City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello and welcome to the Saratoga City Council meeting of 02/04/2026. This is our regular session. I'll call the meeting to order and advise everyone that this meeting is being recorded. So if you ever want to see yourself, if you come up and speak, go to www.saritoga.ca.us and look up videos of the meetings. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Britt, will you please take the roll call?

Pursuant to Saratoga City Council's remote public participation policy, members of the public may participate in this meeting in person at the location listed on the agenda or via remote public attendance using the Zoom information listed on the agenda. Public attendees participating by Zoom are automatically muted and are not viewable on camera. I will now call the roll. Council Member Aftab? Present. Fitzsimmons? Present. Zhao? Present. Vice Mayor Walia?

Present.

Mayor Page? Here. We have a quorum and the agenda was posted on January 29.

Thank you. Earlier this evening we held a study session regarding the twenty six-twenty seven Capital Improvement Program. At that meeting we discussed some of the priority projects and took some great input from our residents about different items on the agenda and got some really good feedback. So, we shared some ideas with the Public Works Director and our Director of Finance. And we'll see the results of them when we get towards our budget.

Thank you. Next up we have oral communications on non agendized items. This is an opportunity for anyone, either for people in the meeting today, meeting attendees, to discuss any matter not listed on our agenda. The City Council is generally prohibited from discussing any of these actions or any of these comments, but we can give direction to staff on occasion. So Britt, would you please announce the process and announce our first speaker.

If you would like to address the City Council on an item not on the agenda and you have not submitted a speaker slip, now is the time to do so. First speaker is Anthony.

I'd like to ask, if you are speaking on non agendized items, please come on down so you can be clean.

Alright. Thank you. My name is Anthony Law. I'm a senior at Saratoga High School. Last summer, I wrote a series of articles for the Laskadden on the use of flock ALPR cameras in Saratoga and Los Gatos. I'm here today urging the city council to immediately cancel Saratoga's contract with Flock's safety. This is an issue of data privacy, of constitutional rights, of safety, and of simple fiscal responsibility. Flock is a private profit driven company that has a well documented track record of mishandling consumer data. Cameras can be hacked in a minute with rudimentary technology. Reporting from CalMatters, the SF Chronicle, and even statewide audits have found that over 200 California law enforcement agencies don't have sufficient security safeguards or outright violate state laws regulating the sharing of data.

These laws, which supposedly prevent data sharing with federal and out of state agencies, are barely enforced. El Cajon, California shares the data with out of state police departments to this day in the in the open. Investigators have been able to track down Flock login keys on the dark web. This city is responsible for the private and personal data it has already egregiously failed to protect and will continue to fail to protect from hackers, criminals, foreign governments, and even government entities accessing the Flock mass surveillance network. Citizens and residents are suing Oakland, San Jose and Norfolk, West Virginia for their contracts with the flock right now.

Is this how we want to use our city resources defending ourselves from valid lawsuits that will inevitably come? This is an issue of safety as well. In the past year, at least forty people have died at the hands of ICE, a twenty year high, and ICE is on their way to our communities as we speak for the Super Bowl. Reports confirm that ICE and other federal agencies tap into the flock network regularly and illegally to conduct immigration enforcement even when California state law under s v 34 prevents it from happening. Flock also instituted a side door for customs and border patrol, that police departments across the country had no idea about.

That project is only paused as of today. This city council's job is to protect us, protect our community constitutional rights to privacy, and to spend our tax dollars wisely, not on hundreds of pieces of spyware that don't even fulfill their intended purpose. Statistical analyses across the country proves there's no significant decrease in actual crime rates when ALPR neighborhoods install ALPR cameras. Most examples are only anecdotal. Santa Cruz and Los Altos Hills have already decided to shut off their flock cameras.

41 other cities across the nation have also decided to do so. Santa Clara County is currently considering a motion to delay the renewal of their camera systems. It's time for Saratoga to jump on and do the same, hold public hearings to discuss the impact of this critical data security and civil rights issue, and most of all, get the eyes off of Saratoga. Thank you.

Thank you.

Sudanva? Followed by Parker. Followed by, I it's, I can't read the writing, might be Sunath? Sunath? Thank you.

Hello esteemed council members. My name is Sudan Vablur and I am the vice president of the Indigenous Justice Coalition, a student run nonprofit that supports local tribes in their fight for justice. I'm also a lead intern for the Muwekma Ohlone tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm here today to request a letter of support for the tribe in their ongoing fight for federal recognition to be placed on a future council agenda. For context, the Muwekma are currently an unrecognized tribe whose ancestral territory spans five counties here in the Bay Area, including right here in Saratoga.

For decades, the Muwekma have been wrongfully denied equal protections under the law because of political red tape and political hand wringing. Never a lack of evidence. In reality, the tribe has never been legally terminated by an act of congress. Today, federal recognition which grant them educational, political, and land equity with other tribes in California and across The United States. And if the Muwekma find support in local governments, cities who stand on the homeland of the Muwekma people, they can ensure that the government listens and eventually grants them those very rights.

That's why a letter of support is so important today. Because showing congress that the Muwekma have the Bay Area beside them is the first step towards justice. I strongly urge everyone here to consider writing a letter of support for the tribe, and I would love to discuss this further after the meeting concludes. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Parker?

Hello council members. My name is Parker Huynh, and I am another leader for the indigenous justice coalition. Across the Bay Area, students who support the Muwekma Ohlone tribe are being given their first real introduction to local politics. For us, the decisions made in this council are the first that we can see directly affecting people's lives. That's why supporting the Muwekma Ohlone tribe's fight for federal recognition matters.

For my generation, this is not just a political or academic issue. It's a matter of justice and trust. When our youth base see city councils stepping up and taking a stance to oppose the historical wrongs done to this tribe, we get to see leaders who listen and act on the behalf of the people in their community. And that's what exactly we'll be thinking about when the elections roll around. From Union City to Livermore, cities across the state have already pledged their support.

Saratoga won't be standing alone. It would be joining a coalition of justice, a momentum that we can help hope that it will make its way to congress. I personally am not indigenous or a part of the tribe, but I think that's precisely why we need to be here today. It takes the community banding together to make a change in our society. It's not enough for the plea for the people in the Muwekma Ohlone tribe to advocate for themselves. It's not enough for us to advocate for them alone. I stand by the belief that as a Bay Area community, we must come together against the social injustice. We hope that you consider writing a letter of support for the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. Thank you.

Thank you.

Sunath.

Hello, distinguished council members. My name is Sanath Krishna, and I'm also one of the leaders at the indigenous justice coalition working with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. Like my fellow interns before me, I'm here today to request a letter from the city supporting the tribe's fight for federal recognition. I wanted to take this time to answer concerns you may have about writing a letter of support. Put simply, the facts line up in the tribe's favor.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has found that every single tribal member of the Muwekma directly descends from the previously recognized tribe of the of the Verona Band of Alameda County. And that and that status of recognition was never terminated as an act of congress. The data clearly demonstrates that the Muwekma have always been here. And most importantly, a federal judge ruled in 2022 that the tribe retains its sovereign immunity and that it was wrongfully excluded from the BIA's list of recognized tribes. Despite the overwhelming legal, genealogical, and scientific evidence, the Muwekma remained wrongfully unrecognized.

Look, the city issuing a letter of support won't magically give the tribe its rightful status, Nor will it prevent any other tribes from seeking the same. We're not asking Saratoga to make a legal determination. We're asking Saratoga to stand with the evidence, with the universities that verified it, and with the courts that affirmed it. By showing the federal government that you care, you're pushing the tribe one step closer to recognition. Thank you.

Thank you.

Erev?

Good evening council members. My name is Arav Ayr, and I am also here as a leader of the indigenous justice coalition supporting the Muwekma Ohlone tribe in their fight for federal recognition. I wanted to talk specifically about the tribe's connections to the city. Not only does Saratoga rest on the Muwekma ancestral homelands, but it continues to be a vital part of the tribe's culture and heritage. Research conducted by UC Berkeley, Stanford and Santa Clara University, all confirms aboriginal ties to Saratoga.

The tribe has always been a part of the cultural background. And its members continue to thrive here as residents and participants of the community. The Wequa have also founded and created several local and cultural events here in the city. The community of this city demonstrates a clear connection between Wequa and Saratoga. Because it is so intertwined in both the past and the present, we believe that it becomes imperative that the city consider greater support for the Muwekma tribe.

Support that starts with a simple letter of support. From reputable universities to local and federal courts, the story remains the same. The Muwekma have always been here and are still here. In the end, support isn't a question of evidence, significance, or connection. It's a question of political will. We look forward to discussing you with these further after the meeting concludes. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Mayor, I have no other speaker slips.

Is there any other member of the public who would like to speak?

Hello, Council. My name is Bernie Mills. And first of all, I want to thank you. I don't think I've had an opportunity to thank you this year for your service. I wanted to thank you for that. I know that your service is not something I appreciated. I did watch the session that you had where you were talking about salaries and your payment, and what you do is really a labor of love for this city. So thank you very much. The item I did want to talk about today is just to give you an encouragement that as you are moving to fill the position of city manager, that you have a very, very viable candidate sitting right here to your right. And I would really

This is an item on the agenda.

I'm sorry?

This is an item actually on the agenda.

Okay. I did not see it on the agenda.

Yes. Was it added?

Item 2.1.

All

right. Well, I will hold until that point. I will address the issue of the flux cameras then, and just say that this was an item that I was also going to raise with the city council. I think that the comments that were communicated previously were well communicated. I think that if this isn't an issue that the council has looked at, you should look at it.

Because I supported the cameras where they were installed. But what has happened and what Flux has done and how the company is actually handling data is a serious concern. And if you haven't looked into it, I suggest that you do look into it, because it is a very serious concern of privacy for our citizens of the city. Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, let me address the flock cameras. When the pilot program was brought up, I suggested several criteria for evaluating the success or failure of the pilot program. The council never adopted any specific objectives. However, okay, the cameras have more than met the criteria that I proposed to be considered. And I fully support the cameras. I'm not concerned by what I've heard regarding the data. Thank you. Don't terminate the contract.

Thank you.

Hi. I'm John B. Henley, Jr, mayor and council. I wanted to thank you and the city staff and employees for paving Fruitvale Avenue. It looks so good, and it's a nice entrance for people coming to City Hall, West Valley College, the farmer's market, and it's kind of like a new haircut, not that I would know what that is. But I just wanted to thank you for what you guys do for the physical things that you do that you might not be direct hands on, but are noticed and appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay, seeing no one else, we'll close the public comment period. And now I'd like to share a couple of announcements with you all. First up is Saratoga's Farmers Market. Every Saturday at, well we have a couple, the biggest one happens to be at West Valley College every Saturday morning.

And the first Saturday of each month, the mayor is there, whoever that might be. So the mayor will be there from ten to noon. So if you have some comments or you'd like to meet the mayor, or take a selfie with the mayor, come on down. See you there. Love notes in Saratoga Village.

Love is in the air in the Saratoga Village, as it always is, but now it's extra special because the love notes have been posted on business windows in Downtown Saratoga. Take a stroll to enjoy these uplifting messages. If you'd like to participate, you can always write a note to honor those you hold close to your heart and email them to either kaitlyndos93@icloud.com or laurelperusa@comcast.net, as shown on the screen I believe. And they'll schedule a pickup or you can drop them off at one of the businesses that are already posting them. Typically they'll just put them up for you.

Showcase So your warmth, kindness, and charm and come witness what I know in my window I've got stuff from a bunch of second graders at one of our local schools and they're really heartwarming messages. So it's kind of neat. Next up is National Youth Heart Screen Day event. The Saving Hearts Foundation is partnering with the Kyle J. Taylor Foundation on February 7 to bring awareness to sudden cardiac arrest which is the leading cause of death in young athletes.

In honor of National Youth Heart Screening Day, they're bringing free heart screenings and life saving education to Saratoga High School. That's on Harriman Ave from ten a m to three p m on Saturday. The Kyle J Taylor Foundation will conduct free EKG heart screenings for youths aged 12 to 25. And the Saving Hearts Foundation team will host an interactive booth teaching students and parents how to operate AEDs and perform CPR. We encourage our Saratoga families to attend this event and help prevent cardiac emergencies in our youth.

To register, visit kylejtaylor.org/screenings. The Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action twenty twenty six Summer Youth Leadership Academy. I'm not sure how many of you know about the Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action Group, but I did attend one of their conferences last year and it's a very energetic group of Bay Area youth who are very focused on doing the right thing now and in the future to protect our world from what could happen to it if we don't pay attention. This free three week program beginning July 6 helps high school students to build leadership skills while learning about climate science, community organizing, and advocacy. Students will learn from community stakeholders and about local projects related to environmental sustainability.

Space is limited so students entering grades nine to 12 are encouraged to apply early. Applications are available online at svyouthclimateaction.org and they will close on April 22. Are there any other council members who'd like to share an announcement? Seeing none, I was hoping maybe I could just take a breath there. Did that all in one one sentence.

Okay, so next up we have a proclamation declaring February 2026 as American Heart Month. Doctor. Nisha Donti, will you please come up and join us on stage? She is the co chair for the American Heart Association Young Professionals Board and Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCSF Division of Hospital Medicine. Please join the council on stage.

So let me get the thing over here. Tina would you hold this for a second please? As mayor of Saratoga, I'm proud to proclaim February 2026 as American Heart Month in our community. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in The United States and affects individuals and families right here in Saratoga. American Heart Month is an important opportunity to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke and to encourage healthy lifestyle choices that can save lives.

The city of Saratoga recognizes the vital work of the American Heart Association Bay Area division and the many volunteers, healthcare professionals and supporters who provide education, advocacy, research and community programs that help prevent heart disease and promote cardiovascular wellness. Their efforts empower residents with the life saving information and tools to adopt heart healthy habits. On behalf of the entire city council, I'd like to present this proclamation to you. And I'm sure you'd like to say a couple of words so I can hang on to that if you wanna hold the mic. Thank

you everyone. Thank you Mayor Page and the council as well in the city of Saratoga. My name is Doctor. Nishadanthi, as Mayor Page mentioned, and I'm the chair of the American Heart Association Young Professionals Board, assistant professor and cardiac hospitalist at UCSF School of Medicine. So, as Mayor Page mentioned earlier in the previous announcement, and again, heart disease is extremely prevalent, and cardiac arrest is a very real and prevalent problem.

More than three hundred and fifty thousand people experience out of hospital cardiac arrest in The U. S. Every year, and ninety percent of these are fatal. We have a bold goal at the American Heart Association, which with our nation of lifesavers, to double the cardiac arrest survival rates by two thousand and thirty. And so this is why we are encouraging people to act and use CPR to save lives of friends, loved ones, and community members who would not otherwise survive.

So the American Heart Association is very grateful and we accept this proclamation. Thank you so much. And we are very grateful that for your support of our work. Thank you.

Alright. So I'm gonna ask you to hold this. We can all applaud. And then we're gonna get a couple of photos. Thank you very much.

Thanks doctor. Appreciate it. And before I conclude the item is there anyone from the public that would like to speak about our presentation? Seeing none, we'll move on. Next up is the consent calendar which contains items of typically routine and noncontroversial business items.

Items in this section are usually acted upon in one motion unless removed by a mayor or council member. Is there any council member who would like to remove an item?

I'd like to pull item 1.6 just for a separate vote.

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. And then I'd like to enter ask the members of the public if anyone would like to speak on the consent calendar at this time. Or if you'd like us to remove an item, please let us know. Public speakers are limited to three minutes. Britt, can you please explain the public comment process and announce the first speaker.

You would like to address the city council on the consent calendar and you're attending the meeting in person, now is the time to approach the podium. If you're attending via Zoom, now is the time to raise your hand. Mayor, I see no speakers.

Okay. Then we'll close the public comment period. And do we have a motion? Yeah.

All right. I'd like to move to adopt consent calendar item 1.1 through 1.8, except item 1.6. I second. Okay.

Do we have a second? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Okay. Motion passes. Bilal.

Oh, item 1.6. I just wanted to flag that I'll be voting against this one. So just wanted to call, request a separate vote for it accordingly. I stated a lot of my reasons the last time, just gonna uphold that.

Thank you. And I was, I'm glad you pulled it because I was going to too. I agree with you. I motioned, I voted to approve this the last time but after getting more input from people I realized that what we've passed will not solve any of the problems or put in any kind of controls so that we can prevent the problems from occurring again with the current ordinance. So I too am going to vote in the opposition of it. With that, all in favor?

Don't have a motion.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Do we have a motion?

Move to approve consent item 1.6.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Now, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed? Opposed. Opposed. Any abstentions? Good, because there's five of us so I'm glad there's nobody else. Thank you. Thanks very much. Alrighty. Sorry I'm still not used to working with a script. I'm used to a teleprompter and you know big TV, Klieg lights and stuff. So our next agenda item is general business item number one. And this is our topic on the authorization to issue a request for proposals. Oh, is it? No, I'm sorry. It is. For consultant services for the city manager recruitment. Oh, we gotta turn I that

don't do this enough. Better. Evening, Mayor Page, Council, and members of the public. I'm Monica Labossiere, the Human Resources Manager for the City of Saratoga. Tonight's item is the recruitment plan for Saratoga's next city manager. The immediate timeline is straightforward. The city is issuing a request for proposals tomorrow to hire a professional executive search firm. Search firms will have two weeks to submit their proposals, with proposals due by February 19. The RFP requests firms with proven experience recruiting city managers for communities like Saratoga. The key date for counsel is February 24 from five to seven p.

M. When you will interview the search firms. Counsel will select the firm, and the contract will be executed by March 4 at a cost not to exceed $40,000 The tentative go live date for the recruitment right now is March 16 with the goal of having Saratoga's new city manager start after July 1. Staff is recommending two actions this evening. First, authorize the human resources manager to issue the RFP, and second, appoint council members to a screening committee to review the proposals and determine which firms to interview February 24. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any questions from the council? Tina?

Monica, I am seeing only one recommended action in the staff report.

Yeah, I added a second action. Because as part of the RFP process, we'd like a sub subcommittee of the council to select those executive search firms to move forward for interview. So tonight I'm asking the council to pick at least two of you to participate in screening the RFPs, along with me, to determine what firms we will invite to interview on the twenty fourth.

So is there a number that you are considering, Care?

Meaning of counsel to participate?

No, of search forms.

I mean, ideally we can screen it down to four, but it's hard to predict how many applications we'll get. We might get eight. We might get four. We might get three. But right now, I'm going to assume we're going to get several and we're going to have to screen them down to a manageable pool.

Okay. Thanks.

Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Seeing none, thank you. I would like to now open it up to members of the public, if you'd like to give comments on this item.

Bernie Mills.

Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, council members. So thank you very much, Britt, for keeping me in order. And I'll make this brief. I do believe that you have a very viable candidate for this position sitting to your right. I don't know all that goes into this process, but I heard the number $40,000 I know that as a city we are tight on budget.

And I know that as a council you are tight on time. And I would suggest that you save the $40,000 and you also save the time that would be invested by the subcommittee and the committee to screen other candidates when you have a viable candidate that's sitting off to your right. I think Leslie Arroyo has demonstrated, and also can demonstrate between now and a time that you determine that she can actually fill this role. So maybe having her as she is in the acting role for a period of time,

and

then seeing whether or not she can step into that without having the expense and the time invested from you and from us in this effort of hiring another city manager when we have somebody who can actually step into that role right now. I did have an opportunity to talk to Leslie prior to this meeting. And one of the things that impressed me, because I wanted to check to see if she was interested before I stood up here and asked you. And one of the things that impressed me was that she has a list of priorities that she's already executing on. And that list of priorities, those priorities are your priorities.

That really is her desire, to make sure that she is, as a staff member, doing what you need to do. And so again, I would suggest that you consider that both as a time saver and a money saver for our city. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Bernie. If you're on Zoom and would like to speak on this item, please raise your virtual hand. Oh, we've got another person in house.

If I had to put a card in. So mayor and council, thank you. So first off, on the RFP, I have no issue with issuing the RFP. I think you all know I've had different roles in my life. And I've actually hired two city managers. I've hired an executive director for VTA. And I've hired an executive director for Caltrain. So I've been through this process before. All those organizations have very large processes for what they go through. I'm not going to recommend anything about that.

But one thing they do have is they have public input in terms of what is the public looking for in who's going to fill these roles. So I would like to suggest, in a parallel process with everything you've got going on, is that you hold an agendized public item at one of your council meetings. And talk about your characteristics of what you think is important characteristics for a new city manager to have. And let the public speak and say, what do we think are important characteristics for a new city manager to have. And then you can take that information into when you do your interviews and your deliberations and all of that.

But at least add to the process where you ask the public, what do you think is important? And I'd really love to hear as a member of the public, you guys talk about the characteristics. It doesn't mean who you're gonna hire or what you're gonna do or anything like that, but just give us a sense of what is you think is important. For I think here in Saratoga is the only employee you guys actually hire. Because you counsel out or contract out the city manager I mean the city attorney. So that's my suggestion, is just to add a public item where you talk about the characteristics of what you're looking for, and let the public go ahead and give our thoughts on it as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Glenn. Bill?

Yeah, let me say, I knew Glenn was gonna suggest this, and I think it's a great idea. And with respect to city employees, when Matt, before Matt was hired, after James announced his resignation, I suggested interviewing any city employee which wanted to apply. I'd like to suggest that again. Before you go outside, I think give all of the executive team a week to decide, to apply if they wish. Interview them. If one of them is acceptable, I think that's far enough. Thank you.

Thank you Bill.

Britt, anybody online? There are no hands raised.

Okay, then we'll close the public comment and bring it back to counsel for comments and motion, if that's so called for. Don't really speak at once. I'm just going to roll the dice. Tina.

A couple of questions, Richard, for you, maybe for Monica. And is this the time, because some of this goes in the council discussions that we have had a couple of times before in closed sessions. So I just want to get your guidelines in terms of what are the boundaries that we can discuss here tonight.

So tonight you're discussing the process for selecting a recruiter and what you want that recruiter to do. And you've heard comments about various ways that the recruiting process could be structured. Those are things that you could take into account in giving direction to the recruiter, or those are things that might influence your decision on whether to proceed with an RFP at all.

Okay. So in thank you, Richard. So in terms of the question about getting public input, is that something the council discusses if it moves forward with the interviewing of the recruiters? Is that to be included at that stage? Or can that be discussed tonight? Especially knowing we have all four cities, directors who could be possible candidates sitting in this room. I just want to be sure that how far can we discuss that.

Could discuss it tonight in terms of what you want to go into the RFP. If you want to tell the consultant, if you want to specify in the RFP that you would like recommendations as to internal search candidates and community outreach, that could be in the RFP. But if you don't do any of that tonight, you can talk about it later once you've had a chance to talk to the recruiter.

Perfect. Thank you very much, Richard.

Thank you. Thanks. Anybody else?

Oh, one other comment, Chuck. Thanks. Richard, I heard Monica say screening committee of the council, two or more. More would be Brown Act.

I think it would be you could have more, but it would make noticing more complicated. So I think if you had one or two to do the screening with her,

that

would make things easier.

Okay. Okay. So my one comment is two comments. Firstly, I do believe we should proceed with the RFP. It's a process that has been recommended by the ICMA, as has been written in the staff report. And if we want to have council members work with the HR manager to screen the proposals from the recruiting firms. My suggestion would be to have two. And my third comment is that I would be happy to volunteer as one of those two. Thanks.

Any other comments? Bilal?

I'm supportive of moving forward with this. Also curious if any other council members want to volunteer to be part of this. Probably the mayor makes sense too as well to be on that subcommittee. But I also know you have another ad hoc committee that you're on for the sheriff's contract. I want to be mindful of the number of commitments we're putting on you and other council members.

Thank you. Yan?

I'm ready to make a motion if everyone okay with it.

You can make a motion. We can always talk after.

Alright. Alright. I'm gonna go ahead and make a motion. I moved to authorize the human resource resources manager to initiate to initiate a request for proposals proceed process to allow the council to select and retain an executive recruitment firm to court in to coordinate the city manager recruitment and selection process, and also nominate Mayor Page and Vice Mayor Wallia as the two subcommittees.

I'll second the motion.

Any other discussion? No. Seeing none, we'll take a vote. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, the motion passes five-zero. Thank you very much. And thank you very much for the comments. We appreciate it. Next up is item, whatever this one is, 2.2 I believe, discussion regarding violation correction time periods. May we have a staff report please?

Good evening, mayor, council members. My name is Aaron Yuma. I'm the building official for the city. I'm here with Nathan Sagastume, our compliance officer, today to help facilitate a discussion that's on the agenda with regards to code violations and timeframes that coincide with those. As you know, the city has an adopted code compliance policy.

It's been modified from time to time over the years, most recently in September 2025. Historically and currently, the policy emphasizes the compliance program to be mainly reactive, responding to complaints, to talk with and educate, communicate with residents on the codes, and to make every effort to achieve voluntary compliance before taking formal action. In September, counsel modified the policy somewhat to give more weight towards certain violations while directing compliance offers to act on them without complaints. In other words, to be more proactive in certain situations. Nathan will speak more to this in his PowerPoint that's coming.

I want you to know that Nathan follows this current policy almost to a T. He follows it the best he can and is doing an excellent job of achieving voluntary compliance in almost every situation, which reduces the need for creating cases and a lot of, I don't know, red tape, if you will. As you know, violations can vary from in severity, from minor nuisances all the way up to hazards or imminent threats to life and safety. Our compliance program categorizes violations into three categories, each having different timelines for compliance. I'd like to now turn it over to Nathan to explain this in more detail as he goes through his presentation.

Good evening, Mayor Page and council members. My name is Nathan Sagasumi, code compliance officer. And today, I'm here to discuss our policies regarding violation correction periods. Those are the timelines we use to ensure our community remains safe and accessible. So first, some background and purpose.

Some key concerns that right now we currently try to identify are violations that require a shorter compliance period. And majority of those are public right of way obstructions. Those have been a huge problem for the city since I've been here, and we're trying to help reduce that time that it allows landscapers, paving companies, just people who keep and store materials in the street to have them removed at a quicker rate. Our current framework, like Erin said, was adopted on 09/17/2025. And our core objectives, again, is to prioritize imminent threats to the public safety and balance voluntary compliance with firm enforcement.

Currently, our standard window compliance period is usually one to thirty days, depending on the severity of the violations. Our policy maximum is ninety days before formal issuance of an administrative citation or abatement work begins. And some of our flexibility factors, those include severity of risk, the complexity of remediation of the violation. Some involve permit requirements when permits are required, certain weather conditions, and genuine resident hardships. As for repeat offenders, I currently have the authorization to bypass any correction period and issue a citation immediately.

So we have a tiered approach to compliance. We categorize these violations to ensure our response matches the urgency of the situation. First is our immediate, which usually we give around one to seven days, a one to seven day deadline. And those include hazardous obstructions in the streets, like I said before, unsecured pools, for example, illicit discharges for our prompt category. I usually give about ten to fourteen day compliance period.

And some of those violations can be unpermitted construction, overgrown vegetation, and some noise complaints. And for our long term compliance category, anywhere from about thirty to thirty five days, those can be examples of trash container placements, unregistered or inoperable vehicles, and minor zoning setbacks. And for these last three slides, I would like to kind of give examples of each of those tiers. As we can see in these two slides, we have pallets of paving material in the street, as well as a porta potty that's in the street as well. These are major violations, Vehicles passed.

We have cyclists, bicyclists, and there's no sidewalks in the city. So these are major violations. Since we work off of our current framework that was passed in September, we do have the ability to be proactive with these issues. So say we receive a complaint first, my job is to verify it on-site, issue a notice with the deadline. Usually I follow-up the next day because of the violation, and then we just continue until compliance is met.

Currently, when I drive by, see something like this, I'm proactive, so I issue notice to property owners, contractors, and then do a follow-up the next day, and then again, compliance is made, or if we have to issue daily citations. For our prompt compliance, it's kind of the same flow. Receive a complaint, verify on-site, issue the notice, follow-up within ten to fourteen days. And examples of that could be work without permits or overgrown vegetation. And for the last tier, long term compliance, Our flow is to receive a complaint, verify it on-site, issue the notice to the property owner, and then follow-up within thirty to thirty five days until compliance is met.

And some examples that you can see here, although this arbor structure looks great, it does violate our zoning ordinance with our setbacks. And with this inoperable vehicle in the front, stored in someone's front lawn, that can be a violation. And we allow thirty to thirty five days, again, because scheduling, tow trucks, things like that, to remove the violation. And that is the end of my presentation.

Thank you, Nate and Aaron. Any questions? Balal?

Thank you for the presentation. When you talked a couple months ago about potentially moving to a more proactive compliance stance, one thing we had talked about was thinking about the number of complaints that are being received or the number of cases you're handling on a regular basis. How's that going? And how would you categorize it within sort of the timelines here?

Yeah. So I do have some data for that. So since the January 2025, until we adopted that policy in September, on average, I've had about 35 cases per month. Since September to current, there's only 100 cases, which round up to about 18 cases per month. Although, you know, we were on the furlough break and Thanksgiving break.

I've only had 12 proactive cases opened. That doesn't speak to the amount of properties that I had to go and talk to contractors and property owners to let them know, hey, we've got to get these obstructions out of the road, whether that's porta potties, construction material. And since I am able to issue citations, I'm able to kind of educate the property owners and contractors, and they usually get it done day of or the next day.

Thank you.

Thank you. Leanne?

When you talk about, like, 35 cases per month or 16 cases per month, what categories do they fall into mostly category one, two, or three?

So, I don't have that data ready right now. I can get that ready for you. But just off the top of my head, it's majority of categories one and

two. Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks. Tina?

Thank you, Nathan, for your presentation. A couple of quick questions. You are saying when the compliance is met or when we issue daily citations until remedied. Could you help me understand that? So you issue a notice, you walk up to them, and then you follow-up the next day, or till compliance happens?

So in most cases, I'm able to go and speak with the property owners and contractors.

For

the most part, they get it done right away or day of. I'll tell them, hey, if I say I find a violation, let's say in the morning. I'll let them know. I'll swing by around two or 03:00. If it's still here, then I'll have to issue a citation tomorrow. But for the most part, they get rid of it and they comply. For the issuance of the citation. That's usually for repeat offenders, that I've let them know already. And I've given issue. I mean, given notice to the property owners or contractors. And that is when they do it again.

So once you have given the citation, is there the ninety day wage period before you find them, or the 150 or the $2.50?

So as of right now, I have only done citations for the public right of way obstructions. So, what that is, is because we are proactive, and because it is a health and safety hazard, after the first day of notice, every day after that is $100 per day citation.

Okay. Okay. So you only wait one day that case? That's what I want to clarify. What is that waiting period? Thank you. Thank you for the data on how many you have seen so far. Is there a way you track this? Can your system generate some reports for you to see a sense of, like the three categories you have suggested here, where you're filling all this information? Do create reports? If you were to ask?

Yes. So there is a way. So when I create a case, there's multiple violations that I can label it under. And from the system that we use to track it, I can pull which kind of violations and cases I've opened up for certain violation. And then I can gather all of that and provide that for you.

Okay. Thank you.

Cookie, anything? I have a couple questions, Nate. Thanks so much. One is, we were talking about Track It, and you enter it in Track It. Does that Track It entry go, like say it's a contractor that causes the violation, put something in the right of way.

Does that code violation, when you put it and track it, does it go with the property only or the contractor too? So say the contractor is doing some work and he needs a permit and he comes down. Will the system say, oh, you've got a code violation or here's a history of code violations, which would either prevent us from giving a permit if it hasn't been resolved, payment made or whatever might be done. Or here's a history of them. Maybe we ought to educate before we get to that permit. Does that any tell me how that happens.

Yes. So that happens all the time. So usually when something is happening at a property, we let the property owner know. Yes, I talked to the contractors, but ultimately it's the property owner's kind of oversight of what's going on on their property. Say, just like this photos here, actually, this is a great example because this contractor, they didn't have a business license.

I looked them up. They didn't have anything. What we were able to do was basically contact the main guy there. He was able to go ahead and get his business license in. But, yeah, as far as, like, tracking contractors at different properties, we don't do that currently.

Okay.

But if there is history, we'll make sure that they rectify those violations before they can start anything that requires a permit.

Okay. Thanks. And if you were to red tag a project I mean, I think they still use term, right? To put a stop work Do order on they have to post that stop work order? Does it remain up for a certain period of time? Tell me how that process is supposed to happen.

Yes. So the stop work order is supposed to remain posted until the violation is corrected.

And posted in a visible place so people from the road could see it?

JAMES Correct. And I'm the one to post that, so I will post it somewhere that is very visible.

Okay. And then when other permits are issued, like going back to the item about the contractors and stuff. If, say, I did something wrong and I got a code violation and I never resolved it. And it just kind of, you you moved on and it just disappeared in sight. If I came back later on to get a new, I'm going to do some construction on my property, would that be flagged and the permit not be issued? Like, and where would that happen? Would it be planning, if I had to go through planning? Would it be in at the Permit Tech? Would it be in building? I'm I'm not sure the entire process and how it flows.

Yeah. So, in Trackit, we have a section that's labeled restrictions. So in that is attached to the parcel. If you put a restriction in, usually when I say, or when I post a soft work order, I'll go in that restrictions column in that attached to the parcel. And then when I do fill that out, it'll kind of have this red triangle with the exclamation point in the middle basically labeling that it's flagged that something's wrong. So anyone, whether that's a planner, front desk, permatech, even, you know, anyone who uses and logs in to track it, they're able to see that.

Oh, okay. Great.

And that doesn't go away until it's cleared.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. Any other questions? Right, Tina.

Thank you, Chuck. So my question is more for Brian or Aaron. In terms of the work that Nathan does, how much of his time goes toward court compliance and the I am just thinking, can we add? Is this going to increase? Just thinking of staff time. I didn't want to put him on the spot.

I'm sorry. What would increase?

The time that you would have to spend with this categorization, would it simplify things for him, or would it add to it?

Well, we're working off the current we're not proposing any changes. So as it is now, Nathan is at capacity. There's no getting around that. He's very busy. One thing that I didn't I don't know if Nathan emphasized was, although those numbers of cases that he officially has filed away and track it, if you will, those, you know, going from 30 down to 18 or whatever, that doesn't count the possibly hundreds of visits that he's doing and getting voluntary compliance where he doesn't have to enter it into the system.

So he's very busy, especially with the new proactive work that we're doing now, which has also produced some amazing results. But he does about you can correct me if I'm wrong, but about two thirds of his time is compliance, and about one third he's helping out with some of the building inspections that we do every day. He's certified for some of those. So, busy man.

Okay. Thank you. The reason I asked this question is for fairness and consistency across the city. Because when, Nathan, you said that you drive across and when you see something, are you able to cover the whole city? We don't want complaints from residents. You are focusing on one part. That's the reason I'm trying to just process that information. This helps me. Thank you.

So I'd like to follow-up on that, Aaron. This is probably for you. Am I understanding this correctly? If there's a code violation that somebody complains about, but Nathan goes out and resolves it, it doesn't get entered?

I'll let him answer which ones he does and which ones he doesn't. But my understanding is that if he gets compliance immediately, or that same day, it may not get entered as a case. Is that true?

Can you repeat your question?

So the question is, if you got a code complaint

Yeah.

And you went out and you were able to get the owner to say, hey, I'll get that fixed today, you do not enter that in the system. Is that correct?

No. So, the only ones that I don't enter into the system is when I am being proactive. So, when I'm on my So, when you find something. Correct. Yes.

If somebody complains, you enter it in the system.

Yes, sir. Yes. So, I enter it into the system, create a case, and then that's when I go out. If I find no violation, then I'll put it in the case that there's no violation. If there is, then obviously I'll go through with my enforcement.

I got it. So, you go out to visit a code complaint and see the client, and then you're driving back and you see four porta potties in the street. You stop by and go, hey, you know what? You need to fix this. And if they get it done, then you don't enter it.

Correct.

Okay, got you. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Thank you very much. So we didn't do public comment here, right? So I'd like to open this for public comment. And if there's anyone who would like to speak on this item, now is the time. I guess Britt, if there's anything I forgot, please mention it and call the first speaker.

I think you did just fine.

Okay.

If you'd like to address the city council, now is the time to approach the podium or raise your hand.

Okay. Seeing no one, is there anybody online?

No hands raised, Mayor.

Okay, we'll close the public comment and bring it back to counsel for any further action or discussion. Tina.

Thank you for the report, Aaron and Nathan. What I would like to suggest is, if we can get, the council can get some regular periodic reports, how this is going within each category. But I do not want to burden you with more work. That's the reason I was asking at capacity. And can you generate automatic reports? Can you?

Yeah. So when I create the case, I'll label it, again, whatever the violation is. And then Track It allows me to run a report on which violations I would like and how many cases I've opened for that specific violation. And if I would like to run a report for everything, it will show me exactly how many cases I've opened for each violation.

Which is category one, two or three?

Yes. Okay. It's already tracking?

JULIET So it's not category one, two, or three. It's their individual. But I will put them into category one, two, or three for you.

JULIET And that's what I was trying to understand. How much time would that take? What I'm thinking is it would be great for counsel to see, say, a monthly report. But that's if it takes you not more than ten minutes.

So what I can do is I can start adding in the description what category the violations fall under. So it'll be easy to identify and organize.

Any suggestion, Leslie?

So I was just going to suggest we could certainly do monthly, but another thought would be we could do this quarterly. And a thought that I had was I'd like to see the data that we can pull from TRACA to try to make it comprehensive, informative, and more visual so that we can kind of see our success rates, what we're getting called in on. And it's something that we could certainly include, like, in the council newsletter on a quarterly basis. We're happy to do it monthly, but it might be more impactful to do it quarterly. And I think that we can work with our communications person to assist Nathan in this, so that it doesn't add more workload to him. And again, kind of make it a little bit more visual and insightful for the council.

Okay. That sounds like a great idea, quarterly. Meanwhile, would it be possible at some stage, a few weeks from now or something, to just get some baseline of where we are today, whether it's today, two weeks from now, end of the month or something, rather than waiting another four months from now?

We'll do an immediate one, kind of just to do a baseline. Then we'll look at doing quarterly, so at the March and thereon.

Perfect. Okay. That's a great idea. Thank you. That's my suggestion, if my colleagues would support that.

Anybody else? Diane?

Thank you so much for the report. And I think right now I don't have any suggestion for any changes. So, thank you for the great job.

Bilal? Yeah, I just want to say thank you for doing all this work. The data is super interesting. I appreciate the effort on the voluntary compliance piece. I think that makes a big difference to our residents. And then especially helpful to know when folks don't comply. That's really where we need to tighten the screws. Think some people just don't know. Some people definitely know when they're doing it. So I think that's really helpful. And the only thing I would ask is just help us track when you do on a proactive voluntary basis. Again, don't want to create more work even if it's like a tick chart or something like that. You're doing obviously really important and great work, help us sell that because I think it's really, really great that you're doing it.

Thank you. Cookie, anything? Okay. Thank you, too. Thanks for the report. Thanks for continuing your great work. I know I provide a couple of comments. Every now and then I provide an issue or two. I would ask, and I didn't bring this up earlier because I didn't have the specific sections of the code. But I do think that it would be worthwhile to make sure that our code absolutely matches what you're actually doing.

I know that one of the reasons I brought this up was because of the code at the time. If you look through rectification period, some of them said, oh you have ninety days to fix it. And we don't do that. But I don't want somebody, not somebody, but a lawyer, to go and look through the code and then say, oh look, they made me do the following because of, and all of a sudden we get slapped with a lawsuit. So if you can make sure that those things are synced up and if there's any changes we need to make, I'd really appreciate that.

And with that being said, I think that, I do think that it's important, I understand the thing about when you see it proactively. And you don't really come back and you enter that in. But it would be, sometimes it would be good to know that. Because if somebody has multiple of the same kind of thing, if you don't enter it, nobody knows it. And so you don't know how to address it, right?

If it's a chronic problem, well guess what? It should be addressed differently than if it was a one off. And if you never enter it, then you really don't have the ability to do that. And I do wish that we had the ability to track the contractors. Because I know for a fact that there are contractors who do the same bad actions over and over again.

If we've got no record of that, or no ability to track them, and to be able to assist them in doing it correctly when they come in for the next, you know, tear down and rebuild, or you know, whatever they're doing, buy and flipping them. We're kind of shorting ourselves. And we're creating a problem because now there's going be another code complaint. You know, oh, this is the guy that illegally tore down three houses before. And here we are, you know, he's back again and he's going to do another one. So if we had a way to track that by contract, we might be able to be a little more proactive and prevent that from happening. So that's my suggestion. Other than that, anybody else? I think we've got a good set of direction. You guys feel good about that?

Leslie okay? Alright. So we'll conclude this item. Thank you very much. Next up is council assignments. Why don't we start at the far end of the dais and, Bilal, take it away. I know you got big news.

Yeah, nothing to report. Personal partnerships, but that's it.

Awesome. Thank Nothing report. Leanne?

Nothing to report this time.

Cookie?

Sorry. Cities Association Selection Committee. The chair is Larry Klein. Vice chair, Vicki Van Kure. Appointees for ABAG primary seat one is Rob Moore, primary seat two. Dan Furtado, alternates for seat one. Emily Ramos, alternate seat two. Chris Clark, Bay Area Air District is Lynn DeSell. And SV IRA primary seat goes to Matthew Hudes. And the alternate seat goes to Chris Clark. Thanks.

Thank you. Tina?

I attended two meetings. Cities Association of Santa Clara County Legislative Action Committee, nothing to report. And Cities Association Santa Clara County Board meeting. And the key thing is there was a discussion of the year's priority areas.

Thank you. And I have nothing to report. We did have the first meeting of the ad hoc of the three cities related to the sheriff's department. But I don't have anything to comment on at this point. Thank you. Any counsel items? Bilal?

I'll flag one. I haven't spoken to anyone else about this, but our residents have flagged concerns about flock safety cameras and their use by sort of non local authorities. I'd love to at least get a maybe in our weekly newsletter, maybe get an update if we have, know of any instances of that taking place for Saratoga cameras or just to learn a bit more about how Saratoga may or may not be affected.

Sounds good to me.

I'll second that.

Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Any counsel communications? Okay. I've got just one. I'd like the counsel to, let's be cognizant of when the question and answer period is for, of staff. And try to do that at that point. So the members of the public can also hear it and hear the answers to those questions. And then we save our point, our time for comments and recommendations and motions to be after that, after the public comment. So just a request to you all. Okay. So Britt, I think it's time to hear from our members of the public that are online.

If you would like to address the City Council on an item not on the agenda and you're attending the meeting via Zoom, now is the time to raise your hand. Mayor, I see no hands raised.

Okay. Thanks. Do we have a city manager's report?

Nothing to report.

I kind of figured. How about the city attorney?

Nothing to report.

Nice to hear your voice tonight. With that, thank you all very much for a great meeting and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for being here.