be done even since we did this published
[2:09:21] the staff report. Um there is new
[2:09:23] legislation that we're actively
[2:09:25] monitoring and will uh continue to
[2:09:27] monitor. Uh but the first three bullet
[2:09:30] points are a summary of some of the
[2:09:33] ebike laws that passed and have gone
[2:09:35] into effect this year. Um, so
[2:09:38] prohibiting the selling a class 3 ebike
[2:09:40] to anyone under 16, requiring the rear
[2:09:43] red reflector, um, and then prohibiting
[2:09:46] the sale of applications to modify an
[2:09:48] ebike speed capabilities. Um, and I
[2:09:51] think we've talked about the rear red
[2:09:53] reflector in the past and whether or not
[2:09:55] that's really a feasible way to promote
[2:09:58] safety. What it does is it um it does
[2:10:01] sort of give HPD um the opportunity to
[2:10:06] begin the safety conversations if the
[2:10:08] reflector is not there. Um so it does
[2:10:10] help with enforcement and at least um
[2:10:12] some education uh in that way even if it
[2:10:16] the rear reflector may not on its face
[2:10:18] seem like the the most efficient safety
[2:10:21] measure. Um so new proposed legislation
[2:10:24] AB1557
[2:10:26] um by PAPEN is there's a multitude of
[2:10:29] things. This is really just a high
[2:10:31] level. Um we did link um the full
[2:10:33] language um in the staff report. So
[2:10:35] giving local law enforcement clear
[2:10:37] authority um to address these ebikes. Um
[2:10:41] and then Davies some ebike safety
[2:10:43] requirements at schools which is being
[2:10:46] done in our Sono County uh schools
[2:10:49] resources. um it's just not required
[2:10:51] right now.
[2:10:55] There are some other counties uh in
[2:10:57] California that have obtained pilot
[2:10:59] programs uh to limit uh safety
[2:11:02] regulations. So um Marin County and San
[2:11:06] Diego County you'll probably hear about
[2:11:08] a lot and this is allowing jurisdictions
[2:11:11] to essentially opt in to more
[2:11:13] restrictive age restrictions. And these
[2:11:16] pilots are really supposed to run
[2:11:18] through January 1st, 2029 with the idea
[2:11:20] that once the pilot period concludes,
[2:11:23] they will consider rolling it out to
[2:11:25] other counties. Um there has been a lot
[2:11:28] of interest from counties that are not
[2:11:30] in the pilot program to be allowed into
[2:11:33] the pilot program or to develop their
[2:11:35] own. Um and so we are monitoring seeing
[2:11:38] how these are going and the various
[2:11:40] cities within these counties are uh in
[2:11:42] the process of sort of adopting those
[2:11:44] measures. And so I've provided a a
[2:11:47] summary of the cities that have have
[2:11:48] joined in. But there's a lot of
[2:11:50] interest. I think most of the cities in
[2:11:51] San Diego County are at least discussing
[2:11:54] it if not taking tangible steps towards
[2:11:57] um joining the program.
[2:12:02] Santo County is also doing a lot in
[2:12:04] terms of resources. The San Monteo
[2:12:07] County Office of Education has a whole
[2:12:08] library of ebike toolkit and trainings
[2:12:12] um with webinars and resources for
[2:12:14] parents uh translated into multiple
[2:12:17] languages. Um and I'll speak a little
[2:12:19] bit more about the town's efforts, but
[2:12:21] this is something that has been promoted
[2:12:23] both through our school district as well
[2:12:24] as through town communications.
[2:12:28] We also hear a lot about other cities
[2:12:30] that have passed regulations or ebike
[2:12:32] bans locally. We hear about Berling game
[2:12:35] and we hear about Milbre. Uh these it's an important clarification that
[2:12:40] these um ordinances prohibit the
[2:12:43] operation of ebikes in public areas uh
[2:12:46] and in park or recreation areas or
[2:12:48] sidewalks. They do not prohibit their
[2:12:51] use on the actual roads. So those are
[2:12:53] governed not by town ordinances. So the
[2:12:56] town of Hillsbor does not have a large
[2:12:59] number of parks or trail system. um that
[2:13:02] would be what an ordinance if we were to
[2:13:04] adopt something would really govern. It
[2:13:06] would not impact riding ebikes along the
[2:13:09] actual streets of Hillsboro. So, I just
[2:13:11] wanted to make that clarification uh
[2:13:13] because I do think sometimes it get
[2:13:15] could become confusing in news articles
[2:13:18] um and word of mouth.
[2:13:21] Um, again,
[2:13:23] some cities that that don't uh haven't
[2:13:25] have opted to not adopt an ordinance do
[2:13:28] have moreformational
[2:13:30] resources and then additional town halls
[2:13:33] and listening sessions. Um, I think our
[2:13:35] weekly bulletin has been 60% ebike town
[2:13:39] halls lately um promoting them. Uh, we
[2:13:42] had Josh Becker, Diane Papin had one
[2:13:44] with um Ana um the lead of our Hillsboro
[2:13:47] Youth Commission speaking at it. Um
[2:13:49] there's two events tomorrow on ebikes um
[2:13:53] that Vice Mayor Ragn and I are tag
[2:13:55] teaming. So it it's continuing to gain
[2:13:58] some traction and so hopefully that will
[2:13:59] result in some some meaningful change.
[2:14:06] Now what is being done at the town
[2:14:07] level? So we are tracking that
[2:14:09] legislation at the state level meeting
[2:14:11] with our legislative consultant. Our
[2:14:13] legislative platform does have language
[2:14:16] uh to limit the ability for users to
[2:14:18] alter ebikes. We also are doing this
[2:14:21] through the League of California Cities.
[2:14:23] Um they have a strong initiative to
[2:14:25] monitor this legislation. Um, but having
[2:14:28] that in our platform means that as these
[2:14:30] proposed bills are moving very quickly
[2:14:32] through Sacramento, we are able to write
[2:14:35] letters of support um, and be very
[2:14:37] nimble to make sure that we're showing
[2:14:40] um, that we want to see that legislation
[2:14:42] pass. And so that's very helpful um,
[2:14:45] making sure that our voice is being
[2:14:47] incorporated in that conversation.
[2:14:51] As you know, uh you guys passed and
[2:14:53] adopted the bicycle and pedestrian
[2:14:54] master plan, uh with a huge thanks to
[2:14:56] the public works and building and
[2:14:58] planning staff for helping spearhead
[2:15:00] this. Uh this master plan contains some
[2:15:04] policies for consideration to be um
[2:15:06] adopted by the city in the future,
[2:15:09] including prohibiting riders from riding
[2:15:11] unsafe speeds, encouraging safety
[2:15:14] courses, um and additional helmets and
[2:15:16] bike lights. Uh, I do want to address I
[2:15:19] know the council received a public
[2:15:20] comment regarding some infrastructure
[2:15:22] improvements and the bike and ped master
[2:15:24] plan does contain um some some
[2:15:28] infrastructure improvements. Uh so
[2:15:32] was not ignored. Uh it was meant to be
[2:15:34] captured. Each one of these bullet
[2:15:36] points could probably be their own
[2:15:37] presentation in themsel. Um so we're
[2:15:40] just trying to capture it at a high
[2:15:41] level. But the bike ped master plan does
[2:15:43] also have recommendations for physical
[2:15:45] barriers and improvements and things to
[2:15:47] improve safe biking in the town of
[2:15:49] Hillsboro.
[2:15:53] I mentioned HPD before. They have done
[2:15:55] three specific trainings on ebikes and I
[2:15:58] did include their PowerPoint as an
[2:16:00] attachment to the staff report um most
[2:16:02] recently just in January. Um and and had
[2:16:06] very good attendance at Crocker Middle
[2:16:08] School.
[2:16:12] Um, additional public education
[2:16:14] outreach. We have a ebike website. So,
[2:16:17] hillsboro.net/ebikes
[2:16:19] which just has a summary um of a lot of
[2:16:21] the information here tonight. All of
[2:16:23] those resources from the county and
[2:16:25] otherwise the HPD presentation is on
[2:16:27] there as well. Uh and so it's a easy
[2:16:30] place uh to and as we get more
[2:16:32] information uh and these webinars come
[2:16:34] out we'll make sure to update it with
[2:16:35] the record links to recordings the youth
[2:16:38] commission survey uh for example we'll
[2:16:40] make sure to plug here just so it will
[2:16:42] be a living library of ebikes in
[2:16:44] Hillsboro.
[2:16:50] I did to want to just while we're on the
[2:16:52] topic um offer a couple of just best
[2:16:55] practices uh both for parents and for
[2:16:58] kids uh not just ebikes but um all
[2:17:02] biking uh in town. Um ensuring that
[2:17:05] you're wearing a helmet and that it
[2:17:07] fits. Um making sure that you're
[2:17:09] practicing passenger safety. Um and
[2:17:12] reminding that carrying a passenger is
[2:17:14] legal only if your ebike has a seat for
[2:17:16] another person. I know that we often see
[2:17:19] that is not the case riding around
[2:17:20] Hillsboro. I know I've seen it. Um and
[2:17:22] so just making sure that everybody's
[2:17:24] aware of the legal rules.
[2:17:27] Being responsible not just as a a bike
[2:17:29] rider but also on in a vehicle. Um being
[2:17:32] aware of ebikes and being responsible,
[2:17:35] predictable and visible, wearing bright
[2:17:37] colors and lights uh when you can and uh
[2:17:41] slowing the speed. So higher the speed,
[2:17:43] the higher the risk. So, I'm just
[2:17:45] encouraging folks to ride at safe speeds
[2:17:47] and please do not modify your ebike to
[2:17:50] ride at an unsafe speed.
[2:17:54] This is another resource from safe
[2:17:56] routes that we'll link um on the
[2:17:58] website, but uh specifically geared
[2:18:01] towards parents. So, a lot of these
[2:18:03] resources are geared towards specific
[2:18:04] audiences.
[2:18:07] Again,
[2:18:09] just another plug for our our website
[2:18:11] and this is the basic information of
[2:18:13] what is on our website. So, the rules of
[2:18:15] riding an ebike, ebike and bike safety
[2:18:17] tips, how to report illegal or
[2:18:20] concerning bike behavior. We do get that
[2:18:21] question a lot and then access to that
[2:18:24] library of tools and resources.
[2:18:28] So, with that, I'll open up uh for
[2:18:30] discussion or questions to keep the
[2:18:32] conversation going. Thanks for your
[2:18:33] time.
[2:18:34] >> Thank you, Mandy. Um, thank you so much
[2:18:37] for the work you've been doing on this.
[2:18:38] And before I open it up to my
[2:18:39] colleagues, I would like to first also
[2:18:41] take the opportunity to thank our vice
[2:18:43] mayor, uh, Leslie Ragdale has been not
[2:18:47] only representing the town quite well in
[2:18:49] moving this discussion forward, but
[2:18:50] she's just been very diligent and
[2:18:52] persistent working with HPD as well as
[2:18:55] the school, the the schools and the
[2:18:58] stakeholders at the school to move the
[2:19:00] education and information on this
[2:19:02] project. Thank you so much, Leslie. I've
[2:19:03] been quite impressed with the speed and
[2:19:05] elacrity you've moved this whole
[2:19:07] discussion forward. Um I will now open
[2:19:10] it up to my colleagues for questions for
[2:19:12] clarifications on the presentation. Um Caswell Adams and just a quick
[2:19:19] question about the ordinance that uh is
[2:19:21] in Berling game about restricting
[2:19:24] driving to roads.
[2:19:27] We have a few places in Hillsboro that
[2:19:30] would be tempting that are off-road. Um
[2:19:34] would it be within our purview to create
[2:19:37] legislation
[2:19:38] similarly that you must use these bikes
[2:19:42] on roads?
[2:19:45] » I can look into it especially if you
[2:19:47] have specific areas and we can work with
[2:19:49] the city attorney's office to see what
[2:19:51] capabilities we have. Certainly.
[2:19:56] Council member uh Trunk,
[2:19:58] >> thank you. Um thank you for the
[2:20:00] presentation and thank you Vice Mayor uh
[2:20:02] Rexels for um you know um spearheading
[2:20:06] it. Um there are certainly a lot of
[2:20:09] discussions regarding this and my
[2:20:11] question is this one. Um and that that's
[2:20:15] sort of dubtail to uh our uh chief. Uh
[2:20:18] perhaps you can come up to the podium
[2:20:20] and talk a little bit about um the um
[2:20:24] the meeting with um the students, the
[2:20:27] Kroger students. I think um the
[2:20:30] education piece is fantastic and the
[2:20:33] peer-to-peer discussions with the
[2:20:35] officers has been very effective.
[2:20:38] >> Yes, that's correct. Uh we had our first
[2:20:42] session uh in the beginning of the
[2:20:45] school year and that was uh widely
[2:20:48] attended. A lot of kids came. Uh we had
[2:20:52] our second session uh last week or the
[2:20:55] week before sorry and uh that was also
[2:20:59] uh very well attended. uh the officers
[2:21:02] give a wonderful presentation
[2:21:04] and uh really give that personal uh
[2:21:09] level to the to the students. Um we
[2:21:13] recently had a uh parent uh before
[2:21:17] Christmas break for the kids for the
[2:21:19] parents who are going to buy uh bikes
[2:21:21] for the students just to give them heads
[2:21:23] up and what to look for and you know
[2:21:26] most importantly it's the education for
[2:21:29] the students and uh to help them make
[2:21:33] right decisions
[2:21:35] >> and and I I I maybe you want to talk a
[2:21:38] little bit about the assembly that you
[2:21:40] intended to push push out uh maybe at
[2:21:43] the uh later of this year uh so that
[2:21:46] people would actually bring their bikes
[2:21:48] in and then be able to have u sort of a
[2:21:52] pure conversation
[2:21:54] um among the students with parents and
[2:21:57] also with the officers.
[2:21:59] >> Correct. So we're going to have we're
[2:22:01] not calling it a a bike rodeo. It's more
[2:22:04] like a skills session where the officers
[2:22:07] will be there. where they'll be able to
[2:22:08] check the students bikes and make sure
[2:22:10] they haven't been modified or if they
[2:22:13] have any questions on how to ride them.
[2:22:16] Uh we'll put them through a little kind
[2:22:19] of an obstacle and just be there for the
[2:22:22] students in case they need any help. And I think this is would be a good
[2:22:27] point for me to just kind of bring it
[2:22:29] up. One of the observation I had is when
[2:22:32] you have more than three cyclists
[2:22:36] um on the road literally they're the you
[2:22:39] know the formation of a size of a
[2:22:41] vehicle and as drivers we don't know how
[2:22:45] to approach them. you don't know how to
[2:22:47] pass them or you want to follow them
[2:22:49] behind them and they also seem like that
[2:22:52] they are not sure exactly how they are
[2:22:56] able to move forward with their
[2:22:59] formation. So I think that that would be
[2:23:02] something either in our website or in
[2:23:05] the presentation to have conversation
[2:23:07] regarding the formation so that they
[2:23:10] will keep themselves safe and it's also
[2:23:14] uh less of a frustrations for the driver
[2:23:16] trying to pass them by and create
[2:23:19] potential accidents.
[2:23:21] >> Sure. And that is uh something that they
[2:23:23] discussed during the uh presentations
[2:23:25] that we gave earlier.
[2:23:27] >> Thank you. Thank you chief.
[2:23:28] >> Sure.
[2:23:29] >> Thank you chief. Um, Council Member
[2:23:32] Kwick,
[2:23:35] >> thank you. Thank you, Mandy, for the
[2:23:37] presentation and also thank you, yeah,
[2:23:39] Leslie, and and everybody that's been
[2:23:41] working up for and and Chief, and that
[2:23:45] is all the things that have been done so
[2:23:47] far to try and keep our residents and
[2:23:49] especially our youth safe. So, I just
[2:23:51] have two questions, Mandy. Um, it said
[2:23:53] class one, no throttle, class two
[2:23:56] throttle, and then class three is no
[2:23:58] throttle again.
[2:24:00] So why is um what makes class three I
[2:24:03] assume that's more powerful?
[2:24:11] Let me pull up them. There's an
[2:24:12] attachment with a bit more um
[2:24:16] specificity. Um the attachment one which
[2:24:22] has
[2:24:24] I'll have to get back to you. I I'm
[2:24:27] still learning a lot of these these
[2:24:28] terms and stuff. There's kind of its own
[2:24:30] world.
[2:24:31] >> I didn't mean to play stump the deputy
[2:24:33] city manager. Yeah.
[2:24:34] >> All right. So, we'll we'll table that.
[2:24:36] And then my second question is for
[2:24:38] Christopher. What what uh our city
[2:24:40] attorney, what parameters are we
[2:24:43] permitted to set around this?
[2:24:46] >> Yeah, it's a complicated question and I
[2:24:48] know Mandy's done some of the research.
[2:24:49] Uh Leslie attended a call with one of my
[2:24:51] associates who's dug into the ebike
[2:24:53] regulations. We have seen some
[2:24:55] ordinances that we've adopted uh for
[2:24:57] certain cities within the state limited
[2:25:00] kind of um scope um and I could probably
[2:25:02] bring more to you if you are interested
[2:25:04] in looking at an ordinance just kind of
[2:25:06] what the parameters would be um but yes
[2:25:08] it is limited the state has set some of
[2:25:10] the requirements um and you don't want
[2:25:12] to deviate from what the state has set
[2:25:14] but there are certain things that we can
[2:25:15] regulate and I can come back with more
[2:25:16] specificity if if that's desired of the
[2:25:18] council.
[2:25:19] >> Thank you. Those are all my questions. I
[2:25:21] have thoughts but that's after public
[2:25:22] comment. Um, Vice Mayor Rexdale,
[2:25:26] >> um, uh, with regard to class three, they
[2:25:30] they're age 16 and up by state law. Um,
[2:25:33] but they can go up to 28 miles per hour.
[2:25:36] And I'm not sure if you have to pedal
[2:25:38] assist on a class three. I think you
[2:25:41] might just be able to ride it with the
[2:25:43] throttle
[2:25:44] and and not pedal assist. You do have to
[2:25:47] pedal still on the three. Okay. But
[2:25:51] on the three, that's the thing that
[2:25:52] confuses me. Well, there's a lot that's
[2:25:54] confusing, but yeah. So, the class three
[2:25:56] um can go up to 28 miles per hour. And
[2:26:00] when they talk about miles per hour, if
[2:26:02] you're going downhill, even not
[2:26:04] modified, even a legal bike, you you you
[2:26:07] could be going faster. Um so, um
[2:26:11] I have more opinions than questions, so
[2:26:14] I'm going to wait. But I just want to
[2:26:16] thank you so much, Mandy, for this
[2:26:18] amazing presentation that I've already
[2:26:20] mentioned to a couple of people. Um and
[2:26:22] point out um in case everyone leaves
[2:26:24] before my opinions um that the town hall
[2:26:28] tomorrow is at 2 o'clock um with the
[2:26:31] county supervisors led by supervisor
[2:26:34] Spear and uh Supervisor Muller at 2
[2:26:37] o'clock tomorrow um down in Rabbit City.
[2:26:40] >> Thanks for that reminder. I will get to
[2:26:42] you in one second. I I just have one
[2:26:44] clarifying question for Mandy or whoever
[2:26:46] has the answer regarding the pending
[2:26:49] legislation. um that is looking at age.
[2:26:54] Are they actually talking about license
[2:26:56] that would prove the age that you are?
[2:26:59] Is that included? I think this is the
[2:27:01] Papen um legislation. Do we know?
[2:27:05] >> Yes. And and at her most recent town
[2:27:07] hall, I believe she received quite a bit
[2:27:10] of feedback on on this legislation. So,
[2:27:14] I I hesitate to opine on on what that
[2:27:16] means in terms of the actual
[2:27:18] enforcement. Um, and I do I do
[2:27:21] anticipate and our legislative
[2:27:22] consultant anticipated that there may be
[2:27:24] some
[2:27:26] changes coming and and what has been
[2:27:27] proposed based on some feedback that
[2:27:29] she'd received. So, we'll um get a an
[2:27:31] update and we'll either make sure to
[2:27:33] include it in the legislative report
[2:27:35] that is in your packet each month or um
[2:27:37] send it um to you separately.
[2:27:39] >> Okay. Thank you. And I will um turn it
[2:27:42] over to uh
[2:27:44] >> Hi. Hi.
[2:27:45] >> Good evening. I'm Naen Taylor Barnes, a
[2:27:48] longtime Hillsboro resident.
[2:27:50] >> Hello, Nadine.
[2:27:51] >> And u the reason I'm here is also to
[2:27:54] help with the hopefully help with the
[2:27:56] ebike issue. I've been working a lot
[2:27:58] with UCSF and then also with Marin
[2:28:02] County. We've been in the middle of all
[2:28:04] of of this for quite a while. Uh and
[2:28:07] also I have had to learn a lot. But
[2:28:10] basically, uh, I do want to thank
[2:28:12] Christine because I got her attention,
[2:28:15] uh, also on this issue. And then Leslie,
[2:28:18] I haven't met you yet, even though we've
[2:28:19] emailed extensively. Uh, and then of
[2:28:22] course Anna and even Brody who've done a
[2:28:24] lot of work on the upcoming article. I
[2:28:26] think that will really help matters.
[2:28:29] Okay? Because you have to educate the
[2:28:31] parents. They are buying these bikes.
[2:28:34] They don't know um, they don't know what
[2:28:37] they're buying. All right? The kids are
[2:28:39] saying, "Oh, my friend has this. Please
[2:28:42] get it for me." This is what we saw in
[2:28:44] Marin. Uh there is actually even fraud
[2:28:48] where uh bikes are being sold as ebikes,
[2:28:52] but they're not. They're much more
[2:28:54] highowered. You have the software that
[2:28:57] can modify even the the legal bikes. So,
[2:29:01] this is very very confusing for parents
[2:29:04] and you know, we can wait for the
[2:29:06] legislation. And there's a lot of
[2:29:08] legislation. There are a lot of studies
[2:29:10] now. But I think you have to get to the
[2:29:14] parents and to the kids, which you know,
[2:29:16] it's so good to see the extensiveness of
[2:29:19] this of the program that Hillsboro is
[2:29:22] planning. And let me tell you why.
[2:29:24] because I don't know how many of you
[2:29:27] have seen the big New York Times uh the
[2:29:30] cover story, the Sunday magazine cover
[2:29:32] story uh with Amelia Stafford who was 15
[2:29:36] at the time. My son operated on her when
[2:29:40] she came into the hospital in Marin um
[2:29:45] having just suffered you know an ebike.
[2:29:47] She was on they think a class two which
[2:29:50] was a legal you know illegal ebike but
[2:29:52] she had jumped on just to try it just to
[2:29:56] go down the block. She fell off and had
[2:30:00] severe traumatic brain injury and this
[2:30:03] is the thing. This is what parents have
[2:30:05] to understand. the injuries are far more
[2:30:10] you have more injuries much more in the
[2:30:13] way of traumatic brain injuries and then
[2:30:16] on top of that you know you're talking
[2:30:19] about extensive hospitalizations you're
[2:30:22] talking about u rehabilitation
[2:30:26] uh and so and that's if you survive okay
[2:30:31] you're looking at a lifechanging event
[2:30:33] it's not one and done and then of Of
[2:30:36] course the death rate is so much higher.
[2:30:38] They found in Marin one in eight you
[2:30:41] know and then now some new statistics
[2:30:44] are that two to three you know this is
[2:30:46] just on the the ebikes uh two to three
[2:30:50] times more likely to have traumatic
[2:30:52] brain injury and then the death rate
[2:30:55] four to five times more. Now part of why
[2:30:59] I also wanted to discuss this is because
[2:31:02] the misnomer it's called an ebike and in
[2:31:05] Europe uh all of almost all of what is
[2:31:09] sold here as ebikes would be classified
[2:31:14] as mopeds and under strict regulations
[2:31:18] in Europe. So you have the misnomer
[2:31:21] where parents are feeling maybe more
[2:31:23] casual about it. uh you have fraudulent
[2:31:27] advertising and then on top of that now
[2:31:30] what Marin encountered and also we're
[2:31:34] seeing at these presentations
[2:31:36] is the ebike advocates are trying to say
[2:31:41] the problems are with illegal bikes and
[2:31:44] it's not the case. You have legal bikes
[2:31:48] and they're being used improperly and of course you know kids not having
[2:31:53] the education and whatnot. Okay. Um,
[2:31:55] Nadine, thank you for those comments.
[2:31:57] I'm not sure. Have you written anything?
[2:31:58] We're happy to include that into um our
[2:32:01] records. Did you submit anything in
[2:32:03] writing? I appreciate everything you
[2:32:05] just stated. Well, everything you just
[2:32:06] stated is recorded. That would be part
[2:32:08] of the record as well. But thanks thanks
[2:32:10] for the information you just provided.
[2:32:12] It's extremely helpful and thanks for
[2:32:14] your work in educating the community
[2:32:16] about this subject. Thank you so much.
[2:32:18] >> You're welcome.
[2:32:20] >> Any any other additional public comments
[2:32:23] on this issue? Thank you, Mayor Cole.
[2:32:25] I'll just ask if anyone on Zoom would
[2:32:26] like to provide comments on this item.
[2:32:31] I'm Oh, yeah. Yes, please.
[2:32:40] » We started Abe Matar 110 Redwood Drive.
[2:32:43] Um, we started a petition and we have
[2:32:45] over 800.
[2:32:46] >> Do you mind just stating your name? I
[2:32:48] have met you before, but do you mind
[2:32:49] just saying your name for the record?
[2:32:50] >> Yes. Abe Matar.
[2:32:52] >> Okay. Sorry, I didn't hear it. Go ahead.
[2:32:54] >> Uh, so um I'm passionately against
[2:32:57] ebikes.
[2:32:59] My kid doesn't ride one, but um I had
[2:33:01] two friends die on motorcycles growing
[2:33:04] up and uh I see these kids how they use
[2:33:07] them on the streets. It's really
[2:33:08] horrible. Uh one of my my son's friends
[2:33:12] got injured on a bike and it forced us
[2:33:15] to come up with this petition that Amar
[2:33:18] presented. We have over 800 people in
[2:33:21] Hillsboro out of 3600 homes that are
[2:33:24] very opposed to having ebikes without
[2:33:26] permit. If I need a permit to drive a
[2:33:29] car and a motorcycle needs a permit to
[2:33:31] ride a motorcycle, you should have
[2:33:34] anybody who's riding something faster
[2:33:35] than a regular bike use some kind of
[2:33:39] permitting. So, uh, the petition we we
[2:33:42] put out was you need to be 16 or older
[2:33:45] to ride, I think, you know, bikes and,
[2:33:48] uh, I think they should be banned,
[2:33:50] especially in Hillsboro because we have
[2:33:52] no bike lanes like they do have in San
[2:33:55] Diego with all these new developments.
[2:33:57] We have no bike lanes. have up and downs
[2:33:59] and you see them going to school in the
[2:34:01] morning and it's you know you see them
[2:34:03] like somebody was saying three at a time
[2:34:05] and they're they think they're cool and
[2:34:07] they're just you know what are we going
[2:34:09] to wait for them to die before we make a
[2:34:11] change. I mean we ban you know we ban
[2:34:13] jeweled and we don't want our kids to
[2:34:15] smoke but we want them to ride bicycles
[2:34:17] at 30 miles an hour makes no sense. Um
[2:34:20] so I I'm very very much supportive of
[2:34:23] banning ebikes in Hillsboro. Thank you.
[2:34:25] >> Thank you Aiden. Um, any additional
[2:34:30] public comments before we move forward
[2:34:32] with a discussion on this?
[2:34:34] >> Thank you, Maricole. I'll just ask if
[2:34:36] there's anyone else in the room who
[2:34:37] would like to provide comments.
[2:34:40] >> No, Miracle. Thank you.
[2:34:41] >> Okay. Oh, yes. Um,
[2:34:46] » yeah. Hi. Uh, my name's Mitch Wong. I
[2:34:49] didn't really prepare anything here, but
[2:34:51] it was my son Katon Wong that was riding
[2:34:55] to school
[2:34:57] uh down Chateau. I guess this was in
[2:35:00] October. And then he basically I was out
[2:35:04] of town. So then his mom let him ride
[2:35:07] the ebike. It was her ebike. And so he
[2:35:10] took the ebike down Chateau and then had
[2:35:14] an accident on Chateau. blocked the
[2:35:18] whole the whole street
[2:35:21] and an ambulance came rushing to him and
[2:35:25] took him to Stanford Hospital.
[2:35:28] He had abrasions on his head, his face.
[2:35:33] He lost two of his the two top of his
[2:35:36] front teeth. Uh he missed a week of
[2:35:40] school. Um, I mean, he's 12 years old
[2:35:45] and all, ever since he's been in fifth
[2:35:47] grade at South, all he's been dreaming
[2:35:50] about is, "Dad, when are you going to
[2:35:52] buy me an ebike?"
[2:35:54] Yeah. So, the kids all want ebikes.
[2:35:58] Uh, parents want to buy ebikes
[2:36:01] to make it convenient for themselves.
[2:36:06] We have so many ebikes in our homes now.
[2:36:11] We don't even want to use them.
[2:36:14] I think we have four ebikes.
[2:36:17] We would go from the slow ebike, the
[2:36:20] class one, and then say, "Oh, the kids
[2:36:23] would be saying, "This is not fast
[2:36:25] enough, Dad. This is not fast enough,
[2:36:27] Mom. Let's get a class 2 ebike where you
[2:36:31] have the throttle." We have that
[2:36:34] throttle. I know what you're talking
[2:36:35] about. So,
[2:36:39] I mean, yeah, we have this petition. I
[2:36:42] would definitely think that kids should
[2:36:45] have to go through some sort of
[2:36:46] education
[2:36:48] and I think they should have some sort
[2:36:50] of age requirement because I mean
[2:36:53] driving around Hillsboro taking our kids
[2:36:55] to school, we see these ebike kids and
[2:37:00] they're, you know, they're popping
[2:37:02] wheelies going down up and down the
[2:37:05] street. They're really at like Ape says,
[2:37:09] they're like treating it like a
[2:37:10] motorcycle.
[2:37:13] So I think uh if you know whatever we
[2:37:16] need to do we will be happy to support
[2:37:20] and help convey this message to uh kind
[2:37:25] of we don't want to ban it but we want
[2:37:28] to have some sort of
[2:37:30] kind of some sort of monitoring and we
[2:37:33] don't want kids to just be you know I
[2:37:36] mean at South I remember when my kid
[2:37:40] Katon was riding he wanted a ebike.
[2:37:43] Other kids were like I think they were
[2:37:45] fourth or fifth grade and they already
[2:37:46] had ebikes.
[2:37:48] >> Yeah.
[2:37:48] >> And those ebikes are extremely powerful.
[2:37:50] Oh, I'm sorry. I'm out of town. I
[2:37:52] >> That's okay. Um I just also would
[2:37:54] encourage um you Mr. Wong um Keith,
[2:37:57] right? Is it
[2:37:58] >> Katen Wong?
[2:37:58] >> Ken Wong um and Abe as well as Nadine if
[2:38:02] you haven't done so already just to be
[2:38:04] able to reach out in the future if you
[2:38:06] could if you wouldn't mind filling out
[2:38:07] the yellow form so we'll have a contact.
[2:38:09] It could be your phone number or email I
[2:38:11] suppose is what we usually request. But
[2:38:14] um I really we all really appreciate you
[2:38:16] being in here today and sharing this um
[2:38:19] this you know sharing this information
[2:38:20] with us. Um as Naen pointed out I
[2:38:24] completely agree. The traumatic brain
[2:38:25] injury is not just a one time and it you
[2:38:29] recover especially these young
[2:38:30] individuals whose brains are still
[2:38:32] developing. They can have very long-term
[2:38:35] consequences as a physician. I've seen
[2:38:37] that on the front line as well. So, we
[2:38:39] will continue to um work on this issue
[2:38:42] and and note for now um I haven't
[2:38:46] commented. So, as we move into
[2:38:47] discussion, I've been in close contact
[2:38:50] with um Vice Mayor Ragdale on this. We
[2:38:54] every time we run into a state
[2:38:55] legislature, this is often the first
[2:38:57] discussion we have with them. What are
[2:38:59] they doing in Sacramento to move this
[2:39:01] issue as quickly as possible? As a city
[2:39:04] council, we're somewhat limited in terms
[2:39:06] of legislating. for example, permits.
[2:39:09] That was my first reaction the first
[2:39:11] meeting I went to. I said, "Well, why
[2:39:12] don't we just have everybody have a
[2:39:13] permit?" Well, we don't have the
[2:39:14] authorities outside of our jurisdiction.
[2:39:17] However, some of the other issues that's
[2:39:19] come up in terms of maybe banning it in
[2:39:21] certain areas that could restrict that
[2:39:23] could significantly restrict students
[2:39:25] writing it at out of the house in the
[2:39:27] first place. That's something our city
[2:39:29] attorney and our staff will continue to
[2:39:31] look into. and um just want to reassure
[2:39:33] you that we are really all in on this
[2:39:37] issue and doing the maximum we can to
[2:39:40] constrain this in addition to education
[2:39:43] of course um and I will open it up for
[2:39:46] further discussion or comments from any
[2:39:48] of my colleagues but yes um and and I'm
[2:39:51] going to and I I realize I'm not
[2:39:53] following the rules at this point but I
[2:39:54] will ask Nine to go ahead and make a
[2:39:57] comment. Yes.
[2:39:58] >> The um I think uh when we were all
[2:40:01] learning how to drive, right, and you
[2:40:04] would see um a car that had crashed.
[2:40:07] >> Use the mic so we can
[2:40:08] >> Okay. Sorry. Recording.
[2:40:09] >> Um I think there's one photograph that
[2:40:12] was in the New York Times that if
[2:40:14] parents saw this, you know, it it would
[2:40:17] speak and and have them understand the
[2:40:21] gravity of what we're dealing with. The
[2:40:23] photograph is uh a replica of Amelia
[2:40:29] Stratford's skull. And this is the piece
[2:40:34] that my son had to remove from her skull
[2:40:38] in order to save her life. And I think
[2:40:41] if parents saw that one photo, you know,
[2:40:44] photo is worth a thousand words. I think
[2:40:46] that would do it. Because when I saw
[2:40:48] that photo, I said, "Oh my god."
[2:40:51] So, you know, before because I know
[2:40:54] legislation takes time and and in fact
[2:40:57] with Marin, they had so much push back
[2:41:00] and it was so it got so limited to a
[2:41:03] pilot and they wanted so much more. So,
[2:41:06] there's a lot of resistance
[2:41:08] >> but but the feedback we're getting from
[2:41:09] the state legislature is they also
[2:41:11] starting to move more quickly,
[2:41:13] especially in the past couple of months.
[2:41:14] I think is um
[2:41:16] >> I think it was Mandy who pointed out
[2:41:18] even as of the past 3 or 4 days there've
[2:41:20] been new legislation. So I think they
[2:41:22] finally getting the message from the um
[2:41:26] communities and from the ground up
[2:41:28] saying they need to move more quickly.
[2:41:30] Um any additional comments otherwise um
[2:41:34] thank you all for being here and and
[2:41:36] nudging us along. Oh, I'm sorry. Vice
[2:41:38] Mayor Ragdale.
[2:41:39] >> Oh that's right.
[2:41:44] Um, okay. I'll try not to take up too
[2:41:46] much time, but I have a lot of opinions.
[2:41:48] Um, I want to start though by thanking
[2:41:51] you guys so much for your public
[2:41:53] comment, for your advocacy, for the
[2:41:55] petition, which this was something we
[2:41:57] had already been talking about, but I
[2:41:59] think the petition, and I'm so sorry for
[2:42:01] your son's injuries. Um, but that
[2:42:05] petition did wake us up to be u more
[2:42:08] motivated on this issue and to press our
[2:42:12] um supervisors and our state legislators
[2:42:16] even more. And so thank you. And um we
[2:42:20] happen to all be parents. Four of us are
[2:42:23] grandparents. One of us is not. Um and we hear you. One of us raised a
[2:42:29] doctor. So very good job. Um but anyway,
[2:42:33] so thank you so much. I hope that um if
[2:42:36] you can't go tomorrow, I know it's two
[2:42:38] o'clock in the middle of the day, but
[2:42:40] they uh usually have online comment
[2:42:43] available. They're calling it a town
[2:42:44] hall. I I presume they will also still
[2:42:47] have online comments available um before
[2:42:50] Supervisor Spear. She's also um very
[2:42:53] accessible and you can email her and um
[2:42:56] I have the email of her legislative aid
[2:42:59] who's working on this if if you want
[2:43:00] that. Um, I would hope that you would
[2:43:03] also contact Diane Papin's office
[2:43:05] because she is working on this
[2:43:07] legislation, which is great and which is
[2:43:10] limited, but hopefully less limited now.
[2:43:13] um especially after the um town hall
[2:43:16] that she had and there were a lot of
[2:43:18] council members there and we all felt
[2:43:21] the same that
[2:43:23] Marin had a pilot and that pilot uh they
[2:43:27] tried to get it statewide and there was
[2:43:29] just too much resistance from the
[2:43:31] manufacturers and the biking community
[2:43:33] and um we're like all of us are like we
[2:43:37] want that pilot. San Diego has a pilot
[2:43:39] also. The San Diego pilot is um age 12
[2:43:42] and up for all ebikes. The Marin pilot
[2:43:45] is age 16 for class two. Um I'll have
[2:43:50] more on that in in a minute. But um but
[2:43:52] anyway, this issue has has risen up uh
[2:43:56] and uh we are we are doing what we can
[2:43:58] but keep keep doing what you can and um
[2:44:02] you know you are the you are the voters
[2:44:04] for uh you know Senator Becker, Assembly
[2:44:06] Member Papen, uh Supervisor Spear and
[2:44:08] they want to hear from you. Um you know
[2:44:11] we we have some say and some sway but uh
[2:44:15] your your stories are especially
[2:44:18] valuable. Um, I I want to also say that
[2:44:23] wanting to regulate ebikes doesn't mean
[2:44:26] we're anti-bicycle,
[2:44:28] doesn't mean we're anti-kid
[2:44:29] independence, doesn't mean we're um
[2:44:32] anti-ex exercise, getting out of the
[2:44:34] car. It just means these particular
[2:44:39] they some people call them emotos. I
[2:44:41] know Bob Middle and and Moran calls them
[2:44:43] emotos.
[2:44:45] They are, unless they're illegally
[2:44:47] modified, they are legal. And our kids,
[2:44:50] a nine-year-old can legally ride one of
[2:44:53] these. And that's crazy. Uh, in in my
[2:44:57] opinion, um, and I think in a lot of
[2:44:59] people's opinions, you can be very, um,
[2:45:02] supportive of um, bicycling and bike
[2:45:06] lanes and safety and everything. Um but
[2:45:09] also want regulations
[2:45:11] on ebikes and who can ride them and how
[2:45:13] they can ride them. Uh our schools and
[2:45:16] our uh Hillsboro Police Department are
[2:45:18] working so closely together and I went
[2:45:21] to the presentation for parents. There
[2:45:23] weren't tons of people there, but the
[2:45:25] ones who were there really heard it. Uh
[2:45:27] and hopefully they spread the word, you
[2:45:29] know, and it was before the holidays.
[2:45:31] was such smart timing that uh you really
[2:45:34] need to think about what you're buying
[2:45:36] and if you buy one just buy a class one
[2:45:40] and make sure your kid is not modifying
[2:45:41] it. And you know I think the first time
[2:45:44] we ever heard about modifications was
[2:45:45] when we when we had our um bike ped
[2:45:49] first meeting and one of the middle
[2:45:50] schoolers who's this amazing kid who's
[2:45:53] also working on this issue told us and
[2:45:55] we're like what we didn't we didn't
[2:45:56] understand you can modify it so easily
[2:45:58] with an app or a dongle. Um and then um
[2:46:02] Anidal, the chair of our youth
[2:46:04] commission and and Brody are working on
[2:46:07] an article for our newsletter about the
[2:46:09] topic and through the California
[2:46:12] Association of Youth Commissions, uh
[2:46:14] city manager had mentioned there's a
[2:46:16] survey of kids. They've already gotten
[2:46:18] some responses uh fifth grade through
[2:46:20] 12th grade. They are focusing on the
[2:46:24] teen perspective, which is so important
[2:46:26] because the kids know they're supposed
[2:46:28] to ride a helmet, wear a helmet. They
[2:46:30] know they're not supposed to ride
[2:46:32] recklessly. They know if they don't have
[2:46:34] a seat behind them, they're not supposed
[2:46:36] to take a friend and they're definitely
[2:46:38] not supposed to take a friend if they're
[2:46:40] don't have a helmet to give them. They
[2:46:42] know they're not supposed to do leaves.
[2:46:44] So, she's trying to get at this in this
[2:46:46] survey.
[2:46:48] Why do you do this? I mean, there's peer
[2:46:50] pressure and all of that, but um I think
[2:46:52] that's so valuable. Education is is
[2:46:55] important. Education, educating the
[2:46:57] parents, or the ones who buy the bikes
[2:46:58] is so important, but this teen
[2:47:00] perspective, I think, is really crucial.
[2:47:03] And I'm so happy that she spoke at um
[2:47:05] Diane Pepin's uh town hall and um and uh
[2:47:10] is on this issue. Um so, just a couple
[2:47:14] other things. Um
[2:47:18] well,
[2:47:19] I will give you okay one thing to note
[2:47:22] that just people don't talk about but um
[2:47:25] I didn't know until I started going to
[2:47:26] these different webinars that electric
[2:47:30] scooters apparently there's tons of them
[2:47:32] I don't know if they're at our schools
[2:47:33] but there's tons of them at schools this
[2:47:36] man who's working on it Bob Middlestad
[2:47:37] he's a lawyer in Marin who's he's a
[2:47:40] bicycle advocate but he said he went
[2:47:42] around to different schools in Marin
[2:47:44] County San Monteo County he sees these
[2:47:46] electronic scooters
[2:47:48] they're actually illegal unless you're
[2:47:50] 16 and you have a driver's license. So,
[2:47:53] that was something that I didn't know.
[2:47:55] Um, but that's just something also
[2:47:57] spread the word about that. The e
[2:47:59] scooters, no, actually just not allowed.
[2:48:01] Doesn't matter. There's not a class,
[2:48:03] there's not anything not allowed. So,
[2:48:04] that's just something that I think it's
[2:48:06] important to get the word out there. Um,
[2:48:09] if your kid has an ebike, just I think
[2:48:13] you should tell them whether or not you
[2:48:15] can they can fit a person behind them,
[2:48:18] tell them don't. They're too heavy. So,
[2:48:21] even if you have a seat and even if your
[2:48:23] friend has a helmet, they're very very
[2:48:26] heavy vehicles. And, you know, just
[2:48:30] don't don't ride with a friend. Uh,
[2:48:32] don't ride three a breast either. And
[2:48:35] don't do wheelies. Now, the police can
[2:48:37] pull you over if you're driving in an un
[2:48:40] riding your bike in an unsafe manner.
[2:48:43] The police, they will they will do what
[2:48:45] they can, but they're also not going to
[2:48:47] unsafeely chase a bunch of teenagers and
[2:48:49] cause them to crash. So, we have to
[2:48:51] understand that there's only so much
[2:48:53] that we can do. And the more tools that
[2:48:55] we give them, for instance, the
[2:48:57] requiring a reflector, etc. the more
[2:48:59] tools that we give them um the easier it
[2:49:02] is for them to have these um these
[2:49:05] conversations.
[2:49:07] I think um the last thing that I will
[2:49:11] say just because
[2:49:14] here I am with my wish list that I sent
[2:49:17] to Diane Papen, I can only hope that
[2:49:19] maybe maybe some of it will go into her
[2:49:22] legislation. Um, but this is this is my
[2:49:25] wish list um for the state of California
[2:49:29] to combine the San Diego and Marin um
[2:49:32] pilot age restrictions and don't wait
[2:49:36] until the pilots are over and we have
[2:49:37] data. Oh, that did that is one more
[2:49:40] thing I want to talk about. Um, don't
[2:49:41] wait on that because that's a long time.
[2:49:45] And Diane Papin really seemed to get
[2:49:47] that from just the look she was getting
[2:49:49] from the council members in the audience
[2:49:52] that we want the pilot now. And they and
[2:49:55] they know um that we want these age
[2:49:58] restrictions because they did try to get
[2:49:59] it uh statewide. Um but anyway,
[2:50:04] uh I would like to combine. So for class
[2:50:07] one age 12 and up, class two age 16 and
[2:50:11] up and uh class three is is already 16
[2:50:15] and up. So no changes. I would actually
[2:50:18] like to outlaw tandem riding. I don't
[2:50:20] care if your bike can or not. I I think
[2:50:23] it's really unsafe. Um, I think they
[2:50:26] need to add enforcement, uh, teeth for
[2:50:29] the retailers, uh, and really look at
[2:50:32] some national legislation with regard to
[2:50:36] online retailers because a lot of these
[2:50:37] bikes are bought online and you can put
[2:50:39] them together in your garage. They're
[2:50:41] not that hard to put together. Um,
[2:50:43] because these bikes can be so easily
[2:50:46] modified. and you you go online and you
[2:50:50] can see that they say, "Oh, this this
[2:50:52] one will go up to 45 miles per hour,"
[2:50:53] which is not legal, but they put it
[2:50:55] online and they tell you how to how to
[2:50:57] modify it. So, I think we really need
[2:50:59] help also on the national level. Um, one
[2:51:04] thing that um, in the discussion from
[2:51:07] Diane Papin's uh, session, people were
[2:51:10] talking about, you know, you're just
[2:51:11] walking along or you're driving, all of
[2:51:13] a sudden they're doing wheelies or
[2:51:14] whatever, but also you don't hear them.
[2:51:17] And remember when they made the when
[2:51:19] Prius was the first electric car and
[2:51:21] they made them make a noise because all
[2:51:23] of a sudden it's upon you. They should
[2:51:26] make a noise. So, uh, especially, you
[2:51:28] know, you're walking along, you're you're older and all a sudden
[2:51:31] there's this bike there. It could make
[2:51:32] you fall. Um, so I think they should
[2:51:35] make a noise. Um,
[2:51:38] in some places, including the
[2:51:40] Netherlands and New York City, they have
[2:51:42] said ebikes should not be allowed to go
[2:51:44] over 15 miles per hour.
[2:51:47] I I think that's something that should
[2:51:49] be considered. Um, they just can't go over. Again, ebikes are there.
[2:51:54] It's it's fantastic to get up our hills,
[2:51:56] but we need to just keep our kids safe
[2:52:00] and our adults safe. Um, and um, with
[2:52:04] regard to the modifications,
[2:52:06] uh, I think that the state and national
[2:52:10] can work through the app stores because
[2:52:13] the app stores actually have to approve
[2:52:15] your app before they'll sell it in the
[2:52:17] store. So, there shouldn't be apps where
[2:52:19] you can modify an ebike illegally. Uh so
[2:52:22] I think that that there should be
[2:52:23] legislation on that. Again, town of
[2:52:25] Hillsboro really can't do that, but this
[2:52:28] but we can advocate for it with our
[2:52:30] representatives. Um and then oh the last
[2:52:33] thing I just wanted to say uh with
[2:52:35] regard to data, you had mentioned data
[2:52:37] collection in the packet. Um it would be
[2:52:41] helpful um if there is an accident if
[2:52:46] to have data on what class they were
[2:52:48] riding you know their age what class
[2:52:50] they were riding um and as many details
[2:52:54] as possible uh because there is some
[2:52:57] push back from the Manetta Institute
[2:53:00] report
[2:53:01] basically said oh well cars are cars are
[2:53:04] so much worse and um we really do need
[2:53:07] the data and I know in Marin and they're working on UCSF is working on um
[2:53:12] making sure that data is collected when
[2:53:14] people end up in the hospital. But even
[2:53:15] if there's a you know someone gets
[2:53:18] really scraped up on the side and HBD is
[2:53:20] there and helps them up, any data that
[2:53:22] we can have I think would be really
[2:53:24] helpful. And now I'm done with my
[2:53:26] opinions. Thank you. Thank you for
[2:53:27] indulging me.
[2:53:28] >> Yeah. Thank Thank you, Vice Mayor
[2:53:30] Rexale. Um any additional um comments
[2:53:33] from the council?
[2:53:35] Okay, Council Member Crowley.
[2:53:38] Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank Thank you
[2:53:40] so much to the parents who are here and
[2:53:42] um Naen, I think what Blake is doing is
[2:53:45] incredible. Blake Taylor went to went to
[2:53:48] school, went to Crocker with our kids
[2:53:49] and and we have wonderful children, but
[2:53:52] they're not neurosurgeons. So, thank
[2:53:54] you. Um and and I hope that Ethan has
[2:53:57] recovered. Um and I applaud that you are
[2:54:00] out here trying to help other people
[2:54:02] avoid what what he went through. Um, you
[2:54:05] know, my initial thoughts about this
[2:54:06] that I jotted down before listening to
[2:54:08] public comment, um, was that if we, um,
[2:54:12] try and craft some Hillsboro focused
[2:54:15] legislation around this that it either
[2:54:16] has to be bottom up from our residents
[2:54:19] or top down from the state. And so here,
[2:54:23] you know, we're hearing bottom up that
[2:54:26] this is something our residents are
[2:54:28] asking for. you know, um I don't know if
[2:54:31] you've ever heard this as a physician,
[2:54:32] but I have heard that physicians have
[2:54:34] called motorcycles donor cycles because
[2:54:37] so many of their organs when they do
[2:54:40] organ um transplants come from uh
[2:54:44] relatively young victims of motorcycle
[2:54:47] accidents because on a motorcycle you're
[2:54:49] not protected. There's no airbags around
[2:54:51] you even with a a helmet. And the
[2:54:53] thought of putting our children on a
[2:54:56] motorcycle, which is essentially what
[2:54:59] we're allowing to have happen, is
[2:55:01] ludicrous. I mean, we're just, no matter
[2:55:04] how much training we're giving them,
[2:55:06] that's not going to mitigate the the
[2:55:08] inherent danger of being on a vehicle
[2:55:12] that goes very fast with no protection
[2:55:15] around you. So, I think that a lot of
[2:55:18] parents in Hillsboro would be relieved.
[2:55:21] And I think some kids would be relieved
[2:55:24] too. Remember we had that safety session
[2:55:26] when you were police chief still Doug
[2:55:28] and you sat down and talked to a couple
[2:55:30] of kids or maybe you were our new city
[2:55:32] manager at the time but just coming off
[2:55:34] a police chief there are kids Crocker
[2:55:36] kids who were asking um for us to get
[2:55:38] the word out that these they were
[2:55:40] worried about their peers riding on
[2:55:42] this. So it seems to me a class one is
[2:55:46] plenty. If it was up to me, it would be
[2:55:48] a class one up to age 18, but I don't
[2:55:51] know how much discretion we would have
[2:55:54] around this. But, um, I'm really glad
[2:55:57] that we're having this discussion and
[2:55:59] really grateful for your advocacy. Uh,
[2:56:01] you know, one of the things that I think
[2:56:03] gives us more responsibility,
[2:56:06] um, just as is the case with Marin,
[2:56:08] we're an affluent community, so our
[2:56:10] families can afford these at a greater
[2:56:14] percentage among our youth than many
[2:56:16] other communities. So, I think we really
[2:56:19] do have a responsibility to be
[2:56:22] aggressive and to lead the way on on
[2:56:24] safety on this. Thank you.
[2:56:26] >> Thank you.
[2:56:27] >> Um, Council Member Adams.
[2:56:30] Thank you, mayor. Uh, just three things.
[2:56:34] First, do not discount the wonderful
[2:56:36] comment about photos. When I saw your
[2:56:39] presentation, Mandy, there was a picture
[2:56:42] of some police officer lecturing to a
[2:56:47] bunch of students who were sitting
[2:56:48] there. It was all text.
[2:56:52] This does not communicate doesn't
[2:56:54] communicate to most humans, but
[2:56:56] definitely not kids. So real pictures
[2:57:01] are the story we need to tell number
[2:57:03] one. So that was a great comment. Number
[2:57:06] two, a police presence at commute hours
[2:57:09] for the schools. Just a squad car, just
[2:57:13] a presence might discourage some of this
[2:57:17] as an idea. But third, I think you're
[2:57:20] hearing that we're really committed to
[2:57:23] doing something before we have to name
[2:57:25] the law after the person who's gone.
[2:57:28] We're not doing that. We want to do
[2:57:31] something now. And I heard us ask or at
[2:57:34] least I heard a nice offer from our city
[2:57:39] attorney to give us the full menu of
[2:57:42] things that we can do. Even if they're
[2:57:46] incremental and small, we want to see
[2:57:48] that menu. And that's a at least a a
[2:57:52] start at showing our real seriousness
[2:57:57] about this.
[2:57:59] >> Thank you. Um any additional comments?
[2:58:04] >> Just really quickly, I mean I think I
[2:58:06] think that you speak volumes in the
[2:58:07] audience regarding the incidents that
[2:58:09] you experienced and I think you speak
[2:58:11] volumes when you speak to other parents.
[2:58:14] I think that is gradually now come to
[2:58:17] all the family members and you know
[2:58:19] adults or kids that ebike is a misnomer
[2:58:24] uh is really a motorcycle uh in disguise
[2:58:27] um because of the speed and because of
[2:58:29] the throttle. So I do applaud that um
[2:58:32] our police uh departments have been on
[2:58:35] the forefront to do the outreach uh to
[2:58:38] the students. U Crocker kids are perfect
[2:58:41] age groups and maybe now we need to look
[2:58:43] into you know fourth graders and fifth
[2:58:45] graders because that that that that
[2:58:47] whole group needs to have the
[2:58:50] understanding and I think often times as
[2:58:53] much as we're approaching this
[2:58:55] multiprongs
[2:58:57] with the regulations with the
[2:58:59] legislators with the enforcement for
[2:59:01] that matters I think the self-awareness
[2:59:04] and then self sort of you know in terms
[2:59:07] of the the group trying to you know
[2:59:10] understand this better um so to keep
[2:59:12] themselves safe is important so I also
[2:59:15] applaud uh the chief to talk about the
[2:59:18] future assembly where there's
[2:59:20] opportunity for the Crocker students the
[2:59:22] middle you know the fourth and fifth
[2:59:24] graders come together and then to be
[2:59:26] able to actually actually experience
[2:59:28] what are the proper ways what are the
[2:59:30] proper rules to keep themselves safe
[2:59:33] when they use the the e- motor pets or
[2:59:37] whatever that we want to name them. We
[2:59:40] have to name them so that it's not going
[2:59:42] to be a bicycle as we like to say but
[2:59:46] need to understand that and then you
[2:59:48] know multi-prongs approach with the
[2:59:51] advocacy
[2:59:53] with the education with the practice to
[2:59:56] keep our community safe. So
[2:59:58] >> thank you. Um the only thing I will add
[3:00:01] is maybe staff could also including HPD
[3:00:04] reach out to the all parents group to
[3:00:06] expand the education to the parents
[3:00:08] directly. I think APG um when parents
[3:00:11] hear the stories like Nadine is talking
[3:00:15] about as well as hear what's in the
[3:00:17] pipeline and what can be done. Um just
[3:00:20] being able to discuss with all the
[3:00:22] parents who are many of the people on in
[3:00:25] APG are very involved in the schools.
[3:00:26] they want the best for all our students.
[3:00:28] That would also be another platform we
[3:00:30] can continue the education. So, we'll
[3:00:32] work on bringing the information to the
[3:00:34] all parents group as well. Um, no
[3:00:37] additional comments and I will you have
[3:00:40] a comment?
[3:00:40] >> Yeah, one more quick one. I'm sorry. Um,
[3:00:42] and uh vice mayor alluded to this. I
[3:00:44] don't think it's a an eitheror issue
[3:00:47] about promoting uh walking and bike
[3:00:50] riding. It's a both and. We can promote
[3:00:53] bike riding and keep it safe. Yeah.
[3:00:56] Thank you. All right. So, um, thank you
[3:00:59] for being here. Um, we hear you and
[3:01:01] we're working aggressively with all the
[3:01:03] stakeholders to move this issue. Um, and
[3:01:06] keep continue to focus on the safety of
[3:01:09] our students and our children. Thank you
[3:01:10] so much. The next item, what public
[3:01:13] comment, well, we already did public
[3:01:15] comments and you guys are here. Nothing
[3:01:16] on Zoom, correct?
[3:01:19] >> That was correct.
[3:01:20] >> Okay. Um,
[3:01:23] oh, I'm sorry. It looks like someone
[3:01:26] just um
[3:01:27] >> It looks like Yeah, it looks like Mike
[3:01:29] Swire just raised his hand.
[3:01:31] >> Yes. And I don't mind. Yeah, let's let's
[3:01:33] take that. We may have just missed it
[3:01:34] because we were involved in our
[3:01:36] discussion. Hello, Mike.
[3:01:39] >> Yeah. Hi. Can you hear me?
[3:01:40] >> Yes.
[3:01:41] >> Awesome. Sorry, I I thought came in late
[3:01:43] and I thought I missed it, but um yeah,
[3:01:44] thanks for taking my my message. Um, I
[3:01:47] didn't hear everything, but um, I do
[3:01:49] want to applaud the council for being
[3:01:51] proactive and trying to address
[3:01:53] proactively um, street safety and
[3:01:56] prevent um, crashes from happening. Um,
[3:01:59] I've attended all the city council
[3:02:01] meetings and all or sorry the um, the
[3:02:03] legislator meetings and also we've
[3:02:05] discussed this at the CCAG BPAC. Um, and
[3:02:08] I just wanted to um reiterate that the
[3:02:12] largest problem we face on our streets
[3:02:15] is um is drivers hitting people on foot
[3:02:18] and people on bike and that includes
[3:02:20] people on ebike. And if you read the
[3:02:22] Manetta Institute report, they show that
[3:02:24] the majority of crashes, although the
[3:02:26] data, as you said, is not perfect, uh,
[3:02:28] involve drivers hitting kids on ebikes.
[3:02:30] And there's a lot of reasons that
[3:02:32] happens, including kids not knowing how
[3:02:34] to control the machines. But um I do
[3:02:37] find it a little frustrating. I'm not
[3:02:39] talking about you because it's happening
[3:02:40] everywhere that um we're spending so
[3:02:42] much time and energy on um ebikes and so little on the larger problem um
[3:02:50] of pedestrians and regular bicycle
[3:02:52] riders uh dying on our streets. Um I've
[3:02:55] talked to two different families in the
[3:02:57] last two weeks um that have uh lost
[3:03:00] loved ones. Uh uh one was a a 4-year-old
[3:03:03] boy who died on a sidewalk in
[3:03:05] Berlingame. The other was a 63-year-old
[3:03:08] grandmother of 14 grandchildren who was
[3:03:11] crossing El Camino and San Mateo and was
[3:03:14] um uh run down while in the crosswalk.
[3:03:17] Um these are uh fatalities. If you look
[3:03:20] at nationwide, we have about 40,000
[3:03:22] people dying uh getting hit by cars or
[3:03:26] in cars. Um, ebikes are rising, but it's
[3:03:29] still only a couple hundred. That
[3:03:30] doesn't mean we don't focus on it, but I
[3:03:33] do think that we have to think and be
[3:03:35] data uh driven and focus on where the
[3:03:38] problem is because everything that we do
[3:03:40] to make the street safer makes it safe
[3:03:42] for all users, pedestrians, cyclists,
[3:03:44] and ecyclists. And again, a lot of the
[3:03:46] problems with ebikes is we don't have
[3:03:49] safe places for kids to get around. One
[3:03:52] of the things that these things one of
[3:03:53] the reasons these things are so popular
[3:03:55] is because it provides kids with a sense
[3:03:57] of independence and they don't have to
[3:03:59] rely on mom and dad to to get
[3:04:01] everywhere. Um we need develops to
[3:04:03] develop safe spaces for them to do so
[3:04:06] hopefully on machines that don't go more
[3:04:08] than 20 m an hour. Um but the problem
[3:04:11] the larger problem that we face is uh
[3:04:14] the streets are not safe and I applaud
[3:04:15] the bike and pedmaster plan that we've
[3:04:18] recently developed but my understanding
[3:04:20] is there's no funding for for those
[3:04:22] projects. I haven't heard of more
[3:04:23] projects coming out of that. So in
[3:04:26] conclusion I just uh in addition to this
[3:04:28] energy that we have here I'd really
[3:04:29] encourage you to focus on street safety
[3:04:32] because it benefits all road users. Um
[3:04:36] and uh I think that's where we're going
[3:04:37] to get the most bang for the buck.
[3:04:38] Thanks so much.
[3:04:40] >> Thank you, Mr. Squire. Mr. Swire, those
[3:04:42] are um great thoughts and and feedback.
[3:04:44] Appreciate that.
[3:04:46] >> Um ML, if I could just summarize the
[3:04:48] council direction. Um just make sure
[3:04:50] that I heard it appropriately. Um that
[3:04:53] we the city manager's office will work
[3:04:55] with the city attorney's office to
[3:04:57] return with a menu of options for um
[3:05:00] what ordinances or policies um the town
[3:05:03] could take advantage of. Um, as part of
[3:05:05] that report, we could con could include
[3:05:07] some additional data collection or at
[3:05:10] least information on what data is
[3:05:12] collected um, now and moving forward and
[3:05:15] then also some reports on additional
[3:05:18] education and enforcement activities
[3:05:21] that were summarized tonight. Does that
[3:05:23] capture everything?
[3:05:24] >> Um, as well as any feedback from the
[3:05:26] state legislature between now and then.
[3:05:28] Yes, I'm sure that that will certainly
[3:05:31] guide us in terms of what we can enact
[3:05:33] locally at this point.
[3:05:35] >> Sure. Great. Thank you.
[3:05:36] >> Okay. Thank you.
[3:05:40] >> I just want to point out um and I do
[3:05:42] applaud Supervisor Spear for doing the
[3:05:44] town hall, but anything that the county
[3:05:47] does only applies to unincorporated
[3:05:49] regions of the county. It's up to every
[3:05:51] city in the county to adopt their own
[3:05:54] regulations.
[3:05:55] >> Right. Unfortunately, that's sin. That's
[3:06:00] Yeah. Um, so next item is um city
[3:06:04] council items um which would would allow
[3:06:06] us to comment on any activities we may
[3:06:09] have been involved in as uh city council
[3:06:11] members in the county or at large.
[3:06:14] Starting with council member Adams.
[3:06:18] >> Thank you very much.
[3:06:20] Um, you'll notice pictures speak loudly
[3:06:24] in my presentations. That's just my my
[3:06:26] pitch for that. Uh, this is a winter
[3:06:29] scene from my backyard January. What did
[3:06:31] I do? Uh, for our council. Next slide.
[3:06:35] Uh, met with the Hillsboro
[3:06:37] Beautification Foundation. They are
[3:06:39] planning their 2026
[3:06:42] uh calendar now, working on Celebrate
[3:06:45] May. But I want to draw special
[3:06:47] attention to the daffodils that are
[3:06:49] poking up right now uh all over
[3:06:51] Hillsboro thanks to Hillsboro
[3:06:53] Beautification Foundation. Next slide.
[3:06:58] Uh I am on the board for Rethink Waste.
[3:07:02] And just as if you don't know how that
[3:07:06] works, there are two parts, two
[3:07:07] components to what Rethink Waste does.
[3:07:10] It collects the garbage and then it
[3:07:13] processes the waste. And those are done
[3:07:15] by two different companies under
[3:07:17] contract with rethink waste or in the
[3:07:21] case of collection there it is done by
[3:07:24] recology but with separate contracts
[3:07:27] with 11 different cities or entities. So
[3:07:31] rethink waste manages this relationship
[3:07:34] but there are a variety of contracts.
[3:07:37] Recology is currently in labor
[3:07:39] negotiations with its collectors uh now
[3:07:43] after the end of the previous seven-year
[3:07:46] contract. So, we'll see how that works.
[3:07:49] That is not something that Rethink Waste
[3:07:51] is involved in those negotiations. That
[3:07:55] is strictly with Recology and its
[3:07:58] contracts. Uh I'm was pleased to see uh
[3:08:03] new members of our board. Uh Jackie
[3:08:05] Spear is part of the board now and Lisa
[3:08:08] uh Diaz Nash is also a new member. Uh
[3:08:13] and the new appointments have come out
[3:08:15] and I've been appointed to the finance
[3:08:17] committee in addition to the outreach
[3:08:18] and education. Next,
[3:08:23] uh, council duties and meetings, uh,
[3:08:28] working on the subcommittee of Tobin
[3:08:31] Clark, committee ordinances,
[3:08:33] telecommunications, and undergrounding
[3:08:35] utilities. I just have to compliment our
[3:08:38] assistant city manager, Mandy Brown, has
[3:08:40] done just a wonderful job on working on
[3:08:43] that. But as commissioner of public
[3:08:46] works, I want to do a special shout out
[3:08:48] to public works uh for some of the night
[3:08:52] work that they get to do during this
[3:08:54] season and do so quietly and
[3:08:56] efficiently. Next slide.
[3:09:00] Uh leadership council San Mateo. Uh this
[3:09:03] was a day in Halfoon Bay to visit NOS's
[3:09:08] which is just so inspiring. Uh this is
[3:09:11] the uh Half Moon Bay Library which has a
[3:09:15] community space which is just wonderful.
[3:09:18] Um but mostly we walked from there to
[3:09:21] the wonderful places that are helping
[3:09:24] our citizens in San Monteo County uh
[3:09:28] with all of their variety of needs at
[3:09:30] the moment. Next
[3:09:34] and again a winter sky in the morning. I
[3:09:38] just after a year uh want to thank the
[3:09:42] town of Hillsboro for this opportunity
[3:09:43] to serve. And also I want to thank my
[3:09:47] fellow fella, my girly uh council
[3:09:53] members
[3:09:54] uh for being such great colleagues, but
[3:09:57] I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge
[3:10:00] that anniversary for me. Thank you.
[3:10:03] >> Thank you, Council Member Adams. I think
[3:10:06] I could speak for all of us. So, we feel
[3:10:08] the same. Um, council member Trunk.
[3:10:13] No, no, no slide deck. Um, I attended
[3:10:16] the emergency service council on behalf
[3:10:19] of town of Hillsboro and I also attended
[3:10:22] uh Sam Trans.
[3:10:24] Um, so both um actually both agency uh
[3:10:31] focus on human trafficking. um this this
[3:10:35] year actually I think that it's because
[3:10:39] of the Super Bowl this past week, FIFA
[3:10:44] uh in this whole year um and just the
[3:10:48] various activities I think that just
[3:10:50] brought to the forefront in terms of the
[3:10:52] human trafficking um awareness
[3:10:55] announcement
[3:10:57] um you know training their staff to
[3:10:59] notice the uh uh the the situations and
[3:11:04] to be able to report it and and render
[3:11:07] helps. Um so it was critical. Um and I
[3:11:11] also want to applaud uh the emergency
[3:11:13] service council for um uh activating the
[3:11:18] uh emergency um uh IO IC. I think that
[3:11:24] that's what they're doing um for the
[3:11:26] week of uh the Super Bowl um focusing on
[3:11:30] the safety of Cal Train and um our
[3:11:33] former chief uh Nelson Cordaway was uh
[3:11:36] very much involved in that and so it was
[3:11:39] um really nice to know that you know it
[3:11:43] we're in good hands um that they were
[3:11:45] really paying attention uh to that. Um
[3:11:48] the other thing that I want to mention
[3:11:50] is that um Sam trans I mentioned last month that uh Sam Tran is
[3:11:55] celebrating its 50th anniversary um or
[3:11:58] birthday for that matters. It started
[3:12:00] July of 1976.
[3:12:03] So there are going to be events that is
[3:12:05] coming into place namely uh on September
[3:12:08] 1st there will be riding the buses for
[3:12:10] 25 cents kicking back to the 76. Yes.
[3:12:14] And then the other thing is um on the
[3:12:17] 26th of September there will be a uh
[3:12:21] more of a a festive events um at their
[3:12:25] new headquarters in Milbury. Um so that
[3:12:27] would be really exciting. Um the other
[3:12:30] thing that I want to mention is that for
[3:12:31] people who are interested in riding um
[3:12:36] buses, Cal trains, there are Clipper
[3:12:39] cards. you now will be able to use it
[3:12:41] and you can have a app to use that and I
[3:12:44] think that is really helpful. Um then
[3:12:47] you can add money to it. It's
[3:12:49] counterless and then you can you know
[3:12:51] hop on the train, get onto the bar, hop
[3:12:54] onto the bus and it's seamless. So
[3:12:58] hopefully more more and more people will
[3:13:00] get out of the ebike and use um the
[3:13:03] public transit um to go to places. So
[3:13:06] that's the end of my support. Oh, and
[3:13:10] um H&N's um speaker series
[3:13:14] um Wednesday, this Wednesday, Nove uh
[3:13:17] not November, I'm sorry, uh February
[3:13:21] 11th. I know. Uh please do come. We have
[3:13:25] up to 65 RSVP right now and we have more
[3:13:30] rooms uh for people to come and please
[3:13:34] come and and hear the speakers. As our
[3:13:36] city manager says, she speaks from her
[3:13:39] own experience as to what works and what
[3:13:42] not. And I think it's it's going to be a
[3:13:44] really heartfelt discussion. So, please
[3:13:47] make time to come 6:30 to 8.
[3:13:52] >> Thank you, Council Member Chuang. I'll
[3:13:53] go slightly out of order. Um,
[3:13:56] Vice Mayor Rexdale,
[3:14:03] » I have a a few visuals. Um, okay. Next
[3:14:06] slide.
[3:14:08] Uh, ebikes. You've heard enough from me
[3:14:10] on ebikes, so I won't go into it. Um, I
[3:14:13] attended two, uh, webinars, uh,
[3:14:16] sustainable San Monteo County put on.
[3:14:18] They focus on a different issue every
[3:14:20] year, and this year is plant-based food
[3:14:23] policies. Um, and as you know, I'm a
[3:14:26] vegetarian. I'm not going to impose that
[3:14:28] on everyone. Don't worry. But it is
[3:14:30] interesting to learn to learn about
[3:14:33] there are options especially for big
[3:14:34] towns. West Hollywood where my daughter
[3:14:37] lives um they have for any town event it
[3:14:42] plant-based is the first option for
[3:14:45] food. So it's a subtle way to go but
[3:14:47] again I'm not going to impose it on
[3:14:49] people. um uh the ad hoc ordinance
[3:14:53] committee. We had a great meeting um
[3:14:56] working with um assistant city manager
[3:15:00] or assistant city attorney Mark Hudach
[3:15:03] and um council member Adams and we um
[3:15:06] will be coming back before the council
[3:15:08] before long. Next slide.
[3:15:14] uh Peninsula Clean Energy, you've
[3:15:16] probably you guys all read the E-News,
[3:15:18] but um PG Gene rates went down. It's a
[3:15:22] little complicated, but PG& rates went
[3:15:24] down and so Peninsula Clean Energy, we
[3:15:27] voted to also to change our rates um so
[3:15:31] we would continue the 10% discount um
[3:15:35] for now to um it's not only clean, but
[3:15:38] it's also a savings from PG&'s um
[3:15:41] electricity. Uh they officially signed
[3:15:44] the lease for their new location. I've
[3:15:46] mentioned the new location a couple of
[3:15:48] times, but it's in downtown San Monteo.
[3:15:50] They're hoping to move in in October. Um
[3:15:53] I joined the legislative committee,
[3:15:55] which I'm so excited about. Um there was
[3:15:58] a quorum issue because I'm on the
[3:16:00] executive committee and and one of the
[3:16:02] people on the executive committee uh
[3:16:04] decided he could he could go off and I
[3:16:06] got to join. So I'm very excited. Um and
[3:16:09] for um Bosa um I'm now the chair of the
[3:16:13] board policy committee. So very very
[3:16:16] exciting. Uh next slide. Um oh um the I
[3:16:21] did the homelessness count which is
[3:16:23] super easy. I I know that you've done it
[3:16:25] before. You guys have probably all done
[3:16:26] it before. Um getting up reporting there
[3:16:29] at 5 in the morning is hard because you
[3:16:31] really don't sleep because you're
[3:16:32] worried you won't wake up. Um but it was
[3:16:35] super easy. The hardest thing was how
[3:16:37] old I felt because this pregnant young
[3:16:39] woman was my daughter's best friend
[3:16:42] since kindergarten and uh she's one of
[3:16:44] the people in charge of it. So, um Loi
[3:16:46] Saba, she's fantastic. Um anyway, um I
[3:16:49] do recommend it. It was it was super
[3:16:52] easy and they train you really well. Uh
[3:16:54] next slide.
[3:16:58] Um oh, again, ebikes. Sorry.
[3:17:02] Um, but this was just one of the slides
[3:17:04] from our amazing uh, youth commission
[3:17:07] chair Anya Dal and she just brought such
[3:17:10] a unique perspective and talking about
[3:17:13] picture being worth a thousand words.
[3:17:14] This video contest I think is really
[3:17:16] going to be fantastic and she's offering
[3:17:18] a $500 prize. So that's um you know
[3:17:22] people will enter and um you just just
[3:17:25] think about scared straight and all the
[3:17:26] things that that um we learned when we
[3:17:29] um learned how to drive a car. I think
[3:17:31] this is going to be helpful. And I think
[3:17:33] that might be it.
[3:17:36] >> Okay. Thank you, Vice Mayor Rexdale. And
[3:17:38] I will um go next and I will have uh
[3:17:41] Council Member Cruic go after me. Um I
[3:17:44] don't really have much to uh report.
[3:17:46] Thanks to all of you. Um, and I did meet
[3:17:50] with several residents on issues
[3:17:52] pertaining to town that the staff is
[3:17:55] working very hard to help us address,
[3:17:56] but otherwise um the town continues to
[3:17:59] work very hard to uh keep things fur,
[3:18:02] keep the town working in perfect
[3:18:04] condition as best as as possible. So,
[3:18:06] I'm actually going to um uh before we
[3:18:09] adjourn final adjournment, council
[3:18:11] member Crowley has asked me that we
[3:18:12] adjourn the meeting in honor of the
[3:18:14] memory of someone special to her that
[3:18:16] has passed recently. So, I I will ask
[3:18:19] her to provide comments at this time.
[3:18:22] Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I
[3:18:24] just have two activities to report on.
[3:18:26] First, we had ADRB on January 26th um
[3:18:30] where we went over uh design review
[3:18:34] guidelines. um they are design we're
[3:18:37] looking at those and they will come
[3:18:39] before council I think um as part of a
[3:18:41] transparent process for fairness and
[3:18:43] consistency in those and then s uh San
[3:18:47] Francisco airport noise roundt the uh
[3:18:50] technical working group is working on
[3:18:52] the fly quiet program and um and the
[3:18:56] airport director reported that 2025
[3:18:59] uh number of passengers is almost back
[3:19:01] to 2019 levels um and Whimo has a pilot
[3:19:05] programmed to SFO they are dropping off
[3:19:07] and picking up in the rental car area.
[3:19:10] Um but now for my um personal note and I
[3:19:13] do want to thank the mayor for allowing
[3:19:14] me to pay tribute to a close friend of
[3:19:17] mine of over 50 years. We met when uh I
[3:19:22] was 12 years old. She was the new girl
[3:19:23] in the school. We became fast friends.
[3:19:25] She spent her life in my hometown of
[3:19:27] Doylesstown, Pennsylvania and was
[3:19:29] essentially a member of my family. My
[3:19:31] father considered her another daughter
[3:19:33] and she was like a sister to me. Um but
[3:19:36] more importantly she was a dedicated,
[3:19:39] creative and beloved elementary school
[3:19:41] teacher for almost 40 years making a
[3:19:44] positive impact on over a thousand
[3:19:46] students. Um she passed away in January
[3:19:50] at the age of 69 from cancer and left
[3:19:53] behind her wonderful husband and there's
[3:19:55] those three spectacular daughters. Um,
[3:19:59] so I uh respectfully request that we
[3:20:02] adjourn tonight in honor of my dear
[3:20:03] friend Claire Hennean.
[3:20:09] Oh, deepest sympathy.
[3:20:12] With that said, this meeting is now
[3:20:13] adjourned.