Town Council - Regular Meeting

Happy June. I will call this meeting of the Los Gatos Town Council to order. Town Clerk, can we please have a roll?

Council Member Rennie?

Here.

Council Member Houdis?

Here.

Council Member Badami? Here. Vice Mayor Risto? Here. Mayor Moore? Here.

Thank you. So we'll now begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. And we have Knox Slipher here with us today. And I'll say just a few things about Knox as he comes up. So Knox goes to Alta Vista Elementary School. He's a fourth grader. He loves sports, including basketball, flag football, soccer, volleyball, and golf. Favorite subjects are science and reading and PE. Does that sound about right? Okay. Okay. His community service is feeding the homeless, which is fantastic. Good for you. And when asked what his favorite thing about Los Gatos is, he said the farmer's market, Grace Preschool, and his mom has a business in town. What's your mom's business in town?

Juice Co. LG.

Juice Co. LG. What's your favorite thing at Juice Co.?

All of it.

All of it? Great answer. Me too. If you're ever feeling sick, go to Juice Co. LG all the time. But whenever I'm coming down with something, I drink a couple juices and I'm better like in a day or two. So check out Juice Co. LG. Okay. You ready for the pledge? Yeah. All right.

I pledge.

Oh, do you want to say please stand? No. Okay. Please stand.

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

Nice.

Well done, Knox.

Okay, so now starting with Councilmember Badami down at the end, can you shake, we'll shake each of our hands and then the town clerks will generously give you a little treat at the end. And I do think we have one for your brothers too if they want. So just start with Councilmember Badami. Thanks again, Knox. All right, I now have the honor of presenting commendations to our outgoing youth commissioners, which is a very bittersweet thing we do each year. The Los Gatos Youth Commission, for those that aren't aware, is one of our town commissions, an advisory body to the town council that is made up of local high school students and even a few eighth graders. And so each year, we like to provide commendations to our outgoing youth commissioners. And so will our outgoing youth commissioners please come on up? And while they're coming up, one of the things I'll just say about the Youth Commission and our youth commissioners is I think it's so important that we take the voices of our youth seriously. They do so much on the Youth Commission. They have organized many incredible things, including our first multicultural fair and staffed and worked at the Spring into Green event and helped educate our community about the importance of environmentalism and so much more. And one of the things that I think is especially important about recognizing and uplifting the voices of youth is that the world that we're building here, the town we're voting on regularly, is the world that you're going to inherit. And so it's critically important that your voices are not only at the table, but involved in decision making. And I think the Youth Commission very much does some of that. So thank you very, very much for your service to the Youth Commission. And I have a commendation for each of you, but do you just want to each say your name and maybe your favorite thing about serving on the Youth Commission?

Yeah. Hi, everyone. My name is Cody, and I am going to be the outgoing chair or the former chair of the Youth Commission this past year. This would be my fourth year when I joined with Praveen over here. And my favorite part about being on the Youth Commission has probably been coming to these town council meetings at the beginning of the year and the end of the year to make our town council presentations.

Hi, my name is Ashby. This was my first year on the Youth Commission. And I think my favorite thing about being on Youth Commission was meeting so many people who are so inspiring and watching these events come to life.

Hi, my name is Praveen. Like Cody, I've been on the Youth Commission for the last four years, and I would say my favorite thing is probably all the interesting people from so many different schools and backgrounds that I've been able to meet across the last four years. I've made friends with so many upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, and I think that's been such a rewarding experience.

Hi, my name's Connor Crowes. This is my second year on the Youth Commission, and I'm a senior at LGHS. I think my favorite thing was this year, I've always had a, sort of been fascinated with the intersection of business and sustainability, and so this year, being able to model the fiscal impact of some of the ordinances that the environmental ad hoc was proposing, that was super fun and also really cool to do. Can we give our youth commissioners a round of applause?

All right.

Sure.

Perfect. We will now get to the business of the meeting. And so we'll begin with consent. If there's anyone in the audience that wants to speak either on the consent calendar during public communications or on a regular item, please fill out a speaker card and bring it up to the clerks. And so we'll begin with consent. Are there any council members wanting to pull an item from consent? Okay. Seeing none, we'll take public comment on consent. And we will start with Gus Hu.

I'm going to keep this really short. I turned in a supplemental in the packet, so you know what my positions are. There was not one picture that didn't come out, and that was an older picture of what Saratoga, for the wildfires, it was a year ago. I've already turned this in several times, and it was basically saying that Saratoga would give $200,000 and not because our property taxes pay for the fires and stuff like that, and that's in the supplemental. So I just wanted to make sure, this will be coming in on item number 10, it'll be number two, but it didn't make the picture. And that way people, it was in the weekly times about a year ago, but you guys have already seen that.

Thank you. Okay, and I see no hands raised on Zoom for consent. And so I will entertain a motion on consent. Yes, Council Member Badami.

I move to approve Consent Items 139.

Perfect. Vice Mayor Aristo.

Second, and that includes the desk item because there were revised contract terms for What item is that? Item with the agreements with our consultants. It doesn't say on this desk item what item that was.

I think there are two items where there is new information, either an addendum or a desk item. the first is consent calendar item number four and there's a revised version of the landscape maintenance agreement that was provided in an addendum and staff is asking for that to be approved and then the second one is item seven okay i found it sorry okay so um

with those two changes? All right, so I will go ahead and approve or make a motion to approve items one through nine with the revised addendum for item number four and also for item number seven.

Can you please also add the addendum that was, this is Nicole Burnham, Director of Parks and Public Works, the addendum for item five as well.

And I'd also like to include the addendum for item number five as well. Thank you. Okay, second.

Perfect. Yes, Council Member Hudes. Just a comment. I'm really delighted to see the inclusion of the accounts payable and payroll reports. It's really helpful for us to have visibility into that. So thank you very much to our finance staff for doing that.

Thank you. Then I will call the question. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Passes unanimously. Perfect. So that takes us through items one through nine. And we will now move on to verbal communications, which reminds me, I did want to announce that tonight is election night. And if anyone has not voted, you have precisely 48 minutes left to turn your ballot into one of the boxes right in front of the library. So please make sure you voted. Okay, moving on to public comment. So this is for verbal communications. This is for items that are not on the agenda. And so we will begin with JB Wood, and he'll be followed by Gus Hu. You'll have three minutes.

Good evening, everyone. My name is JB Wood. My wife and I live at 238 Bachman Avenue. And I'd like to submit a petition to the town council signed by hundreds of Los Gatos residents and visitors to address the blight that exists at 208 Bachman Avenue, previously known as the CB Hannigan's building. I delivered hundreds, I could have delivered thousands, because virtually everybody we asked to sign, their immediate reaction was finally somebody's going to do something about this building. You work so hard, the town, the town council, the planning committee, the historical committee, to ensure the visual continuity of the town, and yet here in the middle of the historic district sits this eyesore. So we would like to request some form of written feasibility remediation report by the town sometime in the August or September timeframe to provide some guidance to the community about what options are available to us to improve the situation at 208 Bachman Avenue. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? Yes. Vice Maristo.

Yeah, not for the speaker, sorry.

Oh, sorry. Thank you very much, thanks for being here. Okay, we will go to Gus Hu. And after Gus, we will have Keith Blaine.

Toto, you know, a couple things, go through soccer, you know, verbal. I have to say something about the World Cup coming. So that was my little, yeah, there's Toto. Let's see, I am, I gave you a picture. I am appealing the planning commissions. I am appealing the planning commissions on WVMA. I was, I believe I was the first person to appeal I have the fundamental rights to appeal and I don't know if you've been informed, but I sat through it and stuff like that and I've done class actions in federal court. So I know basically the right to be heard by testified public hearing, cities or town council meetings during the rulemaking process of government. I'm hoping that you follow the law because I believe I was the first person to appeal the right. The people behind me have been doing this ICE corruption government. I've been saying it for some time. See, look back on some records. On March 18th, 2025, the council ordered the federal funding grants be how they were to be impacted. It's in the minutes. It was on number 12. No, 15 people spoke. And you're supposed to report back every two months how things develop. No, there was no big reports. You know, I don't know what happened to it, but that's on March 18th, 2025. A lot of these people did speak on it and wanted, you know, they were worried about how people... You know how the government was reacting to and how it affected the town and I think we should have an agenda item because I. I have pictures, you know, this is a, I say that this picture here is an old picture, but I said that the air stuff is fake. The even the picture, the bullet going by and I have evidence on that. So if we had an agenda item, I can show some of the stuff. Um, and then last thing was the pride flag, you know, this is, uh, I do have concerns because it's sending a wrong message. Um, it's because, um, the if women can. Guys can play women's sports and in college things and or boys can go into Locker rooms and stuff like that. Oh, you know, it's it's just I think the debate should have been Between two people instead of being pushed. Thank you us. Thank you Go to Keith Blaine Good evening everyone

I just wanted to stop by and say, hi, and a friendly reminder of our, of our dog, uh, invisible fence. Um, so in the last 3 months, I put together more information for our town's attorney. Um, I found precedents across the country and verbage that might might support, um, the council's review and that's all I just wanted to say. Hi. And I'll give this to you. Thank you.

I have no other speaker cards in the room. I do have one hand raised on Zoom, Austin Marshall.

Hey, hopefully you can hear me. There's a problem with the Zoom. I can't see any video. I can only hear audio. So I'm having to watch on YouTube at the same time listening on Zoom. Okay, thanks for letting us know. Do you have a comment? You know, maybe it's better, sir, for the budget item. Basically, I just want to say if, you know, you can cancel the contract with Flock, cancel the contract for Cata, that'll free up some funds to pay for some important things in this town. Thank you.

Okay, we have no other hands raised on Zoom, and it looks like our fearless team from KCAT is working on the Zoom issue. For anyone that is having difficulty watching the meeting on Zoom, you can watch it on YouTube and stream it on YouTube on the live. Okay, great. We will now close verbal communications and move to our public hearing, which is to adopt a resolution approving the Town of Los Gatos fiscal year 26-27 operating budget and 26-27 through 2030-31 capital improvement program, among a variety of other items. CHRISTINA ALFARO, ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR, WILL PRESENT THE REPORT.

GOOD EVENING AGAIN, COUNCIL, CHRISTINA ALFARO, ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR. I'LL WAIT FOR MY PRESENTATION TO POP UP ON THE SCREEN TO GET STARTED.

I JUST WANTED TO ASK IF MEMBERS CAN'T WATCH ON ZOOM, DO WE WANT TO PAUSE FOR A MOMENT?

SURE. WE CAN PAUSE. DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A FIVE-MINUTE BREAK? Yeah, we'll take a quick breather.

We have our Zoom room camera working, and that's what people can see via the Zoom. So there may be a slightly different view if people are viewing from YouTube. But people on Zoom are able to view if they click on the tile that shows the council chambers.

Perfect, thank you very much. And thank you very much to our friends at KCAT for all your hard work to make this work. Okay, then in the interim, we've had one person raise their hand for, is this, Jeremy, are you raising your hand for public comment? or for, okay, no, I'm seeing multiple hands go up, and we've moved on to the budget, so I think we'll reserve your comments to the budget. Okay, turn back over to staff.

All right, thank you, good evening again. We're here this evening to conduct the public hearing to adopt the fiscal year 26-27 final budget and the five-year forecast and the capital improvement program, and also to talk about adjustments to the fiscal year 25-26 budget. There we go. All right, on the agenda for this evening, we're gonna go over the recommended changes to the proposed budget since we last met and had the public hearing on the proposed budget. We're also gonna go over some recommended changes to the fiscal year 25-26 budget. We're gonna actually talk a little bit about where we think we're gonna end fiscal year 25-26, and then briefly go over the council recommendations. The changes since the proposed budget hearing, I tried to break these out by fund type. So in the general fund you can see overall it's a $2.4 million increase to expenses and this is also outlined in one of our attachments as well. So we reduced the internal service fund charges by $1.5 million, increased transfers out by $3.8 million. This is $3 million out to the capital fund to create the new reserve and then about $800,000 to the internal service funds, as you may recall, for various facility projects. Next in the internal service fund, you see the offsetting revenue reduction in internal service fund charges for vehicles and equipment of 1.5 million. And then the $8.8 million increase in revenue from the transfer in from the general fund to the facilities ISF fund. Overall, it was a $.7 million decrease in revenue. We also had a $.3 million increase in facility projects. There we go. And then changes to the capital funds. We had a new fund created, long-term community benefit fund. We also transferred in $3 million from the general fund revenue. And then we committed those $3 million in a committed reserve. Overall, it was a $3 million increase in revenue for the capital funds. Other requests that are included as attachments to the staff report, where we added an unassigned narrative to page C-29, that's attachment four. which basically talked about how we built up the unassigned fund balance. We also included a survey of Santa Clara County agencies regarding what they do with their ERAF revenue. Moving on to the 25-26 budget adjustments and estimates. This table here shows our recommended 25-26 budget adjustments. Overall, we're recommending about a $3.4 million reduction in revenue, and this is primarily driven by the sale of the Tate property, which will not materialize until next fiscal year. And then there's some other small adjustments related mostly to aligning the budget to updated projections. in terms of expenses for the general fund. We are looking at making potential adjustments regarding the salary saving amounts. And this is really related to which departments were able to bring in salary savings. These are budgeted in each department's program budgets. We just may need to make some adjustments. Likely this will result in more of transfers than in any actual budget adjustment. All right, and then this slide shows a minor adjustment in the other funds for VTA Measure B education and encouragement grants. So it's an increased revenue of a little over $54,000. year-end estimate methodologies. I wanted to spend a little bit of time here as the town has historically used a different methodology for year-end estimates. I wanted to call out, we're trying something a little new this year, and so we wanted to call a little bit of attention to it. We're gonna talk about really the expense side of the budget, and salary and benefits has historically been projected out as of mid-year or December of any given fiscal year. where we generally take what the first six months of payrolls have looked like, take an average and then project that out to year end. This year we did more of what I guess is closest to almost a straight line methodology. So we took our actual payroll as of March 31st. We took the payrolls that were in March and then got kind of the average of a single payroll and projected those out to the remaining payrolls. For the operating expenses, we generally ask departments as part of mid-year to estimate where they think they're going to end the year, and that is what makes up our year-end estimates. This year we did a trend analysis where we took the last four years of actual expenses as of March 31st, and we determined a percentage that had been collected as of three months of the fiscal year, 75%. We then applied that percentage to actual expenses as of March 31st in most cases. There were some accounts that didn't have good trend lines or there were some accounts where no dollars had been spent to date. For those accounts where we did not have good trend lines, but dollars had been spent, we assumed they were at about a 75% spent rate and projected them out accordingly. And for those that hadn't spent any dollars to date and hadn't requested any kind of carryover, we assume that those would remain unspent to the end of the fiscal year. For all the other categories listed, we assume the budget that has been currently approved. And the result of this is overall, using our current year-end estimate, and this does assume any revenue reductions that were presented earlier. It assumes we'll end the year in a positive $1.3 million. Using our alternate year-end estimate methodologies, we're assuming a $4.9 million surplus. So there is quite a variance in between the two. We did run the alternate estimate on 24-25 numbers and came within that budget, but significantly closer than what had been previously estimated. In future years, we'll kind of continue to refine this process. Our goal really is to at this meeting, give Council a good indication of where we think we're going to end the year and hopefully get closer to that number as we go forward. So with that, that brings us to our next steps. So in July of 2026, we'll be publishing the adopted budget and the capital budget. We anticipate bringing the final NHA advisor reports to the Finance Commission, and these are the three reports. in August, at the August Finance Commission meeting, and then bringing the final NHA advisor reports to the town council, either the second meeting in August or the first meeting in September, and this is gonna be dependent on any work that needs to be done after Finance Commission reviews those reports. We'll be back to talk about where we are in the current, in the upcoming fiscal year in February with the mid-year, fiscal year 26-27 mid-year financial report. The recommendations are on this slide. I'm not going to read them out loud to you. The same ones that are included in the staff report. And with that, that concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much. Questions for staff? Yes, Vice Mayor Risto.

Thank you. I appreciate the explanation of some of the methodologies and how even with the budget we had, kind of refining it. So if I understood you correctly, Doing the alternative year-end methodology, our surplus goes from 1.3 to 4.9 expected, correct? And then it sounded like you said if you went backward and applied that methodology to the budget the year before and applied that methodology, it came out very close to where we really ended?

I believe we were less than half a million off from where we ended.

Okay. Now that's one year, but it sounds like, okay, with those kind of estimates, we have some level of confidence that this isn't overly optimistic.

So when looking at the numbers, I wanted to be really confident, right? So I would love to have put in at least one or two more years, but based on the historical data that we had available, those were the only two that we could do. But looking at the numbers and where you've ended and a little bit of the conversation of where you've historically ended, where you have had these large surpluses, it would lead me to believe that we needed to adjust our methodology a bit. So I'm really looking forward to seeing where we end and any potential adjustments we need to make as we go forward. But I feel like we will likely end, if you're asking me, I think we're going to end closer to the 4.9 than the 1.3. Okay, thank you.

Other questions? All right, I just had a quick one on eRAF. So it looked like about, of the cities that you were able to get information from, about two-thirds put in their budget, spend the full amount each year, and then about a third don't. Did that, I mean, and then Mountain View does something that sort of makes sense, which is they spend it once they receive it. Does any of that change anything for you, or what's your sort of perspective on eRAF right now?

I think not necessarily until we hear something more from the county. I think there's been some moves that have been a bit more promising in terms of how the county has handled ERAF recently. So before they wouldn't give it to us until after the end of the fiscal year, they wouldn't even project it. So the county has made some moves to do some of those items. And I think it's more of a wait and see pattern, especially given that the bulk of the other agencies do actually budget the full ERAF amount.

Okay. Thank you, thank you for putting together the little spreadsheet with the info on the other cities. Okay, then I will open up public comment on this item. We have about 10 speaker cards here, and we will begin with Jeff Suzuki.

GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL MEMBERS. FIRST, I'LL DISCLOSE THAT I'M NOT SPEAKING IN MY CAPACITY AS A COMPLETE STREETS AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER, BUT IN MY OWN PERSONAL CAPACITY AS A PRIVATE RESIDENT AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE WISCONSIN ANTIRACISM COALITION. I AM HERE BECAUSE I WANT TO Believe very strongly that we need to prioritize the safety and. Well, being of our residents, uh, present and future. Uh, with a potential detention facility planned in Gilroy, uh. Ice activity is likely to not just consolidate, but escalate in the Bay area. in the county and potentially in our town. Masked agents roam the streets of our neighbors up in the north in unmarked vans and people are disappearing. Children have lost their mothers and fathers.

Mayor, is this, I think right now we're on the budget item, unless the council- I'm getting to this, I'm getting to this.

Okay, all right, thank you. Yes, I promise. Children have lost their mothers and fathers. The work sites have struggled to fill their shifts and homes have been shattered, communities uncertain of where their friends and neighbors went. This is all to say that there is an organization, well, a coalition of organizations that is actively helping to deal with reducing the harm that these federal immigration enforcement agencies have brought upon our neighboring communities and potentially our own community in the future, the Rapid Response Network. A few days ago, I spoke with a representative from Amigos de Guadalupe, and they asked us to support their position that the town of Los Gatos should approve a one-time $20,000 grant to help immigrant families to provide educational support potential legal support to ensure that people are given their due legal rights that they are protected that they know what their rights are and that they're provided with potential life-saving emergency care and for that reason i urge you to approve $20,000 to potentially help community members, not just in the county, but in our own town, if that time comes. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Sue Ann Lorig, who will be followed by Kathy Mattingly.

Hello, Mayor Moore, Vice Mayor Risto and council. I'm Sue Ann Laurig and a resident of Los Gatos. I want to tell you how happy I was to witness the raising of the progress pride flag in Los Gatos yesterday. It was well attended, had awesome speakers, including Mayor Rob Moore, other public officials, and students from Los Gatos High School, and no counter-protesters. It went off without a hitch. The pride flag was able to be raised because of this council. It demonstrates your dedication to diversity and inclusion and makes me proud to be part of this community. I want to go along with what Jeff was saying, and I support funding the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network. It would be a tremendous way our town can continue to show support of being an inclusive community. It will also help us to stand with other towns and cities across the county. We must stand together or our residents stand a high risk of being targeted by federal immigration authorities. Mass federal agents have apprehended and abducted people without identification, reading them their rights, or even telling them why or what is happening. They've jailed them or taken them to concentration camps across the country or even to countries where they have never lived and don't speak the language or have family or contacts. They've done so violently and brutally, even killing people, U.S. citizens, people on their way to or leaving immigration hearings, people following the law. This is totally intolerable, and we must let it be known up front and be absolutely clear that we will not stand for such lawlessness and brutality here in Los Gatos. I urge you, please provide the $20,000 in one-time funding for the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network. Thank you.

Thank you. Sue Ann, it looks like you have a question. Yeah. From Vice Mayor Risto. Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you, Sue Ann. That's okay. And maybe I should have asked Jeff Suzuki, but I'll ask you, could you explain to me what 20,000 will do? Like, why that number? I'm familiar with the Rapid Response Network. I just don't understand. Jeff has more of the details on that than...

Or I don't know how.

Perhaps one of the next speakers could address that.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, thank you, I'm sorry. I've seen it, but I don't have it.

Thank you. All right, we'll go to Kathy Mattingly, and Kathy will be followed by Patricia James.

I won't have that answer. BUT GOOD EVENING, MAYOR MOORE AND COUNCIL MEMBERS. MY NAME IS CATHY MATTINGLY. THANKS FOR PERMITTING ME TO SPEAK IN FAVOR OF ALLOCATING $20,000 TO AMIGOS AS PART OF THE RAPID RESPONSE NETWORK WHOSE MEMBERS AND PROGRAMS PROVIDE SUPPORT TO RESIDENTS OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, INCLUDING LOS GATOS CITIZENS.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. OUR ASK IS, IS THAT SO MUCH WE ALLOCATED LAST YEAR?

This may include some other grants. It's on page 111. Let's go search through a little first.

I'm looking at page C70 of the budget. While staff is looking for that, Vice Mayor, did you have a question?

Yes, as long as we're looking at that. I agree, I mean in the past we've had a variety of groups come forward and if we go off script or if we go out of process, it can get chaotic, although this sounds like something that's pretty immediate. So I guess the two questions I had, as I look at, we have sustaining grants, which are just automatically renewed to nonprofits, and this is a one-time ask, and then I'm looking at the one-time competitive community grants, which goes through a process where a committee decides what gets funded, and even if we added more money, I guess I have two questions. One is, What is the maximum grant that can be given? Because I don't see anything in the one-time grants that exceed $10,000. There's one $10,000 to Child Advocates of Silicon Valley and every other grant, oh no, there's a 12,000. Every other grant is lower than that. So I don't even know if we've written it so that $20,000 could not be allocated And then the follow on question is, when are those grants released? Because I know the grants have to come in, and then the committee does the judging, and then the money is released, and I don't know if we're talking about a lag of weeks or a lag of many months.

There's a selection process that occurs and the refunds can't be released prior to July 1st since the allocation is in the new budget process. Because of the delay last year due to the change in the process, those were delayed a little even more. And so the selection committee, which I think has an arts commissioner, I don't know the full membership, reviews applications, can only review applications for those who have not received grants in the previous year, which I don't believe the rapid network received a grant last year. and then makes the decision after scoring those.

I guess what I'm wondering is, I know there's a period of time where people can submit grants, so I don't know what the deadlines are for money going out, and maybe there isn't an exact number.

I don't have that off the top of my head, but I think this is partly the reason why the council passed the resolution, which I'm still looking for, to not consider making one-off grants from the dais and to put it through the community grant process. So if you decide to make that direction, that will differ than what direction you gave with the new program last year.

Understood and then I guess while we're looking this up can we find out what's a maximum grid that can be? Maximum grant that can be given through the competitive grant process If you're willing to take a break I can consult with the library director Okay, or at least that's on a list of things to find out thank you Yeah, we can I have a few comments, so if you know you need to call I am not against increasing the amount and fill out the form and if they can demonstrate how much money they need that would stay in the but for our sustaining I don't know if 20,000 for rental assistance

Council Member Rennie. I think we're starting to overthink this. I'm gonna try to put a peg on the board. I make a motion that we increase.

Can I ask us to take a step back? Because we're heading down a road that is a lot more. We wanna give $20,000 on an ongoing basis. I just won't award it. I'd ask the council, if you wanna allocate 20,000 to a group, either have the selection committee decide, and if you wanna provide some criteria, you could provide that criteria. The council can take an action by a vote of three to agendize anything in accordance to the agenda policy. So yes, I think the challenge for me is we're being asked a question to give you some parameters around policy that is so broad. If you asked me right now, Chris, where would you stick $20,000 for ongoing? Part of what I reported to you last time was potentially coming back to you for funding to support homelessness and homeless services, which is amongst our most at risk population. And so the conversation that triggers this is request from the public to fund a specific nonprofit at a specific dollar amount. And so I don't know how. without more guidance from the council, I would be able to come back to you and advise you on how to approach that. My recommendation is, what I'm hearing is that the current $155,000 is not adequate, that we should be increasing the allocation to that. That's what I'm reading between the lines. My preference would be, if that's what your desire is, to increase the $155,000 by the $50,000 one time or sustaining and provide some criteria around if there's some emphasis you want that money to be put towards. Vice Mayor Risto.

Thank you. Well, it sounds like if we have to do it at high level budget, I mean, it sounds like we can say we want to increase by $50,000. We can allocate which part goes to the competitive and then I understand that it makes it difficult for the staff to come back if we agendize it with a staff report, but maybe we reach out to all of the groups that are receiving sustaining grants, ask them to come to the next meeting or submit information so that the council could then vote on how to allocate that additional money. And if there's other groups, but I think You know, I've heard from some groups, I'm surprised they're not here, but I think that you're right. I mean, our services to some of the most vulnerable people, the costs go up, the need goes up, people's dollars don't go as far with inflation, and maybe instead of spreading it across, we just, at another meeting, decide how that additional amount will be allocated for sustaining based on input we get. Is that a reasonable way to do it?

it feels right to me i think asking us within you know friday is the deadline for the agendas for the next council me so i i think what we're doing is trying to shoehorn in a specific item into a specific program that the council thought out well last year i'd rather you just allocate an additional dollar amount in in that 155 000 and just increase the budget And then we'll just let it to the, in either agendize a meeting where the council can provide additional guidance on how to implement the program, or just let the current process and the library director implement that with a higher dollar amount. And then folks can apply up to the $20,000 limit that the director is open to increasing that too.

But I guess the question is if we want to increase the sustaining grants, that has to be a council decision. And maybe it doesn't have to be at the next meeting. If we say we're going to increase it, the groups get what they're getting and we have a larger discussion in August or September about where the increase goes. Because I don't think the library director, I mean, the committee that makes these decisions makes the decisions about the one-time competitive. They don't make the decision on sustaining.

They do, but the last time the council acted on the sustaining, it was agendized and it was explicit to say X dollars for West Valley Community Services, Y dollars for the following nonprofit.

Right. And we don't have those numbers today.

And it's not. And I think we're trying to make a decision. We're trying to navigate getting to an outcome. And so council, you should just agendize it and get to that outcome. But I just need to raise the caution. The reason we re-looked at the program last year was intentional to avoid the budget process. This process becoming one where a long line of individuals and groups come forth and ask money. You know, the Chamber wanted to be here and request additional funding for their programs. programs that we partner with them that are exceeding the cost of the grant that the town currently provides to them. And I told them I am not gonna recommend that to the council. So to not come here and then see another organization be able to get money from the town just creates another path that derails us from the process the council wanted last year. So I need just more guidance from the council. Understood. Council Member Badami.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Town Manager. That's my train of thought tonight. I'm not comfortable making any changes. We have a process that works that we set up last year with specific direction. And it seems tonight we're being set up for the increase for a specific ask that we're getting tonight that's actually news to me. You know, being sprung on this, typically we get some advanced material that, hey, we're going to be coming tonight and these are the reasons you should do this. This is news to me, period. So I'm looking at when we do our grant program, we don't have a lot of money, but a lot of times we prioritize and the money goes for more tangible results, such as hunger needs for Live Oak and even the homeless. This is almost for a what if, what if this happens in Los Gatos? And it's, I'm not sure, I mean, I could see that it's, needed in other communities, but this is more of a what if right now for Los Gatos. So when we dole out the money, I want something that is needed now that serves the greater community of Los Gatos.

Council Member Gattis.

I think that we have a motion on the table in a second, and I was going to offer a friendly amendment to the motion, which would be for WITH REGARD TO THE SUSTAINING GRANTS OF $20,000 THAT STAFF REACH OUT TO NONPROFITS TO IDENTIFY SPECIFIC REQUESTS FOR NONPROFITS AND SPECIFIC DOLLAR AMOUNTS AND BRING THAT BACK TO THE COUNCIL FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE END OF AUGUST.

DO YOU MEAN OF THE SUSTAINING GRANT RECIPIENTS? YES.

Council Member Hughes, can you repeat that one more time?

See if I do it the same way. So I move that staff reach out to nonprofits regarding the sustaining grant portion of $20,000 to identify specific requests for specific nonprofits and specific dollar amounts and bring that back to the council for consideration by the end of August.

Vice Mayor Risto.

So I want to clarify, we're only going to be reaching out to the groups already receiving the sustaining grants, correct? I mean, that's the whole point of the sustaining grants.

Yes.

Okay. You just said non-profits. You didn't say these non-profits.

Yeah. So I should say the non-profits that are currently receiving sustaining grants.

Okay. As a seconder, I can accept that.

It's okay with me. I was waiting to see staff's reaction that this will go forward. It's pretty much what I intended anyway, so I'm accepting of it.

Okay, if I may, let me just reframe it back to make sure I'm understanding correctly. So the council wants to allocate $20,000 more to the sustaining grants. in a process that we request those nonprofits that are currently receiving them to come back and provide proposals on dollar amounts related to that extra $20,000 for the council to consider in August, and that we will increase the one-time competitive side of the house by an additional $30,000, bringing us to a total of $205,000 for the community grant program in the budget.

Yes, that's my understanding of the motion.

And I just want to turn to the clerk. There needs to be a modification on the resolution, correct, with regards to community grants?

Since we're adopting the budget, then whatever allocations needs to be noted in the resolution.

And in that motion that I guess reframe back to you, also modifying the resolution to add language allocating $205,000 in the manner specified. Yes. Okay.

Yes.

Okay. So that's a motion by Council Member Hudes or a modification to Council Member Rennie's motion? It's a modification to my. Okay. And that was accepted by Council Member Rostow. Okay, perfect.

I am not seeing any, and so process-wise, staff will reach out to those organizations. You'll let them know council took this action. So don't ask for all $20,000, because we're asking everybody. But if you have an increased need, please let us know something to that effect.

Correct, I'll have the library director do the reach out about what the action actually was, provide them the deadlines, have them make the requests, and then we'll package that into an agenda item for end of August. And then the director will still proceed with the higher dollar amounts of 20,000 for the max for a community grant program, but now with an extra $30,000 to be able to allocate.

Okay, great, and so the one process question is, it sounded like from the library director, the funding is usually allocated in late July for all of these organizations, so this will kick back sustaining a little bit.

I think we're, I didn't hear the council wanted to make a different allocation. I think this would be them coming back and saying, if there's an extra 20,000, here's what we would like to use it for. Then council could decide on that piece.

That is clear. Any other questions? Yes, Council Member Domi.

I'll just make a comment. With that modification that we are going to make it more equitable for other groups to participate, I can support the motion rather than it just being a specific targeted ask tonight.

Great. Then I will call the question. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Passes unanimously. All right, thank you very much. Now we're back to the budget. Do council members have other questions, comments, motions, direction on the overall budget? Director Alfaro, you were so clear in your last presentation that you've exhausted all of our questions. Yes, Vice Maristo.

Right. I think my only comment would be that it's great to see everything we discussed. You know, I'm on the Finance Commission, so having three meetings of discussion and then coming to the Council and then seeing how this all reconciles, knowing that it's probably... little better off than we expected. We'll have to see how it goes, but I don't have any other changes to the budget or I just appreciate all of the good work and looking forward to how the year folds out.

Set a high expectation for your future self. Council Member Badami.

Yeah, I'd also like to add, you know, hey, this has been great work. Thank you very much, but I also want to remind everybody what Mr. Fugo did that a lot of accolades goes to the Finance Commission as well.

Great, then I will look for a motion on the budget.

I would ask the clerk if she can put up the PowerPoint slide with the recommendations for the budget, and then we'll just have to slightly modify based on the action you just took.

Was the action, Mayor, through the Mayor, that the action we just took, did we just approve the resolution already with those changes, or do we need to approve it again?

The motion I heard was only to increase the budget for the grant program. And so.

And we mentioned that it needed to change the resolution also. Yes. So do we need to.

I think it would be helpful to have a specific motion adopting the resolution as amended.

I think the amendment is just as amended. Okay, so the motion would be to adopt a resolution as amended, approving the town of Los Gatos fiscal year budget, operating in capital budget, including new appropriations, minor corrections, and carry forward appropriations as presented in attachment one. Adopt a resolution approving commitments of fund balances under GASB 54 as listed in attachment 2. Approve the FY25-26 year-end budget adjustments and reclassifications as listed in attachment 3. And to adopt a resolution establishing the fiscal year 26-27 GAN appropriation limit for the Town of Los Gatos as listed in attachment 7. Yes.

I'll make the motion to accept those as just read by the town manager.

Thank you. Yeah, Council Member Hudus?

I'll second the motion and also offer my comment about really the substantial progress that we've made in financial management in the town to allow us to have discussions that are truly about discretionary spending it's not only important that we do this because of the budget but it's also I think very important to recognize the progress that we've made in financial management that allows us to have the visibility so that we can make these kinds of recommendations and put in place the kind of processes that our residents deserve. And I think it's very much a joint effort of town staff, leadership, town manager, and our administrative services director, as well as the finance commission, and the members of the council that have been able to benefit from the enhanced management that we have of our financials. So with that, I strongly second and want to commend staff on bringing us this far.

Other comments, questions, thoughts on the budget? Seeing none, I will call the question. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Okay, the budget was our only public hearing, our only regular item, and so we will move on to council matters. We will start with Councilmember Badami.

Thank you, Mayor. On May 20th, I met with a board trustee for the West Valley Mission College District. And on the 26th, I participated in a meeting of the Council Policy Committee along with Mayor Moore. And I've also met with residents on issues concerning the town.

Thank you. On the 20th, I met with a developer who has completed a pre-application, an SB 330 pre-app for townhomes on Alberta Way and Highway 9, which should be moving forward. On the 25th, I attended the Memorial Day event at the Flame of Liberty that was sponsored by Open Doors to Future Possibilities. And to make a comment, Mayor Moore gave a really great speech. I would say all of the speakers there were very moving and somebody came up to me, one of the veterans who was visiting from Morgan Hill came up and he said usually when he attends events like this, it feels like a lot of the speeches are filler and he said there wasn't a single filler speech. Everything was meaningful and I would have to agree. On the 28th, I'm part of the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Finance and Administration Committee, and we made some recommendations for the Board of Directors meeting this upcoming week in terms of what to do with our budget and risk assessment. On the 29th, I had a social event meeting with the Good Old Gals, which is the fifth Friday of, whenever, every time there's a fifth Friday, elected and former elected women from across Santa Clara County meet together. So it's great to talk to people that were on Palo Alto City Council 20 years ago, find out what nonprofits people have started, where public life led them, and just get perspective on all of the issues that we face. On the 31st, I met with a Saratoga and Monte Sereno resident to talk about VTA bus schedule tweaking that they've done to probably get at least 50 Redwood Middle School students on the VTA bus. And they've got parents pre-signing up with interest. And so I'll continue meeting with them and someone from VTA to see what we can do about getting better bus route alignment for the high school and other things. And then finally yesterday, and I'll leave more to the mayor, but I was very excited to be on the front lawn of the Civic Center for the pride raising yesterday. And it was a very celebratory feeling with a wonderful group of people there. And I feel like we finally stepped into the present.

Council Member Hudus.

Yeah, a few interesting meetings. One was a discussion of climate resilience districts that was organized by our town manager and included the mayor of Saratoga and the city manager of Saratoga. I think there'll be more to come on that in the future as we start to understand how we can fund the substantial wildfire preparations that all of the communities are going to need to face. I participated in a site selection committee meeting of Los Gatos Thrives regarding potential sites for the new community center. I participated in Africa Day and at the JCC that was put on by a couple of organizations really highlighting the culture and contributions of people from Africa and included some fantastic food and music and I was really proud to see Los Gatos host that kind of event. It was very, very exciting to see a true multicultural event here in town, very uplifting. I, again, participated in the Memorial Day event, and let's see, that was pretty much it, thanks. ANY?

I ATTENDED THE SILICON VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY RISK OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING ON MAY 28. THAT'S IT FOR ME.

Great, thank you. And as mentioned, I attended the Los Gatos' first ever pride flag raising yesterday. It was a really beautiful celebration. It was really nice to be able to have some of the student advocates who came to the event speak and be involved. And it was just very moving, very positive celebration and you can go see the flag right now. It'll be up for the month of June. I had the honor of speaking at the second annual Open Doors for Future Possibilities Memorial Day event, which was co-hosted in collaboration with the Los Gatos Veterans Memorial and Support Foundation. It was at the memorial, which is a, you know, I think it's easy for people in our community to forget that that is not necessarily a common sort of memorial to have in a community, and so it was very powerful to be there and I offered my reflections during that event on how people of my generation have not had to endure the sort of global violence that people of past generations have. And so it's very important to continue educating our next generation about all of the lives that were lost to protect our freedom. I enjoyed speaking to Boys Team Charities, which is a great organization in Los Gatos. I talked to about 100 Los Gatos boys about what it means to be a man and how they can help our community, so I really enjoyed that. I participated in a portion of the Pathway Society recovery ride, which was a done by a Los Gatos Monasterino resident that did a what's called an Everest ride, did twenty nine thousand miles. Sorry. Twenty nine thousand feet of climbing starting at. Purple Onion in Los Gatos and going up to Testarossa did that 111 times, which is crazy. It took 24 hours, and he raised about $35,000 for a new recovery center in downtown San Jose, which is a great, great win. I enjoyed participating in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics, which was a great event. The Vice Mayor participated as well. And that was my first time ever doing that. We have some very fit Los Gatos, Montecrino police officers. You know, the bad guys out there should be very scared. Don't try to run on foot. Don't try to run at all, of course. But it was a really great event. Really enjoyed doing that and meeting some of the families of our officers as well. attended and spoke at the Friends of Los Gatos Library's annual meeting, who are just such an amazing organization. They love the library more than anyone. It's amazing, their care and dedication to that space. And they are very good advocates for promoting their bookstore that's just above us here, the only used bookstore in Los Gatos. And so always check that out if you're looking for something. I attended a mayor's roundtable with the mayor of Mountain View and the former mayor, current council member of Campbell, for a pizza and policy event where we discussed what are the challenges facing our communities. I spoke to all of the third graders at Van Meter, which was awesome. I spoke for about five minutes, maybe less, because not a lot of third graders want to hear elected officials speak. 55 minutes of questions. They were so engaged. Like every kid there asked a question. They were just so wonderful and really enjoyed that. I attended the grand opening of a new business in Los Gatos, Palmetto Superfoods, which is an old town, a really good acai spot. And they are a rapidly growing business. They also, I always figure that acai and that sort of category of things will be very expensive. It's very affordable. So check it out. You can get a bowl for less than $10, which is pretty good. And then this morning, I gave the Hillbrook graduation speech, which is an honor that I think everyone here has done. And it's a really moving event. We're so fortunate to have Hillbrook in our community. It's, you know, Hearing the students talk about their experiences going to, you know, Ecuador and doing service in our community and supporting our homeless neighbors. And, you know, it's a very unique academic institution. And so we're very fortunate to have that here in Los Gatos. And that is all I've got. I'll turn it over to the town manager and then town attorney.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know that we had speakers and we've had them in the past about concerns about ice in our community. And I know I updated the council on this before, but I want to bring it up one more time. I've implemented an administrative directive that restricts authorizing the use of our facilities or resources with federal authorities without the authorization of the town manager and the consultation of the town attorney in analyzing it. And we have not yet have received a request. And if we did, and it was one of significance, I would intend to bring it before the council for the council to give direction on such. So we have a layer of protection on some of the concerns that folks have in our community. And so I just wanted to highlight that again, since it came up again. I wanna thank Council Member Hudes for recognizing the increasing transparency on the financial side for the organization. I'm a true believer and so is Christina that transparency in government and the public's money is very important. And so you saw increasingly better budget presentations and conversations. We brought in outside experts to continue to do financial analysis and we'll see the fruits of that, the conclusion of it in August. You're now seeing the accounts payable and payable reports coming publicly and being sunshine for the world to see on the consent calendar. And then you're gonna see future budget monitoring and staffing reports that allow us a deeper level of understanding on a regular basis. Where are we? What are we spending versus what's projected? What's coming in in revenue versus what's projected? And how are we proceeding in terms of our vacancies and vacancy savings? All of that to say that we truly value our taxpayers, businesses and residents knowing that their money is being well spent and that they can see where it's actually going. Lastly, I am very excited. Yesterday was a milestone. The town of Los Gatos has now implemented its own electronic 311 service request system. And if you look on the screen, this is the web version. I don't know if it's my phone doing it or somebody else. If you can go to the top of the webpage, I mean, we have a link that you can download on the news and updates, but on the upper right of the website, there's a new button called Report a Concern. And if you click on that button, like the clerk will do, it'll take you to a new page that's activated for those who don't have an iPhone or Android. If they want to report, they can report an extremely wide variety of concerns through this app. that will go directly to the specific person who's responsible for the area for which they're reporting this app is also available for iphone and android i have it up here in my hands on my phone and i encourage members of our community to download it i know staff and council have have Had the pleasure of using this during our soft launch in the past month, but the amount of information here, this will be one of the most accessible ways to gather information from what events are coming up, news and updates, agenda and minutes, business licenses, department and staff directories, and employment opportunities with the town. and be able to report. It also allows you to have a back and forth conversation with members of the town that are specifically responsible. So if you report a mattress in the roadway, the public parks and public works team that will be dealing with that will be the ones that you could communicate with and they were able to respond to you. It also provides a new level of visibility into cases that come in that many people in the organization can see the status. So we know if something is lingering, there'll be multiple eyes to be able to get on that and make sure that we can get on top of that case or get back to the resident and let them know the expectations if there's a longer lead time for response. We hope that this will improve our customer service and improve the service in the town and also provide us data to better understand the level of activity that occurs in the town. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. And I'll turn to the town attorney.

No closed session items to report. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Oh, yes. Council Member Hudas.

This goes to the town manager. We received this information about the blighted property. Is this something that maybe you could provide us an update on in the next few weeks?

This has already been reported to code enforcement and I'm waiting for an update as to the status of where code enforcement is. And I will say that many communities have to deal with blighted property. In a lot of cases, we're able to resolve it. In some cases, we're not. And we use an ever escalating set of options to be able to get to conclusion. And so that is something that we will continue to monitor. But I will take the information that was passed out and I will provide an update to council.

Thank you. Okay, without anything else, this meeting is adjourned.