Public Safety Commission - Regular Meeting

For the minutes, the meeting started at 06:03. Does anyone have any question about this and your last meeting? Oh, we need to do roll call. Oh.

Commissioner Begore? Yes. Commissioner Klein? Yes. Commissioner Sapaharam, absent. Vice chair Rahram?

Yes.

And for pine.

K. That

sounds good. So

would you like to open oral communication for

Oh, do we have a motion to approve the

Motion's here.

Second. Do you have a second? Second.

Great. Postponents. Oh, we need to do the vote.

Commissioner Beggard?

I abstain. I wasn't here for the meeting.

Commissioner Klein?

How am I to respond? Sorry.

You approve the minutes. Approve, please. Yes.

Okay.

Commissioner Safaharam?

I approve the minutes. Thank you.

Vice chair Rohan? Yes. The motion carries.

So

I don't believe we have any postponements unless there are any items that you'd like to switch the order of

that None

from none from my end.

Yeah. I do. I was just wondering since we're talking about the Public Safety Commission work plan, and we always keep the fire our sheriff's fire chief and the the, you know, sheriff's office. Can we have them go first? And then we can go through the work plans. If they have other plans, they can possibly get on the deadlines.

Right. Yes.

That's when we spend together to the work plan, we Right. Dig in for hours, and they're sitting there waiting. And we can't do justice to the work plan, and at the same time, we can't keep them waiting. So I thought if we change the order That's

good. Yeah.

Alright. So we have a motion to move the report by the Santa Clara County Fire District before oral communications?

Yes. Do want

Sure. Yeah. I I was going to say before the the topic number two. Oh, before topic two? Okay. And if the sheriff's if somebody from the sheriff's office is there, I would like that to be following. So I'll repeat this. Okay. So I make a motion to move three and four up before two and then continue from there. Alright. Okay.

Second. Oh, perfect.

We have to take a vote.

Commissioner Beggar? Yes. Commissioner Klein? Yes. Commissioner Sappaharam?

Yes.

Vice chair Rahram?

Yes.

Motion carries unanimously.

Vice chair, if you'd like to open to oral communications.

Yeah. Any oral communications today?

We have one hand raised on the same chair. Welcome, Sam Ram.

Yes. Good evening, chair, vice chair, and commissioners. I'm speaking on behalf of myself only. I'm requesting the sheriff's office to please increase the red light patrolling at 85 and Stevens Creek and De Anza and Stevens Creek. We are seeing a large number of red light violations at these junctions, much so that the traffic backs up from 85 onto Stevens Creek and prevents the eastbound traffic from going ahead on getting a green light.

And the Stevens Creek segment between 85 and the Blackberry Farm Golf Course packs up all the way to the golf course. We're seeing also a lot of traffic cutting through the city due to the 280 traffic being backed up, and so people seem to be taking the 280 Footele exit and then driving through Stevens Creek. So I'd I'd love for either commission to propose an agenda item to discuss what measures can be taken to prevent freeway traffic from cutting through the city, if there are any known methods from other cities that can be adopted to do that or if the sheriff's office has any insights on that from their experience. But it would be something to look into, and particularly the red light violations. I'd I'd love to see us implement speeding cameras and red light cameras.

I have talked to the assembly member, Ahen's office, about including Cupertino in the pilot study, and that's a conversation I'm driving separately with them. I'm also requesting the city to pass a resolution to adopt speeding cameras and red light cameras, and I'd love for the public safety commission to consider the same. We have a serious safety concern. We have a number of senior drivers that drive through the city. And especially if you are in a lane that your view is obstructed, you may not be able to see the red light violators.

So this is a serious safety concern and appreciate anything that can be done by the public safety commission. I know you focus a lot on fire. And and while all of that is important, but traffic safety is the most immediate threat that our restaurants face because of bad drivers, and we need tactical and immediate help from the Public Safety Commission and the sheriff's office to address that. Thank you.

Thank you. We have no hands raised on Zoom and no speakers in person share.

Would like to close all comment?

Alright. Yeah. There's no further oral communications. We can close oral communication.

And so we have the report for the same started from a prior discount.

Alright. Good evening. Good to see you here in this 2026, first session. We have a a a new, public safety report. So I think that it's been a long time coming. Hopefully, it's a little bit more interactive, and, have an opportunity to get into it.

So if there's a new

chance to just, provide some, input if there's, changes or modifications that you like or else that we can entertain as far as some new, ways of providing information to you, we'd be happy to receive that. So this one is actually in the form of a newsletter. So the first few pages are gonna basic information about what's going on. They will be things that essentially are the entire fire district, but it will relate to you in Cupertino because it will have some some type of impact typically. I'll call your attention to the let's see.

So one of the things to look for is is shaded fuel breaks, other work like that because this area of Bowman Road, although it's not in Cupertino proper, it is it is in Saratoga adjacent. So any fuel breaks like that, those types of things kinda give you a little bit wider perspective of the work that's going on in the hillsides, and then also maybe ideas for things that you might wanna try to emulate here. In in December, the not too exciting. Well, that was a transfer station. I'll mention something about that a little later.

And moving on, We have the December 19 on Monday, that that item there. So we have recruits that are gonna go through the the they're gonna be graduating on January 30. So we have 10 recruits that have made it through the program to this point. Those recruits will be coming and cycling in, so they'll be working here in in addition. So we are at that point, we'll I think we'll be at full staffing. So you'll be seeing recruits. They'll be coming in for their module test. They'll be scheduled here typically for three months. You have the three stations, so they'll be cycling. Station 71 on Stevens Creek is one of the primary locations where they'll be stationed, so you'll be seeing some new faces from your fire service here.

Page. Alright. So typical breakdown is pretty much the same. We have majority that are has or that are EMS calls and then lesser to the structure fires, vegetation fires, those things. And this is for January 2026 or I'm sorry, December.

Oh, the the actual one. So for December 2025, the fire alarm incidents, usually because of rain and other systems, we'll have some type of activations. Those things are pretty typical for us. Hazardous conditions, anything that would have been mixed, smells, things like that, medical. Once again, 210 for almost 70% of the call volume and significant events.

So we didn't have any for the month, but I did mention last session that there was there were a couple fires that I would be telling you about in the future. So I wanted to provide you some information on the fires that happened on De Anza Boulevard. There was a a structure fire that involved basically, it was commercial building. It was a cinder block building with three businesses. It was essentially an entire loss, and we estimated the loss at $4,000,000.

There was three storefronts, and I think you probably have seen it as driving by. But as it turns out, that is that was fully involved. They went on to defensive tactics pretty soon in the event because it was a pretty well progressed fire when they arrived, and that fire is currently under investigation. We also had one incident on Fallen Leaf where there was a structure fire in apartment complex. It was isolated to one unit, and they estimated it to be a $400,000 loss.

So that could be doing just the structure, but the contents. So I have I just wanted to make sure that I made good on the on the promise that I mentioned, and I wanted to make sure you have some info on that. Next, the community education. Cupertino, we had a a number of people that were contacted, so in the middle school, high schools, those numbers look so high in elementary schools because those include fire drills. So as we go through, we like to make sure that, especially through the end of the year, we try to make sure that we're hitting every single school.

So as the school year starts, we we focus on making sure that we're there. We see exactly what's going on. Everything at that point should be practiced. We try to give the administrators some time to get the school year underway under control. At that point, they should have all normal operations running, and then we like to make sure that for the remainder of the school year, we know that they're in good shape and there are no needs. So that does account for a a a pretty big number there or a number of those. Alright. So the graphs. So up top, we have monthly detailed response. So that would basically be the normal breakdowns that you typically see.

So to the left, the alarm arrived. Alarm to arrive. That is the time the phone call was made and then to the time that the actual big shuttle set the break and went to work. The next, the alarm to dispatch. So the time the call came in, the call processing time that they actually go through the process of taking in the information, and you'll see that this metric is running on a on a two minute time frame.

So the call processing takes place. Basic information comes in. So there is an overlap to the time that the rig is actually dispatched. So the crews will get the information while the call processing is still going on. So there is an overlap, and they'll give it in update en route.

So that's that's how the system works. So and then also with the first arrived unit, this is the time for the unit, the first one to arrive on scene. And so if it's an EMS call, the standard basically is the advanced life support capabilities are arrived on scene, and that's when the stop the call stops. So you can take a look at those. You can one of the things that I like about this report is it actually doesn't really hide anything.

It shows a lot more clearly that sometimes it does take a little while to get there, and there is an opportunity for us to look into it. So one of the things that we do look for and we are, held accountable from the county, EMS agency is how long it takes. So we have a a call time frame. And if we do not make it, then there is a there's a it's actually, potentially a penalty to be paid, through liquidated damages. With that, our standards are pretty much, set, and, you can see how we do.

And, overall, we do, have a good response times within Cupertino because we have good, station density and good crew density here. Annual responses, below, so that is the cumulative. You'll see that we have, over for EMS, 20 almost 3,000, EMS calls for the year, and the fire responses and totals. I'm gonna look into that one a little bit more and provide some more context and tell you exactly what does it mean for a fire response because sometimes you'll get a fire call, but it might be a false alarm or a malfunction. So how they code it is one of the things that's important to know.

So I'll be providing context for that as we get a little bit more used to this report. Alright. And this is the breakdown by type. So this is a little bit, this is actually pretty similar. So the next two essentially are the ones that, they're a little bit more familiar.

So this is essentially the, the breakdowns, but you can see a little bit more detail in terms of the frequency that we have and then the number of incidents per year. So the the really, probably the most valuable thing here is to see how do we track. So look for that two to 3% call volume increase. You'll be seeing that. And as development continues, you'll be seeing more when it comes to higher densities, things like that.

You're probably looking towards the next three to five years. You're gonna see quite a an increase in some of the areas that you've seen construction. I know some of those projects are starting to pick up. And finally, this was an interesting one, and I actually like this one a lot. So because of Christmas, it's one of the things that we we're aware of is that people would have gotten ebikes, other types of gifts and toys that would've that are powered by by, lithium ion batteries.

Primarily, lithium ion batteries are the ones that have thermal runaway risk. So for those, there's a public information education sheet that basically says, hey. If you have some problems or safety tips for those particular types of tools, and I'll just indicate a couple things that I don't think a lot of people know that like any other product, and we know that the batteries sometimes they are defective batteries. So people, I think, they get a new product or a new a new technology and think it's gonna be flawless. So to pay attention to find out if it's acting unusual, and what does the new rule look like?

Well, to the right, it says signs of a problem. So if it's charging or there's an odor, changing the color, if it starts to swell, leaking, or any other, like, odd noises. So this is an opportunity for us to help people better understand what they're actually looking for as opposed to, hey. If you see something that's wrong. And then it also says, then take it if it's safe, take it somewhere beyond an area where it it might catch fire with something else.

So this is actually one of the things that I do like about this page. It gives us a chance to tell you something that is new, fresh, and relevant for what's going on. And then to the right, you'll see that there are a couple of links if you wanna learn a little bit more. So pay attention to what's coming out on this page, and this might be something that we could you might try to amplify potentially for for Cupertino. Your your information that's coming through at its core will be specific to Cupertino, but the stuff that's coming out on the beginning and the end of this report will be something that you might need opportunity to to leverage throughout the communities because they're gonna be receiving some of the same information.

And then finally, there is a opportunity for you to take a look at community events, and there's a link at the bottom of this page. And so if anybody here is interested in having a community safety program event for preparedness or education, you can go to our website, and you can request that. So this is something that will be available to anyone that I'm sure saves us. I think that covers the new format of our report. I hope that was there. And if not, ask some questions, please, and I'd be happy to take

I

love the format, by the way.

Oh, good.

It's really great. The on the page second or regarding the schools

Uh-huh.

Said total number is 700 for elementary.

Mhmm. Total number of attendees, I'm not clear on what It is the number

of students.

That's the student.

So, like, if there were if there Okay. One of the things that I wanted to look at, that actually don't have usually, I get a spreadsheet that tells me the breakdowns, and I can tell you which schools. And so I'm gonna be requesting that in addition so that I can provide context. This is probably three schools Yeah.

Both, maybe four. But Got it. That makes sense.

Actually, Lincoln has, what, 500 kids? Right.

They just want school. What I was thinking of correctly. Right?

The high school? No. Or Oh, elementary. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Exactly.

Yep.

I have a question. Yep. Just two. But the trainings that you were talking about, they're going to be assigned to Google. Is that

Some of them will come through. So I I knew our recruit firefighter will will come in or a probationary firefighter will come in. They'll get an assignment. So we have three shifts in in Cupertino. One, two. We have five crews. So there are five so there are two rigs out of more than or they're more than one piece of equipment out of some houses. So with that, there's a chance for one of them or multiple recruits to be assigned to the fifth shift. Or, you know, we have since there's basically 10 that could potentially be assigned, you'll probably get one or two. And Okay.

Working on different shifts. There's they have a they have a a skills book or a task book where they go through these are predesignated programs that they have to go through in order to get certain core training. So it's it's intended really for them to become exposed in a very, methodical way. Mhmm. So they'll get onto an engine company that's a little bit different work than a truck company.

They'll go onto a truck, a rescue. So depending on what it is that they're gonna be they'll be doing all of it once they're through probation, which is eighteen months. So at that point, the expectation would be that, not only can they work as a firefighter, but they'll be able to drive. So County Fire and Cupertino basically, I have driver operator is the the first level. So everybody would be able to act as a firefighter, drive the new rig that they basically encounter over that eighteen months, and they'll have an opportunity to work on them.

So of the 10 trainings, we did you say there were 10 trainings?

One There

are 10 coming in in this class.

Or one of one of them.

I'm sorry?

But, you know, get one or two of them?

It depends on the rotation. Because we actually already have probationary fund

Mhmm.

Currently, and I would have to look at the roster to tell you exactly how many of them are

on Okay.

On probation. So as a normal course, we have 19 stations. We have somewhere around 30 just under 30 rigs, different units. So with that, the the there's a lot of opportunity to spread it around. So 15 stations times three times Full ships. Sure. How many work sites we really have. So you're definitely gonna get some.

I don't know how many.

And where they go, it just depends on training and and and where the operations division puts them.

Okay. I have one quick follow-up question. Sure. You got the chart up there that said the number of incidents per year. Mhmm. 21, 22. Yes. Interesting how every year it has been increasing. And did I hear you right that this high density Sure. What's causing workforce for

So there's typically about a 3% increase. The thing that put us like Charter? The that really pushed that number down was COVID.

Mhmm.

So that's why you'll see 2021 coming out of COVID, the number was very, very

But that's interesting, though. COVID nobody came up, so everything was I mean, what was the

Well so a a couple of things. People weren't actually so the number of people that were sick with colds and other things like that, people were the habits that they had Mhmm. From a general being exposed to to anything other than really COVID.

Mhmm.

That that that there was a big change in that. Also, vehicle accidents. Mhmm. People going out and getting into in or having injuries from activities or sports. Mhmm.

There were a lot of things that didn't happen during COVID, and those really did provide a lot of a lot of the calls that we have. So in in our normal everyday life and just living, people get a lot of bumps and scrapes, and those are the types of things that we didn't see a lot of. So that really accounted for it. And then I noticed that with people home, the incidents of of fires and things like that while people weren't home, during the day, those types of things really didn't, track as as as high a number. So you had a you had a you had a decrease across the board in in call volume, and we it probably took about three years to get back to where we were, and now we're we're there and we're as if we had not had the COVID.

I

see. So 2025 number is really just what we used to be prior to COVID. Like, '20 So

Yeah. I think so 2019 dropped. Or yeah. 2039 dropped, and I I believe 2019 was right around we hit it in '23. So we picked up where we left off. I think if I recall correct, I can probably look it up, but we were at about 20,000, twenty one thousand is right one.

So as you get more people moving into Cupertino, you expect that there will be more processed? Absolutely. So then will you be staffed for that, or are we just being stupid and getting more people here and not being able to handle the No. I would emergencies that can possibly happen.

No. That's a great question. I I wouldn't I wouldn't say that. So one of the things about the way the the city and the things that I, at least at my level, get to participate in is our safety elements and Mhmm. And the general plans. So those those things all account for the potential of growth and some of the other things that are going on in Cupertino, and they take into account what's going on in neighboring cities as well. So this last iteration definitely accounted for growth. There are a lot of variables that are considered, like, in the for the wildfire, your

number of

of neighborhoods that have one way in and one way out. Mhmm. And they they all pretty much will track to some either requirement legislation or other need that we'll have within Cupertino. And and therefore, we take those, we analyze them, we apply them to the needs of Cupertino. You you're involved in those things too.

So city staff at pretty much all levels and and, you know, even with law enforcement fire, they ask us to get involved, we make our collective comments and and edits to the to those documents. And, essentially, what comes out of it is, what's our plan to deal with what we have? So we do enter we do have an opportunity to interject our our current understanding of of what is the potential growth, what's the planned growth, and then our multiyear projects, those types of things are all accounted for. So as you get higher density projects, you will have some kind of accommodation for the greater amount of traffic Mhmm. For the density of of you know, for us, we will really be focused on fire stations, how many apparatus we have, and then we take are starting it you know, wanted to take into account the location of those fire stations and the types of calls that they might be having.

So there's a there's a chance for us as as contributing stakeholders to add pretty much everything that we can, and we will potentially need if it gets to staff. And and I'd say that in this last iteration, increased population and the transition of rural neighborhoods turning into high density neighborhoods. So you have a big block two blocks or a block of of single family homes that will soon be rights or two. That has been considered as one of the things that we need to be aware of. So we're we're planning out as far in advance as we can. So those things are being considered.

Okay. So just as a follow-up to that, has there ever been a situation where you have recommended that this is probably not a good idea, that a certain development may not be a good idea given the location of it or the, you know, the fact that you cannot get in and out of the neighborhood, things like that. Have you ever made a recommendation to say, this is not a good idea?

That's a difficult question because it's very subjective. So one of the things the process for us essentially is this. We as the as the the agency have a jurisdiction for fire safety and the implementation of the fire codes and local ordinances for fire, we take those. We apply them to any project that's submitted, and we say these are your deficiencies. And that process basically says, we you need to address these things.

There are projects that cannot move forward because they can't meet that standard. We we determine that it is insufficient and therefore not able to move forward without mitigation or without correction. There are projects that have been denied because they weren't able to meet the standard. So it's a bit more complicated than the way you presented it. There are a number of iterations, and it is dependent on the developer, the project owner to be able to meet the the intent of the standard or the or the code, and and that's what we look for.

So a mitigation could if you have an access problem, then you have to have an access mitigation. It has to be appropriate, and they're and that's that's that's, in a nutshell, how we verify. But so, yes, projects have not been able to move forward if they weren't able to meet the standard. And a lot of them have been able to meet a standard, so they have been able to move forward.

Good. Alright. Thank you.

Alright. Yeah. So kind of a different question. Like, I guess, regarding the recruiting

Oh.

10 recruits, like, actually, it's gonna help staffing. I remember, like, last year, like, we discussed kind of, like, sourcing pipeline for the sheriff's Mhmm. Academy and that kind of thing. So I'm kinda curious, like, if you know kinda how these 10 recruits were sourced. Like, are they out of school? Like, were they fire were they fire departments outside of the county coming in, or kind of what's the composition like?

So for us, we'll we'll have a posting. The posting says that there's a pretty good network for for firefighters or potential firefighters who are seeking new positions. And then there's a lot of movement between a fire department. Like, you'll see people coming from either Cal Fire or maybe another jurisdiction. I myself came from a different fire department initially.

So there is an opportunity for moving from one to another as you get to your destination department. So we also have a pretty open we have an open door policy for for most people who are seeking a career in the fire service, and there are a number of of resources, both social media type or other traditional types. But we push out a posting, and we typically will get a a response. We have modified our channels, and we have tried to figure out how to amplify those messages and trying to be as creative as possible. So we're we're extremely resourceful, and then we've all also taken a close look at at recruiting in different areas.

You know, sometimes the traditional focus was, like, sports teams and things like that, but we're not looking for that type of person only. We're looking for people who have potential. So if they're you know, a lot of them happen to have EMS background or some of them have sporting backgrounds, but some of them come from private sector as well. I once again have also come from the private sector. So we have cast a pretty wide net, and we're always trying I think we've iterated every year and every posting and trying to figure out what's the best way to get this message out to people.

And job seekers, in fact, are much more regional than they used to be. So if you have somebody in Santa Clara County who's looking they were looking throughout, sir, Santa Clara County. We'll even get a lot coming in from Southern California, some from out of state. So it just varies. The thing that had we do primarily seek candidates that are paramedics, That is but we do have driver operator as our standard, which is different than some other departments. So there's an opportunity there to people on, and they'll be an EMT as opposed to an EMTP or paramedic. So I hope that answers your question.

Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you very much for that, sir. And the new report is, like, very easier to understand, and I think it's I think it's basically full. Okay. So I do have a couple of questions. So I think think the metrics are great. I think when when we look at the report, it looks great. Right? So what are what are, like, ongoing improvements of the targets, like, for the response time enhancement, like, for 2026, '27?

So as far as the the so we're an accredited agency, which means that we're always using we're always striving for for continuous. We just actually went through reaccreditation. So this is actually one of the things that we do Okay. We did recently. So we have this peer assessors that come in.

We have our established metrics, and we provide pretty much metrics on just about everything we do. And this process basically takes months, and then it's renewed every few years. And so with that, we take a close look at what it is. And then that allows us to take so there are substandards that are recommended through, say, NFPA or some of the other organizations. But what we're doing is we're fixing our metrics based on our capabilities, our resources, and then we're stretching from there.

And and so for us, it would be primarily we just did this, so you'll probably see that rather than saying this, we're looking to get 90% of our arrival time at, you know, five and a half or six minutes. You see how ours is broken down, so it actually gives you a lot more clarity. So to track how we're doing and the different segments, then that's pretty much how we would end up kind of measuring ourselves on how we did. So the other thing we would wanna make sure that we're doing is paying attention to the change in the environment. The call densities might be related to roads or blockages or construction or something else or, you know, might even be a fire station that's under construction that has to close down for a little bit.

So these are the types of things where there's a lot more flexibility. So this is also one of the things that's the most difficult as an accredited agency to to answer because instead of saying this is our baseline, my last agency did that, and so you can see where you were. But the granularity of this particular report, I think for if you're looking at the four to six minute time frame for the total response time, that would be the closest analog that you have to a neighboring agency. So if you were to look at a local city department, they would be shooting for the the six minute in a time frame. And since we report on all of them, it would be cumulative.

So I think we could probably look at it a little bit differently If you had a specific question that you would like answered, I can look into it a little bit more if you'd like.

No. I think it's more generic question, so I was trying to understand, like, is it, like, do you go it goes with, like, what the ELD or how it is? But I think you answered. Thank you.

Okay. Great. And then the only other thing to take into consideration is there is a difference that I'll look into, but the density of the the area. So if it's urban, we call it urbanization code. So if it's considered over a thousand people per square mile, it's urban as opposed to a rule. There are a few different ways to to calculate that, but Cupertino, for the most part, is urban.

Yeah. So on the voluntary opportunities, like, basically, I'm trying to understand how the public safety commission can help or in spreading these reports or some other voluntary opportunities you may have. I wanna see it from you, like, what what we can help.

Great. Sounds good. That's actually why I said I like this page. For this to get traction and become, hey. What's the theme of the month? I think there's a great opportunity to amplify what's on this page through different social media channels. And then at that point, to collaboration with the other West Valley cities might actually be a thing so that we can come out and we can help support it in an event that you might request. So I I think this is probably the one that the lowest hanging fruit that I see based on this report. Because I think when you start getting into the metrics and some of the other stuff, it may not be for everyone. But somebody that cares can actually get in here and take a closer look and see what they wanna see, hopefully.

But, yeah, I would say, language on this very, very last page, at least, from this report would be a great way to to to start.

So or or can we get this report in emails if possible?

Yeah. It's it'll be part of the not packet. The presentations that are posted on. Yeah.

Okay. So it will be included in the email, or we need to go and search on the site?

It'll be part of the posting on.

Okay. Okay. If if I need help, I'll reach out.

Thank you.

We were a little late. This like I said, this one just the ink still went. It literally got released today. And you this is the first of of all of the public safety commissioner of the forums that that received this report of all the West Valley cities.

Okay. Thank you. Mhmm.

Right. It's open to any public comment.

We have one hand raised on Zoom.

Yeah. Good evening, chair, vice chair, commissioners, and I wanna thank the fire department for a very comprehensive report. I'd like to ask what is the fire department able to do to do periodic inspections of the Lehigh Permanente quarry now that the quarry is shut down? What was being done previously when the quarry was operational? And what is being done now either differently, hopefully, in an increased manner to inspect the hillside owned by the Lehigh Quarry and the Stevens Lake Quarry to be able to apply enforcement actions for fire management.

I know we're getting a lot of guidance on protecting the properties, but our biggest concern is we are surrounded on the Western and the Southwest by hillsides, and fires that start in those hills are not going to be contained by small actions that homeowners can take. So it's like a drop in the bucket for what the homeowner would be expected to do versus what we would wanna do in the hillsides. So I'm really interested in how the commission can maybe follow-up with the fire department chief on quarry related actions, maybe even get that on the agenda on some kind of cadence, maybe a monthly or bimonthly cadence to hear what actions are being taken about the hills and the quarry and what can be taken to more proactively do brush management, tree pruning, and any other actions that would help to contain the risk from the quarries. That's the first thing. The second thing I wanna bring up really quickly is the fire code reviews for development projects.

And, again, I'm the chair of the planning commission, but speaking on behalf of myself only. So I know from restaurants that we have heard a a number of concerns about fire code review, which I think commissioner Bigar was bringing up as well. And in that context, I've heard restaurants reach out to the fire department with specific written comments on fire code review. And, unfortunately, it seems like they are not getting any response back from the fire department either in written response to written comments or by way of calls that are not being returned. So if the commission might follow-up with the fire department chief on specific details of who fire comments should be sent to and what is the process for engagement, and if there is even a possibility to publish notifications so that the community can actually attend these hearings just like they were planning commission hearing, for example.

That is my feedback. These are two top of my initials for us, and so appreciate the commission following up with the fire department.

Thank you. Bye.

Thank you, Sam Rao. We have no hands raised on Zoom and no speakers in person chair vice chair. Sorry.

I just have, like, a quick question, like, kind of following up on the on the on the questions earlier and stuff. Like so if I understand it correctly, like, members of the public can basically, like, investigate fire code compliance for, like, projects that are happening around them? Is that the way to understand it?

So for for fire code compliance, those are all public records. So if Right. It was a records request that said, hey. And we and we get them all the time.

Say,

for example, I wanna have a record of all inspections or violations for this particular site. That that is something that we we do, and we go it goes through the normal process, and the time frames are all adhered to as far as how those go through. They can go in pretty much to just about anyone, and and the I think everyone understands that within the department. So but the best way to do it is to send it through the if if it's a fire prevention specific question, then going to the website and going to the fire using the fire prevention email that's provided there would be the best easiest way to get the clock started on that. And then if if you're asking about projects that are in process, then there are there are certain types of information that if if they're not finished, memorialized, or done, it'd be a little bit different process.

Because if if if something goes out in incomplete way, but we would communicate with anybody that asks for information. We typically, try to do that. There was one incident, and I don't know if this is what the, the the person from public comment, was referring to. We had one, request for information or at least there was a a a position on a a project that was coming in that we, we did not send out the the message or the response to the to the it was a group of people, I think. We have since done that with our response in order to address all of the concerns and the different cited codes and requirements.

That was actually a failure on our part. We had the internal answer crafted, and I assume somebody else had sent it, and they assumed I sent it. So that was one that I was involved in. It is a Cupertino project, and that response should have been received at this point.

If we're gonna go deeper on this, we need to add it to future agenda setting. Perfect.

Sorry.

Alright. Yeah. Move on to the next item. I guess since the share or, yeah, I guess we can move on to the next item.

So in December, I sent out an email requesting ideas for the work plan. This is not like the console work plan. This is more what things do you want to focus on. My recommendation is that you pick three of these projects or tasks so that in the six meetings that we have a year, five now, you can have a presentation on what the current situation is, and then at a future meeting, what follow-up has been done. The number is up to you at the end of the day.

But I am going to these are the six central items. I will say there were a couple suggestions that either weren't within the scope of of the commission or have already been completed. So that's why they're not part of this list of six. So what we want you to do is figure out what what are your top priorities and what do you wanna look at in the future.

So we are going to collaborate in this for meeting and take what our top three?

I so I would suggest with start with the decision of how many you wanna do, and then moving into which of these if less than six, which you would choose to do.

Yeah. I guess, like, just off the top, I was thinking, like, two would be good because if we want to, like, dedicate subcommittees, like, it would probably work out quite nicely with, like, two subcommittees, like, one working on each one, maybe. Whereas three might kinda stretch it stretch ourselves thin and, like, run the risk of, like, not actually achieving things in all three. Yeah. Two is a good idea.

I have a more basic question instead of going through how many do. Can we actually just zoom in and look at each one of these? Because some of them may be classified as something that can come together. So when you say vision zero traffic, if you go down, there's also the youth and something for active youth and school safety. They're all related.

So these are offered by me?

No. I'm not saying I'm not trying to say that they are different. But what I'm trying to say is if you collapse them, then we will line up with three or maybe four items. And we do need to I mean, then we have to come and say, okay, which has a higher priority? Because we can't just pick two or pick three and Mhmm. Leave the rest.

I think we can. Yeah. I think we can.

To be clear that if you don't select one of the tasks or projects, that doesn't mean it'll never come up. It just means we'll be prioritizing the ones that you select tonight. Yeah. Prioritizing. Sorry? The ones that are selected tonight.

Prioritizing how? So you will we'll just put it

on the agenda and discuss that. What about the others? So if, say, you only pick one, then that will be the topic for the March agenda, and we'll prioritize that we'll be working on that first until you're satisfied that the project is complete and then moving to the next.

Think yeah. I mean, I think, like, also, we we don't wanna, like, dilute one task or the other by trying to, like, try to do everything at once either. Think, like, we should try to focus on just a couple, like, very distinct things, like, two or three. I was thinking two, but we also find distinct things as opposed to trying to find

Okay. So if we look at, say, two issues per meeting, we have only five.

So so I I think what we should do is let's not talk about two or three or five. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Just prioritize all of these and add few others if we if we can. Right? And we'll say we go with the priority. It is the priority one. Once we are happy, then we go to the two, three, four, five. If we if I strike it priority one item, let's say we that's all we are accomplishing in '26.

Right. Does

it make

sense? Yeah.

Okay. Let's prioritize. Sure. And, again, I think most of these, I think, I entered. So I don't know if you have any other ideas we can add here now.

No. We're it's

Oh, we have okay. Only all these things. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. I think increasing alert SEC registration is certainly very good idea. Something I think we can all very tangibly, like, contribute to. I think there are some good ideas in commissioner Sathaharm's email, like, things we can do, maybe, like, flyers and library, that kind of stuff. That's something I think we can, like, definitely lock in on this year. Yes.

I agree. I think I agree that priority one.

Mhmm.

Okay. So let's go to the next one and decide the priority.

Expand excuse me. Expanded scam and fraud prevention.

I think

I don't know if this is the one that I mentioned or not. Like, I I think I think I was kinda thinking, like, feels like for the past decade, like, cybersecurity awareness and training has, like, essentially been the same, which is not a bad thing. Like, it was basically the same because the technology meta was, like, basically the same. Like, don't, you know, reuse passwords, that kind of thing. But it's probably the case now that there's, like, this new meta emerging, like, fake videos, like, fake stuff, like, it's an election year.

So there's probably, like, a new vector of threats that probably just take, like, awareness and, like, information to solve. So I was thinking, like, I don't know if scam and fraud prevention is the right word. Maybe, like, almost like like cybersecurity for, like, the AI age or something.

I don't know. So I recently attended the TICC meeting on the cybersecurity. I think they did it in December or so. I think that was I think we should collaborate with them and with, like, this this very probably my priority also because I've seen a lot of next door posts where, like, they're saying they're worried about some of the alerts they're getting. So I I always give some tips what I personally think of, but I think we should collaborate with the ACC. And between the two commissions, we should also collaborate with probably library commission and try to push the information that is really simple and can be useful to the people, you know, for instance, especially elderly. Speaking

of working with TICC, the technology multiplication, the ALPR actually came out of the the item number four.

Item number four.

So that came out of the TICC because as a resident, I was pushing TICC to have that. But this is something that is really of interest, and there are many more such, you know, like one the caller was saying, Sandra was saying, you know, the cameras, the red light cameras or the, you know, the other camera, the speeding cameras that he's talking about. Those are safety issues we really need to look at. But we can't do that on our own because the technology commission is who decides what what exactly the equipment have to get. So that's another collaborating idea that we have to so we we might want to park those two as high priority.

However, we we need to have that permission work with us as well.

So we need a lot of collaboration and time. We need. Yeah. So for example, I sent couple of emails to library commission. They haven't responded. Probably, are going to review in the next meeting or they may need follow some process.

So

you're saying it may take longer? So you're saying let's push it a little down and

No.

No. I'm not saying push it it down. Down. I'm saying have a separate column that says we need collaboration. So we have to put it on the agenda saying, do we get the chair of the tech to be on our meeting, or do we go to their meeting Uh-huh. And figure out how we can get something established between them? Because we're we're working in silos.

Yes. I think that's a good point. I think maybe we can add a column saying that we need a multi commission collaboration and put it marked there.

So Okay. So for right now, just assume that it's a perfect world, and just what do you wanna see first?

Or

in this case

Just finally, the priority first. Okay. Yeah. But I think that's a great solution. We should address it later.

So I guess maybe, like, the third item would be, like, like, speeding cameras and red light camera technology for traffic safety. I guess, would that be, like, a good characterization of, like, a third item?

Yeah. I think that that's what third it says. Right? Like, this is basically following the already existing business strategy, which is adopted by the city. So I think now we should make it into crisp action items. Like, okay. We'll put it in the let's say we add it to the if May is in the whatever. Right? So we come up with the crisp action items that we can recommend to other commissions or the Directly City Council and include in including the speakers input like what we heard from Sam Sam's talk today. So I think we can collaborate and make it more crisp. I think that's also an important topic. So so are you are you set vice chair, are you suggesting that we move the three to two?

I mean, I I think the first two are quite good in the sense that I think, like, our our commission itself is, like, quite capable of achieving things in those two. I guess, maybe, like, the folks who supplied the, like, five and six maybe wanna, like, make the case. I think that might be, like, a good way of seeing like, evaluating the other ones.

I mean, I I put the priority based on what I felt. So this I actually like this.

Honestly, I like the priority one, two, three, four. Mhmm. The three and the four can be if you want to continue with our vision of zero traffic issues, the four falls as a sub sub topic Right. Of three.

Yes.

So then we look at the top three Mhmm. Which is the alert SEC, the, you know, AI the effect of AI on, you know, general life. Yeah. So cybersecurity in the world of age. Yeah. Exactly. As we said, AI age and the vision. That's three with the subheading of, okay, how do we tie? Again, even for the AI, we may be able to tie in with the tier. So it looks like we need to work very closely with the tick vision regardless, but that's separate. That's separate. So we'll do one, two, three Right. 3.5 for the technology part.

So Alright. So so are we deciding to keep the order as is? Yeah.

Mean, I I would want to have the order the way it is if anybody has a different.

I also agree. I mean, yeah.

You put it together. So you are yeah.

I don't want any changes, but Yeah. Let's hear from Sanskrit. Yeah. I agree with

Everyone's own. Okay.

Yeah. Keeping as as is, but we're making we're clarifying that this does include AI. Yes.

And we're also saying that that the the four actually part of three. Okay. Okay.

So when should we add any other columns? So she requested that multi commission

We're not doing that bit right now. Okay. That's as as as we get into the specifics

Okay.

Of these topics, as we get closer to the meetings, they're focusing on these topics.

Okay.

Then we can get into specifics.

Okay. So what do we do now? We just So

a motion and a second and a vote to say, yes. This is the order that you are prioritizing.

Okay. So I I make a motion to have the order as specified right now with number four being a subtopic of number three. Second. Okay.

K.

Commissioner Begur?

Yes.

Commissioner Klein?

Yes.

Commissioner Sappahara?

Yes.

Vice Chair Rahram?

Yes.

The motion carries unanimously. Alright.

Public comment.

We have no hands raised on Zoom and no speaker vice chair.

Cool.

Yes. We can move on to the next item.

Okay. So since we don't have the sheriff's office still, now pull up the staff update. Oh, can we make a Oh, okay. Motion to not fill in.

Yeah. The

sheriff's office. Okay. Okay.

So we need a motion to say that we won't be doing the sheriff's report today.

Motion that we won't be doing the sheriff's report today. So ended. K.

Commissioner Begard? Yes. Commissioner Klein? Yes. Commissioner Safavaram? Yes. Vice chair Arum? Yes. The motion carries unanimously.

Alright.

You guys have noticed by now, I like to keep these short. For volunteer activities in the last two months, which is the Cupertino Amateur Radio Emergency Services had their general meeting on the fourth. And the Lawson Arc, which is one of the locations that has supplies for emergencies, had an open house for citizen for volunteers to make sure that they were familiar with how everything was laid out and what exactly is in there. And finally, we had a block leader meeting yesterday. Nope.

On the seventh. Excuse me. No. On the sixth. I'm sorry.

On the sixth. And that had a presentation from the sheriff's office, kind of doing a year end review for 2025, and then discussing crime prevention that he's given the same presentation here about preventing fraud, how to keep your home safe, ways to deter a potential theft. I think that yeah. That was our January meeting. And the next one is depending on the availability of the speaker either in March or April.

And I will make sure that you all know about it. Finally, I don't know if any of you noticed, but we had some rough weather in December. So there were daily briefings that I was participating in between the nineteenth and the twenty sixth every morning. Our emergency operations center did not activate, thankfully. We never had anything happen that would require us to activate, and the county emergency operations center remained at duty officer status.

What that means is the duty officer at the time is still alert and looking for anything happening, but we're not building up to have, okay, someone in for management. Bring someone for this. So this is I wouldn't say it's the lowest level of response, but it is, I guess, could say the blue sky daily expectations. There's always a duty officer on duty. And I'm very thankful there were no lasting impacts to Cupertino.

We did lose power quite a different quite a few different sections and quite a few different times in Cooper Keno. But, fortunately, power was able to be restored fairly quickly considering. So we were very, very lucky. Santa Cruz actually got a inclement weather warning of tornadoes. That there was a possibility of tornadoes.

So that was was a fun text to get from friends in Santa Cruz. I will also say Valley Water is part of our responses here. So they immediately I wanna say on December 16, we're preparing sandbag pickup locations. They have quite a few of those and they actually do something that I personally think is brilliant that they have livestreams of some of their sandbag locations. So you can check and make sure, okay.

If I'm going to drive over to whichever sandbag location, do they still have some for me? The city also prepared to have sandbags, but I don't believe there were any requests for them. So right now, most of what we're looking at for the December storms is it was not fun. It was not pretty, but it was not as bad as it really, really could have been. And then moving to January, National Weather Service designated a major risk due to colds.

That'll be tonight about 1AM to 9AM. Some of you may have received an email from myself or the communications office with information about where to find shelter if needed, that's provided by the county, or what to look out for in cases of hypothermia. A lot of times people look at messaging when it's cold and say, are you kidding me? Just put on a sweater and turn up the heat. Unfortunately, we have a lot of people who are unable to do that for a variety of reasons.

And what some research has found is that there is a demographic subset that just refuses to turn on the heat. They they will not do it, and it doesn't matter that we've sent out an advisory. So part of what the message to the volunteers was was, I know it sounds silly, but please go check on your neighbor. Please make sure that everyone's alright. One of the interesting things about I'm gonna get nerdy, for just a minute.

But the surprise. The way that the risk is designated specifically for cold came from agriculture. So originally, when they said there was a major risk, it was to let farmers know that there was a risk to crops. That has changed. It is still an element of the designation.

But at this point, when we're talking about major risk, it is also to people, to pets. And then one of the things is because it was designated major risk by the National Weather Service, that triggers our inclement weather protocol. So that was why the messages came out not just through social media, but through the volunteers, through the delivery. I don't believe there has been any talk of an alert SEC message going out because it it doesn't quite reach that level. But this is one of the ways that the city has adapted over the years.

When we created the reach program, it was specifically looking at, okay, we have a major risk. Okay. We can can send out a newsletter, but if not everyone is signed up, then how do we reach people who we aren't traditionally reaching? And finally, we have continued our partnership with the West excuse me, West Santa Clara Landscape Resiliency Project. Right now, we're going through the review process of looking at the proposals and making sure that everything they're doing lines up with our expectations.

So, for example, if they have a recommendation to thin trees, we're making sure that there is something in there saying, in Cupertino, these are the requirements to remove a tree. Just so that because the project is also available to private landowners, not just the city, so that people aren't getting a nasty shock to learn that, no, you need you need a permit to take down that tree. So it's slow, but it's interesting. And we are seeing a lot of variety in the suggested actions. So not just removing trees, but also in some cases prescribed burns.

And also herbivory, which is where we get sheeps and goats to come in and eat up potential fuel. So I'm gonna try and keep giving updates on this project as it goes. And then finally, we've had some concerns. There were there believe it was a YouTube video originally about plot cameras and YouTuber accessing a lot of information as well as live feeds for different types of products that walk offers. So right now, I'm looking into it and our information and tech excuse me.

Innovation and technology team are also looking into making sure that Cupertino is not having information exposed and what level of risk it is, what we can do, and what the expectations are. I will say that in this case, it is the sheriff's office surveillance policy that all of this falls under. So for for more information, we're looking at their surveillance policy. But this was part of the ALPR installation. This was a discussion that was had about the security.

And it goes kind of into the cyber security, but also into making sure that when we select a contractor, we're selecting our best option. So I'm also very lucky to have Tom's notes to go back and see what he was saying and where this decision came from. And as this develops, I will update as well. And finally, as I do every time, reminding everyone to please sign up for Alert SCC.

Alright. Oh,

yeah.

Go ahead. No. Actually, yeah, just if you can keep those slides back on because it's easier to ask questions when they're right in front of you. Go ahead.

Mine is a general question,

actually.

The the block leader meeting from two days ago, was that reported?

And it's

It is not.

Wasn't. Right? Yeah.

So the the presentation that the sheriff's office gave, it was sent out to the lock players and neighborhood watch, but we we don't record the meetings.

Can we put the slides back on? Somebody else has Oh, yeah. Let's start with the first one. I'll just I have a couple of comments. Let's go back to the first. Yeah. So it would be very interesting when you give us these updates to maybe have a link that shows, you know, whatever that shows department presentation was, if there is one, because this is information that if I were to read the slide, I don't get very much

of it.

So I I would like to see, like, some meeting minutes of a general meeting or and or, you know, what were three lines about the highlights of that open house or some kind of presentation about block leader program, that sort of thing. So that gives me a little bit more information. And if somebody were to be concerned about, you know for example, that was a very good meeting I'm told. I wasn't able to attend it. But that would be very nice to get that presentation.

And people can look at it. Yet, apparently, there were there were a lot of there was a lot of participation. And it would be nice to have meeting minutes for that kind of thing. I know they're not recorded, it'd be nice to get a meeting minutes and such.

We don't have too many minutes for block leader meetings. They're not that formalized. Maybe

we need to, you know, have such a formal you know, so especially when you have a lot of, you know, feedback from from the population. We want to capture their concerns. We want to capture their ideas. We can't you know, everybody cannot be there, but it may be interesting for us to have a work plan that says, okay. Here were the three ideas that came out of the block leader meeting or something that we can possibly implement. Maybe nothing came out of this one. But going forward, it would be useful to have something like that. Anyone else has any comment?

Yeah. I just had a kind of a random question. Like, I I remember last year, like, we were hearing and, like, you mentioned how, like, I think is it, like, NOAA or, like, National Weather Service? Like, there were some, like, sensors or, like, some things being turned off or, like, not being staffed appropriately?

That, I'm Referral

funding cost.

I'm not sure

Yeah.

Being confirmed. I believe everyone in National Weather Service is designated as essential personnel. So if you're referring to the shutdown, they were they were still working.

Or I I remember, like, last year, like, I think there was a mention, like, I think, like, off the coast of the bay, there's, like, there's, like, a lone, like, beacon or something that's, like, the early warning system. Just wondering, like, whether there were any impacts to, like, our forecasting ability or, like, whether there were any, like, gaps in visibility.

Do you Okay. Anything

about that? Not that I'm aware of,

but I

have. Oh,

Yeah. I think this is great. I think I even got the reminder. I couldn't get into the block later program, but I got a couple of reminders, like, I think in the mail of when I asked the invite. Everything is great. I I was hoping, like, can we also include what are the upcoming meetings? I think you did, I think, we lost them also for the next couple of months. That way, we can plan to attend. Thank you.

If you can go to the next slide. So the the concern in January I mean, December is great. We we got through whatever without lasting impact. That's fantastic. So the risk really is that it's gonna be extremely cold. Will there be any kind of a wind or something that may knock the power out or any such

concerns? Right right now, it's we have a a cold advisory.

And that's it. Yeah. Okay. Good. Good. That's I mean, it's not good if you don't want to turn on your heat, but that's what it is.

I think that is very detailed email. I I've just just to look

at it.

It's it's pretty good. Yeah.

Okay. Right then. I'm not on that. Alright.

I didn't

get I didn't look

at it. We'll figure out how

to Okay.

Get out of your place for

that. Okay. And then the last one. So what I'm maybe ignorant here. What is West Santa Clara Landscape Resiliency Project?

Yeah. So that is a I believe they're a nonprofit, but they're working with the jurisdictions of the cities and then also with Cal Fire and the fire departments. But if you remember the the fire hazard zones, so what they are doing is they've taken those zones and are looking at what can be done, specifically in West Santa Clara County, to reduce those hazard levels. So for the city of Cupertino, in terms of land that the city owns, what was designated was McFlellan Ranch and Blackberry Farm. Mhmm.

So for example, part of what they were looking into is first identifying what environment that is. We have some grassland. We have some hardwood, not quite forest, but hardwoods. And we also in BlackBerry, we have the golf course. So then it's looking at practical things that we can do without destroying, right, our public lands and and being very careful with CEQUA. That's actually what a lot

of this is.

To to address the concerns that, okay, let's take a look at say, McClellan branch, and can we get goats to chew down some of the grass? Is that feasible right now? Right now, we're not locked into anything. We have not the city has not has guaranteed any action or money because right now we're still they are still looking at what is at the very practical granular level. What can landowners do to reduce their fire hazard?

I can't speak as much to the the private landowner side, But there there was a discussion about working with HOAs because I don't know if you all are aware, but HOAs are not owned by the city. We Right. We don't own that property. So taking a look at what HOAs are able to do in their specific area, and the same thing of looking at, okay. If if, say, we wanted to address this field, what actually is the most practical thing for us to do?

And then part of what the project is is that they are creating a checklist for whoever has the project that okay. You're in Cupertino? Well, we've confirmed with Cupertino that this is the permit you you will need to remove the tree. Or

Wait. They are involved with removing trees?

No. So they they will make recommendations.

Uh-huh.

But if, say, their recommendation is the trees in this area are very close together and that increases the fire hazard, then they're not ordering the removal of trees, but they're saying to reduce the fire hazard of this area, your best option

Is to remove the tree. Okay.

Not all of them. Not all of them. Because that's another part of their checklist and it's looking at, okay, we have CEQUA. How do we then address our risk while still following CEQUA, while still respecting our environment? One of the the contingencies is, for example, if you sign on to one of their projects, you have to make sure that if there's a protected species, that you are not destroying a protected species in the name of reducing fire hazard.

And that is one of the things that I just don't I don't have time, right, to look into what exactly that entails. So we've been very fortunate that this project exists outside of the jurisdiction that they can come to us and say, hey. This is what we're recommending you can do, and this is what we're recommending as the best way to do that. If we did take on part of the project as the city, we would still have the autonomy, right, to at the end of the day, say, okay. You've given us the three options.

We're going to pick option a as as how we will reduce fire risk or rebuild from fire if if that happens. But it it really it really is a a group of people saying, okay. You don't have time to look into this as deeply as it needs to be looked into. Can you check-in with us on a regular basis and make sure that what we're doing actually makes sense for the cities, for the county, for state.

So right now, Cupertino is working with this resiliency project on Right. Specifically two areas?

Yeah. Right now, the city's involvement is I am looking at the draft of their projects, and I can make suggestions that will then go to the city manager before we go in. But right right now, what I'm looking at is double checking with our city arborists that the permits about trees are correct. That that they're not accidentally giving false information if someone were to take on this project.

So they have decided that they will go through what is that? McClellan branch and and whatever, and they've come up with here's what we want to remove or we want?

So what at the end of the day this is is they are saying, city of Cupertino, if you want to lower the fire hazard risk in this particular area, These are what we recommend, and here is a checklist that we have already made for you. Make sure that you're still secret compliant and that you're just

So they gave us that checklist now, or they will give it to us?

They will give it to us if we request it. So there is no So what is involved with requesting it? I believe that would

be putting in a chair and council. That's fine. But is there money involved, or is that just a it's a nonprofit? So are they just doing it as a social service? No.

So what they're doing is giving the recommendations. They do They don't do the actual work. That would be the city.

No. No. The city will do the work. I understand that. But to give you those recommendations, are they gonna charge us something from the city? Or you don't know that?

No.

Right now, the only involvement that the city has is just that I am giving suggestions and feedback. We do not have any financial obligation. We do not have any actions that we are I get that.

What I'm asking is they have not given us any recommendation. Not yet. But you are saying here is what the arborists have said are the trees that require permits if you want to remove. Is that what you're doing?

So when I talk about the checklist, right now what is happening is they have given us a draft of the checklist

Okay.

And are saying, hey, city of Cupertino, we've put this is the permit you need to do this, this, and this. Mhmm. Can you please confirm if that is the case?

So they have that's my question to start with. They have given us a checklist, but that's a draft of the checklist. Okay. What I wanted to understand. Okay. And that did not cost us anything yet. Is it yet, or is it not gonna cost us? If we choose to take on one of the projects

implement it, then

That's up to us. Yes. But for the checklist itself, we're not You're not paying it. Really charged. Okay. That was my question with that. Okay. And then the with regard to the flock cameras

Mhmm.

You were what's your involvement? What's the city's involvement with the said, when we say city, it's unfortunately just you at this point, right, for the public safety.

Well, in this one, I'm very lucky because I have our innovation and technology team as well. Okay. But it's because it's a safety concern, I'm looking into and liaising with the sheriff's office. Oh. On right now, what exactly did we agree to with Flock?

And do they have the protections for our data that we need. So right now, innovation and technology are looking into is our data secure? Is everything at closed loop? But there's also the sheriff's office that we'll have to have conversations about if worst case scenario, our information is not safe, what would our next steps be?

Okay. Alright. Thank you so much. Sorry for being so detailed, but I just did not understand this part of it at all. So kind of dug in.

Any public comment on this?

We have one hand raised on Zoom vice chair. One moment. Welcome, Sam Rao.

Good evening, chair, vice chair, and commissioners. I am quite alarmed by the discussion about tree foliage reduction or tree reduction. This, in particular, on the hillside should be done with extreme caution. I know when you think hillsides, you probably think the county, but we have a fair amount of Inspiration Heights, Creston, Monte Vista South, Fregnant Canyon, and many other neighborhoods that are in hillsides. And so I'm extremely concerned about any attempt to reduce trees in the name of fire safety because it is a delicate balance between the soil stability and erosion prevention versus any sort of fire prevention.

So while we do need some tree thinning, tree removal goes the other extreme and causes quite a bit of hillside instability. So very, very concerned about that. Given the nature of this item, I'm I'm urging you to consider agendizing these items and also recommend that this go on the agenda for city council. This is something that most restaurants are totally unaware of. So we just need to not leave this to staff discretion, and and this should not be an item that is decided at the city manager's level or the city manager's office level.

This should be going to council, and this should be coming to public safety commission. And please do not remove trees where we can avoid it. Tree thinning is okay, but not tree removal. I know we've we've for whatever reason, we have got a pensions for tree removal in our city when we have new projects in Stevens Creek. We seem to be asking applicants to remove trees on Stevens Creek and replant new trees.

When we did the Memorial Park study plan, the recommendation came back that 65% of the trees will be removed in Memorial Park. So it just it confuses me why we do so much tree removal in Cupertino. Similarly, when we did the sidewalk refresh, areas where there was a sidewalk refresh, trees were removed. And, really, we need a an inventory of how many trees we remove and why, and we need a hearing before they remove. I'd also love to see us add the redwood trees into the protected tree list. We have too many cases of new homeowners coming in and removing trees as the first act that they do. And the redwood trees, in particular, we need to protect. We protect the oak trees, but we don't protect the redwood trees. Thank you.

Thank you. We have no hands raised on Zoom and no speakers in person.

Right. Well, yes, we can move on to the next item.

Okay. Commissioner reports. Anyone did anything public safety related or Thought something or had conversations?

I missed this particular presentation, but there was one by the Cupertino Library Foundation on fire hazards. Just the fact that, you know, Cupertino and, you know, what's going on. And next time I I hear that, I will set something up. I will they had one in December. It was very well attended, the fire department, and the CERT had also participated in that.

And they come in to say, you know, how are the fire maps created? That's very useful information, I think. So going forward, we need to kind of make sure that we get that. There's gonna be follow ups to that to be very interesting, I think, for the commission in general or maybe even the city to put this payment.

That was in attendance at that, and it was recorded. I don't know if it's available publicly or not.

Yeah. I think it will be put I mean, it was recorded, but the recording may or may not have been fully done well. I think it will be up on the website, but it's a very I heard it was very well attended outside of the country.

Yeah. Over the, like, holiday season, I was, like, writing my, like, friends or family who are, like, from the county. I was, like, trying to, like, put the or or I was, like, trying to get them to, like, register for Alert SCC and, like, I think, like, pretty much across the board, like, from younger folks to older folks, like, people just felt it was, like, unnecessarily difficult, like, the actual form. It's, one more password to remember, that kind of stuff. But, yeah, I'm sure we'll, like, dig our claws into this this year.

Sure. So it's, like, interesting anecdotal evidence. So it's not just, like, older folks who find it irritating. It's, like, even people you would expect to be very sad. You

know? Yeah. So

I was in attendance at the Lawson Park open house. Mhmm. It was fairly well attended. I think there were probably eight people who have come through. Mhmm. And on that, we detailed basically how to open an ARC Mhmm. And what's required, you know, with cares and etcetera. And we do have a monthly GMRS slash ham radio Mhmm. Check the fourth Saturday at 03:30. So you can report it into your specific zones wherever you all live, Yaris.

Okay. I don't useful

to know.

No. No. That's very useful to know. Yeah.

I think the only email thread I was talking earlier, like especially to increase the alert SEC awareness, I sent couple of emails to library commission, but I want to see them respond. So I need to figure out the like, maybe I it in one of the meeting.

Think the library commission focuses on what goes into the library and stuff like that. They're not very involved beyond the library.

So my idea was my request is very specific to put the, like, you know, QR code on the display.

Okay. So then that, you can just directly send it to the library in. I'll give you his contact information. He will put a lot of things, so you don't need the commission for that. The commission's not involved at all, what goes on the display, but Brian will.

Oh, okay. That's good to know. Yeah.

Cool. Awesome. Yeah. Think that's all for commission reports.

Okay. Future agenda setting?

Yeah.

So we've got many topics. And

so the thing is because we don't currently have a chair and the election will be at the next meeting, every potential topic will need not a full vote, but just a motion of least. Perfect.

I guess we can have one item, which is, like maybe we can each try to come up with like, or, like, think about a way to increase alert SNC registration, and then we just kind of report back, see what we wanna implement. Mhmm.

So that's already there in the is that right? We go automatically into Oh, okay. Right? I mean, did I get that correctly?

The I mean, it's

work items. The work list.

Yeah. But I think this is, like, specifically the next meetings'

Yes.

Agenda items. Yes. So we can have one for that. And then you should have another agenda item for some of the specific issues that were mentioned by mister Rao today so we can have, like, an issue on or agenda item on

The green mobile red light.

Or yeah. I guess the first one would be, like, the red light red light cameras and speeding cameras. So maybe if we could get, like, someone to speak on, like, the viability of that, whether the city has considered that before.

Okay. Can I get a motion and a second for first the

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, motion to have the, like, precursor ideas on alert SEC registration

as an agenda item. Second.

Okay. And then a motion on a second to add the red light and speeding cameras.

So what what exactly are we adding onto the agenda?

So I guess we'd wanna understand, like, what the city's, like, perspective is on those cameras. Like, have they considered adding them before, that kind of thing?

So when we when we say city, that's Marco's gonna go back and check with who?

I believe that would be our transit team.

Okay. And not the chick.

It would start with transportation, and then we could involve Tic. But If you're saying who? Of city staff, it would be the train sorry, transportation.

And not the I'm sorry. Not Tic. I meant IT department because they would have had requests for, you know, cameras and have they done any analysis on that? Are they looking at it? Has anybody mentioned it to them? We get that information as well. Okay. Because transportation may come back and say, no. Then what happens to the report? Right? I mean

For yeah. So I guess, like, maybe the maybe the way to think about it is, like, to work backwards. So it's, like, at the next meeting Mhmm. Like, presumably, the decision that we wanna make is, like, whether or not we wanna, like, recommend to counsel, whether there should be, like, more red light cameras or

speed cameras. Cameras. Yeah.

And so what would be helpful is, like, the necessary, like, personnel who could, like, help us or educate us on that issue so that we can

That's

make the recommendation.

Good. Because that makes more sense to me and so, like, otherwise, it was, what is the agenda item?

Yes. So I guess So can

we get, like, what are the current metrics on the traffic enforcement? Right? Right. And then what are the improvements

Yeah.

What we are looking. Right?

And I think specifically, like like, mister Rao mentioned how there's, like, a pilot program, I think, happening in the state, I think. And I guess we would have to understand what's required of the city, what's required of the government of Cupertino in order to take part in this pilot? What are, like, other cities doing that have implemented speeding cameras, red light cameras? How much does it cost? Like, I guess we would need to know that info, and then based on that, we can, like, decide what to recommend counsel, essentially.

So so the agenda has so just to reiterate, so what we're looking for is somebody who can give us that information, what it takes for us to be

part of the

pilot, what has the county or state figured out so far as far as the speeding and the red light cameras. So those are the two critical pieces of information. Otherwise, that is agenda item doesn't have value.

Yeah. I guess there's yeah. Maybe to, like, summarize. So there's, like, three there's, like, three specific things I think that are, like, needed. So we so this agenda item can be considered, like like, information on the speeding and red light cameras. And, like, it would basically need three things. Right? It's, like, first would be, like, what are the tools, like, at a city like Cupertino's disposal for the problem that mister Rao mentioned? Like, are there different like, I remember with Flock, there were, like, different types of cameras. Mhmm. So, like, what are the types of tools that other cities are using?

Mhmm.

And then the second step would be, like, has the city or the county evaluated these tools and cameras before? And then number three would be, like, any metrics. Like, what's going on in the cities that have implemented it? Has it reduced the violations. And I think mister Rao was mentioning, like, the like, he was mentioning, like, the downstream effect of all this was, like, traffic. So, like, it would be interesting to know, like, what the correlation or, like, whether there's any connection there. So I think all these things would require, like, a bit of information to be gathered.

Yeah. So so yeah. Exactly. It's a good it's a very good topic to be actually the information that we need. The question is, are we noting down that the agenda should be, you know, not just a transportation report from transportation, but really a detailed report mentioning all of the items that was just you know? So I don't know if you've noted down the three okay. Alright. Okay. Cool. So then we have to make a motion now. Yeah. Okay.

So a motion to include the red light camera and speeding camera information

to the agenda. With specifics on?

Yeah. With all the information necessary for us to make a decision on what to recommend counsel.

Second? One second. Alright.

Anything else for future agenda items?

The The tree removal meeting.

Yeah. Actually, I mean, the tree removal part, I think that was misunderstood. I think what the issue is is that this particular resiliency project, if I understand it right, is just giving you a checklist what needs to be fixed. Now whether the tree gets removed or not from the city's perspective is whether they require a permit to remove that tree or not.

And that is specific So the the checklist is if you choose to take on a project, say, reducing the fire risk or fire hazard risk at BlackBerry. The the checklist is here is how to comply with CEQA. Here is how to make sure that all the permits are correct. Here is how to I don't believe it would be the case in Cupertino, but work with native tribes to make sure that the cultural needs are being met. Here is how to make sure that you're not disturbing any native species.

So this So this is specific though to a cladding ranch and golf course area.

Yep. So the checklist is just anyone who's doing these projects, this is what you need to do in in terms of making sure that the project is done in accordance with the the Munich code, with the laws of California, with

The fire and everything else. Okay. So can we actually so that checklist then has to be accepted by the city before it gets implemented. Like, some private owner who has, like, three three acres or ten thirty acres on the hill cannot just randomly decide he wants to remove some trees.

So so the checklist is here are the the laws and regulations. This is how to comply with them. That's all it is. It's not you must do this, this, and this. It's, hey, it's really hard to research exactly how to comply with CEQA or the Endangered Species Act or Something else. The water act. So we've done that for you, and here's what you need to do in order to stay compliant.

Okay. So so right now, there is nobody removing trees as far as No. Okay.

Alright. I

I guess

so that's good.

That's good.

My understanding of it. So But but there is the possibility that under fire protection, there may be areas where the trees will be removed. So the action item would be, in my opinion, the agenda item should be, is there any implementation plan for the HILDs?

That includes the tree removal?

That that in yeah. Includes, you know, fire fire mitigation plan. And if there is, what is it? Because that may involve tree removal. That may just involve getting rid of the grass. Maybe many things.

So I think the tree mold is very concerning. Right? So I'm not sure if we can get some metrics, like, how many trees were removed.

Okay. You guys are really focused on the tree removal. They have in there of these are the kinds of trees removed. The dead, diseased trees are going away. Within that, in order to keep habitats, they're not taking out all the trees.

Yeah. That's my understanding too, that they're not removing any trees right now. They're not recommending. No. I

say tree removal because it's it's kind of the simplest one to understand. But there's also oh, gosh. What's the word? Pruning trees. Mhmm. So it's not that if they say, hey, there's a lot of trees in this area. It is not immediately x number of trees must be cut down. It's how do we retain this environment? How do we make sure that the environment is healthy and resilient? Mhmm. That might be checking if all the trees are alive and not diseased. It might be going through and making sure that you don't have a bunch of branches that are getting caught up in each other.

So there's a it's a very involved topic, basically. And so I think simplifying it to tree removal is

Yeah. I that was that was not well worded with me. I apologize.

Or yeah. I was just thinking, like, maybe maybe we can first add, like, the agenda item. Like, maybe get the jump on one of the other work plan thing. Like, maybe Mhmm. Regarding the second item, which is the

Before that, do Oh, yeah. The the the the agenda item was implementation. If any implementation of tree removal is being planned in the hills.

I think they're not also Memorial Park. That was one of the point.

No. No. No. That the agenda item was not the tree removal part. Okay. The agenda item is what are the fire mitigation plans or plans that the city has for the hills? Now whether Memorial Park has trees removed or not, that does not even come under our jurisdiction because we talk about safety and fire. It really should be Hudson's right. How many trees are moved from Memorial Park?

We would we would need to double check if those are HOAs. Because if they're HOAs, then the city is not involved.

So HOAs can do what they want within their HOA, within their? HOA's own their own land. Yeah. They they're part of the city, but the

if there if there's road that needs to be repaired, my understanding is it is not only a publicity. My my understanding, and I can double check this, is that it would be a process with the HOA. So most of our roads are public, and they belong to the city. In an HOA, the property is private is my understanding.

I can double check that. Okay. So, yeah, I'm interested in knowing what the fire hazard mitigation plan is for the hills and the surrounding areas because, you know, it only takes one little fire, West Hills. Entire Cupertino can go just like the other cities in some Southern California. Now if part of that mitigation plan is to just move all the trees of the way, then that's a real concern. But I doubt that we there'll be something so stupid as that. Right.

So can I have a So motion

to add that?

The motion I guess the, like, motion to

You we can just do motions to

add that.

Motion to add that. Okay.

And a second?

Yes. Second. Alright.

Alright. I'm not

clear on the motion.

The motion is to figure out what the fire mitigation plans are for the Hills Of Cupertino.

Okay. Fire mitigation.

What happens if there's a fire? What is your plan besides calling the fire department and putting it out? Do you have anything set up right now saying, hey. You plant more of these type of fire resistant tree, you know, plants or you know? What do you do? What is the city doing? If you don't have one, then is it time for us to come up with one? What what's up?

Okay. Also, with the same comment of the three remote, can we write an email to public parks and recreation about the tree mold, I think, that was mentioned?

As an individual, we can. As a commission, I don't believe it's in our jurisdiction to say parks and removing trees in in Memorial Park is our issue or not.

Mhmm. And then, yeah, this may be, like, agenda item for

I I do need a second.

Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, sorry. Yeah. I Did you not

I thought the agenda yeah.

After that, I'd ask her for clarification.

Okay. Cool. Okay.

Yeah. I guess, like, also agenda item for each of us to probably, like, do a little bit of research, come back with ideas regarding the second item on the work plan. So that would be, like like like fraud, how how we can kind of help educate the public regarding this new class of problems. And then it would also be helpful to get any insight from, like, law enforcement or the city, like, there have been any, like, kind of, like, rise in, like, deep fake cases or, like, harassment.

So I'll tell you what. We'll all nod our heads here and go back, and we'll come back with maybe one line. So what's the specific action item you want me to do between now and two months Yeah. To say, here's my contribution to the research.

Yeah. I guess, like, like, it would it would I think it would literally just be, like, two interesting ideas you think would be helpful for like, so I guess the research would include us doing research on what are the problems that are emerging Mhmm. To public safety from these new technologies. And then based on that research, if we can each come back with two, like, tangible specific ideas for that that each of us think could be helpful, then we can deliberate here from what city and what law enforcement has been seeing on their end, and then we can have, like, a concrete plan for what we wanna do

Okay. That work. So what I'm hearing is you're assigning all members of the commission the task to research and come back with two concrete recommendations. The agenda item would be a presentation or a discussion with the information and technology with the sheriff's office and each each commissioner to discuss what what they Yes. Okay.

Okay?

And then the I guess, like, the objective of that would like, the at the next meeting, based on all that information, based on all those ideas, we would then work to figure out what we wanna actually implement and and push out into, like, all the various channels and stuff like that to actually carry out the ideas that we like. Yeah. So, yeah, motion to add that to the agenda.

Second. Second. Okay.

I think

that's four items only. Yeah.

Four

items. And just in the future, can we have the fire chief and the sheriff's office do their report for us? Because we are otherwise I mean, we can go on for hours if the poor guy is waiting to make his report. And it's it's a torture for them.

Okay. I will double check with the city clerk. Worst case scenario, we we would just have it like we did today where the appointments would be.

And he seems so relieved to leave today. Doesn't need to

have Uh-huh.

Sit through all of this. But

Any other items? Or

I think for now Yeah. We've got four of four agenda items. So it's

like yeah. I think we we hit, like, the top three, basically, and then plus the buyers Mhmm. Plan. So cool. Awesome. Yeah. I guess we're done with the agenda setting.

Okay. Call the meeting to

a close.

Oh, yeah.

Alright. Yeah. I call the meeting to close at 07:59.