City Council - Regular Meeting

good afternoon let's call door to the special council meeting closed session of july 28th 2026 at 4 31 p.m the city does not tolerate disruptive behavior in our meetings this council meeting is considered a limited public forum which means the council can regulate the time place and manner of speech speaker comments must be limited the agenda item being considered by council uh If the speaker's comments are not related to an agenda item, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of a disagreement with the content of their speech

Thank you. And Vice Mayor Mellinger's absence is an excused absence. Members of public will now have an opportunity to address council on the closed session item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. City clerk, are there any remote speakers wishing to speak on this item? I will go ahead and close public comment. Council will now adjourn to closed session. See you back here at 5 p.m. for the study session on artificial turf policy and our main meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Let's call toward the special council meeting study session, July 28, 2026, at 5 PM. The city does not tolerate disruptive behavior in our meetings. This council meeting is considered a limited public forum, which means the council can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech. Speaker comments must be limited to the agenda item being considered by council. If a speaker's comments are not related to an agenda item, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of a disagreement with the content of their speech.

Thank you. And Vice Mayor Mellinger's absence is an excused absence. Moving on to our study session item, item 26-0264, Artificial Turf Policy Study Update. Is there a staff report?

Thank you very much. Are there questions from council? First up is Councilmember Lay. And just to give counsel a heads up, we'll probably do about six minutes apiece and then conceivably come back before we go to the public. Go ahead.

Thank you. Thank you for your work in this to staff and to our consultants and also to the members of the public who participated in all of the community outreach. We have a community that's very passionate about this and in both directions, people who are passionate for artificial turf and people who are passionate about natural grass turf and I thank both communities for their feedback. I have a quick question, actually, pretty quick question. Slide eight, which I believe is the hours of play on fields. I'm curious about the distribution. So we have the average and then we have the actual, a

So I'm asking if there, when you look at a distribution of the, sorry, I'm trying to translate from math to English. When you look at the distribution, are there two distinct buckets? Like is there one group that's not used for very many hours at all and then one bucket of parts that is? Or is it like more spiky than that?

Okay. And then it sounds like from what you were saying that some of the other ones include the schools. Correct. What are the other ones that see high usage?

And you're not, when you calculate that, that's the, when you calculate use, that's calculated by the numbers of play that are reserved.

It makes sense to me that probably the schools during their own hours are using that.

okay thank you you're welcome I will probably have more questions later but that's it thank you thank you council member uh next up is council member Srinivasan thank you a question for you and then you mentioned yeah you mentioned but in the meantime um uh on slide um 2015, what is chemical exposure of natural grass? Is that because of the pesticide?

So we talked about the, you explained about the hours of reservations in various parks. Fair Oaks Park is highly utilized. And then is that because of the lighting or is that correlated to, I don't know whether, let's say we replaced artificial turf with natural grass, but we had lighting. Would the usage be similar?

okay and then on slide uh 16 and the cost comparison uh slide no the cost comparison yeah that one it says natural grass field is two hours per day That seems to be very low. I understand about the school fees, but then regular, let's say Ortega or some other natural grass, why is it just two hours? Is that people don't want to reserve, but they just want to walk in or something like that?

so in that case is it fair to say it's not a apple to apple comparison but it's for example if there is a natural turf with lighting with artificial turf with lighting, that's the comparison we should be looking at, right?

Okay, thank you. Yeah, that's what I was wondering whether... It's artificially inflated number because of lighting and other conditions rather than the actual playing surface.

it is, it say, I am looking at the artificial turf field column. It says average maintenance cost per year over 20 years is $30,330, whereas two lines above, it says $30,770. I don't want to nitpick on $30, $40, $300, but that might be a discrepancy there. I think my time is up. Okay, thank you. See?

Thank you, Councilmember. Next up is Councilmember Cisneros.

Yes, thank you. Thank you, staff, for the presentation. All the community members who have provided their input through the process. And I just want to first say, like, starting in 2025 and now we're just one year later, I'm pretty happy with the speed that things are going. It seems like we're... Really making progress on the efficiency and we're seeing more issues that the Community cares about come for discussion much quicker, which I think is super helpful and especially these situations. yeah I just to give a little feedback on the presentation, it just seemed like the literature review a

Absolutely. Understanding any decision we make could potentially potentially or likely change the use. And so taking that into consideration as well though, but that involves that whole process of bringing that before. And this just helps inform your alternatives and helps come up with a way to talk about your recommendation. Okay. That's really helpful. Let's see. Okay. And then I just wanted to give feedback on the private property or development guidelines, I have a question. Would it be more efficient for staff to study something like that if council were to have an appetite for it alongsi

Okay. That's helpful to consider because that is a piece of it. Whenever I look at a big scoping change like that, it looks like now we'd be pulling in another department to have that then be a big piece of that conversation as well. So it's a significant change in scope.

Great. Okay. That's very helpful. I think that's all I have for right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Next up is Councilmember Sal.

Hi. Thank you for the report. It's a lot of work and thought went into it, so thank you. So I was wondering, when you look at a natural grass park dedication fund, investments in improved drainage, could that be paid by the park dedication fund?

And then how about renewable energy powered mowers. Like I guess there might be solar powered mowers and those kind of things. Okay, so not part dedication. Okay, and then currently in the master plan, there are some parks that are penciled in as consideration for artificial turf, and that's when the decision tree would be used, but some other parks, there was never a conversation of artificial turf. So would the decision tree be used for those, or would you go by the master plan?

Okay. And what is the reason for that when previously we had like a master plan and what would be, what is the reason for deviating from that?

Okay. So when one of the questions I asked was that we're going to do a pilot and you know, we're investing probably in organic methods for that pilot. And then so if along the way we also invested in more artificial turf, then that kind of would, you know, are investment organic. Anyway, the answer to my question that Stout gave me was that the next few parks aren't going to be artificial turf. And the next one that might be artificial turf is like in 2030. It's not going to be for Sarah Park and it's not going to be for another park, but it's going to be for Ortega Park. So But if we approve

And then implementing the flow chart, you would come to the same answer because those fields would not be considered high-use athletic fields.

How am I doing on time, my six minutes? Another minute, okay. So I think add to the decision tree might be considerations like a change in the use of the field in terms of once you do artificial turf, you can't have dogs on it, you can't have food on it. Those kind of things should be considered. And you would need to sanitize it periodically because they the waste on it doesn't decompose it needs to be sanitized and that would need to use like not recycled water you know potable water and then other things that might need to be on it is that on the decision tree for choosing artificial turf i

Thank you, Council Member. Next up is Council Member Chang.

Thank you for the presentation and the report. Could you talk to me a little bit more about the organic field management pilot and what would be involved in that?

Thank you. And I think in the responses to the commissioner questions, I think it was mentioned Washington Park might be the best location because of the irrigation systems. I also noticed that it is the highest gallons per acre for pesticide use park. So how would that interact with kind of both studies or pilots happening?

Yeah, there's certain parts that need to be replaced. There were pictures where the person mentions that there were parts of it that were fixed or places that were was replaced.

Okay. Thank you. I think those are all my questions for now.

Thank you. I have several questions. First up. So I was hoping to see from a study standpoint, I understand we're talking about hours of play, but it really a lot of this comes down to how often the fields are closed. And, you know, from from the let's say the natural grass parks, maybe it's in there, but I did not see like the number of days that a park is closed because, or a field is closed because the grass is in unusable space, is in an unusable state. And this is what we always hear in the wintertime, that the fields have been closed too long from, and talking to the AYSO parents, it's l

and how it ends today and how it continues. But tracking that data I think is critical because this is one of the key things of, you know, supposedly the values of artificial turf. And we can talk about lights and we can talk about a lot of other things, but that is often, you know, and it goes to drainage and everything else also. And I appreciate the speed that this came back to us, but there are, to me, there are, you know, that's one of the things I would have liked to seen. And then the use at home. So we kind of talk about, you know, we did polling for residents who currently have artifi

Okay. And talked about the study so so there's a recommendation to kind of change like what we're doing for lakewood and or you know it's conceivably how that's operated i know we we did a lot of direction from a council standpoint to improve the quality of that field looking at drainage looking at you know irrigation and everything else um what would be the cost on top of that to go more organic than it already is. And you talk about staff, the eight staff that you're kind of talking about here in general is that if every field went organic in the longterm or, you know, and as we add parks an

I appreciate that. Okay. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Sell. Additional questions from Council? Any other questions before we go to the vote? OK.

OK. Seeing none, let's go back to where I was supposed to be. I'll go ahead and open the public open up the public comment on the specific item please submit a speaker card to the city clerk raise your additional hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that she was to speak i will call on members of public participating in person first followed by remote participants speakers will have two minutes to speak um And I'll be reading off two names. First person, please come to the lectern. Next person, be please waiting in the wings. First up is Daryl J followed by Robert P, Robert

Next is Robert B. followed by Barucho M. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. Next up is Heruko M., followed by Kitlyn S.,

Thank you. Kitlyn S. followed by Mary B. Hi.

um and i think that's all i'm gonna say thank you thank you um mary b followed by tiffany c

Thank you. Tiffany C followed by Carrie L.

Thank you. Andrea W, followed by Susan H.

Thank you. Oh, there's one moment. Can you come back for just a second? Oh, hi.

Thank you, Council Member Lay. Hi, thank you for your comment. I didn't hear what you said. You invited us to walk around. Okay, I'm sorry.

Thank you. Next up is Courtney J followed by. Harris Harris are curious. Oh, Marius.

Thank you. Marius R followed by Zach Kay.

Thank you. Zach K. Followed by, I guess, Mark Riddell.

Thank you. Margaret L followed by Bruce P. Hi, I'm Margaret Lawson.

Thank you. And my last speaker card in the room is Manny D.

Thank you. That was my last speaker card in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote speakers wishing to speak on the side?

Okay, thank you. I'll go ahead and close public comment and bring it back to council for final input. And David, can you pull up the last slide again? And first up is Council Member Lay.

Thank you so much. Thank you to the members of the public who came out tonight for your comments. We appreciate your time and your engagement with the community. I have a question or I have a preference regarding Mei-Ling Stephan's comment, one of our last public commenters. One of the things she raised was the possibility of fuel closures in anticipation of hot weather. One of the things that concerns me as a parent, as someone who generally lives in this area, as a person who lives generally is climate change and the potential impacts of climate change not just towards less rain but more hea

Okay, sorry, let me say that again. So it's going to come back at our next project workshop. And then if we approve it, the pilot will be, I'm assuming put out to, to bid, and then that will take a number of months, and then it will start. So this is 2026. It'll take that might not even be done by the time we're taking this up.

So is that when Ortega will be starting to be scoped?

Okay. And then for the pilot, what are we looking at for the pilot? What are the considerations for the field that's going to be studied there?

Thank you. And then for the parks team, what is the current status quo of Washington Park as it's used for recreation reserved hours currently?

Okay, thank you. And I want to also, I want to say that we as a council are aware, we have heard this in many of the public comments, that there are other recreational uses for grass fields. I go to the park a lot. I think my kids are at the park now. None of that is logged in these studies. I'm not a recreational soccer player, neither are any of my sons. the parks are for everyone. I just want to get that out there that I hear you when you say that. That's the extent of my questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is Council Member Srinivasan.

Thank you, Mayor. I had a couple of questions for, there were three comments from public I wanted a clarification on. One is grass field closing is that closed because of rain or is it for seeding while he's coming up i have another thing survey another public mentioned about the skewed survey problem that is some portions of the city are not participating can we ensure that everybody is aware and can participate or if it is not already done okay

yeah thank you thank you for that i'm not criticizing staff and then i'm trying to understand the why the results are skewed across the city i totally understand why it could be but any effort to reach out to all the parts of the city is appreciated i'm not i don't have any particular suggestion so

Okay. Okay. Thank you. And then one last question before my comment. Can you bring up the slide? So being The way I look at this, there are three scales. One is organic turf, that is pesticide free, natural turf and artificial turf. That's the gradation in my view. And then, We heard about BN pesticide public comment, and then I also read in the report, which was very scant about other technologies or other methodologies. I'm assuming that staff will follow other, when we say organic field management pilot, which we approved last week, they are looking at other organic methodology. Is that cor

So beyond pesticide, that company itself is the organic field management concept, right?

That's my understanding reading the report. Thanks for clarifying. So regarding my feedback on this, I will be very quick here. Overall report, kind of like the report, but at the same time, I would like to see more of organic field management because that's the future. That keeps our city healthy. So I don't want to totally reject the report at this stage because it's a case by case and then we can decide when we want. But looks like it's already leaning towards natural turf. But I think based on the feedback I heard or the comments I heard, it will lead to organic field management once the s

Thank you, Council Member. Next up is Council Member Tso.

Thank you. And when we're looking at natural grass, I'd like us to look at drainage, because if we improve the drainage, we can improve the time of use. I like what Council Member Lay said about closing the fields at 100 degrees C or some standard thing that the high schools use. And I would like us to do the pilot and for the pilot to look for a management, organic turf management, that is for athletic fields. And I would like to have the sports leagues be one of the stakeholders involved in the outreach for the pilot. to understand their needs because they're high users. I also liked one of

Yes, thank you. Thank you to the members of the public for that, for your input. It was varied and a lot of interesting points were made. Definitely got me thinking. I agree the definitions are really critical as part of this decision tree so that we're all operating from a base of shared understanding for like first and foremost. So if we were to implement a decision tree, it's really critical to get in there and have that be something that's easily accessible when the decision tree is listed on the website or as part of any resources, first and foremost. And then on the decision tree as well

And that makes sense. But is that something that also staff would go and survey, say, show up on some weekends, various weekdays during the year or leading up to that study in order to capture that? Because as much as we get robust public participation, other points were made. You know, it's really difficult to survey the entire community the way that we would like to.

Excellent. I think it would be really helpful in the decision tree to highlight unreserved use as something that you're quantifying in there because I think that's a piece that is really important to call out to the community that this is something that is part of the original decision-making process and is an intentional part of the study process. I think that just helps us all level set a bit. about how many parks will go through this process between now and the end of the pilot?

I'll say none. Okay. So essentially we'll, so what I'm thinking is then we're making, we're having this decision tree, which is pretty open-ended, and then we'll pilot that after we already have that data to incorporate into the study. So we wouldn't be using this decision tree without having already collected data on organic maintenance?

Okay, that's helpful. And I agree, closing fields at a certain temperature and looking at the schools to that just for safety purposes, that'll help. And then we'll also be able to incorporate those play hours. How many of these days do we have in the city? How much time is sacrificed because of heat will be important. And then I remember us talking about a pipeline project looking into having cricket at Baylands Park. Am I remembering that correctly? Right. And would that be cricket only or would it also include use for other sports?

There's no reason to make it exclusive use?

Very timely that it's coming back now. That's very exciting. I look forward to seeing that. And it is on one whole side of the city, so I want to see how that helps create more usage. And then as far as private property regulation goes, I think this is a substantially different enough issue to this study to warrant. You know, if Council were to put up a study issue when that comes up so that we can scope it properly and understand what it is we're trying to do before we take some really impacted city departments and just kind of like have them run it at issue. Things should be targeted. This i

Yes, thank you to the members of the public that spoke today and the many comments and emails that we were sent in advance as well. I wanted to agree with the sentiments about the drainage improvement at the parks, the organic field management pilot. I also wanted to see if we could set higher standards for existing artificial turf, for example, at Fair Oaks Park, if we're replacing segments of it or if we're looking at doing an overhaul of it, if we can have higher standards of I don't know if we can call it fully PFAS-free, but if a company considers that they're PFAS-free or some level of h

Okay. I'll summarize just a little bit. So thank you for the presentation. Thank you for all the residents who have emailed and met with me and been here tonight. So just kind of going through the options. So definitely I'm happy to see this report is here. I wish there was more data. I'll second what Council Member Lay talked about as far as having practices about when we close fields because of heat. Going forward, we need to keep track of when we're closing fields because of rain and, let's say, broken artificial turf that's been destroyed. This is something, you know, and because usage is

Thank you very much. With that, we will adjourn the special meeting at 7.10 p.m. We'll take a 10-minute recess and come back at 7.20. Thank you. Good evening. Let's call the door to the council meeting of July 28, 2026 at 721 PM. This city does not tolerate disruptive behavior in our meetings. Sunnyvale prides itself on the rich diversity of our residents. We are committed to creating a culture of belonging where members of our diverse community feel included, safe, and respected. This council meeting is considered a limited public forum, which means the council can regulate the time, place, a

Thank you. And Council Member, our Vice Mayor Mellinger's absence is an excused absence. Next up is our closed session report. The City Council met in closed session earlier this evening, held pursuant to California government code section 54956.9, Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, paragraph one of subdivision D of section 54956.9, name of case, Escuela, Anthony versus City of Sunnyvale Workers' Compensation Appeal Board case number ADJ 13603849 and ADJ 17614359. Nothing to report. Next, we have a special order of the day. So let me come up to the lectern and also Council Mem

Thank you, Jamie. And Councilmember Cisneros, would you like to say a few words?

I sure would. And I want to thank you, Jamie, very much for coming and representing and all of the very hard work that goes into organizing that event and to look to grow. I think that that's really key when we consider what we're celebrating here today is the growth of inclusivity, the growth of visible love and community. And when I was elected, I was the first openly LGBTQ member to join the city council in 2020. And I say openly because we have no way of knowing if one of the other dedicated servants on that wall did not feel safe enough to be themselves in public life. But because of work

Thank you, Council Member. So thank you, Jamie, and to you and all the volunteers that basically make Silicon Valley Pride so successful. You know, the support, how you support, you uplift, and of course, advocate for and celebrate our South Bay LGBTQ plus community. To affirm Sunnyvale's statement of values, The City of Sunnyvale is committed to respecting, valuing, and affirming all members of our community, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Today and every day, we celebrate our LGBTQ plus community, which includes many Sunnyvale residents, business owners, studen

And next up is oral communications. This is now the public's opportunity to address council on topics not listed on tonight's agenda. This section is limited to 15 minutes and may be extended or continued after the general business section of our meeting. Individuals may speak only once during oral communications. This council meeting is considered a limited public forum, and council can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech. Speaker comments during oral communications must be limited to matters within council's authority generally referred to as council subject matter jurisdiction. I

Thank you so much, Mayor. I have three announcements. First, Lakewood Park playground ribbon cutting. The wait is over and the brand new space-themed Lakewood Park playground is ready for launch. Join us for a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the stellar all-inclusive playground. Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 29th at 10 a.m. at Lakewood Park on 834 Lake Chime Drive. The playground is located in the southeast corner of the park. Also ready for enjoyment are the new tot lot and new exercise equipment. While the playground is officially open, please stick to the open areas as the res

Thank you. I'll now be reading off speaker cards for people in the room. I'll be listing off two names. The first name, please come to the lectern. The next person be waiting nearby. First up is Russ M followed by Peggy Q.

Thank you. Next is Peggy Q followed by Richard P.

and the city attorney and ask for a response.

Thank you. My last speaker card is Paula Jay.

Thank you. That was my last speaker card in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote participants wishing to speak under oral communications?

Yes, I have a constant question for city manager. I know last council meeting we approved with we gave conditional approval approval to tell waters. With the. Stringent condition about sound and vibration mitigation, but. How this slide shows that the the rig orientation and then moving the well uh uh slightly not is that I I know I specifically asked about uh moving the well not uh is after the conditional approval what are the recourses what can we ask Cal waters for can we ask for rig orientation to reduce the noise level and also the

Okay, I'll go ahead and close oral communications. We'll move on to our consent calendar. I will open public comment on our consent calendar items. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards for oral consent calendar items. City clerk, do we have any remote participants wishing to speak on consent?

that was the only item uh yes sorry mayor that was the only remote speaker indicating a desire to speak on a consent counter item thank you i'll close public comment and bring it back to council for a motion council member sreeni boston move to approve 1b to 1.5 thank you uh council member lay second thank you city clerk can you please conduct the vote

Okay let's go ahead and take item 1A. Do we have any comments or questions from Council? No, I'll go ahead and open the public hearing on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your additional hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. City clerk, are there any remote participants wishing to speak on this item?

Okay, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to council for any questions or motion. Council Member Srinivasan.

I have a question for city manager. Any response for the comments the public made regarding RRM design group?

Thank you. The member of the public asked another question. These invoices and details, are they available for public or how do a public know, for example, RC24-11, what does that mean? Sure.

OK. Thank you very much. I am ready for the motion. Approve Concern Calendar 1E.

Thank you. Councilmember Sell. Second. Thank you. To your motion.

Yeah, to the member of public, as city manager said, these details are available for public review. You can do a public request record, public record request, and then get details. And then as he said, the hiring a new facilitator will not duplicate the work which has been already completed.

Thank you, thank you city clerk, can you please conduct the vote.

Thank you just counsel need a recess or we continue. okay okay just checking um okay with that we'll move to our general business um our first item of the evening is item 26-0699 introduction of an ordinance amending section 2.0.4.030 of the Sunnyvale municipal code relating to the city manager claims settlement Authority is there a staff report

Thank you. Are there any questions from Council? Council Member Srinivasan. Thank you.

Thank you. So by introducing the ordinance now, so this will be effective from now to November, or this will be after November? So then why?

that was all council questions and i just wanted to comment that this item of course we did not hear this item at our scheduled july 21st 2026 council meeting and that's why it's the first thing on tonight's agenda I see no other questions from council. I will go ahead and open up the public hearing on this specific item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minute

I'm ready with the motion. Go right ahead. Oh, okay. I thought there will be a discussion. No questions. Anyway, I move staff recommendation alternative one, introduce an ordinance amending section 2.04030 of Sunnyvale Municipal Code relating to city managers claim settlement authority to become operative. only if the november ballot measure proposing amendments to the charter section 1314 passes thank you is there a second councilmember cell second thank you to your motion i think this will be as assistant city manager said it will make transparency for the public to see the what is the ordin

thank you count oh um thank you and i'll be supporting this motion you know ultimately you know this is putting in place something that um at least a threshold that ultimately what when the ballot measure goes to the voters it gives them a little a little bit clearer understanding of what that settlement threshold is for for the city manager and you know ultimately uh the city manager has this this authority um when it's when he's dealing with other contracts and so the concept of adding additional steps for settlement authority and the cost of settlements has gone up dramatically since 1989 w

Okay. Let's move to our next item, item 26-0700, continued from our July 21st, 2026 meeting. The Vice Mayor and I drafted the arguments in support of each of our Charter Amendment ballot measures as Council directed last month. And you see the final results of those arguments as the attachments. ultimately worked with you know vice mayor mellinger on on wordsmithing this back and forth a little bit over the last few weeks and so here you see the final results does council have any comments wordsmithing changes that we would like to look at that you'd like to ask me about or or comment on and w

Yes, thank you and Vice Mayor Mellinger for working on this. Are we, or just take them one by one as we do or in a general sense all three?

It's however we can take them as separate motions or for now as far as feedback and questions, let's go through all three together if you want. And then when we get to motions, we can either do three separate motions or basically one motion with the appropriate changes that are requested.

in general i have some proposed edits for all of them just on some of the wording use for the first one for example the city is forced i feel like is too strong of language i would rather use something like required to use um i think there's just some wording that's a little that feels not neutral. I know it's a pro argument, but sometimes it feels a little bit too strongly worded. So there's some words I would remove. Like forced under prioritization.

The first one under public works contracting. So the first sentence under current charter constraints, the city is forced, I would change to required.

okay sorry i'm i'm back i've lost my i lost my um okay so so you are mayor would it be helpful if as council's discussing if we put this on the screen for folks to follow along actually that's probably a good idea um maybe actually let's go ahead and take public comment and then come back to council so that we can if you're if you talk about wordsmithing and then we can make all the appropriate changes thank you city clerk With that, let's go ahead and open up public comment on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk, raise your digital hand now, or dial start on any telephon

Thank you. That was my last speaker card in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote participants who wish to speak on this item? Okay. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to Council for comments or suggestions. And please define what ballot argument you would like to have the City Clerk bring up, and we will wordsmith in person. Councilmember Sel.

I'm interested in the Council vacancies. So on this one, I believe there's an opportunity for the Council to either decide to appoint or hold an election. And if they appoint, then they wait till the even number year. So I was just wondering, like, Would it be good or not good to say that this is a like I referred back to the Charter Review Commission report and what they say is that this is a hybrid model for filling the vacancy that gives the Council the power to decide whether to make the interim appointment or hold a special election to fill the vacancy. But I'm okay with not including it

So I think this captures what the ballot description is. And I'll see. I forget. Let me see.

I think we discussed it, that there is a hybrid, there's an opportunity to appoint and then you wait for the next election or to not appoint and if you can't agree on appointing someone then there will be a special election i was just wondering if the fact that it's a hybrid would that make the community aware that the council is in charge of deciding that or is it just confusing so i'm okay if there's no support for it but that was in the charter review the hybrid model for filling vacancies with the charter review commission thought was a plus so i think this captures what the ballot measure

Councilmember Cisneros? Or Councilmember Chang? Either one. Councilmember Cisneros?

I'll let Councilmember Chang go because she started before we went to public comment.

This is not in relation to Councilmember South's comment.

Okay. So actually, so it looks like there's no additional comments on this, leaving it the same as it currently stands. Do you have a comment? Yeah, I have one more. Council Member Cisneros?

Piece, right. Okay. I agree that the language for Sunnyvale there, I would propose that we say can limit what council is able to do, is allowed to do to fill the vacancy and then highlight the flexibility. you know in in keeping with councilmember cell's comment i think that is a strength of what it is that we are able to do what's appropriate at the right time uh and tailor it to the situation and that's where the wordsmithing becomes difficult right so i don't envy i think it's it's very good and what has been done is good but i would advise you know pulling that force language and talk abou

Council Member Cheng, do you have any suggestions on this specific one or are you talking about the next one?

Council Member Srinivasan. Yeah. Thank you.

uh based on what public said and then i am reading this especially the second paragraph this measure makes a common sense fix a council member appointed to fill the vacancy serves until the next regularly scheduled november sunnyvale election is it worth to add even number years or

As a value, yeah. That's what I also think. That is, it's very, very clear. Because then there is no confusion. It's not odd number, November election year, I think.

OK. And I agree. From a wordsmithing standpoint.

sorry where would you put even numbered as I placed it somewhere is that where you would put it I think we have I think we have the word so conceivably yeah you could put it as a as a it's getting a long I would I would almost put it after that November Sunnyvale election on every even in even numbered years even number of years yes okay And I think that has value. And I think we're still well within the word count. I think we were 268 or 9.

And it was a lot of fun trying to play with those numbers. Anyway, but we tried to make sure that we had enough headroom for what we're doing tonight. Okay. Okay. Any other wordsmithing suggestions? Do we need to approve this basically tonight?

Okay. Councilmember Tsao. And I know Councilmember Chang has. Go ahead. On this one or a different one?

So the other thing in the Charter Review report is that it specified that there's a restricted number of appointees allowed. So if there's, I think, more than two appointees already on the council, then it forces there to be a special election. So you can't have, like, four appointees or something like that. Is that important for the voters to know? Because I think it was saying historically maybe this was put into place because there were a lot of appointees. So that shows that there's only... a maximum of two appointees. I believe that there's a maximum of two appointees. And then you need t

Well, the question is how much of what's already in the... Oh, is that already in the charter? It's already in the charter. We're not changing any of the vacancy limits that are already there. okay this is this is basically allowing a vacancy to go farther the way it's currently worded conceivably it was causing a prime a a vacancy to be filled with a primary election and this is saying we want the largest voter turnout at the end of the day so that was what this

the the focus of this argument and the focus of the ballot measure was was trying to maximize voter participation as much as possible okay um one last thing so okay when the city council or the city council uh can appoint or hold a special election when the city council fills the vacancy with appointment and everything like that. So where in this whole process do you tell the voters that there is an option for the city council to choose there to be a special election? Is that important or not important?

I don't know if you want it as the main argument or if it comes up from a separate standpoint. You know, it's like it's from the number of vacancies and council can call a special election. It's not necessarily part of our process. You know, it's like we're not forcing, as opposed to the way things were previously, we were forcing council to call a special election. And this is trying to give them the option not.

Not to force to have a primary election.

or a special well it's so so we've made this is this will be the third change to vacancies um over the last few years and it's trying to continue to look at at those hypotheticals of of not having to call a special election okay so i guess i can't see a good place to talk about the flexibility yeah

okay so that's okay thank you thank you council member chang thank you it is on this item on council vacancies my first one is again the force changing potentially changing to require okay so sorry sorry which one um the charter can force sunnyville okay and then This one I am not as tied to, but the line for includes more voters, the one that says council election should be decided when voter turnout is highest. Something more along the lines of it is best practice for council elections to be decided when voter turnout is highest, but I know that's a little.

Yes, it's the underlying sentence. Council elections should be decided when voter turnout is highest.

It is best practice for council elections to be decided when voter turnout is highest.

Or it is better if the council election.

No, but it's a best practice. I think that captures from a wordsmith standpoint. best practice for council elections to be decided when voter turnout is highest? Yes. I think that's a clear statement. Everyone agree? Any other comments? We'll kind of keep this open. Council Member Chang?

Hi. I understand i understand your why but for the purpose of this i feel like it is best practice is a little bit corporate for the voter argument unless we it i think to me it raises more questions than not i think the other one was a clear expression of a preference for or value um that council elections should be decided because that's

what's best i don't i prefer it the other way but i'm open to my and we can and we can conceivably do a sprawl a straw poll vote if you want um hang on so so the original and you see in the good thing about thank you city clerk you can see what it was previously council elections should be decided when voter turnout is best or it is best practice for council um elections to be decided when voter turnout is high sorry as highest um I'll just say those that are in favor of making changes and let me read it again and from a tone standpoint um those those that agree the making changes uh please ra

I think it was Councilmember Chang, Srini Bas, and myself and Councilmember Cisneros.

Please raise your hand again for the change. Thank you. I appreciate that. As opposed to council elections should.

I have a proposal, a wordsmithing proposal. Would you be open to it is healthier for democracy? for council elections to be decided when voter turnout is highest?

My only worry about that is when you start, it becomes not prescriptive, but it becomes a little vaulted in from a language standpoint. where I understand best practice is a little business-like. But I think when we start bringing in democracy, and yes, it's trying to get highest voter turnout. And that's trying from a democratic process, trying to get the best engagement from our residents and who they're choosing as their council member. i i think that that's a little and i'll i'll that's only my opinion does anyone have other comments or they do they agree that adding that is not what the b

I believe I could quantify that that's objectively true as well. I think that it, I think it would be very fair to say. I think that it would be a fair, I think that it's a strong thing to say and that it's not hedging anything and that there are those who can make arguments that, you know, actually having a vacancy for that long is not good. And so there are arguments to be made there But as I'm looking at it, I don't think it's a bad thing to have a declarative statement that we can stand behind there. I think it's strong. And I would be in favor of putting it in. I think the best practice l

it is best practice is just like easy to read and clear, healthier democracy, it starts getting a little more complicated. So I'm fine either way, but right now my preference is best practice.

And I'll agree with that, I think. And there's nothing, I like the concept democracy, but to me it's, I don't know. It's not that it's not best practice, but I think best practice of trying to get voter turnout, when you pull it, for me, democracy seems a little vaulted and higher.

Councilman Srivastava. For me, the word democracy is a good one, but it should have been up on the top rather than at the middle of the thing. But it's a good sentence. And then I think I am fine with it's a, it is best practice for council election because the next sentence, next bullet item I'm looking at, voters still elect every council member and mayor, all those things, it's also in that tone so a healthier democracy could be up on the top uh if we choose to but i am fine with this it's a best practice for now councilmember i'll keep it in mind if we need a rebuttal how about that okay c

Council member Chang, did you have anything else? No. Okay. Just checking. Are there any other changes? And this is always the fun thing. Sorry, staff about wordsmithing from the dais, but we do have this deadline that, that we have to meet. And just as a question to staff from our last meeting, we not our last meeting but our last meeting where we actually voted on on the ballot measures and giving um myself and the vice mayor the the chance to write this pro argument did we make any i can't remember any decisions on any rebuttals or did we give did we give the you know the mayor and the vice

draft something bring it to council and get it done in that seven day window okay thank you and now and that was you know looking at our at our meeting schedule so so as much as council is reviewing the pro arguments now the rebuttal to any negative arguments would just be done by the the vice mayor myself okay correct okay just just re-clarifying thank you staff I had a question.

I am reading the second bullet again, and then I can include more voters. This is same council. There is the special elections far less, but nowhere else we have mentioned special election here.

The intent was basically it's progressively less. Less than that. 50%, 40%, and often 20%, but no numbers.

We're not using special election even now, right? We could if there's too many. But we don't talk about it there.

Okay, and then primary election is about 40% 60% like that that's correct number or yes, because that's from the staff report. Okay, got it.

That is the edit that's being proposed. I'm fine removing special election comments. And it'll also be something that conceivably goes to rebuttal if there is, but all that.

Democracy, rebuttal, and yes. Any other wordsmithing changes? I see none. Okay. No other comments. Can I have a motion to approve the changed arguments as specified? Council Member Cisneros.

Yes, I move the Change demand or changed arguments as specified, thank you, Council member so.

yeah I thought we did a really good job up here I reread second yeah I second it Okay, thank you.

council members scenarios to your motion.

yes thank you i want to first thank um the mayor and vice and vice mayor for taking the time to write these arguments in favor of the charter amendments distilling a whole lot of information into a very an argument a discussion and as was mentioned by a member of the public it's been a long way to get here so putting it all into one very short, very few word worded document is quite a challenge. And I think you've both done a fantastic job. And I want to thank my colleagues for a lot of thoughtful suggestions around how to communicate that message. I look forward to seeing what comes of any re

I just wanted to comment that I think some of the measures speak for themselves and don't require too much explanation. I want to say that the mayor and the vice mayor did a really nice job on all three of the arguments and the fact that we didn't have much input on the first two shows you how like a lot of thought you put into it and we didn't need to do anything. And this vacancy one is the more um one that might need more explanation and i thought um on the dias that it was a good collaboration for the red lines and i read it over and it sounds very good to me so i want to thank the mayor t

City Clerk, can you please bring up the Settlement Authority one?

Sorry. Yes, I know. But now we're to friendly amendments and advocacy. um one thing I forgot so about halfway down there's five X's and with the motion that we made earlier this evening we need to replace that those X's with a friendly amendment to replace those X's with 250. good catch I approve and to the second agree Thank you, thank you, so I just want to get that friendly amendment out of the way, thank you, Council member lay sorry.

I just want to clarify that this motion is for all three or is it just for the first one that we.

They were unless there's a want to split these into motions into separate motions I you would prefer, yes, please okay. um there's a motion and a second on the table i'm trying to remember the best way to uncover this or just vote it down and start again

so my motion i believe was not inclusive of like it was agnostic and like of the ch i just moved to approve the changes i wasn't sure given that's right and i don't advocacy i think we could vote on this and then move on to another one i don't think that there's anything in my motion that would preclude that

Thank you. Okay. So we're doing all three separately. Thank you. Um, okay. So vacancies, any other advocacy on vacancies? City Council Chambers, I think you know what this does is is ultimately for account for for a Council member who was filled was was went through a special election, the fewer the more hypothetical windows that we close the better off, we are from from a Council standpoint, I think the. argument that um vice mayor and i worked on is um thank you with for the wordsmithing but um i think it's it makes the statement fairly well so i'm in support of this motion uh city clerk can

Mayor Mrakas, So let's so from a word smithing standpoint for that one. Mayor Mrakas, Or the five x's at the bottom, basically, having it match the $250,000 authority that we said previously this evening. City Council Chambers, And so do we have a motion to approve either the settlement authority or. City Council Chambers, The. City Council Chambers, Contracting process. City Council Chambers, The design and build process Council members so.

City Council Chambers, I move that we approve the settlement authority argument with the red lines. City Council Chambers, That the mayor suggested, thank you.

I have some more proposed edits to the settlement authority.

Okay, so that dies for lack of a second. Okay. Councilmember Chang.

City Council Chambers, I didn't really like the second sentence that starts, of course, not, but that is exactly what sunnyville's existing city charter does it reads to me like the entire city charter is archaic and out of date and not directly reference it's not clear to me exactly where the sentence is headed.

City Council Chambers, So I would be fine if if Council is of a mind to. remove the first paragraph as a whole yeah it was it was a an attempt to thank you city clerk if Council is fine if Council is interested in that word smithing is that what you're looking for Councilman I I debated quite a bit about that paragraph and how either user-friendly it was or or non-officious or non-businesslike, but anyway. Any other changes with this item?

Yes, second paragraph. Your elected city council is forced. Again, I don't like forced. Required.

Yes. Third paragraph. Oh, now second. I was like, I couldn't find it. Okay, third paragraph.

Yes. And then the last sentence of this paragraph, strict absolute accountability. Absolute feels like a very strong word to me.

City Council Chambers, No, thank you city clerk I kept scanning again.

City Council Chambers, yeah my preference is to just strike absolute.

City Council Chambers, Just absolute strict accountability yeah. City Council Chambers, i'm fine with that.

And then I was wondering just a general statement if we wanted to add in some sort of set sentence that the settlement authority would be tied to the existing contract approval authority which city council can amend if necessary.

And you repeat what you said I didn't capture that oh yes.

And that now that we've determined the $250,000 right. If this measure passes that the existing contract approval authority is something that city council can amend. Oh, yes, it's fine that's the first sentence right yeah.

City Council Chambers, So voting yes replaces the outdated outdated $50,000 CAP and empower city council to set. City Council Chambers, Realistic limits by ordinance So what are you sorry, what are you requesting.

City Council Chambers, I think it's just if it's clear that. City Council Chambers, This 250,000 limit can be changed. City Council Chambers, As it's aligned with the contract approval authority.

City Council Chambers, So I guess it's a question if we were.

City Council Chambers, directly aligned so so conceivably the. City Council Chambers, Are you saying, for the last sentence this directly lines with the current settlement authority of the city manager is that what you're looking for, or you. yeah i think just that it's not set in stone that if there were an instance where we were to change the contract approval authority that that number would change too no we would have to take the ordinance again and change it yeah but not by charter right right so this directs this so with the last sentence there this directly aligns settlement authority c

so city clerk you got that thank you thank you for being my editor question thank you any other changes no i have council member chang council member srinivasan yeah i'm looking at the word you were elected city council the city council and then the and then the you are elected city council appears twice the city council appears once and then suddenly in the third bullet item focus on priorities so your leaders suddenly the word leaders has come in so maybe we can be consistently saying um i i i am okay with your city council not and everywhere so there are four three instances yes uh right th

I think, but I, so I think part of this was to actually get rid of some of the repetition right right you want some variance from up from a wording standpoint right uh so that's oh I'm uh it's like as opposed to just over over and over again so so when crafting this Richard and I did do a lot of sorry, Vice Mayor Mellinger and I did a lot of, let's say, wordsmithing so that it's not too repetitive. Yeah, we could say city council members every time. And that's why you see a mix of elected and then leader and exactly that, because too much repetition is also your eyes glaze over. So you want a

and they all mean the same yeah and I think a standard person would understand but okay if you have specific a specific one that you'd like to remove or whatever I'm happy to uncomfortable with your leaders okay as opposed to other places but I don't have any okay that was but but

Thank you, can you know Council member shooting Boston we did actually go through. Trying to create variability because you don't want to repeat the same words and sentences and as much as you can so.

Council member Chang nothing Council member.

is with the city manager's existing day-to-day purchase i was suggesting that you put current where existing is if you want to use the word current because okay yes and then remove existing thank you thank you for that catch councilman relay

I wanted to say that I did appreciate the variance of the nouns that you chose that it does kind of itch the ear a little bit to have that much repetition. And I think that having your leaders as that last one in all the other cases, it is specifically the city council. But in this last one, it's feasibly the city council as well as other as the executive leadership team and other leaders of the city. So that made sense to me.

Anything else? Lower your hand. Oh, sorry. I got it. I got it. Any other comments from council? Any other wordsmithing for either of these? Well, let's take one at a time. But since we're on the settlement, is there a motion? Council Member Srinivasan?

Move to approve. Uh, the. Settlement argument settlement of authority draft ballot argument.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council member Cisneros second. To your motion.

Good work mayor and vice mayor. Thank you.

And I just want to say thank you to everyone. You know this is this is the fun thing of writing or or not so fun thing about writing arguments is. is trying to get enough variance, trying to get repetition, and trying to make your message as clear as possible. So thank you for your help in wordsmithing. And with that, city clerk, can you please conduct the vote?

and lastly public works contracting are there any changes council member chang these are very minor this um city clerk could you bring up the part sorry give me just just one second to bring it up

um yes sorry the software that lets me bring it up just crashed sorry give me another moment okay okay go ahead second sentence the city is forced proposed to change to required And then under prioritizes quality and value, I just proposed to change it to sunny bell would instead of sunny wet sunny bell will finally but that one's really minor. Where's the value. Third bullet. Oh yes okay. So instead of Sunnyvale will it would be or instead of Sunnyvale will finally I would change it to would. yeah.

Thank you, Council member any other changes. Any other comments from other Council members. Is there a motion? Council Member Srinivasan?

Motion to approve the draft ballot argument public work contracting.

With appropriate changes, yes. Thank you.

Council Member Sell? Second. Thank you to your motion.

yeah I like this and then I like the previous one with there was a specific example of fender bender and all those things, but this is also very good well constructed well written, thank you, thank you, Council member cell.

um i like the changes that um council member chang's was consistently suggesting in all of these that was good and um i like the bullet points and so thank you mayor klein and vice mayor um mullinger thank you and i'll support these changes thank you all again and especially council member chang for for um their wordsmithing with that city clerk can you please conduct the vote

Thank you. And with that, we will take a six-minute recess and come back at 9-20. Thank you. Let's go ahead and reconvene and move on to our next item, item 26-0150, adopt a resolution to cause charges for nonpayment of delinquent utility charges to be placed on the fiscal year 2026-2027 County of Santa Clara property tax roll. Is there a staff report?

Are there any questions from council? And you should have received an email from the city clerk earlier today with the updated attachment of those three addresses. Seeing no questions, I will go ahead and open up the public hearing on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone. Indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. City Clerk, are there any remot

I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to council for a motion. Council Member Srinivasan.

Move Staff Recommendation Alternative 1, adapt a resolution to cause charges for nonpayment of delinquent utility charges to be placed on fiscal year 2026-27, County of Santa Clara Property Tax Rule. With the updated... With the updated attachment, yeah.

To your motion. please vote yes thank you and thank you um and thanks to city staff for for following up with those others and finally being able to close off um the those getting payments from those that were missing or at least some of those that that um finally listened to city staff when it came to council so happy to support this motion city clerk make sure i get it correctly um please conduct the vote

Thank you. Our next item is item 26-007. Is there a staff report?

Thank you. Let me see if there are any questions from council. I see none. Oh, that's a member saying possible.

Yeah. Could you explain what changed in the readiness in the reach code, electrical readiness?

thank you i see no other questions from council so i will go ahead and open up the public hearing please submit a speaker card of the city clerk raise your digital hand now or dial star 9 and telephone to indicate that you wish to speak i will call on members of public participating in person first followed by remote participants speakers will have three minutes to speak i have no speaker cards in the room city clerk do we have any remote participants wishing to speak on this item no mayor I will go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to Council for a motion. Council Member Sr

move staff recommendation alternative one introduction and introduce an ordinance uh as uh as in attachment one amending the findings of ordinance number 3248-25 and make other amendments providing clarification and minor corrections thank you councilmember cell A second. Yeah, this makes sense.

Thank you for noticing that I just read the staff report, thank you, thank you for the memo and thank you, thank you.

So if you can clarify, just as per the memo, it's attachment four now, correct?

Yeah. So the motion is alternative one, introduce ordinance attachment four to the report amending the findings of ordinance number 3248-25 and make other amendments providing clarification and minor corrections. Thank you. thank you and to your motion through the mayor if I if I could just also clarify that that also includes the change of the W to a V thank you that includes in minor correction I am moving yes so yeah thanks uh staff for doing this thanks for the explanation it makes clear thank you very much thank you council member so

I want to thank staff for their thoroughness and enabling us to be compliant with the laws and so that there would be no holdup. So thank you for your great work.

Thank you very much. I'll be supporting this motion. Thank you for your staff and clarifying this and kind of cleaning up with the ever-changing state changes. So with that, City Clerk, Can you read the ordinance and conduct a vote?

Thank you. Next up are council member reports on activities from intergovernmental committee assignments. Council Member Srinivasan.

Yeah. Let me pull up in July. I think second week I attended National League of Lead Leadership Summit in Louisville, Kentucky as a part of IT and Communication Committee. We discussed cyber security, ADA requirement, and then we also told the louisville i.t facility and then they host their own servers so we went to their server rooms they are also using or experimenting with some of the ai tools for permitting and also using drone for as a first responder these were really interesting exercises thank you thank you council member council member cell

I also went to special summer NLC meetings and I met with the environmental and energy natural resources group and we were able to it was pretty exciting never been on it but they had us go visit like a botanical garden that was built on a dump it was like beautiful and we saw all these parks there's i think on the order of a hundred park in louisville lots of parks and they have a waterfront park along um their whole waterways that was really interesting um i'm also on the air district for the nine counties and for since 2023 they're implementing some rules for two appliances for the water he

Thank you. Thank you for those updates. Next up are non-agenda items and comments. This portion is for oral reports and announcements by council members and city manager. First, for purposes of transparency, I would like to disclose that an inadvertent Brown Act violation occurred on June 29th, 2026. This violation occurred when a member of the city staff forwarded an email thread between staff and one council member to the whole council. The subject of the email thread was a request for diagonal parking on Vienna Drive. None of the other council members replied to the email thread and to avoi

Hi, I would just like to echo the mayor's comments about the July 4 event staff did a fantastic job. I heard specific feedback I want to pass on from a community of parents of disabled children who were very appreciative of the rec staff and the training or the guidance that they received and allowing children with special needs when necessary to be able to bypass the line on the rides. That was appreciated. Thank you.

thank you um city manager do you have any non-agenda items nothing tonight thanks mayor okay with that we will adjourn the meeting at 9 44 p.m thanks to everyone who participated have a good evening