City Council - Regular Meeting

you Thank you.

recording in progress.

Okay.

Good evening, everybody. Before I get started, I just wanted to say, apparently we have new lights installed here, and so I can see the back row now. So if you're at home watching us and you're seeing us brighter and clearer, it's because we have new lights in here. So welcome. Today is May 19th, 2026. We have two meetings this evening. Our first meeting is the concurrent meeting of the City Council and the Geologic Hazard Abatement District, also district board, also referred to as the GAD. And so it is May 19th, 2026. Call this meeting to order. This is the GAD meeting. So, If I could have a council member, or I should say, if I could have a GAD director, Roach, lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you. Please stand if you're able.

Thank you. And, um, and then if I could call upon Ms. Curtin, uh, and of course we have, uh, the new, uh, the new attorney today, uh, is Ms. Curtin. So Ms. Curtin, if you could please take roll.

Thank you. Again, my name is Patricia Curtin, legal counsel for the Hayward GAD. Roll call, uh, Mayor Salinas.

Present.

Council Member Syrup.

Present.

Council Member Andrews. Noted that. Council Member Bonilla.

Present.

Council Member Goldstein. Present. Council Member Roach. Present. Council Member Zermeno. Thank you.

Thank you. And it looks like we have quorum. And just for the record, Council Member Andrews is not feeling well today. So she is not here. Our next item is public comments. This is related to the GAD board. And so in public comment is reserved for anybody in the audience or in the public that would like to make a comment on something that is not, actually is this focused to GAD, correct? So are public comments directed only on the GATT item, right? Okay. So if you have a public comment only on the GATT item, you may speak. I don't have any cards. And let me see. And I don't have any. I don't have any hands up online, so let me, let me close public comment and then move on to our consent calendar. Approve the geologic hazard abatement district board minutes of the board meeting of January 27th, 2026. So moved. Moved by Director Roach.

Second.

Seconded by Director Goldstein. And then Ms. Curtin, if you can please take roll.

Mayor Sirop. Oops, let me see. Oh, geez, I'm so sorry. I just demoted and promoted all of you. I'm so sorry. Mayor Salinas. Council Member Siroff. Yes. Council Member Bonilla. Yes. Council Member, we got Goldstein.

Yes.

Council Member Roach. Yes. Council Member Zermano. Thank you. Thank you.

And item passes with six ayes and one absent. Thank you. Next is our public hearing. This is the resolution approving the Geologic Hazard Abatement District GAD budget of fiscal year 26-27. And this will be presented to us by our GAD manager, Ms. Ralston.

Good evening, chair and board members, members of the public. My name is Haley Ralston. I'm a geologist with NGO, and NGO serves as the GAD manager. And I'm joined here by Patricia Curtin with Fenmore, who serves as GAD clerk and GAD legal counsel for the Hayward GAD. And tonight before the board, we have Resolution 2603, adopting the Hayward GAD budget for fiscal year 2026-27. And then a brief overview of the GAD. The Hayward GAD currently includes the Reserve Development, Hideaway Development, Hayward SOMI Development, and Parcel Group 3 Development, which are all within East Tennyson along Mission Boulevard. The GAD is funded by supplemental property tax assessments adjusted annually for inflation just for those residents within these developments within the GAD's boundary. Currently, there's a total of 427 residential units within the GAD. And then listed here at the bottom are the proposed levies for each of the developments for fiscal year 26-27. Not included here is parcel group three as their assessments will begin the first fiscal year after issuance of certificate of occupancy which is planned to be July 1 or after July 1 later this year. So a brief summary of the proposed budget for fiscal year 26-27. The GAD proposes a budget of about $198,000, broken down as shown here, with the majority of the budget going towards preventative maintenance and operations, which includes physical maintenance of GAD-maintained facilities within each of the developments that the GAD has responsibilities for, so related to surface drainage, detention basins, slopes, also weed abatement for some of the open space that the GAD owns, in addition to monitoring for early signs of geologic hazards. Here's also a further breakdown of the GADS reserve balance for this coming fiscal year. We anticipate that the reserve will have about $1.6 million at the start of the fiscal year and with the anticipated revenue from both the proposed assessment levies and the anticipated income on the current reserve balance. Minus the expenses proposed in this budget, we anticipate the GAD to have approximately 1.9 million at the end of this fiscal year, which increases the account balance about $300,000. The reserve is intended to fund long-term geologic hazards that may come up within these developments over time. So here's a graph that just shows what the account balance has been since the formation of the GA that's shown in red and blue is the forecasted balance based on proposed expenses every year and also anticipates those large scale events I just mentioned, which are represented by the dips. So the GAD is currently on target but also slightly ahead of its pace if it doesn't have any large scale events that impact the current trend of the GAD's account balance. The green line currently represents the target reserve balance for the GAD. So staff recommendation is for the board to approve resolution 2603, adopting the Hayward GAD budget for fiscal year 2627. And GAD staff are available for any questions the board may have.

Thank you.

I'd like to first start off with the GAD board and see if there's any questions. I think I had one speaker, member Syrup.

Thank you. Thank you for the report. Always nice to see a reserve balance that's going up. I think we're trying to do that in other places with the city as well. We received an email from a resident in the reserve who's concerned about the La Vista Park construction and potentially there being stormwater draining that's going towards their homes and potentially damaging their homes. It's not clear to me whether this is an issue for the city of Hayward to resolve or one of the tasks that GAD would take on. I don't know if you've been made aware of this issue, but I can forward it along to you. My question here is really with the construction of La Vista Park next to the reserve and the potential geological hazards that might stem from that construction process, have we budgeted any contingency funds into this year's budget to make sure we can account for that?

Thank you for the question. Any issues that may arise from the construction we would say would be the current property owner or the city's responsibility as the GAD hasn't accepted responsibilities within the park parcel. There originally were planned GAD responsibilities for the original park design back when the GAD was formed in 2016. However, we know that those have changed or are changing and we actually have been working with city staff on the proposed park improvements and what the GAD responsibilities will be long term. So in this budget as prepared, there is no items specifically related to response for that. We do allocate every year some budget for minor emergency response within the GAD's maintained areas and responsibility areas but technically this is not one uh at the moment so it would be a I guess determination at the time an event occurred if if it was a responsibility to the GAD or the city on that parcel from the country and then what is your expected timeline for when the agreement to incorporate elements of Lovista Park into the GAD is is coming before the board Yes, that needs to be discussed a little bit more with the city and city staff that we're currently coordinating with. Originally the plan of control said, I believe that transfer of such responsibilities could happen about a year after the improvements were completed. So it would at least maybe be that timeframe from when the park improvements are completed.

Okay, city manager, I think if there's a way for us to maybe accelerate the conversation, at least within relationship to these residents issues, I think my concern is if this currently is a city responsibility, whether or not we have the funds to remediate a situation like this versus this is to me what the GAD was specifically developed for. I'd like to see if there's a way to leverage the GAD here or if it's not an issue at all. But yeah, I will send an email to both the city and to GAD to make sure that we can find a way to resolve this.

Yeah, I know our director of public works is working on the issue and looking at it and working with our engineers and our contractors to address it. And I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to the GED team and make sure we're coordinating.

Okay, thank you for clarifying. Those are my questions. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you.

I don't see any more questions. So Oh, okay, council members are menu.

It's a comment, not a question. Is that okay?

Let's wait to your comment until I come back. Okay, so seeing none, I will close this, go to public comment. I don't have any cards. There's nobody online, so I close public comment. And council members and menu, if you can make comment.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the report. May I see this last slide that you had? Could you put it up on the screen? Next one, the photograph of the quarry. There you go. When I first ran for council, everybody was against housing on this particular quarry, and look at it now. Interesting, thank you.

Thank you. OK, so if there's no other questions or comments, I'll entertain a motion.

I'll move. Oh, it looks like George . Sorry. Wait, hold on.

Moved by Member Syrup, seconded by Member Goldstein. And Ms. Curtin, please call the roll.

Mayor Salinas?

Yes.

Council Member Syrup? Yes. Council Member Andrews? I apologize. Council Member Bonilla? Yes. Council Member Goldstein? Yes. Council Member Roach? Yes. Council Member Hermano? Thank you.

And the item passes with six ayes and one no. And I just caught myself, did I do five and one or six and one last time? Well, hopefully I said six and one when we did the minutes. Did I say six and one? I don't know if that makes a difference. You did. Okay, perfect. Okay, next is our GAD Manager's Report. Ms. Ralston.

Thank you. Just a few items that the GAD has been doing recently. We have completed our spring monitoring event and things look good out there at the site. We fortunately did not have too heavy of a winter to where we see any large repairs needed this upcoming fiscal year. We're also working on the spring weed abatement within the open space that the GAD owns, so that's currently underway. And then also as, or yes, no significant repairs planned. Also, we will be working with the Hayward Somi development on transfer of GAD service or GAD responsibilities from the developer to the GAD. They're eligible for a transfer process and we'll work with them on adjusting those items before we bring it back to the board for approval. And then as recently discussed, the other item I just had was that we're discussing with city staff on the GAD responsibilities within the La Vista Park, current and long term. And available for any questions the board may have.

Thank you. Next is GAD board members' reports, referrals, and future agenda items. And I think I just heard member Syrup was going to email staff on an item. So seeing no other reports, referrals, or future agenda items, ladies and gentlemen, GAD meeting is adjourned. Thank you, Ms. Raulston, and thank you, Ms. Curtin. Thank you. And if those of you in the audience In about three seconds, the City Council will begin. Okay. I'd like to call the Hayward City Council meeting to order. Next item is public comment for the Hayward City Council meeting. This is reserved for anybody in the audience or online that would like to make a public comment on something that is not on the agenda. I do have two cards on the agenda or on for public comment. First card is Bruce, is it Antonio? Anthony, Mr. Anthony, step on up. And just make sure you hit the button. The mic has to say, it has to be red. Red means go here.

Okay, good. Hi, my name is Bruce Anthony. I've lived here in Hayward for 37 years. I love our community. I'm here to compliment our mayor. By the way, mayor and staff, I should have greeted all of you. I apologize. I sent you an email about a week ago regarding the natural appliance gas ban, and I was pleased to see that you actually listened to your constituents. I appreciated the fact that you thought it was appropriate to delay the ban past January 1. Thank you so much. I have a mantra that's educate, don't legislate. Tell me why it's good for me to go, uh, uh, electric appliances. Why? And you can even appeal to my sense of community and my neighbors, but I really don't appreciate it being, you know, hit over the head with it all the time. Ever since COVID we've been hit with mandates, you know, we've been hit with restrictions. We've over-regulated our, you know, we've lost two refineries. Um, There's one with the ADUs, which is gutted CCNRs. I live in an association. And we can't control subdivisions anymore, even though it's in our CCNRs. And now we have the natural gas ban that's coming up. So I'm hoping to maybe get you to share my mantra of educate, not legislate. Let's tell people why it's good. And speaking of that, I did a little research on heat pumps. And I was intrigued by them, because they were supposedly going to save me money. And I'm a frugal guy. And I like saving money. So I started doing some research. And it sounded like I could save money. But the requirements are 1,000 cubic feet of airspace. And it would be ideal for a... A garage, my garage is detached. So that really wouldn't work. So I'm open to being educated and I hope that you'll reach out and educate more of us instead of hitting us over the head that you must do this. Thank you for your time and Mayor Solis, thank you again for listening to your constituents. It's really appreciated. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker is Lucy Lopez.

Hello, everyone. Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, Councilmember, and City Manager Ott and staff. Thank you for the opportunity today. I'm here to chat a little bit about the business license tax that I know will be on a future agenda, but in speaking with businesses and trying to help get the word out and get feedback and analysis, I've got some initial suggestions for consideration, and thank you for listening. The Chamber understands and supports the necessary modernization of the business license tax structure, and our business community appreciates the strong city services around public safety, infrastructure, economic development, as they are essential, obviously, to our healthy local economy. Many of our employers continue to face rising costs and mandates that I know many of you are aware around labor, insurance, utilities, rent, health care, benefits, regulatory compliance, supply chain technology, and the list continues to go on and on. The pressures continue to be significant and directly influence their budget decisions that are currently being made today around next year's hiring expansion and whether to stay here in Hayward. As the proposed increase is more than three times the concurrent rate, we want to suggest a phased or incremental approach not to exceed the three times. which would decrease the severe and immediate impact for Hayward's largest business service providers, wholesalers, commercial manufacturers, and other entities within those proposals. The sudden cost escalation of this magnitude without a phased approach would directly affect their ability to hire in Hayward, expand in Hayward, and remain in Hayward. A non-incremental increase of this scale also risks pushing major employers to overlook Hayward in favor of cities with a more predictable, stable, and business-friendly cost structure, or structures, I should say. And it also risks undermining the business-friendly initiatives that the city staff has currently been diligently working on to advance. So your decision to, oh, I should say it was tonight initially, so next month, I should say, should not contradict those goals. We also want to acknowledge that the business community understands that this proposed increase will not fund new services or improvements that the businesses will directly see or experience yet, and they're also being asked to pay more to maintain those current level of services. However, in some of my conversations and partnership and collaboration with City Manager Ott's office, I know we're looking at very other creative ways to fill some of those gaps, so I am aware of that as well. The decision is also about Hayward's ability to attract and retain employers, so increasing the cost of doing business without enhancements to these additional business services or economic development support will continue to make it difficult for us to recruit new employers. We believe that it's not simply just a budget adjustment, this exercise, it's also going to reshape our city's competitiveness. And we all, I know we all want the same outcome and a strong city and a strong economy. So we're here to support those efforts. And we definitely just want to reiterate that we want to be partners in this entire process. And on behalf of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce, we look forward to continuing the work with the council, Mayor Salinas, City Manager Ott, and the staff on behalf of board. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much. Let's see, I don't have any more cards. I do have two hands up online. First hand is TJ from Hayward Concerned Citizens.

Hi, good evening, Council. Yes, this is TJ with Hayward Concerned Citizens. And tonight I just wanted to share a positive experience I personally had with Access Hayward. I have a relative who lives up in Hayward Hills who was in touch with me this afternoon. And unfortunately, there's an unfortunate incident in which a large female deer who was in and out of the backyard on the property It was eating vegetation and things like that. And in the process of doing this, the deer at some point got an injury that fell against the barrier or whatever happened. But at any rate, this large female deer had a huge gash in her side and the insides, you know, visibly hanging out. I'm sorry to be so gross, but it was very sad, sad for the deer, you know, sad for my relative. But at any rate, he called me asking what could be done. And so I decided, well, I'll put in a request to animal services on Access Hayward. And so I included a picture that my relative sent me of this poor deer. And, you know, within 30 minutes or less, got a response right away. And they were extremely proactive based on the situation. This deer was still in the backyard and still very much alive, unfortunately. you know, it's going to have to be euthanized because it was very bad off injury. But Jenny Comstock from Animal Services, I believe it was Tracy Young, responded. Forgive me if I got the last name wrong. And HPD, they all came to the house to assess the situation. They were in touch with Fish and Game right away. And as of this evening, Fish and Game is headed over to try to contain the deer and tranquilize the deer and take the deer away. I just wanted to say all this because I know you know things bubbled up with the animal services a little while back about concerns about their per diem staff being eliminated or cut and you know they're so passionate about their services and I just I just really want to do a big shout out of love for them because they are always so responsive. I think they get you know so so They often get the short end of the stick as far as budget and funding. I know they get a lot of grant support and a lot of community support, but they are just awesome. So responsive. They wrote in the app, wrote a resolution. We had a very positive connection. So I just want to give a big shout out to them for all that they did. They're just phenomenal. So thank you so much, and I hope that you appreciate them too.

Thank you. Next caller is David Badia.

Hello. Hi, council members. Hi, Mayor Salinas. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I wish I could be there in person, but I had their commitment. We represent city workers with SEIU 1021. I just wanted to come on and just express our are looking forward to collaborating with the city to ensure we continue to stabilize the city's budget. We have been paying close attention to the modernization proposals and we congratulate the council for moving in this direction. It was a long time overdue, but I think we, as we mentioned at the meeting last week, there's still some room to make sure that we continue to make improvements, specifically a true match your neighbor model could bring in additional $7 million. And then just to speak directly to the point about making sure that businesses are incentivized to stay and to continue to grow in Hayward, just some considerations we've through our research, we found that businesses typically consider the city's ability to provide services to process permits and to process all the necessary foundational needs for a business as one of the major considerations for placing their business there. We think that being bold now in this time and being able to collect as much revenue as possible will, in the long term, make sure that we stabilize Hayward, keep our services open. and make sure that Hayward continues to thrive for the years to come. And we look forward to our conversations with city manager Ott and the city council. So thank you again. And yeah, we look forward to our ongoing conversations.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. So I don't have any more cards. I don't have anybody online. So I'd like to close public comments and go to city manager's comments.

Thank you, Mayor, Council. Got three announcements. The first is the City of Hayward celebrated Bike to Wherever Day in banner fashion last week on May 14th with a record of four pop-up Energizer stations and over 200 people coming through on bikes, scooters, and skateboards. The Hayward community was out and about. Organized by Public Works Transportation Division and Environmental Services staff, participants were given a commemorative bag and could conveniently grab pastries, coffee, and other items at the Energizer stations. A big shout out to Eden Youth and Family, Stray Cat Makerspace, Alameda CTC, Hard, Bike East Bay, and Bike Hayward for showing up to support. The event is just one of several ways we're building a culture around bike riding as a green, healthy, and low-cost way of getting around. Today, our next news, which is some great news to share, is that today Alameda County released the findings for the latest point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness. And the count took place on January 22nd and shows a 21% decline in Hayward's overall homelessness population compared to the last count in January 2024. So that's a drop of 108 individuals from a total of 512 people in January 2024 to a total of 404 in January 2026. Importantly, the count also shows that the percentage of people experiencing homelessness in Hayward who are sheltered rather than unsheltered has held steady since 2024 at about 46%. And that's up from 30% in 2022, 24% in 2019, and 21% in 2017. So we're finding homes and places for people who are unhoused to stay. While there's still definitely more room to, more to be done, as Mayor Salinas was quoted as saying today, the data show that how Hayward is responding, how we're responding is working. And then lastly, over the weekend we launched the latest installment of our Heart of the Bay campaign, promoting Hayward as a destination and home base for people visiting the san francisco bay area and we have a little video and social media highlight how hayward is poised to play host to soccer fans this june and july as the world cup finals tournament comes to united states mexico and canada we want people to know that hayward offers an easy commute to levi's stadium in santa clara where world cup where world cup group and knockout stages matches will be played as well as to the sites of official fifa world cup watch parties in san francisco san jose and oakland and we also want everyone to know that the hard will roll out its large led screen for four game time soccer watch gatherings over the course of the world cup including two taking place in hayward on june 12th and june 24th so if you if it's okay mayor we're going to show the video all right

Why should you stay in Hayward for the FIFA World Cup? Here's the ultimate hack to make traveling to the World Cup games and activations stress-free. It's all about location, location, location. Staying centrally located is key, and you can't get any more central than the heart of the bay. We're conveniently located to official World Cup activations and watch parties across the Bay Area, from San Francisco to Oakland to San Jose. Plus, Hayward's hospitality boasts excellent and pocket-friendly stays, as well as a diverse culinary scene you won't want to miss. While you're here, you can also enjoy two special watch parties right here on our home turf. If you were lucky enough to score a ticket to one of the games, you can get to the stadium from Hayward in just a 30-minute train ride, a 40-minute BART ride, or a 45-minute drive. Getting to any of these areas from Hayward is incredibly easy and hassle-free using public transportation. You'll avoid most of the traffic and crowds while enjoying a first class seat on your way to the action. So get ready for football fever in Hayward. We're so excited to host you and go sports.

I just want to know the beating heart. Whose heart was that?

That's definitely outside of my technical expertise.

Well, thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to elevate, and I'm gonna talk about it later when I do my comments at the end, but I just really, really need to emphasize the point that the City of Hayward, we have reduced our, you know, our PIT count came in at 21%. That is absolutely incredible. Alameda County countywide was 13%. Some cities were right around 13 to 20%. The city of Alameda was 47%. And so, yes, is there more work that needs to be done? Absolutely. But I think one thing has shown for sure, and I see our housing manager there. One thing is for sure is that the city of Hayward, we have been working collectively and collaboratively with other cities. We've been working with the county, we've been working with regional agencies and our regional partners. And I mean, we, are leaving nothing on the table when it comes to strategies, when it comes to pooling resources, when it's pooling people. I mean, we are doing everything, everything we can. And I think today is an example of And I have heard our city manager say this before, but this has to be, this ranks at the top of an issue that is a very, very tough issue to solve. But we're doing it and we're making inroads. I mean, we're doing it. We would certainly love to be in a place where there's absolutely no one sleeping out on our streets, no one sleeping out in our parks, and no one sleeping out in our creeks and our riverbeds. But it takes time, it takes resources, and it takes political will, quite frankly. And in this council, I think has has worked incredibly hard and not to throw any of my colleagues in any of the cities under the, you know, under the bus. But, you know, Hayward We have led the way. We have been leading in this space countywide. Countywide, we have been the leaders in this space. And I think it's something that we should all be proud of and just really be thankful for that we're doing. So, you know, Madam City Manager, thank you for that. And I know Christina Morales is here and her staff is here. You know, our housing director, who is responsible for the implementation of our ordinances around housing. The Homelessness and Housing Task Force, I'm pleased to be serving with Mayor Pro Tem Syrup and Council Member Goldstein, who coincidentally is also our designee. to the Alameda County Housing Authority. So we we are there. We are present in every discussion and in every place in this county. And and we're seeing it. And, you know, and I know we have our public safety partners are here. You know, the Hayward Police Department has, you know, our fire department, our police department. We have been at the front of this and uh and i think um you know the city uh can certainly uh uh be proud of the work that we're doing and we're doing collectively to to do our part in here so um okay thank you and thank you for letting me say that Okay. If there are no special reports, I will move on to special presentations. And today I have a special presentation for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And I have, there's a lot of people in the audience, so I'm just going to pass these on down because I think we have one for each of us. And present in the audience today, we have our school board president, Hayward Unified School District school board president, President Peter Buffetti is here. And you know, we can give him a round of applause. You know, you know, you know. We have the parent lead for the APICI, the Asian Pacific Islander Community Initiative, Lani Lamido. Lani. And by the way, who is also the John Pappas Humanitarian of the Year recipient this year. Congratulations. Absolutely, absolutely. We also have the principal of Winton Middle School, Ms. Tess is here. We have the Winton Middle School Asian and Pacific Islander Club advisor, Nalene, is it Tomodong? Did I say that right? And then we have the CEO and founder of Strong, Smart and Kind, Teresa Huang. Ms. Huang. And then we have the, we have, is it Mr. Nguyen and Darren True. Mr. Nguyen, True, is they here? Oh, there he is, okay, back there, okay, great. And we also have, of course, of course, our library director, Ms. Adelman. Okay, so here, So here's the proclamation. Whereas starting in 1977, Asian Pacific Heritage Week was established and has since expanded to the month-long celebration called Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month to celebrate the invaluable contributions to society, culture, and history of the AANHPI group. And whereas the month of May is designed to recognize people from across the continent of Asia and the Pacific islands of Malaysia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, who serve as leaders, innovators, and creators in all aspects of our society, including business, education, arts, healthcare, entertainment, and governance, and whereas The 2026 theme of Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, that's a lot to say in one sentence, is power, unity, strengthening communities together and whereas the city of hayward is committed to advancing racial equity in city processes services and projects in a manner that is culturally responsive to the needs of pacific islander south asian southeast asian middle eastern and east in east asian communities and whereas the city of hayward public library is recognizing asian american native hawaiian and pacific island islander heritage month with exhibits and events including book displays and book lists, scavenger hunts for children and adults, a final book discussion for the shared community, for the shared community reading program, one book, one book, one coast, one book, one coast for They Called Us Enemy by George Takai and a Japanese taiko, taiko live performance by Queer Taiko Drumming Group Now, therefore, I, Mark Salinas, Mayor of the City of Hayward, and on behalf of the City Council, I do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give everyone a big round of applause. So we'll go down there, take a picture, and then we'll resume. Trustee Buffette, would you like to say a few words? Yeah. Does that one go to, does Dan give that one to Peter?

Yes.

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council, as well as everyone here tonight. Thank you for this recognition tonight. And I'm incredibly proud to stand here as the first Filipino trustee elected to the Hayward Unified School District Board of Education. Tonight, I'm even more proud to celebrate our historic milestone for our schools and our city in the recognition of HUSD's APICI group, Asian Pacific Islander Community Initiative. APICI is HUSD's very first parent-led group dedicated entirely to our AANHPI community. For a long time, our families have looked for a structured space to connect, advocate, and ensure voices are woven into the fabric of our educational system. A PC is that space. It bridges the gap between home and school, ensuring our students see their culture celebrated and their unique needs met. This group is proof of what happens when we empower parents to lead. But true empowerment cannot stop at every school district alliance and must extend to every hall and every power in Hayward. Right now, the Asian Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, and Asian Pacific Islander communities make up over 30% of Hayward's population, yet on our elected boards throughout, whether it's Hayward City Council or school district, representation is lacking. I encourage our ANHPI communities to step up and volunteer for their civic duties. Our leadership should reflect the people who serve whenever nearly over a third of our city sees themselves represented by only a fraction of its governing body. We have to do work. A good place is the people that we see in our APIC PC group. The people are super involved, and you see them all the time in other community events. Tonight, as we celebrate our parents and organizers who built the PC from the ground up, let's also commit to building a Hayward where AA and HPI voices are not only recognized in the community groups, but equitably represented. I want to send a special thanks to Lonnie, Jasmine, Yalitza, Sabrina, and the respective teams for all their hard work. Sending a special shout out to Winton Middle School, Miss Tess, and Miss Tomadong for all their hard work with the APIC AANHPI groups as well. Thank you and congratulations to the incredible work behind FPC and HUSD's AANHPI communities. Thank you.

Thank you.

good evening honorable mayor mark salinas and members of the council my name is lani liamido and i am honored to stand before you tonight as a parent ambassador and one of the founding members of apc and the current parent lead for the asian and pacific islander community initiative also known as apcs peter had mentioned within the hayward unified school district on behalf of our district Our students and our families, thank you for this AANHPI Heritage Month Proclamation. This recognition from the City of Hayward validates the vibrant history and the essential contributions of our AANHPI community members. In HUSD, APC's mission is to celebrate and honor the unique identities, values, and cultural traditions of our diverse Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander families. We work daily to create a safe, supportive environment where our students feel a deep sense of pride in their heritage. Our initiative isn't just about celebration. It's our advocacy. We focus on strengthening family engagement and ensuring that the academic and social-emotional needs of our AANHPI students are met with understanding and respect. This proclamation is particularly timely Just a few weeks ago, on May 6th, APC hosted our annual AANHPI month celebration. It was a beautiful evening dedicated to honoring the achievements of our students and the resilience of our families. Seeing the joy and unity at the event reminded us of why this work is so vital. When our city and our schools come together to acknowledge our community's roots, We empower the next generation of Hayward leaders to lead with confidence and cultural pride. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the City of Hayward to ensure our AA NHPI community continues to thrive. Thank you again for this honor and for your commitment to an inclusive Hayward.

and the city council, three of the members are Hayward school or products of Hayward schools, by the way.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much to the city of Hayward for this incredible honor. Receiving this AAM-PHPI proclamation for the second year in row is truly amazing and humbling. My name is Theresa Hoang. Normally, I am known as the CEO for the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, but I am a proud resident of Hayward. And in 2000, yes. And in 2019, I started a nonprofit called Strong, Smart, and Kind, also known as SSK Foundation. And ever since then, we work on three main pillars, which is women empowerment, youth leadership, and mental health, which basically means we work with survivors of domestic abuse and various different abuse, as well as youth who are transitioning through foster cares, as well as mental health, general mental health, before we refer them out to our partner, which is the Psychological Institutes. So with that being said, all of us, as far as our staff, including myself, we are 100% volunteer, and our family are voluntold to come and help and support wherever they can. This recognition is not just for me. It belongs to our volunteers, supporters, partners, and every individuals we have had the privilege of serving. As an Asian American woman, I am proud to stand here representing not only our organization, but also the resilience, strength, and contribution of the AAMHPI community. Thank you for believing in the work that we do, and we look forward to continue to serve and uplift our community together as Hayward, as Alameda County. Thank you.

Ms. Tess?

Good evening, Mayor Salinas, members of the City Council, and community members. My name is Lisa Torres-Tess, and I am proud to serve as the principal of Winton Middle School. At Winton, our tagline is where community and culture come together, and I truly cannot think of a better reflection of who we are as a school community. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island Heritage Month gives us the opportunity to intentionally celebrate the cultures, traditions, histories and contributions that continue to shape our schools, our city and our country. But at Winton, this celebration is not something reserved for just one month, the month of May. It is woven into the everyday life of our campus. Our students come from many different backgrounds, and one of the most beautiful things about middle school is watching young people learn from one another, celebrate one another, and grow together. At Winton, our students proudly share their cultures through music, dance, performances, leadership, classroom conversations, and school-wide events throughout the entire school year. Our APIC students have helped bring incredible energy, pride, and visibility to our campus community. Whether through cultural performances, student leadership, or simply sharing their experiences and traditions with each other, they help create a school environment where students feel seen, valued, and connected. We are also fortunate to have staff members who work very hard every day to create classrooms where all students feel respected and represented. That sense of belonging matters deeply because students thrive when they know they are accepted for exactly who they are. What makes Hayward special is our diversity. What makes Winton special is how our students embrace it. As educators, we have the privilege and responsibility of helping students appreciate not only their own identities, but also the stories and experiences and cultures of all people around them. Heritage Months help shine a light on those important conversations, but the true impact happens in the everyday moments across the campus. At Winton, community and culture truly do come together, and I'm incredibly proud of our students and families for making that possible every single day. Thank you for recognizing Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and for continuing to celebrate the diversity that makes Hayward such a strong and vibrant community. Thank you so much.

Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Nyleen Tamendong, and I am the seventh grade counselor at Winton Middle School and very proud advisor of the Asian Pacific Islander Club, also known as APIC. APIC is a space where students can celebrate culture, build community, and learn more about Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander experiences. But I'm gonna keep it real. APIC would not be what it is today without the kiddos of Winton. Aside from the holiday celebrations and bonding over food, this year the students wanted to introduce an open door policy where non-club members could join our weekly activities and discussions. Students participated in activities like learning the Filipino dance uniquely, celebrating Japanese origami, and exploring Hawaiian and Pacific Islander traditions and values, and more. We were also honored to participate in APC's beautiful annual celebration for the third year in a row. Thank you, Lonnie. In addition, our club and our Thinikling performance were featured in a Bay Area Rapper's Music video, which was an exciting opportunity to share our culture with a wider audience. Tomorrow, we will also be hosting a student-led assembly for AANHPI Heritage Month to help bring awareness to the history, contributions, and experiences of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander communities. And you are all welcome to come. It has been incredibly meaningful to provide the space for APIC to continue to grow into a student-centered space built on inclusion, creativity and cultural pride for the past three years. APIC will continue to be a welcoming space where students can learn from one another, celebrate diversity and feel represented. Thank you again for this opportunity.

Hello, everyone. I would first like to thank the City of Hayward for this incredible honor. My name is Darren Thieu. I'm currently a senior in high school, and I am honored to be representing Vietnamese culture tonight. As president of my school's Asian Culture Club, I have many members who are passionate about connecting with their culture, and I see my job is to direct their passion into something tangible. In the past two years, we volunteered at a charity auction for Asian language-speaking students, and we've raised thousands of dollars for schools in helping promote the event. We've held community events open to all children to teach them lantern making and origami. We've hosted free snack tastings and Vietnamese egg tart fundraisers to help teens connect their heritage through food. And I've developed a connection with the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which allowed me and my future officers to coordinate free field trips for my club. And lastly, we've also done school-wise giveaways of Lisi filled with candy during Tet to promote Vietnamese and Asian culture to all. Now, I believe that the future of Vietnamese and AAPI in America lies within our youth. It should be our responsibility to cultivate and build on the passion of these young minds so that our heritage can live on even after we're gone. Thank you very much.

Good evening, Mayor Salinas, members of the City Council. I'm Janthi Adelman, your library director, and I'm just here to say thank you so much for this proclamation and recognizing and acknowledging all that the library staff do. Our goal is exactly what the theme is of strengthening communities together. we really want all hayward residents to be able to come into the library and see themselves see their neighbors and feel welcome because they recognize themselves there and with that i'm just going to say thank you we also represent the city because i know that's what the city wants we are part of the city and i also invite all of you to come to the library on the 30th of may saturday where we have the taiko drummers playing from 11 o'clock so thank you so much

Did I get everybody? Great. Well, let's give everybody another big round of applause and thank you, Trustee Zuffete for being here and Ms. Tess. Oh yeah, absolutely.

Hi, everyone. I just really wanted to express my gratitude for all the work that's being done to create visibility for our Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community. I think growing up as a Chinese-American, there wasn't a space for that. I didn't feel seen. And I think it's absolutely incredible, the work that you're doing to facilitate that space for people to come and know one another. The banner of Asian-American-ness is so large. You're talking about half the world's population. So I appreciate the specificity with which you're uplifting Southeast Asian culture, Native Hawaiian culture, Pacific Island culture, East Asian culture, South Asian culture, just across the board, and helping people understand just how rich and textured we all are. Similar to what Trustee and Board President Buffetti had said earlier, the Hayward population is 30% AAPI. And I think there's maybe been less than five city council members that have been elected that carry Asian American heritage. And so I absolutely agree. We want to see this representation on this body because so much of our city is AANHPI. And one of the things I just wanted to share as I think about the role that I've had to play as a member of our community is what it means to be Asian American. And my partner is also Asian American, and something that she often communicates is that it's a responsibility. I think that we have an incredibly deep history being of so many people. We are on the front lines, and our neighbors and our relatives are on the front lines of climate change, the fight against the war machine. And there's so much that we can learn from our histories. I don't want that element of our history and our struggle to be lost. And I'm so proud to see you all laying the groundwork to help continue those conversations. I was really sad that I wasn't able to make the annual event this year. But you know I'll be at the next one. So thank you so much for all of your work. And I'm honored to be in community with all of you. Thank you.

Well, thank you. And thank you very much. And now I'm gonna move on to the next item on the agenda, which is we have more presentations. This is item number one, the RPT26-040. This is our compliance with stormwater trash reduction requirements. And I see Mr. Peterson up here and word on the street is that you have good news.

We do. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, members of the Council. Joining us remotely tonight to give this presentation, we have our Water Pollution Control Administrator, Elisa Wilfong. I just want to say that this is a summary of many years of hard work. Elisa joined the city in 2013, and really, she's been working on this program since day one. We're really impressed with what she's accomplished. And so with that, I'd like to turn it over to Elisa to make the presentation. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Eric. Quick audio check. Can everyone hear me okay?

Yes.

Thank you so much. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council, and members of the public. My name is Alisa Wilfong. As Eric said, I'm the administrator of the Water Pollution Source Control Division under Environmental Services, here to provide a presentation of the city's 100% compliance with the stormwater requirement for trash reduction. Thank you very much for having me. Quickly, I want to explain the regulatory mandate for trash reduction or why the city was required to reduce trash in our stormwater sewer. Back in 2009, the majority of the Bay Area's municipalities were issued a new type of permit called the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit, or MRP for short. This permit replaced the individual county-wide stormwater permits that required a list of pollution prevention activities to clean stormwater and better the environment. The MRP is divided into provisions or sections listing the requirements for compliance and one of the provisions is trash reduction. This was a new provision and for the first time in stormwater regulation that required 100% reduction of trash or a discharge limit of zero amount of trash allowed to enter waterways from stormwater sewers. The due date for this 100% reduction of trash was July 1st, 2025. The reason for this mandate was to address trash pollution in our waterways. It is well known trash impacts wildlife and destroys aquatic ecosystems. Another side requirement was the addition of municipalities controlling trash from private land. where drainage on their property is directly plumbed to the city's main stormwater pipes in the street, bypassing the street and gutters you see above ground. These properties are called PLDAs or private land drainage areas. As you can imagine, this mandate was a tall order. The question was how the city was going to comply and how we're going to fund compliance. First staff had to figure out how to quantify trash throughout the city and where was the trash located. A visual assessment methodology was created and this map was produced showing where the trash was found in the public right of ways. Green areas were little to no trash impact, as you can see on the map. Yellow was medium, red was high, and purple, which was limited to the freeways, was very high. Hayward's road to compliance was a 16 year journey, it's a long time, exploring different methods to gain compliance. The list of approved methods for reducing trash was short, but staff experimented to find the right road that was going to work for us. ultimately staff chose to install full trash capture units inside the storm sewer to filter the trash as this method was deemed 100 compliant with the mrp's trash reduction provision and was approved by our regulators the san francisco regional water quality control board since 2012 the city has completed projects and phases to install these devices that filter trash from stormwater The city has installed a total of 629 small devices that fit into the gutters along the road, six large devices underground in very large stormwater pipes, and four screens and selected creeks to filter the trash. Combined, this network of devices filter the trash are cleaned periodically and ensure compliance with the MRP. Funding for the devices was provided by an EPA competitive grant, state grants, and a cooperative agreement with Caltrans. Since Caltrans has a significant amount of right-of-way in Hayward, the city partnered with them to secure funds for trash reduction. Lastly, to address the PLDAs or private land drainage areas, water pollution source control staff conducted a year-long project surveying and inventory of these properties for trash concerns, then followed up with inspections for trash compliance. The findings were positive, where the majority of the properties were able to conduct best management practices to pick up their trash, and those who were unable to control trash at a frequency dubbed no impact, the property owners were required to install their own trash capture devices in their storm drains. The blue area is on the next slide on the map. On this newly revised map shows Hayward's individual regions that are now treated with these full trash capture devices I mentioned. So all those colors turn blue. On this final slide, there's a video. It's just under two minutes that I wanted to share. Of the many installations, and they were all wonderful projects, I wanted to highlight the installation of two large trash capture devices on Tennyson Road. This project also happens to be the largest installation to date and involved two stormwater pipes. You can see them in the video there. Originally, we believe there was only one pipe, but during initial reconnaissance before installation, we found two pipes, so that doubled the devices and the size of the excavation. This project was funded by Caltrans and the location of the installation was in Caltrans right away. In total, these devices treat over 400 acres of mixed commercial, industrial, and residential area and achieved over 6% of our progress towards 100% compliance. of the challenges of this project was the pipes for are not owned by the city of hayward they're owned by the alameda county flood control district so this was a new venture for the district they were very hesitant to install a trash device in their system so we had to work collaboratively to explain the engineering, to engineer the project in a way that wasn't going to cause flood concerns upstream and gain their approval. We're very proud of that collaboration. It's the first of its kind in the county. And as you can see, it was quite complicated. The two pipes were extremely close together, and it required a certain engineering precision that hadn't been done in this area since. So very careful engineering, some kind of creativity, and then we were able to connect those devices to the pipes. The big show, as you see here, is pretty much in a day. And then afterward, the installation is backfilled, covered, and then completely sealed. And all that's left is two manholes. And so it's kind of outside out of mind, but it served a really big purpose. It helps the environment. So the next steps for Hayward's trash reduction program are to maintain the trash devices, clean them on a routine basis, as well as inspect them to make sure that they're operating effectively. In addition, the inspection program for the PLDAs will continue as needed to check in with property owners on their trash management. So although Hayward is officially done, meaning we have achieved 100% compliance, we have an opportunity to do one more project with Caltrans. This project will be located on Cabot Boulevard and will most likely require two devices, as this will be our largest install yet. The two devices will treat over 1,000 acres. And by treating a large area close to the bay, smaller devices upstream can be removed, and thus removing extra costs for maintenance. Staff felt this project was a large benefit to the community and to the environment. So we will push for one more. The timeline for Cabot is roughly to break ground in spring of 2027. So I'm very proud that this project is over and complete, even though we have one more. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you for that video. Impressive, incredible, thank you. Council Member Roach would like to make a comment.

I would, thank you. I just want to congratulate Elena and her team and Eric and the work that they're doing. And I serve on the Sustainability Committee here in Hayward. And we got to have, along with our chair, council members of MANIA, we had a presentation on this. And I just thought it was incredible news after a 10-year period that we reached this 100% compliance with this new rule. I thought it was amazing and something we should be celebrating in Hayward. And I'm just really proud of us that we're doing our part and that we're doing it in such an intricate way. I mean, I think like Elena said, this stuff is now buried in the ground. No one gets to see it, but there's this incredible engineering that happened to get us here and just congratulations to everybody involved in this. Thank you.

I did have one question though. As they were putting in the big, I guess, filters, the big concrete boxes, how do they seal up the rings around the, you know, how do they seal them up?

You mean the pipe connection?

Yeah, how do they seal up the pipe connections?

They have a, it almost looks like tar. It's like a black, it's rolled out on a paper and it's lining the pipe and then it actually fuses and seals the pipe to the next connection, which is also concrete. It's actually pretty amazing how sticky that stuff is. And then between that, there is a little bit of concrete work that seals the final opening. And then from that, it's completely backfilled with rock and filled up all the way to grade. And then all you see is the road repaired, the asphalt, if there is a road, asphalt, and then the manholes. And that's it.

And how long does the seal last?

It should be forever. It's actually watertight and tested before they backfill just to make sure that everything is tightened up.

Incredible. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Council Member Zirmino.

Thank you for the good work, both of you and the whole staff, including Caltrans. One of the first slides was a gutter that had the lettering, no dumping, drains in the bay. Is there some kind of a grant that would allow us to replace some of these because some are now missing? Is there some federal grant, state grant? It'd be nice to put them back and have every one of these gutters with that information.

I'm not aware of any opportunities like that, but we can keep an eye out for one. Okay, it'd be good to do this.

Are we going to have some kind of check, finish, document, declaration of what we've done here? It's important. That will be coming sometime?

Yeah, I know he has created, I got a short version of one of these videos and created that, I think put it on Instagram, so.

But just like what was created today, we're now today, decreased with 21%, so now we made 100%, et cetera, so I'd like to see that. My machine doesn't want to work, so I don't know if we have it in here.

Okay. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Syrup.

Thank you. Just to reiterate Council Member Germano's point, I think having it posted across all channels, not just a press release, but if there's a social media component and a newsletter component, is that currently in the works?

Yeah, some of this already happened. So we'll find that and resend it to you guys. But then if it hasn't all happened, then we'll do that too.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Just wanted to express my gratitude to see this project reach completion and just my awe, really, all the amount of coordination that went into pulling something like this off. Hayward has been a leader in our environmental work and in our sustainability work, and it's a large part because of you, Eric. And so I appreciate all the hard work that you're doing. And Elisa, thank you for helping coordinate a project of this scale and scope. I can't even begin to think what it takes to pull off something like this. When I look at this, I feel a deep sense of pride in our city and our ability to take our commitment to the environment and sustainability very seriously. And I also would like to see kind of a refresh of our don't dump, this goes straight into the bay signs. Because I grew up seeing those as a kid. It had an impact on me. And I think if we're not passing that message along to the next generation, we're adding more work to our own plate. So I am also curious what the cost would be to install a set of those again. Thank you.

Thank you. OK. So there are no other questions. Do we need anything else? No? thank you mr pearson of course our public works director mr mary is there so thank you very much for all of this really appreciate it um moving on to uh another presentation of the ava community energy ava community energy presentation of impact report by ceo howard chang i'm going to turn this on over to council member julie roach

Thank you. As the council member appointed to the AVA board of directors, serving for the last three and a half years, I'd like to take the privilege to welcome the CEO of AVA Community Energy, Howard Chang. Howard's been with AVA, I think, since its inception, really, and as the CEO for the last two years. Two years? Are we about two years now? Yes. I just wanted to let everyone know that AVA was organized with a basic mission of providing cleaner and cheaper energy, and Hayward has been benefiting from that since I think about 2019, I think was when Hayward came on board, when we started receiving the Renewable 100, I think.

Yes.

That's about right. But as I've come to understand being on the board, providing that admission is not easy. It's a very complicated, heavily regulatory industry. And having served now on the board for three and a half years, I've really come to understand that Hayward and our surrounding communities and the surrounding member cities are in really good hands with Howard now as the CEO and with his team at Ava Community Energy. They're incredibly sophisticated in how they're going about procuring energy and making sure we're all benefiting from it. So I thank you, Howard, and welcome you tonight. Thank you. Excellent.

Thank you so much for making time to allow me to present today. And let me just say, as a Chinese American, really excited to see the individuals that you recognize in light of AANHPI Heritage Month. Proud to be part of that broader community myself. Eric, if you could switch to the next slide. So I have about 10 slides here, hoping to keep it about 10 minutes. I want to be efficient with your time, of course, and happy to take any questions there at the end. The first half is more general overview of who Ava Community Energy is, what a CCA is, and the second half is more specific to the Hayward community, some specific stats and programs and such. As noted, I'm the CEO for Ava Community Energy. I've been with the agency since our launch for about eight, over eight years now. The purpose of this presentation is that, and what I just handed you is that we released our inaugural impact report. This is the first time we've sort of tried to put together a nice glossy document to just sort of highlight who we are as a public agency so that our customers and our board members policymakers can better understand who we are what a CCA is and some of the different achievements and services that we've provided historically so this is a very brief summary of that and you have a hard copy in your hands to sort of dive in a little deeper in your own time next slide please um as i noted ava community energy we're a community choice power supplier we are the default provider of electricity generation here in hayward and throughout that green portion of the map there so we we represent 18 members that includes alameda county in just about every city within alameda county the only exception ironically is the city of alameda they're actually served by their own municipal power provider And then we also serve significant portions of San Joaquin County as well. This month, actually, we launched to unincorporated San Joaquin County. And over the last several years, we expanded our service to cities of Stockton, Lathrop, and Tracy. So pretty sizable territory, as I noted, 18 members. Some of you may remember us as East Bay Community Energy. That's actually how we launched. And as we extended into San Joaquin County, that's where we felt a benefit to rebrand as Ava Community Energy, sort of serving Alameda to the Valley, sort of as that tagline. I certainly want to thank Council Member Julie Roche for her leadership and service on our boards. One of the most active members. She also serves as the Vice Chair for our Executive Committee. So really appreciate your service. And of course, as the alternate, Dan Goldstein as well. I don't think you get to attend many meetings in light of her presence, but we do appreciate the occasional time that you get to join us in our board meetings. uh and of course last but certainly not least really appreciate the hayward staff um city of hayward is uh one of our most actively engaged members and we'll touch on some of the different programs um that we've uh partnered with your city staff in particular eric pearson on in making sure that we're well educated in terms of the city's needs and what your own city's sort of climate action plan speaks to and all of that next slide please so i always like to start with a little bit of baseline setting because some people are very familiar with ccas but the reality is many are not they don't even know what that acronym is right so what is a community choice aggregator back in 2002 there was state legislation that actually enabled municipalities whether your city or your county to form your own energy provider and so we are the energy provider that serves as i noted alameda county and portions of san joaquin county There are sort of three categories of energy providers throughout the state of California, generally speaking. Your commonly known investor-owned utility is PG&E, Southern California Edison. There's also San Diego Gas and Electric here in Northern California. Obviously, it's PG&E there, your incumbent utility provider. In the middle category, you have your publicly owned utility. I already noted Alameda Municipal Power, so they serve certain areas within the state of California. SMUD, which is the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, is another example of that. And in that third category is where AVA sits, right? We are a local public agency just as your transit authority, your water authority. We are made up of our members, in our case, 18 members. And you can flip to the next slide. What is unique about us and how we've changed the energy service model a little bit based off of that state legislation that was passed is that we are the generation provider alone and PG&E continues to be the delivery service provider, we call it. So they own the wires and lines, the transmission lines, the distribution lines, the meters at the homes and they continue to charge for those services and they continue to serve as the billing agent. So all of our customers are still PG&E customers. All of our customers still receive a PG&E bill. And in fact, there are a few small line items that are changed within that bill that say that you actually receive your power from Ava Community Energy and the choices that we make in terms of the types of power that we procure. And so that all underlies that. That is one of the reasons that many customers don't quite recognize us. And part of the reason why I'm here, because I want to continue to build our customer awareness and our member awareness, of course. Just a few quick stats. We do serve a population of about 2 million people throughout this service territory that is made up of about 760,000 accounts. We are the default provider, so once we start providing services, the customers default into our service. So that's why it says 96% participation rate. We retain the majority of customers, though customers do have an option to opt out and return to PG&E service. THE OTHER OF COURSE IMPORTANT STATS I LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT IS WE HAVE PROVIDED OVER A HUNDRED EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS OF BILL SAVINGS SINCE WE'VE LAUNCHED SERVICES IN THAT LAST LINE ITEM WE'VE INVESTED OVER A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS THROUGH A VARIETY OF KIND OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS SERVICES SPONSORSHIPS GRANTS THINGS OF THAT NATURE. And of course, one of the key focuses that we have is signing new contracts for renewable energy. So we've signed over 2,500 megawatts of new renewable energy PPAs. They're called power purchase agreements. So these are 15-, 20-, 25-year contracts that are ensuring that new renewable generation resources are coming online, solar, wind, geothermal, et cetera. Next slide, please. We have two service plans that we offer. The one that Hayward is defaulted to is called Renewable 100. It is at a modest premium to PG&E, and obviously that premium is used in order to ensure 100% renewable energy supply. That is on a net annual basis. It's not on a 24-7 basis, though over time we look to gravitate in that direction. On the left side is our other product called Bright Choice. This is 2024 stats. So in that year, it was about 62% renewable energy. So not the same level. That product is a little bit more focused on cost. It's always historically been at a discount to PG&E. And we'll talk a little bit about rates in the next slide. You can see in the bottom right, that's what PG&E's power content was in that particular year. It was heavily nuclear energy, a bit of large hydro, and about 23% renewable energy. So we're really focused on how do we accelerate decarbonization in our power supply in addition to, of course, affordability and reliability aspects of our rates and energy products. Next slide, please. There's a lot on this slide, I know that. Let me just highlight a few points, which are the real key takeaways here. What this bar chart shows is energy generation costs. That is the combination of your orange and your yellow bars when you add that up. That's what we, we're really providing the orange portion. The yellow portion is an exit fee that PG&E continues to charge customers. When you look at that in totality, that equates to your generation charges. and we always look at that in total because that is what PG&E customers would be benchmarked against. We always want to make sure we're including all forms of exit fees, et cetera, so we're inclusive of that when you look at the whole picture from a cost comparison perspective. That portion is about a third of the overall electricity bill that customers receive on average. The other portion is that delivery service aspect. Those aspects have generally been rising over the recent years, over the last 10 years or so. Most of that is driven by wildfire mitigation aspects. You're probably hearing about the burden and the challenges that some of your customers are facing in terms of rising electricity charges. That's a big factor there. What this bar represents, again, is the generation portion. You can see there, of course, is some volatility in the market basis of where prices are. It goes up. It has come down in just the last year between 25 and 2026. So happy to find ways to try to lower those energy costs. And that's come down by about 20% over the last year. The dotted line that shows there is how that changes in terms of the discount relative to PG&E for the Bright Choice product. Now, that's not the default product that Hayward residents are put on. They're put on a renewable 100 product, but they always have an option to change electricity products that they choose. That product is at a discount historically, and it's ranged from half a percent to 5%. You can see when rates are higher, they get a higher discount. When rates are lower, that discount tends to come down a little bit. Next slide, please. So let's get into, I have about four slides left, and I just want to touch on some more specifics related to the Hayward community. So Hayward accounts total about 55,000, and that is a mix of residential and commercial accounts, of course. You can see by load in that pie chart in the middle, it's about two-thirds commercial-related load and about one-third residential load, just to give you a sense of what your constituents' load looks like. And then on the right pie chart there, about 80% of customers are on Renewable 100, 20% are on Bright Choice. That portion on Bright Choice, I noted that they're defaulted to renewable 100, but the reason why that percentage is still 20% is your income qualified customers are not defaulted into the higher premium product. They are kept on Bright Choice. And then customers do elect to opt down sometimes if they want to focus more on savings. The other stats that I won't read off every single one, but there are about 15,000 income qualified care fair customers. You have nearly 7,000 solar customers and nearly 7,500 electric vehicles within your territory. Of course, very importantly, I do wanna highlight the customer savings. We've provided about $8.6 million in savings, both by way of the Bright Choice savings, as well as bill credits that we've been able to do in certain higher priced years that we've offered. Next slide, please. So this is a bit of an eye chart, but we did want to talk a little about the infrastructure that we're building within the community in addition to, of course, focusing on the wholesale power supply and ways to decarbonize that, ways to drive down those costs. We look to reinvest in our communities through our territory. That's a huge focus for what CCAs are there to do. We are obviously made up by our city members. It is of course an important factor for us to think about how can we better serve your community's needs. And so this is an example of some of the things that we've done within Hayward. A number of those bullets are related to EVs, transportation electrification, which was one of the greatest sources of carbon emissions, and it's a significant source of pollutants in the air. So it's a huge area that we try to focus and invest dollars. So we're doing, just to sort of rattle off a few of the things that we're doing in the transportation electrification space, we're building a network of dc fast chargers so these are fast charging stations throughout our territory and they're really targeting underserved areas so charging deserts areas that are focused on multi-family dwellings areas that are generally underserved and may have lower levels of ev registrations those are areas that we feel like as a public agency we can help to accelerate that adoption so we do have a site that we are working with the city of hayward to try to build over the course of the next year or so We've done other things like fleet electrification technical assistance, offered some money, some technical assistance there to help inform and educate your city staff on ways to electrify your fleets. And we've also provided some grant funding towards local community-based organizations to build charging stations. Glad Tiding Church is one of those examples. In addition to that, we've done COVID relief grants. We've done some solar and storage projects on two different sites in Hayward, the corporation yard, as well as the fire station. Those projects are on schedule to be operational here in the next few months. So really excited about that. And lastly, a great sponsorship that we've had is with Habitat for Humanity. We actually fully sponsored their Sequoia Grove project, which is helping to implement fully electric communities for low-income houses in Hayward specifically. Next slide, please. These are three active programs that we have right now. Just want to take a moment to highlight those. We have a program called AVA Smart Home Charging. That is for people that charge their EVs at home. They can opt into a program. They get a modest incentive to enroll. They can integrate their vehicle. And what it does is it helps to guide them into charging their vehicles at lower cost hours with lower emissions. So we have several thousand customers enroll in that program. It's one that's available right now. Our middle program is called Eva Bike Electric. That is a total of $10 million that we funded towards incentives to electric bikes for all customers with a stepped-up value for income-qualified customers. It's been a hugely popular program. It's a program that is widely available to all of our customers, whether you're a renter or a homeowner, et cetera. Something that's been very popular, we're excited by. And the last one is our Smart Home Battery Program. Those are incentives for behind the meter solar and storage at your homes. And that program was just launched a couple months ago, and that's a program that we're creating what is called a virtual power plant. So getting some access to those batteries that are installed to improve resilience and reliability throughout our grid, lower our own procurement costs, but at the same time provide some benefits to our customers. So those are three active programs I want to highlight. I think there's just one more slide after this. This is a more sort of micro level list of examples of things that we've done with customers specifically in Hayward. So each one of these bullets is a different program that we've offered throughout our service territory. You can see they run the gamut from fully covering the cost of an induction stove installation at an incoming qualified home. There are battery incentives for medical baseline customers that can need a battery in case they have a power outage at their home to power the medical devices. We've done heat pump water heater incentives, bike electric incentives as I noted, REACH grants and things like that. So excited to serve the various needs of your customers and your city as well through examples like this and certainly hope to scale and expand upon those in the coming years. Next slide. This is just a really basic summary of the impact report itself which you have a hard copy of and there is a link to a soft copy to the extent you want to look at that online. That's it for me.

Well, thank you. Councillor Ruggs.

Yeah, I mean, I think my colleagues have questions, but thank you so much for being here, Howard. I'm so glad that everyone got to hear all the great work that Ava's doing and appreciate it that you're here tonight.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Syrup. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you to my colleague, Councilor Baroche, for your work on this committee. I know how much you take this work seriously, and I'm always interested in the conversations or the topics that you're wrestling with when I get the chance to talk with you about them. So it's really awesome to see it laid out in an accessible way for our community. I also just want to commend you on this impact report. I have to design these for a living. This is a really nice impact report. So I'm hoping maybe you or Councilor Baroche can email me, whoever you worked with on this, because I want to learn something about it.

We have great designers on staff. I would be happy to introduce you.

Okay, I can tell. But yes, I mean, just building off of the previous topic and the city of Hayward's commitment to our sustainability goals, the fact that our default is 100% renewable energy generation, I think is something else that we should be incredibly proud of as a city. The one question I did have for you is around the controversy surrounding data centers and how much electricity they require. Can you just talk a little bit about how Ava is thinking about this infrastructure that's coming into other cities and how much their demands are?

Absolutely. It is such a hot topic right now throughout all of our different member territories and really nationally and globally, right? We hear about the potential of AI data centers. We may be using it in our own lives. But there's a significant gating factor, which is how do you power those data centers with the increasing demands. In our service territory currently, we do have, you know, material data center-related loads. So that's existing. That's been legacy. And there are a number of opportunities with new sites that have an interest to power those projects. Generally speaking, California and our surface territory, they tend to be on the smaller end, so they're not these huge mega hyperscalers that you may hear of. They tend to be in the 30-, 50-, 100-megawatt size. But at that size, it's still of interest to different technology companies in the area. Obviously, we're very close to Silicon Valley. Hayward itself does have a number of potential sites. And so those are real opportunities. I think we're very cautious as a public agency as to how we navigate that. We want to make sure that we are able to cover those costs and mitigate the risk of data centers coming online potentially either procuring for them and then not materializing at all or procuring for them in some number of years down the road they perhaps are no longer providing services and what do you do for that load. We don't want to have stranded assets. We don't want our existing customers or residential customers to be covering those financial risks. And so we're very conscious of that risk. There are legislative bills from a state level that are looking at that to try to create some guardrails. We ourselves have not created a non-standard rate yet for those customers. We are in active discussions with all of those opportunities, thinking about the timeframes, what that load looks like, what is the likelihood of that, how do we manage that risk. um and some of those discussions talk about long-term contracts uh of course some of that talks about financial security that our counterparty may provide in order to protect customers and of course we as a load serving entity are thinking a lot about how do you just structure the rates themselves if you manage the risk how do you actually price that so it's equitable and fair for existing customers without driving up those costs so from an energy generation perspective we do not intend to sort of socialize the cost of data centers, of course. From a delivery charge perspective, which is under PG&E's scope, that's where there is some opportunity with increased electrification load to actually lower some of the cost, if done well. So that's an area that we engage more in because a lot of our VPP programs can actually unlock some of that additional load and capacity to accelerate that while not increasing sort of grid-related costs when doing that. So we're really conscious of all those factors and how to do that in a thoughtful and intentional way so those costs aren't borne by our existing customers.

Okay, yeah, thank you for providing some insight there, and I'm curious to see how those conversations evolve and develop. I think because we pride ourselves on our sustainability angle, one of my concerns is when new data centers show up, they're oftentimes building gas-powered electricity generation services versus relying on the pre-existing grid, which kind of undermines the larger goals we're trying to accomplish here. But I understand that could be overextending your assets to try to provide that generation on their behalf. Yeah, I mean, I know this is a developing topic. I'm not looking for any specific answers, but you've already provided a lot of interesting areas for consideration as we think through what it looks like for data centers to set up shop in this area. Good to meet you, Howard. Thank you for the report.

Thank you.

I don't see any other questions. Comments? Yeah. Yeah.

It's another instance where I pushed the button but it didn't show up on your screen. It's OK. Here it is, right here. Oh, you found it. All right. We're still getting used to the technology. One of the things that I notice about most organizations is they look at their mission kind of with blinders on they go for it you know those are the grindstone pump it out and what's different about ava is you've really branched out so it's a vision of providing electrical solutions, green solutions to the community. And so some evidence of that are the e-bike rebates, the new battery program that you just launched, and some of the other incentives that you've done. Do you have any other programs that you're considering now in the future and anything that we might be able to help with?

Yeah, it's a great question. And thank you for noting that I think we are trying to sort of shake up the electricity service model a bit. That's been a long process. You know, this legislation was passed nearly 25 years ago. At this stage is about 25 CCAs throughout the state of California. So we are not sort of a small thing in justice service territory throughout the state of California. There's a number of CCAs and they provide power to about a population of 15 million people throughout the state. So that's about 40 to 50% of the overall load in California. So it's really significant and we are one of the larger CCAs throughout the state. And I think that's a unique opportunity to really think about creative energy solutions, not just in terms of wholesale power. And one example of what we do on the wholesale power side is we use our tax exempt status to do energy prepays to lower costs for our customers. That's just taking tax exempt status, which is not a new thing, but packaging a new way to utilize that benefit to lower costs for our customers. On the more programmatic side of things, we're absolutely always trying to think about ways to engage with our customers. On the customer engagement front, we have products like induction cooktops and e-bikes, which are products that people really like, and they attract them, and they get them to learn about electrification. On maybe the wonkier side of things are things like VPPs, virtual power plants. Our Smart Home Battery program is an example of that, right? It's dollars towards a battery storage that can be utilized as part of a A BROADER GRID SYSTEM AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT IS QUITE INNOVATIVE FROM AN OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMATIC STANDPOINT SO THOSE ARE JUST TWO MAYBE YOU KNOW ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM ON THOSE THAT TYPE OF INNOVATION WE ARE ALSO EMBARKING ON SORT OF A MULTI-YEAR SORT OF CUSTOMER PROGRAM STRATEGIC ROADMAP PROCESS NOW THAT WE'VE BEEN OPERATIONAL FOR ABOUT EIGHT YEARS WE'VE LAUNCHED A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS THAT WERE HIGHLIGHTED HERE. And we want to take a step back and just make sure we're revisiting those programs to see what we want to scale further and also what are other types of programs that we want to pivot to and think about funding in future years and building a plan to fund those over the course of the next five or ten years and plan accordingly. So we are very actively in that strategic planning process.

Okay, good. Keep up the good work.

Thank you.

Thank you. I don't have any other more questions, so thank you very much. And yes, I did catch on. Great document, and I'm glad it's online, but this is good. Absolutely. Thank you so much. And I don't know if you noticed, we're brighter in the chamber. It's part light bulbs and AVA.

That's right. We're selling this power already, guys. That's right. We appreciate the energy use. And I will also say anecdotally, in our first year of operations, prior to us getting our own office space, we actually did our board meetings in this council chambers. It was a little darker back then. But we appreciate the support in every way, in particular letting us use your council chambers.

well thank you and i and i also just wanted to acknowledge uh council member roach for her leadership on the ava board and you know although she never gets sick and so uh councilman goldstein is uh you know never goes to the meetings but uh thank you sir for your uh for your service thank you so much thank you appreciate it Okay, so I think that ends our presentations. Next item is our consent calendar.

I have a comment on nine.

Okay, number nine, go right ahead. I'm happy to move the items.

Yeah, number nine, go ahead. Item nine is authorizing a contract for us to begin a nighttime safety enhancement plan. I just wanted to appreciate Councilmember Bonilla's advocacy on the concept of lighting districts across the city and just being more methodical about how we think about lighting in our community and which parts of our community are well lit. Just a short excerpt from the staff report. This provides a roadmap for implementing future improved streetlight systems, which will accommodate safer travels, reduce crime, and increase access to key destinations in dark conditions. Increase nighttime activities would also support commercial and retail developments in the city. People don't often think about the streetlights above their heads. This is kind of the dry work of city government and development that goes unnoticed. So I just appreciate you surfacing this issue. And I also want to thank Director Mary's division for moving so quickly on this idea too. I think sometimes it feels like we thought an idea and it feels very magical to see it come before the die sometimes. And the speed at which you're making progress on really being responsive to our resident needs and improving the safety of our city, not just for pedestrians, but for all travelers and for businesses too. So yeah, with that, I'm happy to move all the consent items.

Thank you. Moved by Mayor Pro Tem Syrup. Second. And second by, did I see your button? Did I see your name up? Yeah, second by Council Member Goldstein and Madam City Clerk, we can vote.

And Mr. Mayor, just for the record, no public comment.

Oh, public comment, right? There is no public. I don't have any cards. I don't see anybody's name online. Let me see. Let me confirm. Seeing none, close public comment. And Madam City Clerk, we can vote.

I got an operation failed error.

Go ahead and yes, is that a yes? I'll do it from here.

I refreshed my screen. Okay, perfect.

And there you go, you got it. Okay, thank you. And the item passes with six ayes and one absent. Thank you. Next item is we have a public hearing, which is the disruption of telephonic or internet service policy. Adopt a resolution approving a policy addressing disruption or telephonic or internet service during public meetings pursuant to government code section 5. and determining that the action is not subject to environmental review. This report is gonna come to us by way of our city clerk and our city attorney's office. But what I'm gonna do is I'm going to forego staff report and come straight to council and see if council has any questions. Seeing none, I'll open up for public comment. I don't have any public comment. I'll close public comment, and I will ask Madam, or need a, I mean a motion. Council Member Sermonio. Moved by Council Member Sermonio. Second by Council Member Goldstein. Madam City Clerk, we can vote. And the item passes with six ayes and one absent. Moving on to council reports and announcements. Any council reports or announcements? I just had, I wanted to make just two quick comment reports. One, this is graduation season. Wanted to acknowledge all of the students up at Cal State East Bay and at Chabot College. They're all in the throes of finals and graduation and everything. All I got to say is I'm glad it's them taking finals and not me. I wanted to thank our streets and maintenance crews for posting up the banner there at Five Corners where it says congratulations to the graduates. Also, so congratulations. And I know the Hayward Unified School District, they go on vacation next month, I guess, in a couple, in a few more weeks, so. But I just really wanted to report that, you know, today I was in Alameda, I was in Alameda County building today with supervisors, with all the supervisors, Supervisor Marquez and mayors from Alameda, Livermore, San Leandro and Newark. And we were, you know, reporting on the good news of the PIT count and, you know, I just wanted to close by saying we are doing, as much work as we can to do our part to reduce homelessness in the city. And, you know, there's a lot of aspects to solving this. There's a lot of aspects to the work. It's very complex work. It takes a lot of people, a lot of expertise in people. But one of the primary goals we're trying to do is prevent homelessness to begin with. And so one of the, there is a lot of investment in making sure people have, that people stay in housing and continue to live where they are at. And so, you know, today was a very significant day for everyone who has been working in this space. As I was listening to comments by all the supervisors and the service providers, I couldn't help but to flex here in Hayward, because we really are leading the county. And I couldn't flex as much as my colleague over in Alameda with 47% reduction. However, it just shows you that the work that we've been doing, the work staff has been doing, both legislatively and programmatically, it's it's making a difference. It's moving the needle. And and so we're focused on on the three P's protection, preserving and producing housing. And and all you got to do is go anywhere in the city and you'll see it. And so we should all be very proud of the work that we're doing. And and so with that said, there are no council referrals. And if there are no other business meeting is adjourned.

Record.