City Council Unhoused Ad Hoc Committee - Regular Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Father, we come before you and we just want to thank you God for this evening. We ask God for your wisdom, your discernment, And we ask here this evening, God, that you would just be with the mayor, the city council, and all the community members. We also pray for the first responders, the fire, law enforcement, and medical first responders. We ask, God, that you would just continue to be with us every moment, in every direction. In your name we pray. Amen.

Thank you, Jesse. Moving on to employee introductions, Community Development Director Sharon Goey to introduce Aaron Campbell, please.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and members of the community. Tonight, I'm excited to introduce our new senior planner, Aaron Campbell. Aaron comes to us from the city of Pacific Grove, where he served as a senior planner and acting principal planner, overseeing current planning operations and serving as a technical advisor to multiple boards and commissions. Aaron is a certified planner, and prior to his planning leadership roles, he also worked on zoning administration, co-compliance, and building inspection in both California and Pennsylvania. Before he moved to California, he gave up his banjo band in Pennsylvania. So if you're thinking about forming a banjo band, joining a banjo band, or have glue grass playing in your head right now, contact Aaron. So please join me in welcoming him to Steve Gilroy. Thank you.

Thank you, Director. And I also want to thank you for welcoming me here. And yes, if you guys want to be in a bluegrass band, please join. I do come here by choice. You wouldn't know this, but I applied for two positions here. uh one i i rightfully lost to bryce which is is great and then i applied again for this one because i really wanted to be here in gilroy uh there's a lot of growth there's a lot of help and benefit that i feel like i can i can participate with here so thank you for for welcoming me here and i look forward to to serving this community thank you

Moving on to item five, ceremonial items. We have two proclamations this evening. I will do the public works proclamation first, so public works folks can come up. Then after that, I will do the resource parent appreciation month proclamation, and I will ask Isidro to come up at that time. I know, usually they aren't. Okay, I have a proclamation, City of Gilroy Proclamation National Public Works Week. Whereas public work professionals in the City of Gilroy focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are essential to building and maintaining a sustainable, resilient, thriving community, and to protecting public health, enhancing quality of life, and supporting the well-being of all residents. Whereas the City of Gilroy benefits daily from the commitment, expertise, and hard work of its Public Works employees who play a vital role in maintaining safe streets, reliable utilities, and essential public services that support our growing community. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American Public Works Association, now, therefore, I, Greg Bozo, Mayor of the City of Gilroy, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through May 23rd, 2026, as National Public Works Week. in the city of Gilroy and urge all residents to join the American Public Works Association and local agencies in recognizing the dedication public works professionals who serve our community and contribute to the safety, health, and quality of life for all. Congratulations.

Sure. Mayor, council members, community, I'm certainly honored to be here representing approximately 90 staff between utilities and public works who every day go out and do the tough stuff. And I look at us as basically the other first responders, frankly. We're next in line whenever there's an emergency, whenever earthquake, floods, fire, whatever it may be. So we are there, and we love our partnership with the other first responders, police and fire. I am very honored to be here, and I'll let Carl speak if he wishes to from the utility side, but we take great pride in basically delivering great engineering capital projects, water sewer service, sustainability work, and delivery and protection fleet facilities programs as well. We cover a lot of issues, a lot of activities and things across the board, many of which aren't even noticed. But you certainly will notice as a community if the police cars and fire trucks aren't running. And from that perspective, our fleet folks do an amazing job to keep that running. and a lot of things going behind the scenes. So both very outwardly facing, you see me and Carl and others here with the group. But anyway, we really appreciate this and it's an honor to be here for this acknowledgement. We have Wednesday the community open house, 2 to 6 p.m. And we hope and invite everyone from the community to come out. I'll call it touch a truck, but also come and talk to folks. And there'll be some, I think, some fun activities, some issues. We also have a free compost giveaway. So if you're looking for compost, there'll be large buckets of compost available for that. And we hope to see you there. Thank you. Carl, you want to say something? Thanks.

IF YOU GUYS WILL PLEASE HOLD TIGHT, WE'LL DO THE SECOND ONE AND THEN I'M GOING TO ASK YOU GUYS TO TAKE A PHOTO WITH COUNSEL. SO NEXT I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE UP ISIDRA FOSTO, PLEASE. Okay. Whereas the first presidential proclamation observing national foster care month was in 1988. I forgot these. Whereas in Gilroy there are currently 30 families, and in Santa Clara there are 580 resource families, where resource parents serve as a constant source of care and encouragement, not only to the children and youth who reside in their home, but also to the families who are working hard to overcome incredibly difficult and complex circumstances to reunify with their children. And whereas Resource Family Appreciation Month raises awareness about the important role of resource families in ensuring the safety and well-being of children and youth in our community. And whereas resource families offer children and youth the chance to live in a healthy, loving, and stable home where they can grow and thrive. And whereas the county of Santa Clara joins others across the country in honoring resource families and raising awareness about the need for more family resource family homes in Santa Clara County for children and commends the contributions of county partners and other organizations that support the care for children and youth who are victims of abuse and neglect. Now, therefore, I, Greg Bozo, Mayor of the City of Gilroy, on this 18th day of May, 2026, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do hereby proclaim May 26 as Resource Family Appreciation Month and extend a heartfelt gratitude to all families who embrace the responsibility of providing a home and family for children in need. Congratulations.

Thank you.

So I invited Isidra to come up and speak today. She's a new foster parent in the past year or so. So I thought it would be nice for this community to hear directly from a new foster parent. So go ahead, Isidra.

My name is Isidra and I thank you for being here, for being of help to the children. Okay. Lo que he vivido con el niño que tuve fue muy bonito. Yo no tengo hijos. Pues eso, fue una experiencia muy bonita estar con él, ayudarlo con su incapacidad. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, ready? One, two, three.

All right, that's good. All right, ready?

One, two, three. We're gonna take a couple more.

One, two, three. Thank you, everybody. Moving on to item number six. These are presentations to council. We have two today. The first one will be the annual presentation by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce. We have two people presenting. Christina Cortez, CEO of Chamber of Commerce, and Manny Bandal, the past president of Chamber of Commerce.

Good evening, council and honorable mayor and members of the public. My name is Manny Vandell. I'm the past president and CEO of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce, past board chair, and sterling active board member for the chamber. Along with me is Cristina Cortez, our current executive director.

Good evening, mayor and council. I'm Cristina Cortez, the executive director of the Gilroy Chamber, and we'll have Manny go ahead and kick it off, and then I'll continue the presentation.

All right, just getting into it with the vision of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce is to lead Gilroy as a catalyst for growth, economic opportunity, business strength, and community engagement, where businesses of all sizes find unwavering support. One thing I do want to mention, it's not on the slide. In 2025, the Gilroy Chamber Board of Directors decided to move away from the GilPAC, so the GilPAC no longer exists at the Chamber. That's just kind of a little side note for everybody. RETAIL RECRUITMENT AND MARKET ANALYSIS. IN 2025, THE GILROY CHAMBER ALONG WITH THE CITY OF GILROY CAME INTO CONTRACT WITH AN ORGANIZATION CALLED THE RETAIL COACH. AND THE RETAIL COACH HELPED PREPARE, ORGANIZE, AND ACTIVELY PURSUE MEMBERS OF LARGE ORGANIZATIONS. SO SOME OF THE PROSPECT ENGAGEMENTS, WE'RE MEETING WITH 50 RETAIL RESTAURANT ENTERTAINMENT AND HOSPITALITY PERSPECTIVES. Active perspectives, ongoing recruitment for high priority brands. A current few that I would like to mention, I can't name names, but there's a national grocery chain and a national sports retailer looking at Gilroy for a possible either new build out or a move in. INDUSTRY REPRESENTATION, THE RETAIL COACH ALONG WITH THE CHAMBER ARE CONNECTING WITH DEVELOPERS AND BROKERS AT MAJOR INDUSTRY TRADE SHOWS. AND I THINK A FEW OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL HAVE BEEN TO A FEW OF THOSE RETAIL ICSC, I BELIEVE IT IS, IN MONTEREY. MARKET DATA UPDATES, PRIMARY RETAIL TRADE AREA AND COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS, SNAPSHOTS UPDATED TO REFLECT THE CURRENT SOUTH COUNTY MARKET. So a few of the 2025 recruitment successes. As you can see, Dutch Bros opened in 2025. This was in partnership with the retail coach in the chamber. Crunch Fitness, which is not currently open yet, or they're soon to open. They just opened, they just opened, great. They were a prospect in 2025, they got their applications in and the Chamber along with the Retail Coach helped push that through. And then there's a few infill spaces at the Pacheco PATH Center that the Chamber and the Retail Coach looked at also filling. Some of the market analysis, I know this is very small, you can't read it. The demographics, they look at age, they look at race, they look at income levels, they look at the population size, they look at the traffic counts in and outside of Gilroy. A lot of this is pinged off of cell phone data. They're able to track the cell phone data in and out of Gilroy to see who's coming into Gilroy to spend money and also who's leaving Gilroy to spend money at malls or other communities around us.

So one of the projects that we do in partnership with visit Gilroy is the annual yearbook publication that we use through the sharks San Jose Sharks publication that they do You can see this ad right here. It's featuring the Gilroy garlic festival the ale trail taco trail and and the value-driven premium outlets. So the intention is to reach San Jose audiences and it goes to over 50,000 homes to market Gilroy. Workforce development, this is one of the areas that we really focus on in this contract that we have and at the work that we do. So many of you are familiar, I know that Kelly was there, Tom was there at our annual Rock the Mock event that we do in partnership with Gilroy Unified School District. chick-fil-a and amazon web services but in 2025 we had about 90 adult volunteers and a job fair featuring 15 businesses working with the school district to ensure that our high school students know about all of the different careers that they can go for the college opportunities that they have and really above all of that is to make sure that they know that there are gilroyans here that care about them and can provide feedback to them. For many of our high school students, this is the first time that they've ever done an interview. It's a practice setting, but it's a chance for them to practice their skills, fail before they actually go to a job interview. So we're happy to continue that partnership. And then another thing with workforce development that we're really building out and strengthening, thanks to feedback we've gotten from GUSD as well as Gavilan College, are that our Our students aren't necessarily aware of all of the opportunities that they have here locally. So they're not aware, aside from college, they're not aware of the CTE pathways or the trades and all of the other jobs that they can do. We're really fortunate here in Gilray that we have those jobs. It's just kind of low-hanging fruit connecting our employers with the school and with college students. So a part of that is building out the internship program that we're working on to connect them with those opportunities. And then priorities for the chamber, again, workforce development, expanding our educational workshops with regional partners. We've hosted several, like navigating low cash flow, how to access business credit, what kind of financing is good for your business, whether that be equity, credit, et cetera. fostering an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs and startups, not just our traditional brick and mortars, but folks that have perhaps a food truck. For the first time ever, we actually have a food truck as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and we're really looking forward to expanding the kinds of businesses and the service that we offer As the business landscape changes for so many, I think a lot of us learned that after COVID, but the entrepreneurs as well. We have a lot of young entrepreneurs that want to have online businesses, e-commerce, and all those different offerings. Formalizing our business walks with the city of Gilroy to gather feedback on the business climate issue. Myself and our membership manager, Marlon Hines. This is part of our job. It's what we do through the chamber, but really formalizing this program to understand the opportunities with our businesses, whether they're looking to expand in Gilroy, they're looking Some of them are looking outside of Gilroy to expand their location. What can we do to keep them here? What challenges do they have? Are there permitting needs, zoning needs, licensing that they need support with, and making sure that we're communicating that with the city so that we can be proactively addressing them. And that is pretty much it. I will just kind of wrap up really quick with some of our other priorities and things that the Chamber is doing. We launched our first Women's Leadership Summit In March, we welcomed over 100 women to that event. It's a workforce development opportunity for them to navigate their career, learn from strong mentors in our community, and learn and grow. We brought back our government relations committee after six years of not having that committee, really focusing on alignment with local electeds that represent Gilroy and bringing in business leaders and community leaders. So if there are areas that we need to address, that there's alignment across all parties, we launched our first community guide and business directory. You can see that magazine imprint in August, going out to 2,500 people in Gilroy, as well as expanding our Lunch and Learn workshops and finally relaunching our South County Young Professionals Network. Thank you.

THANK YOU.

ANY QUESTIONS FROM COUNCIL?

DOESN'T LOOK LIKE IT. GREAT PRESENTATION. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MOVING ON TO THE NEXT PRESENTATION TO COUNCIL WILL BE VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY LOCAL INVESTMENT PRESENTATION PLAN BY BEVERLY GREEN. SHE IS THE CHIEF OF VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS.

Good evening. My name is Beverly Green, and I'm the Chief Government Affairs Officer at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, and I'm joined by policy analyst Jonathan Perez. Thank you for the many roles that you play at and the committees that you serve on at VTA. Mayor Bozo is a board director alternate. Council Member Hilton is on the Policy Advisory Committee. Councilmember Klein is the new chair of the Mobility Partnership Committee, and also serving on that committee is Councilmember Fugazi. So, thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to the what of the five-county regional measure, which is often refers to as SB3. 63. THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE STATE BILL THAT ENABLED IT. IN AUGUST THE VTA BOARD VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO JOIN THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION SALES TAX MEASURE FOR MANY REASONS WHICH WE'LL TOUCH ON IN A MOMENT. THIS IS A HALF CENT SALES TAX FOR SANTA CLARA COUNTY ALONG WITH SANTA CLARA, SAN MATEO, ALAMEDA AND CONTRACASTA COUNTIES ON BOARD. THE TERM IS 14 YEARS AND AS YOU other transportation agencies in the area, not VTA, but other ones that you've heard of, are under financial distress. And so this was originally envisioned as something to sort of get them out of this immediate issue that they had. It's different because we will actually be able to use this money to invest. We are not in financial distress like some of the other agencies that you've heard about. It's expected that $264 million, that's in FY31, per year will come to VTA with about 5.25%, which will be returned to the region for some projects that VTA is a part of. The new sales tax measure will also allow VTA to cover its portion of the Caltrain projected operating deficits at about 10.38% of what comes in without dipping into VTA's transit fund. It's important to note that the regional measure is being placed on the ballot as a citizen's initiative, which means that it requires 50% plus one, not the two-thirds that we are usually working on as sales taxes. And let's see here. So under this, it's important to understand that the uses of this will be for public transit expenses and roadway repayment projects on roads served by fixed route transit. So it won't be used for bike and pedestrian improvements or highway improvements. It's for public transit. And so what we are doing is we are in the process of putting together an investment plan for Santa Clara County. To help us, we've identified three outcomes that we're hoping to achieve with these funds. The number one is to grow ridership. Number two is to increase productivity. Number three is to enhance the customer experience. And we'll evaluate projects and programs from the investment plan based on these desired outcomes. We've also developed three strategic areas to help us organize the plan that you see on the screen. They are the foundation, which is the core of our transit system, and we'll use the data to drive our decisions for changes to our services. We'll reimagine what is required for modernizing our business model and improving service and transformation, which focuses on new technologies and developing strategic partnerships to improve the system. The other thing is that this investment plan will act as something like a capital improvement program. So this will be reviewed at the biennial, every biennial budget system, and then every four years on a rolling basis, we'll review the projects and how we're doing on the key performance indicators. that we use to track performance. And the final details on oversight and programming will be voted on by the VTA Board on June the 4th. And We will, this is how you can reach out to us using a QR code or the email at investment.plan at vta.org or getting in touch with myself or Jonathan Perez or any of the other people that you work with at VTA on this investment plan. And so this is the short version of our local investment plan and I'm available for any comments or questions.

Questions for Beverly? Comments?

Council Member Hilton? I'll start with a couple items and then I'll pass it on to my colleagues. First of all, thank you for being here tonight. You know, thank you to VTA for doing everything you've done to increase ridership. And like you mentioned before, one of the agencies that does not need a state loan to, you know, so this is stuff that goes into that future, you know, future network. So I appreciate that. AND I APPRECIATE YOU ALL ALSO, YOU KNOW, BEING SO CLOSE AND WORKING WITH OUR CITY STAFF AND YOUR DEVELOPMENT REVIEW TEAM PROVIDING THOSE COMMENT LETTERS AND STUFF AND REALLY SHAPING OUR CORRIDOR AND MAKING SURE THAT THAT TRANSIT HAS ITS NAME IN THERE. AND SO I REALLY, YOU KNOW, I WAS AT THE VTA PACK MEETING LAST WEEK HEARING YOU SPEAK AND I GAVE YOU MY FEEDBACK THERE TOO. AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I KEEP HEARING FROM A LOT THAT I REALLY WANT TO REEMPHASIZE FOR HERE IS JUST GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS. It's all about ridership, increasing that ridership, making those investments. Safe and clean buses, the bus stops, we talked a lot about the bus shelters, investing in those. And also, you guys own the transit center that's here in our downtown, and I know that it's on the TOD work plan, but it could really use just a simple paint job right now. Little things like that I think could go a long ways of those that that intersect there, you know, San Benito County Express and all the other, Monterey Salinas, you know, transit comes through there. I think it would just really encourage ridership and show a little activation in there. But the last thing I want to say just on activation, thank you guys for always showing up to our festivals and stuff and tabling. That's important for you all to do that. So you keep being visible and stuff like that. So I have a few more items that I'll add, but I'll let my... MY COLLEAGUES GO NEXT.

SO THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENTATION. YOU MENTIONED THAT JUNE 4TH THEY WILL BE DECIDING EXACTLY WHAT WILL BE ON THE INVESTMENT PLAN. AND MY COLLEAGUE HERE HAD A COUPLE OF GOOD SUGGESTIONS. BUT CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT IS BEING PROPOSED SPECIFIC TO GILROY?

So it is an investment plan with general areas, the three areas that I talked about. It's not like a traditional expenditure plan where you have a list of particular projects. This is meant to be flexible. So one of the big things that we're going to be working on is the visionary network plan, which will increase service throughout the Santa Clara area, and that would increase service in in this area, in the Gilroy area also.

So you can't give me any kind of specifics or anything like that in terms of what you're proposing or what is being discussed? I mean, I understand Santa Clara County, but we're really at the very tip, the end of Santa Clara County. So I'd like to know specifically what would benefit the residents of Gilroy in terms of the investments?

So, again, I don't have an expenditure plan list, which is, I think, what we're usually used to that says specifically this particular line.

Because it's just the 50 plus 1% rather than the two-thirds, so you don't have to specify that.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. There's also a timing element. But I can tell you that there's been a visionary network plan that, and let me just, without going into a lot of history. About 20 years ago, VTA had to cut its service tremendously. You know, remember the big, the great recession. And that was something that was just done, VTA did that in Santa Clara. And we never recovered that service. And so this is one of the plans that we've been looking at and tweaking. with the idea of if we had the service, how could we improve it all across the county TO PROVIDE THE SERVICE THAT WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO PROVIDE TO ALL OF OUR COMMUNITIES. SO I DON'T HAVE A SPECIFIC EXPENDITURE PLAN, BUT OUR PLANNING PEOPLE ARE WORKING WITH YOUR PLANNING PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF GILROY, AND IT WILL BE A PROCESS WHERE WE, EVERY BIENNIAL BUDGET WILL LOOK AND WILL SAY, OKAY, LET'S SEE HOW WE'RE DOING, HOW ARE WE DOING WITH KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, HOW ARE WE DOING WITH THE RIDERSHIP IN THESE PARTICULAR AREAS. We know the places where they're the most ons and offs to speak, the places that generate ridership, and we know the places that are thin in Gilroy. Those are some of the places that we'd like to increase.

Senator McLean?

Yeah, being a part of the mobility partnership, and that's a key word for that, with VTA, Caltrans, naturally San Bernardino County, Morgan Hill, and Gilroy, and working together. It's a great partnership, and I really appreciate that, and being a part of it for three years, and building the relationship with the guys of VTA. Talking about needs we need that 40 to 45 million for the extension for Santa Teresa And we're talking about that seeing how that gets funded so that's something we're working towards We need it so but appreciate you to come tonight and Sharon.

Thank you back to councilmember Hilton

Thanks, so I'll share one of the tangible things that this can sort of like push us through. So right now the rapid 568, it only runs Monday through Friday, right? And it's every 30 minutes. It does not run on the weekends. So this would be one of those things where we could increase it on the weekends, right? So that would be a benefit. you know to members of Gilroy and San Jose to is that that corridor 568 to be able to go on the weekends number two is that the frequent 68 runs every 15 minute headway along the Monterey corridor from here to Deer Don and Along with, Beverly didn't mention it, but one of the other things that they're trying to do is transit signal priority. And one of the investments that you'll see in the future coming back here is that they're really trying to speed up transit along the Monterey Corridor from Gilroy to San Jose. Transit signal priority is one of those things that's doing that. And one of the things, and we talked about this last week in the PAC, One of the benefits for that is sometimes it can go from 15 minute headways to all of a sudden it's down to like 14 and then 13 and then maybe even 12, right?

So that gives more frequent service

rapid service and planners love it and those that use transit love it because it's really easy for us to tell somebody like, you know, hey, get yourself to Monterey Road and, you know, find a bus stop and a bus will be there every 15 minutes. And that's really what this board's trying to work on. That's what their staff's trying to work on is, is get to this point, and that's why it's nothing tangible, but they want to get to this point where you really don't have to think too much about it. Whether it's an app you're using or whatever, you're literally just able to go down there and not have to worry if the bus is coming or not coming. It just comes every 10 to 15 minutes. But the other thing, too, is the investment in the bus shelters. And so some of the bus shelters down here on Monterey Road are really bad. And they're not inviting. And there's ways for us to turn those in. I turn those in. But if you look at some of the cities up north that have more frequent transit, just because they have more ridership, like Beverly said, they're able to tell how many ons and offs they get at certain places.

And that's where they really want to invest those really high tech bus shelters.

some even the bus shelters, they know if people are riding their bikes and they want to leave their bikes, they'll put bike racks in there. So it's that futuristic type stuff, and I can promise you that as a member of the PAC and the mayor, the alternate on the board, the board seat comes back to Gilroy next year. These are the kind of things that we want to hear from the community and from our fellow council members, and this is this kind of futuristic stuff that you can see me trying to push up there during the expenditure plan, and whatever they end up approving in June and beyond myself and the mayor promised that we will bring all that back and give you actual tangible things that that make it better if this passes in November or even it gets on the ballot we don't even know it's on the ballot yet thank you any last comments Beverly

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with us. And just so you know, we have millions and millions of slides, and they have been seen by a couple of your board directors. I wanted to make sure that I was in the allotted time. But I can share with you much more detail. We can maybe come and give you a briefing individually so that you know.

Thank you very much. Thanks for coming in.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. We're going to move on to item number 6.3. We're going to move to public comment. This is public comment by members of the public on items that are not on the agenda but within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to call up Arcelia O'Connor, followed by Bill O'Connor, and then George Rosas.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, and staff members. I am a first generation American. My parents were both from Mexico and became proud American citizens. My father came to the US more than 100 years ago and was a World War II veteran. He loved America with all his heart. But I'm glad that my mom and dad are not with us now, because I know their hearts would be broken about what has been happening in this country, this country where I and my siblings were born. The sadness, hate, lawlessness, and in too many cases, death that has been inflicted on many individuals by ICE agents, including American citizens, that has engulfed this nation is now on Gilroy's doorstep. And even though it may not be within our city limits, it will affect our community greatly. So I implore you, I urge you to oppose the ICE detention center that is slated for construction on our doorstep before it's too late. Democracy, our democracy, is on the line and it can die one step at a time. So please, don't let Gilroy be one more step on that path. Silence is not an option. The time to speak is now. Thank you. Thank you.

Council, I heard last night that ICE is working to establish a facility in the Gilroy area outside of the city limits. I have not had time to research and validate this information. Still, I want to share my stance on the overall issue. I understand that the country needs immigration enforcement. However, I cannot accept the terror tactics currently being used. I also cannot accept the lack of consideration of the history of an individual since arrival, the status of their family, and their role in the larger community. I believe decisions should be made based on what is best for all involved. I am opposed to any ICE facility under the present administration in the Gilroy area, whether inside or outside the city limits. I believe the majority of my fellow citizens feel the same, and I would encourage the Gilroy City Council to take the same position. I believe Santa Clara County has already declared its opposition to this facility. Thanks for letting me share my opinion.

Thank you.

After George will be Frank Logan.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to voice the concern I have in my neighborhood. I live at 7340 Alexander Street between Old Gilroy and 6th. We have a high-speed problem in our street there. We have a lot of kids. I have a 22-year-old daughter that backs out of our driveway and constantly is almost getting hit, run into with unruly drivers that do no respect. So I've come to City Engineer, talked to him about it. I've talked to traffic police. Nothing's been done. They're going 50 miles an hour on my street. And I would invite any one of you to come sit on my porch and watch this. You're welcome to come. I'll have lemonade for you if you want. And hang out for just 10 minutes. And you'll see what I'm talking about. I DON'T KNOW IF I'M REPRESENTED ON THE EAST SIDE. DO I HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE THAT REPRESENTS MY SIDE, A TOWN?

WE DON'T HAVE DISTRICTS UNTIL THIS ELECTION COMING UP THIS YEAR. SO IT'S COMING UP. SO WE ALL REPRESENT YOU. IT'S COMING UP, RIGHT? YES.

OKAY, GOOD. THAT'S GOOD. BECAUSE I FEEL THE EAST SIDE IS NEGLECTED, OKAY? I GO OVER ON LONG MEADOW, THERE'S SPEED BUMPS ALL UP AND DOWN LONG MEADOW. I've asked for speed bumps in my street. Nothing's happening. Before somebody loses control of a vehicle and crashes into somebody's house or runs over kids, somebody needs to do something. That's why I'm here today, to bring awareness to you folks. I lived here all my life. Went to St. Mary's. Went to Gilroy High School on IOOF. Went to Gavilan. I've been here a long time. And now that I'm 68, I've never come too much to come and ask for help from the city because I thought everything was running pretty good. But I just see it's not. And it's a simple thing of speed. That's my concern.

Thank you, George.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your time. You got it.

Frank, followed by Lorena.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am here to discuss the ice concentration camp that is proposed in our area. And I think the biggest issue is we're confused about where is it, who's involved, who's not involved. But I don't think as a community it's a good idea to have an ICE facility here in our area. I am here with, my name is Frank Logan, and I'm here with my wife Suzanne. And we respectfully request the mayor and city council to address the following questions at the next city council meeting on June 1st, 2026. As these issues directly affect every resident of the city of Gilroy, number one, the authority of local government. What legal authority do the mayor and the city council, as elected representatives of Gilroy residents, have to prevent the establishment of this proposed ice concentration camp within the city of Gilroy or nearby. The second request is requirements for the detention facility. If Gilroy residents or a business, whether based inside the city limits or outside, sought to create such a facility TO DETAIN AND HOUSE INDIVIDUALS WHAT SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS, PERMITS, PROCEDURES WOULD APPLY. WERE THESE REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENTED? WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON WITH ICE? THE THIRD, FEDERAL COMPLIANCE. Regarding the ice concentration camp proposed by the federal government within the Gilroy City limits, has the federal government complied with all of these local requirements, procedures, and the review processes? Where is this compliance documented? FOURTH, PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND MUNICIPAL IMPACT. AS A FACILITY THAT HOUSES PEOPLE, MUST MEET STANDARDS RELATED TO HYGIENE, MENTAL HEALTH, MEDICAL CARE, DEVICE PROTENTION, SANITATION, FOOD SERVICES, SHANITOR OPERATIONS, LAUNDRY, AND OTHER ESSENTIAL SERVICES. ADDITIONAL SUCH FACILITIES WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT THE CITY'S UTILITIES, INCLUDING WATER, SEWER, ELECTRIC, AND GAS. Which sections of the Gilroy Municipality Code govern a facility of this nature? Do we know? It would be nice for the residents of Gilroy to understand what is required and what is not. And what would be required at the city council hearing, is it a vote or do they just rubber stamp it and move it on?

I think that's your three minutes, but we do have your document, and then our city administrator is going to give you his information so you guys can communicate directly. Thank you very much. Thanks for the document as well.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR BOZO AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS. MY NAME IS LORENA CARRIBA AND I AM A LONG-TERM RESIDENT OF GILROY, EDUCATOR ALL MY LIFE AND I'M CURRENTLY SITTING AT THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AT GABRIELLA COLLEGE. The speaker right before me said most of the things that I wanted to ask and say, but I'm here to make sure that I express the horror and concern that I have about the opening or the prospective opening of an ICE processing and detention center right in the vicinity of Gilroy. I, as a former teacher, I witnessed raids that totally terrified the students that I taught, because I always taught in migrant education programs, recent immigrants and homeless students programs. I witnessed one of them right outside one of my schools in Hollister and then later on in Santa Clara County where detention agents were posted outside of summer school waiting for parents to come in to pick up students. We cannot teach students that live in that kind of fear. The fear and the horror that spreads to a community that is experiencing these kinds of things and with the upcoming of such a center in our city, that is going to become, I think, the norm. We cannot teach students what the meaning of with liberty and justice for all when we have these kinds of things happening in our communities and we see them, not necessarily in our backyard yet, but they're all over the news everywhere. So I really ask you to stand responsibly against this kind of facility and also just so help students. Gilroy Unified is barely coming back, is still fighting declining enrollment. Gavilan College is barely coming back to our pre-pandemic enrollment students. We have students that have told us that they have not enrolled in school in Gavilan because they're afraid if they're gonna be safe coming to school. So I am here to plead with you to do the right thing and to really help us clarify what's really going on. Thank you.

Thank you, Lorena.

I have no further speakers.

Okay, thank you, everybody. Moving on to item number seven, reports of council members. Council Member Bracco.

Let's do the report.

Council Member Marks.

Yes, I have a report. A week ago, I attended the Cherry Jubilee News Media event at Gilroy Gardens. They had very tasty cherry appetizers, sandwiches, hamburgers, desserts, and drinks to promote the Cherry Jubilee month that starts in June. Go out and see for yourself and see what a wonderful time you will have experiencing all of this. I also have the honor of participating in a panel discussion hosted by Casey Estorga last week at Gavilan College on what it takes to be a city councilperson. Some very interested folks attended, but too seriously considering running. A big thank you to Casey for doing this community event. I attended the Sister Cities meeting last Tuesday. They showed us the trifle they are having created to promote the club, which could lead interested folks into becoming a member. They also tossed around ideas for a more social media presence to encourage increased membership. With a media ambassador, they hope to attract a younger crowd. They discussed their invitations to the sister cities for the upcoming Garlic Festival weekend. An itinerary discussion was held on activities for the six days the people are here. That's it.

Thank you. Council Member Hilton.

Thank you. From the ABAC General Assembly Delegate, Association of Bay Area Governments, or ABAC, is the official comprehensive planning agency for the San Francisco Bay Area region. ABAC's mission is to strengthen cooperation and coordination among local governments. As our city's delegate, I've registered for the General Assembly and Business Conference on June 18th, 2026 in San Francisco, where we will determine policy, receive a regional housing needs allocation, or RENA, for the seventh cycle housing element presentation, adopt the annual budget, and work program. In addition, the General Assembly reviews policy recommendations from the ABAC Executive Board, establishes annual membership fees, and reviews the bylaws of the ABAC Association. In my expanded role as Vice Mayor, I've also continued to build upon the relationship with the Gilroy Museum by bringing three more pieces to the admin wing of City Hall. Anyone that's visiting the admin wing of City Hall Please feel free to stop by and check out the mayor's office where you will see two framed black and white aerial photographs of Gilroy. One is taken looking west towards Hecker Pass from the Holesclaw Road, and the other is looking north from State Route 25 interchange towards downtown Gilroy along Monterey Road before Highway 101 was built. Both pieces were taken by an unknown photographer from the 1960s. The third piece is located on the wall between the mayor's office and the council member's office. It's a framed color aerial photograph of Gilroy. Image is taken north from the south of Gilroy, starting a little before Monterey Road, off Highway 101. And that was from Aerial Concepts, is the photographer from 1991. And then every few months, what we're going to do is just continue the relationship and switch them up. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Ramirez.

Yes, I actually joined Council Member Marks in a couple of these events. I also attended the Cherry Jubilee Media Day, and we were treated to over 50 various cherry delicacies that will be available. I left there so darn full. It was so good. And they have also won an International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Brass Ring Award. The food is really good, people. You've got to get out there. It's June 5th through July 5th. I also served on the panel with Councilmember Marks up at Gavilan, and it was a great experience, and we just talked about what it takes and how you run for office. I have been accepted into the 2026 Focus Agriculture Program. This is an agriculture first in the nation educational program. It's similar to like leadership Gilroy, the leadership programs. It's an opportunity for community leaders to participate in a nine session intensive program acquiring knowledge about a broad spectrum of agriculture. The program has actually won a national award and several communities throughout the United States have duplicated this program. The once a month, day-long seminars, including farm tours and hands-on experience, I'm honored to have been selected and look forward to starting the program. And a special thank you to Joni Lewis for sponsoring me. I was able to once again participate in St. Mary's eighth grade student learning plan presentations. Council Member Klein joined me. I heard from two eighth grade students as they took me through their faith and learning experience at St. Mary and how they plan to use these lessons learned as they move forward into high school. And it was encouraging. I think our future is bright. I was able to take a tour of Intuitive Surgical. It's incredible what they can do, how the high tech has incorporated with the surgeries. And it's great to have them here in Gilroy, and I look forward to seeing them grow their campus. I attended the Santa Clara County Peace Officer Memorial Celebration at the Sheriff Department, and it was a wonderful opportunity to remember officers who paid their ultimate sacrifice and to honor the loved ones that they've left behind. At this month's Cities Association, I joined elected officials from all jurisdictions in the county as we voted to support seven Assembly and Senate bills on a number of different issues, including e-bikes, housing elements, and funding for the unhoused. I HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF PRESENTING, ALONG WITH COUNCILMEMBER HILTON, AWARDS DURING THIS YEAR'S LITTLE LEAGUE CHALLENGER JAMBERRY EVENT. GILROY LITTLE LEAGUE HOSTED EIGHT CHALLENGER BASEBALL TEAMS FROM ACROSS THE BAY AREA, INCLUDING TWO FROM GILROY TO CELEBRATE THE ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF ATHLETES WITH MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DISABILITIES. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE EVENT. Big kudos to all the organizers and volunteers and congratulations to all the participants. And I just want to say on record in regards to the proposed detention center, I would like to propose that the council discusses sending a letter of opposition.

Thank you. Council Member Klein.

Yeah, I got to, as Councilmember Ramirez said, St. Mary's, interviewing two students. I know Christina talked about Rock the Mock. It's similar, and it's just a great time to be able to interview these kids and just hear from them, sharing their faith, all those things. It was a great event, and it was really fun. I, too, was on that tour of Intuitive Surgical. It's a company that moved, actually, They moved part of their business from Sunnyvale to Gilroy, 200,000 square feet in the McCarthy Ranch development. A great business, and it's exciting to see a business like that here in Gilroy. I know I do want to do a shout out because the general contractor, Pacific Ridge Builders, did the work, the TI for them, and I do a lot of work for them up north. And Their comments about our planning department, our community development department, they couldn't say enough positives about them and how much they helped them get the project through and get it done on time. And I know the customer was happy with the relationship with Gilroy, and I know this contractor was. So, Sharon, great job to your team and the department. You guys are doing a great job. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Okay, I have no report this evening. I'm going to move on to item number eight. It's a consent calendar. Any questions by council on consent? If none, I'll go to public comment.

I do have one speaker on item 8.6, Terry Hernandez.

Okay.

Hi. Good evening, Mayor and Gilroy City Council members. Thank you for your time today. I'm here to show my support for the approval of funding for community events allocated for fiscal year 2027. Thank you. Thank you, Terry.

I have no further speakers.

Okay, I'll entertain them. I have a first, a motion.

A second.

And a second. I have a first by Council Member Bracco, a second by Council Member Klein to approve the consent calendar of items 8.1 through 8.9. Roll call, please.

Council Member Bracco. Yes. Council Member Klein.

Yes.

Council Member Hilton.

Aye.

Council Member Marks. Yes. Council Member Ramirez. Yes. Mayor Bozo.

Yes, motion passes six to zero. Councilmember Hilton, you have a comment?

Yeah, I have a quick comment on 8.4. So this item will allow the city of Gilroy to apply for $229,000 in TDA funds from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for bicycle safety around Los Animas Elementary School specifically. This, along with several other city initiatives, is us as a city saying yes to an all-above approach. With help from our partners at County Public Health, the company Safe Moves is willing to come in and support a pedestrian safety day at Los Animas Elementary School pro bono. Services would include a pedestrian safety rodeo for students during the school day and a hands-on experimental learning program, and then the following evening at night, a parent traffic safety workshop, which will help reinforce the safety and training education to the parents. This service can help complement and support a comprehensive school safety plan requirements under California Education Code. I'd like us and the community to continue to advocate to the GUSD district office and the board members of GUSD to say yes and not the initial no to this free opportunity. As GUSD continues down the path of declining enrollment and potential school closures, this creates impacts that weren't originally designed and mitigated for at their existing campuses. especially when you now have parents and students traveling farther distances outside of their home school boundaries or granted permission for inter-district transfers to programs offered at schools outside of their home schools. We need GUSD to help mitigate these impacts their schools bring in conjunction with us and take the free offer from Safe Moves. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Moving on to number nine, there are public hearings. 9.1 is public meeting regarding the renewal of the Gilroy Tourism Business Improvement District. Staff report, please.

Good evening. For the record, Raissa De La Rosa, Economic Development. As the purpose of this meeting is to hear from the public, I'll try to be very brief in my overview of the business improvement district, tourism business improvement district. So starting with a reminder that business improvement districts are not a tax. They are a collaborative funding tool that is voluntarily entered into by participating businesses. So only the entities that pay into them participate. In the case of tourism business improvement districts, they tend to pass those costs on to people staying in their hotels. So unlike the transient occupancy tax, however, business improvement district funds are not put into the general fund. They are restricted funds, and the use of those funds are really only for tourism-related activities in the case of this thing, tourism-related expenses and things that benefit those paying into the fund. So specific to Gilroy, the Gilroy Tourism Business Improvement District is – managed by a board, most of whom on the board are members paying into the bid. And it does allow for a wide range of services that promote tourism and, of course, destination marketing. Let's see, the Gilroy's bid does include 17 lodging establishments. The current assessment is 2% of the gross room rate revenue. But if the board so decides, which in the last 10 years they have not done so, but the 2% could go up to 5%, but never above 5%. And it does not have to stay there. It can come back down, but never below 2%. This is the renewal. This is requesting a renewal for 10 years beginning in 2028. Though we're very early in requesting this renewal, it has no effect on when it starts. It'll start in January 2028. And we have received three letters of support for this item. And with that, I'll end my presentation so you can hear from the public.

Any questions so far for staff before we go to open the public hearing? I have a question. Yes. Can you talk a little bit about the fact in the staff report, you know, we're talking about the hotel in general, the typical hotels, but there's also some report about being over 10 rooms. But it seems like in this era that we live in with short-term rentals, In often cases, it's less than 10 rooms. So under this information, that they would not be levied?

That's correct. What was submitted into the management plan is that this apply to lodging businesses with 10 rooms or more. This council does have the opportunity to modify that management district plan, but not until the June 15 public hearing at which the vote will be heard and you'll BE CONSIDERING A RESOLUTIONAL FORMATION. IT IS IN THAT RESOLUTIONAL FORMATION THAT YOU CAN MODIFY THE PLAN.

OKAY. ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS? I'D LIKE TO OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.

I HAVE NO SPEAKERS.

OKAY. I'LL CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING. ANY FINAL QUESTIONS? WE'RE JUST GIVING DIRECTION TONIGHT. So it sounds like the direction that we're giving is what you are recommending, but keep in mind the idea that it seems like that we should include less than 10 rooms.

That's right. I think the purpose of the meeting tonight is there are no recommendations. It's just the opportunity for the public to weigh in on this item. And we'll be back on, I believe, June 15th, if that's the correct date, in June with the public hearing and resolution of formation.

Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. OK, moving on to item number 9.2, public hearing pursuant to government code section 3502.3 in relation to Assembly Bill 2561 to receive a report on the city of Gilroy vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts. Staff report, please.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, members of the Gilroy community, Leanne McPhillips. I'm going to be giving the staff report tonight on AB 2561, which is our position vacancy and recruitment and retention report. So what is AB 2561? This was an assembly bill passed in 2024. It became effective on January 1, 2025, and it amends the government code in the Myers-Millius-Brown Act, which is the act that relates to collective bargaining to require us to go through this reporting process once per year. We have to hold a public hearing regarding position vacancies prior to the adoption of the budget. However, in Gilroy, we do a two-year budget, and this is an off year, so we're not adopting a budget this year. But in order to comply with the regulation, we're here to present the annual information because we do a mid-cycle budget update process, so this aligns with that process. And in this report, we need to provide the status of vacancies by bargaining unit. We have to give you information on our recruitment and retention efforts and any obstacles or challenges in the hiring process. And then there's additional obligations. If the vacancy rate in a particular bargaining unit is over 20%, then we have to provide additional information. Thankfully, none of our documents vacancy rates are at 20% or above. They are much below that. So we have different bargaining groups here at the City of Gilroy. This is more for the public than for council, because you are very well aware of this. AFSCME Local 101 is our professional, paraprofessional, technical, clerical, and maintenance employees. Our Gilroy Police Officers Association is our sworn peace officers, sergeants, corporals, officers, and our detention service officers. We have a Gilroy Management Association, which is all of our managers, less department heads in confidential positions. IAFF, Gilroy Firefighters Local 2805 are all our fire department positions, which in the ranks of captain, engineer, and firefighters, which are also serving as licensed paramedics. And then we have various unrepresented employees that are not in a collective bargaining unit, but they are appointed positions, department heads, or other confidential employees. So this is how our groups are organized here at the City of Gilroy. So what is our vacancy rate by bargaining group? You can see up on the chart, which was also included in the staff report, that was in the agenda packet. We have 299 full-time positions. We have 25 vacancies at this current time, which is a vacancy rate of 8.36%. And then you can see how that spreads across the different bargaining groups based upon the number of positions within each group. And I'll pause there for a second to see if anybody has any questions on this data. Okay. Okay, we'll continue on. And then we also put together turnover data just to give you a sense of what triggers turnover of positions here at the City of Gilroy overall and by bargaining units. So this last cycle, we had seven retirements, 11 voluntary resignations, mostly within the AFSCME bargaining unit, and nine involuntary resignations, which is someone who's released from probation, terminated, or resigns in lieu of being released or terminated. So that in part drives our turnover data that may not quite align with our vacancy information because sometimes we have new positions that are approved and then that becomes a vacancy once approved. So in our Office of Human Resources and working in cooperation with all of our managers throughout the city organization and supervisors, apply various recruitment and retention efforts to continue to make progress in filling vacant positions. The list up on the screen here is covered much more extensively in the staff report that's in the packet. Each item describes in detail the efforts that we make to address different issues that impact our recruitment and hiring process and our efforts to retain high quality employees. I am happy to discuss any one of these items if you'd like me to. Otherwise, I'm just kind of for the public, letting you know the different things that we do to try to recruit and retain employees. There's no action for the council to take tonight. This is receive the report and conduct this public hearing. This report is a state mandate, but there's no action that needs to be taken. There's no further reporting required because none of our vacancy rates are over 20%, at 20% or over. So it's a chance for you to hear from the public. All of our bargaining units were notified of tonight's public hearing and they are given the opportunity to come forward and speak if anyone's here. I didn't see anybody in the audience earlier, so I don't think so. But happy to answer any questions and you can hear from the public.

Any questions from council? I'd like to go ahead and open the public hearing and ask for public comment. I have no speakers Okay, then thank you very much Leanne. We for we will receive the information and a report. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Thank you Moving on to item number ten ten point one. It's unfinished business consideration of a downtown plywood and vacancy regulations Good evening your counsel

As mentioned, this is the follow-up item to the direction received from council to pursue downtown plywood vacancy regulations. So a brief background. In 2023, a downtown committee was established and identified plywood and vacancy concerns among a group of subcommittees and focus areas that they took up. In 2024, the subcommittees presented the recommendations to the city council, and these two items are added to the work plan. In spring of 2025, there are some staff capacity changes Go away connect launched I kind of further work until this clear 26 and then November 3rd 2025 council directed staff to update chapter 5d Which is the commercial space vacancies in downtown and seek property and business owner input? so that the entire committee identified issues regarding the impact of the visual image of plywood use and vacancies and the impact it has on economic activity and and community safety perceptions. The negative appearance tends to generate a feeling that the area is unsafe, regardless of the actual safety record of the area, which diminishes foot traffic, lessens tenant interest, and deteriorates the downtown vitality. These issues can also spiral as one gets worse, impacts the other, and vice versa, and just feeds upon itself. So it's important to address these issues. SO THE COUNCIL PROVIDED DIRECTION TO REVIVE AND STRENGTHEN CHAPTER 5D, CONSIDER DOWNTOWN COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE PACKET AS THE RED LINE EDITS TO CHAPTER 5D INCORPORATING THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS. ENGAGED PROPERTY AND BUSINESS OWNERS, WHICH WE HAD TWO WORKSHOPS FOR PROPERTY AND BUSINESS OWNERS AS WELL AS AN ONLINE SURVEY, AND THEN DISCUSSED THE VACANCY TAX OPTION. COUNCIL MADE IT EXPRESS THAT THIS WAS CONSIDERED ESSENTIALLY A LAST RESORT OPTION, AND SO WE RECEIVED INPUT FROM THAT THROUGH THIS PROCESS. So again, in the packet is a Chapter 5D with red line edits from the committee's recommendations. The first one is essentially the biggest change is the removal of the sunset, so reactivating Chapter 5D in its entirety. This would go on in perpetuity until council decides to change at some point in the future. The collection tools are added, again, based on recommendations, special focus on special assessments so that any delinquent fees are collected each year. It doesn't allow a lien that just defers payment and feeling the impact to property owners, you know, until the property sales. And then pilot regulations, add the prohibited materials, artwork requirements, including the requirement for community development to provide examples, timelines, and fines. ALSO ADDS REGISTRATION FEES BACK INCLUDING ANNUAL REGISTRATION. THE RED LINE EDIT HAS 1,500 FOR EACH YEAR. STAFF IS RECOMMENDING A PROGRESSIVE FEE STRUCTURE BASED ON INPUT RECEIVED. WE'LL TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE BIT LATER ON IN THE PRESENTATION. The building report card is included, including visible information on vacant properties, their contacts, as well as code violations that are being incurred. In the vacancy definition, staff is recommending retaining the existing Chapter 5D occupancy framework and removing the 35% reference, but the red line edit that is in the Council's PAC includes both. So on plywood regulation, we sought the input of property and business owners. Participants were generally supportive of controlling plywood use, minimizing the downtown visual impacts and improving perceptions of safety and business activity. There were no real negative comments about the fees associated with plywood regulation, making sure that enforcement is carried out with that. On vacancy registration, it was a little more mixed. Some favored stronger incentives to help fill vacancies, but at the same time, others were worried that the fees could be punitive, especially for those that are trying to actively market their properties. And the feedback on the vacancy tax was mostly negative. There were some comments that seemed to blur registration fee and tax concepts back and forth. The survey results were split. There were six responses to the online survey. And again, it was split between positive and negative support. So recommendations from staff is to reactivate Chapter 5D, incorporate the downtown committee's co-recommendations with two changes. One, the progressive registration fee, essentially giving $750 as the first year's registration fee and then increasing it to the $1,500 year two and beyond. And then removing the 35% vacant building reference. And this really has, the reason for that is there's some real interpretive gray areas as far as 35%. What's counted? Do you count a loading dock? Do you count a long hallway, et cetera? And it can cause some debate. And then finally, we're recommending deferring the vacancy tax determination. Mainly there's the San Francisco case, which is still on appeal. And then we also don't want to compete with the other ballot measures that are proposed for this election cycle. So councils have alternatives. One is to narrow the approach, having us focus set on plywood regulations only or vacancy regulations only. Again, council can set different registration fees, plywood fines, or enforcement timelines. Council, it's not recommended, but can pursue a vacancy tax anyway and pursue that to put on the ballot. And then finally, council can also cease any orange change efforts, in which case then we continue downtown code compliance but focusing on some of the other codes that we have currently in effect. So fiscal impact, minimal cost for the legal advertisement, obviously the codification costs, but no budget action is needed. And then the next steps, once we receive council's direction tonight, is then prepare the ordinance for update and then introduction and adoption to council at a later meeting. And that completes the presentation. I have just any questions or comments.

Chris, could you leave it on the recommendation slide?

Sure. Thank you. I'm going to start with Council Member Ramirez. I think you have questions. Then I'll go to Council Member Marks.

Just one quick question. The vacancy tax, you said that there was mostly negative feedback. Do you know whether that was from those, was most of the negative feedback from those that actually have vacancies or just kind of everyone downtown, whether they had a vacancy or not?

It'll only be speculative, but from the attendees of the meetings, I would say none of the attendees were ones who have issues with vacancies.

And they still opposed it?

Some did, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Council Member Marks.

I would be interested in hearing a discussion from the council about this vacancy tax because I know when the committee talked about it, we weren't targeting business owners or building, I should say building owners, who had a recent vacant building. And I could even see if it took them five years, maybe just seven years, to actually get a business in. But some of our buildings downtown have been vacant for 20 years with no end in sight. And those were the buildings that we were targeting to say, really, in 20 years, you found no one who was willing to come into your building? So I think for the sake of downtown, we have to do something to urge them. TO GET THESE BUILDINGS OCCUPIED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE IT DOES HAVE AN EFFECT ON ALL THE OTHER BUSINESSES THAT ARE DOWN THERE BECAUSE A FULL DOWNTOWN CREATES A LOT OF FOOT TRAFFIC WHICH CREATES A LOT OF BUSINESS AND SPENDING AND SALES TAX. SO I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM MY FELLOW COUNCIL MEMBERS ON HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT DO WE JUST ALLOW BUILDING OWNERS TO BE VACANT FOREVER AND EVER OR DO WE WANT TO KIND OF URGE THEM TO FILL THEIR BUILDINGS?

Any further questions for Bryce at this time? We'll go to public comment, and then maybe we'll get back to a few comments for you, Council Member Marks.

Ron Kirkish.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and members of the community at large. I issued a letter. and passed it out downtown to save our cafe, the new cafe, Italian cafe, and to save our downtown. And the reason I did that was because our downtown people, owners, are very upset with the inaction or unattention that we get downtown, especially in the evening. The owner of the restaurant, I'm not going to name him, showed me videos in front of his business where people were fighting, killing, almost killing each other, kicking each other in front of his business. And it's happened quite often. He expressed that if the city doesn't do something about this, he's going to quit. He's going to quit and go someplace else. This is a very, very fine restaurant. The food is delicious. And I'm very concerned. I believe that after my letter, there was some attention being paid. I understand that two of our police officers went downtown and walked downtown for a bit. But it needs to be sustained, especially during the evening hours. I hope that, I don't know if you were brought up to speed or if they talked to you, Matt. I heard that they might have. Let's do something about it, okay? Thank you.

I have no further speakers.

Thank you very much. Additional comments? Questions? Council Member Klein?

Well, I think about, you know, this is downtown specific and I get that, but I also think about, you know, we've got to, District and when you think about it first Street and got leaves the road you got 10th Street And you've got buildings out there that are unoccupied or you got issues with plywood and whatnot So I'm concerned about the big picture for the city in general too, and how we focus through the whole place Applying the same principle all over the city I

Yeah, I would say the same. Into your comments, Councilmember Marks, I know you're looking for a little more conversation from us. The idea of the vacancy tax, I would really like to inspire, if lack of a better term, for folks to do more with their buildings. I KNOW THAT WAS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THAT WE PUT TOGETHER AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT IN THIS INSIDE OUR CITY HALL FINALLY AND WE HAVE AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TEAM NOW IN PLACE AND I'M HOPEFUL THAT BY HAVING A MORE PROACTIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN, WORKING IN LOCKSTEP WITH THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WHO WAS HERE EARLIER PRESENTING TODAY THAT WE COULD AVOID HAVING THE VACANCY TACK AND ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE'S LEGAL RAMIFICATION STILL HAPPENING WITH VACANCY TAX IN OTHER LOCATIONS THAT I'M CONCERNED ABOUT DOING THAT AT THIS TIME. SO COUNCILMEMBER MARIS.

I AGREE WITH WHAT YOU JUST SAID, MAYOR, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SOMEHOW KEEP SOMETHING ON THE TABLE AND MAYBE IT DOESN'T EVEN COME BACK FOR ANOTHER YEAR AND A HALF OR SOMETHING, WATCH WHAT HAPPENS IN SAN FRANCISCO, THINGS LIKE THAT. I WANT TO VALIDATE COUNCILMEMBER MARK'S CONCERNS BECAUSE WHAT SHE'S SAYING IS TRUE. THERE ARE BUILDINGS THAT, YOU KNOW, IT JUST BAFFLES ME AS TO WHY THEY REMAIN VACANT FOR DECADES, NOT JUST YEARS. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THEY'VE BEEN APPROACHED BY BUYERS THAT ARE WILLING TO PAY FAIR MARKET PRICE AND THEY DON'T WANT TO SELL THEM, THEY DON'T WANT TO LEASE THEM, THEY DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING, AND IT BECOMES PROBLEMATIC FOR THE EFFORT TO REALLY VITALIZE THE DOWNTOWN AREA. SO, YOU KNOW, MAYBE RIGHT NOW IS NOT THE TIME, BUT CERTAINLY I think that this needs to be something that we continue to track. And I'm all for trying with the new economic development department, but let's try to motivate and inspire. But if that doesn't work, I am certainly not opposed to coming back to looking at more punitive type of action. No, I would say another year and a half or so, so that it's something that could possibly put on the next ballot. Council Member Marks?

I could live with that as long as it was, say, a year, year and a half. Because, yes, we do have a new economic development person. Let her have a chance at these people. See, maybe she can persuade them to get businesses in their building. But if there's no movement in a couple of years, then I... I THINK WE HAVE TO REALIZE WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING A LITTLE HARSHER AND GET THAT DOWNTOWN BUILT.

OKAY. SO WE ARE PROVIDING DIRECTION TONIGHT. I'M GOING TO BREAK THIS IN HALF JUST SO WE GET CLEAR DIRECTION. THERE'S TWO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS. I'LL JUST GO OVER THEM BRIEFLY. THE FIRST ONE IS DIRECT THE INCORPORATION OF THE DOWNTOWN COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS SUCH AS AMEND THE VACANCY REGISTRATION RENEWAL FEE AND REMOVE THE 35% REFERENCE INCLUSION FOR DETERMINING A VACANT BUILDING. We agree on that one? There was no comment or feedback on that, so do we agree on that one? No, okay. No problems with that one? Okay, so we have direction on that one. And then the other one, which is what we just talked about, is direct staff not to pursue a vacancy tax at this time due to the reasons described in the earlier report, but remember that we would like to monitor this and possibly bring this back in a year if we don't see progress. Is that okay direction? Okay. All right, looks like you have direction, Bryce. Thank you very much. Okay, moving on to item number 11, introduction of new business, 11.1, consideration of options for displaying the commemorative flags at City Hall or the Civic Center Complex. So before I go to staff report, I would like to go to Councilmember Ramirez. She was the one that brought this to council. So a couple words from Councilmember Ramirez, and then we'll go to staff report, please.

Thank you, Mayor. I brought this forth because many constituents reached out to me with some current concerns. I am trying to provide a balance, if you will. And just as a reminder, I am not up here representing myself. I was elected to represent everyone in this community. And so this is why I brought it forth as a fair memo. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, John, you're next. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor, council members, community. Tonight we're considering options for the display of commemorative flags at City Hall or the Civic Center Complex. The basic request tonight is a series of questions. Does the City Council wish to look at installing a third flagpole for the display of commemorative flags? If yes, where? Does the Council wish to consider modifications to the flag flying policy to coincide with the installation of a third flagpole? And if yes, conceptually, what revisions would the Council like to see? As noted, on February 23rd, the Council considered a fair memo presented by Councilmember Ramirez. And the council ultimately concurred with scheduling this item for a future meeting, which is today, on that. Basically, the two pieces of that fair memo are reflected really in the questions, which is evaluate siting and funding a new flagpole, and concurrently with that decision to consider revisions of the city flag-flying policy. Staff has taken the opportunity to look at several alternatives. Those are in your staff report, and I'll go briefly over those. And those options vary pretty widely in terms of price and cost to that, particularly the city hall option, simply because that includes the potential of replacing all three, all two flagpoles and adding a third if you're going to do that. Also, potentially upgrade to the existing plaza and providing access to the public to the flagpole itself, which does not exist at this point. Round Planner and then the Paseo adjacent, and those are all, including your staff report, I'll run through briefly what those look like for the folks who may not have seen the report. So City Hall is basically to look at adding a third flagpole to the existing two flagpole array. This would require removal of that tree that the pole, that orange extension there is going through, so that would require removal. And this pole would be installed at a lower level. One of the benefits of replacing the other two poles, if you're going to choose this It'd be the least expensive time to do so. We could also look at three different heights of flagpole as they should be. So in honor of the US state, city, and then any commemorative flags would all be at a slightly lower from the United States flag as it is today. The two flagpoles are exactly the same. Technically, we have to lower slightly the state flag. Not a huge deal. I'm not sure if we do it every time, frankly, and we should be. And at this point, I don't know when the last time we flew the city flag, and it was reminded that we do have one, so we'll have to look at adding that potentially to the state flagpole, regardless of actions tonight. To the right picture, my right picture there, one of the issues is that you don't have access to the flagpole. I know there has been an interest in having some kind of events related to whatever it might be, and this could be any number of events and folks with that. And you do have a plaza patio area there. It's relatively small, but again, it has no access to the existing flagpole array, and sometimes there's a a desire to actually have a physical raising of a flag in conjunction with that with the public and there is no ADA access, no access to this point and deal with it. So those are wide, you have a wide varying cost point on this. The other second option that we certainly looked at is the round planter in Paseo. This obviously would require the removal of that oak tree. This, while I didn't discuss it in the report technically, could accommodate three flags and moving the whole three flag array over and creating one civic center flag pole array and removing the two from City Hall, or leaving those two, and you could do that, but I just focused on a single flag pole to that point. Certainly, this provides the Paseo a very large area for group activity related to raising of any flag or having that. So that's a benefit to that scenario, but I'm sure the loss of that tree is of some concern to community members and council potentially. And then the third location, which could be virtually anywhere on the flat portion of the Paseo area, but this is one that I just sort of focused on, is that corner to the left, to my left. There is the bench that's there, but this could go virtually anywhere. And again, technically this could accommodate three flags if you wish to, but certainly you could get a single flag, and this is relatively simple. Inexpensive and again part of the question. I think in in your deliberations. It should you know be is that? Should this be this if you wish to go a third flagpole? Do you wish this to be? Associated with the count with the council chamber kind of the city City Hall flag already wanted to stand alone and be elsewhere and But I think access is also one of those pieces that I've heard concerns and questions about in working through this process. The recommendation is what's contained in your report. Receive the report, consider community input, discuss, and provide the direction to staff regarding and basically installing a third flagpole. And if so, then what kind of policy changes would you like to push forward? That concludes my presentation.

I'll start on the right. Council Member Bracco or Council Member Marks, questions?

Well, I'm looking at this, I'm sure, just from my years up here, that it'll be well over $50,000. I don't think we need to do anything. We get one request a year to fly a commemorative flag. And We have flagpoles here at City Hall, and I won't agree to start putting up flagpoles around the...

Right now, we're just having questions. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Marks?

I just have a comment, but no question.

We'll do that after public comment. On my left, questions from anybody? Okay, John, I just have a couple questions. Just to clarify... Going back, so when you say Paseo, you mean the area out between City Hall and the library?

The connecting paved pathway.

And if I understood you correctly, here, the area that's been here since the construction of the building in the early 80s is now out of compliance because there's no ADA access.

It's not out of compliance. It just doesn't have ADA access. We can accommodate because it's only staff accessing those flags and we make do with that. But to allow the public to access and work on raising the flags, it is non-compliant and we could not do that without coming probably out front, taking the hedge out and modifying that whole plaza area that we have to provide that access.

So right now, if somebody from the public wanted to do flag raising, they couldn't. So if we, correct?

If they wanted to take part in somehow raising the flag itself, no, they could not participate in that.

Especially if somebody had some type of... Handicap where they couldn't they couldn't certainly get over there in a wheel absolutely could not get through there So if we ended up putting up a third flag just by chance and we did a POW MIA flag and a retired Veteran that was disabled could not help raise the flag Under the current circumstances. No, okay. Thank you councilmember mirrors.

I see waving I just can you please clarify for me what the $50,000 price tag is for the $50 the $50,000 would be to

work on A little bit of the ADA issues that we have, the edges there of the existing plaza.

Where they are?

Where it is now, the paver plaza. It would be removing the tree. It would be removing the hedge row in front and basically extending that paver plaza out to allow for access to the flags, to the flag poles themselves, and also looking at landscape, some landscape enhancements and improvements in that area.

Okay, just to be clear, my fair memo was about a potential third flagpole, not the whole landscaping.

Understood.

So I just want that to be clear.

Further questions for staff? Public comment, please. Kim, public comment, please.

Sorry. I have Paul followed by Terry and Alejandra.

All right. I'm Paul Rousseff, Gilroy resident, raised in South County. Let's get right to it. No matter how you try to justify it, putting the progress pride flag away from our state and national flag sends a direct message to the LGBTQ plus community. You're telling countless members of your own community that they are not welcome in public and that you don't want to see them. You'd rather hide all evidence of their existence somewhere out of your view and thusly out of your consciousness. In our increasingly unwelcome cultural climate, moving the flag at best is an action complicit with the bigotry faced by the queer community. At its worst, it is enthusiastic participation in the hostility they are subjected to, like hate crimes and oppressive legislation at local, state, and national levels. By keeping the flag plainly visible with the other flags, we are sending a message to a marginalized group in our greater community that says, you're safe here. In today's cultural climate, it can be extremely hard for members of the LGBT plus community to assess everyday situations that most of us take for granted and don't have to think about. I don't have to wonder everywhere I go, does this person want to hurt me? Does this person think I shouldn't exist? Will they attack me? This is the experience that you'd be contributing to by moving the flag away. The flag is a true symbol of visibility. It's not just hollow words thrown out to placate and pacify. It tells your fellow community members you are not alone. And if you care about mental health, the flag must be prominent. There are countless people in the queer community, many of whom I have worked with and continue to work with in my therapy practice, who suffer in silence and isolation. Even my clients and friends who are out have fears and often memories and violence. There's memories of rejection, ridicule, and even violence seared into their minds. Living day to day with this kind of hypervigilance is incredibly harmful to the mind. Over time, it can even physically alter parts of the brain. Showing outward acceptance and support of all of our fellow Gilroy and South County residents is suicide prevention. It is self-harm prevention. It is part of what will allow so many people to begin to heal from all sorts of trauma. Will it fix everything? Of course not. But it's a colorful beacon of hope and acceptance in an increasingly uncertain and often unwelcoming environment. That unwelcome messaging is displayed loud and clear with the recurring fee and signatures that are required to keep the pride flag flying. The thought that a repeated monetary fee and petition forced upon the queer community just to have their existence acknowledged publicly is nothing short of dehumanizing. Telling any community, you have to pay us and submit signatures for us to acknowledge your existence should be repulsive to everyone. All people deserve equal rights, and when specific communities are being targeted and discriminated against, it becomes our responsibility to let them know that we have their backs. That's why you can see the pride flag in the front window of my house that I walked here from, and why it should stay put unconditionally at the heart of the city I call home.

Perry, followed by Alejandra, and then Greg.

Mayor Bozo and Gilroy council members, earlier this year council member Ramirez proposed having a separate poll for commemorative flags including the progress pride flag. At one point it was suggested to have the commemorative flag stand separately on a different site away from the United States and California flags. This means that the progress pride flag would stand alone and placed far away from the United States and California flags. Our nonprofit, which is a 501 , Price Social South County's mission is to promote equality and respect for all of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in all of South County, including Gilroy. We believe that the United States flag, the California flag, and the Progress Pride flag during Pride Month should all stand together. This symbolic gesture would show that the city of Gilroy values and welcomes its LGBT members of the community. Separating the Progress Pride flag from the United States and California flags would be a return to Jim Crow's separate but equal laws. It would be detrimental to our LGBT community by creating a divide. It would send the message that they are not welcome in Gilroy. In addition to keeping all of the flags together, we do ask all of you to please remove the strict requirements for the commemorative flags. In order for the Progress Pride flag to be raised in the month of June, we must obtain 150 signatures and now pay over $600 to the City of Gilroy. Meeting these two requirements does not guarantee that the Progress Pride flag will be raised. The City Council must approve by majority vote if they will allow the Progress Pride flag to be raised. We respectfully ask that you please keep Gilroy strong by uniting and not dividing our community. Sincerely, myself, Terry Hernandez, President of Pride Social South County, Berta Scalera, Gilroy resident, Trinidad Sanchez, Gilroy resident, and Paul, Gilroy resident as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Terry. Next. Next.

Alejandra Good evening mayor and City Council members. My name is Alejandra Perlman I'm here to encourage you to keep the commemorative flag such as the progress pride flag on the same poles as the US and the state flags I These flags represent, this flag represents the members of our community, as do other commemorative flags. And the symbolism of having them removed from the state and national flags is It's hard, and it should not be taken lightly. I encourage you to not do this and to keep them together. The flags and the symbolism of them being separated is a blatant act against community and should not be done. Thank you.

Thank you. Greg is next.

Followed by Carlos and then Sally.

Honorable City Council Members, in speaking... I like flags. I'm a simpleton. I don't know much about flagpoles. I don't know if there's smaller flagpoles that are less expensive. If price is the issue, if we can look at some other way to do it, I think this is an opportunity. And again, yes, the pride flag, and also we just mentioned any commemorative flag, be it MIA and veterans, be it... any sort of community group, any group that goes through the process of getting a flag made and going through the paperwork and spending the money, that's somebody that really, really wants this flag to be represented out to the community. This is your community speaking to you. If there's some way we can accommodate these flags, I don't know if there's any smaller flagpoles. I don't know if there's even, maybe just even an area where, it doesn't have to be a complete flagpole, some area where it can be displayed. They have displays of flags in different ways that they can do it. Maybe not a pole itself, maybe some sort of, display case, something like that. And along with these flags, I think there should be some educational material because I don't know what all of these flags represent. I see a flag, I have no idea what they represent. Some educational material, some sort of either pamphlet or some sort of document, something to explain this is what this flag represents and this is why this flag is here. This is a great opportunity to educate people, to get people involved in what is going on. And also, flags. If there's no wind and the flag's not flying, it's just sitting there. The flag's not even out there. You can't even see it. It's up there. We take flags for granted. Having it more towards eye level, I think, would be a better idea. That's just an idea. Something I think you guys ought to consider. Something where I think even the an educational opportunity for the community and for people to get involved. Thank you.

Thanks, Greg. Carlos is next, please.

Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me? Are we good? Yeah. Okay. Hi, everyone. I'm Carlos Pineda. I'm not very good at public speaking, for those of you who disagree. I struggle with this because sitting back there, this is the hardest thing that I have to do, is to come before you, which I know a lot of you personally, professionally. This is just the hardest thing I ever have to do every time we have to come up here to have this conversation. And sometimes it's... It's a little embarrassing with my back against so many people that I might not know or may not approve of me or support me, but it's very difficult to keep having these conversations and putting my heart on the line for all of you to understand. I've had a rough day with my world because I work at a nonprofit that supports the most emotional and economic well-being of many youth and young adults in this community. And this morning I had one of my students reach out to me and said, I can't find my place in this world. I don't know who I am. I don't know if I belong. I don't know if people want me here. Why am I here? And I had to come to that person because I knew I was going to be here this evening and say, I get it. I feel you. I hear you. I see you. But come to our agency. Come to our home. and see what that means for you. You walk onto our campus and you see that flag flown every single day, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, it's there. But knowing that that flag is there allows me to go onto that campus and say, I'm home, I'm here, I'm visible, I'm welcomed. And being a Gilroy resident, born and raised in this city at Wheeler Hospital myself. My brothers are here. They all work for different organizations or groups locally. You all know a lot of my family members. It's hard for having us to come up here and still have this conversation. Unfortunately, right now, your focus is the flag on this pole. But continuing to have this conversation is just hard. And I only say that because I want you to recognize who I am, what I do every day, and the hard work that we put into it with a lot of these people that are here for you today. to support you, to empower you, to encourage you to do the best and right thing at that point in time. But unfortunately, sometimes it's like, okay, what's next? You asked us to get the 150 signatures, we get 300. You asked us to pay the fees, we pay it ahead of time, on time, the day of. You say, chef, go buy the flag and pay for the flag and deliver the flag, pressed and ready to go. I do that. We've done everything you've asked for. Just help us create a better opportunity to make this conversation not go away, but... do it in a more positive light, to keep the energy going in a positive direction, more progressively, and that's what our goal is, progression, right? So if you can put the third flag, great. If it's not on the same flagpole as the American flag, okay. We'll build the third flag, it's okay, it's right next to it. But if we can just do this more positively moving forward, it's easier that way. Thank you.

Thank you, Carlos.

Ali.

Good evening to both of you, all of you. This is Allie Armendares, my native of Delaware, all 84 years of me. But I'm here in support of flying the LGBT flag right next to our U.S. flag and our state flag. I think by doing so, we're going to give our LGBT community a sense of security, a sense of love, in a sense of them feeling that they're no different than you and I, because they're not. Thank you.

I have no further speakers. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm going to bring it back to council. Comments, questions? Council Member Ramirez, and then Hilton.

So, thank you for everyone coming forward, and thank you to the staff for doing this. And thank you to council for allowing me to bring this. So, I wanted to... talk about two different things. One is I still would like to have this on a separate third poll. The three together is wonderful. I don't care where they are. I hope that if council agrees with this and decides to just add a third poll here, that the costs that were talked about, landscaping and stuff like that, thank you John for being proactive, but I hope that that does not factor into your decision. I think that that could be something maybe on the next round. The one thing, though, and I appreciate all the different options that John provided. Personally, I don't want the oak tree taken down in the center, so I would be less supportive of that. And then the second thing, so... WHEREVER THEY ARE, THIRD FLAG POLE, I THINK WE SHOULD INVEST IN THE THREE DIFFERENT HEIGHTS FOR THE POLLS. AND THEN THE SECOND THING IS I THINK THAT AFTER AND NOT JUST WITH THIS, I KNOW THAT THIS IS THE ONLY COMMEMORATIVE FLAG THAT HAS BEEN BROUGHT FORTH IS THE PRIDE FLAG. I believe that I would like to see us make an amendment to the policy. Thank you. That was the word I was looking for. I think that if an organization brings it forward three or five years or whatever and goes through and shows that this is the community that wants to do this and they've brought the 150 signatures and of course there's a fee associated with that. But at that point, you know, I think that they've shown that they have support of the community and that then it's just a matter of we would like to fly it in June or we would like to fly whatever it is in May. And then I think if we put a third poll up, we could put the sister cities, we could, you know, if there are no other commemorative flag requests for those months. That's what I would like to propose. Council Member Hilton.

Thank you. So I, too, am, well, first of all, I want to thank the members of the public for speaking and for choosing to be in that vulnerable space, especially you, Carlos. I appreciate that. Thank you. I do want to be a proponent, and thank you, Council Member Marks, for saying let's keep these polls together. Hopefully that's off the table that we're going to switch them. Sorry, Ramirez. I'm stuck on what Carlos said. I want to go give him a hug right now, actually. I'll pivot here for a second. I grew up with two moms in the 70s and constantly being told that it's OK to be in your situation, but you got to go over there to do it just bugs me. It really bugs me. So I'm sorry I pronounced your name wrong. So let's keep these three polls together. I, too, also believe that we've been missing out on other organizations. This is a very well-resourced organization that's been wanting to do the progress . But I think we have been missing out. And I think that, you know, that barrier of the cost and the signatures IS SOMETHING THAT WE SHOULD LOOK AT. I DON'T THINK YOU SAID THERE SHOULD BE ANY SIGNATURE GATHERING, BUT WHAT I THREW OUT LAST TIME WAS MAYBE IT SHOULD BE THE SAME AS GETTING ON THE BALLOT. NO LESS THAN 20 SIGNATURES, NO MORE THAN 30. THAT WOULD REALLY BRING THE COST DOWN AND BRING THAT BARRIER DOWN, BUT STILL HAVE SOME BUY-IN, BECAUSE I THINK THERE ARE MEMBERS OF THIS COUNCIL THAT WOULD BE WORRIED THAT ANY ORGANIZATION WOULD PUT IN SOMETHING AND WE WOULD JUST BE INUNDATED WITH A LOT OF APPLICATIONS. I, too, am not in favor of removing any trees. We're a tree city USA, and I don't want to remove trees. I also think that we should not have any blank poles. So if we do have that third one, yeah, we should be putting up that city of Gilray, always having something to put back in that spot. And I think that Terry brought up a great example that YOU KNOW, ORGANIZATIONS LIKE THEIRS IN THIS APPLICATION, BUT OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, YOU KNOW, TO HAVE TO GO OUT AND GET 150 PLUS SIGNATURES IS ACTUALLY REALLY TIME CONSUMING. AND ESPECIALLY THE COST. AND TO HAVE NO REAL GUARANTEE THAT IT WILL GET PASSED OR NOT IS STRESSFUL. AND I THINK THAT IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT LESS STRESSFUL IF, YOU KNOW, ESPECIALLY IF WE WERE TO LOWER THE BARRIER TO LIKE I SAID THE no less than 20, no more than 30, or not have any at all, but just actually just go through the application process, I think is a chance enough for that organization. Let's see here. I think that's kind of all I have right now. I'll make some more comments in a second.

I would just, I know that we have a policy in place that was put together by a previous council. I do want to say thank you to everyone that shared tonight. I appreciate that. That's the beauty of this. You are able to come here and share your opinion and your thoughts about where you're at and your thoughts about a policy, like whatever that may be, and I appreciate that. You taking that time means a lot. And tonight it's about this poll, and I tend to agree with Councilmember Bracco about this. We have two flag polls now, and we're able to use these flag polls to do this commemorative flag. At this point, I know you mentioned changing cost and signatures, and that's another discussion, an affair memo, that type of thing. But to me, being focused on what it is tonight is adding another flag. And I don't want to disfigure that area. And so to me, keeping the two flag poles in place, everyone's still allowed to do a commemorative flag on that pole. And I want to leave it at that at this point.

I'm gonna go Council Member Bracco, then Marks.

Yes, I agree with Council Member Klein. And don't forget, was it last meeting you guys were talking about, you guys want to raise the tax because we don't have enough money to pay our police and firefighters. And, oh, we'll just spend $50,000 plus on some flagpoles. No problem. But, you know, you kind of draw the line somewhere. We have flagpoles that work. I would like to stick with the status quo, except I think we probably should revisit having to get all these signatures and pay all this money. We don't charge for a lot of stuff in this city, so I think we ought to just do away with that.

Thank you. Council Member Marks.

Well, Council Member Bracco stole my thunder here. I agree also that we should just keep what we have right now. with the two flagpoles and having the flag flying with the state. We're talking about putting a sales tax increase on the ballot. Well, we have to start tightening our belts and showing that we're being economical. Also, I adamantly do not want to see any trees removed. So I would say leave it as is.

OK, so I'm going to have some comments, and then I'm going to try to separate the conversation here between the leave it as it is and the three polls, and then some of the language in the policy. Right, for sure. Yeah, for sure. I just want to separate it for us up here. So I like the idea of three polls. So I think we're going to end up having a conversation here, whether we do three polls or two polls. But I also think we need to have a conversation about where the three polls are going to be before we move on to the language about policy and signatures and dollars. So that's OK. So with that being said, I know there's some disagreement here about the polls. So it feels like the first thing I want to, some options I'm going to throw out. You've heard from some of these folks over here to my right that they like the idea of two poles. We've also heard tonight that we like the idea of three poles, which means adding a third pole right here, which means we need to cut down the magnolia tree or part of the magnolia tree right out this window. Or the third option, what I think I'm hearing is... I'm sorry, John, can you please bring up... I'm sorry, I should have asked you to come up earlier. Can you go back to the slide that showed the single pole... in the grass area, in the quarter round where the pavers are. Please. Not where the... Which one did you want? One more. Sorry, right there. So it seems like to me, I think what I've heard in the conversation, if we were to do three poles over there in the Paseo area between the city hall and the library, that this would be the place to do three poles. What I'm hearing is we don't want to take down an oak tree. This would be the place to do three poles.

AND YOU WOULD SOLVE THE ADA ACCESS PROBLEM.

CORRECT. SO LEAVING IT HERE, I'M GOING TO REVIEW WHAT I THINK AND SEE IF I CAN GET SOME CONSENSUS. LEAVING IT HERE, WE'RE TAKING OUT A TREE, BUT WE DO HAVE ADA ACCESS ISSUES AND THE TIME, I BELIEVE, AND TIME OF PUBLIC WORKS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, THE TIME THAT YOU MAKE CHANGES IS THE TIME to make changes to the code to make it correctly. That's what I think I hear you guys saying is that that's what you would want to do if we put a third poll here.

Optimally, when you... Anytime you're doing any major modifications or revisions, you try to address to the greatest extent you can your ADA deficiencies. But the city has some discretion with regard to that. And again, if you're not encouraging or having active use by the public of the flagpoles, then you don't have to do that. So even if we put in a new flagpole, they would not have to be accessible.

Okay. Okay, so... I'll reiterate. We have choices here tonight between leave the poles as the way they are, add a third pole here, or end the poles here in front of City Hall and bring three poles out to the Paseo. Am I close? Okay.

I have a question.

Yeah.

John, is there any way that we could have that third flagpole next to the two existing ones without removing a tree?

No.

Okay.

If you look at that, that's roughly the spacing issues that you've got. You've got to deal with it. You know, there is an alternative that I did not put out, and I'm just going to go ahead and put it out with it because I was asked to look at a third flagpole. You may very well choose to have the U.S. flag and the state flag fly on one pole, U.S. flag above the state, And the second poll could be for your commemorative flags. And you would not have to add a third flag at all in this mix. So that is an option. Maybe should have been an alternative in this. But again, I wanted to stay true to the request, which was to consider a third flag poll.

No protocol issue with them on the same?

No, you can have a single poll and have both the state and the U.S. flag on that poll, as long as the hierarchy is the U.S. flag above it.

Back to the three-poll option, John, what would be wrong with, I know you have the scenario that the polls are three across. Is there anything wrong with leaving the U.S. flag poll where it is, the California state flag poll where it is, and the third one being in front of it like a triangle? THEN YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO REMOVE THE TREE AS COUNCILMEMBER MARKS WAS ASKING ABOUT?

You're still dealing with removal of vegetation. You're still dealing with the plaza area there, the behavior plaza, if you see, if you push out very far from that point. I guess I would also question, and we'd have to look at the protocol issue, but typically you would not want to push your United States flag to the rear of other flagpoles, I think, from a hierarchical perspective. Now, that doesn't mean that you couldn't bring perhaps third flagpole a new one put the US flag as a higher flag and deal with it, but you're still looking at modifications there of hedge and and Probably the plaza as well a little bit there.

It's certainly less cost to do that That answer your question, but possibly Yeah, for me personally, the idea of removing a hedge is a lot simpler task and less expensive task than removing a 50-year-old tree. Okay, so we're back to the options. Are we going to go with two poles? Are we going to go with three poles here? The idea of three poles here, or are we going to go with three poles at the sale? So I'm looking for some comments on my left. Council Member Hilton, Ramirez?

You know, I personally, and I talked about this last time too, I actually really like having the flagpoles moved out to the Civic Center. There's a lot more activation happening out there right now, and I think that, you know, just with more foot traffic and events, it's just a great spot to, even if there was no commemorative flag, just to highlight the City of Gilroy flag along with the California and U.S. Council Member Ramirez.

I don't have an opinion, one way or the other, putting it here. I just want to do it cost-effectively, and I don't want the tree. So I probably wouldn't want this tree to be taken down either.

So, okay, I'm going to continue to narrow this down. It feels like that right now we're talking about possibly three flagpoles right here out in front of our council chambers where two flagpoles would remain that possibly, John, that we can bring in a third flagpole that's taller than those two that can house the U.S. flag, and the other two can be a California state flag, commemorative flag, or city of Gilroy flag. Yes, you could do that. Any comments? Is that getting closer to where you'd like to be?

Be specific, John, on what vegetation would have to be pulled out.

You're looking at basically the hedge. You can see the hedge on the left clearly extends across the entirety of the pole area there on that. And so that really would have to be opened up again. You wouldn't necessarily have to take the entire hedge row out But you would have to come out to that point and then the The paver area comes out, but it's sort of jogs and then extends so I don't think we would actually have to modify that The paver area with that but certainly we need to take another look at that, but I think that's relatively minimal effort to get to that point They would be popped together into a triangle, in essence, with the U.S. flag coming out in front of and then having the others behind. And that would allow you to get the taller flagpole for the U.S. flag, and those would be exactly the same height. We could certainly fly any of the commemorative flags slightly lower at that point. So it's very doable.

So in this scenario, we're buying one more flagpole? You're buying one more flagpole.

What's the cost of that?

The staff report said it's like $6,000 or $8,000 per pole. Roughly there with installation.

Okay, comments? I propose that. Okay. So let's see if we have a consensus on the idea of going with a third flagpole right here with minimal upgrades to the landscape. We have a consensus before? We have a consensus? Okay. On my left? Third flagpole. RAMIREZ? OKAY. I'M GOING TO ENTERTAIN A MOTION THAT WE ADD A THIRD FLAG POLE OUTSIDE THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS LEAVING THE OTHER TWO FLAG POLES IN PLACE WITH MINIMAL UPGRADES TO THE SHRUBS AND PLANT AREA.

NO REMOVAL OF A TREE.

NO REMOVAL OF A TREE. Okay. I'm looking for a motion. I'll second it. Okay, so I made the motion. I have a second by Councilmember Hilton. Roll call, please.

Councilmember Bracco? No. Councilmember Klein? Yes. Councilmember Hilton?

Aye.

Councilmember Marks? No. Councilmember Ramirez? Yes. Mayor Bozo?

Yes. Motion passes 4-2. So now moving on to the next conversation that we have. THE NEXT CONVERSATION WAS REGARDING SOME OF THE LANGUAGE THAT WAS IN THE POLICY FROM FOUR OR FIVE YEARS AGO WHEN THIS GOT BROUGHT UP. SO IF I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY THE CONVERSATION THAT I'M HEARING SO FAR THAT I'VE HEARD FROM BOTH SIDES IS THAT MAYBE IT'S TIME TO REVIEW THE IDEA OF NEEDING 150 SIGNATURES AND $600. SO SPECIFICALLY WHAT I HEARD COUNCIL MEMBER HILTON say is 20 to 30 signatures and a minimum amount of dollars you didn't say. So maybe a little bit more specifics.

That'll help us have a compromise.

Well, first of all, that would be my compromise. If we're willing to just say no more signatures, no more cost, just leave it at like that. I mean, then just leave it like that. No more bureaucracy. They have to go through the hoops of getting it past us anyways. That's what I would say.

Okay, I see some thumbs up. Council Member Marks? Yes.

I would say if they've done it one time and got everything, then it should just be up to the council approval. We don't have to keep charging them every year. every couple of years.

Yeah, but what I'm hearing is if, for example, the MIAPOW folks show up, that we are not going to be charging them a fee, we are not going to be asking for signatures, correct? But what I am hearing, it still does come in front of council, so we have the discretion.

And they still have to go through the formal application process, which is time-consuming as it is.

Do we really?

Yeah.

Andy will help with that.

It has to come in front of council because flying the flag is deemed to be city speech. It has to. Otherwise, if it's open to the public, you can't refuse anybody on any flag, even if it's horrible stuff. It's like the parades and banners on First Street, our website. It has to be city speech.

We don't approve the banners on moderation.

I think we do. We do. It's ministerial by staff.

Yeah.

I think the staff approves of this official city speech.

And that's coming back to us, right? No.

Because it might be something that is totally repulsive.

And we do have policy that allows us to make decisions on saying no. And I think that we want to leave that in there, and that's why it should come in front of council. We just want to eliminate the idea of having to get signatures and people to pay. Even if someone brings it that we're not in favor of allowing them, they're going to bring it, and they're not going to pay, and they're not going to get signatures, and we can still say no. Correct? Correct.

I think that's a more fair policy, you know, rather than, you know, whatever organization, they go through all this, they pay the fee, and then we say no.

And they should refund it. Right.

But we still maintain the right, like you said, if it's repulsive, we still retain the right to say no.

They just don't have to go through the whole... Yeah, and actually you would retain the right under the policy and under the First Amendment, even if you just don't agree. It doesn't have to be repulsive, but something you don't agree and don't want the city to officially support, that would be your decision. And otherwise, as I say, it becomes chaotic.

Yeah, I want to keep that in place too.

Okay. It seems like we have a consensus on the idea of getting rid of fees and signatures. Council Member Hilton, can you help me out?

And also, staff's going to also need to wordsmith the language change on where the commemorative flag gets put up. That third flag at some point will need to be put in there.

Okay, hit me with a motion.

Okay. So, okay.

Because we're not going to do it tonight, right? We're going to bring it back.

So it would be direct staff to bring back the flag flying policy to have the removal of the fees, the fees and the signatures, and also staff to change the language of the flag because we're going to be having a third flagpole. AND WAS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I MISSED? JUST THOSE TWO THINGS.

OKAY. LOOKING FOR A SECOND?

I'LL SECOND.

OKAY. I HAVE A MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER HILTON AND A SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER MARKS. ROLL CALL, PLEASE.

COUNCILMEMBER BRACO. YES. COUNCILMEMBER KLEIN.

YES.

COUNCILMEMBER HILTON.

AYE.

COUNCILMEMBER MARKS. YES. COUNCILMEMBER RAMIREZ. YES. MAYOR BOZO.

YES.

MOTION PASSES 6-0.

THANK YOU, EVERYBODY. MOVING ON TO ITEM NUMBER 13, CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT.

things for us tonight mayor first of all we are looking for responses to our blue sky initiative survey the survey documents or flyers are in the lobby if you take a look blue sky initiative is our effort at being environmentally environmentally responsible in Gilroy I take a look at the the initiative survey questions and get some responses on what you're thinking We also have a developer roundtable coming up. The developer roundtable is Wednesday, May 27th, from 10.30 to 12, here in the city council chambers. Topics will include a current fee study, the Blue Skies Initiative, ADU permitting, significant code changes, artificial intelligence in plan review, And we're looking for developers and stakeholders to share your insight. Flyers are just outside in the lobby. We also have a first-time homebuyers program May 27th at 630 in the library community room. It's an opportunity for residents to get additional information about opportunities to be a first-time homebuyer. Thank you, Mayor. That concludes my report.

Thank you, Matt. City Attorney's Report. Thank you very much, everybody. 8-12, meeting to adjourn.

Welcome to our teams.