City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, it is 6.47. Welcome to the September 1st, 2026 regular meeting of the Cupertino City Council. I call this meeting to order. If you're able to, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God,

Thank you. Madam City Clerk, will you please call the roll? Council Member Ferwin?

Here.

Council Member Mohan? Here. Council Member Wong?

Here.

Mayor Moore? Present. All right, thank you. Madam City Attorney, do we have any closed session reports?

We did have two closed sessions to provide report outs for. One was on August 11th and the item on the agenda was discussed but there's no reportable action taken and we also had a closed session this evening and the item on the agenda was discussed and again no reportable action was taken. Thank you.

All right, thank you very much, and we'll begin with a very special recognition for our ceremonial items. As part of the city's centenarian recognition, I'm pleased to recognize Bertha Smith, who celebrated her 101st birthday in July. Reaching 100 years and beyond is an incredible milestone. It represents a lifetime of experiences, memories, family, friendships, and change. On behalf of the Cupertino City Council, happy 101st birthday, Bertha, and congratulations on this wonderful milestone. And we would like to take a photograph to commemorate this happy occasion.

Are we allowed to clap?

recognition in celebration of your 100th birthday. It's actually 100th birthday. Thank you.

Our next recognition is for National Preparedness Month, which is observed each September. It's a good reminder that emergencies can happen at any time, and a little preparation can make a big difference. I encourage everyone to take a few steps to prepare. Make a plan, check your emergency supplies, and know how you'll stay informed. Joining us to accept the proclamation is Antonia Bradford from Collaborating Agencies Disaster Relief Effort or CADRE. Antonia, thank you for being here and for the work CADRE does to help our community prepare. Did you want to say a few words first? And then we'll have a photo.

Thank you. I wrote it down because I'm not really good at public speaking. Thank you, Mayor Moore and council members. On behalf of CADRE, I'm grateful to accept this proclamation. National Preparedness Month is a good reminder that readiness is something we build together before disaster strikes, not during it. CADRE is proud to bring our 170-plus partner agencies and volunteers that work here in Santa Clara County. Thank you for recognizing it and standing with us.

Thank you, and please join us on the dais for a photo.

Thank you so much.

Next, I'd like to recognize September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Month This month celebrates the histories, cultures, traditions, and contributions of Hispanic Americans and the many ways they've shaped and enriched communities like Cupertino. The heritage we celebrate this month is woven into Cupertino's own name. In 1776, the De Anza Expedition passed through this valley and named the creek we now call Stevens Creek the Arroyo Arroyo de San Jose de Cupertino, that name and the college that bears De Anza's are reminders that Hispanic and Latino history here goes back long before the city itself. Today, Hispanic and Latino residents and employees contribute to every part of Cupertino life. Our schools and businesses, our neighborhoods, and faith communities, and I want to especially recognize the many employees sharing Hispanic heritage who proudly serve at every level of our city government. Their dedicated civic stewardship keeps the city running every day, and we are truly grateful for it. So on behalf of the entire City Council, I invite everyone to join in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you. and our final recognition is in honor of IT professionals day observed this year on September 15th. It gives us an opportunity to recognize the city of Cupertino's innovation and technology department and the people behind that work. Technology is an important part of how the city operates and serves the community each day. From keeping systems running to supporting secure and reliable digital services, our IT professionals make that work possible. IT Professionals Day is an opportunity to recognize the skill, knowledge, and dedication behind this constantly changing field of work. and we wanna share our support for the entire IT department as you embark on the ERP system upgrade. This is a big project which will have many positive outcomes for our city and we wish you well on that endeavor. On behalf of the Cupertino City Council, thank you for the important role you play in keeping Cupertino connected and moving forward. And now the city manager would like to say a few words.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for recognizing departments. I would also like to take a moment to recognize the people behind the work as it relates to the INT department. While much of the work happens behind the scenes, the impact of this team is visible every day. The Innovation and Technology Department, including our applications, GIS, infrastructure, and multimedia divisions, serve as a foundation that keeps the city services running. supports staff across departments, protects our systems and data, and helps us deliver efficient and accessible services to our residents. In addition, as you know, the department's also helping me with the new AI enablement initiative to help train city staff as well as implement other artificial intelligence tools across the organization. These efforts are allowing employees to focus more of their time on serving our community while ensuring the city continues to embrace innovation in a practical and responsible way. As a reminder, technology never rests. During the month of August, while we were taking a council recess, the team has continued to upgrade the community hall, and we do expect a smooth transition tonight. I want to thank the entire team for your responsiveness, professionalism, creativity, and continued support. Your work is truly appreciated, and I would like to now invite Director Terry Gearhart and the INT staff that's here tonight to come up and take a photo with Council.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, and last but not least, happy birthday to Council Member Fruin today.

Thank you.

Mayor and Council and members of the public, I just wanted to note that Vice Mayor Chau has joined.

Very good. Our next item is postponements and orders of the day. And I do want to make a motion that we move to table item 11 indefinitely as it has been signed into law. Do I have a second? Second.

Thank you.

Do we have any discussion on this item? Okay. All right. Madam City Clerk, will you please set the voting panel and conduct the vote?

Sorry, I need to cancel this because it had previous movers. Okay, should we be ready? Vice Mayor? I'm sorry. The motion carries unanimously.

All right, thank you. Our next item is our consent calendar. Madam City Clerk, have any items been pulled off of consent? Or do any council members wish to pull an item off of consent at this time? Nothing, okay. Madam City Clerk, do we have members of the public who would like to speak to the consent items at this time?

Mayor, I do have one request to speak in person. This speaker card does not have a name for item number 11.

So we postponed item 11 indefinitely because it's already been signed into law.

That's right. And Mayor, we need to go to oral communications first.

Oh, before consent. Oh, look, I...

Thank you. It was a long break. Thank you to Deputy City Manager.

Okay, so our next item is oral communications. Do we have any speaker cards? Madam City Clerk.

Yes, Mayor, we have one, two, three, four, five, six requests to speak in person. And at this time, I have one request to speak virtually. And I will read the instructions. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any matter within the jurisdiction of the council and not on an agenda for discussion. Oral communication shall be limited to 30 minutes. Additional speakers wishing to comment on non-agenda items may be given time to speak at the end of the agenda after the city manager's report. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes. As necessary, the chair may further limit the time allowed to individual speakers individual speakers or reschedule remaining comments to the end of the meeting on a first come first heard basis with priority given to students in most cases state law will prohibit the council from discussing or making any decisions with respect to a matter not listed on the agenda accounts member may however briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by speakers A council member may also ask a question for clarification, provide a reference for factual information, request staff to report back concerning a matter, or request that an item be added to a future City Council agenda in response to public comment. And as a reminder, members of the public wishing to speak um under oral communications shall submit a request to speak or raise their hand virtually within the first nine minutes of this start a public comment um or before public comment is closed whichever comes first so at this time we will go ahead and welcome pamela hershey followed by peggy griffin followed by ivy zan welcome pamela thank you

Thank you. Mayor Moore, council members, city staff. May I have the overhead projector working? Or I just lay it on top here? Okay. Yes. My name is Pamela Hershey. As you know, I've been a longtime resident of Cupertino. Lived here as a teenager with my parents and moved here with my children. Tonight I'm talking about our elections this year, our campaign elections. I have a very busy life, a stressful life because of some ill grandchildren. I take my time to go out in the evening and on the weekends to put signs up for candidates that I'm sponsoring. But unfortunately, we get people that go out in the evening or whenever, I guess it's evening because it's dark, from the opposition. Pictures of them stealing signs. And this is just one house. Many are stolen. We go back and put them out. My husband's going back and replacing them now. It's not right. It's very disrespectful. These women, Louisen, Sanjana, I'm sorry if I pronounced her name incorrectly, are on an organization called Cupertino for All, which was founded by J.R. Pruin. So if this is happening from them, they should be accountable. They play leadership roles in Cupertino for All, and they're out stealing signs. These are pictures, very, very clear of them, from houses that have given these to us. I've not seen them personally steal signs, but I know they're out there, and we're replacing them. It costs money, and it takes our time. I spent my day today with my ill granddaughter, and I really am limited, and now I have to go back out and replace it. It costs money to the candidates. It's very disrespectful, and I hope that these women are going to be accountable, and whoever else is taking the signs from our candidates. Just be fair, I've never touched one of their signs. I see them, I've never touched one, and I never plan on touching one. We have high school students going out on their bikes. This is a picture of the video, but I won't show the video. We know he's a Monta Vista student. Wrote his bike right up, took the signs down, threw them on the ground, and took his bike and rode over them. That's disrespectful. I'm sorry. I don't know why he would do that unless he was told. We have people coming in and just putting signs on top of our signs. So I really hope that the city council can address this issue because it's really becoming quite a problem. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Pamela. Next, we will welcome Peggy Griffin, followed by Ivy Zahn, followed by Sam Leder. Welcome, Peggy.

Good evening, Mayor Moore, Vice Mayor Chow, council members and staff. I'm Peggy Griffin, and I'm speaking on behalf of Rhoda Frye, who's unable to attend tonight. Dear City Manager and City Council, she sent this in. A campaign sign for Council Member Fruin, Planning Commissioner Lindskog, and former San Jose Water employee Tang was placed illegally on my property, in my yard, on my landscaping, not on the other side of the sidewalk strip. which is also not allowed without permission. It is even more worrisome that this is coming from a council member who claims to be a lawyer and is employed by the city of San Jose as staff to a council member, and similarly from a planning commissioner. Both ought to know better. Additionally, the Fantausi campaign also placed a sign at my neighbor's property without permission, and I was able to notify the candidate that this was not allowed. Please educate the campaign. I have lived in Cupertino for over 40 years and have never witnessed this level of lawbreaking and disrespect for residents. Regards, Rhoda Frye. The following are my words, not Rhoda's. California election law requires that candidates running for city council who collect or spend $2,000 or more must create a candidate controlled committee. This is a political committee that is established and managed by the candidate running for city council. It is formed by the candidates themselves. the candidate has direct control over the committee's activities and decisions. This means the buck starts and stops with the candidate. You, J.R. Fruin, Seema Linscock, John Tang, and Mark Fantozzi are ultimately responsible for actions done either by you or your volunteers. I am asking you to stop your volunteers. Stop placing signs without permission. Stop harassing residents who are supporting other candidates. If you are allowing this to happen to residents who oppose you, what will you do if you are elected and gain power? It doesn't look good. Tell your volunteers to stop and take your signs away from them, or take your signs away from them. Don't feed their lawlessness. Thank you.

Thank you, Peggy. Next, we will welcome Ivy Zand, followed by Sam Leder, followed by Minna. Welcome, Ivy.

Good evening, members of the City Council. My name is Ivy Zan, a student at Lindbergh High School and the creator of Waterlytics. So California continues to face severe water conservation and climate resilience challenges. Traditional irrigation systems rely on fixed timers that can't respond to changing environmental conditions leading to overwatering, sidewalk runoff, and resource waste. In fact, landscape irrigation accounts for nearly 50% of annual residential water consumption across California. So to understand how this impacts our local community, I conducted a survey of over 150 residents across Santa Clara County, including right here in Cupertino. The results were clear. Over 80% of respondents expressed serious concern regarding California's drought conditions, more than 90 percent have personally witnessed overspray onto sidewalks and unnecessary watering, and nearly 100 percent of residents surveyed supported the idea of Santa Clara County and local municipalities exploring intelligent irrigation pilot programs in public spaces. In response, I developed Waterlytics, an intelligent distributed irrigation system designed to eliminate water waste through real-time data analysis. Unlike traditional sprinklers, Waterlytics uses multimodal environmental sensors to measure soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and weather forecasting. This system communicates wirelessly to coordinate watering across multiple zones, adjusting spray amounts and timing to prevent overwatering. Looking ahead, the system is designed to integrate computer vision to target specific grassy areas while completely avoiding sidewalks and hardscapes. I'm proposing a pilot program to evaluate water litics within local parks, community gardens, or public facilities. This initiative offers key benefits. One, direct water conservation and lower municipal water costs, two, alignment with the Cupertino and Santa Clara counties climate resilience and smart city goals, and three, a tangible bridge for STEM education demonstrating how local youth can use AI and engineering to solve pressing environmental challenges. I've submitted my full proposal and executive summary to the record for your review. Thank you for your time and for supporting student innovation and sustainable technology.

Thank you, Ivy. Next, we will welcome Sam Leader, followed by Minna, and the next in line, I don't have a name, but wants to discuss AB 1924. So at this time, we will welcome Sam.

Good evening, City Council. I hope you all had a relaxing August break. I'm Sam, a current high schooler at the Nueva School in San Mateo and a resident of Cupertino. Over the summer, I conducted a study investigating whether new traffic was coming from housing projects in Cupertino. After spending several weeks compiling a data set and running calculations, I found the opposite. Cupertino's new housing projects were expected to decrease traffic. The reason is that many of Cupertino's larger townhome projects are replacing existing retail and office space, such as Voyager Coffee or Stevens Creek Office Center, which attract more traffic per day than a 50-unit townhome. When these commercial or office centers are replaced, customers and workers no longer have any reason to come to these locations. For visitors, they may never enter the city at all, and residents exit Cupertino to work or go shopping. In other words, the traffic goes elsewhere. It is true that these housing developments that replace former commercial and office sites will generate some traffic from the people living there. However, I have found that the traffic from these townhome projects is generally much less than the existing traffic from these commercial properties. Now, the concern about the city's declining retail and sales tax revenue base is a separate issue that has been expressed to this council repeatedly as new housing projects are replacing existing commercial areas. Many studies have suggested that building new housing near existing retail can actually increase retail's desirability by providing a consistent stream of foot traffic while decreasing cars on the road. To achieve this outcome, though, the city would have to embrace a genuinely proactive planning strategy and abandon its current method of scattershot upzoning to meet RENA's requirements. This will also mean having to build in areas closer in proximity to single-family homes. If preserving retail is a priority for Cupertino, then trying to protect Cupertino's suburban feel by only upzoning areas along major corridors will inevitably cause these retail sites to be redeveloped as the only retail in Cupertino are along those major corridors. Ultimately, though, as long as the city of Cupertino continues its current upzoning strategy, we will continue to see less and less retail and office space and the unintended consequences of less traffic, too. Hopefully, my work can help our residents and leaders reconsider what they believe are the negative effects of new housing projects, especially with the upcoming election. And I urge you all to go look at my written communications and read the study. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Sam. Next, we will welcome Mina.

Oh, hello. My name is Mina Xu. I'm a Cupertino resident for 15 years, and I come here to speak, just represent myself. And today, I just want to report something I have never seen in past 15 years. There are so many unauthorized political signs this year. The first story, I have a neighbor, he has no political sign for his family. So in last 15 years, I respect him and never planted our political sign on his yard. But this year, I just keep seeing some political sign pop up, disappear, pop up, disappear. And one day, I noticed there were more than 10 political signs around his house. I just asked him, why, hey, did you change your rule? Why you authorize those signs? He said, no, no, no, I already dumped them several times, but they just keep popping up. So I think in the last 15 years, I know to respect my neighbor. But it looks like someone's campaign team, they just don't know to respect local residents. And the second story is about Indian lady. She already said yes to Tracy and the Santosh yard sign. And I plan to give her Gopal's yard sign. But when I arrived at her house, I saw another seven yard sign so crowded in her front yard, so there's no place for Gopal. And I asked her, did you change your mind to support the other candidates? She said, no, no, no, they just come here. And I heard one of them already on council, see, I'm only a resident, but they are official. I don't want to often an official. I want to be a good resident. I want a peaceful life. So I see it's just they use some official title to intimidating and bullying local residents because most Asian people, they believe the official is more superior than local residents because in Asian country, maybe those people have a lot of power. but they don't know in the U.S. everyone should be equal. And the third story is about a Korean lady. I just saw her trim the branch in her yard, and she was so carefully working around some political yard sign. I just saw him, I just asked her, do you support them so you are so careful? She said, no, I don't know what are these, but you see Cupertino City on the sign. I believe city planted those signs. And I said, hey, this is your private property. Even our city, they cannot do anything without any permission. So those people, I think for Asian people, they are not clear about the rules. So they just was taken advantage of. And such action ruined our city's reputation because residents just think our city abuse its power to put things on their yard and without any notice. So I'm really sorry to see such things happened in our city. I really hope those candidates, they can do something.

I want to show.

Thank you, Manna. Our next speaker does not have a name on this request to speak hard, wants to discuss AB 1924.

Good evening, Mayor Moore and council members. My name is Advait Ghosh. I'm a student at Homestead High School, and I'm also representing Sunnyvale's Youth Public Policy Institute. I'm also here with Caleb in the corner there. And I'm here to ask the city of Cupertino to take action in supporting AB 1924. AB 1924 would create a statewide strategy focused on preventing homelessness before people lose their housing. The bill has already passed both houses of the California legislature and is now awaiting action from Governor Newsom. The legislature's strong support shows that there is broad agreement on the need for homelessness prevention, but the bill still needs the governor's signature to become law. Cupertino's voice matters because cities are on the front lines of housing instability and homelessness, and local governments are directly affected by whether the state invests in prevention before people reach a crisis. We are asking the City Council to direct staff to immediately review the AB 1924 bill and send an official City of Cupertino request for signature letter urging Governor Newsom to sign the bill. We also ask that the City communicate its support through its state legislative advocacy team. Cupertino has already identified homelessness and displacement as issues worth addressing through state legislation, and supporting AB 1924 gives the city an opportunity to act on that priority and add a local government voice to the statewide consensus while the governor is still considering the bill. Thank you.

Thank you, Advait. Next, we will welcome Vijay, followed by JZ Wang.

Good evening, Cupertino City Council. My name is Vijay Sumal. My family has lived in Cupertino for 40 years. Me and my siblings are graduating from Monta Vista High School. I worked at Deep Cliff Golf Course for many years and then also helped with Evan Lowe and Assemblymember Paul Fong during my time in high school. I wanted to bring this council's attention to flock cameras in Cupertino. Of course, there's been recent news on the misuse of flock cameras and the invasion of privacy that these cause. I want to bring one camera to your attention for this council. If this works. These cameras are allowed to be in areas of law enforcement agencies, business properties, or HOAs. There is one on my parents' street in Miravista Road that is on a residential property, which is this one here. And this is an image of said camera, which is not supposed to be in this property, as none of those allowed properties. And of course, I have a larger statement, which I would love this council to think about flock cameras and Cupertino at large, but I would love this particular camera to be investigated and considered for its possible removal. Thank you.

Thank you, Vijay. Next, we will welcome Jay Zewing.

Hello, councillors and the residents. And over the years, we have agreed, disagree, but just like everyone, residents, I also come here many times. Everyone see me, I'm suggesting how to fix the city budgets and the transportation and better communication. And I'm here today as try to presenting the picture when in the morning, when we see the small business open the door and the children play in the park and neighbors say hi to each other. And this is the community the good community we want, but doesn't build accidentally. And it's the community involvement. So the reason I'm here is because, and I believe, the community doesn't happen just by the day. And we need a lot of community input. And that's the community I like. That's the community I want to be in leadership with. And I'm also a Fisher Council member candidate right now. And I'm not the person like behind the desk, and I want to listen to the people what they say and have a common ground. And in the communities, we have different background people, like the ones who want to solve the transportation, the older people want to have transportation, and the young people want the housing and a better career, and family want to strive, and the business want to grow, and they have the concern about code and the cost. And that doesn't mean we need to be divided, even everyone have different opinion.

Hold on. Please hold time for a second. I have a question for the city attorney. So there was a mention in the statement about there being a candidate. Does that then qualify as campaigning inside of city buildings? I just want to double check that before the individual continues.

It is true that the city's rules do prevent campaigning during public comment, and so I ask that the speaker be very aware of that and provide your comments, but please do not involve in any campaigning.

all right so yeah basically just just mentioning and with the community involvement very important in the city not just about building the roads and the house and everything else and about two comments about the campaign actually one of the things i think because the city can do is the reduce the magnitude and how much needed a campaign to for anybody try to be a candidate And another thing is about the massive, a lot of people like to solve the homeless or whatever the transportation, whatever the problem is. And a lot of basic thing we didn't see is a lot of actually building doesn't matter, commercial and residential apartments actually quite a bit vacant. So that's another thing I think the city or any future candidates should try to look into this and instead of thinking about just keep building and to fix what the public comments is because they don't see a lot of behind it as well. Similar like the issue I'm talking about and a lot of stuff which we can utilize it and that will actually solve a lot of city issues as well. And for that, I turn the meeting back to you. Thank you.

Thank you, J.Z. Wang. And Mayor, that finishes the request to speak here in person and community hall. And I do have two hands raised virtually. So at this time, we will go ahead and welcome Muni Madipatla. Welcome, Muni.

Good evening, Mayor Moore and city council members. My name is Muni Madipatla. I'm a longtime Cupertino resident and a member of Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission. I'm speaking tonight in my personal capacity as a resident. In the upcoming elections, I support the residents' first slate of Gopal Kumarapan, Santosh Rao, and Tracy Kosolchara.

Pardon. City Attorney, this seems like I'm having a repeat of the previous comment.

That's true, and that did seem to be very clearly campaigning, which is not allowed during public comment. So I ask the Speaker to refrain from doing so. Otherwise, we'll have to end your public comment.

Okay. I'll come to the point. Many of my neighbors support, you know, the candidates that I support. Recently, a named leader of a local INBI group called Cupertino for All, founded by current council member J.R. Fruen.

Excuse me, excuse me. This is moving in the direction, continuing in the direction of campaigning, and so I do think that we should close this comment.

Complaining about sign being staled is property theft.

Yes.

I believe that Kyrie's misdemeanor and the fine.

It definitely is a misdemeanor. That's true. I'm sorry, I misheard. I thought that I heard the speaker campaigning for a candidate at that time.

He's not campaigning for a candidate.

He was complaining about sign stealing.

Okay, very well. Thank you.

I heard it as the city attorney heard it, though. Okay. Can you continue? Would you please continue your time? Refrained from campaigning. Thank you.

So there's a person going around and trying to remove the signs of, you know, the candidates. and none of my neighbors agreed to remove the signs. Later that week, a city council candidate called Mark Fantosi came to my home, asked if he could install one of his signs at my yard. I politely declined, explaining who I support. Afterwards, several of my neighbors told me that Mark had approached them and indicated that I supported his campaign. I was not present in those conversations, so I cannot speak to exactly what happened, but I want to make my position very clear. I do not support any other candidates other than...

No, no, no. No, I'm sorry. That's campaigning again. Please wrap up.

I think he's trying to make a point that I'm sorry, you don't have the floor.

Please wrap up.

Okay, I'm done. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam City Attorney, would you like to make a statement on this because I have a feeling this is the start of these kinds of efforts and we haven't in the past had this effort attempted. And I'd also like to hear a statement if the city manager would like to talk about what the rules are with regards to the signs as well, because there seems to be a lot of confusion and a lot of activity going on that we're just hearing about.

So as I've mentioned, the public comment period based upon the city's rules and regulations is that we do not allow campaigning during public comment. It's not within the jurisdiction of the city and it's not appropriate for public comment. I'll leave it at that.

Mayor, the only thing I would add is for oral communication, members of the public are entitled to express their opinions. However, it should be noted that the city policy, if someone's requesting information from the city, the city would typically only take action if there was any violation of the sign ordinance or the muni code the city has offered guidelines to all candidates and they're also available on our website so if there's questions we're happy to direct people to those resources all right thank you madam city clerk do we have any further um comments for oral communication i have a request after all the comments

Yes, Mayor. We have one other hand raised. Please welcome Jennifer Griffin.

Hi. Can you all hear me okay? We can hear you. Yes, thank you. Welcome back, everyone. Hope you had a nice vacation. I just wanted to... I had two things I wanted to talk about. I... I'll just start off with just a comment that RHNA is not correct. It is statistically incorrect. It has been shown multiple times by people with lots of statistical background that every city in California was given the incorrect amount of RHNA and that it is just, it's voodoo magic, basically. On to my second one. My husband and I drove over to Santa Cruz yesterday to visit my mother, who's been having some health challenges. We encountered three separate accidents on Highway 17 and Highway 1. It delayed us close to half an hour. The first accident on Highway 17 was as you're coming. We were southbound, rising up. close to just past lexington we got to the point where there was a multiple car accident the the lane was closed it happened and we had to pull over into the embankment to let two fire trucks very very large fire trucks an ambulance a um police vehicle suv go past us now i will compliment the very brave people who work to keep lives going in the fire department and the police department sheriff's department highway patrol they know what happens on that road but we had to one of the firemen actually had to get out of the truck And direct traffic, I mean, we had pulled over as far as we could, but we're into a bank that's falling down. And the poor lady next to me was blocking the fire truck access. This is how bad that road is getting. They need to get emergency vehicles up there, but that road is incapable of handling the volume of traffic that is going over it. so that was successfully rendered we were it was 20 minutes we were stopped then we got down onto the other side of the hill there was another accident which backed up traffic when we were coming back highway one had a massive accident on it just before turning nor to go northbound on highway 17. that road needs to have immediate upgrades for everyone's safety. Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. Mayor, that concludes the request to speak under the oral communications.

Okay, thank you. You know, I do want to mention that I have noticed a lot of improperly placed signs having had to know the campaign sign ordinance. So if you aren't aware of the sign ordinance, you are setting individuals up where they're going to be using Cupertino 311 or emailing the city and this wastes tax dollars and staff time. So it has an impact on the wider community. It would be my preference, of course, that everyone is following the sign ordinance. getting permission, and if you're placing signs in the wrong locations, that you go out and fix that and be very responsible for it. And as to the allegations of individuals damaging signs, that is governed by state law as well. So you don't want to go out and take and mutilate people's campaign signs. There are regulations which follow that. Vice Mayor, you wanted to speak on this item?

A REQUEST TO THE CITY STAFF. AS WE HAVE HEARD, RESIDENTS ARE VERY CONFUSED. THE PEOPLE WHO NEED TO HEAR THE MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR LIKELY IS NOT HERE. THEY ARE OUT THERE STEALING SIGNS PROBABLY. AND THEN I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS RESIDENTS ARE NOT AWARE THESE ARE NOT CITY SIGNS. THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO REMOVE THEM. BUT SOME PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THEY trimming trees around them. They are afraid to remove them. So I think we need to send a message to all the residents, not just the candidates, so that they know sign stealing is a misdemeanor that's subject to fines. I think many people who are committing that probably don't know that either. So I think the city has the responsibility to inform them. and then reference the signed ordinance so that more people are aware where to look up this information. And also I have a question for city attorney. What's the responsibility of candidates for their campaign volunteers?

You know, that's a good question. I would have to look into that. Certainly if somebody is removing a sign from private property, that person is stealing the sign and that would be a misdemeanor.

Or placing a sign that's trespassing.

Possibly, but I don't know if that would be attributable to the candidate. I'm not sure.

But then that person placing an authorized sign is trespassing on someone's property.

Okay, this seems like too much of a back and forth, but you certainly... If we can get that message... You can ask for an informational item on this issue and I think moving forward we do have coming up a TBD item to address the signs in general and we have some ideas on how to make it a little bit easier for people and try to avoid some of the issues that we're seeing in particular this year, correct?

Mayor, yes, I think we should talk about that. It used to be a work program item as well in the past, and if there is an interest to make this process easier every couple years, then that's something that we should take on and talk about that. I do want to address quickly, Vice Mayor, your question. issue these guidelines and the laws and rules around signage, political signs specifically, to the broader community. So we've done e-notifications and we post it on social media. We can do another blast.

Thank you. One more question.

Please make it brief. We need to move on. So do you look into the authorized flock camera also? There was a comment.

Yeah, I saw the comment and I think that individuals should probably, if they did provide their contact information, it seems more like a code enforcement matter because our flock cameras are turned off. They can reach out to the sheriff's office. Okay, thank you. So we have completed oral communications, is that correct? That's correct, Mayor. All right. Thank you. And so we're going to go back to the consent calendar item. Okay. So again, we had no consent calendar items pulled, but we did postpone item 11, Senate Bill 922, which had already been signed into law. So that is postponed indefinitely. Okay. And are there any members of the public who would like to speak to the consent calendar items five through 10 at this time?

Mayor, I don't have any request to speak in person, just that one for item number 11, which has been tabled. And at this time, I don't see any hands raised virtually.

Okay, so do I have a motion to move consent items five through 10?

Motion to move consent. Oh, go ahead, Josh, your birthday. So moved. Second.

Do we have any comments from members of the council? Not seeing any, Madam City Clerk, will you please set the voting lights and conduct the vote?

The motion carries unanimously.

great so we do not have any public hearings so we move on to action calendar item 12 which is an ordinance amending the audit committee duties powers and responsibilities madam city manager do we have a presentation

Thank you, Mayor. We have a brief presentation. So this item returns to Council following previous Council direction and subsequent consideration by the Audit Committee regarding its duties, responsibilities, and meeting frequency. The Audit Committee has completed its review and is recommending several amendments to the Muni Code. Jonathan Orozco, Director of Finance, will briefly walk through the Committee's recommendations and the proposed changes before you this evening, and we are available for questions after.

Thank you, Tina. Good evening, honorable Mayor Moore and council members. Tonight, I'll briefly review how we got here, the audit committee's recommendations, and the proposed amendments to Chapter 2.88 of the Municipal Code. In July of last year, the audit committee unanimously recommended three amendments to its duties and responsibilities. The first was to remain the body to the audit and finance committee to better reflect the broader financial oversight rule. The second was to clarify its responsibility for reviewing the city's internal controls. And third was to add oversight to the use of financial or artificial intelligence as its as it relates to financial reporting, internal controls, risk management, and compliance. When these recommendations came to council last October, council referred several additional items back to the committee, including potentially increasing the meeting frequency, expanding its financial oversight responsibilities, and establishing a budget subcommittee. The Audit Committee considered the Council's additional direction in April. Following that discussion, the Committee unanimously recommended retaining the three original Municipal Code amendments and maintaining its existing quarterly meeting schedule rather than increasing the number of regular meetings. Rather than significantly expanding the committee's direct involvement in the city's budget process, the committee recommending using the city's internal audit work program to provide additional targeted financial and operational oversight through Baker Tilly, the city's contracted internal auditor. The additional internal audit projects were subsequently considered by the audit committee in July, These projects, along with associated funding requests, will come to Council separately on September 15th. Based on the Committee's recommendations, their ordinance before Council includes three substantive amendments. It renames the Audit Committee as the Audit and Finance Committee, clarifies its oversight of the City's internal controls and internal audit reports, and responsibility for reviewing the use of artificial intelligence in financial management, internal controls, risk management, and compliance. We also included one administrative update. Section 2.88.110 currently references the Director of Administrative Services. Consistent with the City's recent departmental reorganization, the title is being updated to Director of Finance. This is only a title change and does not change the responsibilities of the position. As recommended, the audit committee, there is no change proposed to the existing quarterly meeting frequency. Based on the audit committee's unanimous recommendation, staff recommends that council introduce and conduct the first reading of the ordinance amending chapter 2.88. Staff will return for the second reading and adoption at a subsequent council meeting. This ends my presentation and staff is available to answer any questions.

Thank you, Director Orozco, for that report. Madam City Clerk, we're going to go out for public comment at this time. Do we have members of the public who would like to comment on item 12?

Mayor, I don't have any requests here in person in Community Hall, but I do have one hand raised virtually. So at this time, we will go ahead and welcome Jennifer Griffin.

Thank you. Can you all hear me? We can hear you. Okay, thank you. I am very supportive of having this committee. I think the renaming of it is very apropos. I like the fact that we're reaching out and conducting audits, that we have people looking at finances in the city and talking about them, it is certainly very, very important. One of the points that I just was hoping we could have a little bit more clarity about is the role of artificial intelligence in this city council meeting item. I am assuming that this is going to be, that the audit committee would be looking at the role of artificial intelligence in running audits or looking at city finances i'm a little bit confused about that i'm certainly aware of what artificial intelligence is but in the scope of the broader emerging issues that cities and the public are having and i am supportive of artificial intelligence especially coming from the tech background we do have a lot of questions that are emerging about artificial intelligence, its place, data centers, et cetera. But could you all explain a little bit, especially to me as a member of the public, what exactly the audit committee and the financial committee are seeking to find or look at with artificial intelligence? Who is using AI that you would be auditing? Could you explain that a little bit? I would appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. And Mayor, there are no further requests to speak on this item.

Thank you. And I was wondering if Director Orozco would like to address the question about the use of AI and what your understanding is with regards to the addition of this section 2.88.100i.

OF COURSE. THIS IS A PREEMPTIVE AMENDMENT. CURRENTLY THE CITY DOES NOT USE AI FOR FINANCIAL PURPOSES. HOWEVER, AS WE'RE IMPLEMENTING THE NEW ERP SYSTEM AS DISCUSSED EARLIER WITH THE INT'S CEREMONY. There is a possibility that there's a module that would implement or make use of AI in our financial reporting or tracking of transactions. Currently, our external auditors use it to PROVIDE SOME SORT OF A POOL LIST, SO LOOKING AT TRANSACTIONS THE CITY HAS CONDUCTED OVER THE COURSE OF THE FISCAL YEAR TO IDENTIFY HIGH-RISK TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH THEY WILL USE TO AUDIT. BUT, AGAIN, CURRENTLY THE CITY IS NOT UTILIZING AEI FOR FINANCIAL PURPOSES.

I SEE A HAND RAISED BY VICE MAYOR CHAU. Hi.

So I have two questions. First, also about the mention of one specific technology, which is AI. It seems odd for a city code to reference as one specific technology, because technology evolves. And then today it's AI, tomorrow it might be RI, some other name. But then as long as they create risk to our finance operation, I think it makes sense for the audit committee to look into that and to do risk analysis and protect the integrity of our data. So it might be a good idea to not name it specifically. For example, I think all other commission Like public safety likely will face similar risks from AI and we don't want to be amending their municipal code. So something to consider is maybe just say review the use of technology. Or maybe other people have better words. So is there any specific reason we have to mention AI here?

The audit committee felt it was prudent enough or important enough to call it out specifically, seeing that it is an emerging technology. Although the powers and responsibilities in G, which to review cities, internal controls and internal audit reprograms could arguably cover that. But at this point, that was the audit committee's recommendation to call out for what it is.

The second question is the name of finance is added to the audit committee. So my understanding was from earlier, we hope to expand the responsibility of audit committee a little bit, not just in monitoring, but also in terms of planning, which is maybe fall under more under finance. I see finance added, but I don't see any additional responsibility that's more relevant to finance. So I'm just curious what's the intent of that.

It actually covers the existing responsibilities of the audit committee, which is one specifically to review the quarterly treasurer's investment report, which is a finance function, not an audit function.

How about maybe like a 10-year budgeting? I think that's usually not under audit, right? It's more of like backward looking. Let's look at what has happened. rather than planning for the future.

So that was covered under the use of the city's internal auditors and we can build that into their work program where they can conduct a review and analysis of the city's historical actuals or budgeting or possibly even perform some sort of analysis of our 10-year forecast which was recently conducted by Baker Tilly, I want to say about a year and a half ago. And so again it's to expand on the opportunity for the internal auditors to perform additional services for the for the city. And again that's going to be coming to council next week.

So you think the internal controls currently the current work program covers some function under finance. Certainly. OK. Thank you.

Council Member Mohan. Thank you, Jonathan, for the presentation. I had a quick question about a contract with Baker Tilly. Didn't we always have a contract? Specifically mentioning the Baker Tilly responsibilities. Are you expanding their responsibilities, increasing their contract?

That is the intention. So part of what the audit committee had discussed earlier back in April was to expand the responsibilities or the work of Baker Tilly to include additional services. So with that, Their current program or contract is about $100,000 per year. The new proposal will range anywhere from about 180 to up to about 250 for the next fiscal year. And so that will be coming back to council in two weeks. And that's, just as a quick preview, that's gonna be separated into two tiers. The audit committee's essentially top projects that they wanna see come through, followed by some additional projects that should the council approve those costs, we can pursue those projects in the next fiscal year. So with that, as we're expanding the work that they'll be performing, we'll also have to ask for an additional appropriations to cover those projects and an amendment to their contract to cover that. Their contract actually expired on July 1st. However, so we're going to be extending it for one additional year. And then following that, we will be going out for an RFP later this year so that we can, whether it's Baker Tilly or another audit firm, to be the city's internal auditors for the next five or so years.

So you've already identified the additional tasks that you expect Baker Tilly to perform?

Yes, we have, and that was part of our last meeting in July. There was, apart from the two ongoing project, well, I wouldn't call them projects, it's just services that they provide, like going to the quarterly meetings, reviewing our fraud, waste, and abuse, and then they included six projects for the committee to consider, of which the top three is classed under Tier 1, and then the following three into Tier 2.

And that's what we'll be hearing at the September meeting?

September 15th, correct.

Thank you very much.

You're very welcome.

Thank you. So when we're looking at the red lines, and most of the changes were suggestions from Chair Schmidt, and so the first one was to add the word and finance, so audit and finance, and then for G, IT ORIGINALLY SAID TO REVIEW INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS, BUT IT'S NOW TO REVIEW THE CITY'S INTERNAL CONTROLS AND INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS. SO WE'RE NOT JUST LOOKING AT THE AUDIT REPORTS, WE'RE LOOKING AT THE INTERNAL CONTROLS. AND THEN LASTLY, THERE'S THE NEW ITEM I TO REVIEW THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE CITY'S FINANCIAL REPORTING, INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING, RISK MANAGEMENT, AND COMPLIANCE. THAT WAS A SPECIFIC REQUEST OF CHAIR SCHMIDT. AND I DO SEE THAT IT COULD FOLD UNDER POLICIES AND INTERNAL CONTROLS. HOWEVER, HE WANTED TO HAVE IT SPECIFICALLY TO SAY THAT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THERE BECAUSE IT DOES POTENTIALLY HAVE SOME RISK ASSOCIATED WITH IT. Council Member Wong and Council Member, I mean, I'm sorry, Vice Mayor Chau, you're still on the list for, thank you. Council Member Wong.

Thank you for the floor. I actually agree with a lot of the changes in here. I think it makes sense. The only one I actually would make a suggestion as along the lines with Vice Mayor Chau is instead of saying to review the use of AI, I would just say to review the use of emerging technologies and just leave it at that. I think that will help you. It would be silly if we were to include using the Internet in having a finance conversation. So that's how stupid we're going to look in the future. So I would say just look at emerging technologies.

All right, and so we've already gone for a public comment at this time. Do we have a motion to move the recommended action with the insertion for item three to review the use of emerging technologies I would either say such as artificial intelligence because people might not get the point of what we've just added and it can change down the road. Okay, so item for section 2.88.100i to review the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in the city's financial reporting internal controls over financial reporting risk management and compliance.

I would support that. Second. Second.

All right. Do we have, Council Member Wong, your hand is still raised. I don't know if you need to talk on this item.

Oh, I was gonna make the motion. Sorry about that.

Okay, so you've made the motion. We have a second. Vice Mayor.

So I understand that the long-term financial forecast is part of internal control when that's in the board program. It's not an annual item. So I am proposing that we add in the responsibility to review the city's long-term financial forecasts and fiscal stability, including significant revenue and expenditure trends, reserve levels, liabilities and financial risks. So I hope to make it more clear that the audit can help us ways on ongoing forecasting, whether that's included in the internal control work program or not. What does everyone think about that?

Question to the vice mayor through the mayor.

Yes, I would like to hear Director Orozco's thoughts on that matter.

Mayor, just one more. For example, when we were facing the sales tax issue, the finance, we had to look into our sales tax trend and then do some analysis. These are things that the audit and finance committee can help with.

I do want to comment to that. So we had a lot of discussions which were confidential. So I don't know how you would be bringing in the rest of the audit committee. into that discussion. That being said, I can see the, how they could be helpful at that point. But I think it's, It's adding something that could to the current ordinance that might have further implications that need some careful thought. So it could be that that gets put onto a TBD item to get discussed to see if it has any unintended consequences because there's a lot of moving parts to that request. Director Orozco.

I agree with those comments additionally so some of this has been discussed with the audit committee and their their thoughts is how their duties powers and responsibilities right now are currently outlined just sufficient to kind of capture a lot of those this request now if there is a desire by the council to perform some of these more specific tasks we can Reach out to Baker Tilly to perform some of these these functions as part of their internal work program But to move this this item along I would recommend in Proving it as it is and then we can have a follow-up conversation with the internal with the audit committee To see how they would want to incorporate that at a later revision of their municipal code

It is an interesting question because we have item D already, which is to recommend a budget format. And we had a lot of discussion last year and made alterations to the budget format itself, but we don't dive into the material of the budget and then go do a deep dive after it's been approved or during the approval process. So it may be that should this come back as a discussion item that we talk about having a budget subcommittee of some kind for individuals who have the time to really dive into the budget more and maybe there are members of the public OR INDIVIDUALS FROM OTHER COMMITTEES THAT WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT. BUT IT IS, AS YOU KNOW, THE BUDGET EVEN HAVING TRIMMED IT DOWN IS REALLY A VERY LENGTHY AND COMPLICATED DOCUMENT. COUNCILMEMBER WONG.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. DIRECTOR RASCOE, I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU. IS THE AUDIT COMMITTEE TRYING TO MOVE FROM A BACKWARD LOOKING REAR MIRROR HISTORICAL COMPLIANCE AND PAST FINANCIAL REPORTING TO A emerging risk, strategic challenges, and future operational resilience approach? Is that the stance that we're heading towards?

I think what they're attempting to do is actually look at both sides, right? Backwards in the terms of our annual comprehensive financial report and our internal controls to combat any kind of material misstatements, right? And then looking forward in terms of our investments, right? Yeah, when we provide the quarterly reports, it is backwards looking, but there's been some strong conversations, robust conversations with our, both with PARS and with Chandler to see where is the market going, are we strategically placed so that we can address any kind of so that all our eggs are not in one basket. So if there was a turn in the market that we wouldn't see a drastic reduction in our investment portfolio, right? So from that perspective, as well as the artificial intelligence, right? So that's a risk that's in the horizon. How are some of the organizations using it? And what are the potential risks to, again, material misstatements and whatnot?

I'M ONLY SAYING THAT BECAUSE WE'RE NOW THE AUDIT AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, AND IN FINANCE YOU'RE LOOKING AT FORWARD-LOOKING. I WOULD AGREE WITH THE MAYOR, I'M HAPPY TO PUT THAT IN A FUTURE AGENDA ITEM, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO HAVE MORE FORWARD-LOOKING RESPONSIBILITIES INTO THE CODE. RIGHT NOW IT'S VERY RETRO. YOU'RE LOOKING BACKWARDS BECAUSE IT'S AN AUDIT COMMITTEE. BUT AS YOU MOVE TO A FINANCE COMMITTEE, YOU'LL WANT TO DO SIMULATION WITH YOUR AI AND YOU'LL WANT TO BE ABLE TO RUN SCENARIO PLANNING AGAINST THAT SO YOU CAN GET TO THAT POINT WHERE SCENARIO PLANS THEN COME BACK. I MEAN, YOU'RE BASICALLY BUILDING CUBES

Council Member Mohan.

And we still have a motion in place.

Just a comment about including the budget details that some of my colleagues wanted to be a part of the internal audit and or the audit and finance committee. The budget itself is a separate process and you know as we all know this is It takes six to seven months to go through the budget process, and I'd hate for the budget to be included in this, in the audit committee responsibilities, mainly because it adds a whole lot of additional effort on the part of the committee and the staff, and because we already have enough deep dive processes built into the budget system. And I think including that in this would be redundant and unnecessary.

Vice Mayor? Yeah, thank you. I like how Councilmember Wang frames it and so could we consider maybe to the motion to include a direction for Audit Committee to consider potential forward-looking responsibility. That's reasonable.

Are we saying that in a TBD item, agenda item for the future?

I thought they said something the audit committee would.

No, the audit committee typically is backwards looking and the finance committee is forward looking, but I don't know.

I think the audit and finance committee can have a discussion. Then there's what kind of forward-looking responsibility they would like to have first before it comes to the council. That's why I thought it makes sense to have include a direction to the Audit Committee to consider that in the motion, rather than it's a Council to TPD item, which I think it doesn't make sense for the Council to talk about it. It's better if the Committee make a recommendation to the Council.

Can we make the motion first and then afterwards from the motion give direction to the committee to come back with something to add in the future? I think that's what you're trying to do, Vice Mayor? Process-wise?

Either way, I...

I would personally call the question and then have the vote, and then afterwards direct staff to tell the Audit Committee or direct the Audit Committee to come back with suggestions to be more forward-looking.

Are we allowed to do that? It's our committee.

It's unclear what you mean by backwards looking and forward looking and how that would fit into an ordinance. If you're talking about our investments, we have Chandler working with us on that, and we receive our investment policy. We work on that. So I'm... I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHAT COULD BE APPROPRIATE TO ADD TO THE ORDINANCE AND RESPONSIBILITIES. I DO ALSO WANT TO POINT OUT THAT WE HAVE HAD A DIFFICULT TIME MAINTAINING THE GROUP OF FIVE ON THE AUDIT COMMITTEE. great deal of turnover a lot of times we're only having three out of the five members show up so adding additional tasks for a group that she's already struggling to in particular keep the the professional of finance individuals on it It's concerning so before we add more to it we need to maintain a stable group of five throughout the year as well I And I think we might have another vacancy looking at right now.

I'll call a question.

And if I may add, if there's concerns relating to a certain aspect of the budget, for instance, that can be included as part of the internal work program that the internal auditors perform, right? So to meet your needs as well as the general, the more broader responsibilities of the internal audit. That's, I believe, general enough with the duties, powers, and responsibilities outlined in the municipal code.

And through the city attorney, with regards to this request to call the question, remind me how that, when it's a council member, not the mayor,

requesting that when an individual council member calls the question um they need to have a second and then they need to have a super majority okay and if i'm the one that calls the question how does that work uh if you call the question then uh we uh move to a vote unless somebody objects to doing that and in which case they object to calling the question they need a second and they just need three votes to overrule you do you want me to call the question

Okay, I'm gonna call the question then. I'm not hearing any opposition at this time. Madam City Clerk, will you please set the vote panel and we will vote with our lights.

I think the vote panel will need me to enter a mover and a seconder.

Okay. So we already moved and seconded with the emergency technologies such as artificial intelligence addition to the recommended action. I believe it was moved by Wong or maybe by Council Member Fruin.

It was moved by Wong and seconded by Fruin. Okay.

All right.

The motion carries unanimously.

So at this time, if you are requesting a TBD item about some of the proposed changes, please do so.

I was going to wait for future agenda items.

Okay, so that's really an informational item, but you can do the TBD right now.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I would like to request the direction to go to a more future-forward-looking finance committee approach or have the committee think about what that would look like.

Okay, I agree with that. I would like you to share a little bit more information maybe in an email to.

I'll send an email.

That would help a lot, thank you. Okay, so do we need to take a five minute break or can we keep going? Okay, we're gonna continue. All right, so thank you Director Orozco for item 12. And next is item 13, considering approval of the 2025-26 Civil Grand Jury response to their report entitled VTA's Management and Oversight of BART Silicon Valley Phase Two. Madam City Manager, do we have a presentation for this item?

Yes, I'll be providing the presentation this evening. Good evening. Let me just share my screen. Are you seeing that? Is that working? Is it not working? There it is. Oh, good. Very well, so this item pertains to the Civil Grand Jury Report regarding the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, known as VTA. In particular, it focuses on VTA's management and oversight of a $12.7 billion project to extend BART rail service and is expected to take a decade to complete that project. The report discusses VTA's management and oversight of the project. It's basically known as the BART, Silicon Valley Phase Two Project. The report was released this past June. In addition to its primary focus on the board's oversight of this important project, it questions the processes that the cities, like Cupertino, use to appoint VTA board members, particularly as pertains to board experience and continuity. The report notes that according to the CPUC, to the extent possible, the appointing powers shall appoint individuals who have expertise, experience, or knowledge relative to transportation issues. Responses to the grand jury report from the cities are due on September 15th. As the city knows, penal code section 933B and 933.05 require the city to respond to the findings and recommendations directed by the grand jury to them. The city of Cupertino appoints one member to the VTA board and one alternate. Cupertino and other appointing cities and towns have been asked to respond to two findings, findings six and seven, and two corresponding recommendations, recommendations six and seven. Finding six focuses on section 2.14 of the VTA administrative code, which asks cities to appoint individuals with appropriate experience and qualifications in transportation and to reappoint representatives to consecutive terms. The finding notes that cities often do not follow this instruction. Based on conversations with council members, it has been my understanding that this statement tends to be true, so I offer the suggested response as agree. Based on the prior response, it makes sense for the appointing cities to heed the recommendation and adhere to the VTA administrative code and commit to appointing board members with experience to the extent possible and make the effort to appoint board members for consecutive terms. So again, it makes sense to suggest a response of agree. Finding seven of the report concludes that the 15 various appointing cities and towns have different processes for making appointments to this board. Considering there is no formal structure, it follows that the 15 various appointing bodies would have different processes for making board appointments. So again, the suggested response is agree. and recommendation seven from the grand jury. They suggest that the 15 cities and towns should devise a uniform process for making appointments. To the extent the appointing bodies can assist in enhancing the VTA board's effectiveness by creating a uniform, rational process for making board appointments, this seems like a useful recommendation. And so again, the suggestion is agree, and it continues. that perhaps as one council member suggested, it seems that a uniform process for appointing VTA board members might include a weighting system for various metrics relative to the VTA's purpose. And these metrics might include, prior experience with the VTA board to enhance continuity and institutional memory, candidates prior expertise or education regarding urban transit systems, candidates willingness and ability to attend trainings in the field of public transportation, particularly regarding board member training, and candidates other experience with regional boards. And then the suggestion is that we agree with the grand jury's suggestion that the uniform process should be implemented by year's end. And that is the report on the grand jury report.

Thank you, Floyd, for the report and for your work on this item. Are there any clarifying questions from the council on our response? Vice Mayor Chao.

I have a question regarding the current process that Group 3 representative is selected. So Group 3 represent Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Monteserino, Saratoga. This kind of regional appointment I've heard is usually done by cities associations, the select committee, but for this one it was not. It was somehow appointed by the mayor's meeting and I think I've been on the council eight years. I don't think I've ever received any inviting council members to apply. So just curious, what is the current process on this?

My understanding is that each city appoints their own board member and alternate.

So I will share what little I know about it because I've tried to do some research. I could find some documentation from another city, but it goes back to like 2014. It has been the West Valley mayor's meeting, but the structure doesn't appear to have a fixed time during the year when they make the selection. It doesn't appear to be publicly noticed for individuals to know about it. I did apply in August, Gosh, I believe it was 2022. And then there was another opening in 2024. However, they pushed back the, there was an email that at that time in 2024, we only had like a four or five day turnaround if you were to express any interest in it. So there was a tremendous inconsistency. I went scouring through my emails to try to even find the application request and then the there has also been some inconsistency about whether or not a candidate was allowed to be at that meeting so there's no set process which is really problematic and what happens when We've had situations where individuals have just dropped off of the policy advisory committee out of frustration for how the leadership was being selected. I can mention that because that happened this past year, which is really unfortunate. I would love to see more qualified individuals on the board and for our process to be uniform and transparent moving forward. I think it would help quite a lot. So VTA is the congestion management agency. I think the trainings idea is really helpful. if you can get people with some kind of civil transportation background to be able to, at the very least, be able to speak the language, because one of the frustrations I've had is I tried to advocate for having average daily traffic added to the congestion management report that they put out. Other counties do provide this information, and it's a lot more enlightening than what the state mandate is, which is just to provide level of service which as I've said many times over, if you're given a level of service of a eight lane, two eight lane streets that are intersecting or two lane streets which are intersecting, you can end up with the same level of service but you have no idea that the volume is so much different. You're just given a letter and that's what the state mandate is, is to provide that. So trainings could very easily help that body out and I think that it would be hugely beneficial to the entire region if that could happen moving forward. So I do really appreciate the response here and I see Vice Mayor, your hand is still raised. We have not gone out for public comment. Did you have another question?

Yeah, so the city does appoint a person directly to VTA, and there is this other thing that it's, we have a rep for the five cities. So what's the difference? Could you clarify a little bit more? Okay.

Yeah. So what we... What we appoint is someone to the Policy Advisory Committee. And then the mayors determine who out of the five cities would be appointed to the board and an alternate. Oh, so this is regarding the board, not the policy advisor? Correct, correct. And we haven't had representation on the board since it might have been 2022. Yeah.

And then the current process was the appointment was not done in a Brown Act notice the public meeting.

I could not find it listed and we were only given...

In the West Mayors meeting that's usually not a public meeting where people can comment on the candidate selection. And then the list of candidates and their qualifications are not published anywhere for member of the public.

Thank you. And to my recollection, when I applied, I think it was at the end of 2022, because I had been chairing the Policy Advisory Committee for two years, and that I was told not to attend that meeting. It was one of their lunch meetings that they had. So you're not allowed to attend? And other candidates did. Did they make decisions? Other candidates did attend. So it was a rather uneven...

So it sounds like a more uniform process is needed, yeah. I understand the transportation issue is complex and the experience is important. However, I am a little concerned because the word experience and all the qualification can sometimes be used to exclude people rather than so that only some certain favorite people are included. For example, on the council, when we were elected, we don't know as much about the city governance, but we rely on expertise of the staff. And as council members, we need to be able to learn and the training and those are important. So you are committed to getting up to speed to learn all this stuff. So that's my more of my question. Yeah, not not. Yeah, the comment, not really question. Okay, so let's go to.

Do you want to follow on with that? Personally, I think that the policy advisory committee would be a great training ground for individuals to then go apply to be on the board and also that they, if they were to have for that committee, that that's a good way to get people up to speed, because a lot of this is, it is not that difficult to understand, but the training needs to be provided so that even the answer to why is it important to know average daily trips on a given roadway segment, Well, we make decisions about having express bus lanes on those routes or not. And if you cannot find the data, then how are those decisions being made? And we've had requests to have high capacity transit in various areas. Does the data actually support that or not? And there's a lot of reasons why there's having some more information and some training for WHAT THAT INFORMATION IS GOOD FOR, HOW THAT WOULD BENEFIT THE REGION. BECAUSE WE'RE SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY, AND AS WE'RE SEEING WITH THE SPART SILICON VALLEY, UP OVER $12 BILLION. AND WHEN IT FINALLY IS COMPLETED, IT WILL BE NEGATIVE TO VTA BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE OVER OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE FROM DAY ONE. So Madam City Clerk, do we have any members of the public who would like to speak on this item?

Yes, Mayor. I don't have any requests to speak here in person in community hall, but I do see one hand raised virtually. So at this time, we will go ahead and welcome Jennifer Griffin.

Thank you. Can you all hear me? We can hear you. Okay, thank you. I appreciate the grand jury's report on this. The grand jury is actually a very, very old institution going back to England in the 1400s. It was in the United States as it was in 1700s when it emerged and it's been maintained and it has a valid place. I'm glad to see that there has been discussions about the process of assigning people to the VTA Advisory Board. where these people are coming from each city. Each city has valid input. Everyone is equal in this because we are all suffering traffic issues for various reasons. And I think that having extra transit available is very, very important. I have been stuck up on the top of 17 multiple times with the 17 transit bus that goes from Scotts Valley down near San Jose State, et cetera. And it's good to have this type of transit emerging. There is a new transit that's coming out of Monterey that's going to be hopefully coming in to serve people in Santa Cruz down a former railroad corridor. So we need to try to make sure that we're all having multiple ways of traveling. that again, we want to make sure that everyone gets a chance to be on the board. And I appreciate the vice mayor's statement that it's a learning process. You may have just been elected, but once you've been through the meetings about transit, you learn more about it. Everyone has good public input about it, especially people that are going onto the transit committees and they may want to wind up on the boards either here monterey santa cruz san francisco alameda etc so i think that trying to make an effort that everyone gets a chance to be on the board is very very important very very fruitful plus everyone that comes back from these meetings gets to report to the public about what we're doing with transit Transit isn't dead. It's moving. We had a family member that actually came down from Walnut Creek on public, on transit, kind of got stuck over the weekend, but she made it here and was taken back in a car. So I appreciate the fact that we're all connected, but I do think that we need to make sure everyone gets a chance to be on this board. Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. Mayor, that concludes the request to speak on this item.

All right.

Thank you. Council Member Wong.

I'm going to say that oversight is really important here. I mean, this is the worst transit system in the country. 15,000 daily riders, 42 miles of track, least used, most expensive to operate per trip. We need a lot of oversight, and I think it's important that oversight's in place. There are high subsidies here. 90% is not coming from fare box recovery. $13 billion I mean, a BART extension being wasted, $0.05 tax with another $0.05 tax coming. This is horrible. And fragmented decision making is part of it. There's no accountability. Whoever goes to this board should be asking for accountability and making sure that either we get our money back, our money's worth, or shut that thing down.

Vice Mayor. uh... yeah agree it's uh... it's really an agency that needs a lot of work and i have been this year i've been using bus more in fact last week i took bus bus on three days, once to Redwood City, once to South San Jose, once to the downtown San Jose. I enjoy the bus ride. However, there is a lot of barriers I had to go through, which I It was harder here, and Tina has to say that you are brave because of those barriers. That got me thinking because I grew up taking bus in Taipei, and when we lived in Germany, we sold our car and just started taking transit because it's so convenient, but here, it really takes a concerted effort to take the bus because they don't, if you make any mistake on the path to correct it, it's very difficult. And that's why the ridership is down, but I don't know whether the board, even with their expertise, a lot of them might be very academic. Do they even know the user experience people have? I don't know. But I have just a question. I think we all are elected to the council, and a lot of us have to also then sit on other committees. And therefore those elected council members who are appointed to VTA, who likely have their other job, main job, they don't have a lot of time to really be devoted to VTA. So I wondered whether there should be a directly elected VTA board so that that elected official, maybe from the five city area, is dedicated to VTA, and therefore they'll have time to study all the issues, get all the trainings, and have maybe a four year term, and... And maybe if they do well, get re-elected. And there is accountability because they are elected by the voters. So I looked up what other similar agencies have elected directors. So BART in San Francisco has elected directors. and the AC Transit also has elected directors. And we have other public utility like water district, open space, and our sanitary district. So that might be something to worth considering if we want to commit, I think it's more commitment, not expertise before I get on the job. Commitment to spend time to study those issues when you are on that board. But to ask someone who is already a council member to have that commitment, it's hard. Yeah, thank you.

Vice Mayor, thank you for that last part. Assemblymember Berman has in the past few years put forward two different bills trying to see if there could be some improvement to the makeup of the board and perhaps we want to think about this moving forward.

Because another issue is if it were appointed by a city, even if it's appointed by one of the five cities, Usually that member does not communicate with these other four cities. So they only really are there to represent their own city because there is no mechanism for them to even communicate or get input from the other four cities they are supposed to. The current infrastructure does have some issue, yeah.

Thank you. So do we have a motion to move the recommended action on this item?

So moved.

And a second? We have a second from Council Member Mohan. Okay, do we have any further comments?

So just want to it's something I said earlier I'm a little concerned with the lengthy discussion of the requirement of expertise in the response and like I mentioned I think I'm concerned that might be a way to exclude people and But if there is a uniform process with public oversight, people have submitted their application and then I would trust that that board who makes a decision to appoint will look at the qualification and find the best one that has applied. But I don't want to exclude someone who say you can't apply because you did not do this. but maybe they have expertise. There are a lot of times multiple ways to have expertise on the subject without one specific experience. So I'm a little concerned how that might but it's okay, we will just go with the response.

Vice Mayor, with regards to that, it's kind of interesting. Because in practice, what we're seeing is that it could mean there's some educational or work experience background, or it could mean that it's somebody who's using transit. And I've seen it, at least on the policy advisory committee, that it can go either way. So it could be someone that's got more experience about where the trouble spots are within the system because they are using it quite a lot. And so that it hasn't... it's probably pretty unlikely that it would end up being skewed just towards, especially since it's the individuals with that education and background are so few and far between that you're probably gonna be relying more on individuals who have working knowledge of the system and hopefully are willing to have some training. But I hear what you're saying, I think it's a really good point. Right now, I'm not seeing any further hands raised. So Madam City Clerk, will you please set the voting panel and we will vote with our lights.

The motion carries unanimously.

All right, thank you. So... We have no items removed from consent. Items 14 through 16 are informational in nature, so you may read those in your free time. And with that, this September 1st, 2026, regular meeting of the Cupertino City Council is adjourned.