City Council - Regular Meeting

K. It's 05:30. It's 05:30.

Is 05:30.

Lamb? How are you? Here. He went to the restroom. Mister William Lamb, are you in the building?

Where are you at? Is he okay. Well, we're gonna get this meeting started because

yeah.

Okay. This meeting is now to order. I will call the regular meeting of the Milpitas city council on May 5. Oh, happy everybody to order 2026. The city council meeting is available for instant translation in over 60 languages with Wordly, accessible via mobile phone, computer, and video displays by scanning the QR code on the upper right hand corner of the agenda. So back to today's business, city clerk Buzetta, please take the role.

Vice mayor Barbadillo. Councilmember Chua.

Here.

Councilmember Lam.

Here.

Councilmember Lee Ann.

Here.

Mayor Montano? Here. So before we adjourn the closed session, city attorney Curtis, please brief the public on the closed session items for today.

Thank you, mayor. There's one item today for closed session. That's conference with labor negotiator. Pursuant to government code section five four nine five seven point six, the agency's designated representatives are Jared Hernandez, acting city manager Matt Kano, assistant city manager Rick Bolanos, Libra Cassidy Whitmore. The employee organizations are professional and technical employees, Mid Management and Confidential employees, Milpitas Employees Association, International Association of Firefighters, Milpitas Peace or Police Officers Association, and the unrepresented employees.

Thank you very much for that. And so now, we'll call for public comment on any of the closed session items.

I have no public speaker cards, mayor.

I don't see anyone in the public. Okay. So we will, adjourn this meeting. And for tonight, we will have, give a two minute for the public comment. Thank you. We're going to closed session.

What time is it? We have

said 07:30. Two more minutes. We'll be starting at 07:30. Yeah. Two more minutes.

Is it 07:30 already? 07:30? Yeah.

Okay.

It is 07:30 now. So we will now that it's 07:30, now we will the city attorney, go ahead and report out what closed session.

Thank you, mayor. There is no reportable action at this time.

Okay. Alright. Now it's pledge of allegiance. Would anyone like to lead the pledge of okay. Ready? Let's rise, everyone. Ready?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America for

which it stands,

one nation under God, indivisible, and liberty. Thank

you, everyone. K. Now we have a invocation, and I am I am up for the invocation. So I'm going to, lead with the Lord's prayer. To our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. And I wanna thank all the city members, the staff for being here, and the residents, and making our city shine. We are a city on a hill. Thank you. Okay. So now we will do press, presentations. So if the council members can join

me down up there, podium.

So g e good evening, everyone. Good evening. It's isn't it a nice evening today? Okay. So I'm going to start off with Older Americans Month. So each May, we recognize Older Americans Month. And in 2026, the theme is champion your health. It encourages taking an active role in managing your own health, advocating for yourself, accessing preventive care, and making informed decisions that support independence. In Milpitas, older adults are mentors, caregivers, volunteers, and leaders. They enrich our community every single day, and we're committed to supporting their continued engagement, purpose, and well-being.

Join me, mayor Carmen Montano, and the Milpitas city council in proclaiming May 2026 as Older Americans Month, urging everyone to join in celebrating and supporting our older adults because they have a lot of wisdom. Thank you very much. So we are going to give this who's the person that's going to receive this here? Oh, thank you, miss Langley. We are good. Okay. We give you this proclamation, and I want you to say a few words.

I would.

Do wanna take picture first?

Okay.

She she's on our senior advisory commit commission.

Thank you, mayor, vice mayor. Thank you to the city council and staff.

I wanna speak up with the

Okay. For this wonderful recognition, on behalf of the senior advisory commission, I am honored to accept this proclamation for the older Americans month of May. And I have permission to say that seniors rock, and we can outdo any 20 year old. I am honored to accept this. We appreciate the city's support, and once again, you for this honor.

Thank you. Thank you very much, miss Langley, and and you rock. Okay. So now that moving on to affordable housing month. So tonight, we recognize affordable housing month and the importance of ensuring access to safe, stable housing in our community.

In Milpitas, many residents continue to face rising housing costs with a significant number of households spending more than they can afford just to remain housed. In partnership with regional partners such as Silicon Valley At Home, the city is working to expand efforts to expand access to affordable housing. So join me, mayor Carmen Montano, and the Mapita city council in proclaiming May 2026 as affordable housing month. Give me a do we do we have a representative? Come on up. Thank you. So we have a proclamation here for you. And let's take a pic, and then you can say a few words.

Thank you so much. Good evening, honorable mayor, council members, and city staff. I'm Allison Singulani. I'm the director of policy with Silicon Valley at Home. We thank you for inviting us to join you in recognizing affordable housing month.

We're proud to receive the City Of Milpitas's affordable housing month proclamation and glad to see this really important recognition of how critical affordable housing is in strengthening and stabilizing all of our communities. As a local nonprofit, SV Home advocates for practical solutions to meet the housing needs of residents across Santa Clara County. Our theme for affordable housing month this year is all in for housing. We're excited to coordinate dozens of events throughout the month hosted by SV Home and our many partners. We encourage everyone to visit siliconvalley@home.org/events to find virtual and in person events where you can learn and connect with your neighbors.

It's no secret that our need remains great across every city and town. Nearly half of Santa Clara County's renters are cost burdened. Too many of our residents have been priced out of their homes or displaced from their communities. Local city schools and small businesses struggle to retain talent and customers. So that's why Milpitas' continued leadership is essential. Our work focuses on building support for new affordable housing, preserving the affordable housing we have, and protecting our most vulnerable residents from housing instability. We invite you to join us in envisioning, planning, and creating a future with safe, stable, and affordable homes for all. Thank you again for your partnership and leadership this Affordable Housing Month.

Thank you very much for that. And so now we're moving on to building safety month. So May is celebrated as the annual building safety month by the International Code Code Council to recognize that our community's strength depends on the safety and economic value of the homes and buildings that serve our citizens, both in everyday life and in times of disaster. So the city of Milpitas is strongly committed to building safety. Join me, mayor Carmen Montano and the Milpitas city council, in proclaiming May 2026 as building safety month.

And that's why we have a lot of our code enforcement to make sure that all those buildings are safe. So come on. Come on here. K. Let's take a picture first, and then you can say it.

I think I think there's one more that wants to take a picture. Oh, great. There. Alright.

Thank you. So to start out with just a little bit of an in introduction, here with me today, I have, Vishali, who is a plan checker here with the city of Milpitas, and Jacob, who is a building inspector here with the city of Milpitas. I, myself, am the, building inspection manager here. So, good evening, mayor and council members. On behalf of the office of building safety, I would like to express our appreciation for the recognition of building safety month and the importance of safe construction practices within our community.

Building safety is a shared responsibility, and this proclamation helps raise awareness of the value of strong enforcement, strong codes, and ongoing education in our jurisdiction. It also recognizes the professionals who work every day to make sure that our homes, workspaces, and public spaces remain safe. This year's building safety month theme is built to last, recognizing and the importance of durable, safe, and accessible buildings within the city of Milpitas. In support of this effort, the building safety team will be hosting an informational library table table at the library. I'm sorry.

Every Thursday in May from 10AM to 3PM. To do that, to give resources and guidance to our residents, to help improve home safety, disaster preparedness, and support accessible and inclusive designs. Okay? And so one last time, we are grateful for your continuation or for your continued support of initiatives that promote safety, preparedness, and sustainability within our built environment. Thank you.

Thank you. Great. I love that theme built to last. That is so awesome. So then now we have the national small business week, small business commendation. We have our economic development director, Madison Come on up.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, honorable mayor, vice mayor, members of the city council. My name is Madison Nguyen. I'm the interim economic development director with the city.

This week is National Small Business Week, an annual event led by the US Small Business Administration to recognize the contributions of small businesses across the country. Milpitas is a city of small businesses. Over 90% of our businesses are small with 25 or fewer employees. In recognitions of national national small business week, the city's office of economic development has planned activities now and in the coming months to celebrate, support, and elevate our small businesses, including doing business with the city of Milpitas workshop tomorrow, May 6 at 09:30 here at City Hall. Before we continue, we will share a short video featuring our local small businesses and how the city's office of economic development has been helping them grow and thrive.

Is a good place to live here. I love is.

We're glad we ended up here. And it's turned out to be a so a very good place to do business.

What I feel is, like, seriously, it was blissing. It was really blissing. Very good community, very supportive community, every step where ever we need city help, support. They are always there for us to support us.

And besides that, I think the city has reached out to me at my office. We had a economic development officers come over and introduce themselves and say how can we help.

Looking back, I'm glad I it end up being Milpitas because the community was great. The city was very supportive. You know, it helped me grow from a very small business to what I am today.

Thinking along the lines of helping out small businesses has come up with grants that they have given us from from time to time helped us from growing under. That was really a big help from city of Milpitas, and I cannot appreciate that enough.

Milpitas City helped us a lot to provide guidance to get the permits and rules and small business small business programs.

We've been operating for almost two decades now and wouldn't be happen or able to do that without the city and the backing of the Good People here.

Gave us momentum for our first creative project. With that connectivity, go forward with more confidence, remembering that the community and people worldwide and locally is so important.

We're very grateful.

So thank you so much for that video. That was a great video. You know, small businesses are the backbone of our country. They're the ones that make it happen, and, you know, competition makes the world go around. So it is our honor to recognize a remarkable group of small businesses that have been saving our community for over forty years.

In the future, we plan to recognize other small businesses reaching their fortieth year. It takes hard work, long hours, tough decisions, and a commitment. You have seen our city change and grow, and through it all, you continue to thrive. And we are so blessed that you are here in Milpitas. Today, we want to say thank you for your decades of dedication and perseverance.

Thank you for sticking with Milpitas, for investing in our community, and for helping make our city what it is today. Now I will take a moment to recognize our businesses here today by having them all walk to the front, receive a commendation, and stand next to our council members to take a group photo after I call your business name. And, also, please hold up on your applause until I announce all our businesses so we can do it be it all do it all in unison together. So the first one, let's see. Are these all in order, Susan?

K. Okay. We have doctor Gregory Aylind. Do you see family? His description of his business is Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center, and he's been in Milpitas for forty years. So come on up. Doctor Gregory Alind, is he here today? Okay. We're gonna get we're gonna mail that to him or somehow get it back to him. We also have South Bay School of Music Arts, the music school, and he's been here for forty one years.

Come on up. And you have been around for forty one years or, I think, more because you've been around for a long time. Great. Thank you. Let's take a picture, I think, how we're going to do it.

Do it. Or do it together? Okay.

So then the next one is GC Tax Institute business, and their description is business consulting, tax preparation, payroll services, and more. And they've been here for forty one years. Are they here today? Are you? Come on up. Let's give them a round of applause. We also have Larry Napolitano. He's been around for a lot. I've seen that name since I was a kid. He's one of their dentists here at Milpitas.

Forty one years. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you. Then we have Huntford Printing and Graphics. They've been around for forty one years as well. Are you here? Hunter Printing and Graphic rep. Okay. We'll hold off on that. We also have Bowler's Edge Pro Shop. There's a bowling retailer. Forty one years. Are they here? Okay. Hands on Learning Center, preschool services.

Are they here? Okay. Next one is Welker Brothers, floor covering contractors. They've been here for forty one years. Next, we have La Milpa Mexican restaurant. They're in the restaurant business. They've been here for forty two years. We have ACE embossing. They do foil stamping, embossing, printing, die cutting, and graphic studio. Forty two years.

Are they here tonight? K. Amy Yoshida, home based florist. She's been here for forty three years. Next, we have RL Burrow associate associates films. They have their home based filmmaker, photographer, teacher, and author, Robert Burrell. He's the one that did the Melpenis Monster.

Thank

you. And then we have CBS Food Equipment, Foodservice Equipment, and Seasonal Blends. Are you here tonight? Yay. Come on up.

Next, we have Balch Petroleum Contractors and Builders, fuel system construction, and remediation services. Come on up. Thank you for your for being in Mopidas. He's been here for forty five years. We also have Casa Azteca Mexican restaurant, and he's been here for forty they've been here for forty five years. Is there a representative? K? They have some really good food. Then we have Kenneth Kenneth Holder, a dentist, and he's been here for forty eight years. Kenneth Holder.

Oh my god. I haven't seen you in ages. I'm glad you're still here in Milpitas. Then we have Liberty's Auto Electric. They do auto repair.

Oh. I

love how you you you operate. I see sometimes I see a lot of classic cars at your place. You do if you want your classic car repaired, he'll do it. So I think that's it. So then we're gonna have a take a pictures. I think

Hi, doctor Ralph.

Hi. It's so good to see you. Hey.

Carmen, I still have your tape. Okay. That singing tape that you made for me years ago.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay. How are gonna do this?

Sideways.

Let's see. So let's see. Okay. Well, thank you so much for all these businesses that make Milpitas great, and you've been here for over forty years. Thank you, everyone, and have a great evening.

Is Gary leaving? Okay. So now let's move on to the public forum. Members of the public are invited to speak on any item that is not on today's agenda. Please note that oral public comment may only be made be provided live at the city council meeting in person.

So public forum will be limited to three two minutes. Call for speakers, city clerk.

Yes. We have several cards. I'm gonna call them in order. The first is Ed Ackerman, followed by Nihira Patel and Bob Bhavya Mehta, and then Pushti Mokani. K. Welcome.

That was my three minute deal. I come before you tonight, honorable mayor, city council members, to remind you that May 15 is law enforcement Memorial Day. That means that the flags need to be flown at half staff for the entire day. I also wanna remind you that on May 25, it's Memorial Day where flags are flown at half staff from sunrise to noon, not 8AM to noon or whenever we feel like it. On Sunday, it was fallen firefighters.

It was national fallen firefighters day. President Trump on April 30 along with all his predecessors declared that a day of mourning. We made a pledge of allegiance here this evening to the flag. Where were our flags? They were gloriously flying at full staff every place throughout the city with the exception of the one fire department on Midwicke Drive who followed the order to fly the flag at half staff.

I came here before you guys in December to complain about the same thing. Now I'm beginning to wonder what's going on in this city. Have we lost the civic responsibility to realize that that is a symbol for the entire world of opportunity, of freedom, of liberty, and yet we just treat it like a piece of cloth. So I'm here to ask you to please educate the staff on flag etiquette. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. We will ensure that those standards are upheld. Thank you very much.

Next, we have Nihira Patel and Bhavya Mehta followed by Pooshti Mokani and then Kamlesh. You're welcome. Since you're on one card okay. Yes. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and the fellow city council members. My name is Pavia Mehta, and I am a freshman in college at San Jose State University. I've lived in this community for ten years now, and I'm grateful to call Molpitas my home.

My name is Nihira Patel, and I'm a ninth grade student at Milpitas High School. I've lived in this community for fourteen years, and I'm grateful to call Milpitas home. Today today, I'm honored to speak on behalf of BAPS Charities, an organization I'm proud to volunteer with. I'm also joined today by my family and other BAPS Charities volunteers who reside here in Milpitas. BAPS Charities is a global nonprofit focused on community service, education, health and wellness, environmental care, and humanitarian relief.

Across The United States, BAPS has established over 100 centers. And for more than twenty five years, BAPS Charities has been serving communities here in the Bay Area through volunteer driven initiatives. As a youth volunteer, I've had the opportunity to take part in activities such as food drives, blood donation campaigns, community cleanups, and environmental initiatives. These experiences have taught me the value of compassion, teamwork, and giving back to the community.

What makes BAPS Charities truly special is that it is powered by volunteers of all ages, youth, family, and seniors, who come together with a spirit of selfless service. One of our signature initiatives is the annual BAPS Charities Walkathon, a nationwide event that brings together tens and thousands of participants across more than a 100 locations. Over the years, these walkathons have supported important causes in health, education, civic engagement, and environmental protection. Here in the Bay Area, BPS Charities has organized events that support local schools, hospitals, public service organizations, and environmental groups, helping strengthen the communities we can all call home. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share a little about BPS charities and the work it continues to do in our communities.

Thank you. You may continue because there's two of you if you want to.

That's Is

that it?

Yeah. That's all I

have. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Yes. We the majority of the console, they we do get invited to BAPS, and we have visited your site. And you've you've been around for a very, very long time, like, I think, forty years, something like that. Yeah. So we're we're so happy that you have that your organization is an integral part of Milpitas. Thank you. Next, we have Pooshti Mokani followed by Kam Lesh and then Joe Lowery. K. Welcome.

Good evening, honorable may mayor and respected council members. My name is Pushti Mokhani, and I am a current tenth grader at Milpitas High School, as well as a volunteer with BAPS Charities. Building on what was shared by my peers, I'd like to highlight an exciting initiative that coming up this year. This year, BPS Charities is proud to host not one, but four walkathons in May and June. We are especially excited that one of them will be held right here in Milpitas at Ed Levin Park on Saturday, May 30.

These walkathons are part of a broader effort to bring communities together around health, service, and various other values while supporting meaningful causes. This year, we are proud to partner with Save the Bay, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the San Francisco Bay Area for the current and future generations to come. This walkathon is more than just an event. It is a community gathering open to the public where families, youth, seniors, and local leaders come together to support a shared purpose and make an impact together. Personally, I am very proud to say that the walkathons have helped personal initiatives to me, such as when last year, the walkathon's beneficiaries include Milpitas Unified School District.

We warmly invite everyone in the community to come join us for our event. We would also be honored to have the mayor and various council members arrive as well. We have already shared a formal invitation to your offices by email, but please feel free to reach out for additional details or if you have any questions. Thank you all for your time, and we hope to see you at our next walkathon.

K. Thank you very much. And, yes, we've had participated in the walkathons. I think you have had the last one was in Fremont, right, or New York when yeah. I was I was part participated in that. They're very, very

next, we have Kamlesh followed by Joe Lowery.

Welcome.

Thank you for the opportunity to just ask something or request. My name is Kamlesh, and good evening, mayor and council members. So there has been a post that has been circulating on a WhatsApp group in our community regarding turf, soccer turf for kids in the is recently opened Delano Manang Park on McCanless Drive. It's a really nice park. We live right opposite to the park.

There is a school as well. I personally and my wife, we love the community and the area. I personally am a soccer player, amateur, and have been playing soccer along with a few other residents in the community as well as around the park. The request is that, you know, the park is not the greenfield on the park is very uneven. Just a hour before this meeting, I had gone for a run where I could feel there's a lot of pit holes, and it it's really not that great.

It would be great if, you know, we, as a city, think about developing something which is all year round turf for kids and adults evenly that will help more f I mean, it would just help a lot of people, not just not just the kids and adults, but it can be also for soccer events or something that Citi could organize as fundraising with the game being so popular in this country from now on. So that's just a request that I thought on behalf of the residents, I could talk. Thank you so much.

K. Thank you. And finally, we have Joe Lowry.

So welcome.

Good evening, honorable council members and the mayor. My name is Joe Lowry. I've been a Milpitas resident about fifty years. I'm the currently the vice president of the Milpitas Youth Soccer League. And like the previous speaker, I'm urging that we improve Delano Mon Auguste Park.

My son's got a lot out of playing soccer in Milpitas. I got a lot out of it by coaching, and I think it should be a priority. And one of the things I really liked about Milpitas over the years is we did have a lot of parks. We did have a lot of places we could practice and play, but Milpitas is growing. Since it's growing, we need more and to service all our new residents. So I urge you to work very hard to make this a high priority, and thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you very much. Just a side note, I think when the when they planted the grass, the community wanted to to be on it. They wanted to make sure that they had access to it, and I think it didn't it wasn't allowed to grow to to its mature. So now we have, kinda some bare spots, and so, hopefully, we will address that. Oh, and on on another note, in the future, mister Lowry, we the the the the area near the library will we have planned to build the park there. It's gonna be great. Thank you. K. Anyone else?

I have no additional speaker cards. Mayor?

Is there anyone from the public that would like to make any public announcements on anything? Come on up.

Hello. Good evening. Thank you for your time. In addition to what was already said, my name is Christie Aurora, and I'm a parent of two boys in the Milpitas youth soccer soccer league. I would also like to advocate for the Delano Menon Park.

To this the park is really centrally located. It will really ground the community. It will bring everybody together. And the park is already the lights are already installed in the park. And, basically, what just needs to happen is the ground needs to be level and even, and it would be an amazing opportunity for all the boys and girls for us to come together as a team and practice.

Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else? Come on up.

Good evening, mayor and the council members. Like, the previous speakers spoke about the Delano Manangs Park. I'm also here to as a mom of two boys playing for Milpitas Youth Soccer League, I'm also here to request that the other parks also get some amount of maintenance. Example, the Murphy Park or or the Hall Park where our kids practice. It's it's after the rains, it gets very, very muddy.

The grass grows really tall, and it's really hard for our kids to practice there. Not just that, Milpitas youth sports, it has matches every weekend, and there are a lot of families that come from other cities to play in Milpitas. And it just looks a little tad unkempt, while when we visit the other cities, their parks are well maintained. So and it's you know, just from the sportsman perspective, it's really hard to kick on a unmaintained park. So, yes, the Milpitas the Delano Park, it does need a turf field.

It will be a great addition to the kind of parks we have at Milpitas. But even the other parks, if they're maintained a little bit more, it will be great for our boys and girls. Thank you.

K. Thank you very much. And and just as as a side note, I I believe it's part of our CIP budget hearing. So thank you. Anyone else? Come on up.

Thank you for hearing me. My name is Santino Fortes. I am the field manager for the Alpeida Soccer League. So I'm I I don't wanna sound redundant, but I am actually on the field. I I I'm manage and I coach four teams, four competitive teams for the league.

And I just want to implore this upon you because, one, as field manager, I paint the grass fields. And as she was saying, Murphy Park, there's repeat Murphy Hall Park, Cardoza repeatedly I mean, even right now, I'm painting dirt. Okay? There's a good amount of portions of the field where I'm literally spray painting on dirt to paint the lines for the soccer fields. So addition additionally to that, my players have experienced a lot of ankle injuries because of the inconsistent grass that's that's there.

You had mentioned Delano Monong's part. I remember we were there we were there for a party right as the park opened, and we had noticed that the field was like a marsh. And when I initially, when I saw it, I said there's a broken pipe. And and later on, during that whole time that it had become a marsh, when it finally dried out, the grass that was left was just really, really not very safe. But but other than that, thank you. I just wanted to really just focus on the safety of of those fields. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out. I'm sure staff is listening too. Thank you. Anyone else? Come on up.

Welcome. Hi. Welcome. Thank you for having us. Sorry. Hi. I'm Nancy Santiago.

Closer to the mic.

Here we go. So I'm Nancy Santiago. I'm actually one of the managers for four of our competitive teams. This is one of our players. The other two are too shy to come up. But, again, we just wanna advocate the same thing for the field. We have over 800 players that come through year round. We play year round. We only take about a month off. We initially started at Delano, actually, and it was a great park to practice at, especially since, unfortunately, a lot of our parks don't have lights, which is a big issue for us.

We're always looking for a park with lights to play in in the fall. And so Delano was a great option. We went back the following season, which is only a year later. And, unfortunately, it was really bad, you know, potholes. The girls kept getting injured, like Sant coach Santino said. And it's just something else that we just need as a community. And we have more teams every season. We definitely want to just advocate for that to help our youths. And we have so many coaches that are willing to help out and you know, build our community and build our competitive league and as well as a rec league, but we just need better parks to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. And, we we we are taking notes. Thank you. Anyone else? Come on up.

Good evening, mayor. Sorry. Good evening, mayor and the student council members. I am a soccer player here at Milpitas, and I would like to suggest the idea of a turf field being built at Delano Park. I suggest this because uneven fields and other problems with them could cause difficulties in plays made in games and injuries. With Molpitas growing in soccer and the Russell Girls soccer team and Rancho Boys winning the middle school soccer season, this could be a great addition to our community. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments, and thank you for having the courage to come up. I know it's not easy. Thank you. I love to see the our youth being with civic engagement. That's great. Anyone else? Okay. So now we're going to be moving on to announcement of conflict of interest and campaign contributions. And, again, thank you for coming out. City attorney?

Thank you, mayor. At this time, I would ask the mayor and each city council member whether he or she has any financial or personal conflict of interest related to any of the items on tonight's agenda.

Vice mayor Barbadio?

I have none.

Council member Chua? None. Council member Lamb?

None.

Council member Leanne?

None. Mayor Montano? None.

I would ask the the reflector sorry. I would ask that the record reflect no reported conflict. And, mayor, members of the Milpitas City Council, I would also ask that you please disclose any campaign contributions of a $100 or more received within the last twelve months from any of the parties entering into any contracts with the city on tonight's agenda or contributions received from the development project applicant for development projects on tonight's agenda?

Vice mayor Barbadillo?

I have none.

Councilmember Chua? None. Councilmember Lamb?

None.

Councilmember Leanne?

None.

Mayor Montano? None.

Again, I'd ask that the refractor the record reflect no conflicts.

Thank you for that. And so now, we'll be reading the Milpitas city code of conduct. Is there any staff any council member that would like to read this? We'll have vice mayor, Barbara Deal.

The Milbidas City Council, code of conduct. Be respectful and courteous, model civility, avoid surprises, praise publicly and criticize privately, focused on the issue and not on the person, use electronic devices appropriately while on the council days, disclose conflicts of interest and affiliations related to the agenda items, separate governing from campaigning, the council must speak with one voice after making policy on issues. Respect the line between policy and administration, and the council will always hold one another accountable to comply with this code of conduct.

Okay. Thank you very much, vice mayor, Barbadillo. So now moving on to the approval of the agenda. Is there anyone that would like to make any changes to the agenda before making a motion?

I would like to, mayor.

We have our acting city manager.

Thank you, mayor. I would request from the city council that we defer item c eight, which is the adoption establishing various user fee regulatory fees to a, future council meeting.

So move.

Is there a second? Second. Alright. It was motion, by vice mayor Barbadillo and seconded by council member Chua. So let's call for the vote.

Vice mayor Barbadillo? Aye. Council member Chua? Aye. Council member Lam?

Aye.

Council member Leanne?

Aye. Mayor Montano? An eye, M and Aye. Okay. So a question for the city attorney. Do we need to since we vote on that item, do we need to now go to the full consent calendar?

I doctor, you may wanna take a motion for approval of the balance of the agenda. And then, when you go to the consent, just note that it would be approval of the consent minus that item.

Okay. So is there a motion to forward to approve the consent calendar?

Move to approve the

Mayor, this is to approve the agenda, not the consent calendar.

I can't hear what she said. It's a move of motion. Alright. The motion is there a motion to approve the agenda?

Motion to approve the agenda. Second.

So it was motioned by council member Lynn and seconded by cons by vice mayor Barbadillo. Is there a vote?

Vice mayor Barbadillo? Aye. Council member Chua? Aye. Council member Lynn?

Aye.

Councilmember Lee Ann?

Aye.

Mayor Montano? K. Aye. Alright. Is there any comment for the public comment for the consent calendar?

If not, then

I have no public speaker cards. May

I didn't.

There's no there's no

Okay. Alright. So now, is there a a motion to that for that?

Move to approve consent the consent calendar, with exemption of c eight.

Second.

Okay. This call for it was moved by vice mayor Barbadillo and seconded by, vice council member Leanne. Let's call for the vote.

Vice mayor Barbadio. Aye. Councilmember Richua. Aye. Councilmember Lam.

Aye.

Councilmember Lee

Ann. Aye. Mayor Montano. And I'm an aye. K. Now moving on to, public hearings.

Thank you, mayor. For for, item number 12 for city council and for the public, we are going to conduct a public hearing and adopt a resolution approving the proposed twenty twenty seven through 2031 capital improvement program. And we have public works director, Christian Dorenzo, to lead the presentation.

Thank you, acting city manager Hernandez. Good evening, mayor Montano, vice mayor Bobadios, councilman Chua, councilman Lyon, and councilman Balam, Liha I'm public board division managers. The item before you is to conduct a public hearing and adopt the resolution to approve fiscal year twenty twenty seven, twenty thirty one capital improvement program. Next slide, please. Today's agenda, we will start with an update to the current CIP projects, review all the CIP calendars, review the proposed budget, and conclude with the recommendations.

Next slide, please. Since the February council study session, we have made significant progress on several CIP projects. Today, I will provide a brief update on our active CIP projects along with the look of what come next. These are the three projects that our public work operation team is currently managing. The replacement of the scoreboard at Caddoza Park, Dixon Landing, And Sports Center is currently underway.

The installation is anticipate to be completed by summer and fully operational by fall. The contractor have completed the interior improvements of both elevator cab at the library and is coordinating the five preventions and the state for the final approval. The first cab will be put back in operation up to the final approval, which is anticipate in summer. And the second cab, during your construction, the contractor identify an unforeseen condition with the hydraulic jacks system that require replacements. Staff is working with the contractor to obtain the pricing and the schedule, and we return back to the city council in June for council considerations.

This can potentially delay the operation timeline. The police department locker room is 65% completed and is expected to be finished in June. Next slide, please. Here are a few other project that just recently broke ground. As part of the Great Mall and Dempsey resurfacing projects, the contractor complete the replacement of thirteen eighty eight curb ramp around Greatmoor and Alder Dry.

We anticipate starting the payment repair on Dempsey Road this month and the Greatmoor Parkway in June. The annual sidewalk curb ramp repair program is currently under constructions and anticipated to be complete by fall. The Calaras Medium beautification project started the site preparation work yesterday, and we have begin the clearing and grabbing tomorrow with land closures that might impact the traffic along East Kalara Boulevard. The project is expected to be complete by early August. Next slide, please.

Another project that broke ground yesterday and start the demolition already is the Senate Park playground renovation projects. The playground area will be temporarily closed during the construction and is anticipated to reopen early twenty twenty seven. Staff is also working on the agreement to install the solar lighting at the park, which is expected to be complete in conjunction with the park reopening. Next slide, please. The construction of the McCanless Well is 60% completed and anticipate to be in operation next year.

The what the water well will serve the valley water zones, which include metro and gateway specific plan area, and we have meet the water demands requirement by the state. Next slide, please. In this next few slide, I represent a few project that going to break ground in the next few months. The city council awarded a construction contract to modernize the sport centers and paint the water reservoir at air pump stations. The city is finalizing the agreement and anticipate to begin the work within the next few weeks and be completed by summer.

Next slide, please. Early this evening, the city council awarded the construction contract for the resurfacing of Yellowstone Avenue and the neighborhood south of Yosemite Drive. The project is anticipated to be completed by this summer. Another project that is in the pipeline as well is the Saumipiras Boulevard Road extension projects. The bid opening is scheduled for May 12, and staff is planning to bring the contract award to the city council for consideration in June.

The overall project cost is 15,700,000. 6,500,000 is the estimate construction cost for this road extensions. The remaining expenditure is for the reimbursement to the developer for the construction cost of the same goal and tarot court extensions, utility connections, land acquisitions, design, permitings, inspections, and administration costs. Of this 15,700,000, 12,700,000 is funded by task impact fee, and the remaining 3,000,000 is funded by the Furrow Community project funding earmark. Next slide, please.

Here's a timeline showing the progress of our CIP process. Back in February, staff presented the proposed CIP to the city council for feedback. And on March 25, the planning commissions find the proposed CIP is in conforming with the city general plans. In early April, PRCRC commissions recommend approval of the path section to the city council, and tonight, we recommend to adopt the resolution approving the proposed budget. Next slide, please.

The following section will be the discussion of the proposed five year budgets. Next slide, please. The five year budget that is brought forward tonight consists of 138 projects for an estimate amount of 210 millions. The total cost of the of the city infrastructure improvement without a funding source for the last four year is estimated at 23,100,000. The cost mainly associated with the backlog improvement for the community, park, and street category.

Next slide, please. This slide summarize the proposed funding for each category in fiscal year twenty six twenty seven, which the funding will be available starting July 1. Staff is recommending to fund 40 project for an estimate amount of 33,700,000, which I will briefly go over these project in the next few slide. Next slide, please. Here are the eight project in the community category.

Majority of this project are for the maintenance of the city existing infrastructures. Approximately, a total of 1,100,000 is being allocated for various building improvement projects. The only new project in this category is the implementation of the real time monitoring center for the police department to use live data and technology to support officer and investigation in real time. Next slide, please. These are the five project in park category.

Two new projects are being recommended. Staff recommend funding 1,000,000 from park fund to repair and upgrade the deteriorating pathway at various city park. And staff have identified Foothills, Starlight, Sun Hill, and Ben Roger as the top priority park. The next new project is to replace the existing natural grass with artificial turf at the La Norman Oak Park to support the usage demand and maintain the quality of the field. The funding request is for the design, and the construction funding will be requested in the future budget cycle, which is estimated at 1,500,000.

Next slide, please. These are the 12 projects in recommended to be fund industry category. Majority of these projects are for the annual maintenance and improvement of the city street infrastructure. Two new project being recommended. The city has received a federal earmark of 500,000 for street line traffic signal improvement on Main Street.

The project, upgrade the pedestrians and traffic equipments at five signal line intersection on Main Street, which is consistent with the intent of the EMA funding request. Staff is currently working on e 76 approval that need to submit to by spring of next year to ensure that the funding is obligated by 09/30/2027 deadline, and the construction must be completed by 2030. Additionally, the city recently received another earmark of 250,000 for the pedestrian safety improvement along Main Street. Staff is developing the scope of work to submit to MTC for the approval. The next project is the roadway preservation program.

Staff recommend funding 700,000 from GAS TAC on the biannual basis to proactively maintain our roads network and help improve the city overall PC rating of 70 or hires. Next slide, please. Here are the seven project recommend in water category. Majority of this project are for the assessment of the city water infrastructures and improvement of the fire flow capacities as identified in the adopt master plan. One project that I would like to mention is the metro portable and recycled water distribution projects.

The funding request of 350,000 is for the reimbursement to the developer for the water main extension on Taro Court that was constructed as part of the private development projects. Next slide, please. The first table on this slide showing the six recommended sewer projects, approximately 50% of the funding is for the city contribution to the rehabilitation projects at the city of San Jose Westwater facility. Start with recommending to fund three project in the amount of 1,700,000 for the inspections of the city pipeline and improvement to the critical sewer line as identified in the master plan. The second table include two projects under storm category.

One of these is a new project focused on implementing green stormwater infrastructure improvements. Staff recommend funding 200,000 to complete the feasibility study and design. The full improvement cost will be determined when the study is completed. Next slide, please. To recap, here is the list of the additional eight new projects across all six category that recommend to be fund to this year's CIP program.

Next slide, please. Through the CIP process and the master planning completed in recent year, we have identified approximately 657,000,000 funding need for both existing and new infrastructures. 244,000,000 is needed to address the repair and replacement of existing infrastructure, while 413 is for the new infrastructure needed. And as we move forward, we want to continue to emphasize and discuss the important of where to invest this city limit capital dollars and prioritize the funding of the infrastructure projects. Next slide, please.

The recommendation for tonight item is to open the public hearing to receive any comments and move to close the hearing and adopt the resolution approving the fiscal year twenty twenty seven, twenty thirty one capital improvement program. This conclude my presentations, and I'm happy to answer any question the council might have. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your presentation, and I'm asking for a public comment. Is there anyone from the public that has any comments?

We have to open the public hearing, ma'am.

Opening the public hearing.

I have no public speaker cards, mayor.

Okay. Anyone from the public? Okay. We'll close the public hearing and now move into our council.

Oh, come on up. I haven't I don't Come on come on

up. Yeah. It's

are you speaking on this item?

Come on up. Welcome.

Hello. My name is Mark Navarro. I am the director of coaching for MLPDC soccer league. Let me get my notes up real quick. We feel that Delano Manong should be put at the priority put places first priority.

We felt that this park should have been used as a field space for youth soccer, but because of the unsafe nature of the field being uneven ground and patchy grass, it is unusable, which is why we feel it should be replaced for with artificial grass as shown in the project in the project that has set aside. With so many youth and adult sports being placed, field spaces impacted with PAL soccer. You have the Milpitas Nights football program. You have the rugby program that just got put in in the spring. And in the fall, there's so many there's not a lot of space along with the adult soccer that is being played on the weekends as well as in the evenings.

With so many youth activities needing a play space, the would free up a lot of space and be used all with the lights being used with the lights being there. We could use it for for during rain, during times of night when daylight saving hits and things like that. We would love for it to be turned into an artificial turf that'd be it'd be used year round with minor upkeep. And if funding is needed, Milpitas U soccer league could help with fundraising as well as looking into grants. With the the World Cup happening this summer and The United States hosting the Olympics coming around, I think funding this this space would help and also promote outdoor outdoor sports as well.

Thank you.

K. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to make any comments? Okay. Closing this and moving on to our council members. We have council member Chua.

So we have received the email, I think, two or three emails regarding this issue and plus mister Navarro's input. Because this is a question to staff, because this is a safety issue, do we need to put it on the CIP?

Thank you, council member, for the question. So, basically, as you might notice on the presentations under the pack degree, we did request the funding of 200,000 300,000 to start the design for the replacement of the artificial of the natural grass at the Llano Manong Park with the artificial turf. So it's in our CIP. It's a new project that requested as part of this budget cycle.

Why is it not part of the because it's a safety issue as you can as you heard, you know, several input plus the emails. Why is it why do we have to put it on the budget?

It is part of the recommended projects to be funded this year.

I I think it's just a matter of prioritization from us. Go ahead.

Yeah. I I think that I think we're talking about two separate things. I think that council member's question is related to immediate corrective action that can be taken, not necessarily the long term plan. Yeah. Is there maybe director DiRenzo can help. Is there something that can be done based on the comments tonight, maybe an assessment of the field to see what remedies could be put in place for safety in the interim?

That's exactly where I'm going at. Thank you, city manager.

Thank you for the question, council member. We've we've probably I think it's safe to say we've wrestled with the condition of the field ever since we opened the. Originally, there was a confluence of issues related to irrigation systems that just exacerbated the the problem. The field sits somewhat in a in a bowl setting within the park, and water is conveyed towards the park and then just sits in in ponds. The one of the issues is the field is oversubscribed, and that means there's too much activity on that park.

And all natural turf requires time to heal and grow back. And when you play on it constantly, you're just beating down the natural turf, and it's not allowed to heal. So it's been difficult to to find a balance where we can have the community and the school district appreciate that the field needs time off to recover, for us to recede, for the grass to grow again. So that is a significant problem. Right? So we we will continue to explore ways that we can mitigate any safety matters, and staff and I will discuss after presumably adoption of the CIP if there's any way that we can advance or accelerate the eventual replacement with artificial turf.

Isn't there I mean, I see two problems there. You know? Fixing the problem, the safety issue, and also scheduling problem on who can play on that field. So I think we need some immediate action because I don't know how you're going to control the kids going out there playing because it's a big area. So but we need immediate solution to this issue.

I I'm looking for you guys to come up with it. And, also, if we if we approve the 300,000, will that will that resolve the issue on the pipes and on the grass and everything else?

We I I don't know if Renee's around or not, but staff will work with Renee to work with the school district to see if we can find she's back there. So she's hearing me. I'm going to I'm going to obligate her to assist me with this going forward and engaging the community and the school district. The $300,000 is not for this matter. The $300,000 is design appropriation for us to enter into contract with a with a design firm to help us design and then eventually bid out the project.

So you're gonna need more than 300,000?

We will need the actual construction dollars, which were estimated to be about $1,500,000. And the funding exists within the task fund. We will request an appropriation for that when the time when we will get to that point.

How soon can we work on this?

Well, I will I will work with Michael next to me, who's being eerily quiet, to the engineer. I will work with Lee Hock. But the the idea, if I'm not mistaken, was that this coming fiscal year, we will use some money to get into design and have design created. And then the following year, we would bid that design out for construction.

Meantime, we need to control who can play on that field.

Right. Thank you, counsels, for the question. So we do have a joint use agreement for that field with the Milpitas Unified School District, and Matos Elementary uses it for PE and, recess and things like that. We are in constant contact with the school district, the Department of Transportation and Facilities, as well as the principal at that school. So when we do need for the field to take a break, we do communicate well with the school.

Christian's crew and my staff were were all in on it together with them. We know that we're working towards a resolution, and then at some point, it's gonna need a longer term rest and potentially construction. We don't overschedule on the city side that field because of the condition to help with not going into periods of overuse of the field because it's in a delicate condition right now. Yeah.

I would just ask maybe info memo on the on the project plan so we can relate it to your plan on how to address this issue so we can relate it to to the residents, to the players. Thank you. Thank you both, and thank you, city manager. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you. Yeah. I think that one of the problems initially was that we didn't let the grass mature because the residents really wanted to use that part.

No.

And with and we were getting complaints. Why are you why aren't you letting us use the park? So that that's that's unintended consequences. And I know that it's gonna cost a lot of money to revamp that that whole grass area. But what I would like to find out is the park the the future park at near the library. When is that? Is there a status on it? Is this the time to talk about it?

Thank you, mayor Montano. We are still oh, sorry. Go ahead. Thank you, mayor Montano. Maccano, assistant city manager. We're still in contract discussions with the property owner. We are trying hard to bring that back to the city council by the June.

By the June.

By the end of this fiscal year with by June.

Yeah. And I know that that also we need to also allocate monies for that, and that's not in this budget, though. Right?

No. It's not in this budget, but what our plan is, and I'm seeing and if Michael changes this on me, when we when we come to counsel with the deal on the purchase, we do have money in the Midtown Park Fund. So as part of the recommendation to purchase the property, we would also make a recommendation to the city council to put away the initial planning money for the property so that we can get moving as one of the new projects the team's working on next year.

Yeah. And I'm glad that we're working with the school district in partnership. That way, the residents will have an alternative, and then you're working on that park. So it it takes time just and, hopefully, we can get that resolved. Okay. Thank you very much. We have council member William Lam.

I see it.

Alright. Thank you, mayor. I'd like to have a follow-up question of, like, council member Chua. I heard from the residents that two other parts has similar problems. The whole part and what was it? Condoser?

Like, those are Or those

are Oh, Murphy. Murphy. Murphy. Yeah. Yeah. Murphy and the whole part has similar problem. Perhaps, yeah, see whether we could do some patch up on the potholes or it's I remember she was saying it's too muddy if yeah. After the rain, or can we chat whether we over Saturate. Saturate. Is

that Saturate the water?

Some some some region of the field may perhaps have some issues.

Mhmm. For

those two fields, the public works department does regular maintenance on those fields. We have also the recreation department who helps manage the youth sports field program. We work directly with public works to make sure that we give some fields rest time on the scheduled programs, general public accessing the fields because they're not fenced off and locked. We don't we cannot control that. But we do work closely with the youth sports group.

So if there is rain, if there's two days of rain and there's saturation in in the field, we do, require that they cancel practices and games, to preserve the field and the amenity. If people hop on that field and wanna play mud in the mud or whatever. I mean, we we can't control everything, but what we program and the groups that we work with, we're in constant communication with them if there's a weather event. And when we do need the fields to rest, we do work with the groups to make sure that we give it some time so the grass if it's receded, it could grow. Or before before new season starts, that there's some extra eyes on the field to see if there's any holes or go for holes or whatever so that the kids aren't rolling their ankles when they're out there playing.

So that that work continues.

Okay. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Last week, I heard from another residence complaining about similar type of issue on those two parts. Mhmm. Especially the whole part. I I think he was complaining after rain certain spot of the field is very muddy Yeah. Somehow has some drainage issue. Or Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, perhaps you guys could check out why that is Yeah. Only certain regions has got issues. Yeah.

We will I'll make a note of it, and then we'll take a look at Hall Park and see if it is we do share the soccer field. That's another joint use with the school district. See where that puddling is if it's on city property or district property, and then take it from there.

Yeah. Thank you.

Mhmm. Welcome. K. Thank you for that. So I I have a follow-up question, Renee. Do we do a

Nice try.

Do we do a an assessment of all the parks? The What is their are they up to par, or what what are the needs? And and do do you have a report on that to share with the council?

Yes. We did a full assessment of all the parks and all the amenities within the parks when we did the parks master plan in 2021. There is a rating sheet that went in that master plan that rated each park and the amenities. Is there is there any immediate issues? Is it is it doing well?

Is this something that you need to keep your eye on? So we can absolutely resend that information to the council. Council, maybe, separate that sheet out so you have a a simple look at it so you can see what we received back from that, from that assessment in '21. I know it's been five years, but it was a really good deep dive to let the city know where we were at. And that assessment, if you remember, informed a lot of the ARPA projects that that the city council supported to fix a lot of those urgent or safety needs at the parks, and we continue to use that document as the guiding document when we go through and and do renovations or or make recommendations with the CIP program or otherwise.

The other thing is if we hear a lot from the community, we take note of it. And when we work together, the city departments to build a program for your consideration, we do take those or, excuse me, that feedback into account when we bring projects.

So that you yeah. It could you mentioned at the master plan, but that's already, like, as you mentioned, five years.

Five years. But do

you have a excuse me. Do you have someone that someone from public works that checks it and gives you a report gives Christian the report.

Yep.

Oh, it's my turn now.

And and then okay.

Let's say this the baton back to

you, Christian.

Mayor, if if you don't mind, One of the things that we could do is give you an info memo on this so we're not getting too far away from the CIP topic and let you know. The the resting of the fields is is a major issue. My daughter's played comp soccer, ODP, GA, all these different things, and these fields need time to rest, and our supply and our demand aren't in alignment in our city. And when you have multiple sports and a community that likes to use our outdoor space, it just becomes that much more challenging.

Right.

So I think what we would commit to is just giving you some information on kind of what we normally do, a very high level. This is how we check our parks just so you have the information, but then that would allow us to continue the discussion related to CIP tonight.

Yeah. Okay. Great. That if you can do that. And then and then also in that report, that info memo memo, if you could put down if wherever there's holes, do they do they maybe this is a question for you, Christian. Do they do they when they see a hole there because if it if they don't if you don't fill it in, you don't do infill, it gets worse. Do you and what's the time frame on that? If you can add that in there, all those details. Thank you. Alright. Is there anyone else? Councilmember Lee.

Thank you, mayor. First, I wanna thank staff, especially public works for a very clear report. I don't know if you can share with us and the community that 657,000,000 in unfunded infrastructure on page five ninety six. Share with share with the public so that we can understand how much of this is for fixing what we already have and how much of of this fund is for new things.

Thank you, council member, for the question. And if IT don't mind, can you turn go back to the slide of slide 20? We can show the breakdowns. So 657 is the total improvement needed that include existing infrastructures and new infrastructure needed. So 244,000,000 is for the repair of the infrastructure that already existed, and 413,000,000 is for the brand new infrastructures.

So almost a quarter of billion dollars just to maintain what we already have. Yes. Okay. Also on that, I'm I'm jumping to the fire stations. It says fire station one needs $7,000,000, and station three needs $20,000,000 for replacement, and both are unfunded. Correct?

That is correct, council member.

So can you share with us the condition of these two

fire stations, and how long can we wait before it becomes urgent? So for fire station number one, building improvements, as kinda like you I mean, in the attachment one as part of the agenda package, we toward the end of the page, we have some descriptions of what is the scope for fire station number one projects. This one include the mechanical lighting roof and window system and payment improvements for this fire station. There's a lot of component that we need to fix, the total cost of 7 millions. For Fire Station Number 3, I believe this building is I believe it's 40 to 50 years old already.

It built at the same time as Fire Station Number 2. It already have reached its service life. So when we the funding's available, we prioritize Fire Station Number 2, which was completed two years, three years ago. And for Fire Station Number 3, it have the same lifespan. It already reached it end of its service life. So that that is kinda like the top priority that we also would like to prioritize the funding to make the replacement for this building.

Yeah. We all know that that's the top priority in our city. Right? It's public safety.

Yeah. That is correct. And right now, I mean, our public work maintenance staff gonna try to repair as we see fit. If the roof is start leaking, we're gonna try to patch it until we find the funding to fully replace this building.

Okay. And here comes a hard question for you. So on page five ninety seven, it also said that we should identify new revenue sources to repair these aging infrastructures. Can you share a little more of, like, what specific new revenue resource sources are realistically available for us.

Council member Lynn, are you referring to the agenda report?

On the revenue the new revenue sources, this is for item 12. Yeah. And it is on page five ninety seven also.

So And

the attachment of the report.

Go ahead.

Yeah. So I believe that, yeah, the funding mechanism that I think we would think that it can help to close this budget shortfall and find a funding to fund these unfunded projects, like, for sure to pursue the state and federal grant opportunity. We staff have been doing, try to take a look if there's any grant funding opportunity. We try to apply for these projects and establish the developer impact fee for the metro and specific metro and give a specific plan area And consider financing measure, maybe go with the general obligation bond to fund the larger infrastructure projects. And maybe one other project that I think also in the top priority as well is the replacement of the police department building that has a price tax of 200,000,000.

So that's something that's also kinda like the critical infrastructure that we need to look into.

Okay. Well, thank you very much. That's it for now. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Is that it? Yes.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? I have a question on page 13 slide 13.

Can we bring up slide 13, please?

Okay. See if I remember which one it was. Okay. The so Renee's the this is for the public art fund. What what public which ones are going to be how much do we have in our public art fund right now, and which ones are going to be prioritized?

Good evening. Glad to be back. So this 55,000 is in line with the city council's current mural policy, where $50,000 is moved from the public art fund into the public arts program, CIP. So we have it to fund three to four murals a year. The $5,000, it was added this year, to start work on public art piece repair as part of the public art master plan that the council approved a few months ago.

The prioritization of the projects will come to the city council via the Arts Commission's work plan. So they'll prioritize and recommend public art projects to the city council, and then you all would approve them at that time.

When is that going to happen?

The art, the commission work plans typically come to the city council in early fall.

Okay. So I I specifically wanted to find out about the pillar the art for the pillars. When is that going to happen?

We

When is it when is it gonna come before us? Because that's already been approved. I've had

So it's been approved, and the, we're working with the contract with the artist. So the contract should be executed, in early summer, and the goal is to have it start mid June and be completed by the end of this summer.

This year. Right? Oh, yeah. This year. Five years.

Yes, mayor. Yes.

Alright. Can you put the slide back up? Thank you for that. You're welcome. Let's see. The city building exterior improvements. What what what exactly are you talking about? What interior exterior improvements?

Thank you, mayor, for the questions. The city building exterior improvement of 150,000, this is for the painting of the exterior painting of building.

The entire building? Yes. City Hall.

Yep. No. Not City Hall. Building.

The what?

South Capitol.

Oh, the building?

That is correct.

Why why why wasn't city hall put on? This is the one that needs the painting.

I believe this is based on the deferment.

When was the last time that this building was painted? Because South Krakowice Building is not that old. This is the one that needs to be painted.

This is based on the deferred maintenance plan that operation team do the assessment, and they evaluate it. And they believe that South Klaci Building is time for for repaying that.

Yeah. Who who decides that? Who who's the one that does I mean, I'm not saying not who, but what department is the one that decides that?

It's us, mayor. You guys. Public Works. Yes. And we we we we employ a variety of factors in our in our considerations. Yeah. The condition, cost effectiveness, risk in you know, in safety matters, etcetera, etcetera. The city hall's main concern is the HVAC system more so than the more the more so than the painting, which I don't believe ever took place has ever happened since since the the construction of the facility.

Okay. So you guys are the ones. Okay. And then the HVAC system, I know we've already spent a lot of money improving the HVAC system. So why is it still on here?

And we have council members that are freezing over here.

So thank you, May. For the HVAC system, this is not for the city hall. This is for the replacement of the HVAC system at Sports Center, Fire Station Number 3, and the senior center. So at three different facility.

So how does that get prioritized? Who does that? Is it the your your department too?

Madam Mayor, you can always blame me if you if if you like. But speaking of the heating in this facility right now, we have been working with PG and E for probably the last six months now. We have an issue with the gas PG and E's gas meter not not pushing enough gas through to our boilers. The two boilers are brand new to the emergency declaration that yours truly had the pleasure of declaring about eighteen months ago. So that equipment is new, but not enough gas is getting to the boiler. So it's causing one to trip off, and then the other one trips as well. So we're working patiently with BG and E.

That's a pressure system. Yeah. Oh, okay. And thank you for that. And then page I mean, not page, but slide 14.

K. That one, the Metro Tango Subdistrict Park. What can you explain that?

Thank you, mayor. So this 10,600,000 requested is for the constructions of the new park, 10 Metro Tango Subdistrict Park. So this is planned the construction is planned to to start after the completion of the Sao Mipiras Boulevard Road extensions.

Is that the one where the Sangall

Yes. That's correct.

Were going to connect the two? And are you going to put water there? Because they they one of the recommendations from the residents to put a water faucet there, or is that not going to happen?

Do you mean drinking fountains?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yes. We will have drinking fountain all across the park.

No bathroom. Right?

There is a bathroom recommended because based on the community input, when we do the community outreach during the park design, community desire to have restroom because there's a playground. They would like to have restroom so that their kid can use it. I see. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. And then the Delano Manong's large dog park, that's is that is it is it going to impede on the field for the sports?

No. Basically, I mean, the livestock park, there's a reserve location already. It closer to the McCanless Way toward the end or to inside the park. That's all the location identified for that areas. And right now, we cannot proceed with this project because we're waiting for the completion of the Marcellus Well project, which the contractor using that site for staging area. So when the contractor complete, move out the site, we can develop that site.

Okay. And the water that will be used to water the grass in that area will be from the well water. Right? Or is that not

It will be the recycled water.

Yeah. Oh, the recycled one. Okay. Yep. Alright. That's it.

Thank you.

And I see that the Delano Manong soccer field artificial turf, you first of all, before that could that could even go in, I'm glad you explained it, you have to do consulting or design. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Thank you very much. That's all the question I have. So do we have council member Lam.

Oh.

Thank you, mayor. On page 15 on the presentation, can you explain railway preservation program?

Thank you, council member. So this survey preservance preservation program, we recommend to fund 700 thousands on the biannual basis to cry out proactively preserve our road. So before this, we don't really have any preservation program. We're gonna go and fix. Typically, we have our annual resurfacing program, which try to assess the road, any road that have the PCI rating of twin below 50 or 40, we start to repair it, which bring up to 100.

But it's very costly because by the time we start to repair that as part of our annual resurfacing projects, the cost is very high, and we need to replace do a base repair, remove and replace. With this roadway preservation program, it allow us to proactively maintain this roadway. When we start to see there are some defects on those road, we start to do some minor repair, which is like preventive treatment, like, seal coating, which is able to extend the lifetime of those road with the more cost effective approach.

How do you do that? Like like, how do you assess the road? Someone just drive through the road and make a determination that role need to be fixed up or upgrade, or how do you do that?

Oh, go ahead.

Yeah.

So on a biannual basis, we we work with MTC. MTC has a program that assess our roadway throughout actually, they do it for all cities in the Bay Area. So we get a report from them that inspects all of our roads. And based on that inspection report, we determine you know, it provides us the condition of our roads, and and it guides us how to invest our limited funding to maintaining what we want to make from a PCI value of 70 minimum. Currently, we're at 71, which is good, and we only want to build on that.

So that guidance of that report allows us to say, okay. These are the areas that might be that need more attention than others. Mhmm. Part of the program or we don't attack the worst streets right away because they're more cost of they're more costly. So what we try to do is spread out the money to implement various treatments where some will get a full facelift. For example, like Great Mall Parkway, we're about to grind an over or Dempsey Road, an overlay, so it has a fresh new treatment.

Mhmm.

Some to to maintain a a a seven, we also have to implement slurry seal, crack sealing that we extend the life of the of the pavement. Mhmm. So having a combination of these treatments within the annual project helps us stretch our dollar out a little bit. One thing that I wanna mention about the road preservation, it's an effort to try to increase our PCI of 71. Currently, our report in 2024 says that we have to invest pretty much $4,500,000 annually into our street infrastructure.

This is in that report also to get an extra point, call it 72, we have to invest another 600 700,000. So we we determined that it would be best to take our gas tax money and invest that extra 700,000 to try to increase our PCI so that we can stretch our dollars. So that's the purpose of that new project. Hope that answers your question.

I'm wondering, that $700,000, how many rows we could repair to the standard? Like, in terms of percentage of the CD rows, does it cover 5%, 10%?

I I wouldn't say it would be that high. There's a lot of roads. I I really never did the math on the quantity of what that would would take. Just to do Dempsey, for an example, to do repaving Dempsey and also a portion of Great Mall. We got bids in to do that for $3,600,000. But those roads are arterials and need major

Right. Facelift. 700,000 is for the for the road. It's not that That major.

Exactly. We're gonna use this money for more neighborhoods. Right. Right? Right. That that don't have that larger value of

Yes.

You know? We we wanna really just come in with a a preservation seal to extend that life for another ten to fifteen years. So I'm trying to right now, we're probab in the Yellowstone that that came to consideration tonight, we're doing adjacent to Creighton Park, all those streets

Mhmm.

That was about $1,500,000 with a combination of grind and overlay and also a serial quote. So that's where about four or five streets

to Four to five street.

Four to five streets cost about $1,500,000. Then But that's a combination of grind and overlay and also a Surrey sale.

Right. But just 700,000, probably only couple couple of street then.

Probably. Probably. But it gets added into the overall project also of what we would try to spend of 1 point of $4,500,000 on the annual basis.

Sounds like if if that is the way to go, then we could spend more money I mean, stand spend our funds on prevention. It might last long I mean, our roles might last longer than overall might take less to

That is always the goal, but the problem is some roads deteriorate more faster than others. For an example, you have Great Mall Parkway or well, more collectors like your South Mopinis Boulevard or Abel Streets, those deteriorate more quicker because of the volume or traffic it receives. So you have to invest a little bit more money into that. Trying to preserve that might not be always the most cost efficient way to doing it. The neighborhoods, that's where we wanna put our preservation efforts into, but that's not always the case because some streets do get left behind, unfortunately.

So we take our limited budget and see how it can stretch the best that we can.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for that. So we we we have a couple more items. Just a reminder friendly reminder. Think Is that it?

Oh, yes.

Okay. Councilmember Chua.

Mayor, seeing there's no more discussion, I move to approve and and a public hearing has been conducted. I move to adopt a resolution approving 2027 to 2031 capital improvement program.

Okay. So it was moved by council member Chua, and it was seconded by council member Leanne. So let's call for the vote.

Vice mayor Barbadillo is absent. Council member Chua?

Thank you, staff. Aye.

Council member Lam?

Aye.

Council member Leanne?

Aye.

Mayor Montano?

Aye. Okay. Alright. Let's Thank you, staff

for Thank you, Laiha. Excellent job. Alright, counsel. For you and the public, we have item number 13.

13.

And that is to receive a presentation on the fiscal year 2627 proposed operating budget and provide direction as well as to receive an annual AB twenty five sixty one report on vacant positions and recruitment and retention efforts. We have two presenters, finance director Luv Compressihao on the budget item and human resources director Kelly Parley on the vacancy item.

Good evening, mayor Montano, council members Chua, Leanne, Lam, and members of the public. Can everyone hear me? Yes. Okay. Liz Capresse, house finance directors. My apologies for not being with you in real life. But as you can hear, I'm battling a cold. I'm not sure that I'm winning, but I'm battling it. With me this evening to present this item in an order of speakers in order to help me out, there's a couple more speakers. Kelly Parmley, of course, the human resources director, Alice Forrick from the budget manager, and Matt Cano, assistant city manager.

Together, we are presenting item 13 of public hearing covering a structural deficit analysis, the annual a b twenty five sixty one vacancy report, f y twenty six twenty seven operating budget proposals, and one time funded projects and programs. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge that this presentation reflects the work of the entire city team, including Alice and her band of intrepid budget analysts at Trudy, Jessica, and Christine in finance, the human resources team, and last but certainly not least, our directors and staff across every city department who contributed to and collaborated on the information you will hear tonight. Next slide, please. Our agenda this evening opens with the structural deficit analysis, then it will go to director for the annual AB twenty five sixty one vacancy report, to budget manager Vorick to go through the f y twenty twenty six twenty seven operating budget proposals, and then to assistant city manager, Kano, who will cover one time funded projects and programs, summarize the budget calendar and next steps, and close with the staff recommendation. Next slide, please.

Let's start with the structural deficit analysis. Next slide. Before walking through specific numbers, I wanna take a moment to ground our conversation and how municipal budgeting actually works because the framework matters. The city of Milpitas is a service organization. You've heard me say that over and over again.

We do not manufacture or sell products. We don't have merch. We deliver services to our residents and businesses, public safety, parks, streets, planning, and many others. California law requires every city to adopt a balanced budget by June 30 of each year, meaning revenues coming in must equal expenditures going out. For the current fiscal year that we're in, f y twenty twenty five twenty six, the city adopted a $144,000,000 budget, general fund budget on June on June 2025, which has since been amended through a 02/03/2026 city council action during our midyear report, 250,900,000.

While the annual budget must balance, the five year forecast looks further out and ask whether ongoing revenues are keeping pace with ongoing expenses. When they do not keep pace, the gap is what we call a structural deficit, and it can only be closed by increasing revenues, reducing expenses, or some combination of both. One last point on this slide, approximately 80 of the general fund is salaries and benefits. That means staffing levels and service levels are not separate decisions. They are the same decision.

The city has realigned staffing to actual demand, generate generating 2,500,000 in recurring annual savings beginning in f y twenty twenty five twenty six, the current fiscal year. As always, changes to service levels require city council direction on which of those service services levels to change. Next slide, please. Why recurring savings matter the most? This slide explains why recurring savings matter more than one time actions when the goal is to close a structural deficit.

A one time action helps a current fiscal year only. Examples include a grant carry forward from a prior fiscal year, a one time developer fee settlement, or a draw from res from reserves for a specific purpose. A core best practice budgeting principle is that one time money should only fund one time needs. A recurring action by contrast helps the current fiscal year and every subsequent year. Examples include reducing an ongoing operational expense, expanding current recurring revenues, or aligning cost to the fund where the work occurs.

This is how structural deficits are resolved and solved. The table on the right shows why this matters. The 2,500,000 in recurring expenditure reductions identified in June 2025 is forecast to be 13,500,000 in cumulative savings over five years because those savings repeat every year and grow slightly with inflation. And as the footnote indicates, total structural deficit improvement of 17,000,000 over the respective time period reflects this very happy byproduct of recurring savings. Next slide, please.

This slide represents the preliminary f y twenty twenty seven thirty one general fund financial forecast. You saw this on 03/03/2026. Reading across the table in the current fiscal year f y twenty twenty five twenty six, the budget is balanced as adopted at 4 144,000,000 on June 3 as amended to 150,900,000 at midyear, and as always require I was always and as always, balance as required by law. The amended budget does include the city council approved use of 5,400,000 in reserves. Looking forward to f y twenty twenty six, the base year of the forecast, we project revenues of a 146,400,000, expenditures of 147,100,000, and the use of previously approved council reserve previously approved by council reserves to support the IAFF labor agreement adopted on 11/19/2024.

The bottom line contemplates a $2,100,000 surplus in the base year of f y twenty twenty six twenty seven. By '22 by f y twenty twenty seven twenty eight, the use of budgetary reserve is is completely eliminated, and the structural deficit emerges at approx emerges at approximately 1,100,000. The structural deficit grows over time to 5,600,000 in f y twenty eight twenty nine and goes to 19,200,000 in f y twenty thirty thirty one. Two points worth highlighting on this slide. First, the structural deficit is now delayed from until f y twenty twenty eight twenty nine.

And second, interest income has been increased from 1,100,000 to 3,800,000 based on a thorough review of our interest bearing cash deposits and the yield projections on those deposits, which are now appropriately aligned to the federally Federal Reserve outlook. And the out years of f y twenty nine, thirty, and f y twenty, thirty, and '31 are estimates for planning purposes. Next slide, please. This slide shows where we have been and where we are now. In February 2025, the structural deficit through FY twenty twenty nine thirty was 28,500,000.

By June 2025, that figure was reduced to 16,300,000, a 42% improvement. By 03/03/2026, the deficit through the same f y twenty twenty nine thirty horizon was reduced to 5,600,000, a 80% improvement from the original baseline presented to you in February 2025. The fourth box on the right reflects the same March 2025 forecast extended one year further to f y twenty thirty thirty one. Through that longer horizon, the structural deficit is 11,500,000, which represents a 30 72% improvement from the original five year baseline presented in February 2025. Two messages that I wanna emphasize on this in this fiscal progress scorecard.

First, every action that produced this improvement was developed under the strategic direction of our city council and the leadership and collaboration of our city departments. Second, changes in staffing and service levels have been aligned to community demand. In other words, staffing equal service levels. Next slide, please. This visual makes the same point as the last slide, but it does it in a graphic manner.

Each line shows how the cumulative structural deficit was projected to grow over time at three points in our and at three points in our forecasting work. The top line in February 2025 showed the deficit climbing to 20,500,000. The middle line in June 2025 showed the same horizon reduced to 16,300,000. The bottom line in March 2026 shows the deficit further reduced to 5,600,000 through f y twenty twenty nine thirty and eleven point 5,000,000 through f y twenty thirty f y twenty thirty thirty one. The visual point of this graph is that the gap narrows at every point in the forecast, not just in the final year because recurring savings compound.

And so our structural deficit trajectory is not only lower but flatter, indicating the growth of that deficit is is contemplated to slow over time. Next slide, please. Before we're leaving the structural deficit section, I wanna anchor these numbers and who they belong to. The general fund revenue of a 146,400,000 is funded entirely by Milpitas residents and businesses through property tax, sales tax, hotel tax, permits, fees, and other revenue sources. 80¢ of every dollar collected, a total of 116,400,000 in personnel costs, pays the city employees who deliver our community's services.

Fiscal discipline is how we protect the services our community depends on and the workforce that delivers those same services. Those two outcomes are inseparable. Next slide, please. We've gotten a lot of question we've gotten a lot of questions over time about the waterfall. This show slide shows how the general fund flows from revenue to services to reserves.

On the left, a 146,400,000 in revenue comes in from the community, supplemented by 2,700,000 in one time funds previously approved by council action. That total flows through to a 147,900,000 in city services distributed across public safety, public works, parks and recreation, economic and community development, and public policy and strategic management. Within city services, the 80%, which we've talked about before, is personnel. The remaining 20, 29,300,000 is service and supplies. Year end surpluses, which is a box in the middle and that green arrow going down to the right, to the third box on the right, occurs when when when when, we have money left over at the end

of the

year. It flows to one time reserves on the right, including the budget contingency reserve, the budget stabilization reserve, the CalPERS stabilization reserve, capital in infrastructure reserve, and the technology and facilities reserve along with others. So that is the last slide for my presentation. I'm going to conclude that piece on the structural deficit. I'm gonna turn it over to director Parmley for the annual AB twenty five twenty twenty five sixty one vacancy report.

Thank you. Luz Cafezia Howell, director of finance. Good evening, mayor and council members. Kelly Parmley, director of human resources. Resources. Council Before I give you a brief update on some key vacancy numbers, I just wanna remind us all that I was here in February 2025 and gave a full agenda report on a lot of the activities and work that the human resource team was engaged in around ensuring that we were engaged in a hiring process that had integrity, but also was more efficient and also engaged in some activities around recruitment. And at that time, also presented you with some vacancy data. So if we go fast forward to now as of March 31 on the next slide, at a very high level

thank you.

Just to remind us, we have 451 authorized FTE on which the vacancy rate is calculated right now as of March 31. 50 vacancies, which translates into a little over 11% as a vacancy rate. And what's also important to note is that more than half of those vacancies are in some form or in some stage of recruitment. A reminder that after the February presentation of last year around April, the city engaged in a really thoughtful and strategic review of all of the vacancies before launching them for for recruitment. Meaning that they went to the city manager's office and continued to go there for approval before a department is allowed to launch a recruitment on a vacant position.

Part of my responsibility is to also provide you some information about vacancy rates as part of AB twenty five sixty one and make sure we do that before budget adoption. And so I'm here to do that. On the next slide, just to give you a look at what has happened over the nine months here and this year at a very high level, You can see in quarter one, we started with about 8.6% as a vacancy rate or almost nine. And then by the end of the third quarter here, I just noted for you that we're now at 11.1%, about two and a half points increase over that period of time. But, again, over 50 per over 50% of those 50 vacancies are in some stage of recruitment.

If you recall back to February 2025, I offered that there isn't any benchmarking specific to what a vacancy rate should be. But at that time we were aiming for it to stay below double digits. And at that time when we adjusted for positions that were being held, it was around 7%. And without that it ranged somewhere between 8% and just under 10. So we're still you'll see in the next slide in just a second that we do have one particular bargaining unit that has exceeded the threshold for AB 2561.

But 11% is actually pretty good given the circumstances that we're in right now. And we can talk about that more if you want to. On the next slide, our obligation is to show the vacancy rate by bargaining unit. So you can see the range here. Similar to what I presented back in February 2025.

What this shows you is the budgeted FTE by each of the bargaining units and then the vacancies as of March 31 and then what that translates into in terms of a vacancy rate by bargaining unit. And that also shows you which of the 28 are in recruitment for each of those bargaining units. You'll note the asterisk for MEA, which will which I mentioned before, which is beyond the 20% threshold for AB 20 AB2561. We'll work with MEA for any additional information that we are required to provide them as a result of exceeding that threshold. There are a variety of reasons for that.

I believe that is, the last of my, part of this presentation. So I'm gonna turn it over to Alice for the next section.

Thank you, director Parmelee. Good evening, mayor and city council. Alice Furch, the city's budget manager. I'll now walk Council through the fiscal year twenty twenty six-twenty seven operating budget proposals. Next slide please.

The headline of this section is pretty straightforward. The fiscal year twenty twenty six-twenty seven operating budget proposals have a net impact to the general fund of $0 There are a total of 11 proposals, nine are recurring and two are one time, with a combined total value of $2,390,000 Of that total $2,250,000 or 94% is funded outside of the General Fund. Altogether they are funded through the Equipment Maintenance Fund, the Water and Sewer Maintenance and Operations Funds and other restricted funds. The remaining $131,369 in the General Fund expenses are offset dollar to dollar by matching revenue or matching reductions, which results in a net General Fund impact of $0 Next slide please. This table summarizes each of the General Fund proposals.

Three of these proposals are offset 100% by revenue, After the Bell and Summer Camp at $56,736 facility rental staffing at 18,000 and injury navigation through ReadyRebound at $56,633 for police and fire. Each of these proposals are offset by outside new revenues. The eliminating grant consulting proposal in the City Manager's Office produces $42,000 in general fund savings. The remaining four proposals balance to zero across the general fund column. These proposals include a law clerk internship in the city attorney's office at $18,642, technology system investments in the information technology department at $51,165, an asset manager realignment in public works that produces an $83,379 savings in general fund and a purchasing agent reclassification in the finance department at $55,572 The bottom line confirms that January in new general fund expenditures are matched in the general fund by offsets.

This results in a net General Fund impact of $0 Next slide please. The remaining proposals are funded outside of the General Fund. Two proposals are one time and drawn from the Equipment Maintenance Fund. These proposals include the Public Works fleet replacement at $2,003,060 and police vehicle replacements at $281,416 These proposals replace aging vehicles that have reached the end of their useful life and are needing to be replaced. We have one recurring proposal is a utility engineering in the Public Works Department at $38,421 This is entirely funded by water and sewer maintenance and operations funds.

The total non general fund investment in twenty six-twenty seven is $2,250,000 with zero general fund draw to this. Thank you for your time. I'll turn it over to Assistant City Manager Matt Kano to briefly go over the one time funded projects and programs, review the remaining budget calendar, and close out the presentation with staff recommendations.

Thank you, Alice. Just two more slides. Next slide, please. So it's important for us as we go through this budget process to remind ourselves of items that were were funded, either aren't funded or currently as we move forward, or in the past were funded on a limited or onetime basis and are not funded ongoing. That gives you the opportunity to ask us any questions during this budget process and recommend any funding being earmarked for some of these items when we return for the potential adoption of the budget on June 2.

So I'll briefly go through this. The advertising on VTA bus shelters, this is a new new council priority. We are and we do have funding to advertise during the upcoming FIFA events, and our public information officer is working on a great program for that. If we were to continue advertising on an annual basis and more generally outside of events, we would need additional funding. Friendship City program, we did receive direction to reach out to some nonprofits, chamber of commerce, and others to see if there's a partner we can use for this program so that the city doesn't have to expend funds, and we will be doing that.

However, if those conversations don't work out, we will need to hold on this until we can identify future funding. It would remain on the priority list. We would just need to identify funding in the future. The Milpitas summer college internship program, this is something that was added in last year's budget for one time. The team has been working together and to launch a program for this summer.

If we're continue gonna continue going to continue this past this if we're going to keep doing this program every summer after 2026, we would need additional funding. Storefront and crime prevention program. This will be coming to the city council with this use recommended use of this one time $100,000 likely in June. And Nat will discuss the the use of the money for this next fiscal year year that we're about to enter, but that is onetime funding. The Ring Doorbell initiative, which was launched by the city council at a meeting in March, is currently with one time funding.

If we're going to continue in the future, we would need additional funding. Expanding the emergency motel stay, we did receive a 100,000 of one time funding on this in December. We we do feel that this one time funding should last a few years to supplement our current program, but it is not ongoing. Library improved security and maintenance. We did receive one time funding for this in December.

That one time funding provides security services through likely 2027, and after that, we would need to identify additional funding for security. Expansion of Milpitas use force. We we did receive enough we do have a base level of funding for Milpitas Youth Force for a certain number of youth, but the expanded program was funded only for 2027 and summer twenty twenty eight oh, sorry, summer twenty twenty six and summer twenty twenty seven. We would need additional funding to continue that expanded program beyond summer twenty twenty seven. And Milpitas Smart is currently funded with a v t primarily with a VTA grant and some city matching funds through spring, roughly spring twenty twenty seven.

We're still working on some final numbers, but any extending it past spring or late spring, summer twenty twenty seven, will require additional funding that we have not yet identified. So again, we wanted to make sure we covered this slide with you today in case you had any questions or provided any feedback. Only one more slide, I'll go ahead and finish up. Next slide, please. Next slide, please.

So this slide provides the budget calendar. The check marks are dates that we've already completed. We had an employee town hall last week to talk about the revenue forecast and the budget proposals. And we have the today, the CIP budget was adopted earlier this evening. And we right now, we're having a study session or a public hearing on the operating budget to receive any feedback or direction that you have.

We will likely come back on May 19 for the the fee item again that was deferred from this evening. And then in May, we will have community engagement town halls as well. A few opportunities for the community to provide additional feedback outside of these council meetings in addition to online feedback that we have been receiving from the community and we have transmitted to the mayor and city council. Then we anticipate coming to you to request to adopt the fiscal year twenty six, twenty seven operating budget at a public hearing on June 2. Next slide, please.

And that's the end of our presentation for this evening, and we're happy to answer any questions or take any feedback the county city council may have.

Thank you for that presentation. And now we now I'm going to open it up for the public hearing. Any public speakers?

Public speaker cards, mayor.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone from the public and out on the floor? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing and move on to council discussion.

Thank you, mayor. You're welcome. Having so much fun here.

We're gonna do it.

I know.

Slide six, please. And this is for director Luz. I'll ask my question while we're waiting. Oh, there you go. There Luz on there's an asterisk at the at the middle of the page, and we use how much reserve did we use for the 2627 for the November 2024?

Yeah. $2.2700000 dollars, Kelvin, for that. Yeah.

Yeah. I remember. Did we put it back?

Yes. We had a water we had a waterfall last year for about $6,200,000. That was the number that came to you in December when we had finished our audit and brought our audit for council consideration and receipt in December, and we had $6,200,000. So those funds were fully were were fully restored.

From last year's?

Yes, ma'am. From 06/30/2025.

Okay.

Thank you, director Luce. I I thought I remember it, but I I wasn't clear. Thank you for clarifying that for me. Slide 15,

please.

I think this is for director Kelly. Oh, four this is can I see 15, please? Oh, 14. Okay. Just a question. You said the last column says in recruitment. Don't we have a hiring freeze?

We do. But once they're once they're reviewed by the CMO so it goes so when the vacancy occurs, every couple of weeks, on when a director submits a request to fill, we then move that to the city manager's office for review and consideration and approval. So those happen after in other words, they're released for recruitment once it's approved by the city manager's office. We've been doing that since last year.

And I wanna just add the a lot of times these processes use the word freeze, and what they really are is a strategic hiring process where prior to any recruitments moving forward, especially starting last early last spring, there's as as director Parmele mentioned, there's a process where the city manager's office reviews the position that's being requested, reviews the urgent need for that position, and then either either approves or disapproves it. And there's been a handful of positions over the past year that have not been approved and have been on hold due to that process.

Is is that answering the question, council member Birtua?

I'm not sure.

I I can offer maybe a comment that brings clarity to it. The city manager's office reviews hiring that department heads wanna do. A perfect example is even though it wasn't a completely successful recruitment is the water treatment position within public works. That's a position that's vital to the city. We're currently using a contract service for it, but we're also continuing to recruit for it because it's vital to the city. So we don't it it could hinder city operations to just across sports. Say, we're not hiring anybody. It's really dependent on the position, and so all positions go to the city manager's office to determine, is it something that's vital to the city's operation? If it is, that's likely something that we had approved to move forward to fill.

Was that a policy that the that overrode or the council when the council made a decision that there there should be a hiring freeze? I mean, enlighten me.

I'm not sure what you're referring to. It would have been before my time on on the dais. Is there was there a council direction to not do hiring?

I thought that's what it meant to have

a hiring freeze. Being there at the time that internally what was then called a freeze was called the freeze and exception process. And then and that was started or initiated under city manager

Thomas.

Thomas. Yeah. Sorry. I just totally blanked on the name. And then when acting city manager joined, that process was continued and amped up. So in other words, positions were assumed not fillable until they were create an exception process was created, and that was always the process since last April. I've seen it go through a rigorous review with the city manager's office given the handful of conditions under which a director could request that something be an exception in order to continue to recruit for a city service service or need.

Or if it

was funded, for example, from non general funds, there's several positions in there that are not funded by general fund and or are revenue based. And so exception process is from my perspective has been in place internally since last April.

I'm not aware of that. Okay. Slide 20, please. Assistant city manager, do you want us to add to this now? Is that

Absolutely. Our ideal scenario would be to hear any and all additional or budget ideas that you may have this evening so that we can bring those, assuming they re receive consensus, bring those back for consideration during the adopted budget on June 2. So the more feedback we get this evening, the better.

So let's I would like to add to the Ring doorbell initiative based on the feedback from from from the residents if we need to.

Is there a specific dollar amount you're considering at this moment to suggest on this, or would you like us to suggest a dollar amount or in in our adopted budget or in our recommended adopted budget?

Another 60,000 maybe if we need to. Okay. Not to exceed.

Council member, with with risk if I may, perhaps acting chief Morales can bring bring us up to speed with exactly how many cameras that that 60 that initial tranche of $60,000 buys us. Because I believe that that number is 500,000 $505,100. Think

where oh, there's chief.

Evening acting chief Morales. Good evening, mayor, council. Happy to answer questions regarding the ring camera. As we're currently in the acquisition process of purchasing the cameras, we don't have an exact amount, but it's in the neighborhood of approximately 500 or so Mhmm. Depending on the community interest based on them wanting a doorbell style camera or if they want a camera that's mounted on the, say, garage of their home. So the number is probably gonna fluctuate as we hear back from the community once we ask them.

It's just in case so we don't have to come back and ask for it, if that's okay.

Thank you, ma'am. Okay.

Thank you, chief. I also want to add to waive the fees for the choir members also the the band members.

With

currently, we the band members and the the choir members, they are they're they pay $35. So my my recommendation is since we use them for our events multiple times a year, why not Mhmm. Not don't let them pay that $35 a year fee.

Yeah.

Director Lorentzin?

So the community band and the community choir have an annual fee of $30 per year,

and

it covers some incendiary costs associated with the program. There is something to being a little bit to continue the commitment. But if the council wanted to make it so that those programs, which are a balance of service and learning to be zero cost, then we would take that direction and move forward. There's also the opportunity because they do get equipment from the program that the $30 is a deposit for some of the equipment that they receive. And then when they return it at the end of the season, then they get their $30 back. So that's another option, but it's at the discretion of the council.

The total cost is around 3,000, right, for each?

Yeah. The revenue is a couple thousand dollars, so then we would need we would no longer receive those monies. Yeah.

I think they're worth it because you They're great. Performers to do to participate in the events, and they're always there for us.

They're two fantastic service programs.

Yes. Mhmm. Okay. The next one, I would like the last one. This is a takeaway from the California.

Do we need a consensus?

We I think what's happening is each person is kind of throwing their ideas out, and then you guys can figure it out. Right? Is

that Yeah. We're keep we're keeping a list right now, and so what we could do is go back after we get and then ask for a consensus after that.

Oh, okay. So the last one I have is the takeaway from the League of California cities that I got. I I sat on a panel with 25 other elected officials, and one of the takeaways that I like is the and several of the cities, they have this program called care solace. It's care solace. It's a it's a twenty four seven service.

It's mental health and substance abuse is a challenge that that affects the youth, families, seniors, and underserved residents. So this this program provide twenty four seven multilingual care navigation support. So if you need a referral, let's say you have a mental health issue or drug abuse issue in your family, you can call this this service and ask for a referral, meaning professional referrals. And or this is to assist with the insurance, including medical, Medicare, and uninsured options. It's a referral platform type.

The proposal will expand access without requiring the city to create a new direct service department. This is preventive, compassionate, confidential, fiscally responsible investment in connecting residents to help when they need it the most. We're at a relatively modest cost. Milpitas can expand access to mental health and drug abuse. We they call it the in those cities that have it, care before crisis.

So I'll I did my research, and the cost per residents is less than a dollar. Okay. So the cost of a pilot program for a year is between 45 to 35,000 depending on the kind of program we want. So I would like to add that to the budget. That's all I have.

Thank you. Councilmember, could I speak seek a little feedback on that, if you don't mind? Sure. So the I I was just googled the looked on the website when you're speaking. It looks like there's, like, there's a specific service provider.

Yes. It's CareSolx. They they have it. The only city in Santa Clara County that has it is Santa Clara City Of Santa Clara.

City Of Santa Clara. Okay. Thank you. Mhmm. I'm just opining a little bit on this as as I'm listening to you. Definitely, I see the value for our residents, absolutely. So I understand why you're recommending it. This could be one thing we haven't done on this is is had a chance to evaluate Right. Whether or not there would need to be an RFP and or whether or not there were any additional administration or oversight challenges. And so if this funding did get allocated by the city council, we would I mean, there we would still, before we are able to commit to a timeline and a program and with this specific service provider, need to do some initial analysis and work on.

So for hours?

I don't know at this time. I mean, we could we could we will absolute we we we would absolutely do under four hours work to do some initial research. That that's fine. I just don't know if we'll what that will turn into. And if it's if the funding is added for this, then I don't know that we can commit immediately to doing the program without understanding the service a little bit better.

So what do you suggest?

One if the city manager has anything to add.

There's gonna be an opportunity to fund these at the next at the actual budget adoption. Right. Is that correct? I think one thing that we could do is some research, some hasty research really quickly just to kinda get an idea. And then that way, if it's something that council wants to move forward to, they could allocate funding at the adoption of the budget Mhmm. If that works. It gives us time to look into it.

Yeah. Right. It it's very easy to I did my research, and and it's not that at all complicated. It's straightforward. So

Yeah. It very well could be. It's just the procurement rules that we have to make sure that we're doing our due diligence. Yeah.

We'll we'll do the initial research right away so we have that information in time for the adoption.

Right. Okay. Good. I like that. Thank you so much.

Yeah. One clarifying question, council member, on the doorbell initiative. I know that there's been interest through the media Right. And and comments. Was the was the request to allocate money now or to monitor the program for a future allocation?

Second.

Second one? Okay. Thank you.

Do we have to come back for that?

That's another one that we can just depending on what work the police department gets done between now and June 2, that's something that we could adopt with the budget.

Yeah. That's if we don't need it, then we

Okay.

We don't use it.

Sounds good.

How's that? Thank you. Thank you, act act thank you, city manager. Thank you, mayor.

Any other questions? We have council member Lynn.

Thank you, mayor. Kelly, can I go to slide 12? So we have the vacancy rate of 11.1 compared to the first quarter, which is 8.6.

Mhmm.

So we have gone up. I think the next slide. Next one.

The one by bargaining unit.