So I'm gonna call this meeting to order.

Can we start with roll call, please?

Councilmember Former.

Present.

Councilmember Higgins.

Councilmember Philbin.

Here.

Vice Chair Rhodes.

Trianglin, excuse.

Okay.

So let's now do the pledge of allegiance.

I'm gonna ask Beth to lead us.

Thank you, Beth.

Um, I'd like to welcome everybody and um open up public comment for anything that is not on the agenda.

Oops, sorry, just one uh correction.

This will be public comment for the call to order, roll call and pledge of allegiance.

The next item will be that public comment.

Thank you for clarification.

There are no public comments on roll call, but of allegiance.

And nothing online.

Nothing online.

Shocked.

Okay, great.

Um, all right, so now we're gonna go to the approval of minutes.

So um first um council members, do you have any edits or comments?

Sorry.

Now you're at public comment for items not on the agenda.

That I definitely missed.

Okay, so no comments on the pledge of allegiance.

Now, is there public comments on anything else on the agenda?

Not on the agenda.

Yes.

We'll go with Officer Jim Papst.

Sorry, before Officer Paps starts.

Um Vanessa, would you like to close the public comment on the previous item?

Wow, I would.

Thank you, Ashley.

Now I'm gonna open the public comment.

Hi, Officer Pep.

You're doing great.

Thank you.

We'll get through this together.

All right, well, happy summer.

I apologize I didn't make the meeting last month.

Uh, we our agency's been very busy with the FIFA game, and I had some scheduled vacations.

So it's nice to see you all.

In June, Officer Barcini was also working the FIFA game, doing a lot of uh escorts and things like that.

So our beat units were taking care of the Fairview area, and they issued uh 28 traffic citations.

There were six non-injury crashes, one injury crash, uh, one DUI arrest, and one other misdemeanor arrest.

And I just wanted to highlight our efforts during the 4th of July during our new holiday enforcement period.

Our office led the Golden Gate division in enforcement contacts, and we had zero fatal traffic crashes, which is always the goal to make sure that everyone gets to their locations safely.

Um I just wanted to briefly mention that there has been some speed limit changes in the area.

Uh so make sure that you're paying attention to the speed limit signs.

I know that public works just installed them, so make sure that you know what the speed limit is on the road that you travel because it may have been changed.

Uh, some ongoing enforcement that we have is our regional sideshow enforcement task force during the summer.

That's usually when we see a lot of side shows in the area.

So we're continuing to hopefully prevent any type of side show activity that occurs.

And we just have our routine uh patrol throughout the Fairview area.

The locations that I have listed in the past have been on there.

Uh some upcoming events.

We have national night out coming up on August 4th.

And I'm still looking for locations.

If there's any parks or any communities in Fairview that's hosting national night out.

Please send me an email at jennifer.paps at chp.ca.gov.

I'd love to have a patrol car come through the area and just meet everyone in the neighborhood.

Some upcoming education.

We have two start smart classes going on in July, one on July 16th and one on July 30th at our CHP Hayward office at 6 o'clock p.m.

If you know a teen who needs some help driving, you can send or have them contact our office to get on the list.

And on August 20th at 1 o'clock p.m.

here at the Castor Valley Library, we have an age well drive smart class.

And you can sign up for that class.

That's for our senior drivers here at the Castor Valley Library.

July is vehicle theft prevention month, and the summer season, unfortunately, can lay claim to the most of uh the vehicle thefts.

So July is a month to increase messaging, reminding drivers to keep their vehicle safe and not leave their keys in their car.

Let's see.

And as always, I'm taking traffic complaints.

Please email us at 345 reckless driving at chp.ca.gov.

Thank you and have a great meeting.

Thank you.

Other comments?

Yes.

Bruce King.

Hello, Bruce King with Friends of San Lorenzo Creek.

I wanted to say a few things about an item that was on last month's agenda but got polled from the agenda.

There was a proposed 21 unit housing development on D Street that showed up with plans.

It had all the houses mapped out.

And the problem, I dove into it, took me about a day to figure it out and write up comments.

But there are two ephemeral streams, which are considered wetlands that run across the property.

And the previous property owner in maybe 2008-ish time frame actually applied for permits to run a pipe, from part of one of those through a pipe.

That property owner never completed the permits.

Put in culverts that were longer than what were in their uh permit.

They never did any uh mitigation.

They were supposed to do mitigation planning plant planting and monitor it.

Um none of that ever happened.

And when I talked to the water board person, they said, yeah, yeah, they don't have any permits because they never completed their permits, and so nothing is actually permitted.

So I'm kind of confused as to why planning showed up with a housing project with you know a full set of plans ready, look like it was ready to go for comment, and uh they had no permits for anything, and uh they seem to actually have violated the permits.

So I talked to planning and they said, yeah, that's we've pulled it back until the uh water board, uh, fish and wildlife and army corps of engineers are in agreement as to you know, is there a permit?

You know, what is the new permit if there is one and and uh how to proceed?

Um, so um that's just giving an update, my perspective on it.

And uh it took me a full day to figure all that out, but um, so I'm kind of confused as to why it gets this far, and it's at that point where it needs to be pulled back.

Thank you.

Speaker Mimi Dean online, you may unmute.

Hi there.

Hi, this is Mimi Dean, and right now I'm gonna talk a little bit about Oraloma Sanitary District where I serve on the board of directors.

I would just like to speak briefly about um the wonderful work of Turner Communications and Matt Turner of Castro Valley.

He helped lead Oro Loma through our um transition process of transitioning from at large to district elections.

We are now divided into five distinct diff districts.

Um, and it has been approved by the registrar of voters, and that is how we will be proceeding with this year's elections.

So that's very exciting.

And we just want to, I just personally want to thank Turner Communications.

I believe he did a really great job.

So you can see us at the Hayward Street Party on July 16th, Oro Loma will be down there.

Um, and we'd love to meet the public.

Another big event we're going to be at is the Castro Valley Fall Festival in September, and we hope to see you there.

One more thing, there's going to be a sunset walk this summer down at our facility.

And if you haven't been down there to see all the cool stuff we do, we'd love to have you join us.

All right.

Now I'm switching to Mimi Dean.

Private citizen and community advocate.

So I don't know how many of you have heard, but I know that.

Facebook page.

Has been working very hard for five years to try to save the former Sky West golf course.

And I do have to say thank you to all the support that the people on this board have given us, and the people in the Fairview community.

Will be managing that.

It looks like there'll be a deal being made very soon.

And I just want to say, you know, advocacy works working for your community and working for the good of everybody and the right of people to have a park that they can walk to within 10 minutes of their house.

And not only for their mental health but for their physical health is really important.

I know this is all in the environmental justice element, and I really love it when policy actually meets what it in reality.

So thank you so much, everybody.

Um I hope to see you at Sky West or one of the Oraloma events.

I'll be staying on for the meeting.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Brenda Clark.

Hi there, everybody.

I just wanted to echo what uh and congratulate Mimi and the Mac and all the support for keeping Sky West open.

It's just you're absolutely right, and amen and hallelujah.

I also wanted to say uh we do have the fireworks ordinance is in place.

Um the enforcement of it is in place and is under operation.

Please, now we need to do our part and call when we are sitting somewhere at home, and somebody down the street is shooting off fireworks in the street or on their property.

We have to call that number because we've got to do our part.

The sheriff's department has done theirs, the county has done theirs, a law, and uh we're really excited about it.

I wanted to also mention that on next door, someone from Hayward had called the city of Hayward's mayor, and to inquire what their count was for citations with their ordinance, which is three years before ours.

The mayor actually called the citizen back, reported that this year they issued 41 citations, more to come after they look through and um stitch up their videos from homeowner complaints.

So uh the city of Hayward is on it, and let's all be on it too and report violations.

You can be anonymous, just give an address, and this will be over one of these days, and we won't uh have much more of an issue.

But thank you everybody, and thanks again for Sky West support.

Right, Kelly Abrew.

You may unmute.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I wanted to point to some uh local coverage from the San Francisco Chronicle has done uh some stories that uh actually apply uh to the uh unincorporated Alameda County.

Um it was about uh the discretionary grants, each supervisor's office hands out discretionary grants, and one of the interesting things the way the Chronicle did their accounting and they added up the numbers and sliced them and diced them, they found that uh uh district uh one handed out um more money to one single recipient uh in Livermore than uh district four had handed out in the entire measurement period, which was a seven-year measurement period.

Uh they they to all recipients everywhere, uh so that's uh that was some some amazing stuff that somehow the way the chronicle uh uh counts it, um different districts hand out different amounts depending on uh uh depending on uh what they want to do with the money.

I guess it sometimes it goes to grants, and maybe it some sometimes it goes to uh to uh labor costs of uh staffing of within the district office or whatever.

It's uh it's it's it's very uh opaque, very uh obscure, very cloudy.

And then there's another chronicle story where you hear a lot about this uh the uh what was it, the uh the the uh housing element, and so a certain number of units are supposed to be built.

And the chronicle went out and instead of looking at the county, it looked at the entire Bay Area and looked at a lot of cities and uh listed out the ones that were the slowest at building housing, but it did throw in an uh an overall number for the Bay Area um jurisdictions that 14 uh so far in the uh in the first three years of an eight year period housing uh you know reporting period, um they have uh completed 14% of the planned amount.

So if you uh multiply that out, uh it looks like they're on track to hit about 37% overall average in the Bay Area.

37% of the housing units that are supposed to be getting built are getting built.

Um and you know, they might pick up the pace later or it might slow down, who knows what'll happen in the next five years.

But uh the way this is is going, um, whatever the numbers were on the um housing element, uh very few cities, like no none of the cities is coming anywhere close to uh hitting that target, so that no nobody needs to worry.

They're fear not, we're not gonna have uh massive flood of housing getting built because it's not getting built.

Thanks.

There are no other public speakers for non-agendized items.

Thank you.

All right, I'm gonna close public comment.

Now moving on to approval of minutes.

I'm gonna ask the council members if they have any edits or comments, starting with Beth.

No.

Sally?

No.

Chris?

No.

And I don't, so um, can we move, uh, get a motion to approve.

So move.

Oh.

No, I'm gonna fight this to the end.

Um, okay.

Um, is there any public comment on the approval of the May minutes?

Yes.

Let me share the timer and then I will unmute Kelly Abreu.

Yeah, um, just so you know, the um county administrator gave a uh uh a lecture or was it uh uh no actually it was a county council, so that's a lawyer, and they uh described the uh the you know legal meaning and purpose of these of all of the minutes from all these boards and commissions and Macs and everybody and uh they said that uh these uh minutes are um they they count for something uh you know as the official record.

Um so and in if there's any disputes later, that's the official record.

And uh so what that means is two months before saying that and and educating everybody on that because nobody knew I didn't know I don't I don't know maybe somebody else maybe everybody else knew and I was the last one to find out but whatever um the the two months before that they sent out an uh uh a memorandum of a directive a mandate to all of these uh boards and commissions telling you that you're gonna get um you know skeleton action minutes um kind of uh bare bones uh minutes and not uh with very little detail in them so uh you know two months after uh after uh issuing that directive now we find out from the lawyer uh what what it really means it it I guess it it means that uh these uh boards and commissions are gonna be saying less because there's less there's gonna be less stuff on the paper so uh yeah take a look at that it's uh this is how um what it really means and uh if you're not a lawyer this is uh you gotta you know if you gotta listen when the lawyers do give you a a lecture on what it what what the legal consequences are everybody should should listen to that pay attention thanks there are no other public comments okay I'm gonna close public comments on the approval of the May agenda okay minutes thank you now is there a motion to approve the May minutes I'll make that motion do we have a second I'll second it can you please call a vote council member farmer approve council member higgins aye councilmer filbin vice chair roads uh I chair anglin excused motion passed great okay so we're moving on to the regular calendar or agenda which uh the first is an informational item by the unincorporated urban forest plan project oh thank you so I didn't get those do we have do we have to approve June minutes as well I didn't get those by mail okay then you can continue it yeah I'm gonna continue on thank you Sally though okay so uh informational item unincorporated urban forest plan project updates and here it reads planning development staff will present an update on the status and progress of its Calfire funded urban forest plan project for the urban unincorporated communities of Alameda County which includes an existing condition study tree inventory and green workforce development program and Allie Albers is gonna be presenting hi Allie hi good evening council members can you hear me okay yes we can okay great thank you so much and I am so sorry I can't be there in person uh today I think this is we're hoping this will be the first in a series of presentations on this topic so this is just um just the beginning uh so I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen let's see um so again I'm Ali Abbers from the planning department you should be seeing a green slide now that'll showing up yes we can see super all right so I'm presenting about uh the unincorporated urban forest plan project um and like I said first of um of many updates as we are just now beginning this project.

So some background um in 2024-25 um the planning department presented um to the MACs, including uh to your commission or to your uh to your council um to explore interest in tree protection and management for private property.

Oh, and I'm sorry, I I have a uh there was a presentation to your council, and I I failed to change the date on that one.

So it was a uh presentation in early 2025 to the Fairview Mac.

So at the same time, if you know recall that presentation, we talked about different types of tree ordinances for private property.

At the same time as we were having those conversations, we were pursuing a grant from Calfire to support a broader urban forest planning project.

And this is as directed by the Board of Supervisors in the county's environmental justice element.

So we were fortunate enough to be awarded a grant in the amount of 685,000 to develop the unincorporated urban forest plan project.

And that was in late 2024.

There were some delays because it's federal funding, but after those delays, Calfire did authorize the county to proceed with that project in July of 2025.

Since then, we've engaged project consultants and we've begun the project, which will be wrapping up within two years, so by March of 2028.

And I give you that background on those earlier discussions, just as a way of saying that those discussions we had around exploring tree protections and tree management strategies have not been lost or forgotten.

They're going to be incorporated into this larger project.

So a bit about the project scope.

There are two major parts of this project.

The first is development of an unincorporated urban forest plan.

So I'll talk about that one first.

It's a really broad, sort of broad range of activities that go into this.

The first goal of this project is to foster civic engagement in urban forestry, and that's going to include multilingual outreach and formation of a community tree advisory group.

And I can let you know that we had an open application for the tree advisory group, which is which we have stipends to provide folks to help participate.

And we received a lot of really great applications, and we're in the process of reviewing those, and we'll be forming that group very soon.

It's not a Brown Act body, it's just an advisory group as part of this project.

We will be as part of this project assessing the county's tree policies, its ordinances, plans and programs, including assessing things like budget and staffing.

So really doing a deep dive into understanding how the county currently manages its trees and what resources it has to do that.

We'll also be doing a complete street tree inventory of the urban unincorporated areas, and that's going to include looking at tree species, tree size, health, and also places where trees are not and could be.

So tree planting opportunity sites.

We'll be doing more of a desktop canopy equity analysis, looking at things like urban heat, fire risk, the distribution of canopy across the communities.

And then taking all of that information together, we'll be setting tree canopy goals and then proposing strategies to get from where we are, so our existing conditions to where we want to be.

And at the very end, after the plan has been adopted, we're going to host a small, but we hope exciting 10-tree planting event to celebrate adoption and to kick off implementation.

So that is the one section of this project's scope of the overall grant.

That's the unincorporated urban forest plan.

The other portion, which is interrelated, is a an urban forestry workforce development program called Growing Futures.

And I will talk a little bit more about that in a coming slide.

But first, I just wanted to talk about the geography of the project.

So this map shows all of Alameda County, the unincorporated areas are here in this cross-hatched color.

So that's about half the county land is unincorporated.

And then the green areas here, this smaller area of the urban unincorporated communities, is the focus of this urban forestry planning project.

So the resulting urban forest plan will be for the communities of Ashland, Cherry Land, Hayward Acres, Fairview, San Lorenzo, and Castor Valley.

So a bit about the timeline for the urban forest plan project.

So we are planning to have our outreach plan.

We have it more or less done.

We are working on finalizing that tree advisory group as I mentioned.

And we're going, that group will have about 10 meetings between during the period of the project to help guide project development.

We will have four public meetings.

Those meetings will be in English, Spanish, and Chinese.

And we'll also have multiple pop-up and tabling events throughout the project timeline.

I heard a previous speaker mentioned tabling at Fallfest.

We'll also definitely be tabling there for this project.

And if your council has any recommendations for events where you think folks would want to talk to, you know, talk to us about trees or learn about what we're doing.

We're actively looking for opportunities.

So we welcome any recommendations on that.

We anticipate having the analysis, that sort of desktop analysis of the tree program and tree regulations done within the next couple of months.

The tree inventory is actually happening right now.

So we have everyday consultant staff walking, walking the streets.

They're starting in San Lorenzo and they're working their way east.

And we anticipate having that process completely done, first full tree inventory ever in the urban unincorporated areas by fall of 2026 before all the leaves fall.

We anticipate having an urban forestry goals report later in the fall.

And then we'll take all that material, put it together, and we plan to have the first draft of the urban forest plan for public review in mid-2027, so about a year from now, with a final draft later next year and adoption no later than February of 2028, along with our tree planting celebration.

So I mentioned that growing futures workforce development program.

So here's a little bit more about that.

And I'm excited to say that we're actually actively recruiting for this program right now.

So we'll have a I added a slide that wasn't in your original packet to show you about some of our recruitment materials.

So this is an urban forestry workforce development program that was developed through a partnership between Hard, the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District, the county, and Merritt College, which is uh based in Oakland and has a really active urban arboriculture training program.

So this pilot program is going to provide about half a dozen students with fully funded arboriculture coursework, so scholarships to Merit Colleges, our boriculture programs, hands-on experience in the field, paid stipends, and professional connections and opportunities to help shape the county's first urban forest plan.

So they'll also actively be participating in that tree advisory group as advisors on uh development of the urban forest plan.

And uh if you are on next door, you'll see this post that just went out today.

We are actively recruiting folks for this program.

So, like I said, full scholarship to Merit College.

Um, there will be stipends at specific milestones throughout the program.

Great way to connect with others in the urban arboriculture field and learn about the process of becoming an urban arborist.

And uh, so this is just a little bit about generally speaking, how to get involved in this this full effort.

So in the urban forest plan or in the workforce development portion.

So we do have a listserv.

Um, there's a link to it at the bottom of or link to how you can get to it at the bottom of that page.

And at that listserv, we'll be sharing program updates, information about how to apply for the growing futures program, um, where we'll be doing pop-up events and um community events.

So please subscribe if you're interested.

Um, you can apply, or we you know, really encourage you if you know anybody who might be interested in applying to the Growing Futures job training program that's open right now.

Um, and over the next couple of months, expect to see some folks like this uh person here in the picture wearing orange vests, walking through the community with uh tape measures, measuring trees and looking up, uh looking up into the canopy.

Uh, those are our that's our our tree inventory crew.

Um, so feel free to say hello to them as you go.

Um, and there are links and information here on our website, and encourage you to check it out.

Um, and that is all I have.

I look forward to hearing any questions you have.

Thank you, Ali.

I really appreciate your presentation.

I'm gonna um first open it up um to the council for comment.

Um, so Beth, do you have any questions or comments?

I do.

I do.

Um, what conflicts were anticipated between Calfire requirements and the urban uh forest planning?

I at this point am not anticipating um conflicts, it's more of a collaborative approach.

So we are actively working, you know, with our partners at Calfire who are funding this work to make sure that that you know the recommendations are consistent with best practices.

Um, so yeah, I at this point I don't anticipate conflicts uh with Calfire.

Okay.

Um will the inventory include uh trash introduced trees like eucalyptus or just native trees?

It'll include any trees that are in the public right-of-way.

Um, so that would be, you know, any trees that are along the street, and it's usually about 40, 40 or 50 feet total sort of width of the street, depending on the the street.

And it will include all trees um in hards urban parks in the urban in the urban unincorporated areas.

Um, so if it's if the tree is not in the public right-of-way, it won't be counted.

Uh, but if it's in the public right-of-way, regardless of species, we will count it.

So nothing on private property then.

No.

Uh, not on private property, however, um, I can say that the um the canopy assessment, which is more of like I said, a desktop exercise looking at LIDAR data, um, sort of satellite data, that will look at canopy distribution throughout.

And there is some um level of like fine-scale vegetative mapping that may be available to us, but as far as like individual points on a map uh for our tree inventory, it will only be public trees or trees in the public right of way.

Okay, thank you.

Um in your handout, there was a reference to a hazardous tree ordinance.

What is that?

Um, so there is none at this point, but a hazardous tree ordinance um is an ordinance that a jurisdiction may adopt.

For example, the city of Oakland has one that regulates the way that a that a tree on private property or on public property um that is deemed to be hazardous or that somebody reports as hazardous, it sort of navigates a path um for folks to take that concern and have it addressed.

Um so there are different ways that a hazardous tree ordinance can look, um, but essentially it charts a path for for you know how to navigate complaints and concerns around hazardous trees.

Okay, and my last question is um is ALCO planning on using this inventory to develop a permit system.

Uh responding with the diameter pre-diameter limits for removing and pruning trees.

Yeah, so um you may you're probably already aware the the public works agency regulates trees in the public right-of-way and has um a tree ordinance that regulates trees in the public right-of-way.

We do anticipate that this tree inventory will help to inform uh the public works agency's uh enforcement of that ordinance, but we don't yet know how, since this is the first time we've we've had anything like this.

Okay.

Um, so this has nothing to do with trees on private property.

No, no, um, not the inventory, no.

Uh, but I I can I guess I can mention, and maybe this is sort of where you're going with these uh with this question, is that it is possible um that development of an ordinance for trees on private property.

So to regulate either, you know, on the the side of protecting trees or on the side of protecting people from trees, that's that hazardous tree ordinance, could uh, that the idea of develop developing something like that could be um a recommendation that would make it into this plan.

So this project is not going to include development of any ordinances, but as a suite of recommendations, it could include uh such a recommendation, although I I were too early in the process yet for me to know.

Thank you.

Thanks, Beth.

Uh Sally.

Hello.

Oh, yo, that works.

Um, are there any trees that are protected like oak trees or redwood trees?

No.

Um, so in private on private property, uh, there are no protections for trees on private property in unincorporated Alameda County uh at this point.

Um there are protections for all trees in the public right-of-way.

So all trees in the public right of way require a permit from the public works agency in order to cut, prune, remove, or even plant.

Um, so public space, yes, private space at this point, no.

So all trees in public space.

So if there's someone cuts down a eucalyptus tree on hard property, then that's against the law.

So hard is not county right-of-way.

So the the public works agency's tree ordinance um regulates only the county's public right of way, and hard as a special district owns its properties.

So those are not part of the public right of way.

So, private property.

It is, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks, Sally, Chris.

Um I one of my questions is uh I think has been answered.

You know, we've we've got um trees on private streets, but they'll they'll be treated as private property, huh?

Yeah, if they're not in the public right-of-way, um, then they won't be counted as part of the inventory and they're not currently regulated by uh the public works agency's right-of-way tree ordinance.

Um, if the county were to consider a private property tree ordinance, that would be a whole different matter.

Okay.

Uh and somewhere we you probably should have some link to the tree view ordinance that applies to fair view.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So we are aware of that ordinance ordinance.

Um, and I think we do have on our website, which is linked here in this slide, um, we do have a link to it uh under just a brief explanation of the um the current regulations that exist for trees in uh under private property.

So we do we do have a link in there.

Um sorry, I didn't include it in the in the slideshow.

And uh the hazardous tree ordinance, it's that's a little early in the process for that.

So I won't I I figure that's like you know, widowmaker trees.

Yeah, yeah, trees leaning, yeah, exactly.

Yep.

Uh and you I see what when developments come before us, um the building department or uh somewhere in public works, they uh address trees that they don't want to be taken out.

What's what's the basis for the regulations there?

So um as part of a conditional process, so for example, a conditional use permit or a site development review, um, if the, so it's it's within the discretion of the decision-making body, so the board of zoning adjustments or the planning commission or the planning director, depending on um on, you know, who it points to in the zoning ordinance.

It is up to their discretion as part of that discretionary process to say, you know, we want you to find a path to maintain these trees, or if you're going to remove this tree, you need to find a path to um, you know, to replace them at a two to one ratio or something like that.

Um, but that's part of a discretionary process, so it's not specifically outlined um in the zoning code.

Okay.

That's it.

Thank you.

Um, so I have a couple questions again.

Thank you, Ali.

Appreciate your thoroughness and your presentation.

Um, the first, I'm sure you're not surprised to hear is our uh community's concern around fire and grass routes.

And I did see that you mentioned under the project scope that uh you're going to be analyzing the county equity, uh urban heat and fire risk.

Obviously, for the Fairview community, that's kind of our bigger concern.

So, really interested in hearing from you.

Um, not that you have a crystal ball, but just what um in analyzing the fire risk, what do you anticipate some of those findings to lead to?

Like, will there, you talked about potential recommendations for ordinances, like where has this gone in the past and where do you think it can go for us in our community?

Yeah, so I do think that um recommendations for um for ordinances like uh hazardous tree ordinances, et cetera, that could absolutely be considered as part of this.

Um, it would be, for example, if the county were to consider adoption of a tree protection ordinance, which I you know I can't um say that that's gonna happen uh with any certainty, but if they were to consider that, then um fire risk and the types of trees that are particularly prone to fire would be part of that analysis or part of figuring out which trees should be protected and which trees would not be.

So, for example, the city of Oakland, as far as I remember it uh off the top of my head, their fair tree protection ordinance specifically excludes trees um that are particularly fire prone, including eucalyptus.

So eucalyptus are not protected under this ordinance that otherwise protects most of the trees in private space in Oakland.

Um so that would be one way that these um what we learn from the fire canopy analysis or the fire uh hazard analysis would be uh sort of integrated into the recommendations.

Um there could be programmatic recommendations, so I'm sure you're aware of um, oh, actually, I know you're in the Fairview Fire District.

I was gonna say Alameda County Fire Fire Department has a chipper program.

Um I'm not sure if the Fairview Fire District has the same.

Okay.

Um so programmatic um solutions like a chipper program would be the types of solutions that could come out as recommendations to this plan specifically related to fire.

And I mean, as we go through this process, we want to hear from you specifically about your recommendations as well.

Um and you know, we can uh through our process and with the expertise that we have on board in the um in the project team, we can highlight some of those recommendations based on best practices in other communities.

Um but if there are creative solutions that the Fairview community would like to um to promote, then we're we're really excited to share those too.

Allie, could you share with us um the Mac members the Sydney uh of Oakland's ordinance on the tree?

Um so that we have something as an example.

I will also thank you.

Also, just um in reference uh to your interest in our input.

Um, curious about this tree advisory group that you're pulling together, um, do you intend um on getting representation specifically from the Fairview community?

We would love that.

Um so we have we have officially closed our uh application period, but we have a few spots that have not been filled.

And if you know of somebody in the Fairview community who might be interested, specifically, you know, somebody who's excited about trees and you know understands the the concerns of the community, um we anticipate those, you know, holding meetings every other month.

Half will be in person, half will be remote.

And we anticipate no more than two hours commitment required per month over the course of this project, and we'll be providing stipends to community members to participate.

So if you know of somebody, you can feel free to just send them directly to me and I'll send them the link to the application.

Yeah, we would love.

We have we I don't think that we received any applicants directly from Fairview.

At this point, so yeah, we we would love to include somebody from Fairview if anybody was interested in applying.

And um, what is the process for you to collect further input from this um body?

Yeah, so we will come back um multiple times throughout the process of developing this urban forest plan.

I anticipate probably the next time we'll come back would be um in the fall, maybe early, um, early next year with information about the outcome of that complete tree inventory.

So that's taking months, right?

Because folks are walking tree by tree and counting them with a tape measure.

Um, but you know, after that, after that's done, after our programmatic analysis and budget analysis is done, um, and after we have um that desktop canopy analysis, including the fire risk analysis done.

I think that would be a really good point to come back and share the findings um with you of those um those different processes.

Um so that'd be like kind of the next touch point.

Um, and then I think we might have a touch point.

There might be an in-between touch point where we talk about possible solutions, so possible recommendations.

And then we will definitely come back to you as soon as we have our first public draft.

So that would be, you know, at least two more opportunities before it would come back for adoption.

So yeah, exist sort of existing conditions report, then um uh public draft and possibly something in between that, and then the next draft.

Um, and then of course, any input that folks are interested in providing throughout any of the community workshops we'll be hosting.

That's great.

Um, and then my next question is around what I think Beth was poking around at.

I might be more blunt, but I don't know how to.

Please learn it.

Um, I mean, I think it's clear what the concern is, right?

There's folks who are not interested in others poking around in their backyard and telling them what to do with their space.

Absolutely.

So I think that's the concern.

And I think what we're looking from you to assure us that that's not what these folks are out doing.

Um, that folks are just staying um on public land.

Yes.

And there's no interest in assessing the trees on private land or making any recommendations about what's happening on private lands.

So we would not have the authority to enter somebody's private property to assess their trees.

They're the tree inventory, that block-by-block tree inventory is only of trees that the county manages directly via that um the right of way, the public works agency's right of way tree ordinance.

Those are the trees we're inventorying.

Our inventory will not include trees on private property.

So if we are in front of your house looking at a tree, um, it will be a public tree.

And if the tree is closer in, closer to your house, closer to your front door, and outside of the public right-of-way, we're not looking at that tree as part of the tree inventory.

The canopy analysis is a sort of a look at distribution of canopy, sort of like looking, imagine looking at the canopy from above like a bird and seeing sort of where the shadows fall.

That is going to include every tree.

Um, but that doesn't involve folks going on to anyone's property.

It is possible.

So we talked a bit about um the recommendations that could come out of this process.

So with community input, it's a possibility that recommendations could come out of this process that the county consider adopting tree ordinances for public or sorry, for private property.

That's not we will not be regulating private property as part of this plan or as part of this process, but there may be recommendations that come out of it that the board of supervisors would need to consider whether it wanted to pursue to do things like, for example, adopt a hazardous tree ordinance or adopt a tree ordinance for um like one of the ones we talked about when I came to your uh your council last time was a heritage tree ordinance.

So that's a thing that a lot of jurisdictions have.

Alameda County or sorry, Contracosta County has one of those, um, and that's protecting trees on private property that are really special.

Um, so does that does that answer the question?

Yeah, I'm sure the conversation will continue.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, people will not be walking on your property to count your trees.

That's not what we're doing.

It did occur to me to ask, though, just based on your comment, um, about the method in which you are collecting.

It sounds like the tree analysis is people on foot um walking through public spaces.

Yeah, that's the inventory, exactly.

Inventory.

And it sounds like the canopy analysis is maybe with drones or other kind of no, so it would be utilizing um data that are available publicly, so like satellite data that already exists.

Um, for example, uh East Bay Regional Parks District flew LIDAR a couple of years ago.

So we have this really rich LIDAR data set that um does fine-scale vegetation mapping.

So we can utilize those publicly available data to sort of analyze the distribution of canopy and how it overlaps with things like high-fire severity zones, with environmental justice communities, um, with other uh environmental pressures like uh proximity to freeways and things like that, uh urban heat um impacts.

So that's the that's the idea with the canopy analysis.

It's a desktop analysis using existing data.

Thank you.

Um anybody else questions or comments before I open public?

Okay.

So I'm now gonna open public comment on this information item.

Ruth King.

Um Bruce King.

Um, thank you, Allie.

Uh the county really needs a strategy and plan.

Um, we've been we're behind the times, we've lost canopy as our urban areas have grown.

Uh we continue to lose canopy, uh, and we really need a strategy for protecting it and getting more back.

Um, I mean it's it's obvious we we require developers as part of their developments to plant trees, but we have no way to monitor whether those trees survive and aren't cut down uh without a tree inventory for the streets.

Um you don't really know what was there.

So when somebody cuts cuts one down or it doesn't survive, what do you do?

We can't enforce it.

Um it's obvious, yeah.

Hayward and and Oakland, for example, have much better ordinances that uh protect uh trees even beyond just the street.

Um, and uh it is difficult.

We got to do a lot of community outreach and awareness building because um my general thinking is everybody loves a tree until you say, Do you want to own it?

Do you want to pay for it?

Do you want to prune it?

Um, and you can you can't just cut it down anytime you want.

So we we really have to, you know, kind of build awareness.

And uh what the research show is shows is uh the higher the socioeconomics of the community, the the greater the tree canopy is.

And if you build a tree canopy, it encourages higher socioeconomic conditions.

So uh it's it does have economic consequences along with health consequences for not killing people when we have the heat waves, and uh it has ecological consequences if we build a canopy, and especially in the areas where we can we have native tree canopy that builds habitat.

Thank you.

Mimi Dean online, you may I'm in.

Hi there, it's Mimi Dean.

And I just want to say thank you to Allie and um planning department for doing this important work.

You know, we all know that we need trees for all the reasons that Bruce just mentioned, and um, I have another concern about the trees.

I know we're gonna pick the right trees for the right places when we um we when we hopefully get to reforest things.

And something that I've noticed about um things that happen in our community, um, is sometimes trees get cut down by like the local city jurisdictions that are actually our trees, and I hope this ordinance is gonna help protect our trees from that kind of stuff happening.

I know it just happened on Grove Way very recently, um, and then uh another thing I'm hoping is that this ordinance is also gonna address um the maintenance and care of the trees and making sure it happens the right at the right time of the year.

Um and then lastly, I'm hoping this ordinance is also gonna look at um, you know, planting trees that you know, Bruce was speaking about people, all people love a tree, but then not when they have to take care of it well.

So looking at trees that maybe have less um less care needs like um native evergreens.

So I know that um this is all gonna be discussed in the um in the planning part that's gonna start taking place in the next couple of weeks.

And I know that um there's you said Ali that there were a few spots still open.

Did we get any candidates from Ashland Cherryland or Hayward Acres?

I'm hoping.

And that's my question for you tonight.

That's it.

Thank you.

Okay, so I'm gonna close public comment for information item number one.

Thank you, Allie, for your time.

Thanks.

Okay, so next on the agenda is AC Transit.

So we're gonna get um a presentation from AC Transit on agency deficit projections and potential service and workforce reductions.

We have uh Murphy McCallie, Dan Cattleberry, and Owen McCofferson from AC Transit.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can you is this working?

No, it's just the wrong height.

Oh, maybe I can just okay.

Well, good evening, everyone.

Thank you for inviting us or allowing us to come and give you an update on AC Transit.

Uh, my name is Murphy McCauley.

Uh I've been on the board since uh 2022.

Uh I'm a Castro Valley um resident.

And in fact, have lived uh just above you guys at uh in five canyons for the last 30 years.

So I'm very familiar with the Fairview area and uh uh and just it's this is just a pleasure to have I don't think I've ever spoken to the to the Mac.

So this is this is a good opportunity to introduce myself.

Um I represent uh the uh ward four, uh but it's soon to be ward five, uh, because we also went through a redistricting at uh at AC Transit, uh, which includes all of the unincorporated areas, Castro Valley, Cherry Land, Fairview, um uh Ashland and a portion of San Leandro, in fact.

So uh so here tonight, what we want to do is is just to introduce AC Transit for those who may or may not be that familiar with AC Transit.

We'll give you a little background on sort of you know how we got started, what we do, uh, as well as talk about sort of what our challenges are going forward, particularly as it relates around funding, which is a key issue for us right now.

Uh I'm here, as you mentioned, with uh Diane Castleberry, who uh is uh is out of our intergovernmental community relations department, and she covers this area this area, and also uh Owen uh uh uh Christopherson who just joined our agency a couple months ago, if we came from uh Sonoma, and uh he's out of the planning department, and he'll talk more about the services that we currently provide in this area as well.

So, sorry, give me one moment.

Uh who's in.

Oh, okay, no worries.

So before we get well, first off, let me just add how familiar are you are folks with AC Transit are you other than just seeing our buses running around?

But I I don't know if anybody or been a user or has used the system at all, or uh okay, great.

Well, let me let me start by just giving us a little back giving you a little background on terms of you know what AC Transit is at a glance.

So we're the largest bus-only system uh in California.

Uh most transit systems up and down the coast are called the combined rail and bus, but we're bus only.

Uh in 2023, we were awarded the uh outstanding public transit transportation system award by the American Public Transit Association, which is a national organization that represents transit agencies all around the country.

So we're we're very proud of that achievement.

We've been around since 1960, so this is our 65th year.

Uh we took over from the old uh key system that used to exist probably before our time, but uh but there's still some remnants of uh of uh its operation.

We currently have a budget of about six six hundred and six million dollar budget, and that's uh uh operating and capital budget.

Uh our service area.

We we covered 364 miles of of uh of the county.

Uh we serve currently three million riders a month.

Uh we connect to 16 different transit systems.

Um we serve 13 cities and eight unincorporated communities in Alameda County and Costa.

Uh our riders, 65% of our riders are low income, 75% of our riders are people of color, and uh and we operate a number of facilities throughout the region.

Uh and in fact, our uh our service area covers uh from the western part of uh Contra Costa County all the way down to to Fremont.

And so we basically serve about a hundred, excuse me, about a million and a half people in that in our service area.

Um so we have six facilities located throughout our service area, three in Oakland, uh, one in Emoryville, one in Richmond, and one in Hayward that we're very proud of.

Uh that facility in Hayward uh also houses our training center where we uh where we have collaborations with uh the uh Chibo College uh in terms of training our operators and and our mechanics.

Uh we currently employ about two uh two thousand two hundred and sixty six employees.

So we're a pretty large employer for the region, in fact.

Okay, let's talk about our ridership.

Now, again, uh I'm sure you guys have heard and that uh most transit systems were affected by COVID.

Uh you know, transit systems by and large historically have always relied a lot on commuters going to work.

Uh and when COVID hit and and uh and you had folks you know working from home, it really uh it really impacted our uh our service and and what we provided.

But uh but it started to come back.

We're at about, I want to say 80%, 85% of our pre-COVID service in terms of ridership.

We're currently carrying about 141,000 uh people uh uh trips rather uh per work weekday.

One of the changes that we discovered uh as a result of COVID, uh, is that people are traveling more and more on our system on the weekends, and so our ridership for the on the weekend is actually higher than our weekday riders, which used to not be the case prior to to the uh to COVID.

So we're carrying about 162,000 uh uh passengers on Saturday and Sundays.

Uh Daily Weeks, we we used to have a really robust uh trans-based service.

Uh so and we had a matter of fact, I know people still ask why we don't uh currently still provide service, uh commuter bus service from Castro Valley, because we used to have a very robust service from uh from Castro Valley.

Uh but what happened is that during that time when we provided that service, uh BART was at full capacity and going across the Bay Bridge, and so uh once COVID hit, uh there was plenty of capacity on the BART.

So we figured we needed to sort of not have that redundant service, if you will.

Plus, it was again it was a cost cutting measure.

Uh so but currently we provide about 9,500 uh weekday trips on the to cross the the Trans Bay terminal over in San Francisco.

Uh and then one of the areas that we really focus on uh post COVID uh we always have had uh very robust, but it's an area that we really see as a growth opportunity is in in student transfer to student trips, and we're currently carrying about 30,000 students a day uh during during the school season.

Uh so it's a real growth area for us.

And I'll just just mention parenthetically that that in February, March, and April, uh it was uh our first three straight months of year over year ridership growth uh that we've had since the pandemic.

So we can see see we're starting to slowly but surely build back up our ridership, which will be helpful.

But something that uh I wanted we'd like to talk talk about because many people don't quite equate the two together, uh, is the fact that uh uh the AC Transit, given the size of our budget and our workforce, we really provide uh uh uh you know uh contribute to the Bay Area's uh economy.

Um we uh we through our various capital projects that we offer and through our own employment base, you know, we we support about five thousand five hundred five thousand one hundred jobs uh in the in the region, and through and about six hundred and four million in local wages and fuel and and and re and things that we buy parts and what have you for the you know for the economy.

So overall, you know, we've speculated that that uh you know we generate about a billion dollars in in economic uh uh activities for the for the region uh in terms of just what we do.

And I I touched uh uh briefly on uh on our uh division six in Hayward.

Uh one of the things we're really proud of is the the leadership role that we played in in clean transportation.

Uh the state of California is is mandated the transit systems throughout the state uh become zero uh zero emissions uh with their buses by 2040.

Uh AC Transit was it's been at the forefront of that whole development.

We we did a study working with Stanford back in the early 2000s to determine sort of the best mode uh the to uh to move towards, and to that extent, we have 58 zero emission buses, uh 28 battery electric and 30 hydrogen fuel cell buses that are in place now, and we have another I want to say 40 or 50 that's on the order now.

So we're looking to really you know ramp up as much as we can uh as much as funding will allow, rather, to to try to meet that target of 2040.

Um but the one of the things we're most proud of, we just a year or so ago we we obtained a grant.

Uh I mentioned that the Hayward facility is where we also have our our training center, and that's where we train our drivers and our mechanics.

And so we have formed an alliance with uh with Chabot College uh to actually uh provide uh college credits for training that you receive through our training program.

And what we're trying to do is train um uh the next generation of mechanics and drivers and what have you uh around the whole zero emission uh uh uh you know industry.

So that's that's something we're really proud of, and we're hoping that in the next few years to open up this university and and that not just make it available to to uh uh to AC Transit but to other transit systems within our region as well and outside of our region.

So uh so those are some of the things that we're doing on the in that front.

And so with that, I'll turn it over to Diane to talk about uh some of our uh operations.

Thank you.

Whoops, I'm much shorter than him.

So turn this way.

Okay.

So I'm gonna walk through the next couple of slides.

I'm not gonna talk about all the points here, but as you can see on this screen, um we have various ways to make transit more affordable and faster and safer.

You'll see up there our Easy Pass, which offers deep discounts to participating employer groups, colleges, and communities.

Our Clipper Start, which is through Alameda CTC, gives income eligible adults half off every ride.

We redesigned 104 bus lines and called our real line network.

And then we also have our AI-powered cameras mounted inside buses to help make sure that the lanes are clear for our traveling.

Next slide, please.

So as mentioned, this is from a recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle that based on MTC study.

About nearly two-thirds of our riders are low income.

So more than half earn less than $50,000 a year.

So that's below the federal poverty level, and is one of I'm just gonna keep going here.

And then many of our, you know, already struggling to afford the essentials like housing and transportation.

And so 65% of our riders are transit dependent.

That means they don't have access to a car to get around.

And so transit is their only option.

So if we, you know, in our proposal that you'll hear about um soon from Owen, um, these service cuts would be more than an inconvenience.

Um they would up in many lives as they try to figure out how to get around without public transit service.

Next slide, please.

And so um, I forgot to mention I'm Diane Cassivary, External Affairs Rep for AC Transit.

And so often we hear the phrase good stewards of public dollars.

So simply put, it means that making every taxpayer dollar count.

We know that when fares go unpaid, um, the cost does not disappear.

It creates a funding gap.

And that's why this month we've launched the multilingual fare required fare compliance campaign.

Um, this message is simple.

It's just like pay the fare, protect the bus line.

And then also you'll see up there there was a comprehensive California state auditor review that found that AC Transit syncs service well with other East Bay agencies, and also that our collective real challenges are sustainable funding, not mismanagement.

Um, what's more important, you'll also see up there is a uh mention of SB63 review that confirmed average annual savings for that AC Transit had an average annual savings of $33 million since 2020.

And this commitment is is um to making every taxpayer dollar count, is why we have a top-tier double A plus credit rating.

Next slide, please.

When the cost of running our bus network rises faster than revenue is supporting it, the result is a fiscal cliff.

So what's behind it?

And I think um Director McCaulay kind of hit on some of this already, but um federal pandemic relief funding is now gone, regional sales tax revenue has flattened, and fair revenue growth has slowed, fuel cost is up 28%, bus maintenance parts have increased 14%, the cost of buying new buses has surged by about 35%, and you can see it's very lopsided and not sustainable.

Next slide, please.

So in terms of our financial look, in the last fiscal year alone, we tightened our belt by nine million dollars.

Um we're hiring only for positions that directly support service.

We scaled back temporary staffing, saving roughly $2 million annually.

Um, and we brought outside professional services in-house.

We've partnered with other agencies like the state of California to purchase goods and services for less.

We even temporarily restructured payments to our pension plan, and we're making every taxpayer dollar count.

Next slide, please.

So if, so here you can see our projection.

So AC Transit is facing a projected 200 million dollar deficit over the next four years that translates to an annual funding gap of at least 50 million dollars beginning in 2027.

Without long-term sustainable funding, service reductions of up to 16 percent will become unavoidable, and the human impact will be potential layoffs of as many as 300 employees out of the two 2200 that we have.

Next slide, please.

So we've been thrown a lifeline by the state of California, but it's not a permanent solution.

It's a state bridge loan, and it's exactly that a loan, not a bailout, and it must be repaid with interest.

AC transit share is 55 million enough to close this year's budget gap and avoid service cuts today.

But next summer in June, the loan is gone, reserves are exhausted, and the funding challenge returns.

That's why Hope Now rests with the Connect Bay Area Act, also known as SB 63.

The measure would ask voters in five Bay Area counties to approve a 14-year half sales tax, half half cent sales tax, one cent in San Francisco.

And if approved, it would generate an estimated 980 million dollars annually for Bay Area buses, trains, and ferries.

AC Transit would receive approximately 52 million each year, helping protect existing bus service and prevent layoffs.

Without long-term funding, our bus network remains at risk.

Thank you, Diane.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Owen Christofferson.

I'm a transportation planner for AC Transit.

So you've just heard from board director McCulley about the you know kind of local community and regional importance of AC Transit as an agency, and you've heard from Diane Castleberry about the looming financial challenges that the agency is facing.

So to respond in the moment, in this moment, our approach is simple, which is plan for the worst and hope for the best.

So that's why we've developed a worst-case scenario, a contingency service plan.

This plan is just that.

It's a contingency option that would only take effect if no long-term funding is secured by December 2026.

When our team set out to develop this plan, we did so with some clear guiding principles.

Maintain the real line network.

This was a large network redesign, which was recently uh completed.

So not make network changes.

Uh, miminize wholesale route eliminations when possible, uh, and maintain frequent bus service uh where riders depend on it the most.

Next slide, please.

So I'll talk a little bit about our proposed contingency service plan and what it looks like.

So the proposed contingency service plan is designed, as I said, to provide the most service for the greatest number of riders.

Uh and the way that we do that is by preserving what we call the primary route network, which is really the the backbone of the network.

Uh this includes some you know very popular and long-standing AC transit lines like the one T Tempo 6.9 and some of the others that you can see on your screen there.

Those lines will be preserved at 15 minutes or better on weekdays.

Uh and other lines uh within uh the primary route network uh will be able to maintain daily service hours, no worse than 6 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

and frequencies no worse than 30 minutes, which is in line with our board approved service standards for the primary route network.

Uh for this primary route network, um, we're able to maintain about 93% of the network unchanged.

Next slide, please.

Uh now I'd like to talk about some of the uh some of the changes uh under this plan uh that would affect the community of Fairview here and other parts of uh unincorporated Alameda counties.

So as you may know, uh the community of Fairview is mainly served by line 95, uh which kind of runs that D Street Mod Kelly corridor.

Uh that line uh will see no changes uh in the contingency service plan, uh which I'm happy to say.

Uh adjacent lines uh that may also be used by uh folks in this area include line 28 uh to Castro Valley, line 60 out to CSU East Bay, and line 93 uh across the freeway out to San Lorenzo.

Uh those other lines uh would see frequency reductions uh to 60 minutes.

Um we're able to keep line 60 at four at uh 45 minutes on the weekstays, 60 minutes on the weekends, line 28, and line 93 would be 60 minutes, seven days a week.

As well, those other lines are going to see some hours of operation reductions from about 6 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

for lines 28, 60, and uh line 93 will be running 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

daily.

Um and yeah, as I said, line 60, uh, you know, connects to the college will be able to maintain its current free uh current frequencies on weekdays.

Uh and these, you know, these decisions were, as I said, these are were very, very challenging decisions that were made, and uh, like I said, were made in response to ridership utilization, productivity data.

Uh, and as I said, you know, it was very important for us to protect um that that primary route network and um some of those other routes that were that are very important to the agency and important to the community uh as well.

So uh next slide, please.

So I'll just talk about uh the road ahead uh and what this is gonna look like.

So uh on August 12th at their board meeting, the AC Transit Board of Directors are expected to set a public hearing uh for this plan, uh which will take place on October 14th.

Uh so the public hearing is a very formal process, uh, and that will enable community members to have um formal comments that will get responded to and included in the final report.

Um additionally, on that day on October 14th, AC Transit will uh host an open house prior to the meeting, uh, where community members can learn more about the plan and submit those comments.

Uh we most of us probably know the general election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3rd.

Uh if no long-term funding uh is secured uh after this date, the board will vote on a final plan on December 9th, which would then uh go through the typical scheduling and bidding process, which takes a bit of time, uh, which would result in these changes that I'm describing uh taking effect June 13th, 2027.

Think about that.

So, you know, it's it's kind of wrapping things up uh this year, uh approving the final plan late this year for changes that would then take effect the following June.

Um, of course, if uh new funding for the agency uh is secured uh this contingency service plan would not need to be implemented.

Uh the plan would not move forward.

Just want to be very clear about that.

And with that, uh I'll turn the mic back to Director McCoy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So uh a lot of information we've shared with you.

Um, it's not all gloom and doom.

Uh like I said, I think we've done a very good job as an agency uh to try to control our costs uh with under the circumstances, uh, as Diane laid out.

Uh, just by way of background, you know, I I spent the last 35 years of my life working in the transit industry nationally.

Uh I've served as a CFO of a transit system down in LA and in San Diego.

So I'm what I would like to call a budget hawk in terms of just making sure that that uh every nickel we get we spend it in the in the in the correct way uh and make sure that we control and maintain our costs.

Um but what one of the things that I'd like to that I always talk to when I talk to our locally uh to the folks here in uh in our region, is that uh we need to hear from you guys.

Uh we need to hear you know from the from the public in terms of what they'd like to see uh, you know, uh in terms of the types of services they'd like to have uh because at the end of the day it's the squeaky wheel that gets degrees, and I really would I try to encourage uh our folks to speak up and and to give us that input that we uh that we need.

We on a slide there, we kind of show you some ways that you can do that.

You could you scan the QR code and and that takes you to where you could provide comments.

Uh there's also an email address that uh that you can also send comments uh as well.

So again, this is a process that we're we hope we don't have to go through uh and uh but that we have to again have to plan for the worst and hope for the best, and that's exactly what we're doing.

So I really appreciate having an opportunity to share with you guys uh about AC Transit and be happy to ask any questions you might have.

Thank you, all three of you for your presentation.

Um, we're gonna now open it up for the council members to um ask questions and or make comments.

Um Beth, do you want to start us off?

Yeah, I think that it's pretty obvious that the public wants more bus service, and um it would be a huge disappointment if you guys have to go down this road.

Agreed, Sally.

Yeah, I just have a couple of questions on the overhead slide that started out with what this means for Fairview, and you've got it was I'm sorry I forgot your name, it's just who I am.

Um you were rattling off line numbers, but they're not nothing's labeled on here, so it it didn't mean anything to me.

I mean, I know 95 runs up to the college, but I don't have I don't know what you're referring to when you say line 28, line this, line that.

That's so I was hoping this map could be labeled in some way so we would know which lines you're referring to.

Yeah, my apologies about that uh that that map is not labeled.

Um but like I said, uh, you know, I can give you some general uh, you know, some general guidance.

Those lines um you know kind of converge or start and end um you know at Hayward uh Hayward Bart.

And so for example, you know, you've got your local line 95 out here.

Folks can take that line into Hayward Bart and transfer to some of those other lines that I mentioned, uh like the 28 uh or you know, if they want to go up to Castro Valley, the um uh Route 60 if they want to go out to CSU East Bay or the 93 if they want to go west uh out to San Lorenzo.

So I think that's a good way to look at it.

I'm sorry, there's no more a visual representation.

So is there like a website that would have a map with all the lines marked?

That's correct.

Okay, so so there is a website that's actransit.org forward slash, and I think it's on the last slide deck forward slash um contingency plan.

And so actually, when you go to the website actransit.org, there's a tile on the right.

You can either do forward slash contingency plan or there's a tile that says continuously.

Click on it, it'll take you right there.

And there's a place we're still updating the page, um, but right now it shows you like line by line what the changes are.

So we don't have the full maps that most of the maps you saw earlier.

So we're getting ready to add the bigger maps and make them also interactive so that you can kind of see what happens with the different bus lines.

Okay.

And then I have another question for tell me your name again.

Oh, and I am just the worst.

I'm I'm so sorry.

It's I'll never make a great leader because I don't remember people's names.

You have the you talked about a public hearing.

I was wondering when and where that is.

Yeah, so technically the public hearing hasn't been set yet.

Okay.

The expectation is that uh at our August 12th meeting, uh the AC Transit Board of Directors uh will set a public hearing for reports, and that would kind of open a public comment window, so uh you'll be able to submit it to submit formal comments.

Uh, pretty much from that point in August through uh all comments.

Okay, and so and again, I'm being repetition.

Going to your website will tell me that so I can go there to get this information.

Thank you.

I would like to thank all of you for coming this evening.

I really appreciated the information that you shared.

All of you, you were clear, could understand what you were saying, track through it.

I needed some lines, but other than that, really, it was it was very good, and thank you for that.

Thanks, Sally, Chris.

Again, thanks for the presentation, guys.

It was very helpful.

Um a question on the 95 schedule.

I was thinking that it was running at 40 minute intervals now, and I I just pulled up the schedule and I said it's 30.

Did was it at 40 for a while?

Or maybe off times.

Yeah.

Yeah, I believe the line uh change.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, okay.

I because I was really really had a chip on my shoulder when I when it was at 40 minutes.

Because I, you know, periodically I I use it, you know, we're a one-car family, and if uh cars in the shop, I go out and take the bus.

Um, and we get I get the old fart fare, you know, it was pretty cheap.

But thank you for that.

So uh but going back here, um so looking at some of your numbers.

You the new buses you're you're spending about 35% more on the buses, you know, it's like a unit cost, right?

And then uh fuel again that's going up, but are you spending are you using less fuel?

Because you've got these these alternate fueled buses.

What what impact does that have on the well we're not spending less on fuel?

Uh we're not spending less on fuel.

Uh hydrogen cost is about the same as hydrogen cost is about the same as diesel right now.

Uh and so we're it's it's you know, a bus is a bus is a bus, depending on yeah, and the fuel costs is about the same.

So and what what about like the the hybrid uh?

Well, hydro the hydro battery electric, uh the the well, the zero emission uh buses that we operate only make up a we have what 635 buses approximately and we have what 57, 58 uh zero emission, so that they don't make up a significant amount of our fleet at this point in time.

And the are you uh setting up like solar charging stations?

You know, you've got those big parking lots.

Well, actually, we don't have that many large parking lots or parking rides.

Uh so but we do have fueling stations set up at what at Emoryville and Oakland.

Yeah, go ahead.

Okay, just off top of my head.

Emoryville has um fueling for um all three, so your traditional kind of gas um battery electric and fuel cell.

Umakland at um district four.

It's uh it's also both battery electric and fuel cell.

Hayward, um, we're getting ready to build out the fuel cell facility.

One of the challenges is that we were pursuing we were constantly pursuing grant funding.

That's our way that we had to pay for the infrastructure, and then also we're having conversations with PGE, um, to make sure that we can get the power that we need for our batty electric charging.

So um a lot of the challenges for us is that you know, as a public agency, we have to find different sources of funding to pay for the infrastructure as well as purchasing the vehicles and the the vehicle, the process or the procurement process takes about two to three years before it gets on the road.

Um, so and we have to always um be pursuing whether it's through federal grants, state grants, and so forth, and um and today it's much more challenging to be able to get that funding.

So and and uh buses, um, are you able to procure them locally?

I think we have a bus manufacturer in in Award.

Yeah.

And they're in Livermore now, yes.

Are you able to use them?

But unfortunately, the the years ago there used to be as many as 10 or 12 bus manufacturers in the country.

Now there's only two.

Gillock and and New Flyer.

So well, at least we get local employment, right?

True, correct.

Yeah.

So uh and and you know, I think I know the answer to this, but like for routes like the the 95 route, you know, the buses seldom filter capacity.

And uh with with the size of the buses.

Uh it'd be an impact or not, I mean, because the fixed cost of the driver is the same.

I kind of thought, oh, excuse me.

Whether it's driving a small bus or a large bus.

Uh that fixed cost is still the same.

Yeah.

Maybe you save a little on fuel, but yeah, save a little bit on fuel, maybe.

So I I had some notes on uh parity and subsidies and comparing it to egg, but but it's not good for this discussion.

So I'll pass.

Okay.

Okay.

Um I'm just gonna start with some comments.

Um first and foremost, very much appreciate this level of detail and presentation.

Um I'm newer on the council and I haven't heard the presentation from AC Transit yet, and so it was really informative to me.

So appreciate it.

Um and definitely value the service um in the area.

It's really vital, uh, and absolutely appreciate um you spelling out kind of some of the financial hardships that are apparent, and I know that that's um something that you all just have to deal with.

Um and I I recognize I know this is an informational item, not an action item, and um I'm gonna take a little liberty in just um sharing some of my perspective from the community.

Um I know that there's a a um meeting to do that, but I'm gonna share some just to give you guys some perspective since you came all the way out here and uh want you to understand um at least um a bit about our community.

So we're obviously um a bit more rural.

We um I don't know the history of our AC transit route lines, but I can say from my experience living in the community for the past decade, it um is very limited, and um we have um I'm not sure if you I guess you're in Five Canyon, so you understand the kind of the topography of the area in which we have um a bit in the hills, we have some egress, emergency egress uh route issues because we're a bit stuffed up in the hills, and um it there's some traffic concerns, um there is less regulation, so there's less um routes to get through, um, even on a good day, forget if there's an emergency.

Um, and so having a resource like AC transit is really important to our community, um, although we have very limited access to it.

So it's kind of a chicken and egg.

I know that you all um did some assessments around usership and made some decisions around where you're gonna cut based on usership, but when you don't have much uh access in an area, you're not facilitating uh uh environment in which people can utilize the resource, right?

I'm sure you can appreciate and understand that.

So yeah, we may not have as much use in our area, we don't really have much, so people have kind of done without as much as they can.

We've tried to do some work on putting in bike lanes um and putting sidewalks for some of the students who have had to walk and don't have access to buses.

So there's things that we had to do that are kind of workarounds because we don't have bus service in this area, and so it's um disappointing to hear uh I'm appreciate you guys coming, but disappointing to hear that um one of the um areas you want to put on the chopping block is ours because historically we've already been underserved, and now I'm just hearing, well, you guys don't use it much, so we're gonna cut it more, and I'm simplifying, I understand, but it's I I I want you all to appreciate that it's um it is a hardship for our community, and um the current political climate around the um housing element, which is um really pushing for increased development in our area, which has its own set of circumstances, um, is going to necessitate even more transit um access, which it's like we're getting pushed on that end, and then we're hearing that we're getting cut on this end.

So I just wanted to kind of spell that out in terms of our community's concerns and what our needs are.

Um I could guarantee that if you invested in our community, we would have writers and you get ridership, right?

So there are funds.

Um, but we're not an asset for you all because you're not investing in us, and now you're kind of proposing to devest more.

Um, so that's my commentary.

I'm hoping I'm kind of rattling um racking my brain to think of, you know, who who can I talk to the young people in our communities who I know that um for whatever reason don't opt to drive.

It's a weird concept, but the young young people are opting not to drive.

And I know some folks do use public transit.

I'm trying to think who can I get to come to this and give some public comment.

And um, I am really interested to hear a little bit from you all.

That's my first question about this process, because um, it's interesting that you're holding these public comment um periods because in communities I've lived historically, the bus lines come and go, and then there's not much public comment about it or input on it.

So I'm curious to hear from you all.

Um, what is typically the process that you gather input from the community?

Is it political?

Cause you guys are having an election year and you just re-did the things.

I mean, I don't know.

I'm trying to understand like what triggered this kind of process to hold this series of meetings to get community input and um what is like how heavily is community input gonna weigh in on the decision.

Let me I'll I'll start with that.

First off, uh well, I first off, I welcome your your comments, and I and and we'd love to get your feedback.

That's one of the things I've been pushing since I've been on the board uh going back to 2022, is that we need I need more voices like yours to say this is what we would like to see, this is what we demand, uh, because that's the way you you're gonna, you know, you're gonna help the community is by getting the word out.

Um, some of what we do is is mandated by by federal law.

I mean, by the fact that we receive federal funds, we're required when we make major adjustments to our service that we have what they call public hearings.

So we're required to have public hearing.

I can't speak for other other public agencies, but from the transit perspective, we're required to do that.

And the best example, and I don't know if you're around when we did realign, which was a a major study to to analyze our whole network as a result of the COVID changes to travel patterns.

Uh, and we had a very, very robust community outreach.

I mean, we were in every community, uh, we involve community-based organizations, and uh, two years, it was like a two-year process where we had ongoing meetings with the public uh and invited the public to provide uh feedback.

So uh this is just something that we do actually, to be honest with you.

I don't know if Diana, if you want to.

Yeah, in terms of process, I I think um Director McAuley brings up a good point.

So our realign project was like the first example where we did something much more robust.

The public hearing that he mentioned that we're required to do.

So we're doing that, but we also felt it was important to have meeting, you know, come to meetings like this one to share the information, right?

And then because a lot of times there's so much going on in the world today that we're not paying attention to these things that are happening.

And so we wanted to kind of like raise the flag, if you will, and say, hey, we've got a problem here.

Here's what we're doing to try to address, like we're planning.

Like I think Owen had mentioned planning for the worst case scenario, we're planning for it.

This is what we're proposing based on the information that we have.

Um, because we did, but also honoring the fact that we spent like almost two years working with the community, getting their input on you know how they get around, but also still working in financial constraints at that time.

And so um, and I think when you gave up made the mention of line 95 going used to be 40 minutes, then went to 30 minutes.

So realigned helped get it to 30 minutes.

We were trying to particularly um director Macaulay has been a big advocate of making sure that the unincorporated Alameda County really has a voice, and so we made um more efforts to go to the different places in unincorporated Alameda County, including showing up at bus stops, um, going to like there's the um fall festival, but also um uh Supervisor Miley's office, you hold the um Alameda County Healthy Community Collaboratives, it's now Eden area, basic needs, yes, yeah.

So we attend those um regularly just to get the information out and have conversations so that no one's surprised.

I mean, people are always gonna be surprised, but we're trying to do more than just what's required by law, and so that's why one of the steps is we're going to every kind of municipal council, getting presentations, we're going to community groups, giving presentations.

Um, soon you'll be seeing us at different bus stops, you know, sharing information.

Um, at our for our public hearings, we're doing open house meetings.

Um the first one that we had, you know, it wasn't large numbers of people, but people who sat with our planners for at least a good 20 to 30 minutes just walking through and help trying to understand what might be happening with their line, and then they can also share like what some of the challenges they're facing today.

And one of the things in the proposal is I think Owen is new, but together Owen with his predecessor, they really like advocated to make sure that um for the unincorporated Alameda County that we preserve as much as we can.

So what's in the proposal is that you don't see any elimination of lines, but you may what you do see is maybe some reductions in service in terms of hours and then also frequency, maybe going back from the 30 minutes would go back to the 40 or 45 minutes or even an hour, just so we can preserve and keep service in this area.

Ultimately, the goal is down the road when we are more fiscally solvent to be able to increase service in this area.

Um, but we definitely want to hear because if there's different ways that we can be looking at this, um we want to hear from you, but at the same time, we have a fiscal constraint, and so we need to like it has to there has to be like a trade-off.

So, for instance, if you want to make sure that more students can get to school on a particular line or a particular route, then we may have to look at okay, where else can we reduce so we can beef up the service in another area?

That's the difficult challenge that we're facing now, and our planners who really care, and you've got one of the best board directors who's constantly advocating for this community.

So it's it's it's been really hard.

And so we do need your help.

We want to hear from you.

So I think also if you know people who who are choosing to ride the bus, whether they're choice writers or they just they're dependent, right?

They're transit dependent, we want to hear from them and we want to have a conversation.

So if there's something we can do differently, we can do that.

And I'll just I'll just quickly add, um, I really appreciate your comment.

You know, it really resonates me, resonates with me as a transit planner.

I know this area had more service in the past than it does now.

And I I think unfortunately, you know, the we are in an extremely serious and challenging time and have been for a number of years.

And I think the only thing that I can say is that I hope in my career that I can come back before you hear and propose to add more service.

Just last question like if you were thinking of us in the community as like collaborative partners with you all with the clear objective to have you know regular service in the Fairview area.

What advice would you give us as a community in terms of how we can support making that happen?

Well, I one of the things I I think that I'd like us to build as a coalition.

Um I'd like to see community folks connecting up, say with the the schools, the school district, uh in Cal Valley Unified.

And I've had this conversation with the superintendent, by the way.

That we should be arm in arm and going up to Sacramento and and asking for additional funding to help transport students uh to get to their and so that that could be helpful to just to bring those coalitions together.

Community-based organizations would be another one that that you know uh uh that you can team up with to get you get your voices heard.

Um I just want to mention too that you know one of the things that you know at one time in uh Castro Valley, we had a uh uh what they call microtransites kind of system, and it's really useful for areas like ours where you have some, we're not as dense as say you know, the core of Oakland or Berkeley.

Uh and that's something I'd like us to look at down the road when we get more finances to look at trying to reintroduce some some notion of microtransit.

That's where you're using smaller vehicles and and have some flexibility to get people down to to the transit.

Because I again I'm in the same boat as you guys.

I you know, in the Five Canyons, it's in a transit desert.

It takes me two hours, two or two hours, uh two miles to get to the BART station, uh, just to if I was going to even take the bus.

So it's it's just not that convenient.

But uh, we need to try to improve that.

And uh, but again, that's the kind of stuff I'd like us to talk about.

Um I'd just like to add and maybe reiterate um some of the things that board director McCauley mentioned in the last slide is if if you as the leaders of this community can um just make sure, I think as you guys mentioned you're planning to do, share with your community that you know that you know you uh that ace to you know encourage people to go to actransit.org, learn about like what we're dealing with um financially, and then what we're trying to do with this contingency plan in terms of preparing for the worst case scenario, um, and then learn about all the things that are happening uh, you know, with SB 63 and others, educate yourself, right?

And then see what makes sense for your communities.

Um, so that's what we're asking because you know, we can't go beyond that.

So, uh thank you.

Chris.

Um a point as a periodic user of your your product.

Um I remember way back before 1989, which was when I moved to Fairview from Hayward, um, AC Transit did a great job of clustering the bus arrivals and departures at the Hayward station and clustering them around the arrival and departure of uh the trains, and my observation has been at least on the 95 line, um if if you're still trying to do that, you're good falling down on the job.

But but that I I commend that effort, and I'm I'm not sure if you you worked on that now.

Yeah, I I can't speak specifically to that to that line.

I do know that we're there are a number of different factors, um, different systems that were coordinating.

Sometimes buses are coordinating with each other.

Sometimes there's a practice called interlining where uh a driver drives one route and then drives another route.

Uh, but yeah, I will say that you know, coordination, particularly in the unfortunate event, um, that uh, you know, we do not secure our funding in the fall, that will mean that BART probably also will not secure their funding, uh, and there will have to be likely a lot of schedule coordination because unfortunately frequencies will not be very good.

I'm just gonna say, and the board has asked that staff, planning staff in particular, work in concert with BART so that we can, in fact, uh uh intertwine our our schedules, uh, especially as we start to reduce service.

But I was just gonna add that one of the things that we that came out of realign, uh, and we're really proud of this is the is the the line 60 that connects Chabot College with the Cal State East Bay.

I don't know if you're aware that uh Cal State East Bay used to have a shuttle service that they used to operate from the barge service, but they stopped all that service, so now you know AC Transit is built the build up that gap.

And in fact, uh we had it was so much so that we had to add an extra extra bus because uh it was overcrowding uh coming from the bar station to get up to Cal State East Bay.

So again, those are the kind of services that we were able to get thanks to the planning staff to figure out a way that we could get those resources into uh uh to help to with that situation.

So I'd like us to keep be able to keep doing those types of improvements in our area, any other comments from the council?

Okay, so now I'm gonna open up to um public comment.

Nope, there are no public comments on this item.

Okay, I'm gonna close public comment and I'm going to close item two.

Ashley, can I get a thumbs up?

Okay.

I'm gonna move to um the next agenda item.

Thank you all again for joining us.

Um, which is exciting.

It is the chair and vice chair elections.

Um, so I'm gonna um I guess I open the nominations first.

Okay, so first I'm gonna open nominations for chair.

And the tradition is the vice chair moves to the chair.

That said, I'm gonna nominate Sally for to be chair of the Fairview Mac.

I accept the nomination, but there needs to be a second.

I'll second.

We would like to hear public comment on this.

There are no public comments.

Is there a second for the motion?

Yes, I'll second.

Okay, so as a Roberts Rules question, don't you have public comment after the second?

You have to take public comment before you take an action on this, right?

But it's if there's a motion on the floor, then it needs a second.

So do you need public comment before the motion?

Yes.

Okay, future reference, thank you.

Okay, so we have a motion and we have a second.

Uh we have public comment.

And we we do have public comment.

Yes.

Okay, right.

Brenda Clark, can we unmute?

Hi, I just wanted to ask.

Are you?

Oh, maybe I missed a meeting.

Are you going to announce that there is a vacancy on that board?

Uh, before you reorganize um officers, that'll come up later on the agenda.

Thank you, Brenda.

Okay, it should happen before the reorganization.

That's it.

Thank you.

There are no other public comments.

Okay, so can we call a vote?

Oh, can we have discussion?

So you are bypassing what uh historically has been going on.

Correct.

I'm I'm very busy.

I have two small children.

Okay, I'm calling for the vote, please.

Councilmember Harmer.

Aye.

Council Member Higgins.

Aye.

Councilmember Hilvin.

Aye.

Vice Chair Rhodes.

Aye.

Chair Anglen.

Excused.

Motion passed.

Okay.

So now we are need a nomination for the vice chair.

So I'm gonna open public comment.

Yes, and just one correction on my part.

Um you can have the motion take the second and then public comment.

Thank you for the clarification.

So we're opening public comment for the nomination of vice chair.

There are no public comments.

Okay, I'm closing public comment and I am uh requesting a nomination for vice chair.

So I'd like to nominate Vanessa to be the vice chair.

Can I get a second?

Can I get a name in?

You accept it.

I accept it.

We have a second.

So I am opening public comment.

No, yeah, this.

Huh?

Yes.

Opening public comment on the nomination of Vanessa Rhodes for vice chair.

There are no public comments.

I am now asking for discussion amongst council members.

Can you please call the vote?

Councilmember Farmer.

Aye.

Councilmember Higgins.

Aye.

Councilmember Philbin.

Aye.

Vice Chair Rhodes.

Hi.

Chair Anglin, excused.

Motion passed.

Wonderful.

Hooray.

Congratulations, everybody.

Okay, great.

So now I'm gonna move to the chair's report.

Um, I did not receive one from uh Todd.

Um can I then give the vice chair report?

Okay, I have a couple of items.

Um the first thing I just wanted to comment, which some people are probably already very painfully aware, is that there is what is called the East Bay MUD is um initiating what's called the Zoro cluster pipeline replacement, which um is um, they kicked it off just I think this last week on MOD, right where it hits up on D, so anybody that's going through that area will have some delays.

Um, and my understanding is that they are um gonna be uh under construction on various roads in Fairview for the next six months uh to put in new uh install new water pipelines to improve service.

So yay for us, but keep a lookout for delays.

Uh also uh appreciate Brenda Clark's comment earlier about the fireworks ordinance, as we all know it was passed, it was an effect.

I'm sure in the communities you saw all the white signs up, there was social media posts, there was press, there was postcards that I think were sent to everybody's house.

Um I uh wasn't actually in town, but um I'm sure everybody was uh law abiding citizens that evening.

Everyone can attest, I'm sure.

Um but just um wanted um folks to know that that was an effect.

There was slight amendments uh to the ordinance, which um basically just brought the fines to 500 and a thousand dollar max.

Uh also wanted to just comment um that um my issue on D Street and this stop sign.

Well, no, it's it's actually kind of comical that for a long time they were putting plastic bags over the stop sign, and then somebody was taking them off, and somebody put it back on, and then and then one day I drove past and it was the the post was gone.

So I I don't I don't know.

I'm gonna reach out to uh public authority and see Beth.

Do you have an update?

All right, I guess we can't.

Oh, yes.

I thought you were discussing the uh lack of ink on the oh that's still yeah.

It was supposed to be taken care of two months ago, yeah.

So we're still awaiting um the lines being painted on upper D um as it collides with mod, right from Pinnacles Pentacles to mod, yeah.

Yeah okay so those are that's my um vice chair report, and now I'm going to um open public comment on the vice chair's report.

There is a public commenter or Gonzalez can you hear me yes hi my name is Rhonda Monsales I'm a community of the Sanita for Israel.

Yes indeed the Zoro cluster uh the pipeline thank you has just started I started in the beginning of June it's gonna go into the end of November and I just want to let you know that if there's any questions or concerns regarding this project I am the person to contact uh I am getting some calls on this project uh one of them is just the garbage pickup so what I've been telling the callers is that just do your regular uh put your garbage for you normally put it if we have to if the crew has to move it they will move it so it can be service and then uh we'll put them back to where we found them so but for this project I am the person that you want to uh contact or tell your constituents uh to call me to address any concerns or issues as the uh project progresses uh that's all I wanted to say and I also wanted to introduce myself I always come to these meetings virtually uh but I just wanted to say a little bit because I heard you mentioned the Zoro cluster and I'll be your contact person for anything.

There is a uh public meeting that was recorded and I did send you uh an invitation to it uh you can view it uh on our webpage for the Zoro cluster if you would like to uh see what was discussed for this project uh or any questions that um that you might have that could be answered by you on this uh uh this meeting uh thank you thank you there are no other public comments thank you go ahead yeah uh Ron Gonzalez can you please uh provide us with some contact information uh I can just give you that contact information so yes it's it's also on the uh it's also on the uh uh the signs it's also on the web page it has my contact information it's construction dash shout at ebmbd.com and my phone number is 510 2870140 it's also on the web page uh for the project okay no uh I'm gonna close public comment uh I'm gonna now move to the agenda item council member comments and announcements um chris do you want to kick us off sure uh I hit the uh was it June 30th we had the the latest meeting of the um with planning on the uh you know policies that hopefully would would impact uh more how you know get more housing bill and you know um more affordable housing um and the the bottom line that came out of it was uh the kinds of things that we can do policy wise um really aren't gonna have a whole lot of impact in the in this market that Beth is that uh one good one sentence I don't think we can have discussion on it she can share in her comments okay yeah she'll she'll add she'll add she'll add some later um but and and that that's not to say that uh the things that they can do and I I apologize I didn't bring a list of them to to read out um won't won't benefit somewhere down the line.

Um, but that's that that's about it.

Uh I did want to say, and I guess uh uh Roland uh hit it on the the Zorro project that it's uh uh they they have the recording of that public hearing out on their website um I I think I even have it on an email.

Maybe we should post it somewhere.

Um I'll dig it up and get it out on social media.

Um that's it.

Beth, do you want to go next?

Sure.

Sorry, just before Beth goes.

Uh Chris, that was sounding like a subcommittee update and uh as announced at our last meeting.

If there needs to be a subcommittee update, it has to be placed on the agenda, so we cannot have a subcommittee update during council comments.

Unfortunately, that meeting with for the housing element was announced after the last Mac meeting, so it was kind of hard to get that on the agenda.

Yeah, we can we can add that for our uh the next one if you would like, and you'll just let the new chair know to put it on there to put it on the agenda.

Beth, do you have any comments?

Absolutely none, thank you.

Sally.

Thank you.

Um, yes, on 2nd Street they were replacing water pipes, putting in sidewalks and uh replacing power poles simultaneously.

It was interesting getting up and down the street that day.

So the sidewalk project on 2nd Street is moving right along.

I happen to live on 2nd Street.

Um, now that they have temporary access to our property, we are the bottom of their list of priorities, so I don't know when they will actually get back to us to finish it, but at least we can park on our properties again.

So that's good.

And I would like to make my monthly announcement about the November 8th veterans event that we will be having up at Lone Tree Cemetery starting at one o'clock.

Um, I will have flyers at our next meeting, and we'll be bringing flyers thereafter.

So anyway, put it on your calendars, and that's it.

Wonderful.

Um, I'd like to now open public comment on the council members' comments.

There are no public comments.

Okay, I would like to close public comment.

Uh now the next agenda item is staff comments and announcements.

Ashley.

Yes, so um a couple of announcements from me.

We do have the Eden area senior town hall meeting uh this Friday, July 10th in this room, the Castor Valley Library, starting at 10 a.m.

Uh, additionally, we do have the Healthy Living Festival coming up September 24th at the Oakland Zoo.

Pre-registration is required.

Uh we do have an opening on the Fairview Mac since Chair Todd Englin um is no longer in that seat.

Um, for more information, I have posted it on um the Fairview Mac Facebook page, Supervisor Nate Miley's Facebook page uh on next door in the Fairview uh neighborhoods, and it will also be in our newsletter.

If somebody has a question, they can call me at the Cash Valley office 510 670 5717.

Um, and then just another quick reminder for any subcommittee reports to please let the chair know so that we can add it to the next agenda.

And that's it for me.

Thank you, Ashley.

I would like to open public comment for staff comments.

This is comical.

There is a public comment.

Did you say there's no comment?

There is.

There it is.

Brenda, you may unmute.

Yeah, I just wanted to say that there has not been an announcement of Todd Anglin's resignation from that board.

You've got an open seat on the board.

You're gonna have to reorganize again, and you said that that's gonna come up later, and it didn't.

So it's just been really kind of tragic and uncomfortable.

Uh so can you talk about taking applications for an open position on that board?

And whatever moves you made tonight about president and vice president could change within the time frame that you guys deem appropriate for filling that position.

Thank you.

So just to clarify that, Brenda, the resignation was posted on the Board of Supervisors agenda and was accepted last Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting.

The announcements have been made, and with the vacancy of the seat, that will not affect the election that just took place for the chair and vice chair.

Is there any more public comment?

There are no other public comments.

Okay, I'd like to close public comment.

And that is the last agenda item I'd like to adjourn and wish everyone a lovely evening.