Hello. We are calling this meeting of
the Hillsboro City Council to order at
6:01
and we have Mayor Cole online.
She's participating in this meeting
remotely and if it's okay with you,
Mayor Cole, I will go ahead and preside
over the meeting since you are
um
remote.
>> Absolutely. Thank you for um steering the meeting. Appreciate that
very much.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much. We miss
you. Um and uh City Clerk, may we please
have the roll call?
>> Thank you, Vice Mayor. Adams?
>> Present.
>> Truong?
>> Present.
>> Krolik is absent. Ragsdale?
>> Present.
>> Cole?
>> Present.
>> Thank you. And Mayor Cole is
participating in the meeting by
teleconference under a just cause
provision of the Brown Act for the
caregiving need of a parent. Mayor Cole,
for for the Brown Act, can you please
disclose whether any other individuals
18 years of age or older are present in
the room with you at your remote
location?
>> No, there are no other individuals
present with me in in this remote
location.
>> Thank you very much.
>> All right, thank you. Now we will stand
for the Pledge of Allegiance. Please
stand if you are able.
» Pledge allegiance to the flag
United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation
under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all.
» Thank you.
And now we will have a town update from
Assistant City Manager Mandy Brown.
» Good evening.
Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members,
have a very brief town update since
there's not a ton to report on since a
couple weeks ago.
Um, I did want to plug the 70th annual
Concours d'Elegance, which will be
taking place on June 28th, and tickets
are available at the website below.
Oh, and then it's the 100th anniversary
of the Mercedes-Benz Corporation, so
that's what they'll be highlighting this
year.
Thank you to everyone who attended the
town pride event on June 9th, couple
pictures from the day. Huge thank you to
our youth commission for organizing the
event and taking care of all the
details, as well as staff from our city
manager's office, and of course public
works for the setup and takedown. It was
well attended and a beautiful day, great
speakers.
Rethink waste summer swap. Um, this is a
great event that they put on to um,
discourage waste and throwing things
away, trying to find another life for
things, and there is
um,
requirements of they must be donated in
good or fair condition, and then the
link is available so you can see what
items are available to swap, and that's
on June 20th.
Reminder about fireworks, uh, even
though some other jurisdictions do
permit fireworks, uh, Burlingame,
Hillsborough, and Millbrae do not. They
are all prohibited and illegal, um, and
make sure to call and report if you
think that somebody is setting off
fireworks either leading up to the 4th
of July or on the holiday.
Um, on a similar note, uh, town offices,
uh, will be closed on Friday, July 3rd
in observance of Independence Day.
This is long, so I'm not going to read
all of it, and we will also plug it in
our weekly bulletin, but just a reminder
that the November City Council is upon
us, um, and so our city clerk has put
together, uh, some
helpful resources and information on the
nomination period and nomination papers
and all of the logistics, and she's also
happy to meet with anyone if there are
any specific questions.
And then looking forward to July, we do
have quite a few items on that agenda,
so it should be pretty full.
These are just a couple highlights.
We'll be amending the license agreement
for the CCFD use at 1640 Floribunda,
flock agreement amendment, continuing
the discussion from July about the mayor
and vice mayor appointment and rotation,
as well as
informational update on the town hall
complex and the long-range financial
funding plan.
So, we will be looking forward to that.
And then here is our regular slide with
our emergency resources. Thanks.
>> Excellent. Thank you, Mandy. Um so, now
it's time for public comment on items
not on the agenda, and I do have a
formal script here for that, but there
is no one
I think online that has public comment
and no one in the room.
So,
I will do a a briefer version.
But, this is a time for people to give
comment for up to 3 minutes on items
that are not being covered tonight on
our agenda, and I will now open public
comment, and city clerk, do we have any
public comments on non-agenda items?
>> We do not. Thank you, vice mayor.
>> Thank you.
I will now close public comment, and the
next item on the agenda is an
announcement of conflict of interest. Do
any council members here or online have
a conflict of interest that they need to
disclose related to any item on the
agenda tonight?
>> None.
>> Thank you.
All right. So, now we are off to one of
our main events, a public hearing. This
is a um
a resolution authorizing the 5-year rate
series for water rate charges
the 5-year period from July 1st, 2026,
and a resolution making findings and
determinations regarding legal
objections, and this hearing is being
continued from June 8th of this year.
So, I'm officially welcoming you to the
town of Hillsborough's public hearing on
proposed increases to the water rates.
This public hearing has been continued
from June 8th, as I said. Before
reopening the public hearing, I would
like to ask staff to inform the city
council as to whether all valid legal
objections have been responded to and
presented to the council.
>> Uh yes, Vice Mayor. All valid legal
objections have been responded to, and
all objections and staff and responses
have been presented to the city council.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, and thank you for all those
um detailed uh uh
responses. I know you guys worked hard
on those, and we appreciate it.
In light of this information, I would
like to ask that the city council adopt
the resolution making findings and
determinations regarding objections to
the proposed
water rates. Before doing so, is there
any public comment on this item?
Please note that this resolution does
not adopt the rates.
If you have a public comment on the
proposed rate increases, you will have
an opportunity to be heard once I open
the public hearing.
Are there any public comments on this
item?
>> No, Vice Mayor. No public comment. Thank
you.
>> Thank you.
Um I will now close public comment on
this item.
Is there a motion to adopt the
resolution findings and determinations
related to the presentment of objections
to the proposed water rates?
>> I'll move.
>> Second.
>> I think we have a I think I think that
uh Council Member Adams beat you that
time for the second. It moved by Council
Member Shawng, seconded by Council
Member Adams.
Um and uh City Clerk, may I have a roll
call vote, please?
>> Thank you. Adams?
>> Yes.
>> Thank you. Swan?
>> Yes.
>> Kralik is absent. Rackstell?
>> Yes.
>> Cole?
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
The resolution making
findings and determinations relating to
the proposed presentation of objections
to the proposed water rates has passed.
Before I open the public hearing, I
would like to ask our city attorney,
Christopher Diaz, to explain the
requirements of Proposition 218
governing this public hearing and the
proposed rate adoption.
» Thank you, Vice Mayor Rackstell. Um so,
yes, um as we noted last um council
meeting and we'll note here today as
well, this public hearing was set in
compliance with Proposition 218.
The town mailed the notice of the June
8th public hearing to the record
property owners subject to the
imposition of the proposed water rates
and tenants directly liable for the
payment of such rates. For example, the
customers of record who are not property
owners were sent notices more than 45
days prior to the date of this public
hearing.
At the June 8th public hearing, the city
council continued the hearing to today's
date and that's why we're here this
evening.
The purpose of the public hearing is to
is for the city council to hear all oral
testimony and consider all written
protests concerning the proposed rate
increases.
It is also held to determine whether
there is a majority protest to the
proposed rates and whether to proceed
with the adoption of the proposed rates.
Members of the public who do not who did
not provide testimony on June 8th are
invited to provide oral testimony during
tonight's public hearing.
In addition, property owners and tenants
may submit a written protest by hand
delivering it to the city clerk prior to
the close of the public hearing.
Property owners and tenants are not
required to provide oral testimony at
today's hearing in order to in order for
your written protest to be counted
toward determining whether a majority
protest exists.
However, oral testimony without a
written protest will not be counted when
determining whether a majority protest
exists.
The public hearing will be closed after
the City Council has heard and
considered all oral testimony on these
items.
So, in order to be counted, protests
must be in writing, state that you are
protesting the proposed water rate
increases, include the name of the
property owner or tenant, the assessor's
parcel number or service address, and
signature of the person submitting the
written protest. Any protest submitted
by email or other electronic means will
not be accepted as a formal written
protest.
All valid protests submitted to the town
by mail or hand-delivered prior to
today's public hearing and received by
the City Clerk since the notice of the
public hearing was mailed will be
counted.
If written protests against the proposed
rate increases are presented by owners
or tenants of a majority of the
identified parcels upon which the
proposed uh water rates are to be
imposed, the City Council may not impose
the rate increases. Conversely, if there
is no majority protest, the City Council
may impose the rate increases. Pursuant
to state law governing Proposition 218
in determining whether a majority
protest exists, only one written protest
per parcel may be counted. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Christopher. Um I will now
open the public hearing.
Speakers will be given a maximum of 3
minutes to speak. A timer will be on the
screen. If you spoke during the June 8th
meeting on this item, your comments have
already been including included in the
record. We ask only that those who did
not already provide oral testimony on
June 8th speak at tonight's hearing.
After all oral testimony has been heard,
I will close the public hearing and the
City Clerk will tabulate the written
protest to determine whether a majority
protest exists.
Please note that questions from the
speakers will not be answered during the
public hearing, but if necessary, staff
will address questions after the close
of the public hearing.
We will now hear from anyone who wishes
to speak. If you would like to speak in
person, please complete a yellow speaker
card and provide it to the City Clerk.
And if you're on Zoom, please use the
raise hand feature.
City clerk, do we have any public
comments?
>> Thank you, Vice Mayor. We do not have
any public comments.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
I'm prepared to close the public
hearing. Before I do that, I would like
to provide anyone who would like to
submit or withdraw written protest the
opportunity to do so.
I don't see anyone here wanting to do
that or anyone online trying to get our
attention. Uh once the public hearing is
closed, the city council may no longer
accept any written protests on the
proposed rate increases.
Are there any remaining written protest
to be delivered to the city clerk?
I don't see anyone here to do that.
Um
All right, the public hearing is now
closed.
I now ask the city clerk to provide the
city council with the tabulation results
for all valid written protest submitted
prior to the close of the public
hearing.
>> Thank you. Uh we received a total of 23
valid written protest letters regarding
the rates for the water service charges.
A majority of the owners of the
identified parcels or tenants directly
liable for the charges would equal
2,067.
A majority protest does not exist to the
proposed rates.
>> Thank you for that information.
The city clerk has advised that based on
the number of valid written protest
submitted prior to the close of the
public hearing, a majority protest does
not exist for the adoption of the
proposed rates for water rates.
The city council may now proceed to
consider the proposed resolution
adopting maximum rates for water service
charges and authorizing the
implementation of revenue stabilization
factors to the volume charge rates as
necessary and taking other actions
relating thereto.
Do any members of the city council wish
to speak or call on staff for any
clarification with respect to the
proposed rate increases.
» Through the chair.
>> Yes.
>> Um I I just want to say that uh
you know, the council have done quite a
bit of a studies on the water rates. And
um and the even though tonight we will
be adopting the resolutions uh
authorizing the 5-year rate series for
water rate changes charges. Um
every year we are subject to uh
evaluate. And we will have an
opportunity to discuss the rate to see
if the revenue is sustainable uh in
terms of supporting our operations. So,
I just want to make that clear to the um
our
uh to our town residents that every year
we will be reviewing this operations and
the revenues to see if uh there is
probable cause to continue to have the
prop 218 um
rate increases.
>> Thank you for that.
Councilmember Radem.
>> Thank you.
Uh Vice Mayor Ringstale, I I want to uh
emphasize how important uh what uh
Councilmember Schwang just said. And I
want to remind people that these are
maximum rates. So, they're not
necessarily the rate, but they are the
maximum that can be charged. So, I think
your council will do its level best to
make sure that everything as
Councilmember Schwang said, it meets our
financial goals, but also is fair and
transparent for the public.
>> Thank you. And Mayor Cole?
>> Yes, and I would just like to thank my
colleagues on the dais this afternoon
for clarifying those two important
issues.
And also further emphasizing
that
it's it's revenue stabilization effort
on the way because there are other
parameters that are changing
which includes the cost of purchase of
water
as well as
replacing aging infrastructures
as well as addressing um
recent rulings that are conflicted in
terms of where we should be which
direction we should be moving and I I
think I'm Councilmember Truong
um hit the nail on the head.
This is something that will be assessed
on an annual basis going forward.
And I know some residents have reached
out to me personally and expressed
concern that they are making tremendous
effort to conserve water and they were
concerned that the rates are going up.
Um unfortunately, you still need to
project out your revenue to make sure
you can fund your water system. So, as
the as people become really good at
conserving water and other parameters
are changing such as the cost of water
because of climate and
how much snow we have etc. etc. and
replacing aging infrastructure.
The shift in that cost continues and
it's beyond our control. So, those are
some of the parameters that's moving
this number. And I I think the the
bottom line is this is something that
will be reevaluated annually.
And the residents need to be reassured
that this is something that is critical
in terms of just
the basic um operation of the town and
the council and especially the staff the
finance staff keep a very close eye on
this.
So, thank you very much to the staff
that have worked on this for the past
several years.
I know it's been quite challenging at
times.
Much appreciated.
>> Thank you, Mayor Collins. Thanks to
Olive E you those clarifications. I
think it's very important to point out
these are maximum rates. A lot of study
went into them, but we're we're not done
and we do reevaluate every year. And um
uh
we we do our best.
Thank you. Um now, is there a motion to
adopt the resolution adopting maximum
rates for water service charges and
authorizing the implementation of
revenue stabilization factors to the
volume charge rates as necessary and
taking other actions relating thereto.
So moved, Councilmember Schwang. Does
the motion have a second?
» Yes. I'd like to second it.
>> I'm sorry. I was going to say something,
but I couldn't hear what Councilmember
Adams was
>> Yes.
>> going to say. I figured she'd second it,
but certainly.
>> Everyone was waiting to give someone
else a turn. You guys are so nice. Um I
second it by Councilmember Adams.
Um and any further discussion?
Seeing none, uh City Clerk, may have a
roll call vote, please.
>> Thank you. Adams?
>> Yes.
>> Schwang?
Kralik is absent. Ragsdale?
>> Yes.
>> Cole?
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
And uh
thank you to everyone who put so much
work into um into these complicated
rates.
Our next item is new business, uh
resolution approving amendment number
three to the employment agreement for
our City Manager, Doug Davis, relating
to a compensation adjustment, and it
will be presented by City Attorney,
Christopher Diaz.
>> Thank you, Vice Mayor Ragsdale and City
Council. Christopher Diaz, your City
Attorney, here to present uh the agenda
item for the City Manager's compensation
adjustment. As you know, you've uh just
concluded a positive performance
evaluation for your City Manager.
Um at the conclusion of that, there was
a negotiation on a compensation
increase, and so that is reflected in
the amendment number three that's in
your packet this evening.
Uh for Brown Act purposes, do we need we
do need to disclose the new compensation
amount, and so just wanted to note that
for the record. The new compensation
amount included in amendment number
three is to bring uh the city manager
salary to $371,614.00.
Um and I'm happy to answer any questions
that the city council may have about the
amendment.
Thank you.
» Thank you for that presentation.
Uh do any of my colleagues have
questions on this item?
Seeing none, um I will now open public
comment.
Uh members of the public participating
in person are welcome to fill out the
other yellow speaker card.
And anyone who wants to make a public
comment on this item from Zoom may use
the raise hand feature.
I don't believe we have anyone on the
phone. If we did, star nine.
I don't see any public comment. Do you,
city clerk?
>> That's correct. I know public comment.
Thank you.
>> I will now close the public comment. Uh
may I have a motion to adopt the
resolution approving amendment number
three to the employment agreement for
city manager Doug Davis.
>> So moved.
>> And do we have a second?
» Is Is second. Is couldn't hear if
Councilmember Trang said anything.
Second.
>> No, I I save it for you.
>> Okay. Okay. I can't see her very well
sometimes, yeah.
>> We miss you so much, Mayor. Uh so
there's a motion by Councilmember Adams,
seconded by Mayor Cole.
Um
and
I guess so we need a roll call vote. May
I have a roll call vote, please?
>> Thank you. Adams?
>> Yes.
>> Trang?
>> Yes.
>> Krolic is absent. Ragsdale?
>> Yes.
>> Cole?
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
Very and very important item to us as
city managers is very important
to the city council and the town. Thank
you.
Uh the next item on the agenda is
resolution adopting the 2026 salary
schedule for the town of Hillsborough,
which will be presented by
administrative services manager William
Lee.
>> Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and
council members. This is just a
formalization item of the city manager
contract amount that you just uh
approved based on our CalPERS
obligations, contracts, and rules, we
need to um agendize the salary schedule
in a council meeting in order for it to
um
be approved and adopted and posted
online.
And with that, I can take any questions.
» Do my colleagues have any questions
on the salary schedule?
All right. Thank you. Uh I have no
questions also. Um
now I will open public comment, and city
clerk, do we have any public comments on
this item?
>> No, vice mayor. Thank you.
>> I will now close the public comment. Uh
may I have a motion to adopt the
resolution adopting the 2026 salary
schedule for the town of Hillsborough?
>> So moved.
>> Moved by the by Mayor Cole, and do I
have a second?
>> Second.
by
Council member Adams, and um do we have
any discussion?
All right. Uh city clerk, may I have a
roll call vote, please?
>> Thank you. Adams?
>> Yes.
>> Zhuang?
>> Yes.
>> Krolik is absent. Ragsdale?
>> Yes.
>> Cole?
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
Unanimous vote. Um thank you
for presenting that to us, William.
Um the next item on the agenda is City
Council items. Does anybody have any uh
anything that they would like to report?
Council member Shaw?
>> Just really briefly, I came from uh One
Shoreline meeting uh this afternoon and
I want to report that the board adopted
the One Shoreline work plan,
flood zones budget, operating budget,
and capital
uh projects budget. Um one of the things
that I want to highlight is that um
we also adopted a resolution to accept a
grant of 9,620
uh sorry, 962,500
um
from the San Francisco Bay Restoration
Authority to for the planning and design
of the Brisbane Liv- Living Shoreline
project. And I the reason that I want to
highlight that is because we all drive
on 101. And if you see the freeway um on
the shores, you will see the roads are
uh the bank is uh eroding to the oceans.
So, this is why um
all these projects from the One
Shorelines are critical to all of us,
even though Hillsborough sits on the
hill. Um we all drive on 101, and so it
is critical that we have those repair
and um
uh it does impact all of us. So, I want
to thank Hillsborough, my council
colleague, who continue to support
membership uh to the One Shoreline, and
I continue to um
want to um applaud One Shoreline for
doing all these critical projects. Thank
you.
>> Thank you for that. Uh that is a is very
important. We are so interconnected here
in all of San Mateo County, and uh we
really appreciate your work on that on
that board. Thank you. And anyone else
have a an item to report?
I also don't, so if there's nothing
else, we are adjourned.
>> Great.
Thank you.
Excellent.