Okay, it's 6 30, October 15th, 2025.

And so we'll call the meeting to order.

Do we all have agendas here?

Okay.

So we'll do the roll call.

Present.

Present.

Chair DeGrange.

Here.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

The first item on the agenda.

The layout's a little different, so I'm not used to not used to working in all those directions.

But the first item on the agenda is public comments.

And I think Tom, is Tom's comment first?

Tom Knutson.

Let's work on two minutes.

Good evening.

My name's Tom Knutson.

I'm a local resident here.

Some of you on Kill Care Road may have received a notice from the Pleasanton City of Pleasanton regarding the quality of your water.

Apparently, in June, they found a high level of contaminants, something called TTHM or whatever that is, I don't know.

But the uh troubling thing about it is they discovered it June 10, they notified the citizens on September 30th.

Um they claim that uh there's no immediate risk.

Um, however, some people who drink water containing this contaminant over many years, they don't describe what many is uh experience liver kidney central nervous problems or whatnot.

I guess my main complaint is, and I don't know if Lindsay can help us out in this or the council can.

Um I think the city of Pleasanton had a duty to notify its consumers sooner than 90 days.

When I talked to the water guy, they said, Well, the state gives us 90 days to notify the consumers.

Well, they took all 90 days.

So I would ask that there be some inquiry into the status of the water when this contaminant is going to be removed and uh go from there.

Tom, what what was what do the notice look like?

I don't remember getting it.

Well, you're not on Kill Care Road.

But I guess City of Pleasanton Water.

Oh, but it was only those on people on Killcare Road?

Yeah, oh, isn't that interesting?

Yeah, okay.

And yeah, if you have an extra copy, I don't have an extra copy.

I got one.

Okay, apparently the deal is there's a tank at the end of Killcare that has six million gallons, and it sits for a long time, and they uh used to get 100% uh groundwater, uh well water, and now they're getting 30 percent runoff, and it has organic material that interacts with the chlorine that they use as a contaminant and creates this some other contaminant.

So, yeah, yeah.

This is very concerning.

Is it still considered audible?

Well, I say it is, but it'll just take longer to kill you.

Well, the uh fix is a flush of the tank, and I don't know why they just don't dump all the water down the creek and fill it back up, but they're apparently not gonna do it.

Okay, so it sounds like it's a temporary thing.

Yeah, not sure.

Okay, okay.

Well, thank you for letting us know.

Um Lindsay, can I talk you into closing that back door?

So that we the temperature's gonna start dropping.

Okay, uh Kelly, you you have a public comment?

So we're going to different meetings, and the county comes in and explains all the about how how the budget works for the unincorporated areas and and so on.

And uh what's funny is that all the other areas there are a lot of constraints and things are things are tough.

But um, this is Synol, and this is the other side of the track.

So in Synol, uh the constraints don't really apply.

Here it's uh, you know, there uh partly it's because like you're running a if you're if you're trying to water a garden.

If your garden is a thousand acres of rice, you need a lot of water.

If you just have a little flower bed uh to take care of, you can take really good care of it with very little water, and you'll be very happy with your little flower bed, and that's the that's the benefit of having a small operation like Sinnol.

So in in Sinnol, it's an abundance mindset.

There's unlimited possibilities, and um people in other areas they don't know where where they're going.

Well, who's doing what?

What's gonna happen?

They're they're not working together, it's just a big mess.

But Sinnol is everybody is is uh is on the same page, and uh they all uh know how to get things done one way or another.

So in Sinnol, the constraints don't apply, and uh and this is gonna be uh be obvious.

Also the the resources are different in other areas.

They don't have um, you know, they don't have industries.

If you look out the window here, you'll see industries, and they're they industries are what cause generate revenues for governments, and uh, you know, people's uh property taxes and all that stuff.

It's all it's all good here, it's all bad in other places.

So Synol, this is uh where a lot of the standard, you know, standard uh spreadsheets, they're not gonna really apply here.

Thanks.

Okay.

Okay.

So funny, the uh sheriff's office is here.

Maybe maybe they're online.

The sheriff's office.

Or CHP.

Good evening, Connie.

Can you hear me?

Hi, Mark, thank you.

I uh quick update from uh last month's meeting.

I did a little research into the uh shooting calls that came in from Synol.

There has been a small shooting range established on the nursery property.

Uh we've gone out and inspected it.

It is proper distance from the road, it has a proper backstop, it is completely safe for them to use.

So that is the sounds that you guys are hearing.

Um as long as it's not early hours of the morning or late hours of the evening, it's they can use it.

Is there a permit required for shooting ranges?

Not on private property, it just has to be a certain distance from the roadway, and it has to have a proper backstop.

Okay.

So they're they meet the requirements to have it.

Um and there's only a couple people that are are using it that are uh nursery workers.

Um, thank you for following up on that.

Not a problem.

Uh, since our last meeting, we've had 34 calls for service.

Um nothing that I saw came of note really.

Um we've done 46 proactive stops in the Sonol area and 64 business checks.

Um stats are a little down.

Uh we did have one of our deputies in motor school uh at the end of last month.

Um he is now out of training, and you'll see him riding around.

I am happy to report that Monday morning.

I have another deputy starting motor school, so we'll be back up to our full complement of two motors on each side of the week, so we can uh hope address some of the traffic issues with CHP.

Um, and that gets us to calls faster, which is a huge benefit with how large our area is.

As anybody have any questions for me?

Lindsay has a question.

Sure.

Has anyone reported to you the multiple abandoned vehicles on Pleasant and Sinnol Road?

So there are a couple calls in here about vehicles.

If they were legal to be towed at the time, they should have been removed by my parking technician.

Which on that note, if you see her around, she will no longer be in the uh blue Ford Explorer.

She has a white uh Ford Ranger, and they change the markings on it.

So instead of saying uh traffic uh, I think it was traffic enforcement, it's uh says community service on it.

So um same same job responsibilities, just a little different look when when you see uh technician book out moving around.

Um but yeah, I don't I don't see anything on here about there's a couple abandoned vehicle calls.

Um unfortunately the sheets I have in front of me do not have details on it because I wasn't thinking to click into them before I printed this.

Yeah, I'm just gonna be uh I can look I can look into that when I come in tomorrow.

Okay, amazing.

There are three vehicles, one of which has been there if I'm remembering correctly for over a week now.

Two are new as of me driving it this evening to get here, and I drove in about a week ago and didn't see them.

One is a large uh white truck that has multiple um dents in it and it's hauling a trailer, and the other is right in front of it, and it is a huge RV that must have caught fire that's completely burned out from the inside.

Okay, interesting.

Um whereabouts on pleasant and all closer to like Koopman or farther down towards uh Happy Valley Closer to Koopman.

Okay, I will uh I will get uh technician buck out out there in the morning to look at that stuff, and if it's something we can take right away, we'll get it out of there.

Thank you.

Also, vehicle at Scott's corners.

There's a burn out of vehicle at four corners.

I still don't a fire truck caught on fire and they drug it there.

Two officers checked on it.

Okay.

Thank you, Sergeant Patrick Sheriff Patrini.

No problem.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Um Sean Landers on the phone.

No, okay.

How about the fire department?

Chief Terra's not on the phone or uh Nichols.

Okay, thank you for checking.

Okay, we'll go on to progress reports.

Um Rosemary Chang does not have anything and Denise is has been unable to make the meeting today.

So we'll go to the tree advisory Sonal Depot Gardens work group.

Jim, you want to give your report from there?

Yeah, I think uh anyone can hear.

If not, let me know.

Uh just make a few general comments and then if there are questions that you have, you need more explanation.

I'll I can get into more detail.

Uh we're continuing on with the projects that we have.

We're trying to finish up our milkweed project, which uh has been going on since last year uh with in cooperation with the school and the parents and school garden.

Uh we had roughly 2300 uh three-inch pots of uh milkweed, two to three plants for each pot, and uh the vast majority of those have been distributed and taken by uh parents.

Uh we had a couple giveaways and we've had uh some giveaways that uh uh park for stage and uh we still have a couple hundred spots left.

Uh PLA wants some to put around the depot, uh, except I've talked to three people who all said they're gonna come and get them, but no one's come to get them.

Uh so we're gonna now, especially with this rain, uh it's an excellent time to get them into the ground and uh be able to sort of forget about them.

And so we're in the next couple weeks, uh, we'll uh try to get PLA to take theirs.

We'll plant some more in the park on the workday, and if need be we can plant some in the area where we planted the sycamore trees behind the post office to sort of use them up and uh get them out of my greenhouse.

Uh the other thing we uh have coming in the other.

You have the flyer here is the upcoming uh activity, which is really not a friend of the parks activity.

It's uh the resource conserved Alameda County Resource Conservation District.

Uh wanted to uh host a program which is in conjunction with uh cow uh cow trout, it's cows.

Uh it's a a group of fishermen and they focus on trying to improve the habitat for fish uh because they're fishermen, and uh they are uh uh along with a couple other groups, uh the Alamini Creek Alliance, the Jeff Mullers group, uh they wanted to know if they could have a work a creek cleanup because that's one of the things they do uh in Sinbad Creek, and uh we we didn't say no, uh even though it's really uh when you look at it closely, it's pretty clean.

Uh I looked again today, and there's a few things for them so that they will uh won't be able to say it's perfectly clean, but I'm sure it will be when they're uh finished.

So they're gonna be here on the 25th, I think it is, uh, and uh they're inviting uh the number of groups that they sort of represent, but they're inviting the snow community.

Uh so it's not something we're doing for the community, but I think it really is something we should uh encourage people to attend, because it will be a good time to interact with a lot of people who are not from Sonol, but who have a lot of contacts in the area, and so they'll see what we're doing.

Uh they'll see Sendbad Creek, and I I think you know, if we personally that we need to capitalize on the fact that Sendbad Creek is the only place between that I know of between Mission Boulevard uh and Sinnol, where if people want to go down and see if they can see the salmon in the creek, and they they are in the creek now, and they have access to the creek and their numbers will be increasing.

Is that this is uh an excellent time to let people know that this is a place that they can go and actually can observe uh the creek and uh uh check it out.

Uh they'll basically be in the middle of downtown Sennol, and so it's it's a chance to sort of from promote Sennol and uh promote sort of the one of the unique things, and that is you know our little park and the fact that uh we have salmon uh in there in uh steelhead in the uh in the winter, not uh fortunately, unfortunately uh it's not running right now.

That's that's the way it is every year.

So uh we're encouraging people to to attend.

Uh it is a work day.

They they have some plants from the native plant nursery uh that uh they're bringing.

I uh don't know exactly what they are, but uh they're from Bree at the uh native plant nursery, and she's been into the park several times and has provided plants to us to us before.

Plus, she has uh recently uh given me 20 uh uh dog wood trees.

And uh so today uh we've finished the first preparation both planting those uh Irv Tyson and uh Jordan uh uh helped me uh stake out uh where those 20 trees can go between the entrance gate and the uh uh post office and that area that we just did the tree work in uh uh two or three weeks ago and so that will be uh something that we the plans we have the them marked out uh in terms of where we're gonna start to try to plant them and uh depending on what we get done this coming uh Saturday which is our work day uh we if we need some additional manpower uh or during their work day uh we can you know try to direct some of their people to help us get the rest of those trees planted uh and uh and then uh I'll get the irrigation put in uh for them but hopefully we won't need irrigation uh uh for a while uh with what we're done so we're still working on those things and uh you know hope to have uh you know a turnout uh they're gonna have some informational uh presentations uh from uh the Alameda Creek Alliance and some of the groups especially about the work that's going on up in Calaveras uh which is uh some major underground work uh we came and gave a presentation here last time so we got a whole presentation on that work oh okay I must I must miss that so uh so anyway I mean we've I I think it'd be good to encourage Snowlians to be there to interact with these people and sort of get their reaction in terms of what what they think about what we're doing and uh and also to uh uh there they're being one of the sponsors is the Alameda County Conservation Resource District which we've been trying to establish a good working relationship with because they have a lot of resources and they can provide a lot of assistance especially if we get into a situation where uh we have to get permits to do some of the things we might want to do uh they can facilitate that process so that uh is something that we we will try to uh start some new relationships and to get some some new interest in in the town and hopefully we'll we'll have a totally clean creek uh after uh that time and uh hopefully by by that time we'll also have uh 20 more trees growing uh in the uh in the uh that area between the post office and the bridge that's a little success thank you thank you very much a little question we talk about clean creek how high how far up kilgare does that go does what go a clean creek or is it only around the depot well uh I'm not gonna tell them they can't go up there or that's not in the workplace so that I it may be that if if they have a group of people who come and the expectations they're gonna get to walk up the creek and uh and clean it up but also you know see it and experience it uh certainly will uh tell them that they're more than uh uh welcome to wander up the creek and clean it up if they find any any up there they're gonna find a little bit but it'll be very little that they're gonna need to pick up thank you do you need any help getting out Jim or me do you need any help getting out no I'll I'll uh leave uh before it's over but I hope okay sorry for a while.

Andrew Man any any new progress on our wayfinding sign?

Yeah we've uh they voted today we come back to board supervisors um just took some time to get that through um they were back in voting and hopefully we'll check coming and we'll have our new prototype sign, we'll have the PO delivered to the manufacturer, the vendor and we'll get our our uh our first prototype signed for everybody to see uh developed and put up soon so yeah that's to that's today so find out hopefully tomorrow I guess that you know when what the outcome was great.

Yeah uh we've we've been talking about this uh on and off for actually several years uh has the county signed off in terms of the uh breakaway uh requirement that they that they have that's what took extra time the original didn't have that and then once we kind of started going down the road and we were going towards uh with planning and uh economic development department they were went for all that stuff and they said oh hold on hold on we need different colored paint we need different color reflective we need breakaways we did all that so we all that stuff had to be discussed and uh yeah it's all been agreed upon now so and is there a possibility that since some of that I think I'm not sure where the plans are for all the signage but I'm sure some of it is at the intersection of Main Street in 84 that that is something that Caltrams can do as part of their bridge project.

But well all we've gotten done all the only progress we've made is one prototype so people can look at the design we're gonna have one sign that comes out one prototype sign and then everybody can give feedback on that one sign before we write the check to do all the other signs.

We want to make sure the community has community has the opportunity to comment and like dislike what would they change before we do the whole thing and how many signs are you anticipating for the prototype is good then we'll get three more if the prototype's no good then we'll go back to the drawing board and do another one and then uh you know what the idea is at the end of the day to have four and then we can add more down the road if we like if we if we need and we haven't really finalized where those four will go so you'll you'll get time to provide input okay thank you thank you for talking that it seems like it's been forever um number three uh item number three on the agenda is the unincorporated area budget input process and um I know that many of you went to the process on September 23rd so this is a similar process to that and um Claudia is going to lead that effort okay your view you want to introduce yourself and I will where are you from so good evening everyone my name is Claudia Albano I'm the deputy chief of staff for Supervisor Miley and um tonight the next slide um tonight you'll be participating in a process to gather input from unincorporated community members both urban and rural into Alameda County's unincorporated budget.

Next slide this process is the next step in developing an annual efficient yet thorough way for unincorporated communities to communicate with Alameda County about the services they receive and their budget priorities to participate in this process all you need is your lived experience as a resident and as a SINOL CAC member no prior budget knowledge is necessary.

Next slide this is a slide that um represents the process that we're going through so the first box was two um two larger community meetings one for the urban area on September 18th and one for the rural area here on the 23rd we had 70 people at the urban meeting and about 20 at the um the rural meeting and so once we did this we're moving into this October work which is really meeting with all the MACs and the CAC to get input from the community who's in attendance tonight but also from the appointed representatives to the CAC who are you know really representing the community and we want them to um take from not only their experience as a resident but also meeting monthly as CAC members and what comes before them.

So um then we're I'm gonna we're gonna take November to analyze all the data that we've received.

And then you're invited to a joint meeting of all the MACs and the CAC and the unincorporated services uh committee of the board, which is Supervisor TAM and Supervisor Miley for a big meeting on December 3rd, where we're going to present all the findings of the information that we've received and make recommendations for what a budget input process could look like.

I mean, you may not know that as it is now, unincorporated area residents really have no formal way to put input into the unincorporated area budget.

And so we are thinking that if we want to improve the relationship between unincorporated area communities and the county, knowing what their budget priorities are for uh the area and having input into that would be a good place to start.

Um, just like in your own household budget, you review it every year.

I'm sure you make changes based on how the world is changing, and shouldn't we have input into that uh as well?

So next slide.

So these are the remaining uh meetings that we have in this section that's going to the max, and here at CINOL tonight, we have Caster Valley on Monday, and then the remaining meeting is December 3rd, which you're all invited to.

Next slide.

So this is some instructions for not only the virtual participants, of which there are five, but also for you and here tonight.

So after the SONOL CAC members have completed this exercise that I'm gonna take them through, the public will have an opportunity to provide your their input or your input.

This will happen before the CAC deliberates and or takes action.

So they'll go through the exercise, you'll have a chance to make your comments, and then they will deliberate and uh take action.

Um the time given to the speakers as at the discretion of the chair.

And also in to supplement this work, we're going to be sending out a survey in late October to supplement this process.

So if there's people who haven't been able to attend any of these meetings, they'll be able to participate in the survey.

It really asks very similar questions that we're going to do tonight.

Um there was a staff report that was included in the um with the agenda that gives a lot more background information to this process.

I haven't really gone into that too much because it's here for you for you to uh to to read and take in if you want more information.

So uh with that, you can have the next slide.

I'd like to get right into the process itself.

And the first question is so this is what we're gonna do.

You each have three of these sticky sheets, and what I'd like you to do is to answer this question.

What are three major issues in the world today that touch the Sinnol community?

And so there are um each each of you should have a group of three, and what you want to do is write one idea per sheet, one idea per sheet, that you should be very specific, and you should write big so that people can see them up here, and that um you use as few words as possible.

So it could be something like climate change.

So these are macro level issues that you think are happening, you know, outside of Sunol that affects SANOL that are happening in the nation, in the world nationally, internationally, a big big macro level level issues.

And I'll just give you a moment to uh think about that, and then you can go ahead and write write your ideas uh one item per sheet.

And you don't have to come up with three, but if you do, that's fine too.

Does that make sense?

Just as an aside, I would like more than 30 seconds to ponder a question like this.

I wish I'd gotten this information a week ago so I could think about it.

Okay.

How much time would you like to ponder it?

I mean, just I'll write when I can, but all I can all I'm saying is that if I had a week to think about this, I might have read more in depth.

That's all I'm saying.

Noted.

You would have to write on these yellow pages.

You're gonna the public is gonna have a chance to comment after they go through the process.

So you can meet.

You're the only ones doing this right now.

Right now, right, but you'll have a chance to give your input uh once this is uh done.

So you can s comment on what they've come up with as well.

This is what we did upstairs at uh it's very similar.

We've changed the questions somewhat, based on having done it now a few times.

Um but it is, it is that process.

Yeah, that's exactly that.

Yeah, I think it's based to go to all the meetings.

There you go.

It's amazing how every community is different and yet it's very similar.

Once an old ends find out, it's like stepping on a red anthill will come out.

We'll come out, great.

Well then we'll get that survey out to everybody, or Lindsay will.

And if you complete one, you can just hand it to me and I'll put it up there.

Yeah.

One per sheet or one.

One per sheet.

One idea per sheet.

I screwed up.

You need another sheet?

Yeah, I need one more.

Yeah.

Okay.

We have one more sheet.

I've done this before.

Because they're for kids to eat their lunch on.

Magnetic reverse doll.

One good wall yet.

Great.

So let's just take a look at what's up there.

We have government regulation, gridlock, political divide, water, climate change, incredible fire and flood danger, aging infrastructure and reduced public funds, housing scarcity, weather, government responsibility, and political stress.

Are any of these a surprise to you?

We wrote them.

Of course not.

You didn't write your other two.

You didn't write Benjamin's and you didn't write Mary's.

We worked together.

All right.

Okay, fair enough.

So um uh why don't you start Connie and talk about which ones you wrote and why?

Well, um, climate change was one of the ones that I wrote, and that's um one that people in the Sonol have talked a lot about because we have increased fire danger and flood danger.

And we're trying to deal with that.

It's both around the world and in Sonol.

Should I go on?

Absolutely.

Okay.

We've got the aging infrastructure.

We've had the one-way route through Giles Canyon right now because of the roadway.

The school is having to have seismic upgrades and other upgrades because of the it's an older school, but there's not a lot of public funds available to address the aging infrastructure.

Same with septic.

A lot of things.

And there's not a third one is the political stress, and there's not a lot of people willing to work together.

So yours kind of started with climate change.

That's kind of maybe one that was kind of encompassing.

And it led to that and includes who wrote that's weather.

Yeah, what were you thinking when you said that?

Um what was I thinking?

What I think was that I know that the weather has been more significant and more severe here in Sinnol.

And I also know there's been that way around the world.

And one of the big things that weather does around here is causes our insurance uh to rise all over the world, and insurance companies do hold up their hands in horror that they have to pay out.

Um, and so yes, what happens on my street and what happens around the world are not all that different.

So um what else would you put in this category of climate change and weather?

Um what else did you write besides weather, Mary?

What water?

The first part of this meeting was about locally where we didn't have good water on our street, and we're not notified for 90 days, and there are people around the world that have not had good water for their entire lifetime.

So water is a worldwide issue, and we found it on our street and we're notified for 90 days that we had a problem.

Okay.

What was the third one that you wrote?

Uh government responsibility to me.

What about that?

Uh sitting in meetings with six or seven government officials, um, and having them go, oh no, that's not us.

No, nope, that's not us, that's not us.

And the bottom line is is that when Sinnol has a disaster, we tend to have to be self-reliant, um, because nobody steps up and says we're responsible for that.

So it's kind of lack of government responsibility.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

So um you see this one as being different from the climate change category.

Okay.

Is there an anything else up here that you would put along with lack of government responsibility?

What about you, Benjamin?

What did you write?

Well, I think a lot of them tie together, you know, housing scarcity, Asian infrastructure, you know, energy, um, you know, with the need for more energy and to grow energy, but can't build because you have environmental issues.

That's where kind of the government of regulation ties in.

You know, there's there's scarcity among everything, and that drives up the price of everything.

So then that's where the governmental regulation comes into place.

So I think it all I think it all ties in.

It all ties together, yeah.

What about um Connie?

Then what did you what did you write?

Three and three.

No, wait, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Who um who wrote political divide?

You did okay.

Where do you think that one goes fits into this?

Political stress, it's the same thing.

It's it's it's it's people, you know, they they want to identify what color hat somebody's wearing, and then based on the color of the hats, what whether or not they're gonna talk to them and work with them.

And that's you know, you your question asks, um, you know, issues in the world that touch the community, and that's touched our community heavily uh multiple times on multiple topics, and uh from what from what I've seen.

So um so do you find it hard to um come together in a meeting and find consensus and deliberate because the political stress and the political divide is it happening?

I personally do not.

I think most people know me, know that I know no, not you personally, but what you see.

I think we all we've all seen it and we've all experienced it for sure.

So to what extent do you think a lack of government responsibility and this regulation gridlock kind of relates to the political divide and the political stress?

I think they're different things, different things.

Yeah, it doesn't matter if you have entire red government or entire blue government, it's it's once they're all in there, they're doing this.

Um, and you can't get you can't get anything done.

You can't build houses, you can't build energy.

Anything you do, there's there's some sort of tie-ups, there's some sort of reason that you can't do it.

Um the political divide and political stress is a different is a different deal.

It's it's it's uh how you how you how you treat your neighbors.

So do you think that it kind of kind of has a flow like this?

Um lack of government responsibility, government grid lock coupled with a political divide, you know, and the aging infrastructure kind of is a circle circle that come back, comes back and sort of makes more gridlock and makes more political divide.

How would you how would you tie those together?

No, I'm sure you've got your strings of yarn out, you could draw the connections better.

I don't like I don't know if it put them in the circle, but climate change, you know, that ties into me to you.

You know, we need to we need more energy with the way that the world's going with data and AI and computers and tech.

If we need more energy, um that all ties together, and then we need to build more energy, we need to build more, build more everything, and then that's where the governmental responsibility and reliability regulation all comes into play.

So, what this meant exercise was meant for you to do is just kind of get your juices flowing to think about on the macro level.

Um, because now we're going to turn to the really the micro level, and so can we have slide number two?

Question number two.

So um, so here's the second question.

What would you change or improve about the services you receive from Alameda County?

The things that Alameda County has jurisdiction over.

You go to the next slide for a moment.

And what I'm talking about is you can really bring up anything.

It could be how the county communicates with the public about customer service.

They don't answer the phones or they don't call you back, it could be service improvements that you would like to see, it could be program ideas, um, the availability of information like budget-related data, um, it could be comments about even the budget document itself or the use of discretionary funds, it's anything, it's just that I don't want you to feel like the question is narrowly um defined.

It's really meant to be an open question.

You could go back to the question.

What would you change or improve about the services you receive from Alameda County?

And it can be as micro-level as you'd like.

And again, please write one item per sheet, write big, be specific, and use as few words as possible.

Right.

So let's look and see what we have here.

Better response to preventing floods.

Ownership, the bug stops here.

Better emergency communication systems.

More sheriffs per square mile.

Better response to illegal dumping.

And more support in emergency communication.

All right.

So Benjamin, you whoops.

Here we go.

That was brutal this time.

You wrote you wrote one.

And I imagine you wrote one because this is what you think kind of says it says it all.

So why don't you talk about that a little bit?

Well, I mean, I think we've all seen it here as part of the meetings.

I would say that as far as the county themselves go, especially um, our district staff that we've had historically, our supervisor that pretty awesome in and helping address, you know, Sinolians needs concerns here.

Come to these meetings, we invite folks in and we hear.

Well, you know, I don't really know, but I think it's those people, and then it might be those people too.

And then we ask those people and those people too, and they point back to the original, and it just kind of a who's on first type deal.

And it would be really nice, you know, to hear like we find out for you, and we'll get back to the right people.

Rather than put putting it back on the town, putting it back on the on on the Snoleans to go find who the person is who's supposed to be in charge of these things.

Are you're talking about particular in issues in particular?

Are you talking about permitting?

Are you talking about land use?

I think with when issues come up, it could be any of those and others.

It could be flooded issues, it could be zone seven, it could be you know as a Caltrans, who's responsible for you know, for for mucking out the channel in the channels, who's responsible for the silt when it goes up on the bridge, who's responsible for the debris in the creek, who's responsible when a tree goes down in somebody's private property, it's on a power line it's it's all these different things.

And that sounds a lot like public works.

The last three or four you just mentioned was public works.

My experience it you know we we we you know and I get Connie could probably speak to this more more than than I than I could just from what's what I've seen since I've been sitting here um yeah public works we've had those folks in we've had Caltrans in zone seven we've had a lot of the folks in and uh it always seems like if it's not them they're out and it'll be nice if we if we were to raise it and then someone else would chase that down and we only have to you know request it once and and then somebody finds out and gets resolution without us having to go back to the drawing board if that makes sense.

So it's not only ownership by the county but the county would then be willing to collaborate with other agencies.

I mean whoever comes in is it public works is it a county is it zone seven is it PGE is it is it anybody that comes in will bring up something instead of being told that's not us you know you know good luck if you if you know who we can find out who it is maybe it's these people maybe it's easy I don't I don't mean the county specifically public agency I mean anybody who yeah we just it seems like there's a there's a pattern of and then we go and then we go talk to them and it's not them either and then it does the circle back to the original and we never and then we end up you know kind of chasing our tail okay I think I understand it's really like nobody takes ownership so it just goes around and around and around and what you're really saying is what we need is collaboration we need ownership that are up there is examples of these things we've talked about these meetings community response flood response fire response all these different things so would you say um for example like who wrote more support in emergency communication so Connie with okay you both did so um I was gonna put that one as well that would have been cool but I but I figured that's kind of the same thing we've been talking about we've been talking about it for years.

Yeah and so we're gonna I I know I heard this at the rural meeting this this came up a lot too but would you say that a lot of it does go back to nobody taking responsibility the agency kind of run around public agency run around or are you talking about programs here that you want to see it feels like is it nobody gives a damn it feels like nobody gives a damn okay so whether it's I mean that's what it feels like whether it is or not um that's what it feels like can we try a siren?

Well you know we can't do that can we try uh you know what whatever no well we don't we don't do that we actually I mean it's just you gotta get a box installed and maybe the box installed and it's got the radio the FM radio on it well how much the box cost who pays for that do we I don't know I mean it just you get asked on and on and on and on okay and um so when you want more support for emergency communications um this is the fire department that you're talking about or primarily or other we have a unique situation where we have a canyon and when there's no electricity there's no cell phone service all ever right you have to get your wifi water for most of us for many of us it pumps so um it's a it's a complex problem we could point to office of emergency services but they're not really able to have the solution by themselves so it goes back to this idea of not as much collaboration is that you would like to see amongst agencies to solve your problem collectively yeah and we and um supervisor halbert has worked on it Sean Wilson has worked on it it's just it's a complex problem it's uh we don't expect immediate response but we do expect other people to think it's as important as we think it is to take it seriously and think it's important.

What I know is if we had a fire that would be similar to what happened in paradise, you know, half you'd lose half the town, people would die in this town who live on Kilcare Road, period and stop.

That's just what would happen.

Yeah.

One thing that came up at the um rural charrette was this desire for more cert or emergency preparedness, a more robust cert program.

Is that the kind of thing that you're talking about as well?

No, cert is emergency response, right?

We're talking about notification of an emergency.

Notification in an emergency.

All right.

Um better response to preventing floods.

Does that really go in this category as well, or is it that a lot?

Okay, explain.

What did you mean?

So we are at the very end of the stream for zone seven, and the very beginning of the stream for Alameda County water district.

We're in zone seven.

But it's like what Benjamin was talking about.

It's just a blank face that you see when you try to talk to them about flooding.

So it's really a lack of response.

No, it's lack of ownership of the issue.

It's like, well, that sounds like it sucks, but you know, that's not us.

Good luck, you know, finding out who can help you with that.

It's it's here, it's there, it's here, there.

And that reminds me of the the uh the famous buck stops here lines.

I I don't think that's us, but I you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna find out for you about that.

Then they I mean it's all the county, they can call public works, they can call Zone 7, they can call Caltrans, they can call the people and figure out what it is, and then send you know Connie a note or come back to the next meeting and say, Tom, you asked last you know, meeting about XYZ PDQ.

That will, you know, it wasn't us, or my fault, I was wrong.

That was that is us.

Here's what's going on, and we're gonna take care of that for you.

Or it wasn't us, but I did find out it's the office of this person, they are the ones in charge of that.

I spoke to them already.

Um, here's the contact information, they're the ones that can help you with that.

That would that's what would help us so much if we had that type of response to a lot of the things, and this is the Sinolians bring up so many good issues on during public commenting period, all the different things that are going on, and it just kind of do you feel like it has anything to do with a customer service ethos?

Like nobody, no, it's not about that, it's not about something, these are all big technical issues that require a lot of effort and a lot of financial support, okay.

I don't know, but I'll find out for you.

That's in a nutshell.

So would you say then that the emergency communication that you brought up here and the better response that you brought up here about preventing floods are really part two examples of this idea that nobody's taking ownership?

These are results of what happens when nobody takes ownership.

I think an example for the flooding, because we had some really bad floods here a couple of years ago, really bad.

We had we had bridges taken out that are still not fixed.

Um, we have a lot of issues, and I think a lot of us have have ideas as to what, you know, we sat around a year later.

So we don't want this to happen again.

Who's you know, the issue with the bridge and the the silt getting cleaned off of the bridge?

That took months and months and months for someone to finally go, okay, that's us.

And and we heard there was it was potentially three or four different agencies whose responsibility that wasn't finally somebody says, okay, that's gonna be us.

Um, but we've talked about the wood that's in you know, from the from the fallen trees that are in the creek right now.

Those are those are thousand-pound battering rams right now, sitting there as we're having this meeting right now, they're sitting in the creek, waiting for the floods to come to rise up because wood floats and to head downstream and take out more bridges.

So the question's been asked whose responsibility is it to take, you know, to clean out those all that wood, or a tree goes down and they chop them into logs and some of those logs end up down there, you can see them in the creek.

That just comes up and it's gonna go down and damage property.

So it's really um, so when you say preventing, you're really talking about being proactive and doing it ahead of time, not waiting for the event to happen and then react.

We we rate we raise the issue, and not going, well, you know, you're gonna have to talk to somebody else about that.

And that's what all these kind of issues kind of entail.

You're gonna have to talk to somebody else about that.

That's not our area.

I hear you.

So uh, who wrote more sheriffs per square mile?

Okay, talk about that.

You call the sheriff's department, and if you if I call the sheriff's department and I had a major emergency, and the sh the two sheriffs that are on duty and one of them is 45 miles away, there's my response time.

They don't have enough officers, and they'll be the first to tell you.

He said it in the meeting.

Well, we got a guy that was out on motor, whatever, but he's back, and we're gonna put another guy out there and then we'll have two.

And then we'll have two, you know, they'll have two covering, you know, all of unincorporated whatever, you know.

There's just not enough to cover the square footage and the square mileage of Alameda County.

Now, the example you gave was in an emergency, right?

That they'd have to come this long distance.

So do you see that as part of this this kind of emergency response, or is this just a standalone?

Standalone.

It's a standalone.

That's a funding issue.

A funding issue.

Okay.

And who wrote better response to illegal dumping?

Can you just okay?

Talk about that.

Uh go down what we call the frontage road.

We talked about the cars that appeared there.

We've talked about there's there's dirt.

They've tried to solve the dirt problem, and they may have put more illegal dirt in where the for trying to get rid of the dirt.

They put up an ugly fence and said it was temporary.

That was a couple of years ago.

You go by everybody, oh, that's new.

Oh, that's new.

Oh there's one, and all the time.

And they can't seem to get a handle on it.

And one of the reasons they can't get a handle on it is that they're not enough sheriffs patrolling the road.

Did you all are you also bringing code enforcement?

Well, it's only code enforcement if it's on private property.

Yeah.

So this is on the side of the road on the road.

So it's on public.

It's public roads.

Yeah.

That's a good example.

What we're talking about is when we brought up issues of abandoned cars or you know, furniture appliances.

That's gonna be code enforcement.

You have to call code enforcement, and we call code enforcement.

They go, no, no, that's that's only on private land, not on public land, and that could have been solved at the meeting right away, you know.

Now, it's just four feet from the pavement, just over the edge of their jurisdiction, even if they were the person who dumped it accessed that road from the public county project.

That's just well, then that it's not that's fine, but it's just unhelpful.

Yeah.

Because now it's not us, and the issue still exists.

So it's like we'll take that issue and we'll help you with that.

And from you know, like again, a lot of these issues when we've taken taken straight to Supervisor Halbert's um staff, you know, there's there's usually some pretty some action as we find some stuff out.

Right, but you you're saying you shouldn't have to be go to supervisor halbert's staff.

There should be uh more ownership, more responsiveness within the departments themselves that you shouldn't have to go to your supervisor.

We're just we we we can't be we I don't know who this is, I don't think it's us, but we'll find out for you and then follow up.

That'd be complete opposite of what we have now.

Okay, okay.

Um so it looks like you really have um a major category here with some examples that are all around emergency responsiveness, prevention, and emergency communications around not enough sheriffs, which also relates to emergency preparedness too, and illegal dumping.

So if you were going to, if you have the board of supervisors right here right now, looking at this, what would you want them?

What would you want them to say about what Synoleans need and want from the board?

If you were gonna make a statement to them right now, looking at what you've come up with, why would it be different than what we just said?

No, it just uh kind of an overarching statement.

Pay attention to our town, pay attention to our town.

There's not we don't have a big population, and so and so obviously the bigger populations get more dollars, more whatever.

But yeah, I mean, I know that when the power goes out, I know that there's five thousand people with no power, then there's a thousand people with no power, then there's four hundred people with no power.

I'm gonna be the last 150 to get my power back.

I know that.

So now that's not the county, but I know that.

Okay, just because there's there's fewer of us out here, and they're gonna be fixing it where there's five thousand people who need their power back.

I know saying pay attention to our town.

We have some really special needs, and we have some very special vulnerabilities that we don't feel that anybody is taking real ownership of on our behalf.

We try as much as we can, but we need our taxpayer dollars that are going to fund these things to be more responsive, so I I do think Halbert's office is responsive, it's just there aren't the resources to address it.

So you think it's only a resource issue?

It's a huge part of it.

I don't think it's only a resource, but it's a huge part.

What is the other part?

Low population.

But we're the we're we're the we're the bottom of the pile.

Okay, okay.

Okay.

So it sounds like you have trust in the county, you have trust in public agencies to a certain extent, even though, and you think it's primarily a funding issue that if they had the funding, they would come, they would come through for you.

There would be less illegal dumping.

There would be okay.

Oh yeah.

So that's so is your message to the board of supervisors with the limited resources they had.

Is it really about what to prioritize in your community?

I think that's a broader issue than just Sunol.

That's I mean, that's that is a that's an Alameda County conversation.

That's not just a Sunol conversation.

Would I love more sheriffs?

Sure.

Okay, but I bet somebody else would.

Castro Valley would love more sheriffs too.

So it's not just the exceptionalism of Sunol, we think we deserve to be the top of the pile.

That's not what we're saying.

What we're saying is we just wanted to be listened to and respected.

Um, and to get what our tax dollars are paying.

I think there's a frustration when we're we're talking with the same topics.

A lot of those topics you see up there, we've been talking about for years, and there's not a lot of resolution.

Uh-huh.

So I think that's where we're frustrating.

I agree with what Mary Sam, we don't think we're special, and we don't think that we should get special treatment, but I do think that there should, you know, we should only have to bring up something once, maybe twice before there's some at least some attempt at resolution.

So you're hearing these things over and over again.

Same continuous issues over years.

Okay, great.

So if the sport of supervisors was right here, you would tell them what we're not we're not necessarily any special more special than anybody else, but we really need you to listen to us and to really try to solve some of these chronic issues that we've been bringing up year after year after year.

That is a high priority for us.

I would say chronic would be an appropriate word.

Chronic the chronic issues.

Okay, all right.

Well, I think that um I'm at the end of this process.

Uh we usually have you dot vote, we'll give you three dots each, but there's so few here.

I'm not sure.

I don't know that we really need to do that.

So I'm gonna uh end it here and you can go for public comment and uh maybe then um make a motion if you like.

It's up to you.

Okay, okay.

So we don't have any slips of paper.

But Lindy's, Lindsay probably has a stack of slips of paper back there.

Do you want to make a comment?

Comment, yeah.

They're here where they always are, and then here as well.

Can you offer them out offer them around?

Or I will.

Maybe by public comment, we'd be able to you want to come.

You want to come everyone's uh just put your name down on the slip, yeah, and you get your two minutes.

I know you're still middle-age.

People have something to say.

Anyone else?

Public comment?

Okay.

Oh, Nathan.

Don't give them my panel.

I want to have.

Okay.

Column you want to talk?

Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, your first one in the slip of paper.

Uh I frankly enjoyed everybody's comments on the council staff.

I think they were all appropriate.

I think it's an issue of priorities.

And Alameda County has a limited amount of funds.

And where are those funds going?

And are they going to homeless shelters?

Are they going to drug rehabs?

Are they going to things that benefit the taxpaying citizen?

And to the extent that the Board of Supervisors can focus in on what is for the benefit of the entire county, not limited groups who uh, and I don't want to be harsh or anything, but that are not paying taxes and are not providing benefit to the community.

And with a prioritizing of expenditures, these could be at the top of the list.

Now Mary talked about more sheriffs.

Well, they could hire more sheriffs if the sheriff had more funding.

Same with the district attorney's office.

They could prosecute crime greater if they had more funding.

The emergency response could be much better if they had more funding.

And Ben, and I think you and Connie brought up an excellent point.

It is ownership of their responsibility.

We are expecting a service from the government, and they shouldn't be passing the buck.

And you guys have explained it so well.

I've only lived here 20 years, but the same discussion is gonna go on for 20 years, and it's always somebody else's responsibility, and maybe it's customer service, but maybe it's an attitude that needs to be adjusted that hey, this is your job, do it, do it today.

I can't see the clock when you're back still.

I apologize for that.

Anyone else?

Yeah, two more.

Oh, Jim, do you want to?

Okay, we're he's first.

Go ahead, Gabe.

Oh, you got it there, okay.

Gabe Vargas and I reside in the KWA area of Kill Care Woods.

My family's been here since 1950s, and I've seen a lot of change, and just like the board said, uh Lindsay's working with me on the Killcare Road.

Uh, the homes couldn't be given away for five thousand dollars.

That's not even half the tax of what the homes in my area, which I call a million dollar row.

We are contributing a lot of money and not getting the resources, just like my neighbor said.

I have seen absolute change in the dumping and our fire hazards and communication because we're way up at the end of Kill Care Road, and then further down, and so my what the board here has tried to help us, but there's definitely been changes across the board.

So uh I just want to make sure that with Lindsay's help and Kill Care Road that needs work, and I'm only asking for certain things, and she is, and she's part of Albert's team that's willing to help.

Because there's no funds, and the sheriff, they have 250 miles radius with two two officers that really needs attention again.

Again, it's money that is necessary, but I have seen change personally, and I'm very, very concerned with my neighbors who are paying a million plus for their homes and not getting the service, especially Kill Care Road in itself.

And thanks to Lindsay for uh stepping up to help.

Thank you.

Jim, you want to talk from there?

This whole discussion would be much easier for me.

If we're talking, we're talking about money and allocation of resources.

But what is the current allocation?

How much is Alameda County spending in Sennol?

And how much is for law enforcement?

How much of it's for fire protection?

How much is it for this or that?

If you're talking about a budget for Snow, what is the current budget for Synol?

Uh, you know, I doubt if we could really, because uh, it's too hard to determine.

Well, if that's too hard to determine, then why are we talking about this?

Because you know, we we'll we'll never know uh what the answer is.

Thing we we I hear it and I I experience it is there seems to be a lack of accountability in some areas.

Uh like I wanted to go to the this budget meeting uh uptown.

I couldn't because I didn't have access to the facility, and uh this room is sitting here vacant.

There's another dozen rooms in the school.

Uh the meeting could have been scheduled here.

Uh yeah, I and I I had requested you know a few days ahead of time, and so I I just to check.

I I called Alameda County uh to see uh whether or not uh uh the room that you was the meeting was scheduled in should have should have been uh accessible uh you have to handicap and uh they hemmed a nod and said, Well, you'll have to talk to the state about that, and so they gave me someone in Sacramento to call.

So I called Sacramento, and then I've gotten I've got a copy here of like a three-page response from them, starting out by saying we are not an enforcement agency, go to Alameda County.

Uh and then they told me that I should hire uh a lawyer who specializes in uh uh handicapped access, and then they recommended I go to all these different departments in Sacramento.

Thank you.

So uh big point, wow, didn't know that.

I have no idea how much we're spending in and what is our budget now.

We're talking about budget, but what is it?

Okay, good.

Okay.

Do you have any things that you think I've said a lot tonight?

I'm good.

How about you?

No, good.

Okay.

Well, I think you have our input.

Okay.

So let's move on to item four, council staff comments.

And my piece.

Lindsay, I'm sure has staff comments.

How do you know?

You told us you had something.

I have five of them.

I'll start with uh what seafood was CFU was mentioning earlier.

Uh Rodney reached out to me, and there have been some other community members who have informed me of some issues on Kill Care Road, and so we will be doing a walkthrough, weather permitted, safety permitted, we might get in our cars at some points.

It is dangerous to be walking out there, but we're gonna go out and see the issues firsthand, document them and then report them to the appropriate party, I suspect, which is public works, but till I go out there, uh that I can be more helpful, and we'll be meeting anybody that would like to join Rodney and I.

I do believe Connie's joining us as well uh next Wednesday at three o'clock, and that's on the 22nd.

We're gonna meet at Elliston as a safe place to convene as a group, leave our cars and take off from there.

Then we have the fact that it is winter season.

The weather has clearly reminded us that it's that time of the year to start thinking about safety that we can all take into our own uh hands around sandbagging, uh, our property, the school, and other areas that we want to help protect.

And so Supervisor Howbert has a Boy Scout brigade that does there's like 20 to 30 Boy Scouts that he has a great connection with, and they do sandbagging, and they will be coming out to Synol to create about a thousand pre-made, pre-filled, ready to grab and go sandbags for you all.

We're working on the date for that.

Did want to let you know, as you I'm sure are all aware, highway 84 closure uh took effect now about two and a half weeks ago, but there was a lot of incorrect, confusing, conflicting information on your road signs and the traffic advisory that they put out.

Connie and I worked diligently with them prior to that initial advisory going out, which was again not perfect, but we felt like better to give you guys some warning that it was coming, even though it wasn't exactly the correct, fully detailed warning that we felt you deserved.

It was something that we wanted to make you aware of.

Uh, that closure took effect, and now we have an updated advisory that does reflect exactly what you are going to see, what you have been seeing, and what you will experience through the 22nd of next month, uh barring that the weather uh remains pretty dry so that they can complete that work on time.

So the most current advisory was posted to the Love Sinnol Facebook page, and copies are over here.

We have an upcoming event that I just wanted to promote.

It's been put on by Zone 7, which is not the county, but they are your flood control district.

So I wanted to like you all know that they are hosting a water uh wonders of water event.

It's like uh open house, meet and greet, family activities, food and drinks, uh, and it looks like raffle.

They'll be talking about flood protection, water supply, groundwater, water quality, there's trick-or-treat, kids are kids are welcome and encouraged.

Uh, like it does sound really fun.

I'm not gonna lie.

There's a petting zoo.

So that event is coming up October 18th.

That's this weekend uh during the daytime.

So there's a flyer over there.

You're all invited.

RSVPs are encouraged, but it is free to attend.

And then also, not this weekend, but next weekend, the as Jim mentioned, the Alameda County resource conservation district, Cal Trout Clean Water Program of Alameda County, and the uh Alameda Creek Alliance is putting on a Sonol Depot Gardens Creek cleanup.

Again, fun activities, costumes, we're getting close to Halloween, uh, kids.

It's very family friendly event, and all the equipment will be provided for the trash cleanup, and uh yeah, that's what's going on in your community.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, and um, some of you maybe I don't know if you were expecting it or not, but we had planned on having public works uh transportation traffic division, Amber Lowe come to talk about what they were gonna the schedule and how we were gonna budget the improvements on Main Street to make it more pedestrian friendly.

So um that's been pushed back um until January, the next time they're available.

Next month we have the um climate change changes to the uh planning document.

And I don't know what else we're gonna have, but we know we have that on the agenda for for November.

Okay.

Any final comments?

Oh, so we're at the end of our agenda, so we are adjourned.